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Wrestling’s 4Rs 9.09.13: WWE Smackdown & TNA Impact 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 9.05.13:
By: Maxwell Baumbach
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
THE RIGHT:
Chris Sabin vs. Knux: TNA did a solid job of starting off this show wrestling-wise with Sabin and Knux. Knux has always been capable, and I’m glad that they gave him some time to show off this week. With Aces and Eights become depleted, they need someone to step up, and it should be him. Although there was a non-finish, it was done to set up something else down the line. Both guys did well, and Knux showed that he belongs.
puRgatoRy:
Bound for Glory Series Gauntlet Match: This match felt like it went on forever, and much of that has to do with the pacing. It didn’t have peaks and valleys; instead, the match was flat the entire way through. The finish didn’t come off as well as it needed to, and the crowd wasn’t thrilled to see AJ win. This was supposed to be a big moment for his character, but after his disastrous promo last week, the crowd was not invested in him. Outside of AJ, I wish guys would have shown more frustration after being eliminated. They just lost their chance to main-event the biggest show of the year. Shouldn’t they be upset?
Briscoe/Bischoff vs. Storm/Gunner: With the tag team division being depleted, it’s not a bad idea in theory to add a combination of Aces and Eights members into the title hunt. The key words there are “in theory.” Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff are two of the most green guys on the roster, and I have no interest in seeing them in the title picture. This match was dull, and the crowd doesn’t care about the B-Team of Brisco and Bischoff.
Announcing the Semi-Finals: For whatever reason, this did not come off well. Austin Aries is always better when he’s acting like a normal person instead of doing the whole, “the fans sure will love this one” shtick. Magnus has been background noise in the Main Event Mafia angle, and the crowd is not as connected to him as a result. AJ Styles split the fans last week. Bobby Roode is the only guy who came across the way he needed to, and even then, he didn’t do anything spectacular. Additionally, I thought that this segment went way too long.
Sting vs. Bully Ray: This match gave me mixed-emotions. First off, I like that they showed aggression from the outset. These two men are supposed to hate each other, and they wrestled in a way that demonstrated that idea. However, one thing that bothered me quite a bit was that the Main-Event Mafia wasn’t more prepared for the Aces and Eights run-in. The whole reason Sting founded the MEM was because he got jumped during a No-DQ match against Bully Ray. Given that the circumstances were nearly identical this time around, you would think that the MEM would have been ready to make the save on a dime.
Mr. Anderson’s face turn: To reiterate what I said last week, this was clearly meant for DOC. This was supposed to be the payoff for him, but since he left, they had to improvise and go with Anderson. The whole thing seems really abrupt, especially since Anderson had tension with DOC, who had the same mindset as Anderson has now. On top of that, Anderson gets to jump right into a title match even though he didn’t make it into the semi-finals of the BFG Series.
THE wRong:
ODB and Mickie James go at it: I’ve gushed over the resurgence of Mickie James in the column several times. That said, this week things didn’t click for her. First off, TNA should have had the foresight to realize that they would seem behind the curve talking about Miley Cyrus in two weeks. Secondly, it seemed like Mickie was force-fed a lot of these lines. Her delivery was not as natural as usual, and it seemed like she was trying to squeeze in now-irrelevant references rather than make a point.
THE RIDICULOUS:
Chris Sabin yells the same thing over and over again: This might be one of the weirdest segments I have ever seen. I thought my DVR was stuck on loop and that the same conversation and movements were being repeated, but nope, that was just the promo. I don’t really know where this is going, and I thought this was a weird way to start whatever Chris Sabin’s new direction is going to be. This felt like something that would happen after the culmination of a large series of events, not a throwaway TV match.
This episode of Impact came across as flat. I think a large part of that has to do with the TV taping schedule, as the crowd was there for about four hours by the end of this show. There was nothing great in-ring, and the segments ranged from dull to disastrous. I anticipate things to turn around soon with the built to Bound for Glory on the horizon and No Surrender coming up, but the last two weeks have not lived up to the standard TNA had been setting the past few months. Show Rating: 4.5 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
Smackdown 9.06.13
By: Jack Stevenson
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
THE RIGHT:
The Town-Hall Meeting: I think this segment is possibly the strongest evidence yet for the brilliant job Triple H is doing in his role as WWE’s sinister COO. At the show’s beginning, Triple H would invite WWE roster members assembled on the stage to offer feedback on the way he’s been running the company. Kofi Kingston and Rob Van Dam gave muted criticisms, which Hunter promised to take on board, and then as a reward for the pair’s honesty he gave them attractive matches against Curtis Axel and Randy Orton respectively. On paper, this doesn’t sound like gripping television, but there’s something about HHH’s overall demeanor at the moment that makes every scene he’s in so much more compelling- outside of claiming Daniel Bryan refused to attend the feedback session when he’d in fact been banned, nothing he did in this was overtly heelish- in fact, he was being a pretty reasonable, nice guy. But there’s just this unsettling element to COO HHH, and its really surprisingly compelling viewing. This was a damn good way to start the show, which set up the rest of the card quickly and efficiently.
Kofi Kingston vs. Curtis Axel: Well, this was a bold booking decision. Kingston has done little since his return and seemed appropriate cannon fodder for Axel, but instead picked up a shock victory just over a week before Axel enters into the biggest match of his career. Hmm. It’s rather unconventional, but I think it works- the appeal of Punk vs. Axel/Heyman at Night of Champions is less the match than the prospect of Punk getting his hands on Paul, and so anything that makes that prospect more realistic makes sense I guess. Plus, it was a decent match, and Kingston’s too good for aimless midcard meandering, so I think this might just be a positive all round.
The Usos vs. The Real Americans: Was it just me or was this really, really good? Like, ‘makes you sit up and take notice’ good? I rolled my eyes a bit when I realized this was happening yet again, but then Cesaro kicks things off with the finest dropkick I’ve seen in a while- literally, no collar and elbow tie up, no feeling out process, he just walks right up to his Uso foe and WHAM dropkick. And then there were some cool double teams and one of the Usos (still can’t really tell them apart) was throwing himself all over the place as long as it was in the general direction of the Real Americans, and, just, this was great. For five minutes you can’t get too much better. I don’t know what these four had for breakfast, but as long as it isn’t in violation of the wellness policy, keep giving it to them!
The Big Show vs. 3MB: The Big Show can be rather good fun when he’s not in floods of tears. This was just a good, fun squash, full of anger and aggression and impact. Keep Show in this mode.
Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins: If I told you “hey 411 readership, this week’s Smackdown has Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins as its main event,” you’d all be like “yaaaaaaaaaay,” but then if I said “but it only lasts five minutes,” your emotions would swing wildly to “awwwh booooooo-urns.” It’s a shame really because when it was announced Bryan would be facing a member of the Shield in the main event I had my hopes up for a good, long match against Rollins or Ambrose- I was so near, but so far. Still, even five minutes of Bryan-Rollins is pretty damn good, and every clean Daniel Bryan victory in the main event of a WWE TV show makes my heart sing. Orton sneak attacking Bryan to conclude the show is becoming so frequent in WWE that if I told new viewers that it was a superstitious practice adopted in 2009 to stop Vince McMahon from being nearly killed by things in June, they’d probably believe me, but it isn’t hugely detrimental to their rivalry.
puRgatoRy:
Dolph Ziggler vs. Ryback: It was hard to care about this match. Ziggler needs to get some mojo back, because his Show-Off character seems rather hollow when he’s losing regularly and has no exciting prospects on the horizon. The implied Ziggler-Ambrose feud could be just what he needs. Ryback’s “not a bully, a big guy” shtick has potential but it isn’t being given a chance to develop in brief promos and thrown together matches. He’s sort of floating on the outer edges of the Corporation at the moment, and while there’s a danger the group could become too bloated with HHH, Stephanie, The Shield and sort of the Big Show already members, maybe joining the inner circle wouldn’t be the worst thing for him. The match was fine but unremarkable. Purgatory seems appropriate for this right now.
THE WRONG:
Divas Division (division as in ‘a split,’ rather than ‘a roster.’): So early in the show AJ rounded up a terrifying posse of Aksana, Alicia Fox and Layla, and persuaded them that the Total Divas cast were terrible, terrible people who must be destroyed. And that they did, interrupting a Natalya-Brie Bella match and laying waste to all in the ring. And, I don’t know, it’s not bad for a divas storyline I guess, and it’s making AJ look deservingly great, but I just find it very hard to care. I don’t see it leading anywhere meaningful and it seems rather thrown together. At least they’re trying though.
THE RIDICULOUS:
It’s The Last Time I’m Covering Smackdown For the 4Rs: :'( On the plus side this gives my Raw recaps, already lauded by critics as “the most fun you can have with your clothes on,” even more vitality.
This was just fine. It certainly wasn’t boring, with a fast pace, some good wrestling, and actual angle advancement, but it also won’t stick in the memory for long. It’s just an above average Smackdown really. Take it or leave it. Show Rating: 6.5 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
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