Original Airdate: Thursday, August 18th, 2005
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Eddie Guerrero is here to kick off the show and there is a ladder set up in the ring. He says that there is only one way to settle this all and that's in a ladder match. He starts climbing the ladder and naming all of the people who he is going to climb it for and ends on Dominik. He tells us that at SummerSlam, Dominik will come home to Papi.
Joey Mercury & Melina vs. Booker T & Sharmell
Booker T's 2005 vs. 2006 is quite interesting, as they really were having issues trying to find anything for him to do. 2006 would end up being a whole different story. Melina tags in Mercury and he grabs Sharmell before she can get out. Sharmell is able to rake his eyes and in comes Booker. Mercury gets a boot up on Booker and then hits a clothesline off the second rope. Booker makes a comeback and hits a scissor kick and then the spinaroonie. The women are back in and Sharmell hits a clothesline. Melina shows off her aggressive side with some forearms on the ground. Sharmell pushes Melina down with her face, but Mercury breaks up the count. Booker knocks him out of the ring, which distracts the referee. Jillian Hall grabs Sharmell's leg and Melina covers her for the victory. This was a typical eight minute TV match that continues to get Jillian Hall over as a difference maker.
Match Rating: *3/4 (out of 5)
Booker and Sharmell are shown in the back and she is wondering where Booker was. She tells him to step up fast because she is sick of this mess.
Benoit is getting ready for his match tonight and Orlando Jordan confronts him. Jordan tells him that he's going to knock him out at SummerSlam. Benoit begs to differ.
Heidenreich and Animal are in the locker room and Animal is giving a pep talk. Animal awards him with his own pair of spiked shoulder pads.
Heidenreich & Road Warrior Animal vs. JP Parsonage & Ruffy Silverstein
For some reason Candice Michelle is introduced as the special ring announcer. The champs quickly go to work on destroying their opponents. They have gotten pretty good at having the exact same match every week. Doomsday Device on Parsonage and that of course is all.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Funaki is back with JBL. I can't remember the last time I saw Funaki in this role, which obviously means we are setting something up here. He says that he is going to demonstrate a No Holds Barred match tonight and he gets to pick his opponent. He obviously picks Funaki. After the commercial break, he and Orlando Jordan are shown getting into JBL's limo.
Randy Orton is backstage now and he says that doesn't understand what the point of wrestling Benoit tonight is when he already beat him in this building last year.
No Holds Barred Match
JBL vs. Funaki
JBL hits Funaki with some clubbing blows and follows that up with a lariat. After a fall away slam, he takes Funaki out of the ring and starts whipping him with a belt. JBL throws Funaki on the announcer table and starts choking him with an electrical cord. After stinking up the joint at Great American Bash, JBL should have a lot to prove at SummerSlam. He takes a chair and you guessed it, hits him right in the head. In comes Batista who hits a spinebuster and then hits JBL in the back with a chair. JBL retreats to the back and we have a no contest I guess? There isn't much these guys could have done at this point to make me excited to see their match, but JBL did look pretty good here tonight.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Rey Mysterio vs. Simon Dean
Simon takes a cheap shot at Rey's shrinking family, so obviously Rey goes right after him. Simon counters Rey's offense and slams him face first into the turnbuckle. The fans start doing the wave here, which is still lame. Rey makes a counter of his own and hits the 619. He drops the dime and that is all. Has there ever been a Simon Dean match that lasts longer than three minutes? This was obviously just a quick squash, but I'm not sure it succeeded in showing Rey as super focused going into the match of his life.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Christian is here for another edition of The Peep Show. Christian announces that his guest this week is himself. Out come the Mexicools. They start destroying his set and then attack Christian. They all hit aerial moves on him and Juvy counts to three. They then remind us that they are not Mexican, they are Mexicools.
Rey Mysterio is in the back for an interview. He says he feel's Eddie's presence everywhere he goes. After SummerSlam, Dominik is coming home with him.
Randy Orton vs. Chris Benoit
We get some back and forth mat wrestling to start, which already tells you this won't be a five minute match. Benoit goes for an early Sharpshooter attempt, but Orton successfully fights it off in a somewhat awkward fashion. Back from the commercial break and Orton is throwing right hands in the center of the ring. He goes for a dropkick, but Benoit holds on to the ropes to avoid it. Benoit attempts his fourth Sharpshooter attempt of the night and finally gets Orton turned over. Orton gets to the ropes and then pulls Benoit into the ring post. Orton hits his draping DDT for a 2 count. Orton goes for a gutwrench suplex, but it almost looks like Benoit is sandbagging, so he puts him down and hits a DDT. Orton hits an awkward clothesline where it looked like Benoit thought they were going to collide. There's another awkward moment where Orton whips Benoit into the turnbuckle and Benoit lands right on Orton. They just don't seem to be on the same page here. It takes them an 8 count to get back to their feet and then they exchange right hands and forearms. Benoit gets the better of him and hits an elbow drop. Orton reveres and goes for a RKO. Benoit gets out and hits three German suplexes. Benoit hits the top rope diving headbutt and out comes Orlando Jordan. Benoit knocks him off the apron, but Orton hits the RKO and gets the victory. As Orton is celebrating, the lights go out and Undertaker is in the ring when the lights go on. Taker hits a chokeslam and lets Orton know the end is near. Orton sits up and starts smiling maniacally. Taker turns around and stares him down as we go off the air. That wasn't a bad match overall, but we all know they are both capable of better.
Match Rating: **3/4
As a go home episode, this was nowhere near as effective as Raw was. The build for Batista/JBL continues to be pretty lame and I'm not sure anyone takes Orlando Jordan seriously enough to get excited for his match with Benoit. I'm looking forward to seeing the Eddie/Rey feud end and revisiting the Orton/Taker feud. This was a decent show, but did not really offer anything memorable.
Overall Rating: 50%
No comments:
Post a Comment