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PWINSIDER Q&A: RICKY STARR, THE END OF STEVE AUSTIN AS A WRESTLER, BIG SHOW VS. HULK HOGAN, WRESTLEMANIA ALL DAY AND MORE

Regarding Hulk Hogan vs. The Big Show at WrestleMania: With Hogan being older and weaker, do you think there will be a possibility, that Hogan injures himself by trying to bodyslam Big Show??? I mean, really strong men like Bobby Lashley and John Cena can barely slam the giant big show.

If there's any chance of him injuring himself, you can pretty much guarantee Hogan won't even attempt to bodyslam Big Show if their proposed Wrestlemania 23 match becomes a reality.

When Stone Cold returned at No Way Out 2003, was it known that his in-ring days were pretty much over?

Yes, by that point Steve Austin had made a decision that he was going to curtail his in-ring activity, which led to the build for his match against the Rock at Wrestlemania XIX in Seattle.  Although a "retirement" wasn't officially announced for some time, Austin always intended that to be his last true wrestling match.  If and when the circumstances and the money is right, I am sure we'll see him return for a true in-ring match, but for the most part, his physical activity inside a wrestling ring (beyond the odd stunner here and there) is a thing of the past.

While reading Eric Bischoff's book "Controversy Creates Cash", he writes (page 86) that Jim Ross was not only WCW lead announcer but also vice president of wrestling operations. Is this true? I thought Jim Ross' title was, vice president of broadcasting? He also writes how Ole Anderson got demoted from booker in 1993, to the head trainer of the Power Plant. I thought Ole's title was vp of wrestling operations, as listed in the credits of various WCW PPV's from 1993.

Ole Anderson's role was indeed that of booker and chances are that like a lot of other people working for WCW, he received a really grandiose official title for the role.  I know that Jim Ross had a lot of backstage duties and political power working for WCW during his regime there, but I don't believe he ever oversaw the company as a Vice President.  There are a number of small factual and typo errors in Bischoff's book, so that could simply be one of them.

I was just wondering why WWF in 2000 for Wrestlemania had a 8 hour long pre-show on USA but never ever had it again for any other Mania do you see WWE doing that for WM 23 since they are on USA again and it is a big show.  Since it is a 20th Anniversary show with a record crowed showing the set up and superstar thoughts going in the show and doing angles to further matches do you see them doing it? 

The Wrestlemania 2000 broadcast you are talking about was actually an all day PPV broadcast which was done as a one time deal to push the show.  It was an experiment that was done at the right time since the product was really heating up.  I don't know that they will do such a thing again for Wrestlemania 23, but it's likely we'll see them pushing a lot of nostalgia as we get closer. 

Can you tell me about Ricky Starr, a wrestler from the 60's.

Ricky Starr, who was said to be a former ballet dancer, at times did a very effeminate gimmick.  He teamed with Ray Gunkel to win the NWA World Tag Team championship in 1953 and later teamed with Rip Rogers in the early 1980s for the old Angelo Poffo ICW company in the Tennessee area.  Starr worked for a number of different territories over the years including Amarillo and also toured in Great Britain and Europe regularly.

 

 

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