TJR Q&A #46: The Miz Having A Strong Year, Goldberg’s Future in WWE & More!
Here is the second batch of the most recent Q&A based off of questions from my Facebook page. I posted 30 questions and answers on Saturday night. Here are 29 more questions and answers.
1. John St. Pierre
Which 3 cruiserweight matches do you recommend to see from WCW? For some reason I wanna see some of them.
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero @ Halloween Havoc 1997 – Best WCW match ever.
Rey Mysterio vs. Psychosis @ Bash at the Beach 1996
Blitzkrieg vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Psycosis – WCW Nitro April 19, 1999. I remember it as a classic and looked it up to find the date. Highly recommend it.
Anything Rey, Juvi, Kidman is great. Some Ultimo Dragon, Jericho and Malenko matches were very memorable too.
2. Mike Liberto
Who do you see as the next person to never win the WWE/Universal title despite being a great worker, like Mr Perfect or Hot Rod?
Goldust since he’s active.
Cesaro is another name that comes to mind. I hope I’m wrong on that one, though.
3. Charlie Pérez
What is your most prized WWE possession?
I can’t think of anything. I don’t collect merch or stuff like that. I do keep my ticket stubs together just to have them and from sporting events too, so I have a lot of WWE event ticket stubs. Sorry for not having a better answer. I’m just not a collector at all.
4. Bob Stephen
If you could take someone from the Attitude Era and one from now to form a tag team who would you choose and why? Or maybe 1/2 from attitude era and 1/2 from now to form a stable?
Steve Austin and Kevin Owens. Would be awesome. Either would work in any era. Owens would have been better in that period. I would have liked to see them as rivals. Also, AJ Styles with Shawn Michaels as a team or rivals would be amazing.
5. Scotty Mengedoht
Will Samoa Joe be on the Raw Survivor Series team you think? Maybe come as a face??
Joe might be on it, but I don’t see him as a face because they need heels especially if Strowman just turned face. Joe should be returning to action any week now.
6. Giles Hart
Is there a wrestler and/or match you personally love/enjoy, even though you know they are globally considered as awful or the worst? Mine for instance are Mordecai, Boogeyman and JBL’s matches as WWE Champion.
Vince vs. Zach Gowen. Surprisingly good! Vengeance 2003.
I also loved Candice Michelle…for her matches…sure.
7. Oscar Omar Fernandez
After that insane yet very interesting ending to Raw this past week with Smackdown Live “firing the first shot” for Survivor Series, what are your thoughts on the crowd being dead? Would it had gotten a better reaction if they were in a better City?
I’m not sure what people wanted the crowd to do. They had to stare at the video screen for 10 minutes, so that will kill any crowd. If Kurt punched Shane and the SD guys beat up Kurt that would have helped, but it didn’t really have anything happening in terms of action, so it was tough to react to it.
8. Ed Luis Valentin
Last year, you said that AJ Styles is the best wrestler in the world. Dave Meltzer says that Okada and Omega are better. Do you agree or disagree?
I think Okada and Omega are at the same level as Styles. Both are younger, so that helps them. They also work for NJPW, who allows them to have longer matches and more marquee matches.
9. John Adams
You think The Shield (Rollins & Ambrose) vs Usos at Survivor Series going to over under 3 stars? Should be one of the best matches of the night.
I would think it’s going to be at least four stars out of five and maybe more. They are too good to not get to that level if they get 15 minutes like I expect.
10. Stephen Rancourt
Who will you be voting for in this week’s tag team Something to Wrestle With poll?
Love that podcast. Bruce and Conrad do a great job with it. I voted for Edge & Christian! My dudes. Saw them in the indies before WWE days. Listened to the E&C podcast with Sami Zayn that was pretty good. Sami isn’t that funny or over the top, but it’s good to hear them talking wrestling.
11. Patrick McMullen
Miz for the Johnny wrestler of the year award? Any chance?
Miz is definitely a contender. My annual WWE Johnny Awards column is WWE only, so Miz is going to be up for considering. I think Braun Strowman is a candidate and then there’s AJ Styles, who is the best performer that maybe hasn’t had as many big matches this year. It’s tough to go against him. Truth is I don’t know yet.
12. Anthony James
What would you do to get fans more interested in Lesnar vs Jinder at Survivor Series and how would you fantasy book the match itself?
Maybe a viral infection for Jinder and he’s replaced by AJ Styles. Easy!
As a serious answer, the way to get people more interested is having Mahal attack Lesnar, leave him laying and then have Mahal brag about it repeatedly. Make it so that Lesnar doesn’t get his hands on him until Survivor Series, so then you have Paul Heyman doing a serious promo full of anger with Lesnar seeking revenge. That way people get more excited for the match.
Lesnar should win and I don’t think it’s that hard to book it. Doing it in 8-10 minutes is probably enough.
13. Jon Martin
Does Goldust have one more IC title run left in him?
Probably not. He’s almost 50 years old. Let’s let the younger guys hold that title, but if it were to happen it would be cool nostalgia.
14. Brett Beatty
Is it too late for Apollo Crews to turn his WWE career around? Personally I think he is super talented but hasn’t clicked with the audience yet.
He’s still young. I would push him as more of a team with Titus and see if it can take off. There’s no reason to give up on the guy.
15. Ronni Bettz
What’s your favorite Survivor Series?
Probably 2002 off the top of my head. 1998 is pretty awesome too. I reviewed most of them last year, so check that out using this link.
16. John Finnie
Who do you think will end Asuka’s streak??? Will it be a Raw woman or a debut from NXT or a return??
Hard to know, but hope it lasts for a year or so on the main roster. Not sure if Vince can be that patient lol. I’ll say Charlotte ends it since they are always putting her over haha.
Another possible name is Kairi Sane, who won the Mae Young Classic. She’s Japanese like Asuka, so that would be a cool story.
17. Jesse Ornelas
Why does WWE hate it so much when wrestlers get over on their own?
I don’t think they do, but they should be better at it when a guy like Zack Ryder got over a few years back. Had a mild push and then it just ended. It’s probably because they are set in their ways with plans, so it’s tough for them to change things up.
18. Ricardo Sánchez
I like your writing man, you’re one of the best wrestling writers out there and you did everything on your own. I follow you since forever and I’m proud of every step you take. That being said, I feel sometimes you’re somewhat biased towards WWE and kinda leave aside other promotions like NJPW and ROH. Do you plan on writing some about those, since it’s undeniable their impact in popular wrestling lore?. I mean I like Omega and all those dudes that I’d love to see the same enthusiasm from respected writers like you.
Love ya, man. Keep the good work coming and god bless.
I write about 20k to 30k words per week between three sites that I write at as a full time job. The thought of doing more makes me cringe. When I’m not writing I try to think of other things and watch other sports or do things with friends. I need to unplug sometimes because I’m so wrapped up in the wrestling business. I do appreciate the kind words and the fact that people want to read more is cool. I just don’t think it’s likely.
Thanks for the respectful question. Sometimes people are mad that I don’t write about non-WWE stuff as if I owe them money or something lol. I watch my fair share of NJPW and I enjoy it partly because I don’t have to write about it. I write enough about the business, so when I watch something without writing I can enjoy it even more.
19. Brian Coats
What would be your ideal 5 on 5 Survivor Series Elimination Match using five wrestlers from now and five wrestlers from the past?
Can pick dozens of wrestlers, but here are ten: Austin, Shawn, Savage, Angle (in his prime) and Rock
vs.
Styles, Omega, Okada, Zayn, Rollins
20. David Harnick
When will RAW do a counter attack on Smackdown? I’m thinking it’ll be this coming Tuesday. But they could wait until the go home show.
It’s hard to know because the Raw crew is leaving Baltimore after Raw to go to European for their nearly two week long tour over there. Both crews are working next Mon/Tue as well, so it’s going to be tough to do. Not sure what the plan is. Perhaps it will be the go home show as you said.
21. Jeremy Barnes
Do you believe that Rusev/Lana should be back together in the ring it is weird to see them going separately even tho it is better than they did with Rusev/Summer and Ziggler/Lana?
I would put them back together. Both are worse without the other, so it’s another example of a WWE booking move that didn’t help the characters split up.
22. Tommy Mondschein
Do you see Goldberg coming back or is his character dead?
He’s old. Stay home. Nostalgia was fine for him for six months last year. I don’t really miss him, though. I think it’s very possible he is the headline name in the 2018 Hall of Fame as well.
23. Kimsan Song
This should be a fun question. Wrestlers use tons of catch phrases that can be used in a regular conversation. Do you ever find yourself using one without realizing oh, this rassler said it etc? I find myself saying “it doesn’t matter what you think” and half way into saying it I channel my inner Rock.
If it’s a friend that is a fan then yes I’ll use wrestling lingo for sure, but otherwise not really.
24. Lee Diones
Should New Day stop changing what they say prior to entrance after “clap for your” since the crowd never seems to know what to chant along with as it always changes?
I think they should change it so they end the intro by telling the fans to clap their fans and make their voices heard by chanting “New Day Rocks” so that’s what the fans do. I see what you’re saying. Makes sense to me.
With that said, the trio of Big E, Woods and Kingston have done very well together and they don’t need our advice because they made the New Day act work so wll.
25. Kevin C Staed
Kevin Owens vs Brock Lesnar. Could it ever happen and do you think it would be a good match up?
It happened at a live event in NYC, but not televised. It would be good if Lesnar sold for him. I say that about every Lesnar match because sometimes he chooses not to sell a lot and have a six or seven minute match, which hurts the quality. So it’s up to Brock working with the guy.
26. Sean Clark
Do you think it would’ve been fun to see Vince run for President once? Imagine the debate with his opposition lol.
He would be so confrontational any time somebody questions him lol. That’s what happens when running a company for 40+ years. Huge ego. It would be pretty funny for sure.
27. Sudarshan Udyavar
If Owen Hart was alive do you think Vince would have made him WWE Champion?
I don’t think Owen would have been pushed to that level mainly because they had so many guys like Austin, Rock, HHH, Taker that were bigger stars and Owen wasn’t going to get pushed ahead of them. It would have been nice if Owen had the title briefly in 1994 when he was the most over as a top heel, but sadly that didn’t happen.
28. Barry Black
What are your thoughts on Dave Meltzer? He doesn’t seem to like anything WWE does and constantly praises NJPW. I think its because he prefers pure wrestling and strong style as opposed to PG kid friendly WWE.
I like him a lot. He has been a huge influence on me and always helpful when I contact him about questions or just wanting to share an opinion. Saying he doesn’t like things that WWE does is pretty foolish and I assume you don’t read the newsletter. I’ve subscribed for like 15 years. In the last one, his review of TLC actually had better star ratings than me for nearly the entire card, so he liked it more than me and people say I like WWE too much.
Dave worked for the LA Times and has been profiled in the New York Times. Been doing this for over 30 years. He’s earned a lot of respect and that’s why his opinion matters to a lot of people. I enjoy reading and listening to him.
29. Daniel Hill
Hi John, I got married yesterday so my question is simply have WWE ever done a good wedding angle? Kane tombstoning the priest is the one I remember most.
Congrats on the wedding! That was a fun angle with Kane marrying Lita.
Also loved HHH stealing drunken Stephanie from Test and marrying her was awesome.
The fake wedding of Billy & Chuck leading to Bischoff taking off makeup since he was the priest and then the attack from Three Minute Warning was a brilliant angle.
There have been some solid ones for sure. Some stupid ones, but I have enjoyed some of them.
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That’s all for now. I’ll do another Q&A within a few weeks. I try to do them every two weeks, but sometimes I’m not able to. Check out the Q&A archive here. Thanks for reading.