Ask 411 Wrestling: Why Bother With NXT?

Heya, this is Ask 411 Wrestling and having spent the weekend sitting around tables with a whole lot of people I rarely see and enjoying myself, I’ve come down with the flu. But I’m fighting through such petty distresses as a sore throat and a pounding headache to bring you more wrestling knowledge and trivia!

But due to the illness, this will be a Total Op… Oh yeah. Got rid of that, didn’t I? Cool. Well, instead of that, here’s another awesome thing by Len Archibald who is quickly making me look like an incompetent goon, which is really unfair, I don’t need any help to do that!

And new digs for Chandler! Not that it matters to you, dear reader. Instead, what does matter, is if you have a question, you send it to [email protected] and I answer it. Theoretically.

And now, the best thing on the site that isn’t a picture of Victoria, BANNER~!

Zeldas!

Check out my Drabble blog, 1/10 of a Picture! I wrote something about wrestling and drugs recently, but not what you might expect!

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WCW Using Bret: There are two main issues I have with Bret’s booking in WCW, one the long term overall usage, the other the short term, immediate one. Long term, the near constant flipping of him from heel to face to whatever the hell he was when he was aligned with the nWo but not actually IN the nWo, all of it helped to kill whatever drawing power he had left.

Short term, immediately after he came in, the fact is that he was, publicly and undisputedly by the other side, screwed out of the WWF Title. He was, in storyline, still the true WWF Champion. Why the intercourse do you not then build immediately to Bret V Champion in a ‘(True) Champion V Champion’ situation? Everything before the mountain of screw-ups that was the main event of Starrcade 97 was defendable, if not optimal, and you can even run Bret V Flair as his intro, with Flair drawing the parallels to when he went into WWF as the True Champ, you just sort out the Hogan/Sting thing at Souled Out then run Sting/Bret at SuperBrawl, which Bischoff wanted to make into their Wrestlemania anyway, supposedly. You put Sting over, of course, but you make Bret into a big deal and by having him and Sting work a long match you make them both. But hey, WCW screwed something up, stop the presses and so forth.

Hollywood Rock in the HOF: Once you get past a milliChandler, I round down.

The Trivia Crown

Who am I? I’m mainly known for my non-wrestling work, but I’ve been a jobber for WCW and WWF as well as winning several titles on the indy scene. I once said goodbye by blaming a future world champion for all my problems. A multi-sport wrestler, I’ve managed a few world champions, as well as trained a bunch of people. I’ve been part of a team, a club, and a world. A #2 and a nightmare, I am who?

Lucas has the answer for us all.

Who am I? I’m mainly known for my non-wrestling work (manager/booker), but I’ve been a jobber for WCW and WWF (from ’93 to ’96) as well as winning several titles on the indy scene (UCW and WWS Heavyweight Champion, MCW and BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Champion etc.). I once said goodbye by blaming a future world champion for all my problems (blamed Eric Young for disbanding Team Canada at Victory Road). A multi-sport wrestler (had gimmicks of golf and hockey players), I’ve managed a few world champions (Eric Young, Jeff Jarrett, Bobby Roode etc.), as well as trained a bunch of people (Rhino, Christy Hemme, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin etc.). I’ve been part of a team (Team Canada), a club (Bullet Club), and a world (Planet Jarrett). A #2 (Masked Super Warrior #2) and a nightmare (former ringame), I am who? You are Scott D’amore!

Who am I? I’m linked to Hulk Hogan in a lot of people’s minds, even though I spent more time onscreen with Ric Flair. When I wrestled in South America, I used a last name that is now more famous as the name of a game designer. I once held tag team gold with one of the guys in the plane crash that broke Ric Flair’s back. I once made the ‘inventor’ of a move bleed by putting them in my own version of the move. I died due to cancer in the 90’s. A man not born in America but who spent most of his career there, and the man who introduced the world to a gimmick that the man using me has maintained, on and off, for nearly 25 years, I am who?

Getting Down To All The Business

Jon asks about the birth of Hulkamania, although it took a while for that to get going but let’s not dwell in semantics until we’re asked about semantics.

As a kid I remember seeing many highlights of Hogan’s first WWF title win against the Iron Sheik, but it just occurred to me that I don’t remember actually seeing the whole match.

Was it televised on a regular weekly national WWF show? Just regionally? Or was it a house show that they took some video of and only showed highlights on TV?

It was part of a broadcast on the MSG Network, the cable channel that services the Mid-Atlantic area and shows mostly sports events emerging from MSG or from teams based in New York. Back in the 80’s, the WWF would run a big show monthly in MSG, and it would be shown live on the MSG Network with highlights, where appropriate, on the other channels. It wasn’t like a PPV where they built to it, but it was often the last or first time a house show run of matches would occur at. This is why there is commentary on the match as it was broadcast, just not on any major stage.

Now, while most WWF programming only showed highlights of the match or highlights of the celebration afterwards, they did air the match, in full, on the 28th of January edition of All American Wrestling. But that appears to be the only time they did replay it at the time.

Was it billed in advance and heavily promoted or was it only mentioned after the fact?

It was only mentioned after the fact due to the fact that it was meant to be impromptu and out of the blue, for the most part. Sheik injures Backlund with clubs in lead up to MSG Network show in December 83. Sheik then wins title in his title match at show with towel throwing due to injured neck. Backlund then brings in Hogan to help deal with Wild Samoans and because Hogan is now a stand up, no shady business good guy. Hogan and Backlund wrestle a tag match or two, further injuring the back. Hogan mentions he’d like to challenge for the WWF Title on Wrestling at the Chase program week before as part of the few WWF tapings the show used but which were also very regional. Week later, Backlund isn’t able to take his rematch for the title, Hogan gets the shot instead, he wins, gravy train begins to roll.

Also, since we’re on the topic, how long after the match happened was it aired/acknowledged on TV?

Well it was shown live on the MSG Network. But assuming you got all your news from the nationally shown TV shows, then that 28th of Jan edition of All American Wrestling appears to be the first time you’d have heard about it, since there didn’t seem to be any WWF TV shows between the 23rd when it occurred and the 28th when it aired on AAW. So obviously its when/where it was acknowledged.

Jorge goes from Hogan’s debut to his leaving… Hey, an actual proper segue for once! Go me!

I’ve been watching all the episodes for Raw and just came by the October 17,1993 episode, number 36. On that episode Randy Savage is asked something from Heenan and he says that he doesn’t want his friendship to end up like someone else’s, and he metions Hogan and he says Hogan is a primadonna whcih seemed legit. Was there any heat between them? If there was, does anybody know why? When they went to WCW was there any heat between them?

Hogan and Savage have a long, complicated history, wherein they would go through periods of being friends, then they’d hate each other, then they’d work together, then they’d be friends, then hate, and so on up until Savage stopped the Rapture.

Back in 1993, Hogan left the WWF due to the act growing stale, a growing split between Hogan and Vince, the steroid trials and any number of reasons you want to toss in depending on if you like or hate Hogan, Vince, the US Government and/or Yokozuna. Savage stuck around for a little while longer, mostly working as a color commentator. He then cuts a shoot promo on Hogan on WWF Radio, then repeats parts of it on Raw.

Reports indicated this hatred lasted right up until Savage went to WCW, oddly enough. But maybe that’s just business, as Randy would say much later.

So anyway, what was the deal in 1993? Well, again we must rely on rumor and speculation, albeit rumor and speculation that fits in with the fact that is public. And that fact are that Savage and Liz got a divorce in 1992. Supposedly, Savage blamed Hogan for his marriage breaking down because Liz began spending more time with Hogan and his wife Linda, and then soon after filed for divorce.

Savage didn’t seem to think Hogan was showing Liz his third python or anything, but instead the time she spent with them led her to see another man, a third party never named in the rumors. Hogan’s POV here is that by spending some time out from under Savage’s thumb she realised how controlling he was, since he was, by many accounts, a very jealous, overprotective man.

Either way, Savage blamed Hogan for his marriage breaking down, but as long as he was in the company he held back. Once Hogan was gone he was technically fair game. Perhaps something got back to Savage that really pissed him off that week, but whatever the case, the ill feelings at that point are, according to the rumor mill which has giant grains of salt on standby, residual due to Hogan (un)intentionally breaking up Savage’s marriage.

Nightwolf takes us from brides to bridesmaids… That’s a bit weak, but anyway, we go to his question, already in progress.

Speaking of wrestlers from other promotions. Why the hell would they put them through NXT? Why not just let them wrestle how they are? Wouldn’t they just end hurting them ( see Chris Hero, Sin Cara)

For every Hero, WWE can point to an Ambrose or Rollins and say their system obviously works and is flawless and shut up.

And the problem with Cara is that he skipped developmental, he was signed in January and debuted in March/April. Had he gone to developmental for 6 months he might well have slowed down enough to handle WWE style.

That’s the key really, WWE has a legitimate strategy at play here, one that has positives and negatives, it can be argued for and against. WWE wants every wrestler to work basically a similar style. Yes, you have different moves, and yes, Cesaro will not work identically to Rusev who will not work the exact same as Tyson Kidd who will not be a carbon copy of Ambrose. But all 4 of them should be able to work any of the other 3, or do a four way, or do a tag match or whatever. WWE wants to be able to pit anyone with the same reproductive organs in the ring and have them be able to work together in something resembling a match.

Plus, you need to learn how to wrestle in a style that you can keep up for 250+ days a year, and how to talk, and have easily identifiable moves that are safe and repeatable and basically you need to be identifiable but interchangeable, changeable but compatible, flexible but rigid.

And that is a legitimate strategy. If you want to make the brand strong, you don’t want to roll the dice a dozen times in order to get the big pay off once, you want to rig the table so you get your money back every time. Or at the very least own the damn thing. WWE wants you to love the brand first and foremost. Have your favourites, sure, preferably Cena and Reigns, but overall be a WWE fan, not an Ambrose fanboy/girl or a Bayley crush or a Big Show… No, no-one likes Big Show.

*1/16 Chandler*

Not to say it doesn’t have disadvantages. As you say, it can lead to talent getting lost due to not fitting the guidelines, guys like Hero who can’t conform to what WWE wants won’t last. And it gives an air of sameness, of blandness to everything.

But, but, there’s Ambrose, and to a lesser extent your Rollins, your Cesaros and so on, guys who can check all the boxes, can give the WWE what they want and still be interesting and awesome to watch. It can be done, might not always be rewarded but it can happen.

WWE’s developmental isn’t as bad as it was in 2010 when the cookie cutter name generator was in full swing, and every guy was the same short haired, (probably) mildly tattooed, lean but not overly muscular arrogant young man with a stupid name and short shorts. Now, it’s getting rough corners rubbed off and the entertainment side polished up nice, rather than taking a hacksaw to you until you looked vaguely like Cena and/or Orton.

Guys and girls now have to work in the system. But the system, while hard, is not impossible. And while some good talent will be lost, great talent will shine all the harder.

Or so the theory goes…

Axl keeps us in developmental. Hey, back to good ones!

1) Here in France, we’re all hoping that the man now known as Sylvester Lefort (and who we still call by his awesome real name Tom La Ruffa) will make it to the main roster. What are your thoughts on his work until now at NXT, and what kind of future do you foresee for him?

Not bad, and not good, in that order.

Lefort seems to be a guy who isn’t quite good enough to use him as a serious attraction, but too good to use as a jobber. Certainly that seems to be the way WWE looks at him, given that he’s not pushed seriously as a threat, really, despite having a decent hook and a decent look. So he seems to be more use as a manager… Which in WWE right now is a little hit and miss. Sure, they have more than they used to, but it’s not a sure thing that if you’re a manager you’ll get a shot.

I mean, I don’t mind him, but he doesn’t ring my bell or anything. And much like the Vaudevillians, I suspect he’ll end up more Emma than Shield upon call up. Hope I’m wrong but, you know…

3) The Zeb Colter character seemed to be a direct attack towards the Tea Party movement for not supporting Linda in her Senate campaign. He and Swagger were hateful borderline racist characters. Then they turned face because some “Russian” character criticized the US of A, and stayed face after they lost the feud. They never had a mea culpa moment for demanding that all WWE foreigners were deported and behaving for more than a year like totally unlikeable heels. How do you explain this face turn, and don’t you think that it lacks at least a part of self-awareness and contrition for their previous actions? And where do you see them going from here?

I explain it because of ‘MURICA!

I presume you’re not after the actual reason, that WWE presumes you’ll forget what they want you to forget and cheer who they want you to cheer because WWE Brand (see above), but WWE seem to be taking the N-Word argument, in that it’s OK for us to talk crap about others of us, but if you try it, you’re in the wrong.

As Americans, it is OK for Colter and Swagger to be anti-foreigner, but for a foreigner to be anti-US? That’s too far. At least, that appears to be the thinking. It’s not thinking I like or approve of, but that seems to be how they are going forward with it.

As for where they are going from here, I got no clue, since WWE doesn’t seem to either. They seemed to be going ahead with the Swagger becomes a Bo-liever thing but maybe not, so they might drop the ultra-nationalist thing. Or they might well keep going as shameless USA loving patriots and ignore the logic flaws. Personally, what I’d do? I’d have them go full Ayn Rand, and have Colter offer their services to the Authority as flunkies for a price, then when Hunter baulks at two paychecks Swagger breaks Colter’s ankle, Swagger is welcomed in and becomes Rollins’ bodyguard/tag partner, then in a few months Colter returns with a team to take them on… The Lucha Dragons, as Colter fully turns good. But that’s just me.

From stuff that’ll never happen to a question I’ll never answer from HellloooNewman.

With all the hours of WWE television, it seems like some matchups have been done to death. Two guys that feud over and over and over again, or just happen to be randomly paired up as opponents on TV because….reasons? Del Rio vs Ziggler for example. Orton vs Cena comes to mind. My question is, what one on one matchup is the single most “overdone” match on WWE TV? For this exercise, only singles matches count, so if the two opposed each other in a tag/battle royal/whatever, it doesn’t count.

I apologize, and thank you in advance for doing the research that I am too lazy to do.

MJH had basically the same question, albeit just in history full stop rather than on TV.

Here’s the thing, there’s a difference between what’s hard but doable, and what’s physically impossible. To answer that question, I need to count up every match in WWE TV history. And I’m sorry, but no, I cannot do that. Neither can anyone else, since I haven’t found anyone online who has come close to working out anything like this.

Overall, I’ve never heard anyone claim that Flair and Steamboat haven’t wrestled each other a whole bunch of times, or that they’ve worked each other less than they worked X. WWE TV? Orton/Cena’s as good a bet as anyone. Anyone else got a better one?

Things!

From impossible to merely difficult, Brandon is up next. Hey, I’m getting used to these!

Why was Booker T and Goldust such a short lived team? I remember the crowd loved them together as a team, and every other pay per view event they were in a Tag Team Title match, and they finally won the titles at Armageddon after months of chasing them, only to lose them 3 weeks later, and then break up shortly after. Why weren’t there more title reigns and a longer teaming of the two?

Black Gold was indeed an awesome pairing, and I agree with you that it was far too short lived a duo. However, they were a victim of booking changes, as Booker was needed for ‘bigger’ things. From an interview Goldust gave in 2013 to Figure Four, and I quote…

You’re fondly remembered for you tag team with Booker T. How much fun was that?

That was probably the funnest time of my career! There were some fun times, man. It was supposed to be a one-time deal. They came to me, and I guess Booker knew – or didn’t! – but they wanted it as a one-time thing to promote Rock’s Scorpion King movie: Goldust and Booker T at the movies, kind of like Siskel and Ebert. We did it, they liked it – we liked it, it was cool. They liked it so much that they brought us back and wanted to do something the following week. It was like “The Odd Couple”, man, we were two completely opposite people. You have the freak and you have the ass kicking Booker T. Our chemistry clicked, it was unreal. We could just look at each other and know what the other one was going to say and when to shut up or when to say something and ad-lib, it was really easy. What would take some tag teams ten or twenty tries to get something right, we would do it immediately the first take – bam, we got it! Then we would do another one just for shits and giggles, to get a second one in the can. Most of the time we did our stuff live. It was good, I loved it. Every single vignette we did backstage and our tag team title reign and all that stuff was black gold man! (laughs)

It was very over with the fans – why did they split the team up?

Well, as they do with so many teams, they were going in a different direction with Booker. They were pushing him for the title and stuff like that. It’s cool, whatever – it sucks! But you can’t look back on it and say “Fuck them! Why did they do this?” because that’s no good. It doesn’t help anybody or the business. I see things so much differently now, in the business, from being behind the stage and being a producer for a year and a half – what all goes on and so many guys don’t really realise. It’s changed. I know the business and you can’t fight it – you either have to grow with it or get the hell out! (laughs)

So yeah, they decided they needed Booker/HHH at Wrestlemania 19 and so they broke the team up, and had Goldust electrocuted to write him out for a bit. And nothing bad happened to either of them out of those two ideas.

Chris takes us from very unpopular moves to a very popular question… Eh, it’ll do.

Why was babyface Crush never a main eventer?
I’m talking post-Demolition, pre-siding with Yoko & Co. In my opinion at least he had a decent look, was fairly over, and was certainly no worse in the ring that some of the guys they had as main eventers before, during and after Hogan’s epic run. All I can think of is that it clashed badly with the whole steroid trial thing and the move to smaller wrestlers, but then if they’ve got a legitimate big guy there, why not use him more? Was it just the shift in direction, was there something more involved?

A different Chris… I think, had this also. I thought I’d answered it, but couldn’t find it, so here we go then.

As the internet factoids go, Crush was the back up plan if Luger had fallen down a well shaft on his way to the Intrepid for the Bodyslam Challenge, although the only proof I’ve seen of that is the fact that in the lead up to that he seemed to be built up as the guy by bodyslamming a bunch of fat guys. Crush could have been the Hogan 2.0 attempt, he was such an obvious choice, he was big and tall and had great hair, why didn’t he get a push?

Now, he had problems with the law later, and it’s entirely possible that he kicked Vince McMahon’s dog or something at some point. But the problem with Crush is that most people tend to focus on the boxes Crush ticks that Vince likes. He was tall, big, muscular etcetc. They forget the flaws.

Apart from the fact that he didn’t have an abundance of charisma, apart from the fact that he was merely OK in the ring, above all else, the reason Crush didn’t get a push, is because he really, really, couldn’t cut a promo worth a damn.

I mean, ok, he’s not the worst promo of all time, but Hogan 2.0, or even just a main event babyface, needs to be able to talk in WWF. He was over for where he was, and that was about as high as he’d get without drastically improving his promos and charisma.

Now sure, that’s an easily solved problem, manager that, but it’s still a limitation, a flaw. And he got his run against Yoko and didn’t set the world on fire, so they gave him a shot and failed. That’s not a knock on him as such, just a reason why he didn’t get pushed harder. He was as good as the spot he had would allow, no more, no less.

Not everyone can main event, no matter what they tell trainees at training camp.

Jim goes from Crush to… Wrestlemania Venues. Because… Uh… Look over there!

I’ve been wondering why some Wrestlemanias have been in large stadiums (say over 60,000) and some have been around in arenas (say around 20,000).

Looking at all of the WM events, it’s easy to understand why 1 & 2 were smaller events, but WM3 was 76-93k people.. but next year we’re down to 18k at Trump Plaza. Then 9 through 16 are all held in arenas, and that includes stuff like Rock vs Austin at WM15, which is one of the highest points of the Attitude era. You’d think they could draw bigger crowds. They seemed to smarten up at WM17, but then WM20, 21, and 22 were all in arenas as well.

The thing here is that you’re looking at this through modern eyes, where Wrestlemania is a huge event and something to be bid on due to the money raised. Back in the day, it was just a thing that was popular but not at all a business proposition that cities wanted to lock in. You need to look at the evolution of Wrestlemania and the company as you go.

Wrestlemania started small in terms of venue, as WM1 was from the home of WWE, MSG. It was a risk, after all, so why not do it on home soil?

Wrestlemania 2 was to be bigger, and so they did the three venue thing since they were still not sure how this all worked.

Then Wrestlemania 3 changed the entire industry forever, in the giantest venue of all time.

So why then go back to a smaller venue like Trump Plaza? Twice? Money, dear boy. Wrestlemania was by now a huge venue, and Donald Trump wanted to cash in, so he cut a deal with Vince to bring Wrestlemania to his arena to make some money. It obviously worked since they did it again, plus supposedly Vince and co were so impressed with the operation they wanted to go back anyway.

They then run another huge venue on the back of Hogan V Warrior and fill it, then run another huge venue on the back of Hogan V Slaughter, which they totally fail to sell out get a bomb threat fail to sell out.

So then 8 sells well enough to hit the big arena, and then 9 happened. WWF was in a bit of a rut, and maybe Caesars Palace cut a deal, or maybe WWF just wanted a unique visual aesthetic to divert from the smaller venue. Either way, that show wasn’t going to sell out an arena anyway, so why not punt on the bet?

10 was a homecoming as they returned to MSG where it all began. By then the company was slowly sliding back against the wall, and so they began to run smaller venues for the next few years. Yes, they might have been able to fill a bigger venue for 15/2000, and afforded it, but there wasn’t an epic, once in a lifetime match or a local boy made good story to tell either time, so why risk it?

X7 had both, and then 18 and 19 were big venues again, and then 20 was again back at MSG with the whole homecoming thing. 21 and 22… That I can’t defend really, but then starting from 23 they continued the huge arenas up to 30, where they again headed back to MSG to keep the tradition alive and show that they were proud of their heritage and their past while still looking forward to the future they went to another big arena for the money.

Sorry, got a little wrestling nerd on you there, sorry bout that.

Connor wishes to talk about one of the Wrestlemanias we just discussed.

Why does everyone love Wrestlemania 17? in my eyes, don’t get me wrong it’s a good show but it’s totally overrated, it’s not even the best Wrestlemania and it sure as hell wouldn’t ever crack even my top 20 of greatest shows ever

…

Let’s see.

You have the two biggest stars in wrestling, fighting for the richest prize in the game.

You have three teams having a wild, crazy match with jaw dropping spots and insane risks.

You have two technical geniuses getting to let it all hang out.

You have McMahon V McMahon, which is overbooked to a degree, sure, but is memorable and pays off a bunch of storylines in one big bow.

You have a more comedic hardcore match with a nice win for an under the radar guy like Kane.

You have a couple of great undercard title matches with two popular guys in Jericho and Eddie retaining/winning titles.

You end the annoying RTC.

You have the Gimmick Battle Royal for nostalgia, with a couple returns (Heenan!).

You have Trish turning face.

You have Triple H and Undertaker having a match.

And you have Steve Austin turning heel after one hell of an awesome match, where he caps off not only years of storylines on a personal note, but also ends an era of not just the WWF but of the wrestling industry, as with one handshake it becomes clear to all that the WWF has won everything, WCW is dead, ECW is dead, and no-one is left to challenge them, so much so that they can turn Austin heel because who the hell is gonna stop them?

So, great matches, great moments, great crowd, great history, great commentary… I mean, sure, if it’s not in your top 20, it’s not in your top 20. That’s cool. But to me, it’s still the greatest wrestling event of all time, unless you want to specify the parameters of that a bit…

Juan wants to talk about the midcard titles, which I totally just mentioned.

A lot of people complain about the IC and US title not being used to elevate midcarders, but these title have always been used in this manner. For its first decade in existence, the IC title was mostly given to midcarders who were not getting into the main event. Then it was mostly given to wrestlers to see how they would handle a title.

How should these titles be used to push or to reward long time hard-working wrestlers?

Well for starters it shouldn’t be used as a reward for years put in.

Holding a title shouldn’t be seen as something you earn by putting in hours, and it shouldn’t be a goal as such. A title is a prop, and viewing it as anything else is missing the point. Sure, on air you treat it like it’s the most important thing in the world, and the booker should do the same, and by all means feel good if you are booked to win it, take it as a compliment of your ability.

But at the end of the day, all titles should be used to make money. The title is a Macguffin that is used to give people a thing to chase, a thing to protect or steal, a tangible, solid, easily identifiable reason why anyone should care about why these two guys are fighting.

Two guys having a match because they are booked to the match is usually boring. But if they are both in the hunt for the IC title, or whatever, then that’s an added reason to watch, because the win/loss will have an impact, maybe.

The titles are storytelling tools, ones you should respect but not use as a gift or a favor. Yes, Kane has been around much longer than Rusev, but Rusev should still have the US title bolted to him until Wrestlemania at least. The secondary titles should be used to give a reason for up and comers and old timers to wrestle each other to make money, and maybe teach and use as a test run for younger guys, but they should not be rewards for hard service automatically. If you think you can make money with an old timer holding it, awesome. But just because he’s an old time does not mean he automatically deserve a title reign.

Speaking of titles, James, after giving his condolences about my tonsils which is ironic coincidental, has a question about those.

Of actual wrestlers (so not David Arquette or Vince Russo), who is the most surprising champion of all time? JBL? Mick Foley?

I presume we’re only talking world titles here, right?

Stan Stasiak is probably my default answer, just because he was out of left field to give him the belt and he wasn’t that good a wrestler, overall.

Vince isn’t an actual wrestler, huh?

Actually though, I’m gonna go left field and say Mysterio. Not that I’m saying he’s a bad wrestler, not at all, but the idea of Mysterio being in a position to hold the World Heavyweight and WWE titles, no matter how short the reigns are-

Heh.

is pretty mind blowing, really. Close second to Jeff Hardy, more on the ‘Really? Jeff Hardy? Drug loving Jeff Hardy?’ dynamic at play. But I’m sure someone below will disagree.

Speaking of the WWF Title, Todd asks about a match it was defended in.

Just read the top 5 WWE matches of the 90s here and it was an enjoyable read. Royal Rumble 92 was listed several times and I love the match, too. It’s already a great story but Bobby The Brain Heenan’s commentary adds even more to it. I’m wondering, was that a case where The Brain actually did NOT know what the finish would be? Or did he know–making his performance that damn good?

I don’t have hard data here, but I’m fairly sure that he knew. The only major booker in recent memory who didn’t tell his announcers what was going on was Eric Bischoff, in a misguided attempt to get spontaneous chaos and such. It only led to announcers building up the wrong guy and the wrong angle. As far as I am aware, this was planned.

Heenan just was that damn good.

Speaking of chaos, Scott takes us to the 2005 Taboo Tuesday PPV.

I was just wondering what the deal was in 2005 at Taboo Tuesday? There was some sort of deal with Stone Cold and Coach, instead it ended up being Coach, Goldust and Vader against Batista. How did that come about!? This was not only Vader’s return to WWE since his ill fated run in the 90’s, but Goldust hadn’t been seen for a while too. And to my knowledge Vader left as soon as this match happened, can you tell me what this whole mess was about? Was there any long term plan to your knowledge?

The long term plan hinged on Austin/Coach. At the time, they were running the angle of the McMahons firing Jim Ross over what Austin had did to the reunited family, when he gave them all Stunners on Raw Homecoming. Since, you know, McMahons were bitchy and all that.

With JR fired, Coach was now the Lead Announcer on Raw, which Austin didn’t like. This led to Taboo Tuesday, where the idea was that Austin would fight Coach for both his friend JR and Austin’s jobs, if Austin won JR would come back, if he lost they’d both be fired.

Austin then proceeded to pull out when he found out that the plan was for him to lose the match due to interference from Mark Henry. Once he pulled out they panicked rewrote, with Batista as WWE Champion taking Austin’s place, Coach gaining Goldust and Vader as flunkies for no real reason and the match then taking place, JR’s job no longer mentioned.

Now, Goldust stuck around, sort of, but Vader being in no shape to perform, such as he was, meant he vanished quickly. Had Vader been in shape, maybe it would have led somewhere (Team Rolex?), but overall it was just a last second fix for a walk out. No long term planning involved.

So, with that, I bid you all goodbye for now. I’m off to gargle aspirin and sleep till 6pm…