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Christine Johnson was the Senior Live Show Produced when I worked at WCW from 10/99 until the day they shut their doors. Even though I wasn’t close enough with Christine to be considered her “friend”, from afar I had the utmost respect for her more so than any other woman I had ever worked with in the wrestling industry before . . . or, since.
Christine was just a no-nonsense type of woman. No matter who you were, how big you were, or how OVER you were---none of that mattered to Christine. All she cared about was getting her job done to the best of her capabilities. As a woman in a prominently man’s world---I never saw Christine get pushed around by ANYONE . . . not even Big Poppa Pump, the day I saw him confront her.
Christine was the best . . . just the best. I always knew that I could rely on her---no questions asked. I considered her an equal---we were in it together—I never viewed her any other way. Over the years I lost track with Christine. Yeah, there was the occasional e-mail here and there through Linkedin, but you know how it goes---we work together, then when it’s done we all go our separate ways. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Christine and I spoke on the phone, as she decided to take on the challenge of authoring a book about being the first female producer to be hired by a major wrestling organization. That happened back in 1988, when Christine was actually hired by the WWF right out of college.
After giving some advice to Christine, and telling her that she had my support 100%. She began to open up a bit to me concerning her experiences as a female producer in the wrestling business. Honestly---I had no idea why I was caught off-guard. I guess it was because I was so wrapped up in my own survival while in WCW, that I never considered—not even for a second---that there were those close to me who had problems much more monumental then mine. As Christine started to open up to me, my heart started to bleed more, and more. Why didn’t I know this? Why didn’t she come to me? Is there something I could have done to make her life easier? You know the feeling when you find something out AFTER the fact, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.
I’m sorry, but wrestling sucks on so many levels. The Glenn Gilberttis and the Ed Ferrarars that you meet and spend the rest of your life loving . . . are just so few and far between. It’s just a cruel world, an unforgiving world, a world that I wished I could have helped change when I was there . . . but, I couldn’t. I failed . . . and I failed miserably.
I urged you all to hear Christine’s story when she tells it next Monday on the premiere show of Vixens Who Ruled. If you’re a wrestling fan who supports the business . . . then you really do need to understand not only what takes place in front of the camera---but, behind it as well.
