411 Fact or Fiction 5.19.11: Over the LImit, Sacrifice, Chyna, More

Howdy, people! It’s time for 411’s Wrestling Fact or Fiction of the third week of May! Jeremy Thomas here as always, and TNA held Sacrifice last weekend and WWE runs Over the Limit this weekend! Meanwhile, Chyna made her TNA debut as Kurt Angle’s “mistress,” the Bragging Rights Pay-Per-View has gone away and more! Joining us on the panel this week our Ask 411 God of the Wrestling and Games Zones, Mathew Sforcina, taking on the man who will always be Master of the Misunderstood Masterpiece, Will Helm! We’re ready to go and the questions are prepped, so let’s do it!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect WWE & TNA-related questions.

1. WWE Over The Limit looks to be a very skippable PPV.

Mathew Sforcina: FACT, but then every WWE PPV nowadays is skippable, since the storylines continue on Raw and are endlessly recapped so there’s no need to buy the PPV since it’ll just get replayed and shown on Raw. (Unless you REALLY want to see Cole finally lose a match). That said, this may well be a PPV that people don’t order and then regret, if Miz ends up winning (either via Royal Rumble 99 or by my belief that Miz will threaten bodily harm on an innocent and Cena will quit to save said Innocent… Where was Demon Miz Girl from again?), if WWE blinks and puts the belt back on Christian and/or turns him heel, and if this is how they write CM Punk out (they lose the tag titles, Ryan sacrifices him to his God), then people will be annoyed that they missed it and the youtube videos will get many more hits than usual. But all this is theroretical, and relies on WWE taking some chances with their booking. So, you know, unlikely.

Will Helm: FACT. It seems that lately WWE has been spinning its wheels with little development of new wrestlers or storylines. Over the Limit demonstrates this and then some, as it seems like all of the matches so far are rehashes of things we’ve all seen before or don’t care about. Big Show and Kane versus The New Nexus isn’t much different than Kane and Show versus The Corre (and what is with that spelling? Is it supposed to be “core” or “corps”?), which seems to be a lackluster feud that’s been going on for seemingly months. Rey Mysterio against R-Truth . . . meh. Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson for the IC title? Doesn’t matter because people had to have cared about the Corre to care that the Corre is exploding. Randy Orton and Christian face off in a rematch that will just put Randall over further, which is a shame since Christian deserved a much, much longer reign as champion. Do people want another chapter in John Cena and the Miz? The “I Quit” stipulation could apply to the fans, as they’re likely to be saying “I Quit” to this neverending feud. And, just as the cherry on the crap sundae, four words: “Kiss My Foot match.” I think that sums up just how much of a stinker this card is.

Score: 1 for 1

2. TNA Sacrifice delivered a decent show for the promotion.

Mathew Sforcina: FACT, on the simple basis that nothing outright sucked. And for TNA, sadly, that’s a decent result. It was not a barn-burning super show, but it was, on the whole, not a bad PPV. If TNA can get to that on a regular basis, then that’s a good result for them. 12 Sacrifices is better than a Victory Road 2011 and 11 others.

Will Helm: FICTION. To be quite honest, saying anything is a “decent show” for TNA is hard to quantify, since TNA does tend to elicit low expectations. Eventually I could see the TNA audience saying to themselves “Well, the ring didn’t spontaneously combust and the ebola ravaging the crowd was relatively contained, so that was a ‘decent show.'” I “watch” TNA almost every week — most of it in fast forward or while surfing for porn on the Internet — and, yet, when I look at the results for Sacrifice, I can’t remember the build up to half these matches. Could someone please tell me who Crimson and Max Buck are? They’re definitely new to me. All I knew, going into the PPV was that there was some sort of mess with Kurt and Karen with Jeff Jarrett and Chyna stuck in the middle and that Mickie James was going to free Tara from bondage. Oh, hey . . . Braden Walker’s back! Don’t care. TNA has eleventy-billion wrestlers — a few of which are among the best in the business — on their payroll and this is the best they can come up with? I know I probably say this every time I do Fact or Fiction, but even though TNA could get a “decent” show with the card they put out at Sacrifice, “decent” should never be good enough because they could do so much better.

Score: 1 for 2

3. Getting rid of the Bragging Rights PPV is a good move for WWE.

Mathew Sforcina: FICTION. Not with Hell In A Cell still on the cards. Bragging Rights did take away from Survivor Series, but the PPV was ‘gimmicked’ without being too stifiling, since there were several ways to make Bragging Rights mean different matches. But HITC is limiting at the time (you have to have the matches), limiting all the other time (can’t blow off a hot fued in it) and in PG era can’t be done right anyway. So no, HITC should have gone, not Bragging Rights.

Will Helm: FACT. When the “brand extension” was in full swing, the Bragging Rights concept — RAW vs. Smackdown — was a pretty cool idea. It allowed for matchups that didn’t happen throughout the course of the year and, like its predecessor Cyber Sunday, it never seemed to be a terribly serious event, which made it much more entertaining. Unfortunately, now that the “brand extension” is horribly muddled thanks to multiple brand switches and drafts and even some superstars appearing on either brand, the key aspect of Bragging Rights has been diluted to the point of making the PPV obsolete. I’ll miss it, but hopefully WWE will replace it with something bigger and better . . . and not another gimmick match-themed PPV.

Score: 1 for 3

4. Chyna made a poor choice as Kurt Angle’s “mistress.”

Mathew Sforcina: FICTION. Name me anyone who would have been better. Debra? Sharmell? RHAKA KHAN? Chyna has history with Jarrett, and appears to have cleaned herself up quite nicely. And the reaction she got was worth it, in TNA’s eyes. Chyna was the best option available.

Will Helm: FICTION. This is one of those “gray area” FoF statements that make a clear answer difficult. For the most part, though, I have to say that the upside for Chyna coming into TNA as Kurt’s mistress greatly outweighs the downside. First and foremost, though TNA doesn’t possess the coffers that WWE has, Chyna’s appearance had to have come with a pretty decent payday and, as long as the checks clear, that’s never a bad thing. In addition, Chyna’s appearance on TNA brings her back into the public eye so that she can rebuild what annoying marketing consultants like to call “brand equity” in herself. Of course, Chyna’s decision to return to wrestling could turn into a poor choice if she doesn’t wisely take the money and run, so to speak. After all, wrestling was the business that treated her so badly — in her estimation — years ago and, in some ways, created the monster that Chyna became and so to go back to it is tempting a relapse, which would prove this to be a very, very poor choice indeed.

Score: 2 for 4

SWITCH!

5. WWE’s new push for managers will ultimately be a short-term project that won’t be followed through on.

Will Helm: FACT. As sad as it makes me to say “Fact” here, I must, since WWE hasn’t stuck with the concept of managers since the early ’90s. I don’t know why or how it happened, but somewhere along the line, managers fell out of favor in the WWE. The only viable excuse may be that it never makes sense to pay talent who don’t compete in the ring, but I’m sure WWE can spring for such luxuries now, rather than during the lean times in the mid-’90s. Alas, that will probably be managers’ downfall again during this virtual Renaissance; when a bean counter looks at the bottom line and considers the return-on-investment, the return of managers will be gone and cowardly heels will have to have lackeys take their beatings while monster heels will have to learn how to speak for themselves, and we’ll all be worse off for it.

Mathew Sforcina: FICTION, on the basis that one or two will get over and stick around, and that will end up having an effect long after the push is dead and buried. You need role models and trail blazers to get them in the future, so if a couple of managers get over now, that makes it more likely a few more will get a chance in a few years, and so on…

Score: 2 for 5

6. TNA’s show name change to Impact Wrestling and new tagline of “Wrestling Matters” will end up being another superfluous change without the booking changes to back it up.

Will Helm: FACT. Oh TNA (I mean “Impact Wrestling”), you try so hard to differentiate yourself from WWE, but it never really works, does it? Even now, as WWE moves farther and farther from the word “wrestling,” you “reaffirm” your commitment to the business and entertainment form with yet another rebranding. Maybe if you really wanted to make the rebranding sincere, you’d go back to what really made you promising a few years ago: showcasing truly competitive wrestling. Bring back the clock; truimphantly return to the hexagonal ring; push your largely home-grown talent over imports from your main competitor or, at the very least, show your main competitor just how to make their cast-offs into true superstars. Until you can do at least this, “Impact Wrestling,” you’ll still be just TNA.

Mathew Sforcina: FACT. It’s TNA. Sorry, it’s IW. Until they make the systematic changes needed to be a real comeptitor to WWE (Hint: DON’T BE WWE LITE!!!!), they could call themselves “Wrestling Wrestlers Wrestling Wreslting Matches (Wrestling)” and it’d still suck.

Score: 3 for 6

7. The Undertaker will not return to WWE before WrestleMania 28.

Will Helm: FACT. At this point in his career, The Undertaker has so much goodwill with the audience that he can amble down the ramp at WrestleMania and tombstone some fool every year and the pop will be just as huge as it was the year before. It would be hard to believe, even if The Undertaker were to take an extended leave until next April, that people would forget about him, so he can get away with taking that time to rest and he shouldn’t be afraid to. As well, with an icon on the level of The Undertaker, anything outside of a WrestleMania match is almost a waste of the character, so it’s best for all to keep from diluting the persona by involving him in worthless, throwaway feuds in the meantime. Eventually, people may very well equate WrestleMania with The Undertaker and there’s nothing wrong with that; he’s earned it.

Mathew Sforcina: FICTION. Hey, the man’s gotta build up to WM, so he’ll make a few apperances before then.

Seriously though, I know he’s ‘retired’, but WWE will panic at some point and bring him in for a one shot apperance. Not to wrestle, perhaps, but to just loom/save Cena from a beatdown or something. WWE will blink.

Score: 3 for 7

8. Pushing Mark Henry as a main event-level talent is a lost cause at this point in his career.

Will Helm: FACT. To be honest, I give WWE and Mark Henry nothing but credit for trying over and over again to make the character a main event-level success, but I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. Whether by chance or by choice, Henry could never seem to connect with the audience at the level of some of the superstars that have passed him by. Whether he was saddled with goofy gimmicks or had ill-timed injuries, Henry never had a consistent run that would propel him to the main event and any push otherwise seems orchestrated or like a last-ditch attempt. At best, the wrestler Mark Henry makes a believable upper-midcard monster heel or, on the flip-side, a lovable midcard face enforcer, the kind of guy Kofi Kingston or Evan Bourne might call on for a little help with a monster heel of their own. Sadly, Henry just could never grasp that star quality and be believable in the main event, even though he certainly deserves it through right of perseverance.

Mathew Sforcina: FICTION. He’s big. When you’re big, you can get over. So it’s not a lost cause. A fruitless, badly thought out, unlikely to succeed cause, but not totally lost.

Final Score: 3 for 8

And there you have it…Will and Mathew agree just a little bit less than they disagree and go 3 for 8! I’d like to thank them for their answers, and you the readers for seeing what they had to say! For Will Helm and Mathew Sforcina, this is Jeremy Thomas saying join us next week for more Wrestling Fact or Fiction!

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