My YouTube and social media algorithms are pretty wild sometimes.
Right now, both are full of videos and posts like “Insert Topic Here Facts That Sound Fake But Are 100% Real” and things of that nature. I’ve seen them for wrestling, horror movies, rap music, the NFL, the NBA, college football, and more.
Unless this site has gone through some drastic changes and I can write a column about the San Francisco 49ers or The Notorious BIG, I would like to narrow my focus to the world of pro wrestling.
Wrestling has been almost everywhere, and it has done almost everything. There have been ridiculously high highs, and also terribly low lows. Records have been set, money has been made, and memories have been created.
Through it all, though, are cold, hard facts.
I’ve been digging and doing research, and I have come up with a ton of those facts. Hell, you read the title when you decided to click a link to read my words, so you already knew what was going on here. For one reason or another, these facts sound insane, and your first thought might be to think that there’s no way they’re real.
Au contraire, mon frère.
Let’s talk about some of the funniest, wildest, and most phony sounding facts, shall we?
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin Was Never A WWF Champion During The Months Of January Or February: His first WWF Title reign went from March 29th, 1998 to June 28th, 1998. The second reign went from June 29th, 1998 to September 27th, 1998. His third reign went from March 28th, 1999 to May 23rd, 1999. Reign four went from June 28th, 1999 to August 22nd, 1999. His next reign went from April 1st, 2001 to September 23rd, 2001. The final reign of his career went from October 8th, 2001 to December 9th, 2001.
One of the most legendary careers in the history of the pro wrestling business. He was a huge part of saving the WWF in their battle with WCW, and winning the Monday Night War. All that without being the WWF Champion for a single day in the months of January or February.
Jerry “The King” Lawler Won The Southern Heavyweight Title Three More Times Than R-Truth Won The WWE 24/7 Title: Over the course of the 24/7 Championship’s relatively brief three-and-a-half year history, R-Truth won the title 54 times. It is the most reigns in that title’s history by leaps and bounds, with Akira Tozawa having the second-most at 16.
Being a 54-time champion is fine and all, but it doesn’t top Lawler’s history with the Southern Heavyweight Title. When he first won the title back in 1974, it was known as the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title. Four years later, it became the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title after a working relationship with the American Wrestling Association spawned. In 1989, the United States Wrestling Association brought the title back after it was vacated in a title unification match two years earlier, naming it the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title, and later, the USWA Heavyweight Title. When the USWA shut down in 1997, the title was out of action for over two years until Memphis Championship Wrestling brought it back as the MCW Southern Heavyweight Title until they, too, shut down at the end of 2001. In 2004, Memphis Wrestling brought the title back again, calling it the Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Title, and it would remain until 2010 when the promotion stopped using it.
Multiple different promotions, over the span of nearly 40 years, and Jerry Lawler was a part of all of it. To hold one championship that many times, when the belt isn’t defended under those “24/7” rules, is insane to stop and think about. He first won the title when he was 24 years old, while his final reign came at the age of 58.
Kelly Kelly Once Successfully Defended The World Heavyweight Title: Technically. During a February 2011 episode of Smackdown, a match was created that saw World Heavyweight Champion Edge teaming with Kelly Kelly to face the trio of Dolph Ziggler, Michelle McCool, and Layla in a Handicap Match. An extra stipulation would be added… Edge’s title would be on the line during the match.
The finish of the match saw Kelly hit Layla with a Spear and pin her to win the match for her team, giving her one of the most technical of all technicalities… Kelly Kelly has, indeed, successfully defended the men’s World Heavyweight Title in her career. I just think it’s funny that, of ALL THE WOMEN in the history of the business, it’s Kelly Kelly to have a men’s World Title defense. Not Chyna, not Beth Phoenix, not Bull Nakano, not Charlotte Flair, not Madusa… Kelly Kelly. Wow.
Mick Foley Has Wrestled Andre The Giant Twice: While Mick Foley isn’t exactly a young man anymore, my brain still doesn’t picture him being in the business at anywhere near the same time that Andre The Giant was around doing his own thing.
Yet, there it was… 1991… All Japan Pro Wrestling… the company’s annual Champion Carnival tournament. On April 5th, Andre teamed with Mighty Inoue and defeated the duo of Cactus Jack and Texas Terminator Hoss. Ten days later, Andre teamed with Dory Funk Jr. and defeated that same duo of Cactus Jack and Texas Terminator Hoss.
The matches took place at the end of Andre’s in-ring career, and he was already struggling to move around. Cactus, on the other hand, was still somewhat early in his career. This was about a year-and-a-half after he debuted for WCW, and this was also his first stint wrestling in Japan, four years before becoming “King Of The Deathmatch” working for IWA Japan and creating a legendary chapter to his career and overall lore.
I’ve never seen the match that featured Dory Funk, but I have seen the match with Mighty Inoue. It’s available on YouTube if you’re curious about this type of wrestling history, but just know that you’re going to be sad watching Andre try to move around.
Kharma Has Been In More WWE Video Games Than The Number Of Matches She Wrestled In WWE: Speaking of things that make me sad, that brings us to Kharma’s WWE run.
When she signed a WWE contract in late-2010, it was viewed as a huge deal. She was coming off of a great run with TNA, SHIMMER, and the independent scene, and was viewed as precisely the type of character that the women’s division in WWE needed.
After a few weeks of vignettes, she made her debut at Extreme Rules 2011, attacking Michelle McCool after Michelle’s match against Layla. Kharma would spend the next couple of weeks showing up on WWE programming and attacking various women until one week when she arrived on the scene, but instead of attacking anyone, she simply began crying in the ring. One week later, she announced to the world that she was pregnant, and would be taking a break from the sport because of it. While she was gone, she would be added to the WWE ’12 video game as a downloadable character.
That’s video game #1 for her, even before she wrestled a WWE match.
Tragically, she would suffer a miscarriage in December of 2011, although that news wouldn’t be made public for months after the fact. When she made her surprise return at the 2012 Royal Rumble, there were rumors floating around that she had given birth to a son during her time away, and she had to reveal the news of her miscarriage in March. After a few months of nothing going on for her, she was released from her contract in July 2012, with her revealing that she was let go because she was unable to return to the ring (outside of that brief appearance during the Royal Rumble match) in a certain amount of time. A few weeks after her release, she was added to the main roster of the WWE ’13 video game.
That’s video game #2 for her, coming after her release, and after only working for one entire minute in the 2012 Rumble match. She didn’t even get to work at a house show during her time with the company. It was such a weird run, but hey, at least she was able to make two video game appearances, so she had that going for her, which is nice.
There Was A Total Of 18 WCW World Title Reigns (And Six Vacancies) In The 2000 Calendar Year: This is one of about a million different reasons why WCW failed and would eventually be purchased by Vince McMahon and the WWF for pennies on the dollar. Let’s get through this one as quickly as we can…
Bret Hart entered 2000 as the WCW World Champion, winning the title on December 20th, 1999, but he vacated the title at Souled Out on January 16th due to his career-ending injuries he was dealing with after wrestling Goldberg the month before.
At Souled Out, Chris Benoit defeated Sid Vicious to win the vacant title, but would be stripped of it the next night. In storyline, the title was vacated because Benoit defeated Sid while Sid’s foot was under the bottom rope, but in reality, Benoit forfeited the title because he left WCW for the WWF.
On January 24th, Sid pinned Kevin Nash to win the vacant title, but he would be stripped of it two nights later by Nash, who was the on-screen Commissioner of WCW at the time. To earn his title shot in the first place, Sid had to defeat Don Harris, but he actually pinned Ron Harris, so Nash declared the title vacant again. Nash would actually declare himself as the new champion, but the reign was never officially acknowledged by WCW, nor has it been acknowledged by WWE through the years.
Later that same night (January 26th), Sid made Nash tap out in a Steel Cage Match that also included Ron Harris, to win the title again.
On April 10th, all WCW titles were declared vacant by Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo during the infamous on-screen “rebooting” of the promotion.
Jeff Jarrett defeated Diamond Dallas Page at Spring Stampede on April 16th to win the vacant title.
On April 24th, DDP beat Jarrett to win the title.
Two nights later, actor David Arquette teamed with DDP to face the team of Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff, with the stipulation being that the WCW World Title was on the line and that the man who earned the fall would be the champion. Arquette pinned Bischoff to become the new champion.
At Slamboree on May 7th, Arquette defended the title against DDP and Jarrett in a Triple Cage Match (from the movie, Ready To Rumble, that Arquette starred in). At the end of the match, Arquette turned heel and hit DDP with a guitar, allowing Jarrett to win the match and become the new champion.
On May 15th, Ric Flair defeated Jarrett to win the title.
Flair’s reign lasted one week until Vince Russo stripped him of the title and awarded the vacant title to Jarrett again.
Two nights later, in a match that also included Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash would win the title to become the new champion.
Five nights later, on May 29th, Nash would literally give the title to Ric Flair, making Flair the new champion. Flair didn’t even make it to the end of that Nitro episode as the champion before being defeated by Jarrett, making Jarrett the new champion.
At Bash At The Beach on July 9th, Hollywood Hulk Hogan defeated Jarrett to become the new champion in a work that turned into a shoot that was a work while being a shoot and a work but a shoot at the same time while being a work that devolved into a shoot when Jarrett laid down and did the j-o-b for Hogan. After Hogan left the building, Vince Russo reversed the decision, keeping the title on Jarrett, but putting Jarrett in a match against Booker T. Later that night, Booker defeated Jarrett to win the title.
On August 28th, Kevin Nash defeated Booker to become the new champion.
At Fall Brawl on September 17th, Booker beat Nash to win the title back.
On September 25th, Vince Russo would beat Booker in a Steel Cage to win the title after Goldberg hit Russo with a Spear that crashed both of them through the cage wall, meaning that Russo technically escaped the cage first to win.
The next week, Russo vacated the title, declaring that he was not a wrestler. Later that night, Booker T defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the vacant title.
On November 26th, Scott Steiner beat Booker to become the new champion, and he would hold the title for the rest of 2000, only dropping it back to Booker on the final episode of Nitro on March 26th, 2001.
Jesus Christ, just typing all of that made my head hurt. It gave me all types of flashbacks to sitting through it live on a weekly basis.
Batista Is Older Than Triple H: Evolution was a well put together group for WWE. You had the “past” in Ric Flair, even though he was still a full-time active competitor at the time. Then there was the “present” in Triple H, who was viewed as the biggest wrestler in the company back then. Finally, you had the “future” in Randy Orton and Batista, who were being groomed as the next huge stars that WWE would create.
While it all makes perfect sense at face value, the entire thing becomes funny when you realize that Dave Bautista is six months older than Paul Levesque, born on January 18th, 1969 to Levesque’s birthdate of July 27th, 1969.
No Male Born In The 1990s Has Been A World Champion In WWE Yet: Because my brain struggles to understand the concepts of time every now and then, I first read this fact and said to myself “obviously they aren’t giving World Titles to really young wrestlers yet.”
Then, I start to think about it some more, and I remember that being born in 1990 means you’re either 35 or 36 today. There was a point in time when a 35 or 36 year old wrestler was viewed as someone who was at the tail end of their careers.
Bray Wyatt has the most recent date of birth for any male World Champion in WWE, and he was born on May 23rd, 1987.
The odds of this being a factoid for much longer seem pretty slim, though, don’t they? Whether it’s Bron Breakker (1997), Oba Femi (1998), Dominik Mysterio (1997), Logan Paul (1995), Carmelo Hayes (1994), Jacob Fatu (1990), Trick Williams (1994), etc, it sure does seem like it’s only a matter of time before a man born in that decade becomes a World Champion in WWE.
For those who are curious, Sasha Banks was the first woman born in that decade to become a World Champion in WWE when she won the WWE Women’s Title on July 25th, 2016. Since then, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Iyo Sky, Tiffany Stratton, Stephanie Vaquer, and Jade Cargill have joined Sasha in that group.
Not Only Is Abraham Lincoln In The National Wrestling Hall Of Fame, But He Also Invented The Chokeslam: Standing at 6’4″, Abraham Lincoln was a pretty imposing figure, even at a young age. He was heavily involved in the catch-as-catch-can wrestling scene before he got into politics. In 1992, he would be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall Of Fame for his skills and the fact that he racked up an impressive record of nearly 300 victories and only one documented loss during his career.
Even more incredible is the fact that he is widely viewed as the creator of the move that modern wrestling fans know as the Chokeslam. During a 1831 fight, Lincoln’s opponent, Jack Armstrong, was fighting dirty and tried to foul him multiple times. An angry Lincoln would grab Armstrong by the throat, lift him in the air, and slam him to the ground. It became one of Lincoln’s calling cards in wrestling, and it not only earned him the victory against Armstrong, but it earned him Armstrong’s respect, as well, and the two would go on to become lifelong friends.
These days, every wrestler that is the height of Abraham Lincoln or taller has a Chokeslam in their arsenal, but it all started with the man who would eventually go on to become the 16th President of the United States.
Hulk Hogan’s Last Successful World Title Defense On A WWE/WWF Pay-Per-View Was WrestleMania 3: This one still boggles my mind. Let’s go in reverse chronological order.
In 2002, Hulk won the Undisputed WWF Title by defeating Triple H at Backlash. He had two successful title defenses on television before dropping the title to The Undertaker at Judgment Day a month later.
In 1993, Hulk won the WWF Title by defeating Yokozuna at WrestleMania 9. He had zero title defenses before he dropped the title back to Yokozuna at King Of The Ring two months later.
In 1991, Hulk won the WWF Title by defeating The Undertaker at This Tuesday In Texas. He didn’t even get a chance to defend the title before being stripped of it by WWF President Jack Tunney due to the controversy surrounding the title victory. This is what put the belt on the line during the 1992 Royal Rumble match that would be won by Ric Flair.
Earlier in 1991, Hulk won the WWF Title by defeating Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania 7. While he defended the title a bunch of times at house shows and international events, he didn’t have any pay-per-view defenses before he dropped the title to The Undertaker at Survivor Series eight months later.
In 1989, Hulk won the WWF Title by defeating Randy Savage at WrestleMania 5. He had a bunch of defenses on Saturday Night’s Main Event episodes and house shows, but he didn’t have any defenses on pay-per-view before dropping the title to The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 6.
This takes us back to 1984, when Hulk won his first WWF Title by defeating The Iron Sheik at a Madison Square Garden house show. Again, he had a whole bunch of defenses on Saturday Night’s Main Event episodes and house shows, but he also had two successful defenses on pay-per-view… beating King Kong Bundy at WrestleMania 2 in 1986 and then beating Andre The Giant the following year. That WrestleMania 3 defense would be his last pay-per-view defense before he dropped the title on the televised show, The Main Event, to Andre The Giant in the infamous “evil twin” match with Dave Hebner and Earl Hebner.
Yes, some of this has to do with a lack of pay-per-views in Hulk’s initial WWF run. In the early stages, WrestleMania was it, and then Survivor Series came along in 1987, but that event didn’t see a singles match of any kind take place until 1991… when Hulk dropped the title to The Undertaker. The Royal Rumble came around in 1988, and then became a pay-per-view in 1989, but the WWF Title wasn’t defended at the show until 1991. In 1993, King Of The Ring was added as a pay-per-view, and his loss to Yokozuna at the inaugural event would be his final pay-per-view appearance for the company until 2002.
Even with that said, though, it’s crazy that Hulk wasn’t winning World Title matches on every pay-per-view. He had a lot of pay-per-views where he was the WWF Champion but wasn’t defending the title at all. WrestleMania 1, Survivor Series 1987, SummerSlam 1989, Survivor Series 1989, Royal Rumble 1990, SummerSlam 1991… all saw Hogan wrestle on the card, but in matches that didn’t feature the WWF Championship on the line. His reigns were really protected, perhaps in an effort to extend the length as much as possible.
Seth Rollins Has More Successful Raw Women’s Title Defenses Than Sasha Banks: Technically. At the Extreme Rules 2019 pay-per-view, Seth was the Universal Champion and would team up with Becky Lynch (in the relatively early stages of their real life romantic relationship), who was the Raw Women’s Champion, to face the team of Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in a Winner Takes All. This was the scheduled main event of the pay-per-view, by the way, for those of you smooth brains who are calling for Vince McMahon to return to a position of power in WWE. The finish saw Rollins pin Corbin to successfully retain both titles.
Sasha Banks is a five-time Raw Women’s Champion, holding the title for a combined 106 days. In all five of her reigns, she dropped the title in her first defense on television or pay-per-view.
My math isn’t the greatest, but if I’m not mistaken, Seth’s one successful defense of the Raw Women’s Title is more than Sasha’s zero successful defenses of the Raw Women’s Title.
The WWWF/WWF/WWE World Title Has Never Been Won By Anyone Who Was Born In September: As indicated in the name, this is specifically about the title that was first held by Buddy Rogers in 1963 and is currently held by Cody Rhodes.
Over the last 63 years, a total of 55 different men have held the title, combining for a total of 151 reigns, and not a single one of those 55 men have been born in the month of September.
There were some “close calls.” Bruno Sammartino was born on October 6th. Ivan Koloff was born on August 25th. Sgt. Slaughter was born on August 27th. Yokozuna was born on October 2nd. Vince McMahon was born on August 24th. Eddie Guerrero was born on October 9th. Jeff Hardy was born on August 31st. The Miz was born on October 8th. Nothing in September, though.
Is this a bad sign for Angel (September 23rd), Damian Priest (September 26th), Ethan Page (September 20th), Lexis King (September 9th), and Xavier Woods (September 4th)?
Lou Thesz Wrestled Masahiro Chono: When I hear people speak about Lou Thesz, my brain begins thinking about his career being a million years ago. While he did begin his career a long time ago (1932), it was his longevity that makes this factoid possible. The man didn’t officially retire until 1990, when he was 74 years old. To show you how old that is, Hulk Hogan passed away last year at the age of 71, and Jim Ross is 74 right now.
The last match that Thesz ever wrestled was in 1990 for New Japan Pro Wrestling, when he squared off against Masahiro Chono, a man he helped to train. Chono would eventually go on to be better known by North American wrestling fans as a member of the nWo. He would also start the spin-off stable in New Japan, nWo Japan, with the group becoming huge overseas, as well.
To think that the legendary Lou Thesz wrestled in 1990 (making him and Abdullah The Butcher the only wrestlers to ever wrestle in seven different decades) against someone who would go on to become a member of the Monday Night War boggles my mind.
Scott Hall Was Never In A Royal Rumble Match, But Razor Ramon Was: The fact that Scott Hall was never in a Royal Rumble match is fun all by itself. His first appearance at the pay-per-view was in 1993, when he challenged Bret Hart for the WWF Title, and then he was involved in matches for the Intercontinental Title, both as a champion and as a challenger, in 1994, 1995, and 1996.
The entire thing is just funnier because “Razor Ramon” was the third entrant in the 1997 Royal Rumble match. This, of course, was during the whole “fake Razor and Diesel” storyline, when Rick Bognar was portraying Razor Ramon and Glenn Jacobs was Diesel, while Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were doing their thing as nWo members in WCW.
This isn’t one of those “mind blowing” factoids. It’s just something light and fun.
Charlotte Flair Wins At Even-Numbered WrestleManias & Loses At Odd-Numbered WrestleManias: In her Mania debut at 32, she defeated Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks to win the WWE Women’s Title. At Mania 33, she, along with Nia Jax and Sasha Banks, failed to take the WWE Women’s Title from Bayley. Mania 34 saw her successfully defend her Smackdown Women’s Title against Asuka. At Mania 35, she dropped her Smackdown Women’s Title to Becky Lynch in a match that also saw Ronda Rousey drop her Raw Women’s Title to Becky. The following year, at Mania 36, she beat Rhea Ripley to become the new NXT Women’s Champion. She didn’t wrestle at Mania the next year, but at Mania 38, she successfully defended the Smackdown Women’s Title against Ronda Rousey. At Mania 39, she dropped the Smackdown Women’s Title to Rhea Ripley. She didn’t compete at 40, but at Mania 41, she failed to take the WWE Women’s Title from Tiffany Stratton.
As of the moment I type this, we don’t know if she’ll have a role at WrestleMania 42. It’s an even-numbered Mania, though, so she’s “due” to win, and that’s something to keep an eye on if you’re one of those degenerates that bets on pro wrestling.
AJ Styles Was Involved In The Final Match Of “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s Career: It’s pretty well known that the Boneyard Match between AJ and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36 was Taker’s last match. What’s a lot less known, however, is that AJ was also involved in the final ever match that Randy Savage participated in.
At the TNA Turning Point pay-per-view on December 5th, 2004, Savage teamed with AJ and Jeff Hardy to face the trio of Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall.
It really shows you how long AJ has been plying his craft, and where his journey has taken him through all these years.
All Of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s WWF Title Wins Came At WrestleMania Or On Monday Night Raw: With all of the big events that the WWF ran during Austin’s time with the company, it’s so weird to think that WrestleMania and Raw were the only two places he ever won the WWF Title.
Of course, you have his very first reign that started when he defeated Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14. His second reign began on the episode of Raw that took place the night after King Of The Ring 1998, when he beat Kane, 24 hours after dropping the title to Kane in a First Blood Match. WrestleMania 15 was the place of his next World Title victory, as he defeated The Rock to become a three-time champion. His next reign came three months later, on an episode of Raw, when he defeated The Undertaker. Fast forward to WrestleMania 17, and you have his infamous heel turn that led to him defeating The Rock to win his fifth WWF Championship. His sixth, and final, reign came six months later, when he defeated Kurt Angle on an episode of Raw.
That’s it. Nothing at SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, In Your House, Smackdown… just three at WrestleMania, and three at Raw. I like it even better that it alternated between the two, starting at WrestleMania 14, and then ending on an episode of Raw in October 2001.
Lars Sullivan Has Wrestled In More Dave Meltzer Five-Star Matches Than Kurt Angle, Randy Savage, Triple H, Randy Orton, Adam Copeland & Dean Malenko Combined: If my math is correct, Dave Meltzer has given a rating of five stars or higher to a total of 315 matches through the years.
For the sake of this conversation, it doesn’t matter what your opinions of Dave Meltzer are, nor does it matter what your opinions of his match rating scale happen to be. Personally, I think 315 matches of five stars or more is asinine, but again, that’s neither here nor there.
On April 7th, 2018, NXT held its Takeover: New Orleans event at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the night before WrestleMania 34, and NXT was on an absolute roll at the time.
In the opening match of the pay-per-view, Adam Cole defeated EC3, Ricochet, The Velveteen Dream, Killian Dain, and Lars Sullivan in a Ladder Match to become the inaugural NXT North American Champion. Meltzer would waste no time giving the match five stars.
That means Lars Sullivan, for all the jokes and ridicule that he received from fans on the internet for the entire duration of his time under WWE contract, has participated in a five-star match rated by Dave Meltzer. Nobody can take that away from him.
Kurt Angle? Zero matches rated at five stars or higher over his entire career? Randy Savage? Same thing. Triple H? Nope. Randy Orton? Nah. Adam Copeland? Nuh-uh. Dean Malenko? More like Dean Malenk-no.
Hell, throw in names like Curt Hennig, Rob Van Dam, and a real who’s who of wrestlers who are constantly mentioned as some of the greatest in-ring performers to ever live, and you still have a combined total of five star matches that is precisely one less than that of Lars Sullivan.
WrestleMania 19 Was The Only WrestleMania Main Event That Featured All Competitors Using Their Given Names At Birth: Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar got the main event slot on that night in 2003. Outside of that, WrestleMania main events are full of the likes of Roman Reigns, Hulk Hogan, Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, and other “wrestling names.”
We got very close last year, though. John Cena is the man’s real name, but Cody Rhodes is where things got a bit murky. His current legal name is Cody Runnels Rhodes, but he had it legally changed as a teenager. His name at birth was Cody Runnels, which disqualifies him here.
The Locations Of Death For “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Miss Elizabeth, Scott Hall, Chris Benoit, Ole Anderson, The Iron Sheik, Brad Armstrong, Big Boss Man, Chief Jay Strongbow, Daffney, Paul Varelans, Jos LeDuc, The Renegade, Johnny Grunge, Randy “Pee Wee” Anderson, Paul Orndorff, Bill Fralic, Ice Train & Crusher Blackwell Are All Within 70 Miles Of Each Other: No, it doesn’t mean anything, and no, it isn’t a sign of something greater or some type of conspiracy. I just find it really strange that everyone I mentioned there passed away in the same general vicinity, all taking place within 70 miles of each other in the state of Georgia.
This is undoubtedly when someone from the area chimes in with “ACTUALLY…” and points out that City A and City B are 78.4 miles from each other, but my point remains.
This probably isn’t anywhere close to a definitive list, either. I did some research to get the names and locations, but it’s not I spent months combing through the deaths of everyone who has ever been involved in the wrestling business. Chances are, you could add some extra names to this list.
There Are Only Seven Degrees Of In-Ring Separation Between Pro Wrestling’s First World Champion And The Current World Champions In WWE & AEW: After winning numerous wrestling tournaments to win “world championships,” George Hackenschmidt would defeat American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins, on May 4th, 1905 to become the first officially recognized World Heavyweight Champion in wrestling.
Here we are, more than 130 years later, and it doesn’t take much effort to make a connection between Hackenschmidt’s career and those of the current World Champions in WWE and AEW. Let’s play…
Hackenschmidt wrestled Stanislaus Zbyszko.
Stanislaus Zbyszko wrestled Dick Shikat.
Dick Shikat wrestled Chuck Morgan.
Chuck Morgan wrestled Jacques Rougeau Sr.
Jacques Rougeau Sr. teamed with Jacques Rougeau Jr.
Jacques Rougeau Jr. wrestled Billy Gunn.
Billy Gunn has wrestled WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, and AEW World Champion MJF. As an added bonus, Billy Gunn has also wrestled PWG World Champion Daniel Garcia, Impact World Champion Mike Santana, and CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Claudio Castagnoli.
Wrestling is interesting like that.
Of everything I listed here, how many facts were you already aware of, and how many did you learn about through this column? This type of thing has always fascinated me, so I’m interested to know how much it appeals to all of you. As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s get to my Weekly Power Rankings before closing things out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Carmelo Hayes vs Ilja Dragunov: The in-ring chemistry these two have together is off the charts. They’ve had seven singles matches together on television or pay-per-view, and all seven of them have been bangers, as the kids like to say.
Oba Femi: WWE’s goal was to make Oba look like a million bucks and like a huge deal. If he didn’t already check those boxes, he did so with aplomb on Raw. From the moment he arrived, the crowd treated him like a megastar, and then he stepped in the ring with one of the baddest men in the history of mendom. Brock Lesnar deserves a TON of credit here. When Oba was making his entrance, Brock looked on almost with a look of concern on his face, and that’s something you never see from his character. Then, after Oba laid Brock out with his Fall From Grace finisher, cameras caught Brock signaling to Oba that the segment should end with Oba’s foot on Brock’s chest. Again, that’s something you never see from the Brock character. When was the last time anyone made Brock look like that? That tells me that Brock is invested in the story, and in Oba Femi. Anyone remember when Brock didn’t seem to care much about Dean Ambrose, and what that meant for their match at WrestleMania 32?
Kyle Fletcher vs Robbie Eagles: It’s great to see Robbie Eagles on North American television. He has been putting in a lot of entertaining work for New Japan through the years. He’s also one of the men that trained Kyle Fletcher when Kyle was entering the business, so this was a pretty natural pairing. Definitely another one of those matches that was fun, but that never had an outcome that was ever in question.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey vs Mark Davis: Not that Mark Davis was ever a bad wrestler, but I’m really enjoying the hot streak that he’s on recently. He has dealt with a lot of bad luck with injuries, and having to watch his former tag partner go on to become one of the top singles stars in all of AEW, so it’s good to see him back, in general.
Penta vs Dragon Lee: A really fun Lucha showcase between two of the best in the business. I know it has been covered and talked about a million times, but you can really tell that Penta’s longtime dream was to wrestle for WWE. He seems like he’s having the time of his life. It’s not every wrestler’s dream, but it’s clearly his, and that works for him.
Komander & Mascara Dorada vs Claudio Castagnoli & Daniel Garcia: Claudio continues to battle the entire country of Mexico on a weekly basis, but the matches are good, so I guess I’ll continue to enjoy the story.
Tatum Paxley vs Izzi Dame: I enjoy the matches these two have against each other, but please… please, please, please… can we move them on to something different now? It looks like Blake Monroe is coming for Tatum and the NXT Women’s North American Title, but it wouldn’t shock me if NXT found a way to keep Izzi involved in the story.
AJ Lee vs Bayley: The last time these two faced each other was July 2013. For reference, that was so long ago that it was the match which birthed the “Hugger” gimmick for Bayley. That seems like forever ago. This might have been AJ’s best outing since making her return to the business. She seems like she’s getting into the swing of things and getting her ring cardio up nicely.
Jacy Jayne vs Sol Ruca vs Zaria: Outside of a three-week reign for Tatum Paxley, Jacy has been the NXT Women’s Champion for the last nine months. That’s an incredible run that really seemed to come out of nowhere. Has she earned herself a spot on Raw or Smackdown in 2026? It’s starting to seem more and more likely, isn’t it?
Jackson Drake, Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes vs El Grande Americano, Rayo & Bravo: Is it just me, or does it feel like EGA is wrestling on every show even remotely associated with WWE these days? That isn’t a complaint, mind you. He has become one of the most dependable performers in all of wrestling at this point. No matter where he is, and no matter who he’s facing, he is someone you can count on to have a good performance.
Damian Priest & R-Truth: Congratulations to the brand new WWE Tag Team Champions. The titles had been kidnapped by one of the worst tag team storylines WWE has presented in a long, long time, so it’s great to see them on a team that live crowds actually care about.
This Week’s Playlist: “The Way I Am” by Luke Combs… “Ever Mine” by Luke Combs & Alison Krauss… “Can’t Tell Me I’m Wrong” by Luke Combs… “I GO” by Ro$ama & MurdaGang PB… “SAFE TO SAY” by BigXThaPlug & Ro$ama… “6IXER PARTY” by BigXThaPlug, Ro$ama, MurdaGang PB, Yung Hood & Snoop Dogg… “LIFE OF A GANGSTER” by Ro$ama… “Better With Time” by Grafh & Bun B… “Goddess” by Protoje & Shenseea… “Electric Soul” by Forester… “Blood Money” by Catch Your Breath… “She Got It” by 2 Pistols, T-Pain & Tay Dizm… “Make It Last Forever” by Keith Sweat & Jacci McGhee… “Right And A Wrong Way” by Keith Sweat… “I’ll Give All My Love To You” by Keith Sweat… “Bitter Fruit” by Young The Giant… “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire” by The Black Keys… “Bones For The Crows” by Nickelback… “The Kids Are” by My First Time… “Gracie” by Naomi Scott… “Warrior” by Lloyd Banks… “I’m So Fly” by Lloyd Banks… “Warrior Part 2” by Lloyd Banks, Eminem, 50 Cent & Nate Dogg… “Karma” by Lloyd Banks & Kevin Cossom… “Beamer, Benz Or Bentley” by Lloyd Banks & Juelz Santana
