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With the ROH/NEW JAPAN partnership doing so well, what are the chances of them creating a new show to go head to head with RAW?
Right now, zero. I enjoy Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling very much but I think we saw with Impact that the idea of going head to head with WWE is a waste of time that will only dent the reputation of your company. New Japan and ROH both make strategic, measured moves and I think they would be very well advised to stick to their own plan and continue to grow their brands. Going head to head is silly unless someone the modern day equivalent of Turner Broadcasting is going to pump tens of millions dollars into a TV series and pay them for the content. There's no sign such a thing is out there on the landscape right now, so best to just keep doing what they are doing. Anything else would be fool hardy.
Is the heat between GCW and CZW legit?
Yes, the promoters involved do not like each other.
In today’s Q&A you answered a question about what women of the past you’d like to see present at Evolution. While I understand honoring women of the past who paved the way for todays current womens product to be on par with the male product, at what point do you think these all women’s events and “first time ever” matches (like the royal rumble for example) need to focus on todays current women roster more exclusively? While I think it will be cool to see, for example, Trish Stratus vs Alexa Bliss, I worry that having too many of todays current stars face women of the past could make things like Evolution feel too much like a nostalgia event. Similar to how the Classic Raw episode was several years back or like every DX segment for the past 8 years. I think keeping past figures primarily in the Rumble (much the way the men’s match is booked) and then only using past women on an occasional basis when the feud makes sense and elevates a current star. Of course, mixing in front row cameos (like NXT) would be a great way to nod to the past while letting the current roster take center stage. I feel like a better way to really emphasize the women’s Evolution would be to showcase matches like with the current stars like Ronda vs Charlotte (as opposed to the rumored and semi retired Nikki Bella vs Ronda) or letting Bayley tear it down for 20 mins against Sasha the way the did in Brooklyn. Booking it that way would show that WWE is truly behind the women by showing their faith in the current roster (that their kid friendly audience knows) vs. using names of the past in too much of a nostalgia capacity.
I get your way of thinking and I agree with it, as I am a big proponent of letting the stars of today be presented as being as important as the nostagia of yesterday. For this first show, I believe WWE wants to build the spectacle of it being the "first show" and wants to celebrate the path that brought them there, which of course means they have to include the Litas, Trish Stratuses, etc. There is a place for the older talents but after the first show, in my mind, the nostalgia should be relegated to one match. I do think we'll see a lot of the elements that we enjoy about Takeover incorporated into the women's event.
Will we ever see a “Package Pile” driver from Kevin Owens/Steen again?
Never say never, but WWE really doesn't want talents doing moves that they believe could result in a major neck injury if something goes wrong. I'd say no for Kevin Owens, but should he leave WWE, certainly Kevin Steen will be whipping out the move.
Do you think that the reaction to Becky Lynch is similar to that of Daniel Bryan, while inadvertently, making Charlotte the female Roman Reigns? I feel the audience will now be booing Charlotte, even when she is past this feud because the current storyline is dictating that she came in out of nowhere, is getting pushed at the expense of other talent, etc.
I don't think that was the plan, but it sure looks that way. Of course, it wasn't the plan with Bryan either and he ended up headlining Wrestlemania 30, so this could all end up being extremely beneficial to Ms. Lynch!
This is a two part question. The first is about Roman Reigns. WWE finally had a chance to get him on the good side of the audience when they, in large part, booed Lesnar at Summerslam because they knew he was exiting. Instead, they (to me, at least), hot-shotted a Shield reunion so that Reigns would receive a positive reaction. However, it's against Brawn Strowman, who much more over with the crowd. Why would they do this disservice to Reigns? They are once again putting him in a position to get a negative reaction. The second part is the Shield reunion. It came out of nowhere and with all the history (the reunion hasn't been explained as of today), why do it with no rhyme or reason? I still don't think we've gotten an explanation of why Dean Ambrose came back to help Rollins in the first place.
The easy answer is this: it's what Vince McMahon wanted.
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