Wrestling Fact Or Fiction - February 24, 2012

Tossing Salt Presents: Wrestling Fact or Fiction
February 24, 2012
Doug Maynard

So here we are again, Friday afternoon and that means another edition of Adele's favorite reason to shoot everyone the bird, "Wrestling Fact Or Fiction". I'm Doug. the saltiest man alive, and I'm joined as always by a man with more class than Mr. Kotter (obscure 70's television reference), the one and only Mr. Russell Jackson. Questions were sent out Tuesday and are mainly about The Elimination Chamber pay per view and Monday's edition of RAW. Let's do this...

TNA should be better now that Vince Russo is no longer with the company?

Russell - FICTION: TNA SHOULD be better now that Vince Russo is no longer with the company, but they're not even close in bein better until 1) They find a suitable writer that can come up with better/more interestin storylines that will attract the wrestling fans in watchin their product & 2) They get rid of both Eric Bitchoff & "Broken Down" Hulk Hogan...

Doug - FICTION: I want to say "Fact", but I don't think it will make a bit of difference with the TNA product whether Vince Russo is there or not. The way I understand it, Bruce Pritchard, aka "Brother Love" has been the man in charge of the creative direction of TNA for a while now. Russo was writing the television, but the main thrust of the TNA direction was (is) coming from Pritchard, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Dixie Carter. Russo is their fall guy for when things suck... a role that, based on his earlier roles in the destruction of WCW and the early days of TNA, is well deserved.

Russo is a good television writer and he knows the wrestling business, but he's not good as the "idea guy" and "man in charge". I expect that eventually, we see Russo back in the WWE as they attempt to recreate a new "Attitude Era" to help launch the WWE Network. And as for TNA, it'll still limp along with 1.0 ratings and living on life support, much as it has for the past several years.

You liked the WWE Elimination Chamber pay per view?

Russell - FICTION: The Elimination Chamber has got to be the WORST freakin PPV that the WWE has put out in quite some time (grant it, not that long ago)...You have 5 wrestling matches on the PPV, you have neither Elimination Chamber match (which I might add, both Elimination Chamber matches was for the WWE & World Heavyweight Championship) main event the PPV...Instead, you have the main event match be the retarded "Ambulance Match" between John Cena & Kane...I don't see how anybody would pay $39/$40 to watch a worthless PPV like that...

Doug - FICTION: I have to be honest - I didn't watch the pay per view yet. I just read the spoilers and recaps as the night progressed, but based on what I read, as well as the follow up on RAW, it just didn't really strike me as a must-see event.

I'll be getting a copy of the show from a friend later this week and I may end up changing my mind, but aside from the Elimination Chamber matches themselves, what else was there? The returns of Mark Henry, Christian and Alberto Del Rio... but none of them wrestled. Instead we got a long promo by Johnny Ace? What the... ?? And the main event was Kane versus Cena? Two matches with the World and WWE Championships on the line, plus matches for the United States and Divas Championships.. and they end the show with Cena versus Kane?

As Mean Gene would say, "Give me a break!". It seems right now that the WWE treated this show as just a throw-away event with little thought or effort. The focus is on Wrestlemania and while that's not a bad thing (so far, it's looking to be a stacked show), the Elimination Chamber PPV deserved better... and so did us fans and the WWE Universe.

The right person (CM Punk) won the RAW Elimination Chamber?

Russell - FACT: This is the only thing that the Jackasses that is the WWE got right...I've said it once b4 & I'll say it again, CM Punk is on such a hot roll right now that I don't see him losin the WWE Championship any time soon...He's doin a great job as WWE Champion.

Doug: FICTION: So now Punk will go into Wrestlemania as the WWE Champion. That's not a bad deal, but I still think Punk makes a better "chasing the title" guy than "champion" and it would have been better for Jericho to pick up the title last night and give Punk a chance to have a big time Wrestlemania moment.

Think about this. Very few people remember the wrestlers who go into Wrestlemania as Champions and then walk out as Champions. Miz did it last year, but does anyone remember that match? Nope! But when someone goes into Wrestlemania as the challenger and then wins the WWE title or wins the World title, that makes a memory and a moment.

It's hard to say that it's a bad thing for someone like Punk to be the Champion, but if Jericho is going to have any more reigns as the WWE Champion, Sunday night was the time. Not at Wrestlemania. That should be Punk's night.

The right person (Daniel Bryan) won the Smackdown Elimination Chamber?

Russell - FACT: The only reason why I'm sayin Daniel Bryan is the right person that won the Smackdown Elimination Chamber is 1 simple reason - so that Sheamus can maul through that pipsqueak in becomin the NEW World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania XXVIII...It's that simple...

Doug - FACT: In this case, the right call was made. Bryan has done a great job as the World Champion and especially in the weak field of challengers he had in the Elimination Chamber on Sunday night, he was the right man to walk out and take that trip to the pay window, if you will. I mean, look at the challengers? Santino? Great Khali?

Maybe if they had inserted Christian or Alberto into the match, there might be an argument made that Bryan wasn't the best guy in the match, but those superstars were wasted kissing up to Johnny Ace and being a part of this stupid Johnny Ace / Teddy Long rivalry. Bryan was the best guy to win in that match on Sunday night and as things stand right now in the WWE, he's the best guy to be the World Champion.

Daniel Bryan defending the World Championship against Sheamus is a great match for Wrestlemania?

Russell - FACT: Daniel Bryan defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus is a great match for WrestleMania just so that Daniel Bryan will lose the title & cry bout it at the grandest stage of them all...It will indeed be classic...We will indeed have a new World Heavyweight Champion crowned at WrestleMania XXVIII...

Doug - FICTION: It'll be a good match, but I can't look at it and call it "great". Sheamus is okay, but he's not, in my eyes, a "Wrestlemania headliner" superstar. But then again, six months ago, I wouldn't have said that Daniel Bryan was ready for that spot either, so what do I know, right?

I would love to have seen a Daniel Bryan - Christian match at the top of the card. That would be a great match. And Mark Henry deserves a prominent spot near the top of the show as well as a reward for the past year when he's really been at the top of his game. Even Miz versus Bryan interests me more than seeing Sheamus in that all-so-important match. Sheamus is okay and it'll be a good match, but I still think that the WWE still have done better.

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John Laurinaitis will succeed in his goal to become the (Interim) General Manager for both brands of WWE (RAW and Smackdown)?

Doug - FICTION: I sure as hell hope not. Watching Johnny Ace on RAW each week is annoying enough, but on two shows? That would be just too much. I thought the whole idea of having two brands was to keep them seperate with different identities and personalities. Having the same GM for both shows would totally negate any reason for the brand seperation. Of course, the way wrestlers go back and forth between the two shows, it's pretty much over with anyhow.

I'm scared, with the whole timing of this storyline, that we might end up with a Teddy Long versus Johnny Ace match at Wrestlemania. Lord, I hope not! Actually, if it does happen, I expect we'll see Teddy bring in a ringer to represent him (Mick Foley) and take on Ace. That's a "best case" scenario, but I actually hope that the WWE "creative team" gets distracted and totally forgets about this whole storyline and it goes into WWE Limbo (along with Brodus Clay), never to be thought of again.

Russell - FICTION: It's quite simple - John "No Charisma" Laurinaitis is too stupid to succeed in his goal, let alone run both brands as General Manager...Teddy Long, I hope, ends up as General Manager of both Raw & Smackdown...

WWE was correct to pull the character and take Brodus Clay off of televison?

Doug - FICTION: Yeah, he sucked and yeah, it was a stupid character, but if they continue to allow The Great Khali, Hornswoggle and David Otunga to wrestle on TV, despite their poor wrestling skills, the WWE can't really say anything about Clay and his matches. Hell, how can they say that his wrestling skills aren't up to standards when all he wrestles are sixty-second squashes? The whole gimmick was a bad idea to begin with and if they want to pull it because it's a stupid gimmick, then so be it. But don't blame Clay's quality of wrestling as the reason when he rarely wrestles more than a minute and you have such WWE "Superstars" as the ones I mentioned earlier, not to mention the Divas, getting plenty of airtime and TV time and they stink up the ring far more than Clay ever could.

Russell - FACT: And who says that miracles doesn't happen on a daily basis...WWE was INDEED correct to pull the character & take Brodus Clay off of television...Well not so much Brodus Clay the wrestler, but the character that Clay was doin...The character was plain out a BAD Teletubby impersonation that can't dance...Brodus Clay needs to come back as himself with a mean streak, make him a huge monster heel that was supposed to happen to begin with...

Undertaker was right when he told HHH that "Shawn is always better than you"?

Doug - FICTION: I think that Shawn is the better wrestler and entertainer than HHH, but "always better" just covers too much ground. HHH is the smarter person who has made the better life decisions overall. Shawn was a total screw-up early in his career and he had to grow as a performer, as a person, as a man. HHH seems to have avoided all the pitfalls of a wrestling career, except of course for those that can be attributed to hanging out with Shawn, like the Kilq "Curtain Call" or the "Bret Hart Screwjob". I'd rather watch Shawn wrestle than HHH almost anyday, but then again, I'd rather watch Jamie Noble than either of them so what do I know?

Russell - FICTION: I don't know where Taker got that remark from in tellin HHH that "Shawn is always better than you"...Shawn never got the job done in endin Taker's streak at back to back WrestleManias...HHH still has a shot in endin the Undertaker's streak at WrestleMania XXVIII, plain & simple...

"Hell In A Cell" is a great stipulation for the HHH versus Undertaker match at Wrestlemania?

Doug - FACT: This is the way that "Hell In A Cell" is supposed to be used... as the final chapter in a war between two of the WWE's biggest superstars. I don't like it when it's a regular part of a pay per view that has people wrestling in the big cage just for the heck of it. That defeats the whole stigma and image of the "HIAC" match. I wasn't really interested in the HHH - Undertaker rematch until now. With the new stipulation (and I'm still waiting for Shawn Michaels to be made a part of the match as well), I can honestly say that now it's become a match I want to see.

Russell - FACT: The HHH vs Undertaker match at WrestleMania XXVIII is an end of an era match so to speak, in both HHH & Undertaker bein the last 2 wrestlers from "their era"...Why not let them settle their differences in "Hell in A Cell" Match?...An end all to end all...Makes sense to me...

Putting R-Truth and Kofi Kingston together as a tag team is a good idea?

Doug - FACT: It works for me. There is no way that, as they've been presented over the past few years, that anyone can take either Truth or Kofi as serious top-level main event guys. They're both good workers with unique looks and gimmicks, but they're also both upper mid-card at best. While Primo and Epico are great wrestlers as the tag team champs, they really don't have any shine or personality. Kofi and especially Truth bring that to the table. It may not be what Kofi and Truth want (better to be a top singles star than a tag team wrestler) but in the big picture of things, it keeps them on the shows and in the spotlight and adds strength to a divsion that really needs some help and strong names. So Kofi and Truth? Why not?

Russell - FICTION: I don't see R-Truth & Kofi Kingston as a tag team for this simple reason...They are totally opposite in wrestling styles...I don't see them lasting long in the tag team division...

So in the end, we went (6 - 4), agreeing on more than we disagree, but only slightly. Actually, looking at the remarks, we actually agree, it seems, on far more than that, but just came at the questions from different angles.

I guess that'll do it for another week. My thanks once more to the man, the myth, the legend, the Putt Putt King of the World, Russell Jackson, for his help, this week and every week. You de' man Russell!! And if anyone out there would like to join Russell and myself and make this a Fact or Fiction three-way-dance, we'd love to have you. Just get in touch with me at Doug28352@yahoo.com and we can bring you aboard. Questions and comments can be sent to the same e-mail addy as well.

A quick reminder: The Superstars of American Championship Wrestling (ACW) will be at the National Guard Armory in Laurinburg, NC tomorrow (Saturday) night. Such stars as Ethan Storm, Red Thunder, Branson & Douglas (BD Productions), Dylan Kage, Ty Tyson and many, many more. ACW always puts on a great show and usually tend to see out quickly when they come to Laurinburg, so if you want to see a night of great action, old school wrestling mixed with high flying excitement, and the best performers in the business not affiliated with WWE or TNA, grab the family and come on out. I plan on being there and would love to meet some of ya'll in person. Doors open at 6:30pm and matches start at 7:30pm. Admission for adults is $10 and for children, only $5. So if you're in the Laurinburg, NC area or anywhere in south-eastern NC, come on by. Be there!!

And with that, I'm truly out of here for now. Have a great day and never forget... wrestling is real, it's life that's faked.

Ubuntu!