ricky's weekly thoughts

Subject: ricky's weekly thoughts Sun 20 Nov 2011, 9:57 pm

Quote :: Well it's now the other end of the spectrum as we head over from one TNA PPV and into a WWE PPV which just happens to be the final Big 4 of the year. We had two Knockouts matches lined up on PPV as well as the fallout from those matches on Impact while we get through the final hurdle going into Survivor Series
Let's take a look

Turning Point - Ink Inc & Toxxin vs Mexican America* (Tag Team Championships):
Quite a good 6 person tag match and a fresh idea to have the titles on the line as well. I knew we'd be getting the 6-person tag sooner or later but Ink Inc will have to recruit a second Knockout so we can have the much anticipated 8-person tag match. The in-ring action was pretty good though I will say that there was a little too much offence coming from the faces in the first part. What I mean is that there was just solid offence from Jesse and Shannon without the heels doing much else. Throwing in a couple of moves from the heels would have been good just to break the monotony and make it a bit more back and forth if you can understand what I'm trying to say. So Sarita has stopped wearing her mask then? I'm glad her face is healed and it's the right time to drop the mask. The moves we saw between her and Toxxin were nicely done, especially that flapjack-like move she did that I don't know the name of. The ending was the right decision to make since technically you're jobbing Toxxin out in her debut match so this keeps her from looking too weak. And it got Rosita involved as well. 6/10

Velvet Sky* vs Gail Kim (Knockouts Championship):
Watching this live I was not impressed. Watching it back however, it wasn't as bad as I first thought. I know nearly every rant has been made about the result but I'm going to throw my 2 cents in. TNA's creative team have no clue how to develop a proper storyline. It's the same problem we saw from WWE back in 2004 when they had too much talent and not a single idea what to do with it. TNA stop and start storylines without following through on them. Winter was being groomed as the top heel in the Knockouts division and they ruined all her momentum by putting the belt randomly back on Mickie, only to take it off her and give it back two weeks later. Then they don't even bother to build her up as champion at all and make it blatantly obvious that Velvet will win it. And she does but
then she falls victim to the same idiotic booking. Winter/Velvet could have been a great drawn out feud since there was a lot of history there from earlier in the year, but they half assed it and rushed it without investing any time in it. And the same now with Velvet/Gail. Gail has been back for less than a month and she's already holding both belts. I'm not complaining that she's holding them, I'm just saying she's had them handed to her with no fanfare. And the match has an entirely different argument to make: I've been watching the Knockouts matches on PPV for the last two years and none of them have been impressive. Even the ones I've given high ratings to have only been ok. The last truly stellar match they had was Kong & Hamada vs Taylor & Sarita for the Tag belts. The Knockouts seem to be driving in neutral. They get plenty of time for matches but they don't do enough with it. They know they get their time so their work rate has gone down. The Divas on the other hand are used to being restricted to 2 minutes on TV so that whenever they get more time, they make the most of it in order to show management why they deserve it. Even when they only get about 5-6 minutes, they know how to maximise the time and make an entertaining match out of it. The last four Diva matches on PPV have all been superior to the Knockouts in terms of entertainment. The Knockouts may be the better workers and get more opportunities from management but the Divas are the better entertainers. This match falls into the same category as the last series of PPV bouts - good but nothing special. These two shared a chemistry but there was no intensity and they could have done so much more with what they got time for. 6/10

Raw - Kelly Kelly vs Natalya:
Well the Divas may be good at maximising their time but they're not miracle workers. They plugged Kelly's cover last week so why is she competing this week when it's Eve who's getting the title match on Sunday. The build up to this match has amounted to Eve winning a battle royal while dressed as Robin and a grand theft auto that popped up online. Alicia and Kelly have had far more build up than Eve and they're not even in the title hunt. What's more is that knowing how WWE can be sometimes Eve might actually end up winning the title in this match and that would make the third unremarkable win she's had. They didn't bother building a decent feud with Maryse until she actually had the belt, they had her beat Melina the #1 contender and then they ended her reign before it had a chance to grow. I'm sure Eve and Beth can put on another great match at the PPV but hopefully Beth will win and solidify herself as a strong champion. And yes I'm still annoyed that we didn't get a traditional Survivor Series match since they have enough girls for it. 1/10

Impact - 10-Knockout Gauntlet Match:
I will continue my rant about TNA's rapid fire booking. Fans who were pissed that Beth didn't win the title at SummerSlam with only two weeks of build up, look to this silly booking. TNA just rush storylines and now Velvet doesn't even get her rematch. I suppose it's not surprising since Mickie had to win a #1 contender's match to get hers and Winter didn't even get one either. Now while a gauntlet match is a bit different and gives some variety, it's not a good idea with that many competitors involved. A battle royal would have been a lot better and got the job done much cleaner. It was most certainly not a good idea to have Mickie take the lead so early and just plough through all those other girls. She should have been one of the last three to make it seem less like a
burial. That being said a lot of these mini-matches were pretty fun to watch and left me hungry for some full fledged singles bouts such as Velvet/Brooke, Mickie/Angelina, Mickie/Tara and Mickie/Sarita. Hopefully Mickie and Gail can deliver the goods without a botched finish this time. And hopefully the crazy trigger happy creative team can restrain themselves. 6/10

Smackdown - Divas of Doom vs Chick Busters:
I'm relieved that these four finally got plenty of time to have a proper match though it would have been a better idea for Eve to be in the match instead of Kaitlyn since she is the one competing on Sunday. Even having her on the show, scouting them from the ramp or on commentary would have served some purpose. Kaitlyn was looking quite good if a little slow but she has improved so much in the ring and working with the likes of Beth and Natalya frequently will only help her improve even more. The DoD double team was great and I liked AJ's little bit in the match. It was all over a bit too soon even though they did get more time than we usually expect. There you go, chums, Natalya finally gets a win. I see them building her up gradually like they did with Eve when Kelly was champion. I suspect if Beth retains then she'll feud with Alicia first and then maybe Layla before bringing Nattie into the equation. If Eve wins then they'll sort out Beth's rematch and then Nattie will go straight for it. In other news, I'm happy the other divas got on the show as well since old flames Alicia and Zack Ryder had a little moment and the Aksana segments started back up again. And AJ finally dyed her hair back darker, it looks much better. As for the tension between her and Kaitlyn,
I hope WWE don't follow up with that since splitting up the Chick Busters would serve no purpose. Granted they probably could have a good feud over on NXT where they would actually get time but what then? Kaitlyn would just end up getting buried. They need to relax with the trigger happy break up stuff. It's a miracle LayCool lasted as long as they did. 6/10

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» ricky's weekly thoughts
» ricky's weekly thoughts
» ricky's weekly thoughts
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