Features

TJR Q&A #35: The Miz Main Eventing in WWE Again, Wrestling with Shadows & More (30 Questions!)

TJR Wrestling

Here’s the next batch of questions based off a post I started on my Facebook page a few days ago. It covers a lot of interesting wrestling (mostly WWE) topics. Here’s the Q&A archive if you want to catch up on some past editions. Let’s get right to it.

1. Joshua LaPlante
Will Bo Dallas be future endeavored this year?

I doubt it. Still young and the company is financially strong, so no need to do cuts. I hope he can make some progress some day soon whether it’s as Bo Dallas or maybe even Bo Wyatt, which would be a nice change for him.

2. Brandon Willis
A while back you listed your current favorites, so I’m curious, who are your all-time favorite male wrestler, female wrestler, and tag team?

Top three of each: Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle. It’s tough picking 4 and 5 between The Rock, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho.

For women Mickie, Nattie and Trish are my favorites.

Tag teams I’d go with Edge & Christian, Hart Foundation and Hardys.

3. Manish K Nair
If they are doing Brock (heel) vs Roman(face), do you think its a good idea to do a double turn? By Heyman betraying Lesnar (like Survivor Series 02) and siding with Roman. Might be a great way to turn Reigns heel.

I don’t think Brock is a heel. They don’t care about heel and face as much as they used to. If they were do that story with Heyman helping Reigns it would work very well, but I doubt they do it.

4. Denny Hart
If you could bring back some old WCW, ECW, or even WWF ppv names/themes which ones would like to see return (i.e. Halloween Havoc, Wrestlewar, etc.)?

I think Halloween Havoc and Starrcade are great names that should have lived on post WCW. It was nice when WWE used Great American Bash a few times and wish they did again. Wargames is a match WWE should have done too.

5. Oscar Omar Fernandez
If not Hall and Nash, what other WWF superstars could you see jumping to WCW in 96 and start the nWo and still make it the legendary group that it became?

I think really only Undertaker, Shawn and Bret just because they were known as WWE guys, so if they left it would have been a significant thing. The key to the angle was people thinking Hall & Nash still worked for WWE.

6. Matthew ‘Wolfman’ Walker
Do you think WWE will go full circle and one day in the future we’ll have a period with an edgier product. Not attitide era re-hashed. But more PG13, targeted towards a slightly older fanbase.

They might, but they would lose a lot of sponsors that they have now. That’s why it may be a while until it ever changes. I think they should be edgier and push the envelope more because it works, but they are hesitant now because of the corporations they deal with.

7. James Ferriman
How far do you think Aiden English will go on his own? I honestly see real potential with him and hope he goes far.

I hope he does well. He’s a good guy that I know a bit and he’s worked hard to get there. He is a trained actor and theatre performer, so that gives him an edge. I hope he can break through at some point.

8. Mark Tallentire
I read somewhere today that WWE will only bring Paige back to TV briefly to promote her movie, then will release her. I personally see that as a very likely scenario…..how about you?

It was mentioned by Dave Meltzer in the Observer that they may not use her because of all the stupid shit she has done with her fiance Del Rio and it’s certainly understandable. I think it’s likely too and also unfortunate.

9. Jonathan Carmona
How would you book Asuka’s first defeat?

Lose to Ember Moon at SummerSlam weekend NXT Takeover event. I don’t think there’s another woman in NXT that should beat Asuka. It’s just a matter of building up to that moment as a big deal.

10. Rob Black Bear
From Smackdown, who do you see being in the WWE Championship match at Summerslam?

Baron Corbin beating Randy Orton for the WWE Title. If not that then Styles vs. Orton. Kevin Owens vs. Orton is a possibility too.

11. Giles Hart
How would you rate the recent Dillinger/Young Steel Cage match on NXT? I loved it and Young bleeding really helped it in my opinion, hard way or blade job.

It was a very good match around four stars out of five. Great job by them. Blood definitely helped – nice to see that. I liked it as a NXT farewell for Dillinger too.

12. Eric Hay
Who do you see winning the rumble? Do they close the show or do we get 80,000 fans booing the hell out of the same guy they have the last few years? Not knocking Roman, being realistic on his reaction.

Rumble is in 9 months. Who was going to guess Orton at this point last year? LOL. It’s too early and also doesn’t matter anyway with two titles. The ideal thing is building up a new main eventer like a Zayn or Cesaro or something, but they don’t do it that way as often anymore. I’ll pick Reigns or Lesnar if one of them isn’t holding a title at that point.

13. Josh Warner
With the IC Title really feeling like it is losing importance would you put it back on Miz to save it?

I think that’s what will happen, but I don’t know who would get it from him. Miz does a really good job as champion.

14. Darrius Gaddy
When you watched Wrestling with shadows what was your original opinion of the project? Were you completely team Bret or did you understand where Vince was coming from?

Oh yeah I watched it in 1998 when it first came out. Fascinating. I’m Team Bret for sure. They fucked him over royally and stopped trusting him even though he had creative control. They were so paranoid about WCW because they were losing. It’s a shame it happened, but also led to the Mr. McMahon character that became the top heel.

I wrote an in-depth preview of Survivor Series 1997 several years ago with plenty of thoughts on it as well. Link is here if you want to check it out.

15. Chris Young
Do u know how long of a contract the Hardy’s signed on for? Hopefully for a lengthy amount of time. They are still as exciting to watch as they were back in the 2000’s.

I think three years. That’s the standard length of a lot of deals and certainly guys of their caliber.

16. Roman Hojsak
Jinder got some good heat after his win. You’ve wrote about smackdown lacking heels at the moment, do you think Jinder has top heel potential? If not who do you think could take that role? Mike Bennett would be my pick….

I think he’s a temporary heel that is there to keep Orton busy until they push Corbin around SummerSlam. I think Jinder is just a guy for Orton to beat before he feuds with Corbin and also Owens.

17. Jake Pumfleet
Do you believe Sami Zayn will get a huge pay off one day?

I hope so. He’s got all the tools to be a top guy, the fans love him even though he loses too much and in my opinion is the second best face in the company after Styles.

18. Kent Dwyer
Do you think wrestlers like Neville and Aries will have success outside of the cruiser weight division or will WWE leave them both in there??

They should have that kind of success because they are awesome all around performers, but I don’t know when/if they will break free. I would definitely use them in the midcard.

19. David Harnick
Now that The Miz is on Raw, do you think he’ll get the main event push he deserves?

It’s possible because there’s certainly room for him to get up to that next level considering there aren’t that many heels on the show above him.

20. Michael Reichmuth
Could Brock Lesnar, in his prime, hit a F5 on Andre the Giant?

I think so because Andrew wasn’t that much bigger than Big Show at his fattest and Brock could do it. Same with Cena doing the AA – I think he could have on Andre as well.

21. Jesse Ornelas
Would it be good or bad for all if Chris Jericho won the IC title at SummerSlam and holds it till WM the next year and drops it to a up and comer who’s never held the title before?

I love Jericho, but I don’t think he should hold that title again. Holding the US Title was only done for the story with KO – it’s not like it was a memorable reign. I’d rather see different people hold the title.

22. Chris Hudson
What was the best wrestling video game on all of the consoles you’ve owned?

I think No Mercy for Nintendo 64 is the best wrestling game, but I didn’t have a Nintendo. Friends did and I played it a lot with them. I also enjoyed Smackdown Here Comes The Pain one of those maybe it was one or two in the early 2000s so around 2003 or so with Lesnar on it. Played those WWE games a lot for a few years there in the early to mid-2000s.

23. John L Henegar
Do you think War Games could work today?

Yes. They bought WCW 16 years ago and should have done the match, but Vince is against for some reason. I think part of it is because they created Elimination Chamber and they feel like that’s better. I know it’s not the same concept. That’s just how WWE is sometimes, though. They like to do their own thing.

24. Joe Sondag
Do you think that WWE does long term booking from one year to the next or as it seems book things either short term or on the fly?

I think sometimes they have those plans, but for the most part they aren’t booking a year in advance that often. For example, they may know they are going to do Lesnar vs. Reigns for next WM and because of that they’re going to keep those two guys apart until the new year.

Most of the time the long term booking may go back 3 to 6 months or something like that.

25. Chris Goad
Do you think WWE (would or could) eventually combine the Universal title and the WWE title again?

I think they maybe combine them again because it’s just how they have done it in the past. May be a while, though. They can sustain the brand split better now than the previous version because they have more depth thanks to NXT.

26. Ruel Barrera Guevarra
Do you think they’ll do AJ-Shinsuke feud this year after AJ-KO?

There are rumors that they will do AJ vs. Nakamura at WM next year, so maybe they hold off on it until next. I would be fine with it at any point obviously. They are amazing performers.

27. Joey Snapp
What’s the deal WWE having Balor coming back after forfeiting his title and not even giving any kind of hint at him looking to regain what he never lost?

It’s bad storytelling. They haven’t even had him mention it at all and that’s a shame. Wrestlers are just slotted in spots without any follow up to stories sometimes. It sucks. WWE needs to be better at it.

28. Kevin C Staed
What became of Wade Barrett after his release? Do you think he was under rated and misused or overrated and his time had passed?

He has focused on acting and other stuff rather than wrestling. When you wrestle for a lot of years you can burn out, so good for him doing what he wants. I thought he was misused at various points for sure. He also suffered some injuries at terrible times so maybe the company lost faith in him as well.

29. Ryan Mullins
Would you agree that by moving The Miz to Raw that any chance he had for another title run, which he has earned, is gone ??

He may not win the Universal Title this year, but that’s fine. He can have some good matches and feuds with anybody, which he has done for a few years. He’s got the skills to be a main eventer, that’s for sure.

30. Stuart Pretswell
Do you think that the US title open challenge should come back? When Cena was champion he brought a lot of credibility back to the championship having top quality matches every week.

It worked better with a face like Cena as a noble wrestler that takes on all comers. I would have used it to put over somebody new by beating Cena rather than a returning Del Rio, but the challenge idea worked very well to raise the status of the US Title.

It also helped that all of those Cena matches got 12-15 minutes regularly. Match quality is usually better when you get more time.

—–

That’s all for now. Check out the the Q&A archive for more.

I’ll be back on Friday with the team to preview WWE Payback.