411 Fact or Fiction 01.04.07: Samoa Joe, WWE & MMA, Umaga, More

Posted by Ashish on 01.04.2007

It's week ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN of Fact or Fiction with James Thomlison, Julian Williams, and whether 2006 was a good year for pro-wrestling...

Welcome back to another edition of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! Hopefully everyone had a great time over the holidays! This week, 411 workhorse James Thomlison takes on the mad behind the always popular The Top Ten column, Julian Williams! Let's get to it!


1. Samoa Joe will end up in WWE eventually.

Julian Williams: FACT. It's only a matter of time until Vince sees dollar signs in the form of The Samoan Submission Machine. Joe is still pretty young at 27 years of age and while TNA will seal him up for the next couple of years, I think Vince and his seemingly endless pockets will call Joe over to the dark side sooner or later. Joe seems to be a company man and I believe that he truly wants to be in TNA for life, but eventually a man has to do what is best for his family as well as his career and let's face it, WWE is the top of the totem pole in the world of professional wrestling. Sorry TNA and ROH fans, but WWE is the company that most wrestlers strive to work for and deny all he may, I believe there's a certain part of Samoa Joe that wants to apply his craft one day in a WWE ring.

James Thomlison: FICTION. As TNA continues to grow, so will their pockets. When the time comes to start determining how and where the added revenue will trickle down, Samoa Joe will be at the top of that list. As evidenced throughout 2006, Joe became the face of TNA, and he will ALWAYS be at the top of their card. He is happy with his schedule, and seemingly happy with his paycheck. In time the schedule may increase, but it will still never be anything near a WWE road schedule, so he will always have time for his family – also something he is happy with. As for the pay, as long as TNA keeps growing and growing, they have the strong potential to provide a very comfortable life (and way down the road, retirement) for Samoa Joe. I simply do not see him giving in to Vince and co, especially with the likes of Christian and Angle telling him exactly how that ship is run.

Score: 0 for 1


2. WWE should go into the MMA business.

Julian Williams: FICTION. No, no, HELL NO! Professional wrestling and MMA should stay completely separated from each other. If WWE wants to try to attract some MMA fighters to join up with them, that's all well and good. They can tout the background of the fighter and make him seem like a true badass, much like they did with Ken Shamrock and Slyvester Turkay. But they should not try to delve into the world of MMA. We've all seen how well Vince has fared when he's tried his hand at bodybuilding and football. Vince knows wrestling and that's what he should stick to. The only way this could be profitable in any sort of way is if WWE was trying to join forces with UFC because that would automatically eliminate their main competition when it comes to PPVs (and honestly it's no competition as UFC absolutely KILLS the E's buyrates on a regular basis). But being that they would most likely link up with Pride, which is floundering right now, it would just be putting a ton of dead weight on the WWE's shoulders. Please Vince, stay far, farrrr away from anything MMA.

James Thomlison: FICTION. Hell, I don't even know that much about MMA and I know that this is a stupid idea. It makes no sense for either party. Why would MMA want to have the "stigma of wrestling" attached to their product? Why would Vince want his hand in something he knows nothing about? What's he going to do, have Shelton Benjamin get his ass handed to him in the first round of a legit shoot fight? No, no, no, no. This is a stupid idea. Like Julian said, by all means use the MMA background to make a wrestler seem more dominant, but other than that these two should leave each other alone.


3. Kenny Dykstra will never amount to more than a mid-carder in WWE.

Julian Williams: FICTION. He's only 20 years old for God's sake, it's way too early to determine what Kenny will turn out to be in the future. I'm going to give the kid the benefit of the doubt because he's been impressive in the short time he's been in the 'E and everyone in the higher offices seems to love him. If he's got the talent and he's got the powerful forces in WWE backing him, there's no reason he shouldn't be a main eventer one day. Hell, in his first year, he already main evented a PPV (Vengeance), been a part of the top storyline numerous times on Raw, been part of the tag team champions, and been featured in feuds against DX and Ric Flair. That's very impressive for a 20 year old. I think Kenny will be World Champion before he turns 30 and if he isn't, then you get a free beer on me.

James Thomlison: FICTION. Uh, he's twenty and we're all ready to hang him out to dry here? It's pretty simple math here. Athletically gifted + has the look + has shown potential to be charismatic + is in the good graces of HHH, HBK, and Vince McMahon = You will if nothing else get a SHOT at the upper card. I'll go a bit younger and say that based on today's seemingly forced push of youth upon us, he will be a World Champion by 27.

Score: 2 for 3


---SWITCH!!!---


4. Looking back, bringing Kevin Federline in was a good move by WWE.

James Thomlison: FACT. I mean, why not? Did anything really bad come out of it? It was designed to get attention for both parties and that's exactly what it did. It's celebrity recognition for the E (say what you will, he is one of the most famous faces on the planet), and allowed him to promote his album He was drawing SERIOUS heel heat, and it is never bad when you can get crowds that emotionally invested into your product. That, and it helps Cena's constant battle to stay over as a face. And not to disrespect anyone who has ever been a legitimate professional wrestler, but I've certainly seen worse in the ring.

Julian Williams: FACT. When I first heard of K-Fed making an appearance in a WWE ring, I thought it was going to be a disaster of epic proportions. I was pleasantly surprised when he was not only good during his appearance, but was a better heel than 98.37% of the roster. He also accomplished what few others before him could and that was make John Cena INCREDIBLY over as a face. I guess fans decided to stop booing the fake pretty boy, white rapper for the real pretty boy, white rapper. I'm actually a little saddened to see K-Fed disappear from WWE TV (at least for now) because I think he would be a great manager for any up and coming heel.

Score: 3 for 4


5. Overall, 2006 was a bad year for pro-wrestling in North America.

James Thomlison: FICTION. I'm honestly so on the fence about this one. I mean, I'm glad you said "in North America" because if we were talking about pure mainstream wrestling, I may have answered differently. To me, most of RAW was shit this year, and don't even get me started on the problems going on with ECW. TNA has certainly had it's moments as well. But for the most, I think there were plenty of positives to outshine that. ROH and CZW are both more popular than they've ever been after the year they had. SmackDown has absolutely flourished in 2006. TNA moving to primetime (and now potential having two hours) is a good thing, and I would even say the jumps we've had with wrestlers between companies has been GREAT for competition. Add all of that in with some of great success stories that came out of the indies this year, and I say that on a whole 2006 was a decent year for pro-wrestling.

Julian Williams: FICTION. I'm gonna have to go with JT on this one because at first I thought this was a definite Fact, but then I realized I was only thinking about the WWE. If you think about all the great things that were done in ROH, 2006 wasn't a bad year at all. TNA was also to make significant strides (Primetime Impact and the signing of Kurt Angle) and put on some very good PPVs. Hell, even WWE did a few good things right by putting on a great Wrestlemania, building up Smackdown as the TRUE #1 show for the company, and bringing back ECW which, initially, was very cool. I don't think 2006 will be one of the most remembered years when it comes to pro wrestling, but there have certainly been worse years and for the most part, I was pretty entertained as a wrestling fan in '06.

Score: 4 for 5


6. WWE should put the WWE TItle on Umaga at the New Year's Revolution PPV this Sunday.

James Thomlison: FICTION. While I will admit that Umaga has somewhat grown on me (mostly thanks to Armando Alejandro Estrada), I simply don't think he should be a WWE Champion. He trained at a reputable enough school, has been in the game for 11 years, and had some success in Japan; but honestly, who has he legitimately – and cleanly - beat that merits a title SHOT let alone a victory. He spent the better part of 2006 running through every jobber the E had to offer (my, what impressive victories over the likes of Viscera and Jim Duggan, woo!), and then he feuded with – and got the better of – Kane. Let me say that again. The only person that even merits consideration for a legitimate, meaningful win is KANE (and even THAT is a bit of a stretch). So, fine, they want to give him a title shot, I'm with you. They're trying to be fresh and do something different and on RAW I'm all for that, believe me. But there is no way in HELL they should be even considering having him win the title.

Julian Williams: FACT. Now before I get bombarded with death threats for the mere notion of Umaga as WWE Champion, let me explain. I don't think Umaga should have a long title reign, maybe even not as much as two weeks. But I do think that the belt going on Umaga does a couple things which includes making the big man instantly credible in the eyes of any viewer. Any man that pins John Cena in this day and age has to be looked upon as a threat. It also will garner interest in viewers who want to see Cena regain his title from the dastardly Samoan. Remember what happened last year when Edge took the belt off Cena at NYR. Ratings rose because fans will always be more interested in seeing a babyface chase after a heel champion than they are in seeing a face champion fight off the opposition. This could also set up a rematch at the Royal Rumble where Cena can regain his title in some sort of gimmicky match or lose and join the Royal Rumble later in the night. I think that Umaga with the title creates more storyline possibilities for the foreseeable future than a Cena win would. An Umaga win would extend their feud whereas a Cena win would break Umaga's streak and ultimately take all the gas out of the big man. He shouldn't hold the belt until Wrestlemania, though. Then we would have a problem.

Score: 4 for 6


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