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Kayfabe! – Supercard: Bob Orton Re-Experiences WrestleMania
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Supercard: Bob Orton Re-Experiences WrestleMania
This is easily the weakest of the three editions of this series, mostly because Orton doesn’t have the outgoing personality that both Bundy and HTM have. By his own admission, he was just happy to be there, and all he wanted to do was work. That’s not to say that this is bad. Orton and Sean seem to have some nice rapport, and Bob seems comfortable in the interview setting. But, he doesn’t seem to have much to say about the things Sean asks about.
The most fascinating parts, to me, were Bob talking about his early years in the business. Specifically a comparison of Vincent J. McMahon to other promoters like Paul Boesch and Sam Muchnick, who were reputed to take very good care of their wrestlers, versus ex-wrestlers like Bill Watts, Verne Gagne, and Eddie Graham who wanted to get “A lot more out of you, for a lot less money.” The subject of the superplex comes up, and Bob settles the longstanding debate on who did it first, and it wasn’t him! He gives full credit to the late Scott Irwin. They discuss Andre the Giant, and how he always liked Bob, because Andre dated his sister, to the point that on Bob’s last night of his first run Andre put him over (although the History of WWE website states that Andre actually won that match). He says that Jim Crockett promotions had the toughest road schedule, even worse that Mid-South, and that was a deciding factor in jumping back to the WWF in 1984.
Orton has a somewhat famous distinction of being involved with the first Starrcade, WrestleMania, and Saturday Night’s Main Event. He tries to give himself Main Event status in all of them, but I think Flair vs. Harley at Starrcade overrides Orton/Slater vs. Wahoo/Youngblood. Sean, always the consummate professional when he interviews, asks about the legitimacy of the arm injury, but Bob won’t budge. They talk about various workers, and Bob shows a lot of respect for both the midgets and the lady wrestlers, specifically saying that Little Tokyo could drink anyone under the table, and that Moolah is a “tough old battle axe” and thought that Randy’s RKO to had killed her.
After the backstory talk, and getting into the buildup and actual event of the first WrestleMania, is when the interview loses steam. Bob doesn’t much to say about anything. He doesn’t know who came up with the concept of the show or whether or not Vince was really going to call it the Colossal Tussle. He doesn’t know if the War to Settle the Score being on MTV effected any of the matches as far as them trying to keep things clean. The subject of David Schultz slapping John Stossel is more or less glazed over, and nothing is mentioned about Schultz planning on shooting on Mr. T. Bob does say that he had no issues with Mr. T, which is a stark contrast to Piper and Orndorff. The one thing he does shed some light on is the TV segment where Piper and Orndorff are working out and throw Mean Gene out of the gym and then attack a pedestrian (Note from Mike: It’s on youtube, and it’s hilarious). It’s obviously staged, and Bob points out that if that was real he’d probably still be in jail. He’s not sure who they actually beat up, but probably some random crew member.
When talking about the actual WrestleMania event, it’s more of the same. Sean runs down the card and asks about the various workers and Bob doesn’t have much to say besides “Great guy” or “Good worker.” He does put over JYD for their matches in Mid South. The interview closes with Sean reading a quote from Piper about the aftermath of the show, where Hogan and Mr. T were whisked away in a limo and Piper and Orton were on their own, with the only security being a police officer on horseback. Orton says that it’s absolutely true.
