Who was Willy The Worker?!?!?

[radiantsilvergun]

I just discovered the whole Willy The Worker thing through Kevin Kelly's WWE 2003 podcast and this is some really fascinating shit. 


For those that followed the Willy The Worker saga: Was it ever revealed who was behind the alias? I've been digging through old forum posts and a few of the names that were thrown around were Lance Storm, Jeff Hardy, RVD, and Test. 

A few people speculated on some old forums that it was just an April fools hoax but then there's also people saying that Meltz went on his show and confirmed the whole thing was legit and the guy was punished. Can anyone confirm this? Can't find any discussion on this topic that happened after 2003. Weird that this whole situation apparently just fizzled out.


For those that don't know back in 2003 a supposed WWE wrestler anonymously wrote a few columns on the internet under the name "Willy The Worker" to air out his problems with the company after being left off the WM19 card. Heres his first one:

Never did I think I'd sit down and pen a column for 1Wrestling about my frustrations and concerns regarding the current WWE product. However, it's not like I have an open forum to do so. I can't exactly can go and post a column on their website talking about all the things they are doing wrong right now. There have been several times when I have wanted to contact Dave Scherer and ask him to let me write an anonymous column in the past, but I never got the balls to do it. But after sitting in the locker room this past Sunday at WrestleMania watching it on the monitors, when I should have been somehow factored into the event, watching my peers perform in front of such an amazing live crowd; I've decided it's time that I spoke my mind.



Now I'm not going to say who I am, I mean, that would be career suicide. I'll just pen this column as "Willie The Worker."



So, let me get this straight. I'm good enough to be on the road with WWE for almost 300 days a year, busting my ass and being away from my family, but I'm not good enough to be a part of their biggest show of the year? They couldn't even throw me a backstage interview or a run-in? Get real. I've been with that company for many years now and I'd like to think that I'm of at least some value to the company. Well, at least I thought I was. However, given the fact that they found spots for Nathan Jones, Albert and the Miller Lite Cat Fight Girls but not myself or many other deserving wrestlers boggles my mind.



Now I have nothing against Albert. Matt is a real nice guy and has always been cool with me. But come on already. How many times are they going to try with this guy? They have been trying to push him down the throats of our fans for years now and he's just not connecting with the crowd. But he continues to get chance after chance because he's a huge guy and Vince is a mark for big guys. I dare to say that they probably sold more merchandise of me at WrestleMania on Sunday than Albert has even drawn for the company in all the years he's been there.



Don't even get me started on Nathan Jones. The guy is a putz. He's the joke of the locker room. Well, maybe the joke is on myself and all the other guys that have busted our asses for the company throughout the years because he had a WrestleMania spot and we didn't. This is what really makes me hot. What dues has this guy ever paid? All he's done since being here has been to hurt guys in dark matches and mess up moves. But yeah, let's give him one of the WrestleMania paydays that are available when it could have gone to at least thirty other more deserving guys that I can think of off the top of my head, myself very much included.



They didn't have enough time on the PPV for Kane, who's been with the company for many years, and RVD, who's without a doubt one of the most over performers we have. But yeah, let's give the Miller Lite Cat Fight Girls ten minutes to go out there and hit each other with the worst pillow shots I've ever seen in my entire life. The Miller Lite girls made the show and Kane and RVD didn't? Yeah, that makes a boat load of sense.



What's my point of this column? Heck, I don't even have a point. I'm just so frustrated and hot right now. I guess I just wanted to let the readers know how it feels to be someone that has busted their ass for WWE for many years and then is not even factored into their biggest show of the year. I felt like a jabronie sitting backstage watching all the boys work one of the biggest shows we ever had, knowing that I should have been out there contributing to the great show they had. Instead, guys like Albert and Nathan Jones were out there instead, stinking the building up. Those guys couldn't lace up my boots.



Yup, that's Vince for ya.



Sincerely,

"Willie The Worker"





Credit: Dave Scherer and "Willie The Worker" @ 1Wrestling.com

[wallabylikeyou]

I'm sure Jeff Hardy is articulate enough to write that.

["Gentleman" AJ Powell]

Jul 14, 2015 19:24:59 GMT -5 wallabylikeyou said:

I'm sure Jeff Hardy is articulate enough to write that.

"Willie the Worker"

"Will the Work"

"Will Wo"

"Willow"

[Rolent Tex]

I'd like to see Willie's comments on this past Mania.

[Sparvid]

IIRC, when Dave Scherer talked about it a few years ago it was basically like this: He was contacted by someone who claimed to be a WWE worker. He didn't want to say who he was, but he did say things that Scherer could independently confirm from other sources, so Willie was either telling the truth or was someone else who had direct sources in the locker room.

After a few columns, Willie complained about something another writer had written on 1wrestling (being critical about something or another, I think) and told Scherer to remove that or else he wouldn't write any more columns. Scherer's response was pretty much "Uhm, no, you're not in charge of this site", and he never heard from Willie again.

[Deleted]

Jul 14, 2015 19:24:59 GMT -5 wallabylikeyou said:

I'm sure Jeff Hardy is articulate enough to write that.

I thought the same thing...but when he was a heel he did spreak in a a sort of English accent for some reason..lol

I'd guess Lance Storm.

Jeff would make sense though..he was on his way out.

[abjordans]

I thought it was pretty widely believed to be RVD?

[Deleted]

Probably Russo. It's always Russo

[radiantsilvergun]

Jul 14, 2015 20:31:23 GMT -5 abjordans said:

I thought it was pretty widely believed to be RVD?

Reading the column in RVD's trademark stoner promo voice is a perfect fit. Apparently someone close to the situation admitted in an interview that it was RVD after tracing back some emails. However, RVD was openly talking about some of the topics discussed like being held back in interviews on TV, internet, magazines etc. as well as shitting on Triple H. Might have not even needed the anonymity.

One name that was ignored in the talks was Crash Holly. I'm reading a Snopes forum post from 2004 that says it was Crash Holly who wrote it and thats one of the few reasons he got released from the WWE. Crazy stuff. 

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

RVD seems likely because he mentioned merch sales, and I don't think they were selling much Test, Storm, or Regal stuff for him to have much of a case against Albert.

[Perd]

I don know, but Drew McIntyre was working the willy in the shower.

[abjordans]

Could you imagine a guy in RVD'S position in 2003 being left off of Wrestlemania today? Shows how deep the roster was back then.

[Deleted]

Jul 14, 2015 20:47:50 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

RVD seems likely because he mentioned merch sales, and I don't think they were selling much Test, Storm, or Regal stuff for him to have much of a case against Albert.

Yeah, the only two that make sense are RVD and Hardy who where both merchandise monsters.

[Reflecto]

Jul 14, 2015 20:46:37 GMT -5 radiantsilvergun said:

Jul 14, 2015 20:31:23 GMT -5 abjordans said:

I thought it was pretty widely believed to be RVD?

Reading the column in RVD's trademark stoner promo voice is a perfect fit. Apparently someone close to the situation admitted in an interview that it was RVD after tracing back some emails. However, RVD was openly talking about some of the topics discussed like being held back in interviews on TV, internet, magazines etc. as well as shitting on Triple H. Might have not even needed the anonymity.

One name that was ignored in the talks was Crash Holly. I'm reading a Snopes forum post from 2004 that says it was Crash Holly who wrote it and thats one of the few reasons he got released from the WWE. Crazy stuff. 

On paper, the claim from it being RVD seemed like one, but it seems unlikely (IIRC, Scotsman was the one who tried leaking it was RVD, so take it as you will there.)

Crash follows the same question for RVD, since both RVD and Crash Holly (as well as Lance Storm) shared a benefit that "they had some way to get onto the show anyway at the time". RVD and Kane fought the Un-Americans on the pre-show for Mania 19, while Matt Hardy fought Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight title on the card (Crash being one of the MFers at the time).

Through those things, it does seem like the closest fit would be Jeff Hardy at the time- he had nothing to do on the Wrestlemania card, he didn't talk as much about it for anonymity, and Jeff Hardy was released a couple weeks after Wrestlemania 19 anyway (which seems like the biggest black mark against him.)

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Jul 14, 2015 20:56:43 GMT -5 abjordans said:

Could you imagine a guy in RVD'S position in 2003 being left off of Wrestlemania today? Shows how deep the roster was back then.

It depends on how you view the pre-show, because RVD and Kane did work Storm and Regal on Sunday Night Heat, which at the time was the equivalent of the Wrestlemania pre-show.

And there was A LOT of guys in the RVD position in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and the Fatal 4 Way Tag Team Match this year.

[abjordans]

Jul 14, 2015 20:59:03 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

Jul 14, 2015 20:56:43 GMT -5 abjordans said:

Could you imagine a guy in RVD'S position in 2003 being left off of Wrestlemania today? Shows how deep the roster was back then.

It depends on how you view the pre-show, because RVD and Kane did work Storm and Regal on Sunday Night Heat, which at the time was the equivalent of the Wrestlemania pre-show.

And there was A LOT of guys in the RVD position in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and the Fatal 4 Way Tag Team Match this year.

I forgot those matches weren't on the main card honestly. With the network I forgot they were part of the previous show.

But, back at the time of WM 19 it was when the tag champs were always upper midcarders who didn't really defend the titles, weren't really doing much, and just happened to be tag champs. RVD was over enough to where he could have been slotted out with Booker T against HHH easily. And it was much more "You are NOT on Wrestlemania, you are on Heat!" than your match just being before the National Anthem like it is now.

[hargh]

[cabbageboy]

I do remember this and RVD made some sense being the guy, but somehow I don't see using a bogus name to pen columns as being his style. I would think he would very openly say he thought some stuff with WWE sucked.

Either way it's mind boggling how bad WWE screwed up and buried RVD. I seem to recall a former WWE writer saying that the original plan for WM 19 was a main event unification of RVD/Brock with RVD getting the win. Brock ended up main eventing the show while RVD didn't even make the main show's card! There was no doubt heat on him over his scary crushing of HHH's larynx at the first Elimination Chamber, but truth be told he was getting depushed anyway.

[froggyfrog]

Lance Storm since he was bumped specifically for Miller Lite girls

[radiantsilvergun]

Jul 14, 2015 20:58:22 GMT -5 Reflecto said:

Jul 14, 2015 20:46:37 GMT -5 radiantsilvergun said:

Reading the column in RVD's trademark stoner promo voice is a perfect fit. Apparently someone close to the situation admitted in an interview that it was RVD after tracing back some emails. However, RVD was openly talking about some of the topics discussed like being held back in interviews on TV, internet, magazines etc. as well as shitting on Triple H. Might have not even needed the anonymity.

One name that was ignored in the talks was Crash Holly. I'm reading a Snopes forum post from 2004 that says it was Crash Holly who wrote it and thats one of the few reasons he got released from the WWE. Crazy stuff. 

On paper, the claim from it being RVD seemed like one, but it seems unlikely (IIRC, Scotsman was the one who tried leaking it was RVD, so take it as you will there.)

Crash follows the same question for RVD, since both RVD and Crash Holly (as well as Lance Storm) shared a benefit that "they had some way to get onto the show anyway at the time". RVD and Kane fought the Un-Americans on the pre-show for Mania 19, while Matt Hardy fought Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight title on the card (Crash being one of the MFers at the time).

Through those things, it does seem like the closest fit would be Jeff Hardy at the time- he had nothing to do on the Wrestlemania card, he didn't talk as much about it for anonymity, and Jeff Hardy was released a couple weeks after Wrestlemania 19 anyway (which seems like the biggest black mark against him.)

The plot thickens. Apparently Ric Flair was shooting on Jeff Hardy in TNA about how "Jeff sold out to internet marks 10 years ago"?