411 Fact or Fiction 11.13.08: Beer Money as the Best, Jericho as Champion, The Main Event Mafia Sweep and More!

Welcome back to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week we have two men stepping up to the challenge as 411 writers Tim Livingston and James Craig step into the 411 Arena to do battle in this week’s edition of Fact or Fiction!

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Questions were sent out Monday morning.

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1. Jim Cornette would make a great heel authority figure to battle against Mick Foley.

James Craig: FACT. Having Cornette play a villain would be a great move. He’s played the over-whelmed/slightly vindictive face boss since he came in and now with Foley in the mix, Cornette can go to the type of character I enjoy the most, the Ass Authority/Boss figure. It isn’t the freshest idea ever, but with talents like Cornette and Foley, it would be great to see.

Tim Livingston : FICTION. It had been mentioned a couple of times before on various news articles on this website and beyond that with Jarrett being seen as the top authority figure and with Foley being there as somewhat of a liaison between talent and the authority figure, that adding yet another non-wrestler into the fold would be overkill. Cornette is a fantastic figure and one of the best talkers wrestling has ever seen, but right now, I think him being an agent helps so much more than him being on-screen. With Foley helping out the TNA Originals, it would seem that Cornette would be a de facto spokesperson for the MEM. I don’t think that group like the MEM needs a mouthpiece and/or a guy who pulls the strings for them. Right now, the MEM has all the power in the company and they don’t need someone to make the decisions for them.

Score: 0 for 1!

2. With a casket match set for the Survivor Series between the Big Show and the Undertaker, you expect to see classic Undertaker booking in the match: many people get involved, Undertaker’s opponent wins through nefarious means, Undertaker disappears from the casket and returns in time for WrestleMania to seek revenge.

James Craig : FACT. There are certain things in wrestling life you can always count on. 1) Hulk Hogan and Warrior are/will always be bat shit crazy. 2) Vince McMahon will constantly under value the internet’s favorite flavor of the month. And 3) Undertaker will lose one of “his” gimmick matches at Survivor Series and only reappear in creepy video form a month before his actual comeback at ‘Mania. As much as I would like to have things differently, however, I think we are going to see the return of Edge here to get his revenge for being sent to “hell”.

Tim Livingston : FICTION. God, if only, right? By the way, I’d like to point out that the question asked is a VINTAGE UNDERTAKER~! question. I think this will be one of those matches where Taker goes over because he just took time off over the summer to deal with injuries and such before taking Edge out, so I don’t think it’s time for him to take a vacation just yet. This series has been one of the better ones of the year, with their No Mercy match being pretty impressive, and I think this will be along the lines of that match, and that Taker will have to fight his ass off to win and put the Big Show into the casket. On another note, the Big Show has been awfully impressive since his return, and his matches with Floyd Mayweather, Khali and now Taker have really been great. In the end, Taker ain’t about to lose his specialty match, so expect him to go over.

Score: 0 for 2!

3. The “clean sweep booking” of the Main Event Mafia at Turning Point was the right way to go.

James Craig : FACT. If you asked me before this weekend’s ppv, I would have said fiction. Now, I have had some time to digest the storyline further and I think that having the clean sweep allows the MEM to have their reason to exist justified. Now all the members of the MEM can boast and brag their hearts out and when they get their come-uppance one by one, that pay off will be just that much sweeter. This feud is getting me interested in TNA once again.

Tim Livingston : FACT. This is an interesting question for me personally, as it was the basis for my column on Tuesday. At this point, you have to keep the MEM strong. I overreacted at this when I saw it at first, but the matches themselves in the main events were booked well enough. Joe took an ass whooping for two and Nash was more than willing to help dole it out, and what I really liked about that match and the Sting/Styles match was that the heels didn’t win convincingly. It showed that the Originals could get there if they found a way to get over the hump. That alone shows a willingness to let this play over a long period of time, but it’s like I said in my article. At some point, you have to let the young guys go over CONVINCINGLY and to actually have a true torch get passed. I think we know that Kurt Angle is all about that at this point, but we also know who the true minds behind this booking are, and they really don’t look at the long term that well. This is a good start, but they need to have this pay off in the long run.

Score: 1 for 3!

—SWITCH~!—

4. While Chris Jericho just won the title back last week, you expect him to lose it to John Cena at Survivor Series.

Tim Livingston : FICTION. I don’t think he should. I think at this point, while the big draw is obviously going to be Batista vs. Cena at WrestleMania XXV, Jericho is someone who I feel still has a big blow off coming with Batista and I think you could see a title change in time to set up Cena on the chase, which is when he’s at his best. I loved him as a fighting champion, but Cena as someone who wants to get back to the top of the mountain could be very well done. Jericho’s resourcefulness should see him win by the skin of his teeth, but it will not take away what the long time booking goals are for this company. Cena will walk out of WrestleMania with the World Heavyweight Title. As a side note, I think you go Jericho/Michaels in Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania as the ultimate blow-off match on the under card. They’ve had the best feud WWE has seen in a long time, and there’s not better place to end it than on wrestling’s biggest stage, especially with it being close to Michaels’ home in San Antonio.

James Craig : FICTION. Although I wouldn’t be surprised that Jericho loses the belt to Cena, I don’t expect it. I don’t expect it because of one thing that was said on RAW this last week. Jericho was talking about wining the belt back and then facing Cena, and also mentioned karma. It seems small, but you have to remember, it was Cena that won the “You’re Fired” match back at Summerslam a few years back that in the kayfabe world sent Jericho away. As we’ve seen since ‘Mania, that this current incarnation of Jericho is ruthless and downright evil when he has an axe to grind. I can’t imagine Jericho losing the belt, but he’s not going to win clean.

Score: 2 for 4!

5. Beer Money is currently the best tag team in wrestling.

Tim Livingston : FACT. James Storm is officially the most underrated tag team wrestler in wrestling and was obviously the talent in America’s Most Wanted, not that we’ve seen what Braden Walker can(‘t) do. It’s good to see that the aborted singles pushes of two talented individuals led them to be put together almost as a miscast team, but then they made it work so damn well. It reminds me a lot of the Goldust/Booker T team in that contrasting personalities can work together because of chemistry alone, and now they are running with their gimmicks and making them work. I love Miz & Morrison, I really do, but right now, Beer Money is the best team in wrestling because of how much they continue to get better and better every week. Their match with the Motor City Machine Guns at Turning Point was the perfect example of how good they are, and they’ve shown they can work with just about anybody and they can be successful.

James Craig : FICTION. Beer Money is a great tag team. I think that this is a great place for both Storm and Roode to be right now in TNA. On an overall level of enjoyment both in and out of the ring, however, I think that Miz and Morrison are just more entertaining and when not getting jobbed out to DX are the dominant Tag Team for all three brands of the WWE. Beer Money is good and I like them, but I’d much rather see Miz and Morrison on my television, so for me, Beer Money is not the best Tag Team.

Score: 2 for 5!

6. The releases of Super Crazy, Paul London and Chuck Palumbo were not only expected, but made sense.

Tim Livingston : FACT. Let’s face it. Super Crazy going to ECW was good and all, but he wasn’t in the long term plans for that brand. It was something that was done under the radar and once he got released, it was something that was definitely expected. Chuck Palumbo was given a couple of chances to get over, but it just didn’t work out for him unless it was a completely gay gimmick. And if he was with Cute Kip. Paul London is one of the most talented wrestlers out there, and he and Kendrick were a really great team, but he rubbed Vince and Company the wrong way, and you can’t do that and expect to be successful. The other thing going against London was that Evan Bourne came along, and he was the hot new thing, and he did a lot of the stuff that London did, and he did it a bit better and smoother. London is going to be fine, and I think a return to Ring of Honor is imminent, but his release made sense.

James Craig : FACT. All three have been languishing and there wasn’t any end to that in sight. Couple that with the news not so long ago that these guys were on the “endangered species list” and it seems all but a done deal. I think that London was criminally misused after the split with Kendrick, but that seems to be the story of his WWE career. The other two I think had done as much as could have been expected and there simply wasn’t anything/where for them to go. It makes sense to release them in so much that they weren’t being used and essentially taking up roster space.

Score: 3 for 6!

Come on back next week for more of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition!