wrestling / Columns
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.
By: Jericho Ricardi
IMPACT 10.15.14:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Havok def. Madison Rayne at 6:00 via pinfall (Harlot Slayer)
* Matt Hardy def. Magnus at 5:50 via pinfall (Twist of Fate)
* The Menagerie def. The Bromans at 5:18 via pinfall (Crazy Steve DDT on Jessie Godderz)
* Tyrus def. Shark Boy at 1:51 via pinfall (Jumping Chokeslam)
* Bobby Roode won a four-way elimination match at 15:29 via pinfall (Roode Bomb to Austin Aries) (Order of Elimination: EY and Hardy simultaneously at 11:00, Aries at 15:29)
THE RIGHT:
The Menagerie Returns: Knux’s whole gimmick should just be that he does surprising things every week, then bows for applause. Give him the Red Arrow as a finisher or something. And Crazy Steve, who I really don’t want to spell “Crazzy”, has a ton of charisma… considering what a creep he is. I half expect Taz to go “Don’t worry, he’s just being Crazy Steve!” every time the guy sexually harasses one of the Knockouts. Charisma or not, I hate this character. At least the BroMans were great as usual. More BroMans on Impact, please. Though they may want to drop this whole “Robbie E is with Velvet Sky” thing unless they’re planning a Robbie/Zema feud later on. Otherwise, just let DJ Z get some storyline play.
Magnus and Matt Hardy: Aside from them shaking hands for what seemed like several minutes, the backstage faceoff was pretty good. Magnus even reminded us that he beat Jeff Hardy for the world title, so it served that purpose. I’ve noticed that the company in general is paying more attention to bringing up history, with guys playing up their past accomplishments more frequently lately. The match was also good, with Matt Hardy busting out a sweet moonsault. He looks great, and I’m glad he inherited the Forty Six and Two theme. The match outcome, on the other hand…
Havok destroys Madison: This wasn’t much of a match, as Havok’s dominance continues. Still, Havok dominating can only be a good thing, and I continue to enjoy her rampage.
Porno for Tyrus: Enjoyed the interaction between EC3 and his newest henchman, continuing the trend of him bringing in ex-WWE guys to be his bodyguards. How long until this one goes south for him? Shark Boy Vs. Tyrus was also quick and to the point, with Tyrus debuting a strong new finisher and winning in decisive fashion. As for the backstage bit with Shark Boy gorging himself on donuts… I laughed.
The four-way #1 contender’s match: It was great to see a face vs. face vs. face vs. face #1 contender’s match with everybody showing mutual respect afterwards. I used to complain about this show having no truly honorable good guys, and in a few months they did a great job fixing that. They’ve also established a definite top tier, solving the other issue of everyone being on the same level at the beginning of the year. Also, a year ago Eric Young would have looked completely out of place in this match. Now, he fits right in. This match just showed me how far the company has come since last spring, and it’s really astounding.
puRgatoRy:
NOTHING
THE wRong:
Lashley shouldn’t speak: Ever. That said, he wasn’t as awful here as he used to be, and they kept it to a minimum. Also, what’s with Kurt Angle teasing matches that they’re likely not going to follow up on? They had him recently tease a future match with Aries, then tonight he referenced a future match with Lashley. Sounds interesting, but if they’re not planning to follow up on this any time soon, why even do it?
Matt Hardy beating Magnus: If they’re at all serious about rebuilding Magnus after his loss-filled title reign last winter, having him lose to Matt Hardy in his first singles match in what seems like months…isn’t the way to do it. Awful booking move here. As resurgent as Matt is, if they have plans for him and needed him to get a win, Magnus wasn’t the guy to sacrifice.
Did Tenay snap this week?: I could do without hearing 82 year old Mike Tenay say “matchmaking mobile app” ever again. Also, way to wonder aloud whether Rebel and Knux met on Tinder when their entire backstory is that they grew up together in the same town. Come on. Did anyone else catch Tenay saying that there’s nothing wrong with Shark Boy liking alcoholic beverages? His slight defensiveness gave me an idea. Since they’re already doing a borderline-offensive storyline with Shark Boy being overweight (complete with an over-the-top donut visual that felt like it was from another era), here’s hoping they start a storyline about Tenay being an alcoholic. I’ve been wondering for a long time how long it is until Tenay snaps, and it’d be comedy gold to have him taking shots from a flask every time Taz gives him lip.
THE RIDICULOUS:
NOTHING
This was another great episode of Impact. While it didn’t really make any huge storyline progression, it did move things along nicely. Havok dispatched Madison, clearing the way for her to perhaps finally feud with Taryn next. We got a definitive new #1 contender, paving the way for Lashley’s next challenge. The main event was a lot of fun. This show also had a certain lightness to it that the show hasn’t had lately. Rather than the usual blast of seriousness, the whole thing was… fun. Nothing about this was unenjoyable. Even the wrestlers themselves seemed to be having a great time out there. Here’s hoping for more light-hearted shows as we close out the year. Also really looking forward to Roode/Lashley II, given how great the first one was. Between that, the inevitable Taryn/Havok battle, and Spud’s inevitable return to exact revenge on EC3, the company has done a great job building up a PPV card that I’d love to order. Since it’s all going to take place on TV, even better.
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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
By Daniel Clark
Smackdown 10.17.14
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
Seth Rollins def. Dolph Ziggler at 12.30 by pinfall
AJ Lee def. Layla at 1.59 by submission
Sheamus and the Usos def. Goldust/Stardust and the Miz at 9.30 by pinfall
Nikki Bella def. Naomi at 2.12 by pinfall
Dean Ambrose def. Kane at 5.45 by disqualification
THE RIGHT:
Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler: Seth Rollins came out to open the show and immediately started joining in with the ‘you sold out’ chants by saying that he did sell out and he is proud of it and that be honorable does not pay the bills. To be honest, he is telling the truth and that is partly why he is such a good heel at the moment. His aim is to be the WWE Champion and by selling out he is closer to doing that, so in reality he has done nothing wrong in his mindset. He then tells us that Ambrose will be left in a pile of rubble at Hell in a Cell once he beats him down. Then we get the match between Rollins and Ziggler after Dolph comes out and dropkicks Seth out of the ring. And this was a very good match with it being full of intensity throughout the contest with both men up for it and doing what they can as they have something to prove. Okay, the IC champion losing cleanly again is not ideal, but at least it was against someone who is higher on the card than him in the MITB holder, and Ziggler did put up a good fight and nearly had the match won on a couple of occasions. A really good start to the show with a promo that showcased Rollins’ motivations and built to his match against Ambrose and then followed up with an excellent match.
Sheamus/The Usos vs. The Miz/Stardust/Goldust: You know what you are going to get when these guys get into the ring as you can be fairly sure that they will deliver something exciting, and this was no exception. The Usos and Sheamus always deliver inside the ring, Goldust and Stardust are always pretty solid in their performances, and the Miz is really coming back into his own in this new character he has and has regained the fire and workrate that got him to be WWE champion the first time around. The match was hot, with Sheamus probably being the star of the match as he was on top of his game when he got into the ring, and he continues to get the win. This sets up his match with the Miz at Hell in a Cell with Sheamus wanting to kick the Miz’s head off, which as of yet he has not managed to do.
puRgatoRy:
Nikki Bella vs. Naomi: All this really was on the show for was to remind you that Nikki and Brie are going to have a match at the PPV, and that there is a stipulation attached to it, with the loser becoming the other’s assistant, which depending on how it plays out, could either be some interesting and entertaining TV, or an absolute waste of time that means nothing. As for this – the match was okay and Nikki got the win cleanly, which she needed to do to remain strong heading to that match. But it also only took up a couple of minutes of time, which is about the length that this needed to be.
THE wRong:
AJ Lee vs. Layla: The editing around this match was ridiculous really. We began by seeing a replay of the full tag match that happened on Raw, and then, before this match begun, where treated to another recap of that match to show what led to these two facing off. As for the match, it is the same as we have seen for a while now. AJ wins the match, Alicia tries to attack her afterwards but fails, but Paige comes in and knocks her out. It added nothing new to the feud and was exactly what we have seen before. This feud either needs to end, or have some new ideas and life given to it, as despite AJ and Paige’s efforts, this is going nowhere as nothing is happening.
Big Show promo: In terms of promoting the match between Big Show and Rusev, it did not really accomplish anything. We already know that Rusev does not like the Big Show. We already know that the Big Show wants to knock out Rusev and pin him so that he can stand up successfully for the USA. So why we needed a 10 minute promo to re-emphasize the points that we are aware of I’m not sure. The Big Show/Mark Henry friendship stuff was mildly entertaining and it does come across that these two genuinely get on well with each other, but the Big Show telling Henry he needs to do this on his own, and Henry agreeing, could have been accomplished in a 30 minute backstage segment rather than a 10 minute in-ring promo. Just a segment that took a long time to go nowhere.
Dean Ambrose vs. Kane: If these two ever have to face other in a singles match again then it will be too soon. Ambrose and Kane have probably had seven or eight singles matches now and every single one of them has been completely uneventful and boring – the two of them just have no chemistry at all with each other. The fact that Ambrose is incapable of beating Kane clean as well is a bit frustrating. I know the Rollins interference is to stop him winning and to try and take him out, but the fact that Ambrose cannot beat Kane does not come across too well. The DQ ending, followed by Ambrose avoiding the curb stomp and then hitting Kane with the chair is pretty much what we have seen in the past. This was just pretty dull and not at all beneficial to moving this feud on as nothing of interest happened here. Disappointing way to end the show.
THE RIDICULOUS:
NOTHING
For a show that started so well, it fell away so poorly in the second half and ended up as a disappointing episode with nothing in the second hour of the show really being any good.
The show began with a Seth Rollins promo that emphasized when he is a particularly good heel at the moment – as his promo and delight in knowing that he sold out is entirely logical. He sold out because he wants to get to the very top of his profession and now that he has done so, he is a step closer to achieving that, and what he has done is no different to what anyone else would do if they had the chance in their daily lives. And then his match with Dolph Ziggler was excellent, with both men going at it with everything that they had for the 12.30 minute, and even though Dolph lost the match, he did come out looking as if he can hang with Rollins in the ring and take him to the limit, which is what he did.
We also got a good match between Sheamus and the Usos against The Miz and Stardust/Goldust, which given the talent in the match, is what you would have expected.
Sheamus getting the win shows that he is still perhaps slightly above the Miz in the pecking order, but the Miz is slightly smarter than Sheamus, as with the use of the stunt double and also his knowledge of when to and when not to get involved in the match means that he has managed to continually avoid the Brogue Kick.
But then the show started to fall apart and go downhill. The Big Show/Rusev feud, although it has produced a series of good matches, does slightly rely on you actually caring that the Big Show is standing up for the USA – if you are not an American then the impact and the interest in the feud is slightly lost. But the problem with this promo is that it took a long time to add nothing to the feud. We already know that the Big Show wants to knock Rusev out, we know that Rusev hates America – this added nothing new to that and neither did we get any more indication from them as to who is the better man.
And then the main event between Kane and Dean Ambrose just fell fairly flat. They have faced off against each other on many occasions now and still have not got any chemistry between them that can lead to a decent match, and what we got was another very average and dull five minute match that ended in a DQ, an attempt to beat down Ambrose that doesn’t work, Ambrose leaves Kane lying in the ring while Rollins escapes – all of which we have seen plenty of times before and is just no longer interesting and exciting. As a main event it just fell flat and really given how well this show started off, it tailed away so quickly in the second half.
Show Rating: 5.5
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
