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Continue reading "True or False #4 - With Scott Keith (WrestleMania Edition)"....
1. The apparent bitterness towards The Rock's return is justified....Scott Keith: FALSE. The Rock is doing everyone a favor by appearing on their PPV and making the company a few extra million dollars. Given the ridiculous lengths that the promotion goes to in order to fit every possible person on the show (seriously, Hornswoggle gets a payoff for being the MASCOT?) it's stupid for anyone to think that a spot is being "stolen" when there's already a million people on the show. Who's losing their place because the Rock is main eventing? Drew McIntyre? Mason Ryan? Wrestling is about making money, and Rock makes money for them. And soon he'll be gone and John Cena can go back to fighting Randy Orton every month and drawing 90,000 buys per show again.
Matt: I know Scott and I are going to disagree on this one. Do I blame WWE for bringing in the Rock? Not in the least. Do I begrudge the Rock for returning and snagging the main event of WrestleMania? Not at all. BUT I do understand why some of the full time talent might be bitter towards him (or his situation). However, I don’t really see it from the perspective of those who might have been left off the card, instead I see it from those who are on the card but might have been in a better position. The fact of the matter is that the Rock vs. John Cena was etched in stone to close the show at the biggest show of the year, and no matter how much success somebody achieved throughout the year, nothing was going to change that. CM Punk is the prime example of that. Furthermore, because they had their biggest match locked up, there wasn't an overwhelming urgency to book their bigger stars in more significant programs. I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed that virtually every single upper midcarder is in one match, including the Miz, who main evented WrestleMania last year (on top of that, he seems tacked on to the storyline). You take the Rock out of the equation and I'm sure at least a couple of Superstars' situation might have improved. Is any of this the Rock's fault? No. But is the bitterness justified? For some people, I say yes. I also don't think Rock does himself any favors when he responds to any and all criticisms with aggression and insults. It wouldn’t hurt for him to show a little graciousness, given that he once had to claw his way through the ranks as well.
2. The Rock vs. John Cena will repeat at WrestleMania XXIX....
Scott: TRUE. I don't know that it's a good idea, mind you, but if they can get their desired 1.3 million buys, they'd be foolish not to try again.
Matt: False. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened, but I don’t see the point. This match has been built for over a year and I think they’ve milked it for all its worth, from both a marketing and creative standpoint. And the fact of the matter is, with the Rock only appearing a handful of dates a year, there simply isn’t enough substance to the story to keep it interesting for another year. I think we’re more likely to see the rumored rematch at SummerSlam.
3. Jim Ross will return to announce at least one match at WrestleMania....
Scott: FALSE. I get the impression that he's done with them for a long while.
Matt: True. In recent years, it seems like they pull out a special announcer for at least one match (Joey Styles for Edge vs. Foley; JR for the latter part of last year's WrestleMania). I expect Ross to come to the announce desk for Undertaker vs. Triple H, and possibly to stay until the conclusion of the card.
4. The World Heavyweight Title match will open WrestleMania....
Scott: FALSE. It'll probably be the WWE title match, however, which is fine. That will allow them to get as much time as they need with a hot crowd.
Matt: I'm going to go with false. I think there's a good likelihood, but for whatever reason I expect that honor to go to Rhodes/Big Show. The WrestleMania opener is a badge of honor of sorts, but I think its best used for an up and comer than a main event-level match.
5. Both the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships will change hands at WrestleMania....
Scott: FALSE. I think Jericho will get the belt, but I don't think they can resist the temptation to draw out the chase of Daniel Bryan and the AJ story a bit longer.
Matt: False. This is mostly wishful thinking, though. I love both Punk and Bryan as World Champions, so I'm hoping at least one of them hold onto the gold (although I enjoy both challengers as well). If I were a betting man, I'd say that Bryan loses and Punk retains.
I’d once again like to thank Scott for participating in this special WrestleMania edition of True or False. Again, be sure to check out his books, visit his blog, and follow him on Twitter.
3 comments:
For what it's worth, my answers:
1. False, I agree with Scott, although I do understand your argument. In the end though, it's extremely difficult to say who would be effected. You mention Punk, but let's remove Rock from the equation. Is Punk in a better position? Or is he shoved into some random midcard match so SuperCena can defend the title instead? And really, what would the main event be if Rock/Cena was not an option? I have a hard time imagining it would be anything other than HHH/Taker, and I'm just not going to shed a tear if those two aren't positioned higher at WM...they've both main evented it a billion times.
2. I'll say true although maybe not at WM. I think the point, will they wrestle again, is a true, and it's why I'm starting to lean back toward Rock winning at WM (after going back and forth a million times). If they're going to wrestle again, Rock winning in his first match back in his hometown with tons of people tuning in specifically for him, some of whom haven't watched in a long time, is the right move (even if it's via Mizterference or other shady going ons), with Cena winning any rematches they have. I'm not a blind Cena hater, I think he should win any future matches and the overall feud. But this is a special circumstance. If Punk had lost at MitB, do you think any of the people he convinced to buy the PPV due to word of mouth over his promo would have stuck around? I doubt it, it would have been such a huge downer. Same thing if RVD had lost at One Night Stand. In this case, I know people who watch almost every week that don't want to watch anymore if Cena wins and cements "I'm SuperCena and I beat everyone all the time" even more, let alone the people who don't watch regularly. If there's going to be any rematches, this is the one for Rock to win. After this one it won't be as special and it won't be in his hometown (presumably).
3. God I hope so. I'd love for him to announce the entire PPV. At the very least I hope he does HHH/Taker and Rock/Cena. I think there's a chance, especially with Booker added to Team Teddy. I'm not sure they'll go with "Just Cole and Lawler" all PPV, or "Cole, Lawler, and Josh Matthews".
4. Maybe? No clue. I think it's one of the two title matches to spread them out. I assumed World Heavyweight title but Scott has a good point about giving the WWE title match a lot of time and getting the crowd solidly into the show. I don't think Show/Cody is going to be anything more than a 5 minute let the crowd relax match, to be honest.
5. False, my guess is Bryan loses and Punk retains, but I could honestly see any of the combinations happening. I expect Sheamus to win but wouldn't be shocked if Bryan retains, and I could see Jericho winning to continue the Punk/Jericho feud at the next PPV.
Not that this would stop them but it's hard to justify Jim Ross in storylines unless Team Teddy wins (which I very much doubt unless Ace doesn't want to do TV anymore) and Teddy sends him out right after, since in the storylines Ace despises JR.
To be clear, I don't disagree with what Scott said. I just think a lot of people refuse to see any argument outside of "Rock helps them make more money, and the point is to make as much money as possible." I don't argue with that, hence why I don't blame WWE or Rock for the situation.
Having said that, when many retired wrestlers are asked to recall their favorite WrestleMania moment, I think they discuss the moment that meant the most to them, not the moment that made them the most money.
And yes, they have gone to exhaustive lengths to ensure that everybody reasonable makes it onto the card, and I do applaud them for that. Drew McIntyre has long been the punchline for this argument and even HE made the card. But the fact remains that a lot of top level guys (Dolph, Christian, Miz, Kofi, Truth, Henry, and even Ryder) are in a borderline throwaway match instead of getting a strong singles push. Would that have changed if Rock wasn't there? I don't know. Maybe it wouldn't have for many. But somebody like Dolph Ziggler (or ADR, who isn't even on the card) could easily say, "they would've put more time into me if they didn't have the safety net of the Rock."
And like I said, I think Rock makes it worse for himself. He was even on the radio this morning and he used that old line that people who have criticized him "lack perspective." He even went as far as to make it sound like they should be honored to be on the same card as him. And this wasn't in character. I just think some humility and gratitude would go a long way, because there are a lot of people busting their ass that aren't getting an opportunity because he's there. Not his fault, but he shouldn't make it worse.
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