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PWINSIDER Q & A: JOEY STYLES, BOOM PERIODS, WRESTLEMANIA FROM MORE THAN ONE LOCATION, ABRUPT ANGLES AND MORE

Was Joey Styles fired? 

Hmmm, that is a hard one to answer.  Obviously, he wasn't "fired" because he still works with the company.  But, Vince McMahon did choose to move him out of his announcing role in favor of Mike Adamle (and boy, what a brilliant move that has turned out to be).  So, he was definitely relocated.  I think "reassigned within the company" is probably the proper terminology.

Do you think the "Mike Adamle-leaves his announcing desk-angle" on ECW is a way to end this thing before there is further damage?

No, it was done to "get people talking", or so WWE creative thought.  As it turned out, the audience for the show last week dropped so I don't think it worked out as they had hoped it would.

How do "boom periods" in wrestling happen? Are they total accidents or were they seen beforehand? Also, is there a potential "boom period" in the foreseeable future? What would need to be done to make that happen (new main eventers, total overhaul)?

Boom periods have always been the perfect storm where captivating performers and good to great storylines hit the scene simultaneously.  My opinion is that they generally aren't planned for and things just seem to all come together at the right time when they happen.  Looking at the nWo in WCW, everything was in the right place when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash's contracts came due and Eric Bischoff put them a great storyline (which he borrowed from Japan).  That led to the greatest boom in that company's history.  Then, in the Attitude era, WWE had great performers and strong storylines hit the scene at the same time, and much of what we saw on TV happened because Vince McMahon was losing to WCW and took chances and listened to ideas that he wouldn't have before, so that too was the residue of circumstance not planning.  So, answering what needs to be done to have another one is the million dollar question.

Also, it's really hard to compare then to now because when the boom in the 80s happened, there were tons of territories around the country and Vince McMahon made the move to go national.  Then in the 90s, there were two big companies and ECW so competition spurred on the boom.  Now, there is WWE and TNA, so it is really hard to see when a boom period could happen, if it will at all.  It pretty much all lies on WWE to make that happen and they have been trying to do so for years now.

What are the chances of WWE doing another PPV like Wrestlemania 2, with several separate arenas each providing a portion of the PPV? The advances in technology would make it much easier to carry out than it was 22 years ago.

I would put the odds at minimal.  Yes, they could do it seamlessly from a technological standpoint but that isn't the issue.  The company now sells Mania as a week long event to the cities that are interested in bringing it in.  You need to deliver the whole show to do that.  Plus, they like to run big stadiums now with tickets selling for top dollar.  It would be a tough sell to get people to pay big money for one hour of live action and the rest on TV.

What was the big deal about WWE RAW ending abruptly last Monday? Isn't it there job to tease big matches instead of giving away big matches on free TV (like they did again with Matt Hardy vs. MVP)?

I think people reacted to it the way that they did because a lot of the fans have only been around a few years and never saw anything like that before.  Long time fans know it was a staple in the old days, especially with Crockett Promotions.  The company would push a match for the whole hour of the show, then deliver just a bit of it with the hope that people would go to the house shows to see the whole thing.  The idea should absolutely be to sell PPVs, I don't think anyone would argue that.  The question then becomes whether the angle actually accomplished that.  Only the viewer knows that answer when they make their decision this Sunday.

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