wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4Rs 5.10.13: WWE Monday Night Raw, ROH TV & NJPW iPPV Reviewed
How the 4Rs 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 need 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.
Let’s rock…
By: Shawn S. Lealos
ROH Television 05.04.13:
QUICK RESULTS:
Michael Elgin vs. Karl Anderson – This was a fantastic power match between two of the best in the game. The storytelling in the match was fantastic, with Anderson working on the leg of Elgin for much of the match (a classic Anderson family trait), while Elgin relied on his power to stay in the contest. There was only one real let-down in the match, and that came when Elgin attempted a hanging superplex, but couldn’t hold on, but they both improvised perfectly to cover for it. I am not happy about who took the win here, but this match was fantastic and these two guys brought their A-game.
Davey Richards vs. Kyle O’Reilly – This was a great match, as you would expect from these two wrestlers, and it gets a lot of bonus points for the fact that Eddie Edwards and Bobby Fish were at ringside and neither man influenced the match in any way. O’Reilly is not someone I like very much, but he can really go with the right opponent, and Davey is that man. These two really busted their ass and put on one hell of a show for the fans. I also want to give props to Bobby Fish, who is still better than any other color commentator Kevin Kelly has worked with since Nigel McGuinness stepped down.
BJ Whitmer Gets Title Shot – I guess if anyone deserves a title shot, it is BJ Whitmer. From the look of it, Ring of Honor is trying to get back to basics and give the big title shots to men who have worked their asses off and deserve them rather than the feuding over the well-being of Ring of Honor. While that will give them some great matches, it is hard to care about them unless the two wrestlers make us care. BJ can go in the ring, but he is way too low-key with his promos. I liked how he talked about how he hit a really low place in his life after he lost his job at Ring of Honor back in 2008, but now he has a chance to re-write his story. It’s nice, it really is, but it reminds me of when Eddie Kingston came in with his great story about getting this second chance and fighting for the memory of Larry Sweeney, although everyone knew he was going to lose. BJ deserves this, but I have no reason to care about the match.
Karl Anderson Wins – Now, you already saw that I put this match in the Right because it was one hell of a great match. What I am concerned about it that Karl Anderson is a New Japan star, coming to Ring of Honor as a special attraction, and he wins both of his matches over established ROH stars. Now, beating Roddy Strong was no big deal because everyone beats Roddy and Strong isn’t being pushed right now anyway. However, Michael Elgin is supposed to be one of ROH’s biggest stars, that was established when Nigel McGuinness put him up against SCUM with the company on the line. I’m happy we got such a great match, but even a champion from Japan came into Border Wars and took the loss to Eddie Edwards. Couldn’t Anderson have taken the hard fought loss here to help elevate Elgin even more? I really don’t get this decision.
Veda Scott attacks MsChif – I like this feud and I like how they set up Veda to make the big attack. However, her execution of the attack leaves a lot to be desired. MsChif was wrestling some 18-year-old rookie named Daviene (who looked nothing like a wrestler should look – at all) and then Veda made the run-in. Then Veda waited until MsChif turned around, the two kind of stalled and then Veda attacked, swinging wildly (and missing a lot of them). The pull apart was nice, but this just came across as sloppy on TV and hurt the angle for now. Plus, they went to commercial while they were still fighting, which I hate.
Prince Nana – I love Prince Nana, but he was really kind of bad on commentary alongside Kevin Kelly. I mean, he was trying his hardest, but it just didn’t work. There was some unintentionally funny moments, like when he called Machine Gun Karl Anderson, Machine Gun Kelly and then, after realizing what he said, tried to correct himself by saying Machine Gun Arn Anderson. The best part was when he got the phone call before the main event, started singing “We’re in the Money” and ran off (I assume this will lead to him managing a returning Tomasso Ciampa again).
Davey Richards – Davey is supposed to be the good guy. Davey is supposed to represent honor. That makes Davey sucker punching (or sucker kicking to be accurate) Kyle O’Reilly to start their match a really bad move. Bobby Fish was complaining about it, Kevin Kelly tried to cover for Davey by talking about their history, but the move was the opposite of honor and Davey just continues to be the worst face on the planet.
NOTHING
There were two great matches on this week’s show, and while I didn’t like who won the first, and didn’t like the way Davey opened the main event, the matches were still fantastic and that is enough to give this week’s show a passing grade. SHOW RATING: 7.5 |
By: Tony Acero
WWE RAW 5.6.13:
QUICK RESULTS
– Randy Orton Defeated Damien Sandow [*1/2]
– R-Truth Defeated Fandango via Countout [NR]
– Alberto Defeated Dolph Ziggler via DQ [***1/2]
– The Shield Defeated Kofi Kingston and The Usos [*1/2]
– Antonio Cesaro Defeated Zack Ryder [*]
– Kaitlyn and The Funkadactyls Defeated AJ and The Bellas [****3/4]
– Sheamus Defeated Wade Barrett [*]
– Ryback Defeated Kane [*1/2]
ORTON GOT KNOCKED THE F OUT: I complained a bit about Orton’s quick work with Sandow on Smackdown, as it appeared Rhodes got much more time and a better match, but tonight we had an extension of last week with Sandow making up his own version of Orton’s entrance, and having a bit more offense in the match. It was still nothing more but a bit of a glorified squash, but considering Orton’s got a supposed match come Extreme Rules, it works. I think we all knew we were getting Orton v Show, and I like the organic growth of this feud. Sometimes the simplest answer works, and I think that’s what we get here with Show and Orton. Neither are setting the world afire, and I doubt the match will be the best, but Show is at his best right now, and Orton is always a solid hand.
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT FEUD:Like I said a bit earlier, sometimes the simplest of storylines work, and these three men have really all circled around the fact that they each want the World Title. The racial undertones with Coulter are still there, but that’s just what they are – undertones. I didn’t particularly like Dolph losing on Smackdown, and I could see that tonight was a supposed win, but for the most part, the wrestling has been on point. All three of these guys can go, and Del Rio has looked solid with both Swagger and Ziggler. I’m extremely anxious to see the time given and the match come the PPV. I can’t wait.
CESARO: That long awaited push seems to be back on track, and this time with a fancy new hat! I don’t know what will come of this, but it appears that they want to try and repair what damage has been done with Cesaro. I don’t fully believe it – I mean, how can one buy a dude who has lost so frequently saying that there’s no more competition. But we’ll suspend belief for now and see where they are going with Cesaro.
ATE UP WITH STUPID: Mark Henry is amazing, and if I could have one match a week where he is on commentary telling Cole to shut up, I’d be the happiest of men. The promo where he called the crowd puppets was great, and the aftermath of the match Sheamus had (which, itself was so sadly wRong) was awesome. The good thing about Sheamus’ skin is the obvious nature in which blemishes and the like show up. The ass-whoopin Henry put on him made me more excited than I already was to see these guys go at it. During Smackdown and last week I complained of the dumb ass kiddy games and strong man competitions they were playing. This week, I got exactly what I wanted – a continuation of two grown ass behemoths just knocking each other silly.
RYBACK RULES: Ryback Rules still sounds stupid, but that’s really the only issue I have with the character as it stands. He had a serviceable match with Kane, and The Shield has found a way to be intertwined into numerous storylines without feeling overbearing or annoying. Ryback standing tall is what needs to go down – even if there is still no doubt that Cena’s winning.
THE CHAMP IS HERE: Ah, the ol Cena opening, complete with outdated jokes, unfunny segues, and just the Riiight amount of seriousness. The segment was needed to set up Extreme Rules stipulations, but I feel they could have done it backstage or something because this was a back to the norm step with Cena and his story time. Whoever writes his jokes must understand that they are just…not funny. It’s so easy to discern what is written for Cena and what he comes up with on his own, because more often than not, Cena’s asides have some legit humor, but throwing out DTF and granny panties jokes are something not even my little brothers find funny…
FAN-DAN-GO: I couldn’t really find much bad to say here other than the fact that Fandango needs a program and it appears they are continuing the one with Jericho. I think Summer Rae is pretty hot, but this chick here fits the “dancer” bill better, and she has a face that resembles “girlfriend of heel” much better than Summer did. I know, it’s miniscule, and means nothing, but I feel her presence adds more than Summer’s. I suppose we’re getting a dance-off of some sort in the future, and I don’t mind it too badly since Jericho seems to be able to pull off almost anything. I guess I’m just rambling at this point since it is what it is…
KOFI AND USOS: You know, it’s not that the match was bad here, it was just boring. I think what bothered me the most was the fact that Cole and Co. continually tried to convince me that The Usos and Kofi Kingston may very well be able to hand The Shield their first loss….I mean, really? Come on! Seriously, I know it’s their job, but I didn’t need that. The match picked up a bit when Kofi got in there, and I liked the allusion to a possible yearning for gold that The Shield has been portraying, but other than that…meh.
BROCK SMASH!: First of all, this thing went on waaaay too long, and to be honest the only saving grace was Heyman’s little snide remarks. I especially LOVED the Brock v Rock tease, and so did the crowd. Heyman’s continual in-jokes worked but everything else dragged on, and during the BROCK SMASH segment, I can’t help but feel that everything Heyman said – with the exception of the final two seconds – was done in post-production. That, coupled with the fact that I feel the office itself was built solely to be destroyed – came off as the W’s tryin too hard. I don’t think this was needed, but I get why they did it. I simply feel it dragging on hurt the entire thing.
LADIES: I think I’ve said it before (and surely, I’m not the only one), but it’s unfortunate that the only reason we are seeing the ladies get a push is due to another TV show that will have little to do with wrestling, but here we are. Seeing AJ in the ring makes me happy. Cameron should probably just…not ever wrestle again. The Bellas are complete bitches, and Kaitlyn never did pick up her phone after reading a dumb text message. I was nonplussed by it all save for AJ’s lovely pin attempts, but I can at least enjoy the fact that the ladies have something to do….even if they don’t do it all that well
INTERNCONTINENTAL CHAMPION: They couldn’t have chosen ANYONE else to face Sheamus for a minute or two before Henry laid it in on him? This is just sad – not only for Wade, but also for the IC Title that they seem to not have any clue what to do with. A damn shame, and something so easily fixed…
NOTHING
This is another pretty good RAW, and I think that’s about three in a row. I fear that even with the high ratings I’m giving RAW, however, that it still feels somewhat banal, and I don’t understand why. Nonetheless, I enjoyed tonight’s show and am growing more and more interested in the PPV. SHOW RATING: 8.0 |
New Japan Pro Wrestling Dontaku iPPV
By: Larry Csonka
Sorry I didn’t get to do a full review of the show, but time constraints are a bitch. Anyway, along with the New Japan Cup iPPV, this is one of the weaker iPPV offerings from New Japan Pro Wrestling. It had a mostly solid undercard, but lacked that big blow away match that has been on most NJPW shows. Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki was a good main event, but not at the level of the Tanahashi main events. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Karl Anderson wasn’t as good as their iPPV offering from earlier in the year, but a good addition to the card. Shelton Benjamin had a good outing and looked motivated out there, while Masato Tanaka vs. Tomoaki Honma and Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero vs. Alex Shelley & Kushida were fun, but a little under whelming. This one isn’t a must see show by any means, but an off show for NJPW is still a solid show. Show Rating: 7.0 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
YEAR IN REVIEW (PPV) by Larry Csonka:
TOP PPVs:
TOP PPV MATCHES:
Have you checked out the Csonka Podcasting Network? If you haven’t, you should We run anywhere from 15-20 shows a month, discussing pro wrestling, the world of MMA, the NBA, general sports, popular TV series of the past, bad movies, battle rap, interviews, MMA & Wrestling conference calls and more! Around 10 different personalities take part in the various shows, which all have a different feel; so you’ll likely find something you like. All of the broadcasts are free, so go ahead and give a show a try and share the link with your friends on the Twitter Machine and other social media outlets! Running since May of 2011, there are currently over 300 shows in the archive for you to listen to.
Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it…TO CSONKA’S TWITTER!
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma
More Trending Stories
- Note On Why First Swerve Strickland Promo As World Champ Was Saved For Collision
- Tony Khan Reportedly Wearing Neck Brace Backstage After AEW Dynamite Attack
- Thunder Rosa Explains Her Issues With Deonna Purrazzo, Says Purrazzo is ‘Bitter’
- WWE Announces Draft Rules & Talent Pools, Champions on Each Brand Are Now Protected
