WWE No Way Out Review

18^th February 2007

The ladder match has been pulled but the build for the main event has been great. I’m not expecting the best show in the world but I expect something big from the main event.

Chris Benoit & The Hardys vs MVP & MNM

I guess if you’re promised a PPV payoff it’s unfair to go back on it so the Hardys and MNM meet again in six man action. Good guys run wild early on until Jeff gets cut off and the heels get the heat. Nitro and Mercury are really good and MVP isn’t too bad given his lack of experience. Eventually Jeff gets the tag to Matt (this won’t be the hot tag as Benoit is the comeback king) and just as he starts his comeback he gets cut off. Another heat segment followed a hot tag to Benoit. Benoit goes crazy hitting a double german on Mercury and Nitro, Cole (who seems to be loosing his voice) screams he has never seen the spot despite calling the mania three way from last year where Angle, Rey and Orton did the same spot. Matt hits the twist of fate on Mercury and Jeff follows it with a swanton followed by a headbutt from Benoit for two as MVP breaks it up. Crossface on MVP broken up by Mercury who gets one of his own for his trouble for the tap out. A very good opener for the show. They seem to be going with MVP and Benoit for mania and I expect the Hardys/MNM feud to culminate in ladder match.

Vickie Guerrero tells Krystal she has an opportunity coming her way straight from words memorised earlier in the day.

Cruiserweight Open

The rules are simple, two guys start, you win, you continue. Raw’s Scotty Too Hotty is out first and Daviari will join him to open the battle. After a couple of minutes of Daivari offence Scotty hits the worm and gets the victory. The cruiserweight champ is out next and pins Scotty straight away with a his new weird looking finisher. Funaki charges the ring but gets booted in the face by Helms and after some good offence hits a cross body but the rule of being able to role through and always get a three count works for Helms as he continues in the gauntlet. Shannon Moore is out next who I haven’t seen for yonks and does a cool hurricarana spot on the outside but Helms pins him with the new finisher again. It’s Smackdown’s resident redneck next who after a brief battle manages to roll up Helms for the pin. We have a new cruiserweight champion ladies and gentlemen. Before leaving Helms hits the eye of the hurricane on Yang allowing Jamie Noble to go to work on him. Noble takes Yang up for a superplex whilst shouting “what’s my name” to which ONE fan replies “Jamie Noble” ( I know it’s not that funny written down) but Yang manages to push him off and hit a moonsault for the three. “Here is you winner and new… Ooooh Chavo!” I guess Chavo is a surprise entrant (I’m sure he was announced in the week) and he goes straight to work on Yang. Chavo hits the three amigos and Cole screams about it being disrespectful, JBL argues that he can do what he wants considering he’s a Guerrero as they invented the three amigos and camel clutch. Chavo goes up for the frog splash to which Cole says Eddie invented that so Chavo shouldn’t be doing it, he missed the frog splash and Yang climbs the turnbuckle for a moonsault but misses allowing Chavo to hit the frog splash to the back to win the match and the title. The whole match was pretty good (at least as good as a match of this style can be) but I have to say I was surprised that Helms lost. I guess with Vickie’s “opportunity” the two things are linked. Definitely a disappointing way for Helms to loose his belt though.

John Cena cuts a promo saying he’s going to work alongside Shawn tonight and worry about Wrestlemania later.

Finlay & Little Bastard vs Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman

Match of the year potential in this one. Boogeyman beats on Finlay and tags in his mini who jumps on Finlay but little bastard comes in and distracts big Boogey. This allows to Finaly to kick little Boogey in the face. We then see Finlay apply hold to the mini. This is awesome! Remember when Finlay beat up the whole junior division on Smackdown? That was great. Little Bastard runs away and Boogeyman chases him allowing Finlay to use the shelleleigh to pick up the pin on the mini Boogey. Finlay’s performance and the fact he had no problem beating up the little guy in this match means it gets a thumbs up from me.

Shawn Michaels cuts a promo and tells us he has Cena’s back.

Kane vs King Booker

This is god damn boring. Kane wins clean with the chokeslam.

Batista cuts the worst of the three promos saying he’s not scared of anything.

WWE Tag Team Championship: Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs Deuce & Domino

Deuce and Domino get the heat on London forever and it’s pretty boring. Eventually London gets the hot tag to Spanky who after a mediocre come back hits rolls up one of the heels after they try the doomsday device for the win.

ECW Championship: Bobby Lashley vs Ken Kennedy

Kennedy cuts a horrible generic heel promo but is interrupted by Lashley who said something I didn’t catch then hits Lashley with the weakest punch ever. Lashley makes hi entrance but gets cut off by Kennedy on the ramp straight away. A brief bit of brawling in the aisle is followed by your usual boring Kennedy offence. Lashley eventually gets a comeback but Kennedy tries to hit him with a chair behinds the refs back. After connecting Lashley grabs it and hits Kennedy for the DQ. Why have a match of this length if this is all that’s going to happen? Where’s this going? Boring, boring match.

Diva Talent Search

I’m still searching.

Shawn Michaels & John Cena vs Batista & Undertaker

All four guys tag in and out early on until Smackdown get the heat on Raw. Shawn Michaels is absolutely awesome as the babyface being beaten on. Batista actually looks pretty good, in the same way he looks good when he’s in their with Finlay; he’s in there with someone good. Shawn teases the tag forever and finally gets it and Cena runs wild. He teases the FU on Dave but Taker’s boot ensures it doesn’t happen. Dave teases the Batista Bomb on Cena but a HBK shop block stops that one. This allows Raw to get the heat. God damn Shawn Michaels is an awesome heel (funny that isn’t it) and even Cena does a little stomp on the apron to get some heel heat. Dave gets the tag to Taker and a huge comeback ensues. Taker has both Cena and Shawn prime for a chokeslam but tosses Shawn to Dave for a spinebuster. Taker and Dave pose but Batista nails Taker with a spinebuster! Dave leaves the ring and a superkick into an FU allow the Raw main event to win. Post match Dave stands over Taker’s body with the title in hand. This was a really good match mainly thanks to the awesome Shawn Michaels, but the twist played out really well.

Overall four of the matches turned out to be good and the main event was really good so I’d say this is a definite thumbs up show. I don’t know if Batista is going full fledged heel but this was a great move. I was waiting for Shawn to kick Cena in the chin but it was the other team that disintegrated. Great booking for a decent show.

6.5/10

Raw is Boring (Again)

I'm sorry to say it but it totally was. The whole DX thing is really boring me and although their stuff with the bounty was mildly funny (tell that to Chris Masters) it's doing nothing for me in terms of 'wow I can't wait for DX to turn up next week!'

Cena and Umaga wasn't bad for the three minutes it was on but I like the fact they're doing an angle for Survivor Series.

Jeff Hardy won back the IC Title. Most people have moaned that it switched hands but I like it. It's only a secondary title and as long as it's switching on a semi-regular basis most people will remeber there is a belt.

Jerry Lawler is the man at taking the masterlock, it even got over. It's shame three minutes later Masters was destroyed (by Hunter shock horror) and Todd was in the booth for the rest of the night.

Why couldn't Edge and Orton beat Piper and Flair decislvely for the tag belts. Just put Flair in there selling for ten minutes, hot tag to Piper, heels screw the faces and get the tag. Putting the belts on 'Rated RKO' (what a shit name) is a good thing as they obviosuly look better as tag team champs but having them have to beat a guy who won't wrestle for another twelve months (hopefully) and a guy who can be beaten week after week after week but still be over. They're meant to be the top heels; do something to show me you are.

Overall I was glad I had tickets for Smackdown and not this show.

Cena Is Raw

Nothing was more apparent than statement on Raw this week. When he popped up in Umaga's beating of Maria segment (not a bad little way to get heat I suppose) the crowd went wild and Cena cut an awesome promo which was the highlight of the show.

The rest of the show was hit and miss. From what I remeber the first hour was good, the second bad and the main event was fun for what it was. I wasn't a fan of the fat stripper; that's what you get from beating Vince in the voting Bischoff.

Like I said, the first hour with the Eugene and Hacksaw segment (ratings), the Cena stuff and Hardy vs Nitro along with the opening segment were all fun but the second half with Shelton, Carlito, Masters, Lita and Mickie (the same gimmick on the same show great!) all sucked.

The reason no matches were announced for Survivor Series is because they're doing announcing the matches on the Internet given that 14.4 million (different) people visited for the voting last week. They believe they're owen hype. That's why Raw was all about Bischoff and not promoting Survivor Series. Two weeks to promote but the card is shaping up to be very nice. More about that later.

Cyber Sunday Sucked

I had very little interest in this show going in and usually this leads to a good show (No Way Out, Judgment Day) but this show sucked.

Umaga vs Kane was a match I didn't want to see againand we got it again. A shocklingly high number of people voted for Kane, I don't get it. Their match wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't worth paying for.

The texas tornado tag match was exactly what you'd expect; a cluster that Cryme Tyme won.

Carlito won the vote (as predicted) and wrestled a shitty match with Jeff Hardy. Carlito wrestled as the heel and didn't do much of the horrible high flying (he looks far better as a heel but still sucks). Hardy went over clean in a competitive match so it looks like Carlito is off to ECW.

Bischoff got voted in in a landslide. This would have been a great moment to see Vince's face. It took Orton and Edge forever to get the heat on DX and Hunter kicking out of an RKO was pointless in a tag match that was fourth on the card. The result finally went thr right way though. Overall n under par performance from the people involved in the match, it was mianly Orton and Hunter who pissed me off so when they pair off I hope Edge goes with Shawn. The sgment where Shawn was superkicking dudes in the hall was the highlight of the whole show.

Lita and Mickie wrestled in the lumberjill match and my god this match fucking blew. Lita won.

Flair and Piper won the tag belts! Yay. The Spirit Squad are splitting up! Roddy Peiper hasn't seen the sun since 1987!

The main event was what you'd expect from a triple threat with the people involved. Booker's title was on the line and he won so I doubt we'll hear about that victory considering they wanted Cena's belt on the line. K-Fed's apperance and interferance made perfect sense and allowed King Booker to become the champion of champions.

Overall it was a boring show with no brightspots except from the DX backstage deal. Faarooq made another appearnce but it has lost all it's comedy value by now. They were pushing that 14 million people voted. 14 million votes were cast, not by 14 million people. I reckon with seven stips to vote on and each person voting for each stip once it gives 2 million. Once people voting twice is taken into account I think a fair estimate is around 1.5 million. Not bad but certainly not great. Story of the show really.

Smackdown Happened on Friday

Considering Michael Cole opened the show with "we're 48 hours removed from Cyber Sunday" boy did Smackdown do a shitty job in promoting the PPV. The key angle in the show was that Big Dave was protecting Booker (and thus the title he wanted back). Apparently guys from ECW and Raw were attempting to take out Booker (I heard no mention of this angle ever before this night) and I believe four goons turned up at the end of the night but I have no clue who they are. The show's clsoing angle with Batista and Finlay made little sense as it was promotion for next week rather than a show on Sunday. Yes it's a Raw PPV but they've been doing a ton of build on Smackdown so why not for one more night?

Michael Cole's commentary is starting to really piss me off. In the London/Kendrick tag match it was obvious someone was in his ear saying "get London and Kendrick over, they're exciting and fun to watch" so Cole said "boy London & Kendrick are fun to watch!"

Tatanka's new look and his reading from a script on his head had to be one of the highlights of this boring show. Then again Jimmy Wang Yang was on the show and that can only be a damn good thing. Cole's continuance is saying that Yang is a red neck is grating me, do you not get the joke?

Raw Sucked

As a go home show for a PPV, a show that is meant to make you fo holy fuck I can't wait for DX to kick those damn dasterdly heels arses Raw freaking blew.

The ideal way to sell a PPV is for the heels (with a two on one advantage with chairs) to beat up the babyface in distress thus we pay to see the babyface(s) get their revange on Sunday. Of course the babyface was Hunter so he gets by the special ref stipulation and thr two on one with wepaons situation so on Sunday you're paying to see him do the same with his buddy HBK. Great job.

So the champions of champions match is Sunday. Raw vs Smackdown vs ECW's world champion, the first time ever they will be taking each other one (well they've been doing stupid interactions for weeks but nevermind). This is a historical moment. One brand could be left with no world champion and one brand could have two world title belts. So how do they promote this match? A stand off every week until you finally can't wait for them to scrap? Or how about killer promos on each other explaining how great and superior they are? Or how about telling stupid jokes and on the final push have one of the guys beat up a former (shitty) announcer. One of those three options stand out as sucking. Guess which one they went with.

Sure as hell I can't wait for Cyber Sunday! The women's submission match is going to be a classic.

Smackdown Thoughts

This weeks Smackdown seemed to be a huge show on paper but after I'd finished watching it felt somewhat empty. The main event was built as something huge but it was another swerve that takes away from the title match. When Big Dave finally gets his belt back it isn't going to mean as much if we're getting the match virtually every week. I didn't predict a finish with Cena and Big Show at ringside but I didn't think they'd make such a hige deal out of the match only to go the shitty finish. Big Dave looked terrible.

Rey/Chavo was a great match and for a purley selfish reason I was disapointed with Rey loosing as it means he won't be coming to Manchester in a couple of weeks. He does need knee surgery and hasn't had a break for the four years he's been with the company so he deserves it. I'm thinking they might go with Benoit/Chavo for the next month or so or Chavo's victory isn't going to mean anything if they don't do anything with him.

Where was Benoit? Where was Lashley?

I love William Regal. I like Taylor . These two in a tag team will be great. It seems they're sending them the way of Paul London and Spanky which I have no problem with at all.

Kane vs MVP could be the worst feud of the year. That is discounting Kennedy/Undertaker. Taker kills everybody, doesn't give anybody a chance to get over (ask Helms) and ultimatley this isn't doing anything for young Ken Kennedy.

I have no interest in Terkay and the dress wearing freak (he's just a guy who wears a dress - that's it).

Raw Is Random

What a random episode of Raw aired this week. K-Fed, DX, Jackass - bizzare.

The opening segment was great for the time that Orton and Edge were on their own. As soon as Hunter came out and treated us to nob gags and some new gay jokes it went downhill. UFC is doing huge buyrates for all its pay-per-views and how many feuds are based on the fact that one man is saying the other is gay?

The huge announcement for the champions of champions match is that we get to the vote for the winner. Well they're not going to do a title change are they? They need the winner of the voting to be Show or Cena because Booker has no chance going over if the booking is left to the Vince. I think Big Show has started bowling Monday nights since he went to ECW; that shirt was not a shirt worn by a world champion.

Cryme Tyme debuted and beat the competition. It finally looks like the Spirit Squad are breaking up resulting in three of them being released in the next six months and Johnny and Kenny probably heading to Smackdown. Cryme Tyme will be over for a couple of weeks, they'll win the belts and nobody will give a shit afterwards. Their segment with Booker was great although it was mainly Booker.

Why did Jeff have to defend his title in a four way? Isn't that seen as really bad when the champ has to? Masters got pinned. Again.

Carlito was on this show for the sake of being on the show.

K-Fed was damn good. He didn't try and get himself over but got Nitro and Cena over. A good celebrity appearance as opposed to the Jackass boys who wouldn't sell for Umaga. Umaga is going to be so dead if they continue to have him hanging around the lower mid-card. If they're going to push him as an undefeated monster then the main event is the logical place for him. They won't put him in that position though so someday he's going to disappear and never be seen again.

WWE shit all over TNA by getting the Jackass guys. The X-division goofs have been doing the gimmick for months and WWE gets the appearance of the actual goofs.

The women's title tournament continues. YAY!

The main event was a decent for a Raw main event. Orton got injured which is why the match was somewhat short. The problem lies in the fact that Hunter won even after Orton cheated so now we're supposed to pay to see Hunter win again.

Overall a random show that did little to build anything for the future or get you excited about Cyber Sunday but was entertaining overall.

Smackdown Continues a Role of Good Shows

I was actaully interested in watching Smackdown this week and it delivered. Smackdown has (nearly) always been the better show in terms of wrestling with Eddie, Benoit, Rey and Angle all been staples of the show and now with Finaly and Regal in the mix the wrestling can not be faulted.

Watching Chris Benoit pummel the shit out of Mr Kennedy was great.The finish wasn't too bad, Benoit couldn't beat Kennedy clean so this was the next big thing. The difference between Kennedy and Benoit on offence is world apart. One's awesome the other is pretty boring. I don't need to tell who you. Benoit winning the US title is only a good thing, the belt is wasted in the Taker feud so it makes sense to put it on Benoit who always makes it feel like a damn important belt.

Regal vs Vito was a decent match, mainly because William Regal is great. I don't think Regal ever wins but as long as he is on my TV every week I have no problem with this whatsoever and it doesn't take away from his credibility because he is that damn good.

MVP still sucks and putting him with Kane is hardly going to light the world on fire (pardon the pun) but they need something for both guys to do so they've stuck them together. I thought Kane was taking time off but obviously not.

Jamie Noble on TV in singles action is another great novelty. His match with Rey was a good little TV match, these guys can have awesome matches but the point was to put Rey over and they did that here. I thought the idea was for Rey to go off and have his surgery after No Mercy, they could be doing that angle next week with the 'I Quit' match. Rey is advertised for Survivor Series though so you never know.

Jimmy Wang Yang is the man. A decent little six-man here.

The main event was another good TV match. Booker T on commentary still rules. For a TV triple threat there wasn't anyhting else they could have done better or worse so this was a good little match. Batista going over makes sense as Finlay is a heel and Lashley isn't the number one guy at the moment (despite being better than Big Dave who looked a little rough tonight). Cena and Big Show are at Smackdown next week so I predict a no contest in the main event setting up the Cyber Sunday main event. Add the Rey/Chavo match to that and next week should be entertaining.

The Biggest Raw Ever

Not quite.

It was a good show with the interpromotional rivalries etc. but it's the story of WWE no building towards anything that highlights the flaws in this show. Just like the WWE vs ECW special a couple of months ago (remember that?) this showhad little promotion. People knew it was on but didn't have much of a reason to watch it outside of the advertised Kane/Umaga match.

The opening segment was good seeing all three champions in the ring but went off on a bit of a tangent talking about the films. Booker T's reference to Ready to Rumble made me smile though. Cena's English accent ruled. These three are going at it in a triple threat at Cyber Sunday. They're desperate to prove that PPV is a hit. They were always told that a Tuesday PPV wouldn't work so last year they stacked the card with the return of Austin and Foley. This year they've moved it and are putting a pretty big match on top.

Kane got beat so is loosing Raw. He was backstage at the Smackdown tapings so work it out.

The backstage interactions between the three GMs was brilliant. Even the Super Crazy segment.

The women's match sucked. This title is doomed. They might as well have a fans vote at the PPV to decide the champion, it would mean more.

DX vs Cade & Murdoch was typical of the whole of DX's run - burying the competition. It looks like they're getting a real feud in Edge & Orton. I predict a tag match followed by two singles matches which I have no problem with at all as Edge and Michaels work very well together. Hunter and Orton have yet to prove themselves but a good angle could change this.

Big Show beat Jeff Hardy. Where was Matt to make the save?

Didn't we see Booker vs RVD like last week? At least the King won.

Chris Benoit is fucking amazing. Poor Shelton.

Bickering between commentary teams can get annoying but when JBL is involved I have no problem with it at all.

The Smackdown six-man made me laugh my head off. Firstly Rey got caught in the apron by Finlay and disappeared and the heels beat him whilst in the apron. That made me laugh for some reason. Secondly Rey got fully dragged under the ring by the midget. Thirdly Cole called the midget the little bastard and JBL commented he may have parents so call him a troll. Classic. The match was good as well. Look like Rey is sticking around until Survivor Series.

Mitch vs Flair was one hell of an awesome segment. I'll always mark for Dibase. When joined by IRS I mark even more.

The main event was actually pretty fun. I don't think anybody expected a clean finish but for what it was it was good.

Overall a thumbs up show. Plenty of build to Cyber Sunday, good backstage segments and good wrestling for TV.