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