Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 11.23.09: TNA Impact, ROH on HDNet, WWE Smackdown and WWE Superstars

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 11.23.2009

CM Punk faces the truth, Bryan Danielson says goodbye to ROH, Kevin Nash becomes Elite, Mark Henry beats the son of the son of the plumber's son and more! Wrestling’s 4R’s breaks down all the action from Superstars, ROH on HDNet, Impact and Smackdown!

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In HD where available…



By: Aaron Hubbard

ROH on HDNet 11.16.09:

QUICK RESULTS:
- Chris Hero defeated Delirious[**3/4]
- BEARD VS. BEARD: Grizzly Redwood & The Necro Butcher defeated Prince Nana & Joey Ryan [*]
- Skullkrusher Rasche Brown defeated Cameron Matthews [1/2*]
- Roderick Strong defeated Bryan Danielson [****1/2]

THE RIGHT:

BEARD VS. BEARD: So Necro Butcher and Grizzly Redwood have been feuding with the Embassy for a while now. This was our comedic blow-off to the EPIC feud between Redwood and Ernie Osiris, ROH's Brooklyn Brawler. They worked a decent comedy match with Nana playing Danny Davis, and it was fine for what it was. Giving the somewhat somber tone of the show, I was glad for some lighthearted fun. The Beard vs. Beard stip is pretty funny and the match was harmless.

SKULLS GET KRUSHED: We saw another squash match from Rasche Brown this week. I still haven't seen enough of him to really judge his talents, but he has charisma. The two squashes are fine and at least he has an awesome finisher (the Burning Hammer) to finish them off with. I'd like to see him move up a bit to face a regular competitor in a decent match. Delirious is always there.

EXIT THE DRAGON: So this is what the show was about. Bryan Danielson, in my opinion the best "wrestler" in the world, a man who has given his heart and soul to the ROH audience and given them great match after great match after great match, was having his final match on ROH TV. Since the shows have a two-month delay, this would be the last match that ROH fans would get to see from him, outside of DVDs. I really can't overstate the significance. There are some that said that Bryan would never wrestle for Ring of Honor on television, much less have a final match for the company on television. Well, it happened. And I count it as a blessing that I started reviewing the show, because I got to write about the match and post it on a prestigious wrestling site. It was one of my greatest honors.

The show was filled with video tributes to Bryan, and his last two favorite matches in ROH. Number 1 was expected, his title defense against KENTA, while Number 2 was a bit of a shock, his one-hour match with Colt Cabana where he injured his shoulder. We also got a shot of Danielson's REAL last night in New York, and I'll be honest. My eyes watered watching the crowd explode with chants of, "We will miss you!" and it looked like Danielson wasn't far behind. But ultimately, it was about the match. Danielson is a professional wrestler, and we want to see him wrestle. And boy did he wrestle. He has a history with Roderick Strong, as Strong was one of his first big challengers when he won the title. These guys had a terrific outing. It was hard-hitting, technically sound, had good body-part psychology, awesome counters, referenced history, and was extremely emotional. And Danielson did what any true professional would do. He went out on his back, looking up at the lights.

Dave Prazak compared it to when Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko had their last match in the ECW Arena, which is where the show was taped. I had to agree. I was too young to experience that live, but now I understand what it's like to see one of your favorite wrestlers finally get what he deserves. The crowd's chants of "Thank you Dragon!" were never more appropriate. Roderick Strong spoke from his heart, saying that he wouldn't be who he is, and neither would half the people in the locker room, if it wasn't for Dragon. And for long time fans, you know it's true. Danielson MADE stars out of Roderick Strong, Delirious, Austin Aries, Nigel McGuiness and Tyler Black. When they talk about their best matches, for most of them, it will be that time they wrestled Dragon, the match where he elevated their game and made them better than they were. Seeing the locker room empty and the wrestlers and fans cheer for Danielson was a wonderful moment.

PURGATORY:

HERO vs. DELIRIOUS/SONJAY WANTS DELIRIOUS: This was supposed to be our opener between two midcard stars, and I expected Hero to go over after a competitive match. But before the bell, Sonjay Dutt attacked Delirious, and the majority of the match saw Hero abuse Delirious. Watching Hero built people up is fun, but Delirious deserves more. I thought the match suffered from the angle because these two could have a really good match if they were allowed to. Thankfully, the last few minutes saved this as Delirious did get to make a bit of a comeback before Hero beat him with the Death Blow. Solid match, but far from what it could be. The other reason this is in purgatory is that it furthers a feud I have no interest in. Part of that is that Sonjay doesn't really do anything for me, but I also think the feud will go nowhere fast.

The wRong:

NONE

THE RIDICULOUS:

NO FAREWELL PROMO: Yes, I know they are going to show it at the end of the year. But this freaking PISSED ME OFF! Danielson leaving ROH is one of the most significant events in their history, and he should have cut a promo. No offense to anyone else, but I'd rather watch Danielson speak from his heart on his last television appearance than watch any of you wrestle. But honestly, I was fine with them leaving the promo off, because Roddy's promo was nice, the locker-room coming out was great, all the videos earlier in the show were great. But then, they show Danielson GRABBING THE MIC, obviously to talk, and then it just SHUTS OFF! What the Hell, ROH? Don't you have a production team that can cut the film before he grabs the mic? I really felt ripped off here, and it sucks that with all of the wonderful stuff on this show, my last thought is, "Dammit, I didn't get to see the promo!" I'm not happy with this.

The 411

ROH has had a tendency to let "big matches" sell their shows. When we got the fatal four-way for the ROH Title, or when we got Danielson vs. Black III, that was the only really good match on the show. Sure, those matches were great, but that doesn't mean you sell the rest of the show short. Thankfully, that didn't happen this time around. We had a good opener, a harmless comedy match, and a squash match with a Burning Hammer. But don't be fooled: the reason to see this show is Bryan Danielson's send-off and the outstanding match with Roderick Strong. If you are a fan of Danielson, or are curious to know what the hype is about, or are just a fan of good wrestling with a hyped crowd, you need to see Strong vs. Danielson. I'll repeat what I said: it was my honor to review that match. Thank you Dragon.

SHOW RATING: 8.5

---

By: Daniel Wilcox

iMpact! 11.19.09:

THE RIGHT:

Kurt Angle and AJ Styles vs. Daniels and Desmond Wolfe: Our main event of the evening was a culmination of our two Turning Point main events; Daniels and Desmond Wolfe teaming up to take on Angle and Styles. I really liked how TNA didn't ignore AJ and Angle's previous issues in the build to this match as that kind of thing shouldn't just be ignored as if it happened a decade ago. As for the match itself, it was about as good as you can get in the time given, which was about eight minutes I think. All four guys worked hard and the match was as good as you'd expect considering the guys involved. Daniels rightly got the pin on AJ to essentially earn himself a rematch for the strap at the next pay-per-view, and the Wolfe/Angle angle continues. Good stuff all around and a good way to close the show.

PURGATORY:

Six-Man Street Fight: First of all, I didn't like them throwing away a Turning Point rematch when people are still trying to make their minds up about whether or not to order a replay. As Csonka would say, NO BUYS. Furthermore, I'm not a huge fan of the Jesse Neal heel turn for numerous reasons – it makes no sense, Neal sucks, and there have been a plethora of heel/face turns in recent weeks. But I am willing to give it a chance and see how things progress, hence this not being in the wrong section. In addition, the match itself was one of the better ones of the evening so I have to give everyone involved credit for that if nothing else.

Eight-Man Tag Match/Nash & the Elite: Much of what can be said for the six-man tag can be said for this stuff. The match itself was a lot of fun and everyone involved worked hard, but it's the angle surrounding it that I have the problem with. First of all, does Nash joining the World Elite make any sense? No not really, but again, I am willing to give things a chance to see how they develop; these things don't happen in a bubble. I also don't like the apparent dissention in the ranks of the British Invasion. Breaking up tag teams months after their formation is ADD booking at its absolute worse and I just hope that that's not where we're leading with this.

THE WRONG:

Hamada vs. Taylor Wilde: I didn't get this. I didn't get the point of it, and the match itself was somewhat disjointed. Why give Hamada a win over a tag champ if she doesn't have a tag partner? When did Taylor get so sloppy in the ring? And how can we expect anyone to have a good match in three minutes? So many unanswered questions. Come on, TNA.

Abyss/Foley/Stevie/Raven Stuff: In some form or fashion this feud has been going on pretty much all year and yet there is no end in sight. As a big fan of Raven's work I was hoping that bringing him back into the fray would make things a little bit more interesting but on the basis of this show's evidence that just isn't the case. And apart from anything else, Mick's mic work tonight kind of made the feud seem unimportant in comparison to the Hogan bullshit. And we got about three thousand backstage segments with Foley, which were just unnecessary. Perhaps the dumbest part of all this, Abyss blocked Foley's office door so Mick couldn't partake in the tag match. I'm fine with Abyss not wanting Mick to compete for fear of further injury, but that door didn't open outward, and that was obvious, at least to me, so the whole thing just looked ridiculous as Mick could've merely opened the door and moved the desk.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Alissa Flash vs. Sarita: OK, my main issue here is not with the match itself, although we'll talk about that first. The match was half decent, but sloppy in places and all in all I just didn't feel that these two really clicked. That said they could probably have done better given more time, but that's not going to happen. The bigger issue here is the rivalry between Flash and Traci Brooks, who ran in to attack Flash post-match. Let's get this straight; they're feuding because Flash worked Traci's arm in a match. We are well and truly scraping the bottom of the barrel here as far as storylines are concerned. People work limbs in matches all the time. If a wrestler is aware of a particular weakness that their opponent has, they target it. That's not just common sense, but a century of wrestling tradition. How can people get behind Traci on this one when it makes her look like a stupid, bitter bitch? Sadly this isn't the worse thing going on in TNA, booking wise.

Tomko's Return: Now just what the holy hell was this? Here we have Tomko, who was hugely over for a significant amount of time during his last TNA run, making his big return, and how does TNA book it? They give him a thirty-second interview segment backstage, which only serves to segue into a pointless interview with The Beautiful People? I've been racking my brains and I honestly cannot think of one possible good thing about doing this in this way, or a single reason why they would do this. At the very least, have him show up as a "mystery opponent" or something like that. This was just horrible. When Tomko's music hits for his return match, people aren't going to give a shit now. This was just an awful, awful booking decision and you have to wonder just what the hell the TNA creative staff were on to make this decision. Terrible.

Steiner Beats The Ever-Loving Piss Out of Your X Division Champion: And this was another ridiculous booking decision. You want to have Scott Steiner go over strong in a squash match? Fine. But don't put him up against the X Division Champion. When Amazing Red gets buried, the whole division gets buried. That's common sense. And there are plenty of other guys Steiner could've gone up against and destroyed here with much fewer consequences. Speaking of consequences, Consequences Creed would have worked much better here, or his partner Jay Lethal. This was just horrible. And don't give me any bullshit about Red being protected because he didn't technically get beat. A DQ win is meaningless if the guy getting DQ'ed is doing so because he can't be bothered to pin you and just wants to beat the shit out of you. Fuck this shit.

Sting Interview, Or Lack Thereof: TNA spends a week hyping Sting's first appearance since Bound for Glory and then fails to deliver. This was utter bullshit. I get that it's part of angle whereby no one knows where Sting is or has heard from him, that's fine, but there are much better ways to do that than to tell your audience he will be there and then pull the rug out from under their feet. People know this shit is taped, so when something like this is hyped, they expect to see it. Otherwise, they won't bother tuning in any more. This was fucking ridiculous, and again, fuck this shit.

Trash Talkin' with ODB and Homicide: Anyone who saw this knows how fucking poor it was. Jesus Christ. ODB is an awful character all round, and if this is the best they can come up with for a talented guy like Homicide, I'd rather they kept him off of TV all together. Fuck this shit.

The 411

Coming off of the pay-per-view of the year, TNA needed to deliver big here to maintain that momentum. Bottom line, they didn't do it. On the contrary, this was one of the worst shows I have seen TNA put out in a long, long time. There was just too much terrible booking all round; shit backstage segments, awfully planned returns, mind-boggling turns, bait and switch and the burial of a champion. It's like TNA just used the handbook of Bad Wrestling Decision 101 to come up with this show. And things had been going so well.

SHOW RATING: 2.5

---

By: Steve Cook

Superstars 11.19.09:

THE RIGHT:

Zack Ryder vs. Shelton Benjamin: Benjamin/Ryder III produced the first victory of the series for Rob McNew's favorite wrestler, and by somewhat shady means…but unlike the nonsensical finish of last week, this one produced a chuckle and a smile from your humble correspondent. See, Ryder's cella phone was going off, rather loudly I might add (I need to get me one of those phones, the ringer on mine sucks ass even when I put it on High), and Rosa did what anybody else would do and entered the ring to give Zack the phone. Zack was distracted as he usually is, Shelton tried to attack from behind, but Rosa's scream alerted him to it, so moved aside. Shelton almost hit Rosa, his hesitation enabled Ryder to slam him down and earn the victory. See, that's smart wrestling right there. Maybe Ryder isn't the complete goofball I thought he was. And is it just me or has Rosa gotten much hotter since switching over to ECW?

Mark Henry vs. Cody Rhodes: When I saw how much time was left for this show when Cody Rhodes made his entrance, I can't say I was very excited. I like Henry, and Rhodes is a young kid with potential, but I'd say these two are a lot closer to my Bottom 10 WWE wrestlers list than my Top 10 list. Regardless of that, Henry & Rhodes managed to put together a perfectly decent 11minute Superstars main event match that was a marked improvement from their first match with each other back in July. Henry was very popular with the New York crowd, who contrary to their perception of being an overly smarky crowd has always appreciated huge wrestlers that exhibit great power. Hell, why do you think WWWF/WWF/WWE has always favored big wrestlers? New York loves the larger than life wrestlers. Of course, this match was helped by that MSG atmosphere that I'll admit I'm a mark for. I wouldn't say it's must-see television, but it was a good effort from two guys who need something to get to the next level.

PURGATORY:

Eric Escobar vs. Jimmy Wang Yang: Not a bad squash here, as Escobar looked fairly impressive in an outing against Smackdown's official punching bag. It didn't last long enough to place it into the Right column, so…yeah. I think Escobar's got some potential to do some big things in WWE if he stays out of trouble, keeps quiet and stays healthy. Of course, those three things are very difficult to do in this day and age…

THE WRONG:

Eric Escobar & Vickie Guerrero PDA: Get a room, kids.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Ask the Divas: Being yourself never works on a date. I did enjoy Beth's reference to a previous relationship beginning with a fight, and it is nice to know that the Bellas believe in love at first sight, but I'm still looking for more substance here.

The 411

Pretty basic episode of Superstars this week. I could cut and paste most of my previous commentaries into this slot and wouldn't be too far off. Three decent matches, nothing to write home about but nothing to get terribly annoyed with either.

SHOW RATING: 6.0

---

By: Jeremy Thomas

WWE SmackDown 11.20.09

THE RIGHT:


JOHN MORRISON vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: So, I figure this was supposed to be the feud-ender. Two out of three falls matches usually are, as it decides a winner definitely. Now with that being said, I've enjoyed Ziggler and Morrison fighting each other, but it's time to move on. These two have a great chemistry and are consistently putting on great matches, and this was no exception. Morrison had his usual high-flying, innovative offense while Ziggler looked good when he was in control. The first two falls happened rather quickly, and I think that hurt the match as if they were thinking "let's get the gimmick out of the way and then we can wrestle." Kind of defies the point of the gimmick match. But otherwise, I did really enjoy this match. My expectations were high and they delivered all the way through it. I don't know where they're going from here with these two, and I think that if they feud more than it's going to do Dolph some damage as he's pretty much looking like Morrison's bitch as well as a choke artist now. But outside of speculating on what's going to happen there, I was happy with the majority of this match.

REY REY vs. TYSON KIDD: Before this match, Big Heel Dave came out and sat down for commentary. Of course the crowd went nuts for Rey Rey, and when T-Grish asked Batista for his comments, Dave was silent and staring at his Survivor Series opponent. Kidd got a decent amount of heel heat, considering he's a tag team guy wrestling in singles, and got a little advice from Natalya before stepping into the ring. Inside the ring they had a pretty good match; Kidd got a nice amount of offense and the two worked a good, crowd-pleasing match. Of course it ended too quickly, as Big Dave tossed Kidd aside and then Rey Rey played hit and run with the Manimal. This did what it needed to in order to hard sell the feud, and Tyson didn't look half-bad in the process. Sounds good to me.

CHRIS JERICHO & THE BIG SHOW vs. THE BROTHERS OF DESTRUCTION: Before the match, Jericho and Show talked about tonight's match and how Show couldn't focus on it considering the Survivor Series match, and Jericho got all pissy. I love these two when they get all argumentative with each other, it plays nicely into their "business arrangement" because thus far, they've argued and fought but when it comes down to business they get it done. That makes complete sense and is how they've always claimed their partnership to be—pure business. Good work by the both of them in the pre-match segment here.

There were twelve minutes left by the time entrances were done with and the bell had rung, and these four guys made the most of it. Taker looked better in there with Jericho and Show than he has in recent weeks, and between this and his match on Raw I have to wonder if he's finally starting to get some of his range of movement back. I also wonder if it will last past Survivor Series. Kane played the face (?)-in-peril, and it actually made sense and never seemed silly that such a big guy should be doing so. I think it was kind of pointless for them to go to a no contest, but otherwise I can't complain overly about this match. It played nicely, the crowd liked it and the betrayal by Jericho after being saved by Show was very nice. Good way to end the show, and a good way to finish out the show by selling the "every man for himself" theme.

PURGATORY:

BATISTA vs. MATT HARDY: SmackDown opened up with the rematch between Big Heel Dave and the Sensei of Mattitude from their match a couple weeks ago. That match went into puRgatoRy, and this one's getting the same treatment. Both of the two are very over with the crowd of course and that makes it a good choice for an opener. Matt's got a talent for making Dave look good and he certainly did that this week, getting some token offense early on before the Manimal took over and Matt's job was to sell and show his heart by coming back again and again. I felt that all-around this was a better match than their main event match-up because it felt like a more complete match and Matt ended up looking better despite the legit pinfall loss. Make no mistake about it, Matt got flattened but he came across pretty well. The chief problem I have with it was that it was too short of a match and so it ended up feeling a bit rushed. Otherwise, not bad work.

Afterward, we got a promo from Dave where he told Josh Matthews that Rey Rey made three major mistakes, and then proceeded to lay them out. Dave seemed to be overdoing it just a bit and was on a more Orton-esque speech pattern, but otherwise he did all right. I've been critical of Big Heel Dave 's promo work in the past because he has a tendency to come off as stuttering and tripping over himself. He didn't do that, and I appreciated such.

A LESSON IN STRAIGHT-EDGE: Last week, it was commented that I was being hypocritical about Punk by calling his promo the same old thing while praising his delivery. Well, if that's the case allow me to be hypocritical again. Punk delivered the same old, same old promo, albeit with the alteration of bringing out visual aids. We got CIGARETTES-brand cigarettes, a bottle of prescription drugs and the generic-brand whiskey (read: brand-name whiskey with a clearly-printed out legally protecting mask that said "WHISKEY"). And no, I didn't expect them to use actual brand names for legal reasons, it just amused me that they made them so obviously not legit. Now, again I will give Punk credit here. He's delivering these promos with charisma and an excellent demeanor. The problem here is that he just seems to be, again, spinning his wheels while he has nothing else to do. Then Truth came out and stood up to Punk, saying we all made our own decisions, then cheap shotted Punk before the DDT. We then got the Trash Can of Vice poured all over the Straight-Edge Superstar. Listen, I appreciate that they're trying to rebuild Truth, and Punk's a good person to do it. I hope that after this, the feud goes somewhere beyond these generic promos and Truth countering them. They could actually do some good work, but right now it's just the same old thing and if I'm going to criticize Jericho for staleness in his promos, I have to do it to Punk too. I am an equal-opportunity critic. Hell, even our own Punk-Lover Supreme, Chris Lansdell, hated it. Or, as he points out, he HATED it. So there you have it.

THE WRONG:

FINLAY vs. DREW MCINTYRE: Before this match began, we got a recap of the Finlay/McIntyre feud that was, as always primo work by the 'E Production Team. Afterward Drew got on the mic and called Finlay a little old lady who loves to cry and whimper more than he loves to fight. That brought out the Irishman who seemed quite fine with the insults on his way to the ring. Finlay came at Drew with some serious fire and beat him around a little before Drew hit a poke to the eye and then finished Finlay off with a double underhook DDT. Okay, when I wanted a match for Drew this isn't what I had in mind. It did him no favors and basically he got his ass beat before eking out a sneaky win. People may think I'm overly critical here, but the problem is that this doesn't fit the character of McIntyre, who basically says he's ending the party and wants to fight. It sounds nice in theory, but I'd like to know when he's actually going to start fighting.

THE RIDICULOUS:

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

THE RETURN OF VICKIE IN CHARGE: So, I was worried this might happen, but I'd dismissed it. Some of you readers hadn't, and I will give you the 411 Cassandra Award for predicting doom but not being heeded. Vickie and Eric Escobar were backstage with Teddy Long and Vickie talked some trash to Teddy about how he wasn't in charge of his own show, he hadn't given Escobar a match, infinitum ad nausea. Teddy tried to stick up for himself and threw Vickie and Eric out, but Vince showed up and acted like teaming the Brothers of Destruction was all Teddy's idea. So in order to help Teddy get off probation, Vickie was going to become a consultant. Oh for fuck's sake. I can only think of one reason for this, and that is that the 'E is realizing the downside of Escobar. Either that or Teddy needs another break, so it's Viagra overdose time again. Whatever the reason, I hate this. Vickie is hugely over, yes. But you know what, Teddy's doing fine all by himself, and Vickie's efforts would be better spent trying a little longer to get Escobar over. As it is, we're just going to have a bunch of horribly delivered wooden segments that cause cheap heat, only now it's going to be multiple times per show. Yay. For those who are going to lambast me for this, go ahead…but realize that I don't hate Vickie. I think she works…in DOSES. She's fine as a manager because we see her maybe once a week. As GM, she's shoved too far down our throats and it's a pain to endure. The only good thing to come out of this was Vickie's screeching celebration, which I will admit was funny. Otherwise, I loathed this.

MICKIE JAMES vs. LAYLA AND AFTERMATH: So, Mickie's feud with the SmackDown ladies continues here. We got a recap of what happened last week with Michelle and Layla trashing Mickie's clothes, and then Layla made her way down to the ring looking damn fine in silver and red. The crowd was definitely into them both (and for the record, no Mickie's cheers don't sound canned). These two had what could have been a good match, had it been longer than about two minutes. Instead they had a cut-off and truncated match before Layla got on the mic and told Mickie to celebrate, but to look at the 'Tron as well. That's where we got Michelle playing farmer's daughter and calling Mickie James "Piggie James." Now, I've been back and forth with people about Michelle's charisma and ability to deliver a promo, but let's face it that was just fucking terrible. Also, Mickie's so sensitive that she can't take a few immature comments from her rivals? Let's just flat-out ignore the "Mickie is fat" bullshit (and trust me, I am going to ignore it) or the "they're embarrassing Mickie on the way out" stuff. This was remarkably stupid all on its own, and doesn't need any side comments to make it worse. Flat-out, no question, this just sucked.

The 411

The first hour of this show was largely a waste. We had a few puRgatoRy segments, but the rest was just crap. It wasn't until the second hour that things really picked up, and it did pick up nicely there, to be fair. Three good matches save this show from a bad rating, but it was still just an average show at best that did as much wrong as it did right. Bad form, Blue Brand. You guys used to be the hard-sell masters…what happened?

SHOW RATING: 6.0

From Just:
I blame the sound guy for missing his timing on the Kofi music, but the segment more than made up for the mishap. Boy has got some ups!!!!

Yes...yes, he does.


From WM26:
Have said HHH vs. HBK and Taker vs. Cena for WM26 since April. Sell Phoenix out.

I wouldn't doubt it on either of those matches...it's still quite possible. However, I maintain that it is still too early to tell how they're going to book things, especially since the 'E has loved swerving us for the last couple years.


From Youtube:
During Sheamus' beatdown of the timekeeper, I saw Joe Cada and Dennis Philips of WSOP fame in the front row.

I have no idea who you're talking about, but cool I guess.


From panik:
Thanks for replying to my comment. However, I don't see how you could see this as a storyline for Mickie. It would be perfectly acceptable if she were facing Layla and got distracted by McCool and lost to Layla. Layla and McCool are working in cahoots with one another. But she lost to Natalya, who hasn't won a match in like a year and also isn't on the Survivor Series PPV, so for Mickie to lose that match serves no purpose as it builds no heat for the PPV match and just buries Mickie. Not only was it the first one-on-one match between them (WWE loves hyping that up), but it was the first time Mickie ever tapped out! That is a burial...

It does build heat for the Pay-Per-View match because it builds hostility between Mickie and Michelle. Not all feud advancement during a match is done within the ring. As for Natalya, Mickie can take a loss against her and doesn't lose credibility. She's perennially over and so in losing, she helps build Nattie's cred. Sorry, but this didn't bury Mickie any, in my opinion at least.


From Live from the 305:
Yeah, I really enjoyed that whole segment with Kofi and Orton, which I felt was one of the better "build up an upcoming wrestler" segments in recent memory by a wrestling company, WWE or TNA respectively. They really got the MSG crowd behind him, which was very cool (and not always easy to do).

This is really one of my favorite columns on this site since Jeremy Thomas comes across as somebody that, you know, actually LIKES wrestling. He criticizes what doesn't work, but doesn't mind enjoying things just for being nothing more than fun sometimes.
Good work, man!

Thanks, Live! Always good to hear that. And yes, I have to admit that Kofi is the breakout guy of the fall, and how he's been handled to date has been awesome. I certainly hope it continues.


From Never Again:
Should have kept Piper's bit and Kofi/Orton separate.

Piper rambling is why he is Piper. Plus he wasn't reading off his hands. He was picking his fingers, probably nervous habit, and no writing was to be seen anywhere.

Kofi/Orton was awesome, and will be remembered as MSG moment in years when Kofi is a big deal. The Piper bit with Vince is PURG. Kofi and Orton brawl is RIGHT.

I really wanted to separate them, but the best place to do so that I could see was the punt kick and that was a FUBAR as well, so it just made more sense to merge them. I maintain (and I spoke with others about this who agreed with me) that Roddy was reading off his hands…believe me, I didn't want to be accusing one of my favorite promo guys of screwing up this badly without being sure. If you slow it down enough, you can see where there's possibly writing on his hand. But either way, it was terrible work.


From Milkmanv1:
If you don't find Masters' pec dance awesome, you are dead to me. Instead of a full Diva match every week, just have Masters interrupt it when it starts and start titty dancing.

Awesome TV main event btw.

Yeah, no thanks on the Masters thing. But hey, to each their own.


From Right On!:
You guys are SOOO spot-on about the Swagger/Bourne and Benjamin/Ryder feuds! Who the hell wants to watch wrestlers feud for more than three matches? My god, don't these stupid bookers and writers realize that NO wrestling feud should EVER last more than three matches? Don't they realize that anything more than three matches drags the entire show... nay, the entire wrestling profession across the GALAXY down? In fact, three matches are too long! Feuds need to start and finish with only ONE match! It keeps things FRESH! Anything more than one match in a feud makes things STALE! Where's my Ritalin!??! BLARRGGGHH!!!!!

If it were three matches, that would be acceptable. Hell, if it were a FEUD that would be acceptable. But anyone who thinks that Bourne and Swagger have been feuding has been taking a few too many sips off the moonshine. Just sayin'.


From Loki:
Whenever Raw, SD and ECW come to the UK, Silvervision release a DVD set of all the shows. So this match will certainly be on DVD.

Much like the HBK/Jericho last man standing match, it may not be hugely remembered, but will live on on R2 DVD.

Fair enough. Obviously, I'm here in Region 1 America so I never see them, but that's cool that you guys get the sets.


From MDK:
I will never understand why some people will complain about seeing two talented and exciting workers paired off in a series of matches week after week. Seems like a GOOD thing, to me. Man, people have absolutely no attention span these days.

Let me put it this way. Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger = Really good chicken alfredo (or substitute the food of your choice). No matter how good it is, eventually if you get to much you get sick over it. And then, at that point any time you think of that food, you get a bad taste in your mouth because you remember being sick over it. There you go.


From Darth Mortis:
wow, i just assumed that people would jizz their pants over Chavo/Santino. I mean, Chavo was a great talent a decade ago and Santino can talk and that is all they have going for them now, so...why the hate for the match again,?(and don't say Hornswaggle...it is turning out that Hornswaggle is a better in ring talent than Santino)

Because it was laid out stupidly and the match sucked terribly. That about covers it.

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And we're out of here!


~422~