Pro wrestling news, Q&A
With the first half of WrestleMania having taken place Saturday night and the second part of the card taking place tonight, there is plenty to discuss in the world of pro wrestling.
Since this column was turned in before the first half of Mania took place, let鈥檚 take a look at a few tidbits as well as answer a few questions.
With that said, WWE is supposed to have a big surprise with Mania, and if so, will it have taken place Saturday night, or will it happen tonight?
Will it have something to do with Rob Gronkowski?
And will every Mania be two nights from here on out?
McMahon took part in conference call
Saturday afternoon, President Trump hosted a phone call with leaders from all major American sports organizations, including Vince McMahon, to discuss on the ongoing pandemic that has shut down all professional sporting events in this country.
Details were not released before this column was turned in, so we will look at the topic next week.
Mania 35 on ESPN today
ESPN is airing WrestleMania 35, which took place last year, today at 3 p.m.
Over the last two Sunday鈥檚, ESPN aired Mania XXX and Mania 32 with both being the highest-rated shows on ESPN on their respective days.
FS1 airing 3 WWE documentaries
After the success of the 2020 Royal Rumble on FS1 last Tuesday with over 420,000 viewers, WWE will go in a slightly different direction this Tuesday as it will air three separate 24/7 documentaries.
The three-hour block begins at 8 p.m. with a behind-the-scenes look at Mania 31 followed by Mania鈥檚 33 and 34.
The 24/7 series on the WWE Network is one of the most popular on the network.
Flair on Broken Skulls next Sunday
One of the best shows on the WWE Network is Steve Austin鈥檚 Broken Skull interviews with top talent of the past.
A new episode with Ric Flair debuts next Sunday.
WWE and AEW taping news
WWE has already taped Raw for Monday night, but it is the last show that has already been produced.
Starting with Smackdown Friday, it has not yet been announced how WWE will move forward.
AEW filmed several episodes of Dynamite recently and appears to have new content ready to go for the short term.
AEW PPV buy rate is in
Several fans have reached out wanting to know how AEW鈥檚 Revolution PPV did in terms of buys.
The show, which took place in February, had between 100,000 and 105,000 buys.
How does this compare to WWE?
If we are going by the number buys prior to the WWE Network, only one WWE PPV ever drew less than Revolution鈥檚 number.
What does this mean?
Despite AEW energizing some fans and giving them another option, it has not translated into PPV buys.
With AEW鈥檚 May PPV in jeopardy because of the current pandemic, it will take a little longer to see if AEW is able to build a PPV audience.
On This Day鈥�
In 1992, 鈥淢acho Man鈥� Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair to win the WWF world championship at WrestleMania VIII.
Also, Bret Hart defeated Roddy Piper to win the Intercontinental title.
This week鈥檚 questions:
Is it true that AEW had to reshoot Matt Hardy鈥檚 promo with Chris Jericho on Dynamite? Steve, Uniontown.
This is what has been reported by several credible sources.
There is a reason why Hardy鈥檚 debut in AEW had him in a balcony and not talking as he has never been solid on the mic.
Want further proof?
Hardy was set to become a star in WWE in 2005 based off of a real-life issue with Edge and Lita.
Hardy was legitimately fired and when he was rehired, he was given the mic with a chance to become a star.
But not only did he drop the ball, the ball disintegrated along with any chance Hardy had to ever be a top guy in WWE.
Yes, he did well with his TNA run, but had Hardy made good on his one, true WWE opportunity, he would have been a star and a multitime WWE champion.
How have WrestleMania spoilers not gotten out? Marty, Brownsville.
First and foremost, there were only a handful of people at the Performance Center when Mania was filmed.
And for each match, the only people in the PC were the wrestlers, the ref, Michael Cole, the ring announcer, an agent and the production crew, so it would be hard to get word out.
McMahon made it known that if any information leaked, it was a fireable offense.
Did I miss WWE鈥檚 build on Smackdown Friday for Braun Strowman to take Roman Reigns鈥� place against Goldberg? Ryan, Perryopolis.
If you missed it, so did I!
On a conference call this week, Triple H said the situation would play itself out by the end of the weekend, so either it did last night or will tonight.
There were several promos on Raw that were really good. They didn鈥檛 seem scripted, like most are now. Is WWE going to give guys more freedom? Kelly, Waynesburg.
There were several really good promo鈥檚 Monday, and they all had a sense of realism to them.
The Undertaker鈥檚 promo that opened the show was easily one of his best ever, and the promo鈥檚 by Edge, Kevin Owens and Paul Heyman were really good as well.
If WWE gets back to giving talent bullet points to touch on during interviews but allowing them to add personal flavor, it would be good for WWE.
Because, instead of talent having to remember scripted promos word for word, they would be able to interject some of their true personality.
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.