Carlito defeated Chris Masters. After some jaw-jacking to begin with, the 2 get into a nice, steady, back & forth bout which saw Masters attempt to use his greater strength, while Carlito kept up & occasionally worked in some fast paced or high flying offense to gain the ascendancy. A nice early touch saw Carlito attempt the MasterLock/Full Nelson himself, while he also threw in a nice dive to the outside & springboard back-elbow. What surprised me about this match was it’s smoothness & apparent lack of botched moves. But I thought/spoke too soon as Masters basically forgot to kick out of a pinfall attempt & then the 2 weren’t completely on the same page when Carlito hit a moonsault. * 1/2
Umaga destroyed Ric Flair. Umaga attacks early & overpowers The Nature Boy. That is, until he runs into an eye-poke & 2 low-blows! Flair follows up with chop after punch after chop after punch… & not much else really. Then, despite Umaga running into the ringpost at full tilt, Flair hardly gets in any resultant offense. What proceeded was a glorified squash that practically buried Flair. And it wasn’t one of those impressive squashes either! Umaga gets the victory with his terrible thumb to the neck finisher in all of 4 minutes! 1/2 *
Trish beat Mickie via DQ. Trish came out as herself (for the first time in a while) & had with her a rather interesting & flattering outfit. Very good beginning to the match with Mickie seemingly off her game psychologically & Trish taking advantage with some innovative, crisp & well-booked offense. What made it all the more better was that Trish was adding the required intensity, especially with her Thesz press to the outside. The tide turned when Mickie dumped Trish over the top rope & the challenger landed awkwardly to dislocate her shoulder! Back in the ring, Mickie took control with some understandably methodical offense, but it couldn’t go on much longer (due to the shoulder injury) & Mickie got herself disqualified by choking Trish with some foreign object which I couldn’t identify clearly. Disappointing forced finish to a bout that was progressing very nicely at the time. **
RVD beat Shelton Benjamin to win the IC Title. Terrific beginning to this match with some rather simple exchanges being made to look first class by both men. Shelton came out on top in this game of one-upmanship & proceeded to showcase his refined cocky persona. Some nice back & forth action ensued with RVD using his greater experience to his advantage. This was until Benjamin hit a great sunset-flip into a powerbomb on the outside. The InterContinental Champ dominated for minutes on end from there. It was a sufficient mix of athleticism & intensity, even if it contained one too many resthold for my liking. The action picked up again soon though, as Benjamin impressively countered RVD’s rolling thunder into a Samoan Drop! Not long afterwards, Shelton pulled out his standing leap to the top rope & followed up with a superplex! What followed this was fantastic back & forth action that saw both men impress & keep fans entertained. Very impressive indeed & I think both wrestlers came out of this looking strong. They especially did a great job in pacing the bout & stretching it out to it’s 18 minute duration. A nice closing sequence capped it all off as RVD hit the Van Daminator (with the MITB briefcase) & followed it up with the 5 Star Frog Splash for the victory. MOTN. Excellent stuff. ****
Kane and Big Show wrestled to a No Contest. The crowd taunt Kane with a “May-19†chant to begin with. Some nice feats of strength by both men leads to Big Show attacking Kane’s arm methodically. Then, in a predictable & logical booking move, Kane returns the favor. I understand that both men were trying to hinder the ability to perform a chokeslam, but this booking was always going to result in slow & boring offense, in amongst some decent big man stuff. I thought TBS impressed with some moves, especially a huge fallaway slam that catapulted Kane from one corner of the ring to the other. Then, at the 8 minute mark, we took a turn to stupidsville as the lights went red & voices came out over the loud speaker. Evidently, we are all crazy too as we can hear the voices! This resulted in Kane crawling around the ring & attacking himself, with TBS eventually laying him out with a steel chair in full view of the referee. Then, without a result being announced, everyone just walked off! What the fuck!?!?! *
Vince and Shane McMahon defeated Shawn Michaels and GAWD! :shock2: A terrible backstage segment involving Vince & Candice was followed up by a rather humorous beginning to the bout with Vince introducing God (complete with entrance music & spotlight). The highlight was Vince asking the referee to check God for foreign objects! Oh & he made it a ‘No Holds Barred’ Match as well. HBK begins with a huge flurry of offense that saw him flying all over the ring like it was 1990. He took both McMahons out of the ring & then leads Shane up the entrance ramp & then threw him into the set. He then took Vince out with a huge cross-body block to the lowered flooring nearby. Wow… Talk about an opening 3 minute flurry that was simply non-stop! A chair-shot to the head by Shane not only changed the momentum, but it also busted HBK open. Shane proceeds to dominate Michaels both in & out of the ring, including the nastiest looking armdrag (into the guardrail) that I have ever seen! A missed top-rope elbow-drop by Shane doesn’t quite give HBK enough time to regroup, as Shane DDTs him & then tags Vince for a belt-whipping. A garbage can shot follows & then Vince decides to grab a mic & taunt God (who apparently walks out)! But Vince has his superkick predictably blocked & following a stray chairshot from Shane, HBK hits a pair of Sweet Chin Music’s. But not content to end the match there, HBK pleases the crowd by laying out both men on tables & pulling out his favorite huge ladder. Just as he is setting up the big elbow-drop though, The Spirit Squad come out & Shawn performs a huge leap to the outside to take all 5 of them out! But the numbers soon catch up with HBK & The Spirit Squad overpower Michaels & put him through a table to allow Vince to get the pinfall victory at the 20 minute mark… To which Jim Ross humorously yells out “Bull$hitâ€! Far better than it ought to have been & booked with enough variation to the WrestleMania 22 bout to stand on it’s own. In fact, despite the less popular result, I’m going to most probably be in the minority & state that this was superior to the previous match. This is because it didn’t go on & on for as long, while I preferred HBK’s more frenetic offense here. *** 1/2
John Cena defeated Triple H and Edge to retain World Title. Edge steps out & allows a WrestleMania rematch to take place, as some decent back & forth action ensues. Edge predictably rejoins the action for a second or so every time a pinfall attempt takes place though. Cena & Triple H finally wake up & take turns in clobbering Edge, but it isn’t too long before they are also backstabbing each other in order to isolate the Rated R Superstar. In fact, in one form or another, it’s pretty much a 1 on 1 bout for the first 7 minutes of the match. This is always an inherent problem in triple threat matches & was very much evident here. But the match took off beautifully from that point onwards. One piece of 3 man action (that sounds bad, but anyway) saw Cena pick up both men for an attempted F-U, only for Edge to escape out the backdoor (stop it Davey) & hit Cena with a spear! Edge then busts Triple H wide open with a slingshot into the ringpost & follows it up with a DDT on the Spanish Announce Table (which unfortunately didn’t collapse)! Back in the ring, a nice missile dropkick on Cena only earns Edge a 2 count, before Cena eventually regains control & locks Edge in the STF-U. A bloodied Triple H stops Edge from tapping & then hits Edge with a huge chairshot on the outside. Not long after, in scenes reminiscent of Hart vs Austin at WrestleMania 13, Cena locks on the STF-U to a bloodied Triple H. He doesn’t quite pass out though & survives until Edge returns to make the save. A top-rope Electric Chair/F-U combo involving all 3 men follows, before H goes for his trusty sledgehammer. He gets unpredictably speared by Edge though, before an excellent finishing sequence sees HHH break up an F-U on Edge, set up the pedigree on Cena, but then fall victim to a counter into a bridge pinfall, to give Cena the victory at the 17 minute mark. A still bloodied Triple H cleans house with his sledgehammer afterwards. Sensational main event that overcame a rather sluggish & predictable first third to win everyone over. Almost perfectly booked over the final 10 minutes & I really felt that it was superbly performed by all 3 men. Edge of the seat stuff filled with emotion & intensity; When Triple H was in the STF-U & had his entire face covered with blood, it was a moment that ranked not too far behind Austin/Hart at WrestleMania 13 & Benoit/Triple H at WrestleMania 20! I clearly preferred this over the WrestleMania 22 main event & this was my match of the night **** 1/2 :3dflagsdotcom_ukeng
Umaga destroyed Ric Flair. Umaga attacks early & overpowers The Nature Boy. That is, until he runs into an eye-poke & 2 low-blows! Flair follows up with chop after punch after chop after punch… & not much else really. Then, despite Umaga running into the ringpost at full tilt, Flair hardly gets in any resultant offense. What proceeded was a glorified squash that practically buried Flair. And it wasn’t one of those impressive squashes either! Umaga gets the victory with his terrible thumb to the neck finisher in all of 4 minutes! 1/2 *
Trish beat Mickie via DQ. Trish came out as herself (for the first time in a while) & had with her a rather interesting & flattering outfit. Very good beginning to the match with Mickie seemingly off her game psychologically & Trish taking advantage with some innovative, crisp & well-booked offense. What made it all the more better was that Trish was adding the required intensity, especially with her Thesz press to the outside. The tide turned when Mickie dumped Trish over the top rope & the challenger landed awkwardly to dislocate her shoulder! Back in the ring, Mickie took control with some understandably methodical offense, but it couldn’t go on much longer (due to the shoulder injury) & Mickie got herself disqualified by choking Trish with some foreign object which I couldn’t identify clearly. Disappointing forced finish to a bout that was progressing very nicely at the time. **
RVD beat Shelton Benjamin to win the IC Title. Terrific beginning to this match with some rather simple exchanges being made to look first class by both men. Shelton came out on top in this game of one-upmanship & proceeded to showcase his refined cocky persona. Some nice back & forth action ensued with RVD using his greater experience to his advantage. This was until Benjamin hit a great sunset-flip into a powerbomb on the outside. The InterContinental Champ dominated for minutes on end from there. It was a sufficient mix of athleticism & intensity, even if it contained one too many resthold for my liking. The action picked up again soon though, as Benjamin impressively countered RVD’s rolling thunder into a Samoan Drop! Not long afterwards, Shelton pulled out his standing leap to the top rope & followed up with a superplex! What followed this was fantastic back & forth action that saw both men impress & keep fans entertained. Very impressive indeed & I think both wrestlers came out of this looking strong. They especially did a great job in pacing the bout & stretching it out to it’s 18 minute duration. A nice closing sequence capped it all off as RVD hit the Van Daminator (with the MITB briefcase) & followed it up with the 5 Star Frog Splash for the victory. MOTN. Excellent stuff. ****
Kane and Big Show wrestled to a No Contest. The crowd taunt Kane with a “May-19†chant to begin with. Some nice feats of strength by both men leads to Big Show attacking Kane’s arm methodically. Then, in a predictable & logical booking move, Kane returns the favor. I understand that both men were trying to hinder the ability to perform a chokeslam, but this booking was always going to result in slow & boring offense, in amongst some decent big man stuff. I thought TBS impressed with some moves, especially a huge fallaway slam that catapulted Kane from one corner of the ring to the other. Then, at the 8 minute mark, we took a turn to stupidsville as the lights went red & voices came out over the loud speaker. Evidently, we are all crazy too as we can hear the voices! This resulted in Kane crawling around the ring & attacking himself, with TBS eventually laying him out with a steel chair in full view of the referee. Then, without a result being announced, everyone just walked off! What the fuck!?!?! *
Vince and Shane McMahon defeated Shawn Michaels and GAWD! :shock2: A terrible backstage segment involving Vince & Candice was followed up by a rather humorous beginning to the bout with Vince introducing God (complete with entrance music & spotlight). The highlight was Vince asking the referee to check God for foreign objects! Oh & he made it a ‘No Holds Barred’ Match as well. HBK begins with a huge flurry of offense that saw him flying all over the ring like it was 1990. He took both McMahons out of the ring & then leads Shane up the entrance ramp & then threw him into the set. He then took Vince out with a huge cross-body block to the lowered flooring nearby. Wow… Talk about an opening 3 minute flurry that was simply non-stop! A chair-shot to the head by Shane not only changed the momentum, but it also busted HBK open. Shane proceeds to dominate Michaels both in & out of the ring, including the nastiest looking armdrag (into the guardrail) that I have ever seen! A missed top-rope elbow-drop by Shane doesn’t quite give HBK enough time to regroup, as Shane DDTs him & then tags Vince for a belt-whipping. A garbage can shot follows & then Vince decides to grab a mic & taunt God (who apparently walks out)! But Vince has his superkick predictably blocked & following a stray chairshot from Shane, HBK hits a pair of Sweet Chin Music’s. But not content to end the match there, HBK pleases the crowd by laying out both men on tables & pulling out his favorite huge ladder. Just as he is setting up the big elbow-drop though, The Spirit Squad come out & Shawn performs a huge leap to the outside to take all 5 of them out! But the numbers soon catch up with HBK & The Spirit Squad overpower Michaels & put him through a table to allow Vince to get the pinfall victory at the 20 minute mark… To which Jim Ross humorously yells out “Bull$hitâ€! Far better than it ought to have been & booked with enough variation to the WrestleMania 22 bout to stand on it’s own. In fact, despite the less popular result, I’m going to most probably be in the minority & state that this was superior to the previous match. This is because it didn’t go on & on for as long, while I preferred HBK’s more frenetic offense here. *** 1/2
John Cena defeated Triple H and Edge to retain World Title. Edge steps out & allows a WrestleMania rematch to take place, as some decent back & forth action ensues. Edge predictably rejoins the action for a second or so every time a pinfall attempt takes place though. Cena & Triple H finally wake up & take turns in clobbering Edge, but it isn’t too long before they are also backstabbing each other in order to isolate the Rated R Superstar. In fact, in one form or another, it’s pretty much a 1 on 1 bout for the first 7 minutes of the match. This is always an inherent problem in triple threat matches & was very much evident here. But the match took off beautifully from that point onwards. One piece of 3 man action (that sounds bad, but anyway) saw Cena pick up both men for an attempted F-U, only for Edge to escape out the backdoor (stop it Davey) & hit Cena with a spear! Edge then busts Triple H wide open with a slingshot into the ringpost & follows it up with a DDT on the Spanish Announce Table (which unfortunately didn’t collapse)! Back in the ring, a nice missile dropkick on Cena only earns Edge a 2 count, before Cena eventually regains control & locks Edge in the STF-U. A bloodied Triple H stops Edge from tapping & then hits Edge with a huge chairshot on the outside. Not long after, in scenes reminiscent of Hart vs Austin at WrestleMania 13, Cena locks on the STF-U to a bloodied Triple H. He doesn’t quite pass out though & survives until Edge returns to make the save. A top-rope Electric Chair/F-U combo involving all 3 men follows, before H goes for his trusty sledgehammer. He gets unpredictably speared by Edge though, before an excellent finishing sequence sees HHH break up an F-U on Edge, set up the pedigree on Cena, but then fall victim to a counter into a bridge pinfall, to give Cena the victory at the 17 minute mark. A still bloodied Triple H cleans house with his sledgehammer afterwards. Sensational main event that overcame a rather sluggish & predictable first third to win everyone over. Almost perfectly booked over the final 10 minutes & I really felt that it was superbly performed by all 3 men. Edge of the seat stuff filled with emotion & intensity; When Triple H was in the STF-U & had his entire face covered with blood, it was a moment that ranked not too far behind Austin/Hart at WrestleMania 13 & Benoit/Triple H at WrestleMania 20! I clearly preferred this over the WrestleMania 22 main event & this was my match of the night **** 1/2 :3dflagsdotcom_ukeng
