Khali interview, Questions on WM28 masks, Raw on demand, WWE going downhill, videos to track down, and no-shows, Strongbow hospitalized, Windham update, Rollins/Ambrose on the road?, more Khali promo work, Z! TLIS #42, lots of TNA tapings, WWE Network notes, Del Rio previews Raw, Interviews with Jericho, Mitchell, and Carter, Smackdown replay rating, Garcia returning, Spike president talks wrestling/MMA, Raw dark match, cryptic video #3, Dundee autobiography out, where Big Show was at Raw, and voting for Superstar of the Year

The Great Khali did an interview on wrestling and Bollywood. No word on when he'll be back in the ring.

On to my take on PWInsider.com's questions:
1. It doesn't look like it will happen unless they debut (an)other masked character(s) before then (or put current characters under masks). I believe it was specifically lucha masks they were aiming for the record on, so Kane presumably wouldn't count. I'm sure they'd still like people to wear Mysterio and Sin Cara merch, but the idea of both of them competing that night doesn't look too likely.

Nothing to add to 2, though a lot of us would appreciate Raw being on things like Hulu! I can see what they're doing.

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's news and questions, beginning with exactly when WWE started going downhill from the Attitude Era.

3. I don't think it's solely a Creative thing, for the record. There's also the whole "nostalgia goggles" argument that makes us look back at "the good old days" as a lot better than they perhaps actually were. But, I will agree that in a number of ways things aren't what they used to be. I think a number of issues are at play here. Some are pretty obvious and harped about often: things are "thought out too much" (overscripted and overly formulaic). Sometimes you need to go with the flow more and not just say "ok, you're a babyface. Here's what babyfaces do." There's also the fact that for the most part WWE isn't as in-tune with pop culture as they used to be. Heck, in the '80s and '90s they WERE part of pop culture. They're doing better with this, but they need characters who can resonate with the audience they're shooting for. The '90s were a "rebellious" time and the Attitude Era fit in with that (see: DX, Austin, Rock). And as goofy as gimmicks like Too Cool look now, I can assure you that they were pretty over then.  I'm not 100% sure what kids are into today that they could tap into (other than Facebook and Twitter), but the day of fairly bland characters needs to be coming to an end. Of course, they also need to tap into characters that the audience will boo. With the Occupy Wall Street sentiment on right now, Alberto Del Rio could be pushed as quite the heel playing off of that.

As for non-Creative reasons, there's the death of the territory system and the collapse of WCW and ECW leading to lack of competition for the company. When Nitro was consistently topping Raw and the nWo was the talk of the wrestling world, they were a lot more motivated to get the best wrestlers and use them in the best way. Now, they can get pretty much anyone they want, so they're less urgent to make the most of them. And as mentioned about the territories, a lot of stars that they do bring in generally don't have a lot of (incredibly valuable) experience in working crowds. This "perfect storm" is what I see as damaging the company, and it's been an ongoing issue for years. One could also argue that some of the hirees they have now vs. in the past have also been rather lackluster.

4. I'd suggest looking up who your favorite performers were influenced by and going from there. There's so much out there, and everyone's tastes are different.

5. Yeah, WWE doesn't respond too well to no-shows. I honestly don't remember the last time that's happened. They do generally have extras on hand in case of injury and presumably so they can get a feel for how things go backstage on the main roster and so on.

WWE Hall of Famer Chief Jay Strongbow was hospitalized after a bad fall in Georgia. I wish hin the best.

Barry Windham is said to be doing better, but still has a ways to go to being fully recovered.

There's talk of both Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose being evaluated for the main WWE roster in the upcoming weeks. I'd like to see what all the fuss is about, as both of them have been praised quite highly by online fans. Both men have credible backgrounds on the indy circuit, so hopefully the right combination of factors will come together to put some new solid workers on the path to becoming draws (and we get further removed from the '90s relics).

Jim Ross evaluated talent in FCW. Ideally the top "name" talents would be used more sparingly and meaningfully (i.e. PPVs) and we'd see more of the undercard get a chance to shine. Then the FCW crew can be fighting to move up. But I'm glad they at least have eyes on some possible future stars and could be getting them started on their journeys.

The Great Khali promoted WWE '12 in India.

Zack Ryder posted the 42nd episode of Z! True Long Island Story, understandably delayed because of his trip with WWE in Japan. No more Mae Young please. Other than that, hilarious stuff. He's selling his merchandise and that's his goal. Ziggler's awesome as well.

I'm not really sure why, but TNA will be holding 5 TV tapings in Orlando in January. Perhaps this has something to do with their new Indian project?

Sports Business Daily has a newsworthy story on the upcoming WWE Network. Putting PPVs there is quite the gamble. I hope it pays off for them. I will only cover the "in-ring" shows and PPVs here, as I simply don't have enough time to cover such an incredible amount of content. Tough Enough may or may not be included since I covered it in the past. It all depends on how much time I'm able to put into this. There's really no telling how things will change once April rolls around. I think it could turn out great for the company, but I don't know how much of it I'll be able to provide coverage for.

Alberto Del Rio promoted Raw.

Chris Jericho talked wrestling recently. He'd be a natural fit for something on WWE Network.

One of the top talkers in years, James Mitchell, talked about a number of wrestling topics. I'd love to see him paired with someone like Brodus Clay.

Dixie Carter (in-character) discussed Bobby Roode's heel turn. Pretty good stuff.

The Friday night replay of Smackdown got a 1.39 rating. Not bad at all.

Lilian Garcia is returning to WWE as the ring announcer for Smackdown. No real complaints there. Always enjoyed her and she's very good at her job.

Kevin Kay, president of SpikeTV, talked about cross-over between wrestling and MMA fanbases in an interview promoting the acquisition of Bellator. I think there is a sizable dual fanbase they can promote to. He seems like a pretty smart guy.

The pre-Raw dark match had The Usos defeating Tyler Reks and JTG. A little odd since Reks generally teams with Hawkins. Not sure if they're trying something new there or not.

Here's the mystery vignette shown during Raw. Interesting stuff, whatever it's for.

WWE has a new Kevin Nash shirt for sale, which makes sense given his re-emergence on TV.

Bill Dundee's autobiography has been released.

Big Show appeared at the American Country Awards in Las Vegas, chokeslamming Trace Adkins. There are certainly worse uses for the guy. Sounds like a good PR move.

Finally, here's the Slammy Awards ballot for Superstar of the Year. I bet it would mean a lot for someone like Punk to get a lot of fan votes from the WWE Universe (hint, hint).

That's all for Monday's news. More to come later tonight. Thanks for reading!