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Wrestling’s 4Rs 11.22.13: WWE Raw & DGUSA on 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: Jack Stevenson
Raw 11.18.13:
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
THE RIGHT:
The Big Show vs. Ryback: It appears the more I start to like Ryback, the more I see headlines on 411 like “EVERYONE IN WWE HATES RYBACK, WANTS HIM TO DIE IN A FIRE OR AT LEAST JOB TO KOFI KINGSTON A BIT.” A shame, because he’s a convincing bully with a nice line in cocky swagger, and in the ring he’s pretty impressive- his Shellshock to Show was fantastic, and the rest of the match, while not a white knuckle thrill-ride or anything, was pretty good for what it was. #prayforryback
Kofi Kingston & The Miz vs. The Real Americans: WWE gave happy go lucky super swell around nice guy Miz a good try, and to be honest I didn’t think he was all that bad in the role, but it’s the right decision, the best move for everyone to re-align him as a rule-breaker again. The mix of sarcastic shock and unrestrained glee as he refused the tag from Kingston was in and of itself more entertaining and meaningful than everything Miz has done in WWE over the last year combined, and hopefully he can now return to being an entertaining, vaguely upper card presence once again.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Damian Sandow: I’m an enthusiastic supporter of goofy, over the top brawls, and this was just about goofy and over the top enough to get a right. It dragged on longer than I’d expected or desired, and the weapon use wasn’t particularly creative, but it mostly entertained, and I forgave its sins completely once Sandow’s head was swallowed by a gigantic drum.
12 Man Tag: This was superb, probably the best Raw match since Daniel Bryan-Antonio Cesaro in July. We got some tremendous tension between the Shields and the Wyatts, a great heat segment with Daniel Bryan, a red hot finishing stretch… it had pretty much everything you could ask for from this kind of match. And then Rey Mysterio came back! A tentative yaaaaaay! I love Rey Mysterio to bits, he was my favorite wrestler when I was small, the first wrestler to ever make my jaw drop, and still to this day in my personal favorite top three ever. But he’s got to have been wrestling for about 20 years now hasn’t he? How long can he keep going before he loses ‘it,’ or worse, his knees? I don’t want him hobbling around in agony when he’s an old man, although it might be too late for those kind of worries anyway. I don’t approve of WWE rushing him back at all. Still, this was a wonderful match.
Random Rights
- Vickie’s timid “excuse me” while being berated by the Authority was a nice touch. Plus, I really did think Maddox was going to humbly admit responsibility before turning on Vickie.
- The Nashville crowd were excellent, almost the opposite of Manchester last week. Cheered the good guys, booed the bad guys, reacted to nearly everything, and made the show a lot more enjoyable.
- The match was pretty forgettable, but I’m pleased for Big E. Langston, winning the Intercontinental Title. Hopefully this is the start of big things for him.
- Every arena should have a Cesaro section.
- Things that made me smile this week: Vickie Guerrero’s unconvincing faint spells, Heath Slater: Country Music Superstar.
puRgatoRy:
NOTHING
THE WRONG:
The Authority lays down some Authority because they are the Authority: I realized while watching the first 20 minutes or so of this episode that the character in this whole Big Show-The Man storyline I care the most about is Brad Maddox. I like him, I think he’s a decent performer and he played his part well in his match with Randy Orton- the moment where he hit Randy Orton with the microphone was fantastic. Not fantastic enough, however, to salvage this bit of Raw. The Big Show took out Orton in tedious fashion again, which is understandable because if there’s one thing history has ever taught us is that making the same mistake over and over again and expecting different results is very rational and always successful. Will Randy Orton remain the Authority’s ‘face of the WWE?’ Yes, probably. The Big Show and Orton are going to have a depressingly mediocre match this Sunday. Back in September I fucking loved this storyline.
Random Wrongs:
- Despite being English, I’ve thrown myself into the ‘Raw Country’ theme with boundless enthusiasm, and as such I have come up with this insightful observation about country music- the song that went “BOYS ROUND HERE TALK ABOUT GIRLS, DRIVE SOME VEHICLES, SCARED BY SODOMY, CHEW TOBACCO CHEW TOBACCO SPIT” was rather bad.
THE RIDICULOUS:
Musical Chairs: This was fucking embarrassing. Most of the time when people say things like “Daniel Bryan losing a match made me EMBARRASSED to be a wrestling fan” I roll my eyes and sigh, but this was an instance where that reaction would be completely justified. All the women in WWE are jokes who have to do stupid, demeaning stuff like this while Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler giggle along on commentary and go “ooooh what good light-hearted fun!” How could that not embarrass any self-respecting fan?
A much more energetic show than last week at least, though there was still a fair amount of unappetizing action across the three hours. The build to the PPV has been pretty awful, though people acting like this is some great affront to the grand tradition of Survivor Series should realize that if there is such a thing as a ‘Big Four’ these days, it’s Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank and Summerslam. A great 12-man tag in the main event made this show significantly more rewarding, and you should definitely try and check the match out. The rest of the show is take it or leave it. Show Rating: 6.5 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 0 – 0.9: Torture |
Dragon Gate USA Freedom Fight 2013 iPPV
~ They are back in the dungeon, and they still have not learned how to properly light the venue. I love the dungeon feel, but it would help if I could see the action clearly. ~ The live iPPV viewing did NOT go well once again, which is extremely frustrating. Therefore, this will be a limited write up, due to lack of time. Why is it that I can watch an iPPV from Japan and have NO issues, but can’t get the ones from the US to work right? ~ Jimmy Susumu vs. Chuck Taylor started with Taylor getting a hoodie and wearing it, because he knew Susumu hits hard. They did some comedy spots with the hoodie, including Taylor going Flair on it and delivering an elbow drop. This was a Chuck Taylor match, and I mean that in the best way. Good work, good crowd interaction, the comedy (invisible grenade) and Chuck Taylor randomly calling out his moves. This was a very fun match, with good wrestling and the crowd was completely into it. I honestly hadn’t had this much fun watching a match in a while. ~ Jigsaw and Fire Ant vs. The Bravado Brothers vs. Caleb Konley and Andrew Everett was up next. They keep pushing this Larry Dallas angle with Konley, and IT IS NOT WORKING AT ALL. The Bravado Brothers defeated Jigsaw and Fire Ant and Caleb Konley and Andrew Everett in a fun tag match, the Bravados are money and it is about time they are getting more attention. Jigsaw turned on Fire Ant following the match; because he’s a rudo, remember? ~ Anthony Nese defeated Ricochet in a good, but disappointing match. I expected more, but they do not work as well together as I had hoped. This had cool moves and little emotion, but not bad. ~ Rich Swann defeated Trent Baretta in what was the best match on the show up to this point. Swann has had a great 2013, and Baretta continues to deliver on just about every show he’s on. The finishing sequence was especially good from these guys. ~ The Young Bucks defeated Masaaki Mochizuki & AR Fox in another very good match with More Bang For Your Buck. This was another fun match like the previous one, which really shined down the stretch. The Bucks demanded a rematch with the Bravados for the tag titles they lost the night before. The Bravado Brothers arrived, and turned heel on the Bucks, which really doesn’t matter for a compact that doesn’t do all that much to make heels and faces an important part of the booking. But hey, whatever works. ~ The “Roast” of Johnny Gargano was, in my opinion, a very bad segment which killed a lot of the momentum the show had gained. I would love some angle advancement, but not some “WWE-Lite” segment. ~ Open The Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano defeated Chris Hero in a good main event. They did a great job of making you believe Hero had a chance to win the title, and the crowd was great for the match. In a nod to his WWE release, they did a near fall where Gargano hit a pedigree on Hero, who kicked out, and then went batshit with offense. The crowd loved that. Final Thoughts: While the iPPV issues continue to be a major problem, this was a good show overall from a wrestling standpoint. The last three matches are likely worth it for a VOD purchase, especially if you are a fan of those guys. Unfortunately the promotion isn’t really giving me a reason, other than the wrestling, to keep following along. There are angles, but the stories they are attempting to tell just largely aren’t connecting with me. Final Score: 7.4: As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale… 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:
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.
Click the score of the show to go and read my review and or report from that show (if a review of some kind exists).
TOP PPVs:
Ummmmmmmm…
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