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Wrestling’s 4R’s Friday Edition – 10.31.08: Raw and ECW on Sci-Fi Reviewed!
How the 4R’s of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO times a week. On Tuesdays I will discuss TNA Impact and any PPV’s, while my partner in crime Jeremy Thomas discusses WWE Smackdown. The column will run again on Friday’s, covering WWE Raw, with Jeremy Thomas as well as ECW on Sci-Fi by myself. If there is a PPV that weekend, I will also run the RETRO R’s of the show from the year before as well as address some comments when time permits. I will group my 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 need 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, Diva searches and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come, unless you are TNA. They have a special R all of their own, the 6th R; the Russo-FN-Riffic~! 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, my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
By: Jeremy Thomas
Raw 10.27.08
THE HEELS GET PISSED, AND ADAMLE FIGHTS BACK!: Raw started off, after a recap of the Cyber Sunday main event, with OUR Savior and FORMER World Champion, Chris Jericho, making his way down to the ring. Chris was so pissed off he didn’t even bother with his music, he just marched down to the ring in his sharp suit and started laying into the events of the previous night. He called it “the greatest screw job in WWE history,” accused Mike Adamle of wanting Batista to be the champion, and ran down all the ways Austin screwed him and cost him the title. Now, as much as I don’t like Batista having the belt over Jericho, I have to admit this works into Chris’s character perfectly. He keeps portraying himself as the victim—against HBK, against Adamle, against Batista, against Stone Cold—and one of the strengths of Jericho’s character is that as much of a weaselly little bastard as he is, he’s usually right, or at least has every reason to believe he’s right. This is the kind of thing that Chris can roll with and not lose an inch of credibility or heat with the fans. It’s a credit to how good of a heel champion he was that the fans at Raw were going wild over the fact that he just lost the belt the night before. So while I think the Manimal shouldn’t have the belt right now, I know that this doesn’t hurt Jericho any and, as he proved in this segment, he can roll with it and be just as good without the gold.
As soon as Angry Chris announced he was invoking his rematch clause against Big Dave for next week, Mike Adamle made his way down to the ring. Mike did a pretty good job of memorizing his lines for this one, because he didn’t stumble or falter as he announced the title match would be, in the interests of non-interference, a steel cage match. This turned Angry Chris into Furious Chris, and he shoved past Adamle on his way out. Good stuff all around here, as Jericho didn’t spell out his reaction and let his actions do the talking, while Adamle seems to be swinging back toward the face side of his character. Adamle plays this role remarkably well, swinging back and forth on the tweener spectrum pretty nicely, and it always keeps one wondering which way he’s going whenever he comes out. This makes for good television…keep it up, Mike!
We weren’t done yet, of course. As Jericho left, out came Randy Orton, who didn’t look much happier then Chris, although at least he was calm enough to let his music play. For those keeping score, it’s completely grown on me now and I’m okay with it. Orton wanted to know if Adamle was satisfied with himself for sending Orton out as an emergency referee, which got him Stunned. Orton had a message for Shane and Stephanie McMahon; they had to come to Raw next week and fire Mike Adamle, or Orton was going to walk. This is an interesting development, and Orton played it very nicely. What happens now? Adamle’s doing better than anyone would have predicted as GM; to drop him now would be ridiculous, and it really doesn’t seem like that’s in the cards. By the same token, you can’t imagine that they would have Orton make a threat like this and back off it; saw what you want about young Randall, but he’s not exactly the kind of guy who backs off his threats lately, and to do so would probably hurt him. Clearly, this seems to be kick starting to a feud for Orton, but against whom? I’m intrigued enough to keep watching—well, not that I wouldn’t watch anyway, because how could I rant and rave here without doing that? Anyway, I also have to give extra credit to Adamle for his reactions as Orton verbally ran him into the ground. Adamle’s been doing well in his GM spot as I said, but I’ve never exactly considered him a particularly good actor. His mounting anger while Orton tore him down as a spineless failure and then having the balls to slap Orton after the insults went to his family was quality stuff, and it’s even more impressive considering how much of a joke Mike was not so long ago when he was announcing for “the ECW.” This was quality stuff all around that built some serious potential coming off the Pay-Per-View, announced the main event match for the night, put everyone involved over in a big way and built some big things for next week’s VERY SUPER-DUPER SPECIAL THREE-HOUR 800TH RAW! Sounds like a winner of a segment to me.
KOFI KINGSTON & CM PUNK vs. TED DIBIASE & CODY RHODES: This was, of course, the culmination of the mini-feud that they’ve kept Punk and Kofi busy with while the Intercontinental Title’s been sunken into a pit of non-credibility, the World Title’s been around Jericho’s waist, and Crazy Randy’s been recuperating. The transition from the opening segment to this was very nicely done, smoothly blending from Orton’s appearance to the recap of Orton and Priceless taking Punk and Kofi out, then into the entrances. It’s not often I’ll give Michael “Vintage” Cole credit for helping make Raw flow smoother, but this is one of those times as he and Lawler made the transition flow nicely. As Priceless made their way to the ring, I noticed that they didn’t even bother to given Manu an “accompanied by,” nor did he get his name in the entrance graphic. This goes exactly along with what I was saying in my response to the comments on Tuesday that the ‘E is not building Manu up as something credible; he barely even got a side comment from Cole about being Cody and Ted’s “insurance policy.” People will scoff, but these little touches do have an effect. Back to the plus side, the match was a fast-paced, exciting way to open up the show. Punk and Kofi work exceedingly well together and had some great moves early on. Their timing is impeccable, more so then you would expect of two people who haven’t been teaming that long. For Rhodes and DiBiase’s parts, they’re almost always solid in the ring and tonight was no exception. They know what kind of role the hell plays in the match, and any time that Cody and Ted took control they slowed it down, a move sure to get the crowd pissed at them. It also lets the crowd pop during the hot face tags, such as when Kofi tagged in with the springboard forearm. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, these two are great natural heels and, given proper attention, are important long-term investments for the ‘E.
In the end, Kofi and Punk got the win as CM hit the Go2Sleep on DiBiase to pin him and become the World Tag Team Champions. Some will question the wisdom of putting tag straps on Punk, a guy who seems destined for a singles feud with Orton, and accuse the ‘E of burying Punk in the midcard so Orton can feud with someone else. Others will say Punk doesn’t deserve the title, and call everyone who disagrees RoH-bots. I actually think this is a great idea, as Punk and Kingston are amazingly good as a team and quite over on their own; just listen to the crowd reaction throughout the match to see that. This looks to be a lead-in to the eventual Orton/Punk feud, and a slow burn is the way to go. If they rush into it, Orton will far more likely steamroll over Punk and destroy his credibility. They can use Kofi & Punk vs. Priceless for a Survivor Series-style match next month by throwing in Orton (if ready) on the heel’s side and a couple of faces on Kofi & Punk’s side; Cena’s one that comes to mind if he’s not hopping right into the title scene. This will result in a high-energy match that the fans will buy into, and they can build Punk vs. Orton through the following months. It in no way hurts Priceless’ credibility to lose to these two either, as Punk and Kofi were singles champs not too long ago and Priceless looked pretty strong throughout the feud; they’ll surely get them back in the fairly near future. It was a great match that presented a rare well-done title change and didn’t tear anyone down, and I’m good with that.
EVAN BOURNE vs. REY MYSTERIO: This was a match between two apparent friends coming off their individual highs of Cyber Sunday; Bourne had dominated the vote and made a strong showing against Matt Hardy, while Rey Rey won AGAIN against Kane. You know, ‘E, I just gotta say, this is not the way to keep a feud going. Kane attack, Kane attack, Kane attack, Rey PPV win, rinse lather repeat isn’t doing anyone any favors. While he came to the ring, they played an interview from earlier with T-Grish and Rey where he talked about how a match with Kane changes you—I guess Rey Rey’s changed several times then, huh? We then got a rare production mishap from the ‘E where the split screen went away, even as the interview continued with Bourne coming in on in. In other, completely unrelated news, the WWE wishes one of their production crew the best in their future endeavors. Seriously though, it was a rather bush-league mistake and one you have to hope doesn’t happen again. Also along that lines—letting Evan Bourne speak before he gets better at it. It’s still painful. Bourne then quickly made his way to the ring and we got right into a good, fast-paced start. Rey and Evan had some good timing with each other and had some great stuff early on that the crowd was really into before the commercial break; there were a few things in particular that stood out to me. The first was Jerry Lawler, who did an admirable job of putting Rey over after Cole idiotically tried to make the point that Rey was “always the underdog.” Always, Vintage? Gee, way to put over your talent there, Sparks. Lawler covered beautifully and gave Rey more full-on praise then I think he’s had in a long time, and you gotta credit the King for that. The other thing that was wonderful to see was how they did a great job early on of building Evan and not having Rey dominate the match. A strong showing in a match against Mr. 619 will do wonders for the career of a guy like Bourne and it certainly did here, particularly when coupled with his strong showing against Matt Hardy at Cyber Sunday. They’re putting a lot of effort into booking Bourne well, and it’s paying off nicely. Even when the match slowed, the crowd was into it, and these slower spots worked quite well to make a well-paced match that was more than just a spotfest. Now unfortunately, Bourne injured himself in this match, but it appears as if Bourne will be able to work through it. I don’t know if I agree with that decision; a little rest would give Evan a chance to be 100% and not trying to work his style on a weakened ankle, and wouldn’t hurt his momentum much. I’d like to see the ‘E force him to take the time off, but we know that won’t happen. There appeared to be a couple botched spots that hurt the match—the missed springboard by Rey being the big one—and they hurt the match rating a little, but all in all it was a good match, and the right person went over in Rey Rey, especially since Bourne got a hell of a strong showing out of it. Now, while I’m a little annoyed that they appear to be continuing the Kane program with Rey—likely because they have nothing better to do with them—it’s nice to see Evan entering a feud with a main-eventer on Raw. Henry should be able to put Evan over nicely, even if Mizark potentially comes out ahead in the end. So while I have a few complaints and concerns, they’re certainly outweighed by the positives
MIZ AND MORRISON ARE AWESOME: Miz and Morrison came out, looking especially suave tonight, to let us know that they understood how some of us might have felt they crossed the line by verbally attacking D-X. They even understood how being so creative, talented and gifted can be intimidating, and how that’s our problem. They promoted the ever-loving crap out of next week’s three-hour Raw and their match with D-X. MnM 2.0 were nothing short of awesome here. The only catch is that this seems to be destined for futility, as I don’t know that there’s any hope that they can beat D-X. Don’t get me wrong, I think that would be an amazing thing if they did, and it would do wonders for their credibility. Not to mention that Hunter and Shawn have shown they’re willing to put over talent they think deserves it. The question is whether they think Morrison and Miz deserve it. I hope so, because if not it’ll be a squash and burial, and the team with the greatest entrance in professional wrestling today will take a hit to their credibility. Shawn, H-Man, do the right thing. Think of the children!.
THE MANIMAL SPEAKS: When Raw came back from a commercial break, Vintage Cole was in the ring to announce the arrival of the new World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, who made his way to the ring. One of the comments I found funniest on this week’s Raw recap was the one that stated that the crowd was dead for Big Dave; methinks someone needs to turn their TV volume up, ‘cause the Tucson crowd popped pretty heavily for him. It wasn’t a Jericho level of overness, but they were digging the guy. Batista showed off his pretty new gold belt before being congratulated and interviewed by Cole. Batista’s interview was fairly good, though not exactly one that set the world on fire. He did the standard sort of “face winning the title after a long hunt” script that covered all the bases—long hard road, thanks to the fans, not worried about the rematch clause, yadda yadda yadda. I couldn’t help but remember the promo that Samoa Joe gave after he won the TNA World Title (the first guest spot in R’s that I ever did, incidentally), which was a similarly tolerable but uninspired job on the mike. It did what it needed to, which was get the crowd to pop for the big guy and put over the rematch for next week’s VERY SUPER-DUPER SPECIAL RAW, but it just didn’t seem to strike the right cord. Batista is better than this with the mike and I expect more in the coming weeks, particularly if he’s going to keep feuding against Jericho; he’s going to need to step it up to avoid being left in the dust.
SIX-WOMAN TAG TEAM MATCH: Good god, I have to say it; Candice Michelle looked absolutely HIDEOUS this week. It wasn’t just the purple boa-trim gown-thingy she was wearing…something about her just screamed “WRONG!” tonight. And to make matters worse for her, she didn’t even get to do the striptease portion of her entrance before they cut to Mickie James! The good news was that Mickie looked hot as always—I wish she would have come out in her Lara Croft outfit from last night, but she always looks good in pink. And of course Triple K looked great, but that goes without saying. By the way, Cole? It’s not Laira Croft, it’s Lara Croft. Jesus H. Christ, play a damn video game once in a while, or just ask CM Punk what the name is. I’m sure he can tell you. Out came the heel ladies, to Jillian’s music of course because Vince McMahon loves making my ears bleed. It’s a personal vendetta of some sort; don’t ask me, I can’t explain it. Katie Lea was once again without a last name (unless “Lea” is her last name now), and the whereabouts of brother Paul is still unknown. Candice started off against Jillian, and the two were a bit stilted in the opening moments before Candice brought Mickie into the ring. Mickie picked it up for a while before she started playing the face-in-peril. For the record, Layla still can’t wrestle for shit, and has Ashley-levels of “wrestling underwater.” This quickly degenerated into chaos, and this allowed Kelly Kelly Kelly to hit the K2 (or is it a K3??) on Katie for the pin. With the exception of Layla’s fumbled attempts to wrestle and Candice’s stiffness this was decent. Again, I don’t mind Triple K getting the win because they’ve booked her to be more or less competitive in the division, for better or for worse. I do question Katie eating the pin, but what can you do? This was okay—not great, but tolerable—and got the faces over. I can’t help but think they’re grooming Kelly for a title run the way they’re booking her, and if she keeps improving in the ring I won’t complain. Until then, we’ll see…but hey, it can’t be any worse than this, can it?
Your honor, the defense rests.
BATISTA & SHAWN MICHAELS vs. JERICHO & JBL: As Jericho made his way down to the ring, we were suddenly taken to the back, where we saw JBL beating the tar out of Shawn Michaels. This was coming off of the interview segment earlier where JBL had promised revenge on Shawn for costing him a lucrative business deal the night before by helping Jericho lose the World Title. Personally, I’m never a fan of bait and switch main events, and this was one of a sort; on the other hand, it was at least something different, as we’d seen JBL and Jericho vs. Michaels and Batista not too long ago. It was interesting to see that Big Dave didn’t look too upset over what had just happened, as he was too busy grandstanding with his big shiny new belt to be too pissed. Whether that’s a nod to the Manimal and HBK’s past or shoddy characterization on Big Dave’s part is up in the air, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. None of these three are strangers to each other, and the match was what it was for a handicap match…certainly not terrible, though not amazingly great either. I do think that Batista looked like he was holding his own a bit much, particularly against two guys who are ostensibly his equals in the main event scene; it felt like this was a match designed to put Batista over strongly, which they really didn’t need after having him dominate the build to Cyber Sunday and the match there. JBL was better than his usual “wrestling through tar” performances as of late, and Jericho is always gold in the ring, so this worked fine on a performance level, I just wasn’t a big fan of the story of the match. The run-in assist from Michaels at the was largely superfluous and the missed tag was silly, though it all built nicely toward what looks to be a JBL/HBK feud, which can maybe get some good matches out of Mister Layfield. In the end, Batista got the pin on JBL while Jericho high-tailed it. It did some building of the feuds between the two duos, and in that I’m happy; I just would have liked to see a less convoluted set-up and less of Batista being shoved down our throats with the Cena push. I’ve said it time and again, and the ‘E seems to keep failing to understand—keep it simple, and the show will come off looking better.
SANTINO MARELLA vs. HAAS PHOENIX: Coming out of the break, Vintage Cole and Horny Lawler were joined at the announcer’s booth by Rodney the Piper, Goldendust and the Honky Donky Man. This of course heralded the arrival of Glamarella and sure enough, Santino and Beth made their way down to the ring. Santino’s sportin’ a touch of facial hair, and I’m not sure if I like it or not…but hey, I guess Beth’s opinion is the only one that matters, right? Santino had a couple things he needed to get off his chest…the first of which was unleashing the HONK-A-METER! The official count is now Honky Donky Man 64, Santino 11…and for those keeping score, this makes Santino a greater Intercontinental Champion then Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Edge, and Rob Van Dam. Who, by the way, has not resigned. Santino took shots at Honky, who sold it pricelessly, and then all three of the veterans before telling the camera to zoom in on the Glamazon’s grace and beauty. Suddenly…um…the Glamazon’s music hit, and out she came? It was none other than HAAS PHOENIX! Now, I’ll say that Beth sold this beautifully in her absolutely offended reaction, and the Cyber Sunday Trio’s comments were great—particularly Goldie’s “I don’t like cross-dressers.” Awkward! That said, this impersonation wasn’t Haas’s funniest. He had Beth’s mannerisms down right—and it may just be me, as I’ve never looked before now, but did Haas actually shave his armpits for this impersonation? THAT would be dedication. Either way, this was funny enough, but just lacked the gut-wrenching hilarity of Stone Cold Steve Haastin or the Great Char-Li. Once the bell rung, Santino took it right to Haas and starting beating the ever-loving shit out of him before taking a shot at Honky. This brought the trio to the ring, and while Goldie had Santino’s attention, Honky snuck up behind and clobbered Santino with the guitar. This provided a nice crowd-pleasing moment for the nostalgia, but it did neither Haas nor Santino any favors. It could have been far worse, but it just didn’t do anything for me and I was rather disappointed.
NONE!
SHOW RATING: (***½) Coming off Cyber Sunday, this was one of the better Raws in a long time. There wasn’t too much to complain about and a lot to enjoy; they seem to be setting up their next feuds nicely. We had a satisfying title change over to Kofi and Punk in a great match, Bourne vs. Rey Rey in a fun (if flawed) encounter and a hot opening promo that counter-balanced the relatively weak main event storyline. I’m very interested to see where they take Adamle vs. Orton next week, and there’s a lot that’s set up for next week’s EXTRA SPECIAL THREE HOUR RAW! Hopefully that will be as good as this week; if so, I’ll be a happy camper.
Jeremy Responds to Comments!
Smackdown used to be an awesome show where you could see some great wrestling but now it has gotten away form that. But this week Triple H and Undertaker need to be commended on busting their asses out their to put on a good match on free TV. They could have easily sandbagged it but they didn’t and made fans care even with the DQ it still rocked.
Posted By: Kyle (Guest) on October 27, 2008 at 11:52 PM
You’ll get no argument whatsoever from me, Kyle. Taker and ‘H get a lot of shit for holding desperately onto their spots on the top, but then you see matches like this where they show WHY they’re on top. Until someone has the crowd reaction, reliability and marketability to take those top rungs, they’ll stay there, and deservedly so.
Jeremy Thomas,
As I was reading through your replies to the comments I noticed one uber-fan mention the numbers game getting Cryme Tyme last Monday and your illogical chain of inferences from said happenings(though I had to read it twice because I don’t think it came out sounding as clear as it was in his head). You then proceeded to overlook his thought completely based upon the supposed irrelevance of Manu. I would argue that having him effectively aid in the beat down of Cryme Tyme (who happen to be the most over face team in WWE) would add to the crowd reaction against him and help him to gain a bit of relevance. Just a thought…or as some would call it an opinion.
Posted By: Carnivore (Guest) on October 28, 2008 at 02:48 AM
I would agree in theory, Carnivore, and I understood his point; I didn’t overlook it, and even said that I understood what Ian was getting at. I maintain that being part of a three-on-two beat down is not a way to get an individual over, and putting them in matches is a far better way. Again, I totally understand what’s being said, but like this week’s Raw showed, Manu is often looked at as a side note in Priceless and until he starts producing some heat on his own and not being a DiBiase/Rhodes hanger-on, he’s not going to have any credibility.
Manu’s main role has been as back-up muscle, allowing Simply Priceless to gain an advantage over the two guys they’re facing. The three of them even made their debut as a unit beating down Cryme Tyme in exactly the same fashion at Unforgiven. They’ve also wasted Punk and Kofi in similar situations. Besides, outside of UT/HHH/Michaels/Batista/Cena, three-on-two is always played that way – the heel’s third man makes the difference.
As for your point about Manu not having a match yet et cetera…are we to say that Big Zeke was irrelevant to Kendrick’s act prior to last week, just because he hadn’t squashed Super Crazy yet?
Posted By: Ian (Guest) on October 28, 2008 at 04:49 AM
Actually, I would maintain that with Zeke, Ian. Or rather, not that he’s irrelevant to TBK’s act—Manu certainly isn’t irrelevant to Priceless—but that Zeke had less credibility on his own until he stepped in the ring and started ripping people apart. However, I also think it’s a difference in the numbers game here that work’s to Zeke’s advantage as opposed to Manu; Zeke is a much larger physical presence, both literally and figuratively, when compared to Kendrick. Manu isn’t a monster size so he doesn’t come off as intimidating; he’s barely bigger then Cody and Ted. You have a good point, I just happen to have a different opinion on it.
Jonas Brothers 3rd rate? I may not like them but they are one of the biggest acts going right now
Posted By: NEWAVESSUCK (Guest) on October 28, 2008 at 12:07 PM
So was Hanson in their time. It doesn’t mean they’re not third-rate.
Jeremy: “The louder you call a spot, the more animated your mouth is. Which, often, is what catches it.”
That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have read on the Internet all week, and I just read Jarrod Westerfeld’s column.
Posted By: Bob (Guest) on October 28, 2008 at 02:37 PM
Clearly, you don’t read the Wrestler of the Week comments. However, it’s a fact of physics. You can murmur something or speak under your breath without moving your mouth much; the louder you are, the more you try to enunciate and the more animated your mouth is. Hate to break it to you…thanks for reading, though!
I’ve got to disagree that Kelly Kelly is a credible wrestler because she got a couple of fluke undeserved wins with a role up over Beth Phoenix. For starters someone with such little talent shouldn’t be put over the champ, and your analogy is like saying that if Deuce was for some reason allowed to pin The Undertaker with a roll up, then it would be perfectly okay for him to start getting pitfalls on a weekly basis over the likes of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Batista, Big Show and John Cena
Quite simply KK just isn’t good enough to deserve to beat divas like Katie Lea who are quite simply vastly more talented than she is. She’s also not over as proven by Mickie James winning the costume contest at Cyber Sunday despite the fact that KK has been forced down our throats for months, that Vince did everything in his power to get her to win that contest and also Mickie hasn’t received a push for quite a while. So there’s no justification for her to be picking up all the wins she’s getting.
And of course just to make things worse she goes and get another pinfall over Katie Lea this week, even though during the match she once again proved how terrible of a worker she is compared to the other divas in there, even Candice.
Posted By: Heine Otto (Guest) on October 30, 2008 at 04:32 AM
We obviously have different opinions as to the weakest performer in this week’s women’s match, Heine. But hey, it’s all about opinion; I feel KKK was much cleaner in her work then Candice. Losing to Mickie James in a costume contest is not an indication that someone isn’t over; Mickie is the top female face in the company, so she was much more likely to win. And while I wasn’t happy with her beating Beth, or even getting the offense she did in her losses to the Glamazon, the fact is that she is being booked in a way that makes her look strong while Katie Lea (who I agree is the superior worker) is not. Here’s a better analogy for you; Jamie Noble is a far better in-ring worker then Batista. Does this mean that he should be winning the title? Of course not, he has no credibility and it would be a silly move to put him over even a midcarder who’s getting consistent wins like Kofi or DiBiase. Kelly’s being booked consistently stronger and thus she has the credibility that Katie Lea doesn’t, and Kelly’s more over with the crowd as well. She’s improving in the ring and thus is growing into the spot the company’s grooming her for. Whether she truly earns it has yet to be seen, though, I don’t disagree with that at all.
By: Larry Csonka
ECW 10.28.08:
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Swagger: Before we got the match, we saw the video of Swagger blowing off the thought of Dreamer. This was then followed by a really good and simple pre-match promo from Dreamer. Dreamer explained that this was his 19th year in the business, and that while he doesn’t have the best win/loss record he still loves to perform. He discussed plethora of injuries and that this “All-American American” should be able to take care of him in 5-minutes…but what if Dreamer won? I thought that the stuff leading to this week and this promo laid the foundation for the match rather well. The match itself was totally fine, as Dreamer made Swagger work for the first time in his short ECW career. Swagger did get the win, but it took some effort and after the match Swagger looked tired, and didn’t flash the grin quite as quick as he previously had. This is also Swagger’s first BIG win in terms of defeating someone with perceived star power. I was fine with this and am curious to see where Swagger goes from here.
THE DIRT SHEET…BE JEALOUS: While it will not go down as an all time classic skit, this week’s edition of the Dirt Sheet was exactly what it needed to be. With the Miz and Morrison facing off with DX this Monday, they have been saddled with the sole responsibility of hyping this match for the three hour Raw, and they did a damn fine job of it. They did some old school DX mockery, and while not original I thought that it was pretty funny and made me want to see the match. I still have the bad feeling as most do that Miz and Morrison will get the old superkick/pedigree/sledgehammer BERRIAL from DX, which is the exact opposite of what should happen but they have built to it well, so good work to Miz and Morrison. I personally thought the best part of this was the narrated video package. That was awesome.
Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy, and Finlay vs. Chavo Guerrero, Bam Neely, and Mark Henry…and Chavo Guerrero…Really? REALLY?: The opening match was a very mixed bag for me as I feel that there was a lot to like, but a lot to question as well. The first thing I really liked is that they did a good job putting over Bourne. They discussed his victory last week, his great effort at Cyber Sunday as well as his match against Rey on Raw. Matt Striker was so excellent overall on this show in how he was putting the guys over, and not only is he till improving, but he is becoming my favorite announcer in the industry. The match was a good match, not great, but they held the crowd and overall the action was good. They also got a good amount of time, 8-minutes after the commercial, and what they did worked just fine. Much credit to Evan Borune as well; who was not only working his third night in a row but suffered the severe ankle injury. I appreciate him working through the match and at the time I am sure that he didn’t know how bad it was, but I would have thought a veteran like Finlay would have called an audible and changed the heat instead of Bourne continuing to work and possibly injuring himself more. The end got hectic, in a good way, and while Chavo as being an opportunist I am just not down with Chavo getting the win here. For the most part Chavo has been a joke. Between his arguments with Bam over who will pitch and who will catch, being humbled by the Undertaker (Casket Match tonight, Chavo vs. Undertaker, YOU do the math) and just being generally useless other than putting Bourne over, I do not like this at all. Someone said that, “Chavo winning gets Matt a new challenger, which is needed.” Yes, it is needed, but Chavo is NOT the guy. Yes he is a former ECW Champion, but since his SUPER JOB at WrestleMania to Kane, he has been booked like complete shit. I don’t buy him as a contender at all, which is where this loses points.
NONE
Teddy Long as Ron Burgundy = NO BUYS~!: You know, I have said that I completely understand the need for WWE and Sci-Fi to work together to promote things. I do, I really do. But they have gone from playful and acceptable with Tiffany in her cute outfits to flat out stupid with Teddy and his. The horrible attempt at Shaft that made him look like Isaac from the love boat last week was one thing, but this week it got even worse with Teddy Long doing the worst Ron Burgundy impersonation ever. Leave it to WWE to be on the cusp of pop culture with a movie that was a hit like four years ago. Don’t get me wrong; I like silly and fun stuff. I enjoyed the Dirt Sheet for the most part. But this horrible attempt to spoof Anchor Man was BAD. I didn’t laugh, and I didn’t think it was cute or funny. Good day to you god sir. I SAID GOOD DAY!
SHOW RATING: (**3/4) After what I thought was a down week on the last show, ECW rebounded a bit this week with some quality in the ring and a big main event interview (not my favorite) to hype the three hour Raw. Nothing was exactly outstanding, and we were a little lighter on wrestling than usual ECW episode; but for the most part it all built to something and was delivered well, and that I won’t complain about.
COMMENT FUN
From Jeff Small: Boss man, how did No Mercy drop from a 7.5 to a 7.1 in three weeks? Is it the recession?
Larry: HAHAHA, nah, it was just me fucking up. Not quite sure how that happened, but I fixed it so thanks you Khali loving bastard.
From SDOT: It’s okay, I mean we won’t even mention that there was a United States title match at Cyber Sunday. Otherwise, good column
Larry: AH but you see the US Title match wasn’t ON the Cyber Sunday PPV, it was a PRE-SHOW match; so I treated it like a dark mach because it was not on the PPV broadcast. But if you want some comment, I will provide some. It was good that Shelton got a win over Truth, and it was also a good sign that Truth won the fan voting. The match was short and came off like a generic TV match though, so basically it was nothing to write home about.
From Chris: How can this PPV be rated higher than ROH New Horizons or WWE No Mercy?
Larry: All right, I will try to explain this politely. If you think that ROH New Horizons or WWE No Mercy were better than this PPV than cool. All I can do it break the shows down in the R’s and explain myself in why I think something is right, wrong, purgatory or ridiculous. There were aspects of ROH New Horizons or WWE No Mercy that I didn’t like, and they got a lower score. But I say again that 2008 has been a GREAT year for PPV. I have nothing under a 6.0 this year, and LAST year at this time I had the following shows under 6.0:
-TNA Destination X 5.5
-WWE Judgment Day 5.5
-WWE Vengeance 5.0
-WWE No Mercy 4.5
-WWE No Way Out (SD) 4.0
-WWE Unforgiven 4.0
-WWE Summerslam 4.0
-TNA Hard Justice 4.0
It is all personal preference want you are looking for in a show. If we disagree it is cool, but I think I explain myself well in the R’s itself. Thanks for reading.
From DC: How is it that a normal, 1 hour ECW has more wrestling than the super important, 2 hour, live from Las Vegas, HD Impact?
Larry: because it all comes down to who is booking. ECW takes a simple, workman style approach to the show. They angles are simple, the matches usually make sense, they get time and they work hard. I will say that the ECW show is usually focused on hyping one title match and one or two smaller angles with a smaller roster, which is a big advantage that they have. But in my opinion it comes down to simplicity. Compare the format of Raw or Smackdown to the format of Impact. Look at the insane amount of segments that Impact has every week compared to Raw or Smackdown. WWE is a more streamlined product compared to Impact. TNA has this bad habit of cramming WAY TOO MUCH in their shows, and unfortunately it seems as if the wrestling gets lost when that happens.
From MissyNEVERWearssocksWithShoes: I know I rag on Rey Mysterio’s fake looking offense, but wow…Kane is really starting to look bad out there, like all his motivation’s gone. Plus his body’s wearing down. He is one of the few workers in the business who peaked in the absolute shittiest year for in-ring quality…1999. He was actually an above-average worker for a big man back then. It’s sad to see him like this, and how in the hell can you have him be this monster when he selling for freakin’ Max Mini.
Larry: You know, I actually agree with you completely here. Part of it is he is a big guy, he is getting old, it is harder to stay lean and that slows him down. But then there are nights that as you say he looks completely unmotivated, and that is all him and not just his body. But the fact is this; Kane is a company man and does what is asked, which means he will have a job for a long time.
~HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL~size=36>
Tonight is Halloween, and I really love this time of year. As a kid I always enjoyed it, as a teen I enjoyed the pranks and stealing bags of candy from the younger kids (I KID!), I loved it when I was older and the band did parades, and now as a father I love it even more. Hana is so excited, and this year will be the first time in three years I will be able to take her out for the festivities. This makes me a happy father.
Whether you love or hate the “holiday” as it were, have a great night and weekend. Also, I would like to wish the world wide 411 faithful the following tidings:
Happy…
-Reformation Day!
-King’s Birthday!
-National Flag Day!
-National Magic Day!
-Beltane!
-And Chanté!
And I’m out of here!
