411 Fact or Fiction 06.20.13: Mark Henry, RVD’s Return, More

Hi, hello & welcome to 411 Fact or Fiction! I’m Steve Cook, and it’s been quite the crazy week in the world of professional wrestling! WWE Payback was quite the entertaining evening, featuring a double-turn in the Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio match that shifted the gentlemen into more appropriate roles. Or did it? AJ won the Divas title from Kaitlyn & the people were happy. Was it just a Chicago thing? Raw was quite eventful as well, as Mark Henry’s retirement speech ended up being a ruse to get John Cena to give him a title shot. There was much rejoicing, but CM Punk wasn’t too happy after Brock Lesnar gave him an F5. See, Punk hurt Paul Heyman’s feelings by asking him not to come out to ringside for his match with Alberto Del Rio, and when you hurt Brock’s manager’s feelings Brock has to smash you. That’s just how it goes. Meanwhile, the Bound For Glory Series field has been set, a TNA Gut Check online tournament winner was announced, and Sting is going to bring back the Main Event Mafia.

You may have noticed some new bylines around the ol’ website. One of them is kinda old, but kinda new too. Here’s Dino Zuko!

His opponent made his Game Zone debut back in March and wants more TNA coverage in this column. You can read more of his work at cornonajumper.com…introducing Jericho Ricardi!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect wrestling-related questions.

1. You totally bought into Mark Henry’s “retirement”.

Dino Zuko: FICTION. So watching this all we could ask was “So when does he jump Cena?” Then he started crying and though I started to wonder if this was legit, never fully bought into it. Just didn’t think Mark could cry unless it was during a poem for a passed on colleague. He got me to bite more than I should have, but no, I never fully bought into it.

Jericho Ricardi: FACT. That was a really well-done segment. It seemed real and heartfelt, though I found myself wondering what they’d do with the remaining years of Henry’s notorious 20-year contract signed in 1996. Also thought it was odd that he wanted Cena to stay out there, and the way he put over Cena as being a bigger star than him. I figured that this was just more of WWE putting Cena ahead of everyone else, but it turned out to be a whole lot of facetiousness on the part of Mizark. Yep, by the end of the segment I really thought that was it for Henry; his attack on Cena caught me off guard and instantly made him a contender. I figured he’d be the one getting the first shots at Cena after Wrestlemania, given that he defeated Ryback at that show, but then he just sorta…disappeared. It’s still early enough to capitalize on his Wrestlemania momentum, and he’s doing really well as the unstoppable badass, so this could be a good feud.

Score: 0 for 1

2. Alberto Del Rio turning heel & Dolph Ziggler turning face is the right move.

Dino Zuko: FICTION. Only on the selfish grounds that ADR is 100% better as a face than Miz, and they aren’t rushing to switch him. Both should be fine in their new roles, though I wonder what face qualities the other DZ has besides “I’m a show stealer.”

Jericho Ricardi: FACT. I was a huge fan of ADR as a face for those first couple of weeks there, thinking he was clearly better suited to the role he used to play pre-WWE (he was a huge face in Mexico). Things just kinda petered out from there, though. Maybe it was the way Wrestlemania (and the build for it in general) was pretty bad this year, I don’t know. In any case, I’d say ADR works as a face or a heel. Ziggler is getting huge face responses from the audience, and I’m glad WWE is actually acknowledging this and turning him, and if the best way to do that is a double turn with ADR, then so be it. This feud already has the makings of an old-fashioned blood feud, and CM Punk actually helped push things along on Monday with his acknowledgement of Ziggler being screwed over. Notice how, unlike HHH or the McMahons, CM Punk actually knows how to make the people he’s in the ring with look good and further interest in their feud? HHH will make you look good, as long as everyone knows he’s still better. Not the case with Punk. But I digress. This gets a FACT because I’m looking forward to seeing where it’s going.

Score: 0 for 2

3. You’re excited about Rob Van Dam returning to WWE.

Dino Zuko: FICTION. I used to refer to him as the Rotten Vagina Dancer, and that was before he got older, fatter, slower and lazier. Never been an RVD fan, and nothing has changed. See? Not EVERYONE thinks a guy is cool only when he leaves TNA.

Jericho Ricardi: FACT. I like RVD and I’m glad he isn’t retiring yet. Seems like just yesterday he was on Impact. When was the last time we had someone jump between companies in such a short span of time? He was pretty lackluster for the past couple of years, though, and never really seemed inspired. Either way, an uninspired RVD is better than no RVD and I’m interested to see what they do with him.

Score: 0 for 3

4. AJ is the more likeable performer in her feud with Kaitlyn.

Dino Zuko: FACT. Kaitlyn is Ashley Massaro 2.0, complete with “I’m so angry, I could just smile!” mannerisms. AJ owns this world. It’s not even close for this.

Jericho Ricardi: FACT. AJ is far more interesting than Kaitlyn, and I’d like to see her as a face sooner or later to go with Ziggler. As of right now, AJ is the bully in the storyline, the conniving brat who plays mind games to hurt people. Having Kaitlyn stand up to her is a much more effective way to push “B. A. Star” than having Sheamus talk about it, given that Sheamus is the biggest bully on the roster. So at this moment, perhaps Kaitlyn is the more likeable of the two on the storyline basis alone, but the vast majority of the time I find AJ a lot more entertaining. Side note: Was it really necessary for Steph to basically treat both of them like children on RAW this week? What is with this family?

Score: 1 for 4

5. CM Punk & Paul Heyman parting ways is for the best.

Jericho Ricardi: FACT. CM Punk as a face is something we need more of, and he couldn’t really do that with Heyman at his side. Also, the storyline of the disloyal Heyman sending Brock after him is very compelling and should make for a hell of a feud. After months of being barely watchable, it seems like WWE is turning a bit of a corner right now with some more mature subject matter and more heated feuds than we’ve seen in the past couple of years.

Dino Zuko: FICTION. Face Punk is lame. Punk and Heyman together is great. I’m sure it’ll work out just fine, but I dug them together. Now it’ll be Punk eviscerating Axel on the mic, a feud with Brock, and then…?

Score: 1 for 5

6. You’re looking forward to Sting re-forming the Main Event Mafia.

Jericho Ricardi: FICTION. How is this going to work? Booker is in WWE now, Angle is busy with the Rampage feud, Nash is likely fine with chilling at home… it looks like they’d need to create a new iteration of the stable, with new members, for it to even exist. On one hand, it’d be interesting to see the stable return. On the other hand, if we’re going to resurrect a stable to combat the Aces and Eights, I’d rather see a return of Fortune. Alas, with all of the members of Fortune on opposing sides of feuds currently, that seems pretty unlikely.

Dino Zuko: FACT. Only because I want to see who it is. It seems like another TNA quick decision that wasn’t thought out completely… but I still want to see how it forms.

Score: 1 for 6

7. The TNA Gut Check Challenge has been successful thus far.

Jericho Ricardi: FICTION. I feel bad about going FICTION on these because I like TNA and like what they’re doing right now, but I don’t think the Gut Check stuff has been particularly compelling. It was for a while at first, but I think it got stale when it stopped involving the audience in the decisions or bringing in anyone particularly interesting. The wrestlers that the fans liked the most tended to not fare too well (Ivelisse and Adam Pearce were both crazy over, yet lost) or to disappear for many months (Taeler Hendrix) with no real word on their progress. This concept needs work before it can truly reach its potential. But seriously, what’s up with letting Ivelisse and Pearce go? I figured they’d end up being part of a storyline, perhaps joining Aces and Eights to get revenge or something along those lines, but instead they just kinda disappeared.

Dino Zuko: FICTION. Joey Ryan and Jay Bradley. That’s who I remember. Add to it the ridiculous reasons people have been cut/passed, and I can’t say it’s a success. It’s not a horrible failure yet, either, but certainly not a success.

Score: 2 for 7

8. The Bound For Glory Series has a good roster of talent.

Jericho Ricardi: FACT. There are a couple of odd omissions (James Storm, Matt Morgan, Kurt Angle) but I presume those guys all have more important roles penciled in for Bound For Glory. I’d have included Eric Young as well over Joseph Park (or even Crimson over Joseph Park) but I know Young is working on his show. But, really, aside from Park and Jay Bradley, this is a pretty stacked BFG Series roster. It’s great to see Kazarian and Daniels involved, and with the amount of egos in the running it’s sure to make for some great television over the next few months. Also good to see Magnus get the nod over Matt Morgan or Rob Terry. Magnus deserves it, and I hope this particular Series serves as a launchpad of sorts for him. The guy is a mere 26 or so, and if I were TNA I’d sign him to a ten year contract and push him to the moon.

Dino Zuko: FACT. My only complaint is no Angle, but then I remembered this is how AJ’s crybaby story will most likely payoff. Regardless, I like the roster in the BFG Series at this juncture.

Final Score: 3 for 8

Dino & Jericho weren’t really on the same page here, which makes for a good column in my book. I do have to call out Dino on one thing…how do you not remember Taeler Hendrix? My girl getting a contract made the whole Gut Check thing worthwhile. Come on now. Anywho, I thank Dino & Jericho for their participation and invite you to chime in with your thoughts on the subject matter in the comment section. See you next week with more Fact or Fiction!

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