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PWINSIDER Q&A: RAW VS. TENNIS, WWE USING FOCUS GROUPS FOR CREATIVE IDEAS, THE FUTURE OF THE WWE WOMEN'S TITLE AND MORE

This is a follow-up to the Q&A from 9/3 about the Women's Division. A reader had asked if this division was either dead or on life support. Well, I'm curious to see what happens if Trish Stratus (for her final appearance) defeats Lita for the Women's Title at Unforgiven? I can't see the WWE planning to do some month long tournament to declare another champion. Personally, I wouldn't mine seeing the belt retired along with the Cruiserweight Title since they both lack real competition. Plus, it could give commemorate Trish Stratus' importance to the WWE as a final farewell. Therefore, reducing each RAW and SD brands to 3 titles instead of 4, which means adding 2 more titles (TV/Tag titles) to the ECW brand down the road.

My guess is that if they have Stratus retire with the Women's championship, they will just do a quick match, maybe a Battle Royal, to fill the vacancy shortly afterwards on Raw.

I was wondering, with all your inside connections at WWE, could you guys maybe float around the idea for WWE to hire a panel of fans to sit in on WWE Creative meetings and tell them all their ideas suck and not let them go home until they come up with interesting storylines instead of the same crap over and over? It's gotten to the point where the average fan can constantly predict what's going to happen and there are no surprises at all. We all know who's going to run in and interfere when. We all know who's going to show up and interrupt who. We all know exactly how Wrestler A is going to retaliate against Wrestler B on the following show. And we can all predict at least 80% of the televised matches because everything is so freaking cookie-cutter predictable.It's gotten to the point where I actually turn the show off BEFORE the main event because I already know what's going to happen and it's going to be crappy, so I just go to bed.

First of all, the idea of fans voicing their opinions on ideas before they are executed doesn't really sound like a great idea to me. This isn't a movie or a play where you can get feedback as it's being edited or workshopped. The entire process of putting together a wrestling match is completely unique and different from any other entertainment form. There's also the issue of finding the proper focus group of fans and even if you had such a jury looking over ideas, there's no saying that if they loved something, that it wouldn't fall apart upon execution. The creative end of wrestling is something that's completely hard to understand and master, which is why so few are good at it and even among those who are, they have hot and cold periods.

Is it just me or has Jeff Hardy put on some weight since the last time we saw him on WWE TV? It looks to me like he's gained a bit and his body is now much the same shape as Matt's. He also doesn't seem to doing as many high-risk aerial maneuvers as he used to and (unless I'm crazy or it's just ring rust or whatever) I was wondering if this could be a result of his being a little heavier than before or taking it a little safer to preserve his body. Age is clearly not a factor yet since he's still pretty young.

It does look like Jeff has put on more weight since his last WWE run, because he has. That's only natural as one gets older.

In the upcoming Roddy Piper DVD set, it lists 2 matches from his time in the Pacific Northwest territory. Where did this footage come from? As far as I knew, there was no surviving footage of PNW. KPTV, who aired the weekly Saturday night shows, never saved any of the shows. Having grown up in Portland and being a huge fan of Portland Wrestling, those 2 matches alone are worth the price of the DVD set.

There are a number of possible sources. It could be that Piper or one of the other wrestlers had copies of the tapes. It could be that there was promotional footage that was sent to another territory that WWE eventually purchased footage of. It could be that it's VHS footage from a fan's collection that is being used. WWE hasn't announced they have purchased any Pacific Northwest libraries, so at this point, it's hard to point down where it came from.

What gives USA network better ratings, Raw or the US Open?

Raw, by a huge, huge, huge, margin. The US Open is far more prestigious to potential advertisers, however.

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