Falls Count Anywhere

03-28-06

When you comin' back to the five and dime?

SmackDown!
I didn’t see all of it, but I liked what I got to see. They’re really focusing on wrestling of late, especially with the Rey/Orton/Angle thing. For some reason they’ve downplayed that match quite a bit in the angles department, but have made it up in matches of quality. The Fit vs. Rey match was good, and this week the Angle vs. Rey match was really nice. Having Rey job all those times might be seen as hurting him, but really, it means that he’s winning the belt.

Other than the opening segment, the only part I saw was the match with Lashley, Tatanka (who looks good) and Hardy against Finlay and MNM. Good stuff, especially the parts with my man Fit. Lashley is looking better and better. I’m fairly certain that he’ll end up being a really good big man, like Kane was in 2001-2002. Kane today is a different story, but still is very hot. Superhot. Maybe far too hot.

I can’t really make a judgement on the whole show, but what I saw didn’t build Mania much and was well-worked.

Hall of Fame Ceremony
OK, I didn’t watch the part that was on the WWE.com site, but I did watch the entire thing on USA. It was really solid and if they had to do just three of the inductees, they chose the right three.

Hogan coming out first was a bit of a surprise, but it made sense as they wanted to get people hooked early. The video package they showed to open the show was great too. They take some parts of the Hall of Fame seriously and the way they treated all the guys in the package was very strong. I’m pleased.

The Okerlund induction was pretty good, save for the fact that Mean Gene rambled on far too long. He also made a "Kiss My Ass" gag that was obviously pointed at Eric Bischoff (who I didn’t see on camera).

They made a big deal out of all the inductees and Mean Gene made nice overtures towards Verne Gagne. He did give him his start, but from what I understand, he took off in a hurry to sign with the WWF and that the relationship had soured. Mean Gene also put in a good word for Carlton Fisk, which was basically a cheap pop. The small vignette that they showed of Hogan saying ‘Let me tell ya somethin’ Mean Gene!’ made me smile. A really good induction.

Eddy's true legacy...

This was followed by the most emotional part of the evening: the induction of Eddie Guerrero. They brought out Benoit, Chavo and Rey. I wish they’d brought Dean Malenko out for it, but I guess three was enough. Chavo spoke first and said many things, mostly keeping himself just on this side of the edge of tears. They showed the package for Eddy and folks were obviously losing it at that point, me included.

It was a great tribute and there was a lot of real emotion, something that rarely happens in wrestling. There’ve been five or six of them that I can think of in the last three years, and all of them had something to do with Eddy. Eddy’s win at No Way Out in 2004 (I was there and that place and full or real emotion), Eddy and Benoit hugging at WrestleMania in 2004, and then the shows following Eddy’s death.

Add the Hall of Fame ceremony this year to that list.

Benoit spoke and held on despite almost falling apart a couple of times and Rey said a couple of things introducing Vikki and the girls to accept. They showed all sorts of wrestlers in the audience, and the one that really got me was Darren Mathews (that’s William Regal to you) just looking absolutely devastated. It was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. They also showed Melena, who looked like she was almost at Regal’s level of sadness, and JBL, Angle and Dusty Rhodes. Stephanie looked fat, but she was obviously crying, too. This was a great moment. The crowd chanted Eddy a lot all night.

Bret says farewell.

Then, the big deal: Bret Hart. They introduced Stone Cold who did a little promo. He did a bit talking about Hogan and the way they presented it made it seem like that’s what they’re building to for 2007’s Mania in Detroit, which is the nearest big city to Pontiac where WrestleMania III took place on March the 29th, 1987. Then they showed Bret’s recap and it was really well done. I think they went out of their way to put something together that they thought Bret might approve of.

Then out came Bret.

This was the biggest pop of the night and he was obviously moved. He didn’t make many bitter comments, though he did point out that the WWF took lots away from him, even though they gave him a lot, too. He told a couple of Owen stories, which got loud Owen chants.

Bret was applauded by everyone, which isn’t surprising. The Rock wasn’t there, though I understand that they tried to get him to do the induction because he’s a huge supporter of Hart for the way he treated Rocky back when he was a rookie. It came off very well and was a nice way for The Hitman to go out in the world of Wrestling. It was very obvious that this was his goodbye.

A class act from Vince (who never showed up on-screen) and a good show even for casual viewers. This may have done more for the buy-rate of Mania than the last five SmackDowns!

Wrestlemania,

RAW

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Chris Garcia