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PWINSIDER Q&A: TNA ON WWE'S WRESTLEMANIA IN ORLANDO RADAR?, ROH DROPPING THE BALL IN DETROIT?, BROCK LESNAR IN ECW & MORE

In your opinion, is Ring of Honor dropping the ball with their upcoming Wrestlemania weekend doubleshot?  This is a show where they have the opportunity to expose their product to many new fans, yet they're ignoring opportunities left and right.  1 - Why isn't their world champ on the card?  New fans will want to see the champion.  2 - why are they not getting some more of their ROH alumni that are now in TNA?  TNA is getting to be a major name now, and they're more likely to bring fans in on established TNA names, then hook them with ROH's great wrestling.  It's great that they have Bruno Sammartino, but let's be honest... today's young fan doesn't know who Bruno is nor (sadly) do they care.  3 - why are they not advertising?  Outside of their website and a couple of others, I've seen NO promotion at all from ROH.  I've asked on their message board before about how I can help promote ROH in my area, and I get no response.   I realize that these factors will not stop current fans from attending, but if ROH wants to draw new fans they have to start changing how they do business, especially with these showcase events.  I know last year ROH dropped at least one city from their touring, and many of us in Michigan are fearing that this might be ROH's last appearance here as well.  I can't help but think that if ROH made the effort to advertise their shows and work with the fans that want to help, things could be different.

I don't think they are dropping the ball at all in terms of exposing new fans to their product.  My personal feeling is that any fan that cares enough about professional wrestling to travel for Wrestlemania is at least aware of the existence of Ring of Honor as a promotion.  Whether that means they want to spend money or not is another thing.  There are millions of fans that watch WWE on television but never order PPVs.  The same is true of fans that hear of ROH or even TNA and follow it somewhat, but won't order PPV or DVDs.  The last I heard, the advances for the Michigan shows next weekend were in the 900 and 800 range each, so the shows are doing well.  I'd expect each night to top 1,000 fans and that's hardly a failure in today's market.  Even if the shows just break even, ROH will move a ton of DVDs, especially if the shows have strong word of mouth and reviews after the fact.

As far as Morishima, in my opinion, it's not hurting the company to not have him on a show that features seven Japanese talents from Dragon Gate, but I could be wrong.  You can't have every talent on every show and he's got Japanese commitments as well, plus he's appearing at every other April event for the company.

As far as using TNA talent, you say it's a way to hook fans with the wrestling, but I don't believe for a second that if AJ Styles, Abyss, and Samoa Joe were all on those Michigan shows, the crowd size would rise exponentially.  Beyond that, it's obvious that ROH is trying less and less to focus on talents contractually obligated to TNA and cultivate their own in-house crop of talent, because as TNA's touring schedule grows, those talents won't be available for Ring of Honor.

I don't know what ROH's local advertising is like for Michigan, but if you are interested in helping the company, my advice is to contact them directly via email at ROHHELP@aol.com, not post it on their message board.  

A friend and I were talking about Brock Lesnar and his ever talked about return to WWE. I know one of the factors for him leaving was the travel. My question is do you think if the WWE offered him a spot on ECW that he would take it? After all they only have the one hour of TV and they aren't doing any real house shows. So Travel wouldn't be like it was for him during his time on Raw or Smackdown.

No, he wouldn't, in my opinion.  The ECW house shows are the same as the Smackdown house shows at this point.  ECW has a live weekly TV series.  ECW is in Mexico as I type this and will be doing several weeks overseas in April.  The travel issue would be no different at all for Lesnar and I don't think ECW would be a viable reason for him to returm to WWE.  

I have always been curious to know how Vince refers to HHH in private? Surely he doesn't call him Hunter?

Actually, it's fairly common in the wrestling business to call performers by their stage name, even in private.  I wouldn't be shocked to see Hunter called by that name by his father-in-law, since at this point, it's probably a nickname among his friends.

What ever happened to the Backseat Boys and the SAT?

Both work regularly for Tod Gordon's Pro Wrestling Unplugged in Philadelphia, which you can find information on at their official website www.ProWrestlingUnplugged.com.

Do you think that WWE's decision to hold WrestleMania 24 in Orlando, Florida could be some sort of jab at TNA? After all, doesn't TNA hold most their pay per views and Impact tapings in Orlando? Do you think that maybe a small part of WWE deciding to hold their biggest pay per view in their "territory" so to speak can be to say: "We're bigger and better than you, here we come into your turf and blow your tiny show away with our massive 'granddaddy of them all'!"

This may sound like an insult to TNA, but it's not meant to be.  I doubt TNA came into any thought process at all during the process.  Orlando's Mayor came to WWE and pitched holding Wrestlemania in Orlando, so this isn't a WWE Invasion of TNA's home base to hurt TNA (although if that does happen, I doubt WWE management will mind) but more of the company seeing this as the first step in cities eventually bidding on bringing Wrestlemania to their community in the future.  WWE has a much grander scheme in mind here, in my opinion.

 

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