PWTorch.com - MONDAY’S ASK PWTORCH ALL-STARS 3/29: How did Hunter justify winning Booker T feud given racist undertones to hype? What’s best use of Brock moving forward? Was Sting back-up plan at WCW Bash ’96? Dirty Deed change?

Ask PWTorch
MONDAY’S ASK PWTORCH ALL-STARS 3/29: How did Hunter justify winning Booker T feud given racist undertones to hype? What’s best use of Brock moving forward? Was Sting back-up plan at WCW Bash ’96? Dirty Deed change?

Mar 30, 2015 - 4:13:27 PM

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The PWTorch All-Star Panel features an array of contributors answering your questions who have worked in various facets of the pro wrestling industry, plus PWTorch contributors join in. You get an unmatched mix of perspectives including first-hand insights from people who have worked in the ring and behind the curtain.

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PWTorch reader Jeff from Michigan asks: What is the best use of Brock Lesnar moving forward? Should the WWE Title stay on someone else while he is near the main event?

EX-ECW CHAMPION AND LONGTIME WWE WRESTLER Justin Credible (also current IWE Champion, visit www.TheJustinCredible.com and on YouTube here including his ongoing Wrestling 101 Series) answers: The best use for Brock is what they’ve doing.

PROFESSIONAL BROADCASTER Jim Valley (Long time wrestling fan, Torch subscriber, and currently PWTorch Livecast guest host. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars, and was flown out to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham.) I think you can go either way. Brock can regain his title and be champion again or finally start his babyface run without the belt. That's the beauty of re-signing him. There's plenty of money left in Lesnar either way.

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PWTorch reader J.B. asks: My question is about Bash at the Beach '96. I know Hogan and others have said the deal with him turning heel was down-to-the-wire type decision, and they have also said that Sting was the “back-up plan” to be the third man. Re-watching the match recently, the spot at the beginning where Sting accidentally takes out Lex Luger with a stinger splash (as Luger was tied up with Kevin Nash in the corner) seems like a set-up to potentially have an “out” for Sting to be the third man. Even Tony Schivonne refers to Sting on commentary as "long time friend [of Luger], partner, business associate... but also the man who took Luger out" etc... Does anyone know if perhaps this was put in the match so they could call a late audible to turn Sting if Hogan backed out of going heel? Or by the time the match started were all the pieces in place. Just curious if anyone has insider info.

INDY PROMOTER & ANNOUNCER Brad Stutts (Follow @cwfmidatlantic and @stuttsy and listen to his podcast at www.WrestlingWithOptimism) answers: I always thought of it as more of red herring than anything. While Hogan getting cold feet and backing out was certainly a concern, I would certainly assume by MATCH TIME they had it all worked out.

PROFESSIONAL BROADCASTER Jim Valley (Long time wrestling fan, Torch subscriber, and currently PWTorch Livecast guest host. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars, and was flown out to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham.) By that time it was known Hogan was turning. It had been an open secret. Creatively it was done to swerve fans, but I'm sure it was also there as a back up incase Hogan got cold feet at the very last moment. Hogan is a smart man. He follows the money. The money was with the NWO.

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PWTorch reader Gary H. asks: Maybe someone can shed some light on this one. The question is twofold. First, why did Dean Ambrose change his finisher to the double arm DDT a while back? Second, why are the announcers still referring to it as “Dirty Deeds" still. It obviously changed and I think that annoys me more than anything else. I might be expecting to much from the current announce team.

INDY PROMOTER & ANNOUNCER Brad Stutts (Follow @cwfmidatlantic and @stuttsy and listen to his podcast at www.WrestlingWithOptimism) answers: I don't know specifically why they changed it, but I did notice that once Ambrose started working with established top guys like Randy Orton and Kane, they didn't exactly take it as well as guys like Kofi Kingston, so I wonder if switching to a more traditional move was beneficial in that regard.

EX-ECW CHAMPION AND LONGTIME WWE WRESTLER Justin Credible (also current IWE Champion, visit www.TheJustinCredible.com and on YouTube here including his ongoing Wrestling 101 Series) answers: I'm not sure why he changed it, but WWE probably liked the name and stuck with it. I'm sure the call came from Creative.

PROFESSIONAL BROADCASTER Jim Valley (Long time wrestling fan, Torch subscriber, and currently PWTorch Livecast guest host. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars, and was flown out to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham.) This is not new in wrestling. Rick Rude's original version of the Rude Awakening was a DDT. Because the DDT was the finisher of Jake Roberts, Rude had to change his finish to the neck breaker. It had the same name.

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PWTorch reader Chris M. asks: As a black wrestling fan, you realize that to enjoy the product, you're going to have to ignore a bit of racism. From the overt (Cryme Tyme, Vince saying the N Word, and the ‘80s video of Slick eating fried chicken, started by a zoomed out close up of Slick's greasy lips) to the more subtle (Rusev squashing all the black guys, black guys other than The Rock never considered as The Guy), you tend to try to write it off as wrestling being populated by over-the-top characterizations. One that has always stuck in my craw, though, has been the build up to Booker T vs. Triple H at WrestleMania XIX. The table was set for the babyface to go over the racist champion, but Triple H pinned Booker. Why did this happen? If wrestling sends messages about bad guys getting their comeuppance in the end, what message did this one send?

INDY PROMOTER & ANNOUNCER Brad Stutts (Follow @cwfmidatlantic and @stuttsy and listen to his podcast at www.WrestlingWithOptimism) answers: That one has always been a head scratcher for me even if you take the racial overtones out of the story. If the heel says PEOPLE LIKE YOU CAN'T BE CHAMPION to the babyface in a main event program, the babyface has to beat him or else he is dead in the water. That's Pro Wrestling 101, no matter if the heel is commenting on his race, height, weight, talent, whatever. The babyface proves the heel wrong or he is a failure. No idea why they set Booker up for failure in that program, but I always found it egregious.

REALITY TV STAR & EX-TNA MANAGER Jonny Fairplay (@jonnyfairplay was also former personal assistant to Roddy Piper and cohost with Sean Waltman of weekly podcast at www.ProWrestling.net) answers: The name of my kickball team a couple years ago was the “Jive Soul Bros.” We even got t-shirts from BarberShopWindow.com. Honestly, we just loved playing the song at the games and the shirts were cool... And yes, there was a black player on our team. Triple H beating Booker T was just them being racist and laying the foundation for "be a star" for years to come.

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(Send questions for a future Ask PWTorch to: askpwtorch@gmail.com. If you have a particular person on the All-Star Panel you'd in particular like to direct your question to, include that in the subject line, but multiple panelists may also answer.)

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In case you are new to this feature, let me introduce you to our All-Star Panel…

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION: By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

We have assembled a wide range of contributors, which may expand or change over time, with the goal being to give PWTorch readers new perspectives from people who have particular areas of expertise.

Let me introduce you to our panel…

Justin Credible: Current pro wrestler and former ECW Champion and longtime WWE wrestler in the 1990s and 2000s, Justin Credible (P.J. Polaco) currently is the IWE Champion. He travels as indy champion from Maine to Mexico with the title. He posts new Wrestling 101 YouTube videos at www.TheJustinCredible.com or on YouTube at his YouTube Channel.

John Piermarini: Ex-WWE Creative Team member who will provide a behind-the-scenes perspective from his years working for WWE including alongside Vince McMahon, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and John Cena. He has been a frequent PWTorch Livecast guest and was the subject of a comprehensive five-hour Torch Talk interview several years ago about his experience with WWE for most of 2009-2010.

Greg Oliver: SLAM! Wrestling reporter and wrestling book author (and hockey book author), Greg will provide a Canadian perspective on many wrestling topics. If you are a fan from Canada or have Canadian-related wrestling questions, Greg can help you. He is a wrestling historian who published a wrestling newsletter during the boom period of insider wrestling newsletters starting in the late 1980s. We were pen pals in the early 1990s and first met at a 1989 wrestling convention in Chicago run by Jon Gallagher of the Wrestling Forum (the first insider wrestling newsletter I ever received in the mail in early 1987).

George Schire: Author of "Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling," former Pro Wrestling Focus radio cohost with me in the early 1990s on KFAN, former contributor of history pieces to the PWTorch Newsletter, and multi-time guest on PWTorch Livecast "Interview Friday," he will be providing a historical perspective to Ask PWTorch.

Johnny Fairplay: Reality Star and Wrestling Manager, perhaps best known as Pat McNeill's Regis Philbin. He was an old neighbor of PWTorch senior columnist Bruce Mitchell who watched PPVs at his house long before he became a contestant on Survivor twice. He has been on many reality TV shows, the PWTorch Livecast numerous times, and follows wrestling very closely. You can read more about him on Wikipedia.

Brian Fritz: Host of the long-running "Between the Ropes" podcast, and now working for Yahoo! Sports radio, he also has been a guest on the PWTorch Livecast (and I've been a guest on his podcast), he brings years of reporting on wrestling including on-site interviews with wrestlers at major press events over the years. He follows today's wrestling and will provide his perspective and take on your questions.

Mick Karch: An early PWTorch Newsletter columnist over 20 years ago, Mick has been an announcer for virtually every national wrestling promotion other than the WWF, WCW, and TNA in the last 25 years. He currently works as an announcer on Minnesota indy wrestling shows. He got his start in wrestling running the Nick Bockwinkel Fan Club in the 1970s and is known for his sense of humor, strong opinions, and tremendous insight into wrestling's past dating back many decades, but he also watches today's wrestling regularly and can provide valuable perspective as a result of that span of time following and participating in the industry.

Brad Stutts: He has worked behind the scenes in wrestling in many roles, including taking jackets to the back, setting up and tearing down rings, running websites for indy promoters, running lights and music at live events, and performing as a manager, announcer, wrestler, and promoter. He currently is the lead announcer for CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in North Carolina.

Jim Valley: Long time wrestling fan and Torch subscriber. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars and was flown our to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham.

Current PWTorch Contributors: A mix of current PWTorch contributors will provide their opinion on today's wrestling scene and modern wrestling history questions, including Shawn Valentino, Michael Moore, Ben Tucker, Jon Mezzera, Brian Leahy, Jimmy Eaton, and Mike Roe.

You can send your questions for the All-Star Panel to the same address as always: askpwtorch@gmail.com. We will make sure they are directed to the appropriate panelist for potential inclusion in a published Ask PWTorch feature here on the PWTorch App or VIP Website. You may see your question asked in both versions of Ask PWTorch (the Afternoon original website-exclusive version and app-exclusive All-Stars version) so check both versions. Different groups of panelists may tackle your question on different days, so keep checking back. Because they all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences as both fans and working in some capacity in the business or covering it for the Torch, you're going to get some strong specific points of view from them.