After last weeks abstinence from wrestling, this week I decided to run with a little experiment. Slammiversary v Best In The World.
Now I had pretty much decided just to swerve Slammiversary altogether, until the guys on the mfx podcast suggested it was, by TNA standards, not the worst thing you will see from the company. I also knew that with the injury MVP had, the whole card would change, and due to Impact being taped about 6 months in advance, there would be zero build for most of these matches.
Similarly, I don’t generally watch ROH every week, so had no real idea of the card for their PPV, and obviously any build that company had put into it. So basically two PPV’s by two different companies, with no build, and no idea of the card for either.
Now I wont bore you with too much detail, but I will dip into each show and hopefully come up with examples of how the shows differed, and there would be no better place to start than the opening match on each show. Both were traditional, get as many people in the ring as we can openers, I think 6 in each match. TNA had a ladder match for the X division title, ROH just had a six man for a future title shot.
Now the ROH match was an excellent opener, all the guys in the match got to show off some big moves, the crowd got into the match pretty quickly, and it was generally put together pretty well, the TNA opener looked exactly like you would expect from a match put together on the day of the PPV. Some pretty fantastic spots, some great moves, but no real cohesion.
And lets be honest, this was a six man match, but the Wolves had to be wondering why they were in an X-Division match in the first place, and Suicide had to be wondering why he was on TV for the first time in 6 months. The match was obviously booked on the fly, and I don’t know why. MVP was injured about 3 weeks ago, and everybody knew then that the PPV would change, but this match really looked like the guys were sent out to put some moves together, and they would be told when to stop.
Which is pretty much how the match went down, with the champ retaining by simply climbing the ladder. No build to the finish, no pile of broken bodies all over the arena, he just climbed the ladder and took the belt down. No fumbling with the belt trying to get it down, no weary climb to get to the belt, nothing. Compare that to Crazy Steve earlier, who climbed the ladder and looked at the belt for about 5 minutes while he waited on someone to knock him off the ladder, and the ending was, at best, disappointing.
Now lets look at my own personal bugbear in wrestling, the commentary teams. TNA has Taz and Tenay, ROH has Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. Now I have previously mentioned how much I like Corino on commentary, I may also have mentioned how much I don’t like Tenay. This pattern continues.
Corino and Kelly feed off each other, and provide a great contrast. Kelly is the guy who knows facts, Corino is the guy who makes stuff up. Kelly is the ultimate professional, Corino is the one who sounds like he is playing at commentator. They compliment each others styles, they work together, and they add to the occasion.
Taz and Tenay do none of the above. Taz is the expert here, he was a wrestler, but Tenay is ‘the professor’, so he is the expert. Taz comes out with some funny stuff, Tenay ignores it. These two actually seem to be in competition with each other sometimes, and add pretty much nothing. Try watching wrestling with the volume turned off, and honestly, it is not that great. But TNA suffers the least from this treatment, because nobody is really listening to the commentary anyway.
But back to the wrestling, and we skip forward to the grudge match on each show. Anderson v Storm, and Strong v Alexander. Now Anderson v Storm has had a decent build, it has gone on for a few weeks,including the famous ‘face uses heel trick’ bar fight. Strong v Alexander has been building for months. Even with my very limited knowledge of ROH, I knew this should be a pretty good match.
Anderson v Storm was OK, but that is it. Anderson, and I cant believe I am saying this again, is the face. If he wins, it should be clean, and not due to outside interference. I am not sure whether TNA are trying to protect Storm, or just cant write a finish without some kind of swerve, but, at the risk of repeating myself, HAVE THE FACE WIN CLEAN!
Strong V Alexander showed how this can be done. Alexander was already up against it, facing a man who has been bullying him for months. Against all the odds he has got to this point, a one on one match with his tormentor. Strong used every trick in the book to get the win, and Alexander, despite being the underdog, despite all the cheating, won clean.
That is what the fans want to see, not some unknown American Footballers getting involved. Just a clean finish for the face. It is not rocket science, but it is something TNA struggle to understand.
Now the two Main Events. TNA had another change due to MVP being injured, which suggested from the start that there would be no title change here. The match was a steel cage match, traditionally won by pinfall or escaping the cage. Not this time. Lashley tries for a spear, goes through the door, but is not the winner. He also cant get back in for some reason, as the chain which was long enough for him to get out, is somehow not long enough for him to get back in… EY retains amid the confusion
Back in ROH, we have Michael Elgin v Adam Cole. Elgin has always seemed to me to be that guy who never quite makes it to the top, who always seems to lose the big one. Cole on the other hand, wears that belt well, and has Decade to back him up.We all want to see Elgin win, but his previous for blowing it, added to the odds stacked against him make this look unlikely.
Then he wins it. The match had a few false finishes, one so convincing, the crowd had already thrown the streamers before they realised it was not over, before a dead on his feet Elgin pulls out a triple power bomb to get the win, the ticker tape celebration, and the underdog kneeling in the ring covered in streamers and confetti. This was a fantastic end to another great ROH PPV.
Now it might seem to some that I love ROH, and hate TNA, and while I may be heading that way, ROH still has a few things I really, really do not like, while TNA still has some things I do like. EC3 and Spud were, I thought pretty good in a horrendously booked match. Anyone who thought Dixie was going through that table must have an IQ similar to the table she did not go through. ROH, and I get this is not there fault, has adult fans who think it is OK to turn up in wrestling gear. And I am still not keen on the spongy ring and crooked ring ropes.
But on the other hand, ROH had Kaz and Daniels in a fantastic tag team match, which went on in that dead spot before the main event, and did a great job of getting the crowd back up again. These two guys really showed some of the problems in TNA. They spent the last year as the go to tag team to give others a push, while being the shows only real comedy spot, until Spud arrived. In ROH, they put on a great match against the Champions reDRagon, with the result in doubt right up to the end. They lost, but they lost really well.
So comparing the two, it is not really a fair fight. ROH put on a third successive PPV of real quality, while TNA, hampered by late rewrites put on what was essentially, another PPV which showcased their mediocrity. And I am doing them a favour there.
ROH had a card which built well to the main event, and matches which all built well to the finish, TNA had a bunch of matches they thought up that morning, and more than one had no real build to the finish. Some are suggesting ROH could soon become the number two promotion, i would suggest that will happen sooner rather than later.
Before I go, I would like to touch on one more thing, the BIG debate in TNA. 6 sides or 4? Honestly, TNA could have 20 sides, it is not the ring that matters so much as the writing. Get the writing right, and the rest will follow. Wrestlers will tell you that 6 sides makes the ring harder to land on, so it makes no sense to switch back to 6.
But if the product in the ring was of a high enough standard, we would not be having the debate. TNA are clutching at straws here, thinking if they give the fans that 6 sided ring back, they will get more viewers, and they may well be right. But if the writing stays the same, those fans will be gone just as quick, and then all you are left with is a ring the wrestlers don’t like.
As is usual at this point, I would draw your attention to all the other excellent writers here on SLTD, and would urge anyone who is reading this to go check out the proper wrestling writers, who know far more than me on most things. And again, I cannot speak highly enough of the MFX podcast, and SLTD radio, where you can while away a few hours a week by listening to wrestling talk, rather than actually having to use your eyes and watch.
Once again, I will do away with any pride and openly beg people to follow me on twitter, as my girlfriend pummels me in the popularity ratings. If you do nothing else this week, DO go follow me @GrantCookDFC.
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