David Sahadi reflects on a painful moment in his life and explains why he never worked for WWE again after 2003.
David Sahadi is a well-known producer who has worked for WWE, TNA, and MLW. As part of his job, Sahadi produced memorable vignettes, including the black and white vignettes of several WWE Legends, such as Pat Patterson and Freddie Blassie, which would air during the WWE Attitude Era.
In 2004, Sahadi began working for TNA Wrestling as the company was beginning to grow and host its own monthly pay-per-views in addition to a new weekly TV show, TNA iMPACT! In 2005, TNA produced a cheeky vignette nicknamed "Cookies." In this vignette, several TNA wrestlers of the time, including Road Dogg, Konnan, Abyss, Shane Douglas, and more, appeared on a WWE production set as the company was filming its commercial for the 2005 Royal Rumble in Orlando at Universal Studios.
David Sahadi was recently a guest on the Insiders podcast with Conrad Thompson and explained how his father, Lou Sahadi, a long-time WWE employee in his own right, was released from WWE as a method of retaliation.
"This is what really hurts, Conrad. This is me getting negative right now because it's personal," he began. "My dad was given a Legends contract by Vince McMahon Jr because he worked with Vince Sr. He did a lot of stuff with Mike Tyson during the Attitude Era. [He also worked] with Lawrence Taylor, so he was getting a $3,000 check every single month. My dad is poor. He was living in Boca Raton but not making much money. He was on Social Security, and when I told him what happened in December, at this point, I'm done with TNA, he said, 'Well, I hope they don't stop giving me my check.' I said, 'Dad, I'm sure they're not going to do that.' The next day, his check came, and I saw him go into the living room, and he took that check, and he got on his knees. He's very religious, very Catholic, and he kissed it. He prayed, and he kissed it because that money meant everything to him. Then Kevin Dunn, three days later, calls and says, 'Lou, I got some bad news for you, and I had to give bad news to good people, but we're making cutbacks, so you're no longer going to get that legends check.'"
David Sahadi then recounted hearing that the move was a malicious attempt to exact revenge on him for being involved in shooting that video.
"I found out, Conrad, that there was a meeting in Kevin's office with some people who I won't mention, and they said, 'How do we get back at Sahadi for him trying to screw us? Again, I wasn't going to screw them; I was trying to get PR for TNA. They said, 'We know he loves his father more than anything in life. Let's get Vince to stop sending him that monthly check,' and that's what they did. They hurt my father to hurt me, and that's why I never worked for them again, because they fucked with my father, they're fucking with me. That's when I called Jeff [Jarett] and said, 'Hey, guess what? Now, I'm ready to come back full-time. I want to kick some ass,' and I helped build TNA up, which is great, but my God, they took it out on my poor 70-something-year-old father at the time. Shame on them."
David Sahadi discusses a horrible experience in his life and why he is not interested in working for WWE again. David tells Conrad Thompson that WWE stopped sending his father a Legends check to hurt him for being involved in the TNA "cookies" vignette.pic.twitter.com/jlKSPbqdZq
— Robert DeFelice (@dudefelice) September 3, 2024
Today, Sahadi works for MLW as an executive producer. Fans can learn more about that here.
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