Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS TO THE PWINSIDER Q&A BY CLICKING HERE.
There's been a lot of complaints about Raw not celebrating the women's division more at Raw 30. Thoughts?
I would agree and talked about this in my Elite Audio on the show. WWE, at best, CERTAINLY underserved the importance of the company's female performers in recent Raw history on the show. If you are going to show Chris Jericho, who's a major part of the competition in archival material, why can't you show Sasha Banks, Paige, Naomi, AJ Lee or even Bull Nakano and The Fabulous Moolah? If you are going to show Vince McMahon, there's zero reason not to show Moolah, right?
I think the Bellas had every right and were justified in calling out the company for it as they really FOUGHT for the women to be used more over the years and we can certainly make an argument that the women have been a major factor in the most entertaining and dynamic portions of the show in recent years. Had it not been for the women's revolution and the addition of all those talents, WWE would have been a far blander product in recent years and certainly Paul Levesque knows that. It was certainly a big mistake in my mind.
Were there any male performers you felt weren't showcased?
First of all, I will be the first to point out that even with three hours, you can't showcase everyone. That said, to me, the two that stuck out to me as I attended the show was primarily, the late Curt Hennig, who was a big part of the first year of Raw and had the first "great" match on Raw vs. Ric Flair. Hennig was a big part of the first year, feuding with Flair and then Shawn Michaels. Not showing him felt weird to me. He shouldn't be forgotten in my mind.
I also felt that Drew McIntyre not being shown once when he was the WWE Champion carrying the company through the entire pandemic and Thunderdome era was a great diservice to what he's brought to the company in recent years. I was stunned they showed NO real footage or stills from the Thunderdome era, given what a horrendous circumstance everyone was dealing with and that they worked so hard despite the hardships. Drew was the centerpiece of that and should have been acknowledged in some way.
I didn't think of this offhand, but a lot of people pointed out after the show that if you are going to show Chris Jericho's debut, CM Punk's Pipebomb promo being ignored was silly, and I would agree. That was a major moment for Raw and the company at the time. Again, you can't show EVERYTHING but I think even a still shot of those three should have been included.
Where was Damian Demento? I kid. I kid.
He was waiting for Max Moon to pick him up at the train station. He's still waiting. Hopefully he makes it for the 35th anniversary.
How did AEW get Mark Briscoe on TV? I thought WBD didn't want the Briscoes?
It had to have been something Tony Khan and AEW pushed for and finally made happen. The reality is, as I wrote previously, is that Mark never did anything questionable so it would be really stupid to keep him off AEW TV. I'm glad WBD saw the light or whatever, even though this never should have been an issue to begin with in my mind.
In your excellent Jay Briscoe article, you mentioned a wrestler named Ric Blade? Who was he and whatever happened to him?
He was a wrestler who worked really hard and took some really insane high-risks, which led to a lot of injuries. I haven't heard of him wrestling in a long, LONG time, as in decades, so he moved on. I don't have any awareness of what he's up to these days, but he was a big part of CZW in 2001 when they were the hottest independent promotion that year.
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!
Bang On Casino
