PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q&A: ROH'S PPV SERIES STATUS, BRET HART RETURNING TO WWE, THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS FEUD, TNA KNOCKOUTS SPINOFF AND MORE

I was reading about Bret "The Hitman" Hart the other day, and just was wondering if he would ever think of coming back to WWE as a Manager or some type of role ? Does he and Vince still have a little bad blood for each other or is that forgotten about ?  Your thoughts.

I don't see Bret Hart ever taking a regular role with the company as he's always stated publicly he wants to be remembered as a wrestler, not a secondary on-camera role.  While he and Vince McMahon are on professional speaking terms, their relationship will never be what it was when Hart was his top star and that's to be expected.

Whose idea was it to have The Midnight Expresses (Heyman's and Cornette's tag teams) feud in WCW?  Didn't Bobby Eaton once work in Heymans ECW? As part of an angle with Arn Anderson, or am I thinking of SMW?

I believe Dusty Rhodes was booking for Jim Crockett Promotions when Paul E. Dangerously's Original Midnight Express attacked Cornette's team of Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton in 1988.  It was a fun feud, but it didn't last long, partially due to Dennis Condrey disappearing from the business.  Bobby Eaton appeared in ECW in April and May 1994.  In April, he was unmasked as a henchman for Heyman, helping Sabu defeat Terry Funk.  Arn Anderson then hit the ring to run them off, with the storyline being he learned of the plans and followed Eaton (who he was feuding with in WCW) to Philadelphia.  The four had an awesome tag match to headline the May 1994 When Worlds Collide event, which was Eaton and Sabu win after Arn turned on Funk.  I remember the match vividly as it was the first time I attended an ECW event.

There was talk of TNA producing a separate show involving the TNA "Knockouts". Where does it stand right now? Will there be matches? Will the possibility of a show featuring the "Knockouts" give TNA the freedom to sign more female wrestlers to take part in it?

There have been some discussions, but nothing has progressed to the point it looks to be a definite possibility in the near future.  If they spun off the Knockouts into their own series, it stands to reason they would hire more women because you'd need more than 5-9 girls weekly.

Is the issue of the WWE returning to calling itself the WWF officially over or can one always says nothing is ever over?

It's been over since the day they re-branded themselves as WWE.  They would be crazy to revert back to the old letters at this point.  Their slide into the World Wrestling Entertainment names is considered one of the best examples of a company re-branding themselves ever.

Is Ring of Honor's PPV series going to continue past this May's Take No Prisoners event?  There's talk that the series has been a flop, so I was wondering.

When I spoke to ROH owner Cary Silkin about the PPVs last month, he said they wanted them to continue.  While the buyrates are not setting the world on fire, to call them a flop is a ridiculously stupid statement to me.  Let's say ROH did 1,000 buys per show as an example.  One, that's 1,000 buys they didn't have a year ago.  Two, they aren't spending money on live satellite time.  Three, they are simply editing the show and putting it out there, the same they would for a DVD release.  Four, the PPVs still sell well on DVD.  I don't see the PPV series as anything beyond a chance for the company to expand its awareness among fans that might not be inclined to buy a DVD or visit the company because they are outside its geographic regions.  There's no official announcement on the PPV specials continuing, but if they are done, I don't expect it to be acknowledged until well after the May show airs.

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