[1992-03-16] Donahue: Vince McMahon, Dave Meltzer, John Arezzi, Barry Orton & Bruno Sammartino

[garretta]

We come back from break to a caller (I always wondered how they were able to have calls when the show was pretaped) asking Vince why Garvin and Patterson resigned, why Vince accepted their resignations, and if it's true that Mel Phillips was suspended instead of fired. Vince acknowledges the information, but doesn't answer any of the questions.

 

Another lady gets up to say that if anyone involved had any knowledge of child abuse, they should have come forward. Phil agrees, so do I, and so should anyone else with a conscience. Barry rather heatedly defends himself by saying that his career is over because he spoke out, and then everybody talks over everybody else again. Superstar wanders into the fray, reiterating his point that Hogan's lies constitute child abuse, which of course has nothing to do with the question at hand. Bruno then says that some of the incidents were reported, but the McMahons chose to do nothing.

 

A young man gets up and says that it's a shame that everyone on the panel except Dave is choosing to accuse Vince. He brings up Barry's criminal past and David Sammartino's firing, which draws a laugh from Bruno. Bruno blows him off by saying that he'll understand when he grows up. He looked plenty grown up to me, Bruno. Phil's not too anxious to head down these roads anyway, so we move on. (Yes, I noticed the Lex Luger shirt. I wonder where the guy got it.)

 

The last lady to be called on before the break clearly isn't a fan; she wonders why people get into wrestling in the first place; it's tacky, sleazy, and not a pure art form. Phil brings up the money and the fact that people love it, but that's not enough to convince her. Phil brings on a caller, only to cut him off for a break before he can say a word.

 

Nobody on the panel looks good in this segment; they're all too busy trying to defend themselves and their actions. I expected better from Bruno in particular, but I don't think Phil would have let him talk about David's firing, so maybe it's better that that question was just ignored. The rest of the questions either couldn't be answered, presumably for legal reasons (Vince being asked about Garvin. Patterson, and Philips) or ran into a kayfabe stone wall (though it's hard to blame Barry, since wrestling's probably the only thing he's ever wanted to do, and now his career's over). Everyone involved seems ready to call this a draw and move on to the next hot subject.

 

I think we only have one more segment, which I'll get to in my next post.

[garretta]

We begin this segment with a guy asking for a percentage of how many wrestlers in the WWF are homosexuals. Phil cuts him off with an exasperated "Nobody knows that!" He then asks the guy to report back to him once he finds out how many homosexuals are in his neighborhood. Bravo, sir.

 

Over the credit roll, a woman asks, "Isn't wrestling fixed anyway?" Phil answers that who wins and loses is a creative decision of the booker (though he doesn't use that term); this show is about possible crimes being committed.

 

In what should be a fitting final question, a man wants to know: Even if what everyone says about their careers possibly being over if they blow the whistle on sexual abuse of minors is true, are those careers worth sacrificing the well-being of young children? Bruno answers that they're not, and we close on one last ovation.

 

As is usually the case with daytime TV, nothing is settled, and at times the yelling gets to be a bit too much. But I learned some things I didn't know, particularly about the demise of the midgets, and Phil didn't ramp up the sensationalism to unbearable levels like some of today's hosts would have. In the light of future events, it's really hard to say that anyone in the actual firing line (that is, everyone but Dave and Arezzi) came out of this looking good, but that would be almost impossible under the circumstances.

 

The sad thing is, Vince has never bothered to repeat his performance here when faced with major national interviews again, instead preferring to hide behind his Mr. McMahon heel character (as in his interview with Bob Costas) and thus cement his reputation as a liar, a heartless conman, and a borderline lunatic. It's too bad, really; a little more public remorse in the light of events such as Owen Hart's death may have saved the business from plunging quite so far into the pop culture abyss as it has today (with the notable exception of The Rock).

 

Thanks for reading, and now let's get back to actual wrestling!

[Bix]

We come back from break to a caller (I always wondered how they were able to have calls when the show was pretaped) asking Vince why Garvin and Patterson resigned, why Vince accepted their resignations, and if it's true that Mel Phillips was suspended instead of fired. Vince acknowledges the information, but doesn't answer any of the questions.

Donahue and some other daytime talk shows (including Oprah) aired live in their home markets.

 

As for Murray in the WBF: He did the opening narration on the home video of the first event and that was it. In the WWF, he did a few weeks of Event Centers as Mark Jennings that aired in scattered markets. There's a VERY brief clip of one of his Event Centers in the segment on the scandals that Geraldo Rivera's "Now It Can Be Told" magazine show did:

[garretta]

Thanks for the info, Bix.

 

The home market Bix refers to, in case anyone's curious, is New York, where the show aired on WNBC.

[dawho5]

Honestly, I didn't think anything really got accomplished here.  Just a bunch of guys trying to corner Vince and mostly not being successful.