Ask 411 Wrestling: What is the Best Show That Jim Ross Called?

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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Tyler from Winnipeg wants to drive your car:

Male seconds (managers, advocates, etc.) were never given the term valets. Why were female seconds given the term valets? Aren’t valets men or a women who park cars?

Yes, in modern parlance, the most common use of the word “valet” is to describe an attendant who parks cars.

However, that was not always the case. “Valet” used to refer to a man’s personal assistant who would take care of the man’s clothing and personal belongings. (Not to be confused with a butler, a servant who would be in charge of the house and specifically its dining areas.) Usually in this definition of the word, the valet would almost always be another man rather than a woman.

In other words, when the wrestling industry started saying that women accompanying men to the ring were their “valets,” they were saying that these women were servants who took care of the man’s “personal needs,” ahem. In other words, it was a PG way of saying that they were knocking boots.

This is likely one of the reasons why the WWF was careful to almost always refer to Miss Elizabeth as a manger and not a valet. They wanted you to get the impression that she was legitimately doing something to help her man’s career as opposed to just being their sidepiece.

I should also note that there is at least one male wrestler who had male valets, using the traditional sense of the word. That was Gorgeous George, whose man servants would do things like spraying perfume all around the ring and spreading rose petals.

Doug likes ’em young:

Some anecdotes pop up on various forums recalling stories such as how impressed Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby Heenan were while watching a tag team comprised of a teenage Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy. International stars such as William Regal and Adrian Street also started their careers in their teens. Notably, clips of a teenage Jeff Hardy being fed to Waylon Mercy are widely available. Who, in your opinion, had the most impressive career before turning 21?

Quite possibly Chigusa Nagayo.

Nagayo was born on December 8, 1964 and debuted in All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling a few months before her 16th birthday. She was the promotion’s Junior Heavyweight Champion before she turned 18, and in early 1983 she formed the tag team of the Crush Gals with Lioness Asuka. The Crush Gals were booked as a teen idol act and started a music career in addition to singing, which was an attempt to recreate the success of an early generation joshi team, the Beauty Pair. The attempt at recreating the act worked, too, with the Crush Gals headlining wrestling cards in front of thousands of fans and releasing a single that sold over 100,000 copies. The duo was also a two-time Tag Team Championship act for AJW before Nagayo turned 21 and consistently drew large television ratings.

In other words, Chigusa was a legitimate main event act in a national promotion for a few years prior to hitting 21.

(And, for those who may be asking, I’m not giving her partner Lioness Asuka the same credit because Lioness was a few years older and thus not as successful prior to Doug’s age cutoff.)

HBK’s Smile is feuding with his heel doppelganger, Jannetty’s Frown:

At WM V, Mr. Fuji was added to the Powers of Pain team vs Demolition, presumably to take the fall. Did the Powers of Pain, as a two-man team, ever suffer a televised pinfall or submission loss? I’ve seen them pinned as singles and Warlord was pinned in a six-man match, but as a true tag team, has it happened on TV?

Kind of.

First off, I could not find any instance of them ever losing by pinfall or submission as a two-man team on WWF television. They were very well-protected there.

But let’s talk about Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW. At the 1988 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup event on April 23 of that year, the Powers of Pain lost to eventual tournament winners Lex Luger and Sting in the semi-finals when the Warlord had Lex Luger in position for a bodyslam and Stinger dropkicked his partner in the back, causing Luger to fall on top of Warlord for the three count.

That being said, I don’t know if you would consider this a televised loss. The ’88 Crockett Cup was, to my knowledge, never broadcast on over the air television. However, it did receive a national release on home video which was heavily pushed on television at the time. It wasn’t technically TV, but it was a major event that the company was expecting fans to see widely, sort of like pay per view but in a different format.

From there, fast forward to the eighteenth episode of WCW Monday Nitro on New Year’s Day 1996 at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. Lex Luger and Sting defeated the Super Assassins via double submission with the Torture Rack and Scorpion Deathlock.

Why am I mentioning this?

Because the Super Assassins were the Powers of Pain, just under masks, though this fact was never revealed on television. For the record, based on body types, it appears that Luger had Barbarian in the Rack while Sting had Warlord in the Scorpion.

So, that is technically a televised submission loss for the team, but they weren’t being portrayed as the same team.

Given all the caveats above, I’ll let you decide whether you want to consider the Powers of Pain to be undefeated on television. It is a funny coincidence that the POP’s two most high profile losses come at the hands of the same team, Sting and Lex Luger.

Michael has hijacked a tank:

I was just watching the DX “Invasion” of WCW on RAW in 1998. How do you think things would have turned out differently (if at all) if the WCW roster had opened the gates and the audience got to watch the brawl happen? On both programs. Do you think that either promoter would have pushed to use that as a catalyst to actually have a WCW vs WWF event? Would it have been cut off the air? Would WCW have sued the WWF for assault or some BS like that? So many possible outcomes. What do you think would have happened?

I don’t think that WCW ever would have opened the doors, and I don’t think that there would have been any kind of physical altercation if they did, because even at that time everybody would have been too concerned about the legal ramifications of such a stunt – to say nothing of WCW not wanting to give the other side additional free publicity. Plus, you’ve got Kevin Nash and Scott Hall as two of the most prominent figures in the WCW locker room at the time, and they’re good friends with much of the DX contingent, so they’re not going to want to see any sort of fisticuffs.

Kyle is standing by:

On the 4/4/25 episode of Smackdown we return from commercial with the Motor City Machine Guns already in the ring to receive their introduction. While this is usually a death sentence they actually won the match relatively cleanly. (They did get music and a chyron so it wasn’t the full “and already in the ring” treatment but none of their entrance was televised.)

How often has a wrestler/tag team received an already in the ring introduction and actually won? Any especially notable matches?

This is definitely something that occurs from time-to-time. Normally when this happens, it’s part of some angle, usually with a major upset occurring. Three matches fitting this bill that immediately came to mind when I read the question were: 1) the 1-2-3 Kid upsetting Razor Ramon on the May 17, 1993 episode of Monday Night Raw; 2) Barry Horowitz getting what was billed as his first win the WWF over Skip of the Bodydonnas on July 9, 1995; and 3) Bill Goldberg winning his WCW television debut against Hugh Morrus on the September 22, 1997 Monday Nitro.

That being said, the Machine Guns win is a bit of an aberration, because they were one established team beating another off the “already in the ring” entrance.

Richard U. continues to ask some of my favorite questions:

What are the best and worst cards ever called by all the major wrestling commentators?

I said that they’re my favorite questions, but I didn’t say that they’re not a pain in the ass to answer sometimes.

I also want to be clear on how I’m answering this question. Richard asked for the best cards called by all the announcers, by which I think he means the best overall quality of the show, NOT necessarily just the quality of the announcer’s performance. Thus, that’s what I’m going for here. If Bob Caudle called an awesome show but did a lousy job of it, that show is going to make this list.

With that said, let’s just get right into it.

Eric Bischoff: In the 1990s, Bischoff mostly called regular TV and left PPV to Tony Schiavone, so he didn’t call a ton of great overall cards. I guess I’ll go for the first Monday Nitro for the historic significance.

Booker T.: Money in the Bank 2011. Among the best WWE PPVs of all time from an in-ring perspective, capped by CM Punk walking out after winning the company’s top title from John Cena . . . and Booker T of all people was there calling the action.

Bob Caudle: Great American Bash 1989. This is a pretty easy call for me. Flair/Funk, War Games, and Sting/Muta. It’s hard to beat that.

Jonathan Coachman: Wrestlemania XXIV. This was during the era where announce teams for shows were heavily divided by brand, and Cochman was doing the duties for Smackdown bouts alongside Michael Cole. Even though he only did part of the show, I guess I’ll still count this for him.

Michael Cole: Money in the Bank 2011. See everything I said for Booker’s entry.

Jim Cornette: Like Bischoff, a lot of Cornette’s announcing came on weekly TV with others taking responsibility for major cards. Thus, he doesn’t have as many choices as others on this list do, so I’ll give him Clash of the Champions #8 from 1989, which includes Sting & Ric Flair vs. Dick Murdoch & Great Muta, Lex Luger vs. Tommy Rich, The Steiners vs. The Freebirds, and the Road Warriors vs. The Samoan Swat Team.

Excalibur: AEW Revolution 2024. With the exception of the women’s match, every bout on the show is at least ****, and you get to cap off the evening with the dramatic retirement match of the man called Sting. I’m not a huge AEW guy, but this is among the best I’ve seen from them.

Bobby Heenan: The 1992 Royal Rumble is a one-match show, but the one match is amazing, and it takes up more than 50% of the total in-ring time on the card. Under those circumstances, I have no problem calling it the best show the Brain ever called, even though it includes a match featuring Jamison.

Paul Heyman: Wrestlemania XVII. Not only is it a great show from an in-ring perspective, but it’s also a massively historic one because this is the show that closes out the much heralded Attitude Era.

Jerry Lawler: Yeah, we’re going with Money in the Bank 2011 again. Lawler was the third man in the booth for that epic show.

JBL: JBL has a few shows that in my mind were neck-and-neck, but ultimately I decide to go with Summerslam 2013, which was headlined by Daniel Bryan defeating John Cena for the WWE Championship and also featured Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk in a battle of the Paul Heyman guys.

Vince McMahon: The former chairman of WWE has called more wrestling cards than all but a handful of people on this list, but frankly a lot of them weren’t any good. His best show for in-ring action is almost unquestionably WWF In Your House: Canadian Stampede, thanks to the epic ten-man tag main event and Great Sasuke facing TAKA Michinoku.

Gorilla Monsoon: Gorilla was Bobby Heenan’s partner on a lot of things, including Royal Rumble 1992. In addition to that being the Brain’s best show, I think it was Monsoon’s as well.

Stevie Ray: Is Stevie Ray a notable enough commentator to be on this list? Probably not, but I’m just having some fun here. Looking at his repertoire, I don’t know if he ever called a good show, because his announcing career occurred when WCW was at its dirt worst. Maybe WCW Mayhem 2000 is the best of the bad lot – it at least had a decent match with the guys from Three Count and the Jung Dragons.

Dusty Rhodes: Legendary wrestler, mediocre announcer. His best show has to be Bash at the Beach 1996, which of course includes an iconic moment in Hulk Hogan’s heel turn to join the nWo – but also contains an overlooked opening match, an excellent bout between Rey Misterio Jr. and Psicosis.

Jim Ross: Ross may have more options than anybody else on this list, but ultimately I’m going to go with Wrestlemania XVII, much as I did for Paul Heyman. Such a solid show across the board with such historical significance.

Randy Savage: The Macho Man was mostly a television announcer in the early 1990s WWF which means most of the cards he called weren’t that great, but he did sneak on to the 1993 King of the Ring pay per view, featuring three solid Bret Hart matches against Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, and Bam Bam Bigelow.

Tony Schiavone: This is another tough call due to the prolific nature of Tony’s career and his time in JCP, WCW, WWF, and AEW. Ultimately, though, I’m going to settle on WCW Spring Stampede 1994, a hidden gem of a card featuring a Flair/Steamboat match and surprisingly good encounters between Vader and the Big Boss Man as well as Bunkhouse Buck and Dustin Rhodes.

Gordon Solie: For the Dean of Wrestling Announcers, I have to pick the original Starrcade in 1983, with its top three matches of Flair vs. Race in a cage, Briscos vs. Youngblood & Steamboat, and Piper vs. Valentine in a dog collar match. Solie called a ton of wrestling, but that show rises to the top of the heap.

Joey Styles: ECW Heatwave 1998. This may well have been the apex of ECW, as they were as big a promotion as they were ever going to be in terms of crowds and exposure but before talent raids totally killed their roster. You’ve got Spike Dudley, Sandman, and Tommy Dreamer against the Dudley Boys, Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, RVD and Sabu vs. Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki, and Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka.

Tazz: Wrestlemania XIX. Tazz did the honors for the Smackdown side of this brand-split show, including the show-closing match of Brock Lesnar defeating Kurt Angle after nearly breaking his neck on a shooting star press.

Mike Tenay: Some people will probably not be happy with me for this choice, but I have to be honest when I say AAA When Worlds Collide, which WCW helped to distribute on pay per view in the United States. A solid card up and down highlighted by a legitimate ***** match with El Hijo del Santo and Octagon facing Art Barr and Eddy Guerrero.

Jesse Ventura: Most people think of Jesse as a WWF guy, but you can’t overlook his early 1990s run in WCW, when he called a great card in the form of Superbrawl III, headlined by Vader and Sting in a strap match along with Cactus Jack in a wild brawl with Paul Orndorff and an early WCW appearance of Chris Benoit against 2 Cold Scorpio.

Larry Zbyszko: We’ll go with Fall Brawl 1997 for the Living Legend, which is most noteworthy for the show-closing angle in the nWo/Four Horsemen War Games match that saw Curt Hennig turn on Ric Flair. You’ve also got a solid undercard with Dean Malenko vs. Jeff Jarrett, Alex Wright vs. Ultimo Dragon, and Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho.

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.