Welcome to another edition of my Thursday thrill and joy, it’s “Wrestling Fact or Fiction”. I’m Doug and what we do here is take a few statements and I simply tell you whether I agree or not.  Simple and to the point.  And I’ll also throw out a few random wrestling-related thoughts and answer a few of the questions I’ve come across on Facebook as well.  Sounds like a plan, right?  So let’s just jump right to it.

 

 

Some people that I’d like to see join Josh Matthews, Alex Riley and Booker T at the RAW pre-show discussion include Larry Zbyszko, X-Pac, Scott Hall, The Iron Sheik and Barry Windham.

 

Buff Bagwell is now working as a male escort.  I wonder if he takes Judy along on the dates?  

 

Vince is a certified billionaire again.  Hey Vince, I need a job.  Call me!

 

I believe that Mark Henry’s “House of Pain” has been shut down by Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman.  I hate that!

 

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems as if AJ Lee has been getting de-pushed by the WWE as of late.  She’s still the Divas Champion, but the spotlight seems to have vanished. The WWE isn’t punishing her for being CM Punk’s girlfriend, are they?  Nah, the powers-that-be in the WWE would NEVER be that petty, right?

 

Still hoping to see AJ defend the Divas Championship against Lita at the big show.  It’s just so obvious and would make for a great match.

 

Doesn’t the “Host” of WWE programming have the authority to make matches? I seem to remember on RAW a few dozen times that the guest host would end up booking matches for the show.  So by that standard, we could see the “Host of Wrestlemania XXX”, Hulk Hogan book and add matches to the show as well.  And he’s promised a big announcement on RAW on Monday night.  Hmmmmm.

 

Disco Inferno & Alex Wright versus Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay in a “Disco Ball On A Pole Match” at Wrestlemania XXX.  Book it Vince…

 

Almost two months in and my excitement at seeing Batista return to the WWE still hasn’t changed. He sucks!

 

You know what would be an awesome WWE Hall of Fame Class for next year (2015).  Several superstars, all well deserving, but with something else in common as well.  Picture this.  A Hall of Fame class consisting of Paul Heyman, Madusa, “The Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko, Ravishing Rick Rude (RIP),  and The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane and Dennis Condrey) w/ Jim Cornette.  Of course, this was the WCW Faction “The Dangerous Alliance”.  The missing members are “Stunning” Steve Austin and Arn Anderson, but they’re already in the Hall of Fame. Dennis Condrey would also fit into this category because he was part of Heyman’s AWA version of the “Dangerous Alliance”.  Wouldn’t it be cool to see this entire group inducted at the same time, plus the bonus of Jim Cornette and Stan Lane)?  I know that I’d love to see it!  Let’s do this column.  First we have my favorite slice of life. You ask and I answer.  It’s…

 

 

When you talk about Ric Flair and great rivalries, there are so many great names to choose from. The original “Hat versus The Robe” feud with Blackjack Mulligan.  The battles against Dusty Rhodes.  The battles in WCW against Sting.  The feud with Roddy Piper that started in the Carolinas and carried over to the WWE.  The real life issues with Bret Hart and Mick Foley.  The “I Quit” battle against Terry Funk.  The matches against Vader.  Even the matches against HHH or Shawn Michaels can be considered.  And all were above and beyond.  But the greatest would have to be the man who Flair faced night after night all through the late 70’s and early 80’s, for the best matches of that (and any) era. So many greats and so many damn good matches and feuds, but in my estimation, none are better than Ric Flair versus Ricky Steamboat. That is the feud and the matches that set the bar that still holds today.  ‘Nuff said!

 

 

So far as the impact they had on professional wrestling and their legacy, they’re definitely in the top five of all time.  So far as their actual skills in the ring goes, they weren’t really all that.  They were power personified and impressive to look at, but I think that The Midnight Express, The Rock & Roll Express, Arn & Tully, Ole & Gene Anderson, etc. were all better teams.

 

 

How about NWA World Tag Team Champions Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood against the Rock & Sock Connection (The Rock & Mick Foley)… lol.  That match would be fun to see.  Another would be The Russians (Ivan Koloff, Nikita Koloff and Krusher Kruschev) versus The Shield.  

 

 

(The) Future…

 

 

There are so many great names and talents that I could pick and would be thrilled to step into the ring against, but the ideal dream match for me would have to be against “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.  No matter how badly I sucked and was stinking up the ring, Flair would work with me and carry me, making me look like a future World Champion, before taking me to school and making me tap out via the figure four.  And that would be, in the words of The Miz, “AWESOME!”.

 

Here’s a couple of comic questions.  I like comics too… lol.

 

 

X-Men come and go pretty quickly in the comics, but my favorites of all time, the best of the best if you will, are Iceman, The Beast, Storm, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde and Northstar.

 

 

The best Avengers, in my opinion, were The Wasp, The Black Knight, Hercules, Hawkeye and Vision.  The worst were Triathlon, Starfox, Moon Knight, Darkhawk and Falcon.  And if I had my own “dream team” of Avengers that I’d like to see, it would have The Wasp as the chairman, with a team consisting of Captain America, Tigra, Hercules, Black Knight, Vision, Living Lightning, Hawkeye and Dr. Druid.  

 

And now, let’s get to the meat of the column, the reason that we’re here (or that I’m here anyhow).  Eight of these questions came from my friends over at 411mania.com/wrestling. The rest came from me.  And the answers are all me, myself and I.  Let’s do this…

 

FACT:  It was a damn good show and did a fantastic job of introducing NXT to the casual fans and the those who might not be too familiar with the developmental product.  It was a good mix of a few established “main roster” names combined with the NXT talent and it delivered on all fronts.  There were a few technical errors with the WWE Network which was kind of annoying, but that can’t be blamed on the talent.  It was a great way to start the WWE Network and a great push for NXT.  Good job by all involved.

 

FACT:  It doesn’t make sense to have so much of your company revolve around someone who isn’t even under contract.  What if MVP all of a sudden decided to just walk away and go back to Japan or make a trip up north to Stamford.  That would leave TNA up the creek without a paddle and there wouldn’t be anything they could do about it.  It’s just not smart business.

 

FICTION:  I don’t want to see Kurt Angle working a full schedule or on my TV destroying his body and legacy, but in a limited role, with good matches against others who are of the same level he is, I wouldn’t complain very much.  Angle is too broken down to wrestle full time and TNA doesn’t really seem to know how to effectively use him anymore, if they ever did.  WWE, as they proved with RVD and Chris Jericho, would space out the appearances and make Angle appear larger than life once more.  Angle deserves one last run.

 

FACT:  It’s pretty much all that everyone is talking about this week and 95% of the comments I’ve heard have been positive. I think that would count as a success.

 

FACT:  I hope that we’re wrong and we see Punk jumping the barrier at RAW on Monday, but as each day passes, it’s becoming more and more obvious that Punk isn’t coming back any time soon.  I expect we’ll see him back at some point for another run with the company, but time is quickly running out to be a part of Wrestlemania XXX and if he doesn’t return within the next week or so, it’ll probably be too late.

 

FACT:  Emma and Paige wrestled and put on a very good match.  Women that can actually wrestle?  What a novel idea that is.  It would be great to see more of that, especially on the main roster.  They (WWE) once had a strong Womens Division with stars like Lita, Ivory, Trish, Molly, Luna, Jazz, Jacqueline and even Sable.  It’d be nice to see that happen again.

 

FICTION:  I don’t see how the WWE can avoid it at this point.  It’s not really a case of “If”, but more like “how”.

 

FACT:  Nobody can work a crowd like Heyman, getting the points and message across and making the fans want more.  Punk is the same way, but I guess we can’t really say he’s in wrestling right now because of his “taking a sabbatical” status.  Bray Wyatt is extremely strong as well with his promos.  But without a doubt, of the current WWE active roster, Heyman is the man who sets the bar.

 

FACT:  There are so many great talents in the WWE right now that look like they might not have a chance to be a part of the big show due to the booking and allowing time for the main event matches.  This is easily rectified by bringing back what was a Wrestlemania tradition and having a “Money In The Bank” match as part of the show. That would allow 8 -10 superstars to have their spot and moment of glory, while also providing the fans with another great and exciting match.

 

FACT:  To deflect any potential hijacking of the show, the WWE started off with a swerve and Paul Heyman and followed up with a fast paced show, lots of great matches and plenty of excitement and action.  The CM Punk chants were there and the Chicago crowd made their presence felt, but it was the WWE’s show and they maintained control for the entire night, putting on a really good show in the process.

 

FICTION:  No doubt that it will be an excellent match, but HHH versus Bryan just doesn’t do it for me at this point.  The build has been almost too much and dragged on for too long with The Authority cutting the legs out from Bryan at every turn and while I’m trying to keep up my interest in their feud, I find it more annoying than interesting.  It’ll be a good match and hopefully we’ll see HHH do the “right thing”, but I’d rather see them blow their feud off at RAW and let Bryan be in the title match instead of having to wrestle HHH.

 

FACT:  Absolutely.  I was expecting Ambrose to be the one who bails first and if not him, then maybe Reigns.  Seth seemed to be the glue for the whole Shield machine and having Rollins take a walk was a great swerve.  Kudos to the WWE for that.

 

FACT:  He’s the “Show Stopper”, the “Main Event”, and “Mr. Wrestlemania”.  He won’t be wrestling, but it wouldn’t be right to have Wrestlemania XXX without Shawn involved in a match on the card somewhere.  I’m guessing probably “Special Referee” for HHH versus Daniel Bryan.  That’s the most obvious spot although I’m sure that many ideas have been tossed around backstage for different roles.  He’ll be there in some way, some where, and some how. 

 

FACT:  Yep! ‘Nuff said!

 

FICTION:  In a perfect world, he would never have been “fired” or “retired” or whatever the case may be.  But this is not a perfect world and as the lead announcer for the WWE television, Jim Ross is the past and the WWE has moved on.  Right now, the best role for Ross is doing spots on the DVD releases and acting as the occasional guest announcer or advisor for NXT.  Ross has moved on to do pod-casts, blogs, the one-man show, write for Fox and of course, sell his BBQ sauce.  He doesn’t need the WWE and is best served by maintaining a friendly relationship, but staying independent and being his own man.  The past is the past and both Ross and WWE have decided to embrace the future, which is how it should be.

 

And that’s going to be it for me today. I’ll be back on Monday with a Raw recap and the next edition of pro-wrestling’s most eclectic wrestling column, “Tossing Salt – Worldwide News” on Tuesday.  Thanks for reading.  Feedback can be sent to my e-mail at Doug28352@yahoo.com or reach me at Facebook at facebook.com/saltpalace.  And I can’t think of anything else so I’ll catch you on the flip side.  Have a great day.

 

Ubuntu!