wrestling / Columns
411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Was Monday’s Ultimate Deletion Good?
Image Credit: WWE
Welcome back to 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 Steve Cook & Jake Chambers.
1. Monday’s Ultimate Deletion was good.
Steve Cook: FACT – The Broken/Woken Universe is a bit of an acquired taste, that’s for sure. Some don’t get the appeal. WWE was confused enough by the whole spectacle that they left it off their Hulu version of the show & Michael Cole apologized before it aired. These developments probably don’t bode well for the future of Matt’s vision. All I can say is that I was highly entertained. Given the choice between watching Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt in a wrestling ring in front of a Raw audience, or at the Hardy Compound with only a referee, Rebecca Hardy, Senor Benjamin & Bray’s inner demons as witnesses, give me the latter every day of the week. Bray seemed much more at home in that environment. I do think it’s best in small doses, and limited trips to Matt’s universe will help keep them special, but it was a great change of pace from the usual WWE fare.
Jake Chambers: FICTION – With the New Japan Cup being on fire, the Mixed Match Challenge giving me the best WWE fix in years without having to watch their terrible TV shows, and being in attendance at the final night of tapings for Lucha Underground Season 4, I’ve had my fill of awesome wrestling recently. Yes, that’s right: wrestling. So forgive me if I wasn’t pumped to see some D-level comedy bit with a couple of limp punches thrown in to justify it as a RAW “main event” wrestling match. However, out of respect for this question, I dragged myself to YouTube and suffered through what lived up to my very low expectations. Although, I guess it wasn’t terrible; I was expecting worse, that’s for sure. Unlike the past TNA iterations, this WWE version was just kind of boring, no? The key to why is pretty obvious: Woken Matt Hardy is a babyface. The original Final Deletion, while stupid, was interesting because you were seeing this fever dream perpetuated by Matt Hardy’s storyline frustrations with losing, and Jeff Hardy as the hero being reluctantly pulled into this escalating super-villain-like madness. There was a context to the nonsense. On the other hand, this Hardy/Wyatt feud has no logic or story to it other than a kind of meta-promise that it’ll be a gateway to some mythical campy fun. But that’s like being the weirdos excited for the Sharknado sequels. Maybe Final Deletion had charm, but “The Great War” at Bound for Glory 2016, the Total Nonstop Deletion Episode, and even that Slammiversary XV match with Jeremy Borash and Josh Matthews were examples of that concept gone oh-so wrong. Making Matt Hardy the hero of RAW’s Ultimate Deletion segment removed all the potential for this gimmick as a portal into the mind of a character going crazy, and instead it felt like a soft attempt to just commercialize a bunch of intellectual property. So terrible, no; but good? I wouldn’t say that either. Final verdict from me: it was fine.
2. Daniel Bryan being back will further prove that Roman Reigns will not be the chosen one by the fans.
Steve Cook: FICTION – It’s not so much that I think Bryan won’t get better responses from audiences than Reigns, because he absolutely will. It’s my belief that if they haven’t given up on the Roman Reigns thing by now, they’re not going to. Whether it’s Bryan or Braun Strowman or anybody else doesn’t matter. Roman Reigns is the guy, brother. He has enough metrics working in his favor for WWE to keep the push going. Bryan’s return to the ring should do good things for business, like hopefully drumming up some interest in a SmackDown brand that’s been struggling to keep attention for months now. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be the Chosen One. Something we all need to remember is the following: Just because we don’t love Roman Reigns doesn’t mean there aren’t a ton of people that do. They’re out there. I know it’s popular to think that WWE management is insane, but they really would have given up on Reigns by now if he wasn’t doing anything on top. Even Diesel only got a year.
Jake Chambers: FICTION – This statement is tough one to wrap my head around. I’m not sure how you measure being a “chosen one” in WWE Universe fandom. Clearly Roman Reigns was a massively popular member of the Shield, and if you’ve seen him at a house show recently (like the one I saw just two weeks ago) then his popularity is undeniable. It really doesn’t matter how grrr argh some vocal fans want to get about it, Reigns is a massive star and millions of people love the guy. Those millions probably include a lot of kids, women and morons, so it’s not quite the fanbase that fills the intelligentsia of comment sections, but it’s an undeniable fact that Roman Reigns is a major superstar. On top of that, Reigns IS the “chosen one” by WWE corporate. This is not changing. The WWE does not go backwards. They pushed the Undertaker, HHH, Cena and now Reigns up to iconic levels regardless of crowd reaction or critical response. Let’s never forget, this is a company that put Hogan, Austin and The Rock in the middle of the ring to open WrestleMania 30 and proclaimed it as a historic meeting of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history, while Flair, HBK and Bret all sat in the audience watching. No matter what happens with Bryan’s current return to wrestling, in the future Reigns will be the one standing in the ring and Bryan will be sitting in the audience. This has nothing to do with subjective opinion, this is just what the WWE does. They create “icons”, and they’ve already done it with Reigns. There is no going back and it’s silly to even keep talking about it.
3. Rey Mysterio will be back with WWE by Summerslam.
Steve Cook: FACT – When asked on December 31 if Rey would return to WWE in some capacity in 2018, I responded with the following: It just feels like it’s time for Rey to go back to WWE, if only for a brief farewell run. He’s been gone a couple of years now. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and people will be happy to see him back. He did an interview with ESPN where he said he wanted to go back at some point, and WWE.com had a video mentioning him as a possible Royal Rumble surprise. Both parties seem interested, so let’s make the love connection! When asked on February 18 if Rey would be back by the end of 2018, I responded with the following. Mysterio is heading to New Japan to work a match with Jushin Liger on one of their American shows, which sounds like fun. Whether he’s doing anything else with them is unknown, and the appearance of Chris Jericho on Raw while wearing an Alpha Club shirt shows that appearing on a New Japan show or two doesn’t put you in the WWE doghouse. He had an impressive performance at the Royal Rumble & I’d be shocked if WWE didn’t invite him back for another as soon as possible. As it turns out, Rey will not be appearing on that show due to injury. It doesn’t change my opinion that Rey will be back with WWE soon, and SummerSlam seems as good a time as any.
Jake Chambers: FACT – Despite the continued dubious nature of all these rumours, I believe the WWE is perpetually going to be interested in bringing back Rey Mysterio. The WWE is as much a touring nostalgia act as it is a kids show, so a major former star like Mysterio is going to appeal to dudes in their 40s (like myself) who watched him in his prime, and is the perfect cartoonish character for us guys to use as an introduction for our kids to the WWE, which gives many among us a great excuse to keep watching as we get older. Does the WWE want a cutting edge luchador who can be for 2018 what Mysterio was in 1996? LOL, ask Mascara Dorado. So thanks WWE for thinking of dudes like me when trying to add more pieces to your boring-ass shows and merchandising machine, but trust me if there’s a new Lucha Underground episode (with or without Mysterio on it) airing against SummerSlam, my decision on what to watch will be an easy one.
SWITCH!
4. The US Title match between Orton, Roode, & Mahal should be on the WrestleMania pre-show.
Jake Chambers: FICTION – Randy Orton is too big to be added to that sad class of former WrestleMania Main Event-ers relegated to the pre-show. The dude won the WWE Title at the show last year. It’s bad enough he’s now feuding with two losers like Mahal and Roode over the worst title in all of the WWE, but he has to be humiliated by doing it on the pre-show too? Nah, Orton is too famous and too good; this match should be on the main card. If this ends up on the pre-show, there is only one person to blame here: Bobby Roode. He sucks.
Steve Cook: FACT – Randy Orton might be the greatest wrestler ever that has never really done anything for me. I acknowledge that he’s a solid hand in the ring & more often than not puts on good matches. There are a ton of guys in wrestling worse than he is. I just never really cared one way or the other about him. When he appears on my television screen, my mind starts to wander. I like Bobby Roode, but he’s one of those guys that needs a spark to really get going. He & Orton had a really good match at FastLane, but nobody really cared until the RKO. Adding Jinder to the mix is probably the worst thing I can think of to make it better, other than making it a Blindfold Match. It’s been awhile since we had one of those at a WrestleMania, right? Maybe I’ll wear a blindfold while watching this match.
5. The build to Charlotte vs. Asuka has been poor so far.
Jake Chambers: FACT – I’m not even sure legally that’s allowed to be called a “build”. I talked to my lawyer the other day and she said it’s best to refrain from using that particular vocabulary in this case, especially after I was called in for questioning when I wrote the word “characters” in a piece about Matt Hardy’s Broken-verse. The best thing the WWE could do for this match is to have Asuka and Miz lose in the finals of the Mixed Match Challenge just days before WrestleMania, ending The Streak and instantly adding some sense of drama to the Smackdown Women’s Title Match. Otherwise, even attempting any “build” is pointless since Asuka is winning. Snore.
Steve Cook: FACT – I thought the idea behind this match was having Asuka go against somebody we weren’t sure she could beat. Charlotte is a more dominant physical presence than Alexa Bliss, along with being a more competent wrestler. Making people believe she can beat Asuka shouldn’t be difficult. Instead, she’s losing to Natalya & the focus of SmackDown’s women’s build is on Carmella continuing to run down to the ring & attempt to cash in her MITB briefcase. Meanwhile, Asuka is still over on Raw & beating Alexa Bliss by count-out while serving as a backdrop for Alexa’s feud with Nia Jax. That feud happens to be several times more interesting than this one, because there’s a personal issue involved. SD’s booking team has seemingly decided that announcing this match is enough of a build.
6. The women’s battle royal will end up on the WrestleMania pre-show.
Jake Chambers: FACT – Let me ask you this first, do you believe the right to govern most of North America should be returned to the Native Americans? This is a continent built on white power, slavery and genocide, so all the academic goodwill and liberal kindness in the hearts of modern man isn’t going to make up for brutally colonizing a race of people whose descendants are all still here. Why do “we” think we can run the country better in 2018 than the indigenous peoples of this land? Keep that in the back of your mind as I ask you this: are women better than men? Not equal, but better? Are “we” so arrogant to think that simply allowing women to climb up to an equal status with men is fair? We’ve had over 30 years of WrestleMania, with one or two women’s matches on each card at the most. Can you imagine a future where those numbers are reversed? Would you still watch? Don’t answer that, or my first question either. There’s no point. Native Americans will never be given back their rightful power in North America and the Women’s Battle Royal will be on the WrestleMania pre-show. And, of course, you will watch. Well, I mean, you might watch the pre-show, but you’ll definitely watch WrestleMania, no matter how many homeless suffer on your streets, dictators are torturing their citizens, or lazy rich continue to horde all their wealth. But, man, could you imagine the #history WWE would make if they put the newly annual Women’s Battle Royal on the main card? Tectonic shifts, people. Do they have the guts to do it? Do you have the guys to demand it? Wait… what? There’s a new maple-sauce, waffle version of the Double Down at WWE blue chip sponsor KFC! Hold on, I’ll be right back…
Steve Cook: FICTION – It probably should, to be honest. People are smart to the Andre Battle Royal being nothing more than a way to get people on the card, and this match is no different. However, WWE will most likely give it a spot on the main show due to the history-making stature of it. It’ll be the first women’s battle royal on WrestleMania with a female winner. Hopefully, they don’t let Kid Rock perform during this one.
