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A fan asked about the Battle of the Saddle in Florida. JJ Dillon said it was taken from an old prospector storyline in a TV series.
Tully was asked about the Horsemen vs. The Midnight Express feud. Dillon said you had two of the best tag teams of all time and if you tie them up in one match, you have all these babyface teams sitting without someone to dance with. He said as a long term thing, it’s not the most productive use of the talents since they can draw so much money with others. Sullivan said that the longer you stayed with it, the more one of them were going to end up babyfaces.
Kevin Sullivan was asked about the birth of the Prince of Darkness character. He said he was a Roman Catholic from Boston and was an altar boy. He said he had been able to travel overseas and took that from some of the cultures there. Dillon noted that Kevin Sullivan being linked with Mark Lewin, a great storyteller with mystique, really helped. Lewin made $123,000 to Mickey Mantle’s $30,000 during that time period.
The panel was asked about Jim Barnett. Dillon said that he was one of the power players in the business and was well connected with the TV players and station managers at the time. Vince McMahon was smart to have Barnett as part of the inner circle as they did the national expansion.
A fan asked about whether the NWA and the WWF were approached about wrestling being a legitimate sport ever. Sullivan said it’s been a work since the gladiator days when they used pig intestines for juice and effect. Dillon said they took great pride in what they did because when something looks so real, it becomes real. There were fans in many markets who came religiously weekly because they expected the wrestlers as athletes, since the wrestlers commanded that respect with their hard work. Tully said that some commissions wanted to govern it as a real sport so it could be taxed, which is why WWF decided to come out and say it was sports-entertainment. Dillon said people were upset he said that but he can’t say that fans didn’t stop coming. Things in life just change.
Tully said that when they were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and that was a pretty big deal. Dillon said it was one of the goosebump moments of his life.
The Magnum vs. Tully feud in 1985 was discussed. Dillon said that when the titles meant something and that was the reason you were trying to win matches, that raised everyone’s stock. Tully said that was the catalyst to build to the personal issues between the two with TA’s quest to get the belt back grew and formed from that. If the belt didn’t mean anything, the personal thing would have been short-lived instead of long-term and remembered.
Dillon brought up TA’a accident and said that had he not been such a great athlete, he never would have survived. Dillon told a story about he, Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard being snuck into the hospital at 2 AM and seeing him on a machine that rotated so his body fluids couldn’t settle and his head held in place. He said he was a man that they knew, respected and loved and because of the nature of the business and the travel, it could have been any of them. Sullivan said that TA truly had intestinal fortitude.
Sullivan told a story of wrestling Dusty on a Christmas Day when people believed in a loser leaves town match. The referee was knocked out and a Santa Claus who was giving out toys, helped Sullivan and knocked out Dusty so Sullivan could pin him. He said a guy in the balcony yelled, “F*** Santa†and jumped out of the balcony trying to get at them.
Someone asked Sullivan why he didn’t get along with Chris Benoit. Sullivan said, “I made him the World champion. What else could I have done?â€
Magnum closed out telling a story about being late to TV. He was woken up and rushed to get there and when he got there, everyone was staring at him waiting to do the show. Magnum said he was never late ever again in his life.
Barry Windham said everyone on this panel worked really hard and that’s why wrestling in their era was so believable.
Sullivan said if you go back in time, this was a celebration of Dusty, the good, the bad and the ugly and the good was much grander than the other parts. He said there are stupid remarks and Dusty sometimes doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He told Magnum of a story where Eddie Graham had to go get Dusty because HE was late!
Tully said that since this is the last Fanfest, he wanted to note that these things wouldn’t be fun without the fans. He wished everyone a great weekend and said he was so amazed and touched by how many fans came to see he and TA earlier and how all of them realized that he never said I Quit in the cage.
Dillon said that they all owe thanks to the fans because without them, none of them would have been anyone in the business.
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