Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 05.18.09: WWE Superstars, TNA Impact and ROH on HDNet Reviewed!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.18.2009


Daniel Wilcox joins the R’s crew on a full time basis as the R’s look at Superstars, ROH and TNA Impact!

If you haven't already, make sure you bookmark 411 or better yet, set us as your homepage! As always, thanks for choosing 411 for all of you pop culture needs!

With things getting hectic, rather than neglect shows, like unfortunately happened last week when I hurt my back, I have enlisted some new personnel. Daniel will cover Impact from now on, and is excited about the chance. Treat him well. So this is how things will work most weeks. This week there will be three runs of the R's, due to the PPV, and due to Andy Clark and the Shimmy taking the next two weeks off:

- Today: TNA: Wilcox, Superstars and ROH: Me

- Tomorrow: SD: Jeremy, Judgment Day: Me

- Friday: Raw: Jeremy, ECW: Me, Retro TNA: Me



In HD where available…


By: Daniel Wilcox

iMpact! 05.14.09:

THE RIGHT:

Chris Sabin w/ Alex Shelley vs. Christopher Daniels: First of all I would just like to point out that I hate having to refer to the Fallen Angel as just Daniels, it sounds really stupid and no doubt it is going to take some getting used to. Now then, our opening match of the evening saw two X Division pioneers and former champions going at in one-on-one action in a continuation of the Motor City Machine guns' quest to reveal Suicide's identity. Daniels, of course, does not appreciate the accusations that he is Suicide and so we get this match. While I have my issues with this match, like the fact that the crowd were essentially dead throughout and they only got about five minutes or so, this was a really good way to kick off the wrestling portion of the show as both guys are more than capable in the ring and they have great chemistry. Daniels has to fend off interference from Shelley but still manages to get the win in what was a fun if brief match. Of course, the real issue here would be played out later in the night, which leads me nicely on to the tag team match from later in the show.

The British Invasion vs. Amazing Red & Suicide: This would be the second semi-final in the Team 3D Invitational Tournament, with the winners going on to face Beer Money in the finals at Sacrifice. Pre-match, Team 3D cut a promo in the back saying that they thought the tournament was going well, and then they get laid out by The British invasion, which was a nice tough to keep these guys looking strong even if it does increase the predictability of the winners of this tournament and indeed this semi-final. Regardless, the two teams went out there and had a pretty good match, not great, but good enough, and it ended with the Guns coming out and laying out Suicide with a double super kick allowing Doug Williams to finish off with a knee drop from the top to get the 1-2-3. So now we have the Invasion vs. Beer Money in the finals, in what should be a fairly good match.

Post match, the Machine Guns take out Amazing Red to ensure he does stop the de-masking process of Suicide. Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed show up to help out because they too want to see who's under the mask, of course expecting Daniels. Well Daniels shows up to make the save and together he and Suicide clean house. While this was the inevitable way to book this, it is also the most effect way and now hopefully this will set up some kind of triple threat tag match at the pay-per-view, maybe with Suicide's mask on the line? Regardless, these segments have been some of the most enjoyable ones on Impact for the last few weeks and should have a decent pay-off down the line.

Joe and Nash Dominate: This was very nearly put into purgatory, but for reasons I'll explain momentarily, I feel that this was the right way to go. So Eric Young goes and asks Mick Foley for an opportunity and gets Samoa Joe one-on-one, in a match where the referee isn't going to DQ Joe regardless of what Joe does. Young got in some offence but ultimately feel victim to the Coquina Clutch and lost. Joe then carries Young to the back and dumps him in the trunk of a waiting car, which then speeds off. Now I do have one problem with this and that's that Joe is supposed to be the face going into his match at Sacrifice with Kevin Nash, or at least I think he is, and yet here he is beating up Eric Young, an Impact Zone favorite. So that part I didn't like, but more importantly this did the job of making Joe look like a bad ass heading into Sacrifice.

Later on in the show we get Kevin Nash vs. No Limit in a Handicap Match. They get in some offence early on, but Nash makes quick work of them, finishing with an awesome Jack-knife powerbomb. Now some people had issues with this as it supposedly makes No Limit look like shit. But Nash has a big match coming up at the pay-per-view, and Team No Limit don't, nor are they involved in any sort of program at the moment whereby they have to look relatively strong. So this was a good way to make Nash look just as tough as Joe as they head to Sacrifice. Plus, I could watch Kevin Nash beat guys up all day long. The Big Sexy Tour 2009 is coming to a town near you very soon.

Kong's Kippin' It Real, Killin' Bitches: For the past few weeks we've seen Kong tear through Angelina Love's entourage, Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky specifically, and this week Love called Kute Kip to come in as her back up. Now I'm not as down on Kip as most others are. He's a decent worker and I generally like his promo work as long as he's not trying to run down WWE and DX or whatever. Kip said he wanted to put Kong in her place and so they went one-on-one in a Stretcher match. Now while I appreciate the effort, Kong shouldn't have needed Raisha's interference to win this one, but whatever, that's a very minor complaint. In the end, Kong kills Kip with a chair shot and then a couple of big splashes with Kip's head stuck in a steel chair. The build up to this Knockouts match has been simple but effective (although it's about time they made it official for Sacrifice) and this was a good way to keep the angle ticking over nicely.

PURGATORY:

I Quit Match: Jethro Holliday vs. Booker T: So in order to hype the I Quit Match at Sacrifice between Booker and AJ Styles, Booker requested this warm-up match with Jethro Holliday, who by the way was a horrible choice to be Booker's partner, because you don't have a new talent say "I Quit" (or "I'm done") in their second match, a throwaway match on free TV as well. But, I do have to say that they at least did a decent job of keeping Holliday fairly strong here as he got in a few pretty good insults on Booker to make him look like he wasn't afraid of whatever Booker had to throw at him. Ultimately Booker had to use the steel chair to get the win, but only after Holliday got Booker into a position whereby he was nearly forced to quit, again keeping Jethro strong. So overall, this wasn't a bad segment although it's certainly not the way I would have done it, and as such it falls right into the middle, the purgatory.

Steiner Runs The Mafia: Kurt Angle was out of town this week, filming a movie in Hollywood or whatever, and so that left Scott Steiner in charge of the Main Event Mafia for the evening. Scott's main task for the night was to keep the peace between Sharmell and Jenna. This provided some pretty good comedic moments with Steiner trying to persuade each woman to apologize to the other, and then telling them both that the other would apologize. Obviously this didn't work out, but I did really enjoy Steiner's work here, particularly Steiner's interaction with JB. Of course, ultimately, this whole thing between Jenna and Sharmell is a waste of TV time and is getting nobody anywhere, so I can't possibly put it in the Right category.

THE WRONG:

Taylor's Secret Admirer: Yeah, I didn't really like this. So Taylor goes to meet her secret admirer, and it turns out to be Daffney, who's pissed off because Taylor did help out when she was having her hair cut. So Daffney puts a weak looking beating on Taylor and laughs manically. I like Daffney and I like Taylor, but this segment just came off as a bit of a mess really. On the flip side, it did at least give thirty seconds of hype to the Monster's Ball Knockouts match at Sacrifice.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Foley's DVD: So Mick Foley has really been playing a tweener in the last few weeks and I guess this was supposed to be his official heel turn. I hated this. They hyped the shit out of this all night and it was just a big disappointment in the end. Foley opens the show with a promo to hype this, which wasn't necessary at all because this is the kind of thing the announcers can hype throughout the show. So that was a waste of TV time. Then you have three or four segments with Foley in his office where he discusses this damn DVD and hypes it even more. Then we've got the numerous segments with Jarrett at home, taking his kids to school, hitting the clubs and all of this business, again hyping this DVD. It was all a waste of TV and as it just heavily built up something that wasn't that "dark" or "disturbing" at all. So Foley comes out to the ring and warns that we might want to get the kids out of the room, and shows the footage. It's Jarrett in the Asylum, getting jumped by Foley who goes to town on Jarrett with a steel chair, most of which we don't see because of the camera work. If this was supposed to be Mick's official heel turn, it shouldn't have been done in the form of a pre-recorded segment in Nashville. It should have been done in the ring. And at the end of the day this segment just did not live up to the massive amount of hype they gave it. It was poor and just fell flat. This was a really weak way to end an otherwise good show.

The 411

Once again Impact continues to fall into a middle ground whereby there's some really fun elements of the show and at the same time some really poor ones. This week, the bad stuff came in the form of main event interview angle and just as importantly, the huge amount of TV time that was wasted in hyping this segment. On the other hand, you had some decent wrestling in the form of the opener and the tag tournament match, and you had some decent build for Sacrifice with Booker, Joe, Kong and Nash dominating in squash matches, which ranged from dull to pretty entertaining. Overall, I think this show was hurt by the absence of Angle and the minimal use of AJ Styles and Sting, because there was just way too much focus on Foley and Jarrett here.

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: 6.5

---

By: Larry Csonka

WWE SUPERSTARS 05.14.09:

QUICK RESULTS:
- Rey Mysterio defeated Shelton Benjamin @ 13:00 via pin [***½]
- Christian defeated Mark Henry @ 9:00 via pin [*½]
- Big Show and Hornswoggle Bullshit [ASS]

THE RIGHT:

Rey Mysterio defeated Shelton Benjamin: The opening match of the show was the best thing on the entire show by FAR. First of all they had time, and that is crucial because as I state time and time again guys can't do shit in just four minutes. Secondly, kicking off the show with someone like Rey gets the crowd into the match right away. This was simply a really good back and forth match, with the right result. At the time Rey had the title match with Jericho scheduled and Benjamin had nothing. Rey gets the momentum heading into the PPV, and Benjamin got enough to make him look good, and never weak. They also added to the feud between Benjamin and Morrison as Morrison did commentary and they had the little scuffle afterwards. Overall I have no complaints here. On a closing note, it sucks that Rey got banged up, because it comes more often these days. I am afraid that the guy is just going to break down and fall apart, not that I want to see it happen, I just worry. But it also goes to show that Rey can still go and have fun matches. Shelton is a guy with all of the athletic tools and has been working well with the main players like Rey and Taker. I wish to God that WWE would get over their manager phobia and get this guys mouthpiece. Vince is worried about making new stars, and with someone to talk for him, Shelton could help out in that area, but I fear he'll never get the chance and stay in the limbo he seems to be in where he gets pushed, de-pushed, teamed with Haas and then it gets repeated.

PURGATORY:

Christian defeated Mark Henry:Christian vs. Mark Henry was our second match of the evening. Again, they had time to work, which is so important. Christian continues to bust his ass and he has been great since returning to the company. The champion had his hands full with the former champion and world's strongest man, but in the end he took the all important CLEAN win, as he should. Again, like the opener, the right guy won and got the momentum needed heading into the PPV, while not making his opponent look weak. Unfortunately the match wasn't very good, it wasn't bad, but I wished it was better. Good as far as angle goes, under performing match, so purgatory.

THE WRONG:

NONE

THE RIDICULOUS:

Big Show and Hornswoggle Bullshit: And then, then the MAIN EVENT of the show was this horseshit with Big Show and the Midget. Now, I get what they were going for. Vickie makes Cena work harder because he is injured and takes it easy on Show since she road the old night train with the big guy, I get that. Trust me, I more than understand the story. But the simple fact that they decided that THIS would make for the best main event on the show just shows how out of whack things are with these writers. I am sure one of the WRITERS, not bookers, writers back there though that this was fucking hilarious and that it would add some extra UMPH to the Cena vs. Show PPV match. If anything, shit like this makes me NOT want to see the match. They could have done so much better, do an old Andre challenge. Get 3-5 really pale, skinny and weak ass looking white guys and let show throw them around for 4-minutes, destroying them all in various ways. And then for shits and giggles, bring out Goldust at the end. Speaking of which, what was THAT all about? Likely they have some master freak fun planned for Goldy, the Midget and Festus that involved drag and butt plugs. Anyway, a failure of a way to close the show with no redeeming value. Next please.

The 411

In my opinion, Superstars continues to be an average show. Yes we got another good match this week, but outside of that, what did we have? Christian vs. Henry, which was passable and the RIDICULOUS Show vs. The Midget segment. This was the definition of the "downhill" show. Some will say that the show is fine, but to me it is completely average and is a show that you do not have to see, which works fine, because a lot of people complain that they can't see it. If you decide to search out some of the show, hit the opener, which even with Rey getting hobbled was tons of fun, and stop it there. You'll thank me later. The show will get a 6.0, and that's due to Rey vs. Benjamin.

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: 6.0

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By: Larry Csonka

ROH on HDNet 05.16.09:

QUICK RESULTS:
- Claudio Castagnoli defeated Brent Albright @ 9:00 via pin [**¼]
- The Dark City Fight Club defeated Grizzly Redwood and Alex Payne @ 2:00 via pin [SQUASH]
- Jay Briscoe defeated Sami Callahan @ 2:00 via pin [SQUASH]
- Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated Rhett Titus and Kenny King @ 10:00 via pin [***]

THE RIGHT:

FLAIR SETS THE TITLE MATCH: The biggest news coming out of the show was that the first ROH World Title Match was made on the show. Danielson and Black seemed to be the top choices, and if you didn't check the spoilers, you likely would have expected a triple threat match with Lynn. Flair called out Lynn, Aries, Danielson and Black to the ring, and once again, Austin Aries comes off as THE STAR, no pun intended, out of the group of four guys that are not Ric Flair. Seriously, push the man to the fucking moon, he has IT. Flair's official announcement was that it would be a four way, which pleased and displeased the challengers at the same time. I am all for it as it should be a great match. One other thing I loved is how Flair puts over Lynn as THE man to beat, and even the, "You hold the ropes for the ROH World Champion" bit. While some will complain about Flair needing notes, I would rather him do that and get all the shit right rather than come off looking like he didn't know anything. This was a good segment and set us up or title match, I like it.

Claudio Castagnoli defeated Brent Albright: In a rematch from a previous edition of ROH on HDNet, Claudio Castagnoli and Brent Albright waged war once again. They had a fine opening match and have a good chemistry with each other, and I tend to enjoy their matches. Good action, and just when it appeared as if Albright would get his victory, Dirty Ernie and Prince NANA came to the ring. The distraction allowed Claudio to jack Albright in the junk once again and steal another victory. The post-match beat down was a failure however, as Colt BOOM BOOM Cabana made the save for Albright. The match was good, not great, but it was there as set up for Claudio's relationship with the NEW EM BAH C, as well as to add Cabana into the mix as an ally for Albright. It followed the already established angles, and will lead to a tag team match down the line, and this worked. No complaints.

Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated Rhett Titus and Kenny King:The ROH Tag Team Champions finally made their debut on TV as a team, and they took on the team of King and Titus. I love the tag team of King and Titus, as they are fun, and they make you pay attention in the ring and when they talk. As I talked about in the Superstars R's, they got time, the right team won, and while they won, the challenger never looked weak. This was good stuff, and I would like to see what they could do with more time. So the match is good, the champions stand tall and then…WOLF ATTACK, howllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll~! They stated last week that they wanted the titles, and this week they made the statement completely clear as they beat down the champs and put Generico through a table. Good main event match and a great angle to finish the show. Not a complaint in the house from me on this one.

PURGATORY:

The Dark City Fight Club defeated Grizzly Redwood and Alex Payne: Once again we had a very fun killing from the Dark City Fight Club, and that is fine. ROH has been very careful in how they have presented The Dark City Fight Club, and so far, so good. These guys look like monsters and have been nothing but fun to watch. In the next six episodes we will be working towards a tag team title match, and while that happens, you have to wonder how The Dark City Fight Club will fit into the mix. While the ROH roster is generally unknown to the "mainstream" wrestling fans, some names are familiar, but The Dark City Fight Club are complete unknowns unless you follow Florida wrestling. They are smartly building them up and making them look strong, and that is a good thing. The selection of opponents had also been well done, because they look huge and get to show off like they are beating on their little brothers. But also, they are beginning to press the limits. I feel that they have to get these guys some real competition soon, because you can only do the same match so many times. Also, with the recent injury to one of the guys, they are likely out for the next set of tapings, which will slow their build, which is unfortunate.

THE WRONG:

Jay Briscoe defeated Sami Callahan: Briscoe and Callahan had a completely forgettable 2-minute match this week, one that really didn't need to be on the show. Again I have to stress that this is an instance where they could have used this 5-6-minute window to run some promos or video packages to help us get to know more of the talent, or to help establish some angles on the show, even DVD highlights to push the live shows. I feel that this is something that they are missing the boat on. Hell, the point was to keep the Briscoe Brothers in the public eye, so why not a kick ass video package of them doing all of their cool shit? It would have meant much more than this forgettable squash was.

THE RIDICULOUS:

NONE

The 411

This was a pretty damn good episode of ROH TV. Flair set the title match up, which we can now look forward too. Albright and Claudio continue their feud, with the EM BAH C and Cabana now introduced into the feud, which will also lead to a tag match down the line. The tag champs made their debut in a god match and the Wolves laying them out sets up for the upcoming title match, all good things, while The Dark City Fight Club continue to look like beats. We really could have done without the Briscoe vs. Callahan match, as that time, again, could have gone to DVD highlights or other video packages to push the feuds in the company, but overall, a good show this week.

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: 7.5

---

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

-WWE BACKLASH {7.5}
-WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {7.3}
-TNA GENESIS {7.2}
-TNA LOCKDOWN {7.2}
-ROH CAGED COLLISION {7.1}
-WWE WRESTLEMANIA {7.0}

-TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {5.5}

-TNA DESTINATION X {3.5}

---

2009 TOP PPV Match Rankings:
-[WRESTLEMANIA] – HBK vs. The Undertaker (*****)

-[ROH RISING ABOVE] - ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Bryan Danielson (****½)
-[NO WAY OUT] – THE SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****½)
-[BACKLASH] – LAST MAN STANDING: Edge vs. John Cena (****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)

-[WRESTLEMANIA] – MONEY IN THE BANK (***¾)
-[CAGED COLLISION] #1 CONTENDERS MATCH – Tyler Black vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries (***¾)
-[CAGED COLLISION] ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH – Nigel McGuinness vs. El Generico (***¾)
-[TNA LOCKDOWN] – PHILLY STREET FIGHT: IWGP vs. TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH – Team 3D vs. Beer Money (***¾)
-[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)

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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
-[WRESTLEMANIA] – HBK and The Undertaker – Stealing the Show
-[ROH CAGED COLLISION] – Nigel McGuinness – Better Than You Sugar Nuts
-[TNA LOCKDOWN] - Christopher Daniels – Pulling Double Duty
-[BACKLASH] – Edge and John Cena – Stealing the Show

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2009 TOP TV Match Rankings:
I will update as often as needed.

-Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 04.25.09) {****}
-Evan Bourne vs. John Morrison - (ECW: 04.14.09) {****}
-Christian vs. Jack Swagger - (ECW: 02.24.09) {****}
-Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena - (Raw: 01.12.09) {****}

-Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 05.09.09) {***¾}
-Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries – (ROH on HDNet: 04.04.09) {***¾}
-Beer Money vs. Team Canada – (Impact: 02.19.09) {***¾}
-Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles – (Impact: 01.22.09) {***¾}


-Edge vs. Chris Jericho - (Smackdown: 05.15.09) {***½}
-Rey Mysterio vs. Shelton Benjamin - (Superstars: 05.14.09) {***½}
-Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho - (Smackdown: 05.08.09) {***½}
-Edge vs. Kofi Kingston - (Superstars: 04.23.09) {***½}
-John Cena vs. Chris Jericho - (Raw: 04.20.09) {***½}
-Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin - (Smackdown: 04.17.09) {***½}
-Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy - (Smackdown: 04.10.09) {***½}
-Primo vs. The Miz - (ECW: 03.10.09) {***½}
-Edge vs. John Cena - (Raw: 03.02.09) {***½}
-Lethal Consequences vs. Motor City Machine Guns – (Impact: 02.19.09) {***½}
-Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin - (Smackdown: 01.09.09) {***½}

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And I'm out of here!



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