WWE Mailbag: Answering Your Questions on Lord Tensai, Brock Lesnar and More

TGIF.

No, not because the weekend is almost here, but because that means you get another edition of the WWE mailbag.

For the last few weeks, I've been answering your questions on anything and everything WWE-related right here on B/R.

If you haven't got in on the action yet, don't worry, because you still can.

If you want to have a question answered, you can do that by first submitting questions to Formspring or Twitter.

Remember—even though I will answer all questions—the better the question, the better the chance that I'll answer it in the mailbag.

This week, we've got a number of questions on topics including Brock Lesnar and Lord Tensai.

Let's get started, shall we?

Here is the WWE Mailbag, Part Three.

What's Next for Teddy Long?

What's next for Teddy Long?

Teddy Long's immediate future will be addressed on tonight's Smackdown, but I won't spoil it for you.

That being said, I think Teddy still has a future in the WWE, but probably as a different type of on-screen character.

He has experience as a referee and as a manager, and I think it's more likely that he remains on Raw and/or Smackdown in the latter role. The WWE seems to love Teddy as a character, and even though I don't care for him at all, he is pretty over as a baby face.

If he's going to stay on TV, I personally think that he's going to manage a baby face or perhaps even turn heel and manage an up-and-coming heel.

While I would expect this to take a while to come to fruition, I just don't see Teddy being permanently off TV any time soon.

Is NXT the WWE's Third Brand?

Do you consider NXT as the third WWE brand?

No, not in the traditional sense.

A few years ago, when ECW was still around, ECW was much more of a third brand. It featured bigger stars (guys like Christian), had a championship belt and featured storylines that would sometimes cross over to Raw and Smackdown.

When you look at NXT, it's almost never even acknowledged on Raw or Smackdown. It's like NXT is its own parallel universe. In fact, I would consider NXT more like a developmental territory than anything else.

NXT is where younger stars who need to improve are sent, and also where under-pushed stars go. Even though there are storylines on NXT, it's not on TV here in the United States and doesn't even have a title.

While I think that NXT could become a third brand if the WWE chose to go that route, the roster is so thin right now that I don't think the company really has any choice but to keep it as a developmental/Superstars type of show.

My Thoughts on the Current Divas Division

What are your expectations and views about the current Divas division?

Honestly? It's pretty terrible, both because of the lack of talented Divas and bad booking.

There are really only a handful of Divas that are good in the ring (Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Kharma, AJ and maybe a halfway decent Eve Torres), but the rest need a lot of work in that aspect and even as characters.

The only Divas with distinguishable characters are AJ (Daniel Bryan's submissive girlfriend) and Eve (the "hoski"). Other than that, most of the baby faces are very cookie cutter while the heels don't do much to stand out, either.

That being said, I don't think the Divas division would be as bad if it wasn't for the booking. These women hardly get any TV time or any real storylines, and thus, rarely get a chance to improve.

Plus, creative does things like book the Divas Champion Beth Phoenix to lose to Maria Menounos at WrestleMania 28.

How does that benefit anyone?

Although I'm pretty critical of the WWE Divas right now, I think things could be looking up soon with the likely return of Layla and Kharma. That's still not enough, though.

The WWE needs to start hiring trained wrestlers, not models who they then train to wrestle.

Lesnar vs. Cena at WrestleMania 28?

Do you think Brock Lesnar will face John Cena at WM29? 

No, I highly doubt it.

When The Rock agreed to face John Cena a year in advance, it worked because The Rock wasn't going to be around all the time. Therefore, he could keep the feud going strong thanks to his awesome mic work.

However, Brock Lesnar is going to be around a lot more often than The Rock and isn't a very good mic worker. For that reason, I don't think the WWE will be able to extend this feud over the course of an entire year.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the WWE will save Lesnar vs. Cena for SummerSlam because I don't think it would be smart to rush this feud and have the match at Extreme Rules or some other B-level pay-per-view.

This is going to be a huge match that draws, so keeping it on one of the "Big Four" PPVs seems to be the best booking decision.

There's no way the WWE can drag this out to WrestleMania 29, though, especially since Lesnar is probably going to wrestle at several pay-per-views before then.

Is Mark Henry Done as a Title Contender?

can mark henry stay in the title race on smackdown with abraham washington? or was last year his final roll of the dice?

A month ago, I probably would have told you that Mark Henry was done as a World title contender. However, I've changed my tune a bit.

While I don't think Abraham Washington is really going to help Henry (or that Henry even needs him), the WWE has shown a lot of faith in Henry with the way he's been booked over the last several weeks.

On Raw, he's had two big matches at the top of the second hour with John Cena and CM Punk, and he looked really good in both bouts. He's also been given a number of squash matches recently against guys like R-Truth and The Great Khali.

The WWE seems to be building him back up to the main event, as evidenced by the fact that he beat Punk via countout on Monday's Raw.

I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if Henry feuded with someone like Cena or Punk for the WWE championship on Raw or perhaps even Sheamus for the world heavyweight championship on Smackdown in the coming months.

However, it depends largely on what happens during the WWE draft.

What I do know is that I'm actually looking forward to another potential main event run for Henry after seeing him deliver those high-quality matches with Cena and Punk.

Lord Tensai's First Feud?

who do you think lord tensai is going to feud with

I think this depends largely on what happens during the likely upcoming WWE draft, but I guess I'll take a shot at it anyway.

Lord Tensai looks to be in line for a major push, but crowd reactions are going to dictate how far he goes. Judging by his first showing on Raw, I don't think that he's going to be over enough for a World title feud in the near future.

That being said, the creative team is going to want to push him by putting him in a rivalry with a top star, and I think that top star is likely going to be Randy Orton.

Orton had a lot of feuds with upper mid-card heels in 2011 and early 2012 (Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Kane), and I think that trend will continue when he feuds with Lord Tensai once Tensai has a handful of squashes under his belt.

"The Viper" is someone who can deliver quality matches with just about anyone, and Tensai is pretty damn good in the ring for a big guy. Therefore, I think a feud between the two is the best option for Tensai's first feud of his current WWE run.

What's Next for Daniel Bryan?

From @jfull305: where do u think @WWE goes with Daniel Bryan from here (Stay Heel or Turn Face)

Daniel Bryan is over big-time right now thanks to those hilarious "Yes!" chants, but his future as either a heel or a baby face depends almost entirely on whether or not those "Yes!" chants continue.

If the fans at every WWE show continue to scream "Yes!" when Bryan's in the ring (and even when he isn't), it's going to be really hard for the creative team to keep him as a heel.

That being said, we have to realize that there have only been two shows (WrestleMania and Raw) with the ridiculous "Yes!" chants so far, and there's really no telling if they're going to just die away within the next couple of weeks.

"Yes!" may be becoming the new "What?" or it may not. If it's the former, Bryan's going to turn baby face.

Ultimately, though, the chants may end up being just another flash in the pan. If so, the WWE may keep Bryan heel, especially when you consider that he just turned heel less than three months ago.

I don't want Bryan to become the next Kane or Big Show (a guy who turns heel and face all the time), and I don't think the WWE wants that, either.

For that reason, I'll say that Bryan stays heel and that the popularity of the "Yes!" chants dies down a little bit. Having said that, it'll certainly still be there.

Who Should Have Made It into the Hall of Fame This Year?

is there anyone that you are disappointed that didn't make it into the hall of fame this year?

"Macho Man" Randy Savage.

Any which way you slice it, Savage deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame. He probably should have already been in it 10 years ago—I don't care about any personal issues he may or may not have had with Vince McMahon.

It's borderline absurd that one of the most well-rounded performers in WWE history is sitting on the outside looking in while guys with far less talent and who had far less of an impact on the business are already in.

Names like Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Rick Rude and Owen Hart come to mind as well, but there are issues with all three of those men that are preventing them from getting in, too.

How Will Vince McMahon's Retirement Affect the WWE?

From @CardiffWanderer: With Vinnie Mac entering his late 60's, how many years does he have left? Will it change the product when he retires?

While Vince McMahon has already started ceding some power and control to Triple H (and Stephanie), I don't think he'll completely step away from running the WWE until he's dead or his health won't allow him to.

That being said, I think we can already see some changes taking place under the Triple H regime.

We've seen a lot more long-term feuds (Jericho/Punk, Triple/Taker, Rock/Cena), some big-name signings (Kharma, Lord Tensai, Sin Cara, Brock Lesnar) and some nontraditional World champions (Punk, Bryan).

It's changes like those that I don't think would have happened if Triple H didn't have more control of the day-to-day operations than he did 10 years ago. What's more, I think we'll continue to see him make changes like that as the years go by.

There's not going to be wholesale changes, like ending the PG era or ending the brand split, as long as Vince is around (and even after he's gone). However, the changes that Triple H and Stephanie make will definitely be noticeable.

While Triple H is learning under Vince, everyone runs a business (and especially a wrestling company) in a different way, and that will always remain true.

Like I said, the WWE will have some clear differences once Vince is no longer running it, but it's not going to look like a totally different promotion as some are expecting it to.

Which Superstar Needs to Swap Brands?

Which superstar needs to change brands the most?

I know that most people's immediate answer to this question will be "John Cena."

However, with the new Raw supershow format and Smackdown stars appearing on Raw every week, Cena would then be appearing on both Smackdown and Raw every week.

Do we really want or need that? I don't think so.

I think a superstar who needs to swap brands the most is going to be an up-and-coming heel who's currently on Raw, who needs the exposure of competing on both shows every week.

Two guys immediately come to mind in The Miz and Dolph Ziggler.

To be honest, I'd be happy with either guy moving to Smackdown in the 2012 WWE draft, but I'll go with Ziggler because he's even more lost in the shuffle on Raw than The Miz right now.

Ziggler tasted the main event earlier this year during his WWE championship feud with CM Punk, but he's now back to the mid-card already. For that reason, I'd send him to Smackdown, break him away from Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger (this might be the most important thing) and then give him a chance to be a consistent main eventer.

Smackdown is what I like to call "the land of opportunity," because it gives upper mid-carders a great chance to rise to the main event. No one deserves that opportunity more than one of the best in-ring workers in the WWE, Dolph Ziggler.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.