411 Fact or Fiction 6.07.07: Tag Team of the Year, Devalued Champions, Saturday Night’s Main Event and More!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.08.2007

Week ONE HUNDRED and THIRTY features Daniel Wilcox, Larry Csonka and the discussion of John Cena being their current Wrestler of the Year!

Welcome back to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week, two 411 Wrestling standouts and enemies collide as 411 Apprentice to the stars Daniel Wilcox takes on the Man, the Myth, the Legend known as…ME, Larry Csonka!

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Let's get to it!

1. Considering that Backlash was a show with all Championship matches and this week's Raw had three title matches and one title change, the upcoming "Night of the Champions" PPV isn't nearly as special as it could have been.

LARRY CSONKA : FACT. Yes, this is indeed a fact. First of all, they already had this show for the most part, it was called Backlash and I was great. It means nothing to do it so soon after that show. And maybe the "Night of the Champions" should be at, I don't know, WRESTLE FN MANIA? Yeah, thought so. I think some people need to step back and see that they are being financially raped for their loyalty to the almighty WWE. They do, in fact, do things wrong and this is one of them. This is horrible planning and now, even with the draft coming this week, it doesn't mean what it could have. Add to the fact that outside of the "world titles," US and Raw Tag Titles, the other titles have been useless and at times not even booked at all. Yeah, this show has about nothing-special going for it other than tricking people into thinking that it is an important show.

DANIEL WILCOX : FACT. Every pay-per-view now has at the very least three titles defend on them, seeing as they are tri-branded, those being the WWE, ECW and World titles. They are the important ones. Those are the matches that are most going to sell the show. The under card title matches are kind of like an added bonus. Perhaps had this been the first tri-branded pay-per-view, it might have worked better because for the first time ever "all titles are defended on one show." The under card titles (Women's, Cruiser, IC (and it pains me to say this) don't matter). This show could be billed as "Night of Champions and other guys that have "titles".

Most of the under card titles are used as props nowadays to get the wrestlers over (with the exceptions being the U.S. and World tag titles) whereas it should be the other way around. And it's a shame because things haven't always been this way – remember when Triple H was Intercontinental Champion – can you ever see that happening now? One day, a long time ago, this would have been a HUGE show. Not anymore. It's just another tri-branded pay-per-view only instead of Mark Henry and Kane being on it, you have Chavo Guerrero and Jimmy Wang Yang.

Score: 1 for 1


2. As of the halfway point in the year, John Cena is your "Wrestler of the Year."

LARRY CSONKA : FACT. Yes indeed, I have to go fact. First of all, I will admit that I am behind on my Japan, Lucha and even ROH viewing for the year. But from talking to trusted colleagues there isn't anything especially great from one person coming from those places. Hell, while there have been good performances, nobody in TNA is having that kind of great year, right now, either. But then you go to John Cena, and you look down the list. Good to great matches with Orton, Edge and HBK. Now sure, you look there and say that almost anyone can have the great matches there. His series with HBK was special stuff folks and I cannot wait to see more of it when HBK returns. Let's add in Umaga. The former Jamal had been booked well, but he had to perform. He did so well, but people are into Cena, they care, they spend money to hate and love him. They worked well together and the last man standing match was tremendous. Now you add in a piece of crap like Khali, and out of 3 matches Cena, yeah I will use the term carried here, Cena carried him to not only watchable, but pretty "good" matches. When you mix all that together, I have no problem giving him the crown at this point in the year.

DANIEL WILCOX : FACT. In TNA, there are a bunch of guys that have done some good stuff this year, but no-one stands out anywhere near enough to be considered, as is evident by 411's Wrestler of the Week which is dominated by WWE guys at the moment. I don't follow ROH but from what others say there isn't really anybody there that can match what Cena has done this year. Edge, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker would be the other true contenders in my book as they've had countless good matches this year. But the one thing that separates Cena from the others is the caliber of opponents that Cena has fought. No one saw him getting two great matches out of Umaga and he did. No one saw Cena getting a couple of decent matches out of The Great Khali but he did. Throw in his tremendous series of matches with Shawn Michaels and Cena stands out by far as "Wrestler of the Year" and I would not be surprised if that was a title he holds on to until the end of the year.

Score: 2 for 2


3. TNA bringing in former Tennessee Titan Frank Wycheck for the Slammiversary PPV is a smart business move.

LARRY CSONKA : FICTION. While it may be good for walk up/local ticket sales for their big return to Nashville, this will do nothing good for business in the long run. He isn't going to stay around and worst of all, he gets to face James Storm, killing the great momentum that he and Harris had after Sacrifice. It's a fine local gimmick, but is nothing great as far as business goes. I just hope he does enough to help full the place so it looks good on PPV. If they want to do something good for business, why don't they try to book a compelling TV show that will make people care, and henceforth buy the PPV's they produce. That would be good for business.

DANIEL WILCOX : FICTION. Excuse my ignorance for the majority of American sportsmen, but who? I know my fair share of US athletes (pretty much all the big names) and yet I've never heard of this guy so I'm assuming he's not a "star" per se. WWE at least manages to get known celebrities who have done something to come and work with them – I've heard of Kevin Federline, Donald Trump, Pete Rose, Steve O. Frank Wycheck won't draw in any viewers like K-Fed and Trump did. Add to that that TNA doesn't have enough TV time to have X-Division matches go more than 3 minutes and they shouldn't be wasting any time (TV or pay-per-view) with ANY celebrity unless they can get Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan to come in and battle Abyss in a handicap match.

Score: 3 for 3

---SWITCH~!---

4. After their excellent "Texas Death Match" at Sacrifice, TNA has failed to follow up well with both James Storm and Chris Harris.

DANIEL WILCOX : FICTION. Because I don't think there ever was an opportunity to missed for these two, other than keeping them together. The match at Sacrifice has received nothing but praise, and while I do think it was a great match, I believe it was a one-off and I doubt that they would be able to pull something like that off again. But neither Storm nor Harris are marketable enough to be singles stars anyway, in my opinion. And with the NWA TNA title scene crowded as it is, there would have been nothing for these two anyway. So yes, they did miss a potential opportunity. The mistake was splitting AMW with no long-term plan for either other than having them feud with each other.

LARRY CSONKA : FACT. A one off dear Wilcox? This was a blood feud! They were tag team champions, the best tag team in TNA history. They were like brothers and one brother decided he wanted to go his own way and tried to blind him with a beer bottle to the eye. They came out and gave one of the best performances of the YEAR at Sacrifice and when you have a match like that, you have an opportunity to elevate talent to the next level. Especially considering that they are going back to Nashville where they were BORN as a team. But that isn't happening. They have Storm involved with a football player and Harris being pals with Rhino and Hector Guerrero in an angle yet to be explained. What makes this even worse is that they had a TREMENDOUS match again on Impact last night, but they are left out of the big picture. They have failed to follow up big time here, no doubt in my mind.

Score: 3 for 4


5. As of the halfway point in the year, Matt and Jeff Hardy are your "Tag Team of the Year."

DANIEL WILCOX : FACT. But only pretty much by default. Matt and Jeff have had some great matches already this year and have even managed to make Heat-mainstays Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch legit World Tag Team Champions. Add to that that they have had great matches with the aforementioned duo as well as a MOTYC match with Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas this past week. Paul London and Brian Kendrick have been consistently good all year but they haven't been producing great matches week in week out like they were in 2006. LAX haven't been anywhere near as awesome as they were last year although that may be largely the fault of Team 3D who's in ring work seems to be declining in quality week by week. Judging by the ROH results that I've seen, the Briscoes may be in a position to take that title away from Matt and Jeff but having not watched any ROH in ages, I can't say that they are the ‘Tag Team of the Year' so far.

LARRY CSONKA : FICTION. Wow, I hate to do this, I really do because I feel that Matt and Jeff have done a great job this year and that Jeff has been revitalized as a performer. But I feel that I have to MAN UP here and go with Mark and Jay Briscoe. These guys in the last year have improved A LOT to me, dropping annoying habits of theirs and have solidified themselves as a great tag team. I feel with the ROH booking as it have been, and will probably continue to be that they will thrive there as well as in FIP and close out the year strong. Also a mention to the other greatest tag team out there, LOS ICE CREAM'S

Score: 3 for 5


6. With the huge amount of WWE product on TV and PPV, Saturday Night's Main Event is an outdated concept.


DANIEL WILCOX : FACT. Saturday Night's Main Event used to be an important show. Things happened on it. Even it's first show after the rebirth was at least used for matches we would hardly ever see (Raw's Mania main event vs. SmackDown's Mania event) and a rare appearance by Steve Austin. But the last two shows have been filler. Hell, this last one barely even built to the pay per view the night after! There is currently five hours worth of WWE TV a week, plus three more if there's a pay per view. If they are not going to use SNME to further angles, build to the pay-per-view or even put actual main event stars on the show (Doink the friggin' Clown?) then there is no point in bothering with it. Maybe if the ratings had have been good with the SNME before Mania last year, things might be different, but as it is, they're not.

LARRY CSONKA : FACT. I have felt like this since they brought it back to be honest with you. Here is the way I look at things, while it was a nice thought and the nostalgia thing can work at times, Saturday Night's Main Event is an outdated and meaningless show for World Wrestling Entertainment. World Wrestling Entertainment puts on three television shows a week, 5-hours of original programming spanning their three brands. World Wrestling Entertainment also puts on upwards of 15-PPV's every year. The fact is that they can't sacrifice huge matches on a show like this, they can't sacrifice long matches here and in the end the show is just another episode of Raw, I say Raw because they get the most spotlight on the show. Back when Saturday Night's Main Event was in its infancy, it was a special event. WWE only has "Superstars" like programs on TV, all syndicated and all aimed on hyping the house shows; usually all squashes and maybe one good tag or IC level match. When they had Saturday Night's Main Event they had BIG main event matches, Hogan appeared, there were title matches that mattered and it all felt special because of how things were structured. No PPV until WrestleMania came, small syndication and eventually the other shows followed but stuck to the same formula. They were still pushing the house shows as the main revenue stream. But today, Saturday Night's Main Event is just another show and it shouldn't be that way. World Wrestling Entertainment doesn't need it and they do nothing special with it due to the 5-hours of TV and 15+ PPV's they run. A company like TNA could use a program like this since they only have one-hour of TV, but that is another story. There was no special feeling, just more of the same to me. But dancing Finlay DID rule.

Score: 4 for 6


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