

ECW FOUNDER TOD GORDON EXPLAINS THE 'ECW MOLE' STORY

by Tod Gordon @ 11:35:00 AM on 11/18/2004





This edition of Ask Tod Gordon originally appeared on August 31st here on

the site. In it, Tod Gordon gives his side of the "ECW Mole" story. Given

the way the story was portrayed in WWE's "The Rise And Fall Of ECW" DVD, we

felt it would be of interest to reprint Tod's recounting of what really

happened.



Thanks for taking the time in answering questions here on the site. Anyway,

I was wondering if you would go into detail on the ECW Mole situation which

many dirt sheets reported back during the Monday Night Wars. Many said that

you were responsible for Saturn, Raven, Sandman and other jumping from ECW

and that once found out, Paul Heyman bought ECW from you. Can you detail the

situation and clear up any misconceptions on it? Thanks.



Since this seems to be the most asked question, I'll tackle it here, and to

the rest of you who wrote in, please accept this as a reply to you as well,

rather than me answering the same question 10 different times. First of all,

Sandman didn't leave until years later.



Second of all, this started when Public Enemy was getting ready to leave.

They were going to accept an offer from Vince. Because I appreciated how

hard they had worked over the years, and how instrumental they were in

helping to build the company, I told them to wait on accepting Vince's

offer, and I called Kevin Sullivan, who had worked for me for years to see

if he was interested and could get them a better deal financially. He did,

and they were very grateful. Teddy, until the day he died was one of my

closest friends, and to this day, rarely does 2 weeks pass without me

talking to Johnny.



I was at the point of getting ready to leave the business in 1997, due to

wanting to be with what at the time were my young children, and get off the

road. It was actually sheer coincidence that at that same time, I was asked

by 2 people if I would make similar calls for them. Unlike most in my

position, instead of resenting someone wanting to leave the company, I was

thrilled to see them get an opportunity to go from making 300-500 per show,

to getting 6 figure salaries. Paul and I disagreed totally on this issue.

Therefore I didn't tell him I made the call, because if they did not get

offers, they would have had tremendous heat in the dressing room. When I

told him, he decided to use it as a rallying cry for the dressing room, as

if to say.... we almost got put out of business as half the locker room and

Tod were all going to jump ship. I did no interviews purposely so this ploy

would work. We also decided that if I were to change my mind and come back,

it would make an amazing heel angle as everyone pretty much believed the

story.



Obviously, those closest to me (Sandman, Fonzie) were the only ones who knew

the real story but kept quiet at my request. We never did end up doing the

angle, but the story had already become almost folklore in the business.

Anyone foolish enough to believe that I would want to see " my baby" die

obviously didn't have a clue as to what I'm about.



As a humorous aside, since the locker room as a whole never heard from me, a

majority of the boys believed the story to be true. One in particular, that

gave Paul and I many laughs behind his back, was Shane Douglas, who assuming

Paul and I didn't talk any longer, told him that he was part of that group,

and WCW had offered him something like $300,000.00.



Paul never let him know he caught him trying to work him, but it did make

for some fun conversations between the two of us, as others also tried to

figure out ways to use the situation to their advantage. Tazz, for one spoke

out against me publicly, so Sandman felt a need to smarten him up. He did.

Tazz called me and apologized, and we've remained friends ever since.



How would you have packaged Bruno Sammartino, Dominic DeNucci, and Jumping

Johnny Defazio in their prime?



Bill Wellek

Latrobe, PA



I would assume in a very, very large crate with lots of bubble wrap.



Hey Tod, I was wondering if you could tell me at what point in time your

ownership of ECW went to Paul Heyman, and why, if you can!



Joe Piervincenti



I'm sorry Joe. For reasons I can't get into , both legal and after the

bankruptcy, that's probably the only question I can't answer. Anything else

you ask me.... expect a shoot answer.......in other words, the truth.



I actually have a set of questions that are quick easy answers.



After all your years of experience along with being a fan, if you had to

choose any one guy/guys/girl from their prime for the following, who would

you pick?



If one guy is the answer for multiple questions that fine.



Best Valet

Best announcer or announce team

Best Tag team

Best technical wrestler

Best on the mic

Best heel

Best face

Best overall ever



This is virtually impossible for me to answer. Can you honestly pick one

name out for each of these categories? Especially when you broaden the

choices from my days of watching as a child through my ECW journey. Maybe if

you narrow the parameters, I could try, but I couldn't swear I'd be able to

pick just one. What about you answering those same questions, and I'll give

you my opinion regarding your choices.



DEAR TOD:



EMLL IS EMPRESA MEXICANA DE LUCHA LIBRE FORMED IN 1936 IN MEXICO CITY



CESAR ORNELAS

TECATE MEXICO



Thanks.



You can send questions to Tod Gordon at: [email protected] Note: This is

a new address so if you sent a question to the old address, please resend to

this one.









