Ask 411 Wrestling 01.11.06: Best Tag Finishers, WWE In China, Bext X Matches, More

Posted by Gavin Napier on 01.11.2006

A fantasy tournament, the best tag team finisher ever, triple cages, fake football players, and the worst weekend ever.

I'm pissed off.

A lot.

Horrible weekend for me. We'll start things off Friday night, when I made the unfortunate decision to go see Hostel. Seven dollars and fifty cents to see one of the worst movies of all time? Not a good start.

Saturday night saw boxing action. Jean-Marc Mormeck vs. O'Neil Bell. I don't like O'Neil Bell. At all. Needless to say, he won.

Sunday? Not only did the forsaken Carolina Panthers pull off a playoff win, but WWE did the unthinkable. They wasted my time.

New Year's Revolution was one of the worst cards, match for match, since Great American Bash 1991. Edge managed to ruin a Ric Flair match - something that's nearly impossible to do. The women's match was boring, the Bra and Panties Gauntlet Match was kind of like Willy Wonka's boat ride from hell once Mae Young got involved, Shelton and Viscera had a nonsensical and horrible match, the booking team can go to hell for what they did with Lawler vs. Helms, TRIPLE H AND BIG SHOW MANAGED THE BEST MATCH OF THE NIGHT (that alone is disturbing), and the Elimination Chamber + Aftermath just depressed me.

The Elimination Chamber, the supposed most brutal and devestating device in wrestling history, saw two guys blade. Two. Out of six. It loses points there. Then they did the unthinkable: they made me pull for Cena. Cena and his atrocious belt. Cena and his stale routine as a face. Cena and his lackluster performances in the ring. Cena. They made me pull for him by sticking him in the final three with Masters and Carlito, two guys who I would only appreciate if they stopped being on television. Fine. Cena wins. I'm not happy, but it's better than those two alternatives. Especially Masters. The bigger problem? The MOST BRUTAL MATCH IN HISTORY ended with a pair of schoolboy roll-ups . W. T. F. Know what, though? That's NOT THE BIGGEST PROBLEM.

EDGE. WORLD CHAMPION. Seriously, they can all die a horrible death for even attempting this. Even if it's a Kane type reign, it's too long. It was too long about four seconds into it. You can keep Edge as World Champion. You can keep his hair that makes him look like the Cowardly Lion. You can keep his underite. You can keep the promos that sound like they're being read from a cue card. You can keep the fact that his spear is the most ridiculous thing this side of the People's Elbow. You can keep the injury prone history. You can keep everything about him because it's the worst possible option for a world champion. I'd rather have Pete Gas holding the strap. Everything about this guy flat out stinks and now they've made the decision to put the belt on him? Horrible.

Let's recap this weekend again. Hostel stinks. I don't like O'Neil Bell. The Carolina Panthers make me sick. And WWE wasted two and a half hours of my life with a pay per view that was beyond atrocious. Just a reminder - a two and a half star (at best) overbooked mess between HHH and Big Show was the best match on the card. But it's okay. Know why?

Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels in four days, bitches.


Last week, someone e-mailed and said there was a problem with their Hardcore Homecoming DVD. Turns out both discs were actually the same thing. Just to let you know, you're not alone. Several people have had the same problem. You can return it to Wal-Mart or wherever you bought it, as most retailers have been notified of the production problem and will let you exchange it for another copy...until you get one that's right. Good luck.

There was also a question about a WWF house show card from Arco Arena way back June 25, 1986. I was directed to a few sites I haven't seen before, and they all agreed on one thing - the World Wrestling federation WAS in the Arco Arena on that date. Beyond that, information is extremely scarce. If anyone comes up with anything, please let me know so I can pass the information along.
There will be more stuff to revisit from last week as we progress through the column. But for now, I want to get to the fresh meat.

Manu Bumb obliges me by asking a question.


Question - I attended the Judgement day 2003 ppv, and I'm fairly certain that when booker T came out for the IC battle royal, his music was the same music that he's been using for years, but when I bought the dvd, I noticed that they replaced it with the song he sang on WWE Originals. Any idea why? And on the topic of music - they still own the rights to Bret Hart's WWF music, so why didn't they just dub this in for his WCW music in his match against Benoit?

Music comes up in this column a lot, and I'm kind of at a loss in dealing with the legalities of it. However, the only thing I can guess on the DVD is that they didn't actually have the paperwork finalized on Booker T's music at the time that was released. That would be odd, since it was two years later, but you never know. The other option is that they just wanted to promote Originals. With Bret, I guess they just don't change anything they don't have to. If they had the rights to both sets of music, they just used both sets to cut down on editing.

Dave Yeo values my opinion. I do too.


What do you think has or had the best tag team finishing move, either most vicious looking or a team that performed theirs the best?

A lot of choices here. Total Elimination was awesome when executed properly. Badd Company's slingshot into a superkick ruled it. The Rocket Launcher is classic.My gut reaction is to go with the super-sweet Total Elimination. Especially when they hit Spike Dudley with it, who sold it like the plague.

Grayson sends me some leftovers.


I wasn't sure which column to send this to, so I thought Ask 411 Wrestling might fit. Does Melina look pregnant to anyone else? I was watching SmackDown! last night and looked like she was a month or two pregnant. It's been a few weeks since I've watched an episode of SmackDown!, so it could just be that she's gained a little weight combined with a flu or something, but she seriously looked pregnant.

If I'm right, the gawdawful Batista sexual assault angle would start to make a little bit of sense, as this would give the angle a nice little twist while giving reason to keep Melina on camera while carrying.

Eh, who knows?


Just so you know, I don't mind getting the stuff that you don't know where send. Keeps me entertained. Anyway, it would make sense, and give the angle a sense of realism. Are they willing to go that far? I dunno. They say that they don't do rape and death and they seem to be walking the line on both of them. There's not much going on in WWE creative that's any good right now, and I don't expect it to get better anytime soon. Mark Henry main eventing? HBK and Vince feuding? Angle seemingly lost after a quick EC exit while Cena and Michaels are otherwise occupied? Good luck sorting this mess out. I'll be watching TNA.

Dave Deluxe rocks the house, sans "whoo".


This is a REAL recent one, as in tonight (1-6-06) on Smackdown. Randy Orton Vs. Chris Benoit. Benoit doesn't throw ONE chop. Believe you me, this pleases me. The whole promotion, hell, the whole business has gotten chop happy. Need a transition or a break? Throw a few dozen chops. I hate it. Anyway, Benoit even puts him in the corner, positions himself for some chops, and then starts punching him. No chops. Not one. Was this per Randy's request?

I didn't catch this week's Smackdown because I wasted my money on Hostel (which was miserably bad). You're right about the whole business being chop happy. It's saturating the business to a ridiculous point. Flair, Benoit, Big Show, Buh Buh Ray Dudley, they all do it. And too much. I doubt it was due to Randy's request, because Benoit (being the vet) was probably calling the match for the most part. More likely, Benoit was just trying to freshen things up in light of recent events. At least I hope so.

Bryan Jones asks a socioeconomic question. Fair enough.


Has the WWE ever or are they ever going to do a show in China? That's ChIna not ChYna. I mean theve had Raw in dangerous places like Afghanastan and Iraq,,,and Ric Flair wrestled some international show in North Korea back in 1995. So why is that whenever they do a tour of the far east,,its only Japan and South Korea?

My gut instinct is that since China and the United States aren't on the best of terms, there probably aren't going to be many wrestling shows there. Japan and the States have a working relationship as far as trade goes, and it's friendlier than that of China and the US. And really, do you think the strict communist government of China supports such forms of entertainment as professional wrestling?

Josh Mancini has a point.


Why does the WWE keep bringing back Viscera? Do they have a long term contract with Vis like they have with Mark Henry? And why is Scott Taylor/Scotty 2 Hotty still hired? He hasn't done anything in years and was only entertaining when he and Brian Lawler teamed as Too Much..

Because from Kamala to the One Man Gang to Viscera, Vince has always had a special affinity for big fat guys. Almost as much as for big dumb steroid cases like Masters. I can't complain, because Viscera was arguably the most entertaining part of that abysmal pay per view. How sad is that? Scotty 2 Hotty? He obviously has blackmail on every member of the McMahon family. Otherwise he'd be long gone. Or he's like Milton from Office Space and hasn't been paid in years.

Phillip Verduzco offers an explanation to WWE dubbing over their own music, specifically on the Wrestlemania 6 DVD.


I believe at the time Jimmy Hart was their main, if not only musical composer. Much as he did for WCW when he was there. If he composed the music, then he was probably contracted to recieve royalties for as long as they used it. And as he is no longer with the company, it is possible that they do not wish to pay him for its use.


Makes sense to me. Thanks for the assist.

Carl makes my day by e-mailing from around the world.


Im a fan from Sweden so my english might not be perfect all times. I would simply like to know your opinion of Steven Regal vs. Fit Finley at WCW Uncensored '96. Is it a superstiff ***1/4 or a boring 1/2*? Thank you.

My opinion? A stiff match that's fun to watch. Three and a quarter stars may be a bit much, I'd probably hit the ceiling with that one at three stars. It's got a cult following among tape traders and stuff as some of the best stuff from WCW at the time. It would quickly be surpassed by cruiserweight action, but as far as something that manages to come across as "old school", it's hard to beat in the modern era.

Ken from Bangor, Maine has been doing some amateur detective work.


D-lo Brown's bio says that he graduated from the University of Maine and played on the football team. I work at a sports station here in Bangor and we have checked with the football team and the school and they say that there is no record of D-lo. His real name escapes me now but we did this research a few years ago using his real name and nope...nothing. Then I was
following up on where he was and what was he doing and his University of Maine reference was in his bio. again...do you have any information on his college days?

Your resources are undoubtedly better than mine, but I'll give this a whirl. I dug around on several Atlantic 10 history pages, University of Maine fan pages, and D'Lo Brown fan pages. The result? Nothing that can be verfied outside of his CPA degree. If he played football for them, it's the best kept secret in NCAA history.

Jason Amit knows how to get to my soft spot.


Hey dude, like the column. How would you book the following tournament, WM4 style for the Wrestling World Title. All participants in their prime. Thanks!


Participants:


Bret Hart vs.Shawn Michaels


Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage


Dynamite Kid vs. Chris Benoit


Art Barr vs. Rob Van Dam


AJ Styles vs. Rey Mysterio JR


Eddie Guerrero vs. Owen Hart


Ted DiBiase vs. Kurt Angle


The Great Sasuke vs. Samoa Joe


Hmmm...I'm noticing an absence of Ric Flair in there. I'll let it slide, though. I'll say Shawn Michaels via Sweet Chin Music in 18 minutes. Steamboat beats Savage in 14 with a small package. Chris Benoit taps out Dynamite in 22 minutes. I'd pick RVD in about 10 over Art Barr. AJ Styles dominates Rey Mysterio with a Styles Clash in 8 minutes. Eddy uses a mahistrol to pin Owen in about 15. Kurt Angle outlasts DiBiase with an anklelock in 27. Samoa Joe brutalizes Sasuke in 6 minutes.

Round two? Michaels and Steamboat put on a clinic before Michaels scores the pin with a schoolboy in 33 minutes. Chris Benoit uses a series of German Suplexes to beat RVD in 19. Eddy beats AJ Styles with a frog splash in 21. Samoa Joe triangle chokes Angle after 17 minutes.

Semis. HBK beats Chris Benoit in about a half hour with some fancy reversal. Samoa Joe beats Eddy Guerrero with a Muscle Buster in 24.

And in the finals? I like HBK to beat Samoa Joe with a kick in the mouth after lots of overbooked action. You all probably disagree with me, but he didn't ask you.

Only Me wants some reccomendations.


You said you're a TNA fan I as I have just discovered YouTube.com I was wondering what are the biggest, most exciting TNA Matches I should watch? Prior to this I've only ever watched WWE save the ECW DVD, but after watching Sabu vs the Kane-alike Barbed Wire Match, AJ vs Daniels vs Joe & AJ vs Joe the next month I was blown away at how awesome they were! I don't really care about nobodies matches or the Main Events with Jarrett in though. X-Division is where it's at! Any suggestions?

Anything from the "early" X Division is good. AJ Styles, Amazing Red, Low Ki, and Christopher Daniels had so many good matches with each other that it's ridiculous. I highly reccomend xXx vs. AMW in a cage, as that was pure spectacle. Any of the Super X matches work well, as did the AJ vs. Petey Williams series of matches. I do have to take exception to two comments, though. Abyss is a standalone. He catches unfair comparisons due to his mask, but his style and character have quickly become his own...a lot like Demolition and the Road Warriors. And nobodies matches? The lower card guys usually turn in great performances because they're trying to impress people. Then you have stuff like New Jack and Shark Boy which was pure comedy gold. Expand your horizons. You'll be glad you did.

extremewrestler is confused by Jim Ross. Aren't we all?


i was wondering something when i was watching wrestlemania X8 on dvd. During the Ric Flair vs. the Undertaker match, jr kept calling the Undertaker "Booger Red." Can someone please tell me, for the love of God, WHAT IS A BOOGER RED!?


This was when Undertaker was an outlaw of sorts, I guess. Booger Red was a term used in the old west to describe the meanest, ugliest, toughest guy in town. I guess it worked, even if it was sort of dumb.

Mike Flinn opens a wound.


I myself would be more than happy to agree with you here, but before that happens ...this whole "lets screw with Shawn" stage, I can really see durin the Elimination chamber that he'll be *tunin his music* till brets theme hits... weather he appears or not (personally I don't think bret would sell himself so short on a non important PPV) & it will be a perfect spot for carlito to pull his infamous finsher (the cheap roll up)
Do you have any predictions for that bout ?

Heh. Would have worked better than what they actually did. I was thinking going in that they'd capitalize on the face heat that Angle has been getting lately and have him win the title. How cool would that have been? Angle wins the match, Edge cashes in the MIB shot...only to fall victim to an anklelock inside of five minutes. THEN you have a guy that still feels like a midcarder coming to terms with the fact that he wasted his gauranteed title shot on an impromptu match against a battered competitor and still came up short. Lots of room for psycho-drama there and a chance to really flesh the character out. As it is, he's just a smarmy bastard that will never feel like anything more than a co tag champ or a mediocre IC champ.

Marty Locke rolls in with some thoughts on Demolition.


I was wondering, do you know what health issues forced Ax of Demolition to be replaced by Crush for in ring competition? All I ever hear is "health issues". Do you know, and what is he doing now?

I'm pretty sure it was back troubles that got Ax out of the ring. As far as I know, he's still taking the occasional indy booking as Demolition Ax. He also worked for a while as Axis the Demolisher.

toddv is a thinking man's man.


Why doesn\'t Vince put Bobby Heenan in creative? It is said he is one of the greatest minds in the business, why not put it to use?

There are a number of logical reasons here. The first and foremost being that Bobby may not have an interest in doing that full time. I'm sure he'd be good at it, but he may not have the time, energy, or inclination. The second being that Vince isn't interested in having wrestling people on the creative team. He'd rather have television people. The third being that putting Heenan on the creative team would be a logical move, and that just doesn't happen in WWE.

Drew asks me of a mythical creature.


My question is about a gimmic match in WCW. I heard about it while reading a review on 411's Wrestling section. It was called the Thunderdome or soemthing like that. All I know is that it was a like a pyramid Hell in the Cell, and that it was ment for Halloween, ala Halloween Havoc PPV. So what can you tell me about this? What Famouse names where involved with it? Was it a brutal and harsh match? What did it really look like? If it was pulled out today, would it work (Since we already have cage matchs, Hell in the Cell and The Elimination Chamber)?

I can tell you that you already understand the basics of it. It was three cages stacked on each other, pyramid style. The goal was to get into the top cage and retrieve the prize. Would it work today? Yeah. I think so. It's a spectacle, and people are all about spectacle in wrestling. Jeff Jarrett defeated DDP with the help of David Arquette in a triple cage match, and Kanyon took a spectacular bump in getting powerbombed off the top of the cage onto a ramp. Beautiful stuff.

DarkNightwolf101 makes his weekly appearance.


IN smackdown vs raw 2006, you can choose to use a regular steel cage or the legend steel cage, after you unlock it. My question to you is, why doesn\'t the wwe use the legend steel cage anymore. (blue cage with solid bars)

The old cage looks a bit...cartoonish. It had it's advantages and disadvantages, but overall, I think the "regular" steel cage works better. The blue cage is associated with "Rock n Wrestling" and was a nice departure for a while, but today's product focuses more on violence and supposed realism, which is definitely on the side of the mesh.

Steve wonders what's going on in Bret Hart's basement.


They say Brett Hart hassnt stepped in a ring in years....Do you think thats bullshit too? Because if I used to have a ring in my basement and shit....I woulden\'t let a little stroke stop me from haing five star matches with myself on my ring in my basement. Just a thought.

I'm guessing that the statement "hasn't stepped in a ring" means "competitively". Bret couldn't handle a series of matches, maybe not even one. Does he go downstairs and wrestle with his kids or work out? Probably.

rjevh01 keeps it short and sweet.


what ever happend to Austin Idol ?

For those that don't know, Austin Idol was a pretty good brawler back in the days of the Mid South territory. He worked with everyone from Sid to Randy Savage, but was most notably involved in on again, off again, on again, off again, on again feuds with Jerry Lawler, Tommy Rich, and Eddie Gilbert. He was the musclebound goon of Mid South, the equivalent to Hulk Hogan, Billy Graham, and Scott Steiner for them. He retired in 1995 at the age of 46. Throughout his career, he gained a fair share of regional championship gold. He was the NWA National Heavyweight Champion, the Georgia Heavyweight Champion, the Mid-South Heavyweight Champion, and CWA Heavyweight Champion. To the best of my knowledge, Austin Idol, aka Dennis McCord, is retired and living in his home state of Florida.

Nestor Mateo wants to know about continuity across feds.


1. do you think tna will know sooner or later that alex shelley is on a different side than austin aries & roderick strong?
i mean yeah he started out with them, but then got his ass kicked...maybe tna could reenact it. leading to..

2. what would u think about the generation next vs. DA EM BAA SEE rivalry in tna?

I think TNA is aware of what happened in ROH. It's just that, for lack of a better term, they don't care. RoH is cool and all, but the majority of people can't see it and don't know what's been going on as far as angles go. How many TNA fans know that Austin Aries dethroned Samoa Joe as ROH champ? Think he's going to take the X Title from him anytime soon? Me either. However, you bring up a good point. At some point, with all of these guys on the roster, they've got the opportunity to do feuds with The Embassy if they move a few more parts in. I'd watch. Here's hoping it comes to pass sooner or later. I think it will. After all, I've been calling for a re-uniting of the New Age Outlaws since Billy Gunn showed up in TNA. And now? HOMICIDE has arrived! Oh, happy day!

Terry Howerton just needs some pronunciation help.


Maybe a strange question here. But how exactly does one pronounce "kayfabe"? I've heard people say it about 10 different ways and I just don't want to sound like an idiot talking to someone who knows what they're talking about sometime. Thank you.

It's KAY-fabe. Long a sound in both syllables, accent on the first one. I hate the word though, and always feel like a tool saying it, even if I pronounce it right. But that's just me.

Paul Shaw from across the pond is an Ask 411 Virgin.


Hey, ive never done this before so please, be gentle....Why, if low blows are illegal, are inverted atomic drops ok? surely they focus on the same area do they not?

Paul, this falls into the category as some of wrestling's other great mysteries. Why will a referee only verbally warn a heel about closed fist attacks, but occasionaly physically restrain a face from using them...giving the heel the opportunity to attack? Why does a referee need to SEE the face team make a tag, but will take the heel tag team's word for it? Why don't referees get suspiscous when they wake up from a concussion and see debris from a foreign object in the ring? A low blow is a low blow, just like a rose by any other name. It's just one of those things that we have to overlook to keep the illusion going. Hope your first time was as good for you as it was for me, buddy.

Richie Myers wraps us up this week with a question about inventors and inventions.


Now that I own both the Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart DVD\'s, it has led me to quite a condundrum. Shawn talks about his WM 10 Ladder Match with Razor Ramon as being the first of its kind, and I was in total agreement UNTIL I watched the Stampede Wrestling clips of Hart on his DVD, one in which he is involved in a Ladder Match. So my question is this. Who REALLY came with the first ladder match and who were the participants?


The first WWF ladder match was held in 1992 between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Before that, though, ladder matches existed in Stampede and the NWA. Dusty Rhodes and Tully Blanchard squared off in one during the mid 1980's. The legit first one is going to be hard to determine, but my guess is Stampede beat the NWA boys by a couple of years. Otherwise, we'll just have to go with the old internet standby and assume that Nova invented it, because he invented everything.


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.