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PWINSIDER Q & A: WWE'S LACK OF PLANNING AND HOW IT HURTS THE COMPANY, IS TODD GRISHAM JOEY STYLES JR., DX'S FUTURE. MIKE TYSON BACK TO WWE AND MORE

What do you think about WWE bringing in Mike Tyson for a match whether it be boxing or wrestling for WrestleMania 23? I think it would definitely be a big draw, it would get some mainstream buzz, and it wouldn't cost the WWE too much seeing how Tyson's been falling on hard times recently.

Tyson's star has long since faded.  When he appeared for WWE at WrestleMania back in 1998. it was a huge boon for the company.  Now?  Tyson is a shell of his former self, doing "exhibitions" around the country and his value is much, much lower.  Heck, a DVD of his career was released last week and it couldn't even debut at number one as Hulk Hogan retained the top spot in his third week on the charts.  The flip side is, he's also broke so he may be willing to work for less money and actually be cost-effective for WWE so it would be worth considering because there would definitely be a lot of "See how fall Tyson has fallen" stories in the media.  So, for the right price I think he could be useful but not like he was back in '98.

Why has the WWE not done more to promote the elimination matches at the Survivor Series. This year we have guys from all three brands thrown together, and no rhyme or reason is given. With the exception of Big Show helping out Umaga, there has been no acknowledgement that we have guys on the same team. With two weeks to go, why have we not seen things like Matt come to ringside with Jeff, or Lashley and RVD helping out Cena when he's getting laid out?

What, you mean WWE hasn't done a good job of pushing storylines for PPVs and giving us good reasons for the matches on them and good reason to want to buy the shows?  You're kidding me.  It can't be true.  Well actually, it's very true and it happens all the time.  They don't plan too far in advance (in part because they have so much TV to do and in part because they just don't seem to want to plan long term) and are often very hesitant to announce a match for an upcoming PPV when they have another show in preceding it.  The lack of long-term planning has been a problem for WWE for a while now and it has hurt the feel of the PPVs.  Often, they seem thrown together at the last minute because, well, they often are.  For example, there's an ECW PPV in two weeks and only one match has been announced.  They just don't put the proper thought and planning into the shows that they used to. 

So, with very little time to make a card for Survivor Series, WWE just decided to release the matches on their website.  In a way, it was a good idea for the company because it drove traffic to WWE.com and creative didn't have to explain on TV why the matches were put together, which in some cases wouldn't have been easy to do.  Instead, they can just say, "As we announced on WWE.com....bla bla."  

This week's TV will be all of a real push that the show gets, which considering its history and status as a "Big Four" PPV is sad.  In the old days, they used to get at least a month of solid promotion.  Maybe that's why PPVs were so much more special then.

Is it just me, or is WWE trying to model Todd Grisham after Joey Styles? From his haircut and timid demeanor, his style of glasses, to the way he eventually stood up to Cena's bullying him over his Cyber Sunday vote. Or is this just another case of my over-analyzing of things?

It's you.  While there are similarities between the two men, they are purely coincidental.  Grisham has been reared and groomed by WWE to be the kind of announcer that they want while Styles established himself in ECW and has had some growing pains, especially while he was calling Raw, adjusting to the WWE way of doing things.  So yes, you are overanalyzing here.

I know that WWE is going to ride the DX wave as long as it lasts. Yet the love of DX from their original run never really died. I know that HBK needs surgery on his knee (and I haven't heard much about that lately since it was supposed to be after SummerSlam).  I'm wondering what's going on with HBK getting surgery.. and it seems with the popularity of DX that they may do what they did when HBK left during the first run by bringing in some lower card guys and giving them that rub, and resulting push. Do you see this happening with the way that WWE has been rehashing old story lines lately?

Shawn still needs surgery but he is in the midst of a big push so he has delayed it.  It's said to be he only needs a "clean up"/scope form of surgery so he can keep working in it, much like Rey Mysterio did.  If it were in need of urgent attention, he wouldn't have a choice but since he's at the top of the cards right now, he isn't going to get it done yet.

As for DX, there is no plan to add younger members and give them the rub right now.  The word I am getting is that HHH and Shawn Michaels are behind creative's decision to keep the team as a twosome.  In theory, they should give the rub to Edge and Randy Orton.  We will see if that happens because they haven't given the rub to anyone else yet since the gimmick returned.

I heard a few years ago about Billy Corgan, the singer for The Smashing Pumpkins, being involved in a wrestling angle.  Is there any truth to that?

Yes, Corgan is/was a big wrestling fan and he made a few appearances for ECW.  They had an angle that ended up with him breaking a guitar over Lou E. Dangerously's head back in 2000 when Corgan was appearing on the show to debut a new song.  He loved being around the company and is, or at least was then, a huge fan of pro wrestling.

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