Original Airdate: Friday, January 19th, 2007
Alltel Arena
Little Rock, Arkansas
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After a recap of Undertaker losing his chance at a Royal Rumble title shot thanks to Mr. Kennedy, the latter is out to boast about it. He goes on and on until Teddy Long is out. He lets him know that he's going one on one with the Undertaker tonight. If he loses, his match at Royal Rumble will be a Triple Threat Match.
Matt Hardy vs. Joey Mercury
You would think this would be a flat out brawl, but they never really get there. Matt gets in a shot in on the broken nose, with JBL complaining about it. Mercury is able to dump Hardy from the floor and out of the ring. Mercury gets in a little bit of offense before Hardy gets the quick pinfall victory. This was all just a setup for what was next. Johnny Nitro is out immediately to attack Matt. They go out of the ring and pull up the mat from around the ring. They hit the Snapshot on the concrete floor and celebrate to the back.
Match Rating: *3/4
Miz is bragging to Layla and Ashley about his match with Undertaker last week, but they aren't buying it. In walks Kane and they all walk away.
Vickie Guerrero is with Kristal backstage. Kristal asks her about the Chavo Guerrero/Chris Benoit match tonight, but Vickie says that she has to talk to something private instead.
William Regal, Dave Taylor & MVP vs. Brian Kendrick, Paul London & Vito
They all start brawling, with the champions coming out on top. That quickly changes though and you can already tell that this one won't last too long. They single out Vito in their corner and I guess I'm wrong because this heat segment is about three times longer than I expected. I really didn't think Vito even lasted this long as a character. Vito goes to the corner and somehow doesn't make a tag. That was pretty bad. He eventually gets a tag into Kendrick and he's a house of fire. Kendrick goes for Sliced Bread #2, but MVP catches him and hits a powerslam for the victory. This was not bad, but way too much Vito.
Match Rating: **
No Disqualification Match For The United States Championship
Chris Benoit vs. Chavo Guerrero
Chavo hits a low blow right off the bat and we have to listen to Michael Cole and JBL tell us how legal it is about 15 times. Chavo tries for a chair shot, but Benoit ducks and Chavo hits the ring post. Chavo tries again to hit him with it, this time in the ring. Benoit counters it into a Crossface in the center of the ring. Chavo is able to roll over and punch his way out of it. Chavo is finally able to hit Benoit with the chair and then uses it to drop Benoit's arm on it. Benoit is able to dump Chavo out of the ring and hits him with a baseball kick. Chavo uses the United States title to regain control. Chavo hits the Three Amigos landing on both the title and the chair. Chavo goes for the Frog Splash, but Benoit moves out of the way and he lands on the chair. Benoit tries to come back, but misses with the top rope headbutt and is screaming in pain. He comes back with the Sharpshooter though, but Chavo grabs a chair. He's not able to use it and instead taps out to give Benoit the victory. This was by far their best match of the series.
Match Rating: ***
Batista is interviewed backstage and he doesn't know if he's facing one or two men at Royal Rumble. He does know that he'll be ringside to watch the match though.
Mr. Kennedy is talking to Jillian Hall and she gets him all worked up about Teddy Long screwing him over all the time.
Deuce 'N Domino vs. Adam Roberts & Patrick Bentley
These two got absolutely no hype for their debut, but I do remember a little bit of buzz on the internet prior to it. This was a fun gimmick for what it was. They ham it up big time here. Deuce hits a big boot to a seated Bentley and that's enough for the finish. This was all it needed to be for an introduction to the team.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Teddy Long doesn't like Kennedy's disrespectful attitude towards him. He says his match with Undertaker is still going to happen tonight. Kennedy isn't happy.
Kane vs. Miz
The beginning of this one is the beginning to every Kane match ever. The rest of the match is every Kane squash match ever too. So they were starting to build up Miz as the crafty heel and like usual just have him get squashed by Kane or Undertaker. He probably wasn't quite ready for a huge role just yet, but Kane is so stale and had been for about 7 years at this point.
Match Rating: 1/2*
King Booker tells Teddy that he never received his rematch against Batista. He says that he will reclaim his title by winning the Royal Rumble. Teddy says he'll help him get ready by having a 6 man over the top rope challenge next week. This leads to JBL and Cole running down the Royal Rumble card.
Batista is now out to check out the main event.
Mr. Kennedy vs. Undertaker
After just finishing Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 the other day, it is crazy to see the difference in confidence between Batista here and in that film. I think we can put this feud to rest after this match. It always feels like all of Undertaker's feuds are always at least a month too long. Undertaker dominates the entire opening of the match until Kennedy hits a dropkick to the knee. Kennedy goes after the knees and throws Taker into the steel steps. Taker comes back right away because of course he does. He hits a leg drop with Kennedy draped over the ring. We get into a back and forth segment that leads to Taker hitting Snake Eyes. Taker throws Kennedy over the top and Kennedy takes a cheap shot on Batista before rolling into the ring. Taker has Kennedy ready for the chokeslam, but Batista comes in and Spears Kennedy. That causes a disqualification and keeps his title match a one on one affair. Knowing what's going to happen, this was a nice bit of storytelling to set up the next few months. This was a pretty good match because it was kept shorter and they never really slowed it down to a crawl.
Match Rating: **1/2
This was a good episode for the blue brand. We got a debut of a desperately needed new tag team, two good feature matches and some solid action from the secondary matches. Thumbs up here.
Overall Rating: 70%
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