Backstage gossip

[Guest Jay-Sin]

I have always wondered how do guys like Dave Meltzer and every other wrestling journalist/reporter/site adminstrator get there info?(apart from stealing it from each other)

 

I would have thought the agents would tell the talent to keep quiet and not expose much if anything, but no everyday these insider websites have new gossip or spoilers.

Can someone explain this to me?

 

Backstage gossip( I can't edit the freakin typo thread name I made)

[sek69]

Just like any other kind of reporter, Dave has hell of a lot of contacts in the business after being around it so long. Considering kayfabe was still the rule back then I don't think he really sweats when Vince/Steph gets in one of their "OMG SHEETZ R EVIL" moods.

[Ryan Faulconer]

People in the wrestling business are also big showoffs, loudmouths, know-it-alls and gossip hounds. They are like the rest of society only amped up with more recreational drugs, more insecurities, tighter underwear/bigger boobs, less sleep, constant pain and those steroids that everyone love so much.

[khawk20]

People in the wrestling business are also big showoffs, loudmouths, know-it-alls and gossip hounds. They are like the rest of society only amped up with more recreational drugs, more insecurities, tighter underwear/bigger boobs, less sleep, constant pain and those steroids that everyone love so much.

That sums it up quite nicely. I'd add the word "most" to start the sentiment expressed, but that's it.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

I would have thought the agents would tell the talent to keep quiet and not expose much if anything,

They do. A lot of wrestlers don't listen. End of story.

[Loss]

Keep in mind that also, a lot of it is WWE leaking stuff themselves, and then getting indignant about the sheets reporting on it. I don't think it's so much the case right now, but I'm convinced Vince McMahon was Dave's biggest source for years. When Jim Ross got into the inner circle, it became him. Now that he's out, who knows. But I would still venture to say that 90% of the information leaked about WWE is leaked by someone in upper management.

 

WWE benefits from leaking as much as they can themselves, because it gives them a chance to frame the story. In a case like Montreal, everyone involved was clamoring to talk to Dave because they wanted their version of the story to be the one that got out. But they also go through cycles where they forget that and get paranoid, and do a crackdown on info getting out.

 

Historically, that's not even unique to just WWE.

[jdw]

I have always wondered how do guys like Dave Meltzer and every other wrestling journalist/reporter/site adminstrator get there info?(apart from stealing it from each other)

 

I would have thought the agents would tell the talent to keep quiet and not expose much if anything, but no everyday these insider websites have new gossip or spoilers.

Can someone explain this to me?

In the case of Dave, people just talk to him. More times that you would think, people seek him out. Even Vince McMahon sought Dave out a number of times. Vince did the same with Wade as well.

 

One may think it's strange, but after you see it for about the third time, it's almost natural. It's like moths to a light, and more often than one would think, Dave is the light and the people in the business are the moths flying to him.

 

John

[jdw]

Keep in mind that also, a lot of it is WWE leaking stuff themselves, and then getting indignant about the sheets reporting on it. I don't think it's so much the case right now, but I'm convinced Vince McMahon was Dave's biggest source for years.

I don't believe that was the case. When Vince was making his initial big push about the unfair competition from Ted and WCW, Dave began one of our calls with:

 

"Guess who my new best friend is this week?"

 

"Who?"

 

"Vince."

 

And then I got about three hours on what ended up being the lead in the coming issue. When I talked to Wade that week, Vince was also his new best friend.

 

FWIW, I think they both did a good job of filtering through Vince's bullshit whereas other would have such a hardon over Vince calling them that they'd buy his spin.

 

Anyway, that stretch was a bit unique in the time that I was talking to Dave on the level of love and info he was getting from Vince. Dave has usually been pretty clear that his relationship *from* Vince had tended toward Love-Hate, and pretty much Vince being friendly when it Vince thought he needed a "friend". See the Donahue show.

 

You've read enough stuff of the 80s to see that Dave wasn't at all positive towards the WWF, and (if you were a WWF Fan, Wrestler or Employee/Owner) was clearly "rooting" for the enemy. His coverage of the various scandals that hit the WWF in 1991-92 was freaking brutal towards the WWF. In early 1991, Vince tried to get him fired from The National. Etc.

 

Dave's always had sources in the WWF's front office, and also with several of their regional event promoters. And of course with lots of the wrestlers.

 

 

 

When Jim Ross got into the inner circle, it became him. Now that he's out, who knows. But I would still venture to say that 90% of the information leaked about WWE is leaked by someone in upper management.

Upper Management, as in the McMahon, Patterson, Ross, Steph, Trip, "Kevin Dunn" level? I doubt it ever was 90%, even when Ross was a pipeline for him. A lot of the "inside" information that Dave deals in reads straight from wrestlers & agents and in addition these days like mid-level folks on WWE Creative and/or Production. Even when Paul had his hands in the pie, he never really was what one would call "upper management". Even the local promoter who jumped from the WWF to WCW... he was at the level right below the ones mentioned in that first sentence.

 

 

But they also go through cycles where they forget that and get paranoid, and do a crackdown on info getting out.

It's hard to completely crackdown. What you'll more often see is that key sources to information have something happen to them, either in leaving, or in losing a seat at the table, or thinking it wise to shut up for a while since eyes are watching them. So you might see a certain type of information leave the WON for a while, until someone Dave hooks up with someone at the right table within the promotion.

 

 

John

[floyd]

People in the wrestling business are also big showoffs, loudmouths, know-it-alls and gossip hounds. They are like the rest of society only amped up with more recreational drugs, more insecurities, tighter underwear/bigger boobs, less sleep, constant pain and those steroids that everyone love so much.

Lol that's a great (and true) answer.