WWE/TNA/ROH: My Top 10 Moments of the Week (May 7-11)

Another week of professional wrestling has ended and I felt that it was an overall disappointing week.

WWE Monday Night Raw was up and down throughout the entire night. It had some good moments but there were an equal amount of bad ones.

TNA Impact Wrestling was a decent show at best. The show was kind of slow and featured way too many backstage segments. Like Raw, it had an equal amount of good and bad moments.

Ring of Honor Wrestling delivered a great show, though. The three matches featured were quite good and it made for an enjoyable show to watch.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown was just out right boring. There were points during the show where I almost fell asleep.

Who picked up “Show of the Week?” For the first time ever, I’m giving it to Ring of Honor Wrestling!

Here are my top 10 moments of the week.

No. 10: R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger

This was a good match that featured some nice action throughout. It was slow to start but it picked up in the middle and ultimately finished strong.

I think the Little Jimmy storyline has really run its course. It just isn’t funny anymore. It’s hard to believe that Truth is a former two-time NWA World champion and a former contender for the WWE Championship.

While the fans still seem to love him, he’s fallen quite far over the past year. I hope this team with Kofi Kingston takes off because Truth needs a career boost.

Nobody has fallen farther than Jack Swagger, though. Swagger was World champion two years ago and not many people remember it at all.

It’s a shame, Swagger is a great talent but he’s always stuck in ridiculous storylines. Thankfully, his and Dolph Ziggler’s feud with Brodus Clay seems to be over.

This feud with the tag champions could be just what Swagger needs to look legitimate again in the eyes of the WWE Universe. 

No. 9: Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho

I thought this was a good match, but it had a bad ending. Sheamus and Jericho work well together and have chemistry inside the ring.

While I think a Jericho/Orton feud is on the horizon, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jericho getting a one-on-one feud with the World champion.

WWE would be crazy not to even try it before Jericho leaves around SummerSlam.

My main gripe about this match was the aftermath. Alberto Del Rio caused the disqualification, which I thought was the right call for an ending, but he got dismantled afterwards.

He got pounded away on by both Orton and Sheamus and received a finisher from all three men. Del Rio was made to look very weak here.

I think that’s a bad call, because it’s like telling the audience not to even consider Del Rio when it comes to winning at Over the Limit. I don’t think he’d win anyway, but still.

WWE didn’t seem to have faith in him last year and they already lost faith in him despite just returning from injury.

I don’t know why they just don’t stick him in the mid-card and get it over with.

No. 8: Bobby Roode vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson

I always enjoy fatal-four ways because they’re always filled with nonstop action. This match was no different. I thought his was a good contest as all four wrestlers performed well.

The stipulation was a bit ridiculous, though. The only outcome where the participants of the world title match at Sacrifice wouldn’t change was if RVD won.

With Roode/RVD and Hardy/Anderson already booked and advertised for weeks it was pretty obvious that Van Dam was going to win the match here.

Despite the stipulation, the match delivered something for the TNA fans to enjoy.

I do wish, though, that once Roode/RVD ends that Van Dam, Hardy and Anderson are taken out of the title picture. I’m getting a bit bored seeing them always competing for the title.

It’s time to get A.J. Styles back in the hunt or even Christopher Daniels in there.

I hope Slammiversary is the start of something new.

No. 7: Abyss Returns

Abyss has been missing since Genesis in January. Even though he gained the victory over Bully Ray, the Monster was taken to the limit and defeated mentally.

It wouldn’t be until March when Abyss was finally brought up again. His brother Joseph Park appeared searching for him, continuing his search all the way up to this past Thursday.

Interviewing many wrestlers, he came to the conclusion that Bully Ray knew something. The bully refused to talk but something happened this past Thursday.

Abyss made his return to TNA after the main event and certainly shocked the wrestlers at ringside.

He simply told his brother to back off and left.

It’s great to see Abyss back. I was hoping that he’d walk down to the ring and destroy someone, but what he did was more intriguing.

Joseph Park is obviously Abyss without his mask, so is he feuding with himself now? I’m quite interested to see how TNA will pull this off.

Perhaps Joseph is Abyss’ split personality and his match with Bully Ray finally made him snap to the point to create a brother.

This could create some very odd, but good television as this storyline progresses.

No. 6: Alberto Del Rio and Chris Jericho vs. Sheamus and Randy Orton from Raw

I am not a fan of the typical WWE tag-team match. There’s something about the formula that bores me after seeing it so many times.

While this match had some elements of it, I thought it was quite the good match. Neither team dominated the other for too long, and it seemed like the match could have been won by either pairing.

All four wrestlers performed well here with the end result making the world title match at Over the Limit better than what it was.

Don’t get me wrong, Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio probably would have been a good match, but a fatal-four way adds more unpredictability to the match.

It also potentially sets up a Chris Jericho/Randy Orton feud without having them go one-on-one right away.

Come the No Way Out pay-per-view, Sheamus/Del Rio will have their singles match and Jericho/Orton should be in full swing.

No. 5: Paul Heyman Returns

With Brock Lesnar breaking Triple H’s arm last week, his representative appeared in Lesnar's place this week.

I expected some independent wrestler to come out playing a lawyer, so I was shocked when Paul Heyman appeared and entered the ring.

He read a statement from Lesnar that said that because WWE broke the verbal agreement that John Laurinaitis agreed to, he was quitting the WWE once again.

I would have never thought in a million years that Heyman would return as on on-screen character. I figured at most the fans would see him involved in a DVD here and there but never inside of a WWE ring again.

The former head of the real ECW hasn’t lost a step on the mic. He was calm when he needed to be and classic Heyman when it called for it.

While he probably isn’t back full-time, it’s still great to see him back and he’s probably the best person to represent Lesnar while he’s not there.

With him back, I really hope that he and CM Punk go at it on the mic soon!

No. 4: The Bully Ray/Joseph Park Segment

When Joseph Park started to make his way to the ring, I was fully expecting this segment to end up being a waste of time.

I thought that he’d say “Where’s Abyss” only to see Bully Ray come out and either chase him off or beat him down.

I was pleasantly surprised when this turned out to be the best segment of the night.

Park did ask where Abyss was, but his little speech was strong. He also played nervous very well. It seemed like he’d never done this before, even though he obviously has.

When Bully Ray arrived, he went off on Abyss’ brother. He went into full bully mode and seemed to scare Park.

Then Park got into Bully Ray’s head by going over some of his recent defeats and embarrassments. The bully simply pushed him down and walked out.

The bully is becoming the bullied, and that intrigues me.

He’s been bullying people for over a year now and while some have stood up to him, Bully Ray usually ended up on top.

This time around he’s got someone else in his head and has someone much smaller than him beating him up.

I think this segment was a turning point for his character. He’s not going to be humbled; he’s going to become more vicious.

No. 3: John Cena’s Interview

John Cena pulled a Rock on Monday and was live via satellite.

Talking of the doctors telling him not to wrestle and him telling the WWE board of directors not to fire John Laurinaitis, Cena declared that nothing would stop him from kicking Big Johnny’s ass.

I’m not really a fan of John Cena, but the man can cut a promo. Filled with worry over his injury and intensity over wanting to take out Johnny Ace, Cena delivered a strong promo up on the titantron.

Michael Cole did a good job on his end as well as he tried to tell the fans that Cena was afraid of Laurinaitis’ success in Japan. The only thing he was scared of, though, was that Laurinaitis was so bad that he’d hurt himself.

I got a good laugh out of that line.

While I think this Cena/Laurinaitis feud is wasting a spot on the card of Over the Limit, a part of me wants to see John Cena beat the holy hell out of Big Johnny!

No. 2: Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion

I thought this was a great match that was fast paced throughout and featured a lot of action. This match really made me miss the X-Division as both Aries and Ion flew around the ring.

The last time the division was represented on television and pay-per-view in storyline was the feud between these two in March.

It’s disappointing to see the division take a backseat lately after getting back on track at Destination X.

The division has many talented wrestlers in it and should be featured every week. While it is represented by champion "A Double" week in and week out, he’s feuding with someone who’s way over the weight limit of the division.

As much as I’d hate to see Aries lose the title, I think he needs to.

Aries is well on his way to main event status, and it's hurting the X-Division. A Double has become such a star in TNA that the person he drops it to would get a major rub.

Having Bully Ray cost him the belt would be a nice touch as well.

Personally I’d like to see the belt put on Ion. He’s quite talented inside the ring and I believe would make a good champion.

TNA brought the X-Division back on Thursday and they need to make sure it stays that way!

No. 1: Ring of Honor Wrestling

For the first time since their debut in the top 10, the entire Ring of Honor Wrestling show makes the list.

The show is of course a week behind, though, as they don’t air where I live and the show doesn’t become available to me online until Thursdays.

This show featured three very good matches and also had some great hype for their Border Wars iPPV on Saturday.

Between Tommaso Ciampa vs. Matt Taven, Mike Mondo vs. T.J. Perkins and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Kevin Steen, the main event was definitely the best of the show.

In fact, the matches got better as the show progressed.

Kevin Steen was without a doubt the star of the show. He’s quite impressive in the ring for someone his size. Overall, everyone in Ring of Honor is impressive, though.

It’s a shame that the company isn’t bigger. The wrestlers are extremely talented and they all seem to work well together as the matches are consistently good.

I really hope that ROH Wrestling starts airing in Connecticut soon, as I’d like to be able to have the proper show featured every week. Until that happens, I’ll always be a week behind but always be enjoying the show.