Scripted Through Sin 3.11.08: Establishing a Legacy

Posted by Jarrod Westerfeld on 03.11.2008

Forget reality, we’re delving into the fantasy and the critical looks of the American wrestling television products. We look over Raw, ECW and Friday Night SmackDown, as well as retool the ROH roster and book the first episode of iMPACT! of the revised TNA roster established last week. See where we go with this new direction.



You read that right – this is a full edition of Scripted Through Sin. Gone is Your Viral Dose of Reality for now, as I focus my energy being a true armchair quarterback to the wrestling world, second guessing decisions of a company and providing my own smart-assed answers to the aged old question, "how would you book it".

You may be asking yourselves why the change all of a sudden. Well, the first being that I feel more comfortable typing out this new format during a time period where I'm not as inspired to write articles that border on the lines of my Heyman articles, which was the main reason for Your Viral Dose of Reality. Plus I really felt inspired by this video by crazymike1706 to keep writing this format seeing as that is something the IWC is known to do: second guess every company but never come up with plausible, or at least feasible answers to amend the issue to a grand public's liking. Besides, I needed a cool gimmick around here – we've seen enough opinionated pieces on this site, and I needed to stand out more.



And like anything else that's new, [I] have to warm you up to the idea of this new article format, so here's the schedule of what's to come in this edition.

Scripting Agenda

This week we'll focus in on a few keys for our booking duties this week:

• WWE Raw
• ECW on Sci-Fi
• WWE SmackDown!
• New School Booking: ROH Roster Revamp
• TNA Revised: First Show on Spike TV

WWE Raw

Gotta love the opener for last week's Raw – what better way to start off then Cena, Orton and Triple H all being told they'll each get a chance to book Raw. Oh what fun will ensue this episode? Who cares – this'll be the first time I smile while Triple H is on my television screen, and it's a fun moment.

First match is Big Show versus Brandon "The Thrill" Hill in a Mixed Martial Arts match, which turns out to be a squash. This was just a set-up for Floyd and Show to have a via satellite showdown, and it came off poor. It looked as if those filming Mayweather didn't set-up a television with access to USA so he can watch and react to what he's watching. It was poorly constructed, and the only highlight was Show destroying Hill to establish himself, even more, as the mean bastard looking to kill his opponent.

Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels team up to defeat the Redneck Spinning Dervish, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, in a decent bout. Finish with Flair locking in the Figure Four and Shawn locking in his Figured For?

Jump back to Cena announcing two big matches: Triple H vs. Randy Orton, and John Cena taking on Mr. Kennedy. He then proceeds to kick Regal out of his office, and a good laugh is had.

Umaga squashes Super Crazy as William Regal does commentary with the crew. They put over the Batista vs. Umaga match at Wrestlemania 24. Nothing to be said of this match, though I wish I could book Super Crazy's diet so he lays off the fucking anchilada's.

Jericho's Highlight Reel returns with some glitz and glamour, as his first guest is Jeff Hardy. The one note to start off with is Jeff's new theme song kills some of his heat. The fans don't know how to react to it after years of that generic guitar rift he's danced to for so long – this change was unnecessary. Jericho putting down Hardy fires up the crowd and a question rings through my head: "how is he not in the main event, this year?"

The exchange between these two was amazing, and Jeff walks away looking and sounding like a million bucks as the fans continue to love him. That's a good build for Mania for these two, and they really sell the importance of the Money in the Bank ladder match, especially seeing the previous winners of that title have gone on to become champions. Easy way to get people over on the idea of the match, but this secures it.

Quick note: Carlito vs. a seagull. BOOK IT!

John Cena defeats Mr. Kennedy via the STFU in a solid match that sees Kennedy looking like a main event threat. But as J.D. Dunn said in last week's The RAWtopsy, Kennedy was:


I liked the concept of this match and it could be played off of later as Kennedy plays the role of a contender, or a nagging problem for John Cena, before he gets a shine in the main event.

Maria's Playboy cover is unveiled and Santino comes to the rescue. In all honesty, I've seen the pictures – Playboy has killed every fantasy I've ever had of Maria. I think I liked her way better not knowing how she looked naked and photoshoped to hell and back.

Anyway, Santino salvages this segment selling the unveiling and the disgrace of being embarrassed by her betrayal of his trust and love. The only reason you could look at Santino as a heel here is because you're a dude looking at this guy trying to prevent us pervs from seeing Maria in the buff as opposed to the jealous and obsessive controlling boyfriend who tries to destroy her life and choices. Seeing Maria stand up to him was a huge character shift and it was damned well time for it.

Cody Rhodes and Carlito fight for a chance to qualify for Money in the Bank Ladder match. You want to talk about throwing a bone to Carlito, as if to say, "sorry we signed you to a big deal and then teamed you up to play third fiddle to Maria – here's a pseudo push for Money in the Bank. Enjoy jobbing to Jeff Hardy on the big stage, and no one taking you seriously." You could've done so much more with this last spot, assuming of course WWE learned their lesson from last year's MitB clusterfuck of a match. This was basically a bout between two guys who don't have a serious role on the roster getting a shot for the main event teaser match – what's appealing there?

Cut back to Mayweather doing an interview with Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross – not very good. Floyd just comes off almost unresponsive to what he's supposed to be playing off of. Follow this up with Mike Adamle and it's a stack of shit – fuck. I was liking this show, too.

Return from commercial sees Finlay and McMahon exchanging some words about Hornswoggle. JBL with Hornswoggle via satellite, and Horny does such a great job here selling this moment. My only major gripe here is we never got resolution between JBL and Jericho, so a big problem there for me.

Main Event of Triple H and Randy Orton does a phenomenal job of adding more tension, but my issue is, if Cena wants to get delight out of this bout, why not enlist these two into a Best 2 out of 3 Falls match? This way he gets to see both men eat their opponent's finisher, should it go that route, and really see the two men destroy themselves after weeks of being on the receiving end of these two and their attacks? Cena did a tremendous job on commentary putting both men over, gotta credit him for that.

Show Rating: B

ECW on Sci-Fi

Sitting through this week's ECW, the same level of excitement I usually have for this show seems to be drying up, and it's not because of the roster, it's because of certain things that tick me off. It's not even that they piss me off, it's just that they don't play out well, and aren't as good as the things I was watching about 4 months ago.

This week saw Colin Delaney and Tommy Dreamer vide for the WWE (SmackDown!) Tag Team Titles held by champions, John Morrison and The Miz. Some already dub this gold plated tandem the New M&M, which I really can't be arsed to even joke about as Miz is certainly now Mercury, nor would I want to replay Mercury with a slightly sloppier looking Mizanin. The finish here was a disqualification as Colin cleaned house with a steel chair, much to the approval of Tommy Dreamer. Can't say I fault this decision – I actually kind of liked it and it was certainly time to open up Colin to look like he at least semi-belongs in the WWE ring, or at the very least showcase he's human and has a breaking point like all of us. So far, I'm in agreeance with the show.

Following our curtain jerker was Shelton Benjamin defeating the still hot off return Stevie Richards, and reality is a motherfucker for poor Stevie. While it was a fun match, I still hate Benjamin's new finisher, and I still hate how this is the solution for him to get over enough with the crowd to be considered a strong mid-card guy. Everyone cries how he should be a main eventer now, but I have to side with the WWE on this one – he's really not ready for that role. He's still lacking on the mike, though he has improved and sounds more comfortable there, even with a poor catchphrase like "ain't no stoppin' me now" or at least it's poor the way he delivers it, and beyond a few flippity moves, there's really not a whole lot to connect to the guy with. But what I can't agree with is the booking of this match unless it leads to a good feud between the two – perhaps Stevie getting a shot at Money in the Bank to really stick it to Shelton. In fact, there's two ways to go about this match:

1. You never do this match to begin with, as it kills Stevie's heat, which has already been suffering slightly with all of the squash matches he's put in. And…
2. You have an ECW qualifying spot for Money in the Bank: a Triple Threat bout featuring Elijah Burke, Stevie Richards and Big Daddy V.

Now some of you will scratch your head on Vis but unfortunately whether you want to accept it or not, the man is a legitimate main eventer now – he's not of the likes of being the constant contender of being in line for a title run, but he's a groomer of that division. No one looks good without a win over a groomer of the main event division, and how much more credibility would you buy for Richards to get a win over Burke and Vis, especially when you can have him do as such without pinning the bigger man's shoulders?

Kelly Kelly and Kofi Kingston are talking about Maria's Playboy shoot and how Kelly is "pretty" enough for Playboy – yes, because any skank with a mule's face that Johnny Ace beats off to is certainly worthy of Playboy in this photoshop day and age. This leads to a confrontation with Layla El over the issue of posing for Playboy, and a cat fight ensues. I literally yawn and begin to wonder why Kelly Kelly gets any air time at all, anymore, especially without Balls Mahoney around. I miss Balls already – in a non-"gay" sort of way.

The fact these two are still working together in programs is bothering me, especially seeing as Layla's improved by leaps and bounds, and Kelly Kelly still can't grasp onto some of the simpler concepts. Why not move Layla up the card a bit and really get her feet wet in some serious women's wrestling here? I know she'll never rank up high enough to be considered on a SHIMMER level, but let's at least make her into a proper WWE Diva that could rival some of the overrated ladies in Trish Stratus and Lita.

After the cat fight, of course we go back to a wrestling match, and ECW showcases to TNA, once again, that an hour long show can still accomplish lots in this day and age of 2 hour deals being a "requirement" to survive – Kane squashing James Curtis. The only interesting part here is this was used as hype for Kane's upcoming bout with Chuck Palumbo for Friday Night.

If there's no history here, and this is their "first" encounter – at least on television with Chuck's new gimmick – why do this? Why have a throwaway match of this magnitude only as a "warm-up" for Kane on Friday? I guess they had time constraints as they wanted to give the main event a good 12 or so minutes, but still – why not just have a promo in there instead?

I kind of understand the usage here as Chuck, whose been on a bad losing streak, tried to get a good idea of who he was facing and trying to get into his head, but the end result still is a shit looking waste of time and doesn't help progress anyone to Friday Night's showdown.

And wrapping up ECW was the ECW World Champion, Chavo Guerrero, defending against CM Punk. The lead in here was Punk cutting a promo with Lena, the Diva Search interview lady, backstage about how the only warrior of the Guerrero namesake was Eddie, or so he hinted at. A pretty good promo from the Punkster, as I was really into it and liked where it was going and was really pumped up for the match. Hit the ring and you can hear how over Punk is with the fans. A solid bout with some solid time to build into it that leads to a clean finish – Chavo hitting the frog splash for the victory. A problem emerges from this: you can't keep having CM Punk loses these matches cleanly, and you certainly can't do it when he's hot with the crowd as they're loving him and paying to see him win.

The only other finish you could propose is a count-out. That's three outcomes that don't hurt Punk in the least bit, either he:

1. Wins via count-out and looks like he robbed himself an opportunity to win the title back,
2. Loses via count-out, coming so close to breaking the count and continuing the match, showcasing heart and determination, or
3. They both end up counted-out due to their fight on the floor or both looking completely injured and unable to continue the bout.

It's not fucking rocket science, and it leaves in doubt that Punk can, or can't, win back the ECW World Title, while still keeping Chavo looking like a strong, warrior like, fighting champion. Upon occasion you can keep up the title reign for Chavo with Edge, the Edgeheads or Vicki helping him out.

Overall, the show dropped the ball upon occasion by nothing too serious to gripe about, but it was certainly enjoyable, though it wasn't as good as it was in previous weeks.

Show Rating: C-

WWE SmackDown!

Oh this should be fun, we start off with Edge running his mouth on The Cutting Edge, which sets up the main event in Edge, the Edgeheads taking on Undertaker in a handicapped match; but the guest for tonight is Ric Flair, and Edge and Flair put on a good showing on the mikes, which is odd as normally I can't buy Edge on the mike. This establishes next week a steel cage handicapped match of Edge and his minions taking on Ric Flair. So far, I like where this show is going.

First match-up of the night is Miz, Morrison and Chavo taking on Jesse, Festus and CM Punk. Just a quick note – I freaking like Festus, he strikes me as being so impressive and his character allows him to be a monster that can afford to lose and still look legitimate and cool. Not only that, but his somewhat sloppy style is masked by his character which just looks like a loose cannon ready to deal out damage without any regard to form or technique.

I don't quite get the reasoning behind this tandem of characters, and I question where this leads to, if anywhere, considering the programs between Miz and Morrison against Delaney and Dreamer, and Chavo and Punk. I guess they just want to further establish Jesse and Festus as a legitimate tag team, but there are other ways to do it.

Noble and McCool break things off, and I hate that this had to end. I thought this was so well done, I really enjoyed what they were doing with these characters. Noble is just cash money as an entertainer. I actually thought there was some interesting chemistry with these two, and Chuck added a nice element between it all.

M.V.P. defends the United States Championship against Batista in a decent little affair. The build into this match was nice, and looked like M.V.P. might have just met his match after all of this time, which was needed to further doubt in the fans mind he'd roll into Mania as the longest reigning US Champion. I think the fans needed a good reminder about M.V.P.'s title reign and needed some shadow cast over it as to whether he'd walk into Mania with it or not, and this did the job. Seeing, later on, the set-up for next week's No Holds Barred match is damned good follow through.

Moving on and we see Edge and Vicki playing lovers again as Jamie Noble barges in looking to take on a big man. Apparently he's not afraid of big men anymore, so for his troubles, he gets Big Show. Now we're back to Vicki punishing Jamie for sticking his foot in his mouth.

Divas hit the ring and are competing for the top Diva of SmackDown much like the Divas Search, and already I don't care. The winner gets a custom motorcycle, which I can only hope leads into some further tension between Noble and Palumbo over Michelle. The end result of this filler is some fighting between the faces and heels, excluding Cherry. If the booking is smart, this leads into a match next week.

Kane and Palumbo due up next, and Chuck pre-match is interesting to watch. His character really seems to have gone through some changes for the better that define him. The end of this match doesn't really do anything for me.

Big Show defeats Noble via DQ, and this only further sells Show as being bigger than Mayweather, which is about as obvious as stating the sun will rise and set every day. Good job from Noble with the blood capsules to really sell Show as a dominator.

Main event time as Edge and the Edgeheads defeat the Undertaker in an interestingly booked match-up where tags were required for the action to continue. This was well worked out and allowed Edge to further place the emphasis on Undertaker simply can't beat him, which should add some doubt to the fans minds as to whether or not the streak will continue.

Show Rating: A

New School Booking: ROH Roster Revamp

I've been asked sometime during the week to revamp the roster of Ring of Honor to see how I could touch up the company the same way I touched up on TNA, last week. So we'll break it down, limit myself to 35 contracted workers plus some add-on walk-ins, overall, and see what can be done with the product – no character break downs this time.

On-Air Authorities
Cary Silken – President of ROH
Dave Prazak – ROH Announcer
Lenny Leonard – ROH Announcer

Managers
Becky Bayless
Julius Smokes
Larry Sweeney

Ladies of SHIMMER
Alexa Thatcher
Becky Bayless
Daizee Haze
Lacey
* LuFisto
Mercedes Martinez
* MsChif
Sara Del Rey

* indicates a part-time worker

Lower Tier
* Adam Pearce
B.J. Whitmer
Brent Albright
* Daniel Puder
Davey Richards
Delirious
* Eddie Edwards (w/ Becky Bayless)
El Generico
Erick Stevens
* Gran Akuma
* Human Tornado
Jack Evans
* Jigsaw
Jimmy Jacobs
* Joey Matthews
Kenny Omega
Kevin Steen
* Necro Butcher
* Nick Dinsmore
* Ricky Reyes
Rocky Romero
Roderick Strong
Ruckus
Tank Toland
* T.J. Perkins
Tyler Black

* indicates a part-time worker

Main Eventer
Austin Aries
Bryan Danielson
Chris Hero
Claudio Castagnoli
Eddie Kingston
Jay Briscoe
Mark Briscoe
Nigel McGuinness

Stables
Age of the Fall (Eddie Kingston, Erick Stevens, Jimmy Jacobs, Joey Matthews, Lacey, Necro Butcher & Tyler Black)
No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards, Ricky Reyes, Rocky Romero & Roderick Strong)
Sweet n' Sour Inc. (Austin Aries, Chris Hero, Daniel Puder, Larry Sweeney, Sara Del Rey & Tank Toland)

TNA Revised: First Show on Spike TV

Before we get into this week's break down of the revision of TNA, I received an e-mail:
"I'm not gonna bullshit you. I want in. If i could be a contributing writer and offer up five to six ideas a week for you to mull over, that would be great for me, and ultimately good for the product i think.

Here's a taste:

Kevin Nash as General Manager- I think he would work great as a general manager. He's not worth his pay stub in wrestling anymore, but i will admit i watch Tna today for five reasons. Christian's promos, Nash's jokes, Rhyno's gore, Machine Guns flips and shit, and no new episodes of the office right now.

The New Church- James Mitchell, Raven, and Abyss, various others.

Bryan Danielson- Samoa Joesque debut with out the underutilized aftertaste

also, somebody mentioned having a 15-minute time limit on the X division title match. this could easily allow chickenshit heel tactics.

Give me a chance,"
~ "Steveo" Lavender

Well Steveo, you got your wish – consider this your first entry into the Scripted Through Sin column, now let's see you run with the ball.

And based upon what you've said, I think I will mull these over, and utilizing some of these things. Kevin Nash I'm still not sold on, but it's a decent idea that puts Cornette to bed so he can do other, more important things, such as just backstage stuff – something he would be doing anyway, but the roster only specifies the on-air talent I'm going to utilize, not backstage role players such as bookers. The New Church I like, and Danielson could probably use some credibility pounding opponents into submission. The X Division Title shouldn't be contested only under 15-minute time limits, but the concept of there being time limits on their television matches works out fine for me, so a 15 minute time limit on all X Division matches shall be instated for Impact! tapings. So Steveo, you've got until next week to further impress me with your mind, and contribute to this column.

So to start off, we'll book our very first TNA episode of Impact! for Spike TV.

Starting off Impact!
Seeing this is the very first Impact on national television, after Fox Sports Net dropped the company off their television, giving them the TNN/ECW treatment by pre-empting them often, messing with their time slots and completely short-ending TNA, Impact! starts off with a bang – a Monster's Ball match.

Introducing the concept of this match as being a brainchild of TNA should instantly get fans interested in the idea of watching this wrestling program. Having established a long time feud with Abyss, Matt Morgan and Austin Aries, with the heel being Abyss and his manager James Mitchell we roll into some stiff action explaining the rules of this match – the participants have had no food, water or source of light for 24 hours and thrown into a grueling, hardcore hellish nightmare. Highlights leading to this match should be the men locked in their cells with the night vision filtered cameras, and the backstory into this match – Aries beating Abyss after a grueling squash at the hands of the monster, and the next week in which Aries tries to battle Morgan only for that to be thrown out thanks to Abyss and Mitchell's interference, continuing with Morgan and Aries to get a rematch only with the same result. The concept there was to lead into this match as it further broke down as Morgan got fed up with being the man in the middle as he tries to establish his own brand of dominance, fighting Abyss and Aries in brawls in and out of the ring.

Aries should look dominant despite his size, striking his way through these men before being stopped cold, at which point you introduce the hardcore elements that leads to some crazy spots.

Finishing up Aries looks to finish Abyss before Christopher Daniels hits the ring and costs him the win, as Abyss picks up the scraps. Gargiulo and Dustin question why Daniels would step in and make matters with Aries for no reason. Tenay should be the one to point out the history of Daniels and James Mitchell during their run on pay-per-view and Fox Sports Net, discussing how the two have been meeting up in private and there must be some sort of deal.

Following up, we go back to Kevin Nash lounging, cutting a more humorous promo about how life has treated him since leaving WCW and WWE, explaining that being here in TNA he's calmed down some and become more mellow. He expounds upon wanting to be a mentor of some young guys, guys he feels are "vanilla midgets" right now but would make great stars for every fan to tune into and enjoy – the future of wrestling, as he'd put it.

Moving along a storyline, we see Abyss hunched over in a dark corner as James Mitchell and Christopher Daniels speak – talking about a deal and that Christopher is holding up his end of the bargain, so James better hold up his own. He should continue to point out that the monster, Abyss, should be answering to him so long as things continue to work out for both of their benefits.

Time to highlight some of the company's past: the acquisition of Kurt Angle and the role he's played within TNA leading to him chasing the TNA World Championship from current champion Raven. Kurt mows down the likes of Tyson Tomko, Abyss, Giant Bernard and Rhino – defeating some of the bigger men in TNA. Highlight the X Division and some talk that compares them to the MMA world of the UFC as you highlight a young Bryan Danielson defeating opponents with elbow strikes and Austin Aries kneeing opponents into submission, and Samoa Joe submitting opponents to rear naked chokes, and the highlighted rule of 15 minute X Division television matches and how they allow for faster paced action that includes a laxed ringside count-out to prevent people getting intentionally counted out of a situation they can't win. Highlight some of the younger tandems with Jay Lethal, Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, Alex Shelley, Homicide, Hernandez, Aries and Shingo Takagi – the key here the explosive nature of tag team wrestling and how fast these men are in that ring.

"My name is Samoa Joe," should be next words we hear as he introduces himself with a video collage and promo. The goal here, introducing himself to the audience and the aggression he presents in that ring, and dedicating a promise to every fan watching – he is wrestling and he will deliver wrestling, whether he's pinning or submitting opponents, or even knocking them out – he is Samoa Joe and he is pain.

And to ring out the episode with a note of familiarity – the match we hype throughout the entire show, another long, solid wrestling match in Kurt Angle versus Booker T.

Here you get the familiar WWE style of wrestling with some interesting twists as Angle looks more MMA-ish, much like his ECW run. So Angle isn't exactly going kicky-punchy style, but rather looking to lay in some takedowns with mounts into striking and attempting to lace up a submission hold. Booker should be escaping but looking a bit flustered – unable to crack Angle's style. When Booker takes over, it's the typical WWE style, but when Kurt goes back on the offensive, his goal should be to look for a quick submission hold of any body part and end this match. Booker should be playing the subtle heel here, as both men are faces in this contest, and it should come off as such with Kurt making every clean break without hesitation, and showing Booker respect upon each break he offers – as if to say he wants to win this cleanly and that he's not going to rob the fans of a competitive match. Booker should take certain shortcuts at points, but not to the point he's flat out cheating it should be subtle.

The finish should be Angle locking in an arm bar for a submission, with Raven then charging down the ring looking to take advantage of the situation, but Angle and Booker should run him off, as the show closes with Booker and Angle meeting on mutual ground, respecting one another. Raven should simply look disgusted that he may have to run into the mammoth wrestling machine that is Kurt Angle, who looks to be unstoppable in this new field and environment.

Goal: The goal here is to showcase a new edge to wrestling, that would be Monster's Ball, an explanation of what's been going on in TNA when they weren't on Spike TV, the goals of some and the familiarity of WWE programming with familiar faces working a different style. The idea isn't to break in with a single hour television show getting a 3.6 rating, but rather introducing the fans to what we are and what we put out there before we go on with the show. The next step will be furthering this introduction next week with some of our other key players.

The Wrap Up
That'll wrap up this first edition of this new direction, Scripted Through Sin. Until next week, feel free to divulge in your own bookings of TNA Revised, or discuss the booking of this week's episode, or send in requests of what you'd like to see written. Perhaps the next issue I'll look at some other shows outside of Raw, ECW and SmackDown!