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Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 2.22.10: ROH, Impact, Superstars and SmackDown Reviewed!
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In HD where available…
By: Aaron Hubbard
ROH on HDNet 2.15.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
Necro Butcher & Eddie Kingston defeated Joey Ryan & Erick Stevens via count-out [3/4*]
Rasche Brown defeated Christian Moreno [3/4*]
Up in Smoke defeated Sonjay Dutt and Andy Ridge [**1/4]
PICK SIX: Kevin Steen defeated Delirious [***1/4]
RASCHE BROWN SQUASH: This was the only thing I didn’t have problems with, although I’m not sure how much longer these squashes are going to work. Awesome Burning Hammer in this one that elevated it above a normal squash.
HYPING OTHER SHOWS: A significant portion of this show was spent plugging future events, including “The Big Bang” PPV. You’d think this would be wrestling 101, but ROH hasn’t really done a great job of that most of the time. I give them credit for doing so here.
PICK 6 – STEEN vs. DELIRIOUS: This match was very good, and people who read my report will notice that I bumped the rating slightly. Steen had a great in your face (or in this case, Kyle Durdan’s face) promo before the match to remind us that he doesn’t want to even hear about El Generico anymore, and that if we want to worry about masked wrestlers, we should worry about Delirious. Given that Steen is involved in a major storyline and Delirious is, well, Delirious, the result of the match wasn’t in doubt. Delirious is a guy who has good matches, makes his opponents look good. Beating him is both feasible and meaningful, but he can also beat anyone on any given night. That’s a unique position similar to the one Kane has. Steen won the match, they had a good, simple one based on arm psychology and mind games and that played into the finish.
Now, for what I didn’t like. Steen used the Crippler Crossface as the finish. Now, I love the hold, it looks awesome, it’s easy to apply from any position on any opponent. In fact, I consider it to be the best submission move in wrestling. BUT, Steen is doing it because he’s playing a guy who’s lost his mind, and the move automatically associates him with another Canadian who lost his mind. Say what you will about Shawn and Triple H using the move, at least they don’t actually use it as a finish. I just think it’s taking it a bit too overboard and is unnecessary and just done for cheap hit. At least Davey Richards wrestled like Benoit and Dynamite Kid before all of that.
UPSET IN SMOKE: So, perhaps the most important thing on this show is that Cheech and Cloudy got their first win on HDNet. With the Young Bucks moving on to greener pastures, Steen & Generico now longer intact, and the future of the American Wolves uncertain, ROH has to take steps to keep its tag team division strong. I’m not sure Up in Smoke is the team I would have picked, but they were impressive in this match. My only problem with this is that their first victory came at the expense of ANDY RIDGE, an ROH student whose gimmick is that he kicks with his right leg. Now, Sonjay was also on the team, but they didn’t beat him. Beating Andy Ridge is nothing. Ultimately, this didn’t give them much of a boost. They were just lucky that there was an even bigger jobber on the other side.
BUTCHER/KINGSTON vs. EMBASSY: I’d like to say that the opening promos that set this match up were a lot more compelling than I thought they would be, and actually made me happy to see this. Then they got in the ring, and I remembered that it’s Joey Ryan, Eddie Kingston, Necro Butcher and Erick Stevens brawling. Ryan has done nothing to impress me and Rhett Titus and Austin Aries do his gimmick better. Necro is a great character but an awful wrestler. Kingston is a fantastic talker but average in the ring and doesn’t sell anything. Stevens I have soft spot for because he’s a fantastic juggernaut face, but now he’s just another monster heel. This much was boring and ended in a count out. Nothing outright wrong here, but certainly nothing right.
NOTHING OF NOTE.
ZERO APPEAL: I consider myself a pretty big fan of ROH, but upon seeing the line-up for the show I didn’t even want to watch it. ROH cannot afford to have throwaway episodes. Every week needs to have a selling point. No offense to Steen and Delirious, but is anybody going to say, “OH, Steen vs. Delirious! I can’t wait to see that!” I can’t imagine they would. This felt like a look at ROH’s midcard.
| The 411
The card was underwhelming and the show was underwhelming. Steen and Delirious exceeded my expectations, something I should be used to by now because they are awesome wrestlers. But still, I can’t recommend this show to anyone. There wasn’t anything horrible about the show, but there was nothing about it that made me want to see it. I’ll take crap if you give me something great as well, but when everything is just there, I don’t care. This was entirely skippable. SHOW RATING: 3.5 |
Press 1 if you skipped over the Ring of Honor section
Posted By: Hercules Strongs
First of all, you need to quit stalking me and whining about faces and heels. It’s pathetic. Second, thanks for giving people an excuse to post more comments about something they supposedly don’t care about. It’s hilarious how moronic that little exercise is. Which brings me to…
Stop reviewing ROH, just a waste of time, as it will be out of business soon enough, and all that time will be gone forever….
Posted By: Please
People have been saying it will go out of business for eight years, and for EIGHT YEARS they have continued to grow. Considering TNA is about to kill their ratings by challenging the Beast that is WWE, it is more likely that ROH will outlast that company, since they know their place in wrestling, which is to provide an alternative for fans who want something different from what WWE and TNA have to offer. They aren’t going to challenge WWE, or TNA, and because of that, they will stay in business, likely never becoming as big as TNA but not dying.
And as long as you come in here first thing Monday morning to take more time writing your complaint than it takes you to scroll past the whole section, I’ll be here writing the 4 R’s.
Please, Aaron Hubbard. Don’t compare the Young Bucks or the American Wolves to the British Bulldogs.
And if you are going to pick one of the all-time work rate tag teams, why pick the Rockers? Yes, Shawn may be the best of all time, but Jannetty was never anything special. Why not… Edge/Christian vs. the Hardyz… two of the greatest tag teams of all time. Or The Rock N Rolls Express against the Hart Foundation.
The Bucks are nothing more than a spotfest and Richards is a stud, but Edwards is just riding in his passenger seat.
Posted By: Guest#3546
Thankfully, The REAL MP has said exactly what I was going to say, word for word, verbatim.
Bull fucking shit. Sure, Marty didn’t have the longevity of his partner (thanks to a little glug glug, toot toot, snort snort if you know what I mean), but Jannetty could go as well as ANYONE back in his day. And he was often the glue that held those Rockers matches together while Shawn was flying around, taking crazy bumps, and eating the heat segments.
In terms of having great matches The Rockers OWNED the Hardys, Edge and Christian, and pretty much anyone else who came after them. You need to check out their shit against the Harts, Orient Express, and especially anything and everything they did against the Brain Busters. Beats the piss out of anything the ladder boys did.
And I think the British Bulldogs comparison is also pretty apt. Sure, Richards is much better than Edwards (at this point), but you had the same dynamic in the Bulldogs with Dynamite being a much better worker than Davey Boy.
“I just didn’t care for this, much like I didn’t care for Aries looking like a fool in matches with Omega and Cabana. BUT HEY, WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT BOOKING?”
Was this a rhetorical question? Because the answer is most likely NOTHING, as you are nothing more than a critic and a fan like the rest of us. And this fan loves it when AA looks the fool! But hey what do I know about heel booking?
Posted By: TGMTEL
You know nothing, that’s what. The ROH Champion represents ROH to the world. If Austin Aries is treated like a joke by ROH, if he treats the championship like a joke, than ROH is a joke, Austin Aries is a joke, and the ROH Title is a joke (insert asinine comment from a troll here). The champion must ALWAYS be kept strong, up to and including when he loses the title. That’s why Sheamus isn’t over on RAW. Aries is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and that’s the only reason I was even mildly okay with his stupid character change. No long-term heel champion in recent memory has ever looked less worthy of holding the title than Austin Aries did in his last run. It was pathetic.
By: Chad Nevett
iMpact! 02.18.10:
QUICK RESULTS
– Tara defeated Daffney via disqualification [*1/4]
– Orlando Jordan defeated Samoa Joe [*1/2]
– Amazing Red, Kazarian & Generation Me defeated Doug Williams, Brian Kendrick & the Motor City Machine Guns [**1/2]
– Abyss and Jeff Jarrett wrestled to a no contest [***]
– Beer Money, Inc. defeated the British Invasion (Brutus Magnus & Rob Terry) [*1/2]
– Kurt Angle defeated Daniels [DUD]
ABYSS vs. JEFF JARRETT: I wasn’t expecting much from this match. Jarrett’s return to the ring against Mr. Anderson left me bored and Abyss’s style isn’t exactly to my taste, but the booking of this with Bischoff booking two guys he doesn’t like in a match so they can beat the hell out of one another was solid. The build-up with Abyss and the mask wasn’t great. When Abyss was looking for a way out, I kept wondering why he didn’t simply leave the way that Hall and Waltman always sneak in. Jarrett’s part of the build-up was better as he knew he was in a bad situation, but couldn’t get out of it: to advance in the company, he needs to play ball with Bischoff no matter how much he hates it.
In the ring, these two had some decent chemistry, working well together. Abyss’s slower style worked to Jarrett’s advantage as he works to get back into ring shape and they built a good back and forth. Both men showed some reluctance throughout to what they were doing, but pushed ahead nonetheless, using weapons and eying the barb wire baseball bat from time to time. The bat really gave the match a good prop as both men were good at making sure its presence loomed over the bout as neither wanted to use it but knew they had to. Bischoff coming out upped the tension and Jarrett’s refusal to use the bat effectively ended the match even if Bischoff didn’t send that group of guys down to beat them both up. It was an odd mix of guys sent out to act as Bischoff’s goons, but, hey, better that than nothing, right? Hogan’s interference in the unmasking came out of nowhere a little and hinted at a dissonance in his relationship with Bischoff that I’ve been wondering about since Hogan is supposedly a face and Bischoff a heel. Hogan’s discussion with Abyss can be found below…
AMAZING RED, KAZARIAN & GENERATION ME vs. DOUG WILLIAMS, BRIAN KENDRICK & THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS: Throughout the show, there was buzz surrounding the return of a former TNA champion of some sort. It wasn’t necessarily a world champ, it was just someone who held a belt in TNA and, it turns out, that Kazarian is the champ in question as he steps out of the Suicide costume to team with Amazing Red and Generation Me to take on X-Division champ Doug Williams, Brian Kendrick, and the Motor City Machine Guns. An eight-man tag match looked a little unwieldy for Impact, particularly with X-Division guys, but, until the end, things were kept pretty simple with most of the action being one on one. Each guy got a moment or two in the ring to show off what they can do with the focus being on Kaz and Doug Williams to, I imagine, set up something between them revolving around the title. The ending was predictable as, one by one, every member of both teams took the fight to outside of the ring, leaving Williams and Kaz alone, but given the relatively short amount of time they had, I don’t know what else they could have done. Plus, Generation Me did that move where one brother hangs onto the ropes upside down while the other dives over him to land on their opponents outside of the ring and I’m a sucker for that. I’d prefer to see something a little more focused, but, hopefully, that’s what Destination X will deliver.
KURT ANGLE GETS A LITTLE EMOTIONAL AND MR. ANDERSON CONTINUES TO BE AN ASSHOLE: While the match with Daniels was a joke, Kurt Angle’s promo after the match was anything but. I’ve always been impressed with Angle’s promo skills while at TNA, but the emotion on display here was phenomenal as he laid himself bare about the recent problems he’s had, tying it all together with some dog tags given to him at his lowest by a soldier, which really helped him hold together. At Against All Odds, Mr. Anderson used the dog tag to cut open Angle and Angle sees that as disrespectful to the soldiers and the US. Same when Anderson spit on the tags. Angle made that one match with Anderson into something very, very personal in an effective manner. Anderson’s response to Angle was fantastic. He was sarcastic, he was dickish, and he stood his ground. The dog tag was a prop, a tool, and nothing else to him, but if Angle had a problem with that, he could come get himself some. And, then, Anderson laid Angle out, welcoming him to “Total Nonstop Anderson.” I am definitely interested in seeing where this feud leads after this.
THE POPE EXCHANGES WORDS WITH ‘DIC’ FLAIR AND, I GUESS, AJ STYLES BECAUSE HE WAS THERE… I THINK: When the Pope D’Angelo Dinero came out to begin the show, things were looking good for this week’s edition of Impact. But, his promo regarding his win of the 8-Card Stud Tournament at Against All Odds and his challenging of TNA World champ AJ Styles was just okay. We’ve seen various people do the ‘call people the wrong name on purpose’ gimmick before and they did it a whole lot better than the Pope did here. His variations on Flair and Styles’s names weren’t clever or funny. Then, Flair and Styles came out with a few women to Flair’s entrance music, which put me off since AJ is the champ and the focus should be on him. Flair did most of the talking and something between him and the Pope just didn’t gel. Normally, both men can deliver on the mic, but this felt off and wasn’t as entertaining as you’d expect. Flair never got into a good rhythm and AJ’s contributions were marginal at best. The Pope initiating the fight was good and established him as being unafraid well, not just a lot of talk, and the double team stuff is what you’d expect. I’m a little baffled as to where security was while Flair and Styles went to town on the Pope since they were quick to get involved any other time something like this occurred the rest of the night.
TARA vs. DAFFNEY: This had the makings of a fine match since both women are pretty good in the ring, but this went to the DQ finish pretty quickly. The in-ring action was fine and I liked the commentators mention that Daffney may be the one Knockout that wouldn’t mind Tara’s tarantula. The two had some decent chemistry, but everything seemed like a delay until they hit the moment for Daffney to snap and get herself disqualified. The placement of that finish hurt it since this was immediately after Flair and Styles beat the Pope with a chair, so Daffney doing the same to Tara wasn’t as impactful. It would have worked better a little later, maybe even just one segment later.
BEER MONEY, INC. vs. THE BRITISH INVASION: Wow, is that Beer Money? On TV? What the hell? I thought there were dead… Apparently not, because they took on Brutus Magnus and Rob Terry of the British Invasion in a match that was just about getting Big Rob to turn on Magnus. The psychology was sound with Magnus using Terry as a weapon to beat down Beer Money and then demanding he get tagged in to pick up the win. Terry was clearly pissed off throughout and, when Beer Money turned it around and won, the aftermath of the match had Magnus berating Terry for not being able to do anything right and how he shouldn’t be the TNA Global champ, causing Big Rob to take Magnus out to a surprisingly big crowd reaction. Not sure if this was the right time to turn him, but it was handled decently. Too bad the match was rather forgettable.
A MICK MAKEOVER: More Bischoff and Foley… this time, Bischoff is nice to set up the swerve on Abyss by telling Mick that not using the bat at Against All Odds wasn’t a problem because they put on a great show anyway. Not only that, but Bischoff was sending Foley out to get some new clothes. Meh. Not entertaining and went on too long for the purpose it served.
ORLANDO JORDAN vs. SAMOA JOE: Ah, Orlando Jordan… apparently, he kissed or nearly kissed the man who escorted him to the ring, but we didn’t get to see that because two men kissing or almost kissing is gross or something… and people wonder why wrestling is looked down upon as juvenile and stupid… Anyway, before Samoa Joe came out, Bischoff berated him for not beating AJ at Against All Odds and demanded that he win tonight to prove himself. Joe was passionate in the ring at first and lay a strong beating on Jordan. It looked like it was going to be a quick squash match, but Jordan turned the tables and they went back and forth until the match just sort of ended with Jordan pinning Joe to the surprise of everyone. And I mean everyone, because even the ref had a “What the hell just happened?” look on his face. These two just didn’t click with a lot of filler moves and the awkward finish with Joe looking like he stopped caring halfway through the match.
LORD OF THE RING: Following Hogan’s intervention in the ring, Abyss waited for Hogan in his office and Hogan came in rather excitedly and forceful, telling Abyss that he’s sick of him always whining and shaking, that he needs to be a man. Hogan then delivered a long speech surrounding him giving Abyss his WWE Hall of Fame ring to act as something that will give Abyss confidence and make him into someone stronger and better than Hogan ever was. Seriously? I don’t mean to put down Abyss, but this does not seem the role best suited to his skills. He’s the Monster Abyss, not the next Hulk Hogan. Much like pairing Flair and Styles, this pairing doesn’t seem to match since the characters are so different, so incongruent. Pushing Abyss is a great idea, but he’s not the fan-friendly, crowd-pleasing Hogan type unless they plan to do a complete makeover on him. Moreover, Hogan taking this special interest comes out of nowhere. Maybe this will turn into something good and I’ll be proven wrong.
KEVIN NASH CONFRONTS THE BAND: Early on in the show, Eric Young told Christy Hemme that Kevin Nash would confront Scott Hall and Sean Waltman in the ring over their attack on him a couple of weeks ago, so we get to end the show with the Band. Again. Somehow, Hall and Waltman managed to sneak into the building again (so, security can stop people from leaving, but not from getting in?). Prior to this, Nash delivered a strong promo about friendships and relationships in the business, how ten years ago he bought a black suit because he figured he’d be putting Hall or Waltman in the ground soon, and how he never expected this sort of betrayal after going to bat for them so many times. The result was just a typical bullshit brawl that went nowhere because security got involved. Nothing was advanced and nothing of consequence happened, though I did like Nash’s promo and Eric Young coming out with Nash.
SAMOA JOE JUMPED AND THROWN IN THE BACK OF A VAN WHILE LEAVING THE IMPACT ZONE: I don’t mean that this is worse than anything in the Wrong necessarily, just that this little segment was pretty ridiculous. Samoa Joe is leaving, gets jumped, and is thrown in the back of a white van that then speeds away. I don’t know what to think of this other than call it ridiculous and move on.
KURT ANGLE vs. DANIELS: Remember when Daniels was main eventing pay-per-views? Shouldn’t be too hard since it was only a few months ago. Remember how those were great matches? Because this sure as fuck wasn’t. Here we have two fantastic wrestlers who could put on a four-star match and it’s over in 30 seconds with one looking like shit as a result. At least after CM Punk jobbed out to John Cena, he could appear on SmackDown and redeem himself a little.
| The 411
On paper, this had the potential to be a really good show, but a lot of it didn’t leave up to its potential. The opening segment was a little disappointing, as were the Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle/Daniels matches. Abyss and Jeff Jarrett delivered an entertaining match that beat my expectations, but then Hogan gave Abyss a magic confidence ring and that good will was shot to hell. They did do a good job of taking various events from Against All Odds and using them to build toward new feuds. Hopefully, this was just a transitional show where the quality dipped as they worked to set things up for the next few weeks. SHOW RATING: 5.5 |
By: Steve Cook
Superstars 2.18.10:
EVAN BOURNE & PRIMO vs. CHAVO GUERRERO & CARLITO: This was just a damn good tag team match, mostly because Bourne got to do his really fun offense. OK, there was more to it than that…Primo did a really good job selling for most of the match, and Chavo & Carlito both looked pretty good doing their stuff. The thing I like about this show, and I’ve said this time and time again, is that guys like these four get to have matches and make themselves look good, which is an opportunity they just don’t get to have on the Monday show. Bourne especially looked outstanding, and the more I see him work in WWE, the more I think he’ll really catch on as a Rey Mysterio-type cruiserweight with the heart of a lion overcoming all odds. Chavo looked scared as hell taking the Air Bourne, which makes sense because Billy Kidman nearly killed him with a shooting star press once.
GAIL KIM vs. KATIE LEA BURCHILL: The pattern of Superstars Diva matches being better than Raw Diva matches continued with this one. It’d been a while since Katie got to look this good (and yes, she did look very good cosmetically as well), she did a good job working over Gail’s shoulder, and the announcers did a good job putting over the impact it may have on her match on Sunday. And if the match wasn’t enough to please me, we got a Maryse appearance after the match! Yes, she only stood on the stage and clapped, but she did it better than anybody in the history of our sport. My one gripe with all of this is that “Eat Defeat” is a horrible name for a wrestling move, and it’s not even a particularly good move. It’s different, but different doesn’t always equal good. I would say Gail should use whatever she used as a finisher in TNA, but I honestly can’t remember what she used there.
REY MYSTERIO vs. MIKE KNOX: Those who have read my contributions to the Rs column know that I have become a huge fan of Mike Knox. Yes, his awesome beard has a lot to do with it, but he‘s become a really good pro wrestler and Jim Ross‘ opinion of Knox reminding him of a younger Bruiser Brody doesn‘t seem so crazy now. Yes, it‘s quite obvious from his win/loss record that WWE isn‘t nearly as high on him as I am, but he works a great “big man” offense with some really cool moves thrown in. His cross-body on Rey in this match was a thing of beauty. Rey did a great job selling and he got his stuff in too, though I worry about Rey’s knees when he does stuff like dives to the floor. I enjoyed Matt Striker talking about “an old friend of his” who once said “it’s not the size of the fighter, but the size of the fight he will bring”…I know some people are not happy that Low Ki won’t be on NXT, but at least Striker’s referencing Ki’s old indy promos from the early 2000s. He said that in every promo back then, so I’m 100% sure that’s who fellow Northeast indy veteran Striker was talking about.
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing
| The 411
Well, this probably has to be a first in the history of this column, right? Everything in the right, and nothing in the other categories probably hasn’t been done before. I really enjoyed this show, and I don’t think it was just because I was watching it on Hulu while drinking some Steel Reserve. Though the 211 always helps the enjoyment factor. That being said, I wouldn’t want to bust out the Full Monty unless one of the matches was 5 snowflakes, and while Rey vs. Knox was tremendous, it wasn’t as good as Rey vs. Punk on SmackDown, which I put just shy of four. Yes, I have very high standards. Part of the reason why I’m still single. SHOW RATING: 9.0 |
By: Jeremy Thomas
WWE SmackDown 2.19.10
QUICK RESULTS:
Kane d. Dolph Ziggler [* ¾]
Cryme Tyme d. Trent Barreta & Caylen Croft [* ½]
CM Punk & Luke Gallows d. John Morrison & R-Truth [**]
The Hart Dynasty d. Matt Hardy, The Great Khali & Maria [* ¾]
Edge d. Batista by DQ [** ¼]
TWO VERSIONS, ONE STORY: SmackDown kicked off with none other than Y2J coming down to the ring, all snazzy-suited up. Striker noted how Jericho had made his guarantee to win the World Heavyweight Title at the Chamber, before Jericho got on the mic and ran down the fans while building himself up in regards to his ability to defy the odds and come out on top. Jericho had a nice, cocky smirk on his face as he talked about beating Rock and Austin, beating Shawn Michaels and then last week, driving the Phenom to his knees and beating him. We then got a recap of that very loss…well, without the Edge run-in that preceded that Codebreaker. But Jericho had not a care in the world in regards to that, he was having too much fun celebrating and talking himself up about it. He talked about how he would win the Chamber match, then talked about how we were average and he was exceptional. Good start promo by Jericho that didn’t stray into “hypocrites and tapeworms” repetition.
Soon enough, the Rated-R Superstar came out to the ring and hopped inside. The crowd popped pretty well for him as they waited for him to speak, it’s worth noting. Edge put over what an accomplishment beating the Dead Man was and congratulated Jericho, then pointed out what happened just before. It was recap time again to show everyone. Edge pointed out that it wasn’t helping Jericho but punishing Taker, then started to run down Jericho. Jericho told Edge to look to the future, using his favorite word “axiomatic” in describing how he would win the Chamber. He repeated his line about bad things happening to Edge when he was around, which pissed Edge off and sent him into histrionics. I gotta say, no one does hysterics these days quite like the Edgester. Things almost went to blows before the lights faded, which allowed Edge to hit the spear. This was a pretty good promo; Edge and Jericho did good mic work together, and Jericho’s speech didn’t just hit all the standard Jericho promo points. I appreciated that and enjoyed the way this played out.
JOHN MORRISON & R-TRUTH vs. CM PUNK & LUKE GALLOWS: Matthews was backstage with John Morrison, saying this week could be the most important in his life. He mentioned the DVD and the Chamber, then asked about his ankle. Morrison did a tolerable job, better than usual, but his promo was a fairly generic “this has been my dream to main event WrestleMania” thing with only a brief mention even to the ankle. That brought Truth in and they talked about being on the same page tonight whatever happens. They did some bit together about peas hopping and water being hot. I guess I’m too dorky to get it. They then joked around about skiing and Chris Jericho’s hair gel. Yeah, this was generic from start to finish, and wasn’t all that interesting or engaging. Afterward we got the entrance for the Straight-Edge Society. They recapped Mysterio’s win and later beat-down last week, then Punk got on the mic and said he was, humbly, the greatest thing ever. I love that he can seem sincere about that. He went all Vader with the “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” which is basically the kind of comment tailor-made to make IWC fanboys like me grin like a goof. Guess what, it worked. This was a great promo by Punk and didn’t seem to be his usual stock promo; I appreciated that.
The match itself started off fine enough, with Morrison and Punk doing some wrestling before Truth came in to take over for the Friday Night Delight. Things were carrying off very nicely, until out of nowhere flames erupted on the stage. There was no real discussion of it after, oddly enough, and they just went on like normal. I like how they’re using Luke; he’s not the flashiest guy in the ring but he’s taken to his power man role well enough and they lay the matches out in a way that it works out very well. Morrison’s injured ankle came into play in the end thanks to a ring post collision, and the match ended by ref stoppage. This allowed the Society to take out Truth and then, when he came down, Rey Rey. The segment ended with a Demolition Decapitation-style move, which is awesomeness. As a match it could have been better, but it wasn’t bad at all and I have to give props to Punk’s promo that preceded it. This is barely a Right.
BATISTA vs. EDGE: Before the match, Big Dave came down and was in perfect asshole mode. I loved him leaving that kid at ringside hanging and giving the thumbs down symbol to someone in the crowd. He does some great stuff with his character from time to time, even if I don’t get quite where his character is going. The crowd popped huge for Edge when he came down, and he was ready to go while the Manimal was looking to play games instead. He made to leave, but Edge wasn’t having any of it and grabbed a mic. He basically insulted Dave into coming back into the ring and actually having a match. I’m curious how a ten count can be stopped by a promo but hey, whatever works. Once they actually got to the wrestling it was fairly decent. Dave got into the match and took over after the commercial break with some punishment to Edge’s shoulder and back, then started to toss the steps around so he could try to power bomb Edge onto them which didn’t work out so well. Again, this match wasn’t great—a recurring theme on SmackDown this week—but it was well-paced and had some good, solid storytelling to it. I enjoyed Edge reversing a spear into a spear, just before Taker showed up to return the favor from last week. Big Dave took off while the Dead Man stood strong over Edge then left, allowing Jericho to hit the Codebreaker out of nowhere and stand strong to finish out the show. It was a very good finish to a decent match, and ended the show on a strong note.
DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. KANE: Before this match began, we got a recap of what happened last week between Kane and Drew McIntyre, setting up Sunday’s match. At least they’re getting the belt defended on Pay-Per-View, right? These two men have faced off before in a feud, but that was on the back Ziggler’s push. Drew might just want to take notes, he may be meeting Kane again in a few months to push the Big Red Monster during the next new name’s push. This match was more or less a squash, with Kane flattening Dolph in order to build some momentum going into the Pay-Per-View. Striker busted out some stats about how many IC champions have gone on to be World Champions or inducted into the Hall of Fame, which was a nice touch in order to put over the belt. Someone has to, I guess. The whole thing was going along swimmingly for Kane until Drew came out and caused Kane to be distracted, which allowed for the deadly SLEEPER HOLD! That didn’t last long and soon the match was over, allowing Drew to come in and attack but get repelled. This did exactly what it needed to and I was okay with that; it didn’t make a great match, but it wasn’t a horrible one either.
MATT HARDY, THE GREAT KHALI & MARIA vs. THE HART DYNASTY: This pairing continues to get more and more random as Maria joins the Khal-tourage. T-Grish made a Michael Bolton reference during the entrances. I don’t even know what to say about that. The ladies started it off with Nattie dominating Maria, and for once the ladies who don’t know how to wrestle kept it basic. Once the guys came in of course things picked up, with Matt and the Harts doing some decent work together. Matt played the face-in-peril pretty nicely and helped make DH and Tyson look good before an accidental collision resulted in a tag to Maria. Nattie came in and wiped Maria out to get the pinfall. Nice to see the Harts getting a win, though I question why they’re starting things down the semi-rocky road for Maria and Matt already. That may just be a record. At least Michelle & Layla are finding someone else to pick on. Cooties? Really? I did kind of like the digs on Matt and Maria’s failed relationships, and Michelle and Layla are getting a little better at getting their characters down. It was just a little silly, and like the match didn’t seem to really go anywhere. But hey, any storyline for Matt works for me.
CRYME TYME vs. BARRETA & CROFT: Somewhere, Michael Bauer is laughing with glee that he doesn’t have to cover Barreta & Croft now that I do. I’ll admit to not paying much attention to these guys on ECW, and my god are they generic-looking. Striker tried to talk about them as the Tweeting New Generation or some nonsense while T-Grish played old fogey about kids and their video games. It was about as awkward as it sounds. This was Croft & Barreta’s chance to show the SmackDown audience what they had, and the answer seemed to be…kicks and dropkicks. Yeah, that’s impressive. I kid, but only lightly; there wasn’t much that these guys seemed to have that set them apart. The match was technically sound without any screw-ups, and I have to think that the ‘E doesn’t have much planned for these guys considering that they lost in their SmackDown debut. I’m happy to see another team on Friday nights to wrestle the usual suspects, but I couldn’t find a lot about this match to care about.
SORRY DOESN’T CUT IT FOR VICKIE: Yay, ’cause we needed more Diva bull. Teddy was backstage laughing at Vickie’s getting doused in cottage cheese, and guess who showed up? They traded a few barbs and Teddy said he was taking action on Shawn Michaels for the superkick before Mickie came in. She apologized for what happened last week, but it was to no avail because Vickie booked a Women’s Title defense between Mickie and Michelle. Vickie then said she’d be the guest referee. Great. That’s just what the idiotic Michelle/Mickie feud that will not die needed, Vickie wearing some non-slimming stripes. Did Beth fail a Wellness test or something and I missed it? What happened to her brewing feud with Mickie? I’m sorry, but I see no reason to keep dragging this out and I don’t want to see this match next week. I doubt they’ll take the belt off Mickie, but it’s not the point at all. End this, please.
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don’t care.
| The 411
It was sort of a lackluster SmackDown this week. Outside of the opening promo and main event, nothing truly stood out and everything was just kind of there. Having the newcomers lose doesn’t bode well for them but isn’t necessarily a death knell, and the Vickie/Mickie thing is extending this feud with Michelle out too long. The rest was just kind of there and it didn’t do a whole lot to sell the Pay-Per-View. We’ve seen a lot worse from the Blue Brand, but we’ve seen a lot better too and that’s about where this ends up lying…right in the middle. SHOW RATING: 6.0 |
From Gus:
Cena and Hart were in on it with the woman driving to goad Vince into accepting the WM match….perfect storyline if you ask me….
From Guest#2383:
The woman was hired by Cena and Bret to trick Vince into accepting a WM match. This will lead to Bret revealing he’s not injured at all (kayfabe) and Cena screaming “BRET SCREWED VINCE!!!”
And I will. Mark. OUT.
From Guest#4473:
I agree with Gus… the Bret storyline works best if it was just a setup to bait Vince into accepting a match he thinks won’t happen.
That would be a great way for them to do it and would be a very nice twist. I hadn’t thought of that, but if they do go that route I will be jazzed. It’s definitely better than “Blond Ditz is a hitwoman hired by Vince.” We’ll see where it goes, but I will totally keep my fingers crossed for your guys’s take on it.
From Guest:
Jerry Springer on RAW is a RIGHT!
Pure genius, comedy at its best, everyone needs to get off their high horses with the WWE.
If you watch RAW for wrestling, you’re watching the wrong damn show!
From MasterShake:
I completely see where Jeremy is coming from about the Springer/Intimate Relationships segment…and it got me to thinking. A lot of people on the comment section talk about Attitude this and Attitude that, and how things were so great then. Then I thought about one of Attitude’s iconic segments, the Rock/Mankind’s version of “This Is Your Life.” We look back on it with fond memory, but I’m willing to bet car-car-house that if it happened in 2010, the IWC would say similar things to what you just said about the Springer segment. For some reason that section reminded me that while we openly criticize things that happen currently, we often look at the Attitude Era through rose colored glasses. I think a lot of people fail to realize that things back then were never as great as we now claim they are, and things currently are never as bad as we make them out to be. (By the way, this wasn’t an observation about you, but more of the comment section.)
From Levikeinz:
The difference being that “This is your Life” was actually funny…
From Guest#4362:
Are you really trying to compare a segment with Rock and Foley to a segment with Santino, Khali, and Kelly? It’s not the writing that makes these segments good or bad. Vince Russo was hardly Shakespeare. It’s always been about the performers. That’s why WWE is so fucking terrible now. 99% of the roster is pathetic.
From Midcard madness:
I think part of the main appeal for “The this is your life” was it had The Rock and Mankind who were super over and this had to do with their relationship as a tag team, so it served a purpose. The Springer segment had nothing to do with what was going on storyline wise, and featured characters who are just an after thought when you think of the WWE.
From The Great Capt. Smooth:
Props for not having the Springer part in the “Wrong” section. It would have been too easy to trash it. Cole calling Kelly Kelly a loose-lipped hussy had me rolling and I don’t know why. Also, Springer’s “Don’t judge me.” was a nice lampoon of his own show.
For the record, I never much liked the “This is Your Life” segment. I can appreciate some of the humor in it, but I thought it meandered on for WAY too long and lost steam about halfway through. But I recognize its popularity and can certainly say it succeeded. Now, clearly Triple K, Khali, Chris Masters and the Bellas are not the performers that Rock and Foley were, and I don’t think anyone in their right mind would ever claim that. And the Springer segment certainly didn’t have any point other than to entertain; for some people it didn’t do that, and for some people it did. I didn’t like that they wasted that much time on a throwaway segment, but I would have rather seen that than the usual “heel intimidates Guest Host, gets booked in a punishment match” situation we’ve seen week in and week out. Ultimately, the entertainment value of a segment is subjective and we all have to take what we personally get out of it.
From mp:
You didn’t put the Springer segment in the Ri-God-Damn-diculous?
Larry Csonka, come back and save us!
Even watching it live, I thought it was stupid.
And Sheamus and Orton did NOT put on a “pretty nice match”, it was the same, boring, pedestrian match they had at the rumble, and it was dull there too. The Rumble was at about **, and this one was at a *1/4.
Also as a response to you thinking he’s getting booed consistantly Jeremy, he only gets booed during his entrance and non-match antics. When he’s on offense, he gets NO REACTION. And before you start thinking I’m exaggerating, I was THERE on Monday. Hell, Katie Lea actually got a reaction when she was on offense during her match with Gail.
From Guest#2255:
Spot on about about Sheamus. He had a mid show promo with a jobber in Evan Bourne a few weeks ago and drew huge heat. On Raw the show went off air with loud ass you suck chants after he laid out H and Cena. That is not X Pac heat, the guy is getting over in his role, the annoying smarks just hate being wrong.
With all due respect I think you’re nitpicking there a little, MP. Seriously, the guy has huge heat and that’s the important part. I understand the point you’re making and yes it would be ideal if every moment he did something the crowd booed him, but the fact is that they hate him and that’s enough. Also, I would point out that having been to my share of wrestling events also, it’s usually difficult toi accurately judge crowd reaction. I’ve heard what it sounded like from my section and then later watched the event, and there’s a huge difference. I’m not saying you’re wrong, just that I think your perception was different.
From Strong Machine:
The Springer Segment was supposed to suck. It was written that way. It deserves to be in the right for Runjin “The Man who may have written this segment” Singh pointing out it was a waste of time. Sure that seems like a stupid thing, but that type of bravado deserves applause.
Kofi came out looking horrible after the match Dibiase. Dibiase gets his ass kicked the whole match and hits one move and wins. That is Cena’s schtick.
I agree that Kofi came out looking back, but DiBiase didn’t come out looking too good either. As I said it didn’t help either of them and that was part of it being in the wRong.
From Sad Panda:
The decision to have a Maryse-less Raw should have went in the ridiculous section.
She’s one of only 4 or 5 characters I enjoy watching on that show, so that was a bummer.
You know, I actually agree with that. No Maryse = No Buys!
From ZHDarkstar:
“If they were to race, I would have to put my money on McIntyre. He’s the youngest at 24, so he would be most likely to make it to the ring before dying of old age and/or the zombie apocalypse that is supposed to hit in 2035.”
If the zombie apocalypse happens, then I think Taker will win seeing as he’s most likely the one responsible for the zombies….him or some idiots working for SyFy.
You make a good point about Taker. I disagree about SyFy though…that would mean that they have the ability to create something that is actually frightening.
From Scary Larry:
“One, I acknowledge that casual wrestling fans probably don’t know Bret had a stroke and a concussion and so on.”
Unless of course they were watching RAW on 01 04 2010 when Bret talked about his stroke…
Yes, but you have to realize also that the ‘E thinks we don’t have memories more than three weeks long. Which, clearly, I don’t because I don’t remember him talking about that, but I at least remember that he had a stroke, so that’s the most important part. The mind is the first thing to go in old age, they say…
From Cyrith:
I’m starting to feel like I’m the only person who does like the ShowMiz Mashup theme. But then I also have a self admitted love of terrible, terrible music so take that for what it’s worth.
Hey man…if it works for you then more power to ya. We all have our own tastes.
From Guest#7762:
“Seriously folks, I know that Orton’s getting the pops and has been for a while, but I still hope to hell that he doesn’t turn face. Orton’s character would not in any way, shape or form make sense as a heel; keep him how he is now and let the crowd cheer or boo as they desire. It’s working for now. “
Uhm… isn’t Orton a heel right now?
Slip of the fingers, it should have been face. Even I’m not perfect, shocking as that may be!
Until Friday, keep on kickin’ it!
~448~
