wrestling / Columns

411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Should Sheamus Be Mr. Money in the Bank?

June 19, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

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 Wyatt Beougher and 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, the Turtle Total Trip Theorem, pizza and hydroponics.

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    1. Sheamus was the right choice to win the Money in the Bank ladder match.

    Sean Garmer: FICTION – This is a bad question to ask me because I’m a Sheamus fan. As much as his character has been stuck in the mud for a long time, the guy can still go in the ring and he really never has bad matches. Even the much-maligned Randy Orton matches aren’t necessarily bad, it has to do more with how many times we’ve seen those two go at it and how generic the match feels at times. That being said, Sheamus really had not done anything to that point to feel deserving of holding Money in the Bank. The worst part of it is, Sheamus doesn’t need the MITB briefcase to prove he needs a title shot. I imagine WWE sees this as a reform project for Sheamus. They owed him the win from last year and they brought him back as a heel with new music, a new look, and a more in your face style. Vince has to feel that the briefcase will make people pay attention to Sheamus. However, WWE also has to do their part after this. They set the standard with Seth Rollins last year and now must continue that with Sheamus. Unless the plan is for this to be a quick turnaround at Battleground, he must be booked strong and not involved in stupid feuds that require one to kiss another man’s arse. I personally would have rather seen Reigns or Neville win it. You could also say that Reigns doesn’t need the briefcase, but had they turned him heel at Money in the Bank, I think we are looking at much more intriguing Roman Reigns moving forward. I also bring up the case of Roman Reigns because WWE has done well in finally recognizing that Reigns doesn’t need to cut long promos or be in a billion segments. Reigns wrestles, but he also has this whole “I don’t want to talk, I want to fight” attitude and it simply just works for him. It’s kinda funny, if you think about it because Sheamus used to have that gimmick as well. I hope having the briefcase allows Sheamus and WWE time to figure out who Sheamus really is and go in that direction. Direction being the key word here, in that they need to find one for Sheamus or this MITB opportunity will be a waste.

    Wyatt Beougher: FICTION – Sheamus winning the Money in the Bank ladder match felt like a Russo swerve, like it was done simply because everyone expected Roman Reigns to win the match and continue his destiny as Vince’s chosen project. Instead, we get Zoidberg, and has there ever been a talent with a more divisive dichotomy between character and ringwork than Sheamus? When he’s a face, he’s awesome in the ring (right up until the Hogan no-sell and Brogue Kick that invariably end his matches) but a terrible human being, and when he’s a heel, he’s boring as can be in the ring but at least he’s supposed to be a terrible human being. I’m not sure the briefcase is anything other than a prop for him for a while, either, as he doesn’t really fit into the main event storylines in any logical way at this point in time. To play devil’s advocate to my own point, I can almost see why they gave Sheamus the belt – after the fantastic work that Seth Rollins did with the briefcase for much of the last year, including one of the most memorable cash-ins in the history of the gimmick, Sheamus is a guy that is established enough that a lackluster run with the briefcase is not going to hurt him, even if he eventually loses his cash-in attempt. But honestly, unlike the Royal Rumble this year, Reigns was the right choice for Money in the Bank, so this has to be a FICTION for me.

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    2. TNA changing plans and pulling Kurt Angle vs. Ethan Carter III from the Slammiversary PPV and placing it on TV has made the Slammiversary PPV a lame duck show.

    Sean Garmer: FACT – Let’s face it, Slammiversary already was a lame duck show. TNA’s fans are the Internet, they really don’t have casual fans, unless you count those people that fill up the Impact Zone in Orlando at TV tapings. Due to the Destination America cancellation debacle, it forced TNA to have to change their taping schedule and once again doing pretty much what they did for Bound for Glory last year. They are taping several months of TV that is set to run after Slammiversary, BEFORE Slammiversary itself. I mean, how much more lame duck is that. Regardless of the fact that TNA does their tapings in a weird order to combat spoilers, the spoilers will still be available at least an entire day before the PPV is set to air. Personally, I don’t go seeking out spoilers, so I will try to go into Slammiversary blind to what is supposed to happen after the PPV. However, let’s be real, the Internet loves to jump at spoilers so that they can justify not having to watch the show or whatever. This means that a lot of TNA’s fanbase probably won’t order Slammiversary because they will already know what is set to happen after it. However, I think they should have left Kurt Angle vs. EC3 on the PPV. Now this feels like it doesn’t matter at all. At least with Angle vs. EC3 on Slammiversary, you had the opportunity to tune-in and see history. I get that TNA basically has to do whatever they can to get high ratings for Impact Wrestling, but killing a lot of the hype surrounding your PPV was not the way to do it. As solid as TNA’s shows have been since their move away from Spike, I just don’t know if even EC3 vs. Angle is going to move the needle that much for them. And then what purpose did it really serve? Nothing.

    Wyatt Beougher: FACT – This is part of the reason why TNA would’ve been roughly 1000% better off if they’d scheduled their next set of tapings for the week AFTER Slammiversary, instead of the week before. And that’s my biggest complaint about TNA as a company – they have shown, time and again, that management is either blissfully unaware of past mistakes or they just don’t care enough about legitimate fan complaints to actually stop making them. Whether it’s endless, tepid “huge announcements” (something UFC’s Dana White is also guilty of), or a situation like this, where they could’ve had a comparatively huge PPV main event and then built logically from that with several weeks’ worth of tapings the following weekend, instead the much-anticipated title match between Angle and ECIII gets bumped to a regular episode of Impact and Slammiversary ends up with a main event that is, to my knowledge, still unannounced with less than two weeks until the show. And again, I’ll play devil’s advocate here, and point out that this makes sense from the standpoint that TNA is still trying to gain momentum with the move to Wednesday nights on Destination America, and even with the relatively modest ratings that they’ve been enjoying, it’s still almost guaranteed that more people will get to see this much-anticipated championship match on Impact than if it were on PPV. But that’s not really how the statement was worded, and without arguably the most anticipated match that TNA could make on their first true PPV of 2015, it’s hard to argue that it’s anything BUT a lame duck show. And it’s especially frustrating with the reason for the Angle/Carter match being pulled was supposedly because TNA didn’t want to spoil the results with their taping schedule, more or less confirming my entire first paragraph. Instead, we’re getting a King of the Mountain match, something I’ve stated repeatedly that TNA needs to bring back; however, if Angle/ECIII is still going to be on the following week’s Impact, how is that *NOT* going to spoil the ending of King of the Mountain? Will it now be Money in the Bank style, for a future shot at the championship? If so, the winner is either going to have to wait until the next set of tapings (assuming the cancellation rumors are false and there will be another set of tapings), or they’ll still end up spoiling the result of the match during the tapings before Slammiversary. Get it together, TNA – you’re likely only running two live pay-per-views this year, so make sure that the tapings for shows that air AFTER those PPVs are AFTER THOSE PPVS.

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    3. You have zero interest in the Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns program that was started at the Money in the Bank PPV.

    Sean Garmer: FICTION – I am actually interested in this because it seems like WWE might be letting Bray be creepy, while also having a point to challenging Reigns. Wyatt is the absolute perfect foil for Reigns. Wyatt loves to talk a big game, many times just talking and saying nothing, and Roman Reigns just wants to kick ass. I know WWE has a terrible history with Wyatt and I really shouldn’t be excited at all because we know what the end game here. However, isn’t that the end game in most feuds? The face gets the victory so that he overcomes the evil and both people involved move onto something else? I like the idea of Bray having a picture of Reigns daughter and singing I’m a little teapot. It fits and also makes the feud personal. I have a four year-old daughter and I wouldn’t take too kindly to a guy like Bray doing that either. It is something I can relate to and many parents that are wrestling fans can as well. I now want to see where they go from here, as they have an entire month to build up this feud. How much more could we get from this little snippet in PG era WWE? Probably not a whole lot, but I’m interested, even if a lot of other people are not.

    Wyatt Beougher: FICTION – I know I’m in the minority here, but I’m always going to be interested in what Bray Wyatt is doing, and Reigns has actually become a lot more entertaining now that WWE has apparently realized his limitations at this stage of his career and have relegated him to a less prominent role. I’m also morbidly curious as to whether or not they can improve on that atrocious singles match that they had last year after Elimination Chamber that was rumored to have changed the finish of Wyatt’s WrestleMania XXX match and could explain why he’s been booked to continually come up just short of actually getting over as a long-term main event talent. I’m working on a column right now contrasting Wyatt’s booking with that of Mil Muertes in Lucha Underground, and I think that’s when the entirety of Bray Wyatt’s main roster career really becomes disappointing. With Muertes, they brought him in as this supernatural monster heel and when he picked up some losses and started to look like a goober, they legitimately buried him, which was a storyline device to allow him to come back as an overpowered monster with a trio of zombie-like followers. With Bray, he debuted with the followers, eventually proved that he could win without them, picked up some losses…and basically has been lost in the shuffle ever sense. Sure, he’ll get fleeting moments of importance to sell a big feud, but look at the guys that he’s beaten in feuds – R-Truth, Kane, Daniel Bryan, the Shield, Jericho, Dean Ambrose, and Ryback. With the exception of Jericho, who is semi-retired, and Kane, who should be retired, all of those guys have gone on after losing to Wyatt to receive multiple title shots (even Truth!) while Wyatt has floundered, mostly directionless, for much of the past year. This would be the ideal time to either reunite him with Rowan and Harper, who appear equally as directionless, or at least work a variation of the story they did with Daniel Bryan, where Wyatt points out that Reigns has had his ascendance to the top of the card pulled from underneath him time after time, and only Wyatt can show him the way. This time, though, Reigns has to come out of the other side of the angle changed somehow, whether it’s as a darker, fully heel version of the character we started to see around Fast Lane, or as a man who has had his mettle tested by a deranged psychopath. Basically, if they want to make this angle worthwhile and redeem Wyatt, the smirking Samoan prince is going to need to disappear for a while. However, even if doesn’t end up benefiting either Superstar, as long as Wyatt is involved, I’m interested.

    SWITCH!

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    4. Global Force Wrestling should have not used the six-sided ring because it makes them feel like a cheap TNA knockoff.

    Wyatt Beougher: FICTION – At this point, using the six-sided ring is probably the last thing that’s going to make people think “cheap TNA knockoff”. First and foremost, the roster features the following talent: Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt, the Hot Shots, Sonjay Dutt, Lei’D Tapa, Sanada, and Doc Gallows, all of whom were featured in TNA. Sure, guys like Hoyt and Gallows have done well for themselves in Japan and Gallows, especially, is part of one of the most notable stables in professional wrestling today, but all of these people were, at one point or another, TNA-contracted talent. Then there’s the fact that the owner is TNA founder Jeff Jarrett, and that both he and his wife, also a former TNA on-screen talent, have featured heavily in nearly every article about GFW (and, at one point, were featured on the only merchandise in the GFW store that featured anything other than the GFW logo). Like TNA (and Lucha Underground, and Ring of Honor), Global Force needs to do something to differentiate themselves from WWE, and using the six-sided ring provides an instant visual differentiation. Perhaps it isn’t the best strategy, considering how many other similarities that GFW and TNA share; however, I feel like this is a pretty minor complaint from GFW’s detractors.

    Sean Garmer: FICTION – Well, I guess they could have just used the four sided ring and be like every other wrestling company as well. It seems like Jarrett is going for the early years of TNA vibe with GFW, which is fine because TNA has lost a lot of that. Jarrett does also have a working relationship with AAA and they use a six-sided ring. So, it could also be a to make it easier for the AAA guys whenever they come aboard too. Honestly, who cares really? Jarrett was there at the beginning when the six-sided ring was first used by TNA. There are still many casuals that have never watched a single second of TNA and wouldn’t know to really associate it with the “TNA Brand.” The ring is just a frame for the artistry that occurs in the ring. Who cares whether it has the traditional four sides, six sides, eight sides, or 20 sides, at the end of the day, what will matter is what happens between the human beings wrestling inside of it. If the match is good and people are into it, why does it matter at all? I’m sure there are a small amount of people that will just say “look at GFW, they are using a six-sided ring that’s such a rip-off from TNA.” I don’t think it matters because wrestling companies take things from each other all the time. As long as GFW can develop something that makes them different or at least have identifiable superstars then it won’t matter about the sides of the ring. If it winds up feeling like TNA 2.0 then maybe that’s when the sides of the ring will matter.

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    5. Kevin Owens is easily the best act on WWE TV these days.

    Wyatt Beougher: FACT – I’m really glad that I got this question now, instead of two months from now, after John Cena has laid waste to Kevin Owens’ main roster career; however, since we’re talking about June of 2015, this is an easy FACT. Owens has been stellar since his debut in NXT, because he was the antithesis of longtime friend and rival Sami Zayn. Now, with his transition to the main roster, Owens has also proven to be the opposite of John Cena. Cena embodies exactly what we’ve come to expect from a WWE Superstar – handsome, chiseled, charismatic, plays to the fans, with a multitude of kid-friendly catchphrases and merchandise. Owens, on the other hand, looks and acts like a high school bully – he’s not conventionally handsome like Cena is, his physique is more Dusty Rhodes than Hulk Hogan, he’s charismatic because he’s so completely different than the call-and-response, quote-along Superstars we’ve grown accustomed to. Most importantly, though, they say the mark of a true heel is having motivations and justifications that seem reasonable on the surface, but are used to rationalize less-than-valorous actions. Is there anyone in professional wrestling today that embodies this principle more than Owens? He cut a promo in NXT two days after his RAW debut about how, fundamentally, he’s a good man – he keeps his word, he lives by a code, and he wrestles to give his family a better life. In a vacuum, all of these things would indeed make him a good man, but when the context of his actions are applied – keeping his word meant injuring Sami Zayn, again, his code has seen him injure several other Superstars, and there’s a difference between providing for your family and attempting to make it so that your opponents can’t provide for theirs – another picture of Owens emerges entirely. His post-match attack on Cena was another excellent example of this, as Owens took what was intended as a congratulatory gesture from Cena as a sign of disrespect, and he powerbombed Cena into the ring apron. The most amazing part of all of that? Owens’ promo from RAW the following night, where he pointed out how flawed Cena’s logic is – Owens wasn’t “a real man” when he beat Cena cleanly in the middle of the ring at Elimination Chamber, but suddenly Cena respected him after picking up a win? In what world does that make sense? WWE creative team, if you’re paying attention, here’s a little secret for you – if you give us characters who do things that make sense within the context of their character, they’ll get the reaction that you’re going for. And not just from us, the dreaded “IWC”, but from fans in general. Sure, you’ve spent the past twenty years trying to make your audience as dumb and complacent as possible; however, wrestling doesn’t have to be insulting to appeal to a broad range of fans. Let Kevin Owens actually come out ahead in this feud with Cena and keep booking him like you have been, and you’ll see.

    Sean Garmer: FACT – I mean do I really need to elaborate on this? Anyone that’s been watching WWE recently can see he has been entertaining, he feels so different than any other heel WWE has on the roster, and he’s made you care about a Cena feud. Owens has been awesome and I really hope this awesome streak continues because I want to watch everything he is involved in on WWE or NXT TV because he makes the show worth watching. I mean he put MGK through a table. I can’t imagine anyone that was upset by that.

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    6. You’re excited for Friday night’s ROH best in the World PPV.

    Wyatt Beougher: FACT – I’ll admit to not watching all that much Ring of Honor, but the combination of their NJPW crossover shows and the debut on Destination America have given me more incentive to check out a PPV than I’ve had in a while. Looking at the card, there are quite a few matches that should be good to great, from the main event “Champion vs Champion” match between Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal to the number one contenders match between Roderick Strong, Michael Elgin, and Moose. I think I’m most excited for the tag championship match though, as reDRagon’s work in NJPW has made me a fan, and I’ve been a fan of Daniels and Kazarian forever. And while I personally don’t like the Young Bucks, I do think their match (with AJ Styles) versus the Kingdom could be a show stealer. Friday is a travel day for me, so I probably won’t get to watch “Best in the World” live, but I will definitely be checking it out at some point in the next week or so.

    Sean Garmer: FACT – At the end of our Wrestling 2 the MAX special where we reviewed MITB, we also did a preview for ROH’s Best in the World PPV, (which you can listen to right here on 411mania by the way.) Aside from BJ Whitmer being in one of the matches, there is nothing to dislike on this card. Mark Briscoe against Donavan Dijak could be good, Dalton Castle vs. Silas Young is going to be fun because they are such opposites of each other. You’ve got the Young Bucks and AJ against The Kingdom, which should also be pretty good. The tag team title match is gonna be fantastic and I love the way they’ve built to it. The 3 way # 1 Contender’s match is gonna be hard-hitting and awesome as well. Then we get to the Title vs. Title match between Jay & Jay. This is going to be epic. There has been so much leading up to it and with both men having such long reigns and Lethal proclaiming himself world champion it is just gonna be great. I hope this winds up being the spectacle and star-making performance for Lethal that is seems like it will be. Lethal has been white hot in ROH and now is the time to make him the undisputed champion and run with it for as long as you can. I’m hyped for the PPV and I’m pretty sure it will deliver.