Monday news - SD's debut on MNTV did a 2.4 rating - the highest rating in the history of the network. Matt Striker missed the PPV due to the death of his father, while HBK was banged up pretty badly, and Terry Funk, who was scheduled to wrestle at an indy show over the weekend, canceled due to a knee injury - and was replaced by Jake Roberts. Also, it's 36 years to the day since the first NJPW show.
http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/6979/
NM thoughts -
Henry vs. Hardy was quite good. It had a much faster pace than most Mark Henry matches, and Hardy's offense concentrating on Henry's leg was logical and looked good. It also tied in nicely to the end, with Hardy battering the knee during the World's Strongest Slam attempt, leading to the twist of fate. Lawler added to the match with his commentary, noting that he win Henry's first match and that he'd never felt power like that before. While it would've been nice if he'd said "and he's only stronger/better now!" to further put him over, but what he did worked well on its own.
Beth vs. Candice was Candice’s best match since return. It still wasn’t, you know, good, but I expected much worse. Candice's selling consisting of SCREAMING REALLY LOUDLY was annoying, but it was so bad it that it was almost good (like RVD yelling "OW!" to sell stuff). Beth looked dominant and Santino was an amusing second, so the match served its purpose.
Rey vs. Kane was good stuff, although Rey’s blue and yellow attire looked ridiculous. Rey’s bump on the barricade was sick, but luckily, Rey seemed to be okay afterwards. Rey’s offense was nice and logical here, although not all of it hit perfectly (his kicks were off and he nearly missed the moonsault block). While I’m not fond of them doing another copout DQ ending, this one at least looked incredible - with Rey taking the chairshot flush. This ended up being much better than expected, and can easily lead into Kane vs. Rey at Cyber Sunday with fans either choosing that Rey’s mask be on the line, or that Kane has to put his mask on if he loses. I’m glad that WWE didn’t take Rey’s mask off him tonight. If they did that, would Rey be the first luchador to lose it more than once?
The MVP/Orton/Priceless segment was productive filler. It seemingly turned MVP into a face (or at least into a sympathetic character) without neutering his act, and set up some possible matches for the future, including MVP-Orton, MVP and Punk or Kofi against Priceless, MVP-Manu, and furthered the Orton-Punk match they’ve been teasing for a while.
Batista vs. JBL was much better than I expected, and it was definitely helped by being so short. Batista came out of this looking like a million bucks, so it about as perfect a number one contender’s match as WWE could hope for - he came off looking like a world-beater, and after losing so many world title matches over the past year, this is exactly the kind of win he needed. JBL’s post-match promo was some of his most amusing work, as he went from seemingly getting ready to re-announce his retirement (which wouldn’t shock me at all), to then thanking Congress for the bailout, as it’ll ensure that he says rich. Perfect heel move right there, and it worked nicely to get the crowd to hate him so they’d appreciate Cryme Tyme even more. Fortunately, their skit didn’t go on too long - a nice change of pace as they usually do.
Between the horrid build-up, ‘Taker’s injured knee, and Show’s career stagnation over the past six months, I wasn’t really looking forward to Show-Taker, but it also wound up being good overall. Show was moving around very well, and I loved seeing him break out the pump splash, as I don’t recall him doing that since his days as the Giant in WCW a decade ago. I also loved the Old School counter into the choke slam as it was a nice change from the usual spot where ‘Taker either gets crotched on the ropes or pulled down off of them. I loved the KO finish, with Show making use of the ring (something he doesn’t do very often) to smash ‘Taker’s head into the exposed steel before hitting two knockout right hooks and then the final blow to the back of the head. A perfectly believable finish, and one that made Show look strong without damaging ‘Taker.
HHH-Hardy was an excellent, slow-paced affair that was actually worked like a major world title match - even though it didn‘t feel like one going in. Aside from some shaky stuff (like Hardy struggling to get HHH over for a headlock takeover), this was a solidly-worked match. HHH played the role of the heelish face very well, while Jeff played the underdog well. The show-long hot crowd really helped this match out, as they got into every near fall, and it sounded like the place might explode if Jeff had actually won the match. Hell, they were even popping for the Hat Rack Crack as the match-ender for a WWE Title match. HHH’s slam counter for the Whisper in the Wind was excellent - I don’t recall that ever being done before, it looked good, and again, provided the crowd with another chance to erupt due to a near-fall.
The finish was about as perfect as could be, with Hardy hitting his Twist of Fate/Swanton sequence, leading to the crowd working themselves into a frenzy as this was IT - he hit his moves, had the cover…but it wasn’t to be - HHH cradled him up due to Hardy’s positioning and won the match. Just like last month, Hardy was one second away from the gold. Excellent match - easily my favorite HHH match since Hunter’s reign began, and it definitely Jeff’s best match all year. The post-match cameo from An Anderson was quite fitting, as HHH channeled Flair in the match, although I was a bit saddened to see some grey in Arn’s beard - it took over a decade, but his face has finally aged after retirement. Kozlov’s cameo worked at establishing him as the new top threat to the title, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they throw Hardy into the mix for a Cyber Sunday three-way as he would make Kozlov’s offense look devastating on PPV, and would also serve as someone to have Kozlov pin for the belt to hold off on Kozlov actually pinning HHH for the belt . I still think it’s too soon to have Kozlov as the champion, but it would be a daring move and would certainly make SD’s title scene seem fresh again after it went back to the norm post-Unforgiven, where it seemed fresh again due to the new blood in the Scramble.
HBK vs. Jericho was tremendous. It started off with a lot more technical wrestling than I was expecting, which was definitely a good thing, as it allowed the match to be something more than just the usual highspot-filled ladder match. I feel that Cole added something to this by rattling off each man’s title win statistics - the info served as a nice compliment to the in-ring action. I dug the spot early on with Jericho trying to whip Michaels into the ladder on the floor, only to have HBK climb it and dive onto him from it - I don’t recall that being done before, it looked good, and made actually hitting the ladder mean more later on since they didn’t give away immediately.
HBK’s fall off the ladder onto the ropes after the slingshot>climb up was frightening - his knees had to be killing him after that. The back suplex/cross body counter off the ladder through the table looked ugly. It was realistic-looking, which was good, but looked like a very rough landing for each man. Similarly, Jericho’s landing off the HBK ladder push, where he went sailing over the top to the floor was terrifying. So many things could’ve gone wrong there, but fortunately, things went well and he seemed to land about as safely as humanly possible. The crowd went absolutely insane for that, and deservedly so.
Cade’s interference was excellently-done - he served his purpose as the crony and not only distracted Michaels, but nearly gave Jericho the win. I’m glad he didn’t play into the finish directly, as it would’ve hurt Jericho to do that. The tug of war finish was yet another new twist on the norm on this show, as each held onto that belt for dear life (and I’m sure there’s a bit of reality to that as things could’ve gone badly had either man had a hand slip off the belt). The head butt finish wasn’t the most visually-stunning one ever, but it was realistic and fit into Jericho winning with a mix of luck and skill.
Each of the main event matches was incredible, and they each told a different story than one another. HHH-Hardy was a better traditional world title match, while Jericho-HBK was slightly more highlight-oriented, but was closer to the more grounded HBK-Hart ladder match than the more spot-laden HBK-Razor ones. Both were very satisfying to watch, and everyone involved in them should be proud of their performances. This one definitely one of WWE’s best shows on all year - easily better than any show since ‘Mania, and aside from the women’s match, this was a fantastic show from beginning to end.
VAN HAMMER IN A DEATH MATCH! -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cigw9f4a74o
k
@ Santino dissing Aaron Rodgers.
