The "Ask the Specialists" Roundtable is the latest spin-off from the "Ask the Torch" feature. CSI led to CSI: New York and CSI: Miami, which is where you'll find the Specialists tackling a daily topic submitted by PWTorch readers to askpwtorch@gmail.com.

Ask the Specialists Roundtable #59

- Question from Mark in Huntington, N.Y.: I read Bret Hart's book and he often spoke about how no one lives their storylines anymore. It's all very out in the open that it's an act. With Instagram, Twitter, etc., do you feel it's hurting the overall product? I think some people it's working for them. Lana, for example, posts a lot in-character, yet there's posts where she's not. I was just curious what you felt. Obviously it's helpful to promote events and such, but it's not only how it's used.

- "Instant Reaction" Ben Tucker (@BTuckerTorch) responds: Only for certain characters does tweeting out-of-character feel wrong. Bray Wyatt, Kane, Brock Lesnar, and a few others should never, under any circumstances, tweet out-of-character. For the characters more grounded in reality, though? I don't see much of an issue with it. Most stars on the roster seem like humans instead of superheroes or super-villains, which is another discussion entirely, so they can act like such. Only in very rare cases does social media use by a wrestler aggravate me.

- "Showstopper" Shawn Valentino responds: Thank you for your question, Mark. I do not follow any wrestlers on social media. I have a hard enough time watching Raw without my finger on the fast-forward button. As far as WWE Superstars utilizing their accounts, I cannot think of how it has ever helped any storyline. I grew up in an era of larger-than-life characters that were in their own comic book universe. I like it better when wrestlers stay in-character as much as possible. Can you imagine Macho Man typing away about his favorite restaurant? I think that these posts merely diminish the mythical aura of these wrestlers and breaks the barrier between star and fan. I do not think that wrestlers need to live their storylines, but there is no reason that they have to break character on social media.

- "Common Fan" Jimmy Eaton (@TheCommonFan) responds: Good question, Mark. I think it also both hurts and helps. It really falls on how often each person is on their account and how they choose to act/present themselves. For example, I think Bret Hart's right in terms of living the gimmick. That helps greatly with telling believable stories. However, I think that people should be allowed to be who they are, which is why the most successful "gimmicks" are when people are extensions of themselves. See Ric Flair, Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, etc.

- "Mr. PPV" Nathan Kyght responds: I can only speak for myself, but at this stage of the game seeing kayfabe used on social media or in interviews just comes across as silly. It'd be like Matt Damon going on Regis & Kelly and demanding to be interviewed as 'Jason Bourne.' Everyone gets that it's a show, and keeping storylines going outside of the show feels dated to me, and is going to make the mainstream roll their eyes even more than they already do.

The writing and story-telling by WWE is still critical and more often than not, they don't help. When things are pointed out and the fourth wall is broken, that's where social media hurts. Especially with how much attention WWE pays to it. I truly think it's their #1 priority over putting out a good, believable product with compelling characters for us to cheer and boo. Hopefully we'll be able to look back in the future and say they made it work despite the huge presence of social media, but time will tell. Thanks for the question!

- "Mr. TV" Justin James (@Justin_M_James) responds: Mark, I see this as a symptom, not a cause. Everyone has known that wrestling is a work for a very, very long time. For the fans who find the social media stuff distracting from their ability to suspend disbelief and enjoy the product, they don’t need to follow those folks.

- "Hits & Misses" Jon Mezzera responds: That's a good question. I am often annoyed by the use of social media on Raw in particular. I don't really care to see a scroll of tweets or to see what's trending during the show (same goes for PPVs). It does seem to me that WWE was ahead on this way of promoting the show as I have seen other shows start to do the same thing long after WWE had started doing it on Raw. It does make for more of a live viewing experience (along with commercial content on the App), where a large part of the audience wants to watch Raw live for that experience as opposed to watching it later on their DVR. So, I understand it.

As far as the wrestlers using social media goes (which I think is really what you are asking about), I have mixed feelings. I think each WWE Superstar and Diva (to use their terms) should have in character social media accounts, if it fits their character. But, it should be kept kayfabe. In your example, Lana should only tweet as Lana the angry Russian anti-American manager of Rusev. But, if C.J. Perry (who plays Lana) wants to have her own personal Twitter account out of character, that would be fine, too. WWE should be able to tell every wrestler what to do with their in-character social media accounts. But, each wrestler should have the right to have personal accounts, too. There are personal things that aren't part of the show that they should be able to tweet about or post a vine about without it interfering with their characters and WWE plot lines. Fans would then have a choice. If they want to just follow their favorite wrestlers's character to further enhance the WWE fan experience, they can. If they want to know more about their favorite wrestlers's personal lives, they can do that, too. But, the two should really be kept totally separate.

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[ FYI: The specialists consist of a mix of current PWTorch contributors providing their opinion on today's wrestling scene and modern wrestling history questions, including Shawn Valentino, Michael Moore, Ben Tucker, Jon Mezzera, Justin James, Brian Leahy, Jimmy Eaton, Nathan Kyght, Tony Donofrio, and Mike Roe. ]

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