They dabbled with others they didn't work. We were really their only developmental program that they had for most of the past 10 years. And as a result, I wonder if in five or 10 years, even if there's money to present wrestling, where are the wrestlers going to be that we present? That's the one thing they haven't been able to figure out.Īnd I went through that with my dealings with WWE when I was in OVW. You know, that happens to most people as time goes on. And if you notice, the main event stars are getting older.
As a result of those things, a lot of bad things have happened, but chief among them for the perpetuation of the wrestling industry is that they've decimated their developmental system in WWE and there are fewer places for guys to get into wrestling and have full-time work, so therefore there's fewer wrestlers than ever before, and there's fewer experienced wrestlers than ever before. And Vince gave more power to the children, and Stephanie started bringing in the Los Angeles comedy writers. Like you said, we could talk for an hour, but the biggest problem is that people from outside of wrestling have taken over the direction of the business through the corporate takeovers – and Turner Broadcasting started that. … what are your thoughts on the current state of the industry? It takes me an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes. I know you could probably talk for an hour just answering this next question. I tried to make it as entertaining for everybody as possible. There are road rib stories and funny chapters. So it's not just for Midnight Express fans it's for anybody who likes the inner or outer workings of wrestling.
We've got a lot of rave reviews on it so hopefully I did a pretty good job. So it's reproduced there to give as much of an accurate picture as I think has been published of what wrestling was like 25 years ago and at the start of this whole fiasco. Everybody sees every document there is to do with wrestling these days on the Internet and everybody knows what everybody makes and there are no secrets, but back then nobody saw booking sheets or paycheck stubs or memos to the talent, and I saved all that. So it details the '80s wrestling war between the WWF and the NWA and later WCW, and all the problems the business went through when Turner Broadcasting bought the company. Just take it down to Kinko's and maybe a few people would be interested in it." And over the course of a year it grew into this 232-page, 8½ x 11, slick paper, 32-page color section, giant pictorial history of not only The Midnight Express' seven years together, but also, conveniently enough, we were right in the middle of the beginning of the wrestling war. You know, it started out as just kind of one of those things: "Well, you know, I've got all the results of The Midnight Express' matches I ought to do a little record book. Tell me about The Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook.
But even then, with the TNA schedule I don't have a lot of time for them, and I'd rather do less and enjoy it more. I like to help some of these smaller independents that really put on good shows. I also did an NWA Charlotte show earlier this year, but really I just made an appearance to do some interviews there as sort of like the guest commissioner, which is more of my speed these days. But other than the exception of managing The Midnight or something like this – because I've known for ages and he's always treated me good – I don't really do them anymore because I'm not as agile, mobile and hostile as I used to be in my youth, as far as at ringside. And why shouldn't we? Maybe we'll beat Bobo Brazil and The Sheik for the world's longest program with The Rock and Roll Express. I toyed with the idea of retiring as a manager after our 25th anniversary, but as long as either me or Bobby Eaton or Dennis Condrey – Stan has already decided that he's not wrestling anymore – are all available on the same date and somebody wants us and we can all get to the ring and have fun, I've decided that I'm just going to do it a few times a year, because it's great to see the boys. This year I've done three – all with The Midnight Express.
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