How’s it going, my friends?  It’s time again for your Thursday afternoon guilty pleasure, the infamous “Tossing Salt Presents:  Wrestling Fact Or Fiction” column.  And along with that little piece, we’ve got the always fun “One On One” bit and just a couple of questions to round things out.  Time is short right now, just like an ex of mine, so I’m going to can the chit-chat and just get to getting things done, okay?  Okay-doke.  

 

Happy Birthday to one-half of one of North Carolina’s greatest independent wrestling tag teams, B.D. Productions, the one and only Brad Branson.  Hope you have a great day and much continued success in that squared circle.  By the way, bring back BDTV.  Happy Birthday Bro…

 

And now, let’s go…

 

 

“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…

 

 

A few days ago, Mick Foley sent out a tweet that said, “I think @WWEBrayWyatt may be a #BetterMankindThanMankind. Awesome stuff from a modern master of the microphone. #Raw”  And that got me to thinking… who would win in a match between these two men, Mick Foley, as Mankind and the leader of the Wyatt Family, Bray Wyatt.  

 

Just imagine the promos leading up to this match.  That would probably be the most exciting part, building the anticipation.  The match itself would be a clinic in brutality.  Neither man seems to feel pain and it would be totally smash-mouth and hard-hitting. Wyatt has the size and strength advantage in my opinion and probably the endurance advantage too.  And Mankind… Foley just had most foes psyched out long before the bell ever rang. Plus I think I’d give Foley the advantage in actual wrestling moves, although he rarely uses them.  But then again, Wyatt is a third generation superstar so he’s been around the business since birth.  Bray hasn’t really had that many singles matches in the WWE to really go by and judge from so it’s all purely speculation.

 

Both men would go all out and it would probably go all over the arena, with lots and lots of shenanigans and plunder involved.  At this point in his career, compared to where Foley was during the Mankind era,  it would be one helluva match and I think the edge, although very slight, would go to Foley.  And when the smoke cleared and the dust settled and the blood was all wiped away, my gut instinct tells me that Mick Foley, aka “Mankind” would be the man to get that arm raised and take that trip to the pay-window.  

 

 

And now, let’s go to the mailbag and answer a couple of questions…

 

 

There were so many great feuds that come to mind when I think about WCW including The Horsemen versus Sting, Flair versus Terry Funk, The Midnight Express versus The Rock & Roll Express, Flyin’ Brian versus Kevin Sullivan, Zbyszko versus Lord Steven Regal, Hollywood Blondes (Austin & Pillman) versus Flair and Arn, etc.  It was a great time for wrestling fans. But the two that stand out most for me and I consider my “favorites” are the Larry Zbyszko versus Scott Hall moments on Nitro.  I remember Hall and Zbyszko from their AWA days and their rivalry just worked so well for the times.  And the other is Kevin Sullivan versus Chris Benoit. That “Falls Count Anywhere” match they had was absolute brutality and then, when you take into account the actual behind the scenes stories and situations between these two men (and Woman), it just made it that much more intense and incredible.  I saw a lot of great matches and feuds in WCW, but in my eyes, those two were the best.

 

 

In my mind, for a faction to work, you should have at least four men and maybe a female as well with one wrestler to focus on the main singles title, one to focus on the secondary title, and one to primarily be a tag team.  But make sure that all of your wrestlers are good enough to switch roles as the need may be.  And with that in mind, my “faction” would consist of my tag team, Chris Masters and Carlito, my secondary singles guy in Rob Conway, my primary singles guy in Mark Jindrak and Lisa Marie Varon, aka “Victoria” as my Diva.  And I’d try to find a proper manager / spokesman to represent the group.  My pick for that role, if available, would be Stevie Richards.

 

And there you go.  Now let’s move on to the meat of the column.  It must time for that Fact Or Fiction thing I do so well….

 

 

As usual, the questions come from my friends at 411mania.com/wrestling.  And the answers?  That comes from me.

 

FACT:  Before that epic beatdown (and the added stipulation by HHH that if he wins, he’ll be in the title match), my anticipation for the match between Bryan and HHH was somewhat bleh!  It’ll be a good match, Bryan needs to win, yada yada yada.  But I just couldn’t really get into it. And now, after watching HHH dominate and destroy Bryan, even though it ran a bit long, I want to see HHH get his ass kicked.  And I want to see Stephanie get her ass kicked even more. I wonder if there’s a Diva that’s affiliated with Bryan that could step up and do the job?  Hmmmmm.  It did what it needed to do and changed my mild interest into something major.  A great job by the WWE and all parties involved.

 

FICTION:  If their prior track record is any indication, they’ll focus and then drop it, like they do everything else.  TNA has some strong women performers and it’d be nice to see them get some attention and time in the sun, but TNA has to concentrate first on their overall product and the problems there. They’re losing money, unable to gain any new viewers and the story-lines are confusing at best and totally screwy the rest of the time.  I’d like to see the Knockouts get some credit due and get to see some great action with Love, Brittany, Gail Kim, Rayne, etc.  But in the laundry list of the things that TNA needs to do, there are many other things that have to take priority first.

 

FICTION:  It would be nice and I would have no objections if he did win, but Cesaro is getting over pretty strongly right now and doesn’t need to win. Just so long as he looks strong and has a good showing, that will be more than enough.

 

FICTION:  He’s good and that entrance is great, but the coolest? I’ll stick with The Wyatts for that honor.

FICTION:  From the reports that I’ve seen, they’re paying $300,000 to run these events and let’s be real here.  If the stories we’ve been hearing about pay cuts, paychecks being late, medical bills not paid, low attendance at house shows, and the other problems are even half true, then why blow that much money?  They probably won’t even break even and this is not a time for TNA to throw money away and take dumb risks that probably won’t pan out.  And in my opinion, I don’t see how this can work to their advantage. It just doesn’t make sense.

FACT:  He was a huge part of Wrestlemania I and Wrestlemania II.  If any celebrity deserves a spot in the “Celebrity Wing”, Mr. T should have been the first one to be inducted.  Well, maybe Cyndi Lauper should have been first, but Mr. T is right there with her.  This should have happened years ago and is very long overdue.

 

FACT:  New faces are good and essential to the product, but old faces, especially those as skilled and talented as Daniels and Kazarian are what brings in the older fans and are too damn good to be overlooked or forgotten about. The new kids need older talents to show them the ropes, mentor them and give them that rub to help the fans connect.  Daniels and Kaz are two of the best in the business and can serve in so many roles in TNA, both in the ring and behind the scenes.  For TNA to cut them from the roster is not only wrong, it’s also a damn disgrace.

 

And with that, I think I’m finished for the day.  Questions and comments can be sent to Doug28352@yahoo.com.  Or you can come visit me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/saltpalace. Thank you for reading.  I’m Doug and I am out of here.  Have a great week and don’t forget to support your local Indy wrestling company.  That is the future. Take it sleazy and I’ll catch you on the flip side.

 

Ubuntu!