Ask 411 Wrestling 11.18.09: Wrestling Cliques, Multi-Man Matches, and WCW Trash!

Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 11.18.2009

Who invented the Texas Death Match? Has Kurt Angle EVER hit a Moonsault? Does Scott Steiner hold a win over John Cena? How do you plan a wrestling match? How important are refs? And did Vince McMahon really realize that one of his cards sucked? All this, plus a bunch more things! Things I tell you!

Welcome to the column that wonders if someone booked this week's Raw from cobbling together stories put up on Smackdown V Raw 2010's Story Designer, Ask 411 Wrestling!

I mean, having read the recap for Raw (I can't see it till after I write this up), it does seem to be, well… Weird. I mean, lots of good ideas (Striker, Masters become Tit Dancer, Kofi/Orton, Cena/Taker), and, well, lots of crap as well. Just a weird show. Maybe MSG has a loose gas pipe somewhere.

Anyway, you're not here to read about my thoughts, at least not until My Damm Opinion. Instead, you're here for the best damm banner in the business.

Backtalking

All right, let's fire up last week's Ask 411, and see what people have to say.

were any of those actually Main Events? The Summerslam '92 Main Event was Bret Hart/Bulldog, was it not?

Huh?

*rereads question*

Wow, I totally misread that question. Well, that's a clear mistake, I'm glad someone-

Sorry, dude, but neither Haku/Race nor HBK/Martel have been main events.
None of the matches you've listed were actually main events except for HBK/Hart at Series 97.
How was Haku vs Race at RR a main event? It wasnt even shown on the PPV.
On what planet is Haku vs Harley Race a "Main Event"?
So on and so forth.

Yes, fine, thank you.

Remember when I said that I'm fine with being called out on mistakes? I think you can safely conclude that if I get told something 27 times, I don't need a 28th, OK?

Moving on.

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

Well, seems we still have issues from last week's question.

To whit: I agree that Raven is a totally acceptable answer. That's the point, I wrote the question so that the answer would be Stevie, and I had not heard/read that Raven was back in TNA (or if I had, I had forgotten it).

If I had known about it, I would have tossed in "He's also been a really lucky bastard, from my point of view" or something to DQ Raven. But I didn't, so the answer is a wash.

Here's last week's question.

What show am I? A PPV that is historical for what it is, not for what took place on it. I saw two titles change hands, and another one crowned. The first 4 matches, despite having 14 people involved (including the manager), only has one wrestler still involved in the business in a major company/role. Although 2 are now trainers. The fifth match features two WWE employees battling for a title now retired. The last match had two WWE employees up against someone in TNA (I think) and someone possibly on his way in. A PPV that was held in Florida, and which featured 3 women, none of whom wrestled, I am What?

This was the PPV.



This week's question isn't trivia. It's self-referential.

Do you care about this section? I mean, if I drop this, would it matter? I'd still throw up the occasional Sporcle quiz, and it does help pad these things out, but I'm wondering if anyone really cares. So this is your chance to tell me if you want this to stay, or if you're happy to see it go. I'm fine either way, I'm just testing the waters.

Questions, Questions, Who's Got The Questions?

A somewhat brisk introduction this week. No matter, just leaves more space for the questions. We begin with Rob.

Hey there, former columnist current nobody. Ask411 is my favourite column, and the only one I read religiously, so thanks for the hard work.

1) Has Kurt Angle ever successfully landed his Moonsault on anybody? He has a stunning delay in the air, and I know he broke Bob Holly's arm with it one time, but this is the only match in which I can recall him scoring with the big move. And was this injury the reason he stopped landing the Moonsault on opponents, or is this just coincidence.

It is true that Angle's moonsaults, which is a thing of beauty, RARELY lands. More often than not, like when Flair goes up top, it tends to end badly. Just at Turning Point, he went for and missed it.

I had a look through the archives (fun fact: in 2001 Essa Rios pinned Samoa Joe, Low-Ki, Chris Daniels and Ken Anderson with moonsaults), and I couldn't find one. In WWE or TNA. It would appear that the only time, on record, Kurt Angle has hit the moonsaults, was when he landed on Bob Holly and broke his arm.

Which is part of the reason he doesn't hit with them. He stopped doing the moonsaults by request of WWE since they didn't want him to risk landed on his neck and permanently ruining it, given his track record.

2) What's with the Undertaker fueding with managers? He fueded with Harvey Wippleman's Kamala and Giant Gonzales; Paul Bearer's Mankind, The Executioner and Kane; Paul Heyman's Dudley Boyz; and Daivari's Muhammad Hassan, Mark Henry and The Great Khali. What's the reasoning behind this? I can't recall any other wrestler fueding with so many managers through a variety of different superstars.

Well, I don't have the official reason on hand, but I think there's basically two different periods, pre Bearer feud and post Bearer feud.

Pre Bearer feud, Taker, as a face, tended to work with big guys. And big guys, as a rule, can't talk. So they have managers, so in order to do Taker/Gonzales they need a manager there to talk for Giant, so they make the storyline that way. Given the higher ratio of Big Guys, he thus has a higher ratio of manager feuds.

Post Bearer, it's more to do with the character rather than who he's working with. Taker's now an icon, a stalwart of the company, and thus he's now a target for those people looking to get ahead. There's still an issue of working big guys who can't talk (Khali, Heidenreich, Brock even), but it's more that he's the target, he's a guy that a manager can point to and try to take out to prove a point. A bigger target means more people take shots at you.

But it's mostly working big guys who can't talk, really.

I'll finish with Rob later, but now it's Matthew.

Hello, yours is my favorite column on the site, by the way- great work. I have an odd question. I have been living overseas in Asia for more than three years, watching wrestling when I can, and it just occurred to me- how much control does the WWE have over the announcers used for their foreign markets? I ask because I am in Taiwan right now watching ECW, and the announcer (it is just one guy) has been talking off and on about TNA (mostly talking about Lance Hoyt, how he's signed with the WWE, etc), FCW, Brett Dibiase, etc etc. I cannot imagine that the WWE wants their employees to be talking about other promotions (I am aware the the WWE owns FCW, but they don't mention it on air that often, if ever). So, how is the guy getting away with this? Does WWE ignore it, or do they have no power? Does the channel (Here its Videoland Entertainment) just pick its own guy? When I lived in Myanmar last year the same thing would happen, they guys would talk about TNA and ROH all the time while the action was happening in the ring. Thoughts?

Well, I'm sure they aren't over the moon about it. But it's a trade off situation.

WWE is trying so very, very hard to get everyone on the planet watching the show. Not a bad idea, with the US market down, you want to bring in as much as possible to counteract this.

But the downside of this is that a lot of these markets don't speak English, or Spanish, or French. They have their own language, one unique to the country, and thus to broadcast the show ‘properly', you need someone to announce in that language.

Thus you're forced to either hire someone for each language, to become your guy for that country, or you just let the channel who is buying the show handle it themselves. That's been the general approach taken for a fair while, WCW had the same problem with German announcers, they tended to go off about whatever they wanted.

It's a matter of cost vs. control. For major markets, WWE will shell out for guys who will toe the line. For the smaller ones, they'll trade cost for possibly having guys who talk about whatever the hell they want.

That said, I'd wager that once WWE gets a toe into China, you'll find that they'll hire Official Chinese WWE Announcers and they will stick to the script.

Next up is The Wrestling Doctor. I'll avoid any puns.

Howdy Matthew

Ex-411 columnist The Wrestling Doctor here. You're doing a great job of handling what is the single most difficult 411 assignment. Keep up the great work.

I had been under the impression for a number of years that multi-participant matches - such as Triple Threats - were a phenomenon of the 1990s which originated in Japan. I recently ran into some interesting results at prowrestlinghistory.com which indicate these matches actually go back to the 1970s. At Texas Stadium on 24 June 1972, Bearcat Wright won a seven-man "roulette" match. No other detail is provided. Any idea what a 70s "roulette" match may have been? Maybe a gauntlet-type bout?

The Rock 'N' Roll Express defeated The Road Warriors, The Dirty White Boys, and The Fabulous Freebirds (Gordy & Roberts) in a "four corners" match on the 30 March 1985 Mid-South Wrestling Superdome show. I assume from the way that the results are listed that it was an elimination match. I do remember WCW running a four corners match in the fall of 1989 on The Main Event, where Brian Pillman and Eddie Gilbert were the last two participants (Pillman won). The match was contested under elimination rules, with two men competing and two on the apron waiting to be tagged. WCW conducted its early "triangle" matches in the mid-90s under similar circumstances.

Can you shed any light on the development of multi-participant matches prior to the 1990s? Do they back even further than the 1970s? Any idea on who may have innovated these bouts? Why do you thin they never caught on until the 1990s? A Flair-Sting-Luger-Muta four corners match in 1989 may have been a better Starrcade option than the Iron Man tournament.

Thanks a bunch.

Well, to skip to the end for a moment, the Iron Man tournament was all about getting Sting into the Horsemen via pinning Flair, which could have been achieved in a four corners match but the idea did work on paper, so it probably wouldn't have been tried.

Sadly I was unable to find any records as to what the hell a Roulette match was. Gauntlet does sound plausible, but then I'd believe it if it was something where each man could only pin one guy and it was daisy chain style, where you kept eliminating people until only one was left.

I really hate to have to tap out here, especially given the quality of the question, but I was unable to find anything about the history of multi-man matches. Not even myths about their origins, like there exists with Tag Team Wrestling (it was not invented in Australia). Certainly battle royals have been around for a long time, but mutli-man matches did, as you say, take a while to take off.

I'm tempted to suggest that given the NWA's southern roots/Global reach, that multi-man matches might have a history in Mexico. The main event of the CMLL Anniversary Show of 1971 for instance (their big show), appears to be a triple threat match, where Ciclon Veloz Jr. lost his hair battling Renato Torres and Rene Guajardo.

As for not catching on until 1990, there's a couple of possible reasons.

The cynical will say that most promoters probably didn't think their fans could follow a match that wasn't clear cut 1 on 1.

The WWF-centric view would be that WWF didn't start using them until the 90's, so no-one else would either, since everyone just copies WWF.

ECW fans will jump and down, and point to their Sabu/Funk/Douglas one as kick-starting the concept. And while that did play a big part, they almost certainly didn't invent the concept. But yes, ECW played a part here.

A few threads, but certainly no tapestry. Any loyal readers able to help me out here?

Now, I tend to limit the questions I can't answer, so let's turn to Lou.

Hey Ryan,

I've read a few articles that mention the first Texas Death Match was in Amarillo, TX featuring Dory Funk Sr. vs. "Iron" Mike DiBiase. However, I keep finding different match lengths, such as 1 hr. 45 mins, 3 hours, and according to Wikipedia, 4 1/2 hours! Which is correct?

…

I'll let that slide.

Well, without being there, I can't confirm the correct number. 1 hr 45 minutes seems to be the popular value that people choose to believe.

However, possibly the most accurate (or, depending on your viewpoint, the most biased) account would be of Dory's son, Terry. And in his book More Than Just Hardcore, Terry discusses the issue. He states that he believes his father invented Death Matches, then goes on to discuss the feud. Given the fact that the feud between the two was for the title of "King Of The Death Match", thus indicating that it was NOT the first one ever, in that there must have been one before that so that one or the other could claim the title first. And Terry says that their first match went over 3 hours, with 30 falls, with no decision due to curfew being called at 1am. The rematch a year later went for over 90 minutes, which is probably where people get the 1 hr 45 value. So, assuming you choose to believe Terry Funk, 3 hours and 1 hour 45 minutes are both true. It being the first though, that's not.

Although I guess if you chose to be a wiseass, you could say that since the first match didn't end, you could ad them together as one 4 and a half hour long match. Although the year gap would make it a hell of a long match.

Next up is Adam, asking about music.

Hi, just a couple of music related questions this time

1) Shortly after WWE Anthology (the music CD set) came out I heard several rumours, there was going to be a sequel to it, obvious that hasn't happened. Was there ever any plans to do a Anthology 2?

Never say never, obviously, but I couldn't find any concrete plans to release such a set. After it went Gold, there was probably talk of doing another one, but they decided against it. Although in the modern day of itunes and such, I wouldn't bet against classic themes popping up eventually…

2) How come even now with music licensing being a massive headache for wrestling companies practically nobody uses public domain music for entrance themes, PPV themes, etc?

Because you're limited to basically classical music, which while having it's place (‘Ode To Joy' is a great heel entrance song) would get repetitive and boring fairly quickly. And even if the song it public domain, the performance still costs money to licence.

3) Undertaker used a theme called "You're gonna pay" during 2003, do you know which band this was by?

It appears that this was a Jim Johnston performance, and not a ‘real' band as such. So he played all the instruments and got someone else in for the singing, not a band to play.

Brett asks about some dogcatchers.

Hi there - I just have a quick question and a comment. I remember a tag team in the early 90's in the USWA that battled the Moondogs and they were called The Dogcatchers - my question is who were the men playing the dogcatchers?

Also, I remember a discussion in the column a while back about women wrestlers and blading. I was watching All Japan Women's DreamSlam I yesterday and saw the Akira Hokuto/Shinobu Kandori match and Hojuto absolutely tapped a gusher. I dont remember if you mentioned that match or not in the discussion so I thought I would bring it to your attention. If you did mention it and I am being redundant I apologize wholeheartedly :) Keep up the great work!

Thanks for the women bleeding info.

As for the identities of the Dogcatchers, they were, drumroll please…



Doug Vines and Jeff Sword!

The duo, also known as Devil's Duo, and The Barroom Brawlers, and The Texas Outlaws, appear to have been the men under the masks. Certainly it makes sense, the duo were somewhat journeymen, going where they could get booked, and working under masks at various points. And the duo, as the Outlaws, held the tag titles before, so it seems logical that they would be the Catchers.

The more you know.

Manu asks about Scott Armstrong, SD's resident Screw Job Artist now.

What's that giant scar on the left side of his face from? Just noticed it on sd.

From his years of wrestling, I can only assume. He hasn't done any shoot interviews or such to discuss his scar, so I can only say that it was from a wrestling match, or from messing about as a kid with his brothers.

Damm, I thought I wasn't going to include any more questions I couldn't answer.

Ever wonder how Kane and Taker are able to appear whenever they need each other?


Well, I'm sure Rob S will be better for my batting average.

Hey 411! Love you guys, i gots some questions for you:

Does the WWE have extra copies of championship belts stored away, in case one is stolen, lost or given to a wrestler to keep? It seems that some ex wrestlers (Hogan, Warrior, etc.) have gotten to keep belts after they left or whatever. Do they use replicas in an emergency situation, or do they have authentic ones stored away for when they need to be replaced? Also, when Hogan's WCW belts were spraypainted with NWO, were those replaced with a new belt?

Well, as usual, there's multiple answers for multiple situations here.

Each wrestler who obtains a title in the WWE is given the option to purchase a copy of the belt for their own collection. Basically a slightly nicer version that the deluxe version of title belts you can buy on wweshopzone.com. And some people get given copies due to their reigns being great or what have you.

If a wrestler ends up with a custom version of the title, like Warrior, then they might well be allowed to keep that custom version.

Now, as for day to day: Again, for WWE, there is a set of pure, untouched "TV Belts", the bestest version of each belt that exists, what is the ‘Real' title. As a rule, the WWE carry that one around, and when TV cameras roll, they hand it to the talent, and then talent hands it back afterwards. The talent also has a ‘Deluxe' belt that they take with them, and that's the belt used at house shows and such. Public appearances generally use the Deluxe belt.

And no, the belt Hogan spraypainted was the same belt throughout. After Luger won it, during the celebrations they cleaned it up, the nWo didn't use spraypaint that would stain, that would be inconsiderate.

This is an odd question, but ill ask anway. How do most wrestlers handle their manscaping? Do they get waxed, shave themselves, etc.? I believe i read something once where Hogan said he had a system worked out for shaving his entire body, and was able to do it in under like 10 minutes.

Like any cross section of people, it varies from person to person. Some wax, some shave, some just let it grow. There's no ‘official' manscaping technique that all the wrestlers use. However, I'd wager most wax, given that they'd want the method that produced the longest time without hair.

This is a general question about how a wrestling match is planned out. How do two wrestlers go about planning out a match before they wrestle each other? Do they do it a few hours before the event? Do they talk it out, act it out in the ring, etc. Do they do alot of improv or plan spot for spot, depending on the match length?

Yet again, it varies from person to person, and from match to match.

However, I can tell you how I tend to do it, and then go from there. Say I, Massive Q, am wrestling Ronin. I'd get to the arena a few hours before show time, as would he. We'd get the match structure the booker wanted, and any specific spots he wants. So, let's say I'm to go over with interference from my manager Harley Wonderland, and he wants a brawl on the outside early on.

After we got settled, we'd discuss the match. For the most part it would be more "What moves can you do to me?" since I'm physically limited in what I can do in there. We'd work out what moves he can do, and then set out the match structure. The start of the match would be well laid out (Ronin ducks a lock up attempt, slaps me. I charge, he ducks, 3 clotheslines, I go down to a knee, he goes to slam me, fails, I grab for a chokeslam, he wriggles out, leaves ring, I give chase, he beats me up outside). Then we have the cut off, at which point it gets a little more freeform. Once I've cut him off, I'll go with what feels right, and we have his come back spots planned. The first time he'll duck 2 clotheslines then eat a boot, the second he'll elbow out of a chokeslam and then get hair pulled down, and then finally he'd reverse a sidewalk slam into a Russian leg sweep for a 9 count. Then the finish would be very well laid out, block punch block punch block punch, then some forearms, then a dropkick to knock me down, an elbow drop, he loads up for the German, I grab the ropes, he pounds on my back, I let go, Harley distracts him, he lets go, chokeslam big splash finish.

If there was any part he wasn't sure of, like say he'd never done the sidewalk into a leg sweep spot, we'd act it out in ring, to make sure he understood it. And that would be it.

Now, that's the general idea, the usual MO. The face stuff is laid out, the heel has wiggle room. But, some people prefer a much more structured match, they like to lay out every little detail, they want you to sell this punch like that, fall down here, get up then, slam me here etc.

And, a much lost skill is the ability to call a match totally on the fly. It can be done, if both guys know what they are doing, to go in with only a finish and work a match. Although that can also lead to disaster.

So for the most part we talk, we plan, we don't tend to act it out, just work on certain spots if we need to. That's the best case scenario, if we're rushed we'll just have the key spots and nothing else.

Why is an exposed turnbuckle played up as being extremely dangerous to a wrestler by commentators? It seems like a small little piece of metal, and it's made out to be a major hazard. I understand it is "exposed steel", and can be used as a tactic to bust a wrestler open, but it cannot be considered as dangerous as ringsteps or a steel chair, or a steel cage, can it?

It's tension + size. The ring steps, while nicely sharp, are loose, and when you hit them, they move. Same as a chair, it bends, it moves when it hits you (although it's still nasty). And the cage too has some give in it (but that works on the cheese grater properties). But the turnbuckle is holding the ring together, the ring ropes are pulling on that little bit of metal, all that tension holding the ring together, focused on one little bit of metal, the perfect size and shape to bust someone open. A ring post is too dull, but the turnbuckle is perfect.

That's the logic.

Next up is Greg asking about the Royal Rumble.

1. Has a wrestler ever been accidentally eliminated from the Royal Rumble before?

Yes and no. Guys have gone over the top and to the floor when they weren't supposed to, but they have been able to cover up, either by claiming the rules allowed them to (Savage in 92) or by the camera avoiding showing them (Holly in 08).

2. Who holds the record for most eliminations from the Rumble? I'm guessing Kane. I know this is a toughy, and I'd be shocked if it can be answered.

Kane might well eventually take the crown, but as of today, the record for the most eliminations in total from all Royal Rumbles is…



‘Stone Cold' Steve Austin!

Austin has tossed 36 superstars in his Royal Rumble performances. Bob Holly in 96 (1), Phineas Godwinn, Bart Gunn, Jake Roberts, Owen Hart, Marc Mero, Savio Vega, Jesse James, Bret Hart, Vader and The Undertaker in 97 (11), The Rock, 8-Ball, Marc Mero, Thrasher, Kama, Savio Vega and Chainz in 98 (18), Golga, Shamrock, Billy Gunn, Test, Big Bossman, HHH, Owen Hart and Chyna in 99 (26), Kane, Billy Gunn and Haku in 01 (29), Christian, Chuck, Perry Saturn, Val Venis, Test, The Hurricane and Booker T in 02 (36).

But I'm sure Kane will take over in a couple years.

A-Ron is up next.

I'm taking a dive in the wrestling pool of knowledge that is Ask 411 Wrestling for answers to a couple questions:

1) I recall an episode of Impact in early 2009 where Scott Steiner made the claim that he had beaten John Cena. When did (if at all) did that happen? As I recall, Scott Steiner was gone before Cena even debuted. So if he ever beat him, I would assume it was in indy territory.

Well, let's see. Scott left WWE on August 17, 2004. John Cena made his onscreen debut with the WWE June 27th, 2002. So there's plenty of space for a match to happen.

And indeed it did, December 14th, 2002. At a Smackdown live event in Jacksonville Florida, Scott Steiner defeated John Cena.

2) I notice Randy Orton has had at least 3 shirts on wweshop.com that had gas masks on them. What's the deal with that? Is this some sick nod to Orton's fetish for crapping in gym bags?

Thanks for the knowledge!



I believe it's meant to be threatening and evil.

JC is next.

Hey Matt, great column

My question is - I've been watching a bunch of late 90's WCW stuff and one thing I love is how often fans just pelted the ring with garbage during that time. I feel like it started right when the NWO started getting big and kept going through all the crap they put on later. Is this the only time period in any promotion where throwing trash in the ring was so commonplace? If so, is there a reason why we don't see it anymore?

Yes, WCW was pretty much the only fed that allowed that sort of thing, outside of ECW throwing chairs and such.

Most wrestling companies actively discourage people throwing stuff in the ring, since there is danger of injury when people get stupid and toss batteries into the ring (like someone did at the DX Public Workout before WM14) or beer cans (No Way Out 2001). Sure, there's the occasional moment when it's ok:



But for the most part, wrestling companies care enough about their wrestlers to actively discourage fans tossing stuff.

So why did WCW allow it? Because they ‘loved how it looked on TV'. No more, no less.

And finally we have Mark.

Hey Sforcina,

I've got a question regarding the Ladder rematch between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon at Summerslam 95. If my memory is accurate, the build-up to Summerslam was for Sid Vicious to challenge Michaels for the IC strap. (Didn't Michaels cost Sid a match for Diesel's WWF title?) It seemed like they switched it at the very last minute with virtually no build to a rematch from Wrestlemania X. Was this a case of Vince realizing his main event (King Mabel?) was so weak that Summerslam would bomb without some help or were the political machinations of the Clique at work?

Thanks, keep up the great work, and try to ignore the sexually-frustrated morons in the comments section!

Yes, leading up to Summerslam 1995, they were heading towards HBK V Sid. After HBK won the IC title off of Jeff Jarrett, he cost Sid the World Title as a lumberjack, as payback for Sid putting him out for a few weeks a while back. They were building to their match, when Vince suddenly realised that the show needed padding, and maybe, you know, a GOOD match, so he switched it up and did the rematch from WM here, with the winner getting Sid on Raw a couple weeks later in a match that Eric Bischoff gave away before it aired ("He pins the big guy with 3 superkicks") which begat the Monday Night War in earnest.

Long sentence there. But the main event of that show is a hell of a lot longer.

…

My Damm Opinion

To play it safe, I'll stick Rob's last question here.

3) From your own wrestling experience, how important is a referee to the overall product? Are they massively overlooked when it comes to praising/breaking down a match? Or am I way off base?

Well, they are somewhat overlooked, but not THAT overlooked. I think that referees have to be really, REALLY good to actively add to a match (you need to be Tommy Young level to be a positive), but it's when they are bad that it brings the match down and thus impacts the most. I've worked with several referees, most trainee wrestlers, and it's actually a good indicator of if they ‘get' the business or not, how good a job they do as ref. Most are passable, but some were horrible. And in a single's match that's workable, but in a tag match, it leads to chaos and the match is ruined.

Basically, in singles matches they are to a degree irrelevant, in tags they become that much more important, and it's hard to be a great ref, but important not to suck.

I think that covers it. I'm sure someone will disagree with me on this one.

Deepak sends a question from India, about Small's Obsession With His Countryman hair.

My question for you is -

How much important is the hair style in total looks of a wrestler.

Like Christian and Eddie Guerrero career changed completely when they cut their hairs short. Same can be said in a way for Orton, Batista who went bald and Cena who had trimmed his hair. Jericho is another example after his 2nd coming in much shorter hairs his career has been at his peak. Undertaker, Nash, Foley all had cut their hairs smaller at some points of their career.

So that made me wondering if some of the mid-carder had to change their looks and change their hair style .will it help them to elevate their career. The first person who comes in my mind is Matt Hardy. If he cut his hairs similar like Jericho. I think that will give him completely different persona. Kane with hairs, Dolph Ziggler with smaller hairs are some other example.

Hope to get my answer!!!!!

Well there's two issues here.

The obvious is yes, hair has a big impact on a wrestler's look and persona. If Stone Cold had hair, he wouldn't have been quite as menacing. Likewise if one of the Beautiful People had short black hair it would just look wrong. Clearly hair is an important consideration. That's why mine's long and unkempt, adds to my look.

But the main question is if a change in hair cut leads to a different persona and success. That I'm disagree with. A hair cut can help sell a new persona, and can help alter someone's look, sure, but merely cutting the hair does not lead to a new persona. You need the idea and the drive more than you need a barber. You can cut your hair and still have the exact same gimmick and position, you need a persona to make a hair cut into something important. Otherwise, it's just a hair cut.

Now it's Eric's turn, and he'll bring us to a close this week.

1. Hey man, just want to say great job as always. Been reading since the Ashish/Widro/Hyatt days and IMO you are the best Ask 411 guy yet. I remember this one guy who wrote the column always needed to have his answers backed up by another writer in the column. Pretty shitty. Anyway, first one up is I was watching the Legends of Wrestling panel on WWE 24/7 where Ric Flair buries Hall and Nash, more particularly Nash. My question is, being that Flair is great friends with Trips and HBK, how does this effect everyone's friendships/connections? Say, if the 3 were riding in a car together and Flair says, "Fuck Hall and Nash!", would Trips and HBK politely say, "Well that's your opinon, Naitch.", or would they defend them? Or does everyone just talk shit behind everyone's back in pro wrestling?

Well, I again can't speak for anyone in the WWE, but I can extrapolate from what I know. And generally, wrestlers bullshit all the time. Most of it is light hearted however. Certainly people have said stuff that I've disagreed with, and you generally go along with it. If you really feel strongly, you might bullshit back, but most of the time you don't get into arguments over it.

That's just harmless stuff though. Stuff like "She's hot" or "He's a moron" or "Did you see his new gear? Looks like someone stuck a playdo butterfly on his ass" sort of thing. So if Flair said "That Hall's a drunk", HBK and HHH would probably laugh and tell stories of the time Hall got drunk and ended up on a fire escape with only his boxers on and a tranny hooker on his arm.

Note: To the best of my knowledge, that never happened.

Now, if Flair said "That Nash is a no good son of a bitch who should be shot", then HHH and HBK would probably call him out on it. Once you get ‘personal', then they might well defend their friends. But then again, diplomatically you should probably know of these relationships and stay away from discussing them.

But as a rule, most everyone talks shit about everyone else, but most of the time most of them don't mean it.

2. Speaking of the Kliq, in another instance of wasting my day off on YouTube, I came across a shoot interview with Tammy Sytch where she describes the Kilq as being HBK, HHH, Nash, Hall, Kid, Credible, and HERSELF. Why is she the only person I have ever heard include herself in that group? I mean I've even read stuff that doesn't really include Credible as a 'credible' member, and I've never heard Credible himself say he was part of the group. So what makes Sunny think she was an official member? Just cuz she was fucking HBK?

Well, Credible has at some point said he was:



And he may well have, albeit more as X-Pac's friend. It's somewhat like Facebook and the like, in that if I'm friends with you, those sites tend to state that anyone who's friends with you is in my extended network. It assumes that if a bunch of people I'm friends with are friends with someone else, then that person and I are too. And it doesn't always work like that. So Justin probably travelled with them when they needed another body, and was ‘part' of the group, just not an ‘official/credible' part. I mean, most people when talking about the Kliq, they talk about them playing politics and holding people down and stuff, and Justin clearly wasn't part of that, hence they might not consider him a member.

As for Sunny, according to the scuttlebutt she was probably doing all of them at various points. So maybe she feels that there's a "Frequent Bed Hopper" membership program or something.

But that's just the scuttlebutt, which I have no way of verifying. I'm covering myself a lot this week, huh?

3. In today's wrestling world, what kilqs/known friendships are running around backstage?

Well, most of the ROH guys tend to be friends, the Joe/Punk/Colt/Homicide etc group is probably the biggest in terms of members spread out across the business.

I remember for a brief time there was a ‘new' Kliq, wherein HHH, Regal, X-Pac, Credible and Albert were travelling together a lot, but I think that was more a tongue in cheek title given to them. Sort of like calling Jarrett the HHH of TNA sort of thing.

But most strong friendships these days are either based out of old school groups (The Horsemen, HHH/HBK, ECW guys) or from groups of friends who broke in together (The OMEGA boys, Christian/Edge/Rhyno/Just Joe), those sort of groups. Certainly none that are as politically motivated as the old Kliq were.

Allegedly.

But by all means, feel free to list all the buddies I forgot below…