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Wrestling’s 4R’s 3.11.13: WWE Smackdown, TNA IMPACT Wrestling & ROH on iPPV Reviewed
How the 4R’s of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO times a week. We will group our feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and needs discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a “mark” column, nor a “smark” column, our goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. We will not apologize for our opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
Impact 3.07.13:
By: Jack McGee
QUICK RESULTS:
Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries went to a No Contest: Austin Aries kicked off Impact, pissed off that Bully Ray had the audacity to state that Aries would ever be a TNA World Champion again. This led to Aries calling out current champion Jeff Hardy for a match. Hardy accepted, and as is the norm with these guys, they had a really good match. I was worried that leading into the PPV that they would have one of these men do the job clean; but thankfully that wasn’t the case. The Matt Morgan run in was interesting. It made sense from the standpoint that Morgan has continually stated that he hates Hogan and the fact that Hogan held him down. So why not run out and ruin a match involving the world champion. It will be interested to see what they do with Morgan going forward, I do not think that he is a main event guy, but he could be a fine Impact Title challenger as they work on the build to Slammiversary.
Gail Kim, Daniels & Kazarian beat Velvet Sky, Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez: I will agree with Larry and others, in that I also like this kind of match right before a PPV. You combine the build for two feuds, and you had a rather strong TV match to boot. Kim getting the win here worked for me as it gets some heat on her heading into the PPV title match with Sky; while Bad Influence and Chavo and Hernandez did enough to add to their tag title bout with Roode and Aries at the PPV. This was enjoyable and I really had no issues with it.
Samoa Joe & Magnus beat D.O.C. & Garett Bischoff: Samoa Joe & Magnus beat D.O.C. & Garett Bischoff in the lone match that team TNA won in the best of three series. I actually loved this whole thing. Joe and Magnus teased tension backstage, as they should have, because it would have been dumb to forget that Magnus turned on Joe. But when they got into the ring, they quickly went back to being the team they were back when they were the champions. Once they realized that they could work together and trust again, they kicked ass and had a really fun match with DOC and Garett. The ending sequence where they hit all of their double team stuff and then hit their finish was really good, and the celebration afterwards was a nice closing to that. While I do feel that Magnus could be a big star for the company, I do also hope that he and Joe team together again for a while because a long feud with Bad Influence would be great.
Devon beat Sting: Devon defeated Sting in a best of three series bout for the Lethal Lockdown match. I think that Devon winning was good, because Sting rarely loses and I think that he need to lose from time to time. But also Devon needs to win and look like he doesn’t completely suck. Speaking of completely sucking, how bad did it suck for Sting to get busted open on the post like that? God damn. Anyway, the result was the right one, but the match wasn’t very good, at all. These two guys do not work well together and they need to stop having them wrestle because it never ends well.
Mr. Anderson beat James Storm: Mr. Anderson beat James Storm in the final best two of three series for the Lethal Lockdown match. The result is correct for the match because again, Aces and 8s need to be winning. But also because the heels have to have the advantage in this kind of match for it to make sense. But the match itself felt rushed; and ultimately not as important as it should have been. Yeah the factions came out and such, but everything happened so fast that I felt that it took away from what it could have been.
Main Event Interview: I generally liked the idea behind the main event interview segment. Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray showing their respect, talking about their history together, and then fighting off Aces and 8s to close out the show. If the big angle at the PPV is the Bully Ray heel turn, then they did a really good job. But with that being said, I felt it lacked. I think that it may be because of the face vs. face dynamic; but I didn’t get that “I have to watch this” feeling from the overall segment. It wasn’t bad at all, but as the big final angle to see a PPV; it simply lacked.
Gutcheck: Lea’d Tapa ended up getting the nod in the Gutcheck this week, and I have it say that I feel that it was a bad idea. Now I do agree with many that Tapa has some potential, and that it would have been for fine for TNA to sign her to a developmental deal; but the fact is that Ivelisse had way more going for her that would have led to am immediate impact, no pun intended, on the division.
The last point I feel is the most important. With all of the rage being Ronda Rousey and the UFC, TNA should have jumped on the bandwagon and started pushing Ivelisse as their Ronda Rousey. Obviously it is apples and oranges, but the Knockouts Division is stale as fuck, and she would have been different. And for all of those who loved Tapa; you could then tell the story 12-18 months later where she returns to destroy Ivelisse for taking her dream. And then you have your new “Kong vs. Kim” feud.
Shit X-Division Build: I remember when TNA first started, the thing I enjoyed about it the most was the X-Division. There was fresh talent (to me at the time) having great matches, and really stealing the show from the former WCW & WWF names that were supposed to carry the show. But the X-Division was what carried TNA for a long time, and while the company has been far from perfect, it is what kept me as a fan. I do not think I am talking out of school here when I discuss how shit the division has become. This promotion has had eight weeks to build a PPV, historically a PPV that does their best buys, and the best they can do for a build to a TITLE MATCH is for Kenny King to say he’s a star and to challenge anyone. That’s it, and it led to TNA announcing a match AFTER the show went off the air. It is amazing how they can mess up something so badly. And actually, it is rather sad how badly it has been messed up.
The VP is D Lo: This week was the big reveal of the “VP of Aces and 8s,” and while it did make sense; I was completely under whelmed with the reveal of D Lo. Now, do not get me wrong, D Lo is a good guy, I was a fan, and in story it does make sense for him to have some involvement in the angle. They had set the stage with the Gutcheck deal a while ago when Al Snow “disappeared” and D Lo stood in for him. But man, the more this angle goes, NINE MONTHS, and the big bad stable consists of Devon, D Lo, Mr. Anderson, Mike Knox, Luke Gallows, Wes Briscoe, Garett Bischoff
NOTHING
This week’s show was fine in many ways, but lacking as the big go home show for their Lockdown PPV. If I understand the news correctly, TNA is only running a “big four” schedule PPV wise, along with taped PPVs that have no real angles on them. If that is the case, I think that there would be a bigger sense of urgency to build to the PPV through out the time that they had. Which would have allowed this show to be the final big hype. The icing on the cake as it were. This show felt as if they were still mixing and then putting the cake into bake. Show Rating: 6.0 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
By: Tony Acero
Smackdown! 3.08.13:
QUICK RESULTS:
– Team Hell No Defeated 3MB [*]
– Ryback Defeated Damien Sandow [*1/2]
– Alberto Del Rio Defeated Dolph Ziggler [***]
– Mark Henry Defeated Yoshi Tatsu [NR]
– Tamina Defeated Kaitlyn [NR]
– Sheamus and The Big Show fought to a Double DQ (assumedly) [**1/2]
RYBACK: With Ryback on his way to face Henry, he’s got to continue to look tough, and when I saw that he and Sandow were going to get down, I was only minutely afraid that Sandow would get squashed. Truth is, he kind of did. But, he looked pretty good out there, even in the short minutes he was out there. Sandow wasn’t going to win, but he put up a fight…sort of. I don’t know, I just can’t put it in the wRong, because I had a good time watching it.
DEL RIO VS ZI—AJ GOT WET!!!!: Who cares how good the match was?! We got….
OK, no, this match deserves to be talked about. I was thrown off by Maddox’s presence, but he was pretty fucking funny. As for the match, it started slow with the focus of the outside activities, but after the commercial break we got an amazing match that made me anxious for another. Ziggler and Del Rio have amazing chemistry, and they know how to make a match build. The last five minutes were pretty damned solid, and although it was a bit too short to get a higher rating, one cannot deny that it was a pretty solid affair.
HENRY DOES WHAT HE DO: Once again, watching Henry smash wrestlers is fun and completely makes me contradict everything I believe in regarding monster pushes and squash matches. But damn, THAT’S JUST WHAT HE DO!!
SHEAMUS VS BIG SHOW: It took a while, but it appears they finally figured out what the hell they want to do with The Shield and who they’ll be facing at Mania. It seemed like they were messing with quite a few ideas, before adding Show into the mix. I like the fact that they’re allowing The Big Show to continue to be The Big Show. It’s somewhat compelling. I think Orton, Sheamus and Big Show can all lose without being hurt at Mania, but it makes me question what’s next for The Shield. Still, there’s a bit of interest in this six-man tag, and I’m curious to see it come to fruition. As for the match, we’ve seen it before. But to be honest, it’s a fun one to watch. I think the whole White Noise on Show is still cool to watch, but lost its luster after the sixth or so time. The match was cut short, but with reason, and the distrust between Orton, Sheamus and Big Show can make for some classic storytelling down the line.
HELL NO: This seemed all too coincidental. As if the WWE is still unsure as to whether or not they want a large tag team match at Mania, or a Kane vs. Bryan match. With the mention of the word “teams” by Cole, I feel they may be trying to gather tag teams once again, but not for any reason other than because they have to. The match was nothing, and it’s sad that both Heath and Drew have the accolades Mathews brought up because they don’t seem like former champions.
RECAPS: When I did the Smackdown Rs on a weekly basis a few months back, this was one of the most common issues I had with Smackdown. WWE would frequently use Smackdown to recap all the happenings on RAW that a) didn’t matter or b) we could figure out our damn self since we most likely saw it already. Any other time of the year, it’d be in the wRong, but because of the fact that this is Mania season, I’ll give it a little bit of a leeway.
DIVAS: They still don’t matter. I’m not quite sure what Kaitlyn was going for with running facefirst into the middle rope, but it damn…that sucked. It appears that they’re trying something here, and it may lead to a Layla turn, but none of it matters because we simply don’t care. Also, I prefer a darker haired Layla. This ties into (loosely) the backstage area where Cody is watching Kaitlyn, and Damien Sandow’s retort was top notch.
DEL RIO’S COMEDY HOUR: If you have read The Wrestling 5&1, then you are aware of how I feel about the current storyline between Del Rio and Swagger. I thought it had a strong start, and due to Glenn Beck and the necessity to go the extra mile, they severed any possible interest in the growth of Swagger as a character, and any interest in the feud for Mania. This week, Zeb kept it short and sweet, then Del Rio came out and played a parody video of the viral vids we’ve been seeing from Zeb and Swagger…and it wasn’t funny. It dragged on for too long, had little actual humor, and turned the feud that started off as in-depth and introspective of America to just another storyline of the WWE…for the midcard. I want to put it in the wRong, but I felt that Zeb’s short statements were stronger than last week’s. I don’t see this altering at all, though so….it’s probably going to stick here for as long as I am, which is until Mania.
FANDANGO: Nope. Not workin. I think Curtis has great comedic timing, but this thing is all kinds of dead.
Although the Del Rio and Ziggler match was solid, I feel like this was too normal of a Smackdown to mean anything. With Mania coming faster and faster, I don’t get why we’re not getting more of an emphasis on certain things – like the IC Title or the US Title, or anything of importance, or smaller storylines that develop a match for Mania. Smackdown seemed too run of the mill, and the weeks preceding Mania allow me to have higher expectations that they’re just not meeting. SHOW RATING: 7.0 |
ROH 11th Anniversary iPPV Thoughts By Larry Csonka
 What the numbers mean… 0 – 0.9: Torture As a reminder, this is not a basic “how good was the show” number like a TV show, as I have always felt that a PPV is very different from a regular show. I have always judged PPV on how they built to a match, the match quality, crowd reactions to matches and angles, the overall booking, how the PPV leads into the future, PPV price and so on and so forth. I have added this in here for an explanation since so many have asked, and I have previously discussed it on podcasts. I understand that this may seem different, but that is how I grade. Obviously your criteria may be different. |
YEAR IN REVIEW (PPV) by Csonka:
TOP PPVs:
TOP PPV MATCHES:
And I don’t know what that bitch is dancing for, she lost on Smackdown…
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