Ask 411 Wrestling 04.25.07: Damn, Dixie, Stalkers, and more!
Posted by Steve Cook on 04.25.2007
Including me trying to explain why everybody that doesn't love John Cena hates him!
It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, and I hope you're all having a fantastic week. I had a fantastic Friday night, and you can read about it over in the blog. I can now officially add TNA to the long list of wrestling promotions that I have seen live...who will be next? Only time will tell.
Well, that and my pocketbook.
Let's get right on with it this week, Ashish doesn't pay me by the hour. In fact, he doesn't pay me at all.
Corrections, Comments and other "C" words
I had one of my typical brain farts last week and said that Yokozuna destroyed Undertaker in a cage match at the 1994 Royal Rumble, which was actually a casket match. This was pointed out to me by many, but only Dan from Brooklyn pointed this out:
he wasnt injured, his spirit simply rose out of his body and into the ceiling of the arena. He couldnt be at Wrestlemania without his spirit could he?
The man makes a good point. Kidman not getting powerbombed drew some feedback as well...
My (kayfabe-tastic!) reasoning, as put forth in Meehan's glossary is this-
The Bragging Rights Theorem (In Relation to Trademark Reversals):
Professional wrestling is a sport dominated by ego. Everyone wishes to
be the best, undefeated, win the gold, the girl, so on and so forth.
But while this ego manifests itself in blatant, obvious ways when
fighting for a belt or girl, it also affects matches in subtle ways.
Such is the case in the fact that many wrestlers find themselves
attempting to deliver "specialty" maneuvers against opponents who've
*clearly* mastered unique counters to each of these "specialty"
attacks (see also: Kidman, Billy, face buster out of a Powerbomb
attempt; Punching / Hulking Up; Samoans no-selling headbutts, etc).
Regardless of the failure rate of these maneuvers in the past,
opponents of those performers who've mastered a unique counter will
inevitably find themselves attempt to perform a move that leads to
such a reversal *despite the fact* that they would rarely, if ever,
use said move in a regular contest (or, at the very least, that they
should *clearly* know better by watching tapes of their opponents'
matches).
Regardless, the reason they try these moves is because if one manages
to Powerbomb Billy Kidman, or beat down with punches a Hulking up
Hogan, or if one successfully headbutts a Samoan, it is a well-known
fact that they gain much prestige and bragging rights backstage, and
thus said performer is seen as a better wrestler because of it.
(note: The counterpoint to this theorem runs that if someone has
mastered a counter to a specialty maneuver, then they are rarely if
ever hit by it. Should they be hit by it, however, it follows that
they will be caught completely by surprise and thus not know how to
absorb it properly which, logically, will result in them instantly
being more knocked out by such a maneuver than usual (see: Undertaker,
Great Khali, boot-to-chest). - 411's Mathew Sforcina
I never really got into Meehan's glossary thing...too many big words and gobbledy gook for my liking. Plus, if people read that stuff they would have no use for me.
In the triple threat tag match between raven/saturn, the horsemen and kidamn/rey (i think it was either slamboree or GAB in 99) kidman got powerbombed by Malenko...then get this - he tries to powerbomb him again like a few seconds later, and kidman hits his facebuster counter. Do u think maybe they blew the spot and repeated it, or was that the way it was meant to go down? - Ben Kerr
I think Malenko got cocky because he managed to powerbomb Kidman once and thought he could go ahead and do it again. Dean could be a pretty cocky guy...just ask Lita.
Double Trouble Crap On A Stick was awesome, but the one that had me in fits was Big Show's suggestion of "The Big Billy Show Gunns". I'm, not quite sure why, but that was brilliant.
Just one more thing. I can kinda understand what Hulk Hogan means. Warrior was a babyface, and maybe people would be less interested in the feud if he had already beaten Hulk Hogan. A lot of programmes centre around the chase for the title, or the chance to get back at a heel, and if Warrior's already scaled that mountain, then it's not so special him doing it again.
I hope that makes some sort of sense. - Ash
I can see that reasoning if the previous match wasn't well-known to most of the wrestling fans watching the show. For example, if Colt Cabana made his debut on ECW TV and told everybody in his first promo about how he'd already beaten CM Punk on several occasions (though it was on indy shows that most of the WWE audience wouldn't know about), it would mean less if Cabana was able to beat Punk in ECW than if he came in as a newcomer and pulled off an upset over the more established Punk. In the case of Hogan vs. Warrior, their first match took place at one of the biggest wrestling shows of all time and drew more interest than the vast majority of wrestling matches that had taken place up to that point. I would argue that a wrestling fan would have had to been living under a rock (or have no interest at all in the WWF) to not have any knowledge of their previous encounter at WrestleMania VI. Anybody who followed Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior's careers at all and would have been interested to see them wrestle in 1998 would have known about that match.
What can I say...Hogan brings out my argumentative side. I think that's why Domingo always insists on discussing his career late at night while sipping some Steel Reserve. Some people like that kind of thing...what?
just some comments on last week's column
1.) the big boss man puking on EMTs question. actually, i think he is thinking of the ultimate warrior after he was put under a spell by para shango. that was like, early 92, right around the time that nailz was with the wwf. just a possibility.
2.) usually wrestlers (or so ive heard) give the worst treatment to fans that jump the barricade. you can find clips online of eddie and jericho beating up fans that jump the barricade.
3.) Ron Simmons was a World Champion in WCW around 1991. he's definitely african-american. though not wwe, it is now owned by wwe. close enough. - Chris
Come to think of it, maybe Bossman didn't puke. I do know he had several bruises that they took pictures of for WWF Magazine, and a swollen eye.
A few points from your last column-
-I've always understood that Ron Simmons was the first African American World Champion (in WCW). The reader had specifically asked for WWE champions, but Simmons' reign would probably be important to note in his assignment. In WWE, Booker would be the first (non-Samoan) black world Champ.
-Interestingly enough, I was at an indy show a few weeks ago where a fan jumped the ring. The fan was just thrown out by security (the guy had been in the row behind me, and I heard his friends putting together $100 to pay him to jump in). From a few wrestlers I've talked to, I get the impression that usually security would just beat the shit out of someone who jumps into the ring rather than get the police involved. Of course, WWE, being a much larger company, may send them to jail.
-In 1994, Undertaker lost a casket match to Yokozuna, not a cage match.
-I recall in either Trish or Lita's last match Jim Ross calling Lita's moonsault a "Lita-Currana" so confusing moonsaults and rana's aren't limited to people involved in Jack Black movies.
-Having just re-watched Judgement Day 2003 the other day, I've got a little more info about the Hogan-Piper feud. Vince was pissed he couldn't make Hogan quit, and couldn't fire him (which I didn't understand, but whatever). So, he suspended him. Then, Stephanie (then Smackdown GM) hired Mr. America (obviously Hogan in a mask). The whole crux of the feud was that if they could get the mask off Hogan, they could prove he actually had two contracts (one under his own name, one under Mr. America) and would be in "breach of contract" and then Vince could fire him.
Good lord that was a lot of backstory for a terrible match. - Matt
You have to give Vince credit for always covering every possible booking detail of his own storylines. Even if they don't make a lick of sense.
He didn't break Kayfabe, he beat the holy hell out of Rocky, everything was "real" in the movie. The only thing that people would come up with that is when he was all buddy buddy with him afterwards. It was a charity fight, wrestler vs. boxer, and Hogan just beat the crap out of him with real punches and real slams. It would be like two friends fighting, Benoit vs. Eddy, Benoit vs. Jerhico (at times), Hardy vs. Hardy (Hardcore Title years ago), and some like that when they just kill each other and shake hands in the end. - Chris Jacobs>
If I remember correctlly, there was a promotion out of Portland OR. that was called Big Time Wrestling. Had People Like Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, and Roddy Piper, back in the day when the were just starting out. I was reading your ASK 411 Q and A and you answered a question about Big Time Wresting in the Detroit area, are the two related or different. - Steve
The Portland promotion was separate from Ed Farhat's Detroit promotion, though both operated under the umbrella of the NWA. Portland's promotion, also known as Pacific Northwest Wrestling & Portland Wrestling, was headed up by Don Owen, who was one of the most respected promoters in the wrestling business due to his tendency to actually pay wrestlers what he promised he would. Big Time Wrestling was the name of their weekly television show that ran on KPTV in Portland from 1948 to December 1991. Due to competition from the WWF & WCW and the professional wrestling rules in Oregon becoming a lot more strict, Owen shut down operations in 1992.
Jario Robles pointed out to me that there is also a Big Time Wrestling independent promotion currently running in the Bay Area.
Worth pointing out, I think, that no African-American has ever won the WWE championship...Booker won the old WCW one, and Lashley has the ECW one. I also don't hold with Rock being African-American, he's African-American-Samoan-American. But Vince isn't biased at all, no sir.
You're missing a few (moves banned by WWE): Burning Hammer, Emerald Fusion, and I believe the Vertebreaker are all on the "Watch List". The K-Driller, better known as "the move Owen broke Austin's neck with", was the first one on the list. It took a brief hiatus when Rikishi first appeared and was using it, but then it stopped when at Patterson (probably) realised "Kish would be better using his massive rear to finish people. I think the regular DVD is on there too, which explains Tommy Dreamer using the DDT now. Speaking of the DDT, has any other move declined so badly in the last 20 years? - Chris Landsell
Probably not. The DDT only ends women's matches these days...I think Raven will be the last male wrestler to regularly use the DDT as a finishing move.
The biggest "pops" question you answered with the Mankind win over Rock is interesting. What about these ones:
* The pop for Flair when he returned to WCW as part of Arn reforming the Horsemen in September 1998 was the loudest and most sustained, over-the-top rabid reaction I've ever seen for a wrestler
* Stone Cold's recent return to TV at the Phoenix Raw included the loudest pop he's received since his heyday, when the sound of the shattering glass just unglued audiences
* The pop for the newly reformed DX in SanAntonio for Raw last year was amazing
* The pop for Hogan at Wrestlemania 21, when he did an unannounced run-in to save Eugene from a beating at the hands of Davari and Mohommad Hassan, was just about the biggest reaction for that show. Unfortunately, this led to WWE thinking they could bring him back for a few matches, forgetting that it was the first time the crowd had heard "Real American" since Hogan had returned to the WWE as a heel member of the nWo (apart from the July 4th Smackdown show of 2002 when he and Edge won the tag belts)
* The reaction to Eddie Guerrero winning the WWE title from Lesnar at No Way Out in the Cow Palace sends chills down the spine
* When HHH tapped out to Benoit in the Triple Threat match at WMXX, Madison Square Garden almost had its roof blown off
* Same arena, same reaction, different show. When Shawn Michaels capped off his comeback by super-kicking HHH and winning the World Title to finish the first ever Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series, I marked out watching it on PPV and it seems about 17,000 fans live did too. I don't think anyone expected HBK to win
* Bill Goldberg's WCW title win over Hogan at the Georgia Dome sent his hometown fans into a frenzy and should have cemented WCW's position as leader of the Monday Night Wars for months to come. How they managed to blow this is an Enron-level story of stupidity. - Andrew Prentice
The Goldberg one has to rate up there, yeah. Probably the best moment in WCW history...and yeah, it's mind-boggling how they managed to mess that all up. I'd also give props to the Flair one, because it was one of the longer ovations I have heard in wrestling.
I agree when Mankind won the title the first time, that was the biggest pop I've ever heard. When I was reading the question that particular moment came to mind. By far, my favorite moment in the history of my wrestling fan-hood. Which is pretty much my entire life. Good call.
Another big pop I remember (but not nearly as big as Mankind winning title) was when Kane took like a year off. They were running videos for weeks about his return. Then one night the un-americans were going to burn the American flag and one of Kane's videos hit. Then they were all scared, but realised that it was just another video, and went to burn the flag, when BOOM! Kanes pyro hits. Then he comes down making his return and just tore them apart. I remember that being a pretty big pop. However, that Bret tease was big too. I remember I was eating dinner, and when I heard his music hit I nearly choked. That was pretty big. That darn Shawn Micheals. Another big pop was during the Royal Rumble of 04'. Orton was dominating, and Test was to come down but he was knocked out. GM Austin told a person off camera, "you did this you take his place." Everybody was wondering who it could be. Orton was the only one standing when Cactus Jack's music hit. Huge pop as it was his first match in like four years. Foley comes down, gave Orton a big flurry and a Cactus Clothesline, eliminating both of them. That was pretty big pop. Still as compared to Mankind winning the belt on RAW in 98'. Their really is no comparison. -JoeWCO11111987
Regarding the following question which had you stumped:
Around 1993 I remember catching a wrestling show on Eurosport in Europe, which featured Hulk Hogan, and I also remember Ax from Demolition tagging with some giant guy forming a new Demolition. I a presuming it was a japanese wrestling organization, but was wondering which, if so. There were never any promos (that I remember) and I have no idea about the commentry (too long ago to remember, plus I only caught it a handful of times).
The show he's referring to was called Ring Warriors, which ran on Eurosport on and off until the late 90s. It was basically an attempt to repackage New Japan's mid-90s TV product for the international market, with matches from their TV shows at the likes of Sumo Hall and Korakuen Hall, and now and then action from their Egg Dome shows. Funnily enough, though, the name 'New Japan' was never used on air, and I don't remember ever seeing a title match.
Hulk Hogan did feature on a couple of editions (he did a short tour with New Japan before he dropped the title to Yokozuna at King of the Ring in '93, I think he had matches with Muta and Masa Chono, and may have been at Wrestling Dotaku at the Fukuoka Dome), and Demolition Ax did indeed have a new version of his team, with a tall Giant Gonzales lookalike who was referred to as 'Ox', and wore what appeared to be a leather miniskirt.
Most of the fare, however, featured New Japan's regulars of the era -- Jushin Liger and El Samurai seemed to be on every week, as were Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Kensuke Sasaki. Chris Benoit was a regular appearance (under the mask as Flying Pegasus) and Finlay (younger, less bulked up, and with more hair) also popped up occasionally.
The show featured commentary from former WWF announcer Craig DeGeorge (sounding totally different from the nasal-voiced youth on my late 80's WWF PPV tapes) and Oliver Humperdink (who insisted on calling Riki Choshu 'Choshu Riki'). - MacDara Conroy
Thank you for that information...that one would have stumped me forever.
In regards to why Vince "makes" Vickie Guererro work for her money, the idea that Vince is somehow screwing Vickie by doing this is utterly asinine. It's just a smart business decision on both the part of WWE and Vickie herself. Here's why.
Merchandise makes the wrestling world go round. If Vickie works TV, she's in a unique position to keep Eddie's name out there, keeping demand for his T-shirts and stuff high. She also gets bonuses for TV and PPV appearances. That's where the majority of a wrestler's income comes from. If Vince buys out Eddie's contract at it's downside guarantee- even if Vince gives Vickie Eddie's downside guarantee for the rest of her LIFE- it's going to be a hell of a lot less money than she's going to make in just a few years of pushing "RIP Eddie Guererro" T-shirts. Not to mention the fact that she's a somewhat marketable personality just by virtue of being Eddie's widow. In just a couple of years she could be really involved in angles and selling merch of her own. She could be managing a tag team and getting a cut of their merch as well. Suddenly, she's doing alright for herself and her contract gets renewed.
It's not about Vince being greedy. It's Vince seeing an opportunity and capitalizing on it, but make no mistake about it- Vickie's profiting off this just as much as any other personality in the biz.
It's the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching a man to fish, then offering him a job at your fishing company. Vince isn't screwing her, if anything he's doing her a solid. He could buy Vickie off and keep the cash from the RIP Eddie Guererro T-shirts himself. He'd certainly be well within his rights to do so.
Plus, it occurs to me that Vickie might well prefer working for her money and honoring her late husband in the business he loved to sitting at home collecting a paycheck. I've got a buddy who's mom died one morning, and later that day I saw him at work. The guy was obviously grieving, and I asked him why the hell he'd come into work that day. He said "what, you want I should sit at home driving myself crazy?" - B
You make several good points...having never lost a close family member myself, I can't relate to the emotions that must have been going through Vikie & the rest of the Guerreros at that time. I can relate to needing something to do in order to temporarily forget about whatever my problems might be, and that could be the purpose that being involved in wrestling serves for Vickie.
It seems to me that Vickie Guerrero's current involvement in WWE storylines is a fairly transparent attempt to pacify her after Eddie's death so that she doesn't file some kind of wrongful death lawsuit against them. Lets face it, she doesnt have the typical "look" of a WWE diva. I've never heard anyone else mention this. Your thoughts? - Ryan from Boston
Well, it's not necessarily a bad thing for WWE to have a woman around that actually looks different from the rest of their divas. That's one of the main criticisms of their current Diva roster...all of them look basically the same and don't really have discernable personalities. It's kinda like high school. That being said, I don't think your theory holds too much water because WWE would not be held responsible for Eddie Guerrero's death in a court of law. If anything, you can argue that they prolonged his life by sending him to rehab back in 2002. I don't think they employ Vickie out of fear of a lawsuit by her or the Guerrero family.
I was kinda relieved that nobody complained about my comments about not needing to see Vickie's cleavage last week. I'm guessing that most of you must be in agreement there, or at least aren't hyper-sensitive.
Questions
I was wondering, after Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard left WCW, when did Ric Flair and Arn Anderson decide to replace them. Why did they choose Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Steve" Mongo" McMicheal? - DarkKnightwolf101
The chronology on this question is a bit off, but I'm going to do the best I can to try and answer it...
Ole Anderson got kicked out of the Horsemen in 1987 because he was appearing less and less on TV and was focusing more on his son's amateur career. He would reappear with the Horsemen in 1989 to manage the group in place of JJ Dillon. Tully Blanchard went to the WWF with Arn Anderson in September 1988...they were both going to return to the Horsemen after leaving the WWF in October 1989, but Blanchard failed a drug test, which led to the NWA recinding their offer for Blanchard to return to the company.
Chris Benoit joined the Horsemen in 1995...he was chosen because Flair & Anderson thought very highly of his wrestling ability and thought he would be a good fit with them and Brian Pillman, who had a long history with Benoit as well. Dean Malenko joined the Horsemen in 1998 for basically the same reason that Benoit did, because his in-ring work was stellar and the other members of the group held him in high regard. As for Mongo, he joined in 1996 by turning against fellow football player Kevin Greene in a match against Flair & Anderson. Mongo did not have the in-ring ability of the majority of his predecessors in the Horsemen, but he was fun to party with and had enough personality to justify his spot with the Horsemen. He left the group when he went to a strip club in Philadelphia and Flair and the others never heard from him again. If nothing else, he certainly lived the Horseman gimmick.
..Anyway, normally I'm pretty content with my wrestling knowledge, but here's one thing that popped up when someone asked about Chris Benoit last week:
I remember watching a Nitro back in the Monday Night War days, and I seem to recall a match where Benoit, or maybe even Brian Pillman, had stacked a table or two outside the ring and placed someone on it. I remember Benoit or Pillman climbed to the top turnbuckle and dove to the outside. But - when they hit, the table didn't give and break and they both just collapsed to the floor. Any idea if that was a planned spot or if they pulled the wrong table?
And on the same note, any other good spots with the "wrong props" come to mind? - K
They probably just pulled the wrong table, or the table wasn't cut properly enough to break. This happens sometimes, I remember a spot where DX tried to put Bubba Ray Dudley through a table by splashing him, but it took a couple of times to do it. The most recent spot I saw like this was at the Louisville TNA show, where Jeff Jarrett's guitar didn't shatter into a million pieces like it usually does. Check it out! This happens a lot more often than you would think, and I'm sure the readers will chime in with a lot of them next week.
ive heard several times recently that Y2J is returning at summerslam. at first is was some sort of stupid April Fool thing so i did a lil bit or research and in an article somewhere it said that he's got the itch back for wrestling... or something along those lines.
this wouldnt make sense because HHH and Rey are returning at this time... it would kinda steal both their spotlights unless they have Y2J run in at the end costing Cena the title to whoever has the match with him (remember 2 years ago when he got "fired" the raw after summerslam i think cos he lost to cena)
can you help shed some light on this? cos im a major Y2J mark. - Alex
I haven't heard anything about Jericho making a return at SummerSlam. He is still pursuing interests outside wrestling such as writing a book that will come out this fall...he has not ruled out a return to the ring though. But with Jericho, you never really know what he's going to do next. The best thing I can tell you is to stay tuned...but don't get your hopes up too much for SummerSlam.
Is Alias the Champ/Pardon My Toehold in existence today? And has anyone seen it in the last 50 years? - Alan Grossman
For our younger readers, "Alias the Champ" came out in 1949 and featured several wrestlers of the time, including "Gorgeous" George Wagner. The following plot summary comes to us via IMDB.com and writer frankfob:
"New York gangsters trying to muscle in on the California wrestling scene come up against a wrestler who won't knuckle under. They frame him for a murder, and his manager and a cop set out to clear his name, catch the real killers and save the reputation of the sport of wrestling."
Sounds like a pretty fun movie. Unfortunately, I don't see it available anywhere, so I can't tell you whether it's been aired in the last 50 years or not.
I know HWA was one of the WWE developmental promotions back around the time of the invasion. I was wondering why and when this deal between HWA and WWE was ended. - Brad Boldman
It's my understanding that WWE pulled out of the agreement in order to develop their talent at a lower budget. This happened around July of 2002.
Question: In 1999, sometime around Wrestlemania 15, I remember watching a match on Sunday Night Heat that had Bossman going against a jobber by the name of Jellyfish, during the match Bossman ripped a nose piercing that Jellyfish had in, right out of his face and he starting bleeding like a madman all over the place. My question is do you know anything about this Jellyfish guy, I never saw him again and also do you know if Bossman legit ripped the ring out? That seems a little brutal but I looked so real and I can't imagine a jobber blading his nose to get it over.
I vaguely remember something like this happening...but I think it was actually Darren "Droz" Drozdoff that had his nose piercing ripped off. It makes sense because Droz's big gimmick was all the piercings, and I don't remember anybody else in the WWF at that time with a nose piercing. Well, Luna Vachon might have had one, but I don't think she ever wrestled the Boss Man. If anybody cares to prove me wrong, go ahead and do so...
Question 2: After Goldberg lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Kevin Nash did they treat him like just another wrestler now that the streak was over, or was he still an unbeatable monster who just had the one loss on his record? Also has Goldberg ever lost clean still they started "the streak?" Never watched any WCW so I was hoping you could enlighten me a bit. - Taylor
Goldberg was still the top babyface wrestler in WCW, though the way he lost took a lot of steam off of him. He still won a great majority of his matches but never won the WCW title again...this was mostly due to him being plagued by injuries and bad booking for the rest of WCW's existence.
I had a question about tag team matches. I noticed on Raw and Smackdown that there is always someone who has to hold that rope by the turnbuckle. Do they have to hold it or not? Cause i have seen matches where the wrestlers havent held the rope. So could you tell me whats the meaning of this? - Joel
Ah, the ol' tag rope. Basically, the rules concerning the tag rope are easy...if you want to get tagged into the match, you have to have your hand holding the tag rope. This keeps you in your corner and from interfering and good stuff like that. However, enforcement of the rule by the referees isn't always the best, and promotions seem pretty wishy-washy when it comes to implementing the tag rope. The best use of the tag rope is when a heel uses it to choke a babyface in the corner.
whats up man, i dont kno if you guys have answered this question on here yet...but i was just wonderin why week in and week out John cena always get booed? Either just a little boos or alot, but i just dont understand why, i kno his character is sort of like stone colds but to boo him, i just don't get it. Another question i have is when do you think Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock should get inducted into the hall of fame? Because both men deserve it. Even though the rock wasnt in the company for too long, but what he did when he was wrestling. - Josh
The question of why Cena gets booed has been a hot topic on these here internets for quite awhile now...I think the main thing is some wrestling fans feel that John Cena does not deserve to be the indestructible babyface that always comes out on top. Then, there are those that feel he's trying too hard to be a Austin/Rock type of character (and the promotion tries too hard to book him as such with similar storylines with different characters) and see him as a pale imitation of both. Then there are those who dislike his moveset or his selling or his promos. And finally there's the fans that never like any top dominant babyface, mostly to be different from everybody else.
I think it will be a long time before we see Austin or Rock in the HOF...not because they don't deserve it, but when you think "Hall of Fame" you think of old-timers. Austin might qualify as that, but Rock's still a rather young man. Austin will get in sooner, I would think. In a related note, Austin was one of the candidates for the 411 Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2007...I am a pretty big mark for Stone Cold, but I did not vote for him because there are a lot of guys that came before him that deserve to get in first. I think the WWE Hall of Fame voters ;) will feel the same way.
I have a question that'll be kinda tricky to awnser, since I don't have much to go by. Back befor the Attitude Era, I think like a year or 2 before Austin won the title, I remember seeing promo's for a wrestler. The promo's often showed him as some man in the Wilderness, a hunter or survival kinda guy, wearing hunting gear arround a swamp or forrest at a camp fire. The only other thing I remember was he was moderetly tall and only seeing 2 matchs by him. The first match was against some round fat guy who was running a plummer gimmick and I don't remember who the other guy was, both where squashes (The plummer guy's finisher was the Suplex and it hardly affected him).
With all that, who was he really? What really was the gimmic? How long did the gimmic last? Did he do any other gimmics? And where is he now? - Drew
You're remembering The Stalker, who was better known for the lion's share of his career as Barry Windham. As The Stalker, Windham wore cammo, a t-shirt, and cammo colored facepaint. WWF marketing experts expected great things from him, but the gimmick lasted about as long as a Stephen Randle news column. In other wor Windham had a pretty notable career that lasted from the mid 80s to the late 90s, including a WWF Tag Team Title reign with Mike Routundo as the U.S. Express and a stint as a member of the Four Horsemen. The main knock on Windham is that while he was one of the best wrestlers in the world in his prime, his prime only lasted a couple years and he went sharply downhill afterwards. Gimmicks like the Stalker and his time as a New Blackjack don't exactly help his cause. Not all of his late career gimmicks sucked though, as he was a member of WCW's West Texas Rednecks alongside Curt Hennig, Bobby Duncum Jr. and his brother Kendall in 1999. He also had a very enjoyable tag team with Dustin Rhodes from 1991-92 and a nice little heel run afterwards, though once he took some time off to heal injuries in 1993, he was never really the same wrestler. Right now, Windham is serving as a producer/road agent for WWE, and you can see him on the Four Horsemen DVD.
1) Is TNA's President Dixie Carter the same chick from the Designing Women TV
Show?
Dixie Carter from Designing Women currently has a role on Desperate Housewives. She has somewhere around 30 years on TNA's President.
Old Dixie Carter
New Dixie Carter
2) Why does Vince keep guys like Funaki, Hardcore Holly and Scotty Too Hotty
around? Do they have dirt on Vince? - ant-lox
Funaki is a pretty popular guy backstage who will agree to do anything. Hardcore Holly's not a very popular guy, but he's useful in stints like he had in ECW and can also be valuable as an "enforcer" type. Scotty 2 Hotty...well, the Worm still gets over when it appears on PPV once a year.
I'm 18 and my first wrestling memory is Papa Shango putting a curse on the Ultimate Warrior, and Warrior was puking and whatnot. I was just wondering when this happened, because I'd like to know how old I was when I started to remember wrestling. - Shaun Maglicic
This took place in the summer of 1992, when Warrior and Shango had a feud that culminated in a lot of bad house show matches.
Adam Bauguess, who if I'm not mistaken used to write for this very website back in 2005, has three questions for us...
Below you will find three Ask 411 questions for a future issue of the column. Any answers you can find would be most appreciated. They all pertain to the independent professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor. Thank you very much.
1. What was the reasoning behind ROH dropping their Pure Championship? I felt it served fine as a secondary title and really didn't see the logic behind killing the title, since Danielson's reign as World Champion was already widely accepted and he didn't really need the win over McGuinness.
I think booker Gabe Sapolsky felt that they could do nothing further with the Pure title that could top what Nigel McGuinness was able to do with it. The Pure title always got a bit of a mixed reaction from fans...some people liked it, and there were also people who just hated the whole concept. Nigel had an interesting run with it that most people liked, but there were some people who still disliked all of his non-finishes and whatnot. I can see the argument for either side, but they seem content to use the FIP belt as a secondary title for now.
2. What truly happened to the team of the Natural Born Sinners? Homicide used to have a tag team partner called Boogalu (sp?), but Boogalu and the team disappeared after the first few ROH shows, leaving Homicide to fend for himself. I heard through the grapevine another promotion was involved, so any light shed would be appreciated.
In 2002, Rob Black's XPW had made its way over to the East Coast, and they were trying to recruit talent from other independent promotions to work their shows instead of the ones they were working. The other promoters didn't care for Black and his business practices, mostly because he signed an exclusive deal with the owners of the old ECW Arena that left several promotions without places to run their shows. Black tried to recruit several wrestlers from ROH, including Homicide, but Boogaloo was the only one to take the money and run. Therefore, he was expendable, and Homicide embarked on a successful singles career in ROH.
3. It's been said that ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky had full control over the ROH/CZW feud and that CZW owner John Zandig basically gave him free reign. My question is in regards to the "shoot" comments made by the likes of Bryan Danielson and Jim Cornette, where they ripped CZW wrestlers and the hardcore genre with a variety of insults. Were these legitimate insults or where they simply scripted as part of the feud? The reason is it seems to me that if they were legitimate there would have been tension between the insult throwers and the CZW crew. - Adam Bauguess
Considering what Cornette has said about CZW, IWA Mid-South and other hardcore promotions in various shoot interviews, I have no doubt that his insults directed towards CZW during the feud were legitimate. I don't personally know Bryan Danielson's opinion towards hardcore wrestling, but the style he wrestles certainly has nothing to do with light tubes, weed whackers and other fun weapons. I'm sure there was some tension between the ROH & CZW wrestlers, but it's amazing how people will bury the hatchet at least temporarily if there's money to be made. The CZW wrestlers said plenty of things about ROH, so it was going both ways and I don't think anybody would have a legitimate gripe with what other people said.
I asked the other dude who took over for you for that month not too long ago and
asked this same question. What is the definition of a "Mark"? He said it was
someone who like thinks the matches arent already made for someone to win
(scripted). But i was playing GTA San Andreas it one rap song said "You can't be
a mark cause people might laugh ya". I think it would mean fake, but what about
when someone calls someone else a mark? Also why does everyone hate Cena? - hiphopshuvit
Byers pretty much nailed the definition the first time...the term can be used outside of wrestling though, to describe somebody that's gullible and will believe anything you tell them, or buy anything that you want to sell them. Of course, you see the term used far more by people that watch pro wrestling, so I wouldn't be surprised if the rapper that sung the song you talk about here watches wrestling.
The Cena thing was discussed earlier, so I'll spare you another quasi-explanation.
I read "The Death of WCW" book some while back and remember reading a part that talked about a botched segment on a live WCW Thunder episode involving Chris Jericho and Wrath. It spoke of Jericho pulling a door open that was suppose to be locked...and then having to fake like he could not get it open...and then an attendant backstage opened a door next to his to let him in...therefore ruining the locked door scene even more...and it ended with jericho running from wrath...but stopping short of the camera before it went off air...and he and wrath started talking and acting friendly before commercial break...have you seen, heard, or remember this incident? And oh my God can I find video of it anywhere??? Cause when I read it I think I laughed for an hour... - David
Yes, I do remember this segment very well. It actually started out as a pretty cool idea, as Jericho was ripping off Goldberg's extended entrance where they would show him walking out of his locker room and towards the ring with police officers and WCW security. In an ode to a similar scene in the classic film Spinal Tap, Jericho and his "security" got lost on their way to the ring and walked around backstage for a few minutes looking for the entrance. The plan was for Jericho to accidentally walk out of the building and get locked out, but the plan hit a snag when Jericho forgot (or wasn't able) to lock the door behind him. It didn't help that apparently nobody informed that backstage attendant that Jericho was supposed to be locked out of the building. The incident with Wrath outside would have been more effective if they had cut while they were still running.
How many men in the history of the Royal Rumble were eliminated by themselves? and also? What wrestler was eliminated by the most people? and finally one last set of questions: Wouldn't Randy Savage technically have the shortest Rumble time since he no-showed it one year? did anyone replace him that year or was it just 29 men in that rumble instead of 30? - John Bryant
Ten people have eliminated themselves from the Royal Rumble, below is a list:
Andre the Giant (1989), Dick Murdoch (1995), Ahmed Johnson (1997), Mil Mascaras (1997), Faarooq (1997), Henry Godwinn (1998), Kane (1999), Jeff Hardy (2001), Drew Carey (2001), Mick Foley (2004)
It took 8 men to eliminate Viscera from the 2007 Royal Rumble, which stands as the current record. Viscera held the previous record of 7, which was set in 1994.
I would not consider Savage as having the shortest Rumble time with his no-show in 1991 because he never officially entered the ring. You gotta enter the ring to have some Rumble time, in my opinion. There were just 29 men in that Rumble.
I seem to remember a couple of years ago on "The Tavis Smiley Show" on BET that there was a panel discussion on a book about either black athletes or black wrestlers. Booker T and Sharmell were a part of this discussion. Tavis (the host) mentioned The Rock and Booker T got on the defensive and said that he was the only "Mandingo World Champion" (this was a shot at The Rock being bi-racial: Samoan and Canadian Black). This incident happend during of one of Booker T's WCW world title reigns where everyone was calling him a "Rocky rip-off" because he would cut promos in silk shirts and sunglasses just like The Rock.
So, my question is . . . what was the name of the book? - Chris Bradley
I believe the book you are referring to is "Black Stars of Professional Wrestling" by Julian Shabazz. It came out in 1999 and discusses black stars of professional wrestling. Obviously.
Bear with me, Edge hasn't wrestled based on a broken jaw, for about a month. He gets out of all his matches, I guess hiding his injury. Wrestlemania comes by, he has the most memorable moment of the night, with Jeff Hardy. And is out of the match altogether early. Do you think he was still protecting his injury and wasn't ready to fully wrestle? Because he really didn't wrestle the MItB match, but Edge still left his mark on Wrestlemania 23. He just speared everyone and took the most spot since… Edge last year with Mick Foley through the flaming table! If John Cena is "Superman" then Edge will go down has his "Lex Luthar". HHH is going to have to past the bad guy torch like Hogan-Rock in reverse. - Isaac T. Yarrell
I'm not sure what you were getting at with most of that, but to answer your question, Edge was srill recovering from that fractured jaw that he suffered at the February 26th Raw in Fresno, and didn't wrestle before WM and didn't wrestle the whole match due to said injury. I think he should be good to go for Backlash, though.
When or how did Ron Simmons "Damn" catchphrase begin? - David Bridgman
The "Damn!" started back when Faarooq & Bradshaw were working as the Acolyte Protection Agency from 2000-2002 and set up an office every week at Raw & Smackdown. They would have a backstage skit that usually led to somebody coming in and doing something outlandish, or something to piss them off, and the sketch would end with Faarooq yelling "DAMN!".
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. We've got 58 e-mails in the inbox, so don't feel down if your question wasn't covered. It probably will be someday. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.
