Ask 411 Wrestling 07.01.09: Foley Vs. Hulk, Regal Vs. Goldberg, WCW Vs. Logic!

Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 07.01.2009

Why bring back ECW and not WCW? Was No Way Out a shout out? Should Bret have seen it coming? Who Exposed Wrestling's 'Greatest' Secrets? Who calls a turn? Why isn't AJ in WWE? All this, plus I disagree with myself and Defend Jamie Kellner Canceling WCW. I must really be sick...

Hiya, glad to see you're back. I've been all over the site the past week if you haven't noticed, with an appearance in the 411 Games Top 5 Puzzle Games thingy and, of course, the 411 Indy Draft thing, which means I can stop with the whole xxxxxxxx PW2.0 stuff.

From intro to self plugging in 7 words. Pretty good. You know what else is good? 411's various and sundry Twitter things! You should sign on right now. I'll wait.





No seriously, I'll wait.





I got stuff I can do.





Done it yet?

Really? Ok then, BANNER!

Backtalking

Do I use a Thesaurus?: I don't, although I do avail myself of Word's Synonyms feature from time to time, mostly to try and get the spelling of the word I'm trying to think of. My vocabulary comes from being somewhat intelligent to start with, a family that prides itself on it's retention of useless information which extends to odd words, and then a year or two as an arts student at University (the real reason I think for my wordiness) followed by a few as a Commerce student where my ability to write an essay that was somewhat interesting made me stand out. Add in my RPG playing to keep it up and voila, you have someone who has a habit for using interesting words at times. And I'm a devout Atheist, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

Taker's a Demon, not a Zombie: The defence given was… spirited, which is ironic, but I believe that Taker's first appearance and thus first iteration was that of a Zombie, although if you want to claim Flesh Golem I'd buy that. He's evolved into a Demon, but he BEGAN as a Zombie, and that was the original idea, he got over with that.

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

The last one you may hate me for. But still, here's as many names as I can think of/were said.

WWE Hardcore Title: Bobcat/Ho, Mike Awesome. Johnny Stamboli/The Bull debuted on the Heat taped July 24, 2002, when he got DQed for Low Blowing Tommy Dreamer, hence he don't count.
WWE Intercontinental Title: Santino Marella.
WWE United States Title: Carlito
WWE Light-Heavyweight Title: Jerry Lynn, Christian, and Essa Rios, if you discount his Aguila and Papa Chulo runs.
WWE Women's Title: Gail Kim. Alundra's a weird one, in that she DID win the title the first match in, but WWE says they had a tournament and thus, by their logic, she must have had at least one other match so she shouldn't count. The Kat's debut was a tag match on the Oct 4th 99 edition of Raw, where she teamed with Ivory against Moolah and Mae. Steph had a mixed tag match with Test September 20, 1999 as her debut.
WWE World Tag Team Title: Ted DiBiase. Joey Mercury won the WWE Tag Titles, not the same belt.
WCW World Title: Hulk Hogan, The Giant. David Arquette had a solo match against Bischoff on the Raw before he won the title in a tag match on Thunder.
TNA World Title: Ken Shamrock. It was the first TNA show, ergo it was Shamrock's first TNA match. And Mick had a 6 man before beating Sting for the belt.

This week's question, nice and simple.

Name every person to have held, in WWE, World Title level gold and nothing else. Who has only held the World, WWE and/or ECW World titles in WWE?

Questions, Questions, Who's Got The Questions?

Let's see if my head cold affects more than just my question selection.

The Hitcher starts us off in both sections.

Hi there, great column by the way

My first question is this (probably been asked before, but hey, sue me); What was the deal with jobbing the shizzle out of Mr. Perfect during his last run in WWE? Did he do something to tick off Vince? It was like they'd completely dismissed his pedigree, I remember thinking it stunk. I mean, I marked out when he showed up for the Rumble, and his performance was quite good, but after that I can't recall him winning a single match. I recall him being jobbed out to Big Show (after him no-selling an amazing Perfect-Plex early on), Tazz, Kane and RVD. I mean, maybe his face didn't fit with that era, but give the guy some wins or one last IC Title run for Christ's sake.

Why did they do that to Curt, 411, WHY??!!

Because his job was there to teach the new guys how to wrestle and to put them over. Hennig wasn't there to be a draw, he was there to be a mechanic, put on good matches, help guys improve, and give the rub. He left before he might have gotten a run, I'm sure an IC reign wasn't totally out of the realms of possibility, but he wasn't hired back to win titles, he was brought back to be a teacher. Shame, he should be color commentator on SD right now, or something similar…

Jason is back with another Goldberg question.

When Goldberg fought HHH at Survivor Series 2003 Goldberg beat HHH to retain the title. There was a lot of interference in the match on HHH's part and of course a ref bump. Goldberg got the Sledgehammer and destroyed all of Evolution but never used it on HHH. Goldberg did The Spear and Jackhammer on HHH to pin him. My question is would that be considered a Clean Win for Goldberg over HHH seeing how he didn't use the Sledgehammer on HHH?

Well HHH certainly would claim so. And it was to some degree. But all the clean wins in the world can't always smooth over bad booking. Not to say that the booking was bad, although many people do. But yes, by most people's standards, outside of blind Triple H haters, HHH did cleanly job to Goldberg at Survivor Series 2003. It just didn't mean what it should have.

Manu Bumb. Just, Manu Bumb.

have there been any WWE DVDs with a Rey Mysterio Jr vs. Chris Jericho match? I feel like I've seen it on one of the DVDs, but can't remember which one, if any, would've had it.

I get the feeling any new Mysterio or Jericho ones will have some. But since Jericho is yet to get a WWE DVD set, we have to look to Mysterio's, (assuming you don't want me to be pedantic and point out all the PPV DVDs with a match of theirs on there), with the "Rey Mysterio 619" DVD featuring a match they had at the 98 Bash At The Beach.

"And, on occasion, he'd get up and run backstage, like he did at WMX to film the bit, or at Mind Games when you see him rebook HBK/Mankind on the fly by taking to Shawn and Earl Hebner."

How did Vince rebook the HBK/Mankind match that night? I've got it on DVD somewhere, so am planning to rewatch it now, but am curious what went down

This is my Savage/Steph question of sorts, given my reluctance to budge. What I, and seemingly only I, claim is the spot is when they go through a table on the outside. Vince leaves the broadcast table, and goes over, and clearly has a conversation with Earl Hebner and Shawn Michaels. This is, in my eyes, when he changes his mind about the match. On DVD it's fairly obvious.

Next up, Drew has two questions.

(1) I was wondering cause a while back a thought came to me: Has there ever been a 1 on 1 match between Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley? I just wondered that. Personally, if they never have had a match before, that would be Wrestlemania worthy if Vince ever is willing to get the 2 back. I've thought that a 2 out of 3 falls would work with the first fall being a simple standard match (Something more home for Hogan), the second fall being a Hardcore match (something more home for Foley) and the go home of it all could be something equal to both, like a Steel cage or something. But that's just me dream booking.

No, Hogan and Foley never had a one on one match. In fact, I can't recall a single match the two were even involved in together. The two were never in the same company at the same time in a similar enough position to have a match, with Foley being in WCW and ECW during Hogan's WWF period, then when Hogan went to WCW Foley was in ECW/WWE, then when Hogan came back to WWE Foley was retired. They might have had a match during that period when both worked for WWE on and off, but they never did. Hogan has, at times, made disparaging remarks about Foley, but the two did appear together on Larry King to discuss the Beyond The Mat documentary, which is the closest they have ever gotten to a match.

(2) I remember an episode of Monday Nitro in which after being screwed over again by Flair, Sting had a match with him and put him in the Scorpion Deathlock. After winning, Sting refused to let go and the decision flipped for Flair. After a long time, eventually Lex Lugar came out and Whispered something to Sting that made him give it up. Has it ever been announced what it was Lex said to Sting?

WCW? Explain something? Geez.

The match you're describing occurred on the November 6, 1995 edition of Nitro. Luger had just turned heel, and came down and whispered to US champ Sting. The two men would trade whispers back and forth, but no, to my knowledge what was going on was never explained. I mean, Luger was a heel but wasn't with the Dungeon of Doom and was friends with Sting who was face and got on with Hogan who was flirting with darkness and was friends with Savage who didn't get on with Luger since he was a heel but also had problems with Hogan and Sting and Flair hated each other but Sting teamed with him to fight the Horsemen but that was a set up like Savage's arm injury and Giant chokeslamming Savage to help Luger but… the period was a mess for WCW. I'm sure someone can explain it, but not me with a head cold.

Next up we have Nate asking about Montreal.

Hey Sforcina,

I just finished watching the Wrestling with Shadows link you put up (Thanks, by the way) and I have a question about that night. I've read the Observer stuff about it and watched the match itself, but I wasn't actively following wrestling during that period. In the documentary they show McMahon being interviewed on the show. When asked who was going to win, he solemnly said he did not know and then when Bret and Shawn start fighting outside, he implores them to get back in the ring. How was his involvement explained in the storyline? It seems like he is playing up the Bret could leave with the belt angle and he's doing his best to prevent that. In my mind, it seems to me either Bret knew what was going to happen or he is the most naive 19-year veteran in wrestling history.

Well, that night was an important one as that night saw Vince be officially, without question, identified as the boss in that interview. With hindsight that should have been a clue, but at the time Bret probably didn't even see the interview, he was too busy getting prepared for the match.

As for the logic, it makes sense for the boss, who's still a face at this point, to want a clean winner, and to be worried about someone leaving the company holding the title. Hence the screw job being the heel turn that wasn't intended to be one but was and went on to make millions of dollars.

And remember, the whole issue was being played out on the sheets as well as on screen, so Bret, knowing how Russo's mind works, wouldn't have been totally shocked to see him write in a wink and a nod to the fans like that. You can argue that Bret was naïve, but if they had gone with the DQ, these would have worked, you would have had Vince the next night demand a rematch or vacate the belt or anything based on the whole "Double run in" angle that was booked in Bret's mind.

Cory wants to know who was under the mask.

Great column. Keep up the good work. I have a question that I hope you can answer. A few years back (98 I think) NBC ran a special called Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets Revealed which introduced the world to the now famous "Stunt Granny." In the special, there were several masked wrestlers. I know that Harley Race was playing the booker but do you know the identity of any of the other wrestlers in the show?

Ah yes, the show that ‘exposed' the business with a bunch of angles explained that no-one had seen in recent memory and were pretty obvious to begin with. All narrated by the guy who played the cat on Sabrina, and the show that gave the world the term ‘Stunt Granny'.

Most of the wrestlers involved were no-names, Indy guys that no-one had heard of prior or since. Shame, the idea of Cena or someone having been one of the masked guys is appealing on some deranged level. A couple of ‘names' were involved, supposedly. Michael Modest was The All-American Boy, and the Pitbulls were Colossus and Brute Force. Supposedly.

Next up is Ronny from O-H-I-O.

Hey, it's how he wrote it.

I'm sorry for the length, but bear with me. My question is in regards to Jamie Kellner, the AOL/Time Warner executive who killed WCW when he cancelled Nitro. Much of what I know about WCW's demise comes from the book "The Death of WCW"

Kellner founded ACME Communictions in 1997 and is still CEO, a company that owns six stations, all of which are affiliated with either the CW or MyNetwork. It got me thinking, Kellner cancelled Nitro (which still had higher ratings than most TNT programming) in part because he did not want wrestling as part of his portfolio on Turner and yet as CEO of a company that broadcasts Smackdown (not too mention his status as a founder of the WB), he must not take much issue with wrestling appearing on his channels.

My question is this: Is it possible that Jamie Kellner is a scapegoat and maybe WCW could still be around today if Vince McMahon had not truly wanted it dead or if Bischoff had really had the money to buy? Is it possible that WCW's spot on TNT was still available, so long as AOL/Time Warner was not responsible for it's production?

No, because Vince didn't get an offer until after the TV deal was cancelled. Time Warner did not deal or offer WCW to Vince for a sale since they didn't actually ever put it up for sale.

What happened was that after failed manager after failed manager, they went back to Bischoff and asked him if he wanted to take back over. He told them that he couldn't fix WCW under their leadership, but he was willing to buy the company. That way, he claimed, he could fix it. So Time-Warner asked for him to set up a deal, he did so with Fusient, and it was all set. Bischoff got the book as he was the de facto new boss, just as soon as the paperwork was through and done.

And then Jamie stepped in. He looked at the WCW shows that brought in higher ratings than practically everything else on the channel, decided that they didn't fit in with the channel and canned them.

Now, to my knowledge Jamie has never given an interview on the subject. However, despite some people's claims, while Jamie is the guy who killed WCW (I made that claim back in the Death of WCW top 5 column the site did a while back), he had a legitimate reason, perhaps.

One fact that a lot of wrestling fans fail to grasp is that for all it's ratings, Pro Wrestling is horrible at attracting viewers to your network. What I mean by that is that wrestling shows tend to draw high ratings for most networks, but the fans who tune in for it rarely hang around afterwards or beforehand. Wrestling fans are a demographic that tunes in for the wrestling when it starts, then tune out when it's done. Wrestling draws when it's on, but not when it isn't on. So you have to balance the fact that the show will draw ratings but unlike most shows that draw ratings it has very little halo effect that broadcast companies want.

But also, perhaps more importantly, it didn't draw the right demographic. For better or worse, certain channels demand a certain style of programming to appeal to a certain demographic. Sure, a show devoted to naked women and video games would draw great ratings for men between 18-45, but you wouldn't put it on Hallmark, or any channel that is sold as one to women, or to older people, or as a Christian channel. Unless the network is diverse enough to allow various demos to be targeted, or is already leaning towards the usual wrestling demos, wrestling is a hard sell. Hell, Scy Fy changed itself in part to accommodate ECW, their demographic was near enough to warrant the bet, and so far it's worked so well for them that they want to expand into that market.

Jamie killed WCW. But even if you hate him, you can't claim he did it without reason.

From WCW and WWECW, David asks… Why?

Hey,

I want your unbiased opinion on something that's been irking me for years.

Paul Heyman's ECW was an innovative promotion...a regional promotion that appealed mostly to hardcore wrestling fans...a small promotion that ran it's big shows in a bingo hall...a unprofitable company that never turned anything resembling profit and often struggled to pay its wrestlers...a promotion that survived longer than it should have because of Vince McMahon's supplementation.

WCW was also an innovative promotion...an international promotion that appealed to both devoted and casual fan alike...a promotion that sold out arenas and stadiums across the country, often selling tens of thousands of ticket before any card was announced...a promotion that for two years produced phenomenal figures on TV, house shows, and PPV...a promotion that with proper management and fiscal discipline would still be alive today...a promotion that- by Vince McMahon's own admission- almost put WWE out of business.

Why on earth did McMahon decide to revive ECW instead of WCW? I believe McMahon is motivated more by the bottom line than anything else, so what could have made him think that sterilized ECW would make more money that a proven brand like WCW?

Because WCW nearly killed him and ECW saved him.



First off, I'll get the obvious out of the way: Vince is an egomaniac, and can never allow anything he didn't create be pushed, with ECW being something he sees as his own since he helped finance it and he viewed it as a feeder system of sorts.

But here's the thing: While WCW at it's peak was eons in front of ECW at it's peak, that's not what people remember. They remember WCW at the end, which was a lot more sour and low than ECW's end, which most people didn't notice at the time. Sure, WCW was a major brand name with all that good stuff that claim. But when Vince bought it, it was losing money hand over fist, had ratings that for wrestling at the time were abysmal, was creatively in the toilet and was such a bad company name that when he DID try to revive it, no-one would bite. The story goes that he tried to get a time slot for the new WCW soon after the InVasion started but no-one would buy in.

Whereas ECW always had that loyal fan base and a bigger impact on wrestling fans. You never heard WCW chants, whereas ECW chants could be heard all over the world. ECW was remembered more fondly by both Vince and the fans, and was proven to be viable after the DVD and One Night Stand.

ECW proved it could make money NOW, as opposed to WCW's track record in the past. Vince then changed it all up since he clearly knew better, but it comes down to ECW being a hotter prospect at the time.

But hey, maybe if the Rise and Fall DVD for WCW does gangbusters, we might just get a 4th brand that Vince wants…

Ryan asks about ring canvas.

I was at Judgment Day 2009. It has been some time since I had been to a WWE event. But I notice something that I had never seen before. After the Dark Match and again before the Main Event. The ring crew and officials came out and changed the canvas of the ring. There was no (noticeable) blood since it PG now. I have never seen any other company do this either. Any idea on why they did this?
Thank You.

Perhaps not blood, but it might well have looked scuffed from all the wrestling, all the sweat and baby oil, and they wanted a nicer looking canvas? I have to admit I don't know on this one, has anyone else been to a recent show and seen this happen?

In tribute.



Another frequent participant, Jeremiah has a question.

I remember a rumor around the time of No Way Out '98 that Vince named it such as a shot at the NWO (I don't know how it was a "shot" but that's how the rumor goes). Bischoff threatened to sue over the trademarked initials so Vince had to add the Out of Texas addendum. It did indeed end up being named No Way Out of Texas, but all the Kane-adorned adverts from that time list it simply as No Way Out. Any truth to this?

No, you kinda have it backwards. WWF named it that, then realised the abbreviation was advertising their competitor's big stable, so they added the In Texas to avoid that. But some stuff had already been sent, so they couldn't change it.

Speaking of that show, was Savio Vega always the planned mystery partner or were the WWF trying to hire a surprise WCW guy?

Well, considering the plan was pretty last second, yeah. Shawn was pulled at the last moment from the tag match, it wasn't announced till the PPV, then they subbed in Savio who was logical in that he had a history with Stone Cold both old and new. It wasn't like they built up the mystery partner all month, it was announced as being an 8 man with Shawn, but even the limited stuff he'd have to do in the match he couldn't, so they pulled him.

Iced Coffee has a simple question.

Hey, Long time reader.

Just wondering do the wrestlers or the writers choose whether a wrestler goes face or heel?

Mostly the writers, although the wrestlers can suggest a turn, and the fans can also suggest one. But in the end it's supposed to be the writer/booker's job. He tells the talent what to do, down to and including who works heel and face. But wrestlers can certainly request and even campaign for a turn, but it's not their place to make the call.

Joequando, after some comments that you'll either love or hate, asks about an infamous match in IWC history.

Hey buddy,

Doing a great job down there in the United States Pt.3, (Great Britain being United States Jr.) Hey at least your ahead of Canada right? I keed, I keed. Actually got some familia out in your neck of the woods. OK I was watching Regal vs. Kingston today and it brought back fond memories of WCW when we stiffed the hell out of Goldberg.



I know at about 4:29 into the match Goldberg screwed up big time by taking down Regal using the wrong arm (Gotta love Regal's scream and The Brain's reaction/subtle shoot), but Regal was being stiff from move #1.

Was there any backstage heat between the two prior to the match? Were there any repercussions given to Regal after the match? Also just to put that match into perspective, here's a clip of Finley vs Goldberg, where Goldberg basically no sold every move Finley threw.



Keep up the good work bro.

OK, time to clear up a common misconception.

Regal was not ‘shooting' in that match. What was happening was miscommunication. See, Regal, liked everyone else who went up against Goldberg, was told to make Goldberg look good in a match that was over 5 minutes. Now, from Regal's point of view, that meant go out and basically wrestle himself. He intended to go out and have a solid wrestling match with Goldberg, wherein he'd make it look like Goldberg had this vast array of wrestling talent as yet unseen, where Bill would counter and re-counter all his moves and totally school Lord Steven on the mat. After all, Bill's normal style of match wouldn't work for that length of time. All Bill had to do was go out and follow Steve's lead and he'd look great.

Bill wasn't aware of this for whatever reason. And the thing is, a lot of Regal's moves looked good because they were legit. He had to take Bill's knee to get him down then he'd counter himself and make it look like Bill did. But Goldberg, out of confusion, fear, whatever, didn't co-operate, and that match is the result. You notice that at the start, when Goldberg works the arm, Regal cooperates, but then they fall apart.

Now, to be fair to Goldberg, he probably was confused as hell, given that up until that point no-one had tried this, and it had worked. He was expecting a solid squash like all the other matches since that was what he did and, more importantly, that was what the fans wanted. Regal suddenly wrestling with him was not what he expected. He does try and keep up, but he gets lost and frustrated with the whole thing, as does Regal.

Regal was immediately fired for making Bill ‘look bad', but he did not shoot on Bill, at least not how some people want to construe it. He attempted to wrestle an old school/English/Proper Wrestling match, and Bill didn't go along, hence the chaos.

It was NOT a shoot. Just an example of a lack of planning and communication.

Nick asks after why someone in the business for the money wasn't hired by WWE.

Great Stuff! I apologize if you've already covered this, but I have a question.

I think AJ styles is "phenomenal" and the only reason to watch TNA. He's great in the ring and on the mic and would fit perfectly on Smackdown. Why hasn't WWE made a concerted effort to sign him? I heard him say in a shoot interview that money was his inspiration to wrestle. Doesn't WWE have deeper pockets?

Well, WWE has in the past tried to hire him. But when they did offer him a developmental contract in April 2002, he refused since the money wasn't high enough. At the time, he was making more money on the Indy scene than he would have in WWE ($500 a week, plus he had to relocate to Ohio), plus the move would disrupt his wife's college plans. Then when TNA came along, they allowed him to continue his Indy dates while work on PPV, so he signed on, and then became loyal/was paid well and stuck around.

Now, you can argue that he should have thought long term when the WWE offered him a contract, but perhaps while he knows WWE will pay him well, he has a better chance of working on a main event level in TNA and thus get more money than WWE is willing to offer.

And maybe WWE doesn't feel AJ is worth what he'd demand. He has a hick accent and can't talk and is still pretty small, and they have half a dozen high flyers who can match him in the ring, the WWE might very well claim. So they won't make an effort to go after him. Not to say if/when TNA is bought by WWE that they won't pick his contract up, but right now WWE doesn't seem to see the same in AJ that AJ sees in him. Plus he's mid contract.

Hey Lansdell! I'm stealing your gimmick that you didn't use! RM?

Over the many years I've been following wrestling I've come across a huge number of urban legends, most either completely debunked or take on a life of their own. There are a few however that I have heard of which never seemed to be followed up on much. Can you tell me if there is any truth to these "legends"?

1) Sean Morley before he became Val Venis shot a home made porn movie which his ex girlfriend leaked online after he became Val Venis, apparently it shows a small Valbowski.

FALSE

. Sean Morley was given the Val Venis gimmick because Russo had no ideas for him. See, at the time, Russo was big on talking to guys, finding out about them, then finding some aspect of their life to turn all the way up to 11 to make ‘realistic' gimmicks. Russo sat down with Morley, and tried to find something, but nothing in Sean jumped out at Russo. Finally, out of desperation, he blurted out that Sean ‘looked like a porn star'. Sean was open to the idea, and the gimmick was born and became somewhat successful. But Sean Morley has never appeared in an actual, real life porn film, nor has nudes of him been leaked. The size of his Valbowski is unconfirmed at this time.

2) Gangrel (who now works as Vampire Warrior i believe) makes a living part-time designing haunted houses for theme parks.

FALSE, with a 95% Certainty.

Why make up a lame idea like that when he's legitimately moving into directing porn videos? His first video, tentatively titled "Miami Rump Shakerz 2", has been in development for a couple of years now. But if he is designing haunted houses he's doing it under the radar. He has a training school as well apparently.

3) Playboy was is discussion with WWE to run a WWE only issue for the run up to Wrestlemania 20, featuring every female on the roster (even Lillian Garcia & Stephanie McMahon) in various states of undress, they got as far as confirming how far each diva would go and what they would be willing to show before the bombing of the GGW crossover persuaded WWE to cancel the idea.

FALSE, in all probability.

Ok, this is a rumor that made it onto the respectable rounds like 411, although everyone who posted it did so with the "This is almost certainly BS, but…" claim.

A person who claimed to be a Maxim photographer, made the claim in December 2004 on a Celeb Nude form that there was to be a Women of WWE Special Edition Playboy in the lead up to WM21 (which would have made some degree of sense on some level). It was supposed to include everyone, with Trish being the sole woman still not signed on. He made a few more posts, eventually providing a list of who had agreed to what.

Victoria -Topless & Full Frontal
Dawn Marie - Topless & Full Frontal
Miss Jackie - Topless Only/Lingerie
Stacy Keibler - Ass and Back only
Stephanie McMahon - See-through Nightie/Lingerie
Michelle McCool - Topless & Full Frontal
Amy Weber - Topless & Full Frontal
Maria - Topless only
Lita - Still Negotiating Poses
Joy Giovanni - Topless & Full Frontal
Christy Hemme - Topless & Ass only
Candace - Topless & Full Frontal
Torrie Wilson - Topless Only/Lingerie
Lilian Garcia - See-Through Nightie/Lingerie
Molly Holly - Topless Only/Lingerie

Torrie Wilson not doing full frontal should have been a clue right there.

But this was a rumor started by an anonymous poster on a forum for Playboy rumors. And Divas continued to appear in Playboy for a few years after this, so it wouldn't have been shot down due to GGW. It was almost certainly never true.

4) The reason Vince Russo kept putting Elizabeth in sexual matches and angles during his WCW tenue is because he had a crush on her from his childhood.

EXTREMLY UNLIKLEY.

Obviously I cannot definitively claim what goes on inside Russo's head. But Russo put EVERY woman he booked into sexual matches and angles, so why should Liz be any different? He may well have had a crush on the gal, but he hardly treated her any different than he did Sable, or Midajah, or Debra, or Nicole Bass, or any other woman…

5) Finally, Vince McMahon did a interview with Playboy many years ago where he admitted to having had affairs ever since he and Linda got married.

TRUE~!

Hey, one of them checks out!

Yes indeed, in a 2001 interview for Playboy, Vince admitted to having cheated on Linda. But while he ‘flaunted' them in the interview, they apparently worked through it and are still married today. Perhaps Linda already knew, it's hard to say. Suffice to say, this one's legit.

My Damm Opinion

The Hitcher returns.

Do you think WWE will change the Spinner Belt anytime soon? I thought they'd have done it by now, after all it's Cena's belt. I've been expecting a change ever since Trips won it, but no dice. I'd have thought Vince wouldn't have wanted his most prestigious strap to look like a piece of sh*t once it was no longer connected to the marketing juggernaut that is John Cena. Add this to the fact that they still sell the Brock Lesnar Undisputed WWE Title on WWE.COM, I think it's a no-brainer (although even that belt could do with tweaking, looks too much like the old IC Belt).

Nope, we have it for a while. Beyond the whole cost issue (the damm thing has nearly 3,5000 gems in it), it's popular with the kiddys and is more ‘modern' than the traditional title. Until such time as Bling becomes old fashioned, the Spinner belt will stay, despite how ugly I personally think it is.

And for the record, I can pinpoint the moment that the belt became separated from Cena enough that it became the default belt.



"Look at this one, it spins!" At that point, all hope was lost.

Speaking of belts (no I do not have a fetish) do you think the IC Belt could get some of its mojo back if it reverted to the original style? It seemed to lose all it's credibility the minute it changed.

Keep up the good work!!

No, reverting won't help, it needs an update. And no, I'm not hypocritical for hating one update and wanting another, the update should still LOOK like a title belt, it just needs to be different. Just not "Spinning Vomit" different.

Eric M gets morbid again.

Hey Matthew. More of a 'My Damm Opinion' entry here...If the following men were still around today, in your honest and humble opinion, where do you think they would be at in their respective careers and what kind of accomplishments, if any, do you think they would have made by this point?

OWEN HART, CURT HENNIG, DAVEY BOY SMITH, BRIAN PILLMAN, EDDIE GUERRERO and yes...CHRIS BENOIT.

Owen: After a few more minor title runs, he would have retired from the business for a few years before coming back to work in TNA, where he'd currently be getting ready to wrestle AJ Styles in an attempt to win back the Legends title to the Main Event Mafia.

Curt: After a last IC title run where he beat Carlito then lost the belt quickly to Sheldon Benjamin, and a half year run tagging and managing with Jack Swagger on ECW as Jack's ‘Coach', he would have made the move into becoming Smackdown's Color Commentator with JR, and very occasional wrestler, ala Lawler's schedule.

Davey Boy: Very occasional appearances in WWE under their legends contract, his last being at Survivor Series where he teamed with The Canadian Stampede in a 10 person Survivor Series match. He made no real achievements between his leaving WWE and his signing the legends deal and being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Brian Pillman: After his legendary feud with Steve Austin in the months after Austin won the WWF title for the first time, Brian helped usher in the new Attitude style of wrestling, focusing on brawling and weapons since, like Austin, he was somewhat limited to that style. Brian would go on to win the title via McMahon chicanery late 98, but lose it back to Austin soon after. He would never again hold the world title, but had a few tag reigns before retiring to the commentary booth. He would now be running a school and/or have a radio show.

Eddie: He'd be about to start a program with John Cena after costing Cena his match against The Miz. He'd never be world champ again (outside of Scramble matches and MAYBE short transitional reigns), but he'd be a upper-card guy for the full period of time, although he'd now be now slowly preparing to move down the card on the road to retirement.

Benoit: He'd still be on ECW, where he'd be feuding with Dreamer over the ECW World title, Benoit and his cronies of Smith, Kidd etc. trying to get Benoit his 4th ECW Title reign.

And to finish, Tommy asks about a theoretical riot.

We already know how nuclear the heat was for the big 10-man tag back in 1997 at the Canadian Stampede match. But, in your opinion, how insane would it have been had Shawn Michaels been there instead of Goldust? I'm just imagining a riot breaking out had there been a segment of HBK and Stone Cold double teaming Bret Hart in that match. Your thoughts?

Well, yes, the heat probably would have been greater. You may have been approaching actual, honest to goodness Riot heat, perhaps. Although on the other hand he hadn't really gotten into the groove of his anti-Canada heat at that point. He would have been a bigger heel, but not as much as you think. Now, had the show been AFTER Survivor Series…

And on that thought, goodnight, good luck, and may your God go with you.