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Jim Ross fills in for Todd Grisham this week on commentary. The program opens with John Morrison & the Miz, who thankfully beat Cryme Tyme last night, in the ring. You never can be sure when WWE will job their best team to an inferior one, so last night’s result was comforting. Anyway, the Miz was complaining about last week’s loss to Evan Bourne and blaming the loss on Rocky Ortiz. They then turned their attention to Teddy Long and complained about the quality of their opponents. They took a shot at the new talent initiative before Long came out. Long put new talent like Bourne over, leading Morrison to drop Braden Walker’s name and the “future endeavors” line. Long retorted by saying he’s had more hits than misses. Miz and Morrison wanted a tag match with Bourne and Ortiz tonight, but Long said that Bourne was not there. Ricky Ortiz then came out and wanted to fight. Teddy made a match between Miz and Morrison with the winner having to wrestle Ortiz immediately thereafter. I don’t like the idea of the babyface GM stacking the odds against the heels. That’s pretty backward booking.
After the break, Ortiz did some flirting with Tiffany. Why is she gainfully employed again?
Finlay v. Bam Neely
No Chavo Guerrero because of last Friday’s angle. Finlay landed an uppercut and a clothesline to start. Finlay did some work in the corner and hit his sit down, “shades of Ray Stevens at the Cow Palace” (JR & Striker). Finlay and Hornswoggle did a schoolboy on Bam on the outside. Bam turned the match around for a moment and hit a body slam on the floor. But back inside, Finlay took the edge with a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. He went to the second rope but missed. Bam went to a Boston crab which Hornswoggle broke up by coming in. As the referee sent Hornswoggle out, Finlay used the shillelagh for the win.
Finlay d. Neely, Pin, 3:44, *½.
To plug WWE 24/7, they showed the main event of a 1992 Madison Square Garden show which was Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper v. Ric Flair & Sid Justice. That’s quite the interesting match in hindsight. For the record, Hogan pinned Flair with a clothesline which seems really anticlimactic given who was involved.
Michelle McCool v. Maryse
This match is non-title. Matt Striker asked JR if “he agreed that Michelle McCool has spearheaded a revolution in the divas division?” Actually, it’s a devolution away from the goal of getting people to take women’s matches seriously. She’s a poor worker and the presence of two women’s belts, regardless of who holds them, does neither belt any favors. They did some cat fighting on the mat to start. On the outside, Maryse hit a clothesline. Matt Striker dropped the names of Rene Goulet and Jos LeDuc to get back on my good side. Maryse went to a rear chin lock on the mat. McCool made a comeback out of nowhere with a single leg dropkick and a neckbreaker to pick up a near fall. She then went to the second rope but was slammed off. Maryse then picked up the win with a DDT. This was an acceptable women’s match.
Maryse d. McCool, Pin, 3:32, *.
JR and Striker ran down the No Mercy card.
Mark Henry and Tony Atlas then came out. Henry pointed out that he did not get pinned to lose the championship. He guaranteed victory and left after a surprisingly short promo which would be the only substantive mention of the show’s top feud all evening.
Mike Knox v. Chase Stevens
Knox hit a chicken kick, avalanche and knee drop to begin. He hit a nice short clothesline as Ross predicted that Knox will become ECW champion. He then won with the Knox out. Jack Swagger then came out as Knox left. Swagger hit the blue thunder bomb on the fallen Stevens prompting Tommy Dreamer to come out. Knox returned to corner Dreamer allowing Swagger to come in from behind and land the blue thunder bomb.
Knox d. Stevens, Pin, 1:38, squash.
The Miz v. John Morrison
Miz went for a quick small package early on. They exchanged a series of covers on the mat before locking up and tumbling to the floor. The match went to an early commercial break. Returning from break, Miz held a chin lock. Morrison then hit an enzuigiri from the floor onto Miz lying in the ring. Morrison then put the boots to Miz and went to a rest hold. Miz came back and hit his running clothesline in the corner. The two exchanged some punches and went back to another chin lock. Morrison hit a drop toe hold that bounced Miz off the ropes. He followed that up with a side Russian leg sweep for a near fall. Miz missed an attempt at a reality check which failed. He came back and planted a guillotine legdrop for only a two count. Miz set Morrison up for a superplex on the top; from there, they botched whatever they were going for and just fell back. The referee then put a ten count on both men to conclude the match. There’s a long history of long-time tag team partners having disappointing singles matches together (remember Jeff v. Matt Hardy?) and this match continued that trend. Ricky Ortiz then came out and hit the Big O on both men to send the show to black.
Miz drew Morrison, DCO, 10:45, *½.
By the way, what the heck was the point of teasing that Ricky Ortiz would wrestle the winner of the main event when it ended up being a bait and switch?
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