January 1996: After nearly 4 years with WCW Pillman falls out of favor with the booking commitie and head booker,Kevin Sullivan. As a part of the new 4 Horsemen along with Chris Beniot,Arn Anderson and Ric Flair *nothing beats the original* Pillman was the hottest heel in WCW but was quickly developing a reputation backstage of being a Loose Cannon.Any time a live mic was put into his hands he would reak havoc on WCW television, he publicly critzed Sullivan anytime he got the chance even going as far as taking shots at his then failing marrage with WOMAN that was falling apart backstage.Pillman was constantly fined, depushed and beraded for his comments.His behavor became legendary as he would act the same outside the ring as inside to the point that he even had the boys in the locker room fooled about wheter he was acting or not.Finally WCW officals had enough, they offically suspended him indefinately in Febuary,the creative team wrote up a storyline where he would fued with Sullivan and lose in a loser leaves WCW match as The Horsemen were fueding with Sullivans Dungen of Doom for who would take out Hulk Hogan *a very bad angle by the way* once again on a live Nitro a live mic was put in his face to to talk about the match and after promising that he would adhear to the rule Pillman uttered a sentence that had never been heard on a wrestling tv show."I RESPECT YOU BOOKER MAN!!!!" At that time the business was still a little guarded, unless you read the dirt sheets *this was way before the internet wrestling explosion *you had no idea what he said.Eric Bichoff went NUTS and threatend to turn his suspension into a expulsion from the company.Of course Pillman lost the match against Sullivan and he was out of WCW at least for a while.Enter ECfnW!!!!
Pillman was told to book himself on indy shows to keep a steady income by WCW while they decided whether to fire him or keep him in the company.It was also around this time where Pillmans contract was about to come up.But what WCW didnt realized is that Pillman was talking to both the WWF and ECW without there knowledge.ECW got him first but not before WCW decdided to can Pillman.In the same style he had Steve Austin fired, Eric Bichoff had his seceratary call Pillmans wife,Melanie,and tell Brian to call him.And of course when he did it was all over,but in Pillmans case he was told that if he improved his behavior he may be welcomed back in due time.Upon telling him he was booked to appear for ECW,things got ugly and WCW decided to exercise a 90 day clause in his contract.Because ECW was considered a Indy back then Lawyers from both sides aggreed to let Pillman appear .So technically WCW was loaning Pillman to ECW.But what would happen the night Pillman showed up would make WCW regret the day he was even given permission to appear.Joey Styles stood in the middle of the ring on that snowy night in March and welcomed all the fans to ECWs second annual Internet convention.The lights go out and of course Joey goes nuts they come back up and standing in the middle of the ring Is BRIAN PILLMAN.Here in its uncensored form is the impromtu interview that shook things up.
Joey Styles:WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!!!!. Pillman:Havent you heard hahaha....I like you as an announcer Joey Styles,you know why??? cause i just had an announcer in Atlanta ,Georgia take away my constituional rights,I have been fired by Eric Bichoff!!!!! He's a pretty popular guy these days ,hes also pretty popular with my legal department as well.Bichoff or should i say JERKOFF!!!!!!! You cant take away my constitutional right CAUSE IM IN PHILIDELPHIA WHERE THE FUCKING CONSTITUION WAS WRITTEN.Now Mr Gopher, Mr 90s Wizkid,the great success story of 96....Former Coffee Gopher for Verne Gange is now leading the show in the big time.... YOU ARE A PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!!.
Styles:On that note were gonna go to commerical a bombshell has been dropped here tonight Brian Pillman is.....
Pillman:No No No No, Joey Styles your not running this interview i am CAUSE IM BRIAN FUCKIN PILLMAN........*pushes joey back into the corner* Let me tell you a little more, you know what Eric Bichoff is, ERIC BICHOFF IS EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU MOTHER FUCKING SMART MARK SONS A BITCHES ROLLED UP INTO ONE GIANT PEICE OF SHIT.Oh i guess you guys didnt get that huh.Smart Marks,whats a smart mark a mark with a high IQ.Ok Smart Marks, you know what a mark is , a mark is a guy that spends his last 20 dollars on crack cocaine...A mark is a guy that beleves that OJ didnt do it.....And a mark is everyone of you sorry sons of mother fucking bitches so you know what im gonna do the only appropriate thing Brian Pillman should do...Im gonna Jerk out my johnson and piss in this hell hole.*At this time Pillman starts to act like hes gonna piss in the ECW arena , Paul E,Tod Gordon and Shane Douglas confront him*.
Paul E:Stop this This is not apart of the deal Brian its not apart of the deal. Pillman:Deal,What deal,i do whatever i want whenever i want AND I DONT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU AND YOUR SMART MARKS BOOKERMAN!!!!!!!! Tod Gordon:Security Get him the hell out of here.
After nearly 5 minutes of cursing between Pillman ,Shane Douglas and Paul E, Philidelphia police drag pillman out of the ring.Then Pillman spots a fan in the front row, the fans takes a swing, Pillman drags the guy out of the crowd throws him in the ring pulls out a fork from his boot and stabs at theguy 3 times.Shane Douglas storms the ring and Pillman runs to the back.Douglas imeadatly grabs the mic and declares that he wont let the show go one bit further until they and i quote"Throw that blonde peice of shit recject from WCW out the front God D@mn Door!!!!!"Douglas then took a seat in the middle of the ring until in what has to be one of the wildest scenes i have ever witnessed in 20 years of watching wrestling ,Philidelphia s finest literally drug Pillman down the aisle threw him over the guardrail in handcuffs and took him out of the ECW arena with the arena crowd singing Na Na Na Na , Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Good Bye.Now in reality that whole scene was improvised as most everthing in ECW was.The guy that got beat was a plant of course and was used again when the WWF tried to recreate the situation *poorly i might add* on there syndicated tv shows a year later.The legend of the loose cannon grew later on that night as reports surfaced that in a hotel after the show he caused another scene when The Sandman and Stevie Richards had to drag him into a elevator screaming and kicking when SABU who just entered the hotel lobby and started signing autographs.Pillman *without sabus knowlege and consent* started screaming at SABU that he couldnt hide from him anymore SABU fled the scene, Sandman and Stevie who were doing the same, signing autographs that is, dragged him in the elevator where Pillman laughed about the incident and told the 2 that it was just for show.Apparently WCW was planning to put SABU and Pillman in a program and it was halted when SABU left to return to ECW.Once again Pillman had blurred the line between reality and fiction,in a time where unless you were on the inside you didnt know anything.For weeks Pillman would cut blistering anti WCW promos on ECW television,most of them being shoots one interview even had footage of a wildman pillman wrestling a pencil in his own house.Pillman interupted a post match interview after Mikey Whipwreck and Rob Van Dam went to a near 20 minute draw berated both wrestlers and repeativly called RVD,Robbie V, the name RVD used in his brief WCW stint in 1992 .The same night he got in the face of TAZ calling him a midget and stormed in on a Gangstas interview, called New Jack a racist name and ran out of the arena which caused major backstage problems.But it was the interview the weekend before the Big Ass Extreme Bash weekend that would cuase the most trouble,Pillman swore he would target the one man in ECW that wouldnt let him be Brian Pillman, and that was The Franchise Shane Douglas.Low and behold at the Lost Battllion Hall in Queens,NY Pillman showed up and was sitting in the front row when Joey Styles started the opening for yet another week of ECW television with The Franchise in the middle of the ring .The next night in the ECW arena Douglas would get his shot at Raven for the ECW World Title,when that was annouced Pillman went ballistic at ringside.Styles and Douglas spotted Pillman and Douglas imedatly stated he wasnt gonna waste a drop of sweat on his worthless ass.Pillman then started spitting at Douglas from ringside and making a plethoria of obscene gestures towards him.Douglas then stated again he wasnt gonna fool with Pillmans antics that night,THE HELL HE WASNT!!!!!!!! Douglas took off his ring jacket and stormed the ringside area.Pillman then stated he was there only as a fan and actually produced a ticket.He said he was there with his Agent,his cousin who lived in the area and his nephew.Douglas then proclaimed that if Pillman didnt leave ringside he was gonna pop him after a count of 3.Pillman then started spewing obscenities and said Douglas was a pussy.Pillman also said that douglas was a coward that he couldnt cut it in WCW as one half of the Dynamic Dudes and he quit the WWF, why dont he quit ECW,Pillman stated he didnt quit he got run out of town and that Douglas should come through with his promis ,a woman and her baby for Tommy Dreamer.The Franchise had enough and coutned to 3 as pillman pretty much stuck his chin out on defiance,when douglas got to 3 pillman drug his cousin and his nephew infront of him causeing a major commotion at ringside.Pillman dared Douglas to throw a punch then after security got the woman and child out of the ringside area Pillman threw a chair at both Douglas and Joey Styles.Chaos reighed again as NYC Police and ECW security escourted Pillman out of the building while an enraged Shane Douglas fought security around ringside to get to him.The next night in the ECW arena no trace of pillman was found, as Shane Douglas fought against all odds even his own valet,Kimona Wannalaya ,turning on him and going to Ravens side and was on his way to winning the ECW World Title for the 3rd time,UNTIL........ Pillman came out from under the ring and hit douglas with his walking stick repeatively and allowed Raven to get the pin.Pillman then ran out of the arena before Philidephia police got to him.
The match that ECW fans wanted to see never happend,in june of that year,Pillman was involved in a car accident that literally shattered his right leg.Doctors told Pillman it would be a long time before he would ever see action again if he ever did.This didnt slow Pillman down as right before he signed a contract with the WWF he made his return to ECW.Pillman could walk on his own power at the time as this was mid july of 96 but just to milk some more heat out of the ECW arena crowd he appeard at ringside in a wheelchair for yet another match involving Rob Van Dam.After the match Pillman called RVD out.At the time RVD was working his respect angle as a heel he was the Whole FN show then too he just didnt have the nickname yet.Pillman went on a anti ECW tirade berating everyone and everything in the locker room and the ECW arena fans.And declared that night that Rob Van Dam was the only true superstar in ECW.Although that would not be the last we seen of Pillman in ECW he started appearing on WWF tv shortly thereafter and eventually started working fulltime for them.A year later after a dilagent rehab program Pillman returned to the ring against his former Hollywood Blondes partner, Stone Cold Steve Austin.In October of 1997 after the WWF finally took the leashes off the Loose Cannon in an angle with Goldust (Dustin Rhodes) and Dude Love (Mick Foley),Pillman was unfortuantly found dead in a hotel room the night off the WWF In Your House:Bad Blood PPV.The victim of a enlarged heart,police ruled the death to be drug related.Pillman is now honored every year with is own event put on by the man that got him into the business, HWA promotor and wrestling great,Les Thacher, promots the Brian Pillman Memorial show in the Cincinatti area to raise money for his widow and 2 children.I for one miss the antics of Pillman and i wish his family good luck in the future.God Bless you Brian.
