wrestling / Columns

411 Fact or Fiction 04.26.12: Lesnar/Heyman, Kharma for Nikki, Hulk’s Solution, More

April 26, 2012 | Posted by Steve Cook

Hi, hello and welcome to 411 Fact or Fiction! I’m Steve Cook, and it’s been another crazy week in the world of wrestling. Extreme Rules is happening this Sunday, and the talk of the town is…Brock Lesnar’s promos and who’s helping him with them? Sure, why not. Daniel Bryan’s fans are wondering if he can YES YES YES his way to another World Championship while Miz’s fans are wondering why he’ll be on YouTube instead of PPV. Meanwhile on Raw, there was a Divas title change, and that’s one of the few things I remember about the show right now. Impact Wrestling is holding their first Open Fight Night this Thursday, but it won’t feature James Storm & Hulk Hogan wishes it was live.

I’ve invited two fine young chaps to discuss these topics. First of all, the man that brings you Ring Crew Reviews, the lovely & talented Jack Bramma!

His opponent has been my sidekick on this site ever since I hosted Ask 411 Wrestling many eons ago. My co-host on the Off The Team Sports podcasts which will be returning very soon , Trent Howell!

  • Questions were sent out Monday.
  • Participants were told to expect wrestling-related questions.

    1. You are more interested in watching Extreme Rules after watching Raw on Monday.

    Jack Bramma: FICTION. I was sold on this show as soon as Lesnar returned and F5ed Cena and stomped his hat into the ground just because he could, so in a sense, they didn’t need to make me “more interested.” But if I didn’t want to see Extreme Rules, a field sobriety test, a 2 minute special guest referee match complete with a fast count, and a contract signing wouldn’t make me want to see the main events. And even the other matches on the card seemed to have little substantive build. Orton kidnapped Paul Bearer, presumably from Edge who also showed up last night for the first time in a while and was the one last seen with Bearer, and threw him in a freezer only for Kane to leave him in there kayfabe killing Bearer for either the third or fourth time. And the makeshift unlikely duo of Khali and Showster squashed Cody after Del Rio took a walk off the apron to set up the IC title rematch. Not the most solid go home show in the world. While I loved Edge’s promo and am digging almost all of the Cena/Brock stuff, I didn’t need that reassurance and was already sold on that match anyway. I needed more from the rest of the card and didn’t get that.

    Trent Howell: FACT. Honestly? I thought Extreme Rules was a week from Sunday, rather than Sunday itself. So in as much as it reminded me to when it really was I’m more interested. But I’m more likely to order it as well. Though I thought the Punk and Jericho stuff on Monday dragged on a bit and felt like filler, I did like the promotional video they did highlighting what had happened and focusing on Punk “finding clarity in darkness”. I think Smackdown and RAW both showed that Cody Rhodes is a legit threat to the Big Show using speed and attacking the knee. And the comedy of errors that was the contract singing does make me want to watch Brock and Cena just to see if they can salvage something out of all this. (Plus the idea of Brock being a world beater and a prima donna at the same time is intriguing, even if the execution isn’t great). RAW advanced all three of those stories and made me care about them more so it made me more likely to buy the show so theanswer is fact there as well. I probably won’t buy it. I’ll probably watch Celebrity Apprentice and check the results on 411. But still it COULD happen.

    Score: 0 for 1

    2. If Paul Heyman isn’t helping Brock Lesnar with his promos, he needs to be.

    Jack Bramma: FICTION. I know everyone for the most part hated the ending to RAW and thought the contract signing went on forever and they aren’t playing to Brock’s strengths, etc. And I’ll just preface with saying that I love Paul Heyman and always think he’s an asset whenever a show or promotion can bring him in. Still, Brock doesn’t need him to get over as a badass bully because he is a badass bully. It just oozes off him in every asshole-ish thing he does from pummeling Josh Matthews to showing up 2 hours late with no explanation to punting Cena to the stones from behind to throwing his feet up on the conference table during the contract signing to kissing his fists like he’s the baddest man on the planet to saying “Little Johnny” didn’t have “the balls” to come face him and when Cena comes out looking for a fight complete with Masterlock chain, Brock just sits there like a cocky bastard. There are of course logical reasons why none of those things make a great deal of sense in reality, which in my mind, enhances Lesnar’s asshole quality, because he’s a bit of a delusional badass bully. His character is essentially a UFC washout who didn’t like getting hit hard by other badass bullies which is why he’s come back to where he was king of the ring and it’s going to be even sweeter when he finally loses down the line. Point being, Lesnar is conveying all of this himself and almost none of it through words; he’s just a natural at being an asshole, probably because he might really be an asshole. If anything, it’s WWE that needs to change and give Brock more platforms that play to his strengths, although I’ll be seriously pissed if at least for a few weeks, we don’t get a re-edited RAW intro graphic and title credit saying “Starring Brock Lesnar.”

    Trent Howell: FACT. I perversely love the idea of Brock being just a horrible person in every way shape and form. As a part of that I think him not being able to construct sentences in his own native language is hilarious and fits in with the character. I’m probably alone in this though, and I would never give the WWE that much credit as to say they were doing it on purpose.

    So that leaves us with Brock Lesnar legitimately being able to public speak at a sixth grade level. Someone needs to help him. Certainly there are plenty of people in that locker room (agents, legends and active superstars alike) who could give him some help here. But Brock Lesnar does what he wants to do and listens to very few people. We’ve seen from the past he will listen to Paul Heyman and we’ve seen from the past that Paul Heyman is awesome at hiding someone’s faults and accenting their strengths. So sounds like he’s the man for the job.

    Score: 0 for 2

    3. Daniel Bryan will win at least one fall against Sheamus at Extreme Rules.

    Jack Bramma: FACT. That dark match footage of Sheamus beating Bryan in another sub-18 second squash in England is a bad omen for those of us hoping this is fact. Still, if nothing else, it’s just bad entertainment to have your heel not even competent enough to snatch one victory in a 2 out of 3 falls match. If this were the title change, I could see Dragon losing both because that would have meant he’d have stolen another match at WM over Sheamus and would need a declarative 2-0 asskicking. But Bryan has already had his comeuppance… many times. Obviously, that hasn’t stopped the character’s momentum and if anything, seems to have united even more people behind him. If Sheamus squashes him in back-to-back falls, it would seem to only be out of spite and WWE’s desire to turn Bryan into a heel version of Santino who clearly is overmatched and is a comedy character but doesn’t realize it yet – almost like the Chickenhawk from old Looney Tunes who thinks he’s a badass but his size and results say otherwise. I hope against hope this doesn’t turn into the 2012 version of Christian-Orton with a WWE-backed face trouncing a respected, “smart” hero who gets to look like a buffoon for the WWE Universe’s amusement.

    Trent Howell: FACT. I stand behind my statement that in the overall scheme of the story they’ve told, having Bryan lose to Sheamus in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania was the right choice. I think it was much better for his character than just getting whooped and pinned for ten minutes. With that said, the overall story demands hehave some success at some point. If Sheamus goes 2-0 on him, there’s no where else to go. Giving DBry a fall in this match legitimize shis place towards the top end of the card, and opens up more doors for the quality of feuds he could later have. So in a storytelling sense it makes sense for him to get at least one.

    From a financial sense, with Bryan they have accidentally created a reverses Cena. He’s an obvious heel but a certain segment of the audience refuses to buy into it and are chanting his name and buying his shirt. You can’t completely shut him out of this match and expect those people to continue to go into their pockets pay and support him. This group has been burned by the ‘E too many times before and they lose faith quickly. Make him look strong in a loss and it’s win/win/win. They’ll probably screw it up, but logic and reasoning dictates this is a fact.

    Score: 1 for 3

    4. Nikki Bella’s Divas Title reign will end with Kharma destroying her.

    Jack Bramma: FACT. If the scoop is right, that is how this will go down. I guess they are seeing money in a potential Beth-Kharma match down the road and didn’t want to give it away with Kharma stomping her in her first match back. Instead, the Bella Twins will probably do some type of Double Mint Twins gimmick to keep the belt through switching on and off from under the ring and/or ringside, only for Kharma to destroy both and take the belt maybe at Summerslam, if not sooner.

    Trent Howell: FACT. When Kharma went out it was with a ready-made feud with the Bella’s already set up. Kharma is supposedly on her way back soon. One of the Bellas has the Butterfly belt. I really don’t see any need to keep typing here. Seems like as good a place as any for an offtheteam.com plug. There ya go.

    Score: 2 for 4


    SWITCH!

    5. The Miz deserves better than facing Santino Marella for the US title on the YouTube preshow for Extreme Rules.

    Trent Howell: FICTION. I like this pre-show thing. They always do a dark match anyways, and there are people who will always watch wrestling they can access so this is win/win. It’s like a combination of what UFC does with their undercard and the “Free For All” from the early nineties. That said, it’s awesome that they’ve come out a week in advance and announced it is happening. A title match for free. Who could complain? The Miz is a good talent and will be going for a secondary belt. I bet because they are pushing this new concept that the Miz and Santino match gets more TV coverage than if they were just in a ppv match. We all know they’d just trot it out as an unannounced special attraction then anyways. With this, they are depending on the Miz and Santino having some name value to bring in casual fans to YouTube.

    Miz deserves better than not having a storyline. Miz deserves better than not being on TV. Miz deserves better than being pushed to the side so we can watch the same video we’ve seen 18 times about how Brock Lesnar causes bladder control problems. But deserving better than being in a title match? Deserving better than having the WWE put faith in your name value to draw in viewers to their YouTube channel? Nah.

    Jack Bramma: FACT. If a tree falls anywhere other on a RAW, Smackdown, or PPV, then it didn’t make a noise in the WWE. I’m sure some will be optimistic at the prospect of a pre show on YouTube possibly elevating guys, but it won’t make a dent in the real product because it’s a place for WWE roster guys that they want to use, but don’t really care about much less care about following up on. It’s the same reason why Matt Striker can be kidnapped and tortured for weeks on NXT and then show up on RAW as an interviewer to replace Josh Grisham and no one even cares. The non-RAW, Smackdown, or PPV shows are basically the WWE’s version of non-canon entertainment like dark matches.

    Ever since losing at TLC in the triple threat, Miz has been shuffled through various heat magnet spots to carry the load in the RR and get the victory for Team Johnny at WM, but you can tell they don’t know what to do with him. Dropping Truth on a flip splash was just the excuse they needed to shove him further down the card.

    The truth of the matter is that both guys deserve better and so does the US championship. Santino is a perennial comedy act that gets big cheers but never gets the big opportunities, wins, or paychecks. Even when they seem to give him the ball, like winning the battle royal to give the last spot in the Elimination Chamber this year, or the huge pop during the chamber match itself, or winning the US title or IC title multiple times, it never seems like a genuine push – more like an appeasement. A token achievement to accommodate those who cheer him, but nothing impactful or significant. And lately, despite getting the win over Swagger for the US belt, he’s been tagging with other midcard novelty acts like Funkasaurus and Ryder and having no title defenses.

    I hope both guys manage to steal the show, just so they can be put on it where they belong.

    Score: 2 for 5

    6. You are excited about Impact Wrestling’s Open Fight Night & GutCheck Challenge.

    Trent Howell: FICTION. I’m not excited about anything they do down there. Don’t ge tme wrong, I think anything a company does to introduce its young talent is a good thing, and if utilized correctly the open fight night could be a great concept to get some young talent on the roster. But it won’t be utilized correctly. I fully expect to see Tugboat and Jerry Sags fighting it out to get a roster spot, and thus I don’t give a crap. The Gutcheck challenge is the idea that anyone can challenge any title holder? Right? That’s the dumbest idea ever. Screw working your way up the roster and showing your skills defeating opponents. Just buddy up to Hogan and ask for the match. You’ll get it! It’s almost like TNA is just admitting how their booking actually works, but in a storyline.

    I’d be excited about the TV title being on TV every week because I used to love watching guys like William Regal on WCW Saturday Night having 15 minute matches for the TV title. But DVon Freaking Dudley has it. Anything that puts him on my TV more instead of less is not something that excites me. TESTIFY!

    Jack Bramma: FACT. One of my favorite wrestling storytelling devices is the sit-in challenge. A wrestler wants something that he’s probably not going to get, so he hijacks the show until he gets it. If I knew, I deserved a title shot but I wasn’t getting it why would I just sit in the back and take the crap being fed to me when I could storm the ring and hold everyone hostage until I get some attention. Makes perfect sense to me and the Open Fight Night is basically a company-approved version of that. Two guys have beef and one of them wants to fight so the other one has to – Wrestling 101. An obvious caveat is that it’s slanted toward the faces and eliminates the idea that heels could duck challengers and hide behind “doctor’s orders” and such, so I don’t see this being a long-term part of the show even if it’ll satisfy me. In an interesting twist, I could see this being the way that TNA gets the world title off Bobby Roode especially since he’s being booked as a guy who can hang with anybody but can’t beat any of them clean. Maybe say another heel who’s pissed at not getting his due and ordinarily wouldn’t get a shot? Like Bully Ray, my darkhorse to take the belt off Roode.

    Also, the GutCheck Challenge sounds like as good a way as any to get young up and comers on the show. While this sounds very similar to the X-Division showcase from last year that netted Aries a kayfabe contract, I have no problem with repeats of good ideas, it’s the bad repeats that irk me. In fact, throughout TNA’s 10 year history, they have found different ways to incorporate fairly unknown, mostly smaller wrestlers into their promotion and to me that was always one of the highlights of the year. The TNA World X Cup, Global Impact, even the Bound for Glory series were some of the best wrestling storylines and gimmicks TNA has had in the past several years. Plus, there’s a ton of qualified indy talent that could come in for a one-off and if good enough, a contract on a longer basis. They need more of these ideas, so yes I am excited.

    Score: 2 for 6

    7. Hulk Hogan is right when he says that Impact Wrestling being live would solve most of its problems.

    Trent Howell: FICTION. I think he said 75% didn’t he? Either way, from the home office in Edgewood Kentucky, here are the things that are causing TNA’s problems.

    50 % Dependence on former WWE talent and trying to be the WWE instead of trying to differentiate themselves
    25 % The Impact Zone Crowd
    10% Using Pay Per View to sell TV instead of vice-versa
    10% Reliance on “celebrities” that aren’t really celebrities
    4% Velvet Sky not being on TV enough.
    1% Impact not being live.

    Just some helpful numbers for those of you who were interested. Figured it was more entertaining than the obvious answer that what would fix most of Impact’s problems is simply getting rid of Hogan himself.

    Jack Bramma: FICTION. RAW is live and has almost no problems at all, right? Look, I’ll grant that making the show live could fix some problems because a live crowd will always give the show a bit more juice than having it heavily edited, produced, and taped. But ever since TNA forced out the regular Impact Zone fans, the crowd has been noticeably less into the show for months now. If anything, going live would just put your product in front of a live, dead-ish crowd. So then staying with Hogan’s premise, in addition to going live, they’d need to let the Impact-bots back in on a regular basis or take the show on the road because whenever they have shows outside of the Impact Zone, again the crowd is into the show way more.

    All that being said, would a live Impact Wrestling on the road in front of energetic, paying customers solve most of the company’s problems? The answer is still no. TNA’s main problems have nothing to do with production where they are pretty awesome and only somewhat to do with presentation; as usual, it comes back to booking. The Victory Road card was so throwaway and was such a giant commercial for Lockdown that the guy getting his title shot the following month got a 10 minute promo to talk about why he was going to win the belt there instead of on the $40 PPV he was talking on. Book a better product and I don’t care if you’re taping from the dark side of the Moon and shown in the middle of the night with incomprehensible editing, people will still watch it. Just ask ECW circa 96-99. But if taking the show live means they will stop taking 5 minute commercial breaks in the middle of 6 minute matches, sign me up.

    Score: 3 for 7

    8. James Storm will be the man to take the TNA championship off of Bobby Roode.

    Trent Howell: FACT. James Storm should already be the TNA champion. He should have won it before Lockdown. But he damn sure should have won it at Lockdown. The way the story was told, those people were ready to blow the roof off the building for his bit emotional win. And they screwed it up. Swerved the people yet again. At this point any good will Storm had with the fans is spent and his momentum is gone. It’s time to build up another face to take the title off Roode.

    So why did I say fact? Because TNA booking is just absolutely dreadful. So rather than realize their mistake and realize they screwed the pooch on Storm, they will try and rectify things by giving him the belt. And the crowd will go mild. And it will be the wrong decision. And I will not care. But it will happen.

    Jack Bramma: FICTION. AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Sting, James Storm. That’s a list of people that Roode has already beaten since becoming champion. RVD is next in line and Hardy and Ken Anderson are chomping a the bit for their turns as well. Given this lengthy run and list of challengers, you’d hope that TNA has a long term plan for how to take the belt off Roode. In the year or so before Roode’s reign, the belt was hot potatoed back and forth between Hardy, Angle, Sting, RVD, and Anderson. Then TNA seemed to stumble upon gold with the way they beautifully built Roode into the presumptive challenger at Bound for Glory. Even though it was a rocky couple of weeks getting there, TNA finally got the belt on their guy and have put together quite a solid string of title defenses for him.

    So everything is set up for the right guy to take the “torch” so to speak and run with it. I’d have thought that was Storm before Lockdown, but much like Roode last year, TNA wanted the main face to fail at his championship aspirations. The obvious answer would seem to be a Storm rematch where he wins the belt, but after giving a bit of a farewell promo, it looks like Storm will take some time off to heal up and possibly get repackaged. They still could put it on him at Slammiversary or Bound for Glory if they want to wait that long where he finally gets the belt, but I’m going a different route. I think somehow Bully Ray will be the next champ although I’m not sure how we’ll get there. If they were going to do what I’m saying, the 4 way at Against All Odds would have been the perfect way to take the belt off one heel and put it on another. Still, TNA booked two of those crazy crash, free TV title changes with Storm and Roode both winning it on Impact last year. I think they could use the Open Fight Night to put the belt on Bully Ray even if it’s a long shot.

    Final Score: 3 for 8

    Wow, these two certainly weren’t on the same page! They weren’t even in the same book! Who did you agree with more, the esteemed Mr. Bramma or Sir Penguin? Go to the comment section and let us know what you think about these pertinent topics! Thanks to Trent & Jack for participating, and we’ll see you back here next week for more 411 Fact or Fiction!

  • Remember to go to TigerFlashGames.com and play addictive, free flash games when you’re bored at work, school, or whenever!
  • Don’t forget 411 on Facebook & Twitter!
  • NULL

    article topics

    Steve Cook

    Comments are closed.