PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q&A: TRISH'S RETIREMENT, ROADDOGG IN WWE?, ECW'S SMALL ORIGINAL FAN BASE AND MORE

Me and some other guys were discussing this on a message board and we were wondering... when some fan interferes in a match (for example, during Eddie - RVD's ladder match), he is usually beaten up and taken backstage by the security people. I know he eventually is thrown out of the arena, but what else happens back there?

In a lot of cases, the fan is arrested for trespassing, endangering others, etc. In other cases, the beatdown he deserves and gets is sometimes enough. At no point should anyone ever cross the rail and get involved with a professional event, but by the same token, no wrestler should take advantage of the fans, either.

With Brad and Scott Armstrong now employed by WWE, do you see Road Dogg returning in the future?

Not in the near future, as BG James is currently signed to a TNA deal.

With The Rock declaring that the wrestling part of his career is over, how much longer is the WWE going to permit him to use The Rock name as an actor. The movie studios aren't going to give Vince McMahon an executive producer credit to all his movies, are they?

WWE and Dwayne Johnson came to some sort of agreement that will allow him to maintain the Rock name in his acting endeavors, although as time goes on, it's obvious to see that Johnson is moving himself away from that era of his career. It likely wouldn't even be an issue in the future.

Is Trish Stratus really retiring?

Yes, Stratus is legitimately leaving the company as she's going to get married and wants time off the road to enjoy herself. While WWE has created a storyline around it, after tonight, she is gone from the company. Of course, that doesn't mean there won't come a day where she returns, either.

Hello, my question regards the original ECW. I often see Vince McMahon getting criticized for believing that it only had a small, loyal fan base. Yet, if it had anything more than that, wouldn't it had done enough PPV and live event business to stay open?

I could respond to that by saying, "If it only had a small fan base, why did the Rise and Fall of ECW break all DVD records? Why did fans chant it for five years? Why did they sell out the Hammerstein Ballroom with huge prices but then fail to sell it out when the WWE-ECW version ran TV there?" However, I won't. McMahon's comment was pure spin, particularly his claim that the TV show was nothing more than a series of vignettes. Anyone who watched the show from 1994-1997 particularly knows the level of depth to the characters and storylines, something that WWE's product is missing today. It's simply a case of McMahon not understanding something, so he explains it away. ECW's fanbase was smaller but it kept the company alive for years and in the end, they had relatively small losses compared to WCW and had outside issues (having to sign talent to big money deals in order to prevent jumps, PPV money not coming in a timely fashion, etc.) not hurt them, the company never would have died. They were one TV deal away from being solvent, but USA Network balked on picking them up.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet