Month: August 2012

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

Finlay Vs Lashley – Smackdown March 3rd 2006

This one has been building for a while now, with multiple tag matches in the last month, and at NWO when Finlay cost Lashley his match, and first loss, against JBL.

Lashley destroys Finlay in the opening minute, so much so that Finlay actually reaches for his Shillelagh, but doesn’t get the chance to use it. The veteran Finlay finds an opening, and hits some of his stiff offence before Lashley again uses his power to just overcome his lack of experience.

Finlay is incredibly pissed that he doesn’t seem to be able to counter Lashley’s strength, so he throws a crap load of chairs into the ring. Both guys swing at the same time, hitting each other’s chair, and the ref calls for the bell. Big brawl after the match, with plenty of refs and security trying to break them up.

Only lasts a couple of minutes, but shows how much hate these two have for each other, and will no doubt build to a rematch soon enough.

Rating: *