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PWINSIDER Q&A: MVP'S TITLE REIGN, STEVE AUSTIN VS. JOHN CENA, TNA AND ROH WORKING TOGETHER AND MORE

Answered: 2/16

After some research, I saw that prior to the tragic events at the end of his life, Chris Benoit had been the longest continuous reigning United States Champion since WWE resurrected that title as one of their own. Since then, MVP has surpassed Benoit's reign and is now the longest reigning WWE US Champion. Do you think that this was intentional by WWE, or is it a matter of circumstances (such as his heart trouble in the summer of 2007) simply allowing him to keep the belt as long as he has?

I tend to doubt it was intentional on WWE's part of have MVP have a longer reign then Benoit had.  It's not like WWE ever emphasized "longest reigning U.S. champion" that much in the first place.  I am actually surprised that MVP hasn't dropped the title, just to bury the fact that the last U.S. title change involved Benoit. Then again, had Matt Hardy not been sidelined, we may have seen a title change by now.

Steve Austin has stated multiple times that he does not want to participate in any more matches as a wrestler unless he feels that they will be good (hence his repeated refusal to face Hogan). What do you think the chances are of Austin returning for one last match and facing John Cena?

Never say never, but I just don't see that happening.  While I do think Austin would return for a one-off match if the money and circumstances were right, I just don't see WWE putting Cena in a position where 99% of the crowd is solidly against him. Cena has had it bad enough facing Michaels or Triple H.  Putting him against Austin would guarantee he gets booed out of the building. 

Back in 1997, to counter the success of WCW, one of the things that WWE did was allow ECW to invade some of their programs. Considering that both promotions have had a sort of understanding in the past, can you see TNA and ROH doing the same thing with each other to try to cross over their fanbases and possibly take a chunk out of WWE's fans?

Nope, I don't see it happening.  TNA has made it clear they want to be an "island onto itself" when it comes to U.S. promotions, and things have to be done on their terms. I actually think a lot of the diehard ROH fanbase would be disappointed if the company worked with TNA.  Remember, it was TNA who created the situation where talent could no longer work for both groups. 

I was wondering what your favorite matches were (out of any promotion at any time). Basically, if you had a friend who had never seen wrestling come by and ask why you were a fan, what one match would you show them and be able to proudly say "This is why I love wrestling!" afterwards?

Tough question.  Andre The Giant vs. Stan Hansen from New Japan, any one of a number of Terry Funk matches, including Flair vs. Funk from the 89 Bash.  Maybe Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. The Funks.  Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart, provided I could show the pre-match promos as well.  Actually, I've always had a soft spot for Kaoru Ito vs. Etsuka Mita from January 2, 2001 at Korakuen Hall in Japan.  For some reason, that match just totally blows me away, despite not being a "historically important" match. 

I thought with WWE's huge launch into the wonderful world of HD that they would also start releasing PPV events etc on either Blu-Ray Disc or HD-DVD. However this doesn't seem to be happening, do you have any ideas when it might and if so on which format?

I am sure with WWE now filming shows in HD, it is only a matter of time before they release high definition discs as well.  It would seem that Blu-Ray is the way to go, as they seem to be handily winning the format war at this point.  

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