By Scott Bowden
September 22, 2005
Homecoming King: Vince McMahon gears up for a move back to USA Network with a solid UNFORGIVEN
Slowly but ever-so-painfully slow, WWE booking is starting to make sense again at times. Granted, you would have thought using Kurt Angle as a serious performer and a legit threat to any champion instead of as a would-be rapist/oft-comedic caricature (always a nice combination) would have been obvious, but I suppose that’s nitpicking in hindsight, isn’t it? Also nice to see heel-from-hell Eddie Guerrero stepping up as the next challenger to Batista, although I wonder if maybe they had him drop one too many bouts to Rey Mysterio in the months leading up to this point.
With WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW’s imminent return home to USA Network –and newfound competition in the forms of UFC and the now-breathing TNA on Spike TV—the Former Fed needed an especially strong Sunday’s UNFORGIVEN. And given UNFORGIVEN’s inherent limitations, i.e., the watered-down lineups that hurt any RAW- or SMACKDOWN!- brand exclusive show, most WWE fans have to be pleased overall, despite an uncreative finish to the main event.
Flair for the Gold: While some may question the logic in putting the IC strap on Ric Flair at this stage in his career, I think it was smart. I’m sure Carlito will be put over in the end—but in the meantime, this gives the IC title a much-needed boost and enables the second-generation star to shine in memorable verbal sparring matches with Flair. Talk about an education in rasslin’ excellence for Carlos Colon’s son. It sure as hell doesn’t hurt Carilto, as some have speculated, because no one really takes him seriously to begin with. This could be the feud that gets Carlito over as a true player. Having Flair as a tag partner really made Batista shine, and I expect some of that same magic to rub off on Carlito as well. Besides, the finish was entertaining, with Flair punching an apple-stuffed Carilto, who proceeded to “choke” on the remnants, while the Nature Boy applied the winning figure-four leglock. Even Coach was pretty funny in response to Flair connecting with a blow from the top rope: “No! No! Something’s not right! I got a bad feeling about this!” Of course, the joke was run into the ground by the end of the match, but I expected that. I thought there rematch on Monday’s RAW was just as good, if not better.
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The announcers are right: Flair truly does seem recharged by this program. By the way, Lawler took a step back in getting over as hip with today’s younger fans. Weeks after successfully joking about rap-mogul Suge Knight, Lawler discussed the lyrics to the old Jim Croce song “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” saying, “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. And you don’t mess around with Ric Flair.” Could have been worse: Lawler could have been quoting the lyrics to one of his own songs, like “Bad News” or “World’s Greatest Wrestler.” The horror.
Side-Note Slam: I vividly recall Memphis wrestlers like Bill Dundee, “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant and Tommy Rich routinely quoting that same Jim Croce song back in the ’70s, substituting themselves for “Jim.” Clearly, these wrestlers were not to be messed with.
I thought the Matt Hardy/Edge cage bout was excellent—an old-school-flavored, well-booked bout. I didn’t freak out as some did with Hardy’s initial burial on his return to WWE, as I assumed Hardy would get at least one high-profile win as part of the program. I was critical, however, of the finish to their SUMMERSLAM bout—not of the result (an Edge win), mind you, but of the execution, which made Hardy look awfully weak. Problem was, Hardy had been horribly misused in the months before he left, while Edge had taken his heel character to a higher level. (Hardy’s loss to Conway the next night on the RAW following SUMMERSLAM didn’t help matters.) In a sense, the Internet marks’ fascination with this angle doesn’t even center around Hardy but justice in general—which can be mighty hard to come by in the wrestling business. I suppose many didn’t trust WWE to properly handle the angle, specifically, Matt Hardy, who appeared to have an eternal spot in WWE talent coordinator Johnny “Ace” Laurinatis’ doghouse—a place so big it could be considered a kennel. (Dear God, I sounded like Lawler there, didn’t I?) In typical WWE bullshit fashion, it seems the company initially had Hardy pay for the misconduct that led to his firing (while Edge and Lita went unpunished). Basically, with those early SUMMERSLAM and RAW finishes, WWE risked the feud’s momentum and monetary value in the process.
The closing moments of Sunday’s cage bout culminated with Hardy delivering a Twist of Fate to Lita, which the crowd popped for. (Haven’t we all dreamt of doing that to an ex-girlfriend?)
Then, in a “holy-shit”-worthy move, Hardy went for a risky PPV high spot—just like the ones that used to define his career. The legdrop from the top of the cage will be talked about for years—or maybe just until Mick Foley returns to do something even more insane. I have to admit: I figured Hardy would probably get the win the moment the announcers started emphasizing that Edge could “leave the cage at any time” and the Edge was merely “toying with Hardy.” It seemed unthinkable that they be so stupid as to somehow simultaneously put Hardy over while burying him at the same time. To their credit, though, Lawler, Ross and Coach conceded later that Hardy was the one in control leading up to the big legdrop. (Hulk Hogan reportedly hurt his hip just watching Hardy perform the move.)
I think I speak for many when I say that it was good to see Hardy shine like this. Even more promising: Hardy was booked as a near-equal to Shawn Michaels and John Cena in a damn entertaining 8-man tag on RAW the following night.
The Hardy/Edge program is coming to a close as strongly as anything WWE has booked in months. I say “closing,” as apparently either Hardy or Edge is heading to SMACKDOWN! after the loser-leaves-RAW ladder bout on the Oct. 3 HOMECOMING show on USA Network. It’s probably for the best interest of everyone involved to keep this program short and sweet; however, I can’t quite believe they’re giving the blow-off away on a free show—now matter how important the USA re-intro means to Vince and Co. It’s a shame that with all the big names (Hulk Hogan, Triple H…Koko B. Ware?) returning for the HOMECOMING, this bout, which should be a classic, might get lost in the shuffle. Me? I’m tuning in to HOMECOMING to see Harley Race and Superstar Graham.
I hope they keep Hardy on the flagship show, sending Edge to SMACKDOWN!, where he could feud with Batista down the line for the title. A heel Edge on top of SMACKDOWN! as World champ with Batista chasing to regain the strap could be a draw.
Masterpiece Theatre: Shawn Michaels proved himself once again to be a master of the canvas, carrying Chris Masters to a pretty good bout. (For those who saw the infamous Bret Hart/Tom Magee from years ago—is this comparable?) Really, Masters isn’t all that bad—he’s just green as grass, with a personality to match. The problem with Masters is that I’m not nearly as confident in his future as WWE Creative and Jim Ross, who seem to think this kid is loaded with potential. Saying Masters is a step ahead of Lex Luger at a comparable stage in their careers (as Ross recently did) isn’t exactly going to convince me, either. That being said, Masters followed Shawn’s lead just fine, and the crowd even got into it as well—not an easy feat with today’s fans. Masters looked like a hundred dollars Sunday (and I mean that as compliment of sorts)…but can he do it without Michaels? I think not, at least right now. But if Masters is as young as Ross claims (22), then perhaps he’ll prove us all wrong in the long run. Stranger things have happened in the wrestling business. Case in point: Two years ago, how many of you would have figured Batista would be World champion?
Unforgivable Finish?: Yes, it’s frustrating to have a PPV main event end in a disqualification, but UNFORGIVEN’s finish to the Kurt Angle vs. John Cena bout didn’t bother me nearly as much as the Batista/JBL DQ months back. With the former, this feud should continue as it’s the hottest match the company has right now—until Oct. 3, anyway. Besides, the contrasts between Angle and Cena make for awfully entertaining television.
In the case of the latter, JBL and Batista was just awful television. As long as the WWE title bout was of good quality (and it was Sunday), the DQ finish wasn’t going to piss me off—plus, it actually fit in nicely with the storyline of Eric Bischoff trying to screw Cena out of the belt. It was a pretty good bout overall, though not as strong as the Cena/Chris Jericho title bout at SUMMERSLAM. It’ll be interesting to see where the company goes with the feud, especially with Triple H returning to the mix.
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