In Defense of… 03.22.06: The World Heavyweight Championship (Part 1 of 1)
Posted by JP Prag on 03.22.2006
Is it really ten pounds of fool’s gold?
In Defense of…
By JP Prag
Issue #47
The World Heavyweight Championship (Part 1 of 1)
Intro
Hello everyone with a nice tan, and welcome back to In Defense Of…! We're on the upswing of crazy cases, and this is insane case number four of five, all leading up to our one-year spectacular. If there's a chance I could lose a case, it'll come up real soon. Of course, that brings up the question of our last crazy case. You can check out In Defense Of… Scott Steer (Part 1 – Part 2), but the vote has already been cast.
With 87.9% of the vote, Scott Steiner has been found:
NOT GUILTY!
Definitely not as close as that Ultimate Warrior case was, which is probably good considering my exhaustion. Some people criticized my defense of Steiner not being on steroids by saying just because nobody has ever seen him do steroids does not mean that he hasn't done them. What's that saying? "The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence"? Well, check the rest of the proof: he's already past all the drug tests and offered to take more. Yes, muscles like that are nearly impossible, but that does not mean they cannot occur naturally. Take the right person with the right genes and the right food and the right work out regimen, and you will be able to get Big Poppa Pump. And if I'm proven wrong, so what? He's still one of the best ever.
Anyway, anyone who read Hidden Highlights, this week knows two things:
(1) I just celebrated my birthday (which either I just hit puberty, got my first car, or need elder care, depending on who you read)
(2) We won the GREAT POSITIVIY DEBATE!!!! I'll save all my comments for Sunday, but just know that it was a wonderful birthday present. Thanks to everyone who voted! And I have a feeling we'll be seeing something like that again real soon…
Now, perhaps this is your first time clicking on In Defense Of…? Maybe you didn't read about Scott Steiner, the Ultimate Warrior, Vince McMahon in the Death of Owen Hart, Larry Zbyszko, Scott Hall, New Jack, the McMahon-Helmsley Era, Mike Awesome Leaving ECW, Sid Vicious, the Undertaker, the Sport of Professional Wrestling, Lex Luger, WCW Thunder, the Brand Extension, Goldberg, Vince not buying out WCW's contracts, Earl Hebner Screwing Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes: Head Booker, The Finger Poke of Doom, Kevin Nash, the Elimination Chamber, or even Eric Bischoff. It might be that all you care about is the gold. Well, for those new to the concept, this article has a pretty simple premise:
Certain people, events, organizations, and storylines in wrestling history have gotten a bum wrap. Some writers have presented overtly critical comments and outright lies as fact, and others have followed suit. Well no more! "In Defense of…" has one reason: to bring the truth to the wrestling fan!
And that's what I intend to do.
Me? I'm the One and Only JP, and I just found out that I'm NOT going to Alabama in two weeks. I can't decide if they are giving me a break as a reward or punishment. Sorry Alabama, guess you won't be State #38.
Some dame walked into my office and said…
Well, a long time ago I started working on an article that was about how to really become the Undisputed Champion of the World (can you guess when I was working on that?). I have a really great Excel spreadsheet that proves my point, but just needed to write the words around it. But after all my research, Stuart Carapola beat me to the punch by writing The History of the World Title (Part 1 - Part 2). It was a great read that made about 80% of the points I wanted to make.
This was especially discerning because "This Stillisntmyname" asked me three months prior to that:
Someone really ought to do a "World Title" lineage article...
Followed by nine questions about the true World Title.
This got me thinking about how I could still do this article without repeating Carapola. Mike Mopett also helped bring the idea into focus:
The World Title (Bischoff awards the title to HHH, thus people are pissed off and instead of a world title with a legacy in WCW and NWA, it is considered a new Raw title only. Why? The US title's legacy is recognized and the WWE Title is no longer the Undisputed Title, so what then happened to the WCW/NWA Title? Had Bischoff given Benoit the Title after disputing Brock, then the IWC would be hailing him as champ in the line of Thesz, Flair and the Funks) Sorry about the long rant on that one!
Mike Ostcler added to that not too long ago:
Triple H's first world heavyweight title reign. His first three, technically. I'd like to see you defend the era spanning, I'd say, September 2002 'til Wrestlemania XX. H squared is reviled for many things by most of the IWC, but it seems the belt hogging and colleague squashing of this period is what cemented him as one of the most loathed superstars of our time.
And that is when it all became clear (Ok, so really I've been planning this for a while, but these guys added to it): I needed to defend the World Heavyweight Championship!
Why this?
For a championship to be called a World Title, it is truly a distinct honor. But for a World Title to earn its name, that is a true rarity. And how does a title become a true World Championship? Well, it must be defended around the world for starters (or at least outside of Milwaukee). For another thing, it must be fought over by the top talent available. And last, it must have the ability to elevate its holder to another level.
The World Heavyweight Championship that currently sits around Kurt Angle's waist on SmackDown! is such a championship. It recently took a trip to Europe, is being fought over by the likes of the Undertaker, Randy Orton, and Rey Mysterio, and it has brought men like Batista and Randy Orton (and perhaps Rey Mysterio) to a whole new level.
Yet despite its current spot, the World Heavyweight Championship got off to a rocky start. Some people were upset about how the championship came into existence, how it was defended in its first year of existence, and their general disagreement with splitting the championship.
But I am here to show why that split was necessary and logical. We will explore the history of the belt today and what it means to the sport. And we will prove once and for all that the World Heavyweight Championship is the prestigious belt that the announcers make it out to be.
Be fair warned: I will jump back and forth between kayfabe and reality without warning. It's your job to follow along. Good luck to you!
Supposed History
If you were to ask someone who started watching wrestling in the past few years when did the World Heavyweight Championship come into existence, they would tell you September 2002. Well, that's not entirely true. But for now, let's center on that date. From In Defense of… The Brand Extension (Part 1 of 3):
After a month of planning, the WWE came up with a new direction: General Managers. Each would be in control of their brand and report to Vince as the ultimate overseer. On July 15, 2002, Eric Bischoff became the GM of RAW, followed a few days later by Stephanie McMahon becoming the GM of SmackDown! Thus, the Brand Extension Version 2.0 was born!
Vince also announced that superstars were now allowed to negotiate with either brand's GM to get the best deal they could. Immediately, an open back and forth trading war ensued. Not just people, though, but titles. The entire structure of the original draft was changing. Meanwhile, the European and Hardcore titles merged into the IC title, creating one major mid-card title.
Then the unthinkable happens. Brock Lesner, the Undisputed Champion, refused to appear on RAW or face any RAW challengers. The championship became in dispute. As I said in In Defense of… The Elimination Chamber (Part 2 of 3):
Things were looking grim, especially when the Undertaker jumped to SmackDown! that week and defeated Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle in a triple threat match (how poetic) to become the new #1 contender.
What was Eric Bischoff to do? Well, all though the weekend, there was much backstage wheeling and dealing, but McMahon would not budge. He had one choice. On Raw on September 2, 2002, Eric Bischoff said the Undisputed Championship was now in dispute. Since Brock Lesner refused to meet the #1 contender for the title, the rightful #1 contender Triple H would be awarded what made up one half of the Undisputed Championship: the venerable World Heavyweight Championship.
Debate all you want about the lineage of that belt (and we will in Issue #45), there is plenty of precedent for stripping the champion of the belt and awarding it to the challenger if the champion refuses to meet the challenger. In 1929, the National Boxing Association withdrew it's recognition of Gus Sonnenberg as World Heavyweight Champion when he refused to meet credible challengers. The NBA (and later the National Wrestling Association) then had a tournament to crown the rightful World Heavyweight Champion, which was won by Dick Shikat when he defeated Jim Londos. This branch of the title would remain disputed until 1948-1952, when Lou Thesz started gathering all the World Heavyweight Championships to become a true Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. So we can see from this example that Bischoff has plenty of history to look back on when it comes to withdrawing recognition of a champion and awarding it to someone who he thinks is the rightful and worthy title holder.
Was that a quote in a quote? Nice!
And yes, I was off a couple of issues. Plans change.
But the point remains the same: Bischoff and the WWE always had the right to split championships on a dispute. It was not an uncommon occurrence at all. As a matter of fact, there would not be a WWE Championship if not for such a dispute.
True Origins
In 1957, the Undisputed World Championship (minus the European Heavyweight Title and parts of the AWA championship) had been back together for five years, but pressures were coming from different promotions. With the baby boom in full force, every region in America felt they could make more money if they could control the championship. And so, the backstabbing began. In a world where shoot meant someone might break your leg, wrestlers had to be legitimate tough guys to hold on to their titles; but there were also other methods.
Under Lou Thesz (the main who had brought the title back under control), the title began to fall apart. It all began with a DQ win over champion Edouard Carpentier (who won the title off of Thesz when Thesz could not continue due to back injury, another questionable move). From Wrestling-Titles.com:
[Lou Thesz] Loses to Edouard Carpentier by disqualification on 57/06/14 in Chicago, IL when Thesz cannot continue due to a back injury; Thesz defeats Carpentier in rematch by disqualification on 57/07/24 in Montreal, QC; however, NWA continues to recognize Carpentier as the champion; Carpentier withdraws his claim to the title when his manager and Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn leaves NWA; NWA voids all recognition of Carpentier as champion and returns the title to Thesz in 57; Carpentier continues to be recognized as World champion in Omaha and Boston and later by World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles to legitimate the lineages of their world titles.
But it gets more confusing than that. Actually, there was the WWA World Title, and there was the Los Angeles Heavyweight Title, both of which claimed lineage. Boston was actually Big Time Wrestling, a huge organization that ruled the northeast. And there were plenty of small disputes along the way.
Eventually, some of those titles merged into each other (Los Angeles into the WWA, Omaha into the AWA) while other (like the BTW title) stayed regional and eventually lost their sheen. But it was the NWA who gathered up the most titles and had the most control across the country and the world.
With a loose organization of regional promotions, the NWA tried to maintained control over the title, and was successful in the South, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest. But the Northeast remained volatile at best. And it would all come to a head in 1963.
First, though, back in June 1961, Buddy Rogers won the NWA Championship in Chicago (again Chicago!). After a couple of confusing title fakes with Bobo Brazil and Killer Kowalski, Rogers was looking to be a lame duck champion. Already twice his title reign was in complete doubt, though he had held on to the title for a year and half. This had put promoters in the Northeast ill at ease. Rogers was a draw for them, but he was being made to look bad in other regions and that was affecting their sales. And then the opportunity arose.
On January 24, 1963, Lou Thesz (again!) defeated Rogers in a one-fall match in Toronto, ON. You see, in those days 2-out-of-3 fall matches were much more common, and so a one-fall to the finish match would really be out of place, especially for a title. And so the World Wide Wrestling Federation was formed with Buddy Rogers as the champion.
Rogers, though, proved unreliable as he lost a 2-out-3 falls match to Thesz just a couple of weeks later, much to the ire of the WWWF. This made the decision easy to move the title over to uber-over Bruno Sammartino in May 1963, a title he held on to and brought to incredible prominence for eight years.
But as they say, time heals all wounds. The title transitioned (ha!) from Ivan Koloff to Pedro Morales in 1971, just in time for the WWWF to rejoin the NWA. The WWWF then willingly reduced their title to a regional title so that the NWA championship could shine. Unlike with the other titles, though, the WWWF title always remained separated from the NWA championship, something that would help the promotion later. Champion Bob Backlund would put the title up against the AWA Championship in March 1979 (double count-out) and against NWA Champion Ric Flair in July 1982 (double count-out again).
It was around this time that Vince McMahon Jr. bought the company from his father (in an installment plan) and dropped one of the W's. He also dropped the NWA and said his title was a World Championship again. And because his champion had just successfully retained against the NWA Champion, McMahon had every reason to believe his title was just as important.
The title found its way to the Iron Sheik in December 1983 shortly after the withdrawal from the NWA, and a month later was won by Hulk Hogan. And the WWF Championship would grow from there.
Meanwhile, the NWA was also growing, but very differently. Eventually, though, with the WWF becoming a national product, the NWA was suffering. In 1991, Jim Crocket Promotions—the major power of the NWA—was sold to TBS and renamed WCW. But much like TNA today, they continued to use the NWA Championships… at least for a little while. From Wrestling-Titles.com:
Stripped on 91/09/08 when Flair signs with WWF, where he claims the "Real World Heavyweight Title"; NWA World Heavyweight Title is vacant for the first time in its history; Flair wins WWF World Heavyweight Title on 92/01/19 in Albany, NY; some reports say Lex Luger, who has won the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Title by defeating Barry Windham on 91/07/14 in Baltimore, MD, is briefly given recognition as NWA World champion by the NWA board, controlled by WCW Vice President Jim Herd; Luger is not recognized by NWA as a former champion.
So, to bring you up to date, the NWA World Champion was stripped of his title, but never lost, and then won the WWF title, making that title more prestigious. Meanwhile, WCW had Lex Luger win the championship while the NWA was not sure what to do. For a year and half, the NWA had no champion (Masa "My Hero" Chono won the title in August 1992), while the rest of the world thought of the WCW Championship as the real title (if not the WWF Championship).
Things became more confusing when WCW rejoined the NWA in 1993, as did Ric Flair. Big Van Vader was the WCW Champion and four months later Ric Flair won the NWA Championship. So there were two World Champions in WCW in 1993, but their relationship with the NWA would be strained. In September 1993, the NWA and WCW split again, and Flair became the "WCW International Champion". Meanwhile, there would be no NWA Champion again for a year, so the International title was the title as far as anyone was concerned.
Flair quickly lost that title to Ric Rude and then went on to defeat Vader in December 1993 for the WCW Championship. The International Championship traded hands for a few more months before Flair unified the titles on June 23, 1994. So the WCW Championship had two direct links to the NWA Championship (which had a direct link to the Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship) and the WWF Championship had one direct and two indirect links to the NWA Championship.
And strangely, that's pretty much how it would remain for almost a decade. The NWA became incredibly regionalized and the title reduced to little value (especially after Shane Douglas threw it down in favor of the ECW Championship, and the NWA refused to let him throw it away), while the WCW and WWF Championships were raised to incredible heights and prominence during the Monday Night Wars.
In March 2001 that would all change when the WWF bought WCW, and a few months later brought their champions in. After a time and an InVasion, the two titles became combined on December 9, 2001 when Chris Jericho became the "Undisputed" (that's for another day) Champion.
Now the WWF Championship had three direct and two indirect links to the NWA (and thus real World) Heavyweight Championship and had the shared history of all of those belts. You see, when the belts were put together, they absorbed their history and champions. Although the exterior was different, the connections were quite real.
That also means that history can be split from the belt. So yes, the "World Heavyweight Championship" is a different belt physically, but it is the same belt emotionally. It does have a history that can be traced to 1880 with the American Greco-Roman World Heavyweight Title (and I did!), as can the WWE Championship. In reality, they were always the same belt, coming from the same origin, but just slightly different paths to get there. And when they came together all of that became intermingled, but that history is still there.
And as we noted in the previous section, splitting championships is nothing new in the context of storylines and promotions. The only difference is in the past it was a legitimate heat between promotions that split the title, while in this case it was a calculated decision to establish separate brands. But both were decided for one reason: money.
Why did the WWWF split off in the first place? Why did the NWA have disputes? Why did the AWA and WWA spend years avoiding those organizations? Because they wanted to maximize their own profit in their own regions. It is not like the title split for any nobler reason than that, that there was some deeper meaning; it always came down to money.
So that same was true in the Brand Extension. The title was split for money, just an amiable split compared to the ones in the past.
Still, some people are upset about how the title was split and who was given the championship.
The Case for Triple H
When Eric Bischoff declared the Undisputed Championship in dispute, he named Triple H as champion because Triple H was the number on contender. We already covered the storyline reasons for this with past precedence, but people are still upset over this decision. Many wanted a tournament or some other way to come up with a new champion, at least one match.
But the Brand Extension was young and RAW had been suffering. Up until that point, SmackDown! had most of the talent and the storylines. RAW had in the main event scene:
The Undertaker
Kevin Nash
Kane
The Big Show
Steve Austin
The Undertaker was really the prime player on RAW, but he was maligned at the beginning from getting his championship shot by Vince McMahon. Kevin Nash was not in good condition and was mostly injured, as was Austin. Kane and the Big Show had both been buried as transitional stepping stones in the past, so RAW's main event scene was hurting. In the fringe there was:
Scott Hall
RVD
Booker T
Brock Lesner
Scott Hall was already having problems, so his time was limited. Booker, RVD, and Lesner seemed like the best bets, though Booker and RVD had to "get over" being WCW/ECW wrestlers, and Lesner was extremely young. None, save perhaps Booker, were ready to be taken as serious contenders to the Undisputed Championship.
It was not until the addition of GMs that this problem began to get fixed. The rosters were mixed up and cleaned up so that RAW became a whole new place. From In Defense of… The Elimination Chamber (Part 2 of 3):
All right, time for another summary. Shawn Michaels had a legitimate pin over Triple H just before he "won" the Championship. RVD had a pinfall victory over HHH and still needed revenge after Flair cost him the match. Since then, he had beaten Flair a number of times. He had also beaten Triple H in tag team contests (without pinning him, though). Jericho pinned RVD when RVD was #1 Contender, but never got his shot. Kane defeated Jericho when Jericho was IC champ and #1 Contender to take the spot from him. He lost to Triple H but then defeated him again in a casket match. Meanwhile, Booker T had defeated the Big Show, but Jericho had been harassing him and cost him a match against the Big Show. So Booker T was looking for revenge on Jericho and had some high profile wins. Jericho wanted revenge on Booker T and Kane, but also wanted his #1 contender's spot. Kane wanted revenge on Triple H for the Katie Vick stuff and his #1 contender's spot after beating Triple H in a casket match. RVD still needed revenge for his two losses to Triple H from insane outside interference and needed a closed in environment. Shawn Michaels wanted revenge on Triple H for the sledgehammer and had a right to the #1 contender spot as the man who pinned Triple H just before Triple H was granted the championship. Big Show might have had a spot since he pinned Booker T, but since he was moved to SmackDown! all of that was null and void.
And a few weeks later, we had the first Elimination Chamber.
You can see from the time Eric Bischoff took over until the Elimination Chamber, RAW had become a whole new place. But still, look at the roster: Shawn Michaels was a part-time wrestler, not ready to be a long-term champion. Jericho had some credibility, but only slightly more than Booker and RVD. Kane still had the same problems listed as above. That left one person: Triple H.
Triple H was a truly established champion at that point in time, and was also the only one who could wrestle full time.
Yes, the ideal of the brand extension was to raise new talent to the title. But because we are talking about splitting a title, it's worth had to be proven right away. Any time RAW spent without a champion would make them look even more inferior (see: SmackDown! during the 2005 draft lottery), and they needed a belt and a program fast.
Triple H was just the man for the job. He was a hated heel, so he could just accept a title without a fight. At the same time, he was considered a legitimate main eventer in the eyes of the fans, so the title would be given some prestige. Having Kane, RVD, Booker, or Jericho win the title would not elevate it to the level that RAW needed. They needed the title to look like a legitimate World Title, and it either had to be Triple H or Shawn Michaels. Since Michaels could not wrestle the full schedule at that time, he was not the person to carry the title.
Triple H lost to him in the Elimination Chamber for several reasons. First, it did put over the other wrestlers in there because all of them looked like they could take the title from Triple H. It actually created the programs for the next six months thereafter. But Shawn had to win to give RAW a happy ending to a huge event and also to have two huge names hold the belt.
Again, though, the WWE was faced with the same problem. Michaels was not a full-time wrestler, and there was no way they were going to sell MORE house show tickets without the champion at the show. So the title returned to Triple H as he was the biggest name on RAW to head into Wrestlemania.
Triple H was not petitioning for the title, and did not demand to keep it. He lost again and again, from Bill Goldberg to Chris Benoit. But that would all be later on when RAW had more people and began to become a powerhouse. Soon, it was because of his grip on the title that the World Heavyweight Championship became regarded as THE title while the WWF Title was used to create new champions in Brock Lesner, Eddie Guerrero, JBL, and John Cena.
It was not a point in the WWE where they could handle both championships being in new people's hands. They were also experimenting with what the Brand Extension meant. They were testing the waters to see what people wanted: their known stars or the new generation. Nothing was set in stone, it was all a trial. And in some trials, some things work and some things don't. As long as you learn from what you do.
And look, the WWE did change! They separated PPVs, moved more towards new champions (with Cena and Batista champions at the same time), and brought back different wrestlers. As we discussed in the Brand Extension case, the whole thing is a work in progress, as are the titles that are at the head of these organizations.
Over your shoulder or around your waist
The World Heavyweight Championship is one of this most prestigious titles in the world. But it is not some magical belt created from nothing! No, it shares a long, storied history with the real World, NWA, and WWWF/WWF/WWE Championship. That history is in the best, and deserves to be recognized. At the same time, all these splits in the titles past have been about one thing: money. And the Brand Extension split was also about that. In the ideal world, the Brand Extension would automatically mean new talent would get the title. But in a suffering brand, only the best of the best who could work full time could establish the title so that when other people won the belt it would mean something. The man at that time was Triple H, and his stranglehold of the title helped push it to a value above and beyond the actual WWE Championship.
The World Heavyweight Championship is everything its name suggests. It deserves to be revered for what it really is. How many people can even say they have gotten a shot at a world title of that magnitude, nonetheless won it? No one who wins a title should ever be looked down upon, but only looked up to as the worthy champions they are.
The defense rests.
Hung Jury
Well everyone, that wraps up our twenty-second case. So what do you think?
And please take into consideration the rules (well, they're more what you might call guidelines than rules) of a fair court system:
(1) All parties, events, circumstances, etc… are innocent until proven guilty. In this court, the defendants have already been found guilty without trial, and so therefore this is an appeals court. Finding a defendant guilty means you disagree with the evidence presented.
(2) The jury must find the defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt. That means that if there is doubt in your mind that the defendant is guilty, then you cannot find the appellant guilty. Reasonable doubt means that the average person, looking at the facts presented, could not find the defendant guilty on all counts despite personal feelings.
(3) This is a court of fact, not fiction. Fantasies of what could have been or should have been do not fly here; especially fantasies of the impossible (such as a wrestler not getting injured at an untimely moment). All we have is what did actually occur and the intentions of those being accused.
(4) A defendant cannot be judged by events outside the case at hand. For example, if we were trying a particular contract signing by a wrestling promoter, you cannot use that ten years later that wrestler died from a heart attack relating to the drug use that the wrestler started when he signed with the promoter. One has nothing to do with the other in terms of the case at hand.
(5) You do not have to like the accused before or after the case at hand, and a vote of not guilty does not change your personal preferences. You can make it clear that you feel the accused is the worst thing you have ever seen, but if the facts compel you to see that the accused cannot be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt, then voting guilty would be unconscionable.
Keeping the rules of this court in mind…
IN THE CASE OF THE IWC VS. THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF BEING A PAPER BELT THAT WAS ONLY CREATED TO SOOTHE TRIPLE H'S EGO AND HAS NO REAL VALUE, PRESTIGE, OR HISTORY.
YOU THE JURY FIND THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:
You know this article has been around for a while when I can use myself as a source. It's really funny, I've always known I was going to do this case, so I have pieces of it laced throughout many issues. I referenced a specific few, but it really is everywhere.
Anyway, I need a nice short case before our mega powered end of the year case. It's what you've been waiting a year for. It's the case that everyone has wanted (or not wanted). It's THE biggest case to date. And I mean that in length, too. It's crazy case number five of five all leading up to our year end spectacular. When we return it is: In Defense of… Hulk Hogan (Part 1 of 4)!
That's right baby! The immortal one himself in our first four-part series EVER! Hogan was too big to contain to our normal format, and he will close out the year as only he can. The red and yellow express starts next week.
In the meantime, be sure to check out Hidden Highlights—the most positive article in the IWC, as voted on by you, the readers! Don't forget to send JT and I your Hidden Highlights for RAW, SmackDown!, Heat, Velocity, Impact, or any other show you saw this week (that includes house shows and indy events, you know)!
Also, do check out MeeThinks, the most optimistic thing going in the IWC today! I wonder how long it took him to come up with that backup tagline? And of course our venerable host Andy Clark deserves some time, although Bayani Domingo does not. Cook gets nothing else because JT already gave him pictures of Tracy Brooks, and I haven't heard a peep from him since. Randle… you have got to be kidding me.
Until then, the next time you read some throwaway line presented as fact, challenge it. The truth matters, and you have a right to know.
Know a particular person, event, organization, storyline, etc… in wrestling history that needs a defense? E-mail the One and Only JP at lookforme@mikefine.com, and I'll be glad to hear your case.
