Ask 411 Wrestling 12.31.08: Heatseekers, Gimmick Changes and Insurance!

I wish to pervert the cause of justice and go for a clean sweep. So here’s what I’d like you to do. Go to the site, and sign up for the forums. Then, send a private message to Rookie_Monster, using the following as a guide.

“Subject: SASBYS

Body: Hello, I may be new to the site, but since you seem to be doing this awards thing, and even with my short time on the site, clear winners have emerged, and thus I wish to vote for the following.

Biggest Babyface 2008 (BEST MEMBER): The Federation
Biggest Heel 2008 (MOST HATED MEMBER): The Federation
Biggest Pop (BEST MOMENT): The Federation Screws Over Everyone & Uses 411 To Win Everything.
Best Titantron (BEST AVATAR): The Federation- Victoria’s Smirk
The Santino Award of Excellence (FUNNIEST MEMBER): The Federation
The Mr. Perfect Award of Excellence (MOST INTELLIGENT MEMBER): The Federation
The Triple H “Refuse-To-Job” Award of Excellence (BEST FORUM GAMES PLAYER): The Federation
Glass Ceiling Destroyer 2008 (BEST NEW BLOOD): Xpunk
The Repo Man “Under-The-Radar” Award of Excellence (THE AWARD): The Federation & lfpnrg
Wrestlemania Main Event Award (BEST FEUD): Fed vs. Apple

Thank you.”

And I’ll love you all. And do feel free to hang round after, it’s a good site.

IMPROVED IMPROVED BANNER!

Banner compliments of Benjamin Colon. See more of his work at soulexodus.com. “Improved” and Re-Improved by a friend of a friend and then a normal friend at Stablewars.com, so check the site out, seriously.

Backtalking

Jack Hammer: He probably was a pretty bad wrestler.

Gymnastics: As it was pointed out, even if some people like Morrison and Cross have gymnastic backgrounds, wrestling is not gymnastics, and thus the body must be retrained. But ok then, Morrison probably could do it then, if he had time to retrain, happy? Besides, why would he want to do that, when he could become THE next Kubrick? Have you seen his work?

Sid: No, Sid was not a great talker. He was a unique talker, that’s not the same thing as great. Softball did occur to me but I didn’t know and wasn’t about to fall into the trap of comedy like that. An injury sounds more likely, but I couldn’t find a reliable source. And Sid is clearly somewhat delusional with that retirement idea.

Buyrates/ratings: Well, the source I was using is a somewhat trusted one (Wrestling Info Archive) so I went with their numbers. WM5 being a true best seller does have a ring of truth to it, as does BATB 98. But until someone does an official, backed up list with references, there’s always the level of salt grains required with anything on the net. And yes, the figures I gave of the top 10 were US only ones. Adding in International buys would help the WWE’s case somewhat, but that’s even worse, since when you add in international buys UFC is STILL giving WWE a run for their money, and that’s at an even smaller fraction of the audience. But that’s enough about buyrates because frankly, even as a man with a degree in Commerce specialising in statistics and such, it’s boring as hell to wade through.

As for the ratings, the week prior to the R&B relaunch was a best of program, and I’m assuming that the other rating was for the Tuesday edition.

Montreal: Yeah, some other sources have shown me that Bret and Taker were buddies, my bad. And my bad again for not making my feelings about Montreal clear. I forget people don’t know them. Basically, it was two wrongs making a right, in that while I mostly side with Vince (if you leave a company, you do so on your back, and Bret had no moral right to bitch about putting over the #1/2 heel in the company, creative control be dammed), once he shook Bret’s hand on the DQ ending, going back on that was low. Not that it didn’t turn out great for him, but it was still an immoral move. Just like all the times it was done to him by wrestlers. If I was in that exact same position, I would have done the same thing, but then if I was Vince I don’t think it would have ended up like that (I would have had Mankind win the title on the final Raw, then had Bret get killed by Kane on his way out and have HBK beat Mankind for the belt at Survivor Series. Would have ruined the future, but at the time, that’s how I would go).

Best Wrestler At Whatever: JBL was a superb talker for a couple of years. HBK has been a superb talker for over a decade. Time plays a factor here. As for Flair/Hogan, I tend to take the view that Flair drew a comparable number of fans and tickets DESPITE not having the WWF juggernaut behind him. Flair carried the NWA on his back, Hogan was more a face of the WWF. But it’s certainly debatable, which it will be done for years to come.

Mathew/Matthew: My name is superior in that a second t is just redundant. My way is quicker to type, I’m one seventh more efficient. And I need that for my last name.

Cross-Promotion: Ok, firstly, I apologize for not making it clear that the ECW comment was half sarcastic. I understand that some people can’t handle sarcasm without a great deal on context and warning, and thus for all future Ask411’s I do, I will use the MP System. MP stands for, sigh, Matthew Perry, truly the modern king of sarcasm. This is of course the imperial measurement of Sarcasm, since most of you reading are American. If I was writing for the rest of the world, I’d be using the Metric Chandler Scale, and be discussing this in fractions of 1 full Chandler. For any comment that is full balls to the wall sarcasm, I will mark it with one full MP, like so.

For any comment that is half-sarcastic, that uses a half MP, like this.

Clear?

Secondly, that’s the first I’ve ever heard of a legit cross-promotion plan, but if so, wow, WCW was really really REALLY stupid…

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

Yeah, almost everyone got it, but here’s the official walkthrough.

I’m a specific PPV. (Royal Rumble 2000) I’m an edition of a somewhat famous series of them, held in a somewhat famous arena. (MSG) I’m fairly well liked, despite several last second changes to the card (not even counting the two TBA’s they had going in). (The Rumble was changed about, Tazz and Bob Backlund were both TBA’s) I had two inter-gender matches, (IC and Rumble)) and a tag title match with one side consisting of a former world champion and a future world champion. (Bradshaw and Faarooq) I had a segment featuring Future Hall Of Famers and a celebrity guest. (Miss Rumble) I saw one memorable, if humorous, injury occur. (Taka) A World Title match occurred that was a rematch from a free TV match some time before, that occurred in the same arena! (Cactus/HHH, 3 Faces Of Foley Video match) I saw a title change that wasn’t really a title change, (Jericho becoming sole IC Champ) 2 out of 3 of the current WWE World Champions compete (Hardys) and the first AND last matches saw winners who didn’t REALLY win their matches. (Tazz choked a bitch and Rock cheated like one)

So, most people got that, congrats, but this week’s is REALLY tough. Basically, you need to give me the name I want. It’s a wrestling name, 7 letters long (not counting any spaces/symbols that may or may not be in it) and it’s hidden in the answers to the following 15 True/False questions. The name is wrestling related, the code (which is internationally known and standardised) is not. Write down the correct 15 True and/or Falses, work out the code, and give me the name, and prove that you’re almost a big a nerd as me. You’ll notice a belt motif, what can I say, I like belt history trivia.

Questions, Questions, Who’s Got The Questions?

Eric Stafford starts us off.

This year WWE is charging for admission to Fan Axxess the week of Wrestlemania. There are $25 regular tickets, and $45 for a VIP package. Do you know what the difference is between these 2 tickets? I can’t find this info anywhere, and tickets go on sale next week. I’d like to know what is included in the VIP package.

Everything the normal one gets, PLUS One Autographed Picture of a WWE Superstar Entertainer, “Cut the Line” status for all activities EXCEPT autographs & photo sessions, Entrance to VIP standing area next to ring at WrestleMania Axxess, and a warm fuzzy feeling that you’ve helped add to McMahon’s income.

Or Alboher is from the 411 Army in Israel, and asks about a rather infamous angle.

I wanted to ask you about the Rikishi – Austin run down angle from 2000.
Was the original plan was for HHH to get involved in the storyline or they just saw that nobody care to much for Rikishi so they decided to put the blame on HHH?

No, HHH being written in was a last second thing when people didn’t much care for Rikishi being the guy, especially given his very lame explanation. Personally, I think there were much better options, like This One, at the bottom…

Dead Poetic wants some reassurance.

Please tell me this is a joke and that there is not a DVD coming out by WWE called “Legends Of Wrestling” with that putz Buff Bagwell on the cover! Please tell me this is a joke…

For those sick of links in this column, here’s the image in question.

The answer is that it’s not a joke, but it’s also not what it looks like. See, this is a compilation of the Legends Of Wrestling Roundtables that have been on WWE On Demand for the past couple of years. Each episode has a theme, some of which are individuals, like Flair, Lawler, JYD. And one of the episodes on that list is ‘Heatseakers’, which is all about guys in the industry who are jerks. Russo, Hall, Heyman, Goldberg and… Buff Bagwell. And since out of those 5 Buff is the least likely to come back to WWE, they put him on the cover.

After all, when the guy has his mother call JR to say he’s ‘injured’…

So yes, it’s true, but no, Buff is not a ‘legend’.

Casey Johnson gets trick on me.

Which wrestler has gone through the most gimmick changes without changing their name? Immediately I think of Crush (Demolition, Kona, Evil, and Biker), The Undertaker (Deadman, Ministry Leader, Biker, Deadman), and maybe Triple H, depending on your definition of a gimmick (Blueblood, Degenerate, The Game).

Exactly right, it depends on your definition of a gimmick, and a change. Is a heel/face turn a change? (Is ECW Champ Kane different from Kelly Stalker Kane?) What if the change is gradual and/or subtle? (Taker at his debut was different from Taker post Face Turn) Does going back to an old gimmick count? (Jeff Jarrett going back to the Country gimmick in 98) What if someone does have different names but has a long period of just one? (Taker again) What about variations on a name? (Robbie V, who has NOT re-signed anywhere yet).

Someone like Trish might have a shot (Bimbo T&A, McMahon plaything, Women’s Champ, Slut, Beloved Icon), as might someone weird, like JR (Commentary guy, Good Ole JR, Heel JR, GOJR, WWF Loyalist, GOJR).

But my pick, which I’m sure will be argued about in the comments, is Stevie F’n Richards. If you accept that Stevie and Steven are the same name, and that nicknames don’t count, he’s had a LOT of gimmicks. Indy boy, Raven’s Lackey, BWO, Raven’s Lackey, Superstar, Impersonator, RTC, Kronik, Hardcore Champ/Jazz’s Boy, Victoria’s Bitch, ECW Vet, Inspirational Guy. 12 different gimmicks. Kinda.

Jaimz has his 3rd of 3 questions answered.

Has there ever been a point in the past 5 years since Shawn last won the title that there was talk he would get the title back?

Not really. Shawn doesn’t really NEED a title anymore, and his last one (which was a hasty re-write when the Edge switch didn’t occur) was more to break up the HHH monotony and to re-establish him with fans who had never really seen him before Summerslam. I’m guessing that the current JBL/HBK thing ends with a title involved somehow, unless someone else replaces HBK in JBL’s business (like, I dunno, Rey Mysterio which would either be awesome or suck big fat donkey balls).

WWE knows that Shawn could carry a belt, but he doesn’t need one, and he may have asked not to. But he’s probably their default back up, if Cena breaks his back or something, HBK will be there to pick up the slack.

GroovyGuy555 tempts fate (and the commentary crowd) with a question about one shots.

My question stems from Trish’s return to Raw. I’m wondering how one-time deal contracts are handled within the WWE. Are injuries accounted for and medical bills paid? Basically how does a contract work for non-employees and celebrities?

Well, ok, I can’t say for SURE this is how it works, but with what I do know of the industry and a fair idea of how WWE appears to treat their employees, the answer would be ‘no more than usual’.

To quote the WWE’s 07 Annual Report-

Although our performers, as independent contractors, are responsible for maintaining their own health, disability and life insurance, we self-insure health coverage for our performers in the event that they are injured while performing.

It would be logical that this would also apply to anyone who works in the ring for even a short period, be it Trish or some jobber in a dark match. Basically, WWE treats all contracts the same, it’s just that some only last one day while others years. Anyone who works for WWE signs a contract, and in that contract is sets out that WWE will only cover injury that is a DIRECT result of the in-ring product. If, for example, Floyd Mayweather had broken his hand against Big Show, his medical bills to fix it would have been covered, but not anything he had to pay out for not being able to wrestle, unless he had insurance about it. So, basically, WWE covers injuries in the ring, no matter which employee suffers them long or short term. Although if someone brought in to sing America The Beautiful at a WM trips on their own feet while leaving and breaks their arm, that I wouldn’t have a clue about if they were covered or not.

And that was it from you guys. But now, I’m to be joined by a colleague from, you guessed it, Stablewars, Chris “wcwchris” Cruise, to help me answer the questions I culled from there. His comments are in italics. First off, his question.

What’s the deal with Mickie James porn pics on the net? When were they taken and what’s the story on how they came about?

Well, ‘officially’, they aren’t actually of her. Mickie James’ official website’s Admin, when these first got spread about, stated that they weren’t her, but some other model that happened to look like her, as he was told by the publisher. And on RB Kane, the man who took the shots which were in Leg Show’s May 2000 edition, he has a shot of a woman called Tabitha Stern, who does look a bit like Mickie.

But assuming that it IS Mickie, at the time she was working the Indys, and also working at an Olive Garden. Ergo, she was broke, and was a hot chick. A good 75% of the Porn Industry is based around hot women being broke.

Football Mike wants my opinion.

Who do you see winning the upcoming Royal Rumble?

Orton or HHH, with Matt Hardy a dark horse third.

Fuggly Bastard asks a common question.

What is Perry Saturn up to now?

Apparently he’s hiding out from the IRS and the cops.

And MMH asks an easy one.

How many times has Goldust been re-hired by the WWE?

Dustin Rhodes has had 5 runs in WWF/E.
Dustin Rhodes: 1990 – 1991
Goldust: 1995 – 1999
Goldust: 2002 – 2003
Goldust: 2005 – 2006
Goldust: 2008 – present

So, technically, ‘Goldust’ has been re-hired 3 times. The first time he wasn’t Goldust, and the second time was the first time Goldust was hired, it wasn’t till 02 that he was re-hired for the first time. Unless you take WWE to mean only post name change…

JCF asks a simple question with a complicated answer.

Why does the WWE keep signing wrestlers who can’t work like Mark Henry, Great Khali, and Snitsky and decide to push them to the moon instead of better wrestlers like Evan Bourne?

Chris had a harsh answer, So basically, why doesn’t WWE push spot monkeys over big intimidating guys? Well, because spot-monkeys are stupid. See Nigel McGuinness v. Sonjay Dutt.

Big guys may not be the best technical wrestlers, but they leave an impression on the fans.

It’s more an issue of WWE being run by Vince, and Vince prefers the big guys unless he is forced into a different tack. And since no-one else is competing for the big guys, he has an open market to pick from.

This one I’m happy to leave to Chris. From Iamnobody…

How many times did the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express wrestler against the different incarnations of the Midnight Express?

Well probably around the same number of times Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat have wrestled. Probably near a 1,000 times. No way to know for sure, but these two teams were married since the early 80’s. Only having a few brief periods of feuding with other teams. I’m sure they worked each other in the NWA at least 4 times a week for a few years and have off and on for the last 20 at Indy shows all over the south. With the many incarnations of the Midnight, there is no way to know and I really doubt any of the guys involved have kept a Jericho “match diary”.

Charlie Owens goes for an opinion question.

Say you’re Vince McMahon. Both Taker and Shawn Michaels come to you and say they wish to retire this year at WM25. Do you let them both go, insist one stay on, try and hang onto both, or what?

I try like hell to keep both around, given that both are good workers and move merch. If I can’t keep both, I beg Shawn to hang round just a little bit more, so that after he loses to Taker at WM to send him off, he can have a proper goodbye, maybe at Summerslam against HHH to bring his last section full circle.

Hillbilly Nick is not a nice person.

How many times has a ref sliced his hand open after picking up a razor after a performer does a blade job?

In my time, I’ve never done it, nor have I ever seen a ref do it. With that said, there is no answer to this question. Let’s say there is an average of 10 Indy feds per U.S. state. Now some feds run shows weekly, some bi weekly, so let’s just average it to 3 shows a month. On those 3 shows, let’s say and average of two matches involve a wrestler getting color. That’s low for a lot of the more “hardcore” feds I know, but just go with me. I know a number of states won’t allow blood, so we’ll just say it averages out. So in your average month, that’s 50x10x3x2 for a total of 3000 instances of a wrestler bleeding in a match in the United States. Now that’s 36000 times in a year… just in the United States. More than likely a few of those times a blade will get lost or dropped or whatever and someone will either step on it or pick it up and cut themselves accidentally… but there is no way to tell how many.

I’ve never seen it either.

jdrudd2 wants to focus on the Zebras.

They’ve been there for years: referees. Just HOW important are they to a wrestling match (time keeping, impromptu changes, dealing with injuries), and further: how has technology helped the refs (such as the earpiece), thus in turn helping the matches?

Basically a ref’s job is to make the match look like a legit competition. Be a go between for the wrestlers and the back with any info that the wrestlers need to know or in case of an injury, any info the back needs to know. And being a go between for the wrestlers in the ring to let one know what the other is going to do without it looking obvious that he’s telling him.

The ref’s job is to assist the wrestlers in telling the story of the match. When they are doing their job right, you don’t notice them as they talk to the wrestlers, passing on info and helping them tell their story. When they aren’t doing their job, you notice them getting in the way, not listening nor reacting to people, and basically not acting like they are the law. The ref is just as important as the wrestlers. As for technology, that hasn’t really helped, as while it does assist with changing things on the fly, that’s about it, since most of the ref’s real duties aren’t tech based. It’s only when things go wrong that the ref’s communication to the back helps.

The ref helps tell the story and keeps everything going.

hackett98 goes back to the unanswerable.

What does Vince McMahon consider to be the greatest WWF/E match of all time?

Vince vs. Shane, Wrestlemania X7.

No, wait sorry, Hogan vs. Andre WMIII, given the box office it did.

Seriously though, it’s impossible to say since he rarely gives interviews. I do remember that he said that the Y2J/HBK Ladder match was the best ladder match he’d ever seen, so that might be up there. Maybe the WMXII Iron Man match, Austin/Rock at WMX7, it’s impossible to say for sure.

And to finish, one that I know will get comments, from BringTheNoise.

Has anyone ever won a world title in the USA, Mexico and Japan?

Well, first you have to decide what qualifies as a world title… since most titles for Japanese and Mexican companies are rarely defended outside their borders, are they still world titles? Also, do World Tag Team Titles count? Now if you just want to go by the top singles title in the biggest feds in each country, that’d be easier.

U.S.:
ECW World Title (1994-2001)
NWA World Title (1940-1993)
ROH World Title
TNA World Title
WWF/E World Title (Smackdown)
WCW/WWE Heavyweight Title (Raw)

Japan:
NJPW/IWGP World Title
AJPW World Title
NOAH World Title

Mexico:
CMLL World Title
AAA/IWC World Title
UWA World Title

And after looking around, Big Van Vader is the only person to win World Titles in the U.S. (WCW), Mexico (UWA), and Japan (NJPW & AJPW).

And to finish this thing off, I give to you Vader’s partner in being the only other Japan/US/Mexico Triple World Champ… Keiko Nakano, a.k.a. Bull Nakano, who has been WWF Women’s Champion, WWWA and AJW Champion in Japan, and CMLL World Women’s Champion in Mexico.