Cowboy Bill Watts, the executive vice president of WCW from 1992 to 1993, is the oldest of the old school, in attitude if not actually in age. That made him very popular amongst other proponents of the old school, and very unpopular amongst more forward thinking people in the company people like Paul Heyman, then known as Paul E. Dangerously, of the Dangerous Alliance. In the old days, there was a fair amount of creative accounting going on behind the scenes, not the least of which was fiddling expenses. The story goes that Heyman was caught claiming expenses for hotel rooms he hadnt stayed in, and (because Watts didnt like him) was made an example of. When Heyman pointed out that he wasnt the only one doing it, he was allegedly made the target of racial slurs concerning his Jewish heritage. The end result would be Heymans dismissal. Watts himself left WCW shortly afterwards and then word got around about an old interview that hed participated in prior to joining WCW in which he expressed some rather old-fashioned notions on the construction of race in society (thereby ruining the reputations of Mid-Southern gentlemen everywhere). People started to think that maybe Watts hadnt jumped after all, but been pushed and that gave Heyman the perfect opportunity. He sued WCW, citing the rampant anti-semitism involved in his dismissal, and given the circumstances WCW had no choice but to settle ASAP or risk bringing down the pre-X-Pac version of X-Pac heat on the entire company. Paul E. Dangerously made quite a tidy sum from World Championship Wrestling, a sum he chose to reinvest in the industry he loved so much. The rest is ECW (and professional wrestling) history.
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.
