411 Fact or Fiction 8.26.10: Six Pack Challenge, Serena's Release, Team 3D's Contracts and More!

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 08.26.2010

Is the Six Pack Challenge a good choice for Raw's Night of Champions match? Is Serena's release a blow to the women's division and the Straight Edge Society? Is TNA making a mistake if they don't re-sign Team 3D? 411's Jeremy Thomas and Chris Lansdell debate these topics and more in this week's 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling!



Hello, loyal reader! Welcome to 411 Wrestling Fact or Fiction for the fourth week of August! The next WWE and TNA Pay-Per-Views are taking shape and we have some things to discuss with them, as well as some surprising releases and contract news, the instant elevation of a WWE superstar and more! Joining us on the panel this week we have the Games Zone editor himself, my compatriot Chris Lansdell! He is taking on…well, none other than yours truly, Jeremy Thomas! There's a lot to get into here, so let's get right down to it!

Questions were sent out Monday.

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

1. The Six Pack challenge is a solid match for Raw to put on for Night of Champions.



Chris Lansdell: FICTION. I can think of maybe two dozen 6-man matches, and the only ones that were any good involved ladders (King of the Mountain and Money in the Bank). 6 singles wrestlers, even 5 good workers at the top of the card and a rookie, generally ends up being too many to follow without some sort of focal point like a ladder. With the PPV schedule the way it is and this part of the year having such short gaps between shows, it can be difficult to come up with compelling stories and I get that. However Barrett and Cena could easily have had a singles match, or you could have gone Barrett-Orton-Sheamus. Anyway the point of this question is not to fantasy book, it's to point out that six men in one match with no gimmick (like a ladder, or a cage to hold them in...I suppose the Armageddon match was decent) is too many and the match will suffer because of it.

Jeremy Thomas: FACT. Personally, I would have preferred they bring back the WWE Championship Scrabble—err, sorry, Scramble—but a Six Pack Challenge is something I can get on board with. Sheamus has held the title for a couple of months now throughout the summer and his second WWE Title reign has seen marked improvement from him when compared to his first one. The problem is that they've still made him look kind of weak by being completely unable to beat his challengers unless he gets help…Zack Ryder excepted, of course. I think the title needs to come off of him so that he can transition into a feud with the soon-to-be returning 'H, and the best way to do that and not make him look weak is in a multi-man match. Additionally, they need to get all their big names on this Pay-Per-View but still hold true to the "Night of Champions" theme. The only way to do that is a match like this. I don't think this will be a great match in terms in in-ring work but it will be serviceable and it will allow them to either put Sheamus over six guys, establishing him as a legit champion, or transition it off him without killing his credibility.

Score: 0 for 1

2. Stripping Rob Van Dam of the TNA World Title and having a tournament to crown a new champion was a poor booking decision.

Chris Lansdell: FICTION at this point, because we don't actually know why RVD was stripped and we don't know how the tournament will boil down yet. Look, I'm a sucker for tournaments in general, and using the top 8 of the ranking system at least made the rankings seem relevant. Of course people are complaining that TNA didn't just take the top 2 in the rankings and have them face off for the title, but this is TNA we're talking about. Had they done that, the same people would be complaining that they rushed the story. It's way too early to call this a poor booking decision.

Jeremy Thomas: FICTION. I actually feel of two minds of this, and one part of it is irritated that they couldn't just transition the belt off Rob to someone else and factor that into the EV2.0 vs. Fortune storyline. The other, bigger part of me agrees with Chris that we need to see where this goes. I like the fact that the Rankings have some level of significance in the aspect of the storyline and this was a good way to help get the storyline over. That is the point of championships these days; they help get talent and storylines over, which helps draw interest which makes the company more marketable. People can complain about the talent involved all they want, but at least TNA is moving forward with a focus at the moment which is typically when they do their best work.

Score: 1 for 2

3. Releasing Serena will not only be a harsh blow to the Women's Division, but to the Straight Edge Society as well.

Chris Lansdell: FICTION. When I first read this question I was ready to say Fiction based on the second half alone. Losing Serena will not impact the Women's Division at all, because there isn't one. On Raw this week, when Sheamus was sitting on his throne on the stage all through the show, even HE got up and went backstage for the women's match. The women's division exists for three reasons right now: eye candy, to break up the card and to make sure there are no claims of sexual discrimination. Wrestling ability is not even required these days. Serena can certainly wrestle, but she is not the typical WWE-brand eye candy. Even if you disagree with that point, you can hardly class the loss of someone who wrestled ONCE as a harsh blow to the division. I initially agreed that the SES would be worse for wear without Serena...but it really won't. The best thing about that stable is that they have a built-in reason to exile anyone without ever seeing that person again. If they want a woman for CM Punk's arm they can just ask any one of the Divas to shave their head and away you go. She was no great shakes on the mic and is 100% replaceable.

Jeremy Thomas: FACT. Whether Serena was being utilized properly or not by the WWE is one question; this is one entirely different. You could imagine that putting her in the ring against Kelly Kelly and giving her a win meant that she was going to transition to the Women's Division, considering Kelly is the Blue Brand's top female babyface. The idea of Serena finally doing something in the ring had a lot of buzz going for it which quickly deflated when she was released. I also think it's a problem for the Society because Serena was Punk's biggest supporter in a kayfabe sense within the storyline, and considering that there is dissention within the ranks they're going to have to change that direction now. Yes, she can of course be kicked out with ease—they have that already set up with her caught on camera moment. But she was different in the Society by virtue of being a woman and while her mic skills weren't great, she got a far better reaction than Luke or Joey Mercury did. This is an unfortunate release and while I won't say much about the real-life part until we know more, in storyline and business terms I think it is a blow.

Score: 1 for 3

4. The WWE is making a mistake by engaging with a war of words with Chris Nowinski.

Chris Lansdell: FACT, but only just. WWE is in one hell of a Catch-22 here, made worse by Linda McMahon's Senate run and her comments on Lance Cade's passing. The more WWE responds, the more credibility Nowinski gains. Look at how they treated Marc Mero, and he hasn't been heard from in a while. Nowinski is an acknowledged expert in concussions, has an Ivy League education and can present himself and his ideas very well. WWE knows that, and in all likelihood knows that he is making some valid points (although some might be exaggerated, a point to which Nowinski himself has admitted), so letting him spout off would have been seen as weakness by the press, responding with a blanket dismissal would have brought a cry for more details, using details has made WWE look stupid when Nowinski refutes them, and admitting to any wrongdoing would open various cans of arthropodic specimens. I don't know what the best choice is (if I did I would be working in PR), but attacking a former employee with good standing in the sports medicine community with several statements that are easily disproven certainly doesn't seem to be it.

Jeremy Thomas: FACT. Chris Nowinski is a smart guy, even if he doesn't know how to round a number like 135. He knows that he launched the first volley in what is essentially a mudslinging war. The WWE and Jerry McDevitt would have been wise not to comment at all or to stick to facts. The problem was that they decided to attack Nowinski's credibility. I'm not going to use the "pot calling the kettle black" analogy, I'm simply going to say that firing a return volley of mud is never the way to win a war. Linda's campaign seems to know this, why doesn't the company? And that's not even pointing out that they poorly worded the responses in such a way that Nowinski could make them look dumb. It was a poor move, plain and simple.

Score: 2 for 4


SWITCH!

5. TNA is making a mistake if they don't re-sign Team 3D in the midst of their EV2.0 storyline.



Jeremy Thomas: FICTION. I think TNA probably will end up re-signing them, but I don't think they need Team 3D to carry the storyline. If they had the rights to The Dudley Boys that might be a different matter because the nostalgia feeling would be stronger. Honestly though this comes down to a lot more than just their name; Team 3D can still go to a degree but they don't feel like EV2.0 guys anymore. They've been with TNA so long that they're more TNA than anything else. RVD, Dreamer, Sabu and Raven carry the ECW banner for me—sure, they've all been TNA guys at one time or another and a couple of them before the EV2.0 storyline but they aren't TNA institutions. I think that Team 3D can add something to the storyline but I don't think it would be a terrible mistake to let them go. Frankly, I doubt WWE would pick them up right away anyway.

Chris Lansdell: FACT, much as it pains me to say it. The storyline is another example of TNA trying to cater to the hardcore fan (not the fan of hardcore wrestling, although in this case the two groups overlap) instead of realizing that the money is in the casual fans. Giving a bunch of guys "one last" PPV together was one thing, and it could have turned into a good thing for TNA. Keeping a bunch of them around (even if some can still go) and putting them in spots on the card that could be used by younger talent with more upside is not the best use of your two hours a week. Does TNA honestly think that putting Beer Money over Team 3D (AGAIN) or Kazarian over Tommy Dreamer is going to give Fortune the rub? That stable is already over, at least to the point where semi-relevant ECW alums can't do any more to help. Team 3D are both icons in the ECW story and still get huge reactions from the faithful, and if this unfortunate storyline has to continue then it would be detrimental to let them walk. It would be as bad as putting an uncontracted talent over your top face, clean, on national TV. Nobody would do that right? RIGHT?

Crap.

Score: 2 for 5

6. Starting up a new Season of NXT with only a month before the show is bumped from SyFy is a poor move.

Jeremy Thomas: FICTION. I think that WWE knows what they're doing here, and either they have a plan to get this full season viable in one month or they know where they're taking it to. WGN, perhaps, where Superstars airs? More likely it's something like a smaller roster and that would work fine for me. The NXT formula has worked very well to date and I think there's enough juice left for one more run of the current incarnation. I certainly agree it would be nice if they had more than a month, but I don't think they're shooting themselves in the foot with only four weeks on SyFy.

Chris Lansdell: FACT. There is little reason to believe that NXT will get picked up by SyFY. Ratings have dropped and although the idea is a sound one, the execution has been sorely lacking. People don't want to see rookies kissing fat women with fake herpetic outbreaks, they want to see them wrestle or cut promos. You can defend things like the keg carry that at least show a degree of physical fitness, but some of the stuff in the second season has been ludicrous. If this is the way the show is going, SyFy will run a mile come renewal time and WWE will have another Heat on its hands. I know the last two seasons have been rushed to some degree, but 4 hours isn't even enough to introduce everyone properly to the audience, let alone let people develop a liking for them and buy into them.

Score: 2 for 6

7. TNA made the right decision in releasing Homicide considering the fact that they weren't using him as of late.

Jeremy Thomas: FICTION. Frankly, I want to punch someone whenever I hear the phrase "well, we're not using you, so we're letting you go" as it pertains to wrestling. TNA has the time to use him, and they don't. Sure, I haven't been a huge fan of Homicide, particularly since he spent three days trying to climb the cage on January 4th, but they could find something for him to do. Even if it's not a major push (which frankly wouldn't make sense anyway), they can at least use him in minor roles somewhere. I know it's a financial decision but releasing a guy like Homicide when far less talented workers are on the roster irritates me.

Chris Lansdell: FACT. Really, what's the guy doing? He screwed himself big time with his performance on the January 4 Impact, and hasn't been used in any significant way since then. By letting him go he can at least return to the indy circuit (like WWE would hire a guy with his reputation and style...) and make a decent living for himself. If ROH can swing a return for 9/11 in NYC, the roof may just come off. Homicide is a good, not great talent who can easily be replaced and who really wasn't going to factor into any major plans, so why not let the guy go? Sure an LAX reunion would have been nice, but Hernandez is more interesting to me as a singles guy.

Score: 2 for 7

8. Alberto Del Rio has the potential to become a top heel on SmackDown in a very short amount of time.



Jeremy Thomas: FACT. I loathed the Del Rio vignettes. If you read the R's, you know that to be true. And I still think they were stupid, because they didn't give us anything to care about regarding him and wrestling. Friday night we found a reason to care because he delivered a solid promo with Rey and then had a good, WWE main event-style match where he beat Rey cleanly. That's instant credibility. Now, the key thing here is "potential." It would be very easy for the 'E to push him strongly and then depush as is their standard, leaving him mired in the midcard, but if they play this right then Del Rio will have made an instant leap into the upper card and if Friday is any indication he could stay there for a good, long while.

Chris Lansdell: FACT. Just ask the guy who wrote his bio on WWE.com, he knows he's supposed to be a big deal, fairly quick. You don't get 2 long vignettes a week for several weeks and then beat the previous world champion in the main event in your first match if you're not going somewhere. Del Rio annoyed the hell out of me for weeks, but that was because I wanted to see him WRESTLE. Now that he's done so, and been pretty good at it to boot, I can see him shooting past Drew McIntyre and being at the top of SmackDown's heel roster in short order. There's a big void there right now, with Swagger seemingly in the dog house and Punk wallowing in the midcard, setting things up perfectly for Del Rio.

Final Score: 3 for 8

So Chris and I disagree more often than we agree and go 3 for 8! I would like to say I won, but I'm biased a certain way so we'll be fair and call it a draw. I'd like to thank Chris for his answers and you the readers for checking out our thoughts. For Chris Lansdell, this is Jeremy Thomas saying join us next week for more Wrestling Fact or Fiction!

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