Inside the Attitude Era from the Person Who Created It
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Who is David Sahadi and what role did he play in creating the Attitude Era?
Welcome to the Busted Open Podcast. This is Dave Lagreca. On today's episode, Bully and I have a great guest with amazing stories. David Sahadi talks about his new book, Backstage Past, Tales from Beyond the Squared Circle, Stories of T and A, Stories of WWF, you don't want to miss it, right here on the Busted Open Podcast.
This is the Busted Open Podcast.
David Sahadi joins us here on Busted Open. David, thank you so much for a first time ever on Busted Open. Appreciate having you on.
David, it's great to be here. And Bully, it's great to see you again, my friend. Haven't seen you in about a year or so.
Awesome to see you too, Dave. And before we start, I just want to set the table so fans understand. Cause I've been telling uh the fans that you were a producer with WWE during the Attitude Era and with TNA. But is producer the right term? Like, what did you do for the WWE and TNA? What was your exact title?
There are completely different titles. So my role WBE was the WWE Creative Director of On Air Promotion. So I did all those iconic campaigns, the commercials you saw like Brock Lesnar F5 and The Shark in the Beach, the Super Bowl spots, uh the Attitude Era campaigns. I was involved in creative, the packages. I did every cold open for every single pay-per-view for nine years, including WrestleMania, and all the spots as well. When I shipped the TNA, I still did that, but I also one year in start directing the show because Jeff Jarrett didn't like the director that we had. And he kind of forced me into that role. So I was doing both, but the focus was mostly on directing the live show. And both tell stories, Bully, as you know.
I told stories with those packages, but when you're directing, the wrestlers are like, you know, they're they're they're wonderful artists. They're painting this picture. They're telling stories. So it's my job to capture the stories they're telling. through the camera lenses for the world to see. So different different jobs are both on a creative kind of storytelling level. That's the one commonality.
And I think it's also important for our fans to know who might not know who David Sahadi is. When you were do making these packages for the WWE and for TNA, you didn't just work in some office. You interacted with the talent, correct?
Yes, and it's funny because Eric Bishop said that's rare, somebody who works with the leadership but also interacts with talent and has a good relationship. And I had great relationships with most talent. Uh Dave LeGrekin, full honestly, multiple with Bully Ray when I was at TNA. And that's important to develop that trust with the talent, because if they trust you, they're gonna go above and be and beyond. And also at WBE Bully, I was lucky that once I like proved myself to Vince, I have created realm to do almost anything I wanted to do. I didn't have to run. Spots by Vince. Uh there was one time when when I knew run the spot by Vince and he got really upset until he saw it. And then when he saw it, it made him cry.
I think you're familiar with that story, the the famous Attitude Legend spot.
Oh, wait, whoa, whoa. Is that the one from WrestleMania ninety eight? Yes. All right. So David, this is perfect because Bully and I started the show today. You know, Bully wanted to give a shout out to May Young who celebr you know, her birthday was yesterday. Wanted to give a special shout out to May Young and we started talking about The biggest legends of our profession and and obviously Freddie Blassi. That produced piece from WrestleMania ninety eight. Was it uh Pat Patterson, Gorilla Monsoon, Ernie Ladd, Killer Kowalski, uh Freddie Blassie. Like, I don't know anybody who watched that and didn't have tears in their eyes. So that was your work.
Yes. Maybe the
greatest thing I've ever seen as a wrestling fan, David, by the way. Vince,
I think that that means a lot to me, Dave. Thank you. And it's one of my favorite spots because it made Vince cry. But I'll give you a little backstory to that. Um we were starting the Attitude Era. And the Attitude Era, there was no grand plan.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is David Sahadi and what role did he play in creating the Attitude Era?
0:00–6:00
2
What were David’s responsibilities as WWE Creative Director of On‑Air Promotion?
6:00–11:48
3
How did the legendary WrestleMania 98 “Attitude” spot come to be and why did it make Vince McMahon cry?
11:48–17:39
4
What was the cultural shock of moving from mainstream sports broadcasting to WWE in 1992?
17:39–23:03
5
Which behind‑the‑scenes stories from TNA does David consider his best moments?
23:03–28:12
6
Why did David decide to leave WWE and how did the departure affect his relationship with Vince?
28:12–33:46
7
What inspired David to write *Backstage Pass: Tales from Beyond the Squared Circle* and what unique stories does it contain?
33:46–39:58
8
How does David view the evolution of wrestling storytelling from the Attitude Era to today?
39:58–46:37