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Wrestling’s 4R’s Tuesday Edition – 9.02.08: Sting Speaks, R-Truth Debuts, Angle Qualifies, Shelton Shines, and TWINS!
How the 4R’s of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO times a week. On Tuesdays I will discuss TNA Impact and WWE Smackdown. Also, if there is a PPV, that will be covered in this column as well. The column will run again on Friday’s, covering WWE Raw (with Jeremy Thomas) as well as ECW on Sci-Fi. If there is a PPV that weekend, I will also run the RETRO R’s of the show from the year before as well as address some comments when time permits. I will 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, unless you are TNA. They have a special R all of their own, the 6th R; the Russo-FN-Riffic~! 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, my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
In HD where available…
By: Larry Csonka
iMpact! 8.28.08:
Awesome Kong w/Riesha Saeed vs. Sojourner Bolt/ODB ATTACKS: Impact kicked off with Knockouts actions as Awesome Kong faced off with Sojourner Bolt, known to many as Josie from SHIMMER. Josie had been part of the Kong challenge on PPV, but this was her first official TNA appearance as a wrestler. They had a fun little three minute match, Kong was dominant and took the victory. I felt that this was a great way to play off of last week’s destruction of Gail Kim, which commentary mentioned as well as the fact that she had left the company. But simply defeating Sojourner Bolt was not enough for Kong. She and Saeed were looking for destruction and went to the chairs. Thankfully for Bolt, ODB was in the house and made the save. The two ladies had a really good pull apart brawl, and this is all leading to a PPV match. ODB and Kong have met previously on PPV, which was a good match. Now we get to see if they can do it again. This was a fine way to open the show.
Four Ways to Glory Qualifying Match: Kevin Nash vs. Kurt Angle: While it may surprise many people, not only was the match perfectly acceptable, but overall I liked this because it went a long way to setting things up for the future as well as playing off of the past. This was a match without the smoke and mirrors, and in all honesty this is about as good as you can expect from Nash at this point in his career. They told a decent enough story, unfortunately it is the same one they have worked in every Nash match this year. But if that is what works, then so be it. It plays off of the past because Angle in the match makes sense because he wants revenge on Joe and wants the title back. Plus it is accomplished without a single match between Joe and Angle, which they are smartly staying away from. This is also playing off of the constantly building drama between Joe and Nash. Also Angle winning was the absolute right call in terms of us getting a good match. As for the future it will go a long way into playing into the “old vs. new” feud that they are currently building. Overall I really have no complaints here.
STING SPEAKS: I had freely admitted to being a fan of the man, I think that he has done well in TNA, worked hard and has been there for the right reasons. Booking won’t let him do the things he wants to do, like putting people over and clean, and for all of the money they are paying him, they have gotten very little in return. But he has delivered well in the ring, especially for his age. His “retirement” promo when he came back to the company was excellent, and I have to say that last week, Sting fucking delivered on Impact. He took us back and explained that the series of interviews he did with Mike Tenay was gearing up for him to leave the business. But he kept asking himself one question, “What would happen if he turned the business over to the next generation?” Sting then answered that. He thinks that it would be the end of TNA as we know it today. It would be a grave mistake, because that generation would spit in the face of TNA, just like they have spit in his face. He discussed Joe’s disrespect for Booker T, that he thought Joe would be the one to carry the TNA torch for this generation, but Joe rejected Sting, he disrespected Sting; a man that paved the way for Joe. Talk turned to Ric Flair taking Sting under his wing because he believed in him, like Sting used to believe in Joe. And then there was AJ Styles, a kid that one day called him MR. STING, and now calls him a coward and thinks Sting owes HIM something.
“AJ Styles should thank ME for the chance to become a pro wrestler. He should thank ME for the ability to pay his mortgage. I will not pay homage to this generation because they are a bunch of spoiled and rotten brats. One way or the other I will brig respect back into this business, I will be that parent that no one wants to listen too and I will be the babysitter. And if any one of you think that I am wrong, come and say it to my face.”
AJ Styles would answer this challenge. AJ thought that Sting was wrong, he idolized the man and never disrespected him, he also reminded Sting that HE was the one that helped to build THIS company. Sting pointed out that you cannot respect a man that you deem a coward, that he wanted to help AJ and that is why he got involved at Hard Justice. AJ crossed the line, Kurt Angle was a champion in WWE, a champion here, and has done something none of them have done, win an Olympic Gold Medal. Michael Phelps doesn’t spit in Mark Spitz face, does he? Great line. He gave AJ the bat and turned his back and told him to take the shot. AJ refused, turned Sting around and was then laid out to end the show. The funny thing is I was worried when he began the promo because the pacing seemed so fast, too rushed. But it worked because of the flow he had, the cadence he kept. Slow and drawn out would have failed, he was eager, angry and had to get this out of his system. I do have concerns though. In my opinion Sting came off as more of a face than anything else. I often discuss that the best heels are the ones that feel completely justified in their actions (like above). While this falls into that category, the thing about the promo is that he was right. He came to TNA to help the company, to leave the company in good hands. Joe and AJ did cross that line, as far as being the good guys. BUT you notice did NOT chastise ANY of the “legends” for going too far. And THAT in my opinion is the saving grace. He refuses to pay homage to this generation’s spoiled, rotten brats. But the fact is this: this generation is doing the same thing that HIS generation is doing. He’s two faced, it’s a double standard, THAT in contradicting himself and that is what I hope they play off of and that I hope people see.
Petey Williams w/Rhaka Khan and Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal: Playing heavily off of last week’s X-Division title match, which was ended when Sheik Abdul Bashir entered the equation, we had an X-Division tag match this week as Petey and Bashir teamed up to battle Creed and Lethal. They got a bit over 4-minutes and it wasn’t bad, but the whole time it felt as they were just using the match to get to the miscommunication at the end. While that was the ultimate goal, which sets up a #1 contender’s match for the X-Division title, the match was so secondary I felt as they were just going out there and going through the motions to get to it. It was ok, but did nothing to keep me interested from an in ring standpoint.
Jimmy Rave w/Hemme vs. Curry Man/PPV Match Set: Following up on the attack by the Rock and Rave Infection last week, Curry Man battled Jimmy rave. They had a short 3-minute match, which really didn’t click with me. It was completely rushed, and these guys are good. They could have had a much better match of they were actually given some time, but with the rushed nature I just didn’t get into it. Curry Man took the win, but took a beat down from the Rock, the Rave and the Infection. The Prince Justice Brotherhood made the save, which prompted Jim Cornette to make a match between Super Eric, Curry Man and Sharky vs. Rave, Rock and Hemme for the PPV. While I am personally not a big fan of this match at all, I will give them credit for setting up a PPV match and working to link the shows with even the smallest of under card angles.
Traci Brooks to Control the Knockouts Division: This is one of those things that really defines purgatory, it is the ultimate wait and see. Many weeks ago Jim Cornette had agreed to allow Traci Brooks some control of the Knockouts Division by having her officiate some of the Knockouts matches. Well on Impact they took it a step further as Jim Cornette relinquished control of the division to her because he didn’t want to deal with the chicks. I think that this is a good move for Brooks as she is a good personality but not a great wrestler. She is a hell of a lot better than Velvet Sky though. I thought when she started to officiate that she would eventually turn heel, and she can do no with this role as well. My main concern is that they have essentially created another authority figure, which may be a bad thing. I think that it is nice to give the Knockouts more, because they deserve it, but I don’t want the show overrun with even more talking. Hopefully this works out well, so we shall wait and see.
The Beautiful People (Love and Sky) w/Kip James vs. Roxxi and Taylor Wilde: While I am a fan of the Knockouts Division, I am also able to call them out when they have a bad week, and well, this match qualifies as a bad week in my opinion. They had a good history going into the match, Roxxi got her head shaved by them and Wilde has to defend the title against Love, so that’s all well and good. But when it came down to it, the match just wasn’t good. I will say that it did have its moments, or moment. When it was good (Roxxi off of the hot tag) it was really good, but they also had moments where it looked very bad (when Sky and Wilde were in there). In the end with the commercial cut factored in, especially because when we came back from commercial they MISSED the hot tag. They came back to Roxxi running wild, which is just horrible production. While there was SOME good, overall this was not a good wrestling week for the ladies. The after match saw Kip and the Beautiful People try to brown bag Roxxi and then cut the hair of Wilde. Rhino of all people would make the save and end the segment. I fear that we will get Rhino and Roxxi vs. Kip and Sky. Kip James and Velvet Sky, that’s a shitty tag team. At least they’ll have Velvet Sky’s charisma.
24:55: I’d like to think we all know the drill by now. TNA is supposed to be the alternative, they try to be different, and they claim to be the wrestling promotion. So I am their conscience, their wrestling stopwatch. Each and every week I keep track of the time of wrestling on the show, and discuss it here. They were under 25-minutes this week. I still contend that when they offer more wrestling, they tend to put on their better shows.
KAREN’S ANGLE: Karen’s Angle continues to be an atrocious edition to TNA Impact. Every week it is some over dramatized interview that makes Barbara Walters interviews look appealing. This week she had Chris ABYSS Parks as her guest, and this was…something. I think the saddest part of the whole thing is that as absurd as this segment was that it was one of the better ones in some ways. I appreciate them working to forward the character of Abyss, it is a smart move and something that needs done. But all I could think when watching this is that this is possibly the worst Mankind impersonation ever. There have been times where people have sad he was a Kane and or Mankind rip off, and I disagreed many times. But after this, it is certain. It was just a odd segment, and Abyss even wrote her a poem: “Your skin is golden, your eyes are brown, I can take you with me, but you can’t make a sound. Not a cry, not a whisper, not a peep, like a pool of blood, my love is so deep. Oh Miss Angle, I can be your teddy bear, but just for now, accept this gift. RAAARRRRARARARAR! My hair.” Seriously. This led to the usual ending of Karen crying and being scared shitless. This is one giant joke on me isn’t it.
SOCAL VAL…ON A POLE?: Following up on last week’s edition of Karen’s Angle, SoCal Val gave an interview to show off her black eye from former husband to be Jay Lethal. She said she was sick of the childish antics, and that they could hang the RING over the wrestling ring and who ever won it basically got her. I TOLD YOU SO! SOCAL VAL ON A POLE MATCH! This is about as close as you can come to it. I hate this fucking feud. Remember when Lethal defeated Kurt Angle?
DEAR MIKE AND DON… Dear Mike and Don,
Love,
Larry
By: Larry Csonka
WWE SmackDown 8.29.08
THE Brian Kendrick and Zeke: They were awesome beyond my words.
THANK YOU!/THE DEAD MAN SPEAKS: I don’t think it is any secret that I have NOT been a fan of Smackdown relying on the main event interview as a way to constantly end the show. While many of the segments have been very good, doing it 6-weeks in a row (8.22.08, 8.15.08, 8.08.08, 8.01.08, 7.25.08 and 7.18.08) to me was a booking crutch, and in all honesty it was getting tedious and very boring. But one of the great things about this column is that one week something can be very wrong, but the next week it can redeem it self, see the light, and go to the right. That is what has happened here, I am rewarding the previously shunned main event interview which is now gone, for this week at least. It was a very simple opening, playing off of last week’s interview. Taker simply came to the ring and explained that he is not the forgiving kind, that he was there for HER soul, and that SHE will burn in hell. I felt that this was very important, because of the use of “HER” and “SHE.” La Familia watched on with her, they slowly exited the room, in a way, it was symbolic of them leaving her to answer for her sins. It was a cool visual. This led to some segments with her being “trapped” in the room that lasted through out the show. While a bit hokey, it played off of the angle well.
MVP vs. Jeff Hardy: I think MVP has learned a valuable lesson, and that is this: DO NOT TALK ABOUT JEFF HARDY’S DOG MAN! Overall the feud between Jeff Hardy and MVP has developed rather well, and has been a link through out the shows in recent weeks. With both men constantly looking to one up the other, and the fact that they both made it into the WWE Title Scramble, you knew that they would collide once again. They did last week on Smackdown and they had a fine match. They got time, commentary put over the feud well and I think that they got what they wanted out of it. Jeff Hardy got the win, and as he celebrated his victory and redemption against MVP, Shelton Benjamin rushed the ring and laid him out with the pay dirt. MVP was pleased with this, and as he congratulated Benjamin, Benjamin decided that MVP needed paid back for the kick that took his head off the previous week. PAY DIRT FOR YOU MVP! Benjamin stood tall, and this adds more fuel to the fire that will pick up after Unforgiven, because none of them are winning the title. They will feud over the US Title, and that isn’t a bad thing. We’re likely heading towards Show vs. HHH after Unforgiven, which is why this feud moves forward and HHH retains. As for the match, at the end of the day it had all of the makings of a great one, but it never got there. I appreciate them getting a lot of time to work, but when a match FEELS long, that is not a good thing. Long does not equal good. Also, Jeff looked to be sandbagging MVP on a few occasions, which did the match no favors. It was pretty good, but could have been much better.
…and TWINS!: Smackdown saw new talent join the show this week, one on the ladies division. This was a young lass known as Brie Bella. She faced off with Victoria, and they worked a short match. Bella was sent to the floor and tried to climb under the ring, and after kicking Victoria away she did. Victoria would pull her out, they got back in the ring and Bella was amazingly fresh and got the surprise roll up and victory. Brie Bella is from developmental (FCW) and has a twin sister (they are Brianna and Nicole). The main part of their gimmick is that they pull the switch, as they did here for the victory. Unfortunately Victoria had to be the victim (some things never change), but I am willing to give it a shot. It’s an old gimmick, like the Killer Bees, Texas Hangmen and so on; but if done properly I think that it can work very well. It is also nice to see a somewhat new idea in place for the ladies division and that they seem to want to have some direction there. Overall Bella didn’t look that bad in the match, but it was also very short and there was no real chance of her exposing herself. Which I wouldn’t mind her doing.
AND TWINS!
Non-Title Match: HHH © vs. Shelton Benjamin ©: When this match was announced, I think that I had many of the same thoughts as some fans. And that was this: HUNTOR would run wild and make Shelton look bad in order to make himself look good. That they wouldn’t have a good or competitive match, that it would be short and worthless. I am very glad to say that my fears were wrong. I thought that commentary did a good job of putting over Shelton’s recent success as the US Champion as well as the history of that title. They, like MVP and Jeff Hardy, got a lot of time to work and tell a story. Shelton has really focused his attacks and relied more on his amateur background, which in turn has led to good performances. I thought HHH gave him a lot overall and we got a very good main event out of it. At the end of the night I have to say that this was another great performance from Shelton Benjamin, who has been on a roll as of late. Also credit to HHH, as it takes two to dance. Outside of working with Orton and Cena, I have been left bored with many HHH matches, but he brought the working boots on this night and what results was a very good main event. It also never FELT long, like Hardy vs. MVP. I have to say that the ending made Benjamin look like a complete fool. HHH is distracted, but then the moment Benjamin looks to capitalize, he eats the kick, wham, and pedigree. For me that took away a bit from a really good match. But I will say that Shelton getting to lay out HHH helped me feel a bit better about things. As for Khali, let HHH beat him clean again and then let Show come down and lay them both out so that we have Show vs. HHH set for after Unforgiven.
Jesse and Festus vs. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins/BIG SHOW KILL: For what seemed like the 500th time we got to see Jesse and Festus vs. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, well sort of. They wrestled for around 30-seconds, and then the Big Show came to the ring. He destroyed all of them in short fashion, well everyone but Festus who was tossed and returned to simple mode when the bell rang. Show then got on the mic and said that there is some confusion around here, that Vickie is under so much pressure that she has overlooked certain superstars. He then stated to Vickie that he will never, ever be overlooked again. As far as this, “my bad, oops, let’s just call this an oversight.” Show is so much fun when he’s being a smart ass on the mic. On one hand this plays well into the storyline that Show got screwed out of the Scramble match. He has every right to be pissed for being left out, considering he is the ONLY World, WWE and ECW Champion. But on the other hand, he just killed all of the tag teams on Smackdown. Of course, I suppose that only matters if WWE cared about tag teams. Which they don’t, and again I say this; what a shame.
R-Truth vs. Kenny Dykstra: After weeks of vignette’s hyping his debut/return to WWE, R-Truth finally debuted on Smackdown. They showed another video before his match, and when he was announced, well, the crowd went mild. Actually mild maybe kind, nobody cared. To make matters worse Kenny Dykstra, his opponent came out and cut a robotic promo stating that he didn’t get anything special like Truth, and that they should be placing the future in his hands, not in someone’s that went to prison. Good idea, bad execution. Vince McMahon reportedly threw a bitch fit about this match because Truth sold too much. Apparently this was due to a miscommunication backstage. After watching it, and for it being a 2-minute match I have to agree. Since Kenny has been booked like a goof when he has been on the show, Truth should have went out there, ran through his trademark shit and got the win, that’s it. If they wanted a semi-competitive match, they need more time to be able to produce that match, 2-minutes isn’t enough. In the end this was a sloppy match, the crowd didn’t care, and this didn’t come off as a good debut. That’s a shame because I think Truth has a lot to offer.
Maryse and Natalya vs. Michelle McCool and Maria/They are actually building to Maryse vs. McCool?: Before the match we saw Michelle McCool participating in a photo shoot, which was interrupted by Maryse. They had one of the most charisma lacking segments in recent memory. It was so bad that I wanted to turn off the TV. I mean, are we REALLY building a feud between these two? I mean shit, they’re already jobbing out Victoria, make a feud, build it, and let McCool beat her. At least the matches will be good. Anyway, we moved onto the tag match, Maryse and Natalya vs. Michelle McCool and Maria. They had a match, it wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t very good. Much like the opener, if you want the talent to actually build a match, they need time; 2-minutes doesn’t allow for that. They furthered the build for Maryse vs. McCool, which I suppose is all well and good but in the end this was something you could have skipped over.
NOPE
FUN WITH COMMENTS~!
From 17 – I like the fact that you’re now rating the shows (although I would have probably given RAW ** this week) and it’s nice to get some final thoughts on the shows as a whole, so keep it up.
Larry – I am glad that you and others are enjoying the changes happening to the R’s. As I will mention below I think occasional change is good, especially with the column entering its 5th year. I’ll leave the rating for Raw up to Jeremy as far as the column goes, but yeah, it was kind of there for me as well. Thanks for reading and for commenting
From Kyle and others who shared in support of the twice a week R’s – I like the twice a week thing especially if you can bring back the retro R’s. I will still watch raw but raw has gotten stale again since the draft. the draft brought excitement but man it’s boring. I like not having to wait a week to get your thoughts on Smackdown and Impact.
Larry – Thanks Kyle and others that have enjoyed the format change. As I explained it was something in the plans for a while. Step one was getting Geoff to finally move onto his own column, which he did. I think the change is a good one, as well as an important one. The column has been on 411 for over 4-years, so I think some changes need to happen from time to time. And yes, a big part of the plan was to make it possible for the RetRo R’s to fit back into the Friday edition. As for Raw, to me it is all very hit and miss. I love the Jericho vs. HBK stuff though. Finally, I am sorry for those that don’t like it, but I know I can’t please everyone. Also, for those that think the column is watered down, I don’t understand that line of thinking. Thanks for reading and for commenting.
From Jeff – One thing Larry, you said that if they were going to put Finley in the ECW Scramble, they should have had someone else lose to Shelton in his qualifying match. That would seem to require that they actually plan their booking a week ahead of time. Do you think they even knew that there was going to be an ECW Scramble last Tuesday (when the Shelton/Finley match took place), let alone have planned who was going to be in it?
Larry – I think they certainly knew that they were doing the scramble match, but I don’t think they had it laid out as to who was going to be in the qualifying matches. Which is a shame, because you would think that this would be all properly laid out. Damn, thinking and booking don’t always go together. Thanks for reading and for commenting
From Sats – hey Larry no offense was taken…I’m jus glad someone actually mentioned my country….on another serious note cryme tyme’s promo on raw sucked something fierce…man they stunk…all these yoyoyoyoyo they go on with…that has got to go
Larry – Glad we’re cool Sats. And while Jeremy is in charge of raw, I did watch, and yes, that was a rather bad promo by JTG. Thanks for reading and for commenting
From Shockmaster – Larry I agree completely about Morrison needing to be on the PPV. All I can guess is they don’t want him stealing the spotlight from Hardy/Henry, but that’s a flimsy excuse.
Larry – I don’t know what the thinking is there. I would assume that there is fear of putting Morrison and Bourne in there, and them showing up the “important” scramble matches. It’s a shame really, but what can we do? Thanks for reading and for commenting.
And I’m out of here!
