WWE Employee Says HOF Means Nothing, X-Pac Update, Lots More
The Evening Tribune has an article on former WWE star "The Genius" Lanny Poffo (and brother of "Macho Man" Randy Savage) reciting a poem he wrote for a minor league baseball team during their rain out Wednesday evening. He was supposed to throw out the first pitch, but the game rained out and he recited six anti-smoking limericks and a custom-written limerick for the minor league baseball team instead. Poffo currently travels around the country teaching kids about the dangers of smoking. He also talked about his wrestling career, and beating Hulk Hogan in a match in 1989, in the article.
"When I go to the kids, I use wrestling as the gateway because a lot of the kids are wrestling fans. Then I'm honest with them," Poffo said. "I admitted that I did steroids in 1989. I was going from "Leaping Lanny" to "The Genius" and this was my big break and I'm sorry I did it. When I finally wrestled Hulk Hogan on NBC, I beat him. Only, I didn't beat him, he let me win. I couldn't beat him to the bathroom after the match if it was real, and if I sat on his lap, my feet wouldn't touch the floor," Poffo joked. "It's just the way it is."
The CMLL promotion is interested in bringing in Teddy Hart and Jack Evans, reports the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Also, Evans & Hart have talked to CMLL officials about using Sean "X-Pac" Waltman as the third member of their team. However, Waltman hasn't appeared on their shows in a while.
RockyMountainNews.com has an article on backstage WWE worker Bruno Lauer, otherwise known as Harvey Wippleman. His WWE Women's Championship win in 2000 is brought up, and Lauer doesn't take any pride in his accomplishment. He also takes a swipe at the WWE Hall of Fame, saying it doesn't mean anything because the office picks who gets in. "Let's face it – this is sports entertainment," Lauer said. "I wasn't champion because I was great. I was champion because the (front) office said I was going to be champion. It's like people think being in the (WWE) Hall of Fame is such a big deal. It means nothing, because the office decides who's in."
He also talks about managing wrestlers that didn't have much success with him, such as Giant Gonzalez, and calls former WWE wrestler Mr. Hughes a drug addict (which could explain why he abruptly left WWE after only a few months in the company in 1993). "The caliber of some of the guys wasn't exactly the best or I had bad luck with some of them. (Curtis) Hughes was an impressive guy, but he became a drug addict," Lauer said. "The other problem was that I don't think I was given the same chance to get over (to the crowd). I wasn't (paired) with worldwide stars in Memphis, but I could get me and my guys over because I knew how to draw heat by talking. WWE wasn't using their managers in the same way at the time."