Wrestling’s 4R’s Tuesday Edition 05.26.09: WWE Smackdown and TNA Sacrifice Reviewed!

THE FANS SPEAK AND EDGE DOES NOT APPROVE: SmackDown began with Edge coming out to the ring, still the World Heavyweight Champion coming off the heels of Judgment Day. He was celebrating so much that he didn’t even bother to get his wrestling gear on, instead rocking a sort of Eddie Vedder look that, frankly, really suits him for some reason. He had a bit of a smirk on his face as he started to talk about how there was no longer doubt as to who the face of SmackDown. He pointed out that Chris Jericho lost to Rey Rey, CM Punk lost to Umaga, but he embarrassed and defeated Jeff. Doesn’t that technically give Umaga and Rey Rey at least a little claim to being the “Face of SmackDown” if they beat the guys who were competing with Edge for that? Rated-R is always great when he’s lording it over the fans and other wrestlers and this was no exception; he had the Ohio crowd eating out of his hand and they eventually started a Hardy chant while Edge tried to tell them how Day-Glo wasn’t in his league. According to Edge, Jeff was like all of us—a loser.

Well, you just knew that wasn’t going to be unanswered, and down came Teddy long in a suit that looked like it was made out of my couch. Seriously, that plaid pattern is the same freaking one as the one I sit on to watch WWE wrestling with. Coincidence? I think not. Teddy told Edge that he didn’t like what he saw at Judgment Day and that while he believed that the referee’s decision is final, Edge was going to have to face Jeffykins at One Night Stand Extreme Rules Night of Extreme Extreme Rules. Edge of course was NOT pleased and said that he beat Jeff with the top-rope Edgecution, but because of a cast shot, and this brought out Day-Glo himself. He told Edge that the champ was right—he’s a loser, a letdown, a screw-up and so on and so forth, but that he’s also a competitor. He proposed that they have a match tonight and the winner decides what stipulation they had. Teddy went into his exaggerated thoughtful look while Jeff went out to ask the fans if they wanted to see Edge and Jeff Hardy. Okay, I admit, I liked this because it plays into Jeff’s fan-favorite role nicely, but how fucking killer would it have been if he would have gone up to someone and said “Do you wanna see Edge vs. Jeff Hardy tonight?” and the answer was “Fuck no, I wanna see Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness, but I’ll take what I can get.” Of course we never would have seen it because it would have been edited out in post, but still. Edge lost his shit, and Teddy made the match, and everyone was happy but Edge. You know, we talk about SmackDown being “the great wrestling show,” but this even put the Raw Opening Talky Segments to shame. It was great work by Edge, decent work by Teddy and good work by Hardy, which is enough to place it squarely in the Right.

JOHN MORRISON & CRYME TYME vs. RICKY ORTIZ & THE WORLD’S GREATEST TAG TEAM: Okay, so apparently Ricky Ortiz is a heel now. When exactly did that happen? I mean, I know that he faced Day-Glo last week, but he wasn’t exactly heelish; ah, well. Gives the upper faces someone else that can job to them I suppose. On the plus side, Morrison’s face turn seems to be working well from the crowd reaction which is nice to see. One thing it vaguely irritates me to see though is how many of Morrison’s past feuds they’ve seemed to let go. Last week it was Punk, though T-Grish and J.R. at least discussed that. Does the ‘E think that we’ve forgotten that Cryme Tyme & MnM 2.0 feuded for a good couple of months over their WWE.com shows? Hell, Grish even mentioned Word Up; that was the perfect time to mention the old feud, but they seemed more interested in talking about how Cryme Tyme was wrestling their first official match as Blue Brand members. The face team dominated Ortiz early on before JTG fell prey to a head butt and gave the heels a chance to take over. They continued to put over Haas’s new-found intensity and focus which was nice to see and after some opening slowness the match picked up very nicely. This match had a lot of time allotted to it—over eight minutes—and the six men made the most of it, giving each of them a time to shine at one point or another. Ortiz is continuing to improve, though his character is inconsistent at best and Cryme Tyme were perfectly tolerable as competitors while the World’s Greatest Tag Team seem to be finding their chemistry again quite nicely. There was an awkward moment when JTG kicked Shelton off to get the tag off to Morrison and Shelton pretty much had to throw himself out of the ring when one of the Cryme Tyme folks didn’t get him quite up and over with the Mad Man Clothesline, but outside that everything here was decent to great. Morrison got the big pin with the Starship Pain to continue his push toward the top of the card. Great stuff all around as SmackDown once again delivers with their opening match of the show.

MICHELLE McCOOL vs. GAIL KIM: Honestly I was a tad concerned about how this match was going to turn out. Gail and Michelle are both good, but their chemistry’s been just a little spotty with each other. Luckily my concerns were put to rest as they finally seemed to click against each other and had a really nice little match. Michelle & Alicia came out first—and points to Alicia for rubbing her cheek to sell the Melina slap from just before—and then Gail came out looking lovely in red. The two ladies managed to avoid having any particularly bad moments, having a match that sold their individual styles well. Michelle played the power and submission game nicely while Gail had the opportunity to do some good high-impact and high-risk ; there was even some psychology to it as Michelle really worked the leg which would in theory prevent Gail from using her high-flying. Gail’s wrap-around rana into a submission move got a name, the Flying Dragon, and it is admittedly impressive even if it is a little bit odd visually. The end worked well with Alicia coming up to distract Gail, long enough that Michelle could position her for the Faith Breaker and become the #1 Contender. It was definitely one of the better women’s matches we’ve seen on the ‘E’s shows in a while and I was very happy to see such.

CHRIS JERICHO vs. CM PUNK: Before Rey Rey’s interview (see below) even had a chance to wrap up, Jericho’s music hit at OUR Savior came down to the ring for his match with Punk. They recapped the match between Punk and Jericho from Superstars where Mr. Money in the Bank won the match, then brought him out for his entrance. The crowd was very into Punk as always and he was ready to go. There’s no other way to say this then simply that these two went out and rocked the ring for the second time in a week. The crowd was solidly behind Punk and Jericho used that against them, mocking them when they started a chant for Ol’ Straight-Edge. To say that these two have a great chemistry is an understatement; they work amazingly well off each other as we saw a couple times last year and I would love to see an extended feud between them. They kept the match well-paced and moved things along without an overabundance of high spots to wear out the crowd; this isn’t to say they didn’t have some innovative spots though, like Jericho dropkicking the ropes while Punk was spring boarding off, sending him sprawling to the mat. Punk’s high-impact kicks sounded crisp as ever and meshed well with Jericho’s technically-sound offense. The psychology could have been just a touch better, but otherwise there was nothing to dislike about this and seeing these guys compete two days in a row was quite a treat.

Now to be fair the match didn’t end cleanly, and I’m normally not a huge fan of DQ finishes. However considering Punk went over Jericho cleanly on Superstars, a DQ win didn’t do either man any damage here and it did advance the Umaga/Punk feud nicely. Umaga came down and tied Punk into a Tree of Woe with the leather strap he held, and then just beat the tar out of Mr. Money in the Bank followed by a Samoan Spike. After that he got on the mic and told Punk “You think you’re hurt now? Wait ‘till Extreme Rules!” Well, along with a long of heavy breathing. He challenged Punk to a Samoan Strap Match and then kicked him around some more. I have to say, it’s nice to see Umaga’s talking a little again, and the intense, vicious tone of voice works surprisingly well for the big guy. I don’t mind that he’s started talking again at all or that he seems quite articulate relatively speaking, because it’s a nice twist on what was an otherwise stock character. Everything here worked quite well and I enjoyed seeing it; out of all the repeat matches we’re seeing for Extreme Rules, Punk vs. Umaga is one of the few I really don’t mind.

EDGE vs. JEFF HARDY: I’ve talked in the past about how Edge and Jeff Hardy have a great chemistry in the ring and work really well against each other; tonight was just a great example of that. Before the match we saw Edge warning Teddy Long that the match at Extreme Rules would be the extermination of Jeff Hardy as we know it. That may well be (especially if Jeff hasn’t signed his contract and is really leaving), but before that we still had tonight to get through. The crowd was absolutely into this and popped huge for Jeff; Edge of course got a heavy dose of corresponding heat. They went right into a lockup, which is odd considering how much they hate each other but okay. It’s a minor grip in an otherwise exceptional match that saw both men working very well off each other and keeping the crowd red-hot for it throughout. The story of the match was solid, with Edge taking advantage of Jeff’s lingering effects from the cast shot and the top-rope DDT at Judgment Day to target the head and force Day-Glo to fight to stay alive. Jeff sold very well for Edge and nailed all of his signature spots nicely, looking very impressive in Comeback Kid mode as he is wont to do. The two men know each other well enough to be able to counter each other’s moves very fluidly; most of this came from Edge countering Jeff and then laying down the beating. But Jeff was far from done and he battled back time and again to force the World Heavyweight Champion onto the defensive. They had some pretty swank spots like Jeff’s fluid countering of the spear into a roll-up, and by doing so kept the fans happy with what they came for—crazy and innovative Hardy offense. The match ended with Jeff blocking the top-rope Edgecution and tossing him down, then hitting the Swanton for the clean pin. This was a great match from both men and capped off a really good SmackDown; the payoff was Jeff deciding the match’s stip for Extreme Rules would be a Ladder Match. Well, we had to know that was coming, but it’s still cool to see. Great work in general in this match and it’s well-worth checking out.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH REY REY: This was a sort of odd interview segment, but I thought it was more or less okay. J.R. interviewed Rey Rey via ‘Tron while he was backstage about his victory at Judgment Day. Rey put Jericho over and put over the Intercontinental Title, highlighting the history of Latino wrestlers to hold it like Pedro Morales, Tito Santana and Eddie Guerrero. Some people might be a little iffy about Rey bringing Eddie’s name in for the cheap pop, but at this point I think more than enough time has passed and Eddie’s not a guy who deserves to be ignored in the ‘E’s history books just because of the way the ‘E deplorably used his name for a while. That segued into J.R. asking Rey Rey about his mask and why he wrestles with it on, which allowed Rey to talk about the great tradition of luchadores and their masks. Rey seemed a little overly rehearsed here in the opening moments when he talked about Jericho and the Intercontinental Title, though he loosened up when he was talking about the tradition of masks. I liked this all right, but it did seem very odd to me. Perhaps it was a way for them to re-introduce himself to the Blue Brand audience, or perhaps they were trying to help him appeal to the Latino demographic that always seems to be trumpeted as a group the ‘E is trying to court whenever he’s moved to one show or another. Whatever the reason, the performances were fairly from both men but it seemed a little out of place, and since I don’t entirely know what I think of it I have to place it in puRgatoRy.

MELINA GETS A MESSAGE AND SENDS IT BACK WITH A SMACK: Melina was backstage with Josh Matthews, looking just vaguely less unbelievable as usual due to a less-than-flattering dress. She gave a promo about the upcoming #1 Contender’s match between Gail Kim and Michelle McCool saying that she just wanted to prove she’s the best on SmackDown like she did on Raw so it didn’t matter who she faced. That brought in Alicia, whose hair seemed to knock Matthews out or something, and she told Melina the title would soon be Michelle’s. This earned Alicia an insult and a slap. Honestly…okay, you guys know I love Melina, and she’s gold in the ring. She’s usually pretty good on the mic too, but tonight she just didn’t have the timing down and seemed stilted. Alicia was actually better than her, which is painful to say. It built the Michelle/Melina rivalry and I like that, but otherwise this was just too uninspired to get my stamp of approval.

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. R-TRUTH: Well they can’t all be winners, I suppose. They’re certainly pushing Dolph pretty seriously these days, and I don’t necessarily consider that a bad thing as the guy’s got some in-ring skills; I’m just sort of surprised that they’re putting him over a guy who’s as over with the crowd as Truth is. I suppose that the reasoning is Truth is a big enough hit with the crowds that he’s not going to lose much in a loss or two; if this trend continues though I might start getting a little concerned for the guy’s spot. These two just didn’t click in the ring and it made for a pretty awkward bout. It started off well enough but it just didn’t get the time that it needed and Dolph’s offense didn’t mesh well with that of the second most popular rapper in the company. The match felt rushed and suffered as a result; there was no storytelling in the match and the finish was a little bit offbeat. On the good side we saw Khali come out to try and wreak his vengeance upon Dolph, which made the cocky youngster high-tail it directly into an attack from Truth. Dolph still managed to make his escape and this makes for an interesting mini-feud; I won’t be expecting anything remotely great from the match, but it could always surprise me. This match though just didn’t do it and felt glaringly bad on such an otherwise-good show.

Nothing, really.

MORE NUGGETS BULLSHIT: Okay, I know a lot of people called me out for my comments about the Nuggets stuff, and yes ESPN appears to be taking the ‘E’s side shockingly enough. I don’t watch ESPN, so there you go. Most of the news outlets I’ve seen have portrayed the situation less favorably, and most people I’ve heard talking about it are shitting all over the ‘E. On Raw they were at least just having J.R. and Lawler make a few snide comments. On SmackDown they decided to take two minutes of air time and devote it to blowing the “Denver Debacle” drastically out of proportion. For those who think I need to lighten up about this, I’ll put it simply and use the “ESPN is taking their side” argument in my favor. The ‘E is getting goodwill right now for the situation, sure. But if Vince McMahon had more brains then testosterone in his head, he’d realize that now is the time to sit back and let other people speak for him. Instead, he’s blowing it up into a much bigger thing than it really is and the publicity is going to start turning against the ‘E. They’re acting like angry children throwing a tantrum, and while it may be true that some people in the media do this, most people are smart enough to sit back and let the other party look bad. The WWE, apparently, is not one of those organizations, and they’re embarrassing themselves by devoting entire video packages on SmackDown to how they’re being oppressed by the Big Bad Nuggets. If you aren’t embarrassed by Vince McMahon going on ESPN to challenge Stan Kroenke to a steel fucking cage match then I can’t imagine what the hell would embarrass you in the world of professional wrestling, because it just shows Vince to be the roided-up angry freak that the mainstream media believes him to be, and he’s supposed to be the statesman of the industry. I mean, really? We really needed this instead of an extra couple of minutes to Dolph vs. Truth or some other thing that actually builds storylines and feuds? Grow the fuck up, ‘E. Seriously. Bet you guys can’t wait what I have to say about whatever Vince has planned on Raw, can you?

Comment Time with Jeremy!

From Ron Bass:
JT, I can’t believe you responded to that egg sucking dog Paul Roma.

Hey, I try to respond to everyone if I have something smart to say. Or if I have something that’s not smart, but is witty. Or maybe just vaguely funny. Basically as long as I have something to say and I haven’t responded to someone else’s post about it. I don’t prejudice against Romas!

From that guy:
Damn it Jeremy, there you go again with your over exaggeration of crowd pops. The crowd popped nice, but they didn’t exactly go “insane” when Flair came out. You stop that.

They went pretty damn hot for him, guy. I may have exaggerated just a wee bit, but I certainly thought it was a big-time pop and it may not have been ‘H or ‘Taker level of insane, but it was at least nutty. Maybe whacky…I’ll get back to you on that when I fix my crazy-meter.

From August:
“This was good stuff by Matt to keep him going strong in the upper midcard, but really, what happened to wrestling under protest because of his cast?”

Speaking of not making sense, you apparently haven’t watched or read many news story about the story. ESPN especially has been -very- PRO wwe. I can’t remember the last time so many people have said the WWE is right.

What I was saying here was that Matt is considering himself to be “wrestling under protest,” and accepting a title opportunity would be breaking that supposed protest. Obviously that works for him because he’s playing a hypocritical heel, but either way it makes plenty of sense August. Besides, I was joking there. And no, as I said above I haven’t watched ESPN. I have listened my share of sports talk shows, not to mention work associates and other people I know in real life, who have shat all over the ‘E for the way they’re behaving and are backing the Nuggets. Yes, said people are less-than-informed folks who are swallowing what they’re being spoonfed, but that doesn’t change the fact that perception is truth and a lot of people (almost everyone I’ve seen or spoken to, at least) perceive that the ‘E is in the wrong. That’s just the way it is, and even with ESPN being pro-‘E, what people are remembering is Vince McMahon coming on the network to do stupid shit like challenge Kroenke to a steel cage match. It’s worth mentioning that the Associated Press articles I’ve seen have painted the ‘E in the usual light; sure, they haven’t been too fond of Kroenke but they’ve trashed McMahon as well. Just sayin’. Thanks for reading!

From Guest#7469:
You take this stuff way to seriously Thomas. Seriously, did the whole Denver thing deserved it’s own spot in that column?

You’re absolutely right Guest, I take my writing very seriously. And yes, the whole Denver thing deserved its own spot there, and it deserved it in this one, too. Just sayin’.

From chrirsty:
you’re right about E’ actin like a spoilt child, but isnt that a norm for any entertainment company that has been belittled or not taken seriously? I can’t think of an example, but it does sound like something a logical sequence of events.

But here’s a question, how come vince has never taken a direct shot at TNA on any of the shows, considering the amount of jabs TNA takes on every friggin episode? All of a sudden, Vince’s a professional?

The reason is simple, Christy; Vince, for all his testosterone-laden posturing, knows that when it comes to the WWE vs. TNA, he’s the big dog. Any time he mentions TNA, it’s going to help get TNA more viewers because they’re in direct competition, but his company is the one in the lead. Meanwhile, he’ll take all the potshots he can against the NBA because it’s the big dog compared to him so it gets his company the publicity it couldn’t get otherwise. It’s not professionalism regarding TNA, it’s business sense.

From KanyonKreist:
JT, it’s not that a promo can’t alternate between comedic and serious (Rock, Foley, Christian, etc); it’s that CENA can’t be convincing playing it EITHER WAY.

He just makes it so obvious that his stuff is all scripted, word for word, and Cena seems to have no personal stake in his character — one of the most prevalent problems in “sports entertainment” today.

Sorry, Kanyon…I should have been clearer there, because I meant that Cena shouldn’t try to alternate within the same promo, not that it should never happen. I disagree with you that he’s bad as a comedic or as a serious guy; it’s only when he flips around that he loses ground. He has enough charisma to get him by, but he needs a focus. I do think that his character has suffered the most out of everyone with the PG rating, because he’s lost most of his steps since then and perhaps he is scripted more now since his instinct would be to go more PG-13. Hopefully one day we won’t have to worry about that.

From Guest#6853:
JT, I don’t think anyone will argue that Raw has been for the most part weak since the draft, but I was wondering about the 5th ‘R’. A few weeks ago, you mentioned that it’s rarely used, but I think it’s now for 4(?) weeks. Is this the record for most consecutive weeks with that for Raw?

I’m not sure about throughout the history of the column, but doing it in the last three as I have is a record for me. I haven’t used the 5th ‘R’ much at all; typically I can sum everything up with just the four. Hopefully I can break the streak with this week’s Raw, but with the Kroenke thing on the schedule I can’t help but fear that won’t be the case. We’ll see.

From Brad:
Im not sure if Orton actually knows how much he is being burried, poor bastard. He deserves a fucking award for STILL getting reactions out of the crowd.

My faith in his booking has reached all time lows. And that is just sad.

I’m sure he does, Brad. Randy’s not dumb, he knows that his booking is all sorts of wonky, but he also knows the business and realizes he’s got to follow the Creative team’s storylines. If I were him, I’d just be trying to ride it out until I had a chance to really make something out of what I’ve got to work with. I’m not pushing some sort of conspiracy here and I don’t think that anyone’s out to get him, but he is being booked like shit and I think he’s just stuck making the most out of it.

From Spyke:
Jeremy, how can you put something in the wrong if the fans are responding positively to it? Sorry, Santina/Santino is one of THE BEST.. I like him in a lot of ways to Owen Hart. He took the stuff they gave him and made it work!

Also, you say nobody but wrestling fans are on WWE’s side in the “Denver Debacle”, yet almost every major media outlet has said that WWE is in the right! You must not watch much TV or read very much.

I like Santino; I’ve never said anything but that, and I think he has an ability to turn shit into gold. That said, he’s got something that’s worse than shit here. I don’t think Santino is Owen Hart because he doesn’t have the wrestling skills Owen has, but given time he might be able to. I already touched on the Denver Debacle thing, so not much else to say there.

From M:-X:
You know, I am beginning to think that the people who hate comedy matches are repressed homosexuals angry that they aren’t seeing enough grunting sweating dudes rubbing against each other… oh sorry, not enough “technical wrestling.” Seriously– 1940s style rasslin would bore the piss out of people these days… good for Vince for adding comedy, and good for Santino for being GREAT at it.

Ultimately I think this was good stuff, and people who HATE comedy matches are just sore-assed rednecks and basement trolls who should be watching indy shit anyway.

First of all, there’s nothing repressed about me, M. Now that we’ve cleared that up, comedy has to be funny. Santino is a great comedian but his material is for shit. I don’t mind comedy matches, I’m not a sore-assed redneck and I don’t live in a basement. My problem is comedy matches that just aren’t funny and this…not at all funny. Sorry, but men saying that they’re lesbian who like it rough don’t make me chuckle, no matter how well they deliver it. Also, the Santino storyline is probably not over at this point; we’ll see, but I have a feeling we’ll see “her” again. I agree that it’s good Santino has something to do post-Vickie & Chavo, but the fact is that Santino was just starting to get over big as a face and I don’t think they’ll book him well against Regal. Either Regal will crush him in the feud, or Santino will do stuff that makes Regal look like shit. One way or another I consider this going very poorly. Have a good day, M, and thank you for reading.

From Shockmaster:
The Ri-GOD-DAMN-Diculous: The overall state of Raw. I’ve been DVRing shows for a while now, but this week I read a recap first. I concluded there was no reason to spend even 30 minutes sifting through the trash to get to a couple decent bits. The ratings will crash (if they haven’t already), and Trips will say it’s due to his absence.

If this was the good old days when we only had a few wrestling shows a week I might soldier through, but with six hours of original WWE programs a week plus two for TNA, my stomach for nonsense reaches its limit fast.

There’s still good shit on Raw, Shock. You’re right though, the problem is sorting through the shit anymore to find the good. This’ll change, of course, and hopefully soon. Until then…well, let’s just say that I feel your pain in a very real way.

From Guest#9545:
Good column.Can you change your ratings system from stars to Paul Roma.Eg: ‘great show I give this show 5 Paul Romas’

Nope.

From Eboney:
I hear what you are saying with the Eve and Layla stuff. However, I think these feud is what the divas need. Ok, not “need”, but it’s refreshing for me at least. Ever since the E went all PG, ALL of the divas have to perform like super duper serious wrestlers. Not every diva is going wrestle, be strong or credible like Nattie. Just like with the men, not every thing with a penis has to wrestle like that wrestler everyone agreed was prolly the best ever until the unmentionable thing.

But you still da man for all of the Layla you give Layla.. Even though most people just ignore her. haha

Happy to give you some Layla goodness. I was tempted to use it, but I have to hold off. If I use the pic every week than it loses its impact. I don’t expect the match to be a classic, I just hope its entertaining like you do; unfortunately, I think the two of them are too green to put together an entertaining match. We’ll see though!

TNA SACRIFICE 2009~!
By: Larry Csonka

Eric Young and Lethal Consequences defeated The Machineguns and Bashir: The opening match was a late edition to the card and while I often complain about TNA adding matches when they don’t need too, and this didn’t need to be on the card, I am actually glad it was added. These are 6-guys that work hard, but get little to no TV time to actually put on a good TV match. The bottom line is that they gave these guys 14-minutes and told them to go out and rock the house, and they did that. This was an action packed opener that had the crowd excited and also allowed all 6-men to show what they have and that they belonged on PPV. There is nothing wrong with a completely fun match on the show, and this did that. This got the show off to a very hot start, which is always a good thing. I also liked the touch at the end, where the faces won, but Eric Young was a complete sad panda, because HE didn’t get the big win. It is a good bit of continuity as Young has been wanting chances, but never cashing in on them is taking the toll on him.

Samoa Joe defeated Kevin Nash: I know this will surprise some people, but yes, this match will get the right treatment. First of all, Nash showed up, so they had that going for them. They worked a simple, solid length match that allowed for good action and for Nash to work and not get totally blown up. They worked hard and told a pretty good story with Joe beating Nash down and also working for the Clutch, only for Nash’s size to allow him to escape. Again, a solid match, but the real story is that not only did Joe win the match, but he won CLEAN, no run ins, no bullshit, Nash TAPPED CLEAN and Joe won as he should have. On top of that, he also handed Nash his ass after the match, again, no one got involved to stop it or devalue it. This is what should have happened and this is what Joe needed. I wish all of the matches could have been booked more like this one. Kevin did so well, I have to wonder if he is well…Kevin?

Cool, we’ll get that tested right away…

TEAM 3D INVITATIONAL FINALS: Beer Money defeated The British Invasion: The idea of the team 3D Tag Team Invitational was one I was all for, due to the fact that I really enjoy tag team wrestling. While the tournament matches could have been a bit better, it was a decent execution of the plan and we got to the finals on PPV. The British Invasion had been booked strong through out, and Beer Money is simply awesome. The crowd was very hot for this match, more than anything else on the show and that is because Beer Money is over like Rover. They all worked really hard in there, Williams after a long lay off got to shine on PPV and the man is great and really carried the team, although I will point out that Brutus Magnus has improved and he works very well in the tag team setting. I am glad that they found a good use for him. After some typical TNA ballyhoo, Beer Money took the match and shook with Team 3D afterwards. I expect the Invasion to beat them all down Thursday during the trophy presentation, and in true pro wrestling tradition, destroy the trophy, leading to a three-way tag match at Slammiversary.

TNA LEGENDS TITLE MATCH: AJ Styles defeated Booker T: With little hype and build to the stipulation, and the horrible Booker vs. Jethro I Quit match on Impact, I was not looking forward to the match at all. AJ works hard, but Booker’s TNA run has been pathetic from an in ring standpoint, which as a fan of the guy I hate to say. Color me impressed, but these guys had a damn fine match. AJ was great selling the beating, which was set up by a spot to the floor, which looked so bad (as in it had to suck) as AJ fell to the floor, and landed throat first on the railing. For once Booker looked determine din his offense, controlled with a deliberate but not slow pace, and it just worked. AJ eventually got the flying arm bar, and got the win off of that, but Booker never quit, the Survivor chick threw in the towel. In the end a very good match, as this was one of Booker’s few good matches since joining the company. AJ worked hard as always and was busting ass and Booker actually was there to work hard and look good. The only thing I didn’t like was the finish, I hate the Sharmell vs. Survivor chick shit. It doesn’t need to be on PPV, and the towel finish, while playing into the feud between them, was lame as it protected Booker way too much, he didn’t need it. I hate having to say, “This was a really good match…but…”, but it happens all too often with TNA.

ULTIMATE SACRIFICE MATCH: Sting became the leader of the Main Event Mafia: I went into the with not too many hopes. I didn’t like the idea of a multi-man match one month before the King of the Mountain match, the stipulation was way over done and Foley Sting haven’t been impressing. Add in a torn hammy for JJ, and it was not looking good at all. I was prepared for this match to suck like most recent main events have. Thankfully I was wrong! I am glad to be wrong. Angle worked at a level of three men, Sting picked it up, an inured Jarrett to bust ass and work so well with Angle, and delusional Foley was great from a character standpoint. They worked the 4-way formulas rather well, there was good drama, I could have done without the title seeming secondary in the whole thing, but in the end, this as a GOOD main event. That’s nice to say. With Sting winning the leadership and the split coming between Nash and Booker, I am afraid that we will see the Mafia version of nWo red and black vs. nWo black and white, let’s hope for the best there.

X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Suicide defeated Daniels @ 17:00 via pin: The X-Division title match was one I was looking forward too. Daniels is great and delivers and Suicide/Kaz is also a fun worker, and I tend to enjoy his matches. When you have two guys that are willing to bust their ass and work hard when given the time to deliver, they usually do. But that didn’t quite happen here. They had a pretty average match, not bad, but it just never got into gear for me. They tried, but just didn’t jell as I had hoped. But I think they were headed towards a fine match. The Guns got involved and while the ref and Daniels were distracted, Shelley took out Suicide, which allowed Daniels to get the pin and the title.

OR SO WE THOUGHT!

Daniels saw the replay, and was such a nice guy he said he didn’t want to win that way. They agreed to 5-more minutes, they wrestled, it was fine, and they essentially went to a draw. And Suicide kept the title. Unfortunately this was a case of TNA being TNA, and that is not a good thing. The bottom line is that you have two good guys out there, good performers that will bust their ass for the company while asking no questions, only to be fucked over by the booking. They do the run in, Daniels wins, and then he feels bad about it and asks for five more minutes. They do that, there is no finish and then Suicide is still the champion at the end. WHY? All of the bullshit hurt what was going to be a fine *** match and knocked it down, and basically pissed me off.

KNOCKOUTS MONSTERS BALL MATCH: Taylor Wilde defeated Daffney: This was one of those matches that going into the show I didn’t feel needed to be on PPV. First of all the “Monsters Ball” match is traditionally a multiple person match and works better that way. Why not just call it a hardcore match. I know why, because they wanted a better tie in with Abyss, since it is his match. I get that. So they have the match, and it only gets four minutes. Insert rant on matches being too short here and how people don’t get over. The worst part of this is that it was to build to the AFTER MATCH, because that’s what we paid for, AFTER MATCH stuff. Taylor wins the short and blah match, and Daffney and Dr. Stevie go on the attack. They beat her down, bring out the tacks, and Stevie wants Abyss to put her into the tacks. Lauren runs out, we have a brief episode of the Young and the Restless, and Abyss ends up slamming Stevie into the tacks. Stevie wore a white shirt, so the blood showed up well, but they really cut the balls off of the alliance way too soon. Stevie should have had control, with Daffney seducing him, all for Lauren to work to get him back to the side of good and realizing her love for the big bastard. But hey, that’s just me.

KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH: Angelina Love defeated Awesome Kong: Unfortunately the Knockouts are going to occupy the wrong section of the column for the PPV. I actually enjoyed the build to the match, and thought that the interaction on Impact was very well done. But in the end, this just didn’t deliver as I had hoped. Angelina ran for a bit, which fits the character, but for the most part, the match just did nothing to pull me into the match. I think what really hurt things was that when they went for the spray bottle finish, nothing came out, and it ruined the visual and Kong sold it and was wrapped up with a weak roll up. I like the feud, and I wanted to like the match, but it just didn’t deliver anything to me. The after match here was better than the match.

NONE

–TNA SACRIFICE {7.5}
–WWE BACKLASH {7.5}
–WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {7.3}
–TNA GENESIS {7.2}
–TNA LOCKDOWN {7.2}
–ROH CAGED COLLISION {7.1}
–WWE WRESTLEMANIA {7.0}

–WWE JUDGMENT DAY {6.5}

–TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {5.5}

–TNA DESTINATION X {3.5}

–[ROH RISING ABOVE] – ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Bryan Danielson (****½)
–[WWE NO WAY OUT] – THE SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****½)
–[BACKLASH] – LAST MAN STANDING: Edge vs. John Cena (****½)

–[ROH RISING ABOVE] – I QUIT MATCH: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries (****¼)
–[TNA GENESIS] – Kurt Angle defeated Jeff Jarrett (****¼)
–[TNA GENESIS] – X-Division Title Match: Alex Shelley defeated Chris Sabin (****¼)
–[WWE NO WAY OUT] – THE RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****¼)

–[ROH CAGED COLLISION] #1 CONTENDERS MATCH – Tyler Black vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries (***¾)
–[ROH CAGED COLLISION] ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH – Nigel McGuinness vs. El Generico (***¾)
–[TNA SACRIFICE] – I QUIT LEGENDS TITLE MATCH – Booker T vs. AJ Styles © (***¾)
–[TNA SACRIFICE] – Eric Young and Lethal Consequences vs. The Machineguns and Sheik Abdul Bashir (***¾)
–[TNA LOCKDOWN] – PHILLY STREET FIGHT: IWGP vs. TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH – Team 3D vs. Beer Money (***¾)
–[TNA DESTINATION X] – X-Division Title Ultimate X Match: Suicide defeated Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal (***¾)
–[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH (***¾)
–[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – WWE TITLE MATCH: Edge defeated Jeff Hardy (***¾)
–[WWE WRESTLEMANIA] – MONEY IN THE BANK (***¾)
–[WWE JUDGMENT DAY] – Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (***¾)

–[TNA GENESIS] Sabin, Shelley, Angle and Jarrett – Rocking The House
–[ROH RISING ABOVE] – Danielson and McGuinness – Defining the ROH World Title
–[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – RVD – The Joke Pays Off
–[WWE NO WAY OUT] – EDGE – The Ultimate Opportunist
–[WWE WRESTLEMANIA] – HBK and The Undertaker – Stealing the Show
–[ROH CAGED COLLISION] – Nigel McGuinness – Better Than You Sugar Nuts
–[TNA LOCKDOWN] – Christopher Daniels – Pulling Double Duty
–[WWE BACKLASH] – Edge and John Cena – Stealing the Show
–[TNA SACRIFICE] – The TNA Roster – Making the Best Out of Shitty Booking

–Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 04.25.09) {****}
–Evan Bourne vs. John Morrison – (ECW: 04.14.09) {****}
–Christian vs. Jack Swagger – (ECW: 02.24.09) {****}
–Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena – (Raw: 01.12.09) {****}

–CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho – (Superstars: 05.21.09) {***¾}
–Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 05.09.09) {***¾}
–Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries – (ROH on HDNet: 04.04.09) {***¾}
–Beer Money vs. Team Canada – (Impact: 02.19.09) {***¾}
–Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles – (Impact: 01.22.09) {***¾}

–Edge vs. Jeff Hardy – (Smackdown: 05.21.09) {***½}
–Edge vs. Chris Jericho – (Smackdown: 05.15.09) {***½}
–Rey Mysterio vs. Shelton Benjamin – (Superstars: 05.14.09) {***½}
–Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho – (Smackdown: 05.08.09) {***½}
–Edge vs. Kofi Kingston – (Superstars: 04.23.09) {***½}
–John Cena vs. Chris Jericho – (Raw: 04.20.09) {***½}
–Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin – (Smackdown: 04.17.09) {***½}
–Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy – (Smackdown: 04.10.09) {***½}
–Primo vs. The Miz – (ECW: 03.10.09) {***½}
–Edge vs. John Cena – (Raw: 03.02.09) {***½}
–Lethal Consequences vs. Motor City Machine Guns – (Impact: 02.19.09) {***½}
–Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin – (Smackdown: 01.09.09) {***½}

And I’m out of here!

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