Original Airdate: Friday, December 22nd, 2006
Hampton Coliseum
Hampton, Virginia
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King Booker, Finlay and Queen Sharmell are with Teddy Long and they want a rematch with Batista and John Cena. Teddy tells them that they had their chance, so it's not going to happen. Booker wants the best competition that they have to offer, so Teddy tells them they can face Undertaker and Kane tonight. Teddy, he said the best.
Batista wants to wish all of us happy holidays. He says 2006 has been an up and down month, but he's finishing strong. Out comes Santa Claus and he gives Batista candy canes. As Batista is throwing them out to the crowd, Santa attacks him. I would have never guessed. Teddy Long comes out and says that he has a match with Batista right now.
Batista vs. Santa Claus Sylvan
Santa goes back in the ring and attacks Batista. It doesn't last long and before you know it, Batista unmasks Santa and it is Sylvan. Batista hits the Batista Bomb and that is all. This was just a holiday present to the live crowd.
Match Rating: 1/4*
United States Championship Match
Chris Benoit vs. Chavo Guerrero
I never really have understood why they do a rematch of a pay-per-view match on the show right after. Based on the crowd reaction at Armageddon, I'm not sure this was something people were hungry for 5 days later. We have some pretty good action to start and then Benoit hits a suplex that ends up sending both of them over the top rope to send us to commercial break. When we come back, Chavo is working on the neck of Benoit. Benoit attempts a Sharpshooter, but Chavo is able to kick out. Benoit comes back and hits the top rope headbutt for a 2 count. Chavo gets a chance at a Frog Splash, but Benoit gets his knees up. Benoit goes for the Crossface, but in comes Vickie and she hits him with the title belt to cause the disqualification. Benoit stares her down and walks out of the ring. Chavo tells Vickie that he can't be the new champ if she keeps getting him disqualified. He does some enthusiastic points while he says that and Vickie falls on her back. In comes Benoit to check on her and Chavo attacks him, hitting him in the face with the belt. The match was well executed and the finish seemed a little obvious.
Match Rating: **1/4
King Booker and Finlay are talking about how they can take Undertaker and Kane out.
Gregory Helms is in the ring and is complaining that he has no competition. He says maybe that it's time for him to pig out and join the heavyweight division. Out comes the Boogeyman and he beats up Helms. Then Tony Chimel announces "He's the Boogeyman and he's coming to get yaaaaa". Boogey then grabs him and shoves worms in his mouth. I'm not really sure what they are even going for with this guy any more.
Out comes Joey Mercury and he looks awful from his match at Armageddon. He shows footage of the move that did the damage and the crowd gives him a round of applause. He says that he holds two people accountable for what happened to him and that's Matt and Jeff Hardy. He said he's lost 50% of the vision in his left eye, a shattered nose and 33 stitches. Matt's music hits and says that no one meant for this to happen. He says that no one meant to hurt him intentionally, but they were competing in a dangerous match. Mercury tries to push Matt into fighting him right now. Matt declines and tries to walk away, but then tells him maybe he should fight his tag team partner. Out come Johnny Nitro and Melina.
Matt Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro
We get a little bit of action before Nitro grabs a ladder and we go to commercial break. When we come back, no ladder is being used, but Nitro is in control. Matt comes back and hits a clothesline to send both men to the mat. Matt hits a Side Effect for a 2 count. He hits the second rope leg drop and that's not enough. Matt goes for a neckbreaker, but Nitro counters it into a backslide, puts his feet on the rope and steals the victory. This was pretty good action overall.
Match Rating: **1/4
JBL is out and he wants Teddy Long out to apologize to him and to MVP for forcing him to be in an Inferno Match. He isn't wrong there. Teddy doesn't come out and JBL keeps going and insulting the crowd for allowing this to happen and cheering it.
Ashley & Layla vs. Kristal & Jillian
This has all the makings of a classic, including Ashley wearing a backwards hat while wrestling. I mean Layla and Ashley have about 10 matches of experience up to this point. Jillian goes for the handspring elbow, but Layla gets her feet up. Ashley hits a hurricanrana. Ashley goes for a monkey flip, but Kristal holds onto Jillian, allowing her to try for a pin attempt. It gets broken up and Ashley hits a second rope elbow for the victory. This was as bad as you would expect.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Michael Cole is in the crowd with Vladimir Kozlov. He does the whole quirky Russian gimmick some more.
King Booker & Finlay vs. Kane & Undertaker
No one gets more excited to watch Kane and Undertaker team up than I do. Booker hits a random superplex on Undertaker early on. It seems like that should have been saved for later in the match. Taker fights back and hits a DDT on Finlay and tags in his less interesting fake brother. They hit stereo boots and we have a commercial break. Taker hits a leg drop on the King when he's draped over the apron. Kane follows it up with a suplex, but Finlay breaks up the pin attempt. Kane goes up top, but Booker hits him with a kick on the way down. On the outside, Booker hits Taker with a chair to the face and somehow the referee doesn't see or hear it. Taker eventually gets a hot tag and both he and Kane hit stereo chokeslams. Taker hits the Tombstone on Finlay and that's all. I mean, was there ever a doubt? The action was pretty good and for whatever reason, Finlay and Booker looked like more of a threat here than they did at Armageddon. You know, when people actually had to pay to watch it.
Match Rating: **1/2
This was a solid show where I was expecting a complete throwaway episode. I will be skipping next week's recap show and picking back up in 2007.
Overall Rating: 59%
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