Armageddon 2006 Review

Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Richmond Coliseum
Richmond, Virginia

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Inferno Match
MVP vs. Kane

We get a lengthy video package between entrances. MVP gets on his knees to beg Kane, so Kane kicks him in the face. They play up the fire early on by doing a lot of work in the corners. MVP shoves Kane off the second rope and then hits a crossbody. He follows that up with a boot to the face of Kane and a clothesline. Kane sits up and hits MVP with a boot. Kane signals for the chokeslam and hits it, causing the flames to rise on impact. Kane removes the top turnbuckle pad and lights it on fire. He goes after MVP, but he's able to get it away and throws it out of the ring. Why wouldn't he just use it on Kane? MVP dropkicks Kane multiple times and he gets closer to the fire. MVP misses the last one and almost lights himself on fire. MVP tries to go up top, but Kane shoves him to the floor. Kane comes off the top and connects. They are battling outside the ring and then MVP tries to hide under the ring. Kane drags him out and Kane shoves him up the steps and into the fire. MVP runs around the ring and up the entrance for a pretty long time before being extinguished. This was slightly better than I had remembered, but the match has limitations and then you throw in a boring Kane and an inexperienced MVP. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Teddy Long visits the divas and lets them know that Santa will be here tonight. He says there will be a Naughty Or Nice Lingerie Contest. You know, normal workplace talk. 

JBL is still livid as we continue to stall as they take apart the ring. 

Fatal 4 Way Ladder Match For The WWE Championship
Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor vs. MNM vs. Hardyz

This was supposed to be a normal tag team match with London and Kendrick defending against Regal and Taylor. Out comes Long and he announces that this will be a ladder match and that there will be two more teams involved. MNM comes out first and then everyone in the arena knows who the other team is except Cole and JBL. As you would expect in an 8 man ladder match, there's a lot of chaos in this match to begin. The faces do a spot where they carry the ladder with Mercury on it and dump him on Nitro on the floor. The Hardyz go for Poetry In Motion on London, but he's able to get out of the way and Hardy nails the ladder. Kendrick does a stomp to the gut of Matt while London holds him on the ladder. MNM set up a ladder on top of a sideways ladder and prop Jeff on the top rope. They set him up for a double superplex, but Matt breaks it up. Jeff leaps off the top and nails both of MNM in the face and this is the infamous moment that this match is known for. Mercury is an absolute mess and not in a good way. Regal and Taylor clear the ring and start to climb the ladder. Regal is afraid of heights, so he makes Taylor. He climbs hesitantly as well and it's broken up. Matt hits a Twist Of Fate and Jeff climbs a ladder outside the ring. As he's about to leap, Nitro hits a dropkick through the ropes and knocks Jeff off. That was a really cool idea and good execution. Nitro leaps off the top with the ladder and lands on Regal. Nitro is climbing the ladder, but London hits him off with a missile dropkick. Matt hip tosses Kendrick off the top of the ladder, but London slows him down. He starts climbing and Matt hits a back body drop off the ladder and then Matt falls off. Jeff comes in and starts climbing a new ladder. Nitro meets him up top and he hits a sunset flip powerbomb. Matt sets up two ladders for some reason and Regal and Taylor pull them apart. Regal hits a knee to the head of Matt while on the shoulders of Taylor. They set up the ladders and start climbing, but Kendrick is there. London clotheslines Taylor over the top, but Regal is getting closer. Kendrick hits Sliced Bread #2 from the ladder. He didn't hit his half of it probably like he should and they both looked to have taken a pretty hard bump there. London runs in and climbs and Matt meets him there. London knocks Matt off and he grabs the belt. The finish didn't quite live up to the rest of the match, but everything else was fantastic. This was nonstop action with very little downtime. Excellent match. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Miz vs. Boogeyman

How do you follow a classic? Apparently with the Boogeyman. This is your typical Boogeyman match where Miz is afraid and Boogey hits his 3 moves. Miz is able to sidestep a charging Boogeyman and throws his shoudler into the ring post. Miz hits a running clothesline and Boogey kicks out at 2. Miz leaps off the top rope, but Boogeyman catches him and hits his finisher for the victory. After the match, he spits out worms into Miz's mouth. This was terrible as expected.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Chavo Guerrero says that he's dedicating this match to Vickie Guerrero. Vickie calls Chavo a real man and says that Chris Benoit abused her. 

United States Championship Match
Chavo Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit

Chavo gets in a cheap shot and we are underway. Benoit gets in all of the offense early and catapults Chavo over the top and to the floor. Chavo battles back and hits a superplex. Chavo wears down Benoit for a lengthy heat segment. Benoit its a series of German suplexes in his comeback. After 8 of them, Benoit is finally done and I can't blame him. Benoit goes for the Sharpshooter, but Chavo tries to fight out of it. Vickie grabs the title belt. Benoit has him in the Sharpshooter and he tells Vickie to not do it. He releases the hold and grabs Vickie's legs to put her in it. Chavo rolls Benoit up, but then Benoit rolls through and puts the Sharphooter in again. Chavo taps out and that's all. The action was pretty good, but the heat segment was a little too long for my taste. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Cruiserweight Championship Match
Gregory Helms vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

Michael Cole screaming "Yeeehaw" as Yang's music hits is probably as good as this one will get. After some back and forth action, Yang misses a spin kick in the corner and lands on his feet outside. Helms hits him with a dropkick through the ropes and then a swinging neckbreaker. Yang makes his move and is able to hit a dive from the top rope to the floor. The crowd is chanting "Boring" and JBL actually acknowledges it. Thank your boss, JBL. After years of not caring about this division, what do you expect when you give guys 10 minutes on a pay-per-view? This time Yang connects with the spin kick in the corner and hits a missile dropkick. Yang misses in the corner and rams his shoulder into the post. Helms then hits a swinging neckbreaker from the top rope. Helms goes off the top rope, but Yang hits him with a spin kick. Yang misses with a corkscrew moonsault and Helms hits a Codebreaker to pick up the victory. Helms has blood dripping from his mouth as he celebrates. The match just kind of felt like a non-cruiserweight match with one or two more top rope moves. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We get a video package of Undertaker/Mr. Kennedy where we once again are subjected to Jim Johnston's Jim Morrison ripoff. 

Last Ride Match
Mr. Kennedy vs. Undertaker

The goal of the match is to put your opponent in the hearse and drive it out of the arena. They start brawling and naturally Undertaker dominates. Taker hits a leg drop with Kennedy draped through the ropes. They start going up the entrance ramp and Kennedy has a sleeper hold on with a choke. He's Undertaker, so he just comes back and starts throwing Kennedy around again. Kennedy comes in with a chair and hits him in the head because no one knew what a concussion was in 2006. They start walking to the Armageddon set and climb part of the castle. I think we all know where this is going. Taker is goign for the chokeslam, but Kennedy kicks him below the belt and throws him off. They completely ruin the illusion when they show an overhead shot of Taker lying on a crash pad. Kennedy drags Taker up the entrance and throws him into the hearse and closes the door. As Kennedy is getting ready to drive the hearse, Taker sits up and drags him to the back and out of the hearse. It's Kennedy's turn to get a concussion and he's busted open. They battle up to the top of the hearse and Taker chokeslams him on the roof. Taker then hits the Tombstone on the roof and throws Kennedy into the trunk. Taker drives off for the victory. This was a pretty generic brawl with a spot that was ruined by their own production crew. Very average.

Match Rating: **1/2

Finlay assures King Booker that he is not going to double cross him tonight. Book gets a little upset about this until Queen Sharmell comes in and talks some sense into them. 

Santa Claus is out and brings out the divas. They all strip down to their lingerie and have to awkwardly dance. It's amazing that they were still doing this in 2006. Santa polls the crowd for a winner and he says that everyone is the winner. Santa is then revealed to be Big Dick Johnson and he strips down to his thong. Remember, Vince McMahon is a genius.

Finlay & King Booker vs. John Cena & Batista

It's kind of crazy that they main evented a pay-per-view with a tag team match like this. In case you didn't hear them the first 87 times, this is the first time that two world champions have teamed together. It's an interesting strategy to tease tension on the team that no one thinks will win the match. Is there anyone who doesn't think Batista and Cena won't win here? The champs dominate the early portion of the match until Booker hits a thumb to the eye of Cena. Cena comes back with his variation of the bulldog and the spinning powerbomb. Cena hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle and goes for the FU, but Booker escapes. Cena hits a drop toe hold and puts on the STFU, but Finlay breaks it up. Batista charges in on Finlay, which allows Booker to hit the scepter to the throat of Cena behind the referee's back. Booker hits a superkick and gets a 2 count. Hornswoggle gets in the ring and goes to kick Cena in the head, but misses and kicks himself in the face. Batista gets a hot tag and hits a powerslam on Finlay and a Spear on both men. Batista ducks a kick from Booker and he hits Finlay. Booker goes for the Batista Bomb, but Finlay clotheslines him. Cena comes in to take care of Finlay, but gets hit by a clothesline outside the ring. Finlay hits the back of Batista's leg with a chair, but Batista then kicks him off the apron. Batista hits a spinebuster on Booker and then a Batista Bomb for the easy victory. Was Finlay trying to extend the match and they just decided to go home anyway? This was a SmackDown main event that cost $30. That doesn't mean it was bad, but it just didn't feel like something you should have had to have paid for.

Match Rating: **1/2

I think this would be the very definition of an inessential pay-per-view. I mean I guess the Undertaker/Kennedy feud was ended, but the rest was SmackDown. The ladder match is definitely worth going out of your way to watch, but everything else here was just not impactful. 

Overall Rating: 51%