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Submitted by Phantom Lord on Monday, May 31, 2004 at 10:33 PM EST
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends as it’s time for another installment of the most controversial column on the entire IWC…It’s time once again for Wrestling’s Fact or Fiction. As always I am your ringmaster Phantom Lord and joining us as always is LOP’s man who calls it right down the middle, the one and only Da Ref. Joining us on our round table discussion as always is a man who need’s no introduction, but I’ll give him one anyway since he’s that cool…Dumass and rounding out the Peanut Gallery this week is a long time mod over at the LOP Forums. He was a fan of Chavo Sr. before being a fan of Chavo Sr. was cool, give it up for Buzzsaw Classic.  TNA distancing themselves from the NWA name will do them more harm then good Da Ref: FACT. One of the aspects the industry needs is competition. No one can deny that. A second promotion out there and giving wrestling fans a solid alternative is needed. In the overall scheme of things, there is no better competition than the National Wrestling Alliance. The name has always been about tradition and a long storied history. A lot of the fans that tuned out after Vince bought WCW remember the NWA. To see a program with that name on a national TV deal would create an instant audience with that group. As far as "TNA" goes, it's just a group of initials that can actually be interpreted as something else. Dumass: FICTION, basically because no nowadays wrestling fan knows what the NWA was. Seriously. I asked a kid the other day what the NWA was (because he was talking about "old" wrestling) and he started singing 'Boyz in the Hood'. No one knows who they were. I can understand keeping the NWA part; since Total Nonstop Action sounds gay for a wrestling company. Buzzsaw: FICTION What’s in a name when you have already established your brand? Ok so they don’t have big money, but they do have a decent fooling of fans. If they do make it big I would rather them make it big off there own name and not a borrowed name, I think dropping the NWA in TNA will neither do good or bad. Phantom: I think it’s a huge mistake since the current idea to use the name Total Nonstop Action-Wrestling just sounds horrible. The NWA name is an established name where you know your going to get quality action. With the WWE you know your going to get sports entertainment. With the NWA you know your going to get Wrestling. As much as I bash TNA for selling out to be family friendly, I admire what they are trying to do. Let’s face facts, the TNA bankbook must have so much red, it’s probably dripping. But distancing themselves from the NWA name I think is a huge mistake because to the casual fan who might stumble across the new show, they will just think the company is TNAW. TNAW is the kind of name a consultant charges a lot of money for. NWA rolls off your tongue. Plus, the NWA World Title is like the most important in Wrestling. I’d hate to see it go back to being only known because Shane Douglas threw it down one hot night in Philly. So yeah, a big FACT. Using a Six Sided ring will be enough of a novelty to draw in casual viewers for the TNA’s new show on Fox Sports Net. Buzzsaw: Hmmm I’m tossed on this one. While I don’t see the big deal in a six sided ring, I don’t know how the occasional fan would react to that. If your a channel surfer and you see something like a six sided ring it may draw you to watch for a few minutes simply because it is something you don’t see everyday. Dumass: FACT, but it won't be novelty enough to last the whole 52 week period. They had better push some guys the general audience will enjoy watching. No rip-offs, attempts to rip-off...nothing like that. There will be no competition for them to worry about, so hopefully they give something good for the next year. Da Ref: I'll say FACT. When it comes to wrestling, the ring used has always been the same, no matter what company. However, the idea of a six-sided ring creates enough interest to check it out. Phantom: I’ll say this is a big FACT. As bad a Lucha Libre is at times, what makes it interesting to watch is the fact that they use a Six Sided Ring. I think if Impact is going to survive on free television, they have to make it as different as possible from all the other wrestling on television (WWE, Local Indy Feds). The NWA-TNA website has some pics of the set from Impact and it does look really cool. But anyone can have a cool set. With this Six Sided Ring, it makes the show seem different and because of that the casual fan will get drawn into it. I just hope for TNA’s sake, that FSN advertises the accordingly. Advertise it during Saturday morning cartoons on the big Fox Network would work wonders since Impact’s only real competition is Dr. Phil and The Kids WB. Jeff Jarrett winning back the NWA Title will be a major mistake considering all that is riding on their new television deal with Fox Sports Phantom: Do I need to explain myself with this one? As much as I respect and like Jeff Jarrett, he does not need to be the World Champion when Impact goes on the air. Ron Killings seems to have the fans behind him. Why not work with that. TNA wants Impact to be something different then what’s all ready out there. Having Killings as the champion is in the mold of being different. Besides, I’m a firm believer in long title runs and Killings having a one week title run does nothing for him or the title and all it does is prove the whole “If Jeff didn’t run the company he wouldn’t be the champion” theory. So yeah a big FACT on this one. Dumass: I'd book it for him to lose the title on the first airing. FICTION since you need a semi-known star to hold the title. All I ask is that he doesn't keep it for long. Buzzsaw: Fact Jeff Jarrett is not a draw!!! But no matter who the champion is I doubt they will help ratings with FOX. TNA needs to fork over the money and get Steve Austin. I know...He can't wrestle! But his name recognition alone will have his loyal fans tuning in to TNA every week. And YES Austin still has a lot of fans! He was still the top seller for WWE merchandise even as a non-in ring performer. Da Ref: I'll say FACT but not because it's Jarrett winning the title back. On April 21, 2004, AJ Styles ended Jarrett's run, which lasted just one day shy of 6 months. Less than a month later, Ron Killings ended Styles' run. If they put the belt back on Jarrett this week, that means Killings will have been champion for less than three weeks. What you're looking at is the NWA World Title being passed around like a hot potato. What they were doing a couple of months ago was the way they should've done it. They had one guy as the champion(Jeff Jarrett) with a select group of guys to be considered solid challengers(Styles, Killings, Abyss, Raven, & Chris Harris) fighting to determine the #1 Contender for the title. That increases the title's importance. Then, when they start up with Fox Sports, you have a good World Title picture. Teddy Hart’s H2 Wrestling promotion will become the next big thing in Indy wrestling Phantom: I’m gonna go against the grain and jump on the Teddy Hart bandwagon for this one. I’ve been looking at the H2 Wrestling website and I must say it’s an interesting concept to say the least. The big thing they are advertising right now is the return of The Opera Cup which Teddy inherited from his Grandpa Stu. A mix of tradition like that and modern booking and production is always a good thing. I think H2 will become the next big thing muck like MLW, but for their sake they had better not try to become to big to fast. So yeah, FACT on this one because the concept is good and people hate Teddy Hart so much that they will pay to see him get his ass kicked (Much like an upcoming USA Pro Show with him taking on Sabu…man I wish I could go to that one). All of those factors usually lead to success. Buzzsaw: I have never seen Teddy Hart wrestle, All I know is he is supposed to be a punk. I really can’t answer this question. I don't know enough about him. Dumass: FICTION. The pussy still hasn't accepted my challenge. Fuck his promotion. Da Ref: I just gotta say FICTION on this one. As much as I'd like to see new alternatives in pro wrestling being created, I just want this company to fail because of Ted Annis. (Because of the way he presents himself, I just can't refer to him as "Teddy Hart." It insults the Hart family.) He's obnoxious. He's full of himself. He doesn't see where he's at fault for the comments made about him. He believes that the wicked people in this world are those that don't see his self-proclaimed greatness like ROH and that God either has or will "strike them down" for doing so. More importantly, the guy refers to himself as "the savior of professional wrestling." What better way to knock him off the pedestal he created for himself than for H2 Wrestling to fail? Now that I've gone through my Ted Annis rant, I'll explain my answer. First of all, H2 isn't really a new concept. The original version of this was the group Mat Rats back in Canada, which also had Annis as a part of it. That group had a good bit of press leading up to its start. Eric Bischoff had some involvement in it and I believe Joey Styles and Don Callis were announcers for the show. Yet, how many people remember the group? Then, factor in the fact that H2 Wrestling will be starting up in the Northeast, which is where Ring of Honor is based out of. Do you think the fans of ROH are going to be interested in anything having to do with Ted Annis after the stunt he pulled in the Scramble Cage? Finally, from what I've seen of info on the company, it appears to be nothing more than spotfests. When it comes to successful Indy groups, you have to keep the spotfests down to a minimum, maybe one or two a show. Having a whole show where each match is just one spot after another will end up boring the crowd. Retro: The World Television Title should be brought back by either the WWE or NWA-TNA Da Ref: While I was a huge NWA World TV Title mark back when the belt was around, I just have to say FICTION on this one. When it came to the TV Title, Arn Anderson used to say on TV that it symbolized the best wrestler on television. Because it did, it was the only title that was defended on non-PPV TV on a regular basis. It also received THE main event for the show unless there was a rare title defense for the other champions. Nowadays, all of the titles are defended outside of PPV's. Occasionally, you could end up seeing two titles defended on the same show. Adding a TV Title now is just adding another belt for the sake of adding another belt and right now, there's more than enough of them. Dumass: FACT for the fact that it can be a throw away title. You can have the champion lose it week after week because it's expected. It's not like the US, X, IC titles that were made to elevate the wrestlers to the top of the ladder; it was made for guys who don't have a chance to get any higher than midcard to go after something. On a side note, ECW did the entire idea of a TV title perfectly. Buzzsaw: In WWE? Why? There are already a total of 3 belts lost in the shuffle we don’t need anymore. TNA on the other hand could defiantly use it, There are many young guns on TNA that could feud over that belt, could make for some damn good matches. Fact and Fiction!!!! Phantom: In the case of NWA-TNA, I think this is a huge FACT. What they should do for the first show is start a huge month long tournament to crown a new NWA World Television Champion. The Old Red belt is in storage I would guess. Slap on the FOX logo where the TBS logo is and boom you have a really cool looking belt for the new millenium. But seriously, TNA needs another title for those guys who are over with the crowd but are not main eventer’s or X Division wrestlers. A guy like Kid Kash would be a perfect NWA World Television Champion. He’s a great wrestler and he’s so full of himself, you could see him using the whole “Best Wrestler on television” gimmick to it’s full potential. As for the WWE, drop the tag titles on RAW and have a mini-tournament so guys like Stevie Richards can finally have their just due in the company. Retro: If Bret Hart were booked as champ on his first night in WCW, they could have started the company on an even better track that would have lead to their existence today Dumass: Are we calling Bret a savior of sorts here? FICTION. Come on, not even Bret would have been able to save wCw. They were on the brink of ruining themselves; all Bret did was lengthen the deadline. Did Bret help wCw out? Of course, but that's not grounds enough to call him the person who would have made wCw better. Phantom: Of course we’re calling Bret Hart the Savior of Pro Wrestling. In a time when McMahon was going off the deep end with filth and sleaze, it would of worked wonders for WCW to have the ultimate babyface who got screwed over for standing up in what he believed in to be their world champion. Now with that in mind, I’m gonna say FICTION only because Bret winning the title on the first night would just look like WCW handed him the title to piss of the WWF. What they should of done was have Bret come in as the savior of WCW against the N.W.O. Had they built up a Hogan/Hart match at Starrcade instead of Hogan vs. Sting, I think it would have been the biggest match of the decade. I always wanted to see Bret vs. Hogan and I think if a medical miracle occurred, it still could be one of the biggest drawing matches in history. Would that have saved WCW? It’s hard to say, but one things for certain. If things were different and Bret could still Wrestle and WCW were sold to a different company, Bret would probably be the champion right now and all would be right in the world of wrestling. Da Ref: As much as a number of people will disagree, I'll say FICTION. One of the things people talked about when it came to WCW was that the only people getting significant pushes were either friends of Bischoff or the near-40 crowd. While I don't know Hart's personal relationship with Bischoff, I'm pretty sure Bret was either at 40 or close to it. So, that would fuel that argument. Also, what sense would it make to give Bret the title his first night in? I could see putting him in a program for the title against the champion but in the long run, where do you go from there? While Bret had a strong fanbase especially after Montreal, it wouldn't have been enough to build the company around him. Buzzsaw: Hmmm could one mans title reign have saved a corporation? Nope, Bret was great but not that great. I’m not sure there was anyone great enough to save the mess that was know as WCW. WCW sunk themselves when they let Hogan control there booking along with Kevin Nash. Some of the stories that former WCW wrestlers have told about the un-organization of that company are almost unbelievable. FICTION And now for the plugs The LOP Message Boards. 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