205 LIVE RETRO WORKRATE REPORT – EPISODE #4
205 LIVE RETRO WORKRATE REPORT
EPISODE #4 (12/20/16)
(by PHIL RIPPA)
To catch us all up – since its been forever since I did one of those things AND there was a PPV and RAW with lots and lots of angles between episodes – Rich Swann retained the title on the Roadblock: End of the Line show and Neville returned after the match and immediately did his heel turn. Neville and Brian Kendrick then got together on RAW as old man tired of all these youngsters and their damn youth. Rich Swann is back with TJ Perkins because I can never be happy.
WHAT WORKED
+ Neville has showed up so business is about to pick up.
+ They show the same exact Tajiri coming soon video they showed a few weeks ago and I got excited about it because I had forgotten… again… that Tajiri would be showing up.
+ Okay yeah – I will say that every time Noam Dar says “Alicia FFFFFOOOOOOXXXXXX” I am gonna laugh. I am a rube.
+ There is a crazy ass double suplex to the floor spot in the Cedric Alexander/Drew Gulak match.
+ There is a Jack Gallagher video package which frankly is half-assed but I need stuff on this half of the column.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK
– The giant pyro display getting zero reaction from the crowd made me laugh my terrible laugh but that clearly wasn’t the reaction they were going for.
– Detroit gave no fucks about this show. I am assuming the only reason the people were still in the building was that they were trying to stay warm.
– Lince Dorado had no fucking idea how to wear his cape and then he kept doing this random leg twitch thing. Both bothered me to no end.
– Dorado’s match against Ariya Daivari was also right there too. The more I watch Daivari – he really wrestles like Wade Barrett if he got under the 205 lb weight limit. There isn’t anything technically wrong with it but dull. Plus, Dorado tries to spike himself into the floor on a tope. I legit think Daivari “caught” him by kneeing him in the face.
– The rest of the Alexander/Gulak match was so so disappointing. Mainly because it was vehicle to continue to the Cedric/Dar/Fox Love Triangle.
– I have no idea what was going on with the Gulak anti-women promo after his match. I am gonna assume that was short lived.
– Lord – I don’t know how I felt about the Main Event. We have been doing this format for long enough that we should have created a “WHAT WAS ON THE SHOW BUT IT WAS TEDIOUS MOST OF THE TIME BUT THAT IS MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE BECAUSE I REALLY CAN’T STAND TJ PERKINS” category. I was going to say it worked because it is Neville’s first match on the show but the more I was typing the more I realized that I didn’t like about the match so it landed here. It is a glorified squash match that has weirdly has the finishing sequence ¾ of the way through. Then it goes back to the squashing. Four episodes and I am already tired of the Main Event feud.