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PWINSIDER Q & A: HOGAN AND RUSSO HATING AT BASH AT THE BEACH, PUSHING ORTON, HORSEMEN REUNION, SUSPENSIONS AND MORE

What are the chances of seeing a mini-horseman reunion leading up to what may be Ric Flair's last match at Wrestlemania?  I think even though they are all older now it still would be pretty cool to see the old gang back together for a mini run as way of saying thank you to one of the all time greats.

I agree with you, it would be very cool and it would fit perfectly in Flair's storyline.  I think WWE could do a great bit where Barry Windham, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson cover Flair's back (you can't expect to see Ole Anderson or Lex Luger, obviously) and they could even have classic rivals like Dusty Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat come out and help the Horsemen watch Flair's back.  Frankly, if they don't do it they are idiots.

I have always wondered why in the world is the WWE pushing Randy Orton so much? This guy bores the hell out of me, and every time he cuts a promo, he resolves to the lowest common thing he could think of.  I understand that this guy is a 3rd Gen. star, but with that, he should be able to come up with something more entertaining than this, you already know what this guy is going to say before he even gets to the ring... So what is so "special" about him?

You are asking the wrong guy.  I am with you in that I feel he is really lacking in charisma and personality, and just doesn't come off as a true top guy to me.  He's a good worker and has good to very good matches, but he is just dull almost every time he does a promo.  I know that Vince McMahon is high on him, and Triple H helped pick him for the Evolution push, so that is probably your answer.  It also doesn't hurt in Vince's world that he's a big guy.

Here's an observation that I made recently. I seem to recall some several years back reading how certain WWE wrestlers at the time like Christian, who sported long blond hair was told to cut it by either Vince or Stephanie McMahon because he resembled too much like HHH. In another example, Test was told to cut his hair and change from wearing his leather pants to wresting trunks and cut his hair because of too similarities to Kevin Nash during his last stint in the WWE. I believe that both wrestlers caught some heat because they initially refused to cut their hair. However, I find it interesting that both Cage and Test in TNA are now sporting the same looks that they had refused originally proposed by the McMahons at the time. Am I correct on this assessment?

Yes, you are.  I think it's just a case where both didn't want to cut their hair but once they did, they realized it was a lot easier to deal with than having long hair, because, well, it is.  Plus, long hair is kind of becoming a thing of the past in much of the business. 

So it’s October now and it looks like the first wave of suspended superstars is about to return. When the scandal and subsequent suspensions were first announced, many websites and fans were hoping the absence of top stars would mean a push for some of the underutilized talent in terms of story lines and TV time. Was it me, because I certainly didn’t see anyone getting a new push or a resurgence of new faces. In fact, week 1 of the suspensions saw Batista and Khali cross over to RAW from Smackdown to take up some of that TV time. Shelton Benjamin received a few singles matches but he was on most weeks with the WGTT. Both Hardy and Punk received titles out of it but in Hardy’s case he’s been in the IC picture either chasing or defending since his return and because of the thin ECW roster and the program Punk and Morrison were in there was very little choice to put it on anyone but Punk. Who, if anyone, do you see as having benefited from the suspensions in terms of talent and TV time?

Hmm, I will take NO ONE for a hundred Alex (pardon the Jeopardy reference).  The suspensions weren't going to help anyone break out because that falls squarely on the shoulders of the creative team.  If they don't book it, it won't happen.  They had the chance to try and push new talent while those guys were out but, well, they didn't.  On a different note, since it's been a few months since public announcement of failures has been implemented, does anyone else wonder if we will ever see another wrestler get suspended?

I have a question about the Bash At The Beach match in which Jeff Jarrett dropped the title to Hogan. It seemed that Hogan seemed to say some pretty strong stuff towards Vince Russo. My question is what was the story behind this? 

In a nutshell, Russo had taken over control of WCW creative again after leaving because of various problems fitting in at Time Warner.  He felt that it was time to move younger guys up to the top of the card because WCW had gotten stale.  Hulk Hogan didn't agree and had creative control over his programs.  Russo wanted Hogan to job to Jeff Jarrett in a WCW Title match.  Hogan said no.  So Russo, no doubt remembering that the Montreal incident helped jumpstart WWE's Attitude run and wanting to have a similar moment of his own, decided to pull a screwjob of his own on Hogan.  Russo had Jarrett lay down for Hogan and be pinned. Hogan quickly realized what was going on, took the pin though, won the WCW Title and stormed out of the building.  Russo came back later and totally broke kayfabe, saying Hogan had creative control and demanded to win.  He "fired" Hogan, said Jarrett was still the champ and then had Jarrett defend against Booker T, who won the belt.  Yep, this was one of those circling the bowl moments for WCW.  They were doomed.

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