wrestling / Columns

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

September 29, 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.

By: Jericho Ricardi
IMPACT 9.24.14:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* MVP def. Low Ki at 13:00 via Yakuza Kick
* Tajiri def. Robbie E at 4:00 via Buzzsaw Kick
* Austin Aries def. Knux at 7:00 via Brainbustaaa
* Mr. Anderson def. Magnus at 7:00 via Mic Check
* Abyss def. Samuel Shaw at 6:00 via Black Hole Slam
* Austin Aries def. MVP, Tajiri, Anderson, and Abyss at 16:00 (Roll-up to MVP)

THE RIGHT:
Everything Bromans: Great showing in the ring from Robbie E and Tajiri. Also, their backstage skit with Robbie explaining his plan to hit it with both Brooke Tessmacher and Velvet Sky without the other finding out was hilarious. One of the things I like about TNA is that the backstage cameras actually make sense; rather than an invisible floating eye that doesn’t make real-world sense, TNA’s backstage footage actually feels like it’s being shot by various creepy cameramen looking for something to film. Here, they acknowledged the presence of one such cameraman and brought an amazing amount of logic to the show in the span of ten seconds. Bro.

Aries Vs. Knux: Much like Robbie/Tajiri, this is another situation where I wouldn’t have expected much of a match given one of the participants, but they managed to make it work with a very entertaining and theatrical match. This was fun, as face vs. face matches should be. This was by far the best match that has come out of this Menagerie thing.

Eric the Actor dedication: Nice move by TNA, and they’ve shown many times that they’ll stand by people who stand by them. I also appreciated their tribute to Boston after the Marathon bombings last year, given that Boston has always given them such a great crowd. There are other wrestling companies that didn’t even mention the bombings, so kudos to TNA for that and kudos for dedicating this episode to one of their fans who passed on.

The Return of the Video Package: I’ve been thinking about how much better the Impact Wrestling product would be if they brought in a talented video package team and let them go wild. One of the unsung things that I think helped WWF win the war with WCW is that WWF started having amazing video packages in 1998, while WCW never really seemed to figure out their importance (or conduct them in the same fast-paced way). This week’s Impact had them bring back the video package in a big way, filling the show with them to hype up the wrestlers involved in the Gold Rush Tournament. Good stuff, but I’d like to see more video packages from the company in general. A music video highlighting the Roode/Lashley feud would be great to see before their inevitable rematch. These things have a great way of helping the audience care more about the rest of the show.

The Gold Rush Tournament: This tournament was action-packed and had some very fun matches. I was wondering how they’d get another “NYC episode” aired when they showed their final taping, No Surrender, last week. The answer? Lots of video packages, and using all of their dark matches from the various tapings to create a tournament. This almost went in Purgatory because the format and rules of the tournament could have certainly been clearer. It fell into the Beat The Clock Challenge category of “weirdly constructed”; why not just have a ten-man tournament to begin with rather than choosing five guys and giving them mystery opponents who could steal their spots? However, the fun of these matches overcomes whatever confusing setup they had. It’s amazing how much more important matches seem when they’re fighting for something tangible like this.

Rockstar Spud’s Quote-Hands: He’s right, you know. The “internet” doesn’t know what they’re talking about with their “reporting”, at least a good portion of the time. We got another acknowledgment of a camera as a visibly rejected Spud looked directly into our souls after his conversation with EC3. Truth is, this storyline is a sad one if you like Spud. At this point EC3 is effectively breaking up with Spud in an abusive way, and Spud has been nothing but completely loyal to him. I’m not sure how, but this relatively minor storyline is the most compelling thing in the company right now.

puRgatoRy:
NOTHING

THE wRong:
Samuel Shaw Vs. Abyss: This match was…boring. It didn’t really advance any angles and Shaw’s presence served little purpose except to make us wonder why Gunner was left out of the Gold Rush tournament entirely. Seems like he’d be a more likely contender than half the guys who WERE included. Given how lively most of the other matches on the show were, this one fell flat.

THE RIDICULOUS:
NOTHING

The 411:
This seemed like a bit of a filler show to keep things in a holding pattern until their next set of tapings concluded. There isn’t a whole lot to say about it, but it was still a fun watch. It was a match-heavy affair that felt more like a One Night Only taping than an Impact taping. Interested to see who Aries decides to challenge after reigning supreme in this tournament, but I’m even more interested to see how TNA handles their shows going forward. Bound For Glory seems far less important than usual this year, and the fact that post-BFG shows are already taped gives me the impression that the PPV will be full of non-title affairs and TNA Vs. Wrestle-1 matches.

Given that the crowd at the latest Bethlehem tapings supposedly wasn’t as vociferous as last time, these NYC tapings will likely be missed. I think TNA would be well served to tape the remainder of their existing shows at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium outside Boston, which gave them an awesome crowd for their end-of-2013 ONO taping. It’s very similar to the Manhattan Center, only bigger and with a slightly-less smarky crowd.

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: 8.0

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 Daniel Clark
Smackdown 9.26.14
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Dean Ambrose def. The Miz at 11.39 by pinfall
* Cesaro def. Fernando, Diego, Sin Cara, Titus O’Neill, Xavier Woods, Heath Slater, Zach Ryder, Damien Mizdow, Big E, Justin Gabriel, Bo Dallas, Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger at 11.52 in a battle royal to become the number one contender to the Intercontinental title
* The Usos def. Goldust and Stardust at 12.51 by disqualification – Goldust and Stardust retain the Tag Team Titles
* Summer Rae and Layla def. Natalya and Rosa Mendes at 4.14 by pinfall
* Dolph Ziggler def. Cesaro at 6.21 by pinfall to retain the Intercontinental Title
* The Big Show def. Rusev at 8.03 by disqualification

THE RIGHT:
The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose: Ever since the Miz returned a few months ago he has been on a roll in terms of good performances in everything that he does and Dean Ambrose has grabbed the chance that he has been given recently with both hands, so it is no surprise that they put together a really good match. I guess the moment that summed up both of their characters was early in the match Ambrose was on the offence and the Miz screamed ‘not the face’, so Ambrose went straight for the face, and is exactly the kind of actions that his rebel character would do as he just does not care what other people think. This was a pretty good match and although the Miz lost cleanly, the length of the match protects him slightly while it allows Ambrose another win. And him winning the brawl with Seth Rollins and Kane afterwards, and then walking away with the MITB contract is going to lead to some hi-jinks and some great segments with Ambrose surely outsmarting the Authority to hold onto it and may even lead to a match for the briefcase as the only way for Rollins to get it back. Great start to the show.

The Usos vs. Stardust and Goldust: This whole match was given a big-match kind of feel, which makes the tag team title belts seem very important. Both teams had a short backstage promo before the match to explain why they want to win the match, and then they had the title introductions in the ring before the match happened. And the match between them was a good match although slightly down on what they produced at Night of Champions, but was still an absolutely fine 13 minutes of television, and you feel that there will be one more match between this two at Hell in a Cell where they give it everything they have to try and steal the show. The feud keeps going as the Usos had the match won but Goldust caused the DQ by using the title belt and it fits in with what they have been saying about the belts being the cosmic key as them wanting to do everything they can to keep them and they will do everything to keep them.

Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler: The pace of the match was perhaps a little bit slower than you would expect with these two involved, but given that Cesaro had already wrestled on the show it was perhaps a bit understandable. The match was however a good match, albeit a bit different to the matches they have had in the past and the ending definitely leaves scope for a rematch, with Ziggler stealing the win with a roll-up only for the referee to miss the fact that Cesaro had his hand on the rope. Add this to the fact that the Miz still has a rematch and plenty of people are getting involved in this feud for the title, which for once, is actually getting some attention.

Rusev vs. The Big Show: The Big Show might not be the greatest in-ring wrestler but he does seem to step up a level when he is facing another big man as he rarely has a bad match when facing someone of a similar size, while Rusev is getting better week-by-week in the ring and is becoming more than just a guy who crushes people. The Big Show always looks to try something different in his matches and him pulling out a sunset flip was a great thing to see. These two put on a good match and it acted almost as a taster for their match at Hell in a Cell which is clearly going to happen and will be the next person that Rusev beats on his way to the main event. Show possibly had the match won after the chokeslam but Lana stopped him by pulling his leg and causing the DQ, and although Rusev attacked him with the Russian flag after the match, the Big Show won the ‘brawl’ and knocked him down. A good closing segment and made you want to see these two go at it again as they could produce something surprisingly good, while the Big Show also had plenty of passion in his pre-match promo which continues to show he is one of the better ‘actors’ on the roster.

puRgatoRy
Battle Royal: Just a quick glance at the names involved in this match shows that not a lot of attention has been paid to the midcard lately as realistically, it was a battle between Cesaro and Jack Swagger to see who would win the match with everyone else just there to make up the numbers which is how it panned out in the end. The match took a while to get going and was very average for the first half of it but did pick up in the second half once it came down to the just the last few men and the ending, with Cesaro throwing Kofi into Swagger to eliminate them both was a clever and unique way of ending the match. However, this was a memorable battle royal in any way and all it did was come up with a slightly lazy way of giving Cesaro a different title match.

Natalya/Rose Menders vs. Summer Rae/Layla: This was actually a reasonably decent match and a rare example of something that has happened on Total Divas crossing over and working well on TV. However, Rosa Mendes’ lack of ability inside the ring showed here and although she got the hot tag, her offence afterwards was not very strong at all and she has not improved as a wrestler since she made her debut, although with her having barely, if ever, having won a match by herself, I can see a story where Natalya trains her up so that she does win a match, but I don’t think the audience really wants to see that. Summer Rae and Layla do work well in their current roles, but do seem so detached from the rest of the divas roster as they aren’t involved in the title picture or any real feud at the moment so do need something to do.

THE WRONG:
NOTHING

THE RIDICULOUS:
NOTHING

The 411:
Following last week’s Smackdown episode which was pretty awful, this rebounded in style for an excellent episode that hit almost all of the boxes needed – in fact, the only thing really lacking was the lack of the real main eventers on the show.

The start of the show saw the Miz and Dean Ambrose put together a really good match and also saw Ambrose steal the MITB from Seth Rollins, which sets up a whole range of exciting possibilities in the future with the Authority trying to get that contract back. The loss for the Miz also does not damage him too badly and he is still in a position where he could easily move into the main event which given the top of the roster is slightly depleted at the moment, the midcard has to be kept strong.

He does still have a rematch against Dolph Ziggler but Cesaro looks to be being positioned for a run at Ziggler and the IC title. His victory in the battle royal earlier in the show was perhaps expected given the lack of other names in that match and then he put together a good match with Ziggler before being cheated out of the win having got his hand on the rope but the referee missed it. It means he has a viable claim for another match and adding the Miz into this rivalry and I suspect we will get a triple threat for the belt at Hell in a Cell, which will provide a good match for the undercard.

The Usos and Stardust/Goldust also put together a good title match although it was slightly below the level of what they did at Night of Champions. The DQ ending fitted really as it sells the desperation of Goldust to keep the titles and fits in with the initial clash between them when they had the belts won but the Usos got away with it. I suspect this continues on to the PPV and they will put together another sleeper match.

Another sleeper match could be Rusev and the Big Show after they put together a good main event that was perhaps better than expected and the two of them showed some good chemistry. Rusev was on the verge of a defeat here before Lana got involved and the Big Show did win the brawl between them after the match, but he does remain undefeated and that will almost certainly stay the same when they do have their rematch. Rusev is getting better in the ring and he is facing opponents who are higher up the card as he begins his slow and steady rise to his eventual meeting with John Cena, as it looks as if previous history tells us that Cena will be the man to end his streak, but also because after the Big Show, there are not many, if any, faces around of the required position on the card to take on Rusev.

This is the kind of episode that Smackdown should be putting on every week. It had three matches than went over 10 minutes long and they delivered in the ring, it had some angle and feud progression, and it also build towards something in the future. Although the very top of the card did not appear, what this episode did was set things up for the future. You had Ambrose stealing the MITB contract, The Usos and Cesaro getting cheated out of title matches and Rusev looking vulnerable against the Big Show – all of which are something new that has happened on Smackdown and on Raw when this is shown will require an explanation of what happened to a viewer who missed the show. For the first time since the start of the year really, Smackdown actually got treated on the same level as an episode of Raw, rather than just the ‘B’ show, so it is no surprise that this was one of the better episodes of the year.

Show Rating: 8.7

As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…

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