DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu #255 – Armageddon Review, HHH vs Batista + TNA vs ECW
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 12:05 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #255

Welcome one and all to the 255th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Holy crap, as of this writing, it is now only 6 days until Christmas. You know what that means don’t you? You’re going to hear some old & fat guy yelling out “ho, ho, ho” everywhere you turn. And no, I’m not talking about ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan or The Godfather!

With Christmas nearing, it also means you hear Christmas Carols everywhere. Now I’m all for the joy of carols attempting to lift the mood of the general population, but if I can give one recommendation to stores & the like; Keep your carols simple & accessible. I was grocery shopping on the weekend & the store had some opera singer belting out “Good King Whatnot” & it almost had me running for the exit it was so bad.

Oh & one more thing with Christmas approaching; If you have yet to purchase all your Christmas presents for friends & family, I have 2 words for you; GOOD LUCK!

Ok, back to my column; I suppose now is as good a time as any to set out my plan for the next few weeks. It’s a rather simple plan actually… Following this column, I’m going to be taking the next 2 Wednesdays off. For the past 2 years, I have written columns all the way through the holiday season & the last time I actually took 2 weeks in a row off was mid 2005 when I was on my vacation through North America. But I just feel that the time off would do me some good this year, so I hope my decision doesn’t disappoint too many out there.

In fact, I am actually thinking of not watching any wrestling for the next couple of weeks. I’m unsure if I can do it to be honest, but if ever there was a time to give it a go & see what happens, it would be at this stage. With such a big break between pay-per-views & a couple of ‘end of year’ type shows, I may not miss anything too relevant. Plus, it could be my little boycott of WWE as I am definitely in favor of a yearly break for all employees (approximately 3 weeks) that I have written about in the past. Anyway, I really don’t know what I will end up doing in terms of watching wrestling, but I can tell you all now that the next time you will see my column after today is Wednesday January-9.

But enough about the next few weeks… I still have a column to get through today, so it’s on with the show…..


APPETIZERS

Triple H vs Batista at WM24

If my feedback is anything to go by, it seems that my predicting of the WrestleMania 24 card 2 weeks back has really got people excited about the next 3 or so months of WWE programming. The WrestleMania 24 opinions & cards keep filling my Inbox & while it’s taken some time to get through all of the feedback, it has all made for interesting reading as always. One of the main talking points of the past week though has been concerning the heavily rumored match-up of Triple H vs Batista at the big dance & it is one that I can’t go without mentioning today in my column.

I will apologize to anyone in advance if I am wrong on this, but from memory not one person mentioned this match-up in amongst the piles of feedback I originally received concerning the booking of WrestleMania 24. This was despite the fact that Batista does not appear to have a clear opponent presuming that Edge & The Undertaker duke it out in a singles match for the World HeavyWeight Title. Furthermore, plenty of readers did recommend that Batista take part in an interbrand bout (the most popular being against Randy Orton or against Bobby Lashley), but still no-one mentioned Triple H as the likely opponent.

Funnily enough (& I know this is easy to mention in retrospect), I strongly considered the possibility of the match-up. The reason it even entered my mind was because WWE have actually hinted at it over the past 3 months or so. It may have slipped everyone’s mind, but on 2 separate occasions Triple H & Batista have had seemingly meaningless conversations backstage during a pay-per-view (don’t ask me which events they were at as I can’t recall). I recall at the time that these chance meetings were so meaningless that I thought something had to be up. Well, now we may know what’s up!

There were a number of reasons why I looked away from the match-up though. Firstly, I didn’t think either man was going to turn heel by March 2008. And you should all know by now how I feel on face vs face bouts! Secondly, I couldn’t really see the match-up taking place without a title being on the line. I recall thinking that this was actually a possibility as Batista currently held the World HeavyWeight Title. But I was almost certain he would lose it by ‘Mania & felt the chances of HHH winning the WWE Championship by then was low. The final main reason why I didn’t think WWE would choose this match-up is because the 2 had a long feud just a couple of years ago & there was no real point revisiting it now.

It was that last reason which popped up most significantly in feedback over the past week. In fact, if anything, I was a little surprised as to how negative the feedback was for such a match-up. I didn’t think it would be super popular, but I thought that it should be a big enough match-up with sufficiently interesting repercussions to at least garner a 50-50 type of positive/negative reaction.

So what’s my take on the rumored bout…??? Well, like any match that is going to take place 3 months into the future, a lot depends on how it is booked. All of the concerns I listed 2 paragraphs ago would be especially relevant for mine. But if I would have to get off the fence here & now, I am against the match-up. If Triple H were going to be in what was basically going to be the main-event of WrestleMania 24, I would much prefer that it be against an opponent where there is sufficiently logical build-up over months & months… Even if that build-up was more insinuated in the background or indirectly as Triple H vs Orton currently is.

Triple H vs Orton means that H won’t have to win the title prior to WrestleMania. Furthermore, it also puts up the unpredictability of whether he will win the title full stop. Those comments are not Triple H bashing, they are simply what I believe to be positives for the said bout. I don’t think it quite works as well the other way around (presuming that it is indeed HHH & not Batista that enters ‘Mania as champ).

And of course, if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times; I genuinely fear that such a bout would be face vs face. I’ve had enough of them. One of these guys better be turning heel if this match is booked. Which would I prefer…??? Stuffed if I know. I feel it’s too soon for H to turn heel, while if they didn’t turn Big Dave heel back around WrestleMania 23 in his feud with The Undertaker, then why would they do it now?


MAIN – Armageddon 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: No Mercy ‘07)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: Survivor Series ‘07)
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+]

REY MYSTERIO defeated MVP by Countout in a Match for the United States Title: MVP attempts to go technical on Rey early on, but it isn’t long until Mysterio picks up the pace (including a great dive to the outside over the referee). The heel champ does eventually turn the tide & control proceedings for quite a length of time with impact moves & restholds targeting the neck. The challenger eventually pulls out a nice head-scissors to kick-start a string of high-flying moves to get a few 2 counts, while MVP gets the same result with the biggest of big boots! Rey regains control though & following a missed 619, hits another head-scissors takedown on the outside leading to the countout victory at the 11 minute mark where MVP intentionally did not get back into the ring. Apart from the disappointing (if predictable & logical) finish, there was some occasional messiness between these 2 which surprised me a little. I also would have liked to see a little more variety in Rey’s offense, but that’s probably being a little too picky as we very much take the little man for granted nowadays. In truth, this was a very solid & entertaining opener that did it’s job well in a formulaic kind of way. I would keep this feud going as we could see something special from these 2 in the near future. Match Rating… 7

MARK HENRY & BIG DADDY V defeated CM PUNK & KANE: Punk shows his fighting spirit to take it to Henry initially, before Kane is tagged in to continue the face control. Of course, it isn’t long until the heels get on top & it’s Matt Stryker at ringside that gets the ball rolling on this front. At first, it is the ECW champion who plays the face in peril & a hot tag to Kane doesn’t really sway the momentum for long due to a choke-bomb by the former Viscera. It is then the big red machine that plays the face in peril as the action keeps moving along decently enough until Henry locks in a bearhug. Kane hits a DDT out of nowhere to get the hot tag to Punk who impresses me with explosive energy until getting squashed by a Samoan Drop counter to a springboard top-rope move for the heel win at the 11 minute mark. This bout was actually a fair bit better than I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, it still wasn’t anything to write home about, but they stretched it out well over the longer than expected duration. It began with rather standard big man action, but it was constantly in motion for the most part & the extended finishing sequence was performed very well to make up for some of the bout’s limitations. Match Rating… 7

SHAWN MICHAELS defeated MR.KENNEDY: Kennedy opens this bout with the kind of expressive & aggressive impact used on standard moves that makes me believe that WWE will have him main-eventing in the near future. While KK predominantly works on HBK’s back, a big arm-bar takedown by Michaels sees him then work on Kennedy’s arm for minutes on end. It then literally becomes a back & forth arm vs back contest as both men target their opponent’s weak link in true old-school fashion. It’s psychologically sound & the selling is good, even if the live crowd struggle to get involved. The pace & energy picks up at the 11 minute mark as the false finishes begin. The eventual finishing sequence is excellent as KK has his new stroke-like finisher blocked which leads to him losing his cool & throwing fists at HBK. Of course, one of those fists is injured which leads to much pain & enough of an opportunity for Shawn to hit Sweet Chin Music for the victory at the 15 minute mark. Purists would have enjoyed this bout, while the more casual fan may have felt it a little on the slow side. I am a little on the fence as I would have preferred if the 2 hadn’t gone to work on their respective body parts so early. But there were so many clever touches included here that this was difficult to dislike. Especially since the final few minutes were also so good & capped the bout off so well. Kennedy definitely stepped it up here, while HBK was his usual good self. Match Rating… 8

JEFF HARDY defeated TRIPLE H to become #1 Contender for the WWE Championship: Triple H’s pop was clearly louder than Jeff’s upon entrance, although it probably helped that he came out 2nd. HHH has all the answers in the opening few minutes with his greater strength coming into play on more than one occasion. A key storyline point then occurs as Hardy hesitates to throw a punch & is met by a huge slap & H pleading for him to “fight”. This obviously prompts Jeff to step it up, even returning a slap, but it isn’t long until H is back in control. The bout then continues as is with any Hardy offense being fleeting & without combinations, as Hunter basically goes into cocky heel mode. When Jeff finally does hit some moves in succession, it lacks his usual energy. Or maybe this was simply a perception as the crowd wasn’t fully behind him due to the face vs face aspect of the match. After missing a Swanton & getting hit with a spine-buster, Hardy counters a lazy pedigree attempt for the pinfall at the 15 minute mark. I felt the booking here was a little convoluted with there being potential in both the ‘prompted to fight’ Hardy & cocky heel-like Triple H storylines, but it not necessarily coming together in the same match. I would be lying if I said that I still wasn’t intrigued by the bout though & it was competently performed. But this was yet another instance where the now common face vs face dynamic didn’t help the bout. Match Rating… 7.5

FINLAY defeated THE GREAT KHALI: Put simply, Khali dominates this bout from start to finish, with a lone foot to the head being Finlay’s only legal offensive move until the finish. The giant Indian goes to remove a turnbuckle pad, causing the distraction for Hornswoggle & Finlay to have enough time to use the shillelagh for the victory at the 6 minute mark. A total squash of a filler match & a very disappointing one as I thought there was some potential for an interesting story of sorts to play out. I don’t see how a victory in these circumstances gives Finlay’s face turn much impetus at all. Match Rating… 3

CHRIS JERICHO defeated RANDY ORTON by Disqualification in a Match for the WWE Championship: I don’t know if it was the title on the line, Jericho’s PPV return or WWE’s promotional package before the bout, but I sensed a big match feel to this contest. I wouldn’t say the vibe continued through to the crowd during the opening minutes of the bout though, which is a little perplexing since it genuinely contained some good back & forth action with a nice deal of variety. The pace didn’t begin to slow until about the 5 minute mark with Orton intermittently using grapevine headlocks in between short & sharp offensive flurries by either man. We then get an attempted RKO & lionsault both countered, before a lionsault hits its mark to get a close 2 count & a large pop.

The action then heads to ringside where a Jericho charge misses Orton & connects with JBL at his announce desk instead. Back in the ring, Orton counters a codebreaker & sets up his running boot to the head. But it’s countered into the Walls Of Jericho as the crowd goes absolutely bonkers! It is at this point when JBL rushes into the ring to cause the DQ ending at the 15 minute mark. I don’t know if my expectations for this match were lower than they should have been, but the quality here took me by surprise a little. Simply put, this was an exceptionally even bout that contained a great deal of diversity. Jericho looked back to his very best here, while Orton also impressed to a certain point. The non-clean finish didn’t bother me a great deal & Y2J’s upcoming feud with JBL will hopefully consolidate Jericho’s face character a great deal. This may not have been the most memorable bout ever, but it was still very impressive. My match of the night. Match Rating… 8

BETH PHOENIX defeated MICKIE JAMES to Retain the Women’s Title: Jillian Hall graces us with her singing prowess before this title bout, which sees Beth controlling the opening minutes with her greater strength. A nice powerbomb & a very impressive chicken-wing submission hold variation highlights the champ’s offense, but the eventual comeback flurry from Mickie is just as impressive, despite the crowd remaining rather silent. The premature finish comes at just the 5 minute mark when Phoenix hits her fishermans buster. This was really well performed & these 2 clearly know what they are doing & mesh well together in the ring. However, this bout was rather safely booked & did not extend either lady at all. Furthermore, the storyline in their feud is simply not strong enough for the live crowd (& probably most at home) to care all that much in proceedings. For that reason, this was a little difficult to rate. I personally enjoyed it to some extent though. Match Rating… 6

EDGE defeated THE UNDERTAKER & BATISTA in a Triple-Threat Match to Win the World HeavyWeight Title: A nicely rehearsed beginning sees Batista & ‘Taker sort of work together to constantly trap Edge, only to battle each other in order to take the heel apart. The dead man then sits out for a few minutes to let the other 2 duke it out, but it isn’t too long before the phenom replaces Big Dave. Then the 2 faces go at it after a nice sequence which sees Batista intercept a ‘Taker powerbomb of Edge with a spear. At this stage, confusion sets in as Edge rings the bell while The Undertaker has Batista in a triangle choke. This obviously leads to the dead man releasing the hold & mission accomplished for Edge. The heel follows up by taking advantage with 2 separate spears for 2 separate 2 counts.

The remainder of the bout is mostly Batista & ‘Taker going at it in the ring, with the former seeming to have most of the answers without ever looking like sealing the deal. Occasionally, Edge will wander into the ring only to be immediately knocked out. But this is where even more confusion sets in as it’s actually 3 different sets of Edge as 2 imposters were hiding under the ring. Meanwhile, ‘Taker hits Big Dave with a tombstone piledriver to lay the champ out. Enter the real Edge, who hits a chair-shot on The Undertaker & calmly covers Batista for the title-winning pinfall at the 13 minute mark. Hmmm, I’m not fully sure if this bout can be judged live as it just flew by & it was difficult to take in all of the interesting booking decisions on first viewing. I loved some of the clearly rehearsed set-pieces that took advantage of the triple-threat situation. But for the most part, there was way too much 1 on 1 action, even if most of it was pretty good. The ending then came too soon for mine with the multi-Edge angle not really working well. Difficult to rate, this was a good ppv main-event overall, but I can’t help but feel that it was a lost opportunity for a classic match of the year contender. Match Rating… 7.5

PPV RATING (54/80) = 68

Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2007 version of ‘Armageddon’ a 'B' grade & said that it was a ‘Good event that was worth the money ’. I am actually a little undecided as to whether it really deserved to sneak into the higher ‘B+’ range due to the fact that there was (a) 1 failing match and (b) a number of good to very good bouts. However, due to the fact that none of those “good to very good” bouts broke through to be excellent & rate near 9, the ‘B’ rating may indeed be apt. It’s a line-ball decision for mine. From an individual match basis, I suppose that the match ratings were dragged down a little due to the fact that a lot of the feuds were progression based to some extent. That is, the bouts were a means of progressing a feud whether it be between the 2 competitors (Rey vs MVP) or between others (Jericho vs JBL). Overall though, this was a very solid way for WWE to end out the year on pay-per-view and if all their events were this consistent, then I doubt its fans would have much to complain about. A recommended watch.


DESSERT – TNA vs ECW

Apologies if the topic heading is a little misleading, but even I fall into attention-grabbing syndrome on occasions. Plus, it’s pretty obvious what I am referring to initially with this topic, even if I’m not going to necessarily delve into detail on some sort of war between TNA & WWE’s 3rd brand.

The “obvious” fact I am alluding to with this topic occurred a couple of weeks back when the hour long weekly ECW show was switched to Thursday night for 1 week only. Thursday night just happens to be the night when TNA’s weekly 2 hour show airs & the 2 shows went head to head in the process. Most of you will know that I live in Australia & we don’t even get TNA Impact down here, so I definitely don’t profess to know the in’s & out’s of North American television ratings with my comments here. Hell, I don’t even recall seeing which of the 2 hours of TNA that ECW went head to head with.

What I do know was the U.S ratings of the 2 shows on the night & I must say that I was a little surprised that more wasn’t made from the results. Without quoting specifics, demographics & what people were eating while watching the shows as the ratings seem to magically tell us nowadays, TNA’s rating suggested that they hardly lost a viewer, while ECW were well down from their usual numbers on their standard night of Tuesday’s.

While not going over the top & reading too much into it, those results are significant. I definitely favored TNA to win the battle, but I did expect their ratings to reduce at least to below 1.0. TNA were in the favored situation as it’s always difficult for any show to change their night of the week & expect to hold all viewers. Whether we realize it or not, our viewing of television is rather habitual. At times, I have even noticed that when a tv show I watch changes day & clashes with another tv show I watch, I will view the show that has remained in its timeslot. It must be some sort of expectation thing or something.

I think that when we are talking about wrestling programs, this type of thing is especially relevant as many WWE/ECW fans will also watch TNA on a weekly basis. These fans would have had to decide which show to watch a few Thursdays back & it’s obvious that in this case they chose TNA. In fact, an argument can be made that practically every single person that watches TNA chose to stick with the promotion. This would then suggest that the ratings that ECW drew on the specific night were gained by viewers who do not watch TNA at all.

To be honest, I’m not sure I read a great deal into all of this other than the fact that TNA’s relatively small viewership compared to WWE’s is at least a loyal base. However, I think the more relevant factor here is what Vince McMahon & WWE in general thought of the ratings figures. Knowing Vince, he would read more negatively into the results than most of us fans would. He would take it a little bit personally as you can bet you’re a$$ he wouldn’t mind gloating that his 3rd brand out-rates TNA.

So what is the most likely result…??? I actually feel that Vince will react to this in some way, shape or form. He could even kill off ECW, but I doubt that very much as it would be akin to admitting defeat to him. More likely Vince will give the ECW brand another shot of adrenalin somehow. He already has tried to inject it with some stars in the past (Angle, Benoit & Lashley) & more recently he has basically unofficially merged the brand with SmackDown to a little success. But could he feel that even more will be required…??? And if so, how much further can he go without actually ending the brand extension…???

The ECW brand got a much-needed boost last Tuesday with a nice little ratings increase coming off the back of the terrific 15th Anniversary edition of Raw. The episode was actually a very good one & will hopefully have won over some of the doubters, if only for the short-term. While many viewers still watch wrestling for the big names & marquee match-ups, there are also many fans that enjoy what transpired in the ring during the Miz & Morrison vs Yang & Moore bout. My guess is that Vince will simply keep this type of bout coming, while further improving the ECW Title feuds to be built around CM Punk.

Apart from an eventual feud with Shelton Benjamin (who is still struggling on the mic), I’m unsure who Vince will throw at Punk to interest fans over the next few months. But I do have 1 idea that could well win over some viewers. Does anyone remember that thing called the Cruiserweight Division…??? I say it couldn’t hurt to throw most of the few cruiserweights on to ECW & let them fly. And I’m not talking about your Jamie Noble’s & Chavo Guerrero’s of this world as they are doing just fine up against the big blokes on SmackDown. Hell, maybe bring back the ECW Television Title to allow an X-Division like “No Weight Limits” motto. Surely this can’t hurt ECW!


Alrighty then… I hope you all enjoyed edition #255 of 'The Wrestling Menu' & it made for a sufficient final column of the year from my good self. I will still be checking my email intermittently over the next couple of weeks, so you can still email any feedback and/or thoughts to me during this time. I will reply whenever I get a chance to. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. The LOP Forums are about to be reset, so I probably do not suggest that you post any feedback there unless you are going to do it almost immediately at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=10.

As I stated near the beginning of my column, I will not be posting a column on the next 2 Wednesdays. That means I will be back on Wednesday January-9 where I will have my annual ‘Year-End Awards’ & ‘WWE Report Card for 2007’. 2008 will be no different to 2007 when it comes to my column, as it 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.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A SAFE & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL



DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2007

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***DIRECT LINK*** Huge Gallery of TNA'S VELVET SKY - In Her CAREER BEFORE TNA! WHOA!!!

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