On Monday, October 17, 2005 at 12:48 AM EST Welcome to this week’s edition of the Armpit wrestling quiz. The bidding war for Mike Goldberg’s services inspired us to do a quiz this week on, you guessed it, “Bidding Wars.”
Last week's winner:
Joel Zummak, with nothing to plug.
Last week's answers: (Click here for last week's questions.
-Raw debuted in January of 1993. Remember the days when Superstars of Wrestling was WWF’s “A” show??
-Nitro debuted in September of 1995.
-The main event on the final Nitro was Ric Flair vs. Sting. Hey isn’t it amazing that Flair’s body today has literally transformed from those days? Wow, he must be working out extra hard in the gym… or something. What could that something be? I should make that a quiz question.
-Dino Bravo “broke” the world bench press record when Jesse Ventura pretended to spot him, but instead helped him lift the weight. It was well done, and I miss those simple angles WWF used to do so effectively. Back then, Frenchy Marin’s (Dino’s manager) catch phrase, “The USA is not OK,” was considered ground-breaking.
-The celebrity judges for the Flair-Sting 1988 classic were Jason Hervey, 1988 Penthouse Pet of the Year Patty Mullen, Sandy Scott, Gary Juster, and Ken “Eddie Haskell” Osmond. It was funny because you could see Hervey hitting on Mullen whenever the camera was on them. Well, it’s not like you and I wouldn’t have done the same thing if we were in Hervey’s place.
-Honkytonk Man and his ego refused to put over Randy Savage and lose the IC title on that NBC special. And thank goodness, because Savage then went on to become WWF champ and drew record money with Hogan a year after that.
-On the Owen Hart tribute on Raw, it was Mark Henry who read the poem.
-The Owen Hart “tribute” match on Nitro was between Bret Hart and Chris Benoit.
-The matches from the first ever Saturday Night’s Main Event were: Rotunda & Windham & Steamboat vs. Sheik & Volkoff & Steele, Hogan vs. Orton, Richter vs. Moolah, and JYD vs. Pete Doughtery.
-When Vince announced Raw as the longest running show, he then introduced Matt Hardy back to WWE. If nothing /*, WWE proved in 2005 that they are still the masters of screwing up can’t-miss angles.
Here are this week's questions. Please email your answers to Quiz@ArmpitWrestling.com. The first person to get all the correct answers to me will be declared the winner and have his/her name listed next week along with anything he/she wants to plug. Remember, once you win, you cannot win again for 3 more weeks.
Question #1
Bret Hart was in a huge bidding war in 1996, and ended up signing a 20-year contract with WWE. His announcement of this on Raw was memorable, as I’m sure you all remember. True or False: when Bret made this announcement, Vince McMahon acted like he didn’t know what Bret was going to say.
Question #2
Brock Lesnar’s services were available back when WCW was still in business. Both companies wanted him for obvious reasons. He chose WWE and began training in OVW. When he came to WWE, the reason he got over so well was that SmackDown had a head writer (Paul Heyman) who knew what he was doing. Heyman even managed Lesnar. Alas, the word “manager” could not be used. After all, that’s so ‘80s, says WWE. Instead of Heyman being called Lesnar’s “manager,” he was called his what? (Hint: Heyman was never referred to as a “diva,” and he never posed in a bikini. Not that I wouldn’t put it past WWE to actually do that).
Question #3
WWE was expecting a huge bidding war among networks to sign Raw, the show that lost over half of its audience from its peak, thanks to the horrible booking under the watch of that self-proclaimed “bitch” (her words, not mine, but now that means we can refer her to as that, so I’m happy), Stephanie Levesque. Oops, there were no takers for Raw, except USA. You gotta love Spike for calling Vince’s bluff. How long was Raw on Spike TV for? (This is not a trick question. By Spike, I mean the old TNN, too.)
Question #4
Next year will see the end of the 10-year, $2.5 million contract WWE foolishly signed with a former Olympian back in 1996. WWE can’t wait soon enough for this contract to end. It’s a nice gig, making $250,000 a year for doing nothing. Wrestling companies actually bid for this guy?? He’s a nice guy and all, but not worth his price tag. Whom am I talking about?
Question #5
Mick Foley was involved in something of a bidding war last month between TNA and WWE. He ultimately chose WWE. It’s hard to turn down more money, creative control, free book promotion, and financial stability and security for your family. 5 years ago this month, which American company did Mick Foley wrestle for?
Question #6
Brian Pillman was the talk of the town for awhile in 1996, bouncing between WWE, WCW, and ECW. He got himself a nice sized contract with WWE in one of the most brilliant schemes a wrestler ever pulled off. Unfortunately, Pillman was injured shortly after his signing with WWE. How did he injure his ankle?
Question #7
Two guys who made an absolute mint in wrestling were Rick and Scott Steiner. These brothers were making huge money long before the Monday night wars, and only continued to make even bigger money during the war. When Nitro got off the ground in its early days, who was the Steiners’ babyface manager?
Question #8
One superstar and icon from the 80s and 90s who never had a run with WWE is Sting. Sting also made a fortune in wrestling, as even the moronic Turner suits weren’t dumb enough to lose him to WWE during the 90s. He got one great contract after another, and today he’s wealthy. You may wonder why, then, Sting chose to wrestle for TNA. That is, unless you know the real reason. Why is/was Sting so loyal to Jerry Jarrett?
Question #9
“Bidding war” is not the proper term to use for WCW when it went belly up. Before WWE bought WCW, Eric Bischoff announced that HE had bought WCW. It never happened, as wrestling was yanked from Time Warner’s stations. What was the name of the company Bischoff convinced to buy WCW?
Question #10
Before he became what he is today, Lex Luger was one smart cookie who amassed himself a fortune by outsmarting company after company into paying him enormous sums of money. A series of bad decisions, bad luck, and bad divorce laws in this country have all taken their toll on the Total Package. Before he joined the NWA in 1987, Luger caused a major buzz with the phrase “the next Hogan” being thrown around. In the dying days of territories, what Southeastern state did Luger make a name for himself in before he joined up with Crockett?
Security
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12. In case you win, please tell us how you'd like to list your name and plug. Due to time constraints, you will not be notified if you win, and instead will have to wait until next week when the winning name is posted. If you're playing just for fun and don't care about winning, you don't have to answer this question.
Please email your answers to Quiz@ArmpitWrestling.com. Results will be posted next week. Thanks to everyone for playing.
The Wrestling Professor
www.ArmpitWrestling.com
This week's features: Hypocrite Nation: we take a look at some of the most hypocritical events in wrestling of all-time. Ask the Armpit is back, an open letter to Vince McMahon, Single White Emails, and a review of WrestleMania XI. Please stop by the site today.