Posted in: Fact or Fiction
The Fact or Fiction All-Star Fiestapaloozaganza featuring The LOP Main Page and a Special Guest (DAY THREE)
By Rob Simmons
Jun 11, 2015 - 8:00:38 AM

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DAY THREE


Well, today ought to be interesting. When I posed this topic to the panel, I believed there was some credence to it. Apparently what I ended up doing was making some of my panelists irate. So, what is the topic that did that?

FACT OR FICTION: Despite being the Authority's choice, Seth Rollins' inaugural reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion has largely been a failure.


OLIVER
I’ve got to say, right off the bat, that I haven’t watched Raw or Smackdown since Survivor Series 2014, which leaves me in a poor position to really comment having only seen him in two PPV main events. I’ve followed the results of the two flagship WWE programs, however, and I think the main issue here isn’t so much Seth Rollins’ reign being a failure as it is his booking be a failure. I mean, they seem to be building more heat for 46 year old veteran Kane than their actual champion, and that’s a little bit concerning in my book. It does seem like this issue was slightly rectified in the lead up to Elimination Chamber – the first pay per view I’d been excited for since the aforementioned Survivor Series, for the record – with Rollins and Ambrose going head to head and any Authority friction seemingly on the back burner after the results of Payback, but ultimately it does seem like they have so far been happy to let Rollins’ reign be a supporting player in the story.

However…it’s early days. This reign isn’t going to end tomorrow, and as such I think it’s too early to judge. As such, I’m going to side with FICTION until we get to the end of his championship run, and perhaps we could all revisit this one then? He might only be days away from a turning point, and he could suddenly go on a tear. Yes, his reign has been lackluster so far, but that’s kind of the penalty he gets for being a MITB champ – nobody has ever come out of that without chicken pooping their way around for the next few months, as far as I remember. Give him time and we’ll see – if he ends up a main eventer for the rest of his WWE career then I daresay we’ll look back on this with fondness. It’s not like he’s going to go and lose the title then have a dark match with R-Truth on the next pay per view, is it?

SUPER CHRISSS
FICTION; how has Rollins' run as champ been a failure? He's main-evented almost every Raw and SmackDown since WrestleMania. He's successfully retained his title in the main-event of every Pay-Per-View since 'Mania. Were people expecting ratings to go through the roof with Rollins as world champion? Sorry, but he's no draw on par with Brock Lesnar or The Rock. Maybe he will be in the future, but not less than five years into his WWE career. I would only consider his inaugural reign with the belt a failure if he lost every non-title match since WM31 (which he hasn't), if he's wrestled terrible matches every week (which he hasn't), and if he doesn't look like a credible champion (and he does). I've enjoyed Rollins' current title run, especially since I was in favour of a part-time world champ. Considering that Rollins vs. Lesnar is heavily rumoured for SummerSlam, and Rollins vs. Ambrose being a fun, renewed rivalry, I can't think of any reason why Rollins' run at the top has been a dud.

DANNO
FICTION. He’s only got started. Surely we can’t brand things a failure after 2 months! However, the question has been asked so I decided to do a little pros and cons list.

Cons:
He has the thickest neck I’ve ever seen. It’s like Goldberg’s neck on Shawn Michaels’ body.
He wears leather pants that I’m strangely attracted to.
He has those dark features that I’m strangely attracted to.
His hair looks stupid.

Pros:
He has the thickest neck I’ve ever seen. He used his neck to plug a dam during essential maintenance; saving the townsfolk from evacuation.
He has a maniacal laugh like the bad guy out of the Muppets.
He has a trimmed beard, as opposed to this stupid cave man look that has taken hold.
He doesn’t have bad matches.

In truth, we can’t say it’s been a great start, but I have hope. Rollins was always considered the least likely to succeed out of the three members of the Shield, yet here we are. He’ll come good; we just need a little patience.

MAVERICK
What the hell is wrong with people? FICTION, FICTION, FICTION. Jesus Christ. I can't believe this is even a question. If you genuinely think that Seth Rollins has been a failure as WWE World Heavyweight Champion, you don't understand professional wrestling. Simple as that. On the mic, Seth gets it done. In the ring, Seth gets it done. In backstage segments, Seth gets it done. Before Wrestlemania, people were rightly raving about Rollins and the year he had had in his rise to top heel status; what has changed? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. He is still killing it every time he steps into the spotlight. Now, it may be that people are more used to seeing him perform at that high level and so have become anaesthetized to his greatness, or it may be that the Kane scenario has sucked some of the life from The Authority storyline in general, but neither of those two things are enough to declare Rollins' title reign a failure, particularly when it's only two months old. Professional wrestling fans can be a horribly fickle bunch at times, and if people are really saying this, that just shows you really. Seth Rollins has been very bit as good as champion as he was as briefcase holder. Don't mistake creative post-Mania burn out for the champion performing poorly. FICTION. Argh! God that question made me angry.

THE DOC
Shame on anyone that says anything but FICTION, considering that his reign isn't over yet. Making judgments on title reigns that haven't fully played out is a silly exercise. We cannot fairly assess the title reign of Seth Rollins right now. It hasn't been pretty; that much is clear. The Kane storyline sucked the life out of the main-event for 6 weeks. If the next 6 weeks are considerably better (and they have been, thus far), then we can pretty easily chalk up the first 6 weeks of the Rollins era to predictably lousy booking during a historically down period on the wrestling calendar. We also need to take into account that WWE television has been incredibly mundane in 2015, by and large. Is any character truly clicking right now with any sort of consistency? Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins were two of the few exceptions earlier this year to the general 2015 lackluster persona rule.

If Rollins were to lose the championship any time soon and all that he had to show for his run was a plethora of mediocre title matches, then I think we safely call his run a failure. Until that time, pontificating on the matter is like judging an NBA team in December.

TITO
I'll suggest FICTION because Seth Rollins is getting screwed with bad booking as WWE Champion. He went into Wrestlemania 31 with a cocky attitude that could draw heat and the great Curb Stomp finisher. After Wrestlemania 31, we get Seth Rollins constantly arguing with Kane and WWE Corporate actually banned the Curb Stomp finisher that helped make him. Think about how screwed Diamond Dallas Page would be without his unique finisher. Idiotic... Add to the fact that Seth Rollins is feuding with Randy Orton and Roman Reigns, two completely uninteresting wrestlers. Neither guy can muster enough babyface sympathy to care about Seth Rollins stealing the WWE Title and being part of the Authority. The Authority has become incredibly LAME after Wrestlemania 31, too... Certainly, Seth Rollins should rise above the bad booking and make the most of any opportunity handed to him, but WWE Creative and bland babyfaces haven't helped him. He should have immediately entered into an extensive feud with John Cena. Don't you want your top heel champion to wrestle your top babyface? That would be best for business, right?

HUSTLE
FICTION yet again. He has competed in some very entertaining matches since winning the title, is helping to put Dean Ambrose over as the company's #2 megaface, and had one of the most memorable title victories of all-time. What more do you really want Seth to do? Yes, ratings aren't exactly skyrocketing since he won the title, but that's the case no matter who is the champion at this time of year, so he can hardly be blamed for any of that extracurricular stuff. All he is in control of is his character and on-screen work, both of which have been tremendous in 2015, before and after WrestleMania.

’PLAN
FICTION. Utterly preposterous. Stagnated creative direction hasn’t exactly helped him, with those weekly run-ins with Kane annoying even me, but “a failure” strikes me as wilfully ignorant rhetoric. His work – both on weekly television and pay-per-view, in the ring and out of it – has never been performed at any level worse than good and, though his matches haven’t been all-time classics, they have been consistently well executed and by no means an indicator of “failure.” Ratings are nothing in the age of on-demand viewing and his looming possible rematch with Lesnar will no doubt set the world aflame. This suggestion is just doom-saying bred by general apathetic boredom. By no means the best nor the worst; history will remember Rollins’ first stint as champ kindly.

LEAF
FICTION- This question is completely nuts.

I want to ask you a question, my friends. At any point during Seth's reign, have you asked yourself who his next challenger might be. Have you found yourself dumbfounded? What we've had is a natural evolution of challengers. We've gone from Orton, to Orton with Rollins' former Shield partners, to Ambrose, to Ambrose once more, and surely there will be Reigns in his future. Let's not forget that a returning Brock wants vengeance too.

Hell, there's even been seeds planted for future matches with his current Authority teammates, Kane and Triple H.

This reign has a different feel than the "challenger of the month" model which the WWE normally adopts. Everything seems to be perfectly crafted. We care about the title feuds because the story is there, and has been for some time.

Aside from that, Rollins' cash-in has allowed the crowd to feel some sympathy for Reigns, helping his future in the long run. A Rollins win has also propelled Ambrose into the main event by proxy of their rivalry.

The Architect's reign has actually helped to create several new main eventers, allowing the likes of Cena to take a place in the midcard to experience new star-making feuds. It has been best for business.

Well that certainly got the panel’s blood boiling didn’t it? For the first time, this was a complete shut-out with FICTION taking the clean sweep. However, there were many of our panel that felt that while the notion of “failure” is false, that his title run to date hasn’t exactly been stellar. Bad booking, lack of actual focus on Reigns as a strong Champion, and having the belt in the down season certainly haven’t helped his case any. So as a couple of people mentioned, I think this question more than any needs to be revisited in 6 months or so. But let me ask you, if Rollins loses Sunday at Money in the Bank and what he’s done so far constitutes his first title reign, does that change your answer? As it stands, I’ll side with FICTION but I’m as close to straddling the fence as one can get.

Tomorrow, we look at how a certain portion of NXT could influence what happens on the Main Roster. Be sure to come back and check it out.

Until next time,
Thanks for reading!

********************


DAY TWO


So that was quite the start to our Fact or Fiction event huh? We’re going to continue with a topic that stems from some recent developments involving former WWE Diva and Hall of Famer Sunny, and her apparent foray into porn.

FACT OR FICTION: In light of Sunny's apparent decision to do adult films, Triple H will have no choice but to reconsider his statements on Chyna being in the WWE Hall of Fame because of her adult film work.


LEAF
FACT- After the Randy Savage initiation earlier this year, in spite of all of the taboo rumours during his previous omission, I think anything can happen.

I mean, there's more controversial names in there than either of these two women isn't there? I can name Jimmy Snuka, Mike Tyson and Abdullah The Butcher.

As far as the death of Snuka's former girlfriend Nancy Argentino goes, the case remains unresolved. Ask 99.9 percent of wrestling fans whether Snuka did the devilish deed and they would say yes. Yet, we never received that conclusive verdict. Maybe that's why he is still in there.

As for Tyson, I guess that proves that the WWE will truly sell out for a celebrity if need be. Yes, he was a pivotal part of the Monday Night Wars, but having a convicted rapist in the Hall of Fame really does make me shudder.

Then there's Abdullah The Butcher, a man whose name is no exaggeration. Superstar Billy Graham has wanted to quit the Hall of Fame ever since the barbaric hardcore star was announced as an inductee.

I'll repeat myself here; there are more controversial names than Sunny and Chyna in the Hall. If the Vivid deal does take place, Triple H would have to eat humble pie and induct Chyna at some point down the line. It might not happen until his kids are grown up; it could even be a posthumous induction in years to come (who knows what might happen?). With the inductions of Trish and Lita though, it's hard not to induct the only woman to win the Intercontinental Championship in the WWE. It's certainly hard to look past the first woman to enter a Royal Rumble.

Would there have been a Beth Phoenix without Chyna? I'm not so sure.

As far as Sunny still being in the Hall of Fame, Sunny was the WWE's admission that sex sells, and now, she's sold out for sex. It's the same difference, right?

I know that the HHH-Chyna-Stephanie saga could be a deal breaker, but time heals all wounds, even axe wounds I guess.

OLIVER
FACT. But only his statements, not his refusal to allow Chyna into the Hall of Fame. The decision will still stand, and Chyna will never go into the HoF bearing in mind the cloud over her head as a result of her adult film work. Trips will probably have similar feelings towards Sunny, but to be honest it’s not like they reel her out once a year to promote the brand – the likelihood of a young child Googling Sunny is probably lower than it is for someone who would be going into the HoF with that in her history already. That’s the issue that Trips has with Chyna, for me – the coverage her HoF induction would get would result in her profile being heightened, and with it the possibility of something damaging to the WWE brand coming out. Sunny, as I said, isn’t really affiliated with WWE outside of being a Hall of Famer – she doesn’t have any form of contract and isn’t promoted visibly on screen at all – so I would think it wouldn’t make much difference. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see her profile and most mentions of her removed from the website or similar if the adult work report is true, but I don’t think it changes things with Chyna – two different situations bound by a single common thread, but little more. I suppose if WWE really wanted to go to town they could remove her HoF status, but that seems unlikely and would generate more publicity than they’d want, I imagine.

SUPER CHRISSS
FICTION. Unlike Chyna, Sunny has never gone out and trashed WWE publically, including taking personal shots at HHH and Steph (who will almost exclusively run the company someday). Sunny has made some ridiculous claims over the years - to the point where she's become the 'girl who cried wolf' in the eyes of many people - but never has she burned any bridges with WWE. Chyna has burned those bridges to the ground and covered them with cement. Never going to happen (unfortunately).

DANNO
FACT. I have seen some of Chyna’s adult films; I’m not ashamed in the slightest. Could I thwap one off? No, but I have seen them. Are we straying from PG?
So yeah, Chyna did some naughty things on the internet and that is preventing her from entering the Hall of Fame. Normally, I would understand this righteous stance, but let’s take a look at some other Hall of Fame residents. Jimmy Snuka is a murderer. Scott Hall is an abusive drunk. Ric Flair is an adulterous, sexual deviant and Sgt Slaughter once interfered with cattle. So yeah, Chyna hasn’t been the worst behaved.
I genuinely think we’ll see her there, but not anytime soon. In spite of everything, it shouldn’t be forgotten what a trail blazer she genuinely was. Also, I know this is difficult to believe now, but she was actually quite hot at one stage. I watched a 3rd Rock from the Sun repeat the other and she was guest starring. I got a twinge.
PG!

MAVERICK
FICTION. 100%. Sunny is already in the Hall of Fame; not much that anyone can do about that. I don't see how logic dictates that a choice she has made after her induction necessitates Chyna going in. I don't think either Triple H or Vince McMahon is going to care all that much about being called hypocrites. The sad truth is that Joanie Lauer made some very destructive decisions after her relationship with Paul Levesque broke down amidst him starting to date Stephanie McMahon; one of those was to make sex tapes in which she openly mocked Vince and co. It isn't just that she made adult films, it's that she went out of her way to take shots at WWE. Now you might say that there's hypocrisy there again given that X Pac is regularly invited back to WWE TV alongside Razor and Nash, who have also had high profile issues in their personal lives. But the thing is, despite being a multi-million dollar corporation, WWE is still, at its heart, a wrestling promotion, and as ever, the politics are vindictive and hypocritical. Chyna is a very personal embarrassment to the company, so she won't be going into the Hall of Fame, and it's as simple as that.

THE DOC
FICTION. Hindsight is 20/20 and if Triple H were considering an opportunity for Sunny to go into the Hall of Fame after she had done adult films, then I think he's made it clear that it would affect her potential induction. Since she was in the Class of 2011, what's done is done. That weekend, she gave WWE good press and conducted herself well. Time is always a factor to be considered in these cases, though. I don't think that Chyna is going to be excluded forever if she can manage to cage her controversial comments for a few consecutive years. After all, the biggest WWE star of all-time is a convicted domestic abuser. WWE can make these things happen, but they have to want to. She needs to give them a reason to want to.

TITO
No chance in hell, FICTION. Sunny's choice to do adult films is her personal choice and it actually doesn't harm the WWE other than some image issues. Chyna, on the other hand, has done more to harm the WWE brand than just her adult film career. She's made various accusations against the WWE Corporation and Triple H that makes her deserving of the blackballing. Sunny has been more on the self-destructive side but she's shown some appreciation for her former employer. The issue with Sunny is that she's 43 and pro wrestling opportunities have dried up. WWE can always play the "we inducted her before she did adult films" card on Sunny but they can't with Chyna. But Chyna has other significant issues with the WWE that cannot be undone. Last time I checked, Sunny never accused a current WWE executive, like Triple H, of physically abusing her.

HUSTLE
FICTION again. The reason? WWE can induct or not induct anyone they want, for any reason they want, at any time they want. Triple H's comments about Chyna's "history" was merely the PC answer. Everyone knows why Chyna isn't in the WWE Hall Of Fame, and I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but... that reason doesn't look like it will be changing at any point in the not-too-distant future. WWE doesn't owe us any answers. Vince McMahon doesn't, Triple H doesn't, Stephanie McMahon doesn't, Gorilla Monsoon doesn't, Todd Pettengill doesn't... none of them. If they want to keep Chyna out of their Hall Of Fame, it's their prerogative and they can do what they wanna do.

’PLAN
FICTION. The idea of Triple H having no choice but to do something is a curious one. The question seems to imply three choices: induct Chyna and be accused of hypocrisy for going back on your word, ignore Chyna and be accused of hypocrisy courtesy of events outside your control wrought by bad timing or rescind Sunny’s induction and draw attention the very thing you want to avoid. The second is the best.

Consciously inducting an individual following their beginnings in an adult film career is clearly very different to having already inducted somebody who, almost half a decade after their induction, pursues that avenue. Events will simply be whatever they will be: Sunny’s spot a difficulty of circumstance and Chyna still, more than likely, remaining in obscurity in the WWE world.

Once again, the supporters of FICTION take the 6-3 edge, but there were certainly some compelling arguments from the other side. Let’s be honest, Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) and Jake Roberts just recently went in; men riddled with alcohol and drug abuse problems. They’re not the poster children for good upstanding values. The additions of Abdullah and Jimmy Snuka were discussed as well. This has NOTHING to do with Chyna’s porn work as a whole. What’s hurting her is the portrayal of them in “Queen of the Ring.” Plus there’s the whole Stephanie/Chyna history which is ugly with a capital UG. So while she deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for her body of work, her other body of work keeps her out. Is Triple H a hypocrite? Yeah probably, but who’s going to tell him to his face. I side with FICTION.

Tomorrow, we get a question that riled up a few of our panel, so come back to see what got everybody so cranky!

Until next time,
Thanks for reading!

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Fact or Fiction, Fiction or Fact, Tango or Cash; you all know how this works right? If not, let’s break it down quickly for you. I’ve gather an all-star panel of writers from LOP’s Main Page and posed statements to them. From there, they have to tell me if they think they’re FACT or FICTION and provide their argument supporting it. Now this won’t be like all the other editions we’ve had before, because we’ve got all the LOP Main Page writers, and one special guest joining us this time, for what will be a 5-Day event. Who’s along for the ride you ask? Well, first off I’ll be your moderator; ROB SIMMONS of Chair Shots and Welcome to the Underground fame. Let me introduce the rest of the panel.

’PLAN- author of Just Business, a member of The Right Side of the Pond, and future published author of 101 WWE Matches to See Before You Die.
LEAF- author of The Green Room; fond of foliage puns.
OLIVER- author of Oliver’s Twist and The NXT Review; soon to be a new Dad.
SUPER CHRISSS- author of My Two Centsss; also Canadian but we don’t hold that against him.
DANNO- author of BoomBox; quite possibly insane, but that’s why we love him.
MAVERICK- author of Requesting Flyby and member of The Right Side of the Pond; the eternal optimist of LOP.
THE DOC- author of Doctor’s Orders and The Wrestlemania Era- The Book of Sports Entertainment.
TITO- LOP elder-statesman and author of Mr. Tito Strikes Back; possibly a former member of the Jackson 5, but that is just speculation.
HUSTLE- Yes THAT Hustle, returning as a special guest for this All-Star Edition. Maybe we can talk him into sticking around somewhere.

So that’s the panel; pretty impressive huh? But enough talk already; let’s get to what you came for.

FACT OR FICTION: Should TNA fold within the year, Kurt Angle will be offered one final run in the WWE before he retires.


’PLAN
FACT. It’s my understanding WWE have already made Kurt Angle offers previously, but unfortunately it entailed working a full time schedule. It should be fairly obvious to any learned fan that Angle’s body is far from in a state capable of enduring that kind of punishment on that kind of scale, so it remains little wonder the two sides have not come to terms. Such is the real rub with this one: that WWE will offer him a deal, I should think, would be beyond question; should Angle accept it because of what is offered is another matter entirely.

LEAF
FICTION- I think Angle would be offered a spot as a guest trainer or as an on air personality. Even though the man is currently working numerous matches a night for TNA as their champion, I'm not sure if the WWE would feel that he's healthy enough after what happened at the end of his WWECW run. Bear in mind of course, that was ten years ago even.

With no disrespect to TNA, I would imagine that WWE's standard of fitness testing is far greater than theirs; they will have a much bigger budget to play with. Given the state that Angle was apparently in during his last run, I really wouldn't hold out too much hope in him passing again.

There is still value in Kurt Angle's name however. If the Macho Man can end up in the Hall of Fame, Angle can at least be put on television again. The bridges aren't too badly burned. I could easily see the Olympic Gold Medalist managing or endorsing the next top star. As an example, Chad Gable in NXT is also a former Olympian. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to picture an association between the two.

Don't get me wrong guys, I would LOVE to see Kurt in the WWE on a part-time basis. I still think there would be a hell of a lot value in a Rusev vs. Angle match in spite of the Bulgarian's winning streak having ended. I'm just pessimistic as far as it actually happening is concerned.

OLIVER
FICTION. This might be slightly against the grain, but I don’t see the benefit Angle offers to WWE, and his deteriorating body is likely to make them think twice about any deal. The truth is that Angle on his best day was the best talent that any company on the planet could have had – but his best days were ten years ago and since then he’s been on a downward spiral. His TNA run has seen him decrease in terms of in ring quality, and as such he loses his worth to WWE. The only thing I would say is that he’d be a good ambassador for WWE as a public face, working a Hogan style deal where he cropped up in promotional places, and possibly even as a scout for amateur talent like himself. But for a run in ring I’m going to say no – to be honest, I don’t think Angle was ever viewed as being that valuable to WWE internally, despite his high quality output and terrific character work. There are other people that they’d probably prefer to spend the money on.

One thing he could be is a great trainer, or even mouthpiece, for some of the developmental talents. With WWE seeming to hire more and more people with an amateur background to contracts at the Performance Centre, he’d be a fine hand to help them work out any kinks in their move-set and as someone who near seamlessly transitioned from amateur to professional wrestling he’d have the knowledge and knowhow to help with that. So I think that WWE would likely offer him more of a behind the scenes role than as an actual in ring talent.

SUPER CHRISSS
When TNA folds, we will see Kurt Angle back inside a WWE ring - FACT. I know Angle has reached out to WWE in the past looking to return but nothing has transpired from his efforts...yet. Personally, I think WWE is hesitant to sign anyone actively employed by TNA Wrestling. But when TNA ceases to exist by the end of the year, I think Angle is virtually a lock for the 2016 Royal Rumble. Will he win that match? Hell no. I don't even want to see Angle get another chance at the world title. But I do want to see Angle vs. Rusev at WrestleMania 32. That's a bit of a dream match for yours truly.

Going back to the question, I'm willing to bet my house that Angle will have at least one more WWE match before he hangs up his boots for good. After that, he should be offered a legends contract of some sort (heck, even Stevie Ray is signed to one!). So worry not WWE/Angle fans, the time will once again come to chant "You Suck" to Kurt's awesome theme music.

DANNO
FICTION. Kurt Angle, a man with a neck made entirely of porcelain. While Angle has been an incredible athlete, it shouldn’t be forgotten that he won that famous gold medal at the LA Olympic Games in 1984. Not only that, he was 28 at the time. Using maths, that makes Angle 86 years of age. Now, does WWE have a need for an octogenarian with a dodgy neck? I have my doubts. Obviously Mae Young was the exception, but that’s because she was a randy old goat.

I think the drug issue would probably be a worry for WWE too. Kurt Angle really loves his drugs. I recently read a report, showing a direct correlation between Angle’s WWE run and a boom in the US pharmaceutical market. Now, obviously this could be a coincidence, or something I just made up, but it does make for interesting reading.

Also, I don’t like Kurt as a baldie. I preferred the thinning widow’s peak of the late 90’s.

MAVERICK
Kurt Angle is my favourite wrestler of all time, based primarily on his incredible seven year run in WWF/E before wellness and schedule trouble saw him quit. I have always thought that, despite my stance generally being against part timers or returning legends, I would love to see Kurt come home for one last run. Last year, during the ascent of Rusev, WWE seemed to have the ideal opportunity to bring him back in. Now, Vince was allegedly onboard with taking Angle on after his TNA contract negotiations stalled, but according to Kurt himself- not the most reliable source, historically- Triple H nixed the idea, having been given full control of personnel. Ultimately, as we've seen with Sting recently, money solves everything, and if that side of the equation can be ironed out, and if Angle can prove he can stay clean, I dare say he'll come in for a Wrestlemania season at some point, therefore I go with FACT on this one. I just hope it's sooner rather than later so that he can showcase his skills at a reasonably high level one last time. The one part of the question that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense is the part about TNA folding; I don't think they will, and I don't think it will require the end of the second biggest wrestling company in North America for Kurt to jump to WWE anyway.

THE DOC
I've loosely decided on FICTION, despite my strong desire for it to be a fact. The overtures between Angle's camp and WWE last year found that the sticking point, apparently, was Angle working a full-time schedule. He cannot. So, if that remains the primary issue of failed negotiations, then that's pretty much that. From what I read when those proceedings were popular news bites, it didn't seem like WWE was anxious to get him back. Perhaps Angle is not being all that forthcoming on the matter, skewing his perception into reality. Lesser talents have certainly been given better deals for their returns (see RVD). Personally, I think that there's a market for Angle in WWE and that there always will be. He's one of the top 15 stars in WWE history; his resume backs up my opinion. I would like to think that he would get some special treatment, assuming that he could pass their physical. There's no reason for him to work a full-time schedule at his age and condition, but that in no way should mean that he doesn't add value to the product as a veteran star with a big name in industry lore who could work with younger talents and put many of them over.

TITO
Not in a wrestling role, FICTION. WWE Corporate does not want another high profile wrestler death on their watch. He has several impaired driving arrests and that's along with other substance abuse. Angle is 46 years old and it's risky for the WWE to take him on as a full time pro wrestler again. He could be a ticking timebomb. Now, in a non-wrestling role, I could see that happening... But would Vince McMahon even want that? During 2006, Angle suggested that he wanted to retire due to injuries mounting. About a month later, after WWE kindly granted him a release, he suddenly appeared in TNA wrestling. Guys who have burned Vince McMahon badly have not been allowed to return as wrestlers (Lex Luger, Jeff Jarrett were both available after WCW folded). With that being said, Angle would have to really earn Vince's trust to ever return to the WWE.

HUSTLE
FICTION. As much as most wrestling fans would love to see Angle working for WWE once again, you just have to figure that it won't happen, at least not in an actual in-ring capacity. They've had multiple chances to re-sign him, and have failed to do so. What makes anyone think it would happen now that he's even older, and now that his body is even further broken down? Can I see him coming back as some sort of a trainer for NXT? Absolutely. That's about it, though.

So there you have it, Day One in the books and our panel is 6-3 in favor of FICTION in regards to Kurt coming back to the WWE for another run should TNA fold. I personally think it will happen, as there’s too much nostalgia there for it not to at some point, at least one more match. So I’m going to make it 6-4. Be sure to come back tomorrow for our second discussion; this time concerning Triple H, Chyna and Sunny.

Until next time,
Thanks for reading!