Watry Q&A: Vince McMahon, MITB 2018 PPV, CM Punk, More

“Hello Mr. Watry,

“I’m an avid reader, and I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much I enjoy your articles. I find them very insightful and well-written and I really find your perspective unique. I think what I appreciate most is how little negativity you show. I respect that. I’m honestly not sure why you are met with such resentment and hostility by some of the readers, but I guess you can’t make everyone happy. Anyway, thank you again for all you do and please keep up the good work.”

– 411mania reader

Backstory

Once a month, I reply to the comment section. This is from my June 2018 columns. No cuss words or insults allowed.

Fact Or Fiction

Matt86: Also, he forgot RVD doing a clean face cash-in with his MitB briefcase, as did Cena against Punk

I didn’t forget. Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand 2006, in particular, is still one of my favorite Money in the Bank moments over 12 years later. I just said we were long over due for a clean face cash-in…and we are long over due. Ember Moon in her hometown with a month long build or something along those lines would fit. Promos, childhood videos, all that good stuff leading to her big victory on pay-per-view.

Stan W.: Just…no. NXT Takeovers are perfect as they are. There’s no need to add in the Raw C-team.

Exactly. Straight and to the point. The talent level in the cruiserweight division is amazing but until WWE wants me to actually care about them all, I won’t. Sorry. Do not drag down the excellent NXT Takeover events by show horning an out of place 205 Live match. Now the UK Division on the other hand? Same argument with the same concerns. Time will tell on that.

MrJasonLOL: The Miz should win the MITB, and instead of being all mushy and stuff over his new baby, he’ll do it toward the briefcase. Example (While looking down) he can say its one of the most beautiful things his ever seen, then he raises the briefcase into view

Awesome! I have Samoa Joe and The Miz as my odds on favorites right now to win the briefcase (writing this section on June 8th). The RAW women can get a briefcase for the red brand to even things out.

Elway Horseface: Came here for the Fact or Fiction, stayed for the Watry hate

Ten years strong now my friend.

Kenny Login Name: He acts like he correctly picked the winners and final of the NCAA March Madness tournament. It’s wrestling Watry you’re not exactly Jimmy The Greek.

Well, you may want to avoid my NCAA March Madness preview columns then (on another website). There is no acting here. The undeniable fact is my track record speaks for itself. Doing this since 2008 and have way more ‘wins’ than ‘losses’ under my belt. Way more.

Previous Q&A

Kung Fu Panda: I think the reference to Punk being a hypocrite was based on the speculation if he were to go back as a a part-timer and main event WM.

Precisely. If CM Punk returned to WWE and main evented WrestleMania, it’d be as a part-timer. He isn’t coming back full-time; we all know that. Then again, I am sure he would have some magical explanation as to why it is okay when he does it. Same with collecting another six figure payday, way more than most of the actual fighters, to jump ahead of the line to make a UFC pay-per-view main card to get stomped on once more.

Money In The Bank 2018 Preview

Nothing worthwhile to respond to, sadly. I have long said I am terrible at predicting MITB ladder match winners and shocker – those were the only PPV picks I got wrong. Pretty sure Mr. Kennedy was my last Money in the Bank call…and that was in 2007. Ouch. My streak continued as I was rooting for Ember Moon and Samoa Joe.

To fill some space here, I will say that NXT Takeover Chicago II was awesome. Top notch stuff as always. My review was posted last week (on another website).

Non Fan Watches MITB

jimmykey: Justin I’ve always been a fan of your writing because you tell it like it is, not what people necessarily want to hear. However, all your recent writing continues to be what I term “agenda-pushing.” It is clear, even by your friends comments here, that you are trying to push the agenda that women’s wrestling is “important” and “entertaining.” It isn’t. It is boring. There are too many botches. You can literally see that the women don’t hit each other. Sure there are 1-2 decent women wrestlers, but the rest suck, lack character, are too diminutive, or suck on the mic. BORING.

I obviously can’t change your opinion on this topic, but I can tell you this. Royal Rumble PPV was headlined by the women, the right choice in that their match was more exciting and history making. WrestleMania 34 had two show stealers in Charlotte vs. Asuka and Ronda Rousey’s debut. Both with the women. Then there was Money in the Bank with a great women’s ladder match and yep, Rousey vs. Nia Jax in a RAW Womens Title bout that should have closed the show in hindsight. That is not even discussing the NXT women or the weekly happenings. This revolution is here to stay.

Tyme2Change: Watry and Chatmbers who may be the same person are 411s Heels.

I don’t know who “Chatmbers” is, but I have written columns for over ten years. Long before coming to 411mania in 2013. For the 97,574th time, there is no gimmick.

Wrestlingsausage: Maybe nobody else will agree with you but I was genuinely impressed with the reigns mahal match .. I had minimal expectations but I found it to be pretty good and I was surprised !!

Agreed. I didn’t exactly care for Jinder Mahal vs. Roman Reigns going into the event. I wrote about that extensively (on another website and Twitter). Once the bells rang though, it was good clean fun. If only Chicago gave them two seconds of their time…oh well! Gotta run online to brag about ‘hijacking’ another match though, like it actually matters to the $5.6 billion company.

Mayo #JavyHard: It’s so cute that Watry thinks we’d believe he actually has a girlfriend…

You should have been there when we read the column together. She may have laughed more than I do every week at the nonsense in the comment section.

Vince McMahon Questions

LOM Audit: Would be worst interview of all time.

You’re right. If I could only ask Vince McMahon five questions, I should totally focus on his sex life and mind numbingly dumb Roman Reigns complaints.

darkjourney: The one question I have always wanted to ask Vince McMahon, and I am not asking this as a criticism or to be snarky, I have just always really been curious. Do you like professional wrestling?

The king of pro wrestling? The man worth billions? The man who barely sleeps thinking about micro managing his product? The man who lives and breathes the business? The man who stepped into the squared circle even though he could have sat behind his desk forever and count his money? That man…or…?

Mike Axelrod: Someone should ask him why the sponsorships which accompany the new direction of the company are better for the bottom line than the record revenues, profits, and ratings that the Attitude Era product generated.

You are so wrong I couldn’t wait to reply to this.

The only thing the Attitude Era has over today’s era is television ratings and live attendance. None of which means more money. WWE just cashed in over $1 billion for freakin’ Smackdown LIVE on FOX. The big deal in 2000 was TNN giving Raw $100 million. That is a mere 10% of what the supposed B-Brand just got. That is not even counting Raw staying with USA Network and all their other reality television shows. Again, this is not rocket science. Those giant monster ratings during the Attitude Era did NOT mean giant monster money. That is why WWE has been setting revenue records nearly every quarter for the past few years and are nearing $6 billion on the stock market – double their beloved Attitude Era days.

I feel this topic comes up every few weeks, but facts are facts. WWE makes more money now than they could ever dream of twenty years ago. The world does not revolve around ratings; there are so many other avenues that improve the bottom line. I don’t care how many people watched the over rated This Is Your Life segment or The Undertaker vs. Stone Cold headline Raw. Love them or hate them, they deserve credit for realizing that there is life outside of a number every Tuesday afternoon and taking full advantage.

WWE Trivia Generator: Thanks for the shout out Justin. You didn’t need to give me credit for the column idea. I just wanted to hear your thought, but very much appreciated.

All good. I was saving your idea until I was ready. Last week I was ready, haha.

Cognac&Conversation: 1. You reportedly produced a segment for RAW where Eric Bischoff came onto Linda. What motivated you to produce this and do you think it could’ve evolved into a full storyline, at the time?

Anything you see on RAW is either personally produced or ultimately approved by Vince McMahon, so I don’t get the ‘reportedly produced’ part. It aired in the lead up to Summerslam 2003 and was on Raw so yeah, Vince was involved behind the scenes. Especially if his wife was on screen. As for the second point, it was about Bischoff messing with Shane McMahon, who he had a street fight with at the next PPV.

Perfect way to end the column – me defending Vince McMahon producing a segment in which his hated real life rival forcefully kissed his real life wife in his real life home…

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