Austins partner in the old Hollywood Blondes tag team had been left behind when Austin went solo in 93, and yet again when Austin was released in 95. In 1996, however, Brian Pillman finally hit the big time, pulling off one of the greatest real life swerves in the history of professional wrestling. And he did it all by getting himself sacked. Pillman was a mouthy wind-up merchant with a cheeky grin and a mind like a steel trap. Unlike Vince Russo, who treated worked shoots like punchlines to bad jokes, Pillman understood that they were really magic tricks, requiring perfect timing, sleight of hand and complete commitment to get away with. Together with Eric Bischoff, Pillman came up with a plan for his character the Loose Cannon Brian Pillman, that would elevate him from midcard also-ran to main event status in one fell swoop. He would do something out of order, Bischoff would legit sack him, and then Pillman would go to ECW (who had had a talent-swapping programme set up with WCW for a while a year or two before), become utterly notorious, and return to WCW again down the line to some extraordinary fanfare. Bischoff, a man well used to thinking outside of the box and with absolutely no hesitation when it came to putting over angles that hadnt been tried before, was ecstatic. At February 1996 Superbrawl pay-per-view, Pillman took his moment: he wrecked a strap match with Kevin Sullivan by exposing the business and revealing to the fans that Sullivan was the real life booker of the show, the man who called the shots. True to his word, and seeing dollar signs flashing before his eyes, Bischoff fired Pillman as agreed, who went to ECW, as agreed. Free of his contract with WCW, and finding himself at the centre of a bidding war, Pillman did exactly as hed always planned and took the best offer that came along, one from the WWF: leaving Eric Bischoff waiting by the phone like the homecoming queen jilted on prom night.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
