Q&A thread - Your Questions Answered! **no chat**

MitchKoobski

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Oh, and depending on what reports you believe, Cena and Batista botched the ending to the Rumble a few years back when they accidently fell out of the ring. This caused Vince to march down to the ring and restart the match, and he tore muscles on both his legs in the process...

I coulda sworn Vince himself admitted the ending didnt go as planned. Think it was on the McMahon DVD where they mention the injury. There was no plan for him to go out, but when the ending messed up, the referees stalled for a while and without a plan B Vince ended up running out into the ring himself.
Unfortunately he ran into the apron on the way...

TheBantam

What are the ropes made from? Are they springy?

jaykhunter

TheBantam wrote: »

What are the ropes made from? Are they springy?

Actual rope; covered in coloured tape. They have more give than WCW/TNA/ROH's actual cables; high-flyers prefer the cables but ropes look much better on TV.

starviewadams

Do TNA not include a 90 day no compete clause in their contracts like WWE do?

TheBantam

Are the heights and weights of the wrestlers correct? Ie big show 7ft 2. Kane 7th etc. Or they just make it up to make it seem like they are massive?

MitchKoobski

Did anyone ever establish an even close to confirmed reason why Vince would not work with Randy Savage again?

starviewadams

He banged a young Steph back in the day.

geeky

TheBantam wrote: »

Are the heights and weights of the wrestlers correct? Ie big show 7ft 2. Kane 7th etc. Or they just make it up to make it seem like they are massive?

They're typically overstated, depending on how much the promotion reckons they can get away with.

For example, Giant Gonzales was billed as 8ft tall during his WWE tenure. He was actually 7ft 7 inches tall.

This is particularly endemic in the case of taller guys - for all we know, Rey Mysterio Jr really is 5ft 6.

geeky

Tinie wrote: »

Has there ever been a match in WWE or any major promotion where the wrong person has won? Like that they botched up a pin, by not kicking out or tapping out when they shouldn't have etc.?

Another poster has answered this, but a good example is also provided where a botch during the match changes the ending. For example, Rick Martel suffered the injury that would force him into retirement during a gauntlet match where he was supposed to pin a couple of guys. However, he banjaxed his leg good and proper in the ring with Booker T and they improvised an ending where he lost. WCW were lucky in that, in Martel, Booker and Saturn, they had three guys who could improvise when something went wrong. Many talents wouldn't have that experience today.

Tinie wrote: »

Also are all promos and speeches in WWE scripted and learned off before hand now and was it always like that? Was it ever where a wrestler could make up his own lines on the fly?

Also has there ever been a segment where someone has completely forgotten their lines live in front of a crowd or anything and left standing there trying to fill time or remember the lines? Any videos to stuff like that?

Nowadays, they are. Things used to be much more improvised in the past, which led to some great moments (a good wrestler often understands their own character better than a booker writing stuff for 20+ guys) but also presented some problems. For example, Shawn Michaels memorably alluded to Bret Hart enjoying some 'sunny days', suggesting he was having an affair with the Diva (video here). The comment exacerbated existing tensions between the two men.

Also, improvisation has led to some of the worst promos ever. Matt Hardy's 2005 return is painful but hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJL27oUb1gY

Re botched promos and forgetting lines, search a bit on youtube for scotty steiner. That man and his battles with the English language make TNA worth watching. Sometimes.

Charisteas

geeky wrote: »

Another poster has answered this, but a good example is also provided where a botch during the match changes the ending. For example, Rick Martel suffered the injury that would force him into retirement during a gauntlet match where he was supposed to pin a couple of guys. However, he banjaxed his leg good and proper in the ring with Booker T and they improvised an ending where he lost. WCW were lucky in that, in Martel, Booker and Saturn, they had three guys who could improvise when something went wrong. Many talents wouldn't have that experience today.

Same situation at Over The Limit last year, Orton dislocated his shoulder during a match against Edge, so they improvised (or the referee gave out instructions to them) and the match finished by double count-out a few minutes later. I don't remember who was booked to officially win that match.

A few more I can think of the top of my head -

2000 Royal Rumble finish was botched. Big Show tossed Rock over the top rope, but Rock was supposed to grab the top rope and avoid touching the floor. But he accidentally touched the floor with both feet, and even though Rock went on to officially win that Rumble, they turned the botched finish into a storyline with Big Show claiming injustice.

Official winner - Rock. Technical winner - Big Show

Also, Judgement Day 2000. Rock v HHH was tied at 5-5 in an one hour Iron Man match, with about 60 seconds left on the clock. Undertaker cycled down (Que three 10-year-old girls saying "He's Here") and he picked up HHH to prepare him for either a last-ride or a Tombstone (Don't remember the exact move) but by the time he executed the move, the timer had expired, technically declaring the match a 5-5 draw. However, Shawn Michaels (the special guest referee) disqualified The Rock because of Taker's involvement, officially making Trips the winner 6-5, and thus becoming new WWF Champ. Jim Ross brought up the fact that the timer had expired, but it was never mentioned again after that night.

Official winner - HHH (Becomes new champion) Technical winner - Draw (Rock would have retained)

There was also one match last year on Raw, an over the top rope challenge between Great Khali and someone else (think it was Edge) where Great Khali casually stepped over the top rope and onto the floor, thus technically disqualifying himself. The ref didn't call it, but Michael Cole brought it up. But I think Edge went on to win the match anyway.

Oh and there was one match where the wrong person won at Survivor Series 1997..........

MitchKoobski

Charisteas wrote: »

2000 Royal Rumble finish was botched. Big Show tossed Rock over the top rope, but Rock was supposed to grab the top rope and avoid touching the floor. But he accidentally touched the floor with both feet, and even though Rock went on to officially win that Rumble, they turned the botched finish into a storyline with Big Show claiming injustice.

See I don't think this was a complete botch. I think they did it on purpose to give Big Show something to do because HHH was busy with Mick Foley/Cactus Jack feud. It makes sense to have Rock and Big Show feud for a month because HHH/Foley had a small bit more to play out.
Although that being said, it did REALLY look like a botch. If they did botch it, they couldnt just ignore it because so many people noticed.

Also, Judgement Day 2000. Rock v HHH was tied at 5-5 in an one hour Iron Man match, with about 60 seconds left on the clock. Undertaker cycled down (Que three 10-year-old girls saying "He's Here") and he picked up HHH to prepare him for either a last-ride or a Tombstone (Don't remember the exact move) but by the time he executed the move, the timer had expired, technically declaring the match a 5-5 draw. However, Shawn Michaels (the special guest referee) disqualified The Rock because of Taker's involvement, officially making Trips the winner 6-5, and thus becoming new WWF Champ. Jim Ross brought up the fact that the timer had expired, but it was never mentioned again after that night.

This one was intentional. The Rock was disqualified in the final seconds as the timer was running out due to interference from The Undertaker. This put HHH 6 - 5. The time then ran out as Taker was just tombstoning HHH, but HBK had signalled for the DQ.

jaykhunter

geeky wrote: »

for all we know, Rey Mysterio Jr really is 5ft 6.

Rey's 5'2"; 5'3" tops.

Of course Radicalz first night on SmackDown; eddie dislocated his elbow and told the Outlaws to pin him; meaning that the radicalz lost 2/3 matches (Benoit was supposed to beat HHH and so radicalz won 2/3 matches) so instead they had HHH go over, DX get a clean sweep and have the radicalz turn heel and HHH give them their contracts instead of them earning it.

for those wondering the radicalz had to win 2/3 matches to get contracts ; those matches were
Malenko vs X-Pac
Eddie/Saturn vs Outlaws
Benoit vs HHH

savemejebus

Why was Bob Backlund booked to drop the wwe title to Diesel in 45 seconds?

chopperbyrne

savemejebus wrote: »

Why was Bob Backlund booked to drop the wwe title to Diesel in 45 seconds?

Eight seconds.

It was because Diesel was the most popular face in the company at the time and Vince wanted to push him to the moon.

He did and the company almost went bankrupt!

jaykhunter

There has to be more to that story. Was someone injured? It was at a house show. Maybe Backlund's contract was up before the next show. It was annoying that Bret's first title win from Flair wasn't televised (initially anyway)

MitchKoobski

jaykhunter wrote: »

There has to be more to that story. Was someone injured? It was at a house show. Maybe Backlund's contract was up before the next show. It was annoying that Bret's first title win from Flair wasn't televised (initially anyway)

Just double checked the championship book I have. No story to it, they just wanted to push him right to the title ASAP.

flahavaj

jaykhunter wrote: »

There has to be more to that story. Was someone injured? It was at a house show. Maybe Backlund's contract was up before the next show. It was annoying that Bret's first title win from Flair wasn't televised (initially anyway)

Its an odd one. He continued to work for WWF for quite a while afterwards so his contract wasn't up. It doesn't seem like Backlund was against the quick match as nash has noted afterwards that Backlund continued to sell the beating by crawling down the aisle to the back after the match. I think they just wanted to put Diesel over huge. They had to do it on a house show as people wouldn't hev been a bit happy if it had hapened on a PPV they had payed for. they could've done it on TV I supose though. Funny one.

savemejebus

Well the reason i asked is that,to me, it doesn't make sense to spend months building up Backlund, booking him to take the belt off of Bret at the survivor series and then wasting that push by having him drop the belt in record time at a non-televised event.

MitchKoobski

savemejebus wrote: »

Well the reason i asked is that,to me, it doesn't make sense to spend months building up Backlund, booking him to take the belt off of Bret at the survivor series and then wasting that push by having him drop the belt in record time at a non-televised event.

Well they only built it up between Summerslam and Survivor Series, and even then he was just tacked on to the Hart Family feud as a legitimate opponent for the title.

Charisteas

jaykhunter wrote: »

There has to be more to that story. Was someone injured? It was at a house show. Maybe Backlund's contract was up before the next show. It was annoying that Bret's first title win from Flair wasn't televised (initially anyway)

Bret Hart was supposed to fight Backland that night, but got injured and replaced with Nash. Not sure if Bret was booked to win the title that night though.

Charisteas

Who was booked to have planted the bomb in Vince's Limo?

jaykhunter

Charisteas wrote: »

Who was booked to have planted the bomb in Vince's Limo?

No-one was confirmed but IIRC names floating around were Triple H and Mr. Kennedy. As an aside Paul London got into a lot of trouble for "corpsing" (breaking character and laughing/smirking) during Vince's amble backstage to the Limo, which incidently made him an unexpected suspect...

Charisteas

jaykhunter wrote: »

No-one was confirmed but IIRC names floating around were Triple H and Mr. Kennedy. As an aside Paul London got into a lot of trouble for "corpsing" (breaking character and laughing/smirking) during Vince's amble backstage to the Limo, which incidently made him an unexpected suspect...

Ah yeah I remember that famous Paul London smile! Just couldn't remember if anyone was actually confirmed for planting the bomb. I guess we will never know......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WhnY8J_MkA

CMpunked

I forgot about that smile!

Thats a proper grin that is! Ear to ear!

Lord TSC

RE: The smile.

It's worth pointing out that he wasn't "breaking character" really. According to an interview I read recently (In Powerslam, iirc), they had not been directed to act in any particular way. They hadn't been told what was coming up or where Vince was walking, and they weren't told to be all serious, so he apparently decided to smile since that's exactly what his character would be doing in such a situation...

(*Hopes he's remembering the interview correctly.*)

Dancor

London was most likely high

CMpunked

As everyone knows, in a title match, no matter who causes a DQ, the champion will retain.

But what about count outs of the ring? Does the same rule apply (assuming the champ is counted out of the ring) or does the title change hands?

jaykhunter

CMpunked wrote: »

As everyone knows, in a title match, no matter who causes a DQ, the champion will retain.

But what about count outs of the ring? Does the same rule apply (assuming the champ is counted out of the ring) or does the title change hands?

Nope, unless a stipulation is announced before a match, a title only changes hands via pinfall or submission.

Technically this isn't true in TNA, where previously a title WOULD change hands via DQ (see Abyss' title reign) to eliminate bullsh!t finishes. But nowadays they only elect to enforce this rule when it suits them :mad:

rossie1977

TheBantam wrote: »

Are the heights and weights of the wrestlers correct? Ie big show 7ft 2. Kane 7th etc. Or they just make it up to make it seem like they are massive?

wrestling is a work, in 90% of cases heights and weights are grossly overstated, the classic example is andre the giant who was listed 7'5 but was really about 6'10; big show has been listed 7ft last 8 years in wwe, he was listed 7'4 and 7'5 in wcw but is close to 7ft in real life, kane is about 6'7 in real life, he was listed 6'8 and 6'9 as issac yankem in another lifetime

geeky wrote: »

They're typically overstated, depending on how much the promotion reckons they can get away with.

For example, Giant Gonzales was billed as 8ft tall during his WWE tenure. He was actually 7ft 7 inches tall.

This is particularly endemic in the case of taller guys - for all we know, Rey Mysterio Jr really is 5ft 6.

rey is nowhere near 5'6, i have stood next to him a few times, 5'2 at most, they often list the shorter guys inches taller too, kurt angle got 6'2 the whole time he was in wwe, john cena has always been listed at 6'1, go forward to 7mins 15seconds to see how silly wwe billings are, angles meant to be an inch taller than cena there ffs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hhnVPTrruU

many wrestlers these days play college or pro sports before becoming wrestlers its pretty easy to find wrestlers real heights that way with a quick google search e.g.
bill goldberg
matt morgan
eli cottonwood
husky harris

TheBantam

When Gabriel lads the 450 splash is he actually hurting? I don't understand why he would pretend to be hurt as there is no gain for him doing so?