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PWINSIDER Q & A: SHAWN MICHAELS' EYE, MICK FOLEY UNHAPPY, HALL OF FAMERS, STRIKER, ADMALE AND MORE

Is WWE management enthusiastic regarding Matt Striker's work on commentary with ECW?

From what I was told, they were happy with Striker's performance and feel he has a good aptitude for the business.  He is already 10 times the announcer that Mike Adamle ever was, but true that isn't saying much.

There are rumors floating about that Mick Foley is unhappy with the way the higher ups treat him during commentary and he may leave when his contract expires. Is Mick Foley actually done with commentary on Smackdown? Or is his absence this week a work to play up Edge's attack on him?

The angle was done to get him off of the show.  He was unhappy with the position of being an announcer on Smackdown, largely because it comes with Vince McMahon yelling into your headset, telling you what to say, for large parts of the broadcast.  That is not a pleasant situation to be in and it amazes me how the WWE announcers can work with a loud mad man yelling in their ear.  Foley has said that he won't be returning to the position and as of this writing on 8/17 is weighing his options as to what he will do next when his contract expires at the end of the month.

Okay, so two weeks ago I was watching an old episode of Seinfeld, and it was the episode where Elaine had an employee (the guy who dressed in fatigues) who was horrible at his job, and wanted to fire him. But, since she was scare do him, she promoted him instead, as a way to get rid of him. Then last week, I am watching Raw, and I see a guy who is so bad at his job, he should be fired, but he has "friends in high places," so he is promoted instead. Is this just a coincidence, or is there some sort of correlation here?

Well yes, Mike Adamle probably should have been fired, or rather never hired.  I agree with you there. But, he was and they are stuck with him since he has a few years left on his contract.  Given the way WWE creative likes to "borrow" ideas from other shows, I could see how you would make that correlation.  I can't say whether it happened or not though.  What I can say is that Vince McMahon is trying to find some way to make use of Adamle since he is paying him pretty large money for the next two plus years.  At least he is better as GM than he was as an announcer.

HBK seems to have gotten cross-eyed over the years. Any known reason for that?

Something has definitely happened as his one eyelid has been droopier than the other for some time now.  No one that I talk to seems to know what the exact problem is so I won't venture a guess.  But, WWE has acknowledged it and part of the reason that Chris Jericho "attacked" Michaels' eye is to explain the way it looks. 

With the WWF/E Hall Of Fame inducting wrestlers like Harley Race and Nick Bockwinkel where their main success in wrestling was NOT with the WWF/E, when do you think we will see them induct ECW World Heavyweight Champions like Terry Funk, The Sandman, Raven, Shane Douglas, Sabu, Bam Bam Bigelow and Rhino?? I feel that all of these wrestlers deserve a shot at being inducted into the WWF/E Hall Of Fame. Do you think that the WWF/E will induct any of them and if you had a vote on who gets into the WWF/E HOF, out of these wrestlers that I have listed, who would get your vote?

WWE has shown that they will induct workers who largely made their names in rings outside of WWE so I think some of those guys have a chance.  To me, the only slam dunk is Terry Funk.  He is an all-time great and I would like to see him get inducted this year, especially since WrestleMania is in his home state of Texas.  As for the others you mentioned:

The Sandman: I don't see it happening.  He was a phenom in ECW, but never did much outside of their rings.

Raven: His chances certainly went down after he filed the lawsuit against the company trying to break the independent contractor designation that they give to the wrestlers.  Aside from that, he's iffy to me.  He did get over in WCW as well as ECW, but as a true all time great, if you use that criteria?  I don't see it. WWE doesn't have as high standards as I do but given that he has filed suit against them, I say no.

Shane Douglas: No way.  After all of the badmouthing that he did of the company, he can forget it.  Honestly, he wouldn't make the cut for me either.  It's hard for me to forget that his work on the company's earlier PPVs was just not very good and that was a time that they needed their leaders to lead.  He had an impact on the business, but that doesn't mean he's a Hall of Famer.

Sabu: He would make my Hall just for the innovations he brought to the business.  Some would keep him out of their Hall for the same reason.  He's iffy at best for WWE.

Bam Bam Bigelow: He makes my Hall and I think he has a good chance to make WWE's as well.

Rhino: I don't see any chance of him making it.

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