Ask 411 Wrestling 5.10.06: TNA Sound Alike Themes, The Benoit/Sullivan Heat, Crash Holly: Super Champion, May 19th and More!
Posted by Gavin Napier on 05.10.2006
The end of the brand extension, JBL's magic fingers, the most decorated WWF/E wrestler of all time, the rap on Philly fans and more in this week's edition of Ask 411 v3.0!
Well, the computer almost died this week, so let's do this while we have the chance, shall we? Moment of the week for me? The WWE fans crapping all over Foley's heel turn, Tommy Dreamer's return to television, and RAW in general. Yeah, see...you took Dreamer off of television after jobbing him repeatedly. Then you expect people to care when he comes in for a match? No. Dummies. Why doesn't the creative team get it? At all? Oh well. Questions.
First up is the HBK/Ray Rougeau/Reo Rogers getup from last week. Now then, someone asked about HBK's little gig "From the Vault". I've never seen it, so I was just going on a working knowledge of who was around in the WWF at the time when I said that Ray Rougeau was the one interviewing him. Consequently, I received about three e-mails each assuring me that it was Ray and telling me that no, it was Bruce Pritchard in his Reo Rogers costume. Having never actually viewed the video, I can't say either way. If somebody can send me something concrete, I'll verify it next week for everyone.
Marc Merino asks about music. I almost made a Marc Mero joke, but stopped myself.
I know that in wrestling, often times a wrestler will use what is called "production music" that is music that you dont need to pay royalties for and are less expensive to use. Examples include Goldbergs "invasion" theme, Booker T's "rapsheet" and many others used by WCW and WWE. The question came into my mind after watching SpikeTV and seeing an autorox commercial using the old Hardy Boyz theme. Since there is no copyright on this music, does that mean that essentially if say Goldberg made a return to wrestling in TNA that TNA could still use the same music that he has used his whole career? I think that would be good considering that it would allow the impact zone to chant "Goldberg" like old times.
Even if the actual music is occupied by copyrights, there's the option of "soundalikes" should they so desire to go that route. The best examples of this are Chris Jericho, Raven, and DDP's themes in WCW which were almost chord-for-chord duplications of rock hits, minus the words. Good ear catching the Hardy Boyz theme, because there's not a snowball's chance I could have picked that out of a crowd. If there's no copyright on Goldberg's music, then yeah, he could go with his "classic" theme in TNA unless they wanted to give him something new.
Captain Jose Granada Guadalupa Chalupa Lopez asks about a short lived title's beginnings.
I was thinking back to WCW and I could have sworn that I remembered a cruiserweight tag team title. If I remember right Rey and Kidman won it first but I cant recall anything about it after that. Could you tell me what happened to the belts, and why it's not included in the title history(at least on this site).
Kid Romeo and Elix Skipper actually won the titles first, and eight days later were defeated by Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio, Jr. The title was discontinued and/or abandoned when WWF/E purchased WCW. As for why it's not on the title history here on 411? No idea. You'd have to speak to someone much more important than myself about matters such as that.
Bryan asks a show about Mr. Monday Night's tv career.
There's an episiode of X files about a pro wrestler, and his two identical girlfriendds (both played byvKathy Griffith!) and, its hard to describe, but hisvopponent at the end was RVD. If they went through the effort of getting him for the show,,,why not make him the star of it?
If you were the director or producer of a hit show like the X Files, would you trust a wrestler to carry your show? Not I. This happens a lot, actually. The Rock hosted SNL, but they didn't feel a need to put Big Show or Mick Foley in every sketch with him, just let them guest star. HHH had a significant role in Blade Trinity, but he wasn't the main opposition for Blade. Supporting roles or guest appearances are probably the best you can hope for outside of guys like The Rock, Hogan, and Austin, who have done things in Hollywood previously.
David Nicholson and I have the same DVD!
I just recently bought the Hard Knocks The Chris Benoit story and there was a puzzling reference made by our favourite canadian crippler about Kevin Sullivan and how he wants to explain the situation to his children from his previous marriage first before telling the rest of the world.
The information that's available to the public is Nancy Sullivan, aka Woman, was legitimately married to Kevin Sullivan. At some point, she left Kevin for Mr. Benoit. That led to serious heat between Benoit and Kevin Sullivan, and eventually led to the Radicalz jump to the WWF. The rest of the information? Benoit's kept private. Here's hoping we're nosy enough to find out one day!
DarkNightwolf101 asks the question that everyone's asking.
So what is up with Kane and May 19 Is there a special significance to that date, or is it part of an angle to promote his movie?
I checked a few things, and the only significance of May 19th is a few years ago, Kane made a successful title defense with Rob Van Dam of the tag titles on May 19th. Other than that, signs point to a crappy angle used to promote a crappy movie. Which one sucks more? You decide!
Travis Homewood comes to me with the tough questions.
I have a question on some behind the scenes stuff. What is with the JBL soapy finger jokes? I have an idea, but I am just curious since I have seen it a few times through out multiple columns on the site.
JBL is a notorious "hazer" in the WWE locker rooms, and has been for a while. Apparently, one of his favorite tricks is to catch a new guy in the shower, soap up his finger, and commit what amounts to anal sexual assault. The most notable name I remember being victimized by the behavior is Edge, which doesn't surprise me in the least. Can you imagine going to sleep at night knowing that JBL has been INSIDE YOU? Ugh.
Josh Turkal asks about a personal favorite of mine.
Why did the WWE hire Johnny (Swinger) Parisi? He had one win on Heat, along with one interview and then began on a jobbing spree of epic proportions. I mean, the guy lost to Val Venis. Val Venis! If Val went toe to toe with Barry Horowitz these days the outcome would be in doubt, but Johnny did the job.
So, why hire him in the first place? I understand that now, they will use him for the new ECW, but a new ECW wasn't even thought about when he was hired. He was brought in at the same time as CM Punk (their debuts were on the same Heat tapings), and WWE was so aghast with Punk's work, they sent him straight to OVW. So it seems bad work wasn't the problem since he didn't get sent down...And they certainly have enough job guys on the roster, so it doesn't seem likely that they would hire another. Did he commit some crime of etiquette backstage, or fall out of favor with a higher up, or what?
I just can't see why WWE would bring in a guy who was of no threat to them (not like he was TNA's top draw or anything), with no idea for a push of any sort, just to job. Any help you can give would be appreciated, as I really am perplexed by this.
Personally, I like Johnny Swinger, myself. Have since the ECW days. I kept waiting for something to happen on WWF/E television and hear a voice on the microphone proclaim that "SIMON HAAAAS A PROOOBLEM." Diamond and Swinger were naturals for the tag division, but the trigger was never pulled. Odds are they saw potential in Swinger, thought they could do something with him, and signed him. Shortly thereafter, they realized that their creative team sucks and couldn't come up with anything for him. Rather than firing the creative team for not doing their job, they demoted Swinger to OVW. Reasoning behind it? I've got none.
Nick "Ishbu" Perez chimes in on the "Big Four" club.
Tell me more about the "Big Four" club. Is this something you came up with(which is cool, I hadn't really thought about it before), or has it been running around message boards or something? And why wouldn't Benoit qualify? Do you not count his one day WCW reign? Or, do you count the current WHC as the same exact title? Also, would the current US title still count towards this honor? In the end, I know this probably just comes down to personal opinion, but it's still fun to think about.
Indeed it is. And shame on me. I hadn't given the thing much thought since the merger and brand extension and all that, so I may have missed some information. Good thing people come to my rescue in situations like this. I mentioned Ricky Steamboat as a guy that was one WWE title away from joining the club, but apparently he's not the only one. I didn't mean to infer that he was, but someone took the time and effort to send me a list of other guys that are "almost there". Big ups to Ross Williams .
Chris Jericho - WWE Champ, WCW Champ (pre-WCW destruction 2001 and if you're including Angle's WCW title win, you've got to include Jericho's) and several IC belts.
The Rock - WWE Champ, WCW Champ, IC Champ
Edge - WWE Champ, IC Champ, US Champ
Steve Austin - WWE Champ, US Champ, IC Champ
Goldberg - WWE Champ, WCW Champ, US Champ
Eddie Guerrero - WWE Champ, US Champ, IC Champ
Chris Benoit - WWE Champ, IC Champ, US Champ and potentially WCW Champ depending whether or not you consider his WCW stint a real title run (and I don't)
Booker T - WCW Champ, US Champ, IC Champ
Kevin Nash - WCW Champ, WWF Champ, IC Champ
Jeff Jarrett - WCW Champ, IC Champ, US Champ
Big Show - WCW Champ, WWE Champ, US Champ
There you have it. A lot of guys have almost hit the Big Four. Big Show and Booker T have the best shot at joining the club legitimately. Other guys can quasi-qualify by winning the WWE's US title, but it's just not the same.
TBonner207 is hardcore.
I am from South Philly. I always grew up hearing that Philly fans were the most hardcore fans of any sport, not just football, hockey, or wrestling. I came across an article on this website that made this statement:
"If anybody would know "when to say when" in terms of knowing that the brand might only be a cheap copy of the original, I'd totally trust their judgment over that of a slew of Philadelphia-area wrestling fans with ringside tickets, Hawaiian Shirts, neat-o hats and foul-mouthed chants."
For some reason, i get the feeling that other wrestling fans don't much like the Philadelphia-area fans. I understand that the Philly fans are used to more hardcore-style matches, and sure, there are plenty of 'foul mouthed chants' at shows over at the old ecw arena (i hate the name New Alhambra), and even at the F.U. center(and keep in mind that i hate john cena) when entertainment rolls into town. but from what i see, i don't recognize that much of a difference between the average philly wrestling fan and wrestling fans from anywhere else. if, for some reason philly fans are different than fans of other places, please clarify.
Philly fans have a well-earned reputation over a period of decades, for being more hardcore, more vicious, more demanding, and more heartless than most. And it's not just wrestling. Football players and coaches, baseball players and coaches, hockey players and coaches, and basketball players and coaches have all spoken about how rough Philly crowds can be. And it's not just visiting teams. Many times, it's people from the home team. In wrestling? Just watch WCW ppv's from the early 90's to get a gauge on the Philly crowd. You guys were booing the faces and cheering the heels and demanding blood long before it was in style. Yeah, you guys are more hardcore than most, but take pride in it.
Toysho can't believe his ears.
Someone told me that the late Crash Holly has had more combined WWE title reigns of the various WWE/F belts than any wrestler in WWE history. Is this for real? How can this be true, with 10-time world champions like HHH around? Who REALLY has had the most title reigns?
10 time? HA! Even Ric Flair, a SEVENTEEN time World Champion pales in comparison to the legendary Crash Holly, who REALLY has the most title reigns in WWF/E history. How, you ask? By virtue of 22 Hardcore Title wins, as well as stints as Light Heavyweight, European, and Tag Team champion. All in all, Crash had over 25 seperate WWE title reigns, far more than anyone else can say about WWF/E-only titles.
Matt Jones asks about everyone's favorite mental case.
I was watching the WWE's Ultimate Warrior DVD, and they got to the point where they talked about Warrior's 96 comeback and how he was fired for missing live events where he was advertised. To illustrate this point, they showed a standard live event poster, listing matches. The problem is, the poster says "Title Match: WWF Champion Ultimate Warrior vs. Vader". Now, my memory isn't the best, but I know that Warrior was never any kind of a champion when he came back to WWF in 96. To my memory, Shawn Michaels would have been world champ at the time of the poster (it also lists Ahmed Johnson as IC champ). So where did this poster come from? Was it an old test poster for a time when they were toying with the idea of Warrior winning the title, or did they just photoshop Warrior's name onto an old poster so they could show an actual advertisment for a show he didn't make?
Either situation is interesting. If they were desperate enough to create a new poster just to prove a point, then shame on them. And if they really considered putting THE title on Warrior in 96, shame on them. It was a bad experiment and they learned their lesson from it. We think. Either way, only those on the booking team from that era will ever know for sure. Interesting question.
Jim in NY pops in with a pair of questions.
What PPV did Andre and Bigelow go at it where Bigelow tried to take Andre out and Andre destroyed him? It really seemed like Bam Bam was trying to really hurt Andre from what I remember.
Where can I find matches of Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer? These matches were some of the wildest, bloodiest and most hate filled matches.
I believe you're talking about Survivor Series 1987. I'm not aware of any one on one meetings with the two, but if it's out there, along with the rare Rich vs. Sawyer footage from way back when...check out www.crazymax.org. Register for the forums, and ask around. They'll help you out.
WrestlePats wraps us up.
First question is: I checked 411mania.com but could not find an ARCHIVE of old Ask 411 columns, is an ARCHIVE available?
Second question is: I understand ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE WWE, but in your own personal opinion do you believe that by the time Wrestlemania 24 rolls around, that RAW and SMACKDOWN will once again be 1 roster?
First answer is: Yes. It can be tricky, but just go to the search and type in "Ask 411". You'll be taken to a screen that doesn't have results that make sense. You can click on "category" and select "wrestling". You'll get some results that aren't this column, but that should give you a pretty solid list, all the way back to December 22, 2004. The two columns before that? Well, it'll take some digging, but you'll be able to find them on the site.
By Wrestlemania 24? Possible. Smackdown is a sinking ship with one and a half legit main eventers, being Undertaker and JBL. Batista and Angle are hurt, Rey just doesn't feel right, they've shuffled Benoit back down to the US title, and they'll never use Booker T. Either they use Lashley like WCW used Goldberg, or they're in trouble. I can see Smackdown and RAW being recombined and a new brand taking the Smackdown spot. Something maybe like...ECW? Time will tell.
That's it for me this week. Check out the rules and hit me up.
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.
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