Ask 411 Wrestling 10.17.07: Original WCW Plans, Flair vs. Blanchard & Sting, Project 161 & More!

Posted by Steve Cook on 10.17.2007

Including the most watched match in wrestling history! No, it wasn't the Kennel From Hell.



It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, and I hope you're all having an awesome week. Mine has been mixed…some good, some bad. I have no new complaints, so that's good.

Here's a sign of how far the Bengals have fallen: Csonka didn't make fun of them this week.

The Colorado Rockies in the World Series? Surely hell has frozen over.

And I'm not sure there are actually any University of Cincinnati football fans reading this column, but if they are….

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Good times. Speaking of good times, be sure to check out this very website on Thursday, as I'll be filling in for Jeffrey Small to do the daily news report. He took over when I quit the gig, so I feel kinda like Bob Barker filling in for Drew Carey. Check it out!

Comments, Corrections & other "C" words

"What happened at the end of the Goldberg/Bret Hart match on Nitro for the
World Title in late 1999? I'm referring to their match where Bret turned
heel (for the millionth time) and reformed the NWO with Jarrett, Nash and
Hall. When they did the NWO run-in where Bret took the baseball bat and
started beating the crap outta Goldberg, Piper came in and covered Goldberg
to protect him. The referee counted the 3 count with PIPER covering GOLDBERG
and suddenly Bret Hart is declared champion?!? I know theres been a lot of
screwups in the past...but what the hell??!? Do we just put that down to a
referee mistake or what?"

i actually read in the death of WCW i believe that Piper was told to make
the save after hart had pinned goldberg by lying on top of the prone bill to
stop the beatdown from happening his last orders before he was to go out was
dont get off goldberg no matter what anyone does

unfortunately the pin hadnt been made so on a rare occurance it wasnt russos
fault just a rowdy "scot" playing the clown – Steven McClernon, Scotland

Someone asked if his (Petey Williams) finsiher had ever injured anyone. I believe that if memory serves correct it was Alex Shelly who had his jaw seriously injured by that move. – Chris S.

Man I have seen some pretty nasty landings, like the one AJ Styles took during what I think was the 3rd Ultimate X between him,Petey & Chris Sabin, the way AJ landed on his neck just looked so sick the way he was crumpled up from the impact. that's the only real sick landing I can remember – John Bryant

1) The ECW show where wrestlers came out in WWF Superstar gear was actually from a house show they
did in Stamford on Halloween '97. I do not believe any of this aired on TV, but I'm sure an RF
FanCam exists. The cream of the joke was Shane Douglas and Chris Candido coming out as Dean
Douglas and Bodydonna Skip. I'd like to see it myself if anyone turns up video footage.

2) Paul Heyman turned on Brock Lesnar in the middle of a Lesnar title defense in favor of The Big
Show, beginning one of the most convoluted storylines involving Angle/Brock/WMXIX ever. Seems
most managers would put money on Paul Wight over their own client when a world championship is on
the line. Hell, Paul did it again to RVD last year!

3) Couldn't agree more on the Undertaker comment. Remember when he locked the Warrior in a
casket? And didn't him and Warrior alternate who went over in the bodybag matches on the house
show cirtcuit of '91? Taker got crazy over just by being a legitimately threatening bad guy. If
you watch old footage, the kids in the crowd are like too petrified to even boo him, as though he
might hear him and claim them his next victim. - Richard

Just a little note about one guys question, he notes
the clipping of Survivor Series 88, stating that the
match with the Warrior captaining one team was cut to
shreds (which is true) and the Bulldogs elimination
wasn't shown in their match... that's not quite right.
The big 10 vs 10 match from that years event was shown
in its entirity on the Coliseum release. He's thinking
of the previous years show where the elimination of
the Bulldogs was clipped off for some reason.

If he's still interested, their elimination in 87
occured when Dynamite Kid went for a headbutt off the
second rope on Haku, only to hurt himself in the
process (those wacky South Pacificers and their hard
heads). When he got up, Haku hit him with a crescent
kick for the pin. And here's hoping for the anthology
DVD set at some point thank you. – Chris Page

I enjoyed this article very much, as this was my first time reading it. I just wanted to send a couple quick notes.
Flair used "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Emerson Lake and Palmer in in his 1991 WCW/NWA title reign. Most notably at Battlebowl and the following Clash of Champions where he faced Bobby Eaton 2 out of 3 falls.
Monsoon and Heenan also called Survivor Serie 1993 (maybe a few others as well KotR '96 SS '93). This was Heenan's last WWF PPV before going to WCW. Monsoon would literally "throw" Heenan out of the building & WWF a few weeks later on RAW, as he was tired of Heenan insuting other people during commentary.
Triple H uses AMA Pro Kneepads available @ highspots.com.
Abdullah the Butcher also wore the "pesian boots" on occasion.
Sato came back at the Summerslam Showdown 1991 to wrestle a six man tag against Ricky Steamboat, British Bulldog & Kerry Von Erich to hype their opponents mat against Warlord and Power & Glory at Summerslam. – John

Is that bit about Flair true? I remember Terry Funk coming out to that song in some ECW appearances. Heenan called SS '93 alongside Vince McMahon, while Monsoon did the Radio WWF broadcast of the event with Jim Ross.

The question you got last week about longest-running entrance theme...I adressed it in my column, but in case you don't read it (likely!), I think the answer is probably Kane. I pride myself on my entrance theme knowledge, so I'm fairly confident on this. – Chris Landsell

It's not Kane…he switched his entrance music to the Finger Eleven song Slow Chemical in 2002. He had some different music during his first few years with the company. If we're talking current wrestlers here, the answer is likely Funaki, as I don't think WWE's bothered with changing his music since at least 2000.

I enjoy your column, and don't have a question or even an answer to anything (sorry, no porn, either), but I thought I'd pass an anecdote relating to trash being thrown into the ring. I was at a house show at Dayton's Hara Arena back in '86 or so. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine was wrestling some jobber, and putting on a pretty standard match. About ten minutes into it, a fight broke out in the crowd. At the time, Hara sold beer in glass bottles at their events, so security would swarm all over any fights in an instant. It didn't take long before half the floor seats in this guy's section were cleared, and about ten security guys had him surrounded. The match was still proceeding at this point. The guy had a beer bottle, so security wasn't rushing him just yet. He threw the bottle cap at the guards, and it entered the ring but didn't cause any commotion. Right after Valentine got the jobber in a side headlock, though, the guy threw the bottle and it nearly hit the wrestlers. Valentine looked up and saw the ensuing melee between the guards and the drunk. He kind of let up on the headlock, and the jobber half lifted his head and watched as well. The drunk was quickly subdued, at which point all attention was turned back to the ring, where Valentine and the jobber were just standing there watching the ringside action. Valentine suddenly got this "Oh shit!" look on his face, took a wild swing at the jobber and missed him by about two feet. Still, it floored the jobber and Valentine got the quick pin. To this day, Valentine's still one of my favorites solely because of that match. – Scott Leopold

I was reading your article and remembered the Starrcade 91 Battlebowl. I actually have the tape. Sting's teamup with Abdullah was worth the price alone. Abdullah comes down the ramp with the largest SMILE you could ever imagine. He looked like Jesse (Ray Gordy) from Smackdown.....grinning from ear to ear, like he was Sting's best friend. He had his hand stretched out, like he wanted to shake his buddy Sting's hand. Then, of course, proceeds to start firing away at Sting. I also remember that was the first time I saw the gut-wrench suplex turned power bomb (Doctor Bomb?) from Terry Taylor. Always loved that move....surprised no one else used it. – Michael, Austin, TX

The winners of the tourney got a battle bowl ring. It was a big gawdy looking ring that was a play on the super bowl rings. The last winner I can remember was DDP and he used the ring to help him win matches like brass knuckles almost. I remember him putting the ring up in a few matches and losing it someone, maybe Johnny B Badd (mero) at some point. If I remember right. – Kip

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here. Most workers, myself included, use AMA brand kneepads. I believe these are the kind that HHH uses. They are specially designed for pro wrestlers and work extremely well. They can be ordered to your personal measurements at www.highspots.com Hope that helps. – Eric

reader from singapore here. I'm sure the company itself or the network sell the program to the overseas broadcaster. who in turn recouped what they paid for through ads. I'm pretty sure TNA sells it directly to the network.. since they sent over SImon Diamond, Sonjay and Shark BOy (correct me if I'm wrong), to India to promote TNA programs shown on STar Sports. – Keith

Killer Khan appears on a handful of Coliseum Home Videos. Best of the WWF Vol. 4 and Grand Slams (vs. Andre in the stretcher match from Phili) and Best of the WWF Vol. 14 (vs. Santana from his 1987 run). – Graham Cawthon

If you go to ask411wrestling 10/28/03 he says Jacobs was the black knight not Gaylord. Who's correct? – Ron

……

Great job as always, Ask 411's been my favorite column on the site for some
time now. In response to the question concerning Shawn Michaels' knights,
they were none other than Jeff Gaylord, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, and
Barry Horowitz, though I can't remember off the top of my head which
individual was which color knight. I'm pretty sure Valentine was the Blue
Knight, and I want to say Gaylord was the Black Knight, leaving Horowitz as
the Red Knight. Originally, the match at SS '93 was slated to involve the
Hart Family against Jerry Lawler and his Knights, but Shawn Michaels was
inserted as a substitute after Jerry Lawler became involved in a scandal
involoving an underage female (I know, big surprise). To the best of my
knowledge, Glen Jacobs was nowhere near this match, and none of the Knights
were tall enough to be the future Isaac Yankem/Fake Diesel/Kane. Hope this
helps, keep it up! – Jack Supreme

Here's the answer the first time. Glen Jacobs was not the Black Knight, no matter what any Ask 411 writers before me have said, or what any unreliable website will tell you.

Questions!

on the opening credits for "Malcom in the Middle" it show Bret Hart putting the sharpshooter on someone, wondering about this clip, who's the unfortunate victim ? (looks a little like Benoit) and what even it's from ? I know he only fough Benoit like once in WCW. – Adrian from Ireland

Bret is applying the Sharpshooter to Chris Benoit in the clip shown. Hart & Benoit had two encounters in WCW, one on the 10/4/99 edition of Monday Nitro in a tribute match honoring the late Owen Hart in the arena that he died in, and the other at WCW Mayhem where Hart beat Benoit to win the WCW title.

I have heard a lot of people dog TNA for the lack of push that TNA has
given the X-Division during the 1 hour format on Spike.

I had a question/observation that I wanted to bounce off of you that I
have not seen mentioned. Maybe it has, but I have not seen it.

Could the lack of X-Division on the 1 hour format be TNA saving these
guys for when they had two hours? The type of matches most of these guys in the X-Division have are pretty rough on the body even if they are short, and not exactly great for long careers. Could TNA have thought ahead that when they got 2 hours they would bring it back full force, and not risk injury of these guys during short matches on the 1 hour program. – Kurt

It'd be nice if that was the actual reason. I'm a bit skeptical about it because the first two hour Impact featured X Division Champion Jay Lethal getting squashed by Team 3D. I don't think TNA specializes in long-term planning, so it's impossible for me to say what their long-term plans are for the X Division. They won't kill it off anytime soon, but I don't know if they'll give those guys a major push anytime soon. The problem the X Division has is that once somebody really gets over, they have to move up to the heavyweight division, or in the case of guys like AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels, get sent to the tag team division to make things interesting there. I think you have a good idea, but I can't see the powers that be in TNA thinking of something like that.

Greetings from another U of L grad. I'm trying to forget all about this year's football season and look forward to basketball. How about you. Anyway, I'm a long-time reader, but first time asker. My question is this: During his National and US Champion runs in the NWA in couple of pre-Horsemen years, Tully Blanchard would have been the #1 contender for the World title. Did he ever wrestle Ric Flair for the title then? I'll hang up and listen for the answer. – Robb

Basketball season's looking pretty good right now, but I couldn't be prouder of the football Cards for knocking off the hated Cincinnati Bearcats on the road and ending their nine-game winning streak. It was an excellent performance by the players and Coach Kragthorpe has regained my confidence at least for the moment with some of the calls he made in that game.

I haven't found any evidence that Flair ever faced Blanchard in a wrestling match, whether there was a title on the line or not. I found record of a "confrontation" they had on NWA Worldwide in July 1984, but no word of a match taking place. Flair & Blanchard were heels for the majority of the 1980s, and more often than not were affiliated with each other. Could have been a great match, but it seems like we'll never know. It'd be awesome if somebody could prove me wrong, and even more awesome if somebody could hook me up with video evidence.

During the 80s when wrestling was still considering kayfabe,when bringing in famous people like Mr.T,Andy Koffman,Cindy Lyper etc.Before agreeing to work with the business do u think they thought wrestling was legit?Was there doubt that they could seriously get in trouble?Also when they did agree to work,why did they not just say to people outside the business that its all a work,you should ring them up and ask to get invovled its easy money.

Also do u think bringing outsiders like them into the business,was really the first step in kayfabe being broken.I mean people watching that would think "awww if these guys can wonder into the ring ok and no wrestler threaten them,why can I not just jump in and wrestle". – Conor O'Boyle

Some of them were a bit wary, sure. And this hasn't changed…just take a look at all the hoopla caused when Pacman Jones said he was going to wrestle in TNA. Real, fake or whatever, pro wrestling can cause injuries. I'm sure T & others recommended wrestling to some of their friends, who decided it wasn't for them.

Honestly, I think most people had caught on to wrestling being "fake" before Mr. T came in and main-evented WrestleMania. They just chose not to dwell on it…what really killed kayfabe was wrestling companies running dumb angles that were based around wrestling being "fake". WCW was the worst offender of this late in its run, as was TNA early on. Oddly enough, Vince Russo had a hand in writing for both of those companies. Hmmm.

Aaron says the column is Rad-hazard..I hope that's a good thing.

When DX parodied the McMahons, Triple H (as Vince) mocked Vince scratching
his ear while HBK (as Shane) made his entrance. I remember the real Vince
McMahon making this same gesture a long time ago. My question is when did
Vince McMahon do this and why? I seem to remember Steve Austin having
something to do with it, but I don't remember the exact situation.

Vince has done this ear-scratching thing more than once…the one time for sure I remember is when Ric Flair came back to the WWF and revealed that he had purchased 50% of the company from Shane & Stephanie McMahon. I'm pretty sure he's done it other times, but that's the one I remember.

in your last column you gave this as an answer...

"I think the direction they were heading in was an Austin vs. HHH feud that would have headlined WWF shows during the summer months…unfortunately everything that could go wrong for the WWF did go wrong at that time. Triple H got hurt, Benoit got hurt, and they weren't able to get WCW their own time slot due to the XFL debacle scaring TNN and other networks away from new WWF ventures. These factors led to the InVasion….I'll assume that most of you know how that ended up. Not good."

Did the WWF really have the desire to get WCW their own time slot and continue the product?? This is the first Ive ever heard of this. – Mitchell Q.

There was a plan in place to continue WCW as a separate company, albeit on a smaller scale than the WWF. It probably would have been somewhat like what ECW is now…as you may remember, they even brought in WCW announcer Scott Hudson to do play by play for the venture, and he ended up announcing the one WCW match that was held on Raw alongside Arn Anderson. It was thought that Shane McMahon was going to run the company as a form of training for when someday he would take over for his father. There was at least one WCW house show booked for an arena in New Jersey, but the show was postponed. They tried to get TNN to let them do a two hour WCW show on Saturday nights, but TNN wasn't confident that the WWF could produce something people wanted to watch that wasn't WWF-branded after the debacle that was the XFL. They also noticed that WCW's ratings had gone into the shitter towards the end of their run and WWF hadn't really done anything to build up the WCW name in the eyes of their fans. So we ended up with WWF Excess on Saturday nights…this was ok with me at first because Trish Stratus was a co-host and…well, I was a high school student that was at home on Saturday nights. You do the math.

I had a question regarding ROH. I bought the first PPV and plan on buying the
next one this weekend or the next. They are a great value and were the first
PPVs I've bought since TNA: BFG 2006. My only obstacle is that it is hard to
follow the promotion, which sucks because their storylines are as good as the
wrestling. I watched a clip yesterday of what went down with Jimmy Jacobs,
Necro Butcher, and Tyler Black and their attack on the Briscoes. It pisses me
off that I can't watch that on a weekly basis, but I'm currently watching
Pacman Jones as a tag champion and a Leprechaun in a MAJOR storyline. My
question is, when will ROH get, or does ROH even want, a weekly tv program? If
not, do you have any recommendations as far as following the promotion on the
internet? I've purchased a few of the DVDs, but that can get expensive. Good
luck with Louisville this year, you're just lucky the Hokies aren't in the Big
East anymore. Thanks for the hard work. – Charile

As far as I know, ROH is doing everything they can to avoid having a weekly television program. They had a local show in Philadelphia very early in their existence, but the costs of doing a show weren't justified by the results. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the line they ended up getting one, but don't expect it anytime soon. The best way to follow ROH online is by checking out their Video Wires, which are posted bi-weekly on their website and YouTube. I'd also recommend reading Ari's Column of Honor…he's a bit of an ROH homer but it's still one of the best columns on this or any other wrestling website.

Hey love the site, its always informative and entertaining. I got a few questions in regards to the wellness policy. Just curious if Vince is tested for drugs or any violations of the wellness policy. If he is what would happen if Vince or HHH tested positive for any of the banned substances?

I'm also curious what do you think the possibilities of Vince or HHH being implicated in any of the busts that have recently gone down. And if they were, what would do you think the ramifications might be? Thanks for your time and keep up the good work. – don won

Vince is not tested under the Wellness policy. That's one of the perks of being the boss. As for what would happen if Vince or Triple H were implicated in one of these online pharmacy busts…all hell would break loose. The media would have a field day with it. Congress would be all pissed off…it really wouldn't be a good thing for WWE. I wouldn't count on that happening because Vince knows that the shit would hit the fan if he was caught. There are ways to avoid getting caught. I won't say any more than that.

hey, i was wondering if you could explain the Project 161 angle that has been going on in ROH? From what I heard it sounds like quite the angle. – Paul Campbell

Project 161, an Internet alternate reality game of sorts with mysterious people claiming destruction was ahead, flyers and random interruptions happening at ROH shows, has led to The Age of the Fall, a group led by Jimmy Jacobs including Tyler Black, Necro Butcher & Lacey. Their goal is the destruction of ROH, and they have chosen to start with Jay & Mark Briscoe, two young men who have been given opportunity after opportunity by ROH and are two of the most popular performers there. What their goals are after that is anybody's guess, I'd recommend checking out their website for more information.

Do you think a Flair vs. Sting match at WrestleMania is feasible? I know that sounds ridiculous,
but upon reading the question about Flair going to TNA, all I could think was that "well, what if
Sting went there?" I couldn't see TNA being "happy" about it, but say Flair requested it, are
they in a position to piss in Flair's soup? And considering Sting basically wrestles for the fun
of it and to help companies, do you think he cares if an incident like that gets him in hot water
at this juncture of his career? Sting is virtually bigger than TNA anyway and isn't around for
the glory of being a wrestling superstar. I mean, aside from legal proceedings, what's there to
stop Sting from saying "Sure, Ric. I'd be glad to put you over in Orlando"? – Richard

I can't see Sting going to WWE to wrestle Flair against TNA's wishes. I don't know when his contract expires, but as long as he's under contract to TNA, he won't leave. He's a pretty standup guy, and he's turned down WrestleMania offers before. That being said…if one thing could get him to say "yes", it's probably one last match with the Nature Boy. I'd love to see it happen, but I wouldn't bet on it.

In Australia we never got Paul Heyman's original ECW on TV so the only exposure I've ever had is through PPV DVDs.

My question is this: When the crowd was behind their favourite wrestler, eg. Sandman, they start chanting 'Butt-butt Sandman, butt-butt!'. (At first I thought it was 'F*ck off sandman, f*ck off!'). A butt-butt is when the opponent is in the turnbuckles and you run towards them, spinning around in the last second to ram ur butt into them. So how did this chant start (and is 'butt-butt' actually what they are chanting, as I have heard it on numerous ECW PPVs)? – Derek

I'm 99.9% sure that your DVDs were edited and the fans were most likely chanting "Fuck him up, Sandman, fuck him up!" There's a .1% chance that the fans were actually chanting for a butt butt, but the "fuck him up" chant was a staple of ECW audiences across the territory.

Jennifer has a series of questions and praise for the website. I don't get much praise from the womenfolk, so I'll take it when I can get it…

I got back into watching WWE programming just a few months ago, and 411mania has quickly become my one and only online stop for wrestling news and columns. Great work by you and your colleagues.

A few questions for you...

- Can you give me an idea of what the backstage atmosphere is like at a WWE event? It must be incredibly chaotic at times, so who calls the shots and keeps the show on schedule? What are the major backstage roles?

Other than Vince, who is the ultimate big cheese and makes all the decisions, the most important man backstage is likely Kevin Dunn. He's the executive producer of WWE programming, and makes all the decisions regarding television and whatnot. Of course, you have the various creative team members like Stephanie. Then there are the road agents/producers, who help organize matches and whatnot. Guys like Arn Anderson, Sgt. Slaughter, Dean Malenko, Ricky Steamboat and others serve in that role. But everything goes through Vince.

- I assume that WWE requires its wrestlers to arrive backstage by a specific time and to stay throughout a live event in case they're needed for something unexpected. Do they spend most of their backstage time watching the show like we do?

A typical wrestler spends their time backstage watching the show, going over what they need to do, socializing with the other wrestlers, and showering after their match. It's like a typical job environment, except with lots more spandex.

- How soon does an individual wrestler learn what role he or she is going to play at a live event or taping? What levels of control do they have over their scheduled matches/promos, and how much time do they normally have to prepare?

The levels of control have a lot to do with who you are. If you're Undertaker or Shawn Michaels, you have a lot of say over what you do. If you're Cody Rhodes, Santino Marella or another younger wrestler, you have pretty much no say at all. I don't know for sure how far in advance wrestlers learn what they're going to do…it can vary wildly depending on what the situation is with the creative team and events outside their control.

- I remember watching a match back in the late 90s or early 2000 in which the ring ropes broke. I believe it was on RAW. The wrestlers continued the match, and by the time it was over the ring was literally in shambles. I don't think it was planned, given that one of the ropes gave way during an Irish whip-type move and one of the wrestlers almost fell out of the ring as a result. Do you know anything about this and what the story was?

I vaguely remember something like this happening on Raw during that time period, but don't remember exactly who was involved. I think the Acolytes may have been. Readers?

Most of my experience with the ring breaking comes from the NWF flea market shows I went to a couple of years ago. Those pesky ropes seemed like they never wanted to stay on.

- Last question (for now!): when the RAW crew came back from South Africa a few weeks ago, I noticed Jeff Hardy had a nasty-looking cut on his forehead that was healing up. Did he actually blade at a house show? Why would a wrestler expend that sort of effort for a match that isn't even going to be televised? – Jennifer

Jeff Hardy is a rare breed…I wouldn't be surprised if he bladed for a house show match, or got busted open by somebody. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he bladed himself just for shits and giggles. He's freaking crazy. I should probably throw in some comment about how some wrestlers will give it their all whether their match is televised or not, but it's more fun to call Hardy crazy.

TheMidnightPunk has a bunch of questions about Edge & Lita…

do edge and christian still keep in touch? i read somewhere that they had a hugh fight and were no long best friends. is that true?

I believe that Edge & Christian are still friends…whether they're best friends or not, you'd have to ask them.

do u think WWE will ever sell the Rated R shirts that wear different colors than the black one that edge wore? lita wore when she started wrestling again after she tore her ACL

I don't think they will. They usually don't do different colors of the same shirt except for rare occasions, like the Eddie Guerrero tribute t-shirt.

what are the chances of WWE putting out a Best Of Edge and Lita DVD now that Lita is gone?

I think the period of time Edge & Lita were together on-screen will be an integral part of the Edge DVD that will likely come out sometime before his retirement. I don't see them getting their own best of DVD as you suggest here.

what are the chances of lita coming back to the WWE? if she does when do u think it will happen? i really miss having her on my tv every Monday night and i really wish she'd come back. she wasn't a Barbie Doll look alike like the other divas are. she had something else to bring to the table, and i miss her. – TheMidnightPunk

I don't see it happening, to be honest. I think Amy Dumas got all that she wanted out of the wrestling business, and is now ready to move on to other things that interest her, such as her music career. If she does come back, it won't be anytime soon.

Joshua asks about different animals in wrestling…

I was on WWE 24\7 Online and saw the Brooklyn Brawler's debut match and he was manage by Bobby Heenan. And the Brawler won the match. So what happened? How did he go from being managed by one of the greatest ever and seemingly getting a push to becoming the most famous jobber in WWE history?The angle started when the Red Rooster left Bobby Heenan's stable and claimed that Heenan's management had held him back. Heenan claimed that he made the Rooster a star, and he could do the same thing with any other bum in the company. So…he found the Brooklyn Brawler. Shockingly, the Brawler/Rooster feud didn't lead to either of them getting over, so Brawler was sent back to his usual role of jobber.Who the hell was the Battle Kat? What a lame gimmick!! What was Vince thinking?? A wrestling Cat?? – JoshuaThe role of Battle Kat was played by Brady Boone, who later became a referee in WCW after wrestling in the GWF & Florida as the Fire Cat. Surely that gimmick had nothing in common with the Battle Kat gimmick conceived for him. He died in 1998. To be honest, I don't see the problem with a wrestling cat. WCW had The Dog. Japan had a Tiger Mask and a Black Tiger. Not to mention all of the other animals running around the WWF at the time…there were bulldogs, snakes, birdmen, weasels, gorillas, roosters, hillbillies and all sorts of weird stuff. Why not a cat?

Iain has two questions…

1) I vaguely remember an episode of Nitro where Dustin Runnels came out with a new gimmick, then immediately trashed it after one of the coolest entrances ever. My question is A) is this the shortest-lived gimmick ever (it lasted the time it took to levitate him down the aisle and into the ring), and B) why on Earth did he trash it the way he did? Was this Dustin being an asshole or was it a planned move by WCW, and if so then why go through all the rigmorall of creating the gimmick and setting up that entrance in the first place? I heard somewhere that someone thought he looked like a child baductor, but this can't be the reason, can it?

It's true; apparently Turner Standards & Practices felt that the "Seven" gimmick could be misinterpreted as a child molester. I didn't see the promos for it so I can't really comment on how or why they might have thought that. Dustin ditching the gimmick on television was considered the best way to get rid of it. And yes, it most likely is the shortest-lived gimmick of all time.

2) Now, I may have been on drugs or watching CHIKARA when I saw this (what's the difference?), but did TNA recently have a damn kangaroo as their mascot? If so, again, the obvious question is WHY??? And also, what happened to, erm, him? – Iain

Yeah…Stomper the kangaroo made a couple of appearances in the Impact Zone the month before Slammiversary. My guess is that somebody got really high one night and thought it'd be a good idea. He became friends with Eric Young and disappeared soon afterwards. Such a shame.

What is the highest TV rating a wrestling show has ever gotten? And just to compare, what is the highest TV rating ever achieved (wrestling or not)? – JaimeThe Main Event, held on February 5, 1988, drew a 15.2 rating on NBC, which was equivalent to 33 million viewers. Randy Savage took on the Honky Tonk Man, Strike Force faced the Hart Foundation…and oh yeah, there was a WrestleMania III re-match between Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant. It was a pretty big deal, and nothing has come close to it as far as ratings go ever since. The highest rated show of all time (in the U.S.) was the final episode of M*A*S*H, which got a 60.2 rating and a share of 77, with approximately 105.9 million viewers. Those are absolutely insane numbers.

I've been reading 411wrestling since the late 90s, you guys are great. Anywho, I got a quick question, I was looking through youtube for some shoot interviews, and found supposed shoot promo of the hot rod getting pretty mad at vince russo in old TNA. Although, I believe that 96 percent of the time, if you see it on tv, it's a work. but he brings up some serious stuff. I didn't watch TNA before they got a deal w/ spike, but my question is what was going on in terms of the storyline and kayfabe at this time in TNA?

Russo was leading Sports Entertainment Xtreme, the leading group of bad guys trying to remake pro wrestling in Russo's image. Piper was promoting his book and agreed to make an appearance in TNA. He made a few appearances afterwards, but it didn't really go anywhere. As for whether the segment was a shoot…Piper probably felt what he was saying, but Russo already knew what he was going to be saying. That's the thing about wrestling, you can hate each other legitimately and get those feeling out there…but somehow you can separate what's personal and what's business. In short, the segment was one of those classic Vinnie Ru "worked shoots".

Kayfabe & TNA weren't really on good terms at this point.

Sorry, follow up question to that last one. What did you guys think of pre-spike TNA? Was it any good? I mean, i flip through youtube, and see a lot of random stuff happening in TNA back when they had a square ring, from Paul Bearer to Teddy hart to a really LOOSE looking tony schiavone, lol. – paatgaan

TNA had some interesting stuff going on back in the day, for sure. Some of it was pretty damn good, but some of it was really, really bad. I wish they had done more with Evil Schiavone. A lot of people thought TNA would go out of business long before now…for every great AJ Styles match or Ultimate X gimmick, there was a midget beating off in a garbage can. Strange times. Somehow they made it, and we're all better off for it. Well, I'm better off because I got my gig here by doing an Impact recap.

wait - arent all matches supposed to start and end with a handshake? or did they finally get rid of that and go for a little more entertainment with their wrestling?

The Code of Honor stopped being mandatory after Rob Feinstein left the promotion. Shaking hands before and after matches is still a part of ROH, and a lot of the wrestlers there still do it, but you don't see it nearly as much as you used to.

Who was the mexican wrestler that would come to the ring dressed like Spawn, and when he took his robe (and outer mask) off, he would have devil horns, and his body would be painted red, with muscle definition painted in? And whatever happened to him?

I know I asked about him before, and why his look and music didnt get the company sued, but I did a google for that question on Ask 411 and couldnt find it. – Manu Bumb

I really do not know. Hopefully I have some readers who know enough about lucha to tell me. I have a hard enough time figuring out who the guys on AAA are that I haven't seen in America.

Well, that's all we have time for this week. Send any feedback, corrections or porn to [e-mail]. Until next time…have a nice day!