DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – Benoit Repercussions + Vengeance Review
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 12:37 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #237

Welcome one and all to the 237th edition of ‘The Wrestling Menu’, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Before I get into all things professional wrestling, I totally forgot to talk professional sports in the introduction to my last column. How I could ever forget to congratulate the team I follow in the NBA (the San Antonio Spurs) on becoming champions of North America (no, they are not world champs, no matter how much American commentators like to erroneously use that term).

My guess is that I forgot to mention it because the final series was swept 4-0 and/or the fact that the true final series occurred weeks earlier when the Spurs defeated the Phoenix Suns 4-2. I don’t think the title win should be under-valued just because the 2 series against Utah & Cleveland came & went quickly. Those who viewed the Spurs vs Suns series should realize that.

What pleases me so much about this win though was the heavy influence of international players in the Spurs team. Without getting into the debate over whether or not Tim Duncan is American or not, the finals MVP was French, while 2 Argentineans also played a huge role all season long. That is not even mentioning that there is a New Zealander, a Dutchman & a Slovenian on the roster as well. I have been saying for decades (not years) that American sports leagues have been too insulated & this is especially the case when it comes to a genuine world game like basketball. Good on the Spurs for leading the way when it comes to this & by the look of their draft last week, they haven’t stopped this policy as a Brazilian & Greek were 2 of their 3 choices!

Ok, now that I have belatedly got that out of the way, it’s on with the show…..


APPETIZERS – Benoit

I should warn everyone that the following topic is most likely not going to be my most well-written piece ever. My guess is that I will jump around all over the place with no real direction. In a roundabout way, I am glad that a few of my colleagues here at LOP (column of the month award winner included) have already posted solid pieces concerning the Benoit tragedies. I almost feel some easing of pressure because of that, as my guess is that despite the amount of columns I have written in the past, it tends to get thrown out the window to some extent when something like this occurs. So I hope that the quality & opinion of this topic doesn’t disappoint. But if it does, then so be it.

For those that were unaware, I had a weekly posting streak going for over 20 months. It came to an end last week and as most people have probably guessed, it was due to the tragedy regarding the Benoit family. I actually did strongly consider still writing a column & I tossed up approximately 6 different ideas and/or approaches. But at the end of the day, nothing felt right & nothing felt comfortable. I always thought that something extraordinary would end my streak, I just wish it would have been more of a positive extraordinary item.

Gee, I don’t even know where to start…!!! The first time I saw Chris Benoit was in my first week that my family got cable television in early 1996. As you do when the amount of television channels you have increases, I went on a flipping rampage. I had already penciled in watching WWE shows on whatever days they were scheduled, but had no idea that WCW was even airing because it was shown on Ted Turner’s channel that aired old movies. So I was very surprised to stumble across it late one night. And as it would happen, the very first match I saw was a WCW Nitro bout between Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit. It was definitely an interesting variation to the WWE as here were 2 plain looking guys wrestling technically & using what I presumed to be their real names. I didn’t know how to take it at the time, but it wouldn’t be long until WCW also had me hooked.

As time went by, Benoit did become one of my favorite wrestlers. Looking back, it was probably more due to the fact that he was always labeled as the underdog to some extent & often came up short on the big occasions. I still remember clearly being angered at referee Charles Robinson on one pay-per-view when Diamond Dallas Page was defending his United States Title against Benoit, and DDP clearly left his kicking out of a pinning predicament until far too late. Robinson literally stopped his count before DDP had kicked out… That annoyed me to no end at the time.

Throughout the years, I grew to respect Benoit’s in-ring talent so much that I placed him as one of the greatest 3 wrestlers I have ever seen. It was his ability to make every single move (whether it be a chop, a knee lift, a suplex or a submission hold) look real. To someone such as myself who does hold the in-ring aspect of professional wrestling so highly, this couldn’t be overlooked. And while it was slightly spoiled by the leak in the preceding months, it was great to see Benoit win both the Royal Rumble & the World HeavyWeight Title in early 2004.

Over the past couple of years, Benoit’s importance to the WWE cannot be undervalued. His positive influence has been twofold in that he has firstly been a major contributor to SmackDown being the better show over the past year or so. He frequently was part of above average 10-15+ minute matches that were placed in the middle of the show to stop people from flipping the channels until the main-event came around. Secondly, during those bouts, he has undoubtedly helped the progress of some of the newer WWE wrestlers such as Mr.Kennedy, MVP & Matt Hardy. And that is just on-screen as I am presuming his guidance behind the scenes was also invaluable.

And now… this! To be honest, I didn’t feel right watching the WWE last week. Raw & ECW are shown on delay here. I avoided Raw intentionally. And to be honest, I really can’t properly put into words why. I actually made a decision to watch ECW on its weekend replay. But, very unlike me, I totally forgot about it when it came around, while watching an Aussie Rules football game on tv! Granted, I did have a few other things on my mind (organizing a birthday party for Saturday night, a flat battery in my car & attending a milestone football game on Sunday), but I would be lying if I said the Benoit happenings played absolutely no part in me missing the show. Just the mere fact that it was referred to at the beginning of the show (where I think Vince probably did the correct thing) may have been enough for me.

I did tape SmackDown & watch it come Sunday night. It was a so-so episode that was definitely not up to its usual standards, but not at all too bad. There definitely was some sort of flat feeling, but that was only to be expected to some degree. And I think it was about the extent that I guessed it would be. There definitely was a sense of moving on, but when something like this occurs, the process is definitely not an immediate one.


MAIN – Effect on Pro-Wrestling

This may be the time where some readers are expecting me to comment on the murder suicide, whether or not Benoit should be forgiven, how tarnished is his legacy, etc, etc, etc… Sorry to disappoint, but I am not going to do that. Not for any other reason than I personally don’t feel comfortable in doing so. I’m all over the place with this column as it is I think, so I don’t want to start babbling or going down a road with no end to it. The bottom line is that when something like this happens, every individual must deal with it in their own personal way. Nothing is right or wrong & I would hope that most readers of mine respect & understand that.

Personally, I think my way of dealing with the tragedy, at least initially, is to not think about it too much. Hence why I didn’t watch either Raw or ECW last week. Then, as I have already begun to, I will slowly move on & return to watching & writing about wrestling. It is due to this approach of mine that I think the WWE have probably done the correct thing with regards to their television shows. The decision to hold the Raw tribute couldn’t really be berated due to the timing & circumstances. From what I hear, the opening address of the ECW show was also the correct thing to do. It had to be noted at least, but a brief statement of sorts was perfect. And, to be honest, for whatever reason, I probably wouldn’t have watched SmackDown if there was too much (or any) mentioning of Benoit. So personally, I am glad they did the show as it turned out.

But what I want to talk about here is the effect that this tragedy has had & will have on the professional wrestling world. And I must stress that I include all professional wrestling promotions amongst that & not just WWE. While an organization such as TNA may not want to be drawn into the repercussions, I can assure you that they will feel some ripple effects at the very least.

Now when I talk about “effects”, I don’t necessarily mean behind the scenes factors such as stricter policing of the wellness policy & a less hectic travel schedule. Now it may come to be that the WWE do address these types of issues in the wake of such a terrible tragedy. Whether it is warranted or not (which I don’t want to get into) there has been some opinion (from fans & in the mainstream media) floating around with regards to this. And it’s fair to say that even if it was 100% false or 100% nothing to do with the Benoit murder suicide, it is still bad publicity. As they say, perception is practically the truth when it comes to some things.

But as I was saying, I don’t want to get into the above types of decisions that have to be made here & now… I’ll leave that up the likes of Vince McMahon & co who are getting the big bucks. What I more want to concentrate on is how the WWE will change to the millions of normal fans (just like you & I) out there. Some people may feel it won’t change once the dust has settled. But I am not so sure, even if some of the changes are subtle.

The first possible effect is clearly a negative one. That is the loss of fans/viewers. Now while some of you reading this may doubt that there will be any (significant) loss of fans in the medium term, I am not so sure. I have already had 4 or 5 people email me saying that they are done with watching professional wrestling (or the WWE). Now while this could be a spur of the moment decision made a little emotionally, I would not discount this immediately. In all cases, we are talking about loyal long-term fans. And, if I can give an example, reading through the LOP Forums, it seems that even longtime LOP columnist Mr.Tito may be done with wrestling after the shock of the Benoit tragedies.

The worrying thing is that the reasons stated for not watching wrestling from now on varies between people. Whether it is the industry itself, the WWE/Vince McMahon factor or the loss of Benoit himself, any number of things could force viewers to care less about professional wrestling. And while some of these fans may even feel that they will return to view the product in the future, sometimes intentions aren’t enough. For example, someone may find another hobby instead of watching wrestling. That hobby could go on & become a major part of that person’s life, meaning that they won’t even have the opportunity to return!

And what about those of us that will remain to watch the wrestling product by whichever promotion(s) you choose to follow? Will most/all of us view wrestling in the same way..??? I know that at least for the remainder of the year, I will not. I’m still unsure if that is a positive, a negative or a neutral thing by the way. And I’m unsure I will know for a while.

Maybe we will not view wrestling as seriously from now on. Maybe we will concentrate more on the in-ring product. Maybe we will concentrate less on the in-ring product. Maybe (& most likely) we will separate the character from the individual more from now on. It’s really hard to tell, but I just get that feeling that unless someone is really good at forgetting something as significant & extraordinary as the Benoit tragedies, then the way in which fans view the WWE will have changed for quite some time, if not forever.

In fact, that last point may not even be up to the individual. The reason I suggest that is the other side of the coin so to speak; Will wrestling promotions such as the WWE continue to deliver the same wrestling product…??? I genuinely think that the answer to that question is “No”. They may be subtle adjustments here & there, but the impact that such a thing as the Benoit murder-suicide is likely to have on at least a few people that have decision-making powers in the industry cannot be ignored.

Once more, it is difficult to say with any certainty what the changes will be & whether or not they will be positive or negative. It may be seeing some wrestlers less due to suspensions or intentional resting. It may be seeing fewer pay-per-views. It may be more in-ring wrestling & less storylines. It may be less in-ring wrestling & more storylines. It may be more squash matches. It may be greater pushes for undercard wrestlers. It may be less pushes for undercard wrestlers. I really don’t know, but I just have the feeling that as time goes on, we will look upon late June 2007 as a time when things in the professional wrestling industry changed. For better or worse, it took something rather extraordinarily negative for whatever the changes are to occur.


DESSERT – 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 '07)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Judgment Day ’07)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: One Night Stand ‘07)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: WrestleMania 23)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: Royal Rumble '07)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: Backlash '07)
80+: Make sure that the video or DVD is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

LANCE CADE & TREVOR MURDOCH defeated THE HARDYS to Retain the World Tag-Team Titles: Lance & Matt begin with Cade gaining some heel heat by playing by the rules (how’s that for an oxymoron), before The Hardys control minutes of action with some entertaining double-teaming. The heels threaten to walk out & regain control in the ensuing confusion, as they isolate Matt & target his injured knee (which Finlay worked on 2 nights earlier). The hot tag comes (earlier than expected) & Jeff cleans house to the crowd’s enjoyment. But in going for the Swanton, Jeff gets pushed off the top-rope by Murdoch, and Cade finishes the bout at the 9 minute mark with his Rock Bottom into a Power-Bomb. Solid & predominantly entertaining opener that didn’t have quite enough time to let the storyline fully play out. The Hardys were their usual terrific selves and while the champs played along well, they didn’t exactly step up enough to suggest that they can carry the division when The Hardys move on. Then again, I suppose that is why London & Kendrick were moved to Raw. Match Rating: 7

CHAVO GUERRERO defeated JIMMY WANG YANG to Retain the Cruiserweight Title: Yang has the better of the first few minutes with solid technical wrestling matching his flashiness. Following Chavo getting in some ringside offense, Yang flies from the top-rope to the floor to regain control. But he cannot capitalize & a turning point comes with a high-impact hip-toss into the corner by Chavo. The champ then works on his opponent’s back with a decent mixture of submission holds & Irish whips. Yang then hits some nice feet-oriented offense, but misses his top-rope moonsault finisher. This sees Chavo go for his Gory Special finisher, which Yang beautifully counters for a close 2 count to the boos of the crowd. Yang then gets crotched on the top-rope while going for his finisher, which leads to the finishing frog splash at the 9 minute mark. Another solid bout that was consistently in motion & had a lot of (maybe too much) back & forth action. It was great to see the bout not get bogged down though & this allowed both men to show their talent. Now if only the division can get some consistent time allocated towards it. Match Rating: 7

JIMMY NITRO defeated CM PUNK to Win the ECW World Title: It was fair to say that the live crowd were not happy that Benoit was not taking his place in this bout. So Nitro came from not even being in the 4 man tournament to challenging for the title! The 2 were in a tough position as they were never going to get the crowd involved. To that end, it may have been wise to throw caution to the wind & do something illogical, but amazing, in the first few minutes. That did not occur though as Nitro had to endure some “boring” chants as he had the better of the first 5 minutes. Punk does show some nice variations & counters to get back into the bout… But after some 2 counts, a springboard attempt backfires leading to Nitro hitting a rope-assisted swinging neckbreaker for the title victory at the 8 minute mark. The bout was booking on the fly at its most obvious! I suppose I got my wish of a Nitro push, even if it was months too early! Isolated, this bout was ok, but just oh so uninvolving due to the circumstances. I think we can almost discount it to some extent and, for those reasons, this is difficult to rate. Match Rating: 6

SANTINO MARELLA defeated UMAGA by Disqualification to Retain the InterContinental Title: Santino gets in a few opening round-arm shots & a knee to the head to counter a diving headbutt in the opening few minutes, but Umaga wears the champ down with strength & nerve holds. Umaga then strikes with fists to the head & gets disqualified in less than a 3 minute march. The aftermath sees the crowd get behind the heel to destroy the champ (as I was doing as well) with the running butt charge, a top-rope splash & the Samoan Spike all being used. Awfully booked & it’s time for the WWE to admit the obvious that Santino gets zero reaction from anyone. They may not want Umaga to turn face (& neither do I), but it’s going to get to the point where all heels will be cheered against Santino! I can’t go anywhere near passing it… Match Rating: 3

MVP defeated RIC FLAIR to Retain the United States Title: Some great byplay between MVP & Magnum TA (at ringside) precedes this bout as MVP’s confident trash-talking comes off really well at the beginning of the actual match. Flair heads straight to the leg, but an eye-rake & big boot to the outside gains control for the heel champion. MVP then locks on a couple of restholds to kill some time, before some so-so back & forth action. In amongst that, MVP misses a big boot & the Nature Boy heads straight for his opponent’s leg, where he eventually locks on the figure 4 leglock. But MVP gets to the ropes & an eye-poke soon after allows him to hit the Playmaker for the victory at the 8 minute mark. Ho-hum bout that was lifted to a pass mark due to a combination of Flair’s fan approval & MVP’s terrific heel portrayal that cannot be underestimated. But wrestling-wise, this was very ordinary. Match Rating: 5.5

DEUCE & DOMINO defeated SGT SLAUGHTER & JIMMY ‘SUPERFLY’ SNUKA to Retain the WWE Tag-Team Championships: The champs get some heel heat on the mic before the bout by picking on Rick Martel & Tony Garea at ringside, before having the veterans Slaughter & Snuka team up to challenge the champs. The awkwardness begins from the start as Snuka’s lack of pace leads to a mis-timed leapfrog by Domino. Slaughter is tagged in & dominates Domino (even locking in the Cobra Clutch twice), until Deuce is tagged in & the heel champs isolate Sarge on the “wrong side of the tracks” (Sorry, I often head for unfunny comedy when bored). Deuce then misses an impressive top-rope superfly splash, allowing Snuka to get the hot tag & take it up to his adopted son. Snuka then goes for his top-rope cross-body splash, but Deuce rolls through for the pinfall victory at the 7 minute mark. Martel & Garea get the biggest crowd reaction in making the save afterwards! Overlong & mediocre bout that did no favors to Deuce & Domino and made them look quite weak if anything. Match Rating: 3.5

EDGE defeated BATISTA by Countout to Retain the World HeavyWeight Champion: Rumors had suggested that this would be the main-event of the night, which I laughed at immediately due to it being a match from the SmackDown brand! A fired up Batista out-muscles Edge initially & then interestingly works on Edge’s arm for a couple of minutes. Edge gets back into the bout following a ringside tussle that sees Batista rammed into the steel post. Edge then works his opponent’s arm when the Animal meets the steel post twice more when in the ring. With one good arm though, Batista hits a big clothesline & then an impressive spinning slam for a 2 count. Edge gets the same result with an Impaler DDT, before a battle of roll-ups see both men get further near-falls. Batista then hits a spear & sets up the Batista Bomb, but Edge is disqualified following a low-blow at the 13 minute mark.

Teddy Long then comes out & restarts the bout, where Edge hits a quick spear, only to see Batista kick out at 2 & then get a 2 count himself with a roll-up. The action then spills to ringside where after some decent action, the challenger hits a huge Batista Bomb on the floor. But in attempting to get both he & Edge into the ring, Batista is counted out following a further 2 minutes of action. Not too bad at all & an improvement on their previous bouts. A match of two-thirds began rather interestingly, turned ho-hum & then became very entertaining & involving over the final 5 minutes (including the restart). The overbooking actually helped here & both men gave it their all. Match Rating: 8

CANDICE MICHELLE defeated MELINA to Win the Women’s Title: Melina dominates the early going & uses her leg strength to twist Candice every which way. A bow & arrow consolidates the momentum, but a missed charge to the outside opens the door for the challenger, who gets a couple of 2 counts with a variety of moves. As control rests in the balance, the 2 then run the ropes where Candice botches her spinning back kick (by getting too close to Melina) to get the victorious pinfall at the 4 minute mark. Not totally awful, although you wouldn’t know it from the silent crowd. Melina definitely brings something different to women’s bouts, although she wasn’t as effective as usual here in getting the crowd involved. Candice unfortunately did not have one of her better nights & she needs to continue to work hard to improve in the ring. I will be nice & pass it. Match Rating: 5

JOHN CENA defeated RANDY ORTON, BOBBY LASHLEY, KING BOOKER & MICK FOLEY to Retain the WWE Championship: The 3 faces (not of Foley, but in this match) take turns in beating Orton as Booker gets a massage from Sharmell. Lashley then clears the ring & channels The Undertaker by throwing himself over the top-rope onto all 4 men on the floor! Lashley then gets a close 2 count with a back-breaker on Booker, but Cena makes the save & the 2 faces then go at it to the delight of the crowd (oh oh, here comes another face vs face feud). The bout then breaks down at ringside with the action all over the place. Cena F-U’s Lashley through an announce table, but struggles to contend with Booker back in the ring. Booker even hits the scissors kick on Cena, but Orton breaks up the count & RKO’s Cena soon after, only to see Foley break up the count. Socko doesn’t work, but a chair-shot does to Lashley, Booker & then Cena.

Total mayhem then ensues with chaotic action & bodies going here, there & everywhere. At the end of the day though, Cena capitalizes on Orton kicking Foley in the head, and F-U’s Mick for the victory at the 10 minute mark. ‘Hectic’ is definitely one word that aptly describes this match! Due to it being kept to just 10 minutes in length, this bout was rapid-fire to the extreme… Probably too much. But I would be lying if I said that this match was not involving & entertaining. All men except Foley impressed & looked comfortable, although they didn’t have a great amount to do in all honesty. This may sound harsh, but I have never been a great fan of short ppv main-events, so I have probably marked this down a little due to that. Match Rating: 8

PPV RATING (53/90) = 59

Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2007 version of 'Vengeance’ a 'C' grade & said that it was ‘average’. While it did get close to moving up to the next level (& could have if I had been a little kinder to the failing matches), I do think this is the appropriate grade & comment for this ppv event. 2 solid, but nothing more, bouts kicked things off… 2 successful, if not mind-blowing, main-events capped things off… But the rest (all 5 matches) were pretty much filler that could have doubled for television bouts had there not been titles on the line. Simply put, this is the kind of card that will simply be forgotten completely come the end of the year.


Okely dokely, that's it for edition #237 of 'The Wrestling Menu'. I hope I didn’t ramble on too much & you didn’t think it was too below par after my week off. Now I must warn you that I am very busy at work currently & I also have a lot of emails that I still have to respond to from the past fortnight as I didn’t really feel like replying to all emails due to the circumstances. So if you do email me your thoughts & feedback on Vengeance or the Chris Benoit situation, please be patient for a response. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com, but if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=7

And while you are on the LOP Forums, why don't you check out my weekly contributions to the Album Review thread. So far, I have reviewed 2 albums each by groups such as My Chemical Romance, Muse, Rise Against, Razorlight, The Killers, Kasabian, The All-American Rejects, The Kaiser Chiefs & AFI. Just click on the following link & scroll down: http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=99&page=2.

Presuming I do find the time to write a column next Wednesday, I will hopefully finally get to the topic of these tri-branded pay-per-views. I will also discuss something about the Vengeance event that I didn’t have time to today. And finally, I will discuss one of the 9 titles that were defended on the show. As per usual, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2007

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