Thoughts From The Top Rope 10.10.07: Looking Back at No Mercy and 2-Hour Impact

Breaking News: I watched TNA Impact last week – it didn’t suck.

Breaking News: WWE had a PPV this weekend – it didn’t suck.

Breaking News: Vince Russo thought up a new angle over the weekend – it didn’t suck.

OK, so that last one was a blatant lie, but the other two were very, very true. The other two are pretty much what this column is all about.

Everybody and their mother has been blasting TNA in recent weeks and deservedly so. I’ve barely read one positive thing about the show in what seems like months and in fact probably is. But then TNA got the second hour that they’ve been after but people said it’ll just be suck x2. Most people saw the 2 hour show and completely hated the show. I watched it, and it was the best wrestling show on TV last week and I enjoyed Raw, ECW and SmackDown.

I’m not saying it was a perfect show because it wasn’t; there were still a few flaws in the booking but for the most part, what they did was good. Most importantly they got the big stuff right – hype Bound For Glory and put on decent wrestling. The show had these two in abundance and yet no one seems willing to praise TNA for this. So what if the X Division champ takes a beatdown? Who cares if Kurt Angle’s acting like a complete paedophile? Both Angle and Lethal have been booked worse in the past – in Angle’s case, a lot worse. At least this time around there’s some sort of method to the madness. And that’s what I’m here for right now – to unveil the method behind TNA’s madness.

Looking Back At… TNA Impact – The 2-Hour Debut

TNA… We Are Wrestling

Like I said, TNA did a great job of putting on good wrestling this week and lots of it. If Larry says there should be 15-20 minutes of wrestling on a one-hour show, then by the same logic there should be 30-40 minutes of wrestling on a 2 hour shows, yes? This week’s Impact had 52:07 minutes of in-ring action. That is a phenomenal start and about as much as we could realistically ask for.

What’s more important is the fact that we got some really good wrestling as well. The opener wasn’t bad and could’ve been worse considering who was involved. Any time Gail Kim steps in the ring you’re guaranteed to be entertained so the Women’s bout gets a thumbs up from me. Then you had the tag title match which, although wasn’t great in terms of in-ring ability, provided a lot of entertainment. Hell, I’m really starting to dig Team Pacman. Then we come to the 2 main matches – the gauntlet was all kinds of fun. The Motor City Machine Guns were on fire as always and really got a chance to shine as should be the case every week. The right people were heavily featured; Storm, Young, Kaz and Roode being the 4 guys who could do well with a serious push. I’d like to have seen Harris last longer but you can’t win ‘em all. Overall, that match was 18 minutes of pure fun.

The main event 8 man tag team match was everything a TNA main event can be. Hard-hitting and high-flying. Joe was badass, as was Homicide. And everyone was flying around ringside – it was just insane. If it wasn’t for Shawn Michaels and John Cena, I’d be calling that free TV MOTY. And I think the right guys went over in just about every match, particularly the main event as Joe looked like a killer again.

Hypin’ Bound For Glory

TNA did this in abundance last Thursday night. It’s their own WrestleMania and should be hyped as such. They did well to set up the Monster’s Ball, preview the Fight-For-Your Right and Knockout Gauntlet very well. There was a lot of build for 3D vs. The Steiners, which is the way it should be as that is a match people are going to pay to see.

Unfortunately, TNA didn’t do a great job of hyping the X Division or Tag Team title match, but I don’t see either as a match that’ll make people buy the show so it’s not a huge deal. The big matches were hyped very well which is the most important thing.

Putting rivalries together to hype them at once is always a good idea, as Larry’s said many times, so the 8 man tag gets bonus points from me for hyping Joe/Cage and Ultimate X. Good job by TNA production too, who put together some great video packages to hype many of the matches.

Finally, the TNA Championship match was also well-hyped. Even though the angle surrounding it isn’t to everyone’s taste, they featured Angle and Sting multiple times throughout the night, thus putting emphasis on the marquee match throughout the entire show.

Well done TNA, now try and keep it going for another week at least!

Looking Back At… WWE No Mercy 2007

Obviously the biggest question going into this show was who would walk out as WWE Champion after John Cena’s career-threatening injury sustained last Monday night. Vince McMahon had promised that history would be made and when Vinny Mac makes promises (to steal a quote for JBL), he’s like Fed-Ex – he delivers. We saw not one, not two, but three new champions crowned by the time the show went off the air and in the end it was the Legend Killer Randy Orton who stood tall as the new WWE Champion after an incredible Last Man Standing Match with Triple H. Here’s how the show went down;

– Randy Orton is awarded the WWE Championship
– Triple H beats Orton to become champion @ 11:15
– Kennedy, Cade and Murdoch over Hardy, London and Kendrick @ 8:20
– CM Punk retain the ECW Title by DQ over Big Daddy V @ 1:45
– Matt over MVP in a Pizza Eating Contest
– Triple H retained retained the WWE Championship over Umaga @ 6:40
– Rey Mysterio and Finlay went to a No Contest @ 13:00
– Beth Phoenix beat Candice Michelle to become the New Women’s Champ @ 4:35
– Batista retained the World title in a Punjabi Prison match over Great Khali @ 15:00
– Randy Orton regained the WWE Championship, beating Triple H in a Last Man Standing Match @ 20:40

When it comes t one’s personal enjoyment of this show, it’s pretty much going to boil down to whether or not you liked the on-going angle involving Triple H, Randy Orton and the WWE Championship. I’ll admit myself that I was a little sceptical at first as the opening segment annoyed me – Triple H and Vince McMahon managed make the entire segment about themselves and not the WWE Title and its new holder.

The match was then made, Orton and Triple H went out and had what was a very good match. The two showed chemistry that just wasn’t there back in 2004 when Orton was the plucky babyface and Triple H was the jealous, vengeful ex-mentor. Putting aside any feelings you have towards Triple H OMG BERRYING Orton and winning the title, looking at the match in it’s own bubble and it was clearly a good showing by both men. ***¼

Vince, being his evil manipulative self, then forced Trips to defend the title against his already-scheduled opponent Umaga and you can’t really fault the booking on this one. People would’ve complained had the advertised Triple H/Umaga match been taken off the show and adding the title to the match made that much more enjoyable and important, if a little predictable. But both guys looked good and considering the fact that they were given a little under 7 minutes to work with I think that they did a hell of a job and put on a decent match. **

In what I think is a brilliant move, Orton used his rematch clause and challenged Triple H for the title in the main event in the Last Man Standing match. This is good booking as a Last Man Standing match had been advertised for weeks and this is essentially giving the fans a nice bonus for buying the show even though the LMS match had to be removed from the card, so kudos to the E for that one. The match itself was something a little bit special. It was brutal, it was stiff, it was hard-hitting and hella entertaining – everythin a WWE PPV main event should be. What I especially liked is the way they used everything Orton had done to Cena over the past few weeks against The Game – the RKO on the chair, the running punt, the RKO on the table – and for most of that, Triple H survived. But that doesn’t mean Orton comes off looking weak, because the guy is the champion! For my money, this is one of the best matches of the year so far and probably only just behind Michaels/Cena on Raw. ****¾

Looking at a bigger picture, WWE had a hard job of satisfying the fans; Cena went out unexpectedly and they had no TV time and less than a week to come up with something that would work. They promised that history would be made and it was, in a big way. The only possible issue now is that WWE have booked themselves into a corner a little bit. Orton and Triple H have that amazing, bloody match but they’ve got no build behind it, so where do they go from here? A Hell In A Cell at No Mercy seems the logical choice, and I’d like to see them make this solely about the title – give it a bloody build up where they are just looking to beat the shit out of each other on Raw until the match.

And now onto the rest of the show. WWE gave us a “bonus” six person tag team match between Team Extreme 2K7 and the Redneck Wrecking Crew and Mr. Kennedy. The match was sloppy in places but sometimes that can help things come off as much more entertaining and out of control and that’s exactly what I thought about this match. Had it been given a few more minutes it could’ve been something great but as it was, this was just a really fun demolition derby. ***

Now we come to the only part of the show I didn’t like – the ECW Championship match. It’s not the fact that they ran a DQ on a PPV, it’s more to do with the “where do they go now?” factor. With John Morrison’s return imminent, I’d have thought that he’d be put back into the title picture but that doesn’t appear to be the case, unless V is on his way over to SmackDown. And if that’s the case then the ECW champion shouldn’t have been decimated anyway. Remember a months ago when I said WWE needed to make new stars by giving them “moments” and I said Punk should be given his first moment by beating Morrison at Summerslam? Well, that didn’t happen, but they had an even better opportunity to give Punk a “moment” here, beating the unstoppable Big Daddy V in Chi-town. A quick roll-up win and the roof would have been blown off of that place. Oh well, maybe next time. ¾*

The Pizza-Eating contest was pretty poor, but there are a few positives and that’s worth pointing out, what with this being 411’s most positive article and all. MVP vs. Matt Hardy is shaping up to be one of my favourite feuds of the year and even though they’re currently tag team partners, they are keeping that competition aspect alive and giving them some time on PPV is always a good thing to do. However, WWE needs to ensure this does not get repetitive and keep the contests entertaining as to stop fans getting tired of these segments. Had the PPV not gone to the wire, I might’ve complained about this taken up too much time.

Finlay vs. Mysterio was an interesting match. I actually thought that what they did in the 10 minutes or so where they were actually wrestling was really good stuff and heading for greatness. The injury angle was well-worked if a little drawn-out but the important thing is that Finlay got massive heel heat for the beatdown on Mysterio. Hell, the guy even had Chi-town cheering his name just seconds before. This feud has been bumped up in terms of importantness now and I look forward to another great match from these two down the road. **¾

The Women’s Championship match was just “there” and wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. I know it sounds like I’ve been drinking JR’s Kool-Aid, but Candice has improved by leaps and bounds in 2007. I’ll even stick my neck out and say she is as good now, 6 months into her career as a real women’s wrestler, as Trish Stratus was at the same time in her own career. While I have high hopes for Candice, I do think the title switch was needed to keep Beth over. Of all the “crazy-not-so-hot” Diva characters they use, I think this one has the potential to be as much of a success as Victoria was at the time. *

And finally, we have the Punjabi Prison match for the World Championship. I’m not going to lie to y’all and say I was looking forward to this match, because I wasn’t. The 3 or 4 matches this pair have had together in the last few months have all sucked a giant cock. However – I loved this match. The Prison gimmick is a difficult one to utilize and I think both guys used their environment exceptionally well and made the match enjoyable despite the usual plodding offence. Cole and JBL also did a heck of a job to put over the match. And fair play to Batista, that is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen a legit big guy do in WWE. The leap from one cage to the other was just insane. I don’t know what the distance was, some camera angles may have helped it look bigger than it was, but it looked like something I would never have tried. Well done to Batista AND Khali for keeping me entertain. But can we please just get Edge and Taker in the title picture again soon, please? ***¼

Overall – A really, really fun show. I loved the angle they ran through the night and the majority of the wrestling in between was really fun as well. Only behind Backlash and Mania in terms of WWE pay-per-views this year. 8.0/10.

Feedback

I received various “clues” regarding the SaveUs.222 videos this week. Some of them were pretty good and I appreciate them, but I think we can pretty much assume now that the videos are indeed for Chris Jericho. Unless…

Hey. I’ve been so busy with work and school I’ve had no time to send any e-mails and even this one is going to be short. Oh and Congrats on the new column.

This on the SAVE US.222 and 8_2_11.SAVIOR SELF.

Well the 222 has all signs pointing to Jericho but hears where it gets messed up. Even though in Savior Self I can hear the lion roar and maybe a quiet ericho I noticed some thing. Whats the 8th letter in the alphabet? H. Whats the 2nd? B. And whats the 11th? K. HBK! Also in the video it has what sounds like the Sherrie Martel “oo” if you play it backwards. It also has grand slam in it. Michaels was the first grand slam champion (but so was Jericho). It also has bookshelf. Shawn Michaels wrote a book (also, so did Jericho). Also the biblical references could be because of Michaels religion. So it’s strange. Maybe a double return. But what I was thinking was it says HBK Savior Self. If you say that fast it says HBK Save Your Self. So do you remember any instances when Jericho said something like that or did something like that? Oh and look at the very bottom of wwe.com Thanks.

-The Best Their is The Best Their Was The Best Their Ever Will Be The Whole F’N Show The Shaman of Sexy The Guru of Greatness The Tuesday Night Delight The Admiral of Awesome the Reflection of Perfection The #1 Selection The Man of the Hour The Man With The Power To Sweet To Be Sour Limosine ridin, jet flyin, kiss stealin, wheelin, dealin, stylin & profilin son of a gun It’s True It’s Damn True So Watcha Gona Do When Mistaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Tuesday Night………………………………………………………………………………….Tuesday Night DOM RUNS WILD ON YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!

I think it’s interesting that all these potential references to Shawn Michaels started popping up in the second video, but then maybe it’s not much of a coincidence. People at WWE will have heard the buzz all over the internet about these videos and people saying they’re for Jericho, so maybe they thought they’d throw in a few red-herrings. I’m not just saying this because I’m a massive Jericho mark, but does 8.2.11 representing HBK come off as far too obvious, especially considering the detail that apparently went in the first video? I don’t know, I could be wrong but by now I’m almost certain these videos are for the return of Jericho. Time will tell.

Next up is long-time 411 reader Manu Bomb;

I gotta say, im very disappointed in this weeks article. After last weeks EXCELLENT breakdown of save_us.222, and the savior_self promo on monday (with its 8-2-11 HBK reference), I’ve been looking forward to see your analysis of it. no article monday. no article tuesday. FINALLY, i see a new article, but then i read the subtitle, and it has nothing to do with the promo.

M

Sorry to disappoint, man, but as I say, at this stage I think it’s pretty clear the videos are for Y2J. I could’ve done something on the new video but in all honesty, outside of “grand slam” and 8.2.11 I didn’t think there was a hell of a lot to go into. I don’t have the ability or patience to go through the clips myself frame-by-frame to figure it out, but perhaps if there’s anything in the future that suggests it could be for someone else, I’ll look into the videos more closely.

However, luckily for you we do have someone who took a little closer look at the new video – former 411 writer Gavin Napier;

After week 1, I was pretty pumped about the possibility of a Jericho return. Alas, I’m less excited about it now, seeing that I think we’re headed for a return of Shawn Michaels, given some clues dropped in the latest video.

There are clearly some red herrings thrown in with the video to keep people guessing, but here’s what I’ve put together from the Savior_Self video –

:02 – “Squeeze”, “Push” and “Sharp2” are clearly visible. The only one with significance for Jericho OR HBK is Sharp2. HBK was the second person to win the WWF World title with a sharpshooter. The first being, obviously, Bret Hart.

:05 – 8.2.11/SAVIOR_SELF. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet. B is the 2nd letter. Care to guess what the 11th letter is? (This also shows up at :10)

:05 – GRAND_SLAM1.MOS Now who was it again that was the first “Grand Slam” champion? Jericho is a grand slam champion as well, but HBK was the first.

Now, you get more interesting stuff when you go (went) to other websites.

www.saveus-222.com USED to take you to a page that asked for a username and a password. By checking the website registry and pulling up source code, turns out the website was registered to a Joseph Perkins of Conneticut. Stamford, Conneticut. Fine and dandy, we know this is a WWE production. The source code, however, reveals that the username and pass was WWE and JerichoAlpha123. Inside? Simply a picture of the Walls of Jericho falling. That was quickly changed to a 403 message letting you know that access was forbidden, then it linked directly to WWE.com’s hosting of the video. At least that’s what YouTube said. I was late to the party and missed out on it. Screenshots can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2RWe-YGl_0

If you go to the Chris Jericho official website and right click/hilight directly above the “quick news” section, you’ll find three @ symbols. @@@…222?

Two possibilities now exist:

1) Chris Jericho has decided to “save us” by returning to WWE, and we must choose to “save ourself” by following him…or…

2) Shawn Michaels will return to a HUGE face pop by coming back as he always does, to “save us” from dirty heels and the like…then immediately lash out as a heel character sick of the immorality in WWE and among it’s fans, telling us to “save ourselves.”

Either way, this is fun.

Good work and nice clues there, Gavin! It’s good to see you taking this for what it is, a bit of “fun” as some people have decided looking into these videos is a waste of time. It may well be, but it’s not like anyone is really staying up all night to decipher this stuff. Besides, is this not the whole point of viral campaigning? Like I said, good work there Gavin and thanks.

With more SaveUs.222 “clues”, it’s Chris Groomes;

Hey
Here’s a pretty revealing clue…

When I played the most recent video backwards, I heard a voice tell me to go make a sacrifice to Satan. So I killed my neighbor’s cat.

Then, it hit me… The obvious cat/ lion connection. And what animal does Wikipedia describe as being (among other things) “cat-like?” That’s right, the MONGOOSE.

You see where this is going. There’s no denying the evidence, man, Y2J is back.

I wonder if Chris read that after he typed it and actually found it funny, because I know I didn’t.

Next up is a message from Derek;

Ignore the critics! I appreciate the time you took to decipher the code as it gave us what we all wanted – answers.
Besides, if anyone’s criticising, I’m sure they’re just doing it tongue-in-cheek

I say give Jericho the WWE title belt and give him a proper run

Great work and great idea for a positive article

Derek

Thanks for that, man. I wouldn’t bother doing this stuff if people didn’t care about it – I mean the Jericho stuff got me a mass of feedback that far surpasses any amount I’ve had before.

I’d love to see Jericho win the belt back but I’d also like to see him work his way up in feuds with the likes of Carlito, Mr. Kennedy and Umaga before he’s getting title shots again. Any of those matches could all be great, too.

And let’s finish things off with the one, the only, Samer who offers some of his own “forgotten gems”;

Hey Dan i’m here with some feedback as usual…

Greatest matches never remembered? Well you focused strictly on matches that took place in the WWE during this decade, so i’ll do the same..

Benoit vs Angle (Unforgiven 2002):

Sure you’ll say that Benoit vs Angle matches aren’t forgotten classics, but this one certainly is. People tend to remember their match from Wrestlemania X7 because it was their first encounter, their match from Royal Rumble 2003 because it was their best, and that sick cage match on Raw. However at Unforgiven 2002, the two had one hell of match, which is my second favorite Benoit-Angle match after their Royal Rumble match a few months later. I don’t know if you’ve seen it before, but you should definitely check this one out, and it is quite different from their other matches too.

I went back and re-watched this match last night and you’re right, it’s certainly a great match, maybe as good as their Mania encounter. These guys had so many great matches together that one or two of them are bound to be forgotten by the masses.

Benoit vs RVD (SummerSlam 2002)

Yeah i’m a Benoit mark, but this was one hell of a match. It is often forgotten because that show had some great matches like HBK-HHH, Rock-Brock, Rey-Kurt.. But this was for my money the best non gimmick match that RVD wrestled in the WWE. It was for the IC title if i’m not mistaken.

Yeah, this match was always going to slip through the cracks being surrounded by some classic bouts. Edge/Eddie Guerro is another match from the same card that probably suffers in the same way. For my money, Summerslam 2002 is one of the greatest PPVs of all time and on-par with WrestleMania X-Seven.

Benoit vs Eddie (Vengeance 2003)

OK i swear i’m not doing this on purpose! I actually didn’t have the matches planned in my hand, i’m just trying to remember some forgotten classics, and for some reason Benoit’s name keeps popping out. Anyway, this was one hell of a match, and it was the finals of the US title tournament. Eddie picked up the win. My only complaints were the ref bumps and Rhyno’s interference.

Another great match, and I have the same complaints as you do on this one. The one good thing about the Rhyno run-in though, is the way Guerrero curled up when he thought that he was going to take the Gore, and then the look on his face when he realized what went down. Vintage Guerrero, viva la rasa, baby!

Shelton Benjamin Vs Chris Jericho (Backlash 2005)

I actually like this match better than Shelton-HBK which was an awesome match too. But for me this is the best match that Shelton has wrestled to date, and looking back, it’s amazing how fluid he was with his moves, he was so smooth and made everything seem effortless. Something he’s lacking today, but i blame that on a lack of confidence.

This is a very good choice actually, and I agree on it being one of Shelton’s best matches. I don’t know if it’s better than his match with Michaels, but I can definitely see an argument for it.

And finally: Benoit vs Stone Cold. (Smackdown 2001)

OK fine Benoit again, but why not? This is one of the best TV matches ever. It was in Edmenton (Benoit’s hometown), really that match has to be seen to be believed. Austin talked about it during Benoit’s tribute too.

Unfortunately I can’t remember a whole lot about this match other than it possibly being the one where Benoit hit 10 Germans on Austin. Did they not also have a match on Raw around the same time that was also great?

OK i’ll stop now before typing the word Benoit another 10 times.
And great call on the Rock vs Jericho match from No mercy, i had completely forgotten about it, and watched it again, awesome match. I actually liked the story leading to it too. It’s a shame both of Jericho’s title runs (the WCW and Undisputed title) were screwed. But they have a chance to make that up soon..

Since you’re column is all about positivity now, i won’t rant..
So looking at No Mercy 2007:

It’s a shame really, Cena’s injury, because we had possibly one hell of a PPV ahead that was probably going to produce some good buyrates with the LMS match and the Punjabi prison match. And a potential MOTYC too. Instead Cena’s gone. But the WWE should have announced the main event. You don’t buy a show without knowing what’s its main event.

I don’t know, I think a lot of people would have ordered the show because of the intrigue of seeing a new champion. Most people didn’t have a clue what they were going to do with the title and that might have spiked buys. Plus, we got a MOTYC anyway if you ask me.

That being said it still can be a pretty good PPV. Assuming the Main event whatever it is, delivers, we still have some potentially good bouts.

Triple H vs Umaga for example. Yeah i’m hating HHH right now, but this can be good. It can’t be a squash for a change, since they built Umaga as a monster, so it has to be a balanced match, and hopefully a good one.

I was looking forward to this one a lot but it had to suffer for the overall booking of the show. Maybe somewhere down the line they’ll go at it again and get longer to shine.

However i’m looking forward to Rey vs Finlay the most. Finlay is an excellent worker, who knows how to handle any type of match. I’ve seen Rey vs Dean Malenko many times, and all of them were awesome matches. FInlay is a similar worker to Dean Malenko only less technical, but he’ll work the match with the same approach. Toning down Rey’s spots but letting him hit them every now and then, working the body part. It should be great if given the time. My only worry is that i don’t know if Rey can still hit his moves like he once did. I’ve only see him wrestle once since his return, so i can’t judge.

While we didn’t get the truly great match we could’ve, the feud is going to continue and so hopefully they’ll put on at least one memorable match for us soon.

And finally THE biggest clue that Y2J is coming back:

And no i’m not kidding..
Lance Storm is Y2J’s best friend. They’re the equivalent of Eddie and Benoit (only still alive). Now if you check his website, he always does some Q & A’s. He often gets asked about Jericho and always said: i can assure you Y2J is happy with his life and won’t be returning anytime soon. That was however some year ago or so.
However in his last commentary, he was ranting about the wrestling product, and that’s what he said:

“I hope that TNA can find a logical grove for its 2 hours show. I hope Edge and Helms get healthy soon and return. I hope Jericho returns and hurries the hell up. I hope the new Hart Foundation debuts soon”

He wouldn’t have mentioned his best friend if he didn’t know he was coming back. And he mentioned him along with Edge, Helms and the Hart foundation, who are all under WWE contracts, which means he’ll be part of the WWE and not TNA. Yeah it might not seem like a big deal, but Storm was always careful talking about his friend’s return, and now it seems like there is some truth to it. And judging from recent news, there’s more than truth to it.
So there you go, i 411 writers will look back at your save_us22 column and say Wilcox was right all along. LOL.

Great work.
Cheers.

As someone who doesn’t read Lance’s blogs, I’ll have to take your word for it, but it does appear that Jericho is certainly on his way back and I can’t wait. Thanks for the feedback, Samer.

And thanks to everyone else for their feedback, too.

Time for Wilcox’s Wonderful Pole of the Week!

WWE made the right choice, putting the WWE Championship on Randy Orton at No Mercy
	True
	False
pollcode.com free polls

And that’ll do it for this week, but be sure to join me next week when I look ahead to the Granddaddy of ‘em All, WrestleMania 24!