Thoughts?

It’s the first show since we officially started the Road to Wrestlemania with Alberto Del Rio vs. Edge being the tentative match for the title at the biggest PPV of the year. Edge/Kelly vs. Ziggler/Laycool for the title tonight which certainly sounds intriguing. Also expect the beginning of the set up to Elimination Chamber. Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Where I live it’s SNOW.

There’s a fiesta tonight apparently and there’s a Wrestlemania piñata. Yes let’s take something we love and are looking forward to and beat it with a stick.

Here’s Booker T and he’s apparently the new member of Smackdown’s announce team. Cool, and based on what he looked like at the Rumble hopefully he’s an occasional wrestler. We get a Spinarooni to really get the crowd going. Booker got a good reaction. It’s like he hadn’t been around since 2007.

Vickie interrupts Booker’s entrance and says that we’ll get qualifying matches tonight for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber which will be for the title. Ziggler is with Vickie. She orders Kelly to come out here right now which prompts a bunch of screeching. Ah there she is. Booker’s voice is much better than it was when he did some commentary with TNA. It’s clear and deep instead of hard to understand.

Vickie yells at Kelly, saying that without her interference Dolph would be the world champion. She’d rather humiliate Kelly instead of firing her. Kelly is going to cost Edge the world title tonight. Kelly says Vickie is trying to destroy her character. Kelly has a character? Oh she means her personality. Kelly has a personality? Ah ok she’s saying Vickie is a bad person. Makes more sense.

Dolph blames Kelly for the world title loss because she allowed Edge to hit the illegal spear. We see a clip of it, which makes me wonder why Vickie doesn’t just reverse it since she’s GM and there’s proof Edge broke the rules. Dolph: “Now Vickie can’t reverse the referee’s decision.” Wait why not? She can do ANYTHING but she can’t reverse it? She can’t make the referee reverse it? She can’t show the referee the tape and have him do it for her? I love the ever changing rules in wrestling.

Anyway Ziggler yells at Kelly, blaming her for him not being champion. The only reason she’s here is because she may be the reason Dolph wins the world title tonight. Until then she can get out. Kelly slaps Dolph and shoves Kelly. Cue Laycool until Edge comes out for the save.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater

Non-title here. We get a clip from Raw of Orton attacking the New Nexus and putting out Harris. I missed him RKOing Harris so I thought Harris was down from the Cobra for like three minutes. That punt looked good too. I might be missing something but it sounds like Corre’s music is different here. Kozlov vs. Gabriel to start. Booker is having some issues getting in on the commentary here but I can definitely give him a break on the first night.

Off to Slater vs. Santino. Booker says Cole talks a lot of nonsense so he’s definitely a nice guy commentator. He talks about how there has to be a leader on all teams, but Josh has to lead him into it. Slater gets a nice reverse DDT to Kozlov and the 450 ends this perfectly clean at 3:03.

Rating: D+. This was just long enough to rate but there wasn’t much here. The DDT was nice but that’s about all it had going for it. I really don’t get the idea of having your tag champions constantly lose clean. Corre could use some titles I guess so I could live with the titles changing down the line. Very short even at a surprising level.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre

We’re told that Edge and Ziggler are automatically in the Chamber because Edge is champion and Dolph just because. Booker has no comment on that. We’re of course talking about the Chamber and since Booker has experience in one, Cole cuts him off every few seconds. Basic back and forth stuff to start us off. Booker talked to Drew and he says he’s the Chosen One but Booker isn’t sure.

I know I’m talking about the announcers a lot but it’s one of the main aspects of the show tonight. Kofi gets a jumping back elbow for two. Not a lot is going on in the ring anyway so the commentary and how Booker is doing is a bit more interesting anyway. Armbar by Kofi as they’re seeming to have issues getting off the ground here. Could be a slow build though which is fine.

Pendulum kick in the corner breaks the little bit of momentum Drew had and a clothesline puts him on the floor. We hit the floor with Kofi in control until Drew manages to get a modified flapjack to send Kofi into the steps as we take a break. Back with Drew getting a back elbow for two. Wisely Drew goes after the ribs with something close to an abdominal stretch on the mat.

Kofi gets dropped on the ribs in a gutbuster which gets two for McIntyre. Drew gets a nice dropkick to put Kofi down for two. Cole rants about Lawler for awhile until Drew tries a clothesline. Kofi jumps up into the air and spins around, catching Drew with a DDT. That was awesome looking. Kofi hammers away in the corner and stomps a mudhole in him.

Superman punch/clothesline gets two. Boom Drop hits and Kofi wants Trouble in Paradise. Drew manages to avoid the kick though…and here’s Ricardo on the big screen to introduce Alberto? He doesn’t say anything but just stares down Kofi (remember Kofi beat him in a tag match last week). The distraction is enough for the Futureshock to end it at 9:42 shown of 13:12.

Rating: B. This picked up in the second half but wasn’t as good as some of their other matches. Still though, this was pretty solid. Also if it sets up Alberto vs. Kofi to fill in time until Mania I certainly can’t complain. Either way, decent enough match and Drew going to the Chamber gives him something to do while the Kelly story develops.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger

This should be pretty good. The push-ups are back! Apparently Cody Rhodes is going to have facial reconstruction surgery next week. Swagger’s boots are a brighter color and they’re taking some getting used to. Rey sends him to the floor as we take an early break. Back with Swagger sending Rey into the corner which gets him nowhere.

Rey gets a cross body for two. 619 is avoided though so Rey tries what might have been an Asai Moonsault. Jack blocks it though and Rey’s legs are tied up in the ropes. Back to the ring with Swagger working on the knee. The leg goes around the post which gets two. Back to the floor with Swagger in complete and utter control. After knocking over a Red Bull we’re back in the ring.

Vader Bomb gets two. Swagger picks him up and throws him across the ring. I love basic moves like that. Another Vader Bomb misses though and here comes Rey. Tornado DDT takes Swagger down for two. Rey tries the 619 but Swagger grabs the legs for the ankle lock. Rey is in the ropes though. Not that it matters though as Swagger pulls him back to the middle. Rey sends him into the corner and gets a kick into a rollup to end this at 8:37 shown of 11:07.

Rating: C+. I couldn’t get into this one for some reason. It’s definitely good and Swagger working on the knee is a good story for the match. My issue with it though is that Rey didn’t have to do much at all to take over and win here. That’s not good in my eyes as it makes Swagger look weak. I get that Rey is the superhero but can they make it look like they’re trying?

We get a clip from Raw of Alberto picking his opponent.

Edge and Kelly are in the back and Edge says he didn’t think his title reign would end like this. Kelly says Edge has no faith in her and that Edge is just like Drew McIntyre before storming off.

Here are Horny and Rosa who looks a bit different now. They throw some t-shirts to the fans until Ricardo introduces Alberto. He says his usual stuff while Horny and Rosa are still in the ring. Alberto has a present for Horny: the piñata. The candies and toys are symbols of everything he wants to give to all his fans here in New Jersey, drawing nice heat (show is in New York).

Horny is blindfolded and swings the stick while the piñata is still in the air. Naturally he misses and hits Alberto in the balls. Alberto enters a higher level of heelness as he kicks Horny in the head and hammers away. Kofi runs down for the save. Ricardo distracts Kofi though and Del Rio beats him up with the stick and throws on the cross armbreaker.

Stone Cold is hosting Tough Enough. Booker throws in that he’ll be a coach on Tough Enough. That’s kind of cool actually and something he’d be great at.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Chavo Guerrero vs. Kane

Uh…yeah. I wonder if this lasts longer than their Wrestlemania match. Well there’s that record. Chavo goes up and is caught in the chokeslam. He counters though by clothesline Kane over the top. Frog Splash hits but Kane catches him in the chokeslam from the mat and it’s over at 1:02.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Big Show vs. Wade Barrett

Yeah Corre definitely has new music here and it’s much better. It’s a toned down song this time that still has lyrics. All of Corre comes out and surround the ring. This is for the final spot in the Chamber. Barrett has to keep moving and gets a shot to the knee to take over. Barrett gets sent into the corner where he crushes the referee. Jackson comes in to run over Show but only gets two. And never mind as a DDT by Barrett ends it seconds later at 2:00. This was incredibly quick.

Show tries to fight off Corre post match but gets slammed. Jackson grabs a mic and says the end has come, it has awakened against you.

That sets the Chamber at Edge vs. Ziggler vs. Barrett vs. McIntyre vs. Mysterio vs. Kane.

Smackdown World Title: Kelly Kelly/Edge vs. Laycool/Dolph Ziggler

We even get big match intros for this. Chimmel has cut down on the throat cracking during Edge’s intro. The genders have to match here. Vickie says if there’s a spear the title is vacated. The guys start us off with Edge in control. He wants the spear and Vickie shouts at him to do it. Ziggler tags both members of Laycool so we get Michelle. Off to Kelly to make it Kelly Kelly vs. Michelle McCool for the World Heavyweight Championship as we take a break.

Kelly is all fired up here and beats up both members of Laycool with her gymnastics. Instead though Michelle catches a rana on the floor and spins Kelly into the barricade. That gets two back in the ring. Dolph: “Stay down Barbie!” Layla in now as Kelly is in trouble. Belly to belly by Michelle gets two. Kelly backflips out of a suplex and slaps the heck out of McCool to put both girls down.

Is there a reason why the initials on Dolph’s tights are backwards? Layla gets a head scissors choke on Kelly for a bit. Kelly fights back and it’s an X-Factor to break the momentum. The referee misses the tag to Edge allows Layla to beat on Kelly a bit more. Edge goes after Ziggler anyway but Michelle misses a big kick to Layla. Edge is ready for the tag but instead Kelly spears Layla to retain the world title at 6:50 shown of 10:20.

Rating: C. Decent main event here with a nice ending. Vickie said Edge couldn’t use a spear, not Kelly. It’s kind of cheap but it worked just fine for the ending to a TV main event. I’d have liked more Edge though as he was in there maybe a minute. I guess that was the point though as it made the title seem to be in jeopardy. This was just ok though as it was really Kelly vs. Laycool for the most part. Still though, creative way to have Edge be in trouble.

Post match Kelly gets fired. So Vickie can fire people but can’t coerce a referee to change a decision? She yells at Kelly about how she never cared about Vickie and how this is her show and all that jazz. After Kelly is gone, Vickie makes Edge vs. Dolph for next week with her as guest referee. Perhaps a title change for a quick title reign before the PPV? Zig Zag to Edge out of nowhere ends the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Not a bad show but a bit different than what they’ve done recently. Either way this was a pretty good show. They set up the Chamber perfectly and also gave us more of Ziggler vs. Edge. They’re doing a decent job of channeling Vince vs. Austin with Austin being put through a nightmare. The one key thing though: they’re not trying to recreate it but rather use a similar story. That’s very important. It’s not Austin vs. Vince. It’s Edge vs. Vickie. Let it be that and it’ll be a good story. Anyway, not bad at all this week.

Results

Drew McIntyre b. Kofi Kingston – Futureshock

Rey Mysterio b. Jack Swagger – Rollup

Kane b. Chavo Guerrero – Chokeslam

Wade Barrett b. Big Show – DDT

Edge/Kelly Kelly b. Laycool/Dolph Ziggler – Kelly speared Layla

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

It’s finally up and available for sale.  This is my first try at this and odds are I didn’t do it as well as I had hoped.  Please check it out as it’s only $5 for 240 pages worth of reviews.  That’s probably more than you spend on lunch every day and since odds are you’re most likely eating something unhealthy, buying this instead will prevent you from having a heart attack and dying by one extra day.

This is on a Kindle format but if you don’t have a Kindle, there are free apps for just about every electronic device you could own.  Here’s a link to every possible one.

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KB

After that came the Kings of Wrestling which evolved into Planet Jarrett/Jarrett’s Army.  Combining the two, this ran for just shy of two years.

Then came the double stables of Christian’s Coalition and the Angle Alliance.  These ran from February of 2007 to April of 2008, or about 14 months.

The Main Event Mafia ran from October of 2008 to approximately October of 2009, giving us another year.

Immortal started October 10, 2010 and ended either October 16, 2011 or April 15, 2012 depending on what you consider their actual ending.

Aces and 8’s has been running for seven months now.

Some quick math tells you that, from a conservative standpoint, TNA has spent over six years running superstable angles.  That’s more than half the time they’ve been in existence as a company.  To say they’re repeating storylines is an understatement.

First and foremost, this was on my first birthday, meaning the day I was born, a year prior to this, as in the day of my birth, isn’t my birthday. I’ve never understood that. Anyway, this is more or less the big moment for the Mega Powers Exploding as we have the Mega Powers vs. the Twin Towers and one other televised match.

This is live by the way. It’s one of those cards where you have the full card and then two matches or so on TV. Let’s get to it.

We open with a graphic about the tag match complete with a fake newspaper talking about how big and awesome this match is. That’s so corny that it’s awesome. A recap video follows it as basically the Twin Towers are always going after Hogan, Savage and Liz. This is complete with the newspaper thing every time. This is so over the top that it’s great.

I miss the SNME theme song and since this is a spin off it’s the same song. Rock on.

The Twin Towers and Slick cut pure 80s heel promos which are still awesome. I love this era so I’m probably overblowing it but you get the idea. Dang Boss Man is huge. The thing they keep pushing this as is three against two which two can’t win.

Twin Towers vs. Mega Powers

This is an hour long show and the match is over twenty minutes long so if you didn’t get the idea, this is the only reason to watch this show. After the Towers get to the ring, we get a video about Hogan and Savage. This isn’t your typical video however. This is set to a WAY too upbeat song called You’re A Friend Of Mine by Clarence Clemens Jackson Browne. Look it up and picture a highlight package of Hogan and Savage. It looks like the intro to a REALLY bad sitcom. I can’t make this stuff up people.

Hogan and Savage say there is no issue with these three. The underlying theme here is that Hogan allegedly loves Liz but Hogan insists it’s just like a brother and sister. In short, this became about Hogan which Savage didn’t like which has to be at least half legitimate. Everyone talks a lot here and hey now let’s have a match.

Boss Man starts and Savage and Hogan both want to start for their team. Boss Man wants Hogan so Savage can’t get his way again. Hogan looks especially orange tonight. The heels are cleared out by Super Hogan alone and the fans are WAY into it. The little things in this match like Savage wearing Hogan’s colors with the words Mega Powers written on them but Hogan wearing his usual gear is very well done.

Akeem comes in and here’s Savage to meet him. Oh wait never mind Hogan needs to come back in. He even comes off the second rope to work on the arm a bit. Boss Man hits a Piledriver and Hogan does his fish out of water dance on the mat. I’m not sure if it looks more like that or a steak being grilled. One or the other. Jesse points out that Hogan is hogging the ring time and he’s absolutely right at this point.

Slick gets involved so Savage drills him in the face. Spinebuster which is unnamed at this point gets two. Savage finally comes in this has been ALL Mega Powers. Top rope cross body puts Akeem down but Slick gets a shot in to take down the Macho Man and momentum shifts. Savage is still world champion here if I didn’t mention that and you’re not familiar with this era.

And now we get to the meat of this show. Akeem throws Savage to the floor and he wipes Elizabeth out, landing right on top of her (lucky). She’s GONE and Hogan goes to try to help her which ticks Savage off for some reason. “Oh no the woman I love is getting helped after I was incapacitated! NOT MY PROBLEM!” Hogan carries Liz to the back in as dramatic a fashion as possible. He leaves with her as they check her out.

We get the other fun part of this as Hogan’s acting is at its peak here. Keep in mind we stay on Hogan and Liz for like 3 minutes with ZERO talk of what’s going on in the ring. Back from a break we get a bumper of the match and now back to General Wrestling Hospital. Hogan keeps saying thank God and making weird noises. I don’t have the video up as I’m typing here and the sounds are just disturbing. Leaving out the word God it’s God Elizabeth God Elizabeth and random moaning and groaning and breathing sounds.

FINALLY he realizes he’s left his partner for like ten minutes against two monsters so he comes back for the save and the glory. Oh but instead of like, I don’t know, GETTING IN THE RING and beating the tar out of one of the guys and helping Savage, he gets on the apron and grabs the tag rope. Savage continues to do all of the work and beats up Boss Man but won’t tag Hogan.

Savage slaps Hogan nice and hard and leaves him. Serves the bald moron right too. Macho stands on the floor and then leaves with his belt. For once Hogan has absolutely no one to blame but himself here. More on that later though. Air Africa (Akeem’s splash) hits Hogan, he Hulks Up, Boss Man apparently asks Slick if he knows where he can find a good turkey on rye as he pays NO attention to what’s going on and Hogan gets the pin.

Rating: C. Total angle here with a match as the backdrop but this was a big deal to put it mildly. This would be like Orton turning on Cena when they had been best friends for like a year. The match is just ok but that’s all it needed to be. Hogan’s hammy acting aside, this was perfectly fine for what it was.

Hogan goes to the back where Savage is losing his mind, talking about how the champion is supposed to be #1 to Liz who is laying on the table with apparently NO ONE checking on her at all. We now get the greatest promo of Savage’s career as he just goes off on Hogan, ranting and raving about how Hogan has stolen the spotlight from him since day one and how if Hogan wanted a title shot all Hogan had to do was ask and he would have beaten him 1-2-3.

He talks about how Hogan is jealous and lusting after Liz before DRILLING with the belt and beating the living heck out of Hogan in probably the biggest heel turn in company history at the time. I’d put it ahead of Andre as it was on a bigger stage and Savage’s promo was better.

Beefcake comes in for the save and Savage just ends him with like two shots, showing how worthless he was at the time. Savage leaves Hogan laying. Totally AWESOME segment and one of the best promos that I can ever remember anywhere with Savage letting out a year of frustration and paranoia all on Hogan with everything he said making perfect sense for once. Great segment and well worth checking out.

Hercules vs. Ted DiBiase

In short, DiBiase bought Hercules and referred to him as a slave, causing Hercules to rebel and turn face in the process. Obviously no one cares at this point after their minds have been blown to Mars at this point by what they just saw. The announcers rightfully talk about almost nothing but the Mega Powers which for once I’m fine with.

We cut to an interview with Hogan which isn’t going to happen. Instead we’re told he’s in no condition to talk. No music for DiBiase yet. Hercules jumps him before he can take the fake suit off and beats up Virgil for fun. All Herc so far as DiBiase’s movement in the ring is still impressive over twenty years later. Ted finally sends Herc to the floor.

The crowd is staying in this one which is kind of surprising. Herc keeps having those power kick outs which are always kind of cool. Very basic match here but fairly well done. Then again I like both guys out there so that might have something to do with it. Powerslam by the power dude means it’s time for…Hercules to charge and have no apparent move in mind.

Virgil wraps Herc’s chain around the buckle but DiBiase goes into it for two. Hercules gets his backbreaker (torture rack) but Virgil grabs the leg, allowing Ted to get a quick rollup with the tights to end it. DiBiase gets beaten up a bit post match but it’s nothing special at all.

Rating: C-. Just a match to fill in some time after the huge angle earlier on. It’s not bad or anything but there was nothing that would separate this from a house show match or something like that. It’s ok enough though and more or less blew off this mini feud which is a plus I guess.

Hogan literally grunts and grumbles about Savage. There are no sentences or anything like that but just random words. He sounds like the Incredible Hulk or George Steele before running off and screaming RANDY in a funny moment.

Slam of the Night is about Jake Roberts who has nothing to do with this show at all.

Vince and Jesse talk a bit.

More of Hogan who can now say Macho as well. He randomly beats up Jim Neidhart, grabbing him by the beard and slamming him into a wall. Dang man ticked off Hogan is awesome! He shoves various other people including Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. He keeps looking as we go off the air. This was kind of awesome actually in a weird way.

Overall Rating: B+. This was all about setting up Mania and the huge heel turn and to say it worked was an understatement. All of a sudden Savage is this mega heel after being unbeatable for the past year and you have Hogan who never lost the title clean to challenge him. Naturally this happened on PPV and drew MILLIONS.

The wrestling here is just ok but this did exactly what it was supposed to and more so it’s definitely a win. I doubt you can find a complete show without looking for a long time but DEFINITELY check out Savage’s promo and the match if you can as it sets it up. Both are available on the Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event DVD which I highly recommend as well. Good show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @Kbreviews