1. Please try your best to check to see that your question(s) have not been answered on any other sections of the page, including past mailbags (archives below).

2. Send a legibly written question or comment to mailbag@rajah.com. Please try to keep it short (one question per person per edition).

3. ALL email sent to the address above may potentially be included in the Mailbag. If you do not want your question publically posted for everyone to see, this section is not for you.

4. If a name is included, we will post it along with the email. If you do not want your name published, do indicate this in your email.

5. Remember, it is impossible that every email we receive get posted in the mailbag. Only the best and most popular questions/comments will likely make it on.

6. Also remember, that questions will be answered by either MTR, Aree, Rajah or Pete so any personal remarks should be addressed accordingly. The following color scheme will be used:

7. If you have any additions or corrections to the answers we provide, please send that it in and we will probably issue a clarification in the next edition.

Rajah - GREEN
Pete - YELLOW
MTR - PURPLE
Aree Jones - PINK

From: Jon Long
What's up, Does Bischoff have any real stroke in what happens in the storylines? If he does to what extent? Love the website.

As far as we know, Easy E has exactly zero input in storylines. On the record, he's strictly a paid performer - an actor. Off the record, let's just say I have trouble believing that he has no input into storylines or angles. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's running things. I'd say he has a little input, which is gradually building up to something more substantial.

From: Peter
Who were the original members of the J.O.B. Squad? ?

Are you kidding me? First it's "Who were the members of the nWo?" and now it's "Who were the original members of the JOB Squad?" Sigh. The WWF version of the JOB Squad included Al Snow, Too Cold Scorpio, Blue Meanie, Duane Gill and Bob Holly. The ECW version (which of course preceded the WWF version) included almost the same guys, but they weren't openly acknowledged as the "JOB Squad". It was more of an inside joke. The WWF took that inside joke and made quite a bit of money from the formation of an actual recognised group called the "JOB Squad", complete with t-shirts and other merchandise.

From: Joe
Great site you guys got here! Here's my question. In a tagteam match, when one wrestler pins another wrestler but gets stomped on by his opponents partner, why does the ref stops counting even though his shoulders are still pinned down?

If a tag team partner (or anyone else for that matter) interferes with a pinfall, the count is stopped, the person is removed and the count begins again. It's just one of those rules. Actually, the only time you're likely to see a clean pinfall in a tag match is when the partner of the person being pinned is distracted or knocked out and unable to make the save.

From: Rick Audet
I was looking through the Survivor Series Flashback that they have on WWE.com and noticed the match where Shawn Michaels and 3 Knights took on a Bret Hart led team. Who were the Knights?

The short answer to this question is that the "Three Knights of the Squared Circle" (Black Knight, Red Knight and Blue Knight) were masked so I have no idea who they were. I doubt they were played by anyone all that interesting. The long (and more interesting) answer is that Shawn Michaels was actually substituting for Jerry Lawler (Get it? Jerry "The King" Lawler had "Knights" on his team) because Lawler was facing some legal trouble at the time and couldn't appear at Survivor Series 1993.

From: Brandon Field
Hey! I have a question about the months leading up to WrestleMania XII. While things were getting heated between WCW and WWF the WWF took a shot at WCW by making an angle with "The Huckster" and "The Nacho Man". I know that they met at the Free4All at Wrestlemania but it's not on my tape of WMXII. Could you please tell me what happened and who these guys were?

The "Free4All" before a PPV wasn't considered to be part of the actual PPV. It was like an enticement to get you to purchase. For example, in the 1996 Royal Rumble Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Duke "The Dumpster" Drosse battled it out in the Free For All to see who would get the coveted Number 30 spot. Hunter was disqualified and ended up with the Number 1 spot. My point is that the Free For All's were like a lead up to the main event - the WWF's last attempt to lure you into purchasing the PPV.

It's funny you should mention the Huckster and the Nacho Man. I was watching the 1996 Slammy Awards and the Nacho Man and the Huckster had some mildly amusing moments. In regard to who played the Nacho Man and Huckster, I'm almost positive this question has been asked in one of the other 52 mailbags, so if you really have to know you're welcome to go through those.

From: Tim S.
Hey there, First off let me say that rajah.com is an excellent site, and the only wrestling website I frequent. In fact, you are the site that has been morphing me from a "mark" to a "smark." Anyway, my question is about wrestling bookers and writers. Could you describe basically the job description of each, and how the jobs overlap?

A writer basically writes the storylines - he (and they're almost all men) decides the storyline "arcs". For example, it was a writer who decided how the Triple H/Shawn Michaels feud would play out, the general sorts of things they would say to one another, whether HBK would be in a wheelchair, when he would get out of the wheelchair etc. Of course the wrestlers also offer contributions and ideas in the process. Writers should also be looking long term, but I don't think the current WWE writers do. If I was a writer, I'd construct a huge chart of every single wrestler on my roster. I'd do some homework and find out over the past five years exactly who had feuded with who, when the feud happened and what the feud was about and rate the success of the feud in terms of ratings, merchandise, fan support and anything else relevant. I'd put all that information on the chart and then I'd map out current feuds. This should make it pretty obvious which angles hadn't been done, which had been done to death and which were successful and could possibly be recycled in the future. Then I'd do one for WCW, using my current ex-WCW wrestlers and a few of the old ones I could maybe re-hire in the future. Then I'd merge the two maps into one. From there, I'd project short term and long term feuds. I'd have two or three different plans for each wrestler in the next six months, which would obviously be flexible in case of injury, new talent etc. Don't you think that sounds like the best way to get the job done? Clearly I've spent too much time thinking about this, but it bugs me that the WWE can't do a better job in a clear marketplace. Maybe they should hire me to do it?
Anyway, the modern definition of a booker is the guy who decides how the match is going to go in terms of moves and timing. Wrestlers also have a say in this process as the booker usually maps out the match in general, leaving most of the details to the wrestlers. If you want to see a booker at work, rent Bret Hart's "Wrestling with Shadows" and watch Pat Patterson visually describe a match that Bret Hart then goes out and performs.

From: Brandondork
Something to chew on guys... on the Raw after Royal Rumble '02, Steve Austin walked down to the ring and did his little promo. My point (and with my photographic memory) he said and I quote "All you son's of bitches best watch out next year. Cuz old Stone Cold Steve Austin already has his name entered for the 2003 Royal Rumble." - End quote.

I suggested in the last Mailbag that it would be incredibly cool if Austin just reappeared at the 2003 Royal Rumble as a contestant in the 30 man Rumble. The WWE could use that clip of Austin saying that as a sort of "well, it's not like he didn't warn us" angle. However, don't think that just because Austin said something almost a year ago, that it means he will definitely be back at the RR 2003.

By the way, remembering something you heard someone say doesn't mean you have a "photographic memory", but kudos to you for your excellent auditory memory.

From: Jason
Wassup, guys. I'm Jason and I'm only 19 but I've watched wrestling for years and I'm also a newcomer to your website, so have mercy on me. I have a question for you to answer. I like to see myself as an "in-dept wrestling fan." I like to see things behind the scenes and understand the polictics of how wrestling is a business. And the thing that interests me the most is the contracts. Is there a standard contract that a superstar signs, what is the base pay one could get, and what other factors figure into the salary of a wrestler (i.e endorsements, merchandise sales). Thanks. Keep up the good work.

First of all, none of the information in this answer is factual. Instead it's based on some educated guesses. WWE contracts are generally confidential so not many people have seen them or know exactly what is detailed on them. The WWE awards their superstars a "downside guarantee". This means that they are guaranteed to make a certain about of money. That amount depends on the superstar - Triple H's downside guarantee is a hell of a lot higher than Spike Dudley's. In general, a WWE developmental talent makes around $40,000 to $50,000 a year, sometimes more. When they move up to the big leagues they probably enter in at around $60,000 to $70,000. From there, your guarantee goes up based on performance, popularity and marketability. Now, don't think this process applies to everyone. The Big Show didn't enter in at $40,000 and neither did Chris Jericho or Rob Van Dam. It probably won't happen all that often now, but back in the day it was possible to enter the WWE as an established marketable talent. The Big Show probably signed for around $500,000 guarantee per year of his six year contract. Chris Jericho probably signed for around $600,000 +. Hulk Hogan's downside guarantee in WCW was rumored to be $1 million per year with the proviso that he could walk at any time. On top of these guarantees are endorsements and merchandise sales. Stone Cold Steve Austin probably made more money from his merchandise percentage than he did from his downside guarantee at the height of his popularity. The percentage you get depends on how much stroke you have. Steve Austin would have had around 20% of merchandise sales in my opinion. When he negotiated that percentage, he probably took a small cut in his downside guarantee, but it worked out much better for him. This is a really long answer, huh? Finally, the superstar in question gets about 60-70% of the asking price for an endorsement and the WWE get the rest. When The Rock gets paid $5 million for a movie role, the WWE get $1 million + and so it goes on.

From: Nathan Smith
A question from the last mailbag got me wondering. I've been a long-time reader (4 years) and I remember Jamstar ( I think) talking about how hot Aree was in one of his columns. Then in the last edition Aree told us that she was indeed drop dead gorgeous in response to a question. My question is this: any way we can see a picture?
p.s. This is intended to be very much tongue-in-cheek, although if Aree is really that hot I would have no problem with her tongue in my cheek. Stick a fork in me. I'm done.

Well, you could buy the edition of Playboy I was in.

From: Chris
Hey, guys. Been stopping by once or twice a day since you were on Angelfire. I have a question for all of you. If you could, would you go back to when you weren't an internet smart? I've been thinking and about four/five years ago when I didn't know who was going to win any given match, I enjoyed it much more. Now I know everything that's going to happen on Smackdown! two days ahead of time thanks to spoilers, I know all the big signings before they show up on TV, I know who's being given a push, I know all the news, rumors, and everything. There's no surprises left. So if you could, would you go back? I think I would.

That's a good question. I have periods of time where I just step back from the internet wrestling scene and act like a mark. It's great fun, but after a while I start to think "I wonder what the real story was there" and "Why did they do that?" and "Where'd that guy come from?" and I can't help but step right back into Smark-land. Even if I could go back, I don't think I would. Just watching wrestling on TV and not knowing anything else about it would bore me after a while. The reason I watch wrestling today has a great deal to do with the wrestling of yesteryear. That's where my interest really lies, so to just watch shows without any of that background knowledge would be just like watching any other TV show - mildly interesting, but certainly not worth spending my time writing about.

From: K Bhalla
Hi...First of all kudos to the people (all of them) who contribute to this site. You guys do quite an amazing job. My first question is that why does the WWE show their programming late in some countries (I live in India and we get WWE 4 weeks late, and also get shows like Afterburn and Bottomline which no one really watches). does the WWE/Wrestlers actually no this. Triple H in a promo in the recently conducted Raw Tour of India was giving us the results of Survivor Series way before we even really knew (by watching TV) the card for that PPV. Thanks P.S. KURT ANGLE AND CHRIS JERICHO RULEEEEE!!!!!

The WWE's international programming schedules have long been a problem. At one point in Australia Raw was on a two week delay, Smackdown was on a 3 day delay, Superstars was on a 2 month delay and PPV's were live. I think for a long time the WWE were very America-focused. Their product was aimed at an American market with TV programming, house shows, merchandise and PPV's all developed and marketed for Americans, and to a lesser extent Canadians and the English. It has only been in recent years with tours to Australia, India and extended dates in Europe, that the WWE have started to make their product more global. Hopefully this will lead to updated programming in more countries, including India.

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