back to the exit door
I think we'll call this "Drawing Heat by Being Me" since, as you'll read just being me with my opinions had its moments for drawing heat. The following happened at the end of the summer of 1997.
When I was writing for newsletters, called "sheets". I had a column called "Below the Belt W/Bill". which tok some real hard shots at things in wrestling(which now just about everybody does funny how nobody did it as much back in 1997 so I got alot of heat then for what people do al the time now). I took my shots at indy wrestling especially the fact that if you have 'name' guys on the show and draw less than 200 people, you're obviously doing something very wrong in theactual 'promoting' of the show(something which I proved myself right when I locally promoted three shows for WWA New England and drew more than alot of indy's in the US and smaler Japanese groups, nothing helps the truth hurt more than when you prove your theory right and can back it up). Various indy promoters used to write the Wrestling Edge, and acouple of smaller sheets, their editors pissed at what I always said about it, and their common 'theme' was "if he thinks he knows so much why doesn't he do it and prove us all wrong", when I did and drew over 200 for an afternoon show(with an ice storm the night before no less)and 480 for evening show(in a gym that held 500 people), I found it funny how their theme changed to "oohh he got lucky", then when I did it again with the Farmington, NH show that ran against a "Bracelet" night of the Rochester Fair(and that was one of the biggest nights the fair has annually) and drew over 500 people in gym that held 700 people. Most of them ahem, 'promoters' suddenly had a case of the shut the fuck ups. One show lucky? Maybe. two(even though it was on same day as afternoon show, and angles were run on afternoon show to blow off on evening show doesn't matter) Lucky? II...don't think so...three shows I think the point was well proven which is why I had alot of indy promoters not liking me because I showed what common sense and unlaziness can get them, attendence, heck of a concept.
The biggest heat I ever got? Was for reporting and giving an opinion on something Dave Meltzer, Wade Keller and Bryan Alverez all reported on. NWA NJ got accused of using the names March of Dimes and Make a Wish Foundation's names without permission, falsely advertising that their shows were fundraisers for said foundations when those foundations weren't even involved. it was even printed in acouple New Jersey Newspapers so I had plenty of evidence to go ahead and voice an opinion of what I thought about that shady trick they got busted on. Little did I know that me being me would get what I got over the course of acouple months, which added fuelto the fire on my fragile and cracking thru the thin ice marriage I all seemed but pretended tro have. If you don't think the pro wrestling business can help kill a marriage or relationship, marry someone or date someone who hates everything about wrestling except for Jim Duggan and The Undetaker, then get into the wrestling business and see how long it lasts.
The issues of the newsletters came out and both the editors(at least one of them) made sure the NWA New Jersey office got a copy of that issue with my column on that. I had a listed phone number and wham! Here came the nasty messages on my answering machine. The late Dennis Caroluzzo who ran NWA NJ, his partner Gino Moore, Tommy Fierro (Who has the IWF in NJ now) and a kid named Eric "Snapshot'Simms, all ecided it was 'cool' to call NH from NJ and leave nasty messages. Every couple days there'd be a new nasty message including Fierro doing imitations of both Jimmy Snuka and Metal Maniac. Alot of the messages were "I don't know what I'm talking about, the story's false, we might come up to NH and then what are you gonna do", etc etc. Meldy the now ex-wife, PISSED OFF, MAD AS HELL, lol. sometimes they'd call when i was home and I'd pick the phone up and give it right back to them. "You want me to make a retraction you get Keller and Meltzer to do it first, I bet you're not leaving messages on their machine are you, you aint' got them kind of balls". The Chicagoan in me was definetely coming out.
I remembered telling Dale Pierce about this and he reminded me of a line he once told told me when he found out I was thinking about getting into indy wrestling(for Sousa's group), "whatever they say, give them the response they least expect, you're quick witted enough and an asshole like me, I know you can come up with something to get em pissed off, don't let them have the power".
The editors of the Wrestling Edge and a sheet down in Alabama knew about the calls cause I told them. I usually had free reign to write about anything in my column so the idea came to just, write about it. This became an issue because they didn't want to be liable for a lawsuit so they asked if I could provide proof. I told them I'd call them back with a way to give them proof. the idea presented itself when i went to change tapes in my stereo. my answering machine was one that had a regular size cassette tape. Drove to KMart got some blank tapes, and started dubbing the messages onto acouple blanks, popped them in the mail that day, then called the editors back and said "Your proof will be in your mailbox in about 2 to 3 days, the column I'm sending now that you'll have the proof will be following".
The messages kept on coming, and I decided before I wrote the column out, I'd have a talk with both a local cop I knew and an attorney. Both said file a police report. Interstate phone harassment was a felony, both in NH and NJ. The cop said "make a report and say so in your column include the report number in case someone inquires, we can pull it up".
So I made another copy of the all the messages up to that point, and added one that Eric Simms left as I was making the copy. he had the big boast of "Don't ask what you don't want, we may come right up to NH". After I filed the report, I wrote out a scathing column which included the report number and a the editors added a disclaimer that proof was provided to back up the following...The editor for the sheet in Alabama actually called Caroluzzo and played the tape over the phone to Dennis and said "Bil's got you, you were dumb enough to leave your name on these messages. so if he files a report and presses charges, you can get arrested and extradicted to NH because that's where he recieved these messages". The editor was in law enforcement down in Alabama and he was a great help on this.
After it was sent out I decided to do some poking around and found Eric Simms's email addy, I map quested directions from Cherry Hill NJ right to my place and sent it to Simms, saying "I'm now asking for what I definetely want, I want you to show up, here's the directions when you coming billy badass".When he started copping out with excuses of "You'll have your neighbors jump us", I realized I hit a nerve, it didn't come right away but with his excuses the light bulb in my head slowly came on and I was giving them the response they weren't expecting. This was the start of some things that started to fall into place where I was able to fully turn the tables back on them. There's no such thing as coincidences but sometimes the sun the moon and the stars do align jjjuusssttt right.
The third Sousa show (where I officially became part of the group)was going to feature who? Jimmy Snuka and The Metal Maniac, both in Manchester and then acouple weeks later at a night of legends show in Haverhill, Mass. So the column came out and Fierro calls leaving a message denying he's doing imitations of Snuka and Metal Maniac. he left a second message and I picked u-p the phone. I said "Ok, we're gonna find out Tommy, one way or the other". He says "Oh yeah, how do you think you're gonna do that"? I replied with "Well seeing that both Metal Maniac and Snuka are \booked for an Atlantic Wrestling Federation show in Manchester, NH and I'm now with them, I can just play the messages where their voices are alleged to be there, and see how they respond to it, how's that for an idea Tommy, Think they'll admit to calling me and breaking an interstate phone harassment law"?
(Click)......Tommy? Tommy? Yoo Hoo, Tommy...Tommy didn't star 67 his number so I called him back and when he answered I said (imitating Snuka back at him), "you wanna do them imitations now brotha, the superfly is gonna get splashed with all this in acouple weeks brotha and he gonna know about it brotha". (Click)...Tommy? Yoo hoo...
The Manchester show came and I had the new issues of the newsletters and handed them to Sousa with a copy of the messages. I said "You can do whatever you want to do with this information, if you'd like to ask them about it, go ahead, that's not my only copy". Right at that time Dale sent me a tape of Rage in The Cage Wrestling show where he took his camcorder in the locker room and got the 'workers' and owner riled up by showing them a column where I ripped their product(even Dale would tell you they sucked, lol). These guys ripped the shit out of me so the wheels were truning on how i can have some fun with that and I thjought well put the audio from the video on the cassette tape, add some wisecracks before during and after, and then.....then the light really got bright...Sousa later in the show asked me what I was gonna do with my copy of the messages and I said, "I'm gonna have some fun with it. gave him a rough draft of an idea I had going in my head and he said "You wouldn't dare", and I said, "You don't know me well enough to try doubting me". whether Sousa actually asked Snuka and Metal Manic I don't know, never asked.
After the Manchester show it was the following day when i started farting around with the idea. on my tapes of messages I had before each message, who it was, the exact day date and time. so I hooked up a mic to my stereo and started dubbing, firing wisecrack after wisecrack after each and every message. I had friends over while I was doing this and they knew what was going on, one handed me the current issue of the observer and it made the mention that NWA NJ "settled out of court" with the March of Dimes and Make-a-Wish Foundations. well damn, if they didn't do anything why did they have to 'settle out of court' for? mmm mmmm mmmm.you know I added that to the wisecracks...my friends were laughing and on the audio you can heaqr em laughing at every crack i made. After that I added the audio from the video that Dale had sent me and titled the tape "Wrestling's Biggest Jackasses".
I decided to make it part of my wrestling tape list as a joke, not that I ever expected anyone to actually buy a copy of this. but what the hell. I made a few 'give away' copies and sent them out. Dale got a copy, every newsletter editor I knew or knew of got a copy and I was nice enough to even send one to the offices of the NWA NJ att: Dennis Caroluzzo and Gino Moore.I went to my attorney friend and told him what I did and his first response was "boy are you skating across a gray area here". My first response and usually the first thing that pops in my head is the best response was, "They can't sue because if they try it's their voices, so they'd have to actually admit they made the calls, right? Wouldn't I don't know much about the law in these situations but if they admit they made the calls isn't that kinda like they're admitting they commited a crime with the phone harassment"? Jerry smiled and said "I think you might have something there, let me look further into it". Jerry called me later and said "You got em, what you said is exactly right, they try to sue you they have to admit they commited a crime that's a felony in this state and theirs, legally they can't do crap unless they want to bury themselves, if they try I'll represent you and one of partners here has a licence to practice law in New York and New Jersey, you're covered and I hope they come and try".
If Dale Pierce calls you long distance it's a rarity, he called me laughing cause he got my give away copy. "You are such an asshole coming with that idea, I didn't even have that idea".We both had a big laugh when i said "You think that's a response they're least expecting"? The editors of the sheets i wrote for except for one said they'd plug the tape.I said NWA NJ might say you'll never get an interview with their wrestlers, one editor said "fuck em, we're getting interviews with ECW wrestlers because we go to the Philly and NY shows", the one in Alabama said almost the same thing as he was trying to get guys down south over in his sheet. I gave a copy to manager Chris Grande who played it in the locker room of a manchester show and Sousa came up to and said "You better never go to a show in New Jersey". LOL. he then smiled and said "That, was a very devious way of getting even, you think you'll actually make any money off that tape"? I shrugged my shoulders and said "If not, just knowing it's there and the possibility of making money off them idiots is good enough for me". I actually had to run that audio tape acouple dozen times because people actually did want buy it, people do get into the strangest things, LOL!
In the apartment complex I was living in I had a black family from Brooklyn and the husband offered to give me a pistol as a just in case. I told him the only thing they're gonna waste on me is hot air, they won't even leave the garden state let alone waste the gas and toll money to come here, and they never did come. Every time I saw a car with Jersey plates I would wait to see who the owner was, had I been wrong I would've confronted them right then and there.That's just how I am and how it was growing up in Chicago.
Funny how all the messages suddenly stopped when my give away copy landed at the mailbox of NWA NJ. No more Fierro doing imitatioons, no more punk threats from Simms Caroluzzo called once saying he was gonna stop me from having that tape, I said "I have two words for you, good luck", he made a threat to come to my door and I told him to call Simms he has the directions I gave him, hop in a car with him and show up, or shut up...(click).....Gino Moore calls an hour later with the same speel and I faked snoring ast him over the phone, which really pissed him off...I told him about how if they try anything they have to admit it's their voices so they'd be admitting they commited a crime of phone harassment, "So Gino, who do you think is gonna get in more trouble, me for selling the tape, or you and your pals for actually helping to make that tape possible"? (click)...Gino? Yoo hooo...Dennis tried one last time and said "What can I do to get you to stop selling that tape"? I said, "Two things, nothing, and like it". I then informed hik that the president of the nWA was recieving a copy of the tape and the columns to go with it, "I bet that that'll sure give a great impression of how great you're representing the legendary name of the National Wrestling Alliance, huh". he said I wouldn't dare send a copy to Howard Brody(then president), and I said "I sent you one didn't I, jackass, it's already been done so fuck you, fuck your friends and fuck NWA New Jersey, and then I hung up...I then made a copy of the taqpe, got Brody's p.o. box and send it all to him...Somewhere I have a written apology from both Howard Brody and acouple other members of the NWA for what happened and was asked not to judge the NWA as a whole based on what NJ did. I remember writing them back saying every tree has acouple bad apples in it so you can't judge a tree by acouple rotten apples.
It's funny, acouple years ago someone sent me a link in an email to a message board of Fierro's. I clicked it and saw that some one saw that tape at a garage sale and bought it, and decided to post a message on this message board to Tommy about it. Tommy freely admitted on an open message board he did it. Had I really wanted to press charges, that kind of evidence is just so damning. but Tommy said in a reply and I'm paraphrasing.."Fucking Walkowitz found a loophole and he got even, he never backed down and he threw it right back at us so yeah he did get over on us". he also said something to the effect that he was young andwas dumb enough to allow the wrong people to influence him into doing that.
What's even funnier now? I'M even looking for a copy of that now, LMAO! Imagine that.
