SEScoops Mailbag for December 21st
(please submit YOUR questions to sescoops@gmail.com) or follow @solomonster on Twitter and submit them that way!
Q: Who creates the [wrestler’s ring attire]? Do [they] design their own attire or do WWE officials make the decision about it? Rey Mysterio is one prime example because he always has new and updated wrestling gear almost every week. – Gary from Malaysia
A: My understanding is that in many cases, both sides work together. There are people in WWE who offer creative ideas for t-shirt designs and the like, but the wrestlers have a great deal of input into things as well. As far as ring attire goes, look no further than, say, Mantaur or any number of wacky characters over the years as evidence that WWE has their own input into what certain guys should be wearing. The same for be said for The Shield right now – obviously, it’s part of their gimmick. On the flip side, Zack Ryder and the Ghostbuster-themed tights he was recently sporting on Raw would be a great example of a wrestler having significant input into his own attire.
Q: With reports of Jeff Hardy leaving TNA early next year, what do you think will happen to the company once he is gone because I thought he was one of their top merchandise sellers? – Tyler from Davis, FL
A: Personally, I don’t think Jeff Hardy is going anywhere. As far as the fate of TNA were he to leave, it would hurt them a bit, but it wouldn’t be a killer. He does sell the most merchandise, and there has, in fact, been an increase in the number of PPV buys with him as champion (a report in the Wrestling Observer newsletter cited Final Resolution as having done 11,000 buys with Hardy in the main event, a 38% increase over what Aries and Roode were doing as champion). His impact on the ratings has been virtually non-existent. TNA is going to continue to do the same numbers they always do, by and large.
Q: Out of all the WWE champions in history, who do you think is the greatest of all time? – Ravonn from New York City
A: Greatest of all time means different things to different people. Are we talking pop culture impact? Ticket sales and PPV buys? Most title reigns? I’d say each era has its own greatest. Bruno would have been the best of his era, Hogan the best of his, Austin for the Attitude Era, and Cena for the PG Era. You take each of those guys out of the equation and business during that era suffers greatly as a result.
Q: When Triple H takes over WWE, do you think that [will be] a good thing or a bad thing? – Euquine from New York
A: I think it will be a good thing. I already like his approach to handling the developmental system. It feels like a priority now and that largely has to do with Hunter. Then again, I think they realized they needed to create new stars and fast, so really, they had no choice. But he’s an old school guy and we need more of that in today’s wrestling.
Q: Many view John Cena as the Rock of this age, who himself was like Hulk Hogan. In the same way, many draw comparisons to Stone Cold. In that way, who was the Stone Cold of the previous generation? If it was Cena-Rock-Hogan, then who was CM Punk-Stone Cold? – Jeff T.
A: Closest thing I could compare Austin to from the generation that came before would be Roddy Piper. Like Austin, he was a good worker, but had an even better personality. He was controversial at a time when not many others dared to do or say the things that he did. Some would call CM Punk the “Stone Cold” of the modern era, but I think that’s doing a disservice to Punk. He’s great in his own way.
Q: Can you please explain the whole Muhammad Hassan situation that happened on Smackdown that led to his release? Was it really the scene of him chanting some prayers, and some masked people coming and strangling Undertaker with a piano rope that led to his departure? I mean, if that was solely the main reason, Undertaker’s charater did far more extreme things like that, isn’t it? Hassan was a good character, able to draw a tremendous amount of heat, and I feel it’s a pity he was released. – Tej
A: I don’t recall him doing anything wrong. The reason WWE got in so much hot water for airing that angle (which really was pretty stupid) was because they did so on the same day as a terrorist attack in London. While Smackdown was a taped show and they could have, in theory, edited that segment out of the show, they had already sent the tape to UPN, so it was out of their hands. They received a lot of backlash over it and it came out later that the network had basically pressured WWE not to feature the Hassan character on the show going forward. I suppose they could have moved him over to Raw, but I think the damage was done and his goose was cooked at that point.
Q: What do you think would be a harder challenge, facing Ryback in an eating contest or Stone Cold in a beer drinking contest? – Kirk from Fort Worth, TX
A: Trick question. The correct answer is sitting through 3 hours of Raw every week.
Keep those questions coming to sescoops@gmail.com and remember to include your name!
