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Wrestling’s 4R’s Friday Edition 4.02.10: Raw, Impact and NXT Reviewed!
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By: Jeremy Thomas
Raw 03.29.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
Christian d. Ted DiBiase [* ½]
The Face Divas d. The Heel Divas [DUD]
The Hart Dynasty d. Show Miz [* ¾]
Randy Orton & John Cena d. Jack Swagger & Batista [**]
FLUKES, REMATCHES AND NOT CASHING IN: After a highly video of Shawn/Taker II at WrestleMania that once again showed just how good the WWE Production team really is, Raw opened up to the ex-WWE Heavyweight Champion coming out in a bad mood. Big Dave was rocking the open shirt and was bitching at everyone in sight on his way down to the ring, with a speed that rivaled what a hypothetical lovechild between Drew McIntyre, the Undertaker and Randy Orton would use. Once he was in the ring, he got on the mic and got started to talk, but stopped in order to lat the crowd boo him some more. Once they were done, he said that he wasn’t going to give us the satisfaction of bitching about what happened the night before, and said it was a fluke that no one would even remember in a month. That started up the infamous “You Tapped Out!” chant, and the Manimal went off the edge as he demanded his rematch and said Cena can’t beat him. That, of course, brought out the new champion who had a decidedly mixed reaction from the crowd. Cena joked on it by saying there was still a lot of WrestleMania energy in the building, then address Big Dave. He pointed out that, despite what Dave had said for a solid month, he did beat him. He talked about how Batista had wanted to be the face of the company, which means the face of the company tapped out—which, of course, the Manimal went ballistic over. Cena tried to get a cheap pop by referencing Shawn Michaels’s final chapter tonight, and said that Big Dave could write a new chapter in the rulebooks by cashing in his rematch. Cena said most people would say “not tonight,” but he wanted Dave to do something different. So Dave…yeah, said “not tonight.” It books him well as a heel who’s still a challenger to the title, so I have no complaints. There was a brief skirmish before Big Dave bailed, and then Swagger came out of nowhere to blindside Cena with the briefcase. He almost got his shot cashed in, but to no avail since Cena fought back and high-tailed it.
So, there was a lot of good here. This started things off very hot because the crowd was honestly into all three of these guys. They hated Batista, they were mixed but vocal about Cena and they gave a good reaction at the possibility that Swagger was cashing in. Big Dave and Cena handled their parts very well, and they have things set up nicely in terms of a continued feud between them. I was surprised to see Swagger come out so early, but never thought he was winning here. It just didn’t make any sense that he would do so here. I was kind of bothered that they had Swagger bitch out in the end of this segment, but it set up the main event so I’ll give them a pass. Solid way to start the show, and I don’t have a lot to complain about.
THE GAME PAYS TRIBU—CLUNK! Midway through the first hour, out to the stage came the Game. He stopped there and, out of the blue, got a “Triple H” chant. Haven’t heard one of those in a while. ‘H talked about how it was a surreal night and the end of an era with Shawn retiring, and started to reminisce. He made some a nice little speech about Shawn’s career and their friendship, how they took on the world and fought everybody and sometimes each other, but they had always fought for and with each other. The crowd was digging this, and so as I. There are times when promos come off as obviously scripted, but this seemed like a sincere farewell to his best friend’s in-ring career and I truly believed that the things Hunter was saying were as sincere as the emotions he was displaying. He just wanted to say…and then out from the back came Sheamus with a pipe to lay the guy out. Now, people can complain about this if they want, and how they were using Shawn’s moment to try and get Sheamus over, but honestly? It worked, and it worked so very well. What could be better feud-building than having Sheamus interrupt on this night, of all nights? It worked and the crowd went ape-shit over it, and frankly, the show does have to go on so I enjoyed that they did this. It means that Sheamus’s feud with the Game isn’t over and he’s going to get even more over by association with the H-Man. Works for me.
BRET GIVES THANKS/HART DYNASTY vs. SHOW MIZ: As the first hour “main event” segment, the Hitman came down to the ring in order to thank the WWE Universe for their support. The crowd popped nicely for him as he got on the mic and took a moment to congratulate Shawn for his storybook career. He called Shawn one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time—a classy touch—and transitioned it into how Shawn was instrumental in his return this year and how good it felt to beat Vince and gain closure. He made reference to all the Harts who had passed on and caused an “Owen” chant in the process. That shirt, by the way, was awesome. He thanked the fans for their support and made to leave, but before he could Show Miz came down to the ring. Anyone else get excited here? Come on, you knew what was coming here. The tag team champions getting in Bret’s face…a Hart tag team turned face the night before…aww, yeah. I was getting jazzed.
But before then, Miz got on the mic and ran Bret down for “beating Vince in a glorified 25-on-1 handicap match.” Zing! Miz talked about how Bret had robbed him of his valuable time and that he was sick of it. The crowd was eating out of Miz’s hands with the heat here, and Miz played it off nicely. He even brought up the Streak and said he “only” had seventeen wins to go. Brilliant. Miz then started trashing the Harts as a whole and told Bret to get out of his ring. Bret’s response? “Make me.” Miz seemed ready to do it, but Show stopped him and tried to talk sense to Bret, which brought down the Hart Dynasty for backup. The champs made to leave, but Bret called them back to battle the Harts. Show was reluctant, but Miz wanted them so the match was on. Sadly, we had to be joined in progress which I always hate…it hurts the flow of the match overall. Miz was in trouble from the get-go, so he tagged in Show who proceeded to take over with little effort. This was a solid match which had the Harts looking like they belonged in there with the champs. They may not be getting a Show/Morrison-style push but considering they’ve been doing little besides wrestle Cryme Tyme for months, this was a nice change of pace for them. The crowd popped huge when Teddy applied the Sharpshooter, and after that the champs walked off. There could have been more to this match but it played pretty well and I won’t complain at all.
JACK SWAGGER & BATISTA vs. JOHN CENA & RANDY ORTON: Booking logic? Who needs it? I kid, I kid…mostly. I’ll admit, seeing Cena and Orton on the same side of a tag team match was pretty surreal, but hey it’s far from the weirdest tag team we’ve seen in wrestling history. Swagger came out first though, in his awesome new robe, and he got on the mic to make smelling sounds and gloat over his Money in the Bank win. He covered for his opening match bit by saying he was toying around with Cena and that when he cashed it in, he would win. I’ll leave off commenting there. Batista came out next and the two stared off for a moment before the faces came out. The crowd went nuts when Cena announced Orton as his partner, and I’ll be honest…I was fairly surprised by this one, even if I probably should have predicted it. I also have to say that I love how the announcers always talk about the Evolution break-up so fluidly; if you’re a face, you were in the right and if you’re a heel, you were in the wrong in the same situation. Usually they just ignore the heel stuff for faces, and vice versa with the heels. Orton earned a new Cole-ism…”The WWE’s Apex Predator.” It was a bit overdone, but not bad considering such terrible stuff as “Controlled Fury” and “Vicious Venomous Viper.” Orton, as a side note, has officially turned from the most hated heel on Raw to the most popular face…and the only thing that’s changed is who he’s facing. Brilliant.
As a match, this wasn’t bad at all. All four men were taking it a wee bit easy after their performances the night before, but otherwise this worked very well and the crowd was crazy into it. This wasn’t a bunch of high spots or anything like that, it was just a simple tag team match that was well-executed and the crowd was super-into. It ran shorter than it should have been probably and I didn’t like Orton pinning Swagger at first, but considering other events I can handle that because it sets up an interesting situation on Raw with Orton not having a feud yet while Cena and Big Dave do battle. Nothing wrong with that.
THANK YOU SHAWN: Those who have read my stuff here on 411Mania likely know how big of a Shawn Michaels mark I am. There is no wrestler I have enjoyed in the ring during my two-plus decades of watching professional wrestling than the Heartbreak Kid. So this may be somewhat biased; at the same time, I don’t see how someone can’t love the way they carried this off. They built to the final moments of the show nicely by giving us moments in “The Heartbreak Career,” including the debut of the Rockers, the infamous Barber Shop segment, the WrestleMania X ladder match with Razor Ramon, his first title win at ‘Mania XII, the era of D-X and last year’s ‘Mania match with the Dead Man. These were nice little videos that gave us a fitting retrospective of the Showstopper’s legendary career.
So finally, we got to the end of the show, and Justin Roberts announced Shawn for what could be the last time. Okay, even I doubt that because Shawn will make some kind of appearance, even if I’m willing to believe his in-ring career is over. Before he got a chance to speak, the crowd went crazy with the HBK chant, and even Lawler and Cole got up to give Shawn his props. Then, out of nowhere, the Dead Man’s music played and Taker came out. It was short and sweet; he just paused, tipped his hat to Shawn and then walked away. Nicely done, and that alone nearly put Shawn’s emotions over the edge by his expression. You know what, I could do what I usually do with promos—I could summarize what Shawn said and talk about what a good job he did on the mic, but screw that. This isn’t about a good promo, this is about the WWE honoring Shawn and the Heartbreak Kid giving us one last great Raw moment to remember him by. People can say what they want about Shawn’s attitude, his scandalous past and all that. But no one can deny that he’s one of the best in the history of the business, and he deserved this moment. He was honest in the ring there and gave his thanks. That’s the height of my recap portion of this R. What I most appreciated specifically about Shawn’s speech was two-fold: his taking a moment out to thank Adam, the Production Team guy who deserves more shoutouts like that and that he specifically addressed the skepticism of his “career-ending match” stipulation. Call me a mark, and some of you will…but I believe him, and while that makes me sad I’ll be happy to see if he sticks to it like Austin has to date. This was a great segment, and even if you’re not a Shawn fan you have to appreciate the segment, the emotion and the sentimentality of the moment. Shawn was openly and honestly dropping some tears as he talked, and you could tell how special this was to him. It was special to us too, Shawn, and I’m grateful for the memories I have of a man who gave me reasons to be a fan of professional wrestling. I could talk about more here, but in honestly, no words I think I can give will do this moment justice, so I’ll just leave it with Shawn’s words directly, because if you missed it you need to see it.
Thank you Shawn.
Nada.
CHRISTIAN vs. TED DiBIASE: This was preceded by a reminder that Ted lost his match at ‘Mania against Cody and Orton before Ted’s father came down to the ring with Nick Bockwinkle, Pat Patterson, Arn Anderson and IRS, with Slaughter, Piper, Steamboat and Tony Garea following soon after. Cole played stupid—not really a stretch—while Lawler teased him throughout that he knew what was going on. Lawler then left the booth to join the legends before Justin Roberts introduced our Guest Hosts Clark Duke and Rob Corddry from Hot Tub Time Machine. (Yes, I cheap plugged myself. Have a Nice Day!) Rob and Clark got very little reaction—mostly because they weren’t John Cusack and Craig Robinson. Frankly, Duke didn’t sound like he had any idea what was going on, while Corddry seemed way more on the ball. They made a couple matches that we’ll get to later, and then announced out first match: a 1980’s Legends Lumberjack Match. I’ll give them credit for at least making a real match that related to their gimmick, but Duke just sucked the life out of that promo.
So anyway, we had Christian taking on DiBiase in this match with all the elderly hanging around the ring as if they thought they were on Impact. (Relax, it’s a joke. Mostly.) Once we came back from commercial the match began, and honestly…I didn’t feel this was the best opening match we’ve seen on Raw by a long shot. It wasn’t terrible but the crowd was dead for most of the match, and the fact that Cole was flying solo on commentary didn’t help the whole thing at all. DiBiase seems to be developing a trademark move with that immediate follow off the ropes into a clothesline, which I don’t like because it seems more contrived than usual for a wrestling move. Christian and Ted just didn’t click here and I thought the finish, with the legends starting to brawl which allowed Christian to pick up the win on a distracted Ted, didn’t really help anyone. Good idea for a match: bad execution.
HOT TUB TIME WITH THE DIVAS: So, outside of booking the main event and the Christian/DiBiase match, our Guest Hosts were, like many of the guest hosts as of late, limited to vaguely pointless backstage segments. This week it had Duke and Corddry conning the Divas into a “Hot Tub Match” where the Diva who lasted the longest in the tub won the match. Santino walked in with a radio on his head while the two were conspiring and said not to worry about John Cusack. I’ll admit, I chuckled at that, but then again Say Anything… is one of my favorite films. They then slipped into the hot tub after promising the ladies a title shot for the “winner.” This continued later in the show when Corddry tried to make the girls gyrate, which two of them leave the ring. Then Craig Robinson showed up on the TV screen and bitched about being screwed out of showing up at Raw and declared the Bellas the winners. I just hope that Butterfly Title match thing wasn’t legit, because Brie & Nikki being two-thirds of a match would automatically make it terrible. We then got the obligatory joke as Mark Henry showed up and got in the hot tub, then Hornswoggle bit Rob. Yeah, this went from iffy to flat-out bad. Sorry, I liked the movie but this was stupid.
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don’t care.
TEN DIVA TAG TEAM REMATCH: Really? We needed this rematch? REALLY? Let’s face it, the ‘Mania match was an abomination and this was frankly worse. It wasn’t as blatantly bad in-ring work, but that’s only because it lasted all of TEN SECONDS. The two entrances combined to be thirteen times as long as the match itself. WHY? Why did we need this? There is no legitimate reason for this, except to build to a feud between Eve and Maryse which this frankly did nothing for. After the match Vickie ran off and the nine Divas remaining brawled. Complete—COMPLETE—waste of time. Screw that “match.”
| The 411
Some people may have wanted more feud building coming off the momentum of WrestleMania, and some may criticize the lack of great matches. People can gripe about the uselessness of the guest hosts…obviously, I did. But this wasn’t about that. This was a chance for the WWE talent pool to take a moment and reflect on the Pay-Per-View they just had and give tribute to a wrestler who most if not all of them looked up to, and who the fans needed to say goodbye to. We had enough angle-building to continue on and the focus where it should have been. Accuse me of overrating it, but I loved it. Sue me. SHOW RATING: 8.5 |
From The Great Capt. Smooth:
Y2J vs. Dean Douglas! Book it!!!
If I thought Shane could compete at any level that lets him hang with the ‘E these days, I’d totally be down with that for an RVD.
From please:
thanks for finally stopping roh. nobody reads it.
It’ll be back soon, don’t you worry!
From Question:
Are people gonna bitch EVERY year when they show WM video packages and Fan Access footage?
Fair warning-in about 360 days, it will happen again!
I know it will. And I’ll bitch about it then too, because whatever year it takes place in it’s a waste of a go-home show.
From Ben:
Why does most every columnist I see on this site think Chris Jericho’s Micwork is solid gold? DAMN HE’S BORING!!!
Only to you, really. No, not really…but you are in the minority. Sorry about that.
From TROOF:
The Hart Dynasty needs some gold, dammit. WWE cannot let a face turn go to waste. Natalya is too hot to be underrated!
Hey, you never know. I’m a bit skeptical that they’ll transition the titles from Show Miz to the Harts, but anything is possible.
By: Chad Nevett
iMpact! 03.29.10:
QUICK RESULTS
– Kazarian & Shannon Moore defeated Doug Williams & Brian Kendrick [**]
– Tara (C) defeated Daffney in a first blood match for the TNA Knockouts Championship [3/4*]
– AJ Styles defeated Jeff Jarrett [***1/2]
– Jay Lethal defeated Beer Money [*1/4]
– Desmond Wolfe defeated The Pope D’Angelo Dinero [*1/2]
– Eric Young, Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam defeated the Band in a cage match [*1/2]
KAZARIAN & SHANNON MOORE vs. DOUG WILLIAMS & BRIAN KENDRICK: After their absence last week, it was nice to see the X-Division guys do something. Lots of energy displayed by everyone, while Doug Williams continued his mat-based style. The emphasis here was on the feud between Williams and Moore, which I wasn’t expecting them to continue, though it doesn’t bother me that they are. This wasn’t anything too special, but it was a good first match for the show.
AJ STYLES vs. JEFF JARRETT: With Jarrett getting some good pops, Hogan began the show by booking this match and, if Jarrett won, he’d be the number two contended for the world title, behind the Pope. The match was really entertaining and had a bit of classic feel to it with all of the Ric Flair shenanigans outside of the ring. Inside the ring, Jarrett was energetic and a little flashier, while Styles did a good job of playing up the arrogant heel persona where even the odd bit of flash was partnered with him being a dick about hitting the move. Flair got banned from ringside partway through the match, but returned and allowed for the distraction of Eric Bischoff to enter the ring with a guitar, have the guitar stolen by Jarrett, and AJ turn the tables with a low blow that also cut his hand up something fierce when it hit the guitar that Jarrett was holding. After that, he was ripe for a Styles Clash and AJ wins via a whole lotta cheating. The only thing about this match that really bothered me was Bischoff getting involved since I’d like to see him move on, but even that was integrated well. A great performance out of both men, probably the best work I’ve seen from Jarrett since his return, while AJ seemed more at home as a heel in the ring.
KURT ANGLE IS A NICE GUY, MR. ANDERSON IS AN ASSHOLE: Before the main event, Kurt Angle came out and cut a nice little promo about his feud with Anderson and how they’ll settle it once and for all in a cage at Lockdown. Then, Anderson came out and did some very nice work on the mic. He talked about then going back and forth, told people about the ladder match next week, and then called Kurt Angle a better man than him. “Kurt Angle is a nice guy,” he said, before calling himself an asshole (which was sadly bleeped). Some solid work from both men.
THE MEGA-POWERS REUNITE… KINDA… SORTA…?: At the top of the show, Hogan had to leave, so he put Black Machismo Jay Lethal in charge in a (sorta) reunion of the Mega-Powers, which seemed to annoy the hell out of Bischoff. Man, I love Lethal’s Macho Man impression and found it funny that Hogan went along with it, even doing an impression himself. Bischoff giving Lethal the task of booking a main event didn’t quite work since we knew what the main event already was (the cage match) and it was just Lethal rhyming off wrestlers from the ‘80s. Still, it was entertaining in that goofy way. To really screw with him, Bischoff booked Lethal in a handicap match against Beer Money, which went mostly like other Beer Money handicap matches: namely, they beat the crap out of him. However, Lethal snuck a victory with a roll-up on Robert Roode, while James Storm went to get a drink of beer and, then, Lethal slide out of the ring, stealing Storm’s bottle of beer. The theft of the beer made the match. It was a nice little turn around and, hopefully, will mean that Beer Money isn’t booked in anymore handicap matches. All in all, entertaining, but not good enough to go in the Right.
THE BAND vs. ERIC YOUNG, JEFF HARDY & ROB VAN DAM: The first real segment of the show had the Band and Bubba the Love Sponge come down to the ring where, first, Bubba cut a promo that wasn’t bad about how he’s the only one man enough to interview the Band and everyone wishes they were him. At least they’re working with the fact that everyone hates him. Then, Kevin Nash got on the mic and said that he wanted Eric Young to come out so he could apologize for what happened at Destination X, because that was business and Young is his friend. When Young came out, Nash offered him a spot in the Band, but Young refused by hitting Nash and taking on everyone in the ring, getting distracted by spending too much time on Bubba (who can blame him?) and getting overwhelmed by the four men before Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam came out to make the save and Hardy announced that their match was now the main event (he can book things now?). Later in the show, the three faces had some time on the mic and all did a good job. Nothing too memorable, but all solid work to promote the match.
The match itself was a bit of a clusterfuck, but in a good way. Eric Young was sidelined when Waltman knocked the door into him and then locked him out of the cage, leaving it as RVD and Hardy in a three-on-two… where, of course, they held their own because only Waltman can actually move at a decent pace. It was mostly brawling with some of the traditional Hardy/RVD spots mixed in. Then, Young climbed the cage, fought Waltman to get in, and delivered a mean elbow drop to pick up the win. I’d have liked to see Young get a little more to do, but picking up the win with that huge drop from the top of the cage was good enough.
THE POPE vs. DESMOND WOLFE: The Pope came out and delivered one of his most coherent promos ever and it was lacking. The words were right, but the passion wasn’t there. He seemed too focused on talking like a ‘main eventer’ than just being the Pope. It wasn’t until Chelsea came out that he became like the Pope. Sadly, his interactions with Chelsea were just awful with pseudo-porn speak about pimpin’, hoes, and the Pope being happy to see her. It was all a distraction so Desmond Wolfe could get the drop on him, but the Pope read that play and laid him out before planting a big kiss on Chelsea and dropping her in the ring.
Their match was equally lacking. Neither guy seemed into it. Wolfe, especially, looked like his heart wasn’t in the match, something that I’ve been noticing to be more the case since Hogan and Bischoff came on board and he’s been pushed to the side more and more. It wasn’t bad, it was just mediocre. Both men were slower, the moves were less inspired, and the finish was fine. Some see a problem with the Pope losing to Wolfe, but Wolfe had to cheat to win, so that doesn’t come off as a loss. The Pope should have won and was robbed, so he still looks alright as we head toward his title shot at Lockdown.
SAMOA JOE FINALLY REAPPEARS: Wow, this little video of Samoa Joe talking about how “they have spoken” and “the results will be different… very different” is a little late. Nothing wrong with the video itself, it just should have come two or three weeks after Joe disappeared. By waiting so long, TNA has lost all momentum and interest in the angle. I had kind of forgotten that Joe wasn’t around. We’ll see where this goes.
ORLANDO JORDAN MAKES AN ENTRANCE: This should have been a video. Having Orlando Jordan come down from the rafters, covered in yellow tape, and then go and sit in a little room with his two valets live made it feel incomplete. A video package gives the necessary distance for something like this to be a statement by itself, but doing it live means it needs to connect with the audience more directly and address their desires a bit more. Jordan not getting on the mic was a mistake. They either needed that or should have done this as a video package, because this felt incomplete. I do think the idea of Jordan doing a bisexual gimmick is intriguing, but something that needs to be handled correctly, because it could devolve into cheap jokes and homophobic bullshit easily. I hope TNA can pull it off, but I’m not convinced given their recent storytelling skills that it will happen.
TARA vs. DAFFNEY IN A FIRST BLOOD MATCH FOR THE KNOCKOUTS TITLE: I had high hopes for this match. The ending was a foregone conclusion since Daffney is known for taking mean bumps and getting busted open seems right up her alley, but this was lacking the necessary passion. It began with a promo where Tara was doing a good job of selling the theft of Poison, her tarantula, but when she got into it with Daffney, all of that rage just disappeared as her movements became clunky and awkward. When the match finally began in the ring, things didn’t pick up. Both got in some decent shots, but the end of the match was a major let down since Daffney’s cut was barely anything. I’m not the sort of fan that enjoys really bloody matches, but this was a First Blood match… it would be nice to see more than a red dot. If the issue is not wanting to have an image of a woman with a bloody face or wanting to leave a scar from blading, then don’t book the damn match. Either do it right or don’t do it at all.
ABYSS ANNOUNCES THE SECOND MEMBER OF TEAM HOGAN: After the cage match, Abyss announced Jeff Jarrett as the second member of Team Hogan in the Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown. The announcement/promo was fine, but the placement was wrong. The show should have ended with the three faces celebrating in the cage and going to Abyss and Jarrett kind of killed the end of the episode and sucked the energy out of it. As well, as we head toward Lockdown, they really need to spell out what a Lethal Lockdown match is. Yes, longtime TNA fans know, but newer ones don’t and they shouldn’t have to go online to find out. TNA should know that explaining the gimmick is essential if you want people to buy the PPV. Even a very basic explanation would do, but they haven’t even given that. There are still a few weeks until Lockdown, so, hopefully, they do that sooner rather than later.
NOTHING: Wait… what…?
| The 411
A solid show. A couple of good matches, some mediocre ones, and only one that I didn’t like. We’ve only got two more shows before Lockdown and the build isn’t there. The Pope and AJ aren’t interacting, the Lethal Lockdown match is underdeveloped, and there just isn’t any excitement leading into the event. An entertaining episode in places, this could have been a lot better and TNA needs to tighten the focus a bit. SHOW RATING: 6.0 |
By: Michael Bauer
NXT 03.30.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
Matt Hardy, CM Punk, Chris Jericho Wade Barrett, and R-Truth defeat Christian, Carlito, William Regal, and The Miz [**3/4]
David Otunga wins and all NXT Rookie Battle Royal [*]
REVEALING THE OPENING RANKINGS: So, we wasted no time is getting the opening rankings out. For those who haven’t seen them, here is what they revealed:
#8 – Darren Young
#7 – Michael Tarver
#6 – Skip Sheffield
#5 – David Otunga
#4 – Heath Slater
#3 – Justin Gabriel
#2 – Wade Barrett
#1 – Daniel Bryan
So, while I do have a disagreement on the rankings themselves, that’s not what I am here to discuss. Pretty much, the reveal was played perfectly as was the reaction of each rookie. Young was pissed being the number 8 ranked guy and blamed CM Punk for it, which I can’t blame him for. The guy is 3-1 and he gets ranked last? There is no question that Tarver and Sheffield deserve to be below him in the rankings. They then to go Daniel Bryan, who seems really surprised to be number one, as he should be. I mean, I love Bryan’s wrestling ability, but he should probably be in the middle of the pack right now, simply based on his opponents. Of course, Bryan continued to admit that many people don’t buy him as the best and that he is 0-5, but took a major dig at Otunga here, saying that he might not date Jennifer Hudson, but he can wrestle. And this is what I liked here with Bryan showing more personality than people says he has. Furthermore, he is right. It’s not just about the “it” factor, it’s about being able to wrestle. It’s why Cena gets booed by half the WWE fans. Otunga of course took exception and he looked like the one without the charisma as he compared Bryan to mashed potatoes, which I still don’t get. Anyway, Striker had to break it up as Bryan looked to be close to breaking PG. Then we finally got the full details of the 16 week competition. So in six more weeks, we get new rankings and lose the last place guy. This continues until the last week and the final four. Then, the winner gets a title shot against ANY champion on Pay Per View! I mean, the possible matches are endless for me, but I am so afraid they will use this for Daniel Bryan to face The Miz for the United States Title, which isn’t the best idea of a title shot, unless you are thinking of would definitely win.
THE RAW PROS VS. THE SMACKDOWN PROS… MOSTLY: The opening match was billed at the Raw Pros of William Regal, Carlito, Christian, and The Miz facing off against the SmackDown pros of Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, CM Punk, and R-Truth. Now forget how weird these teams are, this was a great idea for a match with the rookies battling in a battle royal later on. Of course, Jericho sat this one out, as he was still injured from WrestleMania and needed to not fight on this night. So his rookie, Wade Barrett, stepped up to the plate. Of course, this also gave us the awesomeness of Chris Jericho on commentary, which has been the best part of NXT so far. Seriously, the conversations were freaking awesome:
Matthews: What is it that you have against Daniel Bryan, Cole?
Cole: He’s a nerd.
Matthews: Wait, what?
Jericho: Who are you to be calling anybody a nerd Michael Cole? Have you seen yourself?
Matthews: That’s certainly the pot calling the kettle black.
Cole: Hey listen, I just think…
Jericho: Nobody cares what you think Mediocre Cole.
Cole: Who did you vote for in the pro’s poll Chris?
Jericho: Wade Barrett.
Matthews: You weren’t allowed to vote for your own rookie.
Jericho: I can do what I want, I’m world champion.
Thanks to the comments board for these. But forgetting the commentary, this match made for some very interesting teaming situations and some pretty good in ring match ups also. Christian and Matt Hardy were pretty cool to see again for example. The match was a pretty typical eight man tag and the ending was done pretty damn well also. Hot tag occurs as you would expect and then everyone comes in for a finisher parade. But what I liked was the smarts of Barrett for the blind tag, which is normally not a rookie play, which Christian never saw. Jericho got himself involved and with the ref distracted, Barrett snuck up on Christian and lifted him up for what I can only call a Modified Fireman’s Carry Slam. He then pins and get the three count on Christian, which is the biggest win for any NXT rookie yet. Barrett was the main focal point for this match to occur from an NXT perspective and him getting the pin was totally the right decision. The match was good, the ending was perfect.
NOTHING
THE ALL NEXT ROOKIE BATTLE ROYAL: Our true main event was this eight man battle royal with the winning rookie getting o guest host Monday Night Raw next week. Now, I liked the idea of the winner getting something and I liked the idea of all the rookies being in the same match. That said, this match was pretty sad. This match would have a total of seven eliminations and only five were show on live television. Furthermore, the in ring action we saw lasted maybe a total of five minutes. Now, Wade being taken out in five seconds was perfect for two reasons. One, he did wrestle earlier in the night in the eight man tag. Two, he pinned Christian and was now the threat and the target, even if he wasn’t the number one ranked. But we went right to commercial and we came back with Sheffield and Young gone. Sure, we got the replays, but it’s not the same as it actually being live. Then, once we are back, it takes of all of thirty seconds to have Tarver, Slater, and Bryan eliminated. Granted, I have no issues with how they were eliminated, but now we have six of the seven eliminations occur in a minute of air time. This left Otunga and Gabriel in the ring and the winner was pretty obvious at this point. The only people in the entire match who could have won this was Otunga or Bryan, so why not play off what we started earlier and have them be the last two? Even if Otunga would eliminate Bryan, it would been played perfectly off what we saw forty five minutes earlier. Still, those were the last two we got and Gabriel did a pretty good job of getting his offense in. Now, we got the 450, but how on earth was he ever supposed to get the big man out of the ring? It worked for his style, but not for winning a match. Otunga did win, but it took nothing more than an eye rake and toss of Gabriel. If anything, this did nothing more but prove Bryan’s point again, even if he won his match. The post match interview was a little off for somebody who supposedly has all the charisma in the world, even those asking for 427 green M&Ms was kinda cool.
NOTHING
| The 411
This is very hard show to rate, because the main story was all about the opening rankings and they ended that story with a pretty weak showing. Yet, the main event was really that eight man tag match, which really put Wade Barrett over huge. Like, I said, it was a weird show overall, but still a solid one. SHOW RATING: 6.5 |
Until Monday, keep on kickin’ it!
~459~
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