The Untold Stories Of ‘Heroes Of Wrestling’
It’s been 20 years since that disastrous night at Casino Magic.
The promoter of Heroes of Wrestling was Billy Stone, former president of Virginia-based Fosstone Productions and current executive producer at CBS Sports. During the ‘90s, his company produced several pay-per-views featuring combat sports. With pro wrestling’s popularity exploding, an executive at pay-per-view provider iN DEMAND suggested that Stone tap into the market.
With a knack for getting something to air for a reasonable amount of money, Stone saw great potential and limited financial risk in promoting a wrestling event. The goal was to assemble wrestling legends (not working for WWE, WCW or ECW at the time) for one last outing. If the PPV drew 41,000 orders in a potential audience of 41 million viewers, it would be profitable enough for future events, establishing a senior circuit for pro wrestling, The Sun Sentinel reported. Stone had a relationship with casinos in the South, so he was easily able to book the Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, MS, to host the event.
Having watched the spectacle in his youth, but having zero knowledge of the inner workings of the business, Stone recruited a booker. Michael Lombardi, promoter of Northeast Wrestling (NEW) in New York, says he was asked by Sid Vicious to get involved. Stone had approached Sid, either indirectly or directly, to be the main event star on the PPV, Lombardi says. But then, Sid got signed by WCW and was out of the project.
Lombardi was tasked with recruiting a roster of familiar faces of the independent wrestling scene back in the ‘90s. He also reached out to Vader, Terry Funk, Bam Bam Bigelow and the Honkytonk Man, but they all declined. Nick Bockwinkel was actually advertised to be there, perhaps in the commissioner role that was later bestowed upon Capt. Lou Albano, but did not attend.
Although nobody was still under contract to Vince McMahon, many of their characters and names were intellectual property of WWE. In order to advertise these stars without legal ramification, Stone hired an attorney to make sure everything was done by the book. For example, Yokozuna was listed as “two-time WWF Champion, the former Yokozuna” and the Bushwhackers were listed as “Luke & Butch, formerly the Bushwhackers.”
An anonymous source from Fosstone Productions claims two days after the event, Stone received a phone call from Connecticut. WWE’s legal team said they were going to go after Fosstone Productions, the source says. After Stone assured them that he would never, ever attempt another Heroes of Wrestling, WWE’s legal team said there wouldn’t be any problems, the source says.
Julio Fantastico
When looking at the lineup of legends and hall of famers on the card, one name sticks out: Julio Fantastico.
The flashy, flamboyant high-flyer was in his mid-20s and had never been signed by a major company. Later known as Julio Dinero, he would go on to work for ECW and TNA before retiring in the early 2010s. “Someone in the business asks me about Heroes of Wrestling once a year,” says Dinero, who still has a Heroes of Wrestling T-shirt in his closet.
Fearing there would be too many slower-paced, gimmicky bouts on the show, Lombardi wanted to book a match between two younger guys who could tear the house down. 2 Cold Scorpio was an established name who could still go, and Reckless Youth was an indie standout who could use the rub. However, Youth signed a developmental deal with WWE, so Lombardi asked another of his go-to guys to replace him. “Taking his place was an honor and getting to wrestle 2 Cold Scorpio was really cool for me,” Dinero says.
A wrestling fan since 1977 and only active in the business for five years at this point, Dinero considered the event a huge opportunity. Not only would he be rubbing shoulders with his childhood heroes, but this was his first time on PPV and the exposure would be extremely beneficial to his career.
“The Headshrinkers, Marty Jannetty and Tommy Rogers saw each other for only 30 seconds before their match,” Dinero says. “They didn’t discuss anything beforehand and had a really entertaining match. They were such pros they could just go out there and walk and talk and go, showing guys like me you don’t need a three-hour conversation to go out there and have a wonderful match.”
Dinero and Scorpio did discuss their match beforehand, but it was all for naught. Originally told they had 15-20 minutes, Dinero says they were told to wrap it up about nine minutes in. “The whole middle of the match just got cut,” he says. “I’m glad people like the match, but we felt ripped off. We didn’t get to do anything.”
As for the rest of the show, Dinero remembers watching it backstage with the other wrestlers, surrounded by plenty of coolers filled with beer. Many people believed the event could evolve into a regular touring promotion, Dinero says, but that notion quickly soured during Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ performance. “We knew that debauchery had occurred in some way,” Dinero says. “It was instantaneous when we realized it would be remembered. There was no going back.”
As far as impacting his career, Dinero (who will be coming out of retirement on October 19 for Create A Pro Wrestling) says that Heroes of Wrestling helped him get more bookings outside the promoters he was already working for. It also introduced him to major players within the industry.
“I was at a WWF event and Chris Jericho came up to me,” Dinero says. “He had seen the event and said I did good on the show. He also gave me pointers on my promo, saying I was speaking well, but too fast. It was cool that other people in the business, especially guys I looked up to, actually recognized me from this thing.”
Calm Before The Storm
The night before the event, there was excitement in the air.
Heroes of Wrestling was an opportunity for many of these older stars to have their second act in the business. An established businessman was financing the operation and many of the wrestlers were working with their friends. Plus, they were staying at a casino.
Dave Dwinell, a referee for over 30 years, says after a “couple Pepsis,” Snuka, Albano and he were doing high kicks up on stage like The Rockettes. A couple referees saw Stone and his lawyer running the ropes in the ring, Lombardi says. Paul Bearer, who was under contract to WWE at the time, lived near the casino and stopped by during the event.
The next day, a production meeting was scheduled at 9 a.m. That meeting moved to 11 a.m. and then 1 p.m., says Michael St. John, a Memphis Wrestling announcer brought in for the event. Having been part of SuperClash events in the past, which the AWA partnered with other promotions to produce, St. John says that he was always used to some degree of chaos.
“There were a lot of changes seemingly every hour,” St. John says of Heroes of Wrestling. “I got the feeling that the concept was good, but once everybody got there, the execution got crazy.”
Several wrestlers missed flights and showed up late, Lombardi says. There simply weren’t enough staff members to type up formats, set up production and coordinate with the talent. “People were bogged down with a lot of different responsibilities,” Lombardi says.
Plus, casino personnel were bringing trays of beer into the locker room before the show, Lombardi says. “I said ‘you can’t do this,’ but I was overruled,” he says. “I was told if ‘I want to take care of the wrestlers, this is my show.’”
Although Lombardi was tasked with recruiting talent for the event, Stone had final say over everything, from which matches would take place (Lombardi credits Stone with Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff vs. the Bushwhackers) to Crisper Stanford, entertainment manager for Casino Magic, being hired as ring announcer.
In addition to facing Greg Valentine, George “The Animal” Steele served as the agent behind the scenes to help his fellow performers put their matches together, Lombardi says. Steele also came up with the storyline for his bout, Lombardi says, in which Sherri Martel tried to play both sides of the fence before ultimately betraying Steele and helping Valentine win.
“I was criticized on one of the websites for pointing a finger at Steele and yelling at him,” says Dwinell, who refereed the bout. “There was no heat in that match. I was trying to get some kind of smoke, never mind heat. I was trying to come up with something that would at least add something to the match rather than two guys standing there doing nothing.”
Michael Henry, Lombardi’s right-hand man, helped book talent, brainstorm ideas and handle production and logistics. In addition to his backstage responsibilities, Henry was also seen on air during the Tully Blanchard-Stan Lane limousine angle. “I hung out with Tully a lot that weekend,” Henry says. “We got dinner and even went shopping at Walmart to get knee pads. He was going through a separation with his wife at the time and always talking to his lawyer. But when it came time for the angle, the promo and the match, Tully was great.”
Despite production issues such as poor lighting and the camera missing some moves, Stone was quite pleased with the event until Abdullah the Butcher’s bloodbath with One Man Gang. An anonymous source from Fosstone Productions says Stone turned to Lombardi and asked what the deal with all the blood was, to which Lombardi responded “they went off script.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Lombardi says. “It’s improv. I do have recollection that Bill was freaked out by the amount of blood. We told Abdullah to keep some things to a minimum.”
Veteran referee Fred Richards, who was assigned the Abdullah-Gang bout, says that Lombardi took a lot of undeserved flak. “The biggest problem was they didn’t want to bring us in a day early, so we didn’t have a chance to get agents and set up the show as it should have been,” Richards says. “It was like an indie show and it showed.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naGMHSSE1HU
Main Event
Multiple people claim they knew Jake Roberts was in rough shape hours before his scheduled match. According to an anonymous source from Fosstone Productions, Stone was told that Roberts was a “loose cannon, but that he always did his job in the end.” Unfortunately on this night, Roberts jobbed to his personal demons.
An audible should have been made as soon as Roberts stumbled through his now-infamous backstage interview with Michael St. John. “I worked with Jake before. He’s a really good guy,” John says. “I knew he had some issues partaking in spirits and drugs, but I didn’t know it was to the point of insanity. Jake was high when he got there and higher when he left.” A fixture of Botchamania, Roberts drunkenly rambled about gambling references, saying “You wanna play 21? I got 22.” (Twenty years later, a clean and sober Roberts said the same line during a segment on The Road to AEW All Out.)
He was originally scheduled to face Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart in the semi-main event, but that was changed backstage during the show to include Yokozuna and King Kong Bundy in a tag team match. Shortly before Roberts’ match, referee Dave Dwinell was told none of the wrestlers were willing to take the pin. “I went into the ring without knowing the finish because there wasn’t a finish,” he says.
That was a common issue on the independent scene, according to fellow referee Fred Richards. “Legends don’t want to do the job because they feel they cheapen their worth next time somebody wants to book them,” Richards says. If these aging stars weren’t willing to lose on non-televised shows in high school gyms, they certainly weren’t going to be pinned on PPV, especially if Heroes of Wrestling added future events as was hoped.
According to Lombardi, Neidhart wouldn’t take the pin because WWE contacted him and was interested in signing him. Neidhart claimed WWE told him not to lose at the event, Lombardi said. Although Neidhart didn’t return to WWE TV until the RAW 15th Anniversary eight years later, he did work for WWE’s developmental territory in Memphis in 2000.
As for Bundy and Yokozuna, it wasn’t a matter of them refusing to lose – they were contractually forbidden from it. Lombardi said that both men had written in their contracts with Heroes of Wrestling they would not be pinned or submitted. Regardless, Stone liked the thought of two behemoths colliding, felt that was a PPV-quality attraction and wanted the match booked, Lombardi said.
When Roberts walked to the ring to meet Neidhart, he plopped his rented snake in the corner and then walked back up the ramp to the back. That’s when Henry, who the commentators referred to as “Mini Bundy,” offered to take the DDT and have the snake draped over him to end the show.
“Bundy was pissed at Neidhart for refusing to job, but he was also one who didn’t like to job, either,” Henry says. “Neither Bundy nor Neidhart wanted the snake, and Stone wanted the snake spot, so I was the sacrificial lamb.”
Roberts re-emerged (the commentators claimed he was playing mind games) without his T-shirt, and walked outside the ring before grabbing a woman’s hands and forcing her to caress his breasts. They finally locked up in the ring before Roberts unleashed the snake from its sack and stuck it between his legs in a suggestive manner.
“I tried to put myself in front of the handheld camera, but that didn’t really work,” Dwinell says. “I was getting very frustrated with the whole thing. I was ready to tell Bundy to throw me outside the ring so I’d pretend to get hurt and have another referee come out. Bundy told me not to worry, he’d take care of it.”
As Bundy came out to aid Neidhart and help set up the tag team bout, Roberts staggered around the ring before the duo grounded him, buying time for Yokozuna to enter the fray. Eventually, Bundy splashed Roberts and Dwinell counted to three. “They weren’t even the legal people in the ring, but I didn’t care at that point,” Dwinell says. “I would have told Bundy to splash me. I wasn’t confused – I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Otherwise, they might still be wrestling now.”
Afraid that Roberts may accidentally hurt Henry, Yokozuna called an audible to end the show, giving Henry a Samoan Drop. “He told Jake not to touch me,” Henry says. “I’m not a trained wrestler. I’ve never taken a bump like that before. It’s weird to think a 640-pound Samoan Drop would be safer to take than a DDT, but in reality, it was.”
Worried about what Roberts might do, Stone ordered the technical director to fade to black. On the bus ride back to the hotel after the show, Henry says that Stone ripped him and Lombardi a new one. “Michael and I just looked at each other shaking our heads like what the fuck did we get ourselves into,” Henry says. “Michael really did try to do his best with what we had. I don’t think it could have been any better than what we tried to do. No matter how bad the main event was or how fucked up Jake was, we at least got out of there with some semblance of a finish.”
A few days after the event, Roberts wrote a letter to Lombardi apologizing for his actions.
Randy Rosenbloom
While Roberts has since cleaned up his reputation in the wrestling industry, working with Diamond Dallas Page to overcome his addictions, another man who received enormous vitriol for his performance on the show has never been given an opportunity to address his critics. His name is Randy Rosenbloom and he was the play-by-play commentator.
A professional broadcaster for almost 20 years at that point, Rosenbloom was a fixture in Southern California, working for NBC and Time Warner. He has covered the Olympics, Wimbledon, Los Angeles Clippers, UNLV football, UCLA basketball, Canadian football, the Softball World Series, beach volleyball, you name it. A 1978 California State University Northridge (CSUN) graduate, he received the Associated Press Radio Award for football reporting in 1981, and the AP Basketball Award in 1985, 1989 and 1990.
With his booming voice and live broadcast experience, it’s easy to see why Stone figured Rosenbloom could tackle yet another sporting event. They had a great relationship: Stone previously hired Rosenbloom to cover boxing, Ivy League basketball and women’s tennis.
“I actually skipped a UFC-Oregon football game to do Heroes of Wrestling,” Rosenbloom says. “That was a radio game. In my mind, I always put television as priority. I thought it was an opportunity to expand.”
Popular belief is that iconic wrestling announcer Gordon Solie had to drop out of Heroes of Wrestling after being diagnosed with throat cancer, so Stone turned to his friend to help him out. Despite his diagnosis, Lombardi says, Solie was still going to come to the event and do what he could to help out. But he required a first class plane ticket from Tampa and Stone refused to pay, Lombardi says.
As evidenced by the likes of Mike Adamle and Jonathan Coachman, commentating pro wrestling is unlike calling any other sport. Especially if you have limited to zero knowledge of the genre, as Rosenbloom readily admits to having. “I watched a little as a kid, but pro wrestling wasn’t on my radar,” he says. “I didn’t have a background in it. But I tried as hard as I could. If you break the tape down, my on-camera is very good.”
In addition to his other responsibilities, such as helping out with production and helping write the show, Henry says he was tasked with teaching the entire wrestling business to Rosenbloom in just two days. “I remember Tully and I eating lunch and trying to go over what the names of the moves were,” Henry says. “Randy tried, but it was just too much, too soon.”
Backstage before the show began, Rosenbloom says everybody was friendly. He asked the wrestlers what their signature moves were and any factoids they wanted him to tell the viewers. “He had a really good announcer’s voice,” Dinero says. “It would have been interesting to see Gordon Solie keep a straight face during this stuff.”
Rosenbloom and his broadcast partner Dutch Mantell (aka Zeb Colter in WWE) conducted the 30-minute pre-show that went out to all the cable systems. Without social media, YouTube or a weekly television show, the pre-show was the primary platform to entice viewers to purchase the $19.95 pay-per-view. “The pre-show with Dutch was real good,” Rosenbloom says. “He knew the wrestlers much better than I did, of course.”
Although Solie was advertised as the host of the event, including on a commercial during the pre-show, his absence was never explained. Instead, the show opened with Rosenbloom welcoming viewers to the beautiful Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, promising a “historic night.” As he and Mantell ran down the card, Rosenbloom wisely let his partner handle most of the backstory regarding why each bout was put together. However, their chemistry quickly fizzled out during the matches, as Mantell grew frustrated with Rosenbloom’s lack of knowledge regarding the moves. After Rosenbloom would call an arm drag a “slam takedown” and a dropkick a “flying leg kick,” Mantell would immediately correct him. By the time “Cowboy” Bob Orton faced Jimmy Snuka, Mantell lost his cool.
“You’re trying to call this like some stupid UCLA-Oregon basketball game or football game,” Dutch yelled. “No, this is wrestling. Anything goes!”
“I didn’t mind the guy,” Rosenbloom says. “He wasn’t rude before the show or anything like that, but he was getting hostile during the broadcast. I just didn’t sense that he wanted me to be there. I think he could have been a little kinder in working with me. You don’t do that kind of stuff on the air.”
Mantell did express concern for Rosenbloom at the end of Abdullah the Butcher versus One Man Gang. The two behemoths went hardcore, busting each other open with a fork and chain. As they brawled outside the ring, their blood splattered on Rosenbloom’s notes. Mantell could sense that his rookie partner was shaken up, but Rosenbloom marched on to the next segment.
“I was in the dark in terms of what to expect,” Rosenbloom says. “I can’t tell if they were acting or not. When you’re watching something like this, it’s entertainment. You don’t know what’s real or what’s not.”
After Roberts’ drunken antics in the main event, Rosenbloom says he knew the powers that be were not happy with how the show ended. But he had no idea how vicious the wrestling community, specifically its media, would be in judging his performance. Reviewer after reviewer labeled Rosenbloom as the “worst announcer in wrestling history,” slamming him for not knowing the jargon.
“It’s wrestling – it’s free-fall, no holds barred, the rules go out the window,” Rosenbloom says. “What’s the difference if I called something a different throw? Did it really matter if I used a different term than they’re accustomed to? There were production issues and things changing on the fly. The event itself was built around mistakes.”
Rosenbloom watched the event a year ago on YouTube and says he found it “mildly entertaining.” “I thought I was smooth on this show,” Rosenbloom says. “I’m not going to say I was great, but I thought I was solid and got us from match to match. The criticism was way over the top. I understand the wrestling fraternity was upset their guy (Solie) wasn’t there. But that’s not anybody’s fault – the man was ill.”
In the 20 years since Heroes of Wrestling, Rosenbloom has continued sports broadcasting in Los Angeles, hosting a weekly show and covering college and high school sports. Although his accolades have piled up, Google still reminds his friends and peers of one disastrous night many moons ago.
“It’s the one thing in my career that bothers me,” Rosenbloom says.
Legacy
Casino Magic, which was largely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, was renovated in 2006 and renamed Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast.
According to an anonymous source from Fosstone Productions, Heroes of Wrestling drew between 27,000 and 32,000 buys. Although it was fewer than the 41,000 buys that Stone had hoped for, according to the source, Stone and his investors did break even on the event. Everyone that I talked to mentioned that they had been paid what they were promised or expected, which is certainly a testament to Stone’s professionalism.
At the time, critics labeled it as the worst pay-per-view of the year, and many have gone on to call it the worst pro wrestling show of all time. After watching it for the first time in August, I disagree. Most of the matches were entertaining, especially Scorpio vs. Fantastico and Tully Blanchard vs. Stan Lane, and at least the company tried to create storylines to make the bouts meaningful. Compared to the production value and rosters of WWE and WCW at the time, of course this show wasn’t going to hold up. It wasn’t supposed to – it was something different, an alternative, if you will. Between the commentary (Rosenbloom did a fine job for his first time), the action and the blunders, it was certainly never boring, which can’t be said for the majority of WWE programming over the past year.
“We had the best intentions,” Lombardi says. “I’m very appreciative for any opportunity that was extended to me in initially being involved in the project.”
Heroes of Wrestling also ignited the industry’s love of nostalgia, inspiring countless reunions, conventions and fan fests over the past 20 years. WWE would go on to create its Legends program just a few years after the event , taking iconic personas and hall of famers and putting them into current official WWE product offerings like action figures, books, DVDs, etc. Plus, WWE continues to tap into the nostalgia well every WrestleMania and supershow in Saudi Arabia, dusting off stars of yesteryear for another chance in the spotlight. Many of those performers are now the same age (or even older) that the Heroes of Wrestling participants were back in 1999.
Under different management with more experience in the business, perhaps the show could have given birth to a new promotion. After all, the industry was in the middle of its peak, setting record crowds and drawing record ratings. With barely any advertising, Heroes of Wrestling still did respectable numbers, indicating the market was hungry for a nostalgia product.
“It’s one of those things you never forget because it was so absurd,” Richards says. “It’s kind of like a merit badge to be involved in the worst show ever.”
(Dutch Mantell politely declined to comment on this story. Requests for comment from Jake Roberts were never answered.)
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Nice article about one of the most tragic days in wrestling history.