WWE Hall Of Famer Turned Down Role In Infamous Segment
A WWE Hall of Famer has discussed why they turned down a role in an infamous segment on SmackDown back in 2002 and it wasn’t because of their deal with TNA.
Back on SmackDown in 2002, one of the most infamous segments in WWE history took place when tag team stars Billy and Chuck were due to have a “commitment ceremony” orchestrated by their manager Rico.
With Billy and Chuck both pulling out at the last minute claiming the whole thing to be a publicity stunt, the priest revealed himself as Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff and his henchmen 3 Minute Warning soon attacked.
Speaking on his Oh You Didn’t Know podcast, Billy Gunn’s former tag team partner Road Dogg revealed he was offered the chance to be the best man in the segment despite signing a deal with TNA:
“They called me to be the best man at the wedding at Billy and Chuck’s wedding. The WWE called me and I had just gotten the gig with TNA. I said, ‘Let me check with TNA and make sure it’s cool.’ Jeff (Jarrett) said, ‘Yeah, you can do whatever you want to.’”
“I called them back and they were like, Okay, we’re gonna give you such and such amount of money, and I said, ‘Well, that doesn’t sound like a very good deal. You want me in that picture for something, don’t you? I’d appreciate it if you double that and then we’ll have a conversation.'”
Road Dogg then discussed how WWE wouldn’t offer more money and says the company lowballed him because they thought he might be desperate:
“Then they were like, ‘Oh, we heard you are hard to deal with.’ I said, ‘You called me to be in the thing. Somebody threw my name out there. Now I want you to pay me like somebody threw my name out there and not like y’all picked a friggin name out of a hat.’ They were coming to me and literally lowballed the fire out of me to try to see if I would bite because I was desperate.”
“They know when you’re down, I can offer him less money. So that’s business acumen, just heartless. I turned it down and didn’t go. It was because they wouldn’t give me what I asked for and I didn’t ask for anything incredible. It was just double what they offered me.”