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WWE Friday Night SmackDown - 13/01/2006
WWE United States Title Best Of Seven Series Match #7 (vacant): Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton (w/Booker T & Sharmell)
Unbelievable contest. The limb work and mat wrestling was tremendous. Didn't know Orton had this in him. They put on a clinic. The wrestling was very violent, nasty and stiff. They struggled for everything, every hold, every move, every strike. They battled with each other and it was excellent. The selling was tremendous, too. Benoit was amazing but Orton was the fucking man here. ****1/2
World Heavyweight Title 20 Man Battle Royal
Battle Royals are all the same usually so it's up to how good the main story of the match is, and it was executed really well for me. Angle is a shock replacement but a logical one with Raw going into a different direction and Smackdown losing Batista. Plus it opens the door for a face turn that the fans were begging for. Angle eliminates JBL immediately to solidify that and is a machine, throwing every jobber out before Mark Henry takes him out and slams him through a table. The match didn't pick up again until Lashley and Henry had a short but awesome showdown, ending with Henry throwing Lashley out. It looks like it comes down to Rey and Henry with Mark Henry throwing Rey out as well. The crowd thinks he won it but Angle wasn't eliminated so the match continues. This is where Angle’s flaws come out as he immediately lifts Mark Henry up for an Angle Slam. Fuck sake, mate. I did love his head scissors to eliminate Mark Henry though. And although he fell himself, he recovered by only putting one foot down making him the new champion. ***
ROH Hell Freezes Over - 14/01/2006
AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal
AJ is brutal early on in the match. He makes good use of his size advantage, working aggressively, laying in a biscious back elbow to Sydal. The match didn’t stick with AJ dominating for too long though, as Sydal gets some offence in, locking in a nice version of the half crab and then countering a springboard elbow with a dropkick in mid-air. Sydal kept working the back as a theme which gave the match some focus. Sydal is also able to hit a diving moonsault into the crowd, drawing a surprisingly tame “holy shit” chant. AJ gets back on offence for the end and hits a lovely back breaker after a series of counters. Sydal hit a good hurricanrana for a close 2 count that got the fans chanting “ROH”. The finish is sweet; AJ sets up the Styles Clash on the second rope, Sydal counters with a hurricanrana and AJ counters that. Think Susumu Yokosuka counters Dragon Kid’s Dragonrana. Good match with a neat minor story around AJ’s back and some cool counters. ***
ROH World Title Match: Bryan Danielson (c) vs. Chris Hero
This is a part of the CZW vs ROH feud that was taking place at the time. Big match between Hero and Danielson. Hero is accompanied by CZW Wrestlers: Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, Bryce Remsburg and Adam Flash. Hero spends the opening few minutes of the match taunting and antagonising the ROH crowd, who are throwing obscenities at him in response and booing him. Bryan eggs on the ROH crowd, standing on the turnbuckle to get cheers and Hero does the same, to boos. They work a match, throwing aggressive slaps, not afraid to devolve into slapping each other and throwing harder than needed strikes to spice up the feud. Danielson still persists with his submission style but Hero is hardly a bum in that regard so he had some tricks. Danielson had an Indian deathlock applied so Hero bent his outstretched wrist, trying to get the hold released. Little things like that. Hero is able to hurt the arm and works on it really well, getting a lot of the Hangman Clutch submissions to tease a title change. Danielson doesn’t sell it well though, opting to brush it off like it wasn’t a part of the match. Danielson and Hero exchange shots for the finish but it leads to an anti-climactic win for Danielson via the Chickenwing. Lame. Good title match ultimately but Hero’s performance was much better than Danielson’s. ***
CZW An Afternoon Of Main Events 2006 - 14/01/2006
The Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) & Super Dragon vs. BLKOUT (Eddie Kingston, Ruckus & Sabian)
This was preceded by a massive angle between CZW and ROH wrestlers. Bryan Danielson taunted the crowd and Hero wasn’t having any of that. This led into the match where the action was fast, heavy and chaotic. It’s hard to really do a play by play here but there was a lot of hate between Hero and Kingston, and a ton of reckless dives to hurt each other. Super Dragon would just do things and not care to make them safer. Ruckus also spent the whole match doing shooting star presses into cravates. BLKOUT eventually wins via a footstomp to Claudio from Sabian. ***
TNA Final Resolution 2006 - 15/01/2006
TNA X-Division Title Match: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Christopher Daniels
It was a bold decision to have Samoa Joe work the X-Division but it was a great way to present him before moving him on to the main event scene. He dominated the match, toying with Daniels, causing him to bleed. The match's value was seeing Joe beat up Daniels rather than hoping for Daniels to make a comeback, although Daniels' selling was decent enough. Of course, AJ Styles is linked with Daniels and Joe so he came out for the finish to throw in the towel after Joe refused to pin Daniels after two muscle busters. Not nearly as good as Joe vs Aj was but it was a good solid semi main event. ***1/2
Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown vs. Christian Cage & Sting
Sting’s debut (more like a proper debut as who really counts the short stint in 2004?) in TNA is a mighty fun one. I get why the X-Division match is the sexier option for MOTN by everyone due to how cutting edge it was at the time but in terms of fun wrestling and crowd reaction this was a hit. It continues on building towards Christian Cage winning the NWA World Title as well as showcasing Sting, who worked simply but effectively, doing his classic spots, using the bat and kicking ass. Monty Brown didn’t get too much shine in the match but all I hear about the guy is how much potential he had. I didn’t see much to agree or disagree with it. Jarrett did a hell of a job of bumping and selling for the faces though. One thing that he doesn’t get much credit for. ***1/2
WWE RAW - 16/01/2006
Non Title Match: Kurt Angle (w/Daivari) vs. Shawn Michaels
This is awkwardly set-up by Vince who makes the match after Angle and Edge have a brief brawl. The connection? I don’t know. Anyway, Vince adds the stipulation that Shawn Michaels will be fired if he fails to win. Gee. I wonder what the result will be. The match was bad. And I truly mean that. Angle’s had a really good start of the year but the good will from the Cena match a few weeks ago is lost with this. He utterly bastardised the Angle Slam, doing one on the outside, that amounted to nothing but a commercial break. Then later he does a super angle slam and it doesn’t mean a damn thing. The crowd hardly reacts to Shawn Michaels kicking out of it. I wonder why? The rest of the match is Angle working for the Ankle Lock and Shawn Michaels crying in the ring. It’s not the most compelling wrestling that either man has done. The finish is lame but predictable. Now Angle is a babyface so he has to ditch the heel manager, who accidentally cost him this match, thus saving Shawn Michaels’ job. The names trick you into thinking this may be good but it’s not. It’s brain dead wrestling. Shawn is usually much smarter than this. *
WWE Heavyweight Title Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match: Edge (w/Lita) (c) vs. Ric Flair
Old Man Flair is a riot. He’s not peak Flair but he’s still a watchable, entertaining presence. Put that Flair in North Carolina and you get a quality main event. Edge knows how to work with Flair and monger heel heat with his mannerisms and sleazy nature. He’s in good form as Champion so this just works as a match. The result is obvious but there are some moments where you have hope. And that’s all you need. ***1/4
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