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PWINSIDER Q & A: WHY JIM CORNETTE HATES VINCE RUSSO, STYLES IN WWE BEFORE, WHY WWE HIRES BIMBOS, HOW WRESTLERS FEEL ABOUT THE BUSINESS TODAY AND MORE

I was watching the first hell in a cell match from Bad Blood 97 and after Shawn Michaels fell from the hell in a cell onto the Spanish announces table he is than thrown to another table and I was wondering was one of the people on headset Joey Styles? 

No sir.  At that time, Joey was the voice of ECW and was not yet working for WWE.  That would happen years later when WWE took control of ECW after buying it from the bankruptcy court.

What exactly is Jim Cornette's beef with Vince Russo? I mean I know he feels--correctly, IMO--that Russo is a hack who just got lucky during one period of time and I also know he was none too pleased with the Oklahoma thing Russo and Ferrara did to mock JR, and I can also sympathize with that as I thought the Katie Vick angle was more entertaining (and yes, I realize that was not entertaining at all), but is there more to it than this? I figure if he won't even let Russo talk to him or be in the same room with him, Russo must have done something awful to him.

Cornette hates him for the reasons that you mentioned.  He thinks Russo's booking is a scourge on the wrestling business and shows it no respect whatsoever.  He certainly didn't like the skit that mocked JR's real life health problem both because it was tasteless but also because Ross is his good friend.  And he really grew to hate Russo when the two worked together in WWE both for the work he did as well as the way he carried himself.  He just feels that everything about Russo, from back when he booked WWE and WCW, was bad for the business and helped take it to the down point he feels it's at today. He, quite simply, has no time for Russo.  To see exactly how little Cornette thinks of Russo, check out this link.

Why do you think the WWE insists on hiring models that have no wrestling experience (Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, Maria, Kristal etc.) when they could hire independent wrestlers (Rebecca Knox, Cheerleader Melissa, Tiana Ranger, Christie Ritchie) who look good (For the Bikini Contests, Photoshoots) and can actually wrestle?

The sad, simple reason is that WWE doesn't put much of a priority on whether women can wrestle or not because it's not an important part of their business.  They feel people tune in to see hotties in various stages of undress, not to watch they wrestle quality matches.  That is a mindset that starts at the top with Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn.

Now, I agree that WWECW in not like the old ECW, but personally I think it's the best wrestling show right now. It reminds me of WWE during the attitude era, which was one of my favorite eras. However, don't you think that ECW should have its own tapings and move to a 2 hour slot ?

ECW reminds you of the attitude era?  Wow, you see it a lot differently than I do.  A LOT differently.  To me, WWECW is often a fun show, but it's a far cry from its former self or the Attitude era to me.  

As for your question, right now no I don't think they should have a two hour slot.  WWE, quite simply, doesn't have enough talent to fill another hour of weekly TV.  On top of that, Sci Fi is reportedly paying very little for ECW and it doesn't make sense to do more TV for little money.  For the same reason, it doesn't make sense to spend the money on a separate taping if it will put ECW in the red.  From a financial perspective, they are handling it properly right now.

Am I reading too much into all of this, or is it that the business just isn’t as fun for the wrestlers as it was a few years ago? (Kind of like it’s not as much fun for the fans… J ) What do some of the guys and gals you guys talk to say?

I hear that from a lot of people that I talk to.  The state of creative is a big issue for many of them.  People are put in programs that are often goofy and they don't like doing them but there aren't many options so they do what they have to do.  Everyone feels better when they are associated with a good product and that often isn't the case right now.  That leads to the other big negative, lack of competition means less money on the table for the workers overall.  Wrestlers have complained for ages, like many of us do about our jobs.  They just complain less when the product is fun and the money is high.

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