The Mighty LC

Who'd heard of Orpington before 2004?

Ha, bloody, ha...

So where the hell is Stainforth then? Shows are hard enough to get away from at Donny without going somewhere no-one's ever heard of. Love the idea and all, but I wonder how big of a success it would be in a very unfamiliar location...

Ok, I admit it - I'm an idiot that can't understand subtle jokes. Now that's out of the way, why is Beulah McGillicutty such an amusing name?

IIRC McGillicutty was the name of a character in some old American TV series - something like I Dream of Jeannie or Bewitched or something...

Legit reason for Rude leaving was that he was out of action with an injury. During this time WWF kept advertising him for main events knowing he wouldn't appear. He argued that as his name was being used to draw, he should be getting the main event payoffs. Vince disagreed so he left.He didn't sign with WCW until just before his debut. He worked at least one indy date earlier in 1991

Which I do believe was against Paul Orndorff for the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance...

If you've been reading the Obsever recently, here's an interesting article on how the Kameda fight went down (I do believe it was expected to do near-record ratings for a sporting event, which may well have happened, though you wonder whether it's ended up doing more harm than good)...**TOKYO, Aug 3, 2006 (AFP) - Japanese media on Thursday roundly booed bad-boy boxer Koki Kameda following his victory in a World Boxing Association (WBA) championship bout, saying he did not deserve to win the fight. The notoriously flamboyant 19-year-old was humbled to tears after judges awarded him the WBA light flyweight title on Wednesday even though he was pounded by his 27-year-old Venezuelan opponent Juan Landaeta. "A storm of booing," the Sankei Shimbun newspaper's headline said, describing reactions to Wednesday's title fight in Yokohama. "It was obviously a decision based on home advantage," the paper said. "Everybody thought Kameda lost the match. The decision will be remembered as a stain." More than 30,000 people called to complain, said the Tokyo Broadcasting System, which broadcast the match live. Viewership in the Tokyo area was nearly 53 percent, the second highest for a boxing match in Japan. Kameda suffered the first kockdown of his career in the fight's opening round and was cut above his right eye. He escaped the onslaught by clinching, though at one point he backed his Venezuelan opponent towards the ropes with a flurry of crisp jabs. Some of the audience left the arena after the bout in the hushed silence before the judges' decision was announced, assuming that the Japanese had lost. But the judges gave Kameda the title vacated by Panama's Roberto Vasquez. "A dismaying decision" and "Humiliating first down" ran headlines in the best-selling Yomiuri Shimbun following the controversial fight. Kameda -- who had strutted into the pre-fight press conference munching a hamburger -- said Thursday that his performance was "one on a scale of 10." "In the first round I was really nervous. I was so nervous that I could have fallen if someone just nudged me a little bit. I couldn't do my boxing yesterday," he said. Landaeata mocked his opponent, although he said he had no plans to protest the judges' decision. "Of course I won," Landaeta told reporters with a smile. "As everybody in the stadium saw, the judge was wrong," the Venezuelan said. "He is an extremely weak boxer. He is just a kid. He has a lot to learn." Japan's former lightweight champion "Guts" Ishimatsu said he scored the bout for Landaeta by seven points. "Oh, my God. How can such a man be the winner?" Ishimatsu said of Kameda. "Can a Japanese become the champion simply by standing in the ring?" However, Shinji Takehara, a former WBA middleweight champion, defended Kameda. "He suffered a down in the first round, but he moved forward and recovered well. The bout looked bad, but good and heavy punches were hit," the former champion said. Japan has developed a love-hate relationship with Kameda and his two brothers Daiki and Kazuki, who have swept the media with a bad-boy, big-mouth style. They are managed by their trainer-father Shiro Kameda. Kameda was hoisted victoriously in the air after Wednesday's bout by surprise visitor Asashoryu, the Mongolian sumo grand champion who has also been faulted in Japan for his super self-confidence. ...

Does anybody know the title and the artist of Aaron The Idol Stevens OVW entrance music? Its quite funky and has the words "Shes a freak" in it at the start?.

I've never heard this tune, but could it be "Superfreak" by Rick James...?

Sandman started using the music in late 94, several years after debuting with the name (which was originally Mr Sandman in line with the surfer gimmick).His original ECW music was Surfing USA by the Beach Boys, and later The Bitch Is Back by Elton John, performed by Tina Turner. This was more a reference to his manager Woman than anything to do with his own character.

He defineltly used the Elton John version of that song a little earlier - just after he'd turned in early-94. Certainly at that point, I think it was more of a reference to the break-up from his wife Peaches (I recall a pretty awesome interview, where Sandman was sat in the back being interviewed by Jay Sulli. This may have been the first time he'd been seen smoking on TV: "Life's a bitch...(takes a drag)...and then you marry one". Pretty shocking at the time)...

I was always under the impression that the main NWA syndicated show, ergo the JCP show, was NWA Saturday Night.

There was never an NWA Saturday Night. This was the show that was renamed from World Championship Wrestling when the promotion decided to rename itself in the early 90s. So you're not strictly right, not strictly wrong, yada, yada, yada...

What was the NWA's flagship tv program in the 1980s?Was there a promotion known as WCW in the 1980s (not WCCW but another)?

This might get a little confusing. While NWA Worldwide wrestling was probably the flagship JCP programme, one could argue that their television show from the Techwood Studios in Georgia was their main programme. This was called World Championship Wrestling. The Atlanta territory ran by Ole Anderson did at one time refer to itself as World Championship Wrestling...or maybe that was just their television show, I'm not too sure.The promotion that Ted Turner bought off Jim Crockett was commonly referred to as NWA (a whole other story that someone will explain in greater detail: the promotion was one of the many under the NWA banner, but had national TV and all and so a lot of people refer to it simply as NWA). Around 1989 they started every now and again referring to it as WCW, with them going full-blown on it in 1991.Needless to say, the whole situation is so confusing that I myself may have remembered it all wrongly, so I'm happy to be corrected...

It was a 90 mins/2 hour ppv shown 6 days or so after Survivor Series (and about a day or so after that here in Blighty). I can't recall if it was actually broadcast live in the States, but I think it was. After the controversy at Survivor Series, the show was built around a Hulk Hogan v Undertaker rematch (which, ironically, only led to more problems, solved in the best Royal Rumble ever in 1992). But if people turned up for that match, they stayed for the white-hot Randy Savage v Jake Roberts match which is something just about every wrestling fan needs to see. Though the whole ppv show isn't readily available, all of the matches (which also include Bret Hart v Skinner...or maybe Warlord, and a tag match involving Davey Boy Smith) are on one of the WWF Supertapes (either 3 or 4). Well worth trying to get...

What episode of WWF Prime Time was it when Piper smashed a cocnut over Snuka's head?

Was it definetly on Prime Time? I'd always been under the impression that Piper's Pit was on All-Star Wrestling/Superstars...?

How long was Man Mountain Rock in the WWF in 1995? I don't really remember him apart from the guitar playing before he wrestled. Did he have any notable feuds?

Nope, not a single feud. Don't know how long he was there and dont remember anything about any of his matches either. Think he just did a few squashes on Superstars and faded away.

He had a bit of a do with Bob Backlund though, don't remember much, I just remember Backlund covering his ears while MMR was playing away.

IIRC, Backlund stole MMR's guitar and may have destroyed it...

Whats Ryan Newson (him of WrestleXpress "fame") up to these days?

Was it not Ryan HEWSON behind that fiasco...?

Yes. I think it was Booker T he won it from, then he vacated it.

Russo defeated Booker T on 25th September 2000, only to vacate it the following week on 2nd October, when he decides he is not a wrestler.

It was Russo's version of what his namesake McMahon had done the year before, but - typical of Russo - done nowhere near as well and didn't draw a dime...

3.) Is there a website that reviews shoot interviews?Thank you.

Haven't been on it for a while, but this site certainly used to...Smart Marks

SUWA and Ricky Marvin are rumoured to be the next two coming over, with former GHC Jnr Heavyweight tag champions to follow later this year...

If dandaman is to be believed, Kanemaru and Sugeiura (sp?) are the pairing for the next month or two, so at least we'll see one set of former jnr tag champs. Might have thought there would have been a more co-ordinated announcement of this, but I you know what these promoters are like...

Whatever happened to Wayne Bridge? Don't say he plays for Chelsea.

Well you wouldn't anyway, because his name is Wayne Bridges. I believe he runs a pub somewhere in the south, which might be the one they use for the yearly reunion.Clearly from your question, you saw the tag match on WoS of Nagasaki & Shane Stevens against Rocco and Bridges? Brilliant match, with loads of stuff way ahead of its time. The heat as they teased Rocco against Kendo was brilliant, while Stevens certainly wasn't afraid to take an insane bump or two. He went out of the ring head first probably twice, and took this mean as all hell piledriver from Rocco (sort of like an inverted tombstone ie. take your man up for a normal piledriver, but drop to your knees rather than your arse. It totally lands the receipant on his head. Only time I've ever seen it before was Greg Valentine on DK at WM2). Shame he didn't sell it too well, but that was a minor annoyance. Best I can tell, this was during the period when ITV rotated the promotions on TV on a Saturday afternoon, and this week was the turn of All-Star...

Brutus Beefacke did some shots under a mask on Superstars in that era. He laid out Earthquake and Slaughter to name 2. Could it be him?

it could of been,did they mention that? did he continue doing it or was it jus a random thing he jus dissapeard.

It was Beefcake. I don't think they ever named him, but the character has gone on to be referred to as Furface. I think they realised that Beefcake hadn't healed well enough from his facial injury, and dropped it...

How much longer are Takeshi Morhishima & Mohammed Yone over here for?

I do believe tonight's IPW-UK show was their last shot. SUWA and Ricky Marvin are rumoured to be the next two coming over, with former GHC Jnr Heavyweight tag champions to follow later this year...

Some guy did have a heart attack after either Big Daddy or Giant Haystacks splashed him.

Mal "King Kong" Kirk. Do a google search or go over to 1Stopwrestling for more...

I've been reading some of the really old Powerslams from back in 1994 and thee appears to be a lot of positive press on the Harris Brothers- in one article they are even singled out for stars of the future status- was this the general opinion of them at the time, and did they actually do anything to warrant this in ECW?

In ECW (against the Public Enemy) and in SMW (against the Moondogs) they had some awesome brawls all around the arena that were pretty intense and great to watch. They never recovered after becoming the Blu Twins in WWF, and don't even mention the disaster that was the Grimm Twins.

Or Skull and 8-Ball...

With music, the rights for use at a live performance and the rights for use on a recording (video or DVD) are sold separately. Usually the rights for recording are much more expensive.This is why Booker T's music (which WCW originally bought in from an outside group) is used on TV but not on DVD releases, and is also why the performances of America the Beautiful are sometimes cut from WrestleMania DVDs.

The outside group WCW bought Booker's music from is likely Kraftwerk, because it sounds incredibly like a song of one of their albums (either Trans-Europe Express or Man Machine, I forget which). He's been using it since the early days of Harlem Heat in WCW in 1993...

Incidentally, BBC can use much more "real" music on TV than most channels as they have a deal set up with the industry where they pay a huge flat-rate (divided between the major record labels) and can then pretty much use as much as they like for broadcast without having to get permission.Cheers to Charlie Brooker for that tidbit.

I believe the Beeb also has a sweet deal for the use of "Happy Birthday", which tends to cost broadcasters a ton to use in any other circumstance. I think Michael Jackson may have been the beneficiary at one point, though not anymore...

Didn't Razor beat Jacob, but couldn't wrestle for some reason? So Savio took his place?

Can't verify that, but Vega definetly did beat IRS in the pre-game show to take Razor's place, and was thus in his fourth match of the night when he took on Mabel in the final. I'd never heard of him before watching the event (my previously frequent access to WWF and wrestling in general was severely limited in early to mid 95), so it was all quite weird to me...

I think a significant part of it was just the rest of the commentary team bigging him up every week. If someone from a previous generation is constantly referred to as "The Living Legend" , the current generation's fans will generally accept it as fact if they don't know any better.

The fact that he went after Chris Jericho and the WWF for gimmick infringement is the most ridiculous part of it. Outside of one feud against Bruno 25 years ago the guy has never drawn anything but flies...

A few questions...1) Why is it that some Japanese names are spelt in English font (i.e. SUWA, Daio QUALLT, CIMA etc)

I couldn't say exactly why, but I figure it's an anti-authority thing. More and more Japanese culture is becoming westernised, with the English language creeping in. It's to the point where you really don't need to know Japanese to be able to live there. Such wrestlers (and I can think of KENTA and TAKA Michinoku as other examples) tend to be from the younger generation, who will have grown up with this. I'm sure there's a more specific reason, and I can't really explain why some names are totally spelt in capitals, like SUWA...

Are you sure it was Williams & Gordy against Gilbert and Slater? Sounds a very bizarre match. Bare in mind that Williams and Gordy were enemies in 89, which was the last time Gilbert worked for WCW. When Williams & Gordy teamed in WCW in 92 Slater was certainly there but Gilbert definetly wasn't. Of course, this might not have even been a WCW show - the fact that you call it a "stadium show" somewhat confuses things as well - not quite sure whether you mean an outdoor show, a house show or just in a very big arena. It could perhaps have been something like the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance or something, but I'm not that sure...

Apologies! It was MVC against Dick Murdoch and Eddie Gilbert, it was an NWA show, in a Baseball Stadium, in a Bunkhouse Brawl match- Williams gets the pin on Gilbert I think, hitting him with a shoe....

That makes a little more sense, though I still wouldn't be able to put a specific time on it. I'd still guess 89, perhaps earlier in the year when Williams was a heel in The Varsity Club. Alternatively, it could possibly have been just after the NWA had bought UWF, because all 4 definetly worked for Bill Watts around the time of the sale (late 87). But still, Williams and Gordy were on different sides of the fence so it's still hard to know.Incidently, this sounds like a great tape! Where did you get it from...?

How come WCW, even at its peak, never had their PPVs aired over here? Was there any serious talk, at any stage, of them showing the PPVs over here?

Not sure, though it should be pointed out that German sports channel DSF showed ppvs and Clashes (albeit on a 2-4 week delay) from Clash 24 onwards, so 1993. This lasted until 1997 when the events transferred onto their digital service, which was, unhapily, not available in this country (to my knowledge). The odd event still was shown on the Astra analogue service (Bash at the Beach 98 for instance), but this served mostly to promote the digital service. Of course the commentary was in German, though I do recall on one event that one of the commentators (an American guy) did give a quick kinda thank you message in English to UK fans. As for the original question, you have to remember that WCW was shown on a movie channel (TNT which became TCM), and was already devoting 5 hours a week of peak time to wrestling. Putting on ppvs, even on a delay, would probably have been too much for them (even though WCW was doing good ratings). As well, pay-per-view was still quite a distance away from catching on during WCW's peak (say 96 to 98), with the first wrestling show we actually had to shell out extra for being WWF's One Night Only in late 97. There was nothing like Setanta or anything like that, with really only Sky being pay-per-view providers at that point. They had no interest in wanting to promote WCW over one of their more successful brands, so really there wasn't anyway which could show WCW events, even if they'd wanted to. It should be pointed out that the majority of events were available on VHS quite quickly after they happened, though only by mail order. I'm not quite sure why (outside of two events IIRC - Spring Stampede 99 and Slamboree 99) they were never available in the shops, though that certainly wouldn't be the only questionable decision made during WCW's existance...

I've just got a random WCW comp tape which as well as having the 2 British Vader/Sting title changes on it, has a match from a stadium show from much earlier, a Bunkhouse Brawl match with the MVC vs Eddie Gilbert and Dick Slater- does anyone know which card that was from?

Are you sure it was Williams & Gordy against Gilbert and Slater? Sounds a very bizarre match. Bare in mind that Williams and Gordy were enemies in 89, which was the last time Gilbert worked for WCW. When Williams & Gordy teamed in WCW in 92 Slater was certainly there but Gilbert definetly wasn't. Of course, this might not have even been a WCW show - the fact that you call it a "stadium show" somewhat confuses things as well - not quite sure whether you mean an outdoor show, a house show or just in a very big arena. It could perhaps have been something like the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance or something, but I'm not that sure...EDIT: Didn't expect these seperate replies to go into one, but there you go...

Two questions brahs.Number One: When Undertaker debuted in 1990 was he "Kane the Undertaker" or plain, old "Undertaker"?

On his very first appearance (Survivor Series 90) and for the few subsequent weeks he was The Undertaker. By the Royal Rumble 91 he was Kane The Undertaker. By Wrestlemania 7 he was The Undertaker. So it was probably only a few months - 2 at most - when he was referred to as Kane. There was never any explanation for this when factoring in his brother being called Kane...

He was Kane the Undertaker at all the tapings in 1990. Several of these were taped before the Survivor Series PPV (where he 'debuted' as just The Undertaker) but aired after the event.The last taping where he was Kane The Undertaker was 12 December, with the match airing on 20 January 1991.From the January 7 1991 taping, he was just the Undertaker. The first of his matches from this taping aired on 2 February.

Certainly the Apter mags called him "Kane The Undertaker" for a while after that. They also referred to John Tenta as "Canadian Earthquake" in a similar situation...