Matt Hardy defeated Gregory Helms. I really liked the beginning first few minutes of this opening match as it contained some crisp & well-paced back & forth action. It was a great mix of everything too, as it included some mat-wrestling, aerial action & brawling that was all used to sell the ‘good friends, better enemies’ storyline. Following a flurry of Hardy offense that gets a 2 count, Helms hits 3 variations of the Unprettier (arguably a very safe version of his VertaBreaker), but they only get 2 counts as well. Hardy then counters a top-rope move & continues the theme by hitting 3 Side-Effects. But when he heads to the top for a moonsault, Helms gets his knees up into Matt’s ribs. Not long later, Hardy kicks out of a Shining Wizard kick & then somehow reaches the ropes after receiving a Reverse Shining Wizard kick from the top-rope! The finishing sequence then sees a nice little collection of counters resulting in Hardy hitting the Twist Of Fate at the 13 minute mark for the pinfall. ****. One of the best opener's I've seen in a while.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick defeated Idol Stevens and KC James to retain the Tag Titles. : Super frenetic opening to this bout where you could hardly blink without missing a move from the face champs. James & Stevens hardly had to do a thing in the opening 4 minutes, as London & Kendrick flew around the ring with almost no regard for their own bodies. The heels logically & predictably slow the pace down & ground the champs, but it wasn’t too boring & didn’t last too long anyway. Kendrick cleans house following a hot tag, but a James Superplex almost gets the upset pinfall. A couple of close 2 counts for both teams (plus a wardrobe malfunction for Michelle McCool) kicks off a rapid fire closing sequence that sees some nice double-teaming by the exciting champs result in Sliced Bread #2 from Kendrick & a Shooting Star Press (off the back of his partner) from London to gain the pinfall at a touch under 10 minutes. *** 1/2
MVP defeated Marty Garner. Garner is some skinny jobber that I can’t recall having seen before & the crowd continues to treat this match with the disrespect that it deserves (what is this? Wrestling Superstars from the 80's?). MVP cockily dominates for just under 3 minutes & then hits the OverDrive for the pinfall. Even more filler than the Miz segment that came before it. Very disappointing as Garner has no place being on ppv & someone like Scotty 2 Hotty would have been better placed here. 1/2 *
Ken Kennedy defeated The Undertaker by DQ. Mr Kennedy does his usual mic work before the match, but with a little more intensity & less confidence than usual. He then tries to hit & run to begin the bout, but gets caught with a big boot by ‘Taker who proceeds to target an arm. The cocky heel does get in some offense after countering Old School with a top-rope arm-drag, but soon after falls victim to the patented move & more methodical domination from the dead man. The momentum finally swings to the heel when the phenom misses a running big boot & gets hung up in the corner. This results in a few minutes of Kennedy’s aggressive, if unspectacular, offense which ends with a piledriver out of nowhere for a 2 count! Kennedy then heads to resthold city, eventually leading into some decent, if elongated, back & forth action. This sequence comes to a close when The Undertaker gets driven head first into an exposed corner & he falls victim to a top-rope Kenton Bomb that probably should have been the end of the bout. But this is ‘Taker & he kicks out at 2. The cheap ending follows soon after as The Undertaker gets disqualified for using the US Title at the 21 minute mark. Both Kennedy & referee Charles Robinson get a tombstone piledriver in the aftermath. Overlong & familiar Undertaker bout that had quite a few moments of decent action, but didn’t really work as a whole. **
Rey Mysterio defeated Chavo Guerrero in a FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! We predictably get some nice pace, intensity & wrestling to open up the bout & it isn’t long until they are brawling up the entrance-way, against the set & into the crowd. Rey hits some nicely controlled aerial moves, while Chavo occasionally counters cleverly using chairs & guard-rails to his advantage. The 2 combatants practically do a slow half-lap around the arena before they stop at another entrance-way & Rey hits a flying cross body-block from a stairwell at the 12 minute mark for the pinfall. Enthusiastically performed & I can see what they were aiming for, but the strange structure of this match didn’t do it any favors. ** 1/2
Chris Benoit defeated William Regal. Nice job by the WWE here as following some earlier backstage segments, it seemed a certainty that Regal would face Vito. But it was Benoit who returned after 4 or 5 months & got the crowd to their feet. Predictably a technical match-up for the most part, JBL described this well as a “human chess matchâ€. Once they finally get vertical, Benoit hits some amazingly loud chops, a loud headbutt that busts Regal open & a Swan-Dive Headbutt for a 2 count. Some decent back & forth action follows before Benoit chops away at Regal’s bleeding forehead with (pardon the pun) no mercy. A failed Regal Stretch attempt turns into a surfboard-like submission hold, but Benoit eventually escapes, hits a Full Nelson Suplex & locks in the Crossface for the victory at the 11 minute mark. ***
King Bookah defeated Batista, Bobby Lashley, and Finlay in a FOUR WAY MATCH to retain the World Title. ALL HAIL KING BOOKAH!!!! :evil_2:
. Some nice byplay begins the match as Finlay initially allows the 2 faces to double-team the King, but then picks his spot & teams up with Booker to take out both Batista & Lashley. Of course, at the first hint of no face resistance, Finlay double-crosses the champ & tries to isolate him for the victory. Batista returns to break up a pinfall attempt though, only to have his arm targeted by the Irish veteran. What follows is many minutes of one on one action beginning with Booker & Batista, then Finlay & Lashley (with a cameo from the Little Ba$tard) & finally Batista & Lashley. It doesn’t amount to much though, except Batista getting accidentally busted open pretty badly. Following a slight pause because of that, Lashley cleans house, but falls victim to a Bookend & a close near-fall. The 2 then wrestle for a little while, before Batista cleans house with 3 Spinebusters & a huge Batista Bomb on Finlay. But Lashley spears the Animal from out of nowhere taking both men out & allowing King Booker to crawl over & pin Finlay at the 17 minute mark. Perfectly acceptable & solid main-event that too heavily relied on one-on-one match-ups & rehearsed set pieces. For the most part, that was fine. But after a while, I found myself craving some 4 man action. ***
Paul London and Brian Kendrick defeated Idol Stevens and KC James to retain the Tag Titles. : Super frenetic opening to this bout where you could hardly blink without missing a move from the face champs. James & Stevens hardly had to do a thing in the opening 4 minutes, as London & Kendrick flew around the ring with almost no regard for their own bodies. The heels logically & predictably slow the pace down & ground the champs, but it wasn’t too boring & didn’t last too long anyway. Kendrick cleans house following a hot tag, but a James Superplex almost gets the upset pinfall. A couple of close 2 counts for both teams (plus a wardrobe malfunction for Michelle McCool) kicks off a rapid fire closing sequence that sees some nice double-teaming by the exciting champs result in Sliced Bread #2 from Kendrick & a Shooting Star Press (off the back of his partner) from London to gain the pinfall at a touch under 10 minutes. *** 1/2
MVP defeated Marty Garner. Garner is some skinny jobber that I can’t recall having seen before & the crowd continues to treat this match with the disrespect that it deserves (what is this? Wrestling Superstars from the 80's?). MVP cockily dominates for just under 3 minutes & then hits the OverDrive for the pinfall. Even more filler than the Miz segment that came before it. Very disappointing as Garner has no place being on ppv & someone like Scotty 2 Hotty would have been better placed here. 1/2 *
Ken Kennedy defeated The Undertaker by DQ. Mr Kennedy does his usual mic work before the match, but with a little more intensity & less confidence than usual. He then tries to hit & run to begin the bout, but gets caught with a big boot by ‘Taker who proceeds to target an arm. The cocky heel does get in some offense after countering Old School with a top-rope arm-drag, but soon after falls victim to the patented move & more methodical domination from the dead man. The momentum finally swings to the heel when the phenom misses a running big boot & gets hung up in the corner. This results in a few minutes of Kennedy’s aggressive, if unspectacular, offense which ends with a piledriver out of nowhere for a 2 count! Kennedy then heads to resthold city, eventually leading into some decent, if elongated, back & forth action. This sequence comes to a close when The Undertaker gets driven head first into an exposed corner & he falls victim to a top-rope Kenton Bomb that probably should have been the end of the bout. But this is ‘Taker & he kicks out at 2. The cheap ending follows soon after as The Undertaker gets disqualified for using the US Title at the 21 minute mark. Both Kennedy & referee Charles Robinson get a tombstone piledriver in the aftermath. Overlong & familiar Undertaker bout that had quite a few moments of decent action, but didn’t really work as a whole. **
Rey Mysterio defeated Chavo Guerrero in a FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! We predictably get some nice pace, intensity & wrestling to open up the bout & it isn’t long until they are brawling up the entrance-way, against the set & into the crowd. Rey hits some nicely controlled aerial moves, while Chavo occasionally counters cleverly using chairs & guard-rails to his advantage. The 2 combatants practically do a slow half-lap around the arena before they stop at another entrance-way & Rey hits a flying cross body-block from a stairwell at the 12 minute mark for the pinfall. Enthusiastically performed & I can see what they were aiming for, but the strange structure of this match didn’t do it any favors. ** 1/2
Chris Benoit defeated William Regal. Nice job by the WWE here as following some earlier backstage segments, it seemed a certainty that Regal would face Vito. But it was Benoit who returned after 4 or 5 months & got the crowd to their feet. Predictably a technical match-up for the most part, JBL described this well as a “human chess matchâ€. Once they finally get vertical, Benoit hits some amazingly loud chops, a loud headbutt that busts Regal open & a Swan-Dive Headbutt for a 2 count. Some decent back & forth action follows before Benoit chops away at Regal’s bleeding forehead with (pardon the pun) no mercy. A failed Regal Stretch attempt turns into a surfboard-like submission hold, but Benoit eventually escapes, hits a Full Nelson Suplex & locks in the Crossface for the victory at the 11 minute mark. ***
King Bookah defeated Batista, Bobby Lashley, and Finlay in a FOUR WAY MATCH to retain the World Title. ALL HAIL KING BOOKAH!!!! :evil_2:
. Some nice byplay begins the match as Finlay initially allows the 2 faces to double-team the King, but then picks his spot & teams up with Booker to take out both Batista & Lashley. Of course, at the first hint of no face resistance, Finlay double-crosses the champ & tries to isolate him for the victory. Batista returns to break up a pinfall attempt though, only to have his arm targeted by the Irish veteran. What follows is many minutes of one on one action beginning with Booker & Batista, then Finlay & Lashley (with a cameo from the Little Ba$tard) & finally Batista & Lashley. It doesn’t amount to much though, except Batista getting accidentally busted open pretty badly. Following a slight pause because of that, Lashley cleans house, but falls victim to a Bookend & a close near-fall. The 2 then wrestle for a little while, before Batista cleans house with 3 Spinebusters & a huge Batista Bomb on Finlay. But Lashley spears the Animal from out of nowhere taking both men out & allowing King Booker to crawl over & pin Finlay at the 17 minute mark. Perfectly acceptable & solid main-event that too heavily relied on one-on-one match-ups & rehearsed set pieces. For the most part, that was fine. But after a while, I found myself craving some 4 man action. ***
