The Talent Raid - History Repeats Itself

[Bob-O]

Unless you're living under rock, it's been impossible not to notice all of the indy names showing up in WWE the last few years. If you ARE living under a rock let me tell you, WWE has been signing a lot of big indy names lately, but don't worry about that. I'm more concerned about the fact you're living under a rock.

Anyway, sure, it's not so odd for a talent to have a career before WWE. It's not so odd for the occasional familiar face to show up, like a CM Punk, but the last few years we've seen the indy scene lose Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black, Chris Hero, Low Ki (they gave him back), Jon Moxley, PAC, Claudio Castagnoli, Brody Lee... Sami Calahan is on his way... the list goes on and on, and you hear about different 'darlings' getting tryouts all the time.

While it's exciting to see these guys "make it", to achieve what had to be their ultimate goal, it's also bittersweet in a way. We'll likely never see these guys in that intimate setting that makes indy wrestling so great ever again, and if we do, it won't be the same. It's kind of sad, actually.

But not as sad as the first time they did it.

Rewind to the 80's. Vince McMahon Jr had bought the company from his father and it was game on. Vince had been a force in the company for a few years, and now that company was his he answered to no one. His own father even warned promoters of other territories about the "big" plans his son had.

While wildly notorious for venturing outside of his territory, and outright buying others, the talent raids in a day before contracts is largely overlooked. The worst victim being Verne Gagne and the AWA. The WWF's very image and personality, beyond McMahon himself, was swiped from the AWA! Gene Okerland, Bobby Heenan, Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Snuka, Jesse Ventura, even Billy Graham were all developed by Vern Gagne for his use in the AWA. No name changes, no gimmick changes, one day these guys are working in Minneapolis and the next day they're punching the clock in New York... with literally days, sometimes zero, notice (Bobby Heenan being the ONLY exception)! These guys had recorded interviews and matches for TV, had been booked and promoted in various cities... gone, for more money. The parallels with the talent raid in ECW are scary, foreshadowing to say the least.

Every effort Verne made to rebuild was foiled by McMahon. The Rockers, Sargent Slaughter, Sensational Sherri, Yokozuna, Rick Martel... all picked from the AWA as soon as they got over. While the blame is mostly on Verne for not signing his talent to contracts, you can't help but feel bad for him. Sad as it is though, there's no denying what it did for wrestling and where it is today. There's no denying what it did for the fans. The real shame is no Hall of Fame induction could ever give Verne the credit he deserves for his contribution to it.

Thanks for reading! See you in the threads!
Bob-O