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Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 4.19.10: Raw, Impact and NXT Reviewed!
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By: Jeremy Thomas
Raw 04.12.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
Eve d. Maryse [¾*]
The Miz d. David Hart Smith [** ¼]
Evan Bourne d. Carlito [* ¾]
John Cena d. David Otunga [* ½]
Kofi Kingston d. Sheamus by DQ [** ¼]
The Bellas d. Gail Kim and Triple K & Jillian and Rosa Mendes [½*]
Randy Orton d. Batista [** ¾ ]
HOFF! HOFF! HOFF!: Raw kicked off with, of all things, a Hoff chant. That’s right people…it was a full-blown, non-stop Hoff chant. We then had druids—DRUIDS—come out with Hoff masks before the man himself showed up in KITT, driving down and coming out in a sparkly jacket. Say what you want, but no one can deny that Michael Knight has freakin’ STYLE. Hasselhoff came down into the ring and cut a Hoff-laced promo where he parodied the Rock and talked about all the demand for him. The guy was clearly having a ball and had no problem making fun of himself, while the crowd was unbelievably into him. Of course, then he started booking matches and my eyes rolled a bit. Baywatch Babe Triple Threat match? Ick. It was a minor bump in the road though, and then Hoff decided that he needed to establish a #1 Contender for the show he’s NOT hosting. If I recall correctly though, it’s not a precedent. It’s not like the guest hosts haven’t done things that affected other brands…I seem to remember a trade or two. Hoff then made a match involving Orton and Batista, then set the stage for the Butterfly Title match. You know, I’m not a big fan of David Hasselhoff. I’m really not. Yeah, I loved KITT and Knight Rider as much as anyone, but outside of that I never got why he was so popular. But here, he had a blast and played it off nicely. He was self-deprecating and kept the crowd hot early on, and I will give him credit for that. A lot could have gone wrong here, but it didn’t and I can’t not put this in the Right.
WHO BETTA THAN SHOW MIZ??: Too soon? Seriously, all due respect to the departed; consider this an honoring of the man via his catch phrase. Anyway, Show Miz came down to the ring and got on the mic for an “earth shattering announcement.” Before then, Show got on the mic and talked about how he was skeptical at first, but since then he’s grown to realize how special they can be. Miz said that they WERE special already and announced that Show Miz was the greatest tag team in WWE history. The crowd mildly didn’t like it—dead crowd at this point really, thanks to the Butterfly match I think—and Miz riled them up and said they had no credibility to name anyone better than them. So, that brought out the Hitman, who came down to the ring and got the crowd into it again. He hopped into the ring and rattled off the Hart Foundation and British Bulldogs as two of the greatest off the top of his head. Hmm, it’s like they wanted to honor the Harts and Davey Boy Smith for some reason…as if they were going to get someone associated with them over in the process. Miz ripped on Bret and said he’d have put a Sharpshooter on Bret. Miz called himself a fan of the Bulldogs but that he’d have had no problem slapping them. Show told Bret to leave and…yeah, that wasn’t happening. Instead, he brought the Hart Dynasty down to the ring. Miz called them out for not being able to cross shows—continuity!—and it was countered by Bret saying he invited them there. DH Smith got on the mic and referenced his father, then issued a challenge to Miz for tonight for a chance at a Unified Tag Team Title shot. That was given a counteroffer that if Miz won, Bret would call them the greatest tag team of all time. This was good work by all involved; David Hart Smith sounded better than we’ve heard him before and everyone else was their usual quality. Nice work all around.
DH SMITH vs. THE MIZ: This match had an immediate negative by being joined in progress at the beginning, but Miz and Smith picked up the slack and put on a pretty good show here. This was an equally-fought match between the two and that did a great job of establishing the Harts as potential contenders to the belt. Smith isn’t exactly a five-star wrestler yet but he didn’t look at all bad against the Miz and worked very well with him in storytelling this match. The crowd popped for Smith locking in the Sharpshooter, and Big Show of course interfered but at least they didn’t go with “Show punches face through the ropes with the Knockout Blow.” I admit, it was similar, but any variety is improvement. This was perfectly fine with the amount of time it got outside of the joined-in-progress start, and it finished exactly how it should. The intrigue of Bret having to come back next week should work well in keeping people curious as to what happens next week.
JOHN CENA vs. DAVID OTUNGA: Earlier in the show, we had a really fun segment where Otunga tried to kiss Batista’s ass, but the Manimal just wanted Mr. Jennifer Hudson to get him coffee. That brought in the Hoff, who coughed at Otunga and told him that he had been invited by Cena, who wanted and was getting a match. Good stuff all around, and I can see the definitely beginnings of some mic skills there. The match kicked off just a bit later, with Big Dave coming out with Otunga. I know that they’re “rookies” by the way, but it would be nice to see them at least establish face and heel NXT music. The hopeful peppiness of the NXT theme doesn’t work for an asshole character like Otunga. As a match, this was Cena all the way, and it definitely should have been. Put a rookie against the flagship of the company, and you expect the end to be in remote doubt? Dream on, folks. This was a flattening, and Otunga’s profile raised just by being killed in the ring. The big guy was none too happy and OFF CAME THE SWEATER VEST, as he shouted at Cena and the crowd shouted “YOU TAPPED OUT!” to Dave. This was way too short to be worth anything as a match, but the booking was solid and I can deal with it.
SHEAMUS vs. KOFI KINGSTON: Midway through the show, Sheamus came down to the ring to talk about his attacks on the Game. Of course, the England crowd booed him as he talked about how ‘H bringing out the sledgehammer last week proved he was scared of Sheamus. Um, dude? I think you need to take a look at the folks he’s brought Sledgie along for the ride with. Sheamus pimped Ireland and trashed the US and England for some cheap heat, then talked about how Hunter was going to be making a mistake by showing up at Extreme Rules. Honestly, this promo seemed a little shorter to me than it needed to be. It was as if they didn’t really know what to have Sheamus say, so he went “Blah blah you’re scared, blah blah cheap heat, blah blah generic Pay-Per-View reference.” Nothing against the big guy’s delivery because that was fine, but the whole thing just didn’t get it done.
Of course, we soon learned that the promo was short because Kofi came out for a little mic time of his own. He talked about how Sheamus was the one who was mistaken, and that he had payback tonight in a match. Sheamus didn’t look pleased, but he was game for the match and we got a much more balanced match between the two. Sheamus definitely looked strong here, but they gave Kofi a chance to shine and that was nice to see after a ton of putting others over as of late. Now, Sheamus may have lost by DQ, but he was clearly the winner and that was just fine. After all, he’s the guy with the match at Extreme Rules. This was solid booking and Kofi’s looked better than he has in weeks, so it was really a win-win.
BUSINESS & PLEASURE: Josh Matthews was backstage with Randy Orton late in the show and referenced Orton’s newly-gained match with Jack Swagger at Extreme Rules, then asked about Orton’s strategy. Orton’s answer was perfect Randy…he specifically mentioned his heel actions, said that he didn’t play by the rules and said that he was the last man Swagger ever wanted to mess with. Meanwhile, Batista tonight was something he’s been looking forward too. It was a brief but good promo by the Legend-Killer, and once again highlighted how Randy isn’t ashamed of his past; he has no qualms about what he did before. In fact, he really hasn’t changed. But he’s the most over face on Raw, just because of the well-booked manner of his “turn” and how well he played it off. Good stuff.
RANDY ORTON vs. BATISTA: Our main event of the evening had these old rivals taking each other on. As expected, Orton was hugely over and the Manimal had huge heat, which resulted in a pretty hot crowd for the match. These guys haven’t always had the greatest matches, but they’ve never failed either and this was actually a very serviceable main event. They worked better together than usual, and while they pretty much pulled out their usual spots against each other it worked just fine for what they needed to do. With both men coming into Extreme Rules as challengers, this was a big match for the both of them and you knew they weren’t going to completely undercut either man with a clean loss; the only question was going to be who would interfere first between Swagger and Cena. It ended up being Swagger, which was a great move because the All-American American needed some momentum on his side and he got exactly that. Of course, he got smacked by Cena on his way out so that the Champ could go in and STF Batista until he passed out, allowing them to point out that yes Virginia, there really IS a way that the STF can pick up the win. Well-paced, well-booked and a good way to end a good show.
EVE vs. MARYSE: This was the opening match for Raw, and it started off with both Eve and Maryse coming out looking fantastic. Fuchsia is totally my favorite heel Diva’s color. The match started off with a nasty slap right off the bat, and then depressingly turned into a hair-pulling match. As matches go between these two, this had more than its share of sloppy moments. The match also went too short for these two to make it be particularly good; if you have some truly great workers in there they can sometimes make something good out of a short match, but Maryse and Eve are obviously not of that level. I will say that Eve’s bridge to pin Maryse was nicely done and could have looked awkward, so they will get points for that. I’m also, as much as I like Maryse, glad to see the title change hands. As champion, Maryse was stuck defending against Gail Kim, Eve, the Bellas and Triple K (at least until Melina comes back). Eve clearly has the stronger roster to fight in Maryse, Katie Lea, Jillian and Alicia Fox. The differences in skill level there are practically palpable. If the Eve experiment fails then they can hotshot it back to Maryse or give Katie a push. So while I was not at all a fan of most of the match, I liked the finish and the result. For the Butterfly division, that’s enough for a puRgatoRy thanks to lowered expectations.
EVAN BOURNE vs. CARLITO: Man, was the crowd dead for this one…the entrances, at least. The London crowd seems to know what level Bourne is at and rewarded him appropriately, while Carlito was already in the ring. Yeah, we knew how this was ending. This wasn’t a bad spotfest at all, though. Bourne got some good flying offense early on before Carlito slowed it down; Sideshow Carly didn’t seem as motivated as he’s been as of date, but he didn’t hit “Blow up at HHH in South America” levels or anything and still put on a fairly decent match. This was pretty short but didn’t need to be any longer and probably would have felt fairly disjointed if it had gone much further. As it was, it went just as long as it needed to be and I enjoyed it for what it was—a chance to give Bourne a win so that he doesn’t look like a complete nobody.
BAYWATCH BIMBO TRIPLE THREAT TAG TEAM MATCH: Oh, I was dreading this one. Both Bellas, Kelly Kelly Kelly and Rosa Mendes, all in the same match? Watch me shudder, and not in the way the ‘E clearly intended us to. Now, I will give them one single, solitary bit of credit here. The whole thing was played off as a purely eye-candy match that was there for camp factor, and when something has camp value I can go with that and give it some leeway. That is exactly why this isn’t a Ridiculous. I enjoyed the slow-motion run and the Baywatch theme song for the entrances, although Cole and Lawler were even more like a horny old couple than ever before. And Santino as the guest referee was a nice touch, too. I mean, if you’re going to toss out all the goofy crap, do it all at once, right? Credit to the way the crowd chanted for Santino. They love their Italians in England! Now, all the silly fun of the entrance finished, there became a flaw in the plan. These girls had to wrestle. Was it the worst match ever? Hell no. I would never call this “good” and it only occasionally even approached “barely tolerable,” but anyone calling this the worst match in history needs their head checked at the door. Once it was done, Jillian choked Santino with his whistle and Hornswoggle came out for a Tadpole Heimlich Splash. It was goofy, it was silly, and I really didn’t like the wrestling or Hornswoggle’s appearance, but the goofiness of the opening stuff was enough to keep this from being a COMPLETE waste of time.
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don’t care.
| The 411
This was a big bounce back from the last few lackluster Raws and picked it up in building to Extreme Rules. Hasselhoff was a great guest host because he made it fun, and the matches were mostly good or at least didn’t suck the life out of the place. If they keep this going, I’ll be interested to watch the progression to the Pay-Per-View; just keep the Bellas, Triple K and Rosa out of the ring at the same time, plzkthx. SHOW RATING: 7.0 |
From Rumors:
Recent reports have CM Punk going to RAW the day after Extreme Rules, so it seems pretty clear how his PPV match with Mysterio will end up…..
I don’t know. Maybe, but I just can’t see Punk’s head shaved. I hope not, but Punk’s the kind of guy who’s always been willing to do what he needs for the company and his feuds, so you never know!
From perez:
i like swagger being inserted into the jericho/edge feud because no matter how u slice the two feuding just wasnt clicking right, so they spiced it up!
From Dr. MagicPants:
I hope that Swagger being verbally buried by everyone is a setup to him dominating the (probable) triple threat match vs. Jericho and Edge at Extreme Rules.
Well, so much for those, eh? Don’t worry, I was right there with you both.
From Squid Vicious:
You left out the back-and-forth Morrison/Swagger chants that were going on in the crowd for a minute. It seems like that was noteworthy.
I missed that. Good catch, though.
From the danger stranger:
I think it’s allright for Morrison to talk shit to Swagger. He is a fringe contender and is still a somewhat arrogant face….if Jimmy Wang Yang starts talking shit we have a problem. I’m actually coming around to where I don’t see a problem with Swagger being looked down upon. He still needs to prove himself, but if The Great Khali has held it, quite frankly that proves that anybody can hold it….I know what I want to say, but I’m not quite sure how to say it. Swagger Champion…ok.
I can understand where you’re coming from, but I think it would do Swagger a lot better to have people give him a modicum of respect. Opportunism (it’s not a fluke when you plan it that way) or not, he beat the World Champion and won Money in the Bank to do so. It would do them well to get him over…but Orton may well do that himself.
From The Great Capt. Smooth:
I hate McIntyre’s promos. They’re a bit too laid back. It’s almost like he’s been on valium. I can’t take him seriously when he shows anger. Maybe Cena can lend him some of his “over-the-topness”. That way, you know he has a pulse.
I tend to think of it more as a slow-burning menace, but I can see where you’re coming from. I’m digging him for now, though I acknowledge he’s not everyone’s (or even most of the IWC’s) cup of tea.
By: Chad Nevett
iMpact! 04.12.10:
QUICK RESULTS
– The Band defeated Team 3D & Jesse Neal in a New York Street Fight [*]
– Shannon Moore and Kazarian wrestled to a time limit draw [***1/4]
– Velvet Sky and Angelina Love ‘wrestled’ in a clusterfuck that didn’t really seem to end [1/2*]
– Matt Morgan (C) & Amazing Red defeated the Motor City Machine Guns for the TNA World Tag Team Championship [***]
– Jeff Hardy defeated Robert Roode [**]
– The Pope & Jay Lethal defeated AJ Styles & Desmond Wolfe [3/4*]
TEAM FLAIR IS READY TO FIGHT: After the Sting/Jarrett opening, we got Team Flair backstage where everyone got to deliver a promo and everyone was great. Flair was his crazy old man self. Desmond Wolfe discussed putting Abyss out of commission. Beer Money took some shots at Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy. AJ Styles concluded things with some very good words for the Pope, saying how he’s going to win at Lockdown and there are only two things that the Pope can do about it: nothing and like it. I love it. Good work from everyone involved, exactly the sort of promo needed to get people excited about the two Lockdown matches.
SHANNON MOORE vs. KAZARIAN: Some people don’t like the use of time limit draws, but I think they can be really effective. TNA is always announcing time limits for matches, so they need to have those mean something from time to time, usually when a loss could hurt one of the participants needlessly. This was a case where neither man losing helps build their match at Lockdown with X-Division Champion Douglas Williams. Since neither Moore nor Kaz lost, neither man has the advantage heading into the three-way match. Plus, we got ten minutes of the two of them putting on a pretty good show. I thought Moore looked a little better than Kaz, getting in more offense, but I also think Moore needs that more than Kaz. Kaz is established and accepted, while Moore needs to prove he deserves to be in the title hunt. Douglas Williams coming out to do commentary was a great move since he continued his trashing of the acrobatic, high flying, high risk style of the X-Division in favor of mat-based technical wrestling. I loved his line after Kaz hit a big move: “Maximum effort for minimal results.” Williams really sold his style, offering up different move options that are simpler and just as effective. In the ring, Moore and Kaz looked great, while Williams put over the match on Sunday on commentary.
MATT MORGAN (C) & AMAZING RED vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS FOR THE TNA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: Beginning with a promo where Matt Morgan talked about being forced to choose a new partner by TNA management and him selecting Amazing Red, because of Red’s skills, this match was just a fantastic piece of storytelling. First off, the idea of Morgan and Red being a tag team works. Standard big man, little man pairing, but both are great and there’s something about them that had me excited. Maybe it was Morgan raising his hand for a high five and Red jumping to hit it. The match itself has Morgan dominating the Guns physically while Red did his standard ‘jump around a lot and look damn impressive while doing so’ bit, which allowed the Guns to gain some equal footing and work the double-team a bit, even taking Morgan out of the picture at one point. Morgan seemed content to let Red do his thing, confident that the belts were safe, and they had good chemistry. It was when Red got the pin just as Morgan was getting rid to finish the match that made things go awry. After the match, Morgan turned on Red and took his belt back before setting Red up for the kick to the head against the ringpost that took out Hernandez. Luckily, the Guns pulled Red out of the way. Still, really good storytelling from beginning to end with them selling the idea of Morgan and Red as a team before destroying it thanks to Morgan’s ego.
KURT ANGLE/MR. ANDERSON RECAP: Mostly just videos of their previous encounters with some new interview bits mixed in, but this got to the heart of their feud and built it up nicely heading into Lockdown. After the ladder match, I wasn’t sure there was anything else in-ring they could do to promote this feud, so just doing a video package with interviews is good.
ROBERT ROODE vs. JEFF HARDY: Last week, it was James Storm and Rob Van Dam, so, this week, it’s Robert Roode and Jeff Hardy. This was an okay match. Hardy still doesn’t look like he’s entirely comfortable in the ring and is moving a bit slower than I remember. Roode, as well, didn’t look entirely inspired. They had some good back-and-forth, but nothing that really stood out. Hardy getting the win came out of nowhere a little, but makes sense. After the match, James Storm getting involved and delivering a fireball to Hardy was pretty messed up. Like the Abyss car crash below and the bottle from the last week, I’m not sure these excessive acts of violence work since they’re so over-the-top that Team Hogan even showing up to Lockdown will stretch belief somewhat. Hardy took a fireball to the face! That’s not something you just shake off.
DOUBLE J HAS A BONE TO PICK WITH STING: You know something I hate? When wrestlers come down to the ring only to say how they’re going to go and find someone, so they can kick his ass. What’s the point of coming down to the ring then? Just go and kick his ass! Jeff Jarrett came out and said he was going to find Sting and beat some answers out of him, and went up to the catwalk where he managed to take Sting by surprise despite spending the previous thirty seconds shouting out Sting’s name continuously. Really? So, Jarrett throws Sting down the stairs, or, Sting slides down the stairs at a leisurely pace before the action hits the ring wherein the lights go off and, when they come back on, Sting is fine! He’s got a baseball bat! Jeff Jarrett is fucked by Sting’s magical ability to control the lights with his mind! So, Sting beat Jarrett with the bat a bit until Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam came out and Sting rang. Utterly stupid from beginning to end and meaningless since these events weren’t referenced again. It’s like Sting and Jarrett have their own little feud now that’s separate from the Team Hogan/Team Flair thing. A mini-feud is good, but it needs to be folded into the larger story. And, you know, not done in as ridiculous a way as possible.
TEAM 3D & JESSE NEAL vs. THE BAND IN A NEW YORK STREET FIGHT: Hey, five minutes of the Band getting their asses kicked seems like something that should be in the Right, I know, but this just didn’t satisfy. For one thing, it was so one-sided for so long that it got boring. I didn’t think watching the Band getting beat up would get boring, but this did. After a couple of minutes, no one seemed to know what else to do. It didn’t help that Scott Hall didn’t sell anything. For a guy that always looks on the verge of just falling over, he took an extraordinary number of shots from weapons before actually falling down. Does he have a magic ring we don’t know about? I would have liked to see the Band get in a little more offense if they were going to win. The victory wasn’t executed well either. Bubba the Love Sponge comes down, distracts Brother Ray, Syxx-Pac delivers a facebuster through a table, and that’s it? It was too abrupt. One move and it’s over after five minutes of constant beat down with weapons? After the match, Eric Young came out and made the save, telling Nash that they have a match at Lockdown, while Team 3D has one against Hall and Waltman. Spreading the Band out over two matches… yeesh. Also, why didn’t Eric Young come out and join in the fun earlier? It was a street fight! I’m sure Team 3D wouldn’t have minded. This advanced the angle, but took too much time and was poorly executed.
PROBLEMS BETWEEN HOGAN AND BISCHOFF: Further issues were brought to light between Hogan and Bischoff as Hogan chastised Bischoff for getting involved with Jeff Jarrett and AJ Styles’ match two weeks ago and, later in the show, caught Bischoff talking to Ric Flair! Because I guess bosses never talk to employees? Of course, something is up, but I just don’t care. I like the dynamic the two have with one being the face, the other being the heel, but them still working together. It’s interesting and a power struggle just isn’t. I much prefer the idea of two guys with two different approaches using those differences to do good work.
AJ STYLES & DESMOND WOLFE vs. THE POPE & ABYSS JAY LETHAL: Prior to this match, Jay Lethal stepped up to be the Pope’s tag partner, which left the Pope a little miffed. (Obligatory mention that I still love Jay Lethal’s Macho Man impression.) But, after the Pope came out, Lethal didn’t — because Beer Money was beating him up backstage, building off their handicap match from a couple of weeks back nicely. AJ Styles came out and said it looked like it was going to be a handicap match, but, when Desmond Wolfe came out, Hogan nailed him with a chair shot to even up the odds. Styles and the Pope didn’t last long in the ring before Ric Flair got involved with a chair, getting out of his wheelchair. Soon, Beer Money came out and joined in the fun before Styles just threw the Pope out of the ring. This was pure chaos in a bad way. It was a constant string of people taking other people out to the point where it just became stupid.
KNOCKOUTS CLUSTERFUCK MATCH: So, the reason why this leather and lace match between Velvet Sky and TNA Knockouts Champion Angelina Love wasn’t for the title was because a title match is happening at Lockdown? So what? Anyway, this turned out not to be a leather and lace match as Sky turned it into a match where Love was handcuffed because, uh, Sky didn’t think anyone deserved to see her in her underwear, implying what, that Sky thought she’d lose? Love got in a shot about how she would have booked an actual wrestling match instead of gimmicky bullshit. Way to draw attention to how stupid this is. So, Love was handcuffed and Sky began to beat her up and, then, made it an ‘I Quit’ match for whatever reason, but Love refused to quit. The other two Beautiful People came out and, then, Tara made the save and the match… ended? Did someone say they quit and I missed it? A complete failure from beginning to end.
ABYSS HIT BY A CAR: Abyss was hit by a car apparently driven by Desmond Wolfe, but that’s okay, because Abyss is fine. Then why the fuck should I care? The build to Lockdown has had three members of Team Hogan attacked with excessive violence: a bottle to the face, a fireball to the face, and being hit by a car. Two of those happening less than a week before Lockdown. I know this is meant to make the faces winning even bigger a deal, but, usually, when a person is hit by a car, they aren’t able to wrestle less than a week later. TNA went so over the top that Abyss and Hardy showing up on Sunday is just unbelievable. Have the heels get the advantage, have them beat down the faces, but keep it within reason. This urge to go further than before just makes it cartoonish.
| The 411
Like a lot of Impacts, this was a mixed bag. Some really good matches with Kaz/Moore and the tag title match. Some really stupid matches with the Knockouts and that final tag match that didn’t really happen. The build to Lockdown was in full effect and that’s good, but it’s handled in such a chaotic manner that I’m left not caring. They hit Abyss with a car! The best parts of the show were when they kept it simple with simple stories and good in-ring work. SHOW RATING: 4.0 |
By: Michael Bauer
NXT 14.13.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
Christian defeated Wade Barrett [**]
William Regal defeated Daniel Bryan [*1/4]
Darren Young defeated Luke Gallows [*]
CHRISTIAN VS. WADE BARRETT: The first match thankfully was a good one, but I am sort of concerned nobody stayed tuned to watch it after the train wreck we started with (more on that later). Christian faced Wade Barrett after Wade was able to pin Christian two weeks ago in an eight man tag match with Barrett and the seven other pros. This match, while nothing special, was pretty decent and did a very good job of making Barrett looking like a credible threat in the ring. The ending seemed to look screwy, but it was perfect given how Barrett won two weeks ago. Jericho tried the same stuff, but he just gave Slater the opening to re-pay the favor. And that was key here as Slater looks like more than just a rookie now, as he learned quickly. Christian ends up giving back the win he gave up two weeks ago, which is more than fine here. Oh yeah, and Jericho yelling at Cole and Matthews always makes a match better.
PUNK’S PEP TALK, CHALLENGE, AND APPROVAL OF DARREN YOUNG: So before Young would be in the main event tonight, we start with him backstage in front of the Straight Edge Society. Punk berates him for changing his mind about shaving his head and joining the cause, but admired him for standing up in what he believes in. He then laid the challenge down, Young and Gallows, pretty much for Young to keep his hair. The promo work back there was perfect as Young showed some charisma I didn’t know he really had. The match itself was pretty bland and boring, with Young getting killed for most of the match, but slipping away from a second Fallaway Slam and rolling up Gallows out of nowhere for a pinfall. Keep in mind, this was after about only two minutes as we were already past the hour when the match started. Punk then comes in and raises Young’s hand, almost like it was in approval of what the rookie did, finally. Gallows was stunned and Young looks like he is climbing up the rankings in a hurry.
DANIEL BRYAN FACES WILLIAM REGAL AND FALLS TO 0-8: So after The Miz once again chews out Daniel for not being able to win a match, he gets to face the man he wanted as his mentor, William Regal. Now, I would normally look forward to this match of the mentor vs. the mentee as Daniel’s whole wardrobe is based on Regal and Matthews did mention it this week… along with everything else from his blog. In the end, if the commentary didn’t kill this for me, the shortness of the match did. Seriously, two minutes tops this match went and Bryan had 90% of the offense. Yeah, believe it nor not, he did. Outside of the first arm wrench and a knee to the gut, Regal hit nothing more than an Exploder Suplex right before the Knee Trembler to end the match. Seriously, I don’t know what the fuck Vince is doing anymore, because he is not even losing matches in a close fashion anymore. And Miz adding insult to injury was totally not needed.
NOTHING, BUT…
THE NXT ROOKIE “PROMO” CHALLENGE: Ok, the rookie challenges officially sunk to the Tough Enough level this week and this was possibly worse than that. Each rookie had to give a thirty second promo on a random topic given by Matt Striker. And when I say random… well, just look at each rookie had to talk about:
Daniel Bryan – Passion
Wade Barrett – Blasé
Justin Gabriel – Flowers
Heath Slater – Cereal
David Otunga – Sleep
Skip Sheffield – Rainbows
Michael Tarver – Itchy
Darren Young – Toothpaste
Skip Sheffield (Bonus Round) – Bubble Gum
Wade Barrett (Bonus Round) – Wind
Are you fucking serious? What the fucking bloody blazes does any of this have to do about wrestling or proving you can be a superstar? Outside of Barrett and Bryan, this entire segment of topics had fail written on it for anyone trying to talk. Somehow, Sheffield made it work and Darren Young at least stayed on topic. But holy shit, did the crowd hate this whole charade or what? And I don’t blame them. This was a huge fucking waste of twenty minutes that I can’t get back in this lifetime or any afterlife I might have and fully killed the entire damn show.
| The 411
For all purposes, this show was totally horrid. Even with a decent match between Christian and Barrett, there was nothing we saw that would make this watchable. Three matches in a half hour timeframe are just not good enough, especially when the first thirty minutes were nothing more than utter garbage. SHOW RATING: 3.0 |
Until Monday, keep on kickin’ it!
~463~
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- WWE Announces Draft Rules & Talent Pools, Champions on Each Brand Are Now Protected
