411 Fact or Fiction 6.21.07: The WWE Draft, Angle as Champ, The Death of Vince and More!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.21.2007

Week ONE HUNDRED and THIRTY-TWO features Mike Bauer, Scott Slimmer and the debate of WWE dropping the “Death of Vince McMahon” angle.

Welcome back to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week, two 411 Wrestling Zone members go head to head as ECW Reporter Mike Bauer and WWE Heat Reporter Scott Slimmer battle it out over the following six questions!

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Let's get to it!

1. With all of the picks complete, the WWE draft was a success.

Scott Slimmer: FICTION. I suppose this all depends on what you think the purpose of the Draft was in the first place. I've always felt that there are two equally important reasons for the WWE to hold a Draft. The first is the obvious reason of moving Superstars from one roster to another in order to rebuild the dynamics of each show and set up fresh, exciting new feuds. However, I think it's easy to overlook the fact that there is a second important reason for the WWE to hold a Draft, and that is to cultivate a renewed interest in the product through the fans' inherent pre-draft speculation and post-draft analysis. Those two complimentary aspects of the Draft are intimately related to each other, and a Draft can only be viewed as successful if both are accomplished. This incarnation of the WWE Draft did succeed in reorganizing the three rosters fairly intelligently, but unfortunately all of the buzz surrounding the Draft was immediately flushed down the crapper by focusing entirely on the Mr. McMahon storyline. The entire week after the draft should have been focused on the three rosters trying to establish a new status quo with new Superstars vying for dominance on each brand, but instead we've been treated to a mind bogglingly wide assortment of replays of the limousine explosion. At this point it's easy to forget the draft even happened, and as far as I'm concerned that absolutely makes it a failure.

Mike Bauer : FACT. Well Slimmer, it's hard to tell if you are contradicting yourself or not here, but I do have to give you one point. The draft is designed to shuffle the rosters and give us some new feuds, new stories, and new dynamics. The thing is, the draft did exactly that and when something does exactly what it is supposed to do, it is normally considered a success. Furthermore, the draft did something else that should make it a success, although EVERY other person who covers wrestling will call it a failure and a waste of time. And that is the simple concept of proving that Raw is the show that matters to the WWE. Everyone who follows wrestling knows that Raw needs the best roster in order to pull the ratings. Smackdown doesn't need it being on Friday Night and ECW doesn't need it with a one hour show. So the draft wasn't just created to shift everything around, but to once again prove why Raw is and will always be the "A" show for the WWE. Granted, you can make the argument that nobody is talking about the draft now, but in reality, you wouldn't be talking about it a week or two later anyway, so what does a little limo bomb and tasteless storyline do except speed up the process? The draft was fine, it did its job, end of story.

Score: 0 for 1


2. Putting the TNA Title on Kurt Angle at Slammiversary was the right move for TNA to make.

Scott Slimmer: FICTION. Slammiversary gave TNA the chance to celebrate their fifth anniversary by crowning their very own inaugural TNA World Heavyweight Champion. This was the show that celebrated all that TNA has accomplished in the last five years, and this was the night that TNA would name the first man to hold the title that is entirely their own. That man should have been a homegrown talent that TNA could showcase as the epitome of what makes them the alternative in professional wrestling. That man should have been Samoa Joe. Sure, you can argue about whether Joe is really a homegrown talent or whether he really made his name in ROH, but he still stands in stark contrast to Sting, Kurt Angle, and Christian as being distinctly TNA. None of this is meant to disrespect Kurt Angle in the least. He's one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and is certainly worthy of holding the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. However, Samoa Joe IS TNA, and Slammiversary was the perfect time for TNA to finally make that official. Joe can only continue to fail in his quest to win the championship for so long before he begins to become devalued in the eyes of the fans, and after five years TNA should know better than to allow something that disastrous to happen.

Mike Bauer : FACT. Oh, I can sense the hate mail starting to pile on me already, but I have to say fact or being the only guy to pick Kurt Angle on the roundtable last week would be hypocritical. Now I am as big of a Samoa Joe as anyone, but giving Samoa Joe the title while he hasn't done a whole lot recently around the title would be the biggest waste of a first championship for him. I agree that Joe should have had the title already on at least two occasions, but you need to build him up for the title, probably with is happening in Chicago, where is over huge thanks to Ring of Honor, and Bound for Glory. This way, you have the chase, which goes on for four months after Samoa Joe made Kurt Angle tap out with no referee in sight during King of the Mountain. Samoa Joe will be champion this year, but not before Kurt Angle has a decent size reign.

Score: 0 for 2


3. Chris Benoit should be the next ECW champion.

Scott Slimmer: FACT. There are a number of different theories concerning the best strategy for choosing a champion. Some believe that a championship should be used to make an up-and-coming wrestler into a star. Others believe that a championship should be given to an established star that is capable of creating the most interest in the company. Still others, myself included, believe that a championship should be around the waist of the most qualified, most competent, and most credible wrestler in the company. I've always been in favor of instilling as much realism as possible into professional wrestling, and one major way of doing that is to have a champion who is actually believable as champion. In ECW, there is NO ONE as qualified, competent, and credible as Chris Benoit. In addition, Benoit is uniquely suited to being the ECW Champion, because he embodies Paul Heyman's original vision of hardcore more than anyone else not just in ECW, but in all of WWE. Remember, Paul Heyman always envisioned hardcore as being less about blood and guts and more about doing anything and everything in your power to put on the absolute best show possible for the fans. Chris Benoit ALWAYS gives of himself entirely when he's in the ring, and that is the very essence of the spirit of hardcore. Finally, having Benoit win the ECW Championship sets up the highest number of quality matches. Benoit / Punk would be money. Benoit / Burke would be a great way for Benoit to establish Burke in the same way that he just established MVP. Even Benoit / Cor Von could be an interesting and brutal encounter. Chris Benoit is by far the best choice as the next ECW Champion.

Mike Bauer : FACT. For now. I do believe Slimmer said everything perfectly, but I still think that Chris Benoit is the only legitimate person on the entire roster who could be champion. Sure, CM Punk or Elijah Burke could make decent champions, but putting the belt on them right now could turn the crowd so far off on them that they would approach Randy Orton low from when he held the title. Not to mention, you just built up a monster in Bobby Lashley with your last title reign, so giving Benoit the belt would just make sense here. Benoit has plenty of heels to deal with in Burke, Cor Von, and now Johnny Nitro. And you know I am just salivating over the possibility of Punk and Benoit on ECW programming.

Score: 1 for 3

---SWITCH~!---

4. There was nothing wrong with Jeff Jarrett eulogizing his wife on TNA's 5th Anniversary show.

Mike Bauer: FACT. I think Larry summed it perfectly in TNA's Slammiversary's 4R's. As Larry put in plainly and simply: She was a big part of his life and of TNA; and now that she is gone it has to be hard for him to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the company. Jill Jarrett was a huge part of not just Jeff Jarrett, but TNA as a whole. She helped make TNA a force that looked poised to take the WWE and at worst be the #2 company out there today. Her battles with cancer took their toll on Jeff Jarrett more than anyone, but they also had a toll on every single person in that locker room who knew her. Not only is there nothing wrong with what he did, but also it was the most right time to do it compared to any moment on any Pay Per View.

Scott Slimmer: FACT. Professional wrestling is a uniquely personal form of entertainment. I truly do believe that wrestlers give more of themselves to the fans than any other athlete or entertainer. In the best cases, we the fans begin to care deeply about not just the characters being portrayed but also about the real people portraying them. For five years Jeff Jarrett has been the single most important driving force behind TNA, and I have to believe the TNA fans appreciate that there would be no TNA without him. We all grieve in different ways, and as far as I'm concerned the TNA fans should be honored that Jeff Jarrett respects them enough and cares for them enough to share his grief with them. TNA's fifth anniversary celebration would have felt hollow without Jeff Jarrett, and I give him all the credit in the world for contributing to the show in the only way that he could.

Score: 2 for 4


5. With the untimely passing of Sherri Martel, WWE should drop the "Death of Vince McMahon" angle.

Mike Bauer : FICTION. Send the hate e-mail to me now as I swear I'm going to hell for this one. I'll take some quotes off my blog I posted last week, because they fall perfectly into place here. Do I agree that what the WWE was disrespectful? 100% Yes. Distasteful? 100 % Yes. Do I wonder why I still watch after seeing it compared to Owen Hart or Eddie Guerrero? 100% Yes. Do I know why they did it? Not exactly, but I have a hunch. What drives everything the WWE does? Ratings and media coverage! Just look at how much coverage did this get from EVERY major news outlet in America. And they are just hoping that you tune in to the ECW, to Smackdown, and to Raw to see just what happened and what happens next. If we all tune in, they win, and you know what... we will and they will. In the end, the WWE is doing what they have to do. That said, Sherri Martel's death could not come at a worse time for this angle, but after everything they started, to then just let it drop dead with no conclusion or at least no temporary recourse with a result much later (i.e. Stone Cold being run over), then you just wasted everyone's time and your own money. Again, I do not agree with the angle as a whole, but I don't think you can just let it drop dead with nothing coming out of it.

Scott Slimmer: FICTION. I'm completely on board with Bauer here. Sure, I have problems with the angle, but that's really not the issue here. In my mind, the issue is that WWE has a horrible tendency to change their mind far too often and sometimes ruin perfectly fine angles by altering the booking prematurely. They need to learn to make a decision and stick with it. Allowing yourself to change your mind on a whim leads you to make decisions without giving them the proper thought and consideration, because in the back of your mind you always know that you can go back and fix it later if necessary. However, if WWE committed themselves to following through on the angles that they started, then they would also have to commit themselves to only starting useful, productive, and entertaining angles. No one angle is going to please everyone, and there are always going to be unforeseen complications along the way. But I give WWE credit for staying the course this time around.

Score: 3 for 5


6. With his past experience and recent string of good matches, Chris Harris was the right call as the 5th man in the Slammiversary King of the Mountain Match.

Mike Bauer : FACT. Chris Harris was not just the right guy to be in that match, but I honestly think that he was the only person that could have been thought of to be in that match. I mean, who else was not booked prior? Senshi and Sonjay Dutt?? Those guys should be nowhere near the title. The best people who didn't qualify were Abyss, who had a barbaric match with Tomko planned out and Sting, who couldn't just drop the match with Daniels. Chris Harris was in a match that had no baring on anything in an angle he should have never been involved in. Getting him out of that match and put into the main event was an excellent Vince Russo move (I can't believe I just said that), but like I said before... who else really could have had that spot?

Scott Slimmer: FICTION. Okay, I'm going FICTION sort of on a technicality here. I do believe that Chris Harris should have been in the Slammiversary King of the Mountain Match. However, I absolutely HATE how he actually got there. Harris was in an absolutely phenomenal King of the Mountain Qualifying Match against James Storm, but as we all know neither one of them technically won that match. That might have been acceptable if it was going to be used to continue the Harris / Storm feud, but it was asinine if Harris was just going to end up in the KOTM Match anyway. Harris should have won the qualifying match cleanly and advanced to the KOTM Match properly. If you're going to announce a surprise competitor during a pay-per-view, then it damn well better be a real surprise and not somebody that should have been in the match in the first place. Bauer asked who else really could have had that spot. Like I said, if TNA tells me that there's going to be a surprise, then I want a SURPRISE. Who wouldn't have marked like hell if Rob Van Dam showed up out of the blue? Can you image checking the results of the show and seeing that the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was in the hands of the Whole F'N Show? Or if RVD's still tied up in his WWE contract, I'm pretty sure that Sabu is free and clear to wrestle wherever he wants. I mean, think about it. Sabu has unresolved issues with both Kurt Angle (from ECW) AND Samoa Joe (from TNA). But this is really about Chris Harris. So like I said, I really am glad that he was in the match. He deserved to be there. What he didn't deserve was to get there the way that he did.

Score: 3 for 6


These two finish 3 for 6! Join us next week for more Fact or Fiction!