I really much apologise on the lame teaser. It was lametastic!
I’m going to keep my promise on speaking more on SmackDown’s Angle Vs Taker match later tonight, as well as giving reason for my somewhat contradicting ratings for matches. Either way, Velocity’s about to begin.
Velocity opens with Steve Romero and Josh Matthews (who’s looking good tonight), standing in WWE Studios as expected. They immediately begin talking about the Hall Of Fame Class this year. This Ceremony was sold out within five minutes, or something.
Bret Hart Induction Announcement video.
Up next, we get some video footage from the Bret Hart DVD. And yes, this IS Velocity. Shock horror galore.
Commercials.
Romero and Matthews talk about Bret Hart and introduce the Survivor Series 1997 segment. I don’t know if this is the entire segment or not, but it’s on here. Bischoff says there were two “conversations” between WCW and Hart, and Bischoff thought one may have been a secret conversation between just him and Hart. JR and McMahon say differently in that they were orchestrating this entire thing. Hart goes on about tradition and everything. I’ve seen a total of what might be four Bret Hart matches. So I don’t really care the way that most people do. Some fans call it disgusting that Hart lost via his own signature move . . You’ve got to wonder if that guy knew it wasn’t part of a program. Hart speaks about the Father Son relationship that he and Vince had, and that he wishes Shane wasn’t there when he talked to Vince afterwards, but his kids were in the audience as well. Hart stands by what he did.
Matthews wonders whether Hart and McMahon can put it behind them after Hall Of Fame. Gee, that doesn’t just smell of WrestleMania Segment.
Commercials.
Kurt Angle video to the song “Final Fight” from the second Buffy Soundtrack. For those that haven’t gotten the soundtrack, it’s the music that goes to the big Uber Vamp / Girls fight. Quite fitting. And a great video. I love whenever they use that song, which they do a fair bit.
Eddie Guererro Hall Of Fame announcement video. EVERY single time I see the beginning to the RAW Eddie Tribute Show, I get goosebumps. I can’t tell whether they should have played this video, or the “Hurt” by Johnny Cash video.
Up next, we get an Eddie Guererro video!
Commercials.
UnderTaker video.
We get a video from “Eddie Guererro : Cheating Death, Stealing Life”. . It’s all kind of surreal, that title, now that he’s dead. I have this DVD, though I totally forgot that . . I think I have it . . . Yep! I always seem to forget I have that DVD. We get Eddie after his No Way Out title victory, and Wrestle Mania XX.
Commercials.
WrestleMania Big Tome Moment – the Gimmick Battle Royale. Wow, what a grand moment that remains in everyone’s minds. This is the only match on the card I didn’t pay attention to.
Mean Gene Okerlund extended Hall Of Fame Induction Video.
Up next . . ugh . . Taker verses Kurt Angle recap.
Commercials.
The “One” video for Angle and Taker.
Recap of Angle / Taker from SmackDown. I believe we get the entire second portion of the match.
Advertisement for the Australian Road To WrestleMania tour.
Kurt Angle / Taker continues. We’re now up to the third portion.
We see videos into screen shots of Mark Henry’s table attack on Taker, which gave reason as to why the Spanish Announcers were there. Henry’s attack ends the show.
Now, to validate some of the ratings, a.k.a. mini-rant time. I gave Taker/Angle a 4/10, the same mark I gave Booker T/Tatanka. By pure obviousness alone, Taker and Angle was the far superior match. But you see, Booker T and Tatanka was a fun little opening match which was harmless. Taker and Angle was the World Heavy Weight Championship Main Event. It went for three times (at LEAST) of the entire Booker T, Tatanka, and Boogeyman segment . . and yet, it was slow, boring, and hardly lived up to the expectation that Michael Cole and Tazz had set up for it. It was by no means a horrible match, all the ingredients were there for one hell of a match. The only thing that was needed was for it to be quick, fun, shorter, and it sure as hell wouldn’t have hurt for the commercials to be done before their match. Note : I am not talking about their No Way Out match, which has received mixed reviews from the IWC, and I have still yet to watch it. If SmackDown’s Main Event had removed the opening third and squished that in to the rest of the match, and eliminated the filler, then it by sure would have been put at least six. And if Taker and Angle had remained at specific styles of wrestling for more than what they did, then it would automatically have been put above eight. At times it seemed like they didn’t know whether they wanted a brawl or a technical match, so decided to go for both, which can work within the right people. Normally it works for Kurt Angle, and can sometimes work for Taker, but it doesn’t work for Taker when he’s wrestling such a long match. Of course there was no way that they could have gone for a mere ten minutes (it’s a main event pay per view rematch, duh).
There is a more than basic logic in that Opening Card Matches should be a fun way to kick off a show. This is of course different for Pay Per Views in which an opening match can be as serious as the card gets, but for your usual television event, an opening contest should be something fun. It can be either a fun match technically or a fun match up of superstars. So long as it catches the line. The middle card should be solid matches. Average, good, whatever. you all know that the middle card can be the more long and tidious part of some events doing wrong. It’s alright if people don’t care about either the opening or middle card, so long as some amount of their attention is still maintained then everything’s happy as Larry. However happy he is. While the Main Event should be, at the very least, an above average match. For those that havn’t noticied, this is the system I use. By Velocity Standards. By SmackDown standards. Just because there’s a certain ladder of how good things should be doesn’t mean that there’s an excuse for laziness, hardly, it’s just that a match between the likes of two average minus wrestlers that open up Velocity should not be viewed on the same page as a match that opens SmackDown, let alone Main Events it.
Well, they had the best Velocity “recap episode” since I’ve begun recapping this show, and that’s because it was building towards something. Not only was it building nicely towards the Under Taker / Kurt Angle Match (considering that in itself was a recap), but it also built VERY nicely towards WrestleMania Weekend. A nice little form of advertising for those who haven’t bought the Bret Hart DVD (like me) or the Eddie Guererro DVD. Though, I would have liked it if they showed a recap of the build up to the current WrestleMania Card, which can be found pretty much everywhere. Oh well, until next time! Ciao Yáll!
