You can send us questions for the PWInsider.com Q and A at pwinsider@gmail.com.
I did not follow Brodie Lee's Twitter account or any of his appearances on Being the Elite or other online platforms, so can you explain the origin and meaning of his "and you know what that means" tagline?
I didn't know because I don't watch BTE and don't follow much of anything on Twitter. Mike Johnson said: Lee has been posting the "It's XDay and you know what that means for years" since he was in WWE. It was just an ongoing deal he did and he's explained in interviews he did it that way because "you know what that means" would mean something unique to whoever read it.
I frequent your Q&A quite often and I enjoy your commentary. I’m a progressive liberal meaning I like to move forward with how time and our society is changing. I get a lot of that same vibe from your column. Here’s my question. Is it safe to say that Roman Reigns is the locker room leader and if so why not step up in challenge Vince McMahon on his vision? He [Reigns] has the power and clout to do so I imagine he could do it if he wanted to. Gosh why hasn’t Triple H or Stephanie even done it yet?
Here’s the thing, people could try and do that and they know they would fail, so it’s a fool’s errand. Vince is the boss and what he says goes. Everyone knows that and they have seen what happens when people try and take on his vision. So, we get what we get. Oh, and I am actually an independent who used to be a Republican. I am fiscally conservative and social liberal. Neither side is fiscally conservative but I am absolutely pro-being decent to all of our citizens.
My follow up question is when AEW premiered I was hyped but it came off like WCW and it was too much. They try to cram everything in 2hrs. I would think, and if I had a say so, why not follow the playbook Triple H uses for NXT and NXT UK because those two brands are superb. Thoughts?
I would be happy with that because I prefer NXT and NXT UK to AEW. But they have an ardent fan base so I see why they do what they do for their fans.
Do you think the main wrestling shows are too long? I know as I've gotten older it gets more and more difficult to find time to dedicate two hours to watching a show every week. I used to love NXT because it was one hour so easier to fit into my day, and it was formatted so well it flew by.
Raw is absolutely too long. No standard wrestling show should be that long. I don’t have an issue with two hours when it’s well done. When it’s not, it’s too long. One hour is perfect to me.
I have noticed there are a number of upper midcard to ordinary midcard workers with very shockingly long tenures in WWE, such as: The Miz & Dolph Ziggler (17 Years), Natalya (13 years), Sheamus & Naomi (12 years), just to name a few. Even Zack Ryder/Matt Cardona lasted 13 years as a low card comedy act. With all due respect to these wrestlers, none of them would be considered top draws. However, in the past, even legendary stars had WAY shorter runs - which often included lengthy non-wrestling sabbaticals, such as: Hogan & Savage (9 years) and Warrior (5 years). Other talented Hall of Famers had even more surprisingly shorter tenures, like JYD (4 years), Steamboat (3.5 years), Cowboy Bob Orton (3 years), Harley Race (3 years), and Rick Rude (3 years). Why are WWE Superstars nowadays - even seemingly replaceable midcarders - lasting much longer in the company than their Hall of Fame predecessors? Is this due to Vince's softening on using part-time workers? Are wrestlers today easier to negotiate with?
One, the business was different back then. There were other places to go for talents, so they had more options than they do today. Two, business back then was about getting people to buy tickets to house shows and PPVs. Now, the business is all about TV production. WWE produces seven hours of cable and broadcast TV every week. They need talent for that. They are TV stars, in essence.
You can send us questions for the PWInsider.com Q and A at pwinsider@gmail.com.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!