Ask 411 Wrestling: Just What Was WWE Gonna Do With Michael Sam Anyway, More!

Hey there, welcome to Ask 411 Wrestling, the first column that pops up when you google ‘Ask 411 Wrestling’! I am Mathew Sforcina, and not much to report here this week. I’ll be in Four Player Co-Op over in Games, do drop in and call me a Microsoft fanboy. Apart from that… Yep, nothing. My week was about as interesting as Raw.

Anyway, got a question to cheer me up or at least make me think? [email protected] is where you gotta send it!

But before you do, do enjoy Banner, The Champion’s Choice.

Zeldas!

Check out my Drabble blog, 1/10 of a Picture! Something something Plug.

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My Math: Kyle takes me to task over something I said last week.

I believe you meant awesome x awesome = awesome squared, or awesome^2. Awesome x awesome only equals double awesome where awesome = 2, which SURELY can’t be right.

*math mic drop*

But in WWE, Awesome = The Miz, and there are currently two of them, ergo The Miz = 2 and thus Awesome = 2 in WWE math.

*picks up math mic, dusts it off, puts it back on stand and walks off*

Casting Maria: Oh by all means, if it’s what’s currently in the toy chest + Punk then AJ is my 1st, 2nd and 4th pick. But I chose to use Maria in my Megapowers redo because if it’s a case of taking the old Megapowers script and Ctrl-F, Ctrl-H Bryan for Hogan, then you need the Liz to be classy, soft spoken and pretty but useless. And Maria pre Santino screwing her brains in was the closest I could find to that. And if I get to toy around with it… See, my issue with the storyline is the main issue I have with Liz overall, is that before WCW, apart from that time she took her dress off, she never actually did anything. She was the ultimate woman as prop. So, in my mind, if I do redo the angle, I have Bryan beat Punk, go to get the girl… Maria low blows him then a couple of new faces run in and beat up both Bryan and Punk, as Maria now goes heel and complains about being fought over like a toy, she’s a businesswoman, etcetc. Maria post Santino screwing her brains in is just as good here. And the two faces would be, I dunno… Sami Zayn and whatever they end up calling Kevin Steen, I think those two could work well together, just a hunch…

*1/10000000 Chandler*

Cena V Taker: I should point out that if I was booking, I’d have done Cena V Taker at a WM and put Taker over, simply because I saw more value in keeping the mystique of the Streak alive until such time as Taker was actually Dead. But if anyone has to end it, given how WWE books now? Brock was the best choice, alas.

‘MERICA!: I apologize for my misspelling there. I meant ‘MURICA. That clearer?

The Trivia Crown

Who am I? I once changed alignment during a title run, I was involved in a very important tag team main event match, and I once got in trouble over undeveloped film. My long time partner died of a heart attack, although most people remember me with one of two other partners. I was the oldest man to win something, and I tried to do the right thing before Christian got in my way. I’ve wrestled, done commentary, done ring announcing, refereed, and worked backstage. Who am I?

Michael has it.

I once changed alignment during a title run: Heel when he won the IC title, turned face when he was attacked by the wild samoans over grand wizard selling his contract to captain Lou Albano
, I was involved in a very important tag team main event match:Hmm not sure maybe it was the AWA title loss to Gagne and Vachon?
and I once got in trouble over undeveloped film:An Angle where mcmahon-helmsley faction used kane because they supposedly had pictures of his scarred face and would show them unless he worked for them, but the film didnt develop.
My long time partner died of a heart attack,(The Original Crippler Ray Stevens) although most people remember me with one of two other partners:Gerald Briscoe or Soulman Rocky Johnson
I was the oldest man to win something: The WWF Hardcore Title
and I tried to do the right thing before Christian got in my way:in a match between Booker T and Christian he tried to give the belt to Booker T but Christian stole it and used it to pin Booker T
I’ve wrestled, done commentary, done ring announcing, refereed, and worked backstage. Who am I?
You are Pretty Boy Pat Patterson!

Although as pointed out the tag match was the main event of WM1, and I meant the partner dying to be Louis Dondero, his long time Life Partner. But I got too clever for myself there, clearly…

Now, a reminder, you can submit questions here for this section. Don’t leave me to do it every week, please…

Who am I? A former boss, I’m an 8 time holder of a specific WWE belt, although all my other WWE title runs were one offs. A once did Shakespeare, or at least gave a quote on camera. One belt changed names while I held it. I was once Commissioner, I once got dumped for a guy in a mask, and I once got tasered. An Iron Man, A Show, and apparently on a major public thoroughfare headed towards a possibly mythical location noted for its heat, I am who?

Getting Down To Business

Uzoma starts us off with one of those questions that’s not quite fact but not quite opinion…

Mickie James is set to give birth to her and Magnus’s child this month. This and TNA Knockouts, Madison Rayne and Taryn Terrell, continuing with their careers, despite becoming mothers, has me asking this: will Mickie James resume with her wrestling career after giving birth?

Obviously since I am not psychic (well, I don’t think I am. Uh…. 6, 15, 17, 22, 37, 46. Let me know if they work out for you.) I can’t say for sure, but she and WWE did meet earlier in the year and she visited the Performance Centre, with the supposed idea that she might come back as a trainer, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere. Certainly she did take some dates after her TNA contract ran out, and she’s done a few signings more recently, so even if she gives up wrestling and focuses on singing, she’ll probably still make the occasional signing appearance at a show.

But she hasn’t said anything definitive either way, and I don’t own a time machine yet, so yeah…

Brian has a nice question that’s not going to lead to disagreement at all…

With WWE’s push of Rusev heavily featuring his Bulgarian nationality, I was hoping you could look at all WWE stars from outside the US and Canada of current day and the past 5-10 years and denote on what level their national origin played into their character. You could maybe use a numerical system such as: 1-Country of origin/nationality not promoted/relevant to character; 2-Country of origin/nationality has moderate impact on character; 3-Country of origin/nationality tied closely/featured for character.

OK, I’m going to try and get everyone from 2010, because I gotta draw the line somewhere and that’s a neat round figure. If I’ve forgotten someone, then clearly they’re a 1, but do tell me. And if you disagree with one of my picks, do tell me why below. I may be willing to adjust if there’s an uproar. In the event that someone has changed their value, first listed number was debut, second (and third etc) is how they moved during their run. Because creating formats like this is what people love me for.

And do I really need a Chandler there?

Adam Rose 2
Alberto Del Rio 3
Antonio Cesaro 2.5
Chris Jericho 1
Christian 1
David Hart Smith 1
Edge 1
El Torito 2
Emma 2
Epico/Fernando 2/2
Great Khali 3
Justin Gabriel 1
Kofi Kingston 3/2
Lana 3
Layla 1
Maryse 1.5
Primo/Diego 2/2
Rey Mysterio 2
Rosa Mendes 1/2
Rusev 3
Santino Marella 3
Sheamus 2
Tyson Kidd 1
Vladimir Kozlov 3
Wade Barrett 2/1
William Regal 2

I eagerly await your input.

Alan is someone you’ll be seeing over the coming weeks, as he has several interesting questions, here’s a couple for this week…

I was watching the Ric Flair farewell on YoutTube last night and it got me thinking. A few years back when he started wrestling for TNA he did an interview where he said something along the lines of it not being him that chose to retire but the WWE retiring the Ric Flair character. So my question is, did he really not want to/intend to retire at Wrestlemania 24? I cannot the believe the WWE would spend so much money and time to have everyone come in that did, if they knew it was not his intentions to desire. Also, the way he was crying made it feel so legit. So what is the true story?

When you read comments from a wrestler, you sadly have to filter it through the lens of who is paying their bills at the time. In this case, given that Flair was working for TNA and wrestling for them, he said what he had to, in order to throw shade on WWE and to make himself look good. Not to say it’s not true, but that it is slanted.

See, what happened was that WWE did want Flair to retire, and so Ric and Vince supposedly agreed around Wrestlemania 23 that Flair would get inducted into the Hall of Fame the night before WM24, then retire the next night at the show. Vince and the WWE did want him to retire from in ring work, they wanted to make him a manager or trainer or just a Legend, anything wherein he didn’t have to bust his ass every night, because they knew Flair would go out there until he physically couldn’t move, and they wanted to have him retire gracefully.

But then Flair and WWE parted ways, and Flair needed the money got the itch, and got the opportunity to tour Australia with Hogan, and so he got back into the ring, and it followed on from there.

WWE wanted that to be it, and to transition Flair into a cushy job with less spotlight and less money. Flair agreed, and might well have intended to honor it at the time, but come on, it’s Ric Flair. Of course it wasn’t going to last…

A few months back there was an article on here that stated they tried to get Rowdy Roddy Piper to sign a legends contract so that he could be in the next video game. However, that makes no sense. The WWE owns the right to his character do they not? Couldn’t they just put him in there like they put other older wrestlers in there?

No, because there’s a difference between using footage/stuff they already have and making a new product with that person, especially when they own the rights to their character. See, WWE can sell DVDs featuring footage of Roddy Piper, they can stick tape of him smashing Snuka with the Coconut on every DVD they like, and all they gotta do is send Piper a residual check.

But to put someone into a video game, that requires that the person is under some sort of contract, even if it’s just a one off contract for the game. See, if Piper signs a Legends contract, then WWE can indeed do what they like with his image and character, but right now Piper owns the rights to Roddy Piper, and since he apparently only makes one off deals if/when they trot him out for a DVD or a Piper’s Pit, they can’t just stick him into a game without his permission.

That’s part of the reason why WWE gives everyone a new name, to avoid this sort of situation in the future.

To piggyback on that queston, do the rules change when a wrestler is deceased..I ask this because last night my son was playing WWE 2K14 and I noticed wrestlers like Randy Savage, Yokozuna, and Andre the Giant be in there. As we know, the Poffo family is not on good terms with the WWE. So how can they get Randy Savage in there without consent form the Poffo family but cannot get Roddy Piper in there?

When a wrestler dies, the rights to their likeness and character and such are part of their estate, and go to their relatives or whoever they will them to. They then can cut deals with whoever they like to use said likeness and character. WWE is on good terms with the Anoa’i family, so Yokozuna is easy to get, and while Andre’s daughter does occasionally have negative things to say about the company, they get on well.

The Poffo family though, there’s still some heat obviously, but when it came time for WWE All-Stars, THQ went to Savage and cut a deal with him. WWE allowed them to, but THQ was the ones to make the deal.

WWE, that is, Vince, seemed to change his mind later, as he was pulled from the Legends of Wrestlemania game, but then WWE relented and now the Poffo family has a deal with 2K, given his appearance in 2K14 and Supercard and stuff.

But again, WWE cannot toss in whoever they like into anything they want. Old footage is fine, but new stuff, they need permission.

Cory asks about the Hebners.

Matt, you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, yadda, yadda, yadda. Quick question, I was recently watching the Main Event with Hogan v. Andre and the Hebners and was wondering did both Earl and Dave Hebner both work as refs in the WWF during that time and were just never acknowledged as twins or did they bring Dave in just for the ref switch angle?

No, actually they brought EARL in for the angle. Dave Hebner was a ref for WWF for years, he’s the ref in Steamboat/Savage which we’ve all seen dozens of times but screw it, let’s watch it again why don’t we?

Anyway, Dave had been a ref for years, as had Earl, but Earl, given that he had been trained by Tommy Young, worked for the NWA. He was the ref in the Magnum/Tully I Quit match which we’ve all etcetc.

So, they hire Earl and bring him in, his debut being The Main Event where he screwed Hogan. WWE intended on extending the ‘Twin Refs, One Good One Bad’ angle out, but when Earl kicked at Dave he broke Dave’s ribs so they had to cancel the angle, and instead they had Earl ‘see the error of his ways’ and thus he was the ref who counted DiBiase out at WM4 to give Savage the title. And then Dave, after knee surgery, became a road agent and Earl became the ref, despite, from WWE’s history, Dave was the ‘true’ ref at first.

Piero asks about splits in tag champs.

We’ve seen tag teams split after losing the belts but has there been a split
while the team was still champion ?
If yes, what happened next ?

Well, there’s two options. The usual thing that happens is that when the team splits, they do so during a match, Scott Steiner turning on his brother at SuperBrawl VIII, for instance, causing them to lose the belts to The Outsiders. And then the same thing happened when The Outsiders lost the belts, as Scott turned on Kevin to give Sting and the Giant the belts at Slamboree later that year. Sting and Giant didn’t get along, and the two had a singles match to gain control of both belts, for the record.

The same idea happened when Windham turned on Luger in 88.

But there has been one case when the partners split up without there being a match. Diesel and Shawn Michaels split up at Survivor Series 1994 when Shawn ran away from Diesel after accidentally superkicking him too many times. And then… The belts were vacated, and a tournament was held to crown new champs, with The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly winning the tournament.

Yay.

Botchamania!

Brandon asks about The Nature Boy.

I look back in early 90s of the WWF/E, and you see a lot of wrestlers with over the top gimmicks or just terrible ideas for the character they play. Even some WCW wrestlers coming to the WWE. A few examples being The Red Rooster, nuff said. Or Dusty Rhodes, who had to wear polka dots, which I never understood, and team with a woman named Sapphire which just felt like an odd pairing. Where I’m going with this is with all that going on in the WWF, how did Ric Flair come into the WWE in 1991 as himself? No crazy gimmick, no change in his appearance, just let him be himself. Even when he came back in 2001, they just let him be the Nature Boy. I always understood it that when you came to the WWE, they make you into whatever character they want. Was Vince McMahon just a huge fan of Ric Flair?

Pretty much. Plus, you know, it’s Ric Flair. Dusty was a big name, sure, but he was just a big face name (and Dusty has gone on the record saying a lot of what he did was his own idea), while Flair was The Man. Flair WAS the NWA for a long time, pretty much the nearest thing to Hogan there was, albeit a diametrically opposed version.

Vince loved Flair, absolutely. And yes, Vince tends to prefer to make you his own. But he’ll make exceptions occasionally. And Flair? Yeah, that’s an exception, because he’s Ric Flair. No more, no less.

…

I want to expand on that, but there’s only so many ways you can say ‘He’s Ric Flair’, so let’s move onto Andron and finishers.

Third question is how are finishing moves chosen is it entirely upto the wrestler or does the trainers train them based on their character?

It’s a combined effort. Trainers and wrestlers will work together, sometimes a wrestler will want to do something, sometimes a trainer will tell them to do something, normally it’s a collaborative effort. After all it needs to be something the wrestler can do consistently and well, fit the character, be safe, and look good, hopefully. That many factors, it needs more than one person to sort out, as you need to consider every angle.

Certainly when I was trained, I tried a few things and when I sucked at powerbombs but was ok with jumping flat we agreed on the chokeslam/big splash combo.

Derek takes us back to the past.

Great Column, always the highlight of my web week. Well with a few days of free time i’ve decided to watch every raw from the first on (with corresponding ppv’s). Why a month long break in Raw from August til September? Mind you this is also the time Hogan made one appearance from before WM to KotR. Thanks

Raw had a show on the 16th of August, 1993. Then the following week, they aired a one hour special the “Summer Slam Spectacular”, which was recorded right after the 16th August Raw, but shown on the USA Network the night before Summerslam, and was a sort of WWF version of the Clash of the Champions. They showed the full thing on Sunday, then aired an hour version instead of Raw the night after.

And then Raw was gone for two weeks, returning the 13th of September. Why?

Because they were pre-empted by the US Open which USA Network had the rights to. USA was showing the Tennis for those two weeks, and thus no Raw was made or shown.

Connor has another couple questions I can answer quickly.

Who was the photographer who hit Hulk Hogan with a fireball at King of the Ring 1993?

In kayfabe, it was never actually stated who it was, it wasn’t meant to be anyone, supposedly. In actuality, it was Harvey Wippleman.

I heard a rumor that Ludvig Borga was supposed to beat The Undertaker in early 1994, go to the Royal Rumble and beat Yokozuna for the title while Lex Luger wins the Rumble followed by a Lex Luger vs Ludvig Borga main event at Wrestlemania 10 for the title

Is there any truth to this?

The only person who has ever said this is Ludvig Borga, in an interview to the press in Finland, while he was running for office. Recalling the Yes Prime Minster Rule of Wrestler Shoot Interviews, this is clearly Level C, what he would have liked to have happened.

There has never been anyone else saying anything to give this any credibility. MAYBE it was floated at one point in a meeting, but it was never seriously in the cards according to most reports.

Nightwolf asks about safety.

Can you explain how this is pulled off? How do you make it believable in a storyline, but make sure that the person is safe?

Well let’s see, there are 10 moments there.

10, 8, 6, 5, 2, were just vandalism and thus obviously no-one was at risk.

9 is a recreation of the rear axle getting torn off the car moment most famous from its appearance in American Graffiti. I presume that they used a similar technique as was used in the movie, which is to cut the entire axle away, then tied to a wench, so that at the moment desired, the wench would pull, and the added speed from that and the car would make the axle break off.

As for 7, 4, 3, and 1, which I’m presuming are the ones you’re asking about, the answer is pretty simple and thus boring. Either the person ‘inside’ the car gets out at a point where the camera is not on them any more, or in the case of the Limo blowing up, they cut from live feed to a shot of the Limo blowing up from earlier. Basically they use camera tricks to ensure no-one is inside the vehicles when they are destroyed.

And honestly, it’s almost never believable in a story. Like, did Hogan trying to kill Rock there make it believable when at Wrestlemania they made up? Anyway…

One Man’s (Important) Opinion

Axl wants my take on the appearance that wasn’t.

I would like to know your thoughts about the Michael Sam debacle. Do you think that when they announced (on the 1st September Raw) that he was invited to Raw next week, WWE already knew for certain that he would not answer the call, or did they really hope he would be there? And what did they expect from him if he would have agreed to come to Raw and to “speak of [his] struggles to succeed, lessons [he has] learned along the way, the courage it takes to be yourself and the prospects of [his] continued journey”, as Stephanie put it in her infamous open letter? It seems pretty clear that if Sam had candidly talked about those matters, he would have talked about coming out in professional sports and everything, good and bad, that comes with that. Is it something the WWE was really ready to broadcast, given their own history with the way trey displayed homosexuality and the problems they’ve had in the past with the GLAAD? What if a part of the crowd would have booed Sam? In any case, would they have not been criticized for not doing something like that with their man Darren Young, whose coming out has never been acknowledged in WWE programs, and who actually seemed kind of pissed by the invitation made to Sam, according to his Twitter (these posts seem to have been deleted, but you can still find them online: ? Finally, is all this story good news for WWE (it gained them some mainstream attention), bad news (Sam’s absence the next week makes them look foolish and desperately craving for attention) or is it absolutely neutral for their image, in your opinion?

OK, I’ll start on what I consider safer ground and then wade into the murky waters.

Darren Young’s tweets, I kinda have to suspect were deliberate, in the sense that I can’t help but suspect that the original plan was for Sam to get the mic, talk for a moment, and then Young interrupts him and turns heel, on the basis that he got given no such opportunity, and turn him into angry young (gay) man. Maybe.

But that’s the problem, NOTHING about what WWE intended to do was leaked, possibly because they didn’t know. They just saw a way to maybe get some more viewers from NFL fans and get some good publicity, and they had no ulterior motive beyond crass ratings chasing.

Would WWE have been willing to broadcast that? I think they would have probably put an adversary notice on the show, but WWE doesn’t seem to be particularly discriminatory against homosexuals. Yes, there was the Billy and Chuck wedding, but that was more about how they lied and led them on. If WWE had called GLAAD up when they first announced it and been upfront about how it wasn’t going to happen, GLAAD wouldn’t have been happy, obviously, but they wouldn’t have really gotten pissed off, because they felt used and such.

If he’d turned up, would Michael Sam have gotten some boos? I’d like to think not, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it would not have surprised me for him to get some boos. A lot of people still think that homosexuality is evil or wrong or that they have to be against it because of what was said by some nomads a couple thousand years ago, or whatever. But I’d like to hope he wouldn’t have.

WWE I’m sure wanted him to turn up, but once he wasn’t going to be, they pulled it which was a little off putting, but I understand it. Personally, I would have sent a crew to the Dallas training camp and gotten like 10 seconds of Sam saying ‘Hey, thanks for the Invite, but you know, work…’ or something, paid it off in some way. As it stands, they pretty much came out as they went in. They got a little buzz but not a lot and pulling it ruined that.

So yeah, overall, it seemed very slapdash, I don’t think WWE knew what they would do, and in the end nothing was gained or lost. But I’m sure the comments section will now eat me alive…

Mark is less clutching at straws as he is grasping at sticks.

Since Wrestlemania 30 there has been lots of complaining about the lack of build towards a fitting end of the streak and/or that Lesnar should not have been the guy to beat Undertaker. Yet, one thing I have not seen discussed is the ability for Lesnar vs ‘Taker 2 at Wrestlemania 31. Obviously the streak has gone but Undertaker has not officially retired and by putting his career on the line it gives a selling point/reason for another match.

I have a feeling that at Night of Champions Lesnar and Cena have a reverse of their Summerslam match with Cena being the dominant force. Somehow Lesnar escapes with the title, (Heyman interference or DQ), and this leads to a Hell In A Cell match at that specific PPV. With both men knackered/beaten up have Rollins successfully cash in his briefcase BEFORE Cena or Brock win. This protect both men and leaves Rollins/Authority vs Cena as the main story. Keep the belt on Rollins by nefarious means and have Reigns win the Rumble making it Rollins vs Reigns at ‘Mania, (hell have Ambrose added somehow for the an ex-Shield member triple-threat match). This keeps us on the likely track of Reigns being the next superstar and officially christened as such at ‘Mania 31.

Lesnar disappears after “losing” the title ad somehow fights Cena again at Survivor Series, which Lesnar wins. Royal Rumble would be his next match when he/Heyman demands the championship rematch he never received. Lesnar looks to be about to win at Rumble when Taker comes up from under the ring and costs him the match. Next night on Raw, Heyman is ranting about how Lesnar was screwed when he is interrupted by Undertaker who says “you may have ended the streak but you didn’t end me” or words to that effect. They agree to one more ‘Mania match with the prevision that ‘Taker retires if he loses. Use the 2-3 months to PROPERLY build up the significance of Undertaker retiring after 15 years in the WWE with videos, interview other superstars etc… and this would lead to a meaningful match for Undertaker EVEN though he has lost the streak. I would have Taker go over and then retire the next day on Raw, saying that even though the streak is gone, 22-1 is more meaningful as he returned to vanquish the one who finally became the one; “the 1 is now just 22” or whatever.

I know this is complete fantasy booking but in my head it makes sense. Or am I just clutching at straws in the hope that Undertaker gets the send of he deserves??

See, the problem is, WWE wants Lesnar as champ at WM, to lose to either Rock (if Vince and the ‘More Money Now’ camp wins and Rock agrees) or Reigns (if Hunter and the ‘What About Tomorrow?’ camp wins and they don’t realise Reigns isn’t up to snuff). Lesnar/Taker 2 is not on the cards.

Hell, honestly, seeing Taker in his wife’s Instagram feed, I kinda feel that he ain’t wrestling again. Ever. Certainly not this year.

And you know, I’m all right with that. The Streak is over, if Taker never wrestles again, fine. Shame that the last match sucked, sure, but better that then risking one more match when he’s a year or two older and even more broken down.

So yeah, Brock will probably walk into Wrestlemania as champ and drop it to someone who isn’t Taker, sorry. And Rollins will cash in 30 seconds after Cena wins it, so he can become a 17 time champ within a month.

*1/100 of a Chandler*

Do you agree with me there? Are you less cynical and have hope for the future? Do let me know below, I’ll be back next week to explain why I got everything wrong. Until then, dear readers, ciao!