Just North of Wrigley Field

posted by James - 7:21 PM

Just Another Monday Night: Fact or Fiction
(yet, another blatant rip off of ESPN)

Welcome back to Just Another Monday Night for a round of Fact or Fiction. At 9 p.m. Eastern, we’ll find out the aftermath of last night’s draft lottery: a new Smackdown! GM and his or her newest acquisitions. I’m David from Just North of PetCo Park, and I’ll be your host, and I’m alongside Chris from Just West of SafeCo Field and James from Just North of Wrigley Field.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Thanks for joining us.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD: How ya doin’?

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD: Thanks for having me. Let’s get on with it.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: And away we go...

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Fact or Fiction: Former 5-time World Champion Booker T will remain on Raw now that his tag-team partner has moved on to Smackdown!.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FACT

That’s a fact. He'll stay on Raw and challenge John Cena (who will come over in a trade sending Kane to Smackdown!) and the rest of Raw for the Intercontinental and World Title.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FICTION

That’s fiction, David. He’s going to end up on Smackdown! in a trade for Charlie Haas and the A-Train... and he won’t be coming to make friends. In fact, I expect him to immediately align himself with new Smackdown! manager Theodore Long and start some thuggin’ and buggin’, if you can dig that, playa.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: I can dig that. And since you brought in the pimp overtones... How ’bout we take a ride aboard the hoooooo train? Fact or Fiction: The new Smackdown! GM will be Stephanie McMahon.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FACT

I’ve got to go with fact here. The McMahon’s will keep this in house and go with experience. She hasn’t achieved much success in a managerial standpoint, but Vince always has a soft spot for his progeny. She’ll persuade him to let her get another crack over ex-husband Triple H.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FICTION

I have a feeling we won’t see a McMahon in a GM role. It will more than likely be a former wrestler. They’ll go for some new blood on Smackdown! to combat Eric Bischoff on Raw.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: I hope the person they pick has the skills of a mongoose... Bisch needs a challenge. Speaking of new GMs, how about the old one? Fact or Fiction: Heyman will go from Smackdown! GM to selling hotdogs in Central Park.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FICTION

This is fiction. Vince will make him beg for his job back and Vince will say he has a special assignment just for Heyman. He can be Vince’s personal bathroom attendant, he’ll have his own “office” and everything.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FICTION

Toilets, huh? I think there’s someone here who belongs selling frankfurters on the corner. That was fiction and so is this. We haven’t seen the last of Heyman. He still has a score to settle with the Undertaker, and Heyman doesn’t let feuds die that easily. Heyman proved what he can do with a budget and talent level of a Smackdown!-type show. He’ll be a thorn in Raw and Smackdown!’s side until he finds something else to spend his time on.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD: Look here, you roody poo candy ass. I'll tell you where you and Heyman can both go... He's nothing more than a whiny little bee-yotch, and I'm glad to see he's done wasting the WWE's payroll, like you’re wasting ours.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD: Well, Heyman and I (the people with any creative talent at all) will wait our turn by the hot dog stand, while you go wait where you belong, by your choice: the toilet.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD: That's right, I said toilet!

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD: I said hot dogs!

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD: Toilets!!!

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD: HOT DOGS!!!

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD: TOILETS!!!

The first annual Just Another Monday Night Rumble breaks out! (actually, it's like the 300th, but who's counting)

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: I'll whup both your asses and have you scrubbing latrines with him while eating hot dogs, if ya both don't shut up and move on to this question...

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Fact or Fiction: Chris Benoit will benefit the most from having his toughest competition for the title move to Smackdown!.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FICTION

This is also fiction. Benoit doesn’t get it easier. Now, he’s got even hungrier competition for his title. Booker T and Kane are still there, for the time being. And Trip’s effect will still haunt Benoit on Raw, with an energized Shawn Michaels fighting for another title run and Evolution’s new leader Randy Orton picking up right where Trip left off.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FACT

It will give Benoit an opportunity to fight fair fights instead of having to deal with groups like Evolution. It actually favors all the top contenders for the World Heavyweight belt. Without Triple H to take up all of his time, Benoit will be able to defend his title against more young new talent.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Both good points-ah... and now on to The Game-ah. Fact or Fiction: Triple-H will dominate Smackdown! like he dominated Raw all these years.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FACT

It will depend on the friends he's able to make on Smackdown. Trip’s only been as good as his friends. I guess I’m almost obligated to say fact here because I’ve already said Stephanie will regain her position as Smackdown! GM. His success will depend a lot on his relationship with his former wife, or other people which he’s done business with before like Kurt Angle, who he could unite with to eliminate Guerrero.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FICTION

Whoever gets the GM job is going to make the biggest effect on what Triple H does. If it is Stephanie as GM, I would find it hard to believe she wouldn’t let him get away with whatever he wants to do. But if someone that is a little less interested in Trip’s personal interest comes in, we could see him have to work for a belt... something we haven’t seen in years on Raw.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Interesting point Skippy... but wasn't Triple-H last feuding with Steph about the whole divorce angle? Speaking of Angles... and I don't mean Kurt here... Fact or Fiction: Having a Smackdown! main event headline Raw devalued Raw from the fans’ perspective.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FACT

This is a fact on so many levels. The Raw wrestlers got screwed out of a main event on their show. It’s one thing to have Triple H in the main event while he’s on the Raw roster, but he gets it even after they “get rid of him.” I know Heyman saw it as free advertisement for his brand, but he screwed the Smackdown! audience out of a title defense between THEIR champion and his newest rival. And the Raw audience ended up with a devalued interest in their program and live event, because they were watching a main event for a completely different show... between wrestlers they’ll never see again and don’t want to. If they want to make this a true rivalry between the shows, they need to allow the audience to make the same choices.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FICTION

I would call this fiction, but I would think that it shows how much they rely on Triple H to put on a show. It also made it look like Smackdown! may have taken the advantage with its roster being boosted due to the draft. Raw will still be the superior brand, but Smackdown! has shown it can entertain on a major scale. Also... are people going to consider the break-out brawl during the match between Triple H and Eddie normal? This is not a normal Smackdown! event that was a Raw-style ending. So, I fear the fans are going to go looking to Smackdown! to continue that style of fighting and be disappointed when it’s not what they see.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Yeah. Besides, I can't think of anything better than a mob of over sixty people to see HHH's butt out the door. This brings me to my next question. Fact or Fiction: The Brawl at the end was the highlight of the show.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FACT

HELL YEAH!!!!!!! In fact, that was the best ending to a show I have EVER seen. It made me want Thursday to come much faster to see the fall out of who went where and what trades were made. It was a little short though. I really would have loved to see more of the brawl. We barely got to see the final stream of wrestlers come down to the ring. For a show that was supposed to be the biggest night in WWE history, it should have been a little longer giving more time to announce some early trades and see a little more from the drafted wrestlers.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FICTION

It’s fiction, but not a fully supported fiction. I couldn’t imagine something more entertaniing than the brawl at the end of the show... but they managed to make it a sore point for me anyway when the cut it off at the end for Stripperella. They knew they were going to have this at the end. They needed to either ask Spike TV for more time or start the brawl earlier. This could have been a three-hour episode easily. I envy those who had their VCR or TiVo running, because I’d still be watching it if I had a chance. Because I have to pick another highlight... I’m going with Edge’s brief appearance, and his new and improved spear on Eric Bischoff... now with silencing action.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Ahh... Yes. Since we just did a question on the highlight, lets move on to it's opposite. And since we were just talking about the draft. Fact or Fiction: Tajiri moving from Smackdown! to Raw was the lowlight of the show.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD > FICTION

Last night was very confusing, neither the Smackdown or the Raw announcers did a very good job letting the audience know what other ways they had to stay updated on the events of the evening and as the trade deadline approaches. Also the fact that the Undertaker was mentioned and never showed up disappointed me greatly. He should have come out when Kane was complaining about the possibility of being on the same brand as the Undertaker.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD > FICTION

If only this were fact and I didn’t have to end this with agreeing with Skippy, but it’s fiction, and he’s actually on the right track. I would have found a way to get Taker on this show too, but I’d give anything to give back Kane’s appearance. Where did my Kane go? He can light a stage on fire and obliterate Rico, everyone’s favorite effeminate wrestler this side of Billy Gunn, but he can’t resist begging off another confrontation with the guy who laid a whuppin’ on him at Wrestlemania? Whatever respect I had for the Big Red Machine as a terrifying character is gone.

And, hopefully, they’ll find a way to save Tajiri moving to a brand without a cruiserweight title. If they work a trade sending Hurricane and Rosey to Smackdown! for Akio and Sakoda, Tajiri could become a force for the Intercontinental Title and the Tag-Team belts.

JUST NORTH OF PETCO PARK: Well, thank you boys for joining us and keeping it relatively clean and free of incident.

JUST WEST OF SAFECO FIELD: My pleasure as always.

JUST NORTH OF WRIGLEY FIELD: Yeah, yeah... whatever.

After the way things have gone over the last 24 hours with the WWE it will be interesting to see how the next week unfolds.

Well after a couple of long wrestling posts, we go back to our regularly scheduled posting with only a few battle scars to show for it.