Ask 411 Wrestling 10.18.06: RVD's Acting, WCW Title Reigns, TNA Entrance Themes and More!
Posted by Steve Cook on 10.18.2006
More includes questions about Hulk Hogan, Brock Lesnar, and other things that you need to know. Yes, need!
It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! Just so you guys know, I'm still going through Chris Clarke's old archives this week. So if you sent anything last week, don't worry about it not appearing this week, it will appear in a future edition of Ask 411. Unless I'm 100% sure I can't answer it...in which case I will mysteriously lose your e-mail. These things happen. We do have some various corrections to go through from last week and previous weeks, so we will go through those first...
Errors...yeah, they happen sometimes. Damn it.
The topic of one hour draws a couple of weeks ago drew a lot of corrections, mostly because ROH has had several in the last few months....
"Alan asks: Do you know when the last time a match went to the time
limit?,excluding Iron Man type of matches. I can only think of British Bulldogs
V Fabulous Rougoes at SUmmerslam 89.
ask 411: Tough question - but there are a few notable ones. Such as the night
the line was crossed ECW - Douglas vs. Funk vs. Sabu. That's the biggest one in
the modern era that's for sure. Other than that one - the phenomenon has really
started to die out. The TV audience has been trained for the faster matches -
the draw doesn't sit well with them. If anyone knows some other modern era ones,
please point them out."
Ring of Honor has brought back the time limit draw and made it an important part
of their legacy. The first time limit draw during an ROH show was a 15 or 20
minute match between American Dragon Bryan Danielson and Donovoan Morgan at
"Honor Invades Boston" back in '02. At Final Battle '02, Samoa Joe, American
Dragon, Steve Corino and Low Ki fought to a 60 minute draw. The next
significant 60 minute draw was Samoa Joe vs. Punk for the ROH title at "World
Title Classic" in mid '04 , followed a few months later by the much-heralded and
oft-praised rematch and re-draw at the aptly titled "Joe vs. Punk II". After
the Punker won the ROH title in '05 from Austin Aries and turned on the fans, he
went the distance with Christopher Daniels. Bryan Danielson, the current champ,
has recently fought to three 60 minute draws against Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuniess,
and Colt Cabana, the last two being on consecutive nights!
What's my conclusion from all this? ROH fans are bigger fans of wrestling as
opposed to sports entertainment, and don't have that short attention span like
the fans you mentioned in your article. Sixty minutes of quality wrestling and
storytelling? That's straight up bread and butter to the ROH crowd. It also
lends creedence to the champion and the quality of his challengers. The
Broadway is the stuff of Ric Flair legends, and the boys in ROH are trying to
make legends of their own." - B.Tribe
"About your latest Ask411 column, when you stated that you didn't think there were any recent time limit draws, I assume you were talking just TV matches, because ROH has frequently had time-limit draws recently, including Joe vs. Punk, Joe vs. Punk II, I believe there was recently one involving Brian Danielson, and others." - Ian Colwell
ROH wasn't the first promotion to do the draw though...
"I remember a match way back when I was a kid. Vern Gagne against Billy Robinson when Billy was hotter than anyone else. Supposed to be a one hour time limit match. The match went forty minutes when they called it a time-limit draw.
I do not know why they called it when they did. It could have been planned that way or an injury could have intervened." - Bruce Anderson
This reminds me of a story I heard where Randy Savage & Lanny Poffo were working a match in the early 80s in ICW that had a 1 hour time limit and went to a draw...the only problem was that it lasted 40 minutes, and all of the fans knew it because there was a large clock on the wall of the building. You can imagine how well that one went over.
Now, for last week's corrections! We'll let Stuart Carapola chime in first since he writes for the site and all...
"I've got some info to throw in if you want to put it in the column:
-For somebody who is clearly up on the happenings of ROH, I can't believe you left the Weapons Of Mask Destruction out of your list of Embassy members! I know one of them was El Generico, but I have no idea about the other two, unfortunately.
-I've always heard the "Sid shitting his pants" thing happened at Wrestlemania 13, but I think we would have noticed if he really had shit in his tights in the main event of the biggest show of the year. I think this one's more of an urban legend that nobody bothered to dispute in the wake of the squeegee and scissor incidents. (You can thank me later, because you know people are going to write in asking about those now!)
-The Savage-Steamboat Incident was 100% work. Steamboat was not really injured in the slightest. Th reason it was done was twofold. The first reason, obviously, was to build heat for the Savage-Steamboat feud, which would culminate at Wrestlemania 3. The other reason I heard is that apparently Steamboat had somehow gotten booked to work some dates for a territory in the South, and WWE used the Incident as a way of writing him out while he was fulfilling those dates. I'm not exactly sure how that came about while he was working for the WWF, but there you go."
Oh, I hope I get some squeegee and scissor questions, because both of those stories rule! I can't believe I forgot about the Weapons of Mask Destruction...they were not one of Nana's better investments.
As far as the "Sid pooping" incident, Mark Black says it was at WrestleMania 13, and Travis Herring, Shawn Maglicic & Mike McGuire each remember something they saw on Off The Record...we include McGuire's because it had the most detail and he might send me a copy of something. Oh yes, I can be bought.
"He never said whether it was a house show or a TV match, but The Undertaker was featured in a quick vignette on TSN's "Off the Record" with Michael Landsberg. I'll never forget this, in fact, I DO have a tape of it somewhere.
Taker talked about being in a match with Psycho Sid, when he knocked him to the mat. The funniest term (which I still use to date) he used was "As the match continued, I noticed some odouriferous eminations"... Taker continues, "Basically, Big Sid crapped his pants".
If I can find the tape (this will be a stretch, but I bet my career he said it), I'll send you a copy - or at least the audio."
So it was definitely in a match with Undertaker...I think the WM 13 match is on the Undertaker DVD set, so the next time I watch it I'll try to see if I can see any...odouriferous eminations. That's not really something I'd expect to hear Booger Red say on a regular basis.
Russ Stapleton has some additional info for us, and since Ask 411 has always been his favorite column on the site, we'll definitely let him chime in:
"-- I believe Ricky Steamboat's "injury" just happened to coincide with the birth of his son. It's amazing how often that happens, isn't it?
-- I seem to remember reading an interview where Sid was asked about his, um, "loss of bowel control" during a match. He denied it, of course, and followed up with a story about how one time he was wrestling Lex Luger, and Luger pissed himself during the match. He then elaborated on the smell coming from Luger's crotch when he power bombed him later in the match. (You see, his face was right where … oh, never mind!)
-- Finally, as I recall, Super Crazy, Bobby Lashley, and The Great Khali were not suspended because of failing the drug test, but because there was something funny going on with their livers. While most "experts" have said the liver problems where probably drug-related, they were taken out of action due to medical concerns. One name you forgot to mention was Joey Mercury from MNM, who has just recently returned to action in OVW. Also, Sabu was fined -- but not suspended -- for his drug-related arrest at the same time as RVD's."
Wow...I'm not sure what's worse, pissing or shitting while taking part in a wrestling match. Especially if you're wearing those tights that both Luger & Vicious liked to wear...if you wore sweatpants like Mick Foley did you could probably get away with a little bit more if you had to.
Next week we will include some of your wrestling plant stories because I forgot to include them this week and I'm hoping I don't get anything wrong this week. Hey, we can hope!
OK, here comes this week's batch! As always, my responses will be in bold.
hiphopshuvit starts us off with questions about Brock Lesnar, Hardcore Holly, and TNA entrance themes...
"What happened between lesnar and holly? I'm talking about the match where holly
broke his neck."
Brock Lesnar was trying to lift Hardcore Holly up for a powerbomb during their match on an episode of Smackdown...for one reason or another, Holly decided to sandbag him, basically doing all he could to keep Brock from lifting him up. After a few seconds Lesnar thought "fuck it" and dropped Holly right on his head. Holly has had a history of poor relations with younger talent, and this is believed to be another one of those incidents, except that on this occasion Holly ended up on the short end of the stick. Trying to mess with a former NCAA Champion generally isn't a good idea.
"I was just wondering if TNA was coming out with a CD with some of the entrance
theme songs and if they are do you know whose themes will be on it and when will
it come out? Thanks"
TNA 3rd Degree Burns will be coming out on November 11th. Highspots.com provides us with the following track listing:
1. Sting (Prequel)
2. Sting (Slag Me)
3. Bobby Roode (No More Fears)
4. Samoa Joe (Prequel)
5. Samoa Joe (Crush U Up)
6. Rhino (Stampede)
7. Jeff Jarrett (Prequel)
8. Jeff Jarrett (My World)
9. AJ Styles (I Am)
10. Raven (Prequel)
11. Raven (Scream)
12. Alex Shelley (Papparazzi / Up Yours)
13. Abyss (Prequel)
14. Abyss (Down In The Catacombs)
15. Americas Most Wanted (Guilty)
16. Shark Boy (Eat Me)
17. James Gang w/BG intro (Nobody Moves)
18. Gail Kim (Unstoppable)
19. Christian Cage (Prequel)
20. Christian Cage (Take Over)
Gail Kim has entrance music? Who knew?
Lev asks about Buff Bagwell...
"What's the deal with Buff Bagwell? I watched a bit of WCW back in the day, but
I don't remember much about him, except for the Blockbuster ... I liked that.
So why do the IWC despise this big buff chap?"
Bagwell's never really been very popular with smart wrestling fans...even when he was a rookie people thought WCW was pushing him way too hard and he got a strong backlash from the fans. I think the best way to sum up most peoples' opinion on Bagwell would be "all show, no go", as he has the look and a certain amount of charisma to get over with the wrestling fans, but his wrestling skills have always left a lot to be desired. And Larry Csonka hates him for an experience he had with him while they both worked the same indy show. I enjoy needling Larry about Bagwell whenever he appears in TNA.
Bryan Jones asks about RVD & the X-Files...
"back in 2000...there was an X files episode called
Fight Club, that featured Rob Van Dam as a guest
star,,,...since he was still in the dying ECW,,,any
idea why they picked him to star? I have this image of
him getting high and asking David Duchovny about
UFO's..like he forgot hes just an actor. Its too bad
the ep didnt make the statement the Montreal Screwjob
was done by aliens. any guesses how Rob Van Dam got
picked for this?"
Well, at this point in time RVD was trying to make a living as an actor in addition to his wrestling work. Since ECW was headed into the shitter, one can assume that Rob was trying to give himself more options just in case ECW did go out of business and he couldn't get other opportunities in wrestling. And it's probably also a pretty safe bet that he wasn't getting paid by ECW, and the man had a family to support, so he had to make a living somehow. Van Dam does have a good amount of charisma which lends itself well to certain acting roles, and the casting director for X-Files probably saw something in him when he tried out for it. It also doesn't hurt that RVD could do his own stunts. Van Dam also had roles on the TV shows "City Guys", "18 Wheels of Justice", "Spy TV" and "V.I.P.", and also appeared in the movie "Black Mask 2".
Jaime asks about Hogan doing the J.O.B....
"My question is about a couple jobs Hogan did. Since he has a reputation for not
wanting to give anyone the rub and politic his way out of an outcome he doesnt
like, how did they get him to cleanly tap out to Angle (I dont remember what PPV
it was, it was the only time Hogan ever tapped out though I think) and be
humiliated by Brock Lesnar on an episode of Smackdown when Lesnar bearhugged him
until he started bleeding out of his mouth and passed out?" - Jaime
As far as Lesnar goes, Hogan originally pitched the idea that he would job for Brock on TV if Brock jobbed for him at the Survivor Series. Unfortunately for him, the second part of his plan was rejected and he ended up going on hiatus after losing to Brock. I haven't seen anything on the backstage stuff surrounding the Angle match at King of the Ring 2002, but I can tell you that Lex Luger also made Hogan submit to the Torture Rack on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro in August 1997 when he won the title from Hogan. Of course, Hogan got the title back 5 days later in Sturgis, South Dakota on PPV. Sting is also said to have beaten Hogan by submission later in 1997, but I don't recall what show that was on.
Etiras asks about PPV main events and African Americans...
"When was the last time there were two African Americans fighting for a World Title on a pay-per-view?"
There hasn't been one. That's why some people were considering the King Booker vs. Lashley match pretty important, because it would have been the first wrestling PPV to feature two African Americans going head to head for a world championship. I guess two out of four in a title match is close enough for now.
RJEVH01 asks about Tommy Rich & Buzz Sawyer...
"Do you think Tommy Rich or Buzz Saywer will ever be in the wwe hall of fame and where is Tommy Rich out now?"
I don't see it happening. If either man ever worked for Vince McMahon, it wasn't all that long, and more importantly, neither man has a great deal of recognition with today's wrestling fans. Even a good percentage of internet wrestling fans would scratch their heads if you told them about the classic Rich/Sawyer feud that culminated in a steel cage in Atlanta, Georgia. Maybe if WWE hired Rich they might induct him, but honestly I'd have a tough time making an argument for him over other people that deserve it more, like Bob Backlund, Dusty Rhodes, Ted Dibase or Jake Roberts. Rich still makes appearances on Southern independent shows, mostly in Tennessee where he was born and raised.
James has 6 questions, so we'll go through them one by one...
1.) I've been watching the old school house cards on WWE 24/7 and I've noticed something interesting. They would put the main event (usually involving Hogan) in the middle of the card. Why would they do this? You would think you would want to save it for the very end for a hot crowd.
There could be a few explanations for something like this happening. In mid-80s World Class, the Von Erichs were the main event talent, but they would have their matches before the Midnight Express match because they couldn't follow them. NWA World Champion Ric Flair would often wrestle early in the card of one show so he could make the trip to another show in time to work the main event. One possibility is that some of the arenas used to air their wrestling cards on their own network (MSG for example) and it's possible that they could only air part of the show so they would make sure to have Hogan on during the part airing on TV. Another possibility is that since Hogan was a big draw for the kids, they wanted to make sure the kids got to see him before it was past their bedtime. WWF was a lot more family friendly back then, so it wouldn't surprise me if this was the case. That seems like the most plausible scenario to me, but it could be any of these things.
2.) Did the winners of the Crockett Cup really win a million dollars?
No, though I wouldn't be surprised if Dusty paid himself a million dollars the year that he won it.
3.) Did Vince McMahon ever work for the NWA? The reason I ask is that currently on WWE 24/7 is a match from 1979 at MSG between Harley Race and Dusty Rhodes for the NWA title. Vince is clearly doing the commentary, Howard Finkel is the ring announcer, and Earl Hebner was referreeing. What's up with that?
At that point, the WWF had actually become a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. It sounds bizarre, but for a brief period from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, the WWF recognized the NWA Champion as the world heavyweight champion. Vince was a big fan of Dusty and had brought him in previously to feud with Billy Graham, so he would have been interested in having a Rhodes vs. Race match for the NWA title at MSG. Since the NWA was usually very strict about who refereed their matches, I could see Hebner being brought in to do that.
4.) Did Bob Backlund and Fabulous Moolah really keep their titles for the 6 and 28 years as repeatedly stated? I find it hard to believe that Vince never saw anyone else as even a short-term champion until Hogan and Wendi Richter came along. Heck, even Hogan had to lose the belt once in a while to regain it later.
Backlund actually lost the title for a brief time period in Japan to wrestling legend Antonio Inoki. Inoki beat him for the title on November 30, 1979, but the story is that Inoki "did not want to accept the championship". There's something I'd like to hear explained myself, unless it was just a way for Inoki to get out of losing to Backlund. Backlund was Vince Sr's golden boy, once Vince Jr. gained control of the WWF it was just a matter of finding the right person for the job.
Moolah's claim of holding the women's title for 28 straight years is pure fantasy. She lost and regained the world women's title on several occasions, and the WWF did not have control over her title until 1983. She won the title in 1964, and lost it for brief periods of time in 1966, 1968, 1976, & 1978. To be fair, she would always take the title back at least a few days after she lost it, but the longest title reign she had was 8 years. Which is still at least 7 more years than most people thought necessary.
5.) Speaking of Backlund, what did he do between his two WWE stints? What's he up to now?
Backlund kept himself busy during his hiatus from the WWF by serving as a wrestling coach at various high schools and also spent some time working in construction. Nowadays, Backlund is relaxing at home with his wife and daughter. He ran for a Congressional seat in Connecticut in 2000, and has threatened to run again in the future.
6.) Whenever a large wrestler does what I call a "squash a wrestler" move (Think Yokozuna's Banzai Drop, Rikishi's Fameasser, King Kong Bundy's and Earthquake's Avalanches) how do they not hurt their opponant? Surely having 400 pounds or more come crashing down on you must do some damage. How do they minimize potential injuries for those moves? As we saw with Mark Henry breaking Kurt Angle's ribs in a table spot earlier this year, it obviously doesn't always work." - James
Cook: I decided to go to an outside source for this one since I have no actual experience in the ring...here's Larry Csonka, who does have some.
"Well thankfully I haven't had much experience working with large men like that and have never had to take a move like you described. But if you look at these moves, there are obviously "safety features" for lack of a better word in place. Take John Tenta (Earthquake) for example. When he would hit the ropes and leap, he would almost ALWAYS land with his feet first, taking the brunt of the momentum and then "crash" onto his opponent. So there that is how that is done. Yokzuna's was a harder example. First of all he came off the ropes, so we have more momentum due to the height. Most of the time he would leap and land on his feet, ala Tenta, cushioning the blow. But at times he would land full force on the sternum. The sternum is a rather strong point in the body if you land flat on it, absorbing the weight more evenly, and that helps with avoiding injury. But there are accidents, as you mentioned Angle and Henry. Part of that injury was the angle in which Henry hit Angle, the weight never distributed and hence the injury. I hope this answers your question." - Larry Csonka
Brandon F. wonders what happened to Smackdown's Pitbulls...
"I read on WWE.com that Kid Kash has been released from his contract.
That brings up my question. Why was he released? and what do you think will be the future for Jamie Noble?"
The word is that Kid Kash was released due to his "bad attitude". Bad attitude is always a pretty safe bet for explaining why Kash gets fired or has to leave a promotion...TNA also had problems with Kash's attitude when he worked for them. Unfortunately for Jamie Noble, his future appears to involve lots of jobbing. Which is a shame because he's a really talented worker, but them's the breaks sometimes. I would like to see him team with Jimmy Wang Yang, but I guess one Southern tag team in WWE is enough.
Josh Enberg has a question about a long-forgotten WWF announcer...oh my!
"I was watching Wrestlemania 9 for some reason the other day and I got to wondering...what ever happened to Todd Pettingill?"
Pettengill currently works as a disc jockey for WPLJ in New York City, which is the job he held before working for the WWF. He currently does the weekday morning show for that channel, along with various syndicated radio shows. He also does voiceover work, and you might have noticed him doing some of that during TNA Impact's run on Fox Sports Net.
Charles Deck wonders why Brock left WWE...
"I was just wondering about how Brock Lesnar left the WWE. I know there is no dobt more money to be made in the NFL, but did the Greenbay Packers persue Lesnar or did he just quit to try it." - Charles Deck
Lesnar was unhappy with his position in WWE at the time and didn't really enjoy wrestling. Pro football was something he had dreamed of doing, so he decided to try out for the Minnesota Vikings. It did not work out well for Brock, but sometimes you just gotta try to live out your dream, and if you don't enjoy doing something and have enough money not to do it...why do it?
Clyde H. Hedgcoth, Jr. wonders about the Andre vs. Warrior feud...
"Great read, always read this one as soon as it comes out. Here is my question: Even if Andre was injured (as he was), why was he sold-out so quickly to the Ultimate Warrior? Am I missing something here? When he went against Hogan he was injured as well (maybe not as bad), but they made a HUGE buildup to it, and everyone wanted to see it.
After letting the Warrior squash Andre in about 20 seconds a million and one times over--doesn't it all lose perspective? How could Vince stand for that? Andre helped to make the WWWF/WWF, and Vince pays him back by having him get squashed? Heck, the Warrior/Hogan match at WMVI may not of been the greatest, but it lasted longer than the whole time it took Andre and the Warrior to walk/run to the ring, Andre to lose, and both to get back to the curtain. Why?"
Well, at that time WWF wanted Warrior to be the guy that took over for Hulk Hogan as the next "Top guy", and it was decided that the best way to do that would be to pair him off with Andre and have Andre put him over. Unfortunately at this point Andre was in no physical condition to do anything resembling a long match, and Warrior couldn't work anything over 5 minutes without somebody like Rick Rude holding his hand through it, so it was considered for the best for everybody that Andre would lose to Warrior on these shows in less than a minute. Andre wanted to put people over in his later years, and I find it really unlikely that they would have booked the matches that way if Andre didn't want them to be that way, but he soon regretted his decision to help Warrior out once he saw how much of a jackass he was.
Believe me, if Andre didn't want to put over Warrior in 30 seconds, he wouldn't have, and Warrior could have done nothing to make Andre put him over short of shooting him with a 44 Magnum.
Ronism82 asks about 2 long-forgotten WCW Cruiserweight Title reigns...
"on wwe.com in the cruiserweight title section in the opening paragraph it says that lenny lane and the artist where stripped of the title for unknown reasons by WCW. I was not watching WCW at all during this period. Do you know what the backstage reasons and tv reasons for why this happened?" - Ronism82
When Lane received the Cruiserweight title in August 1999, he and Lodi were tag teaming as the West Hollywood Blondes, and working a gimmick where they were gay. Due to issues that Turner Standards & Practices had with the gimmick, and possible involvement from GLADD, the angle was dropped, and WCW stripped Lane of the title because they did not plan on using him in the immediate future. They gave the title to Psicosis for no real reason other than to put over Disco Inferno and give him the title. WCW explained the move in their website's title history section by saying "Psicosis was awarded the Cruiserweight Title after the West Hollywood Blondes angle was dropped." Damn, I miss WCW.
The Artist's title reign was a casualty of Eric Bischoff & Vince Russo stripping all current WCW champions of their titles when they took over the booking in order to give WCW a fresh start. Unfortunately for The Artist, this fresh start did not involve him.
David asks about something he saw on Smackdown...
"I vaguely remember a tag team match on Smackdown a few years back with Eddie Guerrero and Big Show as a one night only tag team taking on Kurt Angle and somebody. After knocking Angle down Big Show tagged Eddie. Instead of getting out of the ring Big Show backed up to the turnbuckle and raised his hands. Eddie climbed the turnbuckle and grabbed Show's hands. He stepped out on to Big Show's shoulders and went for the frog splash. Did this really happen or was I dreaming? If it did happen who was Angle's tag team partner that night?
You were not dreaming, David. The match was Eddie Guerrero & Big Show vs. Kurt Angle & Luther Reigns, and it happened on the September 23, 2004 edition of Smackdown. Actually, he did the frog splash off of Show's shoulders onto Reigns, but close enough. After the match was the infamous "tranquilizer gun" incident that resulted in Angle shaving Big Show's head. The less said about that, the better.
David Horadan wonders about Shawn Michaels' politicing past...
"While stopping and thinking about it I realized something. Davey Boy Smith (R.I.P.) had three of his five WWE title losses to Shawn Michaels (IC, first Euro, and Tag Team w/Owen). Never beat Shawn to win these belts back. Davey Boy also failed to beat Shawn Michaels at the 96 KotR PPV for the World Title. The more I thought about it the more I came to an important two-part question. Has Bulldog EVER beaten HBK in a TV or PPV match (sorry I don't count house shows) and if so was it a clean victory? My point being the second part of the question. If he didnt' beat HBK could this be proof of Shawn's politics playing and refusal to put over Bulldog at any point in their shared careers?" - David Horadan
The closest Smith came to defeating HBK on TV or PPV that I can see was a "draw" at In Your House: Beware of Dog on May 26, 1996. It could be an indictment on HBK, or an indication that WWF didn't see Davey Boy as a top player in the promotion. Or it could have been bad luck. If I had to guess, Davey Boy isn't the only one that might have had a problem like this against Michaels. If you really want to be technical about it, Bulldog teamed with Vader & Owen Hart to beat HBK, Psycho Sid & Ahmed Johnson at In Your House: International Incident on July 21, 1996...but Vader got the pin on HBK in that match.
Isaiah Bowers asks about a possible Hogan vs. Hart match...
"I've been wondering about this for years and I was hoping you could help me find the answer. Has Bret Hart ever had any match with Hulk Hogan in anyway at all. Whether it be a dark match or in another fed like wcw and if they did have a match what happend in it and is there anywhere it can be viewed?"
The first match ever between Bret Hart & Hulk Hogan that I could find information on happened on the September 28, 1998 edition of WCW Monday Nitro. Hogan vs. Hart was pimped as the main event all night long, so of course they wrestled for about 5 minutes before Hart faked an injury, Sting came down to fight Hogan in his place, and Hart turned on Sting and joined up with Hogan. This was standard operating procedure in 1998 WCW. I think it will eventually air on WWE 24/7 since they've been airing episodes of WCW Monday Nitro on there, but it doesn't exactly sound like a dream match.
Adam Showe has some questions about Lita...we'll answer them one at a time.
1.Did lita re-hurt her neck in that match with trish on raw. And was that match the main event of the night?
If you're talking about the one where she took the really ugly bump on the floor where it looked like she'd broken in half, then no, she was fine afterwards. It was the main event of Raw.
2.Is lita leaveing wwe? If yes then when?
She's been rumored to be leaving for awhile now, but is still around. My guess is she'll probably leave within the next couple months, but since I haven't seen anybody say WHEN Lita is leaving, I honestly don't know.
3.Do you think lita and trishs fued has been the #1 fued in the history of divas?
As far as WWE women's wrestling goes...well, you could make a very legitimate argument for it. I think the other women's feud that would have to be mentioned in this debate would be the Wendi Richter vs. Fabulous Moolah feud. I'd lean towards Richter vs. Moolah because it was one of the top feuds during the early days of the Rock & Wrestling Connection, and having Cyndi Lauper involved in it garnered a lot of interest from the casual fans. Trish & Lita had better matches, but for the most part their feuds were never one of the top programs in the company. I can see a good argument for them, but for me it's Richter vs. Moolah. Compare the fan reaction after the match where Richter beat Moolah for the women's title to the reaction after any Trish v. Lita match (and yes, that includes their last one in Toronto), and you'll see what I mean.
4.Do you think lita is the best womans WRESTLER ever. I think so, she has 1000's of moves, and all the other girls suck and/or sucked.
Oh boy. To put it simply, the answer would be no. Lita had some potential as a crazy spot worker before she suffered the broken neck, but she really wasn't the same after that. Recently she's become a smarter worker, but I wouldn't put her in the top 5 that I've seen come through WWE in the past ten years. You've got Molly Holly, Trish, Ivory, Victoria, Jazz, Mickie James, Jacqueline, Gail Kim...I'd rate all of them ahead of Lita as far as wrestling goes. Not to mention Allundra "Medusa" Blayze & Bull Nakano in the mid-90s. Then there's all the Japanese woman workers who are light years ahead of their American counterparts, and SHIMMER fans would tell you that Lita probably couldn't hang with most of the talent there.
I will say this though...Dean Malenko didn't call Lita "The Woman of a Thousand Holds" for nothing. Thank you, I'll be here all week!
Rick Funcannon poses a hypothetical question...
"Besides Monty Brown who in TNA do you think is most
likely to jump to WWE someday? My personal pick is
Abyss. Hes got the size and the gimmick to work in
WWE."
I think A-1 would fit in well in the WWE. He's got a good physique, he's tall and he has very nice hair. As far as "most likely" goes...with the rumblings surrounding Ron "The Truth" Killings these days, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make the jump. Heck, him and Lance Hoyt would both be good fits with WWE. And I'm not just saying that because I'm sick of seeing them on Impact. Hoyt's got the size and look too, and has a certain charisma that gets him over with the Impact Zone fans. Killings certainly has the look and the ability to get himself over, so I could see any of these guys fitting in well there.
We'll wrap things up with Jeff Burnham wondering about the Anvil...
"the other night I got the drunken urge to dig my old N64 out of it's dusty box and enjoy some retro-action. Anyway, whilst having a blast on 'WCW vs NWO: Revenge' I was surprised to find Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart on the roster - completely forgotten his WCW run (possibley his second, now that I REALLY think about it).
Well, my question is, did Jim Neidhart ever do anything of note during his WCW run(s)? In hindsight I'm surprised they didn't stage a WCW incarnation of The Hart Foundation (Bret, Anvil, Bulldog, Jimmy Hart), ok they had obviously brought Bret Hart in as a singles star, but Anvil and Bulldog could have made good 'Horsemen-style' enforcers for the champion. Just a thought..."
They could have, but Bret was immediately thrown into the NWO nonsense while Anvil & Bulldog tag teamed in the WCW lower mid-card. Neidhart did absolutely nothing worth remembering during his stint in WCW, he teamed with Bulldog for a little while but they were nowhere near tag title consideration, and he had some singles matches with guys like Steve McMichael that are also better off forgotten. You didn't miss much. With that being said, WCW/NWO Revenge was a freaking awesome video game.
Well, that'll be all for this week. Next week I think I'll be able to finish off the leftovers from the Clarke era and get to some fresh new questions. Of course, in order to do that I'll need some fresh new questions, and that's where you guys come in. E-Mail me at scook411@hotmail.com and ask me anything you want to know about professional wrestling or anything relating to it. The only rule I really have is that since this thing will be posted Wednesdays at 3:00, I won't be answering anything that shows up...let's say after Raw on the Monday the week that the column is posted. You can send it, but it won't be answered here until at least the next week. Oh, and make sure you have something about "Ask 411" in the subject title, so I know you're not JT insisting that the Lions are going to turn it around because they beat the Bills by a field goal.
And if you have any corrections, feel free to send those in too, but make sure to mention in the subject title that it is a correction so I can be sure to include it in the next edition.
