Ask 411 Wrestling 09.02.09: Widowmakers, Quakeburgers and Famous Daddys!
Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 09.02.2009
Did the British Bulldogs fight with a net? Was New Blood Rising a Shoot? Why did Luger get a cup of coffee with the WCW Title? What's going on with the Naptown Dragons? Was HHH/HBK set in stone? And could Legacy beat up their Fathers? All this, and I predict the future, only inside!
Hello, and welcome to Ask 411 Wrestling.
Ok, before we get going, I'll be the first 3531st to admit that last week was not exactly my Crowning Moment of Awesomeness in my run here as Ask 411 guy. I could blow it off, go with the old "this is a hobby, screw you' type mentality. I could go with the idea that I was distracted by making the video. I could claim that after I found out I was a few years too late to reunite that old tag team my heart went out.
But I won't. All I can say, and all I will say, is that I had an off night, and I apologize for not living up the high standard I and past Ask 411 guys have set.
Except that guy who only did this for a month, that guy sucked.
This week is a little different in terms of how I go about it, in an attempt to improve my batting average with my answers. You probably won't notice a change, and it's only for a week.
My 411 Blog has now become the Sage Freehaven Depository of Wrestling PPV Interesting Stats. This week's edition is why the ECW Title is not getting screwed over on PPV.
Now, let's do this before I let myself get too worried about the TNA trials this week…
Backtalking
OK.
My Video: Yes, it's down. I think we all got most of the answers, apart from maybe from people who didn't know Rick Martel had a warm up Blindfold match on TV leading up to WM. However, the reasons why it's down I'd like to rant about now.
It got pulled down, not for me stealing the pictures from WWE, but for it being too lewd. From a site that is happy to keep Destination Unknown up with full close ups of the fun bits and buttock rhythm section, albeit flagged, my little collection of photos from a site of a company that is now firmly PG is too lewd? The hell?
Well, I don't intend on making videos again for a long time, so whatever.
Kane Tapping Out: Yes, Benoit counts, so I got it wrong, but I got it wrong because it's Benoit. What I mean is that although the WWE Thought Police have yet to brainwash me into accepting that Michelle McCool is an attractive woman or such, the lack of Benoit talk does tend to bleed him from your memory slightly. When Angle got the tap out of Kane, it was treated as a big deal. If Benoit was currently ruling Smackdown with an Iron Fist thanks to his Hart Trilogy cronies and his new alliance with CM Punk or whatever, then I would have remembered Kane's tap out to him. But still, my bad.
Henry doesn't since Kane passed out in the hold.
Hogan tapping out: Not this crap again.
*sigh* Yes, technically Lex Luger, Sting and Roddy Piper have both beaten Hogan with a submission hold, the Torture Rack and Sleeper respectively. But in those cases, Hogan verbally submitted to Luger, said I quit for Sting/got screwed by Bret Hart and passed out on Piper. Only Angle has made Hulk Hogan slap the mat to signify the end of the match, and thus tap out.
Semantics, but important semantics.
Would The Real Perry Saturn please stand up?: That Twitter account was a fake. He Twittered or Twatted or whatever the term is to Chris Jericho's account. Jericho then asked him a question to prove he was him (what name did you give some rookie in Japan or something), and he didn't respond.
But while we're on the subject, why don't you Twitter onto 411's Twitter pages? Visible to the left there on this page!
Want WMX7 unblurred?:You can have it. Provided you can play Region 2 PAL.
Russo Sucks! He gave us David Arquette and Vince Russo, World Champions!: As always, you are entitled to your opinion, as am I. Mine was asked for, and I gave it. Now, the question asked was "All I see about Russo is hate, doesn't he have positives?" I gave an answer that followed that, and thus in the context of all of his mistakes, which he has many, there are positives as well. I can rattle off all of Russo's foibles, but the question didn't ask that.
Besides, two mistakes are enough to prove a guy's a hack?
XFL and WBF.
Andre The Giant: My other main mistake, I cop to that. But not having every Wrestling documentary at hand…
Your Turn, Smart Guy…
The answer would be the match this was the promo for.
This week's question:
Who Am I? A former Intercontinental Champion, I'm known more for my backstage issues and controversy than my in ring work. I've been a world champion (although you can debate if it's really a world title) 2 times, although the belt in question I held more times than that. I've teamed with some of the best in the business, Steamboat, Dreamer, Malenko, Wilson. One of my final acts in the company where I achieved my greatest success (the first time around) was to unleash a referee onto the company. I am fairly easy to guess, I Am Who?
Questions, Questions, Who's Got The Questions?
Manu requests clarification.
I'm not sure I follow your answer on why WWE opted to use the generic music instead of dusty's theme. I mean, I understand the part that "if its cheaper, might as well," but I don't understand why they wouldn't own the song itself, making it free to use. It was written for a WWE created character, probably written by someone employed by them at the time who had to sign their soul and anything they created over to them (which is pretty standard - anything I create while at work or using my work laptop belongs to my employer), and as far as I know, there was only one version of the song, so unless they used a special version for that match which wasnt covered by the existing agreement, I would imagine its theirs to use.
Having said that, if your answer was more of a "i have no clue why they didnt own it, but given what they did, this is the most logical answer", then I can agree with that.
hmmmm....i guess my question was more of "why dont they own it?" than "why wasn't it used?" My bad.
Because the rules have changed since then.
Buy any low budget box set of an 80's TV show, and you'll probably hear generic music if they had real music in it's place, even if it's the theme music (Dave's World lost ‘You May Be Right"), or explicitly referred to in the show itself (The Greatest American Hero suffered from this). Hell, the box sets of WKRP in Cincinnati is practically unwatchable by some standards because of this problem. Copyright law in regards to DVD box sets has changed since the 80's, when Videos were still new. Now, royalty fees have increased/come into effect, and thus what was cheap back then isn't now. This isn't just a wrestling problem, which tends to be forgotten in the rush to paint WWE as money grubbing bastards.
The WWE probably does own the rights to the song itself, but the performance they'd have to pay for. So if you want your music left in tact in the WWE, get one without lyrics to play it safe.
Jackson Krout sent a question from his phone.
Hey bro, didn't want to waste space in the best column on 411. The only video I can find on YouTube of Jerichos debut interrupting the Rock has been edited by the dildo that posted it. Any idea where I can find the full segment?
Dailymotion's not the best video player out there, but it has it's uses.
Question for your column: How in the world did the WWE(F) get away with killing Damian on live TV in 1991, when Earthquake splashed him with Jake tied in the ropes? I mean it's one thing to "kidnap" Matilda, but to kill a pet snake "live" on TV? Yikes!
Ah well, if you watch the whole video, you see that they have time to pull a switch, the bag with Damien in it was placed under the ring, then a second bag was pulled out, this one with pantyhose filled with hamburger meat in it. That's the one Earthquake squashed, Damien was fine. Although Waylon Mercy did once squish a worm for real…
D wants to talk scars.
Hey, love the column one, it is one of the few that I follow every week.
Question about Devon Dudley. It seems he has one of those Abdullah the butcher noggins from all the bloodshed over the years, however I can't seem to find but a handful of matches where he's been busted open. Any feuds prior to being a Dudley that would of caused this? And how did him and Abdullah get that deep wrinkle while the hardcore legend himself and the funkmaster didnt?
You must be searching his WWE and TNA runs, as opposed to his ECW days. Back in the day, every match Those Damm Dudleys had seemed to end with both of them bleeding. It's basically a result of his ECW stint, given the hatred that the Dudleys received, they had to take a lot of punishment (since, as Heyman said, ‘people paid good money to see the Dudleys get beat up'), and thus lots of blood loss.
As to why he has scar tissue and others don't, it's an issue of letting the tissue heal. If you blade regularly in a controlled manner, taking care to keep the scars in the wrinkles of your forehead, the scars are small and not that notable unless you look (really take a look at HHH's forehead to see what I mean). But if you blade constantly and with little regard for keeping your forehead look ok, you end up with scars. Funk and Foley didn't blade THAT often, a lot of the time the blood was from an eyebrow or a legit cut. But they have scars, just not huge ones.
Talking of violence, Johnny forces me to read up on CZW. Yeah, thanks man…
Doing a great job. Got a CZW question for you. I used to follow it, and I remember I liked the Naptown Dragons of Drake Younger, Scotty Vortekz and Dustin Lee. Now I read there's legit heat between Younger and the other members. Whats the story? Thanks.
OK, so here's some backstory.
The Naptown Dragons were a stable of sorts, comprised of those three men plus, on occasion, xOMGx. The Dragons came to prominence outside of the Ultraviolence crowd in 2008, when they competed in the Chikara Trios tournament, losing to Team IPW:UK in the first round. The trio were known for teaming and feuding in the Ultraviolent Wrestling scene.
OK, late 2008 is when the problems kicked in. Basically what happened was that Drake started to get booked and pushed by more normal Indy feds, his skills as a technical wrestler beginning to get noticed. He won the 2008 Tom Petty Invitational, thus making him a rare man who has won both an Ultraviolent and a Technical wrestling tournament.
This did not sit well with the other Dragons, mostly ‘Diehard' Dustin Lee. Lee felt that he was being overlooked, that Drake was getting preferential treatment, he was being paid more, getting DVDs of his work, special treatment. While Lee was sitting there with medical bills and no help. Dustin claimed that they kicked Drake out of the Dragons, although Scotty's been teaming with Drake on recent CZW shows, so it seems now to be only Dustin with the problem.
Basically, depending on who's side you take, one man was being selfish or another man couldn't recognise that his ‘friend' was more talented.
There's egos and BS on every level of the business, sadly.
Scotty asks about some more BS, the first one we talked about earlier, kinda.
Hi Mathew, have a couple of questions.
On the Monday Nitro before WCW's Road Wild (1997) event, they had what I can only describe as a pre-match between Hollywood Hogan and Lex Luger, for the WCW title. Luger went on to win the match, and de-NWO the belt. Then, not 6 day's later at the PPV, Hogan would win the title back. Was this just a plan to get the NWO heat? Were they trying to keep winning the Monday night war by giving away the PPV match on Monday?
It was more a case of needing a break to keep everyone sane. Hogan had held the world title for nearly a solid year at this point, having won it at Hog Wild the previous year. Now while he had a much longer reign as WWF champion, that was both an earlier period and as a face. They were still building towards Hogan V Sting at Starrcade. That was set in stone. But that would need Hogan to be World Champ for 18 months. That's a little too long for have him remain undefeated.
Plus, Luger still had some minor choking issues, given his past. He still wasn't seen as a tip top guy.
So, they had Luger get a couple of wins over Hogan, then win the belt. Mass Celebrations, as WCW finally gets a damm win over the nWo. Then the nWo cheats him out of the belt, and thus the heat's back on the nWo, you prove that Hogan can be beaten but is a cheater, and prove Luger can be champion.
It should be noted, however, that Luger/Hogan was actually doing decent ratings on Nitro, so it may have been a snap decision, Luger/Hogan is working, let's pull a quick double switch so that we really pop a buyrate and maybe get to stretch it out a little.
Although it should be also noted that, from the "Hogan and the Outsiders are backstage politic playing bastards" camp, that by giving Luger a cup of coffee with the belt, they could claim they were willing to put over people, and thus when they said that they should keep the tag belts in the nWo since all the title switches were devaluing the belts, they were still seen as having the best interests of the company at heart.
Also, what's the deal with the "New Blood Rising" incident? Where Goldberg walked out on a match and got into an argument with Russo. Just another one of Russo's worked shoots that never got explained?
The incident in question occurs at a bit before 10 minutes.
Oh lord, Russo's WCW Worked Shoot stuff. Remember, with Russo in WCW, Professional Wrestling is all fake, except what you're seeing right now, which is real.
Basically, the idea was meant to be that people would buy New Blood Rising to see three guys who really didn't get on have a fight on PPV. In the weeks leading up to the show, they played it out like Goldberg and Nash and Scott shoot hated each other, and that thus they'd have a real brawl. Because if WWF got attention by Vince McMahon shoot screwing Bret, this would work even better, right?
Right?
Can I take back what I said about Russo yet?
Blazedinpk has a simple question.
whatever happened to the house the wwf gave away at the first in your house ppv?
Well, the holiday house was in Orlando, Florida and was won by Matt Pompacilli of Henderson, Nevada. He received the keys, and a cameo from the Bushwhackers, on the May 22nd edition of WWF Raw.
As for if the house is still there, and/or if Matt's family still owns it, no idea. You out there Matt?
Alvin shows my delay.
With Night of Champions coming up, I thought it would be appropiate to ask a questin regarding a championship:
Both WCW and ECW had Television Championships. However WWE never did. Is there any particular reason for this? Maybe it's because WWE felt that they already had a secondary title in the form of the Intercontinental Championship. But WCW had both the TV and US Championship? The only thing I can think of is that WCW and ECW used the championship as a ratings tactics.
Sort of.
The origins of TV titles was back when lots of small companies had weekly TV shows. The TV shows were there for one specific reason: Get people to attend Live Shows. So the shows had to be entertaining, but also not have that much going on. If you saw the WCA Champ Shannon Skanes defeat the evil BasketKase on TV, why would you pay to see it live? So you'd rarely see the World Champ on the show at all, let alone wrestle. He'd appear occasionally to cut a promo, maybe once or twice to wrestle, but never against huge names.
But you really needed something to hook people to watch the show, so they followed you and got involved, something to create attention but was not giving anything away. Thus, TV titles were born. They would be defended on ‘every' TV broadcast, often with a time limit. And they were belts that could conceivably held by anyone, but most of the time, you gave the belt to young up and comers who needed a break. And by appearing on TV each week, they quickly gained that exposure, and became beloved/hated quickly.
Of course, eventually the WCW TV title would become a joke, and on the other hand, sometimes TV titles become much more important (Dusty's run as ‘World TV Champion' and RVD's 1 year, 11 months, 18 days, 2 hours and 42 seconds), but that was the general idea behind them.
So, why not WWF? Basically because of Vince's dreams of national and then international exposure. WWE had no weekly TV show that was specifically filmed, Vince wanted syndication, and syndication in Vince's methods did not lend itself to a TV title. When stuff is filmed months in advance and chopped up to fit in wherever, a TV title doesn't work. Had one existed before he took over, he would have worked around it (it would have been called a TV title but not been a ‘proper' one), but since he didn't have one to begin with, and it didn't fit, there you have it.
Although not bringing back the ECW TV Title is criminal. It would be so damm useful…
Next up is TB. I hope I don't catch him.
Hi,
A few questions for you:
1. I seem to remember an original WWF Bunkhouse Brawl a long, long time ago. It was a battle royal where anyone could bring their favorite prop into the ring in order to win. I think the British Bulldogs brought in a fishing net (to catch a dog) and seem to recall Lanny Poffo wearing a suit of armor into the ring. Do you know anything about this?
Well, Lanny Poffo wrestled 15, by his count, of matches in that suit of armor, which by the time he was done was totally ruined, as you'd expect.
I was only able to find one battle royal with both Lanny Poffo and the Bulldogs was at MSG, July 12th, 1986. A $50K 22 man battle royal. But, as you can see:
No weapons. So I'm not sure what I can say here, sorry.
2. I seem to remember a Saturday Night Main Event prior to WrestleMania III where a battle royal took place. Hogan squared off against Andre prior to the WMIII clash. Hercules may or may not have won the battle royal. Do you have any info on this match? Was there a Hercules/Hogan/Andre angle that never got played up during this time?
Ah yes, one of those ‘Gahuh' moments in Vince McMahon's logic. It would be logical, you'd wager, to have Andre win the battle royal after tossing Hogan to further cement his status as unbeatable monster and thus really drive home that Hogan is fucked come Wrestlemania. Have Hogan eliminate all the heels, Andre all the faces, and then Andre tosses Hogan. Instead you have Hercules win.
However, the logic seems to be that it set up another match while plugging Andre/Hogan. Heenan distracted Billy Jack Haynes at the end, see, and that allowed Herc to toss him and win. Billy Jack was upset, and the two had a match at WM. Still, weird.
3. Prior to the Tower of Doom match in 1988, I think Jim Ross was interviewing Kevin Sullivan and Sullivan produced the "original" Tower of Doom plans from some forgotten island or something like that. It looked like a kindergardener drew the thing with some crayons. What was the angle for this bit?
Well, the nearest I could find from thehistoryofwwe.com was this:
JCP @ Sumter, SC - Exhibition Center Arena - May 31, 1988
The Main Event taping:
6/12/88 - featured Tony Schiavone conducting an opening ringside interview with Steve Williams regarding his participation in Wargames against the Four Horsemen during the Great American Bash tour; included Schiavone on commentary and as the ring announcer; featured Schiavone conducting a ringside interview with Kevin Sullivan regarding the Bash kicking off in Orlando, during which Sullivan said his men were creating a five story Tower of Doom so that Sullivan could destroy Jimmy Garvin and take back Precious:
As for the angle, you pretty much have it. Kevin was playing mind games, and as a College guy, he'd have access to papers and such taken from trips to remote islands and such. Silly? Perhaps, but considering the stuff to come later for him it's farily mild.
Assuming it happened.
4. What was Billy Jack Haynes angle? I never got his whole schtick. Lumberjack with shamrocks all over him??? He was one of my favorites at the time but never got this whole outfit.
His outfit was a rip offhomage rip off of Billy Jack, a somewhat iconic character from the 70's. In fact, he began his career as just Billy Jack, before Tom Laughlin, the actor/owner of the role, threatened to sue, hence the Haynes. The later changes were to get away from the potentially sueable look.
EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!
Next up is Eric.
How you doin' Sforcina? Got a couple for you. Please endulge me.
1) After the Montreal Screwjob, Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart followed Bret to WCW. My question is, did they also receive deals to depart for WCW before Survivor Series? I know the Anvil appeared on the RAW after the Series, being humiliated by DX before departure. That tells me he "did the job" so to speak on the way out honorably, but the Bulldog was gone. So what happened? Was it insult to injury on Bischoff's part? Or was it by chance their contracts just happened to be up? And if the Anvil and Bulldog were offered deals with WCW, was Owen Hart offered one as well? Might as well have taken the whole damn Foundation, am I right?
No, the rest of the Hart Foundation were not offered deals prior to Survivor Series. Bret was the sole guy Eric Bischoff wanted. After all, he was the WWF World Champion, and he was negotiating because WWF couldn't afford him any more, thus WWF was dying!
After Survivor Series, however, all 3 men asked for their releases from the WWF. Neidhart was given his, provided he work one last date, which was the Raw that saw him join then get kicked out of DX within 15 minutes.
British Bulldog and Owen however, were denied. Both were names and useful midcarders, as opposed to Neidhart who's outlook was limited. Bulldog however refused to turn up to work, and eventually negotiated a deal. He paid the WWF ~$150K to buy out his remaining 32 months of his 5 year deal, and signed with WCW at Christmas. Owen, however, decided to stick with WWF/was forced to stay just to mess with Bret. Certainly Owen didn't seem the sort of guy willing to pay money to get out of a contract, so he stuck with WWF. And we all know how that worked out…
2) In a question I asked regarding dearly departed wrestlers and where you thought they'd be now had the reaper not come to sow, you mentioned Eddie Guerrero having a comfortable living as an upper midcarder. Then you had commentator-ference the following week when someone said Eddie would have been WWE Champion again. You addressed this by saying Eddie never wanted the title again and didn't like the pressure of it. Which brings me to the question: When Eddie passed away, and Stephanie came on and said Eddie had told her he would one day become WWE Champion again, was she just saying that to make the moment more dramatic? It wouldn't make sense for her to say that when, according to your response to commentary, Eddie didn't want anything to do with World Championship gold aorund his waist. Was the Billion Dollar Princess lying for dramatic effect?
No, I believe he told her that. But it reinforces my point, in that he didn't want the title at that point, he still wasn't ready for the responsibility. But he was going to work at it, and one day, he believed, he would be ready to take it back on. The conversation was probably "Batista is injured, so we're going to put the belt on Orton on Smackdown, despite Dave wanting you to have it." "Cool." "You're ok with that?" "Sure, I don't think I could handle being champ right now still. But trust me Mamacita, one day I will be ready." "And we'll be happy to give you it."
Or something vaguely along those lines.
Next up is Conor
1.The coin toss angle they did for the title picture in Wrestlemania 10 with Lex Luger and Bret Hart,was there ever any thoughts to go with the route that Bret Hart won the coin toss and Luger had to face Crush??I think this because of the rumors that Luger was meant to win the belt at Mania until he got drunk and spill the beans to people (rumor has it). Just while where on the subject of the matter,if Luger was for winning the belt,how would the Bret/Owen match had ended up?
None. The idea was always for Owen/Bret. Luger's infamous bean-spilling was the night before, long after they filmed the coin toss. Luger was always going to win the toss. The plan was for Luger to defeat Yokozuna, then lose the belt to Bret, who would have lost to Owen Hart earlier in the night, to set up Owen/Bret for the Summer. It's just a matter of Lex getting some credibility and holding out on Yoko/Bret for a little while longer.
2.What was Barry Windham gimmick in WWF 1989 "The Windowmaker" was meant to be?I have just since random matches of him and no development what the gimmick actually was.Also was there any major plans for the gimmick?
It was actually the ‘Widowmaker', assuming that wasn't a typo. The term has two main meanings, the more likely relevant one being from logging, a Widowmaker is an overhead tree or limb that may fall and kill the lumberjack working on the tree. (The other is a variation of a heart attack caused by "a highly stenotic left main coronary artery or proximal left anterior descending coronary artery of the heart" according to Dr. Wikipedia).
As for what the gimmick was… There wasn't one. He just continued his Heel Cowboy shtick. And he was getting something of a push, as he was pretty much undefeated for his entire run, WWF seeing something in Barry. In 1990 they seemed ready to start giving him a serious push, but then he had some surgery and then left the company.
3.In 1994 in WWF why was Scott Stenier pushed as a singles wrestler?Was Rick injured at the time?I know it did not last long because they were gone in mid 94.Had he stayed could his singles run went somewhere?(i know Scott left because he didnt want to leave Rick)
Uh, what? Apart from his final match in the WWF when he lost in the opening round of the King Of The Ring tourney, and 2 Royal Rumbles, Scott Steiner didn't have a single singles match in WWF in 94.
Which is not to say that people hadn't tried to push Scott as a single's superstar before. Practically everyone had, he seemed so perfect. But WWF didn't in 94.
And yes, it probably would have worked. 94 Steiner was still Great Wrestler Steiner.
Next up in the cavalcade of proving how long I take to answer stuff, Cory!
As always, love the column. Keep up the fantastic work. A question you answered this week (7/22) got me to thinking about the Rock-Hogan match at Wrestlemania X-8. Was Hogan making nice with the Rock after the match the planned finish of did the Rock and Hogan basically call an audible midway through the match based on the crowd reaction?
Which is almost identical to neverAcquiesce's first question.
Just read the Schematic you posted for the 2002 nWo angle and it popped a question into my mind: was the plan all along to turn Hogan face at WrestleMania to lead to a Backlash title victory? Like, was this planned back in February prior to the group's debut?
Wrestlemania X8 was planned the moment Vince heard Hogan getting cheered at live events. In fact, Hogan in his book claimed that Vince asked him to bring the Red and Yellow to WM, but changed his mind at the last second.
WWF seemed to know ahead of time that Hogan would get cheered out of the building. And given that it happened, they then decided to strike while the iron was hot and gave him the title at Backlash.
But neither was planned from the start. It was only after Hogan got cheered despite being nWo that they changed their minds and went with Hogan's face turn.
And further extrapolating on the "Will Triple H join the nWo?" angle, would that have still led to Michaels/Hunter at SummerSlam? Hunter would convince Shawn to leave the group then that leads into the DX reunion and betrayal. The only other option would have been for Hunter to deny the nWo and make Shawn the heel in their match which damn sure wasn't gonna happen for HBKs first match back.
Which does make sense, in terms of after Nash went down, Shawn would then go "What would you say to fighting me?" and they went from there. So there you are. Learn something new every day.
Jesus has two questions. Neither are about my immortal soul.
Has there ever been a televised match where one participant just refused to cooperate with the other because of some personal grudge between the contestants or some other factor? Has this happened many times?
Well, there's different levels of not cooperating. If you include no-selling and sandbagging, then the list is a mile long. But notable occurrences of people refusing to co-operate, or at least the most obvious examples off the top of my head would be:
Daniel Puder legitimately locking in an MMA hold on Kurt Angle, Nov 4 2004 Smackdown. Puder was still in the middle of the Tough Enough contest, and despite Kurt ‘winning', Puder had a legit lock on him that was kinda dangerous, hence the quick ‘pinfall'.
Alex Wright… Poor Alex Wright. Twice it happened to him. Probably the poster child match for departing from the script just to make yourself look good, Paul Roma V Alex Wright at Superbrawl V. After 4 years and a lot of work, Berlyn was born, and was set to get a major push, after a great appearance at Fall Brawl 99. But Buff Bagwell no-showed the PPV to avoid losing to him, and Jim Duggan got put in instead, and again didn't co-operate.
One example that is used is Brock/Holly, where Holly ended up getting a broken neck. Many claim that Holly wasn't co-operating and thus because he sandbagged, he broke his own neck really. Holly denies this, claiming it was an accident.
Wright's the poster child for this, however. I'm sure the commentators will have many more.
Why doesn't the WWE exploit the fact that certain wrestlers have famous fathers? I just recently found out that Grand Master Sexay was Lawler's son and Goldust was Dusty Rhodes' son.
Well, Legacy's built on this. But often it's the son's choice. The son wants to be recognized on their own merits, not just as the son of someone else famous. They want to stand on their own two feet, and make it due to their talent, not their name.
But they do sometimes, 2nd and 3rd generation stars are often called as such, now that there's lots of them running around.
My Damm Opinion
dave wants my booking opinion.
hey, great column. who do you think would win a 3 on 3 match, legacy vs cowboy bob orton, the american dream dusty rhodes, and the million dollar man ted dibiase, the elder 3 in their prime against their offsprings. how do u think this match would go?? thanks!
No-one, as the match wouldn't start. Instead, Dusty would be jumped by all 5 men and he'd suffer a career ending concussion from the Punt. But he's come back, working through all 4 men before he fought Randy Orton in a "Bell Ring Brawl", where the first man to get knocked out would win/keep the WWE Title. Dusty would win the match and the title only to be stripped a week later after a referee reversed his decision due to Legacy's interference.
Chris wants my future telling opinion.
Hi I absolutely love this column. I wouldn't know what else to do if I had a wrestling question.
Dolph Ziggler is potentially in a secondary title feud with a former world champion on Smackdown. Kofi Kingston is in a secondary title feud with a former world champion on Raw. If you could look into your crystal ball and pretend that we live in a perfect world without injuries, retirements, deaths, etc. Which one of these superstars has what it takes to make it to their first world title before the other
Dolph. If only because his style is easier to work with, and thus he's going to get easier matches with opponents, so his stock will rise higher. I'll make a specific prediction to see if I can actually tell the future.
Dolph will win a world title 9 PPVs before Kofi wins his.
*bookmarks page for future reference*
Anyone else want to make a prediction for the future? I'll come back in a year and we can judge who called anything. Leave it below, and I'll see you next week.
In Stone Cold's autobiography, which he wrote in mid-03, as his last chapter is about his April 2003 return to be RAW's Co-GM, he mentioned that he would never sit back and not help out a friend (Brian Pillman). On page 112, he writes "I got a chance to talk to someone several months ago who was having some of the same problems, and I didn't hold back when I voiced my concerns". Before naming the usual suspects-Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, or Chris Benoit, Austin was on RAW, and he didn't travel with the Smackdown crew, where each of those guys were. Now to the question, who do you suspect Steve has a 'heart to heart talk' with to bring him back to reality? My guess would be Test, but the only reason I guess him is because he just passed away and he was on RAW in 2003.
Posted By: JUSTINW (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:08 PM
Next week: Royal Rumble stats!
Are there any requests from you 411 bastards while I'm at it?
Posted By: Sage Freehaven (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:10 PM
Shane Douglas
Posted By: The Answer is... (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:15 PM
WWE.com or WWE Magazine did an interview with the kid who won the house a few years ago. He no longer lives there. I think he said that he either sold it after a year or just walked away from it.
Posted By: Jeremy from Palmdale (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:21 PM
Your answer: Shane Douglas
Posted By: OG' Madman (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:22 PM
Silvervision DVD's are nice and all because they are unblurred, but the frame rate looks different then an actual NTSC version. I have an Oppo 980 DVD player (super fancy stuff) that does PAL to NTSC conversions and I have watched SilverVision's Summer Slam 1991 and Summer Slam 1990 and they are nothing to write home about. Shabby video quality for the most part (not much better then regular VHS) and the motion appears slower.
Posted By: nwa88 (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:33 PM
Even though i consider my early hulkamaniac days my favorite wrestling period, the Y2J, Rock video brings a smile to my face. What an awesome time for the federation......
It's still real to me dammit!
I wanna thank Mr. Sforcina for saying what needed to be said...(sob sob)
Posted By: Y-E-S (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:35 PM
Shane Douglas!
Posted By: devilsdue75 (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:42 PM
I think the Pompacilli's sold the house because of the increasing taxes.
Posted By: Booker T (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:49 PM
Big fan of the column. Have a quick question for you:
When The Dangerous Alliance kicked Larry Zybysko out of their group at WrestleWar 1992 (an awesome PPV), he very briefly fueded with Austin and Eaton before retiring. Do you know why he retired in the midst of a fued, and rather abruptly, and, what the original plans for his fued were?
Thanks!
Posted By: Johnny (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:54 PM
"Besides, two mistakes are enough to prove a guy's a hack?
XFL and WBF."
Nice Mathew! Well played sir.
Posted By: Guest#5923 (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:56 PM
I agree, they need to bring the ECW TV title back. If not that, they should bring the hardcore title back and put it on ECW so that ECW actually lives up to the E in it's name a little bit.
Posted By: E-SEE-DUB! (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:04 AM
"Russo Sucks! He gave us David Arquette and Vince Russo, World Champions!"
Not only did Vince give us the XFL and WBF, he also put the title on himself. No one seems to hate him for that. Plus Vince has been willing to let non-wrestlers beat wrestlers for years.(Lawrence Taylor, Floyd Mayweather) Even letting Kevin Federline beat the WWE champ at the time. So even though I can't defend Russo, realize that McMahon isn't much better.
Posted By: JWestmoreland (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:05 AM
Who Am I?
The answer this week is:
Don Muraco..
Posted By: Quizmaster IV (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:06 AM
answer : Shane Douglas
Posted By: efuveel (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:10 AM
My guess is Shane"Target Terror" Douglas.
Posted By: MissyNEVERWearssocksWithShoes (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:20 AM
take a look at dusty's forehead. it looks like a series of railroad tracks.
Posted By: rey (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:30 AM
-I always assumed the Widow Maker nickname was referring to the fact that Barry was going to kill his opponent thus making their wife a widow.
-I've heard rumors that in Scott Stiener's first WWF run they briefly tossed around the idea of giving him Luger's push. I also believe he was one of the men who failed to slam Yoko.
Great column, keep up the good work.
Posted By: RVD 4:20 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:37 AM
Before Kofi is considered for any titles he needs to show he can work on the mic. He's been ok but nowhere near the level he would need for a title run. And frankly the Kofi Kingston character doesn't interest me too much. He's amazing in the ring but needs more than that if he wants to be more than the next Shelton.
Posted By: Justin (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:45 AM
Dean Douglas!
Posted By: Jason (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:45 AM
Luger had just signed a new contract that stated he would get one WCW title run, that six day run, well, that was it.... as told by Bischoff
Posted By: Guest#4631 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:01 AM
"Russo Sucks! He gave us David Arquette and Vince Russo, World Champions!"
Not only did Vince give us the XFL and WBF, he also put the title on himself. No one seems to hate him for that.
********************************
One small difference: Vince McMahon is a sixty-four-year-old TANK. Russo and Arquette were non-athletes. Vince looks like he hits the gym five times a week. Therefore, he makes for a more credible champion (I say that in the loosest sense of the term).
Posted By: Greg T. (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:04 AM
Saying I quit and tapping out is the same freaking thing. Passing out and tapping out is not the same thing. Not rocket science.
Posted By: Guest#1671 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:06 AM
Luger's contract was up. As a condition of him renewing he was rewarded the belt.
Posted By: Guest#1776 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:12 AM
"What I mean is that although the WWE Thought Police have yet to brainwash me into accepting that Michelle McCool is an attractive woman"
You didn't even have to answer one question. This comment alone was enough to make this the best Ask 411 Wrestling column ever.
In all seriousness, I don't buy that the ECW TV title needs to make a comeback. I subscribe to the theory that the less titles there are the better.
ECW has 13 active wrestlers (14 if you count DJ Gabriel who disappeared back to FCW.) One belt is more than enough for 13 people. If you want to get the ECW wrestlers more active in the title picture then form a solid tag team out of a couple of them and let them get involved with Jericho and Show.
Now, if ECW is given a second hour every week or even just another 30 minutes I'll get on board with the idea of another title since the show will need a few more wrestlers.
Posted By: Ron Mexico (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:18 AM
I think Dolph will win a world title 1 year before Kofi.
Posted By: Aggressive Sock (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:22 AM
My predictions for the future...
Taker goes undefeated at Mania XXVI.
Jack Swagger... US Champ
Posted By: Jimmy (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:29 AM
Those questions are TOO easy, and everyone's picking them right away. Of course it's Shane Douglas.
Posted By: mr_wonderful (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:39 AM
The answer is Evan Karagias.
Posted By: Guest#8863 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:43 AM
"He won the 2008 Tom Petty Invitational, thus making him a rare man who has won both an Ultraviolent and a Technical wrestling tournament."
I reckon you mean Ted Petty. Natural response: YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS.
Posted By: Meirsch (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:57 AM
I have to make a clarification for you on Barry Windham's "Widowmaker" gimmick. Widowmaker was a term used in the Old West by gunfighters notorious for killing married men, thus they were literal "Widowmakers." Vince had long had the idea to dress a big heel in black and push him as cold and menacing. Barry didn't pan out in the role like he thought because too many people were familiar with him and his working style didn't mesh with the gimmick.
Barry also didn't leave in 1990 due to surgery. Barry was scheduled to take part in the 1989 Survivor Series as a part of Randy Savage's team, but his father(Blackjack Mulligan) and brother(Kendall Windham) were arrested due to their roles in a counterfitting operation. Titan(then still the WWF's parent company) didn't want any involvement with said scandal, and thus Barry was released but understood why, and immediately jumped back over to the NWA/WCW.
Posted By: Patrick Mullin (Registered) on September 02, 2009 at 02:04 AM
the WWf bunkhouse brawls i dont think were ever televised. From what i remember the most coverage they got was an article in the WWF magazine.
Posted By: Guest#2938 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 02:54 AM
TOM Petty Invitational?
Really???
Are you sure???
C'mon...
Posted By: Guest (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 03:15 AM
"If Benoit was currently ruling Smackdown with an Iron Fist thanks to his Hart Trilogy cronies and his new alliance with CM Punk "
just thinking abt how cool this would have been makes me sad
Posted By: j (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 03:29 AM
"Silvervision DVD's are nice and all because they are unblurred, but the frame rate looks different then an actual NTSC version. I have an Oppo 980 DVD player (super fancy stuff) that does PAL to NTSC conversions and I have watched SilverVision's Summer Slam 1991 and Summer Slam 1990 and they are nothing to write home about. Shabby video quality for the most part (not much better then regular VHS) and the motion appears slower"
4 years ago I bought Mick Foley's Greatest hits and misses from SILVER VISION and all the matches from the ATTITUDE era(vs Funk from Raw, vs Austin from Over the Edge, vs HHH from RR 2000) WERE BLURRED. It's the same thing with Benoit dvd(the cage match vs Kurt Angle from raw 2001 is blurred). Don't waste your money.
Or, at least contact the company and ask them if wmania XVII is blurred or not.
Sorry, my English isn't perfect
Posted By: marko (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 03:45 AM
Its me!!
Posted By: Dean Douglas (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 04:04 AM
OK, late 2008 is when the problems kicked in. Basically what happened was that Drake started to get booked and pushed by more normal Indy feds, his skills as a technical wrestler beginning to get noticed. He won the 2008 Tom Petty Invitational, thus making him a rare man who has won both an Ultraviolent and a Technical wrestling tournament.
Don't you mea the TED Petty Invitational? Tom Petty is an over-rated rockerstar.
Posted By: dtab316 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 04:28 AM
"Probably the poster child match for departing from the script just to make yourself look good, Paul Roma V Alex Wright at Superbrawl V."
Yes. I am famous and that much GLORIOUS, people can't be allowed to forget about me. Bask in my glory!
Posted By: Paul Roma (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 04:31 AM
LOL at Tom Petty
Also LOL at 'Window Maker'..well, they had a wrestling plumber, why not have a wrestler who made windows for a living.
Posted By: Jack Conner (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 04:59 AM
"No-one, as the match wouldn't start. Instead, Dusty would be jumped by all 5 men and he'd suffer a career ending concussion from the Punt. But he's come back, working through all 4 men before he fought Randy Orton in a "Bell Ring Brawl", where the first man to get knocked out would win/keep the WWE Title. Dusty would win the match and the title only to be stripped a week later after a referee reversed his decision due to Legacy's interference."
Brilliant. Simply brilliant. No Midnight Rider, though?
Posted By: His Bubbliness (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 05:15 AM
The French Fries Shane Douglas
Posted By: Guest#1159 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 05:36 AM
Thanks for clarification on the Windham/Widowmaker run in the WWF. I remember seeing him once or twice, and then he just sort of disappeared.
I do have one question...
I remember a match in the WWF from quite a few years back. I want to say the wrestlers name was Bastion Booger and he just came in and head buted hi opponent about 100 times. Do you have any memory of this? Love the column, thanks.
Posted By: Mario (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 05:40 AM
Yes, he did mean Drake won the TED Petty Invitational. PWG in California is running a tournament this weekend called the TOM Petty Invitational... which is hilarious!
And just to follow up what he said about the Naptown Dragons, they're back together...well, Drake, Vortekz and xOMGx are anyway. Lee's busy living up to his unofficial nickname, "Cryhard".
Posted By: Guest#5332 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 06:44 AM
Just another bit of "Widowmaker" information. The term widowmaker is also typically used in another western/cowboy role...
A widowmaker is a horse or bull (though more typically a horse) used in riding competitions which either has killed a cowboy (thus making his wife a widow), or is dangerous enough to be seen as a legitimate threat to do so. These are the horses which are feared on the rodeo circut.
Posted By: WidowAnswer (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:03 AM
Widowmaker was the name of a famous bull in pro rodeo, Barry lifted it to be his gimmick.
Posted By: DS (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:05 AM
Since D-Von is a man of color, his scars could've turned into keloids, which is overgrowth skin on a scar.
Posted By: Bigg Sexy 69 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:44 AM
Speaking of not cooperating in a match, Steven (William) Regal had a match with Goldberg in 1998, and allegedly worked too stiff for Goldberg to handle. Allegedly, WCW was upset about this, as they wanted the match to be a squash, which led to his firing, but Regal denies that was the cause.
Posted By: Michael L (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:50 AM
BTW, has anyone ever considered that by "spilling the beans" (regarding Luger and WM X) perhaps he was trying to stay in Kayfabe? He was bragging about WINNING because any confident fighter would brag about expecting to win an up coming fight, case in point, any UFC pre show interview.
It has always bugged me people dont consider that possibility and then a reporter saying that Luger exposed the business by misunderstanding what Luger was saying.
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:52 AM
"WWE Thought Police have yet to brainwash me into accepting that Michelle McCool is an attractive woman..."
But she is blonde! Did you miss that? Haha. Funny stuff. She really is a dog. I cant wait for Taker to dump her so she gets off my tv:)
Posted By: Champ (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:52 AM
And please check out Bret's book. He refutes a lot of your answers involving him, including the WM X plans.
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:57 AM
Barry Windham stated in a shoot interview that the 'Widowmaker' name was taken from a famous bull in Texas that gored and killed several cowboys. As for the gimmick, he said it was the same one he had in the NWA, just with his hair slicked back in a ponytail.
Posted By: Guest#2034 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 09:06 AM
Barry Windham's 'Widowmaker' moniker was taken from a notorious bull that gored and killed a bunch of cowboys in Texas. He stated this in a shoot interview a few years ago. The gimmick was the same as his gimmick in the NWA; just with his hair slicked back in a ponytail.
Posted By: guest123456 (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 09:11 AM
The Widowmaker gimmick, which was essentially a guy in a black vest, black boots, and black tights with a bad attitude years before Austin, was based on the idea that Windham would kill guys, and thus make their wives widows. It had nothing to do with a hanging log.
Posted By: Tim Haught (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 09:22 AM
PREDICTION:
Dolph wins his first world title in 2011.
Kofi never wins a world title.
Posted By: blake (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 09:29 AM
While it's true that the decision not to connect a father and son is often the son's choice, neither of the two examples posited by the person who asked the question really qualifies.
WWE has acknowledged Goldust is Dusty Rhodes' son a bajillion times. They were even acknowledging it when Dusty was still in WCW. And while Grandmaster Sexay was never explicitly referred to as Jerry Lawler's son -- except once by Paul Heyman in 1997 in what was supposed to sound like a shoot comment -- WWE played around with that connection a lot during Sexay's earlier run in WWE as Brian Christopher, always hinting at it but never coming right out and saying it.
Posted By: G. Jonah Jameson (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 09:45 AM
"*sigh* Yes, technically Lex Luger, Sting and Roddy Piper have both beaten Hogan with a submission hold, the Torture Rack and Sleeper respectively. But in those cases, Hogan verbally submitted to Luger, said I quit for Sting/got screwed by Bret Hart and passed out on Piper. Only Angle has made Hulk Hogan slap the mat to signify the end of the match, and thus tap out."
Are you really trying to say there is a difference between saying I QUIT and tapping out?
Both state you wish to end the mat because your opponent is hurting you too much.
It's like saying slapping the salami, bopping the bologna, jerking off, shaking hands with the unemployed and masterbating are different.
Posted By: David (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 09:57 AM
"Which does make sense, in terms of after Nash went down, Shawn would then go "What would you say to fighting me?" and they went from there. So there you are. Learn something new every day."
Reading "Heartbreak & Triumph" also provides this answer. The original plan was HHH/Nash. When Nash went down with an injury, Michaels thought about doing a Street Fight with Vince. The planned angle included Michaels challenging Vince to a brawl because Vince was the horrible boss that didn't care if his wrestlers got injured. Vince accepted the pitch, and then came back to Michaels stating that Trips counter-offered with himself as Michaels' opponent, because he felt he could take better care of Michaels than Vince could. Thus, the men changed the angle to what we saw in the summer of '02.
Posted By: Mina (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Oh - I like predictions. OK - so on 9/2/2010...
1. Raw champs - Ted DiBiase (WHC) and Cody Rhodes (US)
2. Smackdown champs - Chris Jericho (WWE) and William Regal (IC)
3. Tag Team champs - Edge and Christian
4. ECW Champ - Mark Henry
Jericho, Edge and Christian will be "reunited" and will rule Smackdown. The storyline will be their fight against Taker - who will enlist several younger stars to assist him.
Punk will be moved to Raw and will feud with Cena.
TNA champs - Samoa Joe (HWC), Sheik Bashir (X-Divsion), Melissa Flash (Womens) and Steiner (Legends)
Kurt Angle will be out of pro wrestling to pursue a match with Brock Lesnar.
Sting will be retired, but Foley will not be and will still be wrestling.
Ric Flair will wrestle again - somewhere.
Posted By: BobbyC (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Dusty Rhodes' head is also a scarred up mess.
I guess 'real' wrestlers have cauliflower ears and 'fake' wrestlers have butchered foreheads.
What other sports leave their participants mutilated?
This should be fun...
Posted By: demOcratic (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 11:31 AM
To clarify one of those last questions: Fans quickly knew who Goldust was and at one point in his gimmick (around the time of the break with Marlena/Terri) they did a sit-down interview where Goldust admits it. Plus at the RR we had Cody and Goldy do the brother face-off.
Brian Christopher was done tounge-in-cheek. When he first came in King would sing his praises and JR would jokingly accuse Jerry of favoring "your boy" only for Jerry to claim no relation and change the subject.
Posted By: RingOtaku (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Holy Jeez, that WCW footage with Russo was ass.
Posted By: poppasquat (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Yo Yo - great column but two corrections to make on your answers:
Inregards to the eddie/world title thing, at the time, eddie was slated to win the world title on smackdown at the taping the next day, this was because batista had suffered an injury and required to be written off tv so they announced and advertised a triple threat between batista, eddie and someone else (I cant remember who - possibly finlay or something). anyway, yeah - eddie was set to win the world title.
In regards to hbk's first match back, after nash got injured, shawn decided he was going to wrestle for one more match and had an idea for an angle against vince mcmahon and how he drives all his top superstars to injury but hunter suggested hbk/hhh instead as hhh said he would be able to protect shawn more in a match between the pair of them, for more info on this, read Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels story written my shawn michaels, available now on wweshop.com lol.
Posted By: rorster1986 (Registered) on September 02, 2009 at 12:33 PM
"Copyright law in regards to DVD box sets has changed since the 80's, when Videos were still new. Now, royalty fees have increased/come into effect, and thus what was cheap back then isn't now."
Why would increased royalty fees matter if WWE owns the rights to the music? They wouldn't have to pay any royalties because they own the music. And what change in copyright law are you referring to?
Posted By: Bob (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Bunkhouse Stampedes were in NWA/WCW, not in the WWF. At least if they did a "Bring Your Weapon Battle Royal," it was not called a Bunkhouse Stampede.
Posted By: The Higher Power (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:56 PM
There's a clip on Youtube of a match in Japan between Earthquake John Tenta and Koji Kitao where they don't cooperate with each other. Kitao then leaves the ring and calls Tenta a monkey or something and denounces pro wrestling.
Posted By: Fast Eddie (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:05 PM
"take a look at dusty's forehead. it looks like a series of railroad tracks."
Posted By: rey (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 12:30 AM
__________
Devon and Dusty Rhodes are pretty bad, but if you want to see some horrific looking blading scars, Google up some photos of Carlos Colon. He's so carved up it looks like his brain is trying to push it's way through his forehead.
_______
"Inregards to the eddie/world title thing, at the time, eddie was slated to win the world title on smackdown at the taping the next day, this was because batista had suffered an injury and required to be written off tv so they announced and advertised a triple threat between batista, eddie and someone else (I cant remember who - possibly finlay or something). anyway, yeah - eddie was set to win the world title."
________
Only half the story. Batista goes into it in his book. The McMahons were planning to put the title on Randy Orton in that triple threat, but Batista was going to appeal to them and talk Vince into making Eddie the champ. He approached Eddie about it, and Eddie basically said that Vince knows what he's doing, and to trust his judgment and allow them to go with Orton. Presumably, Eddie wasn't quite ready to be champion again just yet, but I could've seen it happening down the line...perhaps even at Wrestlemania 22.
Unfortunately, before the triple threat could happen (about three or four days before, in fact), Eddie passed away.
Selfless, and a company man to the end. I really miss that guy.
Posted By: BJC (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:31 PM
I really have to question the solution of giving the title to Orton instead of Eddie or Batista retaining. The reason is why wouldnt have they still pulled the trigger instead of having Batista stay around for another 2 months and then bringing Angle over to win it. I could understand Orton not winning the title at the tribute tapings but he could have won it prior to Angle's battle royal win.
Posted By: Radtke (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:39 PM
And please check out Bret's book. He refutes a lot of your answers involving him, including the WM X plans.
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 08:57 AM
He can't find it in Australia! Apparently they don't have libraries, bookstores that do "orders" or Amazon!
So therefore everything Sforcina says is truth until he reads the book!
Posted By: He won't, He can't! (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:46 PM
Abdullah the Butcher had his "scar" surgically "put in" his head!
C'mon that's old news!
Plus it doesn't help your head when you have so many "fork" matches!!!
Posted By: Look it up! (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:53 PM
"D-Von is a man of color"
'man of colour' is so preciously 1979, that i get the mental image of Superfly struttin down the street.
Posted By: Darth Mortis (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:59 PM
I can't believe you don't know about the BUNKHOUSE BATTLE Royals!!!!
They were in the mid-late 80's and usually done at House shows.
At one in Long Island, NY at the Nassau Coliseum on January 3, 1988
The team of Billy Jack Haynes and Ken Patera even went so far as bringing in CHAINSAWS to the ring but the ref or WWF President(Jack Tunney) wouldn't let them use them!
It was in an early '88 issue of WWF Magazine.
These BUNKHOUSE matches were a HUGE draw for WWF house shows back in the 80's!!
I just can't believe you don't know anything about them!?!?!?!
Posted By: BUNKHOUSE BUCKAROO (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 02:11 PM
Pecos Bill has a horse named Widowmaker and can lasso a tornado.
Posted By: demOcratic (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 02:14 PM
Why doesn't the WWE exploit the fact that certain wrestlers have famous fathers? I just recently found out that Grand Master Sexay was Lawler's son and Goldust was Dusty Rhodes' son.
---------------------------------------
The WWF has said MANY times about those 2 being sons of famous wrestlers.
Hell, back when Brian Christopher was starting they did an angle on RAW about he and the KING being father and son!
And it has been mentioned several times throughout his career that Goldust is in fact Dusty's son.
Whoever the guy is that asked this question JUST FOUND OUT about these 2 being sons of famous wrestlers, then he must have only been watching wrestling for the past couple of months!!
LOL!
Posted By: WHAT?!?!? (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 02:23 PM
Kofi will never be WWE or World Champ.
Posted By: Jay Smith (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 02:31 PM
um....A WIDOWMAKER is a horse that is too "wild" for a rodeo or cannot be tamed.
THUS, the name created a sort of "mystique" for Barry Windams "Black Hat" Bad ass cowboy schtick.
It may be a tree or a heart attack nowadays but most times a WIDOWMAKER refers to a type of horse and is probably the ORIGINAL definition of the term before the "tree/heart attack" nicknames came around.
Posted By: The windowmaker?? LOL! (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 02:31 PM
GOLDUST did a "sit down" interview and SAID "Dusty is my father"!!!!
How could you not know this????
Posted By: These are softball questions!! (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 02:34 PM
Only half the story. Batista goes into it in his book. The McMahons were planning to put the title on Randy Orton in that triple threat, but Batista was going to appeal to them and talk Vince into making Eddie the champ. He approached Eddie about it, and Eddie basically said that Vince knows what he's doing, and to trust his judgment and allow them to go with Orton. Presumably, Eddie wasn't quite ready to be champion again just yet, but I could've seen it happening down the line...perhaps even at Wrestlemania 22.
Unfortunately, before the triple threat could happen (about three or four days before, in fact), Eddie passed away.
Selfless, and a company man to the end. I really miss that guy.
Posted By: BJC (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Actually Smackdown and RAW were both being taped on Sunday that week so it was literally hours before showtime in which he died
Posted By: StrongStyleSoldier (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 03:39 PM
How can you not say Michelle McCool is not hot apart from Maria i can't think of another Diva i'd love to shag
Posted By: My Name Is D.M. Punk (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 04:00 PM
I'm not sure I understand why giving the belt to Luger the week before Road Wild would help in the buyrate. If I'm a diehard WCWer who wants to see my guy defeat the evil nWo...didn't I just see it? Why would I drop $30 (god, I miss $30 PPVs...) to see the rematch?
Oh my god, Nash's torn quad saves the day and gave us HBK/HHH. Seriously, thanks a bunch, you big fragile bastard.
Another great moment of one wrestler flipping the script was that beating Perry Saturn gave that poor jobber on Jakked/Metal. Jesus that was brutal.
The real question I have about the WHC situation after Eddie's death is why WWE didn't go ahead and give Orton the strap a few weeks later (at Survivor Series perhaps) if that was their plan all along. Why hold off almost two months and even then give it to Angle?
Prediction: Shawn Michaels -vs- John Morrison at SummerSlam 2010
Posted By: neverAcquiesce (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 05:38 PM
Cute as the XFL riposte was, do you really think Russo has only made the 2 mistakes I listed? Since, as you say, you were responding to a question that was requesting a more positive perspective on him, how about - seeing as this is Ask411 - you now list the many mistakes made by the man?
Vince is a businessman; while he's made mistakes, his personal fortune suggests that he's been quite a successful one. Russo consistently showed what a hack he was when his ego and authority was allowed to roam free from the reins of McMahon during his time in WCW, and continues to do so in TNA.
Who in the business actually has a kind word to say about the guy? Bar the old fucks desperately clinging on to 'their' spots that Russo seems content with appeasing, of course. Were it not for the steady income, I doubt many within TNA would actually remain with the company considering the dismal way so many of them have been booked.
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 06:22 PM
As others have said, Luger apparently had it in his contract that he would get at least one world title win. The pre-Hog Wild '97 victory was a handy opportunity to do so, plus to take advantage of the popularity of Luger at the time as one of the few 'true blood' WCW guys that had continued to fight the nWo ever since Sting went away. I think they popped a good rating on Nitro from the match.
Posted By: Ryushinku (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 06:29 PM
@nwa88
the SummerSlam DVDs were vhs-to-dvd transfers, WrestleMania X-Seven is a dvd rerelease - so the quality should be better.
@marko
not all Silvervision DVDs are unblurred. the official releases (= the titles that also come out in the United States) are 100% similar most of the time - so they also have the blurring going on. however, the Tagged Classics titles are not blurred at all.
Posted By: guy incognito (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Questions
1. Is there any truth to the rumour that Sid shit his pants in a match once?
2. When Bam Bam was found dead, did he go "missing" before this time or was he "missing" when he was found dead.
3. Why was Cristy Hemme let go in the WWE?
4. Did Sean OHaire and Mark Jindrak hate one another when they were in WCW. A couple months after their debut in WCW they were split up and matched differently as OHaire and Polumbo teamed and Stasiak and Jindrak briefly. Why?
5. How was the Jake Roberts and Randy Savage angle where the snake bites Savage done? Heavy editing? That was friggin crazy.
6. I remember reading about Jim Duggans tv showing he was working on years ago. It was to be called Duggans Court and he would play a judge and have hs biiker friends as the jury. This would have been a hit !!! What happened to this?
7. Why did Hogan come back to WWE in 2003. He did a fair amount of jobbing i.e Angle clean and Lesnar clean. Was he back to give back to the business by putting over others or was he trying to get back into the spotlight to make a moviie or something?
8. When Art Barr died, was it an overdose? Did another wrestler find the drugss and flush them? Or did he dide with his son in his hands? Ive heard several versions but dont know which is which.
Any helps appreciatted as this is my favourite column on the net.
Posted By: Kevin (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Questions
1. Is there any truth to the rumour that Sid shit his pants in a match once?
It has been rumored
2. When Bam Bam was found dead, did he go "missing" before this time or was he "missing" when he was found dead.
I think he was just found dead, no missing.
3. Why was Cristy Hemme let go in the WWE?
Budget Cuts
4. Did Sean OHaire and Mark Jindrak hate one another when they were in WCW. A couple months after their debut in WCW they were split up and matched differently as OHaire and Polumbo teamed and Stasiak and Jindrak briefly. Why?
Because it was WCW and that is what they did
5. How was the Jake Roberts and Randy Savage angle where the snake bites Savage done? Heavy editing? That was friggin crazy.
Snake bit him, didn't let go. It was legit (The Snake was devenomized though)
Posted By: The Trout (Guest) on September 03, 2009 at 02:04 AM
Thanks The Trout that was very helpful and quick too :)
Posted By: Kevin (Guest) on September 03, 2009 at 10:14 AM
I remember a match in the WWF from quite a few years back. I want to say the wrestlers name was Bastion Booger and he just came in and head buted hi opponent about 100 times. Do you have any memory of this? Love the column, thanks.
Posted By: Mario (Guest) on September 02, 2009 at 05:40 AM
This was in the 80s, way before Bastion Booger. Jos LeDuc came in as The Headbanger, managed by Mr. Fuji. In his debut, he got disqualified for trapping the jobber in the corner and headbutting him forever. As far as I know, he didn't have a 2nd televised match.
My prediction: Dolph Ziggler will be world champion before Kofi, MVP, Shelton, Carlito, Tyson Kidd, DH Smith, The Miz, Mike Knox, Ted DiBiase Jr. or Cody Rhodes, assuming any of those guys ever win it at all. Morrison will get it earlier, and Swagger MIGHT get it earlier, because he's bigger, which means he's obviously better in the eyes of Vince. Any mid-carders with potential I missed?
Posted By: saneiac (Guest) on September 03, 2009 at 10:32 AM
It always seemed like Billy Jack's gimmick is that he was from Oregon.
Posted By: zappafrank (Guest) on September 03, 2009 at 02:08 PM
"No-one, as the match wouldn't start. Instead, Dusty would be jumped by all 5 men and he'd suffer a career ending concussion from the Punt. But he's come back, working through all 4 men before he fought Randy Orton in a "Bell Ring Brawl", where the first man to get knocked out would win/keep the WWE Title. Dusty would win the match and the title only to be stripped a week later after a referee reversed his decision due to Legacy's interference."
Best answer ever, god I miss NWA
Posted By: AOD (Guest) on September 03, 2009 at 02:57 PM
The Nitro episode where Luger beat Hogan for the title was the 100th Nitro and was the first to go 3 hours. therefore, WCW felt they needed a "special" ending. This, added to Mathew's points, was the main factor for Luger winning the belt that night.
Andre The Giant and Akira Maeda had a very famous "non-cooperative shoot" in New Japan in the 1980s, which I have on video. Maeda was in his UWF mentality and kicked the crap out of Andre who no-sold everything before Maeda gave it all up after 20 minutes and left the ring.
Posted By: APinOz (Guest) on September 04, 2009 at 05:48 AM
I always thought that Windham was called the widowmake because he was killing (winning) his opponent and with that he was making their wives widow.
Posted By: nokinoutallbums (Registered) on September 04, 2009 at 03:24 PM
Back in the day the WWF consistently acknowledged 2nd gnerations stars such as Bret Hart and Mr Perfect Curt Hennig even mentioning their fathers by name. And this waws in the 80s.
Posted By: Generations (Guest) on September 05, 2009 at 05:22 AM
"Posted By: JUSTINW (Guest) on September 01, 2009 at 11:08 PM"
You do realize that someone doesn't have to "travel" with someone to have a heart-to-heart with them. They might have bumped into each other, or the guy might have just shown up that night, or they could have talked over the phone.
Posted By: Generations (Guest) on September 05, 2009 at 05:27 AM
I have a question that has been bothering me for a long time, and was brought up again while watching the Allied Powers DVD; What happened to the plate on the WCW Tag Team Title? One week, there was a side plate just...MISSING from one of the belts. Then a few months later they had new belts, but for a long time, one belt was missing a side plate. Any clue?
Posted By: MATRIX (Guest) on September 06, 2009 at 07:28 PM
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