Ask 411 Wrestling 08.14.13: Kane, Goldust, Macho Man, Andre The Giant, More!

Not Judd. Anybody but Judd! Can you believe that he left Big Brother on Thursday night? Wow. You could legitimately hear the crowd *gasp* as the announcement was made. Let me tell you, the shock waves are still being felt here in Wisconsin from where I sit. Unbelievable moment…

As for this column, I want to thank Mathew once again for making a cameo appearance last week. It was perfect and much appreciated. All of my success (so far) here is owed to you 100 percent. Moving on, there will be an effort made to focus on some more ‘old school’ questions. I can’t promise anything because the readers pick the topics (remember to simply email me), but we can all hope for the best.

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Backtalking

WWE cares about its paying customers, nobody else. Sorry, if you do not spend a dime to support wrestling and illegal stream pay-per-view events each month, look in the mirror. What you will see staring back at you is the only person who cares about your opinion. Does Best Buy survey the guys (or gals) who steal their television sets and electronic equipment for store ideas? Of course not. That sounds ridiculous – asking for opinions from thieves on the actual product. No, they go to their premium members who are signed up for emails, gift cards, newsletters, specials, etc. You know – the people spending money there! For some reason, this was an actual back and forth discussion in the comment section last week. Stealing is stealing. Paying customers are paying customers.

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

Last week, I asked about the last two occasions in which Vince McMahon pinned his opponent to win on pay-per-view. As usual, there was very little participation. However, Niro G was our big winner this time around! He was correct. Vince pinned Bobby Lashley at Backlash 2007, as well as Shawn Michaels at Backlash 2006. Both were ridiculous, over the top story lines, but that is par the course for the boss! Honestly, I am not sure how much longer the ‘Your Turn, Smart Guy’ feature will stick around. The response either lacks one week or is over with in one answer. Maybe the questions should be harder? More difficult? Make all of YOU work a little bit? Fair enough. Let’s try that out for a change…

Without using a search engine (have some pride here folks) and discounting Canada, name every state to host a WrestleMania event through 2013.

Questions, Questions, Who’s Got The Questions?

We start things off with a question from David about schedules.

Back in the day, WWF used to run an A and B show and they had shows everyday for a month and two on Sundays etc. In WWE, the schedule has shrank and Randy Orton said he’s 4 days on and 3 days off every week. So my question is how does the modern schedule compare to the 80’s? Like did the WWF come to Chicago 6 times a year and today they only go twice? Did they use to visit Bumville, USA twice and now they don’t even get a show? Are they just more flexible with the schedule and only do shows where they can draw an audience? The reason I ask, is if I was running TNA, I would be curious to see if the WWF used to run a 6,000 seat venue in Bumville and sold it out consistently, but decided to drop the town and force those fans to drive an hour to see it in the city in accordance with a reduced schedule. If the WWF used to fill the market demand, it would go to reason that when the schedule shrank, it created a vacuum. There are pockets of wrestling fans that might be open to TNA’s product, simply because the WWE circus doesn’t come to town.

Two things…

1. Instead of A and B shows, it is now the Raw and Smackdown shows. One is headlined by a WWE Championship match. The other is headlined by the World Title match. Of course, the brand extension is all but destroyed these days. For non-televised events though, it is kept fairly clean. John Cena will work the ‘big’ towns and head to the smaller shows where the schedule allows it. Otherwise, those belong to Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton, or even CM Punk on occasion. As you mentioned, the major cities will only get one (or two) shows per year – hoping for a pay-per-view event. For me, I am from Wisconsin. In February 2012, there was Elimination Chamber n Milwaukee. Six months later, the city got an episode of Raw. Seven months after that was a ‘Smackdown’ live event. Now, a Smackdown taping is coming in September. That is pretty much the way it goes, with variations being made on how well the events draw.

2. I understand your point, but it does not matter with TNA Impact Wrestling. They could run New York, Orlando, Bumville, or any other town in the country. It has zero correlation to WWE. They are so far below them it is not a ‘war’ or anything for a market to demand fans show up. In the late 90’s? Yeah, you are right on picking the arenas carefully. In 2013, WWE does not give two hoots about where TNA is at on any random weekend tour. That’d be like NFL watching the Arena Football League and their touring schedule. Laughable. For those who want to see WWE, they will go. For those who want to see TNA, they will go. Just a week back, both companies were in Texas for a TV taping. Smackdown grabbed an announced 14,000 fans. TNA scooped up anywhere from 1,000-3,000 paying customers – depending on who you believe. Again, the two are just so far away from each other in terms of popularity, it won’t mean much. Their 1.0 rating on Spike TV and usual live event attendance numbers won’t change no matter what kind of strategy is thought of – 2013, 2018, or 2030. Nothing will change.

Speaking of, I do have an exclusive clip of John Cena attending a TNA live event last year…

Relax, it is just a joke. Up next, Jason asks about Goldust!

What’s the deal with Dustin Rhodes and WWE? Seems like they always bring him back for a special appearance like a Rumble or Old School Raw, he gets a big pop, they sign him and they fire him. Seems like it happens often.

Correct. Marty Jannetty knows that feeling as well!

Note: I reached out to Dustin personally to comment on this question. He was not interested. Therefore, performing my due diligence was done. With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on the subject!

For Goldust, it is always amazing to hear his big crowd reactions. Just this past year at the Royal Rumble, the live audience went wild when he came out to confront Cody Rhodes. In fact, Goldust later said in an interview that it was Cody who told him about the surprise appearance happening. That must have been a cool conversation days before the event. Back on topic though, my assumption is that this was all brought on by Dustin himself. His struggles with drugs have been well documented throughout his career, thus you have to assume WWE couldn’t trust him. Now, the good news is that he is on the right path and has been for awhile. For the man, I am proud. For any kind of backstage role or full-time gig with the company AGAIN, I wish him the best. Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, Billy Kidman, and other former wrestlers seem to be doing well with WWE. Until then, just wait until the next time you hear this:

Moving on, Dino is curious about title importance…

At what point did the WWE decide that the secondary singles championships (The U.S. and I-C Titles) were of such little importance? Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, the feuds over the secondary titles were often better the those for the World Championship. Doesn’t the creative team understand that adding a title into the mix can make a decent feud into a great feud? All it would take, in my opinion, is one great feud to restore the importance of these titles. Either that, or they can keep giving us “awesome” Great Khali matches every week.

Hey! Leave Khali out of this. Just let the man rock out to his great theme music and dance with Natalya…

As for the titles losing prestige, it is very interesting. I was asked about this a few weeks ago (on another website) and could not really pin point the date. For the United States Championship, it was brought into WWE at Vengeance 2003. Thus, from the onset, it was always a mid-card belt from WCW and didn’t mean much. I am sure that will be challenged, but it is the truth. From 2003 to 2013, it really has not gone up or down the card at all. Now, the Intercontinental Championship is an entirely different story.

Sadly, I have to go back to the ‘ever so perfect’ Attitude Era. Like every other belt, that title got passed around more than…well, insert your own joke here. Just think of all the title changes in 2000 and 2001. Playing hit potato with a championship can work on a few rare instances. Doing that for a year or two straight? No thanks. Eventually, it wore down in value. It got so bad that WWE even got rid of the title in late 2002. Now, it was brought back in May 2003. However, the message was clear after that drastic move. Too many title changes and some less then stellar people holding the belt made the belt expendable. The days of being a ‘stepping stone’ to the main event scene were long gone.

That is not to say every single US/IC Title reign has been a bust during the past decade. I thought Randy Orton did a great job making the belt mean something and being apart of Evolution. For the longest time, Shelton Benjamin WAS the entire IC Title picture and thrived off it. Over on Smackdown, John Cena carried that United States Title around like a badge of honor, before heading to the WWE Championship picture. However, those were rare, rare, rare exceptions.

To rewind a bit, when I was asked this exact question a few weeks ago (on another website), the emailer said it was due to Chyna becoming the first ever female champ. I would not entirely agree with that, but that is a worth while debate. What do YOU folks think about this? Was Chyna winning the IC Title the beginning of the end for its prestige? Or was it something more than that? It really is a fascinating discussion, with no real right or wrong answer. Feel free to leave a comment below on this all. I will try and highlight the best posts next week.

Rolling to the next question, I am asked from an unnamed man about Randy Savage and his 1988 run!

I have a Macho Man related question, strictly an opinion question, an idea that has kind of intrigued me. Back in 1988 when Macho was peaking as a good guy, if they had started acknowledging the relationship between them, do you think he could have gotten Lanny Poffo over with him turning heel on Savage much in the same way that Bret had gotten Owen over years later? Savage and Bret were both essentially in the same position in the company at those times (beloved hero champs), as were Lanny and Owen on the same level, for the most part (talented high-flying jobbers). What do you think?

Long shot.

The difference is fairly obvious. Owen Hart could back up such a large role. I think he has been over rated since his death (and the tragic circumstances surrounding it), but facing his brother Bret was believable. All due respect to Lanny, he was never Randy Savage or even close. Just like Chavo Guerrero trying to live off Eddie’s legacy nowadays in TNA…just comes off bad. The age old story of family members fighting is easy to sell. I have no doubt WWE (or any other company willing to push Lanny in a serious main event manner) could make it work. It just would not have been a wise move long-term, other than trying something new and experiment a little bit.

On that note, WWE should just induct Macho Man into their Hall of Fame already. Forget that garbage about including him with his entire family – what nonsense!

Following up with that, we discuss Triple H and Shawn Michaels, thanks to yet another mystery person:

I’ve heard that many wrestlers found the Shawn Michaels/Triple H induction of Mike Tyson into the WWE Hall of Fame to be one of the funniest things of all time. Having watched it, I couldn’t disagree more. The whole induction was painful and gave me the secondary humiliation feeling that both guy looked like idiots including Michael’s delayed pointing at Triple H while Trips smirks for what seems like eternity. Did you think this was funny or not?

Just a simple matter of taste.

I will discuss this more with ‘my darn opinion’ below. However, it comes down to two main points. First, Triple H is probably the most powerful man in the business right now – all but guaranteed the business when Vince McMahon moves on. Clearly, wrestlers know that. I don’t know about you, but I would laugh at all his jokes and ‘play nice’ with him right now. Seems logical that everyone would be raving about his act, real emotion or not. Secondly, his bet friend is Shawn Michaels and respected as one of the greatest in-ring performers ever. Again, using common sense, the guys in the back will laugh and pat him on the back for every cameo appearance he makes. Not even wrestling anymore, my best guess is he STILL has some political power. As for my personal opinion, it was funny…but nothing must-see. The entire DX shtick is hit or miss. Either you really love that kind of humor or you think it is dumb and juvenile. I enjoy it but am never laughing my head off or anything big.

Nightwolf has tons of questions but will only get one reply this week…

I was watching a Mark Henry interview recently. In the interview, he calls Andre the Giant the greatest wrestler of all time. What are your thoughts on Mark Henry’s claim? Is he bigger than Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, and even Stone Cold? I would think so since there would be no Hulk Hogan with(out?) Andre the Giant.

See the question above.

Everything is strictly opinion. Since Mark Henry is a big man, of course, he will tend to think Andre the Giant is the greatest. As most mat based technicians who the best ever is. Their response will likely be either Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart. Move over to the ‘entertainment’ side. Many will say Stone Cold or The Rock are their favorites. I am not sure Henry’s claim fits just because Andre came first.

Babe Ruth played baseball long before any other players. Does that mean he is automatically better than Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Cal Ripken Jr, or anybody else because without him they would not be there? Does not work like that. Use the same comparison for movies, music, etc. Are the Beatles better than NSYNC because without them they would not exist in the industry? Is The Shining better than Saw because one horror flick came out decades before the others? Being the first or originator does not make you the best on that merit alone. I respect Mark Henry and his opinion. However, this entire argument does not check out.

If you want to discuss Andre the Giant and his legacy more in depth, be on the look out for a top five “Super Heavyweights” column coming to 411mania very soon.

Speaking of big men, Connor asks about Kane!

Why does Kane get jobbed out time and time again? Here is a guy who beat Stone Cold Steve Austin in a First Blood match. and now he’s just a big jobber.

Oh boy.

When I began writing this column, I told everybody I was going to be honest and straight forward. No BS. No confusion. None of that. Love me or hate me, this is me! Thus, it should be noted that a part of me wanted to delete this question without hesitation and move on. It is clearly ridiculous and pretty insulting to the future WWE Hall of Famer Kane. After thinking about it for a week though, this question made the cut to be included. Why? I wish I knew. I am still trying to figure that out myself. Either way, there are two ways to respond.

First, ‘jobbing’ is not losing, just like losing does not always mean jobbing. If you want jobbers, look at 3MB or Mr. Bandwagon Fans himself – Zack Ryder. We want Ryder? Where are all of those chants now? That fad sure crashed and burned in a hurry. Those men are jobbers. It is their sole purpose to lose and look like lower card performers. Take a look at Ryback’s first dozen or so opponents in 2012 as well for more examples. Kane fits none of that and never has in the past 15 plus years.

Secondly, the Big Red Monster is still on the roster for the same reason Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, and others are there. It is to lend some veteran knowledge to the young stars, give them a ‘rub’ for being in a story line, and ultimately lose in the middle of the squared circle. Again, jobbing is not losing. Now, if Kane started losing in under two minutes during pointless matches on Superstars/Main Event and was never featured in story lines on Raw or Smackdown, then you would MAYBE have a point. However, that has never, ever been the case. He has a nice spot on TV and is going to be on the (second biggest show of the year) Summerslam card next week against one of the hottest new acts in WWE. Not quite what I would call a ‘big jobber.’

Let’s change things up and get to a question about yours truly. Hey, don’t blame me! Kung Fu Panda asked last week, and my job is to respond. Here is the subject:

Justin, my question to you has nothing to do with wrestling but with your athletic background that you mentioned. Just wondering what it is. If you don’t feel like disclosing because people will probably attack you for it, that’s cool.

Everything really.

From basketball to baseball to soccer to (not exactly a real sport) poker, I played it all during my entire time growing up, through high school and still recreational with friends/family. Plus, having a gym membership all but guarantees some kind of talk about ‘steroids’ or use of other performance enhancing drugs. That is why last week’s topic was not very taboo with myself. People in every walk of athletic competition use steroids. Many just do not want to admit it and keep everything secret. Wrestlers do it. Baseball players do it. Cyclists do it. Guys at your local gym do it. I have not touched any steroids in at least two years, but I have done them. In my mind, the whole thing really gets interesting when you debate whether professional wrestling is a legitimate sport or not…

Okay, enough about myself! Raza wants to know about backstage stuff being leaked to the media early.

Some of the main events of WWE’s major events have been leaked in the media much earlier like Taker-Punk (WM 2013) and Cena-Bryan (upcoming SS 2013) for that matter. How come such things leaked in the media in advance when it is highly confidential? It is not merely a guess work.

Well, most of it is guess work. That is why 90% of the ‘online reports’ you read end up being false. Just take a quick glance over from the past week of news covered by wrestling ‘dirt sheets.’ Now, tell me how many of those are factual…

…

Exactly.

Back to the original question though, people squeal. They always do. It is just like keeping a secret. Some can do it much better than others. Chris Jericho was backstage at this year’s Royal Rumble all day. Yet, nobody ruined the surprise. Not Dolph Ziggler. Not any random worker backstage. Not some lower card wrestler looking to make headlines on the internet. Nobody! That was great. More often that not though, one person will tell his best friend. He will SWEAR not to say a word. Then that man will pass it along to his friend. After that, a crew worker may over hear something and tell his girlfriend…and so on and so forth. Eventually, the news reaches a wrestler/agent/diva who is friends with someone like Dave Meltzer (or anybody else) who works in the media. At that point, it is posted online at The Wrestling Observer. A million copy and paste websites pick it up, don’t bother to research anything on their own and post it everywhere else. True or not? Does not matter. It spread from the original highly confidential source to a friend to a friend’s friend to someone who texts/talks with Dave Meltzer on a daily basis. The rest is history!

#Ask411 Question

This week, rafiki returns to the column using my wonderful hashtag #Ask411 – enjoy!

rafiki (‏@the_rafiki1) @JustinWatry What would have happened if Orville Brown never had his car accident that ended his career? #Ask411

Wow.

Either you are a true old school wrestling fanatic OR just love trying to mess with me. In any event, I had no idea who Orville Brown was before this question was thrown my way. Again folks, you can never call me a liar. Thus, this is the perfect chance for the comment section to step up and let their great knowledge known! Let the whole wrestling world know how intelligent you are. Tell me about Orville Brown and how his career would have changed if he never had his car accident…

My Darn Opinion

We all have our favorites.

From musicians to artists to wrestlers, every single fan has their own taste. That is fine. However, today’s subject is about actually being invested fully. You may like a singer or actor. The question is how much do you really really care about them? If they retire tomorrow, would you lose sleep over it? Cry? Or just move on after being disappointed for a few minutes after learning the news?

That brings us to the wrestling business. Each and every wrestler has my respect, but this is not about any of them personally – just their acts on television. Currently, I enjoy watching a few Ring of Honor wrestlers. With my limited viewing and knowledge though, I am not INVESTED in anybody there. Same with TNA Impact Wrestling. James Storm is very talented. Bobby Roode is great. Jeff Hardy is (still) a highly marketable star in this business. However, if any of them lose on Impact, do I whine, cry, and become frustrated? No, not really. Their roster is loaded from top to bottom, no doubt. However, it is hard to say that I really care if somebody wins or loses a match. For some reason, I am not emotionally attached to their characters.

In WWE, it does not get much better. I follow the product as closely as anybody alive, but very few stars actually capture my attention each show and make me sit up and pay attention. Maybe it is just the era? Perhaps it is the talent? It could, just as easily, be something else missing. That connection from wrestler to fan is just not there with a majority of the performers. Why? I have no idea. Anybody else feel this way?

Hopefully, that makes sense. Hopefully…

Self-Promoting Finale

Now, let’s get some “ME!” plugs out there for all of you…

Just Google my name. Enjoy!

Shawn Michaels: Greatest Ever
The Rock vs. John Cena III?
Doink The Clown Tribute
Read Jay’s Ways!
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Until next time, leave a comment below and let me know what you think!