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SEScoops Mailbag for Cinco de Mayo
(submit YOUR questions to [email protected])
Q: A few weeks back, SEScoops put up a story about Sin Cara bragging that most of his matches in Mexico where shoot bouts. I know what a shoot is, but what did he mean by this? The article also said that the “boys” in the back think he embarrassed himself and that Tomko used to do the same thing. – Ken
A: It basically means that the matches were more like real fights and not pro wrestling matches, which is laughable. He is not endearing himself to everyone in that locker room if various reports are to be believed, and people that were aware of the stories about Mistico (Sin Cara) in Mexico and how the other wrestlers felt about him are not surprised by this news. In fact, many of them predicted this would happen and it is one of the reasons Alberto Del Rio did not want him in the company. He’s an extremely talented performer, but when your ego is bigger than your entire body, you’re going to rub a lot of people the wrong way.
Q: By how much does WWE or TNA bump up the weight of the wrestlers? I once read that promotions tend to do this. Why is this? Miz is billed at 230lbs or so and Cena [is billed at] 240, but when you look at them, you get the feeling that the difference is a lot bigger. – Trust S.
A: Wrestling promotions have done this since the beginning of time, and WWE is as guilty as anyone if doing it. For example, I always used to wonder how Bret Hart was able to be so damn consistent with his weight, having been billed for years at 234 lbs. (which in itself was horseshit). Shawn Michaels was billed at 6’1, 220 lbs. for many years, even though Triple H revealed at the Hall of Fame that he was really 5’11 and about 195. And let us not forget that Andre the Giant stood at 7’4, 520 lbs. at WrestleMania III. Actually, he may have really been 520 by that point, but he was certainly nowhere close to 7’4. Of course, if Hulk Hogan is to believed, Andre actually tipped the scales at 700+lbs. when Hulk slammed him and he died three days later.
Q: Are [certain] storylines, like the Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler feud, real? Is everything during a storyline planned down to the single detail? I know WWE wrestlers are actors, but not everything seems to be acted, some reactions and some incidents seem real. The Rock and John Cena for example, do you think it’s real anger and [tension] between them or is that just for the camera? If so, how is it possible for two superstars that don’t like each other to work together for so many months? – David
A: The on-air heat between Cole and Lawler is 100% contrived for storyline purposes. Likewise, Rock and Cena are cool with each other, and if there was any real tension between them in the past, it got smoothed over at the 2008 Hall of Fame when Rock inducted his father and grandfather (and I think Rock realized it wasn’t Cena’s idea to make all of those comments that he made about him in the media). That said, not everyone who works together likes one another. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels REALLY did not like one another during that tumultuous period in 1997. In fact, they had one fight backstage (if you can call hair-pulling a fight) that had to be broken up and both were sent home from an episode of Raw. But they still worked together because it was the right thing for business. Same with Batista and Booker T in 2006 who also had a backstage altercation, but still went on to work a program together. It’s called being professional and doing your job.
Q: What are your thoughts on Lita being called a hoe and screwing over Matt [Hardy] and retiring because of the fans? – Marie
A: If she would’ve just dodged the Spear, this all could have been avoided.
Q: What are your thoughts on critics saying Trish Stratus was overrated? – Brandon
A: I’d say those critics are probably correct, but you need to keep these things in perspective. If people refer to Trish as one of, if not the, greatest WWE female performer of all time, you can definitely make that argument. She was a fitness model with virtually no experience who worked hard and transformed herself into a very good worker who won six World titles. Now, if you want to say that she was one of the greatest female performers of all time anywhere in wrestling, that’s not even CLOSE to being true. I’ve seen some female Japanese performers who would blow Trish out of the water. She gets more credit than I think she would otherwise receive because WWE’s Divas division is so atrocious these days and has been for many years now.
Q: On Raw [a few weeks ago] when R-Truth asked the fans for a [cigarette] and they gave it to him, was that scripted or did the fan really just give it to him? – Keysean
A: The fan really just gave it to him. You can count on there always being plenty of smokers around, or as I like to say, “I see dead people.”
Q: There’s been a lot of recently talk about Sting and the WWE, and you even stated Undertaker vs. Sting at WrestleMania would be an obvious route. My question is why? I get it from the marketing aspect, and from WWE’s point of view, but what good does this do for Sting? Obviously, he would lose and therefore his concerns over his character not being handled well would be correct. So what sense does it make for Sting in this scenario aside from getting to perform at WM? – Brant F.
A: I’m not sure how Sting losing a match, especially on the biggest show of the year to someone like The Undertaker, equates to a poor handling of his character. Has Sting gone undefeated his entire career? Wins and losses are incidental these days, and unless you are on a losing streak of some sort, they really don’t matter all that much. If WWE were to bring him in for a match of that magnitude, they would have no choice but to treat him as something special and as a believable threat to The Streak™. Add to that the fact that they would likely put him in the Hall of Fame and give him the requisite DVD treatment (which TNA cannot do since they don’t own the rights to all of his classic matches) and I fail to see what good it does NOT do for Sting. But I’ve said before, and will again, that I almost hope Sting doesn’t wrestle in a WWE ring because it would be something special for him to hang his hat on when he inevitably goes into the HOF anyway.
Q: WWE was in Turkey last year, TNA was in Abu Dhabi a few months ago and I heard that Sheamus was in Qatar to promote the recent WWE tour there. Do you think they will ever come to Egypt, especially since they are very popular in our country of 85 million people? – Hesham, Egypt
A: I would imagine it will happen at some point, but they likely want to wait and see how the recent political unrest plays out in that region. Frankly, I find it hard to believe they’ve never toured there before.
Q: I was looking through Lex Luger’s bio and saw that one of his finishers was named the Attitude Adjustment (a piledriver). I was wondering why would WWE let John Cena call his finisher the Attitude Adjustment when it was used by one of their former stars? – Syed R.
A: Perhaps it’s because hardly anyone even remembers him using that move. Certainly, the few people I asked about this had no idea he ever had a finisher by that name. It’s not something WWE likely even knows about, let alone would go out of their way to protect. The finishers that Luger became synonymous with were the Torture Rack submission and forearm smash (because, you see, he had a metal plate in his forearm and this somehow rendered opponents unconscious).
Q: I remember back in 2004-2005, Randy Orton used to cut great promos and was very confident on the mic. How come in the last few years he hasn’t talked on the mic a lot? Is this because WWE thinks he isn’t good enough or is it because Orton isn’t as confident now? – Haider A.
A: It’s because Randy Orton is not human, but rather, he is a robot disguised to look like a human. He only walks and talks like a robot. And his confidence is not the issue, it’s his firmware, which they haven’t updated in a while.
Keep those questions coming to [email protected] and remember to include your name!
