Randy Orton defeated Kurt Angle. The predictable beginning to the bout further backed up it's incorrect choice as opener, with both men pretty much playing off their 'One Night Stand' match, with only a few minor twists. In truth, this was too similarly structured to the previous bout, with only an ok first 8 minutes, followed by a good closing 5 minutes. But what the original had to pass the time better though was some entertaining crowd interaction. Not long after being German Suplexed 8 times & crawling around in the Ankle-Lock for about a minute, Orton uses an exposed turnbuckle to hit the RKO a the 13 minute mark to square the ledger in their personal series. Not bad by any means, but disappointingly similar to a fortnight ago & awkwardly placed due to the match style & heel/face confusion. ** ½
Umaga squashed Eugene. : Before the match begins, Eugene brings some backup in the form of Hacksaw Duggan, Doink & Kamala! Hacksaw does a great job getting the crowd involved, but it's hardly worth it for a 2 minute squash. Hardly any wrestling involved & nothing impressive at all. Umaga dominates all but Kamala afterwards. A disappointing waste of time. 1/2 *
Ric Flair defeated Mick Foley in a Best of Three Falls. Strangely entertaining opening fall which was 4 minutes of quite decent chain wrestling. Maybe nothing special, but it worked with the intriguing set-up over the past 2 weeks. Having lost the first fall to a roll-up/ccradle type of manouever, Foley resorts to some hardcore action & comes out swinging with a garbage can after some action outside the ring & into the crowd. It all ends rather disappointingly with Foley getting disqualified to lose 2 falls to 0 just 7 minutes after the beginning of the bout. Foley goes all Cactus on us afterwards & busts Flair wide open with Barbi. Disappointingly short. **
Johnny Nitro defeated Carlito and Shelton Benjamin in a Three Way Dance to win the IC Title. Very entertaining match featuring 3 very gifted youngsters. Seriously, right here was a bout which showcased the future of the WWE! Clever beginning which set the tone for the entire match, as Nitro was quickly disposed of, and Carlito & Shelton tried to sneak a pinfall using some clever & athletic moves. I had a bad feeling that the one-on-one action was going to strangle the bout following this, but my concerns were unfounded as it was predominantly fought with 3 men in the ring. Not a great deal of psychology involved (excluding the ‘sneaking the pin’ theory), but the lack of build-up for the feud didn’t exactly help that out. Plus, that was more than made up for by 3 or 4 terrific spots that just begged for attention; A springboard plancha type of move to the outside by Carlito & an original Tower Of Doom type 3 man superplex which is hard to do justice in words were clearly the highlights. Carlito was probably the standout, but all 3 men showed their worth as potential main-eventrers. Terrific stuff! ****
Rob Van Dam defeated Edge to retain the Raw World Title. Needless to say, I don’t think the placement of this bout on the card befits the importance of the WWE Championship! Impressive beginning to the match with Edge playing super cocky & initially getting the better of RVD. But then the champ steps it up & takes his offense up a level to gain the ascendancy. Edge doesn’t hold back either, with a nice sunset-flip into a powerbomb from inside the ring to the floor! Edge subsequently slows the pace down, until RVD takes it back to the outside, where he eventually comes unstuck after missing his patented spinning legdrop from the apron. A subsequent painful looking powerbomb that RVD takes on the security railing results in Edge targeting the champ’s back. But Van Dam (with some questionable selling) keeps the pace up with some decent variations on his unorthodox, but familiar, repertoire.
The finishing sequence predictably involved a referee bump, the WWE Title & some interference by Lita, but the latter backfires when Edge runs full steam into a chair & falls victim to the 5 Star Frog Splash at the 18 minute mark. This was an unpredictable ending to a match I definitely enjoyed. Nicely paced & booked, it may not have quite had that main-event feel to it, but maybe it’s positioning had something to do with that. Edge was more than solid here & showed a good mix of everything. *** 1/2
Fake Kane beat Kane. I must say that it was pretty cool hearing the 2 Kane themes back-to-back. I was also quite impressed with the actions & mannerisms of the imposter Kane, as he had a lot of the old-school moves down perfectly. Decent enough back & forth big man action that the live crowd didn’t really take to until near the end. But the action actually wasn’t half bad at all & they even threw in a top-rope move or 2. I have definitely seen worse, that’s for sure. The bout does end a little anti-climactically with a chokeslam by the Imposter Kane at the 7 minute mark finishing the job. Decent, if nothing too special. ** ½
John Cena defeated Sabu in a Lumberjack Match. The lumberjacks were evenly split between ECW wrestlers & Raw (well… Heat, to be exact) wrestlers. The first couple of minutes were predictably filled with both men throwing their opponent to the outside to gain the helpful advantage of their corresponding lumberjacks. It didn’t take long for Sabu to get a chair in his hand though & he gained the ascendancy with various triple-jump variations that appeared fresh enough to me. A lumberjack brawl then distracted Cena long enough for a table to be set up on the outside, but Cena replied with a kendo-stick shot & then used that table for an awkward F-U from inside the ring to the outside. The STF-U then finishes the bout off at the 7 minute mark. Solid, well-paced & sufficiently entertaining. A little on the short side though & could have done with a bit more story to it. ***
Triple H and Shawn Michaels defeated Kenny, Mikey, Johnny, Nicky and Mitch in a Handicap Match. The opening 5 minutes or so was DX using their experience to pretty much dominate The Spirit Squad. But the youngsters in green at least did a good job in the entertainment stakes (Johnny's kung-fu act was great). The booking used them well actually, as each of the 5 shared approximately 2 minutes in the ring. They eventually got on top of DX through sheer weight of numbers. Predictably, it was HBK who worked the majority of the bout for the faces. There was no problem with that, but I do feel that the cheerleaders were in control for too long at this stage. Even when Triple H got the hot tag & brought the crowd to life, it all just seemed to go on for too long. The DX domination then went on until the 18 minute mark, when they eventually ended the bout with a double pin. Not too bad overall & mostly entertaining. But probably would have come off better if not the main-event & it lasted about 4-5 minutes shorter. ***