Falls Count Anywhere

02-20-07

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RAW
Showing RAW on Thursday was a gamble. They had to go up against Ugly Betty, CSI, and Grey’s, all of which do big numbers. Still, they managed to pull a 3.0, which isn’t bad at all.

The Donald showed up. He and Vince jawed a bit, and Trump challenged him to a match where a guy Trump chose would take on a guy Vince chose. Trump said that they should make it hair vs. hair. The crowd was hot for this, though not nearly as much as Vince was probably hoping. The Donald did a good job with his bit and he came off as a funny jerk who was less jerky in the face of a bigger jerk. Should be a fun match. The current thinking is Vince’ll take Umaga and Trump will have someone like Benoit. No clue.

Johnny Nitro and Melina took on SuperCrazy and Mickie James. I thought this match was a mess when SuperCrazy wasn’t in. Mickie and Melina aren’t bad, but they aren’t together in thinking. Melina will probably end up as a big star, but I’m not sure it’ll be in the WWE since she’s in the doghouse with a lot of folks because of her attitude. She’d probably be big in TNA, and I could see her bit working in WSX if they’re still around after the next season.

Khali squashed Eugene. Remember when he was getting a push?

Jeff Hardy took on Chris Masters. Hardy’s been on a roll of late and has managed to get back a fair amount of his old form. Masters isn’t great, but he’s actually a pretty decent athlete. Masters gave Hardy a PowerBomb out of the corner. Eventually Masters managed to get the Masterlock on Hardy, but he got to the apron, which led Masters to let go and gave Hardy the chance to roll him up. Not great, but at least brief.

I switched back to ABC for a while. I had to know what was going on with the cast of Grey’s! I just couldn’t resist!!! It was a good episode too!

Oops. They broke.

When I got back, the Main Event had started. It was Batista, John Cena, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker taking on Mr. Kennedy, MVP, Edge and Orton. This was a good match, sort of. When it was the right guys in the ring, it was a good match, and the heat was there. Sadly, MVP and Batista aren’t the best guys in wrestling right now. It started a little slow, but it built to a hot match.

Big pop when The Undertaker tagged in after Cena was playing Face In Peril. Shawn Michaels got the SuperKick onto Randy Orton for the win, but after the match, Taker gave Michaels the big ChokeSlam and the Batista put the DemonBomb onto Cena to end the show. This was a good building match and I was most excited to see it. It probably was the reason that it wasn’t slaughtered in the ratings by the serious Free TV competition.

SmackDown!
OK, I watched this on and off all night. There was a lot going on and I needed to finish it.

Fit Finlay has to be a little disappointed with the fact that he’s so damn good. The guy did a series of minor miracles with Bobby Lashley when they feuded and so they figure they can give him any stiff and have him make them into Chris Benoit. In this case, it’s The Boogeyman. Why WHY are they still trying with this guy? He’s just not much of a wrestler, he’s injury-prone, he’s old, and while he does his gimmick well, he’s not really over. They did introduce the Little Boogeyman and had him stop the Little Bastard. That allowed Boogeyman to use his staff to hit Finlay for the win.

Why?????????

Deuce took on Brian Kendrick. Cherry is still the hottest woman to my eyes in the WWE. Deuce and Domino will meet London and Kendrick at No Way Out for the tag titles. That’ll allow them to change the titles and try and make the two stiffs into an over team, but London and Kendrick are just so damn good. Kendrick hit a Springboard dropkick and an elbow after getting beat down by the crappy offense of Deuce. The running kick from Deuce ended up giving them the win. Great gimmick, terrible wrestling from the greasers. I hope they keep the titles on the little guys.

Booker and Sharmell did an interview where they reviewed See No Evil. Booker put himself in the movie with the use of a Green Screen. Kane interrupted and ran off Booker and Sharmell. Funny stuff.

Shawn Michaels and John Cena took on Mr. Kennedy and MVP. Cena played face in peril again, and he’s pretty good at it too. He got a hot tag to Michaels and he went to work. He’s still so crisp, and after the year or so where I was wondering how much he had left, it was good to see that I was wrong to write him off. Slingshot senton! That’s a new one to me from Shawn.

MVP distracted Michaels which allowed Kennedy to get the lead and even gave him the SteamRoller. He missed the KentonBomb off the top. Michaels hit a SuperKick and that allowed Cena to get the FU on MVP for the win. Good stuff.

Like money in the spank bank...

I tuned out for a bit and when I came back Kristal was topless in front of Theodore R. Long. She is pretty hot. A bit later, Ashley came out and debuted her Playboy cover. She’s even hotter. I’m gonna buy that issue.

Gregory Helms took on Scotty 2 Hotty. Helms has had the Cruiserweight belt for more than a year. Has the belt been meaningless that long. The match wasn’t much, Scotty went for the worm and Daivari came out. Funaki came out to and that brought out Jamie Nobel, Shannon Moore and Jimmy Wang Yang. This was to set-up the Cruiserweight scramble match at No Way Out.

Rated RKO took on Batista and Undertaker. Edge worked his usual style and was great at it. He’s really the clue in every programme right now. He’ll never get the respect he deserves, but he’s still a master at work. The crowd was really hot for this one. In a spot that I thought was poorly thought out, they had Randy Orton up for the DemonBomb and my man Edge speared him, which saw Orton’s butt fall directly onto Batista’s chest. That’s a good way to hurt yourself, especially if you’re an injury-prone 40 year old.

Taker managed to hit the Chokeslam and Tombstone on Edge for the win. Good match, with the crowd just eating it up. Cena and Michaels came out and Taker ate a couple of SuperKicks and Cena gave Batista an FU. Good stuff.

I didn’t get to see No Way Out yet, I’m waiting on the tape, but once I’ve got it, I’ll give a review! All I know is this: the first ¾ of the show sucked according to everyone I’ve talked to.

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Chris Garcia