Pro Wrestling Torch was established in 1987 by Wade Keller. One of the primary traits PWTorch has been credited with over the years is assembling the best and most diverse staff of columnists with broad knowledge, but also areas of specialty where they have a particularly strong grasp of history. Every day PWTorch.com presents that team of writers answering your questions, some of which are fact-based and others of which are opinion-based. Either way, we've got you covered with Bruce Mitchell, Pat McNeill, Sean Radican, Greg Parks, James Caldwell, and Wade Keller. Collectively they have over 80 years working for the Torch, writing about wrestling and studying industry history and trends.

If you have a question you'd like us to respond to, send your question to askpwtorch@gmail.com. I, along with the Torch staff, will address you questions in this feature and also the “Ask PWTorch: All-Star Panel” edition which is also published most days here at PWTorch.

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PWTorch reader David C. asks: I was watching Raw this week and in the opening segment with the Highlight Reel I noticed the blue/white/black lighting. Obviously it was to enhance the Highlight Reel, but it reminded me a lot of the way the crowd is lit for Smackdown, and that association alone made the segment seem less important to me, much like Smackdown is viewed when compared to Raw in general. That said, do you guys think Smackdown will eventually (like, next 3-6 years) fade away, or will it maybe be restored to it's former glory?

PWTorch assistant editor James Caldwell answers: I don't see Smackdown going away, as it's guaranteed money for WWE to pad the TV Rights revenue category. But, in order for Smackdown to be restored to its former glory, I think WWE has to go back to the roster split. Otherwise, Smackdown will always seem like Raw's left-overs. Way back when Smackdown was created in 1999, WWE had so many stars and stories clicking that the audience wanted to see the fall-out from Raw a few days later on Smackdown, but that's just not the environment WWE is in right now.

PWTorch senior columnist Bruce Mitchell answers: I think Smackdown will be the solid workmanlike B show, delivering solid workmanlike B show ratings, for years to come.

PWTorch columnist Greg Parks answers: Can I take option "C," none of the above? WWE won't get rid of Smackdown on its own, because it brings in cash money to the company based on the TV contract. But I also don't think it'll all of a sudden become a must-see part of WWE programming. I think it'll probably hang around in its current incarnation for the foreseeable future.

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PWTorch reader R. Jack asks: With speculation from time to time regarding Vince McMahon selling WWE, it makes me think of something. Would Vince McMahon sell the promotion he worked so hard to build into the biggest wrestling promotion in the world today? I know Vince would do anything to make himself a profit (like hiring Eric Bischoff [WCW] and Paul Heyman [ECW], the guys he had just beat in the Monday Night Wars). I personally don't think he'd sell his company. What do you think? Will Vince sell his holy grail? If not Vince, do you think Triple H/Stephanie McMahon would in the post-Vince-McMahon-era?

PWTorch columnist Greg Parks answers: I don't think Vince would ever sell 100 percent of the company, but I could see him bringing aboard an investor to take some financial pressure off his family. But even then, I always think back to a McMahon quote that he "doesn't play well with others."

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: I wouldn’t rule out anything more than five years out, but I don’t think within the next five years it’s a strong possibility at all. But if the right offer came along, everybody has a price. I think any investor should be smart enough to know that corporations don’t run pro wrestling companies all that well without a strong highly-knowledgable pro wrestling leader who also owns the company. But then after some recent episodes of Raw, you can’t help but wonder if a fresh vision wouldn’t help WWE improve, and Vince - unless backed against a wall by competition - doesn’t really change.

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PWTorch reader Phil L. asks: Despite the fact that I recognize that Sid was never a good worker, I can't help but be a fan. His character was pretty awesome. That being said, his rep amongst hardcore fans was/is pretty low. So, how in the world was he so over with ECW fans during this time there? He just seems to be the antithesis of all that ECW stood for: loyalty, selflessness, and character. To me, Sid was a representation of what WWF/WCW valued, in that he was big and muscular, so it didn't matter if he could work. So why was he so over in ECW?

PWTorch senior columnist Bruce Mitchell answers: Because, as Cactus Jack once pointed out on ECW television, ECW fans who yelled for a revolution were also the first to get tickets to WWF shows in the Spectrum to cheer on the likes of Viscera. If ever there was a wrestler that epitomized everything that ECW was not, it was Softball Sid Eudy.

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: Sid was one of the Hulk Hogan Sequels who never could deliver when counted on as a main event draw. As intimidating as he looked - at least before UFC redefined what intimidating looked like - and as charismatic as he was, he was just so incredibly awful in the ring in obvious execution and subtle ring psychology ways, that it just fell apart once he had to wrestle convincing main events. ECW fans, though, also were looking for validation, so when a wrestler from a national company showed up, they kinda marked out even if that wrestler was the drizzlin’.

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PWTorch reader Aaron G. asks: Bryan and Brie's off-screen relationship is obviously acknowledged and been used for storylines. Has Cena and Nikki's ever been acknowledged? I personally find it another example of poor, nonsensical and illogical creative writing that we have now come to expect from the current WWE product. With their relationship showcased on Total Divas but seemingly ignored on WWE programming, how is it logical for the quintessential babyface to be in a relationship with a heel who is currently in cahoots with the Authority - with whom her partner is fighting against? Am I taking this too seriously or would you agree that it is another example of patchy, lazy and inconsistent creative writing and “one rule for Cena, another for everyone else”?

PWTorch assistant editor James Caldwell answers: I think it's a case of WWE recognizing that John Cena is their franchise player and if they linked up Cena with Nikki Bella on TV (even before Nikki turned heel), it would be damaging to business. The whole idea of "Total Divas" being incorporated into WWE's main storylines is one of the worst things to happen to WWE storytelling this year, but they have at least shown some common sense not linking up Cena and Nikki. There may have been a few comments here and there on main TV over the life of Total Divas's existence, but WWE has not pushed forward like they did with Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella.

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: I am not a fan of WWE having separate universes, but I’d rather have separate universes that were kept totally separate than having arbitrary and infrequent and inconsistent crossover elements between the universes. Vince McMahon does not care about that stuff, unfortunately, and I think it costs him and his company that they’re as sloppy as they are and disregard storytelling narrative tenets that are considered required and a given in just about every other episodic weekly TV series that has ever existed.

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