Falls Count Anywhere

10-09-06

...and upset Fed-Up.

SmackDown!
I was at SiliCon, so I missed it. I did catch a couple of moments, but I didn’t get to make anything out of it. At SiliCon, I found a couple of dealers who were selling wrestling items. We talked about local shows (like Big Time Wrestling’s Sunnyvale show) and about Pride and UFC. It’s always good to meet another fan.

No Mercy
What opens a PPV better than two guys who aren’t getting the push they deserve having a good match? Matt Hardy and Gregory Helms wrestled a match that was better than any of their TV matches, which were all great themselves.

What’s shocking on this one is that despite Matt Hardy having won several non-title matches on TV and a PPV match, this is supposed to be a title match. Matt won with a Twist of Fate. Strange overall booking, but both guys looked really good.

Paul London and Brian Kendrick are both really good workers. We all know that and we’ve seen them work really good matches both with and against each other. The match against Stevens and James was solid without much in the way blown spots. Ashley was in Kendrick and London’s corner, which off-set the presence of Michelle McCool. Ashley’s so much hotter than Michelle. Kendrick flew all over the place. London did too, though slightly less.

The two kinda remind me of a Rock ‘n Roll Express team for the new Millennium. Kendrick did a Sliced Bread #2 and London hit the Shooting Star off of Kendrick for the win! These four are great and I’m hoping we see more and more of them. It wouldn’t hurt them to let them have a lot more TV time. Really good match.

Layla gave The Miz a lap dance. She looked very practiced at that particular act.

MVP debuted on PPV. It was a quick squash, and there wasn’t much to talk about it. They’ve got a good idea with MVP, selling him as the Barry Bonds-type sportster. They’ve done this gimmick before and it’s never really worked. Lex Luger had this same kind of character when he started, but he had the body to sell it without anything else.

boring, maybe, but sometimes these pics tell a different story...

Undertaker and Ken Kennedy had a match that was long and kinda boring. Kennedy looked good early, and UT tried, but really, they should have kept it short and let Kennedy go over via pin instead of having him win via DQ.

The problem isn’t that UT lost via DQ, but he was still made to look stronger than Kennedy. He’s the future.I do have to say that UT did one of my favorite moves, the Flatliner! With a move like that, he should have been using it for the last decade. Taker got a Chokeslam, but then it was Taker going for the Last Ride and Kennedy getting out of it. I love the fact that Kennedy uses the Senton Bomb. Taker nailed Kennedy with the belt, and that meant that he got DQed. Too long and kinda boring.

Chavo Guerrero will never get to be the star that his uncle Eddy was. The match with Rey was a brawl that I thought was very good. Rey is always great. A lot of it took place outside and it allowed Rey and Chavo to work their style and since it was Falls Count Anywhere, Rey managed to get the pin on the outside after a crossbody. Good match, though it shouldn’t be any surprise with these two. They didn’t get enough time.

Hey, it’s Chris Benoit! It was a surprise match and while they could have built to it on TV and maybe popped a slightly higher buy-rate, they had him show up as a surprise against Regal. The match wasn’t bad either. These two have worked against each other so many times that it’s always gonna be at least good. Regal even busted out some of his strange submissions that he’s probably been waiting to use when Mr. Benoit returned.

Chris didn’t look like he had missed a step, so I will say that it was good to have him back. I was so happy when Benoit got a Dragon Suplex. It reminded me that his is the best Dragon in the world. Cross Face from Benoit made my man Regal tap. As far as in-ring work goes, this has been a really good show.

...and you thought we wouldn't show it.

Booker T managed to hold on to the belt after Batista, Finlay and Lashley couldn’t get it done. True, Booker’s not a bad champion at all. The numbers aren’t great, but he’s got that Champion-thing going for him. The match was good too. It was really strong and I’m hopeful that we’ll see more of this from these guys.

The change to the four-way match was probably meant to cover up weakness in the challenger, but who would have thought that Fit Finlay, one of the great European wrestlers of all-time, would be headlining a WWE PPV. He was the strongest part too. He carried the match, guiding it through ins and outs. It’s not that Booker’s not a general in the ring, he is, but Fit’s just that much better. Batista gave a ton of Spinebusters and then was Speared by Lashley which allowed Booker to get the pin on Finlay. It was a good match that was well-worth PPV prices.

I’d say that it was a show that was worth it if you like actual wrestling more than storyline matches.

Talk about today's column in the forums!

Chris Garcia