Maria Flashed The Hardyz & Finlay In The Philippines: Ten Things You May Have Missed In Wrestling This Week

Zombies.

I don't really know what else to say, but at this point it's clear that...

Zombies. Just zombies.

Awful really, wasn't it?

I appreciate that they felt the need to do something memorable to co-promote the Batista film and all, but couldn't they have just had the 24/7 gang of goofs running away from them backstage or something harmless like that instead?

It wasn't quite as bad as David Arquette becoming Heavyweight Champion, Chucky trying to scare Rick Steiner or Robocop saving the day (boy do I miss WCW), but it was still pretty bad as far as movie and wrestling tie-ins go.

And what a shame for The Miz to suffer the first major injury of his 15 year-plus WWE career during the contest, a torn ACL no less.

At least the zombies ate him afterwards and he's now dead in the storyline, giving him cover while he recuperates.

Small mercies.

The injury bug has also bitten Will Ospreay, who was forced to go back to the UK from Japan in order to rehab his neck, necessitating him dropping the IWGP Heavyweight Title in the process.

Adding to the rubbish news, a bunch more cuts were made in NXT, with several talented prospects (and Drake Wuertz) getting their release papers this week.

If you're bogged down by all the negative, I implore you to dive into this week's Ten Things for tales of Brock Lesnar's business acumen, flashing divas and some lighthearted leprechaun trafficking.

10. Waltman Gets His Due

WWE.com

May 17 marked the anniversary of Sean '1-2-3 Kid' Waltman's famous upset over Razor Ramon on Raw.

The man also known as X-Pac tweeted out 'The most important win of my career happened 28 years ago today' to mark the occasion and was met with a multitude of wrestlers who expressed how important the match was to them.

Lance Storm responded by saying 'That was an important day for so many of us smaller men in the business' while Ivar of the Viking Raiders claimed 'That is what lit my spark for wrestling'.

AEW star Jack Evans, who worked with Waltman extensively in Mexico's AAA promotion, said 'Strangely enough, this was also the most important moment in my career' before disclosing that the match was the reason he became a wrestler.

Waltman rarely gets his proper due, but he was a pivotal figure in wrestling, especially during the 90's, inspiring many wrestlers who probably thought they weren't big enough to work in the business.

He's also a sound bloke with great taste, as demonstrated by his Desert Island Graps appearance this week.

9. Born Before Their Time (Naturally)

WWE.com

Former WCW and WWE star Chuck Palumbo has resurfaced and is doing the rounds to promote his YouTube channel Chuck of All Trades, shedding some light on his brief but very unique career in the process.

The former tag champion made some interesting comments on the Natural Born Thrillers stable, the group of Power Plant training school graduates who burst onto the WCW scene in 2000, when he appeared on the Pro Wrestling Defined podcast.

According to Palumbo, the business wasn't yet ready for what he, Mark Jindrak, Sean O'Haire, Mike Sanders, Reno, Johnny 'The Bull' and Shawn Stasiak had to offer.

“All those guys were exceptional talents. If you look back now and look at the way they moved and worked, we were ahead of our time and at the time, the things we were doing athletically would be in comparison to what the guys do now. We were athletic. We were at that transition where the business wasn't ready for that yet. 

A majority of the guys in the business were working a different style and we came in very green so we didn't know about the psychology but we knew how to move in the ring and we kind of stepped it up from an athletic standpoint”.

I have to say, looking back, they were a rare highlight of WCW TV during the company's dying days.

O'Haire, in particular, should have been a world-beater and probably would have had way more success if he had come around during a different era.

8. The Game Begins

WWE.com

Triple H responded to a Twitter post about a WWE card that took place on May 13, 1995 with an interesting story about the show.

According to The Game, he worked the event that night (opening the show against either Ray or Phil Apollo, depending on which account you read) despite still being bound to a non-compete after leaving WCW.

It was a sentimental occasion for the former Jean Paul Levesque, as he noted in his tweet:

'Was signed w/ WWE but still on a non compete from WCW. Called JJ Dillion & begged him & Vince to let me work this card & flew myself in. Brought my dad, 1st time he ever saw me wrestle for a big promotion live & at Boston Garden where he watched as a kid. Night I’ll never forget!'

Hunter was such a late addition to the show that his match wasn't featured on the printout of the running order that was distributed to attendees.

Kevin Nash also replied to the post, saying he 'Was blessed to be in the last match in the Boston Garden' (WWE Champion Diesel beat Sid in the main event).

Another big W for Big Sexy.

7. Yuji Nagata's WCW Reunion Tour

WWE Network

How great was it seeing Yuji Nagata wrestle Jon Moxley on last week's episode of AEW Dynamite?

Nagata returned to TNT television for the first time since he was on WCW's books in the late 90's.

As well as wrestling, the 53-year-old took the time to catch up with his old friends and colleagues, posting a series of pictures with Arn Anderson, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Sonny Onoo and Tony Schiavone.

How nostalgic. Makes you want to dust off that Four Horsemen t-shirt and drink a can of Surge, doesn't it?

On a side note, if you want to watch some Nagata in WCW (and why wouldn't you?), I'd heartily recommend his series of matches with Ultimo Dragon, particularly those from 97's Halloween Havoc and World War 3 pay-per-views.

6. Brock The Worker

WWE.com

You may have heard this somewhere before, but Brock Lesnar is a canny businessman and really, really like money.

The Beast Incarnate has always been paid well for his sports entertainment services and, if he sees an opportunity, he's going to exploit it to earn even more cash.

Kurt Angle, when discussing Judgment Day 2006 on the latest episode of the Kurt Angle Show podcast, told a story of his and Lesnar's IGF match from 2007 that shows Brock's business sense.

According to Angle, Lesnar told him to say that he wanted a rematch during the post-match press conference in order to generate buzz in a potential (lucrative) sequel.

"So he brought me over (to Japan), right, and did the job for me, and then he wanted to have the rematch (laughs) because he wanted to make more money. Brock is all about money, and he is a very stern businessman. Everything is revolved around money for him. It's money first, passion, second. 

You know, Brock, after the match, Brock said, 'Hey, when we do the press conference' because they always have huge press conferences before and after the matches, he said, 'When you have the press conference, and we are sitting up there in front of the press, tell them you want a rematch with me'. 

Well, I didn't know at the time, but I heard Brock was making a tonne of money on these matches. He was remaining champion as long as he could, and then they wanted to take the title off of him. So, he wanted to do the match, but he wouldn't do it with just anybody. So, he told New Japan, 'Bring Kurt Angle over, I'll do the job for him'". 

Considering the truckload of money it takes to get him off the farm in Saskatchewan these days, it's little surprise that he had demands when it came to flying to the far East in order to drop a title belt.

5. Booker's Best Backstage Bust-Ups

WWE.com

Booker T, a man no stranger to behind the scenes scuffles himself, spoke about the best backstage fights he had seen during a recent edition of his Hall of Fame podcast.

Incredibly, both of them involved Buff Bagwell.

The first was between The Stuff and Ernest 'The Cat' Miller, with the former five-time WCW Champion telling it as so:

“Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller and Buff Bagwell. That was a good one right there. I think Cat Miller was actually dating, not dating, but hanging out with (Buff’s) ex-wife. And Bagwell was pretty hot about it. We were in Sturgis, South Dakota [at Road Wild '99]. I’ll never forget it because we were outside at this table. Everything was outside at Sturgis, you know? There was nothing inside because it was an outside show and what not, and we had catering set up outside.

I remember Cat Miller sitting down and Buff Bagwell was going to try and sneak shot him. And he came over to sneak shot Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller! People don’t know man, this dude is like the real deal. Blackbelt Jones, something like that. And he moved so quick on Bagwell, blocked it and was on him so fast. Bagwell couldn’t wait for somebody to break it up. It was one of those types of deals”.

Interestingly, Bagwell and Miller worked a match against one another later that day and the bout passed without incident.

The second one involved Buff and Diamond Dallas Page but, well, it wasn't really a fight.

Per Booker:

“The best one was Diamond Dallas Page and Buff Bagwell. They were trying to create an angle and they were acting like they were going to fight in catering. And both of them start jaw jacking back and forth really hard. And then BANG! They start fighting each other. But it was like a worked shoot and nobody broke it up! (laughs). Finally they stopped and realized they had ribbed themselves. That was the best one of them all”.

Suckas.

4. Lanny Leaps To Macho Man's Defense

WWE.com

Many were critical of A&E's biography of Randy Savage, with some likening it to a 'hit piece', especially next to the comparatively glowing shows they did for Steve Austin and Roddy Piper before.

Randy's brother Lanny Poffo (who was interviewed for the special) is among those who took issue with the programme and had written his detailed response over at ProWrestlingStories.com.

It's worth a read, as Lanny (who lives in Ecuador now apparently) clears up some of the things that the show may have either exaggerate or gotten wrong.

He took particular issue with the way Randy's relationships with Elizabeth 'Miss Elizabeth' Hulette and Stephanie 'Gorgeous George' Bellars were portrayed and cleared up some factual inaccuracies regarding the Poffo family.

3. Autograph These Please

WWE.com

Have you ever done something slightly embarrassing in front of someone who turns out to be a future colleague before?

Yes you have, don't lie. We all have.

Everyone, including Maria Kanellis it would seem, as she revealed during an appearance on the Wrassingh Show.

The current ROH star told of how when she was younger (circa 2001) she ended up exposing herself to a very popular WWE tag team that she would later go on to work with.

Asked if she was a fan of wrestling growing up, Maria said:

"I was! I watched it with my brother when we were kids. I broke my brother’s nose while doing wrestling moves on him when we were little little kids and then I got back into it when I was in high school.

"I went to a show when I was like 19 years old and um there was a big window where the Hardy’s were and they were doing a signing. So my boyfriend at the time, put me up on his shoulders and I flashed the Hardy Boys because I was just so excited to be there!"

And yet if I got my John Thomas out at one of Maria's signings, I'd probably end up in jail!

It's political correctness gone mad.

2. Football Crazy, Wrestling Mad

WWE.com

Scottish Premier League Champions Rangers celebrated not only winning their fifty-fifth title this weekend, but also going the entire 38-game season unbeaten.

The club's official Twitter account posted a picture of the team celebrating the feat after their 4-0 victory over Aberdeen on Saturday with champagne, captioning it 'A little bit of the bubbly'.

Evidently, someone clued up Chris Jericho, who responded with 'Congrats lads!! Enjoy the victory! @gradowrestling is losing his mind right now...'.

The ICW standout quickly confirmed that he was.

In another bit of fun football banter, Drew McIntyre called out Braun Strowman's supposed support of Leicester City after the Monster Among Men congratulated them on winning the FA Cup.

Big D simply asked Strowman '......who’s your fav player big man?'. 

To be fair, Braun did name goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, because he's got 'mad hands'.

Kayfabe is alive and well, folks!

1. An Irishman And A Little Person Were In The Philippines...

WWE.com

Wrestlers get up to all sorts of hi-jinks on tour, especially when they're travelling internationally.

The trips are long and punishing and performers sometimes need to do something to amuse themselves and break the monotony. This can often manifest itself in the form of ribs.

Fit Finlay was a guest on 'Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw' and told the story of the time he tried to 'sell' his on-screen son Hornswoggle during a stop in the Philippines.

The fighting Irishman was amused when regaling the hosts with the following tale:

“So we’re in the lobby of the hotel in the Philippines somewhere. I see the guy looking at Swoggle like he’s looking at a meal. Right. And I go, ‘Hey, you want to buy him?’. So I’ve got Swoggle by his collar and I’m holding on while this guy and myself we’re talking money, we’re going how much?. While Swoggle’s looking up and me, like, ‘Wait, no, what are you doing?’.‘I’m going to sell you, it’ll be alright I’ll get you back’. The guy is talking serious money here, and I’m pushing them towards and pushing Swoggle towards the guy. And he’s going ‘oh no’, as we said he’s going ‘Dave, Dave, Dave…’.The more serious of this was like 15-minute conversation. And he [Swoggle] is sweating his nuts off because he thinks I’m going to sell him. I would have done it if the money was right". 

What a heel.