Ask 411 Wrestling 01.23.08: Beef, Hair Loss, Snowmen and More!

It’s time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I’m Steve Cook and I hope you all are having a fine week so far. No, this column will not be in HD. 411’s holding back on implementing the HD technology until we get some more attractive writers. Trust me, you don’t want the first thing you see on Monday mornings to be Stephen Randle in HD. The horror…the horror…

Congratulations to the New England Patriots for taking one more step towards immortality, and congratulations to the New York Giants for ripping the hearts out of Green Bay Packer fans everywhere. I also gotta give big ups to the NFL Network for presenting a crapload of Patriot & Giant material on their On Demand service. If I didn’t have a job, I would spend all day watching that stuff.

“The Broth Spoiler”? Corke, it sounds cool but I don’t think it’d sell too many t-shirts. No wonder the 411 Mania Mall doesn’t have any Cook merchandise yet. He did hit my persona right on the money though, so we’ll give him credit for that.

There are currently 91 questions sitting in the inbox. I think I may have lied a couple of weeks ago when I said that response time would be quicker soon. Whoops!

Comments, Corrections & Other “C” Words

The only southpaw World Champion I can recall is Terry Funk. And he won the ECW World Title way back in 1997.

The only other obviously left-handed wrestlers I can think of are Arn Anderson, The Patriot, and Brian Pillman (I think). None of those guys ever won a World title.

Not sure if it’s because lefties are rare, or if it’s been a bias in the wrestling industry thru the years. – Michael Borah, Arlington, TX

I saw this and didn’t want to come off as a smartass but Triple H didn’t beat Rocky for the IC title in October of 96. He beat Marc Mero for it with the help of Mr. Perfect. Going into that RAW, one of the advertised matches was Triple H vs. Mr. Perfect (in his return match) and that night Triple H ran one of the cases on wheels backstage into Perfect’s knee to “take him out”. But it was a plan all along by Perfect and Hunter to goad Mero into defending the IC title against Triple H and he beat him that night.

Right after that though, Perfect left the WWF/E again. I don’t know the reason then. Triple H would lose the IC title to Rocky Maivia in early 97, but it was Marc Mero that he beat for it. – ViolinOfShame

I don’t know this for fact, but from what I heard, they were building up an angle with Samoa Joe that he resented NOAH guys coming into ROH and thought they weren’t good enough to be in the company. He was gonna beat Morishima before the title reign, Morishima would win the belt, and at some point later on down the line, Joe would win the title (in his mind, “rescue”) from the clutches of Morishima (or, as one rumor I heard suggested, Misawa), only to put over someone new for it … likely the NOAH-friendly Nigel McGuinness. – WrestleCrap’s Jed Shaffer

Jed is correct from what I can recall, but that all got thrown out the window when TNA pulled Joe out of there. Joe may have picked TNA, but I’m choosing to attend the ROH show in Dayton this Friday over the TNA show in…somewhere close to Dayton. Yeah, I bet some of you didn’t see that one coming.

I believe the WWECW Matt Striker is actually Matthew Kaye from NY. The ROH Matt Stryker is Brian Woermann who is from the Cincinnati area and before ROH was a mainstay in Les Thatcher’s HWA (formerly a WWE developmental).

Also thought I’d share 2 Meeting Wrestlers stories.
After the first Dayton ROH show, there was a meet and greet at a local sports bar. Nicest guys to meet and talk with were AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Amazing Red and the SATs, and especially Chris Daniels. I was incredibly star struck when talking with Daniels. I shook his hand about 80 times and was a complete fan-boy but he was cool and very funny about it. Some of the more aloof or jerk-ish people from the meet and greet were MichaelShane/Matt Bentley, Allison Danger, and some of the members of Special K.

Speaking of aloofness, Al Snow used to live near my work and we frequented the same comic book store (what is it with wrestlers and comic books?) . When I met him there he had short one word answers for everything and seemed to not want to be bothered. He couldn’t sigh and roll his eyes enough. I picked up on the cues and haven’t bothered him since. I’ve heard similar local stories where he’s been seen at stores and he’s reacted similarly even to little kids. – JustinO

Both Matt Stryker & Striker have appeared in ROH at different points. I don’t know if they were ever booked against each other or put together in a tag team match somewhere else. If not, they should have been.

Al does seem a bit anti-social, which is something I can totally identify with. Allison seems nice at the ROH merchandise tables when she’s not yelling at people that won’t buy SHIMMER DVDs.

Jsut a quick note, teh Blue Blazer character did appear on one other PPV other than WM5. He was in the 1988 Survivor Series teaming with Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Sam Houston & Jim Brunzell against Honky Tonk Man, Ron Bass, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine & Bad News Brown. – Michael

You want to see a BAD wrestling move, go to youtube and type in Mongoplex, that crap is hilarious, and look a the reaction from his Horsemen comrades – Chris

It sure looked effective!

My buddy Charlie from VT has some feedback to add…

Cook,

I just read the last 4 weeks of Ask 411(to catch up). Here are a few of my
thoughts:

Do you read any other columns on 411 on a regular basis? I’d like to pimp JP
Prag’s Journal in particular.

I always make sure to read Randle & Domingo because you have to know your enemy and they happen to be mine. Csonka’s news & 4 Rs are must-reads, as is Ari’s Column of Honor. The rest of the columns I catch intermittently. Honestly, I wish I could read more but I just don’t have the time. I can probably name less IWC guys than Jeff Small can at this point.

I think “favorite weather phenonemon” and “most harrowing weather experience”
should be a standard question in every interview.

I enjoy WeatherPlus a little bit too much, to be honest. I get terribly disappointed when I turn it on in the morning and one of the male anchors is on. It just gets the day off to a bad start, you know?

I’ve never seen any WCCW clips, but that Freebirds turn on Kerry Von Erich
looked like it would be awesome to watch unfold.

I always figured the long hair helped add effect to punches and other bumps as
it flows the motion out long.

Bonus:

In the 411 fact or fiction, I agreed with you on almost everything. Geoff was
way off on some things. I’d like to get your opinion on one thing though, do
you think since USA gets the ad revenue from Raw now, that changes their view
of the Dog show. If they didn’t get the ad revenue back in 1998 then of course
they would want to run the dog show to get the ad revenue. Let me know what you
think about that.

That probably has a bit to do with it. If they’re getting more money out of showing Raw than they were back in the day, why not air it over a dog show? I think Geoff is still mad at me for calling him and saying that his voice mail message is the most homosexual thing I have ever heard. He should feel honored because my drunk dials are usually reserved for my NoCal homie Ghetto or the hottie I used to work with that rejected me. That’s some select company right there.

P.S.

My best friend started at Louisville back in the fall. He’s looking at taking
the “Bourbon Trail”, as a lover of bourbon I was wondering if you’d ever made
that walk…or stumble.

I have not, but I totally need to do it the next time I get a vacation. Unfortunately I have no idea when that will be.

Questions!

Jennifer starts things off this week with four questions…

1) I was watching the Shane McMahon/Steve Blackman hardcore match from Summerslam 2000 recently, and I noticed this huge beef of a guy dressed in black who helped keep the fans at bay when the match went over the barricades and into the crowd. He was wired up and appeared to be WWE security, although he easily could have passed for a wrestler (and a main eventer at that; he was as big as Triple H). My question is, who was that guy? Also, does WWE still station security personnel in the crowd?

The “huge beef of a guy” was Jim Dotson, who was head of WWF security at the time. He is probably most remembered for his short-lived feud with Blackman in 1999 & his involvement in the Royal Rumble 2000 angle where he backed up Big Show’s story that Rock’s feet hit the ground before his did. He left the company in 2001 to pursue other interests. WWE still has security in the crowd…their main job seems to be confiscating signs that Vince McMahon finds inappropriate.

2) Do you think the hardcore championship will ever come back? I miss the good old-fashioned steel chairs to the head.

It kind of came back during the Mick Foley/Edge program in 2006, but I wouldn’t expect it to pop up anytime soon. With all the talk of concussions and the long-term effect it has on athletes these days, I don’t think it’d be a great idea to reintroduce a division where guys will get hit with chairs over and over again.

3) What’s with the cruiserweight championship? Does it even still exist? I don’t understand the lack of attention WWE has paid to that belt, or the tag titles for that matter.

You may remember Vickie Guerrero stripping Hornswoggle of the title because “he could get hurt”…since then there has been no mention of the title. I wouldn’t count on the Cruiserweight title returning anytime soon…all of the lighter wrestlers in the company seem otherwise occupied and the title didn’t mean all that much anyway.

4) I also miss the McMahon kids on television. Are there any plans for Shane or Stephanie to take more of an on-air role (or, for Shane, an in-ring role) in the near future?

With WrestleMania coming up, there’s always a giant likelihood of an increased McMahon presence on WWE television. I haven’t heard anything about what Vince will be doing to lead up to the show, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Shane got back in the ring to do something.

I picked up the Royal Rumble sets and got left with a few questions.

1) when and how long was Tenryu employed by the WWF/E? (I really don’t remember him ever being used on TV during that time period (1993-1994))

Genichiro Tenryu’s WWF tenure did not last all that long, but it stretched out over several years. In 1990 the SWS promotion co-promoted a couple of shows in Japan with the WWF, and he would appear on those shows facing men like Randy Savage. In 1991 he appeared on some more co-promoted shows with WWF/SWS, and he teamed with Koiji Kiato at WrestleMania VII to defeat Demolition. There were more WWF/SWS shows in 1992, but Tenryu didn’t reappear in America until his appearance in the 1993 Royal Rumble match. He appeared on the TV taping after the Rumble and he was supposed to appear at WrestleMania IX, but that fell through. He appeared at the 1994 Royal Rumble and on some WWF shows in Japan in May 1994, and that was the last time WWF used him.

2) When was Kabuki brought in and why?

Mr. Fuji recruited Kabuki & Tenryu to help Yokozuna defeat the Undertaker in the casket match and to keep Lex Luger from winning the Rumble. 1 out 2 wasn’t too bad, I suppose.

Oh, you wanted an actual reason? I’m guessing Tenryu brought him along and they decided to use him. His only WWF appearance was at the 1994 Royal Rumble.

3) Any reason other than for a 30th man that Dory Funk jr. was used in 1995 or 1996 (sorry the box isn’t in front of me.)?

It was the 1996 Royal Rumble, and I don’t think there was much of a reason other than to have a surprise in the field. I believe Dory was running his Funking Dojo and helping train wrestlers for the WWF at this point.

4) were the opening moments of the 1993 Rumble supposed to be a series of mini 1980’s dream matches with Backlund, Flair and Lawler? Why were no further matches or feuds pursued? You’d think with Flair vs. Lawler you could have printed your own money if you followed through on it.

Well, Ric Flair left the WWF not too long after the 1993 Rumble. I think that pretty much answers your question.

Also from the World Class set I’ve got two-
Didn’t Cactus Jack feud with the Von Erichs near the end of the World Class/ beginning of USWA period? would the USWA cross-over be where the feud with Eddie Gilbert began? – Billy

Mick Foley doesn’t mention a feud with the Von Erichs in Have A Nice Day, I’m pretty sure the majority of them were out of the Texas wrestling scene by the time he got there. Jack’s feud with Gilbert mainly took place in Philadelphia’s ECWA promotion

As a admitted YouTube-junkie, I’ve noticed how quick ROH videos have been taken down due to copyright infringements on a number of levels (from full matches to a five-second clip of Jack Evans in one of the Botchamania videos). All this copyright madness has gotten me to thinking: what the legal foundation (if any) for ROH to use obviously copyrighted music for entrace music? Or for that matter any other indy promotion? Could these promotions have legal action taken against them? – Will Gregory

There is no legal foundation for ROH to use copyrighted music, which is why you only hear certain theme songs on ROH’s pay per views. Personally, I think the fear wrestling promotions have of getting sued by record companies is a bit overblown because I can’t imagine the record companies caring all that much. But the law is the law, and you’re better safe than sorry. I don’t think legal action would be viable unless a wrestling promoter uses the music in order to make money.

In the WWE Hall of Fame thing for Bret Hart, when Bret does all his stories, do you have any idea if any or none are true or false?

Like the one with Hogan and the LOD with “playing around with Vince in the bar” I almost believed it to be true, until he mentioned that the Hart Foundation “took Vince’s head off”.

I know its speculation, probably, but have any of those stories been verified? – Clyde

The Road Warriors talked about the night that they all did their finishers on Vince during their RF shoot interview several years ago, so that one has been verified by at least three of the people involved. I think it goes without saying that Bret was exaggerating and the Hart Foundation didn’t actually behead Vince McMahon.

I’m watching No Mercy 2002’s Smackdown tag title
tournament finals. Rey tags Edge into the match but
Rey is standing on the apron, outside of the ring. Is
this actually legal? – Jordan

In a legitimate tag team match, I don’t believe that would be legal. But in WWE the officials don’t know any better so it counts. Of course, one has to wonder what a “legitimate tag team match” would be. But as far as the official rules go, I’m pretty sure you have to be in the ring and your tag team partner has to be out of the ring (holding a tag rope if it’s there) for a tag to count.

dwells has two questions…

Hey there. I was recently watching the Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Jarret IC
Title match from the July 95′ In Your House PPV. Before the match they
showed a beautiful blonde in the front row of whom Jerry Lawler remarked,
“Did she step on a rake?” After Michaels won the match he went over and
kissed her on the lips. She didn’t seem to have much of a shocked
reaction. Who was this woman?

I’m guessing it wasn’t Sunny. Honestly, I haven’t seen the match in ages so I have no idea. Readers?

Why did Vince have the Raw announce table near the entrance way during
2005 and then move it back to ringside? Was it part of a Bischoff
storyline to make Raw more like Nitro? Or for the Smackdown announcers to
say they were “tougher” since they announced from ringside? – dwells

It was part of Eric Bischoff’s reign of terror as Raw general manager…it was a subtle thing that made people like us go “Hey, it’s like the old Nitro set up!” Nobody in the real world noticed.

Long time reader, first time writer… My question is, if Triple is the game and Ric Flair is the dirtiest player in the game, why is Ric Flair playing inside of Triple H? – Christopher Hominski

Some questions are best left unanswered.

I’ve noticed over the past 5 years or so, both Triple H and Shawn Michael’s hair started thinning to the point where even Trips had a bald spot (crown). Now, in the past couple of years or so it seems like their hair is back (usually after they returned from an injury/hiatus). Do you happen to know if they had any procedures done? Since their both pals & I noticed it happened to both of them, I can’t help but think if they didn’t get the 2 for 1 special. – Erick

No, but I can tell you that Chavo Guerrero Sr. & Jr. got one from the fine folks at Medical Hair Restoration. Also using such services are such wrestling names as Jimmy Hart, Tommy Dreamer, Larry Zbysko & Chris Masters. I haven’t noticed either man’s hair line lately, but I do know that WWE.com was photoshopping hair onto HBK’s head not too long ago. It was pretty darn funny if you ask me.

Hello, Steve! Great column! I know that Jim Cornette and Vince Russo have heat as well as Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman having heat as you’ve covered it several times in the column already. My question is do Vince Russo and Paul Heyman have any known heat between one another making this a ‘three-way rivalry’ between Cornette, Russo, and Heyman? – Josh

Russo & Heyman haven’t crossed paths very much in their respective careers. The one time I think they may have worked together was during Russo’s short-lived return to WWE in early 2002…I don’t remember if Heyman was being used by WWE at the time Russo came in, but other than that they’ve always been working for separate companies. So unless Russo & Heyman went to the same NYC bar and tried to pick up the same chick, I don’t think they have reason to hate each other on a personal level.

Francisco has five questions…

Questions:
1. We can all pretty much agree HHH is a great
wrestler, or was, anyway do you think his achievements
will be looked down upon due to the fact he married
into the family?

I think that’s always going to be factored into peoples’ judgment of Triple H’s wrestling career, whether it’s fair or not. There are fans out there that will claim that Triple H only got to where he was because of who he’s married to, and you won’t be able to convince them otherwise. That’s just the way things are in all walks of life.

2. I believe I read somewhere that some of the writers
the E has been using used to write for soaps, how long
has this practice been in effect? Is this one of the
reasons the wwe has been lackluster? For that matter
where do TNA get their writers from?

I believe the practice of hiring soap opera/entertainment writers started sometime in the late 1990s. I’m not entirely sure why this became WWE policy, because the soap writers for the most part haven’t been very effective. TNA gets their writers from wrestling, as their team currently consists of Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett & Dutch Mantel…so maybe WWE’s actually on to something with this whole soap opera writer thing.

3. How much does fan input really matter to the staff
in both TNA and WWE? For example, RVD returns for one
night to a huge pop, wwe wants him back, or during
crappy finishes tna fans chant “Fuck Vince Russo”,
he’s still there! WTF!

It depends. If fans hate the stuff wrestling promoters put out there but still buy tickets and attend shows and support the product, promoters feel no need to change. If the fans go away, then change usually comes.

4. The way things are going how long before Vince owns
the TNA name?

16 years, 3 months, 22 days, 3 hours, 45 minutes and 34 seconds. 33…32…31…

5. Every now and then you guys have news on both AAA
and CMLL, where do you guys get that? I have a hard
time finding news on CMLL in spanish written sites as
it is! – Francisco

Larry Csonka tells me that 411 gets their lucha libre news from the Wrestling Observer & Figure 4 Weekly. We also have a Puerto Rican staff member, Armando Rodriguez, who can translate the Spanish written site stuff for us. That’s the extent of our lucha coverage, I’m trying to convince Ashish to let me go down to Mexico as an official correspondent but he doesn’t think it’s economically feasible. Also, he doesn’t want to pay me.

The shadiest one has six questions…

1)Do you like me believe that Stephanie Mcmahon is
gonna be the death of the WWE?

I don’t think any one person can bring about the death of WWE. When WCW died, it wasn’t just because of Eric Bischoff or Vince Russo or Hulk Hogan or Kevin Nash…it was a collective effort. If WWE goes out of business sometime during Stephanie McMahon’s life, it won’t be just her that will be responsible. And I think you’re being unfair to Stephanie, she’s contributed a lot to the success of WWE over the years. Like…

……

……

……

Well, remember when Undertaker tried to make her his wife? Hottest she ever looked.

2)Who is reasponsible for holding back talented
wrestlers in the WWE? for example Matt Hardy,Super
Crazy,London & Kendrick,Elijah Burke,Shelton
Benjamin,charlie haas, and not to mention the guys
that have or had that didnt even make on raw,ecw,or
Smackdown like 2 cold scorpio and kazarian?

I don’t know how you can consider Matt Hardy as being held back these days. The answer to your question is the WWE creative team, who doesn’t see as much in these guys as many Internet wrestling fans do. I don’t have specific names, but that’s who “holds people back”.

3)what were the talks between WWE and Pride fc?

WWE was considering purchasing the Pride Fighting Championships. If I remember correctly that was a Shane McMahon idea, and Pride was looking for a buyer. Unfortunately for Pride’s fanbase, Zuffa (UFC’s parent company for those of you who aren’t MMA fans) ended up buying Pride and so far they’ve done even less with it than WWE did with WCW.

4)I remember that when Ken Shamrock 1st came to the
WWE they adervertised 1 or 2 Frank Shamrock fights
promoting UFC ppvs and now the UFC & WWE seem to be
rivals was there a falling out or is that “Finished
Buisness?

Finished business seems like a good way to put it. UFC wasn’t a threat to the WWF back when Shamrock arrived there, so WWF didn’t have a problem with showing some UFC commercials. Much has changed within UFC since then…new ownership, more mainstream acceptance, and different ways of doing business. I don’t think there was ever a “falling out”, but don’t expect WWE & UFC to do business anytime soon. In fact, it seems like UFC will be working with another wrestling company that happens to be on Spike TV.

5)Who pulled the plug on the WWE’s Lightheavy weight
division in the late 90’s, i remember them having some
good talent like Taka,Mr.Aguila,Sasuke,Super
Loco(super crazy),and then the belt was just defended
on sunday night heat and unified with the
cruiserweight belt?

Vince Russo is my guess because the division became de-emphasized under his watch, and it’s well-known that he doesn’t care for foreign wrestlers.

6)predictions on who will be moved up to main eventer
status this year? Shadiest one

Raw: As JT can certainly tell you, I’m not a big Santino Marella fan…but he might have the charisma to make it to the top of the card. If he can learn how to wrestle a decent match, he could definitely make it there by the end of the year.

Smackdown: MVP seems as decent a choice as any here.

ECW: Once they move Colt Cabana up to the main roster, he could join Punk in ECW main events.

TNA: Tomko is the biggest rising star in TNA today, and if he isn’t in main events by the end of the year something has gone wrong.

I have a question – there is an infamous choke slam that Undertaker gives Hogan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js1A5UXM3Yw. Watching it you can see that it is pretty appalling but what was the reason for the botched move – was it just accidental, was hogan being protected from taking a big hit or was there more to it? – Luke from Bristol, England

Hogan probably didn’t get a lot of height when he tried to help Undertaker execute the move by jumping in the air. Dude had a bum knee, so you can’t really hate on him for it. From my view of the move, that appears to be what happened. When you’re applying a move like the chokeslam, you need a lot of help from the person receiving the move, especially if the receiver is a heavy dude. Hogan’s not exactly a lightweight, so if he can’t physically jump high into the air, it’s going to look ugly. You’ll notice that other Undertaker chokeslams on guys like Rikishi, Mark Henry, King Kong Bundy and others have a similar look to them.

Do you think we will ever get a solid Bruiser Brody DVD. I don’t know if he ever worked for the WWE, but Vince has bought up so many video libraries he should have enough film to put together a decent DVD. – Hank

If there’s money in it, they may consider it. That being said, Brody is a guy that has a big name to hardcore wrestling fans but casual fans have no idea who he is. Brody did work for the WWWF for a little while back in the mid to late 70s, in fact it was Vince Sr. who gave him the “Bruiser Brody” name. Unless some of the old-school guys in the company push for a Brody DVD, I don’t see it happening.

I have a question about Orlando Jordan. What exactly happened to him? All I can find is that he was let go because of the company he was keeping? Along with that what happened to the angle of him being Bisexual? – Brad

Jordan is an open bisexual and he proposed an idea to Vince McMahon that would have made that part of his gimmick. He says Vince liked the idea, but it never came to pass. In the interview I read, OJ was not asked why he was let go from WWE. It may be that OJ didn’t want to talk about it, I don’t know. The rumor is that Jordan brought a 15 year old boy backstage and that didn’t go over very well. Could be true, could be false.

Sorry if you’ve answered this before, but when Goldberg won the WCW title from Hogan back in 1998 on free TV, why wouldn’t WCW wait till a PPV, was it simply to try and get back on top in the ratings? Were they afraid Hogan wouldn’t agree to job on PPV? And if that match HAD been on PPV, how do you think the buy rate would have matched up against the biggest of all time ? – Dan from the UK

They lost the ratings war one week after 84 consecutive weeks of beating Raw. Eric Bischoff panicked and Hogan vs. Goldberg was booked for the next week’s Nitro. It was a great moment, but ultimately one of the dumbest things any wrestling promoter has ever done. Had they built up Hogan vs. Goldberg properly and put it on PPV, the buyrate would have been huge, certainly comparable with Starrcade 1997, which if memory serves me correctly was WCW’s biggest PPV buyrate.

Couple of quick questions: In regards to heels winning at Wrestlemania, doesn’t Yokozuna beating Bret count? I haven’t seen it mentioned.
One more, I’m only able to get wwe material bootlegged off the streets. (shame on me) anywho, they only come is spanish. But the commentators, Carlos Cabrera and Hugo Savinovich … are awesome. Do you think they will ever get a well deserved spot in the Hall Of Fame? – Ivan from El Salvador

I didn’t count Yoko over Bret because it wasn’t actually the final match on the show. It looked like there was going to be an unhappy ending to a WrestleMania, but luckily the Hulkster showed up and saved the day. Or not, depending on your opinion.

Hugo & Carlos being inducted into the HOF…it’s not impossible. I think they should induct the Spanish announce table because that poor table took more abuse than half of the wrestlers on the roster during the Attitude Era.

In the major american feds (WWF, WCW, ECW, TNA, NOT ROH) how many (world) heavyweight champions have used a top rope move as their primary finisher. I’ve taken into account Randy Savage, Eddie Guererro, RVD, but thats all I’ve come up w/ off the top of my head. I have not included AJ Styles “spiral tap” since he mainly uses the “styles clash”. There are some others that also use a top rope move as a secondary finisher (AJ Styles “spiral tap” , Booker T “harlem hang over”, etc.) but I’m not looking for those.

Side Note: Calm down ROHbots. The bold lettering and underlining of “NOT ROH” is not a shot at the company just clarifying my question. You can now continue your lariat pop. – Martin

Rey Mysterio is the only WWE (World) champion that you’re forgetting. In WCW/NWA, Ricky Steamboat liked to use a cross-body press off the top rope as his primary finisher and used it to win the title from Ric Flair. In ECW, Sabu had several moves you could call finishers, but the ones he used most often were both off the top rope (Arabian Facebuster, Triple Jump Moonsault). Mike Awesome liked to win matches with a sit-out power bomb off the top rope. That’s the list!

Do you or any of your readers know where I can get a large poster of Randy Savage doing the flying elbow? My basement rec room is my “movie theater” with lots of off the wall stuff (Big Lebowski poster, “Revenge” of the Jedi advertisement, etc). I would like to get a poster of Macho Man delivering the elbow, but cannot find one anywhere. I guess this is a good example of what Vince McMahon can do if he wants people to forget you. Any help you can give would be great. – Mike

I could not find a flying elbow poster, but maybe our readers will have better luck!

Jones has three questions…

1. With all the stories of Randy Orton today and Dynamite
kid in the 80’s ribbing guys by messing with their
bags…havent pro wrestlers ever heard of padlocks? I
used it Jr High Gym class because of kids like
them..they arent that expensive.

I can tell you that they’ve heard of padlocks because I’ve heard stories where padlocks were used as part of ribs. You know, they’d put the padlocks on the guy’s bag so the guy couldn’t open it…good stuff. I am a large proponent of ribs, which makes me somewhat unpopular in the 411 locker room. Domingo still hasn’t forgiven me for the Noodle Incident. But it’s all in good fun.

2 When a wrestler is a cruiserweight division, do they
have to actually weigh in and ride a bike in 3 layers
of sweatsuits if their over till they make weight,
like ameture wrestlers?

As long as it’s not totally obvious that you’re above the weight limit, wrestling promoters don’t really care. They have more important things to worry about than if their cruiserweight champion is really under 225 pounds or not. If wrestling was an actual sport, this would be more of a problem.

And someone asked you who was a bigger draw Hogan Or
Austin, should inflation and the devaluing of the
dollar factor into that equation? The worst grossing
film of 2008 will still make more money than the best
grossing film of 1988 because tickets are more
expensive.

The question about that before was more of a literal one…who made Vince McMahon more money? When approaching it from a literal perspective, it was obviously Austin. I still maintain that Austin was a bigger draw in his prime, but Hogan does have the edge as far as longevity goes.

Hello. Great column as usual. I just watched a series of clips from USWA circa 1990 involving Jerry Lawler & The Snowman. Because there was only 1 hand mike and there was a LOT of yelling, it was difficult to hear the entire segment. It involved racism charges by The Snowman against the Memphis territory, specifically Lawler. I know that there have been countless racism angles in wrestling, but this was without question the best one I have ever seen presented. It was done as a “worked shoot”(I hate that term), and it definately had an enormous amount of heat to it.
I have 3 questions about this angle:1; Who came up with the idea?; 2; How did it end?; and 3; Was there any truth to the racist allegations about Memphis?
Any info would be appreciated, as I couldn’t find any in Lawler’s book. – Scott H.

1. I believe Jerry Lawler was booking the promotion at the time this angle took place. Odds are pretty good that if it wasn’t him, it was Jerry Jarrett.

2. The angle ended when Snowman walked out on the USWA due to financial discrepancies. He took the title belt with him and word is that he still has it. It was rumored that he had sold it for drugs, but that was based off a comment he made where he said he’d rather sell it for drugs than give it back to Lawler.

3. It depends who you ask, quite honestly. I think any racism in the Memphis territory back in the day was simply a sign of the time, as racism was a very real problem in the Southern United States for many years. Wrestler Sputnik Monroe became a hero with African-Americans when he refused to perform at Memphis’ Ellis Auditorium unless the crowd was integrated and blacks were allowed to sit up front instead of being relegated to the balcony. I can’t say that the Memphis promoters were racist, but you can find plenty of people who will claim that they were. Whether they’re right or not…who knows.

Well, that’s all we have time for this week! If you have any questions, corrections, concerns or porn, you can send them to [email protected]. Comments can also be directed towards the comment section below…until next time, boooooooooooooooohica!