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PWINSIDER Q & A: VINCE OUT OF HIS COMFORT ZONE, TNA OVERLOADING SHOWS, ECW TO BECOME RAW LITE, TITLE CHANGES AND MORE

We hear about TV ratings falling, and PPV buyrates only remaining respectable because they now include international PPV buys (including the UK PPV buyrate which was non-existent 5 years or so ago because it aired on Sky Sports not PPV), but we also hear about WWE continuing to make more money than before. WWE losing the ratings battle to WCW forced Vince McMahon out of his comfort zone. With no real competition, and this continual increase in profit, how low do you think the ratings will have to fall before Vince moves out of his comfort zone again?

I think we are getting to that point now.  The WrestleMania buyrate was a huge disappointment for the company.  They had thought that they could top the 2007 number and they didn't even come close to it. To make matters worse, about a 1/3 of the buys came from out of the US, which means they made less money on them AND their fan base in the US is shrinking.  Also, the last quarter was an aberration since Mania fell in it this year.  The second quarter numbers will take the hit for that because they will not be able to match the money that Mania 2007 generated and thus will be way down quarter to quarter.

Add in the fact that the Raw rating hit a more than 10 year low last week, on a show where they announced they would give away a million dollars, and you can see that management is at least acknowledging a problem here.  Given that they had three PPVs right after Mania (and hardly anything new or special on them), I expect those buyrates to be less than stellar as well.  The company sees this and while Raw still scores strong numbers in their demos for USA, if the number keeps dropping that could change.  So, they really need to address things now before the problems become the bleeding becomes too great.  Vince McMahon has reportedly said he is open to any ideas so I think it's safe to say he's already out of his comfort zone. 

Since Russo/TNA feels obligated to put as many of their wrestlers on their PPVs so that everyone will get PPV pay, and that results in these meaningless multi-man/woman matches, do you guys think that TNA should just pay their wrestlers the PPV pay regardless of whether they're on the PPV card or not? It just seems so unnecessary and bad on storylines for TNA to have these multi-person matches on their PPVs. What do you guys think they should do in regards to this issue?

I agree that not everyone needs to be on a show.  It makes for too congested a broadcast and overexposes everyone.  There is no law that says every worker has to appear on every PPV.  Whatever the reason is for getting everyone on the show it needs to stop.

When WWE pulls the plug on Heat next month and switches the ECW tapings from the Smackdown schedule to the Raw schedule, are we finally going to see them end the ECW/Smackdown talent exchange? Personally I've hated it from the start, because it took what was supposed to be a third brand and basically made it a 3rd hour for Smackdown.

They may.  Instead, they can make ECW the third hour for Raw!  Seriously, the idea would be to do more Monday into Tuesday tie-ins.  We will see if it works or not.

Why don't we see more title exchanges during long-term, one-on-one feuds anymore, like we saw with Austin/Undertaker, Rock/Foley, and Triple H/Rock? It doesn't make sense that guys keep getting rematch after rematch after losing title matches against the champion (i.e. Orton and Triple H just recently). Wouldn't it make more sense and make it more exciting (and thus more interesting to fans) if the title switches between the two a couple of times during the feud?

It is all in how you look it.  Some feel that switching the title too much cheapens it.  Others feel the way that you do.  I think it all depends on the workers in the feud.  

With ESPN Classic airing the old AWA, even though ESPN has re-airing rights, did they ask WWE's permission if they can, in case WWE decides to sue them for infringing on their copyrights.

They didn't have to ask WWE.  Having the airing rights means that they own that footage and they can run it whenever they want to.

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