Original Airdate: Friday, January 20th, 2006
Florence Civic Center
Florence, South Carolina
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After a lengthy recap of last week's show, JBL and Jillian Hall are here to kick off the show.
JBL vs. Lashley
JBL gets in a early clothesline and then throws Lashley into the turnbuckle. Lashley hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex and a clothesline of his own. JBL rolls out of the ring and then puts Jillian in front of him to sneak in a thumb to the eye of Lashley. It doesn't slow down Lashley too long, as he hits yet another belly-to-belly suplex. Lashley misses in the corner and JBL hits the Clothesline From Hell. Boogeyman's music immediately hits and Jillian is terrified. Boogeyman comes out from under the ring and grabs JBL's foot. Lashley hits the Dominator and gets the victory as the smoke and lights are still on. After eating some worms, he slithers in the ring and JBL and Jillian escape. They sure are putting a lot of effort into this feud.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Kurt Angle is shown walking in the back and is greeted by Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio. Pat Patterson sighting here. Rey lets him know that he is taking on Mark Henry in a #1 Contender's match and that he looks forward to facing him. Angle steps up and now it's Mark Henry. He says that he took out Batista and now he is going to take out Rey. Angle wishes him good luck and then tells him to never get in his face again. Meanwhile, Orlando Jordan is lucky enough to get a head nod to Angle as he walks away.
Booker T is shown on a crutch ready to celebrate his United States Championship.
Jillian Hall is freaking out to Teddy Long. JBL starts screaming at Long and he makes a match at Royal Rumble.
Sharmell is out and she told us all that her man could do it. She announces the biggest party possible and introduces Booker. After balloons and pyro, Booker declares himself the greatest United States Champion of all time. Sharmell then calls Chris Benoit a loser. Out comes...Orlando Jordan. Jordan wants a match right now and Booker and Sharmell laugh at him. Jordan takes a swing at Booker and knocks him down. Teddy Long comes out and says that he is allowing another substitution tonight and that Orlando Jordan will take on Randy Orton.
Matt Hardy vs. Finlay
Finlay is making his debut here and is just a few days shy of turning 48 years old. His run has to be one of the most underrated 45+ year old runs that I can think of. Finlay is aggressive right out of the gates, but Hardy fires back with an inverted atomic drop. Hardy then catapults Finlay out of the ring and then launches himself over the top rope on Finlay. Finlay blocks a sunset flip and drives Hardy's head into the mat. Finlay gets in a big kick to the face, but Hardy hits a back body drop. Hardy hits the Side Effect for a 2 count. Hardy hits a second rope senton instead of a leg drop because Finlay is too close to the corner. Finlay gets out of the Twist Of Fate and rolls out of the ring. Hardy goes for a baseball slide, but Finlay opens up the ring skirt and Hardy slides right between the ring and the skirt. Finlay unleashes on Hardy and then throws him back in the ring. Finlay starts relentlessly hitting Hardy in the head while he is leaning on the bottom rope. The ref rings the bell and calls for a disqualification. Finlay calls for the microphone and says you're going to disqualify me for that? He says that he'll show you a reason to disqualify me and then stomps on Hardy's head on the steps. Finlay was a breath of fresh air here in 2006 and it still holds up. They had completely killed all of Hardy's momentum by this point and this did him no real favors, although he did put on a good performance here. This was as good as a 5 minute TV match with a DQ ending was going to be.
Match Rating: **1/4
They show the clip of Angle firing Daivari. They then cut to Daivari earlier in the day complaining to Teddy Long. Long of course makes a match between Angle and Daivari tonight.
They show a video package on Batista's surgery and with no warning just start showing a bunch of bloody images of the surgery.
#1 Contender Match For The World Heavyweight Championship
Rey Mysterio vs. Mark Henry
Mysterio starts off trying to get Henry chase him, but Henry is able to grab him as he goes back in the ring. Henry misses with a clothesline and hits a tope suicida on Henry into the commercial break. Mysterio charges at Henry and Henry just clubs him. Henry continues to toy with Mysterio, but then misses a splash and Mysterio follows up with a dropkick. That doesn't last long, as Henry takes Mysterio's head off with a clothesline. Henry drapes Mysterio on the top rope and punts him to the floor. Henry misses Mysterio in the corner and Mysterio starts going after the knees again. Mysterio again slows it down and holds him up in a military press for a little too long and Mysterio escapes. Henry catches Mysterio's springboard leap, but when Henry goes to throw him over the ropes, MYsterio holds on and snaps Henry's neck on the top rope. Mysterio hits a 619 to the back and then another one to the gut. Mysterio then hits the traditional 619 and he goes up top as the crowd chants "Eddie". He hits a Frog Splash, but Henry sits up, rolls through and hits the World's Strongest Slam for the victory. That was a fantastic finish there. No one plays the little man role better than Mysterio and he worked his butt off for Henry here. This was a good match that made Mysterio look like a true contender and Henry look like a monster.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Mr. Kennedy is out and shows off his new shirt while wearing a shirt and tie with it. He teases giving away a shirt, but then of course says that if you want one, go buy one and then does his routine. He is here to be a guest announcer for the next match.
Gymini vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick
London and Kendrick slide under the legs of Gymini and clothesline Simon Dean over the top rope. London hits a nice missile dropkick, but then eats a clothesline from other Gymini member. Simon Dean is working the whistle gimmick on the outside. Kendrick tags in and takes out both Gymini members. Kendrick gets caught and then thrown right on top of London. They hit their finisher and that is all. London and Kendrick were such a breath of fresh air here, so of course they lost. Their time will be coming soon though. This was a total sprint and actually a lot of fun.
Match Rating: *1/4
United States Championship Match
Randy Orton vs. Orlando Jordan
This feels like a last ditch effort with Jordan here. Jordan clotheslines Orton over the top rope, but misses with the dive to the floor. They didn't seem to even bother piping in a crowd reaction. After some Orton offense, he misses in the corner and hits his shoulder on the ring post and Jordan goes to work on the shoulder. Orton counters and hits his inverted backbreaker for a 2 count. Jordan hits a dropkick toe the midsection/shoulder of Orton and he gets a 2 count. Jordan misses with a right hand, but makes the most of it and hits a swinging neckbreaker. Out comes Sharmell and then Booker. Sharmell distracts the referee and Orton goes for a superplex. Jordan knocks him off and Booker hits him with a crutch. Orton hits the RKO and that is all. Out comes Chris Benoit and he attacks both Orton and Booker. Benoit hits Booker with a whole bunch of chops and then Orton with a German suplex. The match was nothing special, but the ending was fun at least.
Match Rating: *1/2
For some reason the Raw Rebound is the Master Lock Challenge and not the TLC match. Daivari is interviewed out back and puts over Angle and slowly walks towards Gorilla position.
Next week, it's Randy Orton vs. Chris Benoit in a No Holds Barred match.
Daivari vs. Kurt Angle
Just before the bell rings, Mark Henry's music hits and he is on his way to ringside. Daivari tries to use it to his advantage, but Angle hits him with a belly-to-belly suplex. Henry distracts the ref and Daivari hits a low blow. Angle chases Daivari around the ring and he is thrown into the hands of Henry. Angle knocks them both down and throws Daivari back in the ring. He hits the Angle Slam puts him in the Ankle Lock. Melina jumps on his back, giving Angle a DQ victory. Angle then puts the Ankle Lock on Melina. Henry attacks him from behind and hits the World's Strongest Slam. Henry then brings in the steel steps and uses it to drive Angle out of the ring. Daivari then seemingly makes a deal with Melina to manage Mark Henry. That's one way to do it. Daivari gets on the mic and announces the deal to manage Henry. I mean, it didn't really help Angle beat Cena, now did it? This was 100% story driven and the match was naturally just used to set up the angle.
Match Rating: 1/4*
I enjoyed this show quite a bit, even if adding Daivari to Henry doesn't really do a lot for me. I would have almost rather him just destroy Daivari and say that he's his own man. This show also featured a good TV match in Henry/Mysterio and three guys in Finlay, London and Kendrick that would play a big role in 2006. Thumbs up from me.
Overall Rating: 68%
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