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JUST A MATTER OF TRUST - RANDY SAVAGE AND VINCE MCMAHON

A Matter of Trust: Randy Savage and Vince McMahon

by Ryan Mulloy

Let me start by prefacing this column. Like everyone reading this, I don’t know why Randy Savage is persona non grate in WWE. There have been rumors and wild accusations about Savage’s exile from programming for years, but the topic still remains hot in the minds of fans everywhere, young and old. If you’re looking for proof, you need look no further than Jim Ross’ blog.

What I’m offering up is only my own theory. No, it’s not controversial in nature. As a matter of fact, the Internet has made this story needlessly complicated. And why shouldn’t it be? It seems like it doesn’t make sense at all, given Vince McMahon’s presumptive greed and ability to work with just about anyone from his past. But maybe we don’t know the real Vince the way we think we do. And maybe I’m oversimplifying it, but I think the reasoning behind the Savage/McMahon relationship going sour boils down to one thing.

Trust.

In 1994, Savage was the WWE’s one true veteran. He represented the company’s past better than anyone else at the time. He was a bridge between the Hogan-era and the Bret Hart-led New Generation. While Savage wasn’t a regular performer at the time, he still wrestled the occasional match, found himself a feud from time to time and put over talent when needed in an almost veteran enhancement role. His main function at the time was color commentary.

Then one week, he was gone. Jerry Lawler’s book indicates that the company was scrambling around wondering where the Macho Man was for work. He had crossed the line and signed with WCW. The last WWE fans would hear about him as a performer and commentator was Vince announcing Savage’s departure and wishing him luck—right on a broadcast of Raw. It was easily the strangest manner to announce that a talent had a left a company, had probably never happened before and certainly hasn’t happened since.

From Savage’s side, it’s understandable that a man who had helped build and maintain WWE expected more from the company. It’s abundantly clear that while WWE didn’t think there was much left in the tank, Savage thought he could still go. To his credit, he was an instant player in WCW from the jump through his departure from the company in 2000. With the exception of his disastrous appearances in TNA, Savage hasn’t been around a wrestling ring since.

The WWE of today is a vastly different beast from the WWF of 1994. The WWF and WCW had a small war going on at the time, but nothing too extravagant. WCW was still putting a wealth of its programming and creative direction into Saturday Night. The flagship of the WWF was on Monday nights. There was competition, but this certainly wasn’t “The Monday Night Wars.”

One of the major differences from then and now is the way WWE handles contracts. Today, wrestlers are signed for set periods of time for a certain amount of money. Fourteen years ago, things weren’t as solid. This is evident from a passage Ric Flair’s autobiography.

Flair tells a story about meeting Vince in 1991 to discuss jumping ship. Flair told him how exactly what the previous terms had been for his contract, but Vince offered him no contract. Instead, Vince’s promised Flair that he would make the same amount, or more, if he simply shook his hand. He also promised him the ability to leave if he felt he wasn’t used properly.

Flair is a legend in the world of professional wrestling, as is Savage. It’s not insane to think that Savage, with his tenure, had a similar deal. I’m not saying Vince made a similar promise about leaving, but it’s plausible that Vince had only a handshake deal with Savage. Savage, with his Babe Ruth-like role and the backstage positioning, had a job for life—he just didn’t want the job they were suiting him with.

Flair made it clear he was leaving and did business properly. If Lawler’s recollection is to be believed, then perhaps unlike Flair, Savage didn’t alert Vince that he was leaving and just packed his things and headed South.

That’s where the trust issue comes in. Vince had taken people at their word for so long. With Savage, there was a friendship, a respect and a business relationship in place for years. Then one day, it vanished. Vince had trusted his friend to not screw him over, but had obviously misplaced that trust.

‘But Savage isn’t the only person who left for WCW. Hogan left. Hall and Nash left. They’ve been back.’ That much is true, but look at the way they left. Hogan was out of wrestling for a year. It’s not like he dropped the title to Yokozuna, then appeared on Saturday Night only days later. And even over the years, even during his WCW years, Hogan and Vince retained some semblance of a friendship, seeing each other from time to time and even discussing a return during Hogan’s big nWo run.

Hall and Nash left for greener pastures. But look back at when they left and the circumstances regarding their departure. Hall and Nash both gave notice well in advance to the point that WWE Raw Magazine had an entire piece dedicated to them leaving months before it actually happened. They finished up their business with the company and left. And even with their baggage, they’ve been back in the WWE.

On the other side of the coin, we have Lex Luger and Jeff Jarrett. Luger had received a monster push that failed miserably from 1992 until 1995. In the midst of a tag team breakup feud with Davey Boy Smith, Luger jumped to WCW, appearing on the initial broadcast of Nitro less than 24 hours after wrestling a WWF house show. As the story goes, Luger’s contract had lapsed without anyone taking notice, and he left. While it was a pretty sizeable blunder on Vince’s part, Luger still took full advantage of it and left the company somewhat high and dry without saying a word. And where is Luger now?

Jarrett is another case of Vince perhaps not seeing someone as “doing business properly.” Even though Luger had done it years before, somehow, someone let Jarrett’s contract lapse. Worse yet, Jarrett was the Intercontinental Champion at the time. Jarrett ended up holding the company up for, more or less, an advance on the money he would be receiving down the road from the company. So when WCW was purchased, Jarrett had to start his own organization for work.

The point is that in the past, Vince and his company seemingly built relationships with the talent based on trust and doing what’s right for the business. For a time, it was honorable, but when the real fires between WCW and WWF started to heat up, it was naïve. Everyone who has taken advantage of that naivety is either out of the business with no place to go or, in the case of Jarrett, working twice as hard to keep a young wrestling company in the black.

This should be a lesson to everyone reading this. It should also be a lesson to wrestlers in general. It seems even more timely and appropriate after hearing Carlito’s recent statements about Triple H (a de facto McMahon). If you burn a bridge anywhere, you need to be aware of the consequences. It may seem like a bold move at the time that some people will pat you on the back for it, but at the down the road, it might not really be worth it, you might not be able to find work and, in the end, you may fade into obscurity. If you don’t believe me, then talk to Savage, Luger or even Madusa.

Ryan Mulloy can be reached at rpmulloy@comcast.net.