Sometimes it’s AMAZING TO ME!
Having gotten to know RD Reynolds over the last 10 years now, I have to admit—I LOVE THE FREAKIN’ GUY!!!
And, no, it wasn’t always that way. At the beginning I had some issues with RD based on his “Death of WCW” book where I was CONVENIENTLY positioned on the cover! What does that insinuate?
But, it’s true—we ALL get over it, and today I’m am RD’s BIGGEST FAN. Yeah, it’s the love for “Batman 66’” that we share, but it’s also much bigger than that.
I guess the thing I admire the most about RD is his sense of humor. Bro, the guy could make the Mona Lisa experience a SPIT TAKE. And, that’s what confuses me the most.
Where was RD’s sense of humor when I was writing RAW?!!
Bro—SOCKO WAS HYSTERICAL. I don’t care what list it’s on—IT WAS HYSTERICAL! And, you know what—IT WASN’T MINE!
Now, before we even get to the “Greatest Sock Puppet of All-Time”, we must first take a look at the entire scene. Man, this was a DREAM SCENE for me. Think about it, you had Mr. McMahon, Mick Foley and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at the ABSOLUTE top of their game. At this point all three of these talents were larger than life—they were as OVER as OVER could ever get. Add to that, the three being perhaps the best character actors on the roster at the time.
So, you take that, add a clown called “Erple”, and you have a RAW moment that is going to be treasured for DECADES. Hell, who knows, CENTURIES maybe!
So, I had the honor and privilege of penning this entire scene with the great Ed Ferrara. The scene played out just as written, with the exception of a… lone sock.
Now, I’ll get back to the sock in a minute.
It’s hard to even express in words the experience I had as a writer working with such great talents. But, if I’m going to be totally honest, the one who stole the show, and usually stole the show, was the boss himself—Vince McMahon.
From the jump, Vince always knew that he was there to “get the babyface over”. Whether it meant losing to Mankind in a game of “Twister”, getting crowned with a bed pan, or even doing PEE-PEE in his own pants—which was HIS IDEA I might add—Vince was there to SERVE.
As a character, Vince had ZERO EGO. He was not there to get himself over. And, trust me, that’s not to say the same for other TV bosses that I wrote for. There was this belle in Nashville…
Anyway, this was another situation where I could not go to this shoot because it was the day of the show and I was needed at home base. I can’t remember who went to produce this masterpiece, it might have been Bruce Prichard or might not have. But regardless, even though it was well produced by whomever, the person to take credit for this entire epic piece of TELEVISION HISTORY was none other than AL SNOW!!
As the story goes, prior to the shoot, it was Al who pitched the hand puppet to Mick Foley. Al suggested that Mick just come up with a sock on his hand from underneath the bed. Man, I can remember them bringing the tape back to the arena and me watching it for the very first time. When Mick revealed “Mr. Socko”, my POP could be heard throughout the entire arena.
Now, I’m not certain of this either, but I would have to believe that the name,“Mr. Socko” had to come from Mick Foley—it just sounds like a Mick “thing”. And, make no mistake about it—Socko was OVER FROM THE JUMP.
The proof of that came the very next week after the show aired. I’ll never forget walking out into the crowd and I SWEAR TO YOU, half the crowd had a DIRTY SOCK on one hand. I ran back to inform Mick who, of course, went on to make a small fortune from that. To this day Mick is still carrying socks around with him in his merch suitcase.
So, here we are some 25 years later and I can tell you with all honesty—this was one of the most unforgettable scenes I was EVER involved with!!
Hitting the BUZZER on this one, RD, I just thank GOD you learned to “lighten up, Francis”, in your twilight years!!!