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Rajah - GREEN
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Aree Jones - PINK

From: Andy
Hey mailbag staff, love the site, i was just wanting to get your opinions on some of the recent wwe slumps. First of all, i know you've probably been asked this a thousand times, but don't you agree with me when i say that practically no one is interested in the washed up story lines that the roster split crew has produced? The storylines are crap, the number of belts is crap, the amount of risks the wrestlers take is crap, it's just getting ridiculous. Can't Vince McMahon see that this roster split is just not working out, 3.2-3.5 ratings are just not what the wwe is capable of producing. What do you think?

It doesn't matter what I think. The WWE are totally 100% invested in the roster split. No doubt they were expecting things to be a little rocky after the merge, but due to a general slump in professional wrestling and the complete lack of competition, the rocky period has been extended indefinitely. The WWE are trying new things and no doubt they're prepared to wear the lower ratings until they find a winning formula for the roster split and re-branding scenario.

From: Tony Sedlacek
Rajah, and everybody else that makes this site great, how's it goin ? I read your site frequently and think it is real informative, as well as entertaining because I myself like to think into the future of WW"E" as far as what's going to happen and such. Anyhow, here's what I see... Austin's walkout is a storyline. It has to be. I realize that Ric Flair being his personal assistant and having to "pee" on Arn Anderson may not have been to Austins liking, but man, why would the guy walk out on the company that even HE has to know made him. Wrestlemania.... what a great time to make a comeback, when WWE's ratings are dwindling, let's bring back Austin. I think Vince McMahon had a pretty good idea that this expansion thing just might not work. So he has a back up plan just in case. Austin. Bring him back and all the loyal Austin supporters will return with him. I'm tellin ya, it's a storyline. I was a fan of the ODDITIES !!! Kurrigan rules !!! Yeah he does. Thanks for reading my warble and keep up the damn good work.

Interestingly, Tony sent this email to the Mailbag back in November. I can't remember why I archived it, maybe to see if the conspiracy theory about the Austin walk out would turn out to be true in a few months. Austin is on his way back, but I don't think his walk out was part of a storyline. In typical Vince McMahon fashion, he took a real life event and turned it into a storyline. This lead to a sort of blurring between the lines of reality and fantasy. For those who still think it might have been a work, consider the WWE's ratings slump - they would have had reeled Austin back in months ago when it became apparent that his "return" would have helped the ratings. Also, Austin's legal problems were very real and very serious and so was his divorce from Debra.
As for the Oddities, all I remember is that guy who carried that soft toy Kenny from South Park around and my favourite lyric of their theme song which I have been known to sing on occasion - "I can chew nails and spit out quarters", with a distinct New York-style accent on the "quarters" part.

From: frank brincat
hey guys, this is a sweet website and keep up the good work! My question is why aren't there any dominant groups anymore??? Well yeah there has been the nWo and the un-americans but that wasn't really a good idea. The nWo angle started off well....hall, hogan and nash screwing austin, the nWo kicking the rocks ass but after wrestle X8 the nWo were crap. As soon as hogan left the nWo.....i could see there really wasn't much hope. If the WWE has hogan, nash, HBK and HHH in the nWo there would be no doubt that we would be seeing the nWo on RAW today!!! what do you think???

Wrestling goes through phases. Sometimes there are more groups than you can poke a stick at, and other times there are none at all. It depends on what storylines are going, how many superstars are on the roster and if they want to start up the whole "group versus group" scenario. As for the nWo, I'm convinced the entire thing is cursed. WCW tried to bring it back to its former glory about five times after the initial wave of success. The WWE has tried to bring it back twice so far. It's time to take the nWo out the back and shoot it in the head. Stick a fork in it, because it's oh-so-done. Perhaps if the WWE looked at the nWo, past and present, and worked out what made the group so successful, and then taking into account the current state of wrestling, the condition of the roster and planning something long term, they might be able to create a NEW stable to rival the success of the nWo and DX.

From: Pride Hunter
The Invasion angle should have been the greatest angle in wrestling history but it sucked. I have watched wrestling for more than 20 years and dreamed of the day that I would see my favorites from different federations compete and it finally happened and was a complete failure. Do you have some insight on why this angle was handled so poorly?

The WWE seem to have developed a big case of short-sightedness. They had no plan in place when WCW fell into their laps. They booked on the fly, overwhelmed with the opportunity to create a series of "supercards", the likes of which the industry had only dreamed about. In their enthusiasm, they made a complete mess of it. The forced the two organisations together and played out a years worth of angles in a month and exhausted all of the "fantasy" match ups they had at their disposal. It's starting to piss me off that the WWE simply aren't capable of long term planning these days. All they need to do is a little research and a little planning and they can get back on track.

From: Callum Johnstone
Hey guys Great site, keep up the good work etc... This is kind of a combo opinion/question on the roster split. It just seems to me that if Vince really wanted to establish the two 'brands' as seperate the logical thing to have done, especially after having lost the case to the World Wildlife Fund, was to have gone the full way and RENAMED them as being seperate promotions not under the WWE banner, i.e like RWW (Raw World Wrestling) and SWW (Smackdown World Wrestling) each with their own world and tag titles. This would not only have added more weight to the illusion of two seperate brands but would also give more clout to the Raw brand's title. As it is you have Smackdown with the already long-established fed title and Raw with one that came out of thin air, but if BOTH brands had a new title (RWW/SWW championship) then neither champ would seem 'below' the other. Just a thought.

The WWE lost a LOT of name recognition when they were forced to abandon the "WWF" trademark. Never underestimate the power of advertising and the association people make with a brand. After that set back, the WWE would have been crazy to rename their organisation into RWW and SWW. Fans would have been extremely confused by such a confusing name change at such a confusing time! The WWE wants to establish two separate "brands", but they want to make it clear that both brands are part of the same organisation and come under the WWE banner. On the matter of new titles, I think the WWE has changed the title picture enough in the past year without scrapping all the old titles all together. Call me old school if you like, but if they scrapped every bit of WWE history I think I'd join the many whining internet wrestling fans and say "I'm not watching anymore".

From: Dan
Hey Guys whats up, Just a few quick questions here I hope they get into the mailbag cause Ive tried before and never seem to get in. You guys are my favorite and always will be. Now On to my questions. The first is when do you think we will see Shane back on Tv cause I remember when vince made bichoff the gm for raw shane said that he was a parasite. I thought a possibe feud with Shano Mac and Bichoff mitght've started up soon after , but it didnt. 2nd of all, will we see Kurt angle make a face turn any time soon, I know he is pretty good as heel but he is one of my favorite wreslers and would love to see him as a good guy soon. Final Question, Will kane Ever get another run with the Heavyweight title, I mean I remember when he was almost an unstoppable force and now he seems to be losing alot of matches lately, is kane in some sort of trouble with management or something???? I love your site and everyone who writes for it please put my questions in the mail bag pretty please Im begging you.Thanx....One of your biggest Fans.

No need to beg, it's really not that hard to "get in" to the mailbag. Almost every question (read: question not comment. Comments are for the forum and not the Mailbag, thank God) that is sent in ends up in here sooner or later. Unless they're really dumb questions like "Are Kane and the Undertaker really brothers?" or questions that we've already answered. If you can't be bothered to check back through at least the past five mailbags to see if your question has already be answered, then you're pissing me off and I'll delete your email at first reading. However, that doesn't take away from your specialness, Dan. Dan's email is a few months old (I've been clearing out the archives of our Mailbag inbox) and as we all know, Eric Bischoff and Shane McMahon did come face to face, but there was no indication of a long term angle to be played out. It's certainly possible somewhere down the track though, especially now that the groundwork has been laid. As for Kane getting another shot at the title, that's also possible but what we really need now is for the titles to be passed to the "next generation" of WWE superstars of which Kane is not a part. Awarding Kane with the title isn't really going to open new doors storyline wise, so don't hold your breath waiting for a Kane championship reign any time soon.

From Colin
Great site guys, keep up the good work. Just a couple of things i'd like your opinion on. Firstly, in a previous mailbag it was pointed out that 4 weeks of shows for every pay per view wasn't enough time to build up any decent storyline which is fair enough but do you think that the wwe would think about doing 6 ppvs each for raw & smackdown or even 5 each and they could share wrestlemania + royal rumble? Also, does it piss off any Canadian fans the anti-canadian storylines done in the past cause i know we scots get fed up with the english slagging us off? Cheers

I think I should clarify something here. The context of that question and my answer were in regards to creating an incredibly brilliant PPV. I was asked why the WWE's PPV's were distinctly mediocre and my reply was because there wasn't enough time for build up. The WWE can, and do, create PPV's based on four weeks worth of shows. It's not that it isn't "enough time", it's that it isn't enough time to create an amazing PPV. Separate PPV's for the brands would be a complete failure at this moment in time. I don't watch Smackdown, so I wouldn't buy a Smackdown only PPV. People who only watch Smackdown and don't like Raw wouldn't buy a Raw only PPV. However, if you push the two "brands" together, then you can cross-expose people to various brands and wrestlers in the hopes of boosting ratings. Also, I think the WWE have long term plans to pit Smackdown wrestlers against Raw wrestlers and vice versa. That was the originally plan, and really, it's a good idea as long as it is handled right.
I'm not Canadian, so I don't know if anti-Canadian storylines piss Canadians off. Dare I say that they're probably used to it? Americans have a tendency to make fun of and disparage people who aren't American. I guess the Canadians bear the brunt of such aggression because they're the closet and easiest targets. Like the English and the Scottish.

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