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Wrestling’s 4R’s Friday Edition 09.18.09: RETRO TNA No Surrender, ECW and Raw Reviewed!
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By: Jeremy Thomas
Raw 09.14.09
HEY, REMEMBER WHEN?: Backstage, Trish was in her office when Beth Phoenix came in all pissed that she wasn’t in the Number One contender’s match. She asked Trish who the hell she thought she was, and Jericho stopped Beth so he could have the opportunity to rag on her. He brought up that he dumped Trish, which was another continuity nod I loved, and Trish countered with some ambiguously gay references toward Jericho and Show. Beth then talked up about how Trish ran when competition came, which turned things into a Jericho & Beth vs. Trish and a Partner To Be Named Later. This, I liked. Beth and Trish in the ring is something we’ve all wanted to see, and Jericho involved too made me a happy Raw viewer. Good work by all three here on the mic too, so there’s not much for me to pick at for this.
PRICELESS MOCK D-X/SHAWN MICHAELS vs. TED DIBIASE: I’ll admit, when I saw this singles match coming I was sure that this was Cody’s time to be squashed. Especially since they got mic time before. Am I a skeptic? Yes, but I think I’ve earned it with the trials and tribulations of broken dreams. No, I’m not really that emo, it’s a joke. Cody got on the mic and did a pretty damn decent job here as he pointed out all the people to never make D-X tap out; Ted sounded pretty iffy by comparison. I’m sorry, I think Cody has the better mic skills here. Ted isn’t horrible, but he has the tendency to fall into redundant speech patterns. But still, it was some decent mic work here when all was said and done.
Then, out came D-X as the crowd went wild. They had angry face on, and Shawn came in to go right after Ted. I was surprised and pleased to see that Ted looked good in this match. They let him look, if not dominating (which I don’t think he should be), impressive and able to hold his own. ‘H and Cody teased confrontation on the outside a bit when Shawn came out, but for most of the match it was just Ted and Shawn. Now, in terms of match quality this wasn’t the best, but then again I do give them a bit of a break since Shawn bumped like a champ the night before. Of course this was Toronto so we had to get the “You Screwed Bret” chants. Really, with the finish at Breaking Point I’m neither shocked nor annoyed, as much as I loved said finish. They had a little continuity here with Shawn’s eye problems which played nice, and the match ended in such a way that Shawn looked strong, but it wasn’t quite a foregone conclusion yet. This turned into a post-match brawl and D-X was in control by the end, but let’s face it. Everyone looked good, and no one has any reason to bitch at D-X for the moment. Don’t tell me what they’re surely going to do eventually in squashing Priceless, because we don’t know. For now, I liked this.
CENA’S CHAMPIONSHIP PROMO: Okay, so I know I’ve been vocal about Cena’s great charisma but iffy habits on the mic. I hate how he goes from goofy to consistent and then back. But this time, he stayed consistent and in one tone, and it paid off. He had to sell what had been done to him at Breaking Point and then make it seem like nothing compared to what was going to happen at Hell in the Cell. He did that exactly, and damn if it didn’t work. He was intense, he didn’t lay out one single joke and he definitely could have. I do think he overdid it just a little toward the end as he talked about us seeing a more savage, intense side, but otherwise this was exactly what Cena needed to do. He got the crowd into it and he got me buying into him too. If he keeps this tone, I’ll be a happy camper.
HELLOOOOOOOOO, TRISH!: Trish came out after the first segment to a huge pop from the crowd, sporting her new and—sorry blonde fans, but it’s true—WAY hotter brunette look. I love me some dark hair, what can I say? She got the crowd hyped up by talking herself up a bit and then talked about Bob Barker last week and how he made Jericho almost cry. She then booked Randy Orton vs. John Cena for the Hell in a Cell Pay-Per-View. Well, it’s not like we didn’t see it coming, and I’m okay with it as a Hell in a Cell is a feud-ender.
So, let me first say that Trish was of course hugely over with the Toronto crowd. That goes without saying. And she’s always got great charisma and screen presence inside a WWE arena. However, this just seemed…off. She didn’t work so well up there without someone to work off of. Frankly, she talked to the crowd a little too much and tried to get them to pop by asking them questions. I don’t want to see someone who tries to interact with the crowd, I want to see someone who can pop a crowd and feel like they’re talking to me at home, too. Trish did all right, but she didn’t achieve that level and I think this would have been better if she’d been paired with someone.
KOFI KINGSTON & PRIMO vs. JACK SWAGGER & MIZ: The whole point of this match, of course, was to further the feud between Kofi and Miz. The faces came out first to a decent pop—or at least, Kofi did—and Miz got a pretty good reaction. Swagger got a surprisingly weak reaction, all things considering. Now, I’ll say this was a good match. It absolutely was…for all of the three minutes it got. Everyone tried hard, and even Swagger, who I’ve been wondering if he will ever live up to his potential, brought his working boots. The booking of the match was good and let Swagger get a pinfall on the United States Champion while protecting him. The end result was Miz walking away with the US Title, which is an angle we’ve seen many times before but I think it’s been long enough that it’s fresh. It also totally fits Miz’s character, and I’m glad to see the US Title getting a real feud. But really guys, three minutes? What the hell? These guys got a longer match on Superstars last week and showed they could go pretty well. I don’t understand why they get even less time the second week around; the goal should be to build the guys, not start them off with more time and cut it back. That really bugged me and while it was as good as it could have been at three minutes, that’s not saying much.
BETH PHEONIX & CHRIS JERICHO (AND BIG SHOW) vs. TRISH STRATUS & MVP (AND MARK HENRY): Trish came out first for this match and got a big pop; her partner was, as it turned out, Montel Vontavious Porter. That’s good, because the guy can still use someone to help his pop a bit. He’s retaining more of it than he has been over the last several weeks, but he still has a way to go, too. And for the record, his sleeveless bodysuit is atrocious. What the hell was he thinking? Jericho then came down along with Beth Phoenix, and we got about a minute and a half of decent starting of a match before the big man interference came in as well as the save, and this turned into a six-person tag. There were some things I really liked here. Jericho and MVP continue to do good work against each other, and I loved things like Beth not at all being scared of facing off against MVP. Unfortunately, what I wanted to see was kept to a minimum as Beth and Trish didn’t get to face off much. They were the finish and Trish looked sharp still, but I ended up disappointed as I was hoping for more.
RANDY ORTON vs. BATISTA: So, Batista’s “farewell match” on Raw was his first match back and his chance for vengeance against the man who “put him out.” I was of two minds on this; on one side, you need to give your returning guy a big win, but on the other Orton is coming off a major loss. Clearly, they decided that Orton could take another loss without killing him completely, and I’m vaguely okay with that. What I wasn’t okay with was the fact that this match was made far shorter that it should have been. Batista’s big comeback win was all of five minutes? That was our main event? Big Dave also had a little bit of ring rust; he wasn’t bad, but he was a bit slow(er than usual) and it bothered me. I suppose the point wasn’t to get a five-star match here, it was to let Batista look good and take the next step in Cena vs. Orton, and it did those all right. But it still left me lacking, and capped off a similarly lacking Raw. Hopefully Dave can pick it up a little on SmackDown, or he’s going to get left in the dust as far as in-ring work goes.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!: Raw began with Lillian Garcia introducing Batista in his return to Raw. The animal came down to the ring with a brace around one arm and to an ever-strong crowd reaction. Vintage Cole and Lawler pushed his “career altering decision” and recapped what Orton did to the Manimal to put him out. He teased retirement with a heartfelt goodbye to the fans, and the crowd was really buying it. Then out came Orton to the boos of the crowd with a wacky new T-Shirt on. He came down into the ring as Cole and Lawler talked about him like he was the antichrist. The crowd was chanting “I Quit” before Orton got on the mic and talked about how unhappy he was at losing the title at Breaking Point. But Batista’s retirement made him happy. There was just one problem…Big Dave wasn’t retiring. I hate to say it, but as soon as we saw Big Dave rubbing the bridge of his nose, I had a terrible feeling. And it turns out that feeling was correct, since the Manimal wasn’t retiring. His cast was just to lure Orton down, and he jumped Orton and tossed him from the ring. He then announced that he was going to SmackDown. Hey, CM Punk…what do you think about that?
Can’t say I blame ya. Now, I’ll give Big Dave and Randy credit, they were decent here. Orton was doing the snail-crawl speech pattern for a bit but he didn’t drag too much, and Dave didn’t do his usual stumbling act. But really? They need to big Batista on SmackDown, really? Yes, I’m being a whiny little SmackDown lover and I don’t want to see someone like Batista run roughshod over the talent that is really on a roll and hitting main event status. I’m not even hesitant to admit that. Regardless, I can see where there’s some fresher match-ups on the Blue Brand for Big Dave, but I also think that I’m justified in being worried about how he’s going to mesh with the roster. I’m hopeful at this point, but I’m not optimistic. This brand move may not be the segment’s fault, but it does drive the segment down into the wRong. Guilt by association, folks.
GAIL KIM vs. ALICIA FOX: In a match to determine a number one contender to the Butterfly Title, I found myself worried. And not just because Lillian called it a Triple Threat match…whoopsie, Lil. Gail Kim and Alicia have not put on good matches against each other, and this was also not a good match. And this time, I’m sure the Gail haters will finally be satisfied…this one was all her. I’ll give her crap when she earns it, and Alicia was looking good but she was working with a Gail Kim who was just off. We had some redemption with Mickie James at the booth—Mickie’s not a beacon of mic skills but she did well and I loved the reference to the old Trish stalker Mickie. Continuity for the win! Unfortunately, a couple good Butterfly Champion quotes don’t save a match, and neither could Alicia here. Gail just sucked the life out of this one and this is one of those times I can say the match was short in a good way. I’m glad they’re elevating someone else against Mickie, and this has some potential. We’ll see how it goes.
EVAN BOURNE & HORNSWAGGLE vs. CHAVO & CARLITO: Yes, it’s finally over. We think. That’s how it seemed to go. But you know what? While that’s something I’m pleased about, I still didn’t like this. They could have ended it without another opportunity to humiliate Chavo. Yes, Bourne and Carlito were in this, but we all know this was about Chavito and the Hornster. As a side note, Rose appears to be Carlito’s valet permanently, and again I said good for that. Meanwhile we had this match, which was a comedy match for the most part that didn’t feature Bourne, Carlito or Chavo’s best work. Frankly, in these situations the in-ring work is secondary, because we’re just waiting to see how Horny makes Chavo look like a goof. This week it was via Carlito apple, and ended with Chavo saying he gives up. Good. Maybe you can move up in the world now. For example, you could job to Maria for the next twelve weeks.
…oh dear God, what did I just say? Have I doomed us all?
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don’t care.
| The 411
Pure middle of the road Raw this week. I was hoping for a lot considering it was just off Breaking Point and had Trish as a guest host, but almost everything was just “eh.” They had one good match and a few good segments, but they had the Horny/Chavo shit and the Diva match to counter that out. Then you had all the puRgatoRy stuff. I really wanted to like this show, but if I’m being perfectly truthful there was a distinct lack of Stratusfaction for me. SHOW RATING: 5.5 |
It’s been a hectic couple of days for me so I wasn’t able to get to comments. They’ll be back for SmackDown though!
By: Michael Bauer
ECW on SyFy 09.15.09
– William Regal defeated The Hurricane via pin at 2:30 [*]
– Yoshi Tatsu defeated Zack Ryder via pin at 6:35 [**1/2]
– Zack Ryder wins a 10 man Battle Royal to become #1 contender to the ECW Title at 16:15 [***1/4]
BURCHILL STRIKES BACK ON THE HURRICANE: I’ll discuss the Regal vs. Hurricane match later, but what happened after the match was quite perfect. While Burchill does hold a win over The Hurricane on Superstar, he has yet to get any sort of advantage on ECW itself, until this week. Hurricane still is 2-0 against Burchill on Tuesday Nights and this looked to be pretty one sided. But Burchill got to make his statement this week, ensuring that he has a chance to get an actual win over the masked hero. Will it happen? Probably not, but he at least gave us some hope with this attack and a pretty good promo backstage after the attack.
THE #1 CONTENDER BATTLE ROYAL: There are a number of things I liked here, so rather than one huge story, let me break it down.
– The Shelton/Sheamus feud moves on: This was towards the beginning of the end, when we went from 7 people to 4 really fast. Shelton had just eliminated Sheamus and was about to get dumped by Big Zeke. Shelton skins the cat and perfectly gets the head scissors to eliminate the big man. Then here comes Sheamus to pull Shelton off the rig apron and takes him out of the match. Shelton of course is pissed and starts to brawl with Sheamus, much like last week. This was great continuity and definitely helps to show this will be more than just one incident.
– The Pace and The Action: It’s hard to exactly define this, but just the whole way the match ran, from the eliminations and their timing to the whole way the match went just seemed to work. I’ve seen comments that everyone brought their working boots to this match and I totally agree with that. It’s very rare in a match like this to see everyone on their game, but it happened here.
– And the winner is… Zach Ryder?: Yeah, believe it. Think about the ten people in this match. Outside of Tommy Dreamer, no face should go up against Christian. That eliminates Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu, and Tyler Reks. I don’t count Shelton as a face here, but if you are starting this fresh feud, you can’t kill it with a title hunt. So him and Sheamus are out of the equation, just like Paul Burchill is out so he can continue going after Helms. That leaves only Tommy Dreamer, Zack Ryder, Big Zeke, and Kozlov. Christian vs. Dreamer has been done to death and I don’t exactly know how you could have either of Regal’s Roundtable face Christian, with Regal being second string. So, yeah, Zack Ryder was the only logical winner for this match. But that is not a bad thing. Ryder has shown in the past that he can put on great matches, especially with Christian. This could be a nice change of pace for a while and might be the break Ryder needs to move up in the rankings.
YOSHI TATSU VS. ZACK RYDER: So before he becoming #1 contender, Ryder lost to Yoshi Tatsu in a pretty good match between the two. Plenty of near falls and some great counter wrestling made it fun to watch. Yes, the match was good and I enjoyed it thoroughly. So why is this in Purgatory? Mostly because I don’t understand the point of this. You have Ryder lose here just to win the battle royal and the #1 contendership? Makes no sense to me at all unless this simply a reward for Ryder being nothing more than Shelton’s bitch for most of the past month and a half. And as much as I love the matchup between him and Christian, I just can’t help but wonder what Christian beating Ryder really does for Christian. If he loses, then he falls a lot more than he could ever gain from this feud.
WILLIAM REGAL GOES TO THE BACK OF THE PACK: So while I liked Zack Ryder being made the #1 contender, I wasn’t totally thrilled with how Regal was sent back down the ladder. I mean, for someone to totally butter up the ECW General Manager and get nothing… it made Regal look like the kiss ass he always has been, a cry-baby, and a failure all in one minute. I can understand wanting to know how Tiffany sent Big Zeke and Kozlov to the back, but saying that it forced him to change his strategy and that it was the reason he lost was plain weak. Good wrestlers can adapt and Regal pretty much said he couldn’t, meaning he should have never been in the spot he was in to begin with. Furthermore, it makes Christian look weak for having such a rough go with Regal for the past month and change. But he gets a match with The Hurricane, which only saw less than three minutes of action and saw Regal can get his butt handed to him outside of one lucky knee trembler for the win. Simply put, I just didn’t like what happened here with Regal and now you have three people, not just one, that could be searching for direction.
NONE
| The 411
Well, this episode was definitely interesting. William Regal gets pulled away from the title, which essentially killed the momentum of three people, and Zack Ryder comes out nowhere to take his place. And while it’s had to buy him as #1 contender, I am actually liking the potential matchup. As for the show, it was pretty good overall and definitely gave ECW direction for the next little while. SHOW RATING: 8.0 |
~TNA NO SURRENDER 2008~
By: Larry Csonka
The Matches:
The Prince Justice Brotherhood defeated the Rock and Rave Infection: I will freely admit that I wasn’t a fan of the match heading into the PPV. I felt that there were too many matches with nine, and that this match didn’t need to be on the PPV. While I still feel that they could have left the match off of the show, I will admit that it wasn’t bad and was actually fun. The live crowd loved it, judging by their reactions, which is a great thing since it was the opener, and it is very important that the opener get the crowd involved and set a tempo for the show. They got some decent time, 8-minutes, and the match had solid wrestling, good comedy and in the end it did what it was supposed to do and was way better than I thought it would be. While I wish for the return of the Fallen Angel like many others, Curry Man is beyond awesome and you just know that Daniels was having a blast out there. This was good, harmless fun and I enjoyed it.
Awesome Kong defeated ODB: I will freely admit that I have been vocal about not liking the useless Bimbo Brawls that the Knockouts division has been doing, mainly because they haven’t made sense. Read above. That being said, this was built up to and the gimmick made sense for these ladies. The video package was particularly good and added to the match I felt. Overall I enjoyed the match as they played the gimmick well and made it feel very intense and real. ODB hung with Kong and looked good, but the monster took the win, which could also mean that she has renewed her contract. I also give them MUCH credit for fighting through the non-broken table spot. That was nasty as it didn’t break, and Kong was favoring her back for the rest of the match and ODB was holding her ribs a lot. They worked through the pain, and while they both looked like they were hurting badly from it, they pressed on and we got a good match from it. Now that this is resolved, I hope that they go back to what made the division good and that is plain wrestling that is good. Kong and Wilde for the title seems likely for the Bound for Glory PPV, where I would expect Kong to regain the title.
Sheik Abdul Bashir defeated Consequences Creed and Petey Williams: While the build to the match was odd at times, and was also a bit cold going in, especially the last week, I had high hopes for these guys. Creed and Williams had developed a strong chemistry, and Bashir has been working hard since coming to TNA. The crowd was indifferent to Bashir, they HATED Creed and of course young Petey was massively over in his home country. This made for a great atmosphere, the crowd was hot all through out the match, all three guys were clicking and working well together and we ended up with a good X-Division title match. The finish worked very well I thought, as they had a good sequence that saw Petey get the destroyer, but Bashir tossed him to the floor and got the sneaky pin and the title. As I said, they all worked hard, everything clicked well and the end worked in making Bashir out to be an opportunist, while protecting Williams in the loss. Overall good stuff here, now lets just drop the fucking plane noise from Bashir’s music, it’s offensive and bush league. I suspect that Creed vs. Bashir will be the long-term program, so that “A OK USA” can overcome the odds and get the big victory.
Ladder of Love Match: I have made it no secret that I have not been a fan of the feud between these guys. Last year Lethal was beating Kurt Angle and looking to be the hottest young star in the company, and then that all changed and they pulled back the reigns, and he got into this feud, and well, we know where we are right now. But a ladder match between these two guys was interesting enough to me to make me forget that shit so that I could try to enjoy this match. Now in my opinion, the fear of the ladder match these days are that the match will be the same spots we have been seeing for years, or that they will try to innovate the match so much that they almost kill themselves, like ROH’s Ladder War, which while great was something I don’t want to rush to see again. They did a good job of walking that line, with shit we’ve seen, and some new stuff that was different, but not too crazy that I feared for their lives. They kept good intensity and Lethal was great because you believed that he hated Dutt, and Dutt was a perfect arrogant prick. As I think everyone predicted, Val ended up turning on Jay and low blowing him, allowing Dutt to get the ring and the victory. They then did their best Edge and Vickie impersonation as they made out to the disgust of the Canadian crowd. In the end we got a really good ladder match with some cool and new spots from these guys. It’s a shame really because these guys are talented and delivered a VERY good match, unfortunately the ending to the match was very predictable, and means that this will likely continue. Match wise that can be good, but the angle continues to suck. I give Lethal and Dutt a lot of credit, they are doing everything they can to take this Chicken Shit angle into Chicken Cordon Bleu. Good work boys.
Samoa Joe defeated Christian Cage and Kurt Angle: Sting had kicked off the show, and the point to that was to let us now that he would be facing the winner of the main event for the TNA Title at Bound for Glory. That means three years in a row that he will headline the event, and the possibility that he walks out with the title again. This also played into the beginning of the match here, as Sting and Joe had a brawl, but AJ got Joe to stop and reminded him that he had a title match. With Booker T out of the picture, I had high hopes for the match. Overall it was a good match, but It never quite got to that level that they have been before. But it was a fun match that saw each man play their role well and while the crowd started a bit dead, they eventually got into it, which was good. We got out TNA main event style ending with the ref bump and it appeared as if Angle would take the victory, but Jarrett returned and took out Angle with the guitar. It plays well for the angle, but I don’t think Jarrett got the reaction that they wanted. I would call this a good but unspectacular main event, considering these three have had some really great matches with each other. I know that they are building for the big angle, but I have to say that I don’t like the trend of Joe winning these PPV main events with so much help, even if it is to counter other people. This sets up for Joe vs. Sting at Bound for Glory, as per the announcement from Sting to kick off the PPV and likely Angle vs. Jarrett as well, if not a tag with them and others involved, possible AJ and Trigg.
Beer Money defeated LAX: It came into the PPV a bit cold, but the Beer Money vs. LAX feud has been pretty solid, and both teams have been delivering. As usual both teams worked hard, and overall the match was a good one. But it was merely “good.” They worked hard, they god a decent amount of time and it was a fine match, but it just felt like something we could have seen on TV on any given week. The main problem is that while the match was solid and they tried, no one seemed to care. The crowd was just not into the match no matter what they did. There were a few pops here and there for some stuff, but no one cared. When they had the heat and we got the hot tag, it was the definition of the crowd going mild. Good work, good formula, and the right ending, but no connection to the crowd.
Taylor Wilde defeated Angelina Love: Lame promo work aside, the Knockouts title match began with Taylor Wilde announcing her backup plan, Rhino. Some have mocked Rhino for the downgrade, but fuck, he got a PPV check for doing about jack shit, so it isn’t all-bad. Actually it led to the greatest PPV performance of Kip James’ career, as he tried to get involved and was soundly gored out of his CROCS. Sup Campbell? The match has good build heading into it, even if I didn’t like all of the build, and this wasn’t a bad match overall. But I will also say that it is not what we have been used to from the TNA ladies on PPV. Especially since Kong and ODB was pretty good. Taylor has shown that she is better than this, but she just didn’t click with Love, who also didn’t click all that well with Kim so there is a trend there. I am guessing that they head to Bound for Glory with the re-match of Kong vs. Wilde, and then something with Kip, Rhino, the Beautiful People and maybe ODB and Roxxi. EDIT: Rhino and Taylor Wilde vs. Kip James and Velvet Sky has been made for Impact.
Abyss and Matt Morgan defeated Team 3D: Coming off of some good TV build, we had Matt Morgan and Abyss facing off with Team 3D. They worked a solid formula tag, getting the heat on Abyss and as off as it sounds it worked fine. The crowd unfortunately did NOT care about the match and turned on it because they wanted the tables. When Abyss got the not so hot tag, they went mild and booed harshly. That’s never good. Devine gets involved as most expected and it does no good because Abyss and Morgan overcame the odds and took the win. So we have the end where the monsters take the win, and all is right with the world. Ray and Devon attack, lay out Morgan with a chair, toss the chair to Abyss and bail. Morgan, being large and stupid, assumes Abyss did it, they argue and we have…TAG TEAM PARTNERS THAT DO NOT GET ALONG! Seriously, did we have to go that route? It was fine overall, but not memorable in any way and it went too long for a match that didn’t deliver.
MMA BOUT: Now I will freely say that I had no problem with TNA ding MMA themed shit on their shows and PPV, because it has worked for them before. Hell I said it up there. Where? You know where. Anyway while I have no issues with them doing it, the MMA Bout between AJ Styles and Frank Trigg at No Surrender was, well, not well received. All right, that maybe an understatement. They fucking hated it. Maybe it goes to the fact that “RASSLIN FANS” don’t want MMA in their “RASSLIN,” maybe it is the fact that they don’t understand it or maybe they just hate change, whatever the reason, this bombed live. Maybe it should have been explained better, maybe TNA should have got some footage of Trigg killing people. I am not sure. Perhaps they should have tried to make this look more real by having AJ wear the MMA gear as well, I am not sure what the answer was. But the live crowd was not down with this MMA match. I liked what they were trying to do here, but can understand why some didn’t. What sucked is that I lost the second round of this due to cable issues, but I did see some nice chic on chick porn for 10-seconds, so it wasn’t all bad. AJ and Trigg tried, but it looks as they failed. As mentioned after the main event, I could see Angle and Trigg facing AJ and Jarrett at Bound for Glory.
None
Overall I will go with a low end 7.0 out of 10 for the event and a VERY slight recommendation to check out. The main event and X-Division title match are both good, the ODB vs. Kong match is good and the ladder match is great, minus the predictable ending. But those are all worth your time. Having NINE matches was too much, as some matches needed some more time, the show felt a bit rushed and the crowd was noticeable tired by the time the main event got here. The rest is fine or just blah and stuff you can skip. Find a friend with a copy, or wait for the cheaper DVD when it comes out, but I would not pay the full PPV price for the event.
–ENTER THE DRAGON {9.9}
–ROH RISING ABOVE {8.0}
–WWE NO WAY OUT {8.0}
–TNA SLAMMIVERSARY {8.0}
–TNA SACRIFICE {7.5}
–WWE BACKLASH {7.5}
–TAKE NO PRISONERS {7.4}
–WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {7.3}
–TNA GENESIS {7.2}
–TNA LOCKDOWN {7.2}
–ROH CAGED COLLISION {7.1}
–WWE WRESTLEMANIA {7.0}
–WWE SUMMERSLAM {7.0}
–WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS {6.9}
–WWE THE BASH {6.9}
–WWE EXTREME RULES {6.8}
–WWE JUDGMENT DAY {6.5}
–WWE BREAKING POINT {6.25}
–TNA HARD JUSTICE {5.9}
–TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {5.5}
–TNA DESTINATION X {3.5}
–TNA VICTORY ROAD {2.0}
–[WWE WRESTLEMANIA] – HBK vs. The Undertaker (*****)
–[ENTER THE DRAGON] – The Young Bucks vs. Susumu Yokosuka & Cima (****½)
–[ROH RISING ABOVE] – ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Bryan Danielson (****½)
–[WWE NO WAY OUT] – THE SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****½)
–[WWE BACKLASH] – LAST MAN STANDING: Edge vs. John Cena (****½)
–[WWE THE BASH] – MASK vs. TITLE: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (****½)
–[WWE SUMMERSLAM] – TLC WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk (****½)
–[ENTER THE DRAGON] – Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Fire Ant and Soldier Ant vs. Amasis, Icarus, Hallowicked and Gran Akuma (****¼)
–[ENTER THE DRAGON] – Yamato vs. BxB Hulk (****¼)
–[TAKE NO PRISONERS] – Tyler Black & KENTA vs. Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima (****¼)
–[ROH RISING ABOVE] – I QUIT MATCH: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries (****¼)
–[TNA GENESIS] – Kurt Angle defeated Jeff Jarrett (****¼)
–[TNA GENESIS] – X-Division Title Match: Alex Shelley defeated Chris Sabin (****¼)
–[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – X-Division King of the Mountain Match: Suicide vs. Lethal vs. Creed vs. Sabin vs. Shelley (****¼)
–[WWE NO WAY OUT] – THE RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****¼)
–[ENTER THE DRAGON] – Naruki Doi vs. Shingo Takagi (****)
–[WWE BREAKING POINT] – WWE TITLE I QUI T MATCH: Randy Orton vs. John Cena (****)
–[WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS] – WORLD TITLE MATCH: CM Punk © vs. Jeff Hardy (****)
–[WWE EXTREME RULES] – IC TITLE MATCH: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (****)
–[WWE EXTREME RULES] – WORLD TITLE LADDER MATCH: Edge vs. Jeff Hardy (****)
–[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – TNA World Title King of the Mountain Match: Foley vs. Angle vs. AJ vs. Joe vs. Jarrett (****)
[ENTER THE DRAGON] Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino (***¾)
–[ROH CAGED COLLISION] #1 CONTENDERS MATCH – Tyler Black vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries (***¾)
–[ROH CAGED COLLISION] ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH – Nigel McGuinness vs. El Generico (***¾)
–[TNA SACRIFICE] – I QUIT LEGENDS TITLE MATCH – Booker T vs. AJ Styles © (***¾)
–[TNA SACRIFICE] – Eric Young and Lethal Consequences vs. The Machineguns and Sheik Abdul Bashir (***¾)
–[TNA LOCKDOWN] – PHILLY STREET FIGHT: IWGP vs. TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH – Team 3D vs. Beer Money (***¾)
–[TNA DESTINATION X] – X-Division Title Ultimate X Match: Suicide defeated Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal (***¾)
–[TNA HARD JUSTICE] – X-Division Title #1 Contender’s TERROR DOME Match: Christopher Daniels defeated Suicide, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed, Amazing Red, D’Angelo Dinero and Jay Lethal (***¾)
–[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH (***¾)
–[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – WWE TITLE MATCH: Edge defeated Jeff Hardy (***¾)
–[WWE WRESTLEMANIA] – MONEY IN THE BANK (***¾)
–[WWE JUDGMENT DAY] – Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (***¾)
–[WWE SUMMERSLAM] – DX vs. Legacy (***¾)
–[WWE BREAKING POINT] – ECW TITLE MATCH: Christian vs. William Regal (***¾)
Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.
–[TNA GENESIS] Sabin, Shelley, Angle and Jarrett – Rocking The House
–[ROH RISING ABOVE] – Danielson and McGuinness – Defining the ROH World Title
–[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – RVD – The Joke Pays Off
–[WWE NO WAY OUT] – EDGE – The Ultimate Opportunist
–[WWE WRESTLEMANIA] – HBK and The Undertaker – Stealing the Show
–[ROH CAGED COLLISION] – Nigel McGuinness – Better Than You Sugar Nuts
–[TNA LOCKDOWN] – Christopher Daniels – Pulling Double Duty
–[WWE BACKLASH] – Edge and John Cena – Stealing the Show
–[TNA SACRIFICE] – The TNA Roster – Making the Best Out of Shitty Booking
–[WWE EXTREME RULES] – Rey, Jericho, Edge and Hardy – They Are Awesome
–[TAKE NO PRISONERS] – Tyler Black, KENTA, Austin Aries and Katsuhiko Nakajima – Main Event Excellence
–[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – Daffney and Taylor Wilde – Two Hardcore Bitches
–[WWE THE BASH] – Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho – Making the Show Worth It
–[WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS] – CM Punk – Solidifying His Spot
–[TNA HARD JUSTICE] – The Terror Dome Guys – Continuing to deliver despite the booking of the division
–[WWE SUMMERSLAM] – CM Punk and Jeff Hardy – THIS IS AWESOME!
–[ENTER THE DRAGON] – The Entire PPV Roster – Redefining PPV
–[WWE BREAKING POINT] – Randy Orton vs. John Cena – I QUIT!
I will update as often as needed.
–Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 07.25.09) {****½ }
–John Morrison vs. Rey Mysterio – (Smackdown: 09.04.09) {****¼}
–Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio – (Smackdown: 07.10.09) {****¼}
–ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jerry Lynn vs. Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson – (ROH on HDNet: 06.06.09) {****¼}
–TABLES ARE LEGAL TAG TITLE MATCH: Kevin Steen and El Generico © vs. The American Wolves – (ROH on HDNet: 05.30.09) {****¼}
–STEEL CAGEMATCH: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk – (Smackdown: 08.28.09) {****}
–Jeff Hardy vs. John Morrison – (Smackdown: 07.31.09) {****}
–Edge vs. Rey Mysterio – (Smackdown: 06.05.09) {****}
–Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 04.25.09) {****}
–Evan Bourne vs. John Morrison – (ECW: 04.14.09) {****}
–Christian vs. Jack Swagger – (ECW: 02.24.09) {****}
–Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena – (Raw: 01.12.09) {****}
–Jerry Lynn vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 09.07.09) {***¾}
–Christian vs. Zack Ryder – (ECW: 07.28.09) {***¾}
– Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho – (Smackdown: 07.24.09) {***¾}
–Edge vs. John Morrison – (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***¾}
–Edge vs. Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk – (Raw: 06.08.09) {***¾}
–Edge vs. Jeff Hardy – (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***¾}
–CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho – (Superstars: 05.21.09) {***¾}
–Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 05.09.09) {***¾}
–Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries – (ROH on HDNet: 04.04.09) {***¾}
–Beer Money vs. Team Canada – (Impact: 02.19.09) {***¾}
–Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles – (Impact: 01.22.09) {***¾}
And I’m out of here!
~399~
