Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of Impact & Smackdown

How the 4Rs of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO times a week. We will group our feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and needs discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a “mark” column, nor a “smark” column, our goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. We will not apologize for our opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.

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By Daniel Clark
Smackdown 3.19.15
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* Paige def. Brie Bella at 2.25 by pinfall
Dolph Ziggler def. Daniel Bryan, Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose, R Truth and Stardust at 36.14 by pinfall in a gauntlet match
* Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Natalya def. Los Matadores and El Torito at 3.39 by pinfall
* Roman Reigns def. Kane and Seth Rollins at 5.11 by pinfall

THE RIGHT:
The Gauntlet Match: The Gauntlet match was a match of two halves. The first part with Ambrose, Stardust and R Truth was terrible and completely counterproductive. The second part with Bryan and Harper was quite good. And then the concluding match between Bryan and Ziggler was fantastic. Ambrose pinning Stardust inside a couple of minutes and then just needing one move to R Truth just makes them look like jokes who should not be anywhere near a title match at WrestleMania and other than stealing the belt have done nothing in kayfabe terms to deserve to be included in the match. However, once Luke Harper got involved, the match picked up and he had a good little match with Ambrose and eventually picked up the win, and then had a very good showing against Bryan, dominating the majority of the match, before having to tap out to a heel lock. The final part of the gauntlet between Bryan and Ziggler was every bit as good as you would expect from them and set the scene for a future feud between them if they wanted to go down that route, with Ziggler being a bit more heelish following on from his pre-match promo where he just said that he is better than Bryan. But as good as the match between Ziggler and Bryan was, arguably the best thing about this gauntlet match is what happened after it. For the majority of the time, Bad News Barrett, although the champion, has been treated as a bit of a joke. But he comes out here after Bryan and Ziggler have completed their lengthy match and just beats the hell out of the them both, leaving them lying in the ring. BNB finally was given a chance to look dominant and look like a champion, and he took it here.

puRgatoRy:
Los Matedores and El Torito vs. Tyson Kidd/Cesaro/Natalya: The match was fine, but the only real problem would be that it doesn’t help the tag team title situation. At Mania Kidd/Cesaro will be defending the belts against Los Matedores (and other teams), but none of them four men were involved in the decision in this match, and the tag team title situation was sort of put on the back burner so that lame jokes could be made about this being an inter-gender/inter-species match.

Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins and Kane: There was nothing wrong with the main event really but it was just a bit bland. Mark Henry gets taken out beforehand, leaving Reigns on his own, but that doesn’t matter to him as he gets the win anyway, picking up a victory over Kane. Randy Orton then makes his appearance by sneak attacking Rollins from behind, starts to RKO all of Rollins’ security, before standing tall at the end of the show. This wasn’t necessarily bad, but also, was just so predictable and was obvious to anyone who has ever seen wrestling how it would end. It does make Rollins keener to get vengeance on Orton, but Reigns/Lesnar is the main event of WrestleMania and sort of feels as if it is being treated as a sideshow rather than the main match that it is.

THE wRong:
Roman Reigns opens the show: If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were due to face each other at WrestleMania rather than being in two different matches. Reigns starts the show and before he can say anything, Mark Henry comes out, and says that he expects Reigns to beat Lesnar at WrestleMania. But before anything can come of that, Seth Rollins comes out and then the segment changes direction entirely with him talking about how Randy Orton won’t be here tonight and it is for his own that he doesn’t show up. Because there is no creativity, we get a tag team main event involving these guys and Kane for the main event. The segment was dull and plodding, and didn’t do anything that made me want to watch WrestleMania.

Brie Bella vs. Paige: Very similar to the divas match that we saw last week on Smackdown. They wrestled a bit for a couple of minutes and then Paige picked up the win, this time with a rollup. It’s hardly legendary build up for a match at WrestleMania and having Brie lose so quickly, even if it was almost a ‘fluke’, doesn’t help to sell the Mania match at all. It’s again almost like they have run out of ideas and just throwing them on the show just to remind you that there is a match.

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 411:
WrestleMania is next weekend? Because coming off this show, you certainly wouldn’t have said that was the case.

As we get closer to WrestleMania you are supposed to be getting more and more excited for the show, but instead, I seem to be getting less and less interested in it. If the WWE cannot be bothered to do anything remotely exciting, interesting or innovative on the road to Mania to keep me interested, then why should I try to care? And for the first time in a long time, watching Smackdown actually felt like a chore to get through, which considering once you skip through all the adverts, recaps, entrances, and the other superfluous highlights from Raw, it took less than an hour to watch.

This episode of Smackdown essentially felt so meaningless and in truth, absolutely nothing of any consequence happened at all, which given we are a week from WrestleMania, is pretty damning. The IC title gauntlet match started off badly but got quite good by the end and finally allowed BNB to show some dominance and act like a champion, but didn’t exactly change anything or further any of the mini-rivalries between the men in the match.

Roman Reigns picked up another win against Seth Rollins and Kane, but it still feels like he is feuding more with the Authority and less with Brock Lesnar. Given the stories heading into the main event of WrestleMania the last few years (Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority, Cena vs. Rock x3, Shawn Michaels’ last match, HHH vs. Randy Orton), there is no comparison to what we have this year. Lesnar and Reigns have barely interacted and this doesn’t feel as if we are watching Reigns’ dream of being in the main event and the culmination of his aims either. Reigns wins again, but even a week away from his match with Lesnar, the focus is taken off him and put onto Randy Orton attacking Rollins in a moment everyone could see coming.

Take out the last half of the gauntlet match and this was a completely uninspiring episode of Smackdown that did more harm than good in hyping up the audience for WrestleMania, and yet again, the majority of the names who are to be featured in the top matches were only seen on the show in recaps and videos rather than actually appearing live to do something to advance the feuds that they are. This was a nothing show that didn’t really need to exist given the lack of anything actually happening on it.

WrestleMania is next week. Every single segment at this time of the year should feel meaningful and important. It should advance feuds and take things to do the next level. They should get you excited about WrestleMania. This episode of Smackdown accomplished none of these things.

Show Rating: 3.6

As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…

0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect

By Jericho Ricardi
Impact 3.20.15
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
* The Wolves won Tag-Team Ultimate X (over The Revolution and The BroMans) at 10:00
* Austin Aries def. Samoa Joe via DQ at 7:00
* Rockstar Spud def. Low Ki via pin (Underdog off the top) to become the NEW X-Division Champion at 0:11
* Taryn Terrell def. Gail Kim and Awesome Kong via pin (Rollup on Gail) at 7:00
* James Storm def. Matt Hardy via pin (TWO Superkicks) at 7:00
* Kurt Angle def. Bobby Lashley via submission (Ankle Lock) to become the NEW World Champion at 20:00

THE RIGHT:
Angle Vs. Lashley: This was good before it even started, with the guys getting MMA-style extended intros before their music fully kicked in. The match itself was awesome, with that “big fight feel” once it got going. It felt like they were doing everything in their power to break the “TNA MOTY So Far” record set by EC3 and Spud last week, with both guys going all-out. This match would have been at home at a WrestleMania with the amount of finishers that got applied; both guys had that extra HP meter that a big match necessitates. Lashley put Kurt Angle over really well, as did the commentary and I’m guessing the plan now is for Angle to eventually collide with EC3 to finally welcome EC3 to the top tier.

The Company’s Treatment of Tapping Out: Taz was good at emphasizing how tapping out is a sign of intelligence and something that you can find yourself with no choice on. WWE portrays tapping out as a huge failure, something that means you’re a quitter. However, in the real world, tapping out is something that you do to prevent injury when you have no avenue of escape, not because you’re a wimp. Well, most of the time. WWE can make tapping out a huge black mark within their universe and that’s fine – it made for an amazing moment at WM13 – but the thing is, thanks to UFC it’s more common knowledge these days that there’s no shame in tapping out to an opponent when left with no choice. It makes you smart as opposed to a quitter. TNA seems to be going by that real-world logic with their treatment of tap-outs, as evidenced quite a bit during this show, and I think that’s a good move in the present day.

Robbie E is Depressed: Everything Robbie does these days is entertaining. Him being too ashamed to show his face this week because he lost to Brooke, after all of his bluster, is pretty funny. They should run with this and have him just appear backstage every week like “nah, I’m good, you guys go without me” for the next month. Robbie E reminds me a little bit of Shawn Michaels’ late-97 heel persona, totally full of himself and his own hype until he gets knocked down a peg by somebody.

Strange Bedfellows: The opening match was a lot of fun, and definitely better than the last time a show started with a six-man X-Division schmozz. Thankfully the Giant Red Birdcage is in the dustbin of history. In any case, what started as a three-way tornado tag match quickly became a four-on-two. Jesse Godderz is starting to look like a real threat, Manik and Sanada finally got some match airtime, and the Wolves retained in front of a very pro-Wolves London audience. I’m glad that Manik and Sanada represented the Revolution, and I feel like this should have been the case all along with the faction. Let Abyss and Koya fight the one-on-one battles, with James Storm above the fray of needing to fight with midcarders (as he should be) until a real threat emerges. This segment was some good, gimmicky sports entertainment.

Massive Headwound Spud: Spud’s cash-in was very well-timed, as he got to celebrate with his people. Good to see The Underdog get a big win before they leave the UK, even if he came up short against EC3. Supplemental Wrong to the referee for not being on the ball with handing Spud the belt. The guy had to run around looking for it! WTF, ref? This was a feel-good moment for Spud and the audience, and I’m interested to see where Spud with a belt will take us. The guy is a talented high-flyer, and could be great as champion if he gets to have a real reign.

Bragnus: There wasn’t much to this, but the whole deal has a very WWF 1999 vibe to it… in a good way. Backstage brawling, wife getting involved to kick the bad guy in the face… good stuff here. The Magnus/Bram feud has been well-built and continues to be a major part of the show. It has that “blood feud” vibe about it that makes me wonder how either guy could ever move on from it, but this is pro wrestling so I’m sure they’ll find a way.

Roster Predictions on Main Event: Hey, this was really awesome and I’d like to see this kind of thing again. It added a lot to the main event buildup. Also, Al Snow sighting!

Knockouts Title: It was pretty cool how Tenay wasn’t here to make any three-way jokes. Instead we got reminders that Taryn used to be a referee, which is very true. She has done pretty well for herself. This was basically Taryn and Gail Vs. Havok II: The Kongening, ending up more of a handicap match than a three-way. Not sure how I feel about that particular booking. I suspect they’re going for a Joe Vs. Styles Vs. Daniels deal here, but while Joe was a bit stronger than the other two guys, he never dominated both of them to the extent that Havok and now Kong dominates Taryn and Gail. This match made Kong look like she should be the rightful champion, and given that she’s the “heel” here (as much as she can be with the respect the audience has for her) I’m not sure that’s the right move. Regardless, the match was really good and had some very intense work from Taryn and Kong. I feel like Gail was just sorta there to take the pin, but she’s bulletproof so whatever.

Matt Hardy and James Storm Present TNA Hardcore Revolution: This felt kind of passe. Was fun, at least, with both guys making a pretty solid effort to entertain us. James Storm landing on a pile of tacks should have been a much bigger deal than it was, instead of the announcers barely paying any attention to it. Storm also had waaaay too difficult of a time putting Hardy away. Matt Hardy single-handedly dispatching the entire Revolution at the end was a bit much, as well. At least the right guy won, and this feud is still interesting with Jeff Hardy returning next week. Whole thing reminds me of an old-school NWA feud with the participants being extra-rough in the pursuit of destroying the other team just because they can.

puRgatoRy:
What happened to the vocals in Megatron?: Whoa whoa whoa whoa (This song is douchey!) Whoa whoa whoa whoa (Like those Final Fantasy 15 guys!) Whoa whoa whoa whoa (But I like it anyway and think they should include the vocals again, quite frankly. That said, I think most other people would agree that this beat is fine without the vocals)

Angle Vs. Lashley should be a bigger deal: This isn’t a knock on the company really, they did everything they could to make this a big deal. However, it just didn’t seem like as big of a deal as it would have if this show were on, say, NBC. It really felt like this was the biggest match the company could muster right now and yet a shot in the dark at the same time.

THE wRong:
WHERE WAS EC3: The guy really needed a promo on this show just to follow up on last week’s match. Instead, he was nowhere to be found. EY and Bobby Roode were also missed and should have made at least brief appearances, but EC3 in particular was very missed. He should have done a short-to-medium promo in front of the crowd to crow about his victory over Spud. The no doubt completely venomous response from the British audience alone would have made it a great segment. Normally I’m an advocate of opening with a match instead of a promo, but this time around I’d have opened the show with EC3 rather than the X-Division schmozz, which was good but forgettable.

Dairy Queen ads during the Knockouts Title match: Yeah. WTF.

BDC and Austin Aries: Aries brawling with Samoa Joe is always a good time, but I’m not sure what the point of this was. The DQ ending made the match feel like it didn’t matter at all, but at least Aries got his briefcase back and Spud cashed in. The match leading up to all of that, though, was weird and didn’t really benefit anyone. If this was Samoa Joe’s last TNA match, you’d think they could have done something better with it, given it some sort of importance. Then again, TNA isn’t that good at utilizing guys correctly on their way out. They made Bully Ray into their undisputed top guy last year and he didn’t put anyone over on the way out. Which isn’t any kind of knock on him, as I’m certain he’d have been thrilled putting over someone like EC3 at the end; the company just didn’t utilize that opportunity. Same thing happened with Joe here.

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 411:
This was a very good show, sorta part two of last week’s show. Not much to complain about here at all, though I think EC3 needed to make an appearance and Samoa Joe’s low-key (heh) exit of the company felt like a total waste. Other than that, nearly every segment was good and accomplished something. The company is on fire right now with most of the people who are actually watching it, but with reduced visibility, is internet praise enough to combat the existing stigmas that linger around the initials TNA?

Cheap plug time, support this site and this column by sharing it with your homies. Also, support my site Coronajumper.com by reading my musings on video games, including TNA Impact for the PS2/PS3. Featuring gratuitous Rebel.

Show Rating: 8.3

As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…

0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect

The 974th edition is over…