This column was deleted a year later when TNA was started but it has been restored thanks to Archive.org !!
For your enjoyment....
"Eating Crow" by Bob Ryder - https://web.archive.org/web/20010419191450/http://www.1wrestling.com/columns/frombob/default.asp?B1=View+Column&articleid=3951
This is the first column I have written in the last three years that I have been able to write without worrying whether it would have an impact on my job with WCW. I fully realize that my credibility has been damaged by my defense of WCW in many cases, but I think most people reading this would have done the same thing if they were in my shoes. I was very well paid to be an advocate for WCW, and I think I earned every penny they paid me.
Having said that, it's over now. I got a call about an hour ago telling me that my contract was being terminated, and that WCW was invoking the 60 day out clause in my contract. I fully expected to receive the call, and it came on the same day that the office staff received their termination in a meeting at WCW headquarters in Atlanta.
Do I have any regrets about my association with WCW?
Absolutely.
I regret saying a lot of the things I said, particularly comments made about some of the other people who covered wrestling without the same "blinders" that I was wearing. To people like Dave Meltzer, Wade Keller, and Jason Powell....I'm sorry for some of the things I have said about you in the past. While we will never agree on some issues, I was wrong to question your right to say whatever you wanted to say and to be critical when it was clearly warranted.
What I don't regret is all the fun I had being involved with the friends I made at WCW. I've lived any wrestling fans dream the last few years, and got paid good money to do it. It's been an honor to get to know people like Ric Flair, Gene Okerlund, Jimmy Hart, Bobby Heenan and all the other legends that were a part of WCW. To be able to spend time with those people, and all the other great people I met at WCW has been a wonderful experience and it's something I will never forget.
I've been asked many times in the past few weeks if I would stay with the company if asked to stay. I don't really know how to answer that question, because I haven't been asked to stay...and I don't know what would be expected of me if I was asked. I'd be willing to listen, and wouldn't rule anything out. Hosting WCW Live! with Jeremy Borash was so much fun, and it was such a ground-breaking show....that I hope it is allowed to continue, with or without me.
For now, though, I'm planning to relax and rediscover prime time television. Doing a nightly show for the last two years is not as easy as you might think...and I'm going to take it easy for a few days.
Send feedback to feedback@1wrestling.com
BONUS YOUTUBE CLIP OF RYDER IN WCW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i96cIFNuJZE
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