Conrad Thompson On Trying To Find A Suitable Replacement For The Undertaker After WWE Pulled Him From Starrcast 2
When Starrcast 2 announced that there would be a meet and greet with The Undertaker, the wrestling world was shocked. The Undertaker hasn’t done anything non-WWE related in wrestling this century. They were synonymous with each other. This was certainly the biggest ‘get’ any convention could acquire. That is until The Undertaker pulled out of the event and was announced for the upcoming Saudi Arabia/WWE show.
On Tony Schiavone’s podcast that is co-hosted with Conrad Thompson called What Happened When. Conrad explained to Tony the process of trying to find The Undertaker’s replacement for the show.
I was offered a suitable replacement for The Undertaker, and um, I said “okay well what is a suitable replacement?” and they said “who do you want?” and I said “Vince, cause what else is there besides the Undertaker?” I knew they said no to that so I said “what about Hunter or Stephanie?” Obviously they aren’t doing a meet and greet for a pay day like everyone else. Um, I’ll donate their fee to Connor’s Cure and I’ll match it, if WWE matches it too, it might be a quarter of a million dollars. Well that didn’t happen.
Then they said “What about Ric Flair, Sting and Eric Bischoff?” and I said “well, I already got them” Tony said “they are still offering Eric Bischoff? They can do that?” Conrad says “They can offer you if they want, they just call you and make a deal after. Hey we need you to do this”. They just say “hey we need you to do this booking, and that’s how those phone calls work.”
So then they called back and offered “Sting and the APA” I said “ I already got Ron Simmons and I don’t want John” and they said “Okay who do you want” and I said “I want Shawn Michaels back.”I had Shawn Michaels originally and the idea I had for my Main Event on Friday was gonna be, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon watch their match from Wrestlemania 10, do alternate commentary on it and after do a Q&A. For a photo op, we had the Intercontinental title and a ladder and the two guys. Shawn liked the idea so much he asked for more money to do it with me and not the WWE and I agreed. But, then he pulled out when he realized it was AEW. So he is not coming now. But, he liked the idea so much, I guess he told WWE and they did it on WWE’s YouTube. So yeah, that happened. No big deal.
Then I asked for Shawn as a replacement and I was told to hold on. And.. crickets. So I felt as like I was getting closer (to Starrcast), I needed to just go ahead and announce that The Undertaker wasn’t coming. I was promised a suitable replacement. I talked to his management and they are like “he wants to do it, we just got to figure out how.” So I was like, “Hey if I needed to book him through the office or the proper channels I am happy to.” I didn’t realize I didn’t do that the first time.It was different clearly due to the proximity of the event and AEW. They know that I’m friends with Cody and that I’m friends with Tony and I guess they are assuming that I work for AEW.
Later in the day we announced the Bret Hart and Tom MaGee match. But, we also found him, so Tom MaGee himself is gonna be on stage talking about that match with Bret. It’s gonna be something special, I am pretty excited about it.
I got a phone call from WWE on Saturday, It was nothing negative, just different. I got some attention, we’ll say that. And.. you know, it’s whatever.
Conrad Thompson on What Happened When podcast with Tony Schiavone
Below is the WWE YouTube video that Conrad is alluding to. The one where Shawn took his idea to WWE and did the alternate commentary.
and the announcement of the Magee/Hart match.
WWE may not openly acknowledge AEW as a threat, but with their actions towards Conrad, HBK pulling out of Starrcast after hearing the AEW affiliation and HHH using his Hall of Fame speech to call AEW and “pissant company” shows that WWE is concerned about the fledgling promotion.
It’s unfortunate for Conrad to have so many hurdles in getting Starrcast together, and how WWE is treating him differently than other convention promoters. At least he is able to still pull some strings and give the fans a lot for their money.
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