Ask 411 Wrestling 12.19.07: MulkeyMania, Vertebreaker, Tweeners and More!

Posted by Steve Cook on 12.19.2007

Almost 9,000 words of material! I didn't have that many words in my thesis!



It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, and I hope you're having a better week than I'm having. Last weekend was downright miserable…Louisville lost, the Bengals lost, and my fantasy football team got blown out of the semi-finals thanks to Tom Brady choosing Week 15 to quit being awesome. It's been a rough year all around, and I can't wait for 2008.

Programming Note: Ask 411 Wrestling will be posted during the next two holiday weeks, but the columns will not be as large as they normally are. I'll probably answer half as many questions as usual because it's the holidays and I'll be pretty busy. Not as busy as people that actually have friends or a social life, but there are still places I'm forced to be around this time of year.

Read my TaleSpin review & Raw Ramblings. I'd link Csonka but he gets many more hits than I do. And don't forget to check the comments section…last week we got an interesting story from Beth about everybody's favorite snake. You never know what you'll find down there!

Comments, Corrections & Other "C" Words

Just wanted to say that I've met a few wrestlers but none of them stand out as much as the time I met up with Rowdy Roddy Piper. I met piper at E3 (Game Expoin L.A.) back in 2004 as he was there promoting a Legends of Wrestling title. I walked up to him when it was my turn and he greeted me with a big smile and a handshake. I asked him a few questions to which he replied to them and afterwards I asked if I could take a picture. He was more than happy to take one with me and even brought in a few of the booth babes to join us for the pic...which I still have.

He was one of the nicest guys I've ever met and I won't forget him for it. – 411's Ramon Arnada

I hadn't read the column where you requested these
stories (my bad) but I did read some of the stories
and decided I'd forward on a couple of my experiences.
The first was years and years ago when I was in the
Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City and I saw
Chief Jay Strongbow. In back of him were Stan Stasiuk
and Mr. Fuji. My first thought was "Run Strongbow,
they're going to get you!!" but then I realized that
they were traveling together. Broke the wall for a
little boy right there. Recently I was traveling out
of Philadelphia the day after a Raw was done there and
in the airport early the next morning I first saw
Vito, of all people, in his dress. My wife and
daughter were hysterical but I explained that he was
doing that to stay in character. We then saw Batista,
John Cena and a number of others and they mostly ended
up at the same gate that we were although they got on
an earlier plane to Florida while we headed to
Arizona. Took the flight to Arizona and go to get our
rental car and get in the van and there is a beefy
gentlemen sitting in the front of the van with a
Vancouver Canucks hat on. Being the hockey fan I am,
I asked him if he was a Canucks fan and my wife and I
started a pleasant conversation with him. We got to
the car rental place and he got off and I turned to my
wife and said how I thought that the guy looked a bit
like Elvis. The bus driver overheard my comment and
told us that it was the Honky Tonk Man....wild
traveling day....oh yeah and there was the time that I
saw Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Ray Mysterio and a couple
of others at a local Philly Gentlemen's Club... – Charlie from New Jersey

Wouldn't you hate to be a cross-dresser on TV and have to live the gimmick off TV? Well, maybe some of you would like it. I don't know.

Hey Steve, I heard you were looking for stories about fan encounters with wrestlers. I think I'm a little lucky in this respect, because I get to talk with one every week.

Shane "Hurricane" Helms is a regular in my comic shop. He's been coming to our place long before he worked for the WWE, maybe even way back when he was running with Matt Hardy's OMEGA, I think. Because of his busy schedule, though, I hadn't actually met him until about a year after I started. When I finally did meet and talked with him, he was just your average nice North Carolina guy off the street (with green hair). He's one of the "good ol' boys." Whenever the boss is around, they chit-chat for a few minutes about the business, where Shane's headed next, what he did on TV one night, and generally catch up. Shane always has time to talk with us.

Since his neck injury, he's been coming by the shop more frequently, usually with Talia in tow. She's barely spoken anything to me, but she seems nice, especially since she took care of him when there were certain things he couldn't do with a neckbrace. And this just in: She is SMOKING hot. Well done, Shane my friend, well done.

I don't ask him much about the business, because I suspect he talks about it often enough everywhere else. It's nice to talk about something other than your job sometimes, right? Especially when that job includes a certain level of celebrity. What he has told me about his experiences are mostly snippets of backstage stories. He's mentioned a couple of times that Geoff Johns (a pretty famous and respected guy in comics today) helped him design his Hurricane suit, and they remain good friends. Vince McMahon was with him when he recorded the "Stand BACK, there's a HURRICANE comin' through!" line in his entrance music, and was coaching him in the finer points of speaking with authority and over-the-top boldness. From his description, I imagined Vince striking a superhero pose, puffing out his chest and all, telling Shane to huff and puff like the big bad wolf. That got me laughing. And for anyone who doesn't keep up with his MySpace blog, he's expecting to return well after Wrestlemania, becuase his surgury was not a quick fix like some other guys in the Broken Neck Club. Steve Austin in particular was great to him; he told Shane what to expect from the surgery, what to do during recovery, and checked in on him several times after the fact. Austin did the same for Lita, too.

Usually we'll talk about the stuff we've been reading. He's been a big fan of Black Adam for a while, and though he had reservations about what the 52 series did to the character, he loves what's going on in the current Black Adam title. A couple of weeks ago, he talked me into reading The Boys. I mentioned I would pick up the trade paperback when I could. He told me that some comic companies had sent him some free swag while he was recovering in the hospital (since he's well known as a comic fan), and he'd gotten an extra copy. In a very kind gesture, he offered to give it to me next time he came in. That made my day right there.

My talks with Shane make me appreciate the wrestling business and the wrestlers themselves more than I could have as just a fan. And that's pretty damn cool. – Greg from Raleigh

Helms seems like good people, and he certainly is doing well for himself in the romance department.

Longtime reader and 1st time writer from Ireland. Have to say love the column, it's something that I look forward to every week and you have a great depth of knowledge and a good sense of humour in your answers. On the subjects of which wrestlers are dicks and which are cool, about 6 years ago the now defunct WWA went on a tour of the UK and Ireland on the opening night me, my dad, my brothers and my friend Chris were lucky enough to have front row seats. The action was fine, and I thought everyone put in good performances on the night. It was quite funny as we started an 'ASSHOLE' chant at Buff Bagwell in his match with Stevie Ray and wouldn't let up, even turning Stevie face. After the show we headed over to the Hilton Hotel were the guys were staying (we learned this from hearing Konnan on live commentary) and hit the bar waiting for the wrestlers to come down. The first guy we ran into was in fact Konnan at reception, I went up to him straight away and said something along the lines of, "Hey Konnan, just wanted to say hello and thanks for the show tonight it was great." He just sort of looked at me and mumbled something and walked off at that point I thought great this is gonna suck. Me and Chris and 2 other guys we met at the show ordered a few beers in the bar and sat down. About 30 minutes later most of the wrestlers started coming down. The first guy I spoke to was Lodi of Lenny and Lodi fame who was just a great decent guy, completely down to earth. Road Dogg came in next being very loud and cool and just pretty much gasping for a beer. Jeff Jarrett and Disco Inferno came in next and really could not have been more ignorant, Disco especially, I know he's a heel but this guy was just a prick who just wouldn't even acknowledge the fans around him. At this point Bret Hart was out in the foyer of the hotel talking to about 40 fans for roughly half an hour and I had sorta gave up on meeting him. I was really disappointed as he's been my hero for years along with Sting. He eventually came in to the bar and sat down at the bar beside Stevie Ray. Egged on by Chris, I sent them down 2 beers. Once they got them from the barman they called us over, from this point it was the coolest moment of my life as we proceeded to drink to 3am that morning with the Hitman. (Stevie went to bed early but was very talky and polite). We talked about all aspects of wrestling with Bret including the 97 screwjob and just with the sincerity that he spoke I cannot believe that it is a work. He gave his honest thoughts on people he did'nt like(Flair, Michaels, Goldberg, Hall), his favourite matches he had, Owens death and so much more. He was the coolest man, just so down to earth, when the bar closed he put our drinks on his residents tab so we could stay up drinking and chatting with him. I will say this as an Irish man as well, the Hitman can handle his booze. Just to let the guy who emailed in saying that Bret was a bit off with him at the Pearl Jam concert, he must have met him on a bad day cause I have never met a more decent human being. – Kevin

I met Bret Hart in St. Louis this past August, and he was a great guy. He's been my favorite wrestler since I started watching Raw in 1993, so I didn't have any problem driving from Mississippi to Missouri to meet him. He seemed to appreciate everyone coming to see him, and took a lot of time talking with and taking pictures with fans. Great experience, I hope the guy that met him at a Pearl Jam concert gets an opportunity to meet him like this. He really is a class act. I even wrote an essay detailing the trip for a writing class, and it was pretty good too.

The most badass experience I had, though, was at the TNA Lockdown Fan Fest (also in St. Louis). I was fortunate enough to know the editor of the university's newspaper, and TNA was running a house show in north Mississippi. They needed a story to try and gain some publicity in the area, so I got to interview Dixie Carter and write an article about TNA. She is an alumni of the University of Mississippi, so we got along great. She ended up sending me Lockdown tickets and I got in the Fan Fest for free. I got to meet Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, Christian Cage, all the X Division guys, really too many people to name. Christian Cage was cool as hell, and joked around with my brother and me for a while. I was wanting to meet AJ Styles the most, and got an autographed picture with him. Dixie Carter was definitely one of the nicest and most down to earth people there. I really don't think she gets enough credit for how much effort she puts in to meeting the fans and taking time out to talk to them. She was wandering around all afternoon talking to everyone in the room, and did the same the next night at the pay per view. This was definitely my best experience at a wrestling show. - Ben

I've had experiences in the past with Val Venis and Eric Bischoff in the past.

When I was working at a Wal-Mart by the local arena Val Venis came in shopping the night before Raw. He was walking down the aisles with his chest puffed out and his arms hanging down real stiff. I knew his real name was Morley (but I couldnt remember his first) and I walked by and called him and he completely ignored me and kept walking. He didnt even have any merchandise and wasnt looking at anything. He was just walking and looking tough. I believe he was still face at this point too, or at least was jobbing to heels on Heat anyways.

When I met Eric Bischoff he was doing an autograph signing at the arena the morning tickets for a WWE show went on sale. He was really nice and made small talk with everyone, he didnt just sign autograph's and snub people. I asked him about the the Invasion and NWO failing in WWE and we agreed it might have worked better if they involved him in the story lines.

My friend once saw Jericho, Ric Flair and I think 3 other wrestlers who I cant remember working out at his 24hour Fitness the day before a Raw. He was too intimidated to say anything to them though. But for anyone reading you might have some luck running into somebody at a local gym the day before an event comes to your town. - Jaime

This is as close as I've ever got to a wrestler, much less anyone who's a big name in anything. Living up in Maine, not many people are around, and when they are, they're usually in the southern part of the state. Kinda sucks, but what can ya do?

Anyway, back about five-ish years ago, I went to a house show in Bangor with my dad. During intermission, I was curious to see if I could find where the wrestlers were backstage. Not to barge in for autographs, but to just see if I could see any. Sure enough, me and a couple of people were at the door and saw Albert pacing about! I didn't dare knock on the door, but one of the other people did and we waved. He did acknowledge us.

Then some douche of a security guard came over and gave us a blank, slow nod.

However, I can say that I did trade e-mails for a little while with Big Sal E. Graziano of ECW fame. I got hold of his e-mail address one day and we talked a bit. He was a really cool guy, I sure hope he's doing alright.

Someday though, I would like to get to meet a wrestler in person. What would you recommend in etiquitte when going up to talk to them?

Thanks, man! Keep up the good articles! – Rick L.

Act polite. Let them know that you appreciate their work, but try not to be too goofy about it. Call them by their wrestling name, not their real name that you saw on the Internet. Don't ask too much of them and try not to take up too much of their time unless it goes well. If it's a girl, don't use a lame pick-up line. They've heard them all.

"Nobody has asked who "He Who Shall Not Be Named" is…I think that one's pretty easy to figure out."

good to know you have intelligent readers. i seriously did expect at least 5 people to email asking.

I wonder if anyone confused "he who shall not be named" Benoit with "the man with no name" Brutus Beefcake?

btw - ultimo dragon still kicks ass. he was on the CMLL show last weekend, and was pretty awesome.

re: trump and the WM dvd - i read (on 411 i believe) that trump agreed to do WM, but didnt want his face used to advertise the dvd. – Manu Bumb

Love Ask 411Wrestling, Sara Del Rey rules, all that good stuff.
Anyway, I'm writing because it's funny that you should have a question about the origin of the term "Nature Boy" as I just found this out a week or two ago. Supposedly, "Nature Boy" was a bit of a derogatory term for clean-cut, bleach-blonde, muscle-bound guys back in the day; the guys who liked to "look good" for no one in particular, other than perhaps themselves. It may have inferred that these indivudals were, perhaps, light-in-the-loafers fruity booties, but I think it's more of a sophisticated foppish deal, since we all know Ric Flair -- the most famous "Nature Boy" of all -- certainly doesn't fall into the former camp.
I hope this clears up a bit of that; if you find anything that disagrees with this, don't hesitate to overrule my blathering. – 411's Will Helm

Helm's definition matches the wrestling definition of "Nature Boy" better than mine did. Dang English language and its words having more than one meaning.

In response to the question about how the 500th WWE magazine is the 500th.They're including the SmackDown Magazines that also came out once a month. – Seth

Questions!

Who were the members of "Lawler's Army"? The wrestling faction, not the softball team. I think David Schultz was a member because I seem to remember him singing: "Buddy Diamond is a member of Lawler's Aaaarmy" while the Lawler was shaving the head of the aforementioned jobber. That was a long damn time ago, maybe 1975. I've looked at some of the Memphis wrestling sites, but can't find what I'm looking for. – Joe

According to the King's book, Lawler's Army was basically him aligning himself with all of the other heels because they were having problems getting heat. It happened in the mid-70s, but the only people I could find record of being in this group were David Schultz & Private Diamond. In 2005, Lawler formed a new Army in the Memphis Wrestling promotion with Jimmy Hart & Reggie B. Fine.

I was going through old tapes of the NWA and came across a match I almost had forgotten. It was the Mulkey Brothers, tag team jobbers to the stars, versus the Gladiators. The Mulkeys won and I think went onto the Crockett Cup tournament.
What happened to Mulkey-Mania? – Ross Ferraro

Mulkey-Mania died out pretty quickly after their victory over the Gladiators…once they got to the Crockett Cup they got beat by the immortal team of Todd Champion & Denny Royal. They were spotted on a CCW show in 2006, where they were interviewed by Bill Apter. Randy said that Mulkey-Mania would return in 2006, but then the Gladiators attacked them. In August 2007, the Mulkeys appeared on an NWA Legends show, defeating George South Senior & Junior. So as far as I know, the Mulkey Brothers won two matches in their career.

Mike Knox used to be on ECW all the time back when Paul Heyman and Test were around. The last time I remember seeing him is once when he randomly faced CM Punk (in what I thought was a badass match ^_^). I was wondering, do you know what ever happened to him. Also, I read on this site a while back that Dave Taylor and Paul Burchill started dressing in matching tag outfits and were working dark matches. What happened to Burchill? – Whoblehwah3

I haven't seen or heard anything about Mike Knox lately, which seems kind of peculiar. I would speculate that he failed a Wellness test, but they're supposedly making those things public these days and I'd hate to be accused of libel.

Burchill is still in OVW. I don't know why his team with Taylor fell apart…maybe the chemistry just wasn't there. Just because two guys are British doesn't mean they have to be a tag team.

Hey, There's something that I have been unable to find an answer for and I was wondering if you can help. Back in late 1997 I remember watching RAW and there was a segment w/ Vince McMahon, the NWA Board of Directors and Jeff Jarrett. In that segment the they decided that Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham would face each other for the vacant NWA North American Heavyweight Title. Soon after that, in February of 1998, The Headbangers defeated the Rock n Roll Express for the NWA World Tag Team Titles, and then dropped belts to the ill fated "New"Midnight Express tag team of Bob Holly and Bart Gunn in March of that same year. What was up with that working agreement and why where those two NWA titles defended on WW[F]E television for almost a year? - Ty Hayes

Jim Cornette has stated in shoot interviews that the whole NWA thing was a rib on him by Vince Russo. The arrangement didn't last as long as your question indicates…Jarrett's stint as North American champion barely lasted a month, as he left the NWA faction on March 2 and went back to his old "Double J" persona. The NWA declared the North American title vacant. The tag team titles disappeared after the Brawl 4 All tournament, when Bart Gunn & Bob Holly mercifully split up their team after a match against each other. By August, the NWA had reclaimed their titles and awarded them to non-WWF wrestlers. Basically, it was an attempt to run an invasion storyline much like the New World Order in WCW that was doomed from the beginning because the NWA was really weak and made to look bad time and time again on television. Not everything in 1998 was great.

Eddie C. has two questions…

1. Who do you think is/was the best all around Masked Tag Team and Masked Singles Star ?

There have been a lot of great masked competitors, but I believe that Jushin "Thunder" Liger is the best all-around masked wrestler that has ever graced the squared circle. As for masked tag teams, I think I'd have to go with the Grapplers. Len Denton & Tony Anthony formed a very solid tag team unit, and if you didn't look at their stomachs too hard you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Honorable mention goes to Villanos IV & V, who were one of my favorite tag teams of mid 90s WCW.

2. What do you think was the best "Angle" to turn a Face to Heel and a Heel to Face?

The greatest double turn ever took place at WrestleMania 13 in the Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin match. You had Hart, the beloved and respected veteran of the WWF that had seemed a little bitter since returning in November 1996 after a lengthy absence, during which Austin, a ruthless individual who didn't care who he hurt, had gained quite a bit of popularity despite his heel status. The finish of the match was perfect…Austin passed out while in Hart's Sharpshooter, showing his never-say-die attitude that had gained him the respect of the fans. Hart was still unhappy, attacking Austin after the match and getting jeered by the crowd for it. I don't think the double turn could be executed any better than it was on that night.

David brings us two questions all the way from Costa Rica…

1. I've read that the only reason Mick Foley was given the belt @ SummerSlam 99 was so he could transition the title from Austin to HHH. Apparently, Austin didn't want to put Triple H. Is there any truth on this? Was Austin worried his character would be weaken by losing the top heel?

Austin thought Triple H wasn't quite ready yet and they could do better business together somewhere down the road. I would have agreed with Austin on that point at the time, the Triple H push didn't really take until his series with Cactus Jack in early 2000. That combined with H's tendency to put on good matches throughout 2000 & early 2001 put the Game on the map as a main event star.

2. Now, assuming Austin was unwilling to job to Triple H that time, may be that would explain why the Undisputed Title was put on Jericho instead of Austin @ Vengeance 2001. Do you think Austin once again vetoed any plans for a title match against HHH @ WrestleMania X8 simply because he had to do the job?

Not that I have anything against Jericho because I always it was great that he was given at least one run with the title (or in that case, titles) but I also believe that an Austin/HHH showdown @ the Skydome would've generated more cash than HHH vs Y2J (let's face it, no one actually thought Jericho stood a chance).

Your thoughts on this?

No, by this point Triple H had established himself and Austin had worked with him on several occasions. They wanted H to go into WM as the babyface challenger, and Austin as a heel wasn't going to work well against that. The babyface vs. babyface main event had already been done with Austin vs. Rock at the previous WM, so it was too soon to go back to that. Rock vs. Hogan was going to be the money match for WM X8 anyway.

I have a question about Gregory Helms. During the dying last months of WCW, he was solo and the Cruiserweight Champion, I remember him having this elaborate entrance theme with backup dancers, and a theme song that I am sure yelled "Vertebreaker" after his finisher. Do you have any idea who this song was by and what the actual name of the song was? – Joel

"Vertebreaker" was written by Helms himself and performed by Boys With The Bass. Here are the lyrics:

Now I am the original k-i-d
Started back in '91 in the state of N.C.
Came up hard with dues I paid
Now Helms invades with a funky tirade
Try-to-bes take notice, Sugar Shane has arrived
To 'plex all opponents right up their backside
Aim high like the sky with the skills to imply
Helms will survive while them other fools die

Chorus:
VerteBreaker (Will break your spine)
VerteBreaker (Does the trick everytime)

So don't go to sleep, cause Sugar Shane creeps
To hit you with the Nightmare on Helms Street
Solo at last, the hit that won't miss
Planting the Sugar Smack right on your lips
All-out pops, non-top to you drop
Make you say pretty please with Sugar on top

WCW Magazine was pretty good stuff back in the day. My favorite issue was the one that had an interview with Eric Bischoff talking about his plans for the new WCW in 2001. Good times.

Clyde has three questions…

1) Is there any legitimate heat between Piper and Snuka for the "Coconut Incident" on Piper's Pit?

No.

2) What really led up to Jimmy being on Piper's Pit? Was there any "heat" between the two before that confrontation? How did the feud "blow off"?

Well, Snuka had appeared on previous Piper's Pit episodes and not gotten much time to speak…that was the extent of the heat between them until the coconut thing. Snuka chased Piper across the country but usually had to settle for Bob Orton Jr. because Piper had a case of the limbertail. The feud ended when Snuka left the WWF in August 1985 and went to rehab.

3) In the past, why did announcers announcing wrestlers last names twice? You know what I mean, like Howard Finkel would say "Bob Backland...Backland" (Kind of like our Mr. Kennedy...Kennedy) I understand that the "real" reason is so people would understand their names--but why do it and then drop it in the first place? - Clyde

It was an old school kind of thing, baseball P.A. announcers used to do it all the time. Some still do, but the majority of them don't. As for why wrestling announcers stopped doing it…why would you want to say Red Rooster's name more than once? I don't think there's a really good answer to this other than "that's what other announcers did".

Patrick has four questions…

1. I remember back when Raw was taped every other week, I read once that the main event was messed up so bad they had to re-tape it with all the wrestlers and crew members etc filling out one part of the arena. When and who was this, and how bad was the screw up that they had to do that? Also, was it noticeable that the crowd wasn't your normal Raw crowd? Eg did they have signs and act rabid and stuff?

I don't remember this happening. Readers?

2. My girlfriend is really into wrestling now because of me, and I teach her "vocabulary" on the business. One however that she doesn't seem to get is tweener. For example, she thinks Austin was a tweener during his heyday, but I always tell her no. Stunning everyone heel or face doesn't really make you a tweener. Or does it? I always say he just blurred the lines a bit. Maybe she knows more than me. Anyway, I was trying to think of a wrestler in WWE or TNA today that's a tweener, and Tomko was kind of the closest that I could think of. Samoa Joe was for a lil while, but she wasn't watching then to know the character. MVP, but you can tell he's a heel still. Anyway, could you think of any tweeners today so she could really understand the term?

I would consider Austin a tweener. He was the most popular guy in wrestling, but he always had those heel tendencies…since he used them on Mr. McMahon and other bad guys we cheered him for it. There were so many tweeners in the mid to late 90s that you needed a scorecard to keep up with them. The most prominent tweener I can think of in today's wrestling landscape is Triple H. Sure, he teams with Jeff Hardy and respects him, but you know that Hardy will receive a sledgehammer shot sooner or later. I'd also consider Batista a tweener character due to his feuding with Edge & Undertaker. As for TNA, Christian Cage has become a tweener in the last couple of weeks, as he's feuding with Kurt Angle and admits that he's a pain in the butt.

3. In this day and age of DVR, internet etc, why did WWE think they could've kept Jericho's return a secret. Those save_us videos had so many Jericho references in them. It might as well have said Chris Jericho is coming back. And even if someone had any doubt, Stephanie being pissed that his return was leaked pretty much cemented it.

I don't know…there were still some people out there who weren't sure. As P.T. Barnum once said, there's a sucker born every minute.

4. I remember back in ECW I think it was Jerry Lynn hit RVD (but I'm not sure) with a chair, and it was the weakest chairshot ever, to the point that Lynn was heavily criticized for it. Where can I see this weak chairshot?

It was Lance Storm who hit RVD with the lamest chair shot of all time. It was sooooo bad. You can see it on the Barely Legal 1997 show or on RVD's One of a Kind DVD.

Why/when did the IWC start using the term "X-Pac heat" to refer to someone who isn't over? I've been watching him since his days as the 1-2-3 Kid, to his WCW stint as Syxx, to finally X-Pac, and he always seemed to be over with me. Was there a specific incident/match that made people turn against him? Or is this simply another case of the IWC liking someone, then turning on them later for whatever lame reason? – JLAJRC

The "X-Pac heat" term gained popularity in 2000-2001, when people online grew bored with X-Pac's act. He had become really lazy in the ring, and compared to guys he was being put over (Chris Jericho mainly), he just wasn't all that good. There was a long period of time where it seemed like X-Pac never lost, which made him even less popular. People just weren't interested in seeing him, and it showed during his later years in the WWF.

any word on the balls/kelly storyline? i was looking foward too see how this one played out, but looks as if its been dropped. any idea? thanks. -tim s.

Balls & Kelly are still an item, but they seem to be playing it on the down-low and not getting as involved in each other's business. I know this mainly because the announcers still refer to them as a couple.

Red Ripper has four questions…

1. When did Triple H start doing his whole water spitting thing? I'm guessing it's around the time that he joined the corporation and was starting to be pushed in the main event scene.

I remember him spitting the water when doing the crotch chop occasionally when he was the leader of DX in 1998. I don't think it became the main part of his entrance until his heel run with the Corporation in 1999.

2. When Triple H was wearing bike shorts for tights once I heard a few different reasons. One was that he had two knee braces on and wanted to hide them, and another is that due to a groin injury he was losing muscle in his thighs since he couldn't do some of his workout routine and he wanted to hide the muscle loss. Which of these is true, or is there another reason entirely?

He was recovering from a groin injury suffered in a match with Goldberg in July 2003. I'm not sure if it was purely because of his look or that his traditional short tights wouldn't have been good for his groin muscle. Fortunately I've never injured my groin.

3. Is there a reason why Triple H was wearing goofy tights during 2004? Some were purple, or black with white boots, and really weird mis-matched colors that he doesn't even use anymore.

I thought he was doing an ode to his manager Ric Flair, who's worn many different color combinations throughout his career. Considering that Triple H always wore suits during this phase of his career, you can pretty much say that he was trying to be the new Nature Boy.

4. I've seen the Jakked or Metal shows with AJ Styles and Brian Danielson and people always say that the WWE missed out on a huge opportunity by not signing these guys. But, in the case of Danielson, that's wrong in my opinion. Danielson would never have gotten as good as he did on the indy scene if he was stuck in the WWE, and he's not exactly a big guy so Vince wouldn't exactly want to push him to the moon. He doesn't even get why people cheer CM Punk so I doubt he'd be in favor of Danielson being champion of any show.

I think things worked out for the best there. Maybe not in Danielson's pocketbook, but he has attained a great deal of success on the indy circuit and he seems to be happy there. He does not have the look that WWE likes in its main eventers. However, to speculate on how Danielson would have done there seems like a pointless endeavor to me. He could have adapted his game to the WWE style and become one of their top competitors. You never know.

Conor O'Boyle has two questions…

During Hogan first title, did Hogan ever job?Even in Tag Team matches?I think the only way his heels got heat was by beating him up after the match.Why did Hogan never drop the belt at least once during that time?I mean isnt that why Bob Backlaud dropped the title after a number years was because the crowd was turning on him?I mean,was Vince not worried the same would happen to Hogan?

Do you count Japan? Do you count count-outs and disqualifications as jobbing? If so, Hogan lost plenty of times in 1984 to guys like Big John Studd, George Steele, Roddy Piper & David Schultz. In 1985 he got disqualified against Paul Orndorff & Jesse Ventura and counted out against Brutus Beefcake, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy, Randy Savage, Terry Funk & Jesse Ventura. In 1986, he was counted out against Kamala & Randy Savage and disqualified against Adrian Adonis & Paul Orndorff. In 1987, Hogan was counted out against Hercules, Kamala, Killer Khan, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Randy Savage & Ted Dibase and disqualified against One Man Gang. In 1988, he was disqualified against Dibase before losing the title to Andre the Giant. Hogan doesn't seem to have gotten pinned during his title reign, but heels did find ways to get some heat on him. He was on the losing end of matches fairly often in Japan, but that didn't matter because American fans didn't see it.

Plus a quick question,did Kurt Angle's group with Luther Regins and Mark Jinjark in 2005 have a name?

They were the second version of Team Angle. Obviously they weren't as successful as the first version.

So I remember a year or so ago WWE was saying Jerry Jarrett came to the WWE headquaters and brought a wrestler with him that he wanted the WWE to look at. What ever happened to that wrestler? Did he ever debut with the WWE? – Joshua

Oleg Prudius is currently active in Ohio Valley Wrestling under the name of Vladimir Kozolov. He made a few WWE appearances in late 2006 & early 2007 talking about how he was looking forward to coming to the Double Double E and how he loved America. I assume that somebody in power decided that Prudius needed more seasoning, so he's been in OVW for most of the year. I don't know when he will be called up, but it'll probably be soon now that he's been mentioned in this column.

That's how they operate, you know.

Michael has two questions…

Hey I was always wondering about Bob Orton's "broken arm" back in 1985. I know the "injury" occured on the same MSG show that featured the Hogan/Piper War To Settle The Score against Jimmy Snuka. My question is was the injury legitamate at first and then just made into a storyline or was it a work all along?

The injury was legitimate at first. Now, Orton will tell you that it healed wrong and he really did need to wear the cast during the rest of his tenure with the WWF, but I'm not sure how much stock to put into that.

I was also wondering about the Memphis Wrestling video library. With WWE now releasing videos of the AWA, ECW and now World Class will they ever start showing stuff from argueably the hottest territory in wrestling years ago? Does Jerry Lawler own that library or does WWE? Or is it owned by someone Lawler use to be partners with in promoting Memphis Wrestling?

WWE does not own the Memphis tapes. I'm not sure who does, my guess is Jerry Jarrett, but Kit Parker Films has used some Memphis footage for their Wrestling Gold series. That's probably the best place to get it. It may be split between Lawler & Jarrett like the promotion was.

Ray "Rock ‘n Roll Warrior" Currie has a lot of questions…

Got a whole slew of questions for you. And the 2nd last one is a DOOZY!

If Vince is the boss and he has the absolute final say for these goofy PPV matches (ie Pizza contest Matt Hardy & Porter) and back stage skits, why does he act soooooo surprised when the dismal ratings come in?

Because Vince thinks things like that will draw ratings. The guy has a strange sense of humor, I think we can all agree on that.

Hornswoggle being forced to drop the CW title because of his status as a McMahon? That is without a doubt, one of, if not THE all-time stupidest reason to be forced to give up a title. "If anything happened to you, Finlay (just recently came back and renewed their relationship) and Mr. McMahon would never forgive me!" Bwa ha ha is that dumb! Stephanie and Shane never had to give up their belts. Although, IIRC, Vince did after he beat Helmsley.

That's pretty high on the list of dumb reasons a title was vacated that didn't involve somebody leaving the promotion. I'm trying to think of a better one…Bichoff & Russo vacating all of the titles on the first Nitro of their writing regime just because they wanted to have "a fresh start" was pretty lame.

Should the WWE and maybe TNA in addition to their "Do Not Try This (At Home)" commercials get the message out there (maybe too late and hypocritical?) that Drugs are Bad! a la Undertaker's old "There's no hope with dope!"

Drug-free messages are always welcomed. I especially liked the "Say no to drugs" poster with Jake Roberts on it back in the day. Those are always good for a chuckle, so I fully support it.

I know that Vince can't be everywhere but aren't he and/or the road agents the ones that see the wrestlers the most? Wouldn't they be able to tell if a wrestler's physique has altered? I wonder what the exscuse was when Scott Steiner appeared all jacked up when he joined the nWo back in the day. IMO, as an example, Scott was strong in the early career w/Rick in NWA and even WWE but he had to have been taking 'roids or whatever to become "Big Poppa Pump" don't you think because a jacked up physique does not happen over night. Is there a strict code of silence between the promoters and the wrestlers esp. those on the top tier (Hogan, Warrior, Savage, now HHH etc.) and like breaking kayfabe, is really really frowned upon if Wrestler A goes to Promoter A and tells him/her that Wrestler B is on the juice?

Being a tattletale is never popular. That being said, I honestly don't know if there's a code of silence between promoters and their top performers or not. It seems plausible, but I can't say for sure that there is. The excuse for Steiner was that nobody gave a crap about steroids at that time.

Just about everyone today remembers the WCW's Shockmaster. I clearly remember that poorly planned entrance on Flair For The Gold. But there was another step in that angle that was dropped like a hot potato. Another masked wrestler by the name of Super Shockmaster came out of nowhere, wrestled a few matches on Pro or whatever the morning weekend show was called back then. I remember that he did a promo claiming that hinted there was either tension or that he idolized Shockmaster. Which ever the case, like I said, it was quickly forgotten and went the way of Blood Runs Cold (3 Groups of 3 Good Ninja Teams battling 3 Groups of 3 Bad Ninja Teams). Right, as lame as Cobra and Pitbull a few years later claiming to be in the same platoon and one betraying the other. Who was this Supershockmaster and what would have been the plan with those 2?

Super Shockmaster was Fred Ottman. You may remember that Ottman was also the original Shockmaster…well, Super Shockmaster was an attempt to make fans forget about the debacle that was the Shockmaster's debut. Super Shockmaster was supposed to be Shockmaster's nephew, who referred to Shockmaster as "Uncle Fred". This went absolutely nowhere and the gimmick died soon afterwards. I don't think Shockmaster vs. Super Shockmaster would have been possible. Well, it may have been possible if you threw some other goof in one of the costumes, but who would have wanted to see it?

Speaking of lame, I would like ask about Tony Schiavone's wimpy response to being bullied by the nWo. They demanded a TV show, a belt, a jet and other outrageous demands and Tony just sat there and said "Well, I suppose we better give them what they want." Geez, what a loser! When and where did this take place? And also, when did that episode of Nitro take place where the nWo went berzerk and scare off everybody and destroy/vandalize the Nitro set and call it the nWo set?

The episode you're referring to happened on December 22, 1997. Sure, Tony's response was wimpy, but he's not an idiot. You think he wanted to get beat up? He wasn't a wrestler, and the proper thing for non-wrestler announcers to do when threated by heels is to back off. Otherwise they make the heels look foolish. Besides, Tony's boss ran the New World Order…he knew where his bread was buttered.

Most importantly, this is an exerpt of what I wrote to JR's blog on Friday, I'm crossing my fingers that he'll respond but I would also like to get your thoughts, concerning one Jack Van Impe and his video/mentioning of Chris Benoit's tragedy supposed to have happened as one of the distinct signs of the rapture/the 2nd coming of Jesus/the coming of the Anti-Christ BS..."JR, have I got something to tell you! You may or may not believe this but it involves this "TV Minister". You may have heard of him, Jack Van Impe...he operates in both US and Canada. This guy is a piece of garbage and has a tendency to overexaggerate his so called interpretations of the bible, you know the usual Jesus is coming predictions. Well, just about a month ago, I was flicking the channels on a Sunday morning waiting for my Wrestling Shows on WWE 24/7 and The Fight Network when I came across JVE's show and he has this video offer of the month and get this...it was about 13 Prophecies that were coming true about this so-called Anti-Christ that was going to take over the world by rising up from a war, controlling people with discs in their wrists, the usual bla bla bla BS, one could expect but this is the real kicker, JR, and what got me really really angry. He dared to show footage of Chris Benoit in his video offer and claimed that the tragedy was one of the forseeable steps to the coming of the Anti-Christ...read that again! The Chris Benoit Tragedy was one of the signs that the Anti-Christ was coming and it was supposed to happen! That makes me beyond sick to my stomach and I would like to get your thoughts on that. I know he's got the right of free speech but to that extent? Free speech does not give anyone the right to spread lies about someone else's tragedy...am I right?"

Never trust a televangelist. They'll say anything to get money out of people that don't know any better and think that God speaks to them through Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell or Jack Van Impe. They have every right to do this because they pay for their television time or their network that they air their programming on. According to Brandenburg v. Ohio, the government can only restrict free speech if it is likely to incite imminent lawless action. There are examples of hate speech and defamation that can cross the barrier because they could threaten the peace, but I don't think a televangelist making a claim that there was a prophecy that those murders would take place crosses the line. Of course, I don't take Van Impe or his colleagues seriously, so nothing they say bothers me.

Speaking of JR, now that the 10 year anniversary of the Montreal Screw Job has come and gone, I am reminded of a rather disturbing response he made. Before he interviewed Vince the next night, he agreed that Bret was the victim BUT when Vince said that "Vince didn't screw Bret, Bret screwed Bret", he quickly changed his opinion and flip-flopped saying "Oh, Vince is right! Yada yada yada" Why did he do this? Was this a work, a shoot, kayfabe? Was he soon going to be a heel briefly again? Your thoughts?

JR suddenly remembered whose signature was on his paycheck. I don't blame him. They have to get the company line over, and if your play by play announcer isn't saying the company line, that doesn't help.

was watching the Pick Your Poison Jake Roberts DVD on the weekend, going through the matches and the promos on disc 2. There is a really strange edition of the Snake Pit with the Hulkster that I am not sure I understand. It basically goes like this;

- Hogan comes out and they talk back and forth. Awkward stuff actually as neither man seems particularly on their game this day
- Hogan says something I don't understand like "When are you gonna get an appearance to strike? " or something nonsensical
- then Hogan quickly looks left, some really bizarre music starts playing and he just leaves the set
- Jake throws a fit and looks genuinely pissed off
- fade to black

So my question is "huh?" What the hell just happened? It looks like a botched Snake Pit to me, but if that's the case, why the hell is this on a DVD? I've been to TV tapings before where if they screw up an interview, they just do it over (which looks real lame to the live audience BTW). I am thinking if they did this over, they'd have shown the better take here. Or am I just missing something? Check out the clip and hopefully you'll see what I mean. – Isaac

I have the DVD and have viewed the clip on multiple occasions. Honestly, I think it's just an excuse to put Hulk Hogan's name on the chapter listing and maybe draw some interest from people that don't remember Hogan & Roberts crossing paths. They talk on the DVD about how the Hogan/Roberts angle was aborted because they were afraid that Roberts would take some of Hogan's face heat. Maybe the second version wasn't something WWE wanted to put on DVD.

Long time reader, but first time I have emailed a question. I vaguely remember an episode of Nitro years ago where the entire first hour was dedicated to developing an angle. It was like a soap opera with different locations and no matches or references to the area or show that night. I remember Kevin Nash being involved, and I think it involved David Flair and one of the first appearances of Torrie Wilson. While many people talk about what a rip off the finger poke of doom was, or all the crap Russo pulled, I remember this as the moment I began to hate WCW. Could you refresh my memory about the angle and the purpose it was supposed to serve? – J.R.

Basically, the New World Order was using Torrie Wilson to get to David Flair and have him stab his father in the back. I think the show you're referring to is the March 8, 1999 edition of Nitro, which featured no wrestling until the second hour and a lot of…well…crap in the first hour. At least you got to look at Torrie, right?

Hi steve great column. Quick question. On tagged classic dvds how bad is the blurring out of WWF logo's. Someone told me that the early stuff is fine but the attitude stuff from 1998 onwards is quite badly blurred. What have you noticed? – David

I was wondering what you meant by tag classics, so I looked it up, and it turns out that they're only available in the UK & Europe. Since I live in the United States, I don't have access to these videos. A reader across the pond would be better suited to answer.

This past impact, Samoa Joe pinned Christian Cage in a 3 on 3 tag match. Was this the first time Christian's been pinned in TNA? If it was, they did a good job of not mentioning it. – Ryan

It was a 4 on 4 tag match, and I believe it was the first time Christian's actually been pinned in TNA. Why would you expect them to mention that? Have you watched the show lately? I'm working on 411's TNA Year-End Awards with Larry Csonka, and I have no idea what the heck deserves an award this year. I guess any fan that watches the show week to week and understands it deserves some kind of award.

Well, that's all we have time for this week. Send any thoughts, comments, questions or porn to [e-mail]. Merry Christmas (in 6 days)!