Welcome to your favorite Thursday morning guilty pleasure.  I’m Doug and this is what we at Tossing Salt Media, Inc call “Wrestling Fact Or Fiction”.  It’s where I take a look at several statements related to the worlds greatest sport and / or pop psychology and simply state if I agree or not and explain why.  I’ve also moved the “One On One” segment from my other column, “Tossing Salt – Worldwide News”, to here as well.  And of course, I answer reader questions. It’s a full load to be sure and let’s just jump right to it, shall we?  But of course. So here we go.

 

This column is dedicated to the memory of William T. White III (December 13, 1966 – March 12, 2014) – Rest In Peace, my friend.

 

 

“One On One” is where I take a wrestler from days gone by and match them up against one of the stars of today. It’s fantasy wrestling at it’s best as I analyze and ponder who would win a match if these people, in their primes, were to face each other “One On One”. Let’s do this…

 

 

Mark Henry is legitimately one of the world’s strongest, if not the strongest man. Yokozuna was just plain big as hell. It’s a battle of the big men that I’ve often wondered about. I don’t think that they (Henry and Yoko) ever actually faced each other in the ring.  Henry is in much better shape and could definitely last longer.  Yoko has the weight advantage (easily), but unless he can trap Henry into a small area to wear him down or gets very lucky, he’s not going to be able to do much against a man as solid as Mark.  If Yoko hopes to win, he’d have to do it within the first five minutes or so or else the body would break down, the breath would be gone and he would essentially be immobile.  If Yoko didn’t get that advantage early, I’m sure that Henry would just end up overpowering the former WWF Champion and end up securing a win.

 

 

Just think about this match.  A legit Olympic Gold Medalist taking on one of the most respected (and legit tough) men of his era.  Angle versus Harley would be a dream match for anyone.  Angle has the definite grappling advantage with his amateur background.  And working with injuries doesn’t seem to affect Angle either. He’s like a robot or super-man.  And Harley, what can you say about this man and how truly good (and dangerous) he is in that ring.  A legitimate shooter, Harley is not the type of man to back away from any fight or challenge and he always comes in expecting to win.  If these two men were to fight in a bar, it would be a brawl for the ages and I have no doubt that in a legit fight, Harley would end up laying Kurt out.  However, in the ring, where the goal is to make your opponent submit or pin them for the three count, the advantage would go to the wrestler over the brawler, even if it is Harley Race. Push comes to shove, I think that Kurt would end up coming out on top (just barely).

 

 

Early in their careers, a young upstart named Scott Hall was teamed up with an equally young, but far more seasoned Curt (not quite perfect) Hennig.  They were an effective and quality team that had a nice reign as the AWA World Tag Team Champions.  Ryback and Curtis Axel, after being brought together as a couple of “Paul Heyman Guys”, have seen their singles pushes flounder and vanish, but they’ve become a stable and strong force in the WWE’s tag team division.  Strength-wise, I think that Ryback and the young powerhouse Hall would match up very well against each other.  Ryback might have a slight edge, but I think Hall, at that point in his career, was the better in-ring wrestler and not quite as botchy.  Curt Hennig was a phenomenal performer just coming into his own at this point, much like Curtis Axel, who just happens to be Curt’s son, is doing now. Curt had more personality and charisma than his son does, but I think Axel is technically better in the ring at this point of his career than Curt was during his early AWA days.  On teamwork, I think the edge would go to Rybaxel.  On endurance and ability to absorb punishment, it has to go to Hall and Curt.  And though this match could easily swing either way due to any number of circumstances, I think that in the end, it would be evolution making the difference and the stronger, faster, more athletic stars of today winning a hard fought battle and getting their arm raised in victory.

 

 

Now, let’s move on to that little thing called…

 

 

There are so many “cool” bad guys from that era, but the “coolest” has to be “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.  He was being cheered by the Mid-Atlantic fans regardless of what he did or who he did it to, long before being the “tweener” became the fashion.  Flair would regularly appear on both the “Most Hated” and “Most Popular” ratings for all the Apter-mags, often on both lists in the same issue. Flair was a lying, sneaky, two-faced snake, but he was so good at it, everyone wanted to be him and loved him anyhow.  Diamonds are forever and so is Ric Flair.

 

 

Where do you start with this?  It could be Slaughter when he alligned with Iraq during the Gulf War. It could be HHH when he did the Katie Vick angle or when he drugged and married Stephanie.  It could be Heidenreich with his “man-rape” of Michael Cole. How about Vince McMahon and his “Dr. Heiney” skit.  The Mae Young romance with “Sexual Chocolate” was pretty controversial, especially with the birth of “Hand”.  Muhammed Hassan and that whole “terrorist” deal.  And that’s only just barely scratching the surface of the craziness and sometimes stupidity that runs rampant in the world of sports-entertainment.  But the worst one, in my opinion, that I found the most offensive and make me ready to give up on the WWE was when Vince McMahon booked the tag team match with himself and Shane against HBK and “God”.  That was sacrilegious and offensive to so many people. What the hell was Vince thinking?  

 

 

I think I would rather see a “Money In The Bank” match instead, but battle royals are cool and if I remember correctly, Wrestlemania II featured a huge battle royal featuring wrestlers and NFL stars.  So it fits the legacy of Wrestlemania, it’s a nice way to honor Andre the Giant, and it gives pretty much everyone on the roster (except for probably Zack Ryder and JTG) an opportunity to get that big bonus check and appear on the show.  So while it wouldn’t be my choice of matches, I have no objections.

 

 

Absolutely.  Disco Inferno made me realize that there’s nothing wrong with being a “dancing fool” sometimes.  Captain Lou made me realize that being slightly out of your mind can be a good thing and you don’t have to always cover the fat belly up.  Irwin R. Schyster taught me to always be sure to pay my taxes.  And finally, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin taught me the biggest lesson of all.  “D.T.A.”…  

 

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

 

Fact:  At this point, if the WWE doesn’t allow Bryan to win the title and close Mania, they’re going to have a huge backlash on their hands. If they thought the booing and jeers at the end of the Royal Rumble were bad, just imagine what having Batista win the title at Wrestlemania would be.  It’s Daniel Bryan’s time and I think that we all, including the powers that be in the WWE, all know it.

 

Fiction:  Who?  He got the big push from WWE and helped Donald Trump shave Vince’s head. Then, the glow seemed to dim and his push seemed to fade away. He left the WWE and few even noticed. He’s back in wrestling and in TNA and even fewer seem to care. If TNA is looking for names with some kind of unique appeal or mainstream recognition, there are many, many, many others who should have been called first.  Lashley wasn’t anything significant in the WWE and he won’t be in TNA either.

 

Fact:  I like the “Money In The Bank” match and it gives us a chance to see 7 – 10 guys do their thing and get spotlighted.  But that being said, if we’re NOT getting the MITB match, then I guess a Battle Royal is the next best thing. There’s a legacy thing here with a Battle Royal being one of the highlights of Wrestlemania II and it’s a nice way to pay homage to Andre the Giant. So while I’d prefer the match, I won’t complain about the Battle Royal.  It might turn out to be fun.

 

Fact:  The fans are not showing up and the money for talent and production costs seems to be getting smaller and smaller. It doesn’t look good at all and unless TNA can catch lightning in a bottle and find that “must-see” talent or story-line, it’s just going to keep getting worse.  The writing seems to be on the wall.

 

Fiction:  There’s still time for it to happen and I expect that we’ll probably see both titles defended in some capacity.  I hope so anyhow.

 

Fiction:  There’s not any one thing that can be blamed for TNA’s problems. Instead, it’s a combination of all those things.  Bad writing and stories.  The wrong talent being pushed and pushes starting and stopping without any kind of consistency.  Matches with crazy stipulations that don’t make sense, angles that don’t make sense, team-ups and alliances that don’t make sense, etc.  There’s so much wrong with TNA in so many ways, that the blame has to be shared by everyone.

 

Fact:  Yep!  They’re both great talents with a lot to offer the WWE.  I’d sign them in a flash.

 

Fact:  Well, I’m still waiting on the returns of Ivory, Juvi and that Punk guy, plus the WWE debut of Disco Inferno, but aside from those things, the card is starting to shape up and looks like it will be pretty good. The WWE is good about making the Wrestlemania event worth watching each and every year, even when the build is lackluster or second rate.  It’s going to be a fun and exciting afternoon for us fans.  Of that, I have no doubt.

 

And on that note, I am out of here Peeps.  Questions, comments, etc can be sent to my e-mail at Doug28352@yahoo.com.  Come visit me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/saltpalace.  Thank you for reading and I’ll see you again on Tuesday with the “Tossing Salt” column.  Take it sleazy!

 

Ubuntu!