The Resurrection Of The Blue Meanie & Lita's Strenuous Situation: Ten Things You May Have Missed In Wrestling This Week

It strikes me that today, June 25, is a day of significant wrestling (or at least WWE) history.

Two King of the Ring pay-per-views went down on this day, with the 1995 and 2000 versions of the tournament taking place. One of those tournament winners worked out slightly better than the other.

Then there was the Madison Square Garden episode of Raw in 2001, with the Invasion kicking off proper as Mike Awesome gatecrashed the broadcast and pinned Rhyno to become Hardcore Champion, the first time an active WCW competitor had won one of WWE's title belts.

A year later, WWE taped an episode of SmackDown on June 25 and some guy called 'John Cena' made his debut. Four years on from that, Cena was one of the top stars in the company and, bizarrely, squaring off with ECW's Sabu in a Lumberjack match at Vengeance.

And what a strange show that was!

Kane versus imposter Kane, Kurt Angle's last pay-per-view appearance before his controversial WWE departure, Mick Foley purposefully dogging it in a bout with Ric Flair and the Spirit Squad headlining opposite DX.

Strange, history-making times.

Will history be made once again on June 25 at some point during tonight's SmackDown?

I think the best chance we've got is a record-low rating, the way things are currently going.

Anyway, have some stories, tweets and opinions from some of wrestling's most colourful characters, in loving memory of one of them, the Blue Meanie*.

*he's not dead and hoaxes aren't funny, but we'll get there...

10. Straight-Edge Shooting

WWE.com

CM Punk's Twitter Q&A sessions are typically interesting and rarely fail to produce a newsworthy take or nugget of information.

This week was no different, as the Straight-Edge Superstar questions a whole range of topics.

The highlights were Punk bemoaning the fact that neither he nor any other WWE superstars receive royalties for footage that is shown on the WWE Network on Peacock, his idea for a triple threat match between himself, John Cena and The Rock at WrestleMania 29 (elimination rules with himself getting eliminated first) and how the one match he would redo over would be his 'last one'.

The Second City Saint - who mentioned that the thing that would get him to make an appearance on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions would be 'money' - responded to a Fightful tweet about the newsworthy bits of the Q&A by telling them they need to cut him a cheque every time they write something he says up as 'news'.

Sorry, Punk, but it's been seven-odd years since you quit the business and you're still one of the more compelling personalities in it.

The Texas Rattlesnake replied to Punk's cheque tweet with 'No sh*t. Me Too'.

9. It's A Cell, Bro

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You can always count on the divisive former WCW, WWE and TNA writer Vince Russo failing to see the logic in something wrestling related.

On his Legion of Raw show, Vinny Ru complained about the Bobby Lashley/Xavier Woods Hell in a Cell match from this week's Raw, particularly the fact that Kofi Kingston didn't come to his New Day partner's rescue.

The man who booked David Arquette to win the World Heavyweight Title said:

"We know Kofi is wrestling Lashley, so Xavier Woods is not going over, okay? So we’re at the end of the show, he's got Woods in the Hurt Lock, and Kofi is on the other side of the cage screaming, 'Let him go, let him go'. At what point is Kofi going to climb the cage? I'm watching this and I'm like at any point are you going to try and get in the cage to help your friend?"

Ace reporter Gregory Helms was on hand to point out the error in Russo's ways, tweeting 'The fact that he asked why Kofi didn't climb the cage suggests that he didn’t even watch it. It's Hell in a Cell, the top wasn't open'.

Swerve!

Speaking of Helms, this week he endorsed Nikki Cross' new superhero gimmick, noting that his former guise The Hurricane was last seen at the Royal Rumble 'writhing in pain'.

8. Austin 3:16 Says Where's My Royalty Cheque?

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Steve Austin made an appearance on Busted Open Radio this week to talk about his 1996 King of the Ring victory and iconic post-win 'Austin 3:16' promo, twenty five years after it happened.

Stone Cold spoke about the minutia of the night, such as getting busted open by Marc Mero in his first match and going to the hospital, before returning to the building and being informed by Michael Hayes that Jake Roberts had cut a religious promo on him ahead of their final showdown.

One of the consequences Austin's promo and his boom in popularity was that the former Ringmaster got his first WWE t-shirt, something Austin had been angling for for a while:

"They didn't really have any merchandising plans for me. And I'd always talk with Jimmy Miranda and say ‘Goddang Jimmy, the office got any ideas for a shirt for me?'. And he'd always say ‘no Steven they don't'. 

Finally when all those 3:16 signs started showing up, it was a thing. And Jimmy came up to me at TV one day and said 'Steven the office finally wants to do a shirt for you. You got any ideas?'. I said 'You goddang right I do. Put Austin 3:16 on the front, carve in Stone Cold on a skull on the back'. We got it cleared. 

Here's something I’ve said before, maybe not everybody knows, Undertaker had to give me clearance to use that skull because Vince thought that might be gimmick infringement. I ran it by Mark, he was cool enough to give me the green light on the skull, thank you Mark. And that shirt was born".

Though glad to have some clobber on the market, the Bionic Redneck was initially dismayed at the paltry royalties he was getting for it, prompting a meeting with Vince McMahon:

"You know, when I say 'hey here’s the first shirt' and we came out with it, I had a little conversation with Vince. I remember getting a royalty cheque and I was like 'look at that royalty check' and I was looking at all those shirts out there and I was saying 'hey man, this ain't matching up'. 

I went to Vince and had a conversation with him and I increased my percentage. And that's a rare thing. At that point I kind of worked hand in hand with the art department. I'd kick in ideas and they'd shoot me a rendering and I'd say 'no no, like this'.

So I just took it upon myself. And because it was a lot easier for talent to be hands on with merch back in the day. But I saw the value in that shirt and I didn't think the percentages added up. That was a key business move. I never like talking contracts, money with Vince and stuff like that. But that was something I needed to address and I'm glad I did because I increased my merch". 

It always was about the 'bottom line' with him, wasn't it? I mean, those Austin 3:16 t-shirts did generate as much income as some small countries, so it's only fair he got his piece.

7. On The Flip Side...

WWE.com

WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall was also discussing his WWE pay and the royalty system this week, revealing that he is currently making six figures per year from the company based solely on merchandising agreements.

The Bad Guy was a guest on the 83 Weeks podcast, speaking about his move from WWE to WCW, when he mentioned his current WWE deal and how much better he is treated now, as opposed to back in the day when he was working for them full-time as a wrestler:

"I mean I'm making 6 figures just off [merchandise].

And every once and a while, yanno when you make an appearance, you make more. The funny part is, now that I hardly ever work for them or hardly do anything, the payoffs are way better, it's always first class air fare, they always have a driver at the airport. When I was filling seats for them and traveling all around the world, I couldn't get sh*t. I was sitting in the back, in the middle seat, back when they had smoking seats.

Four guys piling into a Ford Taurus that we paid for ourselves, staying in the Motel 4, because we’re paying for our own hotel. It's just like when you don't need the money when they give it to you. I came into WCW with a nice fat contract, thank you E, first class air, rental cars, everything. I can afford it now, I can afford my own room, I can afford my own car, but when you can afford it, it's free. When I was starving to death and sleeping three to a room, there was no help then".

Well, that will certainly keep him in toothpicks and Cuban shirts for a while.

6. It Didn't Feel Right

WWE.com

WWE Hall of Famer Lita was a guest on this week's Oral Sessions with Rene Paquette and opened up about the issues she faced in the mid-2000's when her affair with Edge (and resultant breakup with Matt Hardy) was made public and turned into a televised storyline.

The former Women's Champion explained how, during this time, she almost quit the company due to the situation:

"I almost quit a month [into] the whole love triangle. At that point, not only was it so hard, it was also out of shame. Like, I wasn't proud of how I conducted myself. Yes, if I had to do it all over again, I absolutely would have handled myself differently. But I didn't. So, I was like, make the bed, and you lie in it. 

And at that point, I was just like, I deserve all of these terrible things that everybody is saying to me. I deserve not wanting to wake up every morning. It was also difficult, as time passed, to let myself off the hook. The only way you can move forward with your life is, sure, you learn from your mistakes and keep going, but you have to forgive yourself".

Paquette brought up that, in today's social media age, things would likely be different and that Lita would probably have more support from those online, to which the flame-haired diva agreed:

"I don't know. So, it's interesting, 'cause with age comes wisdom. It's hard to hypostasize because that just wouldn't happen. I have a better skill set to communicate and navigate my day-to-day. But, that happened to me, and there was very limited social media at that point, so I can only imagine in that current day and age with social media. But then now, I think I would have some people, at least, taking my side, whereas I just felt like literally, everyone was against me. I felt very alone and isolated and just in a really bad place".

It's nice that, when she finally decided to leave the company at the 2006 Survivor Series, WWE gave her character the worst sendoff imaginable. She really deserved so much more.

5. I Can't Dig That, Sucka

WWE.com

Entrance music is an important part of turning a performer into a true wrestling superstar.

The general rule is, if ain't broke don't fix it, which is why Shawn Michaels continued to come out to the instantly-recognisable tones of 'Sexy Boy', even as he became a middle-aged born-again Christian dad.

Booker T's theme was a catchy one and perfectly suited his character and image, but WWE decided to briefly change things up in a bid to promote their WWE Originals CD.

WWE Originals was released in early 2004 and saw wrestlers from Rey Mysterio and Rikishi to John Cena and Stacy Keibler putting their voices down on wax and, well, the results were, shall we say, 'varied'.

Booker temporarily used his track - Can You Dig It? - but disliked it so much that he went to Vince McMahon himself and asked for it to be changed, as mentioned on an episode of Rasslin' with Brandon F. Walker:

"I remember in the WWE we did a rap album. And I had one of the, 'Booker T, Can You Dig It?'. And they made me use that music for about a month, and I hated it. I hated coming out to that rap music, it just wasn't me. I just didn't feel [it]. I went to Vince McMahon and said, 'Vince, I need my old music back'. And because we were promoting the album, he said, 'Just ride with it a little longer and we'll get your old music back'. And it was so refreshing getting my old music back".

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't add the note about how Booker and his brother/Harlem Heat tag partner Stevie Ray got their unique leather outfits for their early WCW run:

"I used to date this girl who was in the entertainment business, the adult entertainment business. The lady that used to make her outfits, she was the one who made our first black leather outfits that my brother and I came out in. It totally shocked the wrestling world and took the wrestling world by storm. And those outfits costed us $850, but I'll tell you it was worth every penny. [Stripper gear] is exactly what it was".

Tell me he didn't just say that.

4. The Resurrection Of The Blue Meanie

WWE.com

Some good news to report this week - the Blue Meanie is still alive!

The former ECW and WWE star was alerted to the fact that somebody had edited his Wikipedia page to say that he was dead.

These death hoaxes are (sadly) not uncommon for wrestlers or others in the public eye, but he took it in his stride, first asking why nobody told him he was dead and then requesting that somebody fix the error.

Once it was back to normal, Meanie joked that he felt 'alive again' before tweeting that June 19, 2021 shall now be referred to as Meanie Easter.

I'm down with it, as long it gives me an excuse to eat an entire roast dinner.

3. Freebird Junior

WWE.com

This past Sunday was, of course, father's day, with many wrestling personalities taking to social media to write about their dads or experience as fathers themselves.

Dolph Ziggler was among them, keeping it classy with a simple #HappyFathersDay accompanied by a picture of him and his dad, former Freebird and current backstage string-puller Michael 'PS' Hayes.

On the subject of Ziggler, he published another picture this week, of him and AJ Lee, outlining his reasons why he likes it so much.

Those reasons being he and AJ were a great pair, he was pulling double duty on that entire overseas tour and how he was told to his face that he would never be world champion and that the t-shirt he was wearing would never be made.

2. The Beginning Of The End?

WWE.com

A number of fans were surprised when WWE released The IIconics - Billie Kay and Peyton Royce - earlier this year, considering they were a popular act and checked a lot of the boxes when it comes to what WWE looks for in their female performers.

The two have began a podcast (Off Her Chops) and, this week, Royce talked about a situation that may have been the beginning of the end of her time in the company.

After the team broke up in September 2020, Peyton had a meeting with Vince McMahon that did not go according to plan:

"I had in my head what I wanted to say but he brushed it off very quickly and I went 'crap'. I had an idea that I wanted to present, and he wanted to discuss other ideas. But I didn't have other ideas. This is what I wanted to talk about and put my time and effort into.

Vince says ‘what do you do for fun?’. Me being me, the introvert and the homebody that I am, I had to let him know that I like to sit on the couch with my dogs and watch TV".

The former Women's Tag Team Champion's answer was met with something far less than enthusiasm:

"[Vince] just stared at me, and in my head I'm just like, 'make something up' and I couldn't make anything up. Nothing was coming out. I'm not a liar. I feel like he could have seen right through that. I basically said to him 'I' m sorry, I'm boring and I just like to be home on my off days'. I didn't contribute much during that unfortunately and that's probably why I lost the job".

I personally would've gone with 'Lance Storm tribute act', but to each their own.

1. The Wrong Kind Of Heat?

WWE.com

If you were an internet user or newsletter reading WWE fan in the early 2000's, you probably came across the term 'X-Pac heat'.

X-Pac heat was, apparently, what Sean Waltman had around the time he was in X-Factor and later the revamped New World Order.

It was (so they said) a type of heat that wasn't generated because he was so effectively playing a heel, but rather at the person behind the character, something like 'go away' heat because fans were simply sick of seeing him on television.

This manifested itself during the Invasion storyline, where every member of the WWE roster became de facto babyface in the battle against the Alliance, apart from the former 1-2-3 Kid, who stayed a villain.

Waltman was asked about the term during an interview with Chris Van Vilet, saying:

"It was just an internet thing. They were just sick of me, a certain segment of the wrestling fan community had enough. I get it. Well, I don't know if I get it actually. It's not the same as the boos that I'm getting in the arena, the chatter on the internet and on the sites, with 'X-Pac heat' and all that, the reactions I'm getting in my matches on TV and everything weren't indicative of the 'X-Pac heat' that I was getting on the internet. 

The go away heat, Chris, is when you go out there and you're busting your ass, and they just don't make any noise. There was just two different things going on at the same time. I'm almost 50 years old, man, I can't let sh*t like that from 25 years ago get to me".

I'm glad we're at the point now that we can all appreciate Waltman's contribution to the wrestling business, because his legacy was in doubt with the whole 'X-Pac heat' stuff two decades ago.

Bring on the last big run!