wrestling / Columns

411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Worried About Bryan?

April 23, 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 Sean Garmer and Jeremy Thomas!

  • 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. Considering his injury history and the most recent stories involving Daniel Bryan being sent home from the WWE’s European Tour, you are worried about his longevity in wrestling.

    Jeremy Thomas: FACT – I’m not gonna lie, I am worried a little bit. I don’t think it’s time to go to Daniel Bryan DEFCON 1 or anything, but I think that anyone with a bit of rationality has to agree that there is some reason to be concerned here. Bryan spent most of last year on the shelf due to his shoulder injury, which if you’ve heard him talk about it at any length was a mystery for most of its existence. Then he comes back and suffers another injury (minor or serious, we don’t know for sure yet) within four months. That’s immediate cause for some concern given that we don’t know details. I don’t think this is the end for Bryan, nor am I certain that his days atop the card are over, but you have to have some concern over this. I hope he makes the best decision for his own well-being, whatever that may be.

    Sean Garmer: FACT – I think you have to be very concerned at this point. WWE doesn’t just take you off a European tour for no reason, especially one where matches featuring Bryan would have been a big draw for the live crowd. At least it isn’t his neck,but still this nerve issue is what was nagging him previously and hopefully he didn’t go the “quick fix” route, came back too early, and something happened to basically undue what the surgery did. This really sucks because Bryan as IC Champion works and so does him being the “face of SmackDown.” I really hope he isn’t going to have to be out for another extended period, but it seems more likely every time we hear an update that his condition is only getting worse. I understand it is very hard for Bryan to do anything but go full speed, similar to Kurt Angle, but I think removing moves from your arsenal that have you falling directly on your neck or shoulder area, like that corner dropkick and diving headbutt could only help him. He also may need to consider just taking more time off and resting up a bit. We know Bryan isn’t all about medicine in the traditional sense, but perhaps he might need to get a surgery that really repairs whatever issues he’s having and he takes that time to rehab and get better. In the end, the only person that knows what is best for himself is Daniel Bryan. I just hope we don’t hear about him having to retire early like EDGE because he kept wrestling and shouldn’t have.

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    2. WWE holding a WrestleMania in Wembley Stadium (England) or Croke Park (Ireland) is likely now more than ever due to the launch of the WWE Network and the WWE no longer relying on PPV buys.

    Jeremy Thomas: FACT – I do think it is more likely. I wouldn’t expect to see it for another four years or more at the earliest, but the fact that WWE is as popular as ever overseas and they don’t need to rely on PPV buys improves the odds considerably. Sure, a US city always guarantees a massive attendance but you also have to factor in how much WWE follows the trends of general entertainment. Look at how films are increasingly relying on overseas grosses for their box office. I expect that this will continue in Hollywood and the more WWE globalizes, the more they’re going to consider running a show overseas…with the UK the most likely first choice.

    Sean Garmer: FACT – It is more likely and will probably happen, but England or Ireland would have to present a pretty sizeable bid for WWE to consider it. Cities are biding on WrestleMania now and I don’t know that WWE is going to go back to the old formula of just deciding “we are going to run it here this year.” I mean if they are really worried about it, why not do a test run with the Royal Rumble one year or do Summerslam again? Having The Network now, they don’t have to be as cognizant of the time zone difference and I’m pretty sure if you told someone in The UK that WrestleMania is going to go live at Midnight over there, they would still go to the event. I would really love to see it happen and I think it could deliver a unique experience for a WrestleMania. Yeah sure, we mostly get an international crowd at WM now, but just having WrestleMania in Wembley Stadium or at Croke Park would be a sight to behold. You have to think that WWE has seriously considered this in the past and I don’t think they really have a legitimate excuse not to at least do one WrestleMania abroad. If for anything else, it sends a clear message that WWE truly is a global brand.

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    3. Luke Harper is the most underutilized performer on the WWE Roster.

    Jeremy Thomas: FICTION – WWE could be doing a lot more with Luke Harper, that’s undoubtedly true. He’s way too talented to be booked the way he is, and WWE’s going to need to start looking for their next Kane/Big Show sooner rather than later. Harper can absolutely fit that bill. But at least he’s getting a PPV match against Dean Ambrose. It’s not well booked, but it’s a PPV match. Heath Slater would be my choice for most underutilized performer. I know we like to joke about Slater’s terrible gimmicks, but he’s a talented guy who deserves much better than he deserves and frankly just isn’t being used enough. GIVE ME MORE SLATER!

    Sean Garmer: FACT – You could make the case for several guys I’m sure. However, Harper seems to be that guy, similar to how Cesaro was before he got into the tag team with Tyson Kidd, who WWE uses to put over other guys. Sure, Harper is weird, but I think he should in his time with the Wyatt Family and also in his time on the indies that he can talk. It may not go so much with his character, but he is so good in the ring that WWE really could do something with him. Let us into the mind of Harper a bit more and see if there is something there that fans can latch onto with him. Not everyone can get over with just being great at wrestling. You have to have something else and I think Harper has something about him that draws you towards wanting to see what he will do. I think compared to Ziggler, RyBack, and even Ambrose who had periods where they were a big part of the WWE machine, Harper hasn’t had that as a singles yet. I hope WWE gives him a shot at one point because the man deserves it.

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    4. Jim Ross is largely accurate when he says that long term booking is a lost art in today’s wrestling.

    Jeremy Thomas: FACT – In terms of American wrestling, absolutely. Japan is better when it comes to long-term booking, but long-term storylines have gone the way of the dodo. That was one of the biggest and worst casualties of the Attitude Era; with “Crash TV” becoming prevalent the idea of storylines lasting for long periods of time or even long-term plans for talent went out the window and WWE, TNA and other major promotions never figured out how to get it back. Lucha Underground has some longer-term booking going on but that’s an anomaly and it’s not nearly as prevalent as it used to be. I don’t know if this is a natural evolution or just a degeneration of basic wrestling storytelling but for me as a fan, it’s disappointing either way.

    Sean Garmer: FACT – I don’t know that you can place blame on one certain thing as to why long term booking is a lost art. Yes, many of the major wrestling promotions have to deal with TV ratings, networks that are involved in various ways with the product shown on screen, and other factors that cause booking to be more reactionary today. If ratings go down, a crazy panic happens and all the sudden we hear stories about severe rewrites happening to RAW. To be fair, this also happens with TV shows in general. FOX asked the people involved with Sleepy Hollow to make the show more episodic as a way to increase ratings. Not everyone can be CHIKARA that doesn’t really have many people to answer to and can have stories that go on for a long time. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t have a plan and try your best to execute said plan. The problem that occurs is that we as fans don’t just soak in everything that WWE chooses to give us anymore. Very similar to how we now want a-la-carte programming, we want to pick and choose what we like about the show. So, when reactions constantly change when going from city to city, it causes Vince and everyone to have to adjust what they are doing. Many times WWE just decide to abandon characters or stories before they are fully allowed to develop. There are times when it was the right decision and there are others when simply going with public opinion was the wrong choice. Other times, Vince has this plan laid out and if it doesn’t happen exactly as foretold, he freaks out, and kills the character or the story. Not understanding that they could still get to the end goal, but they might have to get there another way. Most of that requires patience, not only from viewers, but from the writers and the creative personnel. And is the case with many things in life, patience waivers depending on the subject. In the end, long-term booking I think could still work today and WWE just showed they can do it in the case of Roman Reigns. I don’t know if we will ever find out for sure why there was a twist in that booking (Rollins winning the title at WM 31 instead of Reigns), but at least the long-term booking of Rollins, Reigns, and Brock Lesnar proved fruitful as a result.

    SWITCH!

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    5. While they made the right call (largely due to family and business commitments) the Briscoe Brothers in ROH have become a stale act.

    Sean Garmer: FICTION – This is one of those questions that’s difficult for me to answer. We’ve started covering ROH a lot more on the Wrestling 2 the MAX podcast, (which can listen to right here on 411) we’ve done a few of their most recent PPV’s and started discussing the weekly TV show a couple of episodes ago. So, I haven’t watched The Briscoes forever like many have. There seems to be a mixed opinion on their decision to stay with ROH. I completely respect their choice and understand they have a chicken farm and a landscaping business outside of ROH. But you do have to wonder how much more their characters can grow in ROH. At some point they will just be the veterans of the company that are always important, but soon to be passed over for new stars and younger talent. I understand the apprehension many have that outside of NXT, The Briscoes may have been portrayed as the Bushwhackers 2.0 and considering Vince’s track record with many of the NXT guys that show any ounce of comedy potential, they would not be wrong. However, putting money aside, this sort of felt like the right time for them to go to NXT and try something new. There’s no guarantee that NXT will be the same thing it is at this moment and by then the WWE opportunity could pass them by completely. I applaud them for wanting to stay loyal and also get bigger paychecks, but while I don’t think they are stale yet. They run the risk of becoming that very soon.

    Jeremy Thomas: FICTION – I don’t follow Ring of Honor as much as I’d like because I just don’t have time these days, but from what I’ve seen I think the Briscoes still have gas left in their act. Sure, they’re certainly not fresh and new but that doesn’t mean its time to change things up. As long as they can get some more mileage out of their gimmick, they shouldn’t feel the need to change things up. I don’t think that they would have done well in a WWE environment either, so that wasn’t the answer. That’s not a critique on them, but rather WWE as I don’t think they would have had any clue what to do with the Briscoes. They’re doing fine where they’re at.

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    6. With the Wolves having to vacate the TNA tag team titles, the promotion made the right call to crown the Hardys as the new tag team champions.

    Sean Garmer: FACT – The Hardy’s were the only real tag team they had. TNA clearly wants to split the Bro-Mans, James Storm already had a title run as part of The Revolution with Abyss, and I don’t know that TNA was really serious about putting Roode and Aries back together full-time either. The only other team that would make any sense is The BDC because that could tie into their feud with The Rising. However, this sort of leaves TNA in the same position they were in already with The Wolves. The baby face tag team champs that could be challenged by anyone. I mean it also helps that The Hardyz are hugely known commodity and the decision also greatly appeased Destination America as well I’m sure. I really don’t see how this is a loss for anyone if you are TNA.

    Jeremy Thomas: FACT – I know, I know…the Hardys holding major tag gold in 2015 is kind of bizarre and not in a good way for most people. Me, I loved it. I think that Matt and Jeff have been on a renewed vigor in the last few years and are showing more than we’ve seen from them in a long time. They seem stable and not nightmares as employees, and their in-ring work has benefited. So yeah, they’re a great choice for the tag team champions. One can argue that the belts are on ex-WWE guys again, but they have the right aura and status to further elevate the titles and whoever beats them will (if booked correctly) get a nice boost from it. Works for me.

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    7. If the report is true, you agree with WWE’s decision to ban Seth Rollins’ curb stomp.

    Sean Garmer: FICTION – Why now? Is my question. Is it because of all the lawsuits? Did a rash of superstars all the sudden complain they had bad symptoms after having matches with Rollins where he used the Curb Stomp? Do they want to make this a move like Orton’s “Punt,” which makes it something only used when wanting to remove someone from action. Whatever the case may be, I don’t buy the story about “WWE just wanted him to have a move that he could hit on anyone from anywhere.” The Curb Stomp wasn’t that already? I thought the Curb Stomp really defined Rollins and it is a moved he’s used for a long time. I don’t agree with it principal because WWE should have known this had the possibility of injuring people a long time ago. His other possibilities at finishers are already being used by Kalisto and Neville uses the Phoenix Splash at times in matches. So, now he’s stuck with this new move, which I’m sure I’ll get used to, but it is never going to feel right.

    Jeremy Thomas: FICTION – But this is based on if the report is true, and that’s in serious question. Some reports say that the new move is just to have an “RKO-type finisher” that can be hit anywhere from any time. Others say the move isn’t officially banned, but is being downplayed. We’ll likely know for sure if he tries it at Extreme Rules. Anyway, I get the point that the report states: that the move is bad PR when the face of a company is stomping people’s faces to the mat amidst lawsuits over concussions. Obviously the move wouldn’t be in reaction to hardcore fans but rather casual fans or non-fans who wouldn’t know how safe that move is. But I don’t think that one finisher is going to change things. They shouldn’t be having an Extreme Rules PPV at all if they were that concerned over the effect on lawsuits, because that could reflect badly. Their key argument has to focus on knowledge of concussions at the time, and worrying about anything else is a smokescreen and a waste of time.

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    8. Pizza Hut Pizza is the dirt fucking worst.

    Sean Garmer: FICTION – I don’t know if Larry had a bad experience with Pizza Hut, but I live close to one that has a buffet and I enjoy their pizza. I love stuffed crust pizza and I can buy a Digorno at the store, but there’s something about the way that Pizza Hut makes it, which just doesn’t compare. I really like their new crusts and pizzas they’ve added too. My favorite pizza place of all the restaurant chains is probably Papa Johns, but I don’t think Pizza Hut is the “worst.” I work at Kmart and inside that is a Little Ceasars. Now, they are the worst.

    Jeremy Thomas: FICTION – Pizza Hut pizza is bad, no doubt. But I’d eat a mountain of it before I’d touch one bite of store-bought frozen pizza. That shit is just flat-out, gag-me terrible. I’m just sayin’.