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PWINSIDER Q & A: CHANGING CREATIVE DIRECTION, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, TRIPLE H TO SMACKDOWN, SANTINO AND MORE

In your mind, do you think WWE realizes that they have a very entertaining heel in Santino and will continue to push him for the foreseeable future (as far as anything can be predicted into the future in WWE, of course)? 

Yes, they know they do.  They are well aware that Santino is effective in his role and hear the reaction that he gets from the fans.  It is not falling on deaf ears, trust me.

Although fans always complained that mid-carders don't get decent airtime for character development, is it fair to say that the current format of wrestling television show has made these mid-carders have limited time to cut promos? The matches are much longer than during the Attitude era, so I don't think when iMPACT! secured a two-hour slot, it would still help the undercards to grab some mic time. Even in those days, the main eventers appear in several segments per episode, so Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon are not the only ones who hog the camera all the time in my opinion. If you were a booker, what do you think can be done to help the up-and-comers to shine?

I don't think there is any reason that more time and effort couldn't be put into character development.  It only takes a minute or two of TV time to push a character.  There is more than enough of that on a two hour show.  It's simply a matter of putting forth the effort to do so and give a little less TV time to the top guys that don't need it anyway.

I was watching the Survivor Series from 1995 and noticed in the women's match there was a woman they referred to as something Kong.  I was wondering if it's the Awesome Kong we see now on TNA?

That was Aja Kong, a great, large Japanese women's wrestler.  She was an amazing worker, especially for her size.

What do you guys think needs to happen in order for WWE to change their creative direction, and make them try new things? Would they have to have RAW ratings as low as 2.5, or something else like extremely low PPV buyrates? Similarly, seeing that TNA hovers around 1.0 to 1.2 ratings, one would think that they would change their creative direction, but what would need to happen to TNA for them to change their creative direction?

I think it would take Raw going so low in the ratings that USA demanded that they make real changes (not just bring back old characters, which they asked WWE to do last year).  PPV buyrates are definitely on the way down and have been, on the whole, for a while now.  As we reported a few days ago, The Survivor Series was way down from the last few years, and that is a big four PPV for the company, one that should get a higher number of buys.  So, apparently dropping buyrates won't do it.  USA or CW putting heat on WWE is about the only way I can see them making changes.  The same holds true for TNA.  Obviously, the people in power there are happy with how the product is doing now and have no plans to change how it is presented.  Provided that ratings stay where they are, I think it would take Spike demanding changes before anything happens to their product and since Spike is also happy with their ratings, I don't see that happening any time soon.

Do you see any chance that Triple H could be drafted/ traded/jump to Smackdown? I think that after 5+ years on RAW a change  should be made. I read that him and Undertaker aren't exactly best of  friends so how about a trade between the two? This would shake things  up and bring fresh new feuds in my opinion.

HHH has always liked being on Raw because it's THE show, the A list and top program in the company.  Plus, there has been talk for years that Undertaker likes being in a different locker room than H so I think in order for HHH to go to Smackdown, Taker would either have to be out injured or go to Raw.  I would put the odds at 2 to 1 against it happening any time soon.

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