Saturday Night’s Main Event
It stunk. True, it wasn’t awful, but it was pretty standard. I thought that Khali vs. Cena wasn’t very good, but I’ve seen much worse matches from both Khali and Cena. The Hornswaggle/Finlay vs. Boogeyman/Mini-Boogey wasn’t that bad. I actually kinda liked it, which in the case of Mixed Tags is very rare. Mini-Boogey is almost as crazy into his character as regular Boogey. It’s weird how good these guys are at playing these lame characters.

There was an arm wrestling match that was supposed to be McMahon v. Bobby Lashley, but after some heat segments, they had Mark Henry come out and take on Lashley, which of course led to a beat-down as soon as Lashley looked like he’d win. It wasn’t a good segment, especially when Vince gave a very weak chairshot. I’m not excited for the match at One Night Stand.

The best part was the fact that Edge was the most over face on the show. Batista & Chris Benoit vs Edge & MVP wasn’t a bad match, but the heat went to Edge. Benoit got some rub, too, but it was really Edge’s show. The finish, MVP taking the SpineBuster before Benoit came off with the Headbutt, wasn’t the way I’d have gone, since they want to keep MVP strong, but Batista has to be held up, too.

Saving the WWE one minute at a time...

Other than that, not a great show. I do realize that Extreme Expose is really hot. I totally still love Layla.

K-1 Dynamite at the LA Coliseum.
Yeah, it was a weakish show, though I’ve only seen the matches and not the in-between stuff that was supposed to make it feel more like the big shows from Japan. The undercard was kinda weak, though The Mighty Mo looked like a bad man with his punch seeming to break Villareal’s orbital bone.

Hideo Tokoro vs. Brad Pickett was a pretty good match if you like to see a guy constantly working for submissions. I love it when a guy will get an arm bar from underneath. Picket was my choice, as he’s got a fair amount of cred, but Tokoro is really marketable in Japan. Let’s not kid ourselves; this was a show that was created to get heat for the Japanese market.

Sakuraba and Gracie had a match that wasn’t perfect, but Gracie won by keeping the damage from Sakuraba minimal. I’ve seen far more boring matches, but it wasn’t the kind of match I’d like to see more of. Gracie did a lot of the Butt Scoot, which is effective against Sakuraba’s offense, but in the old days, he’d have been able to get around that and submit Royce. And FINALLY someone was calling Royce ‘Royce’ instead of ‘Hoyce’.

The main event was Brock Lesnar vs. Kim Min-soo and it basically showed how Lesnar will try and control the Shootfight world. He dominated Min-soo, got side control and just threw a couple of damaging punches before the ref stopped it. If enough people saw it, they’ll make Lesnar the next feared MMA star.

One Night Stand
OK, this ECW PPV was decent. It started off OK, but I really felt it had no flow or concentration on the overall, before they had two matches to finish the show that were good. They should have had the show at the Hammerstein or some other ECW venue. I know they didn’t like how things turned out with the crowd last year, but it really gave it an important feel. I still don’t think much of this will turn out to be memorable.

Watch out, Rob! It ain't over 'til it's over!

They opened with a strong match between Randy Orton and RVD. RVD brought it to the match, but it didn’t have the kind of heat that RVD should have drawn on an ECW PPV. They did a bunch of traditional Stretcher Match spots and it was one of those finishes that you thought they were going to have RVD job out, but then RVD made a comeback and it ended up with Orton being pushed on the stretcher across the line, giving RVD the win. It was a weird way to book for a guy leaving the company.

A pretty strong six man followed. C.M. Punk & Tommy Dreamer & Sandman beat Elijah Burke & Marcus Cor Von & Matt Striker in a Tables match. These guys are all pretty good, though most are a step or two below where the WWE would like them. I thought that Punk and Cor Von were both the best things about the match. They worked hard and Burke, while probably more of the glue for his team than Cor Von, but Marcus looked better. C.M. Punk superplexed Striker onto Burke, who was lying on top of the table. Nice ending, good match. These guys are all Draft fodder.

The best match of the night was obvious from the beginning, though there was some sloppiness. Shelton’s off his game and who knows if he’ll ever recover it. There were some great big spots, especially from Shelton and Jeff. Shelton came off the top with a bunch of great stuff. These guys are talented and it showed here. I really liked the way Haas worked the match. You seldom realize that Matt and Haas are the proper workrate guides. They were the ones turning the tide and making the spots happen and giving the match its timing.

Kane and Mark Henry had a lumberjack match. It wasn’t good.

Lashley won back the ECW from Vince, even after Vince made it 3-on-1 against Lashley. The wildest move was Lashley going for a dive off the top to start it and he didn’t get far enough out, meaning that he landed flat on his back on the outside. That was nuts and he was lucky to be able to continue with the match. Shane put Lashley through a table with the Elbow off the Top. It was better than their other matches, but still not what you’d want out of a top of card feud. Lashley won with the Spear on Vince for the pin and then followed it up with another Spear after the match. I’m glad it’s over.

They had one of those finishes in the Edge vs. Batista cage match. They had the two of them racing and Edge went over the top and Batista went through the door. Batista touched the floor with his hand, but they made a very clear point that it was the feet that had to touch first. Edge landed with his feet and thus won the match. Good for him!

It was a nearly great match. Edge was good, as was Batista. Edge was so good that he is still close to the level that put him at second in the Wrestling Observer Wrestler of the Year voting. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing more of this as a regular feud.

Khali took the FU onto some sort of crash pad to lose the match to Cena. Cena was really good in this one and he’s gotten to the point where he can do a match with deadweight and have it turn out OK. I’d say the last two matches saved this from being terrible, but I’m hoping for more.