411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Should Mick Foley Come Back to WWE as GM

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: First up is the one and only Len Archibald! He battles Sean Garmer!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect wrestling-related content, as well as possible statements on quantum physics, homemade pharmaceuticals and hydroponics.

1. You’d like to see Mick Foley return to the WWE in an on air authority figure role.

Len Archibald: FACT – …with a caveat. After Mick Foley’s “retirement”, one of the best things he did was serve as WWE Commissioner and brought a lightness and twist on the Authority Figure. Foley’s mobile office and gavel as he made his decisions made for great television in the early 2000’s and it was certainly a shame it was short lived. The caveat made is that I believe Foley would be best utilized similar to Jack Tunney in the 80’s and early 90’s, only making an appearance when a dire ruling needs to be made. It would give Foley’s appearances more weight as well as give a different vibe to the played out Authority Figure. I shudder when I think that some of today’s fans have never experienced life without that particular archetype in professional wrestling.

Sean Garmer: FACT – I have a feeling we won’t get Sting as GM, so Foley would be my next choice. I only say Sting, because it could be a way for the casual audience of today to get to know him and we could see him trade barbs with HHH or perhaps even John Cena, leading up to a WrestleMania 31 match between Sting and one of them. Not to mention, I really like the idea that’s been floated around of having Sting make his first appearance at Survivor Series in some way. Getting back to the question, Foley I think would command things from Vince and HHH and WWE creative that may lead to a better on-air product. He probably wouldn’t want a bunch of scripted lines so his exchanges with the heels would feel fresh, plus he was the commissioner when the McMahon-Helmsley stuff was going on before, so there is a lot of history and continuity that Foley could use there as well. Foley would find a way to adapt the new GM role to today’s audience and make me look forward to every show. Whereas with The Authority, I usually would rather them not be in a segment most of the time. Foley as GM made me want to watch Saturday Morning Slam for God’s sakes, I’d love to see what he can do with the talent on RAW and SmackDown.

2. The news that WGN picked up a “wrestling related reality series,” and not Impact Wrestling, is a bad sign for TNA.

Len Archibald: FACT – I am not a TNA hater by any stretch. More wrestling means more chances for great performers to succeed. While the presentation of the past few months of IMPACT! have truly been a breath of fresh air, it cannot be denied that TNA has made some of the most boneheaded business decisions and the management of the company has no one to blame but themselves for not even being able to pull off a TV deal against an unknown, unproven commodity. The whole situation of TNA’s television situation is eerily similar to the dying days of WCW and ECW. A company can have a great show and great talent, but if they present themselves to interested parties as a national – even global company and can’t land a viable television audience, it is really only a matter of time before the worst-case scenario presents itself. It is sad, really – because even now I REALLY want TNA to succeed and I believe for professional wrestling in North America to thrive, the industry NEEDS TNA to succeed.

Sean Garmer: FICTION – I think at this point, TNA is only really negotiating with Spike. However, there’s nothing that says WGN couldn’t have created this show as a possible lead-in for TNA, or use TNA as the lead-in for this show instead. And TNA and WGN couldn’t come to an agreement, but they already were in production on the show, so they are airing it anyway. It is starting up in January, which would be when TNA’s contract is supposed to end with Spike as well. So, it may not be totally out of the cards that TNA could still go to WGN. I don’t know, I mean why would you just randomly decide to pick up a show about a family that run a funeral home by day and a wrestling organization by night? I mean Salem looked like it could be good when WGN first started airing trailers and it goes along with a bunch of other things currently on TV. However, this show seems out of place. It doesn’t mean it can’t exist on its own, but I feel like this could have been created with TNA in mind. That being said, there’s probably several reasons why doing this show, instead of TNA, makes sense, the most obvious being the money that WGN saves. I just don’t think this show existing is a direct cause of WGN deciding, if they truly ever negotiated as it is, “hey, we have this show about wrestling, let’s do that instead of bringing over this wrestling company.”

3. Moving Smackdown to Thursday nights will make you more likely to watch the show live.

Len Archibald: FICTION – I’m a cord cutter. I have not indulged in any cable or satellite in nearly a year. Once DVR became popular, I probably wound up watching two or three shows during its live broadcast. It just isn’t as valuable to a new generation of consumers to watch a show live when we can watch nearly any show on their own time. Doesn’t matter the time move, I will still watch SmackDown on Saturday morning when I have “Lenny Time” to do so.

Sean Garmer: FICTION – The show moving to Thursdays means absolutely nothing if WWE doesn’t do something to make SmackDown feel more important. Right now, SmackDown feels like either a rematch show for RAW with some storylines that get advancement on Smackdown, or a 2-hour pre-show for the RAW that airs in a few days. This is why the brand extension wasn’t such a bad thing because at least you had your favorite SmackDown superstars you might want to watch, or a special match you could only see on Smackdown, or whatever. I think WWE has done a better job of making you feel like, “oh I might want to watch SmackDown because some storylines could be continued on there.” The problem is, they make SmackDown unimportant when they air pretty much the whole segment as a recap video on RAW. I don’t care if SmackDown was LIVE on Tuesday nights, the fact that a show moved to another night doesn’t grab my attention. It could do that for casuals that always have something to do on Friday’s and don’t want to waste space on their DVR recording it, they could have nothing to watch and tune-in. But at the end of the day, this is just like with the WWE Network, nothing in WWE will improve until WWE themselves do something to change the perception SmackDown has with people. WWE treats it like the “B” show, whether it’s Thursday or Friday, it will remain the “B” show in fans minds.

SWITCH!

4. You have no desire to see the WWE bring back the cruiserweight division.

Sean Garmer: FICTION – I would like to see a cruiserweight division, but I don’t want to see the guys in NXT all have to try package everything they do into a 3 to 5 minute span, because that’s what the cruiserweight division will be and we know it. And honestly, what would even be the point of having a cruiserweight division when a lot of your main guys are in the “cruiser or lightweight” range anyway? They would have to call it something else and make it more like the X-Division where someone like Cesaro could come dominate it, if they wanted to do that, similar to how Samoa Joe has done a few times for TNA. My issue is, would fans be able to take these guys seriously if they move up the ranks and start having a IC Title match, after being relegated to the “cruiserweight” division for a long time. I also have a feeling Vince would just butcher it. We already have a plethora of what feel like filler matches every week. WWE is already trying to give us a semblance of a midcard and Divas division, while also hanging onto the tag division by a thread. A cruiserweight division at this time on WWE TV would get lost in the shuffle. I would have no problem with doing a “Cruiserweight Division show” on The Network and maybe you can have them be the permanent pre-show match at a PPV for a while. But you also use that show to give us profiles on the guys and develop storylines too. I wanna see it, but more on The Network. I just don’t see it working on WWE TV. If creative was at an all-time high and they were juggling everything wonderfully and everything on the show had a purpose, then yes do it, but those guys would just be another filler match on RAW and SmackDown. After a while, it would get old too.

Len Archibald: FACT – I want to say fiction because I am a sucker for cruiserweights. The catch is this is WWE we are talking about. Unless WWE has a major name with clout and experience in line to book the division – like, I dunno – REY MYSTERIO, the cruiserweight division will be presented as nothing more than a sideshow in a sideshow world and will never be considered as a viable alternative to the rest of WWE’s offerings. I would love to see RAW use its first hour to devote to cruiserweights, the Divas and one of the mid-card titles, or even make SmackDown the exclusive show to showcase the cruiserweights, but I am a man of logic and therefore, realistic. Realistically, WWE just does not have the desire nor proven in the past that they are serious about making the cruiserweights anything serious in their company. Therefore, it is better off left as a dead idea.

5. WWE’s build to the Team Authority vs. Team Cena match at Survivor Series has been well done thus far.

Sean Garmer: FACT – If we remove the part where they tried the stupid “let’s try to make everyone think that John Cena is going to join The Authority.” This has been done well. They made us care about Randy Orton again and made him feel interesting for once, but sadly they had to do the injury angle because of the movie. However, this has allowed Dolph Ziggler and RyBack to have time to shine and look like they belong on the same team as John Cena. The double turn with RyBack, though I don’t think he’s officially on Team Cena, was done well and was continued throughout the night on RAW. I very much enjoy when WWE weaves one story from the beginning of an episode and pays it off at the end, while also leaving something to comeback to next week. Hell, even Sheamus and Big Show joining Team Cena made sense because they have rivalries with Mark Henry and Rusev who are on Team Authority. Seth Rollins just keeps getting better and better every week in this scenario as well. I’m actually looking forward to the Survivor Series go home on Monday to see if someone else gets dropped and we are left with a mystery 5th man, or RyBack joins, will Orton return at the PPV? So many possibilities. Stephanie has also planted seeds with her putting down Lana that could cause Rusev to cause some dissension on Monday too. What do you know, WWE builds up a Free PPV better than they have PPV’s that actually earned them $9.99 or higher. That’s really weird.

Len Archibald: FACT – Despite some of the strange lapses in storytelling (when was Jack Swagger involved in a conflict that would make him side with John Cena or against The Authority? Why would Rusev and Lana even CONSIDER joining a group of those they pretty much have shown to hate by their very nationality?) the overall build so far has been very good. The storyline right now is giving Dolph Ziggler and Ryback a chance to shine, interweaving several paths (which is a miracle because WWE has shown that it is not interested in giving weight to more than one major storyline at a time) and has presented some form of stakes with the chance of The Authority’s team losing. I wish I knew what would happen if Cena’s team wins, but that is another matter for another day. The point is that it is a nice change of pace to see WWE create a build around the actual reason Survivor Series was created in the first place, and hopefully we will get an opportunity to see some new talent showcase themselves and move up the pecking order. I expect Dolph Ziggler to be the CM Punk of his team – who gets cheered more than his captain, like Punk did when he was with DX and Jeff Hardy.

6. Lance Storm is right when he says that Madusa belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Sean Garmer: FACT – I know Vince holds a grudge because she dropped the Women’s Championship in the trash on Nitro, but I think she deserves to be in for everything she’s done in the business. She is the first female PWI Rookie of the Year, she’s won a championship everywhere she’s gone, including twice in Japan and three times in WWE. She was a trailblazer for women’s wrestlers that came after her and she was really what held the WWE’s women’s division together for the time she was there. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if down the line, WWE tries to justify Stacy Keibler or even Torrie Wilson getting into the HOF and they didn’t do 1/4 the things that Madusa has done. So, I totally agree with Lance Storm on this one.

Len Archibald: FACT – Madusa, aka Alundra Blayze in her stint in WWE certainly deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame. During the days of The New Generation where Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Diesel reigned supreme, Madusa brought a new style to mainstream women’s wrestling, utilizing a mesh of WWF-style storytelling and Japanese style athleticism not often seen unless you were aware of the Jumping Bomb Angels. She was a trailblazer in the company in that respect. On top of all that, Madusa deserves her place in history for being the face of one of the major moments of the Monday Night Wars, where she “trashed” the WWE Women’s Title. It was a WRONG, BONEHEADED move at the time, but it is still nonetheless an iconic moment and in my mind, the unintentional smoke that lead to the fire of the Montreal Screwjob and the creation of the Mr. McMahon character. Consider this: upon her departure from the WWF in 1995, we did not see the Women’s title again for three years when Sable became the face of the women’s division. The fact is Madusa was pretty damn hard to replace in WWF women’s wrestling for a while.