411 Fact or Fiction 03.08.12: HBK as Referee, Ryder/Eve, Masters To Impact, More

Shawn Michaels will be a fair & impartial referee at WrestleMania.

Aaron Frame: FICTION. I have reason to believe that HBK is going to be somewhat responsible for Taker winning. The tension between HHH and HBK seems to be pretty heavy. But, why would HBK even want to cause HHH to lose the match anyhow? That’s a good question, and I’m glad you asked. Let me ask you a question. What’s worse than a supportive friend who has failed before you in trying to accomplish something? A jealous friend. That’s right. I think HBK is going to take the role of the jealous best friend. He’s going to realize the HHH is about to beat Taker and break the streak, so HBK superkicks his head off allowing Undertaker to pick up the win in whatever way. And I think this way because you know WWE are going to want to protect two of their “gods” from ever looking bad. What better way than to have a third party to interfere?

James Wright: FICTION. Why add the Show Stopper in if he is just going to call things right down the middle? I actually like this stipulation because if they are planning to pull a swerve and end the streak at 20 then having DX pull the plug seems deserving enough, two of the biggest guys in the industry with a huge amount of backstage power might just have enough to pull it off. Until now I didn’t buy Taker losing in any way, but with the added stipulations I could see it happening, it probably won’t but at least they managed to raise the stakes and the odds once again so that there is some doubt.

Score: 1 for 1

2. WWE Network will be available in 40 million homes by the time it debuts.

Aaron Frame: FICTION. I think it’s going to be significantly less. Especially considering the fact that WWE is having a hard time getting any kind of interest from any provider. That’s an alarming bit of information right there. The question that I have is if it will even launch. Are they going to be able to find providers that would want to show it? And say that they did get picked up, what kind of package would it be a part of? You have to think that it would be packaged in a sports bundle. Which, if that’s the case, I don’t think 40 million would be a feasible number. I think it’s more accurate to say about 10 million, if that. You also have to think about the economy and how many people can afford to pay for all those channels. That can get really expensive. If they can get the network out on global networks and get subscriptions overseas, they may have a much better chance to get up to 40 million.

James Wright: FICTION. The longer this Network takes to get off the ground the less faith I have in it. Sure it is a good move not to release anything before it is ready but I just can’t see when they are going to find time to film everything and keep it going all year long. I think in the end it will boil down to the Legend’s House show and everything else being shipped to YouTube, as much of a shame as that will be I am not too sore over missing out on the ideas they had so far for programming. Maybe they should focus on the international market more than just trying to make inferior movies and TV shows and hoping that it will somehow generate income.

Score: 2 for 2

3. Zack Ryder will be sucked in by the charms of Eve Torres.

Aaron Frame: FACT. This is a fact that will quickly change. I think that Ryder is thinking with his little broski and, men, you know that never has a very logical or productive outcome at times. However, I think that after he gets sucked in by Eve, Cena will show up and talk him out of it. I wouldn’t mind seeing Ryder tell Cena to shove it up his [insert Rock insult here] ass. That could make for an interesting story. It could lead to a heel turn for either of them. If the WWE is planning on taking Cena down the heel route, this would be a great way to further it. Have his broski do unto him as he has done unto his broski. But chances are, Cena save Ryder from making a mistake and everything is all sunshine and farts going forward.

James Wright: FACT. Without John Cena to watch his back Ryder has little else going for him. Unless someone else intervenes on his behalf it wouldn’t make sense for Ryder to resist Eve’s charms. It is part of the male condition to look at a girl and call her a ‘hoe’ up until she jams her tongue down our throats, then she is ‘special’, how else are we supposed to cope with all the rejection?! I’m not really sure how much life this angle has left in it but one thing is for sure; Ryder will be getting more enjoyment out of it then any of us will at home.

Score: 3 for 3

4. Santino Marella will get the US title more recognition than it currently has.

Aaron Frame: FACT. What the hell has Swagger done for it? I saw him defend it maybe once or twice on TV since winning it. I don’t think WWE has much faith in Swagger as a draw. I don’t even know why they put the title on him. He wasn’t even worth being a transitional champion. But I guess their plan was just to throw it on him until they figure out what they want to do with it. I think after the Santino/World Title experiment, I think they realized they have something marketable with him. So, now, they’re going to have him run with the US title and see what he can do with it. Personally, I love Santino. I think he’s a fun character and, if given the chance, I think he can perform in the ring by higher standards than most people give him. And the crowd has been vocal in their support of him time and time again. I think Santino will do great things with the title.

James Wright: FICTION. I know a couple of weeks ago people were all abuzz about how Santino nearly won the World Title but come on please, if he had there would have been a riot. The guy just can’t represent as a true champion. All I can see happening is Ryder turning semi-heel in his relationship with Eve and being convinced to feud with Santino over the belt in a joke match that might even take place at Wrestlemania, it is the type of thing that the WWE love to do to stick it to the fans. Swagger could have done so much as US champion if they had just put some effort into getting him over and giving him some decent feuds. Instead the guy barely appears on Raw and then loses to a joke of a wrestler, bad times for the All-American American.

Score: 3 for 4

SWITCH!

5. Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon didn’t get enough of a chance in American promotions.

James Wright: FACT. Since I had never heard of either of these men before receiving these questions I can only go by what I’ve read on Wikipedia, as such I have to conclude that they didn’t get much of a chance in the US. Then again I’m pretty sure that the amount of talent that wrestles in Japan and all over the world that doesn’t get all that much, if any, shot at making it in the US is immense. So while I am agreeing it is with the proviso that most guys with talent probably don’t since there just isn’t that much space for guys made outside of the native companies, and that those that do make it has sincerely earned it.

Aaron Frame: FACT. I remember the first time I saw them, I thought they were great. They had a certain presence in the ring that tag teams often can never have. Their short runs in WWF and ECW just didn’t do them any justice. Watch their work in Japan and it shows that they knew how to work. They hold the record of most title reigns with the All Asia Tag Team Championships. The record still stands at 5 reigns. They also saw success in Mexico’s Universal Wrestling Association, where they were known as Can-Am Express, having 2 tag team title reigns. Looking at their lack of success in the US is baffling. They had a 1 day ECW Tag Team Title run. However, it did seem they were on their way to some success as they were feuding with the tag champs in WWF after their debut. But after being in a car wreck that took them out of action for a while, any momentum or interest WWF had in them just stopped. I think that this was one of the many teams that wrestling just dropped the ball with.

Score: 4 for 5

6. Chris Masters deserves to be signed by Impact Wrestling.

James Wright: FACT. I think we can all agree that the guy has put in a good deal of work to improve his in-ring talent and then he was just let go by the WWE. Masters could do great things, maybe not set the world on fire but if Rob Terry gets a shot then Chris Masters sure as hell should. Hopefully though if he does get signed by TNA he won’t be shoved down our throats as if he is a massive star already, I’d much rather see Masters work his way up the rankings and give us a reason to believe that he actually deserves his spot once he reaches that main event level that ex-WWE talent is often just handed.

Aaron Frame: FICTION. This one was hard for me to answer, but I think I have some pretty good reasoning. Masters is kind of a one trick pony. His full-nelson is about all he’s good for. I think he’s got a great character over in RKK with his American Adonis personality, but I’m just not sure he would do so well here in the states. Look at his WWE tenure. He did the same thing he is doing now, and it didn’t work for him then. I think he’s solid on an international market because it gives him a little more to work with. Stateside, a lot of people know him and his character isn’t exactly something people would want to see. It could work, but I don’t think Impact should sign him. They have enough people on their roster already as it is. Adding more people would only clutter things more.

Score: 4 for 6

7. Zema Ion will get over as a heel by taking credit for Jesse Sorensen’s injury.

James Wright: FICTION. And by fiction I mean that I think he can get over on his own. Fair play to Ion for keeping Kayfabe and selling the injury as something he was fine with, but they are taking it a bit too far now. There is no need for Ion to keep going on or for them to show video packages of Sorenson getting better and constantly mentioning him throughout the show. The guy got injured, it’s a shame and hopefully he will be back, but why are they treating him like he was a main eventer when most casual fans probably didn’t know who he was until he got injured? Sorenson himself can’t even benefit from this since he won’t be back anywhere near soon enough to capitalize on this recognition, so TNA just seems to be trying to make a big song and dance out of how much they care, which is nice, but we don’t need to see evidence of this every week.

Aaron Frame: FACT. The dude injured a guy. Horribly. Albeit, by accident. Sorensen will be fine, so it’s cool for them to do this, right? It’ll definitely make him look like a big asshole. Taking credit for a legit injury that could have ruined a guys career might get him over as a heel, but it may bring on the wrong type of heat. Though, how many fans think this is all kayfabe? It’s kind of hard to say someone is legit injured these days. Overall, this is a pretty solid way to get Zema Ion over as a dick heel.

Score: 4 for 7

8. Kevin Steen will be the next Ring of Honor Champion.

James Wright: FACT. Or at least I hope it is. While I like Ring of Honor there isn’t all that much talent at the moment that you could call exciting or interesting, sure the in-ring work is good, but that is just half the battle. Not since the 1920s has wrestling been solely about ability, it has to be about pageantry as well to some extent and Kevin Steen is the most captivating man of the moment in the company. What’s more they have been building up Steen’s return for a whole year so you’d hope they would pay off that hard work with a title win sometime in the near future. My guess is that Steen will work his way through the roster until he gets to Davey and Cornette has to grant him a title shot, what he will then do as champion is anyone’s guess.

Aaron Frame: FACT. I think Steen is an obvious choice to be the next champ. He’s entertaining and has a great character that isn’t boring and one dimensional. Not trying to take anything away from the other talented guys that they have, but Steen is just a step above most of them. I think ROH knows that if they really want to turn their stuff around, they need to put the title on Steen. He can be the monster champion and they can throw people at him to dominate until he meets the one guy they deem ready to reach the next level. Steen can be that champion. He can be the guy that will help breed the next generation in ROH. Again, not saying anyone else couldn’t do that, I just think they have something with Steen if he were to be the champion.

Final Score: 5 for 8

Aaron & James agree a little over half of the time on the topics. Where do you come out on these issues and our writers’ answers? Feel free to chime in down in the comment section. Thanks so much to Aaron Frame & James Wright for their participation, and to you for reading! See you all next week for more 411 Fact or Fiction!