Ranting in the UK WWE Armageddon 2006
After being thoroughly sickened by ECW Dismember to December, or whatever it was called I’m trying desperately to forget it ever happened and move on, I was in two minds about paying the money to see Armageddon. Finally, after hearing good reports, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the replay. It was a good decision on my part. Armageddon was a splendid wrestling show with some great matches but a rather lousy crowd in places
The show kicked off with Kane Vs M.V.P in an Inferno match. Now normally I hate these matches because they always chicken out in the end and never have a guy actually get set on fire. Not that I’m a sadist or anything but if you’re going to have an Inferno match you should have the decency to give it a proper ending. The fact that the past two I saw ended with a guys sleeve and boot catching ablaze to end the farce made this one a big question mark. Thankfully, this time WWE didn’t chicken out and M.V.P took one for the team by having his entire back engulfed in flames. Not bad. The match itself was the usual kick and punch stuff from these two. M.V.P isn’t a bad wrestler but he hardly rocks my world and Kane is similar. However, because WWE delivered in the stipulations I’ll give them ** because it was well worked and entertaining throughout.
WINNER – KANE
Match time – 8:21
The next match was a 4 team ladder match between London and Kendrick, Regal and Taylor, MNM and The Hardy Boys. This was a great match that was wasted because WWE didn’t hype it in advance. As a result, the live crowd got an awesome match but the match got zero extra buys for the first show. Granted a lot of people may have bought the replay but most likely everyone with fast internet connections just downloaded it costing WWE some money and they have no one to blame but themselves. Still, the match was superb as everyone was in rare form, especially Jeff Hardy who took some insane bumps, as did Kendrick. Regal and Taylor looked completely out of place here but that fit well into the story. The match had spot after spot, each one topping the next. Of course because this was a Hardy match the old ladder seesaw spot made it’s return with dangerous consequences. Joey Mercury was lucky not to lose his eye after taking a ladder to the face and had to be hospitalised immediately. It’s just a shame this match wasn’t hyped before hand as it made a lot of these guys suffering for naught. Still I love good matches and this was certainly a good match. It also showed that WWE seem to have a lot of faith in Kendrick and London as their tag reign has been astronomical for two guys less than 250 pounds.
****1/4
WINNERS – LONDON AND KENDRICK
Match time – 20:13
Boogeyman Vs Miz
Whoopee
WINNER – CERTAINLY NOT THE CROWD THAT’S FOR SURE!
Match time – 2:51
Chris Benoit put his US Title up against Chavo Guerrero next in another solid wrestling match between the two. My problem with this whole feud was detailed in my Survivor Series rant so I won’t bore you with it again. This was a very solid technical wrestling match with some good heel work from Chavo. It had a lot more passion than the match the month before and both guys seem to be starting to jell where as they weren’t before. The Vicky stuff is idiotic though and it really puts me off the feud in general. I don’t want to see Eddie Guerrero’s widow get beaten up on a monthly basis, and I’m sure he wouldn’t either. This feud doesn’t make me want to buy a ticket to see a show. Sure I can enjoy the match as just a match but they don’t need the crappy storyline for that. I think that now, a year after Eddie died, they should just end this angle and let him rest in peace. My greatest fear is that his name will be used on TV so much that it will cease to mean anything anymore. People will just become numb to him and what he meant to the world of wrestling. Anyway, before I go off on another Eddie related rant, Benoit got a semi clean win over Chavo with the Sharpshooter following Vicky shenanigans.
***1/2
WINNER – CHRIS BENOIT
Match time – 12:14
Gregory Helms put his Cruiserweight Title up against Jimmy Yang next and they proceeded to have a very solid match. Yang sold well and made a good comeback towards the end, getting a couple of close near falls. Unfortunately, due to past booking most likely, the fans immediately shut down when they realised Cruiserweights were going to wrestle. The match was highlighted by JBL’s venomous commentary about how the fans didn’t respect good wrestling, leaving Michael Cole totally unsure how to proceed so he went to his generic catchphrases whenever JBL would be quiet long enough for him to speak. Helms looked good but I really would have put Yang over here to freshen things up a bit. Still, they may decided to have Helms lose at The Rumble, the year anniversary of his win, the only question is who would be best to succeed him?
***
WINNER – HELMS
Match time – 10:51
The Undertaker Vs MMMMRRRRRRR KENNEDY KENNEDY Last Ride match was probably the worst match in the series between the two. There were some good bumps; Taker took a dive off the stage in a particularly nasty looking one, but the match had no real flow or substance and just sort of plodded along until the predictable finish. Kennedy came out the loser of the feud really because he never got anything close to a clean pin fall on Taker in any of his “big winsâ€Â. Taker, by all things considered, polished him off rather easily here. There was of course the “hearse cam™†where Taker did the big sit up to make the match look like a cheesy horror flick. A sad end for Kenney’s big push
*1/2
WINNER – UNDERTAKER
Match time – 19:08
King Booker and Finlay Vs Batista and John Cena
I just was not enthused for this match at all and it ended up plodding along to a predictable ending. Rather than use the chance to let Finlay get a pin over Batista to build him up and give Batista a main event for The Rumble, King Sucka took the fall, not without stinking up the joint like he usually does first of course, and now we have the dumb “Stop the Clock†thing which was great when they used it on Raw but a silly way to just let Booker get another title shot. Cena looked good though.
*1/4
WINNERS – BATISTA AND CENA
Match time – 11:29
The Inside Pulse
So overall this was a good show with the under card proving great fun in some places. The big marquee matches dragged the show down slightly though. Still there’s enough for me not to feel ripped off for paying money to see this.
Later dudes and dudettes
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