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PWINSIDER Q & A: KANYON'S CLAIM THAT HE WAS FIRED BECAUSE HE WAS GAY, DUSTY IN WWE, LOCKER ROOM HAZING, MISLEADING ECW FANS AND MORE

Answered on 9/11

What's your take on Kanyon's supposed publicity stunt at the WWE house show in Tampa?

First off, for those show didn't read the site over the weekend, you can catch up with what Kanyon did and why he says he did it by clicking here.   OK now to the question. I don't think that there is any truth to his claim that Vince McMahon released him because he found out he was gay.  Vince has employed a number of gay men in the past.  Hell, Pat Patterson was Vince's right hand man for years.  I think Kanyon was let go because he had an average body and was a below average interview and they just didn't have anything for him.  They even tried to redo the old Mortis gimmick for him to get him on the shows but it didn't work so they let him go.  So, I think Kanyon is wrong here and is just trying to get noticed, much like I think he did when he publicly came out as being "wrestling's first openly gay wrestler".  I don't think it has any chance of getting him back on the national scene and I think it comes off as desperate to me.  I also think it was really lame of him to bring signs to ringside.  That is the way a fan would act, not someone who worked in the business for years.  I think he embarrassed himself.

What exactly is Dusty Rhodes' job title with the WWE? When they hired him I thought he would be a GM or some sort of on air type personality, but he has remained behind the scenes. Is he an agent? Or did WWE sign him just to keep him away from TNA? Does he have any sort of influence in the WWE?

Dusty is basically a creative advisor for the product, helping with the storylines.  WWE signed him to be involved in creative and he got a better deal to go there than he was getting from TNA.  

Originally, he was slated to be the GM on Raw after Eric Bischoff was taken out of the spot but Vince McMahon decided that he liked being on charge on Raw and Dusty was taken out of the spot.  

What would happen if a new wrestler stood up to locker room hazing? Would it be tolerated, respected, disapproved of? If someone who's a legit bad-ass like Turkay got in the face of someone hazing him and let it be known he wouldn't stand for it, what would be the locker room reaction?

The thing that you have to consider here is that locker room hazing is generally done by bully types, who by nature are cowards and pick on the weak, not the strong.  They don't go after the big, tough guys because they are, well, cowards and only pick on the easy targets.  If they picked on a legit bad ass, and the guy stood up to them, I think he would make some friends while others (generally the bullies who endorse hazing to begin with) would whine about how he went against the, in my opinion outdated, code of locker room mores.

Why does WWE keep showing old insane footage of ECW when they advertise the new WWECW? Don't get me wrong I enjoy WWECW more than Raw or Smackdown but I feel by showing that footage they are misleading people and if they want to distance themselves from what ECW used to be than don't show that footage.

That is exactly why they do it, to get you to think that is what you will see on Tuesday nights. Plus, Vince believes since he owns the footage, he can do whatever he wants with it, which is the truth unfortunately.  Everyone needs to just accept that ECW is now WWECW and not the company of old.

What do you think of the indy organization CZW? Do you think it can compete with the WWE and TNA?  It is a different type of wrestling organization with its ultra-violent style and the technical junior division. Could men like John Zandig, Necro Butcher and Nick Gage be mainstream stars?

CZW's violent style makes it a niche product.  Given how violent it is, its workers couldn't do those kinds of matches on a weekly, WWE-like schedule.  Even if they could, the style is such that it will almost attract a smaller fan base because it's not "family friendly" (and yes I know WWE is often not family friendly either, but a lot of parents don't seem to realize that).  Plus, it would take huge money to even think about competing with WWE and CZW just doesn't have it.  So, enjoy it for what it is.  The fact is, if they ever got bigger they would come under more scrutiny and would probably have to tone down the product anyway.

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