Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 2.08.10: ROH, Impact, Superstars and SmackDown Reviewed!

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 02.08.2010

ROH gave us Black vs. Strong on Monday night, while Thursday delivered a great match between Evan Bourne and Carlito and the continuation of the 8-Card Stud Tournament! Meanwhile on Friday, the SmackDown Elimination Chamber settled into place. Wrestling's 4R's breaks down all the week's action from ROH, Impact, Superstars and SmackDown!

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In HD where available…


By: Aaron Hubbard

ROH on HDNet 2.01.10:

QUICK RESULTS:
Delirious vs. Rhett Titus [**1/2]
Colt Cabana defeated Sonjay Dutt [*1/2]
Tyler Black defeated Roderick Strong [***1/2]

THE RIGHT:

STRONG vs. BLACK: After ROH gave us a main event last week that was fairly low on star power, they give us a main event here between the top two babyfaces in the company. Tyler Black is the chosen one and Roderick returned to his 2005-2006 form in 2009. There was intrigue behind this match as Tyler is on the road to get another title shot at Aries, and Roderick Strong was his hand-picked judge in case the match ends in anything but a pinfall or submission. Black promised Roddy a title shot for being his judge, so Roddy is definitely going to be biased for Tyler. Well, maybe. Roderick says that he will be impartial and give it to the better man. By the way, Strong's promos have been consistently solid recently, as he finally comes across as intense and determined as he does in the ring. The match was good, with both men getting pretty heelish at points, especially Roderick. Aries had shenanigans at different points, trying to distract Black and eating a superkick for his troubles. Roddy took exception to Black focusing on Aries and just beat the piss out of him, which I really liked. Black got the win here, which makes me think Aries will retain the title again, because if Black won, the logical thing would be to have Roderick beat him to say, "Yeah, this guy can beat the new champion." A fine main event.

KOW/KINGSTON/EMBASSY DRAMA: ROH did a great job of hyping up the Kings of Wrestling as the second coming here, showing their post-match attack on The Briscoes at Final Battle, having them cut a promo saying that they will go after the Tag Titles, and having Shane Hagadorn and Prince Nana talk about how great they are in the ring. This brought out Eddie Kingston who wanted to know where the Kings were, since he knew they were the ones who attacked him backstage. Nana revealed that it was the Embassy who attacked him and Erick Stevens, Joey Ryan and Ernesto Osiris (where the hell is Jimmy Rave?) and they beat him down until Necro Butcher made the save with a TRAFFIC CONE! Glorious. This transitions Eddie into a feud with the Embassy, and I must say that Kingston vs. Stevens intrigues me just because of how hard they will chop each other. No complaints here.

MR. WRESTLING & MR. WRESTLING: To continue the El Generico-Kevin Steen story, this week had Durdan interview Steve Corino, who said that he always knew Steen had potential to be ROH Champion and that he did the right thing by ditching Generico. Alex Payne came in and said that what Steen did was sick and he should be ashamed of himself. Of course, Kevin was right behind him and brutally assaulted him, asking "Should I be ashamed of this, huh?" the whole time. Corino and Steen left together. I like this. Corino and Steen are great heel promos, they have a connection with the "Mr. Wrestling" nickname, and this helps Corino put over Steen while reducing his actual in-ring time. Terrific segment here.

PURGATORY:

DELIRIOUS vs. TITUS: ROH once again gave us a good, solid opener that was entertaining but didn't kill the main event. Delirious has good matches with everyone and so does Titus, when he focuses more on the wrestling and less on his gimmick. Not that he shouldn't use his gimmick, but sometimes he overdoes it. They also have a history as Titus once seduced Daizee Haze and that turned Delirious insane enough to join the Age of the Fall. Plus, Titus was trained by Delirious in real life, so they know each other well. The reason this is in purgatory is the finish. Delirious won with the Bizarro Driver, which I can't even call a finisher because I've never seen him finish people with it. I think they were short on time and just improvised something, but considering Delirious' Chemical Imbalance II takes about two seconds to set up and hit, this baffled me. There's nothing wrong with the Bizarro Driver, I mean Mike Quackenbush uses it as his standard finisher, but for Delirious, it's just a move that he hits down the stretch. Imagine if Christian beat Zach Ryder with his signature reverse DDT, and what that would do for Ryder's credibility. That's pretty much what happened here, and Titus deserves better.

The wRong:

CABANA vs. DUTT: This pairing just seemed random to me, and they really didn't click. The first part of the match bored me to tears, as it consisted of a lot, and I mean A LOT of jabs and a chinlock. It got a bit better down the stretch with Dutt hitting a few high-flying spots and some good counters, but by that point I didn't care. Now, people are going to say that I'm spoiled and I just want spots. No, I don't, I want stories and to be entertained. The only entertaining thing Dutt does is fly around, and Cabana has no history with him, so there was no reason to care. Not a horrible match, but certainly not one I'll ever watch again.

THE RIDICULOUS:

NONE

The 411

Well, it was better than last week, but not by much. The main event is good but not worth going out of your way for. Heck, that pretty much sums up this whole show. It's a bunch of angle advancement, and ROH does such a good job updating people with their video wires and their storylines are so simple that you don't really need to see the drama. Sure, it was entertaining, but really, did it matter? For the second week in a row, ROH disappoints on television.

SHOW RATING: 5.5

---

By: Steve Cook

Superstars 2.04.10:

THE RIGHT:

EVAN BOURNE vs. CARLITO: Two of Primo Colon's recent tag team partners faced off on this week's Superstars, and boy howdy it was quite the doozy! People who know me know that I'm a big Evan Bourne fan and the fact that he's done anything in WWE amazes the heck out of me because I figured he'd meet the same fate as many of his similar-sized contemporaries in WWE. Yes, he hasn't won all that many matches, but the kid makes a connection to the crowd with his great feats of athleticism and his outstanding selling ability. The fans want Bourne to succeed and do his fun flipping moves, and it's important that he gets the chance to do them every once in awhile even if his long-term future is being pounded into oblivion. Carlito is a strange case. There are times where he looks like he's going to be a big deal in pro wrestling, and then there are times where he looks like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world than in a ring. Tonight was one of those nights where he looked pretty good…I'm sure we can thank Bourne for part of it, but Carlito looked like he gave a damn for once. A motivated Carlito can be a great asset to WWE, as can Evan Bourne, and matches like this show why Superstars is so much fun. If you think they'd have this match on Raw, you're kidding yourself.

JOHN MORRISON, MATT HARDY & THE GREAT KHALI vs. DREW McINTYRE & HART DYNASTY: The image of Morrison & Hardy trying to do the Great Khali dance was pretty darn hilarious. Us white people have no rhythm at all. As for the actual match, it was a pretty solid affair highlighted by nifty teamwork from Hardy & Morrison, DHS busting out the Three Amigo belly to belly suplexes, and Morrison playing the Ricky Morton role very well. As the Vice President of the Great Khali Fan Club, I enjoy seeing him in multi-man matches where he doesn't have to do all the work, and can just come in and do his stuff to the delight of the crowd. Teaming him with guys like Morrison & Hardy is very smart. As for the other team, McIntyre, Smith & Kidd get better with every outing in the ring, and having them lose here doesn't do anything to hurt their cause.

PURGATORY:

ALICIA FOX & KATIE LEA vs. EVE TORRES & KELLY KELLY: It wasn't a bad match, but I couldn't quite bump it up into the "Right" section. I'm not sure what caused me more concern: Kelly Kelly's handspring elbow that the ring isn't long enough for her to do, the ending that brought back fond memories of the Wild Women of Wrestling DVD set I watched not too long ago, or Jerry Lawler's disdain for goth girls. Since when was Kingfish choosy? Eve's knee selling was pretty good, but everything else in the match was fair to middling…which is pretty good by Diva standards, but maybe there's some hope for these kids yet.

THE WRONG:

Nothing of note.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Nothing of note.

The 411

No nonsense (outside of Hardy & Morrison's dancing) and plenty of good matches make this edition of Superstars a pretty easy thumbs up. With the WrestleMania season upon us, it's pretty obvious that the talent roster is stepping their game up in an attempt to get on the show and earn themselves a nice paycheck. That means that us fans get to see good matches. Everybody wins!

SHOW RATING: 7.0

---

By: Chad Nevett

iMpact! 02.04.10:

QUICK RESULTS
8-Card Stud Tournament Qualifier - Mr. Anderson defeated Brutus Magnus [*1/2]
Matt Morgan & Hernandez (C) defeated Team 3D for the TNA World Tag Team Championship [*3/4]
Samoa Joe defeated Jesse Neal [*1/2]
"The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero defeated AJ Styles [***]
8-Card Study Tournament Qualifier - Kurt Angle defeated Tomko [**1/4]
Tara (C) defeated Angelina Love for the TNA Knockouts Championship [*]
Kevin Nash defeated Mick Foley in a No Disqualification Match [1/2*]

THE RIGHT:

MICK FOLEY HATES ERIC BISCHOFF: It's no secret that I've really disliked the Mick Foley storyline ever since Hogan's arrival was announced. It's been tedious and drawn out, which, in some ways, this confrontation between Foley and Bischoff was too. However, for the first time in a while, Foley was at his best on the mic as he made it absolutely clear that he likes everyone in wrestling from Heyman to Bagwell, but he hates Eric Bischoff. Bischoff is a smarmy outsider businessman who doesn't care about wrestling except for how much money it can make him and that pisses Foley off, a guy who loves the sport and shows it by putting his body on the line over and over again. Bischoff was also on his game as he played the heel to Foley's face very well, holding the jobs of Borash and Abyss over Foley's head before booking him in a no DQ match that night with Kevin Nash. This confrontation was long overdue to happen in this fashion and should have happened weeks ago. Too bad it lead to the worst part of the show later in the night...

SAMOA JOE vs. JESSE NEAL: A squash match, but one done right. Neal came out fighting by hitting Joe before the bell and showed a lot of passion throughout and Joe responded in kind. They played up Neal's inexperience as one of the reasons why he lost so quickly when he took his time coming off the second rope onto Joe who, in a very funny moment, just walked out of the way of Neal. It reminded us (1) that Joe is still in TNA and (2) just how dominant he can be, setting up his appearance after the end of...

AJ STYLES vs. "THE POPE" D'ANGELO DINERO: This looked like it could be the match of the night given the Pope's performances of late and it was. The dynamic of this match was different from recent Styles matches since he went for a more grounded style based around chops and punches, playing up his new heel status. If there was a weakness in this match, it's that Styles isn't accustomed to that style of wrestling and by cutting himself off from his traditional move set, he delivered a weaker performance than he could have. Thankfully, the Pope made up for that by doing flashier moves than normal and stepping into the void that Styles left open. Hopefully, Styles can improve or, at least, find a more compromised style, one more like how he wrestled Kurt Angle two weeks ago, which was a better mix of the two. The Pope going over Styles here is big and he did so while looking like a guy who can beat Styles. The post-match double-team by Flair and Styles was done well, and Samoa Joe getting involved was the way to complete his turn from heel to face as he announced that he will challenge Styles for the belt at Against All Odds by cashing in his Feast or Famine briefcase. Joe came off looking like the fighting champ that Styles used to be and supremely confident by cashing in that title shot with notice. This match and the aftermath advanced the Styles/Flair story, put the Pope over more, and turned Joe into a face all while delivering a good match. Not too shabby.

8-CARD STUD TOURNAMENT QUALIFIER - KURT ANGLE vs. TOMKO: Angle came out with a determined look on his face and I thought this may be another squash match, but, no, it was a solid piece of work that contained some nice back and forth between the two. The victor of this match was never in doubt, but Tomko made it challenging for Angle and came off as a credible opponent. His partial block of one of the German suplexes was a nice touch that, instead of a botch, came off as simply a failed attempt to block the suplex. He also held off on tapping from the ankle lock long enough to not appear weak. Angle leaving post-match without any fanfare helped sell his determination and the Hogan story from the episode. It lacked the passion of the Styles/Tomko match, but continued to make Tomko look decent. All he needs now is to actually win a match.

PURGATORY:

8-CARD STUD TOURNAMENT QUALIFIER - MR. ANDERSON vs. BRUTUS MAGNUS: A glorified squash match that began well with an arrogant promo by Mr. Anderson about how great he is and how he's going to have a bright future in TNA because Hulk Hogan said so. Of course, this was a heel/heel match, so all of that arrogance was undone when the crowd seemed to get behind Anderson because they know who he is a little better and because he was so dominant. The in-ring work wasn't bad, but there wasn't any move or set of moves that made me take notice. I honestly could have gone either way on this match, but Mr. Anderson's four little words after the match put this match here: "Winner, winner, chicken dinner." What the hell?

TNA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH - MATT MORGAN & HERNANDEZ vs. TEAM 3D: I wanted to like this match more since both teams did some good in-ring work. It was a slower paced match than most, but all of these guys are big (in differing senses of the word), so it would be slower. The point here was to push over Morgan and Hernandez as credible tag team champs by defeating the dominant veteran team while also advancing Team 3D's feud with the Nasty Boys. But, a few sloppy bits during the match stood out: Hernandez's awkward counter after Devon first came in the ring; Morgan watching for Devon to come off the ropes while he was on his back; and the failed attempt at a tag by Hernandez that was then forgotten. Not major problems, but small things that stood out. Also, the aftermath of the match would have worked much better if Hernandez and Morgan hadn't seen the Nasty Boys interfere, which they clearly did. It's hard to play them up as respectful and honorable when they'll accept interference to win. A good match that accomplished everything it need to, but those small sloppy mistakes kept this from being in the Right.

THE WRONG:

KURT ANGLE KNOWS THE TRUTH ABOUT HULK HOGAN: Another conspiracy/something's not right the state of Denmark storyline. Great. I thought this was settled last week, but, apparently, Kurt Angle's got a bug up his butt about Hogan, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman. He thinks that Hogan is behind their attack on him last week and thinks that Hogan isn't what he's presenting himself as. Angle comes off as a paranoid lunatic much the way Foley has for the last while, which doesn't make me want to cheer for him. Hogan, meanwhile, needs to decide if he's a face or a heel, because we keep getting mixed messages. He seems to want to be a face, but there are constant accusations about him being evil or there's his partnership with Bischoff who is consistently portrayed as a heel. The end result of this is either Hogan is what he appears to be and Angle looks bad, or Hogan is a heel and no one cares because they keep teasing that ‘swerve' every week. They need to decide on a plan and stick to it, because it's not working right now.

TNA KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH - TARA vs. ANGELINA LOVE: Oh, was the Knockouts title on the line? You wouldn't know it from the build up to this match where Tara's promo was in the first half-hour of the show, Angelina Love's promo was mostly directed at the Beautiful People or that, prior to this match, we got a complete recap of the Love/Beautiful People saga. The match itself was forgettable in that I've forgotten most of it already (writing this on Friday). The blurring out of Tara's chest was distracting since she hadn't popped out of her top apparently. After the match, the Beautiful People came down and started beating on Love while Tara stood back and decided if she'd get involved or not. The only thing done right was Velvet Sky escaping as a sneaky heel faction leader should, leaving the other two to take the brunt of Love and Tara's anger. I don't mind matches being used to push other stories, but not at the expense of a title and the Knockouts title looked like a worthless trinket in this match.

THE RIDICULOUS:

NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH - MICK FOLEY vs. KEVIN NASH: As much as I liked the Foley/Bischoff promo, everything after it was pretty bad. First, we have Abyss in his worried persona and Borash in his ‘I just don't care anymore' persona, which just made me dislike Abyss and wonder how Foley is fighting for JB's job when he just picked up his last check. Then, Eric Bischoff can't remember Eric Young's name and makes a joke about that's another name he won't remember the next day. We all know Young has dropped the Global Championship, but, here, he was apparently still champ. Way to bury one of your champs for no reason, TNA. Nash's pushing for the Band made their eventual turn on him more obvious, because we're watching a show booked by Hogan, Bischoff, and Russo: if a story seems to be leading one way, expect the swerve. But, despite all of that, a Nash/Foley no DQ match seemed like it could be good. A lot of people online complained about the no DQ Morrison/McIntyre match on SmackDown this past Friday and this looked like a spot where TNA would distinguish itself from the WWE by giving fans a ‘proper' no DQ match (despite being taped before the SmackDown one, I know, but still, it could have worked out as an unintentional response). That the match began with five minutes left in the show made that seem unlikely. I liked the beginning with Nash using weapons as shields against the barbwire bat, but, after that, things just went nowhere. A few small spots and a bad finish and Nash had won only for Hall and Waltman to come out... and turn on Nash, the guy who stuck up for them. Why? What is the logic behind this? This style of booking where stupid, illogical things happen and they expect us to wait and hope it works out in a few weeks is bad, wrong-headed booking. Also, Hall and Waltman breaking in each week just makes me think that they need better security at the Impact Zone.

The 411

A solid show where the first hour was stronger than the second and the ending was absolutely awful. The yo-yo effect continues in the Impact Zone where you never know what sort of show you're going to get in any given week. The focus on matches this week helped a lot as most of the stories were advanced or told through matches, which is usually the best way to do things. I'm still liking the 8-Card Stud Tournament Qualifiers and their choices for the winners have been great. Even the involvement of the Nasty Boys didn't bother me that much this week. More shows like this and I'll believe that TNA can compete on Monday nights.

SHOW RATING: 8.0

---

By: Jeremy Thomas

WWE SmackDown 2.05.10

QUICK RESULTS:
John Morrison d. Drew McIntyre & Kane [** 1/4]
R-Truth d. Mike Knox [*]
CM Punk d. Batista [DUD]
Chris Jericho d. Matt Hardy [** 1/2]
Mickie James & Beth Phoenix d. Layla & Michelle McCool [* 1/4}
Rey Mysterio d. Dolph Ziggler [*** 1/4]

THE RIGHT:

A TAG TEAM REUNION…KIND OF: SmackDown kicked us off with T-Grish and Striker pimping the upcoming Elimination Chamber qualifiers and the "exclusive" footage of what happened after Raw went off the air before Y2J came down in his snazzy-ass suit. Jericho was in a bitter, morose mood as he got in the ring and lamented how it was supposed to be his night, but it was taken unfairly away by Edge. I gotta say, Jericho was on a vaguely shaky ground here in his case, but he certainly made it work. That's why he's such a great heel folks…well, that and his ability to help get faces over. Check out his work for Edge. Sure, the Rated-R Superstar got a major face boost when he faced down Sheamus Monday night, but Jericho did a wonderful job putting Edge over by comparing him to the fans and talking about how he "walked away" from Jericho. It's the kind of thing that a guy like Jericho does with ease, and it's awesome to see him in top form. I think it has to do with the suit.

Jericho ran backstage looking for Teddy Long and berating everyone, but instead he found Edge. Edge got a face pop and thanks Jericho for creating a monster by giving him a drive to come back. There were great, almost over-the-top moments by both of them, and I'm really digging on Edge's…well, edge. He's like a man possessed, still dangerously off-kilter like he used to be as a heel. At the same time, the fans can cheer him because of the circumstances of his return. Keeping that kind of consistency and staying over is a rare talent, and he did it very well here. I enjoyed how this played out; it was a set-up more than anything, but a very nicely done set-up.

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER: KANE vs. JOHN MORRISON vs. DREW McINTYRE: The first of our Elimination Qualifiers was a three-way match between two heated rivals and a Big Red Monster to be the opening match on the show. Everyone got their own entrances, which of course meant we got to see the greatest entrance in professional wrestling today. I have to wonder though whether Morrison gets nervous when he has to face Kane and comes out before him. Those hair care products are flammable, you know. They actually went out there and had a pretty decent match between the three of them. We're not talking a five star classic or anything, but they got over eight minutes and worked the triple threat formula pretty well; as one guy was down the other two fight until it's time to break up a pin, lather-rinse-repeat. Kane looked more motivated than he has been as of late here and Morrison and McIntyre looked good in there against him. Morrison had some damn good offense and Morrison hit the Future Shock on Kane to look good before Morrison came in and took the pinfall. It was the right guy to go over, and it sets up a nice feud between McIntyre & Kane for the IC strap if they so wish for a few weeks.

EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE TIME: So apparently we needed to set up the Cena/Batista match but they didn't have time in the Raw overrun, so instead we got it as "exclusive footage." By that we mean edited work, complete with soundtrack, of Cena making the save for Bret Hart and then Batista interrupting the celebration to beat down Cena. I will give them credit for letting the WWE Production Team make this look awesome, and to Cena for being willing to take a crazy bump on the steps. If I had a problem with this it was the fact that they edited this into a video package; I think it would have been nicer to see it without the visual effects and the music as nicely-done as it was. I'm not going to complain too much about that though as it probably ran a bit long post-camera and it did look good. Someone might be upset with SmackDown time being used to air footage of a Raw feud, but they've kept things pretty separate until now and we can expect to see more of it as it gets closer to 'Mania so I was okay with it here. Good stuff all around in order to set up the feud over Bret and Vince.

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER: MATT HARDY vs. CHRIS JERICHO: We had a bit of pointless banter before the match where Matt and Maria pimped Celebrity Apprentice before the entrances began. Job the guy all you want, the crowd will always love him. Jericho's entrance got joined in progress before the match kicked off. Now, we've talked a lot about how both of these guys are permanently over, but we knew that someone was getting a relatively rare win here. Matt and Chris worked nicely off each other and didn't go all out, but they delivered a solid match that never saw any major flaws in it and yet helped get Jericho launched solidly into the Chamber with a nice, clean pin on the Sensei of Mattitude. That doesn't hurt Matt any yet gives Y2J a much-needed pinfall; I think we all knew that Jericho was winning this one but it was still nice to see the way it played out. The lack of drama as to who was going to win knocks it down just a wee bit but otherwise this was a good television match and put the right man in the Chamber.

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER: REY MYSTERIO vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: This was the last of the Elimination Chamber matches, and technically the main event of the night. They had all the time they needed to put forth a great TV main event and they did just that. Ziggler got a chance to look good and it was refreshing to see that Rey Rey wasn't the tiny guy taking on the huge guy in a constant "fighting to come back" situation. They paced themselves well and did a little give and take before things marched right into the final moments, while T-Grish and Striker did a nice job of putting both competitors over by virtue of mentioning Ziggler's wins over Kane and Rey Rey's match at the Rumble and his performance last year in the Chamber. The springboard into the powerslam was pretty sweet and they carried on very nicely until the roll-up pin that sent Rey into the Pay-Per-View. I would say that the roll-up wasn't the strongest finish, but Ziggler trying for revenge gave Rey an opportunity to walk out with a strong finish. Good work by both men, and the Elimination Chamber for SmackDown looks to be a solid affair.

THE CUTTING EDGE RETURNS TO SMACKDOWN: Our main event interview was the Rated-R Superstar coming down to bring the Cutting Edge back to SmackDown. Edge got a nice pop on the way down to the ring and gave a promo which put him much more solidly on the babyface side. The crowd was into the whole thing and once again, while Edge was playing subtle shades of his old cockiness, he gave a very nice face promo that showed us what happened on Raw between Sheamus and Edge. Before Edge could get much further though, down to the ring came Jericho in his wrestling gear. He knocked the stool aside and we looked ready for a confrontation. Jericho bitched about Edge's tainted victory, but Edge came back and pointed out that he did eliminate Y2J. They got in an argument over who the face of SmackDown was, and Edge got intense as he ran Chris down and talked about how sick he was of the man. That brought down the Straight Edge Society and Punk mocked the both of them, as well as the crowd. Punk brought it back to the Elimination Chamber and how it was about the Undertaker, who Punk made tap out. Finally, the GONG sounded and Taker appeared in the ring, leading to a brawl that left only Edge and the Dead Man in the ring. This was great stuff and featured SmackDown's three best promo men, plus seemed to set up a tag match for next week. Nothing wrong with that at all, and I dug the way they closed out the show.

PURGATORY:

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER: R-TRUTH vs. MIKE KNOX: Where the opening match delivered a solid bout between three guys, I didn't have nearly the level of hope for this second match. Truth and Knox have skills but they haven't ever found a lot of chemistry between them and Knox is back to being on the job squad again. However, he is a former Elimination Chamber competitor so it wasn't a bad idea for him to face off against Truth to continue the push. The big problem here is that it was barely a match; Knox got a little bit of dominating offense before Truth took over and put Knox down quickly. What we got was decent enough, but there's no way that anyone can make an actual good match in less than two minutes. It worked for what it was, but I would have liked to see more from them. Still, Knox wasn't buried thanks to his early offense so I'm giving this one a pass, if only barely.

BETH WANTS MICKIE, GETS A TAG MATCH INSTEAD: So we got a still frame recap of the events at the Royal Rumble where Mickie won the Women's Title and embarrassed Layla & Michelle. They probably could have shown the whole match in less time, to be honest. After that came Mickie down with the title in hand and the crowd popping for her. She got on the mic and proceeded to deliver a super babyface promo about being true, believing in yourself, eating prayers and saying vitamins…wait, what? Anyway, before she could talk much more, Beth came down to the ring and talked about her Royal Rumble appearance that had put her in a league all her own. She congratulated Mickie but said she was going to take the title any time and any place she wanted. This wasn't bad, although the whole opening promo part by Mickie seemed a wee bit over the top…and not in a very good way. But once Beth was out there to talk it picked up…until Vickie came out.

Listen folks, I'm not going to rag on Vickie much here. She didn't do anything inherently WRONG in her promo other than her usual wooden-sounding voice and sleep-inducing speech patterns, and obviously the crowd hates her (I still call it X-Pac heat though). My question here is, what's the freaking point? What was Vickie's point for making this match? Striker made a suggestion that Michelle and Layla brown-nosed their way into it, but this still seemed like Vickie doing it just to make an appearance on the show and help get Michelle and Layla a little heat. It didn't help, for the record. I liked Michelle and Layla's little hoodies, at least. As a match this was a technically proficient match without a lot else to it. Michelle got a little bit of control early on until Beth and Mickie took over…well, until Beth floored Mickie and then floored Michelle before leaving. The pin then came out of nowhere and Mickie won just so the heels could be dealt with. A feud between Mickie and Beth is nothing new, but it felt like it's taken on a new element and I'm okay with that. All in all I had problems with this segment and match, but not enough to give it a full-on thumbs down.

THE WRONG:

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER: CM PUNK vs. BATISTA: Before this match we saw CM Punk and the Straight Edge Society watching the footage of what he did to Bret and Cena. Punk gave a nice little promo here about how Big Dave wanted to end his crusade and it was up to Luke and Serena to do what they needed to protect Punk. This was a nice little segment that helped build up the cult mentality of the Society and it played out well.

Now, if only the match had been…well, a match at all, then this might have been in the Right. Instead we had about three minutes of entrance, then about a minute and a half of hanging out in the ring before the Manimal walked out of the ring. Um…okay? I have no idea what's going on with this, but this was a bait and switch and while yes it got Punk into the Elimination Chamber it was a pretty weak way to do it. Dave just didn't seem to care and while I thought the Straight Edge party in the ring was fun, this whole segment was a waste of time. They could have flat-out cut out a couple minutes by having Big Dave show up on the ramp after Punk had hit the ring and then walk off, but instead we cut the other segments shorter so we could watch Dave chill for a bit then walk off. I know this is going somewhere, but I didn't like this stop on the road to that destination.

WORD UP: So I guess they've run out of things for Shad and JTG to do? We got the duo playing Word Up again, and the word this week was "King" so they could get a cheap pop by praising Memphis, B.B. King and Elvis Presley, then sing a bit before pimping out Jerry Lawler who made a rare Blue Brand appearance. Okay, so the point of this was…what, exactly? Cryme Tyme is over with the crowd enough that we don't need to be reminded that they exist. Hell, they wrestle consistently these days, either on SmackDown or Superstars. Some people will tell me to lighten up, but I just didn't see the point of this one. There are better ways for the Friday squad to spend their airtime.

THE RIDICULOUS:

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

The 411

We had a nice build to the SmackDown Chamber this week and a fair amount of decent to great matches that carried it off. At the same time, Edge made a very triumphant return and that led to a very good promo to close out the show. There were some gimpy booking decisions to be sure, and you won't catch me wanting to watch Word Up or the Batista/Punk "match" any time soon, but this did exactly what it needed to do and I enjoyed the show when all was said and done.

SHOW RATING: 7.5

From Jimmy:
I loved the ending of RAW. Vince (the heel) got the better of Bret (the face)once again, building to the WM payoff.

Now, whether we get Bret vs. Vince in a one on one match or Cena w/Bret vs. Batista w/ Vince is to be seen, but either way-the faces will stand triumph in the end.

From Nimesh S.:
I gotta agree: it was a really good episode of Raw. I got one question for you: If the Bret/Vince drama decides to include John Cena and Batista for a match at WrestleMania, do you think it'll be a tag team match or Cena w. Bret vs. Batista w. Vince?

Like someone else noted, we're probably going to see either a tag match or Cena vs. Batista with a guy in each of their corners. Bret's suffered not only a concussion but a stroke, and wrestling would not be in his best interests. I imagine that Cena & Batista will wrestle and it will end with Bret having Vince in the Sharpshooter at some point and Cena winning as Bret's champion.


From Guest#2691:
William Shatner sucked.

Can't say that he did.


From Shaun J.:
You're back on the money, Jeremy. WWE did good by playing up on Shatner's cheesiness. He was a really entertaining host. I also like how they teased the Sharpshooter with Bret and Vince. Though the EC qualifiers were predictable, there was decent to good wrestling for them.

From ThePants:
Shatner as host, probably the only celebrity they've had do it with WWE experience, was great as always. They should really try it with celebs with wrestling experience more. I want Pete Rose, personally. Maybe Chuck Norris or even Kevin Federline. Yes, I said it. But really, WWE has used a lot of celebs before the guest host gig, so someone who knows what to expect would work a lot better than someone in the dark (Dennis Miller, anyone?) Great RAW for having lots of matches, too. Nice to see RAW (a wrestling show) with wrestling for a change.

From Guest#6039:
Jeremy, it looks to me as though the more famous the guest host is the better the better you rate them and it seems like you (and the rest of the IWC) make their minds up about guest hosts before they even appear, my guess is next week you will blast whoever this random nascar guest host is next week

I wouldn't agree with that at all. I gave Johnny Damon pretty decent marks, and Mark Cuban got praise from me as well. Meanwhile I trashed Miller, and deservedly so. The perceived problem may come from the fact that the little-known guys are often sports guys are are not great on the mic and that hurts them as guest hosts. But if they're used correctly I will give them the credit that they're due. I thought Shatner was used wonderfully and enjoyed his work.


From Max:
Saw it in a thread, but how about Big Show turning face (as it looked like) and facing Miz at WM26?

I wouldn't mind that at all. Show wouldn't hurt with use a face turn too much, and he could have a fun match with Miz. Not a great match, but definitely a fun one which could help catapult Miz higher up the card.


From fanboi13:
"this was overall a bust that made Gail look as underwhelming on the mic as her match with Alicia last week made her look in the ring."

I would love to disagree with you as I am a huge Gail Kim fan,but she is doing herself no favors. I am hoping that she brings it when she faces Maryse,(she can have good matches with decent wrestlers)but I got to admit I am more than a little nervous regarding the qaulity of that match.

From Guest#4092:
Agreed. Maryse did a good job, going away from her usually over-the-top act for a much more subtle act that worked pretty well. but she looked liked an amazing actress compared to Gail and Kelly.

The sad part is Gail has some acting experience.

From ATL4life:
Maryse is being wasted in that shitty womens division, she could be a much more prominent character in the company if she broke away from it, she's the only one with anything to offer outside of looking hot, she would be a perfect heel valet, she would actually add something to the other persons act unlike Eve, who doesn't do anything for Chris Masters, same story with Rosa Mendes with Zack Ryder, she contributes nothing to help get him over.

She should lose the butterfly belt to Gail Kim then pair up with The Miz, they would be a great heel duo and it would get Miz even more over, every guy watching will resent his ass even more for bagging a chick like Maryse, I could see them being even better than Edge and Lita if they actually decide to push Miz near the main event level.

From MP:
I think you under rated HHH-Swagger, and over rated Orton-Michaels. No way that 6 minute match was ***1/4. It was more like around **1/4-**1/2.

And your saying Kelly Kelly showed more personality than Gail? Are you high or something? Mental note Jeremy, more screen time does not = more personality. Otherwise Michelle McCool would have heat.

I would love to see Miz and Maryse as a wrestling duo, one with the US Title and one with the Butterfly Title. Taking Maryse out of the Butterfly Division on Raw would pretty much kill the division's credibility...well, even more than it already has been by the quality of wrestling on Monday nights.

As for who did well and who didn't in that segment, I don't think anyone can excuse how poorly Gail did there. MP, I didn't say that Triple K showed more personality; she did okay but she didn't need to show a lot of personality as she was the side character. Gail was the focus and she came off as portraying no discernable qualities that set her apart from the crowd. It's something she needs to get figured out STAT if she ever wants to get any remote sort of push other than "the person who loses to Maryse for the title."


From Heyyo:
I'm pretty sure Cody has busted out the moonsault in the past. Alas, he always seems to miss.

I know he's used it once or twice, but it's rare enough that it seemed new and fresh for him, which did help the match.


From Eddie C:
That face Ted DiBiase is making is called "duckface".

That didn't quite look like duckface to me. It looked more like "Grrr!" Or maybe "Hey, where's the bathroom, quickly please?"


Froim Quimby:
Is it possible that if you take all the snowflakes earned by all the matches in the Divas title tournament it still doesn't equal the rating of the average TNA Knockouts match?
Or Smackdown opener?

I haven't done the math, but it's certainly possible yes.


From Jason King:
One of the better RAWs I've seen in a while...which isn't say a lot since it wasn't a terrificly awesome show, but at least they gave us some good in-ring stuff for once. I just wish they'd realize it's possible to deliver great matches like they can as well as mix in the stupid variety show BS they feel the need to shove down our throats.

The problem with that is that the ratings don't support it. Casual fans like the variety show stuff from time to time, and while I don't get it I at least can't totally blame the 'E for going the way they do.


From Loki:
"It's a slow build, and we all know how well slow-build angles for HBK usually turn out."

I love the way they are doing this, so we really don't know if he'll be wrestling Triple H or the Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

I get the feeling that either HBK or Sheamus will face Triple H, and the other will get the Deadman, but either way Shawn's character and storyline are, as usual, the highlight on the Road to Wrestlmania.

I don't see anything in a 'H/Taker match at 'Mania. Personally, I still see 'H/HBK and someone else taking on Sheamus; maybe it'll be Edge/Taker/Jericho because there have been a lot of Triple Threat Title matches at 'Mania in recent years. We'll see soon enough!


From Guest#7693:
Now that i think about it... why would HBK want to be in the Elimination Chamber in the first place? If he did make it and won he wouldnt be able to face Undertaker because he would have to defend the title....

I think the idea was that he was making a half-hearted attempt, at the H-Man's urging, to try and move on. Clearly he hadn't moved on though and that cost him, so now he's back on the "Must face Undertaker" obsession. That'll lead him on an interesting road to WrestleMania that I can't wait to see how it plays out.


From Cyrith:
Have to say, I loved the tease for the Sharpshooter from Bret this Monday. Good booking not to do it yet(as I imagine it will end the feud or at least be a big part of the end) because now I really want to see that again.

And that was exactly what they were hoping for the result. I think it played out very well and it did pique interest, and I'm in complete agreement with you.


From Z:
Ok, I've got to say something: I am shocked that not one person seems to have picked up on the Bret/Vince segment being a not-so-subtle shoot. They sent Bret out and gave him a waay overlong promo, firing off stupid shit like "This piece of gum has just enough flavor left to kick your ass", not to mention the whole bit about feeling pathetic and crying himself to sleep. The whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way.

Then Vince comes out and just RIPS him to shreds, attacking everything from his appearance to his personality; don't believe for a second that promo wasn't genuine. The angle will no doubt play out with Bret being victorious at 'Mania and what have you, but to me Monday night was a red flag that Vince most definitely still hates Bret, making me wonder if subtly humiliating him was was the WWE's plan all along.

I didn't see that personally, and if that had been the case I doubt Bret would have gone along with it. The Hitman is no idiot and I'm willing to bet that he's got his ass covered on this in terms of creative control. Frankly, I imagine that they went over it before hand and Bret probably approved it, so I'm not worried about it. Plus, like Mortis said it's a classic heel promo, so it did exactly what it needed to.


From Jason Douglas:
"Meh. Didn't bother me. It clearly wasn't a sexual thing, he was just supposed to be exhausted and draped himself over Morrison. But hey, to each their own."

I initially agreed with TDS until Drew put his forearm over Morrison's face, making it look like a respectable pin. When you watch a fake sport about sweaty men in tights rolling around together, you're going to get a bit of homoerotic imagery from time to time. I don't let it ruin the Tombstone or Thesz Press for me. Or a power bomb, or a hurricanrana, or most scoop slams... I could go on.

So Batista shows up on Raw on a whim while Jericho is "banned". Setting aside the obvious brand split ignorance (as they did for Edge to open), you have a WWE Champion in Sheamus whose credibility is still very shaky and is actually on Raw. Why on earth wouldn't they give him the beatdown on Bret? Between attacking Bret and helping Vince it could have done FAR more for him than what they went with.

I think they were probably trying to avoid the trap they fell into with Umaga and Lashley. At 'Mania between Trump and Vince, that whole thing didn't help either man and it actually ended up with some backlash for Lashley in being put into something he wasn't ready for. If you put someone in there who is already over, then Sheamus can have his own match away from that spectacle and you don't put all your show's focus on a relatively green main eventer. I'm totally okay with that.


From Brad B:
"I know a lot of people don't like Morrison because he's not flashy, but he's solid in the ring and on the mic."

Jeremy: What are you smoking? Solid in the ring? Absolutely. One of the better in-ring performers from the younger group of wrestlers.

But "solid on the mic?" He's easily one of the worst in the WWE among mid-to-upper card players, if not the worst. Wooden, forced, and uncomfortable. He clearly has a way to go just to get to "decent."

I meant McIntyre. Too many M's in the WWE.


From The Great Capt. Smooth:
In an odd way, Kofi's botches make it look more "real". If a guy the size of Big Show is beating you up, you may not be able to keep it together that quickly. Cole had a nice recovery for him, playing with the whole "dizziness" thing. It kind of showed just how young and impulsive Kofi is, not giving himself enough of a chance to get himself together. I'd like to see more of that just to show how devastating attacks can be. Just make sure to keep it more subtle.

From Darth Mortis:
'Cole had a nice recovery for him, playing with the whole "dizziness" thing.'

that whole post was really on the money. back in the day, when heels were usually the monsters, announcers would bend over backwards to play up how brutal and vicious they were to the fans whilst actually covering up errors in ring.

of course, the older you are, the more you would remember this but given the fact that the majority of fans grew up with the Attitude Era which utterly destroyed this aspect of wrestling story telling, what can you expect?

I don't know if I'd say that the botches help it look realistic in a "good" way, but I will definitely give Cole a rare amount of credit for covering for Kofi's slip as you both did. I'm in total agreement with Mortis that this is the kind of thing where the announcers could go back to a more old-school style, something I think Striker does to a degree but few of the announcers in the 'E or TNA do much of anymore.

Until Friday, keep on kickin' it!


~444~