Royal Rumble 2014

So, the road to WrestleMania has begun. The Royal Rumble is in the record books and what is done is done.

There were only four matches on the entire card: The Kickoff Match for the World Tag Team Championship between the Rhodes and the Outlaws, Bryan versus Bray Wyatt, Lesnar versus Big Show, The World Heavyweight Championship between Orton and Cena and the Rumble itself.

Not exactly a stacked card, but it did put the focus squarely on the Rumble.

The Kickoff Match

World Tag Team Championship Match – Rhodes defended against the New Age Outlaws.

A lot of people question why the Outlaws were getting a title shot, odds are, we all know the ‘truth.’

Either way, they received the title shot and won the titles. Even though they were once extremely popular, and many people enjoy seeing them, the Outlaws winning didn’t go over very well.

The match was a decent Tag Team match that hit all the spots, told the story and ended in a nice way with Billy using a blind tag to end up getting the pin on Cody. It showed the experience and intelligence of the Outlaws won out.

Winners and new Champions, the New Age Outlaws.

The Royal Rumble PPV Itself.

The Opening Match of the PPV was Daniel Bryan versus Bray Wyatt.

I am a fan of Daniel Bryan. I am not a fan of Bray Wyatt; I don’t think he is very good.

That said, this was the match of the night and both men delivered. The match was slow at times, and I kept wanted to see Bray actually do something more vicious than he did for most of the match. For a guy the WWE tries to put over as ‘Scary Vicious’ he isn’t vicious or dangerous enough.

There were many good moves by Bryan; he showed a lot of intensity, emotional rage and thirst for vengeance. However, he would fall short. Nothing he did quite put away Bray.

At the end of the match, Bray finally should some viciousness I wanted to see from him when he gave Bryan the Sister Abigail into the barrier outside the ring. That led to the first shock of the night, and perhaps set the stage for the emotions that ran through the live crowd for the entire broadcast.

Bray pinned Bryan cleanly. Let’s repeat that, Bray pinned Bryan cleanly.

Despite a chant toward the end of the match of ‘This is Awesome,’ the crowd didn’t like Bray winning.

The crowd would continue to voice their displeasure during the rest of the night.

Much to my own shock, this would be the best match of the night.

Brock Lesnar versus Big Show.

There was no match here. There was only a Raw segment on a PPV spot. This non-match became a vengeance moment for Brock. He would attack Show before the bell would ring, and then proceed to clobber Show multiple times with a chair.

Big Show would briefly get the upper hand, only to be pinned after a Brock F-5. But, it wouldn’t end there,

Brock would continue to beat the Big Show with a chair until he broke it, then walked off.

This was a complete waste of a match and a PPV Spot. As I wrote above, this was a Raw segment that should have been held tonight on Raw, not at a major event.

It was a massive let down. It was a moment designed to make Brock look scary and dominate, but it really just made him look cowardly and desperate.

The World Heavyweight Championship, Randy Orton Defends against John Cena.

What can I say here? The match started out slow, then kicked into high gear with each guy pulling out their finishers and submission moves, but unable to put the other way. Randy Orton even pulled out an AA on Cena and put Cena into the STF!

Just as Cena finally looked as if he might be closing in on the win, the lights went out and the Wyatts arrived. Orton used the distraction to hit the RKO on Cena and win the match.

Post-match the Wyatts did their normal beat down on Cena.

This match has the chance to be great, with a great few minutes of back and forth moves that were ruined by the Wyatt’s interference. A match that was building up to be something, that became a non-finish.

I guess this beat down will lead to the rumored Bray Wyatt versus John Cena match at WrestleMania.

Like with Brock versus Big Show, this seemed like a segment better suited to RAW.

The crowd never seemed to get into the match, even if at one point they were cheering for Orton, not Cena. Hell, at one point there was a “We want Angle!” chant.

The Royal Rumble Match

30 men entered, one man stood tall.

There were some decent things about the Rumble, most notably Punk’s run, Rusev’s debut (not long but effective to put him over) and Reigns breaking Kane’s single match elimination record with 13 eliminations.

Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by the tremendous amount of bad things, which included El Torito being in the Rumble (another Raw like segment), an inane amount of commercials, Batista being handed a Rumble victory and no Daniel Bryan in sight.

Towards the end of the match the live crowd was pissed, chanting, DEMANDING Daniel Bryan. But, Bryan would never show.

When Rey Mystero came out at number 30, he received something he isn’t used to: a huge chorus of boos.

The chorus of boos would continue for the rest of the night.

The last two men in the ring were Reigns and Batista, when something odd happened. The live crowd started cheering for Reigns, turning on Batista. When Batista eventually won, the crowd’s turn was complete, the boos were so loud that it seemed someone turned up Batista’s music to drown out the boos.

If Batista is the mega popular face (or was supposed to be), then the crowd turned heel.

The Winner of the Royal Rumble and man who will Main Event WrestleMania, Batista.

This was a major mistake by the WWE, for two simple reasons. First, the fans. This showcased what many people believe, the WWE doesn’t care about the fans. The fans wanted Bryan and booed everyone and everything after it became clear Bryan would not be in the rumble.

Secondly, having Batista (who hasn’t had a match in four years) win effectively devalued the entire locker room. How can we take anyone on the roster serious if someone can return from four years off and win the Rumble?

My theory on why Batista won? The WWE wants him as World Champion when he does his publicity tour for Guardians of the Galaxy.

For the last three weeks I have ripped TNA for poor shows, poor booking, too many non-finishes and putting over Magnus in the worst way possible.

I can’t let WWE off the hook here. This was a disappointing and poorly done PPV with one good match, one non-match, a non-finish, Raw-like segments and a Rumble so poorly booked it shouldn’t have even been held.

Everyone knew Batista was going to win; it was blatant from the beginning when they announced his return.

I just have one question, am I the only one who noticed that all of Hunter’s buddies won last night?

Match of the Night: Bray Wyatt versus Daniel Bryan

Impact of the Night: The Live Pittsburg Crowd

Wrestler of the Night: CM Punk (he was too good in the poor Rumble Match)

Fail of the Night: Royal Rumble PPV.

In closing, if you think this is just a rant from a Daniel Bryan fan, read what Mick Foley had to say: https://www.facebook.com/RealMickFoley

Rating: 4 out of 10

WWE Builds Storylines, TNA Flames out

The WWE continues to produce the better shows of the Big Two. The Road to WrestleMania begins this Sunday with the Royal Rumble, and the WWE has done a good job of building up the Rumble, and building the storylines and potential feuds for WrestleMania.

TNA, however, hasn’t just dropped the ball, they’ve lost the ball. I can’t put my finger on what TNA is, Pro Wrestling, Sports Entertainment or a bad 1980’s Public Access show.

TNA IMPACT

GENESIS – PART ONE

Thursday, January 16, 2014

I really don’t have much to say about TNA this week. It was really a forgettable waste of time. If not for Aries versus Sabin and the cage match between Roode and Angle, this would have been another one star broadcast.

The only thing that TNA may have going for them is the American Wolves, hopefully they can make an impact.

I don’t know what they are trying for with the ‘Investor’ storyline, but it had better be something good with a payoff. This does make me believe that the TNA Sale rumors were just a work leading to this storyline.

The Main Event between Magnus and Sting became a re-hash of Magnus versus AJ. All of Dixieland’s cronies helped Magnus win, and Sting is gone.

I have said this before, and I will again, this is the worst possible way to build up Magnus. In the end, I think it will destroy Magnus. He hasn’t done anything. Yes, I know he is the bad guy, above the law, but at some point he has to wrestle by himself and prove himself.

For now, TNA is burying Magnus and themselves.

Rating: 2 out of 10.

MONDAY NIGHT RAW

1/13/2014

Another good broadcast of Raw, not as good as last week’s, but still above average.

For a Go Home show leading into a PPV it had the right amount of promos and matches, and everything served a purpose leading into Sunday. Everything that could happen at the Rumble, the matches and the Rumble itself, was set up on this show.

Beyond that, it also set the stage for the road to WrestleMania, giving us a hint at possible storylines and matches for the big show.

A good broadcast like this doesn’t just build to a PPV; it leaves you with questions that can only be answered at the PPV.

Batista versus Del Rio at Mania? If Batista doesn’t win the Rumble.

Can the Big Show beat Brock?

Will Cena get revenge on Orton for attacking his father?

Can Punk win the Rumble coming in at #1?

This broadcast did its job, it made the Rumble must see.

Rating: 6 ½ out of 10

SMACKDOWN

1/17/2014

Smackdown was rather disappointing this week, except for the Main Event, which was a welcome segment.

Like Raw, Smackdown did everything it could to build the Rumble. Every promo had to do with the Rumble and every match included Rumble participants.

Of course, every wrestler was put over by JBL and Josh Matthews as being able to win the Rumble, but I doubt anyone believes that.

The problem was, it didn’t do as good as a job as Raw and every match except for the main event was very poor. It was filled with Squash matches that were not fun to watch. Even the main event, which was the only real match on the show, ended up with a non-finish and a locker room brawl to showcase the potential excitement of the Rumble match itself.

It set up the Rumble, just didn’t get up to the level of Raw. If you didn’t see it, no loss.

Still, far better than TNA.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Fail of the Week: 

TNA IMPACT GENESIS, Part 2.

                        For the third week in a row, Impact’s entire broadcast was the fail of the week. If this continues, TNA will be The Fail of the Year. If this continues, TNA may not last the year.

Match of the Week: 

Alberto Del Rio versus Rey Mystero

Wrestler of the Week: 

Austin Aries, the new X-Division Champion. Will this lead to a second World Title Reign?

Impact of the Week: 

The return of Batsita. Batista’s return is going to have an impact on the WWE not just at the Rumble, but also along the Road to WrestleMania. The impact of his return it going to have some long-term repercussions.

The WWE steps up its Game, but TNA goes Lame.

Last week’s RAW was average at best (I rated it a 5 out of 10). This week’s Raw was superior in every way and by far the best RAW since before last summer’s Summerslam.

WWE is picking it up going into WrestleMania Season.

TNA is an embarrassment right now. I wrote last week that ‘we witnessed what I believe to be one of the worst wrestling broadcasts in history,’ and gave it one star. This week’s TNA Genesis broadcast followed last week’s broadcast with more of the same.

TNA IMPACT

GENESIS – PART ONE

Thursday, January 16, 2014

You read right, this ended up being Genesis Part One. Because Genesis is/was so big, they needed TWO broadcasts to cover it all.

The problem with this is that Genesis Part One was so bad with its booking, overdone go nowhere promos and poor matches that Genesis Part Two is an unnecessary sequel.

I don’t even know if I should be writing a recap of this week’s broadcast. Why? Because it will basically be a rehash of last week’s recap.

The same exact problems that plagued last week’s broadcast plagued this week’s. Everything seemed to be built up to do two things, build up Magnus and remove a major talent from TNA. Last week that talent was AJ Styles, this week, that talent is Sting.

There were only two legit matches on this card, Bully Ray versus Anderson and Madison Rayne versus Gail Kim. Neither match come close to what they should have been, considering the talents involved.

I was really looking forward to the Bully versus Anderson NO DQ match, which under delivered. Both guy’s timing seemed off, their chemistry wasn’t there and it just seemed rushed and flat.

The same can be said about Madison and Gail. This should have been a show-stealing match on a PPV; instead, it became a Divas match, which is quite the insult to the Knockouts. Madison is the new TNA Knockouts Champion, but the match and win should have been given a chance to mean something, but instead it was over shadowed by Dixieland and Magnus promos.

Both matches became a causality of a promo heavy broadcast to put over Dixie and Magnus.

In fact, the entire Genesis event became a victim of this piss poor booking and bad decision-making. Two of the major matches promoted for THIS broadcast of Genesis were pushed to next week. Those matches being Storm versus Gunner for the briefcase and Roode versus Angle in the steel cage.

So, if you tuned in to see those matches (like I and many others did) you were screwed. Instead, Storm and Gunner were thrown into a nothing six-man tag, and Angle was deemed ‘unstable’ by Dixie.

The much-hyped match between EC3 and Sting was nothing more than a joke – with ‘special referees’ Rockstar Spud and Magnus screwing Sting and cost him the victory. Magnus fast counted Sting’s shoulders down giving EC3 the victory.

This lead to Sting calling out Magnus saying he would do anything to face Magnus. Anything, huh? That anything turned in a Title versus Contract match. Magnus’s World Title versus Sting’s Contract.

So, once again we ended a much built up and hyped match with interference and a screw job.

I wrote during Thursday’s broadcast on the Facebook page that it seems we are gearing up for another group versus group feud and battle against authority, like TNA versus Aces and 8’s and TNA Originals versus Immortals.

It seems be the only story TNA knows how to tell – and tell badly.

Way too many promos that did nothing, poor timing, badly booked matches and just total crapping on the fans made for another horrible show. Though, it does rate slightly highly then last week’s broadcast because of two actual matches and a title change.

Rating: ** (out of 10)

TNA is supposed to stand for Total Non-Stop Action, but it should be changed to Talking, No Action.

MONDAY NIGHT RAW

1/13/2014

What a broadcast. Seriously, this was the best RAW since last summer.

Three hour Raws can be taxing at times, especially when they are promo heavy, filled with stupid comedy bits and lack matches.

This past Monday finally proved that booked right, a three-hour Raw can be good. Not just good but excellent. Not just excellent, but an Event.

First off, there were NO in ring promos on Raw. That was a blessing. There were back stage segments, but they were all good and added to the show and built things up, like they should.

This show was heavy on what fans turn in for, wrestling action!

And what wrestling action there was. Sandow versus Cena was a really good match. Kofi versus Orton was the match of the night, with Kofi getting the big win!

And the main event delivered. We had an actual match between the Usos and Bray/Bryan that had the Usos finally win over the Wyatt family and see Bryan turn on Bray.

The thing is the Usos achieved a ‘clean’ win over Bryan and Bray. Bryan’s turn happened after the match.

I hope the guys at WWE take a good long look at this week’s Raw, realize how good it was and use it as a format for all future Raws.

Rating: ********

SMACKDOWN

1/17/2014

Smackdown was a good broadcast, but seemed to be lacking for some reason.

Two in ring promos, back stage segments that built up the Punk versus Shield and Outlaws angel and a good amount of on in-ring action.

The only real issue I had with this broadcast was Vickie interrupting the Rhodes versus Outlaws match.

Four things were really built up on this show. Number one was Brock Lesnar versus Big Show. Brock wasn’t on the show of course, so they used a promo between Paul Heyman and Big Show to put over the match. It worked as well as it could, but matches can only be built up so much without BOTH guys involved.

The second thing is Big E Langston. Someone is high on this guy, and well they should be. Big, if not tall, strong, fast and a good hand in the ring. He continues to step up his game, win and improve each week. Fandango looked good in their match as well.

Third, they built up the Del Rio/Batista angel. For the second time this week they did it by having Del Rio versus Rey, with Del Rio using Rey to send a message to Batista, since it is well known Rey is Dave’s ‘little buddy.’

This worked, but only because Rey is Batista’s friend. As I mentioned previously, promos can only go so far without both guys involved. Batista returns this Monday, expect fireworks.

The fourth and final thing they built up on the show was CM Punk versus the authority. For the last few weeks, CM Punk has been making accusations toward the authority. The Smackdown Main Event segment is the first true time we witnessed that Punk might be right.

The issue with this week’s Smackdown isn’t that it wasn’t good; it is that it seemed to lack that something extra and seemed to drag on.

Rating: ******

Fail of the Week: TNA’S IMPACT GENESIS, Part One.

For the second week in a raw Impact’s entire broadcast was the fail of the week. I think fans know it as well, while last week’s Impact was their highest rated in a long while, the ratings this week were down sharply. I have no hopes for Genesis, Part Two in terms of quality; it will be interesting to see what the ratings are.

Match of the week: Kofi Kingston versus Randy Orton

Wrestler of the Week: Kofi Kingston

Impact of the Week: Last week I chose the WWE Network announcement as the Impact of the Week. It has such an impact that it is still being talked about, and will be for a long time. The true impact of it has yet to be felt.

This week I have to give the Impact of the Week to something still being talked about. Something I didn’t name the Impact for RAW due to my own oversight.

The first announced 2014 inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame: The Ultimate Warrior!

My favorite wrestler of all time is being inducted into the Hall of Fame, and it is about time. I don’t think we have seen the full impact of the Warrior announcement, and may not until the night of the Hall of Fame induction. One reason I say that is how many wrestlers themselves seem excited about this, and say it is long overdue.

Until next week,

Ace Masters