Ask 411 Wrestling 11.14.07: Bad PPVs, WWF, Warrior in a Room Full of Snakes and More!

It’s time to Ask 411 Wrestling! I’m Steve Cook, and I hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday or Thursday or whenever you end up reading this. I have had a pretty good week, which doesn’t happen all that often. That being said, I didn’t have much time to write this one. Watch out!

Before I start, Ask 411 Wrestling would like to wish Ronald F. Gamble the best of luck in his future endeavors. He was ok for a Steeler fan. We’ll miss ol’ Ronnie, and now that Randle’s the oldest guy here he thinks he’s actually important or something. Come back soon Ron!

Comments, Corrections & other “C” Words

im not a big emailer or someone who writes to internet columnists and bugs them with a bunch of b.s. trying to act like im a know-it-all, but i AM a fan of 411mania and i check out your ask411 column whenever i see that its up.
a ROH/Briscoe fan asked how Mark lost his teeth in this weeks column…
this made me think to myself..”how DID mark lose his teeth?”
so i asked him.

“i actually lost my teeth during a match in philly in PWU.
Jay was goin to hit a dude with a chair and when he cocked back he busted me in the mouth. it sucked.” – Dustin

I imagine that would suck. Thanks for the investigating!

“I’m sure a heel NWA Champion faced a heel in a territory at some point.”

Harley Race Vs Ox Baker ,Ed Farhat ,Terry Funk AND Flair while He was a Young Heel – Ronevsorg

I’d love to see Race vs. Sheik. I wonder how Race reacted when Sheik tried to stab him with a pencil.

In your column this week you said that WCW started doing 12 PPV’s a year. It was actually WWE that did that, but WCW always followed suit. In the Monday Night War DVD, when talking about the early days, Eric Bischoff states that when he first took over, WWE was adapting their business model by adding PPV’s and expanding the schedule, so WCW followed suit, always matching them in number of PPV’s. They did something similar with Nitro apparently too, beating Raw to commercials and coming back before them, as tricks to influence ratings quarter-hours. Bischoff had a lot of research done to make sure he could beat the WWE, apparently. – Robert

Actually, from what I remember on that DVD, Bischoff said that he was the one increasing the number of PPVs, and people on the outside were bitching because they thought more PPVs would result in less business because the shows wouldn’t be as special. When you look at the records, WWE was actually the one increasing the number. But when have facts ever stood in the way of taking credit for something?

Thanks for getting my question about the Road Warriors and Larry Henning answered. I wanted to responed to Manu Bumb’s question about the proper way to retire from wrestling. I think the hands down best way to retire is to follow in the footsteps of Lance Storm. Basically, Storm stayed drug free his whole career and when he felt his body had enough he quit and opened up a wrestling school. Now granted, Storm isn’t permanently retired and has still done the occassional match or booking when he pleases, but those are few and far between. He also is taking the time to have medical procedures done to repair the wear and tear on his body from past years. For the most part he runs his school and in his spare time he stays with his family, reads, and complains about the current state of wrestling via the internet. I can think of no better way to spend your days after a long, happy and mostly healthy career! – 411’s Damian Sarcuni

Lance has done pretty well for himself, indeed. But he still comes back sometimes, so I can make fun of him for not sticking to his retirement.

Luckily I have Manu to pick up the slack when comments and corrections aren’t as large in number…

“Owen was under contract to the WWF and they didn’t want to let him go. Guys like Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart were expendable and the WWF was ok with letting them go elsewhere, but Owen had more value and potential than they did. Owen wanted to leave, but eventually he decided to stay and continue working for the WWF.”

Okay, i guess i dont expect you to know what WWE was thinking when they kept him, so i guess its less of a question and more of my opinion. and by “less of” i mean “not at all” and by “more of” i mean “completely”

Even if Owen wasn’t “world title material”, he was a damn good worker and could make people who were in the ring with him look more than competent. That’s something that not everybody can do, and I don’t think anybody will argue that Anvil or the Bulldog could do it as well as Owen. Not to mention they were a bit longer in the tooth.

“I don’t know if it’s happened with Undertaker before, but veterans have gone to drastic measures to make young guys do what they’re supposed to do before. This incident was a bit strange because Undertaker yelled “Sell the arm, dumbass” at Masters, who was across the ring at the time. You wouldn’t expect the Deadman to break kayfabe like that, especially since he’s been known to go to great measures to protect his character. Maybe he thought Scottish people couldn’t understand English.”

And whiskey is good.

Indeed, whiskey is good.

Questions!

If you had to pick 10 PPVs, which of those would you present to someone or a
company, preferably new, as literal examples of how NOT to do a PPV? – Wayne

I made it up to eight before getting too depressed to continue. You can insert any late-period WCW show into the final two slots…really, anything WCW put out there in 1999 or 2000 isn’t something any promoter should copy. I’m also leaving out some of TNA’s more pathetic offerings when they did weekly PPV, because that’s too easy.

Heroes of Wrestling – Worst. PPV. Ever. Words can not describe just how bad this show was…hell, I think I’ve talked about this one in the column before. Just know that the main event featured a drunk Jake Roberts fumbling around with his snake, a 700 pound Yokozuna, and the tag team of Jim Neidhart & King Kong Bundy. That’s all you really need to know.

IGeneration Superstars of Wrestling – Also known as Rodman Down Under, this show featured a bunch of guys past their prime and Dennis Rodman main eventing with Curt Hennig. It was pretty dreadful.

Great American Bash 1991 – The famous “We Want Flair” show that featured nothing much of value and a capture the flag match on a scaffold. This was widely considered the worst PPV of all time until the Heroes of Wrestling debacle.

Anything from the WWA – Just look at some of those cards. When Brian Christopher is in your main event…that’s not a good sign.

Great American Bash 2004 – Paul Bearer gets covered in cement, JBL wins the WWE title in a contrived match, Mordecai & Kenzo Suzuki win glorified squash matches, Sable & Torrie Wilson have one of the worst women’s matches I’ve ever seen…this was just a disaster.

Starrcade 1997 – Hogan vs. Sting. Need I say more?

Starrcade 1998 – They chose the worst possible way to end Goldberg’s streak in the main event, and probably pissed millions of dollars down the toilet as a result.

WOW Unleashed – WOW was a fun little weekly TV show, but a PPV really wasn’t necessary. The general public didn’t think so either, as nobody bought it and WOW went out of business shortly afterwards.

In what I feel is a great idea, I think that there should be a book written about the Monday Night War (NOT written by the WWE respectively), preferably by the same individuals who wrote the Death Of WCW book. This book can have what led to the war, important matches and segments, ratings breakdowns (by displaying each year with comparison charts in regards to head to head ratings with each segment), all of the backstage happenings, what led to WCW and the WWF’s ratings dominance, etc. Do you think that someone one day will write a book about this? I know I would buy it!!!!! – Different Wayne

It’s an interesting idea. I don’t know how good the market is for wrestling books these days, but it’d be nice to see something that isn’t just about wrestlers using drugs and dying young. If somebody else doesn’t do it, maybe I will. I’ll get Ashish & Csonka to foot the bill, yeah! I’m sure they’ll be up for it…why wouldn’t they be?

Is Summerslam 1991 the only PPV in which all of the Wrestlers considered faces won their title matches.I remeber Bret Hart getting the IC belt, and the L.O.D getting the Titles, and Virgil getting the Million $$ belt and that was pretty much all of the title matches i remeber. – Neill Burkett, Seneca S.C.

Well, it depends on how you’re asking this question…I think you’re asking if SummerSlam 1991 is the only show that featured all titles that were on the line (Hulk Hogan’s WWF title was not on the line, as he was teaming with Ultimate Warrior against the Triangle of Terror) changing hands to faces. WrestleMania VI had two title matches that had the face challengers come out on top. But…you could debate whether Ultimate Warrior was really considered the face in his matchup with Hulk Hogan. Other than that, there were two title matches on Starrcade 1983, and in both matches the babyfaces won the titles. But…that wasn’t actually a PPV. So unless I’m missing something, SummerSlam 1991 is the only event where all the titles were won by faces, unless you want to count WM VI. That isn’t as special though because there were only two title matches and one of them was a babyface vs. babyface match.

It’s hard to believe, Steve, that it has been 5 and a half years since the British court ruled that the wrestling company could no longer be known as the WWF and they changed it to WWE. I know they can’t refer to the WWF name or the old scratch logo but what about using the name the World Wrestling Federation? That was what they were and in that name, there are no intials. Plus, I’m surprised there was even a lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund seeing as though they came into existance a few years after the formation of the then WWWF/WWF. I mean the World Wildlife Fund now goes by the name of World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWFFN) so couldn’t Vince reclaim the WWF name and the website (since no one is using the WWF.COM site)? I guess I’m just nostalgic for seeing ONE World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion and one set of Tag Champions and a secondary champion (the Intercontinental Champion). Even if they merged the brands, which will most likely never happen, wouldn’t there still be room for all of the superstars to compete and greater matches? Sorry there are so many questions here, just curious. Thanks, Dan H. from Maryland.

To answer your first question…people like initials, man. Think about it this way…it’s easier to put “WWF” or “WWE” on a marquee than “World Wrestling Federation”. The vast majority of wrestling promotions uses initials to make things easier for people. WWE does not bleep out references to the “World Wrestling Federation” on their DVDs or WWE 24/7, so technically it could still be used. But do you really want to type out worldwrestlingfederation.com? Most people are far too lazy for such a thing.

To answer your second question, they still call it the World Wildlife Fund in America, which is where WWE does most of their business. They don’t use the WWF.com web address, but they still use the initials in America. And honestly, the fanbase has gotten used to WWE now. Outsiders might still call it WWF, but all the fans know it’s WWE.

As for question number three…it depends. The talent roster isn’t as deep as it used to be, but if you combine all three brands, that creates less opportunity for people at the bottom of the roster, or future superstars. You might be able to make it work, but I still think the brand extension is better for business. I’m one of the few people on these here internets that has always been behind said brand extension, and I will remain that way until I get old and senile and yearn for the good old days.

A few weeks back, I went down the Minneapolis, MN
Smackdown/ECW taping. After arriving at the Target
Center, my buddy and I went to NBA City, a
restaurant/bar attached to the building. My buddy got
up to use the restroom and when he came back, he goes,
“which Brisco was one of the stooges?” I gave him the
answer and wanted to know why he asked. He told me it
was because he was standing on the other side of the
bar. I got up and walked over there, and sure enough,
he’s standing there, watching the football games that
are on. I walked up to him, several inches away, and
said “Hi Gerry.” No response. I said it a little
louder and finally he acknowledged my presence. So
either he’s going deaf or he got completely engrossed
in the game. He’s not the worst though. In fact, I’m
going to pose a question for the column now that I
think about it:

I’ve got two in both categories: first wrestler I ever
met from the WWF: Big Show. Although I may give him
some benefit of the doubt. We went out to eat after
the 2001 Smackdown/Heat tapings in Grand Forks, ND at
a Perkins that was supposed to be open 24/7 and there
was a sign on the door that said closed. My buddies
were waiting by the car and as I turned to walk back,
a limo pulled in. I waited. Out came this huge tree
trunk of a leg, followed by the rest of the man. He
walked right past me. I said hi, but got absolutely
no response. The benefit of the doubt was that he was
probably hungry. The other, the likely choice for
anyone who’s met him: Randy Orton. The guy was a
complete jack@$$. We walked up and asked for a
picture or autograph, he said no. After getting Maven
and Christy(who were with him)’s pics, he finally
agreed. The autograph I have looks horrible. He
signed it with his non-writing hand. Then on my pic
with Christy, he stuck his head in there and grabbed a
steak knife and held it to her wrist, saying that he
was giving a story to the picture. These @$$hole fans
bothered her for pictures and she was so upset that
she wanted to slit her wrists but couldn’t do it
herself, so she was having him do it for her. Anyway,
flipside. First time WWE came to Fargo in I don’t
know how many years, at least ten, we went out after
the show. And I spotted Val Venis sitting at a table
in the doorway to another area of the restaurant. I
went up there to see about an autograph and when I
did, I noticed he was on his cell phone and went to
leave and come back later. As I turned around, I
noticed that someone was at the table with him.
Before I could say anything, he looked up, saw me, put
his hand out and said, “hey, I’m Rico.” I had just
watched an Future Stars of Wrestling DVD with OVW
stuff on it and had become a big fan of his in-ring
and mic ability. So we talked about it for a bit and
by that time, Val got off the phone. Those two talked
to me like we’d known each other for years. That’s
the best experience I’ve ever had with wrestlers. – Micah

I have never met any wrestlers that I would consider to be assholes. It’s funny that you ask this question, because just this past weekend I had the best experience I’ve ever had with wrestlers. I got to hang out at a Buffalo Wild Wings with some of OVW’s finest, and I can’t say a bad word about any of them. I talked the most with Kenny Bolin & Colt Cabana, and both of them were really nice. Kenny and I go back a little bit, so that was how I was able to mooch off of them and eat some of their wings. Also there were Al Snow, Ace Steel, Matt Sydal, and various OVW referees and other employees. All of them were really cool. It was a really great experience and I don’t think I’ll ever have anything like that happen ever again. They’re a classy bunch and I can’t say enough nice things about them.

Longtime readers of mine know of my connection with Traci Brooks, who is a really great girl and has always been nice to me. Sometimes the ROH wrestlers will intermingle with the public…they have all been nice, I will mention Low Ki/Senshi in particular because he really gets a bad rap on the Internet as an asshole that won’t do business. He may be a dick to promoters, but he seemed like a pretty solid guy when I crossed paths with him. Steve Austin was pretty cool at an autograph signing I went to. I met Ted Dibase when he was doing a speech at U of L, and he was really interesting to talk with. Jerry Lawler was cool, and there are a bunch of other local wrestlers I’ve met that were all nice too. Honestly, I can’t think of a single wrestler that has been an asshole outside the ring in my presence. Ask Larry Csonka about Buff Bagwell, and you may get a different answer.

Hey, I really enjoy reading Ask 411 and I really enjoy finishing moves, so much that I compile a list of wrestlers and their finishers.

JTG (from Cryme Tyme)

I don’t remember ever seeing him win a singles match. Hell, I don’t think I’ve seen him in a singles match. Wikipedia claims he uses either a front-flip neckbreaker or a second rope diving leg lariat.

Jesse Gymini (from Gymini, it is not the Jake Gymini’s Skull-plex)

Another guy I don’t think I’ve seen in a singles match. Wikipedia says he uses a TKO or an exploder suplex.

Nick Mitchell (From the Spirit Squad)

No clue.

Chad Wicks (One of the Dicks, not Tank Toland)

Also drawing a blank on this one. But hey, 2 out of 4 ain’t bad, right?

Right?

Sigh.

I hope you can answer these, but if you can’t, that’s cool. If you can, you are the F ‘in man. – Andrew

Can I be half the F’n man? I’ll settle for that, honestly.

I have a few questions regarding pro wrestling illustrated and wrestling observers newsletter match of the year awards.
1983:Ric Flair/Harley Race.I heard only the last few minutes only exist of the Jun 10 match.Do you know if thats true?If so how could it be pwi moty over the starrcade match which was observers moty?

According to Wikipedia, both PWI & WO gave the 1983 MOTY to the June 10 match where Race won the title from Flair. I have not seen that match in its entirety and don’t know if the footage exists or not. I will say that I think the Starrcade 1983 match is overrated…the officiating by Gene Kiniski just ruined that match for me. He made ROH head official Todd Sinclair look competent.

1993:Marty Jannetty/Shawn Michaels.I cannot get a definate answer on which match won.Some sources say the May 17 match won while some say the Jul 19 match won.Can you give me a final definate answer?

I’m pretty sure it went to the May 17 match, which was on Raw and had a lot of crowd heat and excitement behind it. The other match inexplicably took place on a house show.

What were the observers runner ups from 1985-1989?Wikipedia only lists the winners. Thanks – Wade

I could not find this information either. Hopefully a long-time Observer subscriber is in the audience…

Long-time reader, first-time contributor here (great work by the way, my favourite column on the site). My question has to do with a promo that Bret Hart did in the build-up to the Iron Man match at Wrestlemania 12. He was in a swimming pool talking about how he could relate to the spot Michaels was in (hungry challenger looking for first world title), and was reminiscing about going for his first world title against Randy Savage, and how Savage desperately didn’t want to let go of his top spot. Now everyone knows that Bret beat Ric Flair for his first world title, so why did they change it? Both Flair and Savage were contracted to WCW at this time, so was this part of the beef that Bret has with Flair (or did that thing only start with Flair’s comments in his book). Thanks for reading (even if you don’t post the answer)- Kerry from Vancouver

I think what Bret was saying there is that his first world title shot came against Randy Savage. Unfortunately, the History of WWE website shows no record of this ever happening. So I’m not sure what the heck the deal was there.

Conor O’Boyle has two questions…

1.Who was the first wrestler to ever have pyro for there entrance?!I think it was Razor but there had to be someone before that.Only time I remember seeing pyro for the first time was either the opening of a PPV or when there is a new world champion.

I remember Ric Flair having pyro during his entrance at some early Starrcade. I’m talking like 1983, 84 or so…I bet there was somebody before that, but he’s the first one I remember seeing with it.

2.Before Randy Savage left the WWF in 94,was there plans for him to feud with Bob Backlaud before Bob feuding with Bret,just so Bob had massive heat?
Also why was Bob Backlaud pushed so hard as a Main eventer back then?!I have no complaints because I enjoyed the storyline and there Survivor Series match,but there was great Heel like Shawn,Deisel,Owen,Jeff Jarrett or even someone from the Million Dollar corperation.

That’s the first I’ve heard about a possible Backlund/Savage program. The reason Savage left the WWF was because they were more interested in having him commentate than having him wrestle. Savage thought he had some gas left in the tank, so he went down to WCW where they were happy to have him wrestle full-time.

As for why Backlund was pushed so hard…he was the perfect counterpoint to the New Generation that they were pushing at the time. When you’re trying to get a concept like that over, your top heel should be something that is the complete opposite. And Backlund did a really good job in getting his character over…it’s a shame that he didn’t get a longer run on top to see how it would have gone.

For some inexplicable reason I was thinking about “The Union” from a while ago in the WWF/E.
I remember that Big Show, Mick Foley (as Mankind) and Test were members … but wasn’t there a fourth member? I also recall them all carrying around 2×4’s and the whole deal had something to do with Shane McMahon. – Nick

Ken Shamrock was the fourth member of the Union. If memory serves me correctly, he left the Corporation after it was revealed that Vince was in cahoots with the Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness. Shamrock was mad at Undertaker because he tried to abduct his sister a few weeks before. They did carry 2X4s, and the official name of the Union was Union of People You Oughta Respect, Shane. Also known as UP YOURS. Ah, Russo.

I know Ultimate warrior had a feud with The Undertaker, but was there a backstage promo where The Ultimate warrior was locked in a room with a load of snakes? This promo also included Jake the Snake Roberts at the time, but i do remember seeing this but either i mixed it up with some other feud or some other promo. – Amer, UK

This was part of a series of vignettes where Jake was introducing Warrior to the dark side. Warrior was feuding with Undertaker at the time, and felt he needed to overcome his fear of the dark side so he would be able to compete with Undertaker on his level. Jake was always a pretty sinister character despite his status as a babyface, so Warrior asked him for help. Jake told Warrior that after he passed three tests, he would have the knowledge of the dark side that he needed in order to defeat Undertaker. His first test was to be locked in a coffin, the second was to be buried in dirt, and the third was to enter a room of snakes. The last one is the promo you’re remembering, and you can see all of these on the Jake Roberts DVD. It’s good stuff, which isn’t surprising because Jake was one of the all-time great talkers.

I have a couple questions regarding a couple storylines that neither got off the ground or I don’t quite remember.

1) I remember back in the summer of 1999, the WWF had a character dressed in all white. I don’t remember what he looks like exactly, but he was fat I believe. I don’t think he wrestled, maybe he did I don’t remember, but what was the gimmick and who was it?

That was Vic Grimes. The plan for him was to be Droz’s drug dealer and help Droz get Road Warrior Hawk hooked on drugs. That part of the angle didn’t happen.

2) I remember back in later 2003 and Booker T found a note that said “I remember what you did last summer.” It was dropped the next week. Who was the letter written by and what was that Booker did?

Booker, along with his girlfriend Jennifer Love Hewitt and friends Sarah Michelle Gellar & Ryan Phillipe, accidentally hit a fisherman with his car. They then ran away so nobody would catch them. But….somebody knew!

In all honesty, I don’t know where the hell they were going with that one. But wouldn’t it have been great to see JLH make a cameo?

3) Remember when Shane McMahon retired the European Title and then a few months later Mideon was European Champion. How did that happen? – Mike Hauglid

Mideon found the belt in Shane’s duffel bag and Shane said he could have it. Seriously, I’m not making that up. This happened on June 21, 1999 in Memphis, Tennessee. I’ll bet that wasn’t the most ridiculous title change in the history of wrestling in Memphis…but it has to rank pretty high on the list.

You used to always hear about Smackdown being the Rock’s Show and if I’m not mistaken was the first draft pick. Was the show really for the Rock to separate The Rock and Stone Cold? But that time had a whole bunch of main event stars. Do you know who all was in the main event then?

Rock was the first man picked overall in the draft, but the concept wasn’t really intended to separate Rock & Stone Cold. This was during the first time that Austin walked out on the WWF due to creative differences…he returned to Raw a couple weeks later. From a storyline perspective, Vince McMahon & Ric Flair each had 50% ownership of the WWF and they just couldn’t agree on anything. It was decided by the board of directors that Flair would run Raw & Vince would run Smackdown, and each would have a separate roster of talent to work with. The only people immune to this were Triple H, who was the Undisputed Champion, and Women’s Champion Jazz. Chris Jericho & Stephanie McMahon could not be drafted that evening because they were taking part in a triple threat match with Triple H for the title.

The second overall pick was Undertaker…other top picks included Kurt Angle, the New World Order, Kane, the injured Chris Benoit, Rob Van Dam & Hulk Hogan. Main events around this time usually involved a combination of Triple H with Undertaker, Hogan & Jericho.

Also, I remember JR going through the disease I think James Blake the tennis star had with a droopy face, there was an episode where JR had his own announce table, in front of the Lawler and whoever took JR’s place. Was that situation or storyline all about? Was JR actually a heel announcer at that time? What era was that, like who was champion at the time?

JR suffers from Bell’s Palsy, which basically is paralysis of the facial muscles. Most people (60-80%) who suffer from this recover completely from it after several weeks, but in some cases like JR’s, the effects can be seen on the face permanently. He is ok most of the time, but the condition worsened in late 1998 after the death of his mother…apparently the effects of his grief made his condition worse. Michael Cole filled in for JR while he was recovering, and Vince Russo & other members of the WWF staff felt that it would be better to keep Cole in the role permanently. Despite the fact that Cole just wasn’t on JR’s level at that time, some WWF insiders felt that physical appearance was important for announcers, and JR never had all that great of an appearance. He came back to television pissed off because his job was taken, which led to the incident you’re talking about where he had an announce table set up in front of Lawler & Cole during an episode of Raw. This led to one of my favorite announcer exchanges of all time…

Cole: I can’t see, there’s a big cowboy hat blocking my view!

JR: There’s gonna be a big cowboy boot up your ass in a minute.

Good times. This was all taking place during the buildup to WrestleMania XV, when Rock & Mankind were feuding over the WWF title and Steve Austin was waiting in the wings.

The disease James Blake suffered from was Herpes zoster.

Lastly, why does Larry Csonka care so much about the WWE making money? I always read him saying things like “No Buys” or “WWE hates money” . It seems to me that there money situation is not danger. I love great matches on Smackdown and Raw for free. I wish they’d do it more often. – Isaac

Larry Csonka is a co-owner of WWE and he believes that the PPVs would get more buys if they didn’t have PPV caliber matches on Raw every week. It’s taking money out of his pocket, and he’s pissed.

Back in the 80’s when Hogan faced Andre on a Friday night (Friday Night’s Main Event maybe?) Hogan came out with a “new” belt. It was not the same one he wore for years. When I saw this belt I knew he was dropping the title that night. Was this belt specifically designed for the upcoming title reign of the Macho Man? Just wondering if they gave Hogan the old one to “take home”.

I don’t think it was specifically designed for Macho Man, but yeah…new title belts are usually a bad sign for current champions. I believe Hogan did get to keep the old one, he at least has a replica of it because he’s been photographed with it (and other title belts) in a picture that was taken long after 1988.

Also, how did the Hebner’s end up in TNA? Did they have a falling out with Vince? They had been around WWE for so long I figured they were set for life. – Mike, Panama City, Florida

Earl & Dave Hebner were fired in July 2005 for selling WWE merchandise at a t-shirt store in Missouri they had ownership in without permission. They have apparently been working on a tell-all book that will reveal what WWE & Vince McMahon are really like. We shall see.

I just saw Bound for Glory and saw the bald ref in shorts (Slick something?). I could’ve sworn he was released a while back. Was this his return or has he been back for a while and I just didn’t notice?

Mark “Slick” Johnson made a one-night only return for Bound For Glory…he left TNA in June 2007 to “pursue other interests”. I assume he’s set up shop in the Atlanta area, but I can’t tell you what he’s up to.

Do you have any idea who gets credit for inventing and/or naming the Tree of Woe? I tend to associate it with Tommy Dreamer, but that could just be my own sordid ignorance. – Kyle

The first guy I saw doing it was Kevin Sullivan. It sounds like a Sullivan name for a move too, so I feel ok with giving him credit for it.

1.) A couple of years ago the WWE ran an story where the Big Show was teaming with the Undertaker. The Big Show got tired of teaming with the Undertaker and was ready to lay him out but Paul Bearer always kept him under control but threatening to reveal to the world something he had in an envelope. It went on for a couple of weeks and then nothing, they never revealed what was in the envelope. I have a hard enough time finding people who remember this angle and I was wondering if you remembered it and if you do, what was in the envelope.

I remember the Undertaker/Big Show tag team, but the envelope thing doesn’t ring a bell. Readers?

2.) Why did the WWE replace Trish Stratus in the WWE “The World Is Watching” montage with Torrie Wilson but leave Lita in? Is Trish on bad terms with the WWE?

Trish is not on bad terms with WWE to the best of my knowledge, and I doubt there’s anything ulterior behind who they include in their opening montage and who they don’t. I don’t think Lita will be in it forever, and very few will be.

3.) Why was Christie Himmie (sp?) fired from the WWE? Even to this day she was the best Diva search winner ever and seemed to be the most devoted to learning her craft? Where the HHH/Stephanie rumors true when it comes to why she was fired?

We have discussed this in the column before…the official reason given was lack of ideas for her from the creative staff and budget cuts. There has been no proof of any relationship between Hemme & Triple H.

4.) Why hasn’t the WWE given Scott Norton a chance to wrestle there? He is easily one of the best big men in wrestling since old school Vader and even back in his WCW days made me believe he actually had a chance against Goldberg.

Good question. Norton is 46 today, so I wouldn’t count on having it happen now. Norton has spent most of his career in Japan, where he found much more success in New Japan Pro Wrestling than he did in his stints with WCW. Norton worked for NJPW for 16 years, and that’s probably why he never went to WWE. NJPW’s relationship with WCW allowed him to go there from time to time, but for Norton, the money was in Japan. He got over there at a level that he never reached in the States.

5.) Does the WWE use a lot of Public Domain music or is it all in house created. I ask this because I’ve heard several WWE Superstars theme music used in commercial(london/Kendrick, Hardcore Holly, Jeff Hardy, Lance Storm etc) used in TV shows and commercials.

It varies. Most of the music used is in-house stuff, but if they find something public domain that fits a performer, they’ll use that.

6.) Did HBK call his Super Kick sweet chin music before he feuded with Double J. I can’t remember if he did for the life of me.

I believe that he did, but I wouldn’t bet the house on it.

7.) What’s Maven up to these days? I saw him hosting a show on BET J about a year ago (maybe earlier) and nothing since.

Maven still makes some appearances on the independent circuit, mostly for the UWF in Virginia run by Hermie Sadler. He wrestled Test for Full Throttle Wrestling in Massachusetts on October 5. His BET show has been cancelled, and I don’t know what he’s up to outside of his occasional appearances on the indy circuit.

8.Why didn’t Layla El do playboy, every Diva Search winner before her did it and the year that would have been hers went to Candice Michelle.

Layla hasn’t gotten over with the fans to the extent that Christy Hemme & Ashley Massaro did. They like to give the slot to somebody competing on the WrestleMania card, and there were no such plans for Layla. So Candice got the spread, and since then she’s made the most of it, becoming a pretty competent wrestler in her own right.

9. How can the Divas wrestles with implants and not get them damaged. What brought this to mind was Kelly Kelly taking the chicken wing lift from Beth Phoenix and then being thrown down chest first. – Trevor

Very carefully. Meltzer says that Kelly’s boobs are real, so your fear for her is misplaced. I’m not exactly an expert on breast implants, but I have to believe that it takes quite a bit to pop one of them.