411 Fact or Fiction 05.26.11: Savage in the Hall of Fame, Alex Riley, Abyss, More

1. Even with the expected Rock induction, WWE should make Randy Savage an inductee into this year’s Hall of Fame.

Chris Lansdell: FACT. Damn right they should. Savage got his start in Florida, is from Florida, lived in Florida and should be honoured in Florida. He should have gone in years ago but for reasons we may never know, he did not get the call. That doesn’t even matter now. The only concern I have is that putting him in this year would seem like it was only done because he died, and would also be overshadowed by Rock’s induction. From what we know of Rock, he shouldn’t have a problem taking a back seat to Macho’s induction, so maybe only one of those is an issue. Still, regardless of the bad blood that existed between Savage and someone in WWE…get it done, and get it done now.

Steve Gustafson: FACT. We’ve all heard the reasons Randy was persona non grata in the WWE. Because he left for WCW. He slapped Vince at a bar. He had “relations” with Stephanie McMahon. Only Vince knows the whole truth. But if we are keeping business and personal feelings separate, Savage should have been inducted long before know and his death gives Vince an opening to do the right thing…for the business.

What gives me hope is Vince’s approval of WWE’s statement that read, “WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of one of the greatest Superstars of his time, Randy Poffo, aka Randy “Macho Man” Savage. Poffo was under contract with WWE from 1985 to 1993 and held both the WWE and Intercontinental Championships. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. We wish a speedy recovery to his wife Lynn. Poffo will be greatly missed by WWE and his fans.” Add in the montage and things are looking good. Death is the great equalizer and hopefully this will be the (unfortunate) spark necessary to see the Macho Man’s name in the Hall of Fame.

Score: 1 for 1

2. Eric Bischoff’s feud with the X-Division will result in a positive impact for the X-Division talent.

Chris Lansdell: FACT. You know what? I’m going to let TNA lead me down this garden path one more time. I have trusted and followed them many many times, and each time so far they have eventually let me down. With this one though, I am going to give them the benefit of the sliver of doubt. They might…not…fuck this up. Yeah, if I can finish typing the sentence I can buy it. They’ve rebranded, they’ve touted a focus on wrestling…isn’t this the sensible way to go? Oh stop being so cynical. We can either believe, watch and turn off if we’re wrong…or never watch. One of these gives us the chance of seeing some awesome wrestling and supporting the only alternative to WWE. The other doesn’t.

Bischoff is a known quantity, an over heel who can do wonders for the person feuding with him…in the right feud. If he continually puts the boots to the X-Division until one of them pulls through the odds, with all the others putting on great efforts in the meantime, it could go somewhere. They tried it with Nash and it was working until they gave up on it. I’m willing to see if they can do it again.

Steve Gustafson: FICTION. “Wrestling Matters”. Let’s see, in their first show since rebranding TNA Impact into Impact Wrestling, Bischoff booked several matches that buried a number of X-Division wrestlers. The worse offense being him making the pinfall against Generation Me. I’m all for “letting the angle play out” but I’ve seen this scenario too many times to act surprised. Most likely this angle will trail off with no direction and the X-Division will be right where it was before. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Score: 1 for 2

3. The main event of Over the Limit ruined what was an otherwise decent show.

Chris Lansdell: FICTION. What? Why??? Because Cena won again? Because he overcame a two-on-one? Because Miz tapped to a simple hold when Cena took an unholy beating? Well, get used to it. Cena JUST won the title and there was no way he was going to drop it again so soon. He won because of a miscue that, had it happened with Miz vs Morrison or Miz vs Daniel Bryan, everyone would be jizzing themselves. Cena overcomes odds and wins when he shouldn’t. This is not new. We got a Riley face turn out of it and now Miz will be used to elevate Riley. Cena can move on, Miz won’t be hurt by it at all and the world will keep on spinnin’ on that axis. If you think that ruined the PPV, here’s some fuckin’ Kleenex and the channel listings for Spike TV in every area of the country. Go nuts. Let me know when the 52-year-old drops the title.

Steve Gustafson: FICTION. I’m having a problem designating Over the Limit as a “decent show”. If you said a “decent episode of RAW”, I would agree. Over the Limit had its moments but nothing about it screamed PPV quality. The main event was…something. I know people are crying over “Super Cena” but to me it’s no different than Hulk Hogan “hulking up” no matter how bad the beatdown. The match was predictable, maybe a letdown, but was on par with the rest of the PPV.

Score: 2 for 3

4. Replacing Terry Taylor with Bruce Prichard as Head of Talent Relations will have no impact on TNA’s direction as a company.

Chris Lansdell: FACT. Will it fuck. Nothing else has. Signing Kurt Angle. Signing Jeff Hardy. Signing Rob van Dam. Signing that Hulk Hogan dude. Signing Mr. Anderson. They couldn’t do shit with any of those major names for any sustained period, why in the seven hells would changing the dude who makes the signings make any difference? Who are they gonna bring in, Low fucking Ki? Ooooh CM Punk’s contract is almost up! SO WHAT there is a less-than-1 percent chance that he ever takes his straight-edge ass back to Orlando. Wow, having straight edges on your ass must be all kinds of uncomfortable. There is nobody, NOBODY that TNA can move about or realistically sign to make a difference. They have what they need, they just need to fucking USE IT properly and stop ironing out the old balls of the decrepits they are propping up at the

Steve Gustafson: FACT. What has TNA done to make us think things will be any different with Bruce Prichard as the Head instead of Terry Taylor? With all the negative you can pile on TNA (And you all do a great job at it), I don’t think I’ve read anything that said Taylor needed to be replaced or he’s the source of the problems.

Score: 3 for 4

SWITCH!

5. Between Over the Limit and Raw, the Miz’s kayfabe credibility as a main eventer has taken a big hit.

Steve Gustafson: FICTION. Kayfabe credibility? Kayfabe credibility? Does that still exist? I think it’s time we redefine what kayfabe is since the business has changed so much.

“It’s still real to me, dammit!”

OK. But to the general audience, I don’t think it exists in the same way as hardcore fans see it. Plus, people have short a memory. In wrestling, even shorter. The Miz has done a great job thus far and this past Sunday did little to none in changing my mind on that. His status in the main event is secure with the audience.

Chris Lansdell: FICTION. Not yet, though it could if he doesn’t win every match against Riley. He can do that and still put the kid over, with smart booking. Yeah I know some of you have no faith in that, but it could happen. He outsmarted Cena and lost to an iron will and a fuck up. He got blindsided by his protege and got the shit kicked out of him. Could happen to anyone really. Only if this continues will this affect his standing at the top of the card.

Score: 4 for 5

6. Making Abyss the X-Division champion was a bonehead move.

Steve Gustafson: FICTION. Why? Because he’s not a high flying, flipping wrestler? I know the X-Division is known to cater to faster paced action, I don’t think it’s officially been deemed “cruiserweights only”! Adding Abyss into the mix gives them a chance to open the matches up with a different style. Nothing wrong with that.

Chris Lansdell: FICTION. No, hear me out. If they are running with this Bischoff thing, then he needs a big galoot to hold the title. Who else is gonna do it, SteRob Terry? Gimme a break. At least Abyss can go. The X-Division will get over by bouncing off Abyss and pinballing around for him, trying in vain to get him on his back, doing everything it takes to put him down for long enough…wait, no. That sounds like Cook’s last date. Basically Abyss will play the typical giant in the Goliath storylines, with every X guy trying to be David. Abyss will take some good shots, wobble, not go down (like my ex wife) and then eventually catch them and squish them liek bug. One X guy will get him down and come really close, then finally the anointed one will beat him on what looks like a fluke and then be forced to defend in Ultimate X which will get 20 minutes in a high-profile slot on a PPV and steal the show. I hope.

Score: 5 for 6

7. The Corre would have been a better choice to make WWE Tag Team Champions than the New Nexus was.

Steve Gustafson: FICTION. What’s the difference? In terms of storyline and their place on the roster, these two groups are pretty even. I certainly hope they have a long term plan for the belts but history tells me they don’t. And it wouldn’t matter if The Corre, the New Nexus, or even the Killer Bees were the champs.

Chris Lansdell: FICTION. Why? They are the ones who lost it to Show and Kane. They suck more heat than cheerleaders in Miami. They are in the middle of a feud with BIG ZEKE, which would be muddled by adding a title to it. It just wouldn’t make sense. The New Nexus on the other hand needed something to keep them together and provide some direction, and it may even lead to them cutting loose CM Punk. Maybe Mason Ryan beats Kofi, then Punk can’t beat Cena? I dunno, I’m fantasy booking here. Point being the Corre (the extra R is for rectum, don’t forget) are getting about as much reaction as a wrestling fan at a speed dating session, while Nexus at least gets some heat. Just bring back the awesome 12 Stones theme!

Score: 6 for 7

8. Alex Riley will have difficulty making the transition from heel to babyface.

Steve Gustafson: FACT. I think the bigger difficulty will be getting the crowd to CARE if Riley is a heel or babyface. His babyface turn looked great on Monday. But was it because the audience really loves Riley or because they really hate the Miz? We’ll see the answer in the coming weeks but I don’t see the Riley fan boat sailing very far.

Chris Lansdell: FICTION. Uhhh, did you HEAR that pop last night? He already made it. Give him a win over some low-level heel, have Miz attack him and beat shit out of him, then have them fight at Capitol Punishment. Miz should win after some brief flurries from Riley. Those flurries should get longer until in the blowoff Miz has to cheat to win, maybe introducing his new protege. Riley should be established as a semi-strong face by then, and if you let him feud with someone like Truth or Swagger and get a couple of wins, he can stay in that role. Easy.

Final Score: 6 for 8

And there it is…Steve and Chris are generally harmonious and end up 6 for 8! I’d like to thank them for their answers, and you the readers for seeing what they had to say! For Chris Lansdell and Steve Gustafson, this is Jeremy Thomas saying join us next week for more Wrestling Fact or Fiction!