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PWINSIDER Q & A: BRET HART AND ECW, HOGAN TAKING THE WWF TITLE OVERSEAS, ECW'S FIRST PPV, GETTING UWF/MID SOUTH FOOTAGE AND MORE

Why did they include a match from a Japanese promotion on the show? If it was ECW's first PPV shouldn't it have showcased ECW stars and not stars from another organization?

ECW owner Paul Heyman decided to include a 6 man match from Michinoku Pro Wrestling as a way of showing new fans just how different ECW was.  ECW meshed hardcore brawling, great technical work, blood and guts, and high flying together under one roof so Heyman wanted a little bit of everything on the first PPV.  The fact of the matter was, ECW brought in workers from all over the world and it made sense to include the bout, which was amazing by the way.

A long winded question. As a kid growing up in Shreveport, I attended plenty of TV tapings for Mid-South Wrestling at the old Irish-McNeil Boys Club. I also got to see the rise of World Class on Channel 39. With the fantastic Von Erich DVD release, it bought back many great memories of what "real" wrestling was back in the early 80's. I can only imagine what a Mid-South retrospective would be like for us 30somethings to relive one more time. Who actually owns the footage? (I've read the rumors of Bill Watts and/or his wife) I know Watts became bitter at the direction wrestling was taking but is there any chance that we can relive such great moments as Sting's debut as a Bladerunner or the classic feuds of the 80's that defined wrestling?

The footage belongs to Watts' ex-wife.  I know that WWE has tried to get their hands on it in the past but she has decided to sell it herself.  The old Mid-South and UWF stuff was truly great wrestling DVDs.  You can buy DVDs of the product online at this link:

http://www.universalwrestling.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=UWA  

You can also get a great Bill Watts shoot interview from our friends at Highspots.com by going to this link:

http://www.highspots.com/product.asp?id=13504 

I just read the news release on your site about ROH getting Bruno Sammartino to appear at their March 30th event on Wrestlemania weekend. Do think this can make a big impact to ROH's bottom line, or will it just be a potential "bump" for them at the end of March?

I don't think bringing in Bruno will draw a lot of money for ROH, but I don't think that is why they are doing it either.  ROH is a company that has a tremendous respect for the business itself and by bringing in Bruno, they are paying homage to its history.  It's the kind of thing that ROH does and part of what makes them the special company that they are.  By allowing their fans to interact with one of the true legends of the business is on of the things that ROH does to get the extra mile for its fans.  

Is it true that Bret Hart once compared ECW to pornography in an interview? If it is true, in what context did he do this, and did he ever expand on that opinion? For someone who, I’ve heard, claims to have invented the ladder match, that seems like a pretty quick dismissal of that style.

My memory is kind of hazy, but I seem to remember Bret saying that about the high blood aspect of ECW years ago.  Some describe pornography as excessive and disgusting acts and if my memory is functioning properly, that is the way he meant it.  While he did do some very physical matches, there's a difference between a ladder bout and a barbed wire bat or glass glued to gloves bout.  I don't agree with his assessment, but I don't think he was hypocritical either.

I some wrestling footage of Hulk Hogan wrestling The Great Muta in Japan around 1993 and it was a very good match but I never heard about it being promoted on WWF TV and I don’t remember if the WWF ever acknowledge this match ever took place. Was there any reason why the match with Great Muta was never mentioned on television?

The bout took place May 3, 1993 at New Japan's Fukuoka Dome show.  This wasn't a WWF event so it didn't get any play on WWF TV, even though Hogan was the WWF champion at the time.  The interesting thing about it was WCW had been working with New Japan back then so Hogan's appearance on the show was very interesting politically.  I still remember an interview that aired on New Japan TV at the time where Hogan said that New Japan's IWGP Heavyweight Title was more prestigious than the WWF belt, which was possibly hyperbole but could have also been attributable to the fact that he knew he would be leaving the WWF soon.  Hogan would lose the WWF belt the next month to Yokozuna and was gone from the company shortly thereafter as Vince McMahon had to answer steroid questions from the Federal government.  Hogan ended up in WCW the next year.

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