Tajiri's Burger King Ban & Jericho's Assassination Situation: Ten Things You May Have Missed In Wrestling This Week

I would like to start this week by talking about The Ultimate Warrior.

I mean, I wouldn't 'like to', but introductions are tricky, y'know?

Warrior was a bit before my time, as I truly became a fan in the late 90's, my first real exposure to him being WWE's 2005 DVD release 'The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior'.

A total hit job on one of their colourful creations, this was WWE's way of denigrating Warrior's name and image during a time when he and the company were at odds.

It was also around the time of Jim Hellwig's controversial public speaking and online blogging activity, with WWE hoping to distance themselves from the former WWE Champion, while also profiting on his notoriety.

Warrior was back in the spotlight this week, as the subject of an A&E Biography piece made in conjunction with WWE, as well as the subject of an episode of The Dark Side of the Ring series.

While the A&E thing wasn't exactly glowing and didn't totally shy away from the more controversial aspects of Hellwig's life or his often fractious relationship with Vince McMahon, it was, naturally, a far more positive portrayal than the Dark Side profile.

Both are worth viewing and, either way, the shows got the wrestling world talking about the late Hall of Famer, and it's only appropriate that there's a story about him included in this issue of Ten Things, along with a bunch of other grappling happenings on the periphery.

As for my take own on the Warrior? In his prime, the man had one of the best heads of hair in the business.

Let's leave it at that.

10. Change Of The Seasons

WWE.com

Old, reliable Phil Brooks is usually good for a bit of online pot stirring, and this week was no different.

First, the Straight-Edge Superstar tweeted 'It's almost summer', alluding to two of his most celebrated contributions to the wrestling business - the 2005 & 2011 Summer of Punk storylines, perhaps gently teasing a return to the ring.

The first Summer of Punk was during 2005 in Ring of Honor, where he reigned as their World Champion, despite having publicly acknowledged that he had signed a WWE developmental deal and would soon be reporting to Ohio Valley Wrestling.

The second was in 2011, which peaked with the infamous Pipe Bomb promo and subsequent epic Money in the Bank WWE Title win.

It's amazing to think it has almost been one full decade since Punk beat Cena for the gold that night in Chicago.

Speaking of his old rival, Brooks took a shot at Big Match John following Cena's public apology to China for referring to Taiwan as a 'country' during an interview to promote the forthcoming Fast and Furious 9 film.

Punk tweeted 'New bio!', an illusion to the Young Bucks' incessant, comedic social media updates, momentarily changing his Twitter biography to read 'Taiwan is a country'.

So, with that 'summer' tweet, his trolling of Cena and reports of Cena's impending return to WWE, we're all set for the two to rekindle the feud ten years on, right?

I reckon a rehash of their rivalry could get the Raw ratings back up to two millions viewers once again.

9. A Hairy Payoff Situation

WWE.com

Jeff Jarrett was a guest on Sean 'X-Pac' Waltman's Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast this week, with the two Attitude Era standouts discussing their Hair versus Hair match from SummerSlam 1998.

While talking about the contest, host asked guest if he remembered the payoff he received from the match, to which Double J admitted that he did not.

Well, Waltman certainly did, because he remembered being dismayed by the dollar amount and first complained to Vince McMahon about it, before being referred to then-Head of Talent Relations Jim Ross.

“I wasn’t happy about it. As a matter of fact, I think I called you just to make sure we got the same, and we did. 

First, I called Vince, and I was like, ‘Vince, hey man, when did you start paying by the pound?’. And he was like, ‘Well, if that’s how this conversation is going to go, then this conversation’s over. You need to talk to Jim [Ross] about this’.

So I used the same line on JR. I got $5,000 extra for that. Every time I complained they would send me an extra five grand to shut me up”.

That's such a brilliant strategy!

Hey, if any of the Cultaholic higher-ups are reading this, I'm really upset with the way Ten Things is being treated these days. When did you start paying by the paragraph, et cetera...

Five grand, please.

8. The World's Greatest Clothesline

WWE.com

WWE Hall of Famer JBL had an interesting response to a moment from this week's Raw.

The WWE on BT Sport account shared a gif of Shelton Benjamin taking Cedric Alexander's head off with a short-arm clothesline during their bout on the show, to which the Acolyte replied:

'Hey @Sheltyb803 if you ever hit me with this clothesline, our friendship will be in peril - as would my health. Cedric owe you money?'

Well, that was certainly rich coming from a man who practically made a career out of wrecking folks with his ultra-stiff version of the lariat, a hypocrisy that Shelton was all-too-happy to point out:

'I said that to you years ago when you were decapitating people every week with the CFH and you hit me with it 10 times. Where was that sense of friendship then?'

Bradshaw and Benjamin worked together extensively in 2003 and 04, when they were members of the APA and World's Greatest Tag Team, respectively.

Given the discrepancy in age and experience back then, I'm sure the big Texan was all too happy to put a little extra mustard on his strikes.

7. The 'Ultimate' Training Session

WWE.com

And so we return to the Ultimate Warrior.

A part of his career that often gets overlooked is the fact that his last match didn't take place during his disastrous 1998 WCW run, but actually a decade later in, of all places, Barcelona.

Warrior was tempted out of retirement in the summer of 2008 to work a big-money match against Orlando Jordan for the Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion. About 15,000 people turned out to see Warrior beat Jordan for the NWE Title in his pro-wrestling swansong.

The match was certainly a newsworthy happening, but actually getting to the match was a story in itself.

Warrior was, needless to say, a little rusty and called Booker T to help train him for the bout. The former five-time WCW Champion told the story on a recent edition of the Hall of Fame podcast, mentioning Hellwig's fanciful schedule:

"He actually wanted me to help him out, as far as getting him in shape for that match. I was pretty excited that the Ultimate Warrior had gotten in touch with me to get him in shape for this match. 

So I was getting myself together to finally talk to him about it. He goes, it’s kind of funny, he goes ‘Hey man. I’m going to be coming down to train with you. How about I come down on Thursday?’. And the thing is I’m the only one who pretty much knows the story, so there’s no way I can confirm it or anything like that. It’s not a bad story. 

But he says ‘why don’t I come down on Thursday and train with you, start getting ready for this match? I’ll come down, I’ll land at probably 12, get there around 2, train around 4 and catch a flight around 6'. He wanted to train with me for two hours to get ready for a match when he hadn’t worked in over ten years!

I told him ‘bro, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do in just two hours'. I said ‘it’s going to take a little longer than that to work with you, to get you ready'". 

Warrior eventually ended up enlisting the services of Booker's former tag partner Rob Van Dam to help get him in ring shape. It should be mentioned that both Booker and RVD also worked for NWE around that time.

6. Why Tajiri Cannot Go To Burger King

WWE.com

WWE alumnus Nick 'Eugene' Dinsmore has been doing some spoken word events of late, telling some funny stories from throughout his career.

I'll skip the one of him and Trevor Murdoch ending up in a gay pornography shop during a tour of Australia, and settle for the more PG tale of Tajiri and his insistence on eating at McDonald's due to his aversion to Burger King.

Dinsmore used to travel with the Japanese Buzzsaw, who insisted on visiting Ronald McDonald's house while on the road.

One day, Eugene suggested that they go to Burger King for, you know, a little bit of fast food variation, to which Tajiri refused because he couldn't say 'Ooper', his way of mispronouncing the franchise's most popular creation.

One day, the two were travelling with John Cena and stopped by an Applebee's when the electricity went out, meaning they couldn't be served any food.

After a couple of hours of drinking (liquid lunch, why not?), Tajiri blurted out 'I'm so hungry I could eat a whopper...Ooper, sorry, Ooper!'.

The inebriated former Cruiserweight Champion had let his guard down and accidentally dropped kayfabe, letting his travelling companions know that he could indeed speak English much better than he let on.

It's not much of a story, granted, but I am very fond of the massively-underrated Tajiri and I'll take any opportunity to include him in this feature.

5. Chief Muta

WWE.com

Another Japanese superstar I'm a big fan of is Keiji Mutoh/The Great Muta, who is still going strong today at the age of 58.

The current NOAH GHC Heavyweight Champion is a living legend and subject to honours all the time, so it's no surprise that the city of Yokohama made him the honourary Police Chief for a day this week.

I can't imagine the moonsault master chasing down and apprehending any criminals on those knackered knees of his, but any rogue that commits a crime on his watch might be subject to a Shining Wizard or two.

Come to think of it, has the statute of limitations passed on his 2000 run in WCW? He may not have jurisdiction, but surely it's worth at least bringing Vince Russo in for questioning?

4. Ohhhhhhh What a Rib

WWE.com

Independent wrestler Jigsaw shared a funny rib that was played on him after he had suffered a concussion at a Ring of Honor show some years back.

Now, there's obviously nothing funny about the head trauma itself, but the situation didn't stop Christopher Daniels from messing with the masked man while he was in a confused state.

Replying to a fan who brought up the concussion and noting that Jigsaw was really happy to see him for the 'second time' that night,the Chikara standout said:

'Fun Story. When I came to I couldn’t remember a thing. I asked what happened and @facdaniels told me I stiffed Road Warrior Hawk so he shot on me and knocked me out. I started to frantically look for Hawk to apologize.... Hawk had passed 5 years prior. I love this rib'

You do not mess with members of the Legion of Doom, even if they are no longer alive.

As an aside, Jigsaw also noted that when they realised he'd had his bell rung, the Briscoes made sure to protect him and prevent him from hurting himself more seriously.

Dem Boys have hearts of gold (and heads filled with lord knows what).

3. Bayley's Shimmer Résumé

WWE.com

Unless you're a beneficiary of sweet, sweet nepotism, you're likely going to have to try a lot of different things in order to get the job you want.

We all know and have been through the process of drafting a CV, sending it out, going for interviews, dealing with the soul-crushing disappointment that comes with not getting the gig, filling out fifty more applications, not getting any of those, either, taking a job as the person who cleans out the hot dog machines at the circus...

Where was I going with this again?

Oh yeah, Bayley!

So this week the SHIMMER Wrestling Twitter account posted a picture of a piece of mail they had received ten years ago. In it was a package that WWE superstar Bayley had sent the promotion's founder and director, Dave Prazak.

Enclosed were her wrestling CV and an 8x10 photograph of herself.

The text notes that she was the only girl in her training school/home promotion and had, at that point, only had the opportunity to portray a babyface. It listed her training schedule, as well as the amount of pro matches she'd had (30) and some of the notable name she'd squared off with, including Awesome Kong.

Prazak clearly liked what he read, because Bayley - as Davina Rose - worker for the company in 2011 and 2012, only leaving in order to report to the WWE Performance Center.

The hugger responded by tweeting back '30 matches in 3 years???! I had about 30 matches in just one week of tapings during the #WWEPC era last year!!!!!!!!!! Love you @SHIMMERwomen', before thanking Prazak for booking her back in the day. 

2. In Your...Taco Bell?

WWE.com

Many moons ago, WWE.com ran a story about the fate of the house that was given away by the company during their very first In Your House pay-per-view broadcast.

The lucky fan that received the call an 11-year-old kid called Matthew Pomposelli, who told the website that his family actually ended up selling the crib for around $175,000 dollars just six months after being given the keys.

Well, in an interview with Fightful, NXT star Johnny Gargano has given an update on the fate of the house, which he disclosed when talking about his entrance at NXT TakeOver: In Your House last year and why there was a picture of influential backstage figure Michael Hayes on the wall:

"He did not know that was going to happen. I remember I saw him — I took pictures in the gear I was wearing In Your House at the PC a couple days after In Your House, I was putting my gear on and all of a sudden I just hear footsteps and a cane. Immediately when I hear the cane, I was like, ‘I know who this is.’ I look up and there he is; Michael PS Hayes. ‘I saw that picture! I saw what you did!’ ‘I had to represent you somehow! We needed Dok Hendrix at In Your House!’ He walked away. I told him it was out of love. 

In canon, I live in the In Your House house, so of course Dok Hendrix would be represented there. I did a watch along with him. Me and Matt Camp were losing our minds because it’s Todd Pettengill. I have interacted with him a little bit and I’m super excited for what he does at In Your House. Having Todd there is the final chef kiss on the throwback vibe. I want to get Milton Bradley Karate Fighters for this. I want to bring that back. 

I tried to give away a house last year, but in my research, the house they gave away is a Taco Bell now in Orlando. Maybe we’ll do a sponsorship with them". 

We've just had a Zombie Lumberjack match so, at this point, we might as well go ahead and pencil in Burrito on a Pole.

1. The Assassination Of Jericho

WWE.com

When Chris Jericho mentioned that Jake Hager had saved his life in Abu Dhabi in the past on a recent episode of AEW Dynamite, many fans naturally wondered if there was more to the story.

Y2J confirmed the story as being true and then elaborated upon it during an appearance on Busted Open Radio this week.

"While we were in Abu Dhabi, I think in 2012. Abu Dhabi’s not like Saudi Arabia. There’s a big party scene there and it’s not like a ‘no women allowed’ type of vibe. It’s very much a cool country to go hang out in. We were at a club and some guy was being a loud mouth and I suffer fools likely. So I walk by him and I body checked him into the wall. So I knock the guy down, and he got up and was furious.

So later on when we left the club, me and Jake are there, (Mike) Chioda, a couple other cats, Primo and Epico. When we went downstairs he was waiting there with a group of friends. And he said that his dad owned 27% of the country and that he had put a bounty on my head. $7 million bounty, and I’d be dead in 24 hours. I’d be assassinated in 24 hours. 

So then I went into Larry David mode where I was like ‘$7 million is that good? Is that a high amount? Is that an average amount? Like if I was Brad Pitt, would it be $70 million? If I was the guy down the street would it be $100? What’s it going to be?'”

Jericho may have gone into comedy made, but he was still wary of the situation and intended on staying in his hotel until the bounty had elapsed.

However, like any good Lad On Tour, he found himself back on the razz later on.

“Jake was behind me as I went face to face with the assassin who threatened my life, and threatened to give $7 million to anybody who could do that. 

We stood up to the guys, and it was a pretty crazy 24 hours. I was a little bit nervous. Then I decided to stay in that night cause I wanted the 24 hours to go by. But of course I ended up at the club again anyways. 

And when I went to the club, the bouncer said ‘I see you’re still alive’. I said ‘Yeah, should I be worried?’. He said 'That son of a b*tch says that all the time. His dad doesn’t own 27% of the country, he owns a gas station down the street'". 

Pfft, a gas station? Please, Chris Jericho gets arrested at gas stations at 5 in the morning! You'll have to do a lot more than that to impress him, junior.