Saturday, June 11, 2011

Raw 5/23/11, iMPACT! 5/26/11, SmackDown! 5/27/11

Usually the night of a show's airing I'll watch it at some point before bed but, starting a new job, and other stuff getting in the way, prevented me from my studious schedule. If anything as a wrestling watcher I'm disciplined so one weekend night I sat down and watched all three of that week's TV broadcasts in succession. Here's my findings:

WWE Monday Night RAW 5/23/11

1. Big Show and Kane vs. David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty - 3
2. Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne - 2
3. Melina, Maryse, and Bella Twins vs. Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, and Gail Kim - 0
4. Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston - 3
5. John Cena andRey Mysterio vs. R-Truth and CM Punk - 4

In terms of wrestling a real dud the likes of The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Opener was kind of clunky but saw the tag straps change hands. Bourne post-injury layoff has been booked weaker than your neice's popsicle stick log cabin. The women's match went all of five seconds before Kharma came down and cried like she just found out NBC cancelled The Event. Kofi match was all about Drew targeting the leg but abrupt finish was flat. Main didn't really progress forward any new or exciting ideas or story cogs but had some neat moments, mostly coming from Punk, who adorned "Macho Man" attire and was great jawing with guest ref Bret Hart.

Overall Ranking: 24% F

TNA Impact Wrestling 5/26/11

1. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels vs. Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray - 5
2. Matt Morgan vs. Jeff Jarrett - 3
3. Winter vs. Mickie James - 4
4. Brian Kendrick vs. Abyss - 3
5. Eric Young vs. Gunner - 1
6. Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam - 5

Opener was a chaotic crowd brawl that would have felt passé a decade ago but was a nice way to interject some life into the show from the start. AJ got great air jumping out of the bleachers and I can't recall the last time I saw a match end with a stuff piledriver but I've missed it. Morgan and Jeff seemed fresh on paper but was way overbooked for such a short match including interference from Karen and Scott Steiner. I liked James and Winter, definitely on the short side, but nice seeing the champ getting a clean win. Abyss match was one-sided and what Kendrick did get to do looked shambolic. Young match was a spoof on the infamous Nash/Hogan "finger poke". Main event was built well with preceding video packages throughout the program. It could have used another 5-9 minutes to flesh out more struggle but the clean finish earned it an extra point out of me.

Overall Ranking: 35% F

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! 5/27/11

1. Sin Cara vs. Chavo Guerrero - 4
2. Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan - 6
3. Heath Slater vs. Ezekiel Jackson - 2
4. Great Khali vs. Kane - 3
5. Alicia Fox and Tamina vs. AJ and Kaitlyn - 3
6. Christian vs. Mark Henry vs. Sheamus - 5

Opener was better than their PPV match but the finish still looked crappy and the gimmicky theatric lighting has to go. Bryan and Rhodes was the best TV match of the week. Great stuff, intensity, reversals, etc. Ezekiel bout was a big batch of snore to me save for Slater's bumping. Albeit short thought Kane was selling his big, red ass off here. The tag sort of fell apart once Kaitlyn got in but Alicia showed fire and glad to finally see AJ on TV. The main event was pretty decent, had a few standout moments like Henry tossing Sheamus unceremoniously to the floor, etc. but was a tad overwrought feeling more like pure angle advancing than all-out action.

Overall Ranking: 38% F

Not a very strong week in terms of in-ring output. RAW was the biggest loser and one of their lesser broadcasts of '11. TNA despite itself still gives us a memorable match or moment most weeks. SmackDown! is usually consistent and I definitely enjoyed this week's show above the others. I'm looking forward to ROH getting back on TV so I can further abuse my DVR. Now I'm off to go finish making that macaroni sculpture of Lift-Ticket...

Total Ranking of the Week: 33% F

1 comment:

Jessie said...

As much as we down TNA, Raw pretty consistently puts on crappy tv matches as well.....nice job....liked when you did these back in the day so glad to see it back