• OLD SCHOOL VIDEO HISTORY (January 08, 1985) – WWF Prime Time Wrestling
On this day in 1985, the World Wrestling Federation aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF Prime Time Wrestling’.
It featured pre-taped matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the first ever ‘WWF WrestleMania’ event.
The card can be found right here:
– Bobby Heenan vs. Salvatore Bellomo
– Angelo Mosca vs. Mr. Fuji
– Bob Orton Jr. vs. Swede Hanson
– Roddy Piper vs. the Tonga Kid
– Barry Windham vs. Moondog Rex
– David Sammartinovs. Ken Patera
WATCH: Lana Having Fun With Her Assets:
• Scott Hall Reveals What Exactly Made Him Leave The WWF
In this flashback article, we take a look at an old shoot interview with WWE Hall of Famer “Razor Ramon” Scott Hall, where Hall discussed his decision to leave WWF for WCW.
Below are the highlights:
Scott Hall: What I do remember about that is I gave my notice 90 days in advance in writing as required contractually which meant I didn’t want the contract to roll over.
It was a one year deal to kept rolling. It was ten matches at $150, $1,500 a year guarantee. Don’t get me wrong, the money was way better, but then I felt like I had grown as a performer. I felt like I was more of a part of the company. But my pay had started to plateau. So I went to Vince and said, “Hey boss, what do I need to do to improve? Is that my ring work? Is it my mic work? Because my pay has plateaued and I want to make big money like the guys who preceded me.”
And then he knew something was up. Then they summoned me to Connecticut for a meeting and I went in prepared. And this is when it was a private company, it’s not publicly traded. And in Vince’s mind if you made more, he literally made less. And I went, “Hey boss, like I said, I’m no mathematician but I do look at my merchandise statements.” I said if we move the decimal point a little bit, would the McMahon family really notice? Because the whole family would notice anyway. He goes, “Nope. No. I’m not going to do it. I give you the same thing as I give Taker and Kevin. Nope, not gonna do it.”
So I said that I was thinking if a fan buys a Razor Shirt, that’s their money. Not yours, their money. And then on the same theme I said I still want to work for you, but let me have 12-15 weeks, I go to Japan and get their money. And he goes, “I need you here”.
I mean, the way that all those guys got paid after we left was merch. Austin, Rock, Triple H, Shawn, all those guys, Taker, all making a huge money was off merch because he started giving them 50% of the merch.
So I go out with Triple H and rock it. We worked double shot the night before Saturday and Sunday in Garden (MSG) and Vince and Pat come to the shows and they sit in a crowd and they watch. But he never sold. I mean he never came to me and said let’s work this out, you know, what we have to do. He never sold it. We’re doing record business.
That night in the (Madison Square) Garden was the largest revenue producing event, non pay-per-view the WWF has had at that point. Sold out Madison Square Garden in house show. And Kev’s in a cage was Shawn. I’m underneath with Triple H who’s subbing for Goldust because Goldust got hurt in Europe. And I remember thinking like ‘wow, I can’t believe’…I felt bittersweet like ‘wow, I’m really leaving. I’m going down there tomorrow…what the hell’.
And finally Vince summons me to his office like I’m sitting there, me and Triple H just rock it with the message Pat Paterson gives us. Because before we’re just going out wrestling and he’s beating me. And Pat comes and he goes, “You’re over. They love you here.” He laid it out where I would go out and I’m taking my gimmicks off, giving them to the ringside guy and Triple H jumps on me and beats me up, throws me on the floor, choking with the cable and I’m laying in the aisleway.
And so marks are there going, “Razor ain’t doing no job in the Garden, man. He’s doing no job in the Garden. He ain’t doing it.” And then they start going, “Razor….Razor….Razor.” I blew into that ring and he starts feeding me like a job guy. And now marks are going, “He’s not leaving.” Because on the way to the ring half the crowd is going, “Please don’t go…Please don’t go.”
That’s it…I pick him up for my finish, ref walks behind me, Hunter’s feet hit Earl (ref). He’s down. Everybody in the building knows that the ref is down. And the WWF rings are twenty by twenty. It’s that extra foot. I can drop him (Triple H), I cover him, I don’t count myself. I turn, pick ref by his waste. Boom! Pedigree! One… two… three… and I lay there forever.
And then when I get up. They start going and now there’s a bigger voice, going, “You sold out…..You sold out.”
Then I remember getting on the mic and my whole deal had been, “Say hello to The Bad Guy.” This time I went to say, “Goodbye!” And then they all went, “To The Bad Guy.”
Then they come to me, “Vince wants to see you.” I was like cool because right now things are great. I’m not hurt. I’m done and I’m going to WCW the next day. I have no idea what’s waiting but I’m going and I know Kev’s coming. And he takes me to his office and he goes, “Dammit, you still work for me. How much did those sons of b*tches offer you?”
And I’m thinking, Vince, like I came to you months ago. I’m going, “Boss, I don’t really feel comfortable talking about this. I told Eric Bischoff that I’m coming down and work for him tomorrow. So I didn’t ask you to match it.” He was, “How much?” And I told him. And he went, “Whoa! That’s pretty good money when business is doing good.”
I’m thinking, “What? Like months have gone. 90 days have gone by. You never said that let’s work this out. I didn’t want to leave. I really didn’t want to leave.” So the WCW contract was ‘If I choose to work for WCW, I’m guaranteed this (amount of money), but I don’t have to come. If at the last minute I decided to stay with WWF, I can’.
Host: So he still, theoretically, could have kept you?
Scott Hall: Yeah, but he didn’t. He wasn’t prepared to make a guarantee because at that point I’d have taken less, but I just wanted a guarantee and he wasn’t prepared to do it.
