Falls Count Anywhere

04-25-06 (Smackdown!)

Will RVD return to the ECW PDQ?

They’ve already signed Sabu, and Sandman and others have been contacted. Paul E. and Tommy Dreamer are going to be running it using former ECW stars (Roadkill is already signed, for example) and there’s probably going to be a big name or two announced in the next couple of weeks. They’ll probably be using OVW people as well so it’ll be a combination developmental territory and regular running show. This’ll be interesting to watch.

RAW
OK, I missed the opening between Edge, HHH and Cena, but I’m told that HHH is playing more of the Smartassed Face, which is pretty much foreshadowing the recreation of Degeneration X. I can’t wait.

Charlie Haas, Rob Van Dam and Carlito beat Shelton Benjamin, Matt Striker and Chris Masters in a good match. These guys have chemistry that you can feel. Even Masters was pretty good. He’s getting better, but it might just be that he’s just learning how not to get in the way so much. Haas is the man, as is Shelton. RVD has gotten back on track, which is a good thing as he’s going to have to carry Cena at One Night Stand.

After Benjamin managed to give Carlito the T-bone, RVD hit the kick and then the Frog Splash for the win. I really hope they let these guys work together in tags like this more.

Vince did another of his speeches. I was bored. I ate some teriyaki chicken.

They had a Diva contest and the girls all looked really hot. Candice won and she was told by the Coach that her prize was getting to make out with him. Viscera came out and Samoan dropped Coach before making out with Candice himself.

The WWE -- where you can actually do this to your boss.

Shawn Michaels and Shane McMahon had a match. I’m not sure what the official word on the result was. Lots of heat here. Shane was good here, and Shawn did everything he could. They did a hot tease of Shawn putting Vince through a table with the elbow off the top, but Shane low-blowed him.

Vince attacked Michaels with a chair, and then Shane went to the top while Vince held Shawn’s legs, allowing Shane to hit the elbow off the top onto Shawn. Good pop for that. Vince got the mic and said that God wasn’t there and that he’d abandoned Michaels and wouldn’t be at Backlash. This was a good little scene and had a lot of heat. There were noticeable ECW chants, and I’m betting they’ll get bigger as we get closer to the relaunch.

Umaga gave a jobber some work. Styles knows how to get over a beating. He actually made this segment watchable. There was a great spot where Umaga did the wheelbarrow thing and threw him head first into the Steps. Ouch! Flair ran in and knocked Umaga around. He got a good pop.

They had a segment with Edge intimidating Cena and Cena making a going down reference about Lita. It added nothing and Cena was booed from the second he was on the screen. It’s funny that he’s still the top seller of merchandise and tickets to house shows, yet he’s overly booed.

Mickie vs. Mickie -- and we're the winners.

Mickie James came out as Mickie James. She said she went overboard and wasn’t Trish anymore. Trish came out as Mickie and then played around with Mickie a bit verbally. They brawled and Trish hit a Chick Kick. I’m hoping this will lead to Trish staying Mickie and hopefully Mickie going back to being Trish. That would rule.

The Spirit Squad took on HHH, John Cena and Edge. This is another match that I don’t know what the finish was. There was a segment where a couple of the Spirit Squad took the Pedigree and the FU, but then Edge left and HHH and Cena started brawling.

Overall, the show wasn’t terribly good, save for the Six-Man match.

That’s all for this week. There’ll be a lot more to say about the ECW deal soon.

Talk about today's column in the forums!

Chris Garcia