FACT to the Future: Useless Wrestling Facts That Take You Way Back

Brian Damage

It is time to travel back or forward to a bunch of useless wrestling facts, stats and trivia tidbits that will help us learn more or less about the history of pro wrestling….or probably not. Some of these we are well aware of and others maybe not so much. In either case, they are meant to be fun and enjoyable. So without any further waste of time…let’s learn.

Ric Flair’s adopted name is Richard Morgan Fliehr. His real name at birth was Fred Phillips.

The very first venue for Capitol Sports wrestling (Later the WWWF/WWF/WWE) was the Joe Turner Arena in Washington D.C. Vince McMahon Sr would rename it The Capitol Arena after a building of the same name in Albany, New York where his father Jess McMahon held many events during his promoting days.

Buck Kartalian was a professional wrestler turned actor who played the role of ‘Julius’ n the 1968 film Planet of the Apes. In the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes…a gorilla was named Buck after the wrestler.

Tamina Snuka was the first Polynesian female wrestler ever signed to a WWE contract.

Aja Smith made history becoming the very first black female referee at Wrestlemania and the first black female to officiate a match in Saudi Arab for Crown Jewel.

World Class Championship Wrestling once created the Middle Eastern Championship title which was won by Mike Von Erich in 1985. He defeated Gino Hernandez in Tel Aviv, Israel to become the inaugural champion. The title was abandoned in 1987, after the death of Mike Von Erich and never used again.

The original working title for WWE’s Monday Night Raw was ‘Down and Dirty.’

Kofi Kingston is the all time record holder for WWE tag team championships with 15 reigns. He surpassed both Edge and Booker T for the record.

WWE and WCW Hall of Famer Ernie ‘The Big Cat’ Ladd was once the highest paid lineman in football history when he signed a contract with the Houston Oilers for $57,000 a year. His payments were deferred up until 1989…21 years after retiring from football.

Midget wrestler Frenchy Lamonte, was once credited as the “world’s strongest midget” by the Guinness Book of World Records. He squatted two full sized wrestlers at a total combined weight of over 500 pounds.

Marcus ‘Buff’ Bagwell had a brief appearance in Hulk Hogan’s 1989 movie No Holds Barred. One year, before he became a pro wrestler.

If proven to be true, Vince McMahon allegedly paid out 12 million dollars in non disclosure agreements after having sex with four different women. In contrast, McMahon paid 4.2 million dollars for all assets of World Championship Wrestling in 2001.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson created his own energy drink in 2021 called ZOA.

All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling’s Big Egg Wrestling Universe show had the largest attendance for an all female wrestling event. Over 32,500 fans were in attendance for this 10 hour, 23 match show.

Voiceover artist Ed Weigle has been the voice of WWE since 2001.He does all of the voice over narrations for WWE shows and pay per views.

Mean Gene Okerlund’s final interview in WWE was with AJ Styles on January 22, 2018

In 1993, Jackie Moore became the first female to be included in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500, detailing the top 500 professional wrestlers in the world.

Cora Livingston is the first woman to be recognized as a world champion.

Shelton Benjamin was the World Wrestling Council (Puerto Rico) Universal Champion in 2010 for four months.

Randy Orton is often credited as the youngest wrestler to win the Big Gold Belt to become world champion at 24 years old. While that may be true in WWE history, the fact is The Giant aka Paul Wight won the WCW version of that title at the age of 23 making him the youngest ever world champion.

Scott Hall’s last appearance as ‘Razor Ramon’ in the WWF before joining WCW was against Vader at In Your House 7 pay per view on April 28,1996. A month later he appeared on WCW Nitro. Hall would return to WWE six years later to reprise the New World Order storyline.

Paul Heyman has managed/represented a record six wrestlers to world titles including three consecutive world champions which were Brock Lesnar, Big Show and Kurt Angle.

The Ultimo Dragon has his own brand of wine… Big Basin Vineyards

Brock Lesnar’s finisher (The F 5) was renamed ‘The Verdict’ while wrestling for New Japan. This was done due to WWE owning the trademark to the F 5 name and WWE attempting to prevent Lesnar from competing for New Japan Pro Wrestling, which they lost.

Impact star ‘The Walking Weapon’ Josh Alexander wears headgear, because he legitimately had his ear nearly torn off his head in 2013 during a match. The headgear protects his ear which was surgically attached back to his head.

Sting wrestled his first and only match in Mexico against El Mesias in 2011.

While not mentioned very often, the brief, failed gimmick of ‘Beaver Cleavage’ had a first name…Harry.

Debra Duggan (Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s wife) actually has a victory over Sherri Martel in the WWF. Sherri’s scheduled opponent was unable to appear at a show due to a snowstorm and Duggan’s wife filled in receiving a quick DQ victory over Martel.

Gunther is the longest reigning WWE Intercontinental champion in the last 10 years.

Yuji Nagata has appeared in every January 4th Tokyo Dome Show since 1994, including every single Wrestle Kingdom. A total of 29 consecutive appearances including main eventing two of those shows in 2003 and 2004.

In 2006, WWE was set to unveil a brand new logo to replace the “scratch” logo of the Attitude Era, but it was leaked and forced Vince McMahon to delay it on several occasions. Finally, it was ultimately scrapped and WWE did not have a new logo until 2014.

Dominik Mysterio is currently the same age (25) as to when his father Rey Mysterio lost his mask in WCW.

Former wrestler Masahiro Chono was the dubbed voiceover actor for Triple H in the Japanese release of the 2004 film Blade: Trinity.

Brian Pillman’s trademarked sunglasses read ‘Screw You’ on the lenses.

Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler has wrestled at least one match every year for the last 53 years since his pro debut in 1970.

Dan ‘The Beast’ Severn was once nominated for an Adult Video News Award (AVN) for a shower scene he did with former porn actress Jasmin St. Claire in the low budget movie ‘Swamp Zombies.’

The late ‘Samoan Bulldozer’ Umaga scored pinfall victories over former & future world champions: John Cena, HHH, HBK, Ric Flair, Jeff Hardy, RVD, CM Punk, Edge, Bryan Danielson, Kane, Khali, Sabu, R-Truth, Carlito, Mr. Kennedy, Keiji Muto, Toshiaki Kawada and Satoshi Kojima.

In 1992, after the failed Jim Herd experiment…Ted Turner hired his lawyer Kip Frey to be the new head honcho of WCW. Under Frey’s leadership, Diamond Dallas Page and Jesse Ventura were signed and performance bonuses were given out for wrestlers who overachieved inside the ring on a weekly basis. He was fired within a year and replaced with Bill Watts in an effort to cut costs.

The original concept for the nWo was to be all former WWF wrestlers. ‘The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith was booked to become a member of the group, but decided to re-sign with the WWF instead. The Giant was put in Davey Boy’s place, thus becoming the first member of the New World Order who had not previously worked for Vince McMahon.

Peyton Royce (Cassie Lee) Has pinfall victories over all four members of The Four Horsewomen aka Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley.

According to the late Jim Barnett, both Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant made $750,000 a piece for their match at Wrestlemania III

Speaking of wrestling promoter Jim Barnett, during the 1950’s, actor Lee Majors (Star of the Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy) used to be Barnett’s limo driver before he became famous.