From the Desk of Mr. V #59
March 11, 2010
By: Anthony J. Valvo of WrestleView.com
Introduction
Tonight’s introduction came from two students of Mr. V this week. Since I could not choose one since they both were superb, I decided to include them both.
From Rocky Dominguez – hears the class bell ring everyone take your seats and strap yourself in its time for a class where the only exam is finding out whether or not you?re a mark or a true blooded wrestling fan the man with the knowledge the man with the wrestling lesson plan, Anthony J. Valvo
From Antonio De Gaetano – Ladies and gentlemen, he’s the Wang to our Chung, the Peaches to our Herb, and the Cassidy to our Sundance. He’s so sharp he isn’t allowed near hemophiliacs, so smart he sells his own line of thinking caps, and if intelligent commentary was a gavel, judges would bang him on a desk. Also, saying his name out loud will get you arrested in Tijuana. Please welcome your host, Mr. V himself, Anthony J. Valvo!
Wow, two tremendous introductions. Well, I would like to welcome all of you to the 59th session of ?From the Desk of Mr. V?. I am your WrestleView Resident Teacher Anthony J. Valvo and I am present once again to provide my students with the very best and worst around the wrestling scene. So, enough of the introductions, let’s begin our session shall we?
Quote of the Week
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
? William Arthur Ward
To those in the profession, may you all be a ?great? teacher. Someday, this one hopes to be at that level.
The Lecture
Well, we know that March 8th was a big night in some eyes of the wrestling fan. On March 8th, TNA Wrestling decided to put their chips down on Mondays at the same time as RAW. So other than watching the WWE and TNA go head to head last January, this is the first time in years that the fans had a choice to either watch WWE or TNA.
Some of my loyal students asked ?Mr. V, what show did you think was better?? Some of my students provided their thoughts and they all made good cases. Mostly students in Mr. V’s classroom thought that RAW would earn the better ratings and it was a tossup between the shows as which one was the better show.
Well, students you all earned a Gold Star for saying that the WWE earned the better Monday rating. If TNA wanted to look at this from a ratings score, here it is:
Monday Night Raw ? 3.4
TNA Impact ? 1.0
(Credit: WrestleView.com)
Overall: Raw wins?Flawless Victory, right?
Well, originally I did not want to provide a take on these shows, but after many of my students asked me in my e-mail box I had no choice but to say ?uncle?. I will go in depth and pick which show was the better show since I for one watched both programs. They had their strengths, but they also had weaknesses (some of the obvious). So, who got the edge this week? May I present to you?
Mr. V’s Monday Night ?War? Scoreboard
-Location of the show
Raw was live in Portland, Oregon. On March 8th, Portland was cloudy with a rain and snow mix, but the temperature did read 50 degrees Fahrenheit when the day ended.
Impact was live in Orlando, FL. Orlando was Partly Cloudy on March 8th with a Hi/Lo of 71/47 Degrees Fahrenheit (sorry to my Very European students).
Advantage: IMPACT. I would prefer the nice Orlando Sunshine than the Portland cloudiness any time of the year.
-Opening Segment
WWE gave us a huge segment involving Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. After watching their segment, I for one can?t wait until their match at WrestleMania (though I still believe that last year’s could not be topped).
TNA gave us Hulk Hogan and Abyss. Hogan demanded Flair to come to the ring and their first part of the match ended in a no contest.
Advantage: RAW. You always want to make a good first impression and that usually lasts five minutes. WWE in my opinion hit it out of the park. Hogan bleeding and Sting’s interference really came out of left field and though I think it could work it should not occurred in the first few minutes.
-Women’s Wrestling
WWE gave us Eve Torres, Gail Kim, and Kelly Kelly vs. Maryse, Alicia Fox, and Katie Lea.
Result: Torres made Maryse submit to the armbar.
TNA gave us Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne vs. Sarita and Taylor Wilde vs. Tara and Angelina Love.
Result: After Daffney (looking as great as ever) used a foreign object on Tara, Rayne scored the pinfall and The Beautiful People faction became the TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions.
Advantage: I am going to give a slight one to IMPACT. This was one of the things TNA did right. They wanted The Beautiful People to win those belts, but obviously they were the least talented. So what creative did was continue the Daffney/Tara feud and all did not look bad. Also, TNA used all their knockouts in the match, while WWE left out Kelly and Katie Lea (both did not wrestle legally in the match).
-The Male Superstars part of the card
WWE gave us:
John Morrison and R-Truth vs. The Miz and The Big Show (No Contest)
Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes (DiBiase pinned Orton)
Evan Bourne vs. William Regal (Bourne pinned Regal to advance to Money in the Bank)
Vince McMahon vs. John Cena (Turned out to be a cluster bomb of a Tag Team Guantlet Match. McMahon pinned Cena with the help of Vladimir Kozlov, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, and Batista).
-TNA gave us
Hogan and Abyss vs. Ric Flair and AJ Styles part 1. (Ended in a no contest because Sting attacked Hogan and Abyss).
Kazarian vs. Daniels vs. Doug Williams (Williams pinned Daniels to retain his TNA X Division Championship).
Sting vs. Rob Van Dam (Van Dam beat Sting clean in 20 seconds only to be attacked after the match).
Eric Young vs. Syxx-Pac (Young used the Spike Piledriver to win this match in a quick manner).
Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) vs. Jeff Jarrett (Beer Money used the D.W.I. to beat Jarrett).
AJ Styles and Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan and Abyss (Hogan and Abyss got their revenge and beat Flair and Styles).
Advantage: PUSH. This is solely going to someone that ?grades? each match and I only graded one match on each card as a ?B? (Orton/Legacy and the X Division Title Match). Other than that, I found the rest of them too quick and not memorable. However, at least the WWE had some stories tied into half of their matchups. TNA’s just seemed rushed.
-Backstage Interviewers
WWE had Josh Mathews
TNA had both Jeremy Borash and Christy Hemme
Advantage: PUSH. TNA did not give Hemme a whole lot of time and the audience was punished by seeing Borash get more face time than say?Angelina Love? As for Mathews, he did his job and it was a good thing.
-Irrelevant Celebrity Plug
WWE gave us Criss Angel.
TNA gave us Brooke Hogan.
Advantage: RAW. Even though I wish that Angel slammed his hand on the cup with the knife inside. Why Santino did you have to follow the script? Oh, as for Brooke, see DETENTIONS!
-Storylines/Segments
WWE gave us the following:
Undertaker and Michaels building up their upcoming match.
Criss Angel did four magic tricks. Angel swallowed string and then pulled out it of his eye, silenced Jillian Hall once and for all, predicted a number on Regal’s royal notepad, and smashed foam cups (which are bad for the environment) in order to promote the art of muscle reading.
Cena admitted that Batista had his number.
HHH respected Sheamus for what he did last week, and then asked if he had the guts to do it at WrestleMania. By the way HHH vs. Sheamus will be at WrestleMania.
TNA gave us:
Hogan and Flair banter.
Sting choking TNA President Dixie Carter and then destroying TNA superstars with a baseball bad.
Brooke Hogan practicing for a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress.
Kazarian and Daniels cutting a promo about who should be the captain of the X Division.
Shannon Moore’s debut.
Desmond Wolfe attacking D?Angelo Dinero’s injured ankle while Dinero tried to cut a promo.
The Beautiful People drank some champagne.
Kevin Nash and Eric Young issued a challenge to Scott Hall and Syxx-Pac. Bischoff made a onetime offer to Pac and Hall. Hall and Pac accepted the deal that if they lost to Hall and Young to Destination X they will leave TNA.
Kurt Angle was with the U.S. Soliders promoting how tough they were and shot down Mr. Anderson for assaulting him with a dog tag. Anderson ran his mouth and Angle had at it.
Jeff Hardy saving Hogan, Abyss, and Dinero by attacking Flair, Wolfe, and Styles. However, when Hardy set up for a Swanton Bomb TNA did their best ?Regal GM? impression and unplugged Impact.
Advantage: RAW. I really thought that RAW was strong heading to WrestleMania. Impact just had so many stories and they tried to throw them all in a 2-hour show. I found RAW to be smooth for the most part, while I had a hard time following Impact for those two hours.
So, what show was the best last Monday?
Advantage: MONDAY NIGHT RAW won this battle with a 3-2 tally. I enjoyed both shows at times, but Raw kept it fresh all night. Impact felt too dominated by Hulk Hogan and in my view if that trend continues then TNA could be in serious trouble. Still, TNA did a better job this time around and hopefully things can improve soon.
Detentions (Presented by the upcoming ?Teacher’s Lounge? starring David Stephens and Mr. V. Coming soon to the WrestleView Radio Network)
Brooke Hogan ? What does her music and her acting have in common? They are all terrible and bad for the ears. I have seen better acting at Wal-Mart. Speaking of which?
Wal-Mart Shoppers that leave trash in their shopping carts and walk away from the crime ? Starting this week, I will be taking pictures on my cell phone to anyone guilty of this disappointing habit. Those caught will be posted on my Facebook page.
?The Fanny Pack? ? No, they will never be back in style.
Scott Hall ? Still, this man looks awful. He does not need TNA, he need rehab.
Michael Cole – For using ?Vintage? more than two times.
Ric Flair ? For blading yourself too deep.
ETS and the Praxis Series ? Just because I am fed up with this company. I will go on the record and say that the students in my column can create and administer a test better than your people anyday of the week.
Criss Angel ? For not making Hornswoggle disappear.
EA games- live 24 hour support online(From Michael Phillips). 2 hour wait just to find out that one representative are available at this time.
DUNCE CAP OF DOOM goes to???Hulk Hogan! First Hogan said that he was going to take TNA to new heights. Well, after Monday’s rating that was not improving anytime soon. Hogan also said that he really liked Awesome Kong. Well, she is apparently gone from TNA. He said that he would not wrestle again, yet he dominated way too much air time on TV. Hogan also brought his daughter in for some reason. Maybe to get her movie roles? I don?t know. Finally he said that he would build the young talent up. I am sorry but pushing Abyss over AJ Styles (your TNA World Champion) is not doing that job. So Hulk Hogan, it hurts me to say this but please take the Dunce Cap and stand in the corner so Mr. V’s Students can point and laugh at you?BROTHER!!!
Previous ?Winners?: Michael Cole, JV Rich, and Jimmy Hart.
Mr. V’s Honor Roll for the week of March 1 ? March 7, 2010
Here was Mr. V’s schedule in regards to grading these matches.
3/1 – Graded WWE Monday Night Raw matches
3/2 – Graded WWE NXT Matches
3/3 – Column Writing. After that, I watched ROH on YouTube and recap the show.
3/4 – Graded WWE Superstars and TNA Impact matches (usually called ?the grind?)
3/5 – Graded Smackdown Matches
3/6 – OFF DAY
3/7 – Graded FCW Matches
Distinguished Honors ? Rey Mysterio vs. Luke Gallows, Friday Night Smackdown, March 5.
Wow, I cannot believe that out of all these matches that I watched and graded I have Luke Gallows the highest grade. The start of the match was great, with CM Punk riling up the crowd. I enjoyed how at times when Mysterio had the advantage, Serena or Punk would slightly help out their Society member. Mysterio sold all of Gallows? moves excellent that night. As for Gallows, I am very happy that they found something for him after his run as ?Festus?. His match against Mysterio showcases all his strengths throughout the match. After watching this match, I think the story will definitely continue with Mysterio and The Straightedge Society. In my opinion, the more of this feud the better.
Grade: B.
Finish: Rey Mysterio countered a Gallows powerbomb and pinned Gallows for the victory.
High Honors ? Kenny King and Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black and Roderick Strong, ROH on HDNet, March 1.
I felt that for Ring of Honor, this told a great story on all parts. The only wrestler that had a lot to gain in this contest was King, and he told a story without saying anything. King not only had to sell the most offense in this match, but he also had to battle his way through many dilemmas. King did that to perfection. Strong really helped his stock as well. He executed his kicks well and I was shocked that he got pinned by King. But that also led to another story involving Strong and ROH Champion Tyler Black. Black accidently kicked Strong and cost them the match. That led to Strong and Black exchanging words, which is a good start to a potentially good series of matches. As for Aries, he was not bad for what he did. He played the role of instigating the opposition. Well, Aries accomplished the mission. Overall, this was a fun contest that really showcased what King can do. I would not be surprised if King breaks away from Aries soon and tries to make a name for himself.
Grade: B.
Finish: Tyler Black accidently superkicked Roderick Strong. Austin Aries held Black down as King pinned Strong for the victory.
Honors ? Justin Gabriel and Matt Hardy vs. William Regal and Skip Sheffield, WWE NXT, March 2.
I don?t believe I am wrong for giving this match a B. I am surprised that it was good enough to be in the top three of the week. I was actually more impressed with Sheffield and Gabriel more than the pros here, though nothing is wrong with the brawling tactics of one William Regal. During the match, Gabriel really showed signs of greatness. Sheffield really dominated a good portion of the match, and he wore down his opponents well. I still may not Ryan Reeves? gimmick, but I think his power can keep him in the ring for a while. Matt Hardy was not bad in this match, but did not really stand out. Still, I thought this match was a great way to end NXT last week. Oh, I forgot?Justin Gabriel right now has one of the best finishers in professional wrestling. His 450 Splash on Regal was perfect.
Grade: B.
Finish: Justin Gabriel executed a perfect 450 Splash on Regal and pinned him for the victory.
And now, presenting Mr. V’s official grade book:
A+, A, and A-: None to report this week.
B+: None to report this week.
B: Justin Gabriel and Matt Hardy vs. William Regal and Skip Sheffield (NXT); Austin Aries and Kenny King vs. Tyler Black and Roderick Strong (ROH); and Rey Mysterio vs. Luke Gallows (SD);
B-: Kory Chavis and Jon Davis vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (ROH); Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase, Jr. (RAW); Darren Young vs. David Otunga (NXT); Kofi Kingston vs. Chavo Guerrero (Superstars); Shelton Benjamin vs. Dolph Ziggler (SD); and Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig vs. Vance Archer and Alex Riley (FCW)
C+: Sara Del Ray vs. Portia Perez (ROH); Evan Bourne vs. William Regal (Superstars); Chris Jericho vs. Goldust (Superstars); Matt Hardy vs. Drew McIntyre (SD); Edge vs. The Big Show (SD); and AJ Lee vs. Naomi Knight (FCW).
C: The Miz and The Big Show vs. Triple H and Shawn Michaels (RAW); Steve Corino vs. Bobby Dempsey (ROH); Kane vs. Mike Knox (Superstars); Jeff Jarrett vs. Tomko (TNA); John Morrison and R-Truth vs. JTG and Shad Gaspard vs. David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd (SD); Curt Hawkins vs. Ray Leppan (FCW); and Percy Watson vs. Johnny Curtis (FCW);
C-: Rasche Brown vs. Jay-Sin and Lance Lude (ROH); Robert Roode and James Storm vs. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley vs. Max Buck and Jeremy Buck vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez (TNA); AJ Styles vs. Desmond Wolfe vs. AJ Styles vs. Abyss (TNA); and Ezekiel Jackson vs. Jimmy Wang Yang (SD);
D+, D, or D-: Jack Swagger vs. Santino Marella (RAW); MVP vs. Zack Ryder (RAW); Eve Torres, Gail Kim, and Kelly Kelly vs. Maryse, Alicia Fox, and Jillian Hall (RAW); Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan (NXT); and Rob Terry vs. Doug Williams (TNA);
Failed or INC: Sean Morley vs. Jeff Jarrett (TNA)
Commentator Report Card
Since I went a bit far in my lecture this week, I decided to give the announcers a pass. Here is the upcoming schedule for the commentator report card:
Those that will be graded on March 18, 2010: Team RAW and Team NXT.
Those that will be graded on March 25, 2010: Team FCW and Team TNA.
Those that will be graded on April 1, 2010: Team Smackdown and Team ROH.
Mister V’s Often Imitated/NEVER Duplicated Gold Star Segment! (Presented by: JR’s Family Bar-B-Q. Jim Ross is once again promoting his Six Pack Powerslam! If you have an extra thirty bucks, $24.88 plus tax of course, you can get the best sauce created by a professional wrestling commentator. Pick some up today!)
To the Movie ?She’s Out of My League? ? For filming this romantic comedy in the greatest city of the world, Pittsburgh.
Rocky Dominguez and Antonio De Gaetano ? For the wonderful introductions.
Teams Canada and USA ? I omitted them from my Gold Stars last week. My apologies and thank you to both teams for reigniting hockey around the world.
United States Winter Olympic Team ? Though Canada got more Gold Medals, The U.S. brought back more hardware than any other country in the world.
Detroit Lions and Coach Jim Schwartz (From Paul Meade) ? For signing a big name in Jeff Jarrett’s boy Kyle Vanden Bosch.
Sara Del Ray ? For a great performance on ROH on HDNet last week.
Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, and Lacey Von Erich ? your NEW TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions. The Beautiful People will defend their titles under ?The Freebird Rule?.
Kenny King ? This ROH wrestler has really made a name for himself recently. Arguably the most gifted athlete to not get a Ring of Honor World Title opportunity.
______ ________ – Your NEW Ring of Honor Television Champion. I will not release spoilers here.
Wade Barrett ? His mic work is there, and when his in-ring ability matches that he will be a future World Champion.
Doug Williams, Kazarian, and Daniels ? The real highlight of the March 8th Impact show.
Matt Hardy and Evan Bourne ? These men earned spots in the WrestleMania Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
John Morrison and R-Truth ? your #1 Contender’s for the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship.
Luke Gallows ? I really underestimated you recently. Good showing against Rey Mysterio.
Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig ? STILL your FCW Tag Team Champions.
AJ Lee ? STILL the Queen of FCW.
AJ Styles ? I will give him credit for really slowing his game down in that tag team match. It is a shame because he can really showcase TNA.
Goldust ? I will give him one based on his work recently. Sure, he is forever going to be in mid-card. However he is in the best shape in his career.
Byron Saxton ? For doing great commentary in FCW, even with Dusty Rhodes not knowing what he is talking about.
Michael Phillps ? For giving me a great idea for a ?Student’s Corner? section. More on that later.
Homework Assignment! (Due Next Week)
This week, I have two homework assignments for the class. If you do them both, you will personally earn a Gold Star From Mr. V in the 60th column!
1) In case you did not know yet, I will be co-hosting a show alongside the bright mind of David Stephens called ?The Teacher’s Lounge?. We are going to go through random topics in the shortest amount of time, however we need an idea. What kind of games should Dave and I attempt for our upcoming show?
Ideas could be: Toss Up (who we would prefer in a given situation), Rank ?Em (where we rank wrestlers, singers, or whatever), and of course we are planning a ?Mail Time? segment (where we read e-mails from the students of WrestleView).
If you enjoy ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, you will clearly enjoy our show. Think of us as Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, except that we both have the best hair in the radio business.
And if you like those ?5 Good Minutes? segments on PTI, just to let you know we are doing the same thing for our show. We already got a few names lined up and all I can promise you is that it will be absolute enlightenment.
2) ?Students? Corner?
As you have noticed in my columns recently, I type WAY too much. So once again I am calling on my students to help me out.
Micheal Phillips gave me a tremendous idea. He requested that I do a ?Good Idea, Bad Idea? portion. So, why don?t I allow my students to do this, right? Here is an example of what I am looking for:
Good Idea: Hogan attempting to make TNA Better?.
Bad Idea: ?by putting himself in the main event.
I thak Micheal Phillips for this great idea. If I get at least five of my students to partake in this activity I will make this a WEEKLY part of the Mr. V column. So to all my students, the chalkboard is yours. Maybe the best out of it and good luck.
Dismissal
Well, that does it for me this week. I thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed this column as much as I typed it out. If you want to get a hold of me during the week, please e-mail me at mistervwv@hotmail.com or by leaving me a message on Facebook. I did respond to all your e-mails this week and I was happy to do so since I got this upgrade on my computer.
Now, students you are allowed to leave the classroom. Please push in your chairs, line up straight, and exit to the closest door around you. Until my Ring of Honor recap, you are??DISMISSED!!!!
Mr. V does read e-mail, so drop the teacher a line: mistervwv@hotmail.com.
Look for Mr. V on Facebook under Anthony J. Valvo in the Pittsburgh Network
If you enjoy Mr. V’s WrestleView columns, then take a look at my work on my other site Examiner.com
Check out my recent Examiner articles! Heck, you can even subscribe to my articles! Help me earn a little bit more cash by just going to the link, please. I have been updating my page each week with recaps and if it continues to be successful, who knows what I will do.
http://www.examiner.com/x-26526-Pittsburgh-Pro-Wrestling-Examiner
Also, be sure to look out for ?The Teacher’s Lounge?, coming soon to The WrestleView Radio Network.
Finally to end this column, I would like to thank those who read all of my work. My ROH Recaps are still among the most viewed and my Examiner page is among the top 5 among all examiners in the Pittsburgh Area. This is the most motivated I have been in writing in some time, so thanks to all of you.
If not for the students, there would be no Mr. V. Thanks for reading my column.