Paul London and Brian Kendrick defeated Kid Kash and Jamie Noble to retain Tag Titles. The face champs eventually worked their way on top though and, to my surprise, controlled almost 5 minutes of action. The spots were good, but correctly not over the top, with the highlight being simultaneous suicide dives to the outside. The turning point came when London was dropkicked to the outside while trying to skin the cat, but even when the heels took control, the faces would continue to fight back to ensure the crowd didn’t remain too quiet. Surprisingly, it was London who was isolated in the ring & it was Kendrick that got the eventual hot tag which brought the crowd to its feet. The bout broke down from there as all 4 men were involved in some good & entertaining action that resulted in the champs retaining at the 14 minute mark with a sunset-flip/dropsault combination. Well-structured & entertaining opener that put the face champs over very well, despite London not being at his crisp best. *** 1/2
Finlay beat William Regal to retain the U.S Title. Finlay & Regal then came out & were forced to do battle by Long. While these 2 have had some strong bouts in the 90’s, this is 2006 & this was always going to be difficult for the live crowd to take. While some beg to differ, I believe that Regal has lost a few steps from his best days, although his style does mesh well enough with Finaly here. Nothing too boring, but hard to get involved in. ** ½
Greg Helms defeated Matt Hardy. Hardy begins at a decent pace & throws in some Hurricane mocking to light a fire under Helms’ a$$. Some good back & forth action follows, but ends when Helms goes to a long resthold. Thankfully, a top-rope swinging neckbreaker wakes all of us up. After a few failed pin attempts, Helms goes back to resthold city to once more stall the momentum. Some more decent back & forth action ensues, but it all seems to be going through the motions for these two. Hardy surprisingly kicks out of a Shining Wizard kick that connected, but only got a 2 count with a subsequent moonsault. And, as per the rest of the match, the bout ends anti-climactically (following that good sequence) with a rollup at the 12 minute mark. Pretty good, but I think it’s fair to say that the 2006 WWE have handcuffed these 2 too much. They had the time & even the planned spots, but both men looked to be moving at half pace & could never continue the momentum that they started on more than one occasion. ** ½
Undertaker beat Big Show in a PUNJABI PRISON MATCH OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! After an attack backstage, Teddy Long changes this match to include The Big Show instead of The Great Khali. Ummm, why didn’t TBS just walk away? But instead, he heads to the ring & cries! The Punjabi Prison is basically 2 bamboo cages (one up against the ring & the other a few yards back) which the victorious wrestler had to escape from. Big Show attacks before the bell even sounds, as the match kicks off at a decent & intense pace no matter who was in control. It all comes to a grinding halt though when ‘Taker attempts to climb out of the first cage. This is despite the fact that there are 4 doors on the first cage which either combatant can crawl out of upon request to a referee! A bit of the usual cage action splits 2 failed attempts to leave the cage & then TBS busts ‘Taker open with a shot to an exposed turnbuckle. Unfortunately, this slows the pace of the bout down to a painful slog until we’re all awoken by a ‘Taker superplex at the 15 minute mark. The phenom takes advantage by escaping the first cage, but Big Show soon follows. Big Show then locks The Undertaker back in the first cage (hooray, some logic), as he slowly climbs the second & final cage. But the dead man soon climbs out & we are back on equal footing. A couple of rather soft looking table spots later leads up to the disappointing finale where ‘Taker leaps from the cage, only to be caught by The Big Show, who basically falls over in a fallaway slam type of motion to break open the outer cage & throw/stumble The Undertaker to victory at the 21 minute mark. The bout itself was rather silly & nothing special, but it wasn’t anything horrible either, despite the disappointing finish. **
Ashley Masaro defeated Jillian Hall, Michelle McCool, and Krystal in a BRA AND PANTIES MATCH OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Pretty much is these 4 stumbling around in & outside of the ring trying to undress their opponent. For some reason, Jillian isn’t allowed to wrestle, while Michelle & (especially) Krystal try hard for no real result. I still think that Ashley is useless, but she steals the win after practically doing nothing for 5 minutes. Even that was probably a little too long & I think I’ve now officially seen one too many B & P matches. I don’t see the point anymore. 1/2 *
Ken Kennedy beat Batista via DQ. Batista doesn’t allow Kennedy to do his usual mic shtick before the bout & dominates the early going both in & outside of the ring. Kennedy gets rather badly busted open in that early onslaught & the ‘Flair effect’ is very much present in his bleached blonde hair. Surprisingly, an eye-rake results in a prolonged period of offense for Kennedy & he thankfully brings enough intensity & variety to make us care. The dreaded resthold does eventually come & it’s a precursor to Batista losing the plot & going all animalistic on Kennedy, resulting in the unpredictable DQ loss at the 9 minute mark, when Batista wouldn’t let go of a chokehold. Wow… I didn’t expect that result! Not too bad of a match actually, as it was pretty even & had a decent intensity & story about it. Too simplistic to be anything special, the DQ win strangely seems to help the story of the bout. ** ½
King Bookah defeated Rey Mysterio to win the World Title. ALL HAIL KING BOOKAH!!! :starwars: : “Eddie†chants from the live crowd greet Rey to begin the bout, as he uses his pace to first avoid Booker’s offense & then get some shots in himself. Each time Booker works his way on top, Rey effectively uses that pace with a touch of high-flying to regain the advantage. That is, until he walks into a big superkick at the 6 minute mark. This results in Booker taking control for minutes on end with a much slower pace obviously becoming prevalent. Queen Sharmell is sent to the back after being caught interfering at the 10 minute mark, and this seems to energize Mysterio who kicks into a higher gear once more with an impressive array of offense. During one of these moves, referee Nick Patrick is knocked out of the ring & a frog splash by Rey goes uncounted. Booker then goes for a chair, but Rey uses it to hit a Van Daminator, which prompts Chavo Guerrero to come out & predictably turn on Rey (with a huge chair shot) to give Booker the title win at the 17 minute mark. Successful main-event match which was pretty much all Rey Mysterio, as he put in probably his best performance of his title reign, if not this year. ****
Finlay beat William Regal to retain the U.S Title. Finlay & Regal then came out & were forced to do battle by Long. While these 2 have had some strong bouts in the 90’s, this is 2006 & this was always going to be difficult for the live crowd to take. While some beg to differ, I believe that Regal has lost a few steps from his best days, although his style does mesh well enough with Finaly here. Nothing too boring, but hard to get involved in. ** ½
Greg Helms defeated Matt Hardy. Hardy begins at a decent pace & throws in some Hurricane mocking to light a fire under Helms’ a$$. Some good back & forth action follows, but ends when Helms goes to a long resthold. Thankfully, a top-rope swinging neckbreaker wakes all of us up. After a few failed pin attempts, Helms goes back to resthold city to once more stall the momentum. Some more decent back & forth action ensues, but it all seems to be going through the motions for these two. Hardy surprisingly kicks out of a Shining Wizard kick that connected, but only got a 2 count with a subsequent moonsault. And, as per the rest of the match, the bout ends anti-climactically (following that good sequence) with a rollup at the 12 minute mark. Pretty good, but I think it’s fair to say that the 2006 WWE have handcuffed these 2 too much. They had the time & even the planned spots, but both men looked to be moving at half pace & could never continue the momentum that they started on more than one occasion. ** ½
Undertaker beat Big Show in a PUNJABI PRISON MATCH OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! After an attack backstage, Teddy Long changes this match to include The Big Show instead of The Great Khali. Ummm, why didn’t TBS just walk away? But instead, he heads to the ring & cries! The Punjabi Prison is basically 2 bamboo cages (one up against the ring & the other a few yards back) which the victorious wrestler had to escape from. Big Show attacks before the bell even sounds, as the match kicks off at a decent & intense pace no matter who was in control. It all comes to a grinding halt though when ‘Taker attempts to climb out of the first cage. This is despite the fact that there are 4 doors on the first cage which either combatant can crawl out of upon request to a referee! A bit of the usual cage action splits 2 failed attempts to leave the cage & then TBS busts ‘Taker open with a shot to an exposed turnbuckle. Unfortunately, this slows the pace of the bout down to a painful slog until we’re all awoken by a ‘Taker superplex at the 15 minute mark. The phenom takes advantage by escaping the first cage, but Big Show soon follows. Big Show then locks The Undertaker back in the first cage (hooray, some logic), as he slowly climbs the second & final cage. But the dead man soon climbs out & we are back on equal footing. A couple of rather soft looking table spots later leads up to the disappointing finale where ‘Taker leaps from the cage, only to be caught by The Big Show, who basically falls over in a fallaway slam type of motion to break open the outer cage & throw/stumble The Undertaker to victory at the 21 minute mark. The bout itself was rather silly & nothing special, but it wasn’t anything horrible either, despite the disappointing finish. **
Ashley Masaro defeated Jillian Hall, Michelle McCool, and Krystal in a BRA AND PANTIES MATCH OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Pretty much is these 4 stumbling around in & outside of the ring trying to undress their opponent. For some reason, Jillian isn’t allowed to wrestle, while Michelle & (especially) Krystal try hard for no real result. I still think that Ashley is useless, but she steals the win after practically doing nothing for 5 minutes. Even that was probably a little too long & I think I’ve now officially seen one too many B & P matches. I don’t see the point anymore. 1/2 *
Ken Kennedy beat Batista via DQ. Batista doesn’t allow Kennedy to do his usual mic shtick before the bout & dominates the early going both in & outside of the ring. Kennedy gets rather badly busted open in that early onslaught & the ‘Flair effect’ is very much present in his bleached blonde hair. Surprisingly, an eye-rake results in a prolonged period of offense for Kennedy & he thankfully brings enough intensity & variety to make us care. The dreaded resthold does eventually come & it’s a precursor to Batista losing the plot & going all animalistic on Kennedy, resulting in the unpredictable DQ loss at the 9 minute mark, when Batista wouldn’t let go of a chokehold. Wow… I didn’t expect that result! Not too bad of a match actually, as it was pretty even & had a decent intensity & story about it. Too simplistic to be anything special, the DQ win strangely seems to help the story of the bout. ** ½
King Bookah defeated Rey Mysterio to win the World Title. ALL HAIL KING BOOKAH!!! :starwars: : “Eddie†chants from the live crowd greet Rey to begin the bout, as he uses his pace to first avoid Booker’s offense & then get some shots in himself. Each time Booker works his way on top, Rey effectively uses that pace with a touch of high-flying to regain the advantage. That is, until he walks into a big superkick at the 6 minute mark. This results in Booker taking control for minutes on end with a much slower pace obviously becoming prevalent. Queen Sharmell is sent to the back after being caught interfering at the 10 minute mark, and this seems to energize Mysterio who kicks into a higher gear once more with an impressive array of offense. During one of these moves, referee Nick Patrick is knocked out of the ring & a frog splash by Rey goes uncounted. Booker then goes for a chair, but Rey uses it to hit a Van Daminator, which prompts Chavo Guerrero to come out & predictably turn on Rey (with a huge chair shot) to give Booker the title win at the 17 minute mark. Successful main-event match which was pretty much all Rey Mysterio, as he put in probably his best performance of his title reign, if not this year. ****