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PWINSIDER Q & A: FAKE KANE, DRUGS-SCANDALS-CONGRESS, A RETURN TO THE ATTITUDE ERA, AAA AND MORE

What happened with the "Fake Kane" angle? As I recall, he went over on PPV, but then was shown the door the following night on Raw. Was there some backstage reason for this change of course, or just creative changing their minds?

Actually, they weren't happy with the work of Drew Hankinson, the man who played the character, so they dumped the angle.  There was nothing more to it than that.

What do you see as the ultimate outcome of the Chris Benoit story, the Signature Pharmacy scandal, and the upcoming Congressional hearings on the WWE’s ability to do business. Where do you see them as an entertainment product in two years? Do you ever see them as a phoenix rising from the ashes to the previous heights of the Attitude era? Do you envision Vince McMahon ever humbled by these events?

Wow, that is a lot of questions.  Let's hit them in order.

1) The short term effect will be that WWE will be more serious than they ever have been where growth enhancers are concerned.  With the media and Congress keeping their eyes on WWE, there is really very little option for the company right now where those issues are concerned.  They will have to be diligent about any illegal drug use that they uncover and will have to scrutinize the legitimacy of any prescription that is presented to them by their talents.  Where that will take the company long-term, I can't say for certain but at this point, I don't see them flying under Congress or the media's radar for quite some time.  The only real restriction I see it putting on WWE business will be in relation to the size of the wrestlers that WWE can or can't use.  Obviously, at this point they would be insane to push guys whose physiques scream they aren't natural.

2) This is a hard question to answer as the wrestling business seems to change by the day anymore.  I don't see their place in the entertainment genre being much different than it is now, except for the fact that they won't be able to use guys who look like they got their body out of a bottle and/or from a needle.  I see them as filling the same role that they do today.  Now, whether they will have the same sized audience that they do now is just too hard to say at this time.

3) This completely and totally depends on whether they address the glaring deficiencies of both the process and the actual work that is produced in the creative end of the company.  If they leave things as is, with the same people in charge doing the same job in the same manner that they are doing today, I don't see much chance for them to ever hit the heights that they did years ago.  Stephanie McMahon-Levesque has been in charge of creative now for over six years and we have seen a continual decline in the ratings.  While we have to be fair and say that she doesn't have the perfect storm of great top talent that the company had in the late 1990s, it seems pretty obvious to me that she is nowhere near as capable of booking a consistently entertaining product as her predecessors were.  So, I don't see much hope for change as long as she is in charge. 

4) I know Vince is taking the events seriously, goofy rebellious comments about Congress on Raw notwithstanding.  But, I don't think it will humble him in any way.  He has had some serious failures in the past, such as the XFL and WBF, and they haven't knocked any of the defiant cockiness out of him so I don't think this situation will either.

What is your thought on the AAA Mexican promotion and do you think someone like TNA might use more of them like El Mesias (Judas Mesias) and what are your thoughts on the Hell Brothers? I watch and thoroughly enjoy the AAA Lucha Libre show on Galavision each Saturday. Although I don't speak Spanish, I still find it very entertaining (better the WWE).

Due to the fact that I don't get Galavision on my cable, I haven't watched AAA in a long time.  However, back when I had a satellite dish years ago, I loved the product since they did such a great job of blending lucha with more realistic styles of wrestling.  The flying also added a lot of excitement to the shows.  All together, it made for a fun product to watch.  The AAA connection was also huge to ECW back in the mid-nineties and I could see it being beneficial to TNA, IF they use the talents properly.

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