Wrestling’s 4R’s 11.25.11: ROH, WWE Raw and NXT Reviewed!

By: Shawn S. Lealos

ROH Television 11.19.11:

QUICK RESULTS:
Mike Mondo def. Alex Silva
Mike Bennett def. Jamin Olivencia
Davey Richards def. Kyle O’Reilly

Briscoe Brothers Challenge Caprice and Cedric – Ok, this makes a lot of sense when you think about it. The Briscoe Brothers wanted a tag match and had to wait almost six months to get a chance. This is despite the fact that they are multiple time tag champs. Then Caprice and Cedric come in for their ROH debut and get a match with WGTT where they get a title shot if they win or go to a draw. Mark and Jay wonder why these guys got a chance and challenge them to a match to prove they can beat them faster than WGTT did. I liked Jay’s line about maybe taking three and a half minutes since they have to pull their boots out of their opponent’s asses. Then Caprice and Cedric got to talk and cut a really solid promo. Nice work by both teams here.

Davey vs. O’Reilly – I had minor problems with this match. I mainly felt that they traded kicks and chops too many times in the match and that got real boring, real quick. But the fact is, Davey made O’Reilly look like a million bucks here and made it look like Kyle is actually a legitimate contender. They fought for over 15 minutes and Davey only won because a member of Team Strong threw in the towel for O’Reilly, who refused to tap to the ankle lock. It was not as great as last week’s main event or the Davey vs. Roddy match, but it was a decent TV match. I also like Truth Martini going into the ring to tell Davey what he did wrong in the match, only to get booted out of the ring.

Jay Lethal Talks Mike Bennett – I hate Mike Bennett getting another TV title shot down the line. This promo was just there for Lethal to explain that he went to a draw with Generico and the insane Luchador went for five more minutes. Bennett went to a draw and walked out at the end. So, this means Generico is worthy and Bennett is a loser. This is basically “Promos for Dummies” for those who didn’t catch the storyline thread. It’s purgatory because it sets up next week’s match between Lethal and Generico – not Bennett.

Mike Mondo beat Alex Silva – This match was not very good at all. Mike Mondo is nothing more than a modern day Crash Holly and it just doesn’t work here. He talks about how big he is, brings his own sign to the ring claiming Godzilla fears him and walks around like a monster. Then he fights someone who is not much bigger than him. That is a big problem. Who cares if you are a giant killer if you only fight smaller guys. Next, Silva and Mondo just didn’t click. The match was boring and Mondo doesn’t look like he will get very far in ROH.

Jim Cornette Responds to Kevin Steen – Cornette cut a promo that said he will deal with Steen next week. So, what is the point of this promo? He did say he denies all accusations made against him. This could have been saved for the Inside Ring of Honor segment. Oh yeah, I also still hate them using video effects during the promos. It is almost as bad as cutting to sneering lawyers.

Davey is Mad at Eddie – Here is why Davey Richards is mad at Eddie Edwards for going to Dan Severn to be a trainer. Davey told Eddie he was thinking about using Severn as a trainer and then Eddie went to Severn first. Kyle O’Reilly ratted out Eddie and now Davey feels betrayed and considers Eddie untrustworthy. This does nothing but make Davey look like a whiney little bitch.

Entrance Themes – There is a new addition to the ring entrances as the screen shows a graphic of what the song and band performing it is for each participant. However, the problem is that you can’t really hear the songs playing as they enter the ring. I like the idea of promoting the bands who let wrestlers use their songs but what good is it if you can’t hear it. For the first match, I decided to look up both on YouTube and only found one of them. The early audio problems with in-ring promos have been fixed but they need to work on the entrance themes because I find that one of the most important parts of getting jacked up for a match.

Mike Bennett beats Jamin Olivencia – This might be the worst match I have seen on ROH television. Jamin is one of the best wrestlers coming out of OVW and is a six-time OVW TV champ. Bennett sucks. In this match, both men looked bad. Bennett controlled the match, Jamin fought back and took the advantage and Bennett hit his finisher from nowhere for the win. It comes across as a basic RAW or Impact match between a main event star and a low mid-carder. Except, neither man in this match is a star.

By: Jeremy Thomas

Raw 11.21.11:

QUICK RESULTS:
Alberto Del Rio def. Zach Ryder [** 1/4]
Sheamus def. Jack Swagger [** 1/2]
CM Punk def. Dolph Ziggler [****]
Wade Barrett def. Kofi Kingston [** 1/2]

PUNK IS AN AGENT OF CHANGE: Our first post-Survivor Series Raw kicked off with the new WWE Champion CM Punk on his way down to the ring. Before we get to that, I just have to point something out. During the announcer introduction to the show, Michael Cole called this year’s Survivor Series “one of history’s most explosive and controversial Survivor Series.” Seriously, Cole? It’s not even in the top five, probably not even the top ten. Sorry, that just bugged me because it’s a good example of how WWE likes to pretend we’re unable to remember more than six months ago. Anyway, the Punkster got a fantastic ovation from the crowd as Michael Cole blew a fuse over the fact that Punk was our champion and once it died down he gave a good, solid variation on the “the boyhood dream” promo. It was that standard theme but firmly within Punk’s personality. He talked about making it on his own terms, talked about how he never tried to be anything else and so on. This was one of Punk’s better promos as of late and it felt more like the promos he did at the beginning of his push that got people excited…and no surprise, people responded in the crowd.

Of course, we didn’t want to be too good here, so we got Johnny Ace out. To be fair, this wasn’t Jonny’s worst promo. He got off on a hideous start by saying “supposably” though. This is your Vice President of Talent Relations, really? He provides a good foil for Punk though and while I’m certainly not trying to say that he’s someone I want on TV, if they’re going to put him on then he might as well be up against Punk and be a foil for the new champ to work off of. I also loved his counter of the entire insult brigade with simply “Hey, I’m UPPER management!” In truth, I thought this worked far better than I would have expected and it set up not only two matches for tonight, but one for next week as well. That’s definitely a positive and it helped this into the Right column.

ZACK RYDER vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO: Nice little bit to kick this off with the post-Survivor Series bit by the Rock putting Ryder over. Let’s be honest though, there was no way Ryder was winning this match and I don’t have a problem with that. Del Rio needed a win to get heat back from his loss at the Series and Ryder was a great guy to do this, as it not only gets Del Rio some serious heat by putting him against a fan favorite but it also provides some solid synchronicity with Punk taking on Ziggler. The match was good; it wasn’t what I would consider a great opener but for an extended squash I thought this worked quite well.

JACK SWAGGER vs. SHEAMUS: Our second match of the night saw the Great White Hope taking on the All-American in a match that was better than I expected. And that’s not saying that I was expecting a poor match; I was quite impressed by their work here, at least for the five or so minutes we got. The one complaint that I probably have is a continued push toward complete uselessness of the Ankle Lock in WWE; that move used to be a feared submission hold and now it’s a move that never, ever works. Outside of that I thought this worked well; Swagger actually looked competitive in there and yet he went down, which is fine as considering where both men are at in the card Swagger should be going down. Sheamus had some good stuff in there and picked up the win, to positive results.

CM PUNK vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: Needless to say, expectations were high for this one and it’s no exaggeration to say that they surpassed those expectations. I hate Dolph’s remixed theme music; I think I’ve said that before but it deserves being said a couple more times. I know that some people will probably say that Dolph loses credibility by losing to Punk but I think that’s a little silly, especially when it’s in a match that is both as long and as competitive as this. The crowd was hugely into this and that seemed to feed the two as they put on what is, without hyperbole, a PPV-quality match. In fact, it was a match that was better than a good portion of PPV matches we’ve seen this year. The match had a good, solid pace that slowly built up throughout and both Punk and Ziggler were just completely on their game. I would love to see an extended feud between these two when Ziggler makes the leap to the main event–and make no mistake, barring a second Wellness Violation or some other embarrassing event, he will be in the main event scene and probably sooner rather than later. This match was the highlight of Raw and easily the best TV match we’ve seen in a long time, and it belongs higher than the Right but that’s the best we got here in the R’s.

THE BIG SHOW HAS WORDS FOR MIZARK: This was a nice, simple segment to follow up on Show and Henry’s Survivor Series match. Show came out to the main stage and put over the Pay-Per View as well as his match with Henry. Show’s message was clear: he didn’t get the World Title but he hurt Henry, and that he was going to be waiting for the belt. Nice little touch by Show of putting over how tough Henry was by pointing out that he really is that tough, as his leg may not be broken. Good, simple, to the point. That’s all it needed.

IT BEGINS: So for those who didn’t see this, take a gander:

Okay, that’s done. Now, I know a lot of people thought this was a weak retread of Taker’s comeback video from last year, but I actually liked it. Word is that it’s a specific person other than Taker and that’s a good thing so that they’re not just repeating the past…but should the person in question fall through, they can still go to Taker or someone else to follow up on this. The video was cut together nicely and overall, I just liked it. Not much more to say.

WADE BARRETT vs. KOFI KINGSTON: This was similar to the Cody vs. Santino match, but wasn’t a squash. Barrett is in the process of a major rebuilding and he got the big win at Survivor Series in the elimination match, and he needed a win here to keep his momentum going. With Evan Bourne out, Kofi was the perfect guy for this and he did the job well. To the ‘E’s credit this was actually a competitive match and Kofi got his shots in on Barrett before the match eventually went the way it should have, with a Barrett win. The Orton appearance obviously suggests that they will be continuing the Orton/Barrett feud and I have zero problem with that, as it’s done Barrett a lot of good and it gives both guys something to do. This was exactly what you would hope for in a match between these two: Barrett looking strong and hitting his offense, Kofi selling like a champ and making the plucky comeback, but Barrett walking away with the win. Sounds good to me.

CODY RHODES vs. SANTINO MARELLA: The promo before this match was another typically good promo by Cody, short but sweet. Then we got the match which was just a squash to put Rhodes over so he doesn’t lose momentum from his Survivor Series win. Santino tried a little wrestling and almost got the Cobra, but one Cross Rhodes later it was over. Nothing much in terms of a match obviously, but it accomplished what it needed to and the post-match bit with Booker and Cody is obviously setting something up and I’m looking forward to that.

KEVIN NASH HAS MORE TO SAY: And he’s gonna say it too…or try to, anyway. I know that a lot of people thought that I was too critical of Nash’s promo a couple of weeks ago but I stand by that one, and this one was worse. The content of the promo was good as he talked about the past and how he felt betrayed and so on and so forth, but his delivery, to be frank, had some verbal stumbling and even poor diction at times. We’ve seen much better from Big Kev, even during his current WWE run, and I would hope that he’ll pick it up soon.

JOHN CENA SPEAKS & THE AWESOME TRUTH FALLS APART: You know, this was definitely a weak finish compared to the rest of the show, but I didn’t think it started out that way. Cena came out and addressed the events of Survivor Series, putting over Ryder and Punk before moving onto Rock and covering that whole thing. I thought his promo when he was out by himself was decent. He didn’t go super-serious-intense-angry or super-“funny,” and those are the two modes I start to want to tune him out. The problem for me was when Miz and Truth came down to the ring. Miz’s promo was good as he trashed Cena for the way the crowd hated him, and Truth’s bit about what WrestleMania was going to be was pretty fun. It was Cena’s response, which basically buried both of these guys. There were so much better ways to go about it than having Cena pointing out that they weren’t threats and were basically jokes. I know they wanted to tease the dissention so that we could get the finish, which was something they seemed forced into by Truth’s love of the fake weed, and I’m not going to give them a hard time with that because they did what they had to. But Cena’s promo basically pointed out evidence that Miz and Truth had no business being in the main event of any PPV, and that just pisses me off. Follow-up is key, but I loathed this.

NADA

By: Tony Acero

NXT 11.23.11:

QUICK RESULTS
– Yoshi Tatsu Defeated Johnny Curtis [**]
– Jimmy Uso Defeated JTG [**]
– Darren Young and Tyler Reks Defeated Titus O’Neil and Percy Watson [**1/2]

JIMMY VS JTG: This was put in the Right mostly by default. The match was good, it was sound but it was also lacking emotion. The Tamina and JTG coupling seems forced, and of course they tie in the relationship with The Usos, but it just seems like they are trying to throw shit to the wall to see what sticks. I liked the Superkick that ended the match a lot, and The Usos bringing up their heritage is something that I think they just need to do aside from just being another Samoan team in the WWE. Some crowd interaction and strong words that really went to hell when Tamina and JTG came out. JTG isn’t good on the microphone but Tamina is just horrible. It hurt me listening. It truly hurt.

MAIN EVENT TAG MATCH: So it appears that the WWE is still solidly behind 30-Days Off D. Young after this win and last week’s interruption. Another match that was just the epitome of average. Seriously, if they had a Tag Team 101 match then this would be a perfect example. Isolate the face and do interruptions every now and then. Of course, this is all well and good but it’s also boring. Very boring. Nevertheless, it had enough good action for me to give it some credit.

CURTIS VS YOSHI: Yoshi deserves better. This match was below average, which is why it’s in puRgatoRy. Curtis went from winning NXT to eventually debuting on Smackdown right back down to NXT and within that time, I have seen no growth in the ring or character-wise. In fact, his character is just odd now, and not in a good way. Yoshi did what he could in the ring with him, but Curtis looked generic. I’ve seen much better from him, which is why I was a bit disappointed in this.

NOTHING

NOTHING

Until Monday, keep on kickin’ it…

…and remember to stay grounded!