Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

|

GOOOOOONG! GOOOOOONG! Ian Hunter here, walking on out to enough fog to kill the audience from asphyxiation, and a purple lightning show that would make Prince jealous. No matter what incarnation of the Undertaker you have, he always did the trick of rolling his eyes into the back of his head. An act I've seen one too many kids in my day do when they get angry. You know why they call him The Deadman? Because this gimmick lost steam and died out long ago, sometime during the "cult leader" years. And like every other dead horse in the WWE, we need to beat it until it's a fine jelly and then spread it over DVD copies down the road for nostalgia sake. So while we're watching the Undertaker do his best to put makeup over that "Sara" tattoo, we're making our way down the last leg of our Hitchhike To WrestleMania! But first, we need to look back over our backpack of photos and answer last week's questions.

1: C. "Picture 8,000 women with blue hair screaming 'kill him!'" Whether or not he really cried when Aretha sang still remains a mystery.

2: D. Duggan was due to take on The Warlord, but plans were scrapped for unknown reasons, and Bravo was put in Warlord's place.

3: The man was... Diamond Dallas Page. Page was the driver of the Cadillac that took Rhythm & Blues to the ring. Twelve years later he was defending the European Championship against Christian.

4: D. If you go back and closely look at all the footage, most everyone was knocked out by another eliminated team. L.O.D.'s only elimination was the Midnight Express at the end.

5: B. And for the record, no, this show didn't get all that high of a rating. Proving that no matter how you package it and make it shine, fans will not watch junk PPV's.

We have one winner this week, and it's a girl! Keysha Barnes. I'd give you the Women's Championship, but it doesn't have meaning anymore. It's only a matter of time before it goes the way of the Cruiserweight title, but let's move on. It's a whole new week and we're headed to Florida in style by hitting up most of the cornerstone WrestleMania events. Answer the questions and email your answers to TorchTrivia@gmail.com. We’ll post the names of those who got ALL FIVE correct. Good luck to you all!

1. First, we'll do a write-in question. Making our way westward into New York on the back of a train, we go to one of the unofficial capitols of wrestling, Madison Square Garden. Home to three WrestleMania events. And we'll start with the very frist from 1985. Andre and Big John Studd in a body slam contest, watching the spiraling career of Cindy Lauper die out with the Women's Championship match, and of course the main event of Piper and Orndorff vs. Hogan and Mr. T. Much like Superbowl there are a small group of people, both staff and fan wise, that attend every event since the start. With the exception of Vince McMahon and Howard Finkel by obvious nature, name the only other wrestling personality widely acknowledged as being at every WrestleMania.

2. Skipping forward a decade we go to WrestleMania X. Michaels vs. Razor in a fantastic ladder match... and the rest doesn't matter much because it was all about the title that year. As legend has it, Luger was supposed to win his match against Yokozuna, then fight Bret Hart and win over him to become the company's next big star. The WWF even went so far as to have him come out with the belt on a pre-recorded event a week before WrestleMania. But plans were scrapped amidst rumors that Luger became cocky behind the scenes at the idea of being champion, and the belt was put back on Bret. Following the fallout from the Royal Rumble that year with a double winner in Luger and Hart, the two had to flip a coin as to who would go first, and to make it "fair" for the winner, the other would have to wrestle a match at the start of the evening so both people fought in two opponents. Bret ended up having to fight Owen. Who would Luger have faced if he lost the coin toss?

A. Bam Bam Bigelow
B. Earthquake
C. Randy Savage
D. Adam Bomb
E. Crush

3. We're skipping WrestleMania XX because it was over-hyped and left much to be desired. Instead we're hitching a ride in the back of an Edsel down south to Philadelphia and the old First Union Center for WrestleMania XV. The last one with Own Hart and Jeff Jarrett who were both tag champions, the horrid Butterbean match to finish off the Brawl For All, the strange decision to hang the Bossman after he lost to Undertaker, the reunion and demise of DX Version 2, and Austin's second WWF Title win over the Rock. Every year the Intercontinental title is usually a hit or miss at the event, and this one was definitely a miss. A four corners elimination match between Ken Shamrock, Goldust, Val Venis, and defending champion Road Dogg. The result ended in Shamrock and Venis being counted out and Goldust being pinned after some interference. Who cost Goldust the title?

A. Val Venis
B. Ryan Shamrock
C. The Blue Meanie
D. Ken Shamrock
E. Marlena

4. Going across the river in a Prowler we make our way into New Jersey and to the final visiting point of our journey, Atlantic City and Trump Plaza. Home to WrestleMania IV and V. Let's start with the first of the two. A memorable event in itself for the fact that it's the first time the WWF title was put into a public tournament with such an ensemble, and the winner was of all wrestlers... Randy Savage. But as many know, that wasn't the original plan. Ted DiBiase was due to become champion and lead the charge for the next year instead of Savage. In one of the last displays of old school backstage fighting (where the acts of one affect many), a certain wrestler refused to job at WrestleMania and fought it all the way until they needed to announce the tournament participants, forcing a change in the card and a couple outcomes months in advance. Name the wrestler who caused all the problems.

A. Randy Savage
B. Greg Valentine
C. Honky Tonk Man
D. Rick Rude
E. Hulk Hogan

5. Forward we go onto the following year and WrestleMania V. Marking the only WrestleMania event to go back to the same place the following year. Jake Roberts vs. Andre, Rick Rude winning the IC title, Demolition retaining the tag belts against the Powers Of Pain, and of course Hogan beating Savage for the title he won the year before. But one of the more memorable segments was Piper's Pit with Morton Downey Jr. and Brother Love. After Love took off, Downey and Piper started going into what some still argue was either a work or a shoot interview, ending in Piper about ready to hit Downey with a fire extinguisher at the end. Over the footage, you can hear someone yelling at Roddy not to hit him. Who can be heard?

A. Jesse Ventura
B. Gorilla Monsoon
C. Vince McMahon
D. Donald Trump
E. Howard Finkel



Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC & MMA NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.