411 Fact or Fiction 6.14.07: Raw Rules the Draft, Slammiversary has no Buzz, the attempted Murder of Vince McMahon and More!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.14.2007

Week ONE HUNDRED and THIRTY-ONE features Andy Critchell, Matt Short and lots of WWE draft talk!

Welcome back to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week, two 411 Wrestling Zone members go head to head! Please welcome The Navigation Log's Matt Short and Shimmy Contributor/411 Forum Legend Andy Critchell!

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Let's get to it!

1. As expected, RAW got the better end of the recent WWE Draft.

ANDY CRITCHELL: FACT. I don't see how you can even argue otherwise. First of all, with the departure of Edge and the subsequent defeats of Khali, you knew that Raw had to get some quality opponents for Cena and boy did they ever. Raw got an awesome vet in King Booker and two of the hottest young guys in the company in Lashley and Kennedy, all of whom can challenge Cena for his WWE Title at one point or another. In fact, Booker was booked in a title match with Cena for Vengeance not long after he was drafted and Lashley alluded to being a champion again right after Coach stripped him of the ECW title. The worst part about this draft is that it all makes sense if you're Vince. Raw is seen as the "A" show in the WWE and it would take a major shift in philosophy to change that and I don't see that being possible right now with Vince at the helm.

MATT SHORT: FACT. Total truth. Last night Raw picked up King Booker, Lashley, and Kennedy. Maybe Lashley doesn't surprise me as much since he was pretty much unofficially on Raw since before WrestleMania. Smackdown took some fairly major losses with Booker and Kennedy. Kennedy especially since he had his pre-made feud with Edge when he came back to look forward to. But King Booker had been a big reason to watch Smackdown in the past and that has to hurt Smackdown more than a bit. So with their gains coupled with the fact that Raw lost no one major (Flair wasn't doing anything important) then this is the most one sided draft yet. Pillage the brand that put on the better show in 2006 because it's the "B show." Great, well at least Raw can enjoy Snitsky matches once again.

Score: 1 for 1


2. TNA's Slammiversary show, which is this Sunday, has little to no buzz right now.

ANDY CRITCHELL : FACT. Until you had said it was this Sunday, I had completely forgotten about it. Now I'm sure it is getting some buzz in Nashville but just one look at the card and you can see why very few people overall are excited. On the under card you've got Eric Young vs. Roode, VKM vs. the Bashams, Bob Backlund vs. Alex Shelley, and as a "special attraction" you have James Storm vs. Frank Wycheck. Outside of Titans fans and Bills fans (it was a FORWARD PASS and you know it!) no one knows who Wycheck is. What, was Jeff Hammond busy? In the X-Title match you have the Sabin vs. Lethal, which has no real star power. The tag title match is obviously going to change with Scott Steiner's injury but TNA will probably get another old fart to replace him so we'll have four veritable octogenarians fighting over the tag belts. Finally in the main event you have the King of the Mountain match which is so convoluted of a concept that most of the TNA audience isn't even really sure what it is. What exactly on this card is supposed to entice me to buy the PPV? Look, buzz or no buzz, it makes little difference. TNA will get the same buy rate for this PPV that they get for all of their PPVs and that's that.

MATT SHORT : FACT. But then I could say this about every TNA PPV since I never know they're coming up until we do the roundtable. I could blame this about being out of the loop, except that I don't have a problem keeping track of WWE PPV or hell even Indy shows from back home. The build to these shows is always the same push one or two big matches but then at the last possible minute throw a bunch of matches on the card and hope something works. But that's what TNA has to do with their one hour show for a build, so I can understand the constraints. But the problem here is that it's Slammiversary. It's their biggest show of the year, highlighted by one of TNA's signature matches King of the Mountain. I had to go to the site to check what the under card was. A show that's supposed to be this big? I shouldn't have to do that, I should be able to throw out at least a couple other high profile matches. But at this point from their website you'd see that King of the Mountain only has three participants, they're pushing a tag team dream match where Scott Steiner is having blood drained out of his lungs, and NFL "Great" Frank "Who?" Wycheck. I am not motivated to buy this PPV. I know that for all of TNA's lack of build sometimes they put on some great PPVs. Sacrifice is a great example, but a show like Slammiversary should be getting much more careful attention in the build.

Score: 2 for 2


3. WWE failed to significantly help the ECW brand out with the draft

ANDY CRITCHELL : FICTION. The addition of Chris Benoit was HUGE for ECW. I'm not saying this because I'm a Benoit mark, which I'm not, I'm saying this because Benoit is going to provide the steady veteran presence that ECW has been lacking. If you look at the quality matches that Smackdown has produces over the past year, it can be directly tied to veterans like King Booker, Finlay, Regal, and Benoit going up against all the young up and comers on that brand and getting great matches out of them. The veteran presence on ECW has consisted of Hardcore Holly, Dreamer, Sandman, Van Dam, Sabu, and Stevie Richards; none of which is on par with any of the vets on Smackdown. Benoit will add toughness and legitimacy to ECW and help put over the young guys like Elijah Burke, Cor Von, and (hopefully) Kevin Thorn.

MATT SHORT : FICTION. I don't think you could argue that until after the supplemental draft on Wednesday. If ECW is meant to be a brand that's about getting younger guys like Punk and Burke over them picking up under card guys from other brands will go a lot farther than sending over someone major like Batista or something. But what about Chris Benoit? This goes along with building young stars. Punk, Burke, and Cor Von are going to benefit a lot from working with him as would anybody else who ends up moved to ECW. The draft also had some other good effects for ECW. First, Lashley is no longer the champion. Now that might sound really sarcastic (and it half is) but it opens the door for the rest of the roster on ECW to step up. Lashley was too unbeatable on ECW and it put a lot of guys on a treadmill. With the belt vacated now to opens doors for guys to step up. I wouldn't object to Benoit getting the title, because a title program with him would boost any of the new guys' stock a great deal. Also, no more Snitsky that has to help ECW a bit. Someone had to say it.

Score: 3 for 3

---SWITCH~!---

4. Vince McMahon "presumably dying" to close out Raw was a great angle.

MATT SHORT : FACT. I love this because it just goes to show that professional wrestling can still be completely unpredictable. And there's just so many ways that they can run it. Is he really dead? Who did it? Who takes over now? And if this really is the end of the Mr. McMahon character for good, it really is a fitting way to send him off. When you think back to all the other times that someone has tried to remove Vince from the picture they've failed in the end. He always comes back like a bad rash picked up in Tijuana. Though leave it to Vince and his ego to come up with an explosion THAT big to go out with. Even in death Vince has to be the best.

ANDY CRITCHELL : FACT. There is no doubt in my mind about this one. I feel this was an awesome segment for four main reasons:
1. It was well done. Obviously WWE put some money into the explosion and it looked just like a movie or TV show. Well-done special effects can really add a lot to a production and this is no exception.
2. It was topical. Most of the news on Monday was filled with the generally negative reaction to the ending of the Sopranos. The fans of that show seemed genuinely upset that the show didn't end with a bang as expected. Last night's Raw ended with a bang, literally. Coincidence? Not if you know Vince.
3. It got people talking. All one has to do is look at the 411 Forums or any other wrestling message board to see the reaction to this angle. Everyone is excited or at least intrigued about it and they are talking about it. The buzz is almost palpable.
4. No one saw it coming. If anyone says to you that they knew Vince's limo was going to blow up, you should feel it's your duty to punch them in the face for being such a dirty, dirty liar. Anyone in marketing can tell you that in today's ADD society the best way to get someone's attention is to shock them or surprise them. Congrats Vince, you've done it again.

Score: 4 for 4


5. Christian Cage is the best "overall performer" in TNA right now.

MATT SHORT : FACT. Cage has been nothing but awesome for months. Take last week's Impact for example. Cage didn't even wrestle, but showed an enormous amount of character. First was the chicken-shit heel running and hiding all over the backstage area in his Una-Bomber outfit trying to hide from Tomko. But when his running didn't work in the end he talked his way out of the ass kicking. In the ring, Christain always brings his best and again shows a huge amount of character in the ring. When compared to the roster's other top stars, they might be just as adept in the ring but they're just not as interesting. Kurt Angle's biggest contribution to Impact was telling AJ Styles he was going to cripple him. Most of the other guys are very one-dimensional or no one actually knows what their motivations are.

ANDY CRITCHELL : FACT. More than anyone else in TNA, Cage is the most versatile. Cage is a fine worker and is gold on the mic. His only flaw is that he sometimes seems to try and force the funny moment instead of letting it develop naturally. Of course, I think you can thank TNA's hyperactive Impact style for that but still it's a trap he shouldn't be falling into. That being said, Cage has become TNA's go-to guy whenever they need a solid performance in any aspect of the show and he delivers over and over and over again. And Matt Short hit the nail right on the head when he mentioned Cage's complexity. Most of the guys in TNA are one –dimensional but Cage has been able to show different sides of his personality without the convoluted storylines and silly back stories that TNA is known for (Abyss' parents anyone?)

Score: 5 for 5


6. Overall the WWE Draft special was a good show.

MATT SHORT : FICTION. This was a little tough because there were some really good moments on Raw. The McMahon stuff was great, especially when we got appearances by Bret Hart, Bobby Heenan, and THE IRON SHEIK. The wrestling was decent and of course the ending was pretty much epic. The problem was people tuned in for a three hour Raw to see the draft. Considering past drafts where you have Cena picked right out of the gate or something it was rather uneventful. We saw Smackdown get pillaged for the sake of Raw and there really wasn't any drama behind it. Aside from Benoit, King Booker, and Mr. Kennedy there weren't any big moves. But then the end of the show pretty much answered why the overall show was weak. If the World title had changed hands or something that would have been overshadowed by Vince going boom. Which really goes to show how highly regarded the ECW title that they don't mind stripping it and having that be forgotten.

ANDY CRITCHELL : FACT. The show was three hours and it was full of action and intrigue. I thought the draft was interesting and some of the choices were very inspired; namely Benoit to ECW and Flair to Smackdown. Besides, I'm a realist and I knew that Smackdown was going to be raided but I'm not worried about that because it seem that every time talent has left that show or been injured, a young guy steps up and fills the void, that's how Kennedy got his spot, that' show MVP got his spot, and so on. Now if I was going to predict who that young guy would be, I only need three letters: M-I-Z, hoooo-rah! But I digress. As far as Lashley being stripped of the title, I don't see how that was a bad move. First off all, it allows Lashley to have never lost the title and therefore he is able to avoid having to ever look weak. Secondly, it adds some mystery to ECW as to how the title will be decided (probably a tournament) and who will eventually get it. Finally, it gives Lashley built in motivation to take on Cena as he wants to prove that he is a champion. Hey, isn't that exactly what he said? Even with all of that, you still had the ending and everyone who has ever sat though the first two questionable acts of a movie knows that it can be made up with a great third act and an amazing ending. Even if you were sour on Raw up to the point when Vince got in his limo, the ending should have sent you home with a smile on your face and that has to be what it's all about.

Score: 5 for 6


These two finish 5 for 6! Join us next week for more Fact or Fiction!