Original Airdate: Friday, March 24th, 2006
FedEx Forum
Memphis, Tennessee
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Randy Orton comes out and does a variation of Rey Mysterio's entrance. He talks about Saturday Night's Main Event and how Kurt Angle and Mysterio turned their back on SmackDown. He then says that WrestleMania will be the greatest day of his career. This was one of those promos that really didn't do anything other than fill up time.
Money In The Bank Qualifying Battle Royal
There is not what I would call a lot of star power in here. Animal actually gets a promo on the way to the ring and says he shouldn't have to be in this match. He's put more money in the bank than anyone and so everyone attacks him and he's the first eliminated. Kid Kash goes up to the top rope, which is always a great idea where there are like 20 people in the ring. He gets pushed off by Tatanka and is eliminated. Both members of Gymini are eliminated by Lashley and then he tosses Simon Dean on top of them. Funaki is tossed out right at the commercial break. The eliminations are picking up and it quickly is down to the final four of Lashley, Tatanka and MNM. Lashley goes for the dominator on Nitro, but Mercury makes the save and they hit the Snapshot on him. They really are going out of their way to make Tatanka look strong here. He charges at Nitro and he is eliminated when Nitro pulls down the top rope. MNM puts Lashley in a double Boston crab. Lashley powers his way out, but again the numbers game is too much. Lashley hits a double suplex and then hits a belly-to-belly and a back body drop. Lashley misses into the corner and hits the ring post. Nitro accidentally superkicks Mercury and Lashley hits a Spear. Lashley throws Mercury onto Nitro and it eliminates both men. There was never a lot of doubt of who would win this one.
Match Rating: *3/4
JBL is backstage and honestly I don't even know what he says, but it leads to him saying that he's having William Regal fight Chris Benoit.
Mark Henry says that he's going to take Undertaker's precious streak away and Kurt Angle is going to feel pain tonight.
Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay
They start things off slowly, with Finlay using mat wrestling to slow down Rey. Mysterio finally gets in some offense and hits a split-legged moonsault for a 2 count. He then hits a baseball slide, but then gets caught in the ring apron. Finlay continues to dominate and hits a shoulderbreaker. Man, I'm not really sure what they are going for here with this match. Mysterio hits a kick to the head of Finlay and then a springboard crossbody. Mysterio hits the seated senton and a low dropkick to the face. Finlay distracts the ref and out runs Randy Orton, who catches Mysterio for a RKO out of nowhere and Finlay steals the victory. I do not remember that finish at all, but I'm not sure why they didn't use it in more highlight packages. The first 75% was really vanilla. The ending made up for it a little bit, but I know both of these guys are capable of much better.
Match Rating: **1/4
Teddy Long is out here for a contract signing and it's for Booker T/Boogeyman? Booker says he isn't signing it. Booker finally signs it and Teddy announces that Booker's partner for the match will be none other than Sharmell and they are livid.
Chris Benoit vs. William Regal
Regal comes out with JBL and Jillian Hall. We get some nice wrestling to start and then Benoit misses with a baseball slide on the outside. Regal hits an exploder suplex and then kicks Benoit's head into the ring post. Benoit tries to fight back with chops, but Regal slows him down. Benoit counters a crossface chicken wing into a full nelson suplex. Benoit rolls to the mat and puts in the Crippler Crossface for the victory. I am surprised that this was that short.
Match Rating: **
Mark Henry vs. Kurt Angle
Angle goes after the knee of Henry at the start. It doesn't last long, as Henry overpowers Angle. He dumps him outside and throws him into the barricade. Henry slaps on the dreaded bear hug. Angle gets out and hits a German suplex. Angle gets upset with Jimmy Korderas in the corner and Mark Henry squashes them both. Angle get the Ankle Lock in and out comes Randy Orton again. Mysterio is out this time and accidentally hits Angle. Henry gets rid of Mysterio and Korderas is up to make the pin. After the match, Rey checks on Angle and they begin to argue. Angle pushes Mysterio down and turns his attention to Orton. Mysterio hits him with a dropkick from behind and then hits the 619. There really wasn't much to this one, as it was only designed to get Mark Henry a win and to further the story of the triple threat.
Match Rating: *
On paper, this show looked like a really good one. Instead it was sort of meh. Raw definitely has the better card for WrestleMania, as it feels like the blue brand is just sort of treading water.
Overall Rating: 57%
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