Monday, June 12th, 2006
Bryce Jordan Center
University Park, Pennsylvania
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
In memory of John Tenta.
We then go to Paul Heyman backstage and he goes over the Rob Van Dam title change at One Night Stand. Since the match was contested under ECW Rules, the ruling stands. Tomorrow night on ECW's first episode, the WWE Championship will become the ECW Championship. Rob Van Dam will still take on the #1 contender Edge at Vengeance. He introduces Rob Van Dam, who then introduces himself.
Randy Orton vs. Kane
It still is bizarre how they tried to talk about how sadistic Kane was in See No Evil, even though it's a movie. Kane sits up from Orton's offense and hits a side suplex. He goes up to the top rope, but Orton gets there to slow him down. Kane headbutts him to the mat and hits the top rope clothesline. It's pretty clear that this match isn't going to last long. Kane goes for the chokeslam, but Orton grabs the ropes. Kane knocks him down to the floor and they start brawling up the ramp. Both men get counted out to a chorus of boos. Orton goes for the RKO, but Kane counters it and throws him to the steel. That's a pretty tough bump for a throwaway like this. The imposter Kane comes out and attacks Kane. They both grab each other by the throat and imposter Kane wins the battle. He knocks Kane off the ramp and onto a production area. Even without hindsight, this was pretty bad.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Charlie Haas is out here to discuss when he accidentally knocked Lilian Garcia off the ring apron last week. He asks for her to forgive him for his mistake and before she can answer, out comes Viscera. He says that Lilian may accept, but he doesn't and he starts to attack him. So far we have had the fake Kane attack the real Kane and Viscera attack Charlie Haas in the first 20 minutes of the show. So obviously best episode ever.
After showing highlights of last week's junk with Vince and Triple H, Coach is trying to get everything just perfect with the production crew for the upcoming state of the WWE address.
They show what everyone was talking about from One Night Stand and that of course was Eugene getting destroyed by Sandman. We go to Eugene backstage and he's worried about Umaga. Hacksaw Jim Duggan is there though to give him a pep talk.
Vince talks about ECW starting tomorrow night. He then moves onto Triple H and that he'll face the Spirit Squad in a gauntlet match. This was a whole lot about nothing.
Wet And Wild Water Contest
Torrie Wilson vs. Candice Michelle
The winner of this match gets to be on the cover of WWE Magazine. There are a bunch of water guns and water balloons in the ring. Candice is able to slam Torrie into a bunch of water balloons. Candice hits a Vader Bomb splash off the second rope, but Candice kicks out. She then takes a bucket of water and throws it at the referee. Candice misses with an elbow and Torrie hits a dropkick. This seems like it is an injury waiting to happen. Torrie hits a clothesline in the corner and the stinkface. Torrie tries to spray Candice with the gun, but it doesn't work great. Torrie dumps more water on her and hits the X-Factor and gets the victory. They show two dudes in the crowd loving it. 2006 at it's finest. Torrie starts throwing water balloons at JR and Lawler. This was not WWE's finest moment.
Match Rating: 0 Stars
They show actual moving footage of RVD winning the Championship last night.
The Spirit Squad is getting pumped up backstage.
Gauntlet Match
Triple H vs. Spirit Squad
Vince comes out first and shows what he did to Shawn Michaels. He says it's going to take longer with Triple H and the first competitor is Mikey. He eats a clothesline after he leaps in the ring. Vince sends out Kenny before Triple H beats Mikey. It all just leads to Vince sending out four members and they destroy Triple H. This feud just keeps getting better and better. They grab a chair and put it on his knee, but Vince tells them to put it around his neck. Vince calls for Mitch to join the gang, but he's shown getting attacked and out walks Shawn Michaels. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music and then runs into the ring and he and Triple H clean house. We get another Sweet Chin Music and Triple H hits a Pedigree. This all leads to the crotch chops to Vince and a good reaction from the crowd. Triple H then moons Vince. This wasn't really a match, especially since we didn't even get a finish.
Match Rating: *
Vince and Spirit Squad are all fired up backstage and will face DX at Vengeance.
Jim Duggan vs. Umaga
This was set up last week when Umaga attacked Duggan. Duggan goes after Umaga on his way into the ring, but it doesn't work. Umaga puts him in the tree of woe, but Eugene knocks him out of it and hands him the 2x4. Umaga hits him with a kick first and he breaks the 2x4 over his head. Umaga hits the Samoan Spike and that's all. Eugene is very upset about this and checks in on his hero. This obviously leads to Umaga tying Eugene up in the ropes and Umaga hitting the butt to the face of Duggan in the corner.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Mick Foley says that the human Muppet is back. Before he can really say much of anything, Ric Flair is out to interrupt. Flair says he doesn't care about what happened last night at One Night Stand, he wants to talk about him and Foley. Flair says the only person around here that holds up with him is Joe Paterno. Boy, does that comment hold up well 15 years later. Flair then calls Foley a glorified stuntman. He hates that guys like him, Michaels, Triple H and Kurt Angle have wrestled their way to greatness and all anyone can talk about is Foley falling off a cage. Foley then goes off on how he was able to do all of that without wearing $10,000 suits and sleeping in cots to save money. Flair wants to go right now, but Foley says he has blurred vision from last night. Flair says he'll throw thumbtacks down in the ring, he just wants him right now. Foley says that instead he challenges Flair to a match at Vengeance in a 2 out of 3 falls match. This was all kind of confusing because really Foley is the sympathetic figure and yet is playing the heel. Regardless, this was very entertaining because both guys are great talkers and it's something we have never really seen, even if it is like 8 years too late.
Johnny Nitro vs. Carlito
Shelton Benjamin joins the announce table and they inform us that there will be a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship between these three. Carlito beat Shelton last week, so obviously Nitro has to win this one. Carlito hits a big back body drop on Nitro, but Nitro then dumps Carlito to the floor. Shelton goes to check on the action up close. Shelton holds Nitro's arm when Carlito goes for the Backstabber and Nitro gets the victory. Why were they so scared to make Nitro look good? I know some people wouldn't agree, but Nitro was already better than Carlito at this point. This was just a short match to let you know these guys were on the card at Vengeance.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Mickie James is backstage for an interview. She talks about how it's funny that first Ashley got hurt and is on SmackDown, Trish got injured and now Beth Phoenix is injured. She then kisses her title and in walks Orton. He says that everyone is talking about the greatest upset in history, which was Angle beating him. He then challenges Angle to a match at Vengeance under WWE rules in a WWE ring with a WWE referee. They certainly are just throwing this show together, aren't they?
The Highlanders are coming and are shown in Times Square eating out of the garbage.
They run down the Vengeance card that was pretty much all made tonight.
Lita introduces Edge backstage. Edge says that he's going to accept the invitation and be on ECW tomorrow night.
Stevie Richards, Justin Credible and Balls Mahoney are shown walking through the crowd to get to their seats.
Edge vs. John Cena
Cena runs in and starts attacking Edge. Edge tries to run up the ramp but Cena is there to throw him into the ring steps and back into the ring. Lita comes in and jumps on Cena's back and the ref rings the bell. Justin Credible hits Cena, allowing Edge to escape and Cena starts brawling with the ECW crew. Cena grabs a chair and starts hitting some pretty stiff chair shots. Cena grabs a mic and says that he got an awakening as to how ECW does business. He says that anyone can show up and do whatever they want. He says he likes it and he's going to show up tomorrow and do whatever he wants. This was your classic non-main event here.
Match Rating: 1/4*
There certainly wasn't much in the way of wrestling here tonight, but they did cram in a lot of storyline as they are in panic mode for the show they have in 13 days. The Flair/Foley stuff was really entertaining and the crowd absolutely loved the DX reunion. It wasn't the most focused of shows, as they had to promote both ECW and Vengeance, all while cramming in random stuff like Umaga and Viscera. However, there have been much worse in 2006 and this one I would call a solid show.
Overall Rating: 59%
