Ask 411 Wrestling 02.28.07: Super Dragons, XPW, Feet Under the Ropes and More!
Posted by Steve Cook on 02.28.2007
Including an ultimate gimmick? I wonder if it has anything to do with Warrior Warrior...
It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, and I hope you all are having a wonderful last day of February. February's never been one of my favorite months of the year, mostly because I hate cold weather, driving in snow, and have been single ever since I can remember. It's just bad times all around. The only good things about February are the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and college basketball. I don't remember much of the Super Bowl because I was having way too much fun at the party that night, the 500 was bad for my fantasy NASCAR team, and my Louisville Cardinals are kicking ass lately. So I guess two out of three ain't bad. Oh, and the ROH show in Dayton was pretty cool too.
OK, so maybe February hasn't been so bad. Now let's get on with the show...you can tell when I'm rushing to put this together at the last minute because I'm sooooooooo lazy with the format. Good times.
Feedback Frenzy
Great Khali pinned Undertaker at Judgment Day. I had mercifully forgotten about that match until several of you reminded me. I think Manu Bumb was first, so he gets the credit. Or the blame.
Whenever the legendary Peter Kent appears in your mailbox, you gotta let him have the first word...
""2) There was a rumor, during the John Cena got stabbed angle, that the WWE was going to hire New Jack. If this is true, than why did they change their minds.
It all depends who you believe...if you believe New Jack, they were considering bringing him in as the guy who stabbed Cena. WWE would probably tell you otherwise. Do you believe everything New Jack says? I don't, but he's a funny SOB. "
From what I remember, New Jack pushed for this hard and ended up getting a tryout. Reportedly Shane McMahon was blown away by a promo New Jack cut for him, but the WWE was not at all impressed with his in-ring ability. Apparently he got blown up really quick."
My memory was jogged by this e-mail...I remember Sandman talking in his shoot interview with Raven about how Jack went up there for a tryout, blew up in a couple of minutes, got pissed and left. Which is pretty much what you would expect.
Speaking of 411 legends, here's Ron Gamble...
"At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Bob Backlund was jumped on his way to the ring by Bret Hart. When he finally made it into the ring, he was eliminated in about five seconds by Lex Luger."
To add to the list of former Tough Enough alumni to hold WWE gold, Maven was also a Hardcore champion on three occasions in a run leading up to and including WrestleMania X8 that I had forgotten about and glazed over in the Hardcore title history. Thanks to the couple of you that sent that one in. Now for some world title discussion...
"Also, if it counts, Ric Flair has held the NWA, WCW
and WWF world titles, making him another man to hold
three sets of world title belts. Whilst on the
subject, that guy who claimed the Big Show being
touted as a former ECW world champ was crap - didn't
PWI instantly recognise it as a world championship the
moment they bought it back? If so, and they're usually
the best judges on that sort of thing, then Big Show
has as much a claim as anyone really." - Chris Page
I think what the reader was getting at with his shot at Big Show's accomplishment is the fact that ECW is a part of WWE, and it's more impressive when multiple promoters consider you worthy of being a world champion than when it's just Vince McMahon giving you the ECW title to set a record. Flair could qualify, though I tend to consider Flair's NWA and WCW as the same entity since the NWA territory (the only major one at that point that hadn't been run out of business, really) run by Jim Crockett was bought by Ted Turner and turned into WCW. Of course, that's not getting into the NWA that resurfaced in the mid 90s and eventually had their titles purchased by TNA. My head hurts.
Though, as Adam Nelson says, "it's better than if Angle had won the (ECW) belt and claimed that, since he would have won all 3 while working for WWE."
To add to this discussion...
"In 2005 Dale Gagner the new owner of the AWA reversed the Dusty Finishes of Hogans matches with Nick Bockwinkel to make him a two time AWA champion, At the time the AWA were a big company with A TV show and PPV's making him a WCW, WWF/E and AWA champion.
However with it being a different owner is may be questionable to give him this, also it may just be for some publicity for the new AWA." - Mike Whyte
I don't count this at all...the AWA run by Gagner is a joke, plain and simple. Had Verne actually put the title on Hogan instead of doing the BS finishes with him and Bockwinkel, the history of pro wrestling could be a hell of a lot different than it is now. Or it could basically be the same. But no, I generally don't believe in re-writing the past to fit your agenda.
"While reading the latest column I noticed a bit I thought I could add a little more depth to thanks to my far too long spent bumming around the IWC. You're right that Michaels was supposed to return the job to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania XIII for the title. When it came time to actually go through with paying Bret back for putting him over during the Iron Man match, Michaels conviently lost his smile and vacated the belt. This made the 4-way match between Taker, Vader, Hart, and Austin into a title match instead of a #1-contenders match. This is where Hart was probably supossed to win and go on to face Michaels.
However, because Michaels left the title picture and Mania card in doubt, it was decided to go with Sid vs Taker for the title and Austin vs. Hart. The part that is interesting is that it was supposed to be Austin, not Hart, that dropped the title the next night to Sid. This was because Austin was injured during the In Your House Fatal Four-way match. I remember watching the video when it was released years ago, and you can clearly see Austin blow out his knee. Austin told Hart during the match and on the fly it was decided to have Hart win it instead. Either way, Michaels is technically responsible for setting up one of the worst Mania's ever, but also the magnificient turn of both Austin and Hart." - Curtis Soileau, Jr.
"This one's in regards to William S Hibbard's question about Vader and Goldberg getting into a tiff in Japan
He may have been referring to a supposed altercation between Goldberg and Masahiro Chono in NJPW, reading this question sent me to wikipedia for the answers, and I pulled it up.
Straight off the board:
"In a match against WCW's Bill Goldberg, Chono supposedly "shot the match" (actually hurting the opponent) and dislocated his shoulder. Given Goldberg's temperament and abuse of other wrestlers, it would stand to reason his actions and personality would conflict with NJPW employees seeing as how Japanese pro-wrestling puts more emphasis on the match instead of the gimmick." - Musoke Sendaula
"About the Ahmed Johnson/Kurrgan Incident... Per Ahmed's Highspots Shoot in 2006, his reasoning for refusing to job was that his Sister (Who was an avid WWE fan) was dying of Terminal Cancer, and he didn't want what could have been the very last image that she would see of him being hanged by the Truth Commission on Raw. The next week she died, and he walked out on the company without saying a word to Vince McMahon about it. What's your opinion on that?" - P. Vegata
I have not heard that before...something tells me that if Ahmed had explained that to Vince, he could have gotten out of it without too much trouble. I understand a need for privacy, but when it comes to your boss, you kinda need to be up front about things like that.
"I wanted to throw in 2 cents about DDP in "The Devil's Rejects" It is NOT just a cameo. It isn't a big supporting role, but it is a supporting role all the same. He has nasty teeth, bad skin, and looks every inch a piece of trash scumbag bounty hunter. Also, his name is Billy Ray Snapper, and if that aint a GREAT name, I dont know what is.
So honestly, I would recommend any big-time DDP fans to check it out. Quite frankly, the movie gave me a bigger love for him then ever before." - Nate
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Question Time
"Years ago, I remember hearing Perry Saturn talking about Disco Inferno's "Ultimate Gimmick." Supposedly, anyone who had heard of Disco's idea thought it was the best gimmick idea ever, or close to it, anyway. But everyone was also sworn to secrecy, as Disco was waiting for the right time to unveil it. Obviously, that time never came. So, have you heard of this before? Do you know anything about it?" - Casey Johnson
I do not, but my favorite Disco Inferno gimmick idea has to be the one where he said there should be a wrestler called "The Invisible Man". Yes, he would be invisible. Guys would be flying around like somebody was beating them up...but there wouldn't actually be anybody beating them up. One can only imagine how well that would have gone over with the average wrestling fan. Disco was really ahead of his time when it came to booking.
"First off, I can't stand the guy. So much in fact, that I can't even enjoy disliking him. My question is, why does Edge rarely juice? I only know of a couple of times, but yet he's considered a top-level guy? It seems to me that the most tenured champs always have, but not overdoing it. (Bret is the exception here) It's frustrating to me during an edge match that his opponents will, but he never does. Could this be a reason why he's not champ? Does he have hepatitis or is he just a puss?" - Clay
As ugly as Edge already is, he can't afford to be carving his forehead up and making himself even more grotesque. Seriously though, I'm not really sure if there's a reason why he doesn't bleed very often or not. It would be interesting if there was a reason for it. It might just be that they don't ask him to do it. Guys can get over without bleeding...I'm not a big Edge fan either, but a lot of guys around here love him even though he doesn't bleed buckets every PPV.
"When Chris Benoit beat Sid for the WCW title, Sid seemed to have his arm or leg on or under the rope when the ref made the pin - had Benoit not have left the next day was there going to be a further angle regarding the finish of the match?
Also why was the whole locker room on the ramp way for this match?" - Mark Whyte
There were two reasons why Sid had his foot under the bottom rope while submitting to the Crippler Crossface...one reason was so in case Benoit decided to leave, WCW could say that the submission didn't count because Sid's foot was under the bottom rope after further review and strip him of the title. The other would have been to have there be a good reason for Benoit & Sid to have a rematch for the title, which would have happened had Benoit stayed. As for why the locker room was out on the ramp way...this practice started in ECW, where the other wrestlers would come out to the entranceway during important title matches (or when one of their fellow wrestlers was about to leave the company, like when Tazz lost the ECW title before leaving for the WWF) and get a closer look at the action from there. This was meant to show that the title match was so important that everybody cared enough to come out and watch it instead of just staying in the back and watching it on TV.
"In the "Please, don't try this at home" montage that is shown before every WWE dvd, there's a shot (during JR's voiceover of "How do ya learn how to fall off a 20 foot ladder!??!!?) of what appears to be Shawn Michaels falling off of a ladder, out of the ring, into stacked tables. For such an insane spot to have occurred, for the life of me I can't remember the match where it happened. Where/when did the fall occur?" - Stephen
That took place at Armageddon 2002 in a match Michaels had with Triple H for the World Title. It was a 3 Stages of Hell match...the first fall was a street fight, the second fall was in a steel cage, and the third fall was a ladder match. Hence, HBK took the bump you see in the "Don't Try This At Home" video and Triple H climbed up the ladder to win the title.
"My question is... what ever happend to the 411 colum in defense off... and it's archives now that was a good question but here is a wrestling question as well for you... well it's more opioniated then question but here goes
Do you think Coach and Joey Styles made a good announcing duo?" - Dean "HBK IS GOD" Morris
You can find all the "In Defense Of..." columns right here. The esteemed JP Prag has been taking a break from the column to focus his attention on real life matters, but he still has time to do Hidden Highlights with the always pretentious James Thomlison.
As for Styles & Coach...it's tough to say because we never really got much of a chance to hear them call the action as a two man team. There's the possibility that they could have gelled well and become a good team, but judging on their individual attributes, I think they could have been decent, but at best they'd probably be the third best announce team in WWE. Styles has deteoriated a lot since his glory days in the mid 90s, and Coach is a good color guy, but not up there with JBL or Lawler.
"I've noticed that Christopher Daniels hasn't been on TNA for a while. Is he injured or something? Also, do you see him making a move to the WWE at all or will he stay in TNA? Lastly, is there anyone in the past few years that's been rumored to be a danger in the ring because of lack of skill or maybe that person doesn't know their own strength?" - Dan
Daniels has been showcased in vignettes on Impact just about every week since losing the X Division title...honestly I'm not exactly sure where they're going with his character, but they seem to have something planned for him. In an interesting note that's probably related to whatever they're doing with him, he's been growing out his hair and beard since being taken off of television. Mind you, he still doesn't have a lot of hair. But he's trying.
I don't see him going to WWE...he's still not all that big, which was WWE's main reason for not bringing him in several years ago. Daniels' size and look wasn't what they were looking for. I wouldn't completely rule it out, but as long as TNA keeps treating him well I think he'll stay there.
As for your third question, JR always said on commentary that Big Show didn't know his own strength. Great Khali definitely comes to mind as a guy that's considered a danger in the ring due to lack of skill. Oddly enough to most Internet fans, Rob Van Dam has also been considered a danger in the ring in the past due to his stiffness and busting people open on multiple occasions. Some guys are considered dangerous for reasons having nothing to do with lack of skill...Mick Foley was afraid to step in the ring with Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor due to Joe's stiffness.
"We see guys getting crotched all the time in matches, on the top turnbuckle, top rope, ring post and guard rail outside. My question is, how the hell does this not really hurt?? Especially when during ladder matches, the spot comes where the ladder is pushed over and the guy lands on the top rope, balls first!
I've been watching wrestling for about 20 years now and I know guys protect themselves in moves but I cant for the life of me work out how this doesnt hurt, if even just a little (if there is such a thing as a little amount of pain when it comes to a shot to the balls)." - Richard
I've never gotten crotched on a rope or anything like that, so I asked Larry Csonka how he dealt with it...
"Ok, I really don't have a great explanation for this as I have only done that spot one time. Basically I was told to try and land "inner thigh" as much as possible. There will be pain no matter what, but if the inner thigh takes most of the fall, you're balls aren't reamed that much and it isn't that bad. For the record, I landed balls first and thought I was about to cough up my balls." - Larry Csonka
So it's all about the inner thigh.
"I have just one question....
Why did XPW go out of business?" - ant-lox
XPW's downfall came in April 2003, when XPW owner Rob Black and wife Lizzy Borden were indicted on obscenity charges due to pornographic material produced by Extreme Associates, which was XPW's parent company. Due to the stress involved with the trial and Extreme Associates going out of business, XPW was no longer financially viable or something that the owners wanted to pursue.
"What ever happened to Ludvig Borga? He was in a awesome Feud with Lex Lugar during the Lex Express era. He basically bitch slapped Lugar around for months, becoming a huge pain in Lex's path to getting a title shot at Yokozuna. Things were going good for Ludvig and he even got a action figure... a honor reserved for only a select few popular wrestlers. Back then jobbers didn't get figures! Then suddenly he disappeared. no pay off match with Lex Luger ever. what happened backstage?
btw, fit Finlay always reminded me a lot of Ludvig Borga... now thats a dream match!" - NYGroover82
Borga (real name Tony Halme) retired from pro wrestling and returned home to Finland after suffering an ankle injury. He began a reasonably successful career in pro boxing in 1995, and has held the Finnish heavyweight title. He had one fight in the UFC in 1997, losing to future UFC legend Randy Couture. In 2003 he was elected to the Finnish Parliament as a member of the True Finns party. He is a nativist and speaks in a harsh manner, much like his wrestling character. He has had some interesting moments while being a member of Parliament, including calling the President of Finland a lesbian the day after being elected, being arrested for driving while impaired, and being committed to a mental hospital due to excessive alcohol consumption. And people say American politicians have problems...
"This question regards the Money in the Bank Match this year, since ECW sucks is there a good chance that CM Punk will win the match and challenge for the WWE or World Heavyweight Title just so he can go to one of the other shows and make it look legit or is he just being thrown in the match." - Brandon
I think Edge is going over in MITB, mostly because they seem to be building up his WrestleMania win streak pretty well. I think Punk will be given an opportunity to look really good in the match though, and get over despite a losing effort. Which would help his chances of getting off the sinking ship that is ECW.
"What ever happened to wrestling PPV's that aired during Sunday afternoon?
I was watching my old tape of Wrestlemaina X, and McMahon kept speaking of events which would unfold 'this afternoon'. Then I recalled that I had watched many WWF PPVs in the early 90s that would air during the middle of the day. When did this practice stop?, and what was the motivation for it?" - evarga
I think it had something to do with the fact that when the WWF first started doing PPVs, their product was almost exclusively marketed towards kids, and odds were that their parents probably wouldn't want to purchase PPVs that would keep their kids up late on a Sunday night. Afternoon shows would also be able to draw more kids attending for similar reasons. Once the American family unit fell apart, things like this no longer became a problem, as kids were allowed to stay up however long they felt like.
"I recently bought the new ECW DVD they put out, & was a little disappointed... they didn't show much good old stuff, and the new crap was alright, although lacking any real historical signifigance. I watch ECW, and I'm usually okay with what they put out. I watch Smackdown, and with all the crossbrand shenanigans they stick in, the fact that the WWF (I'll NEVER get used to that E) can't find anything to do with Chris Benoit leads me to thinking... I watched Homicide's final succesful RoH title defense in NYC before he got annihilated by Morishima the next night. Wouldn't it be grand if Benoit showed up one night on ECW, disassembled Bobby Lashley in six or seven minutes & walked away with the belt? Think of the possibilities... Benoit/Punk! Benoit/Sabu - Benoit broke Sabu's neck, & now Sabu can TALK about it! Rob Van Dam would stick around! Monty Cor Brown would be dragged to four stars!
And as far as a REAL question goes (since I srt of ended that last one with an exclamation), what lead to the creation of TNA personalities like Austin "Starr" and "Senshi?" Do they expect people to believe a bandanna around your gaudy tattoo make you a different person?" - Elmo "is Spanish for 'The Mo'" Machete
Benoit as champion of anything would rule.
As for Austin Starr & Senshi, Austin wanted to change up his persona during his first run in TNA because somebody pointed out to him that all the X Division wrestlers were pretty much interchangable and there was nothing that made anybody stand out. Austin decided he could stand out by wearing ridiculous attire and turning up the personality. Once he returned to TNA in October after serving a suspension for showing up late for a PPV, he went all the way with it and created "Austin Starr".
Low Ki's reasoning for switching to Senshi was more business-oriented, he wanted to retain possession of the Low Ki name in case he left TNA and wanted to use the name elsewhere. Of course, that's also a benefit for Austin Aries being Austin Starr in TNA, and I wouldn't be surprised to see other indy guys go this route. That way you can avoid embarassing situations like working as "The Outlaw".
over the past couple of weeks, u were gone, and i started a question that got some fedback from other readers, regarding trish and lita. there may be some wrestlers better, but i most say this, I am litas biggest fan, i know everything about her (her shoe size is 8), and while there may be some better, she is the most athletic diva ever. i mean come on, the litacanrana, moonsault. and she started doing this when woman needed it. so she really fixed the womans division. so my 3 questions are...
1.)Has there ever been a diva that made as big of an impact as quick as she did?
2.)Has there ever been a diva more ATHLETIC diva then her (remember, shes the xtreme queen, moonsault litacanrana (one off a ladder), a lot more.)
3.)Do you really think that shes a BAD wrestler? i think shes good, she does wrestling moves lita Russian leg swap, suplix, ect. - Matt Chewning
1. I would say that Sunny made a more immediate impact than Lita did...while her run wasn't nearly as long, when she was at her most popular there were few women that could compare. She was the most downloaded celebrity on America Online, for crying out loud.
2. This is a tough question to answer, but I'd have to give your girl credit as far as the athleticism goes, especially before she was slowed down by injuries.
3. Lita had stretches of her career where she was very competent in the ring, especially early on in her WWE run. That being said, after her return from a neck injury in 2004 or so, there was a period of time where she was really bad. Eventually she just became a valet, which was what she was best for at that point in her career.
"I was just browsing YouTube and happened upon this guy Super Dragon. Man, this guy worked stiff as hell! It looked as though he was just beating the crap outta whoever he was wrestling...Samoa Joe and Dragon had an awesome encounter in, ah...PWG? I dunno. What's the story on him? Who IS that masked man? Thank you." - The Mad Chef
Super Dragon has been wrestling since 1997, appearing in such promotions as Revolution Pro, All Pro Wrestling, CZW & ROH. Most of his appearances have been in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, which he co-owns along with five other wrestlers. He is known for his stiffness and getting in altercations with fans, which in my opinion are good qualities. Fun guy to watch, though he's kinda been slowing down lately due to wear and tear and he's not working as much as he used to. Rumor has it that he's focusing on his regular job now and will stick to wrestling in PWG for the forseeable future. Hopefully Super Dragon will not retire and will continue to beat up fans...we can only hope.
"Have a question, maybe you or someone else knows the answer.
It's in regards to a finishing move that was used by someone back in the late 80's or maybe early 90's.
It involved the opponent slumped upright in the corner. The other guy would climb either to the second or third rope, grab his opponent's head, and place his knee against the back of the guy's neck. He'd then lean forward, and drive his opponent into the mat in this manner.
My question is, who did this, and was there a name for it? I haven't seen anyone else do such a move, and was also curious if there was a reason why. Sounds a little risky if you ask me." - Dean
I don't know the name of this move, but I do remember Raven using it in the later days of his WWE run and occasionally in TNA. I do not know who he stole it from, perhaps somebody else will...
All right, that's all the time we've got this week. We've got about 35 questions in the in-box, so hopefully we'll answer some of those next week and get some of your newer stuff in to. Send all questions, thoughts and love advice to scook411@hotmail.com.
