Q&A 1. Includes: Can KENTA and the WWE Network succeed?

Will KENTA make it in WWE?

Dave

There are many more reasons why KENTA (Kenta Kobayashi) won’t thrive in WWE than reasons he will:

He’s Japanese. WWE’s record with Japanese wrestlers over the last 15 years has been perfectly abysmal.

TAKA Michinoku, Funaki and the rest of the Kaientai crew were presented as comedy characters. Kenzo Suzuki bombed. Admittedly, that wasn’t entirely WWE’s fault — but they did hire a guy with unremarkable in-ring talents and zero personality for what was initially a pushed role in 2004. Lord Tensai’s short-lived assistant Sakamoto was treated as a jobber in 2012. And the faithful Yoshi Tatsu was invisible for long periods before he was finally axed by WWE on June 12.

Next, KENTA only stands five-feet eight-inches tall, small by WWE standards.

He weighs 178 pounds. Ditto.

There’s the language barrier.

C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan — two men who would have been eager to wrestle KENTA from the off in WWE and been willing to encourage management to allow them to work a competitive programme with him — are no longer on the active roster. Punk quit in January, and Bryan might not wrestle again until early 2015.

On the subject of Punk and Bryan, they stole KENTA’s signature moves, so he cannot use the G2S/GTS or the running knee in WWE. (And how many people will be willing to lie there and take the double foot-stomp? More to the point, will WWE allow its talent to take that move from him in the ring or to the floor?)

Punk and Bryan aside, who in WWE would make a conscious effort to put KENTA over in matches? I don’t mean lose to him: I mean, truly and genuinely and positively make him look like a somebody in the ring. KENTA vs. Adrian Neville and KENTA vs. Fergal Devitt sound fabulous, of course. But neither Neville nor Devitt is currently working on Raw or SmackDown. And Neville has been under developmental contract for two years.

Nevertheless, I don’t fault KENTA for accepting WWE’s offer: there was nothing left for him in NOAH, and the company had been declining for years. At the age of 33, he had to give WWE a try.

That said, if what I think will happen to KENTA does so in WWE, I only hope he doesn’t linger as long as Tatsu did.

Can the WWE Network succeed?

Alex Clark, Peak District

It’s not looking promising. Many in WWE are bracing themselves for the results of the late August/early September period, the weeks after the initial six-month sign-up commitment ends.

How many of those who rushed to sign up for the WWE Network upon launch will renew their subscriptions? What’s the burning incentive for them to do so? There is no WrestleMania until March 29, 2015. Once the six-month commitment expires, many subscribers might realise they either do not have the time or the inclination to watch those old Clash Of The Champions events or squash match-filled TV programmes or lifeless WWF In Your House pay-per-views from autumn 1995. Those who barely tune into the service will likely not renew it, regardless of how inexpensive it is. Why would they? That’s $9.99 each month they could spend on something which might enhance their lives.

As I wrote in Power Slam 237, most people can or will only watch so much WWE wrestling. I know this to be true because approximately 1.5 million people who tune into Raw each week in the States do not watch SmackDown — and both are on free television. 

WWE is hoping that there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who will sign up for the WWE Network, now and over the next few months. How many international fans will do so is unknown. What we do know is that many fans outside the U.S. have already signed up by using fake home addresses. The success or failure of this thing depends on how many more non-U.S. residents are willing to place their money in the WWE Network coffers.

I don’t like the WWE Network’s chances. WWE has spent so much money on the Network that it requires too many paying customers in order for it to succeed. 

(Rumour has it that WWE believed the Network would cost far less than it has done when it commenced work on this project.)

Is it true that Wayne Keown (Zeb Colter) fought in the Vietnam War?

Kevin Trash, Glasgow

Yes. He was stationed there from 1970-1971 as a member of the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division. He saw action, and witnessed friends losing limbs and their lives. Later, he saw the devastating effect it had on many who survived the war: the drug and mental problems from which many veterans suffered.

Why hasn’t WWE signed The Young Bucks? And, what happened last year between the Briscoes and WWE?

Lee

WWE gave Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson a tryout in August 2011, less than a month after they had requested a contract release from TNA. They did not impress many backstage in WWE, most famously Booker T, who expressed his disapproval of the Jacksons in a tweet.

Meanwhile, the Jacksons did not measure up to preferred WWE standards in the height or weight department. Their ring style was not considered to be “WWE-friendly”, either. Consequently, they were not offered contracts. Some wrestlers are not built for WWE.

The Briscoes were in talks with WWE last year. The most popular explanation as to why talks ceased is that WWE was alarmed by the content of Jay Briscoe’s tweet on May 8, 2013, following the legalisation of gay marriage in the state of Delaware. “Try and teach my kids that there’s nothing wrong with that and I’ll f—king shoot you,” wrote Jay on Twitter.

Had WWE been hellbent on signing the Briscoes, I believe it would have done so, in spite of this brainless statement in a public forum by Jay: the company has overlooked or forgiven worse comments and actions by performers. That the organisation decided to pass on the brothers indicates there must have been some uncertainty in the office about the brothers’ eligibility for WWE. If a talent is balancing on the knife edge, that’s all it takes to sway the decision: a single act of stupidity.

Whatever happened to The Dirt Bike Kid, Jason Harrison?

Tom Inglis

Last we heard of him in pro wrestling was around 2000.

He promoted a few of his own shows in England in the second half of the 1990s — for the purpose of featuring himself in a high-card spot — and appeared on a handful of live events for ECW in the States and Michinoku Pro Wrestling in Japan.

My lasting impressions of The Dirt Bike Kid are that his ambitions far exceeded his talent and budget, and diplomacy was not his strong suit. Many in British wrestling disliked the man in 1999. Not that Harrison cared.

What happened to former WWF star Dino Bravo? And, is it true that Bill ‘Ax’ Eadie of Demolition had a falling out with Vince McMahon?

Daniel Thornley

Dino Bravo (Adolfo Bresciano) was murdered in what most believe was a mob hit on March 10, 1993.

By all accounts, Bravo was involved in an illegal cigarette smuggling ring in Quebec. He was shot dead as he sat in front of the television in his home in Laval, Canada. Seventeen empty bullet casings were found in the vicinity of the chair in which he was gunned down.

Police stated that Bravo, who was 44 at the time of his death, probably knew his killer or killers. There was no sign of forced entry to his home.

Bill Eadie filed a lawsuit against the WWF in the 1990s over ownership of the Demolition name and gimmick and unpaid royalties. It took years before a settlement was reached between the two sides.

From what I understand, the details of the settlement were sealed, so neither Eadie nor WWE can talk about it. If there was a falling out, it likely stemmed from this litigation.

It could also explain why Demolition — the longest-reigning WWF/WWE tag team champions ever — has not been inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame.

By Fin Martin

If you would like psmag.co.uk to answer a question or cast an opinion on a pro wrestler or wrestling-related subject, please e-mail us at: powerslam@globalnet.co.uk. The next Q&A will be uploaded to psmag.co.uk on Thursday, August 28.