Welcome to The Armpit wrestling quiz for the week of February 6, 2017.
With most of the WrestleMania lineup set in stone, the next several weeks of television will begin to build towards the biggest pro wrestling show of the year.
One of the odd men out, in terms of having the kind of classic big show match he usually delivers, is AJ Styles. With an opponent like Shane McMahon, their match may end up short of the usual AJ standards, although there will probably be your obligatory Shane stunt like he did last year. So let’s now focus on the Phenomenal One, as the theme of this week’s quiz is “AJ Styles.”
Congratulations to last week’s winner: Megan (again!)
Last week’s answers:
1) The late Andrew “Test” Martin was not in the Mean Street Posse. I will forever remember Test as a footnote to one of the all-time great moments in television history, that being the classic live performance of “Wildside” by Motley Crue on Monday Night Raw.
2) At Halloween Havoc ’91, Paul E. Dangerously and Madusa unveiled “The Phantom” as none other than “Ravishing” Rick Rude.
3) Sabu was fired from ECW in early 1995 when he was double booked and took a Japanese booking over a date at the ECW Arena. Paul Heyman, the master of manipulation, announced the no-show to the live crowd in a manner that heeled Sabu, and thus the “F*ck Sabu!” chant was born.
4) Scott Hall showed up on WCW Nitro before Kevin Nash did. That was the night Nash mistakenly called the word “play” an adjective (it’s a verb). Nitro’s tagline was “where the big boys play.” ECW used to poke fun at that tagline on their shows too, saying ECW is where the big boys fight, not play.
5) Lex Luger debuted as a major surprise at the first WCW Monday Nitro.
6) In 2006, TNA shocked the world by announcing their highest profile signee ever up to that point: Kurt Angle. At the time, many expected him to sign with UFC, including Dana White himself.
7) When Rick Steamboat returned to the NWA in early 1989, he was the mystery tag team partner of Eddie Gilbert. The two then had an impromptu match with Ric Flair and Barry Windham.
8) Steamboat repeated that angle in late 1991 at Clash of the Champions 17, returning to WCW as the mystery tag team partner of Dustin Rhodes. Some of you answered Barry Windham, which is understandable since Windham and Rhodes were tag team partners at the time. Windham had “injured” his hand as a result of a sneak attack by the Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko), so he couldn’t wrestle. Steamboat took his place, and he and Rhodes won the tag titles in a classic that night.
9) DDP was the stalker of Sara Undertaker, the wife of the Undertaker, on WWF television in 2001. When he unmasked, the crowd popped huge. DDP vs Undertaker could’ve been a great program, but Taker nixed it, as he has been known to do when he doesn’t want to work with someone.
10) The main event on the final Nitro ever was Ric Flair vs Sting. Flair later revealed that he was told about the match on short notice, and felt he wasn’t in shape and that’s why he wore a shirt. Flair would go onto wrestle for years in WWE, while Sting wrestled for years in TNA before finishing out his career with a couple matches in WWE.
This week’s questions:
1. AJ Styles was trained in the late 90s, and quickly rose through the indie ranks. He worked almost everywhere, including some tryout and undercard matches during the Monday night wars. Which notable promotion did AJ Styles NOT ever wrestle a match for?
b) WCW
c) ECW
d) TNA
d) XWF
e) ROH
2. On the recent documentary on WrestleMania 32 that just aired on the WWE Network, a clip was shown of a promo from a very young AJ Styles, all full of pimples and baby fat. He did a tryout for the WWF, and not long after was one of the key guys NWA TNA chose to build around when the Jarretts started the promotion in 2002. What was notable about AJ and the TNA X Division title?
b) He never won the X Division Title.
c) He won the X Division Title, but threw it down (ala Shane Douglas in ECW) and created his own title (ala Taz and his FTW Championship).
d) He was the first ever TNA X Division Champion.
3. AJ’s contract with TNA initially allowed him to work for ROH, where he had several memorable matches. When TNA later decided to pull all their talent from ROH, AJ wrestled one last match there, with CM Punk at their “At Our Best” show. What wrestling legend, who now works for WWE, was the special referee for that match?
b) Bobby Heenan
c) Jake Roberts
d) Tully Blanchard
e) Arn Anderson
4. By 2005, it was clear AJ was one of the best workers in the country. This was when Scott D’Amore was booking TNA, and for a short time their PPVs were considered can’t-miss shows because of the quality of wrestling had never been higher. That year he was in a famous ***** match at TNA’s Unbreakable PPV, a 3-way main event featuring which two other work-horses?
b) Sting & Lex Luger
c) Team Canada (Bobby Roode & Petey Williams)
d) Christopher Daniels & Samoa Joe
5. I could ask a bunch of questions about AJ in TNA, but honestly, most of you weren’t watching. AJ left TNA and wisely grew his hair longer, which made him look like a star instead of a frat boy. He wrestled all over the world, and made headlines in 2014 for an unfortunate incident with British wrestler Lionheart. What happened?
b) Lionheart took the Styles Clash incorrectly and broke his neck.
c) AJ took a bad bump onto the floor, tearing his ACL.
d) AJ refused to lose, so Lionheart and the local promoted double-crossed him in a British version of the Montreal screwjob.
6. While AJ had always been regarded as a top flight worker, he kicked it up a notch in New Japan. It was there where he cemented his reputation as one of the best in the world, causing WWE to finally take serious notice. He won the IWGP Title twice, from which two men?
b) Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi
c) Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada
d) Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata
7. The WWE finally signed AJ in January of 2016, at a time when he was a hot free agent. He debuted in that year’s Royal Rumble to a huge pop, drawing which number?
b) #3
c) #20
d) #30
8. Chris Jericho briefly teamed with AJ, and what did they call themselves?
b) Walls of AJ
c) Chris Clash
d) Y2AJ
9. Fans were disappointed when AJ lost at WrestleMania, clean in the middle, to Chris Jericho. But they were rewarded the next night on Raw when AJ won a **** 4-way over Jericho, Kevin Owens, & Cesaro to become the #1 contender to Roman Reigns. After that, he officially turned heel by aligning himself with whom?
b) The Usos, who also turned heel on Reigns
c) The New Day
d) Stephanie and HHH
10. At long last, AJ finally hit pay dirt and struck gold. After beating John Cena in a classic at SummerSlam, he won the WWE World Title in September of last year by beating whom?
b) Roman Reigns
c) Seth Rollins
d) Kevin Owens
e) Dean AmbroseThere are three ways to send us your answers to the quiz:
2) Find me on Facebook under the name “Pit WP” and send your answers to me there.
3) Find me on Twitter at ArmpitWP and send me a direct message with your answers.
4) Use the Contact form at armpit-wrestling.com
We will randomly generate a number to determine the winner. For example, if the number is 25 and you’re the 25th person to contact us with correct answers, you win. Winners receive a free copy of our brand new e-book, “The Armpit Wrestling Quiz Archives: Volume 1.” It features 128 quizzes we’ve written over the years and clocks in at 420 pages and a whopping 1,079 questions on pro wrestling history dating back to the 1980s. We’ll also announce your name here next week as the winner.
Answers will be posted next week. Have fun and good luck.
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