Eddie Gilbert's Scarlet letter

[dsch...@news.delphi.com]

I just read Eddie Gilbert's letter in this week's WON and found it both
humorous and typical of Gilbert. In true wrestling fashion, he can twist
non truths and half truths to his advantage as well as anyone. This
letter was just another example.

He states that he was not fired as booker, that he quit. Then, he says he
quit because he heard that they were merging with Jim Crockett's group.
While it might be half true that he quit before he was fired, the reason
for joining up with Crockett was, in part, to phase Gilbert out. Gilbert
is the true King of Wrestling when it comes to finding mark promoters to
give Eddie free reign with both their promotion and their pocketbook. Tod
Gordon was the latest sucker. Rumor has it that Gordon has lost 6 figures
since going full time with ECW.

He also says that he left because he did not want to leave and give
momentum to someone who offered "us" nothing in return. That line killed
me. The translation is that he saw his gravy train cut off.

He mentioned then how the actions that occurred after that, including his
unscheduled babyface turn at the 9\18 show, cost him his best friend in
the business. That friend would be Paul E. Dangerously. After the
breakup, they brought in Kevin Sullivan to replace eddie at the 9\18 show.
I was told that Eddie begged paul to be able to do a run in. Out of
friendship, Paul agreed and let Eddie set up a table to sell his
gimmicksduring intermission. Then, Eddie stuck it right in Paul's back by
making hid farewell speech, turning face in the process. This pissed paul
E off in a big way, since it was unplanned and it made Gilbert's attack of
Funk 15 minutes earlier look really stupid.

So, the bottom line is that Eddie's letter, like 90% of his actions, was a
work. The sad part for ECW is that now Paul E. is fleecing Gordon the way
Gilbert was.

Wrestling, what a business.