PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q & A: ORTON'S COMMENTS, TNA VS. ECW, RUSSO-HOGAN, SHELTON BENJAMIN'S CHANCES AND MORE

In your opinion, how does TNA's financial situation/success (loosely termed) compare to that of ECW? Do you see TNA as being in a better position than they?

Since TNA is a privately held company, it's impossible to accurately say what their financial situation is.  Only those who own it and are very high up in the company truly know where they stand financially.  I have heard statements saying they are profitable now from those in TNA but again, only the owners know for sure.  I do fully believe that they aren't losing anywhere near the kind of money that they were when they first started and were running weekly PPVs.  They have done a good job in signing various deals to get paid for their product and they now have their TV slot so I believe they have created a solid revenue stream.  Whether it is more than their financial outlay, I don't know but they have definitely, at least, made great progress towards cutting their losses, at the very least.  

Where ECW is concerned, it's an offshoot of Smackdown.  It piggybacks on its house shows and TV tapings and doesn't have any costs of its own other than the few wrestlers that work on the brand.  Its only real solo revenue stream is the TV deal with Sci Fi.  ECW isn't really a promotion or company.  It's more like a few wrestlers and an hour of TV time.  If Sci Fi chose to end the TV deal ECW would probably end with it.   

What are your opinions of Randy Orton's comments on guys like Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker and Triple H being too old for the business? Personally, I can see where he's coming from but I disagree.

With Orton, you never know when he is being serious or when he is being a smart ass.  Or, when he is mixing both together.  HHH isn't even forty yet and Orton surely knows H's place in the company, so I think he was having some fun with what he was saying, mixing elements of shooting with working to come across like his his character, a cocky jerk.  Many younger guys feel that the guys on top hold them back and often times that is the truth.  In Orton's case, however, he has been given the world since he broke into the business so he isn't someone who should be feeling that way.  My own view on this is as long as a guy can (and does) go and still looks credible and believable, his age doesn't matter to me.  When a guy starts dogging it, hogs the mic or looks really, really slow out there, then he should go back to the commentator's booth.

I have a question regarding Shelton Benjamin. My friend believes that Shelton is the guy who gets so many chances, but he fails to get over with the fans with whatever personality or gimmick that is given to him. He feels that he just doesn't have the promo skills to get over and WWE should just release him because he gets so many chances but never truly gets over with the fans. Do you see that with Shelton as well? What do you guys think?

I think it's a fair criticism to say that the weakest part of Shelton's wrestler package is his interview skills.  While you have to put part of the blame for that on the scripts that creative gives him to read, you also have to be fair and point out that Shelton has just not done a good job of showing charisma or making a connection with the audience thus far in his career when he has had the chance.  To be fair, that is one of the hardest things in the business to do.  With that said, I would not cut him loose.  Even if he never finds a way to become a great promo, he is a great worker in the ring and can have strong matches for years to come.  A wrestling company needs good workers, even if they aren't good talkers.

I was reading the question about Russo/Hogan "screw job", since Hogan made the pin and then cut an interview. It seems he knew what was going on.  Did he?

Ah, that is the million dollar question, what did Hogan know?  He certainly knew Russo was not happy with him since Russo asked him to lose to Jeff Jarrett and Hogan said he wouldn't, invoking his creative control clause.  He didn't trust Russo so I think it's fair to assume that he was wary before he went out to the ring.  My initial feeling was that it was all a work but then Hogan sued Russo and WCW.  I would think (and hope) that he wouldn't do that if it were all a work since it would be a felonious misuse of the court system.  So, I will assume it was a pure screwjob on Russo's part.  As such, Hogan's options would have been to do the pin or turn and leave.  He couldn't really cut an in-depth promo about it.  So, Hogan took his pin, either because he wanted to or maybe because he figured that would mean he honored his contract.  So, I don't know how much he knew beforehand but being one of the savviest people to ever work in the business I fully believe he wasn't caught completely by surprise. 

I love the site and I check the ask PWInsider area almost daily which leads me to this question why do so many people ask about the Rock and Stacy coming back. I feel this question has been answered quite enough and it is pretty evident they will not be coming back at least not full time and we need to move on and look at the current and future stars. While I feel they would both be great to see in the ring again they would not be anymore of a money maker then The Undertaker or even a Triple H so lets all just look back at what they did and smile then lets just move on. Thanks for all your hard work and keep up the great coverage.

I honestly think people ask that question so often because they liked both characters so much that they want them back on their TV screens.  In the case of Stacy, she wouldn't mean much, if anything, as a draw but I disagree with you Rock.  He would mean easily a half a point bump for Raw's ratings, at least for the short term, if he were to return to a full time role.  But, I don't see that happening.

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

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.