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PWINSIDER Q & A: WORKING (AND WORKING) ON WWE.COM ROCK'S RETURN, TRIPLE H CHAMP, RODDY PIPER'S MOUTH, THE ROCKY WRESTLING MOVIE AND MORE

On the new DVD of Rocky, the director, John Avildsen commented that he didn't want to read the script because he hated boxing but he was charmed by the Rocky character and Stallone commented further that the story was about Rocky's battle for self-respect and the fight was just the payoff at the end of the movie. It wasn't really about boxing. Do you think if done the right way, and I mean the polar opposite of that godawful Ready to Rumble movie portraying it emotionally with smart characters, someone could make that same kind of movie about wrestling? I understood Stallone tried with Paradise Alley but failed. The only good wrestling movies have been documentaries but I really think somewhere out there there is a good fictional wrestling movie waiting to be made.

Like almost any movie, it all starts with the script.  With strong writing, I think a good movie could be done focusing around a wrestler but I don't know if the public would ever get behind it due to the stigma that the wrestling business has with non-fans.  In order for it to have any chance of working the actual in-ring aspect of it would have to be secondary.  It would have to focus on the character or characters and be sold on struggles, relationships ... anything but the wrestling business.  Unlike Rocky, which told the story of an everyday pug who got a shot at winning the title, I don't see the movie-going public getting excited about a guy winning a title that is given to him by a promoter in a business they see as "fake".  So, the story would have to either be about relationships or a person overcoming huge odds to reach a position of prominence in the profession.  It would have to suck the people in.  Can it happen?  Like I said, it would take really good writing.

Roddy Piper has always been my total hero and I was heartbroken by his HBO appearance and relieved when he was put in the HOF two years ago. However, he had said online that much of what he'd said had been taken out of context, to which I thought, "Fair enough, as it's not like the media never did anything like that before." But what do you guys think of that whole mess?

I know that the media does do that at times but I also know that more often a person says something that they wish that they hadn't after the fact and then they backpedal and blame the media.  I remember when Charles Barkley said he was misquoted ..... in his own autobiography!  The fact is, people say dumb or politically incorrect things sometimes and then wish they hadn't.  I think in the case of Piper, he said what he said and then after the fact wished that he hadn't.  I think that people like Vince McMahon know him and how he is and don't stay mad at him for too long because there's a lot to like about the guy.

My question concerns the WWECW website's commentary section. Every once in a while I cruise over there to see what Tazz (up until recently) and Dreamer are ranting about. My question is, how much of what is said and goes on, like Dreamer's section being suspended, is true. On a different note, I was looking at my old ECW shirts today and almost put one on, but I don't want people to think I'm into the new one. Sad huh? ECW shirts used to be cool. Still sport my Franchise shirt though.

Come on, it's WWE.com!  The work to shoot factor there is probably at least at least 70 to 25%!  For example, with Dreamer, he was going on vacation so they ran the angle on the site where he was suspended.  When he came back from vacation, the column did too.  As for the ECW shirts, I hear ya, I really do.  Anyone who remembers the original in its prime feels the same way that you do.

Do yo u think the Rock will ever return? And will Triple H ever be champion again? 

I assume you mean will the Rock return to wrestling.  I don't see any chance of that happening.  He is rich and makes five million a pop to do movies.  He did his time in wrestling and was an all time great, but he has moved on to greener pastures.  There is absolutely nothing, other than money, left for him in the wrestling business.  He took it as far as he could with everything else.  So, there is no reason to come back, especially as he is getting older.  As for Triple H, yes I see at least one more run with the title in his future.

With all the talks of RVD possibly leaving WWE, and also possibly going to TNA or somewhere else inevitably, are there any rumblings about Bill Alfonso reuniting with him? I don't know the reasoning of why WWE never pulled him in for the manager role, but now would be a good time to bring him back. Would Bill be free to do that, or is he doing other things? Sabu would be a good fit with him now too.

Alfonso would certainly be free to do it if someone wanted him to do.  WWE didn't, for a few reasons.  One, they don't really push managers.  Two, they didn't have any intention of making the new ECW anything like the old one.  But more importantly, they had already established RVD as a WWE star so they weren't going back to the past with Alfonso.  Honestly, I don't see TNA doing it either. Fonzie and RVD worked as a team, but that was a long time ago.

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