wrestling / Columns

Ask 411 Wrestling 05.19.10: Burning Undertaker, Kicking Refs, And Nattie In Playboy!

May 19, 2010 | Posted by Mathew Sforcina

Well, hey. This is… Ask 411 Wrestling, and…

Sigh.

I’m Mathew Sforcina.

You can understand why I’m a little dazed this week. I mean, not only am I sick, but I’ve now lost Victoria Tara My Goddess Lisa Marie Varon yet again.

Anyway, given this, plus given that I’ve got a backlog, and the forums lead me to be unable to get a replacement, this is a special All Opinion edition. Although there will be a fair amount of actual facts involved, trust me.

Anyway, onto the questions!

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Backtalking

Winning Retirement Matches: So, moral of the story: People care. Good to know.

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

Who am I? I never got a hotdog. I drove away Kurt Angle. And I play One Punch Bingo. Who am I?

I’m Raven, a.k.a Scotty ‘One Punch Bingo’ Flamingo.

Who am I? I’m a former WWF World Champion. I screwed Kurt Angle out of two titles. I’m a republican. I’ve appeared in 2 Royal Rumbles, with one appearance being very long, the other, not so much. Oh, and I’m involved in a last time ever for a title switch. Who am I?

Questions, Questions, Who’s Got The Questions?/My Damm Opinion

I promised to answer his stuff, so, here goes, The Roach has several emails worth of questions…

with all the talk of the coming demise of ECW, I was recently watching the build to ECW: One Night Stand 2006 (which was AWESOME by the way) and how it seems that the were building towards RVD vs Kurt Angle. The WrestleMania that followed (23?) had the ECW Originals vs The New Breed and ECW Champ Bobby Lashley vs Umaga in the “Battle of The Billionaires.” My question is, do you think the goal was to have Kurt Angle face Rob Van Dam for the ECW Title at WrestleMania 23? I am imagining the potential of that match…do you think it could have “stolen the show?” Then again, they also seemed to want to do something with The Big Show. Think they would have had a “Three Way Dance?”

Well, maybe at the time ECW was coming together, but not once Lashley got involved. The pitch Heyman had was a heel Lashley champ V a face RVD challenger. Vince wanted the opposite, and that supposedly led in part to Heyman leaving.

Now yes, I’m sure at some point Angle/RVD was a suggestion, but it was never really in the cards.

– Where do you think the Von Erichs would be today is they (Kerry, David, Chris) had lived?

David would be managing Divas Champion Lacey Von Erich while the rest would be running the Von Erich training school. I don’t think they’d still be wrestling beyond the occasional special appearance in a WWE appearance in Texas, and maybe the odd in ring work for Texas Championship Wrestling, one of WWE’s feeder companies.

– Who is the more dominant wrestling family, Von Erichs or Harts?

The Harts. Even if you rule out those who married in, both ruled a region, but while the Harts had a multi-time world champ and even now are still going, the other, through tragedy and misfortune and preventable deaths, never really achieved the heights they should of.

– Who would win a dream match between The Von Erich Bros. (David, Kerry & Kevin) vs The Hart Bros (Bret, Owen, Bruce)?

Depends on who’s booking, and where it was. But if it was in a neutral place, like MSG, and at a Wrestlemania… The Von Erichs if it was one fall, The Harts if it was elimination.

– Ultimate Warrior claims that he was the original choice to be the Big Van Vader character in Japan. Do you think it would have worked? What do you think would have happened to Leon White?

I think Warrior would have been OK as the character. Not as good as Vader played it, but acceptable for the Japanese audience, they would have bought him. White would have been fine, as I’m sure they would have brought him in and he would have gotten over with some other character, given that they loved him for his style and size, not just the Vader character.

– Why do you think guys like Warrior, Hogan, Sid were so beloved by the “general public”and yet guys like Malenko, Benoit, Owen Hart, and the like are loved by the “smarks” and only slightly appreciated by the “general public?” Why is “sizzle” more appreciated than “steak?”

Because a 30 minute technical classic is not something that appeals to everyone. You need to sit down and watch, follow the story, get what they are telling. Whereas guys with charisma like Hogan and Sid, they draw your attention, and they are easy to understand (even if it’s like Warrior, and you understand that he’s insane and you don’t understand what he’s saying). It’s simple, it’s easy to understand, and it’s what the average fan/non-fan thinks pro wrestling is.

Hogan and Warrior are still, even now, sort of the default idea of what a non-fan thinks of when they think of wrestling. A big, muscular, freaky looking giant of a man. And for casual fans and the like, sizzle is enough. They get that, they enjoy the act, they leave. Hence why guys who have both charisma AND talent (Flair, HBK, even Cena) are so treasured.

That’ll get me hate mail I know, saying Cena can wrestle…

– What do you think would have happened with Taz(z) if he’d stayed healthy? Could he have been a world champ?

Not in WWF, no. He was FAR too small for WWF, even if his neck magically healed itself, he would never have gotten the World Title. WWF took Taz more to hurt ECW than help their own bottom line, although I’m sure they would disagree.

Could he have worked as a World Champ? Sure, if booked right. But WWF would never have done it. They saw him as a useful tool, but not a main eventer by any stretch of the imagination.

– Who from the original ECW could have or SHOULD have been a bigger deal in WWF/E? Always felt Taz and Lance Storm should have been bigger deals. RVD had his chance…

Mike Awesome, although he got there far too late. If he’d gone to WWF instead of WCW (and, you know, done it the right way instead of the back door thing), he would have been pushed to the moon. Tall, athletic, good looking, full head of hair… Once they got him to tone down the hardcore stuff, Awesome would have gone far in WWF.

I suppose you could argue for Paul Heyman/Joey Styles, since you could argue that they should be Head Booker and Lead Announcer at this point, but Heyman’s not that guy and Styles… OK, Styles is a loss, no matter what his political position.

Storm I can sort of see, but on the other hand, I think WWE did push him fairly hard for what he was.

But Awesome was the real loss, in my mind.

– Who from the original ECW should have been given a chance in WWF/E that didn’t?

Fonzie. Weird choice I know, but even with WWE’s seeming hatred of managers, I think Fonzie would have been able to really piss people off, with a flat out rip-off of his intro to ECW. Bring him in as a heel, by the old rules ref during the beginning of Attitude, then have him manage guys to try and tone down the place, like RTC but more annoying, that could have worked.

– Should they have made the Hardcore Title more of a big deal, or atleast taken it more seriously with all the ECW guys they had?

Thanks for your time…

Honestly? I think the WWE handled that belt fairly well.

Look, as much as people look at ECW with rose colored glasses, the fact is that ECW was violent, and that both A) eventually gets old and B) injures guys. Now sure, making the Hardcore belt a serious title, with blood lust and lots of violence and the like, that would have been cool.

For a few months, then half the division would be nursing major injuries.

I think that the Hardcore title actually was handled well in that after it became comedy with Crash, it still could revert back to being somewhat serious, depending on who held it. Jokey guys, it was comedy. But as soon as guys like Raven, Rhyno, Kane, Taker, Dreamer, when serious guys held it, it was serious. Then, once a comedy guy won it, back it went down. It was serious enough to be fought over, but comedic enough to not have over the top violence for it. So I don’t really have any problems with it.

Ju is up next.

How do you feel about spots that require the opponent to do something that my be out of character? John Cena’s Protoplex always bothered me. It looks silly when HHH gets up and throws a punch he would never throw. More recently, Ted DiBiase’s following clothesline is different, but doesn’t make much sense to me in the ring. Why would you just stop and turn around? Thanks and great job!

OK, there’s a few different things here.

As a rule, I HATE illogical moves, and illogical spots. When a guy just jumps off the top rope and lands on his feet and eats a boot to the face, that I hate, because what the hell was he gonna do, land then drop something?

That said, I don’t mind most of the things you’ve listed. Any move that is set up by the deliver hitting another move is fine. It’s ok for Cena to hit a Protoplex… Wait, you mean this thing?

Coming to Raw this Summer…

Or do you mean the Throwback? Which is the one I assume you mean, where a guy is bent over and John flips over him, driving his head to the mat. Regardless, moves like that, and the 619, it’s fine because they are set up. And if you have great moves like that, you would spend time working out ways to set them up, and thus you know just how hard to hit a guy so he’ll bend over, or how to drop toe hold them just so so they land right on the 2nd rope.

And I don’t mind “Moves That Never Hit”, like Arn Anderson’s Splash, Lex Luger’s Flying Elbow, Ric Flair going up top, because when they do finally hit, you have to think the opponent is now dead, since he so rarely hits it but he keeps going for it, it must be deadly!

Now, DiBiase’s Clothesline…

It’s sort of in the middle. I mean, the logic there is that the guy running realises that Ted’s behind him, and since you always want to face your opponent, you stop and turn around to face him. But on the other hand, by now you’d see it coming, and any move that requires the guy to react a certain way that is not a direct result of your move, that’s not great. Hence in my mind, it’s not that logical and thus isn’t a good move.

And that’s not even taking into account the wrestling physics of a man running suddenly not running.

boy liilii has 2 and a half questions.

hey dude great column you’ve answered a few of my other questions so hopefully you can help me out with these 2!

1. if the celebrity apprentice was filmed a while a go why does maria say she was a ex-wwe employee? or am i getting the timing of the taping wrong?

There was a 3 or so week gap between Maria getting fired on February 26, and the show premiering March 14. And while the show was filmed in October/November 2009, I’m fairly sure they refilmed those scenes were Maria talked to camera and declared herself to be a WWE Diva, in order to not remind people that the show was filmed months ago and thus in the can.

2. At the elimination chambers ppv how did the undertaker not get burnt? in the video it shows him ripping off his jacket so we can rule out his jacket being flame proof! but damn from the video i watched it looked like a lot more damage should’ve happened!

Well, he was. His neck and chest and arm were burnt. But not badly, so why not? The flames they use in pyro displays aren’t like the flames you get on an oven or around the campfire. They are closer to the flame of a Bunsen Burner with the air holes closed. Still hot, but not a normal, ‘true’ fire. Flame projectors are dangerous, but they won’t melt the very skin off your bones with a second or two.

30, maybe, but not 2.

2. Didn’t the undertaker get burnt another time? I vaguely remember him doing his “lights on” thing in the corner and kane’s pyro going off! And does he screm at the pyro guy or management?

Well, he screams at the Pyro guy, since it’s their fault, supposedly.

And yes, Taker did indeed almost get burnt by Kane’s pyro.

July 11, 1998, second half of Raw, back when it was called the War Zone so it’d turn up twice in the ratings, Undertaker was entering the ring to take on Vader, one on one.

But as Taker came out, did his at the time Creatures of the Night, watch me turn on the lights entrance, when the pyro guy flipped the lights back on, he must have accidentally flipped on Kane’s pyro as well, and it shot out inches from his face, nearly taking his face off. Then, when Kane came out a little later and did his pyro, that corner didn’t go off. Here’s the video.

Although that seems to me to be an angle waiting to happen…

I’m forced to post this in the attempt to start a Meme.

And now, something REALLY entertaining: The Monday Night Skirmish in 4 minutes!

Ace wants to talk Jeff Jarrett.

I love the article. I’ve been a fan of wrestling for 22 years and a smark for 14 and I still learn something new every column. A few questions:

1. What was the circumstance around Jeff Jarrett’s departure from the WWF in October’99? It still baffles me that JR/Vince/WWF would allow someone whose contract is about to expire to hold their 2nd most important title (especially after the Bret Hart fiasco). I heard that he left because Vince Russo was headed to WCW and promised to push him to the moon. I also heard that he left because Steve Austin refused to work a program with him, let alone put him over. I also heard that he held up the WWF for all of the back money they owed him, or else he wasn’t going to job to Chyna. Is that why he was blackballed?

Well, there’s a mix of fact and less than fact there. Let’s go through the list.

How did WWF make the mistake of letting his contract expire a day before the PPV? It was just a mistake. A huge, stupid mistake. I can’t explain it beyond people assuming that it was written up to last to the PPV, and not checking till it was far too late.

Yes, Russo had left for WCW a few weeks before and, as they were friends and Russo was a fan, Jarrett was, I’m sure, fairly confident he’d get a push going to WCW, but that wasn’t the main reason. (And it certainly wasn’t a giant plan by Jarrett and Russo to screw over WWF as Chyna has suggested).

The Austin things is, by all accounts, true. Austin at the time WAS the WWF, at least in Vince’s eyes, and given that all the other main event talent were busy, a Jarrett/Austin program was logical, and indeed had sort of begun to be started, with Austin busting Jarrett’s guitar over his head and stuff. But Austin, still holding anger over Jarrett beating him for a title in the USWA (which Austin blamed on Jerry Jarrett playing favourites) and a sarcastic comment Jeff made to Austin as Austin stared at a small paycheck when he was starting out (“It ain’t gonna get bigger by staring at it!”). So Austin refused to work with Jarrett, like he refused to with Billy Gunn. (Not, however, like Brock, that was just an issue of timing).

Now Jeff Jarrett, at the time, was a professional. Well obviously, he was a professional wrestler after all. But more than that, he understood that wrestling could be a cut throat, nasty business. But Jeff, through growing up in and around it, understood this, and didn’t take anything personal. He didn’t like how he was used, sure, but he didn’t complain. But then WWF went and let Austin dictate the company, and that didn’t sit right with him, which is somewhat understandable. If they wouldn’t respect him enough to want to push him but then decide not to because one of the wrestlers refused to work with him, why should he respect them?

And, for the record, WWF did seem ready and willing to try pushing him, mostly it seems after they saw his professionalism after Owen Hart’s death when Jarrett, despite being the closest to Owen at the time on the road, still turned up and still worked, still did his job.

But once WWF let Austin dictate things, he then entered contract negotiations with a certain mindset, although he apparently did listen to the offers, so he wasn’t scrambling for the door or anything.

But when the talks ended, he still wanted to leave. So, that comes to the money issue. Jarrett cut a deal with Vince.

See, a wrestler’s pay isn’t a weekly thing. PPV revenue, merch sales, all the bonuses and such, they take time to filter through. A wrestling company only gets money off PPV like 6 months later. So Jarrett’s cut of the last few PPVs, merch and various other pay, they were still owed to him. Normally, WWF would just keep sending the checks. But Jeff didn’t trust Vince and the WWF that much, and hence, in exchange for coming back and jobbing (which to his credit, he did and did well), he wanted his back pay up front. And he got it, although Vince and the WWF would then try and spin it like he put a gun to his head, but it wasn’t like that.

And yes, that appeared to be the reason why he was blackballed from WWF. He got one over on Vince, he capitalised on a mistake and didn’t follow orders and take Austin’s refusal to work with him with good graces, so he got blackballed. Sounds about right.

(Of course, all that mostly rests on Jeff’s words, so Vince, I’m sure, has another opinion about it.)

2. Had Jarrett not departed from the WWF, what do you think would have been in store for him storyline wise? I know that he had just ditched Debra and had Ms. Kitty in his corner. And he was doing the whole “women belong in the kitchen” gimmick. Do you think he would have ever been pushed to the top?

Has he stuck around… Maybe. Once Austin left due to his neck, Taker took time off and there was a sudden star power vacuum, Jarrett may have found himself elevated by default. Never to the very top, but certainly to the #2 heel position behind HHH, certainly. And then later on… Maybe a world title or two. It might well have happened.

As far as storylines, what you probably would have found is that after he lost the rematch to Chyna, Kitty would turn on him and join Chyna, then after some heel cracks a joke about him maybe putting on a dress (Jericho maybe?) he would have snapped, and gone on a Guitar Spree, going from Woman Hater to Guy Who Kills People With Guitars, and gone on from there.

Or maybe they would have turned him face and had him respect Chyna, and end up in Jericho’s position as co-champ and the like.

Rich has a few questions.

Great job as usual. Just two quick questions for you.

First. Are they Really gonna take the Unified tag team belts away from the one of the few, if not the only, legit tag teams the company has, The Hart Dynasty, who also have talent and deserve them, and give them to the makeshift team of Miz and Jericho? Just so they can go to Smackdown and confront Big Show? Please tell me this isn’t so!!!

It’s not so.

OK, seriously, after what’s happened on Raw, it might happen, might not. Depends on if Daniel Bryan, oops, excuse me, Bryan Danielson pops up. But in my Stablewars Play Per View contest, I’m taking The Hart Dynasty. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Jericho and Miz do make the triangle of tag titles thing happen.

Second. Is there any chance of seeing Anvil come back for an appearance or two?

Well, sure. It’s certainly a possibility. Although given that he popped up on Impact a short while ago, it might be a small possibility. Although seeing him try and convince Bret to not give up the US title would be amusing…

Are we gonna see Natalya wrestle anytime soon, or hopefully true to WWE women of the past get a Playboy layout? Please GOD yes on both!!!

Yes on the first one, no on the second. The first is just waiting for Trinity to officially be able to stand on their own feet without Bret about, and thus she can start wrestling and working in the women’s division without leaving the tag team behind.

But no-one in WWE is getting a playboy shoot for a long time, Nattie or anyone else. Mostly because the company’s PG now, and thus it wouldn’t fit with the target demographic and also because the current editor apparently doesn’t like wrestling, hence why Traci Brooks got bumped to the website only.

And what would be the plan for Bret and the US belt if he were to win as some feel is the case if this is his last appearance?

Thank You so Much,

Well, clearly I don’t need to answer this…

Well, there’s two options. If they’ve managed to arrange an extension, then there’s no limit to what they can do, with many a IWC member suggesting Bret hand the title to Bryan Danielson (which, honestly, while sounding cool is NOT the way to get him over after the Losing Streak thing got ruined) at the PPV. But if they have an extension, then they can work out anything they like.

But, if it was indeed his last day, then WWE has probably filmed a vignette backstage, or a direct to camera with Bret, where Bret says that while he’s proud to hold this title, he’s not an active wrestler, and it’s wrong for him to hold it. And while he knows lots of guys backstage would love to lock up with him, he’s not going to have the run ins and help from his boys every week. So he hereby forfeits the US title, but not before he hands the WWE front office a list, he wants these 8 men to compete in a one night tournament to crown the new champ on the Raw after Over The Edge.

Then you have Miz lose to Danielson in the first round, then Bryan makes Jericho tap in the semis, and then loses to Mark Henry in the final in 5 seconds to a bear hug.

Sadly, I could see them doing that.

Patrick has 3 questions.

I know how ratings work, a sample of the population have a Nielsen box and that sends data. Now in this day and age of digital cable, why can’t the majority of people now contribute to ratings? It would be much more accurate.

Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t. But there are two main reasons why they don’t do this: Privacy and the fact that Nielsen is a company. (And a third minor one.)

The privacy issue is a simple one, in that you’d have to have this set to the default of being off, because if you want to monitor someone’s activities, you have to get their permission. Witness the shitstorm caused when TiVo announced just how many times Janet Jackson’s Half Time Strip Show got Tivoed, which made people realise that they were keeping track, and thus they got very angry phone calls and letters. And if it’s off, then it’s an opt in, and that’s not representative.

But probably the main reason is that Nielsen is a company. They want to make money. Hence, they resist any move to set up another competing company, or any move to make them obsolete. Since, you know, they want to keep making money.

Plus, there is the issue that not all TV is now watched via a TV, there’s computer and mobile phones and the like, which digital cable won’t pick up but certain Nielsen methods will.

My second question is I hear wwe guys get paid a bonus, if you will, for wrestling on wrestlemania. Taking whatever merch moves at the arena aside, do wrestlers higher up on the card get a bigger bonus? or is it all the same wrestlemania bonus??

Oh god yes, the position on the card does impact on how much you get. You work a main event of Wrestlemania, you’ll get a much larger Wrestlemania bonus than if you were tossed out of the “Get All The Boys A Payday” Battle Royal.

Third question, when Lesnar went to Smackdown and Raw had no champ, why did they give hhh the whc? they could have had a small 4 man tournament or something to make hhh earn it. It’s scripted, so it’s not like hhh could have possibly lost to someone.

thanks.

Yes, but the idea was that HHH wasn’t a deserving champion, that he was a heel, as was Bischoff. Hence him just being handed a World Title was supposed to piss you off. Thus you’d support Rob Van Dam, and Scott Steiner, and Goldberg, and Booker T, and Kane and whoever, in their quest to win the title off the undeserving ‘Champion’. Wrestling 102.

Smack2K asks about a certain match.

Matthew,

Great column, great info given all the time. Keep up the hard work!

I have two questions for you:

Why is it in so many matches do I see a wrestler who is tied up in a submission hold get to the ropes only to see the ref kick his hand off the ropes instead of breaking the hold? Eventually (most times anyway) the wrestler gets back to the ropes and the ref forces the hold to be released. I saw this again when I was watching a good Flair vs. Steamboat WCW title match from WCW Saturday Night in May of 1994. I have seen it in tons of other matches as well. That Flair – Steamboat match leads me to my next, somewhat vague, question:

Well first, let’s review that match!




I believe the kicking away occurs in the third video. But watch them all since, you know, it’s Flair V Steamboat, for goodness’ sake.

Anyway, the reason is that, according to some rule books/companies, in order to break a hold you must have an arm or leg ‘crossing the plane of the ropes”. In other words, you arm or leg must be on or under the ropes, so that part of the limb is outside the ring. Merely holding onto the ropes does not constitute a rope break under these rules, and thus they kick them away so that the wrestler involved can’t use this as leverage or anything. They must get the limb over the line, not just be touching it.

During the same Flair vs. Steamboat match, Bobby Heenan says to Tony Schiavone something along the lines of telling Tony that he’s had too many marriages. Tony replies he’s only had one and that Bobby must be thinking of another announcer? Is he making a reference to someone or is that just Tony blowing off the question? Thought maybe Tony was taking a shot at another announcer.

That’s in the fourth video. And no, I don’t believe Brain’s making a reference to any particular announcer there. Brain was just making a jokey comment, which of often does, and needed something long to say was shorter than Flair’s delay in covering Steamboat. So he made a reference that was derogatory to his partner, which he often does, and Schiavone then replied to it, instead of just blowing it off with a “Will you stop” or something. Your mileage varies on if this is an improvement or is worse.

Sachin brings us back to an age old question.

Great column, I am a long time reader of it and a huge fan. Since winning the 2007 royal rumble Undertaker been on top of all it with numerous title reins and the streak. Why hasn’t undertaker taken a chance to make a star out of the younger guys like what Orton did with Cody and Ted? Who will be the next over the gothic/satanic/badass phoneme of the WWE?

Again: If Undertaker lost all the time, he wouldn’t be so popular nor would beating him mean anything. His losses have to be selective and mean something. You can argue if he deserves it, but that’s the logic involved. Plus so many wrestlers respect him that just working with him means something.

As for there being another Phenom… I don’t see it happening. Taker’s such a one off that any attempt to MAKE another one won’t work. Not to say they won’t try, but I don’t see anyone really becoming an Undertaker 2.0.

At least not on purpose.

And finally, Aguyin has some questions.

I look forward to your column every week. With all do respect to Fact or Fiction and Top 5, it’s the best on the site. Good work!

My questions are all over the place so answer what you want

1. If David Von Erich hadn’t died (regardless of how) or Mike Von Erich not committed suicide, would it have stopped a domino effect amongst the other Von Erichs? (Kerry apparently told Bret Hart he wanted to be in Heaven with his brothers)

Almost certainly yes. I mean, clearly there was a self-destructive streak in the family, but if you remove the early tragedy, you have to think that this would prevent most of the rest of it.

2. Has Hulk Hogan done more good for wrestling in the 80s, or bad for wrestling from the late 90-present? If he’s done more good, how much more can he do before the scales tip?

… Depends on what you consider good and what you consider bad. But if you credit him with the WWF’s popularity in the 80’s, then short of killing off the WWE now he’d remain in the black for a good while. Although with his part in killing WCW (albeit a small part), if he ends up helping to kill TNA, then you might make a case of his ledger becoming balanced. But even then, depending on your viewpoint, that might not be a bad thing.

I’m sure this one will be debated a lot in the comment section.

3. With Wendi Richter getting into the Hall of Fame, and the current Bret Hart storyline, which screwjob was worse? I know Hart’s is more widely known, but the Richter screwjob set women’s wrestling back for years.

Personally, I find the Richter one more distasteful. Even taking into account her supposed demands, the fact was that she was still an employee, and even if you couldn’t work something out, you could have told her to job the following show or something. Bret Hart on the other hand, while much higher profile and involving bigger names, more brought it on himself. He refused to lose the belt to who the WWE wanted, where he wanted. Wendi, on the other hand, just got blindsided and the fired over pay.

Of course, in terms of impact, Wendi’s screwjob set women’s wrestling back a fair while. Montreal helped save the WWF and kick off Attitude, so it has a positive benefit…

4. How is it that a Russian Leg Sweep doesn’t hurt the guy performing the move more than the recipient? The attacker appears to take the brunt of the fall.

Because he knows what’s coming. He’s in control, he knows exactly when he’s gonna hit the ground, so he is prepared, he’s tensed, he lands perfectly. Whereas the guy taking it, while not only being unprepared, is also being pulled down rather than just falling. So extra momentum = harder fall.

5. Is there anything different Jim Crockett or Verne Gagne could have done to have stayed in business, or were they just the last holdouts of the unstoppable juggernaut of Vince McMahon, and destined to lose?

Thanks a lot

Gagne: Put the belt on Hogan and push him as hard as physically possible. Beyond that, not much.

Crockett: Well, according to Flair, had he kept South of Chicago, he would still be in business. This is somewhat unrealistic, in that it still didn’t address the bigger problem: Marketing. If Crockett had even half the marketing ability, talent or whatever as Vince and WWF, he’d have stood a fighting chance. Because while WWF was flashier, the NWA could easily have gone up against them with their superior product and better characters, as opposed to gimmicks.

But that’s just my opinion. What about you guys?

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Mathew Sforcina

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