Welcome back to the latest edition of 411 Fact or Fiction, Wrestling Edition! Stuff happened, people loved/hated it and let everyone else know. I pick through some main talking points of WWE Fastlane, plus a totally random bonus question, and let two persons - NFWWG (Nameless Former WWE Writer Guy) and wrestling columnist Chai Mo - discuss them for your pleasure.
1. I am looking forward to the era of Bàlor Club in Raw tag division. Since the change of regime, both tag divisions have been quite horrible. SmackDown’s is virtually non-existent, in Raw the straps have been playing second fiddle to ‘more important’ storylines. I see Bálor Club finally bringing stability and focus we haven’t seen since New Day’s heyday, all three are reliable workers and Bàlor needs a platform to build on for his second debut in the main roster.
Chai Mo: FICTION. Bàlor Club is a mind-boggling move, both for the individuals and the division, especially with the out-of-nowhere announcement that the other teams are now disbanded. The stable just ties Finn down and I don’t see him mashing with the Doctors, gimmick which I hope won’t now be dropped. Much has been said about the current regime but to me it’s very vintage WWE that when BiHive was finally recovering from over-exposure and gaining real interest and momentum, they just throw it away. Thanks a lot, Vince.
2. Having Mick Foley not really wrestle was the right call. The man just shouldn’t, and can’t, wrestle anymore. This was as good as it gets, and even though I’m by no means a fan of such violence, the spot with the sickle showed Foley still takes the sickest bumps if he’s called upon.
Chai Mo: FICTION. I’d say in any other show, this would’ve been fine and acted as shocker. Rusev needed get over clearly and this was powerful in achieving that. But you can’t take one match out of its context and rate it in a vacuum, especially when what we have here was really a segment. In a show where they already were lacking in-ring action, they shouldn’t had advertised something they couldn’t deliver.
3. I’m excited for the huge CM Punk return. The problem, it didn’t feel huge at all. They really missed the mark here. But at least Phil is very vocal about what he likes and what he doesn’t, so I hope he’ll bring some sense to the creative, at least for his own role… Then again, I can’t imagine him pitching this kind of comeback himself.
Chai Mo: FICTION. 100 % agreed. Regimes may change, but it’s comforting to have some consistency - WWE still really knows how to fuck up golden opportunities.
4. Roman Reigns working a midcard program in WrestleMania is best for business. No, no, no. It really pains me to see what they did to Roman, like they were the worst know-it-all internet smarks, saying Roman can’t wrestle and yadda yadda. All the work we did to make Roman strong, and for what… He’s the best wrestler they have, the kids love him, he should be the centerpiece. Idiots. The silver lining seems to be, at least Cesaro’s going somewhere. There’s a humble, great guy. Surprised he isn’t a ballet dancer or something already.
Chai Mo: FACT. This one was the hardest yet and I was little undecided. But then I remembered how the main event of last WrestleMania was, especially live, the crowd just shat on Reigns. I don’t think he deserves it, but that’s the way world sometimes spins, and I think it’s good for him too not to take the spotlight for a change.
Besides, who even cares about Roman when this question could’ve been about MONSTER TRUCKS? There’s some absurd, crazy and great stuff I could’ve never imagined I’d see in WWE, say, only 3 months ago.
NFWWG: Yeah, I heard Ken Titus is behind this one - he used to be a 90s mark already back when I knew him, spent his weekends watching and reviewing old PPVs. Guess he finally found a channel to work through those traumas.
Chai Mo: THANK GOD HE DID.
SWITCH!
5. The Neville could be the breakout star of 2017. There’s a handful of guys who I consider have benefitted from the change in creative and The Neville has to shine the brightest. I was a huge fan of the stuff I’d seen from PAC before he joined the ranks of NXT, but in main roster he got lost in the shuffle pretty fast - there just didn’t seem to be slot for these super athletes (pun intended) like Neville and Apollo Crews in the 2016 WWE landscape. The superhero gimmick sounds really corny on paper but somehow Neville, who wasn’t known to be the greatest showman before, has made the most out of it.
NFWWG: FACT. Vince is all about selling emotion and with my soap opera background, I totally agree with him. Neville didn’t evoke emotion before, no offense, so we concentrated on those who did. I have to be humble enough to take this as a learning point - even with ‘reality era’ and social media, sometimes more is more, like with The Neville or the Hardys in Impact. For all the bashing I give them, the new guys have treated Neville and Rusev better than we ever did - and probably we wouldn’t have raised Cedric Alexander to such heights either, presuming that he eventually comes back with the momentum.
6. Women are main eventing the show for the biggest title, so Women’s Revolution hasn’t been forgotten - on the contrary, it has only evolved to new heights. This statement has to be a joke, right? I like some of the edgier stuff, but the main event scene of Raw, it has just been plainly stupid since Nia won the title. Her inclusion in the Royal Rumble title match still made some sense to me, but this…
NFWWG: FICTION. The fact that the women’s division is a mess doesn’t surprise me with those 13-year-old minds pulling the strings, no. The fact that they’ve destroyed the main event, that they don’t follow the money but some straight-out-of-fanfiction-’funny’ joke, that isn’t a shock either. But even I, knowing Ed Leaves, knowing O’Birch, hearing stories about the younger guys, even with this knowledge I never thought those two would become the same thing in the process. Luckily there’s still SmackDown, or at least some parts of it. Wait, Kane’s the champ now, nevermind.
7. The Big Show deserves it. I don’t think I would’ve said this still a year ago but yes, the Big Show winning the Rumble and going to Mania has turned out to be such a great ‘cindarella story’. I think it has to do with how it’s tied with reality: the fact that he’s been such a good company soldier for all these years, always near the top but never really had that Mania moment; he’s looked so motivated and lost all that weight; and the man who used to flip sides more often than an average joe changes his sheets has quickly become the best face the company has. The guy’s worked his ass off, is in the best shape of his career, putting in mic work that’s there with the very top - yes, the Big Show deserves it.
NFWWG: FICTION. I sort of get what Mo and many others are saying but the numbers don’t lie: at 45 years old, Paul Weight shouldn’t be pushed as the centerpiece of the show, let alone win the prestigious Rumble. With the titles going through inflation, with the Undertaker nearing his end and driving a monster truck instead of wrestling, the Rumble is one of the few last big accolades that really matter, that you can use to elevate new talent. And you can give me the BS (no pun intended) of me being a hypocrite that we always brought those part-timers to main event this time of the year, well guess what, at least they were bona fide megastars, guys that deliver crowd reactions and subscriptions. And they’re part-time, whereas from what I read, Show is going to be no-time come end of summer. Big Show is a great guy, he really is, but as a superstar he’s B+. And there’s nothing wrong with that, few make that level. For him, they could’ve easily given the honorary run with title during the quiet summer season and I would’ve been ok with that, but this is Mania season, and for that, he isn’t the right fit.
Chai Mo: I hope you get grabbed by a huge mechanical claw for saying that.
8. BONUS: Aliens is a better movie than Alien. Interesting statement, one of my favourites from the movie world to analyze! To keep it short, I prefer Alien but think the whole comparison is off, they represent different genres and both are at the very top of their respective styles. So it comes to preference of overall style, and there spine-chilling, slow-burning horror does it a tad better for me than sci-fi action (horror). James Cameron truly is the man of great sequels - maybe he can even make Avatar 2 not suck?
NFWWG: FACT. If you’ve read my opinions before, you probably know I’m not a fan of exaggerated violence in wrestling and that mirrors my taste of entertainment as a whole. So I can’t say I’m big into horror movies but I’ve seen this classic franchise nonetheless, so I’ll go with fact. At least of Aliens, you have the cleaned-up theatrical version. Of the whole series, Alien 3 is probably my favorite.
Chai Mo: You’re not real.[/font]
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