wrestling / Columns

Ask 411 Wrestling: What if WCW Never Fired Steve Austin?

February 3, 2025 | Posted by Ryan Byers
Steve Austin WCW Image Credit: WWE

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 some work to clean out my question archives. Specifically, I was sitting on over 100 questions from prolific asker Tyler from Winnipeg, so this week it’s all Tyler, all the time as we attempt to cull some of his queries.

Let’s go!

If Steve Austin never got fired from WCW, would anything change?

Yeah, it would be wild if Steve Austin were still employed by WCW in 2025, almost a quarter-century after the company went out of business. I mean, it would be great for him to keep drawing that paycheck for doing nothing, but it would be supremely weird.

Seriously, though, there is a very good argument that without Steve Austin the WWF never would have been able to turn its fortunes around in the 1990s, even if it did adopt the “Attitude” approach to booking wrestling. Wrestling prior to the 2000s would primarily boom or bust based on the star power of its top attractions, and without a generational talent like Austin headlining the rest of the company easily could have collapsed under its own weight.

Is it true that Perry Saturn and Terri Runnels dated?

No. Though they were paired together as wrestler and valet in the later days of the Radicals and until Saturn traded her out for Moppy, they were never a couple behind the scenes. According to a shoot interview with Title Match Wrestling (hosted by Tommy Dreamer of all people), Terri said that Saturn asked her out on a date at one time but she said that they needed to keep things professional. Apparently he accepted that and they remained friends, as all men should do when a woman says she’s not into them.

How many times did Jake Roberts face Ernie Ladd?

Eight that I was able to find record off, with seven being for Mid-South Wrestling and one being in the Florida territory. Half of them are singles matches, and half of them are tag matches.

On the singles side of things, three of the four matches occurred within a week of each other, and those three matches all occurred in Shreveport, Louisiana. On January 9, 1981, Ladd beat Roberts at the Municipal Auditorium. On January 10, Roberts beat Ladd on a TV taping at the Irish McNeil’s Boys’ Club. The, on January 16, Ladd defeated Roberts back at the Municipal Auditorium. That last match was a bout for the Mid-South Louisiana Title, which Ladd took off Roberts by virtue of his victory.

The fourth and final singles match between the two was on May 24, 1981 in Monroe, Louisiana at the Civic Center, with the Big Cat going over.

On the tag side of things, the first time Ernie Ladd and Jake Roberts ever shared a ring was on November 10, 1980 in Chalmette, Lousiana with Ladd and Leroy Brown retaining their Mid-South Tag Team Titles over Roberts and Mr. Wrestling II. Then, on April 14, 1981, Roberts and Jimmy Garvin picked up a victory over Ladd and Brown. In one last Mid-South match, Ladd and Bob Orton Jr. defeated Roberts and Mike George on December 15, 1981 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The last in-ring encounter was the Florida match that I mentioned earlier, specifically in Orlando at the Eddie Graham Sports Stadium. In six man tag action, Ladd, Barry Windham, and Ron Bass got the duke against Roberts, Jim Garvin, and Kevin Sullivan.

What’s the exact time line of The Kat of WWE fame getting hired than fired?

Jerry Lawler met Stacy Carter, who would eventually become the Kat, in 1989 when she was 18 years old and he was 40 and still married to his first wife, Paula. According to Lawler’s autobiography, not long after the two met, he and Paula separated and Carter began living with the King. They were a couple for approximately ten years before marrying in the year 2000.

Though Lawler and Carter first got together in the late 1980s, she didn’t get into professional wrestling until the late 1990s when she had a brief run in the USWA as an interviewer and announcer. From there, she appeared as a valet for Lawler in Power Pro Wrestling, which was the company that took over Memphis wrestling after USWA’s fall and which served as one of the earliest WWF developmental territories. While Stacy was working in Power Pro, she had her first ever pro wrestling match, defeating heel manager Brandon Baxter on July 18, 1998 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, about an hour away from her hometown of West Memphis, AR.

Of course, Lawler was also working with the WWF during this entire time, and he got his sweetheart a slot in that company as well, where she made her debut as an on screen character on August 23, 1999, originally as an assistant to Debra McMichael.

Around this same time, Stacy was also put into an unusual position in Power Pro Wrestling, because Lawler was wrestling for the promotion but could not be on their television show because he was running for mayor of Memphis and putting him on TV would lead to FCC “equal time” regulations applying, with the network having to give equivalent television time to his political opponents. As a result, Lawler could only appear on non-televised PPW shows, and Carter would have to cut promos on Power Pro TV hyping up the King’s non-televised matches. (The FCC rules didn’t apply to cable television, which is why Lawler’s appearances for the WWF were not affected.)

Carter continued as a valet both in the WWF and in Memphis until February 27, 2001, when she was fired from her WWF spot by Vince McMahon when she was in the middle of an angle that was to have seen her break up the Right to Censor stable by seducing each of its members. According to the March 12, 2001 Figure Four Weekly newsletter, she was let go because members of the creative team felt that she had an attitude problem that would have only gotten worse if she were made into a bigger star via the RTC storyline. As most people reading this will know, her firing caused Jerry Lawler to quit the company in a show of solidarity.

Throughout 2001, the WWF made several attempts to bring the King back, but he repeatedly shot them down because he always wanted a return by Stacy to be part of the deal, and the Fed wasn’t willing to do that.

Ultimately, though, the two split up when Carter left Lawler to begin a relationship with wrestler Mike Howell, who fans will probably best know as Jack Dupp of the Dupp Brothers tag team in ECW and WWF developmental. (He was not in the version of the Dupps that was in early Impact Wrestling.)

Carter did wrestle a handful of independent matches in 2001 following her WWF release, including one against Jasmine St. Clair of all people in White Plains, New York.

The Kat was out of wrestling for several years aside from some convention appearances, but her name popped up in industry headlines again in 2010, when she announced her engagement to wrestler Sinn Bodhi, a.k.a. Kizarny to anybody who remembers his short-lived WWF gimmick. They married that summer with a lot of the proceedings being filmed for a DVD release by Highspots entitled “Jizust Mizarried.” These days, you can see most of that footage on Highspots’ YouTube channel:

Stacy’s marriage to Sinn did appear to bring her back into wrestling for a bit, as she had four more matches between 2010 and 2011, one of which was a really odd six person tag in which she teamed with Ax and Smash of Demolition on June 5, 2010 and one of which was a mixed tag with her hubby, as she and Sinn teamed for the first and only time on April 18, 2011. That was also her last career match to date.

In the years since, Carter has reportedly worked in both insurance and real estate and has made periodic appearances at wrestling conventions. One of those appearances lead to some headlines when, at the 2016 WrestleCon event, she got into a shouting match with Tessa Blanchard when Kat felt Blanchard was not showing her appropriate levels of respect. (Tessa Blanchard didn’t get along with somebody? Color me shocked.)

Do you see any similar traits between The Legion of Doom and Goldberg?

Yes, in that they basically had the exact same gimmick, aside from the fact that Goldberg was (initially) a silent killer whereas the Road Warriors had Hawk’s bombastic pormos.

Which hair vs hair match is the best?

August 15, 1992. Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada. These two had been tag team partners for quite some time, and the chemistry and high speed action on display was a testament to their familiarity with one another. In addition to the in-ring action being top rate, the post-match angle is perhaps one of the most emotional that you will ever see, with the victorious Toyota realizing that she made a huge mistake in challenging her friend to this stipulation match and trying to prevent the haircut from happening.

When Lex Luger won the WCW World Title on Nitro from Hulk Hogan, what time was it in the building?

I’m not sure that anybody has a precise record of this. However, we can use some deductive reasoning to come up with a good estimate. This was a three-hour episode of Nitro that began at 8 p.m. eastern time. There was an overrun of approximately 20 minutes, but it consisted mainly of celebration and analysis of Luger’s win as opposed to the match itself. Thus, the bout ended at approximately 11 p.m. eastern.

When Paul Wight signed with WWE, how big was that “jumping ship” moment out of 10?

I’m going to give it an 8. The guy was a former WCW World Champion and was still young and seen as having a ton of upside. The reason that I’m deducting a couple of points from the maximum is that, in the months leading up to his departure, the Giant was not booked strongly by WCW, which did take away a bit of his luster.

What’s the bottom line on not getting along between Kevin Nash and Roddy Piper?

According to Nash in his RF Video shoot interview, there was an incident at a show in Boston in WCW. Piper did not wrestle the match as planned and didn’t sell Big Sexy’s offense. This lead to words being exchanged in the locker room and Piper moving towards Nash in a manner that Nash interpreted as being overly aggressive. Nash hit him with one big open-hand strike, and that was enough to get Piper to back off. Apparently, the two men did resolve their differences after this and were able to work together later on.

When Eric Bischoff challenged Vince McMahon to a fight (if McMahon) showed up, what was the point? Was the angle useful?

It was just an attention grab, and, no, it was not useful. There’s no real evidence that WCW gained any money or eyeballs on its product as a result of this happening.

Rate Davey Boy Smith, The British Bulldog out of 5 for:

Workrate
Look
Believability
Mic Skills
Legacy

I don’t really like the term “workrate,” but if you’re talking about how good an in-ring performer he was more generally, it varied quite a bit throughout his career. Through the early 90s he easily could have been an 4.5, but by his second WCW run (post-Montreal) when he was less motivated and bulked way up, he was only about a 1.5. If you have to assign one number to his whole career, I would average him out to a 3.

Look is easily a 5. Some bodybuilders look like they’re so musclebound and immobile that they couldn’t do much in a fight, but he had an excellent physique while still looking like a killer. Also, he had a handsome enough face that it was easy for female fans to get into him as well.

I think that his believabilty tracks pretty closely with his in-ring performance, which we’ve already discussed.

On the mic skills front, I’ll go 3.5. There is no such thing as a classic Davey Boy Smith promo, but he never embarrassed himself on the stick, either.

Somewhat sadly, I can only go as high as a 2.5 for legacy. Dying at the age he did and for the reasons he did has seemingly meant that WWE, who writes most wrestling history these days, does not want to hype him up too much. As a result, he doesn’t seem to be as well remembered as many of his contemporaries.

I think WWE should sign more luchadors to open their cards, agree or disagree?

They’ve actually got quite a few. Rey Mysterio Jr. Cruz Del Toro. Dragon Lee. Santos Escobar. Los Garza. Penta. Andrade. Probably Fenix soon.

I’d be game for more talented wrestlers on the roster no matter where they come from. More lucha guys wouldn’t hurt anything, but I don’t feel it’s something WWE is lacking, either.

What’s your appetite for a big Goldberg retirement match on a scale of 1 to 10?

I mean, it’s happening, so my appetite for it is pretty moot.

Did Hulk Hogan ever live in Hollywood, California?

No.

When Raven left ECW and started The Flock is WCW, was WWE interested in Raven? I know they were, Raven was a huge free agent! Why did Raven go to WCW?

The way the story was reported in the April 28, 1997 Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it actually sounds as though there was not much of a bidding war for Raven and instead he went to WCW because they just approached him with what was, at the time, a huge offer – six figures for three years.

Plus, Raven had just been in the WWF in 1994 and things didn’t exactly work out the best for him there, so one would have to think that he wasn’t exactly clamoring to go back right away.

Who is Brian Wittenstein?

He’s a talent agent who has represented several wrestlers over the years, including Cody Rhodes for a time.

The WWF settled with Martha Hart for $18 million US, did Martha get all the money?

Yeah, usually the terms of settlements of that nature involve the payment being made in one lump sum. Depending on the arrangement she had with her attorneys, they likely look a cut. However, the bulk of it went to Martha herself, which she utilized to establish the Owen Hart Foundation.

Did anybody think Bret Hart wouldnt show up for Survivor Series 97?

No. He had a deal to show up and finish the match in a particular way. That’s what made what actually went down a screwjob.

What do you think of WWE’s new championship belt as far as looks?

I don’t think I’ve liked a WWE belt design for approximately 20 years now. I thought the original spinner belt with John Cena was a cool idea because it was a nod to his hip hop gimmick, but it started this trend of placing massive WWE logos on almost every belt, and I HATE that the corporate logo has become the focal point of all the major designs.

It takes the personality out of the belts and makes them feel as though they’re just miniature billboards for the promotion – which really they are if you look at the way they hand them out to sports teams and try to get them on television in non-wrestling contexts as much as possible.

If you asked 100 people on the street, would more people know Hulk Hogan or Vince McMahon?

Hulk Hogan, and I doubt it would even be close.

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.