Wrestling Week in Review for 1/11/2007
Posted on January 17, 2008
Filed Under Television
Those of you that don’t know who I am, my name is JC Edwards and I’m the resident “fanboy”, comic book movie, action flick aficionado, film critic of the MFG bunch. But, what some of you may not know about me, I was involved in the exciting world of Professional Wrestling for more than 10 years, and it’s a passion that still lives and breathes inside of me today. Each week I find myself watching the flagship shows of WWE RAW & TNA Impact, (ECW and Smackdown pretty much suck) and with each passing show I feel the need to comment on the current state of affairs in Sports Entertainment, more and more. I’ll be bringing my vast knowledge of the business along with some friendly insight into the whys and what’s the writer’s were thinking when they create a character or an angle that makes you the average viewer, or more importantly myself say WTF were they thinking! This week I’ll be covering the previous episode of TNA Impact from 1/10 and last nights RAW broadcast. Since this is a new weekly column we’ll gloss over the highlights and next week we can go deeper. I’m open to feedback and if you disagree with my evaluation of certain talent, feel free to bring it and we’ll debate all night long…. Whoooo!
TNA Impact 1/10: The show opens with a video package from the recent Final Resolution PPV, we see the Team 3D-MCMG Ultimate X, Robert Roode popping Sharmell, Kevin Nash walking out on Samoa Joe and the “Heel” turn of AJ Styles, etc, etc etc. All in all this was a very good PPV and if you have a chance to catch it it’s worth the $30.
The opening match saw the Motor City MachineGuns taking on Senshi and Elix Skipper in a fast paced above average X-Division Tag match. Guns go over in a flashy double Superkick finish that puts the out bound Senshi down for a clean 3 count, while Skipper watches from the apron. Shelley and Sabin are 2 of the best workers on TNA’s roster and each week they continue to amaze. Christian Cage hits the ring and whines about his loss to Angle and how AJ screwed him… blah, blah blah. This angle is very confusing because you have a clear “Natural” heel in Cage working an angle with a chameleon in tights like AJ Styles that can get the crowd to love or hate him in a blink of an eye. Writers can do whatever they want to try and make this feud go the way they hope it will but ultimately it will be fan reaction that drives the character change. In my never humble opinion the clear face in this match should be AJ due to his in ring style and Christian is just way over as a dirtbag so I say leave it be. I’m personally getting tired of the dense AJ character and I look forward to seing “Face” AJ’s return to balance out the title picture in TNA.
Next we see Chris Harris (also on his way out) running his complaint gimmick in a long drawn out Cornette office skit that leads to a squash match with the new monster of TNA Judas Mesias. Mesias over Harris cleanly with the Straight To Hell via pinfall in about 3 minutes. It’s a sad day when one of the pioneers of TNA, and possibly one of the best Tag Team wrestlers of all time leaves the company but this is a business and not a family, so the man has to do what he has to do. I’m hearing rumors of a WWE contract but nothing has been confirmed at this time. Harris was a very strong competitor when teamed with Storm but in my opinion both have dropped substantially in the rankings without the other. The genius that decided to dissolve AMW, in favor of a short lived feud between the 2 should’ve been canned on the spot. This is going a lot longer than I expected so I’m going to abbreviate a few and get to the Main Event and close the show.
VKM goes under to Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt when Kip “accidentally” pushes BG into a roll up and quick 1-2-3. This further pushes a pointless angle of BG finding another partner for the Feast or Fired briefcase BG has in his possession. On another note I think I should point out the only strong point of the VKM group is the hotness that is Roxie Laveaux. That’s one tough chick! (Commercial)
Skit with Joe contronting Kevin Nash and Nash telling Joe he need him, chatty but decent exchange. This is more than likely a token of goodwill between these two since they have legitimate heat between each other that needs to be cooled. (Pee-Pee Break) A very loooonnnggg Booker T interview followed by an even longer in Ring spot with Robert Roode and Ms Brookes. Brookes leaves the ring and gets jumped by Roode’s new hotty Ms. Banks and the save is made by Matt Morgan, who I expect to make is in ring debut sooner rather than later and more than likely against Roode.
LAX w/Salinas takes on Rock and Rave infection minus Christy Hemme. LAX goes over when Homicide hits the Gringo Killa on Rave for the 3. I’m not a fan of Hoyt and for the most part he takes up space and if they want Rave to last he needs to be moved to the X-Division and let him work as a singles competitor. When Salinas (Ariel) was in ECW she looked exotic, now she just looks like a big titted Mexican… Sad!
Main Event was broken into 2 halves, a coronation and a squash. The coronation of Prince AJ and his “official” addition to the Angle Alliance ended when Christian challenges AJ, and Samoa Joe comes out to throw in his 2 cents. This was a big setup for a 3 way dance between AJ Styles, Christian Cage and Samoa Joe for next week’s episode. If Joe or Cage wins, they fight Angle @ Against All Odds and if AJ wins, Angle is clear of title defenses until April. I don’t see that happening but I also don’t see Joe winning squat so we’ll have to wait and see. (Break)
The close of the show saw Awesome King squash Gail Kim and snagging the TNA Women’s strap via a clean pin from King’s signature power bomb. I’m not sure why they would do that but expect Kong to wear it for a while, and to keep her monster status in the company when she does lose it’ll probably be in a 4 way @ Lock Down in April. Or, ODB will win in a quick upset pin in the coming weeks due to her ever growing popularity with the fans.
Overall I rate the show about 3 stars because it was low on the mat action and way too heavy on the skits, and mic work.
WWE RAW 1/14: Opening with video package from last week with Jeff Hardy in the main, his music hits and he charges the ring, to challenge Randy Orton for tonight’s main event. Orton accepts on the condition that they face each other for Jeff’s IC title tonight since they’ll be working for the WWE gold at the Royal Rumble. Orton has the desire to become only the 3rd WWE superstar to hold both the IC and World titles at the same time. RKO is an over blown ego hound so if I had to guess, he really would like to be the 3rd person to hold both regardless of what the writers had planned for the end of the show. HUGE Ego, HUGE!
Opening match was a 6 Diva tag match… Now before I go any further on this I need to make one thing perfectly clear. Chicks DO NOT belong in the ring just because they’re hot. The WWE continues to promote their idiotic Diva search each year, and each year some 100 pound bone sack with monster tits, climbs her narrow ass into my ring and wastes my time and yours trying to look like they belong in there. Now don’t get me wrong, chicks like Lita, Molly Holly, Gail Kim, Ivory, and even Trish Stratus after a couple of years deserved to be in there… but this group of bubbleheads just wastes TV time. So I will only say that my dinner looked very much like it did going in, coming out I evacuate my yummies while these chicks wasted 6 minutes of precious USA airtime. I can say this much about chicks in the ring… Guys in the locker room only want a chick to open her mouth long enough to place an organ in it, and if she wants to feel like she’s helping, keep going til he tells you to stop! That’s about enuff said on that subject.
Shawn’s music erupts and the crowd goes bananas… finally a real match! Shawn works Trevor Murdoch in a Royal Rumble qualifying match. Murdoch is so ugly his gimmick picked him and he had nothing to say about it, and as much as I like a true tough SOB in the ring, his ugly cancels that out. And just think next week RAW will debut in HD for the first time… OMG that could be so bad on so many levels. Anywhoo, Shawn goes over by using a modified version of the Indian Deathlock for a clean submission over Murdoch. If you guys have been paying attention for the past couple of week Shawn has used nothing but submission finishers and he’s used Angles ankle lock, and the Crippler Crossface to show he’s still viable as a technicain, for the guys in the back and the younger boys in the locker room wating to take his spot. Sorry fellas but HBK aint ready for the pasture just yet.
Skit with Vince telling his ’son’ Hornswoggle that tonight he’ll be participating in a mini Royal Rumble of sorts to prepare him for the big show coming in 2 weeks… I meant to say big PPV, not Paul Wight but we’ll discuss him later on I’m sure.
We return from commerical for another actual Wrestling Match - I only say it like that because actual wrestling on RAW is in kind of a short supply when you’re close to PPV time. Triple H takes on the Next Ugliest man on the WWE roster Snitsky. Triple H goes under via DQ when he plasters Snitsky with his sledge hammer. This was actually a pretty good match considering it involved 2 big guys that wont sell anything for anyone, but the next segment just came of as trying too hard. HHH discovers that Vince (via the mini Titantron) has determined that he is still not in the Royal Rumble but if he wins next week he will be… HHH gets angry throws his hammer into the screen and a really bad light show with sparks erupts. I still think it’s amazing that they continue to run the HHH vs McMahon angle after all these ‘YEARS’. Not months, not weeks… Years! The internet fanboys are running wild with the idea that Paul Wight will make his return next week and he’ll be the Big Surprise, but I don’t believe that for a second. IMO it would be the wrong time to unveil him and if they do have Big Show attack HHH, it should be at the Rumble so they can build up enough heat for the feud to last a little while. Doing it now would only serve to bridge 2 weeks to the Rumble and it wouldn’t push either man in an upward direction.
After the break we come back to JBL… THE WRESTLING GOD! Coming to the ring to tout his demolishment of Chris Jericho last week. This segement also ran way too long. I respect JBL’s in ring prowess and his mike skills are pretty good, but to jabber on for almost 10 minutes, to kill air time was ridiculous. I look forward to the match between the 2 @ the Rumble but I don’t expect too much since this is JBL’s first match in over a year and Jericho is just now getting the rust off himself. But, they’re both students of the game and they’ll be ready so it may be the match of the night.
The “mini” Royal Rumble begins… Yay! You see it’s a mini Royal Rumble because the guys are “mini”, Haha… What in the Blue Hell is this crap? Mini Ken Kennedy, Mini Batista, Mini Mankind (which looked more like a kid than a midget) and a mini Kane??? That tiny Kane was a freaky looking little dude. Imagine Jason from Friday the 13th Part 1 but shorter and with a very large ass and you’ve got it. Horny goes over on all of them until Khali’s music hits, because of course this is not a “mini” Khali it’s the real thing. Khali grabs Horny and Finlay hits the ring to make the save. Fit whipped that Indian like he owed him money for a broken laptop. I hate this guy so much words can’t describe; he’s slow, he can’t throw a punch or take one and if you watch him very closely the big wussy is actually afraid of getting hit. You have to be kidding me, you’re almost 8 F’N feet tall and you’re afraid of a punch. Don’t take my word for it, watch it for yourself. Each time someone throws a punch at his head he puts his hands up like a big baby. He’s nothing but a big bubblehead like El Gigante from the 90’s… F’N useless.
Semi Main saw Flair vs Regal in another save his career match. Pretty quick contest that saw the Figure 4 being placed on Regal, Regal going for a rollup while holding the tights, the ref see’s it and breaks just in time for The ‘Nature’ Boy to do the same to Regal, and getting the 3 count. You can’t beat the dirtiest player in the game by using his playbook, Better luck next time silly Englishman.
Finally the close of the show… Bear with me, this is my first article on the subject and it has ran a good deal longer than expected but we’ll learn as we go here. Orton vs Hardy for the IC title! Now I know I wasn’t the only guy to expect this match wasn’t going to happen, was I? Well if you did, Wrestling 101 is down the hall and I suggest you sign up before the class is full. You dont give the audience the match for free (who cares what title it’s for?), when you expect them to pay for it in 2 weeks. Anywhoo, the fight spills onto the stage where Orton gets back-tossed into a nice soft styrofoam box, and Hardy climbs the lights to hit him with a Swanton Bomb so both could be carried off on back boards and stretchers to close the show. Jeff’s leap was damned pretty but in my opinion unnecessary. Everyone knows Jeff is a risk taker and I doubt that little spot will improve the PPV buyrate but if he’d done it at the PPV it would’ve darned sure increased the DVD sales and repeat viewings, because that would be th eonly way you could see it… Duh. Oh well that’s the close of the first week and I give RAW a 2.5 out of 5 for the same reason Impact got dinged… too much talky talky not enough punchy punchy, oh and F’N midgets at the top of the hour… WTF!
Later!
Comments
Leave a Reply