WRestling’s 3R’s 10.27.06: Jarrett the Babyface, Cryme Tyme up in Yo Grill, Missed Spots are so Extreme, Big Dave’s Title Shot and More!

Here is a quick explanation of the 3 R’s. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R’s all to its own. I then group my feelings on the shows in 3 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. 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, I cannot speak for Geoff, but my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 4th and even 5th R to the column, so beware of those~!

iMpact 10.19.06:

The Right:

Short Takes: – These are things on the show that are, in this case, right in essence but probably don’t deserve a right all of their own. So we group them together and discuss them all under the same banner.

Senshi, Master of the Ass Whooping – Lethal and Dutt were acting stupid backstage, playing video games while wearing skullcaps. They said they were in “Senshi” training. Lynn was there and pissed and told them to get their head in the game. Senshi then attacked, whooping both of their asses while Lynn watched on. Senshi then drug Lethal out to the ring and squashed his ass in under 2-minutes. It was glorious. Then Chris Sabin decided to help out his pal, and Senshi kicked his ass with the Warriors way. Senshi looked like a total bad-ass dude and strong going into the PPV. Great stuff here.

puRgatory:

Angle-Joe; The Confrontation – Last week on Impact the final segment was Tenay, on behalf of TNA management demanding Samoa Joe return the NWA Title. If he didn’t he would, “Be removed from the TNA Roster.” Joe came out to the ring, and looked over some papers Earl Hebner had for him, and tore them up as his answer. This led to the lights dropping and the first big appearance of Kurt Angle on TNA programming. His entrance is cool as hell, lifting up from the stage as a TNA produced version of “Lunatic Fringe” played. What even makes this cooler is that this song was a nig part of the Amateur Wrestling Movie “Vision Quest.” It is a perfect for Angle, who had a big part in preparing his whole entrance. The place was electric as he made his way to the ring and had a stand off with Joe. Angle then delivered a brutal shoot head butt to Joe and busted him open. He then hit the Olympic Slam, picked up the title and celebrated. As he stood with arm wide, a bloody Samoa Joe slowly arose from behind him in what was a tremendous visual. He whipped Angle around and delivered a SWEET Enziguri to Angle. They then brawled while JJ stole his title back. This was a really hot segment, and definitely a mark out moment for someone like me who has always wanted to see these two guys go at it.

BUT…and there always seems to be a, “but”, there was one MAJOR problem I had with this. I could actually thing of some more but the one big one is what we will discuss. They ended the Impact before the biggest show of the year with a confrontation between two guys that are NOT fighting on the show. In essence they basically said, “This match will happen in November so make sure you buy THAT show.” That is not the way to promote the biggest PPV of the year. They should have shot an angle hyping Sting vs. Jarrett. While that is nowhere near as hot as Joe vs. Angle will be, it IS the main event of the big show. Hell, shoot an angle for the 6-sides of steel match, anything ON the show, but not this. That was the main problem I had with the entire thing, they totally bypassed hyping the biggest show of the year on the final segment of the final show before that PPV.

A Jarrett face turn? – Oh yes, that’s what it seems like to me. I think if you look at it very carefully you will see it as well, and it has Russo written all over it. First we had last week, BG James getting pissed off at his long time tag team partner for bad mouthing JJ. This week we had BG James elaborate on things. He said things were cool with he and Kip, but he was upset at all of the talk against JJ. He explained their past, that the Jarrett family gave him a place to live and shot after shot to help his life and career. He also said that we don’t know the real JJ. We don’t know the things he has to deal with in real life. He told us to get the real JJ, the man, not the wrestler before you bury him. Then when JJ stole his title back, he stalled on the ramp and looked at the title, almost like he knew he didn’t deserve it.

Now that is all well and good I suppose. There is some good storytelling there and it makes one interested. What has me worried is what the story will be. If what I am hearing is correct, we will find out that JJ has been running wild over TNA with his abuse of power because he needs the money for a sick relative, which may turnout to be his wife. The problem I have with that is that his wife has been battling cancer for the last several years. I think that using this to get him a face reaction would be a rather shitty thing to do. I may be wrong, but that’s what I’m hearing.

The wRong:

Poor Explanation – This is in regards to the Eric Young vs. Larry Z match for Bound for Glory. As I explained in the Bound for Glory Round Table, Eric was reinstated for this match by Jim Cornette, due to the fact that Larry Z unjustly cost him his job. I was a bit hard on the staff for not noticing this, but upon reflection if a group of 12-Internet writers, who watch every show and pay VERY close attention to the product are confused about this, then I would venture to say most of the viewing audience would be as well. For that reason I will go with a wrong here. I could apologize to the staff, but screw them.

Match Quality – While nothing overly atrocious on the show, I will have to say that the match quality wasn’t very good. The Senshi squash of Lethal was tremendous, but the tag cluster was extremely rushed and had no flow, and the Cage squash was uninteresting but served it’s purpose. The thing is that they need to have something of quality each week, and for the most part they do. This week the matches were for the most part ignored for storytelling, which is a sign of Russo-Nomics.

The Ridiculous:

Dear Lord, he is funny, but the Division is dying… – Let me preface this by saying that Kevin Nash is funny as hell. I do find him hilarious and the promo packages are good. That all being said, this is in no way helping the X-Division. The whole “press conference”, while funny made the whole match for the PPV a joke. I hope that the match has some serious moments and someone comes out of it looking good, but as of this writing I am not convinced. They have a lot of work to do to fix the damage that has been done in the last months.

Smackdown 10.20.06:

Okay, so a random start to The R’s this week. I’ll keep it short. People need to lay the fuck off Madonna in this whole adoption thing. The kid’s gonna be treated to a HELL of a better life and upbringing with her than he’d have gotten in his native village. Really. Talking shit about Madonna is *so* ’90s. If you need to berate someone, bag on Brooke Hogan, her shitty “music” and assclown father.

And, JT, for every time you call me at eight in the fucking morning on a
fucking SATURDAY, you get a match spoiled. It’s that simple.

The Right:

The RIGHT of all RIGHT – To quote the incomparable Ron Fucking Simmons (in the BEST part of yet another stillborn Raw), “DAMN.” (I maintain, send him
to SD! and pair him up with Bobby Lashley; Lashley cannot deliver a decent
promo to save his soul and he could stand to learn a LOT from the first
African-American World Champion, and the dynamic between Simmons and JBL
could be AWEsome!)

Not only was William Regal allowed the rare WWE commodity of actual, God’s honest career CONTINUITY, complete with actual video footage, no less, it appears as if there could have been a plan all along toward making Regal an actual player on the brand, stemming from the varied and myriad humiliation he’s suffered, finally reaching his breaking point and bringing in from out of NOWHERE Dave Taylor to help him kick ass and take names! THIS is the Regal many of us have been positively BEGGING to see for YEARS and God DAMN if the old geezer still ain’t frickin GOT IT! On the mic, in the ring, the fact that the performance we got out of Regal tonight has been boxed up and stuck on a shelf for so long is absolutely CRIMINAL, especially considering the literal HOURS of BULLSHIT (Diva Search, Khali/Taker, The Boogeyman, etc.) to which we’ve been subjected this year as Regal and his ability atrophied in the locker room is absolutely Ridiculous.

Anywoozle, I was positively petrified that, following the split of King Book-ah’s Royal Court, that Regal would be completely forgotten, but NO, quite to the contrary! Instead, Regal’s got his game face on and brought in Taylor. Michael Coleslaw loves to overuse the phrase “putting on a wrestling clinic” in his commentary, but I’ll be DAMNED if Regal & Taylor didn’t treat us to exactly that tonight, BIG TIME! Seriously, considering the aborted state of tag wrestling in WWE for the past couple years, this was an old school treat of literal manna from heaven. When you hear
Larrold, Cook, me and others piss and moan about WWE’s pseudo-tag scene, it’s THIS quality of tag wrestling we miss.

Now, I was going to suggest that the current WWETTCs, Brian Kendrick & Paul London, drop the belts to THE TEACHER’S PETS, leading to a long program whereby Regal & Taylor chase them throughout the fall, thereby leading to a similar such on-the-job tutelage as we’ve seen between Lashley and Finlay with, hopefully, the same favorable results; unfortunately, however, news broke late Wednesday that Taylor’s already suffered a debilitating meniscus injury, is scheduled for surgery and will be inactive for between four to six months. SUCK!!! Where this will leave Regal is uncertain; hopefully, this won’t negate his push, because he has so much to offer the brand and the company as a whole.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t wrap up this discussion by illustrating the duality existing between Taylor and my favorite wrestling phenomenon, The Boogeyman. One of my biggest qualms with the abortion that is the former “performer” is his age. Speaking generally, a professional wrestler truly comes into his own around the 30-year mark; how much quality time he has left is negotiable, Regal, Flair, Sting come to mind. The problem is, “fake” as it may be, pro wrestling is not kind to the human frame, even in the best of circumstances, and there comes a time when the will is stronger than the body. The main difference between Taylor and Boogey is that Taylor has made pro wrestling a way of life since his youth and knows his way around the ring whereas Boogey was attempting to break into the business north of 40. Obviously, as such, Taylor belongs and Boogey does NOT, although both have displayed the same sad results, in that both have been sidelined. Although Finlay has single-handedly broken the myth that older wrestlers have no place on the active roster in anything more of a capacity than, say, Tatanka or Jim Duggan, especially considering the absolutely favorable results he’s delivered, both for himself and as Lashley’s on-the-job tutor, it should be noted that Finlay is the exception and not
the rule. Don’t get me wRong, the fact that McMahonagement was willing to
bring Taylor on board is a sign of a step in the Right direction theoretically, in that these young bucks (whom WWE is having to bring up from the farm leagues too soon because the almighty brand split has the rosters thinned out such that they can’t fill out two hours of weekly programming without them) require such on-the-job training. The best band-aid I can think of off the top of my head in this situation is to substitute Paul Burchill for Taylor (who’s currently getting back in the swing of things following his injury in OVW) and, as my hero Tim Gunn would say, carry on!

Mr. Mysterio, the doctor will see you now – I know, I recycled last week’s
headline. W/E. Now when I was initially excited about Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero squaring off, I wasn’t giving credence to the nature of the storyline, which we’ve all rightfully bemoaned for months, as we’re all content to allow Eddie Guerrero to RIP; no, what had me jumping up and down like a kid at Disneyland was the prospect of the matches to which we’d be treated, and it was what we had here tonight that I was envisioning. Tonight’s I Quit blow-off extravaganza was simply phenomenal! Although they started in a bit too congenial a fashion, considering the pull-aparts in which we’ve seen them involved the past few weeks, such a humble beginning allowed them to really build to an incredible finish where we saw a rare occurrence, indeed, in that it was the face who quit under the strain of an incredible ass-kicking by Chavo. Of course, this is a worked injury angle allowing Rey time off to have a long-nagging bum knee repaired, but, hopefully, this is going to give Chavo a well-deserved rub and catapult him along to more high-profile programs. He’s a hell of a gifted performer (one of WWE’s best-kept secrets for years) and making Rey say I quit in his backyard should afford him a truckload of heat. This is one of those wait-&-see situations, as it could really be the beginning of something good for Chavo or he could be tossed back into the CWT mix, as that division is pretty non-existent; not necessarily bad, because Gregory Helms and Chavo could give us some stellar matches, but it would feel like quite a demotion for Chavo, plus, both men are heels and turning them now would make no sense whatsoever. So I guess we should expect it, hahaha. Get well soon, Rey!

Holy shit! Vito’s in the Right section! – And not just because of JBL’s comment of the year, “It’s the flying nun!” I swear to Benoit, I must have woke people in other time zones laughing out loud at that! No, I really personally dug the match between Vito and Elijah Burke. I continue to be on board for the manner in which Burke and Sylvester Turkay are being built as a most formidable duo and tonight’s clash clicks them both another notch up the ladder. Had Vito not been a feather duster away from being the world’s most horrifyingly ugly French maid, this match would have been taken much more seriously, I believe. You know how you can tell Vito means very little to the roster? There was virtually no mention whatsoever of the fact that this was his first defeat since John Maritato defected from SD! To ECW. That’s a shame, because Vito, as I’ve stated numerous times here, has proven himself to be more than competent a performer. Good match, though, and good continued build for Burkay (Burkay, geddit? Kinda like Benifer…uhm, cept
different.).

The wRong:

At least my Sovereign is still the CHAMPEEN OF THE WUHLD! – Okay, faithful readers will know what’s coming, so I’ll get it all out in the open straight away; FUCK all this inter-promotional fraternization! GOD, merge the brands or keep them separate. Other than Vince masturbating his God complex, I seriously see no reason whatsoever for all of this nonsense. Okay, that’s outta my system (well, not really, but I’ll not continue crying about this crap this week.). As well-promoted as was the WT match between King Book-ah and Batista, it was sure a let down, existing solely for the purpose of getting The Big Show and John Cena on SD!, to promote Cyber Sunday or whatever the fuck it’s called. It’s amusing to see grotty old Vince trying to be technologically cutting edge and hip like American Idol with the fan interaction that he manipulates the hell out of in the build. Booker and Batista is losing steam quickly and, as much as I LOVE His Majesty, I am quickly losing interest in this program (and it’s no fault of his or the delectable Queen Sharmell). The Royal Court has been dissolved, Batista’s had shot after shot and has come closer to dropping Booker on his head than he has winning back the belt. Take it home or pull the plug and allow Booker to go on to something worthy of his involvement.

The Ridiculous:

Stand back! There’s a burial comin through! – At first, I was just gonna
stick in puRgatory the fact that McMahonagement FINALLY remembered Gregory Helms and Matt Hardy had a feud running, but then Teddy Long made the completely arbitrary and BULLSHIT decision to force Helms into facing The Undertaker and put a screeching halt to all the momentum Helms has managed to build since JBL came on board at the announce desk and has been putting him over more than any other announcer or program in his career. Thanks. Thanks for that. It so ruled.

Oh, but it didn’t end there. Nope. We THEN had Kennedy come out to be completely no sold by the Dead Man, further pussifying him in this Dead End feud. Look, it’s a done deal that Kane and Taker will eventually find something else about which to fight; as dull and pointless as that will be, I’d actually prefer that to what we’ve had from Taker the last couple years (with the notable exception of the Khali debacle), that being Mr. Special Appearance is disallowed from giving the much-needed rub to up-&-comers like Randy Orton, Kennedy, Helms, etc., etc. Don’t misunderstand me, I like and admire Taker, he’s a walking legend, but he MUST be booked such that he helps the roster, not robs it of its credibility.

Miss Snowflake 2006 – Really. What the FUCK with MVP? That fool should be coming to the ring twirling a fucking baton and leading a marching band in that gawdawful get-up. Seriously, do Vito and he shop together for ring gear? SHIT match, SHITTIER opening, SHITTIEST for Kane.

Backstreet Boys & Backseat Girls – Okay, now I’ll stick my neck out there and admit that I actually quite like Nick & Aaron Carter, but I’m gay like that. hahaha. (I’ll go so far as to say I was asked to audition for a boy band back in the day. Yup. Cuz I’m cute. And I can sing. And, no, I didn’t.) However, it simply boggles as to why they’d have those two in front of a pro wrestling crowd, even judging a diva dance-off. I mean, Nick finally proved he was straight by beating the shit out of Paris Hilton and Aaron proved he was straight by well, if you believe what you read, he proposed to a Hawaiian Tropic girl then called it all off the next week. Of course, if you believe what you read, there’s also a little story floating around about Aaron, Elijah Wood and halftime at a Laker game in the back of a rented SUV at the self-same Staples Center. Nothing, of course, is confirmed, but I ain’t one to gossip, so ain’t heard it from me. I know they’re promoting “House of Carters” (and Jeebus, if you find their music annoying, you ain’t seen nothin till you’ve seen their sisters.!!!), but I can’t see the crossover audience. This was just a waste of time that could have gone toward continuing the Hardy/Helms program, or setting up something else for them to do, or allowing Kennedy to see some ring time. It’s why I absolutely hate these lame diva segments. In and of themselves, they aren’t all that bad, it’s just that TV time is valuable and is misused in this manner. They could have at least let Mindy Sterling get in the ring and ham it up. I was fortunate enough to have met her when I went to see Chris Jericho at The Groundling’s on Melrose on 4/20 (HOO-rah!), and she is not only an absolute sweetheart, but also one of the most fantastically talented women working today. She could have really helped this dead-on-arrival segment.

My Own Private Bitch – No, not Dawn Marie, hahaha. It totally pisses me off when they come to the Staples Center and act like they’re in the middle of Hollywood. The Staples Center is well off to the side of downtown LA, a HELL of a long way from Sunset Boulevard and Rodeo Drive. Hell, I live blocks from the former and ten minutes from the latter and can walk to both. And, JBL, I can assure you that any guy walking down Sunset in a dress would get his ass SHOT. You’re thinking of Santa Monica Boulevard, and, even so, even dresses in LA gay culture hasn’t been a thing since that whole “men wearing skirts” fad in the ’80s. It just really grates my cheese when they do that crap.

Remember people, show Geoff some love by emailing him here: [email protected]

Raw 10.23.06:

Let me start by saying that Raw is by far my least favorite of the four weekly professional wrestling shows but I’ll try to be as positive as possible.

The Right:

Hour 1: 100% DX Free – Don’t get me wrong I understand that DX are money making machines for the E but when they get 45 minutes of a two hour show they get old fast. It almost seems like we’ve seen the same thing eight years ago. The first hour went by nicely with a few mid card matches and John Cena (you know they guy they say is the next Austin or Rock) actually leading the way. Their use of Kevin Federline has been really good as well. I’m just happy Vince Russo signed with TNA or else we just might see K-Fed WWE champ.

Cryme Tyme all up in yo grill bitches! – I’ll admit that I’m as guilty as any member of the IWC for shitting on gimmicks before I give them a chance (see: Man, Boogey & Spirit, Squad) but I saved judgment on Cryme Tyme until they debuted. Boy, am I glad I did. They are awesome! JTG’s over-the-top gangsta gimmick is so ridiculous it’s awesome. I mark out every time he crip walks down the isle. Shad plays an awesome straight man to JTG’s antics. Sure, like all other new tag teams, they’ll get the tag titles within the next month but unlike most of those teams Cryme Tyme is in it for the long haul.

You’ve got ‘em you might as well use ‘em – Listen the WWE hasn’t really done anything creative since Cena started rapping but they have a nearly unlimited bank of video and actual legends in the back which are almost guaranteed to pop a crowd.

Nostalgia shouldn’t be two wrestlers, who are still very capable of doing fresh things, stuck in a decade old gimmick for six months. Instead it should be what they’ve been doing the last few weeks. Maybe using the word legend and Ron Simmons in the same sentence is a stretch but tell me you didn’t mark out when he came out just to say “DAMN.” I can picture Vinny Mac scrambling in the back to find the “Blackest guy on the roster” to do that segment.

What you can’t deny however is that Dusty Rhodes is a legend. AA and Money Inc. appearance on the Reunion show was awesome and it was great to see Big Dust on Monday but hot damn do I wish the Enforcer could still go for the tag match at Cyber Sunday. This week in wrestling history is usually my favorite segment on Raw (sadly) and I usually have it when they make a joke of it but reliving the Chamber of Horrors match was really fun.

puRgatoRy:

I wasn’t going to do it but I have to – I didn’t want to add a purgatory (the name of this column is 3 R’s after all) but the main event left me no choice. I’m very excited about Eric Bischoff having an on screen role again and the fact the Orton went over HHH is promising BUT I have this sneaking suspicion that everything will soon go back to the WWE status quo. I’ll reserve judgment until after Cyber Sunday but I have this terrible feeling about this one.

The wRong:

That afro just means you have less room under that glass ceiling – At what point do you think Carlito and Benjamin started to look around and realize that they are locked in mid card hell with Puff the Magic Unicorn and Senior Steroids? Honestly, they have been great company guys, never in trouble, never “Wellnessed” out yet when ever either gets the slightest crowd reaction it’s time to be jettisoned back down the card. I’m as big a fan of mid carders as you’ll find but not when there are no real angles. I get that they are fighting over the IC strap and that’s supposed to make the title seem important but ya know what: It doesn’t. It just makes it seem like there are four guys that they don’t know how to use so they threw a piece of tin at them to fight over.

You’ve got spirit? Nope fresh out – Like I said earlier I pretty much threw the idea of the Spirit Squad away before they every made it to TV but those four (not five, Mitch is worthless) have really made the gimmick work. They’ve managed to be the most annoying heels on the roster for the better part of 2006 and their break-up should have been a big deal but it’s not. Kenny’s turn on his mates has no juice what’s so ever. I was more interested in Nick and Jessica’s split. There was no tease of tension, no slow burn, no nothing. I’m just not feeling it. I wish I was but I’m not.

Hey that Samoan beast beat up a retard…who cares – It’s time to cut bait with Eugene. The crowd is totally apathetic towards him and his spaz out on Duggan doesn’t matter either. The E had its chance to do something with him when his character was fresh and new but no matter what they do now nobody will care. It’s a shame because Dinsmore is talented but this one-way gimmick has killed his career. They can pay no names a lot less to be a jobber.

Ridiculous:

It’s good to be the King – It must be because I can’t see any reason why Jerry Lawler is still the color commentator. He hasn’t been remotely funny or insightful since long before he was fired over the whole Kat debacle. His perverted old man shtick is beyond tired and he offers nothing to the broadcast. It shouldn’t be Ross that they are constantly trying to replace. I can deal with a few mismatched names but I can no longer deal with Lawler’s perverted goof personality. The fact that he’s still on air is beyond Ridiculous.

Remember people, show Justin some love by emailing him here: [email protected]

ECW on Sci-Fi!: 10.24.06:

The Right:

Punk vs. Striker/Knox – The match that kicked us off this week was CM Punk vs. Matt Striker. I personally didn’t expect too much from the match, but what we got was a nice little treat. The first minute or so of the match was a lot of nice mat wrestling and good counters to holds, and while we have seen this sort of thing from Punk, we haven’t from Striker. Striker then started to work the arm and got full advantage for the next little bit. He looked good and maintains that heel aura really well while in the heat segment of the match. Punk appeared to be too much for him though and started to make his comeback. Punk started into his match ending ritual, slaps, spinning back fist, round house style kick and the Uranage. But as he went for that Mike Knox rushed the ring and started to beat down on Punk. Punk was able to fight him off and toss him to the floor, where Knox ran like a pussy. You see he only attacks from behind because he is a chicken-shit heel. As soon as Punk began to fight back, he ran. The ending to the match worked on a few levels, as Striker didn’t take another loss and looked good in the ring, and the Punk/Knox feud got to move on again. It is very simple, fighting over the woman, but it works. While this will not set the world on fire in or out of the ring, they are doing it correctly and that is always a good thing.

puRgatory:

Who gave RVD a mic? – All right, let me first say that the only way for people to attempt to improve on the mic is to get more practice. I will also say that RVD is not as atrocious as some make him out to be on the mic. But I will say that opening up the show with him on the mic was rather…painful this past week. He goes out there and I don’t know if he is just being himself or trying to be cool, but whatever the case it is not working. He came out, grabbed the mic, began to talk and I was just not interested in anything he was saying. It wasn’t horrible, but it really didn’t keep my attention.

RVD vs. Show – So the big main event for the show was RVD vs. Big Show in an Extreme Ladder Match. The old bait and switch deal where we thought RVD would get the title shot but…SWERVE he has earned a CHANCE to get his title shot. I am actually ok with that, because Heyman screwed him out of the title in the first place and this just goes along with what was started with that. It is a smart and believable way to stretch out the chase, and give the hero, which is RVD, another dragon to slay before he slays the big dragon. So we are ok here, but what I want to talk about is the “match” itself; which was NOT good.

The big things were this. First of all there was nothing we haven’t seen before, just the same old stuff. Also we still have Big Show on TV every week wrestling, which I still feel is devaluing him in the one-hour format. Anyway we got yet another Big Show blade job, which is becoming way too common for him. It is like that is all he does in ECW main events. There is a point to trying to be like old ECW and then there is just blading to blade I feel. Anyway Big Show then went for the Vader corner bomb deal and it looked horrible like he didn’t want to eat the ladder. And then the end…the end was horrible. RVD attempted a RANA to Big Show over the ropes and RVD took a HUGE bump, SANS Big Show and flopped very hard to he floor…followed but Big Show gently falling to the floor. RVD then popped up like nothing happened, climbed the ladder and won like he was fine while Big Show sold the move like he was dead. It came off as very lame and took away from the match. Hooray ECW…yeah.

The wRong:

Holly vs. Test – What do you get with a heel that is just moving along slowly with out much heat and a newly tweener-ized Holly? The crowd really not caring for close to 15-minutes, actually they crapped on it for most of the time frame. The beginning was slow and plodding and nothing to write home about. They continued on and used the ECW Commercial Spot ™ (Suplex off the apron to the floor). They came back from commercial and Test was using someone the world’s most boring offense on Holly. The match seemed very, uninspired is the wrong word because that would infer that they weren’t trying and I believe they were. It was just there, no heat, no interest and I along with the crowd ended up bored. Hell, that’s really bad when you consider that I like Holly a lot and don’t thing Test is that horrible.

In the end this match happened way to early. The face turn attempt for Holly came way too soon. People are just starting to get behind Holly, and it should have been brought along slowly to let people care. Instead they are doing this forced booking where he takes the loss to a heatless Test and then the beat down and we are supposed to magically care like it is something great. But as I said, there is no build, no heat yet so the reaction the match got, which was basically getting crapped on was one they should have anticipated, but in the E we have to rush shit on their time table. Time tables don’t always work out the way you want to, you can’t just go with things when YOU want to, you have to go with crowd reactions and see how things go. Remember what happens when you push things when you feel is right. Randy Orton, World Champion. Yeah, now you understand.

The Ridiculous:

Nothing of Note

READER RANT TIME!

From Dan on Smackdown, 2-weeks ago –

I actually watched SD last night and was tremendously impressed as I have basically forsaken Raw in favor of “Heroes” and “Studio 60” and this meets my WWE quota. Next week to me is where I would start my super WrestleMania build for Cena vs. Batista. Have Cena and Show together interfere which costs Batista a shot at “his” World Title. This leads to a triple brand match at Survivor Series, which ignites things further. Batista wins the Rumble and comes back to Raw to main event against Cena while Booker can feud with Benoit, Lashley, Finlay, Taker, and Kane.

Not a bad idea at all, but I have a feeling that they are going to build to Lashley vs. Batista instead. But I maybe wrong.

Also from Mark, who didn’t like my review of Bound for Glory –

What an overrated, poorly-produced PPV. WWE’s No Mercy 2006 was so much a better PPV in pretty much everyway: production values, pacing, storylines, and the matches themselves. If you like flipping, spots, many of which are botched on a routinely basis, or former WWE stars that can’t cut it anymore, watch TNA. If you like great production values, household-named stars, better overall matches (psychology-wise or workrate-wise), watch WWE/ECW.

TNA is a glorified Indy fed that feeds off of the table scraps WWE leaves behind, and it’s a shame, and it’s quite sad, that you actually put a spin on their show trying to say that it is something great.

That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I obviously disagree with you. No Mercy was a good show, but in no way did I feel it was better than BFG. Thanks for reading.

From Mat on last week’s Smackdown –

You know, I’ve kinda gotten used to the WWE just sorta throwing stuff together randomly, cutting up storylines, and just generally having almost no continuity at all. Yet watching Smackdown I kinda felt that it went to an all time high with the William Regal promo before his tag match with Dave Taylor. Did that promo signify that he’s done with King Booker and the Royal Court? I’m all for Regal being given a serious persona and letting him kick ass like he always does, but Jesus Christ did they just evaporate one of the best groups in the WWE with no storyline or what? With Finlay getting rushed out to challenge Booker for the title and now Regal complaining how he’s not going to be anyone’s whipping boy anymore and calling Booker a fake king, it just seems like a wasted opportunity that could have been amazing with the break up of the Royal Court. Plus, it’s completely out of left field! What the hell? Lack of a Court now clearly signals a new champion coming soon, which sucks because they’ll probably put it on Batista who doesn’t have the level of interest that he had during his first reign. Straight up, this sucks.

There was a storyline to it. Mostly it happened on PPV. Regal was sent to find Finlay, he gets embarrassed with Vito, gets an ass kicking by Benoit and then Booker calls him worthless and slaps the shit out of him, which Regal hits him back. Finlay worked with him in the match and then turned on him, signaling the end and the end was that when Booker pinned Finlay. It could have had more build, but I think they did a good job of doing it on that show.

From Jaime on last week’s Diva dance off –

Even though the diva crap is almost always a waste of time, I thought you should have mentioned it in your recap for last night’s show because it did serve a little purpose at least. It gave Miz more heel heat. Not only did he completely ignore the judge’s decision and announce who he wanted as the winner, but he then walked off laughing like a true heel at the catfight he created.

Yes he did do that, but I didn’t think the crowd cared that much and neither did I. I was trying to get the recap finished up, and in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t that important. Plus anytime you put the Carter’s on my TV, my attention span just drops into negative land.

Fro Bill on something funny –

Larry, I think we should take a moment to note, that the This Week In Wrestling moment was intended to ridicule the House of Horrors, and basically was there to make fun of gimmicks from the early nineties. But when it’s done, we cut back to Eugene. My, how times have changed.

I saw that, and I totally agree that they were making fun of the match and WCW, and probably a shot at Sting since he had just won the NWA Title. I also agree that it was ironic that they had a fake savage beat up a fake retard right after that. Good stuff man.

And finally from Hope on Angle vs. Joe –

Samoa Joe + Kurt Angle = Awesome!

That segment kicked all sorts of ass…Angle looks like a man possessed with some fierce determination…And just leveled Joe with that head butt…This Reaks of Awesomeness!!!!!!

LaX is the shit! Nash and Shelly are great together…Gold I tell you

Senshi Kills Slackers! I feel bad for Jake…though it was his own choices so I really shouldn’t…but that guy used to be one of the best ever in the business…Jake Promos were always Goodness

TNA Is what’s hot right now. Raw is stale, basically the same old shit. Thank god for competition

For more interesting information on wrestling, check out Bryan Alvarez and Figure Four Weekly Online, Mike Campbell over at SPLASH MOUNTAIN and Dr. Keith Lipinski over at Puroresu Power!

Thanks for joining us, PEACE!