This Or That (3/3/2014)

Everybody loves binary decisions, especially wrestling fans! In This Or That, we’ve forced ourselves to choose between two options that relate to wrestling.

Over four questions, @TimWelcomed, @typicalROHfan and @TomBlackett will have to choose one of two options and give their reasoning on each of their choices. You can then vote on which one you’d choose, giving you the false impression that you’re somehow involved and we care about your opinion chance to join the conversation!

Before we start, here’s last week’s results:

More likely to main event Wrestlemania 30?

Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar – 51%, Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan – 49% (Broke our record for most votes and closest result!)

Bigger WWE Network sell?

Live WWE PPV’s – 64%, Library of WCW/ECW PPV’s – 36%

More sex appeal?

Roman Reigns – 59%, Dean Ambrose – 41%

Better sitcom?

Seinfeld – 65%, Friends – 35%

Better way to save the Wrestlemania Championship match: Turning Batista heel or inserting CM Punk?

With Batista turning heel and the rumor of a CM Punk return, which would help save the Wrestlemania Title match?

Tim:

I don’t think turning Batista heel will do much good at this point. It won’t make him wrestle any better and if they have to turn Randy Orton face it’ll be just as bad, especially after all of the time they’ve devoted to making Orton look like a slimeball. Groups of people are already turning on CM Punk for numerous reasons and I don’t see that getting better if he returns just to take that main event spot. That is not to say the majority will not still love him. It will make the match MUCH more enjoyable with him involved although I still believe that spot should go to Daniel Bryan… but if not Bryan I’d prefer CM Punk.

Inserting CM Punk 

typicalROHfan:

While CM Punk being in the match is the easiest of the two solutions in terms of not getting fans to destroy the match, I think Batista being heel somewhat helps out the situation more. As long as Batista and Randy Orton are in that ring, fans are gonna heckle and jeer.

Batista as a face neuters him from being able to react or respond to what the crowd is doing. At least as a heel, he can play it up and with both Orton and Batista out there, the announcers can sell the fans dislike them both and further segue into the likely Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H main event.

Batista turning heel

Tom:

I don’t think either thing alone is enough to save the main event, and even having both happen doesn’t feel like it’ll make for a particularly exciting Wrestlemania headliner. Batista’s far more fun as a heel, but having him face Orton alone would make for a pretty empty match. The inclusion of Punk would keep things a little more lively, but I’d be far more interested in seeing him take on Big Dave in a singles match. As always, Randy Orton’s the factor that negates much of my interest in things.

Anyway, what’s my point? Do I have a point? I dunno, man. Let’s go with chucking Punk in there and set a precedent for rewarding poor behaviour.

Inserting CM Punk

More likely to be left off the Wrestlemania 30 card: Dolph Ziggler or Big Show?

Neither currently profiled highly on television, who is in more danger of missing the card entirely?

Tim:

They like to throw Big Show into things a lot so I think there is a way bigger chance he makes it onto the card while Dolph Ziggler is very low on the totem pole for them nowadays. I wish this was reversed. Get on that, WWE.

Dolph Ziggler

typicalROHfan:

Neither will have an important match but I think Big Show is a lock to be in whatever random multi-person match they put on the show. Dolph Ziggler clearly is not a favorite of some important people in WWE creative and his complaints on Twitter about it can’t possibly help.

After airing out WWE for erasing his fan support chants in Smackdown’s edit, I can easily see WWE punishing him by not letting him get on the Wrestlemania card. On the flip side of this topic, Big Show is someone with the reputation and stature that they will want to reward. Ziggler is very likely to be the one left off.

Dolph Ziggler

Tom:

Yeah, the Hijack Raw guys can try all they like to ‘elevate the mid-card’ but I don’t see there being any kind of spot whatsoever for Ziggler at ‘Mania, unless they have some kind of a Money in the Bank type deal going on.

Meanwhile, Big Show’s the kind of guy who’ll just get dropped into a match regardless of whether anybody wants it – I imagine he’ll be dropped into something involving Reigns or Cesaro as the immovable object for them to demonstrate their unstoppable forceness on. Forceness isn’t a word. Fortitude? I don’t know.

Dolph Ziggler

[poll id=”59″]

More likely to happen: CM Punk returning to ROH or Kevin Steen debuting in WWE?

A question submitted by reader of the site, @WrestlingFanRJ!

Tim:

I don’t see CM Punk as the type that will take anything less than where he is at so I don’t everseeing him returning to ROH. He’ll be in WWE or nowhere at all in the wrestling business. I want nothing more than for Kevin Steen to get signed. I think Steen has more of a chance now than ever but it’s still a toss-up for me when it comes to Steen/WWE.

Kevin Steen debuting in WWE

typicalROHfan:

Personally it would make me very happy if both of these were to happen in 2014 but I think it’s Kevin Steen to WWE as I expect that more than hope it. Dude is so good to watch out there and I think his talent will get him to the WWE.

CM Punk just seems like the kind of person that would take joy hanging on his couch eating organic ice cream for the rest of his life never communicating with the wrestling world again, while people on Twitter ferociously debate about how he lives his life.

Kevin Steen to WWE

Tom:

Yeah, there really doesn’t seem any good reason for Punk to go back to ROH. There are some guys there I’d love to see him tussle with, but it seems unlikely he’ll ever take a step backwards and go back to Ring Of Honor – he doesn’t seem particularly prone to nostalgia, and ROH really isn’t the same company that he left.

As far as Kevin Steen goes, I don’t think there’s anyone who’s watched him perform that wouldn’t love to see him in WWE. He’s gotten to that point on the indies where there’s really not much left for him to do, and he’s become a known quantity amongst guys like Stone Cold, Jim Ross and, of course, his best friend The Rock – of course, while trading tweets with Dwayne Johnson or appearing on Steve Austin’s podcast might not mean that Vince or Triple H will take a second look at him, it’s still a pretty great sign that Kevin Steen is on their radar and will be given a chance.

Kevin Steen debuting in WWE

Better boy band: NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?

The battle of the boy bands! WHO WILL WIN!?

Tim:

NSYNC was never the talented group that the Backstreet Boys were. Justin Timberlake didn’t even learn how to not sing out of his nose until after he broke out by himself. The Backstreet Boys had the better songs and NSYNC relied way more on trends and being “fun” while The Backstreet Boys relied on trends minorly and had great chemistry as a group along with a slew of timeless songs to overshadow their more mainstream and gimmicky songs. All NSYNC had was Justin Timberlake and he was overrated during that time but has thankfully grown into a great performer once he shed the baggage of the group.

The Backstreet Boys

typicalROHfan:

God damn this is the worst because I love them both but I’m going with NSYNC. As much as I love “Quit Playin’ Games With My Heart” and “I Want It That Way,” NSYNC provides my favorite happy boy band song (fast paced) with “Bye Bye Bye” and my favorite sad boy band song with “Gone.”

Also, the tie breaker goes to NSYNC for wearing Air Jordan 14 “Indiglo sneakers in a music video which I had at the time and made me feel more connected them as sneaker bros. Yes, it may have been one Candice LeRae (Justin Timberlake) and four Joey Ryan’s (the rest) but it worked perfectly!

NSYNC

Tom:

You know what? Fuck this question. The secret truth to ’90s pop is that American boy bands were GROSSLY inferior to British boy bands. We had Take That. We had Boyzone. We had 911. We had East 17. We had Busted. We had 5ive. We had A1. All of them were AMAZING, but do they every get brought into the discussion of ‘best boy band ever’? Do they get any credit for giving so much to the world of pop while asking for so little? No, they don’t. It’s ridiculous and it’s insulting and I’m not going to be part of it. Now hit my fucking music:

*NO RESPONSE GIVEN*