WWE Raw Review - 28th July 2008

After missing lat weeks Raw due to problems with my PVR I was looking forward to getting back in the weekly routine and see what was happening on the Raw Brand.

Good Points

On screen return of Shane McMahon

Don’t know if we will see him again for a while or not but it was good to see Shane on the show as he got ready to announce the new GM for Raw. The show always seems to be better when there is a McMahon on the show.

Return of William Regal

After his recent drugs problems it was good to see the return of William Regal and to see him pushed to the top immediately with a non title match against CM Punk. He was even given the title of hottest free agent by Shane which is a heck of a compliment.

Great stuff with Jericho

Jericho came on to the show to present his last ever Highlight Reel and to officially bury his old happy go lucky persona. Jericho is doing really well in his heel roll and is now staking his claim for a heavyweight title shot which is good to see.

Bad Points

Mike Adamle new GM!

After at last minute Michael Cole was thrown in to a match at Raw and when Mike Adamle came don to replace him in commentary it was obvious who the new GM was going to be but it has to rank up there as one of the worst decisions in some time. Because of the huge paycheque Mike gets and because he is no good on commentary they had to give him something worthwhile to do to justify his price tag. All I can say is I hope this is only a short reign.

Kane pushed to the side

After having a strong storyline over recent weeks with him going on the warpath with his bag asking if he is dead or a live whoever he is we don’t know, Kane now is back to a bit part. This week he had to do the job in the main event as Cena pinned him for the three count and giving Kane very little other time except for coming down at the end of the CM Punk match.

Overall

A great show ruined by the final announcement of Adamle as GM. Just shows you that two hours of hard work can be destroyed with a few moments of madness.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 24th July 2008

With some interesting storylines hotting up in TNA at the momen and with Kurt and Joe both having more TV time I was looking forward to shee what they were going o do this week on iMPACT.

Good Points

Great storyline build for Booker T and Samoa Joe

The show started and ended with these two in the ring which was great to see. The match in place for Hard Justice sounds great as we get ready for full metal mayhem inside the six sides of steel. Having Sting’s music hit and then for Samoa Joe to be laid out when the lights came back up has added intrigue to the feud although I believe this wasn’t Sting but a staged set up to make it look like Sting.

Push for Matt Morgan

Great to see Matt’s continuing push and put in a position where he can show off his size and ability. I have him down as a main eventer in 2009 so watch this space. I still believe if handled right he has potential.

New segment

Great new segment called Karen’s Angle, much like the rough cuts segment, very distinguishable as a shoot section of the show rather than a storyline section. Look forward to seeing next week’s part 2 of her interview with Kaz.

Bad Points

Giving away PPV style matches

This week we had a five table elimination match featuring the team of 3D and Angle vs. Christian, Rhino and AJ as well as a strap match between Beer Money and Motor City Machine Guns. Stipulation matches like this should be saved for PPV.

After Thoughts

Sometimes it is best not to feature something than to just throw something non noteworthy in. This was the case for the Sonjay Dutt / Lethal / Val storyline as they put in a few minutes of Sonjay in hospital which looked like a last minute idea to keep something from the storyline in the episode.

Overall

Great episode, lots of video segments lots of focus on the main storyline, can’t ask for anymore than that really.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 25th July 2008

After missing Raw because of some technical hitches with my Sky+ box I was looking forward to my only WWE fix of the week. I just hoped Smackdown could deliver.

Good Points

Push for Hawkins and Ryder

Great to see these two getting pushed as on the show they were seen snubbing Edge and then Hawkins had a one on one match with Festus.

Good Video for Ron “The Truth” Killings

Very nice video promo for Ron, hopefully he can make a bigger impact on Smackdown than last time round when he was K-Kwick and part of the X-Factor.

Good video package

Was good to see a nice video package for Edge and Vickie to the start the show off with to show all the history that has been going on.

Bad Points

Terrible match order

Not only was the match quality terrible but the order was crazy with the last match of the night being Kendrik vs. Shannon Moore. On top of this we had outings from Jimmy Wang Yang, Stevie Richards and Festus. This is suppose to be the wrestling show!

Khali is going to SummerSlam

Can’t believe the WWE is pushing the Great Khali again as he won a shot at HHH at SummerSlam. WWE must be desperate for that Indian market that’s all I’ve got to say.

Again no real use of HHH

Triple H’s involvement this week consisted of coming down to the ring after Great Khali’s match to square up against him. This guy is doing less than Samoa Joe in TNA at the moment and that’s saying something.

Overall

Best thing about the show was pre-taped videos, that says everything really.

WWE Great American Bash 2008

The Great American Bash usually wins the award for worst PPV of the year, the card is normally terrible, the matches equally as bad and no good storyline developments. This got me to the point where I started to think if this was done deliberately by Vince to bury a PPV concept originally created by WCW for his own amusement. However on Sunday night I witnessed in my opinion the best minor PPV of the year so far.

Good Points

Freshening up

Was good to see the bottom end of the card getting a shake up with Hawkins and Ryder winning the tag title and Shelton Benjamin winning the US Title. This frees up Matt Hardy to go after the ECW title and gives Ryder and Hawkins the chance to establish themselves. The tag match was also very well put together.

Good Matches

With a few exceptions those being the ECW title match and the Divas title match there wasn’t a bad match on the card and luckily the two matches that weren’t up to scratch were kept short. Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels was another great match in the series between these two and kept their feud going.

We Make Movies

In the documentary Beyond the Mat Vince said that about the WWE ‘That they make movies’ which was true of the Cena vs. JBL match. Yes it was preposterous that Cena could get run down on Raw and not have a scratch on him and then participate in a match which saw cars getting set on fire, vehicles smashed and so on but it was great fun. Like every action film needs a good chase scene or a good fight scene I think there is a place for matches like the Parking Lot Brawl on a PPV.

Feuds continue to SummerSlam

I expected nothing else than HHH to keep his title but they managed to do it in a way that kept Edge strong which was important for SummerSlam then we had the double dq finish for the CM Punk / Batista match to keep that going. With one month to go to SummerSlam the Bash should be about building and developing feuds for SummerSlam.

Bad Points

Needed better build

WWE need to just be careful of how they build storylines for the PPV’s with the most exciting developments happening on the episodes of Raw and Smackdown directly before the PPV was a mistake. If fans had missed one week they would have missed some pretty pivotal developments. The big things should happen as early as possible as you want to start the build for a PPV on the first Raw after the last PPV.

Overall

A great PPV after some of the shockers of the last twelve months this restored my faith in the WWE.

TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 17th July 2008

After a terrible Victory Road I was interested to see how TNA were going to turn things round. TNA are erratic at the moment they aren’t consistently good and they aren’t consistently bad so here’ hoping this was going to be a good week.

Good Points

Great Booker T / Samoa Joe Promos

After a duff main event at Victory Road these guys really pulled out all the stops tonight. Great in ring and backstage promos throughout with a brilliant ending. Again no in ring action for Joe but he made up for it on the mic.

Unpredictability

I know it’s my favourite word but TNA had it in spades tonight as first three men get out a limo with Sting masks who we later find out to be Kurt Angle and Team 3-D then we have Beer Money going around beating on anyone fans, production crew and visitors to Universal. All really good stuff very reminiscent of NWO days.

Push for Matt Morgan

There was a great push for Morgan as he beat both members of the Rock and Rave Infection. Next they just need to give a one on one feud for a PPV and see from there.

Bad Points

No Sting

After his actions at Victory Road I personally would have started the show with him but to not have him on the show at all is criminal. I know TNA have to use him sparingly but it just seems to be the case that TNA are doing that with too many guys at the moment like Abyss, Angle, Joe etc.

Lack of consistency

After not doing much for a while Eric Young was thrust back on to our screens and after not being on the PPV Consequences Creed was in the main event on iMPACT. Yes you can’t highlight all your roster at the same time but when your not highlighting someone you need to keep them around and involved so when you want to push them back in to the spotlight the crowds aren’t scratching their heads to think of the last time they did something.

Overall

On millions time better than the PPV and it was free. The backstage, segments, promos and in ring mic time really stole the show tonight which it should on a TV show. After feeling gloomy about TNA I finally see light again but saying that next week I could be back in gloom again.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 18th July 2008

With only a few days to go to the Great American Bash and with one of the most mouthwatering matches that being HHH vs. Edge coming from the Smackdown roster I was looking forward to see how it was all going to pan out before the PPV.

Good Points

Brilliant Build for Edge and HHH

There wasn’t much of it but the last 15 minutes or so were brilliant. It was like late 90s WWF all over again. Great to see HHH playing the heel everyone loves. It was well executed and left us wondering what was going to happen at Great American Bash.

Continuation of storylines

One thing I like is continuity so I was glad to see Big Show this week get put against four opponents because of what he did to Edge last week. They should be doing more with Big Show but what he is involved in is good.

The Wedding Reception

It gave the show a good theme and kept continuity running through the show to keep fans tuned in to see what was going to happen next. I like it when they do things like this once in a while just as long as it doesn’t become common place.

Bad Points

No Depth

The only quality math of the night was Mr. Kennedy vs. Umaga and that as a halway point match. The main event of Matt vs. Jeff could have been great but it was ruined by pointless interferences. When Smackdown does do some more creative stuff they can’t afford to let the wrestling side down as that is the side of the show that they are renowned for.

More HHH

What we saw of him was great but we need him on TV more. It would have made sense for him to have a title defence early in the show and for Edge’s crew to attack setting up the ending they did.

Overall

Pretty good, besides the last fifteen minutes nothing outstanding. Smackdown aren’t really offering a lot to this PPV.

TNA Victory Road 2008 Review

After a decent Slammiversary but a not so good last couple of weeks on impact I wasn’t sure going in to this PPV whether I was going to like it or not but still hoped TNA would pull something out of the bag.

Good Points

12 Man World X-Cup match

Match of the night by far this one but by having it on first and having it go for over half an hour it then meant nothing else on the card could compete with it. Would have made sense to have this further down the card. Will be watching this match again though, great action for the wrestling fan which is what a PPV should be about.

Push for Taylor Wilde

Just as the Knockouts division was getting stale in comes Taylor Wilde who out of nowhere wins the title on impact and then makes a successful defence against Awesome Kong on Victory Road. If this wasn’t enough it was Abyss who came down to save her from a beat down after the match.

Bad Points

Terrible ending

The ending to Victory Road is an ending which should be saved for TV. I won’t spoil it but if I had paid to watch it on PPV I would have felt ripped off as the creative team copped out. The first match of the night was what a PPV should be about the last match of the night was what a PPV shouldn’t be about. The ending just smacked of backstage politics.

Poor lighting and shot choice

Whenever TNA go outside of the Impact Zone they really struggle with lighting andcamera shots. I lost count of the time there was a camera or crane in shot. The lighting looked like an 80s style WWF with only the first few rows of the crowd visible and the rest of the arena in darkness. This was all capped with the ruining of the Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt match as every two seconds they had put the camera on Val which meant you couldn’t follow what was happening in the ring.

Ultimate bore

TNA have done everything they can with Ultimate X and should give it a rest now. Besides the odd new bump we have seen it all before. They should have just had one world cup match and left it at the twelve man and not have Ultimate X.

Overall

A shambles, if I had paid to see that I would have been ringing up and asking for a refund. It’s shows like this that show how far TNA still has to come and if backstage politics is already starting to play a part in this stage of the companies development it doesn’t look that hopeful for the future.