I figured that’s a better title than PPV Predictions as I’ll have some general thoughts in this as well.

As I’ve made very clear, this is a show that doesn’t need to exist.  The HIAC show should be moved to this date, or in a perfect world HIAC wouldn’t exist as a PPV but we’re splitting hairs here.  This show seems like a cutting off point as just after Sunday we start the build for Survivor Series and ultimately, Wrestlemania.  It seems like they’re just in a holding pattern until then, which isn’t a good thing for the most part.

As for the matches, I’m going to take Henry, Alberto and HHH/Punk.  My guess would be Kane returns around the end of the year and fights Henry at the Rumble.  Cena doesn’t have anything to do if he wins the title again and if they’re smart, they’ll let the title and Cena be apart for awhile as you can have two draws for the Mania build period.  Cena vs. Rock is bigger than the title anyway.  You need to have a face win in there so there’s the tag match stuff.

Thoughts/predictions?

Smackdown
Date: October 21, 2011
Location: Mexican Sports Palace, Mexico City, Mexico
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

It’s the final night of shows in Mexico and it’s also the final show before the PPV. I’m not really sure what else they’re going to add to the show as I think they have six or seven matches on the card so far. That being said, we could use some more build for most of the matches, primarily because there were only three weeks of build for this show. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is 3 PPVs in 6 Sundays for WWE alone.

Here’s Alberto to open the show. Naturally he’s a huge face here in Mexico. Ah there’s the commentary. Nothing had been said for over two minutes. I didn’t know Cole had it in him. Tonight Alberto was supposed to face Big Show but due to Cena’s attack on Monday, that can’t happen. I wonder if the fans chuckle at being told that dinner is attacking people. He wanted to perform for his Mexico but he can’t do that now. Alberto speaks some Spanish, talking about wanting to be the best Mexican ever and that’s about it.

As he’s leaving, here’s Teddy to interrupt him. Alberto has been checked out by WWE doctors and they say all is well. Teddy thinks that Alberto is trying to get out of the match, so tonight Alberto will indeed face Big Show. Alberto says he’ll make Show tap so Teddy asks the fans if they want to see the match. Uh…why?

As Teddy is leaving and Alberto is still in the ring, here’s Henry. We go to a graphic for the mask vs. mask match tonight and there’s no commentary still. I don’t know what’s going on with that. We get a clip of Henry hurting Morrison on Monday. The rest of the audio is fine so I don’t know where the commentary is. I heard them earlier.

John Morrison vs. Mark Henry

Decent pop for Johnny. Morrison is shoved to the floor quickly and then has his head shoved against the post like a vice. The commentators don’t seem to be doing anything. Back inside it’s time for a neck crank and we take a break. Back with Morrison in mid-flight on Starship Pain for two. He tries a baseball slide through Henry’s legs but gets stomped on. The Slam ends this at 2:05 shown of 5:15.

Rating: C-. Just a squash here for the most part but I’m digging this no commentary thing. I don’t know if it’s something with the version I’m watching or what but it’s kind of a nice change of pace. Morrison’s depush continues as it looks like he’s on his way out, especially given the way most others were treated similarly on their ways out. Nothing to see here.

Christian and Vickie are in the back and Vickie talks about being friends with Johnny Ace. Vickie wants Christian to join her team. Teddy comes in and makes Christian vs. Sheamus at the PPV. Christian leaves so Teddy makes Dolph vs. Ryder for the US Title. That means Dolph is wrestling twice, which they point out. Ryder comes in with a catchphrase, making Vickie scream.

The announcers talk about Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara. Ok so they can talk. I guess the first match was just an error? They talk about the mask vs. mask match tonight and how it’s a battle of the Sin Caras. We hear about how Black had his identity stolen by Blue and tonight it’s about who the real Sin Cara is. Having this in Mexico is brilliant.

(I flipped on the regular airing on TV and the commentary was there for the first match. I guess it was just the version I was watching not working.)

Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan

Commentary sounds fine now. We get a quick promo from Barrett, talking about how tonight will be the beginning of the Great Barrett Uprising and how he doesn’t need to have anyone by his side anymore. Bryan isn’t going to shave until Mania. That’s some high level reporting there guys. Wasteland is countered into a crucifix a few seconds in. LeBell Lock is countered and there’s a Boss Man Slam for two. NICE big boot puts Bryan on the floor.

Off to a chinlock for a few seconds but Bryan gets back into things with a missile dropkick for two. Another big boot by Barrett gets two and it’s off to a bow and arrow hold. A forearm puts Barrett down and Bryan does the, and I’m not making this up, Ultimate Warrior rope shake on his way up. Barrett takes him down again and hits the pumphandle slam for two. Bryan goes up but jumps into Wasteland for the pin at 5:11.

Rating: B-. Pretty fun stuff here, especially for only about five minutes. They hit a lot of stuff here and it was a pretty hard hitting match on top of that. These two have some solid chemistry together, but it’s been awhile since either guy has been on the show. I wonder why that is.

Sheamus/Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler/Christian

As always it’s cool to see the two feuds at once thing. Ryder vs. Ziggler to start but Christian comes in quickly. Ryder grabs a rollup for two and I’m already sick of him being called the Woo Woo Woo Kid. A dropkick gets two for Dolph. Off to Christian who gets a decent heel reaction. Cole is yelling at Booker about softballs or something. There’s a double tag to Sheamus and Ziggler. Josh actually talks about it as he has to shout over his partners. Irish Curse gets two on the champ. Christian runs and the Zig Zag fails, allowing the Brogue Kick to end Ziggler at 3:58.

Rating: C-. Just a quick match here but it was nice to see both feuds getting TV time at once. However, there wasn’t much here from both pairings directly against each other which hurt things a bit. Still though, this wasn’t too bad so I can’t really complain much. As crazy as it sounds, Ryder could become US Champion on Sunday. That’s hard to believe but it’s realistic.

During the break, Christian speared Sheamus on the stage.

Here’s Cody in the ring. We get a clip from a few weeks ago with Orton taking Cross Rhodes and being bagged. He talks about being infected by the Viper’s blood and now let’s talk about Dusty. Dusty told Cody that people are inherently evil and after years of Orton holding Rhodes down, he got his release a few weeks ago by bagging Randy. Rhodes says this time he’s the one with everything going for him while Randy is just the same old guy with the same old tricks.

He calls out Orton and wants an admission from Randy, saying he was wrong about Cody. That brings out the Viper (I really hope some new fan isn’t reading this stuff because all the names might get confusing) who says Cody has cost him the title twice. The injury from the ring bell will pale in comparison to what he has planned on Sunday. Randy wants a preview but the baggers distract Randy long enough for Cody to take over. Cody gets backdropped to the floor and a bagger gets the elevated DDT. Another bagger makes the save but gets his head stomped into the steps. The one that got the DDT takes an RKO as well.

Black Sin Cara has a Blue mask on and that’s next. Seriously, that isn’t the main event? From what I can find, it was taped last and aired at this time instead. That’s pretty logical.

Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara

This is a regular mask but the loser has to unmask. To avoid confusion, I’ll be calling them blue and black. Blue gets a BIG ovation and is clearly fired up to be here. There’s a big Mistico chant to start things off. Cole explains the story which makes sense, although I don’t think many people outside of America care. Black is sent to the floor and there’s a big dive off the top to the floor.

Another one in the ring gets two. Blue tries to speed things up but messes up a springboard move, getting caught in the ribs by a dropkick instead. Black is sent to the floor and we take a break. Back with a backbreake getting two on Blue. Black takes it to the mat and hooks the leg in a submission and then into a booed camel clutch. After some more time on the match, Blue fights back for just a few seconds before going back down again.

Black goes after the mask but Blue fights him off. Black hits a Jeff Hardy slingshot dropkick to Blue in the corner but a charge misses and both guys are down. Blue busts out some of his high flying stuff and I think we get an edit but I’m not sure. A pair of rollups get four which isn’t three. Black hits a Samoan Drop for two. They go up and Blue snaps off a rana from the top for no cover. Blue hits the Swanton for only two. They hit the ropes and Blue busts out his old finishing move, La Mistica, to end this at 10:34 shown of 14:04.

Rating: C+. This was WAY better than their PPV match which might have been due to it being their hometown crowd or something like that, but either way this was a far better match than the other one. Blue can now move onto something better, perhaps a shot at Ziggler or Rhodes or something (the face thing would fit pretty well) while Hunico will probably be gone.

Post match Black tries to leave but Blue beats him up and takes the mask to a big reaction.

Brodus Clay is still coming.

Beth and Natalya are in the ring and Beth talks about how much more dominant they are. We get some clips of the beatings on Kelly and that submission is called Pinup Strong. As for Eve…she’s going to cut off their music because that’s how it works in wrestling. She says the evil ones are ugly on the inside and she’s not a Barbie Doll. They can’t break her and they think Eve should cry. They shove each other a little and Beth might have fallen out of her top. This might be the weakest build I’ve ever seen.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show

I wonder if the car angle will be brought up. Del Rio can’t do anything to start as Show hammers away in the corner. Del Rio gets choked and sent to the floor but he clotheslines Show on the top rope…but then gets chopped down with ease as we take a break. Back with the champ kicking away at the leg but that fails too. Alberto manages to drive the steps into Show’s knees to take over for what must have been a good 4 seconds.

A clothesline puts Del Rio down as this has been one sided the entire time so far. Show hooks what looks like a cobra clutch before dropping a leg for two. Alberto FINALLY wakes up and fires off a ton of kicks to a huge face reaction. They combine to get him a count of one before Show catches a kick and gets fired up again. The champ escapes the chokeslam and hits a chopblock.

There’s the cross armbreaker but Show is facing the mat to take away a lot of the pressure. It’s more like a LeBell Lock minus the crossface at this point. Show does the British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels short arm scissors counter to break it and is promptly booed. Show sets for the chokeslam but Ricardo jumps on him for the DQ at 8:40 shown of 12:10.

Rating: C. Not bad here but I’d question having the world champion get dominated like this. This match would have been a good place for someone like Christian. It’s a big enough match and I can understand why you don’t want to have Show lose before his title match, but you’re also making Del Rio look pretty weak going into his own title match. Show being a Giant makes that a bit less annoying though.

Mark Henry runs in post match and is DROPPED by the right hand from Big Show. He was on his feet in the ring for maybe a second and a half. Remember what I was saying about making your champion look weak?

Quick aside: if Show can knock someone out cold with a single punch, why would he do all that stuff like clubbing them in the back or trying to chokeslam them? Pop off one punch and win in like 12 seconds.

Overall Rating: B-. This was much better than last week but it still wasn’t all that great. One thing Smackdown has going for it right now and that it almost always has had is that it keeps things simple. It’s the best thing that they do as they don’t have anything complicated going on or anything that doesn’t make sense after you think about it for the span of 5 minutes. Also more than one ten minute match is a nice thing to see. As for Vengeance, not bad on the build but the show doesn’t need to exist and there’s no way around that.

Results
Mark Henry b. John Morrison – World’s Strongest Slam
Wade Barrett b. Daniel Bryan – Wasteland
Sheamus/Zack Ryder b. Christian/Dolph Ziggler – Brogue Kick to Ziggler
Sin Cara b. Sin Cara – La Mistica
Big Show b. Alberto Del Rio via disqualification when Ricardo Rodriguez interfered

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Smackdown
Date: October 14, 2011
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

We have our main event set for the PPV and in short, this has to be better than Raw. I mean, I don’t think it’s possible for it to actually be worse. Expect one of the final two remaining pushes to go to the PPV and probably more of Cody vs. Orton. Also with this show, allegedly this is the second longest running episodic television show in history or something, so I’ll set the over/under on mentions of that at 7,000. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the events with Show and Henry last week and Show beating up the champ. He has his title shot at Vengeance.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is being told I have to be somewhere at the very last second. Very annoying.

Here’s Teddy to open the show. Johnny Ace comes out too despite having no power on this show. Teddy says that to celebrate tonight, we’re having the largest battle royal in WWE history. The winner will get a title shot at any champion of his choosing tonight on Smackdown.

Battle Royal

There are 41 people in this and I’m not going to bother listing everyone off. Basically if they’re on the active roster, they’re in this. Cody Rhodes is the first person out. I’m really only going to list off people’s names as they’re out and I’ll only list big names. There’s almost no room to move in the ring so it’s almost impossible to see anything or call it. Striker is in there. We’re about two minutes in and only a handful of people are out.

O’Neil and Bateman are gone as is Striker. Booker: “I really thought Striker could do something special in this.” Cole: “Booker you’re an idiot.” Josh: “Everybody in the ring is in Booker’s Fave Five.” We take a break and the ring has cleared out a little bit. Josh says there are 32 people left in this so it’s still bigger than most Rumbles. Regal is gone. I don’t see Big Show out there but I don’t think he was there in the first place.

Morrison goes out with no theatrics and Ziggler is out immediately thereafter. The title match has to be against Henry or Del Rio. Some of the ring has cleared out a bit now and you can see some of the mat. Blue Cara wasn’t in this either for some reason. An Uso is out and we have 27 left. Orton and Punk fight which sounds like a very boring feud at this point. DiBiase and Kidd are out.

After a break we see Bryan tossed. You can see most of the people still in the match at this poitn. Mason Ryan puts out Hawkins and Reks at almost the same time. Miz and Truth have worked together almost the whole time. There go Drew and Gabriel as well as Ryan to get us down to 19. Of all people, Primo is still in there until Punk kicks his head off. We get some minor eliminations (Santino and Riley) before Swagger manages to dump Kofi. Rider is out too and we have about 13 or so.

Otunga is done and so is the other Uso. Sheamus puts out Jackson and is the only one standing. A big old Brogue Kick eliminates Slater to get us down to ten. Black Cara is powerbombed out as Sheamus has put out like 5 in a row. Christian tries a spear but gets caught in a high cross. That doesn’t work and there goes Captain Charisma. Punk puts out Truth but Miz puts out Punk but Sheamus Brogue Kicks Miz to the apron.

Ok so we’re down to Miz, Barrett, Orton, Christian, Swagger and Mahal. As I typed that Christian put Sheamus out. Punk and Truth are brawling on the floor and Orton puts out Barrett and Swagger. Mahal takes and RKO and is gone but Miz sneaks in and almost puts Orton out. They’re the final two. Orton starts up his finishing sequence but both finishers are countered. They go to the apron and slug it out and Orton is sent into the post. He manages to grab an RKO on the apron and wins at 15:50 shown of 19:20. Orton hit also but Miz clearly hit first.

Rating: C. This was a battle royal with a lot of people in it. I know a a lot of people don’t rate them and I find it very hard to do as well. There wasn’t really anything bad here and nothing was all that great either if that makes sense. It’s just a battle royal for the most part and there isn’t anything else to say.

Orton of course picks Henry.

Del Rio and Rodriguez are leaving but Teddy pops up. They say they’re leaving because Henry is defending tonight. Teddy says not so fast because he has to face Sheamus. Non-title I’d assume.

Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly

Kelly goes nuts to start but gets caught in a backbreaker out of the screaming headscissors. They’re the Sisters of Salvation now. Tornado DDT gets two as Booker says Kelly makes few mistakes in the ring. No wonder Andy hasn’t done anything yet in WWE. Kelly misses a charge and the Glam Slam ends this clean at 1:51. Remember when no one could beat Kelly? I don’t either.

Sin Cara vs. Justin Gabriel

It’s the blue one but in the back the black one jumps him and takes the mask. The black one takes his mask off and puts the blue one on after saying it’s his. Cole explains the backstory of Cara vs. Cara and while it makes sense, I’m not sure how great of a storyline it’s going to be with blue not being able to speak English. Cara (black in blue’s mask) takes over and dropkicks a jumping Gabriel down for two. Justin goes up again but gets dropped one more time and the Swanton ends this at 1:34.

Air Boom is with Teddy and Evan can’t wrestle due to the powerbomb from Swagger. Vickie comes in and demands a tag title match tonight. Teddy says no and here’s Rider to a big pop. He volunteers to replace Bourne and Vickie calls him the Little Woo Woo Woo Boy. The match is made.

Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio

Sheamus takes over early and hits the ten forearms to the chest. The fans are counting along with him now too. Alberto gets a shot in to the arm and let the psychology begin. The Codebreaker on the arm gets one. Sheamus fires back and I don’t think this is going to be very long. They’re moving way too fast for it to be a short one. There’s the Irish Curse backbreaker and that name is back on now. Sheamus goes up but Ricardo distracts the referee. Here’s Christian to shove Sheamus off the top and a kick to the head ends Sheamus at 3:55.

Rating: C. Not much here but while it lasted it was pretty good. They were in a rush and it hurt things but they were having a coherent match so it balances out pretty well. I think it’s better that they kept this short as these guys don’t seem like they would have had the best match in the world. This wasn’t bad but it was just kind of ok, which is primarily due to how fast they had to work.

Christian spears Sheamus post match. He gets up so Christian spears him again.

Vickie introduces her guys for the next match.

Kofi Kingston/Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger

Ryder’s music now starts with Woo Woo Woo You Know It. Ryder vs. Swagger to start us off. Off to Ziggler who has a bit more luck. So is it Ryan or Rider that is going to be the #1 contender for Ziggy? Kofi gets the hot tag very quickly and he hits a bunch of dropkicks to take over. He loads up Trouble in Paradise but Ziggler rolls to the floor. Why would you roll to the floor with a member of a team called Air Boom in the ring? Kofi hits a dive to both heels as we take a break.

Back with Kofi in trouble thanks to some commercial interference by Vickie. Kofi takes him down eventually and there’s the hot tag to Rider. They’re flying through this match. The Broski Boot gets two on Ziggler. Rider gets a knee to the face but can’t hit the Rough Rider. Off to the sleeper but Rider sends him into the post shoulder first. Swagger breaks up the tag but when the referee is getting him out, Kofi kicks Dolph’s head off and Rider gets another pin at 7:07 shown of 10:37.

Rating: C-. Where is this going? I mean, they’ve been going on with this thing for weeks now and we’re at the same place: the champs or some variation of them never lose to Swagger and Ziggler (fairly that is) and Rider keeps pinning Ziggler. When are we getting somewhere with this? The match wasn’t that great either.

Sheamus tells another Irish story about Christian and it’s something about a bull being bitten by a troll.

Video on Show vs. Henry.

Smackdown World title: Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton

Henry is in trouble early but just shoves Randy away. Orton gets sent into the railing and his shoulder goes into the post. Henry works on the neck and kind of the shoulder so I can’t complain about that. Orton fights back and Henry just runs him over. An elbow gets two and we take a break. Powerslam gets two when we’re back. A splash gets two. This is really boring so far. A Vader Bomb misses and Orton starts his comeback….and here’s Cody for the DQ at 7:05 shown of 10:35.

Rating: D. This felt like the main event of a weak house show. It just wasn’t interesting and it didn’t do anything at all. I really was bored by this and I didn’t see anything at all in it. Orton gets beaten up and then we have the required run in because that’s how house show matches end right? Bad main event.

Show comes out for the save and chokeslams Henry again to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This is by far the weakest Smackdown I’ve seen in months. I mean NOTHING interesting went down here. There’s a big battle royal and the top face wins it. Then the top face has a house show-style main event against a guy he was feuding with a few weeks ago. I have no idea what we gained on this show so just like with any other big milestone show, this was a disappointment.

Results
Randy Orton won a battle royal last eliminating The Miz
Beth Phoenix b. Kelly Kelly – Glam Slam
Sin Cara b. Justin Gabriel – Swanton Bomb
Alberto Del Rip b. Sheamus – Kick to the head
Kofi Kingston/Zack Rider b. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler – Trouble in Paradise to Ziggler
Randy Orton b. Mark Henry via DQ when Cody Rhodes interfered

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Monday Night Raw
Date: October 10, 2011
Location: Chesapeake Energy Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole

This should be an interesting show as it’s after the walk out and we may only have about six guys (conveniently enough the top faces on the roster) and HHH to run things. There’s talk of something called a solidarity rally which I guess is their take on the Wall Street protests, which I’m sure will be laughed at because people complaining about business is bad right Vinny Mac? Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the walk out last week and I think it was the same one on Smackdown.

And we have no commentators. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I guess he got the cameramen to agree with him as we go to the back and no one is there. HHH comes out of his office and looks around. He comes to the ring (with music) and talks about how everyone walked out last week. They walked out on the fans, not him. There’s a solidarity rally going on out back and they’re all in gear. HHH makes a good point by making fun of them for saying the show is too tough. They really do sound whiny out there with this argument.

He asks the fans if he should step down and he says no. HHH talks about how he’s never been a quitter and goes on a short rant about how he’ll never quit. He says he’ll wrestle a broomstick for two hours (Flair reference) and says it might give him a better match than some of those guys. There will be a show tonight, somehow.

Cue Cena who didn’t walk out last week. He’s very serious tonight and says there’s a reason he wasn’t walking out last week. Every person that walked out has personally asked him to join in the walk out. HHH never asked him to stay. HHH is the first boss for a lot of those guys so Cena runs down his bosses: Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Vickie Guerrero, 56 guest hosts, a talking computer and Mike Adamle (“Now that was a real unsafe working environment.”) HHH is his boss and he’s staying.

Cena is staying because he loves the insanity. His loyalty is to the fans and when he wears the word loyalty on his shirt he means it. No matter what, he’s staying on Monday Night Raw. Cue Sheamus who talks about beating HHH up a year or so ago. He was young and trying to make a name for himself. Sheamus says that after that he got the worst beating of his life from HHH and he respects HHH for it. As corny as it sounds, that fits for Sheamus.

As for the big white dude, he’s not going anywhere because he didn’t come thousands of miles to be in a parking lot. Cue Punk with a mic. He says he can’t help but feel sorry….oh screw it yes he did start the whole thing. He made walking out look cool but now it looks stupid. Punk did it to prove a point and he had a great reason to do that. He talks about how someone doesn’t want him to be WWE Champion. Punk talks about how this is the place where differences between men are settled in a ring. This is professional wrestling, not ballet.

He talks about how he’ll deal with people personally (Calling Sheamus Shame-O and Cena the big boyscout). Punk asks the million dollar question: what do we do now? HHH says we do what we do on Raw: we shut up and fight. Tonight it’s Sheamus vs. John Cena. Since HHH is in something resembling stripes he’ll referee. Punk will be on commentary on his own and he can even wear HHH’s blazer. The look on Punk’s face cracked me up. Punk also has to ring the bell and wants double pay.

John Cena vs. Sheamus

They start with some basic back and forth stuff and we go to a fast commercial. Back with Sheamus countering the AA into a suplex for two……AND VINCE IS BACK! We saw all of 45 seconds of the match.

Vince asks the guys to leave so he can talk to HHH on his own. The fans chant you got fired. The guys not named HHH go to the back and Vince talks about how they’re all standing up for what they believe in. He mentions the Wall Street protests and actually doesn’t make fun of them. He’s on HHH’s side in this. Vince talks about how there are people that sympathize on both sides and some of the people that are on the walkers side is the board of directors.

The board isn’t sure what’s coming from this and it could mean anything up to the cancellation of anything from house shows to Raw to Wrestlemania. HHH is relieved of his duties. Neither him nor Vince nor any McMahon will be running Raw. The board is looking for a GM who is ethical. There will however be an interim GM and that’s Johnny Ace. Oh dear.

After a break, Ace brings in the guys again. Morrison of all people talks to him and tells Morrison he absolutely sucks. Morrison has to have a match right now against an unspecified opponent. Christian sucks up to Ace and for some reason is put into the match with Morrison. Ok then.

JR and the King come out for commentary. And so does Cole.

John Morrison vs. Christian

Christian has Ziggler, Rhodes and Swagger with them. Both guys are in street clothes. This is a nothing match for the most part as they hit each other a lot and then Ziggler distracts Morrison so that a spear can end this at 1:12.

All three other heels hit their finishers on Morrison post match. Swagger’s music plays them out. Odd choice.

Alberto vs. Punk (non-title) tonight.

Henry vs. Orton, also non-title later.

Wait. The five guys from the last segment were in street clothes. Didn’t HHH say everyone was in their gear? Consistency people.

Post break Ace is on the phone with his wife and HHH comes in. HHH stares him down and Ace tries to talk his way out of trouble. He talks about how he’s a company guy and was appointed just like HHH was. HHH threatens him and leaves.

Henry is in the ring and talks about Big Show. We get a video of Show vs. Henry including Henry getting beaten up on Friday. Show vs. Henry is official for Vengeance. Henry says Vengeance will be his. Orton’s voice comes over the speakers and says Vengeance will be his.

Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton

This is joined in progress after a break. Henry is overpowering Orton and JR calls him the Calculating Colossus. Oh dude….just no. A powerslam gets two but Henry misses an Earthquake drop and Orton takes over. A clothesline takes Henry down clean. Now that’s a high powered clothesline. Elevated DDT hits and here’s Cody Rhodes. He gets sent to the floor and Orton walks into the Slam. Orton escapes and hits the RKO but Cody runs in again for the DQ at 3:24 shown.

Rating: C. I’m not sure what you want me to say here as there wasn’t anything to this. Rhodes vs. Orton is a feud that hasn’t happened in full yet and now Rhodes is ready enough for it. Also getting Orton out of the title picture is probably a very good thing. Also it means the Cell ended a feud which is a good thing. Nothing to complain about here.

Post match Orton tries an RKO on Rhodes but gets shoved into the Slam. Henry leaves and Rhodes gives Orton CrossRhodes and bags him. Rhodes talks about cutting the head off the viper and asks if Randy wants a receipt with his paper bag and then laughs maniacally. Best laugh since DiBiase?

Rosa Mendes/Tamina vs. Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly

Kelly is all intense to start and she and Rosa botch the handspring elbow almost immediately with Rosa walking into the ring for the collision for some reason. Off to Tamina who gets beaten down by the weakest punches ever. Off to Eve and the fans go silent. Everything breaks down and Eve hits the moonsault for the pin at 2:14. This was one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen. I mean it was BAD.

Johnny Ace comes out during Eve and Kelly’s celebration and they leave. He talks about doing the ethical thing and asks JR to come into the ring. Ace fires him for being a hick ingrate. JR tips his hat and leaves immediately. Cole is elated.

Mason Ryan/Air Boom vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger/David Otunga

Bourne vs. Ziggler to start but Kofi is drawn in by the magnetic power of Dolph. Dolph is sent to the floor so Ryan throws him back in only for Kofi to clothesline him back out. A dive by Bourne takes him down also and we go to a break with a standoff. Bad match so far for the US Champ. Back with Kofi reversing Swagger and bringing in Ryan. Ryan uses his assortment of forearms and it’s back to Kofi.

Otunga comes in and slams Kofi a few times so it’s back to Dolph for a SWEET dropkick. Everything breaks down and Bourne gets caught in a HUGE powerbomb by Swags. Ryan picks up Ziggler and does the way too complex and long spinning release Rock Bottom for the pin at 8:30.

Rating: C-. I just couldn’t get into this at all. I really hope they don’t just bypass Ryder as the #1 contender for the US title because he’s big and muscled. Anyway, this was a match that was just ok but Ryan and Otunga added nothing to it at all. Pretty boring overall and I didn’t get into it.

Brodus Clay is still coming.

Time to waste some time on the trailer for John Cena’s newest movie which has a limited engagement next weekend. It’s an action comedy where Cena is a private investigator to get an inheritance.

Del Rio vs. Cena for the title at Vengeance.

Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

This is non-title. They start off with a feeling out process until Punk pounds Del Rio down onto the floor. Del Rio takes over for a bit and they do a bunch of nothing for awhile. After about four minutes, here’s Johnny Ace to stop the match. It’s now a tag match with these two vs. Awesome Truth who are reinstated.

Awesome Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio/The Miz

Miz and Truth do another remix onto the ring. This is in progress after a break. Del Rio fights off both of the other two heels and it’s off to Punk. This is one of those boring matches where they mess around a bit as we’re waiting for the ending to get here already. Alberto fights them both off again and tags in Punk before limping up the crowd with the help of Ricardo.

Ok so now it’s a handicap match. Miz and Truth are really boring when they’re in control. Punk fights them off for awhile and even manages to hit the Macho elbow on Miz. He calls for the GTS on Miz…and then it’s a double beatdown leading to a double DQ at 8:00. The fans audibly and correctly groaned at that ending.

Rating: D. Whatever here man. This was nothing and I could barely pay attention to it at the end. The ending was the worst thing they could have done to it and they did it anyway. Bad match and I have no idea where this is going, although in this case I don’t particluarly care, which isn’t good.

HHH comes out for the save and they beat on Awesome Truth until they run.

Ace makes Punk/Truth vs. Awesome Truth for Vengeance.

Overall Rating: C-. I’m not sure what I thought of this show. You certainly can’t say nothing happened though. It had some twists and turns and not a lot of wrestling. Ace as the GM is probably the most logical thing at the moment…..somehow…..but that doesn’t make him any more interesting. I guess we put the Big Bad reveal on hold a little while longer as I’m starting to agree that this has no idea where it’s going. It’s like they tried to reset the whole thing tonight and while I think I can see the ending to this coming, it’s not getting here any faster and that’s not good.

Results
John Cena vs. Sheamus went to a no contest
Christian b. John Morrison – Spear
Randy Orton b. Mark Henry via DQ when Cody Rhodes interfered
Kelly Kelly/Eve Torres b. Rosa Mendes/Tamina – Moonsault to Mendes
Air Boom/Mason Ryan b. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger/David Otunga – Spinning release Rock Bottom to Ziggler
Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk went to a no contest
CM Punk/Alberto Del Rio b. Awesome Truth via DQ when Awesome Truth double teamed Punk

What is your favorite?

Mine would probably be Have A Nice Day.  It’s a great way of telling Foley’s story which is fascinating and having him do the writing was a great touch as he personalizes things so well.  It’s a fell good story too as it ends with him winning the title which was his dream growing up.

Your picks?

From what I can find the show is now airing Wednesday afternoons at 4pm.  Not that they told us this on the show or anything.  There’s a tweet linking it to another article about it.  I love WWE messing up little things like what time their show is.  I’ll have it up asap tomorrow night.  Sorry to the two people that read the reviews of it.

Thoughts on this?

My thoughts:It probably leads to a lot of talking which is something that happens a lot on Raw anymore.  It’s interesting that Cena, Punk, Sheamus and Orton weren’t out there, which means they’ll probably be the voices of reason or something.  Interesting, but I’d have liked someone to side with HHH tonight as it takes away a lot of the logic they were going for there.  I mean, why would Henry not like HHH?  Things have gone well for him under this regime no?

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 3, 2011
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Commentators: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, Booker T

We’re past HIAC and now only 20 days away from Vengeance. Yeah this isn’t going to blow up in their faces at all. Anyway Alberto is champion again, two weeks after losing it to Cena in the first place. It’ll be nice to see him have a reign as champion but after last night’s ending I’m sure the rematch with Cena in another one on one match is coming. Other than that we’ve got Truth/Miz stuff to get to. Let’s get to it.

There’s a 12 man tag later. That won’t be a mess at all.

Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre

Orton is now introduced as the Apex Predator. Drew is in black tights with a red design on the back. I don’t know if he’s worn them before as I haven’t seen him in a match (other than the battle royal that he was out of in about 5 seconds) in so long. Orton takes him to the floor and sends him into the barricade twice. Back inside now for ten corner punches as this is supposed to be the crazy Orton I suppose.

The referee gets in the way and McIntyre kicks Orton’s head off to take over. Oh come on the big boot is SO 2010. Snap suplex gets two. A neckbreaker puts Orton down and Drew goes up and dives into a boot. At least he looked like he was trying something else though. Elevated DDT hits and it’s time to spin around and slap the mat a lot. RKO ends this clean at 5:45.

Rating: C. I’ll go with right in the middle here because what were you expecting out of this match? Drew hasn’t been featured on TV in months and Orton is coming off a loss in a major match. Why would you expect anything other than this? McIntyre got in more offense than I was expecting and Orton won clean. No shocks here really.

Drew takes another RKO post match. Here’s Henry who holds up the belt, bringing out Orton. Security breaks it up pretty quickly. Both guys do the charge through security to get another shot. So I guess we won’t be ending a feud with HIAC like we should. Also I’d guess Orton gets the belt back after like two months now because that’s enough time to build a monster up right?

Here’s video #8000 about Mark Henry hurting people, this one focusing on Big Show.

Big Show returns Friday. I like that better than a shocking return a bit I think.

Mark Henry vs. John Morrison

My goodness this is the second match in 15 minutes to open the show. I don’t know how to take this. Non-title here. Morrison is in tights now. Morrison escapes the Slam and fires off some kicks and a knee to the head. Starship Pain hits and Henry is out at two. The fans popped BIG for that but Henry gets all mad about it and the Slam ends this in 2:00. Basically just a squash.

Morrison takes another Slam post match. Henry grabs the mic and calls himself a beast. Also he’s done with Orton. As far as Big Show goes, it’ll be a short return. Henry shouts a lot during this. Oh and on a random note, it’s John Morrison’s birthday. Nice present.

The group of people that want to sue HHH is yelling and we need an answer about the grievances. Everyone but Ace leaves and he takes out his phone to text.

Otunga/Christian/Rhodes/Del Rio/Swagger/Ziggler/Vickie are in the ring. Alberto talks about winning the title last night and about how the Cell came up and lowered. Only one man can do that and that is HHH. Christian talks about how they’re not going to take it anymore. Rhodes says everyone here has been a victim of HHH’s negligence. Ziggler says it’s time to take actions into their own hands. Vickie says she feels vulnerable as a woman. Otunga says he’s studied cases like this. There were wrestling cases in Harvard Law? I want to go there! The threat of legal action brings out the Game.

HHH wants to know what happened to the WWE. Men used to fight in that ring and they would win and lose. He doesn’t care about lawsuits but does care about later tonight when the six of them will be in the ring with five guys not including Mason Ryan apparently. HHH wants it to be about fighting, not talking.

Kelly Kelly/Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix/Natalya

Kelly goes insane on Beth and screams a lot, ramming her into the table a bunch. And it’s a DQ at 35 seconds.

Ace comes up to HHH in the back and wants an apology for getting shoved down last night. The locker room needs to be consulted so HHH says get them out there so he can get a vote of no confidence if that’s what we’re coming to. HHH grabs him by the tie and says Ace better be there too.

Video on the DVD/Blu-Ray of Fast Five. At least it has Rock in it.

Mahal is in the ring and JR says he’s mysterious. He’s cut off by……Santino???

Santino Marella vs. Jinder Mahal

Santino looks different now and I’m not sure it’s working for him. He was legit injured in a car wreck in case you’re wondering where he’s been. He makes fun of Mahal’s language and JR says the closed captioning person just walked off the job. Mahal starts fast but misses a knee in the corner. Santino loads up the Cobra and we’re done at 38 seconds.

Brodus Clay is coming. Cool.

We get a clip from last night after the main event ended and the attack from Miz/Truth. It was a huge brawl with Miz/Truth running in and beating down everyone with pipes as the roster tried to break in. Miz and Truth were arrested to end it. This was better when it was live.

We get a homemade Miz/Truth video from Youtube with them talking about last night and how HHH would have done the same thing last night. They mention the attorneys and they’re filing a wrongful termination suit against WWE and assault charges against HHH. They apologize too. The top comment says Kayfabe Lives.

David Otunga/Christian/Cody Rhodes/Alberto Del Rio/Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena/CM Punk/Sheamus/Mason Ryan/Air Boom

Think that’s a long enough match title? I’m not really going to try to call everything in this. Cena starts with Christian and beats up both the Canadian and Otunga in less than 30 seconds before it’s off to Ziggler. Dolph gets Ryan instead and then gets tossed to the floor as the heel team is in trouble. Back in the ring a powerslam gets two on Ziggler. See, it makes sense when a power guy uses a power move. WHY IS THAT SO COMPLICATED???

Off to Sheamus vs. Swagger which is also known as WHAT WERE THEY THINKING IN 2010. Sheamus destroys him for a bit and it’s off to Punk vs. Rhodes. Even JR says he likes the old IC Title being back. Punk sets for the GTS but everything breaks down and we go to a break in a standoff. Back with Kofi missing a cross body and Rhodes getting two.

Off to Del Rip as we’re getting to the issue of these matches: there’s no time to build flow or anything like that because there are way too many people to get into the ring. People come in and out rather quickly. Off to Swagger who brings in Ziggler fast enough that it doesn’t really require mentioning. Dropkick gets two for Ziggler. Not that we saw it because the camera was on Vickie but I guess the awesomeness was implied.

Kofi can’t make the tag because of Swagger so it’s back to Ziggler beating on him a bit more. Kingston and Dolph collide in the air and it’s the hot tag that brings in Bourne. He knocks Swagger down with ease and the Shooting Star hits, only for Vickie to put the leg on the rope. There goes Vickie. Her leaving takes forever and we take another break.

Back with Christian coming in to beat on Bourne a bit as the announcers hype up the vote of confidence later on. This is already over 20 minutes. Del Rio beats on Bourne a bit but Evan gets a SWEET tornado DDT to take over and it’s hot tag to Cena who gets a big old pop. Cena starts his finishing sequence but is put down into the corner as we have our third face beatdown segment of the match. When do you ever see that?

Del Rio gets in a kick to the ribs/arm for two and it’s off to Swagger. Vader Bomb misses and it’s hot tag to Sheamus. He cleans house on everyone but it’s mainly Ziggler. He kicks Christian off but gets shoved by Del Rio in an attempted top rope shoulder. Fameasser (called the Zig Zag) gets one but Christian hits a spear out of nowhere. It’s Parade of Finishers time and I’m not going to bother trying to call all this stuff. The Zig Zag (called the Zig Zag) puts Cena down but the Brogue Kick ends Ziggler at 26:54. Now that is a long TV match.

Rating: B-. For a 12 man tag that lasted nearly half an hour, this was pretty solid stuff. Everyone got in and they gave it the time it needed to go somewhere. The problem with these matches is they usually result in a big brawl and while this one did, it did it when it wasn’t an absurd thing and that made this match work a lot better than most of them I can remember. Good stuff.

Here’s the roster for the vote of confidence. The Divas get their own entrance for some reason. Even the referees come out together. Here are the Smackdown guys….and here are more Raw guys. Even Jerry Lawler comes back for this. The vote is after a break. Here’s HHH and he talks about how Miz and Truth should have been ready to do the time if they wanted to do what they did.

HHH says he’s old school and likes to see people fight. He says at the end of the day it’s the WWE Universe that signs all of their paychecks and it’s the WWE Universe that is the ultimate master. He’s doing things for the fans, not for any wrestler in particular. Now he wants to hear from the guys. Barrett is a spokesman and he says HHH has created an unsafe working environment.

The reason these guys came to WWE is because they’re professionals and they like rules. That doesn’t involve being attacked by outside individuals. Barrett talks about how HHH has made things crazy and it’s not good. HHH calls him out on the obvious: he used to lead the Nexus who did all that stuff. Barrett is shot down quickly by that. Mike Chioda is next (why?) and he says that he’s never seen this much abuse to the referees. HHH fired the guys that attacked the referees but they still got in.

Beth says the Divas are all feeling unsafe. HHH wants to know one thing that has happened. Beth says it could and that’s not really enough for HHH. Jerry Lawler comes in and says he thinks Raw is spiraling out of control. However he doesn’t blame HHH. He agrees with Punk that there’s something going on behind the scenes and whoever is behind it is trying to get HHH out of his job. The problem is that everyone around the ring is paying the price for it. What that means is that HHH may be innocent of the chaos, he’s the reason it’s happening.

They hold the vote and everyone says no confidence. Jerry calmly says he’s walking out. Otunga and his boys walk too. As do various people and then the rest of the guys. The fans chant for HHH but there are a few guys left. Ok now they’re leaving. The referees leave. There are about 15 guys left and most of them are laving. Now there are like six or seven, mostly faces I think.

It’s Air Boom, Ryder, Watson, Morrison and Riley. Cole leaves and no one seems to care. Oh and Santino is out there still too. Now those guys are leaving. Booker walks out and so does the time keeper and someone else. In a cool scene, the cameraman puts his camera down and leaves it in the ring and leaves too.

JR is still left at the announce table and he’s the only person left at ringside. He takes his headset off and leaves to a lot of booing. HHH is all alone in the ring and Johnny Ace comes out to stare him down and shake his head. The big names weren’t there by the way. No Cena, Punk or Sheamus. No Orton either. Ace walks out (shocking). The fans keep cheering for the man with too many nicknames and we go off the air. HHH looks like he says “that’s all”.

Overall Rating: B. I know this show has been blasted a bit from what I’ve seen and I don’t get why. The first hour had four matches and yeah some of them were short but they all did something. Orton and Henry advanced their story and possibly segued into the Henry/Show feud. Kelly showed reasons for getting a rematch and we had a return in the fourth match. And then we get a nearly half hour main event that got almost everyone on the show. Add all that to a big ending and how can you call this bad? I don’t get it. Good Raw tonight. No idea where we’re going after everyone walking out but it should be interesting.

Results
Randy Orton b. Drew McIntyre – RKO
Mark Henry b. John Morrison – World’s Strongest Slam
Beth Phoenix/Natalya b. Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly via DQ when Kelly wouldn’t stop attacking Beth
Santino Marella b. Jinder Mahal – Cobra
Air Boom/CM Punk/Sheamus/Mason Ryan/John Cena b. Alberto Del Rio/Christian/Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger/Cody Rhodes/David Otunga – Brogue Kick to Ziggler

Hell in a Cell 2011
Date: October 2, 2011
Location: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross, Booker T

Well it’s only two weeks after the last PPV and it’s three weeks away from the next one so the build for this much be well developed right? Anyway the mains are a triple threat for Red and a rematch for Blue and as usual with the main events lately, Blue > Red. I’m really not wild on this show but the Cell should help things a little. Anyway let’s get to it.

The opening video is your usual “oh no the Cell is horrible even though it’s the PG Era and the lack of brutality cripples this thing.”

Miz and Truth are in the front row and are ejected by Johnny Ace. That was quick.

Christian vs. Sheamus

Sheamus uses his power stuff to start us off and Christian uses his size and speed to escape. I love power vs. speed matches. Christian tries to speed things up and slaps Sheamus on the floor. Yes, slap the big monster that already wants to hurt you. Back in the forearms to the chest start up. I’d say that needs a name but that could be stupider than having two PPVs in two weeks.

Christian tries going up and that fails also, resulting in a powerslam/spinebuster. The top rope shoulder block is broken up and Sheamus is knocked to the floor to finally give Captain Charisma (if that name still applies) the advantage. Back in and a jumping back elbow (still love that move) gets two. We head to a sleeper hold because someone thinks it’s the 1980s and that move still means anything.

After it gets broken up, the Canadian just hammers away and actually beats Sheamus down. Score one for Canada I guess. Missile dropkick gets two. Sheamus is like screw this in an Irish accent and pounds Christian down. When all else fails, hit the other guy a lot. That should work almost every time. All Sheamus now as he hits some clotheslines but has a gorilla press countered into a Killswitch attempt which fails as usual.

Irish Curse (probably not called that anymore because 3 people in some tiny town in Ireland complained so WWE paid them some obscene sum so that they wouldn’t complain to Linda’s Senate campaign) gets two but Christian gets out of the Celtic Cross again. Christian heads up and that fails as well. He’s just not having a good night. He manages to knock Sheamus back for a bit and we get close to even.

Tornado DDT puts Sheamus down but the Killswitch is countered. So is the flying shoulder there but Sheamus pulls himself from sitting down in the corner to the top rope using the rope for a backflip in an awesome move and there’s the shoulder. Out to the floor and Christian drills him with a spear to put big Irish down. He gets back in at 8 and walks into another spear for a close two. I thought that might have been it. Christian tries for the Killswitch but it gets countered both times and after the Canadian’s shoulder goes into the post, the Brogue Kick puts him down for the pin at.

Rating: B. This was like a Smackdown main event and that means it’s fine on PPV. I was digging this but I’m a big Sheamus fan so there’s no surprise there. Christian is on a roll at the moment and has been having good matches with everyone. He has that kind of style that is easily adaptable and it meshes with everyone so this was no real surprise. Good stuff.

Henry cuts off Striker and makes fun of his voice and the usual interviews they have, saying Orton is joining the Hall of Pain no matter what.

Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara

This could be horrible. For the sake of sanity I’ll call them Black and Blue with Blue being the botchtastic original and Black being the replacement. They feel each other out and Blue frustrates Black a bit. Blue sends him to the floor and hits a big old flip dive. He looks a bit better than he did before he left so maybe the time for practice helped him. Black takes over and we head back into the ring.

And let’s hit the chinlock. I mean let’s hit it for awhile. Yes because in a match over who the real crazy high flier is, the right thing to do is go to a rest hold. I guess Black is supposed to be the evil one but it’s pretty stupid. The fans chant boring and I can’t say I disagree. Blue takes offense to it I guess and sends him to the floor for a big dive and back in for some kicks and a rana for two.

Black counters into a layout powerbomb for a close two. Booker talks about hitting someone in the mask area. Cole: “You mean the head?” Cole can be annoying but when he’s on with his jokes, he’s very on. As Cole makes fun of the Spanish of both guys, Blue hits a top rope armdrag for two but a swanton misses. Not that it matters as a sunset bomb hits a few seconds later for the pin at 9:40. Blue won if that wasn’t clearn.

Rating: C. That’s it? Booker summed up the ending perfectly well. “So what does this mean?” That’s the question that summarizes the problems with this whole feud: so what? It wasn’t a definitive finish as he won with the equivalent of a rollup. I don’t think they knew where they wanted to go with this feud and it showed pretty badly.

Otunga comes up to Punk in the back and lawyer jokes abound. Punk doesn’t want to talk to him and Punk makes fun of him some more and says he doesn’t need a lawyer even when he wins the title tonight. Otunga even has a sweater and bowtie tonight. Punk tells him to vanish.

Tag Titles: Air Boom vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger

Cole: “And yes folks that name is your fault!” Ziggler vs. Kofi to start us off. See, this is old school booking: these were four guys in two singles feuds and they didn’t really have anything else to do after that so they were combined into one feud and made into tag teams which gives them new matches down the road while still being able to feud with the same people in a different feud. See it’s not that hard.

Ziggler gets beaten down for awhile but gets a boot up in the corner to take down Bourne and bring in Swagger. Everyone but Ziggler is in blue. We get into the standard Air Boom formula: hot start, then they get into trouble and by that I mean Bourne gets beaten down for awhile. Cole talks about how Vickie is going to get Swagger matches and spots he wants which is what you do as a manager. You have someone like Vickie who is a heat magnet and you have two guys like Swagger and Ziggler with talent but limited charisma. It’s a perfect match as they can do in the ring and she supplements it with the talking. Everyone wins.

Kofi comes in and Swagger pulls the rope down to send him to the floor so Ziggy can take over. Cole goes on a long rant about HHH and how horrible he is and Booker is like man I was in WCW so don’t try to tell me about politics. Not in so many words but it’s almost kind of maybe in a way implied. We mix up the formula a bit here so that Kofi is the one getting beaten down.

After Ziggler gets his beating in it’s the ankle lock by Swagger. Kofi escapes and hits a DDT to put both guys down. There’s the hot tag to Bourne and everything breaks down. Ziggler bails so Kofi takes Swagger down and breaks up the ankle lock with a top rope cross body. Bourne hits a standing moonsault to Dolph for two. The challengers set for some assisted powerbomb off the top but Bourne counters into a rana off the top to pin Swagger at 11:13.

Rating: B-. I liked this and I’m glad that they kept the belts on Air Boom. They need to build up a team like them so that we can have another team step up to challenge them. It doesn’t mean anything to have worthless teams lose and win the titles over and over again. Having a team like Air Boom on TV a lot and win the matches over and over again makes them interesting and builds up their reputation. See how it works?

HHH trailer.

We recap Henry vs. Orton and I think you know the story here by now. Henry is a monster, beat up everyone then beat Orton for the title two weeks ago and that warrants the biggest gimmick match in the company. Clear connection right?

Smackdown World Title: Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry

Vengeance is pushed and it’s in three weeks. Are you serious? They head to the floor quickly and Orton sends him into the cage and beats him down. Orton tries the elevated DDT but it’s too early for that so Henry fights it off and Orton’s shoulder goes into the post and gets pulled on. Orton gets sent into the cage but fights back in the ring. Henry is like FRIED CHICKEN AND BISCUITS and hits a powerslam for two. Henry goes for the steps and slams them into Orton (or was it the other way around?) to keep up the dominance.

Henry uses more step stuff and sends him into the cage then yells about pizza and twinkies before we go back inside. Orton tries to hammer away but Henry is just too fat. He picks Orton up into the World’s Strongest Slam position but hits a backbreaker instead. Then he does it again. I guess he wanted to go back for seconds. Off to a bearhug so Henry can think of peach cobbler and Skittles.

JR drops some alliteration on us as Henry keeps dominating. At Mania 13 Shawn was on commentary and said of Sid that he didn’t stray from the power game because it took him everywhere he needed to go. That’s Henry in a nutshell: why change things if they work? More bearhuggery as my money is on prime rib wishes and burrito dreams for the champion.

Orton tries to hammer away but Henry is like THE POWER OF PUMPKIN PIE COMPELS YOU and sends him to the floor again. He sets to plant Orton like a patch of carrots into the steps with the Slam but Orton grabs onto the cage and climbs up a bit so he can DDT Henry onto the steps. Momentum shifts now and Henry is in trouble. Thesz Press and punches set up a dropkick to put Henry on the apron.

The elevated DDT actually works and the RKO does as well but Henry kicks out at two. Orton is shocked and isn’t sure what to do now. That’s a great plot device as Randy only had one big weapon to use but it only got two. Cole says Orton can’t beat him. Booker says hit it again. I never got why after a finisher can’t get a pin that everyone thinks they can’t get the pin. I mean…you can do it again. Orton loads up the Punt but Henry grabs him into the World’s Strongest Slam and gets the pin at 16:00. Sweet.

Rating: B-. This was like dipping a toe into the water of what the Cell is capable of. They used the cage a bit here and it helped a lot. Still though, this was kind of limited but you can’t really blame him for that. There’s only so much you can do with Henry and the big spots are of course out of the questions here. I’d have liked a few more minutes but if this was all they could do, I’m cool with that.

Post match Henry goes to leave but goes back in for dessert. He hits another Slam on Orton and sets up for Pillmanization. Orton moves (smart guy) and gets the chair. He pounds Henry down and they go up the aisle. Orton keeps pounding away and goes for a big chair shot but Henry gets a kick to the ribs and Henry runs. So yeah, there’s going to be a third one, probably in another gimmick match because the Cell is just a stop in the road on a feud anymore.

Alberto says he can win in the Cell and he’ll be like an animal trapped in a cage. You’ll see a new side of him tonight.

Here’s Rhodes and he has a surprise. He unveils a new IC Title which looks like the old style and has the white strap instead of the black. I think I’m digging this. Cody says he’ll defend the title anywhere anytime. Here’s Johnny Ace to complain though and he says HHH says the title is on the line tonight and it’s right now.

Intercontinental Title: John Morrison vs. Cody Rhodes

They needed a filler match so this is a good thing. Yeah I’m digging the white belt. Cody is in street clothes and is rolled up for two very quickly. Cole stands up for Cody (instead of WWE) and Cody can’t do anything because of his attire. Morrison takes over and sends Cody to the floor. Rhodes gets his shirt off and Morrison throws it into the crowd. Cody keeps heading to the floor and looks like he wants to leave.

Morrison is like *insert stupid expression here* and heads to the floor. Back in and Rhodes takes over for a bit. Well of course he can. I mean, Morrison is just a former champion and a world class athlete so of course a non warmed up guy can take over on him while in street clothes. Ok so he used the mask but you get the idea. Off to a seated abdominal stretch. Yeah because the weak spot on Morrison is his abs right?

Alabama Slam is countered but Rhodes grabs a Figure Four of all things. Ok so now he’s working on the knee. I guess it’s better than the ribs/abs. Now he’s focusing on the face. And I used to say he had psychology. Here’s Morrison’s comeback and a kick sets up Starship Pain but Rhodes breaks it up. Belly to back is countered but Morrison hits a Pele (called that) and sets for whatever he calls the Beautiful Disaster but Rhodes ducks and a rollup lets him retain at 7:23.

Rating: C. For a thrown on match, this was ok. They desperately needed something to fill out some of the card and getting the IC Title on PPV is always a bad thing. It’s hard to argue with bonus wrestling and this match was ok enough to fill in about ten minutes or so in total so no complaints there. Also having the white belt back with the old design brings a smile to my face.

Ace comes up to HHH on the phone and cuts HHH off from yelling at him. Awesome Truth is in the back. HHH runs to the back and finds them having destroyed Air Boom. Ace gets yelled at as the champions are down.

Divas Title: Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly

Kelly runs at her and hits what are supposed to be Thesz Presses (popular move tonight) and the screaming headscissors which is countered into a backbreaker. Beth takes over and chokes her down with what looks like a dragon sleeper. Off to another backbreaker but this time she bends Kelly over her knee but Kelly counters into a rollup for two. Slingshot suplex gets two for Beth.

Kelly starts her comeback and uses generic offense and a neckbreaker for two. She tries the bad bulldog but Beth counters into a Glam Slam attempt. Beth pounds away in the corner but Kelly fights out and hits the handspring elbow. Cole calls it vintage and Great Muta rolls his eyes somewhere. Top rope bulldog by Kelly gets a very close two. Eve and Nattie get into it on the floor and Eve goes flying into the barricade.

K2 is countered and Beth kicks Kelly between the legs for some reason. Beth hooks up that freaky submission that Natalya has been using lately and Nattie gets on the mic and tells Kelly to scream. Kelly makes the ropes and Natalya pops her with the mic which somehow the referee didn’t hear. Glam Slam FINALLY ends Kelly’s reign at 8:34. Yes they’re that long on time.

Rating: C. This was way too long and I can’t get over the ending: Beth Phoenix needed a mic shot to beat Kelly Kelly? I don’t get that at all as they’ve made Beth look weak already with two straight losses but at least she finally has the belt. I’d assume this sets up Eve vs. Kelly as they fill in as much time as they can for the Kharma return in like another 7 months or however long it is.

Vengeance is coming.

We recap the Raw World Title which is clouded or something because of what happened at MITB and Summerslam. Not really but whatever. Either way it’s Cell match time.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

After big match intros we’re ready to go. There’s a TON of time for this as it’s only about 10 minutes after 10. They emphasize that the fall has to be in the ring. Fair enough. Alberto immediately hits the floor and runs a lot. Both guys chase him and they slide in to get in what they can and the Super Best Friends fight over who gets to beat up Del Rio. Punk tries to steal the title on a rollup but it only gets two.

The big stars face off and both escape the other’s finishers. Del Rio tries to take Cena out but gets caught in an AA attempt on the floor. Punk dives onto Del Rio and Cena to break it up for some reason and back in the ring a neckbreaker gets two on Del Rio. The dueling chants begin but after being a CM Punk/Let’s Go Cena chant it’s turned into Cena Sucks very quickly. See the issue? It’s not so much pro Punk but rather anti-Cena.

Del Rio gets back into this and sends Punk into the cage. Cena is down also and Punk is the only one left standing after he takes out Alberto. He loads up a table on the floor but Cena shoves him into the cage to avoid a bulldog. Alberto gets a chair in and hits a belly to back onto the chair with Cena slowing breaking the chair down. That looked good. There are the chants again.

Cena is in the Tree of Woe and Del Rio misses a charge, sending his shoulder into the post. Off to Punk vs. Del Rio and with Punk in trouble, Cena dives off the top with the legdrop and gets two on both guys. This is good so far. AA is escaped by Alberto and he goes for the ribs/back of Cena. Del Rio is sent to the floor and Ricardo fans him off. Cena and Punk slug it out and it’s boo/yay time. GTS is broken up by a chair swung by Del Rio.

He picks up the chair and comes off the top with it to land on both of the Super Best Friends, getting two on each. Del Rio charges at Punk in the corner but is dropped over the top and hits the stairs on the way out. You couldn’t see it but you could hear it. AA out of nowhere gets two on Punk with Alberto saving. Del Rio is sent to the floor again and this time it’s the GTS to Cena for two. Del Rio saves again and sends Punk into the steps. He’s been the wild card in this so far and it’s working.

Cena is sent into the cage again so it’s Punk vs. Del Rio in the ring. Punk fights back and the Macho Elbow gets two. Cena comes back in and sends Punk through the table at ringside. Cena grabs the STF and Ricardo takes down the referee and breaks into the Cell. Ricardo has a pipe with him but Cena takes him down and throws him out of the Cell. Del Rio gets the pipe and bashes Cena with it. He throws Cena out and locks him outside with the key inside. Ok this is interesting.

The Mexican hits a German on the American for two. Punk goes up and Del Rio hits the running enziguri for two. Cross armbreaker is broken up and Punk fires off the kicks. Leg lariat puts Del Rio down and Cena is just now getting up and figures out that he’s locked out. Punk hits the bulldog as Cena looks for the key. Springboard clothesline gets two and Cena is trying to break the chain and the lock open. Alberto goes to the floor and grabs the pipe. It’s only about 10:30 so there’s plenty of time here. Two pipe shots put Punk down and Del Rio wins it at 24:12. I guess there isn’t a lot of time left.

Rating: B+. Good match here as they had time to work with and made it violent. You can have good stuff like this without blood and this was one of the better ones ever. The ending came much earlier than I was expecting and the championship changing is a nice surprise. Also it gives Del Rio a more legitimate title reign which is something he needed. I’m sure Cena vs. Del Rio is booked for Vengeance though.

Post match the Cell raises up and Cena gets in as do men in black hoodies. It’s Miz/Truth with pipes or something and the beating is on. HHH comes out and gets beaten down also as the Cell lowers again. HHH is on the floor, outside of the cage. The locker room comes out but no one has the idea of bolt cutters. Miz and Truth beat up cameramen and referees as some cops come in with cutters and get in. Truth and Miz surrender to the police and are cuffed. HHH beats up the cuffed men and is taken out by security…and we’re off the air at 10:37.

Overall Rating: B. I had a good time with this show despite the early ending. The Cell matches were good because, and this is a new idea I know: THEY USED THE CAGE AND MADE THEM VIOLENT. My goodness why is that such a complex idea? Oh wait, Linda was trying to become a Senator so they had to slow things down and make sure it was as kid friendly as possible last year. Not bad at all and I had a good time with it. However, the lack of build for it is going to hurt and the stuff that happened on the show will be blamed when the buyrate sucks, which is the nature of WWE anymore. Good show though.

Results
Sheamus b. Christian – Brogue Kick
Sin Cara b. Sin Cara – Sunset Bomb
Air Boom b. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler – Top rope hurricanrana to Swagger
Mark Henry b. Randy Orton – World’s Strongest Slam
Cody Rhodes b. John Morrison – Rollup
Beth Phoenix b. Kelly Kelly – Glam Slam
Alberto Del Rio b. John Cena and CM Punk – Pin after a pipe shot to Punk

Unforgiven 2004
Date: September 12, 2004
Location: Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon
Attendance: 10,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s 2004 and we’re in the single brand PPV era. This is a Raw show and the main event is HHH vs. Orton since Orton rose to the top of the show and won the title from Benoit at Summerslam. Since someone is getting some traction as a face, we better crush him quickly. Other than that we also have Jericho vs. Christian in a ladder match for the vacant IC Title and the winner of worst match of the year. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how Orton has turned back against Evolution and HHH in specific so tonight it’s payback time.

Batista/Ric Flair vs. Chris Benoit/William Regal

Regal got a small push around this time as he feuded with Evolution because Evolution hurt Eugene. Benoit vs. Batista gets us going and the Crossface is attempted less than a minute in. Benoit uses his technical stuff and has Batista all confused. Off to Regal who tries to brawl and tosses Big Dave around with a suplex. Batista gets his hands on Benoit and brings in Flair. Let the wooing begin!

Benoit is like cool man and chops it out with Flair and the Canadian gets the better of it. Back to Regal and the beat down the old wrinkly man. Flair Flop and Regal drops a knee on his head. Benoit and Regal hammer away on Ric for a bit. He probably owes them money. Benoit goes for the knee again and takes an enziguri for Flair Flop #2. Off to Regal vs. Batista now and Regal is in a fighting move.

Batista takes down Regal and lets Flair get the glory shots in. Well that’s better than a Regal money shot I guess. Belly to back gets two. This crowd is silent. Batista comes back in and he’s really not that good at this kind of stuff yet. Back to Flair and it’s Figure Four time. Benoit comes in to break it up like any good partner would do. Batista beats on Regal a bit but Regal rams into him and it’s hot tag Benoit.

Flair comes in at the same time and Benoit is all fired up. The crowd doesn’t seem to care about anyone but Regal. That tends to be a problem in the Pacific Northwest. Is there an Atlantic Northwest that I’m not aware of? Benoit busts out Rolling Germans on Flair and the Swan Dive drills Flair. Crossface goes on Flair but Batista picks Benoit up like he’s a small Canadian wrestler and Batista is a big power lifter. Regal sends Batista into the post and then into the crowd. The Canadian counters the Figure Four into the Crossface and we’re done.

Rating: B-. Solid opening tag match here that got a lot of time to work with. Regal was fired up here and with him like this I could see him having a bit of a stronger push if they kept him serious. Not a classic or anything but they did enough here to make a good match without much to work with other than Evolution hurt a slow guy and it’s revenge time. Good opener though.

Trish and Christian argue over who gets to use Tomko tonight. Pay no attention to the fact that they have different matches tonight and Tomko isn’t in one of his own. Trish whispers in his ear and Tomko leaves with her. I think that was a breakup also. There’s some mystery chick that is trying to jump Trish which is why she wants Tomko there.

Women’s Title: Victoria vs. Trish Stratus

Trish is champion and Victoria is in this weird stage where she’s dancing and such and it didn’t fit her at all. JR thinks Victoria is the stronger of the two. And this man is in the Hall of Fame. The fans think Trish is a sl** and Jerry disagrees. Jerry wanted to give Trish a pre-match physical since she had been injured. JR: “She had a broken hand. What were you going to have her do? DON’T ANSWER THAT.” Victoria keeps taking over but can’t keep the advantage.

Tomko saves Trish from a dive and Victoria is mad. She gets sent into the post and that changes things around quite a bit. Trish pounds away and chokes a bit for two. She channels her inner Dan Severn and uses the modified abdominal stretch that he used during his limited time in the company. Things slow WAY down as Trish hooks on a chinlock. Victoria makes her comeback and hits her side slam and and standing moonsault (with shake) for two each. A headbutt puts Trish down…and Victoria dives on Tomko. That’s enough for Stratusfaction to end this.

Rating: D. And most of that is because Victoria looks good in little flesh colored shorts. This was really boring and I don’t think anyone cared. For some reason this was to set up the post match stuff because the company thought someone wanted to see it. What is that you ask? It’s the worst match of the year. Here it is.

The mystery woman comes in to save Victoria from a beating and a DDT puts Tomko down. After a brief chat with JR and Jerry, Tomko says he wants to fight the mystery woman right now. Here she comes and even JR says it’s the worst kept secret in wrestling as to who that is.

Tyson Tomko vs. Mystery Woman

There go the clothes…and it’s Steven Richards. Yeah and everyone knew it so this is hardly a secret. And he’s wearing a bra, panties and plastic chest enhancements. Tomko destroys him and asks if Richards wants to be a girl. The fans know it’s garbage and it’s not even really a match. Tomko chokes Richards a lot and the fans aren’t paying attention at all. Tomko slams him and that’s the first non-stomp/choke move of the match. Here’s a neck vice and the fans just die. Richards no sells punches and Tomko calls him a sissy, making Steven grabs his balls. Tomko’s that is. Richards stops to look at the bra and a rack neckbreaker ends him.

Rating: J. As in just no. No way, not working, nothing of value. Next please. This is why we got tired of individual brand PPVs: stuff like this got six and a half minutes. Let that sink in for a minute.

Buy the Chris Benoit DVD which we’ll never mention again three years from this date!

We recap Christian vs. Jericho. In short, Edge was injured (shocking I know) and had to forfeit the title. Jericho got in his face so Christian made the save and a ladder match was announced for this show for the title.

Intercontinental Title: Christian vs. Chris Jericho

All outside parties are banned from ringside and it’s a ladder match remember. The fans chant CLB and Christian is in green tights for some reason. Basic stuff to start with these two being their normally awesome selves. Jericho grabs a ladder and throws it at Christian but only hits another ladder. Jericho takes over and hits a running enziguri. Out to the floor and Jericho misses another ladder shot.

And now let’s go into the crowd because there are a ton of ladders out there right? Back to ringside and Jericho chokes on him with a cord. Christian busts out an Unprettier (Killswitch) on the floor which today would probably be an injury angle for Jericho but here it just knocks him out. To give you an idea of what midcard finishers mean, Jericho keeps Christian from even climbing the ladder after taking his finisher on the floor. Imagine that today.

Christian is sent face first into the ladder and JR talks about barbecue sauce. I don’t get how he manages to tie those things together but whatever. Christian puts the ladder on the middle rope and slingshots Jericho into it face first. This is more about beating on each other instead of the title and climbing. Speaking of which, Jericho throws the ladder at Christian to put him down again.

Jericho channels his inner Shawn and rides the ladder down onto Christian, mainly hitting the back and the knees. Since selling isn’t allowed in this match, Jericho gets hung upside down, almost in a Tree of Woe position in the corner. Christian goes up but Jericho flips him off instead of climbing to slow him down. Jericho tries a Lionsault onto Christian onto the ladder but only gets ladder.

Jericho sends him into the ladder and the fans try to get into it. Christian goes up and hangs up there but still can’t pull it down. Instead he crashes, allowing Jericho to go up and be shoved off too. Christian goes up and gets caught in Jericho’s signature Walls on the Ladder spot. Christian falls off and Jericho still can’t get it as Jericho’s tail bone lands on the ladder. FREAKING OW MAN! Captain Charisma brings the big ladder in and Jericho tries on a regular one.

Since he’s an idiot in this match, Christian touches the belt and then stops to look at Jericho. Both guys go flying off after Jericho shoves the belt so Christian has issues getting to it. And then Jericho climbs up to get it in a very pedestrian ending. This would give Jericho the record for most Intercontinental Titles ever, a record he still holds to this day.

Rating: C+. This was a pretty boring ladder match actually. Ladder matches automatically get some bonus points because they’re ladder matches but this was far less about drama for the belt and more about trying to have big spots. Not a particularly good match and most of the time it just got boring. They were trying though and the spot near the end where Jericho fell on the ladder was impressive.

Todd tries to talk to Kane but runs into Lita instead. Lita talks about how she wants Shawn to kill Kane. Kane pops out of his locker room and grabs her by the hair. It’s now a No DQ match. Kane also forces a kiss out of her.

Jericho talks about how proud he is to be champion and the record holding champ. Edge pops up and says that’s my belt.

Mania 21 is in LA.

We recap Shawn vs. Kane. Kane is all crazy and evil and Lita is carrying his baby which was the result of a night with Kane to keep him from killing Matt. Guess how well Kane kept up the end of the bargain. This resulted in a forced wedding because that’s how wrestling works. Kane got an open contract to face anyone he wanted at Unforgiven and planned to get a world title shot but Lita stole the contract and signed Kane up to face the returning Shawn Michaels. Oh and Kane put Shawn out in the first place.

Shawn Michaels vs. Kane

Lita is here against her will. Shawn fires away at Kane and the Big Bald gets beaten to the floor. See, this is why Shawn is great: you can throw him into something like this and it works very well as can anyone question Shawn being in there? Shawn heads to the floor but jumps into an uppercut back inside. Kane misses an elbow due to Shawn moving even though it would have missed by a mile anyway. Out to the floor and Shawn dives over the top to take Kane down.

The lack of a story is hurting it here as it’s just a match with no backstory or anything like that and that’s the meat of any wrestling match. Shawn gets slammed through the table and he bumps like only Shawn can. That only gets two back in the ring because an upper midcard match has to go longer than 5 minutes. A legdrop also gets two. Off to a chinlock to waste some time. The move known as the Punjabi Plunge gets two.

Back to the neck vice which lasts a little longer this time. Shawn finally gets something going and drops Kane with a DDT. Both guys are down so Kane sits up and Shawn nips up almost at the same time. Out to the floor again and a step shot busts Shawn open. Shawn tries to speed things up and knocks a chair out of Kane’s hands but gets knocked down again.

Kane misses a big boot to the post and Shawn sends his head into the steel. Shawn fires away with his usual stuff back in the ring and drops the elbow for no cover. Michaels starts shaking like Terry Funk and it’s time to stomp the mat in an attempt to surprise my opponent. And never mind as Kane kicks his head off for two. Top rope clothesline looks to set up the chokeslam but Shawn hits Kane in the Little Balds.

A big chair shot puts Kane down but Shawn can’t follow up. Since it’s a No DQ match we also have no countouts so the laying around is pretty pointless with no drama at all. Lita steals the chair from Kane and the distraction lets Shawn…miss Sweet Chin Music again but the third attempt hits and it’s good for the pin.

Rating: C. This got almost twenty minutes and while it was a good brawl, I’m not really sure what this proves. Shawn, a bigger star than Kane, beat Kane and that’s it. There’s no story or retribution or anything like that. It was an entertaining enough match but all it really does is advance Lita and Kane a bit more. It would take Gene Snitsky of all people to turn Kane face again.

Video on Shelton Benjamin. He isn’t on the show or anything but here’s a video about him.

HHH talks about how Orton was nothing until he met HHH and how Evolution was about the best, meaning him. Orton is good, but not as good. This takes about two minutes and it takes that much time to say HHH is awesome and Orton needs to be beaten.

Raw Tag Titles: La Resistance vs. Tajiri/Rhyno

Conway/Grenier here. Conway vs. Tajiri starts us off and Tajiri speeds around a lot to take over. Off to Grenier who hits the floor to avoid a Gore. Tajiri comes back in and takes over with a semi-botched tornado DDT. Conway beats on Tajiri and the fans just do not care. Off to a reverse chinlock as the fans chant USA for a Japanese comeback. Rhyno comes in and beats on both French dudes a bit.

This match needs to end like five minutes ago. It’s just boring but you could say that about every tag title match in this period. We hear about Rhyno looking everywhere for a partner as he walks into a double flapjack for two. The flag goes into Conway’s balls but a Gore only gets two. And there’s a flag to the face of Rhyno for the cheap pin.

Rating: F+. This had zero point in being on PPV. It wouldn’t even be a good Raw match, mainly because it went on way too long, getting almost ten minutes. La Resistance would be the heel team of the year for awhile as no one cared at all and it went nowhere at all. The tag division sucked BAD around this point and this is a fine example of it.

We recap Orton vs. HHH which I’m sure you get by this point. They were in Evolution together, Orton won the title, HHH got mad and threw him out, this is the match. Oh and Orton spat at HHH. This gets the music video treatment.

Raw World Title: HHH vs. Randy Orton

HHH has the white boots on this time. I miss this version of Orton. Here he’s young and chisled and has elbow pads and isn’t orange and covered in tattoos. They get something resembling big match intros as both guys are checked for weapons and they get the rules read to them. Feeling out process to start and they look at each other a lot. Orton spits at him again and I guess the bodybuilding phase is over.

Orton fires away and drops HHH on his back (a backdrop if you will) and hammers on him even more. Time for the chinlock and Orton looks ticked off while he’s holding onto it. And now that the hold is broken: more punching! They head to the floor and JR calls it no man’s land, and “HHH owns a lot of land in no man’s land.” If this show hadn’t bored me into a numbness already, I’d rip that apart.

HHH gets in a shot to the knee and JR follows that one up by saying he thinks Orton is quicker. Back in HHH goes for the knee as he channels his inner Naitch. The leg goes into the post and the Game works on the knee. By that I mean he spends a LONG time working on it. Off to a Figure Four and Trips puts the pressure on it. The hold goes on for a few mintues as the boring nature of this show continues. The crowd isn’t into it at all either.

The Game finally gets caught in the ropes and Hebner breaks it up. Orton counters another try at the hold and both guys are down. HHH is busted off….something. Orton goes back to the old faithful right hand and a Piper poke to the eye. They trade sleepers and HHH goes up for the dumbest move in wrestling (jumping into the boot). Randy goes up as well and hits a cross body for two.

Backbreaker gets two for the champion. The knee injury is coming and going. Orton loads up the RKO but gets shoved into the referee. Pedigree is countered into the RKO but there’s no ref. Here’s Flair who has the same looking hair as my ex stepmother but down he goes as well. Batista comes in and goes into the post.

A low blow puts Randy down and Coach comes out to referee. There’s a right hand for him but Orton walks into a Batista spinebuster to put him down for two. Pedigree is countered and there’s an RKO for Coach. Flair brings in a chair and takes an RKO too. A low blow gets rid of Batista but HHH pops Randy with a chair and a Pedigree onto said chair gives HHH the title back.

Rating: B-. Good match but the ending really hurts it. Everything went insane and the Evolution team standing tall was already old but here it is again. Batista would hit the hot streak of a lifetime soon after this though and would finally take the title off HHH for good. Oh and that Cena guy won a title too. The match was long though and the leg selling by Orton was so hit or miss that it got annoying.

Overall Rating: D-. There’s some good stuff on here but OH MY GOODNESS this show is boring. This show just keeps going on and on and there are moments where you want to pound your head into a wall to give you something interesting like a concussion. The matches aren’t bad but nothing is really great and there is so much awful on it that it gets pulled down and pulled down deep. Very boring show and nothing worth seeing at all.