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PWINSIDER Q&A: MYSTERIO RETURNING TO SMACKDOWN, RVD TO TNA?, FUNAKI AND MORE

Answered on 7/4

How long is Funaki in WWE and is he well liked by management and his peers?

Funaki has been in WWE for about nine years now.  From what I understand, he is very well liked by management and the other workers.  Funaki, who lives in Texas, is seen as a solid hand who does what he is told and always works hard, and the result has been a long career (especially for an undercard performer) with the company. 

I was just wondering, what's some of your favorite wrestling returns. One of mine has to be the return of the Sandman in ECW. 

My five favorites are probably Sandman in ECW in 1999 after leaving WCW, Terry Funk in ECW in the "Funk In A Box" angle where he attacked Cactus Jack, Ric Flair in Mid-Atlantic going after Bob Orton and Dick Slater with a baseball bat after it was announced that his career was over because of them attacking him (and collecting a bounty from Harley Race), Marty Jannetty coming out of the crowd at Monday Night Raw to challenge Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Title and Roddy Piper showing up at Halloween Havoc to confront Hulk Hogan. 

So, since Rey Mysterio is set to return to TV, I have one question regarding his last match. Officially it was an I Quit Match, but wasn't there a stipulation which meant Rey had to leave Smackdown if he lost? And if so, how do they want to explain a potential return to Smackdown?

When Chavo laid out the challenge for the I Quit match, it was definitely said that the loser would have to "quit" Smackdown, with the idea that the two couldn't be on the same brand any longer.  However, it seemed to quickly be forgotten, with Mysterio even appearing on Smackdown the following week to cut a promo about how he didn't "quit on the fans" (followed by Chavo attacking him with a chair to "injure" his leg).  Mysterio then made another appearance on Smackdown prior to Wrestlemania, where he was attacked by Umaga.  So, I would chalk this up as another storyline/stipulation that WWE history is conveniently forgetting. 

I was recently watching the Self-destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD and I noticed something very interesting.  During his last run with the company in 96 they showed a clip of a poster for an event held at the Cow Palace where he was listed as the champion and scheduled to fight Vader.  Were there ever plans to put title on him when he returned?

That poster was actually a fake, doctored for the purposes of the video to emphasize that Warrior was no-showing events.  Why they couldn't just use a real program or ad, I don't know.  There were no plans to put the strap on Warrior during that run, as far as I know.

Now that RVD hasn't resigned with WWE, will he go to TNA? Will Sabu go back to TNA also?

From what Rob Van Dam said in his first post-WWE interview, he seems very content to stay at home for a while and not travel.  That said, TNA would have to be insane to not make an offer to RVD.  If the price is right (and given a TV-only schedule), I could see RVD going to TNA.  As for Sabu, TNA might be convinced to bring him in along with RVD, but from what I understand, TNA really isn't interested in bringing back Sabu again at this time. 

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