PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q & A: RAW OVERRUNS, WWE AND JIM ROSS, WWE ALLOWING MENTIONS OF TNA, TAKER TITLE AND MORE

Okay, so I already set my DVR to end taping RAW 5 minutes after the show ends, just in case they go over a few minutes. Do I now have to adjust it to end 20 minutes after the show ends from now on? If I didn’t have regular cable as well, I would’ve missed a whole 11 minutes! The show went over 16 minutes last night. Is this going to be a regular occurrence?

Yes, Raw certainly did run long (VERY long) on Monday night as the Vince McMahon-Donald Trump angle just seemed to go on and on, like the Energizer Bunny.  I don't know if WWE has plans of running that long again in the near future but all I can tell you is it never hurts to add more time than you need to the end of a show.  I add an extra hour and a half for Raw every week just in case.  I know I won't need it all that time but I used to add an extra hour and found out that I often watched the Law and Order that aired after Raw, so now I make sure I get all of that too.  If you don't care about L and O, I think it's wise to add an extra half hour to Raw, just in case you need it.

Hey guys, I was just skimming though Mick Foley's new book, and came across a chapter were he mentions TNA (in detail). Wonder how that got past Vince.

The story that I keep hearing is that WWE let Foley have free reign on his book because they want to get back to the point where there books sold the way that they did a few years ago.  Since that high water mark, they have seen a drop off in their new releases (I believe at least in part because people would rather watch a DVD release than read a book).  Also, Foley has been a draw for them as an author so it makes sense to let him have some room to go outside the WWE box in his books.  It's a lot different doing it in a book that a small percentage of your audience will read than doing it to the masses, and WWE is OK with that.

What do you know concerning WWE Announcing. Is Michael Cole being groomed to take over from JR on Raw? Is JR's job on Raw secure for the time being? Do you know if he is retiring anytime soon or whether WWE is going to shaft him again? Recent broadcasts have lead me to assume, and others I'm sure, that JR and the King can still go. 

All I know for sure is this.  WWE has tried a few times to remove Jim Ross from Raw, only to have to bring him back when they haven't been able to replace him with someone who makes the boss happy.  But, Ross only signed a one year deal when he came back so all we know for sure is that he will be with the company through October or so.  This is just my gut feeling but I think JR has gotten to a point in his life with his restaurant, his BBQ sauce and his move back to his native Oklahoma where he will only keep doing Raw if he gets treated with respect.  By that I mean that I don't think he will let WWE creative make him the butt of their jokes (literally in one case) any more and he will stay on with them on his terms.

But again, it's no secret that Vince and Stephanie McMahon have been trying to find someone "younger and hipper" to replace JR with for years.  I think it's a huge mistake because he is the best in the business, bar none.  With that said, if they could find a pretty boy that they like, I could definitely see WWE moving Cole over to Raw and putting the new guy on Smackdown.

A question that goes back a little. Back in the days when you were at 1wrestling.com, there were a couple of articles from a wrestler at the time working for WWE. He was quite critical of the product and spoke a little about what was happening backstage. I can't recall the name he went by when he wrote the articles but I do recall him suddenly stopping. Did he get caught? Are you able reveal who it was? Any info you could shed on this would be very appreciated. 

They were written by someone who called himself "Willie The Worker".  We never said he was a WWE wrestler.  We said that he SAID he was and we couldn't verify whether it was true or not, and we made that clear.  Frankly, I never thought he was WWE worker but rather someone who may have known someone in the company, or just read our site a lot and was up to date on the news.

We ran the column, with that disclaimer, because everything he wrote in his first column were things that workers were saying to me at the time and it made a good point about the feeling in WWE at the time, which I was hearing from my own sources.

He/she wrote a few columns and the first couple were good. Then he went into psycho mode and that was it for him.  He/she became very much a diva and frankly, he/she wasn't worth the effort because after the first two columns, he/she really didn't have anything else to say. 

If Taker wins the belt at Mania how long and who do you think will beat him? Do you see him having the belt for a while or just a couple of months.

First off, Taker better win the belt.  I don't want to see his streak end to someone of Batista's caliber and I don't want him to keep it alive via a DQ.  Nothing against Batista but Taker's streak and legacy are more important than Batista's title run.  So, if he wins, I think he should at least hold the title through SummerSlam.  I know he doesn't want to work a full time schedule, so you would have to take that into account.  I don't want to see a one month run either, so I could see him holding it for a few months before losing it.  Right now, the best choice to take the strap for me would be Ken Kennedy.  He has a lot of upside and it would be a fresh guy at the top.

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 titled:

PWINSIDERXTRA Q & A: LAWLER IN THE HALL, RAW VS. SMACKDOWN, RESPECTING BRUNO, WHERE'S TRINITY,  AND MORE

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 a month 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.com, the questions from PWInsiderXtra.com will be archived in our weekly Elite newsletter.

 

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