 |
|
Home
Wrestling
WWE
TNA
Tape Reviews
Other
Sports
Basketball
Football
Baseball
Hockey
International
Entertainment
Movies / TV
Music
Gaming
Technology
Books / Comics
" The Gravel Pit "
|
|
|
|
Wrestling
>
TNA
The Royal Treatment: RAW (9.5.05)
Posted by Peter Kostka on Sep 6, 2005, 14:26
|
|
Live from Nashville, Tennessee.
Kurt Angle vs. Eugene
Cool red, white and blue mouthguard Angle is sporting there. This match served two purposes: A) Keep Angle looking unstoppable and B) Get Eugene off TV for a character remaking and I think they accomplished both pretty well, although the SummerSlam match probably should have been enough. Angle wins with the Anglelock and pounds on the injured knee afterwards, locking in a heel hook. John Cena runs in for the save, but Tyson Tomko comes out of nowhere and puts him down with a boot.
Rating: 2/10
Angle and Eric Bischoff gives Tyson his props and Eric gives him a reward: a match with Cena tonight.
The Heart Throbs vs. Val Venis and Viscera
A fairly decent tag match, though the Heart Throbs are pretty much glorified jobbers at this point and not even close to being credible contenders for any titles. Val did most of the heavy lifting in this one, becoming the face in peril as the Throbs work his knee, but the hot tag is made and Viscera hits Romeo with a Samoan drop for the pin. I appreciate that they�re FINALLY starting to build up a tag division again, but unfortunately, most of the teams are a couple of heatless mid-card (or lower) guys that just aren�t very interesting to watch.
Rating: 2/10
Linda McMahon announces that fans can make donations for hurricane relief by going to AmeriCares.org.
It�s time for another edition of Carlito�s Cabana. His guest this week is the RAW Diva Search winner Ashley. Carlito criticizes her wardrobe and hair, but Ashley points out he shouldn�t talk about bad hair. Insulting Carlito isn�t cool, as Ric Flair learned last week when Carlito left him bloodied. �When you insult Carlito, bad things happen.� He brings up what happened to Ashley last week at the hands of Victoria and tells her he has his own initiation�.and picks up an apple. Suddenly, Ric WHOO Flair storms down to the ring and triggers a brawl, grabbing Carlito�s �apples� and biting his finger before delivering a low blow that sends Carlito packing. Flair tells him he is �going to school� at Unforgiven and drops some elbows on apples lying in the ring. Ah, Crazy Old Man Flair�always a classic.
Cade and Murdoch promo from a bar in Nashville. They are debuting tonight in a non-title match against Hurricane and Rosey.
We recap the Edge-Matt Hardy street fight from last week. Matt enters Bischoff�s office and Eric chews him out before giving him a contract for a steel cage match at Unforgiven, which Matt happily signs. Bischoff also puts him in a tune-up match�against Snitsky.
Matt Hardy vs. Snitsky
I thought we did this already? Edge and Lita join commentary (did that, too), which distracts Matt so Snitsky can attack. Matt sells his injuries from last week as Snitsky squashes him to start. Matt hits the Side Effect and starts to walk up the ramp, but Snitsky cuts him off and tosses him into the steps. Back in, he hits a spinning sideslam to get the pin. Snitsky grabs the bell and goes to hit Matt, but Big Show�s music hits. Of course, he takes ten years to get to the ring, so Snitsky gets tired of waiting and hits Matt before booking it into the crowd.
Rating: DUD
Tyson Tomko vs. John Cena
The announcers bring up that Tomko�s kick earlier gave Cena a concussion, but it really doesn�t figure into the story of this match at all. Tomko�s strategy, predictably, is working the head, and he does so for a good portion of the match, but Cena ducks another boot and (fairly easily) finishes him with all his signatures, ending with the FU for the pin. Well, there goes Tomko�s role in this angle. Cena celebrates on the stage, but Angle attacks, ramming his head into the set and Angle Slamming him on the stage. He poses with the belt over Cena.
Rating: 2/10
Todd Grisham catches up with Angle in the back. Cena�s always talking about �Real recognizing real�, �Well, it don�t get anymore real than Kurt Angle!� Great intensity once again shown by Angle here.
Torrie Wilson (w/Candace Michelle and Victoria) vs. Ashley
Well�..they don�t fuck up TOO many things in this one, which is all I ask. Ashley�s a step up from Jackie Gayda in terms of ring skills at least. Victoria gets involved and presses her onto the apron, allowing Torrie to hit a facebuster for the pin. So now the only logical way to go is for Ashley to realize that she needs backup, and we FINALLY get Trish back. Of course, knowing WWE, Trish will probably turn on her too, though nobody is going to boo Trish even if that happens.
Rating: DUD (at least it�s not negative)
Shelton Benjamin vs. Rob Conway
Kerwin White drives down in his golf cart, allowing Conway to attack. He works him over with the usual offense until Benjamin rallies and knees him in the face, following up with a flying clothesline for 2. Another 2 from a rollup, but White hooks his foot with a golf club (though he barely got him), allowing Conway to get the pin. Man, from jobbing in a good match against Angle last week to jobbing to Rob Conway via �golf club hook� the next?
Rating: 1/10
These Impact commercials are really doing a good job at showing TNA as a definite alternative to WWE with all the high flying moves and different look. The time slot is kind of bad, but hopefully that is just a temporary slot and they get something better when/if they draw a good audience.
Footage of a Mick Foley book signing in NYC, hinting at a return.
Hurricane and Rosey vs. Cade and Murdoch (non-title)
Murdoch�s look is a definite callback to the old �pasty, chubby white guy� look from the 80s southern territories. He�s got some great facial expressions as well. Unfortunately, the match doesn�t really give you much in the way of uniqueness from this new team. Murdoch�s been portrayed in the promos as kind of a �loose cannon� while Cade is the cocky guy, but neither really comes across here. There�s some nice double team wrestling from them, but that�s it. Murdoch hits a top rope bulldog on Hurricane to get the pin. Might as well just have made it for the titles because they�re probably going to win them at Unforgiven anyway.
Rating 1/10
Unforgiven card is rundown and Grisham interviews Chris Masters, who promises to �stop the show on the Showstopper� tonight.
Master Lock Challenge: Shawn Michaels
Shawn does a good job selling the hold and tries a multitude of ways to escape the hold (pushing off the turnbuckles, backing Chris into the corner, running into the corner), but the hold stays on. He drops to one knee, but keeps his arm up and gets back to his feet. He delivers a low blow with his foot and starts to pull his hands apart, but Masters releases the hold and cracks Michaels with the chair before applying it again. This time, a bloody Michaels can�t hold on and the ref stops it. More officials have to come down and pull Masters off, and he poses over Shawn as we fade.
Final Thoughts: You know, Vince has been bitching and complaining about Spike running ads for UFC and TNA during RAW, but I just can�t sympathize with him. Face it, RAW�s audience since the move to Spike has been declining, not increasing and Spike has started to gain a good audience with UFC for probably less money than they are paying for RAW. The second hour of RAW this week was pitiful, full of Heat-level matches and crappy characters and booking. I honestly hope that UFC and TNA are able to take some of RAW�s audience away once it moves to USA, because that might finally, FINALLY give Vince the kick in the ass he needs to realize that he�s gotta get off of cruise control and provide a product that�s worth watching every week. If he doesn�t, his audience will just keep spiraling even lower than it is now.
Whew, off the soapbox.
See you next week.
Feedback: [email protected]
| |
|
|
|
|
|
