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MORNING THOUGHTS (A LITTLE LATE): ONE STUPID FREEBIRD, RISE OF THE WRESTLING CONVENTIONS & MORE

My apologies for this going up a little late, but my Internet is out (thanks Time-Warner cable) so I had to find alternative means.

ONE STUPID FREEBIRD

When it comes to bad decisions, Michael Hayes may end up being remembered as the person who made one of the worst of them for 2008.  

Hayes' 60 day suspension for allegedly dropping the "n" word, even jokingly, towards a WWE performer during Wrestlemania weekend, has not been the first time that Hayes' admittedly Southern outlook on life has led to issues within World Wrestling Entertainment.

Bobby Lashley's departure from the company, less than a year removed from his main event level push at Wrestlemania 23, can be tied back to Hayes' treatment of Lashley's girlfriend Kristal Marshall.  At the time, Marshall had reservations about being turned heel and taking over a slutty heel role as Edge's whore, similar to the one Amy Dumas performed during the end of her WWE run.  

One of those reservations was that Hayes, a Southern white man, would be in charge of scripting her African-American character and the Smackdown TV show.  She ended up released from the company, one of several factors why Lashley took his ball, well home to Colorado, demanded his own release and is now training for MMA, as opposed to returning to the company that made him rich.

The 'n' word never should have been spoken in a public place while Hayes was in Florida for a WWE work function.  It doesn't mater how comfortable Hayes may have felt using the 'n' word, how comfortable others may have been with him using the word, how drunken Hayes (and others) may or may not have been at the time the word was muttered, or the way the word was presented.  You simply can't use that language in a professional setting when you are in a position of power, wrestling or otherwise, in a corporate setting.   None of you reading this can or should walk around using it at your job today.

Technically, the word shouldn't be used by anyone under any set of circumstances, but the reality is the 'n' word is now part of the jargon of our culture with a double standard of who can say it and in what context.  Unfortunately, that's life, but that's also not the issue here.

When you have a Southern white man, a holdover from a time period in wrestling where being the rebel and getting in trouble was often one of the job requirements, saying the 'n' word under any circumstance while part of the corporate structure of a publicly held company to an African-American performer, heads are going to roll.  It deserved to be Hayes' head. 

Being a Fabulous Freebird meant being a hell raiser 24/7 for Michael Hayes.  It's what made him a star and what made him his money.  However, this isn't 1982 and he's not wrestling in the Mid-South, playing a Confederate flag wearing heel trying to get heat on a black babyface like the Junkyard Dog.  Those days are long, long gone and whatever his views may or may not be, Hayes needs to conduct himself as an adult.  It's not a lifestyle choice for him.  It's a requirement of his job.  

Hayes' job as a writer is to do what's best for the company he's working for.  That's who Michael Hayes is today and that is what should define his job.  Whatever came before may have made Hayes who he is, good and bad, but he can't bring it to his job, the same way you aren't supposed to bring your personal life issues into your place of business.  There are lines you don't cross.  Hayes crossed them and whether he upset one person or 100 people, he went too far. 

Hayes has a track record of pissing off talent to the point they depart the company, creating enemies among other writers in the workplace (he was always considered a major enemy of those he felt crossed him and has a reputation of never forgiving) and has now embarrassed the publicly held entity he works for.  You never hear of other veterans from Hayes' era - Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat or Fit Finlay - getting themselves into situations like this.  

There's one word for why - maturity.  I don't care how good of a writer Michael Hayes is (and the Smackdown TV product has stumbled since his suspension in my opinion) or how well he's been able to survive in WWE's feudal system-like corporate structure, only three things cause you to be sent home from your job: stupidity, immaturity, or a combination of the two.

Michael Hayes embarrassed the company he worked for this week and quite frankly, reinforced the lack of class that often pervades the wrestling industry.  WWE executives should be thanking their lucky stars that word didn't slip out until well after the Presidential candidates taped their appearances for Raw.  Can you imagine the reaction of Barack Obama's campaign managers if someone pointed out to them the TMZ story about Hayes and the WWE performer in question?

To WWE's credit, they slapped Hayes with a 60 day suspension and according to the statement they made to TMZ.com, Hayes will have to undergo further evaluation before he is allowed to return.   Even in the ass-backwards world that is professional wrestling, certain things still won't go unpunished.  

That's a good start.  Reinforcing that if anything like this EVER happens again, Hayes will be shown the door faster than you can say "best of luck in your future endeavors" is a logical next step.  An apology, private or public, to the likes of Bobby Lashley and Kristal Marshall would be another, since this situation has pretty much proven their point.  A donation to a charity, in Hayes' name to boot, to help in the education against racial discrimination would be even better.    

Still, WWE did make the right call here and hopefully something can be learned, not just by Hayes, but by the industry in general, as to how business should be conducted.  Wrestling may have been birthed in the carnivals, but that doesn't mean everyone working in it should conduct themselves like some gypsies and backwater hicks.

I'm guessing that proposed 2008 WWE Hall of Fame induction for the Freebirds in Texas is out the window.  If it isn't, it certainly should be.

RISE OF THE WRESTLING CONVENTIONS

For whatever reason, wrestling conventions are often like the business that they are derived from in that they seem to run in cycles.  They have a hot streak, die off for a period, then return again.

While I am sure there were other forms of fan gatherings prior, the first person I ever heard of running a convention dedicated to professional wrestling was New York based wrestling writer, radio show host and sometimes promoter John Arezzi, who's Queens. NY-based "Weekend of Champions" pretty much set the bar for top flight talent appearing under one roof.

From Ric Flair to Jushin Liger to Terry Funk to Larry Zbyszko reuniting with Bruno Sammartino to Jim Cornette to Buddy Rogers, Arezzi always seemed to have a good sense of who hardcore die-hard fans wanted to meet.  There were even young names like Sabu, Tammy Fytch and Chris Candido, who were just starting to break out as independent names populating the undercard of the gatherings. As someone who dealt with him, I always thought Arezzi was a hell of a nice guy, who went well out of his way for fans just because he was a fan himself.  Sadly though, during a time prior to the Internet becoming a daily part of our culture, there never seemed to be enough die-hard, hardcore fans that wanted to pay to meet these legends, and in the end, Arezzi was ahead of his time, eventually packing up and disappear into the night.  The night, in this case, turned out to be Nashville, where he now lives and works in the country music scene.

Still, others would take Arezzi's nod and try their own conventions, including John Clark (who ran the Wrestling Flyer newsletter during that era and went on to become a sportscaster in the Philadelphia area), Tommy Fierro and even Jersey All Pro Wrestling, who would book ECW, WCW, and WWF stars (under one roof, that's something that would never, ever happen today) for their anniversary show and conventions, but for the most part, the convention scene faded away.  

Eventually, though, the Phoenix always rises and it did in 2004 when Tommy Fierro, who had run some smaller conventions as a teenager during the Arezzi era before later working independent shows for the legendary Dennis Coraluzzo and promoting his own ISPW, returned with a lineup featuring Kevin Von Erich, Ricky Steamboat, JJ Dillon, Crowbar and others.  Fierro drew a packed house and suddenly, conventions were back off to the races again.  Fierro followed up with a "Tribute to Wrestlemania I" gathering, timed to take place the day before Wrestlemania XX just a few minutes outside of New York City. It did gangbuster business, although Fierro would later publicly admit he screwed up and blew his momentum.  He disappeared from the scene and by the time he returned, a number of other huge gatherings had propped up. 

Like any good business, competition was good for the consumer and if you were a wrestling fan willing to travel over the last several years, there were a ton of great gatherings.   Among them:

*Sal Corrente's WrestleReunion events in Florida and Pennsylvania, one of which featured a legitimate 85 names from spanning from Jack Brisco to CM Punk to Mick Foley to The Grappler, plus some really unique live events (The Midnight Express' three members & Jim Cornette vs. The Rock N' Roll Express AND The Fantastics MANAGED by Bobby Heenan?  Wrestling Valhalla!)

*Greg Price's excellent Mid-Atlantic Wrestling-based gatherings, where everyone who ever worked under or  relished the NWA letters seemed to have flocked, from Tully Blanchard to Tommy Rich to JJ Dillon to Dusty Rhodes to the Funks to the Briscoes to the Garvins and beyond. 

*Terrance Breeman's Legends of the Ring gatherings in New Jersey, which seems to specialize in finding those beloved 1980s WWF-era names that have fallen off the map and mixing them with legends like Bruno Sammartino and Nick Bockwinkel, among others.  Cpl. Kirchner? Check.  Damien Demento?  Check.  Big Bully Busick?!  Check.

*Thomas Rivera's Wrestling Reunion, which provides the most eclectic names under one roof (one gathering featured Pedro Morales, Hake, Mike Rotunda, Barry Windham, Carlos Colon, Savio Vega, and even Jose Estrada).  Rivera was even able to get Mil Mascaras to appear at a recent convention.

I've also heard wonderful things about a PA-based entity named Signamania, but I haven't had the chance to journey to one of their gatherings myself yet.  The bottom line is there are a ton of good convention promoters out there. 

While there have been some massive train wrecks (San Francisco, anyone?), if you stick to the promoters I've mentioned, chances are you'll find yourself, as a fan, immersing yourself within the nostalgia of what first made you a wrestling fan to begin with.   I often consider the Charlotte gatherings to be a complete recharge of my wrestling batteries.

Still, like anything else, if you are hitting up a convention for the first time, research is your friend.  If you are going to one of these things specifically for getting stuff signed, buy the VIP/Superticket/whatever pass to save time on waiting and insure you will get what you wanted.  If the convention is a first-time promoter you've never heard of, remember the adage "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" and be cautious.  Does the website look professional or like some goof put it together?  See if they are accepting paypal for advance ticket payments, because any legitimate business today does, as a way of protecting your investment in your payments.

Still, whether you are just looking to hear some Q&A Sessions, get autographs, find that old wrestling toy your mom tossed out, get some DVD, or finally pose for a picture with that one guy that you always loved as a fan while your friends rolled their eyes and argued he sucked in the ring (I'll admit to an affinity to Paul Roma as a kid, so even I was not immune to that reaction), conventions are likely the best place to make that happen, as long as you stick with the folks that have built a good reputation for themselves, like the conventions I singled out above.

There are a number of gatherings in the weeks and months to come.  Here's a sample:

Saturday 5/2  Terrance Breeman's Legends of the Ring in Carteret, NJ - Booker T, Demolition reunion, Mr. Fuji, Ken Patera, Ultimo Dragon, Shane Douglas, Mr. Hughes, Damien Demento, Greg Gagne, Larry Hennig, Honkytonk Man, Gillberg, Chris Masters, Fred "Shockmaster/Typhoon" Ottman.  For more information, visit www.legendsofthering.com.  A return convention in October is already in place with an Iron Sheik Roast, Brian "I'll humble you" Blair and Jake Roberts announced.

Saturday 6/21 Tommy Fierro's 15th Anniversary Fanslam Gathering in Totowa, NJ - Tomko, Vito, Bill DeMott, Al Snow, Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore, Kevin Kelly, Scotty "2 Hotty" Taylor, JJ Dillon, John Cena Sr. and more.  Q&A Sessions with Tomko and Demott/Snow scheduled.  For more information, visit www.fanslamwrestling.com.

The weekend of 8/14-8/17  Greg Price's NWA Legends convention in Charlotte, NC - Names confirmed thus far include Jim Cornette, Ivan Koloff, Paul Jones, Ole Anderson, Jack Brisco, Rip Hawk, Chris Cruise, Sam Houston, Grizzly Smith, Rich Landrum, and the one and only Bob Caudle.  For VIP weekend passholders, the weekend will also feature two live events, several Q&A Sessions and more.  There will also be a Hall of Heroes banquet dinner honoring Koloff and Jones as well as more to be announced.  There are expected to be 30-40 names total appearing at the gathering.  For details, visit www.NWALegends.com.

FINALLY?

With tonight's edition of Impact featuring Samoa Joe's first TNA title defense against Kurt Angle, there is hope within TNA that they may finally break the ratings stagnation of the last few weeks and possibly even do better than WWE bottom-feeding ratings garner ECW on Sci Fi. While I have heard the Joe-Angle match is really, really good, I'm not holding hope. TNA is always going to garner something within that 1.0 until they convince the general public that one of their names means something and is someone you want to watch weekly. Until then, it will be the usual TNA fans and wrestling audience tuning in. Just my opinion.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

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