DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – Unforgiven Review, Flair Quits + SD > Raw?
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 12:29 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #246

Welcome one and all to the 246th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Oh man, is NostraDavey on song or what...??? I have been on a future-telling role of late, so if you will indulge me for a few moments & let me gloat: 100%... 100%... 100%. Not for the first time in the past few months, I have gone 100% with my PPV Predictions, picking all 8 matches of the Unforgiven card correctly, right down to the disqualification result in the WWE Championship match. Gee, I wish I could pick the lotto numbers this well!

But there was another moment this past weekend when I saw something occur before it actually happened & man was this a special moment. It occurred in the first quarter of the semi-final of the Australian Football League playoffs when my Kangaroos took one more step to the big day at the end of September. The ball was kicked forward & about 5 seconds before it occurred, I just pictured in my mind that one of our forwards was taking one hell of a run-up for something. That something very special was... http://www.aflphotos.com.au/images/thumbs/main/16803.jpg

Now how is that for some athleticism!?!?!? Who said that white men can't jump!?!?!?

On that note, it’s on with the high-flying show.....


APPETIZERS – Flair Quits?

'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair has taken up a fair bit of space in my last few columns & it seems that my poll regarding who was to be in the ring with him during a potential final match at WrestleMania 24 was either good or bad timing depending on which way you looked at it. So I may as well continue to write about Flair & close the chapter on him for the time being.

The reason why the timing was rather appropriate or inappropriate was due tot he fact that reports have been leaked out that Flair may have indeed given notice of resignation to WWE over the past few weeks. He definitely hasn't appeared on any WWE programming for a month or so, so there may at least be some degree of truth to this story.

Many of the reports suggest that the main reason for the stalemate between Flair & WWE at the moment is due to the disappointment with the way he has been used over the past 6 months. Rightly or wrongly, I am actually going to go out on a limb & say that this is indeed the reason why there are now problems between the 2 parties.

The Carlito feud from earlier in the year clearly was one that was being built up to something. You don't use up weeks of programming setting up such a storyline, especially one that is going to result in a heel turn to a talented youngster, just to release the feud without a bang. Of course, it's all a guessing game as to whether or not Flair & Carlito were indeed told that they would be wrestling each other at WrestleMania 23, but even if they were initially, it wouldn't be the first time when WWE changed their plans.

Furthermore, I am almost certain that the final straw for Flair was his move to SmackDown during the mid-year draft. As soon as it was announced, I must admit that I did a double-take. Of all the wrestlers suited to the booking of the current SmackDown brand, Ric Flair circa 2007 was most definitely not one of them. Under increasing pressure due to an amazing string of injuries, SmackDown has done a tremendous job in lengthening their matches to fill out their shows. Furthermore, the quality of these lengthier matches had actually increased... This was something that a current day Ric Flair was not going to adapt well to.

Flair probably played a waiting game for a month or two, as there was a built-in & natural storyline with one of the big dogs of the SmackDown brand, Batista. But when it was rather clear that Flair was pretty much going to be a sidenote for anything to do with Big Dave, I think Ric may have seen the writing on the wall just by watching the likes of Finlay, Matt Hardy & MVP consistently putting on good long matches. Hence the stalemate we have now!

If the reports are true, who do I think is in the right & in the wrong here...??? Well, it all depends on one thing; When is Ric Flair indeed planning on retiring? If he isn't within the next year, then he is almost just one of the guys as far as I am concerned. If however, he has agreed in principle to retire from in-ring action around the time of WrestleMania 24, then I do think it's fitting if WWE gave him the sendoff he deserved over the final 6-12 months.

I have strongly stated in the past that shouldn't include a World Title reign & I still stick by that. But 2 or 3 solid feuds & 1 big farewell match is definitely deserved & I'd rather there was some build up to all that & they just didn't pull it all out of nowhere. So sit down & talk folks. Ric, come to your senses & retire in early 2008. WWE, give Ric the sendoff he truly deserves as being one of the all-time greats of professional wrestling. Sounds simple to me!


MAIN – SmackDown > Raw?

Every now & then I get a few readers asking me why I am so positive with regards to the SmackDown brand when compared to the Raw brand. And I'd probably go as far as to say that these questions have been asked for the past 18 months, not just since the last spate of injuries that has beset WWE's Friday night brand in 2007.

To be honest, I try not to purposefully favor one brand over the other in my column, but it's sometimes difficult not to when I believe one of them to be severely under-rated when compared to the other. And I do indeed believe that the quality of the SmackDown product is under-rated for the most part. Now this may have more to do with its placement on a Friday night when people are out & not watching television, or the fact that the show is not live like Raw & many people don't watch due to the fact that they have already seen what has happened on the show by reading spoilers on the internet.

But no matter what the reason is for the under-rating in general of the SmackDown brand, as a columnist I will continue to call it the way I see it if the brand continues to put on relatively good quality shows. And if that means that I am going to occasionally comment on a topic where some readers may not know precisely what I am going on about because they don't watch SmackDown regularly, then so be it unfortunately.

So what is it specifically that I like about SmackDown...??? Well, there is no doubt about the fact that between 2-5 years ago, it was the greater mix of talent on the show. You would always have your cruiserweight matches, your tag-team matches, your technical matches, your big man matches & whatever else that was relevant at the time, usually all on the one show. That mixture hasn't been as prominent of late following the passing of Benoit & Eddie, as well as the depushing of the cruiserweight division.

One factor that hasn't necessarily diminished though is the greater reliance on in-ring wrestling. It may have been slightly dwindled down of late (especially due to the amazing amount of injuries that the brand has been hit with), but its significance on each weekly show is still greater than that on Raw for mine. On top of this, I wouldn't at all say that SmackDown completely ignores the sports-entertainment factor as they still have their fair share of that. It's just that they are less likely to have a 20 minute hit or miss promo than Raw.

So what it all comes down to as far as I am concerned is the booking on SmackDown. Whether you feel that Raw & SmackDown are simply both WWE just with different wrestlers is almost irrelevant. And I know that Vince makes most of the big decisions when all is said & done. But it is clear that different employees are responsible for the booking of each show & whoever is that said person on SmackDown (Michael Hayes maybe?) is clearly of a more older style mentality of booking longer & more competitive matches that get he best out of the participants involved.

A perfect example was a match on SmackDown about 6 weeks ago from memory; Finlay vs Jimmy Wang Yang. Neither man is what you would call a headliner. Neither man is ever likely to hold a World Title during their careers. With the way the 2 have been booked this year, it was very predictable that Finlay would win. Hell, on paper, it doesn't even seem like an entertaining match-up in much of a way. Yet, these 2 were given more than the usual allotted time, the bout had some nice booking touches & hey presto, there was a good television match that not many could complain about.

So I must admit that it did bother me a little when a rumor/report came out a month or so back suggesting that SmackDown may be booked a lot more like Raw in the near future. You may not think that SmackDown is better than Raw right now... I'm not even sure I think that. But one thing that I am certain of is that if the brand extension is going to continue, then the more the brands compliment each other by differentiating themselves from each other, then the better it is for WWE & the better it is for us fans.


DESSERT – ‘Unforgiven’ 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: Vengeance ’07)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: SummerSlam ‘07)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: WrestleMania 23)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: Great American Bash '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+]

CM PUNK defeated ELIJAH BURKE to Retain the ECW Title: Rather standard & methodical offense greets us for the first 5 minutes of this bout, with some Punk kicks being the highlight. The face champ then puts together his usual flurry of offense to finally get a 2 count with a springboard clothesline. Burke then shifts the momentum by dropping Punk hard at ringside, as he capitalizes by targeting the back for minutes on end. A couple of good submission holds are included & the strikes are solid as well, even if the pace isn't exactly lightning. And then out of nowhere, Punk rolls Burke up for a sudden pinfall at the 12 minute mark. Strange choice as opener, especially with the way it was booked. The mundane pace suggested the bout would last longer than 12 minutes, while the disappointing finish didn't fit well with what had come before it. Solidly wrestled, but we already knew these 2 could do that. I'm not as high as others on this bout & thought it was too unimaginatively booked. Match Rating: 6

MATT HARDY & MVP defeated DEUCE & DOMINO to Retain the WWE Tag-Team Championships: Matt & Montel argue over this, that & the other during the opening minutes, but their games of one-upmanship result in them dominating the heels (now wearing black t-shirts by the way). Some impersonating of each other by the champs ends up being a distraction though as the heels gain the momentum by isolating Matt. MVP thinks about walking away, but he comes back to the apron & cleans house after receiving a hot tag. Not long later, Matt blind tags himself in & hits the twist of fate at the 9 minute mark to retain the titles. A nice, if unspectacular bout, this was fairly entertaining throughout & the arguing tag champs storyline worked well once more due to some good little touches. This includes D & D playing their roles well, which can often be forgotten. Match Rating: 7

TRIPLE H defeated CARLITO: Carlito is the aggressor at the bell, but Triple H almost immediately arrests control by knocking the heel to the outside multiple times in the early going. Any weapon shot that Carlito attempts is initially countered by H, who then locks in an abdominal stretch to begin some of the usual referee byplay. Carlito finally gets in some offense with a monitor shot that allows him to choke his opponent with a cable. A few trash-can shots then get the heel a 2 count, but H fights back with some knee-based offense. Carlito counters with some powder to the face, but H cleverly distracts the ref by grabbing a chair, allowing him to hit a low-blow & then a pedigree for the victory at the 11 minute mark. This was a rather gimmicky bout due to the stipulation that only Carlito couldn't be disqualified, but to that effect it worked decently enough from an entertainment perspective. Match Rating: 7

CANDICE MICHELLE defeated BETH PHOENIX to Retain the Women's Title: Beth, looking a little too much like Luna Vachon for my liking, shows her greater strength to begin the bout. No matter what Candice does, the heel challenger seems to have an answer for everything, but doesn't fully connect with the live crowd who remain rather quiet. Beth locks on a modified torture-rack backbreaker looking for the submission victory, but Candice wriggles out to put together a nice, if too short, flurry of offense. Beth gets a 2 count with a military press & then attempts a firemans carry move, but Candice nicely pulls off a crucifix type of roll-up for the pinfall victory at the 7 minute mark. Despite practically no crowd involvement, I liked this match. The bout was booked very well with Candice logically using avoidance & counter-punching to combat Beth's impressive power wrestling. The 2 ladies also had no problems stretching the duration out to 7 minutes which is a good sign presuming the feud continues. Match Rating: 6.5

BATISTA defeated REY MYSTERIO & THE GREAT KHALI in a Triple-Threat Match to Win the World HeavyWeight Title: Despite staring intently at each other prior to the bout, the 2 faces predictably attempt to team up on the giant champion in the early going. It is however a lot sooner than I expected that Rey attempts a sneaky roll-up on Batista. It's also a lot earlier than I expected that Khali goes for the vice-grip on Batista, but Rey makes the save with a chair-shot, as it is now the long & the short of it going at it inside the squared circle. Cue Big Dave to now make the save as he ties Khali up in the ropes & lets loose with punch after punch.

Rey is the one who initially takes advantage though with a 619 to both men. However, Batista bounces back quickly with a Batista Bomb to Mysterio & then follows up with a spinebuster to Khali for the title victory at the 8 minute mark. That was a good finishing sequence that served the bout well. While the bout was fairly predictable in the usual triple-threat way, Rey & Batista didn't team up as much as I thought they would & there was sufficient variation throughout. I would have preferred to see these 3 stretch the duration out a few minutes longer, but overall this was entertaining enough & the title change made it a little more special. Match Rating: 7

LANCE CADE & TREVOR MURDOCH defeated PAUL LONDON & BRIAN KENDRICK to Retain the World Tag-Team Titles: Kendrick & Cade get 2 minutes to show their wares initially, before it is the smaller challengers that get the better of the offense with some nice work on Murdoch. As per usual with the face team, there is some nice double-teaming, but it comes unstuck when Kendrick misses a top-rope cross-body that allows the heel champs to isolate Spanky. Cade gets a nearfall with a nice modified powerslam from the top-rope, but the momentum shifts when Murdoch foolishly goes to the top-rope, allowing the hot tag to be made to Paul London.

The crowd initially seems nothing more than observant, but London wakes them up with a huge top-rope double stomp for a 2 count. He gets the same result with a standing moonsault & Kendrick does as well with a top-rope cross-body. The heels then use some double-teaming to get a 2 count of their own as the action breaks down with all 4 men involved. It is the heel champs that use this to their advantage as Cade hits a sit-down spine-buster for the 1-2-3 at the 12 minute mark. Solid, well-booked & well-performed tag match that was very entertaining despite the predominantly silent crowd obviously not thinking so. It possibly could have used more story contained within the bout, but the faces were their usual entertaining selves here to more than negate that. Believe it or not, this was the match of the night! Match Rating: 7.5

RANDY ORTON defeated JOHN CENA by Disqualification in a Match for the WWE Championship: Orton spots Cena's father in the front row once more, as the heel challenger gets his fair share of cheers from the crowd. Predictably, Cena intensely controls the first couple of minutes of the bout, but it isn't long before Orton is back into it as he gets a 2 count with a rope-assisted DDT. Dueling chants begin as Orton goes to his patented headlock. Soon after, Cena fights back & starts throwing fists at Orton in the corner. Continuing with them plus some shoving of the referee is enough for the DQ call to be made at just the 7 minute mark. Orton heads for Cena's father after the bout, but Cena intercepts, locks on the STF-U & allows the elder Cena to punt some retribution into Orton! Predictable result, especially when it wasn't placed as the main-event. The storyline was only capitalized on partially for mine & there simply wasn't a great deal of action during the too short 7 minutes. Difficult to rate as it was purely a storyline advancement bout, but it can’t be passed. Match Rating: 4.5

THE UNDERTAKER defeated MARK HENRY: 'Taker gets his usual long entrance upon return, although there were surprisingly no druids present this time around. The 2 stare each other down prior to the bell as it is The Undertaker that throws the first strikes. The first big move comes from Henry though as he lands a superplex of all things at the 3 minute mark! Following some standard brawling at ringside, Henry gets 2 separate 2 counts with splashes, as both men seem to be ad-libbing over the next few minutes. The dead man soon hits old-school & then a choke-slam, but only gets a 2 count. Mark Henry then locks on his bearhug, but foolishly heads to the corner for some reason. And when he climbs to the top-rope, he may as well just powerbomb himself as it clearly cues 'Taker for his last ride powerbomb for the victory at the 12 minute mark. Terrible main-event that was very disappointing. You could see/hear 'Taker calling the bout throughout & it was as if these 2 hadn't planned this bout and/or rehearsed at all. Messy, plodding & boring with few redeeming features. Match Rating: 3.5

PPV RATING (49/80) = 61

Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2007 version of ‘Unforgiven’ a 'C+' grade & said that it was ‘Worth A Watch’. Let me tell you that if anything, my rating system has over-rated this event a little because it simply wasn't that memorable. The undercard & midcard had a lot of solid matches, but nothing you will remember come the new year, while the 2 closing matches both failed. The lack of a Vince & Hornswoggle segment surprised, but I am unsure whether that would have been a good or bad thing anyway. One thing I didn't mind about the show was the appearance that nothing was too rushed. Keeping the card to 8 matches gave sufficient hype time to most of the bouts, even if some of the matches could have used an extra few minutes. Once more, while my above ratings may suggest this was an ok show, look a little deeper into my comments & you will find that if you missed this pay-per-view, I wouldn't go too far out of your way to catch up with it.


That's #246 of 'The Wrestling Menu' in the books. Please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of my 'Unforgiven' review, your thoughts on the SmackDown brand and/or the recent events surrounding Ric Flair. You know where I am & you know that I will reply to all feedback in due time. 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 and/or poll votes on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=8.

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 multiple albums by groups such as My Chemical Romance, Muse, Rise Against, Razorlight, The Killers, Kasabian, The All-American Rejects, Kaiser Chiefs, AFI, Panic At The Disco, Fall Out Boy, Jet, Hinder, LostProphets, Trust Company, Orson, Daughtry, Bayside, Funeral For A Friend & The Klaxons. Just click on the following link & scroll down: http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=99&page=3.

The flood of pay-per-views that WWE throws at us continues with 'No Mercy' just around the corner. That may mean that I will take another week off next Wednesday. So don’t be surprised if that is the case & you don’t see me on the 26th. But fear not, I will be back on the first Wednesday of October with whatever enters my mind come that time. Whichever week it is, 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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