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Where do you expect WrestleMania 41 to take place?
The front runner had been Minneapolis but there's been some rumblings of it possibly being in Las Vegas. With Endeavor now owning WWE, the old traditions and plans are out the window in favor of whatever they deem to be the best moves for the company.
There's a clip online of Hulk Hogan in a creative meeting for TNA, any idea where this is from?
I believe it was from the A&E "Finding Hulk Hogan" documentary.
Why would WWE replace Matt Camp with Sam Roberts?
I don't believe it's a case of Roberts specifically replacing Camp. I think it was a case of him asking to appear after WWE dropped Camp for whatever the justification for that was, because on the surface it makes zero sense to fire someone that good at what he does, but wrestling often doesn't make sense. If you are Roberts and WWE asks you to come in and do some work, it's not like you are going to say no. You're going to help out the company you work for, the same as Camp would have done or anyone who cares about their job would do. I don't think it was or should be seen as a Camp vs. Roberts deal, at all. It very easily could have been Kayla Braxton or Byron Saxton being asked to fill the role - and it could be one of them next week or the week after.
I am doing a rewatch ahead of the new season and I was wondering, when you were in the A&E Steve Austin documentary, were you paid? Why haven't you been in any others? Were there any you wanted to be in?
I was not paid and didn't ask to be paid. I haven't been asked to appear in any other A&E Biography episode and I don't go seeking those sort of appearances out. If someone asks me and I think it's an interesting project, I'm happy to do it. I don't think anyone wouldn't want to sit and discuss one of the biggest stars of all time. I was happy to do it, especially since the same team that made the amazing Michael Jordan documentary on Netflix were involved. If there was one I would have loved to do, just for personal reasons, it would have been the Roddy Piper doc.
Who do you think are the most criminally underutilized WWE stars and how should they be used in your opinion?
On the male side, it has been Cedric Alexander for years. He's as good as anyone inside the ring from a timing perspective and can draw fans with his selling and in-ring as well as a Rick Steamboat or a Ricky Morton ever did, but he's never been given that chance on the main roster. I've seen him consistently have good matches for years before and during his WWE run and I don't get how Paul Levesque, who signed him during the Cruiserweight Classic, doesn't see a chance at trying to rebuild that sort of style around Alexander as a central figure. I'm thrilled to see him in the new team with Ashante The Adonis. I hope they are given the chance to be a great working tag team, whether they are heels or babyfaces, because I can see them being a big part of the athletic presentation going forward, especially as WWE leans into more sports-centric content. But, if they didn't, Cedric could and should be someone just working his way up the card winning matches. Have WWE follow him home as he looks to reset himself and show his family, training with George South, visiting old friends. Make him someone that the audience can see as a real person with true passion. Then when a heel disrespects him (they could even do the old bit where he passes someone in the aisle and when the heels tries to disrespect him, Cedric fires up and there's a big brawl), we can see Cedric show some real fire. He's awesome and I hope in 2024, he gets to show everyone how awesome he is, because if not, it's a true shame.
On the women's end, it's Zelina Vega in my opinion and I don't know why they don't get behind her more. She deseves to be more than cheerleading to LWO, since she's shown some really good acting ability in the Santos Escobar storyline. After The Rhea Ripley match, I always felt that they could have gone very personal with Vega's story, since her mother was at ringside. She could have promised her mother that she was going to win the title in honor of her father's memory and that her goal was to bring the title to the 9/11 Memorial in honor of her father. Given that this would literally be her echoing her real life, there would be a way to present it so it was emotional and inspirational without being exploitive. You show all the family photos and you have Vega talk about getting into the business to honor her father, show her going "home" to NYC to train with her cousin Amazing Red, have her running through the Streets of NYC like Rocky, really lean into it before she even has a chance. Have her win Money in the Bank and declare she's coming for the belt in Puerto Rico or NYC and Rhea can be the monster heel while Zelina plays the miracle underdog babyface. From there she either wins the belt or she loses, but if she's gotten the audience hooked emotionally, they can go in any direction they want with her, but there's money to be made with her in my opinion. Just how hard she works given her smaller size makes her a pretty unique asset - her performance in the Royal Rumble showcased that. Hopefully, she gets the chance.
How tired are you to have to correct incorrect versions of your reporting?
Not tired, annoyed. Unfortunately, no matter how much or how often I correct something, there's going to be someone out there who believes an incorrect version or BS story about what we stated or wrote or reported. Not much I can do about that and I've tried for a long time to ignore it and place my energy into doing my job, but I've seen a lot of stupidity lately. It's sad what passes for reading comprehension these days and how that leads to garbage on social media.
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