Ask 411 Wrestling 11.22.06: Rock vs. HHH, Homicide blackballs People, Hakushi's tattoos, and More!

Posted by Steve Cook on 11.22.2006

Including...a moonsault by B.G. James? Now I've heard it all...

It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I am your party host Steve Cook, and I'm back with even more answers to questions only a complete wrestling geek would know. Luckily for you guys, I definitely qualify as a geek of the wrestling variety. And in other ways too, but that's another story.

Question E-Mails still in the inbox: 16

We're down a bit from last week, so there's a chance that if you send in your questions early this week, they could appear in next week's column. So go ahead and send it in right now...I'll still be here when you get back.

Corrections and Added Information

Sometimes I miss this stuff because the subject titles don't tell me that it's a correction or an addition...make sure you have something like that in the subject so I'm sure to put it in there as soon as possible.

"I was reading your latest column, where one person asked about wrestling gear.

I have been wrestling for nearly 4 years on the independent scene in New England so I have a bit of insight.

Back in the day, you had to know or find a tailor / seamstress who could work with spandex. I would imagine that a few pair of tights were made by wives and girlfriends.

Today with the internet, you can get customized gear from a variety of places. Here are some of the one's I've used: www.eztights.com; www.graphicleather.com; www.empirewear.com; www.highspots.com;

Adrian Street used to make stuff for the boys in the 80s & 90s too.

I also had a comment about the "1 - count" question.

I often kick out of a cover after a one count, or before the count begins. This is usually in the beginning part of a match where my leg was swiped, or a shoulder tackle knocked me down. I've even rolled out of the way before my opponent can get a full cover on me. I think one of the reasons you don't see it much on TV is because the matches are short and go right into the high impact part. The feeling out process isn't used much in TV matches, but I can almost guarantee that if a match goes more than 10 minutes, you've seen a 1 count in there. The only other reason I can think of is convenience or laziness depending on your perspective. Why expend the extra energy on kicking out in 1 when I can take another breath and kick out at 2?

Hopefully this was somewhat insightful. Keep up the good work on your column." - Christian Angers

"a few weeks ago someone asked about a wrestler having 2 characters in one promotion, one being a face, the other a heal. perhaps the best example of this was the Great Muta and Keiji Mutoh. to make matters even more confusing Muta was a member of NWO Japan while Mutoh opposed them, which lead to a heal turn for Mutoh when he joined NWO Japan also, which is possibly the only time 2 characters played by the same person were part of the same stable." - Jon

"OK, this is more of an opinion question. Whose look do you think has changes
the most over the course of his (or her, I suppose) career? Put another way, if
you had a friend who had only been watching wrestling for about a year and was
used to everyone's current look, who would you show him old footage of to really
blow his mind and make him ask, "Wait, *that* is ______?!"?

I might nominate Scott Steiner or the Undertaker (using old tapes of Mean Mark),
but off the top of my head I'd probably say Johnny Polo/Raven.

Any opinion?"

Good question. PWI once did this cool thing where they showed different pictures
of people over the years to show how much they'd changed...Raven would
definitely be right at the top of the list for that because his personas over
his career were complete polar opposites, and even in a single character he'd
have completely different looks on a regular basis. Jeff Jarrett would also be a
fun pick because of the long blond hair and goofy-ass outfits that make his TNA
street clothes look tame.

"One guy you might have a hard time recognizing his early career to his latter
career would be Scott Hall. In his AWA and early NWA days, he looked a lot like
a taller version of Magnum TA, only with dark hair. He also looked relatively
skinny. I don't remember much about his early career, but he was at the Great
AMerican Bash 89, in which he took part in the two-ring battle royal. He
wouldn't get his current look until two years later, when he would have beefed
up a bit, shaved off the moustached and slicked back the ahir, becoming the
Diamond Studd." - Fixxer315

"I figured I'd shed some light on the theme music business to the best of my knowledge. My friend has some small connections into the music business and actually does business with the guy who recorded the vocals for Billy & Chuck's "You Look So Good To Me". He was paid a grand or two for about an hour's worth of work, but agreed that the vocals would be the sole property of WWE. So obviously, some of these songs were not property of WWE. Perhaps they had contracts to license them for so many years, perhaps the artist(s) decided they wanted more money, perhaps it was just a cost saving means. I did read shortly back that the band who recorded the nWo's theme broke up just a short while ago and there were either legal battles over who owned the music, what the cut should be, or else they simply agreed not to license out any of their music. Due to this, I'm imagining they were licensing the song out themselves rather than it being the property of a record label.

Also, McGraw's death was the result of a heart attack over steroid use (and I wouldn't be surprised if cocaine or other drugs factored into it) similar in some aspects to Eddie Guerrero's passing. The rumors of Roddy Piper killing him were simply fabricated from the coincidence of the vicious beating Piper gave him in his last memorable match and the fact that news wasn't as widespread at the time and noone really wanted to come out and say it was drug (especially steroid) related. McGraw was a fairly small wrestler, who like Dynamite Kid and Bulldog, had put on a lot of muscle, and was usually beaten up pretty badly in matches." - Jimmy K

"In response to the Chris Benoit discussion...

While I'm not a regular wrestling viewer lately, one of my favorites that I've actually kept an eye on is Chris Benoit. He always just seemed like "The Guy" to me, if you know what I mean. While everyone else had their gimmicks or characters, Benoit seemed like he was just being himself. He also has what is my second most amazing wrestling moment (closely behind Taker/Mankind HITC) of all time. I'm not sure of the opponent though I do know that it was an NWO member and occured in the time period of their initial power. It was in a steel cage and Benoit had wiped out his opponent and was climbing over the cage. When he got to the top, Benoit paused, looked down at his opponent laying on the mat, and then proceeded to turn around and do a flying headbutt off the top of the cage. It was so amazing to watch him leap off the cage and into the air being quickly followed with falling to the mat nearly head first." - Richard


Some people remembered some heel beatdowns that resulted in decisions being reversed...

"THE DEBUT OF FINLAY ON SMACKDOWN…, IF MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT HIS FIRST MATCH AGAINST MATT HARDY ENDED IN A REVERSAL. I THINK HE MIGHT HAVE HAD ONE OR TWO MORE MATCHES WHERE THE DECISION WAS REVERSED. FINLAY RULES." - B. Cris Reyes II

"u asked to send in, this one i remember like i just watched it. at wm 14, ken shamrock beat the rock, but wouldn't let go of the ankle lock, the ref reversed the outcome and the rock was still ic champion. i'm not sure, but i think it also happened in a match on sd with benoit in it." - Matt Chewning

"In response to that, even do he was not the heel, I
remember Ken Shamrock defeating The Rock at a PPV and
them beating the crap out of him, maybe because he was
in "his zone", and having the ref change his decision
in favor of The Rock, I think it may have been for the
IC title." - Chema

"As soon as I read the question bout the reverse decisions, In a match between Ken Shamrock vs The Rock (Possibly Royal Rumble 1999 maybe not) Shamrock won the match with an ankle lock,but wouldn't release the hold an the decision was reversed...I know he wasn't a heel but it was the same idea." - Woozerno1

Well, Shamrock did lose the match to Rock because of the beatdown afterwards...but he was the babyface at the time it happened and Rocky was the heel. So technically it wasn't really a "heel" beatdown.

"Although I, like any other heterosexual male, would love to see Trish in a porn, als, this is not the case. The lady in question actually goes by the name of Rebecca Wild. She is quite attractive, and she does look quite a bit like Trish from the right angle. not that I condone free downloading of movie clips (ahem*Morpheus*ahem), but if you were to go to a certain site and search for Trish Straus porno, or something to that effect, you will indeed find clips of a woman that looks something like her. This is Rebecca Wild, and I am sure that someone just got it in their head at some point that they look similair, so let's say that it's actually Trish instead. Watch the video, and look at a good photo of Trish, and it is obviously not her." - Bigpapachiop

"Just a few things about the animals Steamboat used on TV.

First, he never used a Komodo Monitor (dragon). Komodo Monitors are highly endangered, and even zoos have a hard time getting specimens. Also, they have deadly bacterial components in their saliva which means they can only be handled by trained & licensed professionals. Infact, the United Stated didn't even have specimens of the Komodo until 1988 when a pair of the lizards were presented to President Ronald Reagan.

In his 1986 feud with Jake Roberts, Steamboat used an Asian Water Monitor, which is an equally impressive animal that can grow to nearly 10 feet long. These lizards are common in the pet trade and can be suprisingly calm as captives. At other times Steamboat used a Caiman, which is a type of crocodile native to South America. They are common pets, but are not an animal to be handled which is why the snouts were taped shut whenever Steamboat used one. A clip of him holding a subadult caiman can be seen on the Jake Roberts DVD set. I guess they thought people were ignorant enough to believe it was some sort of lizard.

Even though I dont recall Steamboat using a lizard in 1991, more than likely it was another Asian Water Monitor." - Mike Future

"Anthony asked about heels beating down faces and getting a decision reversed because of it. While I'm sure I remember that happening a few times, but I can't remember the specifics. I do remember the same thing (with hell/face dynamics reversed) at Summerslam in 93, Bret Hart beating Lawler with the sharpshooter and then getting DQ'd for not letting go of it. Lame ending, but I thought the Bret-Doink match beforehand (due to Lawler faking an injury) was pretty damn good.

As for the question of wrestler's changing looks, a good resource would be either http://www.wwemirrorimages.com/ or http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/ Both have a pretty cool section of old and current pictures of wrestlers.

Haas of Pain- I would describe the move almost as a sharpshooter or texas cloverleaf taken from the side at an extreme incline. The opponents legs would be crossed as if they were in the either the 'shooter or the cloverleaf, but Charlie holds the crossed leg in place with one of his feet while holding their other foot with his hands. He also is on the ground while doing this, not sitting on them. The opponent would (ideally) end up at an angle similar to how Jericho used to do the liontamer (which, I'm convinced he took from Benoit, cause I'm sure I saw Benoit do an elevated crab first). I haven't seen Haas use that in forever though, so my memory might be fuzzy." - Matt Jones

"<<
Who was the guy, and what was the point of this "run-in"? Was this ever followed up on? - Dabid

Looking back, I probably shouldn't have started this one with something that stumped me. I remember Disco had a disco ball shown during his entrance, but I don't remember him ever hitting anybody with it. If I was given a year I might come up with who would allign themselves with Disco at that point, but I've got nothing. Anybody?? >>>

I do remember the disco ball incident, and Dabid pretty much gor it right. It was your typical midcard Nitro match until Disco's music started playing for no reason, which at first seemed to be a technical problem, until a guy dressed in an even louder outfit than that of Disco Inferno came out dancing in the aisle. Both the referee and Kanyon were then distracted by this mysterious man, and a gigantic disco ball dropped from the ceiling. Disco guided the ball at his opponent and hit him, knocking him out. The ball was still there, but the referee counted three and Disco got the win. I really hope someone follows up on that one, because it was really weird and made no sense... uh oh, I think that might explain it right there. It probably happened right after Russo came on board. The sheer stupidity of it has his stink all over it." - Dan Montero

"I never remember this happening on Monday Nitro, but it did happen on WCW Saturday Night once. This, sadly, is my earliest memory of WCW.

Disco Inferno was wrestling Meng and, of course, getting mauled, since he was up against The Monstah Meng. The end of the match was here, Meng put on the Tongan Death Grip, and for some reason Disco Inferno's music started playing, and Tony Schivone started yelling about how Disco hasn't won the match.

Meng dropped Disco, and looked down the ramp to see another guy, I don't know who, dressed up like Disco Inferno. He stood on the ramp and disco danced, Meng stared at yelled, DI called down his ball, Meng turned around just in time to take a disco ball shot to the face, and Disco Inferno beat The Monsta Meng.

The announcers acted like Disco Inferno's mystery partner was some big deal, and it was never mentioned again as far as I know.

That match is burned into the back of my mind." - Evan Psencik

"About Piper not winning any titles.

I read Pipers self biography and it is as you said that he did not need the title- Piper had lots and lots of heel heat anyway.
However it is also well documented throughout the book how Piper throughout his WWF career refused to be pinned by anybody.
Hogan never got to actually got to pin piper. Nor did the Undertaker even though everyone was supposed to job to him when he first came around - piper made sure he recieved the tombstone on the outside right in the concrete and deliberatly got his forehead cut up and faked a spasm to avoid reciving a pin from the UT. The first to ever score a pin fall against the hot rod was Bret 'the hitman' Hart as he won the Intercontinental title from Piper. Piper did on that day passed the torch to hitman and may have been pinned in the WWE since then. I don't keep track.

" Regarding this:

"Why was Christy Hemme fired? She had potential, a good attitude, she did whatever they asked of her and she showed attitude and an eagerness to improve."

I remember reading Christy being released because she didn't want to resign with the WWE cause the salery was to low. Her diva search contract was worth about twice as much as the new one offered. And also was not willing to go to the wrestling academy." - Johan

"I think easliy the wrestler who's changed his look the most (and the most times) would have to be Charles Wright, aka Papa Shango, aka Kama the Ultimate Fighting Machine, aka The Godfather, aka The Goodfather, aka The Godfather again.

Tim White was the worst ref for the "four-count". His big belly slapping on to the ground always made it seem like he was letting people kick out at three.

Also I like when wrestlers don't have a Finisher (with a capital F). More wrestlers are going down that road now (nitro, carlito when he first debuted). Its cool to have signature spots (like Flair and the Figure Four, and I know nowadays its used as a finish, but back in the day he hardly ever won with it) but to not know where or how the finish is coming really adds something to a match. The finality of something like the Stunner, Sweet Chin Music or the Pedigree can be used well, but it's a cheap way of getting false finishes to matches "oh my God, he kicked out of The PEDIGREE!!!!" etc. and is way too over-used. I think it all stems from WWF in the 80's trying to turn all the wrestlers into cartoon-like figures (with a Logo, and a Catchphrase, and one Finisher) instead of athletes trying to win a contest." - Gareth Smith

"ICP left the WWF because they had a deal that a AD for The Amazing Jeckel Brothers CD was to be aired during RAW. The WWF kept telling them that they would air it, and never did. It wasen't a money issue." - Ty Tedesco

"In Violent J's autobiography, he wrote that ICP actually performed in WWE for no money at all. WWE was supposed to run commercials for their current CD release as compensation. The commercials never ran so ICP quit." - Leland

Wait a minute...Violent J wrote an auto-biography? I must read this.

"Taz/Tajiri really takes me back, as that was my second ECW PPV. I remember being monumentally pissed at the time with that finish, not because I wanted to see the blood and the gore, but because it was the FINISH OF THE MATCH! That's kind of important. And instead, all we got was this awful wide view that didn't show ANYTHING, and then wandered off to backstage. Looking back, I understand the decision, though.

Heat Wave '99 was held on August 2, 1999. ECW was about to debut on TNN on August 26. It was a debut that was supposed to save the company. And, let's not forget, ECW's Pay Per View debut was delayed by months because of graphic footage that took place in an ECW ring. Can anyone really blame ECW for being skittish about showing potentially horrific footage (barbed wire + throat is not a pretty picture) weeks before such an important event?

And anyone who thinks that TNN WOULDN'T have either backed out on ECW (like they ultimately did when Vince came calling) or put strict requirements on ECW (like they ultimately did, at times blurring out: a thong, a woman getting hit by a singapore cane, and beeping out Paul Heyman speaking badly about the network) is insane, as history shows.

Regarding a referee reversing a decision due to excessive violence, probably the most famous one (oddly enough, reversing the formula) was the SummerSlam 1993 match between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler over the "King of the Ring" title that Bret had won at the first King of the Ring PPV. Bret won the match, but refused to release the sharpshooter, so the ref reversed the decision and awarded Lawler the King title.

For the "most changed" question, Scott Steiner wins easily in my book because not only has his gimmick changed, but so has his wrestling style. Gimmick changes like the Undertaker and Raven are easy to point out, so who's changed the most drastically in wrestling style? Personally, I nominate Rey Misterio, who wrestles nothing like he used to in WCW and earlier.

Or, to make it even harder, whose style has changed completely... for the better? (Because Steiner and Misterio are NOT the workers they used to be.)" - Tim Dennie

"I'm fairly sure the reason the WWE (and WCW for that matter) routinely cut matches from their Coliseum Videos (not to mention editing the hell out of the matches) was due to simple economics - video tape that runs longer then about 2.5 hours has to be made from a special, much thinner kind of tape, whose particles tend to break down more quickly and also tend to be eaten up more easily in the VCR. I'm sure they didn't want all those people returning those Coliseum Home Videos that they paid $60 a pop for back in the day. That's why any non-PPV release ran no more then 2.5 hours and why 3 hr and 4hr + shows were edited down to fit the same time scale. Only a few three hour shows have snuck onto VHS (WCW Starrcade 1993 is one example) but they are almost always recorded in a lower-tape speed in order to fit the whole show on the thicker, higher quality tape instead of fitting them in the best quality on the inferior, thinner tape." - Robbie

"Hmm... there's a possibility Jericho sold the most albums, but I have a feeling that that honor might belong to Handsome Dick Manitoba, singer for The Dictators, one of the most influential punk bands of all time - they were actually a BIG influence on The Ramones, though they never hit the heights of popularity their protoges did. Their first ("The Dictators go Girl Crazy!") is pretty funny and rocks like a motherfucker, it's one of those "every punk rock fan should own" albums. "DFFD" - their big "reunion" album from, like, 2000 or so, was really good too - especially considering they were a bunch of old coots at that point. Anyway... if you dig gritty '70s NYC Who-esque proto-punk, worth checking out.

He never made it big as a rassler, but Handsome Dick is so cool that when he opened his bar (Manitoba's) Abdullah the fuckin' BUTCHER showed up for the party." - lawsonomy

"If you bothered to do the the searching Lance Storm clarified why some performers can keep their names and some can't after leaving the WWE. I think he was using Billy Kidman as an example or one of the examples since he brought the name with him into WCW and then WWE.

It was in one of the Q&A things he does. If I get time I will have look see myself but I do know Ashish/Larry hooked it up as a news item." - Scott Rutherford

Here's the link as provided by Mr. Rutherford. According to this, Mr. Punk would be allowed to keep his name, which must make Ari and the other Punkaholics sigh with relief.

"re: steamboat's komodo dragon - i HIGHLY doubt he ever had an actual komodo dragon. My source? common sense. I remember the SNME where he brought out his "dragon" to combat roberts' snake. it was no komodo. this is a freakin komodo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_dragon

this is a monitor lizard - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_lizard . pretty sure the lizard from SNME wasnt that one either.

"Gaylord had been around a few years by this point too
whilst Jacobs was a rookie by comparison - would the
WWF really throw out somebody relatively green into a
PPV match when there was a ton of big guys on the
independent circuit they could have brought in?"

All I have to say is Chris Masters in the elimination chamber...

"Close, but not quite. The reason for the pullback wasn't that it was being applied over his mouth ... the barbed wire was around Taz's arm and being applied over Tajiri's THROAT. The resulting mess had Tajiri looking like he'd had his throat perforated, which was somehow over ECW's limits.""

Dude......wow, that would be awesome to see in retrospect (knowing tajiri didnt die)!

"In answer to Chuck Stahlheber response to my suggestion of Hiro Matsuda. The angle was that Dusty Rhodes was chasing the US title held by Lex Luger of the Horsemen. Rhodes went to former wrestler Johnny Weaver to learn the sleeper hold (called the Weaver lock).

Luger's manager, JJ Dillon, said that Rhodes was choking when Rhodes used the Weaver lock and brought in Hiro Matsuda as a sleeper hold expert. He had Matsuda give a demonstration on the difference between a sleeper and a choke. However, Matsuda refused to wake the referee up (back then it was required for wrestlers to wake up their opponents after the match). Johnny Weaver was doing commentary and went in to wake the ref up. Matsuda attacked Weaver and put him in the sleeper. Weaver bled from the mouth and his eyes rolled back before Dusty came in to break it up. Hiro and Dusty feuded for a few months to keep Rhodes away from Luger until Starrcade."

This guy's awesome. He hit every single detail of that feud completely accurately (or at least, accurate according to my memory of it) - trust him and anything he tells you.

"As far as Jerry B.'s assertation that about the DX invasion of Nitro on 4/27/98. The lighted marquee was a bit of trickery of the part of the WWF. WCW might have given away tickets to that event but the free tickets that was listed on the marquee was actually for an upcoming event at the Scope. The WWF edited the footage to make it look like it was for Nitro. "

Right again.

"There was another reason for the fake Razor and Diesel. The WWF was suing WCW for trademark infringement over their use of Hall and Nash. They put new people in the Razor and Diesel roles to help their case."

obviously i agree with that, since i wrote more or less the same thing last week.

Re: Hogan/Sting/Nick Patrick - if Sing was supposed to kick out at 2 on the first legdrop, but forgot....why did nick patrick keep counting? No referee wants to be responsible for ending a match different than planned. remember when Vince, Shane, and (someone else) were fighting 3 other guys, shane got knocked a little silly, and didnt kick out, but Hebner only counted two, and on 3, acted as if shane had kicked out at the last second, even though he VERY obviously did not. JR covered it up by saying Hebner's always been in McMahon's pocket. I still say hogan tampered with this one.

then again, sting forgot his make-up for the last tna ppv. who knows?

Oh yeah, in regards to the 1 count - just saw it used at No Mercy during the Hardy/Helms match. so, it happens.

" I feel this is a much better use of the one count than having a wrestler kick out at one two minutes into a match."

While Stuart has a point, i think the 1 count early in the match is more effective than a 2 count early in the match. having said that, i dont think wrestlers should even go for a pinfall early in the match, which would eliminate my scenario altogether, leaving us with Stuart's 2nd wind theory, which I'd be fine with.

"In a cute postscript, when you watch the commercial tape, they sped up the tape to make it look like Patrick did a fast count, but it's so obvious that any idiot could see the editing."

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Lex Luger didn't win the WWF Title at Summerslam 93 (which would have been the obvious ending) because they were looking to stretch the Luger title chase all the way out to Wrestlemania 10, where he would win the title. Problem was that after all the build up and hype, Luger didn't get the title which totally deflated any fan support he had"

See? When a wrestler wins the match, but not the title, it sucks. why hasnt wwe ever realized this?

" And finally, Manu Bumb..."

Hey, its me!

"A lesser man would ridicule male cheerleaders."

Ya know, I realized I was opening myself up to ridicule, but....who cares? it was fun. nothing wrong with being friends with all the cheerleaders ;-)

"Unfortunately Penguin's DVD of the match was stolen and he couldn't give me any further information on this. He blames Cryme Tyme for stealing it, but I have my suspicions..."

but they're in england. thats just racism.

;-)

"I was wondering I have watched wrestling since i was 4 I am now almost 30. I have this vague recolection of several matches ending with the heel scoring the win then he would proceed to beat the crap out of his opponent after the fact. then the ref would reversing his decsion because of the beat down. Did this ever happen or have i done to many drugs?"

Ken Shamrock vs the rock - ken went too far, ref reversed the decision. this was when the rock was a hell, and shamrock face.

As for someone that's changed a lot, I'd say Road Warrior Hawk (or was it animal?) - I saw a profile on wrestlecrap.com of "The Road Warrior" (before WWE decided to revive that name....see? they're retarded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and he was completely gay. Then he went on to find a partner and form the road warriors.

Another really good one is Barry Darsow - Smash of Demolition, Repo Man, that golf guy, blacktop bully, Krusher Khrushchev. The first one I figured out was repo man, and thats just because I heard it on a wrestling hotline somewhere, and then compared pictures of his shoulder tat to verify it was him. the other two were obvious. Krusher Khrushchev, on the other hand, even though I had seen him as a kid (I believe...he was the big russian with Ivan Koloff, right?), I didnt realize it was him til jimmy hart revived the character on WCW Saturday night towards the end of that show's run.

I wish I had watched more insignificant Saturday Night during that period - wouldve seen something different than nitro and thunder.

"There are probably others, but honestly, I think WWE only really enforces this right when the performer isn't somebody they like very much or somebody that didn't leave on good terms. "

Which category does justin credible fall into? he's even part of the clique, isnt he? wasnt he? did I just lose my mind?

" The status of Punk's name (should he leave WWE some day) will probably depend on where he would wrestle next. "

Actually, I think Punk keeps the name no matter what. WWE has the right to use his name right now, and in future WWE releases, and anything punk adds to his character while in WWE is theirs (which is why they got pissed about captain charisma, and said angle cant use the term "angle slam" to which he said "THATS what you called it???"), so if they start calling the anaconda vice "the punk out" or something else, he cant use that term, but can still use the move, since he can establish that he used it prior to coming to the WWE.

Sorry, I have hobbies.

"Were the Insane Clown Posse the first musicians to act as wrestlers?"

Hulk Hogan is the first musician I can think of to become a wrestler.

I dont think that counts as what he was asking, since hogan stayed a wrestler, and ICP stayed musicians. Toby K...no, ICP was before him. yeah, i cant think of anyone else, but im not trying very hard.

"The term "lariat" is more often used to describe a clothesline when the wrestler delivering the clothesline is from Texas. In real life, a lariat is also known as a lasso, which was often used by American cowboys. When I was younger, I thought that lariats were clotheslines with more force, and it still kinda makes sense because Stan Hansen's lariats were better than any clothesline I've ever seen."

Yeah, the lariats ive seen (hansen, JBL) have always looked more brutal than a clothesline, but ive always believed that a clothesline occurs when your opponent is running at you (and you are moving or standing still), whereas a lariat is when your opponent is more or less standing still (JBL would often throw an opponent into a corner, hit the ropes, then kill them on the rebound), and you're running at them, resulting in more force.

but thats just me. i could be making everything up, since we're talking about fake fighting in the first place.

"The Yakuza Kick is when the wrestler applying the kick is running towards their opponent. The Big Boot is when a wrestler runs into the kick."

Again, the yakuza is definitely cooler than the big boot. although i have seen the big boot done extremely well (by test, no less, among others), i still prefer the yakuza kick.

"Does he need it? Fuck no, he's the Undertaker. Like I said earlier about Piper, some guys don't need title belts to get over. "

During the Taker/Kennedy match at No Mercy, JBL brought up a good point (as usual) - (paraphrased) "He's beaten hulk hogan for the title twice, stone cold steve austin, and Sid Viscious (yeah, JBL mentioned Sid..awesome)...The Undertaker only has 4 title reigns because he's only wanted 4 title reigns"

JBL is an announcing god.... I noticed after i screamed that at him at no mercy, he called himself a "commentating god" on tv the following week - had he done that before? i mean, it would seem obvious for him to say that, given that he used to say he was a wrestling god, but i cant remember it. This was Raw on Oct 9th, btw, when all 3 announce teams were there for homecoming.

"I've never heard anything about Trish actually being in a porno...and something tells me that if she had been in one, any wrestling fan with an Internet connection would know about it and have it downloaded on their computer. So I hate to say it, but I'm 99.9999999999% sure it's just a look-alike."

yeah, ive seen lots of...i mean, my friend has seen lots of pics of naked women that look a lot like trish. and he enjoys them. but he says they're not her, but close enough. him, not me.

"with the Haas of Pain, Charlie kinda pulls the legs back so the opponent's back is arched to the point that they have to quit, but he does not sit on the opponent while doing it."

Was that the same as Eddie's Lasso from El Paso? i remember it being similar, but cant remember the specifics of either move.

" Guest Machines included Piper Machine (Roddy Piper), Hulk Machine (Hulk Hogan) and Crusher Machine (Crusher Lisowski). "

Not doubting you, but.....why the hell was there a Piper machine? was he associated with the others? or did he dress up as piper machine and attack them? He was a heel at the time, so it wouldnt make sense for him to be a special guest machine.

" You know, sometimes I notice this too. That might be the case sometimes, but other times when the referee hits the mat, it can make a sound resembling a count, and that throws off your hearing and you're counting one step ahead. "

you just read my mind. that happened to me monday, and last week on something else also.

" usually when the referee sees that the wrestler won't get up in time, he'll stop his count on his own and try to make it look like the wrestler kicked out. Nick Patrick will occasionally put his hand under the wrestler's shoulder and lift it up."

Except for that match with hogan/sting...." - Manu Bumb

Piper Machine appeared on October 4, 1986 along with Big & Super Machine, defeating King Kong Bundy, John Studd & Bobby Heenan. I think Piper had made his big return as a babyface somewhere around this time...if he hadn't yet he would soon after.

All right, here's this week's batch of questions!

Jeff from Toledo wonders what happened between Homicide & Dan Maff...

"You mentioned in this week's column
about Homicide kicking out of the Burning Hammer at a 1 count to
further bury Dan Maff. What happened between the two? I remember a
story around the time that Maff left ROH that there was some bad blood
between the two, but don't remember hearing what it was about. Any
light you can shed on this would be greatly appreciated!"

Here is what Homicide had to say about Dan Maff back in March 2005...

"This is the last time you will hear or see me mentioning that jabroni's name again. Dan Maff is done in the wrestling business. Finished. Maff blackballed himself. I did not blackball Maff. Promoters had to pick me or him, and all the promoters picked me because of what Maff did. There is only one side of the story and Maff fucked up and that is why he is done and no one is using him. Maff fucked with my family and fucked with my personal life. Maff is a pedophile. I hope fans can understand this. This shit is personal. This is my life. Maff screwed Maff and blackballed himself because of what he did. No promoter wants to use him because of what he did. Maff is done with wrestling.

I want everyone to know that I hate Dan Maff and I don't respect him. He's a piece of shit. This is my personal life and the last time ever I will mention this guys name again. This is done just like Maff's career. I know fans want to know the whole story but this is very personal and that's all I can say. I know fans want to hear that whole interview, but it's better off not being up there because it's real life. Maff is done."

I would speculate further...but do you think I wanna piss Homicide off? Hell no!

Kristian asks about Shane Douglas and the NWA...

"Back in the summer of 94, Shane Douglas won the NWA World Championship, but then threw it away claiming he never wanted to be the champion of an organization that's been dead for 7 years now then renamed the NWA World Title the ECW World Title. Anyways, the question is that how was Shane Douglas ever allowed to be part of NWA/TNA after that disgraceful act of disrespect to the NWA and their World Championship?"

Basically, the people at the top of NWA-TNA were not involved with the NWA at the time that happened, so they saw no reason to hold a grudge against Shane Douglas over it. It was funny as hell when Douglas showed up in TNA though, for that exact reason. The affiliation between TNA & the NWA was always loose at best, and has become less obvious over the years.

David continues our discussion of New Razor Ramon & New Diesel...

"Oh, and with the New Razor and New Diesel, I remember on RAW where they had "Razor" running around the back chasing off someone for Savio Vega… and all the camera got was the BACK of "Razor." So I agree that at first, the WWF wanted us to believe that they were back on RAW. My question is, as soon as they debuted in the ring, did the WWF want the fans to take the imposters seriously? I always thought of it as a mockery, but the more I read about it, the more it seems everyone agrees that it was supposed to be taken seriously. Was I just looking too deep into things?"

I do believe they were supposed to be taken seriously as wrestlers and seen as guys with ability. Their lack of it at that time led to the gimmick ultimately being discarded and "Razor" & "Diesel" disappearing. The characters were a mockery, obviously, but they weren't sold short as wrestlers by the announcers.

Pete from Manchester, UK has a question about weird women's wrestling promotions...

Question: I can remember watching this womens wrestling on a German
channel when I was a teenager here in the UK (about '93 ish?). It was on
pretty late at night (yeah i admit i found it accidently flicking through
one time ;) ) and can remember it being absolutely BRUTAL!! Most of the
matches were pretty bloody affairs, e.g. one woman having a chainsaw and
stuff!

Is this some wild imagination of mine, or was there a fed around this time
doing this kind of stuff? I can't for the life of me remember the name of
the promotion. - Pete from Manchester, UK

Well, I'm drawing a blank. Any of our UK readers remember anything about this? There was a woman named Chainsaw in GLOW, but I don't think that would fit the time frame of your question. Also, I might be mistaken, but I don't think GLOW had much blood. Now, some Japanese women's wrestling promotions had some blood, dunno if they would have aired in the UK or not.

Bev has two questions...

"My fav wrestler of all time is the Macho Man.
Every year I hope WWE will release a DVD set on him, and each year there's none.
Why?
I've read Vince doesn't like him - why? He was one of their best workers thru the 80's,
surely he deserves a set at least as big as Flair's."

I covered this in the 10.25.06 edition of Ask 411. Which reminds me that I need to get back to the guy who said he'd help me archive this shit...

"As much as the "E" wants DX to be "it", the NWO was the most exciting wrestling event in the last 15 years. Will there be an NWO DVD anthology ever? This would make sooooo much money."

WWE already released an NWO DVD back when the group made its comeback in 2002. I don't see them making another one anytime soon for two reasons....one: they already made one, and two: they don't want to give WCW credit for doing anything good.

Charles has a question stemming from the Brian Pillman DVD, which I need to get...

"I was just wondering who the guys Austin was fighting outside of Brian Pillman's house during the infamous "Gun Incident" were. I was watching the Pillman DVD, and it said they were Pillman's friends. I figure they are wrestlers and I would like to know who they are and if they ever were on T.V. other than this they look kind of familiar."

I'm not sure...I'd have to watch the DVD and see the clip again to see if I could recognize anybody involved. If anybody else does recognize those people, feel free to write in...

Joe Fino has a pretty straight-forward question...

"What are considered to be the most watched wrestling events/moments in the
history of the WWF/WCW?"

The May 10, 1999 edition of Raw scored an 8.1 rating...unopposed by WCW due to basketball, this show had a main event of Triple H, Undertaker & Shane McMahon vs. Steve Austin, The Rock & Vince McMahon. OK, there's some starpower there.

The August 31, 1998 edition of Nitro scored WCW's highest rating ever (that I could find) of a 6.0. Unopposed by WWF due to tennis, this show had a main event of Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart vs. Sting & Lex Luger and had a run-in by Ultimate Warrior and 500 other people at the end.

Andi has a B.G. James question...

"Okay this is my question...First off my favorite personal wrestler is and always will be Brian Armstrong..a.ka. the Road Dogg/B.G. James...Now I'm a huge B.G and Outlaws mark but there is one thing I've been wondering about. My roomate has told me that on an episode of Smackdown, the New Age Outlaws were talking on the Hardy Boyz in a Cage Match. Now I have seen a clip where Billy Gunn/Kip James back drops Jeff over the cage. My question is my roomate swears that B.G. James did a moonsault from the corner. I believe him when he says it, but my question is, do you know if there is a clip of this on the internet(ive check youtube) or are there a results page somewhere that might make refernce to it. Or by chance, do you or anybody else in the world remeber this?"

CRZ's old website slashwrestling.com is great for things like this...from his recap of the 11.25.99 edition of Smackdown...

"NEW AGE OUTLAWS v. HARDY BOYZ (with Terri Runnels) - Mae Young doing the DX chop - aie yi yi. Hey, remember that one night Terri spent with Gangrel? No, neither do the writers, either. Dogg and Jeff lockup, into the corner, knee, forearm. Into the opposite corner, Jeff goes up and over, then dropkicks the back. Kick, arm wringer, another turn, Dogg tries to take him to the mat, but Jeff drives him down. Up and over, go behind, Dogg holds the ropes, duck, left, left, left, juke, jive, Matt decides to just leave the cage and win, so Dogg goes over and pulls him down. Gunn tries the same thing, Jeff's got him. Now all four men involved - Hardy double clothesline. Gunn into Dogg in the corner, Matt on all fours for the - well, Gunn catches him, then tosses him onto Jeff. Road Dogg WITH A MOONSAULT!!!!!!!! I am SHOCKED that he'd bust that out."

So yes, it did happen. And I was ready to say "no way in hell" until I looked this up...

Tyrone from T-Dot has a quick question about Sting's "Crow" persona...

"Eric Biscoff's book mentions that the idea for Sting's new persona and personality came from Scott Hall, implying they must have come up with it while Hall was in WCW. But if I look at Sting's appearance in the months leading up to the nWo angle, for instance since the debut of Nitro in September 95, you can see he's already started to grow out his hair and stop dying it blond (Sting not a natural blond? get outta here!). So was his transformation in the works long before that, or did Sting just change his hair, intending to keep the surfer look otherwise? It looked kind of goofy to me."

I'm thinking he was just wanting to change his hair after years of dying and cutting it short. Don't think there was a reason behind it leading to the Crow Sting look, and it did kinda look goofy, but at that point Sting had enough cred in WCW that people weren't going to tell him what to do with his hair. At least, I would hope they wouldn't.

Darknightwolf101 has two questions...

1. During the Final Days of WCW, Kevin Nash, Konnan, Sting, Lex Luger , and Randy Savage formed The NWO Red and Black as a challenge to the NWO Black and White. I also remember Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Konnan, and Several others form the Latino World Order. What was the reason behind This?

The NWO Wolfpac was led by Kevin Nash and wore red & black...Sting, Savage, Luger & Konnan were the other main members and they were cheered by the fans against NWO Hollywood, which retained the old white and black colors. Basically Nash had a disagreement with Hulk Hogan over who the real NWO leader was, so he formed the Wolfpac. Scott Hall & Curt Hennig were part of the group briefly, but both would turn against the Wolfpac and allign themselves with NWO Hollywood. The Latino World Order was formed by Eddie Guerrero due to his hatred of Eric Bischoff and his favoring of the NWO guys over the rest of the roster, especially himself and his fellow luchadors. Konnan was not involved with this group since he was a Wolfpac member, but Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera, La Parka, Psicosis, the Villanos, Silver King, El Dandy, Hector Garza & Damien were. The LWO probably had the coolest t-shirt out of all the NWO groups.

2. I been watching wrestling for 13 yrs now. Anyways, I've seen Bobby Lashley use the Dominator as His Finisher. My question is, when was the last time wrestling saw a new Finishing Move Never done before, like the F-5 used by Brock Lesnar - Darknightwolf101

There are always new finishing moves being used...you just gotta keep an eye out for them and you probably won't see any in WWE because they steal all their shit from the indies. Japanese wrestling too...I'm pretty sure nobody did the "Go 2 Sleep" before KENTA started doing it. There's one example.

Pete has some Big Show questions...

"Here's a question for you, there were alot of rumors
that Big Show and Kane did not get along well during
their tag run. Any idea why or how serious this is?
Second question What are the odds of Big Show visiting
his good buddy Kurt Angle in Orlando after he retires?
At least once as a special enforcer, Show is another
guy who could do with a lighter schedule for the sake
of his knees." - Pete

I couldn't find anything on any backstage problems with Big Show & Kane...Big Show possibly joining up with TNA would depend on how loyal he feels towards WWE. I imagine he doesn't need the money at this point, and realistically he doesn't have much wrestling left in him. He and Angle are friends, so I wouldn't be surprised if Kurt tried to get Show over there.

Mohammad wonders something about the Superfly...

"My question pertains to Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. I feel
that his high flying style lead to several wrestlers
using the ropes for the aerial moves. His steel cage
matches against Bob Backlund & Don Muraco are
classics. He is already a Hall-0f-Famer, but why
hasn't the WWE released a video dedicated to him?"

Good question. He was the subject of a feature on the short-lived WWE Confidential show, and was also featured on the Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 80s DVD. I guess WWE figures that's enough for now.

Josh Reed has a Tammy Sytch question...oh boy.

"I've recently seen the shoot interview with former WWE diva Tammy Sytch a.k.a Sunny. In the interview she reveals an affair she had with H.B.K. Shawn Micheals that went on for almost a year, and her boyfriend the late Chris Candido never had a clue this was going. She mentions that the only people in the WWE at the time who knew were members of the kliq(Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Xpac), and Vince McMahon. If it were true, understandily H.B.K would never admit to because he has a family, as well as his religious beliefs. It's hard to believe Tammy because she waited until Chris' death to reveal this story, and she is not really known for her honesty. But if it is true, why have others members of the kliq not mention it? We all know that McMahon like's to use real life romances in his story lines (ie:Lita,Hardy,Edge. Macho Man,Elizabeth. Terri Runnels,Brian Pillman). Don't you think Vince would've wanted to have storyline involving the top male and female talents in the company to boost ratings. Can we really believe this revelation from Tammy Sytch."

I don't think it's that hard to believe. Honestly, it'd be harder for me to believe that Sytch had actually stayed faithful to Candido all those years. Kliq members don't really have any reason to comment on it, and HBK's character at the time was a good guy. With the amount of power the Kliq had in the WWF at this time, you can bet Vince wouldn't have put Shawn in a situation like that on television that would have made him uncomfortable. Plus, it sheds more light on why Michaels would have alluded to Bret Hart's rumored affair with Sytch on television...to keep suspicion away from himself. I'm not saying 100% that it happened, but I wouldn't rule it out.

3 questions from James...

1.) In the late 90's, the WWE had a French announce team along with their Spanish
announce team. Why did they get rid of the French team? Simply cheaper?

I don't think they got rid of the French announce team completely, they probably just quit sending them to shows. Cost most likely had something to do with it...the Spanish guys might have met the same fate if their table hadn't become such a big part of WWF's pay per view matches. Just like you can count on Ron Simmons showing up once a week and saying "DAMN", you could count on the Spanish announce table getting broken during a match. Poor hombres.

2.) How did Bobby Heenan get his "weasel" nickname?

Dick the Bruiser was the first man to refer to Heenan as a weasel, and the term caught on with the fans and everybody else involved with wrestling.

3.) Everyone remembers how the original NWO started, but how did it end? Or did it just sort of petered out?

It never really had a satisfying ending. Eventually the WCW writers ran out of things to do with the group and the NWO concept just disappeared...until Vince Russo brought it back in 2000. And really, the less said about that fiasco, the better.

Ask 411 regular Manu Bumb wonders about tattoos...

"were the tattoos on hakushi legit, or paint? i would think paint, but i dont remember ever seeing them rub off, and im watching a match from ecw heatwave 98, featuring him and hayabusa (SP?) vs sabu and rvd, and i dont see the tattoos rubbing off. i kinda watched this match last night (fell asleep for part), and am re-watching the dvd tonight, so I'm not 100% certain that it didnt rub off, so if it did, forgive me."

The tattoos were fake. Here is a more recent picture of Jinsei Shinzaki, known as Hakushi during his stint in the WWF:



Whoever painted them on deserves some credit though, because I don't remember them ever rubbing off either.

Rey is looking for some "classic" wrestling...

"I need to find a clip online of the infamous Katie Vick segment on raw where HHH dresses as Kane and rapes the mannequin. More Importantly I need the clip of Kanes first words when he uses the voice box to say "Suck It." I checked youtube and wwe.com and no luck. please help."

Anybody?

Pavel from Bulgaria has a question about Chicago arenas....

"I asked Gavin Napier before,but he doesn,t know -why WWF always use in Chicago Rozemont Horizon(Allstate Arena) and never United Center?
In 1994 there was Summer Slam in United Center and drew attendance of 30 000,but then WWF made every Raw or p.p.v on Rozemont Horizon.
I know Rozemont Horizon is venue for 3 Wrestlemania,s bur WHY??
This arena is small and ugly...."

Chicago's always been a strong wrestling market, and during most of the 1990s, WCW had control of the United Center while WWF ran their shows in the Rosemont Horizon. Like you said, the Horizon has hosted 3 WrestleManias, and they had a long sellout streak at the arena, so there was no real reason for WWE to switch venues in Chicago. That, and the Horizon is probably cheaper to rent for a night. It holds over 17,000 people, so it isn't exactly a small venue for wrestling purposes.

Conor O'Boyle has two questions...

1.What the deal with Lex Luger's Forearm? Does it really have a steal metal plate in it or what?I ask this because during his run in the WWE they always mention it but when he return to WCW they never mention it.Just wondering if it was a storyline or not.

Luger's forearm had a steel plate inserted into it after he had a motorcycle accident in 1992. WWF played up on it to get Luger more over as a heel...WCW probably stayed away from hyping it too much because that was a WWF thing and Luger already had a history in WCW. I do remember WCW announcers mentioning it when he would hit somebody with a forearm shot, but it was never the basis of any storylines in WCW like it was in WWF.

2.I read that The Rock and HHH does not get on with each other.HHH was annoyed about The Rock being a maineventer first and even try to get Vince to make HHH-Austin for WM 15. Is this True? I couldn't believe it because Rock and HHH had such great matches together you wouldnt think they hate each other!!

I don't know about Triple H lobbying to be in the main event for WM15, but I have also heard about problems between him and Rocky. It's been said that H was jealous of the Rock and his successes in the ring and out of the ring, while on the other hand Rocky's distaste for Triple H and Shawn Michaels is a product of his friendship with Bret Hart. Bret was apparently very outgoing towards Rock and was a mentor figure to him when he was just breaking in, while HBK was a complete asshole and Rock has never forgotten about it. This was reportedly among the reasons why Rock didn't want to do a WrestleMania match with Shawn a couple of years ago. It should also be noted that one of Rock's best friends in wrestling is Chris Jericho, and Jericho's also had his problems with Triple H backstage. As for their matches...at the end of the day both men were professionals and wanted to put on as good a match as possible because their own egos would accept nothing less. I do think the problems come more from Triple H's end than Rock's end, though.

Bryan Jones wants to know about balls...

"Is the wrestler Balls Mahoney some sort of homage to
the Police Accademy films...which had a main character
named Mahoney and a lot of jokes involving "balls" and
such?"

That's as good an explanation as I've heard...I couldn't find anything saying that for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the story behind his name.

Erick has a question about a recent anniversary....

"I just watched RAW on Eddie's anniversary, and I couldn't believe not one word, or mention, or even one of those 5 second acknowledgements they show when a former wrestler passes away. I also didn't notice ANY of the wrestlers wearing an "EG" armband or at least a "point to the sky". If WWE wants to "just move on", then why continue the Storylines associated with him on smackdown? I'm sure Vicky could be used in a number of different ways instead of the present one which still brings up Eddie. I guess my question is; Did management specifically mention anything to the talent regarding Eddie's anniversary and about not bringing it up? I realize there might still be something done on SMACKDOWN regarding this, but his anniversary coincidentally fell on a "RAW night" and I was rather disappointed in the WWE. Hope I'm not over reactingtoo much, but I don't think I'm alone here. Any thoughts? Sorry for the long letter, but I' know you'll work your editting magic."

I was disappointed as well because I was expecting a mention if nothing else...I don't know if WWE management said anything to the wrestlers before the show about it or not, and in their defense I believe since Raw was taped in the UK that week it would have taken place the day before the anniversary.

Keir has a question about recent rumors...

"Hi - I was wondering if you happen to know who the WWE "headliner" is who has requested to switch brands, and why? Thanks."

I'm guessing that was in reference to Bobby Lashley, who has been switched over to ECW due to Smackdown head writer Michael Hayes not liking him very much.

411's own Michael Weyer has a question about Jesse Ventura....

"Hey, Steve, been seeing you commenting on the use of Jesse Ventura's commentary in some DVDs. I'm wondering, has the legal issues around it changed? Because I just got the Hogan and Piper discs and they not only have Ventura's commentary in various Wrestlemania and SNME matches from the '80's but even show him on camera a lot in interviews. So have they reached some sort of settlement? Just curious but it's cool for them to finally not dub him out anymore."

I have not seen anything in the news about a settlement, but I think WWE realizes that on some of these releases they can afford to keep Ventura on there because the DVD will sell a lot of copies and there won't be the side effect of people complaining about the commentary (or lack thereof) on it. Both the Hogan & Piper sets should sell very well, and Ventura was the announcer for most of their careers, so it would be weird to not hear him on there.

Shawn has a personal request...

"Could you do a switch of what you "bold" in your Ask411Wrestling articles -- bold the questions, not the answers.

The reason is that the questions are highlighted and allow for people to skim down the articles to the questions that they are interested in. When the answers are highlighted, that's really not able to be done, because it doesn't really highlight (or make it easily identifyable) as to what the subject matter really is.

It seems stupid, but as far as usability, it goes a long way."

Tell ya what Shawn, I'll put it up to a reader vote. What do you guys think about this? Honestly, I can do it either way...if you guys think the questions being bolded would make the column experience better, I'll do it like that. Y'all tell me what you want.

Well, that wraps up this edition of Ask 411 Wrestling. Tune in next week when I'll answer some more 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 [e-mail] 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 one of my family members wondering if I can bring something for Thanksgiving dinner.

[e-mail]

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!