Dr. Shawn Stasiak technically only trained to be a pro wrestler for a few years before signing with the WWE in 1996, but he had been surrounded by the pro wrestling business since birth. As the son of WWE Hall of Famer and former WWWF World Champion Stan “The Man” Stasiak, he grew up traveling in the old territories and hanging out with legends like Andre The Giant. Once he was with WWE, at the height of The Attitude Era, he was given the risque role of Meat, the sex slave of the Pretty Mean Sisters’ Terri Runnels and Jacqueline.
Unfortunately, Shawn’s time with WWE began to unravel in December 1999 when he was suspended for recording a heated conversation between Davey Boy Smith and Steve Blackman without their permission. Shortly after his suspension, he was released by the company. Rumors regarding his intent in recording the two men and the general circumstances around his actions have run rampant ever since.
In a Haus of Wrestling exclusive interview, Shawn addressed those rumors and attempted to set the record straight.
“There’s so many stories and fabrications, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god,’ it’s amazing how a story, like a little piece like this, and it just gets blown completely out of proportion,” he began. “I’ve heard I was paranoid. I’m recording people’s conversations in locker rooms. I mean, I even heard Jim Cornette recently. I like Jim Cornette. I know he’s polarizing, but I think he’s funny; he’s entertaining. I may not agree with everything that he says, but my point is that even recently, he made a comment about it.
“I’ve seen Jim Ross talk about interviews, Eric Bischoff, and Road Dogg even; it hurts to hear it because my intention, and people that know me and know the situation, there was absolutely no wrongful intent or harm whatsoever. Honest to God. The bottom line is it was just a dumb thing to do. It was stupid, right? It was just a rib that I played on a couple of guys in the car.
“They’re just arguing and bickering, we’re on a long road trip, and I was just going to play it back for them and say, ‘This is how you guys sound, like a couple of bitches.’ You know? Complaining on the road, and, of course, it just got intercepted. Where I went wrong is I wasn’t honest about it. When I was approached, and I knew right then and there, I said, ‘Okay, these guys don’t know me. That was kind of dumb, dumb ass. That rib’s not going to work now.’
“And the reason why I even had this thing with me is because it was encouraged by Dori (Funk Jr.) and Tom (Prichard) that were training me. Even my dad, I mean, my dad, got me my first tape recorder. I was always doing imitations, rehearsing characters, always, you know, you’re in the car, you’re traveling a lot. So work on your craft, work on your promos. Practice your craft, and so that’s why I even had the damn thing. It was like a cassette, old-school cassette style.
“So anyway, where I’m going with all this is that I’ve heard so many different fabricated stories about it. I wasn’t recording conversations in the locker room. I wasn’t working for Hardcopy. I wasn’t working for WCW. Look, it was just those guys in the car, a rib, and it went wrong, and it never became a rib or a joke. I just threw it, and somebody threw it back in my bag, the recorder. Even the next following week, I believe it was, I had it. I brought my bag with me.
“I mean, God, if I was trying to hide or keep something discreet, why would I carry the evidence around with me? If that was the case, right? Who would do that? How stupid would that be? And so they went through my bag and heard voices on there, and it made me look really bad, and rightfully so. I mean, I would have thought the same thing, too, I would have been skeptical of this, ‘Who is this? What’s going on, man?’ It was just really a bad look, and it just did not serve me well.
“And honestly, Nick, I don’t think I ever recovered from that in my career. I could never seem to get a fair shake.”
My full conversation with Dr. Shawn Stasiak is now available on the Haus of Wrestling YouTube channel and podcast feed.
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