411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Was Banks Winning The Title on Raw The Right Call?

Welcome back to the latest edition of 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 Mitch Nickelson and Jack Stevenson!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect wrestling-related content, as well as possible statements on quantum physics, homemade pharmaceuticals, the Turtle Total Trip Theorem, pizza and hydroponics.

1. WWE 205 “Live” will become a taped product within 90-days.

Mitch Nickelson: FICTION – WWE adores live programming far more than they care about half-empty arenas, so they’ll keep this one going live as long as they feasibly can. Remember that one time The Undertaker appeared on Main Event? That was when they tried to make it a live Tuesday show when there wasn’t anything airing on that night of the week. WWE Network would’ve been still airing live Tuesday night episodes at least up until the brand spilt if there hadn’t been a first-run conflict with Britain’s Sky Sports. Expect the “Live” in 205 Live to have more meaning than the “205.”

Jack Stevenson: FICTION – As magical and life changing and worthy of being worshipped as a God as it is, one thing the WWE Network does lack is live content. Of course, with two main roster brands and NXT putting on regular special events we’re at the point where we get more or less a live broadcast every fortnight or so, but that still leaves six days every week of pure reruns. As such, I don’t think WWE will give up on the live bit of 205 Live quite as quickly as 90 days. At the moment it fills a gap in the schedule with an attractive and distinctive program, but if it becomes pre taped, it seems too much like Velocity 2.0.

2. Sasha Banks winning the title on Raw was the right call.

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – I understand any arguments against flip-flopping the Raw Women’s Championship so much between Sasha Banks and Charlotte, but it just doesn’t bother me all that much. Maybe it’s because the matches are generally good between these ladies that I don’t mind the frequent title shifts. I do think it’s about time to incorporate other wrestlers into the mix because the entire division feels like it’s just Sasha and Charlotte sometimes. But as seen in the main event of Raw this past week, that’s not a bad thing.

Jack Stevenson: FACT – On the whole I’m going to say fact, but I do think the incessant flipping of the title between Charlotte and Sasha Banks gives the Women’s Division a really bad look. It exposes how shallow the division is to have the belt traded between the same two people over the course of several months, and makes every victory seem progressively less important. Out of the two, I think Banks is clearly the best person to hold the belt long term. She’s more charismatic, she’s a better wrestler, and she has a deeper and more vocal fanbase. It’s also worth pointing out that all three of Banks’ title wins on Raw over the last six months (what a ridiculous sentence to type, though) have been absolutely terrific. So, I’m thrilled for Sasha, but she has to keep the belt now for a credible amount of time. If I get asked this very same question again next month, expect a different response.

3. Roman Reigns is the right guy to Challenge Kevin Owens at Road Block.

Mitch Nickelson: FICTION – Roman Reigns is a talented guy. He’s got a great look and can wrestle a great match. He’s even not too bad on a promo when he’s not given garbage to recite. The problem with Roman is that he’s been a miscast character that the fans refused to accept in the role that he was in. Stepping down to the U.S. Title scene and feuding with Rusev has been a nice refresher from the main event and it he gets reinserted back to the top of the card now, fans won’t be ready to give him a second chance. On the flip side, I’ll concede that Raw isn’t exactly booming with top of the card-ready talent, so it’s not like they’ve got a ton of options to work with.

Jack Stevenson: FACT – The thing with Roman Reigns is that he’s a very good, possibly great wrestler, and people who claim otherwise, willfully ignoring his superb body of work, make me seethe with rage. At the same time his rise to the top of the card was so glaringly and patronizingly signposted by WWE that, even after half a year of sitting humbly in the midcard, I’ve still got no desire to see him get back the WWE Championship. He and Kevin Owens have already had one great TV match to my memory, and so put together on PPV I think they’re going to tear it up and deliver something really worthwhile. I just hope Owens ekes out the victory

SWITCH!

4. Rusev is miscast as a heel.

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – If a hypothetical friend who exists outside of a wrestling ring told me about the time they went to jail because they punched a creep in the mouth for exposing himself to my friend’s wife, my response would be something along the lines of “right on.” But since this is wrestling, the funny dude with the 7 foot buddy is treated as a hero for brandishing his Italian sausage. Sadly, this is a pattern in booking. Rusev received the same treatment when he feuded with Roman Reigns. Roman would insult Lana, as well as the rest of Rusev’s family, and The Bulgarian Brute got upset about it. What part of that were we supposed to cheer Roman over? Rusev’s entire character arc over the last half year has basically been “retaliate against bullies and sexual predators who keep targeting my wife.” If you boo Rusev in 2016, you’re kind of a terrible person.

Jack Stevenson: FICTION – I genuinely can’t see where the murmurings about Rusev needing to turn face are coming from. While I think he’s a talented enough performer to succeed in any role, to me Rusev’s main strength is his ability to combine an intimidating, dominant in ring presence with terrific comic timing and a sense of fun in promos. Both of those attributes are what you really want in heels. You always want people who are going to make the designated fan favourites look endangered and sympathetic, and in modern WWE, anyone who wants to make a joke in a promo has to be a heel, because otherwise a cripplingly unfunny writer, possibly Vince McMahon himself, will demand to start writing your witty one liners for you. Look at how disappointing the New Day have been since their face turn, how the surreal silliness and joyous assholery of their phenomenally successful heel run has been replaced with saccharrine, repetitive, try too hard material. They’re all still good value on Twitter, but on screen they’re a shadow of their former selves. You don’t want the same thing to happen to Rusev. Keep him heel. The only thing that needs to change is he needs to be pushed more.

5. WWE Is making the right call keeping Tyson Kidd off of Total Divas

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – From a business standpoint, it’s completely the right call to keep the guy who’s currently under contract from divulging too much about what happened when he almost got killed due to a neck injury. There are constant lawsuits coming in against WWE for a variety of medical negligence issues so if they can keep any info suppressed that might hurt them in other court case, that’s smart. It’s also completely douchey but hey, this isn’t a Fact or Fiction about if WWE is being a D-bag about keeping him off the show.

Jack Stevenson: FACT – If you take the rumours at face value, then WWE are keeping Tyson Kidd off Total Divas because they’re concerned he’ll say something about the circumstances surrounding his neck injury that paints them in an unflattering light. Without knowing all the info ourselves, we can’t make a moral judgment about whether Kidd is right to be angry at WWE. All we can say is that if someone came up to me in the street and said he wanted to shout random insults about me to passers by, some of which may be quite accurate criticisms, I still wouldn’t go and buy him a microphone. The explanation WWE are offering themselves is that Kidd isn’t really relevant to the new cast of characters, and that is also a fair reason to keep him off screen. So, I’ll say fact.

6. WWE Canceling Superstars was a good decision.

Mitch Nickelson: FACT – I watch a minimum of a dozen hours of new wrestling content every week (almost double if there are a couple of pay-per-views) and there are editors and writers and fans who’s weekly watch list would put mine to shame. After all of the wrestling that I consume, which I do on top of a non-wrestling related full-time job, a wife, and three kids, I might catch one episode of Superstars every couple of months. I didn’t watch that one with any sort of regularity and it’s probably safe to say that many of you did not as well, so nobody will miss it. At least they’re substituting in the new 205 Live to the weekly schedule, an additional hour per week that sounds like it’s actually worth taking on.

Jack Stevenson: FICTION – I quite liked Superstars, possibly because I am a total weirdo with weirdo tastes in wrestling. But I thought it worked quite well as a half hour long Raw recap with a couple of light, harmless lower midcard matches thrown in for good measure. It was hardly the highlight of my week or anything and WWE already churns out a ridiculous amount of content in a seven day span, so persisting with an essentially meaningless show that barely anyone watched perhaps wasn’t a top priority for them. Still, it was a breezy 45 minutes every week and I’ll miss it in that sense.