Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 11.02.09: ROH on HDNet, WWE Smackdown, WWE Superstars, And TNA Impact

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 11.02.2009

Batista reminds Rey that Eddie is dead, Hulkamania starts to run wild on Impact, it’s Groundhog Day on Superstars, Kenny King tries to make his career off of injuring Jerry Lynn, the updated TV match rankings and more! Wrestling’s 4R’s breaks down all the action from WWE Superstars, ROH on HDNet, WWE Smackdown and TNA Impact!

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In HD where available…



By: Aaron Hubbard

ROH on HDNet 10.26.09:

QUICK RESULTS:
- Delirious defeated Sonjay Dutt, Necro Butcher and Joey Ryan [**]
- Brent Albright defeated D-Lo Brown [***]
- Kenny King defeated Eddie Kingston [**3/4]

THE RIGHT:

BROWN VS. ALBRIGHT: This match didn't really have any reason for happening, as Albright is coming off his long feud with Claudio and D-Lo hasn't really had any real "feuds" in ROH. But this was the perfect example of taking a guy who needs to be put over and a guy who needs to be putting people over and letting them go at it. D-Lo worked hard for his entire ROH run and helped get some younger stars over by having good matches with them. This wasn't a great match, but it surpassed my expectations and the finish was excellent. My favorite thing about this show.

JUST KEEP SHILLING: Just keep shilling, what do we do, we SHILL! ROH has been making a concentrated effort to shill their product on HDNet, be it T-Shirts and DVDS, to live events, to the shows that are coming in next week. They hyped the main event of next week (Colt Cabana vs. Nigel "Desmond Wolfe" McGuinness) AND the week after (Danielson and Strong vs. The Wolves, a match which has gotten a good amount of praise from those in attendance). They also took time to plug Twitter accounts. I don't really Twitter much, but I'll always be able to tell you Mike Hogewood's Twitter account: Twitter.com/SLAP THE PORPOISE!

PURGATORY:

KING OF THE WORLD....MAYBE?: The week before this show, we saw Kenny King and Rhett Titus accidentally injure Jerry Lynn with a piledriver. ROH tried to take a negative thing and turn it into a positive thing by elevating Kenny King. First, they had Aries come out and put himself over for beating Bryan Danielson, and then said that King was great too. King got a chance to speak and put himself over, and I was looking forward to this, because Kenny has charisma and has delivered in the past. He didn't deliver here, as the promo featured a bunch of starting points and no follow-up. He was still charismatic, the promo just wasn't good. Then out came Tyler Black, who said that everyone in the locker room wanted to get their hands on Kenny. He stole Aries' lucky lottery idea and pulled Eddie Kingston's name out of a hat. Tyler actually outshone Kenny on the mic here, and that's pretty embarrassing.

This set up our main-event, and it was...a match. Eddie Kingston is fun in the capacity of watching him beat people up, but so far, he hasn't shown me much more than hard chops and suplexes. Not that he doesn't do those well, but it is pretty two-dimensional. Kenny was good in this match at playing his character, but didn't really get any significant shine. He still looks like a cocky, arrogant guy who isn't ready for the big-time. He won the match after a distraction from Chris Hero, just like he beat Jerry Lynn last week with the help of Titus. If ROH is going to push King, which is the only logical thing to do out of this injury, they have to get a bit more serious than this. Kenny also has to step up his in-ring and on-the-mic games to prove he is worthy of the push.

FOUR-WAY SCRAMBLE: This match was used as a tool to further the Dutt vs. Delirious and Necro vs. Embassy feuds. I personally don't have a lot of emotional investment in either feuds; I like Necro Butcher and love Delirious, but these feuds just aren't doing much for me. Neither did this match. Four-way scrambles can be really fun if you get the right guys (Joe vs. Lethal vs. Whitmer vs. Daniels at Final Battle 2005 comes to mind immediately) and they manage to make the wrestling good. This had neither; the characters didn't mesh with each other and the in-ring action was very "meh". Not bad, just "meh". When Delirious defeated Sonjay, I thought, "That's it? Really?"

THE WRONG:
NOTHING MUST SEE: Maybe it was the fact that they were plugging Roderick Strong and Bryan Danielson vs. The American Wolves for most of the show, but it seemed extremely obvious this week that there was nothing that I HAD to see this week. It pains me to say it, because I like this show and I love ROH, BUT...if I didn't review the show and do the 4 R's, I probably would have skipped this episode all together. Which, I imagine is what many of you did.

THE WRONG:

NOTHING MUST SEE: Maybe it was the fact that they were plugging Roderick Strong and Bryan Danielson vs. The American Wolves for most of the show, but it seemed extremely obvious this week that there was nothing that I HAD to see this week. It pains me to say it, because I like this show and I love ROH, BUT...if I didn't review the show and do the 4 R's, I probably would have skipped this episode all together. Which, I imagine is what many of you did.

THE RIDICULOUS:

EDDIE STILL WANTS HERO: Eddie cut a promo before the match. Guess what he said? If you guessed "He said he wanted to beat up Chris Hero," you're right. Guess what you win? NOTHING, because at this point, a blind-folded one legged tech with a rusty knife could tell you that Eddie Kingston wants to beat up Chris Hero. Because that's all he's been saying since he showed up in ROH, because apparently, the powers that be can't realize that they have a great promo on their hands in Kingston and can't think of anything better for him to do then beat up jobbers and say he wants to kill Hero. So far, he's failed spectacularly at this. At least Hero has been doing other stuff, like feuding with KENTA (get well soon), but Eddie is just treading water. Almost every week, I hear Eddie say he wants Hero, he wants Hero. Well, at this point, I'm not sure I want to see Eddie face Hero anymore. If ROH insists on shoving this boring feud down our throats, then they better put THE blowoff on TV soon and it better deliver BIG TIME! And the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round....

The 411

I had decent hopes for this show, more in the promo department than the in-ring department, because I expected Kenny King to capitalize on the momentum from Jerry Lynn's injury and really elevate himself to a higher position on the card then "that athletic cocky guy who teams with Rhett Titus". That didn't happen, and outside of the fun match between Albright and D-Lo, which I've forgotten already, there was nothing special about this show. Nothing HORRIBLY ridiculous, but this was very middling.

SHOW RATING: 5.0

---

By: Daniel Wilcox

iMpact! 10.29.09:

THE RIGHT:

The Wolfe Kicks off the Show: I really liked the fact that newcomer Desmond Wolfe got to kick off the show with a little mic time, and I was very much impressed with his work here. A lot of ignorant people argue that ROH guys have no personality and charisma, which is why they're still in the indies, but Wolfe is showing that that's a load of crap. I thought his promo was very impressive, and I loved the little touches of Britishness, such as calling the fans wankers and the two-finger salute. It reminded me quite a lot of Vinnie Jones' wrestling cameo over a decade ago. Angle of course interrupted Wolfe and cut a typically good promo himself, again put over some young stars, and the main event was set. Good stuff all round here and a great start to the show.

Desmond Wolfe vs. Kurt Angle - Establishing Wolfe and the Lariat: And this was what resulted from that opening promo. The match itself wasn't much, but this was all about the angle that ended the match, with Wolfe connecting with that lariat to knock Angle out cold. Something I loved was that Taz mentioned that he'd heard a rumor about this guy having a vicious clothesline, so that when hit it and Angle went down, people wouldn't have thought, "WTF, Angle got knocked out by a clothesline?" In the space of two weeks, this new character has really been established as a threat and now he has a finishing move that people will buy into immediately. The handling of Nigel McGuiness in TNA thus far has been sensational.

Motor City Machineguns vs. Team 3D – The Conspiracy Theory: So before this match, Rhino once again warned 3D about the conspiracy in TNA to run the old guys out of town, and that played into the finish somewhat with the referee making a questionable call on D-Von's "submission." I like the ambiguous nature of it, rather than the referee blatantly screwing 3D. I also like the fact that the Guns went over as they need to look strong ahead of their tag title bout at the next pay-per-view.

I also want to praise everyone involved in this match for putting on a great show despite Chris Sabin's injury. Incidentally, I don't blame Brother Ray for the injury, it's just one of those things. And unlike Kevin Nash, I don't blame them for carrying on the match either. This is wrestling and the show must go on. Thankfully Sabin wasn't too badly hurt and the other guys got through the match with no further incident. All in all, a job well done by all involved.

Eric Young's Major Announcement: So Eric Young's "groundbreaking" announcement was that he was retiring the Legend's Championship, and turning it into the TNA Global Championship. While there's obviously the huge logistical flaw of Young randomly getting the authority to do this, I like this move because the Legend's title meant absolutely nothing, but I think they can really make something interesting out of the Global strap, particularly with the stipulations Young has put on title defenses, those being that he won't defend the title on American soil, nor against an American opponent. Considering TNA has run maybe two or three televised shows outside of the States, its safe to say that this title won't be defended all that often, but maybe that part of the stipulation will change somewhere down the line. For now though, I am intrigued.

And oh yeah, one small gripe, if the British Invasion are suspended until the pay-per-view, why the hell were they there?

Hulkamania Comes to TBA – The Announcement: I'm not going to praise or criticize the signing of Hulk Hogan to TNA. If you want my thoughts on the matter, head over to the roundtable the staff did on it last week. This is in the right because of well the whole thing was hyped throughout the show. Not just the fact that Hogan had signed, but what effect it would have on each and every single individual involved in TNA. The commentary was obviously redone to work all of this in and that came off poorly at times, particularly when TNA pointed out that the show was taped before the announcement was made, but the most important thing here is the fact that they managed to hype this announcement as the most important in TNA's history, which it probably is. Apart from anything else, you got the feel that something big was happening, so kudos for that.

Tara vs. Alissa Flash – Kong Kills Bitches Dead: So our first of two segments focusing on the Kncockouts came in the form of a one-on-one match between Tara and Flash. For the most part the match was decent enough and both girls worked hard, but there were sloppy moments in this match and a couple of botched moves that really brought the overall quality down somewhat. But, and this is the most important part, Kong came down and she was pissed the fuck off. Kong is back! Kong killed both bitches dead with a single move and the guys on commentary did a good job of putting over the return of the old Kong, which I really liked.

PURGATORY:

ODB, Christy Hemme and Hamada vs. The Beautiful People – Tara Fights Back: Our second dose of Knockout's however, came in the form of this six-woman tag match, which was sloppy as hell. Christy has improved significantly, but for whatever reason a lot of stuff happening in this match was just a little bit off, and that was shown most in that awful chokeslam that Lacey finished the match. She looked particularly bad here and it's clear she's not quite ready be in the ring regularly on television, so it'd be best if she was kept more as the manager of the Beautiful People for the time being. Post match, Kong returns and looks to kill some more bitches, but she is jumped from behind by Tara. I wasn't a huge fan of this, because I thought in a way it undid the work they did earlier of making Kong look like a beast, and haven't we seen these two having pull-apart brawls for the past month or so. But on the other hand, we don't want to find ourselves in a position where Kong is so far above everyone else that we don't buy it when someone eventually beats her (which is why Taylor Wilde never took off the way management wanted her to).

Joe Plays Mind Games – AJ Gets Taken Out: First things first, I love the mind games Joe has been playing on Impact this week, as everything he says makes sense. He has a point, yet you don't want to believe him because AJ and Daniels are friends and so on. It's a clever little dynamic. I wasn't a huge fan of the way Daniels freaked out, because AJ didn't really seem to doubt him. Furthermore, you can see this going a couple of ways. Daniels could well be guilty, or Joe could be attacking AJ to make these mind games possible, or it could be a third party that no one has considered.

That said, I feel that this angle is being put on the backburner in favor of the Angle/Wolfe thing, and the Hogan announcement. All in all, the World Championship picture is coming off as something of an afterthought, which is a poor idea now more than ever because this match already came out of nowhere with no logic or reason behind signing the three-way. I guess they're relying on the ability of all three men, and fans' knowledge of their past battles, to entice viewers to buy the pay-per-view to see this match, which is a dangerous business in my opinion.

THE WRONG:

Rhino vs. Matt Morgan – The Conspiracy Theory Continues: I don't have too much to say about this match, other than the fact that it was short, sloppy, and I don't like the fact that Rhino is constantly jobbing, even if it does play into his conspiracy theory angle. The post-match save from Hernandez only serves to further the angle, and while I like Rhino's current angle, he needs to start getting some wins to build his credibility back up because right now no one is buying it.

Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young – Steiner's Number One Freak: Similar to the last match mentioned, this was really short and really sloppy. I didn't like it. Steiner's interference was obvious and the post-match beat down was weak. I also feat that a match between these two is going to be somewhat horrendous. You'd think that management could find something, anything better for Lashley to do than feud with Steiner.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Abyss vs. Stevie – The Bullshit Never Ends: Jesus Christ. Stevie showed up in February of this year and has been feuding with him ever since. He's used Raven, Nash and Foley to try and take him out. He's wrestled him on pay-per-view already. And yet this still continues. Oh, but with the swerve of ANOTHER Foley turn. By my count that guy has turned four times in a little over a year, and it's just become really boring now. I don't want to see any more of these three working with each other for a long, long time. People complain about Orton/Cena/Triple H, but at least it makes sense for those rivalries to continue. This is reaching Eric Young/Robert Roode levels of ridiculousness.

The 411

Overall, another very strong show, and a significant one at that for TNA Impact. While they're announcing the acquisition of the biggest name in wrestling history, they're also establishing a new big name player in Desmond Wolfe, and also letting guys like the Guns, AJ, Joe and Daniels have their fare share of air time. There were a lot of weak finishes to the matches on this show, and a few matches that were just poor, but there were also some pretty good matches and great angles playing out. TNA continues to be on a huge role, and if Hogan's involvement brings in more viewers, I think if this quality of show continues, the people will come for Hulk and stay for the rest.

SHOW RATING: 8.0

---

By: Steve Cook

Superstars 10.29.09:

THE RIGHT:

Jack Swagger vs. Primo: It's like déjà vu all over again, which was kind of the theme of this week's Superstars. Two of this week's matches were rematches from previous Superstars episodes, and one of the ones that wasn't featured four guys that have faced each other on the show before with different partners. Swagger & Primo faced off on the August 27 edition of this show, along with the October 5 edition of Raw, and each match resulted in a Swagger victory. This match was no different, so Primo really needs to talk to his agent about putting him in better matches. The match itself was pretty squashtastic nothing to write home about, but it ends up in the "Right" section because I like Jack Swagger. I think the only wrestling expert who has a bigger man-crush on Swagger than me would have to be Good ol' JR, and I hope he gets to call a Swagger match someday because he'd love this guy. Primo did get some offense in and looked pretty good doing his stuff, but this was the Jack Swagga show. As it should have been.

Cryme Tyme & R-Truth vs. Hart Dynasty & Mike Knox: Those who complain about constantly seeing Cryme Tyme vs. Hart Dynasty in various combinations probably couldn't get through a month of AAA without wanting to tear their hair out. Don't get me wrong, I usually like La Parka vs. Silver King, Aerostar/Fabi Apache vs. Billy Boy/Sexi Star & Teddy Hart vs. Jack Evans, but those are three feuds off the top of my head that have matches involving the participants nearly every single week. I think the Apache stuff with Fabi, Gran, Mari, Billy Boy and various other people has been going on for several years now. I'm not complaining about it, I'm just saying that some people need to put things in perspective. This match was pretty fun, the addition of R-Truth & Knox to the mix made things pretty interesting. I'm trying to get a 411 law passed that Knox's beard automatically adds a star to any match he's involved in.

PURGATORY:

Zack Ryder vs. Tyler Reks: Ryder has one of the best theme songs in WWE today and it's in my head as I type this. In the continuation of this rivalry that isn't much of a rivalry because Reks is the Primo to Ryder's Swagger, we got a match that…well, it wasn't really that bad, but it wasn't really that great either. It was just kind of there. I'm not nearly as high on Ryder as some people are, but the kid does have potential. Reks might get there someday, but it's going to take time.

THE WRONG:

Alicia Fox vs. Kelly Kelly: I've speculated in the past that Kelly Kelly can have good matches with the right wrestlers, but in matches with the wrong wrestlers, she can struggle. This is why she ends up in the "Wrong" section this week with Alicia Fox this week after a strong showing with Gail Kim last week. Fox has shown signs of being decent and I like her axe kick finisher, but her and Kelly just weren't on the same page in this match. Kelly's flipping is usually pretty fun, but it seemed like she was doing way too much of it here. I've seen worse Diva matches lately, but I've seen better ones lately as well.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Ask the Divas: The segment needed better questions this week, or at least ones with less predictable answers. I may be softening on my stance towards this segment because of my growing Bella love.

The 411

Superstars actually has some feuds going! Too bad some of them are fairly predictable, but I like the fact that they're regularly showcasing some wrestlers and most of them don't suck. I'd say all of them at least have the potential to be good. Nothing on this week's show stuck out as must-see TV (though, once again, if you're a Cryme Tyme/Hart Dynasty completist you're going to want to watch that), but there was enough good stuff to make it worthwhile.

SHOW RATING: 6.5

---

By: Jeremy Thomas

WWE SmackDown 10.30.09

THE RIGHT:

BETH PHOENIX vs. JENNY BROOKS: Welcome to Squashville, Jenny. She seemed like such a nice, pleasant girl, which means there's no way she would have made it amongst the Divas. This was a nice, short match to show Beth as a dominant monster in the Diva's division. Apparently Jenny had faced Beth in their amateur days or something like that, which at least made sense for the purposes of the match. Beth was playing the match with facial expressions, which made her feel almost a little psychotic, which is a bent that would work well for her character. This was a pretty solid squash match—nothing fantastic, but certainly serviceable, and it helps promote Beth as a monster once more without burying any of the Divas. I'm a-okay with that, because Beth was in need of some rebuilding after languishing on Raw for a bit.

BIG DAVE & REY REY HAVE A HEART-TO-HEART: This was heavily pushed all the way up to the point that it happened mid-show, and as always a big kudos is due to the Production Crew for their excellent work on the recaps. The crowd was loud for Rey's entrance, hobbling and in street clothes plus his mask. Rey gave a decent promo as he talked about how much it hurt to be attacked by such a close friend, and how he wanted to get face-to-face with Dave and straighten it out. This of course brought the Manimal down, to a decidedly mixed reaction—not to be unexpected, considering how over he was as a face before now. He had heel sunglasses on and a SOOPER-SIRIUS look on his face, and well…he was a little less than contrite. He threatened Rey Rey and gave him one chance to leave the ring. Unfortunately for the little guy, he didn't take it and they had what ended up being a very nice, solid back-and-forth about their issues. I think Batista's turn was just a tiny bit quick and it could have been stretched a bit more, but he's playing it very well and it's doing a good job getting the crowd more solidly against him. I rather wished they hadn't used the "E" word and I think it's cheap for Dave to get heat by saying "Eddie's dead," but that's not enough to drag this down into something I disliked. This should make for a very good feud and I'm happy to see that.

DIVA HALLOWEEN CONTEST: Okay, so people may have figured I was going to crap on this, but not at all. I love a good Diva Halloween Contest. Shad and JTG were out to officiate, and they had the crowd reacting nicely with a few one-liners and such. Shad called the Divas Tricks and Treats, which some might consider to be a shoot comment of sorts. The ladies all came down including Layla as Michael Jackson, Mickie James as Elektra, Natalya as a matador and Michelle as a very bored-looking devil. Mickie had the loudest pop, though Layla's was impressive as well. Afterward it turned into a brawl as expected, with Michelle finishing the brawl by taking Mickie down. This was good, harmless fun and all the matches had enough time, so I won't complain.

CM PUNK vs. POOR SCOTT ARMSTRONG: Backstage, teddy was chilling in his office when Vince came on in. Vince was impressed with SmackDown Bragging Rights win and teased taking him off probation. We can dream, I suppose. Unfortunately CM Punk did not agree and was all pissed about not being in the World Title match at Survivor Series. So Vince booked him against Scott Armstrong, which Teddy reluctantly agreed to. How many other people think this is leading to Punk vs. Long at Survivor Series? Oh, I hope not.

Anyway, this led into the match pitting Punk against poor Scott Armstrong. Punk's reactions on the way down to the ring were classic, and he busted out the "Clobberin' Time" line once more on the way down to the ring. You know, I don't think Ben Grimm when I look at Punk, but then maybe I will soon enough. At least he picked a comics character who wrestled to quote from. Poor Scott didn't even get entrance music, he just walked down into the ring and got his ass kicked. Amusingly there was a noticeable CM Punk chant before the match done. Of course this was less a match than an angle segment, and Punk was awesome as he berated Armstrong. Even better, the pop Scott got when he stood up like a man and punched Punk was great. The GTS finished it off, and the crowd was pissed at Punk as the cover was made. This was a good way to keep Punk on TV until they figure out what to do with him, and I really enjoyed it.

KANE vs. CHRIS JERICHO: Our main event, as set during the opening segment, pitted the Team SmackDown co-captains facing off for the spot in the Survivor Series three-way World Title match. I think we all knew who was winning here, as it played into the Jericho/Show mini-feud nicely to have them battle each other and the Dead Man. At the same time, there was a bit of potential as Kane has been built up a bit lately and hasn't had his yearly title shot. T-Grish pointed out that Kane vs. Taker vs. Show would be "twenty-two feet of human flesh." Eww. Bad image there. As a match this was fairly good, with Jericho holding control for extended periods of time with submissions and a focused strategy. There were some good moments as well, such as Kane catching Jericho off the Lionsault for the choke slam. The finish was nicely executed and while we've seen some better main events on SmackDown this year, there was nothing wrong with this.

PURGATORY:

TITLE MATCH ASPIRATIONS ABOUND: SmackDown kicked off with Teddy Long making his way down to the ring, apparently on the crowd's good side this week while T-Grish and Matt Striker talked about how SmackDown was the A-Show after Bragging Rights. Teddy basically said the exact same thing and then switched off to talk about Big Dave's attack on Rey Rey. You know, I hadn't really noticed until now, but Teddy's been losing it on the mic a bit as of late. He's not terrible and he's not even bad, he's just lost a bit of his natural cadence and gone into a generic "GM mode" pattern of speaking. It was especially prevalent when he was talking about the number one contender, and he slipped into something a touch better when he started interacting with Jericho. Of course, Y2J was none too happy that he wasn't the #1 contender, and tossed out some more SAT words. Surprisingly he had to pause to avoid tripping over them, which was unfortunate to see. Jericho wanted to be taking on Taker, but Kane came down to disagree, since he was co-captain and all. He wanted his shot, and Teddy decided to book them in a match to see who would face Taker and Show. This was okay, but not as good as I could have hoped it was. I find it amusing that the crowd continues to cheer Kane when the 'E wants him to be a heel. Well, when you put him in opposition to a mega-heel like Jericho, that's what's going to happen. Again this was all right, but hardly anything great and I was so-so about it.

JOHN MORRISON vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: I've said before that I thought these guys work pretty well against each other, and that's very true. This match was no different as they did very well in their in-ring work, but I really disliked the way the outcome was booked. Ziggler came out for his entrance and was quite good on the mic, as he trashed Morrison for being the only Blue Brander to lose at Bragging Rights, and Morrison fired back nicely by pointing out Dolph wasn't there and making a sexual performance joke. Very nice. Once the bell rang they turned it on, and while the announcers reminded us of Dolph's status as a choke artist when it comes to Intercontinental Title matches the guys in the ring worked their way up into a crowd-pleasing match. Ziggler looked strong mid-match and had some good periods of control, and Morrison had his high-impact comebacks as well. I only question why they felt the need to do the countout win. Both of these guys could have used a win, since Ziggler's a choke artists and Morrison lost at Bragging Rights. Also, a straight loss wouldn't have killed either. So doing the countout loss doesn't help either man. I appreciate the desire to slow-build things, but if they keep this up and continue with the feud, we're going to be talking about how we're sick of seeing them fight. I would have liked to put this in the Right, but alas.

MATT HARDY vs. ERIC ESCOBAR: Before this match, Vickie came down and let us know she was going by PRINCESS VICKIE. And thus she introduced her Price Charming, which was Escobar of course. T-Grish and Striker argued over Escobar's true intentions on the way down to the ring, to only a vague residual amount of heat from Vickie. Matt, on the other hand, got himself a nice little pop. Matt drew the short straw in doing the job to Escobar originally, so this was assumedly his payback in getting to beat Eric. Escobar had a new chance to impress, and once again he showed himself to be competent with the basics but certainly nothing special. Let's face it, there are people who are stronger, with a better look, who have a more impressive move set than he does who basically fill the same role. It would seem that the 'E recognizes this as well, since he took a loss way earlier than big debuts have been as of late. Truth went quite a while before losing; Kozlov had his undefeated streak on his debut. Even McIntyre hasn't lost yet, unless you count his seven-on-seven match. This was technically competent but nothing special, much like Escobar himself. I can't help but wonder how long it's going to be before they relegate Escobar to the lower card.

THE WRONG:

FINLAY vs. DREW MCINTYRE (KINDA): Okay, I'm starting to wonder about Drew's smarts here. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that he's an arrogant asshole who catches his opponents by the surprise before the bell. But in character, one has to wonder if he realizes that if he keeps beating down his opponents in non-matches he's not actually racking wins up. He gave a nice little promo pre-match talking about how he never wanted to be on Team SmackDown in the first place and wants to make his own impact, but that the party was over for Finlay. And over it was, as Drew beat the holy hell out of Finlay for about thirty seconds before he was forced to leave. This does do McIntyre some good as Finlay's known as a tough guy and he looked dominating over the Irishman here, but I would much rather see Drew actually pick up a single, clean win here and there.

THE RIDICULOUS:

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

The 411

This week certainly wasn't as problematic as last week's mediocre episode, and while there were some things I took issue with the show mostly redeemed itself in the last half-hour. It's actually kind of sad because it seems as if the Blue Brand has forgotten how to push new stars; after the success with Punk and Jeff Hardy, they seem to be having a few issues with Ziggler and a lot more with McIntyre and Escobar. Other than those however this was an eminently watchable show that I was able to enjoy, if not love.

SHOW RATING: 7.0

From Phil:
Holy crap! I DID notice the face on the car looked a lot like Cena! I thought Orton noticed it which is why I figured he was looking at it for so long. But then again, Orton just likes to look at himself. Remember when he wanted to win the IC title because he could see his reflection in it? :P

I do remember that, vaguely. You have to admit that Orton is the kind of excellent egomaniac that works very well by being entranced with his own image. I wouldn't want it to become the thrust of his character, since we've already had one Narcissist in the WWE and that didn't go over so well, but as little touches I certainly appreciate it.


From Ash Edwards:
Wait a second...are you people telling me that you just now noticed that Orton and Cena's facial structures are similar? And that Orton with hair looks a lot like Cena? Have you been paying any attention for the past five years?

Not at all, Ash. I didn't say I just noticed that, just that the car hood made it ever more striking than usual. Yes, they obviously look similar, I just actually thought at first that it was a Cena race car and was confused until it became obvious it was Orton.


From Nick M.:
To answer your rhetorical question Mr. Thomas, the last time an ECW Title match was hyped for a week in advance and didn't involve someone from the other brands was last month, when Zack Ryder won the battle royal to become the #1 contender for a match the following week.

That was Bauer, not me. Thanks though!


From Achoom:
Don't get too excited about Orton/Kofi. We got all excited about Punk/Orton back in the day and we know how that ended (you know, when Punk goes reeling to midcard, needed a second MITB-win and every big guy in SD! to get injured in order to become someone again... until those guys started healing up).

I have hope that this will go differently. And at the time, Punk was already a former champion, so the end result was Punk being pushed down the card. Meanwhile, Kofi's already midcard, so any appearance with Orton does him good. That's the main difference between them.


From Heel:
After the long drawn out feud betw orton and cena, while i am excited at the prospect of orton v kofi (fresh on raw for once), i am bummed by the revelation of cena's next opponent(s). DX? Seriously? I guess it is time for hhh's mandatory title shot after 3 months out of the scene. It looked like DX were going to feud for the unified tag belts but guess that's shelved. And taker v the tag champs? I guess it gives us jeri v taker, but do we need big show? Unless edge returns (at SS, which seems like a tradition for him in recent years) and screws y2j, this match would be a train wreck. I pray they give jeri the belt here. I cannot stand a moment longer with taker as champ. if he retains at SS, i shudder to see a lumbering taker defend the title at tlc. Brrrr. After the end of orton-cena feud, the only bright light we see is kofi being elevated. Otherwise it's still the same ol stale wwe title picture.

I think it's pretty clear (from my vantage point, anyway) that Cena & Taker will both be retaining, and that DX and Jericho/Show will probably feud more after Survivor Series. I've gone on record as not understanding why Taker's got the belt while he's injured, but these multi-man matches make it workable, as he's able to stay out of the majority of the match but still look credible. They need someone marketable, and for now that's the Dead Man.


From David O:
This isn't directed at Jeremy Thomas specifically, but most of the people who post in general who act all shocked over Jamie Noble appearing on TV... usually followed by typical "they're wasting Noble" laments.

Noble's real job in WWE is road agent.

Fair enough. I wasn't screaming that Noble is wasted, in fact I was basically saying the same thing...that he's there to help talent get ready for the big time. I remember he WAS a road agent back in '07, but I thought he'd gone back to full-time after the cruiserweight title was abolished. Thanks!


From The Great Capt. Smooth:
I couldn't get over how nuch fun RAW was. Cena tells the truth about his deal with Orton, while saying younger stars are not ready for the main event yet. Big Show gets his. Santino has a build up to an attack. Finally, Kofi is kicking some serious ass. Good times.

Yeah, I know...a good Raw. Wierd, eh?


From Johnny Blaze:
They play Jericho like they do Chavo...just on a higher level...if u can't see that then u are ignorant..

First off, hardly. Is Jericho feuding with midgets or main eventers? Yes, he's used for comedy sometimes but overall he's a serious main eventer and is treated as such. Second...



You don't get to call people ignorant when you can't spell out a three letter word. Just sayin'. Thanks for reading though!

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**LARRY'S** RANKINGS THUS FAR
Rankings may change through out the year upon a second viewing…

2009 PPV Rankings:
-ENTER THE DRAGON {9.9}

-TNA BOUND FOR GLORY {8.1}
-ROH RISING ABOVE {8.0}
-WWE NO WAY OUT {8.0}
-TNA SLAMMIVERSARY {8.0}

-TNA SACRIFICE {7.6}
-WWE BACKLASH {7.5}
-TAKE NO PRISONERS {7.4}
-WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {7.3}
-TNA GENESIS {7.2}
-TNA LOCKDOWN {7.1}
-ROH CAGED COLLISION {7.0}
-WWE WRESTLEMANIA {7.0}
-WWE SUMMERSLAM {7.0}

-WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS {6.9}
-WWE THE BASH {6.8}
-WWE EXTREME RULES {6.7}
-WWE BRAGGING RIGHTS {6.6}
-WWE JUDGMENT DAY {6.5}
-TNA NO SURRENDER {6.5}
-WWE BREAKING POINT {6.3}

-TNA HARD JUSTICE {5.9}
-TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {5.5}
-WWE HELL IN A CELL {5.0}

-TNA DESTINATION X {3.5}

-TNA VICTORY ROAD {2.0}

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

-[ENTER THE DRAGON] - The Young Bucks vs. Susumu Yokosuka & Cima (****½)
-[ROH RISING ABOVE] - ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Bryan Danielson (****½)
-[WWE NO WAY OUT] – THE SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****½)
-[WWE BACKLASH] – LAST MAN STANDING: Edge vs. John Cena (****½)
-[WWE THE BASH] – MASK vs. TITLE: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (****½)
-[WWE SUMMERSLAM] – TLC WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk (****½)

-[ENTER THE DRAGON] - Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Fire Ant and Soldier Ant vs. Amasis, Icarus, Hallowicked and Gran Akuma (****¼)
-[ENTER THE DRAGON] - Yamato vs. BxB Hulk (****¼)
-[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)

-[ENTER THE DRAGON] - Naruki Doi vs. Shingo Takagi (****)
-[WWE BREAKING POINT] – WWE TITLE I QUI T MATCH: Randy Orton vs. John Cena (****)
-[WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS] – WORLD TITLE MATCH: CM Punk © vs. Jeff Hardy (****)
-[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 (****)
-[TNA BOUND FOR GLORY] – Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan (****)
-[TNA BOUND FOR GLORY] – ULTIMATE X: Red vs. Daniels vs. Homicide vs. Suicide vs. Sabin vs. Shelley (****)

[ENTER THE DRAGON] Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino (***¾)
-[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 BOUND FOR GLORY] – FULL METAL MAYHEM: Team 3D vs. Beer Money vs. Steiner and Booker vs. The British Invasion (***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)
-[TNA HARD JUSTICE] - X-Division Title #1 Contender's TERROR DOME Match: Christopher Daniels defeated Suicide, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed, Amazing Red, D'Angelo Dinero 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)
-[WWE SUMMERSLAM] – DX vs. Legacy (***¾)
-[WWE BREAKING POINT] - ECW TITLE MATCH: Christian vs. William Regal (***¾)
-[WWE BRAGGING RIGHTS] – WWE TITLE IRONMAN MATCH: Randy Orton vs. John Cena (***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
-[WWE THE BASH] – Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho – Making the Show Worth It
-[WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS] – CM Punk – Solidifying His Spot
-[TNA HARD JUSTICE] – The Terror Dome Guys – Continuing to deliver despite the booking of the division
-[WWE SUMMERSLAM] – CM Punk and Jeff Hardy – THIS IS AWESOME!
-[ENTER THE DRAGON] – The Entire PPV Roster – Redefining PPV
-[WWE BREAKING POINT] – Randy Orton vs. John Cena – I QUIT!
-[TNA NO SURRENDER] – AJ Styles – Champion Again
-[WWE HELL IN A CELL] – Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison – Stepping Up
-[TNA BOUND FOR GLORY] – Matt Morgan – Finally Stepping Up
-[WWE BRAGGING RIGHTS] – John Cena and Randy Orton – Respect To The Iron Men

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

-Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles – (Impact: 010.16.09) {****½}
-Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 07.25.09) {****½ }

-John Morrison vs. Rey Mysterio - (Smackdown: 09.04.09) {****¼}
-Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio - (Smackdown: 07.10.09) {****¼}
-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}

-Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries – (ROH on HDNet: 10.19.09) {****}
-STEEL CAGE MATCH: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk - (Smackdown: 08.28.09) {****}
-Jeff Hardy vs. John Morrison - (Smackdown: 07.31.09) {****}
-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) {****}

-Christian vs. Yoshi Tatsu - (ECW: 10.27.09) {***¾}
-Christian vs. Chris Jericho - (ECW: 10.20.09) {***¾}
- KENTA vs. Chris Hero – (ROH on HDNet: 10.12.09) {***¾}
-Jerry Lynn vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 09.07.09) {***¾}
-Christian vs. Zack Ryder - (ECW: 07.28.09) {***¾}
- Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho - (Smackdown: 07.24.09) {***¾}
-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}

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And we're out of here!


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