Original Airdate: Friday, September 9th, 2005
Gwinnett Center
Duluth, Georgia
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New night, same terrible intro music. I can't see them switching nights in 2020 and not changing up the music.
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
MNM vs. Heidenreich & Road Warrior Animal
Heidenreich starts out dominating and Mercury refuses to tag in to help out Nitro. Heidenreich continue destroying MNM and no selling pretty much all of their offense. Melina distracts Heidenreich and then gets hung over the top rope. MNM cuts the ring in half on Heidenreich and I have to say this match is already longer than I was expecting. Mercury goes up top, but Heidenreich counters with a powerslam. Animal is tagged in and he takes care of both men. The referee inadvertently gets knocked down and Melina tries to hit Animal from behind with the title belts. Animal sees her, grabs the belt and uses it on Mercury and gets the victory. Can anyone explain to me why MNM continues to look like jobbers? Is there really any upside to the Animal and Heidenreich team?
Match Rating: * (out of 5)
We get a Randy Orton/Undertaker feud recap.
Ken Kennedy vs. Paul London
Once they added the microphone from the ceiling bit, this was easily one of the best pre-match bits of this time period. Kennedy hits a reverse elbow and then shows off his aggressive side. Kennedy goes off the second rope, London gets the boot up but Kennedy catches that and hits an elbow drop. Kennedy goes for a back body drop, but London lands on his feet and hits a dropsault. London goes up top, but Kennedy stops him and hits the Green Bay Plunge for the victory. I would have loved to have seen that go another couple of minutes to avoid that abrupt finish. As far as three minute matches go, this was a good one.
Match Rating: *3/4
Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Paul Burchill
Burchill introduces himself before the match and we even get like 10 people chanting "USA". Scotty tries to go after Burchill, but it doesn't work out too well for him. Scotty gets a superkick in and gets a nearfall. Burchill avoids the bulldog, but rolls up Burchill. Burchill kicks out and it sends Scotty into the ring post. Burchill follows that up by sending him into it again and a third time for good measure. He hits a shoulderbreaker and then puts him in the Fujiwara Arm Bar for the easy victory. Burchill has potential, but his character work needs improvement.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Kennedy introduces himself to Sharmell. He finds it odd that Benoit never seems to give a title shot to Booker, despite their so-called friendship.
Undertaker is here and tells Randy Orton that he can't hide from him. Randy and Bob are out now. They are here to present a check for $1,416 for the Undertaker's retirement fund. He then tells Taker that if he wants it, to come get it. Taker does some magic with the lights and strikes lightning down on the check, setting it on fire.
Steel Cage Match
Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio
Both men wait for the bell, but as soon as it rings, they start brawling. Rey goes for a springboard moonsault, but Eddie catches him. Rey counters that and then hits a monkey flip. Rey sets Eddie up for a 619, but realizes he can't do it with the cage. Rey hits a sunset flip powerbomb and then Rey starts climbing. Eddie pulls him down and he gets hung up on the top rope. Back from the commercial break and Eddie is now climbing up. Eddie is able to kick Rey off, but Rey is back up. Eddie hits a side Russian leg sweep from the top rope. Eddie tries throwing Rey into the cage, but Rey catches himself and starts climbing. Eddie realizes it, so he climbs and now both men are up on the top of the cage. Rey hits a headbutt, almost sending Eddie to the ground. Rey pulls him back in and hits a dropkick while both men are standing on the top rope. Eddie gets back up and hits a DDT and starts heading for the door. Rey grabs him just in time and the moon is out in Georgia. Rey hits his variation of the bulldog and both are down again going into the second commercial break. Rey hits a top rope hurricanrana. Rey goes for a crossbody from near the top of the cage, but Eddie is able to get out of the way. Eddie walks out of the cage, but as he gets to the last step, he decides not to walk out. He comes back in and hits a Frog Splash and finally gets the victory over Rey. This was a good match, as can always be counted on by these two. However, it felt a little bit as if the cage match took away from their creativity a little bit.
Match Rating: ***1/4
United States Championship Match
Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan
I bet I'll never be able to guess what is going to happen here. Jordan hits him with a right hand right as the bell rings and knocks him down. He goes for another one, Benoit catches it and puts him in the Crippler Crossface at 22.5 seconds. Again, what is this doing for anyone?
Match Rating: 1/4*
Teddy Long announces that next week it will be Randy Orton vs. Undertaker from his suite with Palmer Canon.
Bullrope Match For The World Heavyweight Championship
JBL vs. Batista
They hype up the history of JBL winning his only championship in a Bullrope Match. Batista tosses JBL around and is able to touch three corners before JBL hits him with a big clothesline. JBL hits a series of right hands to a seated Batista in the corner. He then picks him up and smashes the cowbell over his head. Batista battles back and now hits JBL with the cowbell. He touches three corners again, but JBL rolls out of the ring to keep Batista away. JBL the hits him with a thumb to the eye and a low blow into the commercial break. Back from the break and JBL is on Batista's back and he is carrying him around the ring. JBL slips off and hits Batista with the cowbell again. Batista is able to fight back again and hits the Batista Bomb. JBL is busted open as a result of getting hit with the cowbell. Batista chokes JBL and is dragging him around that way. Batista is tapping the corners, but JBL is as well. JBL gets out of the choke and is inches away from the fourth corner. Batista pulls him back and hits a spinebuster and touches the fourth corner to retain his championship. That was probably close to the best case scenario for these two with about 12 minutes to work. However, it was also every rope/chain/strap match you have ever seen.
Match Rating: **1/2
Well, they stacked the card with about as much firepower as they could for the move to Friday nights and unfortunately they only delivered a base hit. It wasn't a bad show by any means, but it just didn't deliver on what you would expect. Next week features another big main event, so maybe they'll come back a little stronger there.
Overall Rating: 60%
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