411 Fact or Fiction 08.02.12: Punk’s Explanation, Ziggler, Velvet, More

1. You were satisfied with CM Punk’s explanation of his actions on the 1000th episode of Raw.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT. As far as I’m concerned, CM Punk owes nobody an explanation. CM Punk did us all a favor by taking the fight to The Rock. And where was the Rock to respond and stand up for himself? He’s probably out re-shooting scenes with Magic Mike for that cruddy GI JOE sequel no one wants to see and was delayed because it tested poorly and the studio knew it was going to bomb. The Rock is a laughing stock and joke to the wrestling world. The Rock was a wash and ham and egger as a champion. He never had any longevity as champion as CM Punk has. The Rock’s longest title reign as world champion was what? Less than four months. The Rock is bringing a rusty old blade to this fight while CM Punk is a pro-wrestling WMD. Last year when The Rock was nowhere to be found and interest in pro-wrestling was reigning, CM Punk was there to pick up the slack and deliver the summer of Punk. There is nothing special about the Rock. Oh wow, he speaks in the third person at the behest of puppet Master Vince Russo way back when. CM Punk for years has always strived to bring the best in quality both creatively and in the ring that professional wrestling has to offer. The Rock abandoned pro-wrestling and uses it to help promote his lame movies that he can’t even carry on his own anymore. He can’t headline a hit movie by himself. Oh wow, he beat John Cena in an underwhelming main event at Wrestlemania while CM Punk and Chris Jericho were the ones stealing the show with a match of the year candidate. The Rock beat Cena, but CM Punk had already done so on many separate occasions and he did it for the world title when it mattered more. The Rock has failed on more big match occassions than just about any world champion in history. He’s the only world champion that lost to freaking Hurricane Helms. It figures that Stone Cold Steve Austin would pass the torch to CM Punk as he has while the Rock could never touch Stone Cold. The microphone in the hands of CM Punk is a pipe bomb. In the hands of Rocky Miavia, it’s nothing more than a prop. Look at the way he writes his promo lines on his hand. The Rock has become the joke and laughing stock of the WWE Universe and it is Punk’s turn to show why he is true, why he is real, and why he is straight edge.

Todd Bergman: FACT. I believe that Punk clearly laid out for his reasons for attacking The Rock. Some of the confusion surrounding the apparent character turn of Punk was caused by Jerry Lawler’s comments at the end of RAW 1000 and the wrestling community believing this was a full turn when in reality the WWE just wanted a hot angle for January’s Royal Rumble. Ideally, I would believe that the WWE wanted Punk to turn full heel on RAW 1000 and then go into a program with The Rock but Mr. Johnson’s availability dramatically changes the program and this becomes an incredibly slow burn until January. Nevertheless, Punk did everything that he could to define and clarify his actions even though the WWE has done it’s best in a week’s time to completely confuse the audience and it’s own employees.

Score: 1 for 1

2. Dolph Ziggler will be successful at cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase.

Jeffrey Harris: FICTION. Dolph Ziggler is a midcard comedy act. He has no staying power as world champion. He might cash the briefcase in but something will muck that up just like his last joke of a title run. Ziggler is a decent worker but he’s not ascended into the realm of main eventer yet. He needs to ditch Vickie Guerrero and prove he can carry himself on his own which I don’t truly believe he can yet.

Todd Bergman: FACT. I have yet to see a reason as to why Ziggler will not be successful in this. Ziggler has developed a large following with the fans and has busted his ass in and out of the ring to earn his current push. I would assume that this question has been brought up because John Cena was unsuccessful in his attempt and the rumor on all the websites was that Ziggler was going to be the first. The comparison between Cena & Ziggler is unfair because Cena is a vastly more established character who is going to be popular no matter what happens. Ziggler on the other hand doesn’t have that resume built up over time like Cena does. I would compare Ziggler’s MITB push to something similar to what Edge had when he won the first MITB match and then cashed in his contract for his first World Title Reign. With all of that said, I expect Ziggler to cash in his MITB contract and become a champion once again.

Score: 1 for 2

3. You’re ok with Raw being 3 hours every week.

Jeffrey Harris: FICTION. It’s an excessive move. While not the root of their problems, going three hours every week was a huge mistake for WCW Monday Nitro. Americans can seldom set aside three hours for primetime television every week. It’s an ill advised move. Doing a three hour special every now and again is all right, but three hours a week is way too much television on top of the other TV tapings, house shows, and PPV. The roster and product will burn out quicker as well as the writing staff and the storylines and work will suffer as a result. No show like this needs to be three hours a week.

Todd Bergman: FICTION. The three hour concept should only be used on special shows. The initial idea of using the three hours to develop more talent and storylines was a pleasant thought but this week’s RAW showed that they would rather use the extra time for mindless video segments mixed with the Tout video nonsense. Three hours of RAW is simply a bad idea given the lack of structure that the WWE writing teams possess.

I know what’s best when it comes to WWE storylines!

Score: 2 for 3

4. SmackDown doesn’t really need a General Manager.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT. Wrestling doesn’t really need public authority figures period. I’ve never cared for endlessly long and boring promos involving the McMahons, Eric Bischoff, and miles upon miles of others. What about the secret GM storyline that went on forever and never got a satisfying conclusion? I’m sick of these storylines. The pro-wrestling authority figure angle has played out and it’s a dead freaking horse.

Todd Bergman: FACT. The concept of GM is beyond played out at this point. When I think of a General Manager, I think of a person who puts the best people in the best position to succeed. In the world of WWE, the GM basically becomes an authority that books the same matches that the audience has witnessed for the past 5 years. Smackdown or RAW as a show would be fine without another GM making matches based on whether they are a good or bad character at any given time. I’m not in the business of playing fantasy booker anymore since I can’t play EWR or TEW on my MAC computer, so I’m going to say that adding another bland General Manager will not help set Smackdown apart from RAW or any other wrestling company. It’s all the same and not an interesting part of wrestling anymore.

Score: 3 for 4

SWITCH!

5. John Laurinitas will be an effective road agent/producer for WWE.

Todd Bergman: FACT. John will likely focus more on the TV side of wrestling angles and help the talents become stronger characters. I tend to think that John will be successful at this because the guy (for the negative pub that he gets) has generally been successful in everything that he’s done.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT. Better he be a road agent and producer than listen to that dry, droning voice every week. It was one thing to have Laurinitas appear by McMahon at Money In The Bank in 2011 but making him a full-time character on TV was awful.

Score: 4 for 5

6. James Storm is not associated with the Aces & Eights.

Todd Bergman: FACT. When I see this angle play out on my TV, I see another Impact Wrestling smoke screen coming our way. TNA has a way of over thinking it’s decisions when it comes to character turns and once Robert Roode mentioned Storm being apart of this group instantly means that he won’t be. Given the rumored people involved with Aces & Eights, I think that it would be a horrible decision to include Storm in this group. I’m sure that the commenters of this article can dispute this further below because I’m not 100% on the “watch Impact Wrestling all the time” war wagon.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT. I truly believe it’s not Storm or anyone established in TNA. In fact I think one person they might be getting involved with this is Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal unless they want to bring him in differently. But mark my words, it ain’t James Storm.

Score: 5 for 6

7. TNA’s Knockout Division will miss Velvet Sky.

Todd Bergman: FACT. I say fact here because when I would watch Impact Wrestling, I would generally try to figure out when she was on and tune in. I haven’t had the time to do extensive research here but I believe that Velvet Sky has been in two or three of the higher rated Impact Wrestling TV segments in the company’s history. As I mentioned above, I don’t routinely watch Impact Wrestling but from what I’ve gathered through reading results is that the division has really fallen off since the days of Kong/Kim and even the Kong/Wilde days. Hulk Hogan & Dixie Carter probably thought that adding Brooke Hogan as the Knockout GM would bring in bigger ratings and like countless times before, Hogan & Dixie Carter don’t understand the wrestling audience. Yours especially will sadly miss Velvet Sky and her ring entrance.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT. It’s ridiculous how often TNA misuses and messes up the Knockout Division when it could’ve been huge for them. They get a lot of talented individuals, but then they do nonsense like putting Cheerleader Melissa in a burqa and run some of the most talented female wrestlers out of the company. Case in point, Awesome Kong and the awful way she was treated by both Hulk Hogan and Bubba The Love Sponge. And it was disappointing how Dixie Carter overlooked all of that. They have Daffney and put her in awful booking segments where she has to do an awkward “striptease.” And now Brooke Hogan is in charge of the Knockout Division and has “big yellow boots to fill.” That promo between Dixie Carter and Brooke Hogan was one of the most awful things ever seen. It seems whenever the knockout division takes two step forwards, it’s another five steps back in TNA.

Score: 6 for 7

8. Impact Wrestling will continue to be live after the summer ends.

Todd Bergman: FICTION. While the thought of being live adds more excitement to pro wrestling, I don’t think that Impact Wrestling is really genuine in continuing their live wrestling trend. The company is notorious for being cheap (I.E. Taylor Wilde having to work multiple jobs & Brooke Adams still working at Hooters). Taping multiple episodes at one time is cheaper for the company and the all mighty dollar will continue to rule Impact Wrestling. I’m not saying that this is the best option because taping shows has its advantages and it’s disadvantages. I’m just glad that my pocketbook is not involved.

Jeffrey Harris: FICTION. I don’t think anything has really happened that tells me TNA will change from their plan. I think what they really need to do besides making it live every week is try and tour and take it on the road. The Impact Zone is a boring venue and it speaks volumes of TNA’s failure as a promotion that it is 2012 and they are still stuck there every week. Even if it’s a smaller place, they need to get out of the Impact Zone if they can only do it at least once a month. The Impact Zone makes everything in TNA look miniature and bush league.

Final Score: 7 for 8

Jeffrey & Todd are a lot more similar than they think when it comes to their opinions on the pro wrestling, as their only point of contention here is Dolph Ziggler. What do you think of the Show Off? Is he main event material? Let us know about that and other topics down in the comment section! Thanks to Jeffrey & Todd for participating, and we’ll be back next week with more Fact or Fiction!