411 Fact or Fiction 07.25.13: D-Bry, Ohno, Y2J, More

Hi, hello & welcome to 411 Fact or Fiction! I’m Steve Cook, and it’s been another crazy week in the world of professional wrestling. Daniel Bryan went balls to the wall on Monday night, winning matches against three pretty intimidating competitors. Does that mean he has a chance against John Cena? Internet scuttlebutt says that WWE management doesn’t like Kassius Ohno’s physique. Will our favorite indy wrestling Hero ever get called up? Chris Jericho shipped on out of WWE last week to return to music. He’ll be back. Apparently there’s going to be a movie about Chris Benoit. Bully Ray lost the TNA World title to Chris Sabin on Thursday night in Louisville. The 411 Wrestling Hot 100 was posted on Monday!

I’ve invited two 411 favorites to discuss these topics. First, one-half of the Wrestling 5 & 1, Raw recapper (for now) and the man they call “Big Poppa”…Tony Acero!

His opponent is the man that commented on 411 articles before commenting was cool and hails from the last house on the left…Manu Bumb!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect wrestling-related questions.

1. Daniel Bryan has no chance of beating John Cena at SummerSlam.

Tony Acero: FICTION. No Chance in Hell is more like it! I kid, I kid. Bryan can very well win the championship, and in doing so, he could really solidify him as a main event star, and in turn, create an interesting second half of 2013. I don’t know that they’ll do it, but I have to imagine that there is at least some consideration, and why the hell not? They’ve proven that if someone like Bryan can get the fans firmly behind them, and they can perform, then perhaps making them the main dude for a bit ain’t all that bad. CM Punk may not have been the first, but he’s the first in recent times, and I feel that because of him, the chances of Bryan winning are just a bit higher than perhaps a year or two ago.

Manu Bumb: FICTION. It’s a long shot, but Bryan has been on quite a hot streak lately, and has the fan support. Granted, wrestling logic dictates that the hotter the challenger, the less likely they are to win the first match. Of course, that’s been the rule for so long that fans now expect the hot challenger to lose, so the swerve is actually having them win (there were no swerves in HHH’s 2002 title run). Having said that, “wrestling logic” is completely up to Vince McMahon – we can guess, and discuss history, but at the end of the day, our speculation means jack. There’s 3.5 weeks left til SummerSlam – anything can happen. Cena could come out next week and face 10 men in a gauntlet match, making him the strong one who will lose. Or Bryan could be in the dog house for his potential fiance showing a little too much skin on Raw. Or Cena could be in the doghouse for Vince thinking it was his Bella that showed too much skin on Raw.

I don’t think Bryan will beat Cena, but I’m not betting against it.

Score: 1 for 1

2. Kassius Ohno will make the WWE main roster before 2014.

Tony Acero: FACT. But he better get crackin on them workouts. We can’t believe every scuttlebutt that we read, but if rumors are true, then Ohno only has to do a little work to make it to the big leagues. I hate to say it, but the Dubs is an image conscious product that requires a particular look. Yes, we can say that some superstars don’t fit that bill, but those dudes have something else that has been proven to work. Not to say that Ohno doesn’t have it, but he’s not able to show it until he gets to the big stage, and he’s not going to get there in his current state, if we are to believe the rumors. Still, what he needs to fix could take just a couple of months, and I can see it happening. I’d also welcome it, very much so.

Manu Bumb: FICTION. I can see him coming up in 2014, but if the rumors are true, he’s gonna have to start doing the HHH workout circa 2002 to get back in their good graces (HHHulk smash!). Not that WWE cares about physical appearance, as Vince told Congress. There’s still 5 months left in 2013, so it could happen (maybe pair him up with Antonio since they don’t like any of the stuff he’s been doing, despite him being consistently awesome?), but I’m thinking they wait til 2014.

Score: 1 for 2

3. You enjoyed Chris Jericho’s 2013 run.

Tony Acero: FACT. It was fun. In recent years, I alays found Jericho entertaining, but just so. Like, I knew he had the “it” factor we all know and love, but there were times when I felt he was just a bit…clunky? I think it was due to his stature. But I digress. 2013, was a solid year for Jericho and he undoubtedly left a stamp. In less than a year, he put people over, had great matches, entertaining feuds, and kept the spotlight on the newer blood in the WWE. I’d welcome him back with open arms.

Manu Bumb: FACT. On one hand, Jericho’s one of my favorites, so I’m always excited when he comes back, and this particular return led to me finally getting his autograph after I was unsuccessful in 2005. On the other hand, his losses to Ryback and Fandango were meaningless – they didn’t hurt him, but they didn’t help his opponents either. I did enjoy the build-up to his match with Punk (and the match itself), and his match with RVD on Raw, but that was it. I’d like to see more stuff like that from his returns in the future, otherwise they’ll become meaningless.

Score: 2 for 3

4. You would watch a movie based on the life of Chris Benoit.

Tony Acero: FICTION. No, not in the slightest. Alright, I MIGHT watch it, for curiosity sake, but the fact that the movie is even being made is more what bothers me than whether or not I’d watch it. I can already see it now; the film will do nothing to make the wrestling business (an already sore sight to most) something positive. Although I’m not sure who or how the approach will be, I can almost guarantee it won’t be made for us wrestling fans, but will instead be made for the masses – which means, wrestling itself will be the cause of Benoit’s issues, thereby giving a slant of evil towards the entity that we know and love. Moreover, I feel this thing is one of those Lifetime movies where men are evil and women are heroines. Please don’t take this as me being a Benoit sympathizer, but I strongly feel that this story, as a whole, has no business being told in any type of format, let alone movie.

Manu Bumb: FICTION. No, I have no interest in anything having to do with Benoit. I’m not saying other people shouldn’t, or that they’d be wrong if they wanted to watch this, but for me personally, I just can’t watch anything having to do with him without thinking of everything that happened at the end, and I don’t like thinking about that.

Score: 3 for 4

SWITCH!

5. Bully Ray should still be TNA World Champion.

Manu Bumb: FICTION. I follow TNA – TV, PPVs, house shows. I do not think they are perfect. Quite often, I find myself shaking my head at the things they do, but I do like them. Going into DX, I wanted Sabin to win, but figured there was no chance in hell it would happen. And then Sabin won! TNA finally rewarded me as a fan for putting up with all the stupid things they do! I’m sure Bully will win it back soon enough, and knowing TNA, this little title run of Sabin’s will be forgotten, but for now, I’m glad TNA surprised me and put the strap on Sabin.

Having said that, the timing of it could’ve been better – Bully’s leading a bunch of losers against the Mafia, and he’s the top guy right now, and was really benefiting from having the strap, so losing it right now might not have been the best call, but I don’t think it’s going to derail anything TNA has planned for him.

Tony Acero: FICTION. I know, I know, “why have a WWE guy answer a TNA question when he doesn’t watch the show?” Can we just get that out of the way real quick? Good? Good. Ok then, I’ve heard that Bully Ray has been nothing but amazing holding the belt, and he’s more than deserving, all things considered. However, judging but the reaction of the internet after Sabin winning the belt, I can’t help but think that him winning was a good decision, at least short term. Having watched TNA at at least one point in my life, I’ll say that I certainly didn’t see it happening, but glad that it did. TNA seems to be a place where shit like this can happen and be believable, even if it wasn’t booked to our liking.

Score: 4 for 5

6. Chris Sabin will have a successful TNA World Title reign.

Manu Bumb: FICTION. I really hope I’m wrong. I hope Sabin has a good title run, and this ends up being the first of many for him. But TNA’s track-record isn’t all that great with new champs. Bully is an exception, as his first title run has been really good, this loss included. AJ Styles, James Storm, Samoa Joe, Ken Anderson, and RVD were 5 guys whose title reigns I was looking forward to, and none of them had what I would consider “successful” title reigns. I attribute this more to TNA than the wrestlers themselves.

Tony Acero: FACT. Of course, one must define “successful.” As noted before, I think the decision was short sighted, but some people could have considered Sabin to never, ever, not ever, hold the World Title, and the fact that he gained it is enough to be considered a success. As far as a reign goes, I think it will be short lived, and there MAY not be much wrong with that, considering how hot Bully was as Champ.

Score: 4 for 6

7. The reports about TNA having financial issues are being overblown.

Manu Bumb: FACT. I can’t really say Fiction to this because I don’t know the truth behind their financial issues, but from what I’ve read, they’re behind on payments. I haven’t read anything that says they can’t pay people, just that they haven’t. To me, that sounds like the office dropping the ball, and not TNA being on the verge of collapse. Of course, they’ve had to make a lot of cuts, which point to financial issues, but let’s be honest, TNA has a lot of dead weight (see Hogan, Brooke). It’s like when you move and throw away a bunch of stuff you don’t really need – TNA is on the road now, and needs to make better use of their money than keeping around wrestlers they can’t seem to do anything with.

Tony Acero: FICTION. I don’t think they’re being overblown, although I do think (hope) that all the releases were more pre-emptive strikes than anything else. Sadly, I don’t find that to be true. With people not getting paid, and layoffs happening we are looking at either a) a rehaul of the entire company, or b) ECW-lite. I’m leaning more towards B, considering the rumors around town. Either way, something ain’t right in Dixie-Land and I’m hoping for the best.

Score: 4 for 7

8. AJ Lee was the correct choice for the #1 slot in the 411 Wrestling Hot 100.

Manu Bumb: FACT, considering who wrote it. If Mat had written it, I’m sure Victoria would’ve been #1 😉 I guess they were evaluated on what they’ve done since the last one? If so, AJ’s had a pretty good year. She hasn’t done much of anything lately (yes, winning the butterfly belt isn’t much of anything), but when she was hot, she was on fire! That’s more than I can say for any other woman in WWE or TNA (sorry, not as familiar with indie gals as I would like to be, and NXT divas are limited in what they can achieve while still in development). Mickie James is amazing right now, but that’s a recent development. If she keeps up at this level for the next year, I’d wager she has a good chance of taking the #1 spot next year. That is, unless Emma makes her way to the main roster.

Tony Acero: FACT. Oh please, did you expect anything else from me?! AJ is the hottest Diva alive, and I mean that figuratively in terms of beauty as well as success and the spotlight on her. She brought a doldrum of a division into something somewhat bearable. She has a firm grasp on her character. Although not always given the chance, the chick can go in the ring. AJ is everything the divas should be but are not. While Taryn and Gail Kim are doing everything they can to tear it up in TNA, no one can deny the height in popularity that AJ has brought to female wrestling and the Divas Division.

Final Score: 5 for 8

Tony & Manu agree just over half of the time on these various topics! I thank them very much for their participation this week and invite you to chime in with your comments. Thanks for reading & see ya next week!

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