Reported by Robert Miller of WrestleView.com
» On Tuesday, July 1, 2003 at 4:39 PM EST

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The following questions were answered by Paul Nemer.

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Goldberg delivered a mule kick to Bret Hart in WCW. The injuries Bret suffered due to this kick essentially put an end to his career. My question is that I remember not too long after that WCW ran a vignette at the end of a Nitro show where Bret Hart calls out Goldberg in some desert and essentially runs over him in his car. What exactly went down in this vignette, and was it scripted or was it a shoot? It sure looked real, and since the severity of the injury was not necessarily known to everyone at that time (with perhaps the exception of Bret), afterward I began to think that the vignette might have been scripted and then Bret turned it into a shoot.

If my memory serves correctly, Bret was in the car and then attacked Goldberg with a shovel and laid him out. This was all scripted. It was several months after Bret had received the concussion that this storyline was put together. Bret was out to get revenge in the storyline, that was pretty much it. Maybe a month after that Bret Hart was released from WCW.


Who was the first United States Champion?

Harley Race was the first ever U.S. champion in 1975. A torunament was held and he defeated Johnny Weaver in the finals.


Why Didn't Paul Wight Use The Giant Name In WWF?

I explained this kind of question in our previous ASK WVs. "The Giant" character name was owned by WCW, therefore he couldn't use it in the WWF.


Please could you try to name all of the wrestlers that have won The King Of The Ring Tournaments - I understand that some of these tournaments were not shown on PPV.

There were six King of the Ring tournaments held before the WWF's annual KOTR PPV started.

Here are the six first winners:

- July 8, 1985 - Don Muraco
- July 14, 1986 - Harley Race
- September 4, 1987 - Randy Savage
- October 16, 1988 - Ted DiBiase
- October 14, 1989 - Tito Santana
- September 7, 1991 - Bret Hart

No tournament was held in 1992. The KOTR PPV tournament started in 1993.

Here are the PPV winners:

1993 - Bret Hart
1994 - Owen Hart
1995 - Mabel
1996 - Steve Austin
1997 - Triple H
1998 - Ken Shamrock
1999 - Billy Gunn
2000 - Kurt Angle
2001 - Edge
2002 - Brock Lesnar


Could you give a brief breakdown of the primary WWF, NWA, WCW, and WWE television programs in the USA from say the late 70s to today? I can remember some things like WWF Wrestling Challenge, Saturday Night Main Events, Clash of the Champions, Monday Night RAW, WCW Saturday Night, etc.

I know I am missing some, but here is what I know: (If anyone remembers some, e-mail them my way and I will add them to this list)

In no particular order:

Georgia Championship Wrestling on TBS
Clash of the Champions
WWF Wrestling Challenge
WWF Prime Time Wrestling
Saturday Night Main Events
WWF The Main Event
WWF Monday Night RAW
WCW Saturday Night
WWF Tuesday Night Titans
WWF Superstars
WWF All American Wrestling
WCW Main Event
WCW Thunder
WCW Nitro
WWF Sunday Night Heat
WWF Velocity
WWF Shotgun Saturday Night

Note: I did not include the "review shows" such as: (Bottom Line, Action Zone, Livewire, etc...)

I lived in Canada, I didn't get all those programs. I know we got WWF Supercard, WWF Cavalcade... Not sure if those were shown in the U.S.


Was Harlem Heat ever in WWF/E? For some reason I thought they were at one time years ago.

Nope.


Have WWE got the rights to use footage from the ECW library yet?

Yes they now have the rights to do whatever they want with the ECW library. They own it all.


During the Freddie Blassie tributes, they mentioned that he was a five time world champion, and showed pictures of him with a belt. This wasn't a WWWF or NWA title, according to their histories. Which organization did this world title represent?

That was the WWA (World Wrestling Association).


How many times has Triple H been the WWE champion and how long is his current reign as World champion?

Triple H has been WWE champion 5 times. But you have to understand that these days titles don't mean anything anymore. When Triple H was the WWE champion the belt would change hands every month or so. Now as far as the the RAW World title, HHH has held it twice now. His reign has been on for about 6 months and a half. By July 15, 2003 it will be seven months that he refuses to put anyone over for the title, I mean seven months he holds on to the title :)


The 1997 Royal Rumble was won by Stone Cold Steve Austin eliminating Bret Hart. But why didn't Austin go to the main event match at WrestleMania 13? Instead we saw Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold in a I quit match. Why?

For 1997, the WWF had planned for Shawn Michaels to face Bret Hart in the main event at WrestleMania 13 and for Bret Hart to recapture his title. Since Austin illegally eliminated Vader, Undertaker and Bret Hart to win the 1997 Royal Rumble, the plan was to have a Final Four match Vader vs. Taker vs. Hart vs. Austin and the winner would move on to WrestleMania and face Michaels. In February of 1997, Shawn Michaels went out on a Thursday edition of RAW and forfeited his WWF title, main reason was the unwhillingness to lose to Bret Hart at WM 13. So now the WWF title was vacant. WWF had to change the script. The winner of the final four match would win the WWF title instead of going to WM and competing for it. Bret won the Final Four and the title, but lost the title the next night to Sid to set up a feud with Sid and Taker for WM13. This led to the Hart/Austin feud.

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