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PWINSIDER Q & A: ANGLE-AUSTIN, DID MATT HARDY MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION, THE GREATNESS OF GORILLA, WWE LOSING THEIR TV DEALS AND MORE

I remember when Kurt Angle was feuding with Stone Cold and Austin's heel turn and during the feud Angle was rehashing a lot of old Stone Cold bits (Coming out in the milk truck and spraying the ring with milk: Taking SC out to a bridge and pushing him in a kiddy pool). Was there and specific reason for the copycat act or was this just a case or creative not being very creative?

The reason was to play off of Austin's character in the feud.  They thought they were being creative and it would draw money.

I was recently looking through youtube, and came across a clip of when Matt Hardy returned to Raw after he was fired. It got me to thinking. Back when he returned, many people who commented on the subject on various websites, website writers and message boards fans, seemed to think he could have had a big impact both for himself, and on the biz if he had taken his very vocal following to TNA. As we all know, he instead went back to WWE. Two years later, the one time Dudley Boyz, Christian (Cage), Sting, and Kurt Angle among others, who were bigger stars than Hardy (at the time) have been signed, and to date none of them are bigger stars then they were in WWE, or have had a huge impact on ratings, or increased their profile. So with that being said, it seems to me going to TNA would have done him no favors, other than the initial reaction of playing out the rebel storyline. Is it now safe to say given TNA’s current climate, and his current position on Smackdown, that Matt Hardy made the right decision?

The way I remember it, people thought he should have gone to TNA because he was treated really badly by WWE when he was let go.  He had been very vocal against the company on his website against them, which added to the way people felt since they took up his cause and supported him.  So, when he went back to WWE, people felt they were worked by him.

I don't think most sane people thought he would drive TNA's ratings up.  Instead, they felt he would work a lighter schedule, make good money and not be subjected to given a raw deal by WWE creative again, which of course he had railed about on his website.  Shortly after he returned to WWE, he was indeed buried.  Now, he is getting more of a push so at this point, he's in a better place than he would be in TNA, but at the time and for a good period of time thereafter, going back to WWE wasn't the right move to make from my perspective.  I think that it is still too soon to say whether he made the right call overall or not but it's pretty obvious that going back to WWE was important to him.

About ten years ago, the wrestlers that were generally considered to be the best in ring wrestlers, were guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Shawn Michaels. I was curious to know who each of you think are among the best in ring wrestlers today. 

Right now, I would have to say the best technician around today is Bryan Danielson.  He's just amazing.  He won our technician of the year for 2006 for his work in Ring Of Honor (www.rohwrestling.com) and he absolutely deserved it.  Some other guys I really like are Nigel McGuinness and AJ Styles.

Many observers see late Gorilla Monsoon as a great commentator and maybe the best in that category. I agree in part, but found it negative, that he never sold the bad guys as a commentator. Although he was a wrestler before becoming a commentator, he never seemed to be feared while doing interviews or a wrestler threatens him. Your thoughts please!

It was a different time then, for one thing.  He was a pure good guy so like John Wayne, he stood up to evil.  For another thing, he was huge!  It wasn't like he was Jim Ross or Mike Tenay.  He was a monster and wouldn't be afraid of big guys giving him crap.  That was part of what made him great in my opinion.

Okay, hypothetical situation here. So let's say the Benoit/Congress situations really hurt the WWE after a while. Low ratings, poor live attendance, poor merchandise sales, etc. Do you ever see USA, CW or Sci Fi suddenly deciding that they're okay without wrestling on their networks? And if so, what do you think Vince's options would be?

Nothing usually happens that suddenly in the TV business.  If ratings drop, then shows become vulnerable.  There has been talk for years that CW wanted to rid itself of being a wrestling network but they haven't been able to develop enough shows to replace Smackdown, so it stays because it does dependable ratings.  If CW ever cut it, it would have to go to cable because none of the other networks would touch it.  Maybe USA would grab it but I have my doubts that they want two nights of wrestling since that's when they would get branded a wrestling network.  I could definitely see another NBC network, like Sci Fi, picking it up since it does a solid number.

In the case of USA, they fiercely want to be, at least, the highest rated "ad supported" cable network on TV.  As long as Raw does a good number, they will keep renewing its contract.  I don't see much fear of them letting WWE go presently.  If they did, Spike or FX are the only real options (and by that I means options that will pay solid money) out there for Raw.

ECW on Sci Fi is purely a ratings deal.  If it performs, it will be renewed.  If not, it's in trouble.

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