Tossing Salt Presents:
Wrestling Fact or Fiction
Cody, Sami, and The Royal Rumble
February 12, 2023
DougMaynard.com

Welcome to Wrestling Fact or Fiction. This is where I take a look at six statements, provided by Mr. Jake Chambers of 411mania.com/wrestling, and decide if it’s right or wrong. Do I agree? Maybe not, and then explain why. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Are you ready? Let’s do this/

Statement #1: The audience will turn on Cody Rhodes before Wrestlemania.

FICTION: It’s really hard to say, one way or the other, given how fickle wrestling fans tend to be, but I think Cody is fairly safe, at least for the next two months or so. Yes, the fans are all into Sami right now, but Cody is really on a roll right now as well and so long as he remains loyal in his support of Sami while building his case against Roman, the fans will stay connected to both men as the story plays out. I think we’ll end up with Sami and Kevin Owens having the moment and winning the tag team titles against The Usos while Cody takes on Roman, two big moments for the price of one, at Mania. After Mania ends, who knows what the fans will do, but at least up until then, Cody should be safe and good to go.

Statement #2: Sami Zayn did the right thing by hitting Roman Reigns with that chair at Royal Rumble.

FACT: Despite any differences that Sami and Kevin were having, they’ve been friends for years and Sami did what he had to do after his new “friends” took it too far. Every man has a breaking point where they can’t deal with the B.S. anymore and Sami has proven himself to the Bloodline and Roman so many times, only to have Roman disrespect and question him, that this became that breaking point. Regardless of the petty stuff, Owens has always had Sami’s back from Day 1, and Sami realized that and did what he needed to do.

Statement #3: You would love to see another Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match.

FICTION: Kudos to WWE for trying something new and making millions of dollars in the process, but to be honest, that match was hard to watch. The wrestling was good, but I’m old and my eyes are going bad and the lighting and darkness didn’t make for a good time. That botch at the end where Uncle Howdy missed LA Knight by a mile, but still set off all the fireworks and explosions, I couldn’t bo-lieve my eyes. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. Let’s just go back to simple matches, like street fights, cages, Death Matches, and maybe a dog collar or two. The pitch black match? Nevermore.

Statement #4: Royal Rumble wins for wrestlers like Rhea Ripley and Cody Rhodes are wasted because they are obvious title contenders who could easily get a championship match at any time.

FICTION: A win in the Royal Rumble match is never wasted and adds credibility to any wrestler who wins it, be they a favorite or not. It’s a big freaking deal! Yes, Rhea and Cody could probably get title shots at any time, but then there is the argument, “But what have you done lately? Who have you beaten to earn a shot?”, that the champion could and should shout back. The Rumble wins add credibility to the challenges and take that argument away. Plus I just like the Rumble matches and they’re a good way to move the wrestlers from Point A to Point B. And there you go.

Statement #5: You agree with Taz about the use of the term “banger” to describe wrestling matches.

FICTION: I don’t know what Taz has said about the term “banger”, but from what I learned in my quick little google search, he doesn’t much care for it. And my question is, why does it matter? I don’t use the term and never have to my recollection, but it’s just a descriptive adjective and in terms of pro wrestling, I can see where it would be applicable. Hell, I used to use the term “Oingo Boingo” for the crazy moments in a wrestling match when all hell broke loose and ten things were happening at once, way back when I was recapping for the Wrestling Informer, Lords of Pain, PWInsider, and Wrestle-Zone.UK. If someone wants to call it a banger, who am I to say anything? Go for it and be happy.

Statement #6: Every Royal Rumble match needs someone who starts at the beginning to still be there in the end.

FICTION: The fun thing about the Rumble is the unpredictability and surprises. A person might last the entire match, but they also might end up getting tossed in three minutes, kind of like what happened with Brock or Becky this past show. Yes, there will be iron men and women in the show who will hang in there, but it doesn’t have to be from the very start. The key is we don’t know and that’s what makes it fun to watch. It’s fun to see someone last from start to finish, but this statement says “every Royal Rumble match” and that would kill it. Less is more and now and then works much better.

And there you go. Again, my thanks to Jake Chambers and 411mania.com for the statements and use of their material. And thanks to you, my loyal readers, for allowing me to do this and provide my thoughts and insights to you as well. This particular article, it’s the 3000th post for my site, DougMaynard.com. Yeah, I do this a lot and it’s all for you. Okay, it’s also a method to keep me relatively sane, but we’ll stick with that I love pro wrestling and do it for you, okay?

So anyhow, thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. And with that, it’s time to wrap things up for now. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and Little Bastards under the ring. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!