Scott Keith

Tito Santana


Scott,


After Tito Santana dropped the IC title to Randy Savage in early 86, for the next year, he kind of just floundered with no real feuds or purpose. He did alot of house shows facing various opponents and still was on TV a good bit,but never really had a direction until joining Strike Force with Rick Martel after Tom Zenk abruptly quit the promotion.

Was there a reason he didn't really do a full house show program chasing Savage again? They had some random rematches, but not a full blown program.

Or was Santana being phased down, and Strike Force basically gave him a renewed push?
Yeah, he was definitely being phased down.  Tito had a good run as a single with Valentine and then Savage, and it was time to move on.  That's how wrestling is SUPPOSED to work! 

Mike Bennett/Maria asking to be released



What do you think of Mike Bennett and Maria wanting out of their WWE contracts?  Smart since they don't like how they are being used, stupid since they are cutting off a steady steam of income for hardly having to work for it, or something in between?  

It's hardly a big loss, but it's pretty disingenuous on Mike's part to very publicly work through addiction issues on WWE's dime and then turn around and ask for his release.  Granted he's in a loser gimmick going nowhere, but honestly the least you can do is suck it up and work out the remainder of your contract in exchange for all the goodwill that the company has shown.    

Hall Of Fame Class of 2019

Hi Scott, as we're a week away from the Rumble, it's time to start speculating about who will be in the WWE Hall Of Fame class of 2019. My predictions

Kane:    Now that he's semi-retired but still strongly associated with WWE he seems an easy choice for a headliner

The British Bulldogs: Now that Dynamite has died there's nothing stopping WWE from putting them in and with them pushing UK wrestling they seem an obvious choice

Jim Cornette: After he was brought back into the fold last year and showed that despite his dislike of the current product he was still willing to work with WWE, he seems a slam dunk nominee plus his speech will be amazing

King Kong Bundy: Now that Hogan is being used by WWE gain, why not induct the guy who he fought at Wrestlemania 2? It gives them an excuse to trot Hogan out for the induction speech.

The Bella Twins: The WWE are pushing womens tag teams, so what better time to induct the only true womens tag team in WWE for the last 20 years, plus it gives them a storyline for Total Divas/Bellas

Celebrity Wing: David Arquette: He's done a few comedy cameos for WWE in the past year and is clearly on good terms, plus he is well liked in the industry

I'd like to hear your thoughts & predictions for the upcoming Hall Of Fame Class

I really, really don't care about the Hall of Fame, to be honest.  Now that we've run through most of the worthwhile candidates it's just a game of "Why is this person in this particular year?" and trying to guess Vince's whims.  

Your picks seem fine, but there's no chance of the Bulldogs going in.  They didn't even acknowledge Dynamite's death and you think he's getting into the Hall of Fame?  Davey Boy, maybe.  

WWF’s Expansion Evolution

Hey, Scott:

Loving your reviews of the old Mid-South stuff and anything early 1980s in general. Question for you and the lil' Doomers: as the WWF began it's national expansion in earnest, they obviously poached several big "territory" names. Who were the guys whose in-ring reputations were most helped/hurt by jumping to the Fed? For example, Jim Duggan went from believable bad-ass brawler in Mid-South to cross-eyed, patriotic cartoon character. Meanwhile, Jim Neidhart bounced around with Butch Reed, then found perfect tag-team chemistry with the Hart Foundation.
I'd call the Sheepherders the gold standard of a character completely destroyed by the WWF marketing machine, although Luke & Butch made a ton of money off it so I doubt they're ever complaining.  But they went from **** brawls with the Fantastics to bad comedy with Mean Gene.  
As for who was helped the most, I'd have to say Randy Savage.  He really flourished under the WWF system and went from Memphis main eventer to stadium main eventer, which are two entirely different styles of match. 

Fake Reigns feelings

What is with all these false platitudes regarding Roman Reigns by smarks now?  I'm not sure how a person getting sick automatically should change on how you feel about them, unless of course you are a fake person to begin with.  I mean I hope Regins beats cancer and lives a long life, but that doesn't mean I want to see him wrestle again like so many claim they do now.  Of course I'll be called an asshole,(among other things), because I'm honest.  So be it.  Let me just leave you with this;  If a person talked non-stop shit about a family member of yours and said horrible things about that person until the day they died, would you all of a sudden be receptive to them coming to their funeral and giving the eulogy?  

Yes.  Because that's what normal human beings with empathy do.  

Biggest Bust in WCW from the WWF

Who would you say was WCW’s biggest busy of the big stars that came from the WWF?  I had 5 to choose from Warrior, Bret Hart, Jake The Snake, British Bulldog, Earthquake.

 

 


Jake and Warrior had similar tenure’s brought in only for a few months just to do a job to a big star at Halloween Havoc.  Bret with all the hype and momentum he had coming off Montreal, but at least he got a push at points.

 

 


Were there any actual plans for Jake & Warrior in WCW other than to job at Halloween Havoc?  Should WCW have not rushed Warrior-Hogan II, and built up Warrior by squashing jobbers ala Goldberg like he did in the WWF, and done it later on?
 
 
Yeah, but both Jake and Warrior came in with no momentum as special attractions who didn’t really interact with the rest of the shows much, so I don’t think they count.  Bret Hart was signed away at the height of his career, as World champion, for one of the biggest contracts in history.  And his career was over two years later.  That’s the biggest bust.

 

Most Useless Title/Championship?

What was/is the most useless title/championship in pro wrestling?  While the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles and the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship were up there as the lack of depth for those divisions didn't warrant creating championships for them, I don't think anything will ever "top" the TNA King Of The Mountain Title.  

I'm not even familiar with that title, so it's likely pretty useless.  The WWF Light heavyweight title was pretty useless when it was on Gillberg for a year literally as a prop, though.  

Roman

Hey Scott,

One of the wrestling sites had a recent photo of Roman Reigns with a fan and he looked really good. If he was cleared to return as a surprise entrant in the Rumble and won, do you think he'd finally be accepted by the audience? His illness definitely ended the crowd's opposition to him, right? If he gets healthy, could he actually end up being the guy that they wanted him to be before he got sick?

Unless the crowds are populated with heartless sociopaths forever, Roman is never getting booed again.  Yes, he will finally be the guy if he comes back, and hopefully he does.  

Abandon Ship

Hey Scott, so with the Revival and Mike Kanelis leaving, do you see more abandoning ship? Do you see another Monday Night War brewing? I see AEW hurting WWE with free agent signings and more lower and mid card wrestlers leaving. 

Yeah, none of those guys are starting a Monday Night War, but I can definitely see a bunch more people leaving soon.  Tye really wants out (if he hasn't been released already) and this could definitely open a floodgate.  Especially since the trend has been WWE cutting people themselves after Wrestlemania.  It's rare to see talent take the offensive like this.  

What is up with this year’s Rumble?



Admittedly I don't watch WWE at the moment, but the current card includes 2 Rumble matches and 7 title matches??? The card used to be a Rumble and 3-4 matches. Is the show running 6 hours??


I also realized WWE is running the baseball stadium in Phoenix. Any word on how theyre configuring the set up? Can they move 30-35k tickets for this? 

Apparently it’s configured for 45k and they weren’t doing very well with Braun on top, so  they’re gonna see if Balor can shift tickets.  
And yeah, the show is running 6 hours.  Content is king in 2019.  

Balor Push


Think this is a one off?  Or are they leading to The Demon vs. The Beast?  

If you think Brock is working twice between Rumble and Wrestlemania, I've got some real estate to sell you.  Balor is there to collect his money and get flung around the ring like a ragdoll physics demo, nothing more. 

Justice



Now that you have ended cult's reign of terror, how about bringing back all the posters that he banned?

Thanks,
Dalton Trumbo


Obviously you didn’t see Superman 2 and heed the lesson of what happens when you let the Zods of the world out of the Phantom Zone prematurely.  Also, if you’re Trumbo, then you’re a commie and Bill Watts has taught me to hate and/or fear you.  
Always nice to talk to you, Dougie!

WWF Light Heavyweight Title

Hi Scott,

Quick question about the original WWF Light Heavyweight Title. It was introduced in 1981 and had the WWF branding and whatnot, but was exclusively traded in Japan and Mexico for the first 15 years of its existence.

With Vince not being known as a hands-off promoter, why was he okay with this particular arrangement? Granted, light heavyweights weren't really a thing in eighties WWF, but it does seem to go against everything we know about Vince and his protection of his intellectual property. 

A secondary question – would the WWF have had to sign off on an planned title change? 
It was still Vince Sr. at the point when the title was introduced, but as far as I'm aware it was more of a case of the title going to Japan after getting introduced and then the WWF just kind of forgetting about it.  It was always a weird one to me as well seeing an actual WWF branded title as a part of the J Crown, for instance. 

Royal Rumble

Hey Scott, hope all is well. I know this will not happen, but, what would be your reaction if Kenny Omega, Naito, and the remaining Club members with WWE showed up at the Rumble and cost Daniel Bryan and Brock the titles and the Club took over both shows.

Well I'd definitely make sure to wear my Naito shirt to the house show next month then.  

Questions about Asuka

1) Does Asuka's theme ever remind you of "Money" by Pink Floyd?


2) Why is her name pronounced Ahh-ska? Shouldn't it be pronounced Ahh-Sue-Kah?

1.  No.

2.  I'm assuming she knows how to pronounce her own name.  Maybe it's a Japanese thing, much like the debate between "Kaz-u-chi-ka" and "Ka-zooch-ka" for Okada?  

New Network Server


Scott, will the new Network server allow WWE to finally air 30 and 40 year old programs in HD?  Asking for a friend.


It actively angers me every day that I’m forced to watch subpar 240p 4×3 content on my huge 14” laptop screen.  Why did I even pay $200 for my off lease refurbished computer if this cheap lazy company can’t retroactively upscale everything into 4K?  

Honky Tonk Man in WCW

Eric Bischoff has gone out of his way to say how much he hated Honky Tonk Man in WCW.  If that's the case then why did they hire him in the first place?

Why did they book him on every TV show beating jobbers, and then push him into 3 straight TV Title matches?

Why bring him in only to job at Starrcade 94 then?  Since Arn subbed at the PPV and won the title 2 weeks later, was that Arn's reward, or would Honky have won it if he had just done what was asked and not quit at Starrcade?

Honky definitely wasn't winning, because in the Observer Flashback I just did, they had taped stuff with Badd as TV champion after Starrcade and were moving him in a different direction.  Honky was basically brought in for Hogan, until Eric couldn't deal with him anymore and pulled the plug.  And considering the kind of shit that everyone else got away with for years thanks to Hogan, you have to be pretty annoying to pull that off.  

Alternate Universe

So since there is an infinite number of alternate universes, where every possibility is played out, this one surely has to exist. 

In this one, Bret lays down for Shawn and then goes on hiatus but doesn’t sign with WCW. Everything else plays out as it did here. Shawn gets hurt and puts Austin over. McMahon and Austin feud. So on and so forth.

But at Survivor Series, Bret returns to a hero’s welcome and throws his name into the tournament. Then Bret takes the Rock’s place.

Bret would definitely seem to be Vince’s prototypical champion and Bret can play off Austin perfectly. And at Wrestlemania, Austin has to face the one man he’s never beaten.

Seems pretty good to me. What say you?

Sadly, I think we're in the alternate universe where there's no alternate universes. 

GOOD Smark Chants

Hey Scott—

Why can’t we have nice things? WWE fans have embraced “What?”, chanting “ten!” during every ring-out count, the dumbass “One… two… two… SWEET!” thing…

Yet I LOVE how the UK fans treat Zack Gibson. Why can’t we ever import the GOOD insider chants?

What I wouldn’t give to hear a Raw crowd chant “If you hate Corbin, shoes off!”...
Oh my GOD is that "Ten" thing annoying.  I'm almost glad Tye got jobbed out of the company because I couldn't deal with smug crowds messing with the referee for any longer than we got. 

Women’s Tag


Now that we know more about the women’s tag belts, is it safe to assume that the bella twin and the other bella twin are going to somehow be simultaneously booked as dominant and yet underdogs while winning the belts and holding the division
hostage again?


Do we know more about them?  I wasn't really paying attention to anything on RAW.  Regardless, I think they're gonna end up with Sasha and Bayley.  

Why did they stop running K.O.T.R.?


Speaking of The King Of The Ring, do you know why the WWE stopped running it every year as a PPV?  I have heard that Vince doesn't care for tournaments.  Would that have anything to do with it, and/or did it not draw well on pay per view?   

Vince dislikes tournaments and the 2002 show in particular was a giant flop, doing one of the lowest buyrates of the year for the company.  Honestly I would have killed it too if I was him.