Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
During the famous ‘Monday Night War’ between rival wrestling companies WCW and the WWF, it was very common to see wrestlers and personalities from one organization, suddenly appear on the other. It was a “war” after all, so all bets were off. Millions upon millions of dollars were at stake, as well as wrestling/sports entertainment supremacy. So when Rena Mero aka Sable in the WWF, showed up ringside on WCW Monday Nitro…it was another shot fired in the ongoing battle between companies.
The surprising appearance took place on the June 14th, 1999 episode of WCW Nitro…the night following the Great American Bash pay per view. The cameras just so happened to spot former WWF star Rena ‘Sable’ Mero sitting ringside watching the action. Not only was she ringside, she was also flanked by personal security and waved to the camera. Loud chants of Sable, Sable, Sable rang throughout the arena in Washington D.C. Eric Bischoff who was on commentary during this appearance, never mentioned her by her gimmick or real name. He just mentioned how he reads Playboy from time to time and said, “You never know who will show up on Monday Nitro.”
After about 30 seconds of camera time…Rena Mero was never seen again on WCW television. She wasn’t involved in any future storylines, she never even uttered a word. Rena never officially joined World Championship Wrestling. At the time, rumors had swirled that Mero was going to be involved somehow in the infamous Hummer angle, but that turned out to be completely false. The fact of the matter was, her showing up was a one time deal. Despite that, the mainstream media like the New York Post took notice and wrote about her appearance on Nitro the following day.
And why not? Here was a woman, who at one time was one of the most popular characters on WWF television. The Sable character was over huge with fans, some say her popularity in the WWF rivaled that of main event stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock. Oh sure, she was barely a wrestler (even though she was WWF women’s champion) it was her sex appeal that got male fans to go nuts over her.
While the Rena Mero appearance did generate a small bit of buzz for WCW, Eric Bischoff was surprisingly not the person behind it. In fact, years later, Bischoff would say the move made the company look a bit desperate as WCW was once again trailing the WWF in the ratings. The one shot appearance was brokered by then booker Kevin Nash, who felt that the former Sable would be a game changer. Nash wanted Mero in the company with plans reportedly having Rena manage ‘Hollywood’ Hulk Hogan. The thing was, Mero was still contracted by the WWF until 2001.
Rena’s WCW cameo did upset a number of people. Of course, Vince McMahon was absolutely livid over it according to his right hand man Bruce Prichard. Vince immediately sent WWF attorney Jerry McDevitt to investigate legal penalties to impose on WCW. Not only was McMahon furious, but so were the editors of TV Guide magazine. The same day that Rena appeared on Nitro, TV Guide came out with an interview with Mero, where she stated that she no longer wanted to be involved in professional wrestling due to it being vulgar and obscene. Her appearance later that night, rendered her interview null and void.
Facing a backlash from several fronts, Rena Mero did an interview with USA Today where she defended her showing up on Nitro. She explained that she paid for her own ticket to the show and was there because “I wanted to see if the same level of obscenity was taking place.” She followed that up by saying…“It was not.” Keep in mind that at this time, Rena had quit the WWF and filed a 110 million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit against the WWF.
In that same USA Today article, she was asked if she received a payment of 50 to 60 thousand dollars to randomly show up on Nitro and she flatly denied that. What was apparent is that Kevin Nash went through the Turner legal department to make sure that when Rena did appear, it would be by the book in every way. So while it was true that Rena had to purchase her own ticket to sit in the arena that night and keep a receipt, it didn’t necessarily mean it was her who actually bought the ticket and snagged a ringside seat.
All in all, the Rena Mero appearance which was so brief and amounted to absolutely nothing creatively for WCW, caused more headaches than perhaps it was worth.