Ask 411 Wrestling 10.31.07: Cogenital Defects, Shane on Big Show, Brawler beating Triple H and More!

It’s time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I’m Steve Cook, and this column is going to be way too long. Let’s get right to business, shall we?

Comments, Corrections & other “C” words

In the last edition, someone asked about the nature of christian and edge’s current relationship. I heard they still keep in touch and as a tribute to each other, they only perform one-man conchairtos even if there is a partner present( ie AJ Styles, Randy Orton) – Rey

Jericho didn’t break the ropes on a lionsault on raw, it was a springboard dropkick headed for Booker T at Summerslam. The match was Y2J and Christian vs. Booker T and Goldust.On benoit’s booger taunt, I know he did that a few times, once to the rock that I remember seeing, hell he did it to Kurt Angle at there first or second wrestlemania. – Chris Jacobs

Hi Steve. I would like to submit a
correction/additional comment to a
reader question. *mrmaye625 cited various ppv’s where
Hogan didn’t
defend the WCW title during his reign from 96-97. I
would like to add
that his match with Roddy Piper at Starcade 96 was a
non-title match. I
was live in attendance and remember this suckfest of a
match rather
well. It lasted all of 10-11 mins before Piper won
with a sleeper. I was
shocked and a little pissed that I had busted my ass
to get tickets and
drove 3 hours each way to see this crapfest. Don’t
get me wrong I am a
Piper fan, but I think few can argue this match lived
up to it’s hype.
Just wanted to add that. – Viking407rob

There was a question you answered about the WWF not asking for the belt deposit. According to the Superstar Billy Graham in his recent shoot interview, indeed the WWWF did hold funds from the champion. Instead of a flat $25K deposit, they would hold 30% of the champions money until the title changed hands. This was explained when he was talking about the title change between him and Bob Backlund. – Pete Urshel

I usually take anything Graham says with a grain of salt, but he might not be lying about that.

In Eric Bischoffs book he actually says that he was
going to tell Bret at the airport when he picked him
up, but when he got there Bret had already found out
through someone else. – Josh

Regarding Benoit and his snot rockets, he never really did stop doing it. I was watching the History of the WWE Championship DVD the other day and he fired off a huge gob at Angle before heading to the top rope. – Tool

Tool sent me a screen grab as well, which is appreciated. I’m not sure why I appreciate pictures of dead people blowing their nose on people.

Hey Steve, just wanted to chime in with a few things on this week’s column:

-Okay, Sting’s year off. Yes, the whole thing turned into a huge build to the Hogan-Sting main event of Starrcade 97, but that’s not the way it began. The reason Sting stopped wrestling after Fall Brawl 96 was a contract issue. He only had a certain amount of wrestling dates stipulated in his contract, and he had hit that limit around the time of Fall Brawl, so in order to keep him out of the ring, yet still on TV, they just had him sit in the rafters looking menacing and not saying a word. The original plan was to get him back in the ring early in 1997, but it turned out that the whole thing got over so well that WCW, for one of the few times in their history, realized they were on to something, and what was only meant to be three or four months off turned into over a year, and Sting ended up getting more over in that year by not wrestling or saying a word than most wrestlers ever do by being active. Of course, with this being WCW and all, they did screw it up in the end, first by having him get his ass kicked by the NWO on the Nitro before Starrcade and then by having him lose clean at the PPV itself, totally ruining what was easily the biggest PPV they ever had, but whatcha gonna do? – 411’s Stuart Carapola

A little harsh? OK…maybe they’d make him give them five hundred bucks.

isnt hbks the longest one? i mean with dx he uses the dx theme song but besides that since 1992 i think he has been using the sexy boy theme which was originally by sherri then when hbk went solo he sang the lyrics – Dino Vicencio , Riverside CA

No. He’s used the DX music enough for “Sexy Boy” not to be continuous.

Long time reader, figured I’d give back to the community now…

Okay, and now that’ll be 23.49 for my input…Thank you come again… – Christopher

Now that I’m thinking about it, I think there was another PPV that Vince wasn’t at in 2006 and it became total chaos backstage. It might be the one where Steph gave birth, I’m not sure.

Hey Steve,

See this is one of the reasons I enjoy this column. Being a long time
wrestling fan (20+ years, yikes)
I always figured myself to be very informed but this was one of those new
things you learn, as I was
under the impression that this was a botched piledriver and this is what
lead the WWE to ban the use of the piledriver. I guess all these years of
watching are starting to blend together because I also thought this happened
before the Austin/Owen incident.
Anyways keep up the good work Steve. – Trevor

I always appreciate a good ego boost. Even more than porn!

Questions!

Jarrad starts us off with four questions…

1) There was a wrestler called ‘Glacier’ back in WCW, who seemed like nothing special to me, and to my knowledge he left (or got injured?) and then came back later. On his comeback though, he received a hell of a lot of hype, a pretty freaking awesome entrance and costume etc… Why? I don’t think he ever got a push and I think I only ever saw him twice after all the hype and stuff he got. Did he ever the entrance and stuff before his return too? Also, who was he?

Glacier was Ray Lloyd, a Georgia-area independent wrestler who had originally appeared in WCW in 1993, jobbing for the Great Muta on several shows. After this he went to the UWFI in Japan, where he picked up some martial-arts techniques to incorporate into his wrestling moveset. The martial-arts played perfectly into a new character WCW was developing based off of the video game Mortal Kombat. WCW put a lot of money into developing the Glacier character and gave him an elaborate entrance, but the whole thing ended up being a pretty big flop. Glacier left WCW in 1999 and sold his gimmick to Kaz Hayashi in an angle that didn’t really go anywhere. Lloyd then briefly played the role of Coach Buzz Stern, a coach style character that did nothing much of note. Lloyd disappeared into the Georgia independent scene until 2001, when WCW poked a little fun at itself by bringing back Glacier as a superhero parody. The announcers would mention how big a flop Glacier was the first time and wonder why he was coming back. It was somewhat amusing and the few fans still watching WCW at that point seemed to like it.

2) I have a similar question in regards to ‘Berlin’, who I believe was Alex Wright. He also received alot of hype and a makeover etc. but I only recall seeing him on TV for a few episodes of Nitro. What happened, and were they really going to push him too? Does he still wrestle these days?

Berlyn was indeed Alex Wright, and WCW did have big plans for the character. Unfortunately, the initial vignettes for Berlyn appeared right around the time of the tragic shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, and Berlyn’s look bore a resemblance to the black trench coat-clad killers. Berlyn’s debut was put off for several months…upon his debut in August 1999, Berlyn declared that he was going to run through WCW and his first challenge went out to Buff Bagwell. That went over as well as you’d expect. Bagwell no-showed Fall Brawl because he didn’t want to put Berlyn over. Instead, Berlyn faced “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, and the match ended up being a disaster on several levels. For one thing, the match sucked ass, and for another thing, Duggan no-sold all of Berlyn’s offense and made him look like crap up until the point where Berlyn actually won the match. Berlyn never really recovered from that debacle and was out of WCW before the end of 1999. Alex Wright reappeared in 2000 and formed a successful tag team with Disco Inferno. After WCW closed up shop in 2001, Wright went back to Germany, where he now runs a wrestling school called The Wright Stuff.

3) Why the hell does Black Reign have a rat?

It reminds him of his ex-wife.

4) I vaguely remember seeing the answer to this question, but couldnt find it in the archives… however, I remember Chucky (that freakish doll) appearing randomly on WCW a few times on the big screen… why? – Jarrad

We’ll tell that story again, mostly because the concept makes me laugh. Rick Steiner was cutting a promo on Nitro about Scott Steiner, when all of a sudden Chucky appeared on the Nitrotron. He told Rick not to mess with Scott because Scott was going to be in his next movie. Rick challenged Chucky to a fight. Sadly, Rick Steiner vs. Chucky didn’t make that year’s edition of Halloween Havoc. This was all to promote the Bride of Chucky movie, which was perfectly fine crap and featured a young Katherine Heigl. I’ve never watched Grey’s Anatomy, but…

Ron Simmons: DAMN!

Thanks, Ron.

Samer brings us some questions all the way from Lebanon. I’m not sure if he’s from the country Lebanon or the city Lebanon, Ohio.

-I read on Wikipedia that at one point Stu Hart wrestled a tiger and a grizzly bear.. WTF?? Is that true?

Stu said that he wrestled a tiger and a bear in an interview with Slam Wrestling back in November of 1997. He had the interview then, he didn’t wrestle the animals then. I haven’t seen the matches, but I’ll take his word for it.

-Why wasn’t Stu Hart inducted in the WWE HOF?

I’m not sure where Stu rates on Vince McMahon’s list of people to induct into the Hall of Fame. It could end up happening at some point, I wouldn’t totally rule it out. I think Vince prefers to induct people that competed in the WWWF/WWF/WWE or people that he can use to promote DVDs that are coming out soon. If WWE releases a Stampede Wrestling DVD, expect Stu to be inducted right around then.

-I often hear jokes about Randy Orton shitting in a someone’s bag.. What’s the real story behind it?

It should be noted that Orton didn’t actually defecate in the bag. Short-lived WWE diva Rochelle Loewen accused Orton of rubbing tanning lotion and baby oil all over her bag, as well as destroying personal belongings she had in the bag. The popular Internet story at the time was that Orton had done a number two in the bag, and despite Loewen’s denial it remains known Internet fact that Randy Orton crapped in a girl’s bag. He didn’t, but he still acted rather unprofessional towards Loewen and other WWE divas.

-And finally i also hear a lot about a “monkey promo” that Randy Orton cut in 2004.. What’s up with that? – Samer from Lebanon

OK, this one I’m not really sure about. Orton tends to have promos that aren’t all that good, so I’m guessing it refers to one where he ended up sounding like a monkey. Readers?

In mid 80’s Antonio Inoki wrestled in WWF, what happened to the relationship with him it seemed to end, was there a fallout? – Mike

New Japan severed its ties with the WWF in 1985. I couldn’t find any information on why this happened, my guess is that NJPW felt they weren’t getting anything out of their alliance with the WWF.

where does the majority of wrestling’s revenue come
from…TV ratings, ticket sales, or PPV buys? – Bryan Jones

WWE reports that the category they get the most revenue out of is “Live and Televised Entertainment”. This includes Pay-Per-View, Live Events, Venue Merchandise, Television Rights Fees, Television Advertising & WWE 24/7. The largest amount of revenue comes out of Pay-Per-View. Basically, PPV is where the money is. TNA is very dependent on PPV buys as a revenue stream, and I imagine ROH will be as well.

Hey Steve, I’ve asked this question to previous ask 411 wrestling guys but never heard anything from it. I heard a story once that back when the Road Warriors were just starting out, they made a name for themselves by refusing to sell for anyone. When another team wouldn’t sell for them though, the Road Warriors would stiff them severely and even go as far as changing the ending to the match, and this is how they made their name.

The story goes that the Road Warriors continued doing this until they were placed in a match against Mr. Perfect’s father, Larry “The Axe” Henning and some other guy who I don’t remember. The story is that Henning no-sold the Road Warriors and when they tried to stiff him, he and his partner proceeded to legitimately beat the living shit out of em, ensuring they never stepped out line again. Any way to confirm if this really happened? – 411’s Damian Sarcuni

It didn’t come up in the Road Warriors DVD or shoot interview, I’ll tell you that much. Unlike some previous Ask 411 guys, I’m not afraid to appear ignorant and pose questions to the fanbase. So hopefully your question will finally be answered.

I wanted to see if maybe you knew anything about Vickie Guerrero being the General Manager of Smackdown!. What’s the deal with her, really? Me personally man, as a native from El Paso, TX loved Eddie Guerrero and still do…but why does the WWE feel like they owe it us to keep his widow around? There was really no logical reason to get rid of Teddy Long as he’s been the longest-running GM in WWE, and never did any harm for Creative to downsize his character out of TV. And there was no reason for her to even be involved with Long and Kristal what so ever. What I’m asking is why her? To be brutally honest, her acting is worthy of a Late Nite Info-mercial Best Actress Award, and well… i mean she’s not the best looking girl on the block. I can’t figure this out, she’s just everything that Vince doesn’t usually want. What’s up? Was it always the plan to get her on TV just because her husband passed away? Just seems wrong and a horrible example of reaping the benfits. – Eric

WWE feels pretty bad about the whole Eddie Guerrero situation, so they’ve kept Vickie around as a performer so she can earn some money and support her family. I was very much opposed to the way they used her in the Rey/Chavo feud, but having her as Smackdown’s GM doesn’t bother me too much. I don’t watch Smackdown very often, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t bother me. No, Vickie’s not the best looking girl in the world at this point, and her acting isn’t anything to write home about. But by pro wrestling standards…there could be worse. As long as she doesn’t cause a massive amount of people to stop watching Smackdown, I see no problem with keeping her in her current role.

Steve Dicker, a New Foundlander who’s been reading this very site since 1997, has several questions…

The battle royale at Wrestlemania 2 was heavily hyped as a “15 foot over the top rope battle royale”. The 15-foot promise was hyped as much as the appearance of the NFL stars competing in it. When WM2 actually took place, the ring was a very ordinary looking, standard wrestling ring. Combined, the ring apron and the top turnbuckle only measure about 8 feet. I realize the dangers of falling 15 feet to the floor, but why were fans even teased with this to begin with?

It’s always a good idea to tease the potential of danger when promoting matches. If the fans are dumb enough to buy into a battle royal because they might fall 15 feet to the floor, why not try to suck a few bucks out of them? Personally I’d hype the NFL thing more, but that’s just me. Lord knows the NFL would never agree to such a thing these days.

On a related note, the Dream Team/Bulldogs match at WM2 is still my favorite tag match of all-time. Although the match was tame by today’s standards, you had a red hot face team on the verge of superstardom, and a classic heel team that made you cheer for the bad guys a decade before it became cool to do so. Where do you rank this match on the all-time list?

I honestly haven’t watched this match in a long time, so I don’t know where I’d put it on a list. My favorite tag team match of all time…there are two that are vastly different in style that I put above anything else I can think of at the moment. El Hijo del Santo/Octagon vs. Los Gringos Locos from AAA’s When Worlds Collide on November 6, 1994 is a true lucha classic featuring some great drama and great performances from the heels and faces. My second choice is The Heavenly Bodies vs. Tracy Smothers/Tony Anthony from SMW’s Superbowl of Wrestling on August 4, 1995. It’s radically different from my first choice but features lots of blood and a really fun table spot. Those are my top two.

Finally, at the same time the Bulldogs were in the hunt for the titles, I can remember the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff calling out Valentine & Beefcake on Superstars. This is the first time I can ever remember a heel calling out another heel (Damn, the Shiek was entertaining in his promos!). Was this the first such challenge, and when did the first heel-vs-heel match take place? – Steve Dicker, Newfoundland, 411 since 97

Hmmmmmmmm. I reckon it had to happen at some point before 1986, but no instances are appearing off the top of my head. I’m sure a heel NWA Champion faced a heel in a territory at some point.

This may have been asked before but how did MarkBriscoe lose his teeth? I remember on an old ROH dvdsometime in 2006 and they said he was in a bar and gotin a confrontation and some guy and the guy punchedhim and knocked his teeth out and he picked them upand left. Then he waited for the guy on the roof ofthe bar and hit the guy with a shooting star press ashe was leaving. That sounds ridiculous. So I waswondering what really ended up happening. – EricThat’s the story Jimmy Bower tells. I have no idea if it is true or not, but it sounds pretty cool. So we’ll accept that as fact unless proven false. I wish I could do a shooting star press.

POP has three questions…

I was watching the History of the WWE Championship DVD and the SummerSlam 2000 main event, a triple threat match between the Rock, HHH & Kurt Angle, of course for the WWE Championship. Angle & HHH brawled before Rock enters the ring, and HHH botched the pedigree on the announcer table. They then found out Angle is hurt, and HHH goes for a sledgehammer, only for Rock to make his entrance. Is it because of Angle’s injury that The Rock enters the match at that time? Did HHH know Rock is going to make his entrance when he grabs the sledgehammer, or he would have to hit Angle with it?

Rock was probably going to enter the match after Angle got pedigreed through the table anyway. Even if Angle didn’t get messed up on the move, usually a pedigree through a table will put somebody out for a long period of time. Angle probably would have laid on the floor for several minutes if the table hadn’t given away and messed up the move. I don’t think it changed the match at that point…Angle probably re-entered things a lot later than they were planning on.

I watched a clip where Y2J is trying to hit Test with a steel chair, but nailed Stacy instead. Is it real? Coz it seems like it hit the post only. Was the angle scripted?

The angle was scripted, and Jericho hit the ring post with the chair.

What was the biggest women’s match bump you’d ever seen? What is the biggest ever bump for the divas in the WWE?

There was a women’s cage match in Japan I saw where some girl did a double stomp off the top of the cage onto another girl’s gut. That was pretty crazy. Biggest WWE diva bump…the biggest I can remember is the one where Lita almost messed herself up on a dive onto Trish Stratus during a match on Raw. It looked worse than the Candice thing, but she was all right.

I have a quickie two-part question for you. On the upcoming Shawn Michaels DVD, there is an AWA tag team title match with The Midnight Rockers vs. Super Ninja and Ninja Go. Is Super Ninja actually Keiji Mutoh or someone else? Also, who is Ninja Go? – Rob

The AWA version of Super Ninja is said to have been played by Shunji Takano. I don’t know much about Shunji other than his brother George spent a long time working as The Cobra in Stampede & New Japan before the brothers teamed in SWS in the early 90s. I have no clue who Ninja Go is.

Tony has four questions…

#1.According to my brother, Raven has one leg shorter than the other due to something that happened to him when he was a kid or something like that.Could you enlighten me on the details of this?

Raven claimed during his shoot interview alongside The Sandman that he had to have surgery due to a congenital defect where one of his legs is shorter than the other. He had a piece of bone in his feet sawed off. Sandman disputed Raven’s claim and said that Raven made up his medical conditions to get out of working. Raven forgot which foot he had the surgery on.

#2.Vince or Virgil was a part of the West Texas Rednecks at one point as Curly.Is this true? And if it is then why?

He was known as “Curly Bill” during his time with the Rednecks. I’m not sure there’s a good reason why he was with them other than somebody thought it would be funny to put a black guy with the country loving hillbillies. The name “Curly Bill” was a rib on Bill Watts. I’m not sure who wanted to rib Watts, but Virgil/Vincent/Shane always had a name that was meant to rib somebody in the wrestling business.

#3.He also says that Van Hammer did the voice of the cartoon character of Heero Yuy on the show Gundam Wing.Did he do the voice?

Wikipedia tells me the role of Heero Yuy is voiced by Mark Hildreth. There are two Mark Hildreths of note…one is a Canadian that does voice-overs and some singing, and provided the voice for Heero Yuy. The other is Van Hammer. So I would say that your brother is misinformed on that one.

#4.Last question: On an episode of Confidential, Kidman talked about how dangerous it was to first try the Seven Year Itch (Shooting Star Press).He said the first time he tried it was against William Reagal and he competely screwed it up.They show the video and when he flipped he never moved forward and hit the top ropes on an episode of Nitro long after he left Raven’s Flock.I have the video of Starrcade ’97 and he clearly does it off the ring apron.Why is it then that he says it was against Regal when he obviously did it before?

WWE has a tendency to sometimes show the wrong video on these things. They probably didn’t have footage of Kidman’s actual first SSP, so they showed one that illustrated what he was talking about. I don’t know when Kidman actually did the SSP for the first time, but it was before he was part of the Flock.

All right, I’ve got a quick question for you: Can you find footage of the Shane McMahon/Big Show ‘Which Way Did He Go?’ promo or anything that relates to that. I’ve been going through past promos and fondly remember this one…for some unknown reason…any help would be awesome. Thanks – Kbudm

I believe you’re referring to the promo that Shane did on the May 15, 2000 edition of Raw. Here’s a transcript by the immortal CRZ…

SKIPPY walks out – guess he got past the Big Show. “Will somebody please tell the Big Show that I’m not out in the parking lot – that I’m right here? So, everyone can – the Big Show can stop asking the question, uhh, ‘Gee – which way did Shane go, ho ho, ho ho, which way did he go?’ Now let me first, quickly, focus my attention on all of you, the wonderful fans here in the World Wrestling Federation. You see, for weeks now, I’ve been coming out here and I’ve been hearing this chant that ‘Shane’s a…’ I’m a… yeah, that’s it, that Shane’s…a pussy! Now before I take great exception to that remark, I consulted Webster’s Dictionary, and the word is clearly defined in the dictionary as…a cat. Which, frankly, now I understand why you call me that…because I am as quick as a cat…’cause I got the moves and the ferocity of a jungle cat – matter of fact, this jungle cat is feelin’ so frisky that young Simba, Shane McMahon will be challenging, right now, the Big Show, to a one-on-one matchup at Judgment Day. And, by the way, that match will be decided under ‘no disqualification’ rules. So, Big Show, after I have defeated you, 1, 2, 3, and you are lying flat here on the canvas looking up at those bright lights up in the sky – as this jungle cat sashays down the aisle victorious, the only question, Show, that will be left in that lobotomized mind of yours will once again be ‘which way did he go, ho ho, ho ho, which way did Shane go–” WELL IT’S THE BIG SHOW’s music plays and out comes a jovial Show. “You know, you have just made my day. You have! Think about it, I don’t have to hunt you down now. I’ve got you right where I want you, and I’ve got you at Judgment Day. ’cause you’re a cat, right? You’re a cat with nine lives? Well, at Judgment Day, I can’t tell you – I’m not a cat, I’ll tell you exactly what I am – you know what I am? I’m a Big Nasty Bastard is what I am! You know, matter of fact, why should I wait until Judgment Day, I think right now I’m gonna cash in a few of your lives right now with my foot in your ass!” Shane begs off, saying he knew he’d have some pent up aggression, so he’s booked him in a special handicap match…

There you have it!

Who do you think we have a better chance of seeing in tna rvd or booker t? – RJEVH01I’d say Booker T because his PWA promotion is booking TNA talent and TNA’s schedule would fit his desire to not travel so much. RVD doesn’t seem interested in returning to wrestling anytime soon, so I can’t say he’d be interested in going to TNA.And if rumors are to be believed, you’ll definitely be seeing Booker T in TNA sooner rather than later…

Francisco has 4 questions…

1) I remember a couple of years ago Triple “Heitch”
had a match where he lost to the Brooklyn Brawler on
raw. What was the point of that, I can’t quite
remember.

Triple H lost to the Brawler on the July 4, 2000 edition of Smackdown. Brawler was teaming with Kaientai in a handicap match against Triple H. Chris Jericho helped Brawler get the win…the story behind this was that H wanted a match with Jericho, but Commissioner Mick Foley decreed that he would have to win a handicap elimination match in order to do so. I’m not sure why Foley picked the Brooklyn Brawler & Kaientai to do his dirty work…I’m guessing it was just his weird sense of humor kicking in.

2) Whatever happened to Ivan Putsky’s son? He was on
raw for a while then he disappeared. I think his name
was Scott, and why did he not make it? He sure as hell
had the look.

Scott Putski definitely had the look. Unfortunately, that was all he had going for him. He didn’t have much in the way of skills or charisma. If I remember correctly, Putski got injured during a TV match and disappeared after that. He went on to WCW and did nothing of note, and I’m pretty sure he is no longer in the business.

3) When Savio “TNT” Vega and the Boricuas came to the
WWFE and to the U.S. did they get any heat for the
whole Bruiser Brody death. I know Savio and two of
them were present when it happened, yet I am unsure if
they did anything about it, as far as help, testify,
etc.

I don’t think Savio or the other Boricuas were held responsible for Brody’s death. None of them were directly involved, and if they testified on Gonzalez’s behalf it was probably to save their jobs. I don’t know if they testified or not, but Savio was involved in an angle with Gonzalez in 2006 that played off of the Brody murder. Savio “stabbed” Gonzalez in the shower with a fork just weeks before Gonzalez’s retirement match. I think I wrote something in a news report complaining about that while most of the other news reporters were too busy sniffing Vince’s jock to notice something happening outside the U.S. Good times.

4) Can you give me the entire Dudley family tree, and
what they are up to now.

You know where Buh Buh Ray & D-Von are.

Spike Dudley is bouncing around the indy scene, he’s most recently been seen in places like 2CW & Top Rope Promotions.

Big Dick Dudley died on May 16, 2002 of kidney failure.

Sign Guy Dudley is currently working in WWE’s marketing department. He was part of MVP’s entourage on the episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event where Matt Hardy boxed Evander Holyfield.

Dudley Dudley was also known as Jeff Bradley, and did some work in the Florida indies until 2004. He was working as a trainer at Steve Keirn’s wrestling school last I heard.

Dances With Dudley left ECW in 1996 after a dispute with Paul Heyman, this is the most recent information I could find on him.

Chubby Dudley promoted Liberty All-Star Wrestling until 2002. He’s done some backstage work in other indies and hosted a Sunday night radio show in Philadelphia for some time.

Snot Dudley was also known as Anthony Michaels…he did some indy work as recently as 2004 but hasn’t popped up since.

Wayne has two questions…

What’s up Steve! I know I have recently sent you a gang of questions, but I do
have another one. While I’m a WWE fan through and through and have been for
19 years and counting, however my question is in regards to TNA, basically as
an alternative of sorts. In regards to their product, I’m slowly getting into
the groove if you will of watching Impact again. I did watch last year but I
stopped watching ironically the same night Kurt Angle made his debut. I’ve
alsoread the results and everything related, so I’m aware of what their
storylines are. Now, for a new fan, what matches would you recommend I check
circa 2003 to2005??

I haven’t seen most of TNA in 2003. Raven had some fun garbage brawls during this time period that appear on his DVD, I’d recommend checking those out.

Make sure you watch any Ultimate X match you can, those are always fun.

My favorite TNA match of all time took place on December 5, 2004 and pitted America’s Most Wanted against Triple X in the six sides of steel. I have to recommend that.

I would recommend most AJ Styles matches from the time period, especially his series with Christopher Daniels throughout 2005. He also had a great match with Samoa Joe at Turning Point 2005.

As for 2005, check Larry’s Top 10 TNA matches of 2005 for some good ideas.

Do you know what the interal reaction in the WWF was back in 1995 when WCW
started the Nitro program to go head to head with Raw? I know everyone
remembers what kind of shape the WWF was in, so full blown head to head
competition couldn’t have come @ a worst time.

The reaction varied. Some were outraged that WCW would dare split the marketplace by putting their show on at the same time as Raw. Others didn’t think it was a big deal, as they were confident that Raw would kick WCW’s butt. I think most (especially at the top) were oblivious to the threat WCW posed at that time.

Brandon has four questions…

1. I remember back in maybe the beginning on 1999, of course the Rock and Mankind were feuding over the WWE title, and had classic and memorable matches along the way. But something always bothered me. Why was The Rock wearing always what I thought to be workout clothes? He wore that in practically every match he was in up until his match with Austin at Wrestlemania 15. Why didn’t he just wear his normal attire?

The Rock had male breast reduction surgery in late 1998, so he wore his workout clothes while his chest healed up. As for why Rock needed breat reduction surgery…well, he’s part Samoan and Samoans tend to have bigger breasts than men of other ethnicities. Wrestling is a very vain business, and entertainment is as well. So Rock figured that a guy with large breasts might have a hard time getting a top spot in wrestling (or Hollywood) and had the surgery done.

2. Almost immediately after Judgment Day in 2001, Austin was feuding with Benoit and Jericho over the championship, and I remember they all had awesome matches that month along the way to add to the feud, such as TLC III, Angle vs. Benoit in a steel cage (both of which created by Vince I believe), and of course the infamous match between Benoit and Austin in Benoit’s hometown. But I can’t remember the order of when all the great matches happened, as well as every match that happened involving those three that whole month. So my question is, do you remember, up until KOTR, what all matches Benoit, Jericho, and Austin had on Raw and Smackdown during their feud? I remember on the Raw after Judgment Day Benoit and Jericho won the tag titles from Austin and HHH, and I think a few days later on Smackdown was TLC III for Benoit and Jericho, and I don’t think Austin had a match, and after that it kinda gets blurry as to what happened next. I think Jericho at one point fought Big Show for the hardcore title to earn a shot at Austin, and Benoit fought Angle in a cage match, and so I remember some of the matches during that feud but not all of them, and the order all of them happened.

After TLC III, here are the main matches in the Austin/Benoit/Jericho feud…

May 28: Raw in Calgary: Austin vs. Benoit, Benoit vs. Rhyno, Jericho vs. Big Show
May 31: Smackdown in Edmonton: Austin vs. Benoit, Jericho vs. Angle
June 4: Raw in Minneapolis: Austin vs. Jericho, Benoit vs. Big Show
June 7: Smackdown in Grand Forks: Benoit & Jericho vs. Austin & Vince McMahon
June 11: Raw in Richmond: Benoit vs. Angle (cage), Jericho vs. Rhyno & Big Show
June 14: Smackdown in Baltimore: Austin vs. Spike Dudley, Benoit & Jericho vs. Edge & Christian
June 18: Raw in Tampa: Austin & Dudley Boyz vs. Benoit, Jericho & Spike Dudley
June 21: Smackdown in Orlando: Benoit & Jericho vs. Dudley Boyz

Benoit was out of action after KOTR recovering from a neck injury and the Invasion started as well, so things were over for this feud after KOTR.

3. Though Vince now has Coach and Regal kissing his ass, back in 2000, he of course mainly had The Stooges, and it seems like I haven’t seen them since Austin questioned them on if they were involved on him getting hit by that car at Survivor Series 1999. So I’m curious, what’s been happening with them lately, and why haven’t they been on TV with Vince or something lately?

Pat Patterson & Gerald Brisco are still employed by WWE. Patterson has scaled back his role by choice in recent years because, well, he’s getting old. Both appear on WWE television very rarely, they did appear on the July 23, 2007 edition when Mr. McMahon was walking to his limo backstage. They were the very last people at the end of the line of WWE people that were watching him leave the arena. As for why they aren’t on TV more, I guess the writers don’t have much for them to do, and they keep busy with their actual jobs.

4. Something really has been buggin me the past couple of years about WWE, especially this year (besides it not being as good, duh). But especially this year, wrestlers have been getting injured left and right, and I guess it was around 2005 that Vince told cruiserweights to slow down on their high flying and all, and of course earlier than that, the Hardcore Title was retired and hardcore matches were gone, and all that was mainly done to reduce injuries in WWE. But still, 2007, so many wrestlers were injured, whereas the year 2000 (probably my fav. year), Hardcore Matches were everywhere, the light heavyweights were doing pretty much whatever, and even The Hardyz were doing crazy moves and The Dudleyz were putting people threw tables and so forth (man great times), yet very rarely were wrestlers getting injured, or at least not nearly as much as they have been the last couple of years. So do you think maybe Vince should worry a little less about the injuries (at least when it comes to stuff like high flying moves and all) and just let the cruiserweights do whatever and maybe bring the hardcore title back, if he wanted to, without worrying about the injuries that could happen in the matches? Also, since I’ve mentioned how 2005-2007 had a good amount as injuries, whereas 2000 (and even 2001) there were barely any, what do you think is causing so many injuries nowadays when Vince is obviously playing it pretty safe? Do you think it’s something like the wrestlers are just working harder on the road than they were in 2000, or could be it something else perhaps?

Wrestlers have always worked hurt. I think you’re seeing more wrestlers taking time off now because the company allows them to do so without their jobs being threatened. Injuries were also less noticeable back then because the talent roster was a lot deeper and Steve Austin & Kurt Angle could do nothing but backstage sketches for a whole month without people knowing they were too hurt to compete.

Hey, I just want to make an observation regarding “The Montreal Screwjob”, and would like your input. Obviously it’s a real hot topic, especially with the 10th anniversary coming up. Anyways, a couple things that are really odd that took place that night, that I don’t think anyone has ever really brought up…

2. Also, at the end of the match, Vince makes his notorious “Ring the bell!” statement. Now, why would he do that, and as a result kill kayfabe, when Earl Hebner was obviously in on it, and signalled for the bell himself. If Vince wasn’t at ringside, and Earl called for the bell, no one would have been the wiser..the ppv could have gone to black, and the aftermath may not have been as significant. We all know it worked out for WWE, but it was a huge risk. – Neuce

I’m a big conspiracy theory guy, and something about the whole Montreal mess has always seemed a bit off to me. I don’t know if the Harts were watching their backstage monitor, but yes, that was a bit of foreshadowing by McMahon. As for why Vince went out there and insisted for the ringing of the bell, I think he wanted to make sure that Bret knew that he was responsible and wouldn’t blame Shawn or Earl Hebner for what happened. I don’t think it killed kayfabe so much as made Vince McMahon into a character that fans should despise for his actions. It was partly Vince taking responsibility for his decision and partly setting up the future of Mr. McMahon. I don’t know if they thought Vince’s character would take off as much as it did, but I think it was something that had been planned before the Survivor Series.

It was one of the most-talked about incidents in wrestling history, and people still talk about it till this day. I’m still not 100% sure that Bret and the Harts weren’t in on it, quite frankly.

Derrick brings up the rear with two questions…

1) What’s the real reason Ariel was fired by WWE? I know it was after an argument with Batista and some crud about Stephanie McMahon not liking the “goth” gimmick. But did they sleep together? Batista and Ariel I mean. GOD I hope not because I really hate that guy. And not in a “mark” sort of way because he beat someone I like or something. I just think the guy is a big dumb goof and would beat IRS in a sweating contest by a large margin. And him being in every single PPV World title match since SummerSlam 06 is a little sickening too.

I don’t know whether she slept with Batista or not. I do know that a complaint about Shelley Martinez from people who worked with her in WWE was that she was unwilling to take advice and had a bit of an attitude about it. While I find complaints about her look to be ridiculous and getting fired over an argument to be a bit harsh, if she was tough to work with I wouldn’t fault them too much for letting her go.

2) What happened to Vampiro? And do you think he’d be a good addition to the ECW brand?

But yeah, any idea what Vampiro’s been up to lately? Personally, I’d like to see WWE pick him up and stick him on the ECW brand. He’d fit in well over there. Come on, if they got the freakin’ Boogeyman on there for Christ’s sake, I think Vampiro is a breath of fresh air. Not a Vampiro mark by any means, but on ECW against the likes of Punk, Morrison, Dreamer or Thorn, not a bad idea. They’ve only got 2 main eventers on there anyway, Punk and Morrison. I don’t care about Mabel / Viscera / Big Daddy Tits and nobody else does either. I’d like to see him there but I highly doubt it’d ever happen. If he were to end up anywhere, probably back in TNA to add to the oddball mix of Black DUST, Abyss, Raven, and Judas Mesias.

Vampiro did have a short run in TNA back in the fall of 2003. He joined up with James Mitchell and feuded with Raven briefly. Raven defeated Vampiro in a Hangman’s Horror match and Vampiro disappeared afterwards. The most recent wrestling appearances I’ve heard about for Vampiro were for All Japan Pro Wrestling in April 2007. He was booking AAA in 2006, but I don’t think he works there anymore. To answer your question, I’m not really sure what the guy’s doing. He could do well in ECW if properly motivated, and lord knows they could use somebody on that show.