Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification (30 page)

Like I said earlier, with the girls it was different — but the guys, they rarely showed their true emotions.

That is, of course, with the exception of the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels and Bret “The Hitman” Hart. For several reasons, many of which I’m not aware of — Shawn and Bret flat-out hated each other.

On the surface, it was understandable — they’re two completely different human beings. Shawn was flamboyant, arrogant and at times, downright disrespectful, while Bret was traditional, soft-spoken and a gentleman. Their personalities clashed — in a way, it was representative of old school versus new school. Inside, both individuals despised everything that the other represented, but being professionals, they pretty much kept things in check. Unfortunately, one night at
Raw
, Shawn carried things a little too far.

• • •

Man, the thing I miss most about New York is the talk radio. Howard Stern in the morning, Mike and the Mad Dog on the way home — it was a ritual. I can remember listening to Stern while driving the Long Island Expressway. The shock jock would say something that had me spitting my 7–11 coffee all over myself — then I would look to my right and some hot broad was spitting her Starbucks mocha latte all over herself. Everybody was listening to the same thing. Stern is a genius —

I don’t care what anybody says. Most of my inspiration as a sports entertainment writer came directly from Uncle Howie. Here in Atlanta the morning shows are just pathetic. Do these DJs know that they’re just not funny? All they do is laugh at their own ridiculous jokes. How did these people get on the radio? Is anybody listening?

I just can’t comprehend the things that were important to me two years ago. Did I have so little in my life that I agonized over such things as talk 214

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radio? Man, talk about a guy living with no purpose. I often wonder where I would be right now if God hadn’t come knocking two years ago.

Where would the road to nowhere on which I was traveling have led? If I was depressed then, where would I be now? Thank God those are questions I’m never going to have to worry about answering.

• • •

Anyway, one night at
Raw
, Shawn shows up under the influence of something. He cuts a live promo and hints at a “rumored” affair that Bret was supposed to have had with Sunny one night on the road.

Now keep in mind Bret’s married at the time, and whether or not Shawn’s allegations were true or false, it’s not the kind of thing you want the little wife at home hearing. So now things are really brewing

— given that the two are supposed to work the upcoming Survivor Series. Well — at the next tv — the coffee was done.

• • •

I told you earlier that I was going to touch upon drugs — so I will.

There is a drug problem in sports entertainment. However, we’re not talking about your recreational drugs here (even though there is some use). No, we’re talking about prescription drugs. Painkillers and muscle-relaxants are a serious problem in the locker room. They were before I was there, while I was there and now, after I’m long gone. It’s sad to say, but many of the athletes are addicted to pills.

Let me give you their defense — even though I personally think the theory is weak. Okay, they’re on the road 300 days a year. They put their bodies through hell night after night. They go to bed in pain, they wake up feeling worse. So what do they do? They pop a few little pills and the pain goes away. . . .

Hey man, I’m sorry — I feel your pain, but I have more sense than that. I have a responsibility to my wife, my children, but more importantly, to myself. In my opinion, if you’re hurt, you’re hurt. Stay on the sidelines until you’re healthy again. Nobody knows their bodies better than the athletes themselves. But in many cases I think it’s just 215

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an excuse. I think many of the guys get hooked on the stuff and then try to justify it in their minds, “I’m doing it because I’m hurt and I have to put food on my table.” Guess what? Your table’s going to be empty if you wake up dead.

Once, with my own two eyes, I saw a wrestler — whose name I won’t mention — wheel his tag-team partner through an airport in a wheelchair. Oh, and by the way, the guy in the wheelchair was coma-tose and foaming at the mouth.

It’s a problem — not for everyone, but for some. More needs to be done about it . . . but nothing ever is. Somebody needs to wake up before it’s too late.

I wrote that two years ago. The Big Boss Man, Ray Traylor, just died. But, he hasn’t been the only casualty. Since I wrote the first draft of this book, Curt Hennig, Mike Lockwood (Crash Holly) and Mike Hegstrand (Hawk of the Road Warriors) have also suffered early deaths. When does this stop? When is a program, a mandatory program, put into place to help the boys deal with the many pitfalls of the wrestling business — especially addiction? When is somebody going to step up to the plate and beat some sense into these guys? That was the main reason I started my ministry. If I can help one of the boys — just one — it will all be worth it.

• • •

We were in the backstage area only hours before
Raw
was about to go on the air when Pat Patterson comes running into Vince’s office.

“Bret and Shawn just had a fight in the locker room — I think Bret ripped out a chunk of Shawn’s hair.”

Pat was almost laughing in disbelief. To prevent things from going further the two were sent home. Later, Shawn threatened to never return. On
Raw
JR mentioned that neither Bret nor Shawn was in the building, stating that there had been some sort of altercation. Of course, everybody thought it was a work — smart wrestling fans think everything’s a work. But this wasn’t — it was very real.

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• • •

It’s Easter morning, about 11 a.m. I’m in the back office of my store and I’m writing. And yes, we’re open.

You know, there are some places I can’t go in this book right now due to legal issues, but in the future I will go there because the truth needs to be told. But sitting here working on Easter Sunday, I must say this — I’m currently being sued for defamation of character. While I can’t really say anything about that, I will say something about this —

I wish some people knew what “true” character really was.

I’m working here right now, not because I want to, but because I have to. I have a family to support. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my wife and kids. And you know what? My own wife doesn’t even understand that. She argued with me about going to work today —

like I wanted to do it. But I’ll tell you this — I’ll wear the blue collar any day over the white one. Since I’ve opened my business, I’ve come across so many men making $25,000 a year, if they’re lucky, working 60 hours a week just to put food on the table. On the other hand, I’ve worked with those white-collar egomaniacs who make more in one week than those other people make in an entire year. And the shame is, they don’t even know what they’ve got. As a matter of fact, they just want more . . . more . . . more.

I’m not going to lie to you — it’s much more difficult sitting on this side of the fence. But on this side, the grass is greener. I’ve worked for everything I’ve ever gotten. Since I was 22 years old I’ve worked an average of 55 hours a week — and most weekends. I’ve made many sacrifices; I’ve earned my battle scars. Yet some people want to talk about my “character.” Some people want to take from me and my family. I say fine — go for it.

I’ve preached it over a million times in this book — look in the mirror.
Do you like what you see?

Though I clearly understood what I was talking about back then, the truth is that I should have been taking a closer look in the mirror myself.

Perhaps my struggles were ongoing because of my denial of Jesus Christ.

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Perhaps everything was a battle because I was simply fighting the war without an army . . . a spiritual army. There is no question that the spirit was trying to do the right thing. But the flesh just didn’t have a clue.

I know where many of you reading this are right now. You are saying,

“Yeah, I believe in God, and all I need to do to get into heaven is just do the right thing.” I had those exact thoughts. I was always conscious of doing the right thing. But unfortunately, that’s not enough. Being one with God means sacrificing your whole life to him — by any means necessary, spending every minute of every day of your life glorifying his name and his kingdom. It’s about change — a new lifestyle, a new heart.

It’s a decision, a commitment you can’t afford
not
to make.

With the Survivor Series just weeks away, Vince had his hands full —

but there was also an interesting twist to this story. When Vince coaxed Bret to come back to the wwf rather than sign with wcw, he promised the Hitman a
great
deal of money, over a
great
number of years. Vince probably did so in fear. Bischoff and wcw had already taken Hall and Nash. If they added Hart to that list, who knows what would have happened. So Vince made a lot of promises to Bret, promises he soon realized he couldn’t keep. On paper, Vince just couldn’t afford to pay Bret what he’d agreed to — so Vince told Bret that he had his blessing if he wanted to go back to Bischoff and negotiate. What could Bret say? He didn’t want to leave the wwf, but if Vince couldn’t afford the money he promised him what was he supposed to do? So Bret went back to Bischoff and the two parties agreed on a deal.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Going into the ’97 Survivor Series Bret is the wwf Champion. Vince has to get the belt off Bret, fearing that Bret could take the wwf trophy over to wcw. The only logical thing was to have Bret drop the belt to Shawn at the Survivor Series —

which, I might add, was taking place in Bret’s home country of Canada.

Well — no surprise here — Bret refused to do the job (get pinned) for Shawn in Canada. Not because he was being unprofessional — but because according to Bret, Micheals had said that he wouldn’t
do business
with him (the right thing for the company in the ring), due to the 218

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way he felt about him. In the days to come, Vince tried to come up with every possible scenario to appease Bret, but nothing was suitable for the Hitman. This is where I come in.

Cornette, McMahon and I were at Vince’s house writing television only days before the event. Vince brings us up to speed as to what transpired during the week, telling us he is no closer to a resolution than he was a week ago. At this point, I need to admit that I was privy to a few things that put me smack in the middle of the situation —

but out of respect for Vince, I don’t want to get into details. Next thing you know, Bret’s on the phone. For the next hour or so, Vince threw numerous scenarios by the Hitman, including one in which he would drop the belt to Shawn at an untelevised house show in the States a day or two before the Survivor Series. But Bret wasn’t biting.

He did agree to hand over the belt to Shawn the night after the Survivor Series on
Raw
— but keep in mind that McMahon really was worried that Bret was going to show up on
Nitro
that same night and give the belt to Eric Bischoff instead. Vince brought up his concern, and the Hitman assured him he would never do that. Vince explained that it wasn’t Bret he didn’t trust — it was Bischoff. Bret then told Vince that he wouldn’t allow Bischoff to do that, and then went even further, saying he would call Eric and have him sign a legal document to that effect. Bret hung up, saying that he would call back after he’d spoken to Eric. Hours passed. Bret hadn’t called back.

For what seemed like an eternity we sat at Vince’s dining room table agonizing over what to do. At the time I didn’t trust Eric Bishoff, and wouldn’t believe a word he said even if he signed a legal document in his own blood. Bret wasn’t going to play ball no matter what we did. That left only one option: double-cross him. We’d agree to his plan: he’d defeat Shawn at the Survivor Series, and then hand the belt over to him the following night on
Raw
. But our real plan was to have Shawn defeat him
at
the Survivor Series, without Bret’s knowledge.

Was it dirty? Yeah, it was. But Bret gave us no other choice. I can tell you better than anyone that Vince had come up with every possible scenario to accommodate Bret — and Bret wouldn’t agree to any 219

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of them. Vince was doing what he felt he had to do to protect his company and everybody in it. I backed Vince 100 percent on this, and still do to this day. Knowing all the facts and being involved to the extent that I was, I would have made the same decision.

Day turned into night and the three of us sat there, empty, until it just hit me. Sometimes the answers to hard questions are the simplest and most obvious.

“Vince — we’re making this way too difficult,” I said. “Why don’t we just do this? During the course of the match, let’s have a spot where Shawn puts Bret in his own hold — the Sharpshooter. As soon as Shawn clamps it on, have the referee call for the bell as if Bret quit.

Thus, a new wwf Champion.”

Vince pondered the idea. The meeting ended shortly thereafter —

but we were still some three days away from the Survivor Series.

Over the next couple of days I didn’t have much contact with Vince. I knew that he was still wrapped up in deciding what he was going to do, so I kept my distance. Whether you like him or not, the guy’s heart was being torn apart by this. Vince sincerely loved Bret —

regardless of what Hart might believe today. But business was business. I headed off to the Survivor Series on Saturday still not knowing what the final outcome would be.

There was something different about the Sunday of the big show.