Ask 411 Wrestling: When did Steve Austin debut the KICK WHAM STUNNER?

Welcome, guys, gals, and gender non-binary pals to Ask 411 Wrestling!

This week’s edition of the column is running just a bit on the long side, so I’m going to cut a lot of the introductory fluff and let you know that you can send any questions for the column to [email protected] or follow me on Twitter.

STOP! BANNER TIME!

Brad gives us this week’s “labor intensive” question.

I have a question/challenge for you that may stir up conversation. Could you list each active member of the WWE roster who has been with the company for at least five years (either continuously or cumulatively with multiple stints), along with a brief summary of whatever you think about that performer? Perhaps things such as “I didn’t realize he’s been with the company THAT many years”, “if he hasn’t become a top tier guy after this long, he never will be”, “successfully reinvents himself”, or maybe “personal favorite who is underutilized”. A list of performers listed by service time like this may be enlightening.

This question just happened to hit at the perfect time, as I needed something that would give the column some substance without requiring a lot of in-depth research. However, just to make sure that we included some facts and figures for the stat-heads out there, I did at least look up everybody’s debut and return dates and included them here, in addition to putting the list in reverse chronological order by date of debut. With that said, hopefully you like my opinions on pro wrestlers, because you’re about to get a whole lot of them.

As an aside, I will say that I was surprised that several wrestlers who are currently integral members of WWE’s roster didn’t make the five-year cut-off that Brad specified. I’m talking about guys like Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, Bobby Lashley, despite being in his second run with the company.

On to the opinions!

Mojo Rawley (Debuted May 29, 2013): Rawley liked one of my tweets about him recently, so I can’t say anything too negative. Seriously, though, Mojo isn’t what I would call an actively bad wrestler, but he debuted without a lot of experience and has steadily improved to the point that he is a pretty average big man. He seems to have plateaued and I don’t know if he’ll ever get much beyond his current level, but he’s an inoffensive part of the low card.

Scott Dawson (Debuted March 7, 2013): Not having followed NXT all that much, I have to say that Scott Dawson is an unknown quantity to me, since he’s spent most of his time on the main roster either injured or being hamstrung by an injured partner.

Sami Zayn (Debuted February 13, 2013): Zayn is a ridiculously talented wrestler, but WWE seems to have him pegged in the role that they used to have Christian fill. That means he’s the guy who they keep just strong enough that he can credibly feud with and put over a wrestler who they have big plans for, though he himself will never be a wrestler who they have big plans for. That’s a good way to have a long career in the promotion, even if it’s not the best for racking up kayfabe accomplishments.

Bayley (Debuted January 24, 2013): Bayley has managed to have some really good matches when paired with the right opponent, but her character was hurt quite a bit on the main roster by the fact that WWE called her up and assumed that everybody would be familiar with her NXT work as opposed to introducing her in a way that would allow fans to get to know the character and warm up with it organically.

Sasha Banks (Debuted December 12, 2012): As one of the leaders of the “women’s revolution,” Banks has proven herself as a high caliber performer . . . even if I do roll my eyes at fans who treat her and her contemporaries as though they’re the greatest female in-ring performers of all time. (Decades upon decades of joshi say otherwise.) I think it’s smart that the company is keeping her and her old running buddy/opponent Charlotte apart, because continuing to build their legacies before putting them back into the ring together several years from now could make for an effective story.

Baron Corbin (Debuted October 18, 2012): I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but Baron Corbin is a wrestler that I see no upside in. He’s got some good size, but his in-ring work, his look (aside from being tall), and his personality are so remarkably generic and uninspiring. Also, he and Dean Ambrose need to get together and figure out something better to do with their rapidly thinning heads of hair. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Curses! Baron Corbin shaved his head just days after I wrote this sick burn about him going bald.]

Luke Harper (Debuted May 18, 2012): I’m a Luke Harper guy going back to his time as Brodie Lee in CHIKARA. Though I don’t know if he’s main eventer, I do think that he has the skills to be a much bigger force in WWE than what he has been allowed up to this point. I do understand that you need talented wrestlers at all levels of the card and in all of your divisions, but I would like to see Harper break away from Erick Rowan – who he’s been tied to for 99% of his WWE career – and get at least one respectable singles run against a fellow bruiser like Rusev to see if he sinks or swims.

Aiden English (Debuted April 8, 2012): Like Dawson, I feel like not watching much NXT has caused me to miss the best parts of this guy’s career.

Jason Jordan (Debuted September 30, 2011): Most everybody seems to think that Jason is overrated and over-pushed since being cast as Kurt Angle’s “son,” even though the company really hasn’t done *that* much with him. Personally, I think that American Alpha was an effective tag team and Jordan could’ve developed more if they’d kept them together for a few more years, but, with Jordan having seven years in the company (including developmental), I can understand why they wanted to try to pull the trigger on something bigger with him.

Antonio Cesaro (Debuted September 17, 2011): Like Brodie Lee, Cesaro is a guy who I was a huge fan of back when I was really into the independent circuit. He’s got a great look, he’s got freakish strength that can lead to some cool spots in the ring, and he knows how to put those spots together into an entertaining match. He’s never quite gotten as high up the card in WWE as I would like, but I can understand why those in management might not see him as a top guy, because his mic work doesn’t exactly light the world on fire. (It’s serviceable, but not blow-away.) Fortunately, in tag teaming with Sheamus, he’s been allowed to have some fun feature matches.

Big Cass (Debuted September 4, 2011): I don’t want to sound like I’m falling into the stereotypical internet fan narrative of “small wrestlers = good, big wrestlers = bad,” but, man, I don’t like watching Big Cass. At all. The catchphrase that used to follow the guy around is that he’s seven feet tall and you “can’t teach that,” but it seems like somebody forgot to teach him all of the things that you SHOULD teach a wrestler, instead trying to get him by based solely on his size. With Cass looking still pretty green after seven years on the roster, I don’t see him progressing much. It’s probably best to just cut bait with this guy.

Alexander Rusev (Debuted July 17, 2011): Rusev may be the company’s biggest missed opportunity of the last five years. When he came into the promotion originally and was pushed as an unstoppable monster, he did a GREAT job in that role, and he reminded me a lot of what WWE was able to build with Umaga a generation ago. Unfortunately, the manner in which they booked his feud with John Cena killed a lot of his momentum. He was still salvageable after that, but instead the company turned him into a directionless midcarder, and now he’s basically a comedy character. It’s a shame, because had they continued to build him he could have been a legitimate contender to Brock Lesnar by this point in his career.

Dean Ambrose (Debuted July 3, 2011): I like what I’ve seen of Dean Ambrose’s work, but, every time I watch him, I can’t help but think that I would have liked him a lot more if he were in wresting twenty or thirty years ago. Ambrose is portrayed as a wrestler who’s a little bit off-kilter, a little bit crazy, but, unfortunately, in today’s sanitized, corporate professional wrestling environment, “crazy” means goofy and jokey instead of outright dangerous. If he were allowed to be less family friend and to more fully channel the Roddy Piper or the Terry Funk who are clearly big influences on him, Ambrose would be a much more entertaining act.

Viktor (Debuted May 29, 2011): Viktor (formerly Apocalypse on the Canadian independent scene) is a 19 year veteran of the professional wrestling world and a solid-enough performer. Unfortunately, I think that when he and his partner Konnor arrived on the main roster, they were given a career-killing gimmick as Roadwarrior knockoffs. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with them doing the old “power and paint” act similar to the Roadwarriors, but actively and directly comparing them to the Roadies made it clear that they weren’t quite as good and prevented them from blazing their own trail. It’s unfortunate, because I think that is what has hampered the team ever since.

Erick Rowan (Debuted April 14, 2011): Rowan is a lot like Big Cass in my mind. He’s not particularly good in the ring, but he’s got size and an intimidating look, so he’s stuck around for quite a while. However, I don’t think he’s over-pushed. In fact, his position on the card is almost exactly what it ought to be given where he is as a performer. My only real gripe with Rowan is that he’s been perpetually paired with Luke Harper, and I think the association has kept Harper from climbing as high as he should.

Tyler Breeze (Debuted December 2, 2010): I give Breeze a lot of credit for coming up with a unique gimmick and good look. He’s also a quality professional wrestler, though not quite an elite level performer. Unfortunately, he hasn’t really gone anywhere in WWE, and, if I were to speculate, I would blame that on his size. The guy is quite small per WWE standards, and he’s not an exceptional in-ring performer to the point that he will get pushed despite that lack of height and weight. He might have been a bit better off if WWE pushed his debut back a few years, because he seems like the type of guy who could be a featured performer on 205 Live. (And, yes, I know that there are a lot of people who love his tag team with Fandango, but I can’t get into it.)

Seth Rollins (Debuted September 14, 2010): Rollins is, week in and week out, probably the best and most consistent in-ring performer that WWE has. Though some have accused him of being a bit reckless in the ring – and there is some evidence to support that – he’s never had a bad match that I’ve seen, and most of them are in the range of good to great. The only knock that I have on Rollins as performer is that I’ve never cared for him on the microphone. He’s not atrocious, but there’s never been a single thing in Seth Rollins promo that has ever made me want to see another Seth Rollins promo.

Roman Reigns (Debuted September 9, 2010): Well, here’s one with a lot of baggage. As far as bell-to-bell match work is concerned, Roman Reigns is not bad. In fact, I would say that he’s better than many. He’s not an elite-level performer, but he’s at least as good as John Cena or Hulk Hogan were in their respective eras. The problem with Roman Reigns is that he’s been shoehorned into a character that is essentially Cena Version 2.0 as opposed to something more befitting his talents. When Reigns first debuted on the main roster, he was the silent, badass, “enforcer” of the Shield. Though his detractors like to ignore this now, when Reigns was in that role and part of the stable, he was beloved by the fans. He was OVER. Then, WWE tried to break him off that group and push him. Theoretically, that should have worked. That’s how many stars have been established over the years: Get them over in a tag team or stable and then spin them off into doing their own thing. Unfortunately, when Reigns broke away from the Shield, the company didn’t allow him to keep doing what got him over. If he had remained the quiet, nigh unbeatable assassin, he would’ve had a chance to succeed. He could have been this generation’s version of the Undertaker, albeit without all of the mystical goofiness. However, that is not what the modern-day WWE wants out of its main event stars. They have to be smiley, jokey, and kid-friendly, and they have to deliver lines like “sufferin’ succotash” on demand. I get the impression Roman Reigns has tried his hardest to inhabit that role, but it’s just not what he’s suited for, and it’s a big part of what has caused the backlash against him.

Xavier Woods (Debuted July 29, 2010): Woods is competent wrestler, but he’s much more valuable as the de facto “manager” of the New Day. He’s helped make that act incredibly popular and has given it more legs than I ever thought it would have, but he’s also at a point where I’d like to see him working as a heel again.

Jinder Mahal (Debuted July 1, 2010 / Departed June 12, 2014 / Returned August 1, 2017): Jinder Mahal is not a good professional wrestler. Period. There were people who defended him quite a bit during his WWE Title reign last year, but I have a hard time believing those folks weren’t just playing contrarian for the sake of playing contrarian. Their narrative was far too detached from what I perceived with my own senses. Sure, Jinder is not falling all over himself in the ring and continually blowing spots, but pretending that he’s anywhere as good as anybody who has held a major WWE championship in the last ten years is just that . . . pretending. He’s just too bland to be featured at a high level.

Tamina Snuka (Debuted May 24, 2010): Tamina’s fine. Ever since Nia Jax got called up to the main roster, she’s felt a little bit redundant as there’s really only enough room for one big, bruising competitor in the women’s division, but she’s fine.

Epico Colon (Debuted March 11, 2010): Some may laugh when I say this, but I legitimately believe that the Colons are two of the four or five most underutilized roster members relative to their level of talent. These guys are both really, really good. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that they ought to be in the WWE Title scene, but they very easily could have occupied the same role as the Usos have in recent years. Yet, for whatever reason, instead of being pushed as a top tag team they’ve spent much of their time at the bottom of that division, particularly during their odd run as Los Matadores. (I miss El Torito.) Hopefully the Colons get at least one more solid run with the tag straps . . . or perhaps one or both of them could be brought into the mix on 205 Live.

Sin Cara a.k.a. Hunico (Debuted March 11, 2010): Hunico is a good hand to have on your roster, even if you’re not going to utilize him in a high profile position. I have to say, though, I preferred his work without the Sin Cara mask, as it allowed him to portray a more unique character. That’s even truer now that you’ve got Kalisto, Gran Metalik, and Lince Dorado all running around and trying to do the same basic “generic WWE luchador” act.

Titus O’ Neil (Debuted January 16, 2010): Titus has never been a particularly good in-ring performer, but he’s progressed from his NXT days to the point where he’s no longer an embarrassment. I do think that he is extremely charismatic and underrated on the mic to the point that I’m surprised that the company hasn’t at least tried him out in a more prominent role on the card. Making him a pseudo-manager within Titus Worldwide for a time seemed to be a good use of his skills, but having him manage wrestlers who are half his size was just plain weird.

Big E Langston (Debuted December 17, 2009): When Big E first debuted; I legitimately thought that he had all of the tools necessary in order to be a world champion someday. Though that is technically not off the table, it certainly seems that his career his followed a different trajectory. I think that the New Day still has legs and he could get several more years out of it, but, as I noted in my entry on Xaiver Woods above, I do think that they could be freshened up by a heel turn at this point.

Jimmy & Jey Uso (Debuted November 5, 2009): The Usos are excellent at what they do, but, unfortunately, I feel like they have done just about everything they can do in WWE at this point, outside of maybe a dream match with the Hardy Boys. (And the Hardys aren’t paired right now to allow that to happen.) Though I don’t wish losing your job on anyone, from a truly selfish perspective I almost would like to see the Usos get released so that they could hit Japan and/or Ring of Honor and have a few years of unique matches with fresh opponents, perhaps with the door being opened to a WWE return in the future.

Naomi (Debuted October 29, 2009): In the current work-rate focused WWE women’s division, Naomi feels like an outlier, an odd throwback to what the division was ten years ago instead of what it is now. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not Eva Marie or Ashley Massaro-level bad, but she’s a Trish Stratus style wrestler who can do a few athletic, eye catching moves that work in brief television matches as opposed to being a more complete performer like Sasha Banks or Asuka. She doesn’t stick out too badly, but she doesn’t add much, either.

Bray Wyatt (Debuted February 5, 2009): The Wyatt Family gimmick was almost universally beloved when Bray and company first showed up, but the bloom has come off the rose as of late. Though the character has a cool aura about it, ultimately it’s just an aura and there’s nothing of substance when you get past the smoke and mirrors. (Or, in this case, smoke and lanterns.) Wyatt has never proven himself to be anything other than a mediocre in-ring performer, and, though he has good delivery in his promos, the problem with them is that they are nonsensical and lack any meat to their bones when you start to listen to what he’s actually saying. That is probably more a writing team issue than a Bray Wyatt issue, but he’s the one who gets hurt by it over the long term.

Bo Dallas (Debuted November 15, 2008): Bo had a gimmick that worked in a small, intimate setting like the Full Sail University studio that NXT taped in, but he hasn’t been able to get it to translate to the WWE mass market. It seems like the company wanted him to be the current roster’s answer to Santino Marella, but Santino Marella he is not.

Curtis Axel (Debuted July 12, 2008): Axel reminds me quite a bit of Drew McIntyre/Galloway in that he’s a solid professional wrestler who the company pushed hard right out of the gate before souring on him for no discernable reason and turning him into a low card comedy act. It seemed like Axel was going to be revitalized through his association with Mike the Miz, but now he’s right back to doing the same type of goofball junk that he did when cosplaying as Hulk Hogan. Again, you hate to see anybody lose their job, but I wonder if Axel couldn’t benefit over the long-term and reestablish himself through the sort of post-release independent run that McIntyre had.

Primo Colon (Debuted January 26, 2008): See Epico Colon.

Drew McIntyre (Debuted September 26, 2007 / Departed June 12, 2014 / Returned April 1, 2017): I have to admit, when McIntyre was cut from the WWE roster in 2014, I didn’t see it as any great loss. He never established himself as a particularly good wrestler during his first WWE run, even when they were pushing him hard. However, he proved his worth in other places while he was away and earned another shot at the roster. I’m excited to see what he can do in the company, though a team with Dolph Ziggler isn’t exactly something that I expect to light the world on fire. (More on Dolph later.)

Natalya Neidhart (Debuted March 8, 2007): I’ll probably catch some flak for saying this, but I still think that Natalya is the best, most well-rounded female performer that WWE has on its entire roster. While Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha Banks are wrestlers who more or less came up through the developmental system together and can have good matches with one another, I find that they sometimes struggle when they are up against individuals who weren’t part of that clique. Nattie, meanwhile, can have a good match with just about anybody and actually elevates those who are not on her level to do better than they would otherwise. I hope she remains on the active roster as long as she’s willing to do so, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her become a Performance Center trainer afterwards. She strikes me as the sort of person who could have a WWE job for life. (And, really, she probably earned it after enduring that farting gimmick.)

Fandango (Debuted November 9, 2006): Eh. Fandango’s never really excited me, in any version of his gimmick. He’s just there . . . but he’s been there for over ten years, so he must be doing something right. I didn’t find “Fandangoing” particularly endearing, and I don’t find the Fashion Police to be particularly amusing.

Sheamus (Debuted October 2, 2006): Sheamus in recent months and years has developed a reputation for being stiff and/or reckless, but as long as he’s not injuring anybody I find his matches to be pretty entertaining affairs, as his power and willingness to lay it in give them a unique dimension that not many other wrestlers’ bouts have these days. Also, I find it interesting that Sheamus was willing to cycle down to being an upper-midcard wrestler after having been a world champion or world title contender for many years. That probably gave him quite a bit more longevity than he otherwise would have had, and now I find myself wondering if it’s time for him to climb back into the World Title scene after a few years off. Sheamus vs. Lesnar, anyone?

Kofi Kingston (Debuted September 21, 2006): In his early days in the E, Kofi did a great job as the plucky, high flying babyface trying to get by in the land of the giants. I didn’t think that he’d ever be a world champion, but he was perfectly suited to being an Intercontinental Champion, a position that he found himself in on several occasions. The only thing I really disliked about Kofi was not his fault, and that was the fact that he seemed to get booked into interminably long feuds with other midcard wrestlers. I distinctly remember thinking at one point that if I had to see one more Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler match, I was going to throw my remote control through my TV. The matches weren’t bad, they were just constant. Then, right about when it seemed like Kofi might to get stale, he jumped headlong into the New Day and revitalized himself, adding a new dimension to his character that wasn’t present before. The New Day are probably now in need of some tweaking themselves, and I’m interested to see where Kofi lands when they get around to do doing that.

Alicia Fox (Debuted September 6, 2006): Along with Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox holds the dubious distinction of being one of two women that John Laurinaitis, then head of talent relations, signed to WWE deals after seeing them in a swimsuit catalog. For somebody who very much has the backstory of a traditional WWE “diva,” Fox has survived a surprisingly long time and now finds herself in the midst of the women’s revolution. Unfortunately, she sticks out like a sore thumb, because she’s just not at the level of the other ladies despite having over a decade of experience. In fact, Alicia is one of the very few WWE wrestlers whose safety I am consistently worried about while watching her wrestle. Those who follow me on Twitter know that when viewing her matches I would often cringe due to her habit of taking bumps on to her ass instead of her back, which she does all the time. Oh, did I mention she’s sidelined at the moment with a fractured coccyx? Who could have seen that coming? (Me. The answer is me. I saw it coming.)

Tye Dillinger (Debuted May 31, 2006 / Departed January 19, 2009 / Returned September 28, 2013): Admit it. You forgot all about Dillinger’s pre-Perfect Ten run as Shawn/Gavin Spears, didn’t you? At that time, Tye was pegged as a very promising up-and-comer, but WWE management never seemed to see the same things in him that fans and commentators do, and that’s continued right up until present day. Dillinger’s television time is quite limited these days, and I would say that I’d be surprised if he makes it through 2018 without being cut, but we also just saw that Fandango has managed to survive in the company since 2006 without being on television for wide swaths of that time, so who knows what will happen.

Curt Hawkins (Debuted April 6, 2006 / Departed June 12, 2014 / Returned July 21, 2016): Curt Hawkins is a guy who has been around WWE quite a bit and had numerous matches for them, but he’s also a guy whose career I have largely missed due to bad timing. My Smackdown viewing was hit-or-miss when he had probably his greatest exposure as an Edgehead, and nowadays he’s confined to d-shows like WWE Main event, which I can’t be bothered to watch. Hawkins has appeared competent in the limited work of his that I’ve been exposed to.

Zach Ryder (Debuted April 6, 2006): Poor Zach Ryder. A few years ago, he seemed to have all of the momentum in the world, but things came crashing down relatively quickly when WWE was either unwilling or unable to do what was necessary to capitalize on the cult following that he created for himself. Now he’s been relegated to b-shows aside from his totally out of left field Intercontinental Title win at Wrestlemania XXXII. Despite the outpouring of fan support that he received at one time, Ryder has never really done much for me. I found his Internet Champion/Broski persona to be more grating than endearing, and I can’t in good conscience consider myself a fan of a grown man who does unboxing videos of dolls on YouTube.

Heath Slater (Debuted March 16, 2006): Slater is basically Santino Marella if Santino Marella didn’t get horribly overexposed. That’s not a bad thing, either. Every roster needs a guy like Heath Slater, and he’s doing about as well with the job as can be expected. However, I will say that it’s hard to believe that he used to be part of the Nexus, which was at the time booked to be a dominant, frightening heel stable.

Luke Gallows (Debuted September 1, 2005 / Departed November 19, 2010 / Returned April 11, 2016): Luke Gallows’ current run in WWE reminds me a lot of what happened to Matt Bloom when he returned to WWE as Tensai. Both Gallows and Bloom had spent time in tag teams in New Japan and had developed reputations for being pretty solid big men who could put on exciting enough matches when need be. Then, when both of them came back to WWE, they were kind of underwhelming. I think that the difference has a lot to do with the style and the rosters. Gallows and Bloom are best when they have smaller, hyper-athletic small guys bumping off them and making them look like monsters. When they’re just one of twenty huge dudes on a WWE roster, they don’t stand out nearly as much.

Konnor (Debuted September 1, 2005 / Departed September 17, 2007 / Returned July 14, 2010): Hey, speaking of guys who could use smaller, more athletic wrestlers to bounce off of them, maybe the Ascension would be better off in Japan.

Mike the Miz (Debuted July 25, 2005): The Miz is a guy who seems to have fallen in and out of favor with internet fans over the years. When he first debuted, everybody hated him. When he turned heel and started teaming with Johnny Nitro, smarks fell for the gimmick and fell in love with the guy. Then, when he became a singles midcarder, the love was gone. When he became WWE Champion and feuded with John Cena (for the first time), the love returned. Then everybody was ambivalent towards him for a while, but the Miz bandwagon has started to ramp up again over the last six months or so. Personally, I think that he’s grown into an amazing promo over the years, particularly given that, when he started off, he was reading Diva Search phone numbers off of his wrist on live television. As a pure wrestler, he is decent enough, but recent efforts to paint him as a ring general are hyperbole from those who are in love with his character and want him to be perceived as an all-time great.

Dolph Ziggler (Debuted November 3, 2004): If you google up some of my older columns on this website, you’ll see me calling Dolph Ziggler’s character stale six years ago. In the intervening half-dozen trips around the sun, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAS CHANGED. He gets a new haircut now and again, but, other than that, Ziggles is still pretty much doing the same schtick he was when he spun off of the Spirit Squad in 2008. He can still put on a fun match when called to do so, but the character feels dated, like when X-Pac was still crotch chopping and yelling “suck it” in 2002. Please, Dolph, find something new to do.

Mickie James (Debuted January 29, 2004 / Departed April 22, 2010 / Returned January 17, 2017): Mickie James has always been a good hand in the ring. Nowadays, the women’s roster is fairly stacked and, because of that, she doesn’t stand out as much as she did during her first run with the company, but having a resident “veteran” in the ladies’ division adds some diversity to the roster, so I’m OK with Mickie sticking around. I just wish there had been some storyline reason for why she suddenly stopped being a psychotic lesbian as soon as her feud with Trish Stratus came to an end.

John Cena (Debuted June 27, 2001): What can I write about John Cena in this column that hasn’t been written 1,000 times before? Seriously, there has been more internet ink spilled about Cena and what he did or should have done during his career than just about any other wrestler in history. Now that his career has apparently wound down, we can begin to look at it with some historical perspective. John Cena represented a return to form for WWE. There was an aberration in the company’s historical booking trends during the Attitude Era in which they focused on anti-heroes and a rotating cast of main eventers, but Cena brought us back to the booking pattern than WWE was originally built on, namely taking one mega-babyface and making him the focus of everything for years and years and years. That how they booked Sammartino, Backlund, Hogan (and, to a lesser extent, Morales), and they went right back to it with the kid from West Newbury, Massachusetts. Cena worked as well in that role as any of the others, and, now that he is gone, we’re starting to get a sense of the size of the shoes that he left to fill, as nobody has stepped up who feels natural in the role.

Rhyno (Debuted March 19, 2001 / Departed April 9, 2005 / Returned February 18, 2015): Wait, Rhyno is still on the WWE roster? Huh, learn something new every day.

Brock Lesnar (Debuted October 11, 2000 / Departed March 14, 2004 / Returned April 2, 2012): Of course, the constant knock on Brock Lesnar is that he’s a long-term world champion as a “part timer.” I have no problem with that. Major wrestling stars don’t need to be on television in long segments or competitive matches every week. In fact, for most of wrestling’s history, the sport has been able to make a lot of money without constant appearances by its top performers. Nobody was watching Hulk Hogan or Andre the Giant wrestling on a regular basis when they were at the heights of their careers. They were special attractions, and they made all the more money for it. Lesnar is the same thing. When you actually see him appear, you feel like you’re witnessing a big moment, which is helped significantly by Lesnar’s ability to convince you that he is a legitimately dangerous man. I’m all for five more years of Brock Lesnar as champion.

Randy Orton (Debuted June 6, 2000): Coming out of last week’s column, there are probably a lot of people who think that I hate Randy Orton’s guts. That’s not the case. I’ve always quite liked him as a performer and appreciated his slower, methodical style more than most fans these days seem to. Plus, if you listen to what his fellow wrestlers have to say about him, he may be the easiest guy to work with in all of WWE-land. However, the one knock that I have on Orton’s career is that, for all of the very good matches that he’s had and all the top-level feuds that he’s been involved in, I have difficulty remembering a truly GREAT Randy Orton match or a truly GREAT Randy Orton storyline. He’s been there, he’s been in the mix, and he’s been very good . . . but I can’t name three blow away Orton matches off the top of my head like I can with John Cena, Kurt Angle, or Brock Lesnar.

R-Truth (Debuted March 4, 2000 / Departed August 13, 2001 / Returned August 29, 2008): In 2002, Ron Killings was the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. The NWA Title was, at that point, a glorified indy belt. However, Killings was actually doing some excellent promos with the belt with an “angry black man” character. I would’ve loved to see that character on a bigger stage. Unfortunately, when the man now known as R-Truth came back up to WWE for his second run there, it was as a happy-go-lucky babyface. He still performs well in that capacity, yet I can’t help but think that there was a missed opportunity here.

Daniel Bryan (Debuted February 8, 2000 / Departed July 7, 2001 / Returned January 4, 2010 / Departed June 10, 2010 / Returned August 15, 2010 / Departed Feburary 8, 2016 / Returned April 8, 2018): Unpopular opinion here . . . part of me wishes that Daniel Bryan would have just stayed retired. I understand that performing in the ring is what he loves to do, and the fact that he’s able to do that again makes me very happy for him. However, his career prior to his first retirement had a perfect arc. He established himself as the very best wrestler on the independent scene and was told he would never succeed in the big leagues. Then, he actually came to the big leagues and was told again that he’d never make it. Eventually, based on sheer talent and the undying support of his fans, he won the biggest championship in the world on the biggest wrestling show in the world. Granted, he continued to wrestle for a year or so after that, but it was such a brief run that it easily could have been forgotten. Now, he’s back in the ring and presumably will be back for several more years. I don’t see WWE booking him in the world title mix. I see him continuing to be a fairly directionless midcarder, as he’s been in his feud with Big freakin’ Cass of all people. Maybe it would be better if we left the memories alone.

Brian Kendrick (Debuted February 8, 2000 / Departed July 7, 2001 / Returned January 11, 2003 / Departed January 13, 2004 / Returned August 22, 2005 / Departed July 30, 2009 / Returned June 13, 2016): See all of the comments that I made about Mickie James but replace “women’s division” with “cruiserweight division.” Oh, and drop the line about being a psychotic lesbian.

Shelton Benjamin (Debuted July 4, 1999 / Departed April 22, 2010 / Returned August 22, 2017): I’m not entirely sure what Shelton Benjamin is doing back in WWE. I liked Shelton well enough ten years ago, and I think he still has a place in professional wrestling. However, I’m not sure why he of all people was the one called upon to help round out WWE’s roster when they needed more performers following their roster re-split. There are many veteran wrestlers who I would have called before Shelton, and there are plenty of fresh faces kicking around developmental who could have done the same thing. I guess I’m happy he’s getting a paycheck.

Big Show (Debuted February 9, 1999): The Big Show is supremely underappreciated. I’ll never forget Ric Flair’s Hall of Fame induction speech, during which he put over Show as one of the greatest performers that he’s ever seen. I didn’t understand those remarks when I first heard them, but, upon further reflection, they made total sense. Think about all of the other men of Show’s size who have gotten into the ring. Most of them were slow and clunky, and they didn’t take half the bumps or perform half the big athletic spots that he did. And yet, even though by just about every measure he has worked harder, he’s still managed to have an in-ring career of twenty-plus years, far outlasting most of wrestling’s other giants. This man is a genetic and athletic freak of nature, and he’s used that status to become a bona fide professional wrestling legend. He is perhaps the best big man in the history of the “sport.”

Matt Hardy (Debuted September 27, 1998 / Departed April 11, 2005 / Returned July 11, 2005 / Departed October 15, 2010 / Returned April 2, 2017): I’m sorry, but don’t understand the “Woken” gimmick. I don’t find it clever, I don’t find it amusing, and I don’t get its appeal. At all. That gimmick seems to be all Matt Hardy really is anymore, so I don’t have much time for him.

Jeff Hardy (Debuted September 27, 1998 / Departed April 22, 2003 / Returned August 21, 2006 / Departed August 28, 2009 / Returned April 2, 2017): The Hardy Boys reunion and return was a fun nostalgia trip at Wrestlemania XXXIII and in the few months immediately thereafter, but we’re more than a year in and I don’t know what the duo is really contributing at this point, especially with their having been needlessly separated.

Goldust (Debuted July 15, 1990 / Departed January 19, 1991 / Returned August 29, 1995 / Departed May 25, 1999 / Returned January 20, 2002 / Departed September 15, 2003 / Returned October 31, 2005 / Departed June 6, 2006 / Returned November 24, 2008 / Departed May 6, 2012 / Returned January 27, 2013): And, here he is, the full-time member of the WWE roster who made his debut with the company the longest ago. In fact, many people forget in recapping the career of Dustin Rhodes/Goldust that he actually wrestled a few matches with his father in the final days of Big Dust’s WWF tenure. As you can see by the large number of departures and returns in the summary above, Goldust has not always been the most stable professional wrestler in the world. He’s had more than his fair share of personal demons. However, over the years he’s managed to work through them to the point that, in 2018, he almost looks and moves better than he did in 2008 or 2003. He’s the perfect “player/coach” to put on the company’s roster, a guy who can help younger wrestlers learn while still being an entertaining part of the show in his own right. Though Goldie presumably has to be winding down his in-ring career, I’m glad to have him around for as long as his body and mind allow.

Phew, that was quite the run. Now please don’t ask me to do this with the TNA roster, unless you want to read me writing “I don’t know who this guy is” for every other entry.

Chris G. needs to drink his tea before it gets . . . ahhhh, you know the rest:

I just watched when Stone Cold won the King of the Ring against Jake the Snake and realized that it was the only time I saw the Stunner done without the kick to the gut first. Was it done that way before? And if so, when did the kick first debut?

Believe it or not, the iconic “KICK WHAM STUNNER” started off as just . . . “stunner.” There was no kick, and there was barely even a wham. It would take almost a year before we would see the classic setup to the maneuver that now most of us cannot imagine it without.

The match embedded above is believed to be the first televised bout in which Austin employed the Stunner. It comes to us from the June 8, 1996 edition of WWF Superstars, and his opponent was Jason Arhndt, who was a regular enhancement wrestler during that period. (Arhndt was trained by the Hardy Boys in their OMEGA promotion and, several years later, would be repackaged as Joey Abs of the Mean Street Posse.) As you can see from the video, the Stunner connects in a pretty unceremonious fashion. Austin just sort of picked a fallen Arhndt up off of the mat, turns him slightly, and hits the move.

And, really, that’s how the Stunner worked for quite some time. Occasionally, Austin would catch an opponent off guard with it. They would walk towards him while his back was turned, thinking he was easy prey, only to get Stunned. However, more often than not, it was the classic Arhndt situation, in which Austin would pull a downed opponent to a vertical base only to bring him back down with the Stunner. Honestly, it looked a bit awkward.

The first instance I could find of the trademark kick to the gut being added before the Stunner comes in the above match against Billy Gunn, which was held on the April 7, 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw from Muncie, Indiana. The rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, this is just my best estimate of when the kick first showed up. Austin was wrestling plenty of house show matches that weren’t taped at this time, and there are also a few of his television matches which aren’t readily available online for review. So, if you’re aware of a KICK WHAM STUNNER that pre-dates this one, feel free to let us know in the comments.

A questioner whose name we lost starts us off . . . though the question is from last July, so at least I can’t be blamed for losing the moniker!

I don’t know a lot about how both sides felt regarding Hulk Hogan’s 1993 departure. Can you please elaborate on it?

From what I understand Vince asked Hogan to come back, and it was more of a favor. Him winning the belt from Yoko was sort of a stopgap. Once he had the belt, it seems like Hogan’s heart wasn’t really in it, with a fairly limited house show run (often in tag teams), and then losing to Yoko in June. There’s the IWGP video where he calls the WWF title a stepping stone, and when he left it felt like there was an effort to erase him. I recall seeing an ad in WWF Magazine for King of the Ring 1993, and the picture of Hogan on the cover was obscured by a star with the price or something.

Did Vince really think this was “The End” or was there sort of something in the back of his mind like “he’ll be back” or at least “he’s not going anywhere”? Hogan had left and come back before. I know as a kid I couldn’t even imagine Hulk Hogan going to WCW. What was the status of the relationship after Hulk left in 1993?

Honestly, from everything that I’ve ever read about this situation, it doesn’t seem like there was a lot of animosity between the WWF and Hulk Hogan resulting from the Hulkster’s 1993 departure. It seems like it was just business.

Hogan has gone on the record in multiple places in the years since basically stating that he and Vince McMahon disagreed over the role that Hulkamania would play in the Fed if he were to stick around. McMahon was taking the position that Hulk ought to cycle down the card a little bit to allow for some newer stars to take the reins of the main event scene, while Hogan felt that he still had some gas left in his tank as the top star of the promotion. (And, based on how the first few years of his WCW run went from a business standpoint, it’s hard to say looking back that Hogan wasn’t in the right.)

There are people who try to inject more drama into the situation than there really was by pointing out the “stepping stone” comment that our asker alludes to or by mentioning Hogan’s being called as a witness by the federal government in Vince McMahon’s steroid trial. However, those really aren’t huge issues if you put them in their proper perspectives. When Hogan called the WWF Title a “toy” compared to the IWGP Title while he was the WWF Champion, he was doing it at an New Japan press conference to promote a New Japan show and, more importantly, he was doing it at a time when an American wrestler could say something overseas and reasonably expect that 99% of fans back home would not get wind of it. And, though Hogan was technically a government witness in the steroid trial, he was there because he was required to appear due to a subpoena, and most observers credit his testimony as one of the main reasons that McMahon was acquitted, as he gave no testimony whatsoever that connected his former boss to steroid distribution.

Really, when Hogan left the promotion, it seems like he was ready to try projects other than professional wrestling or a while. He did have three more matches for New Japan not long after leaving the Fed, but most of his time was focused on projects like the television series Thunder in Paradise before WCW came calling with those sweet, sweet wads of Ted Turner’s money.

Sometimes, people part ways and there isn’t a deep personal story behind it. Sometimes, it’s just about money and people’s priorities leading to a relatively amicable split.

Ben L. is getting a bit corny:

This is a “Re-Ask411” question. Meaning I asked this question some time ago without an answer. Hopefully there might be an answer now…

How many tennis rackets has Jimmy Cornette gone through?

I have no idea what the answer to this question is, and, moreover, I have no idea how I would even begin to answer this question.

If you would like an answer, I suspect that the best way to get one would be to write in to one of Jim Cornette’s podcasts with the question. I’m sure he’ll be happy to oblige you, and he’ll probably even say the word “fuck” a few times while he does it.

Jody O. is here to do a job:

How were 80s/90s enhancement talent and bottom tier wrestlers regularly treated by the wrestling elite? I read all sorts of stuff about how the clique treated ‘peer’ wrestlers, the nasty tricks people did in the back (poo sandwiches, locked bags), but I don’t think I’ve read anything regarding the backstage treatment directed at the lowly enhancement talent.

There’s a good reason for that. As wild and as unruly as some of those locker rooms from twenty-five years ago may have been, enhancement talent – true, non-contracted enhancement talent – has historically been treated pretty well. In fact, in some circumstances, they got better treatment than some of the contracted talent.

The reason for that is pretty simple. Enhancement talent was there to do exactly what the name implies: Enhance. They were brought in for the express purpose of making the stars look as good as they actually could, and, for the most part, the stars actually respected and appreciated that when it was done well. People realized that the enhancement wrestlers played a critical role in getting them over, and they weren’t about to bit the proverbial hands that fed them.

Jorge from Puerto Rico has four rapid-fire questions that focus on the mid-1990s:

I saw a poster for Mania XII in which the card appeared as Diesel/Taker, Michaels/Hart and Goldust/Razor, then Razor was suspended for drugs (or so I’ve heard). Was Razor supposed to win the IC title at Mania?

Bruce Prichard, who was working backstage for the WWF at the time, actually addressed this situation on an episode of his Something to Wrestle With podcast. According to Prichard, Goldust vs. Ramon was originally planned for a street fight, but Piper was substituted in to the bout not because Ramon was suspended for drug issues but instead because Ramon did not want to wrestle Goldust.

As far as whether Ramon was supposed to win the Intercontinental Title at Mania, the answer to that question appears to be lost to the ages, at least as things stand right now. A title change certainly would’ve been a possibility, but it was equally likely that the proposed “street fight” stipulation would’ve been used to make the match non-title, as a fight of this nature isn’t exactly something that the older school WWF would involve a title in.

After Diesel (Nash) lost the title at Survivor Series 1995 he gave what seemed like a shoot interview in which he stated that he was tired of playing the corporate champion and made reference to Vince, and I remember him doing it again when he was to wrestle HBK at Good Friends Better Enemies. Was he the first to refer to Vince as the boss? Why did he do it, was it worked?

There were certainly sly references, many of them by Jesse Ventura, to Vince McMahon being something more than just an announcer throughout the 1980s. However, the earliest example that I can find of somebody actually throwing all pretense aside and referring to Vince as the boss comes in this clip from 1993 which aired in some form across most of the WWF’s TV programming at the time, including Monday Night Raw:

McMahon was being honored here for charity work and given an award named after the deceased actor Michael Landon, who was known for his work on Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven. In introducing Vince to the assembled crowd, Hulk Hogan talks about McMahon being the foundation of the WWF and his “boss.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

As far as Diesel’s comments were concerned, it was 110% a work, with the company trying to come off as more edgy and push Nash as more of a “tweener” character than anything that they’d ever done before.

I’ve been watching the Raws and Nitros from when the Monday Night Wars started and Hawk appeared for alone, was that because Animal was injured? How does it work when a tag team is signed to a company, do they have a deal for them to be together, or do they have separate deals?

From late 1992 through early 1996, Road Warrior Animal was in fact sidelined by a fairly significant back injury, causing Hawk to go it alone. Though there’s a chance that Animal could have come back to the ring earlier than he did, he and many other wrestlers at the time had purchased fairly lucrative disability insurance policies through a company called Lloyds of London, and many speculate that Animal receiving payments under his Lloyds policy gave him an incentive to stay out of wrestling for a bit.

As far as the follow up question is concerned, individual members of a tag team would be signed to separate contracts with a wrestling promotion. Things work much better that way, because then you can fire half of the team and keep the other if need be, or you can easily transition one team member into another position on the card without having to worry about him being contractually linked to his partner.

What was the deal with having Steve McMichael as a commentator on Nitro? He sucked big time. And what was the deal with him having a dog with him during commentary? Finally, why have McMichael join the Horsemen? They had plenty of talent to take the fourth spot.

The answer to pretty much all of your Mongo-related questions boils down to this: He was a recognizable name from the world of mainstream sports, and pro wrestling has always valued bringing in recognizable names from the world of mainstream sports in order to give the business more legitimacy than it would otherwise have. Also, as it relates to the Horsemen spot, McMichael was never a great wrestler (nor would he be given the lack of training he had before debuting), but he did have a unique charisma and aura about him and he actually got over in the role, so I wouldn’t be too critical of the move.

And why did he have a dog? Well, he owned a dog and decided to dress it up and put it on TV. There’s not much more to the story than that. It’s not like they were building up to a Big Bossman/Al Snow/Pepper angle.

That will do it for this week. Over the next seven days, be sure to send your questions to [email protected]