Mission 001 – The Task? Finish What Lenny Mouse Started (and More)
Hi, everyone. I didn’t expect this to be my first task on the job, but here we are. I was asked to pick up where my predecessor (and superior, for what it’s worth) left off. He is on a much-deserved and very understandable leave of absence, but I have to tell you: this really sucks.
For starters, we have the obvious tragedies surrounding the reason (or reasons) why I am here instead of him. Two icons of the industry died, on national television, and Lenny was forced to handle his grandniece’s reaction to it. Only, when he got in the hospital room to tell what he thought was his comatose relative what had happened to their family, he reportedly saw something that has since traumatized him on top of the trauma that he already had.
Now, I don’t know how much to believe of what has been reported to me, but I will start with what the doctors on the scene reported to me. Firstly, the attending physician who was in charge of Jackie’s care overheard a blood-curdling scream of horror from Lenny emanating from the room. Following that unsettling noise, he and as much of the nearby staff as could safely fit in the room stormed in to try and help.
This is where things get confusing and the stories vary. Two of the nurses who joined the doctor, but who made it in first, reported to me that they witnessed Jackie…and please bear with me here…levitating, and appearing to be holding Lenny by the throat, demanding that he bring her to Mickey “at once”. Supposedly, once the nurses entered the room, Jackie and Lenny both collapsed to the floor below and the lights went out.
The doctor, though, claims that he saw no such thing, and that what he saw was Lenny holding Jackie, who was inexplicably covered in blood before all the nearby lights exploded.
Another nurse claims to me that he saw blood all over the floor, with Lenny unconscious on the floor and Jackie (who was apparently clean of any blood) standing over him, before snapping her fingers and cutting the lights off.
But wait…there’s seriously more, because two police officers who also heard the scream came rushing to the room and had differing stories of their own, which actually led them to argue with each other! The more senior officer told me that she could have sworn that she saw the room in flames, engulfing everyone, except Jackie before she nodded her head like the lady from “I Dream of Jeannie”, thus extinguishing the flame and sending the whole floor into darkness.
The rookie officer told me that he came in (with his partner, mind you) and saw Jackie “yeeting” everyone ahead of them around like ragdolls before staring at him and his partner. He then said that she charged after his partner, knocked her down, and then locked lips with him, before telling him to “sleep”. He claims that is the last thing he saw.
And what does Lenny say, you may ask? Well, it would be nice if I could ask him, but no one has spoken to him since this horrid night. Yes, he attended both Vinny’s and Mickey’s funerals, but he didn’t actually talk to anyone. We will talk more about the funerals, though, after we get to “Retribution”; well, at least somewhat as I translate these notes that Lenny left for a post before it all went to shit.
So, let’s delve into what Lenny had to say about AEW’s 6th Era-closing PPV, “Retribution”:
SEGMENT ONE: Opening Video Package/Acclaimed rap/AEW Tag Title Match/Omega & Page Drama
From the notes that I have here, Lenny REALLY enjoyed the opening video package, and felt that it was the company’s best since No Boundaries back in 2020. He appreciated that it took us through the most important moments of the Benny saga since AEW returned to BWM Inc.’s most consistent schedule in two decades. Between this and the pyrotechnics, he was pumped for the show, and so was I (for whatever it is worth).
Next, he made note of the Acclaimed’s rap before the match. Lenny wanted to see something a little more controversial from it, but then he admits here that he was probably just being “vain”, “I suppose I was looking for some mention of the waves I’ve been making throughout the world with the spread of Maxwellianism. After all, I even spoke to Max Caster about it personally, as I thought he would appreciate a faith based on a superior Max. Oh well.”
As for the match, Lenny was impressed with how exciting it was, and he even wondered aloud in the notes whether the Young Bucks and the Neck-Breakers could compare (an additional note presumably from the night after says in all caps “THEY DID!”). Obviously, what Lenny liked the most was that he was proven right that the Acclaimed would win the gold as part of a set-up for a match between Omega and Page.
His high hopes are expressed here for an impending feud between the two possibly-former teammates, and I can definitely agree. If a split is where we are headed, and it does seem that way, then we are in for quite the treat.
A lot of the best stories involved a classic tag team fall from grace and split. Think Teo & Attitude, Brandon Lee and Sean Olson, Jesse Ventura and Giant Gonzales, and hell…even my two brothers; Cool and Space Quest!
SEGMENT TWO: Sami on phone with Murrey/Sting v. Lesnar/Lesnar says he wants the gold
Lenny was confused at first and then suddenly VERY interested in wherever this angle between Sami and Murrey is going. I have been told through Lenny’s sources that “something big” is coming, possibly at Starrcade, and that it has something to do with this call. It’s a shame that Lenny isn’t talking to anyone, because I would love to get his thoughts here!
The match between Sting and Lesnar was everything that Lenny thought it would be. Here, he was ready for a competitive bout, but was fully ready and then absolutely satisfied with Lesnar decimating “The Icon” (who Lenny seems to be annoyed with, since he supposedly has never earned the label that he has attached to his name).
Lenny then braces himself and worries aloud in the notes about MJF’s title reign after tonight, because Lesnar is poising himself to challenge for the gold. Lenny’s notes are a mess here, but it is clear that he was sort of arguing with himself about whether he should “keep the faith” or begin worrying that this is a bad omen for MJF either losing to Roman or Lesnar down the line.
SEGMENT THREE: Young interviews Splinter/TV Title Triple Threat Match
Lenny was not a big fan of the interview, according to his notes. I thought it was ok, honestly, but Lenny complains: “it didn’t do much of anything to make me care anymore than I do”. He then has an added annotation saying “perhaps this is why Chris told me that PWI should drop the interview segments, hmmm”.
The Television Championship match, however, was something Lenny was a big fan of. He has notes all over the place about thinking that this match did everything that it needed to for Cody, Gunther, and Swerve. For his synopsis on the match, I will just let him speak for himself:
“Gunther looked like a beast, as he absolutely should. Didn’t eat that pin, and I love that so fucking much! Cody takes the pin, but has to effectively be taken down by two hungry challengers. He is SO ready for the top, but I don’t want MJF to drop it to ANYONE! As for Swerve, I am not happy because I accurately predicted his rise to prominence, but because AEW made me hungry for his rise and believe it every step of the way. This truly is Swerve’s house now (in MJF’s world)!”
SEGMENT FOUR: Bloodline Arrives and Heyman blows it (Lesnar title shot), confronted by High Minded/Total Anarchy/Megan heel turn
Lenny found it intriguing that Heyman is essentially managing Lesnar unofficially and risking “sleeping with the fishes”. Lenny worries even more than ever at this point that his deity is endangered by the forces of change (though, he feels a little hope still since all of the titles are changing hands so far). He then is happy to see one last act to build for the showdown at Starrcade between High Minded and the Bloodline, but he expresses his nervous excitement for the Total Anarchy Match!
Ok, there are a LOT of exclamation points in this next set of notes, and I do mean A LOT, with plenty in all caps as well. The first use thereof is when Lenny sees Splinter bring out the “OG TURTLES!!” We hadn’t seen Raphael in action since the 90s, and Lenny was aware. He then says “IF I WASN’T ROOTING FOR SPLINTER BEFORE, I SURE AS HELL AM NOW!! WOOOO!!”
Lenny is conveying his appreciation for AEW bringing back the hour-long Total Anarchy Match instead of the “watered down half hour crap” which has become so common since the Fifth Era. He next exclaims when he sees Sami busted open, giving Splinter the early lead, and then again he expressed his excitement when he sees everyone get into the cage and then they “BROKE DOWN HALF OF THE FUCKING CAGE!! HOLY SHIT!!!”
A little later in his notes, Lenny seemingly notices that Sami has hurt himself pretty badly “THAT’S FIVE MORE POINTS FOR SPLINTER!! COME ON, REF!! GIVE SPLINTER HIS FUCKING POINTS!!”
For the remainder of the match, Lenny is feeling hopeful that the officials will notice the injury and award Splinter his career-saving points, but then…“OH MY GOD!! MEGAN WAS FAKING IT THE ENTIRE TIME!! THAT DIRTY, NO GOOD, EVIL, ROTTEN…FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!”
It then dawns on him that the injury will not be noticed before the bell ends and Sami secures his spot at the top of BWM Inc. as he begrudgingly conveys: “Maybe Mickey really should win tomorrow. Let’s just end it all. I mean, you just ended the career of the ONLY man who can reasonably contest any claim to Dragonfly being the GOAT. FUCK!!”
SEGMENT FIVE: Taz interviews MJF/Knockouts Title Match
Maybe Lenny’s depression from the previous match was just overwhelming, because despite the fact that his favorite of all time was in this next section of the show, he was not impressed: “Look, I love MJF, but this interview did nothing for him whatsoever. I mean, it makes me think that he has the Main Event in the bag, but FUCK this interview just feels like it should have been on Dynamite. Don’t mind me. I’m feeling unwell.”
Now, Lenny watches the Knockout’s Championship match and actually rants at the end of it: “A great match, yes, and I am sort of happy for Athena, BUT WHY THE HELL DID YOU PUT THE BELT ON A FUTURE STAR LIKE BIANCA JUST TO SEND IT BACK TO JESSE’S OLD MOBILE HOT POCKET?! AHHHHHH!!”
The rest of this section of his notes is just a little written-out prayer expressing how he hopes that every title changing hands means that MJF will be safe in the Main Event. He leaves a little warning saying: “IF MJF SUFFERS BIANCA’S FATE, I WILL B*RN BWM INC. TO THE GROUND!!!”
SEGMENT SIX: MAIN EVENT for AEW Title/Sami r*pes the PPV
So, here comes the Main Event, and MJF comes out with no help from his entourage – a term which was negotiated by Heyman a few weeks beforehand -, and Roman does the same. Lenny appreciates the grand presentation for both participants as we see the final BWM Inc. Main Event of the Era.
“MJF’S GOING TO WIN!!! YES!! YES!! WAIT…WHAT ARE YOU DOING LOGAN??!!! YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!! NO!! NOOOOOOOO!!! ROMAN IS GOING TO…WHAT THE HELL IS ARMAGEDDON DOING OUT HERE?!! YES!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE JUST DESTROYED ROMAN AND HAS APPARENTLY JOINED TEAM MJ…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! WHY AM I HEARING SAMI’S MUSIC?!!!!! GET MEGAN OUT OF HERE!!! WTF?!!! WHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT THEEEEEEEEEEEE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK?!!! 1……2……3! SAMI HAS JUST R*PED THIS EVENT AND THIS GREATEST WORLD TITLE REIGN EVER! FUCK YOU, SAMI!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!”
With that, Lenny’s notes come to an end, and the entirety of this collection looks like it was dried out by my assistants, because they seem to have been soaked in alcohol. Still smells like it, too.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE SIXTH ERA
I promise that we will discuss the funerals of Vincent Mouse and Mickey M. Mouse Jr., but I need to first do what Lenny had promised but never had the chance to deliver on: offer some final thoughts on the Sixth Era of Professional Wrestling.
Overall, as Lenny pointed out before, the picture is very mixed. The overwhelming majority of the ratings war saw BWM Inc., Cross to Bare, or Murrey Entertainment winning. For the first time since the First Era, Mmouse Enterprises had failed to win more than a handful of battles (only 3 total 1st place finishes, and only 7 total times escaping the bottom ratings); and all of those wins were concentrated at the end of the era. By this metric alone (which is THE metric that leadership always pays attention to), BWM Inc. absolutely owned this era.
BWM Inc. even owns the era when you assess the average rate of each company throughout the era, but the one thing that Lenny (and Mickey, by extension) always pointed to was the tendency of PWI to close the ratings gaps when there was consistent competition, but that’s a piss-poor excuse, in my opinion. Yes, PWI was the ONLY constant of the era, but it was not enough to help them stay ahead of the other guys whenever they decided to come back.
All Mickey’s regime ever wanted to do was say “look, they are winning because they keep starving the people and then benefiting from temporarily relieving the starvation with some scraps.” Did BWM Inc. have some kind of unfair advantage in getting ratings boosts every time they came back from a hiatus? A little, but Mmouse Enterprises had more than enough time to build insurmountable momentum that BWM Inc.’s teasing should not have been able to overcome…each…and….every…time.
Proof of this fatal flaw with the Mmouse Enterprises approach was exposed with the debut of a third wrestling promotion in August 2022. Cameron Cross’s Higher Level Wrestling was far more consistent that BWM Inc., and the novelty most certainly wore off after a little while. Still, PWI was so inept at competing against them that HLW’s successor – AXW – was able to embarrass PWI weekly, including seeing AXW Warfare win with the highest rated non-PPV and non-Monday show rating of all time.
It is no wonder why Jeff Murrey – who started the era as the Chairman of Mmouse Enterprises, as appointed by the Board – saw the opportunity to swoop back in, buy Cross out and create the successor to WWF and LWF; the wildly successful WWE. The grip of the madman who deposed him from his perch atop the industry back in 1997 was finally experiencing life regularly at the bottom of the barrel; so, why not?
And Murrey was right. He, not Mickey, became the first promoter to experience a direct ratings victory over BWM Inc. in the Sixth Era. Yes, by the final stretch of the Era, PWI and HCW managed to lift Mmouse Enterprises out of last place and into arguable second place territory, but it took an era-ending interpromotional conflict to get there…and it cost Mickey and his brother Vinny their lives…and Lenny his sanity.
I don’t know what the Seventh Era holds, but I do know that it starts next Friday, on June 21st, at Starrcade. I also know that Mmouse Enterprises and Brown Inc.’s successor – Cash Mouse Entertainment – must learn ALL of the lessons of the Sixth Era and eras prior, lest this new company suffer the same fate…leading us down another suicide pact to end yet another era surrounded by flames and broken dreams.
THE FUNERALS OF MICKEY AND VINNY MOUSE
Taking place at 10am, June 6th, 2024, in Memphis, Tennessee (per Vinny’s Will, as it was the closest the planners could get to burying him in between his mother Minnie and his best friend, Shane Murphy), Vincent Mouse was buried in front of a small crowd of 212 attendees. His proceedings were humble and respectful of both those attending and the families of those already buried in the cemetery; again, per the wishes of his Will, which was last updated on May 20th.
Prior to this funeral, Vinny had a small, exclusive-to-family and close friends calling hours for his showing. Most of the memories (via pictures, videos, anecdotes, etc.) shared at the funeral were those honoring the women in his life – personally and professionally -, and featured a moment wherein a representative of Vinny’s Estate read off a final farewell and apology to everyone he had wronged in his lifetime.
Among those of note in attendance were Megan Mouse-Zayn, Sami Zayn, Catherine Mouse, Ted Brown, Ted Dibiase Sr., Doctor Evil, WOW Chairman Bunny (along with the rest of the WOW Administration), his half-brother Scott Nash, and the family of Shane Murphy.
Mickie Mouse also attended, but kept to herself the whole time, seeing that she had only recently been reacquainted with her late-brother. Benjamin Mouse was not permitted to leave his retirement “home” to attend, unfortunately. As for Leonard N. Mouse, he attended, but also kept to himself. He appeared tipsy and disheveled; muttering something to himself all along.
As for Mickey Marcus Mouse Junior, his proceedings – taking place at Noon, on Friday, June 7th, and also in Memphis, Tennessee, but in a private cemetery he had constructed for himself in 2001 – were far more grandiose, as you might expect. His confidante and trusted bodyguard, Executioner, took an online test to become an Ordained Minister in the days following his precious boss’s death. He insisted on officiating both the “Greatest Mind of All Has Died” showing event (which was held starting on Monday, June 3rd through to 10am on the day of his burial) and the funeral itself.
Starting the proceedings on Friday, the 7th – as per the wishes of Mickey’s Final Will and Testament – was a performance by Bon Jovi of a rendition of Elton John’s classic “Dust in the Wind”, but with lyrics rewritten in a way that made the song exclusively about Mickey’s “greatness”. Bon Jovi left promptly after finishing the song, visibly disgusted with having been handsomely paid to pay tribute to the late-Chairman.
Much to the undoubted delight of the deceased Chairman (that is, if he were able to see it), there were tens of thousands of signed attendees throughout his showing at a special site built in Downtown Memphis and about 16,000 at his funeral for which the late-Chairman had a mini stadium constructed in 2006; as the seating was designed to surround the gravesite (there is more to this, that we will get to later). The attendance was no doubt high in part because Mickey had instructed in his Will that his funeral be advertised in Memphis and the surrounding area for a week prior to his showing “festivities”. The Will required that the Memphis Headquarters of Mmouse Enterprises be converted into a Museum celebrating Mickey’s “many accomplishments”, and that it be maintained “until the world comes to an end”.
While there were countless celebrities in attendance – including numerous wrestlers and boxers who worked for Mickey in the past -, those at the top of the noteworthy attendees were the same as with Vinny’s funeral…with some exceptions.
For starters, Mickey’s twin sister, Mickie, did not attend at all. She merely sent a letter expressing condolences to her surviving brothers Benjamin and Leonard, as well as to her Niece – Catherine – and Grandniece, Jackie. Scott Nash attended, and conversed only with Kevin Hall and HBP; avoiding eye contact completely with any member of the Triad. Benjamin, for reasons already mentioned, did not attend, and Leonard nearly missed the proceeding entirely; only quietly showing up about 11 minutes before the casket was lowered. After Mickey was lowered into the ground, aside from the uncomfortable sight of Executioner sobbing and pounding the top of the casket, pleading for answers as to why his boss hadn’t heard him out, Leonard could be seen sitting alone, in the middle of the seating area.
Leonard sat there for many hours just smoking and staring at the gravesite, which itself is set to become a morbid amphitheater to feature a hologram of Mickey (which he commissioned in the mid-2010s, when these were all the rage), and the hologram will be interactive, telling stories of Mickey’s supposed greatness to visitors for generations to come.
Leading up to Mickey’s burial, there were many people speaking at the pulpit. This included celebrities with whom Mickey had worked over the years, and some former talent – including Slammu, despite having recently been at odds with Chairman Mouse – even spoke. For what’s worth, Catherine stood and spoke – while Jackie watched on from the back of the room, seemingly distant from everyone in her stare -, sharing a few words of regret for the cantankerous relationship she had with the father who found out about her existence 18 years after her birth. She was remorseful for not having had a stronger bond with him, but still offered a respectful farewell as a nod to man who changed entertainment forever.
To close the speeches, Executioner shared his own thoughts…for 35 VERY long minutes. Overcome with emotion, Executioner broke down and wound up on his knees, and while he was comforted – including by Mickey’s former bodyguard, Enforcer, and Mickey’s former Security Detail -, Doctor Evil (the man behind Mickey’s mad ruthlessness) could be seen standing up at the rear of the building, touching base briefly with Triad Member Dibiase and then leaving before Executioner was finished.
After the speeches were finished, Mickey’s pall bearers – which consisted of everyone who watched his back over the years: Executioner, Enforcer, and his USWA-era Security Detail – moved him from the Mmouse Enterprises Auditorium (which is where the funeral opened up) to his final resting place.
In the 20 minutes leading up to his burial proceedings, I could see Triad Member Catherine Mouse having a very nice conversation with her cousin, the BWM Inc. co-chair Megan Mouse-Zayn. It was already reported elsewhere that they offered mutual well-wishes for the coming Seventh Era following Megan’s condolences on the loss of Catherine’s father. I, personally, thought this was a nice touch, but I happened to catch a glimpse of Triad Member Ted Brown briefly glaring at the two. It would seem that he doesn’t trust the intentions of Catherine’s family, and I can’t say that I blame him.
Something else that I happened to notice in all of this was Triad Member Ted Dibiase looking on as Catherine and Megan went their separate ways. He had a devious smile which stretched across his face as he looked back at ULW Extreme Champion, Jesse Hash, and Attitude, both of whom had been conversing with him during this time.
In the end, Mickey’s burial was immediately preceded by Executioner offering what actually turned out to be a nice prayer saying both “goodbye” to Chairman Mouse and offering some words of encouragement for the surviving members of his friends and family.
The lowering of the casket itself began slowly after – in typical Mickey fashion – one last eruption of pyrotechnics and an apparent military flyover, with one plane spelling out “Farewell Mickey” with its trail.
And…there we have it: the final goodbye to probably the most narcissistic being to ever walk the Earth. Say whatever you want about the lives of Vincent and Mickey, but the legacies that each have left will outlive most of us; especially Mickey’s.
IN CLOSING: A PROFILE ON THE LEGEND OF MICKEY MARCUS MOUSE JR
While Benny’s profile over at BWM Inc.’s History Page claims that he is a “self-made man” (no, he wasn’t privileged with his father’s inheritance, but he definitely still benefited from being Mickey Sr.’s son, but I digress), Mickey Marcus Mouse Junior was not a self-made man, and never really claimed to be.
Mickey (and I mean Mickey Junior when I say this name from now on) managed to siphon the majority of his father’s estate, after faking a Will (their father never actually had one made out, as he was more selfish than even Mickey) and claiming that the Will he had made up was one which required his siblings to work for him. Additionally, he and his brothers practically – albeit unknowingly – enslaved their only sister, and then he covered up the fact that Scott Nash was actually their half-brother, thereby denying Scott of any of the benefits which would have come with it (as well as effectively condemning Scott to a near-lifetime of serving as yet another pet of Mickey’s).
After taking all of his father’s power, Mickey exploited the Estate for his own enrichment, selling his Mickey Sr.’s entertainment company to Chinese investors and using the profit to build his own media empire (Mmouse Enterprises), with which he would launch a truly-revolutionary professional wrestling company. This one act of callous business decision-making transformed the wrestling industry from one which appeared to be synonymous with Jeff Murrey and his WWF to one which was hypercompetitive and teeming with wrestling visions on equal footing, and ultimately to an era wherein the industry was rebuilt in accordance with Mickey’s vision via the USWA.
The problem for Mickey, though, is that he was never able to reclaim the top of the mountain all for himself after the USWA collapsed in September 2002. After Murrey convinced him to re-engage the industry as a business partner to stop his younger brother from rising to prominence, the intense and equal battle for supremacy which defined the Third Era left Mickey feeling deeply conflicted. The UWA was technically a greater ratings success than the USWA had ever hoped to be with rising viewership compared to the Second Era, but he wasn’t able to reap the rewards by himself. No, instead, the Third Era was Benny’s coming-out party as he proved that he can equally compete with Mickey week in and week out. Add to that, Mickey felt an immense sense of betrayal when his business partner first left the business and sold half of UWA to Benny and then re-entering the fray a year later to take on both Mouse Brothers.
I remember hearing talk of Mickey rapidly losing his touch with reality as he watched Murrey’s Last Wrestling Federation embark on its 2 and a half month-long winning streak in early 2004. He was livid that the man who convinced him to reverse his retirement from wrestling would betray him in so many ways, so he took it personally and sought to destroy the LWF. So, Mickey did just that…piece by piece, siphoning bits and pieces of LWF away from the company…including Murrey himself! Not only did Murrey end up leaving LWF, but he ended the era being subservient to Mickey; which is where he remained until he left Mmouse Enterprises in late-2021.
At the end of the Third Era, in March 2005, the UWA Southern Division was the last major promotion standing, but the Era ended with a sex and drug scandal as exposed by Junior Bunny. This scandal nearly forced Mmouse Enterprises into bankruptcy, but Mickey beat all of the charges in the aftermath of the most competitive Era of all time. Interestingly, and this always stuck in Mickey’s crawl: there was no clear “winner” or most dominant promotion of the Third Era, which was a first.
More than two years followed the end of the Third Era, and most of us recognize most of this period as the “HCW Era” wherein Brown Inc. represented the only remaining wrestling company with a sizeable (though, largely regional) following. While John Brown enjoyed the freed contracts of stars like Dragonfly in his ranks, Mickey had moved on and for the first time looked like a somewhat sane businessman.
That was until the fall of 2007 when the World of Wrestling Organization received a phone call from Benny Mouse, who had an idea for what would become the Inaugural “From Dusk Til Dawn”. It was Benny’s idea, but once the WOW reached to Mickey about it, the two Mouse Brothers exchanged ideas through and with the WOW about infrastructure of this classic over-12 hour extravaganza. Soon, the idea which was supposed to be a final tribute to the industry wound up being the genesis of a brand new era; starting with crowning the first ever Undisputed Champion.
In preparation for the show, it was unclear if Mickey would join Benny in re-entering the industry, but he would surprise the world by doing so at the end of the show. The biggest surprise of the show and of the era, though? Well, that was John Brown and HCW.
See, Mickey reportedly decided to engage Benny in a ratings war in a Fourth Era because he wanted to show the world that he was truly superior to his younger sibling, but what neither Mouse Brother counted on was John Brown’s HCW stealing the show at “From Dusk Til Dawn” and then proceeding to dominate the Fourth Era!
Now, to me, this was the perfect example of Mickey and Benny each getting a dose of karma, but the truth is that the Fourth Era’s dominance by HCW proved disastrous for the mental health of both Mickey and Benny.
The stress borne out of frantically searching for the best way to dominate the ratings against the one-time second-rate company saw the early emergence of dementia in Benny, birthing the erratic schedule of EWA, and forever staining BWM Inc. with the association of untrustworthy delivery. It also sent Mickey off of the rails, as many behind the scenes saw him unravel week after week. Mickey had been so brazen heading into the era, proclaiming that he would have two Monday shows, and dominate the first two ratings spots every week. Instead, UWA’s “Second Coming” occupied the bottom two ratings slots more often than not throughout the first 8ish months of the era until the dual Monday show presented finally ended in early 2009.
Even when the UWA started scoring some ratings victories, Mickey was never truly sane again. HCW had too much momentum, and the total tally of ratings victories saw Brown conquering the Era; making it clear that the time of the Mouse Brothers had come to an end!
UWA would end the Fourth Era on a higher note than EWA/ECW/ECW-TNA, though, and Mickey was content (at least on the outside) with leaving the industry behind once more as UWA hosted “Sundown” on July 4th, 2010. The WOW had secured a guarantee (for the first and only time) that the Era would be predetermined to end after two years, but this was something which Benny never liked. For that reason, BWM Inc. again started to incite a war a year later…and the vision for a Fifth Era was laid out.
To his credit, Mickey elected to step away from leadership in the industry in 2011. For the Fifth Era, he picked his daughter Catherine to take the reigns of power. Thus, Catherine (in her attempt to create a separate legacy) created Premier Wrestling Incorporated. Benny saw this and also chose to back out of the limelight; handing the reigns of power over the on-screen management of “New Era Wrestling” to Master Splinter, and the two companies began negotiating for a Third and Final “From Dusk Til Dawn”, to take place in 2012.
Tragically for all us, the Fifth Era was a bust from the get-go. Catherine’s PWI was more present than Benny and Splinter’s NEW, but that paled in comparison to the fact that Catherine had committed unforgivable sin in the eyes of Mickey: becoming as unreliable as Benny.
The erratic schedule of PWI cursed the company and the era from 2012 through to December 2014, and left a very bad taste in Mickey’s mouth. Seeing and remembering this is (from what I’ve been told) what led Mickey to force himself back into his old spot as Chairman in the days leading up to the Third and Final “From Dusk Til Dawn” in June 2019. Catherine and the industry overall were appalled by Mickey’s power grab, and it led to a massively public power struggle which saw the Mmouse Enterprises Board of Directors infamously appoint Jeff Murrey as the company’s chair while Mickey and Catherine each occupied warring Co-Vice-Chair positions.
Mickey’s sanity, unfortunately, was a thing of the past long before the fateful summer and early-fall leading up to the birth of the Sixth Era, but we only saw the freefall continue on our screens with each passing week. Once he found out that he had a granddaughter – named Jackie – (who Catherine had hid from the world, after claiming in 2009 to Blaster and everyone else to have aborted the 2004 pregnancy), this revelation was actually bittersweet because it was attached to the fact that Jackie was the secret third person holding a massive amount of shares, and whose vote (by proxy through Harry Puddphucker, Mickey’s old business lawyer) became the deciding vote in making Murrey the Chairman!
Mickey initially lost two successive power struggles, which led to Murrey’s ascension to power and then secured it until Motivation VIII on Father’s Day 2021. Yet, Mickey’s obsession with power and success continued, as he just can’t stand not being in control. In the absence of consistent ratings opposition, Mickey’s fury was turned inward and led him to work with a WWF veteran (Apocalypse) as well as hatch a secretive plan with Bray Wyatt to retake control of the company.
This is where we really saw Mickey’s sanity come apart at the seams, because this involved Mickey giving Bray the nod to kidnap of his own granddaughter, Jackie so as to force a Second “Project Extermination” wherein a majority of company shares were at stake. As it turned out, Mickey’s plot was successful in regaining control and of ridding himself of Murrey forever. Yet, he wasn’t satisfied with being back in control, because his insanity fed his paranoia and compelled him to turn on Bray; by way of ordering FRED to destroy him.
Mickey was proud of himself, as he felt that he had rid himself of all of his threats on the way back to where he believed he belonged. Unfortunately for him, this decision to betray Bray would prove fatal…in more ways than one.
By seemingly sending Bray into the afterlife he had connected Bray with his demonic forces (as defined by his own late-sister, Abigail), and in doing so had made his life worse. Bray sought revenge, and Mickey reacted by throwing everything and everyone he could think of in Bray’s way. In 2022, this inspired Mickey to hire Finn Balor to put an end to Bray, and it appeared like this was the case after Motivation X, when the Fiend was sent to the flames and disappeared.
What Mickey may not have counted on was Bray imparting some of his dark arts mastery onto Alexa Bliss, and it was through Alexa’s growing power that Bray was able to come back…except now he and Mickey both had a common enemy: Sister Abigail, but more on her in a second.
You see, after Mickey had reclaimed control over the company and had dispensed with Bray for a time, Ted Brown saw the unstable condition of Mickey’s sanity and sought to revive HCW so as to ensure that there would be something left to the industry in the event that Mickey’s sanity inevitably dragged the company down with him. Mickey saw the push to bring HCW back under his nose and took great offense to this.
In Mickey’s mind, HCW had their time in the spotlight, and that was the wrestling promotion equivalent of “fifteen minutes of fame”. He believed that the true HCW was dead and should remain that way. Ted’s ambition to restore his old wrestling home triggered a slight intrapromotional war to thwart such, and Mickey’s grip on sanity kept slipping further as he scrambled to stop Ted.
Ted Brown threatened to resurrect the HCW by claiming the PWI Championship, and even got as far as winning the 2022 Epic Royale towards that end, but the swerve – and Mickey’s latest headache – came when Brandon Lee retained the PWI Championship and swore allegiance to the HCW thereafter, thus leading Ted to re-present Lee with the PWI/HCW Championship and bring HCW back to life in the process!
The final piece of the puzzle for Mickey’s demise came in the form of the Crock’s meddling with family secrets via his initial investigation series in early 2020. By the Spring of 2020, Crock had reportedly stumbled upon some earth-shattering information and was reportedly receiving threats about it. This only further enraged Mickey and triggered to slip more into madness, compelling him to order his goons to kidnap Crock at Motivation VII before he could offer his final reveal!
At Motivation IX, though, these issues started to coalesce both with the resurrection of HCW and with the revelation – thanks to some assistance with protection by Bray Wyatt – by the Crock that Scott Nash is the long-lost half-brother of the Mouse Brothers!
This revelation – coupled with the dual threats of HCW’s resurrection and Bray Wyatt lingering in the shadows -, sent Mickey into a tailspin of trying to use his power abusively to put a stop to all of the dangers facing him. Around this same time, BWM Inc. rechristened their wrestling company name from EWA to AEW, and then there was a new challenge in the form of Cameron Cross’s Higher Level Wrestling.
Mickey tried to get ahead of the new challenge – seeing it as potentially more threatening week to week than AEW – by counter-programming HLW’s premiere, but ultimately lost in that ratings battle and all subsequent ratings battles against HLW and AXW up through Murrey purchasing Cross To Bare in Spring 2023 to launch WWE.
The frustration that Mickey experienced from failing to stave off his new competition – which included an historically embarrassing and destructive loss on a random Wednesday to AXW Warfare – just fueled his paranoia and made Mmouse Enterprises an extremely unstable environment to work in. AEW even had spotted semi-frequent returns to programming at this time, only adding to Mickey’s growing feeling of losing control once again.
Then, as HCW was set to host the Ninth installment of Wrestlemania under the Mmouse Enterprises banner, Murrey Entertainment’s Chairman Jeff Murrey filed an injunction to stop the event from airing. Even though Murrey eventually withdrew his request for the courts to stop the event – something for which Mickey publicly took credit after retorting that his company had enjoyed unfettered rights to the event since 1997 -, Mickey was still deeply unnerved by the threat of not being able to have a tenth and final installment of the event in 2024; which had long been his game plan since he announced the return of the events in 2021.
His failure to secure a single ratings victory by the end of PWI’s Sixth Season (which ended at Motivation X) had made the Seventh Season a “make or break” season, in his eyes. So, he entered the 2023 Draft with a determination to upset the proverbial applecart. He patted himself on the back when PWI nabbed AJ Lee, and then again he felt a major jolt of excitement when Charlotte Flair and Randy Orton were brought on board via landmark/historic trades. “This is the change that we needed!” Mickey reportedly exclaimed to everyone backstage.
Regardless of what you thought of Mickey’s decision to screw Orton over at Starrcade in 2023, it is very clear now that Orton and the company benefited from not putting the gold on him at that time, but planting the seeds instead for the struggle we would see for the title over the past few months.
Still, despite his brief moment of confidence – as well as a series of decently-performing broadcasts during the Summer of 2023 -, Mickey’s paranoia kicked in again, and was sent overboard by two major events: the death of an important figure in his life and in the lives of many others in the Memphis-Columbus region, and the subsequent outbreak of skirmishes between the HCW and PWI locker rooms. Mickey had lost complete touch with reality and had concluded that this constant struggle would only end with the death of the industry itself!
For the first time ever, Mickey would create his own promotional suicide pact: bringing the industry down at Armageddon 4. The announcement sent shockwaves (and eyerolls, from our competition) around the world as Mickey began plotting the end of it all, and in the midst of the initial stages of the conflict…another, and far more significant, tragedy struck: the sudden death of Shane Murphy.
Murphy’s death hit Mickey personally, but it had more consequential ramifications regarding those loyal to him. After the Shane Murphy Farewell Show, many in the roster began openly verbalizing their apprehension about joining Mickey’s cause for self-destruction. The echoes in the halls of the backstage area grew louder and louder with a more and more unified theme: this isn’t what Shane would want.
Catherine and Blaster heard this and saw a groundswell to build support amongst the locker room to reject Mickey’s vision. Mickey heard this through the only lens he knew: betrayal. It was an attack on him personally to defy him, so he sought to destroy all who stood in his way.
After the first of the year, AEW came back full-time, and so did WWE, and now PWI had consistent competition week to week for the first time in years. This coincided with the interpromotional war reaching a fever pitch, thus leading Mickey and Catherine to seek the Board’s permission to negotiate terms for the “final battle”.
Once Bray defeated Finn Balor to end their feud, he re-set his sights directly on Mickey, and eerily promised that the Chairman would not live much longer. This set Mickey off, as you might expect, but he was also increasingly obsessed with the closing gap between PWI-HCW and the competition; which soon saw PWI overcome a competitor for the first time since 2010 when PWI placed second, just above WWE. Mickey’s focus was getting stretched thin as the line between entertainment and reality blurred more and more.
With more and more people consistently tuning in to see Mickey’s war, he started experiencing trouble with someone’s mindgames…and it turned out to be the Sister Abigail-possessed Alexa Bliss, who had a proposition: help her keep her title and she will help Mickey get rid of Bray and win his war. Mickey could not refuse if he wanted to, but even as he seemed scared for his life, he was more than happy to use the help.
While his war led PWI-HCW to achieve Mmouse Enterprises (and Brown Inc.’s) first undisputed ratings victory in 14 years, Mickey was barely able to relish it as he sought to realize his twisted dream: the death of professional wrestling at his own hands.
With the war’s end nearing, Mickey’s brother Vinny resurfaced for the first time after Shane Murphy’s passing, and he was not well; physically or mentally. His depression from the death of his best friend had effectively led him to give up on living, but not before he made sure to reach out to others in the family in a last ditch effort to recruit them to join in the resistance to Mickey.
Vinny had told Lenny a week before Armageddon 4 that he could feel the time ticking away: “the end is near”, and that night – Global Conflict V – saw numerous things occur to prepare us for the end; including Catherine’s deal with a hooded Bray to offer a sacrifice (who seemed to be Vinny) in exchange for Bray’s assistance and the exorcism by Bray of Alexa Bliss, which sent the demonic influence of Sister Abigail out of Bliss…and into Mickey.
What we saw next were the final hours of Mickey and Vinny’s lives. Mickey’s obsession for power had driven him to the point where he had apparently prepped his possession by Abigail, a plan for which he claims to have planted the seeds long ago. He became boastfully confident in the impending success of his master plan, even going so far as to insert himself and the leadership of the other warring parties in the Final Battle…just so he could win the war and kill the industry with his own hands.
It all seemed to be going according to plan…until he was swerved. Not everything was as it seemed to be. He had covered his greatest foe, Blaster, to – as he thought – kill the business once and for all after seducing his half-brother Scott Nash to help him in the end. However, what he didn’t know was that Catherine and Ted Brown had seen the signs of Nash’s betrayal from a mile away. Without Nash’s knowledge, they negotiated with Ted Dibiase to “rearrange the deck”. In the final card, as presented to and approved by the Mmouse Enterprises Board of Directors – as they were convinced to allow such after seeing what was becoming of Mickey -, saw that while Mickey’s team was recognized officially as including himself as captain, El Giante, Rhyno, and FRED, the other two warring teams had been reorganized (with the secretive and sacrificial go-ahead by Dragonfly and Slammu) to make Nash the “Team Captain [In Name Only]” of “Team UWA” and Bray Wyatt the hidden Team Captain of Team “ULW”, consisting of Blaster (who officially replaced Dibiase) and Giant Gonzales. Rip had originally been penned for being the hidden “Team Captain”, but he was told by Dibiase to leave the match because he was no longer in the team (Dibiase had also seen some hesitance in Rip before the night began, and this made him more amenable to negotiate with Brown and Catherine).
The Fiend’s sudden appearance at the end of the match caught Mickey off guard, and prevented him from being able to exploit the influence of Sister Abigail. Bray has always had some kind of dominion over his late-sister, and the ULW team had expressed confidence that he could pull this off. Catherine knew the Bray would be on board, so she used this certainty in her negotiations with Dibiase, promising him that Bray would deliver. Even Rhyno got cold feet about Mickey’s agenda during the match as he “accidentally” gored El Giante; a decision which changed the match’s momentum completely; the soon-to-be Triad had apparently caught up with Rhyno hours before to convince him to respectfully retire instead of killing the business.
Once “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt had his clutches on Mickey, the match was over, and so was Mickey’s plot…but there was tragically one more price to pay: the sacrifice that Bray wanted in return. Bray brought Mickey to higher altitude, and Mickey begged for mercy…but Bray informed him that there would be none: he was going to die, as promised.
At that moment, Mickey was reunited with his long-lost twin sister: Mickie. Mickey hadn’t known before a few weeks prior that she was his sister – having been lied to his whole life by his parents and handlers, all of whom had told him that she was his cousin -, and he had been manipulative and psychologically abusive otherwise to the poor girl when they were young. Still, instead of seeking to repent in this moment, he denied that she was his twin and instead made this all about him.
During his defiant rant of self-aggrandizement, Mickey’s oldest sibling after his sister, Vinny, emerged. Then in Vinny’s now infamous last words, he proclaimed that he “should have done this a long time ago” as a he charged his oldest brother…plunging both of them to their premature demise. In a moment, as others have said in another way, Mickey’s undying quest for power, which had manifested his twisted dream of killing the industry had created an ironic twist wherein the industry effectively got to him first.
So, there you have it, a final profile on the life of Mickey Mouse. It may not be all-inclusive of every minute detail, but I felt it was fitting to close THIS premiere piece, which so heavily and inevitably centers on Mickey, in this way.
I will offer some thoughts regarding the up and coming Seventh Era by the end of tomorrow night. Thank you for reading.
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 