Full Credit: Ryan Capuano, WrestlingObserver.com
24-Man Tag Match Featuring the Men in the Battle Royal
Twelve on twelve here. This should be very cohesive. As the show opens, most of the guys are already in the ring. Cody Rhodes and Brian Kendrick start us off. Kendrick goes for a few quick pin attempts and stays a step ahead of Rhodes. Rhodes slows down the pace with an armbar. The two then trade pinning attempts. From here on out, the rest of the match breaks down into frequent tags and quick wrestling, with the highlight being Jimmy Yang hitting a leaping hurricanrana on Chuck Palumbo, who did indeed bring the crazy prior to this, sending him to the outside. Yang hits a vaulting body press to the outside on Palumbo, Kendrick hits a suicide dive on Yang, Shannon Moore hits a rope flip onto Kendrick, and Trevor Murdoch, for some reason, hits a high cross body block onto the five men on the floor as we go to commercial.
Back from commercial, Snitsky and Tommy Dreamer are going at it, then it breaks down again into a series of fist fights scattered throughout with Bob Holly, Festus, Khali, Kane, Snitsky, and Mark Henry getting spotlights in the ring. The finish saw Henry bearhug Dreamer and toss him into The Undefeated Snitsky’s big boot for the win. Team Snitsky is victorious!
FINAL RATING: **1/4 Parts of this were really fun and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting (re: clusterf***), but I couldn’t tell who was on what team, though it was good to see Kendrick on this show.
Mayweather/Show stuff airs.
Colin Delaney and Dreamer are backstage when they run into Chavo Guerrero. Chavo makes fun of them, and Dreamer challenges him to a match tonight to put him in his place.
Carlito vs. Shelton Benjamin – Money in the Bank Preview Match
Carlito takes the boots to Shelton to start off, but Shelton flips out of a monkey flip and goes on the attack. Carlito reverses a hip toss, but gets put into a side head lock. Carlito hits a dropkick on the rebound. Lots of back and forth. Shelton goes for a sunset flip from the apron into the ring, but Carlito atches him with a guillotine on the way in. Getting back on the apron, Shelton hip tosses Carlito to the outside, but Carlito lands on his feet and spikes Shelton with a DDT. He goes into a headlock on Shelton. A Shelton chant is heard as the crowd tries to will him to his feet. Shelton does get to his feet, but Carlito is able to hit a backspring elbow from the second rope. Carlito nails a suplex and a shoulder thrust in the corner. He goes into a rear seated chinlock, but Shelton picks him up on his shoulders and nails the electric chair drop. The two regain their balance, as Carlito goes to the outside and hits a springboard dropkick for two. Carlito is frustrated and pummels as Shelton. He nails a neckbreaker for another two. He goes back into another rear seated chinlock. Shelton gets back to his feet, and from here, a bevy of near falls and high impact moves. Shelton goes for Pay Dirt (the inverted bulldog), but Carlito reverses into a backbreaker. Carlito goes for a Back Stabber, but Shelton reverses somehow into a powerbomb and slams him into the corner. Carlito kicks him in the face and goes to the top rope, but Shelton does his grand leap to the top and hits the Pay Dirt off the top rope in an excellent spot to a big pop. Shelton makes the cover and gets the win.
FINAL RATING: *** When Carlito was in control and doing a bunch of rest holds, it was dull. But the last couple of minutes were excellent and had the rest of the match been as fast-paced with as many good spots, this could have been a **** match easily. But it was too lengthy and the excitement too brief in the grand scheme of the match to rate it any higher. Still, when it was good, it was the best wrestling you’ll see in the WWE right now.
An excellent video package airs for the triple threat main event this Sunday and for the first time since we knew what it was going to be, the match felt like the biggest, most important match we’ll see all year.
The final inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2008 is… Gordon Solie! They really did a great job with the selections this year, with unconventional, yet very, very worthy choices. Kudos to the WWE for coming up with these choices.
Mike Knox and Layla vs. Stevie Richards and Kelly Kelly
Layla and Kelly start off. They start off with some very basic chain wrestling. Kelly gets the better of the exchange with a flying clothesline. Layla whips Kelly into the ropes from a headlock, and Knox trips Kelly. Layla swings Kelly by her hair to the mat as Stevie gets the crowd going from the apron. Layla misses a leg drop. She grabs Kelly by the leg and Kelly hits an enziguiri, and makes the hot tag to Stevie. Stevie destroys Knox with some brutal kicks. Stevie goes for a monkey flip, but Knox catches Stevie and hits a corkscrew reverse STO to get the win.
FINAL RATING: * Basic match, but decent. I like Knox’s new finisher.
That awful Mayweather video package airs again, where he compares his physical attributes to Show’s and beats up a Big Show doll. Matt Sydal is supposedly training Mayweather for the match Sunday. He has an uphill battle, that’s for sure. They also talk about how popular Mayweather is in Mexico and how much Mexicans love him. My ex-girlfriend is Mexican. I’ve met her family and a lot of her cousins. We were together when Mayweather/de la Hoya happened. I have never met a Mexican that even remotely likes Floyd Mayweather. And to top it all off, I still don’t know who to root for on Sunday!
Chavo Guerrero vs. Tommy Dreamer – Lumberjack Match
The other twenty-three men are surrounding the ring. The clock says 11:03, so they have two minutes to do this match. Chavo controls most of the match. Dreamer is able to reverse an Irish whip to the corner and nail a bulldog. He ties Chavo to the Tree of Woe and hits the dropkick. He goes for the DDT, but Chavo hangs onto the ropes. Dreamer takes Chavo down and goes to the top, but is crotched on the top rope. He’s tossed off, allowing Chavo to hit the frog splash, and that is that. Outside the ring, Kofi Kingston shakes his head in disappointment.
FINAL RATING: * Way, way, way too short. It is basically an abbreviated version of what these two can do if Dreamer wins the Battle Royal.
Post-match, the other twenty-three wrestlers rush the ring and attack Chavo, then each other.
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