411 Fact or Fiction 04.06.07: WM23, ECW, Cabana, More

Welcome to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week, two of 411 Wrestling’s most popular writers, JP Prag and Andy Clark, battle it out!

1. WWE is on the verge of another mainstream surge in popularity.

Andy Clark: FICTION. As much as I would love to say otherwise, I don’t think wrestling will ever get that mainstream surge again. WrestleMania always manages to make at least a small pop culture splash just because it has the reputation and there is usually some sort of celebrity or sports involvement that needs to be covered, but I don’t see anything that could really bring it back to Rock’n’Wrestling or Attitude Era levels. The only thing that could possibly do it is if John Cena goes on to have another decent action movie or two to make him a legitimate crossover star, and while I think that could happen I’m still not sure that would be enough to push wrestling up top. Wrestling has too much to overcome whether it be steroids, Vince McMahon, or the growing popularity of MMA to ever get a big mainstream surge past the months of March and April.

JP Prag: FICTION. What has changed in the WWE recently that would make you believe they are on the verge of something new that is going to capture the minds and attention of the masses? What set off the off the Attitude Era and Rock ‘n’ Wrestling? It was a major shift in the way the product was presented combined with a mainstream star who had a charisma that went beyond the business. Right now, the WWE is not doing anything significantly different nor do they have a star that is bigger than the business. Only when those two become aligned again will a true mainstream expansion happen.

Score: 1 for 1

2. Colt Cabana will end up getting nowhere in WWE.

Andy Clark: FACT. Actually, this is more of a FACT-ION. That really depends on your perception of how far you think he can go. I personally don’t think he could get past the WWE midcard on his own merits, but I also think he will make it that far. So is that not going anywhere? How do you measure success? To some just getting out of ROH and making to the big time, regardless of your spot on the card could be getting somewhere. Some people are just made to be great indy guys (see Noble, Jamie) and there’s nothing wrong with that. As for Mr. Cabana it really depends on what you consider “getting somewhere” and how far you think he can actually get on his own.

JP Prag: FACT. I have to agree with Andy here with the “Fact-ion”. What do you think is nowhere? Some people think that just getting to the WWE is somewhere, so people like Funaki, Val Venis, and Viscera are in an amazing position. But I look it as living up to potential. And can Colt hit his total potential in the WWE? Most likely not. He’ll be hit with a lot of road block, JR will tell him to make his own opportunity, and if he tries to the writers will decide he’s getting too big of an ego and being lazy, and he’ll be written off the show until he’s fired or quits. Some people can make the transition to being Sports Entertainers, and Colt is not one of those people.

Score: 2 for 2

3. ECW has finally managed to find the middle ground between old hardcore ECW fans and current WWE fans.

Andy Clark: FICTION. I don’t think they’re appealing to the hardcore ECW fans at all. For the most part I think the old hardcore ECW fans went on to watch WWE just for the hell of it, if only to bitch about the good old days. When WWE announced the return of ECW those fans (who were already a part of the WWE fanbase) just spoke up. It sure took them a long time, but eventually they figured out that new ECW wasn’t going to be like the old ECW. Now I think they’ve just accepted it and stopped running their mouths. Meanwhile, the WWE fans that weren’t hardcore ECW followers are enjoying the show more because they managed to start not sucking. It’s not a matter of finding a middle ground as it’s a matter of WWE putting on a better product and the old ECW fans getting over themselves.

JP Prag: FICTION. Just having four (or five) old ECW guys does not make it ECW and does not appeal to the audience. Actually, not using the talent to their potential is driving the old ECW fans further away from the product. Vince never understood ECW and it shows in what the product was like in the first few weeks. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again: ECW was not about “no rules” or “hardcore” or any of that garbage. It was about pushing the envelope, trying new things, and letting the rules split a little (or a lot) to make a show or match more important. The WWE has never understood how the product was presented and cannot replicate it. Since they cannot do that, then they cannot ever please the old ECW fan base.

Score: 3 for 3

—SWITCH!!!—

4. WrestleMania 23 was the best PPV of the last 12 months.

JP Prag: FICTION. Now, I know what you are thinking. You are saying, “JP, you were there, you loved the show and had a great time! The matches were good, the show was entertaining, what’s your problem?” Well, those are all true. But even being there live, there were plenty of drag points. It seemed like instead of increasing match length (see: Benoit/MVP), they favored putting in pre-recorded promos. Hell, the show ended at 10:30! There was plenty more that could have happened. I actually enjoyed RAW the next night much more as a wrestling show, though nothing can take away the experience of WrestleMania. But looking at the matches themselves, most of the endings came out of nowhere. The whole thing was quite… anti-climatic. It was a good show, no doubt, but not the best PPV in the past 12 months. What was? Well, I don’t have time to research that now, but I was live at SummerSlam in the past 12 months and that was a better show top to bottom, so there.

Andy Clark: FICTION. While my opinion of the PPV has changed to a more favorable one over the past week there are still plenty of PPVs from the last 12 months that were better, not the least of which was LAST YEAR’S WrestleMania. There was also last year’s One Night Stand, last year’s Unforgiven, and maybe even this year’s Royal Rumble to be considered. While this year’s Mania wasn’t really the flop I initially considered, and was even pretty damn good, I think it could very well be topped by a number of other PPVs.

Score: 4 for 4

5. Putting the World Tag Team Titles on the Hardy Boys was a good move by WWE.

JP Prag: FICTION. If this question was “Getting the tag titles off of Cena and HBK is a good move by the WWE” I’d say yes, most definitely! The problem with this is it is the Hardy Boyz. Look at this:

(1) Matt and Jeff are on different brands, so how can the hold and defend the titles? Doesn’t the brand extension mean SOMETHING?
(2) These two have already been tag champions so many times and have accomplished just about everything they could as a team. How does this help elevate either of them?
(3) Matt and Jeff have had variable levels of singles success and now they are being pushed away from that. Are their careers permanently stalled?
(4) Both have said in recent interviews that they did not want to win tag team gold again because they each had other things they want to do. So now we have unmotivated champions.
(5) What about the real tag teams? Didn’t Cryme Tyme win a #1 Contender match two months ago? Wouldn’t a regular team on RAW winning the titles elevate them more than the Hardyz?

Those two battle royals on RAW were great, but I was hoping for a third one just to get the titles off of Matt and Jeff. This is just not the right time and place for that to go down.

Andy Clark: FACT. While I really don’t like the bleeding of the Brand Extension I think this is a smart move. They are a relatively “fresh” tag team as they haven’t been back together for too long and they are established enough to give some credibility to the titles. Since they have a member from two brands they can just as easily defend them against anybody which should provide for some intriguing matchups. I was once very much against unifying the titles but if WWE continues to toy with the Brand Extension as heavily as they are then they might as well. I do wish that they be at least somewhat consistent with their rules on Interpromotional title changes. Gregory Helms won the Cruiserweight Title and became a member of the SmackDown roster. RVD won the WWE Title and took the title to ECW with him instead of being tied to Raw. Maybe RVD’s status as an ECW draft pick protected him there, but still. Matt needs to be made a permanent member of the Raw roster for this to make sense. Spending some time in the tag team ranks should help restore some credibility to both men as well. Matt Hardy has been a JTTS for years but it looked like he may finally be getting somewhere on SmackDown. Jeff on the other hand has spent the better part of the year being a JTTS and a punching bag for Umaga and Khali. A change of scenery could be good for both men.

Score: 4 for 5

6. The Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena match will hold as one of the top five matches of the year.

JP Prag: FACT. In so much as anyone can have a top five match list and I’m sure this will show up on a few. Listen, I don’t believe in top anything lists, they are completely subjective. From a crowd standpoint, this match was totally hot. Much like Rock/Hogan, the audience really made the match. It was a fantastic match and both men stepped up tremendously. Will there be better workrate matches? No doubt. Will there be more heat matches? There is a possibility. Will that matter in the end? Not really. I’m pretty sure that this match will stay on many lists to make it a top match, even if it doesn’t stay on my personal list.

Andy Clark: FICTION. Because in my opinion this match is barely in the top five so far. It was my third best match of WrestleMania and therefore the fourth best match of the year (keeping in mind that I haven’t seen New Year’s Revolution or any TNA PPVs). Plus when you consider that some people count ROH matches when talking about Match of the Year (I don’t consider them for the top spot but I don’t mind them sneaking in as runner-ups) then I find it hard to believe that this match will stay this high. It was a damn good match but not nearly as good as what these two men are capable of. I wouldn’t be surprised if another Cena-HBK match ended up in the top five for 2007 but I doubt this one will.

Score: 4 for 6

These two finish 4 for 6! Join us next week for more Fact or Fiction!