Ask 411 Wrestling 08.02.06: Merch, RVD, DLo, Droz, More...
Posted by Chris Clarke on 08.02.2006
Finally - a screwjob free week. We get down and dirty with some "What if" questions, a couple of "where are theys" and even a few "how muches"?!! All that and more in this week's Ask 411!
Hey yo.
Time for another wonderful edition of Ask 411. Thank you all for your questions, as I've got a bunch in the que and am always looking for more. Keep on sending them in please, and don't ever hesitate to write in corrections!
Errata:
Jim points out something funny: I don't really have a question for you, but I had to drop you a line in
response to Daddy Long's comments regarding Dusty Rhodes.In the SAME PARAGRAPH he takes you to task for "implying" Rhodes dislike for blacks and then he immediately follows that by saying this about Tom
Zenk....."unfortunately he's usually described as the type that would dig a needle out of a trash can and says a lot of fictional things". WOW, talk about empty conjecture, the kettle calling the pot black (sorry
about the pun), etcetcetc. I don't have the faintest clue about Rhodes or Zenk, but I do love irony and that was a classic! I wonder if he even picked up on that......?
Anyway, keep up the good work, take care!
Manu points out a few:
wow, did you piss long off or what?
"Venis and Godfather WERE a team, for quite a few months too, I think in about 1999. (Ed note: my comment was that they were never a named team)"
Actually....I think they were called "Supply and Demand" when they teamed up, or at least referenced that on-screen once. It was too obvious not to mention it.
"Beefcake was definitely being built up to take the title from Honky at SS, but that is when he suffered his parasailing injury. (Ed note: Not sure if they were at the same time, or if it happened later actually )"
I believe the parasailing accident was when he was supposed to face Mr. Perfect for the title, and was replaced by "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich. I remember thinking at the time "Poor Brutus. This is twice he had a chance to win the title, each time he got taken out, and his replacement won it instead"
Regarding the Montreal Screwjob, I've always wondered how stripping Bret of the title and "suspending" him would devalue the title (exposing the business, etc), but having the owner stand at ringside and demand the end to a fictious battle, BEFORE he was a heel owner, didnt. It would be one thing if the timekeeper was in on it, that way, earl could call for the bell without vince even being down there, and it would've come across as part of the show instead of a break from script. I vote work. Too bad bret cant wrestle anymore.
"- Sean Waltman single-handedly brought WWF back from the brink /w his "Bischoff has his head up Hogan's ass" promo."
Single-handedly? no, i'm not buying it. WWE had a lot going in its favor, xpac was just one of the pieces.
Brock found Daphne!: Anyways, was reading and you mentioned the whole bit about
Daffney/Daphney/Shannon Spruill and the fact she's "somewhere".
wrestlebirmingham.com
That's where she is. And the only reason I know of that place is because my we used to work with some of the guys down there when we ran the circuit in that neck of the woods. She's going for their junior
heavyweight/cruiserweight strap at the moment.
Mel explains the X-Calibur rumour: Hoo-whee, man. That's a chestnut I haven't seen put into play for a good five or six years! But believe it or not, there's actually a somewhat substantial REASON behind it, unlike the ninety-eight percentile of idiotic and completely wacky rumors that get started within the dreg-ranks of the IWC.
Basically, you can blame wrestling video games for it. AKI and THQ were readying their WWF Wrestlemania 2000 title for the N64 around the time, and images of the wrestler selection screen began to leak onto the internet. For some inexplicable reason, amidst all of the clearly-identifiable characters, was an undefined placeholder character called "X-CALIBER". Since it was pretty common knowledge that Jericho was on his way out the door in WCW and preparing to make his splashdown for Vince, the smarks put two and two together and decided that AKI had accidentally pulled back the curtain on a new gimmick for Chris prematurely.
Of course, it turned out to just be something to fill the dead space on the promotional images, and the rest is archaic history. But thanks for the chuckle!
Syx explains the sXe movement:
Having just recently become a CM Punk fan myself, but been interested in the Straight Edge movement for awhile, I'd just like to pass on that there is nothing odd about the casual sex. sXe was started more about personal choice, but even after it became more of a movement not everyone gave up the sex (wonder why...). So, CM isn't really bending any rules, because it's his own personal code-heck, the originators of sXe, Minor Threat, used to drink alcohol sometimes...
And some people who call themselves sXe like to smash beer bottles out of people's hands. Whatever works for you I guess. That lucky, lucky, lucky CM f'n Punk. Viva Maria!
Craig breaks down the parasailing accident in Beefcake's history!: Late '87-Early '88: Hogan ready to take a break, Savage getting mega-hot as a face, Honky Tonk Man contract up. Original plan for DiBiase to get world title (although not necessarily at the WM4 tournament), Savage to win back IC title
February '88: Hogan loses to Andre. HTM refuses to job IC title to anyone, Savage recast into world title, Million Dollar Belt created for DiBiase as (admittedly poor) compensation
WrestleMania 4, March '88: Savage wins world title beating DiBiase in final. HTM retains IC title with pretty weak DQ loss to Beefcake
March '88-August '88: HTM re-signs with WWF. Beefcake slated to finally win IC title from HTM with big squash match at SumemrSlam '88. Ultimate Warrior plays politics & gets given the IC title, squash match & big push instead, although by this time WWF were a little unsure about giving Beefcake the title anyway. "Injury" angle with Outlaw Ron Bass gets Beefcake out of the planned title match with HTM at SS '88
SummerSlam '88 (August): Warrior beats HTM in squash match in around 30 seconds
August '88-April '90: Beefcake still very popular, still in IC title mix
WrestleMania 6, April '90: Beefcake given Mr Perfect's first "recognised" loss in the WWF: clean pinfall - prior to this, only Hogan has beaten Mr Perfect, only on house shows, usually DQ endings
April '90-July '90: Beefcake build up for IC title win over Mr Perfect at SummerSlam '90
July 4, 1990: Beefcake parasailing accident
Papa Shango's lovechild recalls Amy Weber's firing: Amy Weber got fired after the trip to Japan where a few wrestlers, JBL included, were handed promotional cards for local strip bars as they were walking around town. One of the pictures on the card was of Amy Weber. This lead to JBL repeated refering to her as a 'whoooooore' backstage and ultimate WWE and Weber went their own ways...
Mooomba
Jed points out something else about the Higher Power:
In your latest column, a fan, Chris Williams, points out that the Higher Power storyline was messed up due to Vince Russo leaving the WWE. Mayhap you should print a correction, because Mssr. Williams has his timeline all screwed up.
The Higher Power storyline peaked in the spring of 1999. In April or May, I believe (I don't have it front of me, but I wrote a column of mine own on this a couple years back on this very sites, so I'm drawing from memory), was the big reveal of the Higher Power.
Vince Russo left the WWE in September of 1999. Kind of hard for Vince Russo's leaving for WCW to affect storylines five months prior.
TIME FOR A SET OF QUESTIONS!
Lycanthrokeith asks Do wrestlers (in general) get percentages from sales of merchandise bearing their likenesses (such as action figures and T-shirts)? Is it an automatic in most contracts, or would it only be offered to higher drawing talent? I?m sure there are federation-specific differences; are any of them especially glaring (does TNA offer higher percentages than WWE, etc.)?
In the same vein, would a wrestler who owns the rights to his ring name (Sting, Raven, Diamond Dallas Page, Ric Flair) or wrestles under his real name (John Cena, Kurt Angle) be able to negotiate a higher percentage for its use? Does having an attached nickname made up by the company (?Stone Cold,? For example) lessen this leverage at all?
Finally, what about general purpose merchandise with likenesses or names? If WWE sold a toy replica of the IC belt, for example, the profits would go straight to the company. But what about a toy replica of, say, the Smackdown World Title that happened to include a Kurt Angle nameplate? Would Kurt then be entitled to a percentage of the revenue from that item? What about action figures in the wrestlers? likenesses?
Ask 411 This is a complicated question! I'll attempt to answer succinctly.
Wrestlers are subcontractors when they are hired by any company. Therefore, as much as the company may own what they do with those people, it is still their physical presence that makes that character or product work. Therefore, all wrestlers get some kind of percentage for being used in any way. Vince typically allows all wrestlers to be involved in the design of their products and merch as well, as another way to boost their pay. This way, Vince can offer a lower downside guarantee. This is one of the ways in which Steve Austin became so rich he designed all of his shirts.
As far as wrestlers coming with their own name I do not believe that allows them greater use and payment. I believe that the wrestler signs all of those rights over to Vince, with the exception of Vince owning the name.
I do believe that in any case, if one's name is being used, Vince is paying them something for it.
Lycanthrokeith continues During the original ECW run, why was the world title put on everyone with a pulse EXCEPT for the obvious choice: Rob Van Dam? He was mad over, and Paul Heyman had to know he could get the buyrates and ratings up. It mystifies me to this day.
Ask 411: that has a lot to do with the fact that RVD was the champ waiting in the wings. Paul knew he could stretch out Rob's run to the title over a very long period of time if he wanted, so that's what he was going to do. Plus Rob was drawing well as the TV champ, even above and beyond what some of the Heavyweight champs were doing (especially Awesome). But then, Rob got hurt, and then Rob stopped showing up for work because Paul owed him 150K in back pay.
So as much as one can look back and say "why wasn't Rob champ?" it because of circumstance not wanting to blow the load too early, injury and ultimately the death of the company that stopped it. Isn't it funny that Rob himself killed his own reign too?
Lycanthrokeith continuesWhat was the reason behind Jacques ? The Mountie? Rougeau?s 48-hour IC title reign back in ?92 at the expense of Bret Hart? I remember the details: He won it at a house show (immediately suspicious; did this actually occur?) by shock-sticking Hart (who was reported to have the flu and a 104 degree fever, which would hospitalize mere mortals!), lost it to Roddy Piper at the Royal Rumble (for his first title ever), who then dropped it back to Hart in an admittedly decent Wrestlemania 8 match. The question is, of all people there, why Rougeau, and why the transitional champion treatment? Repayment for the humiliation of doing the ?Jailhouse Match? stuff from Summerslam, maybe?
Ask 411: from what anyone can tell me, the flu/illness/injury thing for Bret may have some truth in it. He was a transition champ, and as you said, it led to a very solid match at Mania. So it all worked out for the best. As far as it being a reward? Maybe. He did have a lot of heat so why not?
Lycanthrokeith continuesHere?s another ?if?: If Darren Drosdov had not suffered his neck injury, where would both he and D-Lo Brown be now in their careers? I remember WWE being pretty high on both guys at the time of the accident. Would that strong outlook have continued?
Ask 411 To be honest, Droz wasn't going to be more than a mid-card act. He was a freak show with a silly gimmick. He wasn't that competent in the ring, and wasn't a promo to speak of. I honestly think that Droz would likely not have survived some kind of roster cut within a year or two of his injury.
D'lo is a different story I honestly think that they had aspiration of an upper-midcard, potential main-eventer status for D'lo. They liked his look, his style and his abilities. However his confidence was totally shot after he hurt D'lo, so he wasn't going to make it. Plus, if you go back and look at a lot of his matches I think D'lo was dangerous in the ring. Go back and watch Dlo vs. Val Venis at Summerslam 98 he drops Val right on his head.
Evan writesI've noticed that the WWE has been missusing alot of their more charismatic talents such as Carlito, Booker T (whos finally getting a push) and Matt Hardy. Do you think that any of these men, or any other underused talent, will gain a push/title rain over the other veterans to gain new stars and better feuds?
Ask 411 well Booker is now, as you say, really getting a big push. Isn't it ironic though, that both Edge and Booker got to where they were because they had women that people wanted to boo?? As far as them with long title reigns - Booker is going to job to Batista before too long, Carlito is a work in progress, and Matt Hardy is getting punished for working his own angle outside of the creative team. I'm sure the fed is mainly keeping Matt around on the hope of getting Jeff back in the fold someday soon the merch pays off for the headaches!!!
Bruce Anderson asksMy all time favorite, thought, is Billy Robinson. Do you know if there is any plans for a career DVD on Billy? Do you know of any way to get a message of appreciation to him?
Ask 411 I highly doubt it for the DVD. At least not for a long time. If anyone has a contact for Billy, please pass it along!
Larry misses some people What ever happened to: Doug Furnas and Phillip Lafon, Mass transit, Ron Waterman, Zach Gowan?
Ask 411 I believe Furnas and Lafon are retired for the most part, Lafon especially due to injuries sustained outside the ring. Furnas I can find no record of where he's ended up. Mass Transit is dead, died a few years ago. Ron Waterman is still doing MMA, and got beaten by a fat, fat man just last week. Zac is still tooling around the indies.
HRV27 asks why is goldust always getting released? they sign him then they say that they don't have an angle or storyline for him and release him and then they sign him back and the release him for the same reason and they they sign him back and they do the same thing over and over.
Ask 411 It's nepotism pure and simple. The same could be asked by the Road Warriors kept getting shots even though they were waaay out of their prime. Their family members are either management, or in tight with management. It's the Greg Gagne/Erik Watts syndrome if you've got genetics, you must have money in you somewhere!!! Why do you think David Flair got ANOTHER shot in OVW? Daddy! Why does Goldust keep getting rehired? HIS DAD IS A WRITER!
Jason asks:When the WWE was asking former wrestlers to sign a "Legends" contract or something to that effect, is there any indication of how much money, if any, these wrestlers received as compensation or royalties? Also, does the Honky Tonk Man still refuse to participate in such a promotion? Please provide more details surrounding the Legends program if at all possible, if it even still exists. Thanks.
Ask 411 I'm not sure what their downside guarantee but the baseline is that Vince plans to use their likeness in order to expand merchandise surrounding them. This allows them to do a better job promoting DVDs, action figures, and even classic T-Shirts to the fanbase. It just allows them to diversify their available products. Some, like Duggan, are being used in a physical way, whereas others like Graham, are able to finally make a living again after years of living off the system. I'd like to think that Vince is also doing it as a way to pay some of these guys back for years of suffering, but I'm not sure if I believe myself when I say it!
And yes, Honky refuses. He believes that he'd lose control over his gimmick if he did (ie: not be able to use the name on the Indies)
Simmons asksVince obviously has a thing for the Spirit Squad. Since they appear to be headed toward fixtures on Raw, I have a few questions about them. Who are they? WHat are their experience ranges in the buisness? Does the WWE have any plans on what they expect from these guys? WIll these guys be the next mean street posse or is there talent there that most fans are missing?
Secondly, with the rebirth of ECW, do you see the possibilities of any CZW guys signing with WWE? I am a fan of the promotion. I know they have sniffed around Nick Berk before. Do you see any possibilities for CZW talent making its way into ECW?
Ask 411: As far as ECW goes I think the answer is pretty clear. ECW is not anything more than a cross-promotional sight for the current WWE style and product. It's no different, so no thinking outside the box allowed!!
As far as the Spirit Squad goes, they are on their way to breaking up now, but for whatever reason they hit it pretty big. Mitch, is actually a loser from the SD-only Tough Enough competition. Nick Mitchell. The rest are OVW developmental talents.
Here are their profiles for everyone's further knowledge!
This is a new feature to Ask 411, via the now defunct Fink's Payload. Here are the rules: A Ref Bump is defined by anytime a Ref has to sell a physical action in the context of a match. We only count Ref Bumps which occur on televised shows (so no house shows) which include: Raw, Smackdown!, , Heat, and any Pay-Per-View. NOW INCLUDED: ECW PRODUCT! Every week we will update the meter with new entrants, if at anytime you think we missed one, please feel free to suggest some to us.
So, the Ref-Bump-O-Meter for 2006 stands at: 47 + =
This week:
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Every week, I will answer a number of questions (schedule permitting) 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.ca. 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!
