Ask 411 Wrestling 07.22.09: Goldberg's Debut, nWo's Death and Cross Dressing Fitness Instructors!

Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 07.22.2009

Why didn't Vince Screw Honky? What was Shawn going to do in 93? Were Shane and Stephanie Creatures Of The Night? Why the gap in UK PPVs? Did Hogan ever win by Submission? Who were Flair's Greatest Opponents? And just how much of the Audience is Indy Smart? All these, plus a brand new gif!

Ok, that was like the WORST PPV EVER. Victory Road I mean.

Mat Sforcina here obviously. And I'm not saying that just because Tara lost. Tara lost and thus I lost the Stablewars Titlewars TNA Knockout's Title. And, thanks to Nash winning the Legend's Belt, I lost that too.

The backstage shenanigans aside, I hate that PPV, simply for the fact that it inconvenienced me on a wrestling website game. And hey, that's more than most people who hate TNA have.

And now, live from the HQ of the "Screw Godfather, Penn & Teller for Las Vegas' Raw Hosts Spot Committee", it's Awesome Banner Time!



Special Hi to Chris Jericho, who apparently reads me, given his hint about Randy being his tag partner on Raw.

Backtalking

Did they really set JR on fire?: No, it was a stunt man.

Maori Cannibalism: All right, I'll cop to this one. I tend to lean towards William Arens' views on Cannibalism, and in this case I was thinking that there was no tribe or people that habitually ate other people as a matter of course. But it turns out some Maori tribes did have ritual, occasional, Human Pot Luck Lunches, so that leads credence to the idea, so yeah, it does mean that.

Starman:

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

Bobby Eaton is the correct question. Too easy you say? Well then, it's the return of Letter Equations!

You remember these, right? If 52 = C in a D means 52 Cards in a Deck, what do these wrestling ones mean? Remember, in this, promotion names (like WWE, ECW etc) are one word. And letters bunched together are names.

9 = D the C.
17 = K of the R
1 = T of TH that are T T.
1 = D it took KBG to J.
777 = OH and Y C W (868 by some sources).
116 = L in WWT (C).
11 = T the H W the T in W in N/W.
7 = R P C (if you include AJS).

Questions, Questions, Who's Got The Questions?

Adam tries my patience. But then given how long this list has been in my list…

I've quite a number of mostly unrelated questions for you this time
1) Who played the character of Cloudy?

That would be the (slightly ironically named) "Handsome" Jimmy Shoulders, real name Jim Heaney. For those who didn't catch this hilarious piece of WWF Comedy Gold, in 1996, Sunny was managing the Bodydonnas, Skip (Chris Candido) and Zip (Tom Pritchard). She managed them to the tag titles, but then they lost them to the Smoking Gunns. So, Sunny quit the Bodydonnas, and went to the Smoking Gunns, becoming a cowgirl. After she left, the ‘donnas brought in Cloudy (or Kloudi, depending on how you wanna spell it) as a replacement. And he was a guy in drag.

Oh my sides are so splitting.

2) Shawn Michaels was parachuted into the Hart Brothers Vs Jerry Lawler & Knights match at Survivor Series 1993 due to Lawler if I remember correctly Lawler being falsely accused of sleeping with a 14year old girl, what was Shawn Michaels originally supposed to be doing on that show?

Nothing. He'd technically been fired a month or two prior for testing positive for Steroids, something Shawn still denies doing willing/knowingly. They patched things up and it seemed a good way to bring Shawn back in. Shawn appeared in USWA several times during this, before they built to the HBK/Razor feud over who was the real IC champ.

3) Did Sunny ever wrestle a match in the WWF (apart from the 25 divas battle royal at WM15.

Well, she had some arm wrestling matches with Marlena, as well as at least one swimsuit contest. (In which she lost to Sable, as did Marlena and… Chyna. In 1997.) But no, the 25 Diva Battle Royal was in fact Sunny's wrestling debut in the WWE.

4) I have seen battle royals spelt two different ways: Battle Royal & Battle Royale, which is the correct spelling?

Battle Royal is the proper term, and it's the one the WWE uses. The origins of the term are French, which is why the adjective is after the noun. It should be Royal Battle, according to the rules of English. The only definition of Royale I could find was that it was, get this, custard cut into shapes and used as a garnish in soups.

That said, I'll probably still use Battle Royale because I like the sound of it better. It rolls better in my mind. But Battle Royal is the correct name. It's like Gordon Solie and Suplex really.

5) With Mr T refusing to join the WWE Hall of Fame because he doesn't consider the celebrity wing to be legitimate, which three celebrities would you induct to make it legitimate? My three would be Cyndi Lauper, Lawrence Taylor & Andy Kaufman.

Well, Mr. T would be one, but assuming you wouldn't include him, your list is pretty much in accordance with mine. You might be able to make a case for someone like Aretha Franklin, but those are the three main ones I'd put in with T and Rose.

6) My mate and i and are in disagreement about the Undertaker fans who got involved in the Kama/Undertaker storyline in mid 1995, he claims they are Stephanie & Shane McMahon, but I'm convinced they are just random indy guys, who is right?

That's an old Wrestling Wives Tale. They were NOT Shane and Stephanie, they were shot quite clearly at various points and they were not the young McMahons. Shane was already an occasional referee at this point in Royal Rumbles, while Steph began working the phones for WWF. Sadly I couldn't find a photo/video of the duo, but they weren't them. But I understand the logic behind the idea.

7) My mate also said that Ivory went topless on a WWF tv show once, but I have never heard of it happening, is he correct and if so, do you know when?

Not so much topless as "she was in a brawl her breasts separated from his top". While video is about the place, clearly showing that Ivory is brawling with another woman while D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry look on, I was unable to work out the exact date. You don't see much, it's pretty blurry and fast. Maybe a reader has the details?

8) Were there ever any plans for the Gobbledy Gooker to wrestle in the ring, would the suit have allowed Hector Guerrero to safely perform wrestling manoeuvres?

It's impossible to say, the thing bombed so badly that we'll never know. Certainly while the suit looked bulky, it was mostly cape, it would be the head that was the problem. Perhaps the intent was for the Gooker to "shed", and drop the cape and remove the head to reveal a slightly more manageable mask. Or maybe it was meant to be a mascot, we'll never know.

9) During the summer of 1996, Mankind used to stalk Sunny whilst calling her Mommy, was there ever a payoff to this angle?

No, Mankind stalked Sable, not Sunny. And no, there was no pay off given that it would involve Mankind V Mero, which Mick didn't want and given that both characters quickly went in totally different directions (as did Goldust, who was the Daddy in the family), they just dropped it all.

10) Who was in Floyd Mayweather's entourage at Wrestlemania 24? Were they real bodyguards of his or development wrestlers on day contracts?

I couldn't find any hard data, but I would tend to assume that those who Big Show roughhoused were developmentals, and those he didn't were the real friends. Anyone out there know any guys in the group?

Wow, I'm tired now. But not too tired to answer Chico's question.

Are wrestlers told not to tell fans answers to "what would have happened" questions of storylines? For example, WWE once had a storyline where an upcoming PPV teased HHH deciding whether to turn nWo with HBK & Nash, but the storyline had to be scrapped because of one of Nash's many knee injuries. If one of the wrestlers was now asked what would have happened at the PPV had Nash been healthy for it, is that wrestler encouraged to keep it secret?

As a general rule, in the short/mid term yes. Wrestlers aren't supposed to discuss "What Ifs" while they are still wrestling in case they end up using the idea or convert it to something else down the track. Once someone is retired, then the noose is loosened a little, given that at that point most people take statements with a grain of salt anyway given the tendency of people to lie.

Shoot interviews are the best place to get what ifs like that, if the guy is ever going to say it, it'll be in the shoot interview. Some do, some don't.

RM is up next.

I have a few UK themed questions for you this time. Thanks

1) Why was there a 4 year break between UK Rampage 1993 and One Night Only 1997, before we got another UK only PPV?

Because the technology wasn't there. The UK Rampages and such that were broadcast on UK TV were done on Sky Sports, which while a pay channel, were not Pay Per View. Thus, Vince couldn't get that much money for them, he just got a flat fee. Eventually, the deal for the exclusive big shows broke down. But in 1996, Sky brought in a PPV channel, and the next time Vince was in town, he produced a PPV. It's all about the money.

2) The British Bulldog competed in a tag team match at In Your House 3, he was teamed with Yokozuna against Shawn Michaels & Diesel with the Tag Team Championship, IC & World titles on the line. Bulldogs team lost but the title change was reversed the following night on Raw, with Bulldog challenging for the title at In Your House 4 and 5 (Bret beat Diesel at Survivor Series 1995, in between) was there any talk on having Bulldog be a transitional WWF champion?

The start of that question kinda has nothing to do with the rest in a way. But I covered this last week. Bulldog was on the list of maybes, and there was, perhaps, at least one plan that had him hold the belt for 24 hours, but it was never anything serious. Bulldog just didn't draw the numbers outside of Europe to justify it.

3) The British Bulldog returned to the WWF for the last time in September 1999, but disappeared after Royal Rumble 2000, only to reappear for a one shot at Insurrection later that year before never being seen again, do you know what happened to him? Was he injured or in rehab or what?

Bulldog was in Rehab mostly after the 2000 Royal Rumble. The man was sadly a shell of his former self, and went to Rehab in late February 2000, at Vince McMahon's expense. He was ‘ready' in May, and thus they took him along to Insurrextion anyway for the home town pop. He then spent a couple of weeks on the road, wrestling on Jakked and Heat, before his problems became too much and he was released.

4) In 1998 the WWF held a UK show called Mayhem in Manchester, the only video release I have ever found was a heavily clipped 40 minutes version of the event. Was it ever released uncut or was it shown on PPV or even TV at the time?

No, the show was only ever released as an edited VHS. No full, unedited version was ever released. Although give it enough time and it might just pop up on WWE Classics on Demand…

The ever classy name of CourtesyFlush would be the non de plume of the next question submitter, with one in the opinion section to boot!

1. So in the late 80s, when the Honky Tonk Man refused to drop the IC belt, how come Vince just didn't pull a screwjob and get the belt away from him? Did Vince realize that big bucks could lie ahead by having Honky keep the belt after all? The whole things tends to come across like Honky held the belt hostage, and there was nothing Vince could do about it, but as we've seen later on, Vince had no problems pulling fast ones to get his way. Plus, hadn't he screwed Wendi Richter out of her title a few years earlier? How is it that Honky got away with this one?

Because it kinda happened really quickly, like over a day or two. This is the chain of events.

In the weeks leading up to The Main Event, the booking plans were laid out. Hogan would get cheated out of his title at TME, DiBiase would steal it at Wrestlemania IV, leading to either Hogan vanquishing the foe and/or Savage's coming out party at Summerslam in a big huge celebration of awesomeness, depending on who you side with. The IC title was to go to Savage at TME also, to give Savage credibility/have a face champion the kids could believe in while DiBiase ruled, and Savage would drop the belt in the summer to either Bad News Brown or Bret Hart, depending how it played out.

Honky looked at this booking, and released something. He wasn't in it. So he got in touch with Vince, and asked about what was going to happen with him. Vince said he'd be rebuilt, i.e. they'd start over with a new gimmick and rebuild all his heat and everything.

Honky didn't like this, and made attempts to talk it over with Vince, but Vince didn't return his calls. So, one day, HTM called Jim Barnett and asked about jumping ship with the IC title belt and without being beat, like Flair in 91. Jim told him not to drop the belt under any circumstances and he'd get in touch with Jim Crockett, who, the story goes, was holidaying in the Bahamas and thus couldn't be contacted, this being 1988 and all.

HTM was thus sitting at home, belt in hand, waiting for the call back. Jimmy Hart then played peacemaker, and convinced Honky to give Vince one last call. He did, Vince answered it, and they hammered out the deal that ended up occurring, with Honky holding the title for another 8 months, Savage getting the World Title at WM and DiBiase getting royally screwed over. Everyone wins!

Except DiBiase obviously.

So it was just a matter of timing. HTM's threatened walk out occurred without him being at a show, hence he didn't have to wrestle, hence there was no chance for a screw job.

2. At WMVII, the Legion of Doom basically squashed Power & Glory, and I think that was the end of Herc and Roma. But I heard somewhere that it was supposed to be a regular-length match, but because of an injury, it became the squash. Any truth to that? Who was injured?

I doubt it. If anyone was injured I guess it would be Herc, given that Roma got pinned by Animal after a Doomsday Device and stuff. But I don't know of any injury here that's relevant.

3. Did Hulk Hogan ever win matches by using submission holds? To my knowledge, he never did it at any big PPVs, but maybe at house shows? If so, what hold did he use?

Hogan has ‘won' a match via Submission at least once. Fall Brawl 1995 saw The Hulkamaniacs, which would be Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, and Sting defeating the Dungeon of Doom, which would be Kamala, The Zodiac, The Shark, and Meng. Hogan won the match by locking in a ‘camel clutch' on Zodiac for the submission. As far as I'm aware, that's the sole time Hogan won a match by submission, and that was only due to the stipulations in play.

Justin thinks Shelton is being held down by the Man! Yet again!

I was wondering why Shelton Benjamin is being overlooked by creative yet again by not getting the babyface push that went to John Morrison? They push guys like Morrison, Punk, and Hardy as top faces whose skills on the mic is on the same level as Shelton's. I remember in 2004-05 that he was so over as a face and then a year later he was buried as a lower card heel with lame gimmicks like being a mama's boy and feuding with Cryme Tyme what gives? Also his current feud with Morrison do you think that the roles should be reversed? I think the feud would click with fans more because Morrison is a better heel than Shelton.

Well, again the delay factor hits here.

The fact is that the WWE feels that Shelton doesn't ‘want' it bad enough. The guy works hard to go up a level, but when he does he just coasts there, he doesn't keep working hard. According to the WWE, he's a great athlete but lousy with self-motivation. WWE expects him to be a major star in the future, but he doesn't live up to that yet. Hence the move to ECW, big fish in small pond they are hoping.

Of course, you can argue that the dude has seen what happens. He puts on one of the best matches ever on Raw, with a finish that immediately got added to the opening video package, and then they took him after that star making performance and did… jack-squat with him. So you can understand the lack of motivation. But to WWE, once he wakes up and stops resting on his laurels, they'll push him like the blazes.

Crow (who I preferred in the later seasons, the first voice was good, but the second was better, his interplay with Tom Servo was better), asks about the video selection I make.

Can I ask why so much Botchamania? I know that 411 writers are required to put some Youtube clips in or whatever, but how about some variety? And don't you find it disconcerting when Botchamania features clips of wrestlers getting severely injured, and we're expected to laugh at it? You're a wrestler, for Christ's sake.

That's a fair cop. And certainly, serious injury I do not find funny. The sole time I saw the Sid leg snap for instance, I threw up.

Seriously. Have a thing about leg and foot injuries.

But I'm fairly sure Botchamania has it's limits, it doesn't do anything that severe. And I do like the Botchamanias, I like the guy who makes them, we've traded emails/posts. But I do try to mix it up a bit, like, right now.

This is a series of videos I've ignored for far too long. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Ask 411 Debut of Wrestling Myths Revealed!



Stevil has two questions.

Hey Man, great column

I kinda stop watching wrestling around 2002, (I think that whole terrible invasion angle really pissed me off... could of been the best storyline ever!) but I would watch periodically, and remember a version of the nWo with Nash, HBK, Booker T, Goldust among others. How did this come about, and why and how did it get killed early on? (I'm assuming because it was a terrible idea). Also what is your opinion on the worst or most botched angle/idea ever ? Mine is a tie between The Shockmaster and Hogans' movie career(and soooooooooo many more... this is wrestling we're talking about).

The second part's easy. The InVasion.

The first one's pretty simple too. Especially given I did an Evolution Schematic about it. I'm just going to go ahead and give you an abridged version of the relevant chapter, then discuss the backstage stuff.

See, Vince McMahon was stuck with Ric Flair as a co-owner of the WWE, a man who beat him clean at the Royal Rumble in a street fight. Vince wanted to get rid of Flair, needed to get rid of him. But how? Then he got the idea. Bring in the nWo. And Flair reacted exactly how Vince hoped. Flair apologized full stop for anything he ever did to force Vince to bring in the poison that killed WCW. Flair offered Vince anything. Bash Flair's head in with a steel pipe? Make Flair Bleed? Whatever you want Vince, just don't bring the nWo in.

Vince's demands? Flair sells him his 50% stock, then gets the fuck out.

Flair had a few days to think about it, and on Smackdown, said goodbye to the fans. Vince came with his lawyers, to check the contracts. Flair said goodbye to The Rock, then gave AA a final hug. Then Flair came to the ring to sign the contract selling Vince his stock, in exchange for Vince being prohibited from bringing in the nWo. But Steve Austin talked Flair out of it, and made him rip up the contracts. Thus the nWo were on their way. The next Raw, Vince confirmed that Hall, Nash and Hogan, the real nWo, were on their way. And the nWo's trademark promo spots played in the weeks leading up to No Way Out, where the nWo would debut, and debut they did, claiming that they were not poison, they would be just part of the boys.

They caused mischief and mayhem at No Way Out, then the next night on Raw, Hogan accepted a match against Rock at Wrestlemania, and then a 3 on 1 nWo Beat Down (TM) took place.

And then Hogan ran a semi-trailer into Rock's Ambulance.

Slight case of over-kill there.

Hogan and Rock continued their war, while Hall and Austin engaged in their own, with Nash trying to help Hall. The stage was set for WMX8, and the nWo to run wild.

And then Toronto went and screwed everything up.

Well, the Hall/Austin match went badly but wasn't too bad, 5 Stunners in one match is enough to put anyone down. Ok, one was by Hall, and another was to Nash, but still. But then Hogan, for whatever reason, asked The Outsiders to stay out of his match with Rock. They agreed, warily. And then Toronto went and CHEERED for Hogan. For the guy who drove a fricking semi-trailer into Rock's ambulance. But Toronto loved Hogan, and that made Hogan happy. So when he lost to Rock, he shook Rock's hand, and made nice with him.

This did not sit well with the Outsiders, for obvious reasons. They went after Hogan and Rock, but quickly decided to wait to see where they would end up in the Draft, since they would be drafted as a unit. Hall, Nash, and the newly re-debuted X-Pac, who became the first WWF Wrestler to become an nWo member.

And then they get drafted by Ric Flair to Raw.

The nWo lost on their final Smackdown, and began their careers on Raw. They started by taking over the APA offices, gaining Bradshaw's ire. Then they beat up and unmasked Kane. This lead to Flair ‘suspending, without pay' the (actually injured) Nash.

Then Hall lost to Austin in his #1 Contenders match, but Bradshaw was there for Hall to fight at Backlash. Hall won at Backlash, although he needed X-Pac's help.

Then Big Show turned on Austin and joined the nWo. And then Flair turned on Austin and joined the nWo. He then fired Scott Hall for being unable to get the job done, and admitted that Nash was injured, and not suspended.

Then Flair inducted Booker T and allowed him to join the nWo, just by having him fight Austin in a lumberjack match. This immediately lead to Goldust's attempts to get Booker out of the group, then to try and join himself.

Flair failed to do a good job as leader, but soon enough Nash returned to lead the nWo to the promised land. But by then the nWo seemed to be just another group, since that's what they were really. Not even Shawn Michaels joining helped. And then Shawn goes and superkicks Booker out of the nWo, and it still didn't help. This was a half hour or so before Vince won complete control over the WWE. And the writing was on the wall there and then. Vince giveth, and Vince taketh away.

But the nWo did survive for a bit longer. They got a win over Booker and Goldust, and they promised to bring Triple H into the fold. And then…

Benoit, Eddy, and the nWo vs. Booker, Goldust, The Dudley Boyz and Rob Van Dam.

Nash took a step and tore his quad muscle.

And then next week, July 15th, 2002, Vince McMahon walked out and officially declared the nWo dead. Just like that. But really, that was just confirming what everyone knew since Wrestlemania. Hell, since just before Road Wild 99 really.

Well, here marks the end of the first ever ES/Ask 411 cross over.

Anyway, at the time they introduced them, WWE was in panic mode, as they tried every hot shot angle and big name hire to bring in the crowd. The nWo was another in a line of them, and it began well enough with Hogan, Hall and Nash. But then Hogan turned face and Nash got injured. So they began plugging guys in, starting with logical ones like X-Pac and Big Show, then silly, like Flair and Booker. But once it got down to Nash, X-Pac and Big Show with Shawn as a mouth-piece, things seemed to back on track. Then Nash tore his quad, and they just dropped the whole thing. Basically WWE tried to recreate something without really understanding it then injuries forced changes and then MORE injuries forced a total abandonment.

DrunkenMark is up next with a borderline question.

Hey there...You and all your predecessors have done a great job with this column. It is my favorite every week.

I remember when I was a kid and the Legion Of Doom came to the WWF (I Only watched WWF at the time) and I thought WOW these guys are bad ass!!!! In the past few years I have become more "educated" to the fact that the Road Warriors were in NWA/WCW for years before 1990 and were pretty big stars there. However, the name change was pretty different from their NWA persona.

My question is what percentage of wrestling fans buyin tix, merchandise, PPV etc. in 1990 and slightly before were "educated" to know guys brought in from other companies? And what would that % be this day and age with the internet and all?

I mean CM Punk came from ROH and had that huge chant at Survivor Series 06 in Philly and I would have to think most of that was from his time in ROH and not the few months of exposure on ECW on Sci Fi.

Also, does the WWE and TNA account for the internet as much as I would like to think it does? If either company brought in Bryan Danielson or any huge Indy guy, would they acknowledge his awesomeness on the indies or treat it as how they did in 1990 to kids and "uneducated" fans?

Well clearly I don't have any numbers at hand, so while these are logical guesses they are still guesses. Probably should be in the opinion section but screw it.

Back in the day it was probably a small percentage, maybe 10-15% would recognize another companies star on sight. More WCW fans would know WWF guys than vice-versa, however. Most of the time back then when they had a new guy he'd have some build up, enough that when they did debut it's hard to say if it was the original heat or the new one that was getting him over, if he did.

Nowadays, the number is almost certainly higher, but not by much. At a guess, 25% at most, on average, would know that Marcus Cor Von was really Monty Brown straight off. We in the IWC tend to overestimate the percentage of fans who are as hardcore as us. Most wrestling fans are ‘online', but they aren't online on the sites that would qualify them to be IWC members, such as 411mania.

However, there is a big quantifier there: Smark Cities. Some cities have a much higher level of IWC/Smark/whatever term you want to use fans than normal. Philly is the poster child, but New York, Toronto (hell, half of Canada apparently), Chicago, most big cities tend to have higher percentages, some are really noticeable. Yes, the CM Punk love at Survivor Series 06 was clearly not purely WWE driven, although most people ignore the WWE hype that went into Punk. He didn't just turn up one day, they gave him promos and build before he debuted. Like with Flair when he came in, WWE didn't assume the fans knew them, they took the time to introduce them and build them up a bit. Compare to WCW, who had Hogan come in and he was immediately the biggest star in the company and in his first match won the World Title. But that's another point.

The biggest counter-point to this would be Jericho though. Jericho got one of the loudest reactions on record for his debut, hell, take a look. Again.

His build didn't have his name, yet the moment ‘Jericho' appeared, Massive Pop. So during the Monday Night War period, the cross-over between WWF and WCW was higher. But with indy names, it's a lot smaller.

TNA caters to the Internet a little more, but both wouldn't bring in a guy from the Indys cold. They'll re-work him slightly, Developmental him for a bit, and then bring them in. Unless someone became very well known very quick (like Matt Striker did when he got fired), the companies now don't bring guys in cold. Samoa Joe got some build before his PPV debut, and that's as cold an intro as you get nowadays.

Eric is up next.

Whats up Super Sforcina? Great job with the column as always. Got a few for you, if you don't mind.

1) Who is the most genuinely nicest wrestler you've ever met? Who was the biggest asshole? A few years back a buddy of mine met Booker T and said he couldn't have been nicer, more eager to meet the fans, and really down to earth. And then he said Rene Dupree was a super douche. He even said Orton was a lot nicer than Dupree!

Hmm. Well, Raven was pretty cool once you got past the slight scuzzy feeling. And I've found that the Dragon's Gate guys I've met tend to be nice guys, as was Masato Tanaka. But probably the nicest guy I've met would be Steve Corino. He was pretty friendly, and was very courteous when he borrowed my necklace to use as a chain in his match. Although Sabu (surprisingly) runs a very close second, guy shook my hand in the open at the front of the venue, while I sat and waited for my ride to turn up, I still remember that. But then that's been my usual experience, the crazier the wrestler, the nicer he is backstage. I'm sure there's exceptions…

2) Has a wrestler ever been fired as soon as their match was over? I'm talking as soon as they get backstage, they were told to get the hell out of the arena and never come back. On the flipside, has anyone ever been hired on the spot after a tryout match?

Fired: The default answers are Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam 1991 and Wendi Richter at MSG in Nov 1985. Beyond them, immediate firings are pretty rare, they normally wait a day or two to cool down before they do it, like with Wes Adams.

Hired: As rare as immediate fires are, immediate hires are even rarer. I can't think of anyone who got hired onto the main roster directly. Certainly guys have been hired based on a performance in the ring, like the guy who impersonated Shawn Michaels in a skit with I believe Randy Orton got hired. But again, there's usually a day or two delay.

3) And finally, is anyone more protected in the business than the Undertaker? They won't even have the guy show up at the Hall of Fame, but would have Umaga sitting there in a frickin' suit.

No, there isn't. But then he's earned it.

And no, there shouldn't be a Chandler here.

Axle submitted a question in Binary.

My question involves Star Wars and George Lucas. I have noticed quite a few ties between Star Wars and pro wrestling. World Class had a big event called International Wrestling Star Wars. There was a wrestler who was a bad ass monster who wore a giant black helmet and went by Vader. Starrcade '86 had a scaffold match called the "Skywalker" match. The Shockmaster wore what was obviously a Stormtrooper helmet. This all seems like ground for George Lucas to sue for infringement but I never heard of any litigation coming about. Did George just ignore wrestling thinking it wouldn't matter or did wrestling companies get the okay from him?

No, wrestling companies did not get the OK from Lucas, that I can assure you. However, they don't actually need it. In a way.

The thing is, Star Wars is a trademark. Trademarks are fairly universal, but they aren't totally universal. There are 84 Trademarks on the US books that are for, or related to, Star Wars. None relate to Professional Wrestling. Technically, you can call use the term "Star Wars" in your Wrestling show, and you can't get sued because it's not a trademark in that field. However, if you use the term in such a way as to refer to the famous Star Wars, then you can and will get sued. They haven't covered Wrestling, but if you try and use it as a way to muddle the marketplace, you're dead in the water.

In the list, World Class' show title was different enough, Vader was clearly not meant to be Darth Vader, and Skywalker is a name. Only the Shockmaster you might have a case off hand, since it WAS a Lucas made item. It's complicated.

And I'm sure someone's going to bitch at me about it…

Jason has some questions about, who else? Goldberg.

1. Recently I have been to different sites on the Internet that has a list of all the WCW Monday Night Nitro Results. Every site I have been to lists the August 2nd Nitro of 1999 as having Bill Goldberg and Sting Defeating Rick Steiner and Sid Vicious by DQ. Every site I have been to says that. However I just recently found a NEW Site that I have not been to before and that site also had a list of all the WCW Monday Night Nitro Results. Now according to this site they list the August 2nd Nitro of 1999 as having Sid Vicious and Rick Steiner Defeating Bill Goldberg and Sting by DQ. My question is, which site has the Correct Information? And who won the match?

According to my site (The History of WWE.com's WCW section), Sid and Rick won by DQ. And I found a copy of the match, albeit with German commentators.



And as you can see, it appears that Sting and Goldberg lose once Hogan starts going nuts with the chair. Although if someone speaks German, that would help.

2. is it TRUE that Bill Goldberg HAS NOT WRESTLED A MATCH Since he beat Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 20?

True. He's appeared on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, and done color commentating for EliteXC, but he's not wrestled since WMXX. He hasn't ruled it out, with TNA being a mild possibility since Sting's there, but he wants a lot of money and TNA using his name he hasn't liked.

3. was Bill Goldberg's DEBUT MATCH ON TV against Hugh Morrus?

Yes, September 22nd, 1997, Bill Goldberg's first TV match saw him defeat Hugh Morrus with the Jackhammer in 2:43.

Brandon finishes us with a question about a infamous match.

Every once in awhile I think about this match that I saw on a WCW PPV back in the early 90's. I can't remember who was involved (for some reason, Goldust comes to mind) but two guys fought in the back of an 18 wheeler while it was moving. I'm pretty sure the "wrestling" was terrible but because I was like 12 at the time, I thought the concept was the coolest thing in the world. Has anything like this been done before or since this match? Do you think it's a good gimmick?

You do a damn fine job sir. Stay groovy.

That, my dear man, was the King Of The Road match. A match that saw Dustin Rhodes and Barry Darsow, going by "The Blacktop Bully" fired. They were told be their boss to have a great, bloody brawl. They did. Then get got fired for bleeding, which was against WCW standards. So was the person who told them to blade. And in order to air the match, a hell of a lot of editing went into the match, hence the day to night to day of it.

As for the gimmick itself, I can't say I'm a fan, if only because having a moving floor is a recipe for disaster. It's hard enough at times to walk across the ring when it's jumping up and down, try doing it in the back of a truck! Good idea, but totally infeasible for a good match.

Even with copious amounts of blood.

My Damm Opinion

CourtesyFlush is back.



It depends on the characters involved. I don't prefer either one over the other, it's a matter of who is winning, who is losing, and who has done what. Put a gun to my head, and I'll say that I think a submission is a stronger win, but the pinfall is more dramatic and makes for better TV, you do the zoom in while the crowd counts, that's TV magic right there.

Ricky C wants to list Flair's greatest opponents. Why not?

So a few years ago either on print or DVD (I can't recall) I remember Ric Flair mentioning after the death of Eddie Guerrero that Eddie was probably in the top 20 of his greatest opponents. It got me thinking, if Flair ever created a list what would it look like? So I thought I'd give it a shot. Whaddaya think?

Ricky Steamboat
Harley Race
Shawn Michaels
Sting
Dusty Rhodes
Terry Funk
HHH
Randy Savage
Arn Anderson
Steve Austin
Curt Hennig
Barry Windham
Bret Hart
Chris Benoit
Lex Luger
Vader
Roddy Piper
Eddie Guerrero
Kerry Von Erich
Tito Santana

The list obviously has to take several factors into consideration, and not just be from a workrate standpoint. I mean, I'd watch a Flair vs. Santana match anyday over a Flair vs. Dusty match, but the rivalry between he and Dusty was just so epic that Dusty needed to be high on the list. Flair never had a great big feud with Santana but they had some damn good matches. And whether Flair likes it or not, he'd have to put Benoit somewhere on the list.

I'd probably drop Santana, Luger, and Benoit. Tito wasn't that big a name, Luger was incompetent and I don't know how Flair feels about Benoit. To replace those three, I'd wager he'd have Magnum TA, Wahoo McDaniels, and maybe Jericho. Or Foley, now that they've made up. What do you guys think?