Thanks.

Sorry for my twatishness on both the account of the original PPV poster and his '06 match! But I hope you can forgive me for wanting to blank that Lumberjack match out of my mind forever!!

What was the storyline/build-up for Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 92, and vs. Razor Ramon at Royal Rumble 93?

I don't know about the HBK one, but didn't old Razor attack Owen Hart, when Owen Hart, was having a sit-down interview with someone? (I think it was about Bret winning the title). I remember Hart sitting talking, then Ramon rushed out, and clotheslined Owen out of his seat, then put the boots to him. Bret obviously didn't like that, so he challenged him to a bout.

I dont really remember any major build-up to Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart, As far as i can remember, there were no real angles at all. They conducted a few interviews apiece on Superstars but that about it. I think they were pushing the fact that Hart was making a lot of recognised title defences since winning the belt. Also, Michaels was involved in a feud with Marty Jannetty IIRC

I believe they were actually pushing a Bulldog - HBK Intercontinental Title match, at the time. Bret Hart was supposed to face The Mountie, but the Bulldog ran away with the Warrior, and it was changed to Bret Hart - HBK. Can't remember what The Mountie ended up doing. Things got changed around pretty quick IIRC.

I remember reading the WWF Magazine at the time, way back in 1992.

From what I remember from WWF magazine the original card included HBK vs Bret for the world title and Bulldog vs the mountie for the IC title. The IC title match was scrapped when the belt changed and I'm fairly sure the mountie vanished around that time before returning in mid 93 as one of the quebeccers.

Cawthon's History of WWE site has it down that Jacques Rougeau quit on October 26th 1992 after a 30-second loss to Bret Hart and the Bulldog vs Michaels title change was taped the day after. I cant really see The Mountie being in the title match at the PPV, but the same website has Rick Martel subbing for Rougeau in house show main events vs Bret Hart in mid-November.

This is correct.

I'd love to see some of those matches.

Not from the same series, but the televised show from Sheffield a few months earlier had Bret vs Martel.

I think they played it out as Shawn had beat Bulldog for the IC Title and Bulldog had only beat Bret for the Title 3 months earlier. Shawn challenged Bret to the match stating if Bulldog could beat him then so could Shawn as he had beaten Bulldog for the IC Title.

Or something like that.

Sorry if this has been asked. Has the WWE stopped removing videos from Youtube? I'm currently watching early 90's goodness. A couple of years ago, I would click on a match and it would've been removed. What's happening?

WWE must not know about it. People must not be reporting them.

Is the WWE TV contract up for renewal next year? WWE 24/7 coming soon, perhaps? Thanks.

Yep, that was exactly what Shawn said leading into the match.

Bulldog beat Bret for the title, Shawn beat Bulldog for it after, ergo Shawn would beat Bret.

Bret v Shawn was originally intended to be the blow-off to their feud, no titles involved at all. They had been feuding over the summer and Michaels was originally pencilled in to relieve Bret of the Intercontinental title at SummerSlam (originally scheduled for Washington) until they changed gears and went to Wembley instead. But hey, just because there was no title anymore they still had an issue to resolve.

Then Davey Boy got into trouble and had to drop the belt to Michaels, then Flair got hurt so they needed a new champion, and it was Bret. Hence, champion v champion at Survivor Series. Was a worthier main event than Flair/Razor v Ultimate Maniacs would have been anyway.

Whats the story behind Michaels having to work for JBL?

He's 'skint' because of the credit crunch, needs to earn extra money, and JBL seems to have lots.

"The Wrestler", supposedly.

Have TNA Impact on in the background atm. On Angle's cross the line video it says he is a 12 time world champion. Obviously that includes his TNA reigns but is that right, cuz I dont remember 12 title reigns from Angle.

Let's see...

4 WWF/E Championships
1 World Heavyweight Championship
1 WCW World Championship
2 TNA World Championships

That makes 8.

So you could add his World Tag Team Title reigns - one in TNA and one in WWE, and that makes 10.

Then there's his amateur freestyle wrestling title that he won in 1995, bringing it to 11.

I assume the IWGP Third Belt Championship also counts in some way, which makes 12.

Damn, that's a wooly boast.

Ah right, thanks for that. I knew he wasnt a 12 time world champion in wrestling ie WWE, World, WCW and TNA reigns. Interesting to see how far TNA will go to make their wrestlers sound more impressive

Do what?

bAz is incorrectly linking the currently Michaels/JBL storyline to the film 'The Wrestler' which has just been released, when its actually more to do with the credit crunch that is affecting everyone at the moment. Michaels basically said that he spent all his early ninities money on parties, his late ninities/early two-thousand money on church and charities and lost the little he had saved and invested in the stock market tumble. JBL offered Michaels the job of his lackey, which Michaels has had to accept because he is skint and needs to look after his family. Its an interesting angle, which is unfortunately hampered by the fact that its difficult to really believe that Michaels is broke, but they're actually trying their hardest to make it work, with little segments with Hunter and stuff. Plus giving the staredown between JBL and Michaels on RAW was about the only thing the crowd reacted to on the whole show, it seems to be working a bit.

It wasn't really a high-profile feud by that point, though, was it? The only match I can recall between them pre-Survivor Series 92 is the ladder match, which was from a house show and then released on Coliseum Home Video if I recall correctly.

Whilst we're on the subject of Survivor Series 92, I know Perfect replaced him in the tag match against Razor and Flair, but how was Warrior's disapperance explained?

Much appreciated, guys.

According to the February 1993 edition of the WWF Magazine, it say that "Savage's partner abandoned him without warning". They didn't even refer to the Warrior by his name.

Wow. That sounds like a really bad idea to me. I watched Smackdown earlier and seen their Raw recap from the week with qualifying matches for the four way and wondered what the hell was going on. I agree they are trying their best to make it work, but I think it was a bad idea to start with now I know the reasons behind it. As you say its hard to believe Michaels is broke and wrestling is supposed to make you believe in anything going on in the show. Oh well I guess the casual fan will get into the storyline more than the IWC.

Why is it so hard to believe that Michaels is broke? Ric Flair was legitimately broke, and nobody seemed to have any problems comprehending that.

In fact, wrestlers have a huge reputation for blowing wads of cash on alcohol and the like - with Michaels' background, I can't think of anyone more apt to undertake this storyline leading up to Wrestlemania...

Yeah but we all know Shawn is a man of the bible these days.

I can buy the story of HBK being broke and needing some extra wad, and having JBL "employ" him to help him financially, it just doesn't make sense, because surely he is still employed by WWE too, and they pay him a decent sum, so how can JBL say things like Shawn Michaels is or is not wrestling tonight because I say he is or is not, surely that's up to Stephanie McMahon etc. I suppose you have to allow for small logical flaws with most wrestling storylines.

Of course you have to suspend disbelief and ignore small logical flaws, how else would you explain not been arrested after backstage assault or been sued. How would you explain Randy Orton not been sued for damages due to his head punt. How would you explain damage of vehicles and no real ramifications. How would you explain Austins assault of McMahon in the hospital environment going unpunished. How do you explain the Dudleyz not been put in jail for the assault of Paul Bearer. How do you explain Sara not been arrested for necrophilia (cus thats the primary concern, when adressing Undertakers gimmick) . Even if you cant ignore the flaws in logic, how can you explain, those who are still employed and in need of extra income due to the credit crunch and various other financial trouble, and need money for the future, HBKs impending retirement, means that his financial future is more critical than ever, and thus needs more money fast, as he explained in his promo, he has a family to look after.

But WWE would have you belive their stars are indeed that, and that money is no object. This storyline is stupid. Especially for someone like Michaels to do. This could have been done with someone else or as part of a stipulation in a match.

MVP wouldve been a prime candidate, but alas, it looks like the boat has sailed on that one.

Why, what's happened to him?

Well...i guess the boat hasnt totally sailed, I was talking about his win bonus not been acheived, he couldve done the whole down on his luck, and how he really needed the win bonus because of his lifestyle.

On the Survivor Series 92 front, I just dug out the program which appears to have been produced many weeks in advance. It has the full-line up with Warrior in the tag match, Bulldog vs Mountie for the I-C title, no mention of Yokozuna, and Flair referred to as WWF champion. Bret vs Shawn is listed as sixth from top under 'other great matches'.

When was Summerslam 92 switched from Washington DC to Wembley?

I recall during the ads of Survivor Series 91 there was a competition to win an all expenses paid trip to Washington for the show.

Just wondering when it was switched.

I've heard it mentioned a few times but have no idea whether it's wrestling bullshit or fact...

Shawn Michaels had a load of money left to him (millions, I believe) by a female fan who put him in her Will.

This supposedly happened during the time that Michaels was out for around four years, and I remember people saying it was one of the reasons why he had no need, financially, to bother trying to come back.

Any ideas if this is BS or not??

I don't know for certain when it was switched, but it was originally set for the Cap Centre in Landover, Maryland, which isn't too far from Washington. I seem to remember they ran a show there in the Spring of 92 which didn't draw well, which may have influenced their thinking in looking elsewhere, but it's more likely that they saw how much money they made every time they came over here in that time, and came up with a can't miss main event (I do believe that the show in its original location would have had Hart v Michaels in a ladder match)...

It's absolutely true, but I remember it being a few years before the four-year layoff. Apparently she didn't have anybody to leave it too in her family, so she just left it to her favourite wrestler. I think the figure was $2.5 million or something? Can't find anything on the web to verify this, but I remember it being in the Observer and Power Slam at the time.

Interesting, thanks.

It was probably Powerslam where I heard about it.

Quick DVD question

Are Region 2 releases that contain WWF footage blurred (sets like HIAC or superstar profiles) like the region 1 releases? Is it only the tagged classics that are released unblurred because they are made for SilverVision?

Thanks

Tagged Classics are untouched copies of shows that have just been transferred on to DVD by Silvervision. All WWE products that are produced need to have the images blurred out regardless of the region.

Any idea if Bravo will show the Global Impact that TNA are doing from their shows in Japan?

Cheers

Can anyone tell me the name of a wrestler who wrestled on Smackdown for a few months in 2006? He wore long blue tights and had long brown hair with a beard. He beat Booker T in his first match and was put in a bodybag by the Great Khali?

I think you might be thinking of Gunner Scott. I remember him beating Booker in his debut, for sure. He wrestled as Brent Albright in OVW, had a couple of months on Smackdown as Gunner Scott (Where he did a sort of mentor gimmick with Chris Benoit) and then got sent back to OVW and released. He's quite a big part of ROH as Brent Albright again these days.

Picture fits the bill -

Brent Albright aka... dammit what name did they give him? Gunner something?

THAT'S the bastard. Been driving myself up the wall trying to remember his name! Thanks guys, never would of got it otherwise.

Gunner Scott, as already mentioned

Hey guys just a quick question, I have booked a holiday to Haven's Primrose Valley in yorkshire and I know they do wrestling shows there once a week, just wondering if anyone knew what promotion this was and what dates the shows will be on through 2009?