WWE Raw Review - 28th April 2008

After a very entertaining and interesting Backlash I was looking forward to see what the fall out would be on Raw. However little did I know that a disaster in booking and a terrible show awaited me.

Good Points

Kennedy is back and already lined up in a feud

After pushing Regal at the KOTR and then not having him on Backlash, Regal was finally put in to a feud with none other than the returning Mr. Kennedy. I am interested to see where this feud goes as although it is a bit down the card for Kennedy after being pushed in to main event status over the last few months.

New feud for Jericho

Was great to see a new feud started between HBK and Jericho after what happened at Backlash. Jericho claimed that HBK feigned his injury in his match against Batista during his Highlight Reel section. The only problem is where does this leave Batista? Unless we have Batista vs. Undertaker for the fiftieth time there is not much out there for him. Although I’m looking forward to the prospect of another HBK vs. Y2J match after their Wrestlemania classic.

Bad Points

JBL goes from hero to zero

After being in the main event at Backlash JBL this week was booked against one of the Highlanders who haven’t been on Raw for many months. The great consistency in the WWE booking at the moment is great. JBL Booked against a Highlander, Cena nowhere to be seen and no match for CM Punk add to this Cody Rhodes beating Marella and you would start to think they are employing five year olds in the WWE creative department.

Crazy Cade and Murdoch

After their most recent defeat against Kendrik and London Trevor Murdoch took it upon himself to stand on top of the announcers table and sing a song. Murdoch doesn’t have a history of singing so for him to do it with no reason was highly bizarre.

Shoddy camerawork

Some of the camerawork this week resembled some of the live TNA programmes. Don’t who they had on cameras this week but whoever they were it wasn’t the best.

No strong HHH promo

After winning the belt at Backlash many were expecting a strong HHH promo to start his reign as champion but instead of being given the chance to do this he was cut off within a few minutes by Randy Orton and then we barely saw him until he got in the ring for the main event.

Worst ending ever

Randy Orton and HHH gave us a good long match compared to many other Raw main events but was ruined by a Vince Russo WCW booking style ending. For no reason whatsoever William Regal ordered the feed to be shut down during the main event so the show went off to darkness with fans watching at home wondering what was going on. It wasn’t like Regal had been threatening to do something like this for some time or that Regal has a history of psychotic episodes. It was like they had no ideas for the finish so at the last minute someone came up with this hairbrain idea.

Overall

Besides a couple of moments of the light the show was the most unusual mess of a show I have witnessed in some time. Big improvements need to made from this terrible outing.

WWE Backlash Review

It’s always a hard job to follow Wrestlemania as the next PPV which normally shows with Backlash. Normally Backlash is an event with a couple of decent matches but not much storyline movement as most of this would have happened at Mania and the WWE wouldn’t want to change direction that quickly. So Backlash is always an event I go in to with low expectations but hope to be surprised by.

Good Points

Matt Hardy wins the US title

Great to see Matt Hardy and MVP kicking off the show and Matt Hardy building on his comeback push with a title victory. It was an obvious result to guess but needed to happen as the US title had been on MVP for far too long. I hope this now frees up MVP for new feuds as he is my talent to watch for this year.

Nice ending to Edge vs. Undertaker match

Again it was obvious that Undertaker was going to hold on to his title but it was nice how they ended the match. The match ended with Undertaker failing to let go of his submission move for long after the bell forcing Edge to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher. Will be interesting to see how they use this in the storyline development.

Finally Triple H is back on top

In a move which should have happened at Mania HHH finally got his title in an unexpected win in the four way elimination main event. This leads me to believe that Orton has either caused problems backstage or has injury problems as it makes no sense to push him at Mania just to drop the belt a month later. I think it is a shame that such a historic moment wasn’t done at Mania where a lot more people would have seen and o have it mean so much more. I’m just glad though that it has happened and I am looking forward to see what happens with HHH as champion.

Bad Points

No Tag title matches

To have two sets of tag champions and have none defended on a PPV is ludicrous. Every PPV should have a tag title match or at least a well built tag match. What is the point of pushing Carlito and Marella or bringing back Cryme Time not to use them on the PPV. The idea of the weekly TV shows is to build for the PPV’s. I think they should unify the tag belts having two separate tag divisions one on Raw and one on Smackdown but with champions who fought challengers from both brands. It’s like on Smackdown what’s the point of having a women’s division with no champion or no chance for them to fight the Raw champion.

Batista losing to Michaels

I’m not a big Batista fan but to keep booking him low down the card or losing in big matches is starting to really effect his position on the roster. I think it would have made more sense for him to win and then trade to raw to face new champion Triple H and have a Raw guy transfer to Smackdown as a new opponent for the Undertaker.

No matches for Regal or CM Punk

After having Regal win the King of the Ring and CM Punk having his biggest push to date it made no sense for these two not to have matches. Again the weekly TV shows are suppose to be used to promote the PPV’s so what’s the time of giving these two major ring time and not have them on the PPV. It’s just a waste of time on the weekly shows.

Overall

Happy about the two title changes and there were a couple of decent matches in there but I think they used the wrong talent. Out of the pool they have they could have made a much better card which made more sense than the one that was on offer.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 24th April 2008

After a hectic week last week on iMPACT I was looking forward to see what was going to happen this week and if it could be just as crazy.

Good Points

Improvements to Sacrifice

Thankfully TNA have seen sense and done what we expected them to and made the title match at Sacrifice a triple threat adding Kurt Angle to the Steiner, Samoa Joe match. They spent a good amount of time on iMPACT building all three guys and having Steiner interfere in the Angle vs. Samoa Joe match was the right move.

Knockouts are interesting again

After some dull weeks before Lockdown TNA are back on a roll with this division with good matches and adding an interesting stipulation to the Knockouts match at Sacrifice which is going to see on Knockout getting their head shaved. This is the first I have heard of something like this happening in a women’s match and after the Britney Spears head shaving incident I think this will get some media attention.

Karen Angle

Good to see her storyline continuing. They need to devote more time to it but what we did see with her and AJ was great. After Angle’s programme with Joe ends it will be good to have the Karen and AJ storyline simmering under to give him something different to do.

Bad Points

Use of Matt Morgan

The show kicked off with Matt Morgan to continue his push by beating on Kip James to open the show. Then he was nowhere to be seen. After his recent push they need to build him in to a good feud for Sacrifice.

Too much Cornette

I love Cornette and have done for years but I think he is overused. It seems every segment ends in a squabble that Cornette has to come out to settle. If Cornette only came out for the big moments it would make his character more important and add gravitas to what was happening.

Christian Cage back down the card

Cage’s slump down the card continues with him being booked in the tag division with Rhino. Now both guy are great but it just seems like these guys have been whacked together as they don’t know what to do with them which is never a good reason to put a storyline together.

Overall

If TNA come manage their talent a bit better they would have an awesome two hour weekly show. The storyline development rate is good and there is enough happening each show to keep the viewer entertained now if they put the right guys in the right positions they will be away.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 25th April 2008

After a Raw that will be remembered more for the presidential candidates than for the quality of show I was hoping Smackdown could provide my entertainment this week.

Good Points

More non wrestling segments

I was glad to see lots more talking with segments involving Edge and CMP Punk as well as MVP and Matt Hardy being given time. I thought over all there was a better balance between wrestling and non wrestling segments. The only things thy need to do is break these segments up by not having too much talking in the first hour in the first hour and having more in the last hour.

Push for CM Punk

Was great to see CM Punk after Monday’s incidents where they dropped the ball with him to be put in the match of the night against Edge. Those two were given mic time and time for a decent match. Hope the consistency improves for CM Punk’s push.

Good Recap Video

Was great to se again at the start of the show a video recap of what has been happening over the last few weeks. This should be made mandatory for all TV shows.

Great Ending

The best ending to a Smackdown since before Wrestlemania. Was great to see HBK getting involved and costing Batista his title match against Undertaker with his swet chin music. Was great to see something so important and pivotal to a storyline happening on Smackown.


Bad Points

Use of Vladimir Kozlov

The way they are pushing him by having him beat on no name jobbers is getting rather boring. Yes it may have worked for Goldberg but wrestling has changed a lot since then and I think people are going to get very bored of his winning streak very quickly.

Working of Batista vs. Undertaker

Having this match as a championship match and trying to promote to the fans that the title could change hands was stupid. Most fans with at least 2 IQ knew that they were going to put all the promotional push in to the Undertaker vs. Edge match just to have Undertaker lose a couple of nights before. WWE needs to start treating it’s fans with more intelligence.

Overall

A good solid little Smackdown which got us hyped for Hardy vs. MVP and Batista vs. HBK. Don’t think it did enough to push Undertaker vs. Edge but a marked improvement.

WWE Raw Review - 21st April 2008

This week it was time for the much hyped three hour Raw special which was going to feature the return of the King of the Ring tournament but after all it’s hype it wasn’t the King of the Ring we went home talking about.

Good Points

The Presidential Candidates invade Raw

This is one of the classic examples of how far ahead WWE are of TNA. For the last week the wrestling world has been raving about the Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe match from Lockdown but this week the whole world including international press and media are talking about what happened on Raw. After Mayweather at Mania WWE are getting just about as many column inches for having the three major presidential candidates appear on video to address the WWE fans. Yes their speeches may have been terrible and corny at best but they’ve got people talking. I think McCain beat everyone hands down with his video message but I still like the line “can you smell what Barack is cooking.”

Solid card

You won’t get a more stacked raw card than this week’s show with a strong list of competitors for KotR and then a main event which featured the eight biggest guys across all brands in the WWE right now. Just the unfortunate thing was that we didn’t know what the card was going to be before the show and a lot of the time during the show we were left wondering what was going to happen next.

Continuing push for Carlito and Marella

Carlito picked up a win against Hardcore Holly to continue their roll and after me mentioning about Santino being out of breath last week it was good to see him standing on the sidelines and then coming in at the end to get on the mic when he wasn’t out of breath. They coined a good phrase for themselves last week referring to themselves as international superstars which we didn’t hear this week but it really needs to be used a lot.

Doing something with the Divas

It was good to see WWE creative team doing something with the divas this week by starting to create two rival factions the face divas who support Mickie James and the heel divas who support Beth Phoenix.

Bad Points

King of the Ring – Waste of time!

You knew by having the KotR on Raw they had already killed off any legitimacy and prestige this tournament once had but you thought they would at least give it a big push on Raw. However it soon came apparent that it wasn’t being treated properly as for the first round after every match you didn’t know who was going to be next. Then as CM Punk progressed to the finals to face William Regal I thought some good would come out of it with a push for CM Punk but no it was Regal who barely wrestles on Raw and who doesn’t need the win who got the result. This final match wasn’t even the main event and there wasn’t even an official crowning ceremony so the tournament in one night went from meaning something to becoming meaningless.

Why three hours

As I always say for three hour shows these should only be done for PPV’s. Expecting a casual TV viewer to watch an entertainment programme on an entertainment channel for three hours is asking a lot. Two hours you can kind of agree with as instead of watching the show in daily thirty minute episodes like most soaps you get it all at once.

Terrible build for Backlash

They should if they were going to use the KotR done it a few weeks away from any PPV. Added to this the time given to the presidential candidates and the cross brand main event which didn’t really help build anything there was very little on the show that got me pumped for Backlash except Batista and HBK who had a showdown in the ring.

Overall

Again WWE has the world talking which is good it just now needs to work on actually entertaining it’s core audience base as the storylines have become very stagnant. If the WWE fail to look after their core audience whilst trying to get new viewers they will never expand as new viewers will just replace long time viewers that are leaving the product.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 17th April 2008

After such a history making PPV that changed the direction of TNA I was excited to see what they were going to do on this week’s iMPACT, how were they going to bring in the new era?

Good Points

Samoa Joe

Although he didn’t wrestle this week on iMPACT he had some great promo time and talked like a champion. Would have liked to see him in the ring but a good start to his title reign none the less.

Unpredictability

This week’s iMPACT saw more title changes than Lockdown. Petey Williams was handed a shot at the X-Division title by Scott Steiner and cashed it in after Lethal’s match with Devine to win the belt. Then the tag titles were made vacant in a crazy chain of events which saw Kaz and Eric Young win the belts only to be stripped of them because Eric Young and Super Eric are two different people well according to Eric Young they are. This was the funniest and most interesting storyline of the night as Jim Cornette tried to get to the bottom of the situation.

Push for Matt Morgan

After months and months of just playing the role of bodyguard for Jim Cornette Matt Morgan is finally being given a push. Matt has the size and look to go far in the business but it will be interesting to see how he uses his push after interjecting himself in to the main event to set up a match with Booker T next week.

Forward Planning

On Raw and Smackdown we normally come in to the show not knowing what matches are going to be on the show unless you visit the website. I personally like it when I know what is going to happen next week and TNA have two awesome matches announced for next week. Next week we have Kurt Angle against Samoa Joe for the TNA heavyweight title and Matt Morgan in his first one on one match against Booker T.

Bad Points

Too much change

If you saw Lockdown, missed iMPACT this week and tuned in the next week you would be completely out of the loop in TNA. Wrestling programmes should be like any weekly series with something interesting happening on every show but not too much that you are out of the loop if you miss one show. TNA gave away too much for free with title changes and the announcement of the title rematch. Yes have big matches on TV shows but don’t make the fans who brought your PPV feel ripped off that they could have watched stuff like this for free. Unpredictability is good but there are other ways than title changes to achieve this.

Scott Steiner already dead and buried

Now I’m not Scott Steiner’s biggest fan but if you are going to have him in a main event of a PPV you have to push him and give him all the chances you can to build it. Instead of using this show to push Steiner as someone who could beat Joe they cut his in ring mic segment with Samoa Joe short so Kurt Angle could come down and get a rematch next week at Impact and after that Steiner was nowhere to be seen. Now all the fans are hyped for next week which will only leave Samoa Joe or Kurt Angle two or so weeks to build for Steiner.

Poor production

Again TNA’s production continues to let them down which makes them look second rate to WWE’s slick production. During a backstage interview with Cage and Rhino the camera was moving so much I thought I was going to get motion sickness. Then to top it off a lot of the backstage audio levels were all over the place. Come on guys these are basic things which aren’t that difficult to get right.

Overall

Well you can’t say that iMPACT was boring this week as it was packed top to bottom with exciting stuff. It kind of reminds me of WCW in a way when they gave so much away for free on Nitro with their TV shows being better than a lot of their PPV’s. TNA thouh are getting people talking and I don’t blame them from trying to keep that momentum going but thy need to find more creative ways of making an entertaining show.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 18th April 2008

It was time for the second TV show in a week from the UK as Smackdown like raw came to us from the O2 Arena in London. After a terrible show last week I wasn’t expecting much from this one.

Good Points

Use of Chris Jericho

Ok he may have been mishandled since his return and he may have been bumped in to a non wrestling role as special guest referee for the HBK / Batista match but he is running with it. He is getting good TV time with his Highlight Reel becoming a semi regular segment of Raw and Smackdown. Twice in the space of one week Jericho was left laying as he has now been on the receiving end of both HBK and Batista’s finishers.

Big win for Hornswoggle

Hornswoggle has to go down as the most successful midget in WWE history. After being pushed in to major storylines the fans have really taken to him and this week he registered a big win against Matt Striker.

Using all the big guys in one match.

As you know I’m not a fan of Khali or Mark Henry but the way in which WWE are using those two and Big Show all in the same segment of Smackdown is good to see as it’s not wasting other precious segments and to his credit Big Show is making his feud with Khali a little bit interesting.

Bad Points

No Edge again

For the third week running Edge didn’t have any in ring action which is crazy. After seeing him perform on a house show this week I know he isn’t injured and with backlash just round the corner he needs to be in the ring. This week his involvement was saved to a crazy ending segment.

No Natalya

After two weeks of involvement for the latest WWE Diva Natalya Neidhart she was nowhere to be seen this week. This seems to be the WWE pattern this year with new guys is to use them for a couple of weeks in throw away segment and then not use them for a few weeks.

Crazy ending segment

With a strong main event booked as Batista vs. Undertaker I was really looking forward to seeing these two guys go at it again. They had a nice little match when at the end all hell broke lose with Edge and his team of cronies interfering in the match to make it a no contest. Undertaker and Batista cleaned house to leave a good ending to Smackdown as Edge and his cronies scampered back up the aisle. Instead thy ruined this moment with Vickie Guerrero coming out to announce that next week ordering a title rematch with the winner facing Edge at Backlash. Ending the show on an announcement leaves the audience flat instead of excited which they should be. Add to this it was the most stupid announcement anyway as we already knew Edge was going to be facing the champ at Backlash.

Overall

Again another week goes by of terrible TV. I think I enjoyed the Smackdown House Show I saw more than this.

TNA Lockdown Review

Sunday night was a night for TNA to make history after one of the biggest builds to a match in TNA history it was time for Samoa Joe to put his career on the line against Kurt Angle for the chance to become TNA Heavyweight champion. The card also featured a stack Lethal Lockdown match and an array of other matches in the only PPV of the year promoted by any wrestling company where all matches take place inside the six sides of steel.

Good Points

Push for Johnny Devine

After months of being Team 3D’s sidekick finally Johnny Devine was given a push on his own after a strong showing in the Xscape match. Although Lethal won I thought they built Johnny well as a new opponent for him and Consequences Creed didn’t have a bad outing either so wll done to TNA for freshening up the X-Division.

Knockouts back on track

After being bored in recent months by the Knockouts division they did good at Lockdown. First we had a big win for Roxxi Laveaux in the Queen of the Cage match which establishes her as a worthy contender for the Women’s title. Then we had Awesome Kong in a match that she didn’t win as Gail Kim and ODB got the win over Kong and Saeed. They used Saeed well in this match to keep Kong strong even though she lost. To cap it all off Peyton Banks and Sharmell were used brilliantly to add to the match between Booker T and Robert Roode.

A good Lethal Lockdown match

After no build throughout the event and a stacked card for this one I thought TNA did a poor job of selling it but the guys in the cage forgot about all that and put on a great match ending with a big push for Rhino as he secured the victory for Team Cage.

The Reign of Joe

After months of Angle on top Lockdown marked the beginning of the era of Samoa Joe as he won the TNA Heavyweight title. TNA have done this brilliantly as if you are going to give someone the belt for it to mean something you have to build it well and get people interested an watching. Thanks to TNA booking Samoa Joe has been given an excellent platform to start his reign. The match in itself was very unique with it looking more like a UFC fight that a wrestling match. I’m not too sure how I feel about this as if I want to watch some MMA I will watch UFC I watch TNA to watch wrestling but it was good to see something so different and TNA trying something new to cash in on the popularity of MMA.

Bad Points

BG James vs. Kip James

After all the build TNA gave to this one and what this match could have been I was left feeling very disappointed by this one. Again it turned in to a Booker T / Robert Roode situation where the storyline is full of intensity but when they actually get in the ring the match is as intense as an old age pensioner’s will to win at bingo.

No Standouts

Yes there were some nice matches at Lockdown but it seemed like they were only interested in making the main event a standout which is a shame. Yes the main event should be the best match on the card but in a three hour show you need a couple more stand out matches to keep your energy and excitement up until the main event starts.

Again problems with production

After finally starting to get to grips with how to produce a good opening video it was back to square one at Lockdown. Tonight we were greeted by an over the top voice over and a selection of clips which were useless as it was hard to keep a track of who was who. This wasn’t the only downside to the production as after the opening video we had a return to early 90s WWF style of wrestling coverage with the commentators going in to the crowd to get their thoughts on the Samoa Joe / Angle match. Worse than all this though was again camera shot selections. To help the camera men out there were bi holes cut in to the six side of steel but the art of good production is doing this without the audience at home knowing you have done it. They kept picking shots which had cameramen zooming in and out of these gaping holes which were clear for everyone to see but if they had only picked shots when the cameramen had shots which didn’t show the hole and picked a new shot before they had zoomed out.

Overall

This won’t get down as the best wrestling pay per view ever as it wasn’t but it may go down as one of the most historical of all time.

Review of Smackdown House Show from the Birmingham NEC

Hi Guys

The reason for the delay in reviews this week has been because I managed to catch some live WWE action this week. To read my review of the Smackdown House Show from Birmingham go to:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/article1059467.ece

WWE Raw Review - 14th April 2008

Raw came to my home country of jolly old England this week. I always enjoy the Raw shows the WWE produce from countries outside the USA as for me it always seems to add to the excitement of the show. I was hoping that the creative team could use this platform to bounce back from last week’s disappointment.

Good Points

Unpredictability is back

In one of the most unpredictable moments in Raw for some weeks Mickie James won the Women’s championship beating Beth Phoenix in the centre of the ring. Now most people probably used this match as a time for a beer run or to go to the toilet so will be kicking themselves that they missed it. Not sure where this leaves the Glamazon now after being built as a monster just to lose clean to a simple pinning combination and not even on PPV but it did make for great entertainment.

The rise of Carlito and Santino

In only the second week of their build they beat Kendrik and London to win the number one contenders spot for the tag team championship. The WWE also gave them some good mic time after the match as they dubbed themselves ‘The International Superstars.” If they are going to give Santino mic time after matches he needs to work on his cardio-vascular as he was gasping for breath throughout his promo.

Solid matches

The card for Raw this week was one of the best for solid wrestling matches with JBL vs. HHH, Orton vs. Regal and Chris Jericho vs. Umaga. With cards like this Raw can put on a solid two hours of wrestling. Only thing to be careful of is balance as I find on Raw that the first hour of the show is mainly talking and the second hour is mainly wrestling.

Bad Points

Burchill misued

After not being seen on Raw for some time Burchill was put on as one of the last matches with no build against Jim Duggan. Now to get a match that close to the end of Raw is great but matches against Jim Duggan are one way for your career to be killed. Add to this the fact that his angle with Katie lea seems to have been dropped or forgotten about there doesn’t seem to be much happening for him.

Orton vs. Regal misplaced in the card

You’re in England you have the Raw GM and England native Regal going up against the champion and you put it on at the mid way point of the show it makes no sense. To have HHH vs. JBL as your main event with the only build for the match being that they have never fought each other before is terrible.

Weak ending

I thought the ending to Raw this week was weak with JBL leaving the ring after laying the beat to HHH and Randy Orton, it just seemed like something else was going to happen and nothing did. The WWE are really pushing JBL at the moment with lots of promo time and main event matches, need to be careful that they don’t push him too far.

Overall

I thought it was a really good Raw that could have been great. WWE just have to watch that they don’t mess up on any segments as one bad segment can ruin a show especially the ending segment.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 10th April 2008

Due to my Sky+ recording system messing up the recording of iMPACT this week and because I can't find it repeated anywhere there will be no iMPACT review this week.

Sorry guys.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 11th April 2008

After delivering in spades last week with a great show I was wondering if Smackdown could keep that momentum going until Backlash. I knew Smackdown had to an off day soon as shows on the whole have been a lot better lately but was hoping this wouldn’t be the one.

Good Points

Batista / HBK feud

Finally the writing team are moving the feud away from them arguing over Ric Flair and no we are moving on to their own reasons to dislike each other. We also finally almost got to a physical confrontation between after Batista ducked out of Sweet Chin Music and HBK slipped out of the Batista Bomb.

Natalya Neidhart

Natalya got her first formal introduction on Smackdown after last week appearing as a mystery Diva. Yes all you long time wrestling fans will know her as daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart a star of the 80s and 90s in the then WWF. Natalya or Nattie as some may know her as gave a great promo and teaming with Victoria has a great feud going with Michelle McCool.

Big Show

Big Show is doing the best he can with a terrible opponent in Khali. As long as they keep their proper wrestling matches o a minimum and concentrate on segments like the opening segment of Smackdown where the Big Show interrupted a Punjabi Peace Offering seremony as delivered a knock out punch to Khali which was a nice way to link in Big Show’s previous feud with Mayweather.

Bad Points

Push for Festus

You know Smackdown has problems when we have Festus in the main event. The WWE are really getting behind a big push for him at the moment. Now I’m all for slingshotting talent and seeing what happens but I don’t agree with this move for Festus who has yet to be involved any big tag feuds with his tag partner Jesse let alone singles feuds. I will give WWE credit though for making him look strong in the main event and I know the WWE likes to push big guys so this probably isn’t the last we have hard of Festus.

Use of Edge

If having Festus in the main event wasn’t bad enough this week the only involvement Edge had in the show was two pre-recorded segments of Edge and Vickie at a hotel getting massages and enjoying a hotel room. If you are only going to use Edge in pre-recorded segments you need to build it in to many segments as an on going them for the night.

Vladimir Kozlov

It’s the second week of Vladimir’s push on Smackdown an I am already bored, beating no name wrestlers in squash matches may have worked in the 80s but it has no place in the modern era. With no mic time o out of ring segments how are we suppose to get on board with this storyline.

Overall

A waste of two hours of television. From top to the bottom there was little of interest and the good points I talked about earlier were only good points in comparison to the terrible nature of the show. The creative team need to buck their ideas up if they are going to get the viewing ratings up.

WWE Raw Review - 7th April 2008

After an exciting episode of Raw last week and with only three episodes to go before Backlash I was hoping for more of the same this week but as I was to find out later that consistency continues to not be the creative teams strong point.

Good Points

Highlight Reel

It was a bit different this week with the section being dominated by Jericho’s two guests HBK and Batista with Jericho taking a backseat. The verbal battles back and forward are great we just need to see both of them in some in-ring action to keep the feud bubbling until Backlash.

Push for Carlito and Morella

Finally they have found something to do with two of my favourite wrestlers on Raw. They are now the comedy heel tag team of raw and the creative team booked them well in a non-title win against the two dullest guys on Raw Rhodes and holly. If Carlito and Morella are given some mic time they could get over very quickly.

Focus on the main event

It was good to see the WWE really pushing the main event giving it a high proportion of TV time on Raw. The way they handled the segments wasn’t great as I will come on to later but the amount of time it as given was the right balance.

Bad Points

Too predictable and Formulaic

It has been widely known for some weeks now that there was going to be a fatal four-way match for the title at Backlash but if you hadn’t heard about it after watching the first ten minutes of the show you would have been able to guess. Having the show start by Regal announcing JBL vs. Orton as the main event for backlash you knew it was going to change as they wouldn’t push JBL like that so early and as soon as HHH came down you knew it was going to expand. HHH had to win a handicap match against Orton and JBL to get a place in the main event and when this match happened before the hour mark and that we had yet to see Cena you knew how the evening was going to go.

Too many wasted matches

Coming out of the show only two feuds were built those being the fatal four-way and HBK/Batista. So no with only two more episodes to go we have no clue about what else is happening at Backlash. This wasn’t because too much time was given to these feuds but because the time remaining was filled with in the whole pointless matches like Umaga beating Val Venis with both guys currently having no direction.

Guys missing

There we a few noticeable absentees from Raw this week. After winning Money in the Bank and appearing last week we had no CM Punk. Since his loss to JBL at Mania there has been no Finlay or Hornswoggle. After a push before Mania there was no Kennedy, after a big return last week Cryme Time were hardly seen and the list goes on, more consistency is needed.

Overall

There was always going to be a lull after Wrestlemania but when there is a lull WWE need to at least be consistent which they are currently struggling to do.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 4th April 2008

Tonight was Smackdown’s chance to hit the ground running after Wrestlemania as they started their run to Backlash. After a very strong Raw I was looking forward to see wht Smackdown had to offer.

Good Points

Strong Opening

Edge’s crew started off the show in the ring with Edge and Chavo bemoaning the fact that they are no longer champions. Vickie Guerrero though helped the heel faction in to an upbeat mood as rematches for both titles were announced for Backlash but this wasn’t all as they announced a brother vs. brother / champion vs. champion match for the main event with Kane taking on the Undertaker. It was a great way to kick off a show.

Batista / HBK feud

It was predicted that these two were going to feud but how they built it on Smackdown was great. Shawn still trying to come to terms with retiring Ric Flair and making sense of the situation during an in ring promo was interrupted by Batista who went on to question Shawn’s motives. Batista got in to his head and got him doubting himself in a great piece of character interaction in the ring.

Great Main Event

The main event with Kane taking on Undertaker was the best Smackdown main event in some time. Great storytelling and some great back and forth moments as Edge and his cronies interfered to get the match thrown out. I can’t wait to see how they continue to develop this one.

Bad Points

MVP vs. Matt Hardy

After Matt’s return at Wrestlemania and his involvement on Raw Matt was on a big push with a ready made opponent in MVP to continue a great feud with. This could have been a great match for Backlash but instead the WWE creative team gave it away for free with no build up in a throw away match which Matt picked up the victory in killing it dead.

Handling of debutants

Smackdown saw two new faces appearing on Smackdown those being a yet to be named blonde Diva who attacked Michelle McCool and the Russian Vladimir Kozlov. With no build up Vladimir came out to no music and competed against a no name jobber. Ok the Blonde Diva segment I can kind of understand but if they are trying to make Vladimir in to some sort of unbeatable monster they are going the wrong way about it.

More time given to Jesse and Festus

Now WWE creative team I do want a return of Tag Team wrestling but if it means us having to watch Jesse and Festus every week I would rather not have any tag wrestling at all. I know I keep on harping on about Festus but I will continue to do so until the WWE creative team see sense.

Overall

Sloppiness on WWE’s part spoiled what was on the main a great show. To have two strong feuds Edge/Undertaker and HBK/Batista going on is turning Smackdown in to an entertaining show which you don’t want to miss an episode of.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 3rd April 2008

After WWE’s recent Wrestlemania extravaganza TNA needed to start pushing this week to get hold of those viewers who are excited for wrestling again and get some attention to their upcoming PPV Lockdown. So as always here are my good and bad points of this week’s show.

Good Points

Formula

Every week the formula of TNA shows gets better and better. This week the show started with a video recap of all the recent incidents in TNA. I believe that every weekly show should start with a video recap as weekly shows are about getting new viewers to your show so that they will buy the PPV so they need to know what is going on and your existing fan base needs to be reminded of recent events just in case they have forgotten something that happened or missed a recent episode.

Good booking of Lethal Lockdown feud

After my plea last week TNA have improved their booking of Lethal Lockdown and as per my suggestion they broke the feuds down in to singles and tag matches with AJ Styles & Tomko going up against Rhino & Cage whilst Sting headlined against James Storm. It was good to see James Storm getting a big push but they have to be careful not to do it at the expense of Tomko and Cage.

Use of Matt Morgan

This show was about pushing Matt Morgan which they did by featuring him in many segments throughout the show. All episode they had been building the fact that he was on Team Tomko’s side by letting them add Storm to their team for him to then turn on Storm in the main event as in his capacity as referee assisted Sting to the win and to rip off his Ref’s shirt to unveil his Team Cage T-Shirt. The storyline was telegraphed and you could see it happening a mile off but it was still good TV.

Bad Points

Superhero or Superidiot Eric Young

This is cringeworthy TV at best with the Eric Young segments. Now it’s bad enough that it takes up TV time but when they have him interrupting other people like Kurt Angle and ruining their segments. Now Eric is doing his best with this storyline but TNA need to find him something new and fast.

Lighting and Camera angle of backstage segments

This is something TNA need to improve on. Their backstage segments went from being overly bright to overly dark and back again throughout the show. The camera angles are also very interesting as throughout backstage segments the cameramen seem to want to be consistently changing angles with no direction or purpose. Changing the lighting or a camera angle for a reason is good production but this currently seems to be inconsistent at best.

Overall

A great show more of the same please TNA creative team just remember to work on production and try and keep us guessing.

WWE Raw Review - 31st March 2008

The episode of Raw after Wrestlemania is a very important show. This show sets the scene for what we can expect in the upcoming year until next Wrestlemania. It is also a very hard show to book coming off the biggest show of the year as nothing can compare to it and many of the fans will ether be suffering from burn out or have unrealistic expectations on what is going to happen next.

Good Points

Freshness

The writers did a great job of using tonight’s show to change the direction of Raw. JBL has emerged as the new challenger for Randy Orton’s title, Matt Hardy came through the crowd to beat on Randy Orton, Batista was seen backstage and Cryme Time returned. Now you may think that JBL and Matt Hardy don’t deserve main event pushes but when you are trying to freshen the product up you need to slingshot people in to the main event scene that haven’t been there or at least haven’t been in the picture for some time.

The return of Tag Team wrestling

This week on Raw we were treated to not one but two tag team matches featuring four proper tag teams and not teams who have just been thrown together. I am looking forward to see how they continue to use the tag teams on Raw as in my opinion they need a couple more quality tag teams yet to make it in to a good division.

Ric Flair’s final address

As I said in my Wrestlemania review I didn’t think Flair got a proper send off after his match at Wrestlemana so I was glad this episode of Raw was being dedicated to him with the last twenty minutes of the show being his final address and farewell party. This was excellently handled by the WWE with wrestlers from all decades coming to show their support.

Bravery

The writers were brave not to book John Cena and HHH on Raw with their only involvement in the show being on Flair’s farewell segment. I think their decision paid off as the programme felt fresh. I have no doubt HHH and John Cena will be booked back in to the mix soon but for the time being I’m not missing them too much.

Bad Points

Handling of CM Punk

After the biggest win of his WWE career in The Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania why the WWE creative tea had him lose to Chris Jericho I don’t know. Jericho may be a big star but to give someone a push at Wrestlemania and then not continue it makes no sense.

Battle of the Giants

After just coming off the most publicised match of his career Big Show has now been booked in what could very well be the worst feud of his career with Khali. Khali can’t speak English and can’t wrestle so this has the potential for worst feud of 2008. All I can hope for the Big Show is that its over quick.

Overall

Top notch, a very memorable night of Raw. To have something so memorable right after Wrestlemania is impressive. The WWE handled the Flair farewell brilliantly whilst still giving enough time to storylines that are going to continue on the road to Backlash.