Ask 411 Wrestling 01.04.06: Who's the next GM? Your answer lies in THIS column!

Posted by Gavin J. Napier on 01.04.2006

Plus the superfan is revealed and we look at Tim Horner, Air Paris, and the weirdest Village People ever.

Wow. Apparently everyone knows who the superfan was except for me. The light-skinned black man that showed up at about a billion WWF ppv's and such, because another forty eight (and that's not an exaggeration) people e-mailed me to let me know, is named Vladamir and/or Wladamir. Vince Russo apparently did a bit on him in WWF magazine and he's well known amongst other fans. Except for me, apparently. Thanks to everyone who sent those in, you know who you are.

However, Arn Blevins sent me a novel, and I'm compelled to include it here. Why? Just seems like something I'd do.


"You've seen him...the light skinned black (Spanish maybe?) guy that sat in the front row of seemingly every WWF show. He wore glasses and was always yelling. I dont' see him too often anymore, but he was at One Night Stand. I tried to talk to him, but I couldn't find him after the show. Anyway, who in the hell is he?"

Your reader is talking about "Vladimir", bane of other front-row ticket holders during the period in question. Other than that name for him, or that we used to call him "Macho Man Guy" in the late 1980s because he sported the orange/purple Macho Madness bandana for a year or three, I don't know any details, other than he used to drive us nuts, along with his conjoined twin, The Troll (shorter, whiter guy always at Vladimir's side). Tom Flair and I had the misfortune of being seated next to The Troll around August 1991 at a Meadowlands WCW event, as he and Vladimir were apparently having a brief spat. As the 1990s progressed, they were often joined by Wishes He Could Be Tom Flair Guy, who looked frighteningly like my great friend Tom, and is referred to as "Death Metal Guy" on some boards. Paul Heyman explicitly acknowledged him in particular, at One Night Stand.

None of us have ever known how on earth he got such great seats - all over the country - for so many years, but no matter how long we waited for tickets, he always seemed to have comparable seats, though we were front row and appeared on TV when Flair won his 7th title, from Sting at the Meadowlands in Jan 1991, with better seats than his ... though we had to share our TV time with that camera-mugging ham.

Around the time of the 12/29/1997 RAW we attended with second row seats, I realized the matter could only be settled with a six-man War Games - the three of them ("False Metal Squadron"?) vs us - Tom Flair, Ole Adler and myself. It'd have to be a handicap match now, as Tom left us on 09/20/2002 and Ole's mostly retired, but if you're reading this, you narcissistic trifecta, the challenge is still out there, eight years later, unanswered! Meet me in the cage with two partners of my choosing ... if you're man enough.

I have no idea if you'll be able to use any or all of that, but those guys really did drive us nuts back when ... inherited wealth was what we always assumed. Thanks for listening!

Arn Belvins, Brookhaven Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion

Danny and Michael P. informed me of a "non scripted" kickout situation of sorts. Paul Roma's career tanked after he refused to do anything for Alex Wright. I can't say I blame him, though.

There was a question about a team using "Gangsta's Paradise" for a theme. Jim Drzewiecki and Rich Parker both e-mailed to let me know that the Samoan Gangsta Party did indeed use that for music. Not sure how I could have forgotten about that.

A clarification here - a couple of people e-mailed me to let me know that Jim Neidhart wore a pink leather cap instead of a shower cap. I remember that, too, but he also wore a pink shower cap a few times or no apparent reason. Sometimes, you just gotta trust me.

Josh Hall gets into the new stuff with a question about an ages old promo.


I was watching some old Wrestlemania tapes the other night with some friends and we saw this crazy Hogan promo in one where he talked about Trump Towers sinking into the ocean, "Thank God Donald Trump is a Hulkamaniac" and other
assorted insanities before Hogan backstroked off camera. My Question: Who comes up with this stuff, I know some wrestlers get the freedom to freestyle but I'm thinking back to that promo, old Warrior stuff, Jim Neidhart crap, Scott Steiner, Harlem Heat, Sid Vicous, etc, etc, etc, I know those guys said stuff out of bounds or not in script was there ever prominent
punishments or even chastizing for such insanity/stupidity or outright acts of disobedience?

It was just a promo about/for Trump during Wrestlemania. Nothing more, nothing less. As for punishments, I seem to remember Scott Steiner being suspended for an unscripted diatribe telling people to watch WWF programming because that's where Stone Cold was. Fun!

Dan Wojcik asks a fun question.


Being an old time wrestling fan of the '80's, I was curious if you knew whatever happened to "White Lightning" Tim Horner?


I was always a fan of Horner, as well. He and Brad Armstrong made a fun psuedo jobber tag team in the NWA and I believe they were UWF tag champs as well. As recently as summer of 2005, Tim Horner was still doing indy shots, most notably for NWA affiliates in his home state of Tennessee.

Virgil Wade pops in with a pair of questions that I'll answer..because I want to.


About the Brock/WWE situation. Similar to the Hardy/Edge/Lita thing, do you think that the Brock/WWE situation is a work in any way? Would Vince & Co. have the balls enough to bring Brock in with the IWGP title and somehow unify it into one of the World Titles on Raw or SmackDown! - perhaps even a 'Mania Triple Threat, with the winner walking out with all 3 titles as the megamegamega-Undisputed champ?

Finally, have you ever seen a less talented group of "creative" writers working for the WWE? I mean I know politics can be involved with certain WWE Superstars/Divas getting the boot (Christy Hemme, I'm looking at you, kiddo...), but why say something as incompetent as, "We cant think of anything creatively for you that will work..." or something of the like? That's like M. Night Shyamalan coming up to Mel Gibson on the set of Signs and firing him because M. Night cant finish the script.


I don't think the Brock thing is a work in any way, but I do think that it will be worked out in time. Brock being in Japan can only help him, because he'll be forced to adapt to an entirely different style of wrestling and develop more stamina. An improved Brock means cash money for Vince McMahon. It'll happen sooner or later. Just be patient.

As for your comment on "creative", Billy Gunn summed it up best. If creative can't come up with anything, why are workers being fired? Shouldn't creative be fired for not doing their jobs? Strange days.

Eric Brigh asks about the guy that was second fiddle to AJ Styles way back when.


The last question about TNA and AJ Styles got me to thinking about back when he debuted in WCW as a tag team with former enemy Air Paris. He looked like a rat, but was pretty good in the ring. Any word?

Mr. Paris isn't a bad worker, especially by indy standards. He does stuff for NWA Wildside and whereever they're willing to pay him. He'd make a good addition to TNA Impact for an X Division jobber and possibly more if they can get him over. He could stand to add about twenty pounds (naturally) and he'd have the potential to do a lot more than just job.

Here comes Cyrus Krapf-Altomare, valuing my opinion!


Here's an opinion one. Do you think the WWE should put Yokozuna in the hall of fame one day, and for that matter do you think that they will?

SHOULD they? Why not? If Bob Orton is there, Yoko has earned a place. Will they? Probably. They're apparently committed to making this a regular thing at Wrestlemania, and they've got a few decades worth of superstars to go through, so they can take their time with the big names.

Dave Jones has been had, I'm afraid.


I have no idea how much of this is true, thats why I'm asking you. A few years back... like 1999 i read something in a wrestling magazine about WCW and WWF/E holding non televised wrestling events each year at WCW's Fall Brawl PPV's before the cameras started rolling. They would call it Wrestle Wars or something like that, and it showed numerous pictures WCW
wrestlers at the time going against WWF/E wrestlers. I remember a Goldberg VS the Rock pic waaay before the big WWE feud among a few others. Did this really happen?

Sadly, no. Those mags were just the product of some creative (and sometimes confusing) photoshopping. The first couple of them were really bad, but the guys doing them got better at it as they went along. Fun stuff, just no historical fact to it.

Kash is down with the brown.


Hey there, happy holidays. I just had a quick question for you, whatever happened to D-Lo Brown? I know he wrestled in TNA for a while cause when they signed him it was a big deal but why did he leave TNA? And whats he up to now? Also, the same question for Glen Gilberti/Disco Inferno. He seemed to be doing well in TNA and now I dont hear about both these guys. Whats up with that? Why didnt Disco ever go to the WWE? Thanks!!

Congratulations, you asked a question that made me realize I had forgotten about D Lo Brown. D-Lo put together a nice run in All Japan teaming with Jamal and Bull Buchanan, advancing relatively well in the Real World Tag Tournament, and making a name for himself. He came back to the States in December to team with the aforementioned Disco Inferno and defeat Mike Sanders and Erik Watts in Vince Russo's Ring of Glory. As for Disco, he's competing in "Great Championship Wrestling" where he's the television champion or something. How the mighty have fallen.

Metalpunk140 is concerned, and a little confused.


A Couple of weeks ago I saw something about TNA not being apart of NWA anymore but still being able to use their titles for a couple of years. If this was true, I was thinking about how both WCW and ECW left NWA and why this was. Does NWA let the companies go? Can they legally do that? Why do they continuously loose factions one they start doing well? And generally, what the hell?

The NWA does let companies go and has been doing it for a while. The first major defaction that I can remember was when World Class defected over a disagreement on who the world champion should be. The NWA name isn't what it used to be, and companies pay a lot less to be a part of it. Sometimes, they just stop paying altogether and go their own way. Apparently TNA has decided to go their own way, or it's a mutual parting of ways. I'm assuming that after a few years they'll have either gained the strength to stand on their own or be in the process of failing miserably regardless of affiliations.

Mark W doesn't really have a question.


I gotta go with liking WWE much more than TNA...WWE has more wrestling, better storylines, production, and better TV episodes.

And that's cool. Different opinions are awesome. Personally, I prefer the X Division to Shelton Benjamin's mama. I also prefer Christian Cage to lots of talking from HHH. There's good and bad about both. My preference lies with TNA at the moment. No biggie if yours doesn't.

Chris from Nashville helps out with the whole "Russian Legsweep" thing from last week.


I'm a long time ametuer wrestler / coach. A Russian tie up is when you grab an opponents arm with both your hands. ex. grab his left arm with your right hand under the bicep and left hand on the wrist with his arm across your chest. both of you standing up, facing the same way. From here, you can go to a couple of different takedowns. A side russian leg sweep, while looking fancey, is not a real feasable move to go for in an ametuer match. But it does make sense in Sports Entertainment as it's origin is a legit move and then it is gimmicked with the leg sweep. and yes, for the most part it is russian.


Cool. Thanks.

Avantegarde721 dug up something on the old "world title ladder match" topic from a while back.


By the way, I really enjoy your column, on 411mania, so I don't mind helping you out. This was around the time, when Undertaker became the WWE Undisputed champion around Judgement Day 2002 (beat Hogan), he was feuding with the Hardy Boyz and Jeff Hardy challenged Taker, to a ladder match on the following July 1, 2002. Taker beat Hardy and then gave him a show of respect after the match.

Cool. Thanks. Again. And stuff.

Bryan Potter is looking for some obscure information.


I have a question on where to find a match listing for a live show. June 25, 1986 I went to a WWF show at the Arco Arena in Sacramento California. I just recently found my original ticket stub and searched online for who was on the card. I found a mention of the show, but no matches could be found. Any ideas on where to search?

Unfortunately, no. My two best resources have nothing on it. If anybody out there knows where to look for some help, let us know please. For what it's worth, Wrestling Information Archive and The History of Professional Wrestling have nothing.

DarkNightWolf101 makes my life worth living. Why, you ask? Because of questions like this.


1. What does goozle mean in wrestling 2. what led to the sammartino/ zybsko feud
3. did ultimate warrior ever wrestle in wcw. Did he go under the name one warrior nation


just thought i might put this down. it is in regards to what wrestle resembled a construction worker here are others


1. hippe= dude love
2. an outlaw= new age outlaws, and cactus jack
3. A junk yard dog= Junk yard dog
4. A big red machine= Kane (masked)
5. A monster= Kane


This is my life. Goozle means to grab by the neck. Larry Z turned on Bruno. Yes he did. I'm not sure what to think of your village people, but yes, Junkyard Dog did indeed resemble a junkyard dog.

Jay P. Barb is somewhat disbelieving.


This is Jay P. Barb. I just wanted to ask the Superstars' ages. At Unforgiven 2003 they claimed Rene Dupree was only 19. They also said Randy Orton was only 23. Some of these seem impossible. Is there anywhere you can find out how old the Superstars really are?

Lots of places. I usually go to Obsessed With Wrestling for information like that. They tell me that Rene Dupree is 22. Randy Orton is currently 25. Check them out for a ton of fun stuff like that, including lots of marital status, title changes, and obscure information.

Chris pops in with a question about a plus size lover.


The last time Viscera came back from his latest injury or leave or whatever it was, I remember reading (i'm pretty sure it was at 411Wrestling) that creative had this new and amazing gimmick for Vis when he returned. Needless to say, that didn't happen as he came back as the regular old Vis with a few changes. But what I wanted to know was, was this 'phantom gimmick' we'll call it, the BoogeyMan character? Its the only new gimmick that would be 'amazing and something never seen before' so I just assumed they just shelved it until someone else came along, (that being Wright) and get the gimmick to him. Anything on this at all?

As far as I know, the Boogeyman character has always belonged with it's current owner, but it's very possible that it was going to go to big Vis. However, it's not like the Boogeyman is all that groundbreaking. It was Papa Shango, it was Rasta the Voodoo Mon, it was Spellbinder, it was Kevin Sullivan in Florida. I don't know what was planned for Vis, but I don't know if it could be as much fun as what he does now. DRY HUMPING!

Tom Whitfield wants to dig a little deeper.

you know some of my favorite wrestling shows were the behind the scenes kind of stuff. confedental was great and that kind of thing. in the old days tnt if anyone remembers it was a great show. is thier any plans to do a show like either again?

I wouldn't hold my breath, but I wouldn't be surprised, either. Those shows are always moderately successful and if they need something to fill up an hour of programming or to put on the website, one will usually show up. I'd like to see one make a return as well, as they're a nice change of pace from actual wrestling and get some behind the scenes stuff.

Nestor Mateo has a fun little dream match cooked up.


hey there. i'm a growing a fan here of 411mania (nice cheap pop to start). my question concerns about two 4 man stables. in a survior series type match between revolution (benoit, malenko, saturn, douglas) vs. evolution (hhh, flair, orton, batista), who do you think would win? this kinda hit me one day when i thought about it.

Hmm...I'll say Perry Saturn gets Randy Orton to tap out to the Rings of Saturn for the first elimination. Shane Douglas hits the Franchiser on Ric Flair, but a distraction from Batista allows Orton to come back in and hit the RKO on him. Flair takes advantage and evens the sides up again. Saturn goes down to a big Batista Bomb, and Evolution has a four on three advantage.
Benoit and Malenko man up and hit their rareified ECW form and break Batista down, pinning him after a rising leg lariat from Malenko followed by a swan dive headbutt. Benoit and Malenko vs. HHH and Flair are your last two for each team. Lots of posing and posturing and reversals and things like that. Malenko works over the Game's legs, and Flair lights up Benoit's chest. It's a flying gutbuster to HHH that brings Flair in for interference and causes chaos. In the confusion, Flair connects on Malenko with a pair of brass knucks. Malenko's gone, leaving Benoit alone. He gets rid of Flair pretty quickly, and it's Benoit vs. HHH again. Crossface > Pedigree. We've all seen it. Revolution upsets Evolution in my world. If you don't agree, get your own column.

Robert Ficke wants to know who that masked man was.


Hey man, great column. Quick question, who was the Masked Executioner that wrestled Tito Santana in the first match of Wrestlemania 1? I did a quick online search but couldn't find it. Thanks a lot.

That was none other than "Playboy" Buddy Rose, coming from no better source than Buddy himself at http://playboybuddyrose.com/executioner.html .

Rick Cobos is very professional!


Mr. Napier,
Let's get down to business.
· Did Eddie Guerrero & Art Barr ever wrestle each other in a singles match?

· Prior to Eddie Guerrero's death, did WWE plan on FINALLY presenting Eddie Guerrero vs. Shawn Michaels @ WrestleMania 22?

· How many singles matches did Eddie Guerrero have against Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio on TV/PPV/tape altogether?

· Why do some people tend to criticize Mick Foley mercilessly? Sure, the Carlito program was a debacle and deserves HUGE criticism, but other than that, Foley is a standout entertainer and an even better human being. I guess doing the following is just not enough to please some people:

· MADE the career of Randy Orton (before Orton hideously turned face)

· Helped Triple H become a major player in 2000

· Excelled in the series of matches against the Rock, Austin, and Undertaker

· Admits to not being a great in-ring technician, but "knowing his place" and that he knew how to make matches watchable and entertaining

· Cut some of the greatest promos in the history of the business

· Admits to sometimes relying on cheap pops, as well as ridiculous stuff such as Socko (in order to give a match an illusion of it being any good)

· Openly admits to money being a major factor when making business decisions

· Wrote two of the greatest autobiographies in recent memory

· Has always been a straightforward person, regardless of who the person is

· Has always been willing to admit faults, weaknesses, and past mistakes

· Gave much of the ROH roster "the rub"

· Helped ROH gain a new market in Long Island

· Helped CM Punk in joining the WWE

· Almost helped Samoa Joe in joining the WWE

· Trying to help Homicide in joining the WWE

· Continues to touch the lives of countless people throughout the world

With that in mind, I ask once again: why do some people continuously blast Foley?


Eddy and Art never did the one on one thing that I know of. No clue about Eddy vs. Shawn. Eddy vs. Benoit or Rey accounted for about three dozen television and tv appearances that I know of, not counting ECW because it's hard to get tv results for those shows. Not speakin personally, I don't think Mick gets criticized that much at all. I think what happens is that his fans seem to think he's a saint that has no faults and any criticism is seen as unwarranted and unjust. More than anything though, I think he gets criticized because people have varying opinions of him. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Rusty in Arcadia has good ears. So does Ron Gamble, who totally rules it here on 411.


I got a copy of the Wrestlemania Anthology for Christmas, and promptly popped in Wrestlemania 6 today to give it a watching. My question is this: Why is so much of the entrance music replaced by generic garbage? Off the top of my head, they got rid of the Dusty Rhodes theme, Koko B Ware's music, and worst of all, the Demolition music. I thought Vinny Mac owned the rights to these themes, what gives!

My guess is the rights to them lapsed and it's easier to replace them than pay for them again. No other reason that I can think of would justify replacing what is presumaby your own music.

Andrew Critchell gets right to the point.


Who played Nurse Slobberknockers in the infamous "JR & Dr. McMahon" skit?

I don't know. No idea at all. So again, i'm asking for help. If anyone knows who this lady is, drop a line.

Kevin Compton picks my brain and gives me a chance to look BRILLIANT.


How about asking for an opinion on this week's RAW? I know Vince made nice to get Brett to participate in the making of the Hart DVD, and then went on to make a big deal of this "historic" development by running the picture of the two of them shaking hands on the web and on TV. Considering what it took to mend things into a working relationship, did Vince reburn the bridge Monday because he got what he wanted out of Brett and no longer cares to play nice, or do you think it could be an angle to bring Hart back for a final appearance (maybe a Hall of Fame induction at WM this year?)

I think the RAW from what is now two weeks ago planted some very important seeds for what's going to happen in the future. You read it here first - Bret Hart will be the next RAW GM. Somehow, someway, it's going to happen. This is assuming that Bischoff doesn't come back. Bret comes back, plays his two most hated adversaries against each other (Shawn and Vince for those scoring at home) to set up a Wrestlemania match, and gets a televised non-wrestling role in WWE that's about ten years in the making now. Bridge burned? Nope. Reubilt, with an expresslane and a tollbooth to make more money with.

leereitz is having some problems, and needs assistance that I can't give.


Hello, I just got done watching the Hardcore Homecoming DVD and I have a question for you and your readers. Both of my discs had the exact same thing on them. THey were printed Disc 1 and Disc 2, but when I wen t to play it, they were the same - has anyone else had this problem?? Thanks

Let us know, folks. I haven't seen the DVD yet, but those of you that have...if you've seen this problem pop up, let me know.

That's it for this week. For next week, check out the rules and get in touch:


1. If you ask a question that's already been asked, I will refer you to that column instead of answering again. Why? That's what column archives are for. Now, I don't know what's been asked in older columns, so this rule applies only for MY Ask 411 columns.



2. Wrestling questions only, please. I'll allow the occasional exception for a well-written porn or sports question. Anything else may very well be answered by C-list celebrities, or impersonations thereof.



3. 11:59 PM Sunday night through 11:59 PM Tuesday night is a "dead time" on questions. If you send me a question between those times, I will NOT answer it. Not in this week's column, not in next week's column. I may give you a personal, non-column response, but that's no gaurantee. Often, it will be deleted with no response whatsoever. You've been warned. My therapist says I deserve some "me" time, and I'm taking it on those days.



4. If you send me a novel, I'm going to edit it. Don't cry to me if I cut out half of your e-mail that has nothing to do with the question. I love your praise, I love your bashing, I love all feedback. However, the volume of mail that I'm receiving from this column at this point is absolutely ridiculous. Keep it short and sweet as much as possible and I'll do what I can to keep everyone happy.



5. I will work my butt off to find the answers for you. But if I honestly can't find the information anywhere, I'll be straight up with you. I'll keep looking and answer you personally and through the column as soon as I DO find the answer. But if you flame me, you get nothing and you'll like it. And hey, if you know something I don't, send it in. I'll give you full credit.




6. I'm going to have to limit you to one question, or at least one topic. Save those other questions for next week. Why am I doing this? Because I got over 70 e-mails this week. There's no way I can answer 100 + questions every single week or I'll be burnt out before this ball even gets rolling. I don't want to do that, so help me help you. One question, or at the very least one topic. Much appreciated.



7. Questions for Ask 411 v3.0 MUST be sent to [e-mail] . If you ask me on IM, that's cool and all. But if I forget to answer? You've been warned.


Now, read over those puppies and make sure you understand them. Then start sending me stuff to keep me busy for next week. God bless.