But let’s not dwell. Last night was a night of Vengeance - a night for Smackdown to shine on their own PPV, and try and show Raw how it should be done. Could they do it? Read on and find out, gentle reader...
A superb choice of opener in Benoit vs. Guerrero got the night off to a storming start. Putting them on first basically gave them as much time as they needed and really let them put on a show. The storytelling was there - Benoit working on the back and shoulder of Guerrero, trying to set up the Crippler Crossface - Guerrero just happy to survive until the opportunity to cheat popped up.
People ask me why I like wrestling sometimes. I point them towards matches like this, and the Benoit-Angle classic at the Royal Rumble. This, my friends, is good wrestling. Both men put their all into this and gave the crowd a show to be proud of, and with relatively few “highspots” - a top rope back suplex, a top rope superplex and a suicide dive through the ropes were the only relatively risky spots, bar the frog splash and diving headbutt finishers.
Guerrero took the win in the end, with a classic piece of misdirection from Rhyno - once Rhyno hit the ring, I had a feeling that “the turn” was on - and Eddie’s reaction to it was priceless. All the ref bumps in this match made sense given Eddie’s character, and I felt that the match didn’t suffer any for it. A great match, and a great way to showcase the Smackdown brand.
Billy Gunn and his new hairstyle were out next, after another dose of backstage antics from those warring McMahons, and thankfully, this one was kept short and packed with action. I loved Tazz and Cole’s discussion before the match about Zebras and pinstripes too, as well as Tazz’s “He’s got your briefcase!” when Billy opened Jamie Noble’s “sex case” - more examples of why Tazz and Cole leave their Raw counterparts in the shade.
I actually have to give credit where it’s due - Gunn didn’t look to bad in this one, possibly as good as he ever has... I mean that’s not saying a lot, but it’s a start. His selling still seems to exist in some form of parallel universe though - he sells the injury about 2 seconds after it happens - check out the “knee injury” he suffered when catching Jamie Noble on the outside.
This was the one match I was certain of the outcome - there’s no way Vince was going to throw away an angle like Torrie sleeping with someone on Smackdown just to give his pet Gunn a win on PPV. Not as bad as I worried it was going to be either, and you have to give credit to Jamie Noble for some of that.
The backstage set up interview for the APA brawl goes down as one of the most surreal things ever seen on PPV - an Easter Bunny hops by, causing Ron Simmons to exclaim “I’ll be DAMNED!” - nothing bad about that. Add to that Spanky’s dancing on the bar during all the entrance music for the participants, and there’s no doubt this was set up for a bit of a laugh, and as a match, it wasn’t much, but there’s no point looking at this as a proper match.
The promo from Brother Love was one of the highlights of the night for me, and seeing Sean O’Haire hit the Easter Bunny with a sucker punch... well, not much needs to be said about that. O’Haire looked like a bit of a star in the match, possibly the only man that shone any, apart from Bradshaw, obviously. Funaki’s contribution to the “match” were priceless - he sat at the bar drinking while chaos erupted round him, then passing out.
Bradshaw won it somehow, even though Ron Simmons was stood right next to him, but I guess Bradshaw is the chosen one of the WWE, so there’s no arguing there then. From Bradshaw drinking, we went backstage to see Jamie Noble leafing through a very worn copy of Playboy talking about his “special Torrie” and how Nidia would get over it... It’s about time Noble was given something to do, as he’s been wasted over the past few months.
Every time I hear the opening to Haas & Benjamin’s music, I keep thinking it’s about to launch into St. Elmo’s Fire - sadly, it doesn’t. Luckily, though, the match was a hell of a lot better than both Haas and Benjamin;s music and their name - Both teams meshed well together, and hey, even Kidman put in a few spots of note - top rope springboard shooting star press that he didn’t kill himself on - quality.
Haas and Benjamin may very well go on to live up to their billing of the World’s Greatest Tag Team if this showing is anything to go by. In the ring with two veterans of WCW Cruiserweight tag division - a fact painfully overlooked by the WWE in the build up to this - and they didn’t once look out of their depth. Benjamin, in particular, looked like a star in the making.
I thought the ending of the match was very nicely done - the blind tag from Benjamin was executed perfectly, and the debate between Tazz and Cole just put it over as being an excellent tag team move - just what Haas and Benjamin need to build up an air of legitimacy around them. All in all, a very good match, second only to Benoit-Guerrero on the night. Smackdown’s tag matches continue to highlight Raw’s lack of a competitive tag division.
Sable vs. Stephanie up next, and to be fair it was just over 6 minutes, short enough not to bother anyone, and had it’s fair share of bumps in it, but that’s enough about Steph’s outfit... It wasn’t horrible by any stretch of the imagination, but the A-Train interference was out of nowhere - why A-Train? Why not Vince’s hired gun, The Big Show?
A handy five minutes to fix up some tortilla chips if nothing else. The only thing now is we have to get Stephanie’s selling of the “injuries” on Smackdown, and folks, acting ain’t Steph’s strength.
Credit to Undertaker for even showing up at this PPV after the week he’s had, and he came to fight. Nice touch at the start when Taker’s bike wouldn’t start and Cole and Tazz covered by saying Taker was walking down the ramp to intimidate Cena. Even Cena’s pre-match rap was on the money. I expected a brawl, and that’s what we got - not a lot of technical wrestling exhibited in this one, but there was no need for it - it had been built up to be a fight, not a match.
Should Taker have won clean? In an ideal world, no - but I’m not going to begrudge Taker a win in the week where his father passed away. The only observation I’m gonna make is that Cena threw everything he had at Taker, and it wasn’t enough to get the job done, so where do we go with a rematch? Unless they work on the angle that Cena learns from this match and beats Taker at his own game in the next match, there’s not much they can do.
Taker and Cena put on a wild brawl that really put across the feud between the two, and never erupted into the arena wide brawls that these sort of matches usually become. Cena did look a threat from where I sat, and Taker sold well for him - in fact, Taker bled from the mouth so much, I thought that Ken Shamrock was back in town for a second... Cena’s best PPV match yet, and he’ll continue to get better working with veterans like The Undertaker
The Zach vs. Vince match was up next, and as I thought, Vince was really into his “most evil man alive” gimmick and really worked the crowd over, getting them to hate him even more than they already do. Sadly for Zach, this match more or less exposed what he can and can’t do. Yes, he can do a mean moonsault and dropkick - and that’s about it.
As I said in the preview for this show, all credit to him for overcoming everything he’s gone through in his life, but to be honest, this match pretty much sealed the end of his usefulness in the WWE. The shock factor of a one legged wrestler has gone now, and Zach just can’t work on a level playing field with everyone else, through no fault of his own.
Vince and Zach did make the most of things though - they got the crowd involved in the match, and sustained the interest in pretty much an extended squash match - Zach’s comebacks were perfectly timed, and a semi-missed bulldog aside, perfectly executed. I’m not sure if Vince’s blood was a bladejob or a hardway cut, either way, it looked nasty, but with Vince getting the pin, I don’t really see where Zach can go from here.
The crowd gave a nice ovation to Zach at the end, but it looked more like a farewell from Zach than anything like the appreciation that Benoit got at the Rumble. A quick word about the crowd while I’m on the subject here - they were really into every match on the card, and the fact that they were so vocal and enthusiastic about it made each match seem that much better. Well done Denver!
And so we come to the main event - and what a main event it was. The inclusion of the Big Show proved to be a bonus, not a burden. The many bumps that the Show took lit this match up - an Angle slam through the Spanish Announce Table from Kurt, an F5 and a running powerbomb from Brock were stunning to see. The actual match itself was as good a triple threat as you’re going to see.
Angle looked on the money, and really hasn’t lost a step from where he was in the lead up to WrestleMania, and his effect on Brock is considerable. Brock vs. Angle part II, with both men fully fit is going to be a hell of a match. Back to this match though, and it had the crowd into it, and me as well - at 3:30am and running on Jack Daniel’s and Red Bull, that’s good going!
I really, really thought Brock would come out of this with the title, and I thought that Show would be the victim for the pin - full marks to the WWE for not hitting the obvious finish and having Angle take the pin on Lesnar.
All in all, a fantastic PPV - for once, the UK fans that paid for this REALLY got their money’s worth - for my money, this is PPV of the year so far. Quick mention to Ultimo Dragon vs. Kanyon on Heat - why these two weren’t on PPV with some heat behind them and an extra 10 minutes is beyond me - the two put on a great 4 minute match that could have been so much better with more time.
If you haven’t seen this already, beg, borrow or steal a copy of it somehow. Hopefully, this will get a buyrate to match the quality of it, and show Raw how a brand specific PPV should be run.
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