Fact or Fiction: Talent Exchange, Benoit's Brain, Breat Screwed Brett?, and More!
Submitted by Randomguy#5 on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 6:56 PM EST





Welcome one and all to the November edition of LoP‘s Fact or Fiction! This time around should prove interesting, as we have a long time main page columnist, a 5+ year veteran of LoP, and three of the brightest stars of the Columns Forum, all of whom are also FoF virgins. So be gentle in your feedback, kids. All will come together to take a look at five diverse topics and declare them either “FACT“ or “FICTION“, as well as give their reasons for answering as they did. Before we kick things off, introductions are in order. Please feel free to click on the links below, in bold, to get a heaping helping of columny goodness from each individual.

Contributing to the festivities this time around are...

Hustle author of Hustle Is Posting Right Now

Couch Potato author of The Inner Bubble

Pt2 author of Take Up Thy Wrestling Boots and Walk

Anthrax author of BRING THA NOIZE!!!

YourAyatollah moderator of the LoP Columns Forum


Be sure to hit up those links to check out these guys‘ regular stuff, and while you‘re there, why not stick around and read the work of some other extremely talented individuals, some of whom you‘ll probably be seeing again here on the LoP main page before too long? You won’t be disappointed, and that, my friends, is definitely FACT . With all that said, let‘s get to it! Enjoy!

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1) Fact or Fiction: The talent exchange is helping ECW.


Hustle : FACT. Plain and simple. There's, what, 8 people that regularly appear on ECW TV? Not thinking about whether the matches are any good or not, ECW has the same lineup every week, for the most part. Bringing in people from Smackdown helps them in two different ways. One, new people on their show allows for new matches and new feuds, which is something they sorely need. Two, allowing their wrestlers on Smackdown means more eyes watch them on a weekly basis. Obviously, Smackdown gets more viewers than ECW does, so guys like CM Punk and Elijah Burke have a better chance of becoming household names due to their appearances on the "bigger" show.

Couch Potato : To this, I say FICTION. At this time, ECW is putting on the best quality show of all 3 brands. While the roster is thin, the show still manages to entertains on a weekly basis. With perhaps the exception Kane, no Smackdown superstar has made much of an impact on the show. Jimmy Wang Yang, Jamie Noble, Shannon Moore... all guys who just didn't make the cut for this week's Smackdown, and ended up in mediocre matches on ECW.

I don't believe it's necessary to put Smackdown superstars on ECW. If WWE believes ECW needs the help, or the show carries enough star power, why not just kill ECW, and bring these ECW guys to the other brands? Or draft some of these Smackdown guys? I watch ECW to see guys like Punk, Burke, Dreamer and Morrison. If I wanted to see Cruiserweight jobbers wrestle, I'd download Smackdown's dark matches. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Pt2 : Short term or Long? Two different questions, and although one informs the other, I'd suggest there are possibly two different answers. ECW has needed a breath of life for a while now, but I've always been a skeptic regarding the use of other marquee talent in their main events. It gives out the impression that the ECW talent isn't as important or able to get the job done, and that's not a good thing for the fans to see, and probably even worse for the members of that roster. The thing I have always maintained is that the whole point of resurrecting the ECW brand was to bring back ECW fans and to showcase former ECW talent. As long as it continues showing the other brands’ talent, it comes across as Shotgun Saturday Night for 2007. There is always going to be a certain amount of support for it, especially concerning ratings spikes that I'm sure these talents probably provide, but I'm going with the long term perspective and saying FICTION.

Anthrax : FICTION. As much as I would like to say that the talent exchange has helped ECW, I can’t. Kane has been a welcomed addition on Tuesday nights. Other than that, what have we really gained by this talent exchange? With only one hour of air time each week, ECW has been reduced to a vehicle for Smackdown’s monsters. To make matters worse, talented wrestlers such as Elijah Burke and Stevie Richards have all but been forgotten about, left to either wrestle in squash matches or not wrestle at all. ECW was quickly becoming the best wrestling program on television, but with this talent exchange, it is quickly becoming Smackdown Lite.

YourAyatollah : I’m going to have to go FICTION on this one. While I love the idea of Kane showing up on ECW, and the Jamie Noble appearances have been damn good, I just don’t see what ECW has to gain from it all. I mean, has Batista showed up yet? Or Undertaker? Or Rey Mysterio? No, no, and no. This looks to me like little more than an excuse to a) make Viscera look good through a feud with Kane, and b) get Smackdown’s curtain jerkers on television a little more. Thus, I would say that, if any one of the two brands is benefiting at all, it would be Smackdown, and though I’m sure they could use the help just as much, this was supposed to be a way in which to get more people interested in ECW.

Maybe I’m off, here, but I just don’t see how having Jimmy Yang show up and do the job to Elijah is helping the Dub at all. Again, I love the idea of guys like Kane and Noble on the show, but why not just have them switch brands or have a trade or something? I mean, that would be better than a half assed talent exchange, which is all this thing has seemed to be thus far. If they really wanted to help ECW out a bit more, I think they should transfer the Cruiserweight strap to the brand, along with guys like Noble and Yang. The strap is just gathering dust at moment, and ECW could really use a secondary title, as you can’t sit there with a straight face and tell me that Nunzio will ever be in contention for the ECW Heavyweight crown, which I suppose he is technically supposed to be aiming at as it’s set up right now. Either way, though, this talent exchange, while mildly entertaining, isn’t doing jack to help ECW. Most importantly, it’s keeping Stevie Richards off my television in favor of guys like Shannon Moore, who was an abject failure even when he was a regular member of the ECW roster.


2) Fact or Fiction: One or both of the Hardys will hold a World title within the next year.

Anthrax : Again I have to say FICTION. Here’s the thing; to me, the Hardys are the cornerstone of the WWE’s mid-card. They are two of the most consistent and over performers in the business today. So over in fact, that they don’t need a world title to be loved by the fans. Therefore, I don’t see why management would take them out of the mid-card and throw them into the main-event. The fact is, both Matt and Jeff are needed more midway through the show, when fans start wanting to change the channel. Maybe, five years from now, the WWE will give Matt and/or Jeff a world title. As a way to say, “Thank You,” like they did with Rey Mysterio, Eddy Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Booker T. But within the next year? Not happening.

Couch Potato : FICTION. Sorry to all those who mark out to the thought of the Hardys holding the top belts in WWE, but it isn't gonna happen. There are too many people in WWE with more draw, even with the shallow rosters. The most likely chance for either of these 2 would be if one of them was put in ECW, where rosters are very thin. Then I guarantee we would see a Hardy as ECW Champ within a year.

But with both men on brands with 4-5 people ahead of them in the World champion line, I don't see it. Unless, of course, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Undertaker, and Batista were injured at the same time, with the current roster. But what are the odds of some of WWE's top stars being injured at the same time? Oh wait...


YourAyatollah : FACT. Both Hardy’s have come on exceptionally strong in the past few months, and both find themselves among the most popular names on their respective shows. Jeff, in particular, is getting arguably the biggest pops on the RAW roster, and the dude just looks like he’s ready for a real run at glory for once. That’s not to cast aside Matt, though, as he’s been excellent in his feud with MVP, which one could argue is the Feud of the Year. Aside from that, I can’t remember the last time the guy had a bad match, and his fan support, while not quite on par with Jeffery’s, seems to grow on almost a weekly basis.

While Jeff is obviously the more popular brother, I would have to say that Matt is in the better position to get his hands on the big gold sooner. RAW is cram packed with main event level talent at moment, and our rainbow haired friend would be hard pressed to climb his way up those ranks in any short amount of time. Matthew, though, is part of a roster that is lacking in that afore mentioned main event talent, and is already on his way to being considered among the top grapplers on the show. Aside from that, I don’t know if you guys remember this or not, but he’s got a pretty heated, long running feud with Edge, who even Sandman with a cigarette in his eye could see will be holding the World title again much sooner than later. Sure, their little tiff has been done to death in the past, but you can’t tell me that adding the big gold belt to the mix wouldn’t add a spark or two to refuel that fire. And you’ve still got to factor in another potential draft sometime within the next 12 months, which could shake things up considerably and possibly put both guys in even better position than they are now to cash in on all that potential we’ve been heaping upon them for almost a decade, now.


Pt2 : FICTION. I'd say I was about to get lynched by all the teenage girl Hardy fans, but all those girls who were teenagers in 2000 are probably in their twenties now, and too busy working to bother about strangling me. But this is undoubtedly fiction for me. Jeff can't talk, and if you can't talk you can't hold the World title. Not in the 21st century. Benoit did it, but he was more popular and had to go around the world for 20 years before they'd look at him as a contender. Matt is more likely in one sense - he is the more sound wrestler and can (barely) handle a microphone - but less likely in another, in that he's never really had the necessary support, either of the management or the fans that his brother has, which he would need to push on past the midcard level. I just can't see it, and it's a shame.

Hustle : FACT. Although it would seem to be more likely to happen with Matt on Smackdown, I think Jeff will get a very short run with the belt on Raw. By "very short run", I'm talking a week or two, probably. There's no denying that Jeff is over like Grover, and his high-risk style is just the type that can get him a believable victory over the current main event guys on Raw. Hell, he made it look believable over the Undertaker in their Ladder Match a few years back, so he can damn sure make it look believable over Randy Orton.


3) Fact or Fiction: The Team 3D vs Motor City Machineguns feud will successfully revive TNA's X Division.


Pt2 : Huh, there's an interesting one. My initial reaction would be to say that nothing involving Team 3D is reviving anything these days. Hey, why not get the Headbangers in there as well, while we're talking about tag teams that are past their prime? But I'm torn, because of the presence of the Motor City Machineguns. I'm a fan of Chris Sabin, and believe he's got a huge part to play in any successful X Division. The biggest problem facing them, as always seems to be the case in TNA, will be the booking. The whole thing can be a complete clusterfuck at times and about as memorable as going for a piss - but I think I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this once. Assuming that Sabin/Shelley come out on top, I'm going to go with FACT.


YourAyatollah : The Machineguns are my current favorite tag team. I know that may not be saying much with the tag landscape looking as it does, but they are, and by a margin. I’ve never really been all that high on 3D, always thought they were severely overrated, but even so, I’ve got to admit that they’re showing more fire right now than they have in years. This feud has already resulted in at least one decent match, and should take great strides in establishing the Motor City boys as one of the top teams in TNA, if not the entire business.

That said, this statement is pure FICTION. While going head up with a widely regarded legendary team like 3D will probably do plenty of good for the Gunners, I can’t see how having two guys pretty much dominate the entire X Division will do any good at all. Even if the Guns come out on top at the end, you’re still left with a group of X guys who couldn’t take out two fuckin’ guys despite the fact that they outnumbered them by a margin of about 4 or 5 to one. Perhaps if guys like XXX were getting more involved with the whole thing it would be a different story. Even then, though, you’re still left with two guys taking on an entire division and holding their own, which either says that 3D are that damn good, or that the X Division sucks that damn bad. While I don’t quite believe the latter, I know for a fact that the former ain’t the case, or at least shouldn’t be if they’re really trying to help the X guys out in any real fashion. I, personally, don’t see why they couldn’t just have had the Machineguns and 3D face off in a regular old feud, without dragging the poor X Division into it at all. Of course, this is TNA we’re talking about here. Why do the sensible thing when you could easily make a clusterfuck out of it?


Hustle : FICTION. Jesus Christ using defibrillator paddles couldn't successfully revive anything about TNA.

Couch Potato : Ha! People still watch TNA? I certainly don't watch TNA, so I really can't give you a truthful answer here. I mark out for Team 3D, but have never heard of these Motor City Machineguns you speak of. But from what I've heard of the X Division in the TNA thread (in the LoP Forums), it's been in the toilet for a while now. So I'm gonna say FICTION, as I'm sure not even the combined efforts of Team 3D and some other random tag team could fish it out. Sorry for putting that image in your head.

Anthrax : This is indeed a FACT. Forget about the current X Division Champion, Jay Lethal. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley are exactly the kind of wrestler TNA should be showcasing. Yes, they can hit the spots that make monkeys go wild, but both of them bring that Japanese shoot style, and work ethic, to the table as well. Sabin and Shelley can work any kind of match on any given card, in front of any given crowd, at any time, and still get over huge.

Let’s not forget about the Dudleys, though, quite possibly the greatest heel team in history. The Dudleys bring instant credibility with them. Most fans consider them to be legitimately tough. Most fans also really hate Bubba and D-Von. The more heat they gain, the bigger the pop the ‘Guns will get. This is indeed one of the few angles that TNA has produced that is actually interesting. Now let’s see if they screw it up.


4) Fact or Fiction: In light of the results in the study of Chris Benoit's brain, WWE should ban the chair shot to the head.

Couch Potato : What BS news channel thought of this one? Definite FICTION. When it was uncovered that Steve Austin beat his wife, did WWE ban punching to the body? No. I’m not up to date on the current crap going on with Benoit’s brain being scanned, or why it’s relevant in the least, but WWE’s done enough to keep any references of or tasteless acts that could relate to the Benoit Murder/Suicide. Sure, the media may strike at WWE for this, but they probably would have done it if they do ban it as well.

If WWE keeps the chairshot to the head, the media will call them heartless, and say that they support Benoit’s actions. If they get rid of the chairshot to the head, the media will say that WWE is doing it only because of Benoit, and are catering to a killer. See? Either way, the media will take shots at WWE. Then why should they keep the chairshot? Because you had no reason to get rid of it beforehand. And if they do get rid of it, WWE will only be showing the media that they control WWE. If Vince doesn’t put his foot down soon, WWE may become punchless, weaponless, guys with muscle-less, and even less than our world perceives it to be.

Hustle : FICTION. Wrestlers just need to use their head (pun only slightly intended, I guess) more and find ways to take shots in a "safer" way. You're not any more of a man if you take them like Chris Benoit and Mick Foley took them. If you want your kids to grow up without a father (or at least without a father that is functional), that's your own damn fault, and you're the only one to blame for that.

Anthrax : This is the question I’ve had the toughest time answering. I’m going with FICTION, but if ever there was a soft fiction, this is it. I don’t necessarily think that chair shots to the dome were the sole cause of the Benoit tragedy, but to suggest that the punishment Benoit sustained to the head had nothing to do with it is ludicrous. Do I think that the WWE should limit the amount of chair shots to the head? Absolutely. Do I think that the WWE has already limited the amount of head shots in general that are taken by their performers? Sure. Do I think that the WWE should just out and out ban the chair shot? Of course not. If a wrestler puts his hands up and protects himself the way he should, and the shot actually means something, then I’m all for a good steel vs. skull encounter. But, like I said, it should be used cautiously and in the right context from now on.

YourAyatollah : That’s a tough one, and one that I really wish were that easy to fix. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that all those shots to the head are going to add up to bad things in the future. At the same time, though, while I respect what Chris Nowinski and the others are trying to accomplish, the facts just don’t seem to add up. As Vince said in that much ballyhooed CNN special, if Chris Benoit’s brain had been in the sad shape that they proclaimed it to be, the dude would have had trouble wiping his ass, let alone getting in the ring and performing to the incredible standard that he did.

So yeah, I’ll go with FICTION on this one, though I do feel that they should take strides to severely lessen blows to the head industry wide. I’m a believer in the theory that multiple headshots played a part in putting the Crippler in his fucked up state of mind, but there was obviously more to it than that. WWE has taken measures to protect their athletes in the past, such as the banning of the piledriver and Shooting Star Press and stuff, and I really don’t think that banning chairs to the head would be such a bad idea. Still, I don’t see any need to take such a drastic measure when the information you’re basing it on is still very much up in the air. Call me a barbarian if you will, but I like chair shots, just as I like barbed wire, tacks, and flaming tables. While I’d gladly give them up if it means that I won’t have to see another of my heroes reduced to a shell of his former self, I’m not yet convinced that that’s truly the case. I will say, though, that the preservation of these guys’ long term health should be a top priority, and that I sincerely hope that we don’t all sit here regretting our bloodlust in the years to come.


Pt2 : Rather than just see the WWE ban a move and forget about it, I'd rather they worked more closely with the wrestlers to move towards a less high impact style. Crowd psychology often seems to have gone out of the window, in favour of multiple suplexes, high risk maneuvers and other wrestling moves that place a tremendous strain on the head and the neck. When you actually look back at Benoit's wrestling style, it's not all that surprising that his brain turned to mush really, and I don't think a massive amount of chair shots to the head did that - he took far fewer chairshots than he did land on his head in suplexes, or diving from the top rope.

A move back towards an older style (for example, Ted DiBiase or Jake Roberts) would solve these problems, and allow people to take the occasional big bump to the head in relative safety. People were still being hit in the head with chairs back in the early nineties, but you notice how with the exception of the occasional botched move, no-one really suffered neck injuries prior to the arrival of the current crop of wrestlers? Since then, Benoit, Edge, Lita, Gregory Helms, Bob Holly and others have all broken their necks through repeated accumulation of high impact stress. FICTION, purely because the better answer lies elsewhere. I definitely agree that something should be done, but the outright banning of things just gets you nowhere.


5) Finally, with this being the 10th anniversary of Montreal, Fact or Fiction: Bret screwed Bret.

YourAyatollah : I’ve said it once, twice, a million times before, and I’ll say it here again. FACT. You can watch Wrestling With Shadows or listen to Meltzer cry about it and all that jazz, but the simple fact of the matter is that Bret screwed himself. Yes, he had reasonable creative control, and yes, Shawn was a douche and a half, but Bret was right up there with him. Dude had, and apparently still has, severe issues as it pertains to separating the character from the man, and to flat out refuse to do business was an egotistical, arrogant move that gives me very little sympathy for the man.

Of course, that’s not to say that Vince was right to do what he did. He was wrong, and he’s admitted as much many, many times over the years. Despite that fact, though, I feel that he was more than justified in doing it. You can say I’m drinking the Kool Aid all you want to, but I firmly believe that Vince did what he felt was necessary to protect his company and his remaining athletes, as well as his standing among those athletes. Vince is, was, and always will be the Boss, it’s that plain and simple. What he says goes, and if you don’t like it, well, that’s just too damn bad. I work at a gas station, and I know full well what would happen if I walked in on Monday and refused to sell gas because of my moral objection to the continued use of fossil fuels. I’d be looking for another job.

Not exactly the best of comparisons, perhaps, but the basic principle is the same. Bret had a moral objection to jobbing to Shawn. He can claim national pride and all that shit all he wants to, but the real reason is that he apparently really believed that he was better than Michaels, both as a wrestler and a human being. Maybe that’s true. I don’t know either dude, so I can’t say. What I do know, though, is that Bret thought entirely too high of himself, and he had no justifiable right to put Vince in such a precarious position. Yes, it was wrong to screw him, but Bret really didn’t give him much of a choice in the matter. He bent over, handed Vince the lube, and said, “I’m trusting you here, dude. Don’t screw me.” While I’ll always love the Hitman for what he did in the ring and what he meant to the wrestling industry, I firmly believe that he got exactly what he deserved in that situation. It’s unfortunate that it obviously fucked him up so much as time went on, but business is business, and Bret wasn’t doing it the right way. I hate that it had to go down that way for the dude, but I’ll never be convinced of the notion that Bret was doing anything other than being selfish and petty, to the detriment of the company that made him a star.

Hustle : FACT. It isn't up to a wrestler who he loses to, when he loses to them, and how he loses to them. Bret had a choice to make, he made the choice that he thought was right for him, but Vince McMahon made the choice that he knew was right for business. Looking back on it, I'd say he made the right call.

Anthrax : FACT. That’s hard for me to say, considering Bret is one of my all time favorites. The fact of the matter is he screwed himself. It wasn’t the fact that he signed a deal with WCW. That was understandable, considering the amount of guaranteed money they were offering Hart up front. It was the fact that Bret couldn’t seem to get over himself, and do the job he should have done. See, Bret never wanted to lose in his home of Canada, especially to Shawn Michaels. Bret believed that it would be, “Too heart breaking” for the Canadian fans to see their national treasure lose right in front of their eyes. What Bret didn’t realize is that if he had done the job at Survivor Series the way he should have, he could have been more over heading to WCW than he ever was. Because Bret Hart fans would have finally sympathized with him a little, and rallied behind him in his time of need. Instead, Bret let his ego get in the way, and as a result, was screwed out of his title. Something that should have happened legitimately. Because in the end, the people that were really screwed were the fans who wanted to see a historic match end cleanly with two of the best performers this business has ever seen.

Couch Potato : FACT. While Shawn and Vince pitched in, Bret screwed himself (He he). For those of you who don’t know the story, Bret was leaving for WCW, and didn’t want to drop the WWF title to Shawn in Montreal. So...Vince made him lose the title. Bret shouldn’t have been such a stubborn prick about it, and should’ve dropped the title. Who cares that it was his home country? It wasn’t for him to say, and the Screwjob could have been avoided if he had done what he was told.

Vince was just looking out for WWF. If Bret went to WCW unexpectedly with the WWF title, it could’ve really hurt WWF. Why should it have mattered to Bret whether or not he held the WWF title if he was leaving for WCW anyway? It was a bad move on both parts, but as I said, Vince was trying to look after his company, while Bret was simply being a stubborn ass. Am I allowed to say ass on the main page? Anyway, sure, Vince could’ve set his foot down, or gone about getting the title back in a different way. But in the end, Bret’s selfish acts got him screwed. Not screwed by WWF. It was Bret who screwed Bret. Ha! Still funny.

Pt2 : Oh dear. This old chestnut. FICTION. I don't believe it, Bret doesn't believe, hey, even Vince doesn't really believe it. That's just a catchphrase and part of the Mr. McMahon character.

First of all, is Bret Hart the architect of his own downfall? No. He didn't want to leave the WWE, and only agreed to do so at Vince McMahon's specific request. Also, in refusing to lose to Shawn Michaels, he was only doing something that Michaels had, in turn, done to him earlier. Not exactly the most mature thing, perhaps, but still shows that this thing had started way before Bret started throwing his weight around.

Second, did Vince McMahon have no other options? I'll be honest, I believe he had some. He may not have seen them at the time, and hindsight is 20/20, but the fact is Bret Hart was still under contract with the WWE until the beginning of December. Montreal didn't have to be his last show. As Bret himself said, he didn't mind losing in Canada, it was losing to Michaels that was problematic, and he was perfectly happy to drop the belt to someone like Steve Austin or Mick Foley on the next night's RAW broadcast. With Bret under contract until December, there is also no WAY Bret is showing up on WCW TV until he's a WCW guy. Bischoff may love controversy, but there is no way that even he is risking THAT big a lawsuit - and Bret certainly wouldn't have done it after 15 years in the WWE and the relationship he had with Vince McMahon up until Montreal.

Third, I don't think the prospect of WCW announcing Bret as their newest signing while he's still the Champion is as damaging as Vince might have feared - after all, while Bret was the Champion, he was neither top heel nor top face in the WWE at this point. He'd been displaced as heel by Shawn Michaels, and the top face in a landslide was Steve Austin - who was catching on as the biggest star in wrestling, and would have done so in any case, whether Bret Hart had been announced prematurely or not. The feud with McMahon might not have played out the way it did, but Austin was already on his way to the top of the industry, and nothing was going to stop that ride.

So I don't think Bret started it all, I think he provided options for Vince, and I think Vince's (quite understandable) paranoia got the better of him. Vince screwed Bret.... but that doesn't mean in the same situation, I wouldn't have done the same damn thing. As I say, hindsight is 20/20.

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And that’ll just about do it for the November edition of LoP’s Fact or Fiction. We hope it was enjoyed by all, and we’d love it if you’d tell us what you thought. You can send your feedback to each of the participants via the links below, and we again encourage you to check out the work of some of these columnists and many more in the LoP Columns Forum . As always, thanks for reading, and be sure to check us out next month for a brand spankin’ new edition, exclusively here on LordsofPain.net!


Click Here to Email Couch Potato (He‘s only 16, so keep it PG13)

Click Here to Email Pt2 (Who enjoys sunsets on the beach, deep conversation in front of the fire, and buxom pirate wenches)

Click Here to Email Anthrax (Seriously, this man needs all the love he can get)

Click Here to Email Hustle (Who’s probably posting right now)

Click Here to Email Your Ayatollah (Though we can‘t imagine why you‘d want to)








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