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 4.02.15
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Randy Orton def. the Big Show at 1.33 by disqualification
* Naomi def. Natalya at 2.27 by pinfall
* The Miz def. R Truth at 1.20 by pinfall
* Luke Harper vs. Dean Ambrose at 7.00 ended as a no contest
* Sheamus def. Daniel Bryan at 16.21 by countout
THE RIGHT:
Seth Rollins opens the show: There were some good things in this promo to kick off the show but I did feel a little bit like any other opening promo that has taken place over the last few years. The announce team though being off the show because of the injuries suffered after Brock Lesnar’s attack was a nice touch, as was the Big Show standing in front of the trophy. Rollins says his plan worked perfectly and being the heel that he is, blamed jet lag for not defending the belt on Raw. Orton comes out and goes on about not getting his rematch from last year’s WrestleMania, which he looks like finally getting at Extreme Rules, but Rollins tells him to stop going on about the past. Orton then tries to pick a fight with the Authority and has a nice line about not seeing Kane at WrestleMania and saying he has gone from being the big red monster to little red riding hood. Kane books Orton in a match against the Big Show, which only goes a few minutes before the Authority all get involved and beat down Orton. This very short match wasn’t a bad thing as we didn’t need to see the match go long, especially given that the DQ was coming. Ryback comes out to make the save and they clean house, but Rollins escapes. Decent opening segment, although pretty much what we have already seen in the past. It does though set up Orton vs. Rollins for the belt at Extreme Rules with Orton having never got his rematch, and with Rollins escaping at the end, it means that Orton doesn’t get a chance to get his hands on him.
The Miz vs. R Truth: The feud between the Miz and Mizdow continues to be really well booked and the two men involved continue to make the most of every second that they get on TV. The biggest complaint against the Miz recently has been that he keeps loses matches that he doesn’t need to lose, so it was great to see him not only pick up the win, but to get a quick and convincing win against a man who was on the WrestleMania card. Mizdow though then comes and gets revenge for what happened on Raw when he sneaks in from behind and hits the Skull Crushing Finale on the Miz, before putting on his sunglasses and having an absurd smile on his face. Good segment to build to their Extreme Rules PPV match.
Roman Reigns interview: Once again, Roman Reigns in a sit down interview knocks it out of the park and he seems incredibly comfortable in this setting, coming over as extremely likeable and actually like a real character and a real person. He says that against Lesnar he got knocked down a lot but kept getting up, he survived suplex city, and that Lesanr didn’t have an answer when he finally managed to hit in the mouth. He says Lesnar couldn’t knock him out and he was a few seconds away from winning the match, only for Rollins to pull him off the mountain. He finishes by saying that he can, has, and will beat Rollins again. Really good promo from Reigns as he came over as someone who went toe-to-toe with Lesnar and not only was able to survive him but could have beaten him if it wasn’t for Rollins. He makes it clear that he hasn’t forgotten about his dream being ripped away and by mentioning that he has beaten Rollins in the past, it sets him up as a guy who deserves another shot at the title.
Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan: Sheamus comes out for his match with Daniel Bryan and starts by saying that he attacked Bryan and Dolph Ziggler because he could and that he is here to crush their hopes and dreams and will put the underdogs out of their misery, which is a fair enough explanation for his turn. We then get the match, with Bad News Barrett on commentary, who did an excellent job throughout, explaining how he thinks that he should be next in line for a title shot, as well as putting over how good Sheamus and Bryan are, so that when they do have a match, it feels like an important one. Sheamus is a bit more ruthless and aggressive in the match, targeting Bryan’s neck, and the physical nature of the match makes it feel as if Sheamus is just here to kick everyone’s ass. As you would expect, these two put on an excellent match, and the ending was the right one, even if it did mean the IC champion lost another non-title match. Neither Bryan or Sheamus could take a pinfall here, so a countout ending was the right one. Bryan is still protected before it came after BNB knocked him out with the bull hammer elbow and left Bryan bleeding on the floor, while Sheamus made a choice to take the countout win rather than rolling him back into the win to pin him. Great main event at the IC title continues to look important and whatever match they come up with at Extreme Rules should be good.
puRgatoRy:
Naomi vs. Natalya: With Naomi having picked up a win on Raw as well as on Smackdown, combined with AJ’s retirement, it looks like Naomi could be back in contention for the Divas title. This match was okay, although fairly forgettable, and Naomi’s athleticism is good but doesn’t always cover her lack of technical ability. The biggest problem with Naomi though is that they still have not actually given the crowd a reason to care about her, and if you were asked to describe her gimmick, I would have no idea what to say. Unless they actually give us a reason to care about Naomi, she won’t reach the level they want her to.
John Cena promo: Cena comes out and makes the United States title feel important straight away by putting over how happy he is to have won the belt and that he will make it the title of opportunities by issuing an open challenge to everyone on Raw each week. Cena wants to be a fighting champion and if he gets the kind of matches like his match with Ambrose on Raw was, then title matches each week will be something to look forward to. Lana and Rusev then come out, but at this point, the promo drops a level and goes back into the USA vs. Russia feud that it probably should have moved past by now and into Rusev wanting to get the title back and avenge his first loss. He says that Cena should surrender or get crushed and then calls for the Russian flag to drop, but it doesn’t, and then Cena brings down the US flag. I thought they were past the Russia/USA feud and really there is nowhere to go with it, but we are looking at one more match at Extreme Rules where hopefully they can put on the classic that they have been threatening to do. Just a better angle would be the formerly undefeated monster wanting to avenge his loss and prove that it was a fluke.
Luke Harper vs. Dean Ambrose: It does look as if we are going to get a mini feud between these two, although it smacks of putting two men together purely as they have no actual plans for them. At least there is a bit of a reason for this to happen with Harper having taken Ambrose out of the ladder match, and Ambrose wanting some revenge. But with WWE logic in play – that wasn’t enough, so we get this match set up with some toilet humor. The match was a bit of a wild brawl and seemed to be a trial run for what will be a hardcore match at Extreme Rules between them, although it didn’t quite hit the heights that their section of the gauntlet match before WrestleMania did. The match ends in a no contest when Harper powerbombs Ambrose through the announce table, but I’m sure Ambrose will get some revenge. This will be a decent little midcard feud for them to have while they try and come up with some plans, but hopefully, this will at least give Ambrose a PPV win.
THE wRong:
Prime Time Players promo: The real problem with the promo by the Prime Time Players mocking the New Day is that we have not been given a reason to care about this feud that is being set up. The PTP reunited at some point, but honestly, without looking it up, I couldn’t tell you when that was (although I think it was mid-February), and since then, they appeared as a team once on Raw and twice on Main Event, so having reunited, they have promptly done nothing, so why should we now get behind them in a feud against a team who are being turned heel not because of any real reason other than the fans don’t like them? This just smacked of the WWE trying to own some chants from the crowd, but without having actually thought it through as to how it will work.
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
It seems that following a surprisingly good WrestleMania, the WWE have managed to carry that momentum forward and have continued to book some shows that not only make sense, have some good matches, and build towards the next PPV.
Here the continuation of the build towards Extreme Rules was successful with seeds for the Seth Rollins/Randy Orton, John Cena/Rusev, Luke Harper/Dean Ambrose, The Miz/Damien Mizdow, Nikki Bella/Naomi and Daniel Bryan/Sheamus/Bad News Barrett/Dolph Ziggler matches all set. In fact – for the first time in a very long time, it seems that most of the card for the PPV is likely to be known well in advance rather than have some matches thrown together at the last moment. Add Ryback/Roman Reigns vs. Kane/The Big Show and you probably have the card (with maybe Paige added into the divas match)
Randy Orton looks as if he is finally going to get his rematch for the WWE title that is over a year in the waiting, and it does make some sense with him having beaten Rollins at WrestleMania. Obviously though the Authority are not going to make it easy for him and will try and beat him down at every occasion, as well as putting him in unfair matches, as well as recognizing the rematch is ‘best for business’.
What is also best for business is allowing guys who can wrestle to go out and put on good matches in the main event, which is what happened here. Bryan and Sheamus put together another great match and the prominence of the IC title continues. BNB wants a rematch because he was the former champion and never lost the title in a one on one match, Sheamus has now beaten Bryan and so will feel he deserves a title match and he will want to follow through on his promise to destroy all the underdogs.
John Cena and Rusev’s feud for the US title continues, although it is a bit of a shame that they haven’t yet moved past the Russia vs. USA angle which hasn’t got anywhere to go really. They deserve a rubber match which they will get (and it will probably be a capture the flag gimmick match which will neuter the quality of it), but it would be better to play off the fact that Rusev wants to regain the title to prove his loss was a one off and that he is still a monster.
Roman Reigns also got a chance to speak in a backstage sit down interview where he continues to come off better than he does when he is In front of a live audience. He told the story of how he survived Lesnar and was about to win when Rollins stole his title, but he knows that he can, has, and will beat Rollins, which obviously plays off their history and sets up that title match down the line.
With Harper and Ambrose having another wild match, and Mizdow getting some revenge on the Miz, even the lower card matches that all likely to be on the Extreme Rules PPV are getting some logical build up and are being booked as if they are justifiably PPV matches. It feels that all the malaise and lack of effort that went into booking WrestleMania has been reversed and they are now booking and telling stories that make sense and people want to see.
This was by no means a perfect episode of Smackdown but it was very solid, and is already doing a great job of hyping up to the next PPV. There was virtually no filler on this episode and everything had a purpose.
Show Rating: 7.9
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 4.03.15
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Eric Young def. Bobby Roode in a submission match at 17:00 (Figure Four Leglock)
* Gail Kim def. Angelina Love at 7:00 via pin (Eat Defeat)
* Magnus def. Bram at 18:00 via pin (Uranage)
* Kurt Angle def. Bobby Lashley at 21:00 via pin (Controversial Roll-Up)
THE RIGHT:
Match Lengths: Every match this week got plenty of time to build; it was a very wrestling-heavy edition of Impact. Given that I complained about short match lengths in some of the February Impacts, it’s a welcome change to see them giving more time to these (supposed) blowoff matches. The lack of lame DQ endings was also a welcome thing.
Eric Young vs. Bobby Roode: These guys put on a good match as usual, even though it never really seemed to kick into a higher gear. EY needed the win more than Roode did, and I have to say I was surprised to see him get it even if it wasn’t entirely clean. It looks like EY is being positioned to challenge Angle (with Roode falling back a bit for the time being) and if so it could make for some classic matches. EY is a very underrated wrestler (or was) and continues to prove his in-ring talent on a weekly basis. Also, the best moment of the night has to be Bobby Roode yelling “fuck you!” and slapping EY just before tapping out.
The Wolves Epitaph: It’s unfortunate to see Eddie Edwards go down with an injury when the Wolves are dominating the tag team division; the Hardys/Wolves feud was likely to be great. What we got here was a segment for them to bow out gracefully, and it served its purpose. Interested to see what, if anything, Davey Richards does on his own.
Angelina Vs. Gail: I particularly liked Angelina reminding us that she’s a six-time champion. That’s the kind of stat that never comes up and should really be getting mentioned often. I would have guessed Gail Kim had the most Knockouts title reigns. This statement, and the following very competitive match, instantly made Angelina look more significant than she has looked in years. The match got a fair amount of time, too.
The Gloves Are Off, Son: Good little video package for Magnus/Bram. TNA usually has weak montage-production, but this was good and hopefully we see more video packages like it. Match was also good, a definite step up from their short London brawl. Both guys have managed to elevate each other through this feud, which is the hallmark of a productive feud. Interested to see where Bram goes from here. James Storm’s interference was a bit out of nowhere for him, but this gives Jealous Magnus something new to move onto. Supplemental Right to the girl in the corner of the front row in a long Magnus shirt and no pants. Sorry, but he’s married. Supplemental Super-Right to the angry kid vociferously booing Bram’s entrance (and his bored friend in a Cena shirt).
Angle and Lashley continue to do good things: These guys totally “click” in a one-on-one match, and gave us another perfectly decent match here. Lots of German suplexes and general sound wrestling. Supplemental Right to the Orlando crowd for timing Lashley’s vertical hold of Angle (it was longer than a Baron Corbin match). Ending with a controversial roll-up was also a good call and means we’ll get another match out of this feud, though perhaps not right away. The Lashley reign was awesome, but I’m looking forward to this Angle reign more. When his feud with Lashley wraps up he already has Eric Young, Austin Aries, (possibly) Bobby Roode, and EC3 lined up to challenge him.
puRgatoRy:
The Character Drawings: This was an interesting idea to try. Rather than showing still shots of the wrestlers facing off, they’d show hand-drawn illustrations. I personally wasn’t into this, but some people might be. It’s the kind of thing that’ll vary from person to person. It’s pretty unique, I just wish some of the illustrations were a bit better (Angle and Lashley looked way too similar).
Taz and Matthews Arguing About Champions: This would have gone in the Right, but I thought it was kind of disrespectful for the company to take focus off of the Knockouts match by cutting to the announcers. For the record, I agree with Taz that being champion doesn’t automatically mean you’re the best; I think the guys were going by different definitions of “best”, though. Matthews meant “highest-ranked”.
The Revolution’s Haunted Barn: This is probably a Wrong for most people, but what can I say, I liked this. We finally got an explanation as to why James Storm tortures people in a barn. This should have been explained a long while ago, but I’ll take it.
THE wRong:
Magnus’ Finisher, or Lack Thereof: One of the primary issues with Magnus’ world title reign (aside from everything) is that he never really had a definitive finisher. Even after that reign ended, Magnus needed a finisher and didn’t really get one. It’s unfortunate because while Magnus has several moves that qualify as finishers, he simply doesn’t use them consistently to get them over as such. Winning with roll-ups or random moves can only go so far. The Spine Shaker and the Sharpshooter are his two main finishers; let him win every match with one or the other, have the announcers call them by their names when he does, and he’ll look more like a complete wrestler.
Conspicuous By Their Absence: No EC3 this week, which deserves a Wrong by itself since EC3 IS Impact. Also missing was the X-Division champion, Spud, who I’d like to see capitalizing on his new belt by successfully defending it every week. Drew Galloway and The BDC were also nowhere to be found, which is odd since they’re mid-storyline. Then there’s Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy, Robbie, Brooke, and I’m probably forgetting a few. Where the fuck is Gunner?
This was a very good episode of Impact if you like wrestling matches. We got several well-done blowoff matches, storyline developments, and a pretty clear picture of where things are going on all fronts. There wasn’t really anything wrong with this show, taken for what it is; however, the amount of wrestlers missing in action was a negative tradeoff for the long matches. It almost felt like a different company without The BDC cutting a promo or EC3 doing something nefarious. The Rising just debuted and already they’re nowhere to be found.
As a result of all the aforementioned absences, this episode felt like a stall in the running storylines of those characters. It’s forgivable because we got some good, lengthy matches, but if anything it really emphasizes how TNA could use a second weekly show. They simply don’t have time for everyone of importance every week unless they rush things; a second show would give them the best of both worlds if it can be worked out with the network. They also need a midcard secondary title that isn’t the X-Division title and can be more of a standard title, in my view. That could go hand-in-hand with having a second show.
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
