Ask 411 Wrestling 07.29.09: Breaking Counts, Giant Headbutts and Vince Hates Asians!

Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 07.29.2009

Why would Andre pick SD Jones for a partner? Who was the first to have a Contractually Obligated Rematch? Was Sunny going to join The Hart Foundation? Why was Stan Hansen even in WCW? Has a title changed hands by accident? All this, and $100,000, if you just break Hogan's legs...

Hello, and welcome one and all to the column that is glad that we're finally getting some movement on the Giant/Jericho angle from 1998 Nitro, Ask 411 Wrestling!

Now, I would go more in-depth on the PPV, in an attempt to fill space, but I won't, since I have to save up my thoughts. For, once again, I shall be filling in for Meehan this Friday with the return of The MattThinks Friday No-CostThinks!

I basically offered to do it provided not a single other person on site wanted it. That was a mistake, since everyone wants more gifs.

Thus, I'm turning to you, my loyal readers. I've got gifs, some of them pretty cool. But I don't have any true modern classics like the Belt Summon or the Tech Difficulties. Now sure, I'll probably find a couple between now and then, but you may already have one on your computer! So, I'm asking for gifs, via email. If I like it, in it goes.

But hey, it's cool either way. Onto the main stuff.

Backtalking

Botchamania never included Sid's Leg: I know you didn't, I saw it in a Wrestling/Mario piece of crap video.

Backstreet Boys: It's not so much a fan club as it is that the idea that a big burly wrestler listens to the most sugary of all boy bands and is thus gay is funny. Supposedly.

Flair's Best Opponent's List: Mainly for the guy who was reminding us of how Chris Benoit killed his family: The question was who would Flair put in his list. Flair seems to not have as much of a hang up about Benoit as others, so it's plausible to think he'd include Benoit in the list and not disrespectful to discuss him in this context, similar to how it's not disrespectful in discussing Albert Speer in a discussion of the history of German Architects.

I'm still not ready to include Benoit in any best of list that I write that are of MY opinion, at least not on a regular basis (I think I included him in the Top 5 Rumble performances, at least as a Honorable Mention). But others might. And, Flair doesn't seem to like Luger much, so again, it's not inconceivable that he'd exclude him. But he might not, until he writes the list up we'll never know.

But hell, you want to decide for yourself? Michael G has a 25 disc Ric Flair Collection if you want to look them over yourself.

Immediate Hires/Fires: I cannot believe I forgot about Paul Roma. Sorry guys.

The thing about the listed Fires and Hires (Bagwell and Kronik getting fired, Mr. Perfect, Goldust, Crash and Vic getting hired) is that they were normally not announced till the following day, hence it's hard to say if they were immediate or not. But I'm happy to add them to the list, if they weren't immediate they were near enough that it makes no difference.

Hulk Hogan Submission Wins: Well, ok, if you want to go back before be became Hulk Hogan, Hero To Trillions, then yes, he did at one point use the Bearhug as a finisher.

See how I tried to make it seem like the Bearhug was something I chose to ignore as opposed to a total slip up on my part? Damm I'm good…

Mayweather's Entourage: Yeah, Evans sounds right.

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

Oh. I probably should have written down the answers to these somewhere. Let's see if I remember them…

9 = Doink the Clowns.
17 = Kings of the Ring
1 = Titles of Triple H that are Tag Titles.
1 = Days it took King Billy Gunn to Job.
777 = Owen Hart and Yokozuna' Combined Weight (868 by some sources).
116 = Losers in World War Threes (Combined).
7 = ROH Pure Champions (if you include A.J. Styles).

And the equation that no-one got, and that took me a solid 15 minutes to work out myself…

11 = Times the Heels Won the Toss in Wargames in NWA/WCW.

Who am I? A World Champion in multiple companies, I'm a much loved Pro Wrestler who's tended to stick to one alignment for most of my career. I've been involved in many famous moments in the sport, some involving different companies, some involving chair shots and some involving blindness. I have had, as of this point, 15 different WWE title reigns. I've been involved with multiple women on air, although I'm married to one of them in real life. Some have tried to lure me to the dark side, others beat me into submission, and yet others just want me to hurt for what I did as a child. And I'm the only man to hold a certain title in two companies. Who am I?

Questions, Questions, Who's Got The Questions?

We'll start with Jesus, since I got help to answer his question.

I have read in multiple places (including this fine website) that Rey Mysterio is usually stuck on Smackdown! in order to boost up the Latino viewership for that show; the same has also been said for other wrestlers and their particular ethnicities.
Does this actually help? Does having one particular wrestler grappling on a specific show actually boost the numbers of a demographic by any measurable amount?

As always, I'm now joined by JP Prag, 411's Resident Business Genius and Journal Writer.

Although in this day and age the program itself is usually the attraction, SmackDown has many elements that attract a Latino audience, including the performers. The difference is quite measurable. Take for instance the week of September 8, 2008 through September 14, 2008. In the Latino demographic, SmackDown was the second most watched English-language network show, equating to 800,000 thousand households. Considering SmackDown had roughly 3 million total viewers, Latinos made up over 25% of the audience.

Given the decline in SmackDown's ratings while Rey Mysterio was away, it is perceivable to believe that at least a portion of that was because the Latino audience was not interested in watching a show without one of their main guys. Now that he is back, it is taking time to bring the audience back into the fold.

Joshua asks a simple question about numbers.

Sup Man. I've been noticing that the WWE commentators refer to Chris Jericho as a 5 time world champion. How? I count only 3 world titles.
1. Undisputed World Champion, lost to Triple H
2. World Heavyweight Champion, lost to Batista
3. World Heavyweight Champion, lost to John Cena

So where do they get the other 2? Not from ECW where he was TV champ but not World Champ. Not from WCW, never world champ there.

Any ideas?

The WWE counts the WCW World Title for the last 2. During the InVasion, Jericho won the WCW World Title off The Rock, then lost it back to him. Then Jericho won it back off him at Vengeance, and 10 minutes later became Undisputed Champion. But they count that tiny WCW title win as a separate, distinct reign. Hence 5.

Kevin asks why the WWE shuns a certain venue.

Why does the WWE always go to the Allstate Arena (formerly known as the Rosemont Horizon) rather than the United Center when they come to Chicago? I remember WCW going to the West Side of Chicago but the WWE never really goes there, with the exception of Summerslam 94. With the Hawks and the Bulls doing good once again wouldn't it be a better business decision (unless avoiding a Kroenke situation) to go to the better stadium, after all that is where Jordan played.

Actually Summerslam 94 was the very first public event in the building, so the WWE broke the place in.

But the Allstate Arena is kind of like the WWE's little black dress. The Arena holds the record for the longest run of consecutive sold out shows for the company (16, from 1992-2005), the building has had some historic events in it. The WWE clearly likes the venue, and they like the WWE. They know where it is, they know the layout, they have worked with the venue for years.

Not that that is a good enough reason to warrant not at least trying the other venue. But the WWE clearly loves the Allstate Arena, so they go with what they know and trust rather than with a building and people they don't know that well.

Of course, that assumes that the United Center would WANT a WWE event…

Next up is a trickly question, again about WWE's preferences, from Nate.

Big fan of the column. Best stuff on the site.

My question has to do with the Japan wrestling and I'm looking for your opinion as much as anything.

I was lucky enough to grow up down the street from a video store that had dozens of of New and All Japan wrestling tapes from the 80's. Very early on I found myself prefering the Japanese style and marked out for the WCW Supershows of the 90's, not too mention everytime Muta, Chono, Sasaki, etc showed up on TV and PPV.

I heard recently that WWE is looking to push heavily into the Japanese market.

My question is this: Why doesn't WWE (I know TNA has little interest since Russo is a xenophobe) look to either raid, buy, or form a working agreement with a Japanese company? To me it makes complete sense. WWE would get an influx of talent periodically that would be different from all the other superstars and could send some of their younger talent over to get some invaluable experience. I know the language barrier could be an issue, but I thought that's what managers were for. And in case WWE hasn't taken a look at America lately, everybody isn't Caucasian (although I am) or (rarely in WWE) black. Why do you think WWE doesn't want to bring in some Japanese (or international) talent?

Well, that was the basic idea behind the "WWE: Global Domination" plan that was floated and then seemed to die a year or two ago. They would set up an Asian/Oceania company that would tour there under the name, and allow the talent to work a different style.

But TNA is actually working with Japan, despite Russo's best efforts to seemingly try and ruin the relationship (without going into spoilers… Let's just say that while it's not quite "Lyger jobbing to a bottle of Tequila" it's still not great), the TNA/New Japan relationship is going strong, with both sides pleased with it.

But as for the main question, WWE would never bring in a large group of Asians at once. Kaientai was an oddity, and even then the 4 of them were mainly used for comedy. WWE, read Vince, doesn't really like Asian wrestlers THAT much. Certainly he doesn't like the Japanese style, hence anyone he brings in will damm sure go through the WWE-ation process. Vince is not Paul Heyman, who would be holding ECW/Dragon's Gate shows if he was still running. WWE may eventually create it's Asian brand, and if they do, they might buy out a company or two. But in the short term, they will not cross-promote. Why bother? They run well enough in Japan as is, why share the pot?

A convoluted answer I admit, but it's a convoluted issue. There's lots of reasons for both sides, but it basically comes down to Vince Don't Want It.

Micheal tests me.

1)I remember when NWA first promoted the Bunkhouse stampede battle royals, that they had career jobber Nelson Royal sitting around a campfire talking about the match and the history of battle royals. My question is, why Royal? That would be the equivalent of the then WWF having SD Jones promote a concept match. Did no one else want to do it?

Well, the promo was on the 29th of November, 1986 edition of World Championship Wrestling. Sadly I couldn't find a video. As for the logic, the only thing I can come up with was that it was a couple of days removed from Starrcade, and thus they wanted to reinforce the logic that all the main players were tired and exhausted from the big show. And Nelson wasn't quite SD Jones level, he and Sam Houston tended to win tag matches. So he's more Virgil than SD Jones.

2) speaking of SD Jones, I remember the match where Andre got his hair cut by Ken Patera and Big John Studd, that for weeks prior to the match the angle was that Andre was going to pick a mystery partner. Most assumed back then that the partner would be Hogan as it was that big of a match. Some other names were also rumored like JYD I remember. Then the match starts and they announce Andre's partner as Jones. How lame! What was the reasoning behind picking him? That killed most interest in the match. Or was Andre that cheap to buy his own haircut so he agreed to that weak angle to get a free one?

Well, let's review the tape.



You want the logic for Kayfabe or the booking logic?

Kayfabe: Andre was a lovable giant, and SD clearly was trying to make a name for himself. So, assuming he could handle the heavy lifting, Andre let SD be his partner, and hopefully he'd finally break on through to the other side.

Booking: They needed someone who could sell well and who would have no chance of helping out once Patera and Studd starting cutting his hair. If they'd gone with Hogan, then there's no way Hulk, or any new or exciting babyface, could stay down long enough. SD was there to play dead, since he was good at it.

3) Speaking of Andre, in the Saturday Night Main event battle royal where he famously busted up Lanny Paffo after a headbutt, I remember Poffo bleeding immediately and profusely without covering his face to blade. Did Andre really bust him open or did Poffo blade that well that no one saw it?

Thank you!@!!!

Well, let's review the tape for this as well!



This would be a testament to Lanny's blade job, which was quick and deep. Notice that you can't see any blood until he lands on the floor, at which point he's bleeding. He lands, quickly cuts a bloody deep cut in his head, then the camera switches to him. A very good blade job.

From blade jobs to contracts, neverAcquiesce?

Is there a known first instance of a champion losing his title than executing his rematch clause? In other words, do you know the first documented case of a former champion getting a contractually-obligated rematch?

…

Well, I can't tell you the first man to have a contractually obligated rematch mentioned on air, but I'll now go off and review the title histories and find the first major belt to switch hands, with the very first title defence being against the former champion.

*Intermission Music Plays*

Well, my first contender is Ric Flair, shockingly enough. Although it wasn't aired till much later (if at all), Randy Savage's first WWF Title defence after winning the WWF World Title at Wrestlemania VIII, April 5th 1992, was against Ric Flair, 2 days later. Ric lost in 6 minutes after Savage got the brass knuckles Perfect slid in and KOed Flair with them. So, let's see if anyone can top that.

*More Intermission Music Plays*

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! And it's a weird one!

The World Tag Titles, currently being one half of the 4 belts around Jericho's waist and big fat Justin Credible… I mean Big Show's shoulders, the half last held seperatly by Miz and Morrison, way back in 1967, were called the WWWF US Tag Team Championship. In July 1967, they were held by the duo of Spiros Arion & Antonio Pugliese. But then, Antonio left the US. Spiros chose Arnold Skaaland as his new partner. The duo were then set to defend the belts on July 10, in Atlantic City. For whatever reason, Spiros was not there. So, a man called Chuck Richards was allowed to sub in for him.

He and Arnold then lost the belts to Lou Albano & Tony Altimore, their scheducaled opponents.

One week later, July 17, the new champs defended and retained their belts against… Spiros Arion & Arnold Skaaland.

So that would be the first time that a Champion/s had a contractually obligated rematch.

Next up, Thomas asks about an aborted angle.

I remember back in 1996 in the WWF an angle that involved an affair with Brian Pillman and Sunny. It happened just before the story line love triangle with Pillman, Marlena, and Goldust. As I recall Sunny was doing a photo shoot on the beach and the photographer took photos of the two of them being intimate, but nothing was made of it. So why did the WWF pull the plug on this angle. Could it be that Pillman, Marlena, and Goldust made a better angle, or did they have other plans for Sunny.

I gotta admit, at first, I thought that this was one of those cases of one of my readers letting his imagination get away with him. The only interaction between Pillman and Sunny I could find in 1996, was Pillman interviewing her on October 13, which was then interrupted by Steve Austin, challenging the winner of the World Title match at this live event to a title match the next time the WWF would be in Anaheim, the location of the show.

However, by slapping myself and looking at the 1997 results, I did indeed find this angle. The 30 June, 1997 episode of Raw featured Jerry Lawler discussing a recent Sunny photo shoot for Raw Magazine in which she was seen with Brian Pillman and said that the magazine was now available.

I think this is a case of Russo's influence coming into play. At the time, people ‘knew' that Sunny and Bret were knocking boots. Ergo, teasing a Sunny/Hart Foundation angle, teasing Sunny joining, would draw viewers and readers to Raw Magazine.

The fact that if you knew Sunny and Bret's past then you'd already be watching is ignored in Russo's head. But admittedly, that assumes he's the one behind this.

Whatever the idea, be it a short term thing to sell magazines or something more long term, at this point Pillman was still in the Hart Foundation first, the Goldust feud was beginning to grow. So although it's possible there was to be a Pillman/Sunny angle, it's more likely just a tease of a Sunny/Hart Foundation union that never happened.

The first and only appearance of Super Liger. Not the proudest moment in Chris Jericho's career…



Boy has some odd questions.

wassup dude love the column and i got 3 off the wall questions that i hope you can solve for me.
1. Do former wrestlers have to pay for pay per views? for example if Bret Hart wanted to watch a Wrestlemania does he get charged or does WWE cover there bill?

Yes, they have to pay. WWE might pay for rehab, but their former employees have to pay to watch the product same as everyone else.

2. How do wrestlers receive their pay checks? Nightly? Weekly? Bi-Weekly?

I can't say for 100% certain, but most of my sources tend to put the pay at a monthly pay packet. It would make sense, since you get merch and PPV bonuses much, much later on, so the pay would be fairly irregular, one big pay per month, I would wager. But that's just a logical inference.

3. How does one become a truck driver for the WWE?

Watch this site. It's the WWE's jobs page, and when they want to hire a truck driver, they'll advertise.

The delightfully named JBBTHWK wants to rag on Billy Kidman. Ok then.

I've seen the infamous Taka concussion incident, I'll allow you to inform those that don't know but I keep hearing about an incident involving Spike Dudley and the Undertaker. Also, some of my friends consider Billy Kidman's Shooting Star Press to be superior to that of Evan Bourne's but I disagree, their reasoning being that Kidman doesn't jump, and Bourne does. I recall some incident that got the SSP banned in WWE, but I wonder has Kidman injured anybody else with his version of the Shooting Star Press?

Spike and Taker? You mean this match?



As for Billy Kidman and his SSP of death, he injured Chavo Guerrero, August 24, 2004 with the SSP, giving Chavo a concussion. He kayfabe injured Paul London with it, and he himself suffered a few injuries over the years that could be put down to the move. But Chavo is pretty much the sole guy the move truly, blatantly, injured.

Next up, David

Great Stuff For-Cena!

I've got a question regarding Stan Hansen.

Can you explain his brief WCW run in 1990? For years he is All-Japan's top foreigner, holding their Triple Crown and I imagine making pretty damn good coin. Then in the summer of 1990, Hansen up and leaves for WCW, beats Luger for the US strap at Halloween Havoc, drops it back to Luger at Starrcade, and leaves when he gets saddled with Dutch Mantell. I know All-Japan was an NWA member, but the NWA was on it's last legs and no other All-Japan talent had been over in recent years (unless you count Terry Funk the year before, but that's a stretch) so I can't see it as a talent exchange. Then again New Japan would become WCW's partner a few months after Hansen left, which makes me wonder if Baba had been angling for a deal, lending WCW Hansen, and when Inoki got the arrangement, he pulled him back.

I loved every minute of Hansen during that brief foray, but when you consider he had not been stateside for any sustained period after the AWA fiasco and did not return afterwards, it just got me wondering...WTF?

Hansen upped and left for WCW because Ole took over as booker, and brought him in on a nice contract, since Ole was bringing in guys he liked, for the good money that Jim Herd had been giving to the young, talented up and comers that had let WCW shine in early 1990. Hansen I'm sure left All Japan with their blessing, given how easily he came back.

Plus Hansen wasn't a dummy, and knew the threat of burn out. By heading to WCW for a while, he let Japan cool down slightly, and thus when he came back they cheered for him that much more.

It wasn't so much that All Japan and WCW were trying to work something out, although since both companies were under the NWA they were linked, it was more that Hansen was offered good money to head back to the states for a bit, he went, then when he didn't like what they offered (The Desperadoes), he upped and went back to All Japan.

Knowing for a fact that you can head out the door and not miss a place tends to strengthen your resolve.

From contracts to rules. Joshua beats the count in.

Hey, so what exactly is the rule for a count out when one wrestler enters the ring? We've all seen where both wrestlers are outside the ring, the ref is counting, one wrestler slides back in the ring to "break the count" then slides back out to continue beating the crap out of the other wrestler and the ref restarts his count back at 1. And we've all seen before where both wrestlers are outside the ring, the ref is close to the 10 count, one wrestler will slide back in at 8 or 9 and the other wrestler gets counted out. So how is it in one case the count is broken and in the other it's not? So in the kayfabe world of wrestling, how would that be explained?

Well, it comes down to a matter of the ref has to count to 10 (or 3 for a pinfall) without a single interruption. If something interrupts his count, he is forced to restart it from the beginning.

Hence, when you break the count, you roll in then roll back out fast enough that the ref has to stop counting then restart. Since the ref cannot count two different people on different numbers, when you slide in then out, he is forced to start the count again for you, and thus the other guy as well.

As opposed to when you roll in and want the count out win, when you get back in the ring, the count no longer applies to you. And provided you do nothing to break his count, like approach him and thus force him to drive you back, he keeps counting the other guy out.

That clear?

Manu… Ah shucks, I always cry at Wrestling Weddings…

Who was randy savage's best man when he and elizabeth got "married" at summerslam? and for that matter, the flower girl and the ring bearer? and the other random little girl that walked down to....oh screw it - who were all the people involved in the savage/elizabeth wedding?

Apart from Savage and Elizabeth, I don't have a bloody clue. Normally I at least have a guess, but apart from the guests, I couldn't find ANY info on the people involved.

Anyone?

Nate has a question about an infamous man and an infamous offer.

Hey Sforcina,

keep up the great work!

I saw a shoot interview a few months back (I already checked and youtube has pulled it since I saw it...so no link) with the Iron Sheik, in which he talks about winning the WWF title. He said that after his win Verne Gagne offered him $100K and promised to put him over Bockwinkel and make him the Undisputed WWF/AWA Champion? Given the source, I'm naturally inclined to call bullshit here. Have you ever heard a third party confirm this story?

Does WWE count?

But then, they aren't third party, really.

This is one of the longest running Wrestling Wives Tales, the "Savage (Euphemism)ed Steph" of it's day. But unlike the Savage and Steph thing, this one is probably true, rather than probably false.

Sheik has always maintained it. Hogan, in his book, claimed it's true, claimed that Sheik told him at the time. And it's certainly appeared in enough WWE DVDs that Vince feels safe enough to say it without getting sued.

The undisputed World Champ thing I haven't heard, but certainly the money is constantly referred to. And Hogan's no stranger to either getting his leg broken nor to breaking the leg of someone not playing ball (as he threatened to do to Warrior at Summerslam 91).

Verne has always denied it, and given his current state it's unlikely he'll ever confirm it. So we're left with it either being true or it being a lie, but one that's been said constantly and consistently for over 20 years.

A totally different Nate (seriously) has a related question, of sorts.

Just got finished watching the fantastic Macho Madness DVD collection but something piqued my interest. I noticed Savage wasn't involved physically at Survivor Series 1990, only doing an interview. Was he hurt at the time? He was a prominent part of the roster at that time and it seemed odd he wouldn't be involved in a match if he was healthy.

No, he was healthy. The night before and the night after he wrestled The Ultimate Warrior.

It was just that they wanted to avoid Warrior and Savage meeting on-air for a while, to build up to their feud. And given the set up for the Survivor Series PPV that year, with the Ultimate Match of Survival, there was no way to either have Savage look bad or interact with Warrior. So they kept him off the card, so that Warrior and Hogan could have their moment without spoiling the money to be made in the Warrior/Savage feud.

Craig…'s list. You can have the peanuts for free, but the trash can ain't part of the deal….

Has a title ever changed hands by accident? I remember back in 1993 Money Inc. beat The Steiners and a few days later, the Steiners won them back. I believe this all took place at house shows too. It seemed rare that a title would change at a house show.

Close actually. Those were deliberate title changes, designed to get the Steiners over. But, the tag belts have changed hands by accident, once. The story goes that Royal Albert Hall, March 29, 1994, saw Mabel trip and fall onto Pierre of the Quebecers. He was stunned, and Pierre was, understandably, unable to kick out.

2 days later, the evil French Canadians won the belts back, setting things right again.

Of course, that's not the only time this has happened. With WWE's new policy of having the ref count matches as legit contests, at least one other unscheduled title change has occurred, when in Paris, April 24th, 2007, Mickie James and Victoria wrestled in a three way match with Women's Champion Melina for the belt. Mickie pinned Victoria, and the cover was meant to be broken by Melina. She didn't, so the ref called for the win.



As you can clearly see, she had no idea what was going on. But they covered by having Coach come out and declare that since she didn't pin Melina, Melina got an immediate rematch that night. Melina won the rematch, and again, no major harm done.

Apart from that, you only have stuff like Hardcore Holly at Wrestlemania 2000, or Trish's win at New Year's Revolution, one a stuff up, the other an injury. So titles have changed hands accidentally, sure.

Rob. That's a name, not an order.

Hey, you do a great job with this column. Here are my questions:

1. Why does Hornswoggle have dirt streaks smeared all over his face?

It's a remnant from when he lived under the ring, it's clearly dirty under there, hence his living there means he's all dirty. Although now it's more to reinforce that depsiute being a grown man, since he's tiny he therefore is child like, in WWE Logic ™.

2. Savage is my all-time favorite, so I remember being thrilled when he was announced as #1 contender heading into WM 8, but I wonder why Vince didn't go with Hogan/Flair at WM? It was potentially a dream feud for years, so it seems like putting it on the grandest stage would've made the most sense, then they could've ran the Flair/Liz angle heading into Summerslam whether or not the belt was involved.

They didn't go with that match for the simple fact that they ran Hogan/Flair on the House Show circuit leading up to and after the Rumble, and it didn't sell out. Ergo, it was theorised, that the match would have to be built up more. Plus, Hogan then decided to retire, which had nothing to do with steroids I'm sure. And once that was decided, they couldn't run Hogan/Flair, since Hogan had to win and Flair couldn't drop the belt to him.

So a combination of it not drawing as well as hoped plus people's post WM paths.

3. This isn't really a question, but I enjoy your little brain teasers at the beginning of your column. I think they would be even better if you would re-print the question the following week when you give the answer. I'm very busy and your column is often the only thing I make it a point to read on the site, but I often have a tough time remembering the whole question, so I for one would like it if you would reprint the question. Thanks!

Ah. Ok, point taken. Starting next week, I'll do that, no sweat.

And finally, a few questions from Adrian from Ireland

Fantastic column, 3 questions

1.Did Hulk Hogan and Ricky Steamboat ever have a feud or one on one in either of the big 2 Feds 80's or 90's ?

Never. Steamboat was always a face, and by the time Hogan turned heel in 96, Steamboat was retired. The two never fought against each other, although they did team on occasion. And that's a PERFECT tag team, when you think of it. Steamboat gets killed for 20 minutes, hot tag to Hogan, my word….

2. I remember watching an old WCW show from the early 90's, it may have been the Saturday night show or world wide if it was on back then, anyway, the main event was Mike Rotundo and a big dude by the name of Death Row, now I tried Onlineworldofwrestling but I couldn't find him. Any ideas ? Terrible match by the way and it aired over here at something like 2am so I was pissed off with it.

Well, he does exist, his first match in WCW was on the 15th of July edition of The Main Event, losing to US Champ Lex Luger.

But I couldn't find any trace of him beyond this description: Death Row - A big fat jobber that had a short stint in W.C.W about five years ago - of course he wore a prisoner's outfit.

Thus, I take it, he was Black. But beyond that… *shrug*

3. From a similar time period in WCW there was a match between Scott Steiner and Bobby Eaton in what the announcers described as a Gauntlet tournament, any idea what this was about ?

Thanks and keep up the great work

Actually, this was not the worst idea ever, if a little convoluted.

The thing was called "Running The Gauntlet" challenge. One guy would face off against three others, randomly selected, in 1 on 1 matches, across 3 TV shows across 3 days. If the one guy won the first match, he'd advance to the second, then the third. If he won all 3 matches, he got $15,000 all to himself. If he lost any one of the matches, then the three other guys would split it.

Brian Pillman was the first guy to run in it September 1990. He won against Tom Horner and Buddy Landell, then lost to Dan Spivey in the final match, thus the three split the pot.

Scott Steiner, then one half the US tag titles, defeated Bobby Eaton in his first match of his run. Then he pinned World Champ Ric Flair (!) thanks to help from his brother Rick to counteract Arn Anderson, who was the first man to interfere. Arn then got DQed in the third match, giving Scott the win and the cash.

Bobby Eaton would later try to run the Gauntlet and lose to Sid Vicious. A simple way to get people feuding. Not the worst idea ever…

My Damm Opinion

I've decided to answer William's question now.

Last week the WWE sent out a DVD Survey asking which DVDs would you buy from a list shown. What would you like to see out of that list? (411 and other sites have the list posted) Also at the end you got to write in one dvd of your choice you would like to see what would that be?

The list as it stands:

Talent Profiles:
*Chris Jericho- LONG overdue.
*CM Punk- Little soon for that. Still be pretty cool though.
*Ricky Steamboat- Would be interesting.
*Randy Orton- Eh.
*Goldberg- Really? I mean, I understand, but… Really?
*Sting- Yeah, right.
*Brock Lesnar- See Above.
*John Morrison- Only if it included every Dirt Sheet.

Compilation Titles
*Clash of the Champions.- Hell yes.
*Best of the Elimination Chamber- So like the Hell one, they can't say complete since they want to ignore the crappy one.
*Compilation of Giants and Monsters.- Dear God No.
*Wargames- THIS. FUCKING THIS!
*Best of Monday Night Raw: 1993- This might work, release one per month then a big box set at the end…
*In Your House- Hmm… Pass.
*"Craziest" WWE Moments- I need more info.

If I had to add one in? A decent Divas 3 disc one, covering Moolah and Richter to James and Maryse. With lots of Victoria too.

How about you guys? Let me know, for I'm done here.