Ask 411 Wrestling 10.10.07: Battlebowls, Killer Khan, Knee pads and more!

Have you checked out the Boston Legal Season 3 DVD Review yet? That’s some pretty good stuff right there.

For those of you wondering, that is not my actual picture on my MySpace profile. My computer lacks the ability to get pictures of me on the Internet, and all the pictures I could put on there are of me before I lost almost 40 pounds. I don’t want to give people the wrong impression, y’know? The picture is of a Steve Cook though.

My waist size has gone down 6 inches since the end of May. Woot!

Is there anything else worth my commenting on? Football sucks, so I’m glad college basketball season isn’t too far away. Despite the best wishes of some fans that love to start ludicrous rumors, my Louisville Cardinals look poised for a really good season. Nothing in life is a given, but I’m feeling pretty good about that. It’s finally getting cool here, so I’m pretty happy about that.

Congratulations to Nigel McGuinness for winning the ROH title from the fat bastard Morishima! I’ve been a pretty big Nigel fan for the last few years now, so I’m pretty excited to see what he’ll do on top of ROH. And I’m also pumped that my boy from the NWF Richwood flea market shows Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson’s got a spot in Survival of the Fittest. Watch out Ari, the Machine Gun’s for real!

As I write this, it is 3:28 PM…and the Steelers still suck!

That’s about all. Let’s get on with the question “answering”!

Comments, Corrections & other “C” Words

Got a story about Jake Roberts and his pet snakes. In March 1993, Jake appeared as the headliner of a tour to Australia called Wrestleriot. The card at Sydney’s Horden Pavilion also featured a ****3/4 classic between Jushin Liger and Chris Benoit. Jake wrestled Don Muraco in the main event and pinned him with the DDT. But after the show, the snake he brought to the ring escaped from it’s bag and hasn’t been seen since! The Horden Pavilion has been home to a variety of rock concerts, dance parties and expos since then and the arena, in the old Sydney Showground precinct, has been rat and mouse-free for some time. About six years ago, a roadie for Green Day apparently freaked out when he saw a “Really big” snake curled around a rafter in the back of the building.

In regard to planning out matches in advance, didn’t DDP get a negative rep from some of the old-timers for needing to script every single aspect of his match out to the last detail? – Andrew Prentice

DDP was big on scripting his matches, and guys like Ric Flair don’t have very high opinions of him. On the flip side, that’s probably why his series with Randy Savage in the late 90s was so good…Savage was like DDP in that aspect of the game. Some guys like to have their stuff planned, some don’t.

First off, someone asked why Mick Foley dismissed the Dude Love persona. I think it was probably cause Mick didn’t exactly want it to get out in the first place. From what I gather reading his first 2 books, he kinda just did it for fun in college, and it wasn’t really meant to go any further. I kinda think Vince found out about it and talked a reluctant Mick into doing it on WWE, and it meant that the character didn’t really come off how Mick would have wanted it to. I have to admit it was cool though when he came out 3 different times as each persona at one of the Royal Rumbles.

The question also stems from the same person. He asked who were Shawn Michaels’ knights at a PPV, one of them being Black Knight. I can’t remember where I read it, but wasn’t Glen Jacobs, aka Kane, the Black Knight for someone at some point? I can’t exactly remember who it was, I think maybe Jerry Lawler (no I am not confusing the Isaac Yankem character, it was 2 separate times) but I am not sure. – Lynx Raven Raide

Kane has had several different personas, but I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t him at Survivor Series 1993.

Have to say I love your column, it’s awesome stuff. I’m writing in response to a question
I read last time regarding Paul Bearer appearing on tv with a burnt wooden doll before Kane
debuted.

I saw that show live, it was Halifax, Nova Scotia on July 21st, 1997. Paul Bearer came
up on the Titantron saying he had proof that Undertaker’s brother Kane was still alive after
being horribly burned as a child. He held up half of a burned up wooden doll, and claimed it was
Kane’s, and the Undertaker had the other half of it. He said it was a symbol of their brotherly
bond as children. JR argued that it didn’t prove anything at all, and Bearer told him to shut up.
As far as I remember, nothing else ever came of it. This was the same night of the
first ever Flag Match with Bret, Owen and Bulldog beating Austin, Dude Love, and Taker.
Hope this helps! – Peter

That does help, thanks for the info.

Don’t forget Vader vs Hansen on US soil at WCW Wrestle War 1991 – Sunday, February 24th, 1991. The eyeball match was at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Tokyo Dome Super Fight at the Tokyo Dome (2/10/90). – Todd

First off “The Spartan Swinger” guy sounds intriguing. Perhaps this is the reason, as asked a week or so before, that Johnny Swinger was hired by WWE and re-gimmicked as Johnny Parisi. Everyone knows Vince isn’t above hiring a guy or paying a guy off if that guy owns the copyright to a name he wants (Undertaker, The Repo Man)…

Oh, and since you don’t want “Together” played at your wedding… would it be okay to pay Koko B. Ware to come and sing “Piledriver”? – J. Jimmy Jettison

That’d be fine, Koko could probably use the money.

You mention Ventura’s last match was Sep 1984 against George “Watch out for the rabies foam” Wells. In fact, Ventura participated in Saturday Night’s Main Event 4: Dec 19, 1985 – Jesse, Piper and Orton (I’m pretty sure it was Bob, not Randy) beat Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer, & Cousin Luke…I’m pretty sure Jesse actualyl wrestled in that match. – Alex

I did forget about that, I probably should have specified that the Wells match was his last match before the blood clots.

Questions!

CURRENTLY, what is the stauts of edge and lita? are they still together or what? – TheMidnightPunk

Edge & Lita are not together romantically, I believe that they’re still friends though. The most recent news on Amy Dumas’ relationship status was that she was dating Shane Morton, the guitarist with whom she formed the Luchagors music group after her retirement from wrestling. I have no current information on Edge’s romantic life, and I don’t know enough ring rats to find out.

Does WWE or TNA get paid for their weekly shows (iMPACT!, RAW, SmackDown, ECW)? I found that TNA didn’t get paid for iMPACT when it was 1 hour, but how about when it goes 2 hours? And did TV companies pay for WWE weekly shows in the US?

From what I remember hearing when WWE was negotiating with USA, they get paid to let USA air Raw, AM Raw and other programming, but USA gets all the ad revenue. It’s not as good a deal as they had with Viacom, but wrestling isn’t as hot now as it was when Viacom lured them away from USA in 2000. I’m not sure if TNA gets paid for their two-hour show or not. I recall that Spike TV agreed to pay at least part of Sting’s salary and possibly Kurt Angle’s because they wanted some name talent on TNA’s shows. As for syndicated wrestling shows in the olden days, the channels airing them paid for those shows.

How about WWE shows broadcasted in other countries (non-US)? I found out some other companies might broadcast WWE/TNA PPVs, but does the wrestling promotions get paid? – ANONYMOUS

I don’t know how it works outside the US, to be honest. I’ll ask the foreign readers if they know anything about it.

Hey Steve, I have two questions. Where do you think I can find the Regal-Benoit match from the Pillman memorial show in 2000? I’ve been looking everywhere but can’t seem to find it. And secondly is Dr. Keith Lipinski really a doctor? – Henry

You can find Regal vs. Benoit on “Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story”. I’m pretty sure you won’t find that title in stores anymore, but I’m sure somebody’s got a copy up on ebay or something. I’m really not that familiar with Lipinski’s work, but I’m pretty sure he’s as much of a real doctor as Dr. Tom Prichard is. Which is to say that he’s not.

How can a lot of the Indy promotions survive with so little fans showing up at their shows? For example, I live near Evansville and they have been having wrestling matches at the Collesium for years. When the USWA/CWA was stopping here, the cards were great and the events drew pretty well. Now, other groups come in and their shows are lucky to have 100 people. Yet, they keep coming back time after time. I know they can’t be making any money. What keeps companies like this around? Do the wrestlers work for free for the love of the sport? Or hoping to be noticed by some secret multi-millionaire investor in the crowd looking to start up a new promotion? Most of the time the rings are cheaply constructed and make it next to impossible to do any high-flying moves. And the sound systems are bad. So, even if you are given a chance to speak, chances are noone will understand what you are saying. I just don’t get it. – pmop

Indy promotions are mostly backed by what people in the business refer to as “money marks”. Basically, pro wrestling fans that have money to spend. They don’t seem to care about making money, they just want to put on shows and meet wrestlers and be part of the business. The wrestlers do not work for free…though sometimes they end up doing so because the promoter doesn’t have the money to pay them. They work these shows for a multitude of reasons…some do it because they’re rising stars and they want to get their name out there, some do it because they’re on the way down and still want to wrestle, some are marks just like the promoters and want to be wrestlers because of their heroes. Of course, the situations vary depending on what kind of promotions you’re talking about. For the sake of this discussion, I’m focusing on the lowest of the indies, the ones that are lucky to draw 100 fans. As for how they can afford to stay in business, promotions like IWA Mid-South, CHIKARA and other promotions that usually don’t draw a lot of people rely on DVD sales to stay afloat. ROH has built most of their current status as the top independent promotion off of DVD and other merchandise sales. Most of these promotions will end up failing in the end, but the people involved feel it’s worth a shot to see just how far they can get.

Bastil brings us some questions from Germany…say hi to my old friend Flo for me!

i truly love the commentary from bobby heenan and gorilla monsoon so my question is when did they start to commentate ppv’s and how many big events did they call?

WrestleMania VII
Summerslam 1991 (w/Roddy Piper)
Survivor Series 1991
This Tuesday in Texas
Royal Rumble 1992
WrestleMania VIII
Royal Rumble 1993

That’s the list. Prior to WM VII, Jesse Ventura was the color analyst for the majority of the PPVs…this ended when Ventura left the company in June 1990. Heenan was usually busy managing on PPV events until early 1991, when he retired from managing and became a full-time broadcast journalist.

i just bought the royal rumble 1992 dvd and i wondered what was the deal with the new foundation? why did they wear these ridiculous, like “brain” said it best, pyjamas? was the team supposed to be a stepping stone for owen, just like it was for bret? why did neidhart leave soon after?

The New Foundation was an attempt to serve two purposes: getting Owen Hart over and giving Jim Neidhart something to do. I can’t find a good reason for Neidhart’s departure…my best guess is that his contract expired and they didn’t have anything else to do with him.

As for why they wore the baggy pants and suspenders…MC Hammer wore big pants a couple years before? I honestly have no idea, maybe it was a rib on Owen & Anvil.

the new foundation wrestled against the orient express (tanaka & kato), in what was in my opinion, a great match. how long was the orient express around? they were a good team or what do you think? was there a guy named sato in orient express before kato took over? if yes what happened to him, why was he replaced?

The original Orient Express consisted of Tanaka & Sato…Akio Sato was a rather experienced wrestler, making his debut back in 1970. He decided to leave the WWF in late 1990, so WWF brought in Tanaka’s old AWA tag team partner Paul Diamond. They put him under a mask and named him Kato so they could keep the Orient Expresss theme.

I can’t say I saw a whole lot of the Orient Express and certainly haven’t seen anything of theirs in the last decade or so. As a kid I wasn’t too impressed by them…they were there to put other teams over and that’s what they did. I’m told they had some impressive PPV matches with teams like the Rockers, but I honestly don’t remember. Wrestlers managed by Mr. Fuji generally weren’t threats to do much of anything in the early 90s.

before the piper – mountie match, they showed the footage from springfield where the mountie defeated the hitman for the ic championship, and claimed bret wrestled against doctors orders. why did hart drop the title two days before the royal rumble? was he really sick or did he get hurt during the match? i mean he won the title back from roddy piper at wrestlemania VIII, so it could not be that serious.

I know we’ve discussed this in the column before. The “Bret being sick” thing was a work to protect Bret from the damage a clean loss to the Mountie might have done. Also, Hart’s contract was on the verge of expiring, and while they expected to be able to re-sign him, they didn’t want to take any chances.

Eddie has two questions…

*What are Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff up to these days?

The last time I heard any information on Heyman was in a Jim Ross blog…Ross stated that Heyman was working on writing scripts for projects in film and television not involved with wrestling. His contract with WWE expired in September, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for him to pop up somewhere else in the wrestling business.

Bischoff is currently running a production company with his old friend Jason Hervey. Their main work at the moment is the VH1 series “Scott Baio is 45 and Single”. It’s pretty funny stuff if you’re into that kind of thing. They’re working on other projects including a reality TV series with Fred Durst and developing energy drinks.

*Assuming Randy Orton wins the WWE title and Kurt Angle hangs on to his TNA title after their respective PPV’s next month, that will mean the top two wrestling promotions will have world champions with ties to the Signature Pharmacy scandal. That can’t look too good when they get up in front of Congress soon, can it?

It wouldn’t, but TNA could easily avoid that by having Sting go over Angle at Bound For Glory. That would probably be the best thing they could do at this point…which means they won’t do it.

JLAJRC has two questions…

1.) In the 80’s, Jimmy Hart used to go by the nickname “Colonel.” How did he get that nickname and why did they stop using it?

Hart mostly used the Colonel nickname when accompanying Honky Tonk Man to the ring. It was a reference to Elvis Presley’s longtime manager Colonel Tom Parker. When Hart managed wrestlers that didn’t have gimmicks based off of Elvis, the “Colonel” moniker wasn’t as necessary.

2.) It’s well-known that Bobby Heenan did broadcasting and Jimmy Hart wrote the music for many of the WWE wrestlers. But what about other managers? Besides their onscreen role, did any of the other various managers have any backstage duties we may not know about?

Jim Cornette was part of the creative team for a good bit of his stint with the WWF. Paul Bearer did some work as a road agent during part of his time there. I’m not really sure what a lot of the other guys did…Mr. Fuji was the designated ribber, but I don’t think Vince paid him for that.

I have a question about a WCW PPV from sometime in the 90’s. I know it featured teams that were supposedly picked at random and was kind of like a tournament style of a PPV. Can you shed any light about this event, what were some of the teams that were paired up, and who wound up winning this event? thanks for the help. – Jim

The concept you’re talking about here was called the Lethal Lottery. I’m fairly sure it was a Dusty Rhodes idea…what happened was that there were a series of tag team matches where the teams were “randomly” picked. The teams that won the matches were entered into a battle royal called the Battlebowl, where the winner would usually get bragging rights and not a whole lot else except maybe a nice trophy. There were four of these events, and thanks to the Wrestling Information Archive I can hook you up with some results…

Starrcade 1991 (12/19/91):
Marcus Bagwell and Jimmy Garvin defeated Tracey Smothers and Michael Hayes (12:45) when Bagwell pinned Smothers….
Steve Austin and Rick Rude defeated Big Josh and Van Hammer (12:56) when Rude pinned Hammer….
Richard Morton and Dustin Rhodes defeated Larry Zbysko and El Gigante (5:54) when Rhodes pinned Zbysko….
Bill Kazmeier and Jushin Liger defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Mike Graham (13:08) when Liger pinned Page….
Ricky Steamboat and Todd Champion defeated Cactus Jack and Buddy Lee Parker (7:48) when Steamboat pinned Parker….
Lex Luger and Arn Anderson defeated Tom Zenk and Terrance Taylor (10:25) when Luger pinned Taylor….
Sting and Abdullah the Butcher defeated Bobby Eaton and Brian Pillman (5:55) when Sting pinned Eaton….
Big Van Vader and Mr Hughes defeated The Nightstalker and Rick Steiner (5:05) when Vader pinned Nightstalker…
Scott Steiner and Firebreaker Chip defeated Arachnaman and Johnny B Badd (11:16) when Steiner pinned Arachnaman….
Thomas Rich and Ron Simmons defeated Steve Armstrong and PN News (12:01) when Simmons pinned Armstrong….
Sting won a “two-ring battle royal” (25:10). Other participants were: Marcus Bagwell, Jimmy Garvin, Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Richard Morton, Dustin Rhodes, Bill Kazmeier, Jushin Liger, Ricky Steamboat, Todd Champion, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Sting, Abdullah The Butcher, Big Van Vader, Mr Hughes, Scott Steiner, Firebreaker Chip, Thomas Rich, Ron Simmons

Starrcade 1992 (12/28/92)
Van Hammer and Danny Spivey defeated Johnny B Badd and Cactus Jack (6:51) when Hammer pinned Cactus….
Big Van Vader and Dustin Rhodes defeated Kensuke Sasaki and The Barbarian (6:56) when Rhodes pinned The Barbarian….
The Great Muta and Barry Windham defeated Brian Pillman and Too Cold Scorpio (6:59) when Muta pinned Scorpio…
Steve Williams and Sting defeated Jushin Liger and Erik Watts (9:08) when Williams pinned Watts….
The Great Muta won a “battle royal” (14:01). Other participants were: Van Hammer, Danny Spivey, Big Van Vder, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Steve Williams, and Sting.

Battlebowl (11/20/93):

Vader and Cactus Jack defeated Kane and Charlie Norris (7:34) when Vader pinned Norris….
Johnny B. Badd and Brian Knobbs defeated Erik Watts and Paul Roma (12:56) when Knobbs pinned Watts….
The Shockmaster and Paul Orndorff defeated Steven Regal and Ricky Steamboat (12:26) when Shockmaster pinned Regal….
King Kong and Dustin Rhodes defeated Awesome Kong and The Equalizer (5:55) when Rhodes pinned Awesome Kong….
Sting and Jerry Sags defeated Ron Simmons and Keith Cole (13:14) when Sags pinned Cole….
Ric Flair and Steve Austin defeated Maxx Payne and Too Cold Scorpio (14:31) when Flair forced Payne to submit….
Rick Rude and Shanghai Pierce defeated Marcus Bagwell and Tex Slashinger (14:50) when Rude pinned Slashinger….
Road Warrior Hawk and Rip Rogers defeated Davey Boy Smith and Kole (7:55) when Rogers pinned Kole….
Vader won a “battle royal” (25:33). Other Participants were: Cactus Jack, Brian Knobbs, Johnny B. Badd, The Shockmaster, Paul Orndorff, King Kong, Dustin Rhodes, Sting, Jerry Sags, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Shanghai Pierce, Road Warrior Hawk, and Rip Rogers.

Slamboree 1996 (5/19/96):

Road Warrior Animal and Booker T and Road Warrior Hawk and Lex Luger (6:54) fought to a Double Count Out….
The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) defeated Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan (4:44) when Rock pinned Benoit….
Rick Steiner and Booty Man defeated Craig Pittman and Scott Steiner (8:21) when Rick pinned Pittman….
VK Wallstreet and Jim Duggan defeated Steven Regal and David Taylor (3:46) when Duggan pinned Taylor….
Dick Slater and Bobby Eaton defeated Disco Inferno and Alex Wright (2:56) when Slater pinned Disco….
Diamond Dallas Page and The Barbarian defeated Meng and Hugh Morrus (5:15) when Barbarian pinned Morrus….
Scott Norton and Ice Train defeated Big Bubba and Stevie Ray (3:32) when Bubba was pinned….
Ric Flair and Randy Savage defeated Arn Anderson and Eddie Guerrero (4:04) when Flair pinned Guerrero….
Semi-Finals:
Dick Slater and Bobby Eaton defeated Jim Duggan and V.K. Wallstreet (4:08) when Eaton pinned Wallstreet…..
The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) defeated Ric Flair and Randy Savage via forfeit….
Diamond Dallas Page and The Barbarian defeated The Booty Man and Rick Steiner (5:05) when Barbarian pinned Booty….
Diamond Dallas Page won a battle royal (9:33). Also in the match were: Big Bubba, Bobby Eaton, Ice Train, Scott Norton, The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge), and Dick Slater….

Hope that helps!

I have always loved the intro music the midnight
express used. I know its a variation of the
soundtrack from the movie Midnight Express, but I can
only find the Giorgio Moroder version, or ones
similiar. Do you know were I can find the one they
used other than on old videos? – Ryan, Tega Cay, SC

I would recommend that you check some of those websites where you can download music…I don’t use those websites myself, but I know that some of my readers might.

I was watching Andre/Hogan on the WWE Championship DVD today for the 1st time in a couple years and was quite alarmed with the trash being thrown at both men before the main event. While riding the little ring cart Andre and Heenan were literally pelted with bunch of tras, and they did their best to just look ahead, and while you say well they are heels, soon Hogan’s music hits and as hes making his way to the ring he gets nailed with a bunch of trash thrown by people. Than during their ultimate face to face confrontation you can see stuff nailing both men, and the ref at one point can be seen kicking stuff out of the ring. My question is after the DLO/Droz incident and even before it how does the WWE manage to keep this from happening, and has a match ever ended prematurley due to it being unsafe due to objects being thrown? – Darren

I’m pretty sure WWE has the ring announcer announce that there will be no throwing trash towards the ring area or else you will be ejected. I don’t think matches have ever ended due to trash being thrown in the ring, but I could be wrong. I think the WM III match is a rarity as far as the trash throwing goes…people were really, really into seeing that match, and they either hated Andre with a passion for turning against Hulk, or they just didn’t care for Hulk. I’m sure there was a “smark” presence at WWF shows even back then.

What brand and type of Knee Pads do Wrestlers use? HHH’s knee pads from
this week’s RAW looked especially impressive. Being a Judo Wrestler with
ruined cartilage in his knees that info could come in handy. – Robert

I asked my colleague Larry Csonka about this since he has experience in the pro wrestling business…he said they don’t use a particular brand, but he used Brute Neoprene/Lycra knee pads. He recommends putting a knee brace over top, and considering your cartilage situation that’d be a pretty good idea.

Rob has three questions…

Who has had the same enterance music for the longest ? I was thinking HBK but then i realised he was in DX so it changed. Who is it ?

I’ve answered this before at some point…thing is, entrance music hasn’t always been used in wrestling. And while Ric Flair has used different versions of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” in his career, he’s always used a version of the song as his entrance music. So I will go with that as the answer.

Who is the IWC ? Yeah yeah i know it stands for internet wrestling community. Are you part of it because you write a column about it ? Am i part of it because i read your column and pass judgement on it ? OR is it a group of nerds who don’t let anybody else in there lil’ group who have nothing better to do with there time than shitting on John Cena ?

I am part of it. You are part of it. It’s simple…if you’re a wrestling fan, have an Internet connection, and use the Internet to either read or talk about pro wrestling, you are part of the IWC. I’ll let you all decide if we’re a group of nerds or not. I have no problem admitting my nerdiness, but some of you may be in denial. I understand that.

Finally who is YOUR favourite wrestler of all time ?

I have a long list of favorite wrestlers, but the one that stands out at the top is none other than the glorified stuntman himself, Mick Foley. Why Foley? I always enjoyed his matches and his promos, and it was easy for me to identify with an overweight guy that wasn’t very good looking. No offense, Mick.

Thanks to WWE 24/7 I’ve been seeing a number of house shows i.e. Philly, Boston, Madison Square Garden. Killer Khan has been on a number of them from 1986-1987 main eventing against Hulk Hogan. Are you aware of seeing Killer Khan on TV during that time period? I don’t think he was ever included in a WWF PPV or Coliseum Video release, yet, he’s on a number of these house shows – Paul

After consulting the History of WWE website (You da man Graham!), I found that Kahn made several television appearances. His return to WWF Superstars took place on May 2, 1987, and he appeared the next few weeks after that, including an incident on the July 18, 1987 episode where he spit mist in Hogan’s eyes in the Snake Pit. He also made regular appearances in squash matches on Wrestling Challenge & Prime Time Wrestling. His last television appearance with the WWF was a loss to Randy Savage on the December 31, 1987 edition of Prime Time Wrestling. I’m not sure why he never appeared on a PPV or a video release, to tell you the truth. There was only 1 PPV during his stint with the company (Survivor Series 1987), but you’d think that he would have made it on a tape somewhere.

I was wondering if you might be able to tell me where I could find the unedited version of Dusty Rhodes” HOF induction speech. I saw it one time, and thought that he really showed why he is considered to be one of the best promo men in the business. He gave credit to a lot of his colleagues and gave the rub to some current stars. – Katrina

I’m not sure if the version on the WM 23 DVD set is edited or not. It probably is, but that’s the only way I know of seeing Dusty’s speech.

Clyde has several questions…

Okay, while I can understand why Jerry Lawler wanted to be the top dog of the Memphis territory–was there ever anyone else put up on the same level (as the perennial champion) that he was?

Nobody was on Lawler’s level, but there were several guys that were just below. Eddie Gilbert, Bill Dundee & Austin Idol all had very successful careers in Memphis and had victories over Lawler at some point. Towards the end, Jeff Jarrett & Brian Christopher were just below Lawler and were considered main eventers. Lawler had 28 USWA title reigns…the next most was Eddie Gilbert with 4. Lawler had 43 Southern title reigns while Christopher was second with 25. Nobody in Memphis was in Lawler’s league. They could beat him on occasion, but the King always got the last laugh.

Does anyone know the names of all the wrestlers who were there when Bruiser Brody was stabbed to death?

I don’t think all of the names have ever been listed, but here’s Dutch Mantell’s account of the murder.

Did Tony Atlas suffer any (ticketwise, job wise, etc.) in the States for seeing Bruiser get stabbed and not testifying to that affect?

I don’t know for a fact that his lack of involvement in Jose Gonzales’ trial hurt Atlas, but his career was already headed downhill before the incident and that sure didn’t help his cause. As those of you who watched the “True Life: I’m a Professional Wrestler” special back in 1999 know, Atlas fell on some hard times after leaving the WWF and was homeless for a period of time.

As with the Sheik and Iron Sheiks boots, was there anyone else who wore the “Persian boots” in wrestling? Is there really a Middle Eastern boot like that for wrestling or is it just a gimmick?

The Sultan wore them during his brief stint. I think a wrestler called the Mongolian Mauler wore them too, but I could be wrong on that. Just last night I saw a wrestler called the Headhunter wearing these boots on AAA’s Triplemania XV. Persian/Mongol boots were not designed exclusively for wrestling purposes…they were the fashion over in the Middle East from the 1100s to the 1800s or so. That being said, they were good for fighting purposes, as they provided protection to the feet and the points could be used to make a kick really hurt.

I was wondering what gimmick Paul Burchill is using in his dark matches. Is he using his OVW character or has he gone back to the pirate gimmick? I personally loved his OVW gimmick and would love to see it used by him in the WWE. – Dan

I don’t believe you’ll be seeing Burchill return to WWE as a pirate. Word has it that Burchill has been teaming with Dave Taylor in his dark matches, so I’d expect his gimmick to be that of an evil British dude. From what I saw of him in OVW, that’d be pretty similar to what he’ll probably be doing in WWE.

I’m a first time writer and long time reader. I was just watching some youtube videos of Cryme Tyme(as I only saw them once during their Smackdown! appearance vs Deuce and Domino), and I was wondering why they were released? I’ve heard something about a “grudge” but I don’t know any details or anyone involved. The crowds genuinely seem to like them, as do I, so what could possibly have happened? – Travis

The word is that Cryme Tyme got into a verbal altercation with Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch while planning a match at a house show in early September. Threats were made by Cryme Tyme, so Murdoch & Cade had the match cut short to keep potential problems from happening. Cryme Tyme were not happy and did their finisher on the referee after the match and auctioned off his belt. They protected the ref during the move, but it did not go over well with the powers that be. They got fired the next day at the Raw taping. I never bought into the Cryme Tyme hype, but people that did shouldn’t worry…WWE brings everybody back eventually.

Let’s wrap it up with some CM Punk questions, shall we?

what is this “straight edge” term that CM punk uses?
If you dont drink or use drugs you automatically
qualify for it. Does that mean a nun qualifies? would
it help the wwe to have him go on the Oreilly factor
to say that HE never uses drugs? – Bryan

This page explains the straight edge philosophy a lot better than I could. I suppose a nun would qualify, but I don’t think they’d get a lot of tattoos like most straight edge people seem to. I don’t think anybody going on the O’Reilly Factor would help WWE at this point. Maybe Larry King Live…he’s quite the pushover and he’ll believe anything they say. O’Reilly would just try to tear the guys apart and even if he couldn’t he’d yell and scream and try to make them look like the bad guy somehow. That’s why his audience loves him.

It might have been asked before. I was watching Wrestlemania 22 and… did I see right when I thought I saw CM Punk as one of John Cena’s mobster? – Jeff

Yes you did. It’d be kinda funny if Punk ever made it up to the level where he could be a threat to John Cena…they probably wouldn’t bring up the whole WM22 thing, but I’d get a kick out of it.