Query on Orton retiring, Questions on veterans disliking the Punk angle, new babyfaces, a new TNA rumor, and WWE's lowest point during the Monday Night Wars, RVD interview, HBK talks about new show, more legends for WWE house shows, Miz interview, more from Punk, WWE sightings in Chicago, Santino and Kozlov to ride famed roller coaster, and a number of notes from MITB including what happened after the show

Someone sent in a question regarding a possible retirement by Randy Orton. He's only 31 and there has been absolutely nothing I've ever seen to suggest that he's considering retiring. I think we'll be seeing him for quite a while to come barring a major injury.

PWInsider.com had some new questions Sunday:
1. I think you need to stop going to that website. I kind of doubt that they interviewed every veteran in the business for the piece. There are plenty of sensationalist sites out there that will either spin something to make it sound completely different than it was intended, stretch the truth, and/or just flat out make things up to drive traffic to them. And people keep falling for it and going back to those sites.

2. Only so many people can be on top it once. Raw in particular feels heel-heavy right now because of Cena's title reign. Anyway, it wouldn't surprise me for them to continue to use Mysterio, Big Show, and Kane as occasional main eventers in the upcoming year. As for newer faces, there'll be surprises as always (like R-Truth's main event heel turn), but here are some educated guesses as possibilities: Alex Riley, Ezekiel Jackson, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan (that one's a bit of a stretch, but I wouldn't rule it out), Sheamus, and maybe Sin Cara. Things are pretty unpredictable in wrestling, but I'd like to think that at least some of those will pan out.

After the break, I look at the rest of Sunday's questions and news.
3. I don't see that one happening. We haven't seen Christian as champ much, so pretty much by default he'd be better as someone chasing the title. It feels like a more natural place for him, given his history of never being able to win the big one, and now never being able to hold it for long. I'd like for him to get a better chance at being a top guy.

4. Seems like there's always some kind of crazy rumor out there. That would be a HUGE story and would be all over credible wrestling sites if true. It isn't, so I wouldn't put much faith in that rumor. Or the place that started it.

5. I've never really heard much on the matter, other than similar statements to that answer. They were losing the ratings battle at a point, but even then they were generally doing around a 2.0 for Raw at their worst. So, as far as I know, they weren't in danger of going out of business, just not doing as well as they were beforehand and afterward.

Rob Van Dam spoke on a number of topics in a recent interview. The situation about Nash refers to a response to the "rock star" interview where he criticized RVD and Hardy for not being able to sell out relatively small arenas with TNA when Nash had worked much larger crowds in his heyday. At least I believe that was the gist of it.

I seem to remember ratings being pretty much flat for Impact during the EV2.0 angle. TNA doesn't release buyrates, so I can't confirm or deny that part of his claim.

Update: Ratings were indeed up during the EV2.0 angle as compared to the previous couple of months, but continued to be up after that, so whatever gain they had from them didn't disappear once the ECW alumni were gone. It took a while for them to rebound after the return to Thursdays after the Monday Night Wars as well.

I agree about not wanting a bunch of green performers who don't know the things that the veterans do. Ideally you'd have a good mix of talents, but with all the releases, retirements, and departures over the years, there aren't as many veterans around to help those young guys move up the ladder.

Shawn Michaels talked about his new hunting show, and gave a pretty intelligent response to PETA's complaint over it. If they ever want to turn Daniel Bryan heel, a militant vegan/animal activist would surely get plenty of heat based on the responses PETA gets from its actions.

Harley Race will be making appearances at some WWE events in Missouri from 8/27-8/29. That seems like an odd fit for him, but if it works out, great.

Here's an interview Miz was a part of Monday before Raw.

Maryse was the guest in WWE.com's live chat during Money In The Bank. I bet they got some pretty interesting responses when she was in there...

Here's part of an interview C.M. Punk did discussing his status with WWE. It's pretty stubborn of the company to insist he sign for 5 years when he doesn't want to. Even a 1- or 2-year deal would be better than him leaving.

I think that Rock deserves the spot at Mania because it will bring in a lot of viewers who wouldn't come in for a C.M. Punk match. I'm a big Punk fan, but Rock's a much bigger mainstream star. I don't think anyone would be able to follow an appearance that big, so it should be the last match.

A number of WWE superstars were seen around Chicago, with the Tribune reporting on it. Young and O'Neil learning from Mark Henry would be fantastic.

In what I'm guessing is part of a publicity stop by WWE, Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov will be riding a roller coaster in Green Bay before an upcoming Raw. I can't be the only one hoping for some comedy videos of them there during Raw.

Jeff Hardy is reporting that he's just shot a new DVD due out in October. It's unknown if it's TNA-related, as his status there seems to still be TBD.

There were a number of issues with people ordering tonight's PPV. People were REALLY interested in the show. Expectations were high. Not a hugely surprising dark match, and as was seen on the broadcast, they didn't even need a 7th match or segment on the show!

In another note, the shirt C.M. Punk wore at the show sold out by 8:15. Wow. Talk about having lightning in a bottle with this angle.

After the show went off the air, Vince McMahon punched out John Laurinaitis.

That's all for Sunday's news. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading!