Ask 411 01.24.07: Owen Hart, Marty Jannetty, ROH Finances, Raven vs. Hogan, and more!

With that said, let’s kick things off.

nMo Lithuania wants some information on the Stinger . . .

I was surfing the net once in search of some chunks of information about Steve Sting” Borden’s WCW contract(s). The problem is – I didn’t find any. So I was just wondering how much money did he make while staying in WCW. I am mostly interested in 1997-2001, but if you could additionally mention about his early years – that would be great.

On a side note, do you know what proposals did Vince McMahon have while trying to recruit Steve?

The problem with looking for specific contractual terms is that contracts are not a matter of public record in most cases, so privately owned companies can keep them hidden all that they want. However, Sting was a major star in WCW from 1989 onward, so you can rest assured that he was paid well in comparison to the rest of their stars. The contract that he was under when WCW closed its doors was worth substantially more than the WWF was paying its top talent at the time, which is why the company opted to let the Stinger’s WCW/Time Warner contract expire instead of attempting to buy it out. The same thing happened with many of the top WCW stars at the time, including Goldberg and Scott Steiner. It is interesting to note that the “Crow” phase of Sting’s career began due to a contract provision. His contract only required him to wrestle a certain number of dates per year, and WCW ran through that number more quickly than they had expected. The company obviously wanted to keep Sting on TV but didn’t want to pay him more to wrestle additional dates . . . which is how the sulking in the balcony gimmick originated. Ultimately, the character got so over that, even when Sting could have been made to wrestle more dates, WCW decided to keep him in the rafters until his big match with Hogan at Starrcade 1997.

As far as Sting’s negotiations with the WWF go, again you’re dealing with information that doesn’t necessarily have to be released to the public. At one point the Rock was lobbying to bring Sting in for a one-time match against him at Wrestlemania, though that proposal obviously never worked out.

Eric J. has a question that seems to come up every few weeks . . . and yet nobody still has a good answer for it . . .

“what did randy savage do to vince mcmahon?”

He’s the only the only guy without a classic figure (I read McMahon nixed it?). The money making possibilities of a 3 disc savage set are extreme. And how is he not a hall of famer? Anyway…we’ve heard the rumors, does anyone out there know the reason?

First of all, I don’t think that the lack of a Randy Savage doll has anything to do with animosity between the Macho Man and Vince McMahon. When it comes to WWE dolls, wrestlers have one of two options. They can either sign a WWE Legends contract that will most likely lead to a doll being manufactured, or they can sign a deal directly with the toy company (Jakks Pacific). This is why some wrestlers who have personal problems with Vince – including Bruno Sammartino, The Honky Tonk Man, and The Ultimate Warrior – have all had dolls made of them recently.

Of course, then we have the larger question of why WWE and Savage have no relationship with each other these days. There are numbers of wild theories out there on the internet, including speculation that Macho at one point had an affair with Stephanie McMahon. (Again, I stress that this story is only a popular RUMOR and not something that should be taken as the gospel.) Others speculate that the currently sour relationship between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage has prevented Macho from getting a deal with the company. The story goes that WWE would much rather deal with Hogan since he’s clearly the bigger star and that they don’t want to offend him by bringing Savage in to the fold as well.

The third (and in my opinion the most likely) explanation is just basic economics. Some people speculate that Savage has priced himself out of the market, asking for far more money than WWE is willing to give. This isn’t too surprising if you’ve listened to some of the Honky Tonk Man’s rants about just how little cash WWE actually pays out to its legends. Those rants used to be archived at his website, but sadly it appears to have vanished.

Patrick wants to talk about one guy who used to be in TNA and one guy who still is . . .

1- i was wondering who composed jeff hardy’s current theme music. i ask this because i’ve noticed this theme being used in non-wwe televised events (most recently spike TVs video game awards). for the most part, i notice spike tv uses the song a lot when promoting their own tv specials. can wwe seek legal action for this? unless jeff hardy composed the song i suppose.

The song is stock music. What’s stock music you ask? There are companies whose entire business is cheaply producing generic music and releasing CD after CD after CD of the stuff. Businesses, including TV companies, radio stations, and even pro wrestling promotions then pay a relatively tiny fee for the rights to use the music. However, the rights that they purchase aren’t exclusive, which sometimes leads to TV viewers hearing the same song in two different places. Other popular examples of stock music being used in for wrestlers’ entrances include Chris Benoit’s original WCW theme, the Holly Cousins’ WWF tune, and even the man theme for the New World Order. There are countless instances of stock music used for wrestlers being heard by fans in commercials or on other television shows.

2- i recently read somewhere that someone in wwe talent scouting mentioned samoa joe to vince when he was starting out, but vince said that joe was ‘too fat’. what is this about, because vince has pushed much heaver, less athletic guys than samoa joe (yokozuna, umaga, rikishi, bertha faye).

For starters, this wouldn’t have happened when Joe was just “starting out,” because Joe was far from fat at that point. (I believe that he debuted in either 2000 or 2001.) He was by no means ripped, but he was significantly smaller than he is these days.

The story also doesn’t make much sense if you’re talking about Joe’s more recent career. From what I recall, just before he signed with TNA, Joe had received interest from both that group and WWE. I’ve never heard any story about the E refusing to sign Joe because of his size. To the contrary, I’ve always heard that the decision to go to TNA was Joe’s call.

Frank C. fell in to a burnin’ ring of honor . . .

1) I was able to cath the Hartford ROH show and Final Battle 2006. I noticed, during these two shows, that Davey Richards has a very large scar that runs down the better part of his left leg. I assume had some surgery. Any word on what it could have been?

I have no clue. Readers?

2) I know that Bryan Danielson has a serious shoulder injury, but I would have thought Homicide’s was much worse. He’s been nursing it for the better part of two years (I think since his last match from his first series with Steve Corino). Any idea what the extent of either the injuries are? I know that ROH.com mentioned that Danielson will be taking a hiatus, but do you know how long?

Homicide separated his shoulder in a match at the December 3, 2005 Steel Cage Warfare show. You are correct, the match was against Steve Corino . . . though it was a one-time rematch of their 2003 feud, not part of a larger series. Homicide has never had surgery for the injury, and it doesn’t appear that he’s toned down his in-ring style all that much to compensate.

As far as Danielson is concerned, Gabe Sapolsky, head booker for ROH, was recently on Dave Metlzer’s Wrestling Observer Live radio show. At that time, he confirmed that the former American Dragon would be taking some time off and receiving surgery on his injured shoulder. Sapolsky said that he is not even bothering to write storylines for Danielson’s return because he is not sure when it will happen. He speculated that it would be in May 2007 at the earliest.

3) Claudio Castagnoli mentioned that he would be staying around a bit longer in ROH at Final Battle 2006. How long? Did his deal with WWE fall through or get pushed back?

As has been reported in several places since Final Battle ’06, Castagnoli was released from his WWE contract. WWE’s side of the story is that Claudio, who is from Switzerland, did not have the necessary paperwork to work in the United States and was not forthcoming with them about that fact. Claudio has since released a statement saying that he does have the paperwork necessary to work in the US, though he failed to mention why WWE fired him if that was actually the case.

Chase M. has some questions about the WWE Legends program . . .

When will they put out a dvd for curt hennig/ mr perfect, with him being added to smackdown vs raw 2007 legends you would think they would have a dvd for him.

The selection process for who gets a WWE DVD these days seems to be very random. Though I was glad to see DVDs for guys like Brian Pillman and the Roadwarriors, I was surprised that WWE production actually green lighted them. That’s no knock on Pillman and the Warriors, it just seemed odd for two acts who had a rather negligible impact in WWE and were more WCW/NWA names than anything else.

Given the above, a Hennig DVD isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. However, I still wouldn’t hold my breath waiting on it.

Do you think they will put him in the hall of fame?

That’s hard to say. Selection for the WWE Hall of Fame seems to have very little to do with who actually deserves to be in it. It’s more of a situation in which you have to be a favorite of the individuals making the decision or somebody who has a DVD coming out that they want to market. For example, we got James Dudley inducted in the mid-90’s, and he was nothing more than Vince McMahon, Sr.’s limo driver. Further, I doubt that Verne Gagne would have been inducted without the release of the AWA DVD, and it was widely reported that Mean Gene was inducted in 2006 so that WWE had an excuse to use Hogan during Wrestlemania weekend.

When you look at Hennig’s chances in those terms, he seems doubtful. On one hand, you won’t hear many people talk negatively about the guy, but, on the other hand, there’s nobody in power backstage that had a close connection to him.

What about Brian Pillman and having him in the hall of fame?

Pillman obviously had enough backstage support to get his DVD released, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he got inducted in to the Hall due to the same factors. However, you also have to consider that a.) the DVD has already been out for a while, so the company probably doesn’t want to do a renewed promotional push for it and b.) the company probably doesn’t want to induct too many wrestlers who died at a young age, because it draws attention to the drug problem in the industry.

Here’s a little something from Steve O. . . . and, no, I don’t mean the one who got destroyed by Umaga last year . . .

I was at Armageddon and the fire bit w/MVP was gimmicked by someone under the ring. I thought the story about the 1st degree burns was a work. Then I see him on Smackdown. The burns looked a little too fresh considering Armageddon was 3 weeks ago. Should I be giving props to the WWE makeup department?

Yes, you should most definitely give props to the makeup department. WWE doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to taking care of employees, but they’re not cruel enough to make a man injure himself that badly for the sake of an angle.

Joe Y. has one question about people f’ing up and one question about people getting f’ed up . . .

1.) I have heard of “real” fights in wrestling. Has there ever been a match where two guys went at each other on pay per view for real? Can you tell me some of the notable “real” fights?

I certainly can, sir.

One of the most popular examples of wrestlers fighting “for real” was the WWF’s Brawl for All tournament held in 1998. The company decided that it wanted to cash in on the underground popularity of UFC and “toughman” boxing events, so they created a tournament in which various lower card wrestlers would slug it out in actual fights. Though the matches primarily resembled boxing, competitors could also score points by successfully executing takedowns on their opponents. The first round of the tournament was completely legitimate and featured Steve Blackman defeating Marc Mero, Bradsaw beating Mark “Henry Godwinn” Caterbury, Savio Vega beating Brakkus, Darren Drozdov and Roadwarrior Hawk fighting to a draw, Bart Gunn beating Bob Holly, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams beating Pierre Oulette, Dan Severn beating the Godfather, and Scorpio beating a Harris twin. All of the wins in this round were on points.

Things changed in the second round of the Brawl for All when Bart Gunn legitimately KOed Dr. Death. Williams was rumored to be the WWF’s favorite to win the entire tournament, and they were none too pleased when they lost their opportunity to push him. As a result, they decided to change the tournament format and work the rest of the matches so that they could guarantee at least one new star would be created. This lead to Gunn getting kayfabed KOs over the Godfather and Bradshaw to win the tournament. He would go on to Wrestlemania XV, where he faced toughman boxer Butterbean in a special attraction match. This was another legitimate fight, and Butterbean knocked Gunn out in a matter of seconds.

Of course, there are also situations in which a worked fight becomes a shoot because the competitors stop working with one another. There are numerous examples of this, but a few of my favorites include:

~ In 1999, Japanese indy Michinoku Pro Wrestling held a masked man tournament that involved Japanese natives and several young British wrestlers. One of the youngsters, who worked as the Dirtbike Kid, was apparently a royal pain in the ass. When he worked a tournament match against the Great Sasuke, who at the time owned and operated Michinoku Pro, Sasuke decided to teach him a lesson. He choked the Kid out and broke his ribs with a series of hard kicks. The match aired on Japanese TV and can easily be located through your friendly neighborhood tape trader.

~ Two words: Akira Maeda. American fans may never have heard of him, but Maeda was a Japanese star who founded RINGS and HEROS, the former a shoot style wrestling organization that later turned in to a full fledged MMA promotion and the latter an MMA promotion run in conjunction with kickboxing giants K-1. He was involved in two infamous pro wrestling shoots during his career. Though he is criticized for being incredibly unprofessional in both situations, they did wonders for his reputation as a legitimate fighter. The first incident occurred in April 1986, when he took on Andre the Giant. Most fans don’t think of Andre as a guy who could be beaten up, but, by 1986, he was broken down to the point of being immobile. Maeda took full advantage of that and delivered a series of shoot kicks to the Giant’s legs, which is was completely incapable of defending against. Andre eventually went down, and the match was called off prematurely. The second incident took place in November 1987 during a tag match. New Japan legend Riki Choshu was holding a wrestler in his version of the Sharpshooter, and Maeda determined that this would be a fine opportunity to walk across the ring and kick Choshu in the face. Legitimately. Choshu’s orbital bone was shattered, and Maeda was fired from New Japan.

~ In his autobiography To Be the Man . . . Ric Flair details a situation in which various members of the New World Order took harder than necessary shots at his son David with leather straps as part of an angle in WCW.

~ And let’s not forget the original ECW One Night Stand pay per view, during which John “Bradshaw” Leyfield was alleged to have legitimately taken out some of his frustration on the Blue Meanie, walloping him rather hard during a brawl between the ECW and WWE rosters and opening up a wound on the Meanie’s head that had been there from a match earlier in the week. This supposedly took place because the Meanie referred to JBL as a bully on the internet. You know, John, this was not the best way to prove him wrong.

2.) What are some instances of guys completely butchering promos? I know of Hogan at Royal Rumble ’90, but I wondered if there were any others that really stand out in your mind.

For my money, you can’t go wrong with the promo that Owen Hart cut after he turned on brother Bret at the 1994 Royal Rumble. Owen confidently looked at the camera and exclaimed, “Bret, I just kicked your leg out of your leg!” There are no typos in that sentence. That’s actually what the man said. Don’t ask me what it means.

Also, there was a memorable incident in WCW during which Harlem Heat was cutting a promo on Hulk Hogan. Booker T. is letting loose with a bevy of typical pro wrestling insults when, all of a sudden, he accidentally refers to the Hulkster by using the infamous “n-word.” Booker immediately realized what he did and buried his head in his hands, while manager Sensational Sherri just laughed.

Jesse N. is turning tricks with his crucifix . . .

It was more of an 80’s thing, but who would your, or anyone’s,top picks be for a heel that would never turn face, or a face that would never turn heel? Also, who has had the longest run of being pure face or pure heel (never turned)?

Heels who never turned face? Uh… King Kong Bundy? Adrian Adonis?

Ricky Steamboat is THE classic example of a guy that never turned for the majority of his career, though he did briefly drift to the dark side when he was making appearances for Ring of Honor in the early part of the twenty-first century. The Rock n’ Roll Express also comes to mind. Though Ricky did turn heel at one point to join the York Foundation, I can’t think of a time when the Rock n’ Rolls, as a unit, were heels.

Uninterrupted heel runs are harder to pull off in my opinion, mainly because you can only kick ass as a heel for so long before fans naturally want to root for you. In addition to King Kong Bundy, Rick Rude was another man who was essentially a full-time heel. I believe that he did some work as a face when he first broke in to the business, though it was so low profile that it slipped under most people’s radars. He got his first major break in the Memphis territory as a heel and stayed in that position for the rest of his career. Also, though I don’t know what his alignment was while in Japan, Mike Rotundo had a lengthy run as a heel beginning with his transformation in to Michael Wallstreet in 1990. After that he became IRS in the WWF, returned to WCW as Michael Wallstreet, and finished out his US career in 2000 as Mike Rotundo in the surprisingly-reunited Varsity Club.

How about most surprising turn? Hulk/Hollywood Hogan?

Hogan caught a lot of people off guard, and I think that it’s widely revered as “shocking” by internet fans because it was the last big surprise before many of them plunged headlong in to the world of spoilers. However, folks like Dave Meltzer were reporting on the Hogan turn well in advance of it taking place, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. It’s certainly one of the most historic turns in wrestling, though.

Most frequent and/or confusing turn? Paul Orndorf?

Personally, I don’t think that Orndorff’s turns were too hard to keep track of, though I know others disagree. If you really want to see a mess, take a look at Lex Luger’s track record. When he was with WCW in 1995 and 1996, he seemed to turn in every other match that he was involved in. Though part of the storyline was whether Luger could be trusted by the babyfaces, it was horribly executed, as Luger was essentially playing two different characters in different segments on the same television program. He wasn’t just a heel who would suck up to the faces while they were around. He wasn’t just a face that would periodically exhibit heel-ish tendencies. He was practically bi-polar.

And, if you really want confusion, you don’t have to look any further than what’s happened to Kurt Angle since he entered TNA. He started out knocking WWE and Vince McMahon, which seemingly made him a face. Then he began feuding with Samoa Joe. At first, it looked like they were both faces. Then, after the first match, Angle started denying Joe a rematch, which made him look like a heel. However, after he got the rematch took place, Joe denied angle match number three. This made Angle look like face chasing heel Joe . . . but there’s more! Angle starts attacking random people, including two women, to get his rematch. Now he looks like a heel. However, a week or two later, he starts helping Sting out in brawls with heels and pairs off against Christian. So, when he finally gets to the third match with Joe, what’s his alignment? Face? Heel? Damned if I know.

Best simultaneous heel/face depending on venue? Bret Hart?

There really haven’t been that many “double turns” in wrestling. The Bret Hart/Steve Austin match at Wrestlemania XII qualifies as the best, though it’s almost by default.

Best tag partner turning heel or face against former partner?

Though they weren’t a full-time tag team, I’d have to go back to Paul Orndorff turning on Hulk Hogan to answer this question. Everybody who saw this one still talks about it as one of the most dramatic moments in professional wrestling.

Sandeep writes . . .

which is the best / most high profile heel-heel match you can think of?

Rick Martel and Shawn Michaels at the 1992 version of Summerslam was my personal favorite. It was set up when Michaels, attempting to further his rivalry with Bret Hart, cost the Model an Intercontinental Title match against the Hitman. (The Hart/Martel match, by the way, is excellent in its own right and available on the Coliseum Video release Supertape #2.) The stipulation agreed upon by Micheals and Martel prior to their clash at Summerslam was that neither egomaniac could hit the other in the face. They failed to follow this rule and were both counted out of the ring while brawling.

Here’s a sinister six pack of questions from Marc . . .

1. I’m having trouble remembering the career of Owen Hart, up to the 93 Survivor Series. I know he was at WM5, and also appeared at WM8, and was involved in a couple of Tag Teams with the Anvil and Koko B Ware, but can you fill in the blanks?

Sure, filling in the blanks is what I do best.

Owen started his professional career in 1986. Not surprisingly, he debuted by Stampede Wrestling, which was promoted by his father Stu. Owen started as a tag team wrestler, but he quickly moved up the ranks and became one of the company’s top singles stars, primarily feuding with Makhan Singh (who was Mike Shaw, aka Norman the Lunatic and Bastion Booger). He also toured with New Japan Pro Wrestling early in his career, becoming the first of only five North American wrestlers to be entrusted with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

As his run as a Japanese star came to an end, Owen decided to enter the World Wrestling Federation. This was his Blue Blazer period, which lasted from 1989 to 1991. After not doing much of note under the mask, Owen went international again, becoming a main eventer in the Mexican promotion UWA. He feuded with El Canek, the company’s biggest star, though he wound up losing his Blue Blazer mask to the luchadore. Hart also made it back to Japan around this time, and he had a “blink and you’ll miss it” run with WCW, serving primarily as a tag team partner for fellow Stampede alum Brian Pillman.

Owen’s time away from the WWF didn’t last too long, as he was back with the company by the fall of ’91 . . . though this time it was under his real name. It was around this time that he formed the “New Foundation” with Jim Neidhart and then “High Energy” with Koko B. Ware, which lasted through 1992. When he healed up, he was sent to Tennessee’s USWA promotion, which the WWF had a working agreement with. He simultaneously worked in both companies for a while before devoting his full efforts to the WWF around the same time that he started hinting at his heel turn, which officially took place at the previously mentioned 1994 Royal Rumble.

2. Can you do the same thing with Marty Jannetty? If I remember correctly; he disappeared after Shawn turned on him, returned around the 93 Rumble, was MIA again after WM10, and I remember him teaming with Al Snow in that awesome New Rockers gimmick. I’m guessing he was gone because of drugs, but could you help here as well?

Jannetty got his first break in 1984, working in the Central States territory for promoter Bob Geigel. He was part of a couple of different successful tag teams before Shawn Michaels came to Central States and the two teamed up as the “Midnight Rockers.” (A combination of the names Midnight Express and Rock n’ Roll Express.) They won the territory’s Tag Team Titles but then headed to the AWA in 1986. While there, they had the great feud with Buddy Rose and Doug Sommers that many modern fans will know of from watching the AWA material WWE has put out on DVD. In 1987 they had a run in the WWF that literally only lasted a couple of weeks. They were fired for some raucous partying, though “good Christian” Shawn Michaels has said in later interviews that they were just being blamed for other people’s actions and that they were fired because a particular road agent didn’t like them.

The duo returned to the AWA for a little while, though they ultimately wound up back in the WWF in 1988. This was the four year run that most people remember, culminating with the Barber Shop angle that split them up. Their feud lasted through the fall of 1993, and then Jannetty hung around for a couple of more months in his tag team with the 1-2-3 Kid. Jannetty left the company after that team had run its course, and he spent the majority of his time off working independents in the United States. In fact, if you check ECW results from 1995, you’ll see Jannetty’s name listed quite a few times, including matches against the Sandman, Raven, and Eddy Guerrero.

Jannetty resurfaced in the WWF in 1995, working as a face until turning heel with no real explanation and forming the New Rockers in 1996. After that team split up, Jannetty was back to the independents before getting snapped up by WCW in 1998. He was used almost exclusively as a jobber. His highest profile appearance was in a cruiserweight battle royale at the 1998 Slamboree pay per view. (That match is notable for other reasons, namely Chris Jericho’s hilarious ring introductions for the competitors and Dean Malenko winning after disguising himself as luchadore Ciclope.) During this time, he was having a good deal of personal problems and allegedly dabbled in illegal drugs. He wouldn’t be seen in a major wrestling promotion again until the buildup to the 2005 Kurt Angle versus Shawn Michaels match.

3. Speaking of Owen, I’ve read in Mick Foley’s books that Owen loved the Blue Blazer gimmick (when he started doing it again in 99) and that it was not a slight against Bret. However, everything else I’ve read says the opposite, and in fact, Owen was growing tired of the direction of the WWF at the time. So, my question is, who is full of crap? Is Foley just kissing ass?

Honestly, I’d never heard that the Blue Blazer gimmick was meant to knock Bret. If anything, I believe it was supposed to be more of a shot at the old Hulk Hogan babyface character.

In 1999, there was a story circulating on the internet that the Blue Blazer rebirth gimmick was given to Owen after he turned down a story in which he would have an affair with Debra McMichael. (The idea being that Owen was uncomfortable doing this sort of thing, as he was a married man.) Some people thought that the Blazer story was a “punishment” for not doing the affair angle, but, given that the Blazer was featured pretty prominently on the shows and was scheduled to win the Intercontinental Title, I fail to see how it could have possibly been a punishment.

4. Is there a web site that has the best ROH shows, you know, the one’s worth buying? I just bought the first six shows, but I don’t want to buy every DVD, so anything you can do will help.

I’m not aware of a website that provides a quick and dirty “best of” list. However, if you want solid evaluations of ROH shows, I would suggest heading down to 411 Wrestling’s video review section and checking out the work of Brad Garoon and JD Dunn in that area. Frankly, though, I have yet to see an ROH show that ISN’T worth buying. Not every match that they put on is a winner, but there are always one or two bouts that make the disc worth buying.

However, if you still don’t want to spend all of your money on wrestling DVDs, the majority of ROH fans will tell you that you need to buy shows from the company’s “Milestone Series” that took place in the early part of 2006. These include the programs from Wrestlemania weekend, which feature visits from members of the Japanese Dragon Gate promotion, a six man tag that got consideration on just about everybody’s match of the year ballot, and the build to the ROH/CZW war. Oh yeah, there’s also Joe vs. Kobashi, but I’m sure you already knew that.

5. Keeping to ROH, how is there financial status? I don’t need exact figures, but I was wondering if the company is doing, you know, like ECW or WCW figures before both kicked the dirt. I know they’re an independent promotion, but do they have any plans on doing ppv’s or trying to get a show?

ROH is in a good place financially. Head booker Gabe Sapolski has said in quite a few interviews that the company will not keep adding shows to its schedule if it is not profitable to do so. They keep adding shows, so apparently they’re still profitable. From what I’ve read, they’re in a position in which they can virtually guarantee that a show will at least break even if they put it on and then put it out on DVD. Once that’s taken care of, then just about all of their other revenue streams – e.g. sales of non-DVD merchandise, sales of TV rights in foreign markets, etc. – are pure profit.

There are no plans to get on television or pay per view, and frankly there’s no good reason for them to do so. When you start doing TV and PPV, you wind up with a boatload of extra costs, mainly on the production end. This is one of the things that killed ECW, as pay per view providers and television networks didn’t want the “gritty” look of the original ECDub being broadcast over their airwaves. ROH, as previously described, is currently profitable. Why would the company want to put itself in a position to lose all of those profits and drive itself in to debt and possibly bankruptcy?

6. I’ve often heard of the Big Show talking about wrestlers paying their dues, i.e. Tough Enough, but I heard he was discovered by Hogan playing basketball. Is all of this true? If so, then who the hell is the Big Show to talk about paying dues?

You’re correct, Show was discovered in a rather unconventional way and was pushed immediately to the top of the card in WCW. However, to say that he hasn’t “paid his dues” by this point is a little bit ridiculous. He’s competed in wrestling for over a decade with a size and condition that made the sport far more dangerous and painful than it happens to be for the majority of individuals. He also spent a substantial amount of time in Ohio Valley Wrestling, and, though he was still receiving large WWF paydays during that time, but he at least had the experience of working in front of 200 people on a nightly basis instead of several thousand people at a WWF show.

Really, though, I think that “paying your dues” is an outdated concept. If you’re singed by a company and you can immediately make money for that company as a main eventer, you should be a main eventer. It’s ridiculous to take somebody who could draw tons of cash in a top spot and potentially damage their credibility by having them do a bunch of jobs just because of some outdated notion about what “should” happen.

Drew is one mean mother-flocker . . .

My question is this, it’s about the NWO Era of WCW. It was simple enough, it was a battlefield with WCW on one side and NWO on the other. Well, I remember well of a 3rd side sorta speak, the Raven’s Flock, a groupe of freaks and rejects led by the bizare and freakishly tormented Raven. My question is this, why didn’t Raven’s Flock play that much of a role in the NWO vs WCW War? I mean most of the time they took on WCW guys, I remember specificly being Diamond Dallas Page and Chrise Beniot, but occasionaly Raven and his crew took on NWO on a couple of occasions. I persionally was hoping someday that it would be a full out triangle war and have the Flock battle against both WCW and NWO as a threat to both. Is there a specific reason Raven and the groupe never got more then a side break from the battle between 2 sides? Was there ever talk of the Flock turning from WCW on ther focus and focus more on the NWO?

The first possible reason that I can think of is that, if you look at how the Flock functioned, it was never meant to be taken seriously as a stable, no matter who they were feuding with. The Flock existed as a backdrop to get Raven over, with guys like Lodi, Riggs, Kidman, Reese, and Hammer being nothing more than jobbers that rounded out the WCW roster.

The second possible reason is that, if you listen to shoot interviews with Raven, he swears up and down that the problem was Hulk Hogan. According to Mr. Levy, the Hulkster went out of his way to sabotage the career of the former ECW Champion. Hogan apparently alleged that Raven never drew money and never could draw money, making sure to use his backstage clout to prevent him from advancing too far up the card.

Leave it to Dave M. to up the obscurity factor . . .

I’ve got a question about a jobber named Mike Jackson from the old (1970s) wrestling shows, he of the split two-color wrestling singlet. Gordon Solie used to bring up that he was a schoolteacher in the Georgia area who wrestled on the side, and I was wondering if that was true, and what Mike Jackson might be up to these days.

Would you believe me if I said that he’s still wrestling? I didn’t believe it at first either, but he is. He competes on a regular basis for the Wrestle Birmingham promotion in Birmingham, Alabama, and I was able to find results for his matches on Southern indies from 2001 onward. You can even check out some of his recent work on one of the DVDs that the company has released. I don’t know whether the schoolteacher story is legitimate or not, but maybe you can stop by a show and ask him if you’re ever in the greater Birmingham area.

Darren W. wants to know more about everybody’s favorite dead man . . .

During Summerslam 1997 match Vince said that both the Undertaker and Bret Hart only had 1 Summerslam loss at that point in their careers. The Undertaker’s being 1996 vs. Mankind, and Bret’s loss to Bulldogg in 1992. I swear that in 1993 his win over Jerry Lawler was reversed due to him refusing to release the Sharpshooter. Did I miss something or did they forget or decide to block it out?

You’re right, the 1993 win over Lawler was reversed. However, that wasn’t the only Summerslam loss that Bret Hart had coming in to the 1997 show. In 1988, he and Jim Neidhart lost to Demolition when Smash pinned Bret. The very next year, Tully Blanchard pinned him in a Hart Foundation versus Brainbusters match. He also lost the first fall of the Hart Foundation versus Demolition two out of three falls match at Summerslam 1990, being pinned by Crush . . . though the Foundation went on to take the next two falls. Though you could say that they were only talking about singles matches in the commentary, they were ignoring a pretty substantial chunk of Hart’s career.

The Undertaker statement was true, though his Summerslam record after that wasn’t too impressive. The only Summerslam singles match that Taker has won since 1996 is a 2002 encounter with Test.

Also during his match vs. Mankind at Buried Alive Mankind used what looked like a pen object on The Undertaker, any idea what that was?

Wrestlers have a long history of using spikes in matches, and the original Sheik would often use a long, slender taped up object that was referred to as a “pencil.” I’m guessing that is what Mankind was going for.

And finally during the King of The Ring HIAC Match, was it an accident that the roof was collapsing under both wrestlers Both could barely walk on it it without their feet droppin a couple feet and were lucky it didnt break sooner.

Foley has mentioned on many occasions that the cage roof collapsing was not planned in the slightest.

Daddy Long is looking for some information on Roddy Piper’s golden days . . .

When I was a kid, I remember this one sketch during Halloween. Some trick or treaters showed up at Roddy Pipers house, one dressed as Hulk Hogan, and the other two were faces I can’t remember. Roddy then went off, and instead of giving them candy, he proceeded to drop bricks and medicine balls in their sacks. I was like 5 or 6 years old at the time so it was probably between 1985 or 1986. Do you know if this ever appeared on a Coliseum video? I’d love to see it again as I remember it being really funny, and since I can’t find it on YouTube and it’s not on Pipers DVD, I’d say looking for a video on E-Bay would be my best bet to ever see it!

The skit you’re talking about is from the November 2, 1985 Saturday Night’s Main Event. I don’t believe that it was ever released on home video, though I’m sure that there are a few tape traders out there who would be able to hook you up with a copy of that program.

Let’s have Matt C. wrap it up with his fearsome foursome of questions . . .

1. in YOUR eyes, what is the greatest wrestlemania? and while we’re at it, how about the wrost?

My personal favorite Wrestlemania is Wrestlemania X, featuring two ***** matches in Owen Hart versus Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels versus Razor Ramon, as well as a falls count anywhere match between Randy Savage and Crush that has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Wrestlemania XVII was probably the best show from a straight up in-ring perspective, but I always have more fun watching WM X because of the nostalgia factor associated with it.

Wrestlemania IX was the most worthless of the shows. Every other Mania had at least one good to great match on it, and this one was entirely lacking in any redeeming value.

2. did flair and eric b. ever get into a fight backstage? i’m pretty sure they did, but i’m not sure

There are a lot of hard feelings between Bischoff and Flair going back to Bischoff’s time as the man at the helm of WCW. Due to some miscommunication with the front office, Flair thought that he had the OK to miss a show to watch his son Reid’s high school wrestling tournament. Bischoff for some reason thought that Flair didn’t go through the proper channels, considered it a breach of the Nature Boy’s contract, and attempted to get rid of him. This lead to a legal battle between the two sides, though it was ultimately settled with Flair returning to the company. He and Bischoff did an on-screen feud at this point, though, once again, there was no real life altercation.

However, in 2003, after Bischoff signed with WWE, the two did allegedly get in to it. Though it’s not entirely clear why, Flair did throw three or four punches that connected with the Bisch at an episode of Monday Night Raw.

3. i went to an iddie show recently, it got me thinking, what wrestler was in the iddies the longest? and how long was it?

First of all, it’s indy.

Second of all, there are several people out there who never get off of the indy circuit and wrestle for many, many years. In some cases it’s just because the wrestler is a “weekend warrior” and never wants to move up any further than his local circuit. In other cases, it’s just because he sucks. Of course, there are also others who seemingly have all of the tools and never get a break. I’m assuming that’s the group that you’re asking about, so I’ll try to point out a few notable examples:

~ Christopher Daniels: Daniels debuted on the indy circuit in 1993 and stayed there until January 2001 when he signed with WCW. However, his contract was not picked up by the WWF when WCW folded in March 2001. He wouldn’t debut with NWA TNA until 2002. So, depending on whether you want to count the short period of time he was in Atlanta, he spent either eight or nine years on the indies.

~ Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch: These two British stars debuted side by side in 1996, both having spent a decade on the indies at this point . . . though that’s to be expected given that there’s not really a major wrestling promotion in the United Kingdom. However, after having made a guest spot on a recent TNA house show in Portugal, Kurt Angle is pushing for Storm to come in to that company.

~ “Reckless Youth” Tom Carter: In the mid-late 90’s, there were a lot of people that thought Tom Carter would be the next breakout superstar. However, the country’s big promotions never gave him an opportunity. The result is an indy career that has lasted since 1995, coming up on twelve years.

~ Mike Quackenbush: Lucha libre enthusiast Mike Quackenbush first set foot in to the ring in 1994, and he’s stayed there for twelve years. In that time, he’s written three books about the professional wrestling world, which can be purchased through his official website. Back surgery has slowed down his career recently, but he remains active outside of the ring by running the indy promotion CHIKARA and training newcomers for both that company and CZW.

~ Ace Steel: This Ring of Honor standout recently signed a WWE developmental deal after playing “Donald Trump” a couple of weeks ago on Raw. However, prior to that, he spent fifteen years as an indy wrestler, having debuted in 1991. During that period of time, he helped train both Colt Cabana and CM Punk.

4. Trish and Lita have had the greatest fued in wwe woman history (there fued in 2004, not 2001 or 2006), no doubt. in my eyes, there also the 2 greatest woman WRESTLERS ever. is there any chance of them coming back? if yes, when?

I wholeheartedly disagree with your statement that they’re the two greatest female wrestlers ever. However, you didn’t ask me about that, so I won’t bother going off on a lengthy tirade about who has been better. (And, believe me, there are plenty.)

As far as their returns to the ring are concerned, there is almost always a possibility of somebody making a comeback in wrestling. God knows that we’ve seen it often enough. If the two of them tire of the other projects that they’re working on or get an itch to have the sort of celebrity that they were able to achieve through wrestling, they would probably be back in a heartbeat. Whether that actually happens is entirely up to them, though it should be noted that Lita has already agreed to work a few shows with Hermie Sadler’s UWF promotion.