Category: Smackdown 2006 Project

Just 2 days before WrestleMania, 2 of the participants in the WHC triple threat are going one on one; and its Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio!

Both guys have a LOT to prove in this match, as getting a win this close to WM will do wonders for both guys’ confidence, and will give them a psychological edge going into the match (according to the commentators all the time, anyway).

Angle controls most of this match, and at one point he hits Rey so hard, his own mouth piece falls out :lmao. Don’t know why I found that so funny, but I did.

Kurt is nice and focused in this match, as he targets the mid section of Mysterio. Always nice when Angle is focused, because it usually means is isn’t hitting random suplexes over and over again lol.

Basic stuff here tbh, with Angle just working the body of Rey for a while, then Rey makes his comeback. The finishing stretch is fun, but doesn’t last as long as I would have liked. It all seemed to rushed imo.

Its not that there is anything BAD in the match, its all fine. Angle isn’t a lunatic, Rey’s spots are fine… but it was like they were going through the motions and nothing more.

Rating: **1/2

Already watched this one, and given it a rating, but fuck it, I’ll watch it again since I never really wrote anything about it (not specifically, as I watched 3 of their matches in a row and they all kinda merged together, so I talked about them as a whole lol).

Lol, poor Benoit, the guy never gets to face who he wants. First it was Booker picking Orton numerous times to replace him, now its JBL having Regal replace him. And thank fuck on both counts lol (though Benoit and JBL did have some good matches).

If you have seen any of their matches before, you have a good idea of how this one goes. Gritty, stiff shit with some cool mat work thrown in too, that isn’t always smooth, but that’s a good thing here. Makes everything they do look like a fight.

Loved the Regal throw/suplex thing he does, especially on the floor in this match, and man oh man, Regal booting Benoit in the head while its resting on the ring post is awesome as fuck. Benoit’s knees to Regal’s face are just as impressive, along with the chops to the forehead (shame Regal isn’t bleeding in this match though lol).

Finish is great too, with Benoit hitting a dragon suplex, then locking in the Crossface as Regal tried his best to fight it. I enjoyed this more on this watch, probably because I didn’t see 2 very similar matches straight after it lol. It was already a consideration for my list, but now its got a higher rating to back it up.

Also, this match AND Finlay/Rey on the same show? Fucking AWESOME.

Rating: ***1/4

Some nice, basic mat work to start things off, followed by Finlay just grounding Mysterio, and doing whatever he can to keep him there. Fucking loved the elbow to the face from Finlay when Rey gets back up and runs the ropes, looked about as manly as you can get in WWE (I’m guessing a spot like that in Japan would look even more vicious).

A nice clash of styles here, and a sign of things to come from them. Finlay is a vicious bastard, and Rey uses his high flying style the best he can given the beating he takes from Finlay, and the fact that Finlay is able to counter a lot of his shit.

You know what? Screw the whole “sign of things to come” crap I just said, this is basically what is to come lol, except their future matches (and the feud ender in particular) actually have a feud behind them. Finlay does a fantastic job at taking out Rey’s shoulder and just beating the living fuck out of him, and Rey’s hope spots are nicely timed, and his offence as the match goes on is pretty great too. He realises that his high flying shit won’t cut it against Finlay straight away, so he kicks and elbows the fuck out of Finlay first to wear him down, but Finlay always cuts him off before he can really get a rhythm going.

I think I may like this match MORE than their November 07 match! It gets plenty of time to develop, and ends up creating a story in the middle of the match, that is worked just as well, if not better, than their match in 07 that has the feud behind it.

Finish is pretty cool, setting up to WM. They continue the build to the title match as Orton interferes while Finlay has the ref distracted with the shillelagh, giving Finlay a big win going into MITB in just under 2 weeks time and keeping Rey looking strong still because he was cheated out of the win.

Definitely one of the very best SD 06 matches so far, and atm, given everything I have watched (including the random matches from later in the year), only the Angle/Undertaker and 2 of the Orton/Benoit matches beat it.

There is going to be a place for this on my list.

Rating: ***3/4

We have the SD WM ME all teaming together here, against the monstrous Mark Henry and the tag champs. Can they work together to get the job done?

Orton starts things off by slapping the fuck out of Nitro, I guess to show his partners that he has come to play tonight, regardless of how he feels about them.

Rey plays the FIP, no surprise there. Henry traps him in the heel corner, and proceeds to stand on him. Orton pretend to be the good guy and tries to help out, but it only distracts the referee, allowing Henry to continue his assault. Orton continues to “accidentally” distract the referee, giving the heels the advantage. Pretty clever stuff tbh, and Orton acting like a nice guy is funny as hell to see.

The heel beatdown/control segment here is really good, combined with Orton’s tactics too. Far, far superior to the the big tag match the week before (and the same match as last week, but from a month before). I guess Henry having 2 guys to be in the ring between his turn makes things more interesting lol.

Rey finally gets the opening needed to make the tag, and both Angle and Orton want it. However, when Rey gets closer, Orton pretends to be fixing his knee pads, so Angle (with injured ribs), gets the tag (Orton has yet to be in the match btw). Angle and Mysterio take care of business, and Orton blind tags himself in, throws Rey out of the ring, and gets the pin! Making a statement for WM, no doubt.

Damn good tag match, much better than the week before, and a few of the other big tag matches on SD in 06 so far. Rey’s FIP shizzle was great, MNM did a wonderful job of beating the fuck out of him and preventing tags, and Orton played his part beautifully.

Rating: ***1/4

Here we go! Been waiting for this one for… well about an hour lol :p. But if this was 2006, I would have been waiting around 2 weeks at LEAST, depending on how much I wanted to see them have a big match starting when Finlay cost Lashley his match at NWO.

The lumberjack stip is used nicely, since the last 2 weeks they have ended up brawling outside of the ring and all over the place, so they are there to keep both guys IN the ring. Also, this is a MITB qualifying match.

Holy shit! Lashley charges into the ring and NAILS Finlay with a boot to the face, sending him to the outside! Finlay gets back up, takes out Funaki who is one of the lumberjacks, then gets back in the ring. He takes a beating, rolls out, gets shoved back in, rolls out, gets shoved back in, and again gets dominated by the raw power of Big Bob.

Finlay rolls to the outside again, this time he goes to the side where the heels are, so they protect him long enough for Lashley to get distracted by what’s going on, allowing Finlay to take the fight to Lashley for the first time in this match.

The heel lumberjacks come into play again, distracting Lashley long enough for Finlay to launch him into the ring post (something I remember seeing from one of their other matches later in the year).

Being the smart veteran that he is, Finlay keeps using the lumberjacks to his advantage, distracting Lashley, and even having them beat him up when he throws him to the outside.

Lashley’s comeback happens when Finlay drives himself into the ring post, a nice little callback spot from where Finlay took control of the match by sending Lashley into the ring post.

There are a lot of similarities with this match and the one they have in a few months time that I already talked about, except we don’t get the arm work so Lashley’s comeback doesn’t come across as retarded lol.

The heel lumberjacks also get theirs, with Finlay being launched onto them. Lashley goes to get Finlay and gets attacked, and the face lumberjacks just stand around and watch lol. Someone comes in with the chair, and gets speared to hell. The ref is distracted, and BAM. Lashley is put down by Finlay and his big, hard weapon.

I like the finish much more in this match, but I don’t think the middle part is as strong as their August 18th match (finally looked up the date lol). That being said, it was still a good match, and Lashley hasn’t looked this good since debuting. HOWEVER, based on this match, he doesn’t seem to improve over the year lol…

Rating: **3/4

Mark Henry & Randy Orton Vs Rey Mysterio & Kurt Angle – Smackdown March 10th 2006

This is a rematch from Feb 3rd, which was a good tag match, but nothing overly special. I wonder what they do this time around.

Ooooo, they announce the rematch between Finlay and Lashley for next week too :mark:.

Angle and Orton start things off, and while it seems that Angle wants to get right into the wrestling, because of his “wrestling machine” gimmick, Orton is playing is slow and safe. He reminded me of his current Viper gimmick here, as he slithers around the ring a few times to avoid Angle’s takedowns.

Mysterio gets tagged in, and things still remain pretty slow. We transition into the FIP section of the match when Orton dropkicks Rey who is coming off the top rope. Henry comes in and tries to kill the midget.

Rey gets the chance to make a hot tag, but honestly, I don’t really care. The match has been so… dull so far, only going at one speed, even at the start. There was no build for the tag either, Rey took a small beating, then moved out of the way of a splash, and makes the tag. Angle comes in guns a blazing as per usual, and his sequence with Orton is really nice, but after that I just don’t care.

This match just feels… flat. Henry thinks so too, so he decides to fuck up the referee and bring out a table to make things more interesting. Angle ends up getting put on the table, while Henry crushes him through it from the second rope.

Lol, the stuff after the ref gets beat up is the best part of this match. Their match a month ago was decent and nothing more; this is even worse. Dull is just the best way to describe it tbh.

Oh yeah lol, lame Undertaker “voice” comes over the speakers and we get the announcement of the WM casket match :P.

Rating: *

Chris Benoit Vs Gregory Helms – Smackdown March 10th 2006

US Champ Vs CW Champ. Benoit is awesome, and Helms really stepped up his game when he moved away from the Hurricane gimmick. I’m sure I will be watching more of this matches as the year goes on.

Benoit tries to punch Helms in the face, and Helms backs away and tries to tell the ref to make Benoit stop, because he doesn’t want to get hit in the face. Awesome.

They lock up, and Helms gets Benoit in the corner, and guess what he does? Punches him in the face. Yeah, Benoit ain’t gonna take that, so he just grabs Helms’ face with his entire hand lol. Oh, turns out that Helms had a broken nose, which is why he doesn’t want to be punched there. I just thought he was scared of Benoit, which was a fun story in itself, but now its even better.

Really surprised at a lot of this match tbh, despite the fact that Benoit is indeed awesome and Helms was really good at this stage. Plenty of really nice sequences between the two as they fight for control, and a lot stiffer than I would have expected, since Helms isn’t someone I would expect to be that physical. Not on the level of Benoit Vs Finlay/Regal/Orton, but certainly more hard hitting that the average match.

Helms does a great job of constantly going after the neck of Benoit whenever he has the chance, and manages to escape multiple sharpshooter attempts all through the match as well. Benoit finally locks it in at one point, and even though Helms gets to the ropes, he has had enough and walks away. However, the SD Cruiserweights show up and send Helms back to the ring, where he gets put in the Crossface (which has to hurt Helms’ nose), and this one is over.

Really solid match, nothing to go out of your way to see for the poll, but if you get the chance, its a good way to spend 12 minutes (well, ONE good way to spend 12 minutes 😛 ).

Rating: **3/4

William Regal Vs Paul Burchill – Smackdown March 10th 2006

Burchill needs to bring back his pirate gimmick. Seriously, it was fucking awesome. This is his first match under the gimmick after threatening Regal with his big sword backstage for a couple of weeks. Yes, you read that correctly. 😛

Some nice arm lock exchanges to begin with, and Regal gets cocky and screams “I’ve got him”, only to get reversed. We then see some nice stiff offence from Regal as he knees the fuck out of Burchill’s face and then locks in a… reverse full nelson I guess. Awesome spot with Burchill going for a sunset flip, only for Regal to move out of the way, essentially making Burchill do a front flip onto the mat lol.

Burchill makes his comeback, and I am rather disappointed with Michael Cole. No mention of Burchill’s Swashbuckling style, though he did say he was a swashbuckler :P.

Finish is awesome, just because of the C4 (that is what they call it, right?) and its sheer magnificence. I enjoyed this match, didn’t get as much time as I would have liked, but we still got plenty of Regal’s awesomeness, and Burchill looked pretty great too.

Rating: **

Finlay Vs Bobby Lashley – Smackdown March 10th 2006

Coming off their match last week, both guys still want to beat the fuck out of each other, and it shows as Finlay charges towards Lashley as he comes down the ramp. They brawl and beat the fuck out of each other and… well, it doesn’t look like the match is going to take place this week :(.

The brawl is pretty fucking great, going to the outside where Finlay trashes a car trying to hit Lashley, and Lashley actually throws a car onto Finlay. Yes, you read that correctly. One hell of a brawl, I can’t wait to actually see their grudge match now. I know they have more matches later in the year, but I wanna see the conclusion to this one dammit!!!

Rating: Match Never Started

The Undertaker Vs Kurt Angle – World Heavyweight Title – Smackdown March 3rd 2006

The rematch from No Way Out. They put on one of the best matches in WWE history on that night (easily a top 20 match for the Poll), but the finish just begged for a rematch. I wish we had gotten it at WrestleMania, but they had other plans with Rey and all that shizzle, so we had to “settle” for it being on SD. All through the show they were building to this main event, showing clips of NWO, and clips of each wrestler dominating guys over the years etc, and the tale of the tape. This one has big match feel written all over it, and I can’t wait to see it :D.

First thing I notice is how awesome the crowd is. Compared to the Attitude Era its nothing special, but by today’s standards its fucking awesome. Also, The Undertaker actually gets BOOED when he reverses Angle in the corner at the start of the match and punches the fuck out of him! Angle gets booed as well when he regains control lol; the crowd are extremely split for this one.

Lots of nice callbacks to their NWO match, with Angle going straight for the same leg and knee of The Undertaker that he worked on at the PPV, and Undertaker going back after the neck. One spot in particular that I liked is when Undertaker was about to give Angle the apron leg drop, but remembering how Angle was able to reverse it last time into an Ankle Lock, Undertaker turns Angle over onto his stomach so he can’t reverse is this time. Also does more damage to the neck of Kurt, which is smart on Undertaker’s behalf.

A powerslam from Angle transitions into a small period of him being in control, before they go back and forth a little with Undertaker fighting back with his power and striking ability and Angle just trying to hit ‘Taker with anything he can, which is eventually a superplex (Cole needs shooting at this point, he must have screamed “OH MY” about 6 times when Angle was hitting the superplex).

The superplex may have taken down The Undertaker, but it also hurt Angle, and not before long both guys are back up and trying to punch each others face in :P. Undertaker obviously wins the exchange, and Angle realises he needs to do something quick to try and win the match, and here comes the first Ankle Lock of the match! We get some nice counters (only one from the Ankle Lock atm) before Angle lands the Angle Slam! That only gets him a 2 count, so its back to the trusted Ankle Lock. Undertaker is hurting from the Angle Slam, so now might be the perfect time for Angle to lock it in. ‘Taker is ‘Taker though, and he doesn’t stay in the hold for long, and chokeslams Angle! Angle no sells and quickly grabs the ankle AGAIN, but this gets countered into the Triangle Choke; shades of NWO! We then get a replay of the NWO finish, except this time The Undertaker rolls through and keeps hold of the Triangle Choke!!!

Angle gets to the ropes, but is still pretty out of it, so Undertaker positions him for a regular leg drop, which will target the neck. However, Undertaker just seems to be so desperate to put the champion away, he forgot that Angle can counter this, and BAM, Ankle Lock one more time! A couple more counters, and Undertaker gets on the losing end of a DDT.

The Angle Slam didn’t work. The Ankle Lock is constantly countered… so Angle decides to go all out with a MOONSAULT! It doesn’t pay off, and The Undertaker hits a Tombstone! He covers and… Mark Fat Bastard Shit Face Cunt Henry breaks up the count and gets the match stopped for a DQ :(. He then puts Undertaker through a table, setting up to the triple threat in Australia that I talked about a few weeks ago, and of course the WrestleMania casket match.

Really glad I got to see this match again, because its awesome. Not on the level of No Way Out, and certainly not on the level as their Smackdown 2003 match, but its still pretty great and better than their other matches. The end was shitty, but everything leading up to it was pretty great. Angle wasn’t suplex crazy (though I doubt Undertaker wanted to take multiple over head belly to bellys lol), and he only started using the Ankle Lock AFTER his Angle Slam didn’t work, and during the final 10 minutes of this 25 minute match, which was the counter/move/counter/move WWE Main Event Style finishing stretch. A better ending, and maybe another 5 or so minutes added on BEFORE they go into the finishing stretch, and this could have been better than NWO.

Rating: ****1/4