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There's been no talk of WWE giving out the Warrior Award this year? Will they?
WWE said last year it was going to be an annual award. I am under the belief that they will indeed be announcing it for this year's Hall of Fame.
Did you really draw a line between WWE NXT and the independents doing do well? I don't understand how that can be. I also don't know how you don't mention New Japan in your article?
I broke it down in my article about independent wrestling last week, but I will reiterate here. I have personally met over 20 people that I have seen at shows in the Northeast who have told me that NXT re-ignited their interest in wrestling again and that has led them to starting to attend independent wrestling events. There are lots of lapsed fans who didn't enjoy the main roster WWE and gave up on the business but have gotten interested again thanks to NXT. You also factor in that thanks to technology, once someone becomes interested in NXT or an NXT talent, it's a lot easier for fans to check out talents who they hear buzz about via Youtube, social media, streaming video, etc. and it becomes a lot easier to find something you want to watch and enjoy. NXT has created and/or reignited interest in wrestling on the independent scene for fans who traditionally would have only watched WWE or would have given up on wrestling because they didn't like WWE. It's pretty easy to see.
As far as New Japan Pro Wrestling, I didn't bring them into the equation because the article was about American Independent Wrestling. I don't consider New Japamn an independent product, so just as I didn't bring up TNA or ROH in the article, it made no sense to discuss New Japan. Now, if you are trying to say that New Japan, not WWE, is responsible for what I termed the "Golden Era", there's no correlation. New Japan isn't responsible for Northeast Wrestling drawing 2,000 fans last week in Newburgh, NY for example. While I love their product, I don't truly believe an argument can be made that New Japan stoked an interest in American wrestling fans watching independent wrestling. I spoke with 5-6 independent personalities from different areas of the United States for the article and not one of them brought up New Japan as a factor.
It's an awesome product and has been a boon for talents who work there as well as a great way for ROH to augment their talents and shows, but I don't have any fans telling me that they are going to indy wrestling because they are watching old New Japan tapes on AXS TV or New Japan World while I do have fans mentioning NXT to me regularly. I don't think you can make an argument for New Japan talents working ROH or The Young Bucks touring Japan being responsible for independent wrestling getting hotter - I really don't. If anything WWE hiring guys like Finn Balor has opened up their audience's interest to New Japan, not the other way around. WWE is the lynchpin here, whether they meant to be or not.
If NXT creative is so much better than the main roster, why don't they use those writers on the main roster?
Ryan Ward, who heads NXT Creative, has also worked on Smackdown, so he's worked on the main roster team before and even during his tenure at NXT creative. Triple H oversees NXT and Vince McMahon oversees the main roster, so at the end of the day, no matter who is writing what show, their personal visions are going to be what comes across in the final presentation and product. Ward moving to the main roster could mean some awesome writing, but only if he's allowed to present his initial vision. Once others get involved, things start to get wonky in the creative process. Remember, main roster creative are writing to entertain Vince in line with what Vince's vision is, not simply writing what they believe will entertain the audience.
When WWE has guest-stars on Raw, do they pay them?
Unless it's a promotional appearance set up by a movie studio or NBC Universal, yes. WWE pays their guest-stars.
In watching ECW Hardcore TV on the WWE Network, I see that the ECW Arena seems to have an unending number or rooms, hallways, etc. for backstage vignettes. Do these rooms still exist since the venue has undergone so many renovations?
I hate to break it to you, but many of those places weren't even in Philadelphia or in the Arena. ECW often shot backstage segments in different places and since the matches were often from the ECW Arena, they claimed the segments were backstage. Many of them were filmed at the old Travelodge Hotel in Philly, some were in the Arena, some were shot in NYC, some were shot on the road.
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