Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Howdy everyone! It is time to once again dole out some fun, but very useless pro wrestling facts, stats and trivia. These bits of knowledge probably won’t win you any special awards or college credits, they are simply all in fun. So let us delve into things about the wrestling business you may not know or even care to really know. Some of these facts you may be aware of and some not so much. In any case…let’s have fun and maybe learn a little something about nothing!
Michael Cole has been a WWE announcer for a longer amount of time than the entire WWE announcing careers of Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura and Bobby Heenan, combined.
The heel referee gimmick was introduced and popularized in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling in 1980, with the first heel ref being Alexander Scott.
Speaking of ‘Heel,’ the slang term originated in 1914, referring to criminals or bad guys being the lowest forms of humanity…that being the heel of someone’s foot.
Gunther has been NXT UK champion for 870 days and the Intercontinental champion for 350+ days and counting. This means that he has been a champion for over 75% of his WWE career thus far.
Tito Santana has 1,071 recorded victories making him the winningest WWF superstar without ever being the WWF world champion.
Since his debut in 1995, Glenn Jacobs holds the record for wrestling the most matches in WWE history (Including TV shows, pay per views and house shows) with close to 2,500 matches.
Both Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels wrestled their last WWE matches at the age of 53.
All Star Wrestling (ASW) is the oldest wrestling promotion in the United Kingdom and the third oldest active company overall being established in 1970. The only two older are CMLL based in Mexico (1933) and the WWE (1963).
The very first RKO was hit by Randy Orton on Hurricane Helms on June 9, 2003.
The Sandman built the cross he was crucified on in the infamous ECW angle and also constructed the scaffolding for the Tommy Dreamer/Brian Lee match. The Sandman is a skilled carpenter who owned/owns his own construction company.
One of the original names for ‘The Bullet Club’ faction in New Japan was The Bullet Brigade, but decided to switch to Club on the suggestion of Bad Luck Fale who was once a member of a Rugby club. Other suggested names were: The Getaway Brigade/Club, Lock N Load Brigade/Club and Reload Club.
Since his return to WWE in 2012, only 7 wrestlers have pinned Brock Lesnar cleanly. They are Goldberg, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, John Cena, Triple H, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes.
Current WWE star and member of the LWO, Joaquin Wilde, created the very first Ring of Honor logo and tagline in 2002 at the age of 15 years old.
After retiring from pro wrestling to try and make it as an actor in Hollywood, Dave Bautista had financial issues which included troubles with the IRS and having his home foreclosed. It wasn’t until he was cast as Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, that he got himself out of debt.
The Iron Sheik held the WWF world title for a little less than a month before losing it to Hulk Hogan in January of 1984. The Iron Sheik defended it several times in that short span including his first title defense the day after defeating Bob Backlund for the belt against ‘Chief’ Jay Strongbow in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He would also have successful defenses against the likes of Pat Patterson and Salvatore Bellomo.
Trish Stratus was studying to become a doctor before her college went on strike, leading her to become a fitness model and ultimately a pro wrestler.
The name of Sami Zayn’s ‘Helluva Kick’ came from him reading and mispronouncing an article in a WCW magazine. In it, the article stated Chris Jericho wrestled Syxx using one hell of a kick…only it was spelled “helluva” which Zayn misinterpreted and named his signature move after it.
The Headbangers gimmick was created by Jim Cornette after he attended a Marilyn Manson concert.
Pam Martinez chose the name and spelling of her WWE ring name ‘Bayley’ as a homage to her roots of living in the bay area of California.
Before his wrestling career started, John Layfield (JBL) played offensive tackle for the San Antonio Riders of the World League of American Football. He protected quarterback and future NFL head coach Jason Garrett.
Pro wrestler turned Hollywood actor Pat ‘The Bomber’ Roach is the only person besides Harrison Ford to star in all three of the original Indiana Jones movies.
The movie ‘Nacho Libre’ starring Jack Black was based on the true story of Priest/Luchador Fray Tormenta, who wrestled to make money to run an orphanage in Mexico. Tormenta never received any royalties from the making of that film.
‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan received his first pair of wrestling tights from manager Gary Hart.
The Miz is a two time Grand Slam Champion in WWE, but also holds the record for most losses with over 1,300 and counting. In fact, The Miz hasn’t finished a year with a winning record since 2010.
‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair is the only wrestler to win Pro Wrestling Illustrated ‘Wrestler of the Year’ six times since the award’s inception back in 1972.
Triple H’s “Pedigree” finishing maneuver starts out with the letter H being spelled out during the setup.
Bruno Sammartino was once offered a role on ‘The Sopranos,’ but turned it down once he discovered that there was swearing on the show. Bruno did not want to set a bad example to fans who still looked up to him.
On November 28, 2002…then WWE champion The Big Show was booked to defend his title against the Fabulous Moolah. The match was thrown out after outside interference from Brock Lesnar.
Jay Lethal is the longest reigning African American World Champion of any kind. Lethal held onto the Ring of Honor World title for 427 days.
Released on October 26, 1998, in North America, WCW/nWo Revenge became the best-selling wrestling game for the Nintendo 64.
Andre The Giant only wrestled 13 PPV matches and had a 4-8-1 record.
Xavier Woods, Harley Race and Zelina Vega are the only winners of the King/Queen of the Ring Tournament to never win a singles championship in WWE.
Edge is the only wrestler to compete in Royal Rumble matches in four different decades…90’s, 00’s,10’s and 20’s.
Before pursuing a career in pro wrestling and after a failed run in pro football, the man we know as Roman Reigns worked for his sister’s business installing furniture.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Haku and Shinsuke Nakamura all were proclaimed King of the Ring, despite never actually winning the tournament. They either won the crown via a match or in the case of Haku…were just given the crown.