Ask 411 Wrestling 03.12.08: Heated Feuds, Dream Rumbles, Talk Shows and more!

Posted by Steve Cook on 03.12.2008

Including discussion of the defining wrestlers of the 2000s! No, Great Khali didn't make the cut.

It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, and I hope you're having a fantastic week. Allow me to apologize in advance for this particular edition of Ask 411 Wrestling being a tad briefer than usual, for I spent most of my writing time this week working on Your News, Cook's Views. Hey, when you're filling in for the bossman you've gotta step up your game. I hope you all checked it out, and I appreciate all of the kind words from people who were glad that I wasn't Larry Csonka.

Let's get right to business, shall we?

Comments, Corrections & Other "C" Words

I had nothing to do tonight, so I thought I'd run the stats for which
wrestler has appeared in the most Royal Rumbles without eliminating
anyone. As far as I can tell, both Bradshaw and Albert/A-Train
appeared in 5 Rumble matches apiece without eliminating anyone. If we
want to be picky, though, Bradshaw split those between "Acolytes"
Bradshaw and "APA" Bradshaw, and I suppose "Prince" Albert and
"A-Train" Albert could be considered two different gimmicks. In that
case, we'd have to go with Jimmy Snuka, Honky Tonk Man, The Godfather,
Scotty 2 Hotty, Steve Blackman and The Warlord, all of whom appeared
in 4 Rumble matches without a single elimination between them.
Anyway, hope this helps! – Brent

I just wanted to let you know that I was watching AWA on ESPN on 3/4/08 and when you mentiond Little John I started wondering if he was the same giant that was on last night's episode. So I did some research on www.Obsessedwithwresling.com and I can confirm that if you want to find information about him you need to look under Silo Sam. The AWA billed bim as 7'8, 550 lbs. and being bigger than Andre The Giant. – bluephoenix5

Here's some John Harris career highlights:

· 1987: Silo Sam (as Big Little John or Little Big John?) worked for the von Erich's WCCW as the bodyguard for the Fantastics..
· 1990: Silo Sam (John Harris) was briefly in the AWA, and also appeared in WWF as "Trapper John"..
· John Harris also had a part in the movie "Pee Wee's big adventure" as a jealous boyfriend who chased Pee Wee..
· John Harris is deseased..

Well I am glad we have a wrestling reporter that doesn't watch one of the main wrestling shows out there, great work. – Chris Jacobs

The funny thing is now that I've put it out there I've actually watched most of Smackdown 2 weeks in a row. I haven't seen any ECW though, so if you want to bash me for that it's all right. I probably won't be watching Impact or Smackdown this week due to Louisville basketball, so go ahead and take umbrage.

UMBRAGE~!

Most people didn't want Hogan to be champion? Come on... your answer to that
should be much stronger. I know that it is not cool for the IWC / ROH / Indy
crowd to like Hogan. However, you can't deny the impact the has had on
wrestling. Taking everything into consideration (money drawn, merchandise and
tickets sold, popularity, longevity, charisma and talent (yes, I said it AND he
had it)) Hogan has to be considered the wrestler with the greatest impact on the
industry. Some like Austin or Flair may have match him, or even surpassed him,
in specific areas, but not overall. Hulk Rules! – cpbasil

I'm gonna have to disagree with you about Jericho's "re-debut". Anyone
who had been paying attention to wrestling, or the news coverage of the Benoit
thing, they would have already noticed his haircut. And the sparkly vest which
you despise so much, seems to be the same material he had for that sparkly
jacket he wore when he first debuted. Honestly, if you're going to criticize
his haircut, I would've picked that horrible top-knot he had on his first
debut. Still, I think what killed Jericho's momentum was that he didnt really
have any build up to his title match. They should have let him work his promo
magic for awhile so there was more heat between him and Orton. Alas, it seems
Jericho's push got swept aside for Hardy's. Maybe we'll see some success for
the Sexy Beast in the future. – John M.

my greatest fear about that list is that Car-FUCKING-lito could possibly still
make that much money. seriously, i have to vomit thinking about it.

but i have to agree with John M in that yea, the vest is just the jacket that
he used to wear without the sleeves...and i might add, it takes a hella long
time to put that many sequins on a vest, so you should all show some respect to
the 80 year old lady who (i assume) stitched each one on lovingly with arthritic
hands.

i didn't hate the old long haried top knotted Jericho, but the hair cut he is
sporting now is the look of something that the IWC generally hates.

maturity.

Jericho is older now, has had a life outside of wrestling for a couple of
years, and has adapted his look to the real world. i mean, ok...i am a guy
with a shaved head and a huge ass tattoo on the back of his scalp, but i dig
the change in Jericho, and only wish he could have been given a proper return
with a proper program to get him way over.

since that hasn't happened, i think they need to turn Jericho heel (he was
always better as a heel anyway IMHO) and have him fued with Cena for about 6 to
8 months. oh sure, the smarks will hate it, a long program with cena in it, but
the WWE isn't there for the internet smarks, it is there for the other 98% of
their fanbase, and Jericho/Cena is $$$.

FUCK CARLITO!!! – Darth Mortis

I disagree with one part of your take...I've had short hair for years and most people would not accuse me of being mature.

Good analysis on the top men on the stick. What some people fail to realize
about the Rock was that while he was entertaining, he never knew how to invoke
real emotion into any feud. He always had this too cool for school persona.
Guys like Flair, Foley, and Roberts brought real life emotion in their words.
The only omission was HBK. – Orlando

I expanded to a top ten in the news column, and by the time we're done I may do a top fifty just because I have fun thinking about things like this. Commenter jlevysan made a great suggestion of Nick Bockwinkel...I haven't seen enough of him to determine just how high I would rank him, but I love what I have seen from him. Too bad ESPN's AWA footage didn't go back further.

"I was 4 years old when all of this happened, but enough people have mentioned Race's head in the clouds to make me believe that it happened."

Yup, when race was out with the injury, Heenan came to the ring to show a tribute to him. When race eventually returned, Haku was king and race was pissed.

re: rock vs HHH cast match - they put a cast on HHH's leg? I'm glad to say I have no memory of this whatsoever. sounds kinda stupid. like triple threat matches that ended when the champ was counted out, or 2 out of 3 falls matches that end when the time limit runs out. gdWWF! they did some awesome things in the late 90s, but they did a lot of stupid things as well.

I used to think (SuperClash 3 Lawler vs. Von Erich) was lame too, because i wondered how they could stop a match for Kerry's safety WHILE he had the offensive advantage. Then I saw a UFC show where guy A slammed guy B down so hard that guy B tapped. However, guy A's head was under B's arm, and in the process of slamming guy B, guy A knocked himself unconscious. I can't remember if the result was a draw, or if they decided that, despite tapping, guy B was actually the winner since guy A couldn't continue, and that made sense. and thats how i rationalize the ending to the lawler/von Erich match.

yeah, ive thought about it way too much.

And from your column - I've gotta agree with Sean McCartney, title feuds would be more interesting if they were based on SOMETHING other than "i beat this guy, so now i get to fight you". You say #1 contenders matches add a shred of legitimacy to the proceedings. To who? People who arent fans of wrestling will never care that there's a #1 contender, because its all still "fake." And fans of the show - I have to ask, what does this fake sport having legitimacy do for you? Do you feel less embarrassed about telling people youre a wrestling fan because there's a #1 contender? Do people you tell say "Oh, you mean this guy fake beat that other guy to become the number one contender to take fake champion? Well thats not lame, he really earned that fake victory." Now, I'm not saying eliminate the #1 contender altogether, but use it as a storyline element. Kinda like they did with chavo and punk recently on ECW. Granted, not the best example, but they've been feuding for a while, chavo beat punk at NWO, so to get another shot at him, punk had to win a #1 contenders match. When used like that, it makes sense. Would all the matches fought between HHH, Foley, the Rock, and Stone cold still been interesting if each month, one of them won a #1 contenders match to face the champ? Well, i guess thats an opinion question, but to me, no, it wouldnt have been. Storylines give us an extra reason to care, imo. Was Vince McMahon a bastard, or was he a bastard because he kept screwing with austin?

i dunno, my rant is done. i guess since we're both entitled to our opinion, its all kinda moot. - Manu Bumb

I think my argument to your argument is based in the old school way of doing things, back when wrestling promoters tried to protect the business and tell consumers that wrestling was real and there were real situations going on at their shows that they should pay money to see resolved. See, I happen to think that things were a lot better back in the day when wrestlers acted like what happened between the ropes was real and it was promoted like it was sport and not entertainment. Sure, most of us knew that it wasn't really on the up and up, but we were able to suspend disbelief. And oddly enough, there were a lot more wrestling promotions making money, a lot more wrestlers making a living at it, and there was also a wrestling scene across the country that was kind of like a buffet table. Maybe I romanticize it because it was before my time, but it sure sounds like more fun than what we have now.

Questions!

Wow, thanks for the in depth answer to my HBK drawing power question. That was awesome, almost everyone got involved.

First of all, I am a huge HBK fan like many others, so I try not to be biased. I like to get my facts straight when I say HBK is one of the best (maybe the best) at what he does; so that is why I asked the question initially. I agree with all of the points that you have made. My only question after reading what the staff had written is "What then, exactly, in your opinion, constitutes drawing power?"

If HBK is in the last match at mania 23 and it "doesn't count" because "maria vs hornswaggle" would have sold out wrestlemania (and I completely agree). Then at what point does credit get allocated for drawing a big crowd? Shouldn't Summerslam '92 fall under the same jurisdiction as a wrestlemania for that matter? Why would Bret get credit for that and not HBK for Wrestlemania 23? One could make the same arguement for tv ratings.

It seems that one could make an arguement that any main event could be brushed away (in terms of drawing power) if it wasn't for the challenger or the undercard. I am certainly not trying to be arguementative. Would HBK get credit for selling out the Fleet Center at Mania 14 or would that go to Austin, Tyson, or all three?

Another example, Hulk Hogan often gets credit for selling out The Silverdome at 'mania 3. Would that have happened if he wrested Greg Valentine (Nothing against "The Hammer")? Probably not, that huge crowd had a lot to do with Andre, Savage vs. Steamboat, and the celebrities.

I understand that merch numbers are pretty easy to compare , but everything else seems to confuse me. I hope this has made sense. Again, thanks for input.

Side note: "I think both HHH and John Cena would take issue with it" Penguin, as far as I can remember HHH wasn't on the card. Is that right? Although, I do agree that HHH has issues. – Dom

I had a conversation with Penguin to discuss this question…

Penguin says:
The HHH was in reference to Shawn's Merchanidse sales as you could say he sold most of his merchanidse when he was in DX.
Penguin says:
So HHH would take issue for micheals getting merch credit and cena would with micheals getting WM credit.
Penguin says:
As far as what is drawing power? Well its totally subjective. I can remember being at WWF house shows in the 80's where ther ewas no chance in hell Hogan was showing up, and yet I was one of about 100 kids wearing Hulk Hogan gear. Even saw Hogan signs. So was Hogan drawing for a show he wasn't even on?
Steve "Bourbon Drinking God" Cook says:
I think I'm leaning towards your original suggestion of giving vince all the credit for drawing power
Penguin says:
It's all subjective. Maybe someone will pay 400 dollars just to get front row and meet carlito. These days I think feuds draw more than people. That's why I give Cena so much credit. People pay to both cheer and boo him. After that, we're just wrestling fans and we're paying for the show as a whole. Think about it. RAW tickets go on sale long before the card is announced, as do most ppvs.
Penguin says:
the WWE is drawing the fans, not their wrestlers
Penguin says:
that make sense?
Penguin says:
well in the early 80's when there were flyers advertising flair vs von erich (or whoever) ti was different
Penguin says:
now, I knew I was buying this year's wrestlemania after last year's. Just becaues I'm a wrestling fan and I know I'll enjoy it
Penguin says:
so yeah, I'd say vince gets the credit. The tickes are already sold to these events, he just has to make matches that get people to keep buying
Penguin says:
and apparently its working
Penguin says:
the reason i watch ecw now is because of collin olsen (delaney)....that doesnt really make him a DRAW though...or does it?
Penguin says:
yes it does
Penguin says:
who the hell would he be facing/

Drawing power is defined by Wikipedia as having recognition with the fans as a star, someone fans pay to see. It is my argument that wrestling fans more often than not don't go to a show just to see one person. But I recognize that some deserve more credit than others based off of merchandise sales and reactions from the crowd. The best way to tell this is to consider what things were like before the star was around, or after they left. I would argue that Steve Austin had huge drawing power because ratings and buyrates took off after he became a main eventer. Shawn was already there…so if a match with Shawn & Austin draws huge attention, credit needs to go to Austin, though of course I won't discount Shawn's role as the established champion that was trying to stay on top.

What do you think are some of the most heated feuds in wrestling? Ones that the two really hated each other? And not just those epic ones (Flair vs. Sting or McMahon vs. Austin). Two that come to mind for me are Macho Man vs. Jake the Snake and the Big Boss Man vs. Bobby Heehnan. – Greg P.

Here are the first six I could think of…

Freebirds vs. Von Erichs (the feud that defined World Class and Texas wrestling through the 1980s)
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (backstage was even more interesting than what they did in front of the cameras)
Fit Finlay vs. Steven Regal (this feud is a forgotten gem from mid-90s WCW…they had some kickass matches that really made you believe they hated each other)
Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan (as interesting as the backstage events were, their matches were vicious brawls that made you believe just like Finlay vs. Regal)
Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven
Sandman vs. Raven (two classic examples of why people think Paul Heyman is a booking god)

TheMidnightPunk has some questions…

Who's the youngest wrestler out there now? I don't mean kids who were just thrown into a storyline, I mean like 14 or 15 year old kids that went through wrestling training and all.

Kenny Dykstra is the youngest wrestler currently on television at the age of 21. Jay Lethal is 22 and started with ROH when he was 17 years old. The Briscoe Brothers started at the ages of 15 (Mark) & 16 (Jay) and are currently 23 & 24. CHIKARA's Tim Donst is 20. I don't know of anybody younger off the top of my head, but I'm sure that there is somebody out there.

1) Now that Jericho is back, do you think the Highlight Reel will come back?

Yes, I think it will.

2) Can you name all the talk shows that WWE has had?

I may be missing some that I haven't seen from back in the day, but these are the ones I can remember…

Rogers' Corner – Buddy Rogers
Le Brunch de Pat – Pat Patterson
Piper's Pit – Roddy Piper
The Body Shop – Jesse Ventura
The Flower Shop – Adrian Adonis
The Bobby Heenan Show - Bobby Heenan
The Snake Pit - Jake Roberts
The Brother Love Show - Brother Love
The Funeral Parlor - Paul Bearer
The Barber Shop – Brutus Beefcake
The King's Court – Jerry Lawler
Heartbreak Hotel – Shawn Michaels
The Love Shack – Dude Love
Café de Rene – Rene Dupree
The Highlight Reel – Chris Jericho
The Peep Show - Christian
Carlito's Cabana – Carlito
The Cutting Edge – Edge
MVP's VIP Lounge – MVP

Honorable mention goes to Tuesday Night Titans, which was an ode to late night talk/variety shows. Vince McMahon even got to sit behind a desk and act like David Letterman.

What happens to a wrestler who is wrestling and they have to go to the bathroom during their match? – Daniel

This is why you make sure that you go to the bathroom before your match. Most functioning adults can hold it in if nature calls.

Hey I was on Wikipedia and I looked up the page for Wrestlemania 24. I came across something interesting.

"The event will be the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Florida.[1] It will also be the second WrestleMania to be held entirely outdoors, the only other having been WrestleMania IX."

Maybe I am mistaken, but didn't Wrestlemania 8 and 19 take place outdoors? – Joshua

WrestleMania VIII took place in the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is an indoor facility. It may have looked outdoorsy to you because the dome has a white roof made of Teflon similar to the Metrodome in Minnesota. WrestleMania XIX took place at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington, which has a retractable roof. I'm 99% sure the roof was up during the show. So Wikipedia is correct with that statement.

I was thinking about the No Way Out elimination chamber matches today and it made me wonder about all the different ways that wrestlers are granted world championship shots these days. This is sports-entertainment... from the "sport" side, it is good to have a logical, cause-and-effect flow where winning matches matters in your chase for the ultimate prize. Do you ever see the WWE adopting a more rational system of declaring the number one contender on a regular basis, rather than just naming whoever the champion has beef with at the moment? Think about this:

JAN- at Royal Rumble, the winner of a 30-man over-the-top-rope battle royale gets a title shot at Wrestlemania.
FEB- at No Way Out, the winner of a 6-man elimination chamber gets a title shot at Wrestlemania.
MAR- at Wrestlemania, the winner of a 6-man Money in the Bank ladder match gets a title shot at the time and place of his choice.
MAY- at Judgment Day, the winner of a 16-man King of the Ring tournament gets a title shot at Vengeance.

That's just from the top of my head. I heard that Linda McMahon said the WWE was working on making the pay-per-views more distinguishable from one another, and one step towards that is by establishing each show as a predetermined "destination" for a feud. Every year the NCAA and NFL hold tournaments to determine who will play for their basketball and football championships and the Final Four and Super Bowl do pretty well in the ratings, so isn't this move kind of like borrowing from their playbook? I think it is. – Andrew Clark

See, now this guy smells what I'm cooking. I like the way you think, and it wouldn't take much effort on WWE's part to add to what they're currently doing it. I'm not sure that they'd actually go in this direction, but I like it.

I have a question about Finlay. If he's the Fighting Irishman how come he doesn't fly the Irish flag? After all Duggan has the Stars and Stripes and Bulldog carried the Union Jack while a face. I have three theories about this.

The first is semiotic; a non-American alone is harmless, a non-American with his flag is automatically an anti American heel. If Vince is right and he has educated the audience to react like Pavlov's Dog to certain stimuli then one result is a negative xenophobic reaction American WWE fans have developed whenever a foreigner flies his flag. Doesn't matter if they're not actually from where they're billed (Yokozuna, Rene Dupree). And they don't want to risk fans turning on a tweener/face like Finlay.

The second is political; Finlay is actually from Northern Ireland which is part of Great Britain. Despite making money for years as an "Irishman" he doesn't see himself as Irish or take pride in it and so wouldn't carry the Tricolour, the flag of the Republic of Ireland. Also WWE doesn't want to alienate or cause hostilities in the North or in the UK by identifying a Northern Ireland wrestler as a Republican. Interesting that Sgt. Slaughter carried the Iraqi flag during his turncoat stage but the flag of R.O.I. a neutral country could be far too incendiary to use.

The third is just that Finlay with his shillelagh, shamrocks and leprechaun has enough gimmicks without needing a flag as well. Or perhaps Belfast with its convoluted national identity is a little hard to market without a stereotyped vaguely Oirish gimmick. What do you and your readers think? – David from the Republic of Ireland

I think all three of your theories have some accuracy to them. Nobody in America takes offense to Ireland. We quite like your beer, as a matter of fact. Finlay is from Northern Ireland so the odds of him wanting to carry the Irish flag regularly are not very good. And he's already got a bunch of shamrocks on him and wears green, so everybody already knows where he's from. He already carries a shillelagh to hit people with, so he wouldn't even need a flag to do that.

Hey Steve, long time reader first time question asker. I was wondering if you knew how much Terry Funk footage the WWE has, and if you think he will ever get the career retrospective treatment? – Eric

I can't say for sure how much of the old Funker's career they have covered. We know they have all of Funk's WCW (late 80s-early 90s) & ECW stuff, along with his illustrious run as Chainsaw Charlie in the WWF and his mid-80s WWF run alongside his brother "Hoss". We know they have none of Funk's Japanese matches, and I seriously doubt there's much footage of the old Amarillo territory still out there, if any. There may be some random NWA title matches in WWE's library. I don't know if Terry will get his own DVD and I'm leaning towards "no" on the answer, but he certainly deserves it.

Nice job with the column. Can you tell me when Jeff Hardy last defended his Intercontinental championship? Does the 30-day rule still apply and, regardless, why do you think WWE isn't pursuing a separate program with that belt as the focus right now, especially with such talent at their disposal on the RAW brand? – Jennifer

Before this Monday, Hardy's last title defense was against WWE Champion Randy Orton on January 14, 2008. The 30 day rule as far as I can tell is only in effect when WWE wants it to be, like when somebody is injured. I guess once every 60 days isn't so bad…right? It seems like WWE hasn't put a full effort into pushing a program with any of their secondary titles in a long time, and I'm not really sure why. The best answer I can come up with is that since WWE is sports entertainment and not pro wrestling, it makes more sense to base storylines off of entertainment than things like titles…unless it's the WWE, World or ECW heavyweight titles, which are the main goal of any wrestler appearing on their given brand. It's kind of like how everybody watches the NCAA Tournament and every college basketball team wants to be there, but nobody outside of the schools involved watches the NIT Tournament and the teams involved would rather not be there but since they're there they'll give it the old college try. When your goal is to be WWE Champion, why settle for being Intercontinental Champion?

Long-time reader but first-time I've written in. Love the column by the way. I only have one question:

Who do you think will be remembered as the defining wrestler(s) of the 00s? In the 1980s it was Ric Flair, in the 1990s I'd say it's a toss-up between HBK and Bret Hart. But what about this decade? My contenders would be HBK, Kurt Angle and HHH. I was reluctant to include Hunter at first as I don't think he's had many "great" matches since 2001 other than those involving Shawn Michaels (which is therefore more a reflection on how good Shawn is). Having said that, he's obviously been dominant, headlined most PPVs and of course he had an incredible run in 2000 and first half of 2001. I guess a lot of people will see him as the biggest wrestler of the decade. But my pick would be Kurt given his body of work and the fact that he brought a new and fresh style to the ring. He was amazing in 2000-2003 and despite injury problems afterwards still had great matches with Lesnar, Eddie, Shawn, Taker, Rey etc. His work in TNA (in the ring at least) has also been excellent. But maybe choosing between him and Shawn is like choosing between Shawn and Bret. What do you think? Anyone else you would choose?

Please note that I'm talking about WRESTLING here, not the biggest draw or superstar. The defining star of the 1980s was obviously Hulk, in the 1990s it was Austin and this decade I think John Cena pretty much has it locked up (The Rock was bigger but he became part-time after 2001 and quit fully after 2004). – Joey

Two guys can be defining wrestlers of this decade if they are successful and have good matches in their respective promotions the next couple of years…Samoa Joe & CM Punk. They already got the indy love with their series against each other in 2004, and both have made progress since then. If they can continue to trend upwards, they could both be in that class.

Kurt definitely deserves consideration for his work in WWE, and his work in TNA lately hasn't been bad either. Hell, I think he plays his role well in the crap that he's given to work with outside the ring. I'll say the same for AJ Styles, and frankly I think most Internet pundits massively underrate Styles as far as his in-ring work goes. He's been one of my favorite wrestlers to watch this decade, I'll tell you that much. And everybody knows I'd love to cite Bryan Danielson as a defining wrestler of this decade, but he just hasn't had the exposure for me to really state my case with the lion's share of the audience.

Michaels & HHH can both make strong cases in my book, but you'll see strong arguments against both on the Net. The only thing I don't like about Michaels these days is that his chops are pretty embarrassing and he insists on using them over his punches. Triple H has had stretches where he looked like one of the top workers in the world, but he's also had stretches where he looked abysmal. Some would argue that John Cena will be the defining wrestler of this decade, and I think he very well could be. I think the answer to your question is somewhere in these three paragraphs, get back to me once 2010 rolls around and we'll see who it actually was.

Just wondering if you could pluck any wrestlers out of time in their prime and have a Royal Rumble match which wrestlers would you put in it and who would you want to be your winner? – Michael

I like to see some big wrestlers in the Rumble because it's tough to throw them out. So we're going to have Yokozuna, Vader, Undertaker, Big Show & Andre the Giant. Then we need some previous winners like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, The Rock & Triple H. Then I'd want to throw in some guys that never made it to the Rumble, like Bruno Sammartino, Buddy Rogers, Gorgeous George, Lou Thesz, the original Sheik & Bruiser Brody. Speaking of guys who haven't made it in yet, I also want Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Bryan Danielson & Sting. We'll fill up the rest of the roster with guys like Harley Race, Terry Funk, Jerry Lawler, Dusty Rhodes, Randy Savage, Cactus Jack, Crusher & Dick the Bruiser. That would make for an interesting cross-section of talent, I think.

As for who would win…I'd go with Andre. Dude never lost a battle royal unless Jake Roberts brought his snake down to the ring, and I don't see him on this list. That was a fun question to think about and my answers could change on any given day.

I have a question about real injuries and injury angles. Why do they set up matches or angles to explain a wrestler's absence from an injury when that match/angle could end up making it worse? For example, I remember from the Brian Pillman DVD. Austin had to attack Pillman's already messed up ankle. Austin himself admitted that he probably made it worse. When Rey Mysterio needed knee surgery, Chavo worked Rey's knee throughout their entire "I Quit" match. Why risk further injury or permanent damage by having wrestlers work the affected area? - John

They want to get footage on camera to help build up the wrestler's return and set up a feud with the wrestler that allegedly caused the injury. Usually promotions manage to do this without making the injury worse, but WWE really messed up just recently when they had Rey Mysterio work matches with Edge & Chavo Guerrero and get beat down by the Big Show after tearing his bicep. The injury became worse due to Rey's activity and now he will be out longer than originally thought.

Nick has three questions…

1.) I bought the 15th anniversary 3-dvd collection of Raw and during a shawn michaels match (I can't remember who it was against), he was going crazy after performing a move and celebrating, then all of a sudden he collapsed. Was he really injured, or was this just part of an angle? On that same dvd right after, they showed him making a speech on raw saying he had to stop wrestling and he was, from what it looked like, legitemately crying so I wasn't sure if this was an angle or there was any truth to the story. Can you shed some light on this for me? THanks.

Michaels was taking on Owen Hart when he collapsed. They discuss this on the HBK DVD, where it's made pretty clear that it was a work. The storyline was that Michaels was suffering from post-concussion syndrome, which developed after he was attacked at a nightclub in Syracuse and had to forfeit the Intercontinental title. If memory serves me correctly, the match with Owen was his comeback match from that.

The speech you refer to took place more than a year after that, in early 1997. Michaels was suffering from a knee injury at the time and was afraid that he wouldn't be able to recover from that. So he forfeited the WWF title and talked about how he lost his smile and had to get it back. This is also discussed on the HBK DVD and Michaels says that the injury was legitimate. This has been questioned throughout the years, but in any event he came back three months later.

2.) I've watched TNA a couple times and I have to say I am impressed with their women's division. It just seems that their moves run so much smoother, and I realize some of WWE's divas are improving, but what do you think the difference between the two are? It seems like the WWE divas wrestling skills or timing are lacking to that compared to TNA's Knockouts. Would you agree?

TNA brings in women that have experience wrestling in independent wrestling promotions while WWE (mostly, there are a couple of exceptions) brings in fitness & swimsuit models and makes them wrestlers on the job. TNA's Knockouts have more wrestling experience than WWE's Divas, so naturally their matches are usually going to be better executed. WWE & TNA have different philosophies behind their approach to women's wrestling. WWE would never bring Awesome Kong in because she doesn't fit in with what they promote women's wrestling as, but TNA brought her in and shaped their division around her. Some people like the Diva-style approach, others like the wrestling approach. And it should be pointed out that the wrestling approach is working for TNA, as matches featuring the Knockouts are consistently the highest-rated segments on Impact.

3.) I remember being at a live wrestling event when I was younger and the main event was Bret Hart against Yokozuna in a steel cage, and it was back when they used the old blue cage. When did they officially switch over to the fence type of cage and what was the reason for this switch?

If I remember correctly, they made the change stick in 1999, after the Austin/McMahon cage match where the blue cage was painted black. I think they were going for a grittier feel because that's what "Attitude" was all about, and the fence cage looked more hardcore than the big blue fun cage.

This is a ratings question. How is it possible for someone to know the age demoghraphics when compiling ratings. Example: the 18-34 demographic. How can they tell how old I am when I'm watching TV ? – Infamous Male

Nielsen does plenty of market research and they know the ages of the people watching televisions that they keep track of. They select a sample size of families that allegedly mirror the population at large and ratings are based off of what Nielsen families watch. Surveys like this have to be taken off of samples because monitoring what every single person in America watches would take way too much time. So unless you have a Nielsen box, they don't know how old you are. If you have one, they know.

Terry has two questions…

First, I love the column and try to catch it every week, even backtracking when I have to miss it due to life. Now that I have built up your ego onto the questions.

1. I know the Clique ruled the backstage area of the WWE during the mid 90's and protected thier spots and refused to put over other people. In the past couple of months however Jeff Hardy has clean wins over HHH at a PPV and HBK in the main event on Raw. He even kicked out of a pedigree at No Way Out. Do HHH and HBK believe that much in Hardy for this to happen or is Hardy joining a new version of the Clique?

Jeff Hardy is not joining a new version of the Clique, he's actually getting something called a "push". Well, at least he was, anyway...

2. How many other people do you know of that have clean wins over both HBK and HHH since they have become main eventers? I know Cena, Austin and Benoit(beating them in two consecutive triple threat matches, making HHH tap in the first one and HBK tap in the second one) but I cannot think of anyone else who has accomplished this.

This is a tough one because most of the people I can think of only faced Triple H or was a heel and cheated to beat Shawn Michaels. Clean finishes are not exactly a common thing in recent wrestling history. So I'm not coming up with anybody else off the top of my head.

Who,in your opinion,should retire Ric Flair at Wrestlemania? – Tim S.

Sting.

Yes, that's a serious answer. One of the feuds that defined the era of my watching professional wrestling was Sting vs. Ric Flair. I can think of nothing better than for it to climax with the retirement of Ric Flair. I know it wasn't in the cards for many different reasons, but you asked me my opinion and there it is.

And that's all we have time for this week! Send any questions, comments, corrections, concerns or porn to [e-mail], or if you're more comfortable with the comment section, use it and abuse it. Until next time, boooooooooooohica!