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

jaykhunter

Deadlie wrote: »

Was the 2005 Royal Rumble ending planned? The whole double elimination thing, that is - not Vince injuring himself

It's a legitimate botch - Batista wasn't supposed to hit the ground at all. Thankfully they hit at the same time (as opposed to Cena obviously winning). They had to stall for time to work out a re-finish - Them throwing each other over and playing for the crowd was stalling for time. Batty was very embarrassed as he'd also been late showing up for work that day. Vinnie Mac coming out was both to kayfabe and shoot sort things out (although tearing his quads wasn't in the script!). Battigo was always supposed to win though.

Loughc

Just watched the end of the 2005 Rumble, it must have been planned, as soon as the false finish happened, the Raw refs ran to Batista and the Smackdown Refs ran to Cena. It looked all too rehearsed to have been an accident.

Ape Lincoln

I dunno if Rumble05 was a botch or not but the ending of the Royal Rumble 1994 with Bret Hart and Lex Luger being co-winners was an angle. Pat Patterson was booker and used that to guage fan reaction each time the refs raised their hands they were judging the arowd pop.

jaykhunter

FYI it's not simply my take on it; Batista admitted the botch in interview(s), and WON/F4W report the same story.

gnfnrhead

bobby_says_hi wrote: »

The US title is used for both potential main eventers and midcarders without a direction. A Cruiserweight title would be exclusively for the people whose strength is their wrestling - and they wouldn't be expected to hang with the future stars. Essentially if they're going after the US (or indeed the IC) belt then booking will be really inconsistent - they'll be title material one day but jobbing to the upper carders the next. If they're going after the Cruiserweight title then they're competing in their own division

But why bother with another title when they cant even book their current titles? A CW title would go the same way and be meaningless. Making the US title an unofficial CW title would reduce the chances of it being made a joke again.

Loughc wrote: »

Just watched the end of the 2005 Rumble, it must have been planned, as soon as the false finish happened, the Raw refs ran to Batista and the Smackdown Refs ran to Cena. It looked all too rehearsed to have been an accident.

It was good thinking by the officials. It was a botch but the referees acted quickly enough to cover it.

Loughc

So what was the finish meant to be? The finish was Batistia power bombed cena and they fell back and both went over the top rope. Just curious what was meant to have happened?

Was big Dave just have meant to have dumped him out from that way?

Mr.Saturn

gnfnrhead wrote: »

But why bother with another title when they cant even book their current titles? A CW title would go the same way and be meaningless. Making the US title an unofficial CW title would reduce the chances of it being made a joke again.

I'd agree with this mostly, but add something else. Isn't it best we never have a CW-oriented title again? WWE's history with it is that it's an afterthought that pigeonholes smaller wrestlers who, at best, can hope to either get 4 minutes on 1 PPV a year, or be fed to the WHC-du-jour. The light-heavyweights that're over can wrestle each other for any title, if one's needed at all.

gnfnrhead

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

I'd agree with this mostly, but add something else. Isn't it best we never have a CW-oriented title again? WWE's history with it is that it's an afterthought that pigeonholes smaller wrestlers who, at best, can hope to either get 4 minutes on 1 PPV a year, or be fed to the WHC-du-jour. The light-heavyweights that're over can wrestle each other for any title, if one's needed at all.

Looking back at the list of former Champions in WWE and Rey Mysterio is the only guy to achieve much. Matt Hardy is second best. If you include the LHW title, you can add the short title reigns of Jeff Hardy and Christian.

Out of the history of both titles in WWE, only two people made it to the top. The US and IC titles have much higher success rates.

Kolido

Why is Orton still carrying 2 belts, are they not going to unveil 1 new belt?

jaykhunter

Kolido wrote: »

Why is Orton still carrying 2 belts, are they not going to unveil 1 new belt?

Probably not, considering Rock only unveiled the new WWE belt last year (its an expensive investment) and they still have two different touring circuits. It's real bad form to have WWE events without the champion on the show. It's more likely they'll either separate the belts or drop the WHC.

If I were to guess how they'd separate them, Orton would lose a title match and H would say it was just for one of the belts.

gerrybbadd

Bryan Alvarez reckons in the long term, they will have just one belt, the current WWE title belt, and get rid of the Big Gold Belt.

They spent serious dosh on designing that new title, with Orange County Choppers guy Paul Teutul Sr.

Hematocyte

Q: Have any wrestlers made their name first with TNA but then jumped ship and joined WWE?

jaykhunter

Hematocyte wrote: »

Q: Have any wrestlers made their name first with TNA but then jumped ship and joined WWE?

Ah, Chris Harris! Also Marcus Cor Von (Monty Brown). Senshi/Low-Ki for a wet day. I suppose R-Truth (he was a bigger star relative to TNA than WWE), although he was in WWF beforehand...Same with Gail Kim, Christian. Punk was never a name in TNA before he went to WWE.

Kolido

jaykhunter wrote: »

Probably not, considering Rock only unveiled the new WWE belt last year (its an expensive investment) and they still have two different touring circuits. It's real bad form to have WWE events without the champion on the show. It's more likely they'll either separate the belts or drop the WHC.

If I were to guess how they'd separate them, Orton would lose a title match and H would say it was just for one of the belts.

According to wiki, the whc has been retired and the current title is a successor to the wwe title so I assume they will just drop the big gold belt eventually.

On a side note, when you say expensive, how much are we talking, considering the size of the company it must be quite a lot.

lebowskilite

Kolido wrote: »

According to wiki, the whc has been retired and the current title is a successor to the wwe title so I assume they will just drop the big gold belt eventually.

On a side note, when you say expensive, how much are we talking, considering the size of the company it must be quite a lot.

I hope they keep the two belts as one championship tbh. You can't just retire the big gold belt...

Palo Alto

Big Gold for HOF this year!

gnfnrhead

jaykhunter wrote: »

Ah, Chris Harris! Also Marcus Cor Von (Monty Brown). Senshi/Low-Ki for a wet day. I suppose R-Truth (he was a bigger star relative to TNA than WWE), although he was in WWF beforehand...Same with Gail Kim, Christian. Punk was never a name in TNA before he went to WWE.

MVP was in TNA first also. Joey Mercury and Trinity too.

Punk is easily the biggest to have been in TNA first but it was never his home base. ROH was always his base, with TNA being extra. Xavier Woods is one of the biggest names after that. Unlike Punk, he was actually a full time guy in TNA.

Machismo Fan

What happened to Richie Steamboat?

gnfnrhead

Machismo Fan wrote: »

What happened to Richie Steamboat?

A bad back injury put him out for ages. Dont think he has wrestled since. Was released a few weeks ago, can only assume it isnt good news on the injury front.

rovert

Machismo Fan wrote: »

What happened to Richie Steamboat?

Suffered the same neck injury essentially his Dad that ended his Dad's career. Recovering from a hail mary surgery still. A rumour went round that he was released but Meltzer said that isn't true.

764dak

Why are PPVs on Sunday?

jaykhunter

764dak wrote: »

Why are PPVs on Sunday?

Two reasons: People are usually free on a Sunday (staying in after having gone out Fri or Sat), and NFL is on Sundays. There's a large cross-over of fans, people get used to meeting up on Sundays and watching the (American) football, why not meet up to watch the wrestling?
Survivor Series used to be on Thanksgiving Thursday (when people were already meeting up) so it's roughly the same mentality. It's the same reason RAW is on Mondays, even though it takes a beating while Monday Night Football is on, it's the "Monday tradition" to watch sports, please hang around and watch RAW during the off-season! It's "the thing to do" on Mondays.

rovert

jaykhunter wrote: »

Two reasons: People are usually free on a Sunday (staying in after having gone out Fri or Sat), and NFL is on Sundays. There's a large cross-over of fans, people get used to meeting up on Sundays and watching the (American) football, why not meet up to watch the wrestling?
Survivor Series used to be on Thanksgiving Thursday (when people were already meeting up) so it's roughly the same mentality. It's the same reason RAW is on Mondays, even though it takes a beating while Monday Night Football is on, it's the "Monday tradition" to watch sports, please hang around and watch RAW during the off-season! It's "the thing to do" on Mondays.

Also Boxing and UFC are on Saturday.

gnfnrhead

The time zones also come into it. 8pm on a Wednesday on the easy coast is 5pm on the west coast. A live PPV misses a ton of buys due to people knowing they would not be home in time. It's the reason Taboo Tuesday was quickly replaced with Cyber Sunday.

Kolido

Apart from DDP and Punk, has anyone else featured as an extra at a ppv before they made a name for them selves in the WWE?

Omackeral

Not quite the same but a young Rob Van Dam was in a segment with Million Dollar Man back in 1990

Omackeral

Here's the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXCy4NyadQ8

Edit: It was 1897 contested under DeLorean Rules. It was, in fact, 1987!

jaykhunter

Omackeral wrote: »

Edit: It was 1897

JrdanB

Apparently Dean Ambrose is The Druid on the left here during the 2006 Royal Rumble...

http://youtu.be/-mn2Ck5uIJw

33 seconds in might be him? Anger shot around the 2 minute mark

jaykhunter

JrdanB wrote: »

Apparently Dean Ambrose is The Druid on the left here during the 2006 Royal Rumble

It does look like him. The internet says he had a tryout a few weeks beforehand and landed this gig. I can't verify it though.