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Wrestling’s 4Rs 1.27.14: WWE Smackdown & TNA Impact 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 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 1.23.14:
By: Irfan Alam
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
THE RIGHT:
“Real champion vs. Paper champion” was set up right: It was earlier revealed that the mysterious investor had requested someone to be in Sting’s corner in the main event. The in-ring portion of the show started with Magnus(along with Spud and EC3) mocking Sting, saying how he put his career on the line for a shot at the title, only to indulge in politics with a mystery investor in order to get a man in his corner. Magnus thought that he had a deal with a man. Sting comes out and (sarcastically) mentions how Magnus honored his deal with AJ Styles. Magnus says that this isn’t about him, it is about Sting, and asks how much he paid the investors for this. Sting clarifies that he doesn’t know any investors, and that he won’t sell out like Magnus did, anyway. He was just told that he’ll get someone in his corner, and that’s what he is going to get. Magnus now reminds Sting that it is No DQ, No Countout, in tonight’s match which means Sting will have to pin him or make him submit, which he can’t really do, as evidenced from their Bound for Glory match in which Magnus made Sting tap out. Sting admits that, but says that he got his head back into the game and watched the tape of that match afterwards. Sting says that he now knows Magnus better than Magnus himself and that is what separates real champions from paper champions. He says that Magnus never won or earned anything, and that he traded honor for greed. A “paper champion” chant starts as Sting says that Magnus has lost the respect of everybody. At that point Magnus slaps Sting in the face, which is followed by a brawl in which Samoa Joe makes the save for Sting, who then announces Joe as the man standing in his corner. This segment served its purpose. In a relatively short opening promo, we got clarification from Sting as it pertains to his connections with the investor, the history of Sting/Magnus was hyped, the “paper champion” character of Magnus was built more, and Samoa Joe’s eventual rise to the title picture was developed, all the while hyping the main event perfectly. And the facial expressions of Rockstar Spud through all of this was just golden (more on that in the next point).
The night-long themes live on: I like it when a wrestling show has an overarching theme that glues the viewers throughout the night. The show having AJ/Magnus’ match had the overarching theme of Dixie systematically eliminating AJ’s friends and it worked in making the whole show a more cohesive entertainment option. While this week’s show didn’t have such a large overarching theme, the frustrations of Dixie and the importance of Sting/Magnus were built throughout the night. Dixie is super-concerned about this new investor group as we open the show. When we later learn that Joe is going to be in Sting’s corner, Spud freaks out in front of Dixie, and she puts her in a match against Joe. This is not typical of Dixie(putting a Dixieland member in a 1 on 1 match against Joe without even any apparent backup plans), and that’s why it solidifies our perception that she is just plain frustrated with the investor situation, to the point that she doesn’t even want to think/care much anymore about anything else. Spud, on the other hand, remains entertaining throughout the night, and his facial expressions(especially during the opening promo of Magnus and in the backstage promo with EC3) have been golden. Spud is really portraying his character well. Joe decimates Spud in their match, and it builds Joe’s position in the main event as a force against Dixieland. Besides Joe, Kurt Angle is also shown very concerned about Sting, and all of that prepares us for the eventual main event. A night-long build up towards the main event, which also manages to encompass other arcs of the current storyline is something, which I would like to see more in the coming weeks.
puRgatoRy:
James Storm vs. Gunner: This was a briefcase on the pole match. The match was very intense while it lasted. We got some good top rope moves including a very sick-looking hurricanrana-type head scissors by Storm on Gunner. After that, Storm was able to get to the briefcase, but Gunner immediately hit him with a top rope electric chair, which made the case slip out of Storm’s hands and fly into the ring. Storm and Gunner were both down on the mat, and by the time Storm realized where the case was, Gunner stopped him from reaching it: he punched and head butted Storm while laying on the mat to shut him down and finally grab the case in the ring. Storm was very disappointed as Gunner celebrated in front of him. This match could easily have been in “The Right” section had it lasted a few minutes more. It seemed as if it was shortened severely, which is a shame as these two had a certain chemistry in the ring during the little time they got tonight. Their intensity was top notch, but the short time allotted to them marred the match and it can’t be above “PuRgatory”.
Angle vs. Roode was nothing special and felt very mechanical: This was supposed to be the culmination of a 4-month long feud. It was a steel cage match, which is almost a Kurt Angle specialty now. They got a lot of time, and had all of the classic Kurt Angle cage moments (including his infamous moonsault from the top of the cage, which he again missed in this match), but somehow the match never felt naturally booked to me. The flow/sequence of moves wasn’t properly planned in my opinion, and that led many moments look out of place. Many moves felt like they were just done because fans would expect those moves in this match, but those moves were never built within the match, It all felt so, random, for lack of a better word. Angle won the match by beating Roode(who was trying to escape through the door) in a chase by escaping through the top of the cage. Technically and intensity-wise, the match was solid, and it could have been much better had they went with a more methodical match instead of the continuous big-spot style.
Sting vs. Magnus and his goons: I don’t think anyone would expect this main event to be a good match, and most must have been praying that we at least get a decent match. I am not sure if it managed to be decent enough, but it at least contained a proper(as in he applied the pressure properly this time) Scorpion Deathlock by Sting, which was good to see after his lame attempts at the submission move recently. There were the usual Dixieland interferences, which Joe managed to overcome initially, but Angle had to hit the ring later to balance the odds. Towards the end of the match, Magnus avoided a Stinger Splash, which knocked out the referee. As Sting turned around, he was greeted by Magnus flying from the top rope, but Sting managed to catch him in mid-air for a Scorpion Deathlock. Magnus started tapping when Sting exerted more pressure, but there was no referee at that time. Bobby Roode came out and hit a brutal clothesline(without his elbow pad) on Sting from behind(while he was applying the lock). Magnus then hit his weak-looking finishing move and covered Sting, while Dixie Carter forced Earl Hebner to go into the ring. Hebner reluctantly counted 3 and it was all over for Sting. Magnus then celebrated in the ring with EC3 and Dixie, as he ripped up Sting’s contract and sprinkled the pieces over Sting body. Tenay says it’s the end of an era as the cameras fade. As I wrote above, the match was nothing to write home about, which means it shouldn’t be put into “The Right” section as it was simply not that good. The only good thing about this match is that they are least maintaining consistent booking of Magnus as a paper champion. Once he had that final match with Styles, going back to a decent wrestling champion would hurt Magnus’ current character. I expect all of Magnus’ future matches to be just as much interference-ridden, and the onus is on the competitors to make the matches as entertaining as they can despite the interferences, as not having these interferences would not be a good booking choice now. Styles had a certain energy flowing in his last match 2 weeks ago, which managed to accomplish this feat, and we have to see if others can replicate that. Another random observation is how Dixie was literally dancing with Sting’s contract after the match. This was in contradiction to the fact that it was she who was about to offer him that contract in the first place. If she had kind of decided to sign him even after so much contemplation(and negative recommendation from her champ Magnus), then she shouldn’t be that much happy to tear the same contract now. It is not a major point, but I think Dixie just standing there without showing much emotion would have worked better.
THE wRong:
Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin: We are shown an Impact365 video before this match, in which Sabin has sent Velvet a gift box with an apologetic note, requesting her to bring the gifts to Impact this week. When she opened the packet, there was a teddy bear and a metallic pipe inside it, which caught her off-guard and she turned the web cam off. Back in Huntsville, Velvet indeed comes with a colorful bag as we start the match, while she goes into the small cage at ringside. The match itself was barely decent for an X-Division title match, and along with the short time allotted to it, Velvet Sky hurt the match too much. For starters, the cameraman had to focus on her after every few seconds, which never let the action in the ring to feel like something of importance. After around 4 minutes of competing, Sabin reaches out to Velvet to get the gift. She gives him the packet but it only has the teddy bear in it(no pipe) and the distraction allows Aries to hit Sabin with a series of moves, punctuated by a brain-buster followed by the pin and the win. Velvet isn’t bothered much by the finish, and she gives Aries a thumbs up from the cage as we finish the segment. The match may have been okay if it was someone like Rockstar Spud instead of Chris Sabin. But Sabin’s current character is just not as goofy as they made it out to be tonight. The entire premise of the match was goofy to begin with, and it was topped by the fact that Sabin had to rely on a pipe, which Velvet carried to a cage around ringside. A pipe inside a cage, despite all the other weapons much more easily available under the ring anyway! While the match was sacrificed to show more drama involving Velvet, it wasn’t even worth it, since no character development was actually accomplished here, and the cunning character of Sabin is now much weaker after the match. His relationship with Velvet(in kayfabe) is all but over, but the things haven’t been presented in a way that many would be looking forward to the fallout.
BroMans are boring, and so is Abyss: The BroMans and DJ Zema Ion were in the ring to cut a random promo, filled with lame hashtag jokes and irritating voices, which they called a “bro-ment:”. Robbie says that Ion will cash in the Feast or Fired case and become the next X-Division champion and the BroMans will basically rule in 2014. Ion takes the mic and tries to put over Robbie and Jesse as the greatest tag team champions ever, and says that Eric Young and Joseph Park are going down with the bro-down. EY then comes out to brawl with the trio, but as the numbers get to him, Abyss returns to make a save with all of his signature moves: the chokeslam, black hole slam and shock treatment. He then grabs EY for a chokeslam, but the crowd yells a “No” chant as Abyss releases the hold to finish the segment. The promo was very irritating for whatever short amount of time that it got. And the random Abyss sightings these days aren’t doing much help to progress this already mess of a storyline with Joseph Park. It must have ended by now, but is still somehow continuing without any apparent logic. EY/Park and BroMans have a tag team title match next week, and this is a case where I feel that no buildup would really have been better than the buildup that we got tonight.
THE RIDICULOUS:
Mysterious investor is still mysterious, but will be revealed in Scotland: We open the show with Dixie and Spud(soon to be joined by Magnus also) backstage along with a “high-powered attorney” called Creed who says that someone has been methodically buying TNA’s stocks for the last couple of months, and he is almost steadying up for a hostile takeover now. Dixie mentions how the board of directors chose this day for the meeting, while knowing that she would be here for the TV taping. We learn that the new investors are more interested in the wrestling side of the business, and Dixie and her goons must cooperate. Creed mentions that they have specifically asked someone to be in Sting’s corner, hearing which Magnus proposes to make the match a No DQ/No Countout match so that there is no chance of any excuses afterwards. Creed says that he should be able to sell that idea to the investors, as we finish the scene. We then get a vignette from The Wolves later in the show, which basically informs us that they are just the start of a new genesis in this company. They are aligned with the investors, who will be revealed next week, LIVE from Scotland.
As I mentioned last week, a suspension of disbelief is simply not enough for this investor storyline. Whatever I wrote about it last week remains valid this week too. While it was already bad when Dixie, the president of the whole company, didn’t even know last week that some new investor had got as much control in the company as to hand out new contracts, the level of bad dipped even lower when we learnt that she could still not even find out who the investor was, after 7 freaking days. We got a cool vignette from 2 (still unknown to a majority of TNA viewers) guys that the investor would be revealed next week, like it was some kind of a tag team partner reveal. Come on TNA, this is much more serious, and I expected this to be played out in a more mature/sensible way. For now, I can only hope that this leads to someone major being revealed as the investor, but I have a feeling I’ll be disappointed next week(I am having a deja vu feeling connecting this reveal to the Aces and 8s’ reveal at BFG 2012, which only turned out to be Devon).
The 411:
This week’s show had a lot more wrestling than any recent Impacts, in terms of pure minutes. However, if you look at the quality of the wrestling, there isn’t much to write about. Angle/Roode stands out among the matches tonight, as it had some insane moments, but I expected a more methodical match from these two. Gunner still has the Feast or Fired World Title case, while we don’t know what Storm’s next move will be. The X-Division title changed hands for the third time in six weeks, and it is almost an afterthought to a ridiculous storyline with Velvet Sky now. Sting apparently had his last match in TNA for the time being, and it was nothing special, but at least it wasn’t bad. And this is the story of the whole show this week. Nothing special, but at least not bad either. Okay, the investor storyline IS bad, and I would like to request anyone to explain in the comments if a company’s(a privately-owned company at that) president can theoretically be oblivious to who the majority investors in her company are, in case I am wrong in my assessment of this being the weakest point in the storyline. Speaking of investors, they will be revealed in a LIVE(well LIVE in the UK) Impact episode from Scotland next week, and I am just hoping to not get disappointed this time. For this week’s show, I am giving it a rating which is very near the average mark, but never quite touches it, because the show was just “not so good”. I am liking the more methodical flow of the shows in recent weeks, but the other aspects need improvement if they are to get a better than average review.Show Rating: 5.8
As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect
Smackdown 1.24.14
By: Daniel Clark
QUICK MATCH RESULTS:
THE RIGHT:
Big Show and Rey Mysterio vs. The Real Americans: The Real American are just treading water at the moment and have no real direction, but they remain over due to the antics of Zeb Colter, the catchphrase of “we the people”, and the Cesaro swing, which means they are in a perfect position to be used in a fashion to get people over. The Big Show and Rey Mysterio could be a good tag team down the line if that is something that they pursue with the classic big man, little man team, with Rey playing the face-in-peril and the Big Show cleaning house. The match itself was a pretty decent match, and the Big Show looked like an absolute beast when he came in and just took out Cesaro and Swagger with ease, which given he is facing Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, he has to be booked like this so keep up the façade that he could beat Lesnar. Zeb Colter’s facial reaction throughout the match are also fantastic, while Paul Heyman’s promo was nothing special, but just hammered home the match at the PPV this Sunday. An excellent start to the show, which had a good match, enhanced the talent in the match and build towards a match at the PPV.
The 10 man tag: Initially this seemed to be a slightly strange choice to have as the main event segment for the go-home show ahead of a PPV, with none of the ten men involved really be featured too heavily at the Rumble and certainly are not in contention to win the match, but by the end of the match, it started to make sense as the only thing that really could close the show with John Cena, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar not on the show and CM Punk’s promo not being one that could close a show. The match itself was a reasonably good match, with a good control segment on Cody Rhodes, and the Shield and the Outlaws worked well as a team in the match, before the match got really good once the hot tag to Goldust had been made and then the match just broke down into a series of finishers, in particular, the spear that Reigns hit on Langston looked wonderful. The Shield then cause the DQ which leads to the traditional ending of the show before the Royal Rumble with the mass brawl in the ring involving the competitors who are involved in the Rumble match, which is the way that the show before the Rumble has to end to. Only
issue with the brawl would be that other than CM Punk, there wasn’t anyone who ran into the ring who you would actually give a second thought to as a potential Rumble winner, so there is a lack of depth at the top end of the card in terms of people pushing into the main event.
Randy Orton/John Cena video package: If you knew nothing of the feud between these two and had just watched this video package, you would be very hyped up for their title match on Sunday, as the video made the feud between them look very dramatic and much more of a feud that what has actually taken place. A very good video package that showcased the feud.
The Shield promo: Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns have perfectly got the hang of these short little backstage promos and in the space of just a few sentences have the ability to put over what they need to. In this case, they managed to put themselves over by promoting themselves as well as making the Rumble match seemed very important. The closing statement with Roman Reigns stating that he will win the match and go on to main event WrestleMania is the kind of thing you would expect from them, but the best part was the subtle look from Rollins and Ambrose that they don’t necessarily agree with him saying that but do not want to challenge him about it as they do not want to confront him. These backstage insets prove that even with just one minute of mic time, if you say the right things, that is all you need to get yourself over.
The Wyatts/Daniel Bryan: The match between the Wyatts and the Prime Time Players was nothing more than a quick squash to put over the Wyatt family, and the clothesline that Luke Harper hit to win the match looks very impressive. Bray’s promo that he cut on Daniel Bryan was not necessarily anything particularly new, but made sense in the context of the feud. Daniel Bryan’s words were good and well delivered and I liked the way that he seems to be trying to get into the head of Bray Wyatt and make himself come across as a monster, and the crowd were into Bryan as usual and keen to get involved in the “yes” chant. Get the feeling that this feud might be coming to a close at the Rumble as Bryan is probably going to move on to something different for WrestleMania, and would need to have this feud wrapped up reasonably soon.
puRgatoRy:
Fandango vs. Kofi Kingston: Kofi and Fandango are both men who have talent, but at the moment, are directionless in the grand scheme of things and with the returns for WrestleMania season happening, these two are only going to get more lost in the shuffle, but Kofi has history of doing brilliant things at the Rumble to avoid elimination, and given how the commentators talked about this during the match and his inset promo before the match, something is being planned for Kofi at the Rumble and thus he needs to get the win to continue to put him over. Match itself never really had a chance to get going with it being short, but was okay. The question for Kofi would be whether his push will continue after the Rumble and his miraculous escape from the match, or whether he will just fade back into the midcard as he has been for the last year.
CM Punk and Kane: Something about this promo from CM Punk just seemed a little bit flat and in particular, the ending, just came a bit too soon with Punk just saying that he is going to win the Rumble because he is the best in the world. I felt that the work from Kane, especially with the extended run of zeros when stating Punk’s odds of winning the match was really good and the continuing run on the promo made it all the better. For all the focus that is happening on Punk winning the Rumble, as really, only him and Batista have been put across as potential winners, Punk appears to be more involved in a feud with HHH and the authority as to where he is going to end up at WrestleMania, so stacking the deck totally against Punk is on this occasion, likely to work.
THE wRong:
Rybaxel vs. Los Matedores: All four men in this match have had some kind of push over the last year and have failed to capitalize on it through a lack of ability to connect to the crowd, and this match sort of showcased this when the only person who was really over was El Torito, and he is a mascot who doesn’t wrestle. Match itself wasn’t particularly good, but mainly was forgettable and bland and other than my note about the match that it ended with a rollup, I can’t remember anything about it at all. Just not a match that really needed to happen on the show and when it did, none of them managed to take advantage of it and put on something worth watching.
AJ vs. Cameron: Sets up the match with Naomi, but this match was not very good and was quite sloppy, and the shining wizard to end the match looked horrible and you needed a replay to understand what the move that she hit to finish the match was. It also added nothing to the feud that hadn’t already taken place on Raw and so this match/segment didn’t really need to exist to promote Naomi’s title match.
THE RIDICULOUS:
The Miz vs. Brodus Clay: A match between two people who the creative team appears to have no idea what do with when it should not be that hard. Brodus Clay’s heel turn should have been one of the easiest things to book. He gets tired of being the Funkasarous and being a comedy figure, so turns heel and goes on a tear of just beating up people and becoming the monster heel he initially was. Instead, he was lost all seven matches since he turned heel, losing this one to a DDT of all moves after just over a minute of wrestling, and has been treated as a way of getting Xavier Woods over, which is terrible move as Woods is one of the worst characters the WWE have had in recent years. And then there is the Miz who was getting stale as a heel, so at the end of 2012 he was turned face. But after initial success, the Miz as a face experiment sort of stalled and went nowhere, partly because the Miz just has the look and the attitude of someone who you would love to hate rather than love and so it was clear he needed to turn heel. But despite flirtation with a heel turn, he remains a face and is going nowhere quickly unless he does turn heel. And then we get to Bad News Barrett, who after promoting the main event, says this is one of the worst matches in the history of the WWE, leads a chant of Miz is awful (who is the face in this match), and criticizing the wrestlers during the match. Now quite what that is supposed to achieve I’m unsure as it was burying the match and the wrestlers inside of it, and killing any momentum that the Miz could have as a face, because if as it looks like, the Miz and Barrett could feud after this, the fans are likely to take the side of Barrett who at the moment, is playing a bad guy. (although, given his comments on AJ Lee on Raw, there may be a subtle testing of him as a face in this role, or just a tweener who just says it like it is and tries to wind up everyone). The whole segment was a bit of a mess, didn’t really do anything positive to anyone in the ring, and the match, partly due to the Barrett situation was bad. But… it was one of the most entertaining segments on the show, in the same way that NXT Season 3 was utterly brilliant when the commentary team were allowed to say whatever they wanted and treated it as a bit of a joke, this was entertaining and this version of Bad News Barrett is someone that I really want to see more of, and him interrupting matches and telling wrestlers that they are rubbish and criticizing what they are doing would be great television. Hard to really put this in a category really, as it can’t be considered good due to the burial that was taking place, nor did it really make much sense in the grand scheme of things, but it damn sure was fun to watch.
The 411:
With the Royal Rumble on Sunday, they did a good job of hyping up the show, and all of the matches that are taking place on the show had some useful build towards them, even if in the case of John Cena vs. Randy Orton, neither were on the show, but the video package arguably did a better job of selling their feud that the two of them could have done. But the one match that wasn’t really build up to was the Royal Rumble match itself, as the only two stories heading into the match seem to be Batista returning and wanting to win it (which with Batista not on the show, got no build at all), and CM Punk feuding with the authority and entering at number one, with 28 other men being in the match, but not really have had the time to announce that they are trying to win the match, which was partly seen in the show-closing brawl, with only CM Punk of the participants in it even having a small chance of winning the match. However, despite the fact that each match for the Rumble had some build attached to it on the show, there was nothing that they did that was a key part of the feud and everything felt like a small add-on rather than an essential necessity, and had you not watched this episode, nothing about the matches at the Rumble would appear different and would not have missed anything crucial. For instance, the Big Show came out of his tag team match looking a bit stronger than he did beforehand, but perhaps not enough that it really changes the dynamic of his match with Brock Lesnar.Of the seven matches on the show, only two of them lasted long enough to really get into, but both of these matches were reasonably good, particularly the show opener, which was the match of the night and managed to consist of good wrestling and story development at the same time and even though the Big Show has no chance of beating Brock Lesnar, just paying attention to what has been happening on TV though, he would be a threat to him.
The fact that there were five very short matches drags the episode down a little bit though as none of them had long enough to get going, and some of the were not needed at all and the time on them could have gone to other matches, such as giving Fandango/Kingston five minutes to put together a better TV match than they did.
With the Royal Rumble and the Road to WrestleMania beginning, the WWE may have to start to use Smackdown more to promote and build feuds, but nothing that they did on this show really changed, or advanced in a meaningful way, any of the feuds that are taking place.
But the episode itself was fairly inoffensive, and with a couple of decent matches, was okay enough for a TV show, but perhaps not enough with the Royal Rumble on Sunday, this show wouldn’t be the difference to make you buy the PPV if you were wavering about it.
Show Rating: 6.0
As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect
…
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