411 Fact or Fiction 12.07.06: Heyman, MNM, Big Show, More

Posted by Ashish on 12.07.2006

It's week ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT of Fact or Fiction with Stephen Randle, Mike LaFave, and whether TNA should sign Paul Heyman...

Welcome to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week, 411 rookie Mike LaFave goes up against 411 old-timer Stephen Randle!


1. If Paul Heyman is really gone from WWE, ECW won't survive past December 2007.

Mike LaFave: FICTION. From my understanding, Vince has been booking the majority of what we've been seeing on ECW. That leaves Heyman as an on-air personality. Is Heyman a good booker? Actually, he's a great booker, all you have to do is take a look at his work in ECW and when he had the book on SmackDown! to see that. Is he a good on-air talent? Yes, he has a history of tremendous promos, including the tearful announcement he made on ECW.com following the Elimination Chamber. Heyman would be an asset to any wrestling organization, but no WWE brand will live or die based on Paul Heyman. If Vince still looks at the ECW brand as a profitable investment, then it will survive well past December of next year.

Stephen Randle: FICTION. ECW will survive just so that Vince can have another TV show and brand to point at and show that he is the God of all wrestling. Plus, there's no way they'll let Heyman go to TNA, because even though they won't let him use his creative skills, there's no way they'd let TNA have that asset. Sooner or later, Paul will kiss enough ass to get put back somewhere in ECW. It's just the way it works. He got pulled off TV after the Invasion, he was back within 4 months managing Brock. He got pulled off again, and was back shortly as Smackdown GM. He lost that in a power struggle, but was back managing Heidenreich and the Dudleyz in the New Year. He got sent to OVW for a while, but he resurfaced to relaunch ECW. With Paul Heyman, it's just a matter of time before he rises again. Meanwhile, ECW will survive through sheer force of the fact that it's a WWE brand and they'll never let their teeth out of the free timeslot on Sci Fi if they can do anything about it.

Score: 1 for 1


2. Big Show will be back in WWE within a year.

Mike LaFave: FACT. At 35 years old, Big Show is still a relatively young man with many years of wrestling left in his blood. It simply comes down to, after years on the road, the body needs a break and I believe that's all we're seeing with the Big Show. He needs a break to heel physically, emotionally and mentally from the wear and tare of life on the road and taking bumps 300+ days a year will do to a person. Benoit didn't have a serious injury, but decided to take a leave of absence to mend some wounds; I think we'll see the same thing from the Big Show. Show will be back in 6-8 months as the Extreme Giant!

Stephen Randle: FACT. He'll be back at WrestleMania for that silly Hogan-Show match, remember? Though I doubt he'll be back after that, simply because after all this time, he really looks like a man who needs some time off. I don't think he's missed significant time since getting his knees looked at after WrestleMania XX, and even then he delayed it several months because of the voids in the Smackdown main event. Before that, the last time I remember him not being regularly on TV was when he got demoted to OVW. Like him or not, he's worked his ass off for most of the last few years, and there's truly nothing left for him to prove in wrestling. Plus, we all know for a fact he's carrying a lot of weight, and a lot of chronic injuries that come from both his size and from throwing his size around the ring for so many years. I think if he comes back at all after Mania, it'll be in a purely sideshow capacity. He has more money than he'll ever need, and nothing left to prove. I really don't think he'll be back outside of the Mania shot.

Score: 2 for 2


3. If available, TNA should sign Paul Heyman to their creative team.

Mike LaFave: FACT. I'll do you one better, if TNA signs Paul Heyman and gives him the book, it will be the biggest move they've made in terms of competing at a national level and that includes the Kurt Angle signing. I've made no secret that TNA bores me. I think they have some very overrated athletes (AJ and Joe) but they have some amazing wrestlers as well (Fallen Angel, Alex Shelley, the list goes on). The problem with TNA is their booking of matches and shows and feuds, with the feuds being the biggest problem. Russo was brought in to give them a fresh book, but the are continuing to book ass backwards, and lets be frank, that little backwards battle royal into a tournament deal, he most have been on crystal meth when he came up with that brainchild! Heyman is a master of booking long feuds, which make sense and deliver a big pay off. If TNA sweeps in and signs Paul Heyman and then the important part is gives him the book, I honestly believe that would be the biggest step they've taken in regards to challenging the WWE.

Stephen Randle: FICTION. They won't anyway, because having Cornette and Russo in the same building is bad enough, having Cornette, Russo, and Heyman all together is just asking for trouble. At that point, only one would survive, and since the owner's son loves Vince Russo, guess who gets the short end of that stick? The person who has the book in TNA is not going to magically set TNA on the golden road to higher ratings anyway. Hell, WWE started on the way to their highest point with Russo as head booker, so how important is the booker anyway? Here's the thing, no matter who's booking, there needs to be someone in charge of them to filter out the crap that doesn't make sense. WWE's gotten into trouble because that person seems more and more to be Stephanie acting in lieu of Vince, and TNA seems to take everything the booking committee comes up with and throw it on TV. Heyman's not going to get "final word" power in TNA, just like he didn't have it in WWE. At that point, how much difference could he really make?

Score: 2 for 3


---SWITCH!!!---


4. ECW December to Dismember was the worst PPV of the year.

Stephen Randle: FACT. Normally I'd wait for the official vote, but barring a miracle, it was going to be worst PPV of the year before it even started. It was badly promoted and badly booked. It was stuck in the middle of two other WWE PPVs within two weeks on either side, forcing poorer fans to choose between a Big Four PPV that was fully booked for weeks, a Smackdown PPV that has had feuds built up for it since early October, or ECW, which had the Elimination Chamber and not much else. The main focus for the main event was changed from RVD-Show to Lashley-Show under a month before the PPV, ruining ECW's longest-running storyline to that point. Sabu was bait-and-switched out for some sort of punishment in favor of Hardcore Holly, pissing off old ECW fans. CM Punk was first out of the Chamber, pissing off new fans. And RVD was out quickly too, pissing off, I would bet, a massive part of both old and new ECW's fanbase. Toss in a bunch of unannounced squash matches that came out of nowhere, and what have you got? Worst PPV of the year, by far. And they even had six months to build to it!

Mike LaFave: FACT. I was going to go back and examine all the PPV's so far this year, but then I realized, there is no need. That's how bad December to Dismember was, I don't have to go back and think about it. I tend to be fairly marky. I go into every PPV with high hopes for a good show. Nine times out of 10, I come away feeling I got my money's worth. But December to Dismember was a different story. I'll admit, I had my doubts before I ordered it. Anytime you're about to drop money on a PPV with two announced matches, there is a chance for trouble. But I figured with a likely title change, what looked like it should have been a great Elimination Chamber match, a hell of a tag match and many other SuperStars that I enjoy likely to be on the show, I ordered it and once again went into the PPV with high hopes. The opening tag match was great. Personally I would consider putting that in the top 10 WWE matches this year. Matt Striker then came out and cut a good promo and had a good little match with Balls Mahoney. The problem with that "good little match" was that it turned out to be the second best match on the show! The rest of the show gradually began to suck more and more. They did the bate and switch with Hardcore Holly and Sabu, but I figured if it worked with Heyman's master plan, then I could deal with that. But the Chamber was booked ass-backwards! Holly gets in the match to team up with Test in helping the Big Show retain, but is quickly eliminated…by Test! CM Punk is one of the hottest tickets in wrestling and was the first one eliminated, RVD followed soon after and it ended up with Lashley being solo waiting for Big Show to come out, just terrible booking. I wish I hadn't been so busy with school so I could have wrote a column on Getting Over December to Dismember because I could have wrote a hell of a lot better show than they delivered…pathetic!

Score: 3 for 4


5. John Cena is being used badly by WWE.

Stephen Randle: FACT. I've touched on this before, back after Cena beat Edge to regain the title again. I felt it was a horrible booking move, because it left Edge to twist in the wind, having lost the title after a month-long reign (basically) for the second time, both times cleanly so he couldn't even get a rematch. And it also left Cena without any credible opponents to face, having plowed through everyone on Raw (run through the list, Jericho, Angle, Edge, Trip, Edge again) except Randy Orton, who was wallowing in the midcard again because he sucks, and also because they have some weird fever dream about Cena-Orton catapulting the Mania buyrate to new heights. So, after beating Edge, Cena had no opponents, so they plugged him in filler matches against the champions of the other two brands. Mark my words, that was why they did it, because both Show and Booker had ongoing feuds at the time and didn't need to be feuding with Cena. Plus, Cena lost the "Champions Match" at Cyber Sunday, thus negating the whole purpose, since he was never going to face Booker again anyway. So, now he has no momentum, and they expect him to get it back by facing...Umaga? Can't we just skip ahead to the Royal Rumble, where Cena beats Umaga to move on to his WrestleMania match? I mean seriously, does anyone think Umaga is going to be the next WWE Champion? Cena beating Umaga means nothing, because the fans already know there's no chance Umaga will be champion. This isn't Hogan vs Earthquake, it's Brock vs Holly. Bah. Moving on.

Mike LaFave: FICTION. He's not being used badly. He's the most over man in wrestling today. Where ever they go Cena is either the most loved or the most hated man on the roster, one or the other, how could that be using him badly? Now do I think he could be used better than he is? Yes, I certainly do. I long for the day of Cena walking down the ramp while cutting a battle rap on his opponent. We see glimpses of the old John Cena from time to time and I miss what he used to be. But he's still gold on the mic and he still puts on great PPV main events. I won't be surprised at all if Cena pulls out at least a three star match out of Umaga at New Year's Revolution. I'm a Cena mark, yes it would be better if he was the old, hardcore, Cena, but he's still the top draw and I still enjoy watching him.

Score: 3 for 5


6. MNM should remain together for awhile.

Stephen Randle: FACT. If only because I fear they have absolutely no plans for Joey Mercury. Mostly because their big plan to bring him back was to have him rejoin MNM, even though they turned on him and attacked him to put him out of action in the first place. Kind of like how they seem to be re-uniting Benjamin and Haas, for no better reason than both guys are going nowhere fast as singles, so we revert to what worked in the past and hope the fans still care.

Mike LaFave: FACT. But that's with a big "if." IF the WWE is serious about building a tag division, then yes, leave MNM together. I'm not one of the fans who hate the state of tag team wrestling, because honestly, I can take it or leave it. But if the WWE wants to rebuild their tag division, now's the chance. On Raw alone, with a couple small roster trades, they could potentially have, MNM, The Hardy Boys, the World's Greatest Tag Team, Cryme Tyme, the Highlanders and occasional tag team appearances from team Rated RKO and DX. That is a tag line up that could rival any in WWE history! Add to that the London and Kendrick vs. Regal and Taylor feud over on SmackDown! and we COULD be looking at a boom in tag team wrestling. That's one big ass "if" though. If that's where they want to go, than please, leave Mercury and Nitro together, but if not, let Nitro continue to shine on the Raw midcard!

Score: 4 for 6


These two finish 4 for 6! Join us next week for more Fact or Fiction!