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PWINSIDER Q&A: AUSTIN AT MANIA, WRESTLING BOOKS, THE ORIGINAL MVP AND MORE

Answered on 10/25

Could you see Edge vs. Steve Austin or Randy Orton vs. Steve Austin taking place at Wrestlemania 23? I was wondering this because I thought Stone Cold would be a referee choice for the tag team match at Cyber Sunday and I was thinking it could build up a match between Austin and either Edge or Orton.

I don't see Edge vs. Austin happening, just because I think Edge should be in a high profile match with a current star (Cena, Michaels, Triple H, etc.) at Mania this year.  He did the "wrestle a legend" but last year with Mick Foley.  Randy Orton vs. Steve Austin would be fine with me, since Orton has lost to all the other old stars anyway.  Seriously, WWE just met with Austin recently, so hopefully they came up with a way to get Austin involved in Wrestlemania in some form, since I have a feeling they need all the star power they can get in order to draw a respectable crowd in a football stadium. 

What do you consider to be the best books written by/about wrestlers or about wrestling? Maybe your top 5 considerations, or more if you can recommend more....thanks....keep up the great work on the site !

My personal top five as of right now are Pure Dynamite by Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington, Have A Nice Day by Mick Foley, Foley Is Good by Mick Foley, Bobby The Brain by Bobby Heenan and To Be The Man by Ric Flair.  You can get many of these, and other wrestling books, by clicking here.

If WWE can change the ropes quick enough on the Smackdown!/ECW tapings, why don't they on super shows?

On most supershow tapings, they often do.  On non-televised supershows, they don't bother, since it isn't being broadcast.

Why does Vince, during a time when wrestling is at a valley, decide to launch ECW? Isn't that kinda of the same kind of thinking when WCW launched Thunder, not during their hot NWO time, but after it was getting pretty old. Vince has got to be loosing money because viewership and buyrates are down and yet Vince still keeps adding PPV's closer together, like that will attract viewers.

There's a few reasons why Vince launched ECW, but the most important is money.  ECW still had a loyal following, and Vince felt WWE could capitalize on it, from a merchandising perspective if nothing else.  Then, you have what I like to call "milking the diehards".  There is an audience that will buy every PPV and product WWE puts out there, so by launching ECW, WWE is getting more money from that loyal fanbase (as opposed to trying to increase the current audience). 

Isn't MVP the 2nd MVP in WWF/E history? I seem to remember Steve Lombardi  doing a baseball player gimmick during the MLB strike, being called both Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz and "The Most Vile Player: MVP" ... am I remembering this right?

Yes, you are.  Steve Lombardi was MVP (or Abe), doing a baseball gimmick designed to make fun of the Major League Baseball strike at the time. 

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