Scott’s Mailbag of Doom – June 9 2008

Features, Q&A

Thanks to everyone who’s offered their help with designing Dungeonofdeath.com — I’m still not 100% sure what I want the site to look like, but I’ll get back to y’all when I do.  If anyone sees any sites they think might look good as a template, let me know so I can stea…investigate them. 

On with the mail!

Question #1!

 

Hey Scott,
Love the blog. I have a couple of questions for you.
Firstly, do you know what happened to your old buddy Rick Scaia and his onlineonslaught website?
Secondly a couple of weeks ago you were asked what your though the best year to be a professional wrestling fan was. My question is what do you think the worst years have been? I’d say 2002 and 2007 but you have followed the buisness for longer then I have and I’d be interested in your opinion.

No clue what happened to Rick and OO.com.  The domain expired a couple of months ago and he kind of disappeared. 

 

As for worst years, I could have sworn we covered this topic in one of those endless list threads a while back, but without a doubt 1993 was the year that nearly drove me away from wrestling entirely.  The WWF was in the toilet and headlined by Yokozuna v. Tatanka as the big feud while Bret Hart feuded with Jerry Lawler, and of course we don’t even need to go over all the things wrong with WCW.  Thank god that SMW and other major indies at least developed talent to replace all the stiffs in the Big Two.  It’s hard to make blanket judgments about years past 2001 now because really it’s just one promotion being judged against itself, although 2002 was pretty putrid with the Kane unmasking and Sheriff Austin and a general downswing for the WWE. 

Question #2!

Hey Scott,

Hope you’re doing well. I have a question for you that I’m reminded of every time someone mentions that HHH and Taker bury people. Now, I’m a HUGE Rock fan, to the point that he’s in my top three favourite wrestlers with Bret and Foley, but I tend to think that Rock had a way of burying people as well with his awesome promos. I look at how Rock had a tendency to make fun of wrestlers in his promos like Big Show (that awesome groaning promo about the chokeslam), Booker T, Billy Gunn, Kane, Shamrock and Rikishi, which completely took away their heat and made them laughingstocks (some of them deserved it, of course).

That being said, I agree that Rock has also given back as he was the first top guy to put up and comers like Angle and Jericho over but I still think that sometimes his promos were just so good, they buried whoever they were targeting.

What do you think? And keep up the good work

I think that if someone’s promos are so good that they’re making others look bad, then it’s on the shoulders of the targets to improve their promos and keep up, not for Rock to dumb it down so that the other sports entertainment superstars don’t look like chumps.  And lemme tell ya, sure Rock made some guys look dumb, but those that COULD hang with Rock were given the rub big-time.  Look at Mick Foley, who verbally slugged it out with Rock night after night, and Rock was always happy to make himself look stupid in return to put Mick over.  And even after he verbally buried guys like Kane and Big Show, Rock would go out and get chokeslammed through the ring (figuratively speaking) in order to make them seem like monsters.  But really, if someone’s so awesome that it’s becoming a problem, you do whatever you need to build around THEM, not the guys getting buried.  You can always find another 100 Billy Gunns on the indie circuit who work cheaper, but there’s only one Rock or Steve Austin.

Question #3!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Wrestling_Entertainment_alumni

I think this has great potential, but have already noticed a few inaccuracies (typical Wikipedia). I’m sure you have some longtime fans on your blog who can post more accurate info, and in turn spread the word about this page to others who can make it more accurate and…..well, I like accurate wrestling info.

So if you plug this and this page makes the rounds, it would make a handy resource with the proper updates from the IRC crowd.

And if it sweetens the pot, I own your last three books. Really.

How DARE you disparage Wikipedia.  Of course, I’m still a bit bitter about having my entry deleted, but I’ll get it over it.

Obsessedwithwrestling.com is another good site for info like that.  I particularly like it for looking up masked wrestlers’ identities.

Question #4!

Hey Scott,
Love the blog; book cover looks top notch as well. As you know, the
subject of your book this time around is much more specific than those
before. Was just wondering if and to what extent you’ve had contact with
members of the extended Hart family for this work? Or is that not the
direction you’re trying to go with it? I figure any insights could add a
lot of great context and perspective, for the "Family Curse" side if not
the "Benoit" side. For what it’s worth.

The Harts are pretty tough to get in touch with.  I’ve heard Bruce doesn’t like me or something, too.  It wasn’t really the direction I was going with it anyway — it’s more along the lines of Dave Meltzer’s Tributes books as far as the tone goes, plus I talk about Bruce’s booking style and how it was both crazy for the times and yet years ahead of its time. 

For reference, this is the table of contents:

Introduction. 5

The Life of Chris Benoit 8

The Death of Chris Benoit 24

Stu Hart and Stampede Wrestling. 37

The British Bulldogs. 45

Brian Pillman. 68

Bret Hart 83

Owen Hart 107

The Von Erichs. 122

Death and Wrestling. 133

Chris Adams. 133

Brian Adams. 134

Mike Awesome. 135

Yokozuna. 136

Bam Bam Bigelow.. 139

Biff Wellington. 140

Chris Candido. 141

Bobby Duncum Jr. 142

Anthony "Pitbull #2" Durante. 143

The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock) 143

Hercules Hernandez. 146

Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy. 146

Eddie Guerrero. 152

Russ Haas. 157

Road Warrior Hawk. 157

Curt Hennig. 167

Miss Elizabeth. 176

Crash Holly. 184

Louie Spicolli 185

Junkyard Dog. 187

Big Dick Dudley. 190

"Ravishing" Rick Rude. 190

Big Bossman. 195

Drugs and Wrestling. 207

Conclusion. 226

So really the Benoit and Hart Family stuff is more of a launching pad for me to talk about all the other deaths and tragedies in wrestling than the be-all and end-all of the book. 

Question #5!

What’s the deal on Mick Foley’s Autobiography, reading it, Foley seems like a generally likeable, albeit insecure guy, who really didn’t have heat with anyone except Ric Flair and Ole Anderson. Anyway, are there any stories which sort of contradict his wholesome nice guy thing, or is he truly the greatest feel good story in Pro-Wrestling.

I’ve never heard anyone say anything but nice things about the guy, and really his work and dedication speaks for itself.  And having heat with Ole Anderson is called being normal so that’s no big deal.  I would agree that he’s incredibly insecure at times, though, and I think it hurts his legacy in a lot of ways.  No one ever accused Rock or Austin of having self-confidence issues, for example, and you’d never seem them putting themselves in the kind of bad positions that Foley has put himself into in the name of getting someone over. 

Question #6!

On the subject of Wrestler biographies, are there any out there that were written by the wrestler, no ghost writer, like Foley’s? Obviously The Rock’s, Austin’s and Kurt Angle’s was, but what’s the verdict on HBK’s Jericho’s and Bret Hart’s?

Jericho’s was definitely ghost-written because I was desperately trying to win the race to get the job and ended up finishing second.  Bret’s was done entirely by himself, taken from years of notes he took on the road, and you can definitely tell that by reading the book.  Shawn’s I have no idea, but I’ve heard that it has pacing issues and gets overly personal at times, so I’d guess it was mainly him. 

Question #7!

This has always been a curiosity question of mine, but something I’ve always been curious of. People say to be a WWE writer you need to write sitcoms and such, is this true? Because when I read about "Whose in Charge" I hear Vince, Steph, HHH, and to a lesser (But welcome) extent, Shane. Just curious. Are there a good deal of non wrestlers writing wrestling story-lines?
In the same regard, recently the WWE stated they would be looking for life-long wrestling fans for wrestlers, instead of athletes first, wrestling fans second, as to avoid the Lashley, Lesnar effect. Would being a wrestling fan in touch with the internet crowd (who also has expierence writing sit-coms and a drama or two) be adventagous, or would it be something to keep under one’s hat.

Pretty much the entire writing staff are non-wrestlers, in fact.  Michael Hayes was in charge of Smackdown until the whole n-word fiasco, at which point my buddy Ed Koskey was given the reins last I heard.  And RAW is of course run by Brian Gewirtz for the most part.  No matter what the final word and ideas always come from Vince and to a lesser extent HHH these days, but other than that wrestlers on the booking meetings are the exception rather than the rule. And in some ways that’s a huge part of the problem. 

And being a wrestling fan is always something to keep under your hat if you want to get involved in any serious way.  The disdain that many wrestlers have for fans, especially ones who "know too much", is kind of a sad holdover from the carny mentality, but it’s a fact of the business.

Question #8!

Recently, you reviewed the "Legends of Wrestling: Worst Characters." But you never gave us your opinion on the subject.
So, barring the Gobbledy Gooker and Red Rooster (because I think everyone is in agreement no one is gonna top those two for worst characters) who is the worst character in wrestling history?
Also, what is the worst match ever? Plus, what is the worst angle/storyline ever?

Worst character in history:  Depends on what you mean by "worst" I guess.  I think overall Muhammad Hassan has to rank up there as a seriously pushed character because he was offensive on so many levels, and a terrible worker to boot.  I mean you can name stupid Steve Lombardi gimmicks all day and night, because no one ever took him seriously anyway, but Hassan was a guy who was supposed to be a major player and World title contender.  They even programmed him against friggin’ HULK HOGAN, for god’s sake. 

Worst match ever:  Easy one.  Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff v. The Bushwackers from Heroes of Wrestling.  Close second is the main event with Jake Roberts and his phallic snake, but at least that had comedy value. 

Worst storyline ever:  Katie Vick by a landslide as far as an angle that didn’t help anyone get over and insulted the intelligence of everyone watching.  For sheer stupidity, David Arquette winning the World title, but at least it produced one decent match at Slamboree 2000 and he donated his proceeds to charity. 

And finally, Question #9!

I was browsing YouTube and found an awesome clip of Sting & Lex Luger attacking Ric Flair the night after Sting’s heel turn and victory over Hogan for the World title at Fall Brawl.  Here’s the address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71OtpbhMIJk
If you ask me, Sting & Luger played their roles perfectly, and I remember at the time being very interested to see where they were going with Sting as a heel, but it was aborted soon thereafter.  What did you think, and can you think of any other memorable instances where a wrestler switched sides, but quickly reverted back to being a face or heel?  Thanks.

– Shawn Michaels at the end of 1996, acting heelish and then getting cheered at Royal Rumble so strongly that they switched him back again.

– The Road Warriors are the best example, because they were turned heel in a memorable series of angles in 1988, nearly killing Sting and Dusty Rhodes to turn them into mega-heels, then slaughtering the Midnight Express to win the tag titles, doing everything short of killing puppies on live TV to draw heel heat, and STILL getting cheered by fans until they finally had to switch them back to faces.

– Chyna practically spent all of 1999 turning between face and heel, sometimes during the same show, but that hardly counts, I’d say.

I’m sure others have more examples, because it’s happened quite a lot.