Who Is the Next Mainstream Star and More in the WWE Burning Questions Mailbag

Welcome to the Bleacher Report WWE mailbag where we answer questions about the promotion and its future from readers.

WWE had an interesting 2018, and 2019 looks to be no different. While the company continues to be lauded for its charitable efforts and the Women's Revolution, it has also faced criticism for its relationship with Saudi Arabia and the way it has been handling certain Superstars and titles.

Management addressed concerns by having the McMahon family and Triple H appear on the December 17 episode of Raw to promise the WWE Universe it would listen to concerns from fans and wrestlers and make changes accordingly.

Let's see what the WWE Universe was curious about this week.

Which WWE Star Will Go Mainstream?

A lot of WWE Superstars have appeared in television shows and movies over the years, but only a few have truly broken through the barrier between Hollywood and pro wrestling.

The Rock is a legitimate movie star, and Batista has been carving out a nice career for himself, so it's easy to see why more wrestlers would want to follow in their footsteps.

As far as the current roster goes, a few people stick out as having the mainstream appeal Hollywood would need in order to justify casting them in a major role.

The obvious answer right now is Becky Lynch. She has been on fire since SummerSlam both in the ring and on the mic, but she has other qualities producers would finding appealing, too.

As far as the men are concerned, Dolph Ziggler has already taken steps to ensure he has a career outside the ring should he choose to hang up his boots, so he is the most likely candidate to find regular work in Tinsel Town. 

The Showoff has been working on his stand-up comedy routine for years and has appeared on a few television shows and movies, including Max Landis' Me Him Her in 2015 and the WWE Studios film, Countdown. 

Should WWE Publish Win-Loss Records for Superstars?

Using statistics in wrestling has always been tricky. Certain things like the number of titles someone has won are touted regularly, but other than Curt Hawkins, few Superstars reference their win-loss records.

While it makes logical sense to use wins and losses as a way to determine who deserves a push, it doesn't work from a storytelling standpoint.

WWE might decide on a whim to push someone who has been used mostly as a jobber up to that point, and if their actual win-loss record was brought up, they would never get that push.

Take Jinder Mahal for example. He spent months on Raw jobbing to other Superstars before management decided to give him a run with the WWE Championship.

Someone with his record would never be allowed near a title, but since nobody keeps track of these things other than a few small websites, WWE can give him a push anytime it wants. 

Why Does WWE Want Charlotte added to Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35?

Based on Tuesday's SmackDown, it does seem like we will see Charlotte Flair added to Ronda Rousey and Lynch's match at WrestleMania 35, but it's not set in stone.

If this does end up being the plan, certain fans of The Man will be up in arms over The Queen trying to steal her thunder as she did at SummerSlam.

However, for the purposes of both match quality and storyline symmetry, adding Charlotte makes sense. For one thing, she is going to make the wrestling look better.

Rousey has been impressive in most of her matches, but she works a very specific style. It's hard to imagine her carrying a 30-minute technical clinic like Lynch and Flair. Like Brock Lesnar, Rowdy Ronda is better in small doses.

Doing this will also bring things full circle. Charlotte winning the title at SummerSlam is what kick-started Lynch's current push, and having The Man defeat her at the biggest show of the year would cement her as the top woman in the division.

It might not be what everyone wants right now, but if Lynch wins decisively at WrestleMania, none of her fans are going to complain.

Why Does WWE Shorten Superstars' Names?

WWE has this weird habit of taking away a Superstar's first or last name shortly after they arrive on the main roster, and it appears to have happened again recently to Heavy Machinery.

Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight will now be known only as Otis and Tucker. The same thing happened to Elias Samson, Andrade "Cien" Almas, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Alexander Rusev.

For certain people, having one name just sounds cooler. Rusev is a tougher sounding name than Alexander, and the same can be said about Elias sounding better than Elias Samson.

In other cases, it might be a matter of pronunciation and spelling. Dozovic doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, so it made sense to drop it in his case.

For some people, like Andrade for example, the move seems to have come out of nowhere. It might be a merchandising or copyrighting decision, but WWE would never tell us why it makes those decisions.

For all we know, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is a huge Madonna fan and thinks having one name makes someone more awesome. 

Who Will be Part of the Next Batch of NXT Call-ups?

WWE just called up six Superstars at the end of 2018 with Lacey Evans, EC3, Lars Sullivan, Nikki Cross and Heavy Machinery all getting the video-package treatment, though Sullivan has yet to appear on television.

Despite a crowded roster, the company will likely bring up another handful of Superstars around WrestleMania as it always does, and a few names are clear front-runners for those spots.

Shayna Baszler has dominated the women's division in NXT and will likely join Rousey on the main roster soon. WWE might use Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir during a Four Horsewomen storyline, but they will still be in the developmental brand for a bit.

Kairi Sane is another top candidate from the women's division to get a promotion, as is Candice LeRae, especially if WWE brings her up with Johnny Gargano as a pair like Lana and Rusev.

When it comes to the rest of the men's division, Aleister Black, Tommaso Ciampa, Velveteen Dream, The War Raiders and The Undisputed Era could show up on Raw or SmackDown tomorrow and be welcomed with open arms by the WWE Universe.

Even NXT UK has some deserving talents like Toni Storm, Rhea Ripley, Pete Dunne, Moustache Mountain and The Coffey Brothers, but WWE will probably keep them in the developmental system for a little while to help build it into a product the fans will recognize before making any changes. 

Is AEW the biggest threat to WWE?

Former Bleacher Report contributor and current Director of Client Partnerships at iHeartMedia, Dan Pecoraro, asked if All Elite Wrestling is the biggest threat to WWE since Ted Turner and WCW?

This is the hardest question to answer because things don't work like they used to. When WCW was a threat to WWE, it was because WCW was winning the ratings war and poaching talent left and right.

While AEW might be able to steal away some high-profile names from WWE, we are not going to have another Monday Night War to threaten WWE's existence. 

For one thing, people consume content differently than they used to. Fans can choose to watch as little or as much wrestling as they want thanks to DVR and online streaming services.

At this point, the only real threat to WWE's continued success is WWE itself. If the company makes a few bad business decisions, stockholders might lose faith and begin dumping their shares.

We also have to remember how things went the last time someone took WWE's biggest stars. McMahon started pushing people like The Rock and Steve Austin and ended up being even more successful than when guys like Diesel and Bret Hart were holding the WWE title. 

If John Cena, AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton all left tomorrow, management would pick five new people to take their place in the pecking order. In fact, that might even be the thing WWE needs to regain some of its lost supporters. 

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To submit questions for the next WWE mailbag, tweet them to @BR_Doctor on Twitter using the hashtag #BRWWE.