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THE WWF-WWE SETTLEMENT, CONCUSSIONS, TORRES' REALITY SHOW WIN NOT BEING PLUGGED ON RAW AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2012-09-07 10:00:00
I saw a clip of the new ECW documentary and in it, Mike Johnson comments that "no one knew" when it came to damage from the concussions that came with the violent style. Is he that much of a spin-meister that he actually thinks no one knew concussions could hurt someone? I know Mike was a ECW fan but that's bordering on stupidity.

Actually, the sound byte where I said that was from a longer discussion on concussions and what we know now via the research of Chris Nowinski vs. what was known during the era of ECW. Did I think concussions hurt people? As someone who suffered two bad concussions in my life, I know they can. My point, which was not covered in the short clip shown, was that no one had the knowledge or research into the long-term health effects of concussions (i.e. CTE) in 1995. It would have been impossible since the research into the disease didn't begin and the findings weren't revealed until well after ECW went out of business. My full statement was that when you look at the violence, you have to remember the time period where it took place. There was a completely different attitude in sports, in school teams, in wrestling, everywhere towards concussions and how they were treated. Guys would get concussions and work the next day. It's a totally different attitude and environment now, but you can't judge 1995 by 2012's rules and views. You have to remember the context. That was the point I made that was lost in the editing room.

What was the reason WWE never gave a solid effort in promoting Stars Earn Stripes which featured popular WWE Diva star Eve Torres? Didn't they have faith in her in representing the company? I was most impressed of Miss Torres. She did a marvelous job. Its too bad the ratings for the show weren't very respectful. Still congratulations to Eve Torres. Too bad she wasn't recognized on Raw for her win. A shame. Opinion?

My guess is that it was on against Raw. It would be hard for WWE to acknowledge her win on Raw since...her win hadn't AIRED yet on NBC.

Recently listened to a couple interviews with Bryan Cranston and Vince Gilligan where they said one goal of Breaking Bad be to take a squeaky clean good guy main character and slowly turn him into a dastardly villain. They said this had never been done on TV before, but it got me thinking, we see this pretty frequently in pro wrestling. Turns go back and forth, especially if you're Big Show or Kane. With that said, who would you say has had the biggest debut and initial run as a face and then the darkest first turn to a heel? Hollywood Hogan was great, but he'd broken bad before.

There have been lots and lots of great turns but the one that really was my favorite in terms of a shocking squeaky clean babyface going heel was Barry Windham in 1988. That still to this day is as perfect a heel turn as there has ever, ever been.

My question is about the recent settlement between WWE and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. I don't know if you have all of the details, but there is one thing that has been bugging me. Recently, WWE has been uploading some unedited matches to their Greatest Matches section on their website, including the New Age Outlaws vs. the Acolytes from Royal Rumble 2000, and Chris Jericho vs. Kane in a Last Man Standing match from Armageddon 2000. However, they also uploaded Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart from In Your House 6; this match is edited, as it's ripped from the Greatest Stars of the 90's DVD set. Is it part of the settlement that unedited footage can only be used unless there is a previously-edited version of it? Basically, is there an "if it's already blurred/muted, use that" type of clause in the agreement?

That's not part of the agreement at all, but obviously, if something has been blurred and is post-produced, there will be cases where that material is used instead of going back to the raw footage and editing something new.

With Bully Ray appearing on Impact Wrestling live last night as well as being among the finalists for Bound for Glory does this make one think he might be staying around a while longer? Very much longer if you get my drift. What does your gut tell you? Staying or going?

As we broke this morning, Bully Ray has signed a new deal with TNA.

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