Wrestling’s 4R’s Tuesday Edition 06.16.09: WWE Superstars, WWE Smackdown, TNA Impact and ROH Take No Prisoners!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.16.2009

ROH delivers its last PPV for now, Samoa Joe runs wild on Impact and Smackdown is CM Punk’s house! Wrestling's 4R's breaks down all the action from Impact, Smackdown, Superstars and Take No Prisoners!

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In HD where available…


By: Daniel Wilcox

iMpact! 06.11.09:

THE RIGHT:

Alex Shelley and Jay Lethal vs. Team 3D: Our opening contest of the evening was a tag match involving two of the challengers for the X Division Championship at Slammiversary, Jay Lethal and Alex Shelley, against reigning tag champs Team 3D. Despite the ton of interference in this match I'm going to put it in this section because, first and foremost, it was a pretty good match, and secondly, it helped to further the issues between Team 3D and The British Invasion, as well as the communication issues between Lethal Consequences and the Machineguns, which should come into play at Slammiversary. As mentioned, the match was very solid with lots of fast-paced action and some pretty nice spots, so that's always a good way to kick-off the wrestling portion of the show. I would make qualms about the fact that 3D should be looking strong heading into the big tag match at the pay-per-view, but considering it took seven men to beat them here, that's not really much of an issue.

Nation of Violence First Blood Match – Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner and Booker T: Samoa Joe's quest to single-handedly wipe out the Main Event Mafia began last week with the demolition of Kevin Nash in the Six Sides of Steel and continued here with Scott Steiner and Booker T. The first portion of the match, Joe vs. Steiner, was really fun and pretty brutal with Joe tearing Steiner apart for a large portion of the match and then busting him open with some steel pipe shots. Joe looked dominant here, which is how it should be. The second portion was a much more even contest, but a shorter one, so that again enhances Joe. And I liked the more original finish of having Booker coughing up blood rather than getting busted open. But the most important thing here is that Joe looked like a bad ass without having to threaten anybody with a knife or anything stupid like that. For the second week in a row, TNA has done a top-notch job in their booking of Joe.

King of the Mountain Qualifying Match – Kurt Angle vs. Sting: Our main event of the evening was another clash between Kurt Angle and Sting, which wasn't really very well advertised, certainly not to the extent that it probably should have been, but that's neither here nor there. The bout was for the final spot in the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary. As we've come to expect from these two, the match was pretty good and importantly, it got plenty of time, which is a rarity for any Impact match at this point. I liked that Angle hit the Angle Slam early in the match, because the move is very rarely used to finish a match these days, but it was here and it worked better because Angle had already hit one earlier in the match; it would've seemed strange for Sting to get beat by just one Angle Slam. Regarding the finish, some don't like it, but this wasn't a pay-per-view match so I'm OK with it. I like the role Morgan has played so far, looking to earn his spot in the Mafia and now going a more direct approach by targeting Sting. The guy has the look, and is "a main event waiting to happen." Overall, this was a really good match and a great way to close the show.

Madison Rayne vs. Tara: So this match was Tara's official in-ring debut and was a warm-up for her title match with Angelina Love at the pay-per-view. Now I don't want to nit-pick, but if she faces Velvet Sky next week, it'll have to go in the purgatory because it seems all of Love's challengers go through the same process of facing the other members of the Beautiful People beforehand, which makes sense but will get old in a hurry. Anyway, this was essentially a prolonged squash, which is absolutely fine by me because Tara needs to look strong heading into the title match with Love. It was a pretty enjoyable match, if nothing special, but hopefully Tara can bring something back to the Knockout's Division which has been missing ever since Gail Kim left last year.

PURGATORY:

Eric Young with Jeremy Borash: Eric Young fun heel turn continued to pick up steam this week. Young had a backstage interview with JB where he essentially re-iterated the things he's been saying over the past few weeks. JB questioned Young and in turn got punked out with a slap in the face. This was a great dick move by Young to keep his heel character ticking over nicely, but at the end of the day I thought that they could have done more with Young on this show, because he was treated like a bit of an afterthought here when his turn has been the best part of the shows in the last few weeks.

AJ Styles vs. Shane Douglas: Shane Douglas got a chance to go one on one with Daniels' best friend this week in AJ Styles. The two did not have a great match. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't very good either and I don't think Douglas looked too good upon his return despite being in there with one of the best. I would say the guy really needs to get in better shape, but if he's only working with the company up to and including the pay-per-view, there isn't much need. That said, I really liked the post-match angle with Douglas getting a measure of revenge on AJ before Daniels attempts to make the save, only to get beaten down by Douglas and handcuffed to the ropes, and then Joe making the save for Daniels, continuing the theme of Joe trying to prove to AJ and Daniels that he has changed.

THE WRONG:

Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett Bullshit: In theory I really do not have much of a problem with this angle. But in practice, this just does not work. The problem here is that it's not clear who has the power to do what; multiple authority figures just does not work. Furthermore, this is taking the spotlight away from the TNA Championship and the pay-per-view coming up, which they should be focusing in on rather than this silly power struggle. What's worse is that this took up a ton of TV time during the first half of the show. We opened with the in-ring promo that accomplished nothing other than highlighting that Foley's security team is a waste of time. And then after the break we get more Jarrett promo time, which served no real purpose. After our first match of the evening, we then get yet ANOTHER interview segment, this time with Foley. After another commercial, we get a FOURTH segment with these guys in the space of about half an hour. This was just too much, a waste of valuable TV time that could have been given to the matches or used to actually hype either the upcoming pay-per-view or the big match that was this show's main event.

THE RIDICULOUS:

ODB and Cody Deaner: This is not funny. No one will ever take this guy seriously, and as a comedy character, he's not funny. So there's a problem. This needs to be dropped ASAP.

Taylor Wilde/Daffney/Dr. Stevie/Lauren/Raven Crap: I've lost track of where we're at with this Dr. Stevie bullshit. I've no idea what his motives are or what his purpose is in these angles. And I've seen two extremely bland Taylor/Daffney matches, and I've no desire to see more. Admittedly, Raven sitting around the Impact Zone like some kind of homeless person was funny in a perverse way, but none of this seems to have been thought out at all. Week-by-week booking rarely works. This has no direction and is a waste of TV time.

The 411

All of the Foley and Jarrett stuff really bugged me, but once you get past that this was another really solid episode of Impact. Importantly they (mostly) did a good job of hyping the major angles leading into the pay-per-view, but they also managed to give us some pretty good matches in the form of the main event between Angle and Sting, and the opening tag team match. Of course there were issues, like the frequent and ridiculous skits involving some of the Knockouts. And I do feel like there were far too many backstage bits that really didn't add anything to the show, and that's definitely something TNA could cut down on and give more time to the matches. But all in all, this was a good show and TNA is on something of a role.

SHOW RATING: 7.0

---

By: Larry Csonka

WWE SUPERSTARS 06.11.09:

QUICK RESULTS:
- Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes defeated The Bella Twins @ 3:25 via pin [*]
- Evan Bourne defeated Zack Ryder @ 12:00 via pin [**½]
- Chris Jericho defeated John Morrison @ 13:00 via pin [***½]

THE RIGHT:

Evan Bourne defeated Zack Ryder: While I didn't like the opener, the show picked up with this match. Bourne is proven gold thus far in WWE, and Ryder has potential, but I doubt that they will allow him to prove that. Bourne had his ribs taped to play off of the attack from the previous edition of ECW, and that became the focal point of Ryder's attack. Ryder, for the first time in my eyes, looked like a credible heel here. A good heat segment and good facial expressions really made him look like more than a goof, and that is a great thing. With the mat work on Bourne's ribs, this allowed a slower, bur deliberate pace, that all built for Bourne's big comeback and eventual shooting star press for the win. A good game plan and execution by both guys. The only problem is that Ryder has only proved the he can beat the job guys, and anytime he faces someone credible, he loses. He likely will be stuck in the spot he is currently in, which is a shame.

Chris Jericho defeated John Morrison: To close out the show we got another installment of Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison. To me, I think that these matches are a GREAT idea, even with Morrison losing. Morrison is still finding himself in the face turn, and working with such a strong heel will only help him there. Also, Morrison has so much potential, and working a lot with a top-notch worker like Jericho, again, only helps his cause. They got a good window of time to work with, and had a better match than their first outing on Superstars. I also liked how this one was booked, as Morrison had to battle very hard for what he got, but also was given a lot against Jericho. And just when you thought Morrison looked to have the victory, that sneaky bastard Jericho snuck away with the cheap victory. A good TV main event, and I am liking the development of Morrison right now. And again I have to say, Jericho is on a completely different level than anyone else right now.

PURGATORY:

NONE

THE WRONG:

Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes defeated The Bella Twins : Unfortunately for me, the one down spot on the show was the ladies tag match. First of all, Beth Phoenix has been completely lost for months due to the Santino/Santina bullshit that they thought was funny but really isn't. That whole thing really damaged Beth in my eyes, and they haven't done a damn thing to get her back on track. So we have this tag match with Beth and Rosa tagging, a relationship that they have done nothing to explain outside of the fact that she was an obsessed fan. But they are friends or what ever, so they team to take on the Bella twins. In my opinion Rosa, Nikki and Brie should not be on TV wrestling, they all need more time in developmental as they tend to be painful to watch. The match wasn't horrible, but it also wasn't good. They rushed through the match because they only had three minutes to try and work a match. Clue, when you only have one good worker in the bunch, you shouldn't rush the inexperienced ones, because it never ends well. And that's another thing, one I used to bitch about with TNA all the time, you cannot expect quality or anyone to get over when you work 3-4 minute matches. In my opinion, they would have been better served dropping the match and adding time to the other two matches, and another short video package.

THE RIDICULOUS:

NONE

The 411

At the beginning I was not the biggest fan of WWE Superstars. I didn't like the first few episodes, and really, WWE doesn't need the 6th hour of programming. I say that from a creative standpoint. But slowly they have found their niche, and the shows have been good to very good, and just fun to watch. In many ways it is like ECW, a workman style show, usually one good match, and simple booking that does help the shows a bit. Although I wish that they could take some of the simplicity and use of young stars and work that better on Raw, which to me is a chore to watch. Meanwhile Smackdown, ECW and Superstars feel fun and fresh, and I look forward to them. This was a good show this week, with only the ladies match dragging it down. It wasn't the worst match, but just didn't work well. Jericho continues to exist on a different level than anyone else, he is awesome.

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

---

By: Jeremy "NOT LARRY CSONKA" Thomas

WWE SmackDown 06.12.09

THE RIGHT:

CLEARING THE AIR AND SETTING THE TITLE SCENE: SmackDown started off with the new World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk making his way down to the ring to a decidedly vocal and mixed reaction…it actually seemed to be a mostly heel reaction, although the pop was fairly significant as well. He got on the mic and acknowledged the boos, saying he wanted to clear the air about the way he won the World Title. Punk delivered a nice promo where he pointed out that when he did the same thing to Edge last year that he did to Hardy last weekend, no one was complaining. Punk simply laid out that he followed the rules and even the point of the Money in the Bank title shot, and while it may not be the most popular decision it was what was in his best interest. He pointed out that the title was something he'd worked very hard to attain and was the entire reason he'd joined the WWE and promised to bring respect and honor back to the title. It was a great little opening promo by Punk to lay out his reasons and, if this is what they're moving toward, laid the groundwork for Punk's heel turn.

Immediately after Punk was done, Jeff's music hit and the crowd popped big as the former World Heavyweight Champion made his way to the ring. Day-Glo gave time for a Hardy chant to run its course and then got on the mic to say he wasn't going to complain about losing, but that Punk didn't earn the title and had cashed in on the wrong guy. Punk pointed out that Jeff was the one who put himself in a ladder match at Extreme Rules, which was the moment CM decided that it would be his night. Hardy countered that whatever the reasons, Punk was being selfish and asked if he cared about the fans, then said he wanted his rematch tonight. Well, of course this brought down Rated-R, who started talking right from the ramp and said there was no way Jeff was getting his because Edge wanted HIS rematch. The two former champions went back and forth a bit until Punk told Edge to take a hike. Edge refused and pointed out that Jeff and Punk's title wins combined didn't equal his. Rated-R then did a nice little bit where he used highly circumstantial evidence to show how Punk was trying to be him, including a hilarious little bit about how clearly Punk named his straight edge lifestyle after Edge. Jeff eventually shut Edge up by knocking him out of the ring and then laid Punk out before delivering a rather sloppy and painful-looking Swanton Bomb that he was visibly in pain from after. Immediately after Teddy Long came out and said that Jeff and Edge would be facing each other tonight to see who would face Punk at the Three-For-All Raw. All in all, this was good stuff by Punk and Edge, and Jeff mostly delivered but fell a little short by virtue of stumbling once over the word "selfish" and then nearly hurting himself with that Swanton Bomb. This set up Punk nicely as a tweener on his way toward heeldom while Jeff is clearly the fan favorite and Edge is still the top heel. It was a strong opening segment that didn't feel as long as it actually was, and solidified the title picture for the moment.

CHRIS JERICHO vs. CM PUNK: Early in the show Teddy Long encountered OUR Savior in his office. Chris Jericho decided he'd been disrespected by not getting a title shot after he unmasked Rey Rey and became a nine-time Intercontinental Champion, and demanded that Teddy give him a title shot; Teddy then gave Jericho a chance to state his case by booking him in a match with Punk. This whole thing was notable simply for a slight but noticeable change in Jericho's demeanor. He was still pulling out the "disrespected" card on Long, but cut down on the SAT words and even seemed to be carrying himself differently. As opposed to the stuck-up, suit-wearing guy who uses "hypocrite" all the time, he had a bit more of a swagger to him. It was a subtle difference but it worked, and one can hope this will continue to freshen up Y2J's character just a bit.

When time came for the match, Jericho came out first with Rey Rey's purloined mask held from Extreme Rules in his right hand. Jericho got on the mic and ripped on the crowd as usual, although he did have just a slight touch of something different from his usual shtick again as he talked about how he did Rey a favor by taking his mask and setting him free. He had the crowd hot on hating him, and busted out the "savior" line that he hasn't used in a while. A lot of people might consider this to be same old Jericho, but it really is a shift in his character and a welcome one at that; it's just not a complete about-face. I like transitions instead of 180 degree turns, and I was happy with this. J.R. called Punk out for being smart by using his Money in the Bank shot here, and continued a bit of just the slightest hint of a heel nature by doing so; he'd done the same thing by focusing more on Dolph Ziggler's accolades than Khali's during that match. He then asked aloud why Jericho isn't the number one contender. Again it wasn't anything major and obvious—and J.R. pointed out all of Jericho's flaws immediately after—but it is still an interesting point, and one I appreciated. Jericho and Punk have of course worked together before and have always put on some damn good matches, and tonight was no exception. They more or less delivered the match of the night by pacing themselves very well and doing a lot of great back-and-forth action. Jericho took a few moments while Punk was down to keep the crowd heated against him, which made Punk the face by default for now, and the Straight Edge Superstar did some great work here against Jericho to build himself up nicely. Personally I would have much preferred to see Punk get his cred before coming World Champion instead of after, but this works too for now. This match was far from a burial of Jericho; at the same time, they're avoiding the mistakes of Punk's last title run by having him win cleanly against a top-level guy here right off the bat, instead of having Rey Rey come out for what would have been the obvious interference. This match, to me, was a perfect example of the difference between Raw and SmackDown. On the Red Brand when they have a new champion who hasn't held the belt in a while going up against the very solid main eventers, they end up having him win only by virtue of outside interference and hurt him in the process. Both Punk and Orton are examples of that. Here, they look to be willing to put Punk over as a legit superstar in his own right who can—GASP—actually win his own matches! This was a great match that I really loved watching and both guys deserve credit for kicking ass here.

JEFF HARDY vs. EDGE: And now for the match we've seen over and over, set as the main event. At this point, some people might be getting tired of seeing these two guys locking up, but not I. Jeff came out first to a huge-ass crowd pop; if anyone ever doubted he's the top face on SmackDown, those doubts should be completely settled (at least until Taker comes back). Jeff was still hurting, and while the announcers sold it as his injuries from Extreme Rules I had to wonder if it was something from his Swanton earlier in the show. And yes, I acknowledge he may have just been selling the injuries when he came out of that Swanton, but it did look pretty sloppy to me so I'm thinking otherwise. Edge was walking a little gingerly himself on the way to the ring with his hair wetted and slicked back while the crowd booed him on as always. Punk came out before the match could begin and the crowd seemed more behind him, probably because he'd just beaten Y2J. The champ came down to the announcer's booth to join J.R. and T-Grish on commentary. Edge and Jeff started off slow, sold as due to their injuries, and CM Punk…well, lacked just a little right off the bat on his commentary, giving a noticeably short response to the first question asked. He picked it up after that though, getting down into his character and doing a good job of setting this new twist to his persona up as the two guys in the ring slowly built up the match. Jeff's always been considered a spot monkey and deservedly so, but I have to say that working with Edge so much as of late has done some very good things for his psychology. This match, much like Punk/Jericho, got a hell of a lot of time—nearly twenty minutes. You've gotta be impressed by that, and Jeff and Edge filled out that twenty minutes very well. Edge worked the leg and Jeff kept fighting back, until it went to the outside and Edge tossed Jeff into Punk. This enraged Punk who rolled into the ring to attack Edge, and we had a three-way brawl with the bell being rung until Punk stood tall over both men until we went backstage to Tiffany and Teddy, who announced Christian vs. Tommy Dreamer and Punk vs. Edge vs. Hardy for the Raw Three-For-All. This was booked the way it needed to be in order to set up that match and was a hell of a match to boot.

PURGATORY:

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. THE GREAT KHALI: As the entrances commenced for this rematch, J.R. and T-Grish talked about how crazy Dolph was for wanting to battle Khali again. Khali got a nice little pop on his way to the ring, and as soon as he was inside and the bell rung Dolph bailed. J.R. did a fair amount of talking Dolph up, even as the opening exchange didn't exactly go Dolph's way. The booking of this match was Khali's power and dominance versus Dolph's intellect, and while the in-ring work was far from great stuff it, was at least booked in such a way as to get Dolph over without hurting Khali's dominant reputation. Certainly a countout win by Dolph isn't exactly the strongest way to get over Dolph's dominance, but at this point he doesn't need dominance and it does give the man a bit of a boost on the card. I had a lot of problems with the in-ring work, but the booking was fine so this one gets a wash.

JOHN MORRISON & R-TRUTH vs. THE WORLD'S GREATEST TAG TEAM: T-Grish pointed out during Benjamin and Haas's entrance that they are the team "formerly known as" the World's Greatest Tag Team. Look guys, fish or cut bait here. They are the WGTT, might as well book them that way while they're competing together, right? Sadly not, as they're still coming out to Shelton's entrance and everyone on-screen is acting like they aren't a tag team, whatever the evidence may say. Morrison came out next alone, followed by Truth on the mic to do his rapping thing, and called Haas and Benjamin the equivalent of Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer teaming up. Hey now…in the WGTT's defense, that would have been a HUGE seller back in the day. This one started off with Benjamin taking control of Morrison via some heel double-teaming just after the bell, which quickly settling into some acrobatic maneuvers to put Morrison back in control. These guys have been working together for a few weeks now and they put on some good in-ring work here, as is to be expected. They gave this one a good amount of time and the four men involved made the most of it, working their asses off to keep the crowd interested here. As great as it was to see these guys put on a great match, I am getting more and more dismayed with the constant losses that Benjamin and Haas are taking. At some point they have to pick up a win if they're going to make anything out of Haas's gimmick change and Benjamin's hard work, and at this point it's getting hard to consider them threats in the midcard. It's clear they're positioning Morrison and possibly Truth for a higher spot on the card, but does it have to keep coming at the expense of these two? This one really hurts as I wanted so much to give it a Right due to the great wrestling involved, but the booking of yet another clean loss to the WGTT did them more harm than it did Morrison & Truth good, and for that I have to knock this down into puRgatoRy.

THE WRONG:


MICHELLE & LAYLA vs. EVE & MELINA: This match was pretty inevitable, as it featured the two Blue Brand Diva feuds currently going on at the moment. T-Grish screwed up during the heel entrances by calling this a six-diva tag match, and immediately after Justin Roberts had declared the Layla and Michelle as the competitors and Alicia as the accompanier. Oops! The face ladies did a joint entrance that both played off Melina's usual bit, though Eve seemed a little bit lost in what to do during the pose at the top of the ramp. We started out with Eve and Layla in the ring, which was a whole host of rushed and sloppy work, mostly by Eve. She stumbled on the way to a turnbuckle when whipped there, she almost botched getting her feet on Layla's shoulders…it was just not a good night for the girl. She even fucked up Michelle giving her a side Russian legsweep…way to expose yourself, girl. And once again, we had Grish screwing up as he called Eve "Layla" before correcting himself. Once Melina got into the ring against Michelle things picked up very nicely, and despite a wee bit of the usual choreographed-looking work this was mostly good stuff between the two. Alicia stopped Melina from hitting her funky finisher, which Michelle turned into the Faith Breaker for the pinfall. This could have been a perfectly acceptable match, but frankly Eve fucked this one up badly and I can't get past how the opening half of this match just sucked. Sorry, girls…better luck next week.

THE RIDICULOUS:

DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don't care.

The 411

Two twenty minute matches, both between two great in-ring workers? An opening segment that set up the title situation very nicely, and a good tag match (other than the finish) to boot? No doubt here, this was just a fantastic two hours of SmackDown to watch. Yes, there were some things that I had issues with, mostly the Divas match, but overall I was exceptionally happy with how the Blue Brand performed this week. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a WWE TV show as much as I did this one, and I feel fully confident giving this the rare and vaunted 4+ star rating. Keep it up, guys!

SHOW RATING: ****¼

Comment Time with Jeremy!

From Cody:
god, just when i think the E might be pushing for randy orton to make a dominant run as champion, they job him out in 10 mins at Extremem rules, and then the next night make him and legacy look real good by taking batista out, only to be shit kicked by triple h, like fuck, if we haven't seen that program enough, and i mean c'mon, raw needs to take a hint from smackdown about how to keep things new, fresh and interesting, fuck raw

Hey, Cody. I agree with you pretty much completely here, although I am still holding out hope that somehow, some way, they might put Orton over ‘H here to give his legitimacy a kick in the pants. I'm dreaming, I know, but I said the same thing about Dreamer's title win at Extreme Rules and look what happened. We'll see what happens after tonight, which I think will really show us what direction they plan to go in, but hey what can I say…I'm an optimist.


From Guest#6043:
"the match itself wasn't particularly good, but it was a hell of a lot better than the wannabe first match"

How exactly, outside of no illogical disqualification this time? Both were sloppy in parts, both had their decent moments, and, somehow, both lasted nearly the exact same amount of time.

I guess we'll agree to disagree here, 6043. I thought that the first match was all-around terrible, and this one was at least somewhat watchable. And yes, the difference in endings factored in heavily too.


From Crippen:
Funny how when the WWE Champion goes up against Legacy he gets his arm broken, but HHH comes out and wipes the freaking floor with them without breaking a sweat.

And I still cannot get over how crazy the crowd went for him. Maybe it was just a mark city, but that response was ridiculous. The guy deserves a torrent of boos way more than Cena ever has. Damn, I'm mad now...

The H-Man is always going to be over whether he's a heel or a face, and there's no changing that. His heat when he's a heel isn't X-Pac Heat either, it's legit heel heat and there's probably not anything that's going to change this. Any time he comes back after an amount of time off the crowd goes insane for him. That is one of the reasons he'll always be at the top of the card, not just because he's the boss's son-in-law. Of course, you could always make the argument that the crowd goes nuts for him because he was booked so strongly, which is the result of his family ties, but I don't totally buy into that. Either way, your first point is entirely valid.


From KanyonKreist:
Just gotta get this off my chest: Big Show may be a legitimate monster of mythical proportions, but the dude takes is the WEAKEST OF ALL TIME when it comes to taking a damned CHAIR SHOT! Come ON, man; BOTH HANDS UP?!

Anyway...

Didn't the whole Vickie quits/Edge dumps her bit come off as very, very rushed? Couldn't WWE have persuaded her to stick around for one more week in order to wrap things up in a more rational way (where'd Edge come from??) with less of a whiplash-like pace? Have her show up on Smackdown - say she wants to spend more time with her "family", then she gets clingy - and then Edge can dump her then and get the heat on HIS OWN SHOW, y'know?

Another thing, JT: I'm just curious about how you feel regarding Zack Ryder's new gimmick... For what it's worth, I think it's magnificent.

Honestly, I haven't paid much attention to Ryder's new gimmick, but what I've seen of it is…well, interesting. It's the kind of gimmick that could give him a mini version of the Ziggler-esque push, and to his credit he's giving it his all. I absolutely hate those trunks though…they look retarded.

I didn't think the Vickie thing was all that rushed; I mean yes, it was sudden, but the ‘E had a certain time frame to work with I imagine. Also, I got the feeling they knew Edge would get a face reaction by dumping Vick and they want to keep him as a heel on the Blue Brand, so with that being the case it was probably best that they did it on Raw.


From Guest#3268:
miz beat the "tar" out of show, lol damn jeremy you got some southern slang in you

Heh…Southern slang? I guess so…I'm from Oregon and I've heard that phrase more than once up here, so I don't really know how "Southern" it is anymore.


From wow:
Wow just wow. I can't believe you complain about there outfits. Geeze man. I thought mickie looked fine as hell. You think Marsye is better looking then Kelly Kelly? Dream on Jeremy.

Hi, wow…are you new here? If so, then welcome. I've been critiquing the Diva's outfits since I started, so that's nothing new. And yes, I do believe that Maryse is more attractive than Triple K. It is an opinion and in the words of High Fidelity, "how can it be bullshit to state an opinion?" We all have our tastes, and they may be different, that doesn't mean they're wrong. Thanks for reading, though!


From Shockmaster:
VICKIE SAYS GOODBYE; EDGE SAYS GOOD RIDDANCE: The reason this was Vickie's most convincing emotional performance was what I said weeks ago. She has been consistently humiliated on a personal level, and it finally wore her down to the point she's leaving. "I want to spend more time with my family" is just code for "I would love to tell you heartless &%$#'s off but I better not burn my bridges in case I need the money later".

PRICELESS vs. THE COLONS: I agree completely about how jarring it is to come back from break having missed the start of a match. The work was at least good enough that I can imagine Rhodes and DiBiase as something above the Edgeheads.

TRIPLE K vs. MARYSE: I'm a huge Mickie James fan, but I thought her mic work was bland and made her sound like she never cut a promo before. I kept thinking of her crazy Trish stalking persona and wondering where all that personality went.

RANDY ORTON vs....OH DEAR GOD: Click, goodbye Raw. Not really, but I'll FF this entire angle.

A lot of people disagreed with me about Mickie. I didn't say that she did a good or great job, I just thought she did okay…sort of a middle of the road job. I didn't feel like she was bad, and I certainly think she's blander as a peppy face than she was when she was psycho Trish-stalker, but it was decent in my book.

I think it might be a bit much to assume Vickie was emotional because she's been humiliated. I'm not saying it's not the case, just that we've heard nothing about that being the case. If it is the case and she has no desire to come back I'm sure we'll find out soon enough via her inevitable shoot interview, and I could definitely see it as a possibility, but I'm not going to speculate without some evidence. And as for fast-forwarding…you have my envy, good Shockmaster. Fast-forward away.

From Big Ell:
Jeremy, if a champion loses every non title match, doesn't that make the result too predictable? Furthermore, why should every match against a champion be a title match? Title matches should be earned.

I don't mind if a champion wins a non-title match or two, but the general rule as of late is that the champion ALWAYS seems to win the non-title match. I would rather see a title match that adds to the number of defenses a champion makes than a non-title match just for the sake of it being non-title. I'm not saying that if they put Chavo against the WWE Champion that it should be a title shot, but if it's someone who's a reasonable contender and they plan to put the champ over, they might as well make it a title match, in my mind at least.

From AJP:
Why's Kelly always referred to as "Triple K"? Did she join the Klan without me noticing?

Yes, she did; unbeknownst to the world at large, Kelly Kelly is the Grand Wizard of the KKK. I kid, of course. I call her Triple K having nothing to do with the organization; it's merely a play on Triple H and based off a time when Santino called her "Kelly Kelly Kelly." That's all it is; read nothing more into it.

---

ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS 2009~!
By: Larry Csonka

QUICK RESULTS:
- Colt Cabana defeated Ace Steel @ 9:00 via submission [**]
- Kevin Steen, El Generico, Jay Briscoe, and Magno defeated Chris Hero, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, and Incognito @ 9:00 via pin [***]
- NO HOLDS BARRED: The Necro Butcher defeated Jimmy Jacobs @ 15:00 via pin [***½]
- Brent Albright defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Blue Demon Jr. @ 5:30 via pin [*]
- Roderick Strong defeated Alex Kozlov @ 8:00 via pin [***]
- Jerry Lynn defeated Bryan Danielson, Erick Stevens and D-Lo Brown @ 8:00 via pin [***]
- Tyler Black & KENTA defeated Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima @ 22:00 via pin [****¼]

THE RIGHT:

Kevin Steen, El Generico, Jay Briscoe, and Magno defeated Chris Hero, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, and Incognito : Kevin Steen, El Generico, Jay Briscoe, and Magno charged the ring to kick off the match. After some brawling, Incognito and Magno were left in the ring and that led to some fun lucha shit while the others brawled on the floor. A fun spot was Generico hitting the Michinoku Driver on Hero, and then tagging in all of his partners for a big clean house session. It looked as if Hero would get the win with THE LOADED ELBOW PAD OF MISAWANESS, but Magno and Jay Briscoe would put a stop to that, and the assisted Jay Driller signaled the end. A short but very fun match, good pace, some fun dives, and the crowd liked it.

NO HOLDS BARRED: The Necro Butcher defeated Jimmy Jacobs : With the feud between Necro and Jacobs we;; established, this style of match seemed perfect to try and end things. They brawled around the building, Jacobs ripped out the hair of Necro and tried to eat it, he stabbed Necro with a screwdriver, and the crowd dug it. The big spot of the match was Jacobs SUPERPLEXING Necro off of the top rope, all the way to the floor. Stupid? Most certainly. Looked awesome? Most certainly. More craziness ensued, and the end came when Necro countered the contra code and then hit a tiger driver onto a pile of chairs for the victory. In the end, it all comes down to if you like this kind of match or not. If you are worried about the unprotected chair shots and big bumps, then the match isn't for you. I personally could have done without all of the unprotected chair shots, but I do like these kinds of matches when done right. It was good and had the heat due to the feud, but I didn't love it like some have.

Roderick Strong defeated Alex Kozlov : ALEX KOZLOV ON PPV! YES! I never have hid the fact that I am a mark for Alex Kozlov; the man is simply gold. A very good wrestler and the over the top Russian gimmick played for fun is a perfect combination for him. I dug his work in CMLL and was very happy when TNA used him for the World X-Cup. So when ROH announced him for the PPV, and that he would be facing Roderick Strong, I was sold. They had a really good match, not great, but good for the time given. Kozlov got all of his shit in that makes him fun, but most importantly Strong got a good win and looked good in the process. We need more Alex Kozlov on US TV, the world would be a better place.

Tyler Black & KENTA defeated Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima : The trademark of ROH PPV has been the great main event. I felt that the last PPV failed to deliver the for the first time, but at Take No Prisoners they stacked the deck with Tyler Black & KENTA battling Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima. Another thing that I like about ROH, and to a smaller degree TNA is the fact that they are willing to showcase international talent on their shows, to me, it makes the product feel fresh. Having KENTA and Katsuhiko Nakajima on the show and in the main event was a welcomed addition to the card. This match just worked. Aries' heel act is off the charts awesome, and I am glad that he won the title over the weekend. The douche bag heel of Aries battling KENTA's SUPER SERIALNESS clicked big time, while Black and Nakajima battled with great athletics, and their exchanged felt so welcomed and fresh. And then there were the KENTA vs. Nakajima segments, which were like a well-oiled machine. The match had a great pace, and the finishing 4-minutes or so, which you have to see, were fucking intense. ROH goes out with a bang with this match, just awesome.

PURGATORY:

Colt Cabana defeated Ace Steel : The opening bout of the evening was Colt Cabana vs. Ace Steel. Cabana was mad over here, and that is always a good thing. Unfortunately, the match was a bit too much comedy and not enough good wrestling. It was fine as a house show style match or even a fun TV match, but not for PPV. Just when I thought they were going to get things going, Cabana caught Steel in the Billy Goat's curse out of nowhere for the win. It wasn't bad, but I expected more.

Jerry Lynn defeated Bryan Danielson, Erick Stevens and D-Lo Brown/The ROH Title Match Period: Let me get this out of the way, this was not a bad match. This was actually a fun four-way bout that was just that, fun to watch. I like all of the guys involved, I like that we got a title defense and anytime D LO FN BROWN is on the card, I am a happy man. But the problem I have with this is two-fold. First of all, this was just a fu little four-way match. It didn't feel important, and really did nothing to separate itself from the rest of the undercard, which was solid, but unspectacular. But the one I did not like was that they went into the weekend and decided to have THIS match on the PPV instead of the title win by Lynn. I really think that the feel good moment of Lynn finally winning the title would have been a much better moment for the PPV. That's just my opinion on the matter, but I strongly feel that they should have had the title change on the PPV instead of this. A good match with the story of Lynn winning is better than just a good match.

THE WRONG:

Brent Albright defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Blue Demon Jr. : This was a complete waste. I get that they wanted to highlight the Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli feud, but it was too short, not memorable at all and bringing in Blue Demon Jr. as a special attraction for "THIS" just made no sense. I would have much preferred that they cut this mess and use the time for other matches. It was short, a waste, and really, not good at all. The only good thing I take from this is Albright's victory, but other than that, this was completely forgettable. The only real disappointment match wise on the card.

THE RIDICULOUS:

NONE

The 411

And so the first run of ROH PPV comes to an end, and I hate to say that. I have been a big fan of the ROH PPV product, due to the fact that for your money, they have been the best PPV's over the last two years. But while I am sad to see it go, I am also glad. That is because they can focus on the TV and DVD tapings, and with the PPV not making them huge money, it isn't needed.

As for the show, they didn't go out with a roar, but it also wasn't a whimper. They delivered a very good undercard, only one bad match in my opinion, and the main event was exactly the kind of match that ROH PPV has been known for. This was a good show, and I strongly feel that if they cut out the useless three-way match that it could have been very good as the time could have helped some of the other matches. I recommend the show, mainly for the greatness of the main event.

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: 7.4

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LARRY'S RANKINGS THUS FAR

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

-TNA SACRIFICE {7.5}
-WWE BACKLASH {7.5}
-TAKE NO PRISONERS {7.4}
-WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {7.3}
-TNA GENESIS {7.2}
-TNA LOCKDOWN {7.2}
-ROH CAGED COLLISION {7.1}
-WWE WRESTLEMANIA {7.0}
-WWE EXTREME RULES {7.0}

-WWE JUDGMENT DAY {6.5}

-TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {5.5}

-TNA DESTINATION X {3.5}

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

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

-[TAKE NO PRISONERS] – Tyler Black & KENTA vs. Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima (****¼)
-[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)
-[WWE NO WAY OUT] – THE RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****¼)

-[WWE EXTREME RULES] – IC TITLE MATCH: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (****)
-[WWE EXTREME RULES] – WORLD TITLE LADDER MATCH: Edge vs. Jeff Hardy (****)

-[ROH CAGED COLLISION] #1 CONTENDERS MATCH – Tyler Black vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries (***¾)
-[ROH CAGED COLLISION] ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH – Nigel McGuinness vs. El Generico (***¾)
-[TNA SACRIFICE] – I QUIT LEGENDS TITLE MATCH – Booker T vs. AJ Styles © (***¾)
-[TNA SACRIFICE] – Eric Young and Lethal Consequences vs. The Machineguns and Sheik Abdul Bashir (***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)
-[WWE WRESTLEMANIA] – MONEY IN THE BANK (***¾)
-[WWE JUDGMENT DAY] – Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (***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
-[WWE NO WAY OUT] – EDGE – The Ultimate Opportunist
-[WWE 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
-[WWE BACKLASH] – Edge and John Cena – Stealing the Show
-[TNA SACRIFICE] – The TNA Roster – Making the Best Out of Shitty Booking
-[WWE EXTREME RULES] – Rey, Jericho, Edge and Hardy – They Are Awesome
-[TAKE NO PRISONERS] – Tyler Black, KENTA, Austin Aries and Katsuhiko Nakajima – Main Event Excellence

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

-ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jerry Lynn vs. Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson – (ROH on HDNet: 06.06.09) {****¼}
-TABLES ARE LEGAL TAG TITLE MATCH: Kevin Steen and El Generico © vs. The American Wolves – (ROH on HDNet: 05.30.09) {****¼}

-Edge vs. Rey Mysterio - (Smackdown: 06.05.09) {****}
-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) {****}

- Edge vs. Jeff Hardy - (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***¾}
-CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho - (Superstars: 05.21.09) {***¾}
-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}

- Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk- (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***½}
- Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison - (Superstars: 06.11.09) {***½}
-Jeff Hardy and R-Truth vs. Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler - (Superstars: 06.04.09) {***½}
-Christian vs. Tyson Kidd - (ECW: 06.02.09) {***½}
-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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