This version written by "Netcop" Scott Keith and updated 13.12.1999 This version reformatted for text by Christopher Robin Zimmerman 28.2.2000 Copyright Stuff This document copyright 1998 LPK Enterprises. Portions of this document were written by Dominic Macika as part of the original RSPW FAQ, on which this document is based. Entire concept created by Cal Jewell. Boring crap This document is complete and accurate to the best of the author's knowledge. The author does not claim to be the final word on the matters of the document, merely a collector of the best information available at the time of it's generation. The author does not presume to judge the intelligence or morality of questions asked, but merely answers based on frequency and relevance to professional wrestling. The author makes no personal judgments about the wrestlers, organizations and people mentioned in this document, but merely attempts to reflect the general consensus shown on the newsgroup rec.sport.pro-wrestling Blatant cry for attention Comments, additions, suggestions, and corrections are encouraged. Send them to rspwfaq@rantsylvania.com. The document itself is archived at: http://www.rantsylvania.com/home/rspwfaq/. Table Of Contents 0.1 Prelude - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Wrestling But Were Afraid To Ask ... 0.2 Prelude 2 - A Beginner's Guide to Pro Wrestling 1. Part One - Individual Wrestlers and Personalities 1.1. Shawn Michaels 1.2. Hulk Hogan 1.3. Vince McMahon 1.4. The Clique 1.5. NWO 1.6. IV Horsemen 1.7. Ultimate Warrior 1.8. Ric Flair 1.9. Sid Vicious 1.10. Brian Pillman 1.11. Sting 1.12. Midnight Express 1.13. Randy Savage 1.14. Shane Douglas 1.15. Steve Austin 1.16. Cactus Jack 1.17. Von Erichs 1.18. Goldust 1.19. Vader 1.20. New Breed 1.21. Demolition 1.22. Brutush Beefcake 1.23. Doink 1.24. Hacksaw Jim Duggan 1.25. Jerry Lawler 1.26. Rick Rude 1.27. Curt Hennig 1.28. Big Bossman 1.29. Undertaker 1.30. Stevie Richards 1.31. Diamond Dallas Page 1.32. Raven 1.33. Al Snow 1.34. The Big Show 1.35. Chris Benoit 1.36. The Nation of Domination 1.37. Bret Hart 1.38. Roddy Piper 1.39. Andre the Giant 1.40. Eric Bischoff 1.41. Rob van Dam 1.42. Paul Heyman 1.43. Goldberg 1.44. Insane Clown Posse 1.45. Jake Roberts 1.46. Powers that Be 2. Part Two - Organizations 2.1. World Championship Wrestling 2.2. National Wrestling Alliance 2.3. World Wrestling Federation 2.4. Extreme Championship Wrestling 2.5. Other Promotions 2.6. Japan 2.7. Mexico 3. Part Three - The Monday Night Wars 4 Part Four - Stupid Wrestling Tricks 5. Part Five - Miscellaneous 5.1. Did [X] ever play organized football? 5.2. How are all the Samoan wrestlers related? 5.3. Title Changes 5.4. Shoots 5.5. Wrestling Bloopers, Swerves and General Oddities 5.6. Pay-Per-View 5.7. Who was [X]? 6. Part Six - Famous Deaths UPDATED 1999.12.13 7. Part Seven - The USWA Reference Materials A. Appendix A: Wrestling Title Histories B. Appendix B: Monday Night Ratings History C. Appendix C: Addresses of Major Federations D. Appendix D: Dave Meltzer on Survivor Series 1997 NEW 1999.12.13 E. Appendix E: Contributors ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.1 RSPW FAQ Prelude - Everything you ever wanted to know about professional wrestling but were afraid to ask 0.1. Is wrestling fake? In a word, yes. In many more words, yes, very, totally, completely, utterly fake. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either very misguided or simply attempting to add to the myth surrounding the sport known as "kayfabe." On the other hand, "fake" is relative. The sport is fake in that the results are predetermined and the athletes cooperate with each other, but the actual moves are generally executed with contact made and pain inflicted. Only the best wrestlers can pull off devastating-looking moves with causing some sort of pain to the opponent. Wrestling has been predetermined since before the turn of the century (1880s to be exact) no matter what anyone may try to tell you. Unless the person who is so nostalgically telling you about "when it was real" is 120 years old, they are mistaken. 0.1.1. Is wrestling even a sport? Legally, no. In order to be classified as a sports event, you have to have a certain number of state-certified doctors at ringside in case of injuries. Both the WWF and WCW have forgone this measure in exchange for the monetary savings. As well, Vince McMahon stated as a matter of record to a Seattle court that wrestling was predetermined, which prevented it from being promoted as a "sport" or a "competition" in that state or any other. So the end result is Vince McMahon promoting "sports entertainment," a term which means nothing outside of professional wrestling, and WCW referring to the "wrestling industry" or "wrestling business," both of which circumvent calling it a sport. Unless of course it's in Maryland, in which case a doctor must be present at ringside by law. But this seems to be unique to that state. On a sidenote, the newsgroup is called "rec.SPORT.pro-wrestling" because it's a spinoff the original rec.sport.misc group. The original proposal was for the less catchy "rec.ARTS.pro-wrestling" but it was felt that since the group's principles were already established in the sports hierarchy it would be best to remain there. 0.1.2 What is "kayfabe"? The term Kay Fabe comes from ancient carnival talk, appropriate as professional wrestling has it's origins in the carnivals. Kay Fabe practices were old tricks, from three card monte to cure all elixirs and, of course, magic acts. A kay fabe violator exposed the secrets behind these practices. In wrestling, the term has come to mean not exposing that the business is worked. In the 80s, Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, wrote a book entitled Kay Fabe, exposing many secrets of the business. 0.1.3 Common Acronyms The following is a list of common acronyms used on this newsgroup that you may run across, compiled with help from Jeremy Soria and Jeremy Billones. DQ disqualification DCOR double counted out of the ring COR counted out of the ring BTW by the way IMO in my opinion IMOHO in my own humble opinion IMODO in my own damn opinion Ob obligatory, as in ObWrestling PPV pay-per-view event ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing RTFM read the FAQ man STFU be quiet :-) TTYTT to tell you the truth WTF what the heck :-) YMMV your mileage may vary AFAIK as far as I know OTOH on the other hand... ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing ROTFLMAO rolling on the floor laughing my ass off 0.1.4 How do I rate a match? When rating a match, or reading match ratings, it is important to consider what exactly is being rated. Some people prefer to rate matches based on how much they enjoyed the match, others rate matches based on the workrate involved in the match. The most popular way of rating matches is through the 5-star system, originated by Norm Dooley and Jim Cornette. It was originally designed to rate the workrate of a match. Here's how Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, has described the 5-star rating system ***** Match of the year candidate ****1/2 An almost-perfect match **** Excellent ***1/2 Extremely good *** Good **1/2 Better than average but nothing special ** Average *1/2 Below average but not atrocious * Pretty bad, but at least some action 1/2* Terrible, but at least a high spot in there somewhere DUD Of no value -stars Not only terrible, but completely offensive to the ticket-buying public In the end, any form of match ratings is *always* a matter of personal opinion. One person's match of the year is another person's snoozer. 0.1.5 Are matches scripted or improvised? A bit of both. Type "A" wrestlers (like most of WCW's cruiserweights and people with strong training backgrounds like the Armstrongs and the Harts) can usually go into a ring and make up a watchable match with no time needed beforehand. Brad Armstrong and the Great Muta once improvised a ****1/2 match on five minutes notice for WCW Saturday Night, for instance. Type "B" wrestlers (most everyone else) will generally have an idea of the finish and flow of a match, and will "call spots" during the match (whisper moves into their opponent's ear) to keep the match fresh and interesting. This is the most common match method. Type "C" wrestlers (Hogan, Kevin Nash and most roided monsters) will generally plan out the entire match beforehand, and sometimes choreograph the action days in advance to ensure a minimum of trouble. The Hulk Hogan-Ultimate Warrior match from 1990 was rehearsed several times, weeks before the event. The rule is generally that one type of wrestler v. the same type of wrestler are usually capable of producing at least a decent match, because the styles are compatible. The trouble comes when the "C" type wrestlers fight "B" type wrestlers, because those on the lowest tier of match quality are generally incapable of improvising a match, and a wrestler who *is* capable of doing so will be bored and disinterested in a choreographed match. The most glaring example of completely mismatched styles was Shane Douglas v. Pitbull #2 at ECW's Barely Legal PPV, where Shane attempted to improvise a match and the Pitbull was desperately trying to maintain a match flow devised hours before the match began. In the end, of course, the above is merely a general guide and not an iron-clad classification of wrestling styles. Feel free to use your own judgment. 0.1.6 How do wrestlers bleed? There are two ways, and two ways only, for a wrestler to draw blood during the course of a match: The first and by far the most common, is by blading. A wrestler will wrap tape around his wrists in order to conceal a razor blade underneath. Some put the tape on their fingertips, as a matter of personal preference. When the time to bleed comes, the wrestler will generally roll out of the ring and hide himself from view of the fans as best he can, then expose the razor blade and quickly swipe his wrist across his forehead to cause himself to bleed. Cutting one's self anywhere but the forehead is EXTREMELY dangerous and is rarely done for obvious reasons. The other way to bleed is "hardway," that is to say a legitimate cut or injury which causes blood to flow. The most common cases are a broken nose, or a particularly hard shot to the ear. The mythical "blood capsule," which supposedly resides in the wrestler's mouth until the time to bite down on it comes, DOES NOT EXIST IN WRESTLING. This urban legend came about because Hollywood uses it on a regular basis, and those outside the wrestling business assumed wrestlers were simply actors and thus used fake blood. Any blood coming from a wrestler's mouth is probably there because he bit his tongue, not a blood capsule. The AIDS scare of recent times had diminished the thirst for blood somewhat in North America, but the recent direction of the WWF and the ECW fanbase have contributed to a resurgance in popularity for the venerated blade. 0.1.7 What is work? What is workrate? You may have read people on RSPW calling themselves fans of "workrate" or calling someone a good "worker" and are probably wondering just what they're talking about. Well, they're talking about a lot of things, actually. For instance, "work" is the general term for any match performed by one or more wrestlers. They are said to "work" a match. Wrestlers are thus called "workers" and the more talented they are, the better a "worker" they are considered. Now, as a match progresses, it is possible to separate the match into "action" and "inaction" portions. When the wrestlers are doing something (working, in this case), that's the action, and when they're in a resthold or lying on the mat after a double-knockout or whatever, that's the inaction. The ratio of action to inaction is the workrate, and that's what everyone gets so high-and-mighty about. A wrestler whose matches have lots of action and a minimum of resting has good workrate, and a wrestler who spends the entire match in a reverse chinlock has bad workrate. But wait, there's more! In a more general sense, anything in wrestling that is faked for the purpose of making money is "a work". If the promotion is doing so knowingly, they are "working us". The opposite of work in this sense is "shoot". If a given event is a work, it is generally part of an angle. 0.1.8 What is an angle? How is different from a feud? It is important to remember that in any wrestling match, there are generally three things that can be determined with good "acting" on the part of the wrestlers: The gimmick, the feud and the angle. This tells who is wrestling, who they're fighting, and why they're fighting, in that order. Take, for instance, the nWo. The gimmick is their "raison d'etre", the central concept behind the wrestlers. In the case of the nWo, they are a group of renegade wrestlers who are trying to take over WCW. That's the gimmick. They are fighting with the rest of WCW. That's the feud. And the nWo constantly attacks WCW wrestlers before, during and after the matches. That's the angle. Gimmicks are more prevalent in the WWF, which is much more character-based. Thus, you get cartoonish characters like the Undertaker and Kane, whose whole range of wrestling moves is centered around their gimmick: Immortal dead men. In the WWF, it's generally very easy to take a given wrestler and point out his gimmick (eg, TL Hopper is a wrestling plumber). The feud is pretty straight-forward. Wrestler A doesn't like Wrestler B and they fight. The reasons behind it and actual people involved generally don't affect that basic formula. The angle can sometimes be more complex. We never really know anymore if the reasons for fighting are part of the storyline or based on some real-life problem the wrestlers have with each other, and both promotions have been known to exploit that. However, an angle can be best summed up as "Why is this wrestler fighting that wrestler?" 0.1.9 What is a booker? What is booking? Once the reason for the wrestlers to fight each other has been established, someone has to pick which one will win and how. That's the job of the booker. The person who "gets the book" is in charge of picking winners. You may also hear a match described as "overbooked", which generally means that there's either too many stipulations (barbed-wire baseball bat cage match, with 4 titles on the line, a manager locked in a cage at ringside, etc.) or too many people running in to allow the pin to take place (Sting v. Randy Savage from Spring Stampede 98 is a very good example of overbooking). Remember, wrestling is aimed at the lowest common denominator, and less is always more. 0.1.10 What is a face? What is a heel? What is a tweener? This one is pretty easy: A face, short for babyface, is the "good guy". He acts in the interests of the fans first, will save his friends from being attacked, and will not attempt to purposely hurt another wrestler. A heel is the "bad guy". He acts in his own interests, he will insult the fans, he will turn on his friends, and will often maliciously attempt to injure other wrestlers. A tweener is a term invented in 1996 to describe Diesel's final run in the WWF, as he was acting like a heel while getting a face reaction from the fans. This would also apply to the current behavior of Rocky Maivia, who is acting like a heel but getting a massive babyface reaction. Generally "tweeners" are actually heels. A wrestler will "turn" from one to another. A face will do a "heel turn" and a heel will do a "face turn". It should be noted that these designations are universal, although some aspects are played up more in America than in Japan, and vice versa. 0.1.11 What is heat? If a wrestler does his job correctly, he will draw a strong reaction from the fans, which is heat. If both wrestlers are on their game, the fans will sustain the "heat" throughout the entire match. Heat also refers to the reaction that a certain wrestler draws from the fans outside of the ring. A wrestler who the fans particularly hate is said to be drawing "heel heat" and will need to be beaten by a babyface to "take the heat off him." It is best for a wrestler to draw heat the same as their orientation (ie, a heel should draw heel heat). If a heel is drawing face heat, then he will usually be made into a babyface to sustain that heat. The Undertaker is the best example of that. Rocky Maivia (before he became "The Rock") is the best example of the opposite: A babyface drawing heel heat. Ironically, Rocky is now experiencing the exact opposite phenomenon a year later, which shows how weird the tastes of fans can be. The "face getting booed" syndrome is much more rare and shows bad booking on the part of the WWF more than anything. Drawing no heat all is the kiss of death in wrestling. There is also "bad" heat, which is unintended negative heat. When either a face or a heel draws bad heat, it is generally not because of any actions done by the character, but simply because the fans can no longer tolerate the person. Jeff Jarrett drew massive amounts of bad heat while in WCW, and as a result was not brought back when his contract expired. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff are moving from heel heat towards bad heat -- ie, the fans are simply tired of seeing them and boo out of frustration rather than genuine dislike of anything they say. Bad heat is considered undesirable because it can actually hurt the drawing power of the person receiving it, since it can never be resolved in the ring. 0.1.12 What is a job? What is a jobber? Job is the all-purpose term for a loss in pro wrestling. Any loss, by any means, is a job. It has nothing to do with the amount of interference or the severity of the loss or the position on the card -- a loss is a job, period. If one jobs constantly, then one is defined as a jobber. The pure jobber is becoming a rarity in wrestling and is usually found on WCW Worldwide Wrestling, a syndicated program. Barry Horowitz is the most famous of the "pure" jobbers, those who never win and exist merely to make their opponent look really, really good. Many times the jobber is actually the more talented wrestler. Up one notch from the jobber is the somewhat-less-lowly "jobber to the stars," abbreviated JTTS. A JTTS can beat a jobber, but is not in serious contention for any titles and will usually lose major matches. Most of the current roster of the WWF can be classified as "jobbers to the stars". There are different kinds of job. If a wrestler is pinned or submits without falling prey to blatant illegalities, than he has "jobbed cleanly". "Clean" is relative when it comes to wrestling, by the way. A certain amount of cheating on the heel's part is expected and tolerated within the boundaries of what is considered "clean." Hitting your opponents with brass knuckles while the referee's back is turned and pinning him is a clean win. Having the Four Horsemen run in and hit your opponent with brass knuckles and pinning him is considered to be screwy, a term which will be covered in a moment. Generally, a one-on-one victory with a pinfall is considered to be clean. The grey area occurs with the term "screwy", a variation of the word "screw-job" which comes later. A screwy win is a pinfall or submission which probably wouldn't have occured had some drastic action on the part of the heel not taken place. Here's an example, purely hypothetical: Chris Benoit is wrestling Hulk Hogan. Benoit is dominating and hits his submission move, and were the match to continue along this path it would not be reasonable to assume Hogan could win. But Hogan's friends come into the ring and distract the referee, allowing one of them to do something to Benoit which DIRECTLY allows Hogan to get the pin and the unlikely victory. This is "screwy" because Hogan wasn't going to win unless something illegal happened. However, if Benoit were to kick out of Hogan's pin attempt and continue the match without Hogan's friends interfering further, then the eventual outcome would be *clean* because the interference didn't have a DIRECT effect on the outcome. As you can tell, this is a very hazy area to cover. The other extreme comes with the venerable "screw-job". A screw-job is any disqualification, countout, draw, or other ending which is not a pinfall or submission. It is, in other words, any non-ending. If one wrestler is disqualified, it's a screw-job. If they battle to an exciting 60-minute draw, it's a screw-job. If they're both counted out of the ring, it's a screw-job. If the Maryland State Athletic Commission stops the match because one guy has a trickle of blood on his forehead, it's a screw-job. Any time the fans are deprived of seeing one wrestler "go over" another cleanly (or even somewhat cleanly) they are being "screwed". The screw-job is considered extremely damaging if used as the finish to a major match, as can be evidenced by the booking style of Dusty Rhodes. There are other variants of the "-job" family, but the only widely used one is the "stretcher-job", in which the loser ends up going out on a stretcher. 0.1.13 What is a mark? What is a smart? There are many interpretations and beliefs on this matter, and hopefully this will educate you enough for you to make your own decision on it. The first, and most traditional, meaning of the word "mark" comes from carnivals and con-men, who called the paying customers "marks" in reference to them being the target of the scam. Under this criteria, we are all marks, because we are all wrestling fans and thus all the targets of the giant scam that is wrestling. But... Modern times have changed the meaning of the word somewhat. Thanks to the proliferation of the internet and "insider" newsletters, the word "mark" has come to stand for the ever-dwindling group of wrestling fans who still "believe." That is to say, those who think that wrestling is real and will cheer and boo those that the federations wish them to. But... The booking style of both major federations has changed drastically in the past few years, to the point where the face/heel orientation of a given wrestler is almost dictated by the fans, so that a wrestler will be a babyface not because that is how they are booked, but because that is how the fans respond to them. Under these conditions, fan response due to booking can hardly be classified as "markdom". But... There are another group of fans, the self-proclaimed "smarts", who have access to what they think is the inner workings of the business and who tend to view wrestling on a different level than the so-called "marks." These fans will tend to cheer the heels and boo the babyfaces. Most people who are actually connected inside the wrestling business refer to these "smarts" as "smart marks" or "smarks" for short. 98% of the fans on the internet are "smart marks". Always remember that we only know what they want us to know, and any information divulged by either Eric Bischoff or Vince McMahon is probably a lie told to sell tickets. But... Many "smart marks" will actually classify themselves as "marks" for specific things. For example, WWF fans will call themselves a "WWF mark" because they watch WWF programming and buy WWF merchandise. Some even extend this to a given wrestler (Chris Benoit being the best example). But.... Futhermore, many of the "smart marks" will actually end up displaying the very behavior they think they oppose, upon entrance into the atmosphere of a given live wrestling show. ECW fans go out of their way to act the opposite of what they think "marks" should act like, while at the same time actually going all the way around and becoming marks themselves because that's how ECW expects them to act. So.... In the end, a mark is whatever you want it to be. Many times on the 'net the term "marks" is used as a blanket reference to those who are not "in the know" and who generate the majority of the revenue for the various promotions. This is the most popular usage and most generally accepted. But, of course, we are all marks. 0.1.14 What does "over" mean? "Over" can mean many things. The most common usage is to say that a wrestler is "over". That is to say, the wrestler draws either strong face heat or strong heel heat. "Getting over" is the main objective in wrestling. This can also apply to a move which draws an instant reaction from the fans and/or can be reasonably expected to end a match when applied. This would apply not only to recent finishers like the Diamond Cutter, Stone Cold Stunner and Liontamer, but also to older moves which can still end a match, like the sleeperhold, figure-four leglock and DDT. In all cases, it can be said that the move is "over". "Over" is also a verb, which is to say that one wrestler can be "put over" another, and get the win. 0.1.15 What is a pop? A "pop" is a loud and instantaneous reaction from the fans for anything. This can include a ring entrance, big move, pinfall, interview segment, chairshot or whatever. For the best example of a "pop", listen to the crowd when Steve Austin enters an arena today or when Hulk Hogan did so 10 years ago. 0.1.16 What is a push? This one is also debatable. A wrestler who is given a series of wins in order to improve his standing in the eyes of the fans is said to be "pushed." This is the standard way to push a wrestler. But... Chris Benoit, in WCW, wins more matches than he loses, yet hardly any are against quality opponents and he has yet to win a title in that promotion. He is not "pushed" because he is not considered a serious threat to anyone's title or position in the company by the fans. He receives minimal airtime to develop his character and is left to get over through his ringwork. But... Bill Goldberg is pushed, despite a complete lack of quality opponents. He receives no airtime to develop his character and has gotten over entirely on his ringwork. He draws massive crowd reactions and is thus featured heavily and is thus a "pushed" wrestler. But... The WWF's recent move to mainly interviews on their weekly TV has generated a different kind of push, one where the wrestler in question gets massive amounts of air-time and gets over huge, without actually stepping in the ring. Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Steve Austin all enjoyed massive increases in heat through interview segments with a minimum of wrestling. Undertaker rarely wrestles on TV, yet has enjoyed one of the biggest non-stop pushes in wrestling history, one lasting over 7 years without a period of heavy jobbing. And... There is also the matter of the "negative push", whereby a wrestler actually *loses* a string of matches and ends up with a better position in the company than when he started the streak. Chris Jericho was turned into a heel by way of a negative push, and Leif Cassidy was on the same track before leaving the WWF for ECW. This push is rare and only works in some circumstances, but it does exist. So... Whereas in the past a push could be described as winning a lot, now it's more like winning + airtime + quality of wins + quality of opponent + other intangibles = push. It is no longer a simple question to answer, that much is for sure. 0.1.17 What is a resthold? When wrestlers need to take a rest during a match, or figure out the next series of moves, or just can't decide what to do next, they will apply a reverse chinlock, an armbar, a side headlock, or any other equally non-damaging hold which only serves to stretch out the match and give the wrestlers time to breathe. These are called restholds, and they are incredibly boring for the fans if applied longer than about a minute and will usually incite "Boring" chants from the more vocal segments of the audience. 0.1.18 What is selling? What are ring psychology and transitions? [Note: The following was written by Herb Kunze and is reprinted with permission] The easiest way to simultaneously describe transitions and psychology is to note that in the absence of these two elements a pro-wrestling match reduces to a choreographed series of spots. The word spot is used to described an event (or sometimes a sequence of events) in a wrestling match. For example, a german suplex attempt reversed with a go-behind into a german suplex might (not surprisingly) be called a german suplex reversal spot. A high spot is a particular type of spot involving a wrestler flying through the air in some way. In the 1980s in North America, exciting high spots were top rope splashes (Jimmy Snuka), top rope cross body blocks (Kevin von Erich), and top rope leg drops (Bobby Eaton); wrestlers like Ricky Steamboat and Greg Gagne were thought of and promoted as high-flying wrestlers. In the 1990s, moonsaults have become routine; Twisting dives, splashes, and cross-body blocks are now state of the art. Somersault topes (pronounced toe-pay, generic term for a dive out of the ring), corkscrew topes, and firebird (450) splashes are moves of top flying wrestlers. To repeat then, in the absence of transitions and psychology, a wrestling match becames little more than a collection of spots. Some of the most glaring examples of this in my memory are the Eliminators vs. Dudleys match from the Barely Legal PPV on 04/13/97, the Rob van Dam vs. Too Cold Scorpio match from the Living Dangerously PPV on 03/01/98, and Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila from the WrestleMania XIV PPV on 03/29/98. In each of these matches, the wrestlers glaringly moved from one spot to the next, essentially putting on a gymnastic stunt show. In the context of pro-wrestling, I've seen psychology defined as doing the right thing at the right time. Of course, that means doing the right thing to build a match (i.e. keep the fans focused on the match, draw heat, etc.). Psychology encompasses a lot of things, and sometimes seems to conflict a bit with match booking, especially in this era in North America where matches often have far more than the finish booked out in advance. As time passes, psychology changes: good psychology in the early 1980s may not work well in the late 1990s; matches are often shorter (even on PPV), loads of new moves have surfaced, and the style of wrestling evolves. In Japan, psychology plays an essential part in the story that a match tells; in North America, it's often an afterthought or forgotten altogether. Let's look at some elements of psychology: Selling - reacting appropriately to the supposed impact of a move. It means staggering for a punch and taking a bump (falling down) for the third punch, say. It means using facial expressions to show pain or anguish while in a submission move or as a tough match wears on. It means using mannerisms that suggest that a body part is sore after a move that supposedly hurts it has been applied (limping after a leg-lock, favouring an arm after an arm hold, etc.). Now that long matches don't happen much any more in North America, the idea of selling in the fifteenth minute of a match a leg injury that occured in the third minute is slowly becoming a lost art. Guys like Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair were the masters of this idea in the 1980s. Of the top guys in this era, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels stand out. Of the younger guys, really only the lighter weight guys with international experience have a deeper level of ability when it comes to selling. To complicate matters, some guys develop into draws even though they do not sell many moves. Sid (Vicious, Eudy) and Ultimate Warrior rose to the top in an era that disregarded ability despite the fact that they couldn't sell to save their lives. On the other extreme of the scale, Curt Hennig developed a reputation for overselling simple moves: who can forget those insane twisting bumps from a simple clothesline (in recent times carried on by Goldust)? And Terry Funk has turned his selling into a punch drunk comedic adventure. Pacing - leaving the right amount of time between moves. After a doubleknockdown spot, how long should a wrestler lie on the mat, how slowly should he regain his senses, etc.? The best answer is that it depends on the match, on how deeply the fans are into things, on the story that the match is trying to tell. In this era of quick matches for short attention spans, there have been some two-minute television matches that had enough action in them to fill a ten-minute chunk and, with wrestlers with limited ability being pushed, we've also seen ten-minute matches that really only merited two-minutes of time for the story they had to tell. Even in North America, it is often said that matches have an initial "feeling-out" period as the wrestlers act more tentatively before going into the body of the match. In Mexican trios matches, the wrestlers often pair up: when A & B & C face D & E & F, we first see A & D trade a few moves, typically with one of them winning the battle for machismo that is lucha libre, then B & E take their turn, and then C & F take their turn, before we return to A & D. Only after those initial periods do we enter the body of the match. In the key Japanese groups, after a slow match body with some key spots, the match builds to a time interval in which hot moves are traded back and forth, with many near falls to build the excitement. All of these ideas have to do with pacing. Sensible moves. This is a function of booking these days. It doesn't particularly make sense for a wrestler to perform moves that affect lots of different parts of his opponent's body. From a story-telling standpoint, it makes sense to settle down to a single body part or tactic to build to a sensible finish. Some holds, like the facelock in All Japan are used as generic wear-down holds that the fans accept as fatiguing the recipient of the move; in this case, it doesn't much matter whether a match ends with a power bomb or a submission because both are believable. However, it's bad form to spend an entire match working over an opponent's leg before ending the match with a surprise armbar submission; this just doesn't happen in Japan. In North America, no effort is put towards this aspect of a wrestling match. While both the WWF and WCW have tried to establish various submission or finishing moves as devastating, with limited exception, they put very little effort into building to those moves. Diamond Dallas Page, Steve Austin, and Chris Jericho can hit their finishers from any position; the lure is when the finisher will come along not what needs to be done along the way to make sure it sticks. Is it any wonder that the typical crowd reaction for a match is a large pop at the start, mostly silence throughout, and then a pop for the finishing move? Or that bookers and wrestlers alike have increasingly little idea how to fill the match time between those two pops? All Japan pro-wrestling probably has consistently the best in-match psychology of any promotion in the world, thanks to the top four players in the group: Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Jun Akiyama. A typical marquee match in the group lasts 20+ minutes, often with every move from the get-go meaning something; in other words, the match builds logically to the "near fall" spots that pepper the last few (sometimes ten) minutes. For example, who can forget the famous backdrop driver finish of the 08/31/93 Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams match. Kobashi's selling at the end of the match was a masterpiece (in general, the top four guys listed above have a knack for taking a series of hot moves and getting up just a notch or two more slowly each time). The psychology of the match was great. Taking a broader view, my favourite series of matches from a story-telling and match quality standpoint might well be the Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Liger series from 07/89 through to 01/90. A detailed rundown is on the web. The beauty of that series is how the psychology in each match was based on the previous bout. From the intensity of the wrestlers to the moves and reversals (and reversals of reversals), this series was a work of art the likes of which we'll never see in North American wrestling. Remember the finish to WrestleMania XIV's Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels main event? Superkick attempt, stunner attempt, etc., with each guy trying to counter with his big move. This same subtle "learning of an opponent's moves" comes into All Japan pro-wrestling matches as well. Often, the counters are peppered throughout matches. This means that somebody watching tapes of matches from Japan better appreciates the matches once he's developed some understanding of the large assortment of moves that different wrestlers use. Consider the much-beloved "table spot," wherein a wrestler crashes through a table, be it in the ring or on the floor. The table spot where Bret Hart was sent crashing through a commentators table was fantastic. Compare it to a typical table spot: the table has to be set up, a wrestler has to be plopped onto the table, the wrestler doing the spot has to get into position or run off the ropes, somebody goes through a table. Throughout all of this, time stand stills. It's not unusual to see a minute or two pass wherein the victim of the table spot has to act comatose. Unless the person doing the spot misses, it's nonsense. And if he misses time and time again, it becomes nonsense for that reason. It's a great stunt, though. Transitions are the bridging maneuvers between spots. They are the staple of pro-wrestling, the essential elements holding the spots together to build a match. When somebody runs down a match, it often becomes a list like "clothesline, body slam, suplex, pin." That disjoint list of moves sounds more like a wrestling move exhibition than a wrestling match because the transitions are not listed...because they aren't important, right? I don't think so; I think it is very important to recognize the difference between a move exhibition and a match. I remember with amazement how Ric Flair or Ricky Steamboat could work off an armbar for ten minutes without a single "boring" chant. This was a time when the psychology of such action was clear to fans; don't get me wrong: I don't want to see that today and I don't think it would work today. The point was that they had dozens of ways to move out of an armbar into a spot of some sort and then return to the armbar. It's a tremendous skill that is lacking today in North America. That ability to float from spot to spot seamlessly is what makes the top four All Japan guys so great. It's what makes the past half-year of Jushin Liger & co. vs. Shinjiro Otani & co. in New Japan so great. It's what made the 1988-or-so to 1994-or-so All Japan Women's product so incredible. In this latter promotion, the rookie girls were only allowed to use a few elementary maneuvers (dropkicks, slams, clotheslines) in their matches while they learned about psychology and transitions; only later, did they add in the modern moves. Recall the Eliminators vs. Dudleys match from the ECW Barely Legal PPV on 04/13/97. I remember the raves that that match drew on the net. With a clear mind, watch the match and see how many times the wrestlers just stand there before moving into the next spot. It's like somebody took a tape of a match and cut out all of the transitions, replacing them with a shot of the wrestlers standing still. It's a highlight reel, not a match. The same is true of the other two matches mentioned at the start of this discussion. One of the worst spots that has surfaced in wrestling in recent times is the top rope leg drop across an opponent who conveniently sits on the second rope with legs out of the ring while leaning backwards into the ring and holding on to the top rope awaiting the move. This was the finishing spot in the La Parka vs. Psicosis match at Spring Stampede a few nights ago. The first few times I saw it (in ECW, by Sabu), the victim literally got into that position pretty much on his own, sometimes waiting forever for the bump. It's a horrible spot. La Parka tried to sell that he'd been crotched by the second rope and that he was losing his balance in the tangle, but it still came across weakly. I recall Billy Kidman being the recipient of this spot on a Nitro/Thunder show recently. In that instance, he was standing on the second rope, yelling at the crowd. He was dropkicked in the back, almost fell over the top rope, hung on, wobbled back towards the ring, lost his footing on the second rope, and held on to the top rope to avoid slipping all the way through. In the time it took for him to bounce around like that, his opponent (a Mexican wrestler) climbed to the top rope and hit him with the leg drop exactly as he was turning into the right position. That's the best transition into an this awkward spot that I've seen. Jump to Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani from 03/17/96; the match had phenomenal transitions, the pacing was excellent, the selling was top-notch. The match ended with Liger hitting a palm strike to Otani's chin, knocking him senseless for the pin. To New Japan fans, that finish instantly established the palm strike as a finishing blow. The Observer called this a must-see match that was very close to match of the year calibre. Since that time, Liger has used that blow as a finisher in many matches, wrapping psychology and transitions around it, to the point that it has become an integral part of Liger's offence. It allowed Liger's matches to tease an over finisher while the reducing the number of crazy spots that Liger has to do. Since the majority of the brawling matches we see (here or in Japan) are deficient when it comes to psychology (the pacing in Japan is better, but that's about it), we're left looking for transitions from one nonsensical spot with poor selling to the next one. It doesn't really happen in ECW all-out brawling matches. In matches that mix in some wrestling, like the famous triangle match on 02/05/94 in ECW or the Masato Tanaka vs. Wing Kanemura match on 08/01/96 in FMW, a **** affair can result and receive level praise from some fans. Maybe those fans don't think that psychology and transitions are important, opting instead to judge matches like highlight reels or stunt man performances, but I find that too unfair an approach to the wrestlers that actually tell sensible stories with great matches. And that's why I comment about psychology and transitions when discussing wrestling. 0.1.19 What is a squash? A match, usually featuring a name star against a jobber, in which one person gets in 99% of the offense and is allowed to showcase his moves and/or get himself over with the crowd. Common in the 80s and almost nonexistant with the onset of the Monday Night Wars. 0.1.20 What does "stiff" mean? "Stiff" refers to three different things: The meaning within context of a match is to say that one or both wrestlers is connecting with their moves hard enough to either hurt the wrestler, or at least make it seem like it "really hurt" the other wrestler. Ken Shamrock worked extremely "stiff" during the initial period of his current WWF run, before he learned to pull his punches better. Vader is also noted for "working stiff", although in his case he simply makes it appear that he's hitting very hard. The other common meaning is usually applied to bodybuilders who move to wrestling: They are unable to move with much fluidity and grace, and are thus "stiff". Doug Furnas is a perfect example of someone who started out "stiff" before his exhibition muscles became "real" muscles which allowed him more flexibility in the ring. The third, and most snide, meaning, is that which is applied to large, muscular wrestlers who are able to move quickly but choose not to as part of the characters, or who are generally considered untalented. Sid Vicious is the wrestler most commonly called a "big stiff". Current WWF wrestler Kurrgan would also fit this description. 0.1.21 What is a "Sabu match?" ECW wrestler Sabu, who made a large name for himself on the independant circuit, also single-handedly created a new match formula. This was not a good thing. If you'll recall the discussion on transitions and psychology from question 0.18, one of the points was that a match devoid of them will seem to be lacking something. Sabu's heat came from his amazing spots, usually involving tables and chairs. However, because that's *all* the ECW crowds would pop for, he eventually stopped *anything* in between the eye-popping spots. He would simply rest or walk around aimlessly. Hence, the "Sabu match", which is spot-rest-spot with nothing in between. Further, as the ECW wrestlers were signed by the WWF and WCW, other wrestlers began adopting this style, usually the younger luchadores who didn't know better. For the best example of a "Sabu match", watch the Saturn v. Kanyon match from WCW Great American Bash 98, or taken to the largest extreme, Mankind v. Undertaker from King of the Ring 98. 0.1.22 What is the "tag team formula?" Many people call certain tag team matches formulaic, but not many people have actually explained what that formula is. First, one team must be a well-defined face and the other a well-defined heel. The two teams will be evenly matched to begin, or the faces will dominate. The heels never dominate the early portion of the match. Many tags are generally made on both sides Eventually, at a point when it appears the faces will get a quick and decisive win, the heels will cheat and temporarily injure a member of the face team and gain the advantage. That wrestler is now known as the "Face in Peril" or, as I like to say, the one playing Ricky Morton. This wrestler is almost always the more talented one. As an aside, the formula was perfected by the Midnight Express v. Rock N Roll Express feud, during which Ricky Morton was the Face in Peril 9 times out of 10 and the one most often associated with the role. The Face in Peril will be beaten mercilessly by the heels, as they "cut the ring in half" by making sure he doesn't get anywhere near his corner. At some point, he will escape their clutches and make the tag, but the referee will be distracted by the heel on the apron, allowing the heel in the ring to do further damage while the referee escorts the other face back out of the ring. Finally, the heels will make a critical tactical error, allowing the Face in Peril to gain just enough energy to somersault to his corner and make "the hot tag", namely the tag that brings in the fresh man. The energized wrestler will take on both heels, dominating them by himself. From here a chaotic brawl will ensue as all four wrestlers battle in the ring and the referee fights for control. The booking of the match dictates the finish. This formula is applicable to almost any tag team match in the WWF after 1986 and any match in WCW after about 1993. Some variations may occur, but the formula has worked for years and continues to do so unchanged. 0.1.23 What is a "blowoff match"? Quite simply, the big money match to settle a feud between two hated rivals. It is called a blowoff because the tension builds until it needs to be blown off. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.2 Prelude 2 - A Beginner's Guide to Professional Wrestling [Note: This section is for the true beginner to pro wrestling. Be forewarned, some of this will sound stupid and obvious if you are more than a casual watcher.] 0.2.1. What is professional wrestling? Professional wrestling (also known as pro wrestling, "rasslin'", pro graps, and plain old wrestling) is a hybrid of sports and entertainment, wherein athletes give the illusion of competition while participating in soap operatic storylines. The actual wrestling tends to incorporate a mixture of mat wrestling, brawling, martial arts, gymnastics and method acting. Contrary to popular belief, the athletics involved are not "fake", even though the outcome is predetermined. Contact is made and injuries do happen, more often than most fans would like to see. 0.2.2. Why does anyone watch it? For the same reason people watch TV shows: To be entertained. Some enjoy watching for the athleticism involved, some enjoy watching for the stories, some enjoy watching the wrestlers nearly kill each other in a particularly gruesome match. We, as wrestling fans, are entertained by it and we therefore continue to watch. And yes, we know it's fake. And no, we don't care. Most people realize that "ER" isn't really taking place in a hospital and George Clooney isn't really a pediatrician, but they watch and are entertained despite that. It's called "suspension of disbelief" and it's the most basic concept of theater -- to ignore the fact that what you are watching is not "real" and simply be entertained. 0.2.3. What are the "rules"? Short answer: Whatever fits the occasion. Long answer: There's quite a lot of basics, actually. Keep in mind that wrestling is unique in that any one of these rules may be changed due to a pre-match stipulation, unexpected circumstances, the whim of the referee, or the promoter sitting at ringside screaming at the timekeeper. Ways to win... - Pinfall: Hold your opponent's shoulders down to the mat for a count of three. This can be augmented by holding onto any part of the opponent's body desired, except for the tights. Most common method is to "tie up" the legs by hooking them. Any part of the wrestler's body may be touching any section of the opponent's upper body and be counted as a pin. Thus, a foot on the chest is an acceptable pinning method (although not very effective) but sitting on their legs is not. If the opponent is able to lift one or both shoulders off the mat before three seconds has elapsed, the pin is broken. - Submission: Make your opponent give up. This can be done in any number of ways, as long as no illegalities are involved. Illegalities are counted as choking, hitting below the belt, or use of a foreign object. The opponent can submit in one of three ways: Saying "I quit" or some variation thereof, answering "Yes" when the referee asks if he wishes to give up, or deliberately tapping the mat with a free hand. It should be noted that the "tap-out" is NOT intuitive to wrestling and was only added due to the popularity of the mixed martial arts events of the late 90s. It should be noted that submission is the least desirable result for the opponent, as it signifies weakness in the eyes of the audience. - Involuntary submission: The referee has the authority to stop the match at any time that he feels one wrestling unable to continue. This may be from loss of blood, serious injury, or simply being rendered unconscious by a sleeper hold. Unless the stoppage is due to a conscious attempt to end the match by the victor (ie, a sleeperhold) this method of victory is NOT regarded as decisive. - Disqualification: One wrestler commits an illegal act and causes the referee to stop the match and it award it to his opponent. Common causes are use of a foreign object, outside interference, failure to break a hold upon reaching the ropes, failure to carry out other instructions from the referee, or physically striking the referee. - Countout: One wrestler is out of the ring and cannot make it back in by the referee's count of 10 (or 20 in Japan). The count is to be broken once the wrestler is fully inside the ring. - Draw: Neither wrestler wins. This occurs from the time limit running out, both wrestlers being disqualified, both wrestlers being counted out, both wrestlers simultaneously pinning each other, or a no-contest being declared (no decision rendered). Titles... Note: Every one of these rules has been broken, quite glaringly, at some point, but unless otherwise stated they always apply. - A wrestler wins a title by defeating the current champion in a match. The victory must either be by pinfall or submission (voluntary or otherwise). Titles do not change hands on a countout or disqualification. - Once gained, a title must be defended every thirty days, except in special circumstances. - A wrestler may not hold two singles titles at the same time and will usually be forced to vacate the lesser one. Precendent has shown that a singles and a tag team title being held simultaneously is acceptable. - A champion may give up his title any time he chooses, although he has no say in who it is awarded to next. A title may not be given, sold, traded or lended to another wrestler without losing it to him in the ring. - Defense of the title should in theory be against the #1 contender to the title and no one else. Gimmick matches... - Tag team: Two or more wrestlers are matched against a team of two or more other wrestlers. Conditions for victory are the same as a singles match unless otherwise stated. In order to switch off to another member of the team, a "tag" must be made: Specifically, contact from hand to hand, with the wrestler on the outside making contact with a piece of rope tied to the ringpost. The rope is optional, but the wrestler on the outside must still be no more than a foot or so away from the corner of the ring for the tag to be legal. Variations include handicap (one team bigger than the other), elimination (match ends when all members of a team have been pinned/submitted/disqualified), Texas Tornado (all wrestlers are in the ring at once), and combinations of the above and other gimmick matches. - Battle royale: A number of wrestlers (usually 10 or more) are in the ring simultaneously, and elimination occurs by being thrown over the top rope and landing on the floor with both feet. Last man standing wins. Variations include The Royal Rumble (30 men total with 2 men starting and a new wrestler entering every 2 minutes), World War III (3 rings connected and 60 men total) and King of the Hill (2 rings connected, everyone starts in one ring, moves to the other ring as eliminated, winner of first ring faces the winner of the second ring to determine overall winner). - Cage match: A large fence or cage is placed around the ring to prevent outside interference or escape by the wrestlers. The cage is legal for use as a weapon. There are two major variations: Old-style (Winner is determined as in a normal match, except there are no disqualifications), or WWF-style (Winner is the first to climb over the cage and touch the floor, or exit via the door). There are any number of variations in the material of the cage, ranging from regular fencing to thick steel bars to barbed wire. The cage itself may be connected to the ring apron or touching the floor, it may or may not have a roof, and in some cases it is electrified. - Death match: The match continues until one man is physically unable to continue. This is generally determined by ability to make it to his feet before the referee counts to 10. Pinfalls count but are only used to determine the point at which the referee begins counting. The name may be modified as "Texas Death" or "Alaskan Death" or any number of locations, but the rules generally remain the same. - Strap match: Winner is the first wrestler to physically drag his opponent to all four corners, consecutively, and touch the turnbuckles. If the wrestler making the challenge is Russian, a chain will generally be used. If the wrestler making the challenge is canine-related, a chain connected to a dog collar on either end is generally used. - "First person to..." match: Winner is the first wrestler to fulfill the objective of the match. Common variations: First blood (winner must make his opponent bleed), I Quit (winner must make his opponent say "I Quit"), Tuxedo (winner must strip his opponent of his clothing), Casket (winner must place his opponent in a coffin and close the lid) and Ladder (winner must climb a ladder and retrieve something of value). Many, many, others exist, too numerous to mention here. 0.2.4. Are they *really* hitting each other? Generally speaking, yes. Most punches connect, although they are pulled. The perception of the wrestler swinging at air while stomping the mat for effect came about due to the efforts of lazy wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, who happened to be the most media-exposed wrestler ever. That method is used by those who don't trust their opponent to cooperate properly, or if the opponent is unable to take an actual punch to the head. Most of the time, if executed properly, a wrestler will react to a blow from his opponent at the exact moment of impact, making it appear "real". When the opponent reacts too soon, thus moving out of the way before the move hits, then the "fake" perception comes about. Many wrestlers have the reddened chests and bloody noses to prove the reality of the shots delivered at times. 0.2.5. What does "The Big Two" refer to? There are two major organizations competing for the dollars of wrestling fans: The privately owned World Wrestling Federation and the Time-Warner owned World Championship Wrestling. They are virtually tied for revenue, ratings, merchandise sales and attendance. Neither is "better" than the other -- they are merely very different with two very different groups of fans at this point. Both are catering to a more adult audience at this point: The WWF caters to the "hardcore" audience with a blend of violence, harsh language, sexual overtones and melodramatic storylines. WCW caters to the fans who grew up watching the WWF in the 80s by recycling the stars of that era, in addition to many new young stars wrestling an entirely different style. WCW's roster of wrestlers is roughly 3 or 4 times the size of the WWF's. WCW is generally regarded as a good way to get introduced to many kinds of wrestling at once, while the WWF has a specific audience which likes specific things. 0.2.6. Who are the major players in wrestling? If you listen to conversations from casual and long-time wrestling fans alike, the following names will inevitably come up... - Goldberg. The former WCW World champion, a one-man wrecking crew who only started 10 months ago and has destroyed 112+ opponents on the way to the World title. He generally wins in under five minutes and is worshipped by a large chunk of fans for his total dominance and business-like manner, despite an admitted lack of technical skill. Trademark move: The spear (a running tackle), followed by The Jackhammer (a delayed suplex into a powerslam). - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The former WWF World champion, a foul-mouthed, beer-swilling rebel who is currently embroiled in a bitter feud with the owner of the WWF and may be the victim of a conspiracy against him. His t-shirts sell at the rate of 1 every 40 seconds and he is arguably the most popular wrestler in history. Trademark move: The Stone Cold Stunner (a three-quarter facelock into a jawbreaker). - "Hollywood" Hogan. Formerly known as Hulk Hogan, he is an instantly recognizable celebrity worldwide thanks to his years with the WWF. He turned evil in 1996, forming the New World Order in WCW and is currently the most hated man in wrestling, for many reasons having to do with both his in-ring character and his personality in real life. Trademark move: None since 1996, although he used the legdrop extensively prior to forming the nWo. - DeGeneration X. In the mold of Steve Austin, they are a group of foul-mouthed rebels who just don't care about anything and are beloved by WWF fans. Led by Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Trademark move: Crossing their arms over their crotch in the shape of an X and yelling "Suck it!" - Shawn Michaels. Inspiring a truly love-hate relationship with the fans, he is undeniably the most gifted wrestler in recent history, but is also the biggest jerk. Known for taking insane falls and being able to make *any* opponent look good. Received mainstream attention by losing the WWF World title to Steve Austin, with involvement from Mike Tyson. Trademark move: Sweet Chin Music, a standing sidekick to the opponent's head. - Eric Bischoff. President of WCW and the man who steers the rudder of that ship, he was hired by the near-bankrupt company in 1993 and turned it into a profit-making machine by 1996 with the introduction of a rival Monday night show and signing of all the wrestlers money could buy. He will generally take credit for everything done by WCW if given a chance. In character, he is the mouthpiece for the nWo. Trademark move: Firing people by Fed-Ex. - Vince McMahon. Owner of the World Wrestling Federation, he has final say over all stories and matches and is the creative force behind it. He inherited the company from his father in 1983 and took control of the wrestling world by making Hulk Hogan his top star. He usually prefers to give credit to his wrestlers...as long as they're working for him. In character, he is the evil promoter Mr. McMahon, the thorn in the side of Steve Austin who will do anything humanly possible to get the WWF title off him. Trademark move: Sitting at ringside yelling at the timekeeper. - Other major names you've probably heard of before: Randy "Macho Man" Savage, The Undertaker, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Bret "Hitman" Hart, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, Vader. - Names you probably haven't heard of, but you will: "The Rock" Rocky Maivia, Sting, "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, The Wolfpac, The New Age Outlaws, Kane, Mankind, Chris Jericho, Ken Shamrock. 0.2.7. Which shows should I watch? In terms of current wrestling shows on pay-per-view, both organizations hold one per month. The WWF has five annual shows and seven specialty shows, called "In Your House" and with unique subtitles. The five annual shows are Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam and Survivor Series. Most of the major happenings are at these five shows, with the "In Your House" shows setting up the major shows. Wrestlemania is the focal point of the schedule, with the winner of the Royal Rumble receiving a shot at the WWF title at Wrestlemania. The Survivor Series usually consists of a series of 8-man elimination tag team matches, plus a defense of the World title. WCW has twelve shows of about equal value. As of last year, they were Souled Out, Superbrawl, Uncensored, Spring Stampede, Slamboree, Great American Bash, Bash at the Beach, Road Wild, Fall Brawl, Halloween Havoc, World War III and Starrcade. Starrcade is the focal point of the schedule, held annually in December. The winner of the World War III battle royale traditionally receives a shot at the WCW World title at some point. Historically, most of the major happenings in the WWF have happened at Wrestlemania. The "best" of the bunch are considered to be III, VI, VIII, X and XIV. A very good history of the WWF can be obtained only by watching Wrestlemania and Summerslam shows through the years, as they are the two major focal points for storylines and matches. The major history of WCW is less easy to follow, because different ownership and leadership have led to different shows being the focal point. Starrcade was the major show to see from 1983 until 1989, at which point different formats for the show were experimented with. Since the "Hulk Hogan era" began in 1994, the quality of that particular annual show has declined greatly. Most of the "real action" has been occuring at the June/July combo of Great American Bash and Bash at the Beach in recent years. Almost everything else has been of neglible value, historically speaking. 0.2.8. What is the UFC and why do pro wrestling fans care? The Ulimate Fighting Championship has influenced pro wrestling to a huge degree and vice-versa, as wrestling began to incorporate the martial arts and ground fighting submissions of the UFC, while the UFC began to be dominated by wrestlers. The topic of the UFC is best saved for another document, but it is basically a "no holds barred" tournament of fighting, pitting many different fighting styles against each other. Current WWF wrestlers Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn made a name for themselves in the UFC. The tap-out method of submission was taken from the UFC, due to the mainstream popularity of them. Many wrestling fans also follow the UFC, searching for a "real" alternative to wrestling that still incorporates the basics of wrestling. 0.2.9. What does "RSPW" mean? Rec.sport.pro-wrestling, or RSPW for short, is an internet newsgroup, a sort of public board where wrestling fans with access can spout off about whatever they want. In 1993, the group had so much influence that WCW used to change storylines on the fly to keep readers from guessing on the newsgroup. The quality and influence of the group has decreased exponentially since then, but it remains one of the largest newsgroups in all of Usenet and a good place to find others to discuss wrestling with. The primary objective of this entire document is to answer all the re-occuring questions that pop up on that group before they can be asked. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Part One - Individual Wrestlers and Personalities 1.1 Shawn Michaels 1.1.1. What is Shawn's real name? Shawn's real name is Michael Hickenbottom, not Shawn Hickenbottom. The confusion comes about like this: Shawn's full name is Michael Shawn Hickenbottom. In the part of Texas where he comes from, people are generally called by their middle names for whatever reason. So most people, including friends and family, are apt to call him Shawn and not Michael. However, his legal name IS Michael Hickenbottom, even if no one calls him that. 1.1.2. Is Shawn gay? To the best of anyone's knowledge, Shawn Michaels is not a homosexual. Shawn was married last month, which should hopefully end the rumors once and for all. 1.1.3. Why did he forfeit all those belts? Shawn has not only set a record for winning titles in the WWF, he has also set a record for losing them by means other than actually being pinned in the ring. He has won the Intercontinental title three times. The first one was won from Davey Boy Smith on 10/27/1992 and lost to Marty Jannetty on an episode of Monday Night RAW, 05/17/1993. The second was regained from Jannetty on 06/06/1993, and he was eventually stripped of it due to not defending within the 30-day period, which was in turn due to Michaels "sitting out" during a contract dispute. The third title was won from Jeff Jarrett at In Your House II (07/23/1995) and forfeited to "Dean" Douglas at In Your House IV (10/22/1995), due to injuries sustained from the so-called Syracuse incident. NOTE: A popular misconception has Shawn losing one of his I-C titles to Razor Ramon at Wrestlemania X's famous ladder match and regaining it at Summerslam 95's ladder rematch. This is patently WRONG. Shawn was not champion going into the first ladder match, Razor was. Shawn was only carrying around a belt. Conversely, Razor was not champion going into Summerslam, Shawn was. Razor won *his* fourth title shortly after this match, which may be where the misconception comes in. Shawn has won the WWF tag team titles two times officially, and twice under very suspicious circumstances. He has never lost a WWF tag team title in the ring. The first disputed title reign was the infamous "phantom" title reign of the Rockers in 1990, which will be covered later. His first officially recognized tag title in the WWF was his reign with Diesel in 1994, which lasted from 08/28/1994 until shortly after Survivor Series of that year. He vacated the tag titles when the team split up, rather than losing them in the ring. The team of Michaels and Diesel re-teamed at In Your House III (09/24/1995) to win the tag titles from Owen Hart and Yokozuna while both Shawn and Diesel held the I-C and World titles respectively. However, a technicality as to the legal man pinned gave the belts back to Owen and Yoko the next night on RAW. Whether or not a one-day title reign for Shawn and Diesel actually existed is a matter of much conjecture, although it should be pointed out that Pro Wrestling Illustrated recognizes a title reign, and they are generally considered to be the authority on these matters. His final reign came with partner Steve Austin, as they teamed up to defeat the team of Owen Hart and the British Bulldog on 05/25/1997, then were stripped of the titles after Shawn "injured" himself in a legitimate fight with Bret Hart a few weeks following. Shawn is a three-time World champion. His first reign began at Wrestlemania XII, 03/31/1996 as he defeated Bret Hart, and ended cleanly at the hands of "Sycho" Sid (11/17/1996) at the Survivor Series. Shawn regained the title at Royal Rumble 1997 (1/19/1997), only to forfeit it on live TV in February, due to "losing his smile." In reality, this was a combination of injuries, painkiller addiction, and unwillingness to job to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13, which was the plan at the time. Ironically, Shawn regained the title on 9/11/1997 from Bret Hart in the most controversial match in modern history, and lost it to Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XIV, 03/29/1998. Shawn also held the European title from 09/20/1997 until December of 1997, when it was dropped by him in a "fixed" match against partner Hunter Hearst Helmsley, which is as good as a forfeiture by my books. 1.1.4. What happened in Syracuse? The details will never be fully known, but what is generally known and/or accepted as truth is this: Shawn Michaels, Davey Boy Smith, and Sean "1-2-3 Kid/Syxx" Waltman were in a bar in Syracuse. An altercation occurred with other patrons of the bar, which led to a heated argument. What it was about will likely never be known. The three wrestlers retreated to their car, only to be followed by anywhere from 3 - 14 men, depending on who you believe. One side continued provoking the other, before Shawn himself got into a physical confrontation with the men. Some of the men kept Smith and Waltman at bay and delivered a beating to Michaels, which left him in a Syracuse hospital with head injuries and assorted bleeding. There were two indirect results of this attack: 1) Shawn was (supposedly) left too injured to defend his Intercontinental title and had to forfeit to "Dean" Douglas. 2) Shawn was left with residual head injury and was further "injured" by an enziguri delivered by Owen Hart shortly after Survivor Series 1995. The first result is debatable at best, but Shawn was likely injured, and in all fairness looked in very poor health the night of the show. The second result was 100% work by the WWF, used to promote ratings and build Shawn as a babyface. He was fully recovered by the time of the angle, and was never in danger. 1.1.5. What happened, with respect to Shawn, in Montreal? Shawn's part in the Montreal fiasco may never be fully known, but several things *are* known: 1) A meeting with several high ranking officials in the WWF was called the night before Survivor Series. Shawn was there, Bret Hart was not. 2) Shawn was fully aware of Bret's aversion to dropping the title to him. 3) According to Bret Hart, Shawn promised not to degrade Bret Hart or formally accept the World title shortly after the match ended. Shawn proceeded to degrade Bret Hart while formally accepting the World title on RAW the next night in Ottawa. 4) Shawn himself acted surprised at the shocking decision when he was declared the new World champion out of nowhere. He also played along with the storyline of the match, even after the bell rang. The author leaves it to you, the reader, to decide for yourself whether Shawn was "in on the fix" in this case, since the only one who really knows for sure is Shawn himself. For more on the Bret Hart situation, please see Appendix D. 1.1.6. Does he really hate Bret Hart? Yes. Not only does Shawn Michaels the character hate Bret Hart the character, but Mike Hickenbottom the person has been feuding off and on with Bret Hart the person since 1992. The exact circumstances of the feud's beginning are unknown, but it is generally accepted that the breaking point for their relationship was Wrestlemania XII and the buildup to it. Bret did not want to job the World title to Shawn, and Vince wanted Shawn as the #1 man for the company. The feud lay dormat for months after Bret "retired" in 1996, and kicked into full gear in 1997 as Bret and Shawn engaged in an impromptu lockerroom brawl in June of 1997. Bret has publicly stated his dislike for Shawn in interviews, as has Shawn. Shawn has also been notable in public attempts to sabotage Bret's personal and professional life, as with the "Sunny days" comment (see related question). In short, they hate each other's guts and both may very likely be much happier apart from each other as they now are. 1.1.7. Are the Rockers former WWF tag team champions? Yes and no. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty won the WWF tag team title from Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart in October of 1990 at a taping for Saturday Night's Main Event. Neidhart had been fired and was filling contractual obligations, which including jobbing the tag titles to another team. In what should have been a minor point, the top rope broke at one point during the match. The Rockers defended the titles for a week after that, but then Neidhart was re-hired by the WWF, and Vince McMahon decided that the title change never actually happened, in one of the goofier decisions of the 90s, and one of many to affect the careers of Shawn and Bret. As an explanation, a story was sent to Pro Wrestling Illustrated about the rope break causing an "unfair working environment" for both teams, and hence the title reign was annulled. This was simply to cover up for the fact that they reported the title change as fact a week prior and needed a reason to no longer report it as such. The title change was edited out of the Main Event broadcast, and that was that. Almost. Since this is professional wrestling, and things like this never go away quietly, in 1995 the phantom title reign was resurrected out of nowhere as WWF announcers began hailing the Rockers as former tag team champions in a bizarre turnabout, since the title reign had only been an urban myth of sorts that very few had even heard about. No footage was ever shown and the details were never discussed in detail, but as of this writing, the WWF recognizes the phantom title reign as an offical reign, although it should be noted that no one else does. Feel free to make your own judgment on the matter. Everyone else does. The Rockers are, of course, two-time former AWA World tag team champions, although the prestige of those belts was (and still is) minimal compared to WCW and the WWF's versions. 1.1.8. Who is Charles Austin? In December 1990, Austin and The Genius (Lanny Poffo) jobbed for The Rockers (Jannetty & Michaels) at a WWF television taping at the Sun Dome in Tampa FL. Before the finish, Jannetty executed the Rocker Dropper on Austin. Instead of taking the planned face-first bump, Austin attempted a forward roll and wound up landing on his head, breaking his neck. The match then finished when Jannetty rolled a limp Austin over and Michaels came off the top rope with a splash for the pin. At the time of the accident, doctors feared that Austin would be a tetriplegic (paralyzed from the neck down) for life. By mid 1994 Austin had regained some feeling in his arms and legs and can get around with crutches. Austin sued the WWF, Jannetty, and Michaels for US$3.8 million. Michaels was dismissed from the suit by a judge. In April 29, 1994, after a two-week trial and deliberation, a Hillsborough County FL jury awarded Austin US$26.7 million. The jury determined that Titan Sports was 90% responsible (US$23.5 million), that Jannetty was 5% responsible (US$1.3 million), and that Austin was 5% responsible. 1.1.9. Was Shawn ever in any adult movies? No. The person you're thinking of is Sean Michaels, a relatively famous porno actor and a completely different person. To the best of anyone's knowledge, Shawn Michaels has not done any work in the adult film industry. The confusion arises because many magazines used to spell Shawn as "Sean" during his time with the Rockers. Shawn did, however, pose wearing only the WWF championship in an issue of Playgirl in 1996. 1.1.10. What was the "Sunny days" comment? Tammy "Sunny" Sytch has commented on a few occasions that she would have liked to manage Bret Hart. This was somehow construed by Bret's wife as meaning that Bret and Tammy were somehow romantically linked. This of course caused much tension in the Hart household, which went away with time. Until Shawn Michaels, in his eternal quest to annoy Bret Hart, made an off-hand comment in an interview about Bret's "Sunny days," which then re-fueled the Hart family tension and became yet another reason for the two to hate each other. 1.1.11. What does "HBK" stand for? Newer fans might not be aware that Shawn's nickname before the "show-stoper, scene-stealer..." spiel was the Heartbreak Kid, which he started abbreviating as "HBK" and never uses anymore except for calling himself "HBK." 1.1.12. Where is he now? Is he coming back? Shawn was severely injured going into Wrestlemania XIV against Steve Austin, and has been recuperating at home ever since. He is not expected to return until 1999, if even then. More recently, Shawn actually announced his "retirement", although most feel that if Shawn can work, he will. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 Hulk Hogan 1.2.1. How many World titles has he held? Ten. He held the WWF World title five times from 1984 until 1991, and held the WCW World title five times from 1994 until 1999. For a more detailed listing, please consult the title histories section of this document. The IWGP title may also be counted, although for the sake of simplicity only North American titles are generally recognized in this document. 1.2.2. How did he get a black eye in 1993? The official word from the WWF was that he was injured in a parasailing accident, which was a very blatant allusion to Brutus Beefcake's accident. The explanation given on TV was that he was beaten up by Ted Dibiase's thugs. In reality, he got into a minor scuffle with Randy Savage over Elizabeth's sleeping arrangements while she was presumably away with Hogan. Savage later apologized, although the question of Hulk and Liz' relationship still remains a question to this day. Savage and Hogan remain friends today. 1.2.3. Why did he leave the WWF in 1993? Money and booking power. Vince McMahon felt his time in the WWF was almost done, and wanted to make Bret Hart the #1 man in the company, with the result being lower pay for Hogan and less say in his angles. Hogan instead decided to temporarily leave for Hollywood and make movies, and eventually signed with WCW in 1994. 1.2.4. What is his theme music? "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by Jimi Hendrix, off the "Electric Ladyland" CD. 1.2.5. Why did he turn heel in 1996? When WCW hired him in 1994, they were hoping for a mega-babyface to bolster the ratings and attendance for WCW. Unfortunately, Hogan's ego and booking control resulted in excessively cartoonish angles that turned off the fanbase and further resulted in fans actually *booing* the super-heroic Hulk Hogan by 1995. Drastic measures were needed, in this case a heel turn. When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash entered WCW in 1996 (see "the nWo") they promised a "third man" to aid in their "takeover" of WCW. This third man was supposed to be the incoming Bret Hart, but this was foiled by Hart's dedication to the WWF. So on the night of the event, it was decided to turn Hogan heel and introduce him as the traitor, since the logic was that if they don't like him as a face, it couldn't hurt to turn him heel. 1.2.6. Who owns the rights to "Hulkamania", "Hulk Hogan" and "Hulkster"? Marvel Comics. Marvel came out with their Incredible Hulk comic book character long before Vince McMahon dreamed up Hulk Hogan. When the Hulk Hogan character was created, McMahon gave Hogan the title "The Incredible Hulk Hogan". Marvel objected to the use of their intellectual property. Specifically, Marvel objected to the use of all words derived from their "Incredible Hulk" comic book character. So, Titan Sports and Marvel Comics worked out a deal: Titan recognized Marvel as the owner of the Hulk-derived words and Marvel gave Titan an exclusive license to merchandise the Hulk-derived words. When Hogan joined WCW in 1994, WCW obtained a license to produce Hulk Hogan merchandise. Presumably the details were similar to the license the WWF had. As an addendum, Hogan attempted to have his wrestling name permanently changed to "Hollywood" Hogan to circumvent the deal, but that does not appear to be working as well as he would like. 1.2.7. Is he related to Horace Boulder? Yes. Horace (Boulder) Bollea is Hogan's nephew. He competed in the WWF briefly as a masked jobber named The Predator, and has to date done nothing of note in the wrestling business. He is the only known relative of Hogan's to be actively wrestling. Horace recently joined the "nWo C-Team". 1.2.8. Voodoo Chili? Okay, there's a running joke on RSPW about Hogan and "Voodoo Chili", and here's why: Hogan uses "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" from the "Electric Ladyland" album as his entrance music. On the same album, there's another song called "Voodoo Chile". "Voodoo Chile" is an 18-minute long jam session that stuck on the album for god-knows-what reason, and is much different than "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" which closes the album. Mike Tenay, being a boring fuddy-duddy, has likely never listened to Hendrix in his life, and thus confused the songs on an episode of Thunder, and even worse, pronounced it "Voodoo Chili", creating one of the greatest running jokes in the history of our sport. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 Vince McMahon 1.3.1. Does he really own the WWF? Yes and no. He retains all the booking power, monetary power, figurehead power and general pull associated with being chairman of the board of WWF Entertainment, Inc., but as of this writing it is his wife, Linda, who is the official owner of the World Wrestling Federation. 1.3.2. Did Vince McMahon get indicted? Yes. On Friday, November 19, 1993, the Brooklyn, NY office of the U.S. Department of Justice handed down an indictment against Vince McMahon and Titan Sports Inc. The indictment contained charges of conspiracy, possession (of steroids) and possession with intent to distribute. No wrestlers were indicted. On July 22, 1994, after deliberating for 16 hours, the jury found McMahon and Titan Sports not guilty of the charges. 1.3.3. Did he really get into a fight with Bret Hart? Yes. Following the World title match at Survivor Series 1997, Bret Hart went back to the dressing room to find Vince McMahon waiting. According to Bret, he warned Vince not to be there when he was done showering. When Bret returned, Vince was still there and Bret punched him in the face, knocking Vince off his feet and breaking Bret's hand in the process. The two were either then broken up (Vince's story) or Vince was dragged away by his son Shane (Bret's story). Either way, it really happened. 1.3.4. Wait a minute...WWF Entertainment? What happened to Titan Sports? In 1999, Vince McMahon issued an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for the WWF, putting it on the open market for the first time in the company's history. As a side-effect, the company was officially renamed from what Vince felt was the outdated "Titan Sports" to "WWF Entertainment" to better reflect the new "Attitude" of the WWF. The basic structure of the company remains essentially the same, with the possible exception of a promotion for Shane and Stephanie to higher positions in the company than they officially held before the transition. 1.3.5. Is Vince a billionaire, then? Depending on the level the stock is at, yes and no. Above approximately 19 points, yes. Below that, maybe, depending on his other assets (his house, his own stocks, etc). Most estimates put the deciding point at about 15 points. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4 The Clique 1.4.1. Who are in the "clique?" The so-called "clique" consisted (and may still consist) of Mike "Shawn Michaels" Hickenbottom, Kevin "Diesel" Nash, Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall, Sean "1-2-3 Kid" Waltman and Paul "HHH" Levesque (Hunter Hearst Helmsley). The five men are best friends in real life. During the time when all five were in the WWF simultaneously, they held almost all the booking power and would only sell moves for and put each other over. All five reportedly hate being called the "clique." The hand sign currently used by the nWo was originated by them. Davey Boy Smith was never a member of the group, despite rumors that circulated at the time. Undertaker was never a member of the group, despite rumors that circulated at the time. Louie Spicoli was never a member of the group, regardless of his friendships with Waltman and Scott Hall. The closest things to "new recruits" to the clique are the New Age Outlaws, since Billy Gunn is a good friend of Shawn Michaels and Jesse Jammes is a good friend of Sean Waltman. The name "clique" was coined by sheet writer Wade Keller. The "clique" is not to be confused with The Kliq, which was babyface Shawn's collective name for his fanbase from 1995-97, so named as an inside joke to those who knew about the supposed existance of the "clique". 1.4.2. Why did Hall, Nash and Waltman leave the WWF in 1996? Drugs, money and injuries, in that order. Scott Hall failed two drug tests in early 1996 and it was made known that his services would no longer be required by Titan if he couldn't clean up his act. Hall was offered a larger and easier deal by WCW, and he left after jobbing to Vader on PPV. He has since re-entered drug rehab on two occasions and is widely thought to be intentionally attempting to get fired so he can rejoin the WWF. Kevin Nash was simply offered more money by WCW, and accepted. He left on amicable terms with the WWF, and may still be in contact with the WWF from time to time. Sean Waltman suffered a series of concussions and/or neck injuries from 1995 until 1996, and by April the health risk was no longer worth the money being paid (and the complaints about not being with Hall and Nash in WCW). He was released from a valid contract later that year and showed up as the sixth member of the nWo, dubbed Syxx, late in 1996. Ironically, he was recently released by WCW for exactly the same reason he was originally released by the WWF. Even more ironically, the WWF then proceeded to re-sign him, dub him X-Pac, and give him an even bigger push than before. 1.4.3. Are they still friends? Yes and no. Hall & Nash recently split up but their friendship is well known, and Shawn was spotted wearing an "Outsiders" t-shirt on at least one occasion last year. Whether this indicates ANYTHING is debatable at best. As always, feel free to make your own judgments on the subject, since reports vary wildly as to their contact with each other since the move to WCW. And please keep in mind all comments on TV are usually there to throw off people like us. ;) Recent reports have the Outsiders lobbying to get Shawn Michaels into WCW. 1.4.4. What was the "MSG Incident?" As a way to solidify the urban myth of the "clique," Shawn, Diesel, Razor and Hunter engaged in a "group hug" in the center of the ring in Madison Square Garden after the final match between Diesel and Shawn Michaels. This is widely regarded as an inexusably egotistical breaking of kayfabe on everyone's part. Shawn could not be punished for the incident due to his status as WWF champion, but Hunter was "de-pushed" and reduced to the rank of JTTS for the remainder of the year as punishment. In late 1997, as part of the "DeGeneration X" angle, Shawn and Hunter showed a video of the incident on live TV. The angle was that Shawn was trying to get fired so he could join the nWo in WCW, but in reality it was all a part of the storyline. 1.4.5. Who are/were "DeGeneration X?" As of this writing, DeGeneration X consists of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and X-Pac. The group was founded by Shawn Michaels, who was "fired" from the group by HHH on the 03/30/98 version of RAW. Rick Rude was a member at one point, but left for WCW late in 1997. Mike Tyson joined prior to Wrestlemania XIV, but it was merely a ruse on his part. Chyna served as bodyguard since it's inception until recently, when she joined Vince McMahon's Corporation, then split off on her own entirely as a singles wrestler. The New Age Outaws (Road Dog & Bad Ass Billy Gunn) joined after Wrestlemania XIV to reform the group, and Gunn left recently to persue a singles career, then rejoined when it failed miserably. The group split up for most of 1999, before reforming in late 1999 under the leadership of HHH once again, this time as despised heels. However, the New Age Outlaws have been notable for remaining babyfaces in their matches, so how long the heel status of the group in general will last is anyone's guess. The basic idea of the angle introducing the group was that DX is the remains of the real life "clique" acting like degenerates and trying to get fired so they can join the nWo in Atlanta, although the letters "nWo" are never mentioned on TV. It should be noted that "writer" Phil Mushnick coined the term Degeneration X in reference to wrestling's fanbase, although I'm not sure why. 1.4.6. What is the "clique sign"/"nWo sign"? The hand signal used by the clique and adapted by the nWo is done as follows: Bring together your thumb and middle finger (like making the "okay" gesture, except with the middle finger). Bring your ring finger to touch them, and extend your pinky and index finger straight in the air. It is also known as the "devil sign" or the "headbanger sign" (although it should be noted that the clique sign is actually a variation of these, with the middle fingers extended instead of flat against the palm.) 1.4.7. Where did Scott Hall go in 1998? Rehab. Hall is, as indicated above, a known drug user, and his recent unhappiness with the situation in WCW seems to have caused a resurgence in that habit. The same situation occurred in the WWF in 1996, and Vince McMahon's solution was to simply fire Hall and let him go to WCW. Eric Bischoff's solution was to give Hall the time off to go into drug rehab, which appeared to have little or no bearing on Hall's actual activities during the lay-off, which included various bar-hopping, griping, and (on one notable occasion) trying to crash an ECW show. WCW has since turned it into an angle to deflect heat from the situation, but Hall's very real self-destruction is scaring many people in the business as we speak. 1.4.8. Are HHH and Chyna really engaged? There are conflicting reports on it, with some saying that they are to be married in November. HHH and Chyna themselves deny the rumors (while in character) but they travel together exclusively and are constantly seen together. That, and Chyna's recent trend towards a distinctly feminine look, would seem to indicate that they pair are romantically linked at the least. Of course, it's not really anyone's business but their own. 1.4.9. Are HHH and Stephanie McMahon really married? Common sense would seem to cover this one, but to clear it up, no, HHH and Stephanie were not really married in the drive-thru wedding ceremony on RAW. It's merely an angle. And furthermore, Andrew "Test" Martin and Stephanie are not romantically linked in real life to the best of anyone's knowledge. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5 The NWO 1.5.1. Who has been in it? nWo 0.9, May 1996: Scott Hall appears on Nitro promising a "takeover". The next week, Kevin Nash appears and promises the same thing. They attack people for the next month or so (most notably powerbombing Eric Bischoff through a table) until challenged by Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage to a six-man tag at Bash at the Beach. Nash and Hall - at this point only "The Outsiders" - accept, and say their third man will be revealed later. nWo 1.0, July - August 1996: Hall and Nash are victorious when their third man is revealed to be Hulk Hogan, who over time adopts the new persona of "Hollywood" Hogan. The newly-christened New World Order begins attacking WCW wrestlers viciously. The first new members to arrive are Ted DiBiase (acting as a manager and "money man") and Vincent (acting as "head of security"). At Road Wild, Hollywood Hogan defeats the Giant by cheating outrageously to win the WCW World title. Strangely, the Giant joins the nWo two weeks later, citing the money as his primary reason. Also at Road Wild, the Booty Man tries to join, but is beaten up. nWo 1.1, September - November 1996: The next member of the nWo appears when they debut a "Fake Sting" at Wargames, who wrestles ittermitently over the next few months until the original Fake Sting, now called "nWo Sting", goes to compete in Japan as part of their version of the nWo. The Nasty Boys try to join the nWo as well, but are beaten up for their trouble. Although he is in fact the seventh member, Sean Waltman joins in November as Syxx. nWo 1.2, December 1996 - January 1997: The nWo announces a "membership drive", giving "all WCW wrestlers" the chance to join the nWo. In order, the wrestlers accepting this offer are Marcus Bagwell (soon redubbed "Buff"), Michael Wallstreet, Big Bubba, and Scott Norton. Also, Eric Bischoff is revealed as being an nWo member around this time, and Masa Chono and the Great Muta, visiting from New Japan Pro Wrestling, join the North American nWo (although they have little effect). At the same time, Giant is kicked out for demanding a title shot from Hulk Hogan. nWo 1.3, Feburary - August 1997: Randy Savage joins the nWo at SuperBrawl. Newly appointed WCW Commissioner J.J. Dillon says that according to their contracts, Big Bubba and Michael Wallstreet cannot be members of the nWo. Amidst great hype, Dennis Rodman "joins" the nWo, despite wrestling only one match that year as a celebrity guest at Bash at the Beach. Konnan joins the nWo in August. Ted DiBiase quits the nWo and becomes a manager for the Steiner brothers. nWo 1.4, September 1997 - February 1998: Curt Hennig joins the nWo after turning on the Four Horsemen at WarGames. Rick Rude joins in December. Bret Hart is invited to join the nWo, but declines. The Disciple joins sometime in January, although he is not named until March. Dusty Rhodes joins at Souled Out after turning on Larry Zybysko. Bryan Adams joins in January after turning on Bret Hart. Scott Steiner joins in February after turning on his brother Rick. During most of January, Louie Spicolli acts as a flunky to Scott Hall and wears an nWo t-shirt, although he is never "officially" inducted into the nWo before his death. Syxx disappears when Sean Waltman is fired by WCW. nWo 2.0, February - April 1998: Randy Savage and Kevin Nash, having issues with Hollywood Hogan, form the nWo "splinter faction": nWo Wolfpac. Curt Hennig and Konnan immediately join, as do longtime nWo foes Lex Luger and Sting; they immediately distinguish themselves from the "traditional" nWo (now known as nWo Hollywood or nWo Black-And-White) by wearing black-and-red T-shirts rather than black-and-white. Scott Hall is invited to join the Wolfpac, but refuses. Giant rejoins nWo Hollywood. nWo 2.1, May - October 1998: Curt Hennig quits the nWo Wolfpac to rejoin nWo Hollywood. Randy Savage is injured and disappears from the Wolfpac. Dennis Rodman once again is trumpeted as a member of the nWo for a celebrity match at Bash At The Beach. Stevie Ray joins nWo Hollywood in September. The Disciple quits nWo Hollywood in October to join the "One Warrior Nation". Horace Hogan joins nWo Hollywood at Halloween Havoc. Bret Hart seemingly joins, quits, and rejoins nWo Hollywood several times during this period, and never wears an nWo shirt or explicitly states his membership in the nWo. nWo 2.2, November - December 1998: Hollywood Hogan announces his "retirement", and Scott Steiner becomes the leader of nWo Hollywood. Scott Hall is kicked out of nWo Hollywood in November, but despite his efforts is not allowed to join nWo Wolfpac. Disco Inferno starts claiming he is a member of the Wolfpac. nWo 3.0, January 1999 - March 1999: Hollywood Hogan comes out of "retirement" to "beat" Kevin Nash in a thrown match for the WCW World title and reform the nWo as one single entity. The Wolfpac is now an "elite rank" of the nWo: its members are Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell, and Scott Steiner. The remainder of the nWo (Giant, Curt Hennig, Vincent, Stevie Ray, Bryan Adams, Scott Norton, and Horace Hogan) continues wearing the black-and-white, while the Wolfpac wears black, white, and red. The Wolfpac also seems to be conducting a gradual elimination of the black-and-white (also referred to as "the nWo B-Team"); at this writing, both the Giant and Curt Hennig have received turfing-out beatdowns, with more likely to come. Konnan has been explicitly kicked out of the nWo entire. Sting's status is unknown. Bret Hart's nWo membership is entirely forgotten. nWo 3.1, April 1999 - onward: With Scott Hall in retirement, Hulk Hogan back in semi-retirement, and Bagwell turfed from the group, the only members left are Lex Luger, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner, and possibly Disco Inferno. Steiner and Nash rarely do anything nWo-related (besides use the Wolfpac music). The nWo black-and-white is whittled down to Vincent, Horace Hogan, Stevie Ray and Bryan Adams, with Scott Norton doing his own thing without the nWo name. Soon after, Horace Hogan is fired, Bryan Adams is repackaged, Stevie Ray leaves to reform Harlem Heat, and Vincent joins the West Texas Rednecks, thus finally ending the group's legacy once and for all. 1.5.2. Who started it? The concept was originally started by Scott Hall, who "invaded" WCW on the first two-hour Nitro in May of 1996 (see "Monday Night Wars") and declared that they were taking over, although he didn't note who "they" were. The implication was that is was a WWF takeover, which led to a later lawsuit and was publicly denied by Hall at the "Great American Bash" PPV in 1996. Kevin Nash joined him two weeks after he debuted, and the two of them promised a third man at the "Bash at the Beach" PPV in July. The third man was Hulk Hogan, who coined the phrase "New World Order" during his heel turn interview, although in a nebulous and roundabout way. Commentators Bobby Heenan and Larry Zbyzsko later officially named them the nWo, building on Hogan's speech, and the rest is history. 1.5.2a. That's not what I meant. Oh, you mean who thought of the *gimmick*? Off-and-on booker Paul Orndorff is generally credited with the creation of the "invasion" angle, and Nitro booker Terry Taylor is credited with coming up with the details (the t-shirt selling, the black and white, the attitude). Hulk Hogan was given much leeway in his own angles (as usual) and improvised a great deal of the mannerisms and catchphrases (as did Hall and Nash). And it should be noted that Eric Bischoff had almost NOTHING to do with the nWo's creation, although he often takes credit for it regardless by stating that it was based on the New Japan-All Japan feuds. Which means he didn't create it, he just borrowed it from somewhere else. 1.5.3. What titles have they held? Hulk Hogan has held three WCW World titles as a member. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were tag team champions for over a year, and won them on three different occasions. Curt Hennig held the US championship. Syxx held the Cruiserweight title. Scott Hall and the Giant were tag team champions. Kevin Nash and Sting were former tag team champions. Sting and the Giant were former tag team champions. Bret Hart is a three-time US champion. Kevin Nash won the WCW World title as a member. Scott Hall won the US title. 1.5.4. Were they a separate organization from WCW? No. It is merely an angle/feud/storyline/whatever used to draw heat for the wrestlers involved. Everyone involved is an employee of Ted Turner and WCW. A storyline to explain the non-firing of WCW turncoat Eric Bischoff stated that Bischoff still held the position of Executive Vice President, but JJ Dillon held all the actual power, which is why Bischoff could spend WCW's money on behalf of the group trying to take it over. 1.5.5. Didn't the WWF sue over them? Yes. Vince McMahon, at the time of writing, is in the process of a major lawsuit against World Championship Wrestling for using the mannerisms and character of "Razor Ramon" on an episode of Nitro without prior permission from the WWF. It is expected that the WWF will get millions from WCW either through a courtroom victory or an out-of-court settlement to end the suit. The suit is reprinted below. 1.5.6. What the hell is Konnan saying? Konnan's three favorite catchphrases are "Orale!" (often confused with the Beck album "Odelay"), "Arriba la raza" and "We bout it bout it and rowdy rowdy". "Arriba la raza" is a spanish phrase, which loosely translates to "forward the race", and is basically a call for unity amongst chicanos. "Bout it bout it" (pronounced "bowdy bowdy") is a reference to a rap song by Master P, and is basically a way of saying "We're there" in slang. Got a hot party to go to? We bout it. Got it? The "rowdy rowdy" part is just to rhyme. To clarify a point that has become confusing, Konnan is not from New Jersey, that was simply an RSPW inside joke inserted into the document. He is from Miami. 1.5.7. What's with all the "spot" jokes? In the fall of 1997, the Four Horsemen were actively trying to recruit Curt Hennig as the fourth member to replace Jeff Jarrett, and not having much luck at it. Finally, in one of the greatest and most emotional interviews ever given, Arn Anderson came from the dressing room, announced his retirement, and personally offered Curt Hennig his spot in the team as his last gift to the wrestling world. Many tears were shed and Hennig accepted. Then along came the nWo. In perhaps the single most simultaneously beloved and despised interview spot in the history of televised wrestling, Syxx, Buff Bagwell, Konnan and Kevin Nash dressed up as the Four Horsemen and re-enacted the interview, absolutely savaging the group and basically spitting on the career of Arn Anderson for the sake of a laugh. Kevin Nash (as Arn Anderson) delivered a line about "Not my dog Spot, not a liver spot, but MY spot" that became instantly famous, and all reports said that the *real* Horsemen had to be physically restrained from rushing the ring and were unaware that the parody was planned. The Four Horsemen met the nWo in a WarGames match shortly after, lost, and the entire Horsemen concept was completely buried as a direct result. Curt Hennig left the team for the nWo. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6 IV Horsemen 1.6.1. Who have been members? Over the years 14 different wrestlers have been part of the Horsemen. They are: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Lugar, Barry Windham, Butch Reed, Kendall Windham, Sting, Sid Vicious, Paul Roma, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit, Curt Hennig, Jeff Jarrett, Dean Malenko and Steve McMichael. JJ Dillon, Ole Anderson and Hiro Matsuda have all served as managers. The Horsemen name was first used in January, 1986, with the original group being Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson. 1.6.2. When did they exist? 1986: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Ole Anderson form the original team. 1987: Ole Anderson is fired for missing dates and replaced by upstart "associate" Lex Luger. 1988: Luger refuses to throw a match for JJ Dillon and is fired, leaving three Horsemen until April of 1988, when Barry Windham turns on Luger and joins. 1989: The Horsemen disintegrate as Blanchard and Anderson jump to the WWF, followed by Barry Windham, and Flair turns babyface. At one point the group consisted of Flair, Barry Windham, Kendall Windham and Butch Reed, but it is highly debatable whether this Hiro Matsuda-managed foursome counted as legitimate Horsemen. 1989: Arn Anderson returns to reform the Horsemen with Ric Flair, Ole Anderson and new member Sting. 1990: The Horsemen brutally attack Sting and dump him from the group. Ole retires and the two open spots are filled by Barry Windham and Sid Vicious. 1991: Ric Flair leaves WCW, ending the Four Horsemen. 1993: Ric Flair returns to WCW, reforming the Horsemen with Arn, Ole and new member Paul Roma. Roma turns on them before year's end, ending the Horsemen again. 1995: Ric Flair turns on partner Sting in a tag team match against Brian Pillman and Arn Anderson, signalling a new team with Flair, Arn, Pillman and Chris Benoit. 1996: Pillman departs for the WWF and is replaced by Steve McMichael. 1997: Jeff Jarrett defeats Steve McMichael to earn a spot in the team. He would later be fired by Ric Flair. To this day Arn Anderson denies Jarrett was even a Horsemen. 1997: Arn Anderson retires and is replaced by Curt Hennig. 1997: Hennig turns on the Horsemen and joins the nWo, ending the team for the forseeable future. 1998: The Horsemen reform with Ric Flair, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael. Arn Anderson acts as a manager. The other members are already pushing to have McMichael replaced and at this writing they have done nothing noteworthy. 1999: Mongo is persona non grata in WCW and his spot seems to have been re-taken by Arn Anderson, barring a new member being added. 1.6.3. What titles did they hold? Ric Flair has held numerous World titles while a member. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard held the tag titles twice. Arn Anderson and Paul Roma held the tag titles once. Lex Luger, Barry Windham and Steve McMichael all held the US title while members. Tully Blanchard held the TV title as a member, as did Arn Anderson. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko held the World tag team titles briefly in 1999. 1.6.4. Did they ever hold all the belts at once? Yes. From the time when Barry Windham won the US title (05/13/1988) until the time when Blanchard and Anderson lost the World tag team title (09/10/1988) each member of the team had a title. 1.6.5. Whatever happened to Tully Blanchard? As of this writing, Tully is once again an active wrestler, with Dennis Corraluzzo's NWA. 1.6.6. Who did they beat up on to earn their reputation? In one of the defining moments in the history of the Horsemen, they broke Ricky Morton's nose by rubbing in the concrete of the parking lot, thus earning fans amongst the huge group of Morton-haters watching the NWA at the time. The incident was very famous for the brutality displayed, given the standards at the time. But no one was beaten with more vigor than Dusty Rhodes, including multiple parking lot attacks, 4-on-1 muggings, baseball bat beatings, and a broken leg via a steel briefcase. Sting is another favorite target of the Horsemen, and he has the "honor" of being turned on by Ric Flair...TWICE! Flair booted him out of the group in 1990 (replacing him with Barry Windham and Sid Vicious) and then turned on him again in 1995 as he reformed the Horsemen. Many beatings ensued, the most famous of which was at a Clash of Champions in 1990 as they injured his knee and put him out for months. Runner-up in the list is Lex Luger, who was thrashed soundly on several occasions in 1988 as he challenged Ric Flair for the World title. Randy Savage suffered several beatings in 1996 in his feud with Flair, but then everyone beat up Savage in 1996. Jeff Jarrett was dumped from the group in 1997, but no beating took place, to the disappointment of many. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.7 Ultimate Warrior 1.7.1. How many have there been? One. Jim Hellwig is the one and only Ultimate Warrior. There has only been one. He has changed appearance, name and wrestling tights on many occasions, but he remains the only man to be the Ultimate Warrior. 1.7.2. Is he still alive? Yes. He never died. He did sign with WCW, however. 1.7.3. Who were the BladeRunners/Powerteam USA? Power Team USA was a group of bodybuilders formed by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman in California in 1985. Bastien intended to train them to be wrestlers, but soon abandoned the plan. Upon disbanding the group, Bastien observed "they have great bodies, but they can't wrestle a lick." The members of the group were Jim "Justice" Hellwig (later the Ultimate Warrior), Steve "Flash" Borden (later Sting), Mark "Commando" Miller and Garland "Glory" Donnoho. Miller never wrestled after the disbanding of the group. Donnoho wrestled briefly in California as "The Myth" Hellwig and Borden teamed briefly as the Blade Runners, doing nothing notable and only really gaining fame for being the guys who later became Ultimate Warrior and Sting. Hellwig was also known as the Dingo Warrior in Texas before jumping to the WWF. 1.7.4. Did he really change his name to "Warrior?" Yes. In order to preserve his character and identity after leaving the WWF in 1991, Jim Hellwig legally changed his name to "Warrior." Furthermore, upon signing with the WWF in 1996, he obtained all legal rights to the name, image and character of "The Ultimate Warrior" which basically enables him to wrestle as that character in any federation he chooses, including WCW, and gives him 100% of the revenues. Recently Warrior has been claiming "victory" over the WWF in a legal battle of some sort, although the explanation given by him is so incomprehensible that no one is entirely sure what it means, although the above paragraph seems to be the gist of it. 1.7.5. Why did he leave the WWF in 1991? After losing the World title to Sgt. Slaughter at Royal Rumble '91, the Warrior was being moved into a lesser position in the booking sheets, and as a result he ran off into the dressing rooms of Madison Square Garden following Summerslam 1991 and wasn't seen until Wrestlemania VIII, many months later. 1.7.6. Why did he leave the WWF in 1992? Again, following Survivor Series that year, the Warrior was being moved into a lower slot on the booking sheets, in this case a feud with Nailz. He simply exercised the option to leave and did so, and was promptly erased from history by the WWF until four years later. 1.7.7. Why did he leave the WWF in 1996? The WWF's story: Warrior was too expensive, was not getting crowd reactions or affecting buyrates and ratings in a way dramatic enough to justify the salary, and was missing dates for very unsound reasons. The Warrior's story: The WWF was treating him badly and not allowing him proper control of his character and not allowing him enough time off to grieve for his father. Most sources in the industry tend to side with the WWF in this matter. 1.7.7. What happened to "Warrior University?" To be succinct, it was a joke and it went bankrupt very quickly due to total ineptness in the day-to-day running of it and Warrior's generally dysfunctional mental state to begin with. Any other spin-doctoring put on the subject by Mr. Hellwig is just that...spin-doctoring. 1.7.8. What's with all the vomit jokes? In 1992, Warrior was given control of his booking and demonstrated exactly why that situation should never occur again: He booked a feud with voodoo-master Papa Shango (current pimp The Godfather) wherein Shango would cast magic spells on jobbers and cause black gook to flow from their boots. Then, in order to really draw heat, he cast a spell that made Warrior puke on national TV. The WWF doesn't really talk about that one anymore. 1.7.9. What's the "magic smoke"? Just to show that no one pays attention to the previous question, upon entering WCW, Warrior was again given control of his bookings and angle. His grand idea was to form the "One Warrior Nation" (it's the nWo backwards, you see) and that whenever he would enter the ring to torment Hulk Hogan, he would cause a huge cloud of "magic smoke" to fill the ring and knock out the nWo members. A trapdoor was built right into the ring to allow him access as though by magic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.8 - Ric Flair 1.8.1. How many times has he been World champion? That's depends on what changes you wish to recognize. In July 1994, Ric Flair said many times that he was an 11 time world champion. This number was come to by recognizing his 8 undisputed NWA title reigns, 2 WWF title reigns and 1 WCW title reign. Flair has since held the WCW title twice more, bringing the undisputed total to 13. However in addition to this, there have been a number of disputed or not widely recognized reigns, which are listed below. On March 21, 1984, Flair was defeated by Harley Race in New Zealand for the NWA title. He regained it on March 23, 1984 in Singapore. This switch is only now being recognized as official in the US. On March 21, 1991, Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Flair in Tokyo, Japan. The Japanese referee for the match counted a pinfall, while the WCW referee for the match DQed Flair for tossing Fujinami over the top rope. Flair defeated Fujinami May 19, 1991 in St. Petersburg, FL to end the dispute. On April 17, 1994, Ric Flair and Rick Steamboat went to a double pin finish. On April 21, 1994, (aired on TV May 21, 1994) Flair defeated Steamboat to end the dispute. It was never officially announced that the belt was held up, although Flair gave the belt to WCW commissioner Nick Bockwinkel and said he wanted it held up. There are also stories that Flair did title switches with Jack Venano in the Dominican Republic and Victor Jovica in the Caribbean, similar to the New Zealand/Singapore title switch with Harley Race. The Venano story has been confirmed by a fan who was there live to see the title change, as has the Jovica one. Neither is recognized in the US as of this writing, although if the powers-that-be need to pump up Flair's title reigns again, good money says they will. Of course, Flair recently added title #14 to his collection by defeating Hulk Hogan. 1.8.2. Why did he leave WCW in 1991? Money and respect. WCW offered a 50% pay cut and greatly reduced booking power, including revoking his "veto clause" over World title changes, and wanted to put Lex Luger on top for the next year. Flair disagreed, and the week before Great American Bash 1991 was either fired or quit, depending on who you ask. He showed up in the WWF in October of 1991 and was immediately put on top of the federation. 1.8.3. Why did he take the NWA World title belt with him? Because he owned it, sort of. Jim Crockett had the belt specially made for Flair in 1985 for $10,000 US and gave ownership of the belt to Flair in lieu of payment of bonus money, which meant Flair thought he could take it with him wherever he went, even after leaving the NWA/WCW. Ted Turner bought it back for $23,000 US in 1991 after a lawsuit and brought it back to the company. The question of the NWA World title is a much more complicated and interesting one, however, which will be covered later in this document. 1.8.4. Why did he leave the WWF in 1993? Vince McMahon felt he no longer required his services, and Flair wanted to go back to WCW, so the two mutually agreed to part ways and the contract was ended amicably. That's all there is to it. 1.8.5. What's the plane crash I always hear about? In 1975, Ric Flair was in a plane crash with Johnny Valentine, Bob Bruggers and "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods. Modern medical science said that he'd never wrestle again. 1.8.6. Is Flair being sued by WCW? Well, he was. In early 1998, WCW took Flair almost entirely off the booking sheets while his new contract was ironed out. Flair assumed that WCW wouldn't need to use him for one particular Thunder and took the night off to watch his son wrestle. WCW's on-the-fly booking committee decided to reform the Four Horsemen the night that Flair took off, and was thus left with egg on their face when Flair didn't show, depsite their hyping his appearance the entire show. As a result, WCW is suing Flair for a reported $2 million in damages, citing a letter of intent to re-sign with WCW which stands as a valid contract. Flair was not been seen or mentioned on WCW TV during the lawsuit. The lawsuit may or may not have been dismissed at this point. Given that it's been almost a year since it was filed with no legal action on either side and Flair seems firmly entrenched in the upper card, it's a safe bet that it was. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.9 - Sid Vicious 1.9.1. Is Sid dead? No. Sid Eudy is alive and well as of this writing. The "Sid is Dead" thing is merely a misguided rumor posting that got turned into a runaway joke. 1.9.2. What's with the squeegee jokes? In 1991, when Brian Pillman was in WCW and Sid Vicious was in his first stint in the WWF, they got into a minor fight in a bar after a house show. Pillman reportedly got the better of Sid, until Sid suddenly ran off outside the bar and returned with a squeegee (window cleaning tool) as a "weapon." It was just too absurd a situation to *not* joke about... 1.9.3. What's with the scissor jokes? On 09/19/1993, Sid and Arn Anderson got into a fight in their hotel after a show in England. A pair of safety scissors was involved, which caused 20 stitches for Arn Anderson and various cuts for Sid. Both men spent the night in the hospital and were deported the next day. Sid was fired soon after and Anderson was suspended, although he later returned. 1.9.4. What's with the softball jokes? Sid likes playing softball, and will quite often put his softball league ahead of his wrestling federation in terms of importance. He has taken mysterious leaves of absense in order to play softball on more than one occasion. 1.9.5. Wasn't he supposed to win the WCW World title? Yes. In 1993, Sid was booked to face Vader at Starrcade for the WCW World title, and win. In fact, three or four weeks of footage with Sid as the champion were shot at the Disney tapings. However, the fight with Anderson caused all those plans to be scrapped and Ric Flair to take his place and win the title in his stead. 1.9.6. Was he fired by the WWF? That depends which time you mean. In 1992, he faced Hulk Hogan in Hogan's "retirement" match at Wrestlemania VIII. Papa Shango was supposed to run in and cause a DQ finish, but didn't make it in time to break up the pin. Sid was forced to kick out of the legdrop finisher, which caused many rumors of a "shoot" on Sid's part. This is untrue, as the fault lie in Charles Wright. Sid quit the promotion soon after to play softball on a regular basis, although the promotion's party line is that he failed a drug test and was fired. In 1997, he suffered a badly injured back which may or may not have become career-threatening. In order to save costs in case it was, he was officially fired by the WWF with a promise to bring him back in 1998 should he heal properly. He never did and never was brought back. 1.9.7. Who were the Skyscrapers? The first team was Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey. Vicious was injured and replaced by Mark "Undertaker" Callous. Sid and Callous were *never* a team, however, despite many assumptions to the contrary. The launch of the careers of the Undertaker and Sid are the only notable things about this otherwise unnotable team. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.10 - Brian Pillman 1.10.1. Is Pillman dead? Yes. Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room in Bloomington, Minnesota on 10/05/1997, and was announced as being dead during the pre-game of the Badd Blood PPV the next day. The autopsy revealed his death was of natural causes, and specifically because of a heart condition he was unaware of until his death which was aggravated by painkillers. 1.10.2. Why did he become "The Loose Cannon?" In 1994 Pillman suffered an ankle injury which almost completely destroyed his mobility and high-flying ability, and it became necessary to find a new gimmick which required a minimum of actual wrestling. Thus was born the "Loose Cannon," which basically consisted of him running from the ring like a coward and attacking Paul Orndorff from behind. He further refined the gimmick in ECW, before suffering another crippling injury in a car accident in 1996 which fused his ankle and essentially ended his wrestling career before he signed with the WWF. 1.10.3. Who were the Hollywood Blonds? Brian Pillman and Steve Austin, best friends in real life, formed the most dominant team of 1993 and won the WCW/NWA tag team titles in the same year. They instantly became an RSPW legend and the most quotable team around. The team was hampered by terrible booking and ended up being more notable for launching the career of Steve Austin than anything else. 1.10.4. What was the "bookerman" interview? It wasn't an interview as much as a soundbite. In early 1996, Pillman was programmed to be feuding with Kevin Sullivan, in the "Rogue Horseman" angle to show what a nutjob he was. He faced him in a strap match at Superbrawl VI, where the loser had to say "I respect you" to the winner. This was supposed to have been interpreted by "insiders" as a way for Sullivan to put Pillman in his place, with his contract being up soon. At any rate, they "wrestled" for less than two minutes, and Pillman suddenly grabbed the mike, yelled "I respect you, bookerman!" and ran out. Sullivan stood "stunned" for a minute, then the remaining Horsemen came in to finish the match. It was entirely a work, planned from the start by Pillman and Sullivan in order to fool "smart" fans and make Pillman look insane to the marks. Sullivan was booker for WCW at the time, which is what the "bookerman" remark was referring to. It is not nearly as historic a moment as RSPW would like to make it out to be, but it is one of the most frequently asked about. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.11 - Sting 1.11.1. Why didn't he wrestle in 1997? WCW had a guaranteed contract system which is unique in the world of wrestling. Their bigger stars had deals which state that they only had to work a given number of house shows, PPVs and TV shows, and then are no longer obligated to work any more. This was the case in September of 1996, as Sting's contract stated that he had worked his required number of shows and would have to paid at a special rate for any more. So it was decided that Sting would sit in the rafters, attacking wrestlers now and then, and let all his injuries heal while developing a new gimmick. A feud with Hulk Hogan and the nWo was worked out, and it was supposed to be Sting v. Hogan at Superbrawl. However, the ratings for the "new" Sting were so tremendous that his "debut" was pushed back again, and again, and again, until finally it was decided to simply wait until Starrcade 1997 and build everything around *that*. In essense, it left Sting with nothing to do but act mysterious and foreboding for a year, which he did. 1.11.2. Who was the Black Scorpion? Speaking of mysterious and foreboding, in 1990 Sting won the NWA World title from Ric Flair. Booker Ole Anderson felt that he needed a major arch-nemesis to build up to a Starrcade clash, so he invented a mysterious black-clad figure from Sting's past called The Black Scorpion. The implication was supposed to be that it was Jim Hellwig, but it was actually intended to be the Angel of Death. No problem, right? Of course, they screwed it up. You know how when people like to snigger about how low WCW sunk from 1989 - 1994 they point out things like "the Black Scorpion?" This is why: First of all, the Scorpion's main gimmick was doing cheap magic tricks to draw heat, and it didn't work (go figure). Then they had Sting wrestle the Scorpion on a live Clash of Champions broadcast, only they stuck Al Perez in the suit. Sting squashed him, but it was revealed that there was *another* Scorpion on the other side of the arena. The whole sideshow was distracting from the fact that they hadn't yet signed the Angel of Death, either. They had Sting (who couldn't draw flies as champion) pencilled in to meet "The Black Scorpion" (despite not even knowing who it was going to turn out to be) at the biggest show of the year and the writing was on the wall that Anderson was going to be turfed out as booker pretty damn quick. So they did what they always did: They went back to Ric Flair. They asked him to play the Scorpion in the blowoff match and reveal that it was all mind-games on his part all along, and as a reward he would receive the World title in January, which he did. And everyone was happy until the NWA died a horrible death two weeks later. The moral of the story is never hire Ole Anderson as booker, I think. 1.11.3. How many times has he been World champion? Who knows? This is very dependant on what you're recognizing as a World title, first of all. Strictly speaking, Sting is only a seven-time champion, but WCW has somehow managed to pump the total up to nine. He cleanly defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA World title in 1990, that much we know. Then it gets messy. In 1990, WCW officially broke off from the NWA, declaring Sting to be the first WCW World champion, while still holding the NWA World title. Sooooo, technically speaking, Sting was a *two* time World champion at that point, despite never actually losing the first title *or* winning the second. To further complicate the matter, WCW became an autonomous organization on 01/01/1991, while not recognizing their own champion officially until 01/11/1991, when Ric Flair defeated Sting to win the title. WCW has since retroactively decided to recognize Sting as the first WCW champion instead of Flair in order to "fill in" the 10 day period, but it all depends on who you ask. This title reign is almost totally meaningless in the long run. In 1992, Sting cleanly beat Lex Luger to win the WCW World title (just the WCW title this time...) to become a three-time champion, despite the announcers calling him a two-time champion because the NWA-WCW thing was still taboo to talk about on TV at the time. In 1993, Sting and Vader traded the WCW World title in London and Ireland, giving Sting his fourth title reign. Again, it was only called his third. Sting beat Rick Rude in Chicago mid-way through 1994 to win the WCW International World title, which is not recognized by anyone with an IQ greater than 2 as a legitimate World title, and the title was regained by Rude in Japan, but immediately vacated due to the controversy of the title change. Sting then defeated Vader to regain the vacated title at Slamboree 1994. It needs to be stressed that neither title reign is officially recognized as a World title reign by anyone but WCW. And of course he beat Hulk Hogan for the WCW World title at Starrcade 97, which boosts it to six reigns, then beat Hogan again at Superbrawl VIII for his seventh title, although they're not pointing it out for some reason. Sting also defeated Diamond Dallas Page for his eighth title reign recently, although it only lasted 90 minutes. And finally, he defeated Hulk Hogan again for his ninth title in September of 1999. However, cooler heads will usually point out that he clearly has 7 title reigns and the other two are just semantics. As always, judge for yourself. 1.11.4. How dumb *is* he? Sting (the character) has developed a reputation for being far too trusting over the years. Skipping past his UWF experience, his first bad experience came as his good friends, the Road Warriors, savagely turned on him in 1988 and left him for dead en route to going heel. In 1989, Sting was asked into the Four Horsemen by Ric Flair and was promptly punked out upon asking for a title shot. While injured from that attack, Sting fostered the friendship of Lex Luger, who then turned on him in early 1992 after winning the World title. Sting had a good run from 1993 until 1995, when his brain apparently fell out of his head. Ric Flair once again asked for Sting's help against former friend Arn Anderson, and once again savagely beat Sting at an opportune moment. Sting turned to longtime friend Lex Luger for help, who turned on him several times behind his back over a period of months. In late 1996, during the nWo invasion, Sting retreated to the rafters and asked Randy Savage to join him. In early 1997, Savage proceeded to turn on him and join the nWo. In early 1998, Sting offered his help to a supposedly reformed Savage, who then turned on him again and rejoined the nWo. Finally, in recent times, Bret Hart offered his help to Sting, who stupidly accepted it, and Bret turned on him just everyone else has over the years. Lex Luger recently turned on him again after coaxing him into a heel turn. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.12 Midnight Express 1.12.1. Who has been a member? Randy Rose, Dennis Condrey and Norvell Austin formed the Midnight Express in Alabama in 1981. The group moved to Memphis in late 1981 and returned to Alabama in the summer of 1982. During 1983, Midnight Express, Inc. included at one time or another, Rose, Condrey, Austin, the Midnight Stallion, Ron Starr, Rick Harris, and Wayne Ferris. Condrey left Alabama and joined Mid-South in 1983, where he formed a tag team with Bobby Eaton, managed by Jim Cornette, also called the Midnight Express. The Alabama version disbanded in early 1984, while Condrey, Eaton and Cornette would go on to achieve fame in Mid-South, World Class and finally, the NWA in 1985. In April 1987, Condrey left and was replaced by Stan Lane. In 1987, Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose joined as the "Original" Midnight Express, managed by Paul E Dangerously. This group came to the NWA to feud with Cornette, Lane and Eaton. Jim Cornette recently formed a "new" Midnight Express with Bob Holly and Bart Gunn as part of the NWA angle. It failed and served only to launch Bart Gunn's career through the Brawl for All tournament. 1.12.2. What titles have they held? The Condrey-Eaton team held the NWA World tag team titles for six months in 1986. The Lane-Eaton team held the US tag team titles three times from 1987-1990 and the World tag team titles once for about a month in 1988. The "Original" Midnight Express held the AWA World tag team title for a brief period in 1988, before leaving for the NWA later that year. The "New" Midnight Express were holders of the "NWA World tag team titles", the legitmacy of which is highly questionable. The status of those "titles" is unknown to the author at this point, given the split in the team. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.13 - Randy Savage 1.13.1. Was he really married to Elizabeth? Yes. They were divorced in 1992. "Macho Man" Randy Savage (real name Randy Poffo) and Miss Elizabeth (real name Elizabeth Hewlett) were officially married December 30, 1984 in Frankfort, KY. Their "Match Made in Heaven" was just a gimmick Vince McMahon used as a draw for SummerSlam '91. 1.13.2. How many World titles has he won? He has held the WWF World title on two occasions, once in 1988 and once in 1992, and the WCW World title on three occasions, once in 1995 and once in 1996 and again in 1998. As an interesting historical note, he lost three of those five titles to Ric Flair and the other two to Hulk Hogan. 1.13.3. Is he related to "The Genius" / Lanny Poffo? Yes, the two men are brothers, and both are the sons of famous wrestler Angelo Poffo. Savage's real name is Randy Poffo, which just about everyone knows anyway. 1.13.4. Where is he? Is he coming back? Savage is currently negotiating with WCW over a new contract, and/or the WWF. He is widely expected to be signing with the WWF in the new year. 1.13.5. Who is Gorgeous George? Savage's real-life girlfriend, Stephanie Bellars, bought the rights to the "Gorgeous George" gimmick and began accompanying Savage as his valet when he returned to the ring midway into 1999. She is signed with WCW until June of 2000 and cannot come with him to the WWF until then. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.14 - Shane Douglas 1.14.1. Who were the Dynamic Dudes? The Dynamic Dudes were the archetypal "pretty boy" tag team in 1989, and an experience Shane Douglas has been trying to forget ever since. It consisted of himself and Johnny Ace as "surfer dudes" who skateboarded to the ring, and they were universally hated by the fans, including a memorable match at Halloween Havoc 89 (in Philadelphia, ironically enough) where the mega-heel World champion Freebirds got a bigger face pop than the Dudes did. They were notable for almost nothing besides being involved in the angle in 1990 that turned the Midnight Express heel again. 1.14.2. Why did he throw down the NWA World title? Jim Crockett was still officially a N.W.A. promoter even though he had not paid any dues since he sold his promotion. Crockett's non-compete agreement with Turner was about to run out and he had plans to return to promoting wrestling under the N.W.A. name. He went to Todd Gordon (who had also stopped paying dues), who at the time had the biggest and most well known N.W.A. promotion (N.W.A. Eastern Championship Wrestling or ECW), and asked him to hold a tournament for the N.W.A. World Heavyweight title. Coralluzzo, however, felt that Gordon and Crockett were going to try to monopolize the title and, claiming (correctly) the tournament did not have N.W.A. Board approval, worked his way into the tournament planning. Upset by Coralluzzo's power play Gordon arranged for Shane Douglas, the ECW Champion, to win the tournament and then rejected the title. Gordon then withdrew from the N.W.A., changing his promotion's name to Extreme Championship Wrestling. It instantly put ECW on the map and cost the NWA buckets of credibility. It also made Shane look like a total jerk, but heavy is the head that wears the crown. It should also be noted that this is mostly ECW's side of the story, and Dennis Corraluzo is NOT talking. However most reports have ECW's side as being the correct one. To this day, Dennis Corraluzo complains to anyone who will listen about Paul Heyman and ECW in general as a result of the incident. 1.14.3. Why is he "blacklisted" from the WWF? He isn't so much blacklisted as he is warring with one of the company's principle stars. During his brief tenure as "Dean" Douglas in 1995, Shane felt he was severely underpaid for his work, and was prevented from getting a credible win over Michaels because Shawn forfeited the title to him rather than job on PPV. In addition, Shane felt slighted that the title was then jobbed to another member of "the clique," namely Razor Ramon, immediately after he was awarded it. The result is that Shane quit on bad terms and threatened to sue unless he was granted a release to work in ECW again almost immediately afterwards. Vince McMahon capitulated and according to Shane both men vowed to never to work together again. 1.14.4. Is he related to Paul Orndorff? No. This is one of those really dumb ideas that a lot of people have spread to the point where it's become an accepted part of wrestling lore, when it is in fact completely false. It started when a very young Troy Martin (Shane Douglas) was told by a promoter that he resembled Paul Orndorff and should compete under the name "Troy Orndorff." This prompted rumors that the two men were brothers, and that Paul Orndorff's "real" name is Paul Martin. In fact, Orndorff's real name *is* Orndorff. The two men are not related in any way, and are not even friends to the best of anyone's knowledge. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.15 - Steve Austin 1.15.1. What is Austin 3:16? In 1996, after winning the King of the Ring tournament against noted Bible-quoter Jake Roberts, Austin gave a memorable interview where he said "Talk about your psalms, talk about your John 3:16...well, Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass." The quote was picked up from there and has since spread to t-shirts, signs and a big truck. So to answer the question, Austin 3:16 says he just whooped your ass. 1.15.2. What was "The Ringmaster?" In 1996, when Austin was introduced to the WWF, he was brought in as a protege of Ted Dibiase dubbed "The Ringmaster" and given Dibiase's "Million Dollar Belt." The gimmick didn't work, so he was retooled into his current Stone Cold form, and the rest is history. It is generally brought up as an example of good wrestlers overcoming bad gimmicks. 1.15.3. Why doesn't Steve Austin like Eric Bischoff? Steve Austin has long trumpeted his poor treatment by WCW and specifically Eric Bischoff as the cause of his bitterness. Most of the bitterness he feels begins in 1993, when WCW split up the Hollywood Blonds in order to give Steve Austin the US title, and shots at the WCW World title. Popular legend states that Ric Flair was willing and able to job his WCW World title to Austin in the summer in order to put him over even bigger. However, Hulk Hogan won the WCW World title a few months into Austin's US title reign, thus assuring he'd never get a shot. His promised title shots never materialized. It got worse. In summer of 1994, during the period when he was originally pencilled in to be WCW World champion, Austin dropped the US title to Ricky Steamboat and was building heat for the feud through a series of progressively-better matches on PPVs and the Clash of Champions. The two were scheduled for a rematch at Fall Brawl '94, but Steamboat had suffered what turned out to be a career-ending injury a few weeks before. Bischoff decided to award Austin the title, then job him to Jim Duggan in 30 seconds on PPV. And Austin went along, with promises of a rematch and future World title shots as his motivation. They never happened. It should be noted that near-lifetime WCW employee Ricky Steamboat was unceremoniously fired because of his injuries without pension or compensation, in much the same way Austin was. In early 1995, as Austin recouperated from an injury, Bischoff's secretary called and fired him over the phone, leaving a message on Austin's answering machine and never actually doing it in person. Bischoff then proceeded to do a series of interviews running down Austin and stating that he'd never be a superstar in the sport. Austin retaliated by signing with the WWF (and ECW in the interim). While in ECW, he honed his "Stone Cold" gimmick while at the same time coming up with a wicked series of skits (including the famous WCW Monday Nyquil one) which mocked Bischoff's hair, Hogan's lack of hair and WCW's overall attitude towards him. It should be noted that Austin is a 3-time WWF World champion, and is moving more merchandise than Hulk Hogan did in his prime. 1.15.4. What happened to his neck? At Summerslam 1997, he was wrestling Owen Hart for the Intercontinental title, and Owen executed a tombstone piledriver incorrectly, bending Austin's neck at the wrong angle and causing temporary paralysis to Austin. Because of a pre-match stipulation, Austin struggled to his feet and managed to win the title, but serious damage had been done to his neck. To this date he has not recovered fully and has thus wrestled mainly in "garbage" matches, which concentrate on brawling rather than wrestling. It was, to confirm, a legitimate injury and not just an angle to make Owen Hart look like a "badass". 1.15.5. Who is/was Lady Blossom? When Austin got his start in the USWA in 1990, his primary feud was with Chris Adams, in a storyline involving Chris' wife Jeannie Clark. The story was that Austin stole Jeannie and it led to Chris finding a new wife (Toni Adams) and a mixed feud resulted. The irony, for those not aware, is that Austin really DID steal Jeannie Clark from Chris Adams in real life and they were married shortly after. The two hated each other because of it and the animosity was worked into an angle. When Austin jumped to WCW in 1991, he brought Jeannie with him as Lady Blossom, who did nothing for his career and was relegated to being his behind-the-scenes manager from late 91 on. They recently divorced. 1.15.6. How popular is Austin? While exact figures are hard to come by, some estimates have thrown about with regards to his merchandise numbers: An Austin shirt is sold every 40 seconds around the world. The WWF is averaging between $200,000 - $300,000 in merchandise per houseshow, most of which is Austin-related. His two videos (Cause Stone Cold Said So & Austin 3:16) are among two of the best selling sports videos ever. Austin merchandise outsells Goldberg merchandise by a ratio of 2 to 1. Austin has, at this point, sold more t-shirts in the past two years than Hulk Hogan did his entire career in the WWF. There are more than 10 official Austin shirt designs and dozens more unofficial knockoffs. Overall, the WWF claims Austin is the most popular professional wrestler in the history of the sport and it's a hard claim to dispute. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.16 - Cactus Jack 1.16.1. What happened to his right ear? It was accidentally ripped off on March 16, 1994 in a wrestling match in Munich, Germany against Vader. During the match, Cactus got his head caught between the top and middle ropes. The tension in the tightened ring ropes was enough to tear his right ear completely off and badly tear his left ear. Part of the right ear was iced and saved. The left required 12 stitches. Cactus continued the match for another two minutes before going to the planned finish. Cactus was in good spirits afterwards with little damage to his hearing and some trouble with his balance. Cactus returned to the ring April 17, 1994. Reports were that Cactus was planning to take a few months time off to have reconstructive surgery on the ear, but it never happened. To date, he has shown no hearing problems or other ill effects. He did, however, file a lawsuit against WCW due to the improperly constructed ring ropes, which were too tight in this case. Sadly, he did not get to keep the ear, because he didn't know how to say "formaldahyde" in German. 1.16.2. What is "the amnesia angle?" In 1993, Cactus Jack wrestled WCW World champion Vader on an episode of WCW Saturday Night. During the course of that match, the action spilled to the outside and Vader ended up giving Cactus a powerbomb on the bare concrete floor. Jack's head bounced off the concrete with a sickening and very audible thud and the show was immediately stopped as EMS technicians carried him off to an ambulance on national TV. As it turned out, it was merely an angle to give Mick Foley, the person, some time off with his family and to recover from injuries. But as part of the storyline, WCW began doing vignettes with camera crews "finding" Cactus Jack in Cleveland, living in alleys, supposedly with amnesia. These vignettes got progressively stupider and culiminated with a match against Yoshi Kwan (Chris Champion) at WCW's first Fall Brawl PPV, with the prize being a small bag of something belonging to Jack. The point of the whole thing is still pretty much unknown and is often cited as one of the dumber ideas in wrestling's history. 1.16.3. What are "The Three Faces of Foley?" In mid-1997, while in the midst of his heel Mankind gimmick, Mick Foley did a 4-part "up close and personal" interview with Jim Ross in which he covered his life story, including his early wrestling career as a Shawn Michaels-type called "Dude Love" who was the kind of hep cat that the ladies couldn't resist. The interview also touched on the gory career of Cactus Jack, and portrayed Foley as a misunderstood genius of sorts. The interview effectively turned him babyface, as the fans began appreciating Mankind's talent. He then began actively campaigning to be Steve Austin's partner in the WWF Tag team title tournament, an angle which culminated in the first appearance of Dude Love in the WWF, as he and Austin won the titles. Finally, after a match against Hunter Hearst Helmsley as Mankind and another one as Dude Love, a falls-count-anywhere match was signed between them, and to ensure victory, he resurrected Cactus Jack. Foley has since switched freely between the three gimmicks, with Cactus Jack becoming the clearly dominant one, and Mankind all but forgotten. Recently, however, Cactus Jack was retired and Dude Love/Mankind, in a *fourth* gimmick, became a corporate puppet for Vince McMahon, eventually turning face and winning two World titles. 1.16.4. Where have I seen the Hardcore Title before? An unsubstantiated theory floating around right now is that the "Hardcore Title" given to Mankind as a present from Vince McMahon is actually the same belt that was smashed by Curt Hennig on Saturday Night's Main Event in 1990. While this would indicate a healthy commitment to recycling on the WWF's part, the likelihood of keeping a destroyed title belt for 8 years is unlikely at best. However, the belt *is* remarkably similar in damage and design to the one destroyed by Hennig, so it very well could be the same. 1.16.5. Where did Mr. Socko come from? Oddly enough, the thing that turned Mankind from midcard joke into a main eventer was a simple sock. In late 1998, during the thick of the Steve Austin-Vince McMahon war, Mankind was being used as comic relief ("The son Vince never had"). One memorable skit had Vince recouperating in the hospital from an Austin attack, only to be entertained against his will by the goofy Mankind. Mankind proceeded to do an improvised puppet show, using a sock dubbed "Mr. Socko". The next week, he put the sock on his hand before performing his Mandible Claw finisher, and the gimmick took off from there. The sock now has it's own t-shirt. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.17 Who are the Von Erichs? To begin with, there are no "real" Von Erichs. The Adkisson family has used the last name "Von Erich" for their wrestling personas for years. The patriarch of the Adkisson/Von Erich clan is Jack Adkisson. He took the ring name Fritz Von Erich and wrestled in the 50's and 60's with a Nazi German gimmick, complete with goose step and iron claw. Jack had six sons, five of whom were involved with wrestling. Waldo Von Erich was Bill Sheppard, no relation to the Adkissons. He formed a successful tag team in the 60's with Fritz. Kevin Von Erich began wrestling in the mid-70s. He rarely competed outside of his home state. His few trips out of Texas saw him compete in Japan, and in St. Louis. Kevin is currently semi-retired. Kevin is the only of Fritz's sons still alive. David Von Erich (nicknamed "the Yellow Rose of Texas") began wrestling on June 28, 1977. David was the most successful of the Von Erich boys in the late 70s and early 80s, competing in St. Louis, Japan and Florida, as well as his home state of Texas. David was found dead in his hotel room in Japan on February 10, 1984. His dreams of winning the NWA World title were never realized. Kerry Von Erich achieved the most national fame of the Von Erich boys. His pinnacle came on May 6th, 1984, when he defeated Ric Flair for the NWA World title in Texas Stadium, at a memorial card for David. This event made Fritz and Kerry the only father and son duo to hold World singles titles (Fritz had held the AWA title in 1963) Kerry lost the title back to Flair in Japan on May 24, 1984. Kerry's entire career was haunted by troubles stemming from drug use. On June 4, 1986, Kerry was involved in an automobile accident in which his right leg was severely damaged. It wasn't until after Kerry's death in 1993 that his family would confirm that he had lost his foot in the accident. He wrestled for the rest of his career with a prosthesis on his leg. He did not return to the ring full time until late 1987. On February 18, 1993, Kerry shot himself in the heart at his home in Sandy Shore, TX. He was 33. Mike Von Erich debuted in November, 1983. Months later he was thrust in the role of being David's successor, a role he never quite looked comfortable in. In 1985, on a tour of Israel, Mike suffered a shoulder separation on an exceptionally hard ring. During recovery, Mike contracted toxic-shock syndrome. He recovered, but he had lost much weight and strength during his layoff. He returned to the ring in July 1986. Mike died on April 13, 1987, at the age of 23, of an intentional overdose of Placidyl (depressant/muscle relaxant). Chris Von Erich, the youngest of Fritz's sons, began appearing at ringside for his brothers matches in the mid-80s. He was involved in a few angles. He finally made his wrestling debut in the late 80's. Chris died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on September 12, 1991. Chris was 21. In 1985, Fritz brought in Kevin William Vaughn, using the ring name Lance Von Erich, and billed as a cousin of the Von Erich boys, a son of Waldo. In reality, he was no relation to either Fritz's family or Waldo. Fritz's plan of creating a new Von Erich eventually backfired, after Lance left Fritz's promotion and Fritz admitted publicly that he actually wasn't related. Recently in Texas, local wrestler Rick Lerebeus has been wrestling as Mark Von Erich. Fritz Von Erich himself passed away 08/10/1997 due to lung cancer, adding to the sad tragedy that is the Von Erich family. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.18 - Goldust 1.18.1. Is Goldust really gay? No. Neither the character nor the person, Dustin Rhodes, is a homosexual. Dustin is married with a child, and it was stated by WWF announcers on several occasions that the Goldust character was simply playing mind-games with the opposition, and Goldust himself stated on Monday Night RAW in response to a query from Jerry Lawler that he was not, quote, queer, unquote. The political reasons behind the original gimmick change and the sudden change of heart about it are an interesting read, but have little to do with the basic fact that the WWF's story is that Goldust is not gay and never was. 1.18.2. Is he really married to Marlena? Yes. Dustin Rhodes (Runnels) married Terri Boatwright sometime in 1992 while the two were in WCW and they have a child, Dakota. Teri was known as Alexandra York at the time and Dustin brought her into the WWF at Royal Rumble 1996 as his "director". 1.18.3. How many times did he win the I-C title? Three. He cleanly pinned Razor Ramon to win the championship at Royal Rumble 1996 for his first title, that much is certain. However, he later faced Savio Vega for the championship and the result was the title being held up pending a rematch. Goldust won the rematch to claim the title for a second time. However, traditionally a title being held up does not equate vacancy, and Goldust should have still been considered the champion while it was held up. Which is why so many people feel that an extra title reign because of the controversy is unfair. He recently had a short title reign, defeating Jesse Jammes and losing to the Godfather soon after. The WWF stands by three, however, so that is what this document must stand by. 1.18.4. Why was he fired from WCW in 1995? Blood. At the first Uncensored card in 1995, Dustin and Blacktop Bully had a "King of the Road" match, waged in the back of a truck. Despite a very strict anti-blood policy being enforced by WCW at the time, Dustin and the Bully both bladed themselves at the behest of booker Mike Graham. All three were fired from WCW in short order, and Dustin showed up in the WWF not long after. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.19 - Vader 1.19.1. Why did Big Van Vader become Vader? When Leon White left New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1.1993, New Japan claimed that it owned the rights to the Big Van Vader gimmick, as well as the name. New Japan won a minor victory, causing WCW to simply bill White as Vader from then on. The courts ruled that due to the popularity of George Lucas' Star Wars movies, New Japan couldn't claim rights on the name Vader alone. 1.19.2. What happened with Paul Orndorff? In 1995, during the last days of Vader's tenure in WCW, Vader and booker Paul Orndorff were involved in a backstage argument which lead to blows. Orndorff took Vader down and beat on him with his one good arm for a bit before the fight was broken up. WCW chose to blow this incident completely out of proportion given Vader's jump to the WWF and use it as proof of how much tougher WCW's wrestlers were. 1.19.3. What happened in Kuwait? Vader was on a Kuwaiti talk show in April of 1997, and when host Bassam Al Otham asked whether or not wrestling was fake, Vader essentially lost control and attacked the host. He was detained in Kuwait briefly following the incident, then was allowed to return to the US pending trial. The end result was a whopping $200 US fine and a proverbial smack on the wrist. 1.19.4. Why did he leave the WWF? He was fired. Despite repeated warnings from WWF officials to control his weight problem or face suspension (or worse), Vader continued to gain weight to lose mobility, until he was simply at the point where he was a hinderance to the WWF. He was released from his contract late in 1998, with the caveat that All Japan and ECW were the only major promotions where he could work, and he signed with All Japan and is currently enjoying success there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.20 - The New Breed 1.20.1. Who were the New Breed? Chris Champion and Sean Royal. 1.20.2. Where are they now? Champion wrestled in WCW in 1993 as "Yoshi Kwan" and later teamed with brother Mark Starr as WildSide in the USWA. He remains in the independent federations today. Sean Royal is retired and was last seen working in the construction business. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.21 - Demolition 1.21.1. Who was a member? Demolition was originally comprised of Ax (Bill Eadie) and Smash (Randy Culley). The original Smash was fired by the WWF very shortly after the team began and was replaced by Smash (Barry Darsow, formerly known as Khruscher Kruschev). Crush (Bryan Adams) was added to the team in 1990. Ax was fired in 1991 and the team was Crush and Smash upon their breakup in the same year. Ax wrestled in the independents as the "New Demolition" with a wrestler named Flash, but legal threats from the WWF ended this team very quickly. 1.21.2. Why was Ax fired? Ax developed a fairly serious heart problem in 1990 which prevented him from wrestling full-time, and thus Crush was added to take the stress off of him. Eventually it got so bad that the risk was no longer worth it for a team whose time had obviously come and gone, so he was fired. 1.21.3. Did they ever wrestle The Road Warriors? Yes. Demolition faced them in several six-man tag matches featuring the 3 of them against Hawk, Animal and the Ulimate Warrior, and at one house show in 1990 Crush was injured and Warrior no-showed so it was left as a tag team cage match between the original Demolition -- Ax and Smash -- against Hawk and Animal. The LOD won, in case you couldn't guess that. This was the one and only meeting between the two teams. Many people have the impression that they wrestled each other in 1988, but this was a result of Demolition wrestling a lookalike team called the Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian) on many occasions, a deliberate misconception on the WWF's part. 1.21.4. Is Demolition getting back together? Very doubtful. The only place they could re-unite, legally, is the WWF, although the Darsow-Adams team could be re-united under another name in WCW. Bill Eadie is currently involved in a lawsuit with the WWF over the Demolition name and Darsow is signed to a contract with WCW, so it is unlikely either man would return any time soon. In short, don't count on seeing them again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.22 - Brutus Beefcake 1.22.1. Is he really Hulk Hogan's brother? No. Ed Leslie and Terry Bollea are good friends in real life, but are not related in any way. 1.22.2. How many identities has he had? "Dizzy" Ed Boulder, Brutus Beefcake, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Furface, Brother Bruti, The Butcher, The Man with No Name, The Man With No Face, The Zodiac Man, The Clipmaster, the Booty Man and most recently the "Disciple". 1.22.3. What happened to his face? About two weeks before Summerslam 90, Beefcake and B. Brian Blair were parasailing, and an accident caused Blair to go spinning out of control and hit Beefcake in the face with his knees. Beefcake's entire face was shattered, and it ruined his career. His entire face had to be surgically reconstructed almost from scratch, and he didn't fully recover until 1993. He did make a few appearances as Furface, however. 1.22.4. Furface??? Yep. You probably remember him. You know, back in 1991, a heel like Earthquake or the Mountie would be wrestling a squash match, and suddenly this guy with a fur mask and an indian beaded vest would run down and headbutt the heel out of the ring? That was Beefcake. It went on for about a month before everyone realized that he wasn't fully healed yet and simply dropped the whole thing. As a minor point of interest, his official name was going to either be "The Mariner" or "The Avenger" but it never caught on so was forgotten. 1.22.5. Was he supposed to turn on Hulk Hogan in 1994? No. Originally the plan was for the "masked man" to be Curt Hennig, who would cost Hogan the title against Ric Flair and lead to a reunion of Hennig and Flair. Unfortunately for WCW, they were unable to offer Hennig enough money to make giving up his insurance settlement worthwhile, and Hogan was unwilling to job the World title to Ric Flair. The end result was that Beefcake was stuck into the Black Scorpion suit as the evil turncoat and faced Hogan at Starrcade that year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.23 - Doink 1.23.1. Who was Doink? There were, in fact, several men to don the clown suit. The original, and best, was Matt Borne, who began making appearances in the stands in 1992 and lasted until 1994 as the evil clown. At Wrestlemania IX, Doink II debuted: Steve "Skinner" Keirn. He was the one under the ring who attacked Crush and later did all the pantomime skits with Borne. Once Doink turned face, the part was taken over by Steve Lombardi, who got beaten at house shows as Doink on a regular basis. At Wrestlemania X, Ray Licachelli officially stepped into the big floppy shoes, along with sidekick Dink the Clown (midget wrestler Tiger Jackson). Finally, at Survivor Series that year, LukeDoink, ButchDoink, MoDoink and MabelDoink came into the picture, although they looked suspiciously like the Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission. 1.23.2. Who the hell is Ray Licachelli? No one knows. As far as anyone can tell, he's just some guy they found almost off the street and decided to stick in the clown suit. He's been incorrectly referred as to being the former Phil Apollo, which is wrong and is based on reports of him wrestling as "Ray Apollo" which is also wrong because no one has heard of that guy either. As of this writing, it is reported that Ray is doing the gimmick at independant shows, most recently with Afa's MSWF promotion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.24 - Hacksaw Jim Duggan 1.24.1. Was Duggan arrested in 1987? Yes. On 05/26/1987, Duggan and "hated rival" Iron Sheik were driving home together after a house show when they were pulled over by the police due to Duggan's erratic driving. The police officer discovered Duggan was driving while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, and found the Sheik to be in possession of various drugs, including cocaine and marijuana. Duggan was released and the Sheik was given a year's probation. 1.24.2. Did he have cancer? Yes. In 1998, Duggan was diagnosed with cancer of the liver, which reportedly was in the form of a tumor the size of a football. Duggan underwent surgery and made a full recovery. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.25 - Jerry Lawler 1.25.1. What happened with Andy Kaufman? Kaufman, who had made it known several times that he wished to be a professional wrestling manager, and specifically a heel, began having "intergender" matches in 1981 with women, and of course winning easily. He followed this up with a series of insulting video segments directed towards wrestling fans in general, and Memphis wrestling fans in particular. Finally, he was challenged by wrestler Jerry Lawler to a one-on-one match, which Lawler won easily and injured Kaufman's neck in the process. In July of 1982, Kaufman and Lawler appeared on an episode of Late Night with David Letterman, talking about the rivalry, during which Andy was pushed around by Lawler, and responded with an out-of-control profanity-laden tirade, and walked off the set. It made national headlines. He returned to Memphis shortly after as a heel manager, and Lawler ended up getting his final revenge on Kaufman. All of the above was a carefully crafted work and was 100% fake. Just to clear that up. Lawler and Kaufman were friends in real life. To further complicate the situation, Lawler and Jim Carrey have reportedly gotten into on-set altercations that closely mirror the above incidents while filming the Andy Kaufman bio film. These are also 100% fake and are merely for publicity, although the legitimate press is once again eating every moment of it. 1.25.2. Did he rape a girl in 1993? No one knows for sure, but in the eyes of the law, no. In 1993, a 15-year old girl accused Lawler of raping and sodomizing her earlier in the year, and Lawler was to be indicted and tried for the crime. However, in the early part of 1994, she admitted to lying about the entire incident, and Lawler returned to the WWF without further mention of it shortly thereafter. Lawler's taste in women is widely known in wrestling circles, however, so as always, use your own judgment. 1.25.3. How many times has he won the USWA title? From it's inception in 1989 until it's death in 1997, Lawler held the USWA World title an amazing 27 times, which is not counting the title's previous lineage in the CWA and/or WCCW. The various dates and opponents will not be listed here, and the reader is encouraged to look them up himself if so desired. As a sidenote, Jerry Lawler is credited with more championships in total than any other wrestler in the history of the industry, by far. His total sat at more than 200 regional and World titles won at the time of his retirement. 1.25.4. Is he related to the Honky Tonk Man? Yes. Jerry Lawler and Wayne Ferris are cousins. 1.25.5. Did he get into a fight with Jim Carrey? No. During filming of Carrey's "Man in the Moon" movie about the life of Andy Kaufman, stories were circulated about Carrey getting "too much into character" and attacking Lawler, and a huge brawl breaking out. These were merely planted stories to generate the same buzz amidst the press that the original Kaufman-Lawler incident did, thus showing that Andy could still work 'em from the grave. 1.25.6. Who is Miss Kitty? Lawler's real-life girlfriend was brought in as a secondary valet for Jeff Jarrett and Debra in 1999, dubbed "Miss Kitty". Lawler has stated for the record that they have been in a serious relationship for almost nine years, and she is NOT older than his son Brian Christopher, as has been widely "reported" on the internet. Kitty is not associated with Lawler onscreen in the WWF. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.26 - Ravishing Rick Rude 1.26.1. Why didn't he wrestle after 1994? In 1994, he won the bogus World title from Sting in a match in Japan. During the course of this match, Sting jumped off the top rope and landed on Rude's neck, fracturing vertabrae. Rude was forced into retirement within weeks of the match due to extreme pain, and was then fired by WCW due to breach of contract because they didn't believe the injury was as bad as Rude was claiming. Rude collected millions on a very lucrative insurance policy for the next three years, before making a surprise appearance in ECW, then the WWF, and then finally WCW. His death in April of 1999 finally put an end to his pain. He was, ironically, training for a comeback at the time of his death. 1.26.2. Did he change his name to Ravishing Rick Rude? Yes, which is why he can call himself as such in any federation he chooses. He legally had his name changed from Richard Rood to Ravishing Rick Rude. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.27 - Curt Hennig 1.27.1. Why didn't he wrestle from 1994 until 1997? At Summerslam '91, Hennig suffered a very serious back injury against Bret Hart, and was forced to take more than a year off to recover. He managed Ric Flair in the interim, and when he made his return at Survivor Series 1992, he made sure to take out a very lucrative insurance policy with Lloyds of London in case such an injury occurred again. And just before Survivor Series 1993, he reinjured his back and was forced into "retirement" while collecting a yearly settlement numbering into the millions of dollars. By December of 1996, he was either ready to return to the ring or the insurance company was unwilling to continue paying someone as obviously healthy as Hennig was, but in either case the WWF made him enough of an offer that he agreed to begin wrestling again. 1.27.2. Did he lose the AWA World title to Greg Gagne in 1987? Yes and no. In a match in Gagne's home state of Minnesota, Gagne cleanly pinned Hennig in a cage match (albeit with some controversy) to win the AWA World title. The title change had not been cleared with the AWA's head bookers. This set off a power struggle between various AWA promoters, which was a harbinger of the chaos to come, as one faction recognized Gagne as the champion and another recognized Hennig. A deal was worked out where Hennig would beat Gagne in a rematch to end the controversy. Hennig lost the title to Jerry Lawler shortly after. Greg Gagne may or may not be a former champion, although most people prefer to simply ignore the whole thing. 1.27.3. Was he drunk on Nitro? Maybe. Officially, of course, WCW denies anything, but many have pointed out that Hennig (then noticeably pudgy) exhibited the classic signs of intoxication, including actually falling over during an interview. Reports were that all alcohol was banned backstage as a result, and Hennig has since lost weight, gained speed, and stopped tripping over imaginary objects. The author leaves it to the reader to make his own decisions on the matter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.28 - Ray Traylor 1.28.1. What identites has he used? At various points in his career, Ray has been called Big Bubba Rogers, War Machine, Big Bossman, The Boss, The Guardian Angel, Big Bubba, Ray Traylor, and then back to Big Bossman again. 1.28.2. Is he a former prison guard? Yes, he actually did work as a former prison guard, in Cobb County, GA, which really does exist. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.29 - The Undertaker 1.29.1. How many have there been? One. Mark Callaway is, and has always been, the only Undertaker. 1.29.2. Didn't he start under a different name? Yes. He was introduced at Survivor Series 1990 as The Undertaker and was managed by Brother Love, who was in turn financed by Ted Dibiase. He was given a character makeover shortly thereafter, to "Kane, The Undertaker", still managed by Brother Love, and finally the Kane part was dropped again and manager Paul Bearer was added. 1.29.3. Was he ever in WCW? Yes. Mark Callaway competed under the name "Mean" Mark Callous in 1990, first as part of the Skyscrapers then as a singles wrestler. He can be seen challenging Lex Luger for the US title at Great American Bash 90 in his only singles match of any note in that organization. 1.29.4. What was the Underfaker/Overtaker/Fake Undertaker? This will require a bit of explanation. In 1990, Undertaker was introduced to the WWF by Ted Dibiase. The storyline here says that he felt slighted by the Undertaker's betrayal of him to go with Paul Bearer. In 1993, Undertaker began a feud with WWF champion Yokozuna at Survivor Series. They fought in a casket match for the title at Royal Rumble 1994. During the course of that match, 10 different wrestlers ran out to interfere on Yokozuna's behalf, beating up the Undertaker and locking him in the casket and thus giving Yokozuna the win. After that match, Undertaker appeared on the video wall and gave a long speech stating how he was not really dead and would return or some such nonsense. The lights went out and Marty Jannetty, dressed in an Undertaker costume, was raised to the roof of the arena in a crucifix position, in order to give the illusion of being the Undertaker and ascending to the heavens. In reality, Mark Callaway needed time off for family matters. This was just a new and very original way to give him that time off. Undertaker was not to be seen again in the WWF until after Wrestlemania X, when Ted Dibiase introduced...his Undertaker. This was Brian Lee dressed and acting like Mark Callaway, and most people could tell the difference immediately. A match between the Undertaker and the Underfaker was signed for Summerslam 1994 with very little real storyline or buildup, and at that show the real Undertaker disposed of the fake one with ease and pinned him after three Tombstones. Underfaker was never to be seen or spoken of again in the WWF, and is considered a "taboo" subject, much like the "new" Razor Ramon and Diesel have become. 1.29.5. Who is Kane? If you mean who plays Kane, it's Glen Jacobs. If you mean who is Kane the character, it's the Undertaker's little brother gone bad. The storyline states that Undertaker and Kane were playing with matches as children, and as a result their parents were killed in a fire started by Undertaker, and Kane was hideously deformed, which is why he wears the mask. 1.29.6. Didn't he beat Hulk Hogan? Yes. At Survivor Series 1991, he scored a (mostly) clean pinfall over Hulk Hogan to capture his first WWF World title. Most fans are willing to forgive Ric Flair's interference. :) 1.29.7. What was with that mask he wore in 1995? In 1995, during the (brief) Bill Watts era in the WWF, Mabel was being given a monster heel push, which included destroying Undertaker with a series of legdrops to the face. According to the storyline, Undertaker suffered eye damage and had to wear a purple face-mask to shield him from further damage upon returning. His facial features appeared slightly different while wearing the mask, prompting the usual "Was it really the Undertaker?" nonsense on RSPW. It was, of course, really the Undertaker, not Brian Lee or anyone else. He may or may not have had plastic surgery during the time off, thus explaining the facial differences, but it was still plain old Mark Callaway. 1.29.8. What was the "logofixion"? In a late-1998 episode of RAW, in order to build heat for his upcoming match against Steve Austin and cement him as a heel, a huge representation of the Undertaker's symbol was erected by the entranceway. Austin was then tied to the symbol in a Christ-like pose, and the whole works was set on fire. Many people were offended by the so-called logofixion (before actually seeing the show) and having seen the show, generally brushed it off as silliness. 1.29.9. Who are the Corporate Ministry? Formerly known as the Ministry of Darkness, the Corporate Ministry consists of Undertaker, HHH, Mideon, Viscera, Bradshaw, Faarooq and the Big Bossman. Their goal, as with everyone else in the WWF, seems to be to destroy Steve Austin. They answer to a mysterious "higher power". They are composed of the remnants of two former teams: The Corporation and the Ministry. Former members of the Corporation include Paul Wight, Ken Shamrock and Test. Former members of the Ministry include Gangrel, Edge and Christian. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.30 - Stevie Richards 1.30.1. Who is the Blue Meanie? A big, fat, weird-looking guy who presented Stevie with a "Flock of Seagulls" t-shirt at November to Remember 1995 and became his best friend and partner from then on. He had blue hair, hence the name. The name is in reference to the Beatles' movie "Yellow Submarine" with the main villains being the Blue Meanies. 1.30.2. Who have Steve and the Meanie impersonated? Shawn Michaels, Diesel, The Fabulous Ones, Goldust, Baron Von Raschke, Public Enemy, The nWo, the Bluebloods and KISS. 1.30.3. What is the bWo? Who have been members? Perhaps the crowning glory of Stevie's goofiness was the Blue World Order, which debuted at November to Remember 1996 and spoofed WCW's New World Order. T-shirts still sell to this day, long after they disbanded. Members were Big Stevie Cool (Richards as Kevin Nash), Da Blue Guy (The Blue Meanie as Scott Hall), "Hollywood" Bob Starr (Supernova as Hulk Hogan), 7-11 (Rob Feinstein as Syxx), Thomas "Inchworm" Rodman (you figure it out), Taka Michinoku, Men's Teioh and Dick Togo (The latter three were "bWo International" at Barely Legal). 1.30.4. Where is Stevie today? In May of 1997, Stevie suffered a neck injury so severe that he announced his retirement, before miraculously recovering and signing with WCW. Many people, especially Paul Heyman, debate the legitimacy of the injury to this day. By October of 1997, Stevie had left WCW and returned to ECW after failing medical exams in WCW due to his neck problems. He made up a story about being forced into retirement (again) before making a surprise appearance at November to Remember 1997. Finally, two weeks after reappearing with ECW, he was forced into retirement (for a third time) and actually underwent major neck surgery to prevent permanent paralysis. He suffered vocal chord damage as a side effect. He has recently returned to wrestling full-time in the WWF. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.31 - Diamond Dallas Page 1.31.1. Is he really married to Kimberly? Yes. Page and Kimberly Falkenberg are husband and wife in real life and have been for a while. 1.31.2. Didn't Kimberly pose nude for Playboy? Yes. She and DDP posed for a special "celebrity" issue in 1997, and Kimberly was completely naked in many of the shots. She has recently done another, equally naked, spread. 1.31.3. Didn't he used to be a manager? Yes. He managed Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond to the AWA World tag team titles in 1987 and later arrived in WCW, debuting as the manager of the Fabulous Freebirds in 1990, then splitting off on his own and managing The Diamond Studd (Scott Hall) before becoming a wrestler and teaming with Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash). That's why everyone expected him to join the nWo when it was in it's early stages -- because he was so closely connected with both Hall and Nash during that stage of their careers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.32 - Raven 1.32.1. What other identities has he used? Scott Levy started out in Memphis as Scotty The Body, temporarily changed his name to Scott Anthony, signed with WCW as Scotty Flamingo, joined the WWF as manager Johnny Polo, and finally debuted in ECW as Raven. 1.32.2. Who were in Raven's Nest? This is the ECW version of Raven's stable of wrestlers: Raven, Stevie Richards, Johnny Hotbody, Tony Stetson, The Pitbulls, Dudley Dudley, Dances with Dudley, Buh Buh Ray Dudley, Big Dick Dudley, Chubby Dudley, Sign Guy Dudley, Little Snot Dudley, Beulah McGillicuty, Lori Fullington, Tyler Fullington, Lupus, Reggie Bennett, Chastity, Cactus Jack, Brian Lee, Ron & Don Bruise and Kimona Wannalaya. 1.32.3. Who are in Raven's Flock? No one. The Flock was disbanded as of Fall Brawl 98 after Raven's defeat to Saturn. However, this was the last WCW version of Raven's stable of wrestlers: Raven, Lodi, Sick Boy, (Billy) Kidman, (Ron) Reese, (Scotty) Riggs, (Chris) Kanyon and Horace (Boulder). Steve Richards left the group in October. Lodi was originally called Skank. Mortis was offered a position in the group but failed the "initiation test". Hammer was turfed out for being a loser. Saturn left because of unresolved playground issues with Raven, apparently. Kanyon (the unmasked Mortis) joined for unspecified reasons later. Reese and Kidman left for equally unspecified reasons. Kanyon remains as Raven's longtime companion and general mouthpiece. Lodi seems to hang around ex-Flock members due to withdrawl symptoms. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.33 - Al Snow 1.33.1. What the deal with the head? For most of 1997, Al Snow was an underappreciated jobber named Leif Cassidy who put over opponents regarded as much less talented and languished without heat or a gimmick. At the end of 1997, he was loaned to ECW as part of the ongoing "talent exchange" between the WWF and ECW (which has been entirely one-way) in order to find a gimmick that would work. Snow gave a few interviews acting crazy and nothing came of it, until he finally came upon a shoot interview where he described his experience in the WWF, summing it up by stating that in order to get a push, you had to "give a little head", in reference to the often-accused-never-proven "push for sex" policy in the WWF, and he would thus start giving a little head to his opponents. The little head in question was a mannequin head that he talked to as part of the insanity gimmick, and the rest is history. 1.33.2. What does it say on the head? "Help me", written backwards. The same can be seen on Snow's forehead. 1.33.3. What is the J.O.B. Squad? Often seen on t-shirts now, the J.O.B. Squad is the somewhat-fictional group of wrestlers whose motto is "Pin me, pay me" and is used to include anyone who is viewed as underappreciated, underutilized or underpaid by their organization. They are opposed by the evil forces of P.U.S.H., which includes just about everyone on the upper tier of wrestling. Both terms are of course "wink-wink" references to insider terms. The group is currently dead, with Scorpio, Gillberg and the Meanie all fired, and Bob Holly going hardcore. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.34 - The Big Show 1.34.1. Is he really Andre's son? You'd think common sense would answer this one, but sadly it doesn't for many. Andre "The Giant" Rousimoff had one daughter, and that's it. The "Giant Jr." angle was made up by Hulk Hogan in an effort to lend heat to his 1995 feud with The Giant. Paul Wight is of no relation, although it's interesting to note that he does suffer from the same ailment that ended up killing Andre. 1.34.2. Is he a former tag team champion? A former two-time World champion? Yes and no. As with anything in wrestling, it depends on what WCW is recognizing at any given moment. At Halloween Havoc 95, Giant beat Hogan by disqualification, but it was later revealed that the DQ rule had been secretly waived for that match, which meant Giant was the World champion. He was immediately stripped of the title. It is unclear whether this constitutes a title reign, but it notable that WCW has never mentioned it again. At Superbrawl VII, Giant and Lex Luger cleanly defeated the Outsiders to win the tag team titles, but the next night Eric Bischoff forced them to give the belts back to the Outsiders. Common sense would dictate that this is not a title reign, but WCW feels otherwise as of late and is declaring it an official reign. So this document must stand by the official decision of the federation, no matter how stupid. With Wight's likely permanent defection the WWF, the entire point is moot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.35 - Chris Benoit 1.35.1. Has he ever held a title in WCW? Yes. Benoit finally got a title at Uncensored 99, capturing the World tag team titles with Dean Malenko. He followed this up by winning the US title from David Flair in August of 1999, and then the TV title in September. Benoit's recent gimmick has been the "greatest wrestler without a title" one, although he has received a few shots at the US title (against Sasaki in 1995, Malenko in 1997 and Page in 1998) and a few shots at the TV title in 1998. Benoit and Booker T traded the TV title twice at house shows early in May of 1998, but WCW did *not* recognize them on their television programming and thus they did not happen. 1.35.2. Has he ever wrestled in the WWF? Yes. He wrestled three tryout matches in 1995, losing all of them and not impressing anyone enough to get a job. He signed with WCW shortly thereafter. 1.35.3. Why does he lose so much? Well, he doesn't really, but that's the perception. His main problem is being pushed to a higher level on the card and then jobbed to make others look better. This has been happening since early 1996. Why? The most widely accepted theory is that the marriage of WCW booker Kevin Sullivan and Nancy (Woman) Sullivan was broken up largely due to an affair between Benoit and Nancy. Benoit was managed by Woman at the time, and she appears with him in public often, adding to this theory. Sullivan, for whatever reason, was given control of the bookings of Benoit and "punished" him with endless jobs in retaliation for the affair. This would seem to be exceedingly unprofessional on Sullivan's part and the kind of spiteful thing one could get fired for, which is a negative against the theory. No one but Kevin Sullivan, Benoit and Woman really know for sure, one would guess. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.36 - The Nation of Domination / The Rock 1.36.1. Who have been members? There are three distinct "versions" of the Nation of Domination Nation 1.0, 1996: Faarooq and manager Clarence Mason, along with a group of nameless lackies (including D-Lo Brown) form the Nation of Domination, as a sort of parody of Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. The very white Crush joins as a matter of convenience (he was already managed by Mason) and Savio Vega joins a few months later, turning on partner Ahmed Johnson. Nation 2.0, 1997: Disgusted by the constant in-fighting, Faarooq fires everyone but D-Lo and brings in longtime enemy Ahmed Johnson and Kama Mustafa. Rocky Maivia joins in August and immediately begins lobbying for leadership of the group. Nation 2.5, 1997: Rocky brings in Mark Henry above Faarooq's head and leadership bounces between them. Nation 3.0, 1998: Rocky dumps Faarooq from the group permanently and brings in Owen Hart to replace him, declaring himself the ruler of the group and re-naming it the Nation. Nation ?.?, 1998: Remaining members D-Lo, Kama and Mark Henry dump the newly face-turned Maivia from the group on an episode of Sunday Night Heat. The group disbands soon after. 1.36.2. Why did Rocky suck? In 1996, Vince McMahon brought in a very green Rocky Maivia as the "next big thing" and immediately pushed him down the fans' throats as a mega-babyface, despite the fact that the fans couldn't stand him. This was made worse by Rocky's victory over HHH for the Intercontinental title in February of 1997, which annoyed fans so much that they began chanting "Rocky sucks!" at every appearance he made in the ring. This finally became an advantage when Rocky turned heel in mid-1997, as the "Rocky Sucks" chant became his trademark. His recent heel turn caused a resurgance in the chant. 1.36.3. What's with "The People's [X]"? What's a "rooty poo"? One of Rocky's catchphrases is to call himself "The People's Champion", and given the wrestling fandom's propensity for spreading a really good catchphrase, it collectively dubbed his over-blown elbow drop "The People's Elbow", and his trademark eyebrow-lift "The People's Eyebrow". Others have followed, but those are the most widely used. On another note, Rock has been known to call people a "rooty poo", which is a reference to a similar insult used by Iceman Parsons in the mid-80s. It essentially means "wimp, loser or pansy". 1.36.4. Where have I seen The Godfather before? Probably as Papa Shango, in 1992, as the voodoo master. Or as Kama, the Supreme Fighting Machine, in 1996 as part of Ted Dibiase's Corporation. 1.36.5. ...and why *did* Ahmed Johnson join the Nation, anyway? Often cited as one of the most senseless heel turns in recent history, Ahmed Johnson's joining of his bitter foes was actually explained by the WWF announcers. In the weeks leading up to the heel turn, much was made of his gang roots and how he needed a gang situation to stay focused, and that the Nation certainly was a gang. At the "Cold Day in Hell" show in May of 1997, he fought all three Nation members (Faarooq, Savio, Crush) and was unable to beat them, causing the announcers to speculate he might have a new respect for Faarooq. And after he did join, he was to receive a shot at WWF champion Undertaker, but was forced to give up the shot due to an injury. In fact, injuries were much of the problem with the whole turn, as he was away from the WWF for most of it. This is not to say the turn actually made sense in the long run, because it didn't, but it's not like the WWF didn't make *any* effort to explain it. 1.36.6. ...and why *was* Ahmed Johnson dumped from the Nation so soon? Injuries and politics. The heat generated by the heel turn was in fact too much, as Faarooq's "leadership" was disregarded by the fans, who now openly acknowledged the bad-ass Johnson as the true leader of the Nation. Faarooq felt this was diminishing his status in the federation, and combined with Johnson's increasing injuries, this was enough to cause the WWF to book an angle whereby Johnson would be dumped from the group and replaced with Rocky Maivia, who ironically would completely usurp the spotlight from Faarooq more completely and thoroughly then Johnson ever could have. This turn, it should be noted, was not explained in any meaningful form due to the last-minute nature of the booking. 1.36.7. What were the "Gang Wars" about? In the "It seemed like a good idea at the time" department, the original split of the Nation produced three factions: The Nation of Domination (led by Faarooq), the Disciples of Apocolypse (led by Crush) and Los Boriquas (led by Savio Vega). These twelve men fought each other in various combinations for months, with no one getting a real advantage. It is widely regarded as a very bad idea that produced some very bad matches. The Truth Commission also was mixed into the Gang Wars, but we don't like to talk about them. 1.36.8. Was Clarence Mason really a lawyer? Yes. He was a part of the WWF's legal team who demonstrated a knack for managing, and was given a job as Crush's manager and lawyer as part of an angle. He did well and was expanded to a full-time manager by Summerslam 96. He is, to the best of anyone's knowledge, still working as part of the WWF's legal consul to this day. 1.36.9. Why is Owen Hart a "nugget"? In November of 1997, Bret Hart got screwed, and Owen Hart took a leave of absense from the WWF to think things over. At the D-Generation X PPV in December, he returned to beat the hell out of Shawn Michaels following Shawn's match with Ken Shamrock. The next night on RAW, Shawn gave a speech comparing Owen to a nugget of feces that you just can't get rid of, no matter how many times you flush the toilet. The name was largely forgotten until the "new" D-X did a skit mocking the Nation, and impressionist Jason Sensation did a dead-on Owen Hart and stated that "[he] was not a nugget". The name caught on again as a result. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.37 - Bret Hart 1.37.1. How was Bret "screwed"? To make a very long story short: In 1996, Bret Hart signed a 20-year contract with the World Wrestling Federation. Mid-1997, Vince McMahon decided he no longer wished to honor that contract and informed Bret that he should feel free to look for employment elsewhere. But Vince was committed to putting the WWF title on Bret before it began, and did so at Summerslam 97. Bret accepted an offer from WCW, while still holding the WWF title, and wrestled Shawn Michaels for the title at Survivor Series 97. During the course of that match, Shawn got Bret in his own sharpshooter. Vince McMahon, sitting at ringside, ordered the match stopped and the belt awarded to Shawn, despite the lack of a submission on Bret's part. It was the first double-cross seen in the "Big Two" since the inception of the modern era in 1984. For full details on the incident the history surrounding it, please consult Appendix D. 1.37.2. What are the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM? Bret Hart's dreaded FIVE MOVES OF DOOM, capitalized as a way of expressing sarcasm by the newsgroup, are vertical suplex, russian legsweep, backbreaker, elbowdrop from the second rope and Sharpshooter, in that order. The cynicism on RSPW's part came about during 1995 when Bret essentially wrestled the same match on every PPV due to limiting opponents. 1.37.3. What titles has he held? Bret has held the WWF World title 5 times from 1992-1997, the Intercontinental title 2 times from 1991-1992, the WWF tag titles two times from 1987-1991, and the WCW US title three times in 1998. He added another US title in 1999, the WCW World title in November of 1999, and the tag team titles with Goldberg soon after. He also won numerous championships in Stampede Wrestling in the late 70s and early 80s. 1.37.4. How much money is he making in WCW? Most estimates place his three-year deal at around 3 million dollars US per year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.38 - Roddy Piper 1.38.1. What movies has he starred in? From the Internet Movie DataBase: Shepherd (1998) Dead Tides (1997/I) .... Mick Leddy ... aka Swept Away (1997) (USA: working title) ... aka True Vengeance (1996) (USA: working title) ... aka White Tides (1997) (USA: working title) Bad Pack, The (1997) .... Dash Simms Sci-fighters (1996) .... Cameron Jungleground (1995) .... Lt. Jake Cornel Marked Man (1995) .... Frank Gibson Terminal Rush (1995) .... Bartel Tough and Deadly (1995) .... Elmo Freech Back in Action (1994) .... Frank Rossi Immortal Combat (1994) .... John Keller No Contest (1994) .... Ice Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage, The (1990) (TV) .... Maurice Steiger ... aka Love Boat: A Summer Cruise, The (1990) (TV) Buy & Cell (1989) They Live (1988) .... Nada ... aka John Carpenter's They Live (1988) (USA: complete title) Highwayman, The (1987) (TV) .... Preacher ... aka Terror on the Blacktop (1987) (TV) Body Slam (1987) .... Quick Rick Roberts Hell Comes to Frogtown (1987) .... Sam Hell 1.38.2. What titles has he held? Piper has held too many regional championships to name here, but the only major titles he has held are the WWF Intercontinental title, won from the Mountie in 1992, and the WCW US title, won from Bret Hart early in 1999. He won a version of the WCW US heavyweight title in 1983 as well, but with the murky lineage of NWA regional titles before 1988, it's hard to say for certain that it's the same as the one today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.39 - Andre the Giant 1.39.1. Did he have a drinking problem? He drank a lot, but it was hardly a problem. A man Andre's size can drink amounts of alcohol that will bring a smaller man to his knees. Andre was reputed to be able to drink entire six-packs of beer without feeling so much as a buzz. In his later years, he tended his own winery in France, but it had nothing to do with his eventual death. 1.39.2. Was he really undefeated for 10 years? Yes. His last recorded defeat before Wrestlemania III was prior to 1977, so the undefeated claim was a legitimate one. This is not to say Andre didn't lose before then -- it just means that there is no recorded evidence of it happening. 1.39.3. Did he ever wrestle Hulk Hogan *before* WMIII? On the other hand, the WWF's claims of Wrestlemania III being the first meeting between Hulk and Andre were completely false. Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant wrestled each other a number of times prior to Hogan's assent to stardom, most notably in the famous Shea Stadium card in 1981, a WWF show. Andre won that night, by the way. 1.39.4. How did he die? Andre suffered from a life-long weakness of the heart due to his immense size. His heart was simply no longer able to circulate blood by the time he was in his 40s and at a huge weight. He died, peacefully in his sleep, while attending the funeral of his father in 1993. He is missed by all who knew him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.40 - Eric Bischoff 1.40.1. What did he do for WCW? His actual job duties seemed to change daily, but his official title was "President of World Championship Wrestling". He dictated the overall direction of the company, did the majority of the booking, oversaw the day-to-day operations of the technical aspects of WCW, signed wrestlers, negotiated contracts, and generally had all the power that Vince McMahon has in the WWF. Excepting that WCW is part of a larger conglomerate with a noted lack of patience for failure, which means that Eric can be fired at any time and Vince cannot. And indeed, in September of 1999, Bischoff was removed from his post as President and replaced by a combination of financial man Bill Busch and the creative team of Vince Russo & Ed Ferrera. 1.40.2. How long did he work for WCW? His first broadcast was at Great American Bash 1991, which is notable for generally being considered the worst PPV of all time. He rose to power in early 1993 when Bill Watts was fired/quit by WCW management. He was initially a puppet for the larger WTBS executives who ran the company according to a "money first" philosophy, and when that strategy didn't pan out, Hulk Hogan was signed in 1994 and immediately paid off with higher revenues. This solidified Bischoff's position as Vice President, a position was further solidified with the onset of Nitro in 1995. Bischoff was promoted to President of WCW at some undetermined point between mid-1997 and the present. It's nearly impossible to tell exactly when because the changeover was mainly cosmetic, and the PPV credits still retained Bischoff as "Executive Vice President". And he was fired in September of 1999. 1.40.3. What does "on the fly" booking mean? One of Bischoff's primary strategies was to use "on the fly" booking, which means that matches are undetermined until the night of the show (in the case of Nitro and Thunder) and finishes are undetermined until the night of the show (in the case of PPV events). With the huge roster WCW boasts, it's relatively easy to simply put 4 or 5 random matches on, rather than taking the time to plan out a more cohesive storyline. However, the storylines that do emerge tend to be rather haphazard as a result and continuity from show to show is minimal. 1.40.4. Who thought of Nitro? Eric Bischoff. Ted Turner wanted a wrestling show on Monday nights, but the format and original template belong to Bischoff alone. 1.40.5. What's with the lawnmower jokes? In his (much) younger years working for Verne Gagne in the AWA in it's declining years, Bischoff's job duties were those of an all-purpose gopher, such as getting coffee, running errands and reportedly mowing Verne Gagne's lawn. As a result, Bischoff was eventually promoted to an announcing position, and when Gagne decided to pass on the AWA's reign of power... 1.40.6. What's with the AWA jokes in general? ...Eric Bischoff took over in 1990. His run was widely regarded as a total and complete disaster in every sense of the word, although the organization was as good as dead anyway so it can hardly be blamed on Eric. He created the maligned Team Challenge Series, which actually resulted in buildings so empty that they had to film in a studio and skip the crowd altogether. Larry Zbyszko was the last AWA World champion under Bischoff, and was (ironically) signed away by WCW while still holding the title, which effectively folded the AWA on the spot. 1.40.7. Is he really a black belt? Yes. Eric Bischoff is an accomplished martial artist and holds black belts in several disciplines. It is not just part of the character. 1.40.8. Is he going to the WWF to "invade"? Never say never, but it's not particularly likely. The main factor against that ever happening is the fact that he still has two years left on his contract as of this writing, with little incentive for WCW to let him out of it to work for a competitor. As well, the WWF's workers were the victims of numerous verbal shots from Bischoff during his tenure as WCW President, and that would guarantee his uniform unpopularity in the dressing room. So more than likely, it won't happen for a long time, if ever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.41 - Rob van Dam 1.41.1. Did he ever wrestle for the Big Two? Yes. In early 1993, he was in WCW as jobber "Robbie V" before returning to the independant scene. In early 1997, he wrestled on two episodes of RAW as part of the "ECW invasion" before returing to ECW. 1.41.2. Why is he "Mr. Monday Night"? His gimmick is that of a wrestler who loves to work Monday Nights and is constantly ready to ditch ECW for either of the major feds who will sign him. The gimmick debuted at Barely Legal as part of his "I don't respect anyone" storyline. It should be noted that neither of the major feds have any interest in signing him to the author's knowledge. It is merely a gimmick. 1.41.3. What is "RVD 4:20" referring to? 4:20 is a reference to a quantity of marijuana sold on the street, which would imply that Rob is a pot user. Rob isn't exactly subtle about it. It also refers to the police radio code for pot usage in California, and/or any number of unsubstantiated urban legends referring to pot. 4:20 means marijuana, bottom line, and the means from which the term originated can be said to be lost to time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.42 - Paul Heyman 1.42.1. Does he really hate Jim Cornette? Apparently so. The bone of contention appears to start in 1989, when both men were managers of teams named "The Midnight Express". A real life feud started between them amidst all the fake name-calling, and it was only worsened when Cornette formed SMW and Heyman was booking ECW. The two men have threatened, verbally abused and outright sniped at each other for so long and so viciously that the actual cause of the feud probably doesn't even factor in anymore. Neither man seems willing to comment in interviews what the cause of the feud is. 1.42.2. What was the Dangerous Alliance? In 1991, Paul Heyman was known as Paul E. Dangerously, a manager turned wimpy broadcaster in WCW. He began a relatively famous feud with Missy Hyatt, in which he used a variety of cowardly tactics and nasty names about her. In response, WCW "fired" him altogether as a broadcaster. Shortly after, released from his duties as a commentator, he reappeared at Halloween Havoc, with his manager's license renewed, and debuted the new look Rick Rude to the shock of everyone. In the weeks following, he added TV champion Steve Austin, former tag champs Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko and Bobby Eaton. Plus Madusa as an advisor. In what is considered a fore-runner to the nWo, the Dangerous Alliance ran roughshod over WCW for months, with Rude winning the US title and Anderson & Eaton winning the tag titles, until the team self-destructed at WrestleWar 92 in the WarGames and went their seperate ways. Paul E. departed for ECW soon after. 1.42.3. Does he own ECW? Yes. He bought it from former owner Tod Gordon in 1996 and is the current owner and overall boss. 1.42.4. Is he gay? Not that it's anyone's business but his own, but speculation persists about him. For the record, he has never been married and many gay slurs are made about him by others in the wrestling business, but he has never stated one way or another what his sexual preference is so this document will not delve into the matter further. 1.42.5. Who is Tod Gordon and what's HIS problem? Tod Gordon was the original founder and owner of ECW, as well as a pawn shop owner based out of Philadelphia. After Paul E. acquired enough capital to purchase the promotion from him in 1996, Tod was retained as a figure-head commisioner, but retained bitterness as his perceived mistreatment in the whole situation. Then, in one of the most wrestling-tinged twists to hit a real life situation, it was revealed that Gordon was acting as a "mole" on behalf of WCW, giving contract information about ECW stars to Terry Taylor for the purposes of bringing them to Atlanta. The only ones to directly take advantage of this were Raven, Stevie Richards and Perry Saturn. But it was enough. Gordon was fired/quit immediately and went into a self-imposed exile until a few months ago, when he reappeared on NWA shows promoted by Dennis Corraluzzo, bringing with him a contingent of ex-ECW stars, in order to take over the NWA. A long and involved shoot interview resulted, where he ran down Heyman and everyone else he could think of. 1.42.6. Does he really live with his parents? Yes. His mother is financially independant and for whatever reason Paul has always chosen to live with her rather than on his own. Much of the money to purchase ECW reportedly came from her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.43 - Goldberg 1.43.1. Is that chant real? Sort of. WCW has stopped using the canned chant as of late, but during Goldberg's rise to fame in early 1997, they would often pipe in a "Goldberg" chant during his music in order to encourage the fans to chant his name. The WWF has recently been poking fun at this with their "Gillberg" character. 1.43.2. Was he really 174-0? No. The record was completely made up for sake of convenience. WCW actually lost the proper count around the 20th match. Best guesses put the actual record around 140-0 at the time of his loss to Kevin Nash, which is still very impressive. 1.43.3. Is he a Steve Austin clone? That's a matter of opinion, but the intention was to make a Ken Shamrock clone, and thus show the WWF the proper way to utilize a shootfighter. Things just ended up working out better for WCW. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.44 - Insane Clown Posse 1.44.1. Who are they and why do wrestling fans care? Violent Jay and Shaggy Too-Dope are a fringe rap group who shot to fame with a nationally banned album called "The Great Milenko". They made some appearances with ECW thanks to their underground video "Strangle-mania", a compilation of FMW and other garbage wrestling shows with their own commentary dubbed over top. They were signed by the WWF to second the Oddities and do their theme music. They have worked professional wrestling matches and are trained wrestlers in the sense that they're no worse than anyone else who has attempted to make the transition from celebrity to wrestler. They signed with WCW in 1999 and were more notable for not being there than anything else. 1.44.2. Why did they leave the WWF in 1998? After a few less-than-successful months managing the Oddities (and eventually turning on them), the Clowns left due to what they felt was the WWF's failure to promote their new album. 1.44.3. Are they still with WCW? Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. That should cover it for whatever week you're reading this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.45 - Jake Roberts 1.45.1. What does "DDT" stand for? In chemical terms, DichloroDyphenylTrichlroethane. In simpler terms, a deadly pesticide that was banned by every civilized country in the world decades ago for having the nasty side-effect of killing humans in addition to bugs. Of course, in the politically incorrect world of wrestling, it made a terrific name for a finishing move. A variety of meanings have been retroactively applied to the DDT acronym as it pertains to wrestling, but Jake Roberts summed it up best with his interpretation of what the move stood for: The End. 1.45.2. What happened to Jake? A variety of things. After battling with lifelong drinking problems, he left the wrestling business entirely in 1993 after being fired by WCW, and had a brief flirtation with Christianity, doing the church tour circuit in the name of religion. He made a short-lived comeback to the WWF in 1996 before completely reneging on his "born again" vows and falling firmly back into alcoholism, where he resides today. He still wrestles occasionally on the independant circuit. 1.45.3. Who is he related to? Also in the "Whatever happened to..." category, Jake (real name Aurelius Smith) is the son of WCW security guy Grizzly Smith, and the brother of longtime jobber Sam Houston, as well as former WWF Women's champ Rockin' Robin. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.46 - Powers that Be 1.46.1. Who are they? "The Powers That Be" are the collective name for Vince Russo, Ed Ferrera and Bill Banks, the creative team signed away from the WWF to replace the departing Eric Bischoff. In storyline terms, it mainly refers to ringleader and meglomaniacal head booker Vince Russo, who is only seen from the side as a menacing arm and a New York accent. 1.46.2. When did they take over the WWF? Essentially, Vince Russo was given the reins of the WWF in May of 1997 after being the editor of the WWF magazine for a few years previous. He had been sitting in on booking meetings and progressively adding ideas, until finally the job was his entirely. Ed Ferrera was added in 1998 as a writing partner, and Bill Banks went with them as an associate when they left, although he had no significant input in the WWF during that period. Russo & Ferrera functioned as a team from 1997-1999. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Organizations 2.1 World Championship Wrestling 2.1.1. When did the NWA become WCW? The NWA never actually became WCW, WCW broke off from the NWA. The company now known as WCW existed for years before as both Georgia Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atantic Championship Wrestling. The two companies were both under Jim Crockett Promotions and so amounted to being the same thing, despite the different names. In November, 1988, Jim Crockett sold Jim Crockett Promotions to WTBS. Crockett promotions had been the promotion most widely associated with the NWA. In order to distance itself from the NWA, which still existed as a paper organization at the time, WTBS began to change the name of its titles and television programs from NWA to WCW. The change took place in late 1990. By January, 1991, the WCW name was fully in place and the NWA name was all but dropped by the organization. For the full details, please see the NWA section later in this document. 2.1.2. Who owns and runs WCW? WCW is owned by Time-Warner and WTBS. Ted Turner, although a majority stock holder in Time-Warner, is NOT the sole owner of WCW following the merger last year between Turner and Time-Warner. The position in WTBS most widely considered as being in control of the wrestling promotion is the Executive Vice President in charge of Wrestling Operations. This title is currently held by Eric Bischoff, and has been reportedly changed to "The President of WCW," which means the same thing but pays better. In recent years Jim Herd, K. Allen Frey and Bill Watts have been in that position. Ric Flair's position as "President" is merely part of the storyline. He has no real power within the company. 2.1.3. What were the "Disney tapings?" The Disney tapings were a series of television tapings that WCW had been doing off and on since 1993 at Disney studios in Orlando, FL. In essense, they pre-taped entire months' worth of matches for their lesser syndicated shows, and often the results would give away future bookings weeks and even months in advance. They were often referred to with contempt by RSPW because of the exposing of the business involved and the fact that crowds were simply tourists given free passes to the shows while at Disneyworld who boo and cheer on cue, literally. The lamented Disney tapings (and it's spawn, the ironically beloved Worldwide Wrestling), met their final fate in August as the last set was filmed and then the idea retired, probably forever. Worldwide was cancelled in most major markets with the change in format to clip show. 2.1.4. What's with all the midget jokes? In 1993, the free-falling WCW hit what was just about considered rock bottom: Given a mammoth budget by Ted Turner, reported at around $1,000,000 for a 30-second promo spot, WCW shot a mini movie of Sting and Davey Boy Smith battling Vader and Sid Vicious on the beach in one of the more surreal moments in professional wrestling, which is saying something. The sketch was building up the Beach Blast PPV, and it ended with an evil midget using a cartoonish looking bomb to blow up a boat which Sting and Smith were presumably supposed to be on, as Vader and Vicious looked on and laughed. In the nearly endless list of "dumb things WCW management did between 1990 and 1993" this ranks very highly and is still laughed at today in countless inside jokes on rival broadcasts and on the internet. 2.1.5. Who are the bookers for WCW? Best information currently has the booking situation as follows: Eric Bischoff, as always, is the head of all booking in WCW, although he seems to have ceded all his actual booking power to Kevin Nash. Diamond Dallas Page does some booking (notably making himself WCW World champion) with the usual assistants (Janie Engle, Kevin Sullivan and friends) helping. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 - National Wrestling Alliance 2.2.1. What was the NWA and how did it get started? The NWA was and is the National Wrestling Alliance. In an effort to get around strict antitrust laws in the United States six mid-west promoters, Sam Muchnick, Al Haft, Harry Light, Pinky George, Tony Stecher, and Orville Brown agreed to work together and recognize a single 'World' champion in the heavyweight, Jr.-Heavyweight and Lt.-Heavyweight divisions. Representing the promotions in St. Louis, Des Moines, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Columbus, OH the N.W.A. named Mid-Western Wrestling Association champion Orville Brown the first N.W.A. World champion on July 14, 1948. It should be noted that any attempts to trace the NWA World Heavyweight title back further than this are necessarily fictitious. The organization simply did not exist. The NWA's immediate predecessor as the most widely recognized world title was the National Wrestling Association championship which was held by Lou Thesz at the time of the formation of the NWA. A title unification match was scheduled for November 25, 1949 between Thesz and Brown and it is believed that Brown was scheduled to win that match. However, Brown suffered a career ending injury in a car accident prior to the match. On November 27, 1949, Thesz was awarded the NWA title. 2.2.2. What happened to it? From its formation in 1948 until 1980 the N.W.A. grew into the largest and most recognized wrestling promotion around. For over 35 years the N.W.A. was the true power in pro-wrestling. It had the most prestigious 'World' heavyweight title because it was truly defended around the world. At its greatest point the N.W.A. had twenty-six promotions and countless promoters around the world including the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Australia. Some of these promoters were Frank Tunney (Canada), Clarence Luttrell, Fred Kohler, Bob Geigel (Central States), Jim Crockett (Mid-Atlantic), Jim Barnett, Eddie Graham (Florida), Jack Adkisson (World Class), Don Owen (Pacific Northwest), Shohie Baba (All-Japan), Steve Rickard (Australia/New Zealand) as well as others. In the 1980s, however, things started to fall apart when at the end of 1980 the Los Angeles promotion run by Gene & Mike Lebell's closed. Almost a year later Roy Shire's San Francisco promotion also folded. Also in the 1980s cable TV started to changed the whole face of wrestling as promoters could now get simultaneous national exposure for their shows. Ole Anderson, who was running Georgia Championship Wrestling, was the first to try to take advantage of cable TV by promoting outside his own territory. He ran shows throughout Ohio and Michigan, as well as in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other areas. The promotion changed its name from Georgia Championship Wrestling to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and for a while in 1983 gave up the rights to the Georgia territories to try to promote nationally. In the summer of 1983 it was rumored that WCW was pulling out of the N.W.A. after they chose not to announce that Harley Race had defeated Ric Flair for the world title on June 10, 1983. Eventually they did recognize Race and continued within the N.W.A., including a planned joint promotional effort with Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic promotion into the Northeast. Despite what some saw as Ole's basic mismanagement, WCW was doing pretty well competing against the other group that was trying to go national: Vince McMahon's WWF. The competition ended in May 1984 when Jack & Jerry Brisco, the top investors in World Championship Wrestling sold control of the company to Vince McMahon. The WWF took over the TV slot on TBS. Very few of the wrestlers from Georgia agreed to work for McMahon, and Anderson formed a new group, which came under the control of Jim Crockett by March 1985. Crockett then paid McMahon $1 million to get back the rights to the TBS time slot and the World Championship Wrestling name. However this caused problems for other N.W.A. members. Toronto had featured Jim Crockett's wrestlers since October 1978 and was the first territory to bring in talent from Mid-Atlantic. Now Crockett no longer felt that he could spare his wrestlers for shows in Toronto, and the quality of the Toronto cards plummeted. With his area starved for talent, Jack Tunney had little choice but to make a deal with Vince McMahon-taking one of the hottest areas for wrestling out of the N.W.A. and into the WWF. In 1985, Jim Crockett announced that he would no longer allow N.W.A. Champion Ric Flair to accept more than 2 dates per week outside Crockett-promoted shows. Also from that point on, promoters would have to pay a guaranteed amount, rather than the 8% of the gate that was traditionally paid to the N.W.A. Champion. Crockett would later also insist that he supply the wrestlers for the top half of the card for any show on which Ric Flair appeared. This pretty much marked the end of the N.W.A. as it had existed since 1948. In February 1986, Fritz Von Erich, in an effort to take World Class national, pulled his promotion out of the N.W.A. and recognized his own world champion. Later in the year, Crockett took over the St. Louis promotion, the flagship of the N.W.A. since 1948, and brought in his own wrestlers for shows there. He also briefly took control of Bob Geigel's Central States promotion in Kansas City. Geigel tried to start up again in February 1987 and briefly recognized his own world champion before the promotion folded in 1988. Crockett bought out the Florida territory in February 1987, and a few months later took control of Bill Watts' UWF (formerly Mid-South and which was not part of the N.W.A.). By the end of the year, all of the territories had been homogenized into a single Crockett-controlled entity, which still ran under the name N.W.A., but really had little to do with the group that had existed for the preceding 40 years. The only former N.W.A. territories that still operated in the US were Don Owen's Pacific Northwest in Portland, and Continental in Alabama, both of which no longer claimed ties to the N.W.A. On November 19, 1994, Coralluzzo finally crowned a new N.W.A. World Heavyweight Champion in a tournament in New Jersey. There was controversy again when promoter Jim Crockett, who did not like the choice for champion and, according to some, was upset that he would not be able to control the champion as he did in the 1980's refused to recognize tournament winner Chris Candido as the N.W.A. Champion. Several independent promoters did recognized Candido as the N.W.A. World Champion, including Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling. In January 1995 rumors circulated that the N.W.A. Board served Crockett dismissal papers. At the same time Crockett began to claim he and Coralluzzo ran two different promotions that both used the N.W.A. name. Crockett and the N.W.A. seemed to have an uneasy agreement where Crockett used the N.W.A. name and agreed not to crown another N.W.A. "World" champion. Crockett held a tournament for the N.W.A. World Tag Team title on April 11, 1995. The tournament, which consisted mainly of Crockett talent, was won by Smoky Mountain's Rock-n-Roll Express. On May 9, 1995, Crockett folded his Dallas promotion and joined a Mississippi based promotion called Deep South. Renamed N.W.A. Deep South they continued to recognize the Rock-n-Roll Express as the N.W.A. World Tag Team Champions until they closed down later same year. The Memphis Based USWA then recognized the Rock-n-Roll Express as N.W.A. champions until Ricky Morton was fired by the promotion. The titles were once again 'vacant'. On February 24, 1995, Dan Severn, a "Shoot Style" wrestler won the N.W.A. World Heavyweight title from Chris Candido. At first Severn defended the title in "UFC style" matches in the N.W.A., the former SMW, Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, Steel City Wrestling, and Midwest Championship Wrestling, the IWA in Japan and for Steve Rickard' promotion is Southeast Asia in an attempt to return to idea of a traveling N.W.A. Champion. The IWA even crown new N.W.A. World Tag Team champions when Tarzan Gato & Mr. Gannosuke defeat Cactus Jack & Tiger Jeet Singh in a 7-team round robin tournament. Less than a year later Gato & Gannosuke left the IWA and the titles were once again 'vacant'. 2.2.3. What is the NWA today? Today, the N.W.A. still exists, however it has returned more to its original form of small independent promoters, currently 15, who recognize a single World Heavyweight Champion. The only relation it bears to the N.W.A. of mid to late 1980s is the name. Currently, the N.W.A. Board consists of following members: N.W.A. Vice-President Dennis Coralluzzo (NJ), Steve Rickard (New Zealand), Tony Rickard (Hawaii), Victor Quinones (Japan & Puerto Rico), legal counsel Bob Trobich from North Carolina, and N.W.A. President Howard Brody (Florida). Other promotions include the N.W.A.-2000 promotion in North Carolina, Music City Wrestling in Tennessee, N.W.A. Southwest in Texas, Pro Wrestling eXpress in Pennsylvania plus another promoters in Japan and India. The N.W.A. is looking for six other promoters to join soon. The N.W.A., through a working agreement with the WWF (Note: the WWF has not rejoined the N.W.A.), has once again gained national exposure. Mr. Brody has issued an open invitation to all wrestling promoters to apply for membership in the N.W.A. and although a long way from dominance they once had, things are finally looking up for the National Wrestling Alliance. 2.2.4. What is a Dusty Finish? One of the leading causes of the death of the NWA was, believe it or not, the Dusty Rhodes finish, or Dusty Finish for short. You've probably seen it hundreds of times by now if you've been watching wrestling for any length of time, and it is considered to be the most frustrating finish for fans and most damaging screwjob possible. It is named for the booking style of Dusty Rhodes, who was in charge of the NWA from 1985-1988 and nearly ran it into the ground. It goes like this: Harry the Heel is wrestling Bobby the Babyface for the Blank Wrestling Federation World title in a big blowoff match. Harry and Bobby hate each other, so naturally the fans want to see intense action, and since Bobby is the fan favorite, it makes sense that Bobby gets the big win. But the promoters don't want Bobby to have the World title, they want Harry to have it. So Bobby and Harry have a 15 minute match with lots of action. After about 14 of those minutes, Harry pulls out a foreign object and takes a big swing at Bobby, but Bobby ducks and Harry nails the referee instead. Harry rolls up Bobby for the pin, but the referee is out. A second referee runs down to the ring, Bobby recovers, knocks out Harry with the very object he brought to the ring, and the second referee counts the pin, giving Bobby the World title. Or so we think. Because the first referee wakes up, tells the second referee that Harry clocked him with a foreign object, and disqualifies the heel, thus letting him keep the title. You may freely play with the format, having more than two referees, different decisions, different reasons for the first referee to be knocked out, different people winning the match, it doesn't matter. The basic format remains the same: Referee goes down, new referee counts pin by one person, crowd thinks one person has won, first referee awakes and reverses the decision. That is a Dusty Finish and it and all it's ugly variants (most recently Sting v. Hogan at Starrcade 1997) are what frustrate fans and cause people to not want to come back to see the next show. 2.2.5. Isn't WCW just another name for the NWA? No. Absolutely not. This is one of the most frequently asked and wrongly answered questions on RSPW, and needs to be cleared up. The confusion comes from several sources: 1) The seamless transition on WCW TV 2) The propaganda spread by WCW 3) WCW and the NWA had the same champions for a six month period 4) By 1991, WCW had almost completely taken over the NWA WCW was formerly the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as the Georgia region, both of which were under the NWA banner. As they grew, they became the only major portion of the NWA to have TV coverage, and thus the NWA became Mid-Atlantic in the minds of the fans. This was patently wrong from the start, as the NWA was in fact many organizations under one banner. The rapid loss of World Class, the UWF, Florida and Portland left Mid-Atlantic (WCW) as the sole major player in the NWA by 1988, which is the point at which Ted Turner purchased Crockett Promotions and the NWA unofficially died. On 01/01/1991, WCW officially dropped the NWA name entirely and operated without a World champion or World tag team champions for a period of 10 days. They continued to recognize the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA US title, which was held by Lex Luger at that point, as well as the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World TV title, which was held by Tom Zenk. These two titles were renamed the WCW US title and WCW TV title, respectively, and have direct lineage to the original NWA versions of the titles. On 01/11/1991, Ric Flair defeated Sting to win the NWA World title, and immediately after WCW named him as the first WCW World champion. It cannot be pointed out strongly enough at this point that these were TWO DIFFERENT TITLES. Ric Flair was simultaneously NWA and WCW World champion, and one title did not follow from the other. The WCW World title was created completely separate from the NWA World title and has NO direct lineage to the NWA World title, aside from the fact that the NWA champion happened to be the first WCW champion. The same situation existed with the tag team titles, as WCW created the WCW World tag team title at the same time, awarding them to Butch Reed and Ron Simmons, the current NWA World tag team champions. Again, this was a separate championship. However, because no distinct break ever occurred to distinguish the two belts, it was assumed that one simply became the other, when in fact this is PATENTLY untrue. However, the NWA was reinstated in 1992 and WCW World tag team champions Steve Williams and Terry Gordy captured the NWA World tag team titles in a tournament final, thus unifying the two championships and giving the WCW World tag team titles a direct lineage to the NWA World tag team titles once again. The lineage exists only from 1992 on, however. For simplicity's sake, one is assumed all the way back to the NWA World tag team title's creation, although this is factually incorrect, despite being easier to deal with. The NWA World title is a different story, however. In 1992, after the re-creation of the NWA, Masa Chono was established as NWA World champion. His reign, and those of the Great Muta and Barry Windham are regarded as legitimate World titles. WCW pulled out of the NWA for good in 1993, however, which rendered the "NWA World championship" being defended in WCW totally meaningless. When Ric Flair, as WCW World champion defeated Sting, the WCW "International World champion", to "unify" the titles, it actually unified nothing, as the NWA had died many months prior to this match. In short, WCW is not the NWA and never was. WCW's World titles were created in 1991, and there is simply no lineage to the NWA from before that. No matter how much believers of the opposing viewpoint may scream their opinion on the matter, the FACTS are as presented above. The constant claims of lineage back to 1904/1905 by WCW are simply lies used to solidify a heritage that does not exist. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 - World Wrestling Federation 2.3.1. What is the story behind the forming of the WWF? As NWA champion, Buddy Rogers' bookings were controlled by Toots Mondt, promoter in the Northeast. The other NWA promoters were dissatisfied because Mondt rarely let Rogers defend the belt outside the Northeast. Mondt and Vince McMahon Sr. wanted to keep Rogers and the NWA title, but Rogers didn't want to lose his $25,000 deposit on the belt. So Rogers lost the NWA title to Lou Thesz in Toronto on January 24, 1963. Rogers was not recognized as the first WWWF champion right after losing to Thesz. Instead, Rogers was awarded the WWWF title in mid-April 1963, with the explanation that he has won a (fictitious) tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the title to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963. Rogers would have likely had a longer reign as champion, but, he suffered a heart attack shortly before the match with Bruno. This explains both the brevity of the match (47 seconds) with Bruno and the subsequent disappearance of Rogers from the ring. Rogers retired after this match, although he did return to the ring in 1967. 2.3.2. When did the WWWF become the WWF? The name change, a purely cosmetic one, took place in mid 1979. Ownership and front office personnel remained unaffected. About this same time, the WWF phased out their North American title and replaced it with what is today known as the Intercontinental title. For the sake of clarity, all WWWF and WWF titles mentioned in this document are referred to as WWF titles. 2.3.3. Were there charges of sexual harassment filed against the WWF in 1992? No. In 1992, former ring-boy Tom Cole, former referee Rita Chatterson and former TV announcer Murray Hodgekins came forth with allegations of sexual abuse by WWF employees. The group made the talk-show circuit, but never filed legal charges. Specifically named employees included booker Pat Patterson, ring attendant Mel Phillips, booker Terry Garvin and Vince McMahon himself. Patterson, Phillips and Garvin were dismissed by the WWF as a result of the allegations. Patterson subsequently returned to his position. Pat Patterson's sexual preference is a well-known and generally accepted fact of the business, however, and ugly rumors about trading a push for sexual favors have been started by more than one ex-WWF wrestler, but there is to date no actual evidence of such. 2.3.4. Who is George Zahorian? Dr. George Zahorian was a physician appointed by the Pennsylvania state athletic commission to attend WWF shows in Hamburg, PA and Allentown, PA. In 1991, Zahorian was convicted in a Pennsylvania court for selling steroids and other controlled substances to pro wrestlers and to a college strength coach. Zahorian was sentenced to three years in federal prison. During his trial, Zahorian testified that between November 1988 and March 1990, he sold steroids to Vince McMahon and to many professional wrestlers, including two of the WWF's then-top draws: Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper. Zahorian was released from prison in February, 1995. 2.3.5. Who are the bookers for the WWF? The WWF has three tiers of bookers. Vince McMahon has final say over all booking and will generally control the overall direction of the product. Jim Ross and Bruce Pritchard make the day-to-day booking decisions for the storylines and angles and generally wield the true power in the booking department. Dennis Brent, Vince Russo, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco script the interviews and storylines, and also design and develop the various characters used by the WWF. The Undertaker is a notable Patterson creation, for instance. Vince's son Shane is rumored to have his father's ear and specifically is to have suggested the more "adult" approach the WWF has taken as of late, and may be part of the booking committee. Sgt. Slaughter has some position in the head office, but his job title or duties are unknown to the author. Former WCW head booker Terry Taylor recently joined the WWF's front office, although not as a booker. 2.3.6. Was the WWF ever part of the NWA? Yes. From 1971-1983, the WWF joined the NWA as a regional promotion and the WWF World title was dropped in status to the WWF title, a regional title. By 1983, Vince McMahon Jr. had taken over control of the promotion and wanted out from the shadow of the NWA, so he changed the name of his title to the "WWF Championship" and established the WWF as an autonomous organization with World title status. 2.3.7. What was the Gobbledeegooker? Perhaps the king of the dead-end, insulting, brainless "surprises" to be pulled off by a major fed was this turkey, which debuted at Survivor Series 1990. For the weeks leading up to the show, a large egg was shown touring the arenas in which the WWF was doing shows. It was assumed by most people to be a debuting wrestler, most likely King Kong Bundy. The giant egg was hyped for weeks leading up to the show, until finally the show arrived and with it the hatching of the egg. Upon opening the egg, a man dressed as a turkey emerged, called "the Gobbledeegooker" by Gene Okerlund, who proceeded to dance with "Mean" Gene to the overwhelming boos of the crowd. It was never, ever, seen or mentioned again on WWF programming, except as an inside yolk. But only very rarely. The bird was played by Hector Guerrero. 2.3.8. Is the WWF suing WCW? Yes. Or, more accurately, Titan Sports is suing Turner Broadcasting Systems. The lawsuit stems from the appearances of Scott Hall and Kevin on Nitro, who were basically playing the roles of Razor Ramon and Diesel, respectively. The following is the actual complaint filed by the WWF: THE LAWSUIT Professional wrestling promoter (Vince McMahon) brought action against rival promoter (Eric Bischoff), alleging copyright infringement, trademark infringement, tortious interference with contract and violations of Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices, in connection with rival's employment of two wrestlers who portrayed copyrighted characters. THE FACTS AS STATED IN THE COMPLAINT Titan Sports, Inc., etc., ("Plaintiff") is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Connecticut. Plaintiff promotes live, and on cable, syndicated, and pay-per-view television, professional wrestling under its registered service mark "World Wrestling Federation" ("WWF"). TBS is a Georgia corporation which owns and operates several cable networks, including Turner Network Television ("TNT") and WTBS. WCW is a Georgia corporation and a majority owned subsidiary of TBS. WCW competes directly with WWF in televising professional wrestling, associated merchandising, and licensing programs. Bischoff is a citizen of Georgia, an officer and employee of TBS, in charge of WCW's operations and serves as a television announcer for WCW programming. Plaintiff contends that success in the professional wrestling business depends upon the development of interesting wrestling characters and story lines. Characters must have names, personalities, histories, relationships, personas, and visual appearances that appeal to consumers. Plaintiff alleges that WWF programming combines character-driven story lines with skillful wrestling while WCW has no reputation for creativity. TBS proposed interpromotional matches in order to associate WCW with WWF, but Plaintiff rejected this idea. After wrestling unsuccessfully with WCW, Scott Hall contracted to wrestle for Plaintiff. Plaintiff created a wrestling character for Hall called "Razor Ramon," alias "The Bad Guy," with a distinctive Hispanic accent, slicked back hair in a ponytail with a curl in the front, a toothpick in his mouth, a vest, and multiple chains around his neck. Plaintiff registered the service mark "Razor Ramon" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The contract provided that Plaintiff retained exclusive ownership of the character's name and likeness and the exclusive right to distribute copyrightable materials based on the character. Hall warranted that he would not enter other agreements conflicting with Plaintiff's contract rights. Plaintiff developed Razor Ramon into one of its most popular characters. He has appeared in television broadcasts, live events, a two-hour videotape, several magazines, and is the subject of merchandise devoted to the character. He won WWF's Intercontinental Championship at least four times. The character is well-recognized by wrestling fans.Plaintiff developed another character using wrestler Kevin Nash who wrestled unsuccessfully with defendant WCW. Nash and Plaintiff entered into a contract with provisions similar to Hall's contract. Nash's character was "Diesel," alias "Big Daddy Cool." Diesel's trade dress included a goatee beard and moustache, black leather pants, a black leather vest decorated with silver studs and tassels, a black low cut tank-top shirt, a black fingerless glove on the right hand, black elbow pads, black wrist bands, sunglasses, and black leather boots. Diesel is visibly different from the characters previously portrayed by Nash at WCW. Diesel was added to Plaintiff's story lines and appeared in television broadcasts, commercial videotapes, magazines, and became the subject of merchandise. Like Razor Ramon, Diesel also became widely recognized and popular, winning the WWF Heavyweight Championship in 1995.In 1993, Plaintiff promoted Razor Ramon and Diesel on its "Monday Night Raw" television program, which was broadcast weekly at 9:00 p.m. EST. In 1995, defendant TBS began broadcasting a competing program "WCW Monday Nitro" at the same time. Plaintiff alleges that TBS's broadcast continually disparaged WWF, while WCW agents circulated false rumors of Plaintiff's impending bankruptcy in order to lure wrestlers to WCW.In 1996, enticed by WCW's promise of lucrative, guaranteed contracts, Hall and Nash contracted to wrestle with WCW. After the contracts were executed, Plaintiff alleges that defendant Bischoff planned to capitalize on the goodwill of the Razor Ramon and Diesel characters. Hall and Nash were to appear on WCW's broadcast as Razor Ramon and Diesel, supposedly representing WWF in an interpromotional battle. Before the broadcast, WCW's 900 hotlines told consumers that Razor Ramon and Diesel were considering leaving WWF for WCW, although in reality, they had already done so. Defendants expanded the introductory broadcast to two hours, starting before Plaintiff's competing broadcast. Hall appeared in the persona of Razor Ramon, although the broadcast did not refer to him by name. The end of the broadcast falsely conveyed that interpromotional matches would thereafter air on TNT. Fans sent letters evidencing their presumption that Hall was performing as Razor Ramon for WWF on TNT. Plaintiff attempted to dispel the rumors by broadcasting that Hall and Nash were no longer associated with the WWF. Nevertheless, Hall appeared on two further WCW broadcasts, perpetuating the false presumption. Bischoff also indicated that the interpromotional matches would be seen on an upcoming pay-per-view program. Hall and Nash did appear on the pay-per-view program as the characters Razor Ramon and Diesel. Defendants, however, did not refer to them by any name. Titan Sports, Inc. v. Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc., 981 F.Supp. 65 (D. Conn. 1997) 2.3.9. Who is John Stossel? In the general sense of the word, he's a reporter for ABC and the 20/20 program. In the context of wrestling, he's the reporter who did a piece for ABC's 20/20 exposing wrestling back in 1985. One of the people interviewed was "Dr. D" David Schultz. During the interview, Stossel asked the usual "is wrestling fake" question, at which point Schultz snapped and slapped Stossel around on national TV. Stossel later sued the WWF for damages and receieved a cash settlement reported at $280,000. Schultz was "blackballed" from wrestling for the incident and has not wrestled a professional match since due to the negative publicity. He maintains to this day that the WWF ordered him to assualt Stossel. 2.3.10. What's with the Pat Patterson jokes? Wrestling's worst-kept secret is the sexual orientation of Pat Patterson, who is very much gay but spent years acting macho in the ring to cover it up. This is what Jim Ross' references to "rear end work" and the like are referring to. 2.3.11. What was the Brawl For All? Loved by some, hated by most, and a proven ratings killer all the way through, the Brawl For All (BFA for short) was a shoot "tough-man" tournament devised by Jim Ross, whereby unpushed wrestlers would fight with boxing gloves and earn points for punches and takedowns. The injuries that resulted put literally all the competitors out of action for big chunks of time, and many substitutions resulted. The defining moment of the tournament came when jobber Bart Gunn knocked legit tough-guy Steve Williams out in the third round of their match, and then went on to knock out his next two opponents to win the thing outright. As an addendum, Bart Gunn faced "boxer" Butterbean at Wrestlemania XV and was knocked out in less than 30 seconds, thus effectively killing the Brawl For All concept more thoroughly than all the crowd apathy in the world could. Bart Gunn is expected to never show his face in North America again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 - Extreme Championship Wrestling 2.4.1. What is ECW? ECW began operating in 1992 as Eastern Championship Wrestling. On 08/27/1994, the name was changed from Eastern to Extreme. It operates in Philadelphia, with spot shows in the surrounding Pennsylvania area. The wrestling operations are currently handled by Paul Heyman (manager Paul E Dangerously) who bought the promotion from former owner Tod Gordon in 1996. It is currently available on the Sports Channel America syndication package and on AIN satellite. ECW has, as of 1997, also branched out in the pay-per-view universe, putting on three shows in 1997 with four more planned for 1998. Current top stars are Shane Douglas, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and more. ECW does not rely on the traditional face/heel structure. Instead, uses high-impact, fast paced action to get its wrestlers over. Additionaly, ECW maintains it's own WWW site at: http://www.ecwwrestling.com 2.4.2. Who is Mass Transit? On 11/23/96, ECW went to Revere, Massachussetts for a house show. Axl Rotten was unable to wrestle, so Paul Heyman asked local wrestler Eric Kulas, also known as Mass Transit, to take his place. Kulas had only turned 18 within the week, and Paul was given the impression that he was 19 and professionally trained. A match was booked against New Jack of the Gangstas, and Kulas asked New Jack to blade him, since he had never done it himself. New Jack agreed. During the course of the match, New Jack used an "Exacto" knife to cut into Kulas' forehead as planned, but he cut too deep. He severed two arteries and Kulas almost immediately passed out and dropped to the mat, with blood pumping from his head so hard and fast that it actually sprayed into the crowd. EMS technicians rushed to the ring as fast as possible, and luckily managed to stop the bleeding before permanent damage could occur. In the aftermatch, Eric Kulas has yet to work another professional match, and his family attempted to sue ECW in a very short battle which was thrown out of court. The incident itself is very famous on the newsgroup and ranks as the one of the most requested tapes to trade for by new readers. 2.4.3. Who are those fans in the front row? I will refrain from printing real names out of respect for privacy, but you're probably thinking of... Sign Guy: The guy who always had signs with him. Hat Guy: The guy who looks like John Lithgow and wears a Hawaiian hat Faith No More Guy: The guy with sunglasses, a beard and long hair who looks like the guitarist from Faith No More These three seem to be the mainstays of the ECW crowd (although Sign Guy was pushed out by Buh-Buh Ray Dudley) and if you make reference to them on the newsgroup you should use the above names for maximum recognition. 2.4.4. What are the various theme music? ECW has the distinction of using "real" music for it's wrestlers, and fairly obscure music at times at that. Here is a rough guide to who uses what: - The opening theme music used to consist of a combination of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" (the heartbeat that spells out E-X-T-R-E-M-E) which cuts to White Zombie's "Thunderkiss '65" (the guitar part and the Pitbull's music). After Barely Legal, they switched a specially written, non-commercial piece of music as their new theme. It was also used for Rob Van Dam's WWF matches. - Taz used KISS' "War Machine" after his initial heel turn, but now uses a specially written knockoff version. - Tommy Dreamer used Alice In Chains' "Man In the Box" until recently, but has also switched to a specially written knockoff version for RAW appearances. - Shane Douglas uses the live version of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers." 2.4.5. Is ECW suing WCW? Not anymore. Paul Heyman was in the process of suing WCW for breach of contract with regards to the signing of Raven, but Paul's general lack of financing and legal power seems to have killed that idea permanantly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5 - Other promotions The Dark Cheetah maintains a web site cataloging many other independent promotions. It is at http://www.photon.co.jp/sections/6_staff/glenn/nCo/indy/indy.html This web site also contains the RSPW finishing moves list, at http://www.photon.co.jp/sections/6_staff/glenn/nCo/finish/finish.html Another fine web site that tracks indy wrestling is Whoo! Wrestling, at http://www.whoowrestling.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.6 - Japan 2.6.1. How did pro wrestling get its start in Japan? Pro-wrestling in Japan dates back nearly as far as it does in the US. In 1883, former sumo, Shokichi Hamada, left to tour the US as the first Japanese pro-wrestler. In 1887, Hamada brought 20 American wrestlers to Tokyo for a series of shows. The first show sold-out, but subsequent shows failed to draw any crowds. Several attempts were made to spark an interest in wrestling in Japan, none of which were successful until the 1950's. Rikidozan, who retired from Sumo in 1950, became Japan's first big name male drawing card. He made his debut in 1951. In 1953, he formed the Japan Wrestling Alliance. He continued to wrestle until his death in December, 1963. 2.6.2. What is AJPW? All-Japan Pro Wrestling is the late Shohei Baba's group in Japan. Baba, a former pro baseball pitcher, joined the JWA in 1960. In October, 1972, he left the JWA and formed his own group, AJPW. His group continues to promote today, with a television show on Nippon TV. The main titles are the Triple Crown (unified United National, International and PWF Heavyweight titles), the World Tag Team title (unified International and PWF tag team titles), the World Junior Heavyweight title and the Asian Tag Team title. 2.6.3. What is NJPW? Is it different from IWGP? Kanji Inoki, a japanese emigrant to Brazil, was scouted by Rikidozan in 1960, and brought to Japan to join the JWA. He later changed his name to Antonio Inoki. In 1966, Inoki made his first attempt at breaking away from the JWA and forming his own group, Tokyo Pro-Wrestling. In 1967, Inoki suddenly rejoined the JWA and Tokyo Pro folded. In 1971, Inoki was expelled from the JWA when it as discovered that he was planning a coup to take over the promotion. Inoki subsequently formed his second group, New Japan Pro Wrestling and ran his first card in March, 1972. The group has now grown to be the largest and most popular wrestling group in Japan. It currently has a show on TV Asahi. In 1983, New Japan created the International Wrestling Grand Prix titles, which are now the main titles of the group: the IWGP Heavyweight title, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title and the IWGP Tag Team titles. 2.6.4. What other groups are there in Japan? There are numerous other groups in Japan. In 1994 it was reported that there were in excess of 30 wrestling groups operating in Tokyo alone. The other groups include the IWA, W*ING, Kitao Dojo, Michinoku Pro, Rings, and many more. 2.6.5. What about the Japanese Women's groups? The first women's shows were held in Japan in 1948. The women's groups caught fire in 1954, when Sankei Shinbun Newspaper promoted a show with Mildred Burke, billed as the first WWWA world champion, and six other American wrestlers and four Japanese wrestlers. They ran three consecutive sellouts at the old Sumo Hall. There are currently a number of Japanese Women's groups, including All-Japan Women, LLPW, JWP and Gaea Japan. 2.6.6. What is Shootwrestling? Shootwrestling is the idea of making wrestling matches seem as legitimate or "real" as possible. It got its start in 1984 in the original UWF group, with such stars as Akira Maeda, Super Tiger (Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask), Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Kazuo Yamazaki. Also in the group were Nobuhiko Takada and Osamu Kido. The original UWF was popular, but for various reasons did not succeed. The second Japanese UWF formed in 1988 with Maeda, Fujiwara and Takada as top stars. In 1992, this group split into UWF-Fujiwara Gumi (later PWF) RINGS and UWFI. Currently, there are a number of "shoot" groups in Japan, such as Pancrase and Rings. UWFI aired some of its shows in the US on PPV under the Shootwrestling name, but the group folded in 1995. 2.6.7. How do I get to see Japanese wrestling? There is currently no Japanese wrestling available on North American TV, including satellite. However, if you live in North America and want to see it, you still have a number of options available. Many Japanese bookstores and shops in the US sell or rent tapes of Japanese TV shows. Check any similar shops in your area and ask if they carry it. Or, you can buy/trade for someone else who gets it. Another possibility is to find a friend who lives in Japan who is willing to tape it directly off of tv for you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.7 - Mexico 2.7.1. What are the major Mexican groups? There are two major wrestling groups in Mexico: the EMLL - Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre and AAA - Asestencia Asesoria Administracion. EMLL translates loosely to Mexican Wrestling Empire or Mexican Wrestling Company. The EMLL is the oldest existing wrestling promotion, having run its first show on September 21, 1933. AAA is run by Antonio Pena and owned by Mexican television station Televisa. It was formed in 1992. 2.7.2. What is Lucha Libre? Lucha Libre is a phrase that describes the professional wrestling most commonly found in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Lucha Libre is usually used to describe Mexican wrestling, which incorporates high flying, acrobatic wrestling with a sense of live theater. Lucha Libre in Mexico is often characterized by tests of Machismo. The Mexican wrestlers will often apply what appear to be lame slaps to their opponent's chest and face not in an effort to "hurt" their opponent, but more so as an insult to his manhood. The phrase "Lucha Libre" is an idiom that best translates to English as "the free fight". Derived from Lucha Libre is the word "Luchadores", which refers to the men that wrestle the Lucha Libre style. 2.7.3. What's with all the masks in Mexico? The masks worn by the Luchadores are inspired by ancient Aztec traditions of masked warriors. The mask is considered the most precious thing a Luchador has. When a wrestler loses his mask, he has suffered the ultimate dishonor, the ultimate humiliation. Very few wrestlers will make it through their entire career without losing their mask. Only the true legends get to retire with their anonymity intact. El Santo (The Saint) is perhaps the most famous case of a Luchador retiring without ever being unmasked. When he died in 1984, El Santo was buried with his mask on. 2.7.4. I don't know Spanish, what does [some_word] mean? Obviously, there isn't room to define every word you'll hear if you watch a Lucha match. However, here are a few words which should help you figure out a little of what's going on: aficianados (ah-fee-see-ah-nah-dohs): fans. caida (ky-e-da, ky rhymes with tie): fall. Or, as it's known in the U.S., a pin fall. Primera caida = first fall. Segunda caida = second fall. Tercera caida = third fall. castigo (cass-tee-go): punishment. Depending on the announcer, this may be repeated three times, very fast. cuadrilatero (sp?) (kwa-dri-la-te-roh) the wrestling ring, as in the quadrilateral that is the squared circle. enorme (e-nor-may): terrific. espaldas planas (ess-pahl-dahss plahn-ahs): literally, shoulders down. A pin. hurricarana (hurri-ka-rahna): a Frankensteiner when performed by a descendant of Hurricane Ramirez. Otherwise the move is known as a rana. By the way, Scott Steiner did not invent the move, it is generally believed to have originated in Mexico. malandrin (mawl-ahn-dreen): evil. pareja (pah-ray-ha): pair, as in tag team. pareja incredible (pah-ray-ha een-cred-eed-lay): a mixed tag team of a heel and a face. plancha (plahn-cha, plahn rhymes with lawn): a flying crossbody, generally delivered from the top rope. rudo (rue-dough): a heel (bad guy). Depending on the announcer, this may be repeated three times, very fast. senton (sen-ton, sen rhymes with when, ton rhymes with loan): a splash, only the back hits instead of the chest. Sometimes delivered from the top rope. tecnico (tek-knee-ko): a face (good guy). tope (toe-pay): literally "butt" or "stopper". In its wrestling sense, normally used to describe a headfirst dive into a standing opponent. trios (tree-ohs): three-man tag team, as in a trio of wrestlers. 2.7.5. What's with all the midgets in Lucha Libre? Midgets are very popular in Lucha Libre. Exactly why is unknown, but they work a differant style than their American counterparts, who generally just work comic relief matches. Also, it's very common to see midgets adopt the gimmicks, wrestling style, face/heel status, and costume as their larger counterparts. Further, midgets also adopt the name of their larger counterpart and transform it to the diminutive; for example the "big guy" is Mascara Sagrada and his midget counterpart is Mascarita Sagrada. 2.7.6. Lucha Libre confuses me, what are the rules? Well, there are many rules, differing with the type of match that is being wrestled (singles, tag, 6-man tag, special stipulations), but here are the basic rules for most Lucha Libre matches: most matches are trios matches, which are known in the U.S. as 6-man tag matches in trios matches, there are usually 2 referees. Generally, one is a heel referee and one is a face referee. most matches are 2 out of 3 falls one member of each team is designated as the captain when a wrestler is knocked out of the ring, one of his team members can enter the ring without tagging a fall in a trios match is won when the captain submits or is pinned, or when the other two members of the team submit or are pinned. This frequently leads to falls ending when three wrestlers are pinned simultaneously. This might not make much sense to some non-Lucha fans but that's the way they wrestle Lucha style and they've been doing it this way for decades. Lucha fans don't even think twice about it. 2.7.7. How do I get to see lucha libre wresting? If your cable company carries the Spanish language station Galavision, then you get it now. At last report, a combined AAA/EMLL show aired Saturday nights at 6pm (EST). If you live in the southern portion of the United States, then you may be able to pick up the Mexican satellite transmissions. Also, one Los Angeles local spanish language station carries lucha libre. In Canada, the Telelatino network carries lucha libre from 3:45pm to 5:30pm EST on Saturdays. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Monday Night Wars War is hell. Just ask Vince and Eric. We've seen gun-toting psychopaths, ambulance hijackings, World title changes, cage matches, face turns, heel turns, belts spray-painted, belts tossed in rivers, bare butts, kayfabe broken, surprise exits, surprise returns, invasions, multiple personalities, marriages broken, S&M, bondage, homosexual overtones, enough swearing to make a sailor blush, entire countries insulted, deaths mourned and New York Post columnists blasted. All of this over MONDAY NIGHT TV???? Yes, folks, the biggest prize in wrestling isn't any World title, it's bragging rights to having the highest rated show on Monday nights. The war has been raging since Sept. 4, 1995, and it shows no signs of abating. The two shows' combined ratings will usually pull in anywhere from a 9 to a 10, which translates to about 8 million viewers watching wrestling on a given Monday. It's big money and it's great for wrestling. And there's a ton of questions to be asked... 3.1. What is Monday Night RAW? Monday Night RAW, or simply RAW, was launched in January of 1993 on the USA network as a replacement for Prime Time Wrestling, which had been shown in that particular timeslot for years and had been steadily declining in ratings. RAW broke from tradition in many aspects: It was shot in a much smaller venue than the usual arena (in this case, the Manhattan Center in New York), it featured a blend of comedy and wrestling action (Doink's antics, food fights, etc.) and most importantly it was filled with the kind of "what's going to happen next?" anticipation that was sorely lacking from the pre-taped shows of years past. These differences showed in the Neilson ratings, as well, as the show averaged anywhere from a 2.5 - 3.2 rating from 1993 until 1995. As with all good things, it couldn't last forever. In late 1994, it began to become obvious that the effort was no longer there on the part of the WWF. What was once vibrant and exciting became stale and predictable, as they aired only one live show a month and taped the next three weeks around it. This "canned" feeling became especially noticable in September of 1995 with the launch of WCW's Monday Nitro, which immediately beat RAW in the ratings 3.2 to 2.5 and became a major crowing point for rival network TNT. WWF RAW remained unchanged until February of 1997, when, in retaliation to WCW's expanded Nitro and ratings dominance, RAW underwent a major make-over. It first expanded to two hours, live every week, and then underwent a name change to "WWF RAW is WAR" complete with warzone-themed graphics and arena setup. Due to USA's unwillingness to finance a two-hour live show every week, RAW was cut to being live every other week, a move which has served to save money and has not harmed the ratings noticably. RAW actually beat Nitro for the first time in more than a year in 1998 and is now beating Nitro by more than 2 ratings points on a weekly basis. RAW is pre-empted every year for the Westminister Kennel Dog Show in February, which ranks as one of the most hated events among wrestling fans. It is also pre-empted for US Open Tennis coverage, and the occasional movie. RAW is broadcast on the USA network, 9-11 PM EST every Monday night, and 12 - 2 AM EST every Tuesday on Canada's TSN. 3.2. What is WCW Monday Nitro? On September 4, 1995, World Championship Wrestling, at the behest of owner Ted Turner, launched a rival program to try to capture some of the viewers on Monday nights. Executive Vice-President Eric Bischoff was given a nearly unlimited budget, a prime-time slot, and a live show each and every week to work with. The show was an immediate success, drawing an initial audience of about 2 million viewers and maintaining a steady rating from there. The controversial tactics of Eric Bischoff were also in full force, as he would snidely give away the results of the taped RAW on the live Nitro, including a notable show where he revealed that Shawn Michaels would not only beat Sycho Sid to retain the I-C title, but would do it with three superkicks! In May of 1996, the show expanded to two hours live every week, beginning with a notable episode in which the show was "invaded" by WWF mainstay Scott Hall, who was maintaining the character of Razor Ramon despite signing with rival WCW. In August of 1997, the show set records when a televised World title match between champion Hulk Hogan and challenger Lex Luger drew the first 5.0 rating in Nitro's history, as Luger won the belt in dramatic fashion. As of the present time, the show has permanently expanded to three hours each week, and remains live each and every week. Nitro is pre-empted every year for the NBA Playoffs in the spring, and for the occasional movie. WCW Nitro can be seen on the TNT network from 8-11 PM EST on Monday nights, and from 12 - 2 AM EST Thursday nights on Canada's TSN in addition to whatever timeslots they can fit it in before and after. 3.3. What was the gun incident? On November 4, 1996, in an attempt to boost ratings for RAW during a taped episode, an interview with Brian Pillman, from his home, was hyped during his feud with Steve Austin. During that interview, Austin drove to Pillman's home, beat up the camera crew and broke into the house. Pillman defended himself by pulling a gun on Austin, and the signal was left temporarily, with the only audio being heard was something sounding like a gunshot. It was a moderate ratings success, and a public relations nightmare for the WWF as parents' groups complained loudly. Ironically, the show had been moved to a timeslot an hour earlier in order to attract a family viewing audience beginning with that show. 3.4. Who were "the fakes?" In September of 1996, as the WWF grew increasingly defensive while WCW's onslaught continued, Jim Ross began hyping a hotline report detailing the possible return of Diesel and Razor Ramon. No details were given, nor were the names of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall mentioned, but nonetheless the story continued to circulate and the rumors swirled on the internet about "out clauses" and "loopholes" in the contracts of the Outsiders which would allow them to rejoin the WWF. Finally, at the "Mind Games" PPV in Philadelphia, a camera cut to Savio Vega in the locker rooms, being beaten up by two men who appeared to be dressed as Razor Ramon and Diesel. The next night on RAW, Jim Ross promised to "give the fans what they wanted" and bring back the Bad Guy. And so, live on national TV, Jim Ross introduced...Razor Ramon. Or rather, independent star Rick "Big Titan" Bogner dressed as Razor Ramon and doing his best impersonation of him. The next week, Diesel was introduced. In this case, Glenn Jacobs with hair extensions doing his best impersonation of Kevin Nash. The two replacements lasted until the Royal Rumble, with the whole thing being an embarassing PR disaster the whole time, and both were sent down to Mexico's AAA promotion as part of a talent exchange program. Jacobs made enough of an impression to be brought back as Kane later in the year, and Bogner was reportedly going to be repackaged in 1998 as well, but he signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of nWoJapan. 3.5. What is "Billionaire Ted's Wrasslin' Warroom"? One of the most fascinating retaliatory strikes launched by Titan Sports in the wake of Nitro's success was the series of "Billionaire Ted" skits, which aired at various times during WWF programming. The basic premise was this: The opposition (never named) is run by a megalomaniacal bastard named "Billionaire Ted" who knows nothing about wrestling and shops at Sears. His main stars are the Huckster, who is old, balding and books all his own angles, and the Nacho Man, who is older, just as bald, and is deathly afraid of women's shoes and coffee. Also included was "Scheme" Gene, who plugs his hotline constantly despite having no actual information. The skits brought a wide range of opinions to RSPW, with most people either calling them a brilliantly subversive satire of WCW, or a bitter and desperate cheap-shot at the winning side. Both opinions are valid, to be sure. The skits themselves got more and more nasty, with one notable one where "Billionaire Ted" nearly had a nervous breakdown at a press conference, telling his father to "kiss his ass" and proclaiming that his goals in life were "Money, power, power, money, I want it all." WCW was not amused and a lawsuit was pending before the skits were finally stopped. They culminated at the pre-game show of Wrestlemania XII, as the Huckster faced the Nacho Man with Ted as the special referee. Both "competitors" passed out due to oxygen deprivation after two minutes of less-than-thrilling "action." In a bizarre twist, Hulk Hogan faced Randy Savage in the main event of WCW's Halloween Havoc 96 about 7 months later. The skits have not been spoken of or mentioned on WWF programming since Wrestlemania XII. 3.6. What was the "Robin Hood" match? Shortly before nWo Souled Out in January of 1997, WCW teased the fans by promising a Hogan-Giant World title match on Nitro one night. This night, not coincidentally, also featured the pilot episode of a new show on TNT, namely Robin Hood. Nitro continued as usual with no title match until about 5 minutes before the scheduled time of Robin Hood, at which point the announcers suddenly declared that they were out of time and couldn't show us the title match, but if we stayed tuned during Robin Hood, they would show us the match as it happened during the commercial breaks. WCW then proceeded to edit a five-minute match into four or five minute-long pieces that were to give the appearance of Hogan and the Giant fighting for 45 minutes. Fans instantly saw through the facade and the feedback was immediate and overwhelmingly negative for such a tactic. Luckily, it has not been tried again. 3.7. What are Nielson ratings? The ratings numbers we see every week on r.s.p-w, or websites like "1Wrestling.com" are the *CABLE TV* ratings. One cable ratings point equals over 720,000 households, not the 900,000 listed for network shows, for a total cable viewing "universe" of over 72 million households. A rating of 5.0 would be approximately 3.6 million households. The share is the percentage of all cable TV viewers actually watching TV tuned in to any given show at a given time. The numbers carried on the various television websites the following week are still the cable ratings, but they have been adjusted to correspond to the *BROADCAST TV* ratings. One broadcast ratings point equals 980,000 households, for a total of just under 100 million total broadcast TV viewers. Of the near 100 million homes in America with TV sets virtually all of them have access to the broadcast networks, while only 72+ percent-or 72+ million-have access to cable TV. It's for this reason that the two audiences are kept track of separately (since it's impossible for every TV set in the country to tune into cable, yet feasible that they could all be tuned into broadcast networks). The two audiences are tracked separately, then the cable numbers later adjusted so that they can be compared to the overall total television audience. The reason Nitro and RAW's numbers "go down" is that they have been converted from cable TV ratings to be compatible with broadcast TV ratings. The share is also adjusted accordingly. To figure out how much the number will "drop", you have to know how many viewers either show had. To get that, multiply their cable rating by roughly 720,000. Then divide the number by 980,000 to get the new, lower number. Both shows drop by the exact same percentage, though at times it has seemed that RAW dropped less than Nitro. That's merely a misconception. The term "overnight numbers" refer solely to broadcast networks. The overnights are generated by collecting data from the 40+ largest TV markets in the country in order to get an early estimate on how well a broadcast television show did. They refer solely to the broadcast networks and have nothing to do with cable TV, RAW or Nitro. Calling RAW or Nitro's numbers the "overnight numbers" is incorrect. They are, simply put, the unadjusted cable TV numbers, solely reflecting the performance of each show vs. all other cable networks. The numbers that appear on the Internet and in print publications the following week are the cable numbers adjusted to show their performance vs. the entire overall television audience (cable and broadcast combined). Another misconception is that RAW's west coast feed isn't counted in the ratings, when the truth is that it is. This notion came about mostly due to wishful thinking on behalf of WWF fans, and were fueled by newsgroup posts from numerous individuals who "knew for a fact" that the delayed feed wasn't counted. There have been a number of other misconceptions regarding the ratings spread on the newsgroup: 1. Ted Turner "rigs" the ratings. While this is a romantic notion to WWF fans, there has never been any evidence, much less proof, that Turmner has the slightest ability to manipulate the television ratings. 2. TNT is available to more homes that the USA Network is. This is true, but not to the extent that it has been characterized on the newsgroup. TNT is availavble in approximately 71 million households. USA, from what information is available, is available in something like 63 or 67 million households. (And while we're on the subject, TBS is available to nearly 73 million households-or virtually the entire cable universe.) 3. Viewers vs. households. ALL television ratings refer solely to HOUSEHOLDS that tuned in, not ACTUAL viewers. This is one of the major shortcomings of the Neilsen ratings sytem, which has drawn fire from numerous networks-cable and broadcast-over the last several years. While it's FEASIBLE that RAW is actually seen by more people than Nitro every week, it's highly unlikely. Both shows would be subject to the same formulas when figuring out the number of viewers per household. The only difference would come in respect to the differing demographics of the two shows. With WCW's broader appeal, most evidence would actually suggest that Nitro is probably seen by more individuals per household than RAW is. 3.8. Who does the theme music for RAW? All the music for WWF programming is done by a group called Conneticut Yankee, which is made up of members of other prominent heavy metal bands. This includes "Thorn In Your Eye (theme from RAW)", "All Together Now (theme from WARzone)" and "DeGeneration X". The confusion seems to come from the fact that the group uses different singers for different songs, but they are all by the same group, not Rage Against the Machine or the Beastie Boys or anyone else. They are the band who played at Wrestlemania XIV. 3.9. Is RAW tape delayed? Yes. WWF RAW is WAR is broadcast on a 7-second delay so USA network censors can prevent any re-occurance of the Bret Hart incident. The Bret Hart incident, of course, was Bret losing a cage match then-WWF champion Sid and going on a profanity-laced tirade live on RAW involving the phrases "this is bullshit," "if you fans don't like it, tough shit" and several uses of the words "ass," "damn" and "screwed." It marked the start of the Bret Hart heel turn and was one of those "Was this real or not?" moments. It was not, for those wondering, real. Bret Hart had prior approval from both the WWF and USA. USA just didn't think he'd be so imaginative with his choice of language, to put it mildly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Stupid Wrestling Tricks 4.1. How do wrestlers throw fireballs? Through the wonders of flash paper. A substance called nitrocellulose is formed into a very brightly burning paper called flash paper. It also does this very, very quickly. When lit (usually with a lighter concealed by the referee and given to the wrestler at the appropriate time) the paper with burn rapidly and produce the dramatic flash associated with a fireball. The wrestler throws it immediately after lighting, and if timed right, it will "explode" in the other wrestlers' face, without doing any damage. There is minimal danger to the other wrestler. No one has ever actually been "burned" by this method of fireball throwing, to the author's knowledge. A more dramatic and realistic method is used in the "garbage" federations of Japan -- real fire. Wrestlers will often spit a mouthful of kerosene at an open flame to produce a real fireball. But then these federations will often have entire rings of fire so they are not an important consideration to North America's more conservative and safer fire-making. 4.2. How do wrestlers blow mist? One of the stereotypical Japanese heel traits (in North America) is the "evil green mist" which blinds virtuous American wrestlers. Great Muta made a career of it. Here's how you do it: Mix some food coloring in with normal water and fill a small balloon or baggie. It has to small enough to fit in your mouth. Put the baggie in your mouth and at the opportune moment, bite down on it to release the mixture. Spit it out as dramatically as needed. Try not to swallow the baggie. Sometimes the wrestler has it already in their mouth, sometimes the referee or another plant will conceal it until the proper time. Alternative method: Bulk fruit drink crystals. Put a few tablespoons of them in your mouth, spit them out at the opportune time. Looks less dramatic but produces a better "mist" effect. 4.3. How do wrestlers color their tongue? Kool-Aid. Food coloring. Blueberry Slurpees. As any 8 year old can tell you, there are a million different things which will change your tongue weird colors. George "The Animal" Steele preferred lemon-lime Kool-Aid, by the way. 4.4. How do wrestlers hit each other with chairs without it hurting? Depends on the chair and the wrestler. Notice how the steel folding chair is the standard these days? That's because the structure of those chairs allows it to absorb most of the force of the blow. You can generally whack someone over the head as hard as you like without doing much damage to the other guy. More inexperienced wrestlers will use their hands to block the chair, but in proper hands, the force of the chair directly on the head isn't much worse. A shot to the back barely hurts at all, relatively speaking. That's why baseball players always "turn into" a pitch thrown at them -- because the back absorbs the shots almost painlessly. Don't be stupid enough to try it at home. Regular kitchen chairs will NOT absorb the impact and could cause serious damage to someone trying to act out a wrestling match. Kevin Sullivan is notorious for booking matches using "breakaway" chairs made from balsa wood, which shatter on impact. This generally looks ridiculous and fake. 4.5. How do wrestlers throw powder in each others' eyes? Two words: Baby powder. Looks dramatic and doesn't do a bit of damage to the eyes. Any "evil powder", including Mr. Fuji's ceremonial salt, is baby powder. 4.6. What is a Tiger Driver? Also known as Ahmed Johnson's "Pearl River Plunge", a Tiger Driver is a double-underhook powerbomb. Place your opponent in powerbomb/piledriver position, hook both of his arms, and powerbomb him. The move was invented by Mitsuhara Misawa, the second Tiger Mask, and is thus named for him. The Great Tiger Bomb Debate has also left many announcers (most notably Mike Tenay) calling this move a "Tiger Bomb". [Note: The next two questions are the subject of MUCH debate in the wrestling world, so please do not consider this definitive and use it as the supporting evidence in an argument on the matter.] 4.7. What is a Liger Bomb? Often called a "Tiger Bomb" by Joey Styles of ECW, a Liger Bomb is a powerbomb-into-pinning-combo. Powerbomb your opponent, and in mid-air, hook your legs over his shoulders as you come down. Usually results in a pin. 4.7a. What is a Tiger Bomb? Current usage of the name Tiger Bomb applies to three moves: The Tiger Driver, the Liger Bomb and the Black Tiger Bomb. The first two are as described above (and rendered into "Tiger Bomb" by a mistaken call from a wrestling announcer) while the third is Eddy Guerrero's finisher in Japan: A slight variation on the "Outsider's Edge", where he turns the move into a sitdown powerbomb. Other sources have stated this move does not exist. 4.8. What is a Tiger Suplex? What is a Dragon Suplex? A deadly move in Japan, a Tiger Suplex is a reverse double-underhook bridge suplex. Stand behind your opponent, hook both of his arms from behind, and suplex him back, holding on for the bridge. Will almost always result in a pinfall in Japan. The other deadly suplex is the Dragon Suplex, which is a full-nelson into a bridge suplex. Again, will almost always result in a pinfall when performed in Japan. 4.9. What is a Space Flying Tiger Drop? The elusive Space Flying Tiger Drop is a handspring plancha. Usually done by Great Sasuke exclusively, toss your opponent to the floor, then run to the opposite side of the ring. As you come off the ropes, do a handspring (cartwheel) the length of the ring, and then backflip over the top rope, onto your opponent. Takes incredible timing on the part of both guys. 4.10. What is a backdrop driver? How come no one else uses it? In Japan, a backdrop is what we call a belly-to-back suplex here in North America. The backdrop driver is Steve Williams' finisher in Japan, whereby he executes a backdrop, and drops the opponent right on his head instead of his shoulders. It is an insane bump to take and can result in a broken neck if not done absolutely correctly by the person being driven. Hence, it is not done in North America. 4.11. What is the difference between a tope and a plancha? In 1996, the mexican terms "tope" and "plancha" were transported to North America by Joey Styles, Jim Ross and Mike Tenay in order to bring a more authentic and professional feel to calling the matches. However, two years later, they have completely lost their original meaning and are now pretty much interchangeable with regards to what we see here in North America. Any dive over or through the ring ropes, to the floor can safely be called either a tope or plancha. Techinically, a tope is a dive from a standing position on the top rope to an opponent on the floor, while a plancha is a dive from a running position through the ropes to an opponent on the floor. Most announcers simply call everything a plancha for simplicity's sake. 4.12. What is a tope con hilo? Tope is a dive, "con hilo" is "on a thread" in Spanish, so it is literally a "dive on a thread.", supposedly meaning that the wrestler is suspended on a thread from the heavens. Commonly called "Air Juvy" as practiced by Juventud Guerrera, the wrestler tosses his opponent to the floor, then runs from the opposite side of the ring and dives over the top rope, without touching the ropes, and lands on his opponent. A mid-air somersault is often added for extra effect. 4.13. What is an Asai moonsault? Originated by Yoshihiro Asai (El Ultimo Dragon), the idea behind it is fairly simple. Opponent is on the floor, you are on the ring apron. Jump onto the second rope and backflip off, onto your opponent. Add a somersault or mid-air twist for extra effect. Also known as a quebrada in Mexico. 4.14. What is a urinage? Another term only now becoming common because of the influence of mixed martial arts, a urinage (pronounced yur-in-a-jee) is a shoulder throw. Two examples are the "T-Bone Tazplex" or Rocky Maivia's "Rock Bottom". It is not a suplex as such, because the move is started by holding onto the opponent's shoulders rather than the waist. 4.15. What is an enzuigiri? The easiest description is "Owen Hart's kick to the head." A kick to the back of the opponent's head from a standing position. Or any kick to the back of the head, for that matter. Also called a "Ghetto Blaster" and used as a finishing move by Bad News Brown. 4.16. What's the difference between "reverse" and "inverted"? Think of it this way: Reverse refers to the motion of the move, while inverted refers to the position of the wrestlers. Or at least in theory. This rarely holds true in the "real world" however, as announcers call things on the fly and forced to make up a name on the spot. A DDT, for instance, is a standard move, and if the opponent is facing up instead of down during the move, it's inverted. But a suplex done the same way is called "reverse". It should technically be called an "inverted suplex". A reverse suplex would be the move known as the gourdbuster, where the opponent is driven face-first instead of on their back. As always, use your own judgment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Miscellaneous 5.1 - Did [X] ever play organized football? Probably not. This section used to maintain a listing of known connections between wrestlers and football, but two things rapidly became apparent: 1) The information was not easily accessible to begin with; 2) The wrestlers lied through their teeth. As a result, this document will no longer attempt to keep track of football affiliations. If in doubt, listen to Jim Ross' commentary, he usually covers it very well. :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 - How are all the Samoan wrestlers related? The original Samoans, Afa & Sika are brothers, real names Alofa and Sika Anoai. Afa has two sons in wrestling, Samula Anoia (Headshrinker Samu) and Lloyd Anoai (Tahitian Warrior, LA Smooth of the Samoan Gangster Party). Sika has one son in wrestling, Matthew Anoai (Matty Smalls of the Samoan Gangster Party). Rodney Anoai, better known as Yokozuna, is the nephew of Afa and Sika. The Tonga Kid (Islander Tama, Samoan Savage, real name Sam Fatu) and Headshrinker Fatu (real name Solofa Fatu) are brothers. The Fatu brothers are cousins to Samu and Yokozuna. The Barbarian, real name Sionne Vailahi,is not related to either family, although he is of Samoan descent and also grew up in San Fransisco. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (real name James Reiher) is of Fijian descent and grew up in Hawaii. He has one brother who wrestled as Cocoa Samoa (Sabu the Wildman in Memphis ca. 84, real name John Reiher.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3 - Title Changes (Or: Stuff That Doesn't Happen In Other Sports ...) Professional wrestling has a unique distinction that no other non-booked sport has: Title changes that happen outside of one man beating another. First, a "negative" title reign is an occurance unique to the pre-taped world of professional wrestling: A wrestler or team actually losing a championship before it was won from the previous champion. Luckily, it has only happened twice before, and both times in WCW. The first was in 1991, when the Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) were scheduled to challenge the then-champions, Doom, at WCW's WrestleWar show. However, a week prior to the show at a TV taping for WCW's namesake TV program, the Freebirds appeared with the World tag team titles, defending them against the Steiner brothers...and lost! Of course, they went on to *win* the titles from Doom on the pay-per-view telecast, and the Steiners match was shown the next week on TV, but in reality their title reign was in the negative numbers. Perhaps the most confusing title scenario ever occured in 1995. This would be the Harlem Heat / Nasty Boys / Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater series that resulted in three title changes and mass confusion on RSPW over which really happened. The WON had them as follows: 05/21/95 Nasty Boys win them from Harlem Heat at Slamboree 1995 05/03/95 Harlem Heat regains them a month later (aired 06/25/95) 06/21/95 Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater get them over HH (aired 07/22/95) 09/17/95 Buck & Slater lose them back to Harlem Heat. (Fall Brawl) Basically, the 05/03/95 match was one from the Orlando TV tapings that was in the can... with the HH *defending* (in the tapings) the belts... and beating the Nasties due to Blue Blood interferances. In the *after the fact* announcing/voice overs, it was edited to make it appear the Nasties were defending and HH won the titles. Presto... magico... title change. The match aired on World Wide. There is also the matter of the "phantom" title change; that is, a title change that does not actually happen but is announced on TV as happening "at a recent (federation) show in Imoud, PA." where Imoud is Anytown, USA. Examples of this are the Rock N Roll Express "regaining" the NWA World tag titles from Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez after Rude jumped to the WWF, Alundra Blayze's tournament win "in Memphis" for the WWF Women's title, and the ficticious tournaments in Rio de Janeiro that crowned the first WWF champions. The final, and least common, title change is the unintentional one. The most famous example of this happened in 1994 as the Quebecers were defending the WWF tag team titles against Men on a Mission in England, and Mabel accidentally fell on one of the Quebecers to get a pinfall victory and titles. The belts were won back by the former champs on the very next show. A lesser known but more historically significant example was the match in 1984 between Hulk Hogan and Antonio Inoki to fill the vacant IWGP title. Inoki had Hogan in the sleeper and Hogan managed to throw Inoki out of the ring to break out of the hold, but Inoki hit his head and fell unconscious. The referee had no choice but to count him out and award Hogan the title. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.4 - Shoots 5.4.1. What is a shoot? Quite simply, wrestling is fake, and a shoot is when one or more participants makes it too "real". Shoots are extremely rare, since a wrestler who is known to be unwilling to work a match is likely to have his career cut short by promoters unwilling to pay him. Recently, events like the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the shootwrestling groups have caused the word to become in vogue in the pro wrestling world (and especially in ECW) but rest assured that 99% of what you are seeing is scripted. Remember, we only know what they want us to know. 5.4.2. What are some examples of shoots? Bearing that in mind, listed are some well-known shoots in pro-wrestling: 25/04/15 - Stanislaus Zybysko defeated World Champion Wayne Munn. 36/03/02 - Dick Shikat defeated World Champion Danno O' Mahoney 85/04/27 - Road Warriors vs. Larry Hennig & Jerry Blackwell. Hennig and Blackwell rough up the young Road Warriors, who, until that time, refused to sell moves for their opponents. 85/09/02 - Akira Maeda and Super Tiger (Satoru Sayama) wrestled to a Double DQ in 18:57. The ref stopped the match because he felt both Sayama and Maeda were getting out of hand. 86/04/29 - Andre the Giant vs Akira Maeda (New Japan) Andre refuses to cooperate with Maeda and Maeda takes him down with several vicious kicks to the legs. 87/01 - Bruiser Brody vs. Lex Lugar (Florida) Brody stops cooperating with Lugar, who gets himself DQed. 87/11/19 - Riki Chosyu, Masa Saito & Hiro Saito def. Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido. (New Japan) Maeda delivers a hard kick to Chosyu's face, which breaks 3 bones in his cheek. 91/04/01 - John Tenta vs. Koji Kitao (SWS/WWF) Tenta and Kitao, two former sumo wrestlers, stop cooperating but never come to blows. 1997 - The Nasty Boys and the Outsiders stop cooperating after a particularly hard shot by Scott Hall. Knobs and Sags rough up Hall in the ring to teach him a lesson. The Nasties are subsequently not seen again on WCW TV. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5 - Wrestling Bloopers, Swerves and General Oddities 5.5.1. What was the Summerslam '89 blooper? Gene Okerlund, Rick Rude, and Bobby Heenan were about to do an interview hyping Rude's match against the Ultimate Warrior. Unfortunately, on live PPV, the interview got messed up when the Summerslam sign on the interview backdrop fell. Vince McMahon muttered "Nice move" offstage, after which Gene blurted, "Fuck it!" In some locations, the audio was blanked out once the interview was botched, while others received the blooper intact. 5.5.2. What was the Nitro Nipple? On the WCW Monday Nitro which aired the week of Brian Pillman's death, the Nitro Girls were opening the program with a dance number (after a graphic expressing condolences to the Pillman family). During the number, however, the Asian Nitro Girl was jumping such that one of her breasts were exposed until the camera caught it and turned away from her. Needless to say, this marked a Nitro Girls face turn of sorts on RSPW. 5.5.3. What was the Shockmaster incident? Another incident from 1993 which is pointed to when making fun of WCW during that year: It was during the August '93 Clash of the Champions, when Sting and Davey Boy Smith were guests on Ric Flair's "A Flair for the Gold" to introduce the surprise partner that would join them and Dustin Rhodes in War Games (at Fall Brawl '93) against Vader, Sid Vicious, and Harlem Heat. Sid and the Heat came in to threaten the faces, who decided right there and then to introduce their partner, the Shockmaster (Fred "Tugboat" Ottman) An explosion of pyrotechnics went off, and a hole was made in the set's wall through which the Shockmaster was supposed to come through. Unfortunately, there was still an uncleared section of the wall at the bottom of the hole, and Shockmaster tripped over it, falling on his face and losing his "Stormtrooper" helmet. This incident caused WCW to change the Shockmaster's gimmick, making him into a construction hat wearing fat guy who happened to be clumsy. 5.5.4. Do wrestlers often curse accidentally? Yes, there have been several instances on PPV's and the TV shows where wrestlers, announcers, etc. have slipped up. For example, during a Brian Pillman vs. Eddy Guerrero match on one Clash, Pillman was doing his Loose Cannon gimmick and jumped out of the ring and grabbed at color commentator Bobby Heenan, who said, "What the fuck are you doing?" In an angle where the Outsiders (then made out to be WWF invaders) were taken out of the arena by security, Kevin Nash told an officer to "Get the fuck off." During a Sting angle on Nitro, Eric Bischoff remarked, "He's really fucked up!" (which RSPW posters claimed was either in reference to Sting or a "drunk" Curt Hennig). At Spring Stampede '97, Booker T used the N-word when talking about Hulk Hogan. The WWF has also had its share of slip-ups. During a brawl between Goldust and Razor Ramon on a 1995 RAW, Dok Hendrix blurted, "Oh shit!" In the infamous gun angle, Brian Pillman went overboard screaming at Steve Austin, going as far as saying, "Let him go, I'm gonna fucking kill him!" Owen Hart said that he'd had "enough of this bullshit" in reference to DeGeneration X at the Unforgiven PPV, but this is regarded as purposeful. 5.5.5. Do wrestlers in one federation accidentally make references to competing federations? Yes, mostly in WCW. When the Outsiders angle was starting, Lex Luger did an interview proclaiming that "The WW, uh, WCW is united....." (A lot of sources rumored that Lex would be the third Outsider, so some people thought this was part of that) More recently, Ted DiBiase almost promised to lead the Steiner Brothers to the top of the "World Wrestling Federation." Sometimes, WCW wrestlers or announcers used other wrestlers' WWF names. Ray Traylor called Curt Hennig "Mr. Perfect," and Bobby Heenan once called Meng "Haku." 5.5.6. Paul Orndorff vs. The Great Muta for the IWGP Heavyweight title. WCW announced that Paul Orndorff would face The Great Muta for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Slamboree on May 5, 1995. The problem was that Muta was not the IWGP champion at this point. Shinya Hashimoto was. Muta (under his real name of Keiji Mutoh), did defeat Hashimoto two days before the PPV to become the IWGP champion. He then faced Orndorff in the Muta gimmick at the PPV. WCW announcer Mike Tenay called it "one of the worst kept secrets in professional wrestling" in one of his WCW Hotline reports. 5.5.7. Ric Flair unifies the NWA International and WCW World titles. WCW announced that a match between Sting and Ric Flair would take place to unify both the NWA International title and the WCW world title. The match would take place at Clash of the Champions on June 24, 1994. During a WCW Saturday Night broadcast, Gene Okerlund announced that Ric Flair unified both titles in his match with Sting. The problem was, Gene made his proclamation almost a full week BEFORE the match took place. 5.5.8. Sabu vs. Rob Van Dam for the ECW TV title. ECW announced some matches for the ECW PPV "Wrestlepalooza '98." One of the matches announced was Sabu taking on Rob Van Dam for the ECW TV title. Problem was, Van Dam wasn't the TV champion. Bam Bam Bigelow was. Another "oddity" was that Sabu and Van Dam haven't split up as partners yet either. Lo and behold, Van Dam defeat Bigelow for the title on April 4, 1998 and the split up was teased. 5.5.9. Warrior's first WWF IC title reign. On August 29, 1988, The Ultimate Warrior defeated Honkey Tonk Man in 28 seconds to begin his first WWF Intercontinental title reign, but fans at "WWF Superstars/Challenge" tapings knew of the switch BEFORE SummerSlam took place. This was when the WWF taped TV shows three weeks at a time. The tapings before SummerSlam would've had programs that aired before and after the PPV. UW came out for some squashes, but was introduced by Howard Finkle as "The NEW Intercontinental" champion for two of those matches. These matches were taped BEFORE, but would air AFTER the PPV. The explain it to the crowd, Warrior and HTM had a dark match in which UW defeated Honkey by DQ. However, UW left with the belt and was announced as the new champion. 5.5.10. Lex Luger, WWF World champion? One of the most famous pre-show booking changes came before Wrestlemania X in 1994. The main event was the WWF champion defending the WWF title twice in the same evening -- once with Lex Luger against champion Yokozuna and then whoever was champion after that match defending against Bret Hart later in the evening. Due to Yoko's size and lack of stamina, the only booking that made sense was Luger going over Yokozuna for the title and then going on to defend it against Bret Hart in the main event. BUT, Luger and some friends went to a local bar the night before the show and got decently drunk. Unfortunately for them, a reporter for a New York paper was there as well, and Luger proceeded to brag about how he was scheduled to beat Yokozuna and finally get the WWF title. The article was published in the paper the morning of the show, trumpeting Luger's own admittance of the ending, and as a result the show was changed so that Luger lost by DQ and Yoko went on to lose the title to Bret Hart in the main event, which didn't affect things too much because Hart was getting the belt either way. Credence is lended to this story by reports from fans at TV tapings leading up to WMX, where the WWF would have Luger "steal" the title from Yokozuna and come out introduced as the "WWF World champion" (to annoy Jim Cornette, as the storyline went) in order to judge the pop Luger received as champion. Guess it wasn't good enough. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.6 - Pay-per-view 5.6.1. What was the first wrestling event on pay-per-view? That would be the famous "Wrestling Classic" which kicked off nearly a decade of domination by the WWF of the PPV market. It was a 16 man, one night tournament, won by the Junkyard Dog, who defeated Randy Savage in the finals. The card also featured Hulk Hogan battling Roddy Piper for the WWF title. The show is VERY hard to find on video and generally having a copy will give you instant respect among the tape traders. :) 5.6.2. What was the biggest PPV of all time? That's a tougher one to answer. Wrestlemania III did a phenomenal buyrate for the time, although the "PPV universe" in 1987 was miniscule, so it doesn't really count. The generally accepted answer is the WWF's Wrestlemania V, which did an amazing 864,000 buys, which today would translate to roughly a 3.0 buyrate. Nothing has since come close to matching this figure, except Wrestlemania VII at 750,000 buys (about a 2.6 buyrate) and the recent Wrestlemania XIV, which did somewhere around 700,000 buys (for a 2.3 buyrate), and this year's Wrestlemania XV, which did somewhere between 850,000 and 1,000,000 buys, making it not only the biggest wrestling PPV ever, but one of the biggest PPVs ever. Despite recent claims made by WCW, the WWF owns most of the top buyrates with Wrestlemania shows, with WCW's Starrcade 97 being the only entry comparable to the numbers earned in the WWF's glory days. 5.7 - Who Was [X]? While it's impossible to list all the various masked wrestlers in recent history, there any many that are asked repeatedly, and will hopefully be covered here. 5.7.1. Who was Battle Kat? Battle Kat was the gimmick used to try and give Brady Boone a well-deserved push in the WWF in the late 80s. It was moderately successful before Boone was actually fired mid-stream for various reasons. But the gimmick was so successful that they stuck jobber Bob Bradley into the costume for a time. As a matter of interest, to tell the difference, Bradley is the one who does the handspring elbow. Bradley's run with the Battle Kat gimmick also killed it, not surprisingly. 5.7.2. Who was Max Moon? Max Moon, or Maximillion Moves as he was originally known, or the Comet Kid as he was known in his tryout match, was current ECW wrestler Paul Diamond. The gimmick was a total flop. Max Moon came on the heels of his stint as "Kato" in 1991, one half of the Orient Express, a team consisting of two Americans. This didn't work either. After Paul Diamond left the WWF, the gimmick was actually given to the wrestler currently known as Konan, Charles Ashinoff. He only lasted one or two tapings before the gimmick was shelved permanently. 5.7.3. Who was Shinobi/Avatar? Both characters were attempts by the WWF to give Al Snow a workable personality, and neither worked. 5.7.4. Who was the masked Skyscraper at WrestleWar 90? As mentioned earlier in the document, that was "Mean" Mike Enos. 5.7.5. Who were the Minnesota Wrecking Crew II? In 1990, the NWA/WCW was given Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom on loan from the AWA, and put them under masks as proteges of Ole Anderson and the Four Horsemen. They were put into a feud with the Steiner Brothers, lost decisively, and left WCW quickly afterwards. 5.7.6. Who was the masked man in the second WarGames? In 1987, when the NWA introduced the Wargames match at the Great American Bash, JJ Dillon ended up injuring his arm in the first match, and was replaced by a masked man billed as the "War Machine." This was simply Ray Traylor. 5.7.7. Who was the "Super Ninja" that fought the Ultimate Warrior on Saturday Night's Main Event? "Crippler" Rip Oliver, of PNW fame. 5.7.8. Who was the Blue Blazer? Owen Hart, as has been admitted on WWF TV numerous times. 5.7.9. Who were the Conquistadors? They would be longtime WWF jobber Jose Luis Rivera and Jose Estrada, who is the father of current Boriqua Jose Estrada Jr. They have the distinction of being the last team eliminated at Survivor Series 1988, but did nothing else of note in their WWF tenure, despite their almost cult-like following. 5.7.10. Who was Kim Chee? Kamala's handler, Kim Chee, when not used as part of an angle, was played by Steve Lombardi. 5.7.11. Who were the masked Knights at Survivor Series 1993? In one of the more famous "who were they" matches, Jerry Lawler promised to bring three "Royal Knights" to battle Bret Hart's team at the Survivor Series, before being knocked out of the match by legal problems and replaced by Shawn Michaels. The knights were: Red Knight: Barry Horowitz Blue Knight: Greg "The Hammer" Valentine Black Knight: Glenn Jacobs One of the ongoing arguments on RSPW at the time was whether or not the Black Knight was Jacobs or USWA star Jeff Gaylord, but the WWF has since admitted that it was indeed Jacobs. To repeat, it was NOT JEFF GAYLORD. The WWF officially admitted that the Black Knight was Glen Jacobs so save yourself the trouble of sending e-mail outlining the case for Gaylord because it won't do any good. 5.7.12. Who is Kane? Glenn Jacobs, aka the Black Knight, aka Unibomb, aka Isaac Yankem DDS, aka "Diesel". 5.7.13. Who was Kwang? Juan Rivera, better known as Savio Vega. In an interesting sidenote, the part was designed for the Tazmaniac (ECW's Taz) but he ended up staying with ECW. 5.7.14. Who was the Underfaker? Not really a masked man, the Underfaker, or Fake Undertaker, or Overtaker, or Evil Undertaker, or whatever you want to call him, was played by Brian Lee, currently known as Chainz in the WWF. It is not the person playing Kane in the WWF. That is Glen Jacobs, an entirely different person. It was not the "original" Undertaker or any such nonsense. Undertaker is, and always has been, Mark Callaway. 5.7.15. Who was Lord Humongous? Others have played the character in independant federations since, but the original person to don the hockey mask in south was none other than "Sycho" Sid. 5.7.16. Who was the Dr. X on WWF house shows in 1997? That would be WWF trainer Tom Prichard, who was usually wrestling Achim "Bracchus" Albrecht in preparation for his WWF debut. 5.7.17. Who was the Executioner (1996 version)? Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy. 5.7.18. Who was Badstreet? Well, first of all it was originally "Fantasia" but got changed due to fear of legal reprecussions from Disney. It would be one of the many identities of Brad Armstrong. He has also been masked under the names of Mr. R (from the Tommy Rich angle in 1982) and Arachniman (the Spider-Man knockoff WCW tried in 1991) and others in an attempt to find a suitable gimmick for him. None has been overly successful to date. 5.7.19. Who was the Dark Patriot? The Patriot's evil opposite (who has surprisingly not turned up to hound him in the WWF) is played by Doug Gilbert. 5.7.20. Who was Black Blood? One of WCW's quickly forgotten experiments in 1991, Black Blood was played by Billy Jack Haynes. 5.7.21. Who was the Super Invader? See, no question is too obscure for this FAQ. :) The Super Invader, seen briefly in WCW in 1992 under the tutelage of Harley Race, was none other than Hercules Hernandez. 5.7.22. Who was Shanghai Pierce? In 1992, WCW introduced the jobber team of Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce. Pierce specifically was Mark Cantebury, and the team would later move to the WWF and be known as Phineas I. and Henry O. Godwinn. 5.7.23. Who was the fake Sting? Which one? :) The one you're probably referring to is "nWo Sting," who currently competes in Japan. That would be the wrestler formerly known as Cobra and/or Thunder: Jeff Farmer. 5.7.24. Who was Big Josh? Matt Osborne, better known as Matt Borne and even more better known as Doink the Clown. 5.7.25. Who were the Machines? Well, the Giant Machine was pretty obvious: Andre The Giant. His buddies were less obvious, although you probably know them. The Super Machine was Bill Eadie, better known as Demolition Ax (or the Masked Superstar, depending on your time frame). His slightly larger partner was the Big Machine, played by "Blackjack" Mulligan, who is currently best known for being Barry Windham's father. The "one-shot" Machines (Piper Machine, Hulk Machine, etc.) are pretty self explanatory, I think. 5.7.26. Who was Who? Jim Neidhart, in one of the sillier ideas ever thought up. 5.7.27. Who was Mortis? Current WCW star Kanyon. 5.7.28. Who were the Russian Assassins? Paul Jones' team in the NWA circa 1988 were Angel of Death (#1, the tall one) and Jack Victory (#2, the one with big butt). Neither of them are Russian, to the best of the author's knowledge. 5.7.29. Who were the Shadows? Someone sent me this one, and I found it, and it turned out to be an interesting bit of trivia. The Shadows were a generic masked team in the WWF in the late 80s who jobbed a lot. One of them was perennial jobber Jose Luis Rivera, and the other was Randy Culley, who was a Moondog at one point and spent all of a week as the original Smash in Demolition before being replaced by Barry "Kick your stinking teeth in!" Darsow. 5.7.30. Who was the Yellow Dog? In Florida, Barry Windham lost a loser-leaves-town match and returned as the masked Yellow Dog. That was the first occurance. In WCW in 1991, Brian Pillman lost a loser-leaves-WCW match (to Windham, ironically enough) and WCW acknowledged this irony by having Pillman reappear (quite obviously) as the Yellow Dog. 5.7.31. Who was the Midnight Rider? That would be Dusty Rhodes, if you will. 5.7.32. Who was Leatherface? Many have played him since, but the original was Mike "Corporal" Kirschner in Memphis. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Famous Deaths 6.1. Bruiser Brody On 07/17/1988, Frank "Bruiser Brody" Goodish was wrestling for the WWC promotion in Puerto Rico, when he was suddenly and fatally stabbed to death in the shower room by Jose Gonzales, aka Invader III. Gonzales was arrested and held for questioning, but because Goodish was American, none of the Puerto Rican wrestlers would testify and the American ones (specifically Doug Furnas and Dutch Mantell) were afraid for their own lives if they did. Officially, the murder was unsolved and the motives unknown, but it is a fact that Jose Gonzales did the killing. The lack of conviction is a legal technicality at best. The motive, however, will never be known. 6.2. Adrian Adonis On 07/04/1988, Keith "Adrian Adonis" Franke was in a van with wrestlers Pat Kelly, Mike Kelly and Dave McKigney, when driver Mike hit a patch of ice on the road and the van went off a cliff. Franke, Pat Kelly and McKigney were killed instantly and Mike had a severely injured leg. This incident is often confused with a car accident that happened on 07/04/1989, one year to the day after the Adonis crash. In this case, Davey Boy Smith, Chris Benoit and Jason the Terrible were driving from a show in Jasper, Alberta, and swerved to avoid hitting a moose. Smith and Jason were severely injured, and Benoit mildly so. 6.3. Dino Bravo On 03/11/1993, Dino Bravo was at home following his retirement the previous year. Due to rumored dealings in the Canadian black market cigarette trade, he was gunned down by several members of a gang, in violent fashion. He was 44. 6.4. Louie Spicoli While the cause of death has not been 100% determined yet, it is known that Spicoli had consumed large amounts of a drug called Soma in addition to large amounts of alcohol on the night of his death, which pretty much guaranteed something bad was going to happen. The actual cause of the death was suffocation on his own vomit. 6.5. Brian Pillman Pillman's death, despite wild claims of drug use, alcoholism, and various debauchery that supposedly led to his death, was caused by a simple heart condition that he was not even aware of. It was natural causes, specifically a heart attack, and had nothing to do with drugs or otherwise. He died peacefully in his sleep in a hotel room in Minneapolis. 6.6. Junkyard Dog Sylvester Ritter, better known as the JYD, had a somewhat more mundane death, falling asleep at the wheel of his car and hitting a tree. Ritter had said that he wanted to live long enough to see his daughter graduate, and in fact he was driving home from her graduation on the night of the accident. 6.7. Ravishing Rick Rude After years of battling back problems, Rude passed away by way of a heart attack on Apr 20, 1999. He was 40. 6.8. Brady Boone Although WCW seemed less than enthused about noting Boone's death, with Gene Okerlund making disparaging remarks about him on his hotline after the fact, this document will faithfully note that ex-Battle Kat Brady Boone hit a tree and died on the way to getting a pizza early in 1999. 6.9. The Renegade After being thrust into the spotlight as an Ultimate Warrior clone in 1995, Rick Williams crashed to earth equally quickly as the fans turned on him unaminously. By 1999, he was so far out of contention in WCW that he resorted to killing himself with a shotgun. 6.10. Owen Hart Arguably the best wrestler never to hold a world singles title, Owen Hart's death as a result of a fall from the roof of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City has been referred to by Mike Tenay as "the greatest tragedy in the history of wrestling." At this point, details regarding the incident remain few, but it is *believed* that the elaborate Blue Blazer costume worn by Hart on the night of his death got caught in the rigging wires which were to be used for his entrance from the ceiling. This is said to have triggered a safety release mechanism some fifty feet above the ring, with the official cause of death being critical shock trauma caused by an impact against the ring. Although the WWF has been cleared of all criminal charges regarding the death, a massive civil suit has been filed by Owen's widow, Martha, with the restitution possibly topping fifty million dollars. Survived by his wife and two children, Owen was a bright light in an occasionally dark business and is missed by all those who knew him, and every fan who ever had the chance to watch him perform in a wrestling ring. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. The USWA Wrestling is filled with many simple, straightforward angles, feuds and storylines, as is the nature of the business. This is not one of them. The recently demised United States Wrestling Association is really the end result of the unspectacular deaths of three separate organizations: The AWA, World Class, and the CWA. In 1985, Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling, then a member of the NWA, pulled out of the group due to disputes over dates with the NWA champion and the countout rule (in WCCW, titles could change on a countout). The group was based in Texas and recognized it's own "World" champion, although the belt is not officially recognized as anything more than a regional title by anyone else. It did reasonably good business until about 1988, when financial difficulties forced Von Erich to seek agreements with outside federations. In this case, the AWA took WCCW "under it's wing" so to speak. The AWA was the third largest promotion in America at that time, and was decisively dying. In a desperate move to unify some of the smaller federations, AWA owner Verne Gagne put the AWA World title on Memphis legend Jerry Lawler and began promoting inter-promotional feuds, specifically with World Class, with intentions of building to a title v. title match at their first PPV, SuperClash III. The fact that Lawler was World champion of the AWA effectively brought the Lawler-Jerry Jarrett co-promoted CWA organization into the AWA fold. The three groups were able to peacefully co-exist for all of three months before major problems began arising. At SuperClash, Lawler defeated WCCW champion Kerry Von Erich to unify the AWA and WCCW World titles into one belt, the Unified World title. This title was officially recognized as the World heavyweight title by WCCW and the CWA....but not by the AWA, who continued to only recognize their own AWA World champion. Lawler (rightly) felt that this was ridiculous and pulled the CWA out of the AWA fold, despite still being AWA World champion. In response, the AWA stopped recognizing Lawler's claim to the title completely and separated the AWA World title from the Unified title, crowning Larry Zbyszko as their champion while Lawler continued as "Unified" World champion. In reality, this title was now simply the WCCW championship under a new name. WCCW and the CWA continued co-promoting, mostly due to Von Erich's continued financial difficulties. But a common name was now needed, so in 1989 WCCW ran an angle where Skandor Akbar took control of WCCW. He was opposed by Eric Embry, who won the blowoff match which "disbanded" World Class and created the USWA in it's place. In reality it was just a cosmetic name change. At the same time, the CWA also began promoting under the USWA name. The "Unified" World title was recognized by both promotions as the only World title. There were two USWA shows running at the same time: One in Texas and one in Memphis. The situation continued until 1990, when the Von Erichs finally ran out of money and the Lawler/Jarrett tandem took over control of the Texas organization, and subsequently took most of the talent and left it to die. The result was a single USWA, promoted out of Memphis, which recognized former WCCW titles like the Texas title. The CWA Southern title was changed into the USWA heavyweight title and given #1 contendership to the "Unified" World title. The Texas territory was then taken over by the new Global Wrestling Federation, using much talent from WCCW. The USWA lasted from 1989 until 1997, when various money and legal problems forced Jerry Lawler to cease operations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix A - Wrestling Title Histories A. Coming soon ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix B - Monday Night Ratings History B. Coming soon ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix C - Addresses of Major Federations Since most wrestlers would prefer not having their home addresses published, you can attempt to contact them through the promotion they currently work for. Listed below are addresses for some major promotions. If you have any additions or corrections, feel free to send them along to the FAQ editor. World Championship Wrestling 1 CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30348 Phone: 404 885-7174 World Wrestling Federation 1241 E. Main St. Stamford, CT 06902 Phone: 203 352-8600 Press Info: 203 353-2891 FAX: 203 352-8699 Extreme Championship Wrestling 101 S. 10th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 Ticket info: 610 544-0421 Offices: 215-928-9772 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix D - Dave Meltzer on "the Montreal Incident" D. The following is a full transcript of a recent issue of the Wrestling Observer, detailing (and mean DETAILing) the whole Bret Hart fiasco. An unbelievable read, and one that will change the way you think about Bret, Vince and everyone involved, I guarantee. All spelling and grammar errors are Dave Meltzer's, and this is reprinted without permission from him. It will go down in history as the single most famous finish of a pro wrestling match in the modern era. Twenty or thirty years from now this story, more than any famous wrestler jumping promotions, more than and prominent death, and more than any record setting house, will be remembered vividly by all who watched it live, and remembered as legendary from all who hear about it later. Through the magic of video tape, the last minute of this match will live forever and be replayed literally millions of times by ten of thousands of people all looking for the most minute pieces of detail to this strange puzzle. But the story of what led to those few seconds starts more than one year ago, far more reminiscent of the dirty con man past of the industry than the current attempted facade of a multi-million dollar corporate above board image those in the industry like to portray outwardly that it has evolved into October 20, 1996 - Bret Hart was in a hotel room in San Jose, Ca, hours from making the biggest decision of his life - who would win the biggest bidding war in the history of pro wrestling. He had pretty well leaned toward staying with the World Wrestling Federation despite a much larger offer from World Championship Wrestling, but had changed his mind a few times over the previous two weeks as each side presented new offers. In the waining hours, Eric Bishoff and Kevin Nash were trying to convince him to change his mind and how great life was with an easier schedule. Bischoff was offering big money and a shot at becoming a movie star, a goal Hart had been pursuing while on semince McMahon was offering him, in the now immortal words of Arn Anderson, not just a spot but the top spot in the company, and almost literally to be WWF 4 life. Many close advisers of Hart's tried to tell him going to WCW was the best move for his present, and more importantly his future after wrestling. But largely out of loyalty, and that obviously wasn't the only factor involved, he declined the offer. McMahon, not to lose a very public fight, offered him the famous 20-year contract where he'd, after retirement in about three years, become almost a first lieutenant when it came to the booking process. Hart would earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million per year as an active wrestler, and a healthy but far lesser figure working in the front office for the 17 years after retirement as an active wrestler. As part of McMahon's offer, he also was going to allow Hart to explain live on television his decision making process, should he sign with WCW. Hart flew to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the WWF was holding it's live Raw taping after having already verbally agreed to the deal, signed the contract, and gave the interview saying basically that he would be in the WWF forever, figuring to be positioned as the top babyface and perennial champion until he finished his active career riding off into the sunset in a blaze of glory, like Hogan and Savage and the rest of the Superstars before him didn't. As is the case in wrestling, not all the promised scenarios that everyone believed were going to happen transpire as originally planned. And just over one year later, the feelings between McMahon and Bret Hart had taken a 180 degree turn, to the degree nobody would have ever believed. March 10, 1996 - Top babyface didn't last long as McMahon asked him to turn heel. At first Hart balked at the idea but after three days, McMahon presented him with two lists. One list was his prospective opponents as a babyface - Vader, Mankind, and Steve Austin. the other list was his prospective opponents as a heel, Undertaker, Michaels, and Austin. Hart agreed for drawing money. His opponents as a heel made up a better list and he and McMahon agreed that he would turn back babyface over the last few months of his contract and end his career on a positive note. He and Steve Austin did the double-turn at Wrestlemania. Hart himself then came up with the Anti-American angle, where he would remain a babyface in Canada and Europe and do interviews that would for the most part speak the truth, so he could, when the time came to turn back in the U.S., have a reasonable explanation. September 8, 1997 - Vince McMahon and Bret Hart had their first meeting where McMahon seriously approached Hart about his contract. About three months earlier, McMahon had told Hart that the company was in bad financial straights and that they might have to defer some of the money until later in the contract. This time his approach was more than point blank. He wanted to cut Hart's regular salary, around $30,000 per week, more than in half and defer the rest of the money until later in the contract period when hopefully the company would be in better shape financially. Hart declined the suggestion, because he didn't want to risk not getting the money in the future after he was through taking all the bumps. September 20, 1997 - About one hour before the beginning of the PPV show in Birmingham, England, McMahon approached Davey Boy Smith and asked him to put over Shawn Michaels that night for the European title. Smith was apparently shocked, having been told all along in the build-up of the show, that Michaels was going to do a job for him, since Europe was promised to be "his territory". the explanation, which made and still makes logical business sense, is that they wanted to build for a bigger show - a second PPV show from Manchester, England, Smith's former home town, where Smith would regain the title - the same scenario the WWF did to draw 60,000 fans in San Antonio with Michaels in the other role working a program with Sycho Sid. So while it all made sense, it was rather strange he wasn't approached with this idea until just before the start of the show. At around this same time period, McMahon approached Hart about working with Michaels. Hart said that he had a problem with that since Michaels had still never really apologized to him for the Sunny days comment, and said it would be hard to trust somebody like that in the ring and due to their past, and told McMahon that he would figure that Michaels would have the same concerns, since a few weeks earlier after first making it clear he would never work with anyone in the Hart Foundation, Michaels had finally agreed to work with only Smith, saying he still couldn't trust Bret or Owen. September 22, 1997 - On the day of the Raw taping at Madison Square Garden, McMahon told Bret Hart flat out that they were going to intentionally breach his contract because they couldn't afford the deal. He told a shocked Hart that he should go to World Championship Wrestling and make whatever deal he could with that group. "I didn't feel comfortable doing it, "Hart said of the suggestion. "I feel like an old prisoner in a prison where I know all the guards and all the inmates and i have the best cell. Why would I want to move to a new prison where I don't know the guards and the inmates and I no longer have the best cell? I felt really bad after all the years of working for the WCW." Hart had an escape clause in his contract since he had so much negotiating leverage when making his WWF deal 11 months earlier, in that he could leave the company giving 30 days notice and that he would have what the contract called "reasonable creative control" of his character during that lame duck period so that he couldn't be unreasonably buried on the way out. There was a window period for giving that notice and negotiating elsewhere that hadn't begun yet, so McMahon, showing he was serious, gave Hart written permission to begin negotiating with WCW and Hart contacted Eric Bischoff. the same day, during a meeting with Hart,Michaels and McMahon - Michaels told both of them point blank that he wouldn't do any jobs for anyone in the territory, word that when it got out made most of the other top wrestlers feel even more warmly than usual toward Michaels. Michaels later reiterated that statement to Hart on 10/4 in St. Paul when the two agreed that for the good of the business that they'd work together. At a meeting, McMahon proposed a scenario where the two would have their first singles match in Montreal, where Undertaker would interfere causing a non-finish. This would lead to Hart wrestling Undertaker on the 12/7 PPV in Springfield, Ma., where Michaels would interfere causing Bret to win the title, which was poetic justice since it was his interference that caused Bret to win the title in the first place, and that Royal Rumble on 1/8, in San Jose, would be headlined by Undertaker vs. Michaels. During the meeting, Hart told Michaels that he'd be happy to put him over at the end of the run, but Michaels told Hart flat out that he wouldn't return the favor to him. Michaels and Hart spoke again on the subject on 10/12 in San Jose, when once again Michaels told Hart that he wasn't going to do a job for him. October 21, 1997 - McMahon approached Hart wit the idea of losing the title to Michaels in Montreal but promised that he would win it back on 12/7. Hart, remembering his conversations where Michaels was adamant about not doing any more jobs in the territory, was reluctant, saying after the way the angle had been done with him representing Canada and it becoming a big patriotic deal, that he didn't want to lose the title in Canada. He was then asked to lose to Michaels on 12/7 in Springfield, Ma. Hart told McMahon that since Michaels had told both of them that he wasn't doing any more jobs in the territory, that he had a problem doing a job for somebody who wouldn't do a job back. He told McMahon that he didn't want to drop the title in Montreal. Later, McMahon, Pat Patterson, Michaels, and Hart had another meeting where Michaels, teary eyes, sad that he was looking forward to returning the favor to Bret an and once again talked about his mouth saying the stupidest things. Hart still refused to lose the title in Montreal. the night before, he had been asked to put Hunter Heart Helmseley over in Oklahoma City via pin fall due to Michaels' interference, but changed the finish to a count out. On this night he was asked to tap out to Ken Shamrock, before the DQ ending involving Michaels, which he had no problem doing because he liked and respected Shamrock and wanted to help elevate him. The personal problems with himself and Michaels, which had become legendary in the business, resurfaced once again when the two and McMahon made an agreement to work together but to leave their respective families out of their interviews. It took just one week before Michaels did the interview talking about Stu Hart being dead but walking around Calgary because his body and brain hadn't figured it out yet. By this point, Hart had already stopped watching Raw because he had problems wit the content of the show because he has four children that were wrestling fans that he didn't want seeing the direction it was going, so he was reacting to the remark based on the fact that his father and brother Owen heard the remarks and were upset about them. October 24, 1997 - McMahon, before the show at Nassau Coliseum, told Hart that the money situation in the company had changed and they would have no problems paying him everything promised in his contract. Hart told McMahon that WCW really hadn't made him a serious offer and that he really didn't want to leave but that he was still uncomfortable doing the job for Michaels in that situation. He left the country for the tour of Oman with the idea that he was staying with the WWF, but knowing due to his window in his contract, he had to make the decision to give notice by midnight on 11/1. October 31, 1997 - Never one to work without a flair for the dramatics, Bischoff finally caught up with Hart who was basically incommunicado in a foreign land most of the week. Just one day before Hart had to either give notice or stay for another year, Bischoff made a huge concrete offer. We don't know the exact terms of the offer, only that Hart said of the $3 million per year figure that both Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler talked about on the 11/10 Raw, that "they don't have any idea what I was offered", but other close to the situation say that figure is "close enough that you couldn't call it wrong". Hart neither agreed nor turned down the deal, but gave the impression to WCW that they had a great shot at getting him. November 1, 1997 - Hart had until midnight to make up his mind. he called McMahon and told him about the WCW offer and said that he wasn't asking for anymore money to stay, but that he wanted to know what his future in the WWF would be over the next two years as an active wrestler and that at this point he was leaning toward accepting the WCW offer. McMahon said he'd think about it and call him back in an hour with some scenarios. Before McMahon called back, Bischoff called again trying to solidify the deal. McMahon ended up calling back four hours later from his barber shop and told Hart he didn't know what he was going to do with him but that he should trust his judgment because of their past relationship. That he had made him into a superstar and he wanted him to stay and that he should trust him and asked Hart to give him idea of where he wanted to go. During the conversation, McMahon still brought up the scenario of wanting Hart to drop the title in Montreal, but promised that he would get it back in Springfield. "I realized he ha given the top heel spot to Shawn, but to turn back babyface it was too soon," Hart said. Like in the negotiations one year earlier, it was going down to the wire and he had until midnight t make up his mind. When he was talking to McMahon, McMahon told him he could extend the deadline for giving notice., Hart asked for the permission in writing but McMahon told him that he was going out to a movie that night wit his wife and said he was verbally giving permission to extend it and get written permission from the chief financial officer of the company. When Hart called to get the written notice he wasn't given it because he was told he couldn't get it in writing in such short notice. AT 7pm Bischoff called again and presented a deal that, according to Hart, " would have been insane not to be taken". at that point Hart was really having mixed emotions. He somehow felt bad about leaving the WCW and was hoping McMahon would lay out a good set of sceneries for him and convince him to stay, At 9pm, McMahon called and, reversing fields once again, urged him to take the WCW offer. Hart told him that his heart was with the company ad it would break his heart to leave, and that he appreciated everything McMahon and the company had done for him. McMahon told Hart that he wanted him back as a babyface, and had been wanting him to turn babyface for two or three months but just hadn't brought it up until this point. he then presented a scenario to Hart, presenting it as a way to get Hart to stay, but obviously designed to get Hart to take the WCW offer. He wanted Michaels to win the title in Montreal. For Springfield, they would do a final four match with he, Michaels, Undertaker, and Ken Shamrock, that Michaels would again win. At the Royal Rumble, the two would have a ladder match, which Michaels would win. On Raw, on 1/19 in Fresno, Ca., Hart would open the show and say that if he couldn't beat Michaels and win the title that night. that he would retire from wrestling, and in that match he would regain the title. And then in Boston at Wrestlemania he'd drop the strap to Austin. Hart looked at the scenario of four major losses with only one win and before his midnight deadline, gave official notice to the WWF and signed the contract WCW had sent over, with the agreement from all parties that the word wouldn't leak out until 11/10 to protect the Survivor Series PPV. Hart went so far as to have his few confidants sign written confidentiality letters to make sure word of his negotiations and signing with WCW didn't get out until 11/10. November 2, 1997 - Hart and McMahon started a very amicable conversation wit the pressure finally off and the decision for Hart to leave having been made. he again suggested that Michaels win the title in Montreal and in what will go down as perhaps the ultimate irony, said they could do s screw job ending to steal the title from him, and that the next night, on Raw, McMahon suggested the two get into a mock argument where Hart would punch him, blaming him for the screw job. McMahon< even suggested to hardway him to make it look legit. Hart again refused to do the job in Montreal, saying that he had never refused to do a job but he wasn't going to lose on Sunday or Monday (at Raw in Ottawa). He agreed to put Michaels over in Madison Square Garden on 11/15, Springfield or anywhere else and said he'd put over Vader,Shamrock, Mankind, Undertaker or even Steve Lombardi. McMahon< then made legal threats to Hart if he wouldn't lose in Montreal. Hart talked about the clause in his contract giving him "reasonable creative control" but McMahon claimed that refusing to drop the strap in Montreal wasn't "reasonable". The two argued about the finish in Montreal and the legalities of their respective positions all day Sunday and well into the night before finally agreeing to do a DQ finish in Montreal. then in Springfield, in the final four match, Michaels would win the title. Bret would then go out on Raw on 12/8 in Portland, Me. and give a farewell interview as a babyface to the WWF fans and put the company and McMahon over as big as possible. He would apologize to the American fans and try to reasonably explain his actions in a way to end his 14-year assocaiton with the WWF on the highest note possible, something largely unheard of in pro wrestling, so that all parties and the fans could come out if it and his legacy with the company with a good feeling, Technically there was a problem, in that his WCW contract began on 12/1 so Hart called Bishoff, who when presented the scenario, agreed to allow him to work through 12/8 with Titan. Hart asked an associate who monitors news for him if he thought it was possible to keep the secret from the public until 11/10. Hart specifically asked about being able to keep it secret from one person until after the show and the associated laughed and said they would be a million dollars that person already knew. November 4, 1997-McMahon called Hart and said that he had changed his mind. He suggested now that Michaels should lose clean in Montreal, then he'd "steal" the title with a controversial finish in Springfield and Hart would get to do his farewell speech in Portland. He said he was going to call Michaels and present the scenario to him. By this point word that Hart had signed with WCW had actually been reported the previous night on the Observer and Torch hotlines and it was only about one hour later before the fokes who call those hotlines for much of their news started breaking the latest "biggest story in the history of wrestling" as their "exclusives". In response, WWF Canada released a press statement originally totally denying the story, claiming it was simply propaganda being spread by WCW. However, as the word got out Titan Sports in Connecticut a few hours later contradicting that story saying simply that Bret Hart was exploring all his options but not going any further, with the feeling that they wanted to protect the PPV show. Hart wouldn't publicly talk to anyone. November 5, 1997-The internet had paved the way for stories in the Calgary Sun, the Toronto Sun and one line in the Montreal Gazette in a PPV preview story about Steve Austin a line which resulted in the paper getting an incredible switchboard-blowing response of phone calls. McMahon called Hart and said that Michaels had agreed to the previous day's scenario, but that now he had changed his mind. He said the news was out everywhere and that Bret had to drop the belt before Monday because he couldn't have Bishoff go on television on 11/10 and announce the signing of his world champion while he still had the belt. Hart said that he would get Bishoff to postpone the announcement, but with Bishoff on a hunting trip all week in Wyoming. Hart couldn't get a hold of him. McMahon then asked Hart to drop the title on 11/8 at the house show in Detroit. Hart again refused, feeling the way everything had been built up, he wanted the match with Michaels, which in the wake of all the insider publicity was building up a life of its own like no match in the recent history of wrestling, to not come off as anti-climatic and for that to happen he needed to go into Montreal as champion. He said that he would drop the title any time after 11/12 suggesting he'd do it at the house shows in Youngstown, OH, on 11/13, Pittsburgh on 11/14, or in Madison Square Garden if they wanted it that soon rather than waiting for 12/7. Jim Ross on the company's 900 line acknowledged the statement that Hart was exploring other options said that nobody knows the real story, and in hyping the big match tossed in the phrase they'd be pushing in the final days leading up to the match--it will be their first meeting in 18 months, and most likely the final match between the two ever. November 6,1997-In a story in the Toronto Sun, Tiger Ali Singh, at a press conference promoting the WWF house show the next night in Toronto said of Hart's leaving. "It's very disheartening. He's not only been a mentor, but I've been a great admirer of him since I was a kid, and if he leaves you're going to see a whole bunch of other people leaving. And I'm not going to mention any names but WCW has been approaching a lot of people>" November 7, 1997-There is no question that the power of on-line services when it comes to influence of pro wrestling was established this past week. It was generally portrayed that it was a power struggle between Hart and Michaels, that Michaels had won out, and to a lesser extent Hart was leaving over the direction of the product. While there was some truth to all of this, probably the greatest truth of all is it was simply a manipulation by McMahon to get out of a contract that in hindsight he wished he'd never offered. Whether Michaels who the wrestlers feel has McMahon's ear right now and has convinced him that what turned around WCW is Kevin Nash and Scott Hall and not Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper, and that he should and the company should do what they do to get WCW over. There is also a feeling amongst WWF wrestlers that Michaels pushed McMahon in the direction to rid the company of his hated rival who had apparently one-upped him when signing the new deal that made him so much higher paid. Maybe it was simply economics because the company is in financial straights. Hart did have a lot of problems over the direction of the company and his own decision was partially made based on that, but it's clear in hindsight that McMahon had a strong hand in manipulating Hart decision to get out of the contract. In the vast majority opinion on-line from people who really had no clue as to what was really going on, Titan, McMahon and Michaels were coming off as major heels. The WWF's own on-line site said to be the domain of young kids with no clue about wrestling was besieged with reports about Hart leaving and the so-called marks were reacting very negatively toward Titan to the point Titan pulled all it folders by the early afternoon which caused another outcry of censorship of opinions from wrestling fans. Finally McMahon responded publicly on-line with a letter of his own stating-"Over the past few days I have read certain comments on the internet concerning Bret Hart and his "alleged" reasons for wanting to pursue other avenues than the World Wrestling Federation to earn his livelihood. while I respect the "opinions" of others, as owner of the World Wrestling Federation I felt that it was time to set the record straight. As it has been reported recently on line, part of Bret Hart's decision of pursue other options is "allegedly due to his concerns with the "direction of the World Wrestling Federation. Whereby each and every individual is entitled to his, or her opinion I take great offense when the issue of the direction of the World Wrestling Federation is raised. In the age of sports entertainment, the World Wrestling Federation REFUSES to insult it audience in terms of "Baby Faces" and "Heels". In 1997, how many people do you truly know that are strictly "good" guys or "bad" guys? World Wrestling Federation programming reflects more of a reality based product in which life, as well as World Wrestling Federation superstars are portrayed as they truly are--in shades of gray...not black or white. From what I am reading it has been reported that Bret may be concerned about the morality issues in the World Wrestling Federation. questionable language, Questionable gestures, Questionable sexuality, Questionable racial issues. Questionable? All of the issues mentioned above are issues that every human being must deal with every day of their lives. Also, with that in mind, please be aware that Bret Hart has been cautioned--on "numerous" occasions--to alter his language by not using expletives or God's name in vain. He was alto told--on numerous occasions--not to use certain hand gestures some might find offensive. My point is:regardless of what some are reporting, Bret's decision to pursue other career options IS NOT genuinely a Shawn Michaels direction issue, as they would like you to believe! In the personification of DeGeneration X, Shawn Michaels character is EXPECTED to be living on the edge--which I might add Mr. Michaels portrays extremely well. The issue here is that the "direction" of the World Wrestling Federation is not determined by Shawn Michaels, OR Bret Hart for that matter. It is determined by you--the fans of the World Wrestling Federation. You DEMAND a more sophisticated approach! You DEMAND to be intellectually challenged! You demand a product with ATTITUDE and as owner of this company--it is my responsibility to give you exactly what you want! Personally, I regret the animosity that has built up between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, but in the end, it is the World Wrestling Federation that is solely responsible for the content of this product--NOT Bret Hart --NOT Shawn Michaels--NOT Vince McMahon for that matter. May the best man win at the Survivor Series!...This only made the situation worse in regard to how fans were viewing McMahon and the company even worse. "You demand to be intellectually challenged?" By doing racial angles. The fans chose that direction? The asked to see Michaels pull his pants down and jump up and down on television? Hart was booked for his first public appearance before the house show that night at the Sky Dome in Toronto. It was on a half hour TSN (The Sports Network, the Canadian version of ESPN) talk show called "Off the Record" Host Michael Landsberg opened the show saying the show had received more than 1000 calls to ask Hart if he was leaving for WCW. Despite the word being out everywhere by this point Hart would only go so far as to say that he had given his 30 day notice to the WWF, that he's reviewing offers from both groups and is strongly leaning going one way. "I'd like to really come more clean on this as I can, you know, that I have, but I have to do this thing by the book kind of thing'. Hart categorized the split as not being a money issue but said that he and the WWF had "reached" kind of a crisis or we've reached professional differences as to what direction that the wrestling shows are taking. You know, I'm not saying I'm always right, but I feel that some of the content of the shows goes against my belief in what wrestling should be and can be. Later in the show he criticized Michaels and then stated that "wrestling is often scoffed at as a form of entertainment sometimes. or it used to be. I believe it came way up and I was very proud in the direction which has a lot to do with where I am right now today-Wrestling was cleaned up and it became something families could watch. He talked about inner workings of the business having to trust the guy you are working with because you give them your body and said the real animosities and hatred that exists have to be set aside. He said that everything he has said about Shawn Michaels is about the Shawn Michaels character, but said that Michaels has said things that have hit a raw nerve with him to the point it unprofessional. The show aired the footage of the Shawn Michaels interview where he blamed the Hart Foundation for trashing the NOD dressing room and insinuating that Hart was a racist. Hart said that he doesn't blame Michaels for that, That's obviously a promotional direction and that's a poor concept. I think that racial tension is something to be very very careful with. When you start messing around with racial things that I don't like. Hart said that he stopped watching Raw about five weeks earlier because he didn't like the direction and agreed when the host brought up Michaels calling him the Grand Wizard (a KKK reference, not a reference to a famous wrestling manager of the 70s) and then brought up what Michaels said about his father that he didn't see. You know I don't mind if anyone pokes fun at my dad. Jerry Lawler's made a living the last two or three years saying comments about my mom and dad but he's always fairly humorous about it. Actually I used to get offended at some of the things he used to say about my mother--until I realized that my mother thought they were humorous and this it was kind of OK with me. He then spoke at length about Brian Pillman. By this point in certain circles and particularly within the industry, interest in he match on Sunday due to all the uncertainty some of which was known and most of which actually wasn't had reached a level not seen in years. For all of Hart and McMahon's wanting to keep the story quiet, word getting out was the greatest thing for the buy rate. There were 14,374 fans paying $496,674 at the Sky Dome one night before the show. To credit the huge house to the interest in Canada since Hart leaving had been reported in the local newspapers would be incorrect as WWF officials a week before the event had figured on a crowd of 15,000. Obviously some fans knew and there were chants of "you sold out" directed at Hart. Although this should have been expected and Hart had been a pro wrestler for 21 years and been around the business a lot longer than that, the chants in his home country knowing what he was going through did get to him. The main event was a six-man tag with Undertaker & Mankind & Austin vs. Bret & Smith & Neidhart, subbing for brother Owen who was supposed to start back but wasn't ready to return after a severe concussion from a few weeks earlier. Bret was asked to do the job for the stone cold stunner, debated the question for a while then refused figuring he was the only Canadian in the main event in the U.S. vs Canada type match with the big nationalistic angle and Austin ended up using the stunner on Neidhart instead. November 8, 1997-The WWF ran a house show in Detroit at Cobo Arena for what would turn out to be Bret Hart's final match in the United States as a wrestler for the World Wrestling Federation. Tensions were really high and the prospect of a double-cross were looming by this time in many of the more paranoid types. By really this was 1997 and this was the World Wrestling Federation. That's stuff from the 20's where the real bad guy low-lifes were running the business. The days of making Lou Thesz world champion because you needed someone who could handle himself in the case of a double-cross had been over for more than three decades. That day Hart went to the one member of the front office he knew he could trust, Earl Hebner. While there are what you call a lot of good acquaintances in this business Hart and Hebner were genuine close friends for years. Hart said he'd use his influence to get Hebner to referee the match because he wanted someone in the ring that he could trust. Hebner said he understood the situation and told Hart "I swear on my kids lives that I'd quit my job before double-crossing you" On a personal basis a little more than 24 hours later, remembrance of that conversation crushed him more than anything. At about the same time the WWF braintrust was in Montreal one day early. Vince McMahon held a meeting at the hotel with Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, Pat Patterson and Michaels. Reports are that at least two of the aforementioned names looked extremely uncomfortable leaving the meeting. Ross on the WWF 900 line filed a report saying due to the tension between Hart and Michaels that there would be armed security backstage and the two would dress as far apart from each other as possible. That was a total work since Michaels and Hart actually dressed together and were on professional terms the next afternoon. He also said that McMahon was not going to announce the show and instead would be handling any last minute problems backstage. Ross also hinted that it could be Harts final match in the world Wrestling Federation something Hart at that point wasn't aware of. November 9, 1997-The Prelude-Imagine giving into the most anticipated match on the inside of pro wrestling in years and on the day of the show not having any semblance of a finish? McMahon and Hart met that afternoon and McMahon said something to the effect of "What do you want me to do,You've got me by the balls" Hart said that he just wants to leave the building with his head up. Hart said to McMahon "let me hand you the belt on Raw (the next night in Ottawa). Everyone knows I'm leaving I'd like to tell the truth on Raw Monday. At this point the "truth" wouldn't include talking about finances, contract breaches, arguments about finishes, or anything that would make McMahon or the company look bad publicly. McMahon said he agreed., that it was the right thing to do and the two shook hands on it. Hart and Michaels were dressing together putting together a match. both were professional with one another and talking about putting on the best match possible in Harts last hurrah. agreeing to a DQ finish in about 17:00 after a lengthy brawl before the bell would even sound to start the match. As they were putting their spots together Patterson came in. He had a suggestion for a high spot in the match as a false finish. There would be a referee bump. Michaels would put Hart in his own sharpshooter. Hart would reverse the hold . Hebner would still be down at this point and not see Michaels tap out, Hart would release the hold to revive Hebner. Michaels would hit him when he turned around with the sweet chin music. A second ref. Mike Ciota would haul ass to the ring and begin the count. A few paces behind Owen Hart and Smith and possibly Neidhart as well would run down to the ring. Ciora would count 1-2, and whomever got to the ring first likely Owen would drag Ciota out of the ring. While they think they've saved the day on the pin on Bret suddenly Hebner would recover 1,2 and Bret would kick out. That would set the pace for about five more minutes of near falls before it would end up in a disqualification ending. Before the show started both Vader with his Japanese experiences and Smith told Hart to watch himself. He was warned not to lay down and not to allow himself to be put in a compromising position. He was told to kick out at one, not two and not to allow himself into any submission holds. Hart recognized the possibility of the situation but his thoughts regarding a double-cross were more along the lines of always protecting himself in case Michaels tried to hit him with a sucker punch when he left himself open. The idea that being put in a submission or one of the near falls while working spots would be dangerous for him would be something to worry about normally, but he put it out of his mind because he had Hebner in the ring as the referee. The Match:People on the inside were watching this as close as on the outside. Would Bret do the job? Would Shawn do the job? Would Bret give Shawn a real beating before putting him over? The Molson Center was packed with more than 20,000 rabid fans, who up to that point had seen a largely lackluster undercard. While the fear going in about the word getting out of Hart leaving hurting the PPV most likely turned out to be just the opposite, the sellout was not indicative of that either or it was well known by the advance that the show was going to sellout one or two days early. It appeared that about 10 to 20 percent of the crowd knew Hart was leaving and there were negative signs regarding his decision and negative signs toward the promotion for picking Michaels above him or the direction that seemingly forced him to leave. Some things were also strange and not just the absence of McMahon from the broadcast. Hart the champion in the main event wasn't scheduled for an interview building up the match. When his name was announced early in the show there were many boos from fans who knew he signed with the opposition. Once he got in the ring for the introduction, Michaels wiped his but, blew his nose and then picked his nose with the Canadian flag. He then put the flag on the ground and began humping it. Hart was immediately established as a babyface. The two began the match as a brawl all around ringside and into the stands. The crowd was so rabid that it appeared there was genuine danger they'd attack Michaels. As one point they were brawling near the entrance knocking down refs as planned, knocking down Patterson as planned and as planned Hart and McMahon had an argument almost teasing the idea of a spot later in the match where Hart would deck McMahon. Yet it was also clear that everything going on was 100% professional and the only curiosity left at that point was how good the match was going to be (it appeared to be very good) and how would they get "out" of the match (with something nobody will ever forget) But one thing was strange. Why were so many agents circling the ring and why was McMahon right there and acting so intense? About eight minutes before the show was "suppose" to end, Bruce Prichard in the "Gorilla" position (kind of the on-deck circle for the wrestlers) was screaming into his headset that we need more security at the ring, Why? The had already done the brawl in the crowd. The finish was going to be a DQ and it was still several minutes away. The Double-Cross:Hart climbed the top rope for a double sledge on Michaels. Michaels pulled Hebner in the way and Hart crashed on him. Just as planned. Michaels for a split second looked at McMahon and put Hart in the sharpshooter, just as planned. The next split seconds were the story. Ciota listening to his headpiece for his que to run in heard the backstage director scream to Hebner it was time to get up. Hebner, listening himself, immediately got up. Ciota started screaming that he wasn't supposed to get up. Owen Hart and Smith readying their run in were equally perplexed seeing him get up. Prichard was freaking out backstage saying that wasn't supposed to happen. Bret still not realizing anything was wrong laid in the hold for only a few seconds to build up some heat before the reversal. Michaels cinched down hard on the hold and glanced at Hebner and then looked away which more than one wrestler in the promotion upon viewing the tape saw as proof he was in on it, but than fed Bret his leg for the reversal. Hebner quickly looked at the timekeeper and screamed "ring the bell." At the same moment McMahon sitting next to the timekeeper elbowed him hard and screamed "ring the fucking bell". The bell rang at about the same moment Bret grabbed the leg for the reversal and Michaels fell down on his face on the mat. Michaels music played immediately and was immediately announced as the winner and new champion. Hebner sprinted out of the ring on the other side, into the dressing room through the dressing room and into an awaiting car in the parking lot that already had the motor running and was going to take him to the hotel where he'd be rushed out of town with his ticket home instead of staying to work the two Raw tapings. Michaels and Hart both leaped to their feet looking equally mad, cursing in McMahon's direction and glaring at him. Hart spit right in McMahon's face. The cameras immediately pulled away from Hart and to Michaels. Vince screamed at Michaels to pick the fucking belt up and get the fuck out of there. Michaels still looking mad was ordered to the back by Jerry Brisco who told him to hold the belt up high and get to the back. The show abruptly went off the air about four minutes early. The Aftermath: The officials left the ring immediatley, McMahon went into his private office in the building with Patterson and a few others and locked the door behind him. Hart in the ring flipped out on the realization of what happened and began smashing the television monitors left behind until Owen, Smith and Neidhart hit the ring to calm him down. The four had an annimated discussion in the ring all looking perturbed. Finally Hart thanked his fans who for the most part left with the air let out of their sails, gave the I love you sign to the fans and finger painted "WCW" to all four corners of the ring, which got a surprisingly big pop, and went back to the dressing room. He first confronted Michaels who swore that he had nothing to do with it. Michaels obviously afraid Hart would punch him out right there told Hart that he gets heat for everything that happened but this time it wasn't his fault and he was as mad as Hart about the finish. He said he didn't want to win the belt that way, was disgusted by what happened and to prove it would refuse to bring the belt out or say anything bad about Hart on Raw the next night. Hart said that Michaels could prove whether he was in on it or not by his actions on television the next night. The entire dressing room was furious at McMahon by this point. The feeling was that if Hart having worked for the company for 14 years and not missing shots due to injuries the entire time and having made McMahon millions of dollars throughout the years could get double-crossed this bad, then how could any of them trust anything he would say or do? People were saying that how could anyone trust anyone ever again and that it was an unsafe working environment. For three years after the steroid trial and all the bad publicity McMahon had worked feverably to change his legacy in the industry as not the man who ran all the other promoters out of business not the man who marketed pro wreslllting to young children while pushing steroid freaks and the man who tried to destroy wrestling history and create his own, not his worked Harvard MBA, worked billion dollar company, a man who was so vain as to give himself a Hugh award in Madison Square Garden as "the genius who created Wrestlemania" not the man who at one time tried to monopolize every aspect of the business for himself but instead as the working man's hero, coming from humble beginnings, fighting those ruthless rich regional promotors and through nothing but guts,gusto and vision became the dominant force in this industry and taking it to a new level. And now against all odds the generous friend trying to keep all the mall regional promoters acknowledging the past history of the business, fighting against Billionaires Ted, the man who was selling all his self-made creations while wasting his stockholders money because of some alleged petty vendetta because the WWF would never be for sale, stealing his patented ideas of Monday night wrestling, was banging to there and would outlast his enemy again and outshow in the end coming out on top. Three years of a facade that was largely working to a new generation wrestling fans who saw him as their underdog hero. The man who to a generation that didn't know better created pro wrestling. Hulk Hogan and localized interviews and rose this grimy little industry from carnival tents to major non-smoking arenas and who was the friendly face in the Father Flanagan collar who every Monday night epitomized the world of pro wrestling was flushed down the commode. Even though he was so good at hiding who the old Vince McMahon was to the point only those who had deal with him for many years remembered about not letting your guard down when the pressure was on the old Vince returned. Only this time it was in a situation where those who didn't "know" him were truly "introduced" to him for the first time. Undertaker was furious, pounding on this locked door and when he cam out to talk with him Undertaker told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to apologize to Hart. he went to Hart's dressing room where Hart had just come out of the shower. Smith answered the door and Hart said he didn't want to see him. Vince and son Shane McMahon came in with Sg. Slaughter and Brisco anyway. Vince started to apologize saying that he had to do it because he couldn't take the chance of Hart going to WCW without giving back the belt and he couldn't let Bishoff go on television the next night and announce Hart was coming while he was still his champion and said how it would kill his business. Hart shot back that he had no problem losing the belt and told McMahon that he was going to dry off and get his clothes on and told McMahon "If you're still here I'm going to punch you out." Hart called McMahon a liar and an piece of shit and talked about having worked for him for 14 years only missing 2 shots the entire time and being a role model for the company and the industry and this was his payback, McMahon tried to say that in 14 years this was the first time he'd ever lied to him and Hart rattled off 15 lies over the last year alone without even thinking about it. Those in the dressing room watching were stunned listening to Hart rattle those off and McMahon not offering a comeback. Hart got dressed and twice told McMahon to get out. Hart got up and a scuffle started with them locking up like in a wrestling match, Hart breaking free and throwing a punch to the jaw that would have knocked down a rhino. One punch Ko in 40 seconds. McMahon growled like he was going to get up but he had no legs. Shane McMahon jumped on Harts back and Smith jumped on Shane's back pulling him off. Not realizing there would be trouble Smith had already taken off his knee brace and hyperextened his knee in the process of pulling Shane off. Hart nearly broke his hand from the punch. McMahon's jaw was thought to be fractured or broken. Hart asked Vince if he was now going to screw him on all the money he owed him and a groggy Vince said "No". He told Shane and Brisco to get that "piece of shit" out of here and glaring at both of them told them if they tried anything they'd suffer the same results. In dragging McMahon out someone accidentally stepped on his ankle injuring it as well. And later: Hebner, at the hotel and on his way out of town was confronted by one of the wrestlers who asked how he could do that to one of his best friends. Hebner claimed ignorance and swore that he knew nothing about it and was so mad about it he was going to quit. Jack Lanza likely as part of another facade was begging him not to. Patterson, Michaels and Prichard all denied any knowledge to the boys. Everyone denied it, but it was clear everyone had to know from the production truck to go of the air several minutes early, to the director to get the shot perfect of the sharpshooter where you couldn't see Bret's face not quit, to Hebner in particular to the ring announcer to get the announcement so quickly to the man handling the music to have Michaels music all cued up to the agents who were surrounding the ring knowing the possibility of something unpredictable happening. when Hart got back to his hotel room in a total daze he was furious at McMahon because he knew he was screaming at the timekeeper to ring the bell but almost recognizing it as a reality of the business that he should have known better than anyone. But when he had a tape of the finish played to him he clearly heard that it was Hebners voice screaming "ring the bell" and at that point was personally crushed. Phone lines were ringing off the hook around wrestling land that night. People closest to the inside of the business were thinking double-cross, althought the big question was whether Michaels, since he looked so pissed at the finish, was in on it. Some more skeptical types, remembering Brian Pillman and Kevin Sullivan, thought it because of the prominence of the match and the interest, that it had to be a very well acted work. Virtually all the wrestlers back stage thought it was a double-cross, but a few not wanting to be marks were weary of fully committing to the idea. Some people who were close to inside thought it was the greatest worked finish in the history of wrestling because it got everyone talking. Others particularly people who had casual fans watching with them or those attending the show live saw how the finish to a casual fan came off looking so badly thought it was either a poorly conceived angle that was well acted by a company trying to hard to fool smart fans or maybe a double-cross. But by the morning the true story had become obvious. November 10,1997-When the wrestlers fully realized what had happened, Hart turned into almost a cult hero and McMahon's image took an incredible tumble. Hart himself remarked that while he had his problems with McMahon in the late 80's that when Phil Mushnick wrote all those scathing articles about him during the 90's he defended McMahon even thought he deep do wn knew most of what was written about him to be true. According to two WWF wrestlers roughly 95% of the wrestlers on the company were planning on boycotting the Raw taping that night over what happened. But as the day went on the talk simmered down, Hart told those who asked him that since they had children and mortgages that they shouldn't risk breaching their contract and should go. However Owen Hart, Smith, Neidhart and Mick Foley were so upset that all flew home, missing the tapings both this night and also in Cornwall Ont. the next night. Many were saying they could no longer work for someone who would do something like that. While rumors abound about Hart, Smith and Foley all quitting at press time it appeared none of the three truly knew their future but that hey all had a bitter taste in their mouth for the company. They weren't the only ones. Most of the wrestlers were there and with none of the Hart family around McMahon gave his side of the story. He portrayed it as if Hart had agreed to drop the title in Montreal but when he got to the building he said he was a Canadian hero and an ICON and refused to drop the title and said hart said he would give the belt to McMahon Raw the next night and refused to ever drop it. Reports were that by this time few if anyone in the dressing room believed a word of it. Most of the wrestlers by this time knew Hart was more forced out than voluntary leaving over money, although knowing he had signed a great money deal. Most of the heat was on Michaels with the belief that Michaels was younger and more in Vince's ear and there was a lot of bitterness because it wasn't a secret by this point that Michaels had told people on several occasions that he would never do a job in the territory. The show went on in Ottawa but not before Bishoff had already announced on Nitro one hour earlier in what was the same angle he's done so many times to tease and deliver the opposite that Bret hart had signed with the NWO. Bishoff opened the show with the entire NWO holding Canadian flags and badly mockingly singing "Oh Canada". WCW announcers Tony Schavone,Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyazko talked for most of the first hour about the announcement, with Schiavonne and Teneay, likely on orders from Bishoff acting stunned describing Hart as a second generation wrestler who stands for tradition. In other words positioning him as another Curt Henning or Jeff Jarrett, rather than the level of a Hulk Hogan to justify a nearly $3 million per year salary. Zybysko was the one who acted as if he didn't believe it. In the first commercial break Gene Okerlund did a 900 line tease saying how Bret Hart punched out a prominent official and he'd have the story on his hotline, which did huge business. During the hotline because of fear of legal repercussions the story wasn't told until late in the report only a sketchy version told. and McMahon's name was never mentioned. With more curiosity than anything in recent memory the WWF drew its strongest Raw rating since the early days of the Monday Night War- a 3.39 rating and 5.16 share-largely due to curiosity stemming from the publicity, the match, and from the announcement about Hart earlier in the event on WCW and amidst all the chaos and confusion presented one of its all time worst show. Nitro did a phenominal 4.33 rating and 6.39 share. Michaels opened the show Yes, he was carrying the belt. And what did he say about Hart? He said he beat the man in his own country with his own hold and that he ran him out of the WWF to be with all the other dinosaurs down South. And said that the few down there who weren't dinosaurs are his good friends and some day they'd kick his ass too. Those who were on the fence on the Michaels issue waiting for his interview to prove himself were give there final answer. McMahon never showed his face on camera. The fight with Hart was never acknowledged in the commentary although Michaels couldn't resist in his interview saying how hart beat up a 52-year-old man after the show. In the commentary nobody tried to bury Hart but Ross who had never used this figure before on both Sunday and Monday used the phrase 21-year veteran perhaps as subtle acknowledgement of Harts age and Lawler did bring up the $3 million per year figure as a way to encourage the mindless "You sold out: chants. It was acknowledged that it was Harts final match in the WWF although the reasons for it being the case were never even hinted at. The replay was pushed harder than ever and why not as it was the most bizarre finish in modern wrestling history complete with a commercial clearing showing Hart spitting in McMahon's face and destroying the monitors which took place after the show itself had gone off the air. The show dragged on and the efforts to push the new stars, Merro as a heel, Goldust back as a heel,Interrogator, Blackjack Bradshaw and Road Dog & Billy Gunn all came off lame. You could almost hear the crowd groan. when it was Rocky Maivia positioned as the next challenger for Steve Austin's IC title. With all the special effects the Kane gimmick still came across as a sure winner. And Ken Shamrock was thrust into the spotlight as Michael's first challenger on 12/7 after all. However there was another screw up. Shamrock's main event with Helmsley was suppose to end with Michaels interfering and then Shamrock pinning him and the ref counting to three, perhaps to take heat off Michaels rep for not doing jobs and perhaps as a way to convince Shamrock to return the favor for such an unpopular wrester on PPV. However the show went off the air with Shamrock down apparently being pinned after Michaels nailed him with the briefcase, however he kicked out just as the show went off the air. The crowd in Ottawa largely pro-Hart finally figured out about 15 minutes before the show was going off the air that none of the Hart Foundation was there and that Bret Hart situation was no angle. The Shamrock-Helmsley main event heat was non-consistant drowned out by adamant changes of "We Want Bret". Ross went on his hotline and did nothing but praise Hart for all his work even to the point of saying that he himself being right there never heard a submission but that the referee claimed that he heard it. November 11, 1997-The Calgary Sun ran an article about the double-cross reporting that Hart's leaving for WCW was actually requested by the WWF due to the WWF claiming financial hardship. And Where Does It Go From Here:Its hard to make sense out of all that happened. While Harts contract with the WWF was much higher than anyone else's to dismiss him as being paid above marked value is raising a potential valuable point. What is the Canadian wrestling market worth? Far more than $1.5 million per year. At the Calgary Stampede PPV show alone the marked was worth about $400,000 on PPV and another $200,000 in live gate, granted those are Canadian money and he was being paid in American money but you get the drift. While WWF has lost its foothold in the United States to WCW it owned Canada. WCW with TBS getting moved from premium cable to basic cable nationwide and with TSN picking up Nitro every week was how the tired time getting strong television exposure in the country. NO matter what be did or didn't mean elsewhere and there is no denying he was a major draw in the United States and probably more so in Europe, Germany in particular, he was the wrestling star in Canada. Beating him to the opportunities will mean from a Canadian standpoint every bit as much as Hulk Hogan joining with WCW and we've all seen what the long term effects of that turned out to be. It's hard to reclaim fan reaction. Fans are more loyal these days to brand names than ever before more than to wrestlers themselves. When in a similar situation only he didn't get into the ring and was fired before "not" doing the job, Ric Flair came out of a situation with Jim Herd in 1991 recognized by more fans as the real world champion the WCW belt became largely meaningless, Flair went to WWF and did big business in what was never called unification matches but many thought of them as such against Hulk Hogan. For nearly two years before Flair retired as the cult hero the small crowds attending WCW matches never stopped the "We Want Flair" chants There are multitude here and if anything times being different mean more people than ever will be aware of it. making similar chants perhaps more likely. But a lot of the newer fans also for the most park have less respect for the wrestlers as people and more as animals to perform stunts to mesmerize them. Like in other sports have more loyalties to the "home team" than its players who come and go for the bigger buck. And while everyone will put their different spin on what happened and like with Hogan and Bruno and nearly every other wrestler of the WWF beforehand, Bret Hart failed one of the things he wanted most out of his career and that was to walk away from the company without the bitterness and with many good memories. Both Bret Hart and Vince McMahon wanted their legacies to be tied together and represented all that can be good about pro wrestling. But the fact it is no matter how great the match with Smith at Wembley Stadium or at at the In Your House in Hershey were or the Wrestlemania match and SummerSlam matches with Owen were or the SummerSlam match with Hennig or the Survivor Series match with Michaels or any of the rest his legacy and Vince McMahon legacy will forever be tied together in wrestling history. The defining moment of both a Hall of Fame wrestler and the man who for a decade was the prominent promoter in the industry will be the moment that the world realized right in front of their eyes with no apologies and with no turning back to rewrite history just how truly deceitful to the core this business can be and just how much 14 years of being one of the great performers in the history of the industry truly meant on the inside to the company that benefited from it. Only the future can determine whether this was a definite moment in the hallmark of business when it comes to pro wrestling. Did McMahon really hand over the keys to Canada to WCW? Will fans really hate McMahon four weeks later when Michaels headlines a PPV show with a four star match? Will Hart be a huge success keeping WCW at it current level or even taking them to a higher level by having main events on PPV shows that can live up to the quality or the preliminary matches? Or are his best years really behind him and McMahon will have the last laugh as how much Bishoff paid for him? How long will Hart remail a cult hero to wrestlers for doing what none of them had the guts to do? Will McMahon file criminal charges for assault and will someday and stranger things have happened although in this case it would be hard today to believe it is possible will the two get back together in a few years for a final triumphant run?? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix E - Contributors E. Contributors to the r.s.p-w FAQ: Dominic's List: Thanks to all who have contributed, (listed in alphabetical order): Peter Akers, Bryan Alvarez, Jeff Amdur, Ideen Barimani, Chris Bertholf, Crystal Bollinger, Caroline Bunce, Jason Campbell, Mark Carlton, William Comer, Chris Corridan, Dark Cheetah, Fred Deaton, Curtis Desjardins, Mark Duell, Ray Duffy, Rick Duggan, Ted Edwards, Bryant Farley, Maurice Forrester, Charlie Gavinelli, Greg Gershowitz, Sheldon Goldberg, Paul Herzog, Hesham, Otto Heuer, Christopher Hilker, Steve Hooper, Rob Hoffmann, James Hussell, Rodney Hutchings, Cal Jewell, Ron Knight, Herb Kunze, Dominic Macika, Joe Marshall, Andy McDonel, Robert McMullen, Tom Misnik, Jeremy Nelson, Dave Prazak, Andy Patrizio, Stephen Patterson, Oliver Postlethwaite, Bob Rusbasan, Sean Ryan, Dave Scheid, Dave Scherer, Theo Seiz, Anthony Shubert, Nick Simicich, David Sipila, Jeremy Soria, Chris Stamper, Jason Steeves, Hisaharu Tanabe, Scott Teal, Timothy Walker, Mike Wallace, Matt West, Gary Will, David Worrell, Christopher Robin Zimmerman and many, many more Scott's List: Thanks to Hesham, Dave Scherer, Jeremy Soria, Jeremy Billones, Evan Schlesinger, Mark Bureau, John D. Williams, Shawn Carew, Rick Scaia, Jeff Amdur, Trevor Barrie, Gern Blanston, Danny Porter, A. Colin Morton, Zenon Porohowski, Barry Duquette, Herb Kunze, Kevin Green, Jason Robar, Jeff Despres, Vizh, Powrhug, Dominic Macika, Mike Palij, Mattie Carrington, John Henry, Gary Will, Otto Heuer, Chad Bryant, Dory Funk Jr. (just kidding) and multitudes of others over the years who I've likely forgotten. Special thanks to the writers of the PWI Almanac, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Wade Keller of the Wrestling Torch Newsletter, Bob Ryder of 1wrestling.com and Michael Samuda of Micasawrestling.com, all of whom contributed much helpful information for this document. My apologies if I inadvertently omitted your name from either list. The preceding document is copyright 1998 LPK Enterprises. It may be duplicated, quoted or reproduced for any means informational, but not for any means commercial. If at all possible, please inform the author of this document by e-mail if you wish to use portions of this document. If you've read this far, this is the secret to eternal happiness: Don't buy clothes on Valentine's Day for someone you want to see naked. You didn't hear that from me.