Ask 411 Wrestling: Is the Stunner the Best Finisher in Wrestling History?

Welcome guys, gals, and gender non-binary pals, to Ask 411 . . . the last surviving weekly column on 411 Wrestling.

I am your party host, Ryan Byers, and I am here to answer some of your burning inquiries about professional wrestling. If you have one of those queries searing a hole in your brain, feel free to send it along to me at [email protected]. Don’t be shy about shooting those over – the more, the merrier.

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This week, we’re doing something a bit different. As many readers know, the person who, far and away, has asked me the most questions in my time writing this column is Tyler from Winnipeg.

Believe it or not, Tyler has more or less stopped writing in, as I haven’t really heard from him since the spring. However, he was so prolific for so long that I’ve still got a huge backlog of questions from the guy.

It’s time to clear that out, so here’s an edition of Ask 411 that is all Tyler, all the time . . .

1. Who is the best play by play/color commentator currently performing their craft?

On the color commentary side, my favorite overall is probably Wade Barrett, though I would be lying if I said I didn’t crack up when watching the “Insipid Tazz Commentary” featured over on Botchamania.

Play-by-play is a bit more difficult, because I feel like the old school play-by-play announcer of my youth is a thing of the past, as announcers seem to focus much more on storylines than they do on the mechanics of in-ring action. Jim Ross can still do it when he’s having a good night, but those are few and far between anymore.

2. Is the Stone Cold Stunner the best finishing move in wrestling history?

It’s certainly up there. It can be hit on anybody, it can be done either lightning fast or with a more prolonged setup, and it can be reversed multiple ways to allow for exciting finishing sequences. It checks all the boxes for a great finisher, and it’s also iconic as hell given that it was used by one of the biggest stars in the history of the pseudo sport during his biggest run.

Probably its only drawback is that it could be a bit safer, because repeatedly falling on your own ass multiple times a night is not the greatest thing for your spine. However, it’s certainly better than using a diving headbutt or many other high impact moves.

I am having a hard time thinking of anything better, frankly.

3. Does Pat Patterson get the credit he deserves?

Yes, I would say so. He’s pretty well regarded as one of the great creative minds in professional wrestling history and is always credited as the creator of the Royal Rumble, one of the most beloved gimmick matches in the game. I do think that his time as an in-ring performer maybe doesn’t get as much love as it should because it was before the time of most current fans (myself included), but he is beloved for his work behind the scenes.

4. Back in the day during a submission move wrestlers would tap the mat selling the pain, what moment in time was tapping the mat a cue for a submission?

I swear I’ve answered this question before but I couldn’t find it in the archives. It was the mid-1990s heading into the late 1990s thanks to: a) Ken Shamrock bringing UFC influence to the WWF; b) Tazz doing his pseudo shooter gimmick in ECW; and c) more foreign stars cropping up in WCW’s cruiserweight division (I still remember Mike Tenay on commentary shouting, “He’s tapping out! The international sign for submission!” to get the concept over to American fans.)

5. In wrestling there’s a wrestler’s offense and a wrestler’s selling of moves. Do you think Hulk Hogan’s selling of moves deserves more credit than it’s given?

It depends on how you want to look at it. Hogan made a career of “Hulking up,” during which he would shrug off just about any move that was thrown at him, refusing to sell it. This has gotten him a reputation in some circles as a guy who either couldn’t sell or didn’t sell as much as he should have. If that’s your take, then he probably doesn’t deserve more credit in this area. However, I will say that if you look at Hogan’s matches outside of the “Hulk up,” when he is being beaten down by a heel en route to his eventual comeback, his body language and facials are actually pretty solid in selling the beating, which is one of the reasons that the crowd would get so into the Hulk up.

So, yes, I do think that people could be a bit nicer to the Hulkster when discussing his selling.

6. The Finger Poke of Doom. Kevin Nash. Hollywood Hogan. Out of ten how bad was it?

Eight.

It took one of the biggest matches that WCW could put on at the time and turned it into a total bait and switch clown show, which also rebooted the nWo, a storyline at that time which the company should have been looking for a way to wrap up, not extend.

I can’t think of a single good thing to come out of it.

That being said, I’m not going to give it a full ten because it’s not as though it killed the company immediately WCW did manage to survive the blunder for a little while.

7. Which type wrestling boots/shoes, in today’s era, would be most appeasing to fans?

I don’t think the vast, vast majority of fans care about what footwear wrestlers have on unless there’s something out of the norm like wrestling barefoot or the Iron Shiek’s curly boots.

8. What is the best entrance of all time by one wrestler on a single card?

The time that Chris Jericho got lost walking out to the ring in WCW, simultaneously parodying Bill Goldberg’s entrance and paying homage to This Is Spinal Tap.

9. Who are some notables for excellence is delivering chest chops?

Ric Flair, obviously.

Chris Benoit and Steven Regal used to make a game of seeing who could make the other bleed from chops first.

The Big Show for his overhand chops.

Kenta Kobashi for his machine gun chops that Samoa Joe stole. (But then again Joe stole so much from Kobashi.)

Kensuke Sasaki.

10. When I was a child watching The Rockers, I thought Marty was the star of the team. Did you think that as a child?

I wasn’t into wrestling until around the time the Rockers were breaking up, so I can’t say I thought that. However, I will say that based on what I’ve read from older fans and historians, it was not uncommon for people to think that Marty had the bigger upside than Shawn.

11. When DX was running white hot with The New Age Outlaws, X Pac, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley sometimes they’d get front row woman to lift their DX t-shirts and flash. Where these woman planted fans? Do we see planted fans in regards to hot women today?

In researching this, I’ve not been able to find a definitive answer to the question, just quite a bit of speculation as to whether the women were or were not planted by the WWF. If I had to take an educated guess, I would say that at least some of them were and possibly a few of the others were not plants but inspired by the original plants. I say that because that’s a common pattern for wrestling promotions getting fans to do anything that they want – planting a few people in the crowd to do it before legitimate fans pick up on the behavior and continue it.

That being said, I am not aware of any wrestling promotion currently planting more attractive people in crowds. Directors of wrestling shows might chose to focus on better looking audience members, but I’m not aware that any companies are actively placing them in arenas.

12. Was Seth Rollins ever, at any point, penciled in to be, the number one star in WWE?

Not the absolute number one as far as I’m aware, because he’s always been behind Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar. However, he’s certainly been booked as a strong 1a, most recently when he was given the consolation prize world championship created for the Raw brand.

13. Who was the babyface in the Matt Hardy-Edge-Lita love triangle?

It was supposed to be Matt Hardy, but he acted so freaking bizarrely that it didn’t really work out.

14. When you were younger, what did you think of Chyna?

I was never a huge fan, to be honest with you. She was totally fine when she was the strong, silent bodyguard for Triple H, but once she started wrestling men on a regular basis I really didn’t care for it because it was readily apparent that she was very limited in the ring compared to just about every single one of her opponents.

15. Does Shane McMahon get enough credit as a booker or right ear to his dad?

I have never once heard a single story about Shane making a positive contribution to WWE creative, so I’m not aware of any basis for him being given any credit as a good booker.

16. What do you rate Sid’s chokeslam outta 10?

Four. Sid’s chokeslam, to me, always looked like he picked up his opponent down and just dropped them, whereas the Big Show and Kane, who had excellent chokeslams, always looked like they were forcefully driving their opponents down to the mat as opposed to letting gravity do all the work.

17. Any UFC memories for the fight of Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture?

Nope, never seen it.

18. Can you list the Von Erich brothers and if the “curse” is real?

The first Von Erich “brothers” were Fritz and Waldo Von Erich, though they weren’t actually brothers. They just claimed to be as part of their Nazi tag team gimmick.

Of course, the wrestlers who most people refer to as the Von Erich brothers are Fritz’s kids, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris. There was actually a sixth brother, the first born Jack Jr., though he passed away in a tragic accident when he was just six years old.

There is also a third set of Von Erich brothers in wrestling right now, those being Kevin’s sons Ross and Marshall Von Erich, who as of the time I am writing this hold the Ring of Honor Six Man Tag Team Titles with Dustin Rhodes.

Though not a brother, since we’re running down most of the family, I’ll also mention Kerry’s daughter Lacey Von Erich, who wrestled for a few years between 2007 and 2010, mostly for Impact Wrestling.

There were also several other wrestlers who used the Von Erich name over the years, albeit without much connection to the Texas-based clan. The most infamous is Lance Von Erich, who Fritz did sanction coming in to World Class as a “cousin” to his sons in 1985 (portrayed as being Waldo’s son). Before that, he was a Pacific Northwest wrestler named Ricky Vaughn.

Going back to the 1960s, the wrestler known elsewhere as Chris Markoff wrestled for promoter Jack Pfeffer, who at the time engaged in the shady business practice of booking wrestlers on shows and giving them names that made them sound like bigger stars. For example, instead of Buddy Rogers, Pfeffer’s shows featured “Bummy Rogers” and instead of Bobo Brazil, Pfeffer would give you “Hobo Brazil.” In other words, he had a stable of wrestlers from Wish.com. When Markoff wrestled for Pfeffer, he was “Franz Von Erich,” a name that was intended to trick people into thinking they were seeing Fritz.

You also have Mark Von Erich, a Texas independent wrestler who basically adopted the name with no authorization from or connection to the remainder of the Von Erich family. He used that name throughout the mid-1990s, with manager Skandor Akbar at one point claiming as part of a storyline that Mark was Fritz’s illegitimate son.

Finally, in MLW a few years ago, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor was feuding with Ross and Marshall Von Erich when Lawlor brought in a character named Rip Von Erich to help him in mocking Ross and Marshall. Lawlor claimed that Rip was the son of Lance Von Erich in a bit of an inside joke. Speaking of inside jokes, and rather cruel ones at that, the name “Rip” came from . . .

. . . well, it came from the fact that a lot of the members of the Von Erich family died tragically, which transitions us into the second part of the question.

I don’t believe in supernatural phenomena like curses, but, if you’re somebody who does, looking at the mortality rate of the Von Erich family isn’t particularly bad evidence.

19. Can you give us the scoop of Scott Steiner facing death at a TNA show?

Oof, we’re not exactly going with light topics on these last couple of questions.

On June 3, 2007, TNA actually ran a house show in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and one of the midcard matches with Scott Steiner and James Storm taking on Jeff Jarrett and hometown favorite Apolo. Somewhat interestingly, Apolo had actually been released from TNA the year before, but he was brought back for this special event given that he was local.

Unfortunately for Steiner, a wayward kick by Apolo caught Big Poppa Pump in the throat, and a bit later in the evening he experienced swelling in that area and started coughing up blood. A quick trip to the hospital later and it was revealed that he had a torn trachea that very easily could have been fatal. Steiner was placed into a medically induced coma for two days and had to undergo surgery to repair the tear.

Despite the potential lethality of the injury, Scott was actually back in the ring about six weeks later, wrestling a series of shows for Hermie Sadler’s UWF promotion in South Carolina in July before returning to TNA television in August. Steiner was able to remain a fairly active wrestler through early 2022, though he’s only wrestled three matches since June of that year and none at all in 2024.

20. Which is your favorite Umaga match? Mine is vs Cena Last Man Standing but Umaga had some big matches!

The LMS match with Cena is probably my favorite as well if I’m being honest, but for the sake of saying something different, I’ll point out that Jeff Hardy was an EXCELLENT opponent for the Samoan Bulldozer, and I remember the bout in which Jeff took the Intercontinental Title off of the big guy being one of the better sub-ten minute matches that I’ve seen.

21. What was Paul Wight’s biggest moment?

As long as his career has been and as much as he has accomplished, I still think of his most memorable moment being his WWF debut in which he destroyed Steve Austin at St. Valentines’ Day Massacre.

It was a highly anticipated jump from WCW to the WWF when those were very exciting, and he was immediately made to look like a threat against the biggest star in the sport at the time.

Unfortunately, Austin beat him almost immediately and took the wind out of his sails, but he was on top of the world for that one moment.

We’ll return in seven-ish days, and, as always, you can contribute your questions by emailing [email protected]. You can also leave questions in the comments below, but please note that I do not monitor the comments as closely as I do the email account, so emailing is the better way to get things answered.