wrestling / Columns

Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of TNA Impact & WWE Smackdown

November 24, 2014 | Posted by Daniel Clark

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.


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By: Jericho Ricardi
IMPACT 11.19.14:

QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Taryn Terrell def. Havok and Gail Kim to win the Knockouts Title at 14:00 via pin (Roll-up on Gail)
* Chris Melendez def. Kenny King at 5:00 via DQ
* Bram def. Tommy Dreamer at 15:00 via pin (Jumping DDT)
* Low Ki def. Tigre Uno, Manik, and DJ Zema to win the X-Division Title at 6:00 via pin (Super Ki Crusher to Tigre Uno)

THE RIGHT:
Starting with a brawl: This week, Impact lives! Because of course it does. Good call starting the show with a brawl right off the bat, as the battle lines are clearly drawn between good and evil. I like that they’re already hyping up Roode/Lashley III, the logical next step. I was afraid that Lashley would disappear the second he lost the title, part-timer style, and I’m glad to see that not be the case.

Taryn wins the knockouts title: This was MOTN, with a breath-shortening ending sequence that felt like it was lifted out of an Undertaker Wrestlemania match. These women are operating on a completely different level from WWE’s Divas, and they even outshine the men when they’re allowed to. Great stuff here.

A Kick in the Spud: Loved EC3’s line about Jeremy Borash: “The man I slapped so hard, his whole family diiiiiied.” WTF does that even mean? This segment was great as usual from these guys, and it ended with both drawing blood on the other – literally, in the sense of Spud busting open EC3, and figuratively in that the segment ended with EC3 standing tall, holding a tuft of Spud’s hair. If one of them was The Thing before, now they’re both The Thing.

Ending with a brawl: I thought the X-Division title would cap off the show, and when Angle came out for a promo afterwards it seemed like a mis-step. However, this promo very quickly transformed into a brawl where once again we were reminded of the battle lines that have been drawn. The brawl encompassed a bunch of different storylines, and made me excited to see what happens next… which won’t be until January, it seems. Still, it was an explosive way to end this show, and this era, of Impact.

puRgatoRy:
The Old Wave of Extreme: This match was way too long, and Bram won with Dreamer’s finisher rather than his own. What IS Bram’s finisher, anyway? He rarely does it, whatever it is. TNA has been a lot better at emphasizing finishers in 2014 than they were in previous years, but it seems like they’re sliding a bit now. Give Bram a strong win with his own finisher every other week and we’ll get somewhere. One thing is for sure: It taking fourteen minutes for Bram to dust Tommy Dreamer was not good. Eight of those minutes should have gone to the X-Division main event instead. Regardless, taken in and of itself, this match was a good 90’s style brawl with lots of blood, as expected from a Bram match.

X-Division Four-Way: This match was too short, and it was plagued by the same issue that plagues all X-Division matches. None of these guys really seem to matter all that much, and I’m not sure if it’s because they don’t have promo time, or storylines, or both of the above. A guy like DJ Z could be an HBK-type persona for the company if allowed to be. What’s stopping Tigre Uno from being their Mysterio? These guys get trotted out to put on great matches, but then they just disappear back into the pocket dimension they were summoned out of. Also, the guy who won the title, Low Ki, didn’t get any kind of torch passing from Samoa Joe. In fact, he just lost to Samoa Joe a couple weeks ago.

Kenny King Vs. Chris Melendez: This felt like a PPV blowoff-type match until the ending. The DQ was lame, but the fact that it tied into an overarching storyline for the show made up for it somewhat. MVP’s gang is absolutely running roughshod over the show right now, and the show has done a good job making us want the good guys to band together and stop them. However, this match alone was disappointing due to the short length and the ending, and Melendez continues to not really DO anything since his debut besides feud with Kenny King month after month. I also don’t like the way the commentary treats Melendez like a constant underdog. Everything he does is met with shock and amazement from them. Instead of treating him like a satellite state of The Menagerie, how about treating him like a legit threat? Instead of being surprised at whatever tricks he pulls out, how about expecting them and reacting as if it isn’t any surprise because we know what a badass he is? Another issue is the metal leg, which he used as a weapon in this match. That’s the kind of thing that will eventually get him booed; factor in that he has gone on record that it’s easier for him to wrestle without the leg, and I’m wondering if maybe it’d be better to do away with it once a match starts. This guy is an awesome success story, but there are certainly things that the company may want to think-through about the whole deal.

THE wRong:
No James Storm: Typically, it’s fine when a particular character takes a week off from the show. For instance, Gunner and Samuel Shaw had their big blowoff match last week, so it’s fine that they weren’t on this week. James Storm, on the other hand, just won the tag titles. With the addition of Abyss to his suddenly very dominant stable, he has momentum, and that momentum needs to be capitalized on. He should have been out front-and-center at some point in this show, especially if they’re grooming him to challenge Bobby Roode in the spring (as they should be).

THE RIDICULOUS:
MVP’s Pants: What the hell was with those pants?

The 411:

Taryn/Gail/Havok was off the charts and absolutely something you should go out of your way to watch. Best women’s match I’ve seen in a while. People say that wrestling is in a 1995-like creative slump right now, but that’s only true if all you watch is RAW. On the other hand, Impact, NXT, and (from what I’ve heard) NJPW are putting on some of the best wrestling shows in years right now. Lucha Underground seems pretty snazzy too.

I look forward to seeing what Impact is like in 2015 when they’re no longer in a holding pattern and start blowing off some of these storylines. A new, warmer-colored look won’t hurt, and a full-on name change away from “TNA” would be a great choice. With that, I’ll see you all in the new year (or whenever TNA resumes having regular non-clip shows) for more 4Rs columns looking at the NEW ERA~!

Cheap plug time; support this site and this column by sharing it with your homies. Also, support my site Coronajumper.com by reading my recent posts on wrestling videogames, including TNA Impact. Featuring gratuitous Rebel.

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 Daniel Clark
Smackdown 11.21.14

QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Rusev def. Dolph Ziggler at 8.46 by pinfall
* Los Matedores def. The Miz and Damien Mizdow at 2.55
* AJ Lee def. Brie Bella at 3.23 by pinfall
* Erick Rowan def. Cesaro at 2.35 by submission
* Ryback and the Big Show def. Kane and Seth Rollins at 11.04 by disqualification

THE RIGHT:
AJ Lee vs. Brie Bella: The Bella feud has not really worked as no-one really seems to care about it and they have wasted the assistant stipulation of meaningless rubbish that has not really cause any problems for Brie. But this was a fairly simple and inoffensive segment that built up to the AJ vs. Nikki match at the PPV. AJ gets some revenge by dressing up as Nikki to mock her. And when Nikki tries to get involved in the match, AJ pushes Brie into her and then rolls her up for the win. The match was okay. AJ stole a win that she needed to get. There is further reason for Brie and Nikki to not get on (and also for Brie to turn on AJ and join Nikki as a heel by helping her win). Did the job of building to the PPV match.

Erick Rowan vs. Cesaro: In the context of building up to the Survivor Series match, Rowan got the quick and dominant win that he needed to get to make him look as if he actually belongs in the main event. The match itself was very hard hitting and physical and Rowan looked very impressive in the process of getting the win. And the crowd were interested and keen to see what happened when Luke Harper came out to the ring to confront him. But it did not need to be so short and Cesaro losing in under three minutes makes him look foolish, albeit at the expense of building up Rowan, which did need to be done as he has won one match (a 6-man tag against Los Matedores and the Big Show) since the start of the July (with 15 televised losses in that period). Rowan came away from this looking very strong but at the expense of Cesaro, which was a shame, and it would have nice to have seen them have a longer match as well as there was the time for it.

puRgatoRy:
Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler: This was a pretty decent match but felt very much like this was a half-speed version of what they could do if they really wanted to and were given the chance to do so. Rusev though looked very impressive here and if continuing to get better each time he steps into the ring with him holding his own against Ziggler here and his facial expressions throughout the match were as good as they have ever been. The kick that he won the match with was excellent and looked so clean and vicious and that it would knock anyone out. But, it was a bit of a shame to see Ziggler lose again, even though it was against Rusev, and as hot as Ziggler is at the moment, there comes a point when someone has one loss too many to really be credible.

Los Matedores vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow: For the time that they were given these two teams put together a pretty good match but it felt as if there could have been so much more as to just have them wrestle for three minutes is a waste. The match was high paced and full of action and had some nice comedic spots such as Mizdow throwing himself into the tag champions to replicate what happened with the Miz being thrown into the Usos. The Miz and Mizdow have also got the crowd in the palm of their hands at times with the Miz tagging himself back into the ring when Mizdow is in, and when Mizdow does eventually turn on the Miz, he will get a massive pop. All of which made the clean loss for the Miz a bit of a surprise as most people expect them to take the belts on Sunday and no-one expects Los Matedores to win. I know it was about building them up but losing cleanly so quickly does not make the Miz and Mizdow look too strong. It did the job of previewing the 4-way tag match though.

Dean Ambrose Survival Kit: I had a horrible feeling going into this that this segment was going to be a trainwreck so was pleasantly surprised with what we actually got. Ambrose told a story about being beaten up by bullies so was then given some brass knuckles, which became his survival kit, and was never beaten by the bullies again, which was good and personable story, and he then tells Bray to run back to wherever he came from. Bray then appears locked inside a cage and dressed as a prisoner, just like Ambrose’s father, and says that he will leave his lying just like his father. The problem with this though is that the story is being based around Ambrose’s father who is someone that we know nothing about and thus we don’t really care about him that much. Unless he actually appears and gets involved in the feud, he is just a tool that is being used to get inside Ambrose’s head, and while it might be working, it leaves the audience feeling a bit cold as they are not being involved in this feud as much as they could be. The feud has not really caught fire yet and this is partly because of the angle they are working which has no background that we are aware of.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE RIDICULOUS:
The Authority vs. Team Cena: The start and finish of the show just served to show everything that is wrong with the Authority vs. John Cena feud that makes no sense about it. The show began with a HHH promo that went on for a very long time and eventually got to a point, which was that without the Authority, the WWE has no future. He then announced that Cena’s teammates would be fired if they lost on Sunday, which is a nice touch to add to the match to make it a little bit more unpredictable, but he didn’t half take a long time to get to that point and I’m not sure what the long rambling nonsense about the WWE not being able to survive without the Authority was supposed to add as the crowd were not ever going to buy it, nor was it ever going to change anyone’s mind, and just seemed a waste of time that could have been better spent. Then we have the main event between Kane and Seth Rollins against the Big Show and Ryback – now this hardly on paper looks fair as Rollins is the odd man out in the match being half the size of the others so if anything this match is disadvantaging the Authority – at least make it a handicap match with Mark Henry and/or Luke Harper involved. The match itself was okay and Ryback did look like a major player once he got tagged into the match but I think everyone knew exactly how this match was going to end with the heel team causing the DQ and beating down the faces. Ziggler and Rowan came out to try and make the save but it was not enough and the numbers game proved superior and the Authority ended the show in complete control with HHH taken out people with a steel chair and then hitting the Pedigree on Ryback. And this ending flagged up two things that are seriously wrong with the match. Firstly, if the match is as big as it can be, and the Authority need to win the match so desperately, then why the hell is HHH not trying to save his own jib by taking part in the match? We know he has not retired from wrestling. We know that he is not afraid of getting involved with the talent, as on this show, he ends up taking out Ryback. So why is he not involved? There is no way that he would believe that Mark Henry (last televised singles win – August 4th – last win before that – March 25th), Luke Harper (before beating Ziggler, one televised win since July) or Kane (who has been the jobber of the Authority all year) are better options that HHH himself to win the match, so why are they involved and not him? HHH should be involved in the match to save his own job. And then there is John Cena who yet again fails to come out and save his teammates when they are getting their asses handed to them. I know he probably was not booked to appear on Smackdown and so was not able to come out and save them but this explanation was never given on TV, so to the viewer it just looks as if he has abandoned his own team. Just a throwaway line at the start of the show by HHH to say Cena is not here tonight as he is banned from the arena/spending time with make-a-wish kids/dealing with a family crisis would solve this problem and not make Cena look like an asshole who does not care about his own team. I mean, his teammates, whose jobs, not Cena’s, are on the line, see that Cena yet again fails to come out and save them, must be thinking what have they got themselves into working for a captain who abandons the ship any time things get tough and does not save his own men. Just terrible booking of the top face in the company that totally suspends any belief that you might have.

The 411:

As a standalone episode there was nothing really wrong with this but all it did it heighten the sense of disappointments and lack of logic involved in the top feuds at the moment.

The opening promo from HHH took a long time to get there, but eventually got to the point that the WWE cannot survive without the Authority and when they win on Sunday, the other team will be fired. It’s just that this could have happened sooner and did not need to be 15+ minutes longer. And then the main event was a fairly reasonable tag team match that kept everyone strong with the DQ, the faces tried to fight against the numbers advantage but where eventually overcome by the sheer weight of numbers that the heels had, leading to the top heel standing very strong at the end of the show having hit his finisher, the pedigree, on Ryback. On its own it is a decent and reasonable ending to the show that sets up the match at Survivor Series and makes you wonder whether the faces are going to be able to stand up and take on the heels.

However, the man standing tall at the end of the show, HHH, is not involved in the match for some reason, even though his job is on the line , he is an active wrestler, and would be far better placed to try and save his own job than relying on the likes of Mark Henry and Kane to do the job for him. And the decision not to have him in the match looks even stupider if you are using him beating up the other team as the final image before the PPV.

And the man who is leading the other team, John Cena, didn’t appear on Smackdown, didn’t make the save on any of the occasions his team were struggling, has not reacted to the news that his team will be fired if they lose – and there was no explanation given for any of these things. All of this adds up to a presentation of the man who is supposed to the savior of the WWE and the man who is going to rid us of the Authority not actually caring about the match or his teammates and thus makes him as about as unlikeable as possible and makes you wonder why anyone would want to team up with this iteration of John Cena.

The rest of the show followed a similar pattern of being okay but a let-down storyline wise. The Dean Ambrose/Bray Wyatt segment was fine in terms of moving the feud along – Ambrose lets us know he is up for a fight at any time and Bray tries another trick to get inside his mind – but there is a still a feeling that this could be so much better if there was a real reason for the feud and there was not this forced use of Ambrose’s father – a man we know nothing about and don’t really care for – as the reason behind the feud.

The AJ/Nikki Bella feud worked along the same lines. AJ mocks Nikki by dressing as her and then steals a win, but it feels a huge waste of the Nikki/Brie assistant angle that has not got going at all and almost been forgotten about. And Los Matedores stealing the win over Miz/Mizdow works nicely as a way to build up to the tag team title match if it was not for the fact that no-one thinks they have a chance of winning and that Miz/Mizdow probably will win the belts, so why job them out right before the PPV?

On its own this was an okay, if a bit dull and bland, episode. But when put in the context of the storylines that this exists in and how this looks ahead of Survivor Series, it was just so disappointing and made little, if any, sense.

Show Rating: 5.0

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

The 942nd edition is over…

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What did the five fingers say to the face?