Falls Count Anywhere

12-17-07

Torn between two species...

RAW
Last week RAW did a pretty good number. 4.1 is the best since before the whole Benoit thing. It was a good show, though not quite great. I think there was too much Vince, but you can’t really fault a guy for featuring himself on a show that basically is his life-long legacy.

It was good to see Bischoff there because he’s the reason that Wrestling built itself into the juggernaut that it was in the late 1990s. RVD has not re-signed as I understand it. He was just in for one night and is working with Booker T in his promotion on top in a week or two. Trish said she had a great time seeing everyone and made a hint that she might come back at some point and that the RAW show probably sped things up.

I didn’t get to see all of Armageddon, but as always, I used whatever means necessary to get a few of the matches. Word has it from folks who watched the whole thing that this was one of the best shows in pro wrestling recently. Others said it was almost as good as the Ultimate Fighter finals from a couple of weeks ago.

From what I heard about what I didn’t see, everything sort of rose above what they had planned. Even Finlay vs. The Great Khali was watchable, as I hear it. It was just like those times in the middle nineties that the WWF was in deep trouble and they told the guys to step it up and they ended up with really strong PPVs like the Canadian Stampede in 1997.

The matches I managed to see were good, and in two cases really good. I thought that HHH vs. Jeff Hardy was a strong match and it ended up having a great finish. The crowd heat was low, possibly because H gave so much to Hardy to get him over. The guy didn’t need the help; he’s always over even when he’s not pushed at all. The match went well and H was obviously feeling generous.

It’s funny, but it felt like HHH was working as a real veteran face with Hardy playing the younger star in waiting. There was a certain feeling that this was Flair vs. Sting, though Hardy is far more established than Sting was when they did the classic Clash match, though it did elevate Hardy. Jeff turned an attempted Pedigree into a Bridging pin. Good stuff.

MVP and Rey Mysterio had a match that was really strong and ended with MVP doing his ‘I ain’t getting’ back in there’ thingee after Rey giving him a Hurrancanrana on the outside. The match was solid until the Countout finish. They need to give more clean finishes.

And speaking of weak finishes, the Jericho vs. Randy Orton match was the best thing on the show until the finish of the Main Event, which I thought was a brilliant way to get the title on Edge. I think Jericho has come back so strong that he deserves a title chase that will end up with the belt around his waist.

JBL, who is coming back as a regular wrestler like I said about three months ago, came out and kicked Jericho in the head right before Orton tapped to give him the DQ win. That’s a weak finish, but I understand why they didn’t want to give him the belt right off and why they didn’t want to have him pinned either.

Why, oh, why must it always end like this?

The Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James match featured the kind of flat crowd that one Mr. Timothy Litt has described as a “Surfboard”. The two of them worked hard and though they didn’t get the crowd into it that much, largely because the crowd had been going through so many strong matches, they put together the kind of match that I like. Beth won with the Fishergirl Suplex. She’s hot. So very, very hot.

The Main Event was heavily booked. They had two guys come out dressed as Edge and one of them got took out, leading to Batista and Undertaker taking each other on as if it were a singles match. Edge ran in later and hit UT with a chair after he had Tombstoned Batista. The one-on-one portion wasn’t as good as their matches at Mania or last month, but it was a solid match. The funny thing is Edge didn’t pin UT, he pinned Batista.

What that says is that a chair is effective, but the Tombstone is the most powerful move in wrestling. I’m guessing that we’re gonna see Edge vs. UT as a Mania match with the winner being the Undefeated Mania master. I’m excited!

OK, that’s all I’ve got for today. More on Thursday!

Chris Garcia