Ask 411 Wrestling 07.12.06: Yokozuna, Juvi/Rock, Where Are They Now, Screwjobs, More!
Posted by Chris Clarke on 07.12.2006
This week, lots of "where are they now", conspiracies, and tomfoolery! All that and more in this week's Ask 411!
Greetings one and all – I've started to settle into my new place, and am finally getting caught up on the wrestling thing. In fact, I've even caught up on the MMA thing as well. Man, UFC hyped 61 so well, but yet didn't deliver. Man – it would be easier just to work the thing, wouldn't it? We'll have to see where Tito goes from here!
Make sure to check out this week's edition of The Fink's Payload, written by myself and Mark Rossi. It will be coming out tomorrow afternoon, and is just a huge collection of ECW ideas. Man, is that brand ever dying or what?
But let's move onto this week's 20 questions, and the errata from last week:
Errata:
William writes: You write in your latest column:
Can you recall any other WWE/F champ that got jobbed out (while being champ) more than Rey Mysterio? I mean holy hell hes only won 2 matches that I can recall (both with JBL) since Wrestlemania. I could be off on that number but its not too far off. Hes certainly lost more than twice what he has won.
Ask 411 Honestly, I cannot. You know who used to job a lot? The Rock! I remember when they jobbed him CLEAN to the BOSSMAN before the Dec '99 PPV for the #1 contendership. Man – that messed with my head. Oftentimes, babyface champs do get shafted quite a bit, but them constantly bringing up how flukey Rey's title win is, just continues to bury the brand even further than it already is.
Jericho and Benoit got pretty buried as champs as well, and Kurt's first title reign back in '99, he barely won, and when he did it was through megacheating.
I think Yokozuna was the most jobbed out champ ever. Sure he picked up a lot of wins over Dan Dubiel, Barry Horowitz or whoever were the designated jobbers of the period. But let's look at his confrontations with Superstars during his 2nd championship reign:
He gets bodyslammed by Luger aboard the USS Inteprid. He goes on to job to Luger at Summerslam, but keeps the title.
At Survivor Series, the Undertaker completely no-sells his finisher (sits up from a bonzai-drop), and he goes on to get counted out.
At Royal Rumble our poor friend is lying in the casket in approx. 3 minutes, and only wins through ridiculous amounts of cheating. He doesn't even get to look bright enough to do his own cheating, as Mr. Fuji and Cornette appears to organize it.
At Wrestlemania 10 Luger beats him cleanly, were it not for a referee who refuses to make the pin, and DQ's Luger over nothing as Yokozuna is lying on the ground.
At Wrestlemania's main-event he jobs to Bret Hart.
Add to that, that he won the title in non-convincing fashion (the japanese photographer flashing in Hogans eye), and you have the most jobbed out champion ever. At the very least the most jobbed out heel champion ever.
I think people do not percieve him as especially jobbed out, as he had all those squash-matches against nobodys. But in confrontations with superstars, he was always on the recieving end.
Rob writes: Hey there, I enjoy the column, there's just two things I think might be incorrect. When you were talking about the Scott Hall alcoholism angle being disgusting you mockingly said, "Thank you Vince Russo." Russo didn't join WCW until late 1999, and to the best of my knowledge all or almost all
of the gimmick of Hall carrying beer out to the ring was in 1998 and became prominent during his feud with Kevin Nash. If that's the case, Russo wasn't even around (not that Russo would have hesitated to do something like this. Hell, he would have had Scott Hall drink urine if he thought it would get
over). (Ed note: you're right – I totally just group anything stupid under his umbrella!)
My other question was about Mr. Fuji. I am under the impression he is still alive. I never heard about his death and never saw it mentioned on WWE programing, where pretty much any longtime worker gets a "In Memoriam" screen before Raw or Smackdown hits the air. According to IMDb and Wikipedia he is still alive, and his grave is not shown on FindAGrave.com. Can you provide a link confirming he's dead? That would suck if it is true. (Ed note: I wrote "alive" by mistake, implying he was dead. I meant to write "working"!)
StoneC updates on the Godfather: The Godfather is a bouncer at Cheetah's nightclub in Las Vegas. I live in Vegas, and go to Cheetah's. He's a really nice guy, we've talked a few times. He used to bounce there before he started wresting, and when he was with WWE and they were in Vegas, Cheetah's girls were his Ho's on TV.
Jeff writes: I heard the Christian's European title win was cut from Smackdown due to the show running long. I don't think there was any other reasons for it, although with Bradshaw involved it's always possible the match was too horrible to show on television. Lance Storm was taking off tv around this time because the Alliance lost to the WWF at Survivor Series. He was "fired" with the rest of the Alliance, eventually getting his job back a month or two later.
Dan W writes: After seeing your article in reference to any toher siblings for Curt Hennig, I that he has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Only Jesse Hennig wrestled though. Here are some links with references to him and a quick overview.
Jesse Hennig debuted in June of 1984. He wrestled at the wieght of 210 pounds. He always wrestled under his real name of Jesse Hennig. In 1994, the PWI had him listed at Number 424. In 1995, the PWI had him listed at number 382.
Liam writes: "With HHH out and Rock still away making movies, the WWF desperately rushed out the plans for the WCW/WWF Invasion. Still wanting to prove himself as a heel, Austin politically maneuvered himself into the role as "leader" of the WCW (and later ECW) alliance alongside Stephanie and Shane McMahon. Fans were not entirely fond of this storyline either, as fans never associated Austin with either brands (though Austin did spend time with both companies) and Austin spent much of the angle belittling the WCW and ECW talent who made up The Alliance, which included Austin's "WHAT?" catchphrase which he would say after every sentence of his opponent. Fans still sometimes chant the phrase after pauses in other wrestlers' promos, most notably Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon's.
The "WHAT?" catchphrase actually originated when Austin was on the road. Completely bored, he left a 15 minute message to Christian's phone where the whole 'WHAT?!' chant started. He would say a sentence and go 'WHAT?!' after he paused."
MG writes: You weren't sure how much footage WWE would have of Bruiser Brody.
Apparently he did work in the WWWF until an arguement with Gorilla Monsoon. So there would be some footage there.
But Vince should have plenty of Brody from all the libraries the WWE has acquired over the years.
With WCW, apparently Vince got the Georgia Championship Wrestling footage. I don't know how much footage survived but Brody did work there. (I remember a classic interview where Brody came out and said, "As a gentlemen, let me shake your hand." to a surprised Gordon Solie. After shaking Gordon's hand, Brody said, "NOW as Bruiser Brody . . ." then went into his normal style of threatening his opponent.)
But the big difference in a Brody DVD would be the AWA and the recently acquired World Class tapes as Brody spent time in both organizations in the 80's. (Heel in AWA and face in World Class.)
Paul M wants to talk about Vader: I'm not really into wrestling anymore, just read the website sometimes. I was however a pretty big wrestling historian while I followed it, up until around 2001.
With Vader's title reign he was suppose to be Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam. But just before the event Shawn threw a fit and wouldn't go out if he had to lose the title. That is why Summerslam 1996 has that ridiculous ending, where Vader wins by count out, and then again by DQ before Shawn gets the pin. It was to build up the rematch, set to take place at Survivor Series, where Vader would win the title.
That is why at IYH Mind Games Shawn had a title match with Mankind, with little backstory. Vader interfered in the match, as did Undertaker. The match was just there to further each man's story lines. When Vader interfered, Sid came to the rescue of his friend Shawn.
At IYH Buried Alive Vader and Sid then wrestled to declare the Number One contender, and Sid won the match. Vader was suppose to win, but he suffered a heel injury and it wasn't assumed he would be able to wrestle a full singles match in a month. That is why Vader wrestled in a Survivor Series tag team match against Yokozuna's team. The match had no backstory and the Vader/Yokozuna storyline was suppose to have been finished, with Yokozuna even wrestling Steve Austin in the Free For All before Summerslam with no mention of the Vader fued continuing.
And, just as planned, Shawn DID drop the WWF title at Survivor Series.
It also explains the December In Your House PPV, It's Time. Which was Vader's catch phrase, and was suppose to be his first title defence.
That basically killed Vader's WWF career, since it stopped his main event momentum, and he never found a place in the picture again.
As for Kuwait, that happened in the Spring of 1997, not 1996.
Vader was also politiced out of the WWF Tag Titles. He was suppose to win them at WM13 with Mankind, but Bret Hart pulled a powerplay to keep them on Owen and Bulldog for the Hart Foundation reunion.
Paul M takes me to task for my Mania 4 thoughts: Just read the rest of the article. Don't get me wrong, I'd never want to write the article weekly, and I respect the effort and time it takes you to do it. But if you want to write an article that answers people's questions, either research the answers, or know facts. Just being a big wrestling fan, and figuring you're insider smart isn't goint to cut it, because people like me see your ridiculous mistakes and it discredits all your work.
WrestleMania 4 - Was suppose to have been won by Ted Dibiase.
The original plan was for Ted Dibiase to win the title back, after being stripped of it. Then he would defend it, and lose it, to Hogan at Summerslam 88. Then they have a big title match to kick off their new summer PPV.
However, just before the live Main Event in Feb. The Honky Tonk Man decided he wasn't going to lose the IC title to Savage yet. Savage snapped (as he was/is known to do) and told people he was going to kick in Honky Tonk Man's teeth on live national television. To avoid a disaster, Vince promised Savage the world title at WrestleMania.
Honky Tonk man has even talked about this, and has claimed at times it's because it's what he felt was best for business because he was drawing money, and Dibiase wasn't. Honky Tonk kept the title, but lost it in humilating fashion at SummerSlam 88, and was jobbed out for the rest of his career, instead of being able to ride on his heat.
When the brackets for the WrestleMania tournament were first released the matches were all the same, but in a different order. Hulk Hogan was to wrestle 4 times and be exausted in the finals. Dibiase would get his bye, which he got anyway, but was going to get it by paying off The One Man Gang. Then he could defeat Hogan in the finals on the excuse that Hogan was tired. That sets up the rematch. But of course everything changed, and the brackets were adjusted to give Savage the title.
Charles also doesn't like it You're way off about WM IV. It's been widely reported, by Dave Meltzer and even documented in Scott Keith's first book, that Dibiase actually was scheduled to win the WM IV tourney. But plans changed when Honky Tonk Man refused to job his IC title to Randy Savage at The Main Event NBC special a couple months before 'Mania. Honky threated to walk out and take the IC belt with him to the NWA. Vince actually balked and kept the title on Honky. Thus, as a reward for failing to get the IC title as promised, Savage was given the world title win at Mania. Thus, instead of heel Dibiase getting the belt and building towards a loss to either Savage or Hogan at Summerslam, Savage wins and we get Mega-Bucks vs. Megapowers and Hogan-Savage at 'Mania V. This is a widely known story and makes perfect sense. There was really no other truly qualified and over wrestlers to hold the title in '88 besides Savage and Dibiase. Hogan was taking time off and Andre couldn't work a full schedule. Hope this helps.
My response: I just spent a LOT of time researching this stuff, so oftentimes I find my ability to believe sources or, more specifically, wrestlers, is compromised. I've looked into this topic more and more and looked at what people base their belief in this angle, and I still don't buy it. Here is the synposis I've found so far.
1) Honky said it was going to happen, in a shoot interview
2) DiBiase said it was going to happen, in a shoot interview
3) Meltzer and Scott Keith reported it was supposed to happen, based on the above two sources.
Here is my response to that:
1) Honky is a known Vince hater, and therefore has little credibility in terms of what was supposed to happen.
2) DiBiase hated Vince up until he needed a job, therefore I would also say he was suspect and very enbittered towards the product
4) Meltz and Keith's report therefore has siginificant credibility issues
Beyond that, this supposed "confirmed" booking idea does not take into account Hogan's refusal to job to anyone smaller than him (Even if he were "tired"), a severe lack of main events into the future with the belt on DiBiase, Vince and Hogan's claim that it was time to go into a "different direction" (why can't they be telling the truth, versus these guys?), and my aforementioned "heels don't win the big show" theory that would continue for another 12 years.
I think we can happily agree to disagree on this one. I am going to address this issue in next week's column. I would be willing to accept the idea that Hogan refused to lay down to Ted, and therefore they changed things around. That fits the period and the logic. But Honky impacting the whole deal? Very suspect.
Thanks to everyone else who chimmed in their opinions on this subject!
Time for Ask 20 Questions!
The Jza writes: Firstly, I've heard alot of references to snakes on a plane lately - What the hell is that about?!
The other thing that is alot more wrestling related, is I have heard alot about Sandman having done time and being a badass before he started wrestling, but I haven't been able to find any specifics on his early life. Anything you can find about about Sandman's early life before he started wrestling would be cool.
Ask 411: Snakes on a Plane is a movie with Samuel L. Jackson with one of the coolest titles ever. CLICKIE
As far as the Sandman goes, there is nothing specific about his early life available (at least confirmed) other than him being a bad, bad boy. I suspect there is a good amount of truth in the WWE version of things, that admits to him spending time in jail for bar brawling and the like. At least he never robbed a Wendy's, KING BOOKER!
Tony writes: Was watching The American Dream: The Dusty Rhodes Story. On the footage there from the early 1990's in the then-WWF was an announcer named as Sean Mooney. I'd forgotten all about him, but recalled him as soon as I saw his face and heard his voice. Only now I'm curious if Sean "Mooney" from then is now the same as Fox News' Sean Hannity. They look alike and sound exactly the same. Did Sean Hannity moonlight as Sean Mooney for the WWE before he made it into mainstream journalism?
Ask 411:They are not the same person, although Mooney did spend some time working for a local fox Affliate in New York City. Mooney is always remembered by some, many for his crappiness. Same goes for Pettengil, his replacement. Apparently Mooney now runs his own production company, called Moonrise productions.
Paul asks: I was last night watching a best of X Division dvd and on said dvd Juventud Guerra (if that is spelt wrong it coz i dont speak Spanish....) lost the X Cup to Chris Sabin, during the course of the tournament The Juice uses a version of the Rock Bottom and what could be described as a version of the People's Elbow.... i was wondering if you know what his beef with The Great One is coz i find it hard to believe it was done out of respect.
Actually, while ive got you here... i noticed that when this was all filmed in 2003 they were still useing the 4 sided ring, i know they use the 6 sided ring in TNA now to be different and unique but i dont know when or how they made the decision to change, was it when they changed from NWATNA to just TNA?? Please give me the history lesson i obviously need...
Ask 411: Juvi started doing a spoof on the Rock, because, in reality, The Rock started it! When Rock and Jericho were doing a verbal duel in Jericho's early WWF days in 1999, The Rock insulted Jericho by saying that he was "working with some jabroni named Juventud" when The Rock was making his own name in the Fed. Of course, Jericho sold this with anger, and it was a huge rib on Juvi (whom, I suspect, no one really likes in wrestling, including his ex-Mexicool buddies).
As a result of this, WCW started Juvi doing "The Juice", which was a Rock ripoff, including catchphrases and a few movesets. Hopefully I've got the timeline right on this, but I'm pretty sure Rock started it! I don't think there are any real heat-feelings behind it.
As far as TNA goes, they stopped using the name NWA-TNA in 2004 in order to simplify things, but still retain the rights to the NWA titles despite their non-official status with the organization. The 6-sided ring made its debut in early June, 2004.
Joe asks: I'd also like to know what was the deal with the original WWF Light Heavyweight title;When was it created,why wasn't it acknowledged on WWF TV,and why was it only defended in Mexico and Japan.
Ask 411: From what can discern, the WWF had a working relationship with the UWA, a Mexican promotion, and created the title in order to give their company some credibility. As a result, it bounced around Mexico and Japan through their channels, but was not designed to be a part of WWF storylines. Heck – we all know Vince loved the roidheads back then! In fact, various reports have Ohtani being forced by Vince to vacate the old title in order to start the 1997 version back up again. Can you believe they really cared???
Another Joe asks: 1.I remember a while back hearing about a WCW PPV in Germany or something well in the main event it said WCW European Cup Champion Sting beat Kevin Nash.Can I get some info on this cup?
2.Can I get some info on this "Samoan Joe" guy.Cause I saw this(http://prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/australia/newzealand.html) and now I'm wondering who is he and what happened too him.
Ask 411: Absolutely no idea on "Samoan" Joe – maybe someone reading this can help us out.
As far as the WCW European Cup goes – Sting has actual won it twice. He won it in 1994 (probably when it meant a lot more), and then again in 2000. It took place Nov 16th, 2000, when Sting beat Mike Awesome and Kevin Nash in a three-way for the cup. Sounded kind of like a nothing show:
1. Kwee Wee [w/ Paisly] def. Elix Skipper
2. Battle Royal for the European Cup: Winner Mike Awesome. Other participants: Mark Jindrak, Sean O'Haire, Shane Douglas, The Cat, Mike Sanders, Lance Storm, Norman Smiley, Alex Wright, Kronik, Disqo, Rey Mysterio, Jr., Konnan, Elix Skipper, General Rection, Kwee Wee, Fit Finlay, Bam Bam Bigelow.
3. US championship: General Rection def. Lance Storm (ch) (DQ)
4. Oktoberfest hardcore match: Norman Smiley def. Fit Finlay
5. Winner is commissioner of WCW: The Cat def. Mike Sanders
6. Tagteam championship: Alex Wright & General Rection def. Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire (ch)
7. European Cup qualifying match, three-way match: Kevin Nash def. Alex Wright, Mike Awesome (battle royal winner) Winner Kevin Nash advancd to finals
8. WCW championship: Booker T (ch) def. Scott Steiner
9. European Cup championship: Sting (ch) def. Kevin Nash (winner of three-way match)
Stone C asks: I've read in HBKs book that hes heard of other swerves to get rid of the title, were there ever other swerves to get the title off someone besides the Montreal Scrwejob?
Ask 411:I think that there were actually tons of these back in the day, but this was a phenomenon that kind of faded away once you reached the 1980s. That's why the old NWA champions were typically "Shooters" who could win the legit way, incase funny stuff started to go down.
Some people claim that Michael's win over Bulldog in England for the Euro Title was a screwjob, but I don't buy it.
The other one that I know of, but again there is so doubt, happened in Nov 1985 when Moolah beat Wendi Richter to win the Women's Title back. Some claim this was a legit screw, but again, if it happens on TV it's a work, so I don't know. Look up that title switch for details.
Smithy84 asks: do you have any idea what happened to the following guys; Too Cold Scorpio, Joker, Ric Blade, and Matt Morgan?
Ask 411: 2-Cold wrestles almost exclusively in Japan and Europe these days. I think he may even live over in Europe somewhere. He was on the other ECW reunion show in 2005. Not sure why he doesn't gig here in N. America, but he's got a pretty decent push over there. Joker is still listed as working the Indies around the US. Matt Morgan was rumoured to be heading back to the fed because of the roid policy (they wanted legit bigmen), but so far hasn't been signed back up. He's been spending his days working for NJPW. I've found no info on the status of Ric Blade.
Tony writes: 1. Is Eric actually responsible for the fall of WCW? From what i take off of "Monday Night Wars" DVD, Bischoff had been released and that it was actually Russo who had put the knife through WCW.
2. What is Bischoff up to these days? Is he still contracted with WWE or what?
Ask 411: Bisch is still under contract but I have no idea whether or not they plan to bring him back. I know he was rumoured to bring back 3-Minute Warning, but then Rosey got released and UUUUUUUUUUUUUMAGGGAAAA showed up. It was also rumoured he'd be GM again, but then Vince decided he still wanted to be in the main event storyline so that was dropped. When his contract ends, I have no idea. But for the moment, he could be brought back at anytime. I honestly believe it's time to give Bisch a creative role, at least try a new way of booking things.
Stephen asks: My name is Stephen, and I was wondering in all of Triple H's feud's and title regins he had why was Triple H never been booked in like a big "fight" type situation like they've done countless times for Rock vs Austin, and Brock and Taker, or Rock and Brock? Also, another question why was Triple H never recognized for having those great feud's with the Rock when you hear about his feud's they always talk about him and Austin, or him and Micheals. What about the on'es with Foley, Rock, or Taker for that matter?
Ask 411: Well, even though he did feud with Rock, he never had a good, clean 1-2-3 win over him, other than his I-C Title win at Summerslam 98. They never had a big match at a big show (well I guess he never did against Austin either, other than a great 2 of 3 falls at No Way Out 2001), and typically won his matches against the Rock via megacheating (such as WM16 main event). I always felt that Hunter could have had a great Mania match, 1 on 1 with Rock, but I guess we'll have to wait for the movie career to die down before we see that again. They do put him over for retiring Foley though – all the freakin' time.
Mark writes: i was just wondering what ever happened to d-lo brown. did he fall out of favor in the WWE after the unfortunate incident with droz?
one other old school question....back in the good 'ol days of WCW on TBS, nikita koloff used to always end his promos with some phrase (presumably in russian) which i won't even attempt to replicate. do you have any idea what the phrase meant?
Ask 411: I honestly think that D'lo did lose his status with the company because of his incident with Droz (even though they both were at fault for it), and honestly, I don't blame them one bit. Who wants to work with a guy who paralyzed someone? Well that being said, Kenzo Suzuki and Khali have both killed people in the ring, so I guess if you're big and Vince gets a boner for you, you can get exemptions from that rule. D'lo did stick around for a big longer, but overall lost his push. I would have thought he could have been huge in TNA, but he chose Japan in the long run.
As far as Koloff goes, I can't find the exact quote, but his website is at CLICKIE. Why don't you ask him?
Roadwarriorkev asks: At summerslam 88, Warrior beat Honky Tonk Man in seconds for the IC gold. Warrior was a stand-in for Beefcake who forfeited due to 'injuries' caused by Ron Bass. Was Bruti ever supposed to fight in the match or was it just a dupe and always planned for Warrior to be the replacement?
Ask 411: There is no evidence that Brutus was ever really scheduled to be there, one way or the other. Sure – it could have been a last minute change in plans, but do you really think that Brutus was going to go over Honky on that show? After his looong reign? I doubt it. I think it was an intentional swerve to pop the Warrior character.
HazMatt asks: At Slammiversary, Scott Steiner cut a promo saying how he beat John Cena, Triple H, etc...
I was discussing this with a friend. Steiner only showed up after the Brand Extension and was on Raw for the entire duration. Cena, until recently, after Steiner's dismissal, was on Smackdown.
Did the two ever actually wrestle each other on a televised program? Or is this some house show event Steiner is referring to?
Ask 411: Well as far as Triple H goes, you know that they had a long feud, but in reality, Steiner got jobbed out hardcore and it ruined his entire tenure. As TNA is proving, Steiner can still be effective as a heel. Vince never let him really do that.
As far as Cena goes? Steiner did make a few appearances on SD before he was officially "signed" to RAW after Steph wouldnt hump the "Big Bad Booty Daddy", but I find no evidence he touched Cena. So I would say that Steiner has a bit of a funny memory!
Scooby asks: When people mention Vince McMahon and failed projects they always bring up the XFL and the WBF. I know what the XFL is but what is the WBF and why did it fail?
Ask 411: I think Wikipedia best explains this one:
"Vince McMahon created the WBF as competition to the long established International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB).
In 1990, McMahon initially denied that he was starting a bodybuilding organization, instead stressing that he was only starting a magazine called Bodybuilding Lifestyles. He hired famed bodybuilding personality Tom Platz to oversee the publication.
The magazine secured a booth at the IFBB Mr. Olympia contest held on September 15, 1990 in Chicago, IL. At the conclusion of that competition, the booth handed out press releases announcing the WBF's formation. The press release stated that the WBF would "revamp professional bodybuilding with dramatic new events and the richest prize money in the history of the sport." It also mentioned that Tom Platz would be Director of Talent Development for the organization.
McMahon announced at the company's unveiling on January 30, 1991 in New York's Plaza Hotel that the WBF had signed thirteen competitors, many IFBB regulars, to long-term contracts: Aaron Baker, Mike Christian, Vince Comerford, David Dearth, Berry DeMey, Johnnie Morant, Danny Padilla, Tony Pearson, Jim Quinn, Mike Quinn, Eddie Robinson, Gary Strydom, and Troy Zuccolotto. They were dubbed the "WBF BodyStars."
The first competition aired June 15, 1991 live on pay-per-view from Atlantic City, NJ and was met with mixed reviews. Critics noted that the WBF's attempt at developing characters for each BodyStar went against Vince McMahon's initial promise to keep professional wrestling away from bodybuilding. To promote the show, both the WBF BodyStars and the WWF Superstars appeared on a series of Family Feud episodes. Regis Philbin was brought in to co-host the event with McMahon and Bobby Heenan.
It was announced in a private meeting with BodyStars that because Vince McMahon was under federal suspicion for steroid distribution, the second competition would have to be drug-free. Former television personality and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno had just signed with the WBF and immediately left the company upon hearing this news.
Many BodyStars were unable to get their bodies clean before the June 1992 competition in Long Beach, CA that aired live on pay-per-view. It resulted in the physiques of several competitors appearing less than acceptable. This damaged McMahon's reputation in the eyes of the bodybuilding community. Professional wrestler Lex Luger was scheduled to compete on this show as a guest performer but was involved in a motorcycle accident prior to the event. He was instead interviewed via satellite during the live pay-per-view broadcast.
Vince McMahon called the owners of IFBB on July 15, 1992 and announced that the WBF was disbanding."
All I can say is: YOU F'D UP! YOU F'D UP!
Savva asks: But Ive heard it mentioned that certain wrestlers actually read reviews of their matches online to gauge the response... Even going as far as refusing to believe their match was any good until reading the views of the IWC.
Is this true & do you know of the wrestlers & instances on when this has happened??
Ask 411: Oh yeah, this happens quite a bit. There was a very public spat between Chris Jericho and the IWC over his matches with RVD a while back. Although I really suspect that Jericho was just working the net to be a bigger heel (since the IWC was the ones who got him over in the first place, DADDYO!), that's one instance. I think every worker does read in some way, and just about everyone respects Meltz's match ratings over at the Observer.
NYGroover asks: You probably never thought you would get this question, but what happened to Alex Wright? I was always a fan of his and thought he was funny. I also thought he was a great wrestler too and now that I think about it, I am very surprised that the WWE never picked him up. He is one of the reasons why I miss WCW. Alex Wright and wrestlers like him were always made great side show attractions and were just entertaining to watch in a jobber match before the main event. They just don't make upper level jobbers like they used too.
Ask 411: I'm not shocked – Berlyn killed his career, and guys like Austin & co always badmouthed the guy.
There is only one listed match for him after WCW's closing, so I would suspect he's finished with wrestling. If anyone else knows differently, drop me a line.
Hiphopshuvit asks: What actually happened between Chris Jericho and Goldberg? Also I read that there was a picture from the fight and if there is could you put it on a link so I could see it? And does Trish Stratus have a boyfreind or husband?
Ask 411: I've heard that Trish is either married or getting married soon. I've never heard of pictures from the incident.
The Goldberg/Jericho feud is an interesting one, that is for sure.
Jericho was one of the hottest commodities in WCW, but couldn't get a push up the card because of the politics at the top. So, he figured out other ways to get over. Strong promos, best matches, etc. One other way he came up to get more exposure was to offer himself up to get crushed by Bill Goldberg during Bill's streak. Because Chris was such a strong promo, he felt like he could work a TV feud with Bill, where he'd use his humour in order to get fans to care about an actual payoff match, either as a main event on Nitro, or a PPV match. This lead to Jericho beating Bill by countout (Bill wasn't there), beating a Midget, etc. The usual heel-humour fare. Jericho even was claiming that he had a winning streak against "Greenberg", leading to the confrontation. However, the story goes that Hogan and/or Nash got in Bill's ear, and started the Vanilla midget talk, and Bill cancelled the payoff match. This, of course, was one of the biggest factors that lead Jericho to jump ship to WWF, leading to the end of WCW. It really is a huge part of the Monday Night Wars.
As far as their legit fight goes, Jericho finally had a chance to get in Bill's face and ask him about the situation, which lead to a brief fight backstage. It did not really go anywhere, and afterwards the two worked a program together where Jericho finally did the J.O.B. to big Billy.
Conor writes: I was reading the book "Sex,Lies and Headlocks" and it stated that if Hogan had of back out of the NWO angle in the last second then the plan was for Sting to be the third man and join Hall and Nash.I wanna know if this is true. Also if so, I think it would of been a complete flop cause Sting like Steamboat as just being a babyface is the only way to go!!
Ask 411: I totally disagree that it couldn't have worked with Sting'r, but it wouldn't have worked as well that's for sure.
As far as the story goes, as far as I know it's 100% legit. Bisch did have a backup plan in case Hogan went into business for himself, or even no-showed the event. But, even Hogan realized he needed to turn, and from what I've heard Hogan was the guy who pushed himself into the angle in the first place! Hogan always knows when its time to latch onto the newest cool thing, much like David Bowie.
But as far as Bisch having Sting ready to go? I think it's legit. I've also heard a version that had Lex as the third member, but I don't think that would holds much weight.
Matt writes: my question is about Ric Flair. When he was in WCW they billed him as a 14 time World Champ. Today in WWE they bill him as a 16 time Champ. And I read on the Internet that he has hold 22 World Titles but some of his reigns want unlisted. So my question is this-how many times did Ric Flair hold a world title.
Ask 411: The # of times that Ric held the World Title as far as recognized reigns go is 16. 14 NWA/WCW Titles, and 2 WWF Titles. The extra, unlisted reigns are due to title switches outside of the US that were not recognized by the NWA. These include Puerto Rico and Japan. This is a common practice in wrestling, as oftentimes they put over the local guy just to pop the crowd, with the original champ winning the title back on the following show. I'm sure there are tons out there with most major titles. Check out Flair's book for a retelling of some of these stories.
Chris writes: I was surfing the pages of Obsessed with Wrestling not too long ago, and came across the page of one Jerry Lawler. When I scrolled down to the titles section, I was quite amazed. That's a lot of titles. I actually didn't even bother to count, take a look yourself. But I was wondering, is that some kind of record?
Ask 411: Probably, but I don't count it. One cannot hold a record for World Title wins, when you're the freakin' BOOKER/OWNER of the fed you're winning them in!
Lord O asks:My question is, back in the Yokozuna / Bret Hart / Lex
Luger days, I remember a series of promos talking about "Wrestlemania X Revenge", and the two top matches they were announcing were: Lex Luger vs. Crush and a returning Typhoon vs. Yokozuna. I remember that I was expecting these matches, even when I knew they were going to bore me to death, I really wanted to see
what was going to happen since we were finally getting rid of the america vs. japan (call that Lex vs. Yoko) storyline. So I waited and waited, and eventually, I think I saw Typhoon vs. Yokozuna at a Monday Night RAW but I didn't catch any Lex vs. Crush match, and my question (finally) is: did wrestlemania x revenge happen? and what were the other matches for that evening?
I have a couple more questions, short and easy:
- How many times was Yokozuna pinned? besides Hogan at
WMIX and Bret at WMX?
- What happened to Adam Bomb?
Ask 411: Adam Bomb/Bryan Clarke (no-relation), last made an appearance in the WWF during the Invasion, and was subsequently sent to OVW because his suck-diddly-ucked. He refused the demotion and was released from the company. Last anyone heard, he was inactive due to injuries. If anyone has updated info, please pass along.
Yokozuna lost at the '93 Survivor Series, but I don't think he was pinned.
Yokozuna lost in a Casket Match to Taker in Nov 94
Yoko lost again @ Survivor Series 95
I remember Yoko being pinned by Steve Austin after the ropes breaking, but I cannot find what show that happened on.
Vader, of course, subsequently destroyed Yoko and ended his WWF career.
Overall – I say Yoko was the best big-man ever, even if his career was relatively short.
THAT'S IT FOR THIS WEEK! Storyime /w Uncle Xavier Doom will return next week.
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Every week, I will answer 20 questions regarding professional wrestling. It can be on any topic – new, old, national, international, whatever. You can even ask me IWC questions if you so desire, I will do my best to hunt down the answers. The column will also be filled with humour, commentary, and occasional ranting. It also may not be P.C. – so be forewarned!
This column will be appearing every Wednesday afternoon. I will not hesitate to open up questions to the audience if I am stumped, and I will provide "errata" warnings if I'm proven to have been smokin' da pipe.
All questions and responses should be directed to cjc739@mail.usask.caM. I would be happy to hear from you on any topic at all.
And I guess that's it for now – no gimmicks, no silly lists of rules – just send me some darn email. This is about the free-exchange of information – nothing more, nothing less. Let's just have some freakin' fun and actually publish this column with some sort of consistency. To do that – I NEED YOUR HELP! SEND IN YOUR QUESTIONS!
