Ian Hunter here, stunned as hell. Why didn't Mae get an honor in the Hall Of Fame years earlier? I get the feeling her spot was given to Pete Rose years ago. I was thinking of doing trivia on Mae Young this week, but upon researching I discovered that no one bothered to do any kind of in-depth bio on her before 1999. So all I had for trivia was stripping, sexual games, the birthing of a hand, and all the other B.S. that WWE loves to package and hit the replay button on whenever they're too damn lazy to be creative. So to hell with that! I may be a jerk but I've got a little more class than to ask you what she stuffed her pants with when she bronco busted Eric Bischoff. (It was sardines, by the way. It's sad I know that.) So this week we're switching gears and starting our Hitchhike To WrestleMania from California to Florida. But first, we need to answer last week's questions.
1: D. Pat Patterson took the belt from Maivia in 1972 and fled in a shower of broken glass. Patterson would later recall security telling him he was safe because the Samoan fans were up in the rafters, but as soon as he won they all came down looking for Canadian blood.
2: C. Steve Rickard and Maivia would trade the belts twice before Rickard took it for good back to the down under.
3: E. Storyline wise, Blassie took on Maivia as a favor to his good friend Lou Albano. Maivia would finish out his career in the WWWF as a heel.
4: B: Johnson held no top heavyweight gold in All Star Wrestling. A few people said Big Time as well, but no, Johnson held the Texas championship belt during the tenature where WCCW was recognized under the Big Time banner.
5: Their tag team name was the "Soul Patrol". The name was rarely used because both men had thriving singles careers before teaming up, and McMahon Sr. was afraid that fans might lose interest in both men if they thought they were a permanent tag team.
We have one winner this week, and it's Chris Molina. Take a bow Chris. Okay, now get off the stage, no one likes a glory hog. It's a brand new week and we've got another inductee to question you about. Answer the questions and email your answers to TorchTrivia@gmail.com. We'll post the names of those who got ALL FIVE correct. Good luck to you all!
1. Let's start with the one that most fans consider to be THE WORST WrestleMania of them all. WrestleMania XVI. Oh, I'm sorry, most of you know it as WrestleMania 2000. The only good thing that ever came from this event was the N64 game named after it. Most of the matches on card were teamed events that weren't even Smackdown worthy at the time, and little saving grace was given to the good matches. Like the triple threat match for both the Intercontinental and European titles between Jericho, Benoit and Angle. But most of the matches were just bad, including the main event that featured only the second time in history the title didn't change hands. The night was kicked off with a Hardcore Championship match in which the ending was botched and Hardcore Holly ended up winning the belt. Who was supposed to win the match?
A. Tazz
B. Faarooq
C. Viscera
D. Bradshaw
E. Crash Holly
2. While we're already at the Arrowhead Pond, let's chat about WrestleMania XII. What many could argue was the last good PPV the New Era version of the WWF had before it switched over to the Attitude Era. Memorable matches included the Ultimate Warrior making his third comeback and no-selling everything Hunter Hearst Helmsley did, Steve Austin's violent attack on Savio Vega with the Million Dollar Belt, and Roddy Piper in a street fight with Goldust that included a horrible parody of the O.J. Simpson highway chase. But of course the highlight of the night was Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart in an Ironman Match. Michaels made his way to the ring on the famous zip line fireworks show we're all familiar with by now. But when he got to the ring someone was waiting for him in his corner. Who was it?
A. Gorilla Monsoon
B. Richard Hickenbottom
C. Diesel
D. Jose Lothario
E. Sherri Martel
3. Next one is a write-in question. While we're in California, let's take a look at WrestleMania VII. Some of the more definitive matches of the booming era were happening just before the WWF started to take a downswing. Jake Roberts and Rick Martel in a blindfold match, Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior in a retirement match, and let us not forget covering Hogan in american colors to take on Iraqi sympathiser Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF title. In fact, it's because of Slaughter's character that the venue had to change. It's unclear to this day whether it was a sniper threat or a bomb threat, but some umb patriot didn't get the memo that wrestling is scripted and threatened the WWF if they went on with the show. But McMahon wasn't going to take that from anyone, and instead changed the venue to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Where was WrestleMania VII originally scheduled for?
4. Since we're already at the Sports Arena, let's go abck five more years to WrestleMania 2. an event "so big" it needed to be held in three cities. In reality it was Vince's way of showing that the WWF was making a major impact on pop culture and had the resources to do 3 events in one night (despite the fact that all the cards had 4-5 matches and weren't really a full event package). After getting guest stars for the first WrestleMania, the WWF worked hard to get more guests for the second event, including the almost failed attempt to get Ray Charles to sing "America The Beautiful" in New York. Which of these celebrities did NOT attend in any city to watch WrestleMania 2?
A. Cab Calloway
B. G. Gordon Liddy
C. Ricky Schroder
D. Dick Butkus
E. Ozzy Osbourne
5. This next question will also be a write-in. Enough of California, we're hitching a ride in a rusty winnebago up north to Seattle, the sight of WrestleMania XIX. The WWE was on a roll with the last two events being held in major sporting venues and decided to do it once again at Safeco Field with one of their biggest cards to that date. Hogan vs. McMahon in a street fight, Michaels vs. Jericho in an almost 23 minute clinic of wrestling, Austin vs. The Rock in what would be their final match ever, and Lesnar vs. Angle for the WWE title. During the entire event, the WWE was filming a documentary behind the scenes after every match, famously showing Lesnar's frustration after botching the Shooting Star Press. What was the name of the documentary?
LATEST PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #1037 (16 PAGES)
This issue begins with a cover story on the annoucement on Raw that Mike Adamle is the new Raw G.M... Wade Keller's BBL features a number of other shocking G.M. possibilities for WWE to consider... Page 2 Buzz with Jason Powell features his exclusive insider news galore... Pat McNeill continues his series of articles reviewing the history of Summerslam... Bruce Mitchell continues his series of Ric Flair DVD Liner Notes with a focus on "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers htis week... Part four of the "Torch Talk" with Doug Basham... Sean Radican reviews in detail the ROH PPV before it's offered nationally on PPV... Plus the Torch Newswire, Top Five Stories, reports on Raw, Smackdown, and Impact, and more......
