Monday, March 21st, 2005
Jefferson Civic Center
Birmingham, Alabama
Shawn Michaels vs. Robert Conway
You will never hear me complain about starting the show off with a match. They show highlights of the Rockers reunion the previous week. Michaels quickly outsmarts La Resistance by sliding under Conway and pulling him to the outside and then slugging away on Grenier. Michaels then launches himself over the ropes and takes out both guys. Conway sends him Michaels into the turnbuckle and he Ric Flairs himself over the top rope and Grenier blindsides him with his flag. Conway hits a weird looking jaw breaker after the commercial break. I remember a lot of people were high on Conway back in this time, but he always just screamed jobber to the stars to me. Michaels fights back and then blows his nose in the flag before hitting a top rope elbow drop. Sweet Chin Music to a big pop and that is all. This is the exact type of match they should be booking before a big pay per view. Conway didn't look overly strong, but also didn't look like a complete buffoon while Shawn looked sharp before his big match.
Match Rating: **1/4
They show a really well done Kurt Angle hype video. Peak Kurt Angle was so, so good.
Christy Hemme is backstage with Lita, William Regal and Tajiri talking about their upcoming match.
We get the Indecent Proposal spoof commercial.
Christy Hemme, William Regal & Tajiri vs. Molly Holly, Maven & Simon Dean
Trish comes down to ringside to check out the match. Dean and Regal start things off. The champs hit a couple of double team moves, but then Maven trips up Tajiri behind the referee's back. Christy finally gets in after a couple of minutes and hits a couple moves and the Twist of Fate for the victory. The match was nothing, but again it was another wisely booked match heading into a big show.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Triple H is backstage and bumps into Chris DeJoseph and stares him down as he looks frightened to death. Look out, Hunter's in a mood tonight.
Triple H's music hits and he grabs a chair and brings it to the ring. Triple H talks about how hard it was to make Batista and Randy Orton great. He makes fun of Orton and how desperate he is for going after Undertaker and that if he would have stayed in Evolution, he would still be a star. Much like Batista. We're kind of getting a middle ground Triple H here, somewhere in between his super serious and joking personas. He takes a shot at JBL for calling himself a wrestling god. He announces that Batista's match with Kane will be a lumberjack match. Triple H then says Batista broke his heart by leaving. At WrestleMania, he is going to put the Animal down.
Chris Jericho & Shelton Benjamin vs. Edge & Christian
Back to back weeks that my two favorite tag teams of all time reunite. Edge tries to illegally double team Jericho, but it backfires and Christian knocks him off the apron. Shelton then hits a somersault dive over the top rope and as awesome as that looked, I can't wait to re-watch his performance at WrestleMania. Jericho hits a double bulldog and then tries a double Lionsault, but Edge moves, but he still hits Christian. Tomko gets involved and the numbers game catches up to him going into the commercial break. Benjamin is in and takes care of both men. Edge goes down for Christian to hit Poetry In Motion, but Shelton jumps off Edge's back and hits a nice leaping clothesline.After a quick paced segment, Tomko distracts Benjamin and Christian nails him with the Intercontinental belt and Edge hits the spear for the victory. Shelton looked really good here and yet again, another wisely booked match.
Match Rating: **1/2
After the match, Edge and Christian attack Benjamin and Benoit comes out to make the save but gets hit by a ladder by Tomko. Ric Flair gives a speech to all the heel lumberjacks and tells them Batista screwed them by not going to SmackDown and for them to treat tonight as their WrestleMania. He tells them that there is an opening in Evolution that they are looking to fill. This was a fun little segment that only Flair could pull off this effectively.
Batista is backstage and Bischoff comes into his room apologizing about the lumberjack match saying he has nothing to do with it. Bischoff says he would be so proud to have Batista be his champion. Batista says that he would make a great politician, or better yet, a used car salesman.
Stacy and Orton are backstage and Orton asks her to join him to the ring. Orton said he has proven that he is not afraid and that his confidence is at an all time high. He opens up a box that contains a Randy Orton Legend Killer t-shirt that lists all of the legends on the back, including the Undertaker. After he shows a hype video of himself he then kisses Stacy. I remember none of this. After that, he gives her the RKO.
Tyson Tomko vs. Chris Benoit
This match was made after the two brawled earlier tonight. Benoit comes out to a big pop and has his ribs wrapped here. Tomko attacks Benoit as he's walking in the ring, but Benoit quickly turns it around and hits three German suplexes. The diving headbutt makes me cringe every single time. For every big man that Vince pushes, it feels like there are two big guys like Tomko who are booked like goofs. Lawler is basically begging Tomko to work on Benoit's ribs, but instead he decides to punch him in the head. Benoit quickly gets Tomko into the Crippler Crossface and after a struggle, Tomko taps. The crowd was really into Benoit here. This did a good job of reminding everyone that Benoit is a big threat in the Money In The Bank match.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Muhammad Hassan approaches Shawn Michaels backstage and tells him that he knows nothing about the discrimination Hassan faces every day. Hassan says he has yet to be pinned on Raw and he should have a match at WrestleMania. Michaels challenges Hassan to a match on Raw next week.
We get the Taxi Driver WrestleMania spoof.
Triple H and Ric Flair make their way down and introduce all of the lumberjacks. Triple H joins the announcers. JR announces that next week we are getting a Triple H/Batista Face Off.
Lumberjack Match
Kane vs. Batista
These two never had the best of chemistry, but I also don't really recall them having many matches together once Batista improved. The lumberjacks slow down Batista and Kane greets him with a big boot. Kane kicks down Snitsky, which allows Batista to counter Kane's top rope attempt. Kane once again goes after Snitsky, then he takes down Simon Dean and Viscera. The other lumberjacks start destroying Batista. Tomko hits Kane with a big boot and Edge and Christian attack him. Meanwhile, Batitsta starts taking care of the men who were all attacking him. Batista takes care of Tomko, Edge and Christian. Kane gives Batista a chokeslam, but only gets a 2 count and Triple H is furious. Batista counters the Tombstone attempt and hits a big spinebuster. Batista Bomb and that is all. As expected, they used smoke and mirrors to make this one entertaining and also protected Kane. It was what it was.
Match Rating: *
This was just such a great example of what a well booked show looks like. It didn't drag on, everything served a purpose and it got you more excited for WrestleMania. The only thing it was really missing was a standout match, but the matches we did get were all entertaining enough. Well done.
Overall Rating: 72%
No comments:
Post a Comment