411 Fact or Fiction 6.05.08: Edge’s Title Win, Special Enforcer Nash, Vince’s Million Dollar Mania and More!

1. Vince’s Million Dollar Giveaway is a desperate ploy to regain lost viewers.

James Thomlison : FACT. Although it’s by default; at least that is what I thought when I sent this to Andy on Sunday Night:

When the ratings are where they are, isn’t anything they do a desperate ploy to regain lost viewers? When they advertise Stone Cold for SNME, is that not a desperate ploy to regain viewers? It can even be argued that the draft is a desperate ploy because hopefully some lost viewers will think “shakeup” and start tuning back in. Granted, giving away money is naturally a more incentive laced act to try and get people to watch, but at the end of the day half the shit they do is to try and regain lost viewers.

However, it has become SUPER FACT after the slob job Vince gave us on Monday Night RAW. He provided verbal fellatio to as many former, current, and potentially new viewers as humanly possible, and in doing so he came off as completely desperate. It started harmless enough, but by the end of the promo it had gotten quite sad. Specifically calling out people who blow off wrestling while simultaneously asking us to shill wrestling to all our friends was just, as I said, a sad sight from a seemingly desperate man.

On a related note, one has to wonder why they’d be desperate in the first place considering that they make a fuckton of cash and are coming on their most profitable year in the companies history.

Andrew Critchell : FACT. Like JT says, pretty much everything WWE does is a ploy to regain lost viewers. Pretty much everything every TV show does is a ploy to regain lost viewers or generate new ones or maintain the ones they have. Like Vince says, it’s all about the money and more viewers = higher ratings = more that they can charge advertisers = more money. What is being overlooked here is the increased synergy that this contest will generate between the on-air product and WWE.com. We’ve heard for months now that growing WWE.com is focus for the future and a contest like this will put a lot of eyes on WWE.com and a few might stick around and look at some other content on the site. Nothing wrong with that!

Score: 1 for 1

2. You like the participants that are booked for TNA’s upcoming King of the Mountain Match. (Joe © vs. Robert Roode vs. Christian Cage vs. Rhino vs. Booker T)

James Thomlison : FACT. Why not? Christian, Joe, Booker and to an extent Rhino (hey, they’ve done better with him than WWE ever did) are all top or near the top of the card guys. Why they’ve inserted Robert Roode in here considering they kill every push they give him surprises me a little, but he has been booked to the point where we are already aware he is simply a body and has no chance in Hell of winning. Other than that though the other guys can put on good matches and I see no reason why throwing them all together is a bad thing. Nobody important gets hurt by losing and well, let’s face it, that leaves Roode and he has no momentum to hurt anyway. Couple faces, couple heels, throw in the champ and oh that wacky Kevin Nash as ref, and you have a fine match in my opinion.

Andrew Critchell : FICTION. Rhino sucks. There’s just no getting around that. Sure, TNA has done better with him than WWE did but that doesn’t mean he still isn’t terrible. Because he is. Having him in such a high profile match is a complete waste because he has no potential for grown and the KOTM match is one that TNA can use to make new stars just by their inclusion. Give me one good reason why Rhino should be in this match over James Storm. Storm is at least as high on the card as Roode is. I can’t imagine one single sane person saying to themselves “you know, I wasn’t sure about ordering this PPV but now that’s Rhino is in it, I guess I’ll buy it!” So why include some guy who is basically just taking up space on the roster when you could include another guy who might become a big star for you one day? That just seems completely asinine to me, but so does a lot of what TNA does so whatever.

Score: 1 for 2

3. While Edge walked away with the title, the booking of the TLC match made him look weak.

James Thomlison : FACT. FACT. FACT. FACT. FACT. DEAR GOD FACT. I have said for months now that the Vickie/Chavo/Bam/Edge Guys interaction with Edge has done nothing but make him look weak as shit and this match is no different. This is a guy who a year and a half ago was RAW’s top heel, a solo act consistently one-upping the WWE’s poster boy in Supercena. Now he needs the help of his GM girlfriend, three jobbers, the forgotten Guerrero, 83 chair shots and nine tables to beat a guy??? In a match that is his forte no less??? Seriously when is the last time he beat someone clean? Funaki? CM Punk? Who hasn’t beaten CM Punk lately? What is this doing for the Edgeheads? The joy of getting buried every week by Edge’s next PPV opponent, that’s what. The whole fucking angle disgusts me. Edge has proven that he is a top tier guy but he is now being made to look like a little bitch at every turn and isn’t nearly the legitimate threat he once was.

Andrew Critchell : FICTION. JT, you’re missing the point. Good thing I am here to help you with my wit and wisdom. First of all, you proceed from a false premise, that being Edge should act the same way when facing Undertaker that he acted when facing Cena. But Undertaker and Cena are completely different guys so it would only make sense that Edge has to pull out a different bag of tricks to face one guy as opposed to the other. Cena is still relatively new on the scene while Undertaker has been dominant for over 10 years so it only makes sense that Edge would need some extra help to triumph over Taker. All of that aside, what people are going to remember is that A. Edge beat the Undertaker in a great match and B. Edge won the title. People tend to remember the ends a lot more than they remember the means.

Score: 1 for 3

4. The addition of Kevin Nash as the special guest enforcer for the upcoming King of the Mountain Match will do more harm than good.

Andrew Critchell : FICTION. Only because I don’t think that it will do any harm at all. That being said, I don’t think Nash being involved will do any good either. Besides, the fact that many are anticipating some kind of shenanigans pretty much tells me that there won’t be any shenanigans at all. Ah Russo, you’re still my fave! The King of the Mountain match is usually a car wreck anyway and the inclusion of one more person as “special enforcer” is not going to rock the boat. Wow, two vehicle related analogies in one sentence? Well, fly me with balloons!

James Thomlison : FICTION. I’m with Andy here. It’s not going to do wonders to help it, but it isn’t going to do wonders to hurt it either. It’s just a way to get another body on Pay-Per-View and keep Kevin Nash involved with ongoing storylines. Nash is usually pretty square when “special enforcing” so I don’t expect much out of him. I think about the most meaningful part of this is simply the “will he/won’t he” factor to try and sell PPVs, nothing more.

Score: 2 for 4

5. The Roddy Piper/Santino Marella/Cousin Sal/Jimmy Kimmel angle is a great idea to try and get new fans watching WWE programming.

Andrew Critchell : FICTON. Great? Not really. Good? Maybe. Harmless fun? Absolutely. I’m not sure what Kimmel’s ratings are but he seems to do pretty well among the college aged demographic that WWE covets (kind of like Letterman back in the day) and the stuff he does on his show usually makes for some fun Youtube fodder. Cousin Sal is a big part of the Kimmel show so it’s not like this is going to make WWE look low rent or anything. Besides, this “big match” is going to take place on Smackdown, which seems about right for it and you won’t have to hear people bitch about this taking up time on a PPV or even on Raw. And depending how funny Santino is in this whole angle, some Kimmel viewers might be tempted to check out WWE. But ultimately this angle is designed to raise the casual TV viewers’ awareness of WWE and it will do just that.

James Thomlison : FICTION. Any attempt to draw new viewers is a good thing, but great? I just don’t see this garnishing the type of response they’re expecting. Granted, Jimmy Kimmel (and to an extent Cousin Sal) has a loyal following, but here’s an idea. If you’re trying to use the show to get new viewers, don’t schedule the match for 8:30 p.m. on a Friday night in the middle of the summer. That is where this idea goes from good to kind of mishandled. Not only that, too many uninformed people will think two things to themselves: 1. “Who the fuck is that?” (regarding Santino) and 2. “Jesus, that guy is still around?” (regarding Piper). In fact, I think far more wrestling fans would be inclined to tune into Jimmy Kimmel as opposed to the other way around.

Score: 3 for 5

6. Thus far you have liked TNA’s booking of “The Beautiful People.”

Andrew Critchell: FACT. Though to be fair, as long as they are not made to be covered from head to toe, I would pretty much say “FACT” to any booking that allows these lovely ladies to remain on my TV. Still, I do like where they are going with this, having these two women who are obviously hot not be ashamed of it and to flaunt it with an air of confidence. It is better than what they had them doing before, that’s for sure. Plus young Velvet Sky isn’t exactly what I would call “good” in the ring and this angle let’s her be featured without exposing her weakness to a detrimental degree.

James Thomlison : FACT. Although anyone who knows me knows I am hard pressed to knock anything that they are doing with the Knockout’s Division, probably the most well-oiled division in all of either of the big two nowadays. TNA asked these two ladies to play uber-bitches and that is exactly what they are doing; and doing a fantastic job at it if I may say so myself. A lot of people have invested themselves in – both TNA and the fans – have invested themselves into the division and it’s been characters and booking like this that has gotten it to the place it is today.

Score: 4 for 6