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

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By: Jericho Ricardi
IMPACT 10.08.14:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Madison Rayne def. Angelina Love and Taryn Terrell at 5:00 (Madison pins Taryn, rollup w/ tights)
* James Storm and Sanada def. Low Ki and Tigre Uno at 6:00 (via James Storm superkick to Tigre Uno)
* Bram def. Samuel Shaw at 5:00 via weapon-related knockout
* Bobby Roode def. MVP and Kenny King at 8:00 via DQ after Lashley-ference
* The Wolves def. Team 3D and the Hardy Boys at 24:00 in Full Metal Mayhem to win the Tag Title Series

THE RIGHT:
Rockstar Stud: As Roddy Piper affectionately referred to him. He was awesome this week, defending EC3 against the crowd in a very disingenuous way. He could have just punched Carter in his highly-punchable face right from the get-go, but instead he decided to kill with kindness. Which isn’t to say that the inevitable face-punch wasn’t awesome too. It got the biggest pop on the entire show, and the biggest pop anything wrestling-related has gotten in my living room in a while. Just awesome. They’ve built up a match here that people WANT to see. Great, GREAT segment, full of genuine emotion. Anyone who has ever been bullied at school or by their boss has a hero in this feud, and that hero is Spud. Congratulations to Spud for finally gaining the power to hit for more than 0 damage. You’ve earned it, Spud.

Full Metal Mayhem: I thought Hardys Vs. Wolves at Destination X was TNA’s MOTY, then I thought Roode Vs. Lashley at No Surrender was their MOTY. Well, this match surpassed both of those. Just off the charts, and the only thing missing was a bigger crowd. Best TNA match of the year, and they even managed to do some new spots that we haven’t seen in other TLC-type matches before.

The most international tag team match ever: “Cowboy” James Storm was in action for the first time in what seemed like forever, teaming with Sanada against Low-Ki and Tigre Uno. Storm is such a criminally underrated (by the company) performer, and I hope he gets moved into a more important role in the future. There was some pretty weird botching by Tigre Uno late in the match, but it still finished strong. I’m enjoying James Storm’s brutal wrestling-style now that he’s full-evil. He comes across as the vilest character on the roster. We still don’t know what the point of his Revolution is, but he’s being enough of an asshole to make it work.

Samuel Shaw’s robot arms: After the most amount of hype Shaw has ever gotten, I was surprised to see him lose here. Then again, Bram is ascending and has a lot of upside, while Shaw is headed into a mid-card feud. The match was decent and impactful, and concluded with Shaw getting some TLC from Brittany. Shaw, you bastard.

puRgatoRy:
The Passion of the Roode: Roode’s impassioned promo to start the show was much better than his promo last week; it came across less as begging and more as “Lashley wants to fight me and I want to fight him, so MVP needs to step aside and let it happen” which is a logical perspective. That said, why should Roode get a title shot over any of the other deserving challengers in the company? And where were Aries and Young this week?

The Passion of the Roode, Pt II: The actual match between Roode and King/MVP was pretty good, but the schmozz ending resolved nothing. I thought that they were going to go for the “bad guys lose by DQ so Roode gets the shot anyway” resolution, but the announcers helpfully reminded us that Roode had to get a pin to get the title shot. So… now what? This just came across as total filler to drag the storyline out.

The hashtags are biased: I’m referring specifically to #ImWithSpud during EC3’s promo. I, too, am with Spud, but the show isn’t even trying to be impartial! …yeah, this is sort of a joke entry. But on some level, I do think the discussion tags showing favoritism is a little odd. It’s a part of the modern era of wrestling, for better or worse.

THE wRong:
Dat WCW 2001 vibe: This is a general wrong with the company right now, rather than this show specifically. The Bethlehem shows have such dark lighting, and combined with the small crowd, the blue ropes, and the weird, ethereal glow on the ring… it all looks very WCW 2001. Which isn’t really something you want people comparing you to. The overall color scheme sucks some of the life out of the show, even beyond comparisons to the dead companies of the past.

Bound for Glory finally gets promoted…barely: It still comes across as an afterthought… even while the announcers shilled Havok Vs. Velvet Sky for the PPV, Havok was in the ring staring down Madison Rayne as her next post-PPV challenge. Yet we know they’re building to Taryn Vs. Havok, since Taryn is the only Knockout who has been fully willing to stand up to Havok. The lack of focus was just weird. Couldn’t we have gotten a little bit of interaction between Havok and Velvet? Any at all would have been a step up. Similar things could be said for some of the TNA Vs. Wrestle-1 matches at the PPV. This has to be the most non-promoted PPV in their history.

THE RIDICULOUS:
The end of the Rockstar Spud / EC3 showdown: Ethan fires Spud… and rather than give it even a FEW SECONDS to sink in and get a crowd reaction, “Trouble” immediately plays. Okay, that’s fine I guess, give it a few seconds to sink in with the music play- NOPE, we cut to a video package for the next segment after what couldn’t have been more than two seconds. Are you serious, bro? That was one of the best Impact segments of the year, and it ended incredibly abruptly. I thought that cutting away from things way too fast went out with Russo? What the hell, TNA?

The 411:
This was the final Impact before Bound for Glory, and did very little to promote it. That was somewhat disappointing. And yet, I’m tempted to throw down and order the PPV regardless. Not because they built it well or because I consider it a must-see event, but because I want to thank the company somehow for putting on such great free shows for the past few months. Is that weird?

One more negative thing I want to note. It could go in the Wrong, but it’s more a personal observation as to something they could tweak: Bobby Roode needs to stop referring to time constantly. He kept saying “September 17th” and “two weeks ago” and “the past 14 days I haven’t been able to sleep” and so forth. Everyone knows these shows are taped in advance. This goes for the whole company. Instead of saying things like that, refer to which Impact it was. “The Impact before last” for instance. Instead of saying “next week” in front of the crowd, say “On the next episode”. Or, instead of “last week”, say “On the last episode”. Otherwise, it’s pretty weird for the fans seeing the show live.

All in all, this was a great show… due to the second half. Which was also the case last week, I believe. The segment with Spud finally poke-volving into a new form was amazing. Full Metal Mayhem was amazing. Up until those segments, the show was good, but it was just sorta…there. Memorable, must-see episode of Impact when it’s all said and done.

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: 9.0

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 10.03.14
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Kane def. Adam Rose at 1.02 by pinfall
* AJ Lee def. Alicia Fox at 1.19 by submission
* Seth Rollins def. Kofi Kingston at 3.36 by pinfall
* Rusev def. Dolph Ziggler at 8.55 by submission
* Sheamus, Mark Henry, The Usos, Los Matedores, Jack Swagger and El Torito def. Damien Mizdow, Bo Dallas, Heath Slater, Titus O’Neill, Stardust, Goldust, Cesaro and Hornswoggle at 15.18 by pinfall

THE RIGHT:
The GM battle: This was a fairly fun and inoffensive way to open the show and it had plenty of nice moments that helped push this into the right. The return of John Laurinitus and ‘People Power’ was a nice surprise for the night, while Teddy Long’s return got a really good pop, and JBL sprinting to give him a handshake was great. The two of them battling to up the ante by increasing the number of people in the tag match was fun with the best part being them having to think carefully to make sure that they could remember who exactly the people were and not to make a mistake. But the best part was the reactions of everyone after Adam Rose came out and started the party, only to be told he was facing Kane. The fact it stopped Rose and the Exotic Express totally in their tracks and they acted with fear on their faces helps to sell Kane as a serious threat. But the best bit was Stephanie dancing to Rose’s music and then John and Teddy joining in – just a fun ending to a nice way to start an anniversary show.

Seth Rollins def. Kofi Kingston: Although this was a short match, it continues to show Seth as a main event player and also someone that is not totally scared of any competition. As the MITB holder, and being aligned to the Authority, there really is no need in kayfabe terms for him to be wasting his time in meaningless matches against the likes of Kofi, yet Seth competes in them anyway showing that he is a fighter when he needs to be, and he is coming away from these matches with quick victories and is very aggressive in his offence.

Team Teddy vs. Team John: The match took a long time to get going, but once it did, it became really fun. With so many people involved in the match it was pretty disjointed to start with no real rhythm to it at all, but when Sheamus got the hot tag, it picked up tremendously with everyone getting involved and having a chance to showcase themselves and what they can do, as well as keeping in vogue with the storylines, such as Bo Dallas escaping and reversing the attack of Mark Henry, the Usos and Stardust/Goldust going at it, and Cesaro bringing back the Swing. The crowd were really into to Mizdow, so obviously he gets kicked in the face by Sheamus in what might be a precursor to what happens to the Miz when he does face Sheamus, and that allows the face team to get the win and lift Teddy Long up in the air. In this kind of match the face team where always going to win, but they all worked hard and made it fun.

Miz TV: The stipulation for the match between John Cena and Dean Ambrose – a contract on a pole match – is stupid and ridiculous really, but is a way of protecting whoever it is who loses the match, and given that in reality it should be Ambrose vs. Rollins in the Hell in a Cell match and Cena is your main draw, this will protect him from another big defeat. But this Miz TV segment managed to sell the match and everyone’s motivations for wanting to him it, made you want to see them fight, and also, allowed the Miz to put over himself and his Hollywood character by the way he was goading both Cena and Ambrose and tried to make the segment all about himself, which is what he would do. Ambrose’s confidence that he will win was great – just answering yes that he knows he will win was simple and effective – and he doesn’t to put together a long speech and just looking at him you know he believes it – and the look of disgust on his way when the Miz said they are ruining his show by not fighting was priceless. The ending – where Cena throws the Miz to Ambrose and then hits the AA on him afterwards and then calmly sits on a chair was interesting. It does allow Cena to get his revenge from Raw when Ambrose did the same thing, but also is interesting as Cena is being positioned as the heel in this mini-feud and perhaps is setting the scene for a heel turn. We know that it probably won’t happen – particularly with a lack of faces around at the moment – but this could be a test just to see what happens. All of this though plays into the hands of Rollins, who smiling backstage to end the show was a reminder that the more Cena and Ambrose hate each other, the less chance they have of beating him. Really good segment that helped to sell the PPV.

puRgatoRy:
Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler: This was a pretty decent match and the contrast in styles of Rusev’s power and Ziggler’s speed and agility matched up well, and Rusev is beginning to work well with a variety of opponents who wrestle in different fashions which bodes for him if he does move to the very top of the card. And the win for the Rusev was convincing and showed that he is the threat that he is being posed of, and we do get an announcement that he will face the Big Show on Raw as well as another hint that he might take on the Rock at some stage in the future. But all of this could have happened against another opponent that Ziggler – someone who isn’t currently a titleholder. The IC belt has had some attention recently with both the Miz and Cesaro interested in it so why not try and keep that momentum going by protecting the champion and the belt. Rusev has proven that he can beat the IC champion, so in reality should now want the belt, but the fact he is not even thinking about it makes the belt look weak and irrelevant.

The Rock/HHH: Given this was an anniversary special, it would have been nice for these two to appear in person on the show rather than in a pre-tape from backstage on Raw, but I guess the schedules might not have allowed for that to happen. I’m not quite sure what to make of this really. On one hand it was fairly entertaining and seemed very much like two men who were just having some fun and really and truly enjoying what they were doing. On the other hand it sort of went on a bit too long and I felt that the same thing could have been achieved in a slightly shorter time frame. It does however hint that a) the Rock might not be done with the WWE yet and is possibly going to be coming back for WrestleMania season, and b) he will be facing HHH at WrestleMania, because if he doesn’t, then all the hints and barbs between them as to who would win a ‘Mania match were pointless if it does actually lead to them having that match.

THE wRong:
Adam Rose vs. Kane: This goes in the wrong because of what happened after the match. Kane quickly squashes Adam Rose is a disappointing way to end his unbeaten record, but it is not like it has really been mentioned too often or is a key part of his gimmick, so that is understandable. But the problem for me was the post match activity as after Kane has dispatched the Rosebuds and is left with the Bunny, nothing happens. The Bunny is scared and then leaves the ring, which was so disappointing. We could have seen Kane chokeslam the Bunny, leading to a mini-feud where the Bunny and Rose want their revenge. We could have seen get some shots in on Kane when he tries to chokeslam him leading to a mini-feud where Kane is determined to chokeslam the Bunny. Instead we get the Bunny running away and nothing happening.

AJ Lee vs. Alicia Fox: Last week I mentioned that they seemed to have run out of ideas for the AJ/Paige feud and this very much furthered that suspicion. We have a one-minute match, which AJ wins, Paige attacks her afterwards, but AJ fights back and wins the brawl. It’s all a bit non-eventful and doesn’t appear to be progressing the feud in a positive and meaningful fashion and they are just treading water until Hell in a Cell. It also doesn’t say much for Alicia Fox being Paige’s friend/bodyguard when she loses in 79 seconds – it treats her like a joke really.

THE RIDICULOUS:
NOTHING

The 411:
Anniversary shows are always slightly different in their nature as they have to look forward as well as looking back at what has happened in the past and I felt that they got the balance of this just right. From the nostalgia of the various clips that were shown throughout the show highlighted what has happened in the past of Smackdown (and looking back at them showed a time when Smackdown was incredibly relevant), to the return of Teddy Long and John Laurantius to reminisce about their time as GMs, to the Rock and HHH’s backstage chat – this was balanced out perfectly by Lana and Rusev looking to the future and their clash with the Big Show on Raw and the Miz TV main event segment that did a fantastic job of selling Hell in a Cell.

That segment did exactly what it needed to do. It allowed both Dean Ambrose and John Cena to state their case as to why they should face Seth Rollins and thus why their match is important. It allowed the Miz as the host to further his personality by thinking that his show is more important than Ambrose and Cena, and then got his comeuppance. It ramped up the tension between Ambrose and Cena as neither is prepared to back down, and Ambrose just calmly saying he knows he will beat Cena is a different way of someone taking him on as it is a different type of threat for Cena. And it showed that Cena is prepared to be just as ruthless as Ambrose by taking him out with the AA at the end in revenge for what happened on Raw. And all of this plays into the hands of Seth Rollins who calmly gets to laugh backstage and watch his two rivals take each other apart, and crucially, makes you actually want to watch Hell in a Cell to see what happens.

The nostalgia was fun as well with Teddy and Johnny reuniting their battle and it led to a 15-man tag match that started slowly but turned into a great match once they pretty much just threw everything that they had into it. Teddy’s team gets the win so that he finally wins the battle against Johnny and he gets lifted in the air by the face team to celebrate in what is probably going to be his final appearance on TV, and if so, is a good way to go out.

We also got a date for Rusev and the Big Show to have their next clash and it came after a good match between the Russian hero and Dolph Ziggler, and although it would have been better had Dolph not been the man sacrificed to him, it did provide a good match and Rusev is definitely getting better in the ring each time he steps into it.

This was billed as the 15th anniversary of Smackdown and the show did live up to that billing. It looked back on the past and what had happened but at the same time did not dwell on it and looked forward with the Miz TV segment which did a great job of building to the future and was exactly the kind of ending that Smackdown needs to be having if it wants to stay on TV for another 15 years as it once again felt important.

Show Rating: 8.2

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 930th edition is over…