Former WWE head writer shares an incredible story about 'Wrestler's Court'
It's generally well-known that The Undertaker has long been one of the most respected wrestlers in the world, and his stature among his peers made him the perfect person to serve as the judge of WWE Wrestler's Court - the very real assembly that met when WWE employees needed to hash out differences on the road.
Former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz joined Chris Jericho's podcast Talk Is Jericho and told an amazing story about the time he was put on trial in Wrestler's Court during the Attitude Era. Gewirtz was close with The Rock (and now works for The Rock's Seven Bucks Production), Edge and Christian - but some WWE stars felt that Gewirtz was giving Edge and Christian an unfair amount of screen-time, the trio was forced to appear before The Undertaker following WrestleMania X-Seven.
Via Talk Is Jericho:
Jericho: At the time, if somebody had done some sort of heinous crime ... you would have to sit in front of the whole company and basically get a trial.
Gewirtz: As a kid, I liked the Flash, that was my guy, and Edge was doing a signing somewhere and someone gave him a Flash [figurine]. At the time there was a death in his extended family and he had to leave the show. He was like 'hey man, I was going to give you this later, but someone gave me this thing at a signing, its a flash figurine, why don't you take it?' And I think Bob Holly oversaw that.
It was the day after WrestleMania 17, after Rock left, so my biggest advocate was gone. I was told 'you, Edge and Christian are going to wrestler's court. I [didn't] know what it was. I expected Vince [McMahon] to be like 'you don't have to go to that' and he says 'good luck, pal!'
And here's how stupid I am. I don't remember who I talked to, maybe it was Stephanie [McMahon]. I assumed it was like a tribunal, of sorts, so they're like 'bring beer and pizza. You're going to want to appease the people judging you.'
Jericho: I don't know if he was for your one, but Undertaker was always the judge ... if you were sentenced, you would have to pay him with alcohol.
Gewirtz: Yes, he was, he was there too. This was just to appease the court, so I found a six-pack and a single box of pizza.
Jericho: One six-pack?
Gewirtz: One six-pack, one box of pizza, plain. And I kind of just sauntered in, thinking there would be five people in, and it's every single worker, wrestler, referee, diva, agent ... if catering was there I wouldn't be surprised. Literally every single person in the company was in there, and the three of us went on trial.
Jericho: So what were you accused of?
Gewirtz: I was accused of accepting gifts from Edge and Christian for TV time, because that was the inside perception. There was also a rumor that, when we had a show in Long Island, that I took Edge and Christian to my parents' house and we all had dinner together. Which was not true, but it's not like I wouldn't have done that. At one point I said 'if it pleases the court, I'd like to call my mother as a character witness.' .... At one point, Bob Holly and Sean Waltman [X-Pac] had to be physically restrained by Kane, the bailiff. It got, like, really ugly.
Jericho: I remember, what was Bob yelling at you? "I ain't getting no TV time? You don't have nothing for me? You got any ideas? I got an idea, how about I become the champion?'
...
Gewirtz: We were found guilty, even though I wasn't giving Edge and Christian airtime for the gifts. Obviously Taker's the man, obviously, so he had me write an essay on why I respect the business, which I legitimately wrote and handed in. He read it, and it was a surreal experience.
You can listen to the entire podcast here.
