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Wrestling’s 4R’s 4.15.13: WWE Smackdown & TNA IMPACT Wrestling 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 4.11.13:
By: Jack McGee
QUICK RESULTS:
Full Metal Mayhem World Title Match: Bully Ray © defeated Jeff Hardy: This was the best thing on the show for me, and while some people were disappointed (I guess they wanted every TLC match condensed into a singles bout) I liked it. Both guys busted their ass, Jeff took some big bumps, Bully came off as a dick heel, and most importantly there wasn’t 85 nWo style run ins for the finish. Bully Ray, who said he wanted to do it on his own, of course is a lying heel and gladly took the hammer from Taz to finish off Hardy. Again, Hardy looks fine in defeat here, because he was screwed over. He can now be written off TV for a bit and come back for revenge later, and not lose any steam over the loss. Also, TNA resisted the urge to do something crazy just to do something crazy, avoiding the Brooke Hogan heel turn, which many thought or joked would happen. I liked the restrain shown in the booking, because it is something TNA wouldn’t have done a year or two ago.
Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez defeated Roode and Aries © via pin to win the titles: By the end of it, we got a good match for he tag team titles, but overall there were some issues. First of all, the quick pins at the beginning completely ruined the whole 2 of 3 falls stipulation. It came off as the company did not know how to book a 2 of 3 falls match, so they got that shit out of the way and booked a regular match. Next, the fact that TNA counted on the local audience, with the Latino presence, reacting to Chavo and Hernandez was obviously poor planning, because they didn’t really care. Also, I do not understand why you’d put the titles on the one team that the audience generally doesn’t care about when Roode & Aries and Daniels & Kazarian not only get better reactions, but they also put on better matches. The match ended up good, and giving a title change away occasionally is good because people felt as if they got to really see something special at the show. But overall I wasn’t thrilled with the show’s open.
Taryn Terrell defeated Gail Kim: Taryn Terrell defeated Gail Kim this week, but I didn’t feel that things were done all that well. Terrell vs. Kim had been built pretty well, but was derailed with the Joey Ryan referee appearance. Well this week Kim and Terrell had a solid match, but a special referee again overshadowed it. ODB was named to be the official, and the finish was more about her and Kim than Terrell and Kim. Hopefully the feud gets to continue and can be more about Kim and Terrell, because it started off so well, it deserves a solid ending.
AJ Styles, Hogan and Storm: While I have liked the AJ Styles angle in recent weeks, but I am not sure what to think about this week’s angle. They promoted it as AJ making a decision, but there wasn’t a decision. The angle continues to be a lot about Hulk Hogan, which we really need to move past. They are keeping James Storm involved, which I think works since Storm is the catalyst for the angle, being the man that pinned AJ and sent him into the tail spin. But then this week they added Ban Influence, and it now seems after looking as if they had a solid direction, they are just throwing shit out there. I hope that they aren’t losing focus of the angle, but this week’s didn’t do much for me, and felt like it lost where it was going a bit.
Joseph Park Promo: The Joseph Park segment was a big old flop in my opinion. First of all the crowd didn’t care about the guy, which took away any and all impact of the promo. This led to Devon coming out, and more not caring from the crowd as Devon attacked Park. Why the company continues to involve the character in the Aces and 8s feud is beyond me, because the man is adding nothing to the feud, and if anything, the tone of the character is taking away from the seriousness of the company’s biggest angle.
Gutcheck: I know that the Gutcheck is a giant work, so lets get that out of the way, but again, TNA fails to deliver. First of all, they didn’t even bring Pearce through to the deliberation. That was mistake #1, because he won the match last week and also, all of Magno’s highlights were of him screwing up in the ring. I just do not understand how they thought that was a good idea. And if they were planning on the local audience, with the Latino presence, reacting to him, they failed that as well. Finally, Pearce was clearly a favorite among the fans as there were a lot of signs for him. They wanted to see the guy, but instead, TNA ignored that. Much like the Ivalisse deal, TNA did what they thought was right and I feel that it was the wrong choice. Gutcheck continues to mean nothing as they constantly choose the wrong people, and the people that do win are almost never seen again (with Christian York being the only guy to be around).
Rob Terry defeated Joey Ryan: This did absolutely nothing for me. On a show that needed some excitement, putting Joey Ryan and Rob Terry out there did the exact opposite of that. It wasn’t a good match, and added nothing to the show.
NOTHING
While I felt that the promotion had been on a hot streak since Lockdown, this week’s show just didn’t really do anything for me. They hyped up the show, they got fans excited, (myself included) and just didn’t deliver. It wasn’t a horrible show, but I felt that they lost the recent momentum they had with the recent shows. Hopefully next week’s show can rebound. Show Rating: 5.5 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
By: Tony Acero
Smackdown! 04.12.13:
QUICK RESULTS
– Team Hell No Defeated The Primetime Players [NR]
– Wade Barrett Defeated Santino Marella [NR]
– The Bellas and Tamina Snuka Defeated The Funkadactyls and Kaitlyn [NR]
– Sheamus and Randy Orton Defeated The Big Show via Countout [**]
– Kofi Kingston Defeated Antonio Cesaro [**]
– Dolph Ziggler Defeated Chris Jericho [**]
THE NEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!!: Man, that cash-in is still awesome to watch, and although I loved the effort they put forth to keep Ziggler a heel, I just don’t know how well it’s going to continue. You got Big E trying to be funny, you got AJ being a fan favorite even as she is crazy, and you got Dolph – essentially – speaking the truth, and we have all agreed with him. His attempt to get heel heat, though, was valiant. I don’t typically like when a show opens with an in-ring interview leading to a main event, but this worked, and I wouldn’t have the show start with anything else, all things considered – even if Dolph’s voice was going all Michael Cole ala No Way Out 07. Zeb goin all “Murica” on Ziggler was funny, and it appears that we’re keeping Del Rio, Swagger and now maybe Jericho within the realm of the main event. Anyways, I think this is most Right because of Ziggler, but still an average segment for the first post-Mania Smackdown.
ZIGGLER VS JERICHO: In Dolph’s first match after winning the belt, he gets the duke…with help. I pray that’s not a sign of things to come. Anyways, if he’ s going to have a “first match” with anyone, then having it with Jericho is an awesome way to go. They had a solid 5+ minutes to go in the ring and Jericho had fun with the crowd. The match was great, and I have only minor complaints – which I already spent time on. Besides the necessity for help, it was a good start to a reign that I hope is long lasting and powerful
HELL NO, PLAYAS!: I don’t think Uncle Patterson would approve of this. I’ll give them a pass this week, since we’re trying to get over the Mania high, but what was the point here? I’m not saying I expected change after Mania, but I think that it is as good a time as any – if not better – to really clean the slate and start anew for some teams. Having a squash match over a legit tag team doesn’t bode well for the future of the division that people thought was getting ready to grow. Having The Shield come on afterwards add to the intrigue, and it appears we’re going to get The Shield vs. Team Hell No and some other big name that I wish was The Undertaker….only I fear it’s going to be someone HHHelse.
DIVAS: It’s apparent, unfortunately, that Naomi has some skills. I say unfortunately because by comparison, everyone else looked two steps behind her. This was hardly a match, and seemed like they were only doing this to rebuild/reintroduce some Divas.
I WEAR MY SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT: I hate people that wear glasses in-house/club or at night. Now then, Triple H in a blue ring was weird and this entire segment seemed like such a waste of time. Heath telling Triple H to shut up was funny, but we all knew what was going down here, right? Well, sort of. I didn’t see The Shield coming down, and that’s really what kept this out of the wRong. I LOVED that they handled 3MB in such a convincing fashion, only to set their sights on what they truly wanted…Triple H. I don’t know the reasoning behind it, and they’ll have to do some explaining in order to allow me to digest this, but the continuous efforts of Team Hell No to stand mid-ring with a big star against The Shield makes me slightly interested in what is to come, and who will be the third man for Team Hell No come Extreme Rules.
SHOW/ORTON/SHEAMUS: As much as I love the video packages by the WWE, the one with these three guys seemed to make this all seem more important than it’s shown to be on TV. I’m not mad, but the vid package seemed a bit premature if this is leading to some sort of match with Orton and Show at Extreme Rules. I do want to say that I’m interested, though. I like the fact that although Show is a heel, he isn’t exactly “wRong” about his issues with Orton and Sheamus. JBL is helping to enhance that. But where the FUCK did Mark Henry come from? haha.
REBUILDING WADE: It’s a continuing trend, I see. Attempting to repair a man they’ve opted to push (while not really knowing how long they’ll keep their attention on said man) by feeding him Santino/Ryder/3MP. I get why they are doing it, but it’s just lazy and repetitive. And, I have said this SO MANY TIMES: a 15 minute bad ass match builds an Intercontinental Champion LEAPS AND BOUNDS more than a squash match against a man no one thought would win anyways.
CESARO AND KOFI: I am not mad that Cesaro lost. I know some will be. It didn’t upset me, but I realized at that moment that Kofi winning doesn’t make me care any more than I did before. Cesaro has been doing nothing since they gave Swagger his gimmick, and the only thing that he has done to keep my interest is be badass in the ring. If this is the beginning of a push for him, then great, but I don’t see that at all. Yodeling and losing doesn’t seem like ingredients for a push…This is also one of like 5 matches that didn’t touch the five minute mark.
TEDDY AND BOOKER: I don’t know where this is going, but hearing Teddy say he always keeps it 100, doubled with Booker’s stunned ass look was priceless.
NOTHING
I gave RAW the perfect 10 on Monday, because of the emotion, the crowd, the shock value of Dolph, the turn of Ryback, and just the fun that the show had encompassed. Smackdown, however, felt like a horrible reset. I assume they are trying to align the proper stars getting ready for the new year of wrestling, but the thing is, they didn’t do anything NEW. In fact, this was more akin to a show that understood Mania was now out of the way and they could go back to what they were doing before. If that is the mindset, then it’s the wRong one to have. SHOW RATING: 6.0 |
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