The If Factor: Glenn Gilbertti Becomes the Honkytonk Man’s Protege

Brian Damage

The ‘If Factor’ are a series of articles that takes a look at real scenarios in pro wrestling that at one point or another were suggested, planned, considered…but did not get the green light to continue. What would the landscape of professional wrestling look like if these ideas came to fruition?

The If: Glenn Gilbertti becomes the new Honkytonk Man

In 1997, The Disco Inferno aka Glenn Gilbertti was fired by Eric Bischoff in WCW for refusing to lose a match against Jacqueline. Realizing that the WWF had interest in him, Gilbertti began discussions with the rival company. Bischoff apparently got word that Gilbertti was talking to the WWF and decided to invoke his no compete clause within the contract. While Gilbertti was forced to sit and wait to sign a deal with the WWF, he still kept in contact with Jim Cornette (Who was an executive for the WWF)

Cornette made it known that Vince McMahon was a big fan of his Disco Inferno gimmick and had “big plans” for Gilbertti once his no compete expired. Gilbertti remembers being pitched the idea to become the young protege of The Honkytonk Man. Gilbertti was extremely excited about the opportunity considering he was a fan of the Honkytonk Man’s work and modeled Disco Inferno after him. He was so close to joining the WWF, that WWF magazine published an article teasing Honky managing a new version of himself. McMahon even okayed the use of Disco Inferno’s silhouette in the article.

While Gilbertti was in constant contact with Cornette, letting him know how many days he had left on his no compete, things drastically changed once he spoke with Bruce Prichard. Gilbertti claims that Bruce didn’t seem all that impressed or excited to sign him to a deal. Soon, Gilbertti’s calls were not being returned by anybody in the WWF and Gilbertti eventually got re-hired by WCW. Bruce Prichard said he doesn’t remember having a conversation with Gilbertti. Prichard said he thought Gilbertti was a decent wrestler and had excellent charisma. So what exactly happened? Why was Gilbertti suddenly rejected by the WWF?

Of course the gimmick ultimately landed in the lap of Billy Gunn who transformed into ‘Rockabilly’ and it flopped. Gunn simply didn’t have the charisma that Gilbertti had that fit that character. Once the gimmick was dropped, Gunn formed a little tag team with the Road Dogg called ‘The New Age Outlaws.’ Something that probably never would have happened if Gilbertti got the role instead of Gunn. Glenn Gilbertti never appeared on WWF/WWE television his entire career.