Csonka’s WWE King of the Ring Review 4.28.15

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

WWE King of the Ring 2015

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ KOTR Semifinal Match: Neville defeated Sheamus @ 6:01 via pin [**½]
~ KOTR Semifinal Match: Bad News Barrett vs. R-Truth @ 4:35 via pin [**]
~ KOTR Finals Match: Bad News Barrett defeated Neville @ 7:07 via pin [***]

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* They ran a graphic for Verne Gagne.

* They then played a really good King of the Ring video package.

* Jerry Lawler hyped up the tournament, and the four men that made it to tonight’s semifinals. We get highlights from last night.

* The first few minutes of the show did a much better job of making the KOTR feel important than last night’s show did.

* Byron Saxton interviews Sheamus, who won the crowd in 2010. He promises to knockout Neville, and will then go onto the finals and become king again. And the he’ll make every little fella kiss his arse.

* Renee interviews Neville, who says he was the longest reigning NXT champion and is now in WWE and close to winning the crown. He has spent his life defying expectations, and tonight, he will show Sheamus what a little fella can do.

KOTR Semifinal Match: Neville vs. Sheamus: Lets hope that they do not go with the predictable “Ziggler gets involved and costs Sheamus the match” ending. Sheamus tried to use his power to begin, but Neville used his speed and worked leg kicks. Sheamus then took control with that power advantage, looking like he was completely brutalizing Neville. Neville they started to make a comeback, using his kicks again, but Sheamus tossed him from the apron and into the announcer’s table. Neville would beat the count, but Sheamus continued to play bully and toss him around and then hit white noise at about five-minutes into the match. Dolph Ziggler then came out, he talked and showed footage of Sheamus losing at Extreme Rules. This led to the Raw distraction finish, Neville won with the red arrow thanks to Ziggler’s speech and distraction. Well that was predictable and disappointing, and cut them off before they really got going. Both guys are capable of much better, but with the whole thing designed just to get them to Ziggler arriving, it was solid stuff. Ziggler then kept talking and attacked Sheamus, because Sheamus still owes him a kiss on the ass. They brawled, this became all about them and they did a great job of making Neville’s win feel beyond secondary. Referees separated them, Sheamus got his eye busted open somewhere in the brawl. I get the need to “protect” Sheamus here, but these are issues that need to be better thought out prior to running a tournament. The brawl was good, but again I feel Neville came across as a complete afterthought.

* Renee interviewed Bad News Barrett about the tournament. He is confident about his match and feels Truth should be afraid of him and not spiders. Barrett then promises to make Neville into the man that no one remembers.

* Saxton interviews Truth. Truth discusses his fear of spiders, and then says his plan is to win KOTR, become King and then declare a ban on spiders. Yup.

KOTR Semifinal Match: Bad News Barrett vs. R-Truth: They had a fine little match here, good back and forth and no bullshit. Truth got a good near fall off of the lie detector, the crowd seemed disappointed that Barrett got the ropes. Barrett then raked the eyes, hit the bull hammer and that was that. It was fine.

* Cole discusses Verne Gagne passing away, and we get a video package on his career.

* Renee interviewed Ziggler about his issues with Sheamus and the fact that Ziggler basically allowed Sheamus to advance in the KOTR tournament. He felt bas he cost Ambrose his shot at the KOTR crown, but promised to kick Sheamus’ ass.

* The show Neville defeating Barrett on the Extreme Rules pre-show.

* Barrett got promo time, he wasn’t happy that he had to face Neville so soon after his match with Truth.

KOTR Finals Match: Neville vs. Bad News Barrett: They had a good match on the Extreme Rules pre-show, and there is no reason that they shouldn’t be able to do that again here. Neville was selling the ribs from his encounter with Sheamus, and after some shine early, Barrett took over and worked the back and midsection. This was easily the best thing on the show, they work very well together and built to some nice near falls for Neville. Neville missed the red arrow, rolled through but then ran right into the bull hammer and Barrett is your king of the ring. I would have liked to see then get more time, but it was a good final match. Barrett winning is basic WWE booking for him to get his win back, which is annoying, but Neville has been booked really well as of late and his losses have become well booked, as he nearly had this won and when he got overzealous, the more experienced performer scored the win.

* Barrett cut his promo, wearing his cape and crown. He promises to reign with an iron fist and a bull hammer.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

First of all let me say this, a show like this as a Network special is exactly the type of thing that WWE needs to be doing more often (same thing goes for that Sheamus vs. Rusev match they ran after Raw one week). In theory the KOTR was the right thing to bring back, people like it and it makes more sense as a Network special. I wish that they could have ran with the plan of running for a few weeks in a row or something like that because I think it would have worked out better in terms of matches and allowing time to really figure out the booking. Hopefully when they do this next year that put some real thought into it, because it can be a real winner. Also, Sforcina and I want the Vince McMahon Sr. Memorial Tag Team Cup next.

Tonight’s show was a fine, but unspectacular hour. The show was largely predictable, which is fine as long as the in ring really delivers. The wrestling wasn’t bad but I expected more. Neville vs. Sheamus was fine until the ending which completely made you forget about the important guy, the one that won; Barrett vs. Truth was about what I expected, it was solid. The main event was a good match, although I felt it was a notch below the Extreme Rules pre-show match that they had, but I would say that the right man won. Barrett has the better promo skills and as a performer is made to work the King gimmick. Neville is not, and I feel that while it would have been a cool feather in the cap so to speak that they wouldn’t have gotten as much out of it with Neville. Neville and Barrett are far from done, and with the IC Title seemingly in limbo they could easily continue their issues over that title.

Overall this wasn’t bad, but it felt like it was a flawed execution of a good idea, and hopefully they can improve on it the next time they run it.