411 Fact or Fiction 01.08.09: Nude Vickie, The Greatness of Team 3D, TNA’s

Welcome back to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week we have TWO men stepping up to the challenge as 411 Writer Michael Bauer and 411 Reader Padraic O’Connor step into the 411 Arena to do battle in this week’s edition of Fact or Fiction!

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Questions were sent out Monday morning.

Participants were told to expect WWE and TNA related questions.

If you would like to appear in the column, shoot me an email!

1. The “Kizarny” character will not last past WrestleMania.

Michael Bauer: FACT. Um, yeah, when you only have one televised match and you are in hot water with the backstage people, chances are that you are not lasting for long. Not to mention, there is nothing impressive about this guy that makes me want to watch Smackdown more. I remember his promos and I was like… what the fuck is this shit? That’s not the reaction the WWE wants for someone they are debuting. Chances are that if this doesn’t get over by the Royal Rumble, then it will be scrapped real quickly.

Padraic O’Connor : FICTION. …but only slightly. I don’t see this lasting very long, but I think it will go past WM25. Unless Kizarny is the second coming of Ricky Steamboat in the ring or this thing catches on like wildfire, I doubt he’ll be headlining against Jeff Hardy at SummerSlam. As a backstage character conning WWE superstars through fixed carnival games and the like, it could work from a comedy standpoint.

Don’t think so? The last time I checked, The Boogeyman was still drawing a paycheck, so I guess a wrasslin carnival worker isn’t completely beyond the creative team.

I understand that the WWE is going PG and their product is getting more and more family friendly… a wrestling carnival worker? What’s next, a wrestling trash man or a guy that wrestles alligators?! Whoops! Sorry, early to mid nineties WWF… I didn’t see you there.

Score: 0 for 1!

2. TNA’s “Best Of” Edition of Impact, which aired last week, was a great show.

Michael Bauer: FICTION. Ok, I have to pull a cop out here, because I did not watch TNA on Thursday Night. Now, from all the reports, the show seemed have something that they never, EVER, have… wrestling. But having an entire two hours devoted to four great matches from the year of 2008 does not make a great show. Yes, they had LAX vs. Beer Money in a true main event and the one live match was good with a shit ending, but it doesn’t make up for the fact they continued their reverse booking. TNA has one TV show per week, not three like the guys up north. So they need to use this one show to build up to their Pay Per View, which I believe is this weekend. Now, had this been right AFTER any Pay Per View and they still had about four shows to build up the event, then it would make total sense. But derailing any momentum heading into Genesis by using an entire Impact like this was not great, not smart, and not doing what it should do by making me want to order the PPV.

Padraic O’Connor : FACTish. Any time a best of is on TV, it’s a great show. It reminds you of all the things that you love about the product. The bottom line is I got to see PPV main events for FREE. TNA has an amazing talent roster and showing great matches from some of their biggest shows of the year was a great move. For someone who doesn’t order all the TNA pay-per-views, this show was a real treat.

The reason I have to throw an “ish” on the end of my FACT is that this show reminded me of what could have been for TNA in 2008. To paraphrase Roddy Piper from his run in the company, “TNA is a rocket ship ready to take off’ – but I’m still waiting for the launch. The action is good, but something just isn’t clicking for me. The wrestling is overshadowed by the constant screw jobs that end their big money matches, recycled storylines, and a main event scene of guys who constantly reference the past.

Hopefully, the Front Line vs. Main Event Mafia storyline will wrap up and fraction off into good feuds for 2009 and if I get this question again in 2010, it will be “ish”less.

Score: 0 for 2!

3. With the addition of “WWE Superstars” in April, you feel that the new show will not help the company, but water down the product.

Michael Bauer: FACT. First off, this will be the way to give more fuel to Larry’s favorite saying by fucking the brand extension. Now, what can they possibly do on his new show that they can’t do on Raw or Smackdown each an every week? (Yes, I left out ECW for a reason.) A feud can only be pushed along so fast and adding a show will burn through these feuds even faster, perhaps never even giving us a chance to enjoy them. And seriously, we already see Miz and Morrison on Raw, ECW, and Smackdown, I do not need to see them for a fourth night on a fourth network each week, regardless of how awesome they are. Unless they use this as a true “C” show like Heat and Velocity used to be, then they will be wasting time and money on trying to shove another program down our throats.

Padraic O’Connor : FICTION x 10!. If Starbucks or McDonalds opens a new location, it doesn’t make their product less valuable, right? It helps them to gain market share and distinguish themselves as a leader in their space and that is what the WWE is doing here. Adding a fourth show is no joke and there is no way that the E would do so if they weren’t taking it seriously. If this were just a magazine show and they were showing highlights from ECW, Smackdown, and Raw, than yes I think there would be a chance of watering down the product. However, this is not the case. This is going to be a new show featuring exclusive content and it has been given 3 time slots on WGN – 8 PM and 11 PM on Thursdays with another replay on Saturday. This is a great move by WWE as it will expose underutilized talent to their core audience and catch casual viewers up on WWE’s new product.

Score: 0 for 3!

—SWITCH~!—

4. Team 3D’s recent victory in Japan, where they won the IWGP Tag Team Title, secures their claim that they are the greatest tag team in wrestling history.

Padraic O’Connor : FACT. While the title of “Greatest” is very subjective, you cannot deny the influence and immediate impact that Team 3D has had in every company they have worked for. With their big win in Japan, they are the only team to hold tag team gold in ECW, WWE, WCW, TNA, NWW, New Japan, All Japan, and HUSTLE. While this is an amazing feat, what makes Team 3D the greatest tag team of all time is that they elevate competition everywhere they go. They are on a very short list with people like The Legion of Doom, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and The Undertaker in the way that there was never anyone like them before and they are the standard for everyone who comes after.

Michael Bauer: FICTION. I’m not disagreeing with the statement that they are the greatest tag team in wrestling history, because they clearly are. But I do not think that Ray and Devon needed to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles to secure the claim. They have done anything and everything that any team needed to do to be called the best ever, without any accomplishments in Japan. And when you look at the other legendary tag teams, none of them can hold a candle to what Team 3D has done. Team 3D has over 20 World Title reigns from ECW to WWE to TNA to Japan. The Steiners had about half of that and are the only other legendary American wrestling team to hold the IWGP Tag Titles. The “real” Road Warriors team had more title reigns in Japan than stateside. And there are plenty more, but no team has done more in as long of a career. All of that said, Team 3D added more to the legacy, but they didn’t need to win this latest title to be the best ever.

Score: 0 for 4!

5. With news of John Cena’s monster year as far as merchandise sales goes, he will not be turned heel this year.

Padraic O’Connor : FACT. While WWE’s product is entertainment, their focus as a business is to make money and simply put, John Cena makes money. To turn Cena heel now would not be a good move because who’s merchandise sales would fill that void? DX can’t do it because they’re not on TV every week reminding people to buy more of their stuff. And if they were on TV doing so, it would mess up current storylines, essentially cannibalizing the entertainment aspect of their product. Batista is hurt and out of current storylines, and while I’m sure that guys like Rey Mysterio and CM Punk move merchandise, they don’t have the volume of product options that the John Cena brand does, nor do they have the spotlight on them like “The Champ.”

This isn’t to say that it can’t be done though. If WWE Creative wanted to turn Cena heel, they could do so by having him play up that he’s got way more money than everyone else, moves more merchandise, and has movies coming out; basically a new version of Hollywood Hogan or The Rock from 2003. It’s definitely possible.

Michael Bauer: FACT. No way, no how, will the WWE ever turn John Cena heel again. John Cena’s gimmick now revels in the fact that he is not the most popular wrestler with the fans and uses that at his strength. He feeds on that negative energy and by turning John Cena heel, you take that part of his deal away from him. The other thing to think of is this. Normally someone turns heel to start a feud or to give newer matchups down the road. Turning John Cena heel opens up what feuds exactly? Randy Orton hasn’t been truly finished I think and Cena can’t be heel for that. Same could possibly be said about Jericho. Michaels has been done and I personally don’t think it is worthwhile in 2008. The only thing he hasn’t done is face The Undertaker, but that would take a heel turn AND a switch via the draft again. And that is my final point. Cena right now is a face in a world full of heel wrestlers on Raw. If this was Smackdown, it would be more possible, but it still opens up nothing we haven’t seen before with the one exception I said before. Bottom line, Cena is not going heel this year, 2010, or any year.

Score: 1 for 5!

6. The recent angle on Smackdown, where is was revealed that there were nude photos of Vickie Guerrero, was completely tasteless.

Padraic O’Connor : FICTION. It’s low class, no one is arguing that, but c’mon… we’re talking about the WWE here! Here’s a list of angles that they’ve done that makes this angle look like caviar and champagne (you know… high class crap like that)
HHH dresses as Kane and molests a corpse.

Mark Henry is a sex addict and has engaged in “doin’ it” with his sister.
May Young, a 70+-year-old woman at the time, is pregnant and gives birth to a plastic hand.

Stephanie McMahon announces that her dad made her sleep with his associates to get business deals done.

WWE and WCW make Hawk of LOD and Scott Hall, respectively, engage in angles where they were portrayed as alcoholics, when both men were recovering from substance abuse in real life.

In the grand scheme of things, the current Vickie angle is lame as hell, but not completely tasteless. I’m more offended that they’re turning The Great Khali into the 2k9 version of Mike Awesome the Fat Chick Thriller.

Michael Bauer: FACT. Let me think about this for a split second… DUH! Nude pictures of any of the Divas I will take anytime, anywhere, and not care if it is tasteless. Nude photos of a forty something year old woman who is not anything close to attractive is just plain wrong. At least they didn’t let any actual fans win those things. They would have really been painful.

Score: 1 for 6!

Come on back next week for more of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition!