Original Airdate: Friday, April 21st, 2006
Savvis Center
St. Louis, Missouri
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
King Of The Ring First Round Match
Booker T vs. Matt Hardy
Now this is how I like to start a show. They start things off with some slow back-and-forth action. Matt misses a moonsault off the top rope and Booker is in control. Hardy tries to make a comeback and goes for the Twist of Fate. Booker is able to counter out of it and Sharmell pulls down the top rope, which sends Hardy to the floor as we head into the commercial break. Sharmell continues to be one of the best characters at this time. Booker hits a superkick and gets a 2 count. Booker goes up top, but Hardy is there to greet him and hits a superplex. Hardy charges at Booker, but he counters and drops his neck on the top rope. Hardy makes another comeback with a clothesline and bulldog combo for a nearfall. Booker is able to hit a Book End out of nowhere and gives us the Spinarooni. He misses the Scissors Kick and Hardy hits the Side Effect for a close call. Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate, but Sharmell distracts the ref and Booker hits him with a low blow. He follows up with the Scissors Kick and that is enough for the victory. This was a solid match that was given some time to develop. Sharmell is a natural heel manager and Booker continues to be rejuvenated. The best is yet to come.
Match Rating: **3/4
Pirate Paul Burchill is backstage with his buxom wench, William Regal. They're teaming up tonight and Burchill suggests him dressing up like a teddy bear.
Joey Mercury vs. Paul London
The MNM entrance always seems weird with the Raw stage. Mercury is able to gain control when he knocks London off the top rope and to the floor. This is one of the rare feuds where it feels okay to have multiple TV matches just because London and Kendrick are so underexposed and feel fresh. We get some illegal double teams to keep Mercury in control, but it's not enough to keep London down. London makes a comeback and hits a mule kick to the back of Mercury. It seems like the crowd is pretty disinterested, which is a bummer. They battle up on the second rope and London is able to knock Mercury off. He hits a top rope crossbody and gets a nearfall. London loses control on a reverse hurricanrana. He then hits a dropsault and then a dive outside onto Johnny Nitro. Kendrick gets in the ring and he hits a slingshot on Kendrick, which sends him over the top rope and into London. That looked scary. In the ring, Mercury is showing off and London turns it into a small package for the victory. This one was pretty good, but the last minute or so was a little sloppy.
Match Rating: **
They show Regal backstage in his teddy bear outfit.
Chris Benoit & Bobby Lashley vs. Finlay & Orlando Jordan
Oh, hey. Orlando Jordan still exists. The heels go to work on Benoit early on, with mostly Jordan doing the work. Lashley gets the hot tag and hits a British Bulldog vertical suplex. Benoit hits a dive onto Finlay and Lashley hits a Spear on Jordan. Lashley hits the Dominator and that's all. Finlay hardly did anything in here and it was pretty obvious that Jordan was going to take the pin here. This was pretty much just filler.
Match Rating: *
Teddy Long announces that next week in London, Kurt Angle will challenge Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Meanwhile, we go back to William Regal, who is now wearing a chicken suit. Kristal interviews Funaki, who is going to be taking on the Great Khali in his first match and wouldn't you know it, he's right behind him.
Funaki vs. Great Khali
I think we all have watched enough wrestling to understand what is going to happen here. Khali hits a couple moves and that is all. I'm not sure people were ever going to buy Khali the way they wanted us to, but they tried.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Regal is now in a gorilla suit and Burchill tells him that they're next.
Gymini vs. Paul Burchill & William Regal
Regal comes out dressed as a pirate. This thing is pretty dead in the water. I mean, do the Gymini even still exist? Nothing really happens until Burchill refuses a tag and walks to the back. Gymini hit the Cross Trainer and that is all. Next.
Match Rating: 1/4*
The Miz is outside the ring and he's going to crash JBL's party tonight. He goes to walk in the arena and Palmer Cannon is there to cancel him and has security escort him away from the arena.
Jillian Hall is introduced and comes out with a marching band. There's also a large inflatable eagle on the stage, which is a nice touch. She introduces JBL and he comes out in a Hummer limo and is showered in balloons. JBL then yells at Jillian for almost costing him his title last week and then fires her. JBL says that after he wins his match next week, he will face either Kurt Angle or Rey Mysterio for the title. Out comes Angle and he tells JBL that he sucks. Out comes Mysterio and he says his title isn't going anywhere. JBL starts mocking Rey, so Rey and Angle attack JBL and then get in each other's faces as the show goes off the air.
I'm not sure what was going on this week, but this episode (mostly the second half) was not very good. The crowd was also really dead and didn't care about much. It sounds like they are stacking the card for next week, which would make this show filler. Skip this one.
Overall Rating: 40%
No comments:
Post a Comment