Wrestling’s 4R’s Tuesday Edition – 10.07.08: iMpact, Smackdown and No Mercy!

DOUBLE J SPEAKS: I thought the segment with Jarrett was another strong segment from him, he is delivering right now. The way he is portraying himself as the guy that beat the odds as a wrestler and then an owner is being well done, and as mentioned in previous weeks he is not only delivering, but feels very fresh on the mic due to the angle and due to being away for so long. The turn to discussion of Angle’s interview is a bit questionable, but again it pained Jarrett as the perfect company man and Angle as the two-faced asshole. To me this was one of the times where it was GOOD to mention WWE, because of how it made Angle look. It is true to life really as Angle was so “thank you TNA, I love you” and is now essentially kissing Vince’s ass. This led to a show long angle where Angle wanted to kill Jarrett, got fined by Cornette and then fed into the main event interview. While that interview was not perfect, this led into it very well.

Team 3D and Booker T w/Sharmell and Briefcase vs. Black Machismo, AJ Styles and Christian Cage: Before the match there was a promo with AJ, Cage and Machismo. I really liked that Cage allowed Machismo the time to talk and he did well, so that was a winning situation. The match was pretty good overall, I liked it. It honestly had way more energy than anything else on the show, and was just a fun little match. The ending plays perfectly into the angle they have been building with AJ, Cage and Booker, so that is a very good thing. While AJ vs. Cage vs. Booker doesn’t exactly set the world on fire for me, the angle has been laid out well and between the three, I feel that they can have a good PPV match due to AJ’s athletics added to Booker and Cage’s established chemistry.

BEER MONEY SPEAKS: I have to admit, this mainly gets the right due to James Storm’s awesome beer holster he had around his title belt. This man transcends awesome. But really, I enjoyed the promo by Beer Money. They claimed that they were the champs, took everything away from LAX and now had no challengers. Unfortunately the interview was cut to omit their challenges to both the Rock and Roll and Midnight Express, but the basic point came across well. This led to 3D, Morgan and Abyss and LAX all coming out claiming that they deserved tag title shots, and Cornette then made Monsters Ball a tag title match with all of the teams. I liked this because it gets the tag titles on the show, which they should be, changes up Monsters Ball from previous years as well as makes it mean something. I approve.

More Sting vs. Joe: I really enjoyed the pre-taped sit down interview they aired with Sting and Joe this week. It wasn’t very long, so it didn’t let you get bored and overall I felt that Tenay as the moderator, Sting and Joe did very well in hyping the Bund for Glory Title match. Sting preached the gospel of respect and that he felt he couldn’t leave the business because HE didn’t like what he saw. Joe basically called Sting insecure with is place in history and stated that Sting was just afraid of the future. Joe also defended his actions against the likes of Angle and Booker, stating that he was just returning the favor. Joe also admitting to respecting what Sting WAS, but also said that he does not respect him anymore because Sting isn’t there for TNA or for the fans. Sting then declared that the time for talking was over, and that he would walk that aisle. Joe closed by saying he may walk it, but he be rolled out on it. I liked this because Joe’s defense was solid and Sting come off more as, “it isn’t my way, so I do not like it.” This was a fine segment right here.

FOLEY DEBUTS: Mick Foley debuted on Impact week and when all was said and done, I felt…under whelmed. I don’t know if I set the bar too high in my mind, I will admit to being a huge Foley fan with no shame and I also think he is a great promo guy. His explanation as to coming to TNA made sense, his interaction with Angle was good and I loved the part where he was saying that he THINKS Angle is the greatest. And then there is Angle’s comment on Jarrett’s wife, that to me was a desperation move. The feud was going well and they didn’t need to go quite that far. With Jarrett mentioning the “pain he’s had for two-years” and that “Angle wanted no part of it” that’s all they needed to do. We already know his wife died. Now the fact is that Jarrett went with this, and while I understand that people hated it, they need to direct the anger not to Angle, but to Jarrett. He is the end all be all, it was HIS wife they discussed, so he allowed it. To me they didn’t need to go there, at all. But they did, and now they have to deal with any backlash that they get from it. In the end, I have to admit that I was under whelmed with the closing promo. It wasn’t bad at all, but I guess that I expected more from Foley’s initial promo. He’s now the special enforcer for the match, and while that gets him on the biggest show of the year, it just feels a little too much, “Been there and done that before”. That’s likely why I am not as high on this as I thought I would be.

26:00: I’d like to think we all know the drill by now. TNA is supposed to be the alternative, they try to be different, and they claim to be the wrestling promotion. So I am their conscience, their wrestling stopwatch. Each and every week I keep track of the time of wrestling on the show, and discuss it here. We got some more wrestling this week, unfortunately most of it wasn’t that good or was just there to be a lead in for an angle. Matches can tell a story as well, but they aren’t allowed to on Impact. And please, CUT DOWN ON THE NUMBER OF SEGMENTS! If you extend the matches, you don’t have to run so many damn segments that end up not meaning that much. Streamline baby, streamline…

Monster’s Ball Qualifying Match: Motor City Machineguns (Sabin and Shelley) vs. LAX (Hernandez y Homicide): You know, I thought Monster’s Ball was an invitational, so why are we having a qualifying match? Seriously, if they were going to add LAX and Beer Money to the equation anyway, just have LAX win and then claim that they want Beer Money, play off the promo segment, which I liked, and do it that way. The match was “fine,” but it just feels as if they were going through the motions out there. No sizzle really, and in the end a bit disappointing considering the teams involved. I mean, sure they only got 6-minutes, but I have seen both teams have very good matches in that amount of time. They just didn’t really do that here. I figure that the Guns will get tossed into the Steel Asylum Match. Also, they did a good job of working the Guns new attitude, but I think turning them heel is not a good move at all.

Angelina Love w/Velvet Sky and Cute Kip vs. ODB: The opening match on the show was ODB vs. Angelina Love. It was the crazy bitch vs. the “diva” to so speak. When I thought about this I was thinking, “this will be good, I can’t imagine any reason that the match would suck.” Apparently I didn’t factor in…SUCK. Well let me clarify that, THEY didn’t suck, and it wasn’t horrible. The work, what little of it there was, was perfectly acceptable. You see this just couldn’t have been about a match, it had to be mostly angle, and that angle was Sky and Kip constantly distracting the ref. They desperately wanted to tell the story of ODB falling to the numbers game, and they did that because this all led to Sky spitting booze in the face of ODB, and she got pinned. It’s a solid story and it led to the main event of the show, so I can’t completely hate it.

X-Division Title Match: Sheik Abdul Bashir © vs. Jimmy Rave w/Hemme and Rock vs. Eric Young: This just made me angry for several reasons. Now after last week’s completely stupid booking where Bashir was made to look like shit, TNA decided that they needed to get him some credibility back, since they took it all. I get that, I am cool with that. My first problem is that they made this a title match. Why did I not like this? Because the question then goes to this: What the hell did Rave and Young do to earn a title shot? I mean shit if jobbing on TV every week gives you a title shot, sign me up! But I am willing to let this go because with these three guys, there is a chance for a damn fine match. Well I was wrong there. These guys only got THREE MINUTES out there. THREE MINUTES for a THREE WAY MATCH for THE TITLE. It’s like they teased these guys with the chance to go out and deliver a good match and then said, by the way, you get 3-minutes. It was bullshit, plain and simple. You cannot expect a good match or people to care about these guys when they only get three minutes.

The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) w/Cute Kip vs. ODB and Rhaka Khan: I was wrong. I fucking hate that opening match now. WHY? BECAUSE, it gave us THIS match! This match right here was the WORST TNA Ladies match I have seen since they debuted the Knockouts Division. Seriously, it was just BAD. This match was as follows: bad plus lack of skill multiplied by SUCK2 and this is what we got. Shit was just off the entire time, Sky is still bad and Rhaka Kahn, while she is perfect LOOKING for her role, she is horrible as a worker! This is like Maryse levels of falling on herself bad. And what is the WORST part about this? It is leading to a PPV MATCH! Love, Sky and Kip vs. ODB, Khan and Rhino. That piece of shit is going to be on the “biggest show of the year?” Fucking kill me now.

DEAR TNA: STOP MENTIONING WWE SO MUCH! You did so well for so long, only the occasional mention when needed, I have no issues with some occasional mentions, but this week all you needed to add was a fucking plug for MyNetworkTV and you could have sent Vince a bill. KNOCK IT OFF and focus on YOU!

By: The Column of Honor’s Ari Berenstein

WWE SmackDown 10.03.08

The MyNetwork Debut: After weeks of advertisements and a strong push to make WWE fans aware of the change from UPN to My TV, here we were with the “All Star Kick Off” extravaganza. And here I was watching the show after almost three years of not watching Smackdown on a regular basis. In a manner of thinking, WWE already had done something right by getting me to tune in.

Parade of Superstars: Like the old school Saturday Night’s Main Event introductions or a Award Show role call, WWE ran down a series of graphics and chyrons at the beginning of the show. They made sure every single wrestler who was going to appear on the show made the graphic. I liked that a lot, as it gave a focus and shape to the program that lay ahead. Diehard fans and newcomers alike knew who was who within two minutes of the opening of the show.

Big Show ‘Em Who’s Boss: I liked that Big Show was in charge of running things in Vickie’s absence, although come to think of it, the real GM not being present for the major network debut is a bit of a business faux pas. Nonetheless, Big Show in charge worked because a: the already established business agreement between he and Vickie and b. who is really going to argue with Big Show? I’m certainly not going to do so and Chavo Guerrero quickly learned that if you don’t go with Show’s program, you will be stared down until you do. Show, also gave the word to Mike Adamle, Teddy Long and Tiffany and told them to get ta steppin.

Jeff Hardy, Batista, Rey Mysterio & Finlay (w/ Hornswoggle) vs. MVP, JBL, Kane and THE Brian Kendrick (w/ Ezekiel Jackson): The first match for the MyNetwork TV Smackdown era was a nifty eight-man tag encounter lasting thirty minutes (three segments with introductions). There is a saying that WWE never had a bad six-man or eight-man tag team match and this one held true to that thought. Not only did we get some good wrestling action, but also there was a spotlight for the pairings for No Mercy and the Mysterio vs. Kane and JBL vs. Batista matches. You saw a great shot of Rey Mysterio’s face and reactions to Kane. Batista looked fantastic, exuding confidence and babyface fire as he led the team through on a major comeback at the end of the match. We saw The Brian Kendrick get to be an awesome dick heel, getting beat on in the beginning of the match but still maintaining his cocky heel attitude and taking the advantage when possible. Finlay looked good laying in some stiff shots to Kendrick and the others, and even Hornswoggle got some cool moments. It was a bit odd to see Finlay and JBL in the same ring just five months removed from the super-serious feud they had concerning the “bastard son” Hornswoggle storyline, but five months is an eternity in WWE these days. Finally the end run with everyone flying in and out of the ring was exciting and led to the opening Jeff Hardy needed to get the Swanton and the pinfall over MVP.

Jeff Hardy: First In, Gets the Win: Jeff Hardy was the challenger and number one contender to Triple H and the WWE World Heavyweight Title. WWE helped him out right by giving him the opening entrance to the eight-man tag match and the winning fall as well. He even got in a Twist of Fate on Triple H (before taking it on abdomen thanks to Vladmir Koslov). Hardy getting the focus of attention = thumbs up in my book.

Honk If You Love the Honk-A-Meter!: I mark out for it and I can’t help myself. It’s so simple and silly that it’s fun. I love that Santino reacts when he hears the “ding” even though he can’t see the on-screen graphic.

Triple H: Champion of Champions: Triple H won over WWE Champion Chris Jericho and ECW Champion Mat t Hardy in a really good main event. Good. This was as it should have been—the champion of the Smackdown brand winning a match on this debut on a new channel. The fact of the matter is, Jericho is a heel and can take a loss (or rather a non-win) and still keep going and Matt Hardy is third place behind the other two. Hardy looked good enough to keep up with HHH and Jericho but at the end of the day it made the most sense to put Hunter over the other two, especially since one of them was the brother of the man he fights in just three days for the WWE title.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Santino Marella: I liked Marella’s promo, but well, Marella wrestling is still pretty bland. Benjamin was fine in the ring but really this just served to kill time before R-Truth came out through the crowd for the distraction. I also noticed the lack of crowd pop or chant along with the “What’s Up” song, although maybe that’s post-production and not an accurate representation of how he was received live and in person.

Khali Still Can’t Wrestle: One moment in particular from Chavo vs. Mark Henry and The Great Khali. Khali climbs over the top rope to get in the ring, gives the big chop, tags out and climbs over the top rope to get out of the ring. I mean, he spent more time walking in and out of the ring than he did inside of it! Khali = great workrate!

Tag Champions vs. Tag Champions: Wrestling Ring of Redundancy Wrestling: Primo and Carlito just won the WWE Tag Team Championships last week and good for them. Primo’s singles run on Raw wasn’t doing anything but there is certainly a lot to do with his brother. However, to fight another pair of champions Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes, the Raw Tag Team champions, just underscores the still overall poor state of the WWE tag team scene. Which is the better team? Better still—who really cares? On the plus side, it’s good to see that Manu ditched the X-Pac tights in favor of the more traditional Wild Samoans plain black.

What Was CM Punk Again?: As much as I love to see CM Punk on television, going over at that (and being hugely over with the crowd as he was), I can’t believe that J.R. or Tazz didn’t mention even once that he was a former World Heavyweight Champion. Maybe I missed it, but I don’t think so.

Who’s the Heel, Vickie or Taker?: Undertaker may be one of the most popular WWE superstars of all time, but beating up on a woman is still beating up on a woman. Any curious new viewers tuning in for the first time would have been dumbfounded to see a video recap of Undertaker tombstoning Vickie last week without a really in-depth and decent explanation about how Vickie had been making Undertaker’s life a living hell (no pun intended) over the last six months including banishing him from Smackdown. They’d be left to think that the Undertaker was some sort of demonic entity. Oh wait.

This Gimmick is Pretty Annoying, I’m Just Saying: I like that Hurricane Helms is making a comeback after being out with a serious neck injury and going through the surgery and recovery process. I’m glad he’s returning as a face and I’m even glad he has the “Hurricane” nickname back. However, I’m not glad to see this gimmick of his interrupting entrances and wrestling matches for his lame-o “Night at the Improv” jokes and “I’m just Saying” catchphrase. It got old the first week and now, I just want to chop someone really hard after watching them.

Ho’s on Parade: As the WWE Divas marched down to the ring for the Lumberjill match between Beth Phoenix and Michelle McCool, the line just wouldn’t stop…all of these women from the back. I realized something…I couldn’t tell who each was from the other. I mean, I knew who each one was, because I’m a wrestling geek and I could probably name the WWE roster if someone’s life depended on it, but I couldn’t tell one Diva from another. They all became one huge mass of WWE Divas…and well, that might not be a bad thing overall, but for a network debut, it makes one hell of a wrong impression.

Impact-rific Conclusion: As much as I liked the main event of the show, I disliked the post-match antics. It was just much too much to end the night. First Jericho hits HHH with the Codebreaker and goes for a ladder. Then Jeff Hardy comes out to save his brother. Then Triple H moves in on Jeff but gets hit with the Twist of Fate. Then Vladmir Koslov comes down and takes out Hardy. Good God, this looked to me like typical post-match TNA Impact B.S. It was all too much, too fast. I would not have ended the show with the focus on Koslov instead of Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy, which is your money match (besides Michaels vs. Jericho) for No Mercy.

No Cannolis in Oklahoma?: I honestly couldn’t believe it when Jim Ross said there were no cannoli’s in Boomer Sooner nation. THAT is the definition of “ridiculous” J.R. needs to come down to the BKLYN for some nice-a Italian Bakery pastries.

~WWE NO MERCY 2008~

By: Larry Csonka

The Matches:

ECW TITLE MATCH: The opening match (insert ECW joke here) was the EW Title match between Mark Henry and Matt Hardy. I have enjoyed how they have built the angle to the match because it was simple. Hardy won the title, but NEVER pinned or submitted Mark Henry. Henry constantly pointed this out, and it worked because it makes sense. Henry was dominating and Matt couldn’t beat him. Henry constantly bringing this up causes doubt in the mind of the fans, and while Matt was the ECW champion, did he DESERVER to be the ECW Champion? That is what this match did, prove that he belonged as the champion. They worked a simple match and told a simple story. Henry strong, Matt smart and fast. Matt was constantly working the legs of Henry, while Henry would always come back with power moves. But in the end, all of the legwork paid off as it allowed Matt to escape the World’s Strongest Slam, hit the twist of fate and EARN the title. A much better match than I expected, it worked and the crowd was into it. This was a fine way to kick off the show.

The Big Show defeated The Undertaker: Big Show vs. Undertaker was a match that had strong build from the last PPV to this PPV. The main thing I enjoyed was that there was no one else involved in this. Vickie was not seen, no Edge Guys, no Chavo, no Bam; just Show and Taker. They got the right amount of time, they both worked hard and they kept a good pace. Show is a different guy from his last run with the company and really got to show it here. Taker, while banged up brought his A-Game and what we ended up with was a good match. I dug the finish with Show removing the turnbuckle pad, using two KTFO shots, and then to be a super sized dick, punching Taker in the back if the head while he was already out for the stoppage. In the end I felt that this was a smartly worked big man vs. big man match. Big Show needed the win here for credibility because he has been in limbo as of late. He also got to return to dominating form here. I feel with Taker rarely losing on PPV, let alone being dominated in this fashion that this was a big win here. Of course the follow up will be key and I am not sure hw they proceed, but I liked the match and I also dug the finish, because I felt that it was not only executed well, but made Show out to be a PRICK and a beast.

WWE TITLE MATCH:I really, really liked this match. HHH played a great subtle heel here, not too much but just enough to get the right heat on him when he had control but not too much to make them hate him, because that isn’t the goal as of now. Also, as you would expect, when HHH is on he is on and he did that here by using a great mix of Ric Flair and Harley Race. This was his best singles performance in a while, since Night of Champions to be sure. I feel that this was fantastic match that doesn’t hurt Hardy in the loss, and it is also something that they can play off of as he continues his journey. You can lose, but it is HOW you lose that matters. Jeff lost because of a delay in pinning and because HHH is “The cerebral assassin.” He was “this close” one more time, but looked awesome. Again, this was fantastic stuff, on par with their last major one on one PPV match, which I also liked a lot. Jeff has matured and with the right person, HHH right now, he is working smart, main event matches. These guys have a great chemistry, and if Jeff ever gets the ball, we should look forward to more great matches between these guys.

WORLD TITLE MADDER MATCH: If there has been one feud I have thoroughly enjoyed it has been the Chris Jericho vs. HBK feud. They have had great promos and have delivered in the ring, and now they were taking the next step into a ladder match. Jericho, who has had much success in the match and HBK, the man that revolutionized the match on the big time stage. And if their past history together wasn’t enough, it was for the world title. When it was all said and done, I though this was an awesome main event, carried by two guys that have been doing some excellent work with just about anything they get involved with. They worked hard, and considering that HBK is still recovering from the torn triceps and is pretty much falling apart, he is simply amazing. They kept the crowd, the repeat spots were kept to a minimum and it worked. The suplex spot on the floor and CRAZY/STUPID bump Jericho took to the floor were very memorable, but I will say that the Cade-a-ferance took a bit away for me, even though I knew it was coming. This was just more goodness from these two, who had to deliver since a lot of the early stuff on the PPV didn’t. The back-to-back main events on this show are something I think people need to check out and as soon as possible.

NONE

Rey Mysterio defeated Kane: I will say that overall the match was not “bad,” actually I felt that they were working the big vs. little formula pretty well, especially with such a size difference. I though both guys looked good worked hard and looked better than they had in some time. But I was completely turned off by the DQ finish, and that is WWE’s fault. The company forced themselves into this finish by announcing a mask stipulation 6-days before the PPV. That was a huge mistake. First of all they didn’t get to promote the stipulation at ALL. It was virtually blown off on Raw. Secondly, the feud is fresh, just beginning, WHY would you jump to the stipulation so soon? It made no sense, and felt like a TNA move, having a stipulation just to have one. This match should have been a pathway to the mask match, not the match itself. With that being said, I came away disappointed and not wanting to see another match in the feud.

WWE WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: While I don’t think Candice is great by any means, she and Beth do have a certain chemistry that works pretty well. Unfortunately there were some things that didn’t work here tonight that hurt the match. First of all I felt Candice was off tonight. Nothing bad, but just a little and that hurt things. Secondly they seemed to want to make things more about Beth and Santino rather than the ladies and the title. And finally going into that, they just didn’t get enough time to work. I am sorry, but 4½ minutes on PPV for a title match just doesn’t do it for me. It was far from horrible, but I really didn’t see anything good from it either.

WORLD TITLE #1 Contender’s Match/After Match: After all the hype they put into this, there really wasn’t much of a match. They went out there, they did some stuff, Batista fired up and he won in 5-minutes, clean. On one hand I guess it was good that it was short, likely JBL’s back is still bothering him badly, and they didn’t want to do a long match due to the suck factor involved. This also makes Batista look dominant as he beat him so quickly. But if they were going to make it that short they should have just had Batista destroy JBL, I mean run through him like a bad taco. The way they did it wasn’t very effective because it was like they threw a 12-minute match in the dryer, resulting in what we saw. If you’re going to go short, have JBL come out cheat, get some heat, and then let Batista run through him “WARRIOR, WARRIOR” style for the win. So while I didn’t really dig that, I will give credit for JBL trying to save the segment. His “My heart wasn’t in it” promo was fantastic, and the whole deal about him loving life due to the bail out package worked well. The thing is if they just do that after the match I am rather satisfied, we’re in purgatory with a relatively strong segment. But they couldn’t resist themselves and had to go Monday Night Raw on us with the Cryme Tyme follow up. Why? To get all of these people on PPV! ARGH! Stop it. Less is more. It’s like they baked the cake, put icing on it, added the roses and “Happy Birthday JBL” and then they decided to add 134 more icing roses on it. CHILL.

KILLING TIME: MVP, Orton, Rhodes, Manu, DiBiase, Punk, Kofi: I really dislike when WWE treats a PPV like an edition of Raw. I don’t pay $40 for long interview segments, and this shit was the definition of killing time. Some people will defend this and say that it is such a great thing to get all of these guys on PPV. But these are the same people that will complain when TNA overloads a show to “get all of these guys on PPV.” You can’t have it both ways, I hate when TNA doe sit and I disliked this. The long interview segment that they had, while fine, was screaming “WE ARE KILLING TIME!” With the #1 Contender’s and Women’s Match going short, they decided to just throw shit out there. When I take a look at this segment, the ladies match and the #1 contender’s match, these were the things in the show that really pulled it down for me. Pulled it down to the “Raw/SD” level. It felt like something I could have tuned into see any Monday or Friday, and I don’t like that feeling when I am PAYING for the event. Ass into it that the crowd HATED it and were chanting boring during this and I am apparently not alone here. I really wish they would have added more match time or video packages instead of this shit, because I hate when a PPV begins to feel like a $40 Raw.

–TNA VICTORY ROAD {7.9}
–ROH NEW HORIZONS {7.8}
–TNA SLAMMIVERSARY {7.7}
–TNA HARD JUSTICE {7.6}
–WWE NO MERCY {7.5}
–TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {7.5}
–WWE SUMMERSLAM {7.4}
–TNA NO SURRENDER {7.3}
–TNA DESTINATION X {7.2}
–WWE BACKLASH {7.0}

–WWE ONE NIGHT STAND IV {6.8}
–TNA FINAL RESOLUTION {6.75}
–WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS {6.7}
–WWE GREAT AMERICAN BASH {6.1}
–WWE JUDGMENT DAY {6.0}
–TNA SACRIFICE {6.0}

–(WWE UNFORGIVEN) UNSANCTIONED MATCH: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho ****½
–(WWE SUMMERSLAM) HELL IN A CELL: Edge vs. The Undertaker ****½
–(WWE WRESTLEMANIA 24) WORLD TITLE MATCH: Edge © vs. The Undertaker ****½
–(ROH NEW HORIZONS) Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black ****½
–(ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS) ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Tyler Black ****½
–(ROH RISING ABOVE) ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Austin Aries ****½
–(ROH RESPECT IS EARNED II) ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Age of the Fall (Jacobs and Black) © vs. Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries ****½
–(TNA LOCKDOWN) TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Kurt Angle © vs. Samoa Joe ****½
–(TNA VICTORY ROAD) (World X Cup Semifinal Elimination Tag Match) Curry Man, Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin vs. Puma, Yoshino and Milano Collection AT vs. Rey Bucanero, Averno and Ultimo Guerrero vs. Williams, Dux and Kozlov ****½

–(ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS) Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries ****¼
–(ROH UNDENIABLE) GRUDGE MATCH: Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong ****¼
–(WWE NO WAY OUT) RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER ****¼
–(WWE NO MERCY) WORLD TITLE LADDER MATCH: Chris Jericho © vs. HBK ****¼
–(TNA HARD JUSTICE) LAST MAN STANDING MATCH: Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles ****¼

–(TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS) TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Kurt Angle © vs. Christian Cage ****
–(TNA FINAL RESOLUTION) TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Kurt Angle © vs. Christian Cage ****
–(WWE ROYAL RUMBLE) The Royal Rumble Match ****
–(WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS) WWE TITLE MATCH: HHH © vs. John Cena ****
–(WWE NO MERCY) WWE TITLE MATCH: HHH © vs. Jeff Hardy ****
–(WWE ONE NIGHT STAND) TLC: The Undertaker vs. Edge ****
–(WWE GREAT AMERICAN BASH) Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels ****
–(ROH RESPECT IS EARNED II) FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR: Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong ****
–(ROH NEW HORIZONS) ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Claudio Castagnoli ****

–(TNA No Surrender) (Ladder of Love Match) Sonjay Dutt vs. Black Machismo Jay Lethal ***¾
–(TNA VICTORY ROAD) (Full Metal Mayhem – Six-Man War Match) AJ Styles, Christian Cage & Rhino vs. Kurt Angle & Team 3D ***¾
–(TNA SLAMMIVERSARY) TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Petey Williams © vs. Kaz ***¾
–(TNA FINAL RESOLUTION) TNA NO-DQ WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim ©vs. Awesome Kong ***¾
–(TNA LOCKDOWN) LETHAL LOCKDOWN: Team Cage vs. Team Tomko ***¾
–(TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS) HARDCORE STREET FIGHT: Team 3D and Brother Devine vs. Black Machismo and the Motor City Machineguns ***¾
–(ROH UNDENIABLE) ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Jay & Mark Briscoe © vs. The No Remorse Corps ***¾
–(ROH RISING ABOVE) ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH – 2 of 3 Falls: Jay & Mark Briscoe © vs. The No Remorse Corps ***¾
–(ROH RESPECT IS EARNED II) ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Go Shiozaki ***¾
–(WWE NO WAY OUT) SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION CHAMBER ***¾
–(WWE WRESTLEMANIA 24) WWE TITLE MATCH: Randy Orton © vs. John Cena vs. HHH ***¾
–(WWE BACKLASH) WORLD TITLE MATCH: The Undertaker © vs. Edge ***¾
–(WWE WRESTLEMANIA 24) MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Chris Jericho vs. MVP vs. John Morrison vs. Carlito vs. CM Punk vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Shelton Benjamin ***¾
–(WWE JUDGMENT DAY) HBK vs. Chris Jericho ***¾
–(WWE SUMMERSLAM) John Cena vs. Batista ***¾

–ROH RISING ABOVE: Nigel vs. Aries (Stealing the Show)
–TNA FINAL RESOLUTION: Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong (Making us Care about Women’s Wrestling on the National Stage)
–ROH UNDENIABLE: Strong vs. Aries (The Grudge is Settled)
–WWE ROYAL RUMBLE: John Cena Shocks the World (No One Saw it Coming)
–TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS: Black Machismo Saves the X-Division (He is a Superman)
–WWE NO WAY OUT: Taker Eliminates the Competition (Elimination Chamber MVP)
–TNA DESTINATION X: Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong © vs. ODB (Stepping up Again)
–WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXIV: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Thank You Flair)
–TNA LOCKDOWN: Angle vs. Joe (Great Build, Great Delivery)
–TNA SACRIFICE: Roxxi gets a Haircut (And makes the ultimate sacrifice…)
–ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS: Tyler Black (Becoming a Star at 21)
–WWE ONE NIGHT STAND: The Undertaker (You Crazy Fuck)
–TNA SLAMMIVERSARY: Kaz vs. Petey (Stealing the Show)
–WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS: HHH (Silencing the Critics)
–TNA VICTORY ROAD: Alex Shelley and Yoshino (Stealing the Show)
–WWE GREAT AMERICAN BASH: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels (The Art of the Story)
–ROH RESPECT IS EARNED II: Tyler Black (Stealing the Spotlight …Again)
–TNA HARD JUSTICE: AJ Styles and Kurt Angle (Last Man Standing)
–WWE SUMMERSLAM: Hell in a Cell (Edge and Taker do it again!)
–WWE UNFORGIVEN: Unsanctioned (Jericho and Michaels Deliver Again)
–TNA NO SURRENDER: Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal (Making Chicken Cordon Bleu out of Chicken Shit)
–ROH NEW HORIZONS: Tyler Black and Bryan Danielson (Just Doing What They Do Best)
–WWE NO MERCY: HHH, HBK, Jericho and Hardy (Hey ROH New Horizons, Great Idea, Double Main Event Delivery)