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Wrestling’s 4R’s 6.10.13: TNA Impact & WWE Smackdown Reviewed – Plus The Updated 2013 PPV Rankings
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 6.06.13:
By: Maxwell Baumbach
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
Rampage and Angle Square Off: While the signing of Rampage Jackson has been polarizing, I felt that his debut segment was fantastic. Kurt Angle is the perfect person to pair him with due to his amateur wrestling background. Plus, when you think about it, if you needed someone to pull a great match out of someone with no pro wrestling experience, Kurt Angle is probably the best choice. I went from being completely disinterested to highly intrigued in Rampage Jackson after this segment.
Everything Mickie James: When Mickie James won the Knockouts Championship, I was puzzled by the booking decision. However, she has run with the ball. Her interactions with Velvet, her phoniness, and constant ducking of the former champion to face sub par competition have made her one of the most compelling heels in all of wrestling. While her match with Taeler Hendrix was just there, the way Mickie acted throughout the match and the finish further developed her character.
Sabin, Storm, and Gunner vs. King, Roode, and Aries: One thing you have to love about TNA is the sheer amount of talented workers on their roster. By taking six guys who are involved with each other in storyline and letting them go out and wrestle for a good amount of time, TNA put on compelling television. The action was hot and heavy, and the stories of all six men were brought up throughout the match. I liked how the camera focused on Sabin after the match, and it is good that they are devoting focus to him heading into his eventual title shot.
Motivated Samoa Joe: TNA has breathed new life into the Samoa Joe character. His squash of Robbie E was compelling, and Joe looked like he wanted to be out there. I’m excited to see him in the Bound for Glory Series, and to be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing him win the whole thing if he continues to be this motivated.
Brooke Hogan is Torn: Though I will get to the finish of the main-event later on, I thought that Brooke Hogan’s character was great throughout the entire show. Her reaction to Taryn asking if she loved Bully, and the way that she stopped her father from attacking him with a hammer have added a lot of questions surrounding the trajectory of her character. TNA has found a way to make Brooke interesting, and I am interested to see where her character ends up going.
The momentum of Taryn Terrell: Taryn Terrell had one of the best matches of 2013 on Sunday. Rather than giving her an interview segment or hinting at what could be next for her, she was used as a prop to further the Brooke/Bully storyline. Her and Gail went through great bodily harm to put on an unbelievably entertaining contest that fans won’t forget for a long time. Both of their characters, particularly Taryn, could have built up more momentum in segments this week, but that was not the case.
Where is AJ Styles?: AJ Styles, who has received a lot of focus as of late and is primed to be in a prominent role in the future, was nowhere to be seen this week, and to my knowledge, was not even mentioned. I could understand keeping him off the show, but I would have liked some sort of update on what he is up to or what plans he has in the future.
Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy Hammer Ladder Match: Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy had a great 4/5ths of a match, but the finish did not take place. This was a fun match before the abrupt ending. Hopefully TNA won’t forget that this happened, and this feud can continue.
Hernandez vs. Chavo Guerrero: While I’m glad that TNA is going to give Hernandez a shot in the Bound for Glory Series, I wish that he had gone over his tag team partner in more impressive fashion. I can understand wanting to keep Chavo strong, but I don’t think it would have been harmful for him to go down to a Border Toss.
The Devon/Abyss/Joseph Park/Knux saga: This was by far the worst segment of the show. I know that TNA has been loving the slow burn as of late, and those can be good, but the whole Joseph Park thing needs to be wrapped up soon. The segment in the parking lot with Abyss dragging off Knux and jumping Devon, then saying he would take the title into the Abyss was like something out of an awful horror movie.
NOTHING
TNA put on one of the best episodes of Impact in quite a while this week. From start to finish, everything was pretty compelling. The follow-ups from Slammiversary were solid, and we got a lot of character progression. I’m quite excited to see where many of these storylines are headed. Additionally, the six-man tag provided some great in-ring action. If you haven’t already checked out this episode, it’s worth going a bit out of your way to see. Show Rating: 7.5 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
By: Tony Acero
QUICK RESULTS
– Curtis Axel Defeated Chris Jericho [**1/2]
– Kane Defeated Ryback via DQ [*]
– Fandango Defeated Zack Ryder [1/2*]
– Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton Defeated Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns via DQ [***1/2]
THE SHIELD: And as the sole Right thing going on with the show, The Shield and the main event stand tall. A solid affair between some people that just know how to go, and an interesting ending to the show. Is this the beginning of an Orton heel turn? I don’t know, but if it is then yay! Bryan got to be his usual howsa-fiyah, and the dissension of one team shows the cohesiveness of another. A great main event that got some good time and capped an otherwise lackluster episode with a nice feather.
MIZ TV: I must first preface this by saying I really liked the progression of Daniel Bryan’s character here, but I feel there was far too much wRong to give it a pass. First off, Miz is a horrible, horrible character, and yet again, I felt like this entire segment could have been done (and probably better) without him there. He adds nothing to their conversation, and his “instigative investigation” attitude is tired and nonsensical. It really feels like he is trying too hard, and that’s a damn shame. I thought that even though Kane did a good enough job, his yelling was over the top. Orton was cool, Bryan was cool, but Miz wasn’t needed and this all could have been done without him there. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy Bryan, or the segment for that matter, and it also set up Kane leaving which helped to set up the “TAG TEAM MATCH, PLAYA” but I think it all could have been done…without The Miz.
JERICHO AND AXEL: I’m still not sold on Axel’s rise, but going against Jericho – and getting a win over him – was a good coup. I think what I enjoyed the most, however, was the Punk tease. Logically, it doesn’t make sense. But I didn’t read the spoilers, and having Heyman enthusiastically stand atop the table and point, saying “It’s Clobbering Time” had me excited as all fuck. The music hit and I popped as loud as the crowd, thinking this was a hell of a surprise. Of course, it was simply a tease, but it worked. It got me! I place this in puRgatory mainly because Axel still hasn’t won me over, and I’m not 100% sure how I feel about Jericho coming back in to give the kid the Codebreaker. Thing is, there’s a part of me that wants to say it’s just fine, but there’s another that claims it didn’t need to be done. What do YOU guys think?
DEL RIO: I feel this was just put on to let you know Del Rio is the No 1 Contender, can take on a trio of dudes, and Dolph is coming back. Other than that, this was relatively pointless. And I still hate Heath Slater.
RYBACK V KANE: The match wasn’t bad, exactly, but man Ryback looked pretty weak in there with Kane. I think what most upset me was Cole trying to sell him like a beast of a man when the struggle was real. Cole is screaming that Ryback picks Kane up with ease, when one could obviously see that Ryback was struggling big time, and Kane had to do a bulk of the work to keep the image looking good. Look, I wouldn’t even attempt to do what Ryback does, and he is a strong ass man, but don’t try to sell me shit and call it gold, Cole.
SHEAMUS: This segment was on its way to the wRong section before Damien finally got the upperhand and put a convincing enough beatdown on Sheamus’s ass. Sandow bringing out Deep Blue was funny, silly, and worked with his character. Once Sheamus came out, we all knew what was going down. We knew his “move” was going to be the Brogue Kick. It was predictable and unfunny. And to be honest, it wasn’t even Sheamus’s turn, it was Deep Blue’s! Geez…
FANDANGO SQUASH: Just something to move the storyline along and get Fandango a convincing win over someone.
NOTHING
NOTHING
A whole lot of talking went on in tonight’s episode, and not all of it was that compelling. I think they advanced a lot of storylines, which is cool, but did it in a somewhat blase way. The crowd was hot, but one could never fully trust the blue brand’s crowds, right? Solid main event, another good showing from Axel, and we’ve got progression, but other than that a pretty puRgatory-type SD. SHOW RATING: 7.0 |
YEAR IN REVIEW (PPV) by Larry Csonka:
TOP PPVs:
TOP PPV MATCHES:
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