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Vom 11. bis zum 17. Dezember 2001 erschienen auf 1Wrestling.com einige für die WWF sehr negativ anmutende Geschichten über "Hazing" oder "Mobbing" hinter den Kulissen. Die Wahrheit, ob die Berichte stimmen oder ob in diesem Falle etwas dagegen unternommen wurde, ist bis heute unbekannt, doch das hält uns nicht davon ab, die Geschichte mit den damals auf 1Wrestling.com erschienenen News aufzurollen.
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( Jamie Peltz, 11.12.2001 )
In a controversial interview, former WWF referee Billy Silverman joined the boys of Get in the Ring to give his side of the story on why he abruptly quit the federation. Sir Adam and The Phantom grilled Mr. Silverman for almost 30 minutes, trying to get to the bottom of his claims.
Billy Silverman joins the show as the Phantom explains to him that he can't figure out why Billy would quit a perfectly good job in the WWF over a few "ribs". Billy claims that the ribs were a little more than harmless pranks and called them more like "fraternity hazing", like Jim Ross called them during a phone press conference a few months ago.
Silverman brings the story back to when WCW first was bought by the WWF, and says that he saw a lot of things that were never reported on the internet. Billy feels like he fell into bad politics, he admits to upgrading a plane ticket to first class. He claims to have had no prior knowledge of the unwritten rule in the WWF that only main event players have earned the right to upgrade. Billy went on to say that in WCW everyone upgraded if they had the money to do it. Billy goes on to say that he didn't do it because he felt he was a star, or maliciously at all. He also states that anyone who knows him, knows that he doesn't have a big ego.
Silverman feels that Buff Bagwell was forced out of the WWF, by the boys in the locker room because he didn't fit in. The Buff situation is one that Silverman feels was the WWF politics at work.
Silverman goes on to tell a story of witnessing the boys strip Charles Robinson of his clothing and then bounding him with tape and gagging his mouth. He was then wheeled on a production cart to the middle of where workers were setting up for RAW. Everyone started laughing, but Silverman was appalled by this. He understands that some ribs are harmless, but this particular one was harmful to someone and their career. He doesn't think bounding and gagging someone is funny at all.
Silverman describes Earl Hebner as the head of the refs. He goes on to say that Hebner is one of the biggest back stabbers and trouble makers that he has ever met. Silverman goes on to say that Hebner never tried to stop these ribs, and that his problems with the boys didn't start when he upgraded his plane ticket, but when he first entered the WWF.
As a sort of initiation to the WWF Silverman was "forced" by Bradshaw to take many bottles of liquor across the border into Canada on a plane. He goes on to describe Bradshaw as "the head policeman of the WWF, or he likes to think of himself as the head policeman". Silverman didn't feel comfortable doing this and went to a "member of management", who told him to "just do it, just go ahead with it". After hearing that management was okay with it Silverman went ahead with it. It turned into an all day affair as Silverman took and unbelievable amount of bottles across the border, and then was forced to serve the liquor to the wrestlers. He goes on to say that most of the wrestlers are good guys, and deserve to be superstars. But he says a few "like to think they are superstars", cause trouble, and he categorizes Bradshaw as one of those guys.
Silverman says that Undertaker went along with this particular rib, but didn't instigate it. He says Taker was always cool with him. He puts over the Taker as a good guy, and thinks he gets a bad rap on the internet. Silverman sees him as a hard worker, who goes out there and gives 100% every night.
Silverman thinks he might have been perceived as someone who felt he was above being "hazed", which he feels isn't the case.
Silverman describes being threatened on the plane by Bradshaw, with physical violence. Also, he claims to have suffered a back injury because he had to carry huge bags of liquor all over the airport. The boys of GIR say they still don't understand why Silverman quit and feels that Robinson's experience was much worse and he's still there. Silverman basically says each to his own, and he chose to leave. He didn't feel that he wanted to be treated like this to keep a job.
Silverman understands why some people would think his story doesn't sound too horrible. But he feels that the people who were on that plane know why he quit, and how bad it got.
Phantom talks about a Jim Ross press conference where Ross said that Silverman never contacted the WWF to even tell them that he quit. Ross said that they were worried about Silverman's well being . Silverman agrees with what Ross said, but that he was freaked out by the whole incident and didn't contact the WWF at all for a few days. When he did he contacted Dennis Brent to quit, but never heard anything from Jim Ross, which disappointed him. He knows that Ross was aware of the situation, and because he is Talent Relations it was his job to get to the bottom of it.
Silverman feels that refs never get respect and they are the main targets for ribs by the boys. He also feels that there are three people involved in a match, a heel a babyface, and a ref, and a good match is impossible to have without a good ref. He feels that they should be respected more because they take bumps and get hurt just like wrestlers do. Silverman goes on to say that fans can't appreciate just how hard the refs work out in the ring. He tells a story of being in the locker room in WCW talking to Micky Jay, and Charles Robinson, when Hulk Hogan walks by and points to them and say that they "are the hardest working guys in the business".
Silverman thinks that Earl Hebner's son is protected from ribs because of who he father is. Silverman likes Hebner Jr., but feels that he should have started in the independents to "pay dues". Silverman had to be in the business 16 years until he got to the WWF. The bloodiest thing he ever saw in his career was when Goldberg put his hand threw the limo window and severed his tendons.
Back to the ribbing, Billy has never seen anyone stand up for a hazing victim and feels a real locker room leader would be the guy to stand up for the victims. He goes on to say that he is guilty of not stepping forward as well, when he was a witness to the Charles Robinson incident. The ladies aren't immune to ribbing either as Billy goes on to say that Stacy Keibler was a big target when he was in the WWF locker room. He feels that it was because of how young and successful she has been in the business. Billy goes on to say that there is a lot of jealousy in the wrestling business, where it should be more of a family atmosphere because they are traveling together all the time.
Besides Bradshaw, Silverman says that Chris Jericho and fellow ref Teddy long were also involved in the hazing contingent. He names Faarooq as someone who isn't involved in ribbing and who is a good guy.
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( Dave Scherer, 11.12.2001 )
To follow up on what Billy Silverman said earlier, ever since the WWF bought WCW and brought in its talent, there was heat on the refs. In the WWF, the refs not only run the matches, but they also work the ring crew. In WCW, the refs only reffed. The WCW guys came in with guaranteed deals and didn't have to do any of the ring crew work, so there was heat on them from the get go with their WWF counterparts. Because of that, they had ribs pulled on him. From what I was told, Charles Robinson gained a lot of respect with the boys and his fellow refs for the way he reacted to the rib that Silverman talked about. You can debate whether such things should take place to begin with, but the fact is that they do and guys are judged based on how they react to what is done.
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( Bob Ryder, 11.12.01 )
We've received a lot of feedback regarding Billy Silverman's comments regarding the hazing he received in the WWF.
Among the feedback we received were comments from two former WWF stars who asked that their names not be used because they didn't want to burn a bridge. Both former workers say they sympathize with the comments Silverman made and have witnessed or experienced similar treatment.
Here are some of the things these two former WWF stars had to say:
"Unwritten Rules"
"Nobody really has a way of knowing what they are until you've broken one of them. There's not a handbook they give you when you show up for your first day."
"One of the silliest rules is that you aren't supposed to wheel your bags into the building. A real man supposedly carries his bags into a building."
"I had no way of knowing that flying first class would be a problem. My first appearance with the WWF the office booked my ticket at the last minute, and it ended up being a first class ticket. I didn't know it was a problem until we landed and everybody asked me if I thought I was better than them. One of the road agents called me aside and told me not to let it happen again. When I returned to the airport for my flight home, my return flight had mysteriously been cancelled. I had to buy the return flight out of my own pocket and it took five months to get reimbursed for an $800 ticket."
Bradshaw
"He thinks he's John Wayne. He walks around with a swagger like he's some kind of cowboy. One time on a flight in Florida he was sitting behind me and was teasing and trying to start a fight the entire flight. It was more mental abuse than anything else, but he loves to try to get you to react to him. One time at baggage claim he walked up to Blackman and patted him on the ass, and Blackman turned around and nailed him. Bradshaw didn't respond or Blackman would probably have killed him."
"With me it was always verbal. Non-stop and repetitive verbal abuse. It got so bad that I was relieved to finally get my release."
"He loved to try to break people down mentally to see how they would react."
Hazing
"Sometimes it was relatively harmless stuff like padlocking your bags to a chair. Sometimes it went way across the line. One time they got a guy who had just entered the company, but who was already fairly well known, and caught him in the shower. They hogtied him and taped his mouth and poured baby oil all over him and told him they were going to rape him. They kept it up until he broke down crying and then they let him go. There was quite an audience gathered around and the guy was totally embarrassed and humiliated."
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( Bob Ryder, 13.12.01 )
More disturbing reports are coming in from multiple sources about hazing incidents that have taken place behind the scenes in the WWF.
"It's amazing the stuff that goes on that nobody ever hears about," said one source.
In a report earlier this week, sources described a situation that happened to a new arrival to the WWF a few years ago. In that situation, the new arrival was caught in the shower and hogtied while baby oil was spread all over him and he was threatened with rape. Since that report, we have received several calls from other WWF sources verifying that report and relaying other incidents that establish a pattern of abusive behavior.
"It's all about humiliation and showing dominance over anyone that is new to the dressing room," one source told 1Wrestling.com. That source describes a situation very similar to the one we reported earlier this week. "Another time, the same guy caught another newcomer to the company in the shower. He stepped into the shower wearing nothing but cowboy boots and walked over to where the new guy was showering and began touching him and soaping him up. It wasn't a sexual thing, just to demonstrate his power and dominance over the new guy."
As in the earlier report, 1Wrestling will not reveal the names of the people involved. The victim has already suffered enough embarrassment and the bully knows who he is...as does WWF management.
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( Jamie Peltz, 17.12.01 )
Talk turns to the hazing subject as Disco seemed disgusted with Billy Silverman's comments from last week's GIR show. Disco says that in his dealings with Silverman in WCW, he came to learn that Billy is one of the most paranoid people he has ever met. Disco goes on to say that Silverman carries around a huge chip on his shoulder, and if anyone used to make a joke at Billy's expense he would get "visibly irritated".."he has no sense of humor whatsoever".."I've never seen a guy take a joke worse than he did". While in WCW, Disco never witnessed any really scary or disturbing ribs, like the ones reported on GIR and 1wrestling. He feels that Silverman's story of ribs didn't sound so terrible. Disco also foes on to say that being involved in pro-wrestling you realize very quickly that you won't be working in a typical "work environment", and that after years in the business Silverman should have known that fact.
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( Bob Ryder, 17.12.01 )
Jayson Berstein, Director Media Communications for the WWF, made the following statement today in response to recent reports of hazing in the WWF.
"The WWF expects its talent to act professionally, and we believe that they do. Several accusations have been made by unnamed sources regarding alleged acts of "hazing" by WWF Superstars . We believe these statements are fueled by rumor and innuendo, and we will not respond to such unsubstantiated statements from unidentified sources. As for William Daley p/k/a Billy Silverman's statements, they pertain to active litigation and consistent with our policy, we will not comment."
