Wrestling’s 4R’s Tuesday Edition 03.31.09: TNA Impact, ROH on HDNet and WWE Smackdown Reviewed!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 03.31.2009

It’s the Tuesday Edition of the 4R’s, and I have to ask, do YOU have WrestleMania fever?

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, ROH on HDNet 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.

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In HD where available…


By: Larry Csonka

iMpact! 03.26.09:

QUICK RESULTS:

- X-Division Title Match: Suicide defeated Kiyoshi @ 4:35 via pin **
- The Beautiful People defeated Awesome Kong and Riesha Saeed @ 4:15 via pin *½
- Samoa Joe won the 20-Man Cage Gauntlet @ 45:00 ***¼

THE RIGHT:

Opening Talky Bit: The opening interview was good, in that they set up the main event of the show, which was not only focal point of the show, but built to the PPV's semi-main event match. I like these sort of things. Cornette came off well as the authority role, and that is a nice change, Angle delivered as always and so did Jarrett, just like they have been for some time. It all worked because of what they were working towards, a main event for their show that had a major impact on the PPV. This is booking 101, it is clean, it is simple, and it is something that they need to do more often, because people really dug this. Although I have to ask, if Jarrett was so consumed with Angle not winning the match, a point that was a running angle, why as the FOUNDER OF TNA didn't he just kick him out of the match and the building? Come on, sometimes we need to use common sense.

Rough Cuts/Tenay Sits Down With Beer Money and 3D: Once again one of the few things that have been really well done for a while now have been the rough cuts segments. Now while Team 3D really don't need it, it works very well right now due to the fact that they are building to the big winner takes all tag match with Beer Money. Which led into the sit down interview with Mike Tenay. Usually these thing have the right idea behind them, but tend to not come off well at all. But this one was excellent, partly due to the fact that Tenay didn't have much to do with it, and because the guys had a mission and they went out there to accomplish it. Ray was putting over the fact that this match, which would be in their backyard meant so much because of that and due to the fact that they could add another title to their legacy. On the other side of things, Beer Money is getting more serious, and they want to set their legacy by defeating "the greatest tag team in wrestling history" at the PPV. The build has been good, the promos good, and I have high hopes for their tag team match at the PPV.

Mick Foley and Sting Have Words: One thing is for sure, while Sting and Foley may not be able to deliver a great match, they are doing a good job of delivering on the mic, and creating interest in the match that they will have. Foley was goofy a bit, but was also partly insane, the good insane. The way he discussed why he hit Sting with the chair was hilarious and over the top, but in a good way as he discussed saving the LIFE off Jarrett because he thought that Sting was going to harm him! But Sting wasn't laughing, discussing how he tried to protect Foley in the match. Foley said the chair changed it all, and now he has that feeling. A lot of people have complained about the "people aren't talking about that other wrestling show in April" line, but come on, that is harmless as compared to the other shit they have done. What did you want Foley to stay, "Hey, I know that WWE has WrestleMania…and Backlash…and that ROH has a PPV, and I know we're old and may not be able to deliver, but hey, please buy our PPV" FUCK THAT SHIT, they NEED to act like they are the biggest game in town from time to time, especially when building their PPV main events. Good emotion, good hype, good mic work, and while I have my reservations regarding the match, the build is being handled well.

20-Man Gauntlet Inside Six Sides of Steel: Let me get this out of the way, I HATE when they use the CAGE to build to the ALL CAGE PPV. It makes no sense and should be held back and kept special FOR that PPV. But that being said, I loved this, because TNA decided to use something that they do well, wrestling, and a lot of it to not only highlight the show, but also to help build to one of the top matches of the PPV. As much as Tenay and West can be annoying, they did a good job in selling the match, the heat with Jarrett and Angle was good going into the match, and I dug that they had AJ and Abyss start the match, in the cage, where they have history. Considering that they did a gauntlet in a cage, I thought that the match was laid out very well. This could have been such a disaster due to having too many people involved and such, but really, who ever the agent was that laid this out did a good job. The guys that always work had did so here and gave us some excitement, Angle was booked like a complete beast and that worked perfectly into the angle, especially the attack on Jarrett. While some of the eliminations I will agree came a bit too quickly, they were usually due to Angle "cherry picking" so to speak, it worked. Simply put it was quality, it was easy and fun to watch and served its purpose well. Great job TNA, and I am happy to say that. Thanks for the wrestling on my wrestling show!

PURGATORY:

Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed vs. The Beautiful People w/Madison Rayne: Much like last week, this isn't as much about the match as it is about the angle. The ladies tag was a fine match, fine as in it was not bad, but nothing you'll remember with great detail. I thought they kept a good pace and worked hard in the time given, and the Beautiful People picking up the victory was needed as they continually get beaten like a drum. They also continued their angle where they tried to cut the hair of Kong, but they were foiled. They are obviously headed towards the multiple-person Queen of the Cage, and part of me wonders if they will pull the hair stipulation again as the Beautiful People and their MI PI SEXY subordinate Madison Rayne have been working the angle.

THE WRONG:

Suicide vs. Kiyoshi: Broken record time: The X-Division title match on Impact was another example of everything that is wrong with TNA. First of all they have the title match with no build or explanation. What exactly did Kiyoshi do to earn a title shot? He already had on eon March 5th and lost, and come to think about it, I believe he has lost ALL of his singles matches but like, one so far. They have a good match, for the time given, which was about 4-minutes. HOW the hell do they expect to have quality matches when they give no time and WHY should anyone care about TNA Title matches on TV when they get no time? Huh? ENLIGHTEN ME! It is just stuff for the sake of doing stuff and it helps no one.

Samoa Joe Doesn't Understand Words: This is something I have to talk about, and I know that some people had no issue with it, but I did, and since it is my column, I will discuss it. They spend the first half of the show hyping this gauntlet and how important it is to be a captain of the lethal lockdown match. INSANE hype to it, which is fine since they dedicated nearly half of the show to it. I dug that, and I thought that it was good planning. But then, after the match, I really feel that Joe damaged a lot of what they worked to do there. They interviewed him about being a captain of one of the lockdown teams, and he basically said, "Eh, fuck it, I don't want it." Now, I get that they want Joe to be a bad ass and I get that he wants to take out the Main Event Mafia, but the way he just threw shit away didn't make good sense. NOW, if Joe had said, "I don't want to be the captain, I just wanted to make sure I was in the match and could make sure that the people fighting with me would have my back," then it makes sense. I just didn't like the way it went down, the power of words are a magical thing, and they really need to understand that.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Oh hey…Scott Steiner's ok…: All right, seriously, I HAVE to call them out for this. At Destination X it appears that Joe killed Steiner. But then last week on TV, we discover that he is thankfully alive. The bad news was that Scott Steiner was apparently so scarred and beaten from Joe's attack that not only was his face covered, but also he was wearing the full MEM body gear. Tenay made sure to put over that Steiner must have been so scarred that he was ashamed and didn't want to be seen. Then, THIS WEEK, Scott Steiner is back, wearing his regular gear and looking completely fine! WHAT? WHO? HOW? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? Not only is this poor continuity, but it just proves how stupid and useless the angle with Joe and his knife attack was.

The 411

I have to say, TNA looked good last week. Back to back shows that were overall good and focused. This week's edition was a workman's show, focused on the PPV with the gauntlet taking up nearly half of the show. There were some things I didn't like, but the point is this, they worked to hype the PPV, and they HAVE to work hard to sell this show, because hey have to compete with Mania AND Backlash. Throw in the ROH PPV, and the wrestling fan's dollar is spread thin. But they have Sting vs. Foley set, the winner takes all tag match set, and lethal lockdown set. So far, so good, and if they could control some of the silly shit, they'd be in even better shape.

As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale. Also, PPV rankings can and will likely change through out the year:

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

SHOW RATING: 7.9 of 10

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By: Jeremy "NOT LARRY CSONKA" Thomas

WWE SmackDown 3.27.09

THE RIGHT:

EIGHT-MAN MONEY IN THE BANK TAG MATCH (PART TWO): On the last Raw, they promoted the Money in the Bank match by having an eight-man tag match featuring all the MITB competitors. Of course, since variety is the spice of life, SmackDown gave us…an eight-man tag match featuring all the MITB competitors. Now I know, I know, they shuffled the teams up a bit. Basically, the heels (and Finlay) traded Mark Henry for Christian; I think that SAG and the Portland Trail Blazers need their negotiator, for the record. So right off the bat this loses some points from me for a complete lack of originality. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate these eight guys going at each other for a while, but seriously, how hard would it be to liven things up? Hell, that sounds like what I would do when I was feeling bored and uncreative with my TEW simulation game. Personally I think it would have been a more interesting thing to give us a four-way tag match, something like Punk & Kofi vs. Christian & Finlay vs. Mark Henry & Kane vs. M.V.P. and Shelton. Yes, I know that's got a heel and a face, but it makes as much sense as Henry teaming with Kofi, right? My big complaint with the Raw Eight-Man tag fun was that it was too short and degenerated into chaos too quickly; this didn't have that problem, as it was given more time and they followed a the multi-man tag match formula pretty well. We also had brief touch inter-team chaos going on, with Kane attacking Finlay, and they gave Shelton and Montel some time in the ring, which worked because of their feud. It also allowed the production and announcing teams a chance to promote Shelton's rematch against M.V.P. on SmackDown next week. And of course at the end all hell broke loose and everyone brawled with each other, which was nice to underscore the "every man for itself" feel and gave us a preview of what could happen with the ladder spot. Everyone got some time to shine here and the match was decent for the most part; while I'm irritated they couldn't think of something more creative than running the same type of match twice in one week, this delivered on what it needed to.

REY REY vs. CHAVO GUERRERO: Hey, it's a "Fuck the Brand Extension" match! Listen, I get that they let the Brand Extension boundaries go wild when WrestleMania comes around and that's totally okay, especially when you have inter-brand feuds. But the Intercontinental Title is a Raw title, held by a Raw wrestler and being challenged for by a Raw wrestler. Why bring it to SmackDown? Anyway, Rey Rey had the crowd popping hot for him as always, and that probably helped play into the bigger-than-normal heat reaction Chavo got. J.R. and Tazz get some mad, MAD props for not bringing Eddie's name into this match; it must have been tempting to do, but they refrained. The reason this is good is because Rey Rey doesn't need the Eddie pop anymore; that time has long passed, and he gets his own pops just fine. The match itself was actually really good work by both guys, and Chavo got to look more impressive than he has in a long while against Rey, a guy he knows and works against well. Both guys worked fast and didn't have any serious botches; it looked like Rey didn't get the distance on his springboard moonsault that Chavo caught, but they covered it well. In the end Rey Rey got the pinfall as was expected and needed, and JBL came out to ruin his celebration with a Bog ol' Boot to drive the ‘Mania sell home. I was quite happy with everything involved here.

MATT LOVES DOGS & JEFF LOVES HIS TATS: After a recap video that seriously ranks as one of the best the ‘E's done in recent memory—seriously, if you can find it you need to check it out because they did a phenomenal job of making the feud look like the hottest thing ever—we saw Matt backstage with a cute little Jack Russell terrier. Matt gave an absolutely fantastic promo here, referencing Jeff's house fire again and the death of his dog. The crowd was really into it and Matt was playing it just beautifully. He didn't go too maniacally evil, he didn't play it for laughs, he just let it run and it sounded more natural than any promo he's given in a long while. Matt's really on top of his game with this feud and he's been building his promo skills into something that's finally good. He's not great or anywhere near the top of the echelon in that field, but he's building the skills that may just make him legit main event material, and if he does I couldn't be happier.

A little while after that, we saw Jeff's pre-taped promo, which featured him displaying his tattoo sleeve but hiding his face as he sat in a chair to address his brother Matt. Jeff's promo here wasn't as natural as Matt's, but the level of emotion in his voice worked very well and it makes sense for Day-Glo's character to be talking in an anguished speech pattern. The gist of his promo was that Matt was sick, and Jeff would be his healer…presumably by beating the crap out of him. Overall this was not at the level of Matt's promo with the dog but it was still good, and once again I love the way the Brothers Hardy are selling this match, as it seems very important at this point and I'm on board with that.

R-TRUTH vs. MATT HARDY: You know, I should totally rap my way into every place I enter. It certainly makes Truth popular…though I doubt it would work quite as well at my local movie theater when the show's about to start. Matt, of course, was just as hated by the crowd as he was at the end of his interview portion, showing that it wasn't just the cute dog factor—though I bet that helped. Once the bell rung, Matt and Truth had a good, solid match that was well-paced for being as short as it was and really did a good job of making Matt look like a star. Truth got some offense in but was kept on the defensive for most of the match, and Matt looked aggressive, wrestled smart and got some good momentum coming out of the match. I would have liked for the match to be a little longer but in this case I can forgive it, as it was more a matter of there being no room on a busy show than it being cut down due to too much filler. It was a solid match and the crowd was nicely into it, which is really all you can ask for.

THE COLONS & BRIE vs. MIZ, MORRISON & NIKKI: In what was essentially a WrestleMania preview match, we got the Tag Title Unification match with a Bellas added in on either side. On a side note, the Colons' music needs to be extended a bit; it's pretty sad when it has to loop before they even get to the ring. Luckily for us (and for our excellent SmackDown recapper JP Truss), the Bellas are now wearing different outfits; it's worth saying that Nikki was looking much hotter in red than Brie was in pink. Obviously this feud's been going for a while and the two tag teams have been working together for just as long, so this had expectations of being a good match; it didn't disappoint, and allowed them to go at it with enough of a factor in the Bellas being competitors to keep the match from being a potential feud-ender. MnM 2.0 worked in a couple nice spots on their offense, while the Colons lagged just a touch behind but did all right themselves. Carlito broadcast the signal of his Roll of the Dice a bit much, and I don't really like how he's using other people's finisher as a transitional move but really, who takes that move seriously as a finisher anyway? The Bellas didn't get heavily involved but they had enough their moment mid-match which popped the crowd and changed the dynamic just enough. It could have been better, but I was happy with it all in all.

HE'LL NEVER GET CAUGHT, HE'S ON A MISSION FROM GOD…: We got to the main event promo, scheduled to be Shawn Michaels's tribute to the Undertaker, and what should come down the ramp but a bunch of druids. Wait…no, not druids…instead of black robes, these guys were in white. (For the record: yes, I am more than aware they can still be druids if they're in white.) We then got an epic, orchestral-sounding theme music that served as an excellent counter to Taker's entrance music, and a man in white walking down to the ring. It was none other than HBK himself, doing a phenomenal mocker of ‘Taker's entrance. The production values for this were as good as the Dead Man's, and that just helped it work beautifully. Shawn's promo here was just top-notch as he recited biblical lines and used the light-dark contrast to differentiate himself from Taker. We all knew that Jericho was going to do phenomenal mic work leading up to ‘Mania and he did; I thought that Shawn and Taker would do good work, but not THIS good. They've both been absolutely at their best and this was, quite honestly, one of the best. I know there are some people who don't like Shawn using his religious beliefs as a wrestling angle but I don't see the problem at all; he's talking about his faith, not anyone else's, and that is his right. Better yet, Shawn still had an almost-heel edge to his persona, with the smarmy smile on his face after taking the white hat off and the sudden shift to his proper theme music at the end; it's all working quite well. I was very pleasantly surprised by this promo, much like I was his Raw one, and with the Heartbreak Kid that says a lot.

PURGATORY:

BIG SHOW vs. JESSE & FESTUS: You know, I could complain about how Jesse and Festus are doing nothing to help the tag team division, but since we have the Tag Title Unification match at ‘Mania and I've never been able to give a rat's ass about Jesse and Festus I think I'll pass. This was about what you'd expect, with Jesse and Festus just getting the very tail end of their entrance and Show getting his full on, then Festus loses his mind and the tag team promptly gets jobbed out. Again, I have no problem with the Biscuits and Gravy team getting squashed, because the ‘E's given me no reason to care about them. Frankly, I think Festus got a little too much offense, since the point of this should have been to show how dangerous Show is, even against two men. It was what it was, and the in-ring wasn't very good but at least it got the point across. It was a bad match but made its point, which gets it out of the pure "thumbs down" category. Just not by much.

THE MAKING OF A RAW MATCH: You know, I don't think anyone will disagree with the assessment that, even as good of an announced as Jim Ross is, sometimes he overstates things. When Cena came out, J.R. didn't overstate a damn thing…the crowd erupted for him (albeit possibly due to post-production wizardry). If human beings could start secreting lava, they would have done so here. Cena came down to the ring and let the announcers plug his movie once more before he launched into a promo that really…was okay. Cena's done basically tolerable promo work in this feud to date, and this was no different; it wasn't bad, but didn't seem particularly inspired. He took a moment to give us yet another shot of someone pointing up at the WrestleMania XXV logo—yes, we get it, ‘Mania's coming, we haven't forgotten—before he once again pointed out that he was stuck in more of a soap opera than a wrestling match. Cena busted out "I feel like I'm on the outside of a love triangle, staring in at the once-coveted World Heavyweight Championship." Uh, John…I got some news for you. It feels that way because that's exactly what it is. The point here was to drive home the dynamic—Show and Edge are the heels who would work together but are fighting over Vickie, thus giving Cena the edge because he's focused solely on the Title. This brought the Big Show out and he got in Cena's face, blathering something about how Cena mocking him made him stronger; honestly, it was completely uninspired work that reminded me more of Show's earlier ‘E days in quality. This led to the making of a match for Raw between the two, and I guess that's good, though I'm sure it'll turn out with the same formula—both men fight it out, Edge interferes and attacks both men and stands tall. I wasn't very impressed with this segment at all, though I suppose it wasn't actually bad per se.

THE WRONG:

MICHELLE McCOOL vs. MARYSE: Ostensibly, this was Michelle's official rematch that she never got for the Butterfly Championship. In reality though, the entire point of this match seemed to be to re-introduce Gail Kim to the WWE audience. Michelle was looking especially like Sarah Jessica Parker tonight as she made her way to the ring, while Maryse was just plain hot. The match got off to an especially silly start, as they kept their collar-and-elbow lockup held strong all the way through the ropes to the outside, got back in, and then…went into another lockup. Yep, these two girls hate each other, all right. It picked up from there as the girls started trading submission maneuvers, but once they got outside the ring it all fell to crap and never picked it back up. Maryse's hook kick to Michelle's back looked more like a hook shove, and they were just suffering through from there until Gail was suddenly on the top rope to take out both of the Butterflies and pose with the belt. Listen, I'm all for Gail Kim finally showing up on ‘E programming, and she's going to do the Butterfly division a world of good. But this seemed like a lackluster debut that was tacked on to a bad match, and that just doesn't work for me.

THE RIDICULOUS:

DID YOU KNO…ERR, I MEAN THE WORLD IS WATCHING!: Okay, title it something different guys, you're still not making these stupid things work. "WWE is available in more Television Households in China than the NFL and MLB combined." In other amazing, unbelievably impressive news: Bollywood films sell more tickets on the Indian subcontinent than they do in any other part of the world, Tasmanian Devils attack more people in Tasmania than on any other island and David Hasselhoff sells more albums in Germany than in Antarctica. Freaky Germans.

The 411

While there was some stuff I was disappointed about this week, for the most part SmackDown delivered in a very big way. A lot of good matches plus some phenomenal promos by Michaels, Matt and Jeff highlighted the show, leaving the few iffier parts—the Cena/Show promo, the Big Show handicap squash and the Butterfly Title match—as distant memories by the close of the program. It was an iffy few weeks there for a bit, but after a couple solid shows SmackDown is right back on-track and building up to WrestleMania quite nicely.

SHOW RATING: ***½

Comment Time With Jeremy!

We had several people offering very different reactions to the Santino/Mickie match then I did. Without reprinting each comment, let me just offer the following thoughts:

Misawax9: I believe I do have a funny bone in my body; it's called the humerus, and unless I had one of those things where you wake up in a vat of ice with a body part missing for black market sale it's still there. That said, I'm glad you laughed at it; there were a few amusing moments but ultimately it did nothing for the show. There was no build for the Battle Royale, it didn't do Mickie any favors, and it certainly didn't do Santino any. I can sure as hell laugh at a well-done comedy segment (and have spoken of doing so before), but even comedy segments have to have a point, especially when it's referencing a match on your biggest show of the year.

Westin: Santino performed quite capably, I'm not arguing that. It wasn't the performances, but the booking that killed this one.

Shockmaster: The easiest way to spend weeks building to a battle royal would be by having a variety of matches. Have Beth dominate a mini-royale one Raw, and Michelle do it that week on SmackDown. Then you could have them go one-on-one; a clean loss doesn't hurt either in terms of the battle royale, and you don't have to go clean anyway. Have a Butterfly vs. Raw Ladies tag match or reveal some of the mystery entrants. I can see several ways to build it, and as such I think they would have been better-used.

Empire of Ownage: I laugh at a lot of things. I have a lot of good comedies in my movie collection, and I love Santino's comedy most of the time...just preferably when he's being built up at the same time. The problem here is that it just buried him once again, and eventually the damage will be irreparable. Santino's capable of more than this and it disappoints me every time he's made to look like a complete waste of space to the casual fans.

woooooo and KanyonKreist: You guys hit the nail on the head for me. These comedy matches would be fine, but he needs to win one every now and then, otherwise he's not just a joke, but he's a joke who can't wrestle. Every segment should have a purpose in building to something greater or blowing off a feud, otherwise you're just tossing filler up and I hate filler. If they want to do comedy with Santino than fine, but let him win a match every now and then. Bt my count (and I may be wrong) Santino hasn't won a match since he lost the Intercontinental Title ro Regal. That was in October. Ouch.

The Great Capt. Smooth: I wouldn't mind a Dolph/Santino tag team, honestly. They're both decent-to-good in the ring and may well find more success as a team then as individuals right now.

Okay, onto other comments:


From Brad:
The segment on Raw was fantastic, great, loved every bit of it. Minor detail though... Orton has no shot in hell of winning now unless some lame ass heel turn from someone named McMahon is coming.
I live for the day Orton beats HHH clean!

Can't say I agree...I think Orton still does have a chance to win. Maybe not cleanly (much as I'd love that), but he does have Priceless on his side. We'll have to see how it goes, though.


From Litas Biggest Fan:
well Kofi did beat Kane to get into the chamber in february, so cole made no mistake.

Which would be all well and good, but they said that Kofi beat Taker to get into Money in the Bank, as I stated. Which, clearly, is not the Elimination Chamber. Excellent try, though; thanks for reading!


From Barry O:
Okay, reference was made to Brian Kendrick being in the doghouse for something he did backstage....what happened? I don't recall reading anything about it. It sucks if he did something stupid, because I was enjoying his heel run.

TBK is in the doghouse for two reasons. First, he's apparently quite a fan of the ol' Mary Jane, which in the current Wellness environment is not a good thing. Second, he was supposedly not listening to feedback from the road agents, which is sure to get one in hot water. So unfortunately, Kendrick's digging his own hole that hopefully he can soon climb out of.

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By: Larry Csonka

ROH on HDNet 03.28.09:

QUICK RESULTS:

- Kevin Steen defeated Eddie Edwards @ 7:54 via pin **½
- Sara Del Ray defeated Daizee Haze @ 5:30 via pin *¾
- Claudio Castagnoli defeated Alex Payne @ 6:24 via pin *
- Nigel McGuinness defeated Jay Briscoe @ 12:10 via pin ***

THE RIGHT:

Kevin Steen defeated Eddie Edwards: The opening match of the evening was Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards. The smacktalk segments worked well, as they not only introduced us to the performers, but also they worked in some angle for us. We learned that Steen was one half of the tag team champions and that his partner, El Generico, was taken out by Edwards and his tag team partner. We know who they are, are introduced, formally to our first champion, we know why they are fighting and we have a match possibly set up for later on TV. These are all good things here. And we got introduced to LARRY FN SWEENEY, which is always a plus in my eyes. The match itself was good. It was a strong back and forth effort from both guys (although we heard the ref way too much, more on that later) with just the right amount of action to keep the crowd, but also not to over shadow the main event later. It served its purpose. Steen got a measure of revenge over one of the men that hurt his friend and partner, and now we wait to see the story unfold. The show was off to a good start.

Nigel McGuinness defeated Jay Briscoe: The main event was the debut of RH World Champion Nigel McGuinness taking on former multiple time tag team champion Jay Briscoe. They did a good job of putting both guys over as well as their accomplishments, which is important when introducing guys to a new audience. The pre-match promos worked well, Nigel with his Rory Breaker (™Dunn) promo, and the Briscoes with their MAN UP DAWG mantra worked well. When all was said and done, they had a strong TV main event, with Nigel carrying the psychology (I know you're shocked) and getting the CLEAN, hard fought victory. When the program was over, one thing was for sure, Nigel McGuinness looked like a star, and that is a good thing.

PURGATORY:

Sara Del Ray defeated Daizee Haze: Outside of the miscommunication at the beginning, this was a solid, if unspectacular match. That's not necessarily a bad thing mind you, just an honest evaluation. I thought that the pre-match smacktalk segments did a good job of establishing their roles, Del Rey dominant, Haze as the underdog. They had a solid, toned down match, but for the most part, a better match than you'll see on WWE and or TNA these days from the ladies. I wonder if ROH will use the ladies as a full part of the show, or as an occasional thing to break up the show. If they are, they will need more ladies under contract, and if they plan on that, they need to get on the horse and get who they can before TNA or even WWE decides to do some more raiding of the SHIMMER roster. The ladies will be a nice addition, one I look forward too, but this week was a little hit and miss.

THE WRONG:

Claudio Castagnoli defeated Alex Payne: In many ways I suppose that this particular match wasn't bad. In theory it was to be an extended squash, again fine in theory, but it didn't work out that way. I get that they wanted to give Payne some hope and make him look like he had a chance, and that is fine. Give him some shine, and then a brief comeback. Unfortunately they didn't do that here. He got way too much in against Claudio in such a short time that it, in my opinion, defeated the purpose of what they wanted to do. To put it bluntly, Claudio is a star, Payne is a job guy. If they weren't going to have Claudio straight murder the guy, they sure the hell shouldn't have given Payne so much in the match. Also, even with the extra offense, NO ONE CARED about Payne. Hell I thought that they turned off the sound during the match. The bottom line is this, the match did neither guy any good, and the match itself wasn't that good, so it finds its way into the wrong this week. Sorry guys, that's just the way it is.

HEY…SOUND GUY…: Dear HDNet Sound Guy,

You were hired to help enhance the ROH product, to make it sound professional. This week, I felt that you made two huge mistakes that hurt the show. The first was in the opener. For some reason, you felt that the referee in the match needed to be heard. This was not only annoying, but also was one of those "business exposing" things that the kids are always talking about. I am ok with hearing him say, "break it up guys" and other match related things that we should hear. But I don't need to hear the official say, "comeback now" or "take it home". Accidents happen live, but this is a post-produced show with a lot of time to work on these things, that never should have made the broadcast.

The second thing was during the Claudio Castagnoli vs. Alex Payne match. Now, listen, I don't want you to "sweeten" the sound and add noise that wasn't there, but is there anyway that you can enhance the sound that was there? The match was dead as it was, but if you could help out the existing sound, I think most people would appreciate that.

Hugs and kisses,

Larry T. Csonka

THE RIDICULOUS:

NONE

The 411

ROH 101 continued this week, and it was a fine show, but nothing special. Last week I made some comments about people having to deal with the "new ROH' as it pertains to TV. Here is what I meant. ROH fans HAVE to get used to a "TV Style" product, because #1 they haven't had it in the past and #2 that is what the company is going for. So that is why they have to get used to it. They are using this show like most wrestling companies do, as an infomercial. They are hoping to boost live attendance, boost DVD sales, boost PPV buy rates and get a longer and better TV deal down the line that will mean more money. Also, I said, "Maybe they were too careful, maybe they SHOULD have tried to reinvent the wheel as they say, but again, this is supposed to be an introductory to the show." Week one was a solid show, a good introduction, but it was also NOTHING SPECIAL. "maybe they SHOULD have tried to reinvent the wheel" means that perhaps they SHOULD have taken the chance and been totally different. But they didn't.

This week we had another good, not great main event, a good opener, a solid, but flawed women's match and the one I didn't care for. It is fine for week two. As I stated, ROH 101 continued this week, and that is what these first six episodes are, and they get a bit of a pass on some things, like the way that they are slowly introducing the characters and now a little of the angles and also introducing SWEENEY and NANA. They have to keep that up and by week seven, they have to be producing a more complete show, for lack of a better phrase. Also, I hope by week seven that they amp things up a bit and introduce more of the "ROH" that they are famous for. But for right now, as far as introducing the product, they are doing a "good" job, and the show is an enjoyable "wrestling" show.

As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale. Also, PPV rankings can and will likely change through out the year:

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

SHOW RATING: 7.0 of 10

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2009 PPV Rankings:
-ROH RISING ABOVE {8.0}
-WWE NO WAY OUT {8.0}

-WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {7.3}
-TNA GENESIS {7.2}

-TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {5.5}

-TNA DESTINATION X {3.5}

2009 TOP PPV Match Rankings:
-[ROH RISING ABOVE] - ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Bryan Danielson (****½)
-[NO WAY OUT] – THE SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****½)

-[ROH RISING ABOVE] – I QUIT MATCH: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries (****¼)
-[TNA GENESIS] - Kurt Angle defeated Jeff Jarrett (****¼)
-[TNA GENESIS] - X-Division Title Match: Alex Shelley defeated Chris Sabin (****¼)
-[NO WAY OUT] – THE RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****¼)


-[TNA DESTINATION X] - X-Division Title Ultimate X Match: Suicide defeated Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal (***¾)
-[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH (***¾)
-[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – WWE TITLE MATCH: Edge defeated Jeff Hardy (***¾)

2009 PPV MVP AWARDS:
Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.

-[TNA GENESIS] Sabin, Shelley, Angle and Jarrett – Rocking The House
-[ROH RISING ABOVE] – Danielson and McGuinness - Defining the ROH World Title
-[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – RVD – The Joke Pays Off
-[NO WAY OUT] – EDGE – The Ultimate Opportunist

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And I'm out of here!