wrestling / Columns
411 Fact or Fiction 11.06.08: Steiner’s Return, HHH vs. Kozlov, The Possible Unmasking of Curry Man and More!
1. Sting will retain the TNA World title this Sunday when he faces AJ Styles.
Michael O: FACT. Who knows with that wacky TNA, and this has been a good year for surprise and sorta surprise title changes. I didn’t think Sting was bound for another championship, but that’s exactly what happened at the last PPV, so it’s entirely possible that he is once again near the end of a short run with the gold. But despite TNA’s willingness to color outside of the lines, I’m going to assume that good old fashioned conventional wisdom will compel them to keep the belt on the Main Event Mafia backed champ well into the new year.
Bryan Carpenter : FACT. Even though I haven’t really followed TNA closely in the past few years (except for occasionally reading the iMPACT spoilers and pay-per-view results), I think I know enough about what has been transpiring lately to predict Sting retaining the TNA World title this Sunday at Turning Point. Since winning the belt from Samoa Joe at Bound For Glory last month, Sting has turned heel for the first time in many years as well as formed the Main Event Mafia to help protect his gold. I figured that a Joe/Sting rematch would have been in order for Turning Point, but since Joe is booked in a match against Kevin Nash, AJ seems to be the next most deserving challenger to Sting’s title. Unfortunately for AJ, I can’t see Sting dropping the belt any time soon.
Michael Melchor : FACT. Mind you, I’m kinda surprised Sting hasn’t lost that title already; I mean, that seems to be the tradition with him – win it at Bound For Glory, lose it again on Impact a week or three later. This time, though, the Mafia storyline has just started, and I’d imagine, if this booked with any smarts (and trust me, I understand that’s asking a lot), that Sting losing that title will be a turning point in the story. Meaning it won’t be this soon and it probably won’t be to AJ, period.
Score: ALL AGREE!
2. Curry Man will eventually unmask as Christopher Daniels, so that Daniels can join the fight with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe against the Main Event Mafia.
Michael O : FACT. Well, one can only really assume about the second part, but I think we can all agree that it is only a matter of when, and not if, Curry Man goes back to original flavor. Even the most successful “goofball” gimmicks come with an expiration date and the Perverted Justice Brotherhood or whatever will eventually run it’s course, leaving Daniels free to join the good fight, Eric to move on from impersonating an undecided voter, and Sharkboy to continue being a shark.
Bryan Carpenter : FACT. So far, AJ and Joe seem to have the likes of Consequences Creed, Eric Young, Jay Lethal, and Petey Williams ready to lend their services to take on the Main Event Mafia… but after hearing AJ mention on more than one occasion that he, along with Christopher Daniels and Low Ki, helped shape TNA into the company it is today, it would be difficult to take this as anything less than foreshadowing the return of The Fallen Angel. Curry Man has been fun to watch since appearing in TNA at the beginning of this year, but he’s been more or less M.I.A. since Bound For Glory. Daniels has always been one of my favorite TNA performers, so I for one would love to see him lose the mask and return as the ass-kicking Fallen Angel.
Michael Melchor : FICTION. Cool though that may be and as much as I would love to see that, I don’t think it’ll happen. They seem to be having too much fun with Curry Man as a member of the Retards At The Zoo Prince Justice Brotherhood or whatever the hell that crew is called. Those three have become the comic relief of the promotion complete with their own merchandise. And who are we to want to ruin a few t-shirt sales for the sake of advancing TNA’s main storyline in a wild and exciting way?
Score: 2 FACT, 1 FICTION
3. Scott Steiner is a strong addition to the Main Event Mafia.
Michael O : FACT. In that he is incredibly strong. As far as what he brings to the table as a main event player in 2008, I’m more inclined to think FICTION, but I’ll give the big galoot the benefit of the doubt as he was evidently up to some pretty good work in TNA before his latest injury. Really, if you’re going to have Steiner around TNA, how could you not put him in the Mafia anyway? So yeah, I’ll settle on FACT, even if Steiner does suck most of the time.
Bryan Carpenter : FACT. I guess. I’ve never been a fan of Scott Steiner (or Rick, for that matter), but really, what else would he do if he weren’t aligned with Sting and his minions? His position in the group seems quite natural, as he is also a former World Champion, so even though I’ve never cared for him, The Genetic Freak seems to be a good fit for the Main Event Mafia.
Michael Melchor: FICTION. A sensible addition, yes; he certainly qualifies as a former WCW World Champion and a titleholder in just about every promotion he’s been in. That and, with his endearing attitude, the Mafia is a great fit for him. But as their “enforcer”? Their hired thug/bodyguard? That’s not a “strong” addition to a group – that’s a flunky.
Score: 2 FACT, 1 FICTION
—SWITCH~!—
4. Chavo Guerrero getting a clean victory over ECW Champion Matt Hardy, only to be sacrificed to the Undertaker on Smackdown was not a good booking move.
Michael Melchor: FACT. But then, WWE does this all the time, don’t they? I mean, it’s not a terrible one; Undertaker is established, at this point, as being the baddest guy they have. Period, stop, end of sentence. A loss to him isn’t any big deal at the end of the day. But then, why feed someone to him in the first place if they just defeated the major champion of one of your brands? Not a logical move – but then, we’ve established that this a pattern from WWE, anyway. It’s about keeping the average fan happy, not adhering to logic.
Bryan Carpenter : FACT. First of all, I’m sure that I can speak for most of us when I say that we don’t want to see Chavo Guerrero challenging for the ECW Championship again. Chavo occupied the ECW title picture for the first quarter of the 2008 before dropping the belt to Kane at Wrestlemania, and in my opinion, he hasn’t done much since then to warrant another go at the title. Secondly, when a casket match involving the Undertaker was first announced for last week’s edition of Smackdown, almost everyone assumed that he would be facing Big Show in the contest… but then Vickie Guerrero pulled a swerve and announced that Chavo would be facing Taker instead. The good thing about the concept of the casket match is that it hasn’t been overused (like the cage match or the Hell in a Cell match), but bringing it back for Chavo vs. Taker certainly devalues it a bit. ANYWAY, even though Taker won the match, I don’t believe it hurts Chavo’s credibiliy as a contender for the ECW Championship… even though I can name a handful of other guys I’d rather see getting a shot instead.
Michael O : FICTION. I wouldn’t consider the above to be “great booking”, but a loss to The Undertaker doesn’t make Chavo look any weaker than he already does and it won’t diminish Matt’s soaring popularity. One thing a lot of people don’t get is that the Undertaker is an anomaly in pro wrestling because in the eyes of the fans he is a nearly unbeatable monster and a loss to him rarely, if ever, hurts anyone’s credibility, least of all somebody like Chavo. Undertaker always wins anyway, unless a lot of chicanery is involved. It once took 40 or 50 wrestlers to help beat him in casket match against Yokozuna, a 500-pound monster who had beaten Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan. Did Bret or Hogan look weak after? No. Batista could lose convincingly to the Undertaker every week on Smackdown and barely take a hit to his credibility as RAW’s world champion. Chavo, and Matt by proxy, will be just fine.
Score: 2 FACT, 1 FICTION
5. The upcoming Survivor Series PPV should have at least two traditional Survivor Series matches on the show.
Michael Melchor: FACT. And I’d imagine they will. The past few years, the Survivor Series PPV has had at least one traditional Survivor Series match and while last year only had one, I don’t seem them breaking that tradition this year. They’ve proven that, even with mixing in major feuds, it can be a great deal of fun; why wouldn’t they go with it again? Besides, Survivor Series is a WWE Original creation; they tend to at least try to stick with their own traditions sometimes.
Bryan Carpenter : FACT. In the past, I’ve always been irked when the annual Survivor Series pay-per-view doesn’t actually include any Survivor Series matches. Last year’s Survivor Series match pitting Jeff Hardy, Kane, Rey Mysterio and Triple H against Big Daddy V, Finlay, Mr. Kennedy, MVP and Umaga was a surprisingly entertaining contest, so why not try to top it with a few more this year? The traditional Survivor Series match has the ability to allow more “entertainers” to get a share of the spotlight on what is considered by many as one of the company’s biggest pay-per-views of the year, so why not toss a bunch of them onto teams and let them show what they can do? My suggestions for this year —
1. The Brian Kendrick, John Morrison, The Miz, MVP & Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito, Finlay, Jeff Hardy, Primo & R-Truth
2. CM Punk, Cryme Tyme, Kofi Kingston & Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes, Kane, Mark Henry, Randy Orton & Ted DiBiase
Michael O : FACT. Hell to the yes. Two should be the bare minimum. The WWE have been wanting to make more of their Pay-Per-Views stand out in an effort to make them less homogenic (but no less homoerotic) so why not go back to emphasizing the gimmick of what is the original gimmick PPV anyhow? Personally, I love elimination matches and would like to see the entire show go back to being nothing but them, but I know that’s unrealistic, so I’d be happy to see them feature 3 or 4 with a few “regular” matches thrown in. But it would be freakin’ sweet if they went back to the 1990 Survivor Series template, with the ultimate survival showdown at the end. I think I’ll dust the VCR off and fire that bad boy up tonight!
Score: ALL AGREE!
6. HHH will soundly defeat Vladimir Kozlov at the upcoming Survivor Series PPV.
Michael Melchor: FACT. Kozlov seems to be getting the “Kennedy/MVP” push…build the guy up to main-event level quickly so you have someone halfway credible there, but don’t let him near the Big Belt quite yet, as he has a long way to go to earn that. It’s WWE having their cake and eating it too – fill a needed slot and create another “star” – just not too big of one so that the real stars don’t get offended that they have to do the job to a noob. There’s a short but ever-growing list of guys on that list – the most recent name is Evan Bourne. Kozlov gets to be one of those guys come Survivor Series.
Bryan Carpenter : FICTION. I don’t know how “soundly” HHH will defeat Vladimir Kozlov, but I do believe that HHH will still have his WWE Championship intact after Survivor Series. I haven’t cared much for anything Kozlov has done since his debut in the WWE, and it seems as though I’m not the only one. According to the votes at Cyber Sunday, viewers were more interested in seeing yet another HHH-Jeff Hardy match instead of a proposed triple threat contest for the WWE title. I’m not sure why Stephanie McMahon is apparently so high on Kozlov, but he seems to be Smackdown’s most qualified “entertainer” to get the next title shot. Although I think that HHH will find some way to hang on to the belt a little longer, I’m sure that the match at Survivor Series will end in some kind of no contest in order to keep Kozlov looking strong. Hopefully after Survivor Series, HHH moves into a new feud with someone else (Big Show? Undertaker?) toward the build for Wrestlemania 25.
Michael O : FICTION. Though it would hardly surprise me. I’ve felt for a while now that Vlad will be tasting his first defeat at the hands of Hunter, but I don’t think the WWE is in a hurry to make that happen. Why would they be? Spend all that time building homeboy up, just to flush it all away in one night? Again, I won’t be shocked if it happens, but I’m thinking Survivor Series ends in some kind of fuck finish, leaving Hunter to claim his conquest at a later date, most likely Armageddon. I don’t think the Koz will seeing a WWE title in his rookie year either way, but there’s always a chance that Hunter and the other higher ups would rather sacrifice what is becoming a formidable and scarcely seen in this age undefeated streak to somebody who hasn’t firmly established himself in the main event for a decade now. Weird how the logical outcome would be the shocking one, isn’t it?
Score: 1 FACT. 2 FICTION
