Ask 411 Wrestling 06.20.07: Anvils, Old People, Video Libraries and More!
Posted by Steve Cook on 06.20.2007
Including a lot of questions about Vince's "death"...no, that's actually next week. My bad!
It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, thanks for reading the column that is by the people, of the people and for the people. We're all about the people here, which is ironic because I'm as anti-social as it gets.
41 questions sit in the in-box waiting to be answered. Yours can join the line should you choose to do so. You know what they say...choosey moms choose Jif.
If this column seems a bit rushed, it is. I put off doing it until pretty much the last minute because I've had a very busy week. Lots of work to do, and I'm also kicking my exercise program to lose weight up a notch. So, less time to sit in front of the computer. I don't mind it, it's actually pretty cool. Losing weight is fun. But I'll try to do better next week.
Comments, Corrections and other "C" words
First off here are three more books about the history
of professional wrestling, in additions to the ones
you posted. I also included links to where you can get
more info on the books and/or buy them.
Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Canadians
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550225316/ref=wl_it_dp/002-7517744-1225659?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3PKJ2JU67QE43&colid=3HUYLHU4QNVL1
Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame : The Heels
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550227599/ref=wl_it_dp/002-7517744-1225659?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1O6V0VZKR1QDO&colid=3HUYLHU4QNVL1
National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the
Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550227416/ref=wl_it_dp/002-7517744-1225659?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2XBWX1XJJKDDU&colid=3HUYLHU4QNVL1 - Patt Erson
I have not read any of those books, but the Tag Teams book in the HOF series is very good.
The Sex, Lies & Headlocks book is great. I would really like to read The Death
of WCW someday too. As far as a brief history of wrestling goes, you can't go
wrong with The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling documentary that appeared
on A&E back around 97 or so. I wasn't going to send that reference in, but it
occurred to me that maybe some new fans had never seen that documentary. It
was narrated by Steve Allen who seemed like a big wrestling fan...until Stone
Cold was crucified by the Undertaker I think. - Charlie
That was a pretty interesting special. I don't remember what exactly turned Allen against wrestling, but he was a member of the PTC if I remember correctly.
some of the PSAs are here:
http://corporate.wwe.com/parents/overview.jsp
but they look like they're just the newer ones, not the ones from a couple years ago. - Manu Bumb
A guy named Richard was asking this week about the "don't try this at home" promo. I think it might be at the beginning of my Stone Cold Truth DVD. I know there are a couple of "public service" things you can't skip over, but I haven't watched it in a while. I'm sure it's on one of my older Austin videotapes (alright, I'm a mark.) If he wants a copy, you can put him in touch with me. - Robert
Richard, if you're reading this send me an e-mail and I'll give you Robert's address. I'd do it here, but I'm not sure Robert wants a lot of junk mail from spambots and whatnot.
Kevin Nash did indeed hold the WWE Title for a full year, -BUT- he lost a televised non-tile match on one of the weekend shows to Waylon "Dan Spivey" Mercy during this same timeframe. This is beyond a doubt the biggest win during Spivey's stint as Waylon Mercy. - Dabid
Waylon was good people, know what I mean?
1) While watching "the Monday night wars" edition this month, I noticed that Scott Hall numerous time said the word "jabrone" (jah-brone) as in "jabronie". This time period is January 1997, before "the rock" was even born yet. I always assumed that The Rock came up with "jabronie" but apparently I am wrong. Can you shed any light on who actually coined that catch phrase?
Mean Gene Okerlund also uses the word 'jabroni' when he is interviewing people on the streets of Baltimore for the 1986 Slammy Awards. The footage can be found on The Best Of The WWF Volume 7 video released by Colisuem Video. - Shane from Toronto
Yeah, I've seen that before. Funny stuff, I think Gene dropped some other kayfabe words in there too, including "kayfabe".
Hey Steve. Just wanted to give you some clarifications as to why Big Bubba and Wallstreet were kicked out of the nWo. In storyline, it was because both of their contracts were written out by WCW so as they couldn't be made into nWo contracts. In reality, Bubba was injured, and nobody gave a shit about Wallstreet. So Wallstreet went into an anti-WCW gimmick before eventually quitting WCW, and when Bubba returned, he went to his real name of Ray Traylor and fought against the nWo, before quitting WCW in 98 and returning to WWF. - Eric Jones
I forgot about Bubba's brief run as Ray Traylor...which tells you how successful he was. I think he aligned himself with the Steiners.
Shawn Michaels second tag title loss with Diesel was a little complicated. I'm sure the backstage reason for them losing the titles was that they already had the other belts, but the onscreen reason was a bit more picky. The set up was Diesel/Michaels vs. Owen Hart/Yokozuna, with every title on the line (much like HHH/Austin vs. Taker/Kane from 2001). The night of the match, they claimed that Owen Hart couldn't make it to the show because he was caught in customs, or had family business or something. So, Davey Boy Smith filled in for him. At the end of the match, Owen ran down, got powerbombed by Nash and pinned to give Michaels and Diesel their second title win. The next night on Raw, the decision was overturned cause Nash pinned a guy who wasn't in the match (Bulldog being the legal man). A very complicated reason for their title loss, and it was all made irrelevant when the Smoking Gunns then promptly beat Owen and Yoko to win the titles that same night. - Jones
I wonder if that was one of Vince Russo's early contributions to the creative process. It certainly sounds like something he'd come up with.
I came across a reference in Ask 411 to the idea of "Heel in Peril" as a mirror-image to the popular Ricky Morton formula for tag matches. You used an LAX match where they were getting incidental cheers from the crowd, but I don't think that really counts since LAX would be considered tweeners in areas where the Immigration issue is a big deal, or where there's simply a larger Latino contingent in the audience. That's more an audience perception than an actual change of formula. Of course, that's a matter of opinion, but I digress.
What I think the reader was looking for is a match where one team is clearly heel, the faces beat the living crap out of one of them in Ricky Morton fashion, then the tide turns when the heel makes the tag. I tend to call this phenomenon "The Face Team Showcase", and the best example of it is the Wrestlemania 2 Bulldogs/Dream Team title switch. During that match, Valentine gets his ass handed to him for a good portion of the match, mainly because he and Dynamite Kid were the best workers in the ring, the Bulldogs were going over, and Greg was giving them the rub. Greg takes Dynamite and Davey Boy's best shots, then tags in Beefcake to turn the advantage. Later, while Valentine's on top, he makes a serious mistake that quickly costs them the match and the titles, in much the same manner as a R&R Express match might end to give the Midnight's a victory, just minus the managerial cheating. So, in essence, Valentine is the Ricky Morton to the Bulldog's Eaton & Lane, if that makes sense. You can blame the shift in "peril" style on either Beefcake's limitations or McManagement's desire to get the Bulldogs over, but in either case the formula was shifting in the opposite direction to showcase the face team. I'm sure there are other examples of this formula in tag matches, but I don't recall all of them. They are mostly WWF matches as opposed to NWA matches, however. - RColemanrj
I believe the Thesz Press needs to be mentioned in this discussion (pin finishers). If this doesn't fit the category, then I have no idea what your criteria is. - rapscallion13
About the finishers-ending-in-a-pin question: I think in recent times, AJ Style's Styles Clash has almost always been rolled up into a pin. AJ's sort of integrated the roll-up in his move. Does that count? In wrestling games, the Baldobomb and the Orange Crush always seem to end in pins. I would imagine anyone using a Dragon Suplex as a finisher would bridge into a pin naturally. Similarly, a Michinoku Driver can easily evolve into a pin. I used to think that the Ki Krusher ended in pins (coulda swore I saw one), but Wikipedia disagrees with me, so no go. - Neeraj
Other than Mr. Perfect's Perfectplex, is there any other wrestler who's wrestling finisher was strictly a pinning combination? We got plenty of power move/pinning combos (frog splashes, banzai drops, etc.) but Mr. Perfect is the only one I remember using a strictly pinning finisher.
I'd still say that the Perfect-plex was still a power move as well as a combination pin. He did use it on Kurt Angle during the royal rumble once. As for moves that go into a pin, the Styles Clash, Code Red, La Casista (Shocker) would be the main ones.
I recently read that Batista got a new leg Tattoo, I was wondering what do you
think WWE's policy is on Tattoo's? Do they have to approve them? Because some
guys would ruin thier characters if they did get Tattoos. Like if Kane suddenly
got a Tiger with flowers on his shoulder, he wouldn't be taken as serious. (ala
Big Show). - Ant-Lox
Not much of an answer, but did see a wrestler with a giant white scar going across his tattoo, so it's possible that a large cut could ruin a tattoo.
As for tattoos, I find that they help to make a wrestler unique. Randy Ortons tattoos are quite unique and make him stand out much better. They also make for good merchanidise. This can be bad or good in a way. I dislike Lance Hoyts tattoo, as it reminds me of a G-string. Also wrestlers get tattoos for personal reasons as well, they're not all business.
Ps: I agree with your thoughts on Kenneds tattoo. Ortons looks awesome, but Mr.Kennedys just looks like a bad version of Randys - Mark
In the last edition someone asked about Vince(RIP) being outed as the owner of the WWF. You mentioned the 1997 interview on Raw with Vince and Austin. Well actually he was outed several times before then. During the historical Bret/Austin feud, as austin was always interfering in Hart matters.Bret would scream at Macmahon to do something about Austin while he was commentating. After Deisel's year run as WWF champ, he turned heel. He would come down to ringside and shout expletives at Macmahon. Jerry Lawler still in kayfabe would wonder why Diesel had issues witht e chairman. - ReY
I loved Diesel's brief heel run on his way out of the WWF, which included him yelling at Vince a lot and throwing his ring jacket at Vince during an In Your House.
Hey Steve, just a few things to contribute to the column:
-Moves into a pinning combination...I know we got the Dragon Suplex, but has anyone mentioned the Tiger Suplex yet? Also, Bob Backlund's got the O'Connor roll into a bridge.
-When discussing what titles constitute "World Titles", really I think less about where the title's defended and who it's defended against as much as how prestigious it is within the industry. For example, I think the champions and challengers for the ROH World Title are the best in North America, but most consider the WWE Title to be a more important title due to the exposure and more worthy of being considered a World Title.
Now here's a question for you that might be worded slightly strangely, but hear me out. Can you see John Cena being the Bret Hart of this generation? Obviously they're worlds apart in terms of workrate, but what I mean is that he's the guy who's good enough to carry the company for now, but will be fed up as a sacrificial lamb when the REAL next big thing comes along in a few years? - Stuart Carapola
Well, everybody gets sacrificed at some point. I think you are thinking that somebody will come along that's better than Cena to carry the company. Looking at WWE's developmental talent, I don't see anybody on the horizon that can do that job. And I have a feeling that you'll agree that Bobby Lashley won't be the one to do it. I think Cena can be on top of WWE for a long time, whether the internet fans like it or not.
Questions!
What's up Steve! I have another wave of questions for you, but I'm just
looking for your opinion on something from back in the day. In 2001, everyone
remembers the debacle that was the Invasion, but around October 2001, The Rock
and Chris Jericho started up their storyline, which I considered the best
thing going on WWF TV around that time. My question to you is what did you
think of their feud in regards to the angles leading up to their PPV matches,
the promos, the PPV matches (No Mercy 01, RAW 11/5/01, Vengeance 01, and the
2002 Royal Rumble) and do you think the WWF could've done more with this
feud?? - Wayne
Could they have done more with Rock vs. Jericho? Definitely. Rock & Jericho had great chemistry with each other that went back to Jericho's debut in the WWF, when he interrupted a Rock promo to give his famous "Raw is Jericho" address. Their matches were always at least pretty good and got great fan reaction. It could have been a WrestleMania caliber program, but it was more important that Triple H win the WWF title from Jericho. It wasn't all bad though, since Rock got to take on Hulk Hogan and make the Toronto fans go completely insane.
It's Manu time!
why is it that edge, a superstar from the raw brand, beat the World Champ, and then became a member of the SD roster? Shouldn't he have just taken the belt back to raw, rather than sticking around on SD?
He did appear on an episode of Raw after winning the World title. After losing to Shawn Michaels, it was established that Edge was better off going to Smackdown, where he could actually win matches.
Who was the last wrestler to die before Brian Pillman?
Well, are you looking for a younger wrestler, or an older one? If you want to talk about somebody dying before their time, the last one before Pillman was Jeep Swenson, who died of a heart attack on August 19, 1997. A couple of days before that, Japanese lady wrestler Plum Mariko died of head injuries suffered during a wrestling match. Older wrestlers to die between Swenson & Pillman were Fritz Von Erich and Dick "Bulldog" Brower, both in September 1997.
Vince feels the need to either introduce or reintroduce fans to people or concepts he thinks they're not familiar with - jericho, terry taylor, ron simmons/farooq asaad, and most importantly, ECW. Its widely accepted that WWE believes that the fans that were around during ECW's pri..."prime" werent around anymore, so people like sandman, sabu, TERRY F'N FUNK, balls, etc, were wrestlers that none of todays fans knew........and yet, there's Hulk Hogan. Now, dont get me wrong, I'm not saying ECW was ever as big as the legend of Hulk Hogan, but, when hogan returned after taking time off from ruling a promotion that NO ONE watched at the end, he didn't need to be reintroduced. If the fans of 2005 (ECW: ONS 1) werent watching wrestling as recently as 6 years earlier, how the hell would they be expected to know hogan, or even HBK, when he made his return to the ring?
okay, i think we both know the answer, but will you at least agree with me that its retarded to think no one knew who the ECW guys were?
Who the hell is Hulk Hogan? Seriously though, Hogan is far more famous than almost anybody that ever wrestled in ECW. And to be honest, there were plenty of wrestling fans that weren't familiar with the ECW product. I tend to think they're ignorant, but they're out there and you gotta try and fill them in on this stuff. Terry Funk should be known, but I don't blame the WWE mark for not knowing who Balls Mahoney is.
when a wrestler goes to leap-frog another wrestler coming off the ropes, have you ever seen him get speared? if I've got momentum on my side, having bounced off the ropes, and my opponent jumps in the air for no reason, you can bet your ass I'm gonna try to spear him in mid-air.
Thing is, are you going to be able to time your jump right, or get up in the air high enough where you hit the guy in the mid-section instead of the legs, or below the belt? I think the reason the leap frog is somewhat believable is because the wrestler getting leaped over doesn't have enough time to do anything about it. I mean, you probably could do a spot where a guy gets speared on a leapfrog, but it'd most likely look contrived.
Just wondering, when Jeff Hardy put Edge through the ladder in the Money in the Bank match, was Edge legitimately injured? And if so, was Kennedy always supposed to win the match? - James
Edge had an injury going into the match, the spot with him and Hardy was set up to get him out of the match somewhat early.
Patt Erson has several questions concerning the WWE video library...
Now onto my questions. A few months ago I signed up
for the WWE 24/7 subscription and every time you watch
one of the old shows like the old NWA Saturday morning
show a map will appear and show the various old
territories that WWE owns the video libraries to this
a few questions have coem to mind. On the map they
have Jim Crockect promotions, Stampede, CWF, SMW,
WCCW, WCW/NWA, ECW, AWA and of course WWWF/WWF/WWE.
My first question was if you knew if there was a
reason why they don't show the old weekly AWA and
Stampede shows like they do with the other feds like
WCCW,CWF? They might just be conserving their library
and not showing everything at once, but I was
wondering if you knew of a second reason?
You can't show everything at once. I'm guessing you might see an AWA series or Stampede series at some point...I don't know of any other reasons other than editing, which I'd imagine takes a very, very long time.
My second question is about the old territory
promotions, when people talk about old school
wrestling they talk about New York, and the southern
promotions, the WCCW was in Texas, and AWA was in
Minnesota, but besides few references about Portland,
Oregon when people talk about Roddy Piper I haven't
heard to much about major west coast promotions, is
there any reason for this? Was wrestling just bigger
on the east coast, and do you know of any major west
coast promotions during the territory days?
Los Angeles & San Francisco were pretty good wrestling towns back in the day, San Fran especially. And Portland, of course. The reason you don't hear as much about them is pretty simple: East Coast Bias. The people and the media are all out east, so you hear more about what's going on over there.
Recently on WWE 24/7 they showed the old AAA When
worlds collide PPV even though they listed it as a WCW
ppv because I assume they got it with their purchase
of the WCW library, this got me thinking about other
international promotions that WWE has worked with over
the years including ones in Mexico and Japan. I know a
lot of old Japanese promotions have folded over the
years, and I was wondering if WWE has purchased any of
the video libraries of any non-U.S wrestling
promotion?
I don't believe WWE has rights to the video content of any non-American wrestling promotion.
With the WWE possibly interested in doing
international brands do you think they might buy
international tape libraries to try and sell an
international version of WWE 24/7 geared towards
international WWE fans? At the start of every PPV the
announcers alway name random countries the ppv is
airing in, I would think WWE could make some good
money with WWE 24/7 in those areas if they bought
available tape libraries from that country and mixed
it in with their current stuff, plus a lot of American
fans have become interested in the international
product and it could boost WWE 24/7 subscriptions in
the states as well.
It could happen, but I imagine there would be a lot of hurdles to jump through with content laws in foreign countries. I don't see the international branding thing happening either, so maybe I'm just pessimistic.
Also can you list the promotions that that WWE owns
the video libraries to besides the ones I've mentioned
above (Jim Crockect promotions, Stampede, CWF, SMW,
WCCW, WCW/NWA, ECW, AWA and of course WWWF/WWF/WWE)
if there are any?
GCW
Central States
OVW
Those are pretty much the only ones you didn't list.
My last question is do you know if WWE is currently in
any serious talks to buy any video libraries they
don't already own? - Patt Erson
I had heard that they had interest in purchasing the footage of Mid-South Wrestling from Bill Watts' ex-wife, but haven't heard anything about it lately.
My questions is "I stopped watching WWF around 1996 and then only started again in about 2003 but when did WWF/WCW move away from jobbers vs superstar for a match. Back in the day it would be your jobber who would get no offensive and the match would last 5 minutes. The point was so that a PPV was special as it was between superstar vs superstar and a rare event. But there was some change over to stop that. So my questions are when and what was the thinking behind it (presume because time changed and they needed to be more exciting?) - Kyle Carter
The debut of WWF Monday Night Raw in 1993 began this transition, as you didn't see nearly as many jobbers as you would on a Superstars or Wrestling Challenge. It really kicked into gear with the inception of WCW Monday Nitro in 1995, as Eric Bischoff figured out that if he put on a bunch of big matches every week, he could get more people to watch his show. Raw had to compete, so eventually they started putting on big matches every week too. It's nice to think back to the good old days when PPVs were actually important and not just another show, but with so many of them around now, that genie's never gonna get back inside that bottle.
Why isn't heels lining up to beat Marella? Why is Masters the only one? Haas, Benjamin, Carlito, Nitro, Kenny, hell even Big Vis would seem to easily defaeat someone who has to roll up Masters. But seriously, Marella needs a finisher, a signature move and his ass beat before really holding the IC Belt. - Isaac T. Yarrell
Heels aren't lining up to beat Santonio Marella because nobody cares about the Intercontinental Title. It's true! Now, William Regal may decide to challenge Marella in the upcoming weeks, and that would be a good thing for Marella because he needs to learn how to work from somebody that knows how. I mean, right now all he has going for him is his entrance music.
TJ has some questions about old broadcasters and wrestling broadcasts...
If you watch any of the old Philly Spectrum footage that aired on the PRISM network, a constant from the 20+ years it aired was broadcaster, Dick Graham. I'm curious where did he come from and what did he do after the end of the PRISM shows in 89? In the late 70s, when McMahon was doing MSG shows solo, Vince did the Philly shows w/ Dick Graham. I'm guessing that Dick was not employed directly by the WWF, as he never appeared on any of the syndicated or national programming, but that he was a sportscaster out of Philadelphia? I can't seem to find any information on the guy online--not even wikipedia. Do you know what he did before and after he became the voice of "WWF on PRISM" ? Another guy I wonder "where'd he come from?" is Kal Rudman, also from those Philly shows as an interviewer...
I couldn't find too much information on Dick Graham, but apparently he was the very first announcer for Eastern Championship Wrestling, before Joey Styles entered the picture. So he was still bouncing around in Philly in the early 90s. He is considered a legendary sports announcer in Philadelphia, for what that's worth.
Kal Rudman currently oversees Friday Morning Quarterback, a collection of music industry trade magazines that predict what the next big radio hits will be and track what the stations are playing. He also takes part in a lot of charity work in the Philadelphia area. He was a DJ for many years, which is how I assume he became an interviewer/announcer.
Also, why did NESN and PRISM stop airing shows in 1989? Why did MSG stop doing so in 1992?
I think that once the WWF revealed that their contests were not actually sporting events, which if memory serves me correctly was in 1989, sports channels didn't see it necessary to air pro wrestling because it wasn't a sport.
My question is related to a comment you made about Ric Flair being 47 years old and still needing to wrestle. Now I know that he's just gone through a divorce that cost him some cash as well as he basically lived his gimmick of wining and dining. So he is in need of money and wrestling is what he knows. But do you feel that Vince has been exploiting this fact? I just recently saw his Extreme Rules match with The Big Show and Flair is the last person I thought I would ever see in thumb tacks(scratch that Hogan is that last person) Basically was that his choice because he really wanted to do the spot or did he just do it because he knows he needs the money? - Ryan
Ric Flair is 58 years old, and I probably made up some number even bigger than that. Wrestling always exploits the wrestlers, it's how life works. I think if Flair really didn't want to do the thumbtack spot, he probably could have gotten out of it because WWE management does respect Ric Flair and everything he's done in pro wrestling. But he decided to do it because it was for the best of the match. Personally, I thought the match sucked anyway and the thumbtacks didn't add anything, but what the hell. If the Nature Boy wants to roll around on pointy objects, that's his choice.
I just finished watching The Self Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior. It left me with a thought and a question.
The thought: Somebody who paid hard earned money for the DVD to relive great childhood-memories must be mightily disappointed with the negative tone.
The question: At the very end Flair is asked if The Ultimate Warrior was 'a flash in the pants', and Flairs response is something like 'Was Ultimate Warrior a flash in the pants? That's it , this interview is over', and he gets up to leave. What was that all about? Did Flair mean to state, that the interviewer had just summarized the situation perfectly and he had nothing to add, or did he mean that the interviewer had just become too disrespectful. It seems like Flair was reacting upon the interviewers disrespect, but I'd just imagine Flair be totally in line with disrespecting The Warrior. Have you seen that DVD and how do you interpret those 4 seconds. - William Jansen
I interpreted it as Flair saying he had nothing to add because in his opinion, the Ultimate Warrior was a flash in the pan and not worth discussing. His comments about Warrior in his book seem to back that theory up.
Honestly, I think anybody that bought something called "The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" probably didn't expect it to be a warm and fuzzy recollection.
DarkNightwolf101 brings us two questions...
1.Why did Vince have Nash beat Backlund for the Heavyweight title in 9 seconds?
They wanted to put Diesel over as strongly as possible, and nobody would have expected him to beat Backlund in eight seconds. It wasn't surprising that he beat Backlund, but to dispose of him in short order sent the message that this guy was going to be a dominant champion.
2. At Wrestlemania 23, MVP challenged Benoit for the U.S. title and lost. He then got a rematch at Backlash and lost again. He finally won the U.S. title at Judgement Day. My question to you is: Why did the WWE give MVP two other title shots after he lost the first one, and then have him win the U.S. title( same thing happened with Cade and Murdoch, and Duce and Domino)?
Because nobody else wanted the US Title. If you really want a kayfabe explanation, I'd say that while MVP lost his first couple of matches with Benoit, he proved that he belonged on the US championship level and deserved more title shots because he showed that he could beat Benoit someday.
I was watching "The Ladder Match" dvd (which is amazing BTW) and Matt Hardy came out along with Jeff for TLC 3 and he had the European title. That got me thinking back in 2001 and I remembered he wasn't the only Hardy to win singles gold. Jeff won the IC title from HHH in April, the Lightheavyweight title from Jerry Lynn sometime in early summer, the Hardcore title from Mike Awesome, the WCW tag titles and the WWF tag titles along with Matt from Booker T and Test. Then that same year Jericho won the IC title in January, the tag titles w/Benoit in May, the Hardcore title from the Big Show in the summer(only to lose it to Rhyno minutes later, the WCW title from the Rock in the fall, and the tag titles again from the Dudleys with the Rock. My question is, are they the only two wrestlers to win that many titles within one year? They each won at least five different championships, that has to be some type of record. - Bstreak20
Easy answer: No, because the Japanese J-Crown consisted of eight separate titles. As far as within WWE and other major American wrestling promotions, that probably is a record.
Please settle a LONG argument between my brother and I. We're both die hard
wrestling fans since 1985 and haven't missed much in that time period, so we
know our shit. The only thing that we can't figure out is if Jim Neidhart
ever won a WWF singles match (Not counting his brief run as "Who?", of
course). I say he did - probably against another half of a tag team (Jim
Powers or somebody). My brother says no way in hell - Jim's a jobber. Can
you please clarify this for us? A Porterhouse dinner is riding on this! - Gabriel Baron
Your brother better get ready to pay up, because Neidhart won some singles matches during his stint in the WWF. On an episode of All Star Wrestling in January 1985, Neidhart defeated the mighty Mario Mancini. He debuted in Madison Square Garden on January 21, 1985 with a victory over Tony Garea. The next day on his TV debut, he beat Jose Luis Rivera. On the 24th he beat Jay Strongbow, Rick McGraw lost to him on the 25th, as did Moose Morowski on the 26th, Strongbow on the 27th, and shockingly, Mr. Wrestling 2 did the job for Neidhart on January 30th. Oh, and he beat Bret Hart on February 10th in Toronto. He got quite the push early on in the WWF...he didn't compete in many singles matches once the Hart Foundation started up, but he did beat Dick Slater on Feb. 9, 1987 in Los Angeles, and on the very next day won a bunkhouse battle royal in Portland. So to answer your question, yes, the Anvil did win a singles match or two.
At what point a wrestler know about the result of his match? During the match? Before? And what about the big matches, does the wrestler know during the build ups and the promos if he win or lose? - Roi
The answer to this question kinda varies. As far as your regular match goes, they'll find out who's going over before the match, when they discuss what they want to do and how to end it with the road agent. With the big matches, those are usually determined weeks in advance, but minds can change a lot between the first decision and the day of a show. Usually they'll have a pretty good idea of what they're building to, but will be ready if there's a change. Heck, sometimes they change the result during a match, which is a good reason for a referee to be wearing an earpiece.
It's interesting that Jesse Ventura willl be on Raw. If WWE really wants to shock the fans, they should make Jesse Ventura Raw's GM. He would be the perfect for the role. - sirkman2000
That would be an interesting idea if Jesse was interested in pursuing it. Thing is, I'm not sure that he wants to spend a lot of time on the road at this point in his life. He seems pretty happy chilling out at his home in Baja California, Mexico with his family. He did recently meet with Vince at Titan Towers to discuss something, which could be anything from a role like you suggest to doing something for WWE 24/7.
Neeraj has two questions...
About the tattooes: How do you think UT got permission to get his wife's name tattooed across his throat? It doesn't really fit with his then American Badass/Big Evil character.
Undertaker has something called seniority and respect from pretty much everybody within WWE. He could get a tattoo of Barney the dinosaur on his forehead, and nobody would say anything about it because it's Undertaker.
I know you had a finishers-which-always-finish topic, but what about finishers that never finish? How about some finishers, which are billed as legitimate finishers, but for some reason or other never seem to get pins (or are always reversed, like the Canadian Destroyer in recent times, or Chavo's Gory Bomb)?
The Lionsault comes to mind. How about Chris Benoit's diving headbutt that gets a pinfall once in a blue moon? Kurt Angle's finishers get kicked out of at least once a match. There are plenty more, but this is the last question I actually answered this week and I'm tired. Hey, at least I'm honest about it!
And as for the question, in the recent column there was a question asked about Khali knowing if he's not that great in the ring and if anyone gives him shit for it. You gave an answer that mentioned wrestlers knowing when fans think they suck. Do the wrestlers really, honestly wrestle to entertain the fans and be the best at what they do? I mean, yeah there's so much more to pro wrestling but if i was a pro wrestler and the fans thought I really sucked or my wreslting sucked, I'd bust my ass to show them what i can really do instead of reading a sign that says "Another Headlock, Randy?" and not doing anything about it other than using the same damn headlock the following week. - Eric
I think a majority of pro wrestlers treat their job like anybody else treats their job. Some people want to be the absolute best they can be, and always work hard to improve their performance and raise themselves to a higher level. Other people really don't give a shit and are just filling time by doing something. They have no interest in improving no matter what anybody else says because they're fine at the level they're at and don't want or need anything more. These people may know that fans think they suck, but they're not going to do anything to change their minds. They get paid the same whether the fans like them or not. And if you're thinking "No way Steve, a wrestling promotion wouldn't keep people employed that don't give a shit"....really?
I am an old school wrestling fan. What ever happened to Magnum TA? I konow about
the wreck, where do you think he would be if the wreck had not have happened?
Barry Windham was great how come he lost his main event status. - tcbickle
Last I heard, Magnum was the owner of a company that constructs cell phone towers somewhere in the old Mid-Atlantic area. Dusty Rhodes had planned on Magnum being the NWA World Champion in 1987...whether it would have took or not I can't say because I've probably seen less than ten Magnum matches in my life, but he was really over with the fans and had good chemistry with the Four Horsemen. I think he could have had similar success to Sting, who was the franchise of WCW throughout the nineties. I don't know that he could have been on the level of a Hulk Hogan or Randy Savage because the NWA just didn't know how to market themselves. But he could have had a very successful career.
As for Barry Windham, I've always thought of him as a guy who was one of the best in the world at his peak...but his peak might have been shorter than anybody else's. Barry was never in the right place at the right time to be a top guy in wrestling, there was always somebody in front of him that the fans either loved or hated more.
Jeremy has two questions...
1. I've read in your column several times that there is a great deal of heat between Vince McMahon and Bruno Sanmartino, but where did all of this stem from?
I know we've discussed this before..to sum it up, Bruno disagrees with the direction that Vince Jr. took pro wrestling after taking over from Vince Sr. He also didn't like how his son David was treated while working for the WWF. I'm pretty sure most of the heat is on Bruno's side, but Vince wasn't very happy when Bruno testified against him in court cases.
2. How many wrestlers (and who) are part of the Samoan Wrestling (Anoa'i) family. I know that Afa and Sika are the father of Afa Jr, Rosey, Jamal/Umaga, Samu, and Rikishi, and that their cousins are The Rock (meaning that Peter Mivia and Rocky Johnson fit in there somewhere) Yokozuna, and Jimmy Snuka (which would make WWE Tag Team Champion Deuce Shade part as well.) Are there any others that I'm missing? Maybe Haku, The Barbarian, Sony Siaki?
Going right to the source, here's a page that lists all the wrestling members of the Anoa'i family. To clarify how the Rock fits in, Afa & Sika's father was a blood brother with Peter Maivia, who was Rocky Johnson's father-in-law. So while Rock might not technically be related to the Anoa'is, they are connected by blood.
I've seen conflicting reports on the Superfly...some say that he's cousins with Afa & Sika while other sources claim that they are friends. Deuce is Superfly's son, which I would never figure out if I didn't know better while watching one of his matches on Smackdown. Barbarian & Haku hail from Tonga and are not related to this family.
I remember being really really excited about the "Blood Runs Cold" promos from WCW. I think that was around the time that Scott Hall was leaving WWF or someone big at least. Tons and tons of hype for this, and then we got ... Glacier. Was all this hype always meant for Glacier or did they change it at the last minute. They never even used it to their advantage b/c Glacier rarely made it to Nitro and had feuds on Saturday Night with jobbers. What was the deal? - Brendon Vallee
James Mitchell attempted to explain this in his ROH shoot interview...basically, it was an idea that somebody came up with before the nWo hit big and realism became the big trend in wrestling. Since Blood Runs Cold had nothing to do with realism, it didn't fit in with what WCW was trying to do. So the idea kinda hung around for awhile and people prepared for it, but after awhile, nobody within WCW really cared about it, so it got thrown on Saturday Night and stuff happened and nobody watching really cared.
Hey Steve, first off I just want to compliment you and everyone else on the 411 Wrestling staff for putting out great reviews and articles and really keeping up a top-notch and fun website for a fan to visit. I thoroughly enjoy spending time reading a lot of show reviews, and 411 has no shortage of great reviewers. In many articles, you guys spend a lot of time on the usuals like WWE and TNA and also give substantial time to ROH, while also giving a lot of love to "the #2 indy promotion" PWG. However, there isn't really anybody who reviews PWG shows, just a few news articles and/or "buy or sell" type topics. My question is simply "why not?" It seems that a few people surely do order and watch some PWG so why not review a few new shows or something? Heck, if anything, I would even love to do it. Thanks for all of your efforts at 411 and for your time, keep up the great work! - Russell
If I'm not mistaken, we've had some PWG show reviews posted on the website in the past..I think Brad Garoon may have done a couple, or somebody else. If reviewing PWG shows for 411 is something you'd be interested in doing, I'd recommend you do a tryout review and send it to Larry Csonka, Stephen Randle & Ashish the next time we do a hiring drive. If there's a substantial interest in more PWG coverage, we'd certainly be interested in satiating that interest. Wow, that's a lot of interest there. At any rate, we're here to serve you, the readers. If you ask for it, we will bring it. Unless the "it" involved is porn...our server doesn't like that very much.
Well, that's all I got this week. Until next time, keep on rockin in the free world!
