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PWINSIDER Q&A: UNDERTAKER VS. EVOLUTION AT WRESTLEMANIA, WHY ISN'T SAMOA JOE THE TNA WORLD CHAMPION AND MORE

Answered on 10/19

With Booker T now officially out of the WWE, what superstars are still left that came over in the WCW buyout? Torrie Wilson, Ric Flair… 

When WWF purchased WCW, they picked up 24 wrestlers: Lance Storm, Bill DeMott, Mike Awesome, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Shawn Stasiak, Shane Helms, Johnny The Bull, The Wall, Shannon Moore, Mike Sanders, Mark Jindrak, Elix Skipper, Alan Funk, Sean O'Haire, Chuck Palumbo, Jamie Noble, Lash LeRoux, Kaz Hayashi, Jimmy Yang, Stacy Keibler, Reno, Kid Romeo, Jason Jett and Evan Karagias.  They later signed Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Buff Bagwell, Kanyon, Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson. 

Of that group of 30 wrestlers, only Chavo Guerrero Jr., Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Chuck Palumbo, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Yang and Torrie Wilson are still with the company.  Of those seven, only Guerrero and Helms have been with the company without interruption, as the others have all left and returned since coming to the company following the WWF purchase (in the case of Wilson, she was released and brought back almost instantly).

Others, like Ric Flair, Scott Steiner, Bill Goldberg and Rey Mysterio, didn't come until much later (and until their WCW contracts with Time Warner had expired).

Samoa Joe has been in TNA for a long time. He has been X-Division Champion 2 times and World Tag Team Champion. He has the fan support and has always been a top wrestler in TNA. So why hasn't TNA made Samoa Joe TNA World Heavyweight Champion?? Is there some sort of heat between him and management. I don't understand this at all. Can you shed any light on this subject?

I wish I knew, as there have been at least three occasions (following the three way feud with AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels, following the Scott Steiner feud, and this past week following the Christian Cage match) where it seemed very obvious that Joe should be put into a program resulting in him winning the TNA World Title.  However, TNA has never pulled the trigger on it, instead teasing us with brief periods of Joe challenging for the title, only to be moved away from it. I have not heard of any issues between Joe and management, so it seems to simply be a case of TNA's creative team not wanting to put the title on one of their most popular stars. 

My question is about Paul Burchill. I remember that his pirate gimmick was starting to get over with the crowd and then pretty much creative killed his gimmick when Mark Henry laid him out. Why would the WWE decide to kill a character that seemed to be getting over with the crowd? Did the WWE feel Burchill needed more training on either his promos or ring work? Also what are the WWE's plans with Burchill once he returns the the WWE roster? Would he fit in better on RAW or SMACKDOWN in your opinion?

I agree that he was starting to get over, and it was rather abrupt when they took him off television.  From what I understand, WWE felt he needed "more seasoning", which is why he was put back in developmental.  Now, the plan is for him to join Dave Taylor and Drew McIntyre as a new stable on Smackdown.  I think Smackdown is a great place for him, since he is far more likely to get television time than on Raw. 

Before No Mercy there was a poll on WWE.com asking fans who they wanted to win the WWE Title. I believe the entire Raw roster was on the list. Val Venis somehow managed to have something like 47% of the votes. Surprisingly, I didn't see anyone mention this or even make a note out of it. Do you think this is why he is getting some TV time now (I wouldn't exactly call it a push losing to Santino every week)?

I don't know if the poll is the reason, or just that they needed a "good hand" to have a mini-feud with Santino while waiting for the inevitable day that Steve Austin gives him a stunner.  Despite his mostly being relegated to Heat, Val is well liked by WWE management as a strong worker that always puts in a good effort in the ring. 

I was reading on a wrestling news site where they said that "Undertaker 15-0" would be airing and this question came to my mind. Undertaker has beaten all of the former Evolution members at Wrestlemania but how would you mark them on a list 1-4.(1 being the best and 4 being last).

If you mean ranking the Evolution members, then I would rank them as follows: Ric Flair, Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton.  If you meant to rank the Undertaker matches at Wrestlemania with them, I would rank it as follows:

1. Undertaker vs. Triple H (WM 17).
2. Undertaker vs. Ric Flair (WM 18).
3. Undertaker vs. Batista (WM 23).
4. Undertaker vs. Randy Orton (WM 21).

I haven't watched the Flair-Taker match in a while, so I might flip-flop it with the Batista match, but I feel the Triple H-Undertaker match was arguably Undertaker's best Wrestlemania match ever. 

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