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PWINSIDER Q&A: RANDY SAVAGE ENDORSING JAY LETHAL, WOULD THE NEW ECW BE SUCCESSFUL TODAY IF IT WAS PROMOTED LIKE THE OLD, LANNY POFFO AND MORE

Does Randy Savage approve of the Black Machismo gimmick? I haven't seen
anything online to indicate he likes or hates it, so I was curious if you had any idea.

Randy Savage has indeed endorsed Jay Lethal as Black Machismo.  I interviewed Lethal a few months back while in Las Vegas for a media event.  At the time, I followed up with him regarding a phone call he had received from someone believed to be Savage who gave his blessing.  Lethal worked an independent show that Lanny Poffo was on and Poffo confirmed that it was, in fact, his brother that had called Jay.  So, Macho Man is down with the Black Machismo.  Savage was invited by TNA to take part in the Lethal-Val wedding angle, but declined.

What's the story behind Lanny Poffo being signed by WCW but only used a few times? I can't believe a company would sign a guy and then just basically let him sit on the sidelines and collect a big fat paycheck.   If they didn't know what to do with him creatively why not just use him for a jobber for the other wrestlers?  Watching his matches on WWE 24/7 I think he could have done a great job putting over other cruiserweights.  Did his brother Randy Savage use his power to get him a no-show job (a la the Sopranos)? 

I am sure part of that situation was Eric Bischoff signing Poffo in order to keep one of his top names, Randy Savage happy.  However, WCW had, literally, dozens of wrestlers under contract, some of whom were hardly used at the time beyond being flown into events to sit around in the back and wait to be called for whatever.  There were even Nitros where I would end up sitting with talents that I knew personally, who were under contract and flown to events, who would just discreetly sit in the crowd and watch the show because they were being paid to do nothing but fly in and hang around.  There were a lot of things that boggle the mind looking back about WCW, and we could start a checklist today and still be adding new items a week from now.  The Lanny Poffo situation certainly falls under that category.

Since the WWE can´t trust Jeff Hardy to carry a World title belt but he is very over with the crowd what would you think of a Storyline where he wins the title just to have CM Punk cash the MITB case and win the title immediately From Hardy.  The next night, CM Punk could say he does not like winning a belt on that fashion but he could not in good conscience allow a "junkie" like Jeff Hardy to represent the WWE as a champion.  Then Hardy vs Punk would be a very heated feud.

First of all, WWE would never, ever, ever allow one of their babyfaces to be called a "Junkie" on camera.  I wouldn't use that term, ever, in wrestling, period.  It's disrespectful to anyone who's had personal issues and fought to overcome them.  The idea of CM Punk as a heel who believes he's doing the right thing is a cool idea and something similar to how he was portrayed towards the end of his run in Ring of Honor.  As far as the Punk-Hardy scenario, they are now on different brands (well, as I write this, they are), do I just don't see it.

Do you think that Sting could have one more successful run if he came back as the old Sting with the bright colors and free spirit instead of the brooding Crow wannabe?

No, I think at this stage of his career and life, it wouldn't matter what his look and character is.  The blonde Surfer Sting would be cool for a one night nostalgia deal, but to most fans, the Crow Sting is the superstar they remember, so I don't think changing the look back would be a long-term positive.  Plus, I'm not sure Sting wants to dye his hair at this stage!

I have a 2 part question concerning ECW...Going back and looking at the show where The Big Show won the ECW Title and comparing that show to ECW of now. It felt like the old ECW, with the ECW Logo, the dark style arena. Even right down to the trash being thrown in the ring. We all knew it wasn't the old ECW. If WWE didn't change to the ECW of now, and kept that same format, and that same feel of the old ECW, do you think ECW would be more successful today?

It's hard to say.  I think it would have gotten over with the older ECW fans and brought some of them back, but the belief within WWE was that there wasn't enough of them to support the new brand and they had to change how things were done.  As you can see, that was certainly a factor in a number of people who held ECW close to their hearts, including Rob Van Dam, departing.  I don't know that if even every "ECW Original" was still around and they were focusing on what the original version was like, the ratings and success of the brand would be better than what they are today - the original ECW was like catching lightning in a bottle and it's a different time and place.  You can't go home again.

Also, with guys now being pushed like Kofi Kingston, Colin Delaney, Evan Bourne, do you feel that WWE should bring back the cruiserweight title and have it exclusive to the ECW brand? Even throw in some wrestlers from RAW and Smackdown like Jaime Noble, Shannon Moore, Jimmy Wang Yang, ect. Obviously WWE has changed their policy of "slowing things down for the cruiserweights" when you see guys like Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne doing high flying moves that WWE once wanted slowed down. Your thought?

I have been a big advocate of making ECW the "wrestling brand" and I think the collection of talent you mentioned would be a fun way of doing that.  Whether WWE ever does that, we'll see, because the style of wrestling that they promote is often centered around personalities and storylines, as opposed to a chase of the title or hard-hitting athletics in a pure sense of the word.  Those aspects are there as part of the soup, so to speak, but aren't the base.

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