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: Hey all, love the content, keep it up! My question pertains to WWE's merchandise. Do you think WWE makes certain shirt designs less appealing than others on purpose, depending on whom it's for? Example: Roman Reigns is a corporate favorite, and his shirt design is super cool and sleek (something I find appealing). Whereas Dean Ambrose's "Unstable" shirt is just dumb with a lackluster design (what self-respecting person would want to wear that outside?). Not that the company doesn't like Ambrose, but it's no secret they wanted Reigns to be the breakout star, thus making his merch more susceptible to more sales. Maybe it bothers me more as a graphic designer, but what do you guys think?

PWTorch columnist Pat McNeill answers: I've seen ten years of John Cena merchandise. That's been enough to convince me WWE can't tell the difference between good designs and poor designs.

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: I think WWE's merchandise department does it's best, but certainly some products are more attractive and marketable than others. It often helps with the wrestlers are involved in the process and have a good eye for design and an idea of what their fans will wear. Steve Austin was the master of that. He used to go home from a grueling road trip and immediately begin writing down ideas and sketches for new merchandise ideas. Of course, he was motivated by making 3-5 million a year in merchandise, during his peak years being in the same range as his paydays for his wrestling, according to multiple connected sources at the time. Or as he described it to me in my interview with him in August in the PWTorch Livecast, "it was stupid money."

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PWTorch reader Dave C. from New York asks: Love the app and this segment the most. I was pretty young, 8-10 years old, during the Monday Night Wars and primarily watched Monday Night Raw. So, thanks to the WWE Network, I've been able to watch Nitro from the beginning to see what I missed out on. My question is this. I noticed that they made a big deal when the second hour of the show was about to start. They would have a 10 second count down clock and then shoot off pyro (sometimes in the middle of a match) and then switch commentators from Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone to Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan. What was the point of the big transition to the second hour? Why all the bells and whistles, especially while a match is going on? It kind of bothered me that they would interrupt a match and made me glad I stuck to Raw. Hopefully you guys can shed some light on this. Thanks a lot.

PWTorch senior columnist Bruce Mitchell answers: While the show was two hours long, it was counted in the Nielsen as two separate shows. WCW wanted to make sure their fans stayed enthused through the transition between the two hours, even if it meant interrupting a match, and this is what thy came up with.

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: I think part of it, too, was wanting to create a division between the two hours so they could justify entering both hours as separate shows when it came to how "total viewership" was tallied. If a show was treated as separate hours, if someone watch both hours, they were counted as two total viewers instead of just one, and this helped them sell advertising. It's also why WWE broke Monday Night Raw into "Raw is War" and "The Warzone." It formally designated the hours as separately counted in the ratings. The change of announcers, though, did freshen up the feeling of the show. I think Bischoff wanted to be backstage for part of the show to help run things, also. I will strongly encourage you to get a VIP subscription to PWTorch if for no other reason than to dive into the back issues during that era. You can read my coverage and the entire Torch staff's analysis of all of this stuff during that era with our real-time week-to-week in-depth insider coverage with a ton of backstage news on everything going on at that time. Check out details here: www.PWTorch.com/govip. I think you'd devour all of the insight and perspective in our back issues - over 1,300 back issues of Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter are instantly accessible with an activated VIP sub in either PDF or All-Text formats (or both).

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PWTorch reader Dan G. asks: Seeing as kayfabe is dead, and WWE want sto be taken seriously as an entertainment and not just a wrestling show, why do they still not put credits at the end of the TV shows?

PWTorch columnist Greg Parks answers: I don't think if they did that, that all of a sudden they would be taken seriously as a genre of entertainment.

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: You have a point. I mean, if they're a Weekly Episodic TV Show, every other episodic weekly TV show I see has credits at the end. I've seen WCW, the AWA, and World Class all run credits for producers and such on some of their programs over the years, so it's not unprecedented. The roots of not doing it is based on the secrecy of the business decades ago, so it really doesn't make sense not to do it in some format other than inertia and tradition, I suppose.

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PWTorch reader Jeff from Michigan asks: Would it be smart booking for Seth Rollins to cash in the Money in the Bank and defeat Brock Lesnar so there's a champion on TV every week?

PWTorch columnist Greg Parks answers: No.

PWTorch columnist Pat McNeill answers: There are several champions on TV every week. Dolph Ziggler is the Intercontinental Champion, Sheamus is the United States Champion, and Paige is the Divas champion, and they're on television every week. In answer to your actual question, having Seth Rollins beat Brock Lesnar out of nowhere to ruin the WrestleMania main event would NOT be good booking at this point.

PWTorch editor Wade Keller answers: No. As damaging and ridiculous as it is that WWE is ignoring that Lesnar exists and that they have a World Championship, as I've talked about in-depth in the VIP Keller Hotline last week and in last week's PWTorch Newsletter "End Notes," they put themselves in a no-win situation almost no matter what. But Rollins beating Lesnar does more harm than good.

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