PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q & A: WHY ECW INSTEAD OF WCW, SUNNY BACK TO WWE, MATT HARDY'S FATEFUL PROMO, ANGLE LEAVING WWE AND MORE

I just watched the 15th Anniversary Raw Special last night. All I can say is wow, does Sunny (Tammy) look good again. I am extremely happy that she got herself back together. My question is twofold; do you know if WWE might throw a contract her way again and if not, do you think she might not be as motivated to stay as “healthy” looking? 

I can't speak for her motivations.  I would hope that she got herself into better shape to lead a healthier life, not for any other reason than that.  I am know that she would like a WWE deal and WWE was aware that she got a good reaction last week when she appeared on Raw.  But the flip side is that, as we have seen with Sable when she returned, it only means so much.  What made them unique years ago is commonplace today, so their value isn't what it once was.  With that said, I think she has something to offer if they can work it all out.  That would probably mean she would have to lower her expectations.

Just a couple of questions on WWECW. I was wondering why Vince brought back ECW and not WCW instead? If his plan was to have just another brand and not keep it like the original ECW, wouldn't it have made more sense to bring back WCW instead whose product was similar to WWE anyway. I'm sure there would have been a bigger audience wanting to see WCW back then ECW. 

Vince never really had any designs of running either promotion on its own.  What happened was after they ran the One Night Stand PPV, it did so many buys that it made him kick around the idea of running it as a promotion (with help from Rob Van Dam and Shane McMahon).  They found a network and away they went.  Vince never planned to make it an old ECW style show but instead wanted to use some original ECW concepts to hook former viewers and then give them a WWE style program.  He had no desire to push another brand's concepts, even if doing so it meant making money for WWE.  As for WCW, it was very clear that Vince bought it to bury it.  He could have made a lot of money with it but chose ego instead.  Plus, WCW was a direct competitor to WWE while ECW was actually subsidized by them, so it was not a threat.  Therefore, there was no lingering animosity towards it the way there was with WCW.

Can you please remind me exactly why Kurt Angle left WWE again? I seem to recall him saying in an interview that he was tired of being portrayed as a goofball (which is precisely what got him over in the first place), but that can't be right since he's practically a caricature of himself in TNA these days. 

Kurt was called in to a meeting in Stamford, CT where WWE management had some concerns about Kurt's behavior and told him that they felt he needed to make immediate changes or they were not comfortable using him any more.  He disagreed with him and the sides agreed to part ways.  Angle turned up shortly thereafter in TNA and has done a fair bit of revisionist history since he left WWE.

Did you read what Bret said on his site? He answered a question about best talent.  He thinks it's Kenny Dyksta and Samoa Joe.

I didn't see it but I agree with him where Joe is concerned.  He is a great worker and I think TNA could be getting a lot more out of him than they have so far.  As for Kenny, he has potential, for sure, but he hasn't come close to reaching it yet.  Down the road, who knows.

Did you guys remember Matt Hardy's promo when he returned on August 1st, 2005? I read many sites condemning Matt's speech, and some even "reported" that the promo was one of the many reasons Matt was buried in his first few months returning. Personally, I think the promo was fine because I like it when they blurred the lines between fiction and reality. I did find the line where Matt said that he hated Edge so much he wished Edge would die in a car accident so they wouldn't wrestle at SummerSlam a bit dumb, though. That made Matt look weak. But my questions are, if WWE is now scripting their shows and segments word-for-word, why did Matt get a lot of heat from the management (IF it is true his promo was the reason that he didn't get pushed?). And what's your personal opinion on the promo?

First off, you shouldn't put the word reported in quotes. The promo did hurt him in eyes of WWE management.  The reason for that was that his delivery was so bad that it killed him in management's eyes when he was delivering it because in order to be a top guy, you have to be able to do a promo.  The problem is not in what was said, but how he said it, so it wasn't creative's fault.  My opinion was that he did a horrible job delivering the promo and made it easy for WWE to say, "He doesn't have what it takes to be a top guy" at a time when many in creative weren't sure about him.  Luckily, he has improved since then.

You can send us questions for the PWInsider.com Q&A by clicking here.

We also have a new Q and A up today on PWInsiderXtra.com.

If you are an Elite member of the new site, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are not an Elite member, you can read it by clicking here.

If you are an PWInsider.com Elite member and you want to find out how to join the new site (which is bargain priced at a dollar a month or less, depending on the subscription you choose), click here.

If you would like to become an Elite member to one or both of the sites, you can do so by clicking here.

For PWInsider.com Elite members who are not members of PWInsiderXtra.com, the questions from PWInsiderXtra.com will be archived in our weekly Elite newsletter.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet