411 Fact or Fiction 08.30.12: Cena’s Crowd Support, HHH’s Retirement, BOLA, More

1. The Boston crowd will not support John Cena against CM Punk at Night of Champions.

Michael Uphoff: FACT. In all reality, I see Cena getting the same reaction that he gets in every arena- the split reaction where most boo, and others cheer. I don’t see how even in his hometown that Cena will be cheered against Punk. I get that the WWE is trying to turn Punk heel, but enough people dislike Cena’s Superman in-ring character that they will boo him just as much as people cheer him. The people that hate Cena will cheer the heck out of CM Punk, and I don’t care what Punk does, I’ll always cheer for Punk over Cena.

Jack Bramma: FACT. The cat is out of the back as far as Cena being booed against more entertaining heels by the fans and the trend can’t be reversed now just by having Punk beat up Lawler. WWE acknowledged the fans turning on Cena and more or less pushed it in Cena’s feuds with Rock and Kane, encouraging a heel turn that never materialized. Cena was also booed out of the building in his own Boston in 2006 at Summerslam against Edge, so even the friendly confines of his home state and city won’t be that friendly come Night of Champions when he stands opposite Punk. The caveat to all this is to say that the “Boston crowd” will not do anything monolithically; they will be 50/50, pro-Cena and anti-Cena as has been the case for a while now.

Score: 1 for 1

2. Daniel Bryan & Kane will graduate from their anger management class.

Michael Uphoff: FACT. This has been a really great use of these two superstars on RAW. I do see Bryan and Kane graduating from their anger management class. Bryan has managed to take everything that the WWE has given him in the last year and turned it into absolute gold. Kane has not been as good, but still has been solid in whatever he has done since his fiasco with Cena and Ryder. I loved their bit on RAW on Monday. Kane sharing his past was classic, and I loved the mention about his unhealthy obsession with torturing Pete Rose. It was a great use of time to further two superstars, and I look forward to the future segments.

Jack Bramma: FACT. The beautiful thing about this is the segments are too entertaining to stop now. Whether they want to stop either character from going insane and ChokeSlamming everyone or shouting Yes at the top of their lungs is irrelevant. WWE can continue to keep the characters as is and still have them graduate and just struggle to change against their psychotic natures. It’s essentially a borrowing of ROH’s Corino and Jimmy Jacob’s reformed heels in therapy routine and it was entertaining then and it’s entertaining now.

Score: 2 for 2

3. Triple H’s speech on Raw made you believe he will actually retire.

Michael Uphoff: FICTION. There’s no way in hell Triple H is done in the ring. He is going to face someone at WrestleMania 29, and I can almost guarantee that. The speech was done because he didn’t get the reaction the WWE was counting on after his loss in a good match with Brock Lesnar. While it seemed sincere and almost convincing, I didn’t believe for a second that Triple H is done in the ring. He will face someone at WrestleMania 29, I guarantee it.

Jack Bramma: FICTION. The segment only existed to put heat on Lesnar and increase the drama of an eventual rematch. While overblown and having too much pomp and circumstance on RAW for the announcement, it was still a well delivered promo that accomplished its goal of teasing retirement. Hopefully, people remember that HBK did the same thing several times before actually retiring — his feud with JBL over money, his feud with Jericho over his busted eye, etc. A good promo makes you pay to see things and now some will pay money to see if Triple H actually retires even though he won’t.

Score: 3 for 3

4. Jerry Lawler is the worst announcer on WWE’s main shows.

Michael Uphoff: FICTION. As long as that asshole named Michael Cole still draws breath, he is the worst announcer on the WWE’s main shows. I cannot stand Cole anymore, and if I were to see him in a normal setting, I would call him the worst announcer I’ve ever seen. He is awful, his voice is grating, he doesn’t know shit, and all he did for a year was tear Daniel Bryan again and again and hurt his character. An announcer is there to call the play-by-play and add to the match, not take away from it or attack a superstar. Lawler is terrible, sure, but Cole adds not a DAMN thing in his commentary and I want him gone.

Jack Bramma: FACT. It pains me to say this because Cole is so bad and so mind-bogglingly annoying that I can’t fathom how he’s better than Lawler and yet he is. Playing a heel favors Cole lately and he defends the heels and their perspective way better than Lawler has done in years even before he became the minister of propaganda as Punk called him. When even the universally derided and awful Michael Cole is better at your job than you, it’s fair enough to admit that you’re the worst.

Score: 3 for 4

SWITCH!

5. WWE banning moves targeting the neck on their Saturday Morning Slam broadcast isn’t a big deal.

Jack Bramma: FACT. I’d call it a minor deal but not a big deal. WWE has had the “Please Don’t Try This at Home” ads for years so it is a bad sign that they’d feel the need to supplement that by banning certain moves, not for the protection of wrestlers, but for the message it sends kids. But it’s only on the Saturday Morning Slam show that everyone knows will exclusively be marketed toward kids. On RAW, Punk bladed and has faced no retribution so far and even the Triple H video package included old DX TV-14 stuff, so for those seeing this as a sign of the apocalypse, RAW still shows signs of its adult, teenager roots.

Michael Uphoff: FACT. I don’t think it makes that big a deal anyway, because not a lot of people are going to be watching the show as it stands. I know I won’t. I see why they are doing this, as it is an attempt to protect their superstars from needless injuries. It may seem dumb or stupid to others, but they don’t want to get superstars that are important and vital to other shows injured on a Saturday morning because one of the wrestlers botched a move that targeted the neck.

Score: 4 for 5

6. Samoa Joe will be revealed as part of the Aces & Eights.

Jack Bramma: FICTION. TNA tried this with Joe before with the Nation of Violence and that went nowhere and almost ended career. It is possible that it could be redone and succeed but TNA has never saw money in Joe as their guy — otherwise they wouldn’t have jobbed him out to Angle numerous times back in the mid 2000s. I’d still say smart money is on Roode, Storm, or maybe even Joseph Park being behind Aces & Eights.

Michael Uphoff: FICTION. I don’t really see him being part of Aces & Eights. It certainly is possible, but I just don’t see it happening. If he were to be a part, I would be happy, but Joe has been on a roll as of late as TNA has gotten wise and started to use him properly again. I wouldn’t mind seeing him as part of the group, but I think Aces & Eights is being used to get over new talent in TNA, so I don’t see Joe as part of the group. I will say that I stand a good deal of a chance of being wrong, and if I am, I’ll watch Joe do what he does best, which is kill bitches dead. Now I am contractually obligated to state that Kong kills bitches dead as well.

Score: 5 for 6

7. The Claire Lynch storyline was worthwhile.

Jack Bramma: FICTION. What ever happened to “I hate you, You hate me, let’s fight about it”? What ever happened to “I did it for the money”? What ever happened to “Screw the fans, I want the belt”? Whenever wrestling delves into these strange personal problem angles of accidental pregnancies, addictions, stalkers, etc. they almost never end well, this one included. At least it’s over now.

Michael Uphoff: FICTION. Oh my god, a billion times Fiction. Hell fucking no was this worthwhile. This piece of shit storyline did absolutely NOTHING for anyone involved. This absolutely killed any momentum that AJ Styles had been building in the Bound for Glory Series. The girl who played Claire Lynch was fucking awful, and Dixie Carter cannot cut a promo to save her life. This did nothing for Christopher Daniels and Kaz. Although Daniels and AJ had a phenomenal Last Man Standing match, they didn’t need to have this abysmal, abominable feud to have a match like that.

Score: 6 for 7

8. PWG Champion Kevin Steen will win the 2012 Battle of Los Angeles.

Jack Bramma: FICTION. There’s more money in Steen losing than in Steen winning. He may be PWG and ROH champ, but he still needs challengers and just like the tournament at Starrcade 89 to build up Sting or just an annual King of the Ring, this is the perfect opportunity to do that. Looking at the participants, there’s a strong argument that Davey could win seeing as he has heat from his recent shoot interview and walking out of an indie show. Davey challenging again could possibly turn him into a big heel and give him another run at the top. Adam Cole has some momentum since winning the ROH TV belt and having a good match with Kyle O’Reilly so he could interesting. An Elgin-Steen match could be incredible, and as always Generico-Steen is MOTY quality in the making. But all if not all of that goes by the wayside if Steen wins.

Michael Uphoff: FACT. This one required me to do a little bit of background research, and after doing so, I think that Kevin Steen will win the 2012 BOLA. He lost to El Generico in the finals last year, and his run as ROH Champion as well as PWG Champion has been nothing short of really good stuff. I don’t agree with ROH’s attempts to turn him heel, as nothing he does right now will get him booed by the fans. I could see maybe Richards or Strong winning this year as well, but I think that Steen is the favorite to win this year’s tournament.

Final Score: 6 for 8

Jack & Michael seem to agree on most things, but disagree when it comes to WWE announcers & Kevin Steen. Since I agree with Michael on both counts, I’m leaning towards him. What do you folks think? Go down in the comment section and chime in on these topics and your opinions of our opinions! Thanks to Michael & Jack for participating, and we’ll be back next week with more 411 Fact or Fiction!

Thoughts From The Man Cave: NFL Season Preview: Steve Cook joins the Man Cave to preview the upcoming NFL season in detail. We’ll look at all the teams, give our playoff picks, give our Super Bowl picks, and go out on some limbs. Cook will call the Steelers defense old, I’ll praise the Patriots offense, Cook will try and sell me on the Panthers winning the division, and much more. Plus we’ll make some friendly wagers at the end of the show. You can check out the show at this link, or via the player below…