Was it seen as odd that Ultimate Warrior wasn't in the tournament at WrestleMania IV? I understand the booking logic behind not putting him in, but wouldn't fans have considered him in the top fourteen in the federation at the time?

Looking back definitely. I suppose they were protecting him, because they had their winner penned in, but you'd have thought so. Beefcake wasnt in either and he was a bigger name than most of them. It was also odd, that Razor Ramon was never in the Royal Rumble ever.

What was the story behind Giant Haystack's WCW stint in 96? Fit Finlay showed up around the same time and Brookside/Dean worked the B shows that year so there was obviously some sort of UK link behind the scenes but as far as I can recall WCW hadn't toured the UK since the Hulkamania tour in 94 so it all seems a bit out of nowhere.

I think Brookside and Dean were signed in 1997 after they debuted in NJPW for the Jr's tourney.

Ahh right, I had it in my head that there was a sudden influx of Brits around the same time which is what I found quite odd. Would still be interestiing to know where the deal with Haystacks came from though. I'd imagine Finlay was signed on Regal's recommendation so maybe Haystacks was the same?

Didn't WCW get on TNT over here in late 95/early 96? They might have brought in Haystacks to target than market. Haystacks seemed to debut around the time WCW Nitro debuted on TNT UK. It was only 7 or 8 years after ITV took it off TV. There might have been old wrestling fans still knocking about in this country. They teased a Hogan/Haystacks showdown at one of the PPVs, as scary as that sounds. They werent bringing him in to do Saturday Night squash matches.

Surely if they were trying to target that market they would of called him Haystacks and not Loch Ness they would of had the oppurunity Sure Robbie Brookside said something like they were just looking to sign anyone with talent and Regal had said he knew some guys. Sure Robbie was complaining about it being a waste of time because he was hardly used.

Couldn't have been any worse than the match he had with The Giant after his health problems put an end to the Hogan feud.

Good theory about Nitro starting in the UK. Dunno about bringing him in for name value but it would certainly explain why the UK scene was on their radar at the time.

Loch Ness was his name in Calgary, because there was already a famous Hackstacks in North America. Also there was already a wrestler working under "The Giant" name. There's a few reasons to call him Loch Ness. Everyone over here knew it was Haystacks though, so that wouldnt have been a problem. Its not they he was working under a mask.

As I say, I dont know the reason, but the timing was perfect to bring in a group of Brits. Especially, when WCW began airing on DSF, they brought in Alex Wright (who also did broadcasting and promotion for the channel).

What were the rules for the "South Philly Hood" and "Body Count" matches that Public Enemy and Badd Company clashed in around late 1993 in ECW? Were these just fancy names for street fights?

Regal worked with Haystacks in dark matches on the first WCW tour in 1991, so that would make sense. It may have been something as simple as Hogan saying "Earthquake's done, I've beaten Vader and I'm sorting out Zeus soon enough, but I could do with another giant to knock off cos we haven't even thought of the nWo yet" and Regal saying "I know this huge dude who can definitely still move and hasn't got cancer or anything."

Looking back on results he wasn't really that high up in the cards. He was mainly working with Hercules or Race and even by the weeks before Mania he was still usually closing the first half on the B shows at best. Muraco was probably the lowest down of the babyfaces who were in the tournament, and he was certainly higher up on house shows at the time.

Bear in mind he'd only actually been the Ultimate Warrior and featured regularly on TV for about five months at this point -- before that he was just working as Dingo Warrior and squashing Steve Lombardi on house show openers.

Just come across this picture



Did Brother Brutii do some Cuttin' 'n' Struttin' prior to WMIII then? I always thought he didn't become a barber until after the Piper vs Adonis match and the Dream Team IMPLODED vs The Rougeaus? Or am I an idiot and it's a newish picture? You can never tell with Greg Valentine.

Errr...You're an idiot.

Elaborate, then. Where's the picture from?

In 2001 Valentine reformed the tag team with Beefcake in Massachussetts

Why not just say that in the first place, then? Twat.

Because he asked. Like if I asked you am I being a twat? I didn't and as such am highly offended.

Have Jericho and Orton ever had a high-profile feud together? I'm sure they have but I just can't seem to put my finger on it.

Jericho's 2007 return was straight into a feud with Orton (he returned to "save_us" from the Age of Boreton, or something) but it only lasted a month.

Well, aren't you quite the penis?

Uh huh. He might also be wrong as well, seeing as though it says they reformed in 2007 and not 2001 on Wikipedia for a JCW show.

Brutus and Greg have hardly changed in the last 30 years. The picture looks really old as well, as far as the colours and outfits go. Its not out of the question to think thats from the mid-80s. I had a double take when Butch posted it. Brutus doesn't age.

I'm just still upset that I got called an idiot by someone that spells "Would have" as "Would of".

It wasn't obvious. I didn't mean for it to be taken seriously. I could well be wrong about the date. They haven't changed much, but they do look quite alot older than in 86 (brutus's gut and Valentines neck) and wheres Johnny V and it looks too gritty and them to scruffy to be a WWF show. I didn't have the knowledge either. I googled it after being intrigued by the photo. I was going for jovial, I pulled off smug twat.

I did not mean to upset you PowerButchi if I had known, I would of not been such a twat and penis. Apologies

No worries.

Are promotions legally allowed to use replica WWE belts on their shows? I'm sure I saw a picture of a World Heavyweight title with a XWA logo stuck on it.

Thanks in advance.

Depends who owns the rights to the design I suppose. ECW had the winged eagle belt as their TV/FMW title and the ECW tag titles were the IC belt design, so I can only imagine that Reg Parks designed those belts back in the day. Considering how long its been around, the big gold belt might have been designed with an outside party as well, so the WWE probably doesnt own the rights to the design.

I appreciate your reply but I would assume WWE has to own the rights to the World Heavyweight belt because they're the ones who reap the profits from the sales of the replicas. If they didn't wouldn't TNA and other groups sell their own replicas of it?

I never knew about the ECW tag team titles been the IC belt though!

It has the WWE logo on it. So obviously WWE owns the version of the belt which has their logo on it. The WWE arent flogging old NWA/WCW title belts on their website. They are flogging commissioned WWE World Heavyweight titles, complete with the logo. Its no different from ECW and WWF having the same belt design. Others could use it if they wanted. But they dont. Whats the point?

The big gold is pretty much open source. Crumrine of Rodeo, Nevada made the original one and only one other copy has been produced of it. The design wasn't copyrighted at the time which allowed anyone and everyone to make their own version. WWE only owns the version/s they designed, (i.e. The one you currently see on tv or anything with a WWE logo on it.) but still hold the copyrights to that specific design too so it can't be copied outright or even slightly modified. Each maker has their own unique twist on it. The NWA World Heavyweight title design is open for all too but there is a $150 fee for using the NWA initials/logo. The NWA DG was said to have been made in Mexico but it's not for definite.

The ECW versions of the the wigned eagle TV/FTW and IC tag-team belts were done by Mike Vartanian who sparingly makes belts these days and is pretty hard to get a hold of if your not familar with the Tri-State area scene, even then it is a hassle. He bootlegged the designs as have many others. Reggie Parks did design them and does hold the copyrights to those belts. Reggie Parks and the Midwest team now actively pursue legality and copy issues where possible, the most recent case was WWE re-introducing the old style IC title. Their design had been slightly modified but not enough for it to be deemed an entirely new belt. Joe Marshall (J-Mar, WWE's principle belt maker.) made the belt, the Midwest team were probably in process of suing for copyright infringement but it has been resolved one way or another as Dave Millican made the current one used on TV (Without the nugget texture.) Reggie Parks and Dave Millican can make certain WWE & WWF belts for the public but WWE's logo fees alone are $1000 per belt.

As for the replica belts issue, WWE would more than likely have cases but it would be too time consuming and a waste of money to pursue. They make money off them through the Figs Inc deal as does the Midwest team (Off certain designs.) so as long as promotions don't go claiming they are the WWE/WWF there isn't too much of a problem. WWE also makes money from replica AWA and WCW titles too as they own all the copyrights to the respective promotions.

The XWA title does not have a sticker on it, the logo is etched into the belt which was made by Wildcat Belts.

EDIT: Hope this helps. If you want to know anymore info on belts, go to Belt Talk

Thanks for that, man

This is really bugging me to find but does anybody know the title of the track that they used in the intro videos for Royal Rumble 2001 & 2004??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQcvyWS879o

Did Greg Valentine ever date Madusa Miceli? I remember seeing a picture of him at home in a magazine and he had her picture on the wall.

Did I read somewhere that Kenny Omega wrestled a Broom Stick or something silly? I know he wrestled at 8 year old girl, but I recall something about a broom stick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTzQLkfhAXw

YOSHIHIKO, a blow up doll.

That boston crab is BRUUUUUUUUUUTAL.

Has anyone got a list of Undertaker retrospectives? I tried to think of them and couldn't remember their names of the Coliseum one for example. Also, what one is best? Tombstone?

Yep, they were an item for a few years. Lived together, but no marriage or kids AFAIK. Probably a good thing - they'd be some dog-faced children.

Has there ever been any famous tag teams that didn't get along well with each other in real life (at the time of them teaming)?

Good question, Phenom. (one I can't answer)

Where is Maryse, and why isn't she in Impact Wrestling yet?

Shawn and Marty famously never liked each other for years while as a team. They had a breakdown in the early 90s. Marty's shoot interview has all kinds of stories of them fighting each other, or the other one not bailing the other out of jail when they got in trouble. Marty gave Michaels a good kicking in a hotel room before in 1991, and Marty says thats where the relationship died between the pair. I think there's even a picture knocking about where Michaels has the black eyes from the fight.

Mosh said he thought Thrasher was a tosser in his shoot interview. Warrior and Sting aren't the best of friends either, based on there personalities clashing back in the Blade Runner days.

The Headbangers must have tried putting up with each other for one last run in the Indies, as the pair uploaded a video challenge to Youtube a while back. I also had no idea about Michaels & Jannetty either, I have heard somewhere that Marty wasn't happy with their WWF push and the split happened soon after and that was that. Had no idea there were fights between the pair. Oh well, cheers.

Didn't the Eliminators never get on when they were teaming too? I find it fascinating how some guys, who have such a passionate disliking of each other can work so well together in a team or against each other in a match. Sometimes it can kind of make sense due to the added genuine tension, animosity, etc with regard being opponents, but it's still sometimes quite remarkable and also in some cases shows a tremendous level of professionalism.

I thought Saturn basically looked after Kronus while they were a tag team, as Kronus wasn't all there. The ended up falling out, but I was under the impression they were tight for a while.

Razor Ramon was in the 1997 Royal Rumble. But Scott Hall wasn't.

The Dudley Boyz were never in a Rumble though, which i find interesting. I always thought them being in there together throwing 3Ds all over the shop could have been fun.

I was expecting to hate that, but it was actually pretty brilliant. Kenny Omega is a true performance artist!

Why did the WWF/E change Goldberg’s music from his awesome original tune to a slightly more poncey and shit version?

They didn't own the rights to the original. WCW didn't own the rights to it too, but they used it anyway. Apparently the composer didn't find out until the start of Goldberg's WWE run and he put an end to them using it.

From what I remember, from the Observer's obituary on Kronus, Saturn had lied had like fuck to Heyman to get them into ECW and was actually training Kronus throughout their run. Kronus himself was basically an idiot savant who, despite having had barely any training at all, could copy pretty much anything he saw which is why he was able to do such amazing moves for a guy his size.

I don't think it was a case of them never getting on as much as Saturn growing tired of having to carry Kronus and have to keep forcing him to go to the gym etc, after they were both already established.

Did Shawn Michaels have any televised matches between the Rockers breakup and the '92 Rumble?