WEEK IN REVIEW - 10/5 to 10/11

What a week of wrestling we have had! What can I say, what words can I use to describe this past week in Wrestling? These are a few words that come to mind: disappointing, horrendous, lame, good, and pathetic.

WWE

Using the words above, this is how I would describe this past week of WWE: disappointing, horrendous, lame, and pathetic.

Notice I didn’t use the word Good. That comes later.

RAW this week was horrendous, lame and pathetic. It didn’t even earning a rating, or much in the way of a full review. It was basically a repeat of the last two weeks’ Raw and Smackdown, right down to the main event.

It was even downright insulting at times. El Torito versus Min-Gator? Really? Kathie and Hoda twerking and smashing bottles on each other’s asses? I thought they were there to talk breast cancer and Susan G. Komen.

If your eagled eye, you’ll notice there was no Smackdown review this week. It is not that I didn’t watch the show until late, it’s because it didn’t deserve to be reviewed.

I can sum up the 15th Anniversary Broadcast of Smackdown in one word: LAME.

WWE you need to step up big time. Hell in A Cell is two weeks away and we only have one match announced. This is not the way to sell a PPV or the Network . . . not even at $9.99.

TNA

GOOD. This is where that word comes in. TNA was good and far and away the best wrestling broadcast this week. Except for the crowd, it was a rebound from last week’s disappointing show.

TNA has been putting out good shows lately, and seems to be getting back to basics, which is wrestling!

However, I do have to call out TNA. Bound for Glory is/was TODAY (10/12), so why in the hell did they only announced the card this past Wednesday? That is not a good move if they are courting a new TV deal and possibly new Network.

FINAL THOUGHTS: TNA ruled the roost, WWE laid an egg.

MATCH OF THE WEEK: Full Metal Mayhem, The Dudley’s versus the Hardy’s versus the Wolves
WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: The Wolves
IMPACT OF THE WEEK: ROCKSTAR SPUD slapping EC3.

TNA IMPACT STRESS TEST 10-8-2014

IMPACT STRESS TEST RESULT

PASSED

Last week Impact was not a very good show, it barely passed my stress test and I had many issues with the show. This week is different.

This show, while not on par with the Manhattan Center shows, was superior to last week’s show in every way.

There were far better matches, good promo segments, but a horrendous crowd.

THE LOW POINT

The crowd. Dave Parrish texted me that the crowd was so quite he thought he was in church while watching the show. It’s amazing that a professional wrestling crowd can be so quiet, and honestly, lame. This is not making TNA look good to potential network suitors if they can’t get a crowd going.

Only twice did they crowd react to anything. The first was in support of Spud. It was nice to see Spud getting some love.

The only other time was for Full Metal Mayhem; they came alive and even had a couple of chants going. Too little too late though.

That is my only real low point for the show.

THE HIGH POINT

Spud slapping EC3. EC3 turned a corner a couple of months back and has become one of the best things about TNA. Spud could be on the verge of turning his corner. He did not allow EC3 to push him around and even mocked EC3. When EC3 called Spud a loser, Spud responded with ‘I am Rockstar Spud.’ When EC3 slapped Spud, Spud slapped back. Yes, Spud was fired, but Spud also showed his fire.

The important thing here is that he called himself ROCKSTAR SPUD. He hasn’t done that in a long time. He said it with confidence. Is this his face turn? Could we see him return to the leather-wearing, obnoxious, anti-authority ROCKSTAR gimmick? That would be nice.

PROMOS

Bobby Roode called out Bobby Lashley, wanting Lashley’s answer to his challenge. Last week Bobby received MVP’s answers, but he wants to hear directly from Lashley. Of course, Lashley doesn’t come out; MVP does and repeats his answer from before, No.

King picked up on Bobby’s claim that he will do anything to be World Champion again, which leads to a match, MVP and King versus Bobby Roode. If Roode wins, he gets his title match. If Roode loses, he never gets a shot at the World Title for his entire career.

I’ve always wondered this, how can talent make matches and stipulations without ‘management’ approval or contacts?

Later in the back, Lashley shows up while MVP and King are talking. MVP tells him what is going on. King tells him to have a ‘Thank you’ ready.

Bobby doesn’t look to be on the same page as MVP and King.

There was a backstage confrontation between Gunner and Shaw. Tension rises between the two as Gunner tell Shaw to be himself and Shaw tells Gunner to be more supportive.

MATCHES

Three-way Knockouts match to determine the next challenger to Havok after her title defense against Velvet Sky at Bound for Glory. Havok versus Velvet Sky at Bound for Glory? They just announced this? Bound for Glory takes places this weekend and we are only now hearing the matches?

The match pits Angelina Love versus Taryn Terrell versus Madison Rayne. A standard knockout match, and that means a good match. Madison Rayne won the match and title shot. Taryn won a beat down from Havok as Madison left for the back.

Damn good tag team match between Storm and Sanada versus Low Ki and Tigre Uno. This match was exciting, fast paced and hard hitting. The time that Low Ki and Storm had in the ring was awesome. I want to see a singles match between those two.

No DQ match between Bram and Shaw. Not a great match, but a serviceable one and a hard-hitting match that actually used the No DQ stip, with chairs and Bram’s signature turnbuckle spike. Shaw stepped up big time and put on his best match to date, but fell short as Bram won the match.

Handicap Match for a World Title Shot, MVP and Kenny King versus Bobby Roode. I have to admit, this match was a bit of a letdown. With these three guys involved, it should have been better. The end was also confusing, after Roode pinned MVP, Lashley attacked Roode to prevent the pin fall on King. Roode wins the match, but not the Title Shot? Tenay claimed on commentary that the stipulation was that Roode had to submit or pin MVP and King. That was never mentioned before the match. Cheap screw job.

I asked about how can talent make matches, that was answered backstage after this match. According to Kurt Angle, they can’t. MVP can’t make matches, the match doesn’t count and Bobby Roode will be able to compete for the World Title again.

Full Metal Mayhem between the Hardy’s, Team 3D and The Wolves. This is the match that finally, almost, lived up to the billing. It was a really good match and all six guys went all out. My only drawback was there were too many planned out spots where it seems like the guys were waiting for things to happen.

The Wolves won, leaving Team 3D and the Hardy’s laying. I’m a little surprised by that. I thought, like many others, that TEAM 3D would win, and go into the Hall of Fame as tag champions. I think this was the right call though, The Wolves are the team that should have won, they are the future of TNA Tag Teams.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I needed my wrestling fix this week, especially after a terrible Monday Night Raw. TNA IMPACT delivered. This was a really good show, I may have been disappointed with the MVP/King versus Bobby Roode match, but there wasn’t a bad match on the card and the promos were good too.

RATING: 6.5

MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Full Metal Mayhem
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: The Wolves
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: Rockstar Spud.

Ace's Answer Raw Report 10/8/2014

I had something snappy I wanted to write here, but I decided against it. This commentary is going to be short and straight to the point.

This entire week’s MONDAY NIGHT RAW was the low point. Once again, it was a complete rehash of the last two weeks of Raw and even last Friday’s Smackdown.
There was one good moment on RAW . . . and no, that was not the surprise return of the Rock. Even if I were a Rock fan, I would have to be unbiased and admit that segment was worthless. What? A feel good moment with Rock sending Rusev backtracking?

This means nothing unless Rock does a program with Rusev. I don’t think that will happen. All this did was devalue the WWE locker room, again. The Rock said that Rusev was undefeated because he was bigger and stronger than most of the locker room, but the Rock – not even a part-timer – can come in and push Rusev around.
No. The Lone good moment on RAW was Joan Londen. She came out for the right reason, for something important and had poignant words to say. The fight against breast cancer is something important, and Joan Londen treated this the right way.
Unlike Kathie Lee and Hoda who just embarrassed themselves and made a joke of the reason they were on the show.

What else happened on this show? A bunch of rehash matches we have seen every RAW and Smackdown for the last month. El Torito versus Mini-Gator, Emma, Kathie Lee and Hoda smacking each other on the ass with bottles, Kane and Orton in another match with Cena and Ambrose, Ambrose doing his best Stone Cold?

Were there even any matches worth mentioning? No, really.

The only thing that was furthered was Cena v Ambrose, not either one v Rollins. We finally have a match for Hell in a Cell: Cena versus Ambrose, the winner faces Rollins in the Hell in a Cell. (Are we honestly supposed to believe that the loser of the Ambrose/Cena match won’t be involved in the Hell in the Cell match some way?)
That’s nice, but what about the rest of the card?

What a waste.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I feel asleep during RAW.

RATING: Not giving this show a rating, it doesn’t deserve it.

MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Hell no.
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: Did anyone wrestle?
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: Joan Lunden.

Dave's Battle Axe #3 - The Incredible Cody Rhodes

When I started getting back into wrestling in 2011 after a long hiatus, the landscape was the same, just the names were different. Well, some of the names at least. There was still an Orton, still a DiBiase, a Neidhart and so forth. Legacy wrestlers who have rich family histories can either cash in on the reputations that precede them or get lost in their own shadows.

Cody Rhodes always seemed to do neither. In a family full of characters already, Cody was doing something different from them and different from everyone else in the WWE back then. I could tell right away that this guy loved comic books. When “Dashing” Cody Rhodes morphed into a vengeful Dr. Doom-like persona forced to wear a protective mask, he took the gimmick and ran with it straight to his first Intercontinental title - a belt he transformed back into a more classic 80’s style that the fans have loved ever since.

Flash ahead to 2014 and another transformation. With the triumphant return of his brother Dustin to the WWE in the form of Goldust at Royal Rumble 2013 it was only a matter of time before the Rhodes brothers would tag up and start making some noise. The tag division had been languishing with a lot of odd pairings that with the exception of Team Hell No in 2012, mostly didn’t work. Cody + Goldust laid the groundwork for the great run that the Uso’s just had but when Cody became the ethereal Stardust character recently, everything clicked into place.

Stardust is both the perfect complement to Goldust in the weirdness department and the perfect super villain, capable of owning a seat at the Legion of Doom (Super Friends). By taking a cue from Frank Gorshin’s Riddler on the old Batman TV show, Cody created an instant fan favorite. What everyone failed to notice at first was the red contacts he put in (how does he wrestles with those in?) that should have tipped everyone off that a heel turn was coming eventually.

Cody has always been a good soldier in wrestling. Great in-ring moves, very little injury time off and always willing to help put someone else over for a storyline, he has to be a dream for WWE management. What people don’t realize with this latest persona though is that he’s changed up his wrestling style completely. When Jeff Hardy tried pulling a similar trick off recently with his Willow persona over on TNA Impact, it fell flat in comparison, mostly because his style didn’t change much.

You see, Cody Rhodes has had the cosmic key to success all along. By embracing the family legacy, creating a memorable character and integrating his own sensibilities into the mix he has locked in a winning combo for his career. Will Stardust be around forever? It’s too soon to say but I can’t wait to see where Cody Rhodes will take us next.

- Dave Parrish

CJ’s Sight NXT 10/02/2014

Charlotte pins Bayley in about 10:43 to retain the NXT Women’s Championship
Charlotte wins with the Natural Selection. Damn, this was an excellent match between the two. I would rate this the same as their NXT Takeover II match. The match was different from the first, but accomplished the same thing. They both impressed us, fantastic work from the wrestlers.

A taped segment occurred with Enzo, Cassidy, and Carmella. Enzo told Carmella that he would teach her everything he knows. Enzo hits on Carmella but she drop kicks him out of the ring. Funny stuff. I actually enjoyed the segment from these two.

Baron Corbin destroys Troy McClain in a minute
Typical squash. Awesome finisher. Moving on.

The VaudeVillians defeated Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger in about 3:58
English pinned Dillinger after a Swanton. NXT is definitely enhancing their Tag Team Division. This match definitely proves that they are on the right path.

Backstage, Devin Tayler was talking to Bayley about another loss for the Championship. Sasha attacked Bayley. Sasha says she will show why she is the BOSS of NXT.

Adrian Neville pins Tyson Kidd in about 12:48 to retain the NXT Championship.
Neville picked up the pinfall after the Red Arrow. Damn this was another excellent match tonight. These two have so much chemistry together. Titus O’Neil was at ringside and tried to interfere until Sami Zayn ran down and hit O’Neil with a Helluva Kick. It was a nasty looking kick, too. Excellent work from everyone.

Overall, this was an awesome edition of NXT. There was not a bad spot on the entire show. The two title matches left us wanted all those competitors to meet again. The other two matches accomplished something. The backstage and taped segments were entertaining. As I said earlier, there was not a bad spot on this show. Well done from everyone involved with this show. Crew included.

Final grade 7.5/10.

Week in Review 9/28 - 10/4

Unfortunately do to some commitments I was unable to watch Smackdown until late Saturday night. There is no full review of Smackdown, but it is covered here.

WWE

I love Professional Wrestling. I love good Professional wrestling even more. You know, action packed events that actually have life and death matches taking places inside a squared circle. Matches, not episodes of the View with half-naked guys bitching and moaning, well, like bitches.

Unfortunately, it seems like the WWE has more in common with The View at time than it does Professional Wrestling. I understand the whole ‘Soap Opera for men’ theory, but when it becomes a Soap Opera . . .

If we want make an analogy, Pro Wrestling should be a full throttle, pedal to the metal action film, a live action Die Hard, with thrills, spills, intensity and some good drama.

Instead, we get General Hospital. Not even that good, what we are getting right now is more like Corporal Hospital.

This past Monday Night Raw was a pathetic rehash of the previous week. In fact, Smackdown was a repeat of Raw, from the opening of the show to the main event. The only difference being that Cena bailed on Ambrose. (Am I the only one who noticed how Cena has constantly screwed tag team partners?)

With Smackdown, I feel like I spend more time fast forwarding through Raw recaps, then actually watching Smackdown. Yes, there were matches, but mostly retreads.
Were there some good moments this week? Of course. The Low Points greatly outweighed the High Points though. The Ambrose v Cena v Rollins feud is wasting away with no new movement. With Seth Rollin’s wussing out to Paul Heyman, what does it mean now if either Cena or Ambrose gain revenge?

At this moment, I’d rather see Ambrose versus Cena.

The WWE needs to do something and do it now. They haven’t even set one match for Hell in a Cell yet.

TNA

TNA was better than WWE this week, but that is not saying much. The last few weeks of TNA have been superior to WWE. They have also been superior to this week’s TNA broadcast.

This week saw poor payoffs to almost perfectly built up stories – Havok’s Battle royal win and Aries’ Tournament win.

There was also a sloppy match between Aries and Joe.

Then there was the crowd. Were they there for TNA or some other event they were waiting for?

FINAL THOUGHTS: This was not a good week for the big boys. They can do better. Much better and we all know it. We as fans demand better, not just because we pay for tickets, merchandise and the Network, but because we know they can do better.

TNA, WWE do not take mine, or any other fans, criticism as not liking TNA, WWE or Pro Wrestling. We speak our honest feelings because we have faith. Faith that you can do better.

This is the point where I would normally name a Match, Wrestler and Impact of the week, but I honestly don’t think anything this week deserved or earned it.

IMPACT STRESS TEST 10/1/2014

Impact Stress Test Result

Stalled

We kicked off October off with a spectacular edition of Impact . . . Is what I would start out with if that had happened. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

What TNA delivered this week was average. Nowhere near what the quality has been over the last month. It really seemed like it was thrown together at the last moment, or at least that a lot of stuff was reshuffled or rethought during the show.

It had the basis for a good show, but it didn’t quite gel. The problems were two fold, poor payoffs of angels, and a seeming lack of interest.

The Low Points:

Austin Aries and Samoa Joe
Anyone who reads Wrestlementary has to know that I am a huge Aries fans, and that last week I proclaimed they need to put the world title around his waist now. The World Title. What did they do this week? How did they follow up last week’s spectacular show where Aries won the right to face any champion?

The answer, have Joe bully Aries into a match. Yes, Joe bullied Aries into a match, telling Aries that if he was going to face anyone, it would be him (Joe.) They then went on to have an extremely sloppy match.

This whole thing made no sense to me, why dedicate an entire show to a tournament, only to pay it off in an OPENING MATCH, and have the champion bully the tournament winner into a match.

Even if the match was Joe versus Aries, it should have been a marque, main event match.

Havok versus Gail Kim
My same reason as Aries versus Joe, this was a poor pay off. Plus, it’s another case of TNA putting a World Title on a newcomer and pissing on the established stars. Have Havok win the battle royal, have her injury Gail, just don’t put the title on her right away.

It’s an old angle, challenger attacks champion, injuries them, then courageous champion still goes on to defend the title.

The bigger problem than the poor payoff is that putting the title on her right away devalues the entire locker room. Are they any credible challengers to Havok? How can there be when she has already destroyed the knockout’s locker room and ran through the entire roster in the battle royal?

The Crowd
I wrote a number of times of how great the crowd was at the Manhattan Center. I also wrote how I had concerns about the crowd for Bethlehem, PA. Those concerns turned out to be prophetic. This crowd was the most pathetic crowd I have ever seen at any wrestling event, much less a broadcast show.

Aries tried to rally the crowd, asking them whom he should face. He received zero response. Joe received no response when he came out.

Bobby Roode tried to get a ‘one more match’ chant going when challenging Lashley. The crowd was dead. Literally.

If one takes a good look, most of the area was blacked out. Many of the lights were turned off. When the action, and the camera(s), came close to the guardrail, it was plainly seen that most of the seats were empty.

I think the entire crowd in this arena may have filled one section of the Manhattan Center.

TNA should never have aired this, but they have little options with their current status. A turnout like this, to a televised taping, cannot help their cause in trying to find a new TV deal.

The High Points

MVP, Kenny King, Mister Anderson and Sarge
This is how you pay off an angle, and continue it. Anderson comes to the aid of Sarge and confronted King and MVP. Anderson challenged King to a match, but MVP stepped up and took the fight. MVP and Anderson went on to have an extremely good match, which MVP won after some distractions.

This accomplished three things: It put Anderson front and center as a face and has him back in the spotlight. TNA needs his star power. It also showed friendship between King and MVP with King thanking MVP for stepping up and taking the match.

But it really solidifies that the half man-half amazing Playa is back.

EC3 and Eric Young
Both of these guys have been on fire for months. EC3 really ripped into Spud, blaming him for Auntie D. EY came out to Spud’s defense and cut a passionate promo about knowing Spud’s predicament, having been a lackey once himself.

This lead to a good match been EC3 and EY and both guys delivered.

The Dudley’s, The Hardy’s, The Wolves
Their promo segment helped saved this broadcast. Great mic skills, both the Dudley’s and Hardy’s propping each other and trying to spank the new team on the block. This lead to a brawl with the Wolves protecting their territory. That territory being their budding legacy and the TNA World Tag Team titles.

Finally, we got the announcement that the next match in this series will be Full Metal Mayhem.

FINAL THOUGHTS: TNA had set things up greatly and they were cruising while at the Manhattan Center. Once they left, it seems that things might return to where they were. I hope not.

This crowd was a big reason for the lack luster of this show. Don’t expect it to get better; they taped a number of Impact shows in a week or so. From what I understand, at times they taped multiple broadcasts worth of shows in one day/evening, which means we can have the same pathetic crowd for two or three shows.

From the Knockouts Battle Royal to last week’s tournament, TNA was poised to grab the wrestling world by the balls and crush it. The problem is, it seems like TNA choked.

RATING: 5 – The lowest rating I have given TNA since July.

Match of the Night: MVP versus Mister Anderson
Wrestler of the Night: Gail Kim – Yes, I thought the angle was a poor pay off. That said, Gail Kim was excellent and sold everything and really put Havok over. Havok is good, Gail made her look better.
Impact of the Night: The piss poor crowd. I have written before that an impact can be negative. I will point it out when this is the case. This was the case. This crowd was horrible.