Paul London and Brian Kendrick defeated MnM to win the Smackdown Tag Titles. The first 7 minutes of the bout was very solid back & forth action which nicely mixed some decent spots with some good tag-team action. Double teaming & the usual heel shenanigans allowed MnM to eventually isolate Kendrick. Again, the booking was good, as it didn't last too long, was sufficiently entertaining & even included some good early false finishes. The lengthy finishing sequence also fitted in well as it included some nice back & forth stuff that constantly kept us guessing as to who would walk out with the titles. The pace of the face challengers would finally be too much & we had new tag-team champions at the 14 minute mark. Very solid & entertaining, although nothing too classic or memorable about it. Afterwards, Melina blames Mercury for the loss, seemingly resulting in the break-up of MnM when Nitro & Mercury go at it! ***
Chris Benoit defeated Finlay. The predictable rather methodical pace was employed throughout most of the bout, but I liked the story being told of Finlay having many technical counters of Benoit's moves. It's almost as if Benoit underestimated the Irishman & needed to step it up a notch to get back on top. He does with his unmatched physical intensity & Finlay plays off of it well. Benoit even tries to quicken the pace, but it's fair to say that he has lost a step, while Finlay isn't the best opponent to quicken the pace against. So back they go to a methodical dissection, with equal amounts of quality brawling thrown in for good measure. It isn't exactly edge of your seat stuff, but it's so well-performed that it's difficult not to get into. Finlay nicely gains sufficient heel heat, in order to have the fans salivating for a Benoit comeback. He eventually does & gets the win in a finishing sequence which appeared rushed & didn't play off the entire match as well as it should have, when Finlay immediately taps to the crossface at the 21 minute mark. *** 1/2
Jillian Hall defeated Melina. Johnny Nitro gets ejected before the match begins & the distraction allows Jillian to get the quick start with some nice aggressive wrestling. Melina eventually takes control with some rather pedestrian offense which seems to entirely consist of moves with her legs! Jillian thankfully regains control & actually moves around the ring very well, while seemingly having a decent repertoire of moves. ! The bout was also thankfully kept short at a little over 4 minutes in length, with Jillian emerging victorious, despite Melina holding on to the bottom rope while being pinned. Afterwards, Melina & Krystal go at it. **
Gregory Helms defeated Super Crazy to retain CW Title. Frenetic & entertaining start to this bout as Helms has no answer for the pace & high-flying of the face challenger. The champ eventually slows the pace down to a crawl with some rather mundane offense (read: average & boring restholds). This annoys me to no end, because even at a slower pace, Helms has much more tricks in his bag than this! Even when Crazy made the predictable comeback, the crowd had been mostly lost & seemed not to be too interested. A strange & predominantly unsuccessful finishing sequence saw Helms struggle to pin Crazy until anti-climactically using the ropes for leverage to get the win at the 10 minute mark. * 1/2
Mark Henry defeated Kurt Angle via countout. Henry clears the announce table before the match & then gets some decent heel heat on the mic. Angle doesn't waste any time beginning the match though, as he attacks before the bell. Complete with the word 'REVENGE' written on his mouthguard, Kurt does a good job in selling the storyline with his initial offense. Henry actually sells it well too, before grinding the match down to a halt by predictably targetting Angle's injured ribs. Thankfully, it doesn't last too long & Kurt strikes from nowhere with a DDT counter, a German Suplex & an Angle Slam! It's not enough for he win though & some ok back & forth action ensues. A teased announce table spot follows & the ringside brawl that eventually takes place, results in a disappointing countout victory to Henry at the 9 minute mark. Angle snaps afterwards & a chair attack is followed by an Ankle Lock & Angle Slam on the announce table. Nothing special, but better than it had any right to be. ** 1/2
Booker T defeated Bobby Lashley to win the King of the Ring! ALL FUCKING HAIL KING BOOKAH!!! : A reserved & seemingly careful beginning to this bout kicked things off. Both men seemed to be feeling each other out, while Lashley almost completely used clotheslines as his sole source of offense. The match eventually kicked into a higher gear & provided satisfactory action, with Sharmell constantly getting involved every time Lashley took control. It seemed big Bobby could take the best Booker had to give, as he kicked out of both a bookend & an ax-kick. But he didn't have an answer for the interfering Finlay, as Booker got the pinfall at the 9 minute mark with a 2nd ax-kick. Not bad, but a little disappointing to me. Lashley didn't really capitalize on the improvement he has made of late & there just didn't seem to be a great dynamic between these 2 in the ring. ** 1/2
Khali defeated Undertaker. . It began with Khali doing nothing but punches & Irish Whip type of moves only. It almost made Kane vs The Big Show look like a technical masterpiece! But to give both men some kudos, they did thankfully add some variety as the match went on. They also did a good job in somehow stretching the bout out to 8 minutes in length without making it seem too much of a chore. This got the crowd involved & had them pleading for an implausible 'Taker victory. Alas, it was not to be & you can almost classify this as a squash!!! This could have been worse, but please don't take my positive comments out of context. This wasn't exactly an entertaining, technical or brutal match. Quite the opposite in fact. 1/2 *
Rey Mysterio defeated JBL to retain World Title. A very good reaction from the live crowd greeted Rey to the ring. He initially uses it as motivation to stand up to the much larger JBL & surprise him with that much promoted underdog spirit. JBL eventually grounds Rey & takes control with his usual power-based offense. He also takes time to bust Rey open, taunt Rey's wife & mock Eddie Guerrero! This, along with his usual cocky attitude, gains JBL some serious heel heat & has the crowd begging for a Rey comeback. It does eventually come, but isn't exactly anything to write home about until Rey hits the 619. A referee bump stops him from getting the victory, but after kicking out of a powerbomb, a 2nd 619 & frog splash gets the job done after 16 minutes. Good enough story told & it resultantly got the live crowd involved sufficiently to make it seem like a main event. But personally, I'd like to see the WWE let Rey show off his amazing offense a little more than this. Especially against someone of JBL's wrestling style. Solid, if not as spectacular as it could have been. ***
Chris Benoit defeated Finlay. The predictable rather methodical pace was employed throughout most of the bout, but I liked the story being told of Finlay having many technical counters of Benoit's moves. It's almost as if Benoit underestimated the Irishman & needed to step it up a notch to get back on top. He does with his unmatched physical intensity & Finlay plays off of it well. Benoit even tries to quicken the pace, but it's fair to say that he has lost a step, while Finlay isn't the best opponent to quicken the pace against. So back they go to a methodical dissection, with equal amounts of quality brawling thrown in for good measure. It isn't exactly edge of your seat stuff, but it's so well-performed that it's difficult not to get into. Finlay nicely gains sufficient heel heat, in order to have the fans salivating for a Benoit comeback. He eventually does & gets the win in a finishing sequence which appeared rushed & didn't play off the entire match as well as it should have, when Finlay immediately taps to the crossface at the 21 minute mark. *** 1/2
Jillian Hall defeated Melina. Johnny Nitro gets ejected before the match begins & the distraction allows Jillian to get the quick start with some nice aggressive wrestling. Melina eventually takes control with some rather pedestrian offense which seems to entirely consist of moves with her legs! Jillian thankfully regains control & actually moves around the ring very well, while seemingly having a decent repertoire of moves. ! The bout was also thankfully kept short at a little over 4 minutes in length, with Jillian emerging victorious, despite Melina holding on to the bottom rope while being pinned. Afterwards, Melina & Krystal go at it. **
Gregory Helms defeated Super Crazy to retain CW Title. Frenetic & entertaining start to this bout as Helms has no answer for the pace & high-flying of the face challenger. The champ eventually slows the pace down to a crawl with some rather mundane offense (read: average & boring restholds). This annoys me to no end, because even at a slower pace, Helms has much more tricks in his bag than this! Even when Crazy made the predictable comeback, the crowd had been mostly lost & seemed not to be too interested. A strange & predominantly unsuccessful finishing sequence saw Helms struggle to pin Crazy until anti-climactically using the ropes for leverage to get the win at the 10 minute mark. * 1/2
Mark Henry defeated Kurt Angle via countout. Henry clears the announce table before the match & then gets some decent heel heat on the mic. Angle doesn't waste any time beginning the match though, as he attacks before the bell. Complete with the word 'REVENGE' written on his mouthguard, Kurt does a good job in selling the storyline with his initial offense. Henry actually sells it well too, before grinding the match down to a halt by predictably targetting Angle's injured ribs. Thankfully, it doesn't last too long & Kurt strikes from nowhere with a DDT counter, a German Suplex & an Angle Slam! It's not enough for he win though & some ok back & forth action ensues. A teased announce table spot follows & the ringside brawl that eventually takes place, results in a disappointing countout victory to Henry at the 9 minute mark. Angle snaps afterwards & a chair attack is followed by an Ankle Lock & Angle Slam on the announce table. Nothing special, but better than it had any right to be. ** 1/2
Booker T defeated Bobby Lashley to win the King of the Ring! ALL FUCKING HAIL KING BOOKAH!!! : A reserved & seemingly careful beginning to this bout kicked things off. Both men seemed to be feeling each other out, while Lashley almost completely used clotheslines as his sole source of offense. The match eventually kicked into a higher gear & provided satisfactory action, with Sharmell constantly getting involved every time Lashley took control. It seemed big Bobby could take the best Booker had to give, as he kicked out of both a bookend & an ax-kick. But he didn't have an answer for the interfering Finlay, as Booker got the pinfall at the 9 minute mark with a 2nd ax-kick. Not bad, but a little disappointing to me. Lashley didn't really capitalize on the improvement he has made of late & there just didn't seem to be a great dynamic between these 2 in the ring. ** 1/2
Khali defeated Undertaker. . It began with Khali doing nothing but punches & Irish Whip type of moves only. It almost made Kane vs The Big Show look like a technical masterpiece! But to give both men some kudos, they did thankfully add some variety as the match went on. They also did a good job in somehow stretching the bout out to 8 minutes in length without making it seem too much of a chore. This got the crowd involved & had them pleading for an implausible 'Taker victory. Alas, it was not to be & you can almost classify this as a squash!!! This could have been worse, but please don't take my positive comments out of context. This wasn't exactly an entertaining, technical or brutal match. Quite the opposite in fact. 1/2 *
Rey Mysterio defeated JBL to retain World Title. A very good reaction from the live crowd greeted Rey to the ring. He initially uses it as motivation to stand up to the much larger JBL & surprise him with that much promoted underdog spirit. JBL eventually grounds Rey & takes control with his usual power-based offense. He also takes time to bust Rey open, taunt Rey's wife & mock Eddie Guerrero! This, along with his usual cocky attitude, gains JBL some serious heel heat & has the crowd begging for a Rey comeback. It does eventually come, but isn't exactly anything to write home about until Rey hits the 619. A referee bump stops him from getting the victory, but after kicking out of a powerbomb, a 2nd 619 & frog splash gets the job done after 16 minutes. Good enough story told & it resultantly got the live crowd involved sufficiently to make it seem like a main event. But personally, I'd like to see the WWE let Rey show off his amazing offense a little more than this. Especially against someone of JBL's wrestling style. Solid, if not as spectacular as it could have been. ***