Wednesday 26 November 2008

WWE Raw Review - 24th November 2008

After a pretty average Survivor Series tonight it was the WWE’s turn to start the ball rolling for Armageddon. Who would win the right to face Cena and what other feuds were they going to build for the Undercard.

Good Points

Shane and Stephanie running the show


Was good to see these two attempting to run the show in the absence of a GM. They made some good matches and argued over the direction of the show which was a good little storyline. Not sure how long this will continue but to me it beats having a GM.

Cena vs. Jericho for Armageddon


I think this was the right choice of match to end the year with. They set it up nicely with a triple threat on Raw to find out who would face Cena between Batista, Randy Orton and Jericho. Although Batista got the shaft when he was champion it has set him up nicely for a feud with former Evolution team mate Randy Orton which will help Orton get back to the main event scene after months off.

Bad Points

JBL / HBK feud


Haven’t really got in to this one so far and the horrible direction on Raw isn’t helping. This week it was JBL alluding to a deal he was trying to strike with HBK which nobody in the audience knows about. They need to get HBK out of this tag pairing with Rey Mysterio and just let him get on with his feud properly.

Intercontinental Title tournament

This is something you have when a title is vacant not when you have a champion. I believe the tournament will run to Armageddon with the winner getting the shot at the PPV but by having a tournament it will give little or no time for a real storyline or feud to develop between Regal and his challenger.

Overall

Seen a lot worse outings than this. Did what it needed to do and with the Main Event scene looking stacked again it should hopefully be a good end of year in the WWE.

WWE Survivor Series 2008 Review

After much hype about Cena’s return it was the Jeff Hardy storyline which was getting all the attention as Survivor Series went on air. All day it has been plastered on wwe.com that Jeff had been found unconscious in a hotel and after Jeff’s problems no one was quite sure whether it was a work or a shoot which added some spice to an already good looking card.

Good Points

The Champ is here


Good to see Cena back in the ring. Love him or hate him you have to admire how he has gotten back in so quickly and having him win the title on his first night back will only annoy the haters of him even more so it should be an interesting few weeks on Raw.

Edge is back


Although if you went on the forums before the event you knew Edge was going to be coming back but none the less it was good to see him back and shaking things up by beating HHH for the Smackdown belt on his first night back after taking Jeff’s place in the triple threat.

Traditional Survivor Series matches

Although not the best wrestling matches ever I thought some of these matches were good fun and helped the event stand out as a bit different from the other PPV’s. Both men’s tags did what they needed to do and built the right feuds.

Bad Points

Quality of matches


Was below poor. Both heavyweight title matches were snore fests which had the pace of an 80 year old grandma. At least Edge came out and saved HHH’s match but this was only after ten to fifteen minutes of falling asleep.

Tarnishing a legacy


I think personally you shouldn’t bring back a match unless you are going to add something new, different or better. This did neither and was a mess. It was the right idea for the Big Show Undertaker feud but so poorly executed.

Overall


The event was dire in the extreme. It’s ok having poor wrestling on TV shows but people buy PPV’s expecting to see some good matches which they didn’t get at Survivor Series.

Sunday 23 November 2008

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 20th November 2008

After missing a few episodes of iMPACT I was quite out of the loop of the latest TNA going on’s so I was looking forward to see where the Main Event Mafia vs. Originals storyline had go to.

Good Points

Main Event Mafia


They are running rough shot like all heel factions should. They are laying the beat on wrestlers in five on one attacks and trying to dictate to management on how the show should be run. They opened the show with a nice burial segment which ended with Rhino being put in the coffin and then ended the show dismayed after not getting there own way in the booking of the next PPV.

Push for Rhino


Rhino has been pushed to the front of the Originals cause after attacking the Main Event Mafia by himself and then ending the show by goring Angle after being informed that the two would face each other at the next PPV.

Bad Points

Cage of to WWE


Now it has been widely reported for some time that Christian was done with TNA and wanted back to WWE but addressing the situation live on iMPACT I thought was stupid. Instead of just leaving it as Main Event Mafia having a burial service for him they had to bring up that he was going to WWE. It would have made more sense to just say that they had laid a beating to him so bad next week that he would never return to TNA.

Originals are a shambles


To have a proper stable war you need two recognised stables something TNA doesn’t have at the moment. To book the faction that people are referring to as the Originals but are yet to be given a proper names as fighting each other and with some people on the fringes not sure if they are part of the faction is stupid. To be great heels Main Event Mafia need a good face stable to work off.

Overall

TNA have a good storyline going at the moment and one I have been calling out for, for some time but they are executing it so poorly it’s cringeworthy.

Saturday 22 November 2008

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 22nd November 2008

After a good Raw showing it was up to the Smackdown crew to show what they had in the last episode before Survivor Series. Not only was the show the last before Survivor Series it was extra special as it came from Manchester England.

Good Points

Proper push for Jeff Hardy


After pushing Hardy to main event status but not spending much time on his character development many thought that Hardy would slip away from the main event scene. But now they have changed his make-up and given him some fresh and exciting promos which are filmed completely different to everything else. His out of control character is very believable and for the first time I am buying him as a possible champion.

Good build for Undertaker / Big Show casket match

I am looking forward to the return of the casket match. WWE put some good video packages together and a great last segment to the show which even saw Vickie Guerrero getting stuffed in a casket.

Bella Twins


It’s good to see a good storyline in the divas division. After weeks of Brie Bella going under the ring during her matches and then ending up winning it was finally revealed last week that she has a twin under the ring. Even though they have been uncovered they are still using their twin thing to win tag matches which is great to see.

Bad Points

Lack of good matches


Despite the HHH vs. Jeff Hardy match the card was full of below standard matches which saw Primo and Carlito losing and rehashes of matches which have been seen before.

Wrong guys getting pushed


MVP over the last few months has been reduced to bit role and since the championship scramble Brian Kendrik has been slid back in to the mid card. When most of your best talent has been used up in the first match then you know you are in trouble.

Overall


The show lacks quality and good storytelling at the moment. Smackdown seems to be stuck between not being a house show and not really being a TV show in its format and layout. The card at Survivor Series doesn’t lie with both Survivor Series tag team matches having Raw superstars as captains and the main event being the Raw title match.

Wednesday 19 November 2008

WWE Raw Review - 17th November 2008

After being away for a week and missing a whole weeks worth of programming I was out of the wrestling loop. Being out of the loop and it being the last Raw before Survivor Series I had some catching up to do.

Good Points

Freshening Up


It was good to see Stephanie McMahon on the show and an opening segment which was reminiscent of the late 90s where Stephanie came out to lead an open forum in the ring which lead to huge in ring melee in which HBK got the upper hand on JBL. Also the presentation of backstage segments was different with HBK’s backstage segment walking through the corridors with Rey where HBK addressed the camera and the fans at home whilst acting like an announcer announcing that his match was coming up after the break.

Push for Miz and Morrison


After appearing on the 800th Episode of Raw against DX this week they got an upset win over Rey Mysterio and HBK with HBK being the one getting pinned in the centre of the ring. It made no sense for HBK to be the one to take the fall but it was great to see the continuing rise of this tag team.

New faces

After a little bit off screen it is great to see Dolph Zigler doing his usual bit getting involved in backstage segments. It’s also good to see Mike Knox getting some TV time as he got a couple of segments in which he got to intimidate the injured Evan Borne as this also gave Evan a reason to still be on TV. Mike may be another Snitsky but great to see him getting a chance.

Bad Points

Structure


The structure of Raw needs changing as it is too formulaic at the moment. Now people are giving promos and backstage segments just before the commercial break and then having their match straight after. You need to build matches throughout the show and not just a few minutes before the match.

Not enough Cena


As the big thing about Survivor Series is Cena’s return I was expecting more mentions to it, more videos about it or even an appearance from the man himself. I think this could have been built a lot better but we will see what the fan reaction is like this Sunday.

Overall

A good outing of Raw but due to no Cena they couldn’t build the main event which a PPV should be all about. It will be interesting to see how the Survivor Series Tag matches pan out and what Cena does on his return.

Wednesday 5 November 2008

WWE Raw Review - 3rd November 2008

This week were greeted with a three hour special episode of Raw to celebrate its 800th show. Now regular readers know I’m not usually a fan of three hour TV shows so I was curious to see if this show would change my mind.

Good Points

Return of Randy Orton


Was great to see the in ring return of Randy Orton, it wasn’t the most convincing or well crafted segments that lead to his in ring return but all that matters is that he’s back competing again as Raw needs more big stars at the moment.

Adamle Resigns

Glad to see the back of Adamle as GM. In a show which is all about feuds and characters trying to have a non biased one dimensional GM just doesn’t work. The GM needs to be a character just as much as the wrestlers.

Big Matches

Was great to see some big matches on Raw including a rare reuniting of the Hardy Boyz, Undertaker vs. JBL and the cage title match between Jericho and Batista. On top of this we had a rare performance from DX, now I usually say they should bury that gimmick and leave it buried but they had a great match with Miz and Morrison and although they won they did a lot to put over Miz and Morrison.

Bad Points

Title mess


Now I know they wanted to do something big for the 800th but having Jericho win his title back was terrible booking. Even CM Punk held the belt longer than Batista and he was a transitional champ. It made Cyber Sunday look pointless, made Batista look weak for dropping the belt clean on Raw and did nothing to build Jericho as he would have been a stronger champ if he had retained it at Cyber Sunday.

Shane and Steph


Now I normally love it when the McMahons are on TV but I didn’t think the segments with these two were up to the normal McMahon standards. Bring back Vince that’s what I say.

Overall

One of my favourite ever three hour shows. I still think it is too long for a casual fan but for a wrestling fan it was a great three hours of TV.

Saturday 1 November 2008

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 30th October 2008

Due to other commitments I had missed the last couple of iMPACT’s so I was this week trying to get back in to the loop. After TNA’s rating success last week in Las Vegas it was the first night back in the redesigned iMPACT Zone.

Good Points

Stable Wars


Ok so it looks like the old days of WCW when it was the New Blood vs. The Millionaires club but the feud TNA have started between The Main Event Mafia and the yet to be named band of TNA originals and up and coming stars has got me interested. It’s a reverse of the old WCW storyline with the established stars being the heels and the new guys being the faces and I am looking forward to see how it plays out. It’s about time one promotion started proper stables in their storylines.

Push for MCMG


Was good to see MCMG getting a push. For months I have been complaining about how they have been used poorly but this week they got a lot of TV time whilst deciding not join with Samoa Joe and AJ or not.

Foley in Control

Great to see Foley being used in a non wrestling but central role a he is the on screen executive share owner. Will be interesting to see how they will keep Jarrett in the storyline now that Foley seems to be taking the duties that were once Jarrett’s.

Bad Points

Main Event


Made no sense to have Abyss going against Angle considering the storyline at the moment although it did give chance for the run in ending.

Lost in the shuffle


I think TNA needs to be careful how they work this stable wars as it needs to not end up like the NWO did. At the moment there are quite a few guys who no one knows where they fit and are in danger of being lost.

Overall


A great show, not one hundred percent sure of having so many of the WCW old guard in the main storyline but the storyline should be interesting enough to keep the fans intrigued. A lot better than when I last watched iMPACT.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 31st October 2008

After a better than usual Raw I was looking forward to see how the fallout from Cyber Sunday was going to develop on Smackdown and what direction they would be going in towards Survivor Series.

Good Points

Kozlov calls out HHH


It looks like the Smackdown title match for Survivor Series is going to be Kozlov vs. HHH after Kozlov . Personally I would have done this first at a smaller monthly event to see how the fans were going to react o it but it is good to see the Smackdown team trying to change it up and they are doing their best to put Kozlov over as a believable threat.

Casket Match


It’s not often we are given a casket match on Smackdown but as it was Halloween we got a treat. Undertaker beat Chavo Guerrero in the match and fended off the interfering Big Show to continue on his roll since Cyber Sunday but I’m sure this feud isn’t over yet.

Bad Points

Khali Kiss Cam


I think the quicker that Khali’s contract expires the better. After not being successful in the main event scene and having no one to work with in the mid and under card Khali is not relegated to comedy and cringeworthy moments through feuds with the Jackass guys and now in each week coming out to kiss some fans that they deem to be the leat attractive.

Jeff Hardy pushed to the side

So not only did Jeff suffer a succession of clean defeats to HHH but now he has completely been pushed to the side as tonight his only involvement as in a six man throwaway match. His time in the main event scene could have been handled so much better just like his exit from the main event scene.

Overall


Nowhere near as good as Raw this week, after the draft Smackdown looked like the strong brand but the card and booking is making it to start to look weaker than ever and that is with HHH.