Featuring:
John Cena
Batista
Randy Orton
Mick Foley
King Booker
Johnny Nitro
CM Punk
Bobby Lashley
DVD Release Date: July 24, 2007
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 180 Minutes
The Event
June 24, 2007, it was a hot night in the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, as World Wrestling Entertainment made their way for the annual Vengeance Pay-Per-View (PPV). For the first time ever in the company’s history, every single match would be a championship match. WWE has certainly grown in the number of titles over the years from when just the WWE Title, Intercontinental Title, and Tag Team Titles were the top tier of the ladder. The count is up to nine titles over three different brands and the fate of each would be decided on this one night.
Since the entire PPV was essentially a gimmick, there were no real extreme matches or gimmick matches to be seen. No ladder matches, submission matches, or even cage matches were on the card. Just straight up battles to determine who would walk out with the gold at the end of the night. It would be a night that saw many past champions come out of the woodwork in order to show that many people can be remembered, but it’s those with the belts that create legacies.
Vengeance is a PPV that pretty much ends any battles that have been brewing for months and opens up the rest of the summer for new feuds. This of course gives those feuds a good two months to stew up some hype for the big bash at the end of August, SummerSlam. And even though this would be a moment of moving forward, it was still a night to honor past champions and the greats many of us had watched years and years ago.
~ World Tag-Team Championship Match: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch (c) Vs. The Hardys – This has actually been one of the better built feuds in the tag-team division in a very long time. Cade & Murdoch played up the very friendly face roles in recent weeks and tried being friends with the Hardys only to slowly show their true colors all along. These two teams have a lot of chemistry together and it makes for a good match that may get a bit slow at times, but leads to a hot finish.
~ King Booker & Queen Sharmell discuss Booker’s match – Booker is quite possibly the most perfect person to have gotten the king gimmick because he pulls it off flawlessly.
~ Cruiserweight Championship Match: Chavo Guerrerro (c) Vs. Jimmy Wang Yang – Jimmy Wang Yang is quickly becoming one of the best cruiserweights in all of WWE and one of the most entertaining as well. Pairing him with an established veteran like Chavo makes for a nicely paced match that does not disappoint.
~ Recap Of Mr. McMahon’s “Death†– Close to five minutes replaying the exploding limo, the investigation, closer looks at everything that went on, and even a list of suspects.
~ Todd Grisham interviews Bobby Lashley – Todd asks for Lashley’s thoughts on Mr. McMahon’s death and Lashley proves that he still has the charisma of a rock.
~ ECW World Championship Match (Vacant): CM Punk Vs. Johnny Nitro – This would be the match that Chris Benoit was allegedly scheduled to win the ECW Title but he was not there due to “personal reasons.†And by now, everyone knows why he was not there due to the deaths of him and his family. Now the explanation from the announcers given during the original airing of the PPV is totally edited out. There is actually almost dead silence from when the ring announcer introduces Nitro until he enters the ring. Oddly enough though, the very loud “WE WANT BENOIT†chants from the crowd are still blatantly obvious. The match itself drags a bit in the middle but is still very enjoyable for the two young superstars involved.
~ Randy Orton confronts Mick Foley in his locker room – Far from strangers, Orton tries to scare Mick a bit before the match later in the night. As always, Mick isn’t easily intimidated.
~ Intercontinental Championship Match: Santino Marella (c) Vs. Umaga – This match obviously proves the confidence the WWE had lost in Marella thinking he could pull the underdog role and get over with the fans. It really isn’t much of a match before it is over and the fans show that they won’t settle for someone being shoved down their throats. OO-MA-GA!
~ United States Championship Match: MVP (c) Vs. Ric Flair – MVP continues to impress as he holds his own against one of the best in the game for the past four decades in Flair. The dirtiest player in the game was out to prove he still has it, and teach a young punk a lesson, but the kid has a few tricks up his sleeve. A fun back and forth match that truly proves Flair can still go and MVP can hold his own against anyone.
~ Todd Grisham interviews John Cena – Todd doesn’t get much in before Edge shows up for a little back and forth champion to champion. Cena is generic, Edge is solid, and the McMahon investigation continues.
~ WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Deuce & Domino (c) Vs. Superfly Jimmy Snuka & Sgt. Slaughter – Slaughter and Snuka’s combined age has to be close to 300, but it is still fun watching the legends in the ring again. Even though the match isn’t really high-paced, as could be expected, it is kept rather short and provides an entertaining few minutes.
~ Last Chance World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (c) Vs. Batista – After a series of matches, Batista was getting his final shot at the World Heavyweight Title as long as Edge would have the belt around his waist. The match itself really isn’t that bad but you can only see a match so much before you just don’t give a damn anymore. I really like Edge but Batista does nothing but annoy me every time I see him, so witnessing this match for the third PPV really just didn’t interest me.
~ WWE Women’s Championship Match: Melina (c) Vs. Candice Michelle – It still boggles the mind as to why these two get to be in the title hunt while the women who can actually wrestle (Mickie James, Victoria, Beth Phoenix, and even Jillian Hall) are involved in nothing. The point of putting those who aren’t too accomplished yet in with established veterans is to get them better right? So why put two screaming women who can barely wrestle in there together? Oh eye-candy right!
~ WWE Championship Challenge: John Cena (c) Vs. Bobby Lashley Vs. Mick Foley Vs. Randy Orton Vs. King Booker – Cena didn’t have anyone to really go up against, so after the draft happened, anyone who was a former champion could challenge him. Four stepped up and it made for a very good and fast-paced match. It was a lot of nice spots throughout but I don’t understand why the Edge/Batista match got at least 5-6 minutes more then this one did. This was by far the better match and much more entertaining.
The Video
The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and WWE continues releasing fantastic looking products. With the stage set up in the arena being extremely bright, all the colors are very vibrant and extraordinarily crisp. There really isn’t much of a flaw to be found except for a slight bit of pixilation during some of the pyrotechnics.
The Audio
The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and even though the surround isn’t actually surround (since everything comes through every speaker), all sounds great. All entrance music and interviews can be heard perfectly without a complaint really to be found.
Special Features
Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda Interview – A short interview with them complimenting each other as tag team partners and labeling the Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff and Brutus Beefcake/Greg Valentine as their favorite opponents.
Magnum T.A. Interview – Magnum talks about his favorite opponents in Wahoo McDaniel and Tully Blanchard. He even goes into his car accident twenty years ago that left him paralyzed from the neck down ending his career. But he is now walking again and living a good life with his family.
Harley Race Interview – Race simply goes into his career and how he worked his way to the top. He continues on about being seen as the best by your peers is perhaps the best thing anyone could ever ask for and how each feud he was ever in was always a little bit better then the last one.
Dean Malenko Interview – The Ice Man discusses his cruiserweight career and some of the greats he has been in the ring with. His favorite opponent over the thousands he wrestled in his career was Eddie Guerrerro and especially their last night in ECW together before leaving for WCW. The match was 2 out of 3 falls and Malenko calls it a bit of his and Eddie’s greatest hits.
Ricky Steamboat Interview – The Dragon goes back on his long and storied feud with Ric Flair starting in 1977. But he considers his feud with Randy Savage to be among the top five in his career and he even discusses the epic WrestleMania III match.
Tony Garea & Rick Martel Interview – They go into detail about how they had a great relationship in and out of the ring as tag-team partners and good friends. Martel looked at Garea as a big brother who was watching out for him and Garea knew that Martel was someone he could always depend on.
Trailers – The Ladder Match and The Most Powerful Families In Wrestling.
The Inside Pulse
Vengeance actually proved to be a more enjoyable event then what the WWE has churned out the past couple months. Most of the matches were fun to watch and the action was extremely solid. Being a wrestling fan for close to 23 years really made seeing all the old favorites even more worth it. Windham, Rotunda, Steamboat, Martel, and all the other legends make me remember why I’ve watched wrestling for so long. It really is a shame that wrestling just doesn’t have the great and exciting feel that it used to, but Vengeance is a step in the right direction. The special features are interesting yes, but still rather disappointing considering it is only a handful of interviews. A good DVD that could have used a bit more pizazz, but the event itself was enjoyable so it is well worth picking up for the wrestling fan.
