ASK WV 3/25/09 – WM VII, Lawler


Welcome to the March 25th, 2009 edition of Ask WrestleView! If you don’t see your question answered this week, make sure to check back next week as I will always pull questions from past emails. Just because you sent it in within the last week does not mean it will never appear here on Ask WV.

That being said, if you have a question you’d like to send in for consideration of an upcoming edition of Ask WV, please send it to: askwv@wrestleview.com

Archives for “Ask WrestleView” can be found at this link.

All questions were answered by WrestleView’s Chief Historian, Ryan Droste


To start things off, I have received multiple emails asking about the rift between Randy Savage and Vince McMahon. This question was answered in the March 3rd edition of Ask WV. Please click here for the answer to that question.

The very first ppv that I ever bought as a kid was Wrestlemania 7. Now, as a kid I thought it was the greatest Wrestlemania ever but I was wondering how well did that Wrestlemania do compared to the Wrestlemanias around that time frame?
-Drake

Buy rate wise, WrestleMania VII did the lowest of any WrestleMania to that date. They started calculating PPV buyrates with WrestleMania III in 1987. WrestleMania buyrates decreased every year from that point on until 1998. So while WrestleMania VII was the lowest up to that point, every WrestleMania after it did even worse buyrates until WrestleMania XIV in 1998. Ticket sale wise, WrestleMania VII was a huge disappointment. It was originally booked to be held at the 100,000 seat outdoor Coliseum in Los Angeles. After a poor advance, the event was moved to the LA Sports Arena. WWE explained the move to the Sports Arena as being for “security concerns” due to the controversial Sgt. Slaughter storyline. But don’t be fooled, the event was moved because of slow ticket sales.

I notice thru out the years of WWE that they come up with the names for the wrestlers. But wrestlers like Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Kurt Angle and others uses there real names, why does the WWE allow some wrestlers to uses there real name and not make names for them?
-Luis

Because quite frankly, Michael Hickenbottom (Shawn Michaels’ real name) or Paul Levesque (Triple H’s real name) just don’t sound too good. This is done on a case by case basis. Movie and TV actors (even news anchors) often give themselves different “stage names” because their real names are too complex or just “don’t work well for entertainment.” It’s the same in pro wrestling.

Has jerry lawler ever wrestled for the NWA title?
-Joel

Yes, more than once. The most famous time being against Ric Flair in 1985.

Ryan, Im a big fan of Alan Funk. Do you know of anything hes been up to lately? Also is he related to Terry or Dory?
-Chad

He is of no direct relation to the famous Funks. Alan was born in Ohio and was trained at the old WCW Power Plant. After brief stints in WCW and TNA, Alan was last scene wrestling here and there on the independent scene. Last I heard, he was showing up on cards in the northeast. But it’s been a couple of years since I’ve heard his name. He’s close to 40 years old now, so he’s probably starting to slow down.

Was the finish to the NWA Title Match at Beach Blast 1993 planned to go that way? Barry Windham looks kind of shocked for a split second there when his shoulders are counted three during the Ric Flair figure four.
-Greg

This was indeed the planned finish, there was no swerve.

When Did Shawn Michaels Appear on the cover of Playgirl Magazine?
-Carl Houston

October 1996.


That’s all for this edition of Ask WrestleView.

Don’t forget to check out my personal wrestling blog, Droste’s Double Shot. I have just published the fourth in a five part series counting down the top 50 matches in WrestleMania history. This week’s edition covers WrestleMania’s XVI-XX. Check it out, comments and good spirited debate are welcome and encouraged!

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