Ask 411 Wrestling 04.25.12: Sinking WCW, Burying Ryder, Killing WWF, More!

Welcome one and all to this, Ask 411 Wrestling!

*waits for pop to die down*

*not a sausage*

Anyway, I am your writer, Mathew Sforcina, and this is being written a day earlier than usual, because the time I’d normally be writing this column will instead be taken up by watching The Avengers movie. So I’m doing this a day early. For those keeping track, that means it’s currently Monday night my time.

Thing is, those people who are really keeping track will know that that means I’m writing this on my birthday. April 23rd. And this year I’ve turned 30.

So… Yeah. Total Opinion Week since my body clock is weirded out and it’s my birthday and all so no research. So there!

If you want to give me a present, go listen to Just Another God Damned Wrasslin’ Show and 411mania’s podcasts and Wrestling PodClash!

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Backtalking

Unbeaten Moves: Well, don’t I look bloody stupid? Steve, as well as several other comment posters, helpfully points out…

Hey,
Massive fan of your ask 411 columns (YOUR ones) but have a quick nitpick (mainly I’m hoping to get a nod in next weeks column)
When talking about finishers that haven’t been kicked of/escaped you mentioned that to your memory noone has escaped from Undertakers Hells gate, yet 2 weeks ago Triple H powerbombed his way out of it. Im surprised that slipped ast yoi Just thought I’d point that out. Keep up the great work man.

Yep. I’m an idiot.

You may want to print that off, frame it, perhaps make a collage.

Character Changes Mid-Reign: Yes, Savage is such an obvious one I somehow failed to see it. Thank you Jason. There were a bunch more in the comments section that I just totally whiffed on, so do go back and read them for a fuller list. Thank you all those who posted them. I’m glad to see we can come together in times of need and save my sorry ass provide a full, deep answer on occasion.

APinOz has a bunch more.

Might have a few extra answers for you this week:

In addition to those times you cited, I’m certain Sting bladed during the Chamber of Horrors match at WCW’s halloween Havoc in 1991(?) The one where Abdullah The Butcher got “electrocuted.” he also bladed in the epic War Games match at Wrestle War ’92 against The Dangerous Alliance. I think he also bladed in an angle involving Lex Luger and Nikita Koloff when Koloff hit him with his chain while aiming for Luger.

For turns during title reigns, maybe these also qualify:

Ric Flair technically turned twice in his run from May 1989 to July 1990. he won the title from Ricky Steamboat as a heel but was turned face when attacked by Terry Funk. He then turned heel again when Sting was kicked out of the Horsemen at Clash Of the Champions X.

Ric Flair again, when he won the title from Vader at Starrcade ’93 he was a face, but turned after his match with Ricky Steamboat at Spring Stampede ’94, before losing the title to Hogan as a heel at Bash at The Beach

Randy Savage won the WWF title at WM4 as a face in 1988 and eventually turned heel in February 1989 in order to drop the belt to Hogan at WM5 in April

Undertaker won the Undisputed title from Hogan as a heel at the May 2002 PPV (can’t remember what the WWE were calling it). He started turning face after his Raw ladder match with Jeff Hardy before losing the title in the 3-Way with Rock and Angle

Brock Lesnar won the title from Rock at Summerslam ’02 as a heel but was a face by the time he lost the belt to Big Show at Survivor Series

Demolition won the WWF tag titles as heels and kept the titles for 18 months. They turned at the 1989 Survivor Series and lost the titles as a face team to The Brain Busters about 7 months later

The Road Warriors turned heel shortly before winning the NWA tag team titles against the Midnight Express at a house show in New Orleans in late 1988. (They DESTROYED the Midnights in that match and were absolute killer heels having taken out Dusty’s eye with the spike and decapitating Sting in a 6-Man when they turned on him) But they were being booked as faces when they went into a feud with the Varsity Club and lost the belts in the same city they won them in – New Orleans – at Clash V.

Think I’ve got all that straight and it was all from memory so sue me if I might have got a couple of shows wrong, but I’m pretty certain on the turns.

Who’s wrestled each other the most?: The Sheik V Bobo Brazil seems to be a popular choice, given that they feuded on and off for decades. So we’ll go with that then.

Your Turn, Smart Guy…

Who am I? I won a match at a Wrestlemania, with a partner I worked with for a fair while, albeit under various names. A former NWA title holder, I was once called Mother by at least one person. I’m also male. My only major singles run was something of a disaster, with my gimmick needing to be scrapped and changed fairly quickly. I once proved that pimping is actually quite easy, I was once denied a spot in a match thanks to a celebrity taking it, and I once got a boombox broken over my head. Who am I?

Scotch, as well as being a delightful drink for adults only, has a good guess.

My guess is you are Chaz Warrington, better known as “Mosh” of the Headbangers. At one time, Warrington wrestled as Mother Smucker as part of The Flying Nuns/Sisters Of Love. Also, the Beaver Cleavage gimmick came and went rather quickly as it was BAD.

The Boombox came in the lead up to Survivor Series 1998, and the Pimping Is Easy thing was Survivor Series 1999 when the Headbangers came out looking like Huggy Bear.

Who am I? I was in one of the seasons of Tough Enough, after having wrestled in various US and Japanese companies. My debut saw me with a ‘flower’. I never held gold in the WWF, although I managed and did team with gold holders. I was in control of a monster at some point, as well as being under a mask. I currently am retired from wrestling, although WWE did try to bring me back after I left. I was once almost naked on a Smackdown, I am who?

Questions, Questions, Who’s Got The Questions?/My Damn Opinion

J, who asked about Daniel Bryan last week (whom I’m tempted to refer to now as Bret ‘Rattlesnake’ Hogan all the time now…), wrote a reply.

the point isnt that hes the second version of them but he has the potential to have ring classics on a par with hitman , who in my opinion is the best ever and nobody can hold a candle to him in his prime , but brian could be seen in that light as a ring technition , he can fly like shawn and the far superior pillman , he can interact and connect with the crowd as much as hogan and austin could. these guys are the best and the standard which he wont pass , but Im sayin he will have hints of them all and be something unique WHICH WE HAVENT SEEN BEFORE. Whether he will ever be mainstream and a household name , history says no , I say yes he will. you can write wat u like now , but read the answer you gave me in ten years time and ill see how bright you feel. I aint waiting for version 2 , im saying version 1 is just biggening , when austin was going against savio did you think he could be the next big thing , I did. You send he wont be bigger then cena , ill hold you to that. you never answered my question or belief that if it was bryan instead of punk it wud have stole the show. question 2 pillman in his prime injury free was better then micheals period.

…

OK, hold me to the fact that Bryan won’t be bigger than Cena.

As for if Bryan/Jericho would have stolen the show (which you never actually asked, dude, you just stated as fact) and would have been better than Punk/Jericho, it depends on the booking. Punk/Jericho had to suffer through a last second storyline adjustment that they used for the first half then went back into the match they seemingly had prepared earlier. If they had been allowed to just do the match they wanted to, it would have been better. And had Bryan/Jericho gotten time and a clear story, it too would have been better. But no, I do not agree that Punk/Jericho is automatically inferior to Bryan/Jericho.

And Pillman injury free > Michaels? Well, is Michaels injury free too in that comparison? Flyin’ Brian was damn good, but better than Michaels… HBK is much more rounded and is better at having great matches with more opponents than I think Pillman could have. But you can hold those opinions, I can’t prove them wrong. Likewise you can’t prove me wrong. All we can do is give our opinions and let people judge for themselves.

Jason has a follow up to the figure question.

Thanks for answering the question about our wrestling figure. That is the same guy alright. However, what is odd is that our figure does have wwe 2003 on the bottom of the boot and he doesn’t have knee pads, elbow pads, or wrist bands.

Hmm. It may be a test run maybe? Like, they took an old body and stuck on the head and the paint job as a trial to see if it’d look good. Or maybe someone replaced the arms and legs for some reason, like they lost one so they replaced them all? I don’t know much about toys collectables in this regard, perhaps talk to the experts?

Kevin asks if Vince threw money away on purpose.

Sadly I am nearing the end of wrestling journey of watching every show during the Monday Night Wars: I freely admit that I am one of the few (and proud) WCW fanboys and if it was not for Nitro there would have been no Attitude Era etc….

Anyway, the cynic in me thinks that Vince purposely derailed the InVasion. He wanted WCW to be seen as second-tier and money be damned. It was the final insult of a bitter feud and the final nail in the coffin. Clearly someone in the WWF watched WCW and to put Booker T v. Buff Bagwell in Tacoma where WCW did one show had to have been set up to fail. Vince may be a giant douche but he is not stupid, and he had to know that it would not go over. He could have done this in the South, he could have brought in Flair or Bischoff. Money was not an issue despite the XFL and he could have brought in some of the big guns or had Jericho, Show or the Radicalz join the InVasion. Also, if you look at the abortion that was the booking of former WCW stars such as DDP and Booker (for a long time I would argue he was buried) that he buried WCW on purpose. He did this despite losing 3-4 million WCW fans and not caring and most have never returned, as I have only recently returned. I mean he made sure to bring in every WCW champ, or nearly so and have HHH beat them. I would argue that this could be one of the worst booked angles in history and the fall of WCW being a disaster not only for wrestling but sports in general….But that is for another bitch-fest.

Basically what is your opinion on this?

Vince McMahon is many things.

But I don’t think he’s that flat out stupid. Just egotistical.

The InVasion should have been the money maker of money makers, and should have been able to last for over a year at the minimum. But to do it right, you needed to do several things. You needed the major guns, you needed to integrate them peacefully into the fold, and then you need to put them over your guys, and then you can do the blow off where to beat them back.

Vince didn’t do any of these, apart from the last one. Now, the first point isn’t totally his fault. Yes, he could have tried to bring guys in. But several big names were working injured, or wouldn’t have worked out well due to being unmasked, and others may well have refused. I mean, DDP took a drastic paycut to be involved, other big names might well have baulked.

But the thing I blame on Vince more than anything was keeping the two groups separate in their minds. See, what he should have done was call a giant meeting and told the wrestlers “Look, right here and now, these new wrestlers are your co-workers. I don’t want to hear any bitching about putting guys over, or how they tried to put us out of business or other crap. We have a chance to make more money than God here, and I will not let any pissy prima-donna bullshit stop us, clear?” Basically he should have told everyone to man up, work together, and they’d all make much more money.

Instead, he bred distrust and anger between the groups, seemingly out of the notion that if wrestlers have real heat, the matches will be better. This has happened several times in wrestling, and it NEVER works. From HBK/Hart to Batista/Booker, if wrestlers genuinely don’t like each other, the results suck.

And then the WCW midcards just traded wins with the WWF midcarders, and the WCW main eventers got squished by the WWF main eventers. DDP getting pinned by Sara Undertaker is as good a metaphor for the entire angle than anything else. However, I don’t think Vince did it out of spite. He just couldn’t get it into his head that he owned WCW now, and that meant if he pushed it, he’d reap the benefits. Like with every other wrestler ever, Vince thought he could do it better. And like 60% of the time, he was wrong.

But I don’t think he sat down and went “I could make money, or I could bury WCW and lose money. Let’s go with that.” He just thought he could still make money (“The WCW fans will tune in regardless, right?”) while proving a point.

Jack asks about pushing comedy guys.

Hey,

Big fan, man. Nice to have something to read at work.

My question (an opion one, i’d think) is about Ryder’s push. I know everyone loves the guy, but he basically got over being a goofball. Doesn’t this automatically limit how far he can go up? He’s hot because of this character, and unless there’s a complete disconnect between promo character and in ring character, doesn’t that mean he shouldn’t be winning too many matches legitimately? It would hurt his opponent more than it would help him.

I know wwe’s pushing santino, which negates a lot of what i’ve said, but he’s only beaten swagger (who wwe seems to really hate) and outunga (still green as gooseshit).

Long question short, how high do you think a comedy guy can climb on the card?

Thanks

Ah yes, the ‘Funny doesn’t draw money’ argument, as put by Jim Cornette. However, I give you a counter point.

Now, I’m not saying that Ryder is on Angle’s level, for the record. My point here is that Angle was at this point equal parts doofy dumb comedy and Olympic level athlete. Pure comedy is never going to be main event, or at the least, never main event as is. You need comedy, yes. And there will always be a place for a hot, funny midcard act to open a show, be it Bushwhackers, Godfather, Brodus Clay, whoever. You need hot, funny midcarders. But you’ll never be main event with that.

So, you are left with a choice, to take Ryder as an example. If you keep the guy as a goofball comedy guy, yes, he’ll never be WWE Champion. But to see Santino as US champion right now? Can any tell me why the hell that isn’t Ryder? What reason was there to take the belt off Ryder? Beyond the fact that WWE didn’t want to do it and felt pressured, the fact is that Ryder should be in that spot now, and reaping the benefits of the heat he got on his own. Instead, he’s back down to where he’s lucky to get on Raw with a match, and having his show edited by WWE.

But if you want to push Ryder to the top, then that’s easy. You just have him, and this is a radical concept, you have him win matches. Often, and repeatedly. You give him less mic time and more matches where he wins over higher and higher opponents. You mention how the fan support has given him confidence, and how he’s training harder because of it. And then you turn the hot funny comedy wrestler to an equally hot serious contender for a title.

So yes, Ryder as he is now will never be WWE Champion. But it shouldn’t be that hard to change him into one. Wrestling has been doing it for decades, but it seems WWE has forgotten how…

Michael asks about fan hypocrisy.

Two issues that have bugged me lately that I’d like you to address. To me it just shows the fickleness and hypocrisy of fans.

First is Roode’s run as TNA champ. Granted, I rarely watch TNA anymore as I got sick of the whole show(except for the Knockouts but even Karen Jarrett almost ruined them for me), but I always read the updates to see what’s going on. Anyhow, so I guess people are upset that Roode keeps winning by bs means. I asked a question in this same column months ago that addressed another wrestler than always did the same thing during his title run(s). That man is Ric Flair. Every time he got into a big match he needed outside interference to win or would lose by DQ to keep his title. I think people look at his classic series of matches against Steamboat as an example of how Flair always won fair and square. To me, that series is the exception to Flair, not the rule. He always relied on others to keep the title. I don’t get why people jump on “weak” champs who win by devious means when that’s the majority of what Flair did in his title matches. So Roode is weak but Flair is god? Hypocrisy at it’s finest.

Second is Cena. Whenever he beats the odds and wins a match or comes back from a big @ss whipping and wins, people call him Supercena and say how he never pushes talent, won’t lose a big match, always has to win, etc. But Taker can take 500 chair shots, 750 sledgehammer hits and thousands of Sweet chin musics and pedigrees and win and it’s ok? Plus, outside of when he finally allowed Kane to beat him last year, Taker never loses. Or, if he does, it’s always by some swerve, very rarely legit. It’s obvious he won’t put anyone over at Mania. And Im not going to even gget into the deadman Taker who would sit up regardless of what he just got hit with.

So, why do guys like Roode and Cena get bitched out while guys like Flair and Taker get a free ride?

There is a problem is assuming that the fans hold one opinion. The IWC is 100 voices and 1000 opinions, as I’ve said before. I’m sure plenty of people don’t mind Roode’s reign.

That said, there are a few differences. One, fans didn’t want Flair to have a long, solid face reign as champ. Flair was more entertaining and better as a heel. Roode, on the other hand, the fans were behind, and wanted to see win and run as a face, if only because TNA never seems to have them any more. But no, he had to be a heel. Secondly, Flair had flunkies. It’s less of a letdown when you have the Horsemen run interference than it is having Sting lose because he knocked himself out.

But I think the main issue is that when Flair won, he made you believe that the other guy should have been champ. Flair’s opponents came out looking like a million bucks, and that Flair was the lucky SOB who got by on the skin of his teeth. Whereas Roode has gotten by on dumb luck, not cheating. His opponents don’t look good, they look like idiots. They knock themselves out, they superkick Roode out of the cage, Roode isn’t winning by the skin of his teeth, he’s just lucky. And that’s fine for a midcard heel champ, but not the centerpoint of your company who the fans wanted to see have a long face run.

As for Taker/Cena, that’s not a fair comparison. Taker is seen and pushed as a special attraction, one who isn’t front and center every week, and who has over 20 years of backstory to his credit, fans (mostly) accept his strength. Whereas Cena is both a figurehead for a direction of the company fans don’t like AND he’s boring in his role. Taker is entertaining, SuperCena, the argument goes, is boring. He always wins, never shows fear, and is boring doing it. At least Taker has impressive entrances.

But again, this is me trying to interpret the feelings of a section of the IWC, all of whom have different viewpoints and ideas. Hopefully some will make their presence known below.

Since it’s my birthday, let’s have some classic videos that I love, shall we?

…

Galen asks for a list.

What’s going on? Love the site and love the Ask format.

I was just recently looking at wwe.com’s ‘Where Are They Now’ section and was reading up on Dean Malenko. So it got me to thinking, who would you rate as the top 20 Technical Wrestlers Past and Present??

Thanks in advance

Hmm. Tough question. Espcially as technical has changed meaning over time. I mean, Lou Thesz and CM Punk wrestle totally differently, but both are technical, in their own way.

I give this list with no order or reasoning, as I can’t give you any. Just my gut feelings. In no real order…

Antonio Inoki
Bob Backlund
Bret Hart
Bruno Sammartino
Christopher Daniels
Daniel Bryan
Dean Malenko
Frank Gotch
Jushin Thunder Liger
Karl Gotch
Kenta Kobashi
Kurt Angle
Lou Thesz
Mitsuharu Misawa
Randy Savage
Ric Flair
Ricky Steamboat
Shawn Michaels
The Great Muta
Toshiaki Kawada

Daniels I can say is 20 though, as he’s the guy I put in after I removed Benoit.

Wes asks a good question.

Here’s a question that always bugged me: If NWA/WCW Saturday Night on TBS was always regarded as the “main show” (prior to the debut of Nitro), why did the syndicated World Wide wrestling program feature more main event-style matches and angles? I remember seeing the first Ric Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin cage match as well as numerous Horsemen vs. Rhodes & co. matches on World Wide, yet Saturday Night was mainly comprised of angle development and squash matches. Why was this?

Thanks!

Reach. NWA/WCW Saturday Night was on TBS, and thus was available to everyone in the country, as TBS was nation wide. World Wide, on the other hand, being syndicated, wasn’t available everywhere, on every TV. That is why, ironically enough, World Wide had more main event wrestling. Because Saturday Night was the show that everyone, in theory, had, that was the show that, as you say, was angle development and squashes. That was the show that was meant to sell you on attending a live event, on buying the PPV. That was the hard sell show. Angle development sells tickets more than mere good wrestling.

But good wrestling does have a place, and also a good long match that’s already in the can is an easy way to fill air-time, and push someone. The Flair/Garvin match, for instance. The pertinent footage was shown on WCW Saturday Night, and the full match on Worldwide. If you got Worldwide, great, you saw the full thing, but if you didn’t, then you still got to see the important stuff the same day anyway.

Worldwide was one of the longest running shows of it’s kind in history, but it was still not on in every market. Saturday Night was, and was only replaced when WCW got airtime on another national channel.

Jude flips some history.

Hey,

Looking for your opinion on this cos its driving me bonkers!

While watching the Bret v HBK DVD it made me wonder what would have happened if WCW had instead signed Shawn to a contract in 1997 instead of Bret??? Vince may have accepted it to reduce the wage bill and perhaps honour Brets contract. It made me realise that the history of the industry would have been changed drastically.

I mean, firstly the Montreal Screwjob would never have taken place. So Bret would have remained with the WWF. Would he have talked Owen out of the rafter spot, and even would Owen have been back as the Blue Blazer in the first place? He wouldn’t have got that kick to head from Goldberg and would have continued on past 2000 wrestling. Would Bret staying in WWF have affected Austins push which only made him a main eventer after Bret and HBK were gone. No bitterness between Bret and WWE, he may have been a long term GM or some authority figure in his later career.

On the flip side, HBK in WCW. Would he have joined the nWo?? Would his arrival have been enough to change the course of the Monday Night Wars?? His back injury may not have occurred and he wouldn’t have taken the break in his career. Would his problems with addictions have only become worse in WCW?? Would HHH have followed him over to rejoin the Cliq? (the implications of that and no HHH-Steph marriage are huge too) And so would the new DX have never been formed? Had WCW survived it’s unlikely there would be a TNA. And if it still folded, could we be watching HBK in TNA right now.

Hopefully you could give me your opinion on what would have happened to the business had Bret stayed and HBK left.

Thanks

Well certainly the entire industry would be different. For starters, Shawn would never sign a 20 year deal. He was far too cagey and out for himself at that point in his career and life to commit himself that long.

But let’s go hypothetical. If Bret stays and Shawn does go over pay, then the most drastic issue is that WWF is dead within a year. WCW was kicking WWF’s butt prior to Montreal, and that lead to Vince rolling the dice with Russo and Shane. If Bret wasn’t on his way out, if Shawn was, then Bret would have dug in his heels and fought against that Attitude push, the ECW style. Without that edge, and without the boost Montreal got, no matter how good Austin was, the WCW onslaught remains unchecked, and with Michaels in play rather than Bret, WCW would continue the battle until WWF was dead.

Although that’s debatable. Shawn and Hogan at that point were both in the same place in terms of looking out for themselves, and so probably would have locked horns almost immediately. But the thing is, Hogan’s circle of friends/allies (Savage, Piper, etc) weren’t big on the politics themselves, they just got in because of it. Whereas Shawn has Nash on his side. And I think the Clique (the first time HBK appears on WCW TV, he wears an nWo shirt and superkicks Sting) would have won out over Hogan, long term at least. He might have left for a bit then come back, but he could wait.

Starrcade 97, on the other hand, is much more clear cut. Without Montreal, Eric has nothing to crib off, so he’s left with the only alternative, put Sting over clean. And Hogan couldn’t politic his way out of that one. So WCW doesn’t misstep at the point WWF doesn’t go right either.

On a personal level, each man avoids the direct action that leads to their health problems, but then you never know. First Raw after Survivor Series, Kane might accidentally drop Bret on his head, and Michaels might get powerbombed badly by Nash. You never know in wrestling, hell the injuries were freak accidents, worse could happen.

Of course, with WWF dead, that means, logically, WCW buys them, or at least takes the cream. Which leaves ECW as the #2… Now THAT’S an interesting story to look at.

But yeah, if HBK leaves, WWF dies. But not because of him leaving, if that makes sense.

Joshua is confused about a couple things.

So I’m a life long WWE fan, but sometimes the stuff they do just leaves me with “huh”?

Why in the world did they go with an 18 second world title match at a Wrestlemania?
I was looking forward to the match between Sheamus and Bryan. If WWE was just hell bent on a record time title change wouldn’t it have made more sense to do it in the Big Show/Cody Rhodes match? It would have fit in the storyline perfectly. Think about it, Rhodes for weeks had been tauting Big Show about his embarrassing moments and embarrassing losses at Wrestlemania. So here we are, at Wrestlemania, bell rings BAM! knock out punch on Rhodes 1-2-3. Big Show would then be responsible for Cody Rhodes having an embarrassing Wrestlemania Match/Moment.

Honestly I was expecting a super quick match on the card, WWE loves to do that. Look at Kane/Chavo, Earthquake/Adam Bomb, Satino’s Team/The Corre. And I figured it would be in the Big Show/Rhodes match, but was upset that it was in the World Title Match. But, sometimes when the WWE leaves you going WTF, something good comes out of it and it now seems Bryan is more over than he was before.

I probably should leave this one for a little while longer, to see exactly where they take this, but hell, let’s chance it.

The logic was that Bryan was the annoying heel who was getting along on cheap victories. Look at his run, he beats Big Show via AJ, or DQ, he gets Draws and No Contests, he needs Santino, (SANTINO!) to win in the Chamber. Bryan was the slimy, egotistical heel who we, supposedly, wanted to see get his.

And on the other side is Sheamus, who is dominate, beloved, Royal Rumble winner and constantly coming up on top leading in.

And WM is what would happen. The big, dominate face squashes the slimy annoying heel quick smart. It was meant to be the Honky Tonk/Warrior thing all over again.

Yes, Cody/Big Show would have worked, but Cody wasn’t getting by on cheap wins, Daniel was. So he needed his comeuppance.

But that’s where WWE screwed up in this case. They vastly underestimated the love Daniel had, in that he’s entertaining and amusing and people like him, even while they boo him. Plus, while people like Sheamus, he’s not nearly as over as Warrior was, and he’s just wrong place, wrong time. Without a personality to match Bryan, and without a really good match to justify the switch, people got pissed.

Every now and then the WWE does something that just baffles me in a way that makes me feel I’ve missed years of *something*. I’ll get right to the point, what is the deal with Lord Tensei? The WWE apparently wants him to feud with someone from the main event, but for the life of me I can’t fathom why they’d rehire Prince Albert, at near 40 years old and clearly out of shape and SLOW, and give him a main event push. Is there something behind the scenes us fans are missing or is the creative team just..dumb? No one is going to buy this guy for more than a few months.

Well, you can’t say they aren’t batting for the fences on him now.

The deal is that Albert, a.k.a Matt Bloom, had a hell of a run in Japan, as Giant Bernard.

He was over and had greatly improved in the ring, like MVP and many other American wrestlers who headed to the land of the Rising Sun. The idea was that he was a guy who they knew, who knew how to work WWE style, but has improved by leaps and bounds and is now much better, at a time when they needed ‘new’ faces. If they hadn’t signed Brock Lesnar, Cena/Tensai would be at Extreme Rules, probably.

Of course, being over in Japan doesn’t always translate, but there is logic here.

Tim has a simple idea.

Hello great column I read it every week. I wanted your opinion on an idea that the wwe should consider doing next year. As we all know by now winning the royal rumble used to be a sure shot at main eventing wrestlemania and getting a shot at the title. I’m talking about the real main event, the last match on the show. Sheamus won and he was given the opening match at this years wrestlemaina and it lasted only 18 seconds. Same thing with Del Rio last year, it was the first match on the card. What do you think about next year’s winner challenging the Undertaker instead of going for the title? It would be something different at least.

I fully support this idea, if they want to go with Taker up against someone new and unrelated to his recent work. I do believe this is an idea that can work and would be very interesting. Have the heel winner come out and say that while he will, one day, win the World Title, and the WWE Title, and hell, he’ll unify them, he doesn’t want a shot at the history book. He wants a shot at Immortality. So he uses his Rumble win to challenge The Undertaker at WM.

And then you have no response for a few weeks, so said guy can crow about how the match has been signed, and if Taker doesn’t show, he wins by forfeit, thus proving he’s better than –BONG. And so forth.

So yes, I fully support this idea. Although it does mean the Rumble winner loses again…

Barry asks about the Spanish announce team.

I was watching Wrestlemania this past weekend, and early on in the show Michael Cole made reference to Hugo and Carlos: The Spanish Announce Team. As the camera panned and they had their 10 seconds of air time, I was struck with a question about WWE commentary and the differences between the two teams. It is no secret that WWE commentary has been on a downswing for the past X amount of months/years, with less time devoted to announcing a match on a high-level and more time spent hyping Twitter and questioning “What Cena will be doing later tonight.” My question is – How does the Spanish side cover things? Do they have an El McMahon in their ears as well, dictating their commentary, or, even if there is someone in their ears, are they allowed more free reign than their American counterparts simply due to “less people listening to their feed”?

Sadly, I don’t speak Spanish, so I had to call in some outside help, namely new Ask 411 Wrestling’s Chief North Of Where I Am But South Of Where You Are (Probably) Correspondent, Francisco Ramirez!

Ok, it depends on the region you are watching.

Most U.S. Spanish stations have your Carlos Cabrera and Marcelo Rodriguez team, honestly I haven’t watched U.S. Spanish Raw or Smackdown since Hugo Savinovich left. Now these guys are aimed more at the Puerto Rican, and Cuban latin community. They are relegated mostly to a play by play style. Not highly technical, exact and accurate move calling. They typically are big on emphasizing big moves and “Oh, that was devastating” type calling. They also are pretty good about translating promos. Say CM Punk is on the mic, they do a decent job translating and getting to the meat of the subject. At times they will translate word for word. Although that does get pretty hard especially if they are doing it live. If we see a “Raw was brought to you by….” we get it in Spanish as well, this goes for Twitter and any other advertising. In short it’s not a full blown translation of what Cole and King say, they get to the meat of the subject, touch up on twitter and all, but they do have more of a play by play feel.

If you are in an area that has access to Mexican Channels, TV Azteca, TVC Deportes, the announce team is horrid. Too much joking around, and highly inaccurate. I remember them messing up some of the Royal Rumble number spots. You know the “30, the amount of men in the ring etc etc”. Match calling is horrid! Things went so bad that fans literally wrote in to Televisa to try and get them kicked off.

Now I would say the Mexico side is given alot of free reign, but here is the kicker, the announce team if I’m not mistaken is hired by Televisa, as opposed to Carlos Cabrera and Marcelo Rodriguez who are WWE employees. So the Televisa team is more of a clusterfuck of sorts, while the U.S. Spanish announce team get’s the job done.

Thank you Francisco! I’d link to his work, but he is on hiatus, so instead, here’s a Shining Wizado song.

Sean wants to talk business.

Hi Matt

I was reading your column today and was interested in your discussion of the WWE as a publicly traded company impacting specific aspects of the way they operate (Cena staying Face, Johnny Ace keeping his job etc). I don’t doubt that you are correct but what I wonder is how the WWE can get away with some of the other stuff they do and still keep the shareholders happy. I’m talking specifically about the capricious schoolyard way that the locker room is run, where people get held back or their careers destroyed in what seems to me to be contrary to good business sense. It seems to me that many times a guy who is getting over on his own has his momentum killed by specific booking decisions designed to do just that. This is always referenced as being because Vince doesn’t like them, or HHH feels threatened by them, or they have done something like not carrying a veteran’s bag that offends Taker, or as an FU to the IWC, or that Vince doesn’t like that they got over on their own, or they have a pain in the ass girlfriend, or they have dared to say something in the back that requires public punishment by constant jobbing, or some such. So many wrestlers seem to generate huge crowd support on their own but the WWE won’t get behind them. It would seem to me that if the WWE got on the bandwagon with some of these people they would make the shareholders some, if not lots, of money. Some guys that have seemed to be huge over but have had the rug pulled from under them have included Christian, Matt Hardy, Daniel Bryan, Zack Ryder, John Morrison, Jack Swagger, Jericho (years ago, not now) etc. Christian seems like the obvious huge star out of these guys in that he’s massively charismatic and the crowd has always loved him. Surely he could make the WWE a heap of money if they gave him a solid run as champ? Likewise Zack Ryder at the moment. Instead the WWE seems to want to continue to push guys they want to be over whether or not it works.

My immediate thought is that Vince doesn’t get behind these guys because he doesn’t trust them. He’s been burnt by too many people. But if I was a shareholder and I heard these stories about the way the locker room was run I’d be pretty annoyed. This schoolyard mentality would seem to be costing me money. And shareholders are usually pretty savvy about keeping up on things that might be happening that can affect the stock price, so I don’t buy that they wouldn’t hear about it one way or another. A few years ago I tried to find out who owned all the WWE stock and it seemed like Vince owned about an 80% share in the company. Is this still the case and is this how they get away with treating the workplace like a playground? And if Vince doesn’t own a controlling share how does he get away with it?

Yeah, as long as Vince is alive, short him selling the lot, he controls the company. To whit, his stock is Class B, and Class A is everyone else. Class B stock has 10 votes per share, Class A has one per share. And if, at any time, any shares of Class B common stock are beneficially owned by any person other than Vincent McMahon, Linda McMahon, any descendant of either of them, any entity which is wholly owned and is controlled by any combination of such persons or any trust, all the beneficiaries of which are any combination of such persons, each of those shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock. So in other words, the McMahons will run the show for a long, long time.

So technically Vince can run the company how he likes. That said, any story that gets out about the wrestlers, Vince can, if he has to, wash his hands. They are independent contractors, he has no control over their behaviour.

Likewise, as much as the wrestling fans ‘know’ where Vince is making mistakes, he can go on his track record and say that he has to make sure that he builds new stars that will last, and that he can’t jeopardise the company on untested, possibly flash in the pan superstars. Although right now, even with all the BS and stuff around The Rock and the attitude backstage, the last major investor conference call, the questions were all about the network, the film division, and the costs involved.

Shareholders tend to not focus on personnel and their squabbles. They focus on the big numbers, and the major divisions. Sadly, change in the company is unlikely to come from shareholders.

In another question, Cena is getting such a negative crowd reaction that it is in danger of turning into X-Pac heat. Surely, regardless of whether he is still moving merch with the kids they have to turn him heel? It makes no sense from a storytelling perspective for him to stay face when the crowd hates him, and if his heat turns X-Pac then surely they risk ruining the whole gravy train anyway?

Thanks Matt

… Tough question. See, right now Cena gets face heat and heel heat, from the different sectors. And that’s good, a reaction is a reaction. But, assuming for the moment that X-Pac Heat exists (some people still claim it doesn’t), what happens when Cena gets to that point with the older fans? When only the kids cheer him, everyone else is silent?

Storyline wise, you can do whatever you like. Have him turn on the adults because he was a role model for the kids but they ruined it, because they are horrible people, or have him tell the kids that you have to stand up for what you believe in, regardless of how much pressure you are on, and you guys just gotta cheer that much louder for me, ok?

But business wise? Yes, I would suspect that if Cena’s reactions died down to just the kids, unless the kids were really, really, REALLY into him still, they’d do something with him, a heel turn being the logical move. But not the only one. They could revamp the character and keep him face…

And on that note, it’s no longer my birthday, so thanks for reading, and we’ll be back to normal next week. Till then!