Armageddon 2007

[Slowdude]

I was bored so I decided to watch a random PPV and review it.

Armageddon 2007
Commentators:
Raw: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
Smackdown: Michael Cole and JBL
ECW: Joey Styles and Tazz

The end of a terrible year for professional wrestling as a whole. The WWE is moving on from the Benoit Tragedy earlier the year. The main feuds going into this are Edge vs Taker vs Batista over the World Title. Jeff Hardy vs Triple H in a #1 contenders spot. Oh and a returning Chris Jericho trying to save us from Randy Orton in a WWE Championship match. Oh and ECW means nothing, the development of new superstars part of ECWWE was just about to go into full swing.

The opening package focuses on the Triple Threat with a bit of the #1 contenders match included.

United States Championship
MVP (c) vs Rey Mysterio

MVP is still the young cocky US champion which he won from Benoit at Judgement Day. The reason for this match is because Rey Rey told MVP that he is a punk. They clearly were just buying time for the less succesful Hardy to return. JBL was great on commentary.

The two men start off with just basic formula to begin with. That was a weird botch, Rey tried doing something but fell flat on his face, MVP still manages to go flying which makes it look silly. The ref blocks Rey from jumping over the top rope bu t Rey does it anyone. You don't see that happen much these days. A chinlock lasts for about 30 seconds as nothing interesting is happening. Cole and JBL was a great pairing on commentary, JBL made him some-what bearable. After a few minutes of rest holds Rey makes a come back oh wait his knee is injured. Rey is still in control though and MVP decides enough is enough and gets counted out. After the match Rey hits the 619

Rating: 4/10 Nothing was interesting about this match and the count out made it just that much more worse. They were clearly just buying time for less succesful Hardy to return to take the US Title.

We go to JR and Lawler. We go back a month to Survivor Series where HHH and Jeff beat 5 heels by themselves. Todd Grisham interviews the more succesful Hardy. Its his biggest match ever apparently.

We go to Joey Styles and Tazz for the ECW Match.

Kane and CM Punk vs Big Fattie V and Mark Henry with Matt Striker
Wait why is this on PPV? Oh The fat men were trying to eat Punk and Kane tried to help them by cooking Punk but the fat guys mistook it for Kane trying to stealing their meal. Well my version is more entertaining then the non existant one the WWE gave us.

So Miz and Morrison are tag champs right now, Punk is the ECW champion. Instead of defending either of these titles a tag match like this is made okay then? No TV is big enough to fit the fat in according the Joey. That is quite true. Henry wasn't Koolaid yet at this point meaning he is pretty much the same. Punk and Kane knee, kick and punch Henry for a bit. Henrys fat slows Punk down though as the fat starts to prepare their meal. The fat continue to tenderise Punk till Kane gets a tag in. Kane dominates for a bit but there is to much fat. A nice sit out chokebomb from the Fatter of the Fat gets a 2 count. After quite a bit of fast forwarding Punk is tagged in. The fattier man proceeds to Samoan drop Puink to get the win for the fat.

Rating: 1/10 It was punches and kicks from all four men for 10 minutes and the ECW Champion lost cleanly? Punk would then go on to lose it to Chavo in a couple of weeks... Moving on...

Edge lies to Vickie backstage. Vickie has a neckbrace from being tombstoned from Taker.

Mr Kennedy vs Shawn Michaels
Thats right Kennedy was on a roll after returning from his second or third injury and is facing HBK. He does a familiar speech from somewhere else where he says the only thing that matters tonight is that he beats him because he is MR KENNEDY. I actually liked Kennedy at this point.

Kennedy dominates early working on Shawns back. HBK takes over after a chop block. The back is injured as HBK can't perform a snap suplex and turns it into a arm bar takedown instead. HBK works on Kennedys arm with an armbar for quite some time until Kenendy finally pushes away HBK followed by tackling him to the outside. HBK is still in control with more work on the arm. Kennedy takes control by pushing HBK off the mat. Even though he is still in control he can't use the injured arm. HBK and Kennedy take turns on working on each others injuries. This is fairly decent with both men selling their injuries. Ending comes as Kennedy punches HBK hard with his injured hand, he screams in pain and during this HBK hits Sweet Chin Music out of no where.

Rating: 7/10 Much better then the last two matches. Both men worked on their respected injuries and it came into the ending where Kennedy makes a mistake and HBK capatalizes.

Todd Grisham interviews the WWE champion Randy Orton. We are over an hour in and this is the first mention of the WWE Championship match. Here is one of the problems of Jericho's return. It was over shadowed by a mere #1 conteders match for the very title Jericho is trying to win at this event.

WWE Championship #1 Contenders Match
Jeff Hardy vs Triple H

Jeff is the IC Champion here. The crowd is surprisingly dead for his entrance. The crowd is really into HHH. No wait the crowd is still mostly dead and people complain about the current audience in 2010. At least they are enjoying the product.

HHH and Jeff are really close friends now apparently. Okay then. Jeff is some what matching HHH at the start of the match. He tries a barricade run on the outside and makes 3 steps, HHH just clotheslines him lol. HHH slaps Jeff and tells him to fight. HHH and Jeff aren't friends now according to Lawler. Jeff slaps HHH as pay back and just starts destroying him. Whisper in the wind is stopped when HHH just walks from behind and pushes him out of the ring. Its all HHH as any come back Jeff attempts is quickly foiled by HHH. I cbf calling everything thats going. Jeff starts getting an occasional move in. Jeff's move including some that had already been countered start hitting but he misses thw swanton. Pedigree countered into Twist of Fate is countered into a spine buster. Man I suck at discripitions. Another Pedigree is countered into a roll up which sends Jeff to the Rumble.

Rating: 7/10. Jeff's push begins. Then he blows it before Mania. Then he finally gets the world title a year later. But 6 months after that he quits the company, half a year later he is in TNA. All that pushing for nothing.

Khali: DUBAL GABALA LA GABANABU
Ranjin: The Great Khali says: Finlay tonight there will be consequences for your actions
Khali: DUBBLAIANA JUBALA NAYERUBA GALU
Ranjin: The Great Khli says: I'm going to destroy you Finlay and Midget
Khali: DUVAUA YU 'Poses'

The Great Khali vs Finlay

So the midget has Kennedys push and is Vinnie Mac's son. Vinnie Mac wanted the midget to fight Khali but Finlay turned face and attacked Khali.
Khali and Finlay both rock they're original WWE music which were both much better then their full face themes. JBL praises the midget.
Finlay uses the shelleigleh to get the win.

Rating: 3/10 Same as the Fat men wanting a meal match. Who cares? What I find funny here is JBL praises the midget then tries to kill him 2 months later in a storyline that I still don't understand.

WWE Championship Match
Randy Orton (c( vs Chris Jericho

Orton injured Cena, beat HHH in his third match of the night then beat HBK. Jericho had a lack luster return and here we are. The heel turn worked for Jericho in so many ways. That was a surprisingly long video package.
Its weird to see Jericho with the old extended intro to his theme and smiling. The long pants did not work with the short hair at all. Orton doesn't hear voices in his head yet either. Did you know Jericho was the first undisputed champion or that Orton is the youngest world champion ever? Big match intros as the ref checks both men for foreign objects on both men, Shouldn't he check around the entire ringside as well?

Orton's mid rope DDT is countered early on, oh well he tries to hit it early on and it got countered. Walls of Jericho fail and this is pretty basic so far. After about 6-7 minutes with nothing more then slow boring sequences we finally get somewhere as Orton goes for an RKO. Its countered and a lionsault hits for a 2 count. They head to the outside where Jericho is tossed into JBL. Jericho shoves JBL to the side as we head back to the ring. Walls of Jericho are locked on and JBL interferes for the DQ. No broadcasters is meant to get involved in any match according to JR. Doesn't Lawler wrestling a few times each year?

Rating: 5/10 This was slow and boring for the first 10 minutes. They pick things up for the last 5 minutes then the match is ruined with the odd DQ. JBL and Jericho would go on to have a very shitty feud after this. I'm bored and theres 2 matches to go.......

Ad for the Royal Rumble

WWE Womens Champ..... wait
Jillian is here to piss everyone off. She gets a full song then gets to walk off..

WWE Womens Championship
Mickie James vs Beth Pheonix (c)
Don't care.
Rating: 6/10 Fairly good for a Diva's match actually, good filler.

Ad for Mania 24

Michael Cole is joined by Tazz to reform the team

World Heavyweight Championship
Undertaker vs Edge vs Batista (c)

Taker was Champ, Batista failed to get it back. Edge cashed in MITB. Taker was gone, Edge got injured. Batista won the title, Taker tried to get it back. Edge stopped him at Survivor Series. It goes something along the lines of that. Edge is a 3 time champion at this point. Batista had won 3 and Taker was at 5.

Edge lets Taker and Batista fight at the start. Batista clothesline Taker out of the ring next to Edge. Taker grabs Edge by the throat. Batista kicks Edge down and its back to Taker vs Tista. Tista sends Taker into the ring post, Edge comes from behind and pushes Tista into it as well. Edge pushes Tista into the ring and stomps away. Taker is knocked off the apron and Edge walks into a nice side walk slam from Batista. Spear is countered into a nice kick. A powerslam gets a broken up.

Taker is in control but as he goes for a leg drop on the apron onto Edge Batista hits a nice clothesline to knock him down. Low blow and edgeucution gets a 2 count on Batista. Edge tries to fight Taker to no avail. I miss JBL on commentary. Batista spears Taker as he has Edge set up for the last ride. Taker gets a triangle hold on. Edge rings the bell which confuses Taker into letting go of the hold. Taker goes after the ref, Edge hits a spear for a 2 count. Spear on Batista gets another 2 count. Edge grabs 2 chairs in a con-chair-to but gets kicked in the face. Back to Taker vs Batista. Batista goes to the top rope for no apparent reason and slips. Superplex hits gets Taker a 2 count. Old School is caught into a Spinebuster nice. Edge gets speared to take him out once more. A second Edge appears. Chokeslam hits, Fake Edge gets chokeslammed. Another Fake Edge appears. Taker and Batista continue to fight despite the fact there is 3 Edge's walking around. Oh they haven't noticed yet apparently. Batista Bomb is countered into a Tombstone. Chair nails both men with the chair and pins Batista to win Number 4.

Rating: 8/10 Match of the night. Either hawkins or ryder got chokeslammed and the other one did nothing at all. Taker vs Edge continued until Summerslam 8 months later how about that.

Overall Rating: 6/10. Some of the matches like Jeff/HHH, HBK/Kennedy, Triple Threat were decent the rest were slow, boring and had terrible finishes (and a diva's match). If Punk's match was for the ECW title and not against the fat or Miz/Morrison had made the card I would of ranked it higher but this just didn't do it for me.

Oh and this PPV made me even more bored.

 

[LSN80]

I was there as it was in my hometown of Pittsburgh and even though my favorite wrestler(John Cena, shhh dont tell) wasnt there, I quite enjoyed the PPV. Anyway, ill chime in with my thoughts.

Armageddon 2007
Commentators:
Raw: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
Smackdown: Michael Cole and JBL
ECW: Joey Styles and Tazz
Live From Pittsburgh, PA

United States Championship
1.MVP (c) vs Rey Mysterio

I had hopes for this match based upon their match on Smackdown, but this one was quite the disapointment. Rey surprisingly dominated much of the match, and MVP's offense was mostly alot of rest-holds and headlocks, nothing like their matches on Smackdown. There were also two or three botched spots that dragged this match down for me. Anyway, Rey hit a fleury of offense at the end of the match, including a cool snap hurricanrana, his inverted bulldog, and a drop toe hold that set MVP up for the 619 MVP bailed before the 619 though, and grabbed his title and walked out. Rey threw him back in the ring and hit the 619 to give him his comeuppance however.

Winner: Rey Mysterio by CountOut, MVP retains the US title. **/5. I couldnt go any higher on this one due to the botched spots and the cheap finish. A Rey loss due to underhanded tactics such as feet on the ropes or an undetected low blow wouldn't have hurt him in the slightest. rey's fleury of offense was enjoyable. I agree with the OP that WWE was just biding time til Hardy came back, but Hardy was immensely popular at the time, and didnt have the personal issues or weight problems bogging him down that he does now.

2.Kane and CM Punk vs Big Daddy V and Mark Henry with Matt Striker

Short match that was dominated by Henry and Big Daddy V. Punk hit kicks and strikes that have little effect. The tide turns a bit when Kane tags in, and actually is able to get Henry up for a sideslam. Nice. Henry tags in V, who hits a nice sit out powerbomb for a convincing 2 count. Kane recovers and is able to connect with some European uppercuts, which seemingly have V reeling. Punk begs for the tag, and Kane obliges. Punk hits some effective kicks and strikes this time. V continues to reel, so punk goes to the top, but V catches him for the Samoan Drop and the clean pin.

Winner: Henry and Big Daddy V. .5/5. A couple of issues here. One, why is the ECW champion wrestling on PPV, but not defending his title? Two, why in the blue hell did they job him out? Your champion needs to win to stay credible, and a loss to a man who has lost all mobility in the ring hurts worse. Bad match.

3.Mr Kennedy vs Shawn Michaels

Kennedy dominates early here, working over Michaels back. Great job by Ross putting over the past issues Michaels has had with his back. They exchange holds in a nice series of chain wrestling, but Shawn can't quite execute a snap suplex due to the earlier "worked over" back. Great sell job by Shawn. HBK does lock in an armbar that Kennedy sells well. Michaels attempts to apply the crossface, but Kennedy shoves him off the apron, and Michaels tumbles to the floor. When he returns to the ring, Kennedy takes over on offense. Irish whip and a clostheline, followed up immediately by a half nelson. Michaels fights out and immediately goes right back to Kennedy's arm. Michaels hits some chops, but Kennedy ducks one, reverses, and hits a nice neckbreaker for a near fall. He struggles to follow up though, selling the arm. Kennedy goes for the Green Bay Plunge, but Michaels fights out of it. A frustrated Kennedy punches HBK with his injured arm, causing him to scream in pain, allowing HBK to hit Sweet Chin Music Out of nowhere for the win.

Winner:Shawn Michaels. ***.5/5. They told a great story, as both men sold their injuries well, yet Michaels showed his veteran instincts by frustrating Kennedy into hitting him with his bad arm. This was one of Kennedy's better matches while in WWE.

4. Jeff Hardy vs Triple H, #1 Contenders Match

Jeff wants to shake at the beginning of the match, but HHH wants him to fight, so he slaps the taste out of his Hardy's mouth. This enrages Hardy, who mounts HHH, and pounds away at him , til the refree pulls him off. HHH smiles at him and lightly applauds. They lock up, and Hardy takes control, but attempts a baseball slide, but HHH pops to his feet and closthelines him. Hardy fights hHH off, and goes for the Whisper in The Wind, but HHH shoves him off the top rope, spilling Hardy to the floor. HHH smiles again. Back in the ring, HHH begins to dominate, incuding hitting the high Harley Race like knee and a knee drop. Hardy attempts to recover and recklessly goes after HHH, who closthelines him again. another cocky smile from HHH. Hardy fights back, hitting a leg drop and a mule kick, and connects on his second attempt at the whisper in the wind. Hardy goes for the twist of fate, but HHH blocks and hits a spinebuster. He looks to finish Hardy off, but Hardy reverses into a backslide for the 3 count. HHH sells shock in the ring while Hardy goes into the crowd and celebrates with the fans.

Winner and #1 Contender to the WWE title: Jeff Hardy ***.25/5. Second match in a row that told a good story for a psychology standpoint. HHH played the cocky tweener that didnt believe that Hardy was quite on his level, and it cost him the match in the end. Solid action in the ring as HHH was very deliberate, where Hardy went for his usual high spots. As the match progressed, Hardy matched HHH's intensity, which was a nice touch. A slightly surprising outcome, but thr right one, as a Hardy-Orton feud turned out to be fresh and got personal in a hurry.

5.The Great Khali vs Finlay w Hornswoggle
The reason for this match wasn't really well-defined, and it wasn't much of a match. Finlay sold Khali's offense, mostly slow chops and kicks, like the old veteran that he is. Finlay attempted to play keep-away from Khali for as long as he could, but his offense was completely ineffective when Khali plodded his way towards him. Finlay went to use the shilleleigh out of frustration, which the ref removed, which allowed Hornswoggle to slip Finlay a larger one, which he promptly took out Khali's legs with. He KO'd Khali with it, and the 3 count was academic.

Winner: Finlay .5/5 This was pretty brutal. Khali was no less limited in the ring then as compared to now, and even Finlay counted sell his terrible offense. The crowd really dug Hornswoggle at the time, and the switch at the end was pulled off flawlessly, but this was a nothing match.

6. WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton(c) vs Chris Jericho

The champion enters first, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. This is only Jericho's second match since returning to WWE after 2 years, so it was interesting to see how he'ld hold up in a big match. He and Orton come face to face to start, and start trading blows. Orton gets rocked with an enzegrui early for a 2 count. alot of rest holds and submission attempts in the first 5 minutes. Jericho hits a nice dropkick, and lands the lionsault for 2. Orton counters the Walls and flings Jericho into the ropes, which allows him to set Jericho up for the hangmans ddt, but Jericho hangs Orton up off the ropes. They trade counters here, as Jericho misses a second lionsault, and Jericho blocks the RKO. They fight to the outside of the ring, where Orton tosses Jericho into the Smackdown announce table, where he inadvertantly bumps into JBL. Back in the ring, and Jericho regains control, and locks in the Walls, with Orton trapped in the center of the ring. Orton struggles to get to the ropes, but Jericho pulls him back to the center of the ring. Orton appears ready to tap, but JBL storms the ring and kicks Jericho in the head, causing the DQ.

Winner By DQ: Chris Jericho **.25/5. This match was just a ste-up for a later awful JBL-Y2J feud, and Jericho still appeared to have some ring rust, as some of the spots seemed to be off. They seemed to be stalling at times in the first 10 minutes, which is typical for an Orton match, but seemed moreso then normal. The last 5 minutes were quite good, but the DQ finish was the second "non-finish" of the night, both in championship matches.

7. Women's Championship Match: Beth Phoenix(c) vs Mickie James

Mickie with quick kicks to start the match, but she was quickly overpowered by Beth Phoenix into the corner. Phoenix tosses Mickie to the ground, and reverses an attempted hurricanrana by James into a powerbomb. Beth continues the advantage by working off Mickies back, using a snapmare into a lateral stretch. Mickie fights out with kicks to the head, and garners a quick rollup for 2, but Beth counters into a chicken-wing submission maneuver. Mickie elbows out of the hold, and hits a backflip over Beth into the counter, where she counters a beth charge with a big elbow. Big Thesz press from Mickie, and she hammers away at Beth with lefts and rights. Mickie with a spinning heel kick, and kick to the jaw, and follows up with another Thesz press. Mickies first to her feet, and she hiuts a neckbreaker for 2 when Beth gets to her feet. Mickie goes to the top and hits a nice missile dropkick for 2. Mickie goes right back on the attack, but Beth with a kick to the gut, and a fisherman's suplex for 3.

Winner: Beth Phoenix *.75/5 This was a good women's match from many standpoints, and it allowed Mickie to get in quite a bit of offense on Beth, something that had previously not been doner by any challenger. Too short of a match as it just seemed as if they were going for filler in between the 2 major championship matches. It was good while it lasted.