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Wrestling’s 4R’s Friday Edition – 11.07.08: RETRO TNA, 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 WWE Smackdown. Also, if there is a PPV, that will be covered in this column as well. The column will run again on Friday’s, covering WWE Raw (with Jeremy Thomas) as well as ECW on Sci-Fi. 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 11.03.08
INTERCONTINENTAL #1 CONTENDER’S BATTLE ROYALE: We came back from commercial with all eight men—Jamie Noble, Snitsky, Shad and JTG, Manu, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, & William Regal—already in the ring as Glamarella walked down to the ring for commentary. Santino and Lawler started sniping at each other nicely and to hilarious effect. “I am almost didn’t recognize you without your sandwich, Jerry.” Nice! Santino is great at providing commentary without taking away from the match, and sitting at the booth was a great way for him to entertain without looking like a little bitch inside the ring. Of course, Snitsky was the first to go, being the glorified jabroni in the ring—and immediately after went Cody and Manu, at the hands of DiBiase! Awkward…but it plays perfectly into the character of Priceless as a unit, who would sell out their own mothers to advance. Ted looked like he had it won until Regal snuck in to dumb him and win the match. This was another decent enough match, and though it was really too short to be really good, it was solid all around and got enough of the group dynamic out—Ted betraying Priceless, Regal and Noble fighting, Cryme Tyme getting time fighting against Priceless. It all worked out nicely, though the line by Vintage Cole of “Noble’s had his problems with Regal in the past” gave me just a touch of concern over whether they’re dropping the fairly good Regal/Noble mini-feud. They need to keep these minor feuds going to keep their midcard moving forward and if they end them too quickly, it’s a shame. In the end, as I said, Regal went over, and hopefully Regal will be able to give Santino a little credibility as champion. It’ll be an interesting match for sure.
ORTON GETS HIS ANSWER: Immediately after Shane-O Mac and Steph showed up, and Steph told Shane he could handle it, Orton got into the ring for his answer. Shane couldn’t help but get a little of his dance moves out, which always gets a smile out of me before he hit the ring. Randy was all over Shane, telling him that his father would have protected his top superstar. Obviously, with Shane trying to distinguish himself from his dad, they’re keeping him toward the face side, and that’s just fine with me, I love Shane-O the good guy. Shane and Randy play well off each other on the mic, and it was nice to see…but before they could get into it too much, Adamle made his way down to the ring. He told them that he wanted to be a different General Manager, the kind who didn’t have an agenda. He found himself being corrupted by the position, so he was going to take his ball and head home. Um…okay? Shane-O looked surprised, and Adamle shook Shane’s hand before making his way out. Well…this is interesting. I certainly didn’t expect Adamle to be fired, and certainly not to quit. I’m more than a little disappointed by this, because I really do thing Adamle was hitting his stride nicely as the GM, and I’m not at all sure where they go with him from here. Funny fact: As soon as Adamle quit, someone edited Steve Austin’s Wikipedia page to note he was returning as the GM of Raw. Ohh, those wacky Wikipedians. I’m certainly interested to see where they go with Adamle, and with the GM spot. I certainly don’t think they’re done with Mike, but if they return him to the announcer’s booth, I might just have to gargle with razor blades. It doesn’t make sense for him to take over another GM spot (though if he replaces Vickie, I won’t complain), so what? Manager? I’m not sure where they’re going, but they’ve certainly got me intrigued enough to find out.
Once Adamle was gone, Orton and Shane got back into it. Again, they play off each other quite nicely, and Shane was getting some good crowd pops when he got into Orton’s face. Shane revealed that Orton’s been hiding behind his injury—yay for family continuity! And I love that they didn’t hit us over the head with the Bob cast/Randy shoulder comparison. See, sometimes subtlety does work. Orton tried to weasel his way out, but Shane had it all covered, and booked Orton against Punk tonight. Orton’s quiet sort of “oh, son of a BITCH!” look when Shane dropped Punk’s name was great, and Shane-O DANCED SOME MORE before making his way backstage. This all worked very nicely, and it created a lot of intrigue in the Raw storylines. I know I’m interested.
DEGENERATION X vs. MIZ AND MORRISON: After a full week of heavy promotion on Miz and Morrison’s part, we got ready for this match. D-X hit the ring first for some mike work, and I have to say, no matter where they’re at in their individual careers, I always smile just a little when I see the D-X music start, just for the memories. They almost went into their little routine before Shawn told ‘H that he wasn’t ready. We got to see the recap of MnM 2.0 being AWESOME on ECW, and they joked about how overdone the whole “beat the tar out of imposters” routine was. I did laugh, I’ll admit, at Triple H noting “no, someone did it in seg four.” Poor Haas. People can complain about how they buried MnM on the mic—and people have—but I don’t see it. D-X did what they always do on the mic, entertain in the ring, and for them to be mocking MnM the same way they have some of their all-time great opponents like the Nation, Vince, Big Show, Rated RKO and more is far more of a compliment to MnM 2.0 then a burial. If they’d wanted to bury them, they wouldn’t have bothered; instead, they were important enough for D-X to address, and yes make fun of, but D-X is one of those few groups that can mock people without destroying their cred.
However? I NEVER wanted to see Miz porn-slapping Ugly Fat Naked Guy again, and I hope to never see it from now on, lest I gouge my eyes out.
Before D-X was done, Miz and Morrison interrupted and treated us to the greatest entrance in professional wrestling today. I hate joined-in-progress matches, and you know what, it’s a hell of a lot worse when they don’t give us at least some of the entrance first. It created a very jarring impression that made the match a little hard to get into at first. Once that little awkward moment was past though, we settled into a solid match with some great back-and-forth action. Miz and Morrison were great at playing the cocky heel bastards, and ‘H and HBK were as good as ever. Now, as to the result, I know I’m likely to get a lot of shit here, but anyone who thinks that D-X buried MnM 2.0 by beating them is either insane or hasn’t seen the match. Yes, D-X beat them in seven minutes, and cleanly. That’s about 5% of the story. Miz and Morrison got a hell of a lot of offense, with Shawn allowing them to use him as the face-in-peril for a good portion of the early match. Hell, even Triple H—you know, HUNTER THE BARBERRIER—sold the heels’s offense very nicely. Really, how many times do you see the H-Man lay in the ring while he lets someone grandstand to the crowd? This was nothing less than fantastic work on D-X’s part, and they did MnM a world of good in this match. Would I have loved to see them beat D-X? Of course. But I’m perfectly fine with the way it turned out. The Chick Magnet and the Shaman of Sexy got a lot of credibility, while the crowd popped for the face win. Seriously, why is it that people give Matt Hardy all sorts of credit for beating Evan Bourne cleanly at Cyber Sunday by remarking how well he put Bourne over, but if Shawn & Hunter don’t lose, they’ve buried people? Oh yeah, because that’s the cool thing to do. Sorry, not buyin’ in on that one, and HBK and ‘H get a lot of credit from me for their work here. Nicely done.
CM PUNK vs. RANDY ORTON: This of course was a match that the crowd was super-hot to see, and Punk was all sorts of clearly all sorts of jazzed for this match as he came down to the ring. We got the recap of what happened at Unforgiven before Orton made his way down to the ring—Punk, as always, showed a nice little reaction to it, looking like it was motivating him even more. Orton walked down to the ring all sorts of pissed, and they got right down to it. I will say that from what we saw, these two clearly work greatly together—Orton sold Punk’s offense nicely in the early moments before he took control. This match, although short, told a great story as Orton hadn’t lost a single step in the ring and was playing the asshole who just showed Punk no respect in the ring once he had control. Now, the DQ ending may have been iffy for some, but it had to be expected—the ‘E’s not just going to throw this match away on free TV. This simply built the feud, and did it nicely while making Orton look like Punk’s equal. Especially nice was Orton’s absolutely psychotic look while he was waiting for the RKO, and then his anger when DiBiase came to the ring. He concussion kicked the snot out of DiBiase, and then stared off with Priceless before angrily leaving. This was a great little segment that continued the very intriguing development between Orton and Priceless and built the Orton/Punk feud without giving too much away. The segment after the match and commercial, with Manu and Rhodes getting in Randy’s face and Orton telling them off, was also nice—it was very nice to actually hear Manu speak a little bit. The “tough love” mentorship continues, and I love the way this is playing out.
ONOZ! McMAHON TENSION!: The segments between Stephanie and Shane were all interesting, and after a long period without the McMahon drama, it seems okay again and not so overdone anymore. First, we had Adamle coming in and telling Stephanie off. He stood up for himself and told Steph that he couldn’t handle her overriding him every moment and saying the opposite of what Shane said; Steph got a touch of the old bitch back and told Adamle that controlling the show was her birthright. Shades of her daddy Vince, as JR would say! Adamle left and then Shane showed up to say he had a big announcement; that announcement, as we would later learn, was that the winner of Jericho vs. Batista would face John Cena at Survivor Series. That’s a good move in my mind, as Batista & Cena still have their past issues—Cena hasn’t gotten revenge on Big Dave for injuring him obviously—and Jericho vs. Cena is a feud we haven’t seen since just before Jericho took his sabbatical. I particularly loved Jericho’s reaction to that, saying “Karma is a bitch.” This of course is a reference to the fact that Cena was the guy who beat Y2J to get him fired from the ‘E at Bischoff’s hands, and again it’s a nice nod to past events without hammering us over the head with it. They’re making a lot of subtle moves in this whole storyline, and it’s subtly shifting Steph to the heel role and Shane to the face role. Is Steph working with Jericho? Was she the person behind Vince’s injury? There’s a lot that seems to be building here, and I love it so far. People will end up complaining about the McMahon focus, and I may end up bitching soon enough myself once they overdo it, but for now it’s great.
KANE & MARK HENRY vs. REY MYSTERIO & KOFI KINGSTON: Well, that’s certainly an interesting face match-up. Right off the bat, the ‘E gets a little bit of leeway here for the nonsensical pairing of Kofi and Rey because this was clearly due to the Bourne injury. We got to see that disastrous dive by Bourne before Kofi came out, and even Cole and Lawler seemed confused by this. Really though, it makes sense—Kofi is an ECW alumni, so he matches up with Henry in theory. Now, Rey Rey and Kofi don’t have the same chemistry in the ring together as Rey and Bourne. However, despite the odd-couple pairing here, they worked fairly well together and we got some good stuff for as short of a match as it was. I did think that Kofi was pretty much made to look like Mizark’s bitch here, but a single loss to two monsters like this isn’t gonna make Kofi dead in the water. Mark and Kane needed a win to build back some credibility after several losses as of late, and this did its job. It also continued the Rey/Kane feud for what that’s worth, and had the added bonus of bringing Khali out to solidify his face turn in a big way as he came to Rey Rey’s defense. They’ve been teasing at this for a while with the Kiss Cam and I’m glad they finally pulled the trigger on it. I hope this means an end to the Kiss Cam, but I’m not holding my breath. In the end, while this wasn’t great, it was moderately good and I could find nothing to complain about.
CHRIS JERICHO vs. BATISTA: And finally, we got to our main event of the evening. Before we got into it though, we got another Cena return promo. Putting it immediately before the main event was smart of course as it builds heat for the Survivor Series match to come; the use of the Tribute to the Troops clip also reminds us of Cena, who I think is most closely associated with those shows. This was one of those matches that had a real “big match feel” to it, and Jericho and Big Dave really turned it on to give us a great, high-impact match. There were a lot of great drama moments; everyone has their specialty match, and I really tend to feel like the cage match is Jericho’s after the ones we’ve seen him in. The crowd was really into it, and it really seemed like both men were about to win it at various moments. Any match where you really don’t know who’s going to pull it off is great, as it makes for compelling television, and that’s exactly what they delivered here. Of course, the end was actually a surprise to most as Y2J took the title back from the Manimal in a great spot that took nothing away from Batista like the recent cage match did from CM Punk. It provided a great “shocking moment” for their 800th episode, and in the end it provided Dave with a brief title run to take the “choke artist” label off of him while giving the fans even more reasons to love to hate Jericho. This is the right decision too, as it creates a feud that’s fresh and new again between Cena and Jericho where Batista is played out. It was a great end to the show and lifted the show above what it otherwise would have been.
800th EPISODE VIGNETTES: We got, as part of the SUPER DUPER SPECIAL 800th RAW, several historical clip moments throughout the show that highlighted the history of Raw. There were highlights from the first ever Raw (including the hilarious stuff with Heenan trying to sneak in), the 1-2-3 Kid shocking Razor Ramon by beating him, Shane-O Mac buying WCW out from under his father, the Presidential promos from earlier this year, D-X’s invasion of WCW, the face-off between Mike Tyson and Steve Austin pre-WrestleMania XIV, the Hogan/Rock challenge for WrestleMania X8, Show facing off with Mayweather before this year’s WrestleMania, Jeff Hardy and ‘taker for the Hardcore belt, Taker’s appearance on the first Raw, Austin and the beer truck, Flair’s retirement, the Edge/Lita marriage, and the first Tribute to the Troops. As expected as these segments were, they’re always nice to see on a show like this, which is highlighting the long and celebrated history of the biggest show in wrestling history. The nostalgia moments were nice and, while some of these get overplayed and I would have preferred to see, say, the D-X Nation parody over the WCW invasion or Austin tossing Rock’s IC title in the river over Austin/Tyson, I don’t get to pick and choose my own so I’ll take what I can get. These were exactly what they needed to be, the short ways to celebrate Raw so that they could cut the crap nostalgia segments to a minimum.
THE HARDY BOYZ vs. MVP & THE BRIAN KENDRICK: This week’s VERY SPECIAL SUPER-DUPER RAW opened up with Randy Orton making his way down to the ring. Orton had an all-business look—as all business as one can be in a T-Shirt and jeans, anyway. It’s not Jericho’s suit, but it’ll do, Randy. Orton reminded the crowd of his ultimatum—either Mike Adamle goes or he goes—and announced that he wasn’t leaving until Shane and Stephanie McMahon came out to address him. Orton then held true to his word and took a seat at ringside to watch the action, which started immediately as the Hardy Boys came out to Jeff’s music and a huge pop. The Day-Glo Warrior was looking oddly Joker-like with his makeup, and was clearly the focus of the team in their entrance. Say what you want about the ‘E and giving Jeff chances, they know who the more marketable Hardy is. Don’t get me wrong, I love Matt Hardy, and he’s no doubt the more reliable performer, but he’s not moving the merch like his brother. MVP and THE Brian Kendrick then came out, with MVP getting a shortened, cut-off entrance. Apparently he’s still in the doghouse, then? THE Brian was all sorts of gettin’ down on the way in, before the match started. This was a fairly good, if short, opening match-up that gave Brian Kendrick a surprising amount of credibility against Matt & Jeff, two well-established stars. There was nothing amazing about the match, and it was your pretty average Hardy Boyz match, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with that and the crowd was certainly into it. The only problem was how much MVP got punked out here. I’ve been complaining in the SmackDown R’s how much I dislike MVP’s losing streak angle, and that hasn’t changed. What HAS changed is that usually MVP is given some offense and gets close once or twice before going down; here he pretty much got beat around by Matt and Jeff every time he was in the ring. I don’t mind the Hardys going over strong, but there’s strong and there’s is the kind of burial that’s killing MVP’s credibility as an upper midcarder. This is the latter, and while the match was good while it lasted, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth for that reason.
THE UNDERTAKER vs. JBL: Jim Ross and Tazz came down for commentary for this match, drawing a huge pop from the crowd for the returning JR. Taker’s entrance is always good for crowd reaction, and this was no exception; JBL’s reaction was one of wariness and nerves, which was nice. Now, I won’t call this a great match because it was far from it; JBL just can’t get it done in the ring like he used to, and like almost all the matches this week it was too damned short. Taker wasn’t as motivated as he’s been in recent weeks on SmackDown, but he got his best offense spots in, and the crowd popped nicely for it all. The ending was more or less bullshit though; few people lose credibility by losing to the dead man, and JBL isn’t one of them. It was nice to see Shawn show up after the match and toss JBL in as revenge for last week to give the crowd the Tombstone spot and promote the JBL/HBK feud. This wasn’t great, but it worked for what it was. I just wish it had been a little more and a little longer.
VLADIMIR KOZLOV vs. BRET THE HITMAN HAAS: Kozlov made his way down to the ring as Vintage Cole and Lawler promoted his match against ‘Taker this week on SmackDown; this was basically a match to build interest there. When his opponent came out, we heard some old, familiar music before BRET THE HITMAN HAAS came down to the ring!!! Now, I loved the entrance, and the crowd rather seemed to like it—as always, Haas had his impersonation target’s mannerism down fine. Where this fell apart was when Haas took the mic and had to bring up THAT incident. Seriously, we needed to go there? Vladimir Kozlov screwed Vladimir Kozlov? Christ. It obviously went over like a lead balloon with the crowd as well; maybe someone in the ‘E will finally take it as a since that they should stop poking at it. It didn’t help that this was a couple minutes worth of entrance for about a thirty second match. There are much better ways to put Kozlov over and build him some credibility for his match with ‘Taker—having him crush Haas a la his early SD days isn’t it. This entire segment fell flat—Haas’s impersonation gimmick works at times, and fails drastically at others. This was the latter, much like the entire segment.
DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION: I have very little to say about the dance segment other then this: why? What was the damn point? Was it their chance to bring Boogey back on TV? Gee, that couldn’t have been done more effectively. There was nothing remotely worthwhile here, and I fail to understand why this had to happen instead of the time being given to one of the matches. I don’t need to see Festus staring into space, I don’t need to see Kung Fu Naki and Hornswoggle get their groove on with each other, I don’t need to see Boogeyman juking and jiving without purpose, and I sure as hell don’t need to see this:
Gee, thanks, ‘E. Now I’ll never sleep again. Not even the Ron Simmons “DAMN!” was worth this.
41 MINUTES???: Okay, I know this is normally Larry’s bag, but I gotta steal his gimmick here for a moment. A three-hour Raw. Three hours. One hundred and eighty minutes. I get that it was an OMG SPECIAL 800TH EPISODE Raw, but still. Why is it, in a three-hour Raw, we have only FORTY-ONE MINUTES of wrestling? Is it because we need a bunch of midcarders to not-even-on-the-carders dancing in the ring for several minutes? A diva match with more involved in the entrance then the ridiculousness of the match itself? Seriously, as much as the ‘E is trying to move away from the “sports” of sports entertainment, they’re still a wrestling company and they need to show some…you know. WRESTLING. If they can’t fill a three-hour show, then they shouldn’t do it. If they’re going to agree to a three-hour show to pacify USA, they should find enough actual relevant stuff to fill it. This was just pathetic, and these short matches are getting worse and worse. They need to quit it.
SIXTEEN DIVA UTTER CLUSTERFUCK FROM HELL: Oh, for fuck’s sake. Where do I even start here? Let’s begin with the fact that sixteen people one non-battle royal match is utterly stupid. You can’t get anyone over with that many people in a match, and you ESPECIALLY can’t get anyone over when you’ve got over a dozen competitors and two freaking minutes of time. Now, I was okay with that level of stupidity, but then Mae Young came down to the ring. Allow me to say here that I respect everything Mae Young has done for women’s wrestling. I think she was a pioneer of the sport, and it’s almost always fun to see her show up on the ‘E. The one thing I do NOT want to do, however, is see her compete in a match. Seriously, what the hell? You’ve got an 85-year-old woman how pops the crowd in the right sort of comedy segments. Great, but do NOT put her in the ring. It’s just stupid as hell.
Okay, so they’ve got her in the match. But it’s a sixteen-woman match, so surely she won’t get much time, right? Wrong, ‘cause this is the ‘E. where women’s wrestling means jack shit most of the time. So instead of giving her one spot, they put her in for the majority of the match, make the heels sell her understandably weak offense like they were punches from Stone Cold, and basically put Mae over the entire heel women’s roster between Raw and SmackDown. And you can argue that she lost, but for Christ’s sake, she lost BY A CHEAP ROLL-UP to the supposedly dominant Women’s Champion. There was NO reason to bury the entire division, which had been gaining some momentum on Raw, for the purposes of a cheap-ass nostalgia segment. You can bring Mae out in several ways without doing this, and any of them would have been far preferable. Not to mention that Mae looked like she about killed herself at one point when she fell backwards and nearly hit her head on the ropes. I’m sure the death of an 85 year-old women would have been a great Raw moment. This was just blatant and nearly unprecedented levels of retardedness, and I feel stupider for having watched it. The only thing worthwhile in the entire bit was Lawler’s line “You know that the average male thinks of Kelly Kelly nine times an hour?” I know I do. Congratulations, ‘E, you’ve earned Jeremy’s first entry into “Ri-GOD-DAMN-diculous” finally. Don’t you feel proud, assholes?
SHOW RATING: (**¼) The VERY SPECIAL RAW was…well, okay. The matches were way too short with the exception of D-X vs. MnM 2.0 and Jericho vs. Batista, but for the most part they were competent with the time they got. There was just too much freaking filler to make this feel as special as the ‘E wanted us to believe it is. Give me my two-hour Raws if this is what they’re going to give us with three.
Comment Time With Jeremy!
“SIX-DIVA TAG TEAM MATCH: The Divas all came out in their mostly-skankeriffic (or in one case, banana-riffic) Cyber Sunday outfits and attempted to wrestle in them. I think the words “train wreck” would be generous, as Victoria actually had to partially take off the banana outfit to wrestle effectively and outside of Natalya, no one was wrestling worth a damn. It was a short and sloppy affair, and this yet another example of why the Raw Women’s division trumps the SmackDown Diva’s division. We had all the typical spots—Bella crawling under the ring to do the switch-out, Maria being semi-acrobatic as if to say “see, I DON’T suck!” and Victoria inexplicably eating the pin while being the best wrestler in the match. This was pretty much a complete and utter waste in order to give the crowd some eye candy and semi-advance the Maria/Michelle wannabe feud, and didn’t’ have any business being on TV.”
It didn’t deserve to be on TV because it wasn’t good (much like the Knockouts match the previous night where Hemme hit Angelina in the throat; luckily, Angelina was okay after the match) or didn’t serve a purpose (it did, to build tension between Maria and Michelle)?
Posted By: Guest#5309 (Guest) on November 04, 2008 at 12:17 AM
Short answer? Yes. There were better ways to build Maria/Michelle without a six-person tag match that just showcased how bad the Diva’s division is. As for whether it was better than the Knockouts Match on iMPACT, I don’t know, I didn’t see it. This one sure as hell wasn’t good, though.
couple of things for Jeremy
1. SIX-MAN “FUCK THE BRAND EXTENSION” TAG MATCH: that is ace. last time i laughed at something on this site as much was the notion of jr screaming “STONE COLD! STONE COLD!” and pouring bbq sauce on that bratty kid who wouldn’t take his Halloween candy.
2.mike mizanin was referring to hhh and hbk as dx, i.e., a tandem, not individually.
incidentally, i disagree with the notion that the 2 don’t put people over. even when they were dx, who’d they actually face? the spirit squad, who needed burying anyway, the McMahon’s, who don’t need any in ring credibility to be a threat and obviously didn’t need putting over, and orton n edge, who after the feud ended wound up with real strong runs as world champions. coincidence?
3. im not saying steph is an incredible worker or anythin, but her match with trish stratus at no way out 2001 was damn good and probably crapped all over anything else the womens division had to offer until the triple threat at mania xix
Posted By: DaJ (Guest) on November 04, 2008 at 08:15 AM
Thanks, glad you liked that. As for the Mizanin thing, I know he was referring to them as a team, but I was just saying that as individuals they put people over, there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t put over as a team if they believed in them. I think Raw was a vote of confidence in MnM’s favor, and I agree with you about their most recent run as D-X. Spirit Squad didn’t need burying, but they weren’t ready to go over main eventers, the McMahons had to lose that match, and RKO had their careers done wonders after the feud; it showed the ‘E that they could be taken seriously as viable main event heels.
As per Stephanie’s workrate, I will agree that NWO 2001 was probably her best match. I don’t think it crapped all over everything else, but it was quite tolerable and a feat I don’t think she’ll equal again. Thanks for reading!
For Darth Mortis
Exactly, and well-put. Nothing else to add there.
“and this yet another example of why the Raw Women’s division trumps the SmackDown Diva’s division.”
Oh yeah, the division with nothing going on and being given 2-3 minute random matches each week is SO much better than the division given 4-8 minutes each week, with four different angles going on (Michelle/Maria, Bella Angle, Vic and Nat as Best Friends, and Maryse as a pissed off Frenchie that she didn’t win the belt” If anything, Smackdown is owning the Knockouts AND Raw Divas, as they do put on good matches a majority of the time, they’re just underlooked because they usually involve a former model winning and not Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, etc like Raw
Posted By: Sam (Guest) on November 06, 2008 at 05:56 AM
Well, we clearly have different opinions on who’s owning who. While there are more angles going on (though I consider Maryse’s angle you listed as more a gimmick then an angle), the workrate in SmackDown is nowhere near Raw’s or TNA’s, and while some on SD are trying to improve, there’s still too many glaring errors. We’ll see how it goes, and one day, who knows? They may just trump one of the other two. Not for now, though.
By: Larry Csonka
ECW 11.04.08:
The All-American American is an All Around Prick: While I have not been all that hot on The All-American American Jack Swagger since his debut, mainly because he was a guy tossed out there and they gave me no reason to care, I am slowly coming around. Yes feuding with Tommy Dreamer over the old ECW and his legacy is getting played out, but the live crowds are into Dreamer and hopefully that will transition to Swagger through this feud. I have to say that overall I really enjoyed the segment this week. Swagger’s lisp will take getting used too, and I will say that the live crowd wasn’t all that enthused at times, but I have to say that the segment was full of win. The walk through memory lane Swagger took the crowd on just clicked for me. Mocking Dreamer’s famous, “Thank you sir may I have another” deal, which vindicated and made him in the eyes of ECW fans was cold and heartless. Mocking the OLD ECW title, which Dreamer worked so long for and then lost after 30-minutes was a dick move. He then disrespected Dreamer and all ECW fans by throwing the belt in the trash. Finally he mocks Dreamer’s manhood by calling him a loser, lame husband and poor father. The All-American American is an All Around FUCKING Prick and it is GLORIOUS! This of course brought out an OFFENDED Tommy Dreamer who chased off Swagger with the kendo stick. Extreme Rules here we come, and I APPROVE of this.
MATT vs. BAM: The opening match on ECW this week was the ECW Champion Matt Hardy taking on Bam Neeley. With Chavo pinning Matt last week (dumb) but then getting destroyed by Taker (DUMB in hindsight) in a way it makes sense for Chavo’s bodyguard (is he still, they fight like a married couple) to take up for his boss and battle the champion. It also gives Matt a chance for revenge, in a small way. They got some time, and overall it wasn’t bad. Hardy gave enough to make Bam look credible, but in my opinion THAT is THE problem with this match. Bam Neeley isn’t SHIT in the “WWE Universe.” He is NOT a good wrestler, is possibly THE worst bodyguard in wrestling (although Manu is coming right up behind him) and the man is the definition of a loser. While he is “big” and “powerful,” he is not a guy that should be going toe to toe with Matt Hardy on a regular day, let alone when Matt is the ECW Champion. Matt should be running through this guy like a gas station turkey sandwich you bought at 3am (sup Chris Masters) and moving on. This should NOT have been a competitive match and Matt shouldn’t have had to struggle with this guy.
SET UP/FINLAY vs. HENRY: After the Hardy match, Finlay and the midget came to the ring for some promo fun. Finlay put over Matt as a fighting champion and that he had taken on all comers, all but one; Finlay himself. Finlay wanted a title shot, and as Matt was about to agree to this Mark Henry came out because he did NOT approve of this. Henry said that Finlay had never beaten him without help from the midget or the SHACKALACKI, and then Long came out and made a #1 Contender’s Match between Henry and Finlay. The match was what it was, slow and overall fine. It appeared to me that they took a 7-minute match and struggled to make it last for 14-minutes. I think that Finlay did a fine job of leading the match in the way he called it, but some matches are not meant to go long, and this was one of them. The finish was what we see all the time. Midget shenanigans, ref distraction, SHACKALACKI to the cranium and that’s all she wrote. I know it is Finlay’s gimmick and all, but he was a bad motherfucker at one time, and I don’t see anything wrong with him getting to show that, especially in a match like this. The thing that I hope happens is that they play the fact that again, Henry was right that Finlay couldn’t win without the above-mentioned finish. This wasn’t bad, but again, wasn’t great either.
ORTIZ vs. JOBBER: Ricky Ortiz was back this week after a long hiatus from the ring. At least it seemed like a long hiatus from the ring, because I don’t think that anyone remembered him. Ortiz was on a decent roll, going 5-0 on ECW TV and then he all but disappeared. He had some backstage segments where he basically did nothing, and the momentum he had seems to be lost. Ortiz took on a job guy this week, and they had a 2-minute match that was fine. Ortiz took the win and got back on track and all seemed to be well. My issue here is that while some may not like him, his charisma was enough to get him over as the live crowds seemed to take to him. Unfortunately with them not having him be a part of the show that mattered for weeks, he has now cooled off and I think that is a big mistake. With Bourne out for upwards of 4-months, people will have to step up and will also have to be given the chance to succeed. Again, Ortiz is not the great star IN the ring like Bourne, but he does have a charisma that people like and could partly fill the void. Unfortunately with the on again off again booking he has had, I am not sure that he will get a chance too. Also, brother, PLEASE get a NEW finishing move. The “BIG O” is a fun move for him, but they need to make it a transition move and give him something cooler.
NONE
SHOW RATING: (**½) It wasn’t a bad show this week. There was nothing outright horrible or anything that offended me as a viewer. They set up a title match for next week, more with Swagger and Dreamer, reintroduced Ricky Ortiz and set the return of the Boogeyman (not that I am excited for that). Without Evan Bourne, The Miz or Morrison involved the show seemed to lack something, and overall it just felt like an average show. That’s not really a bad thing, but it also isn’t a good thing either. Matt Striker is still the highlight of the show with lines like, “A fight with Tommy Dreamer is like the Guns N Roses Chinese Democracy album, you anticipate it but when you finally get it, you don’t want it.” Rock on Matt Striker, rock on…
RETRO TNA GENESIS 2007
TNA may have changed the names around, but I go in order still.
The X-Division Title Match – While the match was announced really late, I expected a good match here. First of all Dutt’s collection gimmick was awesome and they need to play that up more. Secondly Machismo has evolved into 1990’s Macho Man, with a newer look and the red and black gear. A marked improvement. The early stuff was fun as you saw the seeds of a Dutt heel turn as he went from hugging Jay to slapping him, and this was well done. A very athletic and hard working match, slightly sloppy on some small parts, but overall a great effort from both men, especially with no build to the match. The main issue was that the crowd died before the match and they stayed dead for the majority of this match. But they worked hard to get them back at the end, unfortunately for them it hurt the match and it could have been better than of it had a hot crowd. The after match will be discussed below.
Samoa Joe vs. Robert Roode – Robert Roode and Samoa Joe was a match/feud that not many were happy about. People didn’t like the build and they felt that it pulled Joe down. I like many would like to see Samoa Joe in the title scene, but you can’t push everyone. I like both guys, and thought that the match had a lot of potential. For the most part they had a had a good match. They have good chemistry and worked well together. But the match did lack a certain aspect, it never really drew me in. And when I like both guys and can’t get into the match, that’s an issue. I was going to rant about them booking a bad angle with Brooks and the mystery fan that split the crowd, BUT now it has been reported that she legit passed out at ringside. That changes everything. It obviously played into the finish of the match, and that changes everything. While the match was less than expected, knowing this new information takes it from purgatory to right. Please disregard the analysis in the podcast, as the news did not break until later Monday.
Team 3D vs. The MCMG’s – Next up was the tag match with 3D and the MCMG’s. I had reservations heading into the match, but we all knew that a clean win for the MCMG’s was not only the right call but is what needed to be done. Now I have said that when motivated, 3D can still go and have good matches. The MCMG’s are awesome so this had possible awesomeness written all over it. The match was great as everyone worked their asses off to make it so. Shelley and Sabin went in there looking to make a statement and so were 3D. It all clicked perfectly, they got the heat of the MCMG’s and that played out perfectly, and the crowd was intense, which also added to the match in a major way. The end saw Sabin dropsault off of a table, which Devon then charged through. Ray then ate the Enziguri finishing combo and got pinned for the huge MCMG’s win. CLEAN, the way you make stars. I think Ray wanted to send a message here, as he took the pin in the match. This was a great match, not MOTY or anything, but a damn great match, one that I thought it could be. The crowd was hot for the whole match, and when the MCMG’s won they put it over huge. This was greatness.
Kaz vs. Christian – Coming off of Thursday night’s match, in which they did a lot to make Kaz a star, it was time for him to step up to the big stage to face Cage on PPV in a ladder match for the #1 contender’s spot for the world title. Before the match Cage told AJ and Tomko not to get involved because he wanted to make a statement tonight. We kicked off fact and furious with Kaz hitting a cross body to the floor early on as Cage held the ladder, which busted his left eye open and caused some blood. They laid the ladder from the ring to the railing and Cage got a frog splash from the top rope onto it, and it was awesome. Unfortunately for them the ladder didn’t break and they looked in pain. The only major thing that was an issue was that the contract fell off of the clipboard, but they covered well making you understand that the clipboard was the thing they had to pull down. In the end I have to say that I PICKED KAZ in the Roundtable! YEAH BABY KAZ FTW~! I liked the end. AJ and Tomko came out, but didn’t get involved, they were there to catch Cage, which worked well and played into the main event. They did the ladder spot where it falls and Cage went to the floor and wiped them out. The ladder hit the ropes and Kaz got a foot on them, and stood there, realizing that Cage was out. He was able to kick the ladder back center, and grabbed the clipboard for the HUGE win. A sweet finish. And then TNA did something very right and allowed some celebration time and put over what a HUGE win this was. They made it important, something they don’t always do. Some are complaining that the prospect of Kaz headlining a PPV is not good, but the shot may not even be on PPV. But then people are always complaining that TNA is doing nothing to push homegrown guys or make new stars, and they did that here. This was a great win, a great match and in the end an awesome moment. HOORAH for Kaz and HOORAH for Cage for putting in such a great effort in two matches and MAKING Kaz. Now they could easily ruin it, but for now Kaz is a star and that is awesome.
Women’s Title Match – In the RT I said, “It should be good, but another multi person match already isn’t really establishing the division as well as they could. On the other hand they held off Gail and Kong, and that is a good thing.” That being said, my pre-match assessment was correct. All of the ladies worked hard, they really did. They did some fun spots and it is just really nice to see ladies wrestling on a major stage, for the most part being taken seriously. But there were issues. It was very cluster filled, and that’s the problem with having four ladies in there. Also, they did some really stupid shit with Roxxi trying to put a Voodoo Spell on the referee. Stop that shit, please, you have a great chance to do some good with the women’s division, this shit will ruin it. Also, I am over ODB. While I thought she did well last month, she was just too out there this week. She was slapping the asses of everyone and just being really odd, and I felt took away from the match. Average stuff, but the end was good as Gail celebrated her hard fought victory, KONG appeared and stared her down and made the “I want the belt, bitch” motion. So we’re heading there, and I am all for this.
TAG TITLE MATCH – Onto the tag team title match. This was a match that I thought would be fine. Rick and Scott have been working hard, especially for their age, and AJ and Tomko have been great inside and outside of the ring. The early part of the match scared me as I thought we were going to have some trouble. Rick dropped Tomko on his dead off of a DVD, and this angered Tomko They began to stiff the shit out of each other; thankfully that died down and they went to work. They had a fine match, but in typical TNA fashion we had to have a crap finish involving a chair and that took away from things. In the end this is about the best that you can expect from the Steiner’s. That’s not a knock, but they are in their 40’s and there is only so much that they can do. AJ and Tomko had to slow down a lot for them, and that hurt the match. He other issue is the fact that the finish wasn’t clean. I mean, really are we protecting the Steiner Brothers in 2007? Really, TNA, really? They are the Steiner Brothers, they can take a clean loss and be fine. Trust me on this.
Shop of Horrors Match – The show opened up the Little Shop of Horrors match, which unfortunately for the viewers at home did not feature a giant plant. They had Reign’s wacky shop out there, mousetraps, drywall and a giant box, the size of a man. This would be key. Abyss and Reign had the regular hardcore brawl, in many ways this was the typical Abyss hardcore match, only not as good as usual. Black Reign was slow, and while he may be trying, I won’t say he was dogging it, the match lacked energy and just never hooked me like I thought it should. They hit each other with dry wall, they did a chokeslam off of the stage and other wacky stuff. Abyss trapped Reign in the vice and grabbed the rat, an threatened to CHOKESLAM THE RAT INTO THE TRAPS! Jim Mitchell tried to stop him, and Abyss shoved the rat down his shirt and he sold it well. But in a death defying Shop of Horror Match, comedy is not what you are looking for. Abyss took a pedigree into the traps, but would get the slam for the win. And then, if the match wasn’t passé enough, Abyss proves to be a stupid, giant dip-shit as he decided to go and open the box and… 
CRIMSON BLOOD was in the box, spit mist in the face of Abyss and he and Black Reign would beat him down. Crimson Blood is the former Johnny Stamboli, doing a darker side of his Evil Muta in Japan. So that has some possibilities, I have always liked Stamboli. He came into WCW with a great look and I think he has a ton of potential. He’s had bad luck with injuries and bad booking, but with Mitchell at the helm it has possibilities, and he looks to be the stopgap with Mesias being out. It could be interesting, so we’ll see how it goes. NEW CHURCH 2K7~!
The Main Event – And now to the main event of the evening. The first thing that annoyed me still was that the WORLD TITLE was contested in a tag match. WHY? Stupid. No buys. I hated that. They finally announced the mystery man, which was indeed Booker T. This pleased the crowd and he looked motivated. That’s a good thing. But the match lacked. Sting, Angle and Booker looked good and worked hard, but Nash looked 100 years old and did nothing for me. Slow, lethargic and he pulled down the match in my opinion. The end saw chicks involved, ref distractions, a bump, and outside interference. This is TNA. NO BUYS. In the end I will say that Booker’s debut came off well. I like that they didn’t give Booker the title and that they didn’t beat him. I also like that Sharmell is with him, and she has proved to be a great performer with Booker. I also like the new dichotomy of Tomko and AJ joining with Angle. You had Cage come out at the end looking shocked and pissed, and that’s going to be an interesting angle. Also you now have a stable with the world and tag team champs, and I am a sucker for power stables. They have split them from Cage, and did it without the regular lame split and turn. It was creative. Some good and bad, but the match quality was not what it needed to be. Add in the typical TNA overbooking and ref bumps and such and it was more of the same old shit, which is not a good thing.
Team 3D BERRIES the X-Title, Champion, Division…Again – And after what was a good X-Division title match and celebration by Black Machismo, it went to shit. Team 3D came out and decided that they had to BERRY the X-Division some more. They came out and beat down Dutt and Machismo, they whipped them with belts, gave them the 3D and then proclaimed that the MCMG’s cheated, and because they cheated, they were going to take the X-Title hostage. NOW…let me say that on some levels this is a good angle. The beat down makes sense since they both just had a match, and would be prone to a beat down. I did like that, BUT, this again is hurting the division. First of all Jay Lethal has been fucked. He gets the HUGE win over Angle, which should have made him. But later in that show they made him look like a goof. The next Impact they had him job to Daniels to set up a title match. A few weeks after that 3D owns him and beats him down and some of the other goofs. They have ruined him as soon as they made him, which is so sad to see. You just don’t treat a champion this way. But I will say that if they had build Jay the right way and not screwed the pooch, this could have also worked better, but they messed it up and it did not work.
Storm and Eric Young: Drinking Buddies – I like comedy. I like Eric Young, James Storm and Jackie Moore. That all being said, there are some things that do not belong on PPV. And much like Pizza eating contests, this one of those things. At No Mercy I was pissed that they ran a pizza-eating contest, and I don’t like TNA doing something similar here. Yes it was funny, I liked it, but it SHOULD NOT have been on PPV. People do not pay $30 to see a drinking contest, just like they don’t spend $40 on a pizza-eating contest. Maybe, maybe we could have had people that cut good promos, cut good promos. Maybe we didn’t have to keep cutting to the back like always. Maybe we could have concentrated on the in ring a bit more. This was really stupid to have on PPV.
Well like just about every TNA show there was some damn good wrestling that reminds you that the company has so much potential and a great roster. And like just about every TNA show there were ref bumps, wacky backstage stuff that wasn’t needed, over booking and so many things that remind you of what is stifling such a great roster. Overall I will go with a 6.25 out of 10. It was not horrible, but wasn’t great. You need to see the Cage vs. Kaz ladder match, it was great and they did a great job of making Kaz a star. Also the MCMG’s vs. 3D match was well done, and something to see. Other than that, it’s a show you can miss.
And I’m out of here!
