Wrestling’s 4R’s Tuesday Edition 06.23.09: WWE Superstars, WWE Smackdown, TNA Impact and TNA Slammiversary!

Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.23.2009

TNA delivers their best PPV effort of the year, even after a horrible Impact, while the Colons pick up a win in 6-man action! Wrestling's 4R's breaks down all the action from Impact, Smackdown, Superstars and Slammiversary!

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In HD where available…


By: Daniel Wilcox

iMpact! 06.18.09:

THE RIGHT:

NONE

PURGATORY:

West Sits Down With Samoa Joe: This was a pretty good little interview segment. Joe's promo here was one of his best he's done in a while, as it did not come across as totally forced. What I don't like however, hence its position in the Purgatory, is the fact that a) the "advisor" thing has been going on for months now without any kind of real development, and b) Joe isn't overly worried about the TNA Championship, which should always be the focal point of shows.

Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match: Raven vs. Jethro Holiday: This week's Impact saw the return of Raven's House of Fun match, which is usually pretty enjoyable and this was no exception. And while this was very short, it was pretty fun as well and importantly Raven picked up a dominant win heading into his pay-per-view bout at Slammiversary. The closing spot was also pretty cool and the camera work on it was excellent.

That said, I HATE the way they're using Jethro Holiday. The guy makes sporadic appearances and when he does wrestle, he loses. Why acquire a (presumably) more expensive ex-WWE talent only to use him as a job guy, when there are literally thousands of guys they could have got for this sort of thing. I think the way TNA is criticized for hiring ex-WWE employees if usually unfair as most acquisitions are wise moves, but picking up this guy, just to use him in this way, is dumbfounding.

Daniels vs. Amazing Red: I hate talking about matches like this because it feels like I, and others, have been saying the exact same thing for years. "Good little match, far too short." It's always either that or, "good little match, but the commercial gutted it." Daniels and Red worked a basic little match here and it was fine for what it was, but they need more time to truly put on a decent match. On the flip side, the right guy went over, and Douglas' post-match promo on Daniels was pretty well done if, like this match was, completely forgettable.

Matt Morgan Challenges The Icon: I really like where they have been going with Morgan as of late and for the most part, this was a really strong segment with Morgan stepping up to Sting, cutting a really solid promo and setting up a match for the pay-per-view. All of that is fine and dandy, but then they undid all of that good work, I felt, with the last few seconds of the segment where Sting discards Morgan like he's some kind of jobber. Whichever way you look at it, Morgan is the underdog in this feud and this just hammered that point home rather than challenging it, so why would anyone now want to pay money to see this match. Poor booking, in my opinion.

THE WRONG:

Awesome Kong and Taylor Wilde vs. Daffney and Angelina Love: Too short, ridiculously forgettable, bland action and in the wrong team went over (Love has a title defense at the pay-per-view and she's looked weak for weeks, she should have won here). That just about covers everything, I think, although I think now is as good a time as any to mention that I'm enjoying WWE's women's action more than I am TNA's right now.

Three-Way Tag Team Match: Samoa Joe and AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle and Sting vs. Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett: And so we come to the main event, a match where the relationships between every team would come into question. Joe and Styles would stay on the same page and come out victorious with Joe pinning Angle, while Foley and Jarrett would disintegrate, which I'm fine with because that's how it should go down, irrespective of the fact that it was a silly match to book in the first place. And while this was a star-studded main event, the action was really uninspired (let's hope they're saving themselves for the pay-per-view). Worse still, however, was the fact that the match was absolutely gutted by the commercial, which just took all the momentum out of the bout. Considering the fact that they should have been trying hard to sell the pay-per-view, and considering the guys involved in the match, this was really poor if you ask me.

"Welcome Home Jeffrey": Can somebody please explain to me just what the hell was up with this. Why are we welcoming "Jeffrey" home? The guy hasn't been anywhere. The only purpose this served was to set up the main event but that could have been done in so many different, sufficiently better ways. Crazy Foley can be fun at times but this was just really poor television and in all honesty, I could not take Foley, Jarrett, or any of the other guys involved in this segment, seriously for the rest of the night. In terms of getting me interested in the King of the Mountain Championship match, this segment definitely did more harm than good. At least Joe brought back some form of normality towards the end but for this to have been done right, Joe would have had to tear Foley and the rest down right from the start.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Lethal Consequences and The Motor City Machineguns vs. Team 3D and Beer Money: I really liked the whole "respect" deal going on with Team 3D and Beer Money but now they've gone and thrown that out of the window and it feels like we're back where we two or three months ago when these guys were feuding before, and I just find myself asking what the hell the point of all this was. This "match" begins with team mates brawling (the first of two times in one night), but rather than have the other team taken advantage of that fact, the feuding partners end up beating the other guys anyway, once the match eventually gets under way. I'm pretty tired of the Guns and Lethal Consequences looking like bitches every week. I really do not see what purpose this whole match/segment served whatsoever, other than to hype to angles at once.

ODB and Cody Deaner Bullshit: Fuck. This. Shit. That is all.

The 411

After a string of really good shows, TNA needed another one here to really shift some pay-per-views. We didn't get it. There was nothing in the way of decent wrestling, as the two matches with potential didn't get enough time to be properly showcased. Elsewhere, the main event is a bit of a shambles, and certain elements that have made the shows fun in recent weeks (namely Eric Young) were missing. And it's a shame too because Slammiversary has a decent card that probably won't get as many buys as it deserved, and that's largely due to a really poor go-home show. Hopefully TNA will rebound quickly.

SHOW RATING: 3.0

---

By: Larry Csonka

WWE SUPERSTARS 06.18.09:

QUICK RESULTS:
- Chavo Guerrero defeated Santino Marella @ 4:00 via pin [*]
- Zack Ryder defeated Johnny Bootsntights @1:40 via pin [DUD]
- Eve Torres defeated Layla @ 3:40 via pin [*½]
- Christian, Carlio and Primo defeated Jack Swagger, David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd @ 12:10 via pin [***]

THE RIGHT:

Christian, Carlio and Primo defeated Jack Swagger, David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd : In my opinion the main event of the show was really the only thing worth watching on the show. I liked the match going in because Swagger and Christian have history and will be meeting in the scramble match, while I feel that the Hart Dynasty needs to be involved in the tag title picture sometime soon. They did good set up for the Colons vs. Legacy by having them on commentary, those little things help. Christian and Swagger took the powder at the end, and Carlito got the back stabber for the pin. It is fine for the Dynasty to take the fall, they have looked good and have been booked strongly thus far. The Colons are heading to PPV for a title defense, so they should win. The added stare down at the end with Christian and Swagger was also a nice touch. A mostly average match, with good work, but the hot final few minutes take this from average to a lot of fun. If you missed the show, catch this match, it is really the only thing you need to see.

PURGATORY:

Eve Torres defeated Layla : And now we come to the ladies match. First, they were obviously handcuffed by lack of time. I have to say that it is so damn hard for anyone to get over in under four-minutes. But I will say that for the lack of time and for the lack of experience that Eve had, this was NOT bad at all. Layla did some nice work of the leg, Eve's selling was not bad at all, and the finish looked cool. Layla has come along well, even though she hasn't had a ton of ring time. Eve appears to be a solid athlete and has some potential. While I hated the lack of time, I felt that they worked really hard, and honestly I liked it better than the opener. We'll go purgatory this week, with a positive outlook for these ladies.

THE WRONG:

Zack Ryder defeated Johnny Bootsntights : After his loss last week, the idea behind this match was to get Zach Ryder a victory so that he can rebound. But overall I felt that this was a waste of time. It was strictly a jobber bout for him to get a squash victory, and he did, and he looked fine. But it came off as complete filler to me. They could have taken this time with the entrance and all and added it to Chavo and Santino. While I will talk about my dislike of that match below, they could have used the time to try and put on a good, or better match. I m all for giving Zack Ryder some TV time so that he can try to get over, but they need to do something else with him. In the end, I feel that the flow of the show would have been better without the match.

Chavo Guerrero defeated Santino Marella : And this was our opening match of the night. They got four minutes, they did the usual comedy stuff you would expect, Santino is slowly finding out the he remembers to somewhat wrestle, he fucked up and Chavo won. Hooray. First of all, they had no time to work anything, which I guess was fine since they were doing mostly comedy. Secondly, they are just milking this stupid ass angle with Santino and Chavo now that Vickie is gone. I am quite honestly sick and tired of it. Again, with Raw getting it all this week and guys needed for Smackdown, we're left with three-day old leftovers. And they tasted like shit.

THE RIDICULOUS:

NONE

The 411

After a few really good weeks, we've gone down hill. I blame this partly on the "loaded Raw" we had Monday night, which made Superstars the leftovers show. And that's what it felt like; almost like a Velocity style show. In my opinion the only thing that was worth my time was the main event, which was a really fun tag team match. I fear that we may be in for more of the same next week, as raw is set to have everyone involved and will be commercial free, so they will need a bit more action to fill the show. I hope that the show can get back on track, because with the lack of real build for the PPV, they have a perfect chance next week to use the show to its full potential.

SHOW RATING: 5.0

---

By: Jeremy "NOT LARRY CSONKA" Thomas

WWE SmackDown 06.19.09

THE RIGHT:

HARDY/PUNK FACE-OFF FUN: SmackDown began with Josh Matthews stepping into the ring to remind us that at THE Bash CM Punk would be defending the World Heavyweight Title against Jeff Hardy, who was Josh's guest tonight. The crowd went nuts as Jeff made his way out to the ring with a mic. After a little posing for the crowd, his music died out and Matthews reminded Jeff via recap that he became World Champion at Extreme Rules. We saw the finish to the match with Edge caught in the ladder and then Matthews brought up Jeff's loss moments later to MITB-cashing Punk. Finally there was a last recap, namely of the three-hour Raw where Punk looked to have been injured and then snuck in to rob the Day-Glo Warrior of his World Championship. Jeff responded to that by saying that it was cool, he was living for the moment and his moment would be THE Bash where he would beat Punk and win the belt. Josh's response was to bring out Punk, who was getting a solid amount of heat from the crowd. Seriously, it's Instant Heel, Just Add Hardy Screwing here; he's not receiving Edge or Jericho levels of heat, but considering the guy hasn't even officially turned yet it's a promising start. CM replied that he was simply taking advantage of an opportunity and busted out a great line about "Nowhere in the contract does it say don't use this against Jeff Hardy" and took offense to the accusation that he stole the match on Monday Night. They then got into a hint at the lifestyle differences between them, with Punk seeming to indicate a problem with Jeff's—subtly, but well. This wasn't one of the most dynamic and fantastic promo duels of all-time, but it was perfectly serviceable and did a fair amount of good in laying out the groundwork between the two a little further. You can absolutely see the heel beginning to form in Punk but it's not in your face, and that's nice to see. Given a little more time and good direction, these two could develop a very nice feud between them and I wouldn't complain about that at all.

JOHN MORRISON vs. EDGE: Edge was already in the ring when we came back from commercial with his music playing. He got on the mic and complained about how he was screwed out of his rematch for the World Heavyweight Champion and, instead of heading for the Title match at the Bash he had to face off against Morrison. He didn't get to go much further because Morrison's music hit and he made his way to the ring, treating us to the greatest entrance in professional wrestling today in the process. Edge said Morrison just wanted to be him, to which Morrison countered that Edge used to be entertaining and innovative, but wasn't anymore. It was a nice back and forth exchange between the two, with Morrison being remarkably Edge-like with his humorous comments; like him or not, you can't deny Edge is right about Morrison being the next him, and that's far from a bad thing.

Now, had the verbal exchange been all there was this would have been a moderate Right; it was entertaining, but not career-altering. The match on the other hand was a very different matter. Edge and Morrison got almost fourteen minutes of the show in which to put on a great match, and I daresay they are certainly a contender for the free TV match of the year on this one. The point here was of course to put Morrison over as a next-level player on the SmackDown scene, presumably to fill the Blue Brand upper-midcard/main event gap that has become ever thinner with Punk's apparent transition toward heeldom. In that they didn't just succeed, they absolutely excelled. Both men were absolutely on here as they gave and took throughout the match to create a well-paced contest that kept the crowd hot and got them absolutely behind the Friday Night Delight. No one can deny that even in losing here Morrison has made his case for being in that upper tier of talent, and I would love to see an extended feud between these two while Hardy and Punk battle over the belt, it would be exactly what Morrison needs to solidify his position. There were a couple times in this match I honestly believed Morrison might go over Edge, and that is quite a statement for both of these guys. In the end this is a perfect example of how someone can get over in defeat, and while Morrison may have lost the match, I have a feeling he hasn't lost the battle.

CM PUNK vs. REY REY: Our main event began with Rey Rey getting his typically massive pop and interacting with the kids down to the ring. He got on the mic and said that he got payback tonight for the masked attack Jericho did last month and it wasn't over until he got the IC Title back at THE Bash. Jericho then came out with a mic and his cocky smirk and said he wasn't going to give him another chance because he lost his rematch on Monday. Jericho busted out his new shtick that he knows what's best for everyone and that he's going to be Rey's savior by making him lose the mask. There was one bad portion, which has earned its own segment; I'll get to that in a bit but outside of it this was good stuff by both men which led to a Rey/Jericho Title vs. Mask match at THE Bash.

When we came back from commercial, Jericho was at the commentary booth to talk about his feud with Rey Rey and do some guest commentating while CM Punk came down to a mixed reaction. Jericho was unsurprisingly spot-on here at commentary while CM and Rey had a pretty damn good match in the ring. Punk was still selling the leg injury from Raw and Rey Rey went for it early on. This was an interesting match in Punk's transition toward heeldom as he still seems to be the same Punk more or less, just with more of an edge to him and they did some subtle things to push him down that road; everything that was done in the ring seemed geared toward putting the crowd behind Rey Rey as he hit his usual crowd-pleasing offense which made Punk's offense a little more bully-ish. The main step in the transition came when Punk tossed Rey over the ropes when he couldn't pull him away from them for the G2S, which had Jericho leave the booth and attack Rey behind the ref's back but right in front of Punk. Punk seemed conflicted as to what he should do here but in the end he said nothing and took advantage to get the pinfall. This brought out Jeff who was all sorts of pissed off at Punk, who rolled out of the ring and limped away. They're doing a great job with transitioning Punk and this was a good match to boot to finish off the show.

PURGATORY:

CHRIS JERICHO vs. JEFF HARDY: Taking place right after the opening talkie bit, Jeff was already in the ring with his music playing as we awaited the arrival of Y2J. J.R. called this a "main event"—not once, but twice. Yo, Jim. Between you and me…a main event is a match that takes place last on a particular card. So, in this show's case, CM Punk vs. Rey Rey would be the main event. You could even get away with calling Morrison/Edge a main event since it took place at or around the end of the first hour. However my friend, the opening match of a show is NOT a main event. Just sayin'. Jericho had the fans' hatred as always as he stepped into the ring for this non-title match. Jeff and Jericho have always worked very well together and this was good enough for a five minute match. They didn't have much time and they didn't try to just throw in all the spots to make up for it, which was good in that it didn't make the match feel like a rushed mess. That said, they still didn't get a lot of time to make for something great here, and while I actually liked the finish with Rey Rey sitting in a little crowd of Reys only to come out and rana Jericho headfirst into the ring post for the countout. It was a pretty good way to start the show off, it advanced the Rey/Jericho feud (and kept the mask as a focus) and put Jeff over pretty well. The only major problem it has is the time, which simply forced the match to pale in comparison to the rest of the show.

MELINA vs. ALICIA: Mmm, Melina in red. Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah. We found out during Melina's entrance that Melina would be defending the Women's Championship against Michelle McCool at THE Bash. Alicia came down soon after with Michelle at her side, and the #1 contender for the Women's Title was again in a bit of a fashion change, this time looking like someone you would have probably seen at Studio 54. It does at least fit into her association with Alicia who looks straight out of the 70's, so I can go with that. The last time these two met on SmackDown it was far from impressive and tonight was a little better thanks to the growth of Alicia in the ring. There were still parts that bugged me; that Matrix back-bend into a kick looks weak as hell for one, but there were some good things in here too. Alicia's full nelson/camel clutch was nice, and I still love Melina's finisher. This didn't have a lot of time but was okay for what it needed to be, and Michelle beating the tar out of Melina after the match was nicely done. Unfortunately her promo afterward wasn't one of her best and dragged the post-match proceedings down for me. Not terrible stuff here, but it could have been better.

THE WRONG:

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. THE GREAT KHALI: Before this match, Dolph was in a segment that just bugged the shit out of me. We had Maria playing mediator between Eve and Layla, who are fighting like children over hairspray. I guess the economy's tough all over. Dolph came over and tried to introduce himself, only to be cut off by Layla who called him "Zach Diggler." To Maria he was "Don Zimmer" and Eve got closest with "Dick Ziggler." They then noted how much he reminded them of Marky Mark in Boogie Nights, pretty much totally exposing his gimmick there. That didn't bug me quite as much as the continuity. Supposedly Layla and Eve absolutely loathe each other. And the most animosity we can get out of them is fighting over hairspray, after which they gleefully giggle and joke about Dolph's name and look? C'mon guys, you're not even trying here.

As for the match well…they tried. The Dolph/Khali feud was recapped before the big guy came down to the ring to an impressive pop from the crowd. What I did like was that they did a little work in making Dolph look like he was an actual threat—at least a partial one—by having him able to fight back against Khali a bit. Even with that being the case, the match was far from good as Dolph's moments of offense looked a little sloppy, especially that Rocker Dropper. I appreciated the booking for the finish as they're trying to play Ziggler off as a smart guy who sneaks his way into wins, and I'm okay with that even if it does conjure the inevitable and unfortunate Eddie comparisons; I say unfortunate because it's hardly fair to compare the two. Anyway, had they put a little more time and more effort into this match it wouldn't have ended up in the wRong area, but ah, well.

THE WGTT & RICKY ORTIZ vs. R-TRUTH & CRYME TYME: Okay, this has officially gone too far. By ‘this' of course, I mean the constant jobbing of Shelton and Charlie. When he was putting over John Morrison to get him higher up on the card that was one thing, and although it bugged me by the end I could deal with it. This I don't get at all. First off, Cryme Tyme has little to no business going over anyone right now; they need to be seriously built up if we're supposed to take them seriously as a tag team. Sorry boys, there've been too many Big Booty Barbeque Bush Dance Contests or whatever the hell they've been doing and not enough actual competing. I realize that they're trying to get Truth over more and this is a good thing, but there's no shortage of people they can use to do that; why use Shelton and Charlie? The match was vaguely tolerable, other than a bit too much involvement of Ortiz and JTG, who were the weakest links in this match and showed such. As things progressed this match picked up a bit, but the ending seemed rather out of nowhere and I really don't get the logic of Shelton taking the fall. I really didn't like this match or the result…sorry, guys.

THE RIDICULOUS:

A RARE PRODUCTION SNAFU: In the otherwise good main event segment there was a TERRIBLE moment by the editing team where Jericho told Rey that he's an addict and the mask was his drug; it was so obviously dubbed in (complete with Jericho being shown from behind) that it seemed like last night's airing of Liar Liar on USA where every "asshole" was turned into a "loser" or what-have-you. I've praised the ‘E's Production team on many occasions and it is deserved praise, but by the same token I will call them out when they screw up and this was remarkably amateurish for them. They have three days to edit this stuff, there is no excuse for them to pull something like this and I expect more. Poor showing, boys.

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

The 411

This week's SmackDown wasn't as good as the shows have been in recent weeks, but that is surely not to say that it was bad. There was some great advancement in the two main feuds, that of Jericho/Rey Rey and Punk/Hardy, and a breakout performance by Morrison to really push him up the card. Despite a few problematic situations this was still a very enjoyable two hours that was certainly worth checking out.

SHOW RATING: ***½

Comment Time with Jeremy!

From fanboi13:
As much as I hated the Trump crap,the segment where the Divas were trying to guess the new owner really pissed me off. They came across as bimbos with the intellect of a retarded sea sponge. This might be defendable if the three were actively protrayed as lovable idiots ala Maria a while back. They are protrayed as women of average or better intelect as far as I know and having them make silly,vapid comments like they did was insulting to women. I like beautiful women in skimpy outfits as much as the next guy,but that does not mean they should not be treated with some respect when it comes to how their characters are protrayed.

I pretty much agree with this; at no time have Kelly or the Bellas been portrayed as morons. Kelly has acted sort of dopey some of the time as she laughed her way through things early in her 'E stint but none of them have been considered this dumb to date. It bothered me significantly, and I'm glad I'm not the only one.


From KanyonKreist:
Never mind the fact that the whole CONCEPT of "selling Raw" sounds completely like it was thought up by a six-year-old. Vince, how can you "sell" a television program that's run by the company that you still own, and still featuring the employees of said company? Did NO ONE ask any of these questions beforehand?

Does WWE now employ the writing staff behind the movie Spice World?

Shit, with this kind of effort put into the booking, I'm surprised that when Batista went down with that injury, Orton didn't just snatch the WWE Championship by saying "I call the title belt!!"

Sadly, I could have almost seen them doing that as a throwaway moment, and it would have even been consistent with how poorly young Randall's been booked. That said, the whole idea of a show portion of a company being sold off bugs me too, because as we all know Raw isn't its own company no matter what the brand split says. If Trump were to have bought Raw then it shouldn't be a "WWE" brand anymore, which of course it will. The inconsistency just irritates me, and again I'm glad I'm not the only one.


From Guest#4938:
Can we please take the official rating reigns away from Jeremy Thomas already? The guy has a narrow view of the RAW product, I get sick of his weekly installment of taking a shot at the Did You Know's. Guess what, Jeremy, nobody cares that you don't give a damn.

Also, he is terribly inconsistent with his ratings and his reason for given ratings. For example, RAW this week had three fantastic matches, an awesome promo by the Miz, and good storyline progression in several major categories. For God's sake, there was even a tag team champions siting in what appears to be a legit program with two, possibly three teams.

Nonetheless, he takes the beginning of a storyline that he has no idea where it's going, immediately crushes is as does the rest of the IWC and more specifically arrogant 411 writers. Who knows? This could be great stuff?

If I do recall correctly, it was Jeremy Thomas who crushed the entire JBL/HBK storyline week in and week out before ultimately praising it as strong story-telling, even compelling television and crediting the two guys for making him care.

It's absurd that he brings the rating of an excellent show down to 2 1/2 stars because he doesn't think a major storyline will develop well.

Jeremy... Did you Know?: You are a moron

(I use the word moron because 411 has been PG rated lately and won't approve comments with language concerns)

Thanks for the comment, 4938! I really appreciate it. That said, allow me to respond a bit. First off, I am not the only one who does not give a damn about the "Did You Know" segments and find them irritating. It's a single line in the entire column and I don't think that one line ruins your enjoyment since as I said it doesn't really factor into the overall rating. It's not hard to skip it, I promise. As for the ratings, remember (I assume you know this as you seem to have followed the column for a while to have garnered such opinions) that I don't say things like "three Rights + one puRgatoRy + two wRongs, divided by the square root of Randy Orton's bicep size and then multiplied by the number of people who cheered for Triple H = Raw Rating." Each segment has its own rating, but the overall show can sometimes be more or less than the sum of its parts. And not all Rights, puRg's, wRongs and such are equal with each other.

As for the Trump segment, I'm not really judging where it could go, but where its at now. The crowd hated this because it was rightly stupid and poorly executed, right down to Trump's obviously pre-taped video segment that Vince tried to work live against. Could it be great stuff eventually? Yep! I don't think it will be, but it could be and I could be proven wrong. As for the HBK/JBL thing, you're mischaracterizing me. I never liked the angle. What I liked was JBL and Shawn's work in it, and as I said multiple times it was their efforts that drew me into liking it against my will. Strong story-telling? I doubt I ever said that unless I was talking about the story-telling within the match. They did make me care about it and I give them all the credit for it. In the end here, I didn't drop the rating down to 2.5 stars because I don't think the Trump thing WILL develop well, I did it because I think it didn't START well here on this show. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please come again!


From Funky Freddy Feelgood:
On Donald Trump:

1.) He's not going to be on the show every week. Anybody who thinks otherwise is a fucking idiot. Therefore...

2.)Trump will hire a General Manager for Raw. This poor schmuck is going to be trapped in middle-management hell as a liason between the wrestlers and Trump. Entertainment possibilities abound!

3.) Trump will basically be Jack Tunney or Gorilla Monsoon. When his "via-satellite" edicts show up, you know that shit's about to go down!

4.) Trump has 100 x the charisma of Jack Tunney.

Now, Mr. Thomas, go learn a fucking thing or two ABOUT wrestling.

Trump's charisma compared to Jack Tunney is irrelevant, Triple F, because I didn't reference Tunney and, being dead, he wasn't an option to be the buyer. That being said, we have no idea how this is going down and I'm not going to speculate, although you are free to. Again, I'm not judging this on how it's going to be, but how it came off here and it came off as shit.


From Quimby:
How can you say that there was an improvement on Raw this week when by your own admission 2 of the 4 worthwhile things on it were SmackDown matches.

Surely a real improvement on Raw means a strong direction for their own talent, not the ability to borrow talent (and steal PPV quality matches) from the Blue Brand.

I absolutely agree, that would have been a real improvement, but either way when it boils down to it Raw and SmackDown (and ECW) are WWE shows, not shows in their own right. If they do a tri-branded Raw every now and then it does have the potential to make for an improved Raw, even if it might not be Red Brand guys who lift the show.


From Ryan:
Hi there, great article as always, thanks for that.

When Vince said he was selling Raw I was so hopeful it was going to be to the Million Dollar Man, that would have been great.

Now see, that would have made sense and I could have gone with that. I still wouldn't have liked the "I'm selling Raw" thing but I think it would have come off better than Trump.


From IcehawkDown:
LOL at Jeremy Thomas being a baby. Holy crap dude.

1st off, Trump = Ratings. Theres really no denying this. Look at the build up to WM23, and all the buys it did.

2ndly, it's pretty clear Trump is just going to take over Vince's role, of showing up on occasion. The dude has tons of stuff on his plate.

3rd, the crowd only shit on it because it was North Carolina, and they wanted Flair. However, Flair just got punted, and even Super Hunter took 6 weeks to come back from a punt. I'm sure in a few weeks Trump makes Flair his GM.

Trump does have charisma, he's an entertaining charisma. You really think it's Trump's show concept that gets the Apprentice ratings? No, it's him! The fact that you bitch endlessly about something that really wasn't even a big deal is quite frankly pathetic. Get over yourself.

Hey Icehawk; welcome to the R's. I would argue that Trump was not the ratings monster for WrestleMania, although he did of course contribute via the increased media attention. That being said, you've shot your own argument in the foot by saying that Trump is not going to be a constant presence on the show. Thus, even if he is the cause for ratings to rise (which I guess we'll find out soon enough), he won't contribute meaningfully. He may pop the ratings for a show, but there's no way he's going to be worth going through this storyline. Third, the crowd shit on it for a lot of reason I think. Yes, that he wasn't Flair was part of it, but even if that was the only reason then they shouldn't have played it up as obviously as they did to tease Flair (see: Vince's comments before the WWE Title Match). Trump is supposed to be the good guy--so far at least--and you don't want your good guy being booed off the TitanTron. And it's not Trump that gets the ratings; that's like saying Ryan Seacrest gets American Idol ratings, Julie Chen is the reason people tune into Big Brother or people watch Survivor for Jeff Probst. No, it's the same shit that gets all of reality TV ratings, people watching other people be car wrecks. But hey, again welcome to the R's and thanks for reading.

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TNA SLAMMIVERSARY 2009~!
By: Larry Csonka

QUICK RESULTS:
- X-DIVISION TITLE KOTM MATCH: Suicide defeated Sabin, Shelley, Lethal and Creed @ 24:00 [****¼]
- Daniels defeated Shane Douglas @ 8:00 via pin [**¼]
- TNA KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH: Angelina Love defeated Tara @ 7:00 via pin [**]
- MONSTERS BALL: Abyss and Taylor Wilde defeated Raven and Daffney via pin [***½]
- Sting defeated Matt Morgan via pin [**]
- TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Beer Money defeated Team 3D to win the TNA Tag Team Titles @ 17:00 via pin [***]
- TNA HEAVYWEIGH TITLE KOTM MATCH: Kurt Angle defeated Joe, AJ, Foley and JJ to win the TNA World Title @ 22:00 [****]

THE RIGHT:

X-DIVISION TITLE KOTM MATCH : Going into the match I had mixed feeling. I knew that they could have a great match, but I was worried about two KOTM matches, as well as worried that the match could hurt the main event KOTM match. The match kicked off the show, and when all was said and done, this delivered big time. The Detroit crowd was hot for Sabin and Shelley, and for the match as a whole, which is a nice change to other PPV's outside of Orlando. These guys busted their asses, kept a frantic pace, and also were able to introduce some new spots into a style of match that has almost seen it all. One of the coolest was the spot where the ladder was in the corner and Lethal was laid out on it. He was getting to his knees, when Suicide gut buster suplexed Creed onto it, catapulting Lethal across the ring. Awesome. I also have to agree with Lansdell here in defense of the match. Some will claim that this was nothing but a spotfest, but there was a lot of thought put into this. The teams working as teams, Suicide fighting for his life, the teams working together against him in a 4 on 1 fashion, only to turn on each other, and of course Sabin laying down for Shelley to make him eligible to win the title. They promised that they would do anything to win the title, and that played into that. All in all a tremendous match and one of the better opening PPV bouts you'll see. This was a kick ass way to get the show rolling.

MONSTERS BALL : I will freely admit that I was not that excited about this match. They killed on the stipulation last PPV with the ladies getting four minutes and not really doing much, it was a TV angle on PPV. Add into the factor that we didn't know how Raven would work on PPV, and that's enough to question the match. But I figured that the plunder would be enough to make it at least enjoyable. I was completely wrong, this was a DAMN good match. Abyss and Raven did their thing, Raven looked good, Abyss bled, and it worked. Add in some fun spots with Stevie and shit was flowing. But the ladies, the ladies stole the match from the guys, no doubt in my mind. They worked hard, they did shit I ever expected and did everything to make you forget the match from last month. A cool dive spot, some weapons shots and Daffney taking the TACK BUMP solidified their greatness here. I appreciate their hard work, they brought it and added a ton to the match. I don't want to see the chicks do this all the time, but for the night, it worked. Abyss pined Raven after driving him onto the tacks, and thus far I have enjoyed his return to the company, and hope he sticks around. Kudos to all.

TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH : This was a match I have been looking forward too. The two teams have had a great feud, they have had good matches, but they haven't had that great match yet, and I know that they are capable of having one. They had a good and hard hitting match, with everyone working hard. I also liked how they played up the fact that Team 3D was in Japan defending he IWGP titles, and that they were running late due to their flight. The match was running along very well and I thought we were going to get that great match, and then the British Invasion came to the ring. This is when the match changed focus and lost some of its steam. The Invasion got involved, Ray hit a crazy dove off of the top onto them, and Beer Money ended up winning the titles. The right decision, but adding the extra three guys into the end took away from it for me. Also, with the earlier tease and Invasion run in, it seemed as if they were protecting 3D too much. They don't need it.

TNA HEAVYWEIGH TITLE KOTM MATCH : I will freely admit that I was worried about the match going into it. Jarrett has been nursing a bad hammy, Joe tore a muscle, AJ had a bad leg and Foley had not exactly been setting the world on fire since debuting with TNA. With a match that demands punishment and big spots, we all had justification to worry. I am so glad to say that my worries were wrong, because these guys went out there, busted their asses and put on a damn good match, I mean, I enjoyed the hell out of this match. Good wrestling, fu spots, Foley's huge elbow off of the penalty box, AJ busting ass and working for 4 men as always, this was just so much fun. Angle winning the title was a good move, as it got the title off of Foley, and I think right now, Angle was the right guy to move the title too. And then there is the swerve ending to the match, which people either HATE or LOVE. Right now I am in the wait and see camp. On one hand it seems to make no sense, due to Joe promising to take out Angle and the fact that he recently destroyed Nash, Steiner and Booker. But then again, AJ and Joe were having issues, and then, out of the blue, Joe was apologetic and wanting to do anything he could to help AJ. Plus, who is Joe's advisor? Is it Taz as thought, or was it Angle all along in a way for Angle to take back control of the Mafia and boot Sting out, since they have had documented issues. Joe getting DQ's at the beginning looked to be a set up to set Angle for the possible win. As for the PPV, it was a real surprise and didn't come off as the swerve for the sake of swerves that we all expect. But it all comes down to the explanation to the swerve, that will tell us if it works or not. I'll be cautiously optimistic for now on the angle, but the match was great.

PURGATORY:

Sting defeated Matt Morgan : Sting vs. Matt Morgan was an interesting match. Morgan has been touted as the next big thing by many, but has yet to truly deliver in the ring. Sting has been willing to put people over, but TNA doesn't want him too. Also, with the leadership of the Mafia on the line, that too me said that there was no was that Morgan was winning. The match…well, it wasn't bad, but it will fall into a pattern that the other purgatory matches will follow. It was short, felt rushed, and the blown reversal of the hellavator really hurt what flow they had going. They each kicked out of big moves, but Sting got the clean win with the 2nd rope assisted death drop. It was fine, but again, didn't get up to a PPV level to me.

Daniels defeated Shane Douglas : I, like many, didn't expect much out of this match. I am a huge Shane Douglas fan, but he's old, he's had injuries and isn't exactly looking to be in the greatest ring shape. Also, like many, I wanted more for Daniels on the anniversary show. But these were the cards we were dealt, so we play them. Douglas cut a good pre-match promo, but unfortunately his momentum was slowed due to a twisted ankle early in the match. But even with the early injury and everything else I mentioned, this was perfectly fine. They worked a good, old school match, and Douglas can still do that. Daniels is still awesome, and worked his ass off. What we got was an acceptable match, but below average in my eyes. On a side note, if they aren't sure what to do with Daniels, a short run of former TNA guys looking for their shot on TV for him to beat may not be a bad idea. Considering that most fans that attend live only watch for the stars, having a TNA guy beat "formerly perceived stars" on TV may not be a bad idea.

TNA KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH : Maybe I went into this match with too high of expectations, but I feel that this match disappointed. Not bad mind you, but it just never got out of gear. This felt like a TV match they would have had with the cluster finish and beat down by the heels to set up the title match for the PPV. What they did was good, Tara is working fine in the 6-sided ring, Angelina is starting to work again and not totally rely on the gimmick, and to me, this felt as if they were about to head into a strong five minute finish, and they got cut off. But I will say that you shouldn't give too much away in the first match, and Angelina winning was also the right call in many ways. She got screwed in the end by the EVIL SPRAY OF BITCHITUDE, and took Angelina's finish. That is not being jobbed or BERRIED, that is motivation for revenge. I figure that Kong will get involved, judging by the staredown with Tara from last week, and due to the fact that she has unfinished business with Love. Again, not bad, but not what it could or should have been.

THE WRONG:

NONE

THE RIDICULOUS:

NONE

The 411

I went into Slammiversary like I do all PPV's, with high hopes, but trepidation. There were a lot of things that could have gone right for the show, but also a lot of things that could have hurt the show, like booking and injuries. But the roster fought through that, everything clicked big time, and this is the most fun I have had watching a TNA PPV in some time. Some really good matches, nothing at all bad, and the Joe angle could provide some interesting angles and matches going forward. The TV show can be a pain in the ass to watch, but this PPV was a breath of fresh air to me. Fucking good on you TNA, lets build off of this.

SHOW RATING: 8.0

---

LARRY'S RANKINGS THUS FAR

2009 PPV Rankings:
-ROH RISING ABOVE {8.0}
-WWE NO WAY OUT {8.0}
-TNA SLAMMIVERSARY {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)
-[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – X-Division King of the Mountain Match: Suicide vs. Lethal vs. Creed vs. Sabin vs. Shelley (****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 (****)
-[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – TNA World Title King of the Mountain Match: Foley vs. Angle vs. AJ vs. Joe vs. Jarrett (****)

-[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
-[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – Daffney and Taylor Wilde – Two Hardcore Bitches

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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. John Morrison - (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***¾}
-Edge vs. Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk - (Raw: 06.08.09) {***¾}
-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}

-WWE TITLE MATCH: Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. HHH vs. Big Show - (Raw: 06.08.09) {***½}
- 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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