Welcome to a new website-exclusive PWTorch feature! I am PWTorch founder and editor, Wade Keller. I've been covering pro wrestling since 1987 when I started the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter while still in high school. Over 25 years later, PWTorch reaches more wrestling fans every week than any other independent brand. When we launched PWTorch.com in 1999, one of the features I enjoyed doing the most was "Ask PWTorch." I haven't done it recently on the website, but did revive it in recent years in an audio format for PWTorch VIP members on my Keller Hotline. We reintroduced it to the website audience this month.

If you have a question you'd like me to respond to, send your question to askpwtorch@gmail.com. I, along with the Torch staff, will address you questions.


PWTorch reader Chad asks: Do you think that Tough Enough will ever comeback. If so do you think it will return under the MTV format or the Smackdown 1,000,000 Tough Enough format.

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: There were always mixed feelings about Tough Enough as a format for a show. Triple H, who is gaining more power in WWE, was initially very sour on the concept of exposing that much insight on how pro wrestlers get trained. Also, Steve Austin liked doing the show and was interested in hosting another season, so if they had an eager and interested Austin and didn't do a follow up on the last season, that's not a good sign, either. Ratings-wise, it just wasn't worth the time it took up on USA Network. WWE was looking for a way, short of expanding Raw to three hours, to add a third hour to their Monday block. Now that Raw is three hours, it shows they definitely gave up on Tough Enough as a national ratings draw on a major cable network. What's left is the possibility of it returning on WWE Network as an original program. I think that's the best bet, and I would consider it a possibility.


PWTorch reader Chris Seddon asks: First of all, I wanted to say that I am a huge wrestling fan and appreciate websites such as the Torch, keeping us fans informed of the behind the scenes stories that would otherwise be swept under the rug... My question is this: The ratings in general are at an all time low. Would it not make sense for WWE to present a product that does not insult the fans intelligence? Making the product seem real, gives the illusion it is real, giving the feuds some substance, making people spend the money to see wrestlers settle their disputes or tune in weekly to see how the feud has progressed? And what is the likelihood we'll ever see the last dream match possible - Sting vs The Undertaker - at WrestleMania?

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: WWE should consider all options in terms of how they present their product, just as Vince McMahon did when WCW Nitro brought him to his knees. McMahon went against his instincts and booked main events every week on his cable shows and went "extreme" and dove head-first into the Attitude Era.

Going back to Tough Enough for a moment, I remember WWE senior producer Kevin Dunn touting the last season of Tough Enough as a way to perhaps attract non-fans to watch a WWE product and then maybe they'd stay for Raw and it would grow Raw's audience. I thought it was a ludicrous, with the options on TV these days, that Dunn thought someone who didn't like pro wrestling would watch a show based on training pro wrestlers, and simply because of the "reality TV" aspect of the format, would then become pro wrestling fans and watch two hours of Raw afterward.

I bring that up because I think a lot of what WWE shows feature that many fans consider "insulting to their intelligence" is WWE's way of trying to attract viewers who don't like pro wrestling, but enjoy the whacky sideshow aspect of it. I think it's a losing strategy, like McDonalds trying to attract people who don't like burgers to come to their restaurants by selling fishing lures or auto parts. In other words, be what you are, embrace it, make it the best you can, and draw in those people who have any affinity for it because you do it so well. So, yes, I'd like to see WWE embrace the "sports-like" aspect of what they do, even if it is fully simulated and scripted, and give fans who want to dive head-first into the fantasy world of weekly fighting to settle scores and chase titles, a place they go without too many distractions and apologies.

I've gotten a kick out of Michael Cole pushing that viewers can watch an interview on their app instead of a wrestling match in the ring on their TV during Raw, as if the pro wrestling aspect of Raw is testing people's patience and they need to offer an alternative of those wrestlers talking about wrestling instead. You know, because people who can't sit through a five or eight minute match because they're so bored by the concept of wrestling matches would be satisfied, instead, watching people talk about those matches they don't care about.

I think both can coexist: I think WWE could treat the wrestling more seriously and in a more sports-like tone (I like the concept of the post-PPV panel discussion they introduced last night, for example, reminding fans of ESPN or TNT's post-NFL or post-NBA coverage) while also sprinkling in the Fandango's and the Kaitlyn-A.J.-Bella soap opera stuff. I don't think Vince McMahon feels ratings-wise they're in a desperate spot because collectively they still have a really strong number of hourly viewers - if you multiply the per-hour viewers by the number of prime-time hours they air each week - because of that third hour of Raw. 

As for Sting vs. Undertaker, it's doubtful. I just don't think WWE sees Sting as a dream opponent for Taker at this point. Taker and Sting don't have any kind of personal connection that I know that would make it seem like they'd go way out of their way to push for it or make it happen. If Sting wanted to do that, and WWE wanted it to happen, it would have happened in the last few years. I think WWE sees a few more worthy in-house opponents for Undertaker the next few years, starting with John Cena and Brock Lesnar and perhaps some sort of match against The Shield, that would draw more money with their fan base. If Sting were the centerpiece of Impact as Impact was experiencing ratings boom, McMahon might reconsider. But that's not happening, and so McMahon can easily write off that Sting isn't worth the bother, especially now that he's entering his mid-50s. That said, I think Sting would probably get into the shape of his life for that match and probably be able to put on a good show with Taker.


PWTorch reader David D. asks: Is Titus O'Neil someone you could envision having a main event run somewhere down the line?

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers:: Yes. I like what I've seen so far. One of the keys to being a main event in WWE is looking the part. He looks the park. Another is owning the ring when you're in it. He's shown signs of that potential. And of course you have to have good on the mic and in the ring, and that's where Titus is getting experience now. I think WWE is looking closely at him, and I haven't heard of any reason that he'd have already been disqualified in their eyes. He projects his personality well and is memorable and bombastic and entertaining, so I think they'd be making a mistake not considering him for a singles push and testing how far he could go.


SPECIAL NOTE We have launched a new FREE PWTorch Email Alert service today where you can receive BREAKING NEWS ALERTS on occasion plus TOP FIVE STORIES OF THE DAY reports. To sign up (you can easily unsubscribe anytime), click here.)

NOTE: You can ask PWTorch staff questions live on the PWTorch Livecast (www.PWTorchLivecast.com) Monday through Friday. Mondays the show airs at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT in the hour before Raw and Tuesday through Friday at 5:30 ET / 2:30 PT. The show airs five days a week and you can talk to PWTorch staff members Bruce Mitchell, Travis Bryant, Pat McNeill, James Caldwell, Greg Parks, Sean Radican, and me on other days during the week.

READ PREVIOUS "ASK PWTORCH" FEATURES BY CLICKING HERE.

(Send your question for PWTorch editor Wade Keller and the PWTorch staff exclusively to pwtorch@gmail.com for consideration! You can hear expanded conversation on the above topics from Wade Keller by becoming a VIP member and gaining access to the daily Wade Keller Hotline, posted every day for VIP members for over 1,000 days straight. Sign up at www.PWTorch.com/govip)

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