411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Are You Excited For John Cena’s Return?

Welcome back to the latest edition of 411 Fact or Fiction, Wrestling Edition! Stuff happened, people loved/hated it and let everyone else know. I pick through the interesting/not so interesting tidbits and then make 411 staff members discuss them for your pleasure. Battling this week are 411’s Dino Zee and Chad Perry!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect wrestling-related content, as well as possible statements on quantum physics, homemade pharmaceuticals, the Turtle Total Trip Theorem, pizza and hydroponics.

1. The WWE Slammy edition of Raw is a completely useless show, even more so than the usual episode of Raw.

Dino Zee: FICTION – Clearly, a bit of semantics comes into play here, but this all hinges on what we consider to be an important show. The Slammys certainly do not exist as a showcase of the top feuds being blown off, or where we go for the best matches of the year. It’s a harmless awards show, meant to be lighthearted, and in the most literal sense, proves its use by handing out the awards. I’d argue that the Slammys, compared to a 3 hour Raw where we expect storyline progression and big time matches only to get neither, are a welcome break from the usual trudge through the tar pits we get on Monday nights. It may not be the most important show of the year, but I’d hardly consider it more useless than a regular Raw.

Chad Perry: FICTION – This all depends on what sense you want to look at the word “useless”. Are Neville or Kalisto going to see any type of push because the fans voted for them to win an award, nope. However, while I didn’t agree with almost any of the vote winners (especially Tag Team & Breakout Star) there is still a sense of freshness with the show. The awards are only handed out each year and they are a fun way to look back at the year that was. The frustrating part is this also reminds us of how many wrestlers put in high profile spots are not full time. With The Rock, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Undertaker, Sting & Ronda Rousey all recieveing awards on the main show and not being in attendance to accept things got old pretty fast. Even a pre-taped video would have sufficed. Neville, R-Truth and Kalisto were the only active roster members in attendance to accept awards, what does that say?

2. You can only make one first impression. With that being said, POP TV airing the best of TNA specials prior to their January 5th debt is a bad idea.

Dino Zee: FICTION – Man, we’re getting cynical today! I don’t see how introducing prospective new viewers to your new show is bad. With that, I don’t see how allowing established TNA fans the opportunity to still watch some TNA action while waiting for the January 5th debut is a bad thing, either. Literally everyone wins with this. Instead of TNA simply going dark for a few weeks and then coming in with a cold introduction, POP gets to show its viewers what TNA is all about, and the TNA fans get a slow IV feed of what makes them feel good. No, I just don’t have it in me to say that more wrestling on TV is a bad thing. We should know this by now.

Chad Perry: FICTION – I mean is it really going to make any type of difference? TNA has been around so long at this point with many former stars leading that company that even many casual fans at least know of their existence, and yet they still do not care to watch. The point of this type of special is to draw in the casual fan that may see something or someone that interests them and give them a reason to watch the current product. It is nice that POP TV wants to show off their newest program, I remember this time last year DA was doing the same with a series of “best of” TV shows before Impact aired. However after a few months of sagging ratings DA gave up on the show and canceled it. I wish all the best for TNA and their talent but the reality is their newest TV deal is on a channel that people go to find what else is on TV, I don’t even know if they will be keeping track of ratings.

3. Ring of Honor is running a risky game by using so many un-contracted talents in main roles.

Dino Zee: FACT – Sure, it’s a risky game, but I don’t think it’s that radical of an idea. Ring of Honor is still an independent league, albeit one that is far exceeding what we’d expect from an indy fed. That said, it’s still an indy fed, and it’s not completely out of the realm for an indy fed to use un-contracted talent, even in main roles. You could always have the talent lose, and everything would be okay. Ring of Honor, however, likes to put belts on people either with contracts running out, or without one in place, and that can definitely cause some headaches. Still, I lean on the fact that it’s an indy, and they need to take talent from wherever they can get it. If this was WWE, sure, I’d be all over them for making such bad decisions. But Ring of Honor plays a different game with a different set of rules, and so while I’ll agree that it’s a risky game, I don’t think it’s some surprisingly bad idea by any stretch.

Chad Perry: FACT – Jay Lethal (World Champ), Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (involved in high profile programs), Michael Elgin (World Title #1 Contender) are among the biggest names currently doing so. Lethal’s deal is simply set to expire, but even then you are running a risk of a guy not re-signing. ROH has experienced this issue with Elgin during his World Title run that was cut short because of visa/contract issues, and you would think because of this they would learn. They have also experienced this a few years ago when they gave Kenny King 1/2 of the tag belts to try convincing him to stay, however he went to TNA and left ROH with egg on their face. Let’s also not forget AAA just experienced their champion (on a hand shake deal) leaving abruptly and heading to WWE. While I do not see Lethal doing this to the company, stranger things have certainly happened and the company should seriously do some leg work with their business model to keep guys at least under 6 month contracts.

SWITCH!

4. You like the idea that NJPW is adding six-man belts to the promotion.

Chad Perry: FACT – I know many hate when a company becomes over-saturated with title belts and this could be seen as being on the border of that. The Briscoes are in the match to determine the first champs, despite NEVER having competed in NJPW. In a way this could go to show that there are not enough teams to make a viable division out of this. However you can also look at it from the standpoint of The Briscoes have such a legacy that they earn their way in that way. Dragon Gate built their reputation in the US with their fantastic six man tag team division over the years, so one can not fault New Japan for trying to follow in their foot steps, no matter how abrupt the announcement came. If this catches on in NJPW I could see ROH and even possibly WWE adding the same division down the road, both companies would have a stronger ability out of the gate to build this division.

Dino Zee: FACT – Show of hands for those surprised that the question about New Japan is the one that breaks the cynical streak? New Japan could literally fling crap at the audience and some of us would say it’s great. Jokes aside, I do like the idea. Yeah, there are probably too many titles in general, but New Japan usually runs some 6 man tags on the cards, and the belts themselves don’t actually dilute a division in the way that, say, having two secondary titles might. On the storytelling side, you can easily give these belts to guys slightly lower on the totem pole, but still in need of looking important. Hell, maybe a tag team that falls short in its bid for the tag belts goes and recruits some guy that’s fallen short in Intercontinental Title matches, and voila, we have ourselves a 6 Man Championship team.

5. You are excited that John Cena is returning on Raw next week.

Chad Perry: FACT – “Excited” may be pushing it a little bit in regards to my emotion, but I am at least looking forward to it. We are building to the Road to WrestleMania and having John Cena back on TV will help things feel a little more normal, whatever that means in WWE these days. The show is seriously lacking in star power and Cena has had perhaps the best year of his career from an in ring perspective. We know that he is facing ADR for the US Title but it will be interesting to see what road Cena is taking as he build towards WrestleMania. I am hoping that WWE is planning on taking the Undertaker route myself.

Dino Zee: FACT – It’s been boring without him, and it’s that simple. I don’t think Raw will get astronomically better, and there’s a really good chance that 3 minutes into his promo I’ll be ready for him to get the hook, but yeah, right now, I’m excited for his return. I’d like to see who he feuds with (it can’t be Del Rio, right? Right???), if he’ll have any goal besides “Win the Royal Rumble,” and I’d like to see if he makes any hints at wanting to go after Roman Reigns.

6. Jay Lethal defeating AJ Styles to retain the ROH Title at Final Battle was the right call.

Chad Perry: FACT – Had it not been for WrestleKingdom coming up in a few weeks than I would have been more than okay with Styles winning the belt. However, AJ has been booked for the IC Title match for over a month now and Lethal vs. Elgin has been set up for the show as well. Having AJ win the match would have made the Lethal vs. Elgin match totally useless at NJPW’s biggest show of the year. It would be great to see AJ (and/or Christopher Daniels) get a brief run with the World Title for the work put into the company, but now is simply not that time. Additionally, this was a very strong defense for Lethal which is exactly what he needed, Thus far nothing in his reign had been as great as the match with AJ. The draw with Strong was polarizing, the TV re-match was very good and his only other title defense was against O’Reilly at ASE where the real story was Cole turning on Kyle. Lethal has now defeated a man that has been a huge force in Japan for 2 years now and is starting 2016 looking very strong.

Dino Zee: FACT – Lethal losing both his belts so quickly in succession may have made for a great story, but it could have really damaged the man. I remember reading an article here at 411 a few months back that called Lethal burning himself out too quickly by trying to hold on to both the Ring of Honor TV and World Titles, and that author was indeed proven right. But after the loss to Strong, Lethal needed to reassert himself with a big win and show that he’s still the top dog in the company, and beating AJ Styles is the right way to go about that. With this win, Lethal shows that he’s not slipping, and can more or less write off the Strong loss as him just not caring about an opponent he had already defeated in a match for the lesser title. Now that he’s focused on the belt that matters, we could see an even more dangerous Lethal, with the win over Styles being just the start.