Ask 411 Wrestling: Have There Been Any Active Women’s Wrestlers Who Were Mothers?

*ignores all responsibilities*

*looks at the date and time*

Sorry. Can’t column right now. Setting up Raspberry Pi.

*checks calendar and sees the column is several days past due*

Oh, fine. Tear me away from totally not doing anything like emulating games. Totally not. That would be illegal

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The rehabilitation of Roman Reigns
Many, many varied opinions on that one. I’m of the opinion that yes, he can be saved. With the right booking. And, given WWE booking these days, confidence is lacking in their ability to do the most important job they have: make us buy into their chosen one.

The questions I answer
I am at the will of the readers, my friend. I welcome all questions, whether I know the answers off the top of my head or have to spend an hour on Google. Or several weeks with a spreadsheet, which I’m in the process of. It’s a massive research question. AND IT’S KILLING ME.

The Gang Warz
My comment wasn’t about the quality of the angle, but the quality of the wrestlers in it. I mean, yeah, it wasn’t exactly a great angle either, but it was made worse by many of the wrestlers. The Harris Brothers, everybody in the Boricuas that wasn’t Savio Vega, everybody in the Truth Commission … it was not an angle replete with the upper echelon of talent.

Your Dream Wrestlemania Card
Lots of good cards, lots of good ideas. All of them pretty much better than where we’re headed right now.

You Q, I A

Robert Dawson gets the lead-off spot this week, asking about holes in the library of the Network.

I was wondering if you know why classic shows such as Superstars of Wrestling, Wrestling Challenge, and All American Wrestling and even Mania aren’t on the network when I thought that they were previously available as part of the precursor to the network as part of the wwe classics collections. I had heard a rumor that Superstars of Wrestling had an issue because of lapse in the trademark and someone else owns the name and that’s part of that issue. Also why is there no WCW Saturday Night? These would all be great additions to the network

Without a confirmation from WWE itself, there’s no real way to know beyond the ever-accurate “inside sources”. So, grain of salt and all that.

Rumor has it, the delay behind WCW Saturday Night came down to a lawsuit brought by Raven and Buff Bagwell over royalties. PWInsider recently reported (as in, within the past week) that Saturday Night would be coming soon, although there was no word on what era of the show would be uploaded. It could be limited to when the show actually mattered (i.e., pre-Nitro), which would be an excellent way to get around that pesky lawsuit and the fees that follow. Time will tell.

As for all those old WWE syndicated shows, again, there’s a distinct lack of forthcoming rationale from Stamford, so we can only wildly speculate. My guess is that there are two things holding up these shows:

1) While you got storyline advancement in the form of promos and segments like Piper’s Pit, by and large, the action was relegated to jobber squashes. Yeah, there was the occasional marquee match-up, but by and large, it was squashes. And if I’m gonna sit down and watch some old 80’s WWE stuff, I’m gonna watch SNME or Wrestlemania. Strike Force v Iron Mike Sharpe & Barry Horowitz isn’t moving my needle, you know?

2) Those old shows are on film stock. The process of transferring from celluloid to digital is a time-consuming one, and the older film gets, the more delicate it becomes. WWE’s library is literally in the hundreds of thousands of hours – if not millions – of wrestling. There’s still vast swaths of AWA, WCCW and Mid-South (now that they got it) to get on the network. ECW’s section, I believe, still has holes in it. They’re just now getting old Coliseum Video titles on there, and that’s stuff they own. Why prioritize the syndicated jobber squashes over something like AWA Superclash III or ECW Hardcore TV?

Again, these are strictly opinion, borne of some logical deduction. Until WWE comments on it, speculation is all we have.

Next up, Pedro keeps us in Ye Olden Days of Giants and Hulksters.

Hogan vs DiBiase, with Andre & Virgil around: Andre got retired from the match and fine with $2000. Is that the only time in the WWE a wrestler get fined by a ref, or there has been any other…???

It took an insane amount of digging for me to even find a reference to this. I’ll be honest, I was sure it was a mistaken memory or something, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t bear out.

It comes from the book Andre The Giant – A Legendary Life. The match in question took place on Dec 11, 1987 in Houston. As stated in the question, Andre was a second to Ted DiBiase, tried to get involved in the match, Hogan won after shenanigans backfired, and Andre got penalized.

I can’t say I’ve ever heard of such a thing happening before. If any readers have, step forth and testify, but, for the life of me, this is the only time I can find a ref being the one to levy the fine. Strikes me as a really weird event, but also the kind of thing that would be hard to find documentation about.

Over now to Brad, who wants to talk about some mothers. Not bad mothers, though. That would be Shaft.

This time, the Women’s Royal Rumble has triggered a question. Has any woman been a champion in WWE while being a mother? If not, who do you think has been the most prominent wrestler while being a mother? I’m excluding Stephanie McMahon by using that specific criterion. Frankly, I’m drawing a blank. Thanks!

Well, this answers both your queries.

Moolah had a daughter who, by the time of the first few Wrestlemanias, had a grown daughter, and both captured and defended the WWF Women’s Championship. There’s also Saraya Knight, mother of Paige, who won the Shimmer Championship back in 2012. And, depending on your parameters for “prominence”, Taryn Terrell won the Knockouts Championship a mere six months after having a baby.

And while I’m sure there’s more, I think the pickings get very, very slim. I have to imagine the call of motherhood and the demands of the road run too much at cross purposes for a whole lot of women to try and strike the balance. Pregnancy is a delicate condition (as a father of three, I speak from observational experience here). To risk it with the physical punishment of wrestling would be insane, so, right off the top, a woman’s on the shelf as soon as the stick comes back with a + sign. Add in the post-delivery recovery depending on method of delivery (a C-section can take a month or more before a woman is allowed to things like drive), and how soon they’re eager to get back on the road, and that’s a lot of time off. Much easier to have the desire for motherhood be the end of the career, I’d reckon.

Again, not that it’s impossible. Mickie James had a baby in 2014, and she’s still going. Sexy Star had a baby in 2013. It’s just not terribly common. It definitely takes a special kind of woman to strike that balance.

And speaking of Sexy Star, Comely Comet wants to play where-are-they-now.

<.i>I was watching some lucha underground season 2 on netflix, and that got me thinking – what is Sexy Star up to these days?

I know there was that incident at TripleMania with her and rosemary, then the backlash from most, if not all, wrestling companies, but has she wrestled since then? Are there any companies that still book her after that incident?

Not that this answers your question, but I found this interesting: in researching this question, I discovered the TripleMania incident got reported on by the NEW YORK TIMES. I mean, I know she really screwed the pooch, but that speaks volumes as to how big, doesn’t it?

Anyway, accurate information on her seems to be wholly dependent on whether you happen to be multi-lingual. She’s very active on Twitter, but it’s all in Spanish, and my knowledge of the language allows me to order a couple shots of tequila at a restaurant and count to ten. I did go back a bit, and all her posts look related to boxing or shows on Mexican television, like game shows. At least, that’s what the accompanying videos and pictures look like. Wikipedia says she she became involved in a dance competition show similar to ABC’s Dancing With The Stars last fall, and also became a co-host of a children’s afternoon show.

But as far as wrestling goes? I can’t find anything that shows she’s had a match since she tried to show us all what happens when you don’t let the Wookie win. Profightdb – which, as we’ve discussed before, is not exactly the most thorough source – lists TripleMania as her last match. Considering the very vocal backlash against her in the aftermath, I’m not surprised. I remember seeing Joey Ryan, Cody Rhodes and Road Dogg all saying they’d never set foot in a locker room they worked in, and AAA turfed her within moments. That leaves very, very few options. Whether she can come back remains to be seen. Dan Maff was able to come back from his blackballing, even appearing on the same card as Homicide. But whatever happened there wasn’t in the ring. It’s very possible nobody will ever trust Sexy Star in the ring, and I can’t blame anyone for feeling that.

There’s no graceful transition out of this. Jeremiah, get us to a less dodgy topic!

Continuing my NWO watch and found two instances of something being named before they’re named (cos that makes sense). The Nitro before Bash at the Beach Zbyszko promises on Sunday there will be a New World Order. Then the first Nitro after Macho Man first refers to the Hulkster as Hollywood Hogan, playing off of Sting’s (amazing) promo immediately before about Hogan making sporadic wrestling appearances whilst filming movies. I don’t know if this info is even attainable, but do you think these were planned utterances to plant seeds, or off the cuff remarks that later became “the thing”? I tend to think of Larry’s premonition as the former (which is still weird cos it cuts the legs off the actual debut of the name at the PPV, even if the spoiler’s only really noticeable in hindsight), as it’s outta nowhere and too on the nose, whereas Savage’s is likely the latter, that then became something Hulk ran with. Thoughts?

This was another question that took me quite a bit of digging. Indeed, Uproxx’s Best & Worst column made mention of Larry Zbyszko’s bizarre mention of a “new world order of wrestling” on the Nitro before Bash At The Beach ’96. I couldn’t find mention of Macho referring to Hulk Hogan as “Hollywood” (CRZ’s word-for-word recaps, one of my go-to’s for such a thing, started in ’98), but given your accuracy with Larry Z’s comment, I’m gonna take the other as writ. Anyway, my thoughts would be that both were intentional. Allow me to set the stage before I explain why.

The main event of BATB was, arguably, to that point, the biggest match in WCW history. The angle still felt very, very real, with the commentary crew having armed guards and the lines of face and heel blurring to stand against The Outsiders. Then there was the third man mystery, which most assumed meant another defection/invader. It all added up to a match that would be literally epochal, while also serving as something of a reboot of WCW. Cartoony crap like the Dungeon Of Doom would be washed aside in the aftermath (Glacier not withstanding), The Horsemen were forced into a face turn, and white meat babyfaces suddenly seemed lame. As much as the nWo was a kayfabe revolutionary force and a whole new kind of stable, they were also a tool, from a non-kayfabe standpoint, to usher in this new booking paradigm. This … new world order of wrestling, if you will.

While Bischoff was not nearly as micro-managing with every word of commentary as Vince is now, he did guide and nudge. And, I think, having Larry use that very phrase was a way to let the fans know that what they would see that Sunday would indeed change the direction of WCW, both in the ring and as a company philosophy. Larry was the Silver Surfer to the nWo’s Galactus. It just so happened that the phrase also fit the modus operandi of the stable that would bring about the dawn of the era.

As for Macho’s comments, I think that once Hogan’s turn was known, Bischoff knew Hogan couldn’t just be red and black but evil. He had to steer into the skid that had been building up with the resentful audience reaction for months. In that regard, the easiest way to tweak it was to play up his recent attempts at acting. It also played into his heel turn promo, where he talks about coming to WCW for Billionaire Ted’s money and opportunities at fame outside wrestling. Hogan was out for the money, so selling out and “going Hollywood” go hand in hand. Sadly, we’ll never really know for sure, but … that’s my take on it. And that’s what I’m paid for. So to speak.

Anyway, we move on now. Unfortunately, there’s no name on this question, so, Mystery Question Asker, step up and sign in, please!

When would you say was the absolute peak of the AWA in terms of popular opinion? At that peak, how did they measure up against the WW(W)F, NWA/WCW, and other federations?

I’m gonna take the second question first, because it kinda answers the first anyway.

That depends on when you’re measuring the AWA against its competitors.

You could argue there’s two eras for the AWA, and really, it’s the same division of eras for most any territory-era promotion. The first era could be defined as “Before Vince”. This era would be the period where they saw their greatest success, from their inception in 1960 up to Vince’s purchase of the WWF from his dad. Measured against their peers, the AWA consistently drew good crowds. They had a roster of names that would eventually pass into legend, boasting names like Verne Gagane, The Crusher, Gene Kiniski, Fritz Von Erich, Mad Dog Vachon, Larry Hennig, Harley Race, Ray Stevens, Nick Bockwinkel and many, many more. Their primary championship was considered a world championship, and had no shortage of premier wrestlers contending for it.

Now, due to the NWA’s business model, they would never be able to match up head-to-head for market share, as their territory was pretty much the Wisconsin-Minnesota-Dakotas-Nebraska area, where the NWA had … pretty much everywhere else. And, up until the 80’s, the belt had a nasty habit of going from Gagne to challenger and back, over and over and over again (with a few exceptions). But they more than held their own in the wrestling landscape.

And then Vince came along with his national dreams.

Once Vince waged war on the territories, everybody was caught flat-footed. Jim Crockett and the NWA at least had the apparatus in place to attempt to fight back; a national presence via a network of allied promotions, compelling stars like Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Tully Blanchard and more. And their leadership wasn’t afraid to take risks. Gagne … was the opposite of all that. Bockwinkel was a wonderful personality, but he was getting long in the tooth when the 80’s began, let alone when Vince declared his manifest destiny. And Gagne, old school to the point of self-satire, refused to acknowledge that Vince’s pomp-and-circumstance presentation and larger-than-life personalities were capturing mainstream attention. Gagne stubbornly could not get past the idea of two grinders in banana hammocks, going catch-as-catch-can for 20-30 minutes at a clip. When he had Hulk Hogan – fresh off his appearance in Rocky III – in his hands, he let the Hulkster walk rather than crown him champion, due to Hogan’s style being less about armbars and Greco-Roman holds and more about showmanship and audience reactions. By the time the first Wrestlemania rolled around, the AWA was a distant third place, quickly becoming a feeder promotion for the other two; Rick Martel left for Stamford after losing the title. Stan Hansen used it to further his career in Japan. Curt Hennig would likewise leverage his run into a WWF contract. The absolute fustercluck that was the attempted AWA/CWA/WCCW alliance, and the awful ending to the main event of the AWA’s only PPV, SuperClash III, further hastened the promotion’s downward spiral.

So … long story short, before Vince, they were a strong second option, on par and at times probably bigger than the WWWF. Once Vince got involved, they were the Sega Saturn to Vince’s Playstation and the NWA’s N64.

Wrapping up this week is frequent submitter Connor Watson, who wants to talk about someone’s performance in the brief hiccup known as the 1995 Royal Rumble.

I rewatched Royal Rumble 1995 recently and noticed the strong performance Lex Luger gave, he seemed to be back on the rise to the main events but was forgotten about soon after, is there a reason for this?

I don’t know that I’d call it a strong performance. I mean, yeah, he had the third longest time in the match at just over eighteen minutes, behind only the winner, Shawn Michaels, and second place, Davey Boy Smith, who had identical times. But when you start taking into context everything around him, that performance looks less “strong” and more “well, somebody had to do it”. For instance, you know who had the next best time at fourteen minutes and change? This guy:

You know who had the fifth longest time, at thirteen-plus minutes? Aldo Montoya. ALDO. BLEEPING. MONTOYA. The guy who wore a piss-colored jockstrap on his face. Thirteen minutes.

Wanna guess how many eliminations Luger got in his almost 20 minutes worth of work? Three. Mabel, the aforementioned porcine aficionado, and Bob Backlund.

And then you look at the roster of that Rumble … Kwang. The Bushwhackers. Well Dunn. The Blu Brothers. Men On A Mission. Duke Droese. A well-past-his-prime King Kong Bundy, and an equally expired Dick Murdoch. Wrestlecrap legend Mantaur. A full fourteen out of thirty wrestlers were tag teams. The only other wrestlers in the Rumble with main event cred – Backlund and Owen Hart – were not only eliminated, but done so in a combined nineteen seconds.

Given all that context, can we really call Luger’s performance “strong”? Length does not a strong performance make, especially when one just has to outlast geezers, middling tag teams, and some of the most awful gimmicks in WWE history.

Okay, let’s cut a rug here on the way out. Somebody play me off.

A Question I Want Answered!

So, last week, I posed the question to you, the reader, for your dream Wrestlemania card. This week, I thought I’d answer my own question and give you mine.

Now, there’s a few things to mention beforehand. First, it’s expected right now Miz won’t be on the show, as his and Maryse’s baby is due within days of the event. So, I’m going to presume he’ll be out on paternity leave. Samoa Joe might be back by then, and there’s worry Jason Jordan won’t be available for it. Neither are for certain, though. So, I went with Joe being out on injury, and Jordan being available. With that …

Pre-show:
The Andre The Giant battle royale, which I’d attach some stakes, because in past years, this has been nothing but a “get the guy on the show” match. I’m torn on what, as I don’t want to just do a title shot for a battle royale so close to the Royal Rumble. Maybe, GM for a night? Anyway, Bobby Roode would win this to begin a push to the main for Summerslam.

For the United States Championship, Rusev (c) vs. Jinder Mahal. Yes, I’d have Rusev capture it between now and then. Rusev wins and makes Wrestlemania Rusev Day!

10-woman tag match: Absolution and the Riott Squad vs. Sasha Banks, Bayley, Mickie James, Naomi & Natalya. I’d have Paige act as a free agent manager, absorbing both stables into one brand-crossing monster, and this would be her trying to dismantle the women’s divisions of both shows. Paige’s team wins.

The main show, in no particular order:

Randy Orton vs. Shane McMahon. Orton gets snippy because he’s tired of Shane ignoring everything that isn’t his petty pissing contest with Daniel Bryan and his grudge against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Orton wins, beating McMahon so bad, he has to resign his position as general manager of Smackdown.

Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Ronda Rousey vs. The Bar & Stephanie McMahon. Not terribly fond of dragging out the Rollins and Partner/Bar feud this long, but it suits my needs. Mainly, it hides Rousey in her first match, and also puts Reigns in a high profile match without being in a title match. The Three R’s win, and Rousey injures Stephanie, forcing her to resign like her brother.

Chris Jericho vs. The Undertaker. Why? They’ve only ever faced once, and it ended on a DQ. I know for marquee value, Cena vs. Undertaker is a bigger match, but it’s also predictable and boring. I find this more intriguing. And I’d have Chris Jericho win.

In a No Holds Barred match, Triple H vs. Braun Strowman. Strowman is out of control, terrorizing everyone, trying to kill people, and H’s-cubed decides to take matters into his own hands to end the problem. Strowman not only wins, he just about murders H and H and also H, leading to his resignation as well. Yes, I’ve now ended all the McMahon-associated authority figures. It’s high time, don’t you think?

For the Raw Tag Team Titles, The Revival (c) vs. Kurt Angle & Jason Jordan. Again, a title switch between now and then is necessary, and The Revival really should be champs. Jordan wants another chance, talks dad into it, Rollins doesn’t want it, so Angle volunteers for the spot. Jordan ends up turning on Angle, who, it turns out, isn’t his dad after all. Jordan made it up to use Angle, but it hasn’t worked like it should, so now he’s taking Angle out. Obviously, The Revival retain.

Four-way TLC match for the Smackdown Tag Titles: The Usos (c) vs. The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. The Fashion Police. Because we need a crazy spotfest. Fashion Police win, just because, new champs.

Smackdown Women’s Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Becky Lynch. Becky’s my personal fave, so, personal bias here. And I think she gets overlooked by the E, and I don’t know why. She should be the Sting of the women’s division. Becky wins, new champ.

Raw Women’s Championship triple threat: Nia Jax (c) vs. Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss. One more title switch before the show to set up what I need. Make it at Elimination Chamber, or a Raw. Whatever. Asuka has her shot, Alexa demands her rematch. Boom. Asuka wins, new champ, pinning Nia Jax, which sets up Alexa Bliss as the challenger who didn’t get pinned.

Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Finn Balor. Because we all want it and the E took it away from us. Balor wins, new champ.

Four-corners elimination match for the World Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn. Bring these two storylines together and end it all, once and for all. Zayn eliminates Owens, Nakamura eliminates Zayn, Styles eliminates Nakamura and retains. Yeah, Styles retains. Sorry, I just don’t see the big deal about Nakamura. I know, HAWT TAEK.

And that’s it for this week! See you in a something around a week or so!