Ask 411 Wrestling 07.04.07: Spears, Sledgehammers, Escaping the Cage and more!

Posted by Steve Cook on 07.04.2007

Including an important question concerning diet soda!

It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, wishing all my intelligent American wrestling fan readers a happy Fourth of July! If you're Canadian, I hope you had a happy Canada Day! If you're from somewhere that doesn't have a big holiday this week...Happy Wednesday!

I received several e-mails that were appreciative of my not discussing the Chris Benoit situation last week, which pleased me greatly because I was hoping to give people a few minutes where they wouldn't have to think about tragic things. But if tragedy is your kinda thing, this very website has been kicking some major ass with their coverage of it. Great articles all around...I don't want to single anybody out, but I have to ask JD Dunn an important question about something I read in his column...

Still don't believe me? Grab 4-5 people around the office or at home. Pour cups of Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke for all of you. Now drink. Does it taste sweet, or does it taste like Dennis Leary's urine sample from 1993? If it tastes sweet, you're what we call a "non-taster." You have a genetic structure that doesn't allow you to taste 6-n-propylthiouracil, a chemical used in the production of aspartame (just think NutraSweet or Equal, if you've gotten lost). The properties of the chemical taste bitter to a lot of people, but to a few who can't taste it, it produces a sweet flavor not unlike the sugar used in regular drinks.

My question: What does it mean when you used to be repulsed by the taste of diet sodas, but now they taste fine to you? See, I hadn't tried drinking Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi for years because they both tasted disgusting. Now that I'm on a diet and am regularly exercising, I've had both of these drinks on occasion when not drinking water, and they both taste all right. My best guess is that I've lost some feeling in my tastebuds due to all the alcohol I was consuming for the past couple of years.

I'll appreciate insight from either Mr. Dunn or any licensed doctors or nurses. Especially cute nurses. With pictures. Oh yes.

On with the show!

Comments, Corrections and other "C" words

The closest i've seen to someone getting speared while leapfrogging was in WCW in 2000. It was during the 2nd Goldberg streak dealio, he was wrestling Kwee-Wee and KW ran into the ropes, springboareded off them Goldberg speared him in mid-air. It looked really cool, they timed it perfectly. - Marc

"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."

I would think any TATOO ACROSS THE THROAT would show
that someone is a badass. Keep up the good work. - Travis Smith

That's a good point. Many people are afraid to get a tattoo on their arm or leg, which seems a lot less dangerous than one across the throat to me. I mean, if the guy slips up he could cut your jugular vein or something.

Very random, but thought I would add this. The Virginia Athletic Commission does not allow professional wrestlers (who are licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia) to "tap out", they must verbally submit. They say it confuses wrestling fans into believing they are watching an MMA competition. - Nate Stein

People really underestimate the intelligence of wrestling fans, don't they? Not all of us are blithering idiots.

When did JR become Heel? I don't remember that. I also don't remember kane playing diesel, and someone else being Razor. How long did that last? Do you have any pictures of the two you can send? I was on wikipedia and they had a move list of the Razor guy, he used to use a moonsault into a frog splash. Someone big enough to play Razor Ramon doing that move is insane? Why hasn't anyone really heard of him since?

Boogeyman is in his 40's, and they gave DDP crap for starting in his 30's, lol.

Other little guy big guy teams, Kane and RVD, D-Lo and Mark Henry, X-pac and Scott Hall/Kevin Nash, Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels. Im sure there is more. - Chris Jacobs

Here's a picture. As for why we haven't seen Fake Razor since...he retired in 2001 after suffering a neck injury and currently works at a health club in Alberta.

surely Big Show/Spike Dudley would have to be the tag champs with the greatest size difference? - Ben Kerr

Show & Spike never won the tag team titles...they got a couple title shots on PPV, but came up a little bit short. They had pretty long odds anyway.

I may have missed the original reference to the question, so I dunno if this team was brought up, but what about Andre The Giant and Haku? They tagged fairly regularly and even held the tag titles for a while and feuded with Demolition. - Mark Sherrick

Haku stood 6'1 and weighed in at about 313 pounds. It's tough to think of him as a "little guy", but almost everybody was compared to Andre.

Regarding the biggest differential between tag teams, you forgot about two: ECW's Danny Doring & Roadkill had a big weight difference. Also, in the original ECW, the FBI had Little Guido, Mamaluke, and Big Sal. - Sagar

You forgot one of the best Big-Little Tag Teams ever, Men on a Mission.
Mabel (Viscera) teaming with Mo, who was relatively small, this had to
account for one of the biggest differentials in tag team history. They
were pretty successful, they won the Tag Titles and Mabel even won the
King of the Ring (which is utterly ridiculous). Couldn't believe you
forgot them. - Keith

I did forget them, but Mo wasn't exactly a little guy, weighing in at about 285 pounds, which is pretty heavy for 6'1. That puts him about 200 pounds lighter than Big Vis, and apparently these days ol' Mo is right around Vis's weight. Vis does have 8 inches on Mo though.

I just wanted to send a note to basically roll my eyes at the person that sent in a question about whether McMahan was dead or not. His/her (Pat was the name .. like SNL ... LOL!) children cried about it? Wow! what kind of children does he/she have watching this ... a 4 year old? Anyways, to get to my point ... how is Vince "dying" any different than any actor that dies in a television show or movie? Are those guys really dead after they are shot on a movie set? So, honestly, what is the difference and why are people so up in arm over the story? It is a story ... that's it ... it was a way to get McMahan off our TV screen every week so why complain? So, anyways, next time you watch the Sopranos, you need to be crying and complaining that there was another "death"!!! - Smelser23

I can go further back than the incidents listed on this weeks ask 411.

The night after the 1995 Survivor Series on the episode of Raw dated 20th November 1995 Kevin Deisel Nash came down to ringside in the middle of a match (it may have been Savio Vega V's Skip but I can't be sure) and started to cut a superb (Kayfabe) shoot interview in front of the announcers desk and stared Vince McMahon right in the eye before he explained his behaviour after losing the World Title to Bret Hart the previous evening. He ended his tirade with this statement " This morning I looked in the mirror and I smiled. Do you know why I smiled?..because I saw MYSELF! Not some corporate puppet that you decided to create Vince!".

Surely that is indication of Vince being quite poweful in the organisation at the very least if not a hint that he was the boss? - Paul Stevenson, Scotland

Hey, I like this section, you can think instead of just read (though the recaps of shows are good). Anyway, I've got a raw from early 93 (during the build up for wm 9), and there's a big video on all the great humanitarian work the wwf does, with various people speaking at schools, and accepting awards, etc.. and then at the end of the video is a picture of vince on the screen, with "ceo chairman, vince mcmahon" on it. I was 9 at the time, so it meant nothing to me until I was older. And also at the slammys in 96 and 97, sable thanks the mcmahons for promoting her, and freddie blassie mentions his dad promoting. - Alan

I clearly remember this (Booker T calling Hulk Hogan the N word) happening. Right after he said the N word, he raised his arms a bit and his face froze (similar to the way somebody might react if they stepped on a tack). He then stepped off screen and let Stevie Ray continue the interview. After several seconds (and this is the best part), Booker came back on and said something to the effect of:

"There's been a lot of knuckleheads comin' around here thinkin' they can challenge us…", then found a couple of creative ways to say knucklehead. The gist of this was that Booker was trying to make us think that he said knucklehead instead of the other N word.

It was amazing. - Kevin Kittridge

You know, one has to wonder how that interview even got on the air. Did the editor think Booker said "knucklehead"?

I have met the guy that you talked about in your ask 411(pink shirt guy). He is from columbus, his wife always goes with them i even saw them no the freeway once in their yellow mustang. They were also at wrestlemania 23, and the hall of fame ceremony, they know a higher up in the wwe not named mcmahon supposely they told me this at a house show in dayton. But they know all the wrestlers and a lot of them say hello on their way out to the ring. - Chase M.

Actually, that
leads me to a question somewhat - has anything in
wrestling ever gone down as a legit world record? - Chris

Yes.....Guinness Book listed Ed "Strangler"Lewis was in it for most matches won and Tony Rocca was for highest paid wrestler - Ronevsorg

First I would like to say i have been reading the 411 website for a couple of years, Im not a member it seems like every time i try to register it says I don't have permission lol

I would like to say Im not sure who's column i read that said that Beniot shouldn't be labeled a horrible monster because he had done something so tragic, I would just like to say I agree! Sometimes People just snap and the ramifications are dreadful. That's all Im going to say about that.

3rd I would like to say I have a myspace page I would like someone to go check out its about a Baby Named Kaleb www.myspace.com/kalebribbons The whole story is on the webpage www.myspace.com/helpbabykaleb its about a couple who took there baby to the babysitter and came to pick him up and it looked like he was sleeping long story short the baby sitter about killed him (sbs) shaken baby syndrome, and hes been in ICU for about 2 months fighting for his life the web site has a video and its just heartbreaking to watch, anyway what I would like someone to do is please mention the Kaleb site Just once in someone's column we are really trying to spread the word and sense I look at your page almost everyday I figure other people must to! Thank you so much for even opening this email. - Tana Wieberg

JT sent me a link to a YouTube video about this, and it really is a sad story. Consider the word spread.

Questions!

John starts us off this week with questions about ladders and big bumps...

1. I was wondering on the different size of ladders that are used in ladder matches? The wwe claims that people like the Hardy's jump off a 16 foot ladder, but I want to say it's only 12 feet. The average ladder used is only 8 feet. Is that true.

Using the very inexact science of my eyeballs, I believe that the "regular" ladders they use are 8 feet. As for the really tall ladders they break out for high spots, I think the tallest ones they use are somewhere around 15 feet. This would be like the ladder that Jeff Hardy used at WrestleMania 2000. I could be completely wrong on that, but it sounds about right.

2. What is the biggest (meaning the highest) bump that a wrestler has taken?

Excluding shows that I haven't seen, the highest WWE bump would have to be Shane McMahon jumping off the top of the TitanTron during his Last Man Standing match with Big Show at Backlash 2001. The highest bump I've seen in the indies would have to be when Zandig & "Sick" Nick Mondo flew off the top of a two story building onto tables and light tubes at CZW's Tournament of Death 2. There could be bigger bumps that I haven't seen, but those are two of the biggest.

my question is about the wwe/f's financial situation during the 1990s. i remember reading that they were losing money since 1993/94 and that by 1997 they were close to bankruptcy (vince even asking bret to leave etc...) with the low point being the dx-ppv in december that year (i think the lowest buy-rate ever at that point). then, only 3 months later they put on the biggest ppv ever (wm14).
so my question is how did mcmahon solve the financial problems in that short period? i remember that with the start of 1998 the shows started looking much better (production wise) and the tyson deal probably wasn't cheap either. - Mike

The mass defection of high-priced talent to WCW in the mid-90s allowed Vince and the WWF to stock up on talent that didn't cost nearly as much and had more future potential. That money not spent on talent like Bret Hart, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and others that had left in recent years could be put into production, Mike Tyson, and other things to improve the product. It's kind of like how your favorite sports team sometimes has to let go of a bunch of high-priced talent that isn't producing a winning record despite their name value so they can bring up some talent that could make a difference in the future.

Now, one could argue how close WWF actually was to bankruptcy...I don't think they were as close as Vince likes to claim they were (which I think he does to tell a good story). It should be pointed out that the DX PPV was not the lowest buy-rate ever at that point, in fact it was .09 higher than the "It's Time" PPV that WWF had held a year earlier. So they were already trending somewhat upwards heading into WM 14. They put a lot of money into pushing the Mike Tyson thing, it worked, and they followed that up with a compelling feud between Steve Austin & Vince McMahon, the zany antics of DX, the rise to prominence of The Rock, and other entertaining things that made the casual fans stick around. Basically, everything that could go right for the WWF in 1998 did, and "financial problems" were no longer an issue afterwards.

Jude Terror has questions about two of pro wrestling's more interesting characters...

What is up with the greatest of all time in the ring and on the mic: the Macho Man Randy Savage? Last I heard, he was supposed to be a cast member on the Surreal Life, but that was about a year ago and I haven't heard anything since, and h is website has been "coming soon" for about just as long.

There has been no official word from VH1 on the next season of the Surreal Life other than "there will be one". Savage's voice made an appearance on "King of the Hill" this year...other than that he has been keeping a pretty low profile. He was briefly considered for an appearance on Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night last month, but was nixed immediately.

Also, do you think that the Iron Sheik really thinks that everybody in the wrestling business is a "no good mother f-er," or is he playing it up because he knows he gives the best shoot interviews. I think it's an act, though a very funny one.

I think Iron Sheik is so hopped up on drugs that he doesn't know what he thinks anymore. Hell, on one of his shoot tapes he's continually asking for some drugs. I wouldn't take anything he says very seriously, though I have to admit he's an entertaining son of a gun even if he is all doped up.

I recently came across some old school Steiner Brothers matches when they were IWGP champs in Japan. I was wondering if you know or if you could find out what song the Steiners used for their ring entrance? It's a really catchy guitar rift and I know that I've heard the song before, but for the life of me can't figure out who the artist is? Hope you can help me! - Layne

If it's the song at the end of this clip, it is catchy, but I have no idea where it's from. Perhaps some of my Japanese wrestling fan readers could fill us in...

Shaun has some questions about old school WWF lady wrestlers. Divas, they weren't.

I was recently watching WWE 24/7 and a very interesting match between Moolah (Spider) and Wendi Richter. The ending seemed to be a shoot and I have heard stories that is was but the way Richter keeps wrestling and the announcers reactions seems a little odd to me. What is the story behind all this?

It's up in the air as to whether this incident was actually a forerunner to the Montreal Screwjob or if it was just a big rumor. The story is that Richter had gotten into an argument with Vince McMahon over money, as she felt she wasn't getting her fair share. McMahon disagreed and decided that he would knock Richter's ego down a few notches by having Fabulous Moolah don the mask of "The Spider", a character that Richter had defended the women's title against on multiple occasions, and have the referee give her a quick count on a small package so she could usurp the belt from Richter. Whether the story is true or not, Richter never worked for the WWF again after that night.

For what it's worth, Moolah claims that Richter was in on it in her book. But most of her book seems to be deeply rooted in kayfabe, so I'm not sure whether to believe that or not.

What is Wendi Richter up to these days?

Wendi is married to WWE Spanish announcer Hugo Savinovitch...she appeared on two WrestleReunion shows in 2005. She lives in Texas, and the last I heard she was a physical therapist.

What about Lelani Kai?

Kai remained active in wrestling for a very long time, even winning the NWA Women's Title in 2003. She has not competed since 2004, it's not known what she's currently up to.

What about Velvet McIntyre?

Velvet retired from wrestling a few years ago to raise her twin children. I believe she lives up in Canada but don't quote me on that.

Hi there. Someone asked about what vieo libraries WWE owned. You mentioned GCW. What is GCW? The only promotion with a G in it that I can think of is GWF which is Global Wrestling Federation. - Jeff from NL Canada

GCW = Georgia Championship Wrestling, the promotion made famous by its 6:00 PM time slot on Saturday nights on WTBS.

i have a question that i have not seen covered yet concerning
steel cages.i started watching wrestling in 84, and several of my friends
were watching since the late 70's.it seems back then steel cage matches
were used to keep interference out and the heel from running/escaping.
the only way to win was pinfall or submission.when did escape from
the cage become a way to win and why as this seems contradictory as
to why the wrestlers are in a cage in the first place? - James

The practice of using "escape" as a way to end a cage match was popularized by the WWF, which was pretty much the only promotion that booked cage matches in that manner for a very long time. When the 1980s rolled around, they changed the rules to where escape was the only way to win, and since they were the biggest wrestling company around, their rules became the rules that fans were accustomed to, though almost every other promotion out there kept the old rules, where it required a pinfall or submission to win.

I'm not a huge fan of the "escape the cage" concept...the one thing it does that I like is that it removes the referee from the ring, leaving the two combatants alone to settle their differences. It creates drama as well, as the heel will spend the whole match trying to get out of the cage, which generates a lot of heat from the crowd because they're worried that the heel will get out of the clutches of the babyface and win the match without getting the asskicking of a lifetime. I like the standard rules cage match better, but I can appreciate the twist that the WWF put on it.

Just a quick question, who created and popularized the "blockbuster" move that Cena likes to use? And why is it called the "blockbuster?" - Andrew Critchell

The blockbuster originated as a move off the middle rope by Buff Bagwell. I'm not sure why JR insists on calling Cena's move a blockbuster when it had a perfectly good name on Smackdown a couple of years ago as the "throwback". I don't know if Bagwell had a reason for naming it the blockbuster other than "it sounds cool".

Conor O'Boyle has some questions for us...

I was watching Tombstone: The history of the Undertaker recently and i was watching his match against kurt angle for the title on smackdown. Taker was doing a armbar/leg scissors on Angle and i saw that on takers gloves they had UFC logo stitched on them. Now this was in 2003 and UFC wasnt as nearly as popular as it is today. So my question is this: Does Taker still get to wear those gloves from UFC or does he have to use some lesser brand of gloves? Or because it is the Undertaker and he is what he is does he get to keep the UFC brand gloves? - Joel

Undertaker doesn't use the "official" UFC gloves anymore. It wasn't a very important part of his character, and WWE doesn't want to give their competition a free plug. Yes, I just said UFC is competition for WWE. Deal with it, MMA haters!

How come Dusty Rhodes left the NWA for WWE in 1989??Was he not booker or anything like that at the time?Also why did he leave WWE to go work for Jim Herd?Because he was offered the book or just tired of WWE?This is probably answered in the Dusty Rhodes DVD but i have no interest in getting it.

Dusty got fired from the NWA and his booking duties there in 1988 after defying an order from Turner Broadcasting that there be no blood on their programming by having the Road Warriors jab one of their spikes in his eye. He spent some time wrestling in Florida before heading to the WWF in polka dots. He left the WWF because he didn't want to wrestle full-time anymore and WCW offered him a spot on their booking committee.

Also,around the 88-89 period,why did alot of NWA workers like the Brainbusters,Ronnie Garvin and Tony Schavione leave to WWE?Was the backstage of the NWA really bad? - Conor O'Boyle

It was all about the money. It didn't help that Jim Herd had taken the company over and everything was going crazy with all sorts of new people running around, but everybody wanted to go to the WWF because that was where the money was. Loyalty to Jim Crockett was no longer an issue since Ted Turner had purchased the company that would become known as World Championship Wrestling.

1. My first question is about Edge. Although a bit injury prone, I believe hes one of the best heels and wrestlers in the business today, but why does he use the spear as his finisher? It's not really believable, since he's too thin to make it look effective. Most of his opponents are a lot bigger than he is (Batista, Cena). It works for people like Goldberg or Lashley, but I dont think its a great finisher for Edge. Set up move, sure. What happened to all his other finishers he used to use, such as the downward spiral (which is my personal favorite for him to use), Edgeucator or the Edgecution. Those are much more effective finishers in my opinion. Is there a reason he uses the spear to finish?

I've been saying a variation of this for years now on various wrestling forums. I've never really bought into Edge's spear as a finishing move, since it only seems to look good when he does it to women and cruiserweights. Somebody seems to like it since he's been using it for years, but I am in agreement with you here.

2. I've heard Lita has a reputation for being a bit promiscuous. Which wrestlers has she had relations with other than Matt Hardy and Edge? - Patrick Morone

Bastion Booger, The Missing Link and Naked Mideon.

(OK, so she didn't, but we've had this sort of question before and I don't have any inside knowledge that isn't based 100% in rumor)

I know there were plans to have a new Hart Foundation consisting of Naddie Neidhart, Harry Smith and Teddy Hart. My question is are they still planning on bringing them all in together or did Teddy Hart manage to piss someone off already and get fired? I ask bc I remember reading rumors that Harry Smith could be called up to WWE anyday now and I haven't heard anything regarding Naddie or Teddy. - Bstreak20

Teddy Hart is still under contract with Wrestling Society X. For what it's worth, he has said to a Calgary Sun reporter that a new Hart Foundation could happen after his contract with them expires. They may be waiting for that to debut them all together...or the story could be a load of B.S. It's too soon to tell, really. But to answer your question, they haven't fired Teddy lately because he hasn't been under contract with them lately.

There is this lady on last comic standing who looks just like the lady that
played shelton benjamins mom. Do you know who I am talking about? And is that
her? Also has Stone Cold Steve Austin ever been in a backstage fight/scuffle?
Thanks - hiphopshuvit

The lady on LCS is in fact Thea Vidale, who played the role of Shelton Benjamin's Momma.

Austin has not been in any backstage fights that I know about. There's a tasteless joke there somewhere, but I'm not the man to make it.

Umm just wondering if you knew when was the first time Triple H used the sledgehammer? I cant really think of the very first time. Me and my brother were discussing it. And i brought up how during i think the Buried Alive Match with Mankind/Rock vs UT/Big Show match on SD, HHH hit Big Show or somebody with the sledgehammer into the grave. Then also later that year at Armegeddon '99, he used it against Vince when Stephanie turned. But when did he first use it, and when did he esablish it as his weapon. Because no one else in the WWE can use it, or so it seems? - Kevin Gardner from Memphis, TN

The match you talk about took place on the September 7, 1999 edition of Smackdown. The furthest back instance of Triple H using the sledgehammer that I could find was on the May 17, 1999 edition of Raw. He locked the Rock inside of a casket and smashed it with a sledgehammer. Good times! I don't think it really became "established" until later in the year when he began using it all the time, but I don't remember many other people using a sledgehammer in wrestling before he did.

I know that there is a lot of TNA bashing, BUT… isn't it about entertainment? While some of the stuff is suspect, overall isn't TNA entertaining the die hard fans and isn't that enough? The constant bashing of the booking is harsh as if you suspend believe I think TNA is putting out great entertainment. - Jeff

The thing about questions like this is that they're very subjective. One person can say that TNA puts on a great wrestling product that is filled with entertainment, and back that up with the fact that they recently had their highest rating ever for an episode of Impact. Another person can say that TNA's product is terrible and has no redeeming value, and back that up with the fact that PPV buyrates seem to show no signs of going up.

Is entertaining the die-hards enough? Not if you want to be a true competitor to WWE, it isn't. It depends on how high you want to set your goals. Some people like TNA's product, some don't. It just so happens that the ones who don't are generally the ones that are more likely to raise a big fuss about it. 411 has been accused of being both pro-TNA & anti-TNA, which to me means that we're generally doing a good job in covering the promotion. They don't get the favoritism that promotions like Ring of Honor get, but I don't think Dixie Carter or Vince Russo get as bad treatment as Vince McMahon & WWE Creative get. At the end of the day, they're somewhere in the middle, which could very well be part of their "problem".

It should be noted that I delusionally think that I have a special relationship with a member of the TNA roster, so I try the best that I can to be fair and balanced despite that.

I'm trying to determine who will likely have a bigger summer... (winning matches, main eventing, being on PPV's and SNME etc).
Ric Flair, given new life on Smackdown.
or Snitsky... possibly getting the "monster push" on RAW.

Just curious what your outlooks on these 2 are.

Which has the brighter short term future ahead of them? - Ryan Estok

Ric Flair has already made several high-profile appearances on Smackdown, including a match with World Champion Edge that main evented Smackdown, and a match with U.S. Champion M.V.P. They appear to be setting him up as an upper mid-card babyface that can challenge for championships at a drop of a hat. Not to mention the fact that he's pretty darn over wherever he goes.

Snitsky has yet to make his debut on Raw. One assumes he will at some point, but there are quite a few heels in the way of him attaining anything higher than mid-card status. Mr. Kennedy, King Booker, Randy Orton & Umaga are all heels that I would rate ahead of Snitsky on the food chain without giving much thought to it. There aren't that many babyfaces ahead of Flair on Smackdown. So as far as short-term futures go, I'd put my money on the Nature Boy.

Can you name any wrestlers who have remained face/heel without ever changing? I mean wrestlers that have been on TV for years and never turned. - Jaime

I think the list begins and ends with Ricky Steamboat, who remained a babyface through the duration of his wrestling career. One other person I can think of is Rick Rude, who was a heel throughout his career in NWA & WWF...it seemed like he was on the verge of making a babyface turn for a feud with Vader before a back injury suffered in a match with Sting in Japan ended his career. Everybody else I can think of either switched really early in their career, really late in their career, or switched in a meaningless way that nobody cared about and was forgotten in a month.

I have just about finished the Sex, Lies and Headlocks book. Whilst reading it, it mentions Doink as an evil slasher like clown, who would chase people in the crowd with his sidekick Dink. But as I remember, Doink recieved Dink as a christmas present from Santa (damn, wrestling was lame in the early 90´s!) after turing face. Am I wrong, or is the book mistaken? - Alex Simpson

Doink started out as an evil clown, but by the time Dink came around, he was a happy-go-lucky soul that just wanted to make people happy. I trust the author put more effort and research into the rest of his book than he did into Doink the Clown.

On ECW, Punk wrestled Burke in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Then it hit me: When was the last 2/3 falls match on free television prior to the recent ECW? I couldn't think of any, maybe you can shed some light. - Shylo

I assume we're not counting lucha libre here, because those guys have 2/3 fall matches every week. The last one that took place on television that was held in a U.S. based wrestling promotion was on September 2, 2004, as Kurt Angle took on Eddie Guerrero in a best two out of three falls match. You can read a recap at the link, provided by none other than Stephen Randle. Since I haven't said so lately, let me say that Stephen Randle is a tool.

I read that, when the first Wrestlemania was building up, a rival promoter offered Bruiser Brody cash to invade the event and attack Vince. Have you ever heard this story? Any idea who the rival promoter was? - Alec

I've never heard this story before, but it would be highly unlikely that somebody could have convinced Brody to do it. After all, it was Vince McMahon Sr. that turned Frank "The Hammer" Goodish into Bruiser Brody when Brody toured the WWWF in 1976. This unnamed promoter obviously didn't know that.

Well, that's all I've got for you this week. Send all questions, comments, corrections and love advice to [e-mail]. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.