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PWINSIDER Q & A: RIC FLAIR'S FINAL MATCH, SANDMAN'S WWE TITLE SHOT, OLD WWF/E TAPES, STEROIDS IN WRESTLING AND MORE

With all the discussions about steroids, why should WWE not push the big guys? After all, as history has it, people tune in to see supernatural big guys. It's what brought them to the dance - so to speak. And, why has everybody with a great physique to be on steroids???

"With all the discussions about steroids, why should WWE not push the big guys?"  Uh, you do realize you just answered your own question, right?  When the media is constantly talking about the problems with steroid use in wrestling, it's not very bright to thumb your nose up and push guys that would seem to be unnaturally large, given them more fodder for their arguments.  Yes, some people did tune in to see the freaks in the past, and probably still do today (though I have no idea why), but the Attitude era, which grossed huge amounts of money, was not built on needles.  There are plenty of fans that tune in to WWE to see wrestling, as shocking as that may be to the McMahons.  If creative gives them quality storylines, size is secondary and the product will sell itself.  

No one ever said everyone with a great physique is on something.  But, only a fool would look at every great, large physique in the business and think that they are built naturally.

Do you think that old WWF VHS will become more valuable as time goes on? WWE is re-releasing a lot of its old footage on DVD, but some fans may want to see the programming without a bunch of blurs, so the VHS may become sought after. What are your thoughts? I was wondering if I was sitting on a potential goldmine.

Valuable?  It all depends on who you can find to buy them.  Aside from the fact that the VCR is quickly becoming a dinosaur in the digital world, the problem is that the people that own those tapes can only sell their respective copies.  Most people only own one so it's not like there is a ton of money to be made.  If you made dupes and sold them, you could be arrested since that is copyright infringement.  Also, you can't sell PPVs that you taped yourself since that too is illegal.  Basically, you can only sell commercial releases that you bought from a store or retailer/wholesaler and that is a pretty limited bit of product.  So, you can sell your own personal copies, and maybe there would be an audience.  But me personally, I will take a DVD (even digitized) over a videotape any day.

Do you think Sandman should have been in the WWE Championship match with John Cena at Vengeance? He had been traded in the supplemental draft so was on Raw by Sunday and he is a former ECW Champion which is how Bobby Lashley got in the match. His appearance would have been surprising as no one would have suspected it.

Actually, I did think that he should have been added to the match.  The fact that he wasn't pointed out that either creative didn't care about the stips they set up where all former champs were eligible for the match or that they just don't care what happened in the old ECW, unless they are trying to sell DVDs.  They could always say that they were talking about "guys on the roster the time that the match was made" I guess but I still would have liked to have seen Sandman work that bout because as you mention, he was a multi-time former ECW champ.

Ric Flair final match at Wrestlemania. I would love to see a Kennedy/ Flair feud. Kennedy bragging about pinning 7 world champions, it simply makes sense, but Kennedy is a bad choice for the Wrestlemania match. So what do you think of Flair/ Undertaker? Two arguments. Undertaker does the job breaking the streak to give Ric Flair a great ending or loser leaves wrestling, Undertaker wins and Flair is forced into retirement. The other suggestion would be Triple H.

I would actually like to see Flair's last match against someone from his past.  He will be almost 60 at the time so I don't want to see him wrestling a younger guy because he should lose in that scenario and I want to see him win his last bout.  Instead, I would go old school and like to see him wrestle Ricky Steamboat one last time.  If he can't wrestle Steamboat, one more dance with Dusty Rhodes would be pretty cool as well.

In a recent Q&A, putting belts on smaller wrestlers, and deemphasizing the man mountains was discussed, to help negate the fallout from the Benoit situation, a'la pushing Bret Hart following the McMahon- steroid legal problems in the 90's. My question: I'm all for it, being a fan of fast paced technical wrestling, but how small do we need to go, to accomplish this? It's pretty clear that many of the "smaller" guys have a history of steroid use as well. Do you actually think this will accomplish anything, as far as positive spin or good PR is concerned.

To answer your last question first, at this point it shouldn't be about PR.  As jaded and unconcerned with the facts as the media is where wrestling is concerned, WWE shouldn't worry about appeasing them.  The reason to change the culture of the company is to help protect the workers from possibly doing stupid things and also to establish company policy showing that in light of the Benoit tragedy the company took steps to make their Wellness policy as effective as possible.  The reason the company should do it is that if the Federal government ever decides to look into their business practices, they can show that they have been proactive and taken steps to address some of the issues that came to light.

As for how small do you go, I am not saying push cruiserweights as champions.  What I am saying is this.  If you look at a guy and say, "Oh, he's on the gas", there's a pretty good chance you are right.  If you look at a guy and you aren't sure, that would be a step in the right direction.  Basically, I am saying is to get the guys who may as well be wearing shirts that advertise usage down to a more reasonable look.  Guys can get good bodies in the gym and by eating well.  Some bodies, however, can only happen with growth drugs and supplements.

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