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Wrestling’s 4Rs 10.28.13: TNA Impact and ROH TV Reviewed
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.
Impact 10.24.13:
By: Danny Bennett
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
THE RIGHT:
The Bound for Glory Fallout: The show kicked off with Dixie Carter holding a celebration for AJ Styles in hopes of convincing the new champion that her way of thinking was right. Carter claimed she had only targeted Styles in order to motivate him leading up to Bound For Glory. Styles addressed this by still badmouthing Carter. Dixie then made various financial incentives to AJ Including, a new dressing room, a watch, a new car and finally an offer to cancel Styles’ defense against Bully Ray later that night. Bully hit the ring and blamed the referee for his title loss and sucker punched Styles and prepared to blast him through a table. Before he could the lights went out signaling the return of Mr. Anderson. This segment was a very good one indeed, Showcasing the hypocritical nature of the Carter character will only draw her more heat, and granted she isn’t going to be drawing in crowds or buyrates but she has made the Styles’ character a lot hotter than it was over the summer , and also the crowd is noticeably more behind Styles. Dixie has improved leaps and bounds on the mic since her new role began, while she isn’t polished , her delivery is better ,her cadence and presence have improved also. Bully Ray once again delivered the goods on the mic and it goes without saying his promo ability is second to none. He has carried the heel side of TNA since April and with only Roode in the wings to challenge his role as top heel it looks like it will continue.
The Asshole Returns: As the lights had blacked out, it signaled the return of Mr. Anderson who had been absent since No Surrender in September. Anderson lit up Bully with right hands before sending him out of the ring and cutting a promo saying he is sick and tired of Bully and is going to put a stop to him. Dixie Carter came out and ordered security to arrest him and take him out of the arena. Anderson showed a lot of fire during the brawl and the promo afterwards, he looked motivated which is something he has often lacked in his career. His character work before his absence was some of his best ever and hopefully the feud with Ray will keep his character hot.
The World Needs Squashes: EC3 had his first match on impact and it was the same basic match as he had at Bound For Glory. While I stick b my assessment that Carter should have just cut a promo at BFG, and that squash matches have no place on the biggest show of the year, this was the perfect placement for it. A short but sweet squash in the middle of the show , a chance to show off his look, mannerisms , and sweet finisher, I like the slow build, a couple more weeks facing scrubs, should be enough for him to move up to undercarders , I still see a big future for this guy.
Kurt’s Not Medically Cleared: After narrowly squeaking out a victory at BFG , Roode had a confrontation with Kurt Angle this week, Angle reiterated his statement at Bound For Glory about declining his HOF Place but challenged Roode to come out and face him again. Roode came out and accepted the fight but not tonight due to Angle not being cleared to wrestle. The two started brawling setting up a match next week. This is fast becoming my favorite feud in TNA, the story is simple and very effective, the angles have been very good, the match was great at BFG and the crowd is into it, just a very good piece of business all around.
Styles vs. Bully II: A great match to end impact this week as Styles faced Bully Ray in a BFG Rematch under orders of Dixie Carter. Much like their match at BFG it was dramatic and well structured, both men have good chemistry and while shorter than their PPV Match ,this was still action packed and had good near falls. Styles managed to retain the title after rolling up Ray following a distraction from Mr. Anderson who got back into the building. A few people have ran down the ref bump which seems a common feature in a TNA world title match, but if done right it is very useful, here is served a purpose to allow Anderson to get involved ,cost Ray the title and heat up their feud.
Grand Theft AJ: The show closing angle was Dixie Carter coming out post main event and presenting AJ with a fat contract to keep him in TNA. Styles dismissed it saying she still don’t respect him or the fans so he is going to take the TNA World title and leave. Styles left the arena and drove away in the car Dixie presented him with earlier. Styles was very good on the stick all evening , I have been very critical of him , but something has clicked in terms of his character. He got the crowd behind him and commanded the aura of a top guy, which was needed. The storyline itself is very reminiscent of the CM Punk contract saga back in 2011, being so close to it leaves it still fresh in our minds and while their are differences the story is basically the same. However the story was first played out back in Ring of Honor in 2005, I do think more could be done to change the TNA Version , but the follow up is the key, Styles needs to keep off TV for a while to make it work, CM Punk returned after being off TV for a week, and it ruined the angle, TNA can’t afford to make the same error.
puRgatoRy:
Kim/Brooke vs. ODB/Sky: The knockouts tag match took center stage as one of only two matches on the card. Kim’s alliance with Tapa was the story of the match and her team getting the win was the right move in order to get some credibility in their alliance. The math was a little short for my liking, but still solid. *3/4
THE wRong:
Pass the Torch or Light a Fire: This week’s follow up to the Magnus and Sting match at Bound For Glory was very confusing and a step back in my opinion. Their match seemed to setup Magnus’ fall into darkness as a guy who lost his humility defeating his former hero, but this week he took a backseat and had a short verbal meeting with Sting in which he apologized and they made amends, I still think the heel turn is going to happen but Sting’s cryptic remarks just made no sense to me at all.
Bully sends the Aces to Jail: A short cameo appearance by the Aces this week as they once again played whipping boys for Bully Ray as he ordered them to go make sure Anderson was still detained. They Failed this task as we saw later in the show, which will beg the question as to what Bully will do for their latest failure. The breakup of the group is taking a lot longer than it should have and has turned into a very minor story compared to what it once was.
Cele – Bro- Tion: The new tag team champs came out to host their own celebration in the ring, The Bro mans also received a new titantron and theme music which gives them a lot more credibility than their old one. As I’ve said before , I enjoy the team’s matches and their character work and I’m glad their being given an opportunity to be presented as genuine threats and given screen time. The champs were interrupted by first Gunner and Storm who told them that they will be getting their rematch next week, then by Bad Influence and finally Young and Park. A brawl erupted ,during which Joseph Park got busted open with a champagne bottle causing a transformation into Abyss and he cleared the ring. Gunner and Storm were terrible here, Storm sounded very clichéd and bored out there, and Gunner sucked as usual. Bad Influence were funny but nothing stood out. It looks like Bad Influence will be saddled in a feud with Young and Park as I feared. It is a step down for them but their isn’t really anything else for them to do at this point. I hope the tag team division can continue to expand and remain a regular part of impact but it needs to be better than this.
X Division?? : Following the Ultimate X 5 way at BFG ,their was no mention of the X division or participants besides a throwaway comment from Tenay during Velvet Sky’s match about Chris Sabin winning the title. The X Division was really hitting home runs week after week and having the best matches, hope they do not get forgotten about.
THE RIDICULOUS:
Why Even Bother: One thing really bothered me this week, it was the announcement that Styles would face Bully Ray in a title rematch just four days after their PPV match at the biggest event of the year, just unbelievable. Chances are that BFG got a small buyrate, but those fans who paid their $35 paid for nothing in reality, because if they wait they could have seen the same exact match for free. With the announcement of Angle vs. Roode and the Tag Title rematches ,it just makes me wonder why TNA even bothered putting on a PPV last week. I support TNA, like a I do all companies WWE,ROH,NJPW mainly, but if they did the same thing I would feel the same, just a stupid move, if creative can’t think of a way to advance stories and feuds without raping their product of matchups just to pop an extra 0.14 rating for that segment then something needs to change. AJ vs. Bully this week was good, Roode vs. Angle next week will be as good if not better, but the point remains, build the feuds to culminate at PPV or house shows where people will pay , use TV to promote that.
ROLLING CHART: TNA MATCH OF THE NIGHT
How things Work – Each week one match is decided match of the night, the participants of that match are each awarded points (1=Impact, 2 =Impact Special, 5=PPV) the top five are listed on a rolling chart beginning 10.03.13
1. (Tie) Kurt Angle (5 Points) , Bobby Roode (5 Points)
2. (Tie) Jeff Hardy (2 Points), Bully Ray (2 Points)
3. (Tie) Manik (1 Point), Chris Sabin (1 Point), Kenny King (1 Point), Austin Aries (1 Point), Magnus (1 Point), AJ Styles (1 Point)
This week’s show was a good follow up to BFG, Yes it was a lot of talking and promo work, but new feuds needed to be established and that is par for the course. The in ring work was kept short but the main event was well done, the Winter of Styles storyline has been executed well so far and other feuds have potential. Roode vs. Angle is something you should tune into next week and hopefully things keep at the pace they are going. Show Rating: 7.5 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
By: Shawn S. Lealos
ROH Television 10.26.13:
BJ Whitmer retirement speech – I watched Death Before Dishonor, and while I was pissed that a lot of the matches in the second half of the show was screwed up, I was even more annoyed that the iPPV cut out during the BJ Whitmer retirement speech and segment. Kudos to Ring of Honor for showing the highlights of that speech in the prelude to this show, including him asking Nigel McGuinness to give Jimmy Jacobs another chance.
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Silas Young – The match itself was about three seconds long, but this was more than about the match. This was a great segment. Basically, Nigel is giving Jimmy a chance to prove he deserves a chance to return to Ring of Honor. Jimmy will face five wrestlers. If he fights with honor in all five matches, he will get his contract back. If he beats three of the wrestlers, he will get a world title shot. His first opponent is Silas Young. This caused Young to ask for a mic and he cut a perfect heel promo. Basically, Young said that Jacobs tried to destroy Ring of Honor and the fans are cheering him, making them idiots (true). He said that he is a real man, but Jimmy has pink in his hair, wears makeup and fingernail polish and has a feminine body (true). He said that Jimmy probably had parents who made sure he got a trophy even when his team finished last. He said that Jimmy probably went to Whitmer to try to weasel his way back in and it caused Nigel to give him yet another second chance. This was just perfect, because everything he said was true and the fans hated him for it. Then Jimmy Jacobs hit a spear when the bell rang and picked up the pin just like that. He didn’t prove to be honorable, but he was not the bad guy here. However, Silas was the perfect bad guy.
Davey Richards vs. Ricky Marvin – I’ll be honest, this match kind of sucked when it first started. Basically, if you haven’t seen Marvin, he is kind of a dumpy looking wrestler who a lot of people say is just amazing in the ring. For the first quarter of this match, I didn’t see what was so special about him. Then … Well, then things got amazing. These two turned in what might be the best ROH television match I have seen since the show started (and I have covered them all for 411 since the premiere episode). The only one in recent memory that comes close was the Silas Young vs. Adam Page match that shocked the hell out of me. These two pulled out all the stops and just beat the living hell out of each other. And, for a guy Marvin’s size, he pulled off some risky moves that I couldn’t believe including a flying head scissors from the ring apron to the floor that may have hurt Davey’s neck. The end came when Davey hit the Alarm Clock and then a hard snap suplex to finally put him away. What is amazing is that, those aren’t really finishing moves, but the match was so intense, that they completely sold that finish. MOTY candidate so far for ROH television.
Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards – This match should have been awesome. However, it was only here to set up the Kevin Steen vs. Michael Bennett match at Glory by Honor. Bennett piledrove Steen at the start before Eddie came out. Edwards didn’t want to fight but Steen slapped him and forced him to fight. Edwards, who acted like he didn’t want to fight because of Steen’s neck injury, then kept going for the neck on his moves – which makes no sense from a face point of view. The two put in a great match when you consider that Steen was fighting injured, but Edwards was just all kinds of confused here. I wish it could have been more than it was, but it served the story.
NOTHING
Mark Briscoe – They had Mark Briscoe cut a short promo about fighting Silas Young next week. The guy is an idiot. That is all.
After last week’s lackluster show, this one was a huge improvement. That Davey Richards vs. Ricky Marvin match was worth the price of admission all by itself. Man, seek out that match and watch it. Those guys just laid it all out there. The Jimmy Jacobs start to his road to a contract was perfectly done as well. The Steen vs. Edwards match was serviceable but was just used to move the Bennett story. Overall, this was a decent show made great by the Richards vs. Marvin match – which took up more than half of the running time. Show Rating: 7.5 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
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