Monday, February 6th, 2006
Philips Arena
Atlanta, Georgia
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
The show starts with a hype promo for the Road To WrestleMania Tournament that starts tonight. Sounds good to me.
Maria is in the ring to announce the former WWE Champion, Edge. Edge announces that he and John Cena will be facing off again next week since he technically won last week by disqualification. Lita then makes Maria announce him as the future WWE Champion. Out comes Hacksaw Jim Duggan and he wants to be the special guest referee for his title match next week. This all of course leads up to the "Hooooo" joke once again and Edge attacks him with his 2x4. Lita then slaps Maria and throws her by her hair. Edge is going to Spear her, but out comes John Cena to make the save.
Road To WrestleMania Tournament 1st Round Match
Kane vs. Chris Masters
Kane starts off in control, but Masters hits Snake Eyes to slow Kane down. It doesn't work for long, as Kane hits a big boot and a couple of clotheslines in the corner. Kane heads up to the top rope, but Masters moves out of the way of the clothesline and tries to put the Master Lock on. Kane counters the attempt twice and then puts him up for the Tombstone. Masters counters it into a pinfall and gets the victory when he grabs the ropes for leverage. That was an awkward ending with Kane putting his legs up for Masters to grab. The crowd was dead for this, which should never happen in the opener featuring well-known stars.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Edge is with Vince McMahon and he suggests that Lita be the guest referee. Vince thinks she'd be biased and Lita then tries to seduce him to get what they want. Vince finds it repugnant and he loves it. He announces that Edge and Lita will take on John Cena and Maria where the winner gets to select the guest referee.
Ashley vs. Mickie James
This is a Royal Rumble rematch, with Trish Stratus once again as the guest referee. Mickie attacks Ashley as soon as the bell rings. Ashley gets in some forearms and sends Mickie off the ropes. Mickie accidentally hits Trish, which allows Ashley to roll her up for the victory. I'm not sure if that one was even 60 seconds long.
Match Rating: 1/4*
The show that the Spirit Squad performed during the commercial break.
Mickie apologizes to Trish backstage and Mickie lets her know that she loves her as a friend. Her date "Jack" comes to pick up Trish, which gets some big boos from the audience.
Shelton is pushing his mama in a wheelchair and he lets her know that he told Ric Flair that he's going to take his Intercontinental Championship. He lets her know that he'll be right back and she says every time he leaves, some freak comes up to her. He lets her know that he's taken care of all of them. All of a sudden she has a Shelton action figure in her face and it's Eugene. Shelton comes back and he comforts her.
They show a WrestleMania moment and it's Pete Rose at WrestleMania XIV with Kane attacking him.
Road To WrestleMania Tournament 1st Round Match
Triple H vs. Ric Flair
Flair is able to back body drop Triple H to the outside into the early commercial break. When we come back, Flair has Triple H on his knees and hitting him with fists. Triple H is able to hit a big spinebuster and hits Flair with a series of right hands. It was pretty obvious who was going to win this tournament, but having Triple H start off with Flair was a good touch. With that being said, watching Flair here, it's pretty amazing that he made it another 2 years in WWE. Flair hits Triple H with a boot to the face and he's profiling his way to the top rope. Triple H tries to block it, but Flair actually hits a chop off the top. Flair slaps on the Figure Four in the middle of the ring. The ref accidentally gets a thumb to the eye and Flair hits a low blow on Triple H while he recovers. Flair goes for a back body drop, but Triple H hits a Pedigree and that is all. That ending was kind of out of nowhere. This was a fine match, just nowhere on the level of their 2005 work.
Match Rating: **1/4
Maria is backstage with John Cena and she doesn't want to have her match tonight. As she's ranting, Cena kisses her and then being the class act he is, smacks her butt on the way out.
Road To WrestleMania Tournament 1st Round Match
Big Show vs. Shawn Michaels Shelton Benjamin
Vince McMahon comes here and announces to Shawn that Shane is not here tonight. Vince insists that Shawn walk away from his career and next week we're going to have a Shawn Michaels retirement party. Since Shawn has to retire, he is being replaced by Shelton Benjamin in the tournament. That goes into a commercial break and when we come back the match is in progress. We get the usual Big Show slapfest to start until Shelton is able to snap Show's neck on the top rope. He then hits a top rope springboard bulldog for a 2 count. Show comes back and squashes Shelton in the corner and then knocks Shelton into the ref. Shelton's mama distracts Show and Shelton hits him with a kick to the side of the head. Show is now on the outside, but Shelton gets hit with a slap when he leaps off the apron and then Show lifts Shelton into the ring and yells at his mama. His mama falls to the ground and is unconscious and then Show hits the chokeslam for the victory. Paramedics come out and take her away on a stretcher.
Match Rating: *
Carlito is with Todd Grisham and he talks about wanting to be in the main event at WrestleMania.
Road To WrestleMania Tournament 1st Round Match
Carlito vs. Rob Van Dam
RVD quickly attacks Carlito and hits a spinning leg drop off the apron on Carlito, who is draped on the guardrail. RVD looks to be slowly getting rid of the ring rust. Carlito hits the double springboard somersault dive for a 2 count. Carlito tries to hit him with a chair, but RVD hits a spin kick to the chair and into his face. RVD hits the 5 Star Frog Splash and gets the victory. I think they were probably running tight on time here.
Match Rating: *3/4
The fans think Rob Van Dam is going to win the tournament. Do they not know how this works? Next week it will be Triple H vs. Big Show and Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Masters.
Edge & Lita vs. John Cena & Maria
Well, there is about 7 minutes left on the show, so this isn't going to be some epic main event here tonight. Cena is in hyper speed here and it leads to him hitting his shoulder on the ring post. Edge forces Maria to tag Cena's back. He throws Cena into the steps and then tags in Lita. Lita toys with her, but Lita eventually breaks free and tags in Cena. Cena hits his signature moves, but when he goes for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, Lita distracts him. Edge attacks, but he moves out of the way and Lita ends up hitting a headscissor on Edge instead. Lita is in the ring with Cena and she lifts up her shirt. Edge goes for the Spear, but hits Lita by mistake. Cena tags in Maria and she picks up the victory. Cena gets on the mic and he picks Mick Foley to be the guest referee next week. The match was entertaining enough, but too short to make a mark.
Match Rating: *1/2
This wasn't necessarily a particularly strong episode, but I like that they are dialed in on what they are doing. They are continuing the Edge/Cena saga while they heat up Triple H for the WrestleMania main event. Mickie and Trish is starting to get more intense. We are going to see the beginning of the Foley/Edge story. Things are starting to move into place and that always makes the show better.
Overall Rating: 58%
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