PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q&A: UNDERTAKER VS. CENA, ANDRE VS. MAEDA, TRISH STRATUS AND MORE

Answered on 1/26

With all of the talk about the Undertaker winning the Rumble and switching to Raw to face John Cena, then having Cena beat him and get the ultimate rub,  I had a thought.  With the Undertaker largely being loved by both the casual and hardcore fans for his devotion and loyalty to the federation over the years and Cena always being in a situation where the majority of fans could turn on him at any second, wouldn't him beating the Undertaker possibly turn more fans against him then for him?

First of all, we should preface this by stating that the idea of Undertaker winning the Rumble and switching to Raw to challenge John Cena is just a rumor, and to be honest, I don't see it happening.  However, should John Cena face the Undertaker, there is no doubt in my mind that the majority of fans will be behind Undertaker.  Much like the ECW One Night Stand situation where fans were ready to shower Cena with garbage if RVD lost (at the very least), I could see something similar happing to Cena if he were to beat Undertaker at Wrestlemania. 

Would it be fair to say that the true importance of Trish Stratus to WWE's women's division is only now being felt?

I don't see how anyone can't notice the difference.  Trish was the centerpiece of the division for years, and without her, we're left with two good workers (Victoria & Mickie James), one up and coming worker (Melina) and one spokesmodel who is trying to learn "on the job" (Candice).  Trish is definitely missed when it comes to the Women's division on Raw.

I remember a few weeks ago someone asked a question on WWE editing the WWF scratch logo on videos and you guys said that depending on who edits the film, sometimes the blur is barely noticeable (Monday Night War/Mick Foley DVD) and sometimes is very noticeable (Wrestlemania Anthology). With the Royal Rumble set about to come out, will they make the same mistake as they did with Wrestlemania or will we barely be able to notice it?

I would think, just based on experience doing it, WWE will do a much better job with the Rumble than they did with Wrestlemania when it comes to blurring logos.  Still, those late 90's shows where the scratch logo was everywhere will be tough to make presentable. 

I'm hoping you can tell me what was the story behind the infamous Andre the Giant shoot match that took place in Japan sometime in the 1980's, I think I've recently seen a video of it, and besides looking extremely out of shape, the Giant looked bored as hell with thee whole thing. Was the match indeed a shoot and was it meant to be or did something happen during the match that caused it?

It occurred in 1986, and was basically rooted in the fact that Maeda had a real ego problem when it came to wrestling (he hardly ever did jobs) and had an even bigger problem with foreign stars. On top of that, Andre was never one to suffer fools lightly.  Well, Andre apparently knew of Maeda's rep, and there was very little cooperation between the two. Andre took Maeda down a few times, making it hard for Maeda to do anything. Maeda did manage to take Andre down with a single leg at one point, and Andre grabbed Maeda's face, freaking out Maeda. Maeda then went to kicking at Andre's legs with stiff shots and then backing away, but Andre wasn't selling any of it. Antonio Inoki came out, and there was a lot of confusion. Andre, finally tiring of Maeda kicking his legs and then backing off, lied down in the ring and basically dared Maeda to get on him. Maeda, probably realizing if Andre grabbed him on the mat, he'd kill him, backed off. Inoki was also yelling at Maeda to not try it.  The match was ruled a no-contest, with a fight almost breaking out between Inoki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. To be honest, the legend of the story has grown to ridiculous proportions over the years. It wasn't nearly as interesting as some people make it sound.

Do you have any idea how Tom Billington's aka THE DYNAMITE KID health is? Is he still alive? He seems to have dropped off the face of the planet while living in England.

Unfortunately, no one seems to know where Tom Billington is.  I know several promoters were attempting to get in touch with him, offering very lucrative deals to come to the U.S. for conventions and autograph signings.  Also, I seem to recall that Chris Benoit was trying to find him during a WWE European tour, and his contact information was outdated. If anyone knows where he is, drop us a line!

You can send us questions for the PWInsider.com Q&A by clicking here.

We also have a new Q and A up today on PWInsiderXtra.com. If you are an Elite member of the new site, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are not an Elite member, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are an PWInsider.com Elite member and you want to find out how to join the new site (which is bargain priced at a dollar amonth or less, depending on the subscription you choose), click here.

If you would like to become an Elite member to one or both of the sites, you can do so by clicking here.

For PWInsider.com Elite members who are not members of PWInsiderXtra.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet