TJR Q&A #53: My Favorite WWE Wrestler as a Kid, Jeff Hardy Theme Song, 3MB Reunion on Raw? and More

The weekend is a great time for Q&A style posts because we are all interested in seeing what WWE has in store for us with Raw and Smackdown following last week’s Superstar Shake-up. I posted a Q&A on Saturday based on questions from my Facebook page and there were 30 questions with my answers in there.

The way this works is the questions come from my Facebook page. To wrap up this batch of questions, I’ve got 26 more of them here. Thanks to those of you that asked the questions. Let’s get to it.

1. Van Wilhoite
Your opinion on the IC title and US titles being used on past WWE champs more and less as a stepping stone for ones on the rise?

I like it. I think the IC Title has been booked well for the past few years other than like Roman Reigns getting it briefly was pretty boring. It was unnecessary. The US Title has been passed around a lot already this year (three title changes so far), so that hurts it.

I think with those midcard titles, ideally what you want is to have a mix of former top guys holding them as well as younger talent going up a level. For example, if a guy like Chad Gable wins the IC Title as a face against a heel like Kevin Owens in a few months that would be a big deal because of KO’s success.

2. Robert Lee Thomas
Two questions. How long will it take for Asuka’s 2nd loss? Also, do you think Ronda Rousey looked weak because of how long the WM match was? I know she looked awesome in the ring, but I expected her to put Steph away quickly.

The second loss for Asuka may be soon. Perhaps she’ll wrestle Charlotte on PPV in a few months, then Charlotte beats her and Asuka can turn heel like Nakamura did. It gives her something different to do.

I don’t think Rousey looked weak. They laid that match out perfectly and I loved it. A lot of people loved it. If they cut out ten minutes it would have hurt the match. I don’t have complaints about it.

3. Ben Dombek
Do you think WWE could ever do a women’s only PPV? They’ve got enough women, titles, and Ronda to headline and you could do the finals of the Mae Young classic.

I think they should do a women’s PPV. Absolutely. Why not? It would be cool and I think the fans would support it a lot. The timing is good to do it this year with how much they are pushing women’s wrestling as well as Rousey’s presence. They could fill three hours for sure.

4. Uzoma Iwuagwu
Where would you rank Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H among the best WrestleMania opening bouts?

I think it’s second to Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart at WrestleMania 10, which I gave five stars. I rated Bryan vs. Triple H ****1/4 out of five and wrote a whole column about it here. Here’s the column on Owen vs. Bret in our WrestleMania’s Greatest Matches section.

5. Giles Hart
Do you have a favourite match “spot” you remember where things could’ve gone wrong but luckily didn’t? E.g. My 2 childhood ones are from 2000 with Shane McMahon falling off the titantron at Summerslam and Rikishi diving off the steel cage onto Val Venis at Fully Loaded. I love them but there were certainly major risks involved.

Also, are you glad the world’s not ending anymore because they finally remembered to recommission The Edge and Christian Show?

Mick Foley’s two big bumps at KOTR 1998 the HIAC match. When they happened we thought he was seriously hurt, but then when you find out he’s okay you think about it like “holy shit that was incredible and people are going to love him for continuing to wrestle after that.” That was insane to me.

I’m glad E&C show is coming back. Nice to see because they have a good sense of humor and I enjoy it.

6. JD Robert
What is the worst match you have seen?

It’s hard to pick one. So many bad ones. I can think of main event level matches like Taker vs. Taker, Diesel vs. Mabel and then stuff people forget, but I remember like Stevie Richard vs. Tyson Tomko with Richards in a dress or Pat Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco in an Evening Gown match. Anything with Hervina. That that women’s battle at WM25 was atrocious. Anything with Giant Gonzalez, Nathan Jones or Heidenreich. I could go on and on and I apologize for not picking just one lol.

Those are all WWE matches. The one that really sticks out is a TNA match when Sharmell (Booker T’s wife) wrestled Jenna Morasca from the reality show Survivor. It was brutal.

7. Charlie Pérez
Not sure if it was asked before but, the Cena/Nikki breakup, do you think it’s real or just a publicity stunt for Total Bellas?

I assume it is real and maybe that’s naive on my part, but from what I understand they barely see eachother because John travels so much for his various projects while Nikki mostly stays in San Diego or Phoenix or wherever Brie is with her baby because they are working on their business. So if you barely see somebody then it’s not much of a relationship.

With that said, if it’s a work then so be it and I don’t care that much either way. I just want people to be happy. I’m sure some fans would be mad if it was a work because you wouldn’t expect people in wrestling to try to fake stuff like this.

Nikki is gorgeous and very successful on her own merits, so it’s not going to be hard to find a guy to marry if she wants that and have kids, which John legitimately doesn’t want to have.

8. Eric Hay
How long do you think Steve Austin would’ve wrestled if not for the injury? Do you think he would’ve ever faced Hogan and who would you have had win the match? I know three questions, I’m a heel.

I listen to his podcast a lot and he’s been asked this a bunch. His answer is honest because he says he was about 38 years old when he retired, so he would have liked to go another 4 or 5 years full time and maybe he could have been a part-time wrestler. It’s a shame the injuries slowed him down, but there’s nothing worse for a wrestler than a neck/spine injury. Knees suck too, but the neck/spine pain is the worst for them.

I would have had Austin beat Hogan because he’s younger and more popular. They did wrestle in some tags. It’s a shame that it didn’t happen as a singles match even though there would have been a clash in styles.

9. Chris Young
Who introduced you to wrestling? Who was your first favorite wrestler?

My older male cousins got me into it, plus my dad and uncles like it too. I’m the baby of 14 first cousins (counting my two older sisters and older brother), so whatever they wanted to influence me in, it was done. Most of the cousins are guys. My oldest cousin, also a John that’s 19 years older than me, got me to like sports at a young age (I could recite so many stats by like 5 years old) and he would take me to games, buy me baseball cards, hockey cards and so on. That led to wrestling where he would get me magazines or tapes to watch.

Randy Savage was my first favorite wrestler around 1986 when I was six. I didn’t care if he was a bad guy at the time. He looked so cool to me with the flashy robes, the raspy voice, the memorable promos he would do and he was really athletic in the ring. We all did Macho Man impressions. I liked Hulk Hogan like most kids, but Savage was my guy.

10. Avid Fons
Who can you see main eventing WrestleMania next year?

The rumors are WWE has visions of Charlotte vs. Rousey and they might do it. Other than that, maybe Bryan vs. Miz if they can build it right (I think they will do it way before WrestleMania) or perhaps something like Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens. I don’t want Reigns again after four in a row with him. I think getting somebody like AJ Styles or Seth Rollins in the main event would be cool although I’m not sure who they would feud with.

11. Martin Perry
Do you envision a 3MB reunion on Raw of some kind at some point, maybe just a backstage skit?

I think they can do it where they are all walking down a hallway at different points, then kinda stare at eachother and Drew and Jinder beat up Heath since they are heels. To do a full reunion and seriously try to push them sounds unlikely. It would be fun to a quick segment backstage, though.

12. Cody Nathaniel Linder
Will WWE pull the trigger on Braun as a major champion?

Oh yeah. They should have already. I would have done it at No Mercy last September and if they wanted to get the title back on Lesnar, do it at the Royal Rumble. They should have done it when Braun was really gaining steam.

13. Eric Cowfer
Which of the very well-done 24 specials on WWE Network would you recommend for me to show someone who isn’t a fan that might show them just why I am a fan?

I enjoy the ones about the individual wrestlers the most like what they did about Angle, Rollins and Balor, but that’s not as good for somebody that’s a fan. I would recommend any of the WrestleManias that they have up because they show the atmosphere and the work the talent puts in as well. They are very well done.

14. Jon Martin
Would you be down for a legit Goldust IC title push?

If they invested time in the story and did something where it was like if you lose this match then you retire and he ends up winning the IC Title that would be cool.. A nice way to help him wrap up his career whenever that happens in the next few years. But would I really want to see it considering the other talent WWE has? Not really. I saw it over 20 years ago.

15. Geoff Landtbom
Last weekend I saw the October 9, 2000 episode of Raw where Rikishi admitted running over Stone Cold Steve Austin. But it’s clear that that part of the story didn’t really work out because the feud ended on October 30 when Austin beat him in a steel cage match. And then the story turned to Triple H. Do you think it would have been better if they had just gone with Rock as the mastermind behind the plot?

It would have been stupid if it was Rock. They needed him as a face that can help sell tickets and 2000 was when he was really doing a lot for business.

It should have been Hunter, but they wanted it to lead to somebody getting a heel push. I remember reading that they thought about Billy Gunn in the spot for a bit although I have my doubts that it was seriously considered. Rikishi was something they tried, then they put the heat on Hunter shortly after and they moved on.

16. Roger Nicklaus
What were your thoughts on Mark Henry’s “plea” to Martha Hart during his speech at the Hall of Fame. Are you aware of any response or reaction from her or the family?

I loved it. I wish more people would talk about it, but they want to respect Martha’s wishes and she is very anti-WWE obviously. What Mark said, he said out of love and respect for Owen, so it’s not like he was being disrespectful. If anything, he wants Owen to be recognized for how great he was.

Owen’s son and daughter are in their 20s now. I don’t know what they want. I know some members of the Hart family and they would all love it, but they can’t really talk about it much or push for it. I mean I know Bret Hart has openly asked WWE to put the Hart Foundation stable in and has done so for years, but WWE has done nothing about that.

17. Larry Yadao
Even though everyone KINDA knew wrestling always was predetermined, was there a specific moment that mainstream wise it was openly accepted and almost displayed as “Fake”?

I don’t think there was a specific moment. It’s just more accepted in our generation and this internet era we live in. They protected the business so much in the 80s and before that. I don’t think there’s a specific moment, though. The results are fake, but it sure can be fun and if you can accept it then you can love it like we do.

18. Adam Symes
How much “down time” do superstars get at the moment, I was just thinking with Mania Week/TV shows/House Shows/Overseas tour they can’t of spent much time at home in the last month or so…

I think WWE is pretty nice about it. The talent was in New Orleans from Wednesday before WM to Tue or Wed morning depending on what show they were on. Then they were off until this past Monday. Some of them had to go South Africa for the shows there.

It’s a tough schedule. On average they work 4 days a week and home for three days a week, but one of those days is also flying back on Tuesday (if they are on Raw) or Wednesday (Smackdown) morning.

It’s also an easier schedule than what Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan worked in their primes and probably easier than the late 1990s/early 2000s era as well. I’m not saying it’s easy to do what they do. Just saying the schedule has improved. It’s also better with the brand split because some people were traveling five days a week in the past and now it’s down to four.

I don’t believe wrestling should have an offseason, but it is important to give talent some weekends off. Some of them do get that, especially the people that have been in the business for a long time. You can say this wrestler is off the first weekend of every month and then they are on the other three weekends. I know that for some of the wrestlers with kids, they do get the opportunity to do that and I’m sure they are grateful for it.

I know that was a bit long-winded. I think the best way to sum it up is that I don’t think the schedule is as bad as the worst critics might think and I don’t think it’s easy either.

19. Joe Craven
Is the Greatest Rumble match pointless if the winner only receives a trophy?

Pointless to the fans I guess, but not pointless to WWE considering they are probably getting paid in the millions (I don’t even want to guess how much) to be there and it will be a huge payday for the company.

20. Jared Jackson-Ferrans
We’ve seen people like Ronda Rousey and Matt Riddle come over from the UFC and do well in pro wrestling recently, is there any other fighter, past or present, you’d like to have seen make that jump?

Daniel Cormier if he was younger because I know he was a legit fan. I saw he made comments about wanting to be a commentator in WWE. He’s 40 or so now, so it’s not going to happen for him as a wrestler.

I think Jon Jones would be great at it, but he’s a troubled soul. He’s still young enough that if he gives up MMA in a few years he may have a chance to ty wrestling if he wants to.

Chael Sonnen has the promo skills and is a legit fan. He’s older now, though.

It would have to be people that are fans rather than guys that just show up to get paid. If you don’t love wrestling, don’t try it lol.

21. Eric Stuve
Do you see Hulk Hogan returning to the WWE in any capacity anytime soon?

Within the next 2 or 3 years to show up and wave to the fans? Maybe. It’s not like they utilize old wrestlers much. How often do Flair or Bret Hart show up? Even Shawn Michaels shows up like once or a twice a year and he works for WWE in developing talent in NXT. There’s no obvious role for Hogan that I can see. Plus, there are still a lot of people that are going to hate Hogan for what he said about black people. Others miss him in the “WWE family,” so maybe there is that opportunity to bring him back in the future.

22. Steven White
Are gimmick wrestlers a thing of the past?

Yes although there are some exceptions like a Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt a bit. I think the issue (or problem if you want to say that) is the fans of today are too smart in that we know too much about the talent. It’s just hard to get a new gimmick over the way it used to be. People would laugh at shit like Undertaker and Kane today. They would never let it get it over.

I’m intrigued to see what happens with Velveteen Dream on the main roster because he’s got a really unique gimmick. He’s doing well in NXT with that fanbase, but I don’t know if it will translate as well when he’s on Raw or Smackdown.

23. John Mezzio
How long before we see cruiserweight tag titles? I don’t think it’s a good idea by the way.

I hope not. I know there have been discussions about them. I’d prefer women’s tag team titles if anything. Even then that would be a lot of titles on the main roster because there are 9 right now (4 on Raw, 4 on SD) counting the cruisers.

24. Ryan Mullins
Does anyone else wish Jeff Hardy was using the theme he had when he left WWE?? I think his current theme should be for The Hardy Boyz tag team. Is it just me that cares about stupid things like that??

I’ll admit that sometimes I don’t care about stuff like that, but this is an interesting one. You make a good point that the Hardy Boyz duo should have a song while Jeff had a really good song on his own. I liked his singles theme “No More Words” a lot. Perhaps now that Jeff is on his own on Smackdown he might go back to using that song. I’m not sure.

You can hear the song in this cool video below from a big moment in Jeff’s career in 2008.

25. Leon Bradley Watson
Do you think this upcoming PPV in Saudi Arabia will be a one shot deal in the WWE due to their stance against woman in general/and in the workplace while Stephanie McMahon is around trying to promote the Women’s Evolution in the WWE?

It depends on if they get the same offer to do it again next year. Rumors are they are getting anywhere from $30-40 million from Saudi Arabia to do the show and it’s hard to turn down a lot of money like that. What matters is that WWE is a business that’s trying to make money and this is going to be one of the most profitable shows of the year, probably second only to WrestleMania.

26. Sudarshan Udyavar
Why didn’t Ken Shamrock reached the next level? He was great in both heel as well as face role. Good wrestler. Not a bad talker. I guess even Bret had endorsed him while he was there. I liked all his high profile matches be it with Rock, Owen, Blackman. So what went wrong?

I think Shamrock was very good as an upper midcard face and didn’t break through because Steve Austin was too popular and too good. Shamrock wasn’t as good as a heel. You can’t push everybody to the title. If he was able to have a longer career in WWE (he really only wrestled there for about three years) then maybe he could have broken through. I would have loved to see Shamrock wrestle Kurt Angle or Brock Lesnar, for example.

This is just another example of you can’t push everybody to the top. That’s the wrestling business.

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Thanks to those of you that took part and I hope you enjoyed reading this. Check out our TJR Q&A section here if you want to read past editions of the Q&A. Have a great week.