The UKFF [Nearly-Official] Questions Thread

[Junkman]

Cheers Kenny, surprises me that. I always assumed he was still on a WWE contract during his hiatus. Looking at RAW at the moment he is missed massively.

[nomad]

Just another note on Jericho,Whenever he's been on TV, he has been listed as "Musician and former Pro-wrestler" Chris Jericho. Sometimes they don't even bother with the wrestling part.

[Spatular]

I do beleive the urinage does have a about half turn involved in it.

This is true. The move comes from judo, which I guess gets it from ju-jitsu. It's usually a counter to a hip-throw. If you can imagine the guy turning his hip in towards you to throw you like a hip toss, and then you stopping his motion and doing the uranage from there. The motion is more or less as in the Hase clip. The reason for the twist is that your score for the throw depends on how fully the guy lands on his back and you can't afford to land on your own back because that can count as a score for the other guy.The first time I saw the move was when some fucker did this to me in my first tournament. Surprised the hell out of me.

[Guest Ray Vonne]

Does anyone know which Premier Promotions show the next couple of NOAH guys coming over are supposed to be appearing at?

[bAzTNM#1]

Watching WOS yesterday goes me to wondering whatever happened to the guy who played the British version of Kendo Nagasaki?Whatever happened to Wayne Bridge? Don't say he plays for Chelsea.

[Guest Ray Vonne]

Watching WOS yesterday goes me to wondering whatever happened to the guy who played the British version of Kendo Nagasaki?

He retired from the ring in 2001 but has since written a couple of wrestling related books. He still occasionally appears on wrestling shows with manager Lloyd Ryan showing off his Kendo sword skills (Universal Uproar is a good example) and signs and sells his books to fans during intervals at shows, never talks though.

[The Mighty LC]

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...

[The Mighty LC]

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...

[Guest rmdstyles]

What is the longest ever world title on record? I was reading earlier about Bruno Sammartino holding the title for 6 years (I think) back in the old WWWF and I know Lou Thesz held the old NWA title belt foe seven years between 1949 and 1956. But has anyone reigned for longer?

[bAzTNM#1]

The Fabolous (sp?) Moolah had the womens title for over twenty years in the WWF.

[Kenny McBride]

The Moolah run is a bit of a myth. She held her title for most of that time, but she was "retired" for a good chunk of it, and actually dropped it once or twice during the run as well.I'm pretty sure Thesz's long run was actually briefly broken up. If I had my Title Histories book handy, I'd tell you when and by whom. I think Bruno's run (closer to 7 years, as I recall) is the longest heavyweight world title reign on record. I have a feeling that Brian Maxine, though, held whatever title it was he held for something like 20 years, completely unbroken.

[JNLister]

The short answer is George Kidd. The long answer is that it depends what you call a world title. Of major US belts commonly recognised as 'world' titles:

 

NWA: It's Lou Thesz, though it's arguable how long. He won the National Wrestling Association title (recognised by various athletic commissions) in July 48, but didn't get recognised as National Wrestling Aliance champion until November 49. He then dropped the Alliance belt in March 56, so it's either 6 years, 4 months, or 7 years 2 months depending on how you interpret it.

 

WCW (post NWA split): Hulk Hogan, July 94 to October 95, 1 year 3 months.

 

W/WWF/E: Bruno Sammartino, May 63 to January 71, 7 years 8 months.

 

AWA: Verne Gagne, August 68 to November 75, 7 years, three months

 

So Sammartino is longest.

 

Of other belts with some sort of claim in the US:

 

WWA (California):

 

IWA (1970s outlaw group that tried to go national): Mil Mascaras was the only title holder, getting it in 75. He defended it for, well, ever, though the group was long shut down.

 

ECW: Shane Douglas, November 97 to January 99, just over 1 year, 1 month

 

There is also the WWA (Los Angeles) title, but nobody ever held that more than three or four months.

 

Moolah first got her belt in 56, but had definite title switches in 66, 68 and 78 before losing to Wendi Richter in 84. There's also a reported one in 76 that isn't confirmed. So the longest reign would be ten years, either 56 to 66, or possibly 68 to 78 (which would be about four months longer.

 

For Britain, the issue of world titles is a grey area. Unlike the British titles, there was no attempt to keep a consistent controlled lineage of world champions, and at any one time you'd only have one or two British people holding a 'world' title. The thinking was that fans only 'need to know' who the champ was when a British person was being promoted as the titleholder - at other times the belts was just "held by someone overseas". Some titles only existed in theory until a British wrestler 'won' the belt. Most title histories have been pieced together later by historical buff.

 

Of the 'world' titles recognised in Britain, the longest reigns in each division are:

 

Heavyweight: It's a total mess. There's really no cases of somebody beating the recognised champion and then going on a lengthy multi-year reign as the undisputed champion before dropping it to another contender.

 

Mid-heavyweight: Mike Marino, 1967-81, 14 years.

 

Light-heavyweight: Most likely Norman Walsh, December 55 through 1959, though he may have dropped in in 57.

 

Heavy-middleweight: Mark Rocco, June 81 to October 84, 4 years, 3 months

 

Middleweight: Bert Royal, most likely May 69 to August 75, 6 years, 3 months

 

Welterweight: Steve Clements won it in Mexico in 1970, but otherwise the title was never active in the UK

 

Lightweight: George Kidd 1950 to 1976, 26 years

[Guest Ray Vonne]

What promoter in their right mind would plan a 26 year title reign, just imagine it "Let's give George Kidd the belt for 26 years", scary stuff.

[shinyahashimoto]

What show was it Regal 'streched' Goldberg(Nitro)?

[JNLister]

What promoter in their right mind would plan a 26 year title reign, just imagine it "Let's give George Kidd the belt for 26 years", scary stuff.

Well, there wasn't a promoter as such. No one promoter controlled titles in Britain. With the world titles in Britain, vnce you got a belt, you pretty much held it until somebody either paid you enough to drop it. or had enough business influence to force you to do business. The British titles were the main ones that most wrestlers competed for and switched more often.