Yes, that's a picture of Bill Watts shaking hands with the first African-American world champion in wrestling history, Ron Simmons. However, if you were to believe the memo that offended Major League Baseball home run king (and Turner Sports executive Hank Aaron), you'd think Bill Watts was a terrible human being. Hired as WCW's booker in 1992, it was the following quotes from a talk with the Pro Wrestling Torch in 1991 that got Watts in hot water. Upon reading them, consider that Watts is also the man who made the Junkyard Dog a superstar, plus set into motion Ron Simmons' title win. Hiring Watts is smart business, but definitely too-controversial business, too. If you want a business and you put money in, why shouldn't you be able to discriminate? It's your business.If free enterprise is going to make or break it, you should be able to discriminate? It should be that, by God, if you're going to open your doors in America, you can discriminate. Why the f**k not?That's why I went into business, so that I could discriminate. I mean, really. I mean I want to be able to serve who I want to. It's my business. It's my investment ... I can't tell a fag to get the f**k out. I should have the right to not associate with a fag if I don't want to. I mean, why should I have to hire a f**kin' fag, if I don't like fags? Fags discriminate against us, don't they? Sure they do ... Do blacks discriminate against whites?Who's killed more blacks than anyone? The f**kin' blacks. But they want to blame that bulls**t Roots that came on the air. That Roots was so bullsh*t. All you have to do if you want slaves is to hand beads to the chiefs and they gave you slaves. What is the best thing that has ever happened to the black race? That they were brought to this country. No matter how they got here. You know why? Because they intermarried and got educated. They're the ones running the black race. You go down to the black countries and they're all broke. Idi Amin killed more blacks than we ever killed. You see what I mean. That's how stupid we are. But we get all caught up in this bulls*it rhetoric, And so, it's ridiculous what's happening to our country.Lester Maddox (former Georgia governor and defiant restaurant operator) was right. If I don't want to sell chicken to blacks I shouldn't have to. It's my restaurant. Hell, at least I respect him for his stand".
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
