Ask 411 Wrestling 12.19.12: Pay, Sleaze, Doink Doink Doink, More!

So then, funny thing happened to me on Saturday night my time. Was debuting for Newcastle Pro Wrestling, answering an open challenge, things were going well, and then I missed an avalanche. And then the guy gave me a kneelift.

And then everything went kinda red.

You can see why here. Suffice to say, the stitches are holding nicely, and yes, I won the match.

And yes, I’m fat.

This is Ask 411 Wrestling, I am Mathew Sforcina, and this is the last edition of the aforementioned column by the aforementioned writer for a few weeks, as I’m taking some time off due to being unable to find the time to do this and because I need some time off anyway. Ryan Byers will be doing his usual stellar job filling in for me, and I’ll be back at the end of January to take back the reigns.

But until then, you can enjoy me, for one more week at least, on Just Another God Damned Rasslin’ Show. And you can enjoy 411mania’s podcasts and Wrestling PodClash, all sans me.

And so, for one last time this year, BANNER!

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Backtalking

Wrong Tosh.0 video!: Ah, right, found the right one, and no, I won’t link.

But he’s not doing that well, given that Beyond Wrestling had a charity dinner/show for him a month and a bit ago.

In fact he has a fractured skull. So yeah, not good.

Chandler While I’m Gone: Given how badly I treated JP Prag’s Stenographer I am in no position to hold Chandler hostage. Feel free to use him people.

The Lisp: I’m not entirely sure why everyone went off on a tangent about guys with lisps. I mean, I thought I was clearly referring to Seth Rollins there, using a guy who recently debuted and who I think could pull off the idea of a gay character who doesn’t focus on it. (I have no idea which crumpet Seth butters, for the record, nor do I particularly care.) Maybe I should have been less clever… Whatever. At least I didn’t get angry mail from either GLAAD or Westboro Baptist…

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

What am I? I’m a set of tag titles, held by over 15 different tag teams. I’ve been held by companies, by families, by Connections, and by Crews. I’ve been vacated due to injury, due to partners splitting up, and yet at least once an injury has led to someone being replaced with no break. The team that has held me the most overall had 5 reigns, while the single longest reign was that team’s second. Multiple World Champions have held me (depending on your definition) as well as at least 2 men who had long, successful announcing careers later on. From a guy who’s career high point was pure Wrestlecrap to the first man to ever hold a certain major title, many men have held me, although one team held me without actually winning me. I am what?

Nir G has it on the money.

What am I? I’m a set of tag titles, held by over 15 different tag teams.

More than 17 tag team actually.

I’ve been held by companies (Badd Company) , by families (Art and Stan Nielson, The Kalmikoffs) , by Connections (The East-West Connection), and by Crews (The Destruction Crew).

I’ve been vacated due to injury (Otto Von Krupp injury), due to partners splitting up (Haggerty and Kiniski) , and yet at least once an injury has led to someone being replaced with no break (Montana was injured and Haggerty chose Kiniski as new partner).
The team that has held me the most overall had 5 reigns (The Crusher and Dick The Bruiser), while the single longest reign was that team’s second (The High Flyers).

Multiple World Champions have held me (depending on your definition) (Gene Kiniski, The Crusher, Dick The Bruiser, Verne Gagne, Harley Race, Shawn Michaels….…)

as well as at least 2 men who had long, successful announcing careers later on (Nick Bockwinkel, Pat Patterson, Jesse Ventura).

From a guy who’s career high point was pure Wrestlecrap (Hector Guerrero as The Gobbledy Gooker)

to the first man to ever hold a certain major title (Harley Race won the Mid Atlantic US title=WWE United States Championship),

many men have held me, although one team held me without actually winning me (Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens were awarded the titles).

I am what?

AWA World Tag Team Championship

Although I meant for Lawler and Ventura to be the announcers and Patterson the first ever IC champ, but it’s all good.

Rob is back with a question to end things…

I’m a bully. I have a short fuse. I’m known to snap. I’m a shooter in every sense of the term. I’ve broken in would-be champions by breaking their faces. I once made a man cry in front of the entire locker room. I once ruined a wedding when I broke a heart. I once injected milk into a man’s ass. My ribs hurt. A lot of people want to knock my teeth in. And what’s truly tragic about me … is that my biggest fan managed to become an even bigger tragedy than I did.

Although since I got more than one, and I don’t wanna have to choose, DB has a bonus one!

I’ve worked for 3 major American companies (although fans likely only remember or know about 2 of them) and I’ve also wrestled overseas. I’ve held major and regional championships in the NWA, I’ve had a championship renamed, and I won a championship in a tournament that saw me defeat a future world champion in the opening round and a future world champion in the finals. I once wrestled in a match that was the first of its kind, and in that match, I performed a unique move that inspired a unique crowd chant. In fact, one of my opponents in that match is no stranger to unique crowd chants. My signature move was also used by a multiple time world champion, whose success came after adopting someone else’s signature move. I’ve envoked the “Freebird rule”, and I’ve been a part of factions that represented two different countries. Who am I?

Questions, Questions, Who’s Got The Questions?

Axl from Paris got the timing a little off, but we still love him.

Hi there, Mat (or is it Ryan this time of the year)?

I’ve been talking with some friends about the forthcoming TLC pay-per-view, and we noticed that this was the first time (barring Royal Rumbles) since TLC 2009 (Jerishow vs DX) when the Tag Team Champions will be in the main event of a WWE ppv — even if the titles are not on the line this time. My question is: when was the last time before TLC 2009 when the tag team championship was defended in the main event of a ppv?

Thanks!

Well, obviously they didn’t main event (beyond having match of the night and a strong contender for MOTY) but still, we can sort this out. Have the tag titles ever main evented a WWE PPV apart from TLC 2009?

*loads up Wikipedia and starts going backwards*

(I mean, at a guess it’s Winner Take All with the 2 Man Power Trip, but we’ll see…)

And indeed it is, Backlash 2001, Austin and HHH V Taker and Kane, WWF/IC/Tag Titles, Winner Take All, Sorta.

I miss those giant hooks.

Anyway, that’s the last time the main event had the tag titles on the line. Before that, I think you’re looking at the PPV where Austin and Taker won the belts off of Kane and Mankind, which is also probably the only other time the tag belts alone were on the line. But that’s just an educated guess.

Nelson has two questions.

Thanks for answering my questions so quickly. Two more for you that you’ll hopefully be able to answer before your sabbatical:

1. So….does Kane have long hair again? Does anyone know if that is his actual hair or if it is a part of his mask? Seems like he could have grown it out by now, but when he returned with the mask it didn’t seem like he was gone long enough to grow his hair out that long.

Well, back in February, his hair was still shortish, and he wore extensions under the mask. You can see his short hair from the time here.

So you add about 5 inches to that (human hair grows about 6 inches a year, so 10 months is 5 inches) and that’s what he’d be up to now. Here’s a more recent video with his hair pulled back.

So the fact he has hair to pull back means it is getting there.

2. Wondering why WWE hasn’t done more Championship Scramble matches. I thought they were fun matches, and a pretty novel concept. It seemed like a good way to get a lot of guys in a Main Event match, give some cred to newer guys with short “title runs” (i.e. Brian Kendrick), and a change from the standard stuff we get month over month. Any idea why these haven’t taken place lately?

Thanks again. Enjoy your time off.

Ah, the Scramble Match. The most recent creation from Pat Patterson, the match, despite being in every WWE Video Game since its creation, has only happened 4 times, with 3 of those on the debut back at Unforgiven 2008. Although I don’t mind the match, the problem is that the concept is fairly convoluted to explain to most people (If you can’t explain it in at most 3 short bullet points it is too complicated) and so far there hasn’t been a good match resulting from it, since while there are stories you can tell with it, you kinda need 5 guys who are all good storytellers, to lead the fans through the various storylines you can do (Finisherfest, Champion Keepaway, 2 Man Show).

It’s just too complicated a match, and without master storytellers to do, it just became a mess. You can get a full rundown of the problems thanks to art0donnell here.

Michael Ornelas has a few questions that are very difficult.

Has there ever been a double turn on account of a face taking a beating on a heel too far? I guess the best hypothetical in terms of characters roles right now would be if Randy Orton beat down Alberto Del Rio so intensely that the audience started to sympathize with Del Rio and boo Orton for being TOO violent. It seems out of place in a wrestling environment given what the fans want to see, but I was just wondering if anything like that had ever been executed, either intentionally or unintentionally AND if you think that could work (and I’m not asking about heel tag teams splitting up).

Well… I guess you could argue that the Jake Roberts/Honky Tonk Man was a sorta double turn, since Honky blasting Jake over the head with a guitar was seen as over the line and turned both men, but that’s not really what you’re after.

I couldn’t find a record of such a double turn occurring. As for if it would work… You’d need the right sort of face and heel. I think if you had something like Kane V Cody or something right now (not that this is going to happen, but work with me here) and Kane snapped and went back to Shane-McMahon-Nut-Toasting Kane and Cody kept getting back up and wouldn’t quit even as Kane began to ritualistically sacrifice him to the dark lords, that could work. You need a monster face V small cowardly heel, where the heel keeps getting up and the monster face goes full bore monster. So Ryback V Shield Member could work too. I don’t think a regular, run of the mill babyface would work, it has to be someone who the fans know and buy as being a monster, just one they like right now.

How quickly into Bryan Danielson’s wrestling career was he dubbed “Best in the World” and who did it? How did it catch on? If I remember correctly, it was chanted at him at one of (if not THE) first Ring of Honor shows which seems kind of early for him to legitimately be the best in the world (although he’s certainly grown into that).

When it comes to ROH stuff, I call on an expert opinion in Ari ‘He Who Lets My Bad Jokes Slide’ Berenstein. Ari?

Oh Mat, you only give me the easy ones 😉

I don’t have any dates certain on when Danielson became known as “Best in the World” or at least referred to as such by commentary or fan chants at Ring of Honor / independent shows. The first chant was early on, but the idea didn’t really catch for good until he won the ROH World Title and was defending it against the best of the United States and international wrestling scene. There was an ROH show in New York City in mid-2006 entitled “Best in the World” (a title which was later resurrected for one of their annual events) where Danielson teamed up with Samoe Joe to wrestle KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji. A quick search unearthed that NIgel McGuinness was complaining around this time (in storyline) that Danielson was being referred to as “Best in the World”. So it’s not exact date, but I’d say 2005-2006 was when the phrase started to gain importance in pushing Danielson in Ring of Honor. As an aside, check out the TV Tropes database on Bryan for a bit more entertainment value and some laughs.

Hey now, I only like the Kane TV Tropes page, for obvious reasons.

But yeah, he was dubbed that fairly early on after he debuted in ROH on the first ROH show, but as Ari said, 05-06 is when it was first used in a major way, at least according to my sources.

I have the exact same question again, but replace “Bryan Danielson” with “Kevin Steen” and “Best in the World” with “Mr. Wrestling” — an origin story there would be appreciated.

Thanks again!

Ari was slightly less helpful here.

As for Kevin Steen and the phrase “Mr. Wrestling”, I’m pretty sure he was using it early on in his career, and I’m also pretty sure he’s discussed its origins in some interviews but it’s not coming up in any of my searches, for the life of me.

I know he was using the term by Jan 2004, although he debuted in 99 so that’s actually a fair bit in. Although it became solid in 2005, according to Michael Ryan, a man involved in IWS, the company Steen got his first big break in…

When Kevin Steen first wrestled in Japan (March 15, 2005), there were fans there with signs calling him “Mr. Wrestling”. This got Steen some back-stage heat, first for his nick-name, second for having signs before his first Japanese match when wrestlers who had been coming to Japan for ten years had no signs. Steen didn’t choose his nick-name and he didn’t bring the signs, his fans did (the Japanese fans got the nickname from Kevin’s deranged Montreal fans), but Kevin Steen has never apologized for being better than everyone else and inspiring those fans.

So it would appear that, in IWS, Steen’s fans decided he was Mr. Wrestling, and it stuck. So there you go.

So let’s see what Xmas videos we have, shall we?

…

Well now I need a long shower.

Speaking of…

And this is a gift for me.

Jay asks about PWI voting.

Hey Matt, quick question. I got my hands on every WCW Saturday Night from 1993 and have been loving watching them. In 1992 PWI readers voted Erik Watts as “Rookie of the Year”. By 1993 Erik as a face is openly booed at Saturday Night shows and treated to “Erik Sucks” and “Daddy’s Boy” chats. So what happened over the course of the year to have the fans turn on him so dramatically? Was it just a weak rookie class of 1992? Or did Erik’s Daddy pay someone off to fix the voting? Great column!

Partly a weak class, but also an indicator of just how much booking can cover a weak talent. Throughout 1992, from his debut in WCW, Watts was treated as a big deal, he got promos and vignettes, he got to work with guys like Michael Hayes and Arn Anderson, so it looked like he really knew what he was doing. So when voting came around, Watts was the hot young thing in WCW who seemed to never say die and who was winning matches and looking good. So he won by the mark vote.

But then as 1993 rolled on, it became clear that the guy didn’t have anything and sucked. And so the fans turned on him.

At least, that appears to be it. Anyone who worked in PWI at the time might say otherwise.

Brad goes old school.

Love the column and I think you’re doing a great job. I have two questions and they are both kinda old school so I hope you can help.

1. I was a huge fan of Memphis wrestling growing up and I remember a situation where both Austin Idol and Tommy Rich turned on their friend Jerry Lawler and “posted” him a few times(crotching him on the steel ring pole). I remember Lawler doing a series of interviews in the Dr’s office, but don’t remember at all the end of the angle or what transpired. Can you help?

I can indeed!

So in Memphis, late 1986, Tommy Rich was a friend of Jerry Lawler, helping him out against the masked team of Fire & Flame. But Lawler was set to receive an AWA World Title Shot against Nick Bockwinkel just after the new year. And Rich questioned why Lawler got all the title shots. Rich was a former World Champ, where was his shot? Lawler then agreed to put the shot on the line, first match a bloody no contest, Lawler winning the second.

So when Lawler was set to get his shot, Austin Idol, who had wrestled as a babyface earlier that night, came out and told Lawler to stand aside or their friendship was over. Lawler refused, Idol beat him up, busting him open. Lawler went broadway with Bockwinkel, then the next week Idol and Rich teamed up to, as you say, post him. This was actually to cover Lawler getting a vasectomy. But they shot promos with him in hospital, and then he returned and faced off in a series of tag matches with the duo, who roped in Lord Humongous (Sid) when Rich was ‘injured’ to go work Japan.

Eventually it culminated in a steel cage match for the AWA Southern Title Lawler held and also Hair V Hair. Idol, Rich and Idol’s manager, Paul E Dangerly (Paul Heyman) cheated Lawler out of the victory, cutting Lawler’s hair to a buzz cut since the Bruce Willis look was in at the time.

Eventually, Lawler got his revenge on the trio when he teamed with Bill Dundee in a scaffold match against the two wrestlers, ‘breaking’ Rich’s wrist and breaking Dangerly’s jaw (on purpose).

A full rundown of the entire angle can be found at this excellent site here.

2. Also I was watching the “Ric Flair and the 4 Horseman” DVD and kept noticing that Ole Anderson kept wearing the same T-shirt that said “I’m that damn good”. I know back then they would do several interviews at a time, but seriously did he only have one t-shirt? Its just one of those things that bothers me. As many interviews as those guys did and he kept wearing the same shirt……..????????

Thanks,

Well, he had a few variations (“Damn I Am Good” another one) but yeah, he didn’t have a huge supply. See, this was Crockett, and he hadn’t quite come to grips with the idea of mass market produced merchandise. Ole only had a few of those shirts because they were home made, and so he didn’t want to spend a lot of money on making many of them when one would do for a while. You couldn’t buy the shirts, they were just for him alone. So he made only a couple to save on money.

Probably the only thing the Horsemen did save money on…

Jacob asks about pay.

Longtime reader, first time e-mailer.

My question is about pay for non-contracted talent for WWE. The guys that are brought in to do squash matches or act like security for a segment, how much money do they get? I know that the WWE sometimes uses contracted talent, such as when CM Punk was a gangster for Cena’s Mania entrance years ago, but most of the time they use guys from local groups.

Depends on the show. I heard that the guys who Ryback squashed on PPV got a PPV level paycheck, and overall it is part of the show’s budget. If there is an audience, then anyone who wrestles on the show gets a cut, but if they are a squash victim, it’s a very, very small cut. Guys who don’t bump, security and random stand ins and Godfather Hos and the like get a flat fee, I believe. But hard numbers are variable, depending on show and talent.

And second part of the question, what is the ‘average’ contract for a wrestler in developmental? I only ask because Colt Cabana has made several comments on his Podcast (Plug for The Art of Wrestling Podcast!) about how little money he made when he was in developmental for the WWE.

Thankssssssss.

Back in 2010, the numbers were got a guy starting out with no name, $500 a week, with it going to $750 after a couple months and $1000 being the highest value per week anyone would get. $25K downside is also a figure that has been banded about. Again, without seeing a paycheck it’s hard to say, and I know despite this question probably being included in the teaser I’m sorry I can’t give a definitive answer. Ask me if/when I get a deal.

Chumpy has three questions.

Hey Matt,
Enjoy the column, one of my first internet stops on a Wednesday. I’ll try and keep this short and sweet.

1) In the WWE/F, who has played the Doink the Clown, for how long and when?

In order, they are:

Matt Borne: The original and still the best, Matt played Doink from it’s debut in 1992 through to just after the Doink face turn after Summerslam 1993, as well as a one off reprisal in 2007 on the Raw 15th Anniversary Show.

Steve Keirn: Doink #2, he played Doink’s twin that debuted at Wrestlemania IX and continued until, roughly, the face turn, including the semi-legendary series of matches with Mr. Perfect in King of the Ring qualifiers.

Steve Lombardi: a.k.a The Brooklyn Brawler, he briefly played Doink in the period in 1993 between Borne being fired and a permanent new host to be found. He also played Doink in 2005 (against Rob Conway), 2007 (Saturday Night’s Main Event). 2010 (The Brady Bunch Match) and earlier this year (Slater).

Dusty Wolfe: Another short lived Doink in 1993.

John Maloof: Yet another brief Doink in 1993.

Ray Apollo: The other main Doink, he took over the role when Dink debuted in 1993, and played him through to the character leaving in 1996. He also played Doink in the Gimmick Battle Royal at Wrestlemania X7.

Jeff Jarrett: Jeff made himself up to look like Doink one night in 1993 to fool Dink, as part of his friendship with Jerry Lawler.

Men on a Mission and the Bushwhackers: Survivor Series 1993. All I’m gonna say.

Chris Jericho: One night in 2001, in order to attack William Regal.

Nick Dinsmore: 2003, Doink came back for a very brief period to Smackdown, to fight Chris Benoit and then in the APA Invitational Bar Room Brawl. The erstwhile Eugene played him on those occasions.

And then several people on the indy scene have played Doink at various points, but they aren’t ‘official’. Unless it’s Borne, of course.

2) I have the original WWF Desire clip somewhere with Ric Flair’s promo about Vince trying to kill his own company at the beginning of it, I vaguely remember the storyline up to the beginning of No Way Out 2002 (I think in February?) bringing in the original nWo. Was there any more from Flair after the promo and the clip (which is still awesome ten years later) from that episode of Raw?

To the video!

Yep, still awesome.

This was January 28th, 2002, Raw. What happened next, according to Scott Keith…

The point, according to Flair, is to remind Vince of the tradition of the WWF, and what exactly he would be throwing away if he let the nWo into the promotion again. Vince comes out in a sulky mood, and Flair offers him a carte blanche apology for anything he may have possibly said or done that could convince him to sink so low as to bring in the people who destroyed WCW and laid waste to it before they left. Does he want to beat him right there? Smash his head in with a lead pipe? Because ANYTHING would be better than bringing the nWo back in. … Vince’s offer: Sell him back 50% of the WWF, and then get the hell out. He’ll even give Flair a couple of days to think it over.

That led to Smackdown, where Flair pretty much decided to do it, then Austin convinced him otherwise, and so, at No Way Out 2002, the nWo came in. And then it all went to hell.

Ace asks about filming techniques.

How come for the past year on Raw/SmackDown, any time they show a backstage promo, mid-way through the promo, the camera pans out and shows the crowd watching the Titan-tron of said promo taking place? I don’t get it, and it looks very tacky. Hopefully I am articulating this properly so you know what I’m talking about.

I believe you mean the moment at 1:35 in this video is an example of what you mean.

It began near the beginning of November this year, by my reckoning, or maybe a little earlier. I cannot state with authority what it is about (maybe they got a new vision mixer and he loves the button that switches to that, it’s a lovely blue color…) but I believe it is a mixture of the few things. WWE did pay a lot for that set, so they probably want to show it off as much as they can, and to also show the audience that they will get a full WWE experience at a live event, that you won’t miss anything if you attend the show, plus it puts over the fact that a WWE event is just that, an event. Not just a bunch of wrestling matches, it is a full blown arena spectacular.

Or maybe someone just really loves seeing people silently watching video in order to make sure they hear it all.

Dan T asks about Wrestlemania XX.

Hey man, something bugging me for awhile was the build to Wrestlemania XX. I was huge Benoit mark so that period was great (obviously not in hindsight). Back in late 2003, Benoit was feuding with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar including an awesome SD match that I think ended with Benoit passing out. Paul Heyman put Benoit at #1 in the Rumble in 2004 and my thought was logic dictates Benoit wins and challenged Brock at WM. Then suddenly he shows up on Raw and interjects himself into the Hbk/HHH feud. Was there ever talk of Benoit/Brock at Mania?

Perhaps, but it’s a situation where the problems on Raw were the issue, not the storyline on Smackdown. Benoit/Brock did seem to be the logical end goal, but over on Raw, the idea was, supposedly, to do Hunter/Orton at WMXX as the blow off for the Evolution split. But the everyone agreed it was far too early, and so they had to scramble to find a new match. Foley was floated, supposedly, but then they moved Benoit over via the Rumble, and then stuck Michaels in because they weren’t sure about Benoit either.

So the original plans for Smackdown aren’t that well known. Maybe Brock/Benoit, or maybe Angle/Benoit where Angle wins the belt at No Way Out instead of Eddie. Brock/Benoit is logical, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just not known.

Speaking of Wrestlemania XX, I always thought Undertaker vs. A heel turned Goldberg would have been a suitable dream match especially with them knowing Goldberg wasn’t resigning. They were gonna give him a high profile match anyway, but instead we got the boring Kane storyline. Was there ever a Taker/Goldberg feud discussed? Thanks.

God no. They weren’t going to turn Goldberg, in that while his contract was coming up and they knew he was going, they didn’t want to ruin him for good. Plus Goldberg does not work as a heel. Sure, I didn’t mind his work, but it was so clearly not what most people wanted, same as Austin. The work to play the character was great, but it was a character most people did not want to see.

And anyway, how the hell do you get Taker/Goldberg? Kane was the one who buried him…

My Damn Opinion

Chumpy has another question.

3) How would you have handled the Goldberg run in WWE?

Goldberg beats everyone in quick fashion leading to Hunter, whom he squashes first time around, clean as a whistle. He defends the title against all comers until the fans start to turn on him, then Evolution screws him out of the title back to Hunter, run Hunter/Goldberg again, and if the fan support returns go back to him as all conquering hero, if not he loses and then loses to all the major players until his contract is up since he doesn’t really work well as a heel.

Oh, and NO WIGS. Tag teams are ok though.

Mike continues with InVasion talk.

Hey, great column easily my favorite column on the site!

I have a question about the Invasion, I enjoyed it as an angle up to the payoff where WWE destroyed WECW, the RAW where ECW and Paul Heyman turned on the WWE was great.

I was wondering how you think the angle would have played out had HHH been healthy and not out with the quad blowout?

I mean you had Stephanie as the “owner” of ECW who is married to HHH and was aligned with him on air prior to the quad injury, HHH would have made a great natural heel to lead the invasion and he had performed in WCW, this would have allowed Steve Austin to turn face and i believe would have led to a better focal point to the whole angle?

Your thoughts?

Oops, sorry, knee jerk reaction.

Anyway, the problem off the bat is that it’s the reverse of what the intended goal was, which was Heel Austin V Face Hunter, at least during the 2 Man Power Trip, and then presumably into the InVasion, where Austin would be on the Alliance and Hunter standing up for the WWF, probably run a whole bunch of Rock/Hunter V Austin/Booker matches, with Booker getting pinned every night.

At least, that’s what WWF would have done if Hunter’s quad hadn’t blown. Had I been booking, then you get into a question of how far you’re willing to go. I mean, am I allowed to keep ECW separate? Or do I have to keep the Alliance intact?

But honestly, if I had been there… Hunter goes rogue. Given his marriage, and his past behaviour, no-one in the WWF trusts him, but he refuses to align with the Alliance because he wants to do the right thing still. So he goes up against both sides, neither side trusting him. He gains a few supporters, guys and/or girls kicked out of one side or the other, and then, once the Alliance is dead at Survivor Series, BAM, Hunter and his ragtag group of malcontents comes back with a vengeance and goes to take over from under the nose of Vince and Flair…

Hell, use the nWo name for his group, and then tease the original trio coming back, and/or Shawn… Wrestlemania X8 then becomes Hunter V Austin, Title V Control or something.

TNT Brian wants to talk autobiographies.

Hey Mat,

Thanks for answering my previous questions, got an opinion one for you
this time:

I’ve started reading wrestler’s autobiographies again recently after
having a stint a few years ago where I read The Stone Cold Truth, To
Be The Man and In The Pit With Piper. (enjoyed Pipers most, probably
because it wasn’t a WWE book)

So far in the last month I’ve read both of Jericho’s books and am
currently reading Bret Hart’s book. My question is which other
wrestler autobiographies do you recommend? (apart from Foley obviously
because i’ll most probably be reading his next) Which one should I
read next after that? which ones should I avoid and is there any
particular order you’d recommend to read them in?

Cheers and keep up the good work!

Depends on how much negativity you’re willing to sift through. Dynamite Kid, Eddie Guerrero, and William Regal are all emotional books, but not exactly light reading.

Bobby Heenan’s are good too, HBK’s is one sided but good, Edge’s is ok and if you’re into it, Hooker by Lou Thesz is very interesting. I’m sure the comments section will have many more suggestions. As for order, I think that unless the author has written more than one, there isn’t really much of an order issue. Although I’d suggest reading multiple sides in a row if possible (like Bischoff then Death of WCW or what have you). Again, I’m sure the comments section will have an opinion.

Leave it below, for this is the end of the column. I’ll be back at the end of January, and you’ve got Byers till then. Happy holidays and all that, and I’ll see you in 2013!