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PWINSIDER Q&A: SECOND GENERATION WRESTLERS, PETEY WILLIAMS, KENNEDY AND MORE

How much has race played a part in the history of pro wrestling and how much does it effect today's product?  I look at Teddy Long as an example.  He is way over, but for some reason he has never been brought to the main show.  Do you think race has anything to do with it?

I think in the history of pro wrestling, certainly race played a part in decisions that were made, unfortunately.  In 2009, I don't see it being a factor in WWE, and definitely don't think Teddy Long not being on Raw has anything to do with race at all. 

Has wrestling ever witnessed such a large resurgence of second and third generation superstars being involved in the business? I can see the early 80’s with Dibiase, Roberts, Houston, Henning, and early to mid 90’s with Dustin Rhodes and the Rock. But I can recall a time where so many were involved and marketing has placed a great emphasis on their heritage and family history in wrestling.  

There certainly have been plenty of second-generation stars in the business in the past, but this is definitely the first time where so many stars (Rhodes, DiBiase, Orton, Smith, Natalya) have been specifically pushed as being second-generation (and third generation) stars. 

TNA's "Beautiful People", best faction going in wrestling today? To me they get much more out of the crowd & other wrestlers than "Legacy" could ever hope for. Also the "Knockouts" as a whole seem to be the most consistently enjoyable aspect of anything TNA or WWE have currently on their shows. Your thoughts?

I wouldn't argue with the idea that, as far as factions go, the Beautiful People accomplish their goal a lot more efficiently than any other current group.  As for the Knockouts being the most enjoyable aspect of TNA or WWE, I would disagree.  While I think the Knockouts division is certainly superior to WWE's Divas division in terms of focus and attention, I don't feel it is as good as it was a few years ago when Scott D'Amore was handling the division.  I also don't think the Knockouts can compare to the World Title picture on Smackdown.  To me, that is the most enjoyable aspect of wrestling today.  

I have 2 "where are they now?" questions. What's happening with Petey Williams, any possibility he may show up in WWE and what happened to Phil Lafon/Doug Furnas? I have not seen them since 97, they never got much of a push in WWE/F but I always thought they were a great tag team and I used to watch Phil Lafon when he wrestled as Dan Kroffat in Montreal during the mid-80s.

You can catch up with Petey Williams in the interview Mike Johnson conducted with him at this link.   Doug Furnas is retired and lives in Oklahoma.  Lafon wrestled a few times for All Japan after leaving WWE, and made a few appearances in Canada in recent years.

I'd like to express my own personal outrage in regards to WWE's release of Ken Kennedy. Seriously, how arrogant does WWE have to be to assume that their weekly ratings and talent pool are deep enough to release a talent like Kennedy in the first place? His last appearance was the only time in months that I cared enough about MNR to watch it for more than five minutes. Is the fact that he's injury prone the reason he was released?

I can't imagine the injury rate wasn't a factor, but as we reported on the site, Randy Orton's reaction to Kennedy's work during the Raw ten man tag had a lot to do with the release occurring so quickly. 

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