The Wrestling home of Moondog Manson

"MRS. BISCHOFF DONE, WHO WANT TO SEX MUTOMBO?"

When Eric Bischoff bragged about bringing pro wrestling into the mainstream in the WCW/NWO heyday, little did he realize that the little things that made the pro wrestling lifestyle such a blast,aka sex, drugs and rock n' roll, would land him smack dab in the headlines along with along other stars from the Wider World of Sports.

With rare exceptions, the private lives of pro wrestlers on the road has flown beneath the radar of the media (thank God) but the merger of pro wrestlers with mainstream athletes has now drawn unusual attention to the back and off-stage antics of some former WCW stalwarts.

The Gold Club trial in Atlanta, supposedly about the strip club being used as an underworld laundramat, has become the focal point of U.S. sportscasters this week, as lurid details of sexcapades with the club's female staffers has emerged in testimony.

The stuff really hit the fan this week when basketball star Patrick Ewing donned his reading glasses, which make him look slightly intelligent, and vaguely recalled a sexual tryst or two he was involved in at the club. And, oh ya, the club owner and other hangers-on watched.

Then on Tuesday, even Jim Rome on his Radio gabfest (heard across the US and Canada) and his FoxSportsNet TV show couldn't resist recounting the testimony of "former wrestling executive" Eric Bischoff. The man who drove WCW up the mountaintop and then off the cliff said that after enjoying some lap or other dances, he and his wife retired to their hotel suite with a guest.

Eric said after "14 or 20 beer", he couldn't remember his own activities, but did volunteer that his WIFE had sex with a dancer. Nice touch, Eric. He then forked over a C-Note as their company headed back to work, as he also couldn't remember if she had been tipped for her earlier, in-club performances. As it turned out, he HAD tipped her $100 ,and when she returned to the club the owner (on trial) gave her an additional $800.

So we now know that the total value of having sex with Mrs. Bischoff while Eric... watches?, is $1000. USF. Insert your own joke here, actually insert anything you want here, as evidentally Bischoff didn't.

Adding to the media feeding frenzy was the testimony of Atlanta Braves outfielder/star, 24 year old Andrew Jones, who cracked up the courtroom when he recalled walking into a hotel room and seeing 2 girls "getting lesbian action". Predictably, Jones ended up in the middle of a sandwich while, that's right, the club owner and others watched.

WHO ELSE PUT ON A SHOW?

In the next few days, we will find out if the so-called big boys live up to their reputations, as former WWF/WCW champ Kevin "Big Sexy" Nash, and NBA star center Dikembe Mutombo take the stand and try to fight their locker room instincts and not brag about their own actions.

This is the downside of hanging out with NBA and NFL stars, who are still subject to a kind of moral scrutiny that the pro wrestling business generally escapes. Jim Rome explained that for pro athletes to get in a compromising position, that is being watched having sex with women who are, in one way or another, on the meter, leaves them open to pressure to shave points or fix games. True enough, for basketball or football players.

But the kinds of 3-somes and moresomes that have emerged in the courtroom are standard fodder in locker rooms and dirty yellow vans in the wrestling business. I've been trying to understand why the details of the sexcapades are such a riot and not viewed as a serious issue by wrestlers and their fans, and I think I've figured it out.

What self-respecting gangster is going to ask a wrestler to throw a fight? What danger was Nash exposed to, besides maybe a divorce action? And what if he WAS pressured to throw a match? What would he do, not kick out on 2?? But in the American media, Bischoff, Nash and anyone else from WCW at the time will be held to the same moral standard of athletes from sports where Las Vegas action IS taken.

This reminds me of the moral outrage of Canadian so-called journalists when sprinter Ben Johnson failed his 1988 Olympic pee test. Anyone who had ever spent 2 days at a gym,(such as CBC-TV/Hockey Night in Canada host Scott "I may have lost my hair, but look at my muscles" Oake), knew that Johnson was artificially enhanced. My god, if Johnson were a girl he'd have been working at the Gold Club servicing Mrs. Bischoff. The hypocrisy of the media and Canadian government was sickening.

If there is a moral to the story, it's this. Only let people you know watch you have sex. If others are paying for it, don't tip. If you've portrayed yourself as the guy who produces wrestling suitable for family networks and audiences, at least help your wife come up with an explation suitable for the PTA, before claiming you were only calling the match from ringside.