Vengeance 2006 Review

Sunday, June 25th, 2006
Charlotte Bobcats Arena
Charlotte, North Carolina

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Randy Orton vs. Kurt Angle

These two had a disappointing match at One Night Stand, so let's see what they can do here. After a little bit of mat wrestling, they move to the apron. Angle attempts a suplex off the apron, but Orton holds on. They go to the floor and Angle suplexes him there instead. Back in the ring, Orton hits his patented dropkick. Sadly, this is the last pay-per-view match of Angle's run here in WWE. Since I started re-watching this timeline, we will have lost three of my favorite wrestlers in Angle, Christian and Chris Jericho. Orton dominates the next few minutes and goes up to the top rope. Angle runs up and suplexes him off and both men are down. Angle hits a couple more suplexes, but Orton is able to counter into his inverted backbreaker. Orton takes off the top turnbuckle, but then Angle grabs him and hits 8 German suplexes in a row. I'm not sure I've seen him ever hit more than that. Angle locks in the Ankle Lock, but Orton pulls Angle through and into the top turnbuckle. Orton hits the RKO and that is all. Man, this guy in a John Cena shirt sure is excited about it. They didn't hit that turnbuckle spot as cleanly as they probably hoped. This was better than One Night Stand, but still disappointing considering who was involved.

Match Rating: **3/4

Vince McMahon is on the phone backstage and a kid in a wheelchair comes in. He's wearing a DX shirt, so Vince is wondering where the rest of the theatrics are. So Vince takes the kid and pushes him out the door and you hear a crash sound. Coach then lets him know that he brought someone that he knows to the show that is his biggest fan and he's in a wheelchair. Why was this a segment? 

Umaga vs. Eugene

Armando Alejandro Estrada gets on the mic and says that Eugene can bring all of the imaginary friends he wants tonight, but he won't stop Umaga. Eugene comes out and brings out Jim Duggan, Doink and Kamala. I'm not really sure why this is on pay-per-view, but this is the kind of stuff that happens on the brand exclusive shows. Eugene tries his best, but Umaga hits him with the butt smash in the corner. He hits the Samoan Spike and that's all. I'm not sure what they paid Kamala here, but I'm pretty sure he made out on this deal. After the match, Umaga destroys Duggan and Doink, but is advised by Estrada to not mess with Kamala. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Mick Foley is with Todd Grisham and he reads an excerpt of Ric Flair's book that calls Foley a glorified stuntman. Foley says tonight he's going to wipe the ring with wrestling moves tonight. 

Two-Out-Of-Three Falls Match
Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair

The crowd surprisingly chants "Foley sucks" to open the match. I personally will take Foley any day of the week over Flair and don't really care if that's considered a hot take. Foley hits a few right hands and a knee in the corner. He pulls out Socko, whom he has dressed up like Flair. Flair grabs Foley by the testicles and then hits a double ax handle off the top rope. Flair sells his knee off the leap and Foley attacks it. Flair is able roll into an inside cradle and gets the first pinfall to go up 1-0. Foley takes Flair outside the ring, but Flair is able to throw him into the steps. Foley is able to hit a back body drop over the barricade and tosses Flair back in. Foley goes under the ring and grabs a garbage can. Flair is able to knock Foley down first and puts him in the Figure Four. Foley grabs the trash can and hits Flair in the head with it, causing the disqualification and losing the match 2-0. Foley hits Flair with it one more time for good measure and then goes under the ring again to grab the barbed wire baseball bat. He hits Flair in the head with it and then scrapes his forehead with it. Flair is busted open big time. This all kind of fell flat here, despite who was involved.

Match Rating: *1/2

Maria is backstage with Carlito. Maria talks about the cool paradox, which baffles Carlito. Torrie Wilson comes over in a bikini and asks if Maria will rub baby oil over her body and then asks if Carlito will hold her puppies. Maria and Torrie begin rubbing oil on each other and Carlito's music hits.

Triple Threat Match For The Intercontinental Championship
Carlito vs. Johnny Nitro vs. Shelton Benjamin

We get lots of quick roll ups and pin attempts early on. Nitro has been treated like a jobber since switching over to Raw in traditional WWE fashion. Carlito eats a big boot in the face that was meant for Nitro. Carlito clotheslines Shelton over the top rope and then catapults Nitro over the top as well. Carlito fakes a slingshot dive, but it still backfires as Nitro throws him into the ring post. While Nitro and Benjamin are fighting, Carlito hits a double jump senton onto both opponents. Back in the ring, Nitro hits a tilt-a-whirl side Russian leg sweep on Carlito. Carlito hits a hurricanrana on Nitro to the surprise of the crowd. Shelton runs in though and launches him up and lands face first on the mat. Carlito so rarely hits a move crisply. Nitro hits a monkey flip on Shelton and Carlito is there to meet him with a dropkick in a cool spot. Nitro is going for a superplex on Carlito, but Shelton shakes the ropes and crotches Nitro. He's now in a tree of woe and Shelton leaps over him to land on the top rope. Nitro pulls himself up and hits a tower of doom powerbomb/suplex combo which gets a huge pop from the crowd. As far as I know, this was one of the first spots like that in WWE. Carlito hits a Backstabber on Shelton. Nitro pulls Carlito out of the ring and pins Shelton to win the Intercontinental Championship. This was a good match that got some time, but not quite as strong as I remembered.

Match Rating: ***1/4

The Spirit Squad is getting fired up backstage and in walks Vince. He tells them that no one makes a fool out of them. Vince walks in the bathroom to try out his pump and gets green paint in his face. 

WWE Championship Match
Edge vs. Rob Van Dam

Edge gets on the mic and says that the WWE Championship doesn't belong in ECW just like the Stanley Cup doesn't have any place in North Carolina. He then says in both cases a Canadian did all of the work. That was actually pretty good. They have a nice exchange that ends with Edge missing a second rope reverse crossbody and RVD hitting a standing moonsault. RVD goes for Rolling Thunder, but Edge rolls out of the ring. RVD goes out to greet him and hits a moonsault off the barricade. Lita grabs RVD's leg on the way in and it allows an opening for Edge. He hits a sunset flip powerbomb onto the floor. He almost went a little too far there. Edge slows things down and works on the back of RVD. Edge gets on the apron and RVD launches himself and they both going flying to the floor. RVD goes for the guillotine leg drop, but Edge is able to move out of the way. They get back in the ring, only for Edge to dump RVD out again. Edge then hits a powerbomb onto the barricade. RVD attempts a comeback, but Edge catches him for a powerslam. RVD does comeback with a top rope kick and then hits a split legged moonsault for a 2 count. Edge ducks a kick and he accidentally hits the referee. Lita hands Edge the title belt, but RVD kicks it into his face. RVD goes up top, but Lita crotches him on the top rope. Edge is bleeding a little bit from the corner of his eye. Edge then hits a draping DDT from the top rope, but the referee is still hurt. He gets up, but RVD kicks out at 2. Lita puts a chair in the corner behind RVD. Edge goes for the Spear, RVD moves and he runs into the chair. RVD runs up top and hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the victory. That was a really well worked match that played to both guys strengths. It wasn't quite a classic, but pretty close. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

In the back, they show the ECW locker room cheering RVD on. Paul Heyman comes in to talk about them being extreme lumberjacks tonight. Heyman informs them that there will also be WWE lumberjacks as well. 

Kane vs. Imposter Kane

This feud is death. Kane clotheslines the imposter over the top rope and he lands on his feet. Imposter then clotheslines Kane and throws him back into the ring. Kane tries to rip the mask off of the imposter, even though he said he knows who it is. He gets hit by a sidewalk slam from the imposter. I mean honestly, I don't even care to type about this one. Kane hits a DDT and a powerslam. My feed even agrees this match sucks because it starts to freeze on me. Fake Kane hits a big boot and goes up to the top rope. Kane meets him there and hits a superplex, which was actually pretty impressive. Imposter Kane hits a chokeslam and gest the victory in one of the dumber booking decisions of the year. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Extreme Lumberjack Match
Sabu vs. John Cena

The lumberjacks start getting in each others faces and Cena walks in between them to get things started. The Raw lumberjacks are the cream of the crop that you would expect here. Val Venis and Rob Conway get double duty tonight after their dark match earlier on. Cena is the first one dumped to the floor and the ECW roster is all over him. He gets dumped out again and Sandman hits Cena in the head with a cane. There's no way I'm having Sandman hit my golden goose with a cane in the head, but that's just me. Sabu grabs a chair and hits the Arabian Face Buster off the second rope. Sabu misses the double leap splash into the turnbuckle. Cena goes for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but he's distracted by the lumberjacks brawling. He goes outside and hits a FU on Stevie Richards and then immediately gets hit in the face with a chair by Sabu. Al Snow then holds Cena and Sabu throws another one in the face. They set up a table and Sabu and Dreamer hold him on it. Big Vis comes in and makes the save and Cena is able to hit Sabu in the head with the kendo stick. Cena then chucks a chair at Sabu and hits the FU over the top rope and onto the table. That looked like that incredibly painful. The lumberjacks throw Sabu back in and he puts on the STFU for the victory. That was a really spirited match that didn't get a lot of time. Sabu was on his game here and Cena is always good in this type of a match. This is sort of an unsung match due to the length given.

Match Rating: ***1/4

After the match, Cena runs into RVD backstage. He says that he admires that Cena had the balls to walk into the ECW locker room last week. RVD suggests that tomorrow on Raw, they go one on one for the WWE Championship. 

D-Generation X vs. Spirit Squad

A main event for the ages. I wonder how much money the Spirit Squad made in 2006? Michaels gets in the wrong corner, but is able to fight off all of the Spirit Squad and DX sends them all out of the ring. Johnny must have caught an elbow or fist to the face because his nose is gushing. Johnny tags himself in and spits some blood at HBK. He puts on his martial arts headband, so HBK tags in Triple H. I will say I do love when Triple H does his "Are you serious" facial expression. Johnny gets beat up some more and then Michaels crotches him on the ring post. Triple H then pulls his pants down, which just exposes the rest of his singlet. This just feels way too much like a TV match to be headlining a pay-per-view. The Spirit Squad finally turns things around after they hit Michaels in the head with a chair. The ref didn't see it, but you would think he would be able to put two and two together with the noise it made. Mikey uses the trampoline to hit a leaping bulldog for a 2 count. Triple H takes the trampoline and tosses it over to the Spirit Squad's corner. The Squad works on Michaels now while the crowd chants a hideous chant. Michaels is able to launch Nicky over the ropes and into the ring post. Michaels then hits a double DDT and makes the hot tag to Triple H. It's time to just end this thing. He hits a couple of spinebusters and goes for the Pedigree, but it gets broken up. Mikey goes for a somersault off the trampoline, but Michaels ducks and he takes out three of his teammates. That leaves Kenny in the ring with DX now and he eats a Pedigree. Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on on Mitch and they get the double pin for the victory. This wasn't bad or anything, it was just too long for what they were trying to accomplish. They hit their finishers on the remaining members and then throw them out of the ring minus Mitch. Triple H pulls down his trunks and Mitch joins a different variation of the "club". Let's move on here. Vince comes out and tells DX that he'll see them tomorrow night. 

Match Rating: **1/2

This was the definition of a filler show. Nothing really happened on it. DX had already had it's reunion, so that didn't feel as special either. The WWE Championship match was very good and the Cena match was a lot of fun. A lot of the rest just felt like Raw and made it feel even more that way by having RVD challenge Cena to a match on Raw. 

Overall Rating: 61%