411 Fact or Fiction 02.02.12: Sheamus Wins the Rumble, Undertaker vs. Triple H, Kharma, More

Posted by Steve Cook on 02.02.2012

Was Sheamus the right choice to win the Royal Rumble? Do you want to see Undertaker vs. Triple H at WrestleMania again? Will CM Punk & Daniel Bryan be champions at WrestleMania? 411's Todd Bergman & Nck Perry answer these questions & more in the latest edition of Wrestling Fact or Fiction!

Hi, hello and welcome to 411 Wrestling's Fact or Fiction! I'm Steve Cook, and it's been quite a week in the world of wrestling! It was dominated by WWE's 25th Royal Rumble event, which your humble correspondent was lucky enough to attend! Most of the questions have to do with that event, which featured CM Punk & Daniel Bryan retaining their titles & Sheamus winning the 30-man Royal Rumble match to earn a title shot at WrestleMania!

Introducing first, the man behind 411 MMA Fact or Fiction, which by the way I'll be appearing in next week to begin defending my Championship of Great Significance and become a two-time two-time two-time champion. Give it up for Todd Bergman!

His opponent is making his 411Mania debut. He sent me an e-mail talking about how big a fan of 411 he was and how he would love to appear in this column someday, so today we're making it happen. Say hello to a fellow 411 reader, Nick Perry!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect mostly Royal Rumble-related questions.

1. Sheamus was the correct choice to win the 2012 Royal Rumble.



Todd Bergman: FACT. There were only two other options in my book and those guys were Randy Orton and Chris Jericho. I personally thought that the WWE were going to go with a Jericho/Orton double victory ala Luger/Hart but it seems that the Internet message boards changed the possible outcome. I didn't think that Jericho is the type of wrestler who needs to win the Royal Rumble in order to get a title shot at WrestleMania. Orton at this point in his career doesn't need that Rumble win either. Last year, Alberto Del Rio won the Rumble and proceeded to completely flop in his push to the title. I don't think that Sheamus will fail because he has a solid pedigree in his young WWE career. He's a solid wrestler who's a former King of the Ring winner; United States Champion and a former two-time WWE Champion as well.

Nick Perry: FACT.. Many people would argue that Jericho would have been the correct choice, but Sheamus is and here's why. Jericho was the "predicted" choice by the fans to win it all, but Sheamus was deserving. Also, going against what the fans predicted would happen is a good decision. The element of surprise is often left out of wrestling these days. The crowd is solidly behind this guy as a face and WWE is realizing that. He's a believable contender for whichever championship he decides to pursue. Coupled with the great work he is doing inside and outside the ring for the company, he was definitely the right choice to win.

Score: 1 for 1

2. CM Punk & Daniel Bryan will be the WWE & World Champions heading into WrestleMania.



Todd Bergman: FACT. The champion that could be in trouble here is Daniel Bryan. I could see the WWE taking the title off of him at Elimination Chamber and having Sheamus face someone like Randy Orton at WrestleMania. I don't think that this will happen but ultimately the WWE has to make sure that people will want to see Sheamus beat up the "heel" Daniel Bryan on their biggest PPV of the year. CM Punk is likely headed for a WM title showdown with Chris Jericho, so I can't imagine the WWE taking the title off of him going into the biggest show of the year. One thing to keep in mind is that a couple of weeks after last years WM, John Cena announced that his match against The Rock would be for the WWE title. I'm not sure if the bookers forgot about that announcement or not, so let's keep an eye out for that scenario.

Nick Perry: FACT. There is too much that can be done with the Jericho/Punk feud coming up to take the title off of Punk before Wrestlemania. These two in a match could be epic at the biggest pay per view of year, and having the title in the mix will just add that much more to it. Plus, keeping the title on Punk and away from Cena makes the Rock/Cena match that much more interesting. Nobody is going to believe that the Rock has any chance of winning that match if Cena is the champ and the belt is on the line. Why would WWE invest in the Rock winning a title he would only defend once a year? (Sarcasm intended) Bryan keeps the belt going into Mania as well by random occurrences in his matches between now and the big event, kind of like the AJ thing. The heat on Bryan for "narrowly escaping" his matches and acting like he WON them on his own makes the crowd hate him even more. He will continue winning and chanting "YES!" up the ramp all the way to the Super Bowl of wrestling. Also it really will show the direction WWE has gone in the past year, giving the "Underdogs" their much-deserved time with the belts.

Score: 2 for 2

3. The John Cena vs. Kane feud will contend for the 2012 Worst Feud of the Year Award.



Todd Bergman: FICTION. The only bad thing about this feud is the Zach Ryder nonsense. The WWE could do themselves a lot of favors by playing some Benny Hill music anytime that Kane meets Zack Ryder backstage. The idea of Cena becoming edger is something that I'm a fan of because the guy's character was stale three years ago. This whole feud is about evolving Cena's character because of the numerous amounts of bitching that is done nearly every day on pro wrestling message boards. It's really too hard to say what the worst feud of 2012 will be but it will likely involve something from NXT or Impact. However, I don't think that John Cena vs. Kane will be included.

Nick Perry: FICTION. Part of me likes this feud for a couple different reasons. First off it gives them something to do with both men at this point in time and it was a great way to bring Kane back into the scene and make him relevant again. Kane as the indestructible monster who enjoys torturing people is the best character for him. Also, it keeps Cena out of the Main Event picture for a little while and allows guys like Ziggler to be more of a player. Ziggler has such a bright future still to come. Call me crazy, but there is a little bit of Mr. Perfect inside him inside that ring. The year is early and I'm sure there will be a few other feuds that will compete for worst of the year. I just don't see this being one of them if it's ended properly before Cena moves on to The Rock.

Score: 3 for 3

4. Kharma was the most surprising entrant in the Royal Rumble.



Todd Bergman: FACT. Given that her pregnancy was high risk and the fact that I didn't read spoilers of her being in the rumble, I'm going to say that she was the most surprising entrant. The other options would be: Road Dogg, Michael Cole & Hacksaw. If you read 411mania.com at all in the days leading up to the Rumble then you knew that those three were going to be included. Kharma was a nice surprise and I'm hoping that she brings something to the Divas division and here is to hoping that the Divas get more than 30 seconds in the ring in the future as well.

Nick Perry: FACT. On the basis of, there weren't many rumors going around about her showing up. She recently gave birth little over a month ago so the chances of seeing her were slim. She was the 2012 "1 diva entrant per year" for the Royal Rumble this year and definitely was a surprise. Guys like Road Dogg were rumored so there was some speculation on that, but I didn't read or hear anything leading up to the rumble about Kharma. It seemed like the crowd was surprised, and even excited to see her coming down the aisle. Michael Cole, on the other hand, is just a joke and nobody really cares about him anyway so he doesn't even count as a surprise. Plus his little "hunch" he had on commentary kind of gave it away.

Score: 4 for 4


SWITCH!

5. Road Dogg Jesse James still has it.



Nick Perry: FACT. He was in the ring and had his brief moments of glory. He gave the people that remember him a blast from the past and didn't look bad at doing so either. The crowd was into it and even started chanting "You Still Got It" so they know he still has it as well. It's always good to have these guys show up and bring the fans back to 12 or so years ago. It's even better when the guys don't look old doing it. I feel like he might not be able to wrestle on a consistent basis every week, but he still definitely has "It."

Todd Bergman: FACT. Whatever "it" is, Road Dogg still has it. There are a few wrestlers whose microphone work completely overshadows their in-ring work (Roddy Piper and even The Rock). If I say, "Oh you didn't know" then you know the rest. The guy looked out a little out of shape but I feel like he may have earned himself a spot back on the WWE roster. Think of it like what Mr. Perfect did for himself back in 2002. The WWE really lacks wrestlers who the fans can relate with so bringing back the older guys from the Attitude Era can feed this need.

Score: 5 for 5

6. You want to see an Undertaker vs. Triple H WrestleMania rematch.



Nick Perry: FICTION. Solidly on the fence about this because Triple H has always been my favorite wrestler, but I have to go fiction. Fans have already seen Taker and Trips at Wrestlemania 17 and last year as well. Kane has wrestled Taker twice already and couldn't beat him at Mania. HBK, possibly the greatest of all time, wrestled Taker twice at Mania and couldn't beat him. What would make the fans think that Trips has a chance at beating him in a third match? This is a tough question because Triple H is one of the very few wrestlers who are a believable opponent in having a chance to win this type of match—given Taker's record. 2 matches were enough for me. Part of me feels like the competitor in Triple H and Taker makes them want to go out and put on a better match than their previous one at Wrestlemania 27, but like I said 2 matches were enough for me. It's very hard to follow HBK/Taker's magic in the past two years.

Todd Bergman: FICTION. I'm not a Triple H fan so anything that involves Trips getting more TV time is going to be a negative in my book. To me Triple H is the Scottie Pippen of pro wrestling. Talented but got most of his success from being associated with the right people. Anyway, I thought that both guys had a solid match at WrestleMania X-Seven and even last years match was quality but this year's match up just feels like the WWE couldn't think of anything better to do with both guys. Triple H just got out of a "blood" feud with Kevin Nash and I feel like it was blown off too quickly. I guess the logical option is for Triple H to put his career on the line but the theory behind a guy who shows up every three months putting his career on the line against a guy who hasn't been on TV in nearly a year is mind numbing to me.

Score: 6 for 6

7. Mike Tyson deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame.



Nick Perry: FICTION. I'm a firm believer that the WWE Hall of Fame should be reserved for professional wrestlers and managers only. Mike Tyson was very popular when he attended Wrestlemania and had his interactions with Stone Cold on television, but not Hall of Fame worthy. Next thing we know, Snooki will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for her appearance at Wrestlemania. The guys, who spent years of blood, sweat, and tears for the business, traveling 300 days a year, entertaining every night, deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Some people argue that Edge's induction is too soon, but I say if Mike Tyson is being inducted, then the man Edge, who gave up his body for the business, and now is retired because of it, certainly is deserving Tyson might deserve to be in the professional boxing Hall of Fame, but not WWE.

Todd Bergman: FACT. Seems like wrestling fans always get butt-hurt when the WWE decides to induct someone into their celebrity wing. The fact of the matter is that Mike Tyson was apart of one of the most important WrestleMania main events in the history of the event. WrestleMania XIV signaled the beginning of the Attitude Era and Tyson gave the WWF (at the time) a massive amount of mainstream news coverage with his involvement. Whether it was the shoving incident on Raw with Stone Cold or "knocking out" Shawn Michaels in the main event, Mike Tyson was everything that the WWF needed him to be in the storyline and so much more. If anyone deserves to be in the celebrity wing then its Mike Tyson.

Score: 6 for 7

8. Sting will retire at the end of his current Impact Wrestling contract.



Nick Perry: FACT. I'm a little skeptical on this Fact because of the whole "never say never" wrestling thoughts veterans always have in the back of their mind, though. Sting is up there in age, coupled with his recent injury, and the fact that he can be used behind the scenes in a bigger role as well, leads me to believe after this contract he will definitely retire. Sting can still go in the ring for his age, but there is only so much more he can do in TNA on TV. The role he plays right now on TV is something that works for them, but in terms of in-ring, I think his time is coming to an end. He's a fan favorite, but everybody has their time.

Todd Bergman: FICTION. I'm most likely going to be way out in left field with this one but I still think that Sting will wrestle The Undertaker at a future WrestleMania. If you remember back to last year at this time, wrestling sites were set ablaze when people thought that Sting was the subject of what turned out to be Undertaker hype videos. The best idea here would be to induct Sting into the Hall of Fame in the same weekend. It would be a fitting end to one of the best careers in pro wrestling history.

Final Score: 6 for 8

Todd & Nick were on the same page for most of the column, but parted ways when we started talking about Mike Tyson & Sting. I thank them both for their participation, and invite you readers to chime in with your opinions on these topics in the comment section. We'll see you back here next week for more 411 Fact or Fiction!

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