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SHAWN MICHAELS' CAREER ENDING BACK INJURY IN 1998, THE MINOTAUR & ARACHNIMAN IN WCW AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2024-08-29 10:00:00

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Settle a bet.  Wasn't there a guy wrestling in WWF as the Minotaur? Am I mixing him up with Mantaur?

I believe you are thinking of Steve DiSalvo, who also worked as Steve Strong, who did work some WCW television appeances as The Minotaur in the early 1990s. He wasn't there long and didn't do the gimmick in WWF.  So, you MAY have mixed him up with Mantaur....

When Shawn Michaels needed a required back surgery  that "ended his career", was it known all along he would return one day?

At the time, the belief was Michaels was done for good, to the point there was concern over whether he'd even make it to the Wrestlemania match against Steve Austin that year.  He hurt the back at the 1998 Royal Rumble, taking a back bump out of the ring onto a casket.  The general consensus at the time was he was done in the ring, but then he was training students in Texas, so at that point it was known to a small group that he was at least capable of taking bumps in the ring.  But, to the general population, it was thought that he was done forever.  Thankfully, that wasn't the case.  He returned for a Street Fight against Paul Diamond, who was working for Michaels' TWA as Venom, and then eventually returned vs. HHH at Summerslam 2022.

Has WWE reacted to the latest Hulk Hogan escapades?

They have not, to the best of my knowledge.

What's more important to AEW - a good rating or a full house?

Well, you'd think any promotion would want BOTH, but in the case of AEW, I think having a good rating to make their broadcast partner happy is what would be most important.

Who was Arachniman?

The long-forgotten WCW gimmick was the late, great Brad Armstrong.  The character died via cease and desist from Marvel Comics.

If there was one title change you'd have wanted to attend in person, what would it have been?

I think Mick Foley's first WWF title win.

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