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From TheSmartMarks.com TNA Live from Little Rock, Arkansas. Oddly, we skip the opening and go right to the pyro. Todd Grisham is on the stage and he brings out Shawn Michaels. We recap the Masterlock Challengs from last week and part of Michaels wonders why he put himself in that position. It�s because he believes he�s Teflon, untouchable, able to do things no one else can and Chris Masters decided to take things one step too far, which Shawn has made a career of doing. He�ll have his hands full at Unforgiven, just like he�ll have his hands full tonight against Ric WHOO Flair. Flair walks out and wonders if Masters can go toe-to-toe with him and tells Carlito to take notes, because he�ll get his on Sunday. We recap what happened between Kurt Angle, Tyson Tomko and John Cena last week. Cena faces the both of them in yet another handicap match tonight. Kerwin White vs. Shelton Benjamin Sooo�guess they aren�t doing this at Unforgiven then? Some good bumping (especially on a back body drop by Chavo) and some decent cheating by �Kerwin�, but both guys deserve much better than this. Kerwin breaks a golf club over Benjamin�s back for the DQ. Rating: 1/10 Angle cuts another intense promo on Cena. I so want him to win on Sunday. Victoria and Nails on a Chalkboard head to the ring. They call out Ashley again, saying that she�s passed her �initiation.� Ashley comes out but stops in the aisle. She�s going to the ring, but she�s bringing a friend. Yep, Trish Stratus FINALLY returns and helps Ashley clear the ring, including a Matrix dodge that sends Victoria into Torrie. Ric Flair vs. Chris Masters Your basic Flair offense in this one, mostly chopping and illegal moves as Masters uses his power to muscle Flair around the ring. Flair avoids the Masterlock a few times but gets sent to the floor. He drags Masters out and fires off some more chops, but Masters sidewalk slams him on the floor as we go to a break. Coming back, Masters works a bearhug (he apparently had it on the whole commercial break. Those poor fans.) Flair bites his nose to break, but Masters slaps it back on. Flair fights out of it again and goes for the knee, alternating that with chopping and biting. A kneebreaker leads to the figure-four, but Carlito runs in and hits Flair with the belt to draw the DQ. Michaels runs in for the save, but Masters sends him shoulder first into the post and slaps on the Masterlock. Rating: 2/10 Thoughts: Too long for who was in the ring, but Flair can still put on a good show and Masters looked decent. I�m slightly interested in the Michaels/Masters match, but mostly because I want to see how Michaels can carry the rookie. Smackdown Rebound, which actually looked like a good show, but I doubt that they can keep it up. Tajiri and Eugene vs. Cade and Murdoch Tajiri dominates on Murdoch to start and Cade has to calm Murdoch down before tagging himself in as Eugene tags. Eugene brings the comedy spots, channeling Junkyard Dog this time, but Cade stops that with a clothesline. Eugene becomes the Face in Peril as Cade and Murdoch show some nice teamwork, much better than last week. Murdoch goes up but jumps into a boot and Eugene hits the Stunner, making the hot tag to Tajiri. He gets the Tarantula, but Murdoch slugs him, drawing Eugene over, but he only serves as a distraction to the ref to allow Murdoch to hit a sitout powerbomb followed up with a flying elbow by Cade for the pin. Rating: 2/10 We come back in the middle of a Lita promo, running down Matt (good job Mr. Director). Edge says he�ll finally end it at Unforgiven. This leads to a rundown of the card and both Cade and Murdoch getting a tag title shot and Trish and Ashley facing Torrie and Victoria have been added. Cena/Angle and Edge/Matt better be damn good, or that PPV will tank and tank badly. Cena and Bischoff have another bonding moment and Angle makes his way to the ring for the main event. Kurt Angle and Tyson Tomko vs. John Cena Bischoff stands on the stage for this match. Cena fights the both of them off to start, but Tyson boots him in the head as we take a break. Coming back, Angle has a chinlock and this turns into a prolonged beating of Cena by Angle and Tomko with Cena making the occasional comeback only to get beaten back down, which has me switching over to MNF and the Red Sox game. Probably wasn�t what they wanted. Cena gets his second wind and avoids a Tomko charge before picking him up for the FU, but Angle comes from behind and Germans him (with Tomko still on his shoulders) to the mat in a cool spot. He hits another, but Cena fights a third. Tomko goes for another boot, but Cena moves and Angle eats it, leading to Tomko eating an FU for the pin. Cena �fights the odds� and wins another handicap match. Bischoff should really think of something else. Rating 2/10 After the match, Angle attacks, driving his knee into Cena�s groin and ramming his ankle into the post before working it over (with Cena selling it very well). Angle walks to the back as Bischoff tears into Cena verbally for what seems like forever (to piss off the people that tuned in for The Ultimate Fighter, no doubt) and we finally fade. Final Thoughts: Another blah RAW leading to what will probably be another blah PPV. The balance seems to be starting to shift back towards Smackdown, but their Friday timeslot is death for most wrestling fans, so they have their work cut out for them. Feedback: [email protected] © Copyright by TheSmartMarks.com |