In Your House

[Brian Fowler]

I think Yo-Yo's Roomie (still waiting to meet Yo-Yo) covered the Rumbles already, not I have no recollection where he ranked the LMS (my second favorite WWE match of the decade, fwiw) and I'm much too lazy to see if that thread was pre-board collapse.

[Brian Fowler]

Eddy/Brock

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I think I had Cena/Umaga LMS #4 for the rumble matches. I do kinda wish I was watching all the ppvs for this project, but at the same time I want to get through them and not be held up by re-watching stuff I've already seen in the last year or two. Still, there are some of the more recent 'big four' that I still haven't got around too, so I'll probably throw those in the mix.

[Brian Fowler]

On that note, you do have the first Cena/Umaga match from New Year's Revolution coming up, and I recall it being pretty damn good.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I've never seen it before, and am looking forward to it, but man, I'm still two years away. Hopefully there's lots of good stuff before then.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Backlash 2005.

 

Shelton Benjamin Vs Chris Jericho: IC title match, and a very entertaining one at that. Nothing more than a spotfest/offensive showcase really, but it moved fast and everything looked good. Kinda showed me that Benjamin could be a good worker if he could have executed like this more often. Benjamin wins and Jericho throws a temper tantrum, which I think would be the start of his heel turn which signals that the end is near for this run. Fans were largely in favour of Jericho here, by the pie.

 

Tag team turmoil match: William Regal and Tajiri are defending their tag belts, and they're the first ones out here. Their opponents are The Heart Throbs. Forgot about these dudes. Seemed totally worthless, cringeworthy gimmick (and not in a good way), and really nothing interesting about them in the ring either from what I can tell. Regal and Tajiri dispose of them quickly, and next we get Simon Dean and Maven. This is a better comedy jobber heel team. Regal and Tajiri are looking really good here, and the crowd is more into this than you would think. La Resistance are up next, and there's a decent little back and forth here before La Res get a cheap win. That gives us a final pairing of La Res Vs Hurricane and Rosey. Crowd is into the faces, and they get the win to become new tag champs. I irrationally hate face-to-face or heel-to-heel title changes in this sort of match, and that's something they seem to do quite a bit. It just seems lazy. This match also shows how weak the tag division on Raw was at this point (which is nothing new to be fair). However, mostly fun stuff, and the crowd being into it helped.

 

Edge Vs Chris Benoit: Last Man Standing match. Edge's heel act is pretty on point by this stage (just missing Lita). Nice to see a midcard feud get a big blow-off match like this. Good work between the two, but the match is hampered by a woeful performance by Earl Hebner as the ref, whose counts are painfully inconsistent (usually counting way slower when Benoit is down), and he also can't seem to decide whether you need to be on your feet or on your knees to stop the count (again, primarily favouring Benoit in this regard). King doesn't help matters by constantly pointing this out and driving home how biased Hebner is being, which JR can't really argue because it's self-evidently the case. Very strange. Edge wins after hitting Benoit in the back of the head with a brick. The news about Edge and Lita had obviously broke, because there were a smattering of 'we want Matt' chants. After the match we cut to Lita watching in the back, with a satisfied look on her face, which was a clear foreshadowing of her heel turn.

 

An interminable segment yet in which Lawler interviews the Raw divas to promote their new swimsuit magazine. Chris Masters interrupts and I mark out. I'm definitely assigning my love of latter day Masters to early Masters, who I thought was terrible in real time. You kinda forget just how huge he was back then. Anyway, he does a Master Lock Challenge with a muscular lady, and totally destroys her. Cheap heat, but effective.

 

Kane Vs Viscera: Trish is with Vis, and Lita is with a Kane, so this is a proxy continuation of their feud. More Matt chants and heat for Lita. If Vis wins, he gets to spend a night with Trish. No subtlety involved here either. Poor match which Kane wins. Afterwards Trish berates Vis, so he ragdolls her and then squashes her with a splash to a big pop. Two consecutive segments featuring male-on-female violence. Trish does a stretcher job.

 

Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels Vs Muhammad Hassan and Daivari: The crowd are super pumped to see Hogan, which makes this match feel like a really big deal. I guess after his last few appearances, where the law of diminishing returns has set in, made me forget that a Hogan appearance used to be a huge deal. This is really basically worked, and Hassan and Daivari add very little (nor Shawn really, this is Hogan's show), but the crowd noise makes it fun enough. Hogan obviously wasn't willing (or able) to drop the leg here, as he went for it twice (both times stopped by Hassan), and eventually got the pin off Shawn's sweet chin music. Shawn posing with the Hulkster always looked pathetic. They pull a fan in who has a big Hogan tattoo on his back, which is something. I wonder how he feels about that now. 

 

Christian comes out with Tomko to do a little rap about how he will be a world champion soon. He was pretty over, and looked like he was on the cusp of something big here. Alas...

 

Triple H Vs Batista: Main event time, and they're really playing this up as a huge match, with the Triple H Vs Batista II billing. I believe this did a good buyrate actually, though not sure how much credit this gets vs the Hogan match. The big storyline for the match is how Batista can't kick out of the Pedigree, and Lawler really hammers that home all match to the point that it becomes a little hokey. Batista getting some boos here, which is surprising, given how over he was in his ascent to the top of the mountain. Hunter is probably the favoured wrestler here. Fuck Triple H for getting a visual pinfall in this match after the pedigree, basically proving himself right. That really didn't do Batista many favours, but I guess that was some sort of justification for them to have the Hell in the Cell match. Disappointed with this match actually, as I backed them to put something decent together, but they really didn't. Just typical ref bumps, interference and bullshit.

 

Match of the night: I'd say Jericho/Benjamin just take it from the LMS, both at about 3 stars. I wanna credit Regal and Tajiri too for their part in the tag match.

 

Show rating: For the most part this was a pretty fun show, especially the first half. I'll give this 3 stars.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Judgment Day 2005.

 

MNM Vs Hardcore Holly and Charlie Haas: Cool, I wasn't expecting MNM for a little while yet. They're the champs. Holly and Haas are still hanging around a team. I guess Haas cheating on his fiancée and dumping her on ppv wasn't a heel turn after-all. MNM looked like a pretty polished act right from the get-go. Crowd is way more into Haas and Holly then the last time they showed up on ppv, maybe just hot for the opening match. They perform well here, Haas looking especially good on the hot tag really getting the crowd behind him. MNM win with the Snapshot. Cole says they 'stole on', which makes me wonder if he knows how tag team matches work. Fun opener. WWE was pretty good about booking fun opening matches during this period. 

 

Carlito Vs The Big Show: This is based on Carlito asking Show to be his bodyguard, Show turning him down, so Carlito poisoning him with an apple. Kayfabe-wise, has anyone had a rougher go of it than Show? He's been pissed on (can't remember who that was), sprayed with shit by Eddie, shot with a tranquiliser dart by Angle, and fed a poisonous apple by Carlito. No wonder he cries so much. Carlito hired Mat Morgan to be his bodyguard instead. Very short match ends with a ref bump and Mat Morgan F5ing Show, allowing Carlito to get the win. The crowd popped for the F5, and Carlito sold the moment perfectly. I wonder why Morgan didn't stick around, as based on this they had some big plans for him. I seem to remember him F5ing Show through a table on Smackdown too.

 

Paul London Vs Chavo Guerrero: London won the cruiserweight title in a battle royal, and is trying to prove it wasn't a fluke. London is carrying a rib injury into the match, so like a pro, Chavo targets the ribs. London works pretty well from underneath, accept why would you do a dropsault if you have injured ribs? Or at all? The crowd is kinda lukewarm for this one, just popping for a couple of high spots, but not really investing into the story of the match, it seems. 450 splash gets it done for London.

 

Booker T Vs Kurt Angle: This is a terrible, terrible storyline. For those who don't remember or never saw this, Angle was pissed at Booker for costing him a WWE title match, so proceeded to target Sharmell. By calling her a gutterslut. And saying he wants to have sex with her. Bestiality sex. And he attacks her and accuses her of 'fondling his privates'. It's all pretty unsavoury stuff, ridiculous and quite offensive. Sharmell was a quality performer though. The match is okay. Angle was strangely boring on offence though. Lots of restholds. And Booker didn't quite convey the hatred that one would expect. Book wins with a small package that may or may not have been the planned finish (Angle kicks out right after the 3, and Charles Robinson seems kinda unsure).

 

Orlando Jordan Vs Heidenreich: Jordan is still US champ, and they're seemingly trying to make something of him. Heidenreich is a babyface now, and surprisingly over. He's doing the shtick where he gets a kid out of the crowd to be his friend. This time it's a little girl called Alex who has to be a plant. Way too excited and sure of herself. She reminds me of Fiona Apple. I actually think it's the Bayley fan, and they somehow stunted her growth. Boring match won by OJ. Afterwards Alex gets in the ring and encourages Heidenreich to do his little march thing, which is kind of adorable actually.

 

Rey Mysterio Vs Eddie Guerrero: Man, the hype video for this makes it seem like the best feud ever. Awesome stuff. What a bastard Eddie is. He looks really evil here, and Mysterio looks super-determined. Really great selling display from Rey Rey, another rib injury. Eddie is totally ruthless. Eddie is still getting some cheers, but it's heartening to hear a loud Eddie sucks chant too. Excellent body to this match, but it's marred somewhat by the finish. A run-in from Chavo, which I don't think was necessary at all, and then Eddie gets himself dq'ed with a chair shot. He then goes to town on Rey with the chair. I really wish the Dominick nonsense didn't get dragged into this, and it just stayed about Eddie being driven to madness by his inability to beat Mysterio. Really enjoyed this.

 

John Cena Vs JBL: I Quit match for the WWE title. Another great video package to hype this. Nice call back to the JBL/Eddie bloodbath as JBL busts Cena open the exact same way. Cena doesn't reach Eddie levels of juice here, but it isn't for lack of trying. Cena's selling is pretty awesome here too, but it's pretty lame when his comeback on the guy who split his head open with a chair and choked him out with a cable consists of a hiptoss and a fistdrop. JBL is doing great heel work here, mocking Cena with kicks to the head, and trash-talking him on the mic. They fight up the ramp, and JBL ends up busted open after being put through a TV monitor. This is a little bit too stunt-y for my tastes, but the violence and hatred is definitely at a level beyond what you normally see in this company. I thought the finish again was a letdown. Cena pulls some huge metal pipe off the truck he rode in on, and JBL quits rather than be hit with it. I felt the match deserved a more decisive finish, and it seems like Layfield still had too much of his wits about him to give up. Cena, like a true dick, put JBL through the set with the pipe anyway. This was a really good main event.

 

MOTN: It's tight between Rey/Eddie and Cena/JBL. I think Rey/Eddie just edges it for me. Rey's babyface performance was a bit more rounded than Cena's (though both were very good), and I think it built up a little better to its finish. Both matches are 3.75 stars.

 

Show rating: This is the show I've been waiting for. Heidenreich/OJ isn't too good, nor Booker/Angle, but everything else is very watchable indeed, and you get a great one-two punch to close the show. I'm feeling this is the start of a great run of Smackdown shows. Let's do this! 4 stars.

[cwoy2j]

 

Edge Vs Chris Benoit: Last Man Standing match. Edge's heel act is pretty on point by this stage (just missing Lita). Nice to see a midcard feud get a big blow-off match like this. Good work between the two, but the match is hampered by a woeful performance by Earl Hebner as the ref, whose counts are painfully inconsistent (usually counting way slower when Benoit is down), and he also can't seem to decide whether you need to be on your feet or on your knees to stop the count (again, primarily favouring Benoit in this regard). King doesn't help matters by constantly pointing this out and driving home how biased Hebner is being, which JR can't really argue because it's self-evidently the case. Very strange. Edge wins after hitting Benoit in the back of the head with a brick. The news about Edge and Lita had obviously broke, because there were a smattering of 'we want Matt' chants. After the match we cut to Lita watching in the back, with a satisfied look on her face, which was a clear foreshadowing of her heel turn.

 

I rewatched this show the other day and I never noticed Hebner before but you hit the nail on the head. He was fucking terrible. I thought the match was pretty awesome but Hebner's inconsistency was really distracting after you pointed it out.

[cwoy2j]

 

The crowd popped for the F5, and Carlito sold the moment perfectly. I wonder why Morgan didn't stick around, as based on this they had some big plans for him. I seem to remember him F5ing Show through a table on Smackdown too.

 

Holly insinuated that Morgan had a bad attitude. He said something like "Morgan got a big head and thought he was the best big man ever, better than Taker, Vader, Andre, etc." Plus he kept getting injured IIRC.

[cwoy2j]

 

Orlando Jordan Vs Heidenreich: Jordan is still US champ, and they're seemingly trying to make something of him. Heidenreich is a babyface now, and surprisingly over. He's doing the shtick where he gets a kid out of the crowd to be his friend. This time it's a little girl called Alex who has to be a plant. Way too excited and sure of herself. She reminds me of Fiona Apple. I actually think it's the Bayley fan, and they somehow stunted her growth. Boring match won by OJ. Afterwards Alex gets in the ring and encourages Heidenreich to do his little march thing, which is kind of adorable actually.

 

Heidenreich is another guy that Holly said had attitude problems. Holly said that he was constantly late to shows and whenever any agents called him on it, he would threaten to beat up everyone up to and including Vince. Surprised he lasted as long as he did if that's true.

[cwoy2j]

Loved the JBL/Cena I Quit match but hated the finish. It felt too cute for a match with that level of violence.

[Brian Fowler]

Cena/JBL was a great "wow I did not expect this to be so good" shocker of a match.

[kafkonia]

Loved the JBL/Cena I Quit match but hated the finish. It felt too cute for a match with that level of violence.

Agreed. Especially after JBL had been making a point of how important the title was to him in the build. I understand he's a heel and so talking a good game but not being able to back it up is expected, but it is a terrible, terrible ending.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

 

 

Orlando Jordan Vs Heidenreich: Jordan is still US champ, and they're seemingly trying to make something of him. Heidenreich is a babyface now, and surprisingly over. He's doing the shtick where he gets a kid out of the crowd to be his friend. This time it's a little girl called Alex who has to be a plant. Way too excited and sure of herself. She reminds me of Fiona Apple. I actually think it's the Bayley fan, and they somehow stunted her growth. Boring match won by OJ. Afterwards Alex gets in the ring and encourages Heidenreich to do his little march thing, which is kind of adorable actually.

 

Heidenreich is another guy that Holly said had attitude problems. Holly said that he was constantly late to shows and whenever any agents called him on it, he would threaten to beat up everyone up to and including Vince. Surprised he lasted as long as he did if that's true.

 

That's hilarious.

 

I nearly bought Holly's book the other day, and likely will at some point (but please keep the tidbits coming). It makes me laugh how he seemingly mentions/has an opinion on everyone. I imagine the book is just a list of former WWE employees, with Holly's quick thoughts on them.

[DreamBroken]

On the mention of the ones for Rey/Eddie and Cena/JBL.. I feel like WWE's been lacking a lot in really good video packages in recent years. With some few exceptions, mostly for big WM matches. The mid 2000s had some great ones that definitely added a big time feel.

[cwoy2j]

 

 

 

Orlando Jordan Vs Heidenreich: Jordan is still US champ, and they're seemingly trying to make something of him. Heidenreich is a babyface now, and surprisingly over. He's doing the shtick where he gets a kid out of the crowd to be his friend. This time it's a little girl called Alex who has to be a plant. Way too excited and sure of herself. She reminds me of Fiona Apple. I actually think it's the Bayley fan, and they somehow stunted her growth. Boring match won by OJ. Afterwards Alex gets in the ring and encourages Heidenreich to do his little march thing, which is kind of adorable actually.

 

Heidenreich is another guy that Holly said had attitude problems. Holly said that he was constantly late to shows and whenever any agents called him on it, he would threaten to beat up everyone up to and including Vince. Surprised he lasted as long as he did if that's true.

 

That's hilarious.

 

I nearly bought Holly's book the other day, and likely will at some point (but please keep the tidbits coming). It makes me laugh how he seemingly mentions/has an opinion on everyone. I imagine the book is just a list of former WWE employees, with Holly's quick thoughts on them.

 

 

Yeah I highly recommend his book. He was there for a really long time and came into contact with tons of guys from different eras. And he has an opinion on all of them. There actually is a portion of his book where he lists off all the guys he put over at some point who ended up leaving and he gives his opinion of them. That's where the Heidenreich thing comes from. He was a little bitter at having to lay down for those guys who ended up not doing jackshit while he always showed up and never let the company down. He felt the same about guy like Val Venis and Rhyno, that they were talented guys who should've been utilized as more than just job guys to get over some writer's pet project of the month.

[cwoy2j]

 

Loved the JBL/Cena I Quit match but hated the finish. It felt too cute for a match with that level of violence.

Agreed. Especially after JBL had been making a point of how important the title was to him in the build. I understand he's a heel and so talking a good game but not being able to back it up is expected, but it is a terrible, terrible ending.

 

 

I don't know if Cena had a submission at that point but it would've come off better if he'd have had JBL in some kind of hold and JBL taps out super quickly to avoid having something broken. Like a fujiwara (I know I spelled that wrong) armbar or something else that looked super painful where if you don't tap quick, you're apt to get something broken badly.

[SirSmUgly]

Way later than you guys, but I finally made it up to Cold Day in Hell the other day and thought two things:

 

First, that Shamrock/Vader match was fucking awesome. I like UWF-i style works-that-look-like-shoots, especially when the workers beat the shit out of each other anyway. Vader finally getting Shamrock to ease up on the striking by hitting him with a clothesline so hard that the arena went "OHHHHHHHH" when they heard the impact was number one and the best. 

 

Second, the Austin/Undertaker match was the best match that they ever had together. Not that it was great, but it was solid. I thought that it was certainly better than any other match that I can remember them having.

[cwoy2j]

Way later than you guys, but I finally made it up to Cold Day in Hell the other day and thought two things:

 

First, that Shamrock/Vader match was fucking awesome. I like UWF-i style works-that-look-like-shoots, especially when the workers beat the shit out of each other anyway. Vader finally getting Shamrock to ease up on the striking by hitting him with a clothesline so hard that the arena went "OHHHHHHHH" when they heard the impact was number one and the best. 

 

Second, the Austin/Undertaker match was the best match that they ever had together. Not that it was great, but it was solid. I thought that it was certainly better than any other match that I can remember them having.

 

I was there. Fun ppv. The anklelock wasn't established as a finisher at that point so the finish to the Vader/Shamrock match came off oddly for those in the arena (at least in my section). I think we were all waiting for some kind of big knock-out or something.

 

Also, there was a post-ppv match. Owen and Bulldog got DQ'ed against the LOD. I think Neidhart and Pillman ran in for the DQ.

[Captain Kronos]

Finally made it all the way through the thread. Great stuff. 

 

Last night, I watched two matches from OVER THE EDGE '98 while reading through the reviews.

 

Bradshaw/TAKA vs Kaientai - this was awesome. I love how the Kaientai guys just scatter anytime B gets tagged into the match. When he's not in the match, they all get to work a simplified MPro match, and it's super fun.  Later they swarm Bradshaw and stun him for a moment, which leads to their showboating a little bit. Until he wakes up and stands up like the Hulk or something, flinging tiny Japanese bodies everywhere. The highlight for me is TAKA getting fastball-specialed over the top rope to the floor. 

 

Austin vs Dude Love - great main even brawl. What shocks me the most is how many nasty-looking bumps Austin takes on the concrete. Foley's crazy, so I can understand his taking those bumps. But Austin's not the healthiest body, and it seems unwise. 

[Cristobal]

Austin's also hyper-competitive, though. He may not be Foley-level nuts, but he'll damn sure not want to be shown up by him.

[Captain Kronos]

Austin's also hyper-competitive, though. He may not be Foley-level nuts, but he'll damn sure not want to be shown up by him.

 

 

I guess so. They put on a helluva match, and even the outsiders were used well. (not always the case in Attitude Era, as we well know)

 

It just stood out for me. A year later, or whenever the piledriver injury happened, I suspect he started changing his tune. I haven't made a focused study, but I suspect post 2000 Austin took a lot fewer risks. 

[The Nature Boy]

 

Austin's also hyper-competitive, though. He may not be Foley-level nuts, but he'll damn sure not want to be shown up by him.

 

 

I guess so. They put on a helluva match, and even the outsiders were used well. (not always the case in Attitude Era, as we well know)

 

It just stood out for me. A year later, or whenever the piledriver injury happened, I suspect he started changing his tune. I haven't made a focused study, but I suspect post 2000 Austin took a lot fewer risks. 

 

 

The piledriver injury was SummerSlam 97. That's largely why Austin switched to the punch-kick offense of the Attitude Era. 

 

2001 Austin took 10 German suplexes from Chris Benoit, the risk involved there far exceeds anything he did before 2000.

[Captain Kronos]

I was thinking the neck injury was 1999. D'oh!

 

Also, fuck Benoit. Just one more reason to hate the dude. 

[Ramo2653]

Austin addressed the suplexes (at least from Angle) on his podcast from Tuesday. He said they weren't that bad to take.