Tossing Salt Presents: Wrestling Fact or Fiction
April 9, 2017

Are you ready to talk some wrestling? It’s time to do that “Fact or Fiction” thing and the world of Sports Entertainment is the name on the Marquee. No questions from 411mania.com this week, but instead from the inner realms of my own sick and twisted mind. And the answers, that’s all me too. Let’s do it.

Anthem is on the right track to make Impact Wrestling better and stronger.

FICTION: Anthem so far, has made Dixie Carter look like a geuius by comparison. Let the Hardys walk and then try to sue them for the “Broken World” that Matt, Reby and Jeff created. Let Drew McIntyre leave when he was really starting to catch on and become something bigger than ever. The only thing that Anthem has done well so far is not bring back Vince Russo, but I’d probably be better to not even mention that because it might give someone in Anthem an idea. I do like that Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantell are back in power and running the creative end of things. That’s good, but the in-ring product was never the problem for Impact anyhow. It was the business side of things and perception and it was bad to start with and now, with Anthem at the helm, it’s gotten even worse.

Kurt Angle was the right choice to replace Mick Foley as the General Manager of RAW.

FACT: While I personally would have preferred to see Eric Bischoff or even Jim Cornette given the role of the General Manager of RAW, it was in the cards for Kurt, fresh off his induction to the WWE Hall of Fame. Kurt is a major name who can do serious or comedy at the drop of a hat and has the respect of everyone in the business. He brings so much to the table for the WWE and it’s great to see him back home where he belongs. And did you know he won a gold medal with a broken freakin’ neck? It’s true, it’s damn true.

You are looking forward to the “Superstar Shake-up” this coming week in the WWE.

FACT: It’s time for some shuffling around of the rosters, creating some new matches and changing the personalities of each brand in just the slightest way. Will AJ Styles go to RAW and reunite with The Club? Will Charlotte go to Smackdown and have new feuds with Natayla and Becky? Will the Smackdown tag team division, long ignored and forgotten by Creative, be given new life and energy with matches like New Day versus Usos or American Alpha against The Revival. Will Luke Harper finally get a singles push away from the influence and shadow of Bray Wyatt? Will we get to see a match with Bray versus Kevin Owens (which would be awesome by the way). It’s lots of trades designed to refresh and shake things up. Anything can happen and it should be fun.

Jim Cornette will become a very familiar face on the WWE Network in the months to come.

FACT: After a long exile from the WWE, it seems as if things have come full circle and long time critic / wrestling manager icon and legend Jim Cornette and the WWE have finally kissed and made up. Cornette was brought in to do the Hall of Fame Induction for the Rock & Roll Express and contrary to popular belief, hell did not freeze over. Cornette was given a live mic and behaved himself, being articulate and classy, but still totally 100% Cornette. It looks as if that bridge has been mended and Cornette even managed to work AXXESS and film an episode of Table for Three (with Eric Bischoff and Michael Hayes) for the Network. Now things seem on track to include Cornette and the Midnight Express into the Hall of Fame in the future and Cornette has openly stated that he had a great time in Orlando and would be open to working with the WWE on different projects for The Network if they’d like. WWE would be crazy to turn down the opportunity to work with someone who has the history, the knowledge and the insight that Cornette brings to the table and since everyone is getting along at the moment, I think we’ll be seeing a lot of cooperation between the two sides. It’s great for both parties, the fans and everyone involved and definitely best for business.

Now is a good time to bring up the talent from NXT to the main roster.

FICTION: I’m not opposed to bringing up talents from NXT, but just this week, we have Shinsuke, The Revival and Tye Dillinger. This is right on top of the return of Finn Balor, The Hardy Boys and Kurt Angle as the RAW GM. That’s a lot of new names immediately thrust into the main rosters which are already bloated and full of people being ignored and not used. If these new guys are here, who gets moved to the bottom of the roster and ignored? I think it works better to bring in the new guys one at a time over a period of time so there isn’t so much craziness and change at one time. WWE Creative isn’t that good that they can multitask and work with so many talents so while the focus will be on all of the new faces, the old faces like American Alpha, The Usos, Heath Slater, Dolph, Miz, etc, will all be ignored and wasted. That’s not a good thing at all.

Aaron Rex (Damion Sandow) was correct in his decision to leave Impact Wrestling.

FACT: Sandow went immediately from making a small blip on the radar screen to being an afterthought, if even that. He says he has other options with wrestling, acting and other things and if that’s the case, better to step back from Impact and pursuing those other options instead. Impact is a sinking ship that might manage to stay afloat, but for someone like Sandow, he’s probably better to avoid that mess and concentrate on a possible return to NXT or WWE in the future instead. F*ck the Owl!

Paige will be released from the WWE within the next year.

FACT: It’s just a matter of time. Two wellness violations, one immediately following the other. That won’t do it, but then add the sex tape scandal. That won’t do it either and it shouldn’t. But when those two things are added to the antics of Paige and her fiance Alberto Del Rio, especially after his drunken online rant a few days ago about the WWE and personal attacks on HHH, that just might be the final straw. If it was just Del Rio, no problem, but he seems to have brought out the “totally stupid” for Paige with his influence and she’s just sticking right there with him, not saying anything herself, but her mere presence with Del Rio is a huge embarassment to the company. When someone keeps being dumb, there will be consequences and Paige seems to just want to be released. If she wasn’t recovering from an injury, she would have been gone already. If things don’t change and she doesn’t get her crap together, we’ll never see her wrestle in a WWE ring again. I think we’re heading towards that point already.

Mojo Rawley was the right person to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania.

FICTION: I get it that the WWE wanted to use the “Gronk connection” and get some mainstream publicity and that’s all well and good, but was Mojo really the best choice to win? Big Show busted his ass all year to get in shape for what will probably be his last Wrestlemania and when the match with Shaq fell through, he was stuck into the Battle Royal and given the shaft with an early exit. Braun Strowman was supposed to be an unstoppable monster and was the favorite to win, but he was quickly shown the door as well. Bo Dallas was my pick to win and he didn’t. Sami Zayn could actually use the push and is over with the fans in a big way, but he was ignored. And the two final guys were Mojo and Jinder Mahal? What the hell was WWE thinking? I’m happy for Mojo and I hope this does something for his career, but there were so many other ways the WWE could have gone with this Battle Royal and so many other guys who would have been better served with a victory here. Mojo winning was not what I would say is best for business. Not by a longshot.

You were surprised to see Matt and Jeff Hardy return to the WWE at Wrestlemania.

FICTION: Not really. We all knew that once they left Impact, it was just a matter of time before they popped back up in the WWE and since they were in Orlando, having already wrestled for Wrestlecon and ROH on Friday and Saturday nights, what better way to make it a trifecto and do WWE and Wrestlemania on Sunday too. The only question was would they debut on Sunday or wait until Monday at RAW or Tuesday at Smackdown. Now we know. Still, it was a tremendous pop from the crowd and a great surprise. It’s great to see Matt and Jeff back home in the WWE where they belong. And f*ck the owl!

The Undertaker will remain retired and not return to action in the future.

FACT: So far as in the ring goes, we have seen the last of the “Dead Man”. I think that we’ll see Taker come back at some point to take his rightful spot in the WWE Hall of Fame and we may even see him eventually on the Network maybe with an interview or giving thoughts and opinions on matches and superstars. But will there be “one more match” in Taker’s future? Nope. It’s not going to happen.

And there you go. One more in the books. Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you later, Alligator. Have a great one.

Ubuntu!