Ask 411 Wrestling: Will Ziggler Turn At Summerslam?

Why hello there, welcome to Ask 411 Wrestling, I’m your host, the very awesome Mathew Sforcina!

I was told to call myself that. So sue me.

I’m (mostly) over the MANFLU, and gearing up for the Newcastle Pro Rumble this weekend. I’m totally winning it!

Oh yeah.

Got a question, preferably one that isn’t asking why my running gags are taking over this damn column? [email protected] is where you send it!

BANNER!!!

Zeldas!

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PPV Matches, Diff Companies, Same Year: Cat brought the knowledge, and if you count iPPVs, then there are at least two matches that took place on PPV for two different companies on the same year.

Kevin Owens vs Matt Hardy: PWX An Evil Twist Of Fate on October 5th 2012 and ROH Best in the World 2013 on June 22nd 2013

Adam Cole (BAY BAY) vs Sami Calihan: CZW Best Of The Best X on April 9th 2011 and ECWA 15th Annual Super 8 Tournament on 30th April 2011

The Trivia Crown

Who am I? I’ve been a part of ECW, WWE and NXT. I’ve had four different tag partners on the big stage that I’ve won gold with, but only one of them has managed to obtain a couple of other title related accolades I’ve done (although the last guy to get those is associated with me in another way). You might think I’ve teamed up with Christian, but you’d be wrong, albeit understandably. One of my old nicknames was used by several different people. I’ve got a lot of stroke, I’ve got a girl, and I’ve had three of something at once. A guy you can see every week, and who used to make war vets crazy, I am who?

Zach Brinkley has the answer for us.

Who am I? I’ve been a part of ECW (WWECW), WWE and NXT (Seasons 1 and 2). I’ve had four different tag partners on the big stage that I’ve won gold with (Morrison, Big Show, Cena, Mizdow) but only one of them has managed to obtain a couple of other title related accolades I’ve done (Only Big Show has held the IC title and a Grand Slam champion) (although the last guy to get those is associated with me in another way) (Daniel Bryan, Miz’ rookie on NXT Season 1) You might think I’ve teamed up with Christian, but you’d be wrong, albeit understandably. (This one has me stumped) One of my old nicknames was used by several different people (Mr Money in the Bank). I’ve got a lot of stroke (The A-Lister), I’ve got a girl (Maryse), and I’ve had three of something at once (The US title and both sets of Tag titles)
A guy you can see every week (On Smackdown) and who used to make war vets crazy (For the Marine movies?) I am who? THE MIZ

The Christian thing is that in OVW, he was tag champs with Chris Cage. The War Vets I think was Marine movie related, but I’ve honestly forgotten.

Who am I? A former World Champion (legit!), I’ve main evented at least one WWE PPV, one WCW PPV, and an ECW show that would eventually become a PPV for them. My first title came after I ditched my female manager and picked up a male one. I once forced someone to vacate a title and nearly won it myself, losing in the finals of the tourney to find a new champ. I once won a tag title when my team pinned someone who wasn’t the champ, but it wasn’t a multi-team match. I’ve been managed by Hall of Famers, Authority Figures, Color Commentators, Pop Culture References and someone WWE doesn’t like talking about right now. With half of Jack Swagger in one regard, and tag partners that range from future World Champs to future face painters, I am Who?

Getting Down To All The Business

Ron is first because Ron is always first. Unless he isn’t. Which is usually when he hasn’t asked a question.

I realize you probably will not be able to answer this question. However, I have no doubts that either you know someone who can, or, failing that, you can get an answer from the smartest reading audience on all of 411wrestling.com, right here, at “Ask 411 Wrestling!” (smile, thumbs up)

New Jack has talked about his scaffold match with Vic Grimes, and has said he tried to kill Grimes by throwing him hard enough to miss the tables stacked around the scaffold. As it is, Grimes barely caught one of them before bouncing off the ropes and landing in the corner of the ring.

The question is, why has New Jack not been arrested for attempted murder? He has admitted it, and there is video evidence. At the very least, has he ever even been questioned about it by police?

If you haven’t seen the incident, go back in time 5 or so years and type in ‘Owen Hart Fall Video’ into your file sharing program of choice, and you’ll see it there. Suffice to say, it’s not a particularly pleasant video.

Anyway, New Jack, in the Forever Hardcore doco, does indeed claim he tried to kill Grimes in this match as payback for The Danbury Fall, a spot at the ECW Living Dangeriously 2000 PPV where he and Grimes fell onto concrete. Here’s most of that interview, warning, the XPW fall is in this clip.

So, we have motive, we have probable cause, why hasn’t New Jack been arrested or charged or anything?

Because he’s working you.

Probably.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure New Jack isn’t sending Vic Grimes Christmas cards, he probably does dislike him because of the fall, but the XPW thing, if you can stomach watching it, is less “New Jack trying to kill a guy” as it is “Vic Grimes missing the point he was aiming for”. Grimes clearly jumps a bit as he is ‘tossed’, and I suspect what happened is that Grimes just jumped too hard and missed the tables, due to pushing off with his foot as he fell.

But people know that Grimes and New Jack have a history, and New Jack’s career is built on people being legitimately scared of him (I certainly am), so if he’s working a guy he doesn’t like, and a spot like that, if it goes wrong, why wouldn’t he claim he tried to kill his opponent and improve his rep a bit?

At least, that’s the story he’d tell the cops, I’m sure, if they came a calling. Like how when he was actually charged after New Jack stabbed a guy in the ring 9-14 times, depending on who you ask. He claimed after that that the ‘wrestler’ in question had given permission, and charges were dropped when New Jack promised to train/travel with the guy, New Jack can always fall back on the “Wrestling is a work, I’m working, that’s not illegal” excuse. Speaking of…

As a follow-up, and one you can at least comment on, after this and the Mass Transit incident, how the %$*&! did he ever get another booking? It seems like the liability insurance alone for a New Jack appearance would make the show unprofitable.

To be fair to New Jack (so as to hopefully avoid being killed by him if we ever meet) Mass Transit was judged to be partly responsible, both for the whole lying thing and because he encouraged the blood flow at first.

But New Jack has a name and a rep. So if you’re going after a certain market, and you have an opponent who is trained (both Mass Transit and the stabbing had inexperience as part of the problem) then you get what you want, which is an ECW vet who a certain type of fan will come to see on the off chance he might kill someone.

Certainly unless I was forced to go after blood marks I wouldn’t hire New Jack, but I can see the argument why someone would, and it’s a free country and all that. But yeah, New Jack can be funnelled into being a part of the show, you just gotta use him right.

Kfabh8er asks about Australian Wrestling!

Since you’re both an Australian and a wrestler, you may help me with this question.

…

I already did the drink gimmick, dammit! Uh…

If you understand that reference, 10 points for you.

When wrestling got hot again in Australia, especially the WWE programming through FoxSports television. There was possibly a one off show that I can remember by an Australian wresting promotion who obviously trying to capitalise on the main stream popularity and it was televised on FoxSports. What I remembered most about the show was that it was filmed at Rod Laver Arena which was a too large of a venue for it because the crowd was so small that when they did the commentators shot you could see kids running up, down and around the steps and seats behind them. Which made the whole thing laughable and very amateurish.

Do you know the promotion? Do you know any other information the relationship between the promotion and FoxSports, for example was it only a one off deal or ongoing and etc?

I remember seeing the end of that show as a fan, and being confused, having not heard anything about it.

That said, I’ve heard plenty about that afterwards, from a few people involved. Not enough that I have both sides of enough stories to share, but I can give the basic details.

Suffice to say, this was back in 2003, filmed in late 2002, and it wasn’t the Rod Laver Arena, it was at the State Sports Center in Homebush. Here’s a (positive) review. It wasn’t a promotion as such, as the ‘Supercard’ part of the title indicates, this was an attempt to bring together a bunch of the other companies in Australia into one big show and do well on it. Most of the guys listed were the main guys in a few different companies, and they were brought together for this, and a few later shows under the same banner, by Andy Raymond, a sports commentator for Fox Sports. Only the first one was televised, Fox Sports didn’t pick up the other ones, there were maybe 4 shows before Raymond stopped promoting them.

Now, again, if you’re late to the party, wrestlers gossip like fishwives and/or husbands, and especially with a show like this, there’s plenty of gossip flying about. I won’t go into specifics, but suffice to say, part of the reason Australia has an abundance of promotions is that it’s not that hard to start a promotion in Australia, and often what happens is there’ll be a rift form between an owner and a wrestler over something, justified or not, and then they’ll go off and make their own company, with blackjack and hookers!

There’s never blackjack and hookers, dammit.

So, you’re left with the situation where there’s enough talent in Australia for one solid as heck TV product, but it’s spread out over half a dozen companies, with half of the people refusing to talk to the other half.

Except for the people you’re a fan of, they’re cool. And/or if you’re an actual Aussie Wrestler reading this, I’m clearly not talking about you, I like you, you’re awesome!

…

Think they bought it?

Anyway, long story short, money mark well meaning TV personality attempts to cash in utilize existing fanbase for TV product and gathers together the cream of Australian Wrestling into one place thus ensuring anarchy backstage which does not end up working out that well. Still, the idea has merit, and certainly if I ever find my own money mark, I’m trying it.

No-one actively hates me in Aussie Wrestling, you see, so I can hire most people.

At least, they didn’t. Then I answered this question.

Moving quickly along, Dusty has a roster question.

Good day Mathew. My question is, during what period was TNA’s roster strongest? Star power at the top, solid mid-card, variety, good X division, etc. Not the writing per se, but roster talent itself. I was thinking limit it to two or three year periods, but feel free to adjust as you see fit. Thanks.

The way TNA’s roster went, single years are probably best…

You can make an argument that, as horrible as it turned out, and with some crap that was there, 2010, around the time of the great Head to Head debacle, the talent pool was pretty good…

But I think 2012 was the high point. Most of the original/early guys who were good/great were still there, Aries and Roode were tearing it up, Bully Ray was on fire, you had big names like Hogan, Hardy, Sting, TARA, RVD… Yeah, 2012 was their peak, I think.

You, my dear reader, may disagree! If so, do tell us why below, love to hear what you think was the high water mark!

(And if you think TNA has always suck, I suppose you can say that too, but since I’ve said it here, that takes the wind out of your sails, don’t it?)

Peter has a bunch of questions. I have slightly less than equal number of answers.

Forgive me because my memory is hazy. I’ve looked for this online with no luck and maybe now that the WWE Network is adding more old RAWs I may be able to find it with your help. I’m looking for a segment with Big Show and Undertaker where Undertaker goes on a long and boring speech about riding motorcycles in the desert that was somehow related to I think him beating up Big Show or something. I just remember the speech felt like it went on forever. Do you have any recollection of this or any idea of the episode of RAW it was on?

Ah, the Unholy Union.

It was the week before Summerslam 1999, building to Taker/Show V Kane/X-Pac at said PPV.

And yeah, it went on a fair old while….

Jericho apparently got some heat for calling the Undertaker boring, but I mean… Come on…

Were there ever any real plans to do something significant with Justin Credible before the Invasion angle?

I’m going to say ‘No’, here, before I do my research. Excuse me.

I found nothing. I suspect that was roughly what WWE had for him too.

But I’m willing to be overruled here, if someone has any sort of evidence to the contrary.

Do you think the Dudley Boyz would be more successful in the WWE right now if they updated their wardrobe a bit?

That’s a fair way down the ladder of things, but sure, a fresher look wouldn’t hurt, if you wanted them to be more successful. They’re not there to be ‘successful’ though, as such, they’re there to get a nostalgia pop, help educate the newer guys, be locker room leaders, everything BUT be ‘successful’.

If you really wanted them to be successful, you’d have D-Von get ‘injured’ for about a month, have Bubba turn into Bully, then D-Von returns at the PPV to save the day and then also turns heel/er and helps Bully win a big match and you run with them ala the Steiners in late 2000 WCW.

With a new hat snazzy new outfits.

What did Diesel say to Bret Hart after their 1995 Survivor Series match? What was the history of the heat (if any) between them to that point? I’ve heard conflicting things said about the match by both guys.

Have the WWE Network because it’s awesome.

Anyway, watching it, other than the swearing immediately after the pinfall, and the ‘I’m Back!’ gloating at the end, I’m not sure I see where the supposed Diesel telling Bret to ‘remember who did you the fucking favor’ that is in Bret’s book is said, but then again wrestlers are good at speaking without looking like they are speaking, and Nash has never said ‘No, I didn’t say that’ so…

As for heat, at the time the two were cordial, and both men were able to work together. Nash was sick of being a Hogan replacement, and Bret wanted the belt back, so they could work together to get what they wanted. I wasn’t able to find any real heat between the two at the time. Hart/HBK, obviously, but Bret and Kev seemed to get on ok.

Were Ric Flair and the 4 Horsemen a draw during the NWO era? It seems like the fans loved them but the company didn’t utilize them very well. I always thought it would have been cool to see the Horsemen back up Sting or something around Starcade. Is there a specific reason they weren’t used more, am I not remembering things correctly, or were they just seen as uncool in comparison to the NWO? Was this right around the time Flair had his issues with Bischoff?

Depends on who you ask, really.

Bischoff, as well as the nWo power players, had this weird dismissive fanboyism going on, in that they would claim, at one point, that the Horsemen weren’t cool and were stupid, while on the other hand, claiming that Flair and the Horsemen were practically bulletproof, and were there to keep the loyal NWA fanbase happy while Bischoff made a new fanbase with the nWo. Because apparently despite being old and worthless lots of people loved them despite there being no upside in the Horsemen because they’d always have the Carolinas and I’ve gone cross-eyed.

Yes, the Flair/Bischoff lawsuits/dick measuring took the wind out of the Horsemen sails for a while, and they were underutilized, but the logic was that Flair and the Horsemen were bulletproof so it didn’t matter.

Expect that it did, as by the time 99 rolled around Flair had no drawing power left, not even in the Carolinas, thanks to months and months of the nWo doing to him what he used to do to women in the 80’s.

They were a draw, at least in terms of ratings, for a while, but like with anyone hot, constantly looking silly and stupid and getting beaten up ruined that, so by the time they died out, they weren’t a draw. But by then, no-one was, so it didn’t matter all that much.

Michael asks me to speculate.

While I think a title change is unlikely do you think Dolph Ziggler will turn heel at Summerslam? I thought of Dean Ambrose turning but then I remembered Ziggler being a (stale) face for quite some time and him going back to his heel ways would be a good change of pace.

I’m not sure of a turn AT Summerslam, but I suspect the loss will begin a longer heel turn for Ziggler, at least a couple weeks. Ziggler and Ambrose have a spirited contest, Ambrose wins, handshake but Ziggler is annoyed, tag match on SD, Ziggler drops fall, #1 Contenders match for Backlash, Ziggler cheats to win, Ambrose is incredulous on commentary, gets in ring to question it, Ziggler/Bliss/Rhyno??? beat him down as we try to remake Zig-J-E.

Heel turn between Summerslam and Backlash, that’s my prediction. Let’s see how wrong I am…

Andron wants feedback on his idea.

So, once a year raw has a tournament and smackdown has a tournament. That will select 1 star for each brand. The Two stars would face off at wrestlemania with bragging rights or brand of the year type of thing. Would that have been a good idea/ Especially for fans who allways imagine what it will be like to have a certain star on Raw competing against certain stars on Smackdown. There would be like a Trophy or something that the winning member take home to their brand show?

… So Bragging Rights the PPV, just smaller?

I guess it’s not a bad idea as such, and if you have a couple talents who need a WM payday but aren’t in any other storylines, there are worse things to feud over, like Shampoo commercials. But I’d probably want to leave it for a year, start it at the 2018 Wrestlemania, you need to give time for the brands to once again become separate and distinct, or for WWE to lose interest and merge them again. One of the two.

Luis talks about Rumbles and true winners!

Hey Mat, greetings from the other big country in the southern hemisphere, land of the Olympic games, Brazil! I was just watching this years’ Rumble and as Curtis Axel entered, I remembered the #Axelmania time where he claimed to be “the true winner of the Rumble” as he was never eliminated, only to be quickly eliminated in the 2016 RR edition. And that reminded me of the 2004 edition where Spike Dudley also never entered the rumble due to Kane attacking him. I don’t recall if Spike participated in another RR, so that brings the question: Who would have the longest reign as “uncrowned RR winner because he/she was never really eliminated but was eliminated in another edition”? You may (or not, your call) consider things like Test’s situation in the same rumble, where he never entered but his spot was taken by Foley.

Well alright, first things first. Make a list of entrants who never made it to the ring.

Randy Savage 1991 (Didn’t Show Up)
Bastion Booger 1994 (Unable To Compete)
Skull 1998 (Mistaken For Austin)
Mosh 1999 (Mabeling)
Spike Dudley 2004 (Kaneing)
Test 2004 (Foleying)
Scotty 2 Hotty 2005 (Hassaning)
Hornswoggle 2008 (Abandonment)
Finlay 2008 (Jumping The Gun)
Curtis Axel 2015 (Birth of Axelmania)

Now we have that, we then record when the people were next eliminated from a Rumble match, or failing that, when they died (death being a pretty solid reason to be removed from the match, in my view).

Randy Savage Jan 19th 1991 – Jan 19th 1992 (Rumble 92)
Bastion Booger Jan 22nd 1994 – Sep 11th 2010 (Death)
Skull Jan 18th 1998 – Sep 18th 2002 (TNA Gauntlet For The Gold Weekly PPV #12)
Mosh Jan 24th 1999 – Jan 23rd 2000 (Rumble 00)
Spike Dudley Jan 25th 2004 – Today
Test Jan 25th 2004 – Mar 13th 2009 (Death)
Scotty 2 Hotty Jan 30th 2005 – Today
Hornswoggle Jan 27th 2008 – Jan 30 2011 (Rumble 11)
Finlay Jan 27th 2008 – Jan 25th 2009 (Rumble 09)
Curtis Axel Jan 25th 2015 – Jan 24th 2016 (Rumble 16)

So the winner is Bastion Booger, although Spike and Scotty could overtake him, assuming you don’t count Battle Royals as being elimination counters, because then Bastion has it in a walk since Spike and Scotty have been eliminated from plenty of battle royals since then.

Also another question… I remember a RR (in the 90’s) where someone “no-showed” the match. Who was this person and why they didn’t put a replacement in his place?

There are three possible events you’re thinking of. Of the three, one is storytelling, the other two are drama building.

If you’re thinking of 91, then Savage ran away from the building after costing Warrior the WWF Title, he didn’t want to be anywhere near Warrior at the time, entering the Rumble would have painted a bullseye on his back.

94 and 98, on the other hand, was about building tension because in both cases you’re supposed to think that they were someone else, Bret in 94, Austin in 98. The tension is supposed to build as you wonder “Are they done for? Will my hero not make it out in time?” with the later explanation that Booger had gas/Skull was left injured by Los Boricuas as a way to fill the plot hole.

And in all three cases, the argument of “Why not send someone else out?” is answered by “There’s no back ups in Rumbles, no standby entrants. Not unless you’re a very old friend of the GM, like Foley/Austin in 04.

And on that big of logic filling, I bid you good day, and see you all next week!