THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: twosheds316@aol.com
Websites: www.twoshedsreview.com & www.myspace.com/twosheds316
Just twenty-four hours before One Night Stand, WWE returned to network television with the latest instalment of Saturday Night’s Main Event, and we Brits got to see it on television before the Americans! Our hosts for the show are Smackdown’s Michael Cole and Raw’s Jerry “The King” Lawler.
The show begins with WWE Champion John Cena going up against the Great Khali. Khali is accompanied by his interpreter, which once again makes me wonder why they took Daivari away from him in the first place. It’s a dominant performance from the big man as he dominates the champion. Cena gets a couple of moves in, but Khali physically dismantles him before finishing him off with the two-handed choke bomb, getting the pin with a foot on Cena’s chest. Khali is certainly improving, but he’s still a work in progress in my opinion.
Up next, the non-wrestling part of the show as Bobby Lashley and ECW Champion Vince McMahon square off in an arm wrestling contest. McMahon doesn’t actually take part in this contest, instead bringing out Mark Henry after teasing Lashley for a few minutes. Then, after the two strongmen lock up, the actual arm-wrestling contest doesn’t finish as Henry attacks Lashley. Lashley fights back, taking Henry down with a spear, before McMahon attacks Lashley from behind with a chair. A good way of building-up the rivalry between McMahon and Lashley, even if we did have to put up with Mark Henry’s return.
Backstage, the lovely Maria catches up with World Champion Edge. Edge proclaims himself the greatest. Not many people would argue with that fact at the moment.
Tag-team action follows, as U.S. Champion MVP and World Champion Edge take on Batista and Chris Benoit. A good match here which saw Benoit take a ton of punishment from MVP and Edge, before tagging in Batista. Edge abandoned his partner as the powerhouse took MVP apart, taking him down with a spine buster, then tagging in Benoit who finished the match off with his top rope head butt.
We stick with tag-team action for the next match, as Finlay and Hornswoggle take on the big and little Boogeymen. You have to wonder just what’s happening with Finlay’s career at the moment. Having gone through great feuds with Chris Benoit and Bobby Lashley, he now has to put up with the annoyance that is the Boogeyman. This one was okay for a couple of laughs, but nothing more. Finlay got the pin for his team after pinning the little Boogeyman while the big guy chased Hornswoggle around the ring. Get Finlay in with some proper wrestlers so we can see him at his best I say.
ECW’s Extreme Expose then do their thing in the ring. So how am I meant to review their dance moves then? The action is then interrupted as Hornswoggle and the little Boogeyman chase each other through the corridor, before Finlay takes out the big guy. As the girls continue their dance in the ring, the little guys come out to continue their fight. Was this thing really needed? I think not.
The show ends with six-man tag-team action, as Kane, Eugene and Doink the Clown face Umaga, Viscera and Kevin Thorn. Not a bad little match here. Doink does his bit to get the crowd going before Eugene gets in on the action and gets the crap beaten out of him by the tree bad guys, most notably Umaga. The special one then gets the hot tag to Kane, who cleans house, before showing great strength by chokeslamming Viscera to get the pin for his team. Very entertaining.
In conclusion – not a bad little show, and again, not as bad as some people would have you believe. Cena v Khali once again put the big guy over as an unstoppable force, which is what’s needed after his early teething troubles on Smackdown. The Smackdown tag did enough to keep the various rivalries involved in that one fresh in the mind, while the arm wrestling match did enough to continue Vince’s rivalry with Lashley. The less said about the mixed tag the better, but the freak show at the end was entertaining to watch, so in all, quite an entertaining little piece from WWE here, and a good way to lead into One Night Stand.
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