Ask 411 Wrestling: Who is the Best Steve 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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Tyler from Winnipeg is considering changing his name:

Real names or worked names, who are the top 10 guys named “Steve, Steven, Stevie, etc.” in wrestling history?

It turns out that wrestling has had a ton of Steves over the years, so in addition to my top ten, you’re getting a lot of honorable mentions.

Let’s do it!

HM. Steve Urkel – Though not a regular wrestler, Steve Urkel once teamed with neighbor Carl Winslow to have a brutal match against the Sheepherders.

HM. Steve Wilkos – The former security guard on The Jerry Springer Show who became a talk show host in his own right once had an indy match teaming with Gillberg of all people.

HM. Steve Doll – Also known as Steven Dunn of Well Dunn, Mr. Doll is an answer to one of my favorite trivia questions, as he and Mike Enos were wrestling when Scott Hall invaded WCW to kick off the nWo angle.

HM. Steve Blackman – Mainly here so that he doesn’t come after me and hit me with a stick.

HM. Steve Lombardi – The Brooklyn Brawler, Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz, Kim Chee, Doink the Clown. I probably could’ve done a top ten Steves based on Lombardi’s gimmicks alone.

HM. Steve McMichael – Not the best wrestler in a traditional sense but his charisma always endeared him to me. Plus, he recently fought for his life against ALS so he could see his induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. Let’s go for the WWE Hall of Fame next.

HM. Steve Corino – Though American fans will mostly know him for a brief run on top in the dying days of ECW, he became an international star for years thereafter including quite some time on top of Japan’s ZERO1 promotion.

HM. Stevie Richards – Stevie just missed the cut for the top ten here, which may be the subject of his next YouTube video.

10. Stevie Ray – A ten-time World Tag Team Champion and WWE Hall of Famer, to say nothing of his storied career on commentary when he introduced us all to phrases “fruit booty” and “it’s on like neckbone.” Tony Khan, if Excalibur ever needs a week off, I want a Tony Schiavone/Stevie Ray reunion.

9. Steve Rickard – Giving some love to the international wrestling scene, Steve Rickard was an in-ring performer for many years in New Zeland, but more importantly he was the promoter of the main wrestling territory in that country for decades, including during a major wrestling boom in Oceania.

8. Steve Keirn – Former NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion and tag team wrestler extraordinaire, most notably as part of the Fabulous Ones with Stan Lane, where he helped popularize the use of music videos in professional wrestling. Sure, he was Skinner in the WWF and that was goofy, but he had a serious career before that.

7. Steve Wright – British wrestler Steve Wright was an excellent mat technician and took his talents all over Europe in addition to extended stays in both Mexico and Japan (where he was a rival of the original Tiger Mask). Plus, while he was doing all that, he found time to father “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright.

6. Lord Steven Regal – Speaking of Brits, we shouldn’t forget that the man many wrestling fans currently know as William Regal began his professional career as a Steve, even though there was already another Steve Regal in wrestling at the time. However, I think we can all agree that his Lordship went on to have a better career than “Mr. Electricity.”

5. Stephanie McMahon – Stephanie is the female version of Stephan, right? If that’s the case, I don’t know how we can ignore the former WWF Women’s Champion, former head of the company’s creative direction, and general high level executive Stephanie McMahon.

4. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams – One of the toughest men in the history of professional wrestling, Dr. Death was huge in Mid-South and then went on to become even bigger in Japan, coming in near the top of the list of the country’s most feared gaijin. There was also that whole Brawl for All thing in the WWF, but the less said about that, the better. (By the way, we’re going to say more about that in the column.)

3. Ray Stevens – Am I cheating by going off of his last name? Probably, but it’s my column and not yours. Considered among the best in-ring performers of the 1960s and 1970s, Stevens was prominent as both a singles wrestler and half of a tag team with Pat Patterson. Many aspects of his wrestling style still influence performers today.

2. Steve “Sting” Borden – If Sting’s real first name was Nick or Dave, he would probably top any list of similarly named wrestlers, but unfortunately he falls just short on this one due to the amazing career of the man who you are all expecting to see top this list.

1. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – You all knew this was coming, and I don’t think I need to really explain it. The man is one of the top four or five stars in the last fifty years of American professional wrestling and was its top drawing attraction for a period of time. You can’t beat that.

Stu in Liverpool and I are bros:

How often did the Laurinaitis brothers meet and/or tag together in the ring?

I assume most readers will know this, but some quick background in case somebody does not: The wrestling Laurinaitis brothers are Joe, John, and Mark. Joe is better known as Road Warrior Animal. John is better known as Johnny Ace, who was a Dynamic Dude in the states but big star in Japan involved in multiple ***** matches. He was also a WWE executive and on screen authority figure many years later. Mark is by far the most obscure of the three, breaking in during the death of the territories and wrestling in several of them as the Terminator in the late 1980s in addition to touring All Japan under that moniker. In the early 1990s, he had one run in New Japan under his real name and then joined WCW as “Fury,” one half of a tag team called the Wrecking Crew. (His partner, “Rage,” was Al Green, who had previously been part of the Master Blasters with Kevin Nash and would later become “The Dog” in the late 90s.)

There is only one time in history that I’m aware of that all three brothers were in the same match. On March 4, 1989 in Fuji, Japan on a card promoted by All Japan Pro Wrestling, Road Warrior Animal, Johnny Ace, and The Terminator defeated the team of Jumbo Tsuruta, The Great Kabuki, and Yoshiaki Yatsu.

Fortunately for us, that match has made its way online:

This was the only time that Animal and Terminator would share the ring, as either partners or opponents.

However, Terminator and Johnny Ace did have a run as a regular tag team for several months across 1988 and 1989. This started in Florida Championship Wrestling, which is not the former WWE developmental territory but rather a relaunched Florida territory under the ownership of Mike Graham and Steve Keirn following the original Championship Wrestling from Florida closing its doors in 1987. While there, Ace and Terminator feuded with owners Graham and Keirn over the FCW Tag Team Titles and also traded those belts with the Nasty Boys.

From there, Johnny and Mark took their team to AJPW, competing on the company’s February to March “Excite Series” tour. (The same tour where the aforementioned six man involving all three brothers took place.) Ace and the Terminator faced teams such as Abdullah the Butcher and Kamala, and they also had some bouts against Kenta Kobashi in what was his rookie year. After the tour, the Laruinaitis boys did a couple more matches in FCW and then were never seen as a duo again.

In all, John and Mark wrestled as a tag team 17 times, not counting the six man that also threw Joe into the mix.

Given that they were the two more famous brothers, you would think that John and Joe would have crossed paths more often, but that’s actually not the case. In addition to the AJPW six man, there are only two occasions upon which Johnny Ace shared the wring with Road Warrior Animal. The first was actually as opponents, when both Road Warriors faced Ace and Luke Williams of the Sheepherders on November 9, 1987 for Jim Crockett Promotions in San Francisco of all places. The second was twelve years later, on May 2, 1999 in All Japan, where Johnny Ace teamed with the Road Warriors against Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi, and Hakushi on the Giant Baba Memorial Show in the Tokyo Dome.

All in all, that is only 20 times that the three Brothers Laurinaitis shared a ring. I’m astonished that the number was that low.

Every time I answer a question about the NWA, BA shows up to remind me that the AWA existed as well, which I appreciate:

I like your take on Andre in the NWA. I know that Andre spent quite a bit of time in the AWA. Did he ever challenge for the AWA title? I’m thinking him and Nick Bockwinkel.

Two: I’ve heard from people who know that two different people were the first to body slam Andrea.

I first heard from Butcher Vachon he was the first to do it.

I then heard from Justin Race, Harley’s son, that Harley was the first.

Break the dispute! Who was the first to slam Andre?

Plus, Andre was the reason I choose Andre as my name in my French classes in junior high and high school.

Yeah, I was Ludwig in my high school German classes because of Ludwig Borga, so I understand this impulse. You win for having the cooler inspiration for your classroom nom de plume, though.

For those of you who missed it, BA’s question is in reference to last week’s column in which another reader asked me how often Andre challenged for the NWA World Heavyweight Title.

And, yes, the Giant was a contender for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship as well. I count twelve matches in which Andre got a shot at that belt, with all of them being against Nick Bockwinkel, as you can probably imagine.

Those matches were: 1) August 27, 1976 in Chicago; 2) February 20, 1977 in St. Paul, Minnesota; 3) August 23, 1978 in Honolulu, Hawaii (this was actually not an AWA show but a show promoted by Hawaii’s Big Time Wrestling); 4) September 10, 1978 in Toronto (again, not an AWA show but a show in the Tunneys’ territory); 5) November 3, 1978 in Omaha, Nebraska; 6) November 5, 1978 in St. Paul; 7) June 30, 1979 in Chicago; 8) November 4, 1979 in Minneapolis (this is reported as being a one hour time limit draw, which would be a feat with Andre – even at this stage of his career); 9) November 7, 1979 in Omaha; 10) November 12, 1979 in Winnipeg, Manitoba; 11) November 10, 1982 in Winnipeg (this one had Larry Hennig as guest referee); and 12) November 11, 1983 in Denver, Colorado.

And the first person to slam Andre the Giant, as near as I can tell, was neither Harley Race nor Butcher Vachon. Based on everything that I’ve read, it was Japanese wrestler Strong Kobayashi in 1972.

JonFW2 won’t stop hitting himself:

The Brawl for All. I’m not going to bother asking about what a horrible idea this was, because we all know the answer to that.

My question is this: once it was evident that this nonsense was VERY real, how did they get away with a bunch of state athletic commissions not jumping in and either regulating or outright banning it?

The answer is that the WWF was not on commissions’ radars by this point in time. They just weren’t being paid attention to, and apparently nobody tipped the commissions off . . . which actually would have been a fun shot for WCW to take at them, now that I think about it.

Bryan is laying on the mat and swimming:

When Steve Austin was chugging beers on Monday night raw, how come the WWE never tried to go into a partnership with Miller or Coors or Anheuser Busch for ad money? I realize advertisers look down on pro wrestling, but the guy is consuming your product in front of thousands of live fans and millions watching on TV with or without a deal. If the beer companies thought the Texas Rattlesnake was a bad look for their brew, why didn’t they send the WWE a cease and desist letter? It just seems odd that, Vince loves money, beer execs love money, but neither of them looked at the top star drinking beer and thought they could make even more money.

Actually, the WWF did try. According to Bruce Prichard on the episode of his Something to Wrestling podcast that covered the famous Steve Austin “beer bath” angle, the entire thing was conceived as an effort to attract Coors Light as a sponsor. However, Coors simply didn’t want to do it.

Yes, beer companies like to make money, but apparently something in their calculus said that this wasn’t going to be a worthwhile financial opportunity.

Cut Donny from Allentown‘s music:

Was there a specific reason in the infancy of Degeneration X in 1997 that Ravishing Rick Rude barely ever spoke?I understand Shawn & Hunter trying to get heat on themselves but Rude never spoke during promos and I always wondered why?

I think you’re misremembering this. He was actually on the mic a fair amount during the limited window of time that he was part of the group. He introduced them in a manner similar to Jim Cornette’s introductions of the Midnight Express from back in the day.

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.