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PWINSIDER Q&A: CM PUNK, MATT HARDY, SHAWN MICHAELS AND MORE

Answered on 2/18

How hypocritical is it for CM Punk to tout his straight-edge lifestyle while promoting his love of Pepsi? Last time I checked, caffeine is indeed a drug that people can and do become addicted to.

He's not saying that he lives his life caffeine-free, so I don't think he is really being hypocritical. Yes, you can get addicted to caffeine, but I'm pretty sure Punk is referring to street drugs, and last time I checked, no one is dealing Jolt Cola on street corners.  People can become addicted to anything if they have an addictive personality. 

Was your 2006 PWInsider year end awards just for WWE? With CM Punk winning the Newcomer Of The Year award, it's like forgetting about his time in ROH and the other promotions.

The idea of a "Newcomer Of The Year" award was created because, realistically, there's no way you can have a "Rookie Of The Year" award.  Chances are a wrestler has competed somewhere long before he gets attention in the national spotlight (with few exceptions).  So, the idea of the Newcomer Of The Year award came about, with the idea that "if you haven't seen him before, then he's new to you".  Obviously, CM Punk had a lot of great matches in ROH, but a lot of people didn't see him until he came to WWE, and those are the fans that voted for him. 

I'm a huge Matt Hardy fan. Do you think that Matt will ever get his much deserving push or should I just give up and accept him as a great talent but misused like many others?

That depends on how much of a push you want him to get.  Matt has actually had more PPV appearances than most of the wrestlers on the WWE roster right now.  I could see him being U.S. Champion at some point, for sure.  However, if you are hoping for a World Title run or a singles PPV main event appearance, then you will probably be waiting a long time.  A really long time. 

A few years back, the WWE, in its infinite wisdom, released Nidia, Gail Kim & Jazz from the company. Before that happened, the women's division was receiving praise for the improvement in their matches. Even Fit Finlay was congratulated for doing such a good job in working with the women to increase their workrate in the ring. Why then did the WWE release Nidia, Gail Kim & Jazz? Was it because their was a fear that the women's division would take away fans from the male wrestlers who just weren't winning over fans unlike the women wrestlers? Was their jealously toward the women within the male ranks of the company?

It certainly wasn't jealousy by the male wrestlers, since the women's division was always limited to one or two matches per show and were never in the main event slot.  It was simply a case of WWE deciding that it was more important to sell magazines and DVDs of half-naked models than have women compete in great wrestling matches.  So, the emphasis went off the women's wrestling, and the focus was put on the Diva Search and hiring more models. 

Alright, I just got done reading your latest Q and A. And I am going to refer to your comments on Shawn Michaels and the "Hogan Situation". I personally have always loved both Hogan and Michaels thru their whole careers. But, in this case, I can understand Shawn being frustrated. I know Hogan is huger than life, but Shawn is not a pushover either. He was the first 'little man' to really run with the company. So his request for a split series wasn't unreasonable. Sure, he handled it poorly. I admit that. But Hogan's attitude of late seems to be much worse. I mean, why wont Austin work with him? At least Shawn stepped up and did the job, even though he didn't like it. Just wanted your thoughts on this. 

I agree, Hogan deserves blame in the situation, to be sure. However, Michaels knew Hogan had full creative control over his programs when they went into it.  Michaels know Hogan had turned down the two-match series idea.  Michaels knew he wasn't going over at Summerslam.  Yet, Michaels still agreed to do the match (there was no gun to his head forcing him to do it), then the next night went on Raw and acted like a baby about it.  There was no reason for his promo on Raw other than to feed his ego.  Did Shawn really need to remind us that wrestling wasn't real?  If Michaels was so annoyed over Hogan getting his way, then Michaels could have done what Steve Austin is doing, and just stay away from the match.

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