wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of Impact & Smackdown
How the 4Rs of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO times a week. We will group our feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and needs discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a “mark” column, nor a “smark” column, our goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. We will not apologize for our opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
By Daniel Clark
Smackdown 3.26.15
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Jimmy Uso def. Cesaro, Fernando and Big E at 4.46 by pinfall
* Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Roman Reigns and Mark Henry def. The Big Show, Kane, Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins at 15.29 by pinfall
THE RIGHT:
Divas promo: The build for the AJ/Paige vs. The Bellas match had started off fairly well but had since tailed off in recent weeks with the feud seemingly running out of steam, although that was perhaps partly due to them just being stuck in short singles matches without there really being a chance to show what they can do. This promo really helped to sell the match and set the scene as to exactly what their issues are. AJ comes out and she says that she loves the divas title, as does Paige, and that they both hate losing, so will team up to beat the ‘Kardashians’. The Bellas comes out and say that although AJ and Paige might be tag partners, they are sisters and have a bond that cannot be broken. Nikki then ‘shoots’ on AJ by saying that Brock Lesnar has worked more dates than her and while AJ has been on vacation, she has been running the divas division, to which she sort of has a point, but she delivers it in a such a way that no-one is possibly going to take her side. AJ and Paige call them into the ring for a fight, but the Bellas refuse. Good promo that hyped up the divas match at Wrestlemania and shows more of the reasons why they hate each other, and they were actually given some time to take and tell a story, and crucially for them, they took advantage of that.
John Cena, Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, Kane, the Big Show and Bray Wyatt: This turned into a surprisingly good little match as I was kind of expecting it to be a long, slow, plodding affair, with no-one taking any chances to ensure that they do not get injured ahead of Mania, but instead, it was a decent match with some nice stories told in it, such as Mark Henry desperate to get his hands on the Big Show, and John Cena continuing to look vulnerable by playing the face in peril. The face team where never not going to win this match but I was a little surprised that it was Daniel Bryan who picked up the win rather than Roman Reigns. Okay, yes, it was Reigns who cleaned house by taking out Show, Wyatt and Kane to set up the win, but given that he is the man in the main event, it might have been better for him to pick up the big win rather than Bryan, who by winning this just shows he should be involved in a more profile match than he is.
puRgatoRy:
Jimmy Uso vs. Fernando vs. Big E vs. Cesaro: As a preview for the tag team title match, this did the job of reminding you that it is going to take place, but the actual match itself was not the best. Some of the spots were sloppy and looked awkward, with the timing not quite right from a lot of the men involved, but there was also some good stuff, such as the double superplex spot. Cesaro was the star performer in the match but took the pinfall from Jimmy Uso to remind us that they could easily lose the belts on Sunday. The match was okay and just did the job of reminding us about the Mania match.
Wrestlemania hype videos: The hype videos for Wrestlemania were all pretty good really and what you have come to expect from the WWE video editing department. But, they are pretty much wasted on this final episode of Smackdown before the PPV. As good as they were, they aren’t going to convince anyone to buy Mania who wasn’t going to anyway, as if you watch Smackdown weekly, you are going to either buy Wrestlemania or have the WWE Network. The videos were good, but ultimately, were really on the show to fill time and make it a two hour show.
THE wRong:
NOTHING
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
The last Smackdown before Wrestlemania almost has to be treated as a special case and not like any other episode, as to be honest, this show only exists because they are contracted to produce one, as all the big angles that they want to do for Wrestlemania happened on Raw.
That said, what we did get on Smackdown was absolutely fine and we actually did get some angle advancement, even if it was just for the divas match, with AJ, Paige, and the Bellas cutting a good promo and actually after a few weeks of the feud floundering around and seemingly going nowhere, adding a newer and more personal touch to the feud and helped make it a more intriguing match.
The main event was a perfectly fine 15 minute match as well and, although there was never any doubt that the face team were going to get the win, they told a decent story and made the match more watchable than it was expected to be. The other match on the show was a fun little sprint involving the tag team title contenders, and although it had some good moments, was a bit sloppy and not everyone seemed to be on top of their game.
The rest of the show was filled up with Wrestlemania promos and hype videos, and although they were all pretty good and did a decent job of selling you on the PPV, I can’t imagine that there are too many Smackdown viewers who were not going to watch Wrestlemania until they saw this episode. The videos did a great job of highlighting and recapping the feuds, but I imagine most people would have preferred them to have been replaced with actual wrestling or in-ring promos to build to Wrestlemania.
As always, this last episode of Smackdown before Wrestlemania is a bit of a throwaway episode, but it was a fairly acceptable throwaway episode.
Show Rating: 7.0
As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect
By Jericho Ricardi
Impact 3.27.15
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Rockstar Spud def. Low Ki at 5:00 via roll-up
* Awesome Kong def. Brooke at 5:00 via Implant Buster
* Ethan Carter III, Tyrus, and Eric Young def. Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, and Mr. Anderson at 7:00 via submission (Eric Young makes Aries tap to the Figure Four)
* Jeff Hardy def. James Storm at 15:00 via rad creative cage-based move
THE RIGHT:
Ethan Carter the Spoiler: The most interesting segment of this show was Kurt Angle’s “championship celebration”. EC3 challenging Angle instantly made the proceedings interesting – I and many others have him pegged as the guy to dethrone Angle – and their being joined by Bobby Roode, Eric Young, and Austin Aries made it clear what the company’s top tier looks like right now. The best thing is that – aside from Angle – all of the above are entirely homegrown stars. Lashley confronting Angle on the way out to make the statement that Angle has to go through him first was a good call. Looking forward to seeing Angle run with the title one more time and take on TNA’s best after he deals with Lashley.
Pier Six Brawl: I’m a big fan of impromptu gang warfare, and this three-on-three was pretty good. Not sure if Mr. Anderson is headed for the title picture at all, and Tyrus is merely a bodyguard, but everyone else here fits into the main world title storyline. This was a straight good vs. evil deal, and Eric Young got a somewhat needed win. Aries has lost a bit much for my liking as of late, but his possession of a briefcase makes him somewhat loss-proof. DBZ Reference Time: Roode and Aries remind me a lot of Gokou and Vegeta in later-DBZ, if Vegeta had gotten a win on Gokou somewhere along the line. Roode is a paragon of sorts, while Aries looks out for himself dammit, but he isn’t a bad guy. Roode thinks highly of Aries, and while Aries would never admit it, he also thinks highly of Roode. Good character development around those guys, and I hope TNA realizes that they’re the MVPs of the company (with all due respect to MVP). They and EC3 are the future, hopefully.
Jeff Hardy Vs. James Storm: The main event of the evening was an excellent hardcore brawl. I would have liked to see this spill over into the crowd, but what we did get was extreme enough. I was hoping for a Storm win since he needs it more, but Hardy’s very innovative cage-based finisher was something I won’t soon forget regardless. Fun match, well built-to, and the crowd got into a frenzy for it.
Rockstar Ki: The match between Spud and Low Ki was something we needed to see. Even though Spud’s win wasn’t clean, it showed that he can hold his own in a title defense. They need to be careful to not let Spud go from “underdog” to “joke character”. He has risen to the point where he’s a real threat, and that slow elevation needs to continue. If Low Ki had just thrashed Spud for a minute before the DQ, it would have damaged Spud a lot. Instead, we got a competitive match and Spud got a lucky pin on Low Ki (who lost nothing here). Good stuff.
What’s a Flatscan?: MVP’s promos continue to be entertaining every week. I don’t know how interested I am in seeing him wrestle nowadays, but he’s probably the best talker in the company. Supplemental Wrong to Kenny King for spoiling the end of Braveheart.
The Rising debut: This was well-handled, though I’d have liked to know who the other two guys are. I guess we’re waiting until next week to find out. I have no idea; I know that one or both of them are ex-NXT guys, but that’s about it. Cue up the “3MB 2.0” jokes, but these guys could be a serious foil to BDC.
Kong Tables Taryn: A female putting another female through a table is something you don’t see every day in wrestling. Or ever. Taryn is legit tough, and this kind of hardcore-ization of the women’s division is actually the company showing respect to the performers in question by letting them cut loose.
Jeff Hardy takes out Koya: Continuing with the hardcore vein, this backstage brawl was brutal and well-done. It felt real. Where was Matt Hardy, though? Jeff needed backup, and no explanation was given as to Matt’s absence (at least, that I caught). I’d like to see Koya develop some sort of character of his own outside of The Revolution, and this was the first time he has really been able to show any fire or personality. Between this and the awesome video package before the main event, they did a good job setting up Hardy/Storm as a death match.
Bragnus: Mickie James referred to Bram’s facial hair as “pubes”. A+. This feud continues to be good, regardless, as a simple tale of two brothers who want to murder each other. Their match next week should be good, and surprisingly I’m in no hurry for this feud to end. I do feel like it needs to slow down a bit, though, perhaps with Magnus being put on the shelf temporarily so Bram can gloat with impunity.
puRgatoRy:
The entire opening segment: I wasn’t really all that down with this segment, and it came across as a bit hokey with the “Hardy’s Revenge” thing. I’m pretty much over The Revolution as a faction. It doesn’t seem to really be benefitting anyone involved aside from James Storm, and it’s like a less-interesting version of Raven’s Flock at this point. Sanada is particularly wasted in this role (and wasn’t even on the show this week). In my view, the Revolution is kinda boring at this point, and it’s telling that James Storm was better off without them in the main event.
Kurt Angle’s World Titles: This is something that TNA needs to tread carefully with. If this is Kurt Angle’s 14th world title win, he’s in the same tier of world title wins as Ric Flair, John Cena, and Triple H. The problem is, the company needs to be careful what they count as “world titles” to be taken seriously. I believe they’re counting Angle’s Olympic gold medals as a world title, for instance. If they plan on having Angle reach Flair-level and want the fans to accept it, they need to only count his legitimate (…..as if gold medals aren’t, but bear with me) pro wrestling world title wins. That means WWE, WCW, TNA, “World”, New Japan.
The Aggro Crag: As far as the new stage goes… On one hand I really like the two video panels on either side (they remind me of what RAW is WAR used to have in 2000), and the way those panels show the competitors in any given match on either side. On the other hand, I’m not too keen on the stony entranceway, and it looks like something out of Nickelodeon Guts.
THE wRong:
Brooke Vs. Kong: Brooke should be getting pushed, not jobbed out to Kong. This could have still been good had Brooke gotten a lot of offense against Kong and come up short (really, that’s a push in and of itself), but she basically just bounced off of Kong the entire time. This was a dumb misstep, in my view. If Kong needed a squash win, give her Angelina Love or Rebel. Speaking of, where the hell is Rebel?
Too Many Repeats: With EY/Roode yet again next week and another Magnus/Bram match, I feel like we’re doing nothing but blowoff gimmick matches rather than letting the storylines play out or build. Slow the pace down, because nothing but blowoffs makes it difficult to care. Build toward stuff.
THE Ridiculous:
They never do the Christy Hemme leg-pan anymore: Of all the worst changes they can make. Unless Christy herself requested a stop to the leg-panning, we want it back. #StandUp for Christy Hemme leg-panning.
This felt like an average show, but looking at it objectively, it was well put-together. This is the third week in a row where the show ended with a strong, well-built main event match, and I like this new trend. Keep it up. Also, praise to TNA for their tribute to Perro Aguayo Jr.
Cheap plug time, support this site and this column by sharing it with your homies. Also, support my site Coronajumper.com by reading my musings on video games, including TNA Impact for the PS2/PS3. Featuring gratuitous Rebel.
Show Rating: 7.5
As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect
