An interesting time to talk to the King as hes just quit the WWF here. He reads out a letter at one point wrote to the WWE trying to get his job back - also he shares his thoughts on the major news regarding the WWF purchase of WCW
I have binge-listened to the Wrestling Observer Lives covering, roughly, the ten days available online/YT dating from March 19-28th (here), and wow, it was fantastic. WCW being sold, and the build up to a serious contender of the best WWF PPV ever, WM 17, made these shows compelling, informative, and energized in a way that could not ever be replicated. These WO's serve as a time capsule to a wild, crazy ride that reshaped the business forever. Great, great stuff.
thanks so much for this upload! it's so interesting to hear lawlers take on things at this time in the industry following the events of the joint firing and WCW purchase.
Jesus hearing Jerry read that letter was something. You can hear in his voice reading it how much his getting fired had an effect on him, not just from a monetary standpoint but from an emotional one.
He was hurt that they let him walk when he chose to make a power play to try and save Kats job. But he didn’t get fired. He chose to quit, hinged his immediate return to Kat, declined an offer to return that summer over Kat, and eventually went back in the fall when Kat was gone. He floated the theories of why it wasn’t just her but realistically it was on her. She wasn’t a big star on her own merit and basically any ideas for her were put out by Jerry and she would always push back on ideas for her interest as all do. But the reaction and what people will put up with varies greatly on who it is. You’ll put up with the inconvenience for a star who is worth it but not for a wrestler who is basically only there because of her husband because everybody who has to work with the person is going to be negative when they have to put up with a person who is difficult knowing why she’s there to begin with. And when he tried to make a play like he did they let him walk largely because they didnt want to set that precedent of talent doing that to get their way, which is why throughout the time he was away before he went back despite the negative things he said and did the door was continually open for him to return and it be just him but not his wife too. He was sad that they let him go but ironically they were saying a lot about how much they did value him by him walking out, causing a lot of issues with what he said and had people do to harass people there, and having him decline to return multiple times and still being brought back on board and still having a contract all this time later. If they didn’t value him highly they wouldn’t have done all that
March 28, 2001: "I'm pretty sure me doing this interview has closed a lot of doors for me with the WWF". November 19, 2001: "What, WWF, you want me to come back to RAW? sure."
