McMahon answers critics on TSN
By GREG OLIVER -- SLAM!
Wrestling
TSN's Off The Record grilled Vince McMahon on Tuesday night, yet in
retrospect, it can hardly be called a
controversial show.
McMahon ducked a couple of questions, and quite possibly because host
Michael Landsberg was in Stamford,
CT at the WWF's head office, he didn't follow up perhaps the way he
would have in his own studio in Toronto.
The first segment of the show was the most enlightening and all about
Owen Hart's accident and funeral.
Landsberg asked the tough questions, and deserves kudos for getting
McMahon to go on the record.
Criticized in the media for continuing the Over The Edge PPV after
Owen's death, McMahon said that "at the time
we didn't think of not continuing. None of the performers, none of the
producers, not me, no one. Whether or not
that's because, as performers, it's ingrained in us that the show must
go on, I don't know. No one thought of
stopping the show at that time."
Landsberg followed up saying that it was disrespectful to the Hart
family to continue. McMahon responded that
it all depends for your point of view and that at the time, it did not
occur to anyone to stop the show, and that
somehow they got through the final two matches after Owen's death was
announced to the TV audience.
McMahon said that he did not announce to the live crowd in Kansas City
at the Kemper Arena because he didn't
know how they would react. "My guts were telling me don't announce it to
the live audience that Owen passed
away" and that announcing his death after the show was over "didn't seem
right."
"I don't know what would have happened to the audience. I don't know how
they would have felt. I don't know
what they would have done, whether or not there could have been any
panic."
The WWF president and chairman also talked about his first meeting with
Bret 'The Hitman' Hart since the
Survivor Series incident in November 1997, which took place in Calgary
at the time of Owen Hart's funeral.
"Out of respect for Owen, I met with Bret," said McMahon. "Bret carried
the entire conversation. I really thought
he wanted to talk about Owen. He mentioned Owen one sentence and the
rest of it was about Bret."
Landsberg asked what Bret talked about.
"That I ruined his marriage, that I ruined his career, he wanted to go
back to that incident at the Survivor Series.
All that he wanted to talk about was himself, nothing to do with his
brother. It was looking into the eyes of a
skeleton, in some respects. It seemed like he wasn't human. It was a
very weird experience," said McMahon.
He also said that it was his "duty" to be at the funeral, that Owen's
widow Martha asked him to be there, and that
he wanted to be there.
McMahon also clarified -- eventually -- that he was going to pay for the
entire. "What Martha wanted was a very
lavish funeral. Fine, if that's what she wanted, then that's what we
were going to give her. And we had a blank
cheque for the funeral home. Subsequent to the funeral being over, we
understand that she, I guess on the advice
of her attorneys, I don't know, decided to come in and pay for part of
the funeral."
He also said that the letter to the editor of the Calgary Sun was not
meant for publication, and that was only to set
the record straight. [The letter is in our
Owen Hart section.]
"I would suggest that one of the reasons why there is such a bad P.R.
type situation here is, really don't rest too
much with Owen's widow Martha as it does with Bret because Bret was
right in Martha's ear in all of the
publicity, all of the talk shows, all of the media. Bret talking
horrible about the WWF fans. Sure, I mean there's no
question there's that personal vitriol that he has with me. That's the
entire hour and some conversation was all
about that, when Bret and I spoke. Not anything at all about Owen,"
McMahon said.
After the first commerical break, things took a decidedly lighter turn
as Landsberg brought up Minnesota
governor Jesse 'The Body' Ventura and his participation as a guest
referee in SummerSlam. Landsberg's question
was 'who asked who on his date?' but McMahon ducked it, and the host
never got back to it.
McMahon said that he and Ventura "always respected each other for each
other's abilities."
Landsberg then countered that it was totally unacceptable that a sitting
governor could participate in such an
event. McMahon smiled, and said "ouch" and congratulated Landsberg for
having his own opinion.
"I couldn't have imagined I'd be working with Jesse six months ago,"
McMahon admitted. He wound up working
with Ventura because it is "very good business. I mean, it's
controversial, and you're adding a little bit to that
controversy, thank you very much by the way."
Landsberg followed up, asking if there was anyone McMahon wouldn't work
with. McMahon again avoided a
direct answer, and wondered about the circumstances of a situation such
as working with Eric Bischoff, rather
than a simple yes or no.
In the next segment, Landsberg brought out an old Wrestling '86 magazine
where McMahon was quoted on the
cover as being the 'Walt Disney of wrestling.'
"I wouldn't want to be the Walt Disney of 1999. I think I was then, in
'86," said McMahon and that the times
have changed him.
In the final segment, McMahon declined to criticize Eric Bischoff, but
said that the Monday night wars were
"definitely not" over.
McMahon said that a "more contemporary product" turned the tides of the
Monday night wars in the WWF's
favour. "And work ethic and passion, and the fact that the model that
Ted Turner bought -- or stole depending on
your point of view -- from us was a 1980s model."
Landsberg then ended the show by saying that it was the input of Linda
McMahon, Vince's wife, that turned the
tides, and promo'd nicely into Wednesday's Off The Record at 6 pm EST
with both Vince and Linda McMahon.
The following day, Off The Record will have Shane and Stephanie McMahon.
