Ole Anderson: Manwhore for Hire?

Date: 1990 (exact date unknown)
Location: unknown
Source: Wrestling Observer Live

Tom Zenk told this story on Wrestling Observer Live in 2000, during his first appearance on the show.

Ole Anderson was the booker at the time of the story in 1990, and Meltzer had a hand in helping Zenk get hired by WCW for $156,000 a year (most undercard wrestlers in WCW back then earned that much, as the standard Turner contracts paid $3,000 per week). Zenk was talking with Ole while Ric Flair was nearby, shaving. Zenk yelled to Flair, “Did you sign me to a 2-year contract just to do jobs??”

Flair, still shaving, yelled back, “Who’s done more jobs than me??” Zenk then asked Ole why they were jobbing him, and why they were worried so much about his ‘measly’ $156k contract when Sting was making all the money. It would make sense that Ole would complain about Zenk earning so much as a midcarder, as he came from an era where midcarders made nowhere near that kind of money.

When Zenk told Ole that Sting was making $750,000 a year, Old responded something like, “750 grand a year?? I’d suck c*ck all day long for 750 grand a year. Line ‘em up! I’ll suck all their c*cks!”

Zenk was upset that Ole went after he and Pillman (who were a tag team at the time), but not Sting, as Sting was earning three quarters of a million dollars despite not drawing anything. Ole was known for wanting to keep costs down and hiring cheaper talent (if you recall, this was during the period of the Master Blasters and the Ding Dongs), although that was largely under pressure from Executive VP Jim Herd.

We don’t know if the timing coincides with this, but Zenk revealed in his Pick My Brain with us that Flair had it out for him ever since Flair’s wife (at the time) was getting too friendly with Zenk at a company party. As Zenk stated, Flair’s wife was on his lap and called him the sexiest wrestler in WCW, and while this was happening, Flair (who was also WCW booker in 1990 and had power and creative input stemming from his time on the booking committee in 1989 as well) kept looking over at them with jealous eyes.