Cooley turned on Davis violently, elbowing him in the back of the neck during a small package attempt on Jimmy Golden.

"Waitaminute!," I shouted into the phone (my girlfriend hated wrestling, but loved Cooley... Go figure). I was just so floored, I had to end my phone conversation.

Ahhhh... kayfabe memories.

Anyway, that night, I taped the CCW program, just in stunned disbelief at what my "hero" had done.

After he elbowed Davis, he called for Fuller and Golden to lift Davis up. He pulled off his boot and gave Davis a bloody beating.

Cooley and Fuller and Golden left the ring area, and left Davis (who was helped by the Midnight Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty) in a pool of his own blood, prompting Gordon Solie to call it "by far the worst betrayal I've seen in all my time in this business."

"Cat Collins!," Solie yelled into the microphone. "Cat Collins! Take a camera and follow them! Follow them, please!"

The cameras (and this was rare) followed the three into the locker room, where Fuller opened a briefcase and handed Cooley stack upon stack of money. 

"Now, listen," Fuller said. "Danny Davis is not the kind of guy that's going to allow this to just go away..."

"He's a tough boy," Golden nodded.

Cooley assured the tag team champions that he would "take Davis out" and get the "rest of the money."  The three hugged, then chased Collins and the cameraman out of the room.

Fuller and Golden came back out to the ring to end the show, and called Cooley out to spotlight what he had done. On his way to the ring, a smiling Cooley was slammed to the ground by Davis, his head wrapped in bandages.   Michaels and Janetty followed, and the three fought to the back to end the show.

On the next program, taped Aug. 31 (and broadcast Sept. 5), Cooley did his first heel interview with Gordon Solie.

Solie asked him why he would do such a thing to a man he had traveled with for years.

"I did it for the money," Cooley said, "and it was quite a bit of money, Gordon Solie."

Cooley talked of how he wanted to make things better for his family. Mr. Solie said he had heard a report from another wrestler that Cooley was partying in a Birmingham establishment until 2 a.m.

"How do you explain that?," Solie asked.

Cooley smirked. "Well, I took my family along with me, Gordon..."

Following the interview, he made his way to the ring to take on Keith Hart.  During his ring introduction, Collins referred to Cooley as "Wildcat Wendall.."

Cooley interrupted him, waving his hand slightly and shaking his head. He took the microphone from Collins. "It's not 'Wildcat' anymore," he advised him. "It's 'Hot Property.'"

The Bullet, standing with Solie at the podium, was disgusted. "I just can't believe this," he said, selling the turn.

At the same time, "Dr." Tom Prichard, a longtime heel, had become frustrated as a part of a heel faction, The Wild Bunch, with Jonathan Boyd and Mike Golden.

Prichard, sick of carrying the New Zealand flag and hearing Boyd rip the United States, left the Wild Bunch, and was busted open badly by Boyd and Mike Golden. It was almost like the bookers "gave" us Prichard, since they turned Cooley.

But Cooley's turn wasnąt yet complete. It would become even more sinister. Robert Fuller, the younger brother of "The Tennessee Stud," Ron Fuller, decided that his brother had lost a step, and in Ron's absence, Robert decided to re-form the Stud Stable, a vicious rulebreaking group that Ron started in late 1984.

Robert even put together a contract signing ceremony, complete with champagne, Jimmy Golden, Dutch Mantell and the previously unlikely Wendall Cooley. The group held the Continental title (Cooley's), the tag titles (Fuller and Golden) and the Southeastern title (Mantell), the top titles in the area.

Cooley wonders aloud if he did the right thing, which leads to soul searching and a return to his fan-favorite status (but a goodbye to his title).