Falls Count Anywhere

08-17-06

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RAW
Edge is my new hero. Well, he’s been a hero of mine for a long time, but the angle they opened the show with was great. They had Edge visit John Cena’s hometown and taped his visit to Casa de Cena. There, he ran into Cena’s dad and Edge decked him.

There was such great intensity to the angle and it felt like an old school bit of work, which is something that the WWE hasn’t been able to get through to in ages. He said he’d destroy Cena at SummerSlam. Great stuff from the Rated-R Superstar.

Lita won the Woman’s Title off of Mickie James. This is weird on a couple of levels and may speak to something deeper. Lita is leaving after her contract’s up in a couple of months. Mickie was also in her hometown, so taking the title off of her there sounds very suspicious. Mickie played face in the match and the crowd seemed to like her. Lita did her usual stuff, though I miss the LitaSault. They went back and forth a bit and Mickie hit a Mickiecanrana. When Mickie went for a DDT, Lita turned it into a pin for the win.

I’d say this is how you’d write someone out for a suspension, but there’s been no buzz around Mickie as a problem in the locker room or as a drug case. Maybe it was an attempt to keep Lita around. Who knows?

Foley did the interview where he tried to explain why he changed his mind and gave Flair his match. It was good, but not at the level of Foley at his best. Foley invited Flair to ECW for something special.

Umaga beat some dude. It was sloppy as Umaga didn’t seem to be on, which is really kinda rare. I really do think Umaga could be a bigger deal, though I don’t see him as a Main Event attraction. In many ways, he’s what the WWE was trying to do with Rikishi when he was The Sultan back in 1996, only he’s got a great manager.

Ric Flair beat Johnny Nitro by DQ. Flair worked his usual style, which is pretty simple of late. Nitro wasn’t as on as you would have thought getting to work with one of the best sell artists of all time. Nitro missed a Twisting Senton (At least that’s what I think they’ll call it). Foley ran in and attacked Flair and Melina gave Flair a low blow.

It looks interesting to me.

Another Diva went home. It’s down to Layla, Jen and J.T.. You know who I want, and she seems to be the one they’re pushing, but I’m not saying that J.T. doesn’t have a shot. Should be interesting, even if the Diva Water Fight was not.

(editor's note: the WWE site reports that Layla has won the Diva Search, though portions remain untelevised.)

DX got a big time response, but they basically traded barbs with Vince and Shane and Vince said he was gonna bring down Satan himself. Maybe they’ll get Grondra from AAA to come in.

The Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Eugene team beat The Spirit Squad. The only thing I liked about this match was that Eugene used the Airplane Spin. The Eugene gimmick has worn thin, but it’s really got a few things that could make it work as a once and month thing. They need to give him a mask and let him work as a regular wrestler. That’s the only way to move him out of the gimmick and still use his talent. He got cleaned up, which is a great, but he also went nowhere after.

Edge and Carlito had a strong match. It wasn’t great, actually, but the whole segment built perfectly. The guys were out there doing a good little match (and Trish had kissed Carlito beforehand, so he had that going for him) and Cena ran out right after Edge hit the spear. The two then brawled and brawled well. Edge got away by running through the crowd. This added more heat to the fire and the crowd was way behind Cena and popped for his run-in. That’s how you do it. That’s how you book a big time program.

Randy Orton came out for a promo. They had a Hogan impersonator come out and Randy made fun of Hogan until the real deal came out and gave Randy the boot. This was awful as the guy wasn’t nearly smartened up enough to do the attack on Hogan after Randy bailed. Hogan bodyslammed him and gave him a couple of elbows.

Everything on the show built towards SummerSlam, which is very good. I’m thinking it’ll do well, and not just because of Hogan.

Check the Wikipedia entry. That's all we'll say.

NEWS
A possible answer to why Mickie James was jobbed out has Kenny Doane in hot water. The two of them have been engaged for while. While they were at a red light, a fan came up and asked Mickie to sign his poster. When the light turned, Ken went and held on to the poster, which ripped and caused the fan to hurt his shoulder. He got served with papers and it can’t look good for the talented Mr. Doane. I’m hoping that’s not the reason they took the belt off of Mickie James, but it sounds plausible. In other news, I recently discovered some of the photos Mickie took for Leg Show a few years back. She’s very hot.

Chris Jericho will be on Celebrity Duets. The other contenders include Hal Sparks, Lea Thompson (who sang in Howard the Duck) and Lucy Lawless. Should be interesting to see how Jericho, who has fronted a band, comes out of this. Will it launch him like Dancing With The Stars launched Stacey Kiebler?

ECW
I only saw this in bits and pieces, but it wasn’t the best show, though it had the chance to be with the way things were booked. They had Big Show and Paul Heyman come out and say that Kurt wasn’t medically cleared and couldn’t wrestle. I haven’t heard whether or not that was a real injury or not, but I don’t think so. Then again, Kurt’s always hurt on some level. They used the term ‘medically suspended’ which is an interesting turn of phrase in these wrestling times we live in.

We had Foley and Flair building their feud. Foley said Flair wasn’t going to show up and then, since he had promised something hard core, he brought out Melina and Kelly Kelly and they all danced together. Flair ran in like a man possessed and attacked Foley, hit him with a couple of low blows, tossed him into the steps and choked him. Foley sold this huge and Flair was great. This feud just keeps getting better, but does it need to be on ECW TV to build heat for a RAW feud?

CM Punk was back and he got a great reaction. It wasn’t huge, but there was a stronger reaction to Punk than to any new wrestler they’ve brought in. It’s nice to see that his Hammerstein reaction carried over a good deal. He beat on Credible for a while, but used the Uranage into the clutch to win it. He’s gold, people!

I missed a chunk here where I’m betting the Mike Knox match went. I really don’t like him.

Once more with dignity...

The Ladder Match between RVD and Sabu wasn’t very good because the guys were out of sync. They botched spots, were sloppy on the ones that managed to hit and at no point did they seem like they were going to make something good happen. It used to happen a lot in ECW, and this was worse than most, but RVD and Sabu have had some good matches.

I did like the ending. Big Show came out and tossed RVD through a table outside the ring. Then Sabu jumped onto Show, who caught him, allowing him to get the contract. Big Show then Chokeslammed both dudes after to finish the job.

A good show when you look at it on paper, but the work in the main event was really weak. They better lock it up.

That’s all for this week. I’ll be back on Monday and then I’ll be heading down to WorldCon so Fanboy Planet wil have a guest columnist for wrestling a time or two. See you then!

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Chris Garcia