Welcome to the April 24th, 2009 edition of Ask WrestleView! If you don’t see your question answered this week, make sure to check back next week as I will always pull questions from past emails. Just because you sent it in within the last week does not mean it will never appear here on Ask WV.
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All questions were answered by WrestleView’s Chief Historian, Ryan Droste
Titles are defended numerous times at WWE house shows. Switches are very rare however. How many times have each title switched at house shows, especially the World/WWE titles (if any times for those 2)?
~Richard Misfeldt
Title changes at house shows happened once in a while in the 1980s, but the WWF would then often not recognize them due to some technicality where the decision would be overturned. They’d often use this to build up a big rematch in the market for a house show down the line. Title changes at house shows that have been recognized on TV have become more common in recent history. As far as title changes that have been acknowledged on TV:
-The World Title has switched hands on two occassions from which I recall. The first was when Bret Hart won the WWF title for the very time against Ric Flair in Saskatoon in 1992. The second was Diesel defeating Bob Backlund at Madison Square Garden for his first WWF title win in 1994.
-The Intercontinental title switched hands at a house show in 1995 in Montreal when Razor Ramon defeated Jeff Jarrett in a ladder match. Ramon lost the title back to Jarrett a couple days later in Trois-Rivi?res, Quebec. Both switches were acknowledged on TV. In Toronto in 1999, Edge won the IC title from Jeff Jarrett, only to lose it back to Jarrett the next day. The switch was acknowledged and shown on TV, however. Christian won the Intercontinental title at a house show in Des Moines, Iowa in 2003 from Booker T. Booker was forced to drop the title due to suffering a legit injury.
-The Cruiserweight Title changed hands at a house show in Rome in 2005 when Nunzio defeated Juventud Guerrera.
-The Women’s Title changed hands at a house show in France when Mickie James defeated Victoria and Melina. Later in the same show, Melina won the title back. Both title changes were recognized.
-The World Tag Team Title changed hands at a house show in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2005 when La Resistance defeated William Regal and Coachman (subbing for Eugene). They changed hands in South Africa in 2007 when London and Kendrick defeated Cade and Murdoch. Days later on the same tour, they lost the titles back to Cade and Murdoch at another show. Both title changes were acknowledged on television. Then in 2008, the World Tag Titles changed hands again at a house show in Hamilton, Ontario when Morrizon and The Miz defeated Punk and Kingston.
Just a quick question regarding attendance figures for WCW. What was the largest attendance WCW ever had for any event either televised or non-televised. Also, what was the largest attendance WCW had in the Atlanta Georgia Dome?
To my knowledge, the Georgia Dome WCW Nitro in July 1998 was the largest attendance an exclusively WCW show ever drew. WCW did run some cards in Japan in the early 1990s that drew huge crowds, but these were joint cards with Japanese promotions. There were also some very large outdoor crowds for a few Hog Wild and Bash at the Beach PPV shows, but it’s hard to get an accurate attendance figure for this. If anyone can think of a WCW show that drew more people than that Georgia Dome Nitro, make sure to write in and point it out to me and I’ll publish a correction. But as far as I know, July 6th, 1998 at the Georgia Dome which drew 41,412
Hey, just wanted to ask if there are any real-life perks to being a champion in the WWE, any kind of champion, like any bonus money coming their way as a temporary raise for however long they’re champion, or is having any kind of title purely for show and simply something a wrestler can put on their resume to pad it a little?
-Luke
A wrestler does indeed earn more money when World Champion. They sometimes get other little perks like better travel arrangements as well.
Hey… I’m watching The Big Event from 1986 and the opening match is The Killer Bees versus Hoss and Jimmy Jack Funk. I was a big fan of Terry Funk when he came to the WWF, but I was always confused by the other Funk Brothers. I know Dory is a brother, but what relation, if any are the other men who were known as Funks? They were billed as from The Double Cross Ranch, but anyone could say that if they wanted to. Do you have any information on how many Funks there were as I seem to remember at least four or five and if the rest were just billed as a Funk.
-Mat Thompson
Hoss Funk was Dory Funk, as you mentioned. The match you mentioned at The Big Event was actually Dory’s last match in the WWF. Jimmy Jack Funk was just a storyline brother, his real name was Jesse Barr. His dad was wrestling promoter Sandy Barr, and his younger brother was the famous wrestler Art Barr. I don’t recall any other wrestlers being billed as Funks in the 80s WWF.
Hey I have a question, TNA keeps saying that Kurt Angle is a 12 time world champion, but when I went to wikipedia they say he is an 8 time world champ, who is right in this chase.
-Jamel.
Angle had the WWE Title 4 times, the WWE World Title once, the IWGP title once, the WCW World Title once (during the Invasion), and has now had the TNA World Title twice. So according to the record books he is officially a nine time pro wrestling world champion. The only way I can get to 12 is if you count his two amateur wrestling championships (1996 Gold Medal, 1995 World Championships) and his NWA Title win from the King of the Mountain match, which in actuality was thrown out and the title was vacated (he is not officially recognized on the NWA Title History). (Thanks to Mark Holdsworth and Joel21 on this question)
For reference, his other non-World Title’s won include: WWE Intercontinental Title (1), WWE European Title (1), WWE Tag Team Title (1), TNA Tag Team Title (1), and TNA X Title (1).
That’s all for this edition of Ask WrestleView.
As always, don’t forget to check out my personal wrestling blog, Droste’s Double Shot.