Ask 411 Wrestling 08.23.06: Lesnar, Hassan, Sting/HOF and More!
Posted by Chris Clarke on 08.23.2006
Some fantasy booking, interesting factoids and overall a humourous time in this weeks 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!
Also of note: I had a computer crash and lost a good proportion of my queued questions if you haven't seen your question yet, please send again!
Errata:
Jim talks Mania 3: I just have to chime in with my thoughts about the disputed attendance of
Wrestlemania III, while I think 93,000 is high, I also think 78,000 is low, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
I live in Metro Detroit, and I've been to the Silverdome several times, its monstrous, it really is. I honestly can't believe that they even sold some of the high upper bowl seats for WMIII, as the view must have been terrible.
Now of course, being that the Silverdome is so huge, it holds a lot of people. The max capacity of the Silverdome for a football event is 80,325 (silverdome.com), the attendance of Super Bowl XVI was 81,270 (wikipedia), and that is obviously with the football field being unaccessable for seating. Lets say the ring setup at WMIII takes up about 10% of the football field, and the rest of the floor was all seating. From all the
pictures and the video of the event, it looks full up to the back row of the upper deck. There are a few empty seats visiiable, but there are also full rows above them, leading me to believe a lot of the empty seats were at
least paid for (paid seats generally figure into attendance, at least nowadays).
Basically, if you started with 78,000 as a base number of people in the seats (which is not generous in the least), and then added the floor seats and maybe standing room (the Silverdome has a huge open concourse), and then fudged the numbers, you can see where the 93,000 number comes from. Honestly I bet it clocked in at right around 90,000, maybe in the high 80s, but I'm no crowd expert. 93,000 is not totally impossible though, as that number has been legitimately recorded in the Silverdome before.
From what I found, the 78,000 number is based on a story that Dave Meltzer got a fax from somebody who had something to do with the event back in 87, and that the fax showed the number of tickets sold. But until I see a copy of that fax along side an article from Meltzer telling the whole story behind it, I wont believe it was that low.
(Ed note: You do have the history right - but the honest truth is that WrestleMania 3 only sold 78K in tickets, as you state. Vince claims that they sold just over 93K, in order to beat out both the Rolling Stones, and the Pope, who were also using that stadium in and around the same time, and noticably outdrew Mania 3. It's all about perception, so they made up that # in order to set a record - it's 100% fake, worked, etc. While I imagine they could have papered (ie: gave out free tickets) in order to put a few more bodies in there, considering the 93K number to be the real draw doesn't base itself on the facts. If you want to see the fax, email Meltz!)
John seems to remember an older European title: I clearly remember being at a show in England years ago, where this title was unified with something else as well. Not sure who, what, or why. Could you fill me in? Also, I clearly remember this title being unified at least 3 times, and I believe it may have been more like 4 or 5. I know it got defended in Japan at one point as well. It really was a nonsense title, but they sure put it on the road. Any thoughts? I am probably wrong because the dates don't seam to match up, but I think it may have been the David Smith at the British show, on a one spot PPV or a "One Night Only"? If that helps.
(Ed note: There was an unrecognized WWF European Title that floated around in the past (60s-80s) and may have been merged with a few other things that you're remembering, but it's entirely separate from the title that existed 1997-2002. I based my answers only on the new version!)
Simon wants to know about a big rumour: I was reading your column this week (like I do almost every week for the past year) and I saw mention again of the Stephanie/Savage rumor. I was not always so smarky, and used to believe in the illusion of reality. I'm talking all the way back to Corporal Kirshner and The Golden Boy Danny Spivey. But I have never heard what this rumor is. Would you please enlighten me as to what it
is? Thank you!!
(Ed note: That Randy Savage took Stephanie's virginity. SCANDALOUS!)
Matt D asks: Are you sure about KK's wrestling training? While im not sure that he isnt, I think that yoiu might be confusing KK the annoucer with KK the wrestler. There is a wrestling trainer in Massachussetts whos name is Kevin Kelly, but when the announcer Kevein Kelley was hired to the WWE, the trainer changed his name to Kevin Landry. Now, while he is professionally known as Landry,
occasionally he still goes by his real name, Kevin Kelley. Hope this helps!
(Ed note: I bet you're right. While I think the announcer KK had some involvment in wrestling, I bet I am mixing the two)
Tarek knows why Reno Riggins got a pop: The whole reason he man in question got pop even though he was an unfamouer ie jobber in the old days was because he was able to score a win via countout over the Million Dollar Man when he got distracted by Virgil. He wore gree trunks and pads in that fight in case anyone wanted to know. I guess it was a massive thing seeing as those guys back in the day never knocked anyone down let alone score a win.
Chris B rants: Black Wrestlers in WWF/WWE have been treated horribly by Creative since at least the 1970s in a few ways : 1) they're given a "throw together" gimmick that has NO CHANCE at getting over 2) they're given absolutely no hype coming in and just expected that they're "natural athleticism" to get them over. 3) Given a horribly insulting uber stereotypical gimmick and swept under the carpet not long after.
The "He's a black guy with (blank)" gimmicks:
"The Natural" Butch Reed: black guy with bleached blonde hair. . . get it?
Creative Pitch :"Call him 'The Natural' because black people don't usually have naturally blonde hair; and his isn't either. We bleached it."
Farooq Assad : Former WCW World, World Tag, U.S. Tag Champion was what exactly? A black guy in a gladiator helmet with Sunny.
Creative Pitch: "Remember how Jim Herd wanted to make Ric Flair a gladiator in WCW? We could do that with the guy from Doom; AND we'll give him Sunny. OOH! A funny looking helmet too!"
"The Birdman" Koko B. Ware : A black guy with a parrot
Creative Pitch: "He's a black guy with a parrot, BUT NOT A PIRATE. We can dress him in bright colors like the bird. We'll call him 'The Birdman' because he has a bird ." (to his credit, Koko did manage to get this gimmick over)
Hi. My name is (blank) and I'll be pinning you tonight.
Bobby Lashley: He was a three-time national amateur wrestling champion for Missouri Valley College. He was even the NAIA champion before he came to OVW. Joins Bolin Services in OVW as "Blaster Lashley". Shows up on Smackdown to no fan fare and pins Simon Dean with The "Lashlight" (changed to Dominator because Farooq called it that . . . and he's black) (Ed note: this is unfair - Lashley will be a champ one-day and he has done a lot with what he's doing, and it has nothing to do with his ethnicity)
Orlando Jordan : Velocity graduate. Was introduced as a protoge of Rocky Johnson (also unfair - OJ had no charisma and they gave him lots of chances)
D-Lo Brown: "Bodyguard" for the Gangstas in SMW. Shows up on WWF TV as a background member of the Nation of Domination. (also totally unfair - D'lo was on his way to being a main eventer until he injured Droz)
Shelton Benjamin: 1996 Junior College National wrestling champion. Part of the OVW tag team ensation "The Minnesota Stretching Crew" (w/Brock Lesnar). Debuts as a part of Team Angle (will be a champ one day - has gotten huge pushes - only offensive thing they've done is the momma thing, which dropped fast)
Tony "Ahmed Johnson" Norris: Shows up on 1996 Survivor Series. Big, tough black guy from Pearl River, Mississippi. (also has nothing to do with his ethnicity - he was universally popular)
Gimmicks that made Jim Herd, Jerry Lawler, Dusty Rhodes, and Bill Watts say "DAMN! THAT'S RACIST!" .
Flash Funk: 4 time ECW Television Champ, ECW and WCW tag team Champion, internationally famous high flying innovator 2 Cold Scorpio became a pimp who liked to dance. (gone a year later) (ed note: it was his gimmick, with a new suit. It was the same thing he was doing in WCW)
Papa Shango: A voodoo witch doctor (gone a year later)
The Godfather : A pimp who smoke weed and liked to dance with "ho's".(2 years plus "The Goodfather" gimmick) (Ed note: yeah, this one was pretty bad)
The stereotype : Black people love weed, dancing, and ho's.
Kane and Kole : WCW wanted the brothers to be led to the ring on chains by their "owner" Col. Parker... repackaged as "The Harlem Heat" (they're from Houston) = Booker T. and Stevie Ray (other than the name - these guys worked hard and did really well for themselves. They were tag-main events.)
The Stereotype: Do I even have to explain this?
Virgil: "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase's slave . . .er manservant. (Ed note: dude - a black guy can be a bodyguard and not be a slave)
The Stereotype : see above
Saba Simba: Former WWF Tag Team Champion "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas goes to Africa and sees seven lions. Complete with spear, tribal dress, and (of course) dancing. (Ed note: agreed)
The Stereotype: Everytime black people express an interest in their history, they MUST go to Africa, and change their name
Sexual Chocolate: 1995 Pan American Games gold, silver, and bronze medalist Mark Henry is sex-obsessed (particularly with white women)
The Stereotype: "Remember when black guys would bang a refrigerator as long as it was white?" - Lisa Lampanelli (Ed note: totally agree)
The World's Largest Lover = Viscera: See Mark Henry
The effort is not just not there.
The last gimmick given to a black wrestler that has gotten over (outside of King Booker) in WWE was The Boogeyman. Montell Vontavious Porter has gotten the call-up to Smackdown! from DSW. As a personality he's definitely sparking interest in who he is. I guess we'll have to see if he can back it up in the ring.
(Ed note: It is interesting that you left out JYD (main eventer) and The Rock, and the fact that there are tons of examples of other ethnicities (including WASPs) who get lumped into bad gimmicks that are ethnicity-oriented. I don't think you're being fair in a lot of these cases - some of course are worse than others. But just because someone is black and doesn't get a proper introduction, doesn't mean it's based on their ethnicity. Simply put - tons of wrestlers get screwed over in their pushes!
Jason has the Jarrett shoot:
The following is a reprint of the Torch Newsletter cover story from five years ago this week regarding Jeff Jarrett's return to the WWF. Although Jarrett's comments regarding the Austin 3:16 catch-phrase didn't garner much attention at the time, it became a major source of off-camera tension between him and Steve Austin. Austin felt that Jarrett's comments could have brought negative media attention to his popular catch-phrase and merchandising cash cow.
-Jason Powell, Torch assistant editor
* * *
Torch Newsletter Archive
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
Cover Story: Jarrett returns to WWF, acknowledges WCW
Originally published: Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #463
Cover dated: October 25, 1997
Live on Raw, the "new" Jarrett rips into Bischoff and McMahon, then runs down Michaels, Bret, Austin
With his hair slicked back into a pony tail, without any sign of a gimmick persona, Jeff Jarrett walked into the ring 30 minutes into the live Oct. 20 Raw. Jarrett signalled the first major jump from WCW to the WWF since Vader and Dustin Runnels. McMahon hopes Jarrett can become more than he was given a chance to be in WCW and more than he was in his last stint in the WWF. Clearly from Jarrett's opening speech, he is being positioned as a top tier star. McMahon hopes the Big Four (Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Undertaker) expands into the Big Five.
Last Wednesday night Jeff Jarrett and his father, longtime Memphis promoter Jerry Jarrett, met with Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, and Jim Ross at McMahons' house. By the time they left hours later, an agreement had been reached.
McMahon's initial push of Jarrett may seem surprising on a few levels. For one, Jarrett was a second tier wrestler during his last WWF stint, an Intercontinental Title level wrestler. Then he walked out on Vince McMahon and the WWF immediately following his show-stealing match against Shawn Michaels at the July 1995 "In Your House." Jarrett, joined by his on-air cohort and real life friend Roadie (Brian James, a/k/a "Road Dog"), walked out the door after the match and quit the promotion.
Jarrett was upset with the direction of his character. He didn't like the idea that the angle he was involved in was heading toward him being revealed as a phony, a lip syncher who stole the fame from the real singer of "With My Baby Tonight," the Roadie. He felt being portrayed in such a way would be difficult to recover from. More so than discomfort with the direction of his character, though, he was frustrated that McMahon ignored his requests to talk about his concerns. For six months he expressed concern to McMahon, but never got any answers. Because his father owned a development business, he didn't need wrestling since he could go to work for his father's company.
After working for his father's business for a few months, he and McMahon reconciled early in 1996. He returned for a short-lived feud with Ahmed Johnson, then suffered an injury, and never returned to the WWF, again unhappy with his push and believing McMahon once again didn't listen to his concerns. A year ago Jarrett signed a deal with WCW and was one of the final major names from the WWF to show up on Nitro just as Nitro established itself as the perennial ratings winner on Monday nights.
Jarrett signed a one-year contract, with the idea being that he would sign a long-term deal about six months into the contract once he established himself. WCW head Eric Bischoff apparently wasn't impressed with Jarrett's showing, as he failed to discuss renewal until the day before his contract expired. Jarrett was disappointed with the offer and forwarded Bischoff to his father, who was acting as his official agent. Bischoff never contracted Jeff's father, and instead pulled the offer from the table the next night during an internet interview, saying he would not negotiate with a party that revealed details of negotiations publicly.
Despite their past disagreements, last week Jarrett and McMahon agreed to give it one more try. Jarrett wasn't happy in WCW, or at least not with their contract offer, and McMahon is in need of more top tier talent. The question is whether Jarrett can be that top tier name and not seem out of place being thrown into the mix with Bret, Michaels, and Austin. Also, will WWF fans buy Jarrett as a top tier wrestler when he was a second tier wrestler feuding with Steve McMichael in WCW?
In order to establish that he is not coming back to the WWF as some sort of a gimmick wrestler, but instead wants to be given a fresh look, he came out with a different look. There was no country music, no flashing suspenders, no waving blond hair, no exaggerated "ha, ha" laugh. He walked out to the ring earlier than McMahon had planned according to the storyline. "Sorry, Vince, I know you wanted the big introduction and to be standing along side me, but I've got something to say and I'm going to say it right now," Jarrett said. "Last week on Monday Nitro Jeff Jarrett was declared everything but dead. Since I refused to accept Eric Bischoff's offer and re-sign with WCW he did everything within his power to bury me. Being the coward that he is, he even hid behind his computer and announced to the whole world that he had pulled the offer off the table. Well, Eric, the only thing you ever pulled from Jeff Jarrett was opportunity. Since I wasn't one of your boys, you put a lid on my potential. I was only going to go as far as you wanted me to. There was never, ever any ladder of success for me to climb. I was one of the younger, most talented wrestlers that you had, Eric, but you let me drown in mediocrity just because my stroke wasn't strong enough. Look who you put me with, an ex-football player who can't even lock up and his ex-wife; she gives new meaning to the term 'dumb blonde.'"
Jarrett looked at McMahon at ringside. "Vince don't sit over there and snicker and smile and cherish this moment because I left the WWF two years ago for the same reason," Jarrett said. "Eric Bischoff did it out of either ignorance or inexperience of the wrestling business. What were your excuses? Remember the gold tooth, the country music star? Vince, you had a vision of what you wanted 'Double' J Jeff Jarrett to be. Quite honestly in all due respect your vision sucked."
McMahon smiled and said, "Yeah, it may have."
Jarrett continued: "You booked me with a clown (Doink), a drug addict (in reference to Roadie), a black man who can't even speak the English language (Ahmed). Vince, you tried to bury me and kill me off, but you didn't get the job done. I guess you figured since you didn't put my dad out of business like you put every other promoter out of business in the '80s, since you couldn't do that, you figured the next best thing would be to kill his son off. Well, Vince, not only did I survive, but I walked out on you and how ironic that is that we make a deal and get back together and you pay me a whole lot more money the second go around. You know why, Vince? Because you need Jeff Jarrett. You need me to put people in seats and ratings on the board. You told me to come out here and shoot. That's exactly what I'm doing, right between your eyes. You can take 'With My Baby Tonight' and stick it up your butt because from here on out it's going to be Jeff Jarrett's way. If you try to stop me, fine, I'll gladly pack my bags and walk right out the door again. Vince, I've got a question to ask you. Can you afford it? I don't think so or you wouldn't have paid me all that money just five days ago."
Jarrett turned his attention to Bret, Michaels, and Austin. He said Bret has been living off of name recognition. He ripped into Michaels for only being able to wrestle once a week. "He's proud of that," Jarrett said. "You call yourself the icon that can still go. Well, how often can you go? It seems all you do lately is run around here, hold up silly little signs, point at your crotch, and give your little hand signals to your boys in Atlanta. Shawn, one day you were the main event, you were WWF Champion. You were the attraction. Now all you are is reduced to hiding behind your infantile attitude." McMahon agreed with that comment. Jarrett then ripped into Austin for always saying "ass" and called his "3:16" merchandising offensive and blasphemous. "You're ripping off the Bible to put money in your pocket." When you and I hook up it's going to be your judgement day."
Jarrett concluded: "Vince, you wanted the real Jeff Jarrett tonight. Well, you got him. I just hope your investments's going to be worth all of your headaches." McMahon said he did, too.
TIME FOR A SET OF QUESTIONS!
Clyde asks: I was wonder is Wwe or Ecw is going to hired Brock Lesnar? He will be great for ECW and for the ratings and WE ALL Miss him, well at least his in ring talent.
ask 411: I agree that we miss his in-ring stuff, not so much his Rena-humping, wellness-plan failing, personality. I would say that at this point, his likelihood of appearing in WWE, or TNA, or ECW, is near zero. Now I would have said the same thing about Jeff Hardy, but I think that litigation is far more of a negative quality to Vince than drug abuse.
I would expect to see Lesnar make an appearance in the UFC within the next 12-16 months. While he would have to lose some weight in order to fight under Nevada rules, I suspect that UFC will hand him a cheque big enough to make it worth his while.
You could imagine it Tim Sylvia kills someone dead, Dana White comes down, does the post-match interview, White says he found a special opponent for Tim, Tim gets happy and wants to do it, and out pops Lesnar and he starts doing his little bounce on the stage oh yeah baby. That's just soooo money.
John asks: I really thought that the Muhammed Hassan character had a lot of potential. He had a good look, improving mic skills, and had what I thought was a potentially deep character with a lot of potential for storylines down the road. I would like to hear your opinion of him. Also, was he released due to the whole martyr scene or were there other reasons?
ask 411: I think that while Hassan had a really good look, and was into his character enough to make it believable, I think it was only going to go so far. People were giving him the wrong kind of heat most of the time a heat that means they're not coming to pay their money to see you. A Xpac-heat so to speak. A "get off my TV" kind of heat. So as much as he was an interesting TV character for a while, I cannot imagine how badly Smackdown would have ended up had the character not been cancelled.
And that's what really did happen the network threatened to throw Smackdown off the air if the Hassan character has not removed. It was the martyr scene with Daivari, Hassan, Taker, and the masked terrorists that really got him booted. Before that point, he was an Arab-American who was pissed off (a dynamic character that the crowds NEVER understood just chanting USA at him was so funny, since HE WAS AN AMERICAN), but then Vince went the only route he knew how to go to he turned him into Osama, ruined the gimmick, and the network cancelled the character. That's why Hassan wasn't on TV for the last few weeks of his TV build against Taker, showed up on the PPV and got killed. As opposed to being repacked, Hassan chose his release from the company and Daivari was repackaged. By the way, I'm pretty sure that Hassan is actually Italian. How funny is that?
Mitchell asks: Do you think WWE will ever say Flair is a 24 time World Champ instead of 16 on TV? Why or why not.
ask 411: Nope he'll be a 16 time champ forever. All other title switches and title wins are considered phantom or not on the same level as the others. They couldn't change that now! I want Flair to go over for the ECW title now I think that would be a fitting 17th win don't you?
Michael asks: I have been a fan of Sting ever since I first saw him on WCW and I was wondering do you think Vince will ever let Sting be inducted into the Hall of Fame without ever having wrestled for the WWF/WWE? Have there been any wrestlers inducted who have not wrestled for WWF/WWE?
ask 411: I think that if Sting wants to show up once he's officially retired, Vince will induct him into the hall of fame. Vince somehow feels like he's carrying the business forward on his shoulders alone (like that wasn't by design), so he'll induct people that he deems fit, even if they're not WWE products. Take Verne Gagne this year for example he was a competitor to the WWE with the AWA, but he's now in. That tells me that Vince will induct in order to create the wrestling history that he so wants.
Tha Jza asks: my question is regarding i think king of the ring 2001 where Jerry Lynn goes off on a shoot about JR not having enough faith in him to put him on the PPV when they cut to him in WWF New York. JR seemed genuinely shocked about this and I was wondering what the nature of the beef was between those two and what if anything happened about it? Apologies if I already asked this question before, I'm not sure if I did or not.
ask 411: what do we always say??? If it's on TV readers: IT'S A WORK! Good job, children!
Jesse asks: Was there ever any plan to bring back any other DX members, or does Sean Michaels prefer DX as they were in the old days (less Chyna)? Personally, I think it would be interesting if they brought some back. What have the other four been up to? Last I heard, Chyna was in some porn and doing Howard Stern bits occasionally, X-Pac is in the MTV wrestling program (right?), Mr. Ass is I think in another federation, and Road Dog got the boot on account of pot smoking, but I thought he wanted to eventually return (hey, maybe they should stick Mr. Kennedy with DX)... what's the scoop?
ask 411: I think they don't want anything to do with the old guys from DX. This was the original format, minus as you say Chyna (who I think they should have seen if she was cleaned up enough to participate, even for a short while) and Rick Rude (who is , of course, feeding the worms). Chyna has a alcohol problem, drug problem, and ego problem. She also made a porn movie WITH Xpac, which was released called 1 night in China. Amusing I know. XPAC CURVES RIGHT (/Rossi).
Dogg and Billy Gunn are in TNA (some other fed are you sure you're an IWC member?) as the James Gang. Xpac is still friends with Hunter but is not going to pass the wellness program, so he's not coming back anytime soon. He'll be a part of Wrestling Society X.
I suspect no one else is going to join, and I don't even know if the angle is planned to continue beyond Summerslam. This is because Shawn is going to drop down to part time, I believe.
Jake asks: Hey! I'm a big wrestling fan especially stuff the late 80's and early 90's. Your column is my favorite to read because some of the questions people have mailed in and asked I have actually wondered myself. I didnt want to mail in a question unless I thought it was good enough so anyway here it goes
I just watched the Jake Roberts DVD and in it he talks about the stuff he did with Ultimate Warrior leading up to Summer Slam 91. Jake says after Summer Slam he was supposed to start wrestling the Warrior but didnt because of the Warriors hold up of Vince and getting fired. If I remember right it was called "A Match Made In Heaven and A Match made in Hell" With the hell match being the Warrior/Hogan vs Slaughter/someone and the heaven being Macho/Elizabeth wedding. In the Jake Roberts DVD I saw a cobra was put into one of the gifts Macho/Elizabeth were supposed to recieve so my question is: Was The Snake in the gift a last minute thing since The Warrior did his infamous hold up of Vince the same night??
ask 411: I don't believe it was a last thing, in so much as just another way to continue the Jake character. Wouldn't that make sense for him to do something like that, just to be a pain? So I wouldn't suspect it was a last minute booking idea, but instead something that they knew they could expand upon in the future at any time. Actually smart, forward, thinking booking!
Charles asks: I would just like to know how this whole Jeff hardy resigning came about. Also do think was missing shows in TNA just to get out of his contract.
ask 411: This signing did catch me off guard too, since one would believe that a drug addict wouldn't be hired in a time of "Wellness". But I guess the $$ means more than anything else still, despite the program. Hardy was not no-showing TNA because of wanting to get out of his contract his contract expired. Jeff Hardy noshowed because he is unreliable and has chemical problems. If you ask him, even today, he'll deny it. That's not someone who has recovered as Vince claims. Vince has signed Jeff up, simply because he moves merch with the kids. That's where the most money is to be made, so why not have him in the company? It's really sad.
Ben asks: Hey I was just wondering, why even though Edge is the WWE champion, why does he still have that UGLY spinner belt. That title was supose to be specific to Cena right?
please don't say WWE have now made this there official look of the title
ask 411: I cannot follow your instruction they have made it official. At least in the short-term. I suspect that until such a time that Cena is no longer on RAW's roster, or is off TV, that title stays. Besides it's just an angle waiting to happen, when someone finally destroys it.
John asks: Being a huge fan of the Rock, I've accepted that he's not going to be a regular performer anymore, except for the random appearance near wherever he happens to be filming his next movie. Have you heard of any plans on when WWE might release a DVD set on him, ala Foley, Flair, Undertaker, and Bret Hart? Thanks again.
ask 411: I think they will release a DVD on him someday, but I doubt seeing him around fulltime anytime soon. He has a ton of movies in the near future and is still relatively popular in Hollywood. If he's still drawing there, he doesn't need wrestling anymore. I still suspect that Vince will pay him off sometime in the next 2 years to put over Orton @ Mania, but otherwise you'll get no Rocky!
THAT'S IT FOR THIS WEEK
**
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!
