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Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 8.16.10: ROH, Superstars, Impact & SmackDown Reviewed!
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In HD where available…
By: Aaron Hubbard
ROH on HDNet 08.09.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
Rasche Brown vs. The Necro Butcher was thrown out [3/4*]
Colt Cabana def. Alex Anthony [1/2*]
Tyler Black vs. Christopher Daniels went to a twenty-minute draw [****]
BLACK ADDRESSES THE FANS: Well, the timing for this episode is ironic, no? Tyler Black came out and addressed the fans, thanking those that support him and cheer for him, and also thanking those who come to cheer for the other talented men that he faces. But he also gave a big “screw you people” (in nicer terms) to the people who come just to boo and hate whatever they see. And you know, I can respect that. Why watch anything if you hate it? This was a solid promo for Black. I can’t believe he just typed that. However, given the news that he is going to WWE, I couldn’t help but find this address somewhat humorous. I can’t wait to see how the ROH fans respond to Black now.
BLACK VS. DANIELS: Now THIS is what I’m talking about. A first time match-up that gave us great wrestling without giving a definitive winner. Daniels is amazing, Black has been amazing the last few months and they clicked. The action was clean, well-executed and fun, although I did feel they were going through the motions at times, but this was twenty minutes of good wrestling. However, I have to give huge credit for Daniels pulling off a beautiful counter to the Pele Kick where he caught Black in mid-air and hit the reverse STO into the Koji Clutch. Amazing timing there, something I’ve never seen before and that put it over the top for me. It’s a credit to the Machine Guns and Beer Money that this wasn’t the best match I saw on TV last week.
THE MURKY WORLD TITLE SCENE: After the match, both Roderick Strong and Davey Richards came out to make their claims for World Title Shots, since Daniels proved he couldn’t get the job done. Daniels countered by saying he’s the only one of the three that Tyler Black hasn’t pinned. The last image was all four men looking like they were ready to throw down, and I would certainly be in favor of seeing that four-way. This also built up to next week’s Richards vs. Strong match, which I’m looking forward to.
NOTHING OF NOTE.
CABANA SQUASH: This didn’t really do anything for me. Cabana fought a guy who Prazak described as a cross between Little Richard and Sabu, and that was an apt description. I wasn’t overly found of Cabana completely no-selling for the guy, and that put the match from purgatory to wrong for me. I didn’t like him keeping him in the Billy Goat’s Curse long after the match was done, especially since he seemed to be in a jovial mood. The most match “plastic bagging” by Corino was okay, if somewhat cliché. But for me, Corino and Cabana isn’t the side of that feud I’m particularly interested in. At this point, I’m seriously wondering when the feud will have the final blow-off.
BUTCHER VS. BROWN: Yeah, nothing much to write about here. They brawled, the Embassy interfered, the Dark City Fight Club makes the save, feud continues and I remain apathetic. Well, not totally apathetic. What happened to Butcher’s hair? He’s supposed to be some kind of wild man, but the haphazard hair was gone! At least his beard was still there.
NOTHING OF NOTE.
A tale of two shows. Anything with Tyler Black is worth watching. Anything that does not have Tyler Black, you can skip over. They were clearly relying on the strength of the main event to carry the show, and it did somewhat. It’s certainly the only thing I will remember from this week’s show. Too much good to call it bad, too much suck to call it great. SHOW RATING: 6.5 |
By: Chad Nevett
The Whole F’N Show 08.12.10:
QUICK RESULTS
– Kurt Angle (#8) defeated AJ Styles (#6) [***1/2]
– Angelina Love defeated Madison Rayne (C) for the TNA Knockouts Championship [1/2*]
– Matt Morgan defeated Mr. Anderson (#3) and the Pope (#9) in a Three-way Match [**1/4]
– Jeff Hardy (#2) defeated Shannon Moore [**1/2]
– The Motor City Machine Guns (C) defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a Best 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match to win 3-2 in the Best of Five Series for the TNA World Tag Team Championship [****1/2]
– Rob Van Dam (C) defeated Abyss (#1) in a Stairway to Janice Match with Eric Bischoff as the Special Guest Referee for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship [***]
KURT ANGLE (#8) vs. AJ STYLES (#6): The absolute right choice to begin things, but the combination of Angle’s ‘win every match on the rise to the top or retire’ story and Styles having just won the Global Television Title meant it had to be a non-title match, because everyone knew Angle was walking away with his hand raised. The beginning on the outside was an unexpected and interesting way to start things with Styles glorifying in being a heel until Angle did a fantastic belly-to-belly suplex counter. In the ring, the action was good with some really nice combo chains of counters that could only be done because these two guys know one another so well. From there, though, it shifted into ‘same old, same old’ territory a little bit too much for my liking, but that seemed to be a result of the time restrictions. They worked a good pace, hinted at their big moves, countered a lot, and Angle won in the end via Ankle Lock to move up in the rankings. Not on the same level as their classic in January, but a fantastic choice to kick off the show and set the tone.
MATCH #5 OF THE BEST OF FIVE SERIES FOR THE TNA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP – BEST 2-OUT-OF-3 FALLS MATCH – THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS (C) vs. BEER MONEY, INC. (SERIES TIED 2-2): Expectations were high for this match. After five stellar matches (if you include their match at Victory Road that really began this series), this one needed to be bigger and better, and, man, that seemed impossible. It wasn’t, though, because they did it in a match that’s probably the best TV match of the year and a strong match of the year contender. The structure of the match played a large role with the first and final falls getting a lot of time, while the middle fall was run through quickly. I was surprised at how long the final fall got since it’s usually done a little quicker than that with the participants of the match tired and beat down, but Beer Money and the Guns made it longer, selling the idea that it was the hardest fall, the one where guys just wouldn’t give up, because it’s the one that really mattered. I’ve always loved that distinction between non-title and title matches: that added level of ‘won’t quit no matter what’ that gets brought into title matches. They sold the idea that if the first two falls where actually for the title, then they wouldn’t have ended so easily. The Guns winning the second fall quickly worked, because Beer Money was in a stronger position and there wasn’t that sense of immediacy that makes all the difference. Being one pin away from losing, the Guns stepped up in the second fall, while Beer Money was anxious and complacent. The first fall was a regular match between the two teams (and, by ‘regular match,’ I mean a really good match), the second fall was a formality and key to the overall story, while the third fall was something special. Every near fall could have ended it and most of them would have ended it in any other match. The Guns did crazy things, so Beer Money did crazy things (Roode’s dive over the top rope!), both teams trying anything and everything to get the match done and the titles won. The end of the match had me in a way few matches do. When Storm kicked out of the neckbreaker/splash combo, I couldn’t believe it. That kick out and second one was necessary to sell just how hard fought the match was. As always, all four guys worked effortlessly together, making it look so easy to hit double-teams and be in the exact right spot all of the time. The match delivered and, considering the expectations, that’s very impressive.
STAIRWAY TO JANICE MATCH FOR THE TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP WITH ERIC BISCHOFF AS THE SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE – ROB VAN DAM (C) vs. ABYSS (#1): I wasn’t looking forward to this, especially with Janice (the two-by-four will nails at one end) hanging above the ring. It’s a weapon that obviously can’t be used (except unseen in lame backstage reveals), so why bother? Also, neither RVD nor Abyss would qualify as someone I’m enthused to see wrestle. Van Dam always seems to be working a checklist of moves to hit, while Abyss is slow and too obsessed with being ‘hardcore’ to be interesting. Oddly, this matched seemed to be built around those two things and subverting them or indulging them. For the first 3/4s of the match, any time RVD went for one of his signature moves, Abyss countered and made him pay. When Abyss brought in the thumbtacks, the glass, the barbwire board, and, Janice, none of it worked for him as RVD countered and made Abyss take the nasty bump. Van Dam couldn’t do his regular thing, so he indulged Abyss’s obsession with the ‘hardcore’ and let him play out that fantasy and take all of the nasty bumps. It was oddly compelling. Eric Bischoff as guest referee did nothing and was absolutely meaningless, so why did they bother? Van Dam going over Abyss was the right choice even given what happened at the end of the night and this match managed to follow the Guns/Beer Money without being embarrassing. I rather liked this.
MATT MORGAN vs. MR. ANDERSON (#3) vs. THE POPE (#9): I really liked this match at the beginning. They worked the three-way well with Anderson and the Pope teaming up on Morgan until that wasn’t convenient and Morgan used that to gain the upper hand. It was a solid, time-tested way to get things going and these guys did it with energy and skill. I loved Morgan sitting on the outside, watching and applauding as Anderson and the Pope laid into one another and, then, the match just ended. I’ll give them points for surprising me since I wasn’t expecting the match to end so quickly, but it also had me wondering where the rest of the match went. They had a good thing going here and I would have liked to see it play out longer. I’m also wondering if they’ll continue to keep Anderson near the top of the rankings despite his inability to win matches that actually matter. I was surprised Morgan went over, but that was a good choice. Two faces, one heel… bet on the heel to win via divide and conquer, which is just what Morgan did. This was really good for what it was, but it felt like half of the match it should have been.
JEFF HARDY (#2) vs. SHANNON MOORE: Jeff Hardy made an open invitation because Samoa Joe got suspended, making their planned match impossible. A lot of people suspected Shane Helms would come to TNA via this match, but we got the next best thing: Shannon Moore. This match was intended to get Moore over with him dominating the match, playing up the idea that, as friends, Moore knows Hardy’s style and can counter it (why it doesn’t work the other way is something you shouldn’t ask). Moore looked good, but never did anything that made me stand up and take notice. This was his chance to really blow people away and I don’t think he did that. This was a fine match and Hardy won because, well, there’s making a guy look good and there’s making a main event guy look stupid for no good reason… I enjoyed this, but wanted either guy to go that extra mile to make an impression.
TNA KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH – MADISON RAYNE (C) vs. ANGELINA LOVE: I really hated this. The wrestling was more comedy than anything and the finish was bad. The moves were done at a painfully slow speed and with no polish. That odd move where Rayne had Love’s head between her legs and she slammed it into the mat was puzzling and didn’t look devastating. As you knew would happen, the woman on the motorcycle came down and the ref spent the rest of the match watching that for some reason. Velvet Sky hit her with a chair as revenge for, apparently, costing the Beautiful People the tag belts and then tried to unmask her, getting the helmet off, but not the mask underneath. Meanwhile, in the ring, Rayne hit Love with the Knockouts title and almost immediately went for the pin, but Love kicked out somehow. Love then hit the Lights Out to win the title and I wonder why I should care.
NO PROMOS! NO INTERVIEWS! ALL ACTION! HULK HOGAN HAS A SURPRISE: IT’S A PROMO!: Oh, TNA, I do love you. You promise a show with no promos, no interviews, just action, and end the show on A PROMO! Throughout the night, they kept teasing a surprise from Hulk Hogan and you knew that wasn’t a good sign. Hogan came out after the RVD/Abyss match and does what he always does: blather on about TNA being great, about RVD being great, about Dixie Carter being great, and, this time, he added something else: the EV2.0 guys being great! Nice to see Hogan adding the odd new bit to his repertoire of talking for minutes on end without saying anything worthwhile. He put over HardCORE Justice and asked Tommy Dreamer and company to come out. They did, Dreamer got on the mic to cut another promo and began talking about how much the night meant. Partway through, the lights went out to tease the Sandman, but, when they came back on, it was Fortune plus Matt Morgan and Douglas Williams, just kicking the shit out of the hardcore guys. While part of me loved seeing this, another part knew that this means they’ll be around for a while in a feud that shouldn’t last longer than a week given the guys on both sides. Does anyone buy the EV2.0 guys matching up against the likes of AJ Styles, Beer Money, Matt Morgan, Kazarian and Douglas Williams? Six guys in their prime against a bunch of old guys who, for the most part, weren’t as good in their prime as those six men are now? Please. Abyss joined in, taking out Raven. The Sandman tried to get in the action, but that didn’t work out too well. Ric Flair came out and shouted at Dixie that it was all her fault, and the episode ended with Abyss having laid out RVD in the back with Janice (unseen, of course) and the brawl continuing. If Fortune and company attacking the EV2.0 guys had been the end of HardCORE Justice, it would have made a lot more sense. Waiting until this show was a pretty bad way to end a quality show and take away time that could have been used the other matches, or, even, given to a new match.
NOTHING
I was really looking forward to this and, for the most part, The Whole F’N Show delivered. No one expected much from the Knockouts match, so it was irrelevant, while the other matches were all good to great. Angle and Styles kicked things off with energy and style, Beer Money and the Guns delivered on the promise of their finale, and Abyss and Rob Van Dam had a better match than I was expecting. The final segment was unfortunate given the way this show was meant to be executed and I have little interest in a feud between Fortune and the hardcore guys, but, given the overall quality to that point, it’s easy to overlook. This was a show (excluding that final segment) that I would have been happy to pay for, but was very glad to see it for free on TV. SHOW RATING: 9.0 |
By: Steve Cook
Superstars 08.12.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
Jimmy & Jey Uso d. Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu (**)
Chavo Guerrero d. Chris Masters (**¼)
Michelle McCool d. Kelly Kelly (**¼)
CHAVO GUERRERO vs. CHRIS MASTERS: Chavo has won more matches on Superstars in the last month than he has in the rest of 2010. I don’t know what prompted this change, but I approve. The match went a lot longer than I would have expected, there was good psychology with Chavo targeting the ribs of the Masterpiece, and Chavo’s sideways frog splash was one of the better ones that he’s done.
MICHELLE McCOOL vs. KELLY KELLY: Both ladies were looking good tonight, which is a surefire way to get in this section of the column. I was kind of wondering where Kelly’s backup was since Michelle had her BBF Layla and their NXT guy Kaval out there with her, but that question was answered by the Internet a couple of days later. It’s a shame, I thought Tiffany had a lot of potential and her team with Kelly was going places, but stuff happens. It’ll be interesting to see where Kelly goes from here…when’s Beth Phoenix due back? They could revive their pairing that lasted two weeks or so. As for the actual match, it was a solid outing. Michelle was good on offense, and Kelly did a good job putting it over. No complaints from me.
THE USOS vs. GOLDUST & YOSHI TATSU: I’m still not feeling the Usos. I think I’ve been brainwashed by WWE into thinking that young wrestlers need to go on NXT to pay their dues and earn their way onto the roster, which is a good thing for that show but a bad thing for guys like Jimmy & Jey that randomly get called up because WWE wants Samoans on their shows. They haven’t done a whole lot to stand out yet…it’s not that they’re horrible, but I never remember anything they do after it happens. This match was ok, and I do think that they will benefit from working with guys like Goldust & Tatsu. It’s a learning process, and hopefully they’ll live up to the potential that WWE sees in them.
Nothing of note.
Nothing of note.
Pretty ho-hum edition of Superstars heading into SummerSlam. I guess the main event was originally going to help build a scheduled match for the PPV, but that was shelved. Nothing really sucked out loud though, so it was an acceptable hour of wrestling. SHOW RATING: 6.0 |
By: Jeremy Thomas
WWE SmackDown 08.13.10
QUICK RESULTS:
Kane def. Kofi Kingston [* ½]
Cody Rhodes def. Christian [** ¼]
The Big Show def. Three Guys [¾ *]
Drew McIntyre def. Matt Hardy [**]
MVP def. Jack Swagger [* ¾]
Rey Mysterio def. Dolph Ziggler [** ¾]
SWITCHING UP OPPONENTS: SmackDown kicked off with the one and only Vickie Guerrero, all lei’d out in the ring. She did a few EXCUSE ME’s to rile up the crowd and then called down Dolph while we saw a recap of the end of his Intercontinental Title win. Vickie called him more electrifying than the Rock, with more heart than Bret and sexier than Shawn. Well, if you insist Vick. Vickie did a good job of getting the crowd riled up before handing the mic to Dolph, who promptly talked up Vickie. It’s wove…twue wove! Vickie took the mic and pissed the crowd off even further with some cheap heat before Kofi came in and started pounding her man down. Kofi was beside himself, and he did a nice job of selling that emotion before officials separated them and Teddy Long came out to grant Kofi a rematch at SummerSlam. Teddy then made a match for Dolph for tonight against Rey, and Vickie made one for Kofi against Kane. Kofi was okay with that and wanted the match now. I liked everyone’s performances here and they definitely got the crowd worked up, which is a win in my book.
HE SAID, HE SAID: After the match where he killed Kofi, Kane got on the mic and repeated his assertion that Rey attacked the Undertaker. He said it was obvious that he was guilty and being desperate by accusing Kane and said Rey would pay. That brought out the Littlest Champion, who spoke some Spanish and then said that Kane was evil and Rey was God’s humble servant. Holier than thou, really? Yeah, that’s a great argument. Rey pointed out all of the flaws in Kane’s “I didn’t attack the Dead Man” theory and basically said that Taker would be champion if he wasn’t all comatose. You know, there wasn’t a huge amount to this promo but it gave the two some face time together and pushed the feud. That’s all I ask for. But Devil’s Favorite Demon? Really?
CHRISTIAN vs. CODY RHODES: So before this match Drew tried to give Cody some advice on taking on Christian, but Cody was all “Naah, I got this.” These two put on a pretty good match here as Cody looked strong and they worked very well together while Drew looked on from backstage. There was a good amount of psychology and story built into this match as Cody focused on the arm and got a really good amount of offense. Christian had his comebacks of course and he looked fine, but ultimately this was a match to build Cody up and continue his push. They had Cody take advantage with an eye poke in classic heel manner and then nail the Cross Rhodes for the pin after another shoulder slam. The match was nicely done and I enjoyed it and Cody’s continued push.
MATT HARDY vs. DREW McINTYRE: So, this was the rematch from Matt’s big win that sent Drew back off to Scotland over that Work Visa thing. These guys immediately showed that there was no love lost between them by their body language and the way they launched right into beating on each other instead of a gentlemanly lock-up. These guys had a tough, physical match that played well to continuity with their feud and kept the crowd interested. The match perhaps could have been a bit longer, but they didn’t seem rushed and the match worked perfectly fine for the length that it was. This wasn’t a masterful set of moves to be sure, but this isn’t a match where you want to see that; you just want to see the guys beat the hell out of each other and they did. Drew got a clean win and like Cody, he continues his elevation. I won’t complain about that.
REY MYSTERIO vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: This was our main event of the evening, and it’s always nice to see them putting these midcarders who have potential to break into the main event at some point take on Rey. Last week it was Drew; this week it was Dolph. Dolph and Rey are of course no strangers, having battled over the Intercontinental Title that Dolph now wears. This may not have been as good as their past matches but it was still an enjoyable little TV main event match. Dolph took on the physically dominating role that everyone takes against Rey and that gave him a chance to look good here. And this is exactly why Rey is good for these kinds of matches; he can make anyone look good. Kane came out midway through the match with his casket to watch and that let Dolph take control again. These guys were taking it a bit easy before SummerSlam and I won’t fault them for this. Of course Rey won, which is exactly what should happen and Dolph still got elevated by virtue of an impressive showing here. And post-match Rey once again got the advantage on Kane, putting him over strong which puts conventional booking on Kane winning here. It works for me and it sold the World Title match at SummerSlam well.
KOFI KINGSTON vs. KANE: First of…OH MY GOD when did the terrible NXT announcer take over on SmackDown? Did my mind block it out? Why did they promote her? Good gods, she’s terrible. Sorry, had to get that out. Anyway, this started with Kofi unleashing a fury of offense until Kane took over. The point here was giving Kane some serious momentum, and that definitely was accomplished. Kofi got some offense in but it was largely token offense, and it involved Kane brutalizing Kofi outside of a brief outside run that resulted in a missed Trouble in Paradise killing Kofi’s chances. I appreciated the putting over of the World Champion, but there wasn’t much more than a mediocre match here and I was hoping for more.
BIG SHOW SHOWS HIS METTLE: So Big Show was out here to show that he could kill three guys, and he was wearing some heavy tape on his wrist. He then proceeded to murder three guys and nail choke slams as well as hit the Knock-Out Punch to show that his recovery was quick. The match was nothing to speak of, but then it wasn’t intended to be and instead got Show out there to show that he was still a threat. Then the Society, who was up on the ramp watching, decided to comment. Luke started to talk some trash before Punk took the mic away and berated his disciple for talking out of turn. Punk then told Show that his hand was still injured and he was too dumb to know the difference between the Society and the scrubs in the ring. There was a nice metaphor about an Orchestra of Virtue and a symphony called the Destruction of the Big Show. I’m not loving this feud, but the players in it are doing a lot to put it over and I appreciate that.
ALBERTO DEL RIO COMES TO SMACKDOWN NEXT WEEK: About God damned time. And that’s all I got to say ’bout that.
MVP vs. JACK SWAGGER: After a SmackDown Rewind that saw Swagger in the Gulf of Mexico, we saw the All-American American American making his way to the ring for the first time since then. He was looking upset and pissed, and he proceeded to trash the crowd because they were the kind of people who felt sorry for themselves, unlike him. He had a legit excuse because he was cheated out of his Title, thrown into the Gulf and having to witness severe family trauma. I love that he no-sells his previous bitching about his dad. A diarrhea joke, though? Meh. Swagger complained about not being in the World Title Match at SummerSlam. The SummerSlam had lost its Swagger line was good, and I loved how he started to reference SUMMERFEST before MVP cut him off. Nicely done. MVP then made fun of Swagger and noted that he beat Swagger at SummerSlam last year. That drew out the attack and we had a match. Now, I will say that for what we saw, this was a nice match. Swagger and MVP did more or less fine for the all-of-four minutes or so they wrestled. There was the missed boot and I’m disappointed that they didn’t use a better angle for that, but that’s a minor difficulty. But really, this match was too short to be worth a lot and more to the point, MVP beating Swagger cleanly made no sense. Have we forgotten that MVP’s been part of the random tag team JOB squad for months now? Having him get a win over Swagger doesn’t dispel that mystique. What it does is hurt Swagger more than it helps MVP. If they’d started MVP out small and worked his way up, I could see that. This bothered me because it did more harm than good.
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don’t care.
There’s not much for me to complain about here. Sure, I didn’t like the MVP/Swagger match and the Kofi/Kane match was too short, but there could be far worse things to complain about. Nothing stood out on this show as must see but they decided on building SummerSlam rather than making this show something to talk about in and of itself, and that’s exactly how a hard-sell show should be. I have to give this one a decent recommendation, though you’re not missing anything essential if you don’t catch it. SHOW RATING: 7.0 |
…and remember to stay grounded!
