Pro wrestling Q&A鈥檚 is back
There are plenty on newsworthy items in the world of pro wrestling that fans emailed about, so let鈥檚 get right to them!
Shelly from Jefferson wants to know if Pat McAfee has a chance to beat Adam Cole.
WWE/NXT is in a unique position here with the match that will take place at NXT:TakeOver XXX the night before SummerSlam.
Cole is fresh off of the longest NXT heavyweight championship reign of all-time while McAfee, a 2005 graduate of Plum (near Monroeville) who punted at WVU and then in the NFL, is a national media member.
McAfee has to win right?
I see some kind of controversial ending which could lead to a bigger match down the road, possibly in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match.
It is being played up that McAfee has had no pro wrestling training, but this is not true. He wrestled an indy match a few years ago and is said to have been training for months with someone involved with WWE.
He has worked as an announcer for some WWE PPV鈥檚 the last few years, so McAfee taking part in a match is anything but a surprise.
Jim from Brownsville wants to know if Raw Underground will work.
Monday night on Raw, WWE changed course a bit and Shane McMahon debuted Raw Underground, as a play on Fight Club with 鈥渓egit鈥� fights.
If ratings tick upward, then it can work for WWE.
I also think WWE needs to give the concept a month or two to see if it catches on.
While the staged 鈥渟hoot fights鈥� seemed to change camera angles every punch which may have led to dizziness for some, WWE has to be given credit on trying something different.
Raw has been bad for months and a shakeup is needed.
Vince McMahon dumped Paul Heyman as the lead writer, yet nothing has gotten better.
A perfect example is The Hurt Business faction which consists of MVP, Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley.
Both Benjamin and MVP lose early during Raw but end the show at the Raw Underground set after trashing everyone.
Why have them lose?
They could not beat 鈥減ro wrestlers鈥� but they manhandled 鈥渟hoot fighters.鈥� Makes no sense at all.
Johnny from Connellsville wants to know if The Rock will be able to make the XFL work.
For those who missed it, Dwayne 鈥淭he Rock鈥� Johnson, his longtime business partner and ex-wife, Dany Johnson and Gerry Cardinale鈥檚 RedBird Capital purchased the XFL recently for $15 million.
Will it work? The Rock doesn鈥檛 get involved with something for it to not work.
I sense that the new ownership team already sent feelers out to see who they could align themselves with.
Under Armor already sells merchandise based off of The Rock, so I would think they will be involved.
Time will tell, and the new ownership team looks to get things picked back up with a season in 2021.
Kelly from Belle Vernon asked why AEW is making such a big deal about the 18-49 demographic.
That specific age group is when new fans are usually brought in and the hope for sports leagues or wrestling companies is to hook fans of this demographic.
Even when NXT defeated AEW in the overall ratings for a few Wednesday鈥檚 a couple of weeks back, AEW still defeated NXT with the 18-49-year olds.
WWE gears its shows for the younger kids or the longtime fans, but if you look at its most successful run in the company鈥檚 history, the Attitude Era, it wrote shows for the 18-49 demographic and look at how the ratings took off.
AEW is smart to gear itself for that demographic and this isn鈥檛 going to change.
Toni from Dunbar wants to know if MJF will defeat Jon Moxley for the AEW heavyweight title at the All Out PPV on Sept. 5.
MJF is the best bad guy in pro wrestling today, maybe with Randy Orton being the lone exception.
Without a doubt, MJF is an old school bad guy where he is living his character of being a jerk at all times.
I can see him winning the title, but AEW may hold off on pulling the plug on Moxley鈥檚 title reign so soon.
However, I can see MJF winning it and holding it for a while until someone (probably Cody) would dethrone him down the road.
Fred from Waynesburg wants to know who is in the new WWE faction, Retribution.
If I had to guess, I would say recently fired wrestlers who are looking for revenge on WWE and the wrestlers who are still employed.
On Sunday, Aug. 9 鈥�
Aug. 9 is another busy day in pro wrestling history, so let鈥檚 take a look!
In 1980, Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan at the Showdown at Shea in Flushing, NY.
The crowd of 36,295 fans saw Bruno Sammartino defeated Larry Zbyszko in a steel cage match in the main event.
In 1986, Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes to begin his fifth NWA heavyweight championship reign.
In 1997, Hulk Hogan defeated Lex Luger at Hog Wild to win the WCW heavyweight championship.
In 1999, the highly anticipated WWF debut of Chris Jericho begins with the countdown of the 鈥淵2K鈥� clock. It had been counting down for weeks and hit zero as The Rock was cutting a promo in the ring.
Jericho鈥檚 debut, with a verbal spat with The Rock, is one of the best moments in wrestling history as both stars were on their 鈥淎鈥� game at that moment.
If you haven鈥檛 seen it, it is absolutely worth your time to find it on the WWE Network or on YouTube.
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.