Wrestling Fact Or Fiction
July 11, 2013

It’s that time again to do that crazy-ass “Fact Or Fiction” thing. Eight out of ten questions were “borrowed” from 411mania.com. The other two came from the dark trenches of my mind. And the answers? Who knows where they came from, but it’s probably a pretty wild place. Let’s do this…

1. Daniel Bryan will win the All-Star Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

FICTION: I think that Bryan has the most momentum going into the match, but will he win? The line-up is pretty strong and it’s really anyone’s match at this particular point. I’ll have to think on this and get back to everyone later today when I do that prediction column thing. Bryan is looking good right now though so he’s definitely one of the favorites.

2. Mark Henry should be WWE Champion after Money in the Bank.

FACT: He deserves it and would be a good champion. Cena doesn’t need the title. Give Mark Henry the ball and let’s see what he can do. It’s his time and that’s what he does.

3. The Wyatt Family made an impressive debut on Raw.

FACT: Almost said fiction because just coming out and beating someone up doesn’t necessarily ring out to me as a great debut usually. It happens too often to be special or stand out. But I’m liking the Bray Wyatt character and am very interested in seeing where the WWE goes with this. There’s a surreal creepiness to the “family” that is hard to ignore and beating up Kane is as good a start as any.

4. Brad Maddox will be a good Raw General Manager.

FACT: I almost said fiction to this one too because RAW hasn’t really had a good General Manager since the Eric Bischoff days, but Maddox is an interesting character and I see a lot of potential in him. This might be the role he needs to get over and become a major character for the WWE. Or he might suck. Only time will tell, but I’ve got faith in the boy, plus he’s a hottie so I’m willing to give him a chance and see how it goes. At least he’s not an anonymous e-mail coming in on a computer terminal.

5. The Gut Check Challenge is still viable even though most of the people involved in it are gone from TNA.

FACT: It’s an interesting concept and can be used to bring in new talent and give opportunities. TNA seems to have dropped the ball for now, but that’s not unusual for TNA – they do that often. Maybe with the right person, using this challenge as a reason to bring them in, they’ll finally get it right. The concept is interesting and unique and can be a strong part of Impact and getting some new and fresh faces in the company. Whether it actually works or not though is up to the TNA officials and writers.

6. Chris Sabin will defeat Bully Ray for the TNA Championship.

FICTION: Chris Sabin is a helluva talented wrestler and has great skills, but Bully Ray has been on the ball for a while now and I just can’t see TNA pulling the plug just yet on his reign. Also, when Ray does lose the belt, it’ll probably be to a bigger “name” wrestler. Sabin has the skills, but not the marketability and name recognition that TNA needs… Not yet.

7. Low Ki will return to a major wrestling promotion within a year.

FACT: It all depends on what you mean by a “major” wrestling promotion. I think he burned his bridges with TNA and WWE couldn’t do anything with him, but I consider ROH a major promotion and they would welcome him with open arms when he’s ready to return. And I also think that working overseas and in Japan is a viable option. He might not be a WWE Superstar or a TNA wrestler, but Low Ki is talented and he puts butts in the seats so when he decides to return from this “retirement”, the options are there for him and he’ll be a prominent force in the wrestling world again.

8. Holding a tournament is a good way for ROH to crown a new champion.

FICTION: Tournaments are cool until you realize that ROH is stretching this out over an extended period of time. Wrestling fans have very short attention spans and while this looks decent on paper, it sucks in reality. A one-night tournament would work better or even a Battle Royal and I’m surprised that ROH didn’t choose one of those two options first before deciding to stretch this out so long. A one-night event would have been, in my opinion, the best way to go.

9. TNA made the right choices in their releases last week?

FACT: Well, except for Joey Ryan and Crimson. What the hell were they thinking with releasing those two? Ryan is charisma personified and Crimson reminds me greatly of a younger John Cena. He’s got the look, the tools, the “it” factor, etc. Ryan will go back on the Indy scene (and maybe ROH if we’re lucky) and I’d expect to see Crimson in WWE sooner rather than later. He’s got what it takes and, along with the also released Matt Morgan, could be very formidable talents in that WWE ring. But with the exceptions of these guys, I think the rest of the releases were no big deal and justified. (And why does Brooke Hogan have a job?)

10. You are looking forward to the Money In The Bank pay-per-view on Sunday?

FACT: It’s a loaded card from top to bottom and I think it’s going to be one of the better pay-per-view events of the year. My predictions for the show will be coming up later today. I’m actually excited to see how things go this Sunday.

And there you go. That’s all for me right now. Back later with ppv predictions. Catch you on the flip side and as the great Baron Von Raschke would say, “and dat is all de’ people need to know!”. I’m outta here.

Ubuntu!