Wrestling’s 4R’s 7.06.07: The Impact Marathon Cluster, Cody Rhodes Debuts, Beat the Clock and Pick your Poison Return, The Smackdown-Raw Hybrid Show and More!
Posted by Larry Csonka on 07.06.2007
We’re pretty much back to normal in the land of the R’s and have a lot to discuss!
HUGE PODCAST ANNOUNCEMENT!
The news was broken on the 411 BLIZZOG that the "Tremendous Tirades" Podcast, with Larry Csonka and the Wife will be an official part of 411 very soon. I have talked to Ashish and we plan to host the show ON the site, no more send space, and Ashish is working on having these shows streaming on 411 as well.
The shows will be WEEKLY shows at the very least. Christi and I are going to format the show, so that we have the same rough deal every week.
We will still do the POST PPV Podcasts that everyone has come to love.
We shall also start having more guests from the 411 staff on in the future.
We also plan to work to get some exclusive interviews on the show for the site.
WHAT DO WE NEED FROM YOU?
We need you to keep supporting the project!
We need ASK CHRISTI questions! This will be a regular part of the show from week to week! So we need your participation here!
We need GUEST ideas, both wrestling (within reason) and from 411!
We will have a new show up this weekend.
More details to come!
The 4R's of wRestling
Introduction~!
-Welcome back kids for another edition of Wrestling's 4R's! As always I am Larry Csonka, along with me is my tag team partner "The Whole Geoffin Show" Geoff Eubanks. It is time again for that walk through the wild world of wrestling TV that we take each and every week. We're pretty much back to normal here at R CENTRAL and ready to tackle the week that was in wrestling. As usual, have a snack and drink, it's a long read.
How the 4R's of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 3 R's. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R's all to its own. I then group my 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, Diva searches 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, I cannot speak for Geoff, but my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 4th, 5th or even a 6th R to the column, so beware of those~! I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether very positive or negative.
iMpact!:
iMpact 6.28.07: While there was only the one match, it is amazing that I am able to break it down in the R's format. There was a lot of everything happening here, and it really does all fall into place as I hope to illustrate.
The Right:
Some good, long wrestling - I tend to be the guy that constantly complains about the TNA match time and it was like this show was for me! They get roughly 42-45-minutes of TV time, sans commercials and this week provided us with 29:00 of wrestling! Glory be that was a nice thing to behold, wrestling on a wrestling show. I liked that. I also liked the concept of them going old school and having the one match take up the entire show. It is something they should have tried long ago, before WWE had Cena and HBK go an hour on Raw. But this was a nice long match, they all worked very hard and in the end I thought the effort was very good and the match was a damn fine one. Not the best Impact match ever, sorry guys, but a very good example of stuff they can actually see on PPV from the wrestling quality standpoint. Although there are other issues I had, we'll move onto those now.
puRgatory:
Building feuds for the PPV and such… - While I had problems with this, the one thing we know of is that heading to the PPV we'll have some things lined up.
-Abyss vs. The Coalition: With the addition of Sting into the mix, it appears as if Abyss will battle AJ and Tomko at the PPV. I was really hoping for AJ vs. Abyss, as their past matches have been very good, but this will work. It continues on with the revenge angle Abyss has going with the Coalition and continuity is a good thing. Could Mitchell's new charge debut at the PPV?
-Storm vs. Rhino: Stemming from last week they continued with the Rhino vs. James Storm angle. Storm was one of the 45 men involved in this 3-way match and in the end was the determining factor in Rhino losing. My only concern is that this is YET AGAIN another feud in which both guys desperately need wins and someone has to lose. This is not the best of planning right now.
-Harris vs. Cage: As I mentioned last week, I REALLY like this feud. It is simple, Harris is the reason Cage couldn't hang the belt, Cage feels he is THE champ still and a huge star and wants to put the young buck in his place. I mean, there isn't much else to it and I like that. I feel they will have a good match, Harris is ready I feel and if and when he beats Cage it will be big because while Cage has lost the title twice, he has not been pinned or submitted in TNA thus far. This could be Harris' coming out party as far as the main event goes.
-The reason that this is purgatory will be made clearer in the Ridiculous section of the column.
The wRong:
Sting? Now while this will lead to Sting and Abyss teaming up to battle AJ and Tomko I figure, WHY did he get involved? Oh that's right because they dropped the feud with Daniels because they got cold feet and didn't want to push Daniels. Yeah, breaking the glass ceiling my left testicle TNA. Anyway, Sting comes out presumably because he's a good Christian and is glad to see Abyss is his own man now, so he can help him, probably to get turned on again. I just wasn't into his participation in this angle because I really wanted to see what they could do with the Daniels/Sting feud. Oh well, I guess I wished too much on that one.
The Ridiculous:
Typical TNA - In the end this was the best and worst of TNA. They had the chance to go out and actually showcase good wrestling for their whole hour. Cage, Rhino and Angle can do this. They set the stage, we heard good rumblings and all, but in the end while it started out as the best of TNA it certainly ended up the very worst of the promotion. They took a chance to showcase THREE men for the hour, but could NOT resist getting a total of 10-men involved. Convoluted, over booked, Typical TNA in the very end. I hate saying that and sounding like this, but this is the stuff that drives me crazy about the company. It's the old saying, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit." The creative team should be giving these guys some fresh chicken. Now, the guys then have to go out there and either make some Chicken cor-don Bleu, a decent BBQ Chicken Pizza, some passable chicken salad or if it blows, chicken shit. Instead the creative team is handing then a big old pile of chicken shit and forcing the talent to TRY and make it passable. That's not the way things should be. Please stop it, and please stop trying to fit 800 people on every show. While the intention was good I suppose, it really took away from what could have been a special program.
SmackDown!: By: "The Whole Geoffin Show" Geoff Eubanks
SmackDown 6.29.06
This will be another somewhat abbreviated version of The R's this week, as we were just beginning to dip our toe back into the storylines after virtually all of our lives were thrown into utter upheaval as a result of the Benoit family tragedy. For the most part, this week's episode of SmackDown! consisted of multi-brand exhibition matches, which I'll not really dwell upon, as they really didn't matter in the grand scheme, rather, they were simply a means to entertain and had no bearing upon storytelling.
For myself, I'm disgusted with mainstream media in the wake of this tragedy. I have no idea why Vince McMahon goes out of his way to court these self-righteous pricks when they either condemn him and his employees (as well as those of us who remain committed to the product, for good and bad) while wallowing in ignorance, or else they look down their considerable noses at us all and do little to conceal their condescending little smirks as they report on some celebrity involvement at WrestleMania or some other such story. It's made dealing with these horrific circumstances all the more difficult. I mean, when Warrior comes off as the most intelligent person on a panel, I think that's a sign of concern (check out his appearance on Hannity & Colmes on YouTube.com if you can stand to deal with the host's palpable smugness). I'm actually looking forward to Bret Hart on Larry King next week. My money says it'll be better than Raw.
The GHB angle of Benoit's drug usage makes a lot more sense to me than some kind of ‘roid rage. I've mentioned here before that I was using G recreationally (usually with ecstasy and ketamine, or special k) with a former friend back just before it was made illegal. I just messed around with it, but said former friend was REALLY into it and continued to use long after I stopped and he absolutely fell apart. He could easily have modeled for Abercrombie + Fitch, but, from what I'd heard from a mutual friend who'd been to see him in rehab, he'd basically gone nuts and shaved his head (not that there's anything wrong with that, certainly, but it just wasn't in his character, if you follow me), was having to be detained as a result of multiple violent outbursts and even his long-suffering mother had given up hope on him. Never heard what happened to him. In this light, the deliberation mentioned in Benoit's regard makes a lot more sense to me than does some steroid-fuelled killing spree. I have to be honest, friends, with SmackDown! in post-draft shambles, Rob Van Dam gone, Shawn Michaels injured and all of this Benoit mess, my interest in professional wrestling is quite, quite low at the moment…
Before we get into this week's show, I want to share some e-mails I received last week from a great couple of guys:
From Ryan Kelley –
I have watched this tragedy unfold much like you have. Everyone is ready to pass judgment on this man. What happened is inexcusable, but the facts are not all in. Was it roid rage, I think not. Did it have to do with their son's disease, I think so. How I don't know, I am not apart of the case obviously, but I know that Benoit is not a man that would just show up at his home and kill his wife and child. There are too many unknowns so far, and the media is ready to jump all over the thought of roids. There is definitely more to this story than what we know, and until then, I for one will not pass judgment on the man that I considered to be the best of all time. That is not being biased, that is me doing honor to Chris, Nancy and their son.
And from Brian Heshiki –
Just want to say that I go to 411 mania almost every day when I have time in home after work. I never write to this things, but I just want to write on your opinion on the Chris Benoit reaction. I think that your column is very fair where it does not really take either side. I agree with you that Benoit is probably one of the greatest wrestlers in history. No one can argue with that. The incident on what happened over the weekend was shocking because you can not just believe that he would do it. Benoit and other people talk in interviews that he is a good guy and how much he loved his family very much, and the incident seem out of left field for him. Although he was a great wrestler, in the end of the day, the guy is a murderer. You can not say it in any other way. We can make assumptions for his motive. Maybe it was roid rage? Maybe he had depression, since there is a link in concussions and depression. He had all these problems (death of his friend, his son, his marriage, touring, fighting with pain) and one day, he just snapped. As for the actual reason on why he did it, we'll never know why because Chris took it the grave with him. Everyone has their own opinion if they can forgive Chris Benoit. The thing is that, in one hand, I've learned life is too short and nothing can bring these three people back, and you should not have this anger held inside. On the other hand, this is something that was very horrible to imagine or being done to anyone else. Eventually in time I'll forgive Benoit for his actions, but not today.
Sincerest thanks to you guys for writing. Hope you're doing okay in light of this horribleness.
The Right:
Matt Hardy versus Lance Cade – I'll not complain about SD! being used to forward a Raw storyline since we had a tri-branded show this evening, so, why not, ya know? I'll also not complain because this was the match of the night, not surprisingly, featuring Matt Hardy who has emerged as one of the single most consistent performers on any roster. I got a text message from That Fucking Conservative, Mike "Papi" Lafave during this match which led to a lengthy phone call and we both came to the same conclusion, that Matt Hardy's status as the next WWE ring general is very quickly becoming impossible to refute and that his singles matches truly need to start mattering more, because his time to step up (and at a time when we really need such on SD! following the ass raping, uhm, I mean the draft) is well close at hand. JBL said Lance Cade reminds him of himself when he was younger. Well, Cade's not THAT bad (hahaha), but…well, let's just say this student of HBK's certainly fell farther from the tree than did Brian Kendrick. However, Hardy managed to pull a hell of an entertaining little contest out of him tonight. The fact that Hardy seems to have modified The Twist of Fate a bit, such that he can land it on an opponent more quickly and out of nowhere could very well be the final missing ingredient that he needs to main event. I know I go on about this every week, but until there's a world title around Matt's waist, I'm going to continue to harp about it, because it needs to happen.
Chavo Guerrero versus Funaki versus Jamie Noble – This was a nice twist I didn't see coming. It appears as if we're going to allow Chavo a strong extended tenure as CruiserWeight Champion. Gone are the clean pins and wishy-washy booking against Chavo, it would appear, and instead, we see a pronounced roll forming and a well-deserved one at that. I was pleased to see Funaki challenging for the belt in this fashion tonight, as I mentioned just last week that it was my desire to see a little integrity restored to this man who still has a lot of talent to offer the division. Noble, as usual, was completely on and looked great. This was a fun match that did more to re-establish Chavo as a solid champion than anything else, and there's nothing wRong with that at all. McMahonagement continues to try and convince me to invest heart and soul in the CW division, and believe me, I want to, but I've been burned too many times to give in so easily. I will, however, keep my fingers crossed.
CRYME TYME versus Deuce & Domino – Oh, don't get me wRong, this match stunk on ice, as both these teams really should be encouraged to look into different lines of work, and if I have to suffer through a program pitting these teams against one another, I'm gonna snap into my own ‘Nam. So, why, then, is this in the Right section? Because Domino totally ate shit in the ring on TV and squirted a pint of blood out of his painfully ugly face. Talk about wish fulfillment, huh? Last I heard, he may have cracked his orbital bone, which is nothing to mess with. If this is the case, there's the strong chance that these "champions" will be dropping the belts they never deserved in the first place. See, this is the kind of thing that happens when you don't know what the fuck you're doing in the ring.
Vickie flies solo – This show featuring tri-branded matches in the wake of the Benoit tragedy was a great way to introduce Vickie Guerrero in her new role as acting GM of SD!. Although I question some of the matches made considering the options we had available (see below), but it was clever and I really enjoyed the scene backstage between Vickie and Edge, who was beside himself over having to face off against Batista again after he thought he was in the clear having managed to go over in the Do or Die bout at the PPV the Sunday prior. Is this part of Vickie's plan unfolding, as Edge demanded to perform under protest? We'll have to wait and see…
purgatory:
Edge versus Batista – Oh, goodie, another Batista/Edge match. Certainly not a bad match, but you know what? I'm fucking BORED. NEXT!
Jesse & Fetus set to debut – Well, I was wondering what happened to these guys, I guess McMahonagement wanted to tweak their characters a little. I remain skeptical, but will hanging in there and keep my fingers crossed before I damn this team. After all, we really need more teams and I want to have faith in Bam Bam's son.
The wRong:
Crummy matches – With all three brands on deck for tonight's SmackDown!, it completely befuddled me why we had Ric Flair versus Carlito and MVP versus Kane for about the 14,000th time. Quite frankly, MVP has evolved beyond Kane and deserves (sorry, Kane) higher caliber competition…and WTF is up with Kane WINNING?! I reeeeeeeally hope this isn't going anywhere major. At least Flair went over Carlito, but, man, what a yawner of a match this was. Altogether a very disappointing couple of matches, which is a shame because this is SD!, for Foley's sake!
Speaking of Flair, I passed a woman at the mall earlier in the week wearing a shirt that said, "Diamonds are forever" and I had to really resist the urge to "Woooo!" in her face as we passed each other. If nothing else, I got a nice inner-chuckle out of it.
Victoria versus Mickie James – Carrying on the theme from above, this was a disappointment, and it really had no Right to be such. These women are two of the top in-ring performers in North America Right now and, by all Rights, should have had a smoking little contest, but it just fell kinda short. And WTF with Victoria jobbing?! Shouldn't we be building up our talent?
The Ridiculous:
Eugene versus Khali – Does it really need to be discussed? This sort of shit needs to be banished from my television set.
Remember people, show Geoff some love by emailing him here: yostankmama@hotmail.com
RAW!:
RAW 7.02.07:
The Right:
The King vs. The Porn Star - Now this was a good definition of BTC. King Booker came out with a purpose and he and Val Venis worked a CRAZY pace throughout the entire bout. They were intense and it just worked because you had two guys that knew how to work and did so in a perfect way. In the end the King won and set the new time and every thing just worked. I liked this a lot, I really did.
UUUUUUUUUUUUUMAGA~! - We had a Vengeance rematch this week of Santino vs. Umaga, and Santino was sent to the slaughter. Umaga killed this young man and good, and took the IC Title, the way it should be because Santino sucked a cock. I just hope that Umaga gets an actual run and runs through bitches left and right and gets built up and if he keeps doing as well as he had, I have no problem with another main event push and or possible title run. This was fine entertainment. And on a closing note, and don't put this past the E and Vince, but do you think that burying the Italian guy was a shot at Italian TV for pulling WWE programming? Oh yeah. We may never see young Santino again, and I am fine with that.
Introducing Cody Rhodes - This week was the formal introduction of Cody Rhodes to WWE TV. Dusty was backstage introducing him to hacksaw Jim Duggan and I liked how they did this. He was respectful and Dusty was putting him over, and then Randy Orton came over, and wanted to be introduced. He said he was The Legend… You know the Rest… in an obviously smart effort not to use the word killer. Orton said that Cody could be like him, better than his dad ever was. Cody was insulted and Dusty said he was being disrespectful. Orton slapped Dusty and left as Cody was held back. Later on Dusty challenged Orton to meet him in the ring next week. I like this, very similar to how WWF brought in Dustin against the Million Dollar Man. I figure Orton beats down Dusty and concusses him, leading to Cody defending his father's honor. This has potential and I am all for it.
puRgatory:
Orton vs. Hardy - First up in the BTC series was Sunshine himself, the Squire of shitting in Versace bags, the King of Concussions, The Legend… You know the Rest… Randy Orton and his opponent was former IC and tag Champion Jeffery Hardy, Esquire. They had a solid bout going, but the fact is they totally messed up on how to make it go long enough to set the time. Instead of making a bit more competitive, they had Orton apply a bear hug and body scissors! Seriously, this had to be a rib on the chinlock deal. I feel it made Orton look dumb, like there was no sense of urgency to him having to win and set the time. The finish was swank as Jeff tried the TOF, but Orton got the awesome counter to the RKO for the pin. This was fine action in the end, but a little sloppy at points and lacked logic really as it wasn't so much that Jeff gave Orton a fight, but that Orton wanted to hug him into victory. SPEED! Overall a fine match, but the lack of urgency shown by Orton makes him look like a goof.
Been there, done that… - You know, when Raw began I had this Déjà Vu feeling, like we had been there before. Yes I do remember it was Cena, Lashley, Booker, Orton and Foley. Except this time playing the role of Mick Foley was Ken Kennedy. There was nothing inherently wrong with the opening segment, it gave everyone mic time; it set the stage for the show as well as set the main event for the next PPV. That is always a good thing, but as I said it just seemed as if we had been there and done this. Even Cena's line about, "I know how this goes" made me laugh since it is the truth. So anyway, good deal setting things up but I wish we could get there a different way than the same old shit.
Regal - As of now, I will say that Young Geoffrey seems to be correct here, and I was wrong in my hopes thus far. I was hopeful that regal would be utilized as a worker and at the IC level, while Geoffrey seemed to feel he wouldn't be and probably set to a "GM" type of position. Well, that is how things look right now. Now don't get me wrong, Regal is awesome in the GM/Commissioner style role. A great talker, good facials and people react to him. Ad din the wacky backstage stuff and it is a recipe for victory. Using him there will be good, but I just feel that he could be of more use on another show right now, like ECW, especially with the loss of Benoit to the roster. They need a mentor/teacher, as well as some kin of authority figure. Again, nothing wrong here so much as much as it is disappointing. But him busting out "Sunshine" on Orton was spectacular.
Carlito vs. The Sandman - Carlito and the Sandman continued on this week in their feud for no real reason. Carlito was talking trash to his new bitch Jillian and said he was whooping 16 time world champs and now has to fight a drunk. Sandman decided to enlighten him that he does love to drink and loves to fight. Carlito spit an apple on him and Sandman replied with a beer spit, which appalled young Carlito. So they had their match, and it was "a match." They tried to wrestle and the Sandman did grappling maneuvers. Yes, it was either the worst or greatest thing I have ever seen. It ended in a DQ when Sandman nailed Carlito with the cane, and this feud MUST continue! It was fine. Damn. PS: The man with the "Embarrassed Carlito Fan" sign and bag on his head was awesome, kudos to you fine sir.
The wRong:
Beat the clock, again, forgetting previous stipulations… - They decided to bring back the Beat the Clock stipulation this evening to find out #1 contender. This is ok, but didn't we JUST have on in January, when Kennedy won and got his title shot vs. Batista. So that bothered me a lot. Also, the one thing that annoyed me, and I will touch on below, is that they did the famous, "Ignore past versions of the gimmick" deal. In the past, if you lost your BTC match, you would lose your shot and the man facing you would get that. So with that being said, shouldn't Super Crazy not only have had the chance to be considered, but also be the #1 contender? He won the match in 0:40! I cry foul here! I demand a recount and shall start a petition or something to get Super Crazy his much deserved title shot. Write Santa, the police and the congress kids, the man known as Super Crazy was robbed!
Melina vs. Maria - The new WWE Ladies champ Candice Michelle came to the ring, presumably to do commentary but actually to sit out there and look good until a brawl spot after the upcoming match. Melina and Maria had, well, I suppose it qualifies as a match. A bad match. Melina won and the epic Melina vs. Candice feud MUST continue. I will the women's division when they seemed to care a bit about it. This sucked all around.
Lashley vs. Shelton - Lashley was the final man to try and beat the clock, and his opponent was Shelton Benjamin. Before the match King Booker met with Shelton to try and express that Lashley needed to NOT beat the time. Shelton said Lashley couldn't beat or catch him, and the King proclaimed that if he did his job, he would get the title shot when the King won against Cena. And then Shelton KISSED THE ROYAL RING. Awesome. The first 30-45 seconds were great amateur stuff, but it went down hill from there. They had a match, it was sloppy as hell. They tried to do stuff, it looked painful, and I was afraid for their safety. In the end they once again revisited the HBK/Shelton finish as he went up top, jumped off and ate a sick looking spear and Lashley won. He beat the clock and was about to sign his contract to face Cena. Which feeds into…
Cena vs. Lashley - And then Regal comes out with the contract, in a very anti-climatic fashion to bring back out Lashley and Cena. Cena said Lashley was a Golly GEE cool guy and that them having a match was both hunky and dory; Lashley agreed. Kennedy and Booker came out and were pissed, Cena said they were losers and he and Lashley whooped them good. Cena signed the contract and then…then Lashey speared him. Fuck friendship, Lashley angry, want title, grrr. I don't like this, not yet. On one hand I hope that they change the match and somehow ass in Booker and Kennedy, as teased Monday night. I would hate to see another big multi-man match, but also think that giving away Cena vs. Lashley on a small time PPV like the Bash isn't a smart business move. This is one you try and build to a big show, perhaps WM. I am very against they blowing this away on the bash show and hope that they do something else, plain and simple.
The Ridiculous:
Ken Kennedy: Bitch - I was not happy with this at all Monday night. I saw him talking to Crazy, they went out and he went for the mic and I just knew it would be bad, and it was worse than I thought. He was made to look like a complete jobber. He lost to the guy who could only get some wins over Chris Masters. This was not a smart move. If he was too hurt to compete, don't use him in matches. Jesus, you're the "creative team" come up with something…FUCKING CREATIVE! In the end I am guessing that he is still "too injured" to work a match, but then why put him out there and make him look like a bitch? Bad move in my opinion and it really derails the tremendous momentum Kennedy had. Actually the whole move to RAW is bad for him. He was set to come back as a huge face and do the long chase with Edge, but they decided to fuck that in the ass to pump up Raw. That's Jim Fucking Dandy right there. Just wait until HHH comes back.
Pick Your Poison: Punk vs. Thorn - The main event of the show was CM Punk vs. Thorn. This worked well as Punk is the face and Thorn is the big man to beat him down. They worked hard and in the end this was a fine 12-minute match. Thorn looked menacing enough to pose a true threat and Tazz and Dreamer put over their history of the New Breed and that Thorn had been impressive beating Dreamer and others, so that helped. We ended with a Nitro and Punk stare down and Nitro retreating like a chicken shit. This worked well enough for me, not as good as the opener, but good.
puRgatory:
Showing Punk vs. Nitro from Vengeance - They decided to show an encore of the Vengeance ECW Title match between young CM Punk and young Johnny Nitro. I have some mixed feelings about this choice, which I will illustrate here in purgatory. On one hand they did one good and rather un-WWE like thing here. They have taken these two young stars and said, "Look, these are your top guys right now, this show is all about them and their feud, take it or leave it." I love that, it is a good forward step and rather brave to do. This show was about them and tried to make sure that people knew this. That is a good thing in my opinion. As I said, very un-WWE like in a very good way. But while that is good, I didn't like it for a few reasons. Again, ECW gets the shaft. They had the SUPERSHOW tapings and only "had time" to tape two ECW matches. They couldn't knock out a dark match or knock out a Smackdown match, no; they took away from the show that only gets an hour. Or maybe they just didn't write anything else. What about Monty, Elijah and the rest of the roster? Sure they ran the Miz promo and Boogey promo and Extreme Expose promo stuff, but that was it. It just feels as if they can only concentrate fully on ONE feud in ECW at a time. That is not a good sign for the show in my opinion. They have the top feud, the stars of the promotion rolling, that's all well and good, but where do you go from here? Dreamer vs. Thorn again? What is the status of Monty and Burke? Are they going to team still and help each other? The scary part of this all is the fact that outside of Nitro, Punk, Monty and Elijah, where do you go and what do you have? Viscera will get the One Man Gang push so there is him, and he is motivated and will be working with the younger guys so that isn't as disastrous as it sounds. Miz COULD be fun but depends on how they use him. Dreamer is a glorified jobber and his use has been about fulfilled. Thorn has no personality outside of the outfit, not good. All that is left is Boogey, Striker, Balls, Stevie and Nunzio. They need to do something to build the rest of this roster and they NEED to get someone back in the mentor role that Benoit was to play. I am all for Finlay, as he would be a good style match up and just fit the description of the role perfectly. I am not writing the show off by any means, but they have a lot of work to do.
The wRong:
NADDA~
The Ridiculous:
NADDA~
READER RANT TIME!!:
From Nathan on Impact -
That match had potential, but my thoughts are that it was just one GIANT Clusterfuck. There was no build and these men just didnt click in the ring. Plus why was Samoa Joe stopped by locker room and kicked out yet its ok for Abyss and the Christian coalition to be at ringside yet its a NO DQ MATCH.
The first 10 minutes were good but then it went downhill from there. Also the key word in a finishing move is FINISHING, once again everyone's finishers in TNA are worthless as we have people kicking out CLEAN after getting hit. Angle gets the unprettier, Angle kicks out, Angle gets that Test spinning neck breaker finisher, he kicks out, Angle gets the gore, and kicks out.
Also I have started to question TNA's integrity after watching this match. When the 50 minute mark hit and there were 2 count after 2 count I saw the crowd start to become restless and bored with the match, but a mere 3 seconds later they all start chanting in unison, "This is awesome" it was then at this time that I saw three random girls at ringside by the announcing booth chanting along. Does TNA have these girls at ringside to coach the crowd into chanting certain things? Well those were my thoughts. You do a great job with the 4'R's keep up the great work.
From Jay on the Podcast, Vengeance and More -
Another great podcast which is always fun to tune out with when driving to my next work order at my job (Comcast Cable Peon). I didn't buy the Vengeance PPV because the only match I would've wanted to watch was GOING to be the Benoit vs. Punk match and maybe Edge vs. Batista.
Something that truly stood out for me in the podcast (that didn't have to do with your embarrassing past. Man, do I feel for you.) was the description of Santino Marella getting ring-raped by Umaga. This is what I find funny, Hans and Mrs. Hans: Your description of the match was longer than the fucking match itself. Yes, it's true that Umaga is one big, mean, evil-looking Samoan Clubbering Machine. Yes, it's true that this match shouldn't have taken place, but goddamn, why are they, the Feddy, doing this to us? Just drop the belt on someone who can legitimately defeat Marella and then let THEM feud with Umaga.
I'm truly sorry to say this about anyone in the professional wrestling business who isn't a huge man and has some actual talent, but there's next to nothing that the 'E could do to make me give a good goddamn about Santino Marella. I'm sure he has his fans somewhere and I'm sure he's a great guy and I respect him for going out there and dealing with the lack of shit that the crowd gives about him. But for fuck's sake. Why is he still around?
What's worse, is you know there's at least one person in power back there that has a hard on for him(crowd love Santino Marella, crowd go banana, hint hint), and even if someone else has a better idea that might include him dropping the title due to injuries accumulated by the Samoan Godzilla and have him come back with a bit more steam, perhaps cause Umaga a serious title shot, that one person will fuck it up and keep him the champion. But enough about Marella, let's get to the match that I would've felt cheated out of should I have forked over the cash for the PPV.
On a much lighter note, there was a funny TNA moment that occurred this past Friday night. I'm a big fan of local music here in Shreveport, LA and I was at a bar that did live music on the weekends with some friends. There was a band called Junior on stage and the bar was hosting their CD release party. Now, Junior's a really funny group of guys. They're really nice off the stage and like a comedic, redneck version of Green Day while on stage.
Now, to set the scene for you. I'm sitting in the back of the bar at the only comfortable seats in the house, in the Skybox. I can easily see the stage from where I sit and the show's halfway in. They finish a song and the lead singer looks at one of the TV's above the bar and shouts out, "Holy shit! Randy Savage lost a lot of weight! And he's BLACK!", so I look above the bar just in time to see Jay Lethal jobbing away his X-Division title dressed in his ripped-off 'Nacho Man Sandy Slammage' ring gear. The crowd turns around and sees what I see and I swear to God.. there were small TNA chants in the crowd. I realize I was drinking heavily at that point and I could have been hearing myself doing mock TNA chants, because at one point, I tried to join in.
Anyways, thanks for reading this whole thing and thanks to you and your lovely wife and by proxy, your child, for keeping your fans entertained. Just keep Christi on the show because you two have microphone chemistry the equivalent of Edge and Batista during a good match. Sorry Larry, or Hans, but if you did a podcast alone, it would be like watching Batista wrestle a match against himself.
And finally from EPIC on Vengeance -
Score of PPV: 5
Match of the Night: Edge Vs Batista for a well-booked finish that allows for some fresh new feuds on Smackdown!
Trash of the Night: *yawn* Watching Cena make four men job to him at once, instead of one at a time.
This PPV was mediocrity at its finest. One title changes hands out of eight (the other title was vacant, after all), and it's the Womens Title? Feuds were furthered, like the Hardyz/Rednecks ... uh... hmmm.... wow, what feuds? Ten years ago, the WWE could sell out the Staples Center in LA on a monthly basis, and now, they have trouble drawing flies to a dung heap (oh wait, I meant, they have trouble filling small arenas, like the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, WV). And why? Because of this mediocrity. Did you hear the silence following most of the matches? It was mirrored, I'm sure, across the country, as it was at my house with six guys who normally love professional wrestling. My advice to anyone who watched last night's PPV: save your money next month and rent a TNA PPV... at least they have exciting superstars and occasionally well-booked matches.
If the 'E' wants Cena over, they need to turn him heel or get the belt off of him now, because his act is stale and it really makes the main event of every PPV useless... I mean, when you know he's going to win EVERY FREAKIN TIME why watch? Great finish for Edge, congrats to the talented young Johnny Nitro (although I would have preferred CM Punk, but why complain?), and thank you WWE for keeping the Womens Title match short (where was Mickie? She's about the best they have left in that division!!!).
