DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu #135 - Vengeance Review, Quality 2005 Matches + More Positives
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 4:40 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #135

Welcome one and all to the 135th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

At the end of last week's column I had no idea what I would be writing about this week. I have tossed up a few ideas over a range of topics, but after last week's change of pace (or should that be change of mood), I have decided to go totally positive today. It's been a roller-coaster ride over the past few months & while I still have a couple of negatives to get off my chest, I'm going to leave them for the coming weeks.

No mucking around today. On with the show.....


APPETIZERS - Odds & Ends

First to the sporting world.....

- I would like to congratulate my NBA team; the San Antonio Spurs, on becoming NBA champions. Last week, they emerged victorious 4-3 in the NBA Finals & it was indeed gripping to watch. Everybody please notice that I called them "NBA champs" & not "world champs". I suppose the champions of Argentina are now the world champs. Sorry, couldn't resist that one. But seriously, if anyone deserved to be called world champs, it would indeed be these Spurs. With key names such as Ginobili, Parker, Udrih & Nesterovic as non-American players, they have well & truly proven that basketball is a world game. And I won't even get drawn into whether Tim Duncan is an American!!! Congratulations also go to the Detroit Pistons, who with the Spurs, proved once more that team-oriented defensive basketball is the way the game is most successfully played. It was indeed a pleasure to watch this series unfold.


Now to the wrestling.....

- I am always one to believe that column-writers should take responsibility for what we write in the past. If we choose to ignore when we are wrong & only highlight when we are right, then we are only fooling ourselves & do not improve as column-writers. With that in mind, and for a bit of fun, I think these comments that I have made thus far this year, are all relevant when reading through this particular column:

(1) From last week's #134: With the WWE taking the draft lottery the way they have, I have no idea what the hell they have planned for this event (Vengeance), or the upcoming few weeks for that matter. One thing that I do have faith in the WWE doing though, is putting together an above-average ppv. Hopefully, they remember that on this occasion & don't see it as a simply a means to an end.

(2) From edition #114 in January: To me, a WrestleMania main event (and I believe that the World HeavyWeight Title match should be the main event this year) almost practically has to last at least 20 minutes. I'd almost say 25+ minutes, but that might be exaggerating a little. Does anyone seriously think that Batista can keep us entertained for that long on the biggest stage of them all? Well, he probably could, if there were 3 minutes of staring, 4 minutes of time-wasting, 5 minutes of outside interference, etc, etc, etc...

(3) From edition #115 the following week: Presuming that Triple H still has his World HeavyWeight Title going into WrestleMania 21, whenever he does lose it, he will NOT win it again for the remainder of 2005.

(4) And finally, from 2 weeks ago in edition #133 regarding the 'ECW: One Night Stand' PPV: I'm calling it now; This is the ppv of 2005.


And with regards to last week's rather moody column.....

- I would really like to thank everyone who not only had a read of last week's column (practically 8,000 of you), but all those who e-mailed me their feedback to it. I received tremendous support for some of my wacky thoughts from last week, and many of you felt the change of pace was actually refreshing. Obviously, I couldn't do that each week & the positive column this week is practically the counter-balance to it.

Many people continued to ask me who I thought would be switching shows this week & I continued to pretty much answer that I have no idea. And just as many realized that it was not my usual conservative self making the ppv predictions that I did & asked for my real predictions. Well, at the time of writing my column, they were indeed my predictions. I still got 3 out of 6 correct, so that's a pass. If I was to be truthful, the conservative DaveyBoy would indeed have chosen Carlito to retain, and probably Cena to retain his title as well. But I still would have predicted an Edge win. Oh well, I guess Kane is well & truly baaaaaccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!


MAIN - Vengeance Review

For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key that explains what the final PPV Rating means:

<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F] (Armageddon '04)
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: No Way Out '05)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Royal Rumble '04 & No Way Out '04)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: Judgment Day '05)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: WrestleMania 21)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: Royal Rumble '05)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: ECW: One Night Stand)
80+ : Make sure that the video or dvd is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

CARLITO defeated SHELTON BENJAMIN to Retain the InterContinental Title: Plodding opener which had fits & bursts of quality wrestling, but they were too few & far between for my liking. I don't know if it was supposed to be the storyline of the bout, but both men looked tired. Personally, I think it's just Carlito's pacing in his matches, but who knows. Not terrible by any means, but probably Shelton's weakest ppv effort this year. I must say that a lack of any real feud did not help the intensity of this bout, that's for sure. 13 minutes actually may have been a couple of minutes too long for these 2. Match Rating...6.5

VICTORIA defeated CHRISTY HEMME: Quite good for what it was supposed to be; A short (5 minutes), intense & feud-based match. Well-booked from start to finish & predominantly well-performed for the type of match it was. The rope-holding win for Victoria didn't bother me a great deal, as long as she won. Match Rating...6

KANE defeated EDGE: The pleasant surprise of the night which will eventually be overlooked because of what was still to come. I wasn't expecting much here, as the 2 men have struggled to mesh well in the past (EG: Backlash '04). But this match clicked really well. There was an absence of anything truly superb, but it made up for that by including a great mix of intensity, surprising pace & very good crispness of moves. Edge had his moments & did nothing wrong, but it was Kane who was very impressive here. This was his best performance since his ppv bout against Benoit last year, and he very much reminded us how good of a big man wrestler he can be. Like I said, the pace in this 12 minute match was great, while the ending (involving run-ins by Lita & Snitsky) was a little overbooked, but did not detract too much from the overall quality of the bout. Match Rating...7.5

SHAWN MICHAELS defeated KURT ANGLE: Absolutely sensational 26 minute match! Every bit as good as their WrestleMania 21 bout & then some. I'm not usually a fan of sequels (I am one of the few that still think the original Star Wars is the best of the 6 in the series), but in my opinion, this was a bit better than their April match. I had a few problems with the opening 10 minutes of the WM21 bout & thought that these 2 greats adjusted perfectly here. A superb story was told & I think the match quality improved with Angle spending most of the time on offense. Kurt was purely & simply at his best right here, as every single move was so crisp & so intense... Even the most simples of moves. Take for example the early match keylock & kneedrop to the arm.

Conversely, HBK was at his best when it came to selling & psychology in this bout. He conveyed not being able to match Angle on the mat exceptionally well. It's true that Michaels' offense isn't what it used to be (especially the overuse of chops), but that was actually used to this bout's advantage. The latter half of this bout was pretty much similar to the WM21 match. For perfection sake, this probably could have had one or two more high spots, but that may have gone against the story a little. The ending possibly came a little too quickly after HBK being in the ankle-lock for so long, but now I'm starting to nitpick as to why I am not going to rate this a perfect 10. Overall, this was simply sensational & contained all the elements a classic wrestling match should. My match of the year thus far. Match Rating...9.5

VISCERA, LILLIAN GARCIA & GODFATHER SEGMENT: Nice choice of filler considering the storyline & the fact that Godfather now lives in Vegas. It also fast-forwards an angle that was heading nowhere anyway. BUT the main problem here was the time taken up. 14 minutes was way too much time given to this segment & not all that much happened in that time period. Hard to rate, but served it's purpose I suppose. Segment Rating...5

JOHN CENA defeated CHRIS JERICHO & CHRISTIAN in a 'Triple Threat' Match to Retain the WWE Championship: I don't want to go off on a tangent, but this is exactly the type of match which can be indirectly attributed to learning things from the ECW ppv. This was 15 minutes of genuinely fast-paced wrestling which was entertaining from start to finish. Furthermore, it was filled with clever, fun, well-booked & well-performed spots. Tremendous match which rivalled Jericho's & Christian's bouts from last year & then added something fresh in Cena to the mix. And this may well have been Cena's best ever WWE performance thus far! While having the usual inherent problems of a triple-threat match (way too much 1 on 1 action especially), I think the type of match suited each man... Especially Cena, whose limited moveset was made to look a lot better by the pace & his opponents, while perfectly fitting in with the entertainment aspect of the bout. Christian looked ok without setting the world on fire, while Y2J is now officially back to his best. Very good match. Match Rating...8.5

BATISTA defeated TRIPLE H in a 'Hell In A Cell' Match to Retain the World HeavyWeight Title: Crowd-pleasing, entertaining & satisfying main event which very much delivered. Maybe the WWE learnt more than I think from ECW, as a steel chair covered in barbed-wire played a major part in this match. 27 minutes in length, this had all the usual HIAC spots (not on top of the cell), but added a little more to it. Credit has to be given to both men here. Batista well & truly blew my 20 minute theory out of the water (although I think the extra 3 months have helped), while Triple H really stepped up to the plate. The 10 time champ bladed & took hits beyond the call of duty, while also guiding his inexperienced opponent through a very well booked match. The nearfalls toward the end were tremendously booked & I admit to being fooled twice. And to top it all off, there was a clever touch at the end where Triple H picked up the sledgehammer as he was about to be powerbombed, but didn't get to use it. Quality main event match. Match Rating...9

PPV RATING (52/70) = 74

Looking at the key, I have basically given 'Vengeance' a 'B+' grade & said that it was 'very good'. Phew!!! Well, I guess that my early call 2 weeks ago that 'ECW:One Night Stand' would be the best ppv of the year will stand, but to say it's a close call is an understatement. In fact, this rating may indeed be a little harsh on this event, as if you take away the Viscera segment, it would have been my highest rated ppv ever!!! But if's & but's exist & the bottom line was that segment lasted longer than some matches. Seriously folks, this was a great event. I cannot state that enough. Considering it received very little build-up, that makes it even better.

Three main events (of sorts) which all delivered reminds me of the good old days of the WWE. It's a shame that the most in-form wrestler of the year (Shelton Benjamin) couldn't quite get the job done this time around. But thankfully, there were many who stepped up to take his place. A great mix of everything, this ppv had it all. Very much recommended & a sweet reminder of what the WWE can do at their best. Kudos to all involved.


DESSERT - Quality 2005 Matches

After a positive pay-per-view review, I am going to take my positiveness one step further & remind people of the quality matches we have had thus far this year. I actually think that a lot of people have forgotten this fact, especially at this time where the draft lottery has taken centre stage. I could take it a step further & also state that the quality of pay-per-views have been above average this year, but I’m unsure it’s as much as the matches themselves, so I will stick to simply matches here.

I am even going to go so far as to suggest that this 6 month period has seen the best quality matches of any 6 month period since 2001. I really do believe that we have been that spoilt this year. Yet, this all seems to have been lost amongst the few negatives that have also been part of the WWE this year. And there is no hiding from the negatives (EG: some bad storylines, some bad pushes & even a real-life atrocity), but that doesn’t mean that we should ignore the positives.

If anything, the one thing that has been missing from the first 6 months of this year is a 10 out of 10 match. A few people have marked 1 or 2 bouts as a perfect 10, but I have not. And while I have added the 0.5 to my ratings system only to give you readers a greater detailed review, I’m unsure I would have gone the perfect 10 for the HBK vs Angle 'Vengeance' bout which, as stated above, is my current match of the year.

But where in previous years, there may have been one 10 out of 10 bout & about five 9 out of 10 bouts (although I only ranked 3 matches a 9 in 2004 & none a perfect 10 rating), the first 6 months of this year has seen a plethora of matches receive a 9 rating from myself. And they’re only the ones from pay-per-view. I will get to television matches a little further down.

Starting from the first ppv of the year, these are the bouts which I have rated at least a 9 out of 10:

- Triple H vs Randy Orton, Batista, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit & Edge in the Elimination Chamber Match from 'New Years Revolution'.

- Edge vs Chris Benoit, Christian, Chris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin & Kane in the Ladder Match from 'WrestleMania 21'.

- Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels from 'WrestleMania 21'.

- Shelton Benjamin vs Chris Jericho from 'Backlash'.

- Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero from 'Judgment Day'.

- Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka from 'ECW:One Night Stand'.

- Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle from 'Vengeance'.

- Batista vs Triple H from 'Vengeance'.

That’s quite an impressive list of 8 for a 6 month period. And when you consider that the above list does not include very good matches such as 3 separate bouts rating an 8 at the 'Royal Rumble' ppv, John Cena vs Kurt Angle from 'No Way Out', The Undertaker vs Randy Orton from ‘WrestleMania 21', Lance Storm vs Chris Jericho from 'One Night Stand' & the ‘Vengeance’ Triple Threat match between John Cena, Chris Jericho & Christian, and it’s quite evident how much we have been spoilt this year.

But wait….. There’s more. My original thought for this column topic was actually the improvement of the quality of television matches this year. Not so much television matches as a whole, but just the top tier of bouts. I don’t think I have ever considered a television match for match of the year status since I have been writing this column. But as of a week ago, it was arguable that my top 2 bouts of this year were actually tv bouts. I really mean that.

One need look no further than the Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero match from last week’s SmackDown episode. I really thought it was that good, especially when you take into account 2 commercial breaks interrupted the match (probably the thing that most counts against it). The bout furthered what was already a good feud, had a nice clean ending & included some exceptional storytelling. Many felt that Rey was not intense enough at the beginning of the bout (especially due to his earlier promo). I disagree with that & loved the psychology of the face wanting to pulverize his hated opponent, but not doing so simply due to inherent nature. But when Eddie started to not break cleanly & cheat at every opportunity, then the emotions of the earlier promo came out in Rey. Top class work in my opinion, and the type of performance which should endear Rey to WWE management. Maybe he can main event after all.

Yet, as much as I really liked that match, I believe we have seen 2 even better bouts this year on free television. Everyone knows one of them; Shawn Michaels vs Shelton Benjamin from Raw a couple of months back. This was a truly sensational bout which had it all. An impromptu match between 2 faces, expectations were not too high. But what we ended up seeing blew us all away. If I didn’t know better, I would swear that bout was rehearsed over many months & was the culmination of a terrific feud.

While the above Raw bout is actually many people’s match of the year still, I feel that we have seen 1 better this year. I may well be alone in my thoughts on this one, mainly due to the lack of a clean ending. But at least there was a reason for the run-in & I couldn’t ignore the superb previous minutes simply because of the ending. The much forgotten bout I speak of is Kurt Angle vs Eddie Guerrero from the WWE Championship tournament a couple of months ago. This bout was a mini replication of Angle vs Benoit from Royal Rumble ’03. The counters & reversals were out of this world & there were even 1 or 2 new ones. I simply loved this bout & would have rated it a 10 if it was on ppv without an ad break & if it had a clean ending.

I must admit that in the past I have been occasionally critical of the WWE when they put on a tv rematch which is better than the ppv bout. I have always felt that pay-per-view is when the match quality should really shine out. But in the past 6 months, I have had absolutely no problem with the improved tv bouts because (1) some of the matches (2 of the 3 listed above) were needed on tv, rather than ppv, at the time (ie: no feud & the tournament), and (2) it is plain to see that the quality of ppv matches have improved as well.

Bottom line: Kudos to the WWE for improving the match quality thus far this year. I’m crossing my fingers that they can keep it up.


Ok, that's all I have for edition #135 of 'The Wrestling Menu. I actually enjoyed being positive once again, but who knows how long it will last. If you had a look at 'Vengeance', please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of my ratings for each match. Also, what do you think of my opinion on the improved quality of matches this year...??? As always, I will reply to all feedback. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com

Or alternately, if you are an LOPForums member, you may also leave feedback by clicking on the following link: http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=4889

What's on the agenda for next week's 'Wrestling Menu'...??? Well, it will be predominantly filled with draft lottery analysis. Hopefully, I can keep a little more positive than last week. Elsewhere, I may eventually write on Shelton Benjamin, as I have been meaning to do that for a few weeks now. Look out for that column same Wednesday time & same LOP channel next week. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.











*NEW GALLERY* Must See! McMahon FAMILY PHOTOS! Shane's Wife & More! Very Rare!

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