Fact Cat: Useless Pro Wrestling Facts, Stats and Trivia

Brian Damage

Hello all! Here we go again! Another robust round of facts, stats and other useless knowledge of the business of professional wrestling. Some of these facts you may be well aware of and some maybe not so much. In either case, they are just meant to be fun and educate just a smidge. So let’s go and learn a little something…

The Ultimate Warrior’s final TV appearance was on Monday Night Raw on April 7, 2014. During his speech, the Warrior wore a mask instead of his traditional face paint. The reason, was due to Warrior sweating too much backstage in the makeup department and the paint wouldn’t stick. The Ultimate Warrior died the very next day.

The very first Go 2 Sleep finisher KENTA used on an opponent was on the late, great Mitsuharu Misawa on August 28, 2004 on a Pro Wrestling NOAH show.

The infamous “Freebird Rule” used in pro wrestling and named after the Fabulous Freebirds consisting of Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Jack Roberts was not created by them. It was an idea from Georgia Championship Wrestling’s booker Ole Anderson.

Speaking of the Freebirds, the hand gesture that they often did is called ‘Nabes.’ It means brotherhood or comradery.

Jean Kirkland was a former powerlifter turned pro wrestler named ‘Black Venus.’ She was the original choice to manage Harlem Heat in WCW before she died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

Starrcade ’86 which emanated from both Atlanta, Georgia and Greensboro, North Carolina was the National Wrestling Alliance’s (NWA) very first million dollar gate.

Larry Zbyszko is responsible for coming up with the name ‘New World Order’ for the popular WCW faction.

Tony Schiavone is the person who came up with the nickname ‘The Hammer’ for Greg Valentine

Kevin Von Erich initially wore boots as a pro wrestler, but started wrestling barefoot after somebody hid his boots as a joke and was forced to wrestle without them. Wrestling barefoot then became his trademark for the remainder of his career.

AEW manager Prince Nana was the first ever wrestler to be from Ghanaian descent having debuted in 1996. He wrestled in the WWF in 2001/2002 and wrestled stars like Crash Holly and ‘Lethal’ Weapon’ Steve Blackman.

Bill Goldberg voiced the part of an angry bus passenger in a 2002 episode of the animated sitcom ‘Family Guy.’

In 1997/1998, WCW created the ‘pay per listen’ concept. For $7.95, WCW fans could listen to audio broadcasts of events which were basically glorified house shows. There were a total of 6 ppl shows…

• WCW Saturday Nitro – June 28th, 1997 from the Great Western Forum (now known as The Forum) in Inglewood, California.
• WCW Battle in Seattle – September 19th, 1997 from the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington.
• WCW Boston Brawl – January 31st, 1998 from the FleetCenter (now known as the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts.
• WCW Malice at the Palace – April 2nd, 1998 from the Ice Palace (now known as the Amalie Arena) in Tampa, Florida.
• WCW Profiles in Pain – May 2nd, 1998 from the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina.
• WCW L.A. Melee – July 10th, 1998 from the Great Western Forum (now known as The Forum) in Inglewood, California.

The definition of “Going Broadway” in professional wrestling began in the early 1900’s. Most wrestlers were booked out of New York City. To communicate with promoters in other cities, telegraphs were used to send over finishes to matches. To prevent anyone from reading the results of matches yet to happen, they used code words. Broadway meant that the promoter wanted the match to go to the time limit. Cadillac referred to the winner of the bout.

WWE referee John Cone trained with Harley Race at his school in Missouri. Race told him he was too small to become a pro wrestler and suggested becoming a referee instead. It was Harley who recommended John Cone to John Laurinaitis and he was signed to a WWE deal in 2006. Incidentally, Cone’s son Nicholas became the youngest ever title holder in WWE history at age 10 when he teamed with Braun Strowman to defeat ‘The Bar’ at Wrestlemania 34.

Billy Gunn began his pro career in 1989. He wrestled for the NWA/WCW as enhancement talent under the name of ‘Kip Montana’ and wrestled Sting.

Wrestlemania III was the last time Hulk Hogan successfully defended the WWF title on pay per view. He was 0-4 in title defenses after that.

Melina and Candice Michelle competed in the very last WWE Bra and Panties match on March 19, 2007.

AJ Styles wrestled in both Randy Savage’s and the Undertaker’s final matches.

Kevin Nash won the WWF title once (As Diesel) and won the WCW world title five times. Nash’s one WwF title reign lasted longer than all of Nash’s WCW reigns combined. He held the WWF title for 358 days compared to his WCW world title reigns which were at 97 days.

Zeus aka Tiny Lister Jr was booked as an unstoppable, unbeatable monster. He wrestled matches in the WWF, WCW and even one match in Puerto Rico against Abdullah the Butcher. He competed in a total of five matches and was never victorious in any of them.

Roddy Piper and fellow wrestler The Grappler aka Len Denton owned an automotive mechanic shop in Portland, Oregon called ‘Piper’s Pit Stop.’ The shop has since changed ownership and renamed, but still remains in the same location.

Rick Rude was entered into New Japan’s G1 Climax tournament in 1992 and made it to the finals where he was defeated by Masahiro Chono. Also notables entered into this tourney were Steve Austin, Jim Neidhart and Bam Bam Bigelow,

The New Day have nicknames for each of their pairings

• Xavier and E: Muscle Bomb
• Kofi and Xavier: Speed Force
• Kofi and E: Hops & Power

AEW’s Julia Hart was born a few months after WCW folded.

The Last Sellout at the Mid-South Coliseum took place on March 3, 1986 that saw a main event featuring Jerry Lawler and Dutch Mantel versus Buddy Landel and Bill Dundee. The official attendance was 11,300 paid. The Mid South Coliseum would never sell out again.

Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo’s real names are actually both Humberto Garza.

While we already know that it was Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura that coined the nickname of ‘Mean Gene’ referring to Gene Okerlund in the AWA…it was actually a longer name than that originally. The full nickname that Ventura gave Okerlund was ‘Mean Gene, the Hot Air Machine.’ Only the Mean Gene part stuck with Okerlund his entire career after that.

Stone Cold Steve Austin competed in seven Wrestlemania matches. Of those seven matches, Austin never defended the WWF title in any of them.

Scott Norton is the only wrestler to be a member of the nWo, nWo Japan and The Bullet Club.

When the Grand Wizard of Wrestling died in 1983, his former protégé Sgt. Slaughter turned to an empty corner of the ring and saluted a turnbuckle as a tribute to his late manager before his match.

James Fullington got his wrestling name from spotting a billboard while driving that advertised a store that sold beds and mattresses called ‘Mr. Sandman.” He liked the name and became Mr. Sandman before morphing into just The Sandman.

The Anoaʻi family has main-evented 17 of 40 Wrestlemania’s.

WM 9: Yokozuna vs Bret Hart/Hulk Hogan
WM 10: Yokozuna vs Bret Hart
WM 15: The Rock vs Steve Austin
WM 16: The Rock vs Triple H vs Big Show vs Mick Foley
WM 17: The Rock vs Steve Austin
WM 28: The Rock vs John Cena
WM 29: The Rock vs John Cena
WM 31: Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins
WM 32: Roman Reigns vs Triple H
WM 33: Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker
WM 34: Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar
WM 37: Roman Reigns vs Bryan vs Edge
WM 38: Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar
WM 39: The Usos vs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens
WM 39: Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes

WM 40: The Rock and Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes
WM 40: Roman vs Cody

The Ultimate Warrior was the first WWF champion to defend the title at both The Royal Rumble and SummerSlam events.

Trinity Fatu/Naomi is the only wrestler to appear on the 1000 episode of RAW, Smackdown and Impact Wrestling.

All four members of Evolution have won the Royal Rumble and defeated The Rock but lost to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

Wrestler JTG’s initials used to stand for “Just Too Gangsta” but since changed it to “Just Too Good.”

Bret Hart was the first wrestler to be a two time Triple Crown champion in the WWF/WWE by being a two time Intercontinental, tag team and WWF world champion.

Carmella held the Money in the Bank briefcase longer than anyone else (Men or women) in the history of the event. She had it for 287 days before cashing in. Edge is the second longest at 280 days.

Rey Mysterio debuted in wrestling before Steve Austin did. Rey debuted in April of 1989 at age 14 and Austin in September of 1989 at age 24. The two never wrestled against each other.

According to Jim Ross, Michael Jackson and members of his family were big wrestling fans growing up. They once invited several wrestlers and members of WWE corporate to visit his Neverland ranch. Jackson would have his costume designer create multiple belts that resembled championship titles that he would wear while on tour.

Paul E. Dangerously managed Diamond Dallas Page in 1993 for a touring promotion called International Wrestling All Stars. The promotion toured Southeast Asia.

In December of 2000, a young, broke law student named Nick Khan was a contestant on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ended up winning over $16,000. He would later become president of WWE.