411 Fact or Fiction 2.04.10: Edge's Royal Rumble Win, TNA's Monday Night Ratings, the Jericho/Helms Arrest and More!

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 02.04.2010

Was Edge's return at the Royal Rumble enough to make it a worthwhile Pay-Per-View? Should TNA get ready for lower ratings if they make the permanent move to Monday? Will Shawn Michaels' heel turn revitalize his career? Did the State of TNA Address on the Bubba the Love Sponge show accomplish what it needed to? 411's Steve Cook and Will Helm debate these topics and more in the latest edition of 411 Wrestling Fact or Fiction!



Welcome dear and loyal readers, to the latest edition of 411 Wrestling Fact or Fiction! I'm Jeremy Thomas, as always, and this week we had some major news items that popped up. The Royal Rumble is in the books and TNA is rumored to be almost ready to make the permanent move to Monday night. We had a legal situation involving three WWE stars and alcohol, a title change in TNA, rumors of another old-timer returning and more! Discussing the topics this week are my fellow R's man and the man behind "News from Cook's Corner," Steve Cook! He faces off with a newcomer to Wrestling Fact or Fiction, the man who rocks it in the Movie Zone with his fantastic column "Misunderstood Masterpieces" Will Helm! We're ready to dive right in, so follow right along and let's see what they have to say.

Questions were sent out Monday.

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

1. Edge's return and win at the Royal Rumble was the smartest move that the WWE made with the show and helped it deliver a worthwhile Pay-Per-View.



Steve Cook: FACT. Like I said in News From Cook's Corner (posted every Wednedsay here at 411mania.com), I probably should have seen Edge's win coming because they do this everytime he returns, but I didn't see it coming. It shakes up what was looking like a predictable Road to WrestleMania and makes fans wonder what exactly is going to happen. It may be shockingly similar to what we expected, but it's always more exciting when there are bumps in the road.

Royal Rumble wasn't the greatest show of all time, but nothing was terrible and you always remember the ending of a show more than anything else that happened in the previous 3 hours. Edge coming back and winning the Rumble took people by surprise and made them glad they ordered the show. Mission accomplished.

Will Helm: FACT. Even though there were a few who may have predicted it, for the average wrestling fan, there was no chance that Edge was coming back for the Rumble. Most figured he was gone until at least Wrestlemania. Thankfully, this proved not to be the case and Edge made his surprise return, which greatly improved a somewhat odd Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View until that point. Yes, John Cena's surprise return a few years ago is almost the same circumstance, but it's not just Edge's return that made the night worthwhile: the fact that he, someone other than the "usual suspects" -- Cena, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels, won the Rumble raises the esteem of the event by proving its unpredictability. This was a brilliant move by the WWE and should make for great Rumbles to come, as long as they don't rush more talent back from injury just to milk the "surprise return."

Score: 1 for 1

2. TNA should be prepared for the fact that going to Monday night full-time will not find the same ratings their first Monday show did.

Steve Cook: FACT. I won't say for sure that they won't get there, because my predicting record is generally awful. But let's face it, Hulk Hogan can only make his TNA debut once. I think it's going to take time for TNA to build an audience, but they have an advantage in that wrestling fans love to change channels on Monday nights. It reminds us of the old days. So they'll get a lot more attention from people on Mondays than they have on Thursdays. I still wish they'd do two shows a week to use everybody they have on their roster, but if they can only do one show right now they should go on Monday.

But...they better not freak out when the first rating comes in.

Will Helm: FACT. I'll be the first to admit it: January 4 was one of the most exciting nights of wrestling in a long, long time. Of course, I'm not just the only one who thought so, judging by the ratings for Raw and Impact from that night. One problem with those ratings is that it's hard to discern just how much of a bump TNA -- and WWE, even -- received due to the novelty of the situation, by having two live wrestling programs on television concurrently. As well, the arrivals of Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart into TNA and WWE respectively surely bumped the results out of sheer curiosity. These two elements, as well as others -- like the quality of TNA's content, should be heeded well by TNA, as a one-time rating due to these factors may not translate into a permanently high rating every Monday night, which -- hopefully -- TNA isn't expecting.

Score: 2 for 2

3. Shawn Michaels's impending heel turn will help revitalize his career.

Steve Cook: FACT. DX sells merchandise, but it's staler than two-week old bread. Should they actually pull the trigger and have HBK go heel, it would do a lot for his act. The tricky part is that it's going to be really tough to get fans not to cheer him...but if anybody can accomplish such a feat it's Michaels. I have a lot more interest in Michaels as one of WWE's top heels than in Michaels as HHH's DX lackey.

The question is if Michaels is interested in being a heel. In the recent past, he hasn't. Should he change his mind, we could be in store for an interesting few months of WWE television. I'm intrigued by "Slowly losing his mind" HBK, and I hope it leads to something really good.

Will Helm: FACT. Shawn Michaels, whether before his layoff or in this second chapter of his career -- and backstage troubles be damned, is awesome. Heel Shawn Michaels, whether the cocky "Heartbreaker" or rebellious leader of D-X (v 1), is even more awesome. Therefore, it stands to reason that another heel run for Shawn Michaels would always be great. However, judging by just how this is going to go down, this might be the best Shawn Michaels run ever, as we've never seen an unhinged, almost psychopathic Shawn Michaels. While there were inklings of it -- superkicking a little girl a few months ago is pretty nuts, this is the first chance to see the wild intensity that Shawn Michaels can channel, a complete one-eighty from his "wacky" character in the most recent incarnation of D-X and a welcome change to his resume.

Score: 3 for 3

4. Bringing the Honky Tonk Man into TNA would be the most disastrous move the company has made in the Hogan era.

Steve Cook: FICTION. I see no reason for bringing in ol' Honky, but I don't know what he would do that would lead to a "disaster". Certainly there's nothing he could do that trumps what Bubba the Love Sponge has accomplished since his arrival. Until Honky says "F*ck Haiti" and has one of the top Knockouts beat the crap out of him, I don't know how he's even going to equal Bubba. At least Honky has wrestling experience, right? The greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time! The man too big for the WWE Hall of Fame!

Hell, they should induct him into the TNA Hall of Fame. That'd be pretty funny. Other members of the first class could include the Johnsons, Goldylocks, Teddy Hart & Karen Angle.

Will Helm: FICTION. Sure, the Honky Tonk Man may not get people clamoring to watch Impact, but, as a talent, Honky has loads of charisma and is decent at making his opponents look good, which seems to be a lost art form nowadays. He might not help the situation at TNA, but he certainly is smart enough not to hurt the situation. Just by that fact, Honky would already be significantly less disastrous than Hall, Waltman, and the Nasty Boys combined. The average wrestling fan knows Honky will get his comeuppance in the end, while there's never that guarantee for the rest of Hogan's BFFs.

Score: 4 for 4


SWITCH!

5. The Chris Jericho, Hurricane Helms and Matt Hardy situation is another example of the mainstream media blowing wrestling-related incidents out of proportion.



Will Helm: FACT. I forget who on the site said it, whether a writer or a commenter, but the Jericho-Helms-Hardy incident becomes so much funnier when the participants are pictured in their wrestling gear. That makes sense, of course, since the whole ordeal is just a comedy of errors, seemingly. People get arrested all the time. People get arrested for public drunkenness all the time. It just so happens that two of the guys in this case happened to be wrestlers. In the grand scheme of things, this is pretty tame as far as crimes go, much less crimes involving wrestlers. A few goofy mug shots, some ribbing from the guys in the locker room, maybe a lecture on proper behavior from CM Punk, and that should be that. Anything more than that is just milking the situation because it's a slow news week and, unfortunately, it's been a slow news week.

Steve Cook: FICTION. It is, however, another example of wrestling people getting butthurt over mainstream media coverage. Here's the thing: the media blows everything out of proportion. Their job is to talk about other people, whether they be politicians, sports figures, movie stars or murderers. If they don't make what they're talking about sound like a big deal, nobody's going to tune in. If you were watching Headline News and Robin Meade said something like "Next we're going to talk about a couple of nice guys who had a little too much to drink last night but they're still tremendous athletes and wonderful human beings", would you stick around to watch that?

Well, you might, but only because Robin Meade's hot and you'd watch her talk about paint drying.

If the mainstream media's biased against wrestling, then they're also biased against baseball because they only talk about it when players are getting busted for steroids. They're also biased against politicians because they only talk about them when they're passing laws that nobody likes. Outrage and controversy sell. Understanding and nipping things in the bud don't sell.

Score: 4 for 5

6. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's State of TNA Address on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show didn't accomplish what it needed to do as a whole.

Will Helm: FACT. I could come right out and say that the appearance of Hogan and Bischoff in TNA didn't accomplish what it needed to do as a whole, but that'd just be mean. That being said, this silly "State of TNA Address" was a huge misstep on so many levels. First, and most significantly, the address was given on Bubba the Love Sponge's SIRIUS show, vastly limiting the audience. Something as important as a mission statement on the "new" TNA should be presented to as wide an audience as possible, ideally on Impact, and not on satellite radio. Also, the bulk of the address seemed to be concerned more with WWE -- which wrestlers Hogan and Bischoff would like from there, competing with Vince, etc. -- than TNA itself, making WWE's young rival seem petulant, rather than alternative, another misstep. Hogan and Bischoff had a chance to build up some great goodwill for their vision of TNA and, instead, just glossed over what Hogan and Bischoff have in store for TNA.

Steve Cook: FICTION. I suppose the answer to this question depends on what you felt this radio segment needed to do. If you were expecting Bischogan to lay out all of their future plans for TNA and tell you what the strategy would be for the next five years, you were probably expecting too much. Personally, I wasn't expecting much out of a segment of the Bubba the Love Sponge. I expected some Hogan asskissing, Bischoff burying people, humorous exchanges with fans, and an interesting perspective on reality. All of my expectations were met.

Besides, it gave us the tremendous thought of Abyss as Hulk Hogan's next John Cena. I can only hope this leads to an Abyss rap album.

Score: 4 for 6

7. Joey Mercury will be able to make a solid name for himself by returning to SmackDown.

Will Helm: FICTION. I like Joey Mercury and I'm quite happy to see him getting another shot with WWE. He's talented, experienced, and good to have around because of those qualities, despite a few bad breaks, whether by his or an errant ladder's doing. That being said, putting Joey Mercury on SmackDown would be the worst thing that could be done with him. Yes, I'm sure some may want to see him reunite/feud with his former tag-team partner, John Morrison, but that would only be good in the short term, if at all. SmackDown, to its credit, has a great mid-card and upper-mid-card, so there isn't much room for Mercury to begin with, barring injury. Someone of Mercury's talents and experience makes more sense on the-show-that-will-soon-no-longer-be-known-as-ECW, where he can rebuild his name as well as help out the younger guys coming in.

Steve Cook: FICTION. I hate to dismiss somebody before they arrive, but I've seen Mercury wrestle all across the country through the 2000s. He's a good tag team guy and has been successful in teams with John Morrison & Christian York. I've never seen anything in him as a singles wrestler, though. He can put on a decent match, but he doesn't have that "it" factor that makes him stand out as something special. As part of a package, he brings a lot to the table. But as a single...I'd say the best he can hope for on Smackdown is maybe a quickie IC title run and I don't know what they'd do with him other than a feud with Morrison. I could see him joining up with the Straight Edge Society, but he already joined a cult in Ring of Honor and he really didn't accomplish too much with that.

The thing I don't really like about this question is that I think Joey Mercury/Matthews has already made somewhat of a name for himself within pro wrestling. Not with the casuals, but everybody reading this website knows who he is. This isn't a Frightmare-type situation. However, I don't see his name getting any bigger with another stint in WWE. I could be wrong.

Score: 5 for 7

8. Giving Doug Williams the TNA X-Division Title was the right booking decision to make.



Will Helm: FACT. While the way in which Doug Williams won the X-Division Title may not have been the brightest decision, as he ended up with Rob Terry's title shot for no other reason than "because Brutus said so." Going forward, though, Williams as the X-Division champ may pay off more and more, as Williams is a gifted and intimidating figure within TNA's X-Division. The British Invasion, whether Hogan and Bischoff like them or not, earns serious heel heat, just by being a dominating foreign stable. Of the three, Williams happens to be the most talented -- which is always a plus for the X-Division, so the combination of pure talent plus smoldering heel heat can only add up to better and better feuds over the X-Division Title, hopefully raising the belt back to its former status as one of the most exciting championship concepts in wrestling.

Steve Cook: FACT. I'm a fan of Doug's work and it was nice of them to finally use that X Division title shot briefcase. Amazing Red wasn't really connecting with the TNA fanbase as champion and the British Invasion have proven to be solid heels during their stint with TNA. I guess the question here is what do you do with Brutus Magnus now that Williams is the X Champ and Rob Terry is the Global champ. "Give him the World title" is probably the wrong answer. The BI were mentioned early on as people that the new regime was not high on, but giving them belts probably indicates that somebody sees something in them.

If nothing else, this gives the X Division a chance to reboot itself. And if the Steel Asylum is any indication, the division could really use that, Honestly, I have a hard time listing X Division guys off the top of my head. Other than Red & Williams there's Homicide, the Machine Guns, Suicide...and? Daniels again? They need something to shake things up and make us care again, and maybe this will be it.

(Truth be told, Homicide may have been a better choice to take the belt than Williams, but it seems that he's on the political outs these days, thus not an option. He probably would have had a better chance if he had managed to climb out of the cage on January 4. Oh well.)

Final Score: 6 for 8

We have a second relatively harmonious week in a row as Steve and Will go 6 for 8! I'd like to thank the both of them for their answers, and you our readers who clicked on the link to read what they had to say! For Steve Cook and Will Helm, I'm Jeremy Thomas saying join us next week for more Wrestling Zone Fact or Fiction!

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