Ask 411 Wrestling 07.23.08: Movies, Mags, Misterio, More!

Posted by Chris Lansdell on 07.23.2008

Hey, the alliteration worked for the last guy! Join me as I enlighten the masses and attempt to fill a VERY large pair of shoes.

Greetings, humanity! Welcome to the all-new Ask411 Wrestling with your all-new host, Chris Lansdell! Allow me to start by saying that I realize how large the shoes are that I have to fill. Cook did a tremendous job with this column and managed to make his answers factual and amusing at the same time, a difficult balance to strike. I'd also like to give a shout-out to Da Penguin, who is not on my MSN list and therefore will likely not be appearing here. I'm not important enough for high-fliers like him.

That said I'm looking forward to this. Ask411 was what brought me to this site in the first place, so when the opportunity arose I jumped on it. One ground rule, to make my life easier: If you have a question, please email me. I'd prefer it if the comments section was left for corrections and reader responses. If questions are asked in comments, I can't guarantee I'll see them.

BANNER! Oh, right, I don't have one yet. Soon, my children, soon. In the meantime, bask in the glory that is....



From the peanut gallery...

Thanks for all the answers, Steve!!!!

And welcome to Ask, Chris!

Posted By: Clyde (Guest)  on July 16, 2008 at 12:45 AM

Thank you for the welcome, and I second you on the thanks. This sentiment was echoed by many in the comments, and I dare say I can speak for Cook and thank you all on both our behalves.

Just so you know Goldberg had one other clean pinfall loss. and it wasn't at all controversial (i'm referring to the lowblow you mentioned.) During WCW's final year, Goldberg faced Booker T for the WCW world title. I saw the match. It actually was a decent match and Booker won after using the Harlem side kick and following up with the book end. The kick was with the leg that had a brace on the knee. But I don't think that would be enough to consider it a non-clean finish.

Posted By: nick (Guest)  on July 16, 2008 at 12:44 AM

A few other commenters mentioned this, and I too remember the match. I wasn't a big Nitro fan by that point, but I do remember thinking "What the front door???" when it happened.

i also heard that Hogan vs. Tyson at WM6 was an idea as well.

But Hogan vs. Zeus would have been so horrible.

WM6 really is a one match show.. That match being Hogan vs. Warrior. Could you imagine how shitty that card would have been if it was instead headlined by Hogan vs. Zeus??

Posted By: timmy (Guest)  on July 16, 2008 at 09:41 PM

I don't remember hearing about Hogan-Tyson. It's possible, since Tyson was nearing the peak of his popularity in late 1989 when Vince would have been planning the card, but Tyson's descent into notoriety and his loss to Buster Douglas in February 1990 (just 6 weeks before Mania) may well have soured Vince on the idea. Any card with Zeus would have sucked. Period.

So who gets the dubious honour of being my first Ask411 customer? Mr. HitEmUp, if that's your REAL name, come on down!

A couple questions:
1. What wrestler have you herd do you think has done the most drugs that you have herd of?

RVD.
No, seriously...it depends on your definition of drugs. If you're talking steroids, then Scott Steiner, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy all have to be up there. Possibly Test. If you're talking narcotics, you can pretty much take your piq from the Kliq, and of course there's Jake "The Pickled Snake" Roberts. As for painkillers, Jeff Hardy, Dynamite and Kurt Angle spring to mind.

2. Who is the craziest wrestler you have herd of? ex Dynamite kid

The answer "Anyone on the FMW roster" is too easy, but it's probably accurate. Hayabusa, Leatherface, Terry Funk, Sabu and Atsushi Onita all rank pretty high, or low depending on the way you look at it, on the batshit crazy scale.

Oh you meant outside the ring? Well there's Iron Sheik, of course. Warrior Warrior deWarrior von Warrior McWarrior van den Warriorsburg of Warrior Warriorville is also quite the kook.

3. Why did Danny Davis have tanned pants on at the house show in
the Boston Garden in 1986 when Savage beat Tito for the title.

Because black pants were so 1985? Really, I have no good answer for this, and from what I've been able to tell he was the only ref who wore them. Readers?

4. At a MSG show during a Tito-Savage match also, why did (or do you think) the ref had a towel in his back pocket the whole match?

Must...resist...gay...Jeff Hardy...joke...
That's better. I don't have access to the old MSG shows so I can't see if this was a usual thing, but it could have been in case of blood, or possibly it was just REALLY hot?


Taj stretches my brain with some great questions.

1) What are the origins of The Rock using the Sharpshooter? Was there any reason, like he needed a submission move for a submission match (like Cena's STFU) or was it just something that he adopted for the sake of it?

The Rock first used the Sharpshooter (barring house shows) at Survivor Series: Deadly Game, which featured a one-night tournament to crown the WWF Champion after Austin-Vince shenanigans forced it to be vacated. Going into the tournament The Rock was just starting to be mega-over as a face, but was very much behind Austin in that regard. Vince had started showing the same "screw you" tendencies to The Rock, making him the fan's choice to win. Meanwhile, Mankind was being portrayed as the Corporate Representative in the tournament, being given Duane Gill as a first round opponent. Rocky won his first round match in 4 seconds over Corporate bodyguard Boss Man, and intercepted a nightstick thrown into the ring to win his second round match with Ken Shamrock, also of the Corporation. The finals pitted Mankind against the Rock, and everyone thought it was Vince's boy Mankind against fan favourite The Rock. When Vince surrounded the ring with his cronies, that's the way it seemed to be playing out, until Rocky had Mankind down, looked at Vince and raised one eyebrow. He locked in the Sharpshooter, Vince called for the bell, and we had possibly the first reliving of Montreal, one year later.

That went longer than I thought.

2) About a BAJILLION times during Wrestlemania XIX, Jerry Lawler plugged "Wrestlemania: The Movie", as it was being filmed during the show. Then, as I was watching The Rock DVD, in the montage before his match against Austin at WM XIX, they show him standing in the ring, in the empty arena, looking up at a screen that is showing the pre-match montage. Also, as he is walking away from the ring, they show a shot of that little clapper thingy. Was this footage from "Wrestlemania: The Movie"? And, whatever happened to the movie? Was it ever released, or did it just die in its tracks?

It was released as a part of the WrestleMania XX set, renamed "The Mania of WrestleMania". It's pretty damned good. As for that footage, if memory serves it's in there.

3) During the Ultimate Warriors first runs as Intercontinental and WWF Champion, he had a variety of different coloured belts. I remember a Yellow Intercontinental one and a White and Light Blue World title. Was there any reason for this, or was it just because Warrior was such a colourful character, and the belts reflected that? Also, were the belts all different belts, or were the plates of the original World Title just transferred to different leather straps? And, if they were different belts, is there any idea where they eventually ended up?

Although it might have been the first instance of customised belts, it certainly wasn't the last. HBK had a white-strap IC belt, Austin had the Smoking Skull Belt, and of course Cena's two spinner belts and Edge's rip-off version. Hell, HHH even had his own belt made for him. Basically, WWE has often made belts to suit character, but it wasn't done before Warrior. Well, it might have been, but Hogan was never far from the title so the version that was around then may well have been tailored for him.

I know that Warrior kept the yellow-strap one for sure, since it was recently offered for sale. Austin was allowed to keep the skull belt too, so it would not surprise me if Warrior has all the belts he held.


Will is apparently a TNA fan. We won't hold that against him though.

1. Do you think anyone currently in TNA should more often host their own interview segment similar to Piper's Pit and The Highlight Reel?

Despite having a few good candidates for it (Eric Young would be AWESOME, so would Curry Man), I don't think so. They have a hard enough time fitting everyone and everything in as it is.

2.If TNA were to add a former wrestler to the broadcast table permanently, who would like to see become a color commentator?

Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash or Raven would all be great.

3. Aside from Starcade 83's Dog Collar Match between U.S Champ
Greg Valentine and Roddy Piper, are the any other real good Dog Collar matches you recommend to watch? I remember one in TNA with Raven and I think it was Abyss (could be wrong) but any other greats?

They're not my cup of tea, but CM Punk and Raven had some classic ones in early Ring of Honor days that cemented Punk as an Indy darling. The Pitbulls also had a couple of good ones in ECW, as you'd expect.

My first Manu Bumb questions! I've arrived!

When did Taz(z) and undertaker wrestle? I'm still watching SSlam 2004, and its the JBL/Taker match, and taz(z) just said he's wrestled the undertaker and lost to him. Was it some tag match, or did they actually have a televised match?

While it lasts, you can see one here. Kane, Taker and Tajiri (now there's a team...) vs. Dudleyz and Tazz.

2. And side-question - do you think the original ECW Taz could've had a believable match with the undertaker? I'd love to see that.

Not zombie-no-sell-impervious-to-pain Undertaker, no. The more recent Deadman version who actually shows pain, yes. Taz had some great matches with Bam Bam Bigelow, and Taker is just as athletic. The way Angle-Taker was built, with Angle making Kane tap and almost doing the same to Taker, could have worked just as well with Taz throwing Undertaker around like nobody before him. Would have been great to see. I miss Taz in the ring.

kragarsdad is getting a sense of déjà vu:

So the Internet is buzzing with the happy news that CM Punk is being giving a title run. At the same time Kofi Kingston is IC champ, and the tag belts are held by young up-and-comers. Everyone is claiming that WWE is finally doing the right thing.

For some reason, I want to say that this seems very familiar. It seems like every couple of years the E tries to give the title belts to popular young wrestlers, like they're trying to create a new generation, and yet it falls apart. I'm thinking of RVD getting the title, and Benoit and Guerrero before that, but I don't remember who was holding the other belts at that time.

Can you think of any other times when the E has had most of the title belts on the younger generation of stars?

Well RVD, Guerrero and that other dude were not exactly young when they won their world titles. They were all the same age, in fact: 36.

Nevertheless, I honestly can't think of a time where the majority of champions in the company had been there for 3 years or less. Not only that, but of the current champions only Mark Henry is over 270 pounds.

Some Hogan questions from Robbie C.

A few questions, hope I don't take up too much of your time.

Was reading where you talked about Nash beating Goldberg and how Nash had booked himself into that spot. I seem to recall there was speculation that one reason Hogan agreed to let Goldberg beat him for the WCW title was that he would eventually be the one to end Goldberg's streak. Is that true and if so, what happened to change that because I can't see them letting an agreement with Hogan go at that point in time. Later? Yeah, but not right then.

A popular rumour with no basis in fact. Much like the one that says Westerfeld is funny. Hogan knew he would get the title back, which is all he really cared about.

Also, on the new Ric Flair DVD set, he said that when he lost the "retirement" match to Hogan at Halloween Havoc '94, that he was supposed to be gone for a year, but was back inside of two months because the person Hogan was supposed to be facing wouldn't lay down for Hogan or didn't want to mess with him at all. Is he talking about Vader? Cause I don't remember Hogan ever beating Vader cleanly except for walking out of the cage at Bash at the Beach '95. And if it wasn't Vader, do you have any idea who it might have been and were there other WCW wrestlers balking at the thought of working with Hogan and if so, do you know who?

Well there's a mixing of two stories here I think. Both Rick Rude and Vader, who were both at the top of the WCW card at the time Hogan came in, both refused to work with Hogan. This was the reason behind Flair and Hogan feuding almost right away.

Flair's comeback was due to the bookers wanting him in a program with the newly-hired Randy Savage, but they also used it as a way to get Vader out of the feud he was in with Hogan by costing him a strap match with Vader.

Patrick M. brings us an eclectic assortment of three questions.

1. Now that Benoit and Angle are no longer with WWE, who would you say is the best pure wrestler in the company?

Tough call, since pure wrestling isn't really spotlighted much on the air. HBK, Chris Jericho, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, CM Punk, Finlay, William Regal, Triple H, Val Venis and Funaki are all technically very sound, but if I had to choose the best I'd go with Jamie Noble. No, really. If you've never seen anything he did in RoH, I highly recommend it.

2. I read online that Sgt Buddy Lee Parker once told Batista (when he tried out for WCW) that he would never make it in the wrestling business. Now that Batista has won several world championships and main evented a few WrestleManias, Parker was way off. Have there been any other superstars that were once told they'd never make it by management personnel?

Good old Buddy Parker, old school to the death. The first name that comes to mind is none other than Steve Austin, who was told by Eric Bischoff that a bald guy in black tights and black boots couldn't draw a dime with a silver crayon. If you believe Jake Roberts (and frankly, if he came in soaking wet and told me it was raining I'd look out the window), Vince had a similar opinion of Austin to start with, until Jake told him that Austin was his next megastar. Bischoff also let Jericho and The Radicalz walk to WWE because he couldn't find a way to book them, only for 3 of the 5 to win World titles.

3. Other than Randy Orton in 2004, has any world champion turned heel to face or face to heel during the title reign? And is that considered bad? Sorta like how it's not a good sign to elect a new president over the incumbent during a war?

Well, Stone Cold turned during the invasion. Triple H wasn't a face for long after beating Jericho for the Undisputed title at Mania 18. Shawn Michaels gradually became a heel leading up to his loss to Stone Cold at Mania 14, but he won and lost the title a couple of times over that course.

I don't know that it's considered bad as much as it's not normally needed. When you choose a guy as a face or heel world champ you normally have the first couple of contenders lined up, and they tend to be the opposite "alignment". Sure you might occasionally have some face-face match-ups which cause one guy to get booed, but that rarely happens.


Alvin is curious about the Undertaker:

1. When Undertaker returned in 2000, with his American Badass
gimmick, who made that decision? Was it something Taker wanted to do or
creative.

Little from column A, little from column B. The gimmick change came at a time when WWE was switching to a more realistic style, so having a dead man walking around wasn't going to fit in. It also gave Taker the chance to actually interact with people and hang out with the other guys in public, since it wouldn't be out of character.

2. The same question but regarding his return to the Dead Man
gimmick in 2004.

I couldn't find anything even close to concrete on this, but I have to presume it was Taker's idea.

3. Do you think Taker will ever write an autobiography. He's one of
the few wrestlers who have been in the industry for decades who hasn't
enlightened us with his stories (we already had Flair, Foley, Hart,
Jericho etc).

It's an interesting question. I can't see it happening until he's retired, simply because Taker never breaks character in public. Writing an autobiography, unless he went back to BikerTaker, would be a complete break in character. Once he retires, though, I would imagine the pull of the almighty dollar will lead him to put pen to paper. Well, nobody really does that any more, but you know what I mean. Aside from Taker, there's really only Randy Savage who could draw stupid amounts of money with a book. I'd read it.

4. Another question but completely unrelated to Taker. Do you think Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson should be entered into the WWE Hall of Fame?
He is often mentioned in the same sentence as Austin and Hogan as a big draw but some have criticised the length of his career. Personally I would say the guy made the right decision - rather than becoming a joke and outstaying his welcome (cough, Hogan, cough), he went out on top.
What do you think?

I think it's a foregone conclusion that he will be inducted. In my opinion, putting his father and grandfather in was the precursor to that, especially given that the inclusion of Rocky Johnson could be considered questionable. The Rock was one of the keys to keeping WWE on top when Austin was injured, and he was insanely over. Not next year, and probably not the year after, but soon. Possibly the same year they put Austin in, although it would not surprise me to see that next year.

5. In 2002 I remember a storyline where Hurricane found notes and clues to a stalker like character. Now that became Nidia who introduced the underrated Jamie Noble, but I remember reading that it was actually supposed to be Rey Mysterio. Was there any particular reason for this, other than Rey would suck as a heel?

I had to look up the storyline, which happened 6/6/02. Misterio didn't even sign with WWE until June 2002, so I think it's unlikely this storyline was meant for him. But yes, he would suck as a heel, unless it was in the cruiserweight division. Which still existed then. I miss 2002.

6. According to IMDB's entry on John Cena he 'Was booked to be the 2003 King of the Ring before WWE decided to cancel the tournament for that year.' Now is that true or not? And why didn't it go through in the end?

Again, I can find no confirmation of this. It would make sense, given that Cena had just come off a program with then-champion Brock Lesnar and the win would have cemented his push to the top. More than likely, someone decided he just wasn't ready for it yet. Good thing too – can you imagine how much hate he would get if he'd been in that spot for 4 YEARS?

7. In 2005 after Wrestlemania 22, there was hints to a potential Cena heel run with both Edge and Triple H hinting at it. Was there really a plan or was just it just one of those things they decided to go along with due to the fan reaction to Cena.

Welcome to giving answers to annoying questions.

Aw, they're not that bad...yet. Cena turning heel is something that's been rumoured ever since the mixed reactions started. Frankly, I don't see it happening as long as the kids are spending their parents' money on his merchandise.


Steve (not Cook, I hope...) has a few questions:

1)A few weeks back, you talked about the "Apter rags", the magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and that several article authors were not even real people, like Matt Brock. Is that legit? As someone who grew up in the 80's on those kayfabe-style magazines, that would make some sense. Some of the articles and interviews that were "conducted" in those mags were sometimes suspect to me. If they were interviewing a heel wrestler, the bad guy would always answer questions the same way, as a typical heel would.
Long question short: what, if any, parts of the old wrestling magazines and writers were made up, to your knowledge? I was blown away when you mentioned it a few weeks ago.

Apart from Brock, Liz Hunter (well duh, whoever heard of a woman who writes about wrestling? OH HAI MRS BOSS! I can haz columm still?), Thomas Pilliard and Dr Sidney Basil were all fictional. Maybe someone with more time and inclination than me will check those names for smart-assed anagrams.

Pretty much any in-character comments were constructed out of whole cloth.

2) A couple of questions coming from the Rock DVD that came out recently:

In the match where the Rock beat HHH for his first IC title on Thursday Raw Thursday (ugh, that name), the winner of that match was supposed to wrestle Ahmed Johnson that Sunday at the In Your House XIII pay-per-view. However, Rock just wrestled, and beat, HHH again. Do you know why Ahmed did not wrestle on that card?

This was around the time that Ahmed was feuding with the Nation, so they probably thought better of it and went with a rematch, given the finish to the Rocky-HHH match.

What was going through referee Hebner's mind when he stopped the
3-count accidentally when Rock faced Angle at No Way Out 2001? And what
do you think went through his mind when Rock gave him THE LOOK after?

When he stopped it? Probably "Isn't he supposed to kick out?" After The Look? I reckon "Oh fuck a duck backwards, he wasn't supposed to kick out."

Finally, you have probably heard this one before, but do you have any idea what the storyline was supposed to be, when Paul Bearer came down and took away Undertaker, leaving Big Show alone to lose the tag titles to Rock and Foley in August of 1999? That angle just dropped, and I was wondering if you had any insight into what was supposed to occur after?

Nope. Nobody else probably did either. This was the height of chaos in WWE, they were winning the Monday Night Wars (finally) and trying desperately to stay there. They ran stuff up the flagpole all the time to see who saluted it, and if nobody did they pulled it down, doused it in gasoline and torched it, never to be mentioned again. It certainly seemed like they were working towards a return angle for someone, or a début, but Taker and Show would team several times after this incident. Mmmm, continuity.

Well boys and girls, that's about all we have time, space and brain power for this week. If I didn't get to your question yet, do not panic! The inbox is bulging already and I will get to you. I'll be back next Wednesday with another Ask 411, since the Brunch is being guest-hosted by Wilcox this week. Why? Glad you asked. I shall be in Toronto, losing my voice at the RoH Canada début. Until then may you find answers to all life's questions.

Lansdellicious – Out.