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PWINSIDER Q & A: TALENT RAIDS, HULK HOGAN SLAMMED ANDRE THE GIANT ON THE MOON, CHANGING THE WAY THEY AIR TV, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MUHAMMED HASSAN AND

With the WWE/WCW wars and to a certain degree ECW, there were tons of talent swapping promotions. Do you think that with Angle jumping ship that other talent is soon to follow? You already have Monty Brown changing (even though that was already in the works before Angle jumped) especially with talent that feels they are not being utilized or pushed the way they want to? 

If a wrestler can get the right contract, TNA's schedule is very, very appealing.  They work far fewer dates than WWE and the travel is nowhere near as crazy.  In fact, it's not crazy at all.  Also, being based out of Florida is a huge plus since a lot of wrestlers live there to take advantage of the great weather and no state income tax.  With that said, at this point TNA doesn't have endless resources nor do they have a lot of TV time to fill so there are only so many people that they will take on.  WWE is always looking for talent but they have a much harder schedule and in many cases, workers can do better by taking indy dates to supplement their TNA checks.  So, I don't see any huge revolving door of talent.  I think things will stay as they have been.

This question is about Mark Copani, better known as Muhammed Hassan. I read up on his departure from the WWE, and while I see the various points, it seems he was at one point being groomed to hold the SmackDown Title. I didn’t really like the gimmick , but I could see talent wise why they wanted to push this guy. (in ring skill and mic work). Have you heard anything about his return? I can’t imagine WWE wasting a talent they were set to put the strap on.  Being in the business as long as you have, what did you think of this guy really?

You thought Hassan had in-ring skill?  I thought he was pretty stiff and not at all fun to watch.  He was a decent promo and had a good look, but that's it.  Yes, he was saddled with a lame gimmick but it wasn't like he tore the house down once the bell rang.  And, one thing he didn't have was a love for the business.  He chose to leave it to go to Hollywood and break into acting.  So far, that hasn't really panned out.  Instead, he's working mostly as a personal trainer now.  I don't see a WWE return happening any time soon.

I don't know if it was on Hogan Knows Best or where I heard it but I remember Hogan talking about body slamming Andre The Giant and then saying something along the lines of "tearing" something in his back when he slammed him. So my question is, did Hogan legitimately injure his back when he slammed Andre and if so what was the injury? 

Hogan's story of slamming the Giant gets grander and grander as time goes by.  He has exaggerated it to the point where it's laughable now.  I heard a recent interview he did where he said Andre was 700 pounds.  Ugh, what a worker.  No, Hogan didn't get hurt.  And truth be told, he wouldn't have any reason to since he didn't actually pick up Andre's weight by himself.  Without Andre's help on the spot, Hogan would have never slammed him and probably would have actually injured himself. 

With all of the talk lately about advertising on your site and how the site can maintain its free status, I was curious to know just how much it costs to maintain PWI and PWI extra. I understand if you don't want to give specifics, but a ballpark figure would be nice and may encourage more people to become Elite members if they see what sort of overhead you guys operate under. Also, at the risk of being of rude, how much do you guys earn in year? Enough to live off of, or do you guys do outside work to make ends meet?

I won't get into specifics here because frankly it's personal information but considering that we have three people working full time here on the site it means that we need to generate significant revenue to make sure everyone gets paid and doesn't lose their home.  At the risk of sounding like I am breaking, I will say this.  If you look around on other wrestling websites, no one gives away as much free, first run quality content or breaks as much news as we do.  In fact, it's not even close as far as I am concerned.  We are committed to working long hours every day to make sure we post as much content as humanly possible.  On the other hand, many of the sites that post more than a few articles a day get their items from us because we do this full time and we post so much content.  

Online advertising has hit the skids since July of this year and hasn't come back.  Because of that it's a daily battle to keep the free site open in its current form.  We are doing everything we can to not move any content to pay-only status, but it's a real battle to do so.  All I can say is that if you are fan of what we do here and want to support us in the best way possible, get yourself an Elite subscription.  It's a great value when you consider than in addition to helping the site, you get ad free access on a blazing server, tons of exclusive content, hours of audio every week, our weekly newsletter and more.  Like I have said before, it's cheaper than a few cups of coffee.  So, at the risk of sounding like shill, if you want to get an Elite subscription, click here.

I was just reading one of the This Day In History sections and someone had asked a question regarding a match that took place during the early days of WCW. Back in those days, matches would end when the time limit ran out. What would you think of the possibility of WWE or TNA bringing back this concept? I know that a lot of times, it can lead to frustration because there is no clear cut winner, but I think in some cases, it can help to prolong programs that wrestlers (sports entertainers) run with each other rather than the quick shuffling that goes on now.

Ah yes, I remember it well.  Back in the day Jim Crockett Promotions was notorious for that.  I can still hear David Crockett yelling "We're out of time" as the two guys in a match they hyped all hour finally locked up with 30 seconds left in the show.  That was done as a tool to get people to go to the house shows to actually see the match.  It was especially effective when they had a hot feud to sell.

Things have changed though.  Now, WWE is trying to sell you on PPVs and I think the audience is more savvy now and wouldn't react kindly to a bait and switch tactic.  I don't think WWE can do it on Raw or Smackdown either for the simple reason that they are paid a hefty fee for their TV rights to those shows.  Leaving the fans with a bad taste in their mouths isn't smart.  ECW isn't running house shows and only does two PPVs a year, so it doesn't work for them either.  In TNA's case, I think it's just not worth the risk of alienating their fan base by "screwing them" out of a finish.

As for the quick shuffling of programs, I totally agree with you.  The art of the long term program is a lost one.

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