The Hidden Underside of Pro Wrestling
Exposed By its Most Controversial
Whistleblower - Big Jim Wilson
"The first thing you should know about Jim Wilson is that he has credentials. His great-great-great uncle signed the Declaration of Independence. His father was a decorated naval officer in World War II. Jim was Vince Dooley's first All-American football player at the University of Georgia. There isn't much that is red, white or blue that Big Jim and his family haven't stood for these past 200 years. 'I'm not a nut off the street, in other words, Wilson said.'
"He played seven years as an offensive lineman in the National Football League. He was named to the 1965 all-rookie team along with Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus. He finished his career with the Los Angeles Rams in 1971. Today, Jim Wilson wears three-piece suits and sells real estate in Georgia. He has a wife, six kids and a mission. He wants to clean up professional wrestling." - Ray Didinger, Philadelphia Daily News
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"There ain't no nice guys in this business. "There ain't no people - there's dollars!" - The Sheik (Eddie Farhat), former wrestler and promoter.
"Wrestlers have never been allowed to unionize. There's no pension, no health benefits... You're
a piece of meat. I knew guys that had worked hard for twenty years or more and still retired with
nothing. Wrestling evolved from the carnivals. They've tried to keep us back in those carnival days. It doesn't behoove promoters to have wrestlers who know what their rights are." - Jesse Ventura, former wrestler (now Minnesota Governor)
"This is the most insensitive business in the world and it will continue to be until somebody does something about it. We don't have the type of backing, be it union-wise or health insurance-wise and the reason is because under the current system, everybody has to look out after themselves." - Ric Flair, former wrestling champion.
"Wrestling is a huge industry now, and the industry needs to take care of its own. Wrestlers do not have many friends." - Rowdy Roddy Piper, former wrestler.
"You don't go to authorities if you want to eat because you're dead. You're finished, kaput, blackballed... there's no union, there's no protection for
the wrestler." - Bruno Sammartino former wrestling champion.
"I like a lotta things about wrestling - There is no union, and if one of those blonde superstars gets hurt or retires, you can create another one." - Eddie Einhorn, Chicago White Sox owner and former wrestling promoter .
