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Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 1.18.10: ROH, Impact, Superstars and SmackDown Reviewed!
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In HD where available…
By: Aaron Hubbard
ROH on HDNet 1.11.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
No DQ Match: Joey Ryan defeated Necro Butcher [1/4*]
Colt Cabana defeated Tony Kozina [3/4*]
Kevin Steen defeated Alex Payne [1/2*]
Pick Six Contender’s Match: Kenny Omega defeated Chris Hero [***3/4]
PICK 6: HERO VS. OMEGA: There are few things I like more in wrestling than a great match that comes out of nowhere. When the Pick Six Contender’s Series was announced, I said that this match had potential but I wasn’t overly excited about it. Well, these two showed why they are two of the most complete performers in ROH, playing the face-heel dynamic perfectly and putting on a very entertaining contest. This wasn’t an “Indy Sprint”; they built the match slowly and kept my attention, which is a good thing. People who are unfamiliar with the gimmicks aren’t going to get why Hero is throwing a gazillion elbows or why Omega is stealing moves from video game characters, but the fans who know these guys were rewarded with a good match from two guys that will be stealing the show at almost every ROH show this year. It was also cool to see Omega get the win because it’s a believable upset and helps put over Omega without really hurting Hero, who is perma-over.
NO DQ MATCH/STEVENS TURNS: If you read my recap of the match, you know that I wasn’t entertained by this thing once Ryan started taking over. I don’t get the big deal about Ryan, but I haven’t seen any of his PWG stuff either, so maybe I’m just blind. The reason this is in the right is that we finally saw Erick Stevens turn heel. I happen to like Stevens powerhouse babyface act because he doesn’t better than anyone, but it’s not ROH-friendly. The heel turn makes Stevens interesting and important for the first time since 2007, and that is a big right.
EDDIE KINGSTON PROMO: Eddie Kingston is one of the top ten promo men in wrestling right now, and if you don’t agree with me, you just don’t know what you’re talking about. Therefore, any time this guy gets on the mic, it’s pretty much bound to keep me entertained and get me involved in his matches, which is a good thing because Kingston is an average at best in-ring worker. This was a follow-up to Eddie getting attacked last week, which was needed, and blurred the lines between work and shoot well without crossing the line to where it’s ridiculous. Reportedly the assailant was NOT Chris Hero, which makes me happy.
STEEN SQUASH: In some ways this is just your typical squash match, but Steen did something at the end of the match that put his character over very well and put this in the right for me. After hitting the Package Piledriver, Steen forced Payne to kick out and then made him tap to the Sharpshooter. He did all of his high-impact moves, not because he had to use them to beat Alex, but because he’s a bully and wants to make him suffer. This new heel Steen is someone to watch in 2010.
CABANA SQUASH: I like watching Colt Cabana because he knows when to take wrestling seriously and when not to take it seriously. This was a case of the latter since Kozina is a goof that falls on his ass. However, this match suffers from tape delay as Cabana cut a promo after Steen’s heel turn where he was confused about Kevin Steen turning heel on Generico. Hogewood and Prazak kept trying to say that Cabana was distracted in the match, and well he wasn’t. He was just typical goofy Colt. It’s fine by itself, although it doesn’t really accomplish that much, but as part of the big picture it just came off as awkward.
NONE:
NONE: But once again….
“JUSTIN” LIGER: I’m borrowing a phrase from Chris Jericho to discuss this. You know, crappy angles I can deal with. Bad matches I can handle. And yes, even questionable video quality is acceptable to me. But this I cannot deal with, cannot handle, and it is totally unacceptable to me. ROH decided to advertise their participation at the Wrestle Reunion, which is good, except that the graphic advertised “Austin Aries vs. Justin Liger”. Yes. JUSTIN LIGER! Absolutely freaking ricockulous. I’d like to call it bush-league, but this is beyond bush-league. When you get Jushin Thunder Liger, one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, to wrestle for your promotion and you can’t spell his name correctly, it shows that you really just don’t care. This isn’t a typo on a flyer, this isn’t an Adamle special of mispronouncing a major character by accident. This is a shown on your TV product. ROH is supposed to be putting their best foot forward for this show. Top quality production values, great matches. And we get “Justin Liger”. I hope whoever is responsible for this is punished with one hundred shotei palm strikes.
| The 411
I actually didn’t realize how good this show was until I started sorting out what goes in which R. Now, it wasn’t the greatest wrestling show in the world, although the main event rocked my face, but a lot got accomplished. Erick Stevens turned heel, Steen got to look like a huge jerk, and Omega came out with a huge win. My only problem with the show (and it’s a BIG problem) was a blurb on a graphic that was shown for a few seconds. It was a perfectly acceptable hour of wrestling television. SHOW RATING: 6.5 |
By: Steve Cook
Superstars 1.14.10:
PRIME & GAIL KIM vs. CHAVO GUERRERO & JILLIAN HALL: I admit it, I’m a mark for mixed tag team matches. Sue me. No, don’t actually sue me like that stupid kid’s mother sued Randy Orton. Gail & Jillian showed good chemistry last week, and this week we got a couple of people going absolutely nowhere on Raw added to the mix and it worked pretty well. The announcers get points for actually remembering that Chavo & Jillian have had previous interactions. We got a darn solid effort from all four here…I don’t have hopes for any of them other than Gail actually doing anything in 2010, but I wouldn’t mind them having good matches on Superstars instead.
CHRISTIAN vs. WILLIAM REGAL: The bright side of these two being stuck on ECW is that they actually get to do stuff. They’d both be hopelessly lost in the shuffle on Raw…Christian may have some hope on SmackDown, but this is really the best case scenario for fans of Master William. Too bad ECW is probably on the brink of destruction, because I don’t see Christian ever getting the chance to carry a brand again. And we wouldn’t get a chance to see these two have actual wrestling matches with each other on either of the main brands…one of the perks of watching Superstars! Ezekiel Jackson getting ejected from ringside helped build to the ECW title match at the Royal Rumble. Darn good match here worth checking out if you didn’t get a chance to see the show.
CARLITO vs. CHRIS MASTERS: Carlito’s pants were pretty awesome, but that was the highlight of his Superstars appearance. Masters’ new entrance music still sucks, but at least he has Eve by his side. Question: Am I the only one who doesn’t remember Masters & Carlito’s team being called “The Chris & Carly Show”? This winds up in purgatory because while it was a good match, I’m not sure it does much for Masters to put him over somebody who never wins anything. Sadly I think Masters’ close loss to Ted DiBiase on last week’s Superstars did more for his career. Did Lawler have laryngitis this week? His voice didn’t sound so good. I give Masters credit for getting the Masterlock over…Bret Hart said in his book that nobody ever got the full nelson over, but Masters has proven him wrong with the success of the Masterlock. On the other hand, Michael Cole proclaiming that Eve is smart, sexy and powerful while she was smiling and laughing at Masters’ pec dance was kind of ridiculous. It at least disproved the “smart” thing, right? I don’t know what to think of any of this.
JIMMY WANG YANG & SLAM MASTER J vs. CHARLIE HAAS & MIKE KNOX: Yeah, this was just wrong on so many levels. Wang Yang is an Asian redneck trying to act street and J is a wigger, and they come out to a bad country music song. Somebody please explain this to me. Terry Gordy is rolling over in his grave, and he wishes he could get Dr. Death and beat the shit out of his son and his jabroni partner. Then you have Haas Knox, who I can only assume did very bad things to Stephanie McMahon’s pet dog in order to receive the treatment they’ve got recently. Yeah, J & Wang went over here and I have no idea why. I’m sure some people will complain that I’m being all negative because they love JWY & Ray Gordy, but we all know those two aren’t going anywhere in WWE. Haas obviously isn’t either, and apparently Knox won’t either. What a waste of a Hall of Fame beard.
ASK THE DIVAS: Eve Torres proclaimed that the most unattractive quality a man can have is insecurity. As a person who’s dealt with low self-esteem in the past in part because of women not remotely as attractive as Eve Torres rejecting me, I say that is a load of bullshit. Maybe if girls like Eve would be a little nicer to these guys they would have more self-esteem and be a lot more secure in themselves. It’s a lot easier to be full of yourself when the ladies think you’re all that. For whatever reason, women don’t understand that, and they justify their dislike for an unattractive potential mate by claiming they’re too insecure…that way they don’t have to admit that the main thing they care about is looks. At least us guys are honest when it comes to that. Women try to say it’s not about looks, but we all know they’re lying.
| The 411
I really enjoyed this week’s Superstars. You had a top notch main event, a couple of good solid mid-card matches and nothing that was embarrassing outside of a booking perspective. As good as you can hope for from WWE Superstars. Check out Christian vs. Regal on Hulu if you can. SHOW RATING: 8.0 |
By: Chad Nevett
iMpact! 01.14.10:
QUICK RESULTS
Generation Me defeated the Motor City Machine Guns [***1/4]
Awesome Kong & Hamada defeated Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne [3/4*]
Team 3D defeated Lethal Consequences [DUD]
Matt Morgan & Hernandez defeated Beer Money, Inc. via disqualification [**1/4]
Desmond Wolfe defeated Samoa Joe [***]
AJ Styles (C) defeated Tomko for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship [**1/2]
THE YOUNG BUCKS GENERATION ME vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS: I’ve only seen the Young Bucks in a match or two, but based on that little exposure alone, I was pretty excited to see them debut in TNA and they didn’t disappoint. TNA was smart booking Generation Me against the Guns since that’s a team whose style is closest to what the brothers are accustomed to. The two teams put on a good show, utilizing a lot of tandem and double-team moves, and doing so at a brisk pace. The match also got more time than I expected, giving the near pinfalls a real sense of tension since every one could have marked the end of the match and I genuinely wanted to see it keep going. I’m a little surprised that Generation Me picked up the win since they’d put on a good enough show to hold their heads high in defeat, but I’m not complaining. I’m curious to see how the brothers will fare against the other tag teams in TNA. And not to ignore the Guns, they were great, too, also working as a team in the ring to execute moves more than I can remember seeing in recent memory. A fantastic way to kick off the show.
AWESOME KONG & HAMADA vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE: The match may have been short, but this whole segment was good. The match wasn’t much more than a squash, but it reminded us how dominant a tag team Awesome Kong and Hamada are, which is a smart move the week after they won the belts. The return of Angelina Love as a member of the audience was handled well with both Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne happy to see her while Lacey Von Erich stood back and shot daggers at Love with her eyes. The turn after the match makes complete sense with Love taking all three out and focusing on Sky since she and Love were a duo once, angry that she’s been replaced. Not the most original of stories, but it can play out over a series of matches and, honestly, anything that gets the Beautiful People from not doing awful segments based solely on the fact that, yes, they’ve got breasts, is a good thing.
DESMOND WOLFE vs. SAMOA JOE: There was too much good about this match to warrant placing it in any other category, but let me say this first: I don’t mind ‘giving away’ great matches on TV. Anyone who thinks that certain bouts should be saved for PPV are missing the importance of building a good TV show audience. But, you also don’t just give us Samoa Joe versus Desmond Wolfe for the first time without some advance notice. This is a match that a lot of people would be interested in seeing. I know that the show was taped nine days ago and people can find it via spoilers that way, but, if that’s the case, what’s so difficult about advertising this a little? They didn’t even mention it until it was happening… why? Moving beyond that, like the Wolfe/Daniels match from last month, this was a fantastic little taste of what we could be seeing in the near future. Joe came out very aggressive and dominated the early parts of the match with sheer physical brutality, but also countered a few of Wolfe’s standard moves. Wolfe then made the comeback and began countering Joe’s counters, displaying some very good in-ring intelligence. The ending was a little abrupt, but left me wanting more. I love Joe’s viciousness and how both men turned the tables on their opponent with intelligent counters. An added bonus was the Pope D’Angelo Dinero on commentary to hype his match with Wolfe at Genesis. He was entertaining and did a solid job of putting Wolfe over… but putting himself over more. The segment ended wonderfully with Wolfe shouting at Dinero that if that’s what he did to Joe, imagine what he’ll do to the Pope at Genesis.
AJ STYLES vs. TOMKO: It’s not too often that a story/angle that occurs over the course of a show will work from start to finish, but this one did. Beginning with a great promo by Kurt Angle and AJ Styles building their match at Genesis as a contest to see who the better man is, it started right. I’ve said it before, but I really do like a feud based entirely on the desire to be better than your opponent with nothing personal behind it. Given that this is supposed to be a ‘sport,’ you’d think that would happen quite a bit. The revelation of Tomko as the man in black attacking AJ is surprising to no one, but it was handled well with AJ demanding a match with Tomko that night from Eric Bischoff. AJ’s hot-headed temper is an interesting quality since you don’t see that that much except in heels, but it just makes AJ more endearing. Him putting the belt on the line is also a good way to put AJ over, showing that he’s not afraid to risk his championship because he’s that confident in his abilities. He doesn’t run from a fight. Throughout the rest of the episode, we got little promo packages with Tomko where he justifies his attacks by delivering the same rationale that Daniels did in his feud with AJ. Is every feud for the world belt going to involve someone AJ was friends with who is jealous that he’s succeeded?
The match itself was decent. Not a fantastic piece of work, but it did begin with Ric Flair coming out to do commentary. He was a little more subdued than usual, but, as he said, he was really there to watch. Both Tomko and AJ were passionate and physical. This was more an attempt to beat the other guy down than a straight technical match, which is a change of pace from most AJ Styles matches. He doesn’t work as well in this style of match, but held his own well. Kurt Angle coming out to watch was a nice touch, as was him defending AJ when Tomko attacked post-match. AJ refusing the handshake was unexpected and Flair seemed to love that. This match accomplished a lot: continued the build-up to Genesis, possibly set up a further feud with Tomko, made us wonder what Flair’s role is going to be, and continued to put over AJ as a fighting champion. Good stuff.
GENESIS PROMO VIDEOS: There were a couple of these, one with Hogan and one with Tara and ODB. The Hogan one was adequate, but really acts as a reminder that Genesis is Sunday and they’ve only began promoting it now really. This PPV sort of got lost in the shuffle, eh? This made this episode a mad rush of announcements for matches, which is a little odd. Having Hogan come in on the live Impact and set up Genesis could have been a good way to establish his new regime with Bischoff, but this is just sloppy. The Tara/ODB video showing clips while the two cut a back and forth promo was pretty good, actually, and gave the feud a solid build that I’m not sure an in-ring encounter could have. Good promo videos, but an odd way to promote a PPV at the last minute.
BOBBY LASHLEY ‘DESTROYS’ LETHAL CONSEQUENCES: Lethal Consequences came out to face Team 3D, but got attacked before they could make it to the ring by Bobby Lashley. Does the TNA creative team have any other ideas for stories beyond ‘Person A attacks Person B without warning?’ There are other ways to create storylines. But, yeah, he did it because, as his wife tells us, he wants out of his contract and he’s going to destroy everyone in TNA to get his release. I’m not sure proving you’re dominant physically is the best way to convince a wrestling company to fire you. In fact, wouldn’t the result be the opposite? But, this story gives TNA an out should they wish to part ways with Lashley over his split interests and I like Lashley more as a heel with Kristal as his mouthpiece/valet.
MATT MORGAN & HERNANDEZ vs. BEER MONEY, INC.: This turned out to be a better match than I was expecting. Both teams had some good chemistry and were working a good match that was just getting going when Rob Terry came down and interfered because I guess the match had to end somehow? I can understand not wanting to have either team go over the other cleanly leading into Genesis, but could they at least come up with something a little better than Big Rob just running down and attacking Morgan and Hernandez? An obvious way to end the match and get those two out of the way so we could continue the Beer Money/Band stuff. The match itself was good, but everything else was bad. And, speaking of the Band…
THE BAND IS BACK TOGETHER: So, I guess, the Band was responsible for attacking the Motor City Machine Guns, Rhino, and Beer Money last week? No explanation is given and no one seems too upset aside from Beer Money. That little mystery seemed like a big deal last week, but is revealed almost as an afterthought by Bubba the Love Sponge (who is apparently the only man for the job of asking tough questions that turn out to be blatantly obvious questions that anyone would ask…). I don’t hate the name ‘the Band’ as much as others, but didn’t like too much else about this. Beer Money demanded a match against Nash and Hall, and Bischoff granted it after the Band came down and beat on Beer Money after their match with Morgan and Hernandez. Ironically, Sunday’s match will involve Hall and Nash who both lagged far behind Waltman when they came out. Waltman actually didn’t look too bad in the ring, but Hall just does not look ring ready. This angle just seems thrown together and not really thought out. Also, what happened to Eric Young?
THE FALLEN ANGEL KEEPS ON FALLING: Sean Morley’s promo wasn’t too bad, honestly. I think he overdid it on the chuckling to himself and the innuendo, but they built on character in the WWE nicely. Daniels coming out, though, seemed very random as did his attack. I’m beginning to believe that Daniels was right about TNA management holding him down if he goes from main eventing last month’s PPV in a world title match to feuding with Val fucking Venis. This could turn out entertaining and deliver a good match or two, but, man, couldn’t they find someone else and not pretend like Daniels didn’t just bust his ass in some fantastic matches that should have solidified him as a main event wrestler?
WHERE IS MICK FOLEY?: After last week’s beating, Mick Foley hasn’t been seen by anyone and I’m… glad? Relived? I like Foley, but his power struggle paranoia was just plain awful and the constant speculation over where he is is as well.
STING IS IN THE RAFTERS!: He’s still there, folks. Watching and waiting. For what? Who knows!
JEFF JARRETT WANTS TO TALK LIKE BUSINESSMEN: After last week’s debacle between Hogan and Jarrett where no one reacted as they wanted, we get this segment whose sole purpose is making Jarrett look like a whiny piece of shit. He’s got a lawyer with him, he doesn’t want to work, he hates the young guys… they push all the right buttons, but in such an obvious manner that it’s just cartoonish and stupid. Last week, we got a heartfelt promo by Jarrett and, this week, we get a guy acting like a little bitch in order to make Hogan look like the hero.
THE NASTY BOYS TRASH TEAM 3D’S DRESSING ROOM: Oh god, they’re still here? Knobbs and Saggs appeared early in the show having apparently made Team 3D’s dressing room into their weird little filthy nest. As such, Team 3D is pissed and Brother Ray’s promo after beating Lethal Consequences via a business-like 3D was actually pretty good. Except all of the insults he hurled at the Nasty Boys about them not being around for ten years, fat and out of shape, just riding Hogan’s coattails… they’re all 100% true and should have been clues to everyone not to use them let alone have them beat up Team 3D… why? My god why? Can anyone explain it to me? Please? And just let it end.
| The 411
Talk about a great recovery. While some of the elements I hated from Monday’s live episode carried over, they were tempered by mixing them with TNA talent or smart booking. Not everything worked when adding the new Hogan boys and the existing TNA talent, but it was better than I thought it would be. We also got two very good matches with the debut of Generation Me against the Motor City Machine Guns and Samoa Joe taking on Desmond Wolfe. The steady reminder of the AJ Styles/Tomko match throughout the show was also very effective. There are some obvious negatives still around, but most of this show was good if not great. SHOW RATING: 7.0 |
By: Jeremy Thomas
WWE SmackDown 1.15.10
QUICK RESULTS:
Chris Jericho d. John Morrison [** 1/2]
CM Punk & Luke Gallows d. The Hart Dynasty, Matt Hardy & The Great Khali & Cryme Tyme [* 1/2]
Mickie James d. Beth Phoenix [**]
Kane d. Dolph Ziggler [** 1/4]
Rey Mysterio d. Batista [**]
JOHN MORRISON vs. CHRIS JERICHO: SmackDown began with the newly-kicked off Raw (weeks ago) Chris Jericho coming down to the ring for this match. Jericho was sporting the hatred of the crowd and a bad-ass bruise from the supposed Tyson punch. He got on the mic and, with a wonderful vocal adjustment to play up the knockout punch, he said he wasn’t going away because he was the best in the world, the baddest man on the planet and the face of SmackDown. Let’s see, he got knocked out by a Raw guest host and is now sporting a nasty mark for it…yeah, in the eyes of the booking teams, he pretty much is the face of SmackDown. He then said he would be winning the Rumble and becoming World Champion again. Honestly, despite the nice voice modulation, this wasn’t that great a Jericho promo. He briefly tripped over his words not once, but twice, and he had to pause for a bit too long to get the anti-Jericho chant. It wasn’t terribly, but in comparison to other Y2J promos it had its issues.
The match started off well enough, with Morrison nailing Jericho in the bruise and taking very early control. When Drew McIntyre came down to watch from ringside though, Jericho managed to even things up and it became a pretty back-and-forth match. Both guys had their chance to show off some good offense, and Jericho was good at getting heat from the crowd by giving smug looks that were even funnier thanks to the bruise. They had an interesting finisher switch off, though I think that too many people quickly counter the Walls of Jericho these days and it hurts its effectiveness as a finisher. Morrison countered it twice and crawled halfway across the ring to the ropes when he got pissed off at Drew. The end finish saw a Codebreaker and Jericho got a big win, which was nice to see considering how the last month-plus turned out on Raw and even SmackDown. Outside of the submission counter complaint, I did enjoy this match and having Drew play into it worked well.
THE STRAIGHT EDGE ARMY GROWS AGAIN: So, it was time early in the show for round two of “CM Punk saves a soul.” James from last week was not in attendance with Gallows and Punk, notably. Punk talked about how he saved a soul last week and forgave him for his past sins, and wasn’t going to stop until we all became one nation under Punk. He talked about how Luke used to be and how he is now, then let Luke get on the mic. You know what, Luke didn’t do so badly on the mic as he acted as a CM Advocate. Punk then talked about the Rumble and how he was going to win, which would be an accomplishment for the Straight Edge Society. The crowd was suitably pissed throughout this promo and it played quite well.
Of course, we had our save-ee to introduce, and his name was Trevor. This basically followed the same formula as last week, where Punk talked down his old friends and got him to make his pledge, with only Punk to thank. There was more talking about alcohol and beer (and?), which the crowd popped for of course, and then we got another head-shavin’. The only problem with this segment was that it seemed to be the last one all over again, though I’m okay with that as I have a feeling it won’t be long until someone comes up into the ring and tells Punk to screw himself, thus making for a new feud and face on SmackDown. This didn’t seem quite as long as last week’s, and the promo work was good so I can dig this as it’s clearly setting something else up.
THE DEAD SPEAK!: The first hour “main event” featured the first appearance of the Undertaker in a couple of weeks; I suppose he’s rested up from his match with Rey. Of course, any Undertaker appearance is sure to pop the crowd, and this was no different. Taker talked about the dawning of the new decade and how the new dreams were going to be dominated by his darkness. He explained his ‘Tron’s defeat of Rey and Big Dave as a warning and that he would destroy whoever won tonight. He then moved onto ‘Mania and talked about the Streak, and how only HBK has ever wanted more. He actually gave Shawn props in this interview and said he would give him an answer next week on Raw. This should be interesting, and as a Taker promo I enjoyed it. He didn’t go overly esoteric and yet he didn’t fall into the same old, same old too badly. It’s not often that Taker gives an opponent props in a promo, so it was nice to see and however this plays out it should be fun.
MICKIE JAMES vs. BETH PHOENIX: So, after a couple weeks where they’ve saved each other and kicked each other’s asses, we finally get to see these two get it on. Again. Mickie was finally smiling, after seeing what she did last week. Beth…not so much. These two have worked together many times and have a good chemistry, and I loved the way they started this off like it was an actual heated rivalry. Too often in the ‘E, two people who are pissed at each other just do the stare down, or go into a lockup. Beth started beating on Beth right off the bet and it was a welcome change of pace. This wasn’t an attempt by Mickie and Beth to put on a fancy flippy match and fail; this was a straight-out brawl for most of it and in that respect in played out very well. The ending wasn’t so great as it was a disqualification, but I could deal with that as I actually enjoyed the match. The post-match antics worked well also with Beth leaving Mickie to the wolvettes. Definitely the best Divas television match we’ve seen in the ‘E in a while.
KANE vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: Third time’s the charm I guess? Dolph got an interview before the match to talk about how he was on a roll and had Kane’s number, then would go on to win the Royal Rumble. Anyone else noting a trend about these interviews? Dolph seems to be getting some of his heat back if this crowd was any indication, and that’s certainly nice to see. Matt Striker, in his bad ass-ness, praised Dolph’s re-introduction of the sleeper and sold its past effectiveness. You gotta love the old school references…or I do, at least. The match started off with Kane pretty much manhandling Ziggler, until the Dolphster was able to slow the big guy’s momentum with (you guessed it) a sleeper hold. I gotta say, I’ve haven’t so much effort put into building up Brutus Beefcake’s finisher in a long, long time. Also, Dolph’s haircut gets super-frizzy at the wrong moments. This was about the best of this trio of matches between them, and I was happy to see them finally give it a clean finish. It was solid as a finish; Dolph tried to use the same strategy as last week but it failed, and Kane came back to win. This was a perfectly tolerable match and I enjoyed it well enough.
FATAL FOUR WAY TAG TEAM MATCH: So, this match was for the Unified Tag Team Titles, and featured Punk and Gallows taking on Cryme Tyme, the Hart Dynasty and…uh…Matt Hardy and the Great Khali? Yeah, that pairing makes freaking sense. Was Truth busy outside being Pretty Ricky? Sadly, it shows how spare the tag team division is, but that’s nothing new. Despite Khali coming in early, the match didn’t start off too badly. This wasn’t anything fantastic by any stretch but it was pretty decent and Gallows even looked pretty good in there against Khali…which is not usually an easy feat. This followed the typical four-man tag format of quickly degenerating into organized chaos and ended a too early, but it made Gallows look pretty good and Punk’s in the hunt for a title again. Do the two stand a chance against D-X? I don’t want to say yes, but the ‘E could do worse than put the Straight Edge Society on both shows, especially since Shawn and ‘H don’t seem all that keen on working Tuesdays. Again, not a great match and too short, but it was tolerable and did what it needed to do.
YES, THAT MAIN EVENT AGAIN…: Earlier in the show, Josh Matthews got an interview with Batista and asked about his advantage over Rey Rey. Big Dave said he didn’t have anything to say about the little guy and was done with him; he also didn’t have anything to say about the Dead Man. A threat later, Dave was done. Yeah, I didn’t get the point of that either. We then got several references throughout the night by the announcers about how Rey had no chance to win, which of course meant he was going to. Rey Rey backstage getting wished good luck by all the lower card just before, and a brief promo by the little guy. As a set-up, this was all kind of lacking. They wanted us to believe it was going to be an epic encounter, but didn’t do anything other than the cage to make that case. It was like they expected the name value to sell it as epic, but we’d seen it too many times for that to work.
By the time the intros were done—complete with Rey Rey climbing the cage—we had a touch over eight minutes left. Now, there were some definite advantages to the cage. One of the biggest was that without the outside of the ring area, they couldn’t do most of Rey’s typical spots. No tossing him in a baseball slide to the floor, no 619, et cetera. So they had to think creatively, and that helped this match. On the other hand, Rey doesn’t seem all that comfortable within a cage confines and while they did a couple fun spots like running up the Manimal’s back to climb the cage, other things didn’t seem to play well. His springboard legdrop didn’t work because Dave was too far across the ring, for example. They also had a few sloppy moments, like a roll-up by Rey that just looked awkward. Listen, I want to like these guys but they just aren’t clicking lately and this feud needs to end so they can move onto other things. I enjoyed Dave’s mannerisms like having them open the door to mock Rey, but I just didn’t dig this match.
Nothin’
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don’t care.
| The 411
Once again we have a disappointing ending to SmackDown as Batista vs. Mysterio just isn’t getting it done. The theme tonight appeared to be “same old, same old.” We had redoes of that match, Kane vs. Dolph, the Straight-Edge segment and others. I’m happy to see them build to the Rumble, but do they need that many people saying how they’ll win it? Oh yeah…they do because they spent several weeks not addressing it. This is one of those shows that I did enjoy for the most part, but I can’t give as high of a rating as I would like. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. SHOW RATING: 7.0 |
From Nimesh S.:
Well, this Monday we get an answer on whether HBK and Undertaker. I’ve stated my case before saying that even though it would be a great thing to see, it would be hard to top the match at Wrestlemania 25. A lot of people would like to see someone else challenge the Deadman, so why not John Cena?
I remember when the seeds for this potential match were planted, and that was when Undertaker delivered a Tombstone Piledriver to Cena at the end of a Triple Threat tag team match featuring Jeri-Show and D-Generation X. Keep in mind, the last time that these two gladiators have faced off at a PPV in a singles match was close to seven years ago at Vengeance when Cena was still a heel claiming veteran status. Things have changed a lot ever since 2003. Since Undertaker has commanded the respect of the fans for almost two decades, I could see a scenario where Cena adopts a short term heel role ala Shawn Michaels when he was feuding with Hulk Hogan in mid 2005. For the angle to work, I could see Cena claiming that Taker is not the same as he once was and that he’s made a living out of pulling off the impossible. Just by doing those two things, it creates a lot of intrigue and two outcomes are possible. Fans will either want to see Cena pull off the biggest upset in WWE history or added to the proverbial Wrestlemania graveyard of the Deadman.
Speaking as a fan, I’d like to see Cena in a one-on-one match this year because he has been overlooked the past two years at Wrestlemania. Despite being in two Triple Threat championship matches, he was sort of a background player instead of a threat to win.
Fans can love him or loathe him, but they cannot deny that he is truly a top draw and every match or feud that he is in adds some sort of intrigue. And he also boasts a 5-1 record at Wrestlemania, which is pretty good.
Could Cena possibly interrupt HBK or Undertaker and state his claims?
I wouldn’t be shocked to see that at all. I could also see a triple threat because that would be a challenge and a half for Taker–beating the Showstopper and the Champ together–though I agree that Cena in a one-on-one match would be better. Personally, I’ll be happy with Cena/Taker or HBK/Taker, so I guess we’ll have to see how it goes.
From Guest#5800:
“TRIPLE K vs. ALICIA KIM”
New nickname? Did Alicia get married? Was it some sort of Alicia Fox/Gail Kim mix?
Nope, just a typo by me. I was typing that out while Gail was being mentioned by Vintage or Lawler. Whoopsie.
From Brad B:
Why has it taken so many of the IWC so long to realize what I did back in 1997: Michael Cole sucks worse than any long-term announcer in the history of pro wrestling.
I’m convinced that you write for comedy purposes sometimes, man. Either that or you’ev never, ever paid attention to the IWC before. We’ve been ragging on Cole ever since he’s been around. So you’re not some radical evolutionary who’s ahead of the curve, I promise.
From fanboi13:
You see that look on Lawler’s face? “That’s a look of “Who the hell do I have to screw in order to not be sitting next to you?”
My question is who the hell do I have to screw to not have Cole on my TV. His announcing sucks and he cannot bring out anything worthwhile in Lawler.
I don’t know, but if you find out who it is lemme know. I’ll screw them too just to make sure we get the job done.
…that didn’t sound right.
From Guest#8347:
Fairly spot on. I’m not a Miz fan but the promo was impressive at first and then he went into “typical heel insult the fans mode” but that part didn’t drag on.
MVP was impressive as well. I was very surprised.
Too bad Miz sucks in the ring atm. If he can match his promos with his in-ring work that’d be great…that is if he’ll get a push into main event status…don’t see that happening.
I don’t think he’s the greatest thing in the ring, but saying he sucks is a bit much. To each their own, though.
From Guest#7681:
Maryse and Gail will get heat by beating Eve and Alicia? LMAO!!!! You could hear a pin drop during both matches. Nobody cares about the divas, not even the overrated Maryse. Her commentary sucked too. Her LINES were funny, but the delivery was terrible. She sounded like a slut trying to learn her lines for a porno. I think I just predicted her new career in about three years.
You know who I know that’s untrue? Besides the detail that the crowd wasn’t as dead as you say or that Maryse’s delivery was perfectly fine, that is. The way I know is because nothing gets comments like the Diva matches. If you all didn’t care, you wouldn’t take the time to comment. Just sayin’.
From Mark:
wtf? Triple K? Kelly Kelly.. Kellyson?
Priceless? Did they change back from Legacy?
What’s next, Triple H becomes “Paul Levesque” or “Mr Stephanie McMahon”?
Welcome to the R’s, Mark. I use nicknames for certain folks from time to time. Triple H isn’t either of those; he’s ‘H or the H-Man. You’ll find other fun nicknames in the column every now and then too. It’s just how I roll.
From Guest#7138:
Am I right in thinking that Randy Orton’s promo around this time last year won 411’s promo of the year?
If so, then Miz/MVP SHOULD win it conclusively this year. That was worlds better than Orton’s, especially given their places on the card.
We’ve got eleven and a half months to go, and someone could definitely top Miz. Believe me though, it’s one that’s under early consideration.
From Guest#4053:
Cena is basically a shoe in to win the rumble now, Orton will win the title from Sheamus, Cena will come out and cut a promo how we def don’t wana see Cena vs Orton at WM and will challenge the Undertaker for his strap (assuming he holds onto it) HBK will get all sooky and Cena vs HBK at No Way Out will happen – winner faces Taker at WM
I don’t think that they’ll sell the Royal Rumble winner reward short like that, but otherwise I think that booking makes sense. We’ll see how it goes.
From Guest#7639:
Do you think your being a bit harsh critisizing Cena’s promo’s going from jokey to serious all the time? If I remember The Rock used to do a similar thing and he is probably the best promo guy of all time and the crowd ate it up, I don’t really think it’s a bad thing if he does it…
The Rock delivered it in a better way than Cena did. I’m not hating on Cena’s promo skills here, mind…I just think that while Cena transitions from 100% jokey to 100% serious, the Rock always had a little of both and it made for a smoother transition. He always seemed to be partially putting us on and partially serious, and that made a big difference in the effectiveness. Just a personal preference, I guess.
From Guest#1143:
DX closing the show as winners AGAIN!!! pissed me off, this has happened like 3 or 4 times now including one time on Smackdown, I’m sick of it, what is the point of them having the tag belts, everyone knows they are both too arrogant to take them into wrestlemania and defend them, instead they will want singles matches… so hurry up and drop them to a team who can use them
The point of them having the belts is that when they drop them to someone, it’s going to give that team that wins them a HUGE rub. SO while them winning may be irritating to you, we’ll have to endure for now and you can celebrate when someone beats them.
From The Godfather:
Er…
A penny doubled every day is 2^30, which equals
1 073 741 824 pennys, or $10 737 418.24.
That’s the point I was getting at.
From The Great Capt. Smooth:
I think Santino outed himself as The Flash, when he was running away from Swagger. Actually, a Santino/Hurricane tag team could be pretty fun.
Actually, that wouldn’t be horrible at all. I wouldn’t mind it.
From Loki:
“You screwed Shawn.” Seriously. Greatest. Chant. Ever.”
I prefer the ‘Holyfield’ chant directed at Tyson during WM14.
” In order to do that, Maryse needs to get heat by beating Eve and Gail needs heat by beating Alicia.”
In which case, they should have done some card shuffling. Maryse will get more heat from beating Kelly, and Gail would get a bigger boost beating Katie Lea (and would probably get a better match to boot.)
Fair enough on the chant argument; being more of a wretsling than boxing fan, I still prefer “You screwed Shaun” but I can understand your preference. I think an argument can be made for Maryse getting more heat by beating Kelly, but I don’t think Katie’s any more over than Alicia. It definately would have been a better match though.
From Guest#9618:
Man I can’t wait to see how Jericho is kicked off RAW forever next week or for the big Wrestlemania money match between him and Hornswoggle in a ‘if Jericho loses, and he will in the most humiliating way possible, he will leave RAW forever this time for reals we swear’ match.
Heh…cute. I don’t think they’re going to humiliate him that much, though the sooner this whole thing ends, the better.
From Chris:
Where the hell is the impact analysis? Man, where have the good days gone? I should be seeing all kinds of opinions and takes on this. But now a days I guess it take 3 or 4 days to form an opinion on something. Are you waiting on the top teir smarks to comment or something? Lame
Outside of a week ago, Impact airs Thursday nights and ends at 11/10 Central. The Friday night column is posted in time to go public at 11 pm Thursday EST. If you can write an entire set of R’s in 30 seconds, I encourage you to step up good sir. Thanks for reading!
Until Friday, keep on kickin’ it!
~438~
