wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4R’s PPV Edition 12.18.07: WWE Armageddon 2007
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How the 4R’s of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R’s all to its own. I then 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. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 5th or even a 6th R to the column, so beware of those~! I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether very positive or negative.
The Matches:
WWE US TITLE MATCH: Rey Mysterio defeated MVP @ 11:35 via Count Out **½
Mark Henry and Big Daddy V defeated CM Punk and Kane @ 10:45 via pin *½
HBK defeated Mr. Kennedy @ 15:25 via pin ***½
#1 Contender’s Match: Jeff Hardy defeated HHH @ 15:30 via pin **** Match of the Night!
Finlay defeated Khali @ 6:10 via pin * Trash of the Night!
WWE TITLE MATCH: Chris Jericho defeated Randy Orton @ 15:10 via DQ ***
WWE WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Beth Phoenix defeated Mickie James @ 4:50 via pin *¾
WORLD TITLE MATCH: Edge defeated Batista and The Undertaker @ 13:06 via pin ***
WORLD TITLE MATCH – Once again I am glad to see Smackdown getting another main event. For so long they weren’t getting it when Cena was on top, and I understood that, but they didn’t even get a bone tossed their way. They had a good match here. They kept a really good pace as the match never really slowed down, and I loved the dynamic of Taker and Batista fighting over who got to kill Edge. Edge played chicken shit well, especially for one part when Batista found himself trapped in the triangle choke, and Edge snuck over and rang the bell. Taker thought he won, the ref denied calling for the bell and this allowed Edge to sneak around the ring and get back into the match. Sneaky, chicken shit heel tactics that I really enjoyed. And then, there were three Edges. Yes, many speculated and it has been confirmed that it was in fact the Major Brothers who were the extra Edges. Taker would take out one and Batista the other, both thinking that they had taken Edge out. Taker would then get the tombstone on Batista, and it is then when Edge returned and jacked Taker with a chair, and he then pinned Batista. This worked on many levels I thought. Edge is with Vicky because he wants the title back and then are determined to rule the brand. They also had Edge pin Batista again, keeping that going and the fact that Edge screwed Taker. Finally, I love that they are trying to give the Major Brothers a rub. They are green and need a lot of work, but if they can get a push out of this and play distraction for Edge to keep Taker away for now, then it works, and I am down with that.
HBK vs. MR. KENNEDY – Next we’ll discuss HBK vs. Mr. Kennedy. This was just a smartly booked wrestling match. Kennedy is still green in many ways, and HBK is hurting because of the knees, so they had to have an idea of what they wanted to do to hide these deficiencies, and focus on what they two of them could do well, and that is what happened. Kennedy tried to be a house of fire to begin things off, but the more experienced Michaels was able to get back control and did some Finlay-Like work of the left hand. HBK had control until they brawled to the apron and Kennedy was able to slam him to the steel post, and then the work of the back began. Kennedy was focused, a minimalist in a good way and made things matter. HBK made his comeback, but Kennedy was smart enough to avoid a superkick. Unfortunately for him he got caught up in the moment and threw a big left hand, which hurt him and this allowed HBK to get the superkick and get the win. I loved this because the handwork paid off and led to the finish. A damn good grappling match. In the end a lot of people are complaining that Kennedy got BERRIED, and I feel that this is far from the truth. They had a good match, with a lot of back and forth including a long heat segment by Kennedy. The only reason he lost, as mentioned, was that he sold the hand, which was worked on a large part of the match, so in the end it meant something. It was also a similar play to the way HBK lost the Survivor Series match, he just got caught. There are times that a guy can lose and come out looking good, and I feel that this was the case here. This is likely far from over, and a Kennedy win will happen and if done right will mean a lot more then that it would have at Armageddon.
HARDY vs. HHH – And now we move onto the #1 contender’s match, HHH vs. Jeff Hardy. This was a big test for both me, because Jeff has a lot to prove as WWE is considering a bigger push for him, and for HHH because he hasn’t had a great performance since returning from injury. Add into that the fact that HHH hasn’t exactly been very “giving” in circumstances since coming back, and that was another thing to take into consideration. Now early on they laid out what the story was. HHH was owning Hardy, and Hardy was hesitant. HHH then pimp slapped him and demanded he fight. Jeff would answer back and the match steadily built up through out. Outside of Jeff flubbing the barrier run on the floor, the clash of styles actually worked very well. It was the grizzled veteran doing what he does best and taking advantage of the mistakes of the risk taker. HHH looked to win after Jeff missed a swanton, but that wasn’t the case. Jeff escaped one pedigree try and then when HHH went for another, he got the double leg and roll up for the surprising victory. Some have complained about HHH’s reaction, as he had a grin when he lost. I disagree. It was a look like, “Fuck me, I got what I asked for.” This was a damn fine match, I really liked it and thought it was the match of the night. Another really good match on this show.
US TITLE MATCH – The opening match of the show was the US Title match, featuring MVP defending the title against Rey Mysterio. I thought that this was a good choice to open the show, as Rey is over huge and got a big reaction and he and MVP have show some good chemistry. They got nearly 12-minutes and worked really hard. They worked some fun spots, including a sweet springboard super RANA. At one point Rey looked to tweak his knee on a slip, but recovered and didn’t look seriously injured. The action went to the floor, and it was then MVP took the count out loss. And that is the problem, that they ran the count out finish. They ran this finish at Cyber Sunday against Kane, and yes, while it fits the MVP character, this is the kind of thing that you run on TV in order to add heat for the PPV match. They made the mistake a few weeks ago of MVP defeating Rey, that should have been the count out and the win should have been here. Rey hasn’t been being built up for anything, and the win on PPV would have been important for MVP. And then there is the excuse some are making that “WWE was backed into a corner.” BULLSHIT. They weren’t booked into anything, they have control, and this was a stopgap until Hardy gets back, which I understand. I hated the finish, and I felt it hurt what was a rather strong match.
WWE WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH – This show featured a defense of the WWE Women’s title as well, and with Beth and Mickie involved I had high hopes for their performance, but as I feared they weren’t going to be given the proper time to have a good match and tell a good story. They got just under 5-minutes and the ladies worked very hard, and did about as well as you could expect in 5-minutes. The sad part is that as mentioned, they once again got jack shit for time. The crowd was also dead for this, first of all because they were in the cool down spot before the main event and secondly, WWE doesn’t treat the division seriously enough to make their fan base care about the women’s division, which is sad because they have some chicks that can work and if given time to build a feud and a good PPV slot, could do well. Finally, the other issue is that this was just a stopgap measure until Candice comes back. Which is a shame, but that’s the case right now.
PUNK and KANE vs. BIG DADDY V and MARK HENRY – While the match didn’t look pretty on paper, I do have to admit that it wasn’t bad. There were actually points in the match where it looked pretty good. The feud has been built well on ECW TV, and while Kane and V/Henry have been having BAD matches, and even Punk has looked bad in there with them at times, the booking had been decently sound. Sure I dislike that Punk has been downplayed and that he isn’t currently in a proper title feud (going into the match) but this worked, because as I said if we defend all of the titles on all of the shows, then they mean nothing. In that aspect I am fine with him not defending the title here. They worked the monster formula, Henry and BDV controlled and beat down Punk. After a while he got the tag and they beat down Kane. Henry and BDV were monsters, they controlled, whet they did looked fine and it worked well. The end saw Kane take Henry to the floor and take out Matt Striker as Punk ran wild on BDV. Punk went for the springboard clothesline, but jumped into the Samoa Drop (HE’S NOT EVEN SAMOAN) and pin. This finally gets BDV away from Kane and into a proper program with Punk, and while not the most exciting of feuds, it is something. The match severely lacked, it didn’t suck, but wasn’t exactly good either. They got 10-minutes and it felt like 20, in a bad way.
Finlay vs. Khali – Oh yeah, time to discuss the bad of the night. First of all I love Finlay, the man rules and I have enjoyed the career resurgence that he has had. Khali at times is absolutely horrendous, but has proved that with the right guy and the right match layout he can be at the very least passable. They had their match, which was 6-minutes or so; 3-minutes of it consisting of a nerve hold by Khali. In the end Finlay got the win when Hornswoggle brought in a SHACKALACKI and Finlay pummeled Khali with it and got the pin. The right man won and this wasn’t “horrible,” but it was far from good. Unfortunately something had to fall into the wrong section and this was it. A good try by Fit to make the match not suck, but it still wasn’t good.
Jericho vs. Orton Let’s start off with the good news. Randy Orton showed once again that he can do the job as the champion. Even though I have issues with the booking of Orton and feel that he has been booked weakly, his in ring work has been good and he is bringing it. In more good news, Chris Jericho looked really goon in this match. Basically, he was Chris Jericho. He didn’t look like he lost a step and I thought he did very well in his first real test back. They went 15-minutes and Jericho didn’t seem to have any cardio issues, which is good news. They set a good pace and just worked a good, smart wrestling match. This was a theme for many of the matches this evening. They would brawl to the floor at one point, and Jericho would end up going over the SD Announce Table and onto JBL. He would then shove JBL and go back to action. They went back to the ring, Orton missed a concussion kick and locked in the Walls of Jericho. And then it happened…again. We got another DQ finish in a main title match on a WWE PPV. JBL ran in, kicked Jericho’s head off and that was that. The crowd, which did suck a lot of the evening, was going wild and then were instantly deflated. Now, they did the finish for a few reasons. I feel that this was a way to keep the belt on Orton while letting Jericho save face, while transitioning into the JBL-Jericho feud. I get that, I understand that, but why do you have to once again screw your paying customer. Sure in theory this works, but as I have said time and time again, it only works and means something if it isn’t a regular occurrence. But it is a regular occurrence in WWE, especially in this 2nd half of 2007. Let’s break this down for those who may have forgotten.
#1 – WWE Summerslam: WORLD TITLE MATCH: Batista defeated Khali @ 7:00 via DQ
#2 – WWE Unforgiven: WWE TITLE MATCH: Randy Orton defeated John Cena @ 7:33 via DQ
#3 – WWE No Mercy: ECW TITLE MATCH: CM Punk defeated Big Daddy V @ 1:45 via DQ
Three matches all in the 2nd half of this year, three DQ finishes to screw the paying customer. As I have said, it only means something if you don’t do it a lot. They have been doing it too much to mean anything, hence even if it works in theory, it just seems like bullshit booking to get out of delivering a finish. And then there is the excuse some are making that “WWE was backed into a corner.” BULLSHIT. They weren’t booked into anything, they have control, and they are the ones that messed up. I don’t want to hear the excuse, they are the ones they super hyped Jericho, they shoved him to the title match ad they are the ones that just weeks in have made him just another guy. A 2nd tier player. If this doesn’t annoy you in some way, shape or form the I feel bad for you. Appaently that last line offended some people, but I feel if you pay for a show you should get treated to the best show possible, not bullshit. Anyway, I guess it’s true what they say, “a fool and his money are soon parted.” Thankfully I don’t have to pay.
For once it is nice to say that WWE put on a good “wrestling” card. There was a lot of good wrestling on this card, if you take out the Finlay/Khali and ECW tag match, this was possibly the best wrestling card from WWE all year. Unfortunately they just couldn’t let angles and the in ring story do the work, they had to let the booking fuck it in the ass with a railroad spike. Another count out finish for MVP and another DQ in a title match. Yeah, such bullshit. The fact of the matter is if this was a TNA PPV people would be calling it a pile of shit, and since I have decided to stick with what I have been saying for years, people are on the attack because this is WWE. Oh well. Overall I will go with a 7.0 out of 10 for the show. There was a lot to like on the show, but once again the DQ especially angered me to no end. It is stuff like this that really hurts a good PPV like this. A slight recommendation from me, I would wait and buy the DVD for $15 because I don’t know that I can tell you to spend $40 on this.
–ROH MAN UP 9.6
–ROH Driven 9.25
–WWE Backlash 8.5
–ROH Respect is Earned 8.25
–WWE WM XXIII 8.0
–WWE Royal Rumble 8.0
–TNA Bound for Glory 7.75
–TNA Slammiversary 7.5
–WWE Survivor Series 7.4
–TNA Victory Road 7.4
–TNA No Surrender 7.3
–TNA Sacrifice 7.25
–WWE Armageddon 7.0
–TNA Final Resolution 7.0
–TNA Lockdown 7.0
–WWE Cyber Sunday 6.75
–WWE One Night Stand III 6.5
–TNA Genesis 6.25
–WWE New Year’s Revolution (RAW) 6.0
–WWE Great American Bash 6.0
–TNA Against All Odds 5.9
–TNA Turning Point 5.75
–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
–(ROH Driven) #1 CONTENDER’S MATCH: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness ****¾
–(ROH MAN UP) ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE LADDER WAR: The Briscoe Brothers vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico ****½
–(TNA Sacrifice) TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Chris Harris vs. James Storm ****½
–(WWE Royal Rumble) LAST MAN STANDING WWE TITLE MATCH: Cena vs. Umaga ****¼
–(WWE Backlash) LAST MAN STANDING WORLD TITLE MATCH: Batista vs. The Undertaker ****¼
–(WWE Backlash) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton vs. Edge ****¼
–(ROH Respect is Earned) ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Mark and Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal and Claudio Castagnoli ****¼
–(TNA Bound for Glory) Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe ****¼
–(ROH MAN UP) ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima ****
–(ROH Driven) ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico ****
–(WWE Armageddon) #1 Contender’s Match: HHH vs. Jeff Hardy ****
–(WWE Cyber Sunday) WORLD TITLE MATCH: Batista vs. The Undertaker ****
–(WWE No Mercy) LAST MAN STANDING WWE TITLE MATCH: HHH vs. Randy Orton ****
–(WWE Royal Rumble) The Royal Rumble Match ****
–(WWE WM XXIII) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels ****
–(WWE ONS III) LADDER MATCH: The Hardy’s vs. TWGTT ****
–(TNA Slammiversary) KING OF THE MOUNTAIN MATCH: Angle vs. Harris vs. Cage vs. Joe vs. AJ ****
–(TNA Destination X) NWA TITLE MATCH: Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe ****
–(TNA Genesis) #1 CONTENDER’S LADDER MATCH Christian Cage vs. Kaz ****
–(TNA Lockdown) LETHAL LOCKDOWN MATCH (Team Cage vs. Team Angle) ****
–(WWE WM XXIII) MONEY IN THE BANK III ***¾
–(WWE Summerslam) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Randy Orton ***¾
–(TNA Final Resolution) 30-MINUTE IRON MAN MATCH: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe ***¾
–(TNA Victory Road) MATCH OF CHAMPIONS: Joe and Angle vs. Team 3D ***¾
–(TNA Victory Road) Ultimate X ***¾
–(ROH Respect is Earned) Bryan Danielson and Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA and Nigel McGuinness ***¾
–(ROH Driven) Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero vs. Delirious, Erick Stevens & Matt Cross ***¾
– (TNA Genesis) Team 3-D (Ray and Devon) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Sabin & Shelley) ***¾
This is a little added deal here, as I feel that there are some other things that should be mentioned from the PPV’s. Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.
–Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: A Rumble to Remember – WWE Royal Rumble
–JBL: Solo Commentating – WWE No Way Out
–AJ Styles and Rhino: Elevation X – TNA Destination X
–Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: “They still got it!” – WWE WrestleMania XXIII
–AJ Styles: Almost Dies for his Craft – TNA Lockdown
–The Main Events: “We can step up.” – WWE Backlash
–Harris and Storm: Redemption – TNA Sacrifice
–Matt, Jeff, Shelton and Charlie: “Taking a Risk.” – WWE ONS III
–Jeff Jarrett: “Thank you Jill” – TNA Slammiversary
–Christopher Daniels: The Ultimate X reunites XXX – TNA Victory Road
–Ring of Honor Makes Major PPV Impact – ROH Respect is Earned
–Kurt Angle: The Angle Triathlon – TNA No Surrender
–Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness – ROH Driven
–HHH: Three Matches on Two Torn Quads – WWE No Mercy
–Sting: I’m 48 and Ripping Shit Up –FTW~! – TNA Bound for Glory
–Taker and Batista Do It Again – WWE Cyber Sunday
–Kaz: Welcome to the Big Leagues Kid – TNA Genesis
–Remember Me Deadman?: Edge Returns – WWE Survivor Series
–Mark, Jay, Kevin and El: Four Sick Fucks – ROH MAN UP
–Awesome Kong: Please Don’t Kill Me… – TNA Turning Point
–Every time a bell rings, an Edge clone is born – WWE Armageddon
