Ask 411 Wrestling 03.19.08: George Steele's Double Life, Teardrops, Wrestlers Singing and More!

Posted by Steve Cook on 03.19.2008

Including a question about the Macho Man! Jude Terror will be pleased.

It's time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I'm Steve Cook, and it's the most wonderful time of the year…MARCH MADNESS BABY!

What? There's something else going on in March other than college basketball? Who knew?

Anywho, it's time to get down to the business of answering some questions about the pro wrestling. The last comment thread was pretty epic, but 411 and my computer have been having a bit of a disagreement over the last few days. This happens every once in awhile…I reckon it has something to do with my browser not liking some sort of advertisement/spyware that pops up on the site. I tell Larry about it and he just goes "ahhhhhh" and ignores me. Typical!

I will say no more. As Domingo points out, I already have enough enemies to deal with. White pants are always acceptable, dang it.

Comments, Corrections & Other "C" Words

There was a conversation in the comment thread about the Pontiac Silverdome and whether it had a roof or not. For future reference, if the word "dome" is in the title of a sporting venue that means it has a roof. I enjoyed Ryan Byers' comment about the situation though…

It used to have a roof, brother, but when Hulk Hogan picked up and slammed that 5,000 pound nasty, stinky, wart-infested giant, he not only tore every muscle in his back but also created a tremor so massive that the roof of the Silverdome popped off and went in to orbit around the planet earth, brother. The slam was so mighty that Andre died before Hogan even finished lifting him off the ground.

There you have it.

Alex tells me Hornswoggle is 21. So when are he and the McMahons going to celebrate by going out on the town?

On the WrestleMania III Championship Edition DVD they air a Battle Royal from the March 14th Saturday Night's Main Event featuring Hogan and Andre ... Andre eliminated Hogan and everyone in the match ganged up to eliminate Andre later (Hercules won the match,last eliminating Billy Jack Haynes) ... it was a great way for Andre to look strong (Eliminating Hogan) but not invincible (Losing the match) leading up to WrestleMania III. – Keith

Steve: Andre did lose a battle royal without Jake or Damien and it was in WWF.
On the March 1987 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, most of the big WWF
superstars (including Andre and Hulk Hogan) participated. Andre threw Hogan out
which helped build up to their epic match at WrestleMania III. Shortly
thereafter, 8-10 wrestlers ganged up on Andre and tossed him over the top.

Incidentally, this match is famous for an accident that left one wrestler legit
bloodied on national TV. Andre hit Lanny Poffo with a brutal headbutt before
tossing him over the top rope. Poffo's entire face was bloodied and he had to
be escorted from ringside. Apparently, WWF didn't have the pan away option they
rely on when things get real. – Jason S.

Andre did loose one battle royal that I know of in the AWA. The storyline was
that Andre wanted to get his hands on Bobby Heenan. When Heenan entered the
Battle Royal, Andre started to chase him and Heenan eliminated himself by
jumping over the top rope and Andre, in a rage, pushed down the top rope and
eliminated himself to go after Heenan. They even did a follow up on it on All
Star Wrestling when Andre said he forgot all about the battle royal when he was
chasing Heenan and that he usually climbed over the rope to get in the ring.
Great, great stuff. – Cory

I think there was a long stretch in his career where Andre got entered in battle royals and won battle royal after battle royal. Maybe it was just something one of the Apter mags reported and I chose to believe as fact. My bad. I stand by my decision to have Andre win my dream Royal Rumble. As for who else I put over in my dreams…it's really none of your business, is it?

Regarding the Harley Race head in the clouds thing:

I happened to stumble upon this youtube video today, a jobber match with the Rockers from 1988. I was a little surprised to see the Harley Race graphic pop up around the 1:48 mark. – Quint

How about the Rockers coming out to some Priest? Hell yeah! Honestly, if you can't appreciate some Judas Priest I don't think I want to know you. And how about Monsoon denying any memory of Hulk Hogan injuring the King? Classic.

answer to TheMidnightPunk (sorry, mr cook, i just happened to know someone
younger in Japan)

the youngest main eventer i know is from Japan named Riho, a 12 year old from
Ice Ribbon, another joshi indy fed booked by Emi Sakura – Maria

Also, on the youngest wrestler, question Lum-Kaicho from DDT is somewhere
around ten years old. And she rules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RseGEw0sY1w- Guest

a neilson house has a box that is connected to the television and the phone
line. when you turn on your television, the box boots up. then, on the top of
the box you have 6 to 10 (depending on the size of the box) buttons, with each
one set to a member of the household as well as a button for 'everyone' and the
rest are blanks for any guests. (they don't count for demographics.)

when dad is watching wrestling with junior, then those buttons are pressed and
that information is sent via the phone line to neilson. same goes if mom and
little sister are watching 'the view' or 'the throbbing of my junk' or whatever
the hell the latest teen soap opera is called.

the information is sent every quarter hour, and does include when you watch
television, dvd or (if you are the unibomber0 VHS.

it is possible to boost your demos by simply lighting up every button, but in
the end, it isn't really worth it. you don't get a show canceled by doing it,
but you do put yourself at risk of having your participation terminated.

so in that respect, it is kinda like what casting a vote against DUBYA was last
election. pointless since it didn't count. – Darth Mortis

What channel is "The Throbbing of my Junk" on? I'd watch it depending on who the main character was.

Hulk Hogan has clean wins over HBK (summerslam '05) and HHH (backlash '02) – Nick

The win over HHH was not clean, Undertaker did a run-in and hit HHH with a chair.

Feuds? How about Dusty Rhodes against he Horsemen. Or maybe the decade long
Rock and Roll Express & Midnight Express feud. Lawler against Jimmy Hart. – SDJones

What do you think are some of the most heated feuds in wrestling? How could you
not mention Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich?! Probably the wildest and bloodiest
feud ever in wrestling - sadly, it seemed to destroy both mens careers.
Strangely, I still can't find any of their matches on DVD or even the Buzz
Sawyer screaming promos where blood would ooze from his freshly stitched wounds
because he was carrying on so bad. – Jay

Regarding Fit Finlay - theres a story of when he wrestled in Belfast in a
predominantly Protestant area against legendary British heel Mick McManus
supposedly as a face and got the biggest heel reaction of the night due to his
Irishness. He has been a member of a British faction in WCW with Regal, Taylor
and (I think) Chris Adams.

The WWE has stopped referring to him as being from "Belfast, Ireland"
- probably due to them not wanting to cause any unforseen problems at the
Odessey Arena in Belfast. That's one of those "Two thirds of the crowd
want to kill you, the other third want to buy you a drink" problems. – BlueMeanieUK

I wouldn't mind that as long as I met the one third after the show at the bar and didn't see the other two thirds there.

Regarding Finlay and the Flag... Finlay could very well walk down with an Irish
flag, but he does not claim to fight for any Irish principle (as far as I know)
and a more a representative of a tough, drinking Irish stereotype. Everything,
beyond the wrestler, in a match is a prop; the shillelagh, Hornswaggle, green
shamrock tights … all coded props of Finlay's that refer to his Irish-ness.
They are friendly, if not a little clichéd. But a flag, in itself, is
a political prop. When used in wrestling it is always used to stir heat for the
wrestler fighting for a politicized ideal. Duggan fought for American freedom,
Bret Hart for Canadian pride, both used their respective flags to props in
feuds against Cold War Commies or American Scum.

While there maybe some xenophobia towards foreign flags, its is always the
foreign heels' flag which becomes a prop for their fundamental other-ness,
and are generally excluded to non US allies or grey feuds with no real face (US
v. Canada, WWF circa '97). As Americans generally do not care about foreign
identity politics, and, as Finlay isn't in a political feud, or even touting
his Irish-ness (so much as representing it), carrying a flag-prop is
unnecessary. – Flair ManWoooooooooo

I like that the guy wanting to know the wrestler of the Decade wanted to keep it
only WRESTLING, but said HULK and STONE COLD were the wrestlers of their
respective decades. They don't give gold medals in the olympics for
pro-wrestling. Let's face it, it's all about drawing power. So how do you
figure Samoa Joe or CM Punk are candidates for wrestler of the decade? Maybe
next decade, but this is 2008 already. How many PPV's have either of them
headlined? You made a point about drawing power earlier in your column, how
much drawing power do either of them have right now? Sure they can fill up a
bingo hall full of smark kids in Philadelphia, but come on. Kurt Angle, maybe,
at least he deserves to be in the arguement. Cena, Edge maybe, hell even
Undertaker. I know everyone hates him, but HHH has to be the wrestler of the
decade so far. Matches with Foley, HBK, Cena, Rock, Stone Cold, he's had main
event programs with all of them. And I know, I only count WWE. Because that's
really what people watch in the U.S.. TNA is just a bunch of indy guys hoping
the WWE calls them and WWE rejects who hope the WWE calls them again. And ROH,
however good it might be, is still just a minor league who's guys are just
hoping for that same call the TNA guys are waiting for. – regent

I think you missed the entire point of the question. Drawing power does not factor into the equation of what the questioner was looking for, and I don't consider it when I'm thinking about who the top wrestlers of a given era are. Call me a workrate geek…I've been called much worse.

The fact that I really don't care about what most people like has gotten me in trouble on more than one occasion.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you guys about which wrestlers defined their decade.
My list would be Hulk Hogan for the 80's, NWO's Hall and Nash for the 90's, and John Cena for the 00's. – Alan Thomas
In the Samoan Language, the "G" Sounds like "NG",Therefore,
Regal is the Only WWE Superstar that pronounces Umaga (Umanga)'s name
correctly. Furthermore, if you heard the Rock in this year's HOF vignette about
his grandfather, he pronunces his heritage as "Sa'amoan" which is the
proper pronunciation. I think is hilarious in that same vignette to see Old
Chief Peter Maivia saying aloha! as the proper Saamoan term would be
"Talofa" G(Greetings, hello etc) And lastly, Umaga does curse in
samoan at every TV he participates in and counts the pinfall in samoan every
time he wins (Tasi, Lua & Tolu)

Fa'afetai lava (Thanks) – Jose from Orlando

This didn't even come up in the column, but I think it'll be useful for future reference. VIVA UMANGA~!

Bathrooms:

In one of the shoots he done with Heenan for ROH, Cornette says that when guys
would do lengthy matches (especially hour long ones) they would often have to
brawl to the back so someone could take a piss. Good times. – Guest

Questions!

Love your column on 411, its a must read for me. I was thinking about Ric Flair's 16 title reigns and I was hoping that HHH would politic his was to get the same amount. But I realized that the total amount of time he has held the title for must be way beyond what HHH has done so far in his carrear. I then got to thinking, and I hope your the man to ask this too, but if you take all major companies into consideration, which pro wrestler has been a world champion for the longest amount of time if you add together all their major world title reigns? Id imagine Flair has to be close to the top of that list. – Tom Pasquale

Here's your historical top 5:

Verne Gagne: 4,690 days as AWA Champion
Bruno Sammartino: 4,040 days as WWWF Champion
Lou Thesz: 3,749 days as NWA Champion
Ric Flair: 3,744 days as NWA, WCW or WWF Champion
Hulk Hogan: 3,362 days as WWF or WCW Champion

And here are the top 5 that will still be active after WrestleMania:

Triple H: 876 days as WWE or World Champion
John Cena: 793 days as WWE Champion
Kurt Angle: 577 days as WWE, World or TNA Champion
Batista: 499 days as World Champion
Sting: 468 days as NWA, WCW or TNA Champion

If Jeff Jarrett comes back, he will be on top of that list, leading Triple H by a bit less than two hundred days. Lou Thesz's number of days could be considered a bit off if you include three NWA title reigns credited to him prior to 1948, when the NWA was actually founded. He still wouldn't have enough days to pass Gagne. To answer your original point, Triple H has a looooooooong way to go to match up with the Nature Boy. And let's face it, if he actually tried to match Flair's days as champion business would go into the toilet. I like Triple H, but it's true.

Do you ever recall a larger number of fans cheering a dq/countout finish on a ppv title match than the one Orton received just by bitch slapping the ref at No Way Out? Obviouly I am bias, but even I said "yeah!" when the ref called for the bell. – Ryan

I'll give you one non-finish on PPV that got a bigger response than most things I've seen…the scene was Judgment Day 1998. Undertaker was facing Kane for the vacant WWF title, and Steve Austin was placed in the role of guest referee. Austin, being Austin, decided to attack both men, count them out and declare himself the champion. The crowd went nuts until Vince McMahon appeared and fired Austin for his insolence. This led to "Bang 3:16", which happened the next night on Raw.

OK, here's another one…Unforgiven 1998. Steve Austin vs. Dude Love. Austin got disqualified after Vince McMahon got hit with a chair. The fans went crazy. Of course, the fact that I'm citing examples from 1998 indicates that you made a pretty good point with your question.

Which move would you say has the biggest chance of getting someone over ?

(Do you get paid for writing articles ?) – Rob

It's not so much the move as it is who does it and who they do it to. I thought Petey Williams' Canadian Destroyer was a move that could get anybody over big time, but then Trevor Murdoch did it a couple of times in WWE and it got very little reaction. Now, that may have been because it was pretty ugly both times he did it, but it still disproved my theory. I'm a guy who always marks out whenever somebody does a Space Flying Tiger Drop, but not everybody is wired the same way. Or even if they do like the move, they forget about it ten seconds later. Shawn Michaels finishes his matches with a superkick. Half the WCW roster used a superkick as a finish at one point in the 90s, and other guys use more impressive kicks as transition moves. But Sweet Chin Music is one of the most over moves in wrestling because it's Shawn Michaels' finisher and most of the people taking it put it over like a million bucks.

Larry Csonka replied to your question with "the heart punch". I pointed out that Crush used it and it didn't get over. He said Crush sucked, which I thought was pretty insulting to my girl Gina Carano.

To answer your second question, no I don't. I think you included that in parenthesis because you didn't think I would be comfortable discussing such a thing in public, but my life is an open book. I do get occasional freebies, so I can't complain too much…unless I find out that Stephen Randle makes 100,000 a year for his lackluster column, then it's on like Donkey Kong. But yeah…the next time somebody wants to bitch me out for not watching a wrestling show, they should take into account that this isn't how I make my living. Believe me, if Larry & Ashish paid me to watch wrestling, I'd be watching Raw, ECW, Smackdown, Impact, AM Raw, Spanish Raw, AAA, Internet Heat, anything else on TV with bells on.

Here's a question I've never been able to get a good answer on...

How much is a WWE Developmental Contract usually worth? I'm sure it varies a bit, but I have no idea where it starts. I ask because I hear a lot of people say "oh, he can make more in the indies than in developmental"...and I wonder if that's true or not. – ICTimer

The subject of WWE developmental contracts came up during ROH's Straight Shootin' with Samoa Joe & CM Punk. Punk commented about how other indy wrestlers were jumping at three year deals for $500 a week, and both he & Joe said they were making more money in the indies. They did point out that not everybody was in that same boat. I don't know if Punk took one of those $500 a week deals or if he got a better deal by holding out. I'm sure he's doing better than that now that he's wrestling on ECW & Smackdown almost every week. So basically the top indy guys make more than the developmental guys, but the majority of the indy guys don't.

Patrick has three questions…

1. Is there a reason Jericho does the Walls more like a plain Boston crab as opposed to the Lion Tamer in WCW? I know the WWE is known for making their wrestlers change their styles, could this be why? Or is it too dangerous on the neck? I thought it looked much more painful in WCW, not to mention a more legit finisher.

The answer's pretty simple when you think about it…Jericho spent most of his WCW stint in the cruiserweight division. The people he faced there were a bit more flexible than the people he's faced in WWE. Could you imagine Jericho managing to bend JBL in half like he did Juventud Guerrera back in the day? Of course not.

2. Can Bret wrestle at all, even if its to train? I was wondering if he was interested in re-opening Stu's dungeon.

I don't think Bret is physically able to do much in the way of wrestling due to his stroke, and he doesn't seem to have any interest in training prospective wrestlers.

3. I know WWE has the rights to a whole lot of Sting footage, allowing them to make a dvd, but can they have Sting in a WWE video game as a legend?

I consider the proposition of Sting appearing in a WWE video game highly unlikely as long as he's under contract with TNA. What they could do (and have done before with other wrestlers) is include some of his mannerisms and moves in the create-a-wrestler section and let the fans make their own Sting.

PJ has two questions…

1. How many other wrestlers do you know of that sing/sung their own theme songs at one point in their careers(including Shawn Michaels). HBK is the only one that I know of.

John Cena sang two songs he used as theme music; "Basic Thuganomics" & "The Time Is Now". Michael Hayes sung "Badstreet USA". Junkyard Dog sung "Grab Them Cakes", which was on The Wrestling Album that also had Hillbilly Jim singing "Don't Go Messin' With A Country Boy". Eddie & Chavo Guerrero sung "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal", which was on the WWE Originals CD that featured music sung by WWE wrestlers. Rey Mysterio sung a version of Booyaka 619. Ron Killings sung "Get Rowdy" in his first WWF stint and "What's Up?" in TNA. Jeff Hardy sung "Modest", which was his theme music in TNA. Konnan sung his theme song in WCW & I'm pretty sure he sung the original theme music for the Latin American Xchange, but I couldn't find song titles for those. I guarantee that I'm missing somebody. Men on a Mission!

2. What in your opinion is the best promo of all time by any person ever? Please post a video link if you can find one to this promo.

In my humble opinion, I think the argument for greatest promo of all time (that I've seen) comes down to two promos:

Cane Dewey - Cactus Jack

Hard Times - Dusty Rhodes

After viewing them back to back, I gotta go with Dusty. He really tapped into the problems that regular Americans were facing at the time (and still face today) and worked it seamlessly into his angle with Ric Flair and how Flair brought hard times on the American Dream. I also dig Dusty's suit.

Ok...I was just watching the 1991 Royal Rumble....it has just started and right around the time after Dino Bravo gets eliminated.... I cant help but notice a young looking Shane McMahon outside being a ref. Am I crazy...or is that really Shane McMahon wearing a referee shirt!??!! I know about his appearence at Wrestlemania 8 when he tried to get Elizabeth away from ringside..but other then that I wasnt aware that Shane O mac had ever been on WWE TV. So my question is .....Is that Shane and has he ever been a referee for the WWE? (Besides anything he did after 1998-99.) – Gbutter

You are not crazy…Shane worked as a referee on occasion in 1990 and 1991 under the name Shane Stevens. He was in college at the time, so he wasn't able to be at most of the shows. Once he graduated in 1993 he started working behind the scenes full time.

I've been watching wrestling for over 30 years. One of my all time favorites was George "The Animal" Steele. The rumor was that he was actually a college professor in Pittsburgh, that's why he only wrestled during the summer and spring break. Was that rumor true? – Carmen from Philly

Steele was a high school physical education teacher and football/wrestling coach for at least twenty-five years at Madison High School in Madison Heights, Michigan. His biography indicates that he retired from coaching football in 1985, which would explain why he became a full-time performer with the WWF in the mid to late 80s. But during the prime of his career he only wrestled when he wasn't busy at school. Manu Bumb brought up George Steele one time for reasons I can't remember, and I commented about how his lack of in-ring time was probably a major reason why he remained over for so many years. He didn't get over-exposed because he just appeared during the summer, did his deal and left. I can think of several wrestlers today who could benefit from a similar schedule.

I was watching Monday night RAW this past week (2/25/2008) and the main event featured John Cena and Triple Hiatch tagging. God forbid, but Triple Hiatch was playing face in peril and was looking for a tag from Cena, and when he finally tagged Cena, Cena's arm was sticking out from under the top rope, between the top and second rope. I thought you were only allowed to tag from the top rope as almost 100% of tags are wrestlers reaching over the top rope for a tag. Is there a general rule for where you can tag, does it have to be over the top rope? (Oh Cena also was holding the string on the turnbuckle while tagging, old school!) – Lester

I don't think there's a rule on where your tagging hand has to be, but wrestlers generally place their arm above the top rope because it makes the most sense from a visual & comfort level. Say what you will about John Cena, but I don't think you can deny that he has an unorthodox way of doing most things in the ring, including the occasional tag between the middle & top rope.

I was just watching the Shawn Micheals DVD and at the part in the DVD where they reflect on the McMahons vs. HBK and God match Triple H makes the comment that of course he didn't think Shawn would go for the whole thing and then he said not only was it hilarious but it was and I quote "classic stuff". Now the question I have is what the hell does that mean? I'm not a wrestling historian in terms of the way things are booked and philosphies of how the story is told, but I can't fathom how such a thing like wrestling God is a classic storyline in any way. As a wise man once said "Whats up wit dat!?" – Justin

It means that Triple H has a peculiar sense of humor. Hey, I'm sure there were people out there that thought the Vince/God stuff was hilarious. The ratings and buyrates around the time would tell you that there weren't very many people that did…but like Vince said on the DVD, it will likely never happen again.

I was watching Forever Hardcore and they had several old XPW matches on it. During a couple of them, one of the announcers would yell at the other "Who the hell are you?!" then, after calling him Rivera a few times, yell "Why the hell am I calling you Rivera?!"

Do you have any idea what angle they were trying to pull? – Jesse

I have no earthly idea, especially since the announcer being yelled at was named Larry Rivera and he was being yelled at by a man by the name of Kris Kloss. Sometimes it's just better not to think too much about XPW angles. OK, most times. OK, all the time. My best guess is that they were doing something where Rivera had quit or left XPW and he was replaced by a guy named Chico that mysteriously looked and sounded like Rivera. Yeah, I don't get the point either.

I have always wondered why WWE often edits out the image on the Titan Tron when they publish photos showing it in the background. When they do so, it is usually just a black/gray screen. Do you have any idea why? I know it shows up in the photos because I have taken plenty of photos at WWE events and it always shows up in mine... – Brian

They don't want to distract you from what they took the picture of with something else shown in the background. The picture just looks better with a large black screen or something of that nature that isn't too distracting.

I was watching a SNME right after Wrestlemania VII and was royally confused. Macho Man was interviewing Sgt. Slaughter as a full-fledged heel. This of course was right after the 'Retirement' match he lost against Warrior Warrior, at the end of which he was reunited with Elizabeth and left to a standing ovation. I thought he was an instant face afterwards, but I guess not. He of course would become one by Summerslam that year and was reinstated to feud with Jake Roberts. My question is, was his post WM VII face turn planned all along do you think, and if so why did they keep him heel right after WM and for a few months before the Summerslam wedding? – Red

They weren't going to turn Savage right after his retirement because it wouldn't have made sense. The Macho King had spent the past couple of years feuding with fan favorites like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior & Dusty Rhodes, so why would he just become friends with them overnight? See, back in the old days promoters didn't just flip flop wrestlers' face/heel affiliation overnight unless there was a damn good reason. My memory is fuzzy on this, but I think Savage did a slow face turn on commentary over the few months after WM VII, and became accepted as a babyface when he proposed to Elizabeth. The face turn was planned all along, and they kept him a heel at first because it made more sense to drag out his turn over time.

I've got a quick question for your column. Whatever happened to the Undertaker's teardrop tattoo. Did he get it removed, or was it just painted on all along? – Andrew

It was painted on. If you look closely during some of his matches where he has the teardrop during 1997, you can tell that it fades a little bit during the match due to perspiration.

Scott has two questions…

Howdy Steve - can you shed some light on Jesse
Ventura's relationship with the WWE? His commentary
was included in the bigger compilation DVD sets, but
on profile sets that came out later, his commentary is
still edited out. For example, his commentary is
omitted from the Austin vs Pillman match from 1993 on
the new Stone Cold DVD. Any idea why this is?

My theory is that they keep Jesse's commentary off of releases that it isn't absolutely necessary on so they don't have to pay him royalties. Due to the conditions of a lawsuit that Ventura won, WWE has to give him a percentage of the sales when they use his commentary on a home release. He has been included in the various Anthology releases and recent releases featuring people like Hulk Hogan because he appears on multiple matches and his commentary was integral to a good number of the matches. If they only plan on having one or two matches on a home release that would have Jesse's commentary on it, they leave him off so they don't have to pay him. It makes sense from their perspective, even though people like us complain about it.

Also - any idea why there has not been a Survivor
Series DVD set issued? We've long past the 20th
aniversary. Do you think the inclusion of the Montreal
Screwjob has had an effect on that decision?

I don't think the Montreal Screwjob has had anything to do with that decision. What does is the fact that Survivor Series is considered #4 in importance out of the four PPV events WWE has produced since the 1980s. WrestleMania is #1, then SummerSlam & Royal Rumble battle for #2 and you'll get a different answer on which one is more important depending on who you ask (I say the Rumble simply because I love the Royal Rumble match), and then Survivor Series is #4. So the WrestleMania, Royal Rumble & SummerSlam Anthologies would naturally be higher on WWE's to-do list. Survivor Series will likely be covered within the next couple of years.

Ray J has two questions…

1. Why did Invader 1, the wrestler who murdered Bruiser Brody, never went to prison? Also why did WWC still employ Invader 1 afterwards? Did American wrestlers refuse to take bookings from WWC afterwards and if so who were some of the bigger names.

Because Puerto Rico's legal system is pathetic. I wrote a bit on the Brody murder in a long ago edition of News From Cook's Corner…I'd link you to it but I can't find it and 411 keeps shutting down on me. Jose "Invader 1" Gonzales claimed that his murder of Brody was a matter of self-defense. The jury bought it, and it didn't help that several wrestlers who were there were never asked to testify. WWC still employed him because he was in good with promoter Carlos Colon, and if we're being perfectly honest here Brody could be difficult to work with if you were a promoter. I have read that there were a number of wrestlers that refused to work for WWC after the murder, but I've never found a list.

2. With UWF being played on espn classic, it reminded me something I heard a while back and I wondered if it was true. Did Herb Abrhams pay Dr. Death Steve Williams to "shoot" on Steve Ray during a televised match because Steve Ray was have an affair with Abrhams wife? If so what was the story behind it?

According to an interview with former UWF booker & Vice President Zoogz Rift, it was…

I'm not sure if you were with the company when it happened, but do you know if the Steve Ray-Steve Williams match that was taped at Hotel Pennsylvania and aired in May 1991 was a legitimite shoot?

Rift: It was. Steve Ray allegedly screwed Herb in a drug deal, and Herb had the impression that Steve was fooling around with Herb's wife (he wasn't), so Herb paid Steve Williams an extra $100 to break Steve Ray's nose during the match. Wrestling knows no morals, sadly. I like both Steves on a personal level (Steve Ray is also a big fan of my albums, so it never hurts to get one's ass kissed...lol...), so I hate to see that kind of shit happen. With me in charge, I would NEVER have allowed that to happen. Herb respected me, and would even ocassionally listen to me.

I'm not sure how much you can trust a man named Zoogz, but there you have it.

I've got a vague recollection of an incident on Raw a few years back where a wrestler gave out a phone number as part of a promo. It turned out the number he gave was actually another wrestler's cell phone (as a rib), and tons of people called it, forcing the wrestler to change his number.

For the life of me, I can't remember who was involved (although I think it *might* have been Val Venis whose number was given out) or why the phone number was given out in terms of the story line.

Does this sound familiar at all, or I am hallucinating again? – Dennis

Al Snow's dog Pepper had gone missing, and Al wanted to find him. So he printed up a poster with Pepper's face and put a phone number on it so people could contact him with information. Of course, Al is quite the ribber so he decided to put Val Venis's cell phone number on the poster for shits and giggles. Val got hundreds, maybe thousands of phone calls afterwards, so he had to change his number to stop the insanity. Of course, the insanity didn't stop there, as Big Bossman fed Al some Pepper Steak on that week's Smackdown, which eventually led to the Kennel from Hell match. The less said about that debacle, the better. Come to think of it, the whole thing sounds like a hallucination even though it actually happened. For a reference point, Snow displayed the poster on the August 30, 1999 edition of Raw, and ate Pepper on the September 2, 1999 edition of Smackdown.

Bryan closes things up with two questions…

in the days of the NWA and its champion travelling
place to place, how come Ric Flair never defended the
belt in Memphis. Flair VS Lawler in the 80's would
have gotten HUGE money...how come they never did that.

Apparently Flair vs. Lawler for the NWA title took place on at least one television show...

One and only appearance of Ric Flair on Memphis TV as Lawler cons him into a World Title Match Live!

Soon afterwards, the Memphis organization decided to affiliate itself with the AWA and recognize their champion as the World Champion. They did this simply because Lawler was not going to get the support needed from the other NWA promoters to ever get a chance at being NWA champion.

my second question, is ...has the WWE ever done a big
PPV in the Superdome? Its been mostly repaired after
Hurricane Katrina...and even before thAT...i dont
recall the WWE ever doing a show there. Any idea?

I couldn't find record of WWE ever doing a show in the Superdome. Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling used to hold wrestling shows there four times a year in the late 1970s and early 1980s that generally drew very well. WCW would later hold one of its Clash of the Champions events there, which was notable for featuring a 2 out of 3 fall match between Ricky Steamboat & Ric Flair that is widely considered one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time. WCW also held a couple of editions of Monday Nitro there in the late 1990s. I don't know why WWE hasn't moved in there since, but I wouldn't rule it out in the future.

Hey Steve, wonderful post! Now, I know that WWE owns the big three: AWA, WCW, ECW. My question is what other territories do they own? All I can think of is World Class and Florida. That leaves tons of great footage out there waiting to be achieved. Thanks for your answer. - F

Wikipedia tells me that WWE has access to the following tape libraries that you didn't mention:

Central States Wrestling
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling
Eastern States Wrestling/Jim Crockett Promotions
Ohio Valley Wrestling

Well, that's all we have time for this week. Send any questions, thoughts, comments, or porn to [e-mail]. If you'd like to comment down in the comment section, that'd be groovy as well. Until next time, booooooooooooohica!