Ask 411 Wrestling: Would CM Punk Ever Go To Impact Wrestling?

Hey there, welcome to Ask 411 Wrestling! Finally having sorted out all the issues, back to the usual issues of my half-assed nature!

My half ass is Mathew Sforcina, and I’m now a year older. I don’t feel all that different than I did a few days ago when I was a year younger, but I do know have a PS4, which I got mainly for Fire Pro in a few months. And a couple other exclusives I picked up when I got it. So yay that. Not set up yet though, been busy.

Anyway, enough of my boring life, let’s focus on cool stuff, like this event, and 411mania being fixed, and [email protected], which is where you send questions, and BANNER~!

Zeldas!

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Darn hackers…

The Trivia Crown

Who am I? I have a connection to Tajiri. My named finisher is medical in nature. I’ve not been world champion myself, but I have managed three of them (and managed a relative of a fourth, who one of the three doesn’t like). I’ve won a piece of clothing, and have a perfect record in ECW. I’ve had a pet, a loss to Santino, and I once made out with a former ECW manager. Who am I?

Now I know someone got this, I saw it when they complained how they got it the week prior, but it was deleted after the hacking thing. Well we sorted that out… And lost all the comments again.

So it was Torrie Wilson, basically. Let’s get a new question.

Who am I? I share a connection to the above. I’ve used the Freebird rule, and lost someone else’s hair for them. My most common ring name was based on a pop culture reference at first, although by now it’s totally disconnected from that, in part due to spelling. My first American PPV appearance isn’t on the WWE Network in full. I’ve appeared in video games for two companies, neither of them WWE. I’m currently in a major company in a non-wrestling role, although I have at least one other successful iron in the fire, albeit one involving a guy who helped kill WCW, according to another iron-firer on the same network/non-wrestling person in a different major wrestling company. Who am I?

Getting Down To All The Business

Aaron is patriotic to start us off this week. Or rather… Anti-patriotic?

What is the longest chain of wrestlers to hold the United States Championship who were not born in the U.S.A(in succession)?

OK, let’s see.

*goes to WWE US Title History*

All the chains greater than 1 of non-American wrestlers to have held the title, starting back when it was the NWA one with Harley Race.

Bret-Piper
Sheamus-Kofi
Santino-Cesaro-Kofi
Sheamus-Rusev
Owens-?

So the answer would be three, given that Jericho and Kalisto were both born in America, so the Del Rio-Kalisto-Del Rio-Kalisto-Rusev cycle doesn’t count. Seems like it should be higher, huh?

Pedro wants to talk about Ronnie Garvin. Topical!

You know, speaking of, I can’t help but wonder if that had anything to do with this new Wrestling/Friends mash up twitter account that popped up recently. I mean, it followed me on twitter early on, that can’t be a coincidence, can it?

Moving on.

Hey Matt, I just watched some Ronnie Garvin WWF matches, one of them vs Rick Rude. When Bobby Heenan shake hands with rugged, one of the announcers go nuts in disbelief. Any story regarding this two veterans?? Also, do you think rugged Ron Garvin (if not) deserves to be a WWE HOF..???

Former world champ, so yeah, given the low standards for the WWE HOF, he qualifies. The fact he beat Andre the Giant in a handicap match where Andre had the partner is just a bonus. I wouldn’t put him in as a headline, but I’m sure the WWE video wizards can churn out a 4 minute package making him look super important.

As for the handshake, I think this was the match you were referring to.

I wasn’t able to find evidence of WWE intending to turn Garvin heel, so I think maybe this was just subtle storytelling, where Heenan pretends to show Garvin respect and then screws him over at the end. Just to enforce just how slimy and bad Heenan is, he’ll shake a man’s hand and then screw him over. And/or he respected Garvin on a personal level or was friends with him or something. Tony just oversold it a bit.

Next up is Connor.

What are the odds on a Yokozuna dvd?

Does WWE still even make DVDs?

I would put it at a low chance, but not impossible. There was a fan survey last year that listed a whole bunch of possible DVD releases, and one of the options, among the Sid DVD and the Undertaker DVD in his own words listings, was ‘From the Isle of Samoa: The Anoa’i Family Legacy’. It didn’t mention Yokozuna by name, but I would assume that he’d be included, although WWE tends to gloss over his ancestry most of the time…

Part of the problem is that he doesn’t really have a wide variety of source material. That’s not a huge problem per say, but WWE likes to be able to put in lots of different companies if they can. If they choose not to mention Yoko being Samoan, they can’t use the AWA stuff, so then your match selection is just WWF. You could fill a DVD with that, sure, but there are more varied careers to do.

A Yokozuna collection on the Network, sure. A full DVD… Not impossible, but I doubt it, especially as he’s not alive.

What are the odds on a Goldust dvd? I know he had a book out recently but you could dedicate one disc just to his vignettes

That was on the same list, Goldust, as well as a Rhodes family disc, although that one I doubt will happen now. But a full Dustin Rhodes retrospective I can totally see, probably in the year he gets into the Hall of Fame, that one is very probable, although not while he’s a semi-regular job guy on Raw. If they ran one last angle with him and then put it out, and/or wait for the HOF, that would lock it in.

Do you ever think wwe would ever do a Slamboree event similar to wcw where they honor the legends of the company? It seems like a good idea as a one off or a tv special

It’s called Old School Raw. They’ve done three of them.

… I still miss Piper.

Oh, and Howard Finkel, too, of the ‘people who could be there every week still’ variety.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, you have the Hall of Fame, and you could easily strike a balance between the two, but really, anything that makes an episode of Raw different is good enough for me, so yeah, this happening again would be fine by me.

Big Daddy has two questions, wildly different from each other.

Sometimes I see people suggesting that CM Punk should go TNA just out of spite to WWE. The response from others usually is that it will never happen because Punk hates TNA. Why?

Well TNA did make a play for Punk, back in 2014 when his WWE contract was finally terminated, TNA went through an intermediary and offered him ‘Hulk Hogan level money’, to which Punk supposedly responded by stating he had no interest in working in pro wrestling. Now he’s under contract to UFC for a bit, so he wouldn’t be coming back any time soon.

I suspect he’s just burnt out on wrestling overall, and although WWE is the main source of that, I would imagine working for Impact or ROH or NJPW or SRW or whomever would still be something of a chore for him. He seems happy enough for now where he is.

But suppose he does get the itch, and the contract ends, would he go to Impact? Does he truly hate it?

He did rag on Hogan coming in, and during his time in WWE he did mock them in at least one fan interaction, as well as saying he missed working for TNA as much as he missed high school on Twitter. But he was a WWE guy at that point, you wouldn’t expect him to lavish praise on the competition.

However, he has expressed not liking how he was treated back when he did work for TNA, and that would be where it sprang from. As he and Raven were working magic in ROH against each other, TNA brought Punk in and teamed him up with Julio Dinero as lackeys OF Raven. OK, fine, different companies I suppose, that’s not terrible. But then after TNA split Punk and Dinero off, turning them heel and hooking them up with James Mitchell, TNA apparently felt they weren’t connecting, and so stopped appearing on the weekly TNA PPVs, and then had no plans and thus no work for them. Then the Rob Feinstein incident occurred, and Punk walked away from TNA when they pulled out of letting their talent appear on ROH shows.

So basically Punk doesn’t appreciate how TNA used him/how they did business, so even if he did want to come back to wrestling, Impact probably wouldn’t be his port of call. Especially now Jarrett is back in command and such.

I don’t know if I’d call it hate, so much as Punk not wanting anything to do with wrestling right now. If he did come back? I’d say New Japan would be where he’d go, honestly…

I recently saw a match with my favorite NWA time traveling tag team The New Breed (Sean Royal and Chris Champion), that went back in time from the future to the 80’s. It’s possible that they altered the space time continuum because Dusty Rhodes never became president, but do you know if they will debuting soon in the regular timeline?

I will say, they certainly have the modern internet user’s obsession with 80’s pop culture, given their constant focus on Terminators and such.

Now, the problem is, the team came from 2002, and thus they would be veterans by now, and they don’t seem to be around, and I doubt they’d debut fifteen years later than usual. This isn’t like in Back to the Future, where Marty McFly’s exploits with a skateboard sped up development and popularity of the sport, which led to it becoming mainstream much sooner, and thus brought forward the development of hoverboards by a couple decades, the New Breed didn’t revolutionise tag team wrestling and thus bring forward anything.

But what could they have done that would possibly change the timeline so drastically so as to remove Dusty Rhodes from the presidential race, delay robots, and also time travel? Well, I think it all has to do with one man. Vic Steamboat.

You probably don’t know him, you might think he’s some sort of cheap knock off of Ricky Steamboat. Well, yes and no, as Vic Steamboat is in fact the younger brother of Ricky Steamboat.

See, the only titles the New Breed held, were one reign as NWA Florida Tag Team Championship, winning the previously dormant titles in a title tournament where they beat Kendall Windham and Vic Steamboat in the final. This was within a month of Vic’s debut, and his career was on a small scale after that, a fair few titles but all regional in scope.

But if the New Breed weren’t there, then perhaps Vic Steamboat would have won the titles. And being a champion within a month of your debut in wrestling, that turns heads. He’d get more attention, more opportunities. Maybe with the boost to his self-confidence, he’d climb the ranks of the business, so much so that by 1989, when Ricky returned to the NWA, his brother would be there to welcome him with open arms.

And then he’d stab him in the back at Chi-Town Rumble, costing him the world title.

1989 would then be defined by the Steamboat V Steamboat war, as the two brothers fought all over the country, the feud captivating the nation, as the world title gets dragged in when Vic beat Flair for it on a Clash (“See Brother? I did what you couldn’t!”), but in the end, Vic would prove to be the stronger, hungrier, and above all else nastier Steamboat, and would drive his brother out of the company. Vic would run roughshod over the company, no man could seem to find a way to beat him.

And then Dusty Rhodes would return.

Dusty wouldn’t have wanted to be the guy, he would have come back as a commentator and such. But Vic would push and push, and eventually Rhodes would snap, attack Vic, and then for one night only, in the Orlando Arena, Dusty would fight Vic.

Dusty would become a cult hero that night, as after 35 minutes of one of the bloodiest, hardest fought brawls in wrestling history, Dusty would finally beat Vic, winning the world title, and inspiring several young men and women in the building to become wrestlers, including one kid known as Chris and one known as Sean…

After losing the title a few months later, Dusty would retire once more, and after prodding from various people, toss his name into the hat to become governor of Florida, mostly to push a couple of key agenda planks. But to a lot of people’s surprise, he won the 94 election as an independent. Dusty proved to be quite the political figure, quickly becoming the most popular politician in America. He won a second term with ease, then in 2000, Dusty Rhodes became President of the United States, thanks in large part to some controversy over Florida votes.

His pro-innovation leanings as Governor helped Orlando become the new technical centrepiece of the USA, and because of connections and such that became of this, robots and other technological advancements quickly followed. But this led to the collapse of the California tech industries, which obviously irked someone very smart but who hated hot weather. So they developed time travel technology, and tried to find someone to go back and kill Dusty. But when that failed, they came up with a different plan. They found a couple wrestlers who were fresh faced but couldn’t get traction in wrestling, and offered them a chance to go back and wrestle in the 80’s. And with that, everything changed.

So no, The New Breed hasn’t debuted in our time line now. They weren’t swept up in the Dusty V Vic storyline, so they never got the bug for wrestling.

Maybe.

Leaving fanfics behind, we move back to facts, with Manu asking about Jeff Hardy.

Now that he’s back, are the two strikes he had with the wellness policy before wiped out?

Not for merely leaving and coming back, no. From the policy, and I quote:

Any WWE Talent, who leaves the WWE for any reason with a first or second violation on his/her record, will maintain said violation count on his/her record from the time he/she departs WWE until the time he/she returns, if ever, to the WWE.

In other words, violations don’t vanish, they carry over. So Jeff still, in theory, has two strikes against him. However, there is the Redemption program, where Jeff can get one of those strikes scrubbed after 18 months of good behaviour and clean testing and such. And, also, if you get fired after a third strike, and then come back after the mandatory one year, it is taken back to two strikes, which makes sense.

Now, maybe, just maybe, Jeff as able to enter into this redemption program early, or did it outside the company maybe, I’m sure WWE could justify something like that if it occurred. But right now, no, Jeff is still on two. Unless something has happened and we haven’t been informed of it.

Richard asks another question that relies on information I don’t really have.

Second time questionare here all the way from Sweden whoˋs looking forward to the WWE´s first visit to my lovely country. Have sen Raw and Smackdown in 2006 in the UK and All Japan in Tokyo in 2013 but by God itˋs gonna be of the charts to have the Smackdown crew in Sweden… now to my questions. Itˋs well documented that Vince and Trips both work incredible hours. Have it ever been documented how much they work? I think I read somewhere that Vince worked seven days a week 14-18 hours a day. And looking at his red eyes in recent WWE documentaries it sure looks like it. And Trips midnight workouts with Steph paint the picture of a mighty busy guy.

I can only go on what they say, because obviously I’m not secretly watching into WWE HQ with a hidden camera or anything.

…

Obviously.

Anyway, in 2012, Vince said in an interview that he only sleeps about 4 hours a day, as he ‘misses something’ when he sleeps. And in another interview, Trips claims Vince trains ‘very early, around 2am’. And in another interview, Vince Russo spoke of how Vince McMahon seemed to always be at the office, he’d get in before 7, leave after 10, he’d always be the first one in, last one out. And he apparently doesn’t have any hobbies outside wrestling/other business things he’s tried.

Triple H doesn’t seem to be quite that bad on average, as in the same interview he spoke about how he’d had to run on two full days with only 45 minutes sleep, and that this seemed to be an aberration, but not by too much.

So in terms of how much Vince works, the 14-18 hours is probably accurate to some degree, in that you’re always thinking about booking when you’re a booker, and he’s probably in the building for that amount of time, but when you have a gym on site that you use, and maybe, just maybe, you can set aside some time here and there to plan/think/meditate/nap then maybe it’s doable, if you have an insane work ethic and such.

But to defend the working out at that time thing, when you have a busy job, you either work out very early or very late, and on days they run a TV show, doing it after the show makes sense to me…

So yes, by most accounts Vince does work extremely hard. But maybe they are a little exaggerated, it’s impossible to tell, since I don’t have that secret camera set up.

Totally.

Second question – why in the world did the E use Windham as The Stalker in 96 and The Widowmaker in 89? Both times he was a fairly big name under his own name.

To be fair, The Widowmaker was similar to the Texas Tornado, in that they referred to the guy using the nickname/gimmick, but it was still basically the same guy as before. There was no difference in his look or style, the WWE just felt that a gimmick name they owned was better than one they didn’t.

And really, WWE’s audience didn’t always know guys outside the company. It’s not like today, or even back in the Attitude era, people who followed the NWA knew him, sure, but WWF fans? Not really. Now had the gimmick lasted, it’s entirely possible they’d have brought the name Barry Windham back in, but the fact is, given how quickly he left due to family issues, we’ll never know about what the plans were.

The Stalker on the other hand, that was more just about making sure WCW didn’t have him, and a need for just about any talent Vince could get. Thus why the promos were all heel, but then when he started he was face.

It didn’t last too long, as they broke and started calling him Barry Windham fairly early on, but at the end of the day, that was just Vince wanting to rework a guy for the sake of reworking him. I’m sure if Barry was motivated he could have fought against it, pitched for a better angle, but he just wanted the payday, so why not?

It was just Vince having an idea and running with it. He’s the boss, he can do that.

Next we have Anthony asking about masks, and the removal thereof.

Who is the wrestler who has taken the most masks in matches ala jericho juvi. Not forceably removing them or by theft

So who’s won the most Luchas de Apuestas (Fight of Bets), matches? Simple question.

Simple answer too, as the record is held, by almost all accounts, by Estrella Blanca. Translated as White Star, Estrella debuted in 1954, and retired in the early 90’s, having made several special appearances since then. Estrella claims to have been involved in and won over 700 Luchas de Apuestas, although the documented list is around 200, 128 or so mask wins. But given his nearest rival for that record is Super Muñeco, who claims the title but has just over 100 wins, 80 masks, he’s in second place. But still active, so that could change in theory.

Mike gets just one question this week.

During the Hall of Fame show, where exactly is the Undertaker?, is he backstage hanging out beside Vince? or where exactly? and why would he not be in the crowd with the rest of the wrestlers??

I believe he is indeed backstage somewhere, as he does attend, given he was photographed at last year’s with Vince and his wife.

But Taker has always been so protective of the character, even now, and thus he’s avoided most modern situations where he’d have to be ‘The Undertaker’ but not have the smoke and lights and such. Hell, he didn’t even take part in the Ric Flair retirement promo until after Raw went off the air.

Given the mystique of The Undertaker, it makes sense to not humanise him, especially as they continued it after the Brock loss. You could have reverted him then, had the power leave him and make him human once more, but they kept going with that, so he had to keep the gimmick up. And that includes stuff like the HOF, you can’t show Undertaker laughing at a Jim Cornette punchline or clapping for Beth Phoenix, regardless of how he feels about them, to keep the gimmick, you have to avoid showing him.

Next year though…

Speaking of shows, Andrew has a booking question.

Who determines the WWE touring schedule? I assume Vince McMahon makes the ultimate decision on WrestleMania’s location, but who determines the city where each week’s Raw and Smackdown are? What about house shows?

I would be shocked if this wasn’t a team based exercise. I know that WWE has kept track of all their attendance records, and since 2015 has been grading cities based on how well they sold out the building, and then using these grades to determine who gets shows. So a city would need an A rating to get a PPV/Raw, and then they would find a B city within three hours for SD, then so on down the line. There will be people who’s job is to keep tabs on where WWE has been, to keep gaps between each visit, and then plan out the map so shows are within acceptable distances for transport and such, then book ahead with the venues. And then Vince gives the final approval.

But that’s a basic way of saying I don’t know for sure. Perhaps a reader does, and is willing to share.

And finally, Brendan has an evergreen for us.

Hulk Hogan was always Vince’s #1 choice to be his champ and take the company national. My question is, did Vince have a backup? Was there someone on the roster that would have taken that spot, and/or another wrestler from a different territory that Vince had his eye on as well?

Pretty much every wrestler from the time period, at some point, claims to have had talks with Vince, or heard rumors, or just known on a cosmic level or some such, that had Hogan fallen through, they’d be the guy. Everyone from Tony Atlas to Dusty Rhodes has said they were the back up.

But although there are two names that keep cropping up, I genuinely believe that Vince didn’t have a back up because he didn’t need a back up. He had a couple guys on standby as such, but I think he was all in on Hogan from the start and never really thought seriously about a replacement.

The two names? Jimmy Snuka and Kerry Von Erich. They are the two names that keep popping up from people who are not names Snuka or Von Erich. Snuka was the guy in house who was already getting a big push and was athletic and charismatic enough that maybe his lack of promos could be covered, while Von Erich seemed the Hogan stand in most like Hogan, albeit with a few points shaved off most attributes.

But again, I’m pretty sure Hogan was the first, second, and third choices.

And on that, I bid you all goodbye for now, see you all next week!