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PWINSIDER Q&A: WHAT IS TNA DOING?, SABU BANNED, TRIPLE H VS. UNDERTAKER AND MORE

Answered on 8/18

Let's see if I have this right.  TNA spends a ton of money on Pacman Jones, which brings them NO ratings improvement.   They leave home and/or release a bunch of young talent to save money.  They let Jerry Lynn just walk away. Yet, they sign Test and now TNA has money to sign Karen Angle to a deal?  WTF?  Don't get me wrong, she's an attractive woman, but where the hell are TNA's priorities when they are letting young talent walk away while signing old WWF/WCW stars, wrestler's wives and football players that aren't allowed to touch anyone? 

Good question.  I wish I could answer it, but I doubt even Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter could answer it.  Well, at least in a way that anyone would believe. 

Why is it when ECW debuted on TNN they played up that Sabu was "banned" from television?  I know he wasn't hurt, because I remember watching him at live ECW shows then.  I think Sabu on TV would have been great for them, why make the decision to not feature him? 

I never liked that decision either, but in a way, I understood it. The idea was to push Mike Awesome, Rob Van Dam and others on TV, while using the "Sabu is banned" storyline as a way to create an air of mystery around Sabu, playing off the idea that new ECW viewers would be curious about him (and thus order PPV events or go to shows to see him). However, Sabu then had his falling out with Heyman and his failed attempt to go to WCW, which led to the end of his ECW run. 

Say Triple H and Undertaker get into a backstage fight, who does Vince keep and who gets fired?

Even if HHH and the Undertaker had a massive fight, as long as it had nothing to do with Vince himself, he wouldn't fire either of them. Undertaker is the most successful gimmick character WWE ever created, and he has been one of the biggest merchandise sellers in the history of wrestling.  Triple H is also a top star, and obviously is also a member of his family now. Vince would probably just keep the two apart (which would be pretty easy, since they are on separate brands anyway). Also, Triple H is smart enough to know that having Undertaker around is good for business, even if he hated him.  I would also like to think that the two are mature enough that even if they disagreed on something, they wouldn't get into a fight backstage.

Why has WWE never shown interest in Norman Smiley and Vampiro? I figured they would end up in WWE when WCW was sold. 

When you look at that period in history, WWF was loaded with talent, and then WCW and ECW closed at the same time, flooding the marketplace with talent. Obviously, not everyone was going to get a WWF deal, and the result was some talented (and a lot of not-so-talented) wrestlers being left without a shot.  As for Vampiro, he's gone back to being a star in Mexico, while Smiley has worked on occasion for TNA. 

I seem to remember that Christian won the then Light Heavyweight Title from Taka Michinoku in his debut match. Was that his first match?

It was actually only Christian's second WWF match ever, and his first televised match. Christian wrestled in a try-out match against Edge at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. He then went to a training camp, wrestling on those shows (which weren't WWF events), and then in September began appearing as part of the Brood, with his first match being the Judgment Day PPV on October 18, 1998 where be beat TAKA Michinoku for the belt.

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