wrestling / Columns

Ask 411 Wrestling: Why is WWE Still in the PG Era?

November 18, 2015 | Posted by Mathew Sforcina

Hey there, welcome to Ask 411 Wrestling! I am your regular host Mathew Sforcina, and I want to give Jed Shaffer MAJOR props for an awesome fill in last week as I began to explore the Commonwealth. Go give the man a follow, why don’t you.

Anyway, I am back in the saddle now… for one whole week, as I’m off again for the next two weeks due to a holiday with the lady friend.

I’d like to think I’m the Brock Lesnar of 411mania, but I fear I’m more 411mania’s Cool Dad Chris Jericho.

Anyway, these next couple of weeks will feature Ryan Byers filling in for me because he’s super awesome and such. You got a question for him? [email protected] is where you send it.

BANNER!

Zeldas!

Check out my Drabble blog, 1/10 of a Picture! Yet again, that’ll keep going because why not.

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Feedback Loop

While I won’t comment about last week’s column since I didn’t write it (which I was trying to tell the guy in the comments section) I did receive an email from Jason that may be the photo of Kane The Undertaker that was being asked about in my last column. You can see it here, and if that’s the photo there you go. If it’s not, then… *shrug*

Also, James wrote in to say he remembers an old WWF magazine feature that showed/implied that HBK bladed at a house show against Owen Hart in early 96. So there you go.

The Trivia Crown

There wasn’t a question last week because reasons. So.

Who am I? I’ll probably be wrestling at Survivor Series, all things considered. I’m one of the three from nineteen from ‘ninety-three. My first match under the WWE banner was a loss to a second generation star. My first singles title #1 Contendership came with a win over two surprising names. My first official WWE title win came from a match that is about as non-gimmicky a gimmick match can be. Although it was somewhat gimmicky when I got pinned for the first time on WWE TV. A man who often gets moments of silence, I am who?

Getting Down To All The Business

Jeff starts us off with Survivor Series questions.

1. After reading a top-10 Survivor Series matches column today (Thursday) I realized that twice in the past three years Dolph Ziggler has been the Sole Survivor (2012 and 2014). This has to be a rare achievement, but maybe not. Who hold the record for most times “winning” a Survivor Series match and being last man standing?

For all these questions, I’m only going to include matches that occurred on the Survivor Series PPV, for the record. And tag team ones count, so for example the Powers of Pain each get a credit for 88’s tag team ten on ten match.

3 Randy Orton, The Ultimate Warrior
2 Dolph Ziggler, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, The Rock
1 123 Kid, Aja Kong, Andre The Giant, Bart Gunn, Beth Phoenix, Big Show, Brian Knobbs, Hardcore Holly, Jeff Hardy, Jerry Sags, Ken Shamrock, Kofi Kingston, Lex Luger, Mr. Perfect, Razor Ramon, Roman Reigns, Ted DiBiase, The Barbarian, The British Bulldog, The Interrogator, The Warlord, Tito Santana

That took way too long. Orton I remembered but I didn’t realise Warrior did it three times too.

2. Who holds the record for most times being in the traditional Survivor Series match? My guess would be a guy like Big Show who is always somebody people want on their team for whatever reason and he has the longevity to have been around for so many SS PPV’s.

Everyone who’s had more than 10 matches at the PPV are as follows.

Shawn Michaels 17 Matches, 11 Survivor Series matches.
The Undertaker 17 Matches, 3 Survivor Series matches.
Kane 16 Matches, 9 Survivor Series matches.
The Big Show 15 Matches, 8 Survivor Series matches.
Triple H 12 Matches, 5 Survivor Series matches.
Bret Hart 11 Matches, 5 Survivor Series matches.
Randy Orton 11 Matches, 8 Survivor Series matches.

So HBK holds the record. For now.

3. Who holds the record for most times captaining a team?

Co-Captains count as full credit, be they tag team or just ‘There’s Two Captains!’. Also Captain had to wrestle, so teams based on managers, whoever the lead wrestler is gets the notch.

8 Shawn Michaels
5 Randy Orton
4 Big Boss Man, Hulk Hogan, Ted DiBiase, The Ultimate Warrior
3 Edge, IRS, Randy Savage, The British Bulldog, Triple H
2 Andre The Giant, Batista, Big Show, Billy Gunn, Bret Hart, Brian Knobbs, Bubba Ray Dudley, Christian, Crush, Dusty Rhodes, D-Von Dudley, Hawk, Jake Roberts, Jerry Sags, Jim Duggan, John Cena, Kurt Angle, Lex Luger, Marty Jannetty, Michelle McCool, Razor Ramon, Ric Flair, Rick Martel, Roddy Piper, Seth Rollins, Sgt. Slaughter, The Honky Tonk Man, The Miz, The Rock, Yokozuna
1 AJ Lee, Akeem, Alberto Del Rio, Alicia Fox, Alundra Blayze, Animal, Ax, Bam Bam Bigelow, Bertha Faye, Beth Phoenix, Bobby Heenan, Brock Lesnar, Brodus Clay, Brutus Beefcake, Bushwhacker Butch, Bushwhacker Luke, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Col. Mustafa, Dean Ambrose, Dino Bravo, Doink The Clown, Dolph Ziggler, Doug Furnas, Earthquake, Eddie Guerrero, Faarooq, Flash Funk, Goldust, Grand Master Sexay, JBL, Jerry Lawler, Jim Neidhart, John Morrison, Kenny, King Kong Bundy, Kofi Kingston, Mabel, Marc Mero, Mickie James, Mosh, Mr. Perfect, Natalya, Nikolai Volkoff, Owen Hart, Paige, Phil LaFon, Rey Mysterio, Rick Rude, Road Dogg, Roman Reigns, Ron Bass, Scotty 2 Hotty, Sensational Sherri, Skip, Smash, Steve Austin, Tensai, The Barbarian, The Fabulous Moolah, The Godfather, The Jackyl, The Undertaker, The Warlord, Thrasher, Tito Santana, Umaga, Vader, Val Venis, Wade Barrett

OK, now that I’ve wasted half my writing time counting, let’s get to some other questions!

Eric asks a question to get us all talking.

Hey Mathew: I’m a long time reader and you’ve answered a few of my questions before so I’m really hoping to get your opinion on this one. About 2 years ago, for the first time in my life, and for various reasons, I stopped watching wrestling. It was slow at first but after a year I was almost totally out of the game. Outside of Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan, and your column, I watched and participated in absolutely no other wrestling anything. But, then I became a teacher and an overwhelming amount of my elementary age students watch and love wrestling. And I found myself interested again and I bought the Network.

So, my question: what are the best matches over the last two years (within all things WWE/NXT) that I should watch. These can be based on storyline/company importance or on wrestling quality but I want to watch the best.

Thanks for your opinion!

First off, to have this little column mentioned in the same grouping as Wrestlemania et al is very humbling and all that, but you have missed a lot of good writing and such out there for the record.

Anyway, going back 2 years is Survivor Series 2013, so assuming that was your departure point, here’s a list of matches off the top of my head.

Elimination Chamber 2014 Shield V Wyatt Family
NXT Arrival Zayn V Cesaro
Wrestlemania XXX Daniel Bryan V Triple H, Daniel Bryan V Batista V Randy Orton
Extreme Rules 2014 Shield V Evolution
Summerslam 2014 Lesnar V Cena
NXT TakeOver: REvolution Neville V Zayn
NXT TakeOver: Rival Zayn V Owens, Banks/Bayley/Lynch/Charlotte
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn Banks V Bayley
Raw Cena V Zayn, Cena V Cesaro 1&2
Royal Rumble 2015 Cena/Rollins/Brock
Elimination Chamber 2015 Cena V Owens
All The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and any time New Day was on the mic.

I think that’s the big ones. What am I forgetting people? Chime in below. WWE/NXT only, remember.

Nelson wants to talk about the video game of the above.

Though WWE 2K16 is out, I’m still playing all of the Showcases in 2K15. In “Path of the Warrior,” Sid Vicious is in the game as the guest referee for the Hogan/Warrior vs Slaughter/Mustaffa/Adnan match. Why not have Sid as a playable character? I mean, you have the character template already, clearly have rights to putting him in the game, why not add him in? Seems like you combine Nash and Kane’s moveset, and POW! There’s Sid Vicious. Why not add in Sid instead of Adnan, or another version of Del Rio/Bryan/Punk/Show/Jericho/Warrior/Hogan….you get it.

Well, you’d also have to add in commentary, and ring announcement, and signs, and so on. So it’s not like it’s a 5 minute job.

However, I believe this is down to money. I would presume that being a fully playable character and being an NPC might fall under different contract stipulations, and thus instead of paying Sid $X for every copy sold, they can get away with paying him $X/3 or whatever since he’s not a playable character.

But then again, 2K apparently doesn’t think the Four Horsewomen are worth the money to put in, so who knows. I was unable to find a reason, so your guess is as good as mine, technically.

Also, thoughts on 2K16? I’m hesitant to get it due to 2K15’s shortcomings, but like the roster (albeit no Hogan).

I bought 2K14 and never opened it (other games got/get in the way), didn’t buy 2K15, and unsurprisingly have also not bought 2K16. So I can’t give you an opinion. But I have enjoyed watching NewLegacyInc play it.

Readers? Yay or nay?

martyB has a quick one.

Quick one for ya!
How are tags coordinated during tag team matches? Hot tags are obviously well-planned, but what about during the earlier parts of the match? Are 6-man tag matches different?

It depends on who’s involved. Some guys insist on having every single thing down, and thus will want to plan out every single tag, they want to know the exact move/move/tag sequence verbatim.

But for the most part, face tags will be planned out as you tend to plan out the shine at the start usually, and thus you’ll know what moves are coming including the quick tags. And then the hot tag/finish, obviously, that’ll get planned out. As for the tags in the middle… I tend to just plan out who’s in the ring for whatever spot, and thus you just tag if/when it’s appropriate either because the crowd doesn’t want it or whatever, or because the next spot needs a specific guy in there.

So start and finishing tags tend to be well coordinated, middle ones less so. As a rule. And six man matches are pretty much the same as regular ones in that regard.

Cuthbert asks about this column and PG. In two separate questions, thank fu goodness.

I have been reading for quite a while now, so I feel relatively versed in most things Ask411-related. But, I have not been able to decipher “Zeldas!” What’s the deal with it?

Well, see, what follows are Links, Legend ones at that.

Everyone knows that the PG era is a mandate from the top down, and many claim this was brought on by Linda McMahon running for the election. Then, with the company becoming a publicly traded company, it is now said that the PG sticks around to not piss off advertisers and stockholders. If this part was true, why have they not tried to shake things up lately? Stock prices and ad buy revenues go higher with the more viewers watching. The “most viewers” time was before the PG-era, and personally, if I was a stockholder or advertiser, I’d want the highest viewers possible, which was not this PG-era. So, what logic is Vince using to keep up this sham that the PG era is what is needed right now?

Because it’s not just as simple as saying ‘Blood and Boobies Time!’ and you can suddenly have Damien Sandow blading off seeing Charlotte rip off Alicia Fox’s top with Ass Cream or whatever. WWE has now gotten into several contractual obligations based in large part due to their on air product being PG. While USA Network might be willing to have them go risqué again, there’s the Mattel deal for instance, which has another four years to go and is dependant on WWE being PG.

Now yes, they could theoretically renegotiate some deals, and if there was a get out of jail free clause in the Mattel deal and others like it where WWE could flip the bird and get out scot free, they would probably find new deals eventually.

But for a company already facing issues with their product, losing one of their main revenue streams at a time like this is suicidal. WWE might have an ice cold product, but they’re making money thanks to those deals. So why risk everything on the hope that flashing some skin and some blood will solve everything?

Which is won’t, by the way. There are aspects of Attitude that need to return, but the violence and the tits aren’t it. The anything can happen mentality, the compelling (and occasionally nonsensical) storylines, the larger than life but still relatable characters, that’s the sort of stuff that needs to come back. Not the blood, tits and swearing.

Michael would like some context.

Any chance you can explain the background to this pic? I’ll assume it’s anti-Hogan but I don’t remember this alliance nor do I remember Zeus being in WCW.
Either way the pic cracks me up. Thanks

Here’s the photo, hopefully.

If it’s not visible for you, the photo shows Mean Gene conducting an interview at ringside with a steel cage around the ring. Arn Anderson is the main man talking, and around him are Tiny ‘Zeus’ Lister, Jimmy Hart, The Barbarian (?) and The Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan is behind them, having climbed halfway up the cage.

This promo would have to be in 1996, as Lister, or Z Gangsta, was only in WCW for a very brief period in 1996, right before the nWo thing kicked off, as part of the infamous Doomsday Cage match at Unforgiven 1996 with the Mega Powers vs. The Alliance To End Hulkamania.

Heck, would have to be on the Preshow, WCW The Main Event on the night, surely?

…

Yeah, it is actually. Sadly the audio is gone, but at 11 minutes, the promo begins.

So there you go. Context!

Manu Bumb has a follow up from a couple weeks ago.

Wait – what’s this about Kurt Angle’s false teeth? He has false teeth?

He’s not a full denture thing, but he’s had a fluctuating number of teeth in his career, due to having a few knocked out in matches with HBK and Cena and such, but when he began wrestling I distinctly remember him having a missing tooth or two, near the back. Now I believe it’s a couple of the front ones are gone (hence the mouthguard) but he’s not been forthcoming about it for whatever reason.

It’s not a full false set, but he is, to my understanding, missing a few teeth.

John asks about finishing moves not finishing things.

Do guys like Shawn Michaels and Jake Roberts get offended when wrestlers use their finishing moves now like any ordinary move? So many people use a DDT and its lost it value as a strong move. Guys like Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, The Usos and others are using the super kick as a regular move that guys are kicking out of.

I’ve heard Jake Roberts be asked this question in person, and his answer was along the lines of not caring because it just makes his look that much better since when HE hits the DDT it knocks people out. So there’s that line of thinking, that you don’t care since if you still win with it, every time someone else does it as a transition move, makes yours look better.

But the on the other hand, you have Steve Austin and his take on Cena’s Springboard Stunner.

To whit, that he didn’t like it, because Cena should have had people not kick out of it, should have built it up as a big move, now/when he used it, it became just another move, just like the DDT.

I think it comes down to if you’re still active or at least think of yourself as still active. If you’re still wrestling, you don’t mind as much since, as Jake says, it makes yours look better. But if you’re retired, then it does make yours look worse by association.

I can see both sides, but at the end of the day, if you push it, any move can get over. Heck, a fingerpoke almost won the World Heavyweight Title in one of the most unforgiving structures in wrestling history, and people bought it and were there, willing, hoping, popping as if it could win.

All it needed was a push.

And a sock. 40 minutes in.

You just have to tweak it a little. Superkick to the side of the head. Springboard Stunner from the other side. DDT with a wristlock.

No, wait, I do that last one, you can’t use that.

Joey Joe Joe Shabadoo is all over the place.

1) In the early WW(W)F days, even through the pre-Attitude Era 90s, it seems as though world champions were given lengthy reigns. Do you know the booking reasons for taking the belt of Hogan between Wrestlemanias 3 and 4, and also for his losing the belt to the Undertaker? It seems like in both cases, his loss of the title was a set up
for him to regain it, and in the case of the Undertaker, to regain it rather quickly. These situations seem different to his loss to the Warrior, which was more of a passing the torch situation.

In both cases, there was business reasons for the switches, although they were different in both cases.

Between Wrestlemania 3 and 4, when he lost the title to Andre The Giant and then he gave it Ted DiBiase, the original thinking was that Hogan would be gone for several months in ‘88 due to filming of No Holds Barred plus the birth of his daughter Brooke at around the same time. Thus, it would be best to take the belt off him so it could still be on house shows and the like. The original plan was for DiBiase to run with the title for a while after Wrestlemania until such time as Hogan could return and he could crush DiBiase like a bug on PPV. But then came the whole HTM/Savage deal, plus DiBiase’s reluctance, so then they switched to Savage winning the belt, with the plan being Hogan would win it back at WM5.

Now as for 1991, that was less to do with Hogan as such as it was more an experiment. WWF wanted to see if, with little fanfare and advertising, with the bare minimum production values, they could make a few extra million dollars out of the fanbase and, maybe, just maybe, switch to a weekly PPV.

Yes, TNA officially stole their original hook from WWE. But hey, they stole most everything else from them…

Anyway, the Hogan switch was to give people a reason to tune in, and they did, sort of. Not enough to warrant the headaches of dealing with pissed off cable companies, nor enough to establish Tuesday as a secondary PPV night, but the show wasn’t a total loss.

But yeah, that title switch was just to try and pop a buyrate.

2) In WWF/E’s halcyon days of commentary (Monsoon/Ventura, Monsoon/Heenan, JR/Lalwer), 2 man booths worked very well. Do you think a return to a 2-man commentary team would serve the present product better? How else could the commentary improve, other than Vince micromanaging?

There’s no magic number for commentary, it depends on the talent involved. Joey Styles was able to call PPV solo just fine, Monsoon/Heenan was the gold standard, and yet Tony/Dusty/Bobby and Tony/Bobby/Tenay were able to do good work before the rot set in. I will grant you that two is more natural and more likely to give you good results, but at the end of the day it comes down to the talent involved and how it’s put together.

Now yes, in the modern WWE, I would go back to two men, as I still think Cole/JBL is the best duo WWE had since JR/Lawler, and you have Smackdown to teach the new guys, you cycle between Cole/Color and PBP/JBL.

But the problem is that with three people, WWE can have more interaction and such on commentary, they can have two people arguing while the third plays peacekeeper and maybe, on occasion, call the match. And WWE likes that now, so that’s what we get.

How can you improve it? Rehire Jim Ross pretty much.

*1/100000th of a Chandler*

Certainly in terms of helping to teach guys, Ross was always able to walk the line between having emotion and passion and a personality and treating the show with respect and calling the show. Have JR coach guys and stop having so many voices in their ears, that would help.

There’s no obvious improvement that haven’t been made before, or aren’t part of the overall overhaul the show needs. So might as well just keep it simple and bring back the guy who is really bloody good at the show.

3) This may be a little in the weeds, but I think this question is up your alley. You’ve often referred to Brock as the super secret final boss of WWE. Youve also said WWE would rather create 10 Ortons instead of one Cena. Lets say WWE is The Legend of Zelda. Does this make Brock Ganon(dorf), the heels the bosses/mini-bosses in the dungeons, and (sigh) Roman Reigns Link?

Well I don’t actually like the Zelda games, so I can’t-

*runs away from the angry mob suddenly swarming the page*

…

Anyway, the problem with that analogy is that Roman isn’t strong enough, either in specifically how they want him and WWE faces overall, usually.

If you wanted a video game analogy, I’d say Brock was all the Colossi, Roman is Wander, Ambrose is Argo, all the other wrestlers are the white-tail lizards, and Mono is overness. Cena is Ico, and Vince McMahon is the Sony executive demanding another FPS that can sell millions.

…

Moving on.

4) There seem to be so many guys on the roster who are simply not used, despite Raws 3-hour run time. In your opinion, is there a better way to utilize Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Curtis Axel, R-Truth, and Heath Slater? What is the ideal role for people in their position?

There are a few options for guys like that, assuming that ‘firing them so they can go elsewhere and wrestle new guys, learn new things and maybe come back later with a new killer gimmick/style’ isn’t allowed since that would show people there was a world outside WWE.

Basically you use them as jobbers on your main show, you trot out Axel and pimp him as a former IC champ whenever you have a new guy you want to push, you have Braun Strowman devour Axel a few times on Raw to really put over how big and therefore good Braun is.

Or, the other option, is you send them down to NXT. They can work with the trainees, give them some pointers on how the big leagues work, maybe help them develop skills/promos/whatever, help get the new guys ready.

In both cases it’s about setting up new guys, I guess, plus you can do both. But WWE, given they refuse to let guys leave, they might as well keep guys like that around. You never know when one might suddenly get over by copying someone else’s movements or whatever. Hoard the talent like an old lady hoards string. You never know when they’ll become useful.

And on that somewhat depressing note, I bring this Ask 411 to a close. Ryan will be in next week and the week after that, and then I’ll come back, probably.

Maybe.

Later!