Scott Keith

Best Fink Calls


What would you say would be Howard Finkel’s best “NEWWWWWW CHAMPION” calls? Ricky Steamboat at WMIII and Piper at Rumble ‘92 come to mind (oddly both IC)…any others in the Fink Pantheon?
The Piper one is hard to top.  Savage at Wrestlemania 8 was a particularly good one as well.  His comeback for CM Punk at Survivor Series should have been epic but he's drowned out by Bucky Beaver cutting away from him and playing the music over top. 

Nia Jax


She almost broke Charlotte and Asuka's neck. She's injured Sasha, Bayley, and Alexa. She concussed Zelina Vega at Evolution. And now she's broken Becky's nose and concussed her. So basically the top six women + Vega injured or almost injured because of Nia. At what point is being related to The Rock not enough to keep you employed?

Once she accidentally potatoes Stephanie in a melee and breaks HER nose.  She really does need to go away for a while and do something else, though.  It's not like they can't afford to just pay her to do PR work and modeling stuff or whatever.

Brock and Becky

Scott,

Who's bright idea was it to throw a guy who's had multiple, near career ending concussions into the ring with the guy who's moveset pretty much consists of tossing guys on their head?

Also, do you think that Becky being removed from the Survivor Series match means that she
A) Gets to main event at Mania with Ronda, or
B) Gets tagged with the "injury prone" label and gets the Finn Balor treatment? 

The fact that their solution to the Ronda match was to have Becky tearfully hug arch-enemy Charlotte and let her have the match tells you everything you need to know about where they still view Becky on the pecking order, I think.  

Losses on contracts

Hey Scott,

 

Obviously assessing things like profitability of individual wrestlers is an inexact science, but which contract with a wrestler or tag-team (not counting 'celebrities' like Rodman, Master P etc) was the biggest money-LOSER
for :

 

(1)   
WWF/E

(2)   
NWA/WCW

(3)   
Any other federation.

 

1.  It's gotta be Lex Luger in 1992.  They paid him a shitload of money in hopes of getting the WBF going and then spent hundreds of thousands in marketing on the Lex Express and never saw a dime back out of it.  Well, obviously a FEW dimes, but you know I mean.  I'd also nominate Brian Pillman, but he was never supposed to be a main event guy or anything, despite his big price tag.  


2.  I'm gonna go with Bret Hart in 97.  Huge money to lure him away from the WWF, and then they barely pushed him near the top.  Sting also had a monster guaranteed deal or seven over the years and never came close to justifying the money they were paying him.


3.  The answer has to be someone from TNA, right?  I can't think of who specifically, but they never really made money and paid lots of guys redonkulous deals, so we can probably safely say Kurt Angle. 

AJ vs. Brock


Hi Scott,


I admit I've only been half-following this entire saga, but it seems like they didn't want AJ to job to Brock two years in a row, so that is why they moved the AJ's title to Daniel Bryan. But my understanding is that the match is non-title, so why not just have AJ win the match?
Someone should communicate that to Vince.  You are exactly correct.

Bryan & Heyman & Lesnar


Two questions, one about in ring, one out of ring:

1) On SDLive Heyman shows up out of nowhere and name drops Bryan as the best guy on SD. This leads to Bryan challenging Styles, and WINNING the WWE Title while turning heel just before Styles date with Brock at Survivor Series.

Could this be a not so subtle way of setting up a Heyman/Bryan alliance. Bryan is the mold of a Heyman guy, it gives Paul access and the top guy on each show and they could even say it was Paul getting Brock away from AJ who was his biggest threat (possibly leading to Styles winning the Rumble and challenging Brock at mania)…

2) What is the real deal with Brock and Paul? Are they friends? Is Paul really his business manager? They’ve essentially worked together for 16 years on and off and he’s the only guy who is consistently around Brock?

1.  It was a thing that Bryan wanted to do because the babyface character was going nowhere.  I don't think there's any more thought or planning that went into it.
2.  Heyman was 100% his legit business manager as of Brock's initial UFC run.  As with everything related to Brock these days, I don't think anyone knows the real truth any more.  For instance, Meltzer has noted many times in the past few weeks that for all the leverage that Brock is using between UFC and WWE, the only thing he's actually done is enter into the drug testing pool.  He's signed no UFC contract and really it's only the Jon Jones and Daniel Cormiers of the world calling HIM out.  Brock has never actually said who or when he wants to fight.  Heyman might be smart, but Brock is a freakish super-genius.

Survivor Series

Hey Scott, hope all is well. There is a part of me that feels when the WWE has its back against the wall, and plans fall through, the better ideas come to the top, but witj no follow up.

I like the Daniel Bryan heel turn as he was not working as a face this time around. The poor planning, booking, and execution put Bryan in a bad position. I like the idea of heel Lesnar vs Bryan and Daniel taking any ave to win will make the match with Lesnar more entertaining. My concern is afterward. I was into the Randy Orton heel turn, but, they just let it go to waste, and I feel the same will happen once the dust settles with Bryan.

I feel the same with Dean Ambrose. You have him turn on Seth and Roman, then what? Oppurtunities fall in their creative lap, and its all going to be wasted.

This may sound dumb, but you have 205 defending against its own brand. Why not put Rey Mysterio in there against Buddy Murphy or someone from NXT?

That's kind of funny, I never really thought about the 205 guys.  

Anyway, Meltzer was saying a few days ago on the radio show that Vince was not going to let Bryan waste away in the midcard, even if he skipped Saudi Arabia, because the money he was being paid was main event money and he needs to get that return on investment for it.  So in hindsight, that explains why he got the belt back again.  He's the new Brock Lesnar!  Our Vegan Space Lord!

Brock’s Mania Opponent


Meltzer said Brock/Braun is happening before Mania, possibly at Rumble with all signs of course pointing to Brock retaining. So who gets Brock at Mania? Seth? Styles Rumble win and chooses Brock? Face turned McIntyre?

I'd like to say I even care at this point, but I don't.  Maybe Drew, I dunno.  Brock winning that belt back completely killed any waning interest I had.  

Heel Turns in 2018


As sad as I am to see Styles's year plus championship reign come to an end & happy yet sorta confused and intrigued with Bryan going heel, aren't we all just relieved that it wasn't The Miz to be one to defeat Styles and become WWE Champion? I am!


Anyways, after all the heel turns this year alone with Nakamura, Gargano, Becky, Big Show, Orton, Ambrose, and now Bryan, my favorite is Roderick Strong's at Takeover: New Orleans as NO ONE saw that one coming. And him joining Undisputed Era worked out even better. What is your favorite this year and what is your favorite turn of all time?

Sick Miz burn there.  I approve.
Favorite of all time has got to be Barry Windham turning on Lex Luger to join the Four Horsemen.  Bryan and Vinny were just reliving it on Sunday's show and it was still GLORIOUS.  Barry comes into the match still as a babyface, but JJ Dillon gets into his head over the course of the long and grueling match, brainwashing him into thinking that Luger won't be there for him.  And then that's exactly what happens (thanks to the Horsemen cheating) and Barry finally snaps and turns on his own partner to join the heel side.  I was 13 at the time and my best friend and fellow wrestling nerd was in TEARS, literal tears, because of Barry betraying Lex like that.  It was amazing.
Anyway, yeah Strong was tremendous this year.  And it made sense.  We're still waiting on an explanation for Dean Ambrose, for example, and Nakamura is mostly in the same place he was before the turn. 

The Faces of Smackdown



Hi Scott,


So, help me out. Smackdown's entire male babyface roster is AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Rusev and …. Tye Dillinger?? 

Incidentally, tremendous finish. I think D-Bry can pull off the Bob Backlund 2.0 gimmick quite nicely.

TY!
Brian

I’m willing to let it play out and see where it goes. 

Fwd: Becky 3:16



So if they call the match and they advertise the Becky injury tonight, and she shows up Sunday to fight, is the transformation into Stone Cold complete?
She’s not gonna show.  They’re so hypersensitive about concussion lawsuits that there’s zero chance of them risking anything. 
I have to say, though, concussions on the female side are becoming a major concern.  I’ve been saying for a while that they need to tone it down again, especially girls like Sasha who weigh 100 pounds soaking wet and just don’t have the bone and muscle density to absorb that kind of punishment week after week.  Or they could get rid of Nia Jax.  Either way.  

Ronnie vs. The Man




Now that Rousey vs. Becky is off for Survivor Series, could it actually be a good thing that they put this off for a few months?  Considering it’s a fresh rivalry between the biggest name in the company and the hottest act in the company, wouldn’t it make sense to try and save this match for WrestleMania now?

Also, is Shane McMahon now replacing Becky at Survivor Series?  Isn’t that how this works when a Smackdown person gets hurt?

Hopefully he at least wears a wig to sell it.  

Original Plans for WM X-7



What were the original plans for WM X-7 before WWF bought WCW in March 2001?  Was there still going to be a Shane vs Vince match, just without the WCW Storyline in there?  Would they not have had the gimmick Battle Royal?  Was Austin always turning heel or
was that a last minute thing?  Was there anything else that got pushed off because of the WCW Invasion storyline?

There was nothing on that show that was changed as a result of the WCW buyout as far as I'm aware.  They didn't even start putting the WCW guys on TV until after the show anyway. 

Greatest Non-Big Four PPVs?


Scott,

Switching to the other side of the coin now, which WWE PPVs that aren't one of the Big Four are worthy of being in the conversation as the best?

One that I've heard get a lot of love is No Way Out 2001.

No Way Out 2001, Backlash 2000, and Canadian Stampede are consistently three of the biggest contenders.  Money in the Bank 2011 was pretty great, too, but I don't know about "best of all time".  

Ronda vs Becky



Pretty much the only match I feel is even worth a damn this Sunday?  Your thoughts on the match? I fully expect Ronda to win, but man it honestly wouldn't surprise me if Becky somehow won potentially setting up a rematch at Mania, Becky's been the best thing
about WWE in the last couple of months.

I don't think she's going to win, but certainly it seems like the match should close out the PPV.  Although in some ways it's best for that not to happen, because crowds are always burned out by the end of the 5 hour shows and you might get better reaction from having it midway through the show?

Takeover's gonna be awesome, though.  Just bringing that up.

The Big Four



Hey Scott


With Survivor Series coming up, I was thinking: what do you think was the best year for the big four ppvs?


A year where all four shows were the best of the year or at least close to it. Personally I don't think 2001 can be topped. The Rumble and Mania were near perfect, we had a great Summerslam and what I think is an underrated Survivor Series.


What say you? Also what was the worst year? 2010?

I’d say 2001, yeah. X-7 makes any year hard to beat it.  
I wasn’t paying much attention in 2010.  You know what was ironically a choice?  2000. Although there were some amazing PPVs that year, the big four (outside of the Rumble) were pretty weak.  

Shawn Michaels Inheritance



Hi Scott,

This may seem like a strange question, but it’s no stranger than a lot of the emails you get.

Many years ago there was a story doing the rounds that in the mid-90s, Shawn Michaels inherited $2m. Not from a relative but from a wrestling fan.

The story goes that there was a huge Shawn Michaels fan who was a rich guy had terminal cancer but having fallen out with his family and disliking charity decided to leave his money to the person who gave him the most enjoyment in life.

Was any of this true or was it total bullshit?

Shawn has certainly never confirmed the story, not has anyone else with any credibility, so I would tend to think it's bullshit. 

Sting’s WWE Run


Was Sting's WWE run always supposed to have lasted as long as it did, or did him getting hurt in his WWE Title match with Seth Rollins in the Fall of 2015 end it prematurely?  

Mostly, yes, although he was being used so infrequently that it's not like it disrupted huge plans for him or anything.