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Jim Ross answers questions regarding Steve Austin and WrestleMania 25, the chances of ECW becoming a two-hour show, last week's WWE Raw rating

Posted in: WWE News
By
Sep 24, 2008 - 11:25 AM

Jim Ross updated the Q&A section of JRsbarbq.com. The following items are among the highlights.

-Ross on Steve Austin working one more match: "Steve could do well with many guys including HBK, John Cena, Edge, and Chris Jericho. No one would like to see Austin in one final match any more than me, but I really think that ship has sailed. If it doesn't happen at WM25 then I don't think it ever will.

Powell's POV: I stated something very similar about it being now or never for Austin at WrestleMania 25. The ball is in Austin's court. I'm sure WWE officials have made it clear that they would love to have him back for one more match, but the buzz has always been that he has concerns regarding his health and is concerned with tarnishing his legacy. If nothing else, he should be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in Houston that weekend, and fans can look forward to seeing him at the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view next month.

-Ross on whether ECW will become a two-hour show and take an edgier approach: "My guess is no to both questions. ECW's talent roster is essentially young and w/o depth. Being PG attracts more potentially lucrative advertisers. Going PG makes sense to me.

Powell's POV: WWE already seems overexposed to me with five hours of programming between Raw, Smackdown, and ECW every week. Furthermore, I don't think ECW has a deep enough talent roster to support an extra hour. As for the edginess of the show, I don't think we'll see ECW return to its roots. WWE has rebranded it as a third brand that's used primarily for younger talent.

-Ross on the Sept. 15 Raw rating: "Well a 13.7 cable rating is stout for Cowboys-Eagles but it all comes back that if any program contains what the audience wants to see they will watch it. No excuses from me."

Powell's POV: It will be very interesting to see whether Raw bounced back this week. They didn't exactly go out of their way to do anything special for the 800th episode and they didn't hype any major matches. That the Monday Night Football was a blowout could help. For that matter, the third season premier of "Heroes" drew 25 percent fewer viewers than the second season premier.

Other topics include Big Vito's dress gimmick, which wrestler Ross would manage, Shawn Michaels World Title drought.

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