tuck off
If your an employee, you do what your told…


The bottom line is that if you are employed by someone you do what he or she tells you. For example if I'm at work and the boss tells me to go and clean the urinals in the washroom with a toothbrush, you know what I do? Well, first I wonder why the hell he is asking me to do this (I'm not a janitor) and second I may think or mutter a few choice words for the prick. But you know what I do immediately after that? I walk to the washroom, toothbrush in hand and proceed to scrub those urinals until they are morning fresh. Grumbling and complaining, maybe, but I do it. Why? Because I am an employee. And when you are an employee, you do what the boss tells you to…that's just the way it works…that's what makes the world go round!

If someone is paying you money for your services, and you have signed a contract agreeing to perform said labor; you do what they tell you. This statement isn't even an issue in most average jobs. So why then, is it that all of a sudden this seems like such a big issue in the wrestling world? Allot of the rumor talk over the past year or so has been concerning how some wrestlers won't do what their employers tell them to? I don't know what's causing it, but nowadays we're seeing a rather large outbreak of cases in which wrestlers are refusing to do what they are told to do by their bookers and promoters. And I'm not talking about refusing to take major bumps or risk injury. If the personal well being of the wrestler is being jeopardized, obviously that's a different matter. What I'm referring to is situations in which the only thing that could possibly be hurt is pride. It seems egoism and arrogance is taking over the wrestling world. You know it's a problem when even the lowly mid-carders are refusing to lie down!

do your job
Do your job...and do the job!

I'm sure that disagreements (even down right brutish conflict) between management and the wrestlers have occurred over wins and losses for quite a long time. But this recent outbreak of wrestlers rebelling against the booking seems to have gone further than the norm. Indication is how employee vs. promoter disputes has become a number one topic of debate with many so-called Internet insiders, geeks and smarts.

Some say this whole breakout all seemed to start right about the time that Disco Inferno refused to lose to Jacqueline on WCW TV. Now I'm not much of a WCW fan, but I can say this; yeah, it would have been embarrassing to do the job to a woman, but if you're a professional, you must act like a one and take it on the chin. Look at Mark Mero for example, he has been beat up by many a women on national television (because that's what the boss wanted) although some may argue that this is part of the reason why Mero's career is where it is now! Me I don't think so, but that's another story. Anyhow (lets get back on topic) some claim ever since the Disco incident, we have been getting a steadily increasing number of reports about wrestlers refusing to cooperate with upper management. As for me, I think the grand daddy of them all was the now infamous Brett Hart Screw Job! Before it was just talk of guys who were either fired because of their disagreements, or whose departures were hastened by such confrontation. But now just the name Bret Hart immediately brings to mind the devious nature of the business. No matter what you thought about that situation, you can't deny that what took place happened because Brett refused to do what management wanted. What Brett desired (to forfeit the title the night after being victorious at the pay-per view) was just not possible. I mean how would it look for the Federation champ to show up on Raw and say "see ya' fellas', I've got bigger plans in WCW, so take this belt and shove it"! (Now I know it wouldn't have been quite that vulgar, but none the less damaging)

brett
"Brett screwed Brett"??

So, what do I think? Whose side am I on? Well that's easy, I'm on the side of the employers. In fact, this whole thing is so simple that I can't believe there's any discussion about it. When you are an employee, you do what you are told, period and explanation point.

Sure, some jobs may be embarrassing? But life or career ending? Absolutely not. Sure jobbing to some hideously untalented brute whose not worth even a second of television time may be humiliating, but if the bookers want to push this guy, and they decide you jobbing to him is the way to do it, then that's their decision. It's their choice, you (the employee) have no real say in the matter, and are obligated by contract to do as you are told.

With Bret, the situation apparently differs a little because of the clause in his contract that granted him "reasonable creative control". But in the end, I would have thought that Bret's professionalism would have compelled him to realize his demands were unrealistic. If they told him to lay down for Shawn at Survivor Series, then maybe he should have done just that.

I'm going to stay away from any more specific examples, but we all know who I'm talking about. So if Bishoff wants someone to lose his mask., or if Vince wants a big name to lay down and loose the belt - they should! Is it right? Probably not in a lot of cases! I'm not saying that wrestling companies are always right in what or how they book. Nor am I saying that the wrestlers should blindly accept and be happy with what the companies are doing with them. If they feel that they are being misused and are due a better place in the company, then it is their right to petition for it and/or to leave the company and pursue their career elsewhere (ummm…can you say Jericho?)

But when the chips are down and all bets are off, when the final booking has been settled and the management has made it's mind up, the employees duty is to his company. No wrestler is bigger than this industry, or the company that employs him. They're paying them for a service, and they expect that service to be rendered. If they don't like doing that service, then why in the hell are they in this business in the first place?

In the end, no matter how much we like to romanticize and embrace it, wrestling is an industry. And in an industry, there are workers and there is management. The workers, as in every industry, want to advance their position and move up that ladder. But they must keep in mind that they work for the boss, not the other way around. If they don't like what's being done with them, then maybe they should try going somewhere else where they think they will be treated better. But until they do so, they should bite their tongue, swallow their vanity and do their job. I say leave the bitching to us….the Internet geeks!


P.S: We here at Tucker 3:16 truly believe there are greener pastures for the one with the lion hart - Run C.J Run!

Column editor:
Matt Tucker
Credit:
"Macho Mac" Jeff McGinnis
www.nwwwo.com/



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