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ORTON NOT GETTING THE BIG PUSH ANYMORE, RUSSO VS. HOGAN, BUYING WCW AND MORE

While I've personally never been a fan of him, what happened to Randy Orton? He used to be a main event star with multiple title runs and the crowd was into him or into hating him. He seemed like a made man and then... nothing. WWE seemingly forgot he was a top star. In an era where they are so thin of top talent (a problem theyve created for themselves it would seem) why is Orton not being used somewhere closer to the top of the card? Why would WWE invest the latter part of the last decade in building a star, have him get over, and then pull then demote him?

I think there are several factors here. One, the Wellness Policy. Orton has failed twice, which means that another failure means he gets fired and cannot be re-hired for a year. Then, when he is re-hired, he is one failure away from being fired again. Orton's work in the ring is obviously great but the company can't chance the political fallout or stress of building around him and having it all fall apart. It's just the way of the world and the scenario that Orton created for himself. I am sure he will always be in the mix, but I don't know they will ever go back to him as "the guy" on top for a long stretch of time ever again.

If you had the money, would you have bought WCW?

Yes, and shut it down, making money off the tape library. I certainly would have tried, although let's face it, WWE had the inside track on buying it and they were going to get it, no matter what.

Any idea why the WWE has been changing the last names of second/third generation wrestlers (like Micheal McGillicutty, Bo Dallas, Husky Harris...) yet at the same time acknowledging their lineage on screen?

They want to own the names, copyrights and trademarks of all their personas. They can't own someone's real name. It's that simple.

Do you think the Russo/Hogan/Jarrett incident @ WCW Bash @ The Beach 2000 was a work or shoot?

It was a work until Hulk Hogan got mad at what Vince Russo said, legitimately. At that point, it became a shoot that led to Hogan suing Russo, WCW and Turner Broadcasting. So, I guess it was a shoot!

What do you think of the Olympics eliminating wrestling?

When you look at the vast majority of sports that are out there and being competed in, the oldest one in all of time is wrestling. To eliminate that, when there are all sorts of silly and outdated sports still in the games, seems ridiculously stupid to me. It's all a political game.

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