TNA’s pay-per-view Turning Point is in the books, and this coming Sunday we have the WWE’s Armageddon. We also had another fun Raw. There is lots to talk about this week, so let’s get started. TNA teased that they were going to show footage they shot a while back of a few of their talent going next door to welcome the WWE, who were doing some filming in Florida in the same studio. They did have several spoofs with a ‘fake’ Vince McMahon and Triple H. I thought it would end there. If you remember, McMahon had said that he would sue TNA if they did indeed show that footage. Well, I’m not sure if they were brave or stupid, but show the footage they did. Vince says that he will sue, and he almost has to at this point, or risk losing face by backing down on a statement he earlier made. I don’t think he would ever let that happen. It may be felt that BG “Road Dogg” James was a bit out of line, but not by me. I just thought he was funny, as I always have, and I think McMahon merely likes to throw his power and money around. (Ya think?!) Anyway, obviously it didn’t bother me, so let me get to the rest of the show, which I thought was super.
TNA gave us eight matches last Sunday night, all of which I thought were pretty damned legitimate. I don’t want to go match by match here, but I must again brag on their talent. From Kazarian to Sonjay Dutt, Sonny Siaki to Bobby Roode, everyone did such a super job. The Serengeti Survival Match between Abyss and ‘The Alpha Male’ Monty Brown was much better than I had expected. Brown was declared the winner when he powerbombed Abyss onto a bed of tacks that each man had brought to the ring in bags and poured onto the mat. Under the stipulations of the match, that decided the winner of this hard-fought battle. A good job here by both these men.
Petey Williams remained the X-Division Champion after he defeated Chris Sabin. I have been a big fan of Sabin for while now, and it was fun to watch these two do their dance. They worked well together and this was a well-executed match that deserves praise.
Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett faced off against AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy and Randy Savage, although due to being ‘kidnapped’ Savage did not make an appearance until the last couple of minutes of the match. First let me say that Hall looked healthy, and that’s great. Also, Nash looked absolutely super! I really liked this match and thought that all parties did a really good job. Savage made it to the ring in time to make a big assist for the win. At this point I was already glad that I had anted up for this event, but I hadn’t seen anything yet.
The main event was a Six Sides of Steel Match with a lot at stake, as the losing team had to disband. “Primetime” Elix Skipper and Christopher Daniels went toe to toe with America’s Most Wanted Chris Harris and James Storm. This was an unbelievable match with some extraordinary moves, as all four men went to the mountain top over and over again. In my mind this has Match of the Year written all over it. Match of the decade? Perhaps. Bloodied and beaten, this quartette of athletes got an ovation both from the fans and their peers, and rightfully so. In the end AMW walked off together as we were left to wonder what will be done with Skipper and Daniels now, but in reality there were no losers here. I’m so glad I taped this PPV, as this is one match that I will want to watch again and again. It defies description. Great job, guys!
This past Monday Raw was Jericho, and everyone got laid! Well, OK, so it was those little Hawaiian decorations, but it got everyone’s attention. I thought this was a great way to finish off the four weeks with different GM’s, and as usual Y2J was his entertaining self. McMahon was his guest on the Highlight Reel, and Triple H interrupted, certain that Vince would give him back his World Championship that he lost last week. HHH got to go into his spit and fume mode, as McMahon refused to do that, stating that as of now the championship has been vacated. Classic Trips here, as he looked like a drop-out from an anger-management class.
Jericho promised a party all night, and delivered. It was a fun two hours. Fozzy played intermittently during the evening and the Divas had a Limbo contest, which I think Christy won. I thought maybe they made a mistake and really meant Bimbo contest, but I guess not. We finally got to see Simon Dean wrestle instead of mouth off, as he was victorious over Hurricane. Randy Orton and Edge had a verbal battle that crossed over into the physical – gee, what a surprise! They will face each other next week.
And speaking of crossing over, Christian had to come out as Captain Charisma in a ridiculous outfit that he should get paid extra to wear! He faced Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Title, and this actually was a good match, if you could keep from laughing at poor Christian. He had a mask with little antennas on it, and yellow gloves that looked just like those one wears when they are doing some bathroom or kitchen cleaning. And he lost to boot, which really added insult to injury!
Y2J put himself in a match with Chris Benoit against Batista and Triple H. The former team won by a disqualification, but not without cost. After the match, HHH went nuts with the chair he used earlier, smacking everyone in sight, even accidentally getting his own partner. Apparently, both Benoit and the referee were knocked silly, with Chris requiring stitches and the ref having to be carried out.
The final match of the night was for the Women’s Title between Champion Trish Stratus and Lita. While I’m don’t often see a reason for two women together, it really worked this time. After once again referring to Lita as the Kiss of Death, Trish asked her whose career she was going to end tonight, to which Lita replied, “Yours”, and promptly kissed Trish before pushing her to the floor. I thought this really made a statement, and was not too surprised a bit later to see a new Women’s Champion crowned. I’m sure there will be re-matches until we’re bored with it, but I did think this played out just right.
SmackDown!’s Armageddon will be this Sunday, and I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’m going to order it. The card looks to be just so-so, but Undertaker will be there, and that is a big draw for me. Regardless, here are my predictions of the pay-per-view.
Out of seven matches, four are for titles. Those that do not have belts on the line don’t sound very good to me. Dawn Marie will face Miss Jackie, and I sure don’t think this will be any good. The only thing interesting here will be the fact that Jackie’s fiancé Charlie Haas will be the special guest referee, and with Dawn saying she has been having an affair with him, sparks could (and probably will) fly. As for the match itself, no interest. I bet that Haas will have to make the three count on Jackie, and that might be the only high spot here.
There will be a Dixie Dogfight, a boxing match between Mike Mizanin and Dan Puder, and while this could be somewhat interesting, I’m not wild about this one either. As to who the winner will be, I’ll have to go with Puder. Aside from being a really strong kid, I think he has the most intensity. The Big Show has to have a Handicap Match against Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak. I know that Show is a huge man, but I don’t see him winning this one. I’ll have to give the nod to Angle, Jindrak and Reigns.
This past Thursday Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam won the Tag Team Titles from Rene Dupree and Kenzo Suzuki, and on Armageddon the four of them meet again. Will Dupree and Suzuki grab the titles back? At first I didn’t think so, but the more I thought about it, I think they will. Mysterio and RVD will be given just a couple of days with the belts, only to have to give them back.
Much to my surprise, Funaki survived a Cruiserweight Battle Royal on SD to earn the right to face the champ Spike Dudley on Sunday. I really don’t know who will win this. Spike could continue to show his dominance, but will the brothers be there to watch his back? This one should be a good match and I do like to watch the Cruiserweights. Funaki’s win seemed like it came out of the blue to me though, so I’ll take the smallest Dudley to continue to carry the glory.
The United States Championship will be decided in a Streetfight between John Cena and Jesus. I have no idea what to expect here. I really like Cena, and Jesus hasn’t had much time to develop any type of persona other than to be Carlito Cool’s goon. But I think that John has to go back to the movie biz, so he might just lose this one. When he comes back and Carlito is healthy the real feud will start again. I’ll pick Jesus.
Finally, the Fatal Four-Way for the WWE Championship between the champ John Bradshaw Layfield, Booker T, Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker. I know that I get to reading too much into things. JBL has told ‘Taker that UT will never have his belt, which would tell me that The Dead Man might just win. Then again, all the talk (mainly from JBL himself) has been about how unfair the four-way match-up for the current champion. So, does that mean that he will win out over his three rivals? Believe it or not, I think that Guerrero will get the belt back. For some reason, fans don’t seem to want Booker as a Champion – I don’t know why. As for ‘Taker, I’m looking ahead here. Wrestlemania is three months away, and he has never lost at WM. I would hate for him to go into it as the WWE Champion, and be stripped of the title there. That is my personal reason, and it makes no sense to anyone else, I know. Be that as it may, I do think that Eddie is ready to wear the belt once again.
Sorry this is a few days late. My computer froze up and wouldn’t let me get online until today. Ah, modern technology! If you order Armageddon, enjoy.
Be safe and God Bless,
Barb.
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