The PWTorch All-Star Panel features an array of contributors answering your questions who have worked in various facets of the pro wrestling industry, plus PWTorch contributors join in. You get an unmatched mix of perspectives including first-hand insights from people who have worked in the ring and behind the curtain.

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PWTorch reader R. Jack asks: Whatever resulted from the Teddy Long heart attack angle? All I remember is Smackdown ending with a plot twist wedding.

REALITY TV STAR & EX-TNA MANAGER Jonny Fairplay (@jonnyfairplay was also former personal assistant to Roddy Piper and cohost with Sean Waltman of weekly podcast at www.ProWrestling.net) answers: He destroyed the ring and went back to the Shire, if I remember correctly.

EX-ECW CHAMPION AND LONGTIME WWE WRESTLER Justin Credible (also current IWE Champion, visit www.TheJustinCredible.com and on YouTube here including his ongoing Wrestling 101 Series) answers: The result was bad booking.

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PWTorch reader Justin S. asks: What do you think of the idea of WWE creating a competitor by purchasing TNA, Ring of Honor, or some other organization and renaming/rebranding it and adding on to it? The Monday Night Wars were one of the hottest times in wrestling and this could be recreated in some way. I think having well-known wrestlers switch between companies would create a lot of excitement just like in the Monday Night War era. I see this differently than the brand split, because it was all still WWE no matter how hard they tried to make it different. I don't see this being any different than a well-known health food brand being owned by big corporations and the general public has no idea. I see this being the same. Although all us insiders may know about WWE owning this other company, the general public wouldn't.

EX-ECW CHAMPION AND LONGTIME WWE WRESTLER Justin Credible (also current IWE Champion, visit www.TheJustinCredible.com and on YouTube here including his ongoing Wrestling 101 Series) answers: I doubt it. Look at what happened with WCW and ECW. WWE would just end up making it a part of Raw and Smackdown.

REALITY TV STAR & EX-TNA MANAGER Jonny Fairplay (@jonnyfairplay was also former personal assistant to Roddy Piper and cohost with Sean Waltman of weekly podcast at www.ProWrestling.net) answers: WWE can’t afford to pay it’s World Champion to show up for PPVs. You think they got extra money to buy a promotion? Much less a promotion that isn’t for sale?

PROFESSIONAL BROADCASTER Jim Valley (Long time wrestling fan, Torch subscriber, and currently PWTorch Livecast guest host. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars, and was flown out to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham.) WWE already has another brand, NXT. What is the benefit of WWE buying TNA? WCW's value plummeted when it lost its TV timeslots. ROH is owned by Sinclair who already puts on its TV stations. It's not like ROH is going to get a better time slot if it were owned by WWE. The fact that WWE did not have any major suitors when it's TV contract ended tells you there is not a big demand for pro wrestling on TV.

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PWTorch reader Forrest M. asks: It might be difficult to compare these two, but I want to ask, who's the better female valet... Maria or Lana?

EX-ECW CHAMPION AND LONGTIME WWE WRESTLER Justin Credible (also current IWE Champion, visit www.TheJustinCredible.com and on YouTube here including his ongoing Wrestling 101 Series) answers: Maria, in my opinion. I love the way she worked. She was a true wrestling fan and also a talented worker in the ring. Valets like that in my opinion are still very useful. I have plenty in my day, such as Dawn Marie and Francine. They were a huge asset to what I do and other wrestlers do in the ring. I wish they would come back in a big way.

INDY PROMOTER & ANNOUNCER Brad Stutts (Follow @cwfmidatlantic and @stuttsy and listen to his podcast at www.WrestlingWithOptimism) answers: It is a difficult comparison because Maria is so much more active at ringside and in matches. She's definitely better in that regard, but Lana is an excellent promo, we just haven't seen her do anything physical or even really active at all yet. She has fantastic presence, but I'd say Maria is "better" at ringside because she is more active in her role and certainly more experienced.

REALITY TV STAR & EX-TNA MANAGER Jonny Fairplay (@jonnyfairplay was also former personal assistant to Roddy Piper and cohost with Sean Waltman of weekly podcast at www.ProWrestling.net) answers: They’re totally different. Both they’re facial expressions are great.

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PWTorch reader Vince B. asks: I’ve heard people at PWTorch say that how Shane McMahon's wrestling IQ is low and how he would not be a right fit to run a wrestling company. However, he has gone outside the family business and made a name for himself in the business world without the family safety net (like Wade Keller spoke about on a recent Wade Keller Hotline). My question is, on the business side, why is Stephanie more qualified to run WWE? You often criticize her conduct in interviews (rightfully so), and aren't that high on how she and her husband undermine the WWE talent at the expense of themselves. While Paul Levesque seems to have good ideas for the niche programming that is NXT, he seems more than fine drinking the family Cool Aid. If there were a scenario where business man Shane McMahon took over the publicly-traded company and he appointed a true head of creative (be it Paul Heyman, Triple H/Stephanie/Gabe Sapolsky/Bruce Mitchell/Swedish Ice Hockey Olympic Gold Medalist Jörgen Jönsson/whoever was qualified), would that really be the worst thing? At least he is a guy out of the bubble and knows how the real world works.

REALITY TV STAR & EX-TNA MANAGER Jonny Fairplay (@jonnyfairplay was also former personal assistant to Roddy Piper and cohost with Sean Waltman of weekly podcast at www.ProWrestling.net) answers: I think you need to be a caller on Thursday for the WWE quarterly financial meeting.

PROFESSIONAL BROADCASTER Jim Valley (Long time wrestling fan, Torch subscriber, and currently PWTorch Livecast guest host. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars, and was flown out to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham.) Stephanie McMahon isn't running WWE. Vince McMahon is running WWE. Triple H, or Paul as he likes to be called in his real life role, is the executive vice president in charge of talent, live events, and creative. Stephanie is the chief brand officer "responsible for leading WWE’s efforts to further enhance its brand reputation among key constituencies including advertisers, media, business partners, and investors." I'm not defending them, but business is also about culture and relationships. You want people you like and have the same vision on your team. Certainly a person could criticize their choices, but all companies do it.

INDY PROMOTER & ANNOUNCER Brad Stutts (Follow @cwfmidatlantic and @stuttsy and listen to his podcast at www.WrestlingWithOptimism) answers: I don't think so. Whether he is firmly in the "wrestling bubble" or not, he is still a McMahon, he was still raised in business by the WWF/E infrastructure and taught their way of doing things. If he were to ever get back into the wrestling business, even with some degree of his own vision, I imagine it'd still be in that WWE framework of thinking.

[Shane McMahon photo credit (c) Wade Keller]

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(Send questions for a future Ask PWTorch to: askpwtorch@gmail.com. If you have a particular person on the All-Star Panel you'd in particular like to direct your question to, include that in the subject line, but multiple panelists may also answer.)

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In case you are new to this feature, let me introduce you to our All-Star Panel…

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION: By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Thanks to Pat McNeill and Anthony Jeselnik for the name of this feature. Just as "CSI" spawned "CSI: Miami," "Ask PWTorch" spawned "Ask PWTorch: All-Star Panel." Only without David Caruso. In any case, we are excited to present to you a new cast for the Ask PWTorch spinoff, which is available exclusively on the PWTorch App (or, for VIP members, on the VIP website too). You are reading this, so you are either a VIP member or have already downloaded the free PWTorch App on your phone or tablet. If you aren't a VIP member, why not? With VIP membership, you gain full access to both Ask PWTorch features on all devices you use to visit PWTorch - our App and our Website.

The "Ask PWTorch All-Star Panel" edition is scheduled to be published first thing in the morning (although not necessarily every single day, like the afternoon website-based Ask PWTorch is; we'll see about that as we move forward). It will feature an entirely different panel of experts and analysts than the afternoon Ask PWTorch does. We have assembled a wide range of contributors, which may expand or change over time, with the goal being to give PWTorch readers new perspectives from people who have particular areas of expertise. Along with our All-Stars from outside of PWTorch, several of our PWTorch contributors (but not the main staff who contribute to the website-based original Ask PWTorch!… you will be quizzed on all of this, so take notes) will also be regularly contributing, especially to current-events-related questions.

Let me introduce you to our panel…

Justin Credible: Current pro wrestler and former ECW Champion and longtime WWE wrestler in the 1990s and 2000s, Justin Credible (P.J. Polaco) currently is the IWE Champion. He travels as indy champion from Maine to Mexico with the title. He posts new Wrestling 101 YouTube videos at www.TheJustinCredible.com or on YouTube at his YouTube Channel.

John Piermarini: Ex-WWE Creative Team member who will provide a behind-the-scenes perspective from his years working for WWE including alongside Vince McMahon, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and John Cena. He has been a frequent PWTorch Livecast guest and was the subject of a comprehensive five-hour Torch Talk interview several years ago about his experience with WWE for most of 2009-2010.

Greg Oliver: SLAM! Wrestling reporter and wrestling book author (and hockey book author), Greg will provide a Canadian perspective on many wrestling topics. If you are a fan from Canada or have Canadian-related wrestling questions, Greg can help you. He is a wrestling historian who published a wrestling newsletter during the boom period of insider wrestling newsletters starting in the late 1980s. We were pen pals in the early 1990s and first met at a 1989 wrestling convention in Chicago run by Jon Gallagher of the Wrestling Forum (the first insider wrestling newsletter I ever received in the mail in early 1987).

George Schire: Author of "Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling," former Pro Wrestling Focus radio cohost with me in the early 1990s on KFAN, former contributor of history pieces to the PWTorch Newsletter, and multi-time guest on PWTorch Livecast "Interview Friday," he will be providing a historical perspective to Ask PWTorch.

Johnny Fairplay: Reality Star and Wrestling Manager, perhaps best known as Pat McNeill's Regis Philbin. He was an old neighbor of PWTorch senior columnist Bruce Mitchell who watched PPVs at his house long before he became a contestant on Survivor twice. He has been on many reality TV shows, the PWTorch Livecast numerous times, and follows wrestling very closely. You can read more about him on Wikipedia.

Brian Fritz: Host of the long-running "Between the Ropes" podcast, and now working for Yahoo! Sports radio, he also has been a guest on the PWTorch Livecast (and I've been a guest on his podcast), he brings years of reporting on wrestling including on-site interviews with wrestlers at major press events over the years. He follows today's wrestling and will provide his perspective and take on your questions.

Mick Karch: An early PWTorch Newsletter columnist over 20 years ago, Mick has been an announcer for virtually every national wrestling promotion other than the WWF, WCW, and TNA in the last 25 years. He currently works as an announcer on Minnesota indy wrestling shows. He got his start in wrestling running the Nick Bockwinkel Fan Club in the 1970s and is known for his sense of humor, strong opinions, and tremendous insight into wrestling's past dating back many decades, but he also watches today's wrestling regularly and can provide valuable perspective as a result of that span of time following and participating in the industry.

Brad Stutts: He has worked behind the scenes in wrestling in many roles, including taking jackets to the back, setting up and tearing down rings, running websites for indy promoters, running lights and music at live events, and performing as a manager, announcer, wrestler, and promoter. He currently is the lead announcer for CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in North Carolina.

Jim Valley: Long time wrestling fan and Torch subscriber. He won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and several regional awards during his 20 year broadcast career. He has done TV announcing for several independent wrestling promotions, hosted his own wrestling radio show, interviewed many top stars and was flown our to Stamford to audition for WWE. He took second to Todd Grisham.

Current PWTorch Contributors: A mix of current PWTorch contributors will provide their opinion on today's wrestling scene and modern wrestling history questions, including Shawn Valentino, Michael Moore, Ben Tucker, Jon Mezzera, Brian Leahy, Jimmy Eaton, and Mike Roe.

You can send your questions for the All-Star Panel to the same address as always: askpwtorch@gmail.com. We will make sure they are directed to the appropriate panelist for potential inclusion in a published Ask PWTorch feature here on the PWTorch App or VIP Website. You may see your question asked in both versions of Ask PWTorch (the Afternoon original website-exclusive version and app-exclusive All-Stars version) so check both versions. Different groups of panelists may tackle your question on different days, so keep checking back. Because they all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences as both fans and working in some capacity in the business or covering it for the Torch, you're going to get some strong specific points of view from them.

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