By Wade Keller, Torch editor

Bill H. asks: I noticed in a recent Raw flashback a reference to DX mocking Jim Cornette with bananas. I remember seeing that at the time but am unclear on what it refers to. Can you refresh my memory (if it's printable!)?

WK: There had been a rumor going around about Cornette getting intimate with a banana. It was just one of those silly stories based on probably a joke Cornette told in a group setting once. The rumor took on a farcical life of its own and DX, who had political battles with Cornette around that time, decided to slip it in as rib on him.

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Ryan Hasselbach of Fremont, Ohio asks: After watching Raw Monday I came to realize that Trish Stratus has not been on Smackdown in a long time. Why is this? Is she now exclusive to Raw since the contracts were frozen? Or like Brock she just decided to stick with one brand? Like so many other WWE story lines this one was not clearly explained.

WK: It was established from the beginning that the Women's Title would be a Raw exclusive and the Cruiserweight Title would be a Smackdown exclusive.

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Bill Mullin of Massachusetts - Torch Newsletter Subscriber - asks: What is the deal with Christopher Daniels? For over two years he is the one guy on the indy scene who could jump right onto WWE TV and actually make a difference. He has the promos, the wrestling ability, the mind... but what is holding him back? Is it a Japan contract? Backstage heat? Age? The "Fallen Angel" is the man from where I sit. WWE doesn't deserve him because they'll ruin him anyways (who don't they ruin).

WK: I believe he's perceived as being "too indy." It's something that Sean Waltman talks about at length in the current "Torch Talk" in this week's issue (as it related to Chris Jericho's shortcomings when he first arrived in the WWF), which you'll get this week. Some workers come across as wrestling a style that works when trying to dazzle an up-close group of hardcore fans at an indy show, but are perceived as otherwise lacking the look, pacing, and style necessary to succeed in a larger setting in front of a mainstream audience. If politics have played a part, I am unaware of it. From what I've been told, he's likable and doesn't bring heat on himself behind the scene.

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Morgan Vening asks: I admittedly haven't watched an entire episode, and only two partial episodes, but wasn't there a big statement by WWE/F at the time that explicitly stated no indy wrestlers? People who again, explicitly had no previous training? I know the decision to have no qualified wrestlers on the show was one of the reasons I didn't bother. So why this seeming call for indy wrestlers if they were excluded? And given the winners from the previous two TE's (first two of which seem to have found roles) who were by and far NOT apparently the best, but chosen on ''look,'' what's the point?

WK: The first Tough Enough was open to just people without any previous wrestling training, but the last two have been open to wrestlers with previous training, including active indy wrestlers, but none made the cut (in part because so few tried out). They have decided to shake up the format a bit to make each season different and one way to do that was to change that rule. I don't think it's fair to say at all that the first two seasons' winners were picked on looks. Obviously, look is part of the formula Tough Enough producers use to decide winners, but Jake had by far the best look of any of the finalists and he was passed over in favor of two women. Maven and Chris Nowinski definitely weren't chosen just because of their looks, either. The last thing WWE wants is to have wrestlers entering their training system that don't have athleticism, brains, or talking ability. The reality, though, is that winners must have potential to catch on with the public as far as their looks go, too.

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Yesterday a reader asked about footage he saw of Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar in the opening of Smackdown and wondered when and where they met. At last week's Smackdown tapings, after Angle vs. Edge, Lesnar came out and gave F5s to both Angle and Benoit. Thanks to PWTorch.com reader Cody Barra.

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