wrestling / Columns
411 Fact or Fiction 11.27.08: Edge as Champion, Sting as the Godfather, The Jeff Hardy Injury Angle and More!
1. Putting the WWE title on Edge was the highlight of the Survivor Series PPV.
Chris Morciglio: FICTION. And it is Fiction for several reasons, which include the lack of buildup for Mr. Copeland, who deserved as many, if not more, video packages hyping his return than John Cena got. First, who didn’t see Edge’s return coming when the PPV opened? The somber faces that shared the “info” that Jeff Hardy was found unconscious in his hotel earlier weren’t convincing anyone. The gratuitously complimentary promo that HHH gave about Hardy clawing his way for his whole career and he was sure that the rainbow-headed one was going to claw his way back again was being bought by no one. Yeechhhh. As soon as you heard that Jeff Hardy was probably not participating in the 3-way, you had to know that Edge was coming back and/or involved with Hardy’s misfortune. Now, the main reason that this fell into the fiction category for me, besides the fact that Edge didn’t need to win the belt at Survivor Series in order to be over, is for the path that Jeff Hardy is going to have to take in order to get the title, that is if the title is ever in the cards for him. He’s probably going to have to get it from Edge. Oh goody, another Hardy Brother/Edge match. While the match may very well be quite entertaining as the vast majority have been, you know by Matt’s appearance backstage while speaking about his brother that he will just have to factor into the storyline in some way. There’s one nod for continuity, but an anti-nod for beating the dead horse. And the shame of it all is that IF Jeff Hardy wins the strap, it will not come as a result of a victory over HHH, which I think that downplays the overall perception of the win in a historical sense.
Andy Critchell: FACT. It was clearly the highlight for two major reasons; it was a shock that he was even there and a WWE title switch wasn’t expected. While Cena’s return was exciting and fun, it was hyped and his title win was somewhat predictable. Before the PPV I found I had to convince myself that Jericho could retain and I saw others having to do that as well just because Cena winning seemed like a foregone conclusion.
Todd Vote : FICTION. Shock of the night? Absolutely! But for me, the highlight was seeing how John Cena would perform after such a short layoff from neck surgery. Granted both men were returning from hiatus, but Edge’s absence was based on storylines, and by all reports to nurse several nagging injuries. Cena, on the other hand is returning from a major surgery, for him to come back in after surgery and only 3 months of rehab time and put in the performance he did? No disrespect to Edge or his title win, but Cena’s return was the highlight for me.
Score: 1 Fact, 2 Fiction!
2. TNA has the right idea with Sting by having him play the “Godfather” type role, where he doesn’t get his hands dirty.
Chris Morciglio: FICTION. Come on TNA, make us believe in heeldom!! On the surface, having Sting play the Godfather role seems like the right play. But really, who of us out there who has watched these guys week in and week out for years and years believes that Sting is going to “go out” as a heel? Sting’s non-involvement in the beat downs really gives the bookers the easy storyline that Sting was “playing” the MEM the whole time. Easy, boring, predictable……so TNA. And it’s not only the too-cool-for-the-room tweener thing that the MEM is doing that tips off Sting’s eventual face turn, but it’s the fact that I’m not 100% sold on the fact that the crowd absolutely HATES these guys. Make us hate you, MEM! The fact that we know you, the MEM, from previous lives in other feds makes us familiar with you, so it’s harder to hate you because we see you as the good old standby as the guys we watched in our younger years. It also has to be pretty hard to be a monster heel/old guy. Think about it. It’s pretty hard hating the old guys [except when you’re trapped behind them on the highways], which is why they end up leaving as faces, as evidenced by Andre never really being able to totally pull off the heel thing, the hated Sheepherders winding up as the Bushwhackers, Bobby Eaton finishing as a low-card face, Ric Flair going out uber-popular, even Rodney the Piper, etc. The beat downs of faces are sometimes pretty cool, let’s be honest about that. The beat downs are sweet because it makes the comeuppance that much sweeter. But it works much better if the heels are so hated that we can barely stand it. How awesome was it when Sgt. Slaughter finally vanquished the Iron Sheik? Exactly. I’m not exactly hating MEM right now, and that will minimize Sting’s eventual face turn. I need to care more. TNA bookers, make me hate MEM so the payoff will blow the roof off the building.
Andy Critchell: FACT. Sting is a natural born baby-face and every tendency he has leads him in that direction. He’s playing heel for the first time and it is clear that there have been some struggles with that. But I have to give TNA a lot of credit here in finding a creative way of covering up for Sting’s shortcomings as a heel. By being in this “Godfather” role he doesn’t necessarily have to be a really bad guy but instead he can just be the one that pulls the strings and if it leads to others being bad guys, well, that’s life. And even though he’s not the one directly responsible, his status as a bad guy is completely elevated by being the ringleader even though he didn’t lift a finger. Nicely done TNA.
Todd Vote : FACT. Sting on the outside watching his boys handle business has led to some great visuals, and makes Sting seem like the puppet master. Even though Angle has taken credit for the formation of the M.E.M. in several promos, it is obvious that Sting is the one pulling all the strings. It really establishes him as the leader of the group in a very subtle way. I don’t like TNA’s reasoning for doing this, as a means to possibly return him to his face roots, but it is really working out okay so far. Imagine the story implications when one of the TNA Originals manages to piss Sting off enough that he starts to get involved in these beatings. If played right, that could be a big deal, that can be used as a turning point in the entire angle.
Score: 2 Fact, 1 Fiction!
3. The Jeff Hardy angle that started on WWE.com and led into the Survivor Series PPV was done in poor taste.
Chris Morciglio: FICTON. WWE is weekly serial television and Vince fondly refers to his guys/girls as entertainers, and like 99% of what Vince does, it was for a reason. I could see this serving many purposes. First, this may have been a chance for Jeff Hardy to get more deeply into the “good graces” of the office. Let’s be real here, the media outlets know about Jeff Hardy’s past and are waiting like sharks to put another black mark on WWE, or even the industry as a whole. Vince could have come to Jeff and said, “We all know about your past, so let’s do this………”. Secondly, What this does is fire a shot across the bow at the media. In their thirst to hang Vinnie Mac the media wound up getting worked. Glorious work, WWE. Are weekly murders on Law and Order or CSI:Miami where death takes a backseat to David Caruso’s awful one-liner and sunglass-doffing screen exit tasteless? Is it tasteless or is it poor taste when the network news reports tragedy after tragedy in 12-second prime time TV snippets in hopes of leading you in to their 11pm broadcast? “A city bill is being proposed where all the pedophiles on the eastern seaboard are being moved to a 4 square mile area less than 4 blocks from a school. Could it be your school? And also, the hidden deadly dangers in your bag of microwave popcorn!! Tune in at 11 to find out!!” Hey morons, if it was news, don’t sensationalize and tell me the news. Don’t keep me hanging because you want advertisers and ratings. Vince got you guys. If you’re looking for “sympathy”, it’s somewhere between “sh*t” and “syphilis” in the dictionary.
Andy Critchell: FICTION. A big part of wrestling is working the fans. It always has been. Jeff Hardy has had some widely publicized problems, especially before big title matches. WWE took advantage of that and helped create a buzz right before an important PPV. The way that WWE went about it was fine, they did it like a news story, posting that something happened but they weren’t sure what and they didn’t engage in speculation. Instead the speculation was left to the fans and sites like 411mania. If WWE had actively engaged in speculation or mentioned drugs then it would have been in bad taste. As it was though, it was fine. If we’re going to talk about bad taste, how about Vickie being thrown into a casket about three years to the day after Eddie’s death??
Todd Vote : FACT. I will give credit to WWE for working us all, but it was definitely in poor taste. If you take into account Jeff’s history of substance abuse, and couple that with wrestler’s affinity for mysteriously dying in hotel rooms, yes, the whole deal was done in poor taste. The last thing anyone wants to hear about is another superstar in bad shape. Now, the reason for the bad taste was all in the wording. If WWE simply would have worded things a bit differently so that the reason he was rushed to the hospital was clearly the result of some sort of “mugging” by an unknown assailant, then the seriousness of the report changes tone a bit, and some of us would have questioned whether it was a work or not from the get go. So if the angle of the story would have been more clearly about him being beat up, and less about him being “found” on the stairs at his hotel, I don’t think the backlash would have been as bad.
Score: 1 Fact, 2 Fiction!
4. With the announced matches for Final Resolution, TNA has obviously fallen back into the trap of overbooking the product.
Andy Critchell: FACT. I hate to say FACT here because the best thing about TNA lately has been the simplicity of the MEM/Originals feud but Final Resolution is indeed looking to be a wreck. Obviously you have the Feast or Fired match which was a mess the last time they did it and I don’t see it getting any better this time around, especially with some of the schmoes they have in there. Then you have a tag team match determining a singles title which I am never a fan of and then ANOTHER match where if one of the guys loses, he gets fired. It just sounds to me like they are trying to hard.
Todd Vote : FACT. The Main Event Mafia (Sting ©, Booker T, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner) vs. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Two Partners of Their Choosing. If the TNA Originals Win the Match, AJ Styles Becomes the TNA World Champion
Why is this necessary? Why not just give AJ another shot at the title if his team wins? Nobody wants to see the TNA title change hands in an 8-man tag match, it devalues the title, and it makes the originals look like morons. They are essentially fighting now to get AJ a world title. If they are going to book a mess like this, how about at least saying that whoever gets the pin in the match will win the title. Then it looks like everyone has something to gain by winning this match.
TNA has a great story going thus far, with MEM vs. the Originals. They run a huge risk of people losing interest because the booking of the matches leaves fans baffled about what the hell is going on. You can have the greatest story in the history of wrestling, but if the booking of the actual matches is so confusing, fans will lose interest.
Chris Morciglio: FACT. A million times FACT. Guys, keep it simple. This card sounds more and more like the tiebreakers for making the NFL playoffs. Let’s see, if Angle beats Rhino and ODB has a Mae Young moment that makes Creed vomit onto Curry Man, then Kevin Nash needs to color up with the Just For Men beard touch-up kit and relinquish the suspenders that have been holding up his tights for the past 18 years. Spare me. Please. And that’s only the minor stipulation. The other one is that if the heel team loses the 8-man main event to the 2 Originals [to be re-named later] and the two mystery partners, then AJ gets awarded the belt. [Where is Vickie Guerrero when we need her?] Exxxkkkkyyyyooooosseeee mmmeeeeee??!!!???? Why does AJ get the belt if he conceivably doesn’t even get the pin? And from a kayfabe sense, who’s going to go bust their butt in this match from the Originals side just so they can hand the belt to AJ? This is just so bad that I can’t write anymore.
Score: ALL FACTS!
5. John Cena winning the World Title off of Chris Jericho at the Survivor Series PPV was the wrong move.
Andy Critchell: FICTION. John Cena is the biggest star in pro wrestling. He might not be the best but he is certainly the brightest and Survivor Series was his big comeback off of an injury and it was basically in his hometown. It’s not often that someone can look like a genuine conquering hero but WWE say the opportunity to cast Cena in that role and they ran with it. Plus now Cena can be added to the short list of people who have held both the World Heavyweight and the WWE Title belts.
Todd Vote : FACT. Can I choose neutral? Is that an option? No? Alright, Cena winning the title was the wrong move simply because Jericho as champ has been absolutely wonderful. I can see why Cena had to win, they had booked themselves into a corner, hyping his return so much that anything less than a title victory would have seemed anti-climactic. In addition Cena has had a terrible year in ring, coming up short in several big matches. Having him lose this one, could have ran the risk of Cena becoming Batista, where he apparently can’t win the big match anymore. All that being said, I think they booked themselves out of one corner, and right into another. They obviously want to get to Cena vs. Batista at WM25, so now how do they do that? Have Batista win the Rumble again? There are plenty of others who would benefit more than Batista from winning the Rumble, Jeff Hardy comes to mind in that category. The next few months should be interesting, at least.
Chris Morciglio: FACT. I like Cena. Sorry, but I do. He definitely deserves another run or five with the belt. But not now. This title change was all sorts of wrong. Jericho is one of the most watchable, compelling, intelligent, insightful, well-spoken, logical, and convincing heels that has ever graced the squared circle. Chris Jericho could just be another heel that berates the audience and calls them “Stupid” and goes on his way. Instead, he uses those qualities I mentioned before to verbally assault us and to make us see our own inconsistencies and shortcomings and hypocrisy and makes us believe just for a split second what he is saying. We hate when someone points out some tucked-away thing we hate about ourselves and is dead on in his assessment of us, the viewing audience. If you notice when Jericho gives a promo, there isn’t the all-out “I hate you” booing that shakes the walls. Actually, you could probably hear a mouse pee on a cotton ball. We’re listening to him. We’re interested in him. He points out what hypocrites we are and we hate him because he’s most likely correct. Perfection. So why does Jericho get jobbed out for the belt to Batista and Cena in the span of a month? Is he such a good “company guy” that he doesn’t mind babysitting the belt until a merchandise mover gets healthy enough to get the belt back? Jericho deserves to carry the title for a long time and Cena winning the title in his first match back over a champion of Jericho’s caliber doesn’t make sense. Cena should have just made an appearance and gotten attacked by someone. I know we’re gearing up for Cena-Batista at WrestleMania, but I don’t know if that match is going to pay out like Vince wants it to. Jericho deserves better. But I do have to give Cena credit for playing the neck injury to the nines and his hesitation in climbing the ropes was truly………well, that’s another column. Cena didn’t need this win right now. His dad should have thrown in the towel from the crowd after some excruciating work from Jericho. That’s how this should have finished. Then Jericho could have had 2 “could not finish” finishes from HBK and Cena. Perfect. That would have allowed Cena to go through a self-doubt stage, which would have gotten his half-face, half-heel pops back with half the crowd urging him to go and half urging him to quit, thus returning to pre-injury Cena pop levels. Time and some creative writing could have led to a series of potential feuds with maybe a young’un like Cody or Million Dollar Man II getting the rub, while Jericho and Batista could have finished some unfinished business in a series of brutal classic matches.
Score: 2 Fact, 1 Fiction!
6. TNA is making the right move by looking for an international star, maybe from Japan to face Awesome Kong on a future PPV.
Andy Critchell: FACT. But with a caveat, just because it’s the right move that doesn’t mean it’s a good move. What I mean by that is it’s a shame that TNA doesn’t have anyone else built up in the Knockouts division that is a credible threat to Kong. Taylor Wilde never caught on like they thought she might, ODB is just too goofy plus Kong’s already beat her, and the Beautiful People are too good in their roles right now to go baby-face. If TNA goes in the direction where they feed Kong random international challengers in the vein that they want to come to TNA to face Kong due to her reputation or something while simultaneously building a credible challenger then I could go along with that.
Todd Vote : FACT. It certainly can’t hurt. If you can give Kong new and exciting match-ups without burying your own Knockouts division, then this is definitely a good idea. In addition, with wrestling fans, you never know when something is going to catch fire. By bringing in international stars, they are increasing the chances of someone new catching on with the fans ala Taylor Wilde and Kong’s $25,000 challenge. While Kong is doing these international challenges, you use the opportunity to build one of your own as a credible threat to eventually challenge Kong.
Chris Morciglio: FICTION. Hey, here’s a thought……..let’s job out an international star so we can make up for a few months of horrible writing in the Knockouts Division and let’s try to re-establish Kong as the mega-monster she should have been all along. Taylor should have been champion, but it should have been because of constant DQs by Kong not being able to control herself after losing the title first and subsequent clean pin in the return. Kong should have stalked Wilde in every match Taylor was in. Taylor should have won her matches, both tag and singles, and should have had her clock cleaned by Kong after every one of them. To me, Kong did not send the shock waves of fear through the division that she could have/should have if the writing was right. I can only imagine where the booking will bring us next. Could it be back to Kong Monster? TNA hasn’t done a very good job of handling their international friends when they’ve visited. Some of these international guys were probably thought of as having some decent star power back at home, but have been jobbed out to Consequences and Jay in 2:24. I can’t see TNA doing a much better job with the women. Ah, but who cares, they’re probably only here for a couple of appearances anyway, right?
Score: 2 Fact, 1 Fiction!
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