Back, with a Vengeance reaction

OK, so I’ve had some time to ponder last night, and collate my thoughts a little. I’m still feeling very deflated about the whole Vengeance PPV, and the WWE in general.

In my mind, of the nine matches, one was good (Edge v Batista) four were average (Hardys v Cade & Murdoch, Nitro v Punk, Chavo v Yang, MVP v Flair) one was barely a match (Umaga v Marella) Two were below par (Candice v Melina, The main event) and one was beyond dreadful (Deuce/Domino v Snuka/Sarge)

That’s an appalling return for Pay Per View which I was looking forward to, especially the main event which was so poor considering the talent and potential in the ring. If any of you saw TNA’s Slammiversary last week, the King of the Mountain title match was a great spectacle, a quality concept and really well put together. The WWE’s main event didn’t even come close to the efforts of Joe, Styles, Cage, Angle and Harris.

I’m fairly confident that Raw tonight will be better than Vengeance. I know that isn’t hard, but the annoying thing is, I bet Vengeance got a lot of people to purchase the PPV because of Benoit/Punk and the fiveway title match, and many of these people will become disillusioned about getting another PPV if this is what you get for your money.

When Raw is the following day and also a 3 hour show, as it was a fortnight ago, you wonder whether Pay per Views lose their edge and appeal.

I would definitely advocate cutting back dramatically on the amount of Pay Per View shows. Less could well be more, and I’m not begging for TNA to pick up a second hour and start pushing WWE a little bit. It might frighten them into action, like what happened when WCW went into overdrive.

There is only one company who resemble WCW circa 2000 at the moment, and it’s the company based in Stamford.

Guys, I want your thoughts. Please leave your comments below, because I do wonder if I am too scathing sometimes. I’ll get back to you on all feedback.

Vengeance: Blight of Champions

1.00am
Hi all, its Vengeance time. As I type this, the opening montage is on, running through the card, and I’ve just read on a news site that Benoit may miss the show tonight. I jinxed the England Under-21s this week by saying it would be a Serbia-England final on Football365, I’m praying that me saying that Benoit/Punk is the match I am looking forward to more than any I can remember of late, isn’t going to scupper it.

1.04am
Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham, former Tag Team champions, are shown in the audience, and a flashback of them competing in 1985 is shown.

Funnily enough, no sign of them wrestling as Captain if a ship, IRS, The new Blackjacks or The Stalker. How strange.

1.06am
So it’ll be The Hardys and Cade & Murdoch to open. I like Cade and Murdoch, I think Cade especially could have a bright future, but damn, they aren’t over at the moment. In fact, their logo comes from a branding iron, and they should carry one to the ring – it’s the only way they’ll get any heat. Boom. And indeed, boom.

1.16am
Wow. 0 for 1 for me, as Cade & Murdoch get it done against the Hardys. Reasonably clean as well. One would think that Londrick will be next up for C&M, and that the Hardys will go back their respective brand and prepare for government – I mean, prepare for singles pushes.

1.19am
A Summerslam advert, and basically confirmation that the Jackass crew will indeed be part of the August PPV. So, a TV show where ordinary people hurt themselves in very, very stupid ways.

Oh, don’t try this at home, by the way…………

1.22am
A strange juxtaposition, as a clip of the late Eddie Guererro winning the World title from Brock Lesnar at No Way Out 2004. Nice memories.

So out comes Chavo, Eddie’s nephew, as a heel. Hmm.

1.23am
Jimmy Wang Yang (even less reaction than Cade & Murdoch) is now battling Chavo, and JBL is going through the legendary Guerrero family. Gory Guererro, grandfather of Chavo, is mentioned. His dad, Chavo Classic, a former Cruiserweight champion and a man who tagged in Houston with Mil Mascaras.

No mention of Hector Guererro, who portrayed the Goobledy Gooker. Funny that.

During this match, we’ve so far has references to Mascaras, the man of a thousand masks. Also Dean Malenko, the man of a thousand holds. I’m waiting for a reference to Vince McMahon. Man in a thousand pieces.

Christ, its like Tenpole Tudor have turned up. (kids, I’d google that one if I were you, I can’t be bother to explain it. The match is decent, by the way, so far.)

1.33am
Chavo wins.

Now you won’t get many overtones about this being a 5-star classic, or indeed anyone remembering it in more than about 3 months time. However, I’d like to point out how well this match was booked and performed, because for much of it Yang had no reaction to anything, but by dropping in highspots like a flying bodypress (nearfall) and moonsault (missed) the crowd got into it, and when Jimmy reversed the Gorybomb in a sunset flip, the nearfall elicited a big gasp from the audience. Good matches tell a good story, and manipulate audience reaction. Good job here.

1.39am
6 minutes of Vince related filler, and actually some good stuff, studying the last movements of the chairman, and even teasing a ‘major breathrough’ tomorrow night on Raw.

1.41am
Damn it. Damn it, damn it. I wish I knew someone called Janet and I’d say it to her.

Benoit didn’t make it. There’s a massive “We want Benoit” chant in the arena, as CM Punk is taking on Nitro. No-one’s fault, I sincerely hope Chris and his family are ok, and that whatever the situation forcing him to miss this show, it not too serious in the longrun.

The trouble is, I don’t think either of these guys are ready for the title yet. Lets just hope for a decent match.

1.50am
Johnny Nitro, former winner of Tough Enough, wins the ECW title. A clean win over CM Punk, no less, is how he got there.

If Benoit is back by Tuesday, he will kill him. They will want Benoit to carry this belt for a while, and him taking it off Punk on an ECW show is pointless. He’ll take it from Nitro, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Nitro, Benoit, Punk triple threat on PPV.

1.55am
Here comes Ricky Steamboat, and JR & King talk about his match with Savage at Wrestlemania 3, and his series of encounters with Ric Flair.

Not when they dressed him up in orange wings and pretended he could actually breath fire.

1.57am
Its Santino v Umaga, and as I ponder where Estrada is these days, it strikes me that it perpetuates the “Umaga is a lunatic” idea. I smell a DQ.

2.01am
I swear I wrote the above paragraph before the match.

But come on. That was a really, really pissweak DQ finish. It was a few right hands in the corner, something you see in virtually every match and which is allowed to happen. Utter crap

The funniest thing was that Umaga was cheered as a face after the event. He was cheered when he attacked Santino post-bell, and when he looked as his thumb to symbolize the spike, I think it was as big a pop as I’d heard all night. The people then chanted “One more time”, and I think were expecting Maria, who had rushed to Santino’s aide, to get it too.

Remember the “kill the clown” chants directed at Doink? That was Santino’s equivalent.

2.08am
Magnum T.A. is announced to the crowd. Wow, that’s some mustache he has on him. Magnum was a good show, but he was crap in Three Men and a Baby. What do you mean, “wrong guy”?

2.10am
Flair v MVP now. This show is dying. We need these two, both very strong hands, to come through. This is the middle match on the show, and apart from the two main title matches, we have the Womens title and a tag team ‘challenge’ where is=f the rumours about the participants I hear are true, it’ll be a challenge for the match to anything but stink and for the challengers to be able to run and jump at all.

2.20am
MVP wins, and as I suspected, he played dirty to do so. Fair enough. I have no problems with this match at all. It was tight, it didn’t expose either man, it had a logical conclusion.

So far we’ve had four out of five heel wins, and the babyface victory was Santino, who didn’t really look like a champion. Also, apart from the ECW title, which was vacant, we’ve had no title changes thus far.

2.25am
They show Rick Martel and Tony Garea in the crowd. My God, what will happen if a backstage fight breaks out. That’s Garea job to sort it out!

The showed them winning the tag gold from The Wild Samoans. They didn’t show Rick Martel spraying Jake Roberts in the eye with perfume, and have a match with sacks on their head.

2.29am
Yep, at a combined age of 112, its Sarge and the Superfly, with the only interesting story being that Deuce is in fact the adopted son of Jimmy Snuka.

I thought it was going to be two Majors, and instead I got a Sergeant.

I’d have had The Iron Sheik on commentary for this one, that’d been priceless.

2.37am
Garea and Martel shockingly (!) get involved after Deuce and Domino win then beat down the legends. The combined age of the people in the ring now goes past 200. At least there is something on the show older than my jokes.

2.47am
Long period of build up and intro, including Harley Race at ringside. They have shown former champions of every belt thus far, and it’s the Women’s title next. It will be probably be Moolah, but I’m begging for it to be Harvey Wippleman!

Edge and Batista III then which, if it’s a feud blow-off and there is nothing to suggest otherwise, you’d feel would benefit from a stipulation. Maybe 2 out of 3 falls or something. After all, their last match was in a cage. Maybe Adam Copeland thought “Edge inside Cage” sounded like a gay slur about him and his best friend, the former TNA champion.

3.05am
Hooray! A good match. Finally. Great action, back and forth, and the more I watch Edge the more impressed I become. I was very hasty in predicting Batista to win this, because I’d say Edge is THE best all round performer in the company at the moment. He deserves that belt more than anyone.

People will slate the end of the match, but I liked it. The fake DQ and restart has been done loads of times, but I thought the count-out finish was creative, it didn’t bury Edge or make Batista look week. Maybe, if they are struggling for a route to go down, they could have Batista assist whomever Edge faces, with the idea being that Batista rids the rated R superstar of the belt, then is a allowed a title shot.

3.10am
Damn, it was Moolah they reviewed. She doesn’t seem to be there. Presumably she and Mae Young are in quarantine after the dog barking routine on Raw the other week.

Two matches to go then – still no title changes, still no face wins.

3.14am
We’re a couple of minutes into Melina and Candice, and the two divas are being very vocal. Lots of grunting and groaning. I bet I won’t hear noises like that on TV until……….well tomorrow, when Wimbledon starts.

Excuse me, I need a Sharapova moment…………….

3.16am
Good lord, that was the last title change and face win I expected. And what a pretty face too. To Candice’s credit, she has improved a great deal of late, and we should remember that Trish was hopeless when she first started, and turned into as good a Women’s champion as there has ever been.

3.30am
For the second time in the space of a week, I’m watching a Pay Per View main event with 5 people vying for a World Title. Lets see how they compare.

3.41am
Hmm. I try and make a joke about the goings on in these PPVs, and I hope you find it at least vaguely entertaining. However, after that short, uneventful, uninspiring, very disappointing main event, which fittingly caps a distinctly poor Pay Per View.

The WWE is in trouble, big time. TNA got its biggest ever rating last week. Admittedly we are talking 1.2 to around about 4.0, but Slammiversary was vastly superior to Vengeance, and if Jeff and Dixie can successfully lobby for 2 hours, I’m begging that people give TNA a try as a genuine alternative, and hopefully it will inspire the WWE creative team to get out of this worrying slump.

I’ll try to get back within a few days to elaborate on my thoughts. Also, keep an eye on www.thesun.co.uk/wrestling, which has had a makeover and will likely feature some of my current thoughts.

Good night, all. I think I probably should have gone to sleep 3 hours ago.

More talk about Vince? No Vengeance in hell. (yeah, that was pretty weak)

So the next WWE Pay Per View comes hurtling into view, and it doesn’t seem four weeks since the last one.

And that’s because it was three.

To me, there are far too many Pay Per Views at the moment. Two problems with this: the first is that people only have so much disposable income. To watch all the PPVs, even for viewers here in the UK, for whom not every big show requires payment, is a considerable outlay. And for that, you want quality.

Which leads me to the second problem. Pay Per Views used to be when matches you were looking forward to took place, rivalries came to a bitter end, and major turning pints occurred. Now, this is very rare.

On Sunday’s Vengeance card you have three matches we’ve seen at least once on PPV (Edge/Batista, Melina/Candice, Hardys/Cade & Murdoch), two which were decided in the last 10 days of programming via qualification (Punk/Benoit, Yang/Chavo) and two which have basically no build up (Flair/MVP, Marella/Umaga).

And why is this? Well, the injury crisis hasn’t helped. Having several major stars out of the picture isn’t helpful to anyone. And obviously, the whole Vince’s Limo angle has overshadowed events of late.

So what will happen Sunday? Let’s take a look……..

US Title: Ric Flair v MVP (c)
As mentioned, zero build up to this, and no real reason to care, really. Logically, I don’t understand what Flair has done to earn this shot, ahead of, lets say Finlay, or indeed Khali, who was challenging for the most prestigious title in the company three weeks ago, and now can’t be seen. I’m not complaining, like, but logically Flair isn’t in the reckoning.

He is, though, still popular and a draw, so that is likely the reason for strong-arming him in somewhere.

I’d have this opening the show, as you know it’ll be fairly solid and likely not overlong. This is probably a slight ‘feed’ for MVP, who has shown massive potential and development during his feud with Benoit. The Porter/Benoit feud was, I would suggest, the catalyst for sending The Crippler to ECW, where he can do the same kind of this with Burke, Punk, Cor Von, etc.

I’m taking MVP to win this, probably with a liberal helping of tights or ropes to assist him. A US title reign does nothing for Flair, while a victory over the Nature Boy elevates MVP somewhat. A victory over “The dirtiest player in the game” through cheating makes sense.

WWE Tag Team Titles: The Hardys v Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch ©
For me, the title change should have occurred in their first match. Cade and Murdoch don’t look impressive for having beaten the Hardys, because when they did claim the gold, Matt and Jeff were selling their injuries from a ladder match.

Had their first encounter been a title switch, you could have had the rematch as the second bout on PPV, and the titles going back to the boys from Raleigh on the third go-round.

Anyhoo, they did it this way, and perhaps it’s because they intend to keep the belts on Cade and Murdoch. I think it is more likely that The Hardys regain the titles, and go on to face London and Kendrick. I hope so anyway, because that would make for cracking viewing.

I’ll go for the Hardys, because Londrick should be waiting, and because I don’t think WWE have the nerve to job them on Pay Per View.

World Tag Team title Open Challenge.
Deuce and Domino have apparently issued an open challenge for their titles. Whoopee.

There is only one other team on SmackDown, which is the Major Brothers, so logically it’ll be them, unless the WWE decide to go with what they do on occasions, which is mismatched partners who win a belt, then go on to feud. I can only find, though, with the help of WWE.com’s Smackdown Superstars page, four available babyfaces: Shannon Moore, Funaki, Kane and Eugene. Kane and Eugene has to be a possibility, but I’d still plump that it’ll be the Majors.

The only other option is to have a Raw team step up, perhaps Cryme Time or The Highlanders, in which case they could win the belts and move to SD, making a complete mockery of the Draft (get the “R” out).

Since I have to make a prediction, I’ll say that whoever the challengers are will win.

Cruiserweight Title: Jimmy Wang Yang v Chavo Guerrero ©
This should be a fairly solid encounter, with Chavo being another Benoit-like character, who can help others to improve. This, I would suggest is why is Cruiserweight champion, much like Dean Malenko several years ago.

I don’t see any change to his situation, and the booking up to this show backs up his retention claims, in my eyes. Booking JWY to look a credible challenger, beating Chavo in previous encounters, the WWE are trying to stress he is good enough to pull off the win at Vengeance. Not for me.

Should be decent, but Chavo will win.

Womens Championship: Melina Perez © v Candice Michelle
With more silicon in the ring than is in the PC I’m typing this on, I’m not expecting a catch-as-catch-can classic, but this shouldn’t be a complete disaster. Candice has shown significant improvement of late, and Melina’s character is a strong one, so this feud has been reasonably watchable.

I think Melina will retain, as I don’t think they would be able to rely on Candice to be quite strong enough to carry the title just yet.

Intercontinental Title: Santino Marella © v Umaga
To be fair, I got sick of the underdog routine after Barry Horowitz’s second match, so subsequent similar angles with Crash Holly, Spike Dudley and now Santino Marella don’t particularly interest me.

My first instinct was that this would be simply a way of taking the belt away from the Italian, by virtue of the fact that Umaga is an unstoppable monster (unless you’re Cena or Lashley, of course). However, a Regal v Marella programme was teased on Raw, with the attractive, though not exactly Oscar-nominated, Maria in the middle. And that makes more sense as a title encounter, rather than a feud for the hell of it. And where does the Samaon Bulldozer go with the belt?

Tricky one. I’ll stick with Umaga, because I can’t see him being dropped after ht push his character has received, to lose to Marella. Remember, the reason he lost in the first place was because Lashley imposed himself.

ECW World Title: Chris Benoit v CM Punk (title currently vacant)
Hopefully this will be given plenty of time, a sensible position on the card (about third last) and a sensible, clean finish.

What this match needs is for that rarest of beasts to occur – a match which finishes clean, but manages to put over both men at the same time. It’s a tough ask, but these men are up to.

Benoit needs to win this. CM Punk is a future star, should be a future world Champion, but needs time to develop and perfect his craft. There is no hurry; Bret Hart was 35 before winning his first WWF title – Punk is just 28.

And the point I made previously about losing a match but still getting over? Steve Austin was a ‘future star’ until Bret Hart beat him in five-star classic at Wrestlemania 13. This was the catalyst for Austin’s career, and he took off after this.

So give the ECW title to Benoit, but book it closely, with loads of near falls and false finishes, perhaps throw in Punk not tapping to the crossface after prolonged pressure, and Benoit winning with a wresting hold. Follow this with a handshake of respect, and you might be talking Match of the Year contendership.

I don’t think I’ve looked forward to a match quite as much for some time. I hope they deliver. Benoit to win, just.

World Heavyweight Championship: Edge © v Batista
This is quite tricky to call, I think. I’ve been quite impressed that Edge has been booked to win reasonably cleanly twice, to be honest. Once again, back to the logic thing, how many consecutive title matches has Batista failed to win? I make it 5. Now the first one he lost the belt, so earns a rematch. Then there were two draws, so fair enough. But he didn’t really earn the last one, nor this.

Anyway, here we are, and most reports I have read seem to be saying to put your house on Edge to win. I’m not so confident.

It’s interesting to note that this is now a “Last Chance match” rather than a “do or die” match. Presumably the bad taste surrounding the Mr. McMahon explosion or even Sherri Martel’s passing. Anyway, so if Batista doesn’t win, he doesn’t get another title shot while Edge is champion.

Back to the lack of faces on the Smackdown roster, and I’m trying to see where Edge goes next if he wins. And all I can see is a returning Rey Mysterio. Otherwise, Batista can be set for title programmes with Mark Henry or The Great Khali – I didn’t say they;d be pretty, but its likely, isn’t it?

So against the grain, I’m going to plump for Batista. Although I reserve the right to award myself a late half-point if Edge wins and feuds with Mysterio next.

WWE Championship Challenge match – John Cena © v Randy Orton v King Booker v Bobby Lashley v Mick Foley.
I think that I have to wheel out the old patented (the patent finally came through) McNichol Eliminator for this one. But it might not get me that far……..

Firstly, Mick Foley doesn’t win. He can’t, that’s nonsense, forget it.

Next, Booker isn’t going to take this. He isn’t nearly as high a calibre as the other three remaining. If it goes to a heel, it goes to Randy Orton. And can you see someone who is admittedly talented, but with a played-out gimmick headlining the flagship show? No. He’s out.

So we are down to Cena, Lashley and Orton. Three ‘untouchables’.

Cena and Lashley have been the unstoppable champions, overcoming all odds and defeating most everything in their path, almost Hogan-style. Randy Orton, meanwhile, despite the occasional destruction of a hotel room and defecation in Diva’s bags, is favoured currently – mainly because Triple H wants him kept strong until The Game himself returns.

I really am struggling, and the McNichol Eliminator Add-on of a random guess isn’t fully developed yet, so I have to try and be logical.

I’m going for a bit of wild stab. I’m going for Orton.

Why? Well first of all, I’ll say that he won’t be pinning Cena or Lashley. I suspect that Foley’s inclusion might be so that Orton can pin a face without making Cena or Lashley seem weak by comparison. Cena then says he wasn’t pinned for the belt, Lashley hasn’t lost cleanly since he lost the ECW one, so they are still strong.

And as an extra variable, what about Cena being accused of the McMahon limo explosion? I’m not saying that he’ll be revealed as the one who did it, but I could see some sort of angle where Coach, with support from Stephanie, stops Cena from having any more title involvement, while they investigate him.

Prediction: Randy Orton, and that I need to design McNichol Eliminator 2.0.


So there we are. I am actually really looking forward to Vengeance, mainly because of Benoit and Punk, which I expect to be excellent, and the Raw, WWE championship match which I really have no idea who’ll come out victorious.

Enjoy Vengeance, I’ll see you back here on Monday for a recap.