Ask 411 Wrestling 01.02.08: Drawing Power, Rose, What and More!

Posted by Steve Cook on 01.02.2008

Including lots of questions about the WWE Hall of Fame and wrestlers on MySpace!

It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, and I hope 2008 has gotten off to a good start for you. I would comment about my New Year's Eve here…but I really don't remember what I did. You ever check your call history on your cell phone and see a call that you don't remember making? Yeah, it was one of those nights. Combine that with Louisville losing to Cincinnati yesterday, and I'm already not happy with this whole 2008 thing. Bring on 09 already!

In case you haven't noticed, I've actually been pretty busy here at the 411 over the last few days. I handed out the 2007 TNA Wrestling Awards alongside Larry Csonka, then I helped JP Prag find some Hidden Highlights. I helped with 411's 2007 Year End Wrestling Awards, and I also found the time to contribute to the Final Column and declare my love for yet another woman of wrestling. Pretty busy week, and it's not over yet because I'm filling in for the distinguished Ryan Byers on the Impact Crater. You lucky dogs.

This is another short column…it should be longer next week, but I'm not promising it'll be as long as some of our past editions. After all, I still need to do that Carmen Electra striptease review. Think I'm joking? Muwhahahahahahahahaha….

Comments, Corrections & Other "C" Words

Hey Steve. Great column! Just wanted to throw in a few of my experiences with wrestlers. The best experience I had with wrestlers was of course at a Waffle House. Chris Nowinski, Chris Jericho, and Christian were all hanging out.. maybe it's the name thing.. I don't know. But they were all awesome (especially Jericho) and hung out in the parking lot way longer then we expected. A few months ago I met with some great ones that were all really nice as well. Ricky Steamboat, Ron Simmons, D-Lo Brown, Dustin Rhoades, Joey Mercury and Gail Kim were all fantastic. I work in radio and did a live remote with Jake The Snake and he was awesome to meet. I also loved meeting Gregory Helms and Rosey. Stone Cold wasen't an asshole but he didn't seem to be in a great mood when I met him. Someone told you RVD was an asshole but he was actually pretty cool when I met him. Oh and Batista was cool too. That about covers it for now I guess. Keep up the good work! – Chris

I think one person complained about RVD, but the other stories I've heard about him have been good ones. Wrestlers do love the Waffle House, just ask Csonka.

I've been reading your column for a while. I have had many opportunities to meet wrestlers. I was born on Long Island & lived within 10 minutes of Nassau Coliseum & 45 minutes from Madison Square Garden. My father had a client that ran many house shows at the Garden for charities & I got to go & eat with the wrestlers afterwards. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Owen Hart, Curt Hennig, Honky Tonk Man, Ted DiBiase, Virgil, Sensational Sherri, The Bushwackers, & many more. In the early 1990's, I got to meet, Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan & many others. I met The Rock when he was still Rocky Maivia when he came to an autograph signing in Albany NY in 1995. I went to the last Raw show of the year & went to dinner with my wife. Who comes in but Ahmed Johnson (he was so big, he couldn't get through the doors of the restaurant without turning sideways), Ron Simmons (was known as Farooq at the time) & 2 Cold Scorpio (Flash Funk) at the time. We went out to a club afterwards & ran into Shawn Michaels. But, my greatest memory of meeting a wrestler was Mick Foley. I used to work at Universal Studios Florida at the Jaws ride. I worked there for over 2 years, before I blew out my knee 2 months before I was to get married. During this time, WCW used to tape Saturday Night Pro there & while I was rehabbing my knee on site, I met Buff Bagwell, Scott Steiner, Raven & the Flock & many others during my workouts. When I came back from my honeymoon, it was time to go back to work. It was my first day back & I was tired from not having worked in nearly 3 months. I wanted to go home early, when my supervisor told me that there was a taping crew in the area & they wanted me to do my show for them. I asked who, & she said some wrestler. She asked me if I knew who Mick Foley was & I, of course, said yes. Mick got on the boat with a wrestler who played the "fake" Mankind (Dennis Knight-Mideon) along with a camera crew & 2 children. They asked me to do my show to see if the sounds would affect their levels. I had done this show nearly 20,000 times before but was never so nervous in my life. They told me the sounds would be too loud, so I could just sit back & watch what they were going to do. For those of you who have never been on the ride, it's about 5 minutes of different times of a shark popping out of the water near or at the boat. We just got through the fire when the "fake" Mankind started speaking. He goes on and on about being the "Hardcore legend" & things like that. However, when we got around the corner & the shark popped up, he screamed like a little girl. I lost it. I couldn't stop laughing & loudly. The director was pissed because he had to stop filming & reset & lost all the footage. I look at Mick, who was standing next to me & he was facing away from everyone, shaking uncontrollably, because he was laughing but trying to be quiet about it. I said that if they had warned me what they were going to do, I would have been better prepared for it & wouldn't have laughed. It took them 20 minutes to reset, so I had to go around with them again. Mick and I got to talk about growing up on Long Island & he was very nice. We had to move the boat so others could get off. He was trying to be incognito, but a kid waiting to get on another boat screamed "It's Mick Foley!" He could have ignored it, but instead he got off the boat, signed autographs & took pictures. He was so great with the kids. He got back on, we finished the segment, & they left because they had one more vignette to film at the Back to the Future ride. I said good bye & thanked him for his time. I've since read "Foley is Good" & he makes mention of that time in there & it meant the world to me, because I think that Mick is a genuine good person who always knows that the fans made him what he is. Just wanted to drop a line telling you to keep up the great work. – Paul Cohen

That was a funny segment. Fake Mankind ruled.

It's been fun reading the stories about fans meeting their favorite wrestlers, and I thought you and your readers might get a kick out of mine. Back in the summer of '99, I was working as an intern at an arena that hosted a live episode of RAW. I wasn't supposed to be backstage, as arena staff usually clear out at a certain time to turn the place over, but as a fan I made sure to find my way backstage on "official company business" right before that cutoff. My visit was brief but it was amazing to see all the chaos and activity going on, even several hours before doors opened. As I was sneaking along the corridors, I nearly made an inadvertent television appearance as I came within inches of colliding with Chris Jericho while he was taping a walk to the ring for his match. I started making my way out of the area not long after that, and managed to get tangled up in a tipped-over grocery cart which I can only assume was on hand for possible use in a hardcore match, as that title was still active back then. I nearly fell flat on my face, then looked up upon regaining my balance to find none other than Vince McMahon standing just yards away, staring at me. All I could think to do was grin at him, and he just shook his head and kept on walking. Ha! That's my fifteen seconds of fame, right there. I didn't actually meet anyone, but I surely left an impression. – Jennifer

This brings up something I've been wondering myself for years…do they bring those shopping carts with them, or do they find them at the arena? And where does all that crap under the ring come from?

I was watching a shoot interview with Scott Hall and he used the term ‘send it.' I remember a question a couple weeks ago about Undertaker using that phrase and there was confusion over what it means. Based on Hall's story, it became clear that ‘sending it' means doing a full contact shot that is completely real/stiff and not done to protect the person. - Jonathan Malankar

I'm surprised you didn't correct Vancouver's Kerry for thinking HHH was
the only heel to win a Wrestlemania main event. Austin also did so when
he turned heel on The Rock. Of course you could pull a technicality and
say Austin wasn't a heel going into that match. – Bill I.

Regarding Animal/Matt Hardy: Actually, they did have a match- it was a two-minute squash, which wasn't surprising. What WAS surprising was that Hardy won the match.

Of course, The Road Warrior gimmick is best remembered amongst Wrestlecrap aficinados for the Titantron, which was just his logo, followed by him gurning, then repeat for two minutes. – Shi

That was a pretty hilarious video. Here it is in case you don't remember.

A few weeks back someone asked about when HBK started calling his super-kick "Sweet Chin Music." It was during the build-up to his WrestleMania Match against Deisel (Kevin Nash) for the WWE Title. It was a reference to HBK knocking out Deisel with errant super-kicks when they were partners. – Billy from Wichita Falls

Questions!

Alan Meekin starts us off with loads of questions from Northern Ireland…

Do you think wcw missed out on a big money feud when they did the Hogan/warrior feud instead of having warrior take on sting or Goldberg? I think either of those could have carried warrior to a decent match.

I don't. Warrior vs. Goldberg wouldn't have had a chance in hell of being a good match, and would be face vs. face unless one of them turned heel, which would have been a really dumb idea. Sting vs. Warrior falls under the same category, though there would have been more potential with that since they used to be tag team partners and you could play off that a bit. Sure, face vs. face can work, but why would Warrior come in to face another good guy that he's never feuded with before? Hogan was the only reason for Warrior to come in.

Was there any reason, other than the larger guaranteed contracts that wcw was offering, for guys like ted dibiase, earthquake, virgil, the nasty boys etc jumping ship to wcw in the mid 90's?

Not only did WCW have larger contracts, they had a lighter work schedule and didn't travel as far as the WWF did. For guys getting up there in age and not doing a whole lot in the WWF, WCW was a dream come true. WCW also tended to give these older talents more of a push.

When would the undertaker have been at his peak in regards to being over? I don't think he has been the same since the lame American bad ass gimmick and the silly feud with ddp.

I have to disagree with your opinion there…Taker may be as over now with the fanbase as he ever has been. His highpoint was probably during his feud with Yokozuna in 1994, when he was pushed as the top babyface and usually got the biggest reactions. If not then, it may have been when he first debuted with the company and was pretty much indestructible throughout 1991.

In your personal opinion who was the biggest draws in wresting in the last 20 years (excluding Hogan)?

Steve Austin & The Rock led the WWF to new heights in the late 90s, so they have to be on the list. The New World Order as a group was a big draw during their first run in WCW. Also in WCW, Bill Goldberg was a huge draw during his undefeated streak. I'd put those four above everybody else in North America. Underneath those guys would be guys like Ric Flair & Bret Hart, who drew well in certain regions but weren't quite as mainstream as the top guys were.

Just a few questions related to wwe hall of fame

Why is Pete Rose in it?

Pete Rose has been barred from baseball's Hall of Fame for admitting to gambling on baseball games that he was involved in. Basically he was inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame for the novelty of it and the possibility that it would get press coverage. Of course, Rose had three memorable appearances at WrestleMania, all which ended with Kane beating him up.

Is it likely Ted Dibiase, the road warriors and randy savage will be inducted someday?

Dibase: Yes
Road Warriors: Yes
Savage: No

With all the hype for this years one surrounding Ric Flair do you see any future show exceeding this one? Personally I think the undertakers induction could be great, they could try to get guys like kamala, giant Gonzales (health issues permitting), sid vicious and king kong bundy to attend.

Flair's induction will likely be the highlight of the Hall of Fame until all of the Attitude Era guys get old enough to be inducted. Hell, you could include Undertaker in that if you wanted to, but a show with Austin, Rock, Mick Foley and others getting inducted would be pretty cool.

about the ric flair win of die thingy...di flair ever had a meaningful match w/ shawn michaels??? maybe they fought on raw or whatever( i dont remember) but with the proper build ( although im wishing it will be vs. sting) maybe its the best match to put flair in for his " retirement match"

btw... a little shout out to bayani domingo my "kababayan" (im sure he knows wat that means) - Ardie

Flair & Michaels had a PPV match at Bad Blood 2003…Flair got the win after 14 minutes of action due to interference from Randy Orton. I believe that is the only PPV match between them. I don't think Michaels would be a good opponent to retire Flair…they should use this opportunity to get somebody over that can do a lot for WWE in the future, and Michaels doesn't have all that many wrestling years left either.

what's up man? nice column...you do your thing homie.

but i got a question for you. i know that it's impossible to keep track of wrestlers win-loss records with house shows and what not (unless you're hulk hogan, who's only lost like 8 matches his whole careeer). but i wanted to know if anybody had a website for wrestlers, current and past, win-loss records on pay-per-views?

i'm really wondering about the rock, stone cold, triple h, john cena, shawn michaels, ric flair, bob backlund and undertaker in particular.

thanks man. and let it be known that you're the coolest wrestling cat in the world homie. – chevy

I did a little searching for this…not a whole lot came up, but I did see this thread, which had win-loss records up until March 2007. Here are the people you mention…I did my best to update the info, but I apologize if my math skills failed me:

Steve Austin: 49-37-5
The Rock: 37-32-2
Triple H: 65-50-5
John Cena: 35-11
Shawn Michaels: 41-39-7
Ric Flair: 50-48-3
Bob Backlund: 3-4
Undertaker: 79-47-5

On Summerslam 88 - Gorilla Monsoon and Superstar Billy Graham did commentary. This was at the time where I think old Billy was hard up for work and Vince was doing everything to keep him employed. Do you know how many times Superstar said "brother" during that broadcast? Its gotta set an all-time record for the usage of that word in a 2 and a half hour period...Perhaps more than Hogan in his entire career...more than Shawn Michaels in his Larry King promo.... BROTHER...BROTHER...OH BROTHER....What a lot of brothers, brother!!! This is a serious question...has anyone ever counted them? Theres got to be someone out there who knows....its gotta be over 200. – Hayden from Auckland, New Zealand

I have not seen the complete SummerSlam 88 show, but Graham did say Brother a lot when he was an announcer, brother. Anybody who has the show on tape and has a lot of free time on their hands is welcome to write in with the answer.

Jones has two questions…

do you think with the writers strike, Vince Russo
could write for Family guy. His crash TV style may not
work for wrestling, but it may be perfect for family
guys unconnected, rapid fire gags. Your thoughts?

Russo may be good on a cartoon show, but I don't like the idea of changing the Family Guy staff. Of course, I haven't watched the newest Family Guy DVD (which I got for Christmas) yet, so maybe I'll change my mind after watching that. Anything that gets Russo away from wrestling doesn't sound like a terrible idea to me. To keep it safe though, I'd rather they stick him on American Dad because I don't watch it.

second...what keeps wrestlers who legitimatley hate
each other Bret VS Shawn, Matt Hardy VS Edge, and so
forth from intentionally trying to seriously injure
each other. (beyond the normal injuries in a regular
match, trying to injure them for REAL not in an angle)

The men you mention here rely on professional wrestling to put food on their tables. They're not going to risk losing their jobs just for the satisfaction of hurting somebody they dislike. Think about it…most of us probably work with somebody we hate. But do we allow that to get in the way of doing our jobs? Of course not. Wrestling is just like any other job in that respect. If anything, guys that are known to really hate each other will be more careful not to hurt the other guy, because if something bad happens they'll be blamed for it. It's common sense.

What ever happen to Ken Patera and do you think he will ever make wwe hall of fame? – RJEVH01

He's done some shoot interviews, but I haven't gotten the chance to view them…as far as HOF status goes, I don't think he's exactly on top of the list. He had a solid career, but he never had too much of a run in main events. I'm not a betting man, but if I were I wouldn't put money on Patera getting in. But, there are several people in that HOF that I wouldn't have put money on getting in.

I'm trying to remember if you had answered this recently. Who made Vince more money: Austin or Hogan? I remember reading or hearing something that Vince has stated, on record, Austin made him more money. Do you remember that, and if so, where was that from? – Mark

I vaguely remember hearing that, but don't recall when or where it happened. I would assume that Austin made the company more money simply because of inflation, and the WWF was a much bigger and better run company in the late 90s than it was when Vince had just bought the company. The U.S economy was doing a lot better too, and people had more money to spend. There are a lot of outside factors that play into drawing power that people just don't think about.

Why do Vince and Savage seem to hate each other? Vince
has refused to let an action figure of him be made,
yet other guys like Warrior already have one. I doubt
he'll be in the HoF anytime soon. Any chance for a
Warrior like DVD for Savage coming soon? – darthmallrats69

I've seen reports that there may be a Savage DVD coming out in 2008, but I'll believe it when I see it. It just may be second in the Self-Destruction series…that would be pretty awesome if it was. I'd like to see more of those type of DVDs because I enjoy things like that. I bet if they do have a DVD like that, we'll probably find out the real reason that Vince doesn't like Randy Savage.

Michael S. brings us 4 questions all the way from Finland…

Props for a great column AND site! On to the questions...

1. Any word on the state of Monty Brown these days? Is he considering returning to wrestling or is he still dealing with the "personal issues" that made him withdraw in the first place? I really miss the guy in the WWE...

I haven't heard anything recently about Monty. He may still be taking care of his family problems, which I don't know enough about to comment on.

2. When did people start using the incredibly annoying "WHAT" chant on other wrestlers than Stone Cold? And why?

Right around when he introduced it.

WHAT?

It was most effective on guys like Mr. McMahon & Kurt Angle.

WHAT?

Because they had a tendency to pause during and between their sentences.

WHAT?

Austin was pretty popular.

WHAT?

Yeah, he drew some money.

WHAT?

So people wanted to do things that he did.

WHAT?

Exactly.

3. When was the "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye" song first sung by a WWE crowd?

The first time I remember hearing it was when Steve Austin lost a strap match to Savio Vega, which forced Ted Dibase out of the WWF. I'm sure it happened before then, but that's the first time I remember hearing it.

4. How's Bobby Lashley doing? When is he gonna return?

If you believe the rumors, Lashley should be back in time for No Way Out and an Elimination Chamber match. He was originally shooting for a December return, but it's been delayed a bit. I think the Royal Rumble has to be a possibility since there's always some people making their return in that match.

In one of your columns, someone asked you about the
group No Limit soldiers. It included "Chase" who is
Chase Tatum. Do you know how I can get tapes with No
Limit Soldiers, or just Chase Tatum matches? – PJ

I'm putting this one out to the readers, because I have no earthly idea.

Hi, long time wrestling fan and 411 reader. Most of the site is great for a witty comeback or opinion but i can always trust you and Meehan for a bit of intelligence in a world where everyone seems to think that wrestling is only for idiots.

OK, so this probably isn't the best way to seem like a knowledgeable wrestling fan but it's something I would like to know so, I was wondering if you could give me links to some wrestlers myspace pages? – Colin, Glasgow

I'm going to link you to Gregory Helms' MySpace, which is especially useful because he has links up to all the WWE wrestlers that are actually on MySpace. All of the other ones are fake according to Helms, and I take his word for it. I just wish some of these guys wouldn't put so much stuff on their MySpaces, because it takes my computer forever to load them. There's also a link for Helms' girlfriend Velvet Sky and some other indy wrestlers like Amber O'Neal & Daffney in his friends listing. You know, except for the whole broken neck thing Helms is a pretty darn lucky guy. Generally, if you find one wrestler on MySpace you'll find a bunch of other ones because…well, they're friends. For the record, I am MySpace friends with Kenny "Starmaker" Bolin & Traci Brooks. I don't have many MySpace friends because I am very anti-social. That and I fear rejection…if Sara Del Rey refused to be my friend, I don't think I could handle it.

Well, that's all we have time for this week. Don't forget to check out the very special Impact Crater this week, and send any thoughts, comments, questions or concerns to [e-mail]. Or you can comment at the bottom, I love reading those on the various articles and news posts. Until next time…booooooooooohica!