• Old School WWF Manager Would Have Celebrated His Birthday
Today would have been the 69th birthday of Old School WWF Manager Frenchy Martin (Real name: Jean Gagné).
The French-Canadian used to wrestle during the 70s & 80s and he was still an active professional wrestler when he joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1986.
In late 1987, he became the manager of fellow French-Canadian Dino Bravo, whom he managed till April 1989, when “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart became Bravo’s new manager.
In between, Frenchy Martin also managed Jos LeDuc during LeDuc’s short WWF run in 1988.
By mid-1990, he retired and left the WWF for good, only to become the head booker for IWA in Puerto Rico.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY & † REST IN PEACE!
May 25, 1950 – October 21, 2016
• Jim Ross Says Most People Running WWE Don’t Understand Wrestling
During a recent interview with ESPN, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross promoted All Elite Wrestling’s Double Or Nothing PPV, not re-signing with WWE & more.
Below are the highlights:
On WWE not even wanting to negotiate a contract extension with Jim Ross:
“I’ve tried to represent our business in an admirable and honorable way since 1974. I got taken out of the game by the coaches and the team’s decision, of which I didn’t agree with. So what do you do? Well, you can b*tch all year, or you can do what you’re signed to do and when the opportunity comes, like I did here, my contract expired and he and I agreed we’re not even going to negotiate to extend it. To negotiate to do the same thing I’d been doing is something I could not live with.”
On being a part of All Elite Wrestling:
“I’m going to do all I can to help this young group. Share what I got, what knowledge I have, what expertise I have, whether it be in the infrastructure of the talent relations department or other areas. As a senior adviser, I can advise anyone in the company, especially the president.
So I may be as much as Tony Khan’s consigliere as any other job. It’s a good way to describe what I’m doing as senior adviser is helping all of these guys, but I’m not going to get into that world of playcalling and strategizing matches. If somebody asks, I’ll tell them what I liked and didn’t like, how I thought it could be better or whatever it may be.
I don’t want to be head of talent relations. I’m not hiring any talent. I’d like to make that clear. People are wearing me out wanting me to hire them. I don’t hire anybody. I would have not signed on if I had to be an EVP and be in charge of the talent roster.
It wouldn’t have been something I wanted to do. My patience for some of the millennial kids they are hiring, that anybody hires – they need a lot of time, time I don’t have. I’m going to help them as much as I can, but that’s not my area of expertise.”
On most people running WWE not understanding wrestling:
“I’ve always had a little bit of creative freedom to express myself. Over time WWE kind of reeled that back in, I guess they had some of that research or it was due to personal philosophy, I don’t have a clue, but most of them don’t understand wrestling – they are in administration there.
They are great marketers, they’ve got some brilliant, brilliant people in WWE, no doubt about it, but I think some of the key decisions are being made without an inordinate amount of product knowledge, which is not going to make them happy to hear, but that’s the way I look at it. Vince could do better by surrounding himself with a different kind of consultant or writer or creative people or whatever.”
