Between The Ropes (eBook)

Brian, I just don't think there is a place for a show on pro wrestling on this station. I'd rather stick to real sports. Those were the immortal words of Dick Sheets, the program director at WQTM back in July 1997 when I approached him about doing a radio show strictly on professional wrestling. I can't blame the guy for shooting down the idea either, but that doesn't mean I liked it. Seriously, I was just a rookie in the radio business, only twenty-four years old and having worked at Central Florida's Sports Radio 540 The Team for less than a year. I had never been on the air before,much less hosted a show, and I truly had no idea what I was trying to get into. Dick knew I was greener than grass, and wasn't about to put me on the air, especially hosting a show on pro wrestling. Dick was always hard on me during my early days at the radio station, and rightfully= so. I had to pay my dues like everyone else when it came to the different duties there. I wanted to be on the air in some capacity, whether it was part of a show or simply doing the sports updates. But I was far from ready. He would grill me on a regular basis, making me cut demo tapes and picking them apart with his keen ear. I wasn't too happy with his assessment most times, but he was the boss, and he knew best. Who was I to say he was wrong? He was a respected radio man, who had been running major radio stations longer than I had been walking on God's green earth. The man at least took the time to speak with me and go over the little things, making sure that I was truly prepared when I finally got to pop my radio cherry. But just because Dick shot down my idea then, it didn't mean that I forgot about it.Wrestling was hot. I mean scorching, fireball hot. You had two big promotions fighting one another, putting on kickass programming each and every week, trying to one-up each other. The war between the WWF and WCW continued to heat up week after week, as the two sides showed nothing but contempt for one other. This was one of the great times in wrestling history, and I was soaking it up. World Championship Wrestling was hitting an unbelievable peak, with the nWo crashing the show, taking their no-holds-barred attitude to new levels. The World Wrestling Federation had its own uncontrollable group in Degeneration X, who would stun people with their brash behavior on television. Plus, a new star had burst onto the scene like no one had done before. Stone Cold Steve Austin. On top of all this, Extreme Championship Wrestling, a renegade promotion out of Philadelphia, was pushing the limits inside and outside the ring with its outlaw performers and unbelievable wrestling, throwing out the rules of the past to create its own wrestling genre which caught on with its fanatical fan base. Wrestling was big - bigger than ever before - and I wanted to talk about it on the radio. I was sure there was an audience for it, since millions of people were tuning in every week and spending an enormous amount of cash on wrestling tickets, pay-per-views, and merchandise. You couldn't walk down the street with someone wearing an nWo or a Stone Cold shirt. Wrestling was in, and I wanted to discuss it on the air. But that would have to wait, because the station I worked at wasn't interested in a program unless it was about a real, bona fide sport. Luckily, I had several things going for me. First, the popularity of wrestling was not going away. In fact, it continued to grow with Steve Austin's battles against his boss, Vince McMahon, and an emerging supernova star in The Rock. Plus, there was no letdown in the bitter WWF vs.WCW war.