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WHY ARNOLD IS INDUCTING BRUNO, FIXING WCW, THE WRESTLEMANIA MESSAGE SOME TALENTS HAVE BEEN SENT AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2013-03-28 10:00:00
Had WCW hired you instead of Bischoff/Russo, what would you have done to save the once dominant company that was on life support?

There wasn't much that could be done but the first thing I would have attempted is to reinforce the importance of the titles and try to add a sense of a return of the pro wrestling aspect of WCW. That was one of the calling cards, between the solid wrestling of the 80s and 90s which was always more athletically-centric compared to WWF and the Cruiserweights. I would have gotten away from the over the top stunts and WWF-esque characters. WCW had lost its identity under the Russo regime and the reset with the New Blood vs. Millionaires Club only made it worse. They needed to take a step back and rebuild the roster, then look for a big crossover angle down the line. Hell, the best angle at the time may have been ECW invading and doing a crossover feud, but before anything could really be done, what was really needed was to stop the bleeding first and foremost. That would have been my advice, although the company could have taken on so much water by then that no one would have saved it in the end.

Jack Swagger sits at home for the better part of the year picking up a paycheck only to come back and basically walk into a world title match at Wrestlemania. Big E Langston and Fandango are having their debut matches at Wrestlemania. What sort of message does this send to a guy like Ziggler who's busted his butt for years only to be relegated to a tag match with Big E? Or guys like Kofi and Cesaro who've worked hard to get over and aren't even on the show?

The message that is sent, whether it is designed or not, is that unless Creative gets behind you, all the hard work in the world isn't going to get you a guaranteed spot on Wrestlemania. Is that fair? No, but that's life. Let's be honest though - I am a big fan of Kingston and especially Cesaro but their inclusion in Mania won't change the buyrate either way. So, I can see why they are low on the list of priorities right now. In the case of Dolph, one has to believe that with the briefcase, he always has a chance for a larger role - and wrestling Daniel Bryan at the biggest show of the year allows him for the chance to steal the show, or at least try. In a perfect world, the guys who kill themselves on the road all year would always be rewarded, but nothing in life, especially not wrestling, is perfect.

I'm from South Carolina and it seems like Phil Shatter/TNA's Gunner is keeping busy in the mid-Atlantic region since he's not being used on IMPACT at this point in time. My question isn't about him, though, but rather his old partner Mikael Judas/Murphy. What's up with him these days? Has he left the business or is he working internationally?

To the best of my knowledge, he left the business when he departed TNA.

Why on earth would Bruno Sammartino choose the ex governor of California to induct him into the hall of fame rather than his own son the great David Sammartino?

The Sammartinos have not been close in many years. Bruno goes back a long way with Arnold and honestly, WWE wanted a major crossover name to induct him and now they have one.

With Trish Stratus being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame do you see Molly Holly (Nora Greenwald) being inducted as well sometime down the road? Congratulations to Bruno Sammartino and Trish Stratus on their inductions.

I can honestly see her going in one day. She was a solid hand for the company and did everything that was asked of her. Since the company seems to have an unspoken edict of inducting one woman annually, Holly would make absolute sense. In fact, I'd love to see it one day.

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