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PWINSIDER Q&A: WWF ON HBO, CURT HENNIG, DEVELOPMENTAL TALENT AND MORE

Answered on 12/13

Do you know any information about when Harry Smith, Paul Burchill or Steve Lewington may come to the main WWE roster? I know Smith was on for one event where he invaded the ring but is there anything more full time in the pipeline for any of them.

I haven't heard any plans for Burchill to come back up, which is unfortunate, since he did a lot more with a bad gimmick than anyone could have reasonably expected him to.  Harry Smith has been added to house show lineups, so he may be added to the main roster soon, although last time that was supposed to happen, he got taken off because they wanted to cast him as a boyfriend for Brooke Hogan on "Hogan Knows Best".  I haven't heard any plans for Lewington (who was squashed by Umaga earlier this year) to be brought up either.

This inquiry stems from my constant changing of my created wrestlers from the Smackdown vs. RAW game series.  My question concerns wrestling makeovers.  Whenever a wrestler wants to try a different hairstyle, ring attire or all-around new look (while keeping their same character), does he/she have to get permission from management?  A couple of examples being whenever Christian cut his hair or Test going from pants to trunks. What have been some of the best/worst wrestling makeovers you've seen, and finally who currently could stand to freshen up their look? 

While I don't believe it is written into a contract or anything, it is sort of an unwritten rule that performers let WWE know if they are planning any kind of radical change to their look or hair, since WWE puts a lot of money into marketing their talent and obviously they'd like their figures, shirts, posters, etc. to match the current look of the star.  As for best and worst makeovers, I think Big Show has had some pretty bad hair and moustache styles over the years.  The best would probably be the Rock, as his original look and haircut were pretty goofy. 

I was watching a Philly show in 1983 and it featured a young Curt Hennig.   I had no idea that he worked in the WWF before the Mr. Perfect gimmick.   How long did he work in the WWF in his first run and was there any reason why he never stayed in the WWF and worked the AWA.  

Hennig had a very brief run early in his career (actually, before 1983) in WWF, basically working as an enhancement talent.  He then went to the Pacific Northwest where he started to build his reputation, then on to the AWA.  As for why he went to those areas, I think the obvious answer is because his father, Larry Hennig, was working in those areas and was a top star. 

One guy that I have seen in the 80's Philly shows that really impressed me was Jose Estrada.  I know that worked most light or cruiserweight matches including a really fun match in MSG against Tiger Mask in 1982 I think.   But I don't remember seeing much of him after the explosion of the WWF in 1984.   Whatever happened to Jose Estrada?  Did he worked in other promotions or countries? 

Estrada worked a lot in Puerto Rico and Mexico, he was one half of the Medics tag team. 

While watching an old George the Animal Steele match from I believe 1977, Vince McMahon on commentary mentioned that this match was seen on Home Box Office.  I had no idea that HBO ran wrestling since I didn't start hearing about it until the mid 80's.  I was wondering if you know how long did the WWWF carry wrestling (mostly MSG shows I figure) on HBO.  

It was a one time event on August 29, 1977 where WWF had a Madison Square Garden event broadcast on the MSG Network and HBO.  This was during the early days of cable, when channels were looking for programming.  The show was headlined by WWWF Champion Superstar Graham defeating Ivan Putski via countout and Bruno Sammartino defeating Ken Patera in a Texas Death match. 

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