Velocity
Date: December 17, 2005
Location: MassMutual Center, Springfield, Massachusetts
Commentators: Steve Romero, Josh Matthews
Now this is a special version as it contains only the matches with the recaps cut out. I’m not sure how that is going to go but Velocity was the low level show which did little more than give the Smackdown crew a little more time. This is likely going to have some interesting and unknown guest stars so that could be interesting. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Scotty 2 Hotty vs. William Regal
Regal has Paul Burchill with him. Scotty isn’t having the wristlock and hits a running shoulder to take Regal down. Regal isn’t sure what to do here so he shoves off a headlock but misses an uppercut, allowing Scotty to grab a rollup for two. Scotty hammers away in the corner and scores with a superkick. The Worm is loaded up but Burchill comes in for a distraction, allowing Regal to hit the running knee for the pin at 4:21.
Rating: D+. Not much to see here but Regal is always worth at least a glance. You can also always throw Scotty in there as a guy who can take a loss and not suffer any serious damage. At the end of the day though, all this did was make me want to see more of Burchill, who would soon become a pirate because WWE.
We see a good bit of Batista/Rey Mysterio winning the Tag Team Titles from MNM. So when the description says “MATCHES ONLY” Velocity, I didn’t think they meant old matches as well.
Jamie Noble vs. Tommaso Whitney
That would of course be Tommaso Ciampa under his real name (yes his first name is Tommaso). This is also Noble’s first match in over a year and he’s a lot more serious than the trailer park days. Noble takes him into the corner to start and chops away, setting up a legdrop for two. Some shots to the back set up choking on the ropes and a fireman’s carry gutbuster rocks Whitney again. A dragon sleeper makes Whitney tap at 2:27. Total squash.
Paul London/Brian Kendrick vs. Scotty Charisma/Arch Kincaid
Kendrick hammerlocks Charisma (what a family name) to start and hiptosses him into a slam for two. London comes in for a headlock and it’s already back to Kendrick to work on the arm. Charisma gets headbutted down in the corner and everything breaks down, with London and Kendrick cleaning house again.
A running flip neck snap on the mat keeps charisma in trouble and a running flip splash gives London two. It’s finally off to Kincaid for a hard clothesline and the chinlock goes on. That’s broken up in a hurry and Kendrick comes back in to run Kincaid over. Everything breaks down and a double superkick drops Charisma. An enziguri/Downward Spiral combination finishes Kincaid at 5:27.
Rating: C-. This could have been a lot worse but then again London and Kendrick are one of the better teams of their era. They were as crisp as you could get and everything they did worked well against anyone. This was little more than target practice for them as Kincaid and Charisma were more or less tackling dummies.
Doug Basham vs. Todd Hanson
Hanson is better known as Ivar and Basham is better known as Basham. They fight over a wristlock to start until Hanson is hiptossed down in a hurry. Back up and a shoulder gives Basham one but the bigger Hanson knocks him into the corner. You don’t do that to Basham as he works over Hanson’s arm and snaps off a suplex. We hit the armbar for all of three seconds before Basham just hits him in the shoulder a few times. Hanson’s sunset flip attempt is countered into a cross armbreaker to give Basham the win at 3:19.
Rating: C-. Nothing in the way of a competitive match but it was nice to see someone like Basham getting a chance. His career was destroyed by the S&M nonsense with Danny Basham and Shaniqua, but I’m sure it let someone work out one of their inner thoughts (and I use that term loosely). Who cares if it wasted the amount of time and money they had invested into Basham?
Orlando Jordan vs. Funaki
Jordan has Jillian Hall with him and is still part of JBL’s Cabinet. Funaki gets driven into the corner to start but his headlock (it’s devastating) gets him out of trouble. Then a swinging backbreaker puts him right back in trouble, but it did work for a few seconds. The bearhug (From Jordan?) goes on and after some forearms to the back, it goes on again. Funaki fights out again and manages to start a quick comeback, only to get caught in a swinging neckbreaker. A Backstabber finishes Funaki at 4:59.
Rating: D+. The only thing this did was remind me how completely useless Jordan really is. The guy had nothing that made me want to see him and that never changed no matter how many times he was in the ring. Funaki can only do so much and that was on full display here. Nothing match, and that’s some pretty high praise for a Jordan match.
Overall Rating: C-. I’m not sure how much more the additional ten minutes of recaps would have helped but the wrestling was what you would have expected. This was included because of the guest stars and that worked out well enough, but there is a reason that Velocity is such a nothing show that has almost no important history to it whatsoever.
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