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PWINSIDER Q&A: TNA, STEVE AUSTIN ON RAW, MICKIE JAMES VS. BETH PHOENIX AND MORE

Answered on 11/6

I've been watching TNA for a while now and I'm trying to like it but I'm finding it hard. I like it more since they have stopped bashing the WWE (which I always find a bit insulting since I've been a WWE fan all my life) but I still have a hard time following what's going on as it seems there isn't much consistency. Maybe that's just because I never see the PPVs. I have two questions about TNA. 

1) Does it bother anyone else that TNA books their main event guys into so many comedy skits through out the show? I like comedy in wrestling but I don't think the champion should be acting like a joke. 

I think the problem isn't so much that TNA constantly books Kurt Angle in comedy skits, but that they seem to flip a switch, and suddenly he's a badass wrestler again.  Sometimes in the span of a half hour, Angle goes from being angry and mad, to being goofy and silly, then serious again.  I think that inconsistency in his character really hurts the program at times. I'd rather they leave the comedy to Eric Young, and let Angle be serious, at least while he is the champion.

2) Is it possible that the mystery partner for Sting is "The Big Show" Paul Wight and not Booker T?

Well, Paul Wight does fit the description of having held titles in WWE and WCW, and has a history with Kurt Angle.  So, I guess you could say it is "possible", but I would say it is highly unlikely. 

After watching Stone Cold on RAW, I have to ask this. Is it just me or is the Stone Cold we are getting now nothing even close to the Stone Cold of old? Even his promo with Santino lacked any passion or intensity. When he went for the hose in the beer truck, he was slow and plodding and didn't have the Stone Cold attitude I remember from the first time I saw him do the beer truck thing. Do you think his current appearances are hurting the legend of Stone Cold from a character stand point?

Well, Austin is getting older, and he also probably realized (like most of us) that his segment was rather predictable.  It is sort of like watching a rerun of a television show.  Sure, it is still entertaining, but it isn't the "surprise" it was the first time you saw it.  I don't think it really hurts Austin's legend, but it doesn't add to it either. 

With the injury to Candice and the lack of any real wrestler to challenge Beth, what logic (HA, logic and WWE) is their in putting Mickie, (who has an amazing program with Beth on the Indy scene) who is a very talented wrestler, in a program with Cade and Murdoch? Who else do they have to challenge Phoenix?

Just because Mickie is in the storyline with Cade & Murdoch, that doesn't exclude her from the Women's Title picture.  I think we will see Mickie emerge as the challenger to Phoenix soon enough. 

TNA Impact! is now 2 hours but their rating is still just around a 1.0. Do you think they improved any (besides longer matches)?

I think being able to present longer matches has been an improvement, and also the fact that they now have time to feature more storylines on the shows.  That said, TNA still squeezes too many wrestlers into segments, cuts away from things far too quickly and spends too much time on the "Kurt, Kevin & Karen Show" segments.  It's still very much a "work in progress" in my opinion. 

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