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PWINSIDER Q & A: VINCE AND HHH, THE DEATH OF WCW, RUSSO IN THE WWF, WHO IS TO BLAME FOR HUGE PHYSIQUES AND MORE

I know a lot of people blame Vince for the steroid use in the WWE but could part of the blame for steroid use in the WWE be blamed on the audience as well? A lot of the the big guys in the WWE seem to get over a lot easier then the more talented smaller guys, for example the kids go crazy for Batista yet they guy doesn't really have great mic skills and his matches aren't classics (maybe apart from the Taker feud), could a reason for steroid use in the WWE be that there's a mentality that you need to look strong and muscled to help get over with the fans? I know you could state that Vince likes big guys but in his defense ( and I'm not a fan of Vince or creative) but could he just say that he likes using big guys because he's giving the audience what they want, if the likes of Batista and Kane weren't as popular as they were would he be so keen to use a lot of big guys. What are your thoughts?

OK, to answer your first question, yes there are a lot of wrestling fans that pop like zits for large, freakish physiques.  They see the guys as comic book characters that have come to life, I guess, and don't care about what the guys have to do to gain that kind of size.  But, the main reason that the fans pop for them is because Vince took his company national in the 80s promoting the large, freakish bodies.  So yes, it may be what some people want but they only know that they want it because Vince gave it to them to begin with.  It's kind of like the guy who never took drugs and then when someone gave them to him, he realized he liked them and wanted more and more of them.  Vince put those bodies out there and people reacted to them.  Now, if he hadn't have done it someone else would have but still, he did it.

Three part question. Is Vince being tested? Do you really think that if HHH or Vince McMahon tested positive for anything they would be suspended? Is it correct to assume that if someone huge could pass a test that HGH isn't detectable on it?

Three part answer.  I have no idea but as an "active performer" he should be.  The testing procedure says that they would.  Whether they would be, well let's just say if one of them were to ever be suspended I would definitely believe it then.  As for the third answer, HGH is not a testable substance right now (though organizations are working on tests to make it so).  Anyone taking it could pass a test at this time.

Hey, it's been bugging me for years because I was a mark for WCW (despite its lameness, I really liked the nWo angle). But what is (are) the reason(s) for Vince McMahon pulling the plug on the new WCW project? I read somewhere because TNN at the time couldn't find a timeslot in their network, but they debuted Excess around the Invasion angle. So what gives? Then the most famous and most reliable answer is due to the bad response from fans for Bagwell vs. Booker T. But do you think that if Vince gave a complete makeover and new direction for WCW, they could turn over the brand's damaged reputation? They did the same thing for ECW, although in this case, they turned it from positive to negative.

A lot of people were marks for WCW during the nWo (at least in the beginning) because it was a good product then.  It was later that it became lame.  When Vince bought WCW, it was after other potential buyers were told by Time Warner that TNT and TBS would no longer air wrestling.  No other other network wanted to air it either (ECW had the same problem).  That made the company impossible to make money with and it led to it being sold to WWE for pennies on the dollar.  Vince never had any intention on running WCW as its own entity.  He wanted to make it a sub faction of WWE and then his ego took over and quickly had his WWE talent squash his WCW talent and the game was over.  That is all there is to it.

When WWF was at its highest point in the Attitude era, Vince Russo continues until today to credit himself for the company's prosperity. It is quite fair to say that he couldn't live up to his reputation once he left WWF and went to WCW. But then again, WWE is unable to retain their fanbase after Attitude era. Is it safe to say that the two Vinces work best together? Why did McMahon demote Russo to a mere consultant in the latter's second run? 

In my opinion, WWE did its best work after Russo left and went to WCW.  They were on the way up when Russo was in the WWF but they actually peaked when Chris Kreski was running the creative team after Russo left.  After Kreski left, Stephanie McMahon took over the position and I think the fact that she and her father think so much alike, along with the fact that Kreski was better at telling stories, is the reason WWE has lost so much of their fan base.  There is too much of the same lines of thinking in WWE now and it misses having a differing voice in the creative process.  As for Russo, the reason he was quickly gone was at his first creative meeting in Stamford, people who were told me that Russo's ideas were so off the wall that Vince and Steph immediately knew he would not work out and it was over right then and there.

I recently watched an old New Japan press conference that WWF Champion Hulk Hogan gave before his match with the Great Muta in 1993. In this press conference, Hogan states that the WWF belt is "just a toy...it's like an ornament on a Christmas tree", and that "the belt that I want is the one that Muta has" (IWGP). I was wondering: are Hogan's comments about the WWF belt something that Vince would've have tolerated? Was this part of the traditional goodwill gestures between Japanese and American promotions, or did Hogan take unsanctioned liberties in order to get himself over with Japanese fans?

That was just Hogan being Hogan.  He had left the WWF that year so he was just saying whatever he could to get the match with Muta over.  No, Vince would not let someone disparage his title.

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