Many Questions

Question
Hi Dave

How do u do. Hope you are doing well.

Isn't it too soon to make him the Rumble Winner, hence giving him the top Championship Oppurtunity at Wrestlemania?

I say so, b'caz he has never held any singles belt uptil now. And very few examples like Sheamus come to mind, who straight away went on to win the top championhsip.

Moreover, though it was surprising to see Booker T and Kevin Nash making a comeback. But none of the expected names like Triple H, Chris Jericho etc reappeared. Are they going to return till Wrestlemania? Also, was it a once-only stint for Booker T & Kevin Nash, or are they going to be active on either shows?

One can also see Championship oppurtunities being given to many new faces like John Morrison got one, Dolph Ziggler got one too. Wade Barrett got few during his Nexus run. But shouldn't a fresher be able to win his first title shot like in the days when Angle defeated Rock, and Orton defeated Benoit and it established them as a worthy champions.

Also, now that WWE has big roasters on both shows, so much so that they had to held a 40 man Rumble match, shouldn't they also double the tag-team belts, and introducesome formiddable tag-teams. They also have good stables on both shows now.

Finally, I couldn't help but ask again- Who is the Anonymous GM?

Since, there are many questions, please take your own time in answering them.

Regards,
Vicky

Answer
Hi Vicky.  Thanks for the question.  I am doing well, and I hope you are as well.

1.  I was a little bit surprised they went with Alberto Del Rio as the Royal Rumble winner.  He has been getting a huge push since he started with WWE, but like you said, he hasn't even won a title yet.  I didn't think they would go with him this early.  To get this kind of push, Vince McMahon must really think highly of him.

To be honest, I can't the stand the guy, but I have to admit he has been very impressive.  He's definitely over with the crowd, is very good on the mic, and his in ring work has been good too.  If you figure in all those factors, I guess you can't blame WWE for going with him.  There isn't going to be a bigger stage then WrestleMania if they want to elevate Del Rio to the next level.

2.  Since the news about Nash and Booker returning at the Royal Rumble, more info has been reported about them.

Nash reportedly is going to sign a legends contract with WWE.  It's basically a regular contract, only that it requires him to worker fewer dates, and WWE will promote new merchandise based on his character.  Also, at the Royal Rumble, a feud with Big Show was kind of foreshadowed, as they had a staredown when Nash was returning to the back, and Big Show was coming to the ring.

Booker is going to Smackdown as an announcer.  He debuts this week.  I haven't heard if this is a permanent thing, or just a trial run.  I know announcing is something that Booker has always been interested in.  It appears that Matt Striker is the odd man out as of now.

I just read today that Jericho is close to returning to WWE.

The Undertaker is still recovering from his injury, but the hope is that he will be able to return for WrestleMania.  The big rumor going around is that Sting is on the verge of signing with WWE, and that a match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania is being discussed.  

I'm not really sure what the deal with Triple H is.  He is being advertised for an upcoming Raw, so his return is imminent.  He should be recovered from his injury by now, and I can't see him missing WrestleMania.  

As a side note to Nash, Booker, and possibly Sting going to WWE, TNA had to do a lot of scrambling regarding their upcoming storylines.  It sounds like they were pretty confident that Nash, Booker, and Sting would return, and now with the possibility of losing all three of them, they had to rewrite a lot of their storylines.

3.  I don't know if I agree that a wrestler should win the title on his first try.  I don't think there's anything wrong with a challenger chasing a champion for a while before winning the title.  To me, it almost makes the champion look weak if he loses to the challenger right away.

I remember when I first started watching wrestling in the early 1980's, and the big feud in the  AWA was Hulk Hogan challenging Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA Title.  They had countless matches against other, and Bockwinkel always seemed to escape with the title.  When it looked like Hogan finally won the title, the decision was reversed after it was determined that Hogan accidently sent Bockwinkel over the top rope, which was illegal at the time.  Hogan never did win the title, and left for the WWF.  

Another example is Sting vs. Ric Flair for the NWA Title.  They had a classic match on TBS at the first Clash of the Champions that went to a 45 minute draw.  It set up a great feud, with Sting eventually winning the title.

My point is by having the challenger win the title on their first try, it takes from possibly months of great matches and storylines leading up to the eventual title change.  If Hogan had won the title from Bockwinkel right away, that would have taken away numerous matches between the two.  

4.  It would be nice if WWE would put more effort in their tag team division, much like TNA does.  If they double the belts, they definitely need to introduce more teams.  You can't really have two sets of titles and only a handful of teams.

The main problem is that Vince doesn't believe that tag teams make money, so he doesn't promote it as much.  There just aren't as many good teams out there as in the past, although that's partly WWE's fault for not pushing the division more.

5.  It's still anybody's guess at this point who the GM is.  Nobody knows for sure, and like I've said in the past, I don't know if WWE even knows at this point.  They might not have even decided who it is.

Thanks again for the question.  Let me know if you have anything else.

Have a great night!

Dave