I thought ECW and Smackdown were much better shows then the live Raw that I attended. And it took only one EXCELLENT match to make ECW more enjoyable than Raw and I can’t wait to talk about that main event. As far as Smackdown goes, the show wasn’t as excellent as it’s been, BUT it was still a very good show, and I’m being selfish here, but I feel so gypped that Raw was the worst of the week. So let me get right to ECW’s main event and then on to a decent Smackdown minus their top star.
I said that ECW was a better show than Raw and that’s because they gave us the main event, which should have been the match that we paid for at Summer Slam. I got a kick out of the ad that we would get a rematch from Summer Slam with Mark Henry defending his title against Matt Hardy. How could they even consider that 20-second atrocity last Sunday a match? And more importantly why didn’t they give us Tuesday’s phenomenal match at the pay per view? I wish I had the answers to those questions, but what it all of this boils down too is that Hardy and Henry put on a 5 star match. And for all the crap that I have given Henry in the past he proved to me and I think to the majority of his critics that he’s more than capable of performing in the ring. This one floored me, not in a million years did I ever dream that Henry was good enough to work like that. And then you have the outstanding Matt Hardy as his opponent and ECW ended on a hell of a positive note. Now I really enjoyed The Miz, John Morrison, and Chavo Guerrero (with Bam Neely) vs. Evan Bourne, Super Crazy, and Tommy Dreamer, and I liked the segment with Finlay and Mike Knox, but nothing topped the HOT main event, and that match really put ECW over Tuesday night.
Now Smackdown for the most part delivered, however with Edge out you definitely could feel something was lacking on the show. I did not like the opening with Vickie and her crew. I thought Vickie was very boring and her character took a minor hit, because whoever came up with this segment took all the nastiness out of her and just had her read an apology to Undertaker. I found this to be such a weak way to open the show. Yesterday I read that this was not what the live crowd on Tuesday saw. Originally her promo was done in the ring and she was getting major heat while she was talking. Now that I would have rather have seen, I guess creative wanted us to believe that Vickie was no longer a heel and because of what Edge did to her she was now a face. I still didn’t like the opener but thankfully as the show went on there were some pretty good things that happened. The first match was Maria defeating Natalya. And the match itself came off well, but the Maria win got to me, because I am starting to think that Natalya is not going to get much of a push. I felt this woman should have had no problem in taking Maria out and winning. So the way that Natalya is being used is not putting a smile on my face as of now.
I also wasn’t crazy about the Big Show backstage segment with Vickie. I didn’t get how it was an “over sight” that he wasn’t in the next match, the Championship Scramble qualifying mach. That explanation from Vickie was another “over sight” by that wild creative staff. This just didn’t make any sense to me. And Big Show seemed to take her answer very well, in fact too well. But Big Show made his feelings known during the battle royal to qualify for the Championship Scramble match with The Brian Kendrick vs. Curt Hawkins vs. Zach Ryder vs. Scotty Goldman, vs. Funaki vs. Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Vladimir Kozlov vs. Super Crazy vs. Armando Estrada vs. Ryan Braddock (if it wasn’t for my friend Max, I would never have guessed it was Braddock in there). I got a kick watching Big Show sitting and smiling while this was going on, and then all of a sudden Big Show came in, and started eliminating the participants. But when he eliminated Kendrick Ezekiel caught him and waited for Show to go, and then got Kendrick back in the ring and the shocker of all shockers, THE Brian Kendrick won and now will be a part of the title match at Unforgiven.
Things started improving for me with another very strong R. Truth Vignette. As I said before I just hope he doesn’t dance and do his raps. I love the very serious and down to earth side of him and next week when he makes his debut I want to see THIS R. Truth. The next Championship Scramble qualifying match with MVP vs. Festus came off very well. I was very impressed with Festus going against Taker a few months ago, and last week Festus vs. Kozlov was the best Kozlov match so far. So I wasn’t surprised at all that Festus and MVP put on such a good match. I keep waiting to see if they are going to break Jesse and Festus up and give this guy, Festus a solo career. I feel he has shown that he’s a solid wrestler and as I said along with MVP this was a very strong match. Then right after this one we got another very GOOD qualifying match with The Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin vs. Finlay. This match had a lot going for it. These guys were given a lot of time and that really pleased me. You talk about a hard worked match, Finlay and Benjamin worked this as it they were in a pay per view. Again let Benjamin’s push continue because each week he is just looking better and better. And putting Benjamin against Finlay is a bonus, because I remember when an unknown Bobby Lashley was feuding with Finlay, Finlay MADE Lashley. That feud really put Lashley on the map. You can’t go wrong working with Hornswoggle’s dad and now I see big things happening for Mike Knox. Knox should kiss Vince’s feet, see you thought I was going to say ass for putting him in a program with Finlay. By the way Shelton won and just lot MPV and The Brian Kendrick he will now be in that title match at Unforgiven.
And the final qualifying match was Jeff Hardy vs. The Great Khali. This one had Triple H coming down and sitting with Tazz and JR. Hardy fought hard to get Khali and although Triple H was rather subdued on the mic he still added something while this was going on. I have to say that Hardy and Khali made it fun to watch and I was thrilled with the ending. After Ranjin Singh distracted the ref so Khali could put the old head vice on Hardy, Triple H got up hit Singh with a chair and just as Hunter was about to hit Singh again, Khali got in the way and took the chair shot letting Jeff Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind and get the victory. I loved the look on Triple H’s face when Hardy won. It was a look of amazement and he knew that he kind of helped Hardy get that win. Triple H then got on the mic and did a nice job putting over the Championship Scramble match and he talked how the odds were against him because anyone could get pinned and he could lose. And then out came Kenny Dykstra and he started to whine to Triple H how nobody takes him seriously and Hunter reciprocated by hitting a pedigree on him. This segment all played out well and it led to the main event.
And finally we get Vickie and La Familia in the ring and they call out Taker to apologize for all the bad things that they did to him. Taker made his way out and there was Vickie pleading for forgiveness, she was even able to get out of her wheelchair and get down on her knees begging for Taker to forgive her. Guess what? Taker wasn’t in an accepting mood and in a deep dramatic response he came up with “Look at me woman.” He then said he didn’t come out for apologies, he came for her soul. Oh very creepy, well not really, but still good. When he mentioned her soul La Familia circled Undertaker and started to attack him, but Taker was able to clean house and then he made the throat slash gesture to Vickie and the show was over.
It wasn’t a bad segment, but again I missed Edge not being there. However I still liked the show and I liked the build up for the Championship Scramble match. I’m just not sure we need two at Unforgiven. Now before I go I wanted to mention the rumor although I believe it’s true that WWE is getting Gail Kim back. I liked Kim the first time I saw her in the WWE, but obviously Vince didn’t because he killed her character immediately by giving her the women’s title the first time that she debuted. That seemed to turn the fans off right away. Plus Kim’s character was never given any depth or really anything. She was just there and when the fans didn’t take to her they turned her heel and again the fans weren’t interested. I just hope that Vince realizes that since she’s been with TNA this woman now has a nice sized fan base and I really hope that she’s given a major push and treated like a super star and not a mid carder. I’m looking forward to having her back with WWE. Okay I will return Tuesday with my thoughts on Raw and remember Raw will be on the SCI-Fi network at it’s regular time. The website forum TheWrestlingAsylum.com has recently just re-opened after some severe technical difficulties. If you’ve ever wanted to join an online community and be part of a wrestling forum, now’s the time to jump in. TWA is an acclaimed wrestling forum that has some of the best wrestling discussions out there in addition to many interactive features such as our matches of the week, wrestling pool, et cetera. Currently, TWA is holding an interactive feature where members will vote on their favorite wrestlers of all time and in the end, TWA will count down the top 100. People who participate in this contest will receive a free DVD-R of some famous matches of the top 10 or 20 wrestlers on the list. In addition to all of this, TWA also has a very active Off Topic section of the site for random discussion, movies, music, graphics, and of course, TWA has an ever-growing multimedia section on all wrestling and all other media as well. TheWrestlingAsylum.com is just waiting for you to make its mark on it, so why not join up today.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
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