UKFF Questions Thread v3

[wandshogun09]

Yeah if they were gonna do a clean finish, I imagine it would’ve been the old chair assisted Sweet Chin Music spot here which would’ve done Mick in. 

Shame there weren’t more PPV matches between them. Thought they had great chemistry even in their Raw match in August 97. I know there are a couple more dark matches between them that got released later as well which I enjoyed but it’s a shame they never got to have at least one more proper PPV match with a decisive finish. As great as Mind Games was, it definitely felt like unfinished business. 

[boshealecta]

I don’t know whether it’s a question as such but didn’t know if anyone had any background info on it. 

I’ve been rewatching old RAWs and PPVs from 1998/1999 and JR has taken some time off (another Bella Palsy attack I think). Anywho, Michael Cole is covering for him and seems to be uncomfortable with some of the Attitude Era stuff. He just says ‘it ain’t easy’ when the Godfather comes out, leaving out Pimpin. And won’t call Billy Gunn - Bad Ass, instead just keeps calling him BA. This along with some other instances where it seems he isn’t comfortable swearing or saying any non PG words. Wondered if he ever revealed the reason and whether he got any flack for it? Eventually he seems to get on board. Maybe I’m just seeing something that isn’t there 

Edited May 9, 2025 by boshealecta

[King Coconut]

11 hours ago, boshealecta said:

Bella Palsy

What a gimmick!

[boshealecta]

2 hours ago, King Coconut said:

What a gimmick!

Darn auto correct. Great Drag name too. Might enter Ru Paul’s Drag Race as Bella Palsy. Just need a pair of fake SlobberKnockers 

[tiger_rick]

On 5/9/2025 at 11:05 PM, boshealecta said:

I don’t know whether it’s a question as such but didn’t know if anyone had any background info on it. 

I’ve been rewatching old RAWs and PPVs from 1998/1999 and JR has taken some time off (another Bella Palsy attack I think). Anywho, Michael Cole is covering for him and seems to be uncomfortable with some of the Attitude Era stuff. He just says ‘it ain’t easy’ when the Godfather comes out, leaving out Pimpin. And won’t call Billy Gunn - Bad Ass, instead just keeps calling him BA. This along with some other instances where it seems he isn’t comfortable swearing or saying any non PG words. Wondered if he ever revealed the reason and whether he got any flack for it? Eventually he seems to get on board. Maybe I’m just seeing something that isn’t there 

They did come under pressure to tone down the language and innuendo in 1999, particularly once Smackdown started on Network TV. In the lead up to WM 14, they were actively courting the negative publicity but once it started affecting sponsors, they did tone it down a touch. If some of the language changed though, they made up for it with more tits and gratuitously beating up women. 

[BomberPat]

1999 was when you had the Parents Television Council starting to target the WWF, and a court case about a thirteen year old being tried for murder claiming that they had copied wrestling moves they saw on TV. So it's much more likely a WWF damage limitation choice than something unique to Michael Cole, but with Cole as the junior announcer and the WWF being what it is, I could also see them setting him up to take the flak for it. 

[SpykeDudlei1]

Just watching an old July 1990 Wrestling Challenge that popped up on YouTube and don’t think I actually realised ‘Herc n Jerk’ briefly had intro music.

Is it just me or can you see where Jim Johnston got the inspiration for Virgil’s music the following year?

 

(Probably need to go to about 30 secs into this one to hear the main but I’m thinking of)

Edited May 22, 2025 by SpykeDudlei1
Changing the incorrectly/accidentally written Tom Johnston to Jim Johnston

[air_raid]

On 5/20/2025 at 1:17 PM, SpykeDudlei1 said:

Is it just me or can you see where Tom Johnstone got the inspiration for Virgil’s music the following year?

Is that what Jim Johnston got called when he jumped ship to the Dubya C Dubya?

[SpykeDudlei1]

8 hours ago, air_raid said:

Is that what Jim Johnston got called when he jumped ship to the Dubya C Dubya?

? I posted the same name in a group chat and they pointed out my mistake. I did of course mean Jim. Tom Johnston being the lead singer of The Doobie Brothers (insert own wrestler related joke here).

[air_raid]

7 hours ago, SpykeDudlei1 said:

Tom Johnston being the lead singer of The Doobie Brothers (insert own wrestler related joke here).

In the spirit of The Gangstanators, I always thought they should have made a supergroup with The Moody Blues called the Moody Doobies.

[Richie Freebird]

I've just heard one of the "Wrestle Me" lads on Youtube say that Konan's return to AAA in the early 90s after the Max Moon run coincided with TV wrestling being un-banned in Mexico city after 30 years. I'm sure I've never heard of this before.

Does anyone have any context on TV wrestling being banned for 30 years in Mexico city? Was the idea was to encourage live event ticket sales? Thanks everyone. 

[Tamura]

27 minutes ago, Richie Freebird said:

I've just heard one of the "Wrestle Me" lads on Youtube say that Konan's return to AAA in the early 90s after the Max Moon run coincided with TV wrestling being un-banned in Mexico city after 30 years. I'm sure I've never heard of this before.

Does anyone have any context on TV wrestling being banned for 30 years in Mexico city? Was the idea was to encourage live event ticket sales? Thanks everyone. 

@BomberPat seems to have written about it here.

[BomberPat]

1 hour ago, Richie Freebird said:

Does anyone have any context on TV wrestling being banned for 30 years in Mexico city? Was the idea was to encourage live event ticket sales? Thanks everyone. 

Thanks @Tamura!

To unpick it from a blog that touches on it amongst a lot of other stuff - the guy who was effectively mayor of Mexico City for decades had very strict ideas on moral reform, and thought Lucha Libre was a bad influence on children, and encouraged antisocial behaviour among the lower classes, so it was banned from airing on television from around the mid-1950s. 

The ban was lifted around 1986, and then TV (which had been largely state owned) was deregulated in the early '90s, which probably made a bigger impact than the ban itself being removed, in terms of setting the stage for Konnan and AAA to recover.

Heavy metal music was similarly banned for a long time, which is the usual explanation for why Vampiro was such an instant hit in Mexico - they had simply never seen anyone who looked like him before.

[wandshogun09]

Maybe not the right thread because this question is rhetorical really but how much of a slap in the face must it have been for Randy Savage to be told he’s gonna be phased out in favour a younger roster in 1993/94, to then have to be stuck at the commentary table as Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler went on last at King Of The Ring 94? Savage was 41/42 in 1994. Barely older than Piper and a few years younger than Lawler. I know it’s been brought up on here before but I was just thinking about it again and it baffles me. Savage proved in WCW that he still had plenty left in the tank right up to about 98 when the knees went. Such a waste. 

Edited May 26, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Browser Brady]

44 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Maybe not the right thread because this question is rhetorical really but how much of a slap in the face must it have been for Randy Savage to be told he’s gonna be phased out in favour a younger roster in 1993/94, to then have to be stuck at the commentary table as Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler went on last at King Of The Ring 94? Savage was 41/42 in 1994. Barely older than Piper and a few years younger than Lawler. I know it’s been brought up on here before but I was just thinking about it again and it baffles me. Savage proved in WCW that he still had plenty left in the tank right up to about 98 when the knees went. Such a waste. 

Savage turned up in WCW.

Everyone talks about 1997 being a good year for him but he was damn good also in 95 and 96 too.