These things are starting to pile up on me, so how about a little bit of Fact or Fiction wrestling talk?
These questions were asked before Fast Lane, but I’m answering them anyway because my answers, even with the benefit of a little hindsight, haven’t really changed.
1. No matter the outcome at Sunday’s Fast Lane PPV, Daniel Bryan will end up in the WrestleMania main event.
It’s pretty obvious now that barring some sort of emergency, the closest he’s getting to the main event is watching it on a monitor. It sucks too because like I said before, WWE screwed up such a real, easy comeback story. But if they insist on putting Reigns in that spot (personally I think he maybe should be the one in the Cena position against Rusev to help establish him), they had the best match they possibly could have had at the PPV. It was exactly what I was hoping for when I picked Reigns to win. Both guys looked like a million bucks, Bryan lost nothing in defeat aside from his push, Reigns looked good fighting up from the beating Bryan laid on him and they shook hands at the end as though things had been settled. It was as close to perfect as you’re going to get nowadays.
2. Monday’s edition of Monday Night Raw was an effective go home show for the Fast Lane PPV.
It might have been, I’m not really sure. I seriously remember jack shit about that show. There’s way too much product out there now before you even get outside of WWE to be able to remember anything, even things you literally just saw. But on the bright side I don’t remember finishing the show bored or angry, which by current standards equals a win.
3. You have no interest in a Ric Flair hosted podcast.
I absolutely have interest in that, but I’m probably not going to listen to it much if at all. There are a lot of things I’m interested in that I just never get around to. (see product, there is too much of). But listening to Flair tell ring and road stories? How could you not be even the tiniest bit interested in that?
4. Finn Balor has the biggest star potential of anyone on the NXT roster.
That’s a tough one. If they let him keep the music and the entrance and the face paint and everything else that makes him him, he might. But personally I’m leaning towards either Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn. Not only are they just as good or better than Finn in the ring, but they’re both great talkers which is obviously very important in WWE. If they all get time to show what they can do and aren’t crippled by stupid booking, I’ll be happy.
5. The Triple H vs. Sting confrontation at WWE Fast Lane will likely disappoint.
I had no idea what to expect from it going in, but I would have said no because there’s no way Triple H is sabotaging his own segment on purpose heading into Mania season. and I would have been right. I think some of the WCW stuff was lost on the younger fans, but in the end what needed accomplishing got accomplished. The only thing I think could have been done better is Triple H agreeing to the match. Having Cole just announce it like yeah whatever felt flat. Triple H should have stormed out in the middle of Raw or even later on during Fast Lane all pissed off that Sting had gotten the better of him again and been all like “dammit, if you want a Mania match, I’ll give you a Mania match. But it’ll be the last match you ever have. Enjoy the next month, because I’m ending you.”
6. WWE should add an NXT Title match to the WrestleMania card.
No. Not because I wouldn’t want to see one, but because it won’t work. WWE has trouble fitting everything into the four hours of Mania as it is, so if the NXT guys got much more than 5 minutes I’d be shocked. And if you don’t think that they’d be told to tone things down, you’re fooling yourself. If you’re going to showcase something, a watered down version of it is not the way to do it. NXT should absolutely be a part of the week’s festivities, but it would be better served as part of the fan fest or a standalone show.
And…done. Maybe I’ll knock out another one of these before the day is through since I have more.
Oh, and I’ve gotten some nice comments about these, so thanks. Especially to the person who’s opinion carries a touch more weight than the average opinion. I appreciate that.
Talk soon.