PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

PWINSIDER Q&A: KOFI KINGSTON'S PUSH, HULK HOGAN RETURNING TO WWE IN 2008, WHY MIKE ADAMLE STILL HAS AN ON CAMERA JOB AND MORE

Do you think if WWE brought back Hulk Hogan they could turn what's  happening in his life to an advantage against a heel and use Hogan as a huge baby face even if just wrestling sparsely. Don't you think that would make big money for WWE?

I don't believe it would be big money for WWE (as compared to what it would cost them to use Hogan, based on his existing financial costs), but I do believe if Hogan returned for an on air appearance, he'd immediately be a huge babyface because that audience is going to be immediately forgiving of him.

What the hell!  Did I really just see the new GM on RAW reading a script ON STAGE.......LIVE!!!  This guy doesn't have the script a few days ahead to study it?  How did he get his job?  Is he a McAsskisser?  Why, of all the people in the world, did they pick this guy?  "People make mistakes"....really?  Not on live TV if they want to be on the next week!  Hell, screw up on American Idol, American's Got Talent, or any other live show and you aren't around to apologize the next day, why is he so different?

Mike Adamle was tapped to be the new General Manager because he has a pretty healthy six figure salary that the company has to try and make worthwhile and it wasn't happening as the lead announcer for ECW.  His hiring was a Kevin Dunn idea and Vince McMahon is apparently still behind Adamle as a talent, so as long as you have two people that powerful behind you, you're going to have a spot.  On the outside, it might seem easy to just cut bait and move on, but that's not usually how the corporate world works and my gut feeling is that Adamle wouldn't have signed in the first place unless he had security and financial considerations in exchange for stepping out of legitimate broadcasting to pro wrestling.

Why put the tag titles on Cena and Batista?  Did you hear the reaction after they won?  It was dead!!  I didn't even realize the match was for the tag-titles until they handed Cena and Batista the belts.  Why bury Cody and Ted for two guys that are not interested in being the TAG champs?  Why do you think it took them doing the dueling title raises for the fans to react to the title switch?  Is it people don't care about the tag titles, or they realized how stupid it was to put them on two guys in the World Title race, knowing they will never KEEP the titles more then a few weeks?

It was a creative decision made that week and unfortunately, those that argued (correctly, in my opinion) that the loss would take the luster off Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, especially since a team that wanted the Tag straps were dropping them to two singles stars that could have cared less about them, lost the argument.  I think the average fan doesn't care about the Tag straps, because unfortunately, the current generation has grown up believing those titles to be secondary (at best) since the company has never given them a reason to do so.

What happened to Kofi?  He was getting a good reaction and really improving in the ring, then he comes out on RAW to defend his title and the first thing I can say is "oh yeah, he's the champ!"  Why have they backed off his push?

In WWE's mind, he's a mid-card talent holding a mid-card title, so the push is about where it should be.  I don't mind that, since overemphasizing a talent too much can lead to backlash.  I'd rather see him quietly win the audience over with his in-ring work and a string of appearances that increase fan interest in his work.

Have you ever heard of the WWE trying to take advantage of the reality TV craze?  I know they did Tough Enough (still waiting for them on DVD), but other then that have they thought of anything else?  WWE.com does a great series showcasing the homes of the superstars and another that shows what they do on time off.  These are great and really interesting (check out Edge doing a cribs thing with his home in Tampa it is great!).  What would you think of doing more behind-the-scenes reality type shows for late night so that they aren't destroying the illusion of reality to the younger crowd while giving the older fans something more fresh and modern.

I haven't heard of anything of late.  The belief is that they need to build their performers as fantasy characters since presenting anything else dilutes the storylines and personas.  They can get away with putting such material on their website since their core audience is going there and they are increasingly concerned with dwindling impressions, so the more fresh, original content on the website, the better.  As far as Tough Enough, the first season was actually released on DVD several years ago.

 

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