My name is Arindam S. Roy, Wrestling critic and columnist, as well as the founder of Critics' Corner. As you probably know by now, TNA Wrestling has launched a project in my home country of India, titled Ring ka King. I thought you might be interested in hearing about the show, therefore I have written this review of the show based upon my observations since its inception about a month ago.
The Pro's:
1. The
scriptwriting and talent. A strong script so far, with quite a few
rivalries in the build, and in execution already. What I liked a lot was
that instead of crowning the champion right in the first episode, they
were patient, and introduced tournaments to determine the champions. As far as the
talent is concerned, they have Chavo Guerrero, Matt Morgan, Brutus
Magnus, Luke Gallows, The Masterpiece, Abyss, DH Smith, Trevor Murdoch
etc. among others. Need I say more?
2. The double ring
announcers. Loved the coordination between Jeremy Borash and the
indian announcer, both of whom are doing a damn good job in their
respective fields (J.B. intoducing the american wrestlers and the female
announcer introducing the others.)
3. Titantron and the pyro
works. After watching the failed attempt at a wrestling show called
'100%: De Dana Dan' couple of years ago, I didn't really expect Ring ka
King to be able to deliver much, especially in the stated fields.
However, much to my pleasant surprise, they were about as good as their
american counterpart (apart from maybe A.J. Styles' entrance pyro) in
the pyro department. On the other hand, the Ring ka King stage actually
looks bigger and better lighted than the Impact Zone.
4. Bollywood Boyz. These guys impressed me so much, I had to write a
full point on them alone. They have fantastic charisma for two
people we have never heard about before; their confidence is as if they
have done this 100 times before, which is fantastic. I don't need to be
a psychic to be able to predict that these two guys have a bright
future ahead of them.
The Con's:
1. Unprofessional
Commentary with lots of casual remarks. There is an important reason
behind me putting this in number 1. One of the commentators, Siddharth,
has NO knowledge of wrestling whatsoever! The other, Joe Baath,
despite doing commentary for TNA India previously, doesn't have much to
offer apart from a few "I love it baby!"s and arguments with his
clueless partner. A couple examples of his commentary at its best would
be referring the "Frog splash" as "Crossbody splash", and the "Carbon
Footprint" as "Boot to the Face". The other guy, ah damn....
2. Lack
of enthusiasm and passion of the sport among the audience. First of
all, the audience is more bothered about whether the
camera is focusing towards them, so that they can do Cena's "You can't
see me" or DX's "Crotch Chop" towards it, rather than paying attention
to what's happening in the squared circle. There are some women in the
front row in traditional clothing, on most episodes (not sure if cast-crew or not), who are more like statues, they neither
cheer, nor boo- dead still. Their facial expressions seem to be yelling
"I came here expecting Shah Rukh Khan. And who are these disgusting
guys?"
3. Amateur participants. Leaving behind the people that
we have seen previously in other promotions, most of the talent is still very
green. The top Indian face, Mahavali Veera has a long way to go before
he would be in a deserving position for that stature. I can cite an
example of last week when he almost lost his balance after being
back-slapped by Matt Morgan. Jwala, the apparent mad-man is also quite
out-of-place, but he'll improve with time. Tonight they introduced a
Ring ka King version of Khali, setting up an alliance for the upcoming weeks, called
Chotu-Lambu (hindi for Tall-Short), that guy looks very stale as well.
4. Improper
execution of moves and script by some of the participants like
Mahavali Veera (again), Pathani Patthe and the occasional guest
Harbhajan Singh. I understand that they are inexperienced and judging
them as incapable would be an incorect thing to do, but there is no
denying the fact that RkK needs to make sure they continue to attract
the people so that the TRP doesn't drop. I checked out Colors' facebook
page the other day, and reception of the show is vastly negative. They
will have to ensure that only the best of the best get air-time. Any
mistake at this level would cost them dearly.
Final Thoughts: I've been told
that the scriptwriting section of the programme is in safe hands, so I'm
not all drained of hope. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that
this show brings forward the best of entertainment over the next calendar year. Overall, i give
Ring ka King a 6 out of 10 stars.