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From TheSmartMarks.com TNA Live from Charlotte, North Carolina - HHH tips over tables and yells backstage while Charlotte�s Own Ric Flair tries to calm him down. He notices that Batista isn�t joining him in the destruction of property and calls him on it. And why was he so cool when Orton tossed him from ringside last week? �I express myself in different ways� says Batista. Besides, if he didn�t pull HHH out of Benoit�s Crossface, we wouldn�t be having this problem because Benoit would be champ anyway. HHH answers by hurling things against the wall. - Jericho parties with the Divas in his newly re-decorated office, and Christian walks in, wanting to know what this superhero outfit Jericho left him is all about. Jericho tells him that, since Christian calls himself Captain Charisma, then we should have the Adventures of Captain Charisma tonight. If he doesn�t, no Intercontinental title shot tonight. Christian storms off, and Benoit takes his place. Jericho knows that Benoit wants revenge on the guy that cost him the title last week, so he makes a tag match of HHH and Batista vs. Chris Benoit and himself. Eugene (w/ William Regal) vs. Maven Eugene schools Maven on the mat to start, and Maven offers congrats and then makes it seem that Regal tripped him, so that the ref tosses him out. Eugene rolls him up, and then hits a northern lights for 2. Maven offers his hand in congrats again, but then kicks Eugene�s knee out and works it over, choking Eugene past the five count and getting himself DQed. Regal chases him to the floor and checks on Eugene, but that leaves him open to Maven hitting him with a tag belt. Rating: 1/10 Thoughts: So the Maven heel turn is now in full effect. Smart putting him against Eugene, who the crowd still seems to love, since anyone else would be death. Maven really needs to show me something in the ring, though, since his four years of training is just NOT showing. He was a vanilla face, and he risks becoming a vanilla heel. - Jericho wastes time with the Diva loser-ettes, Christy Hemme and Stacy Keibler with a limbo contest, which Christy wins. Jericho then launches into the only good track on Originals with Fozzy, but the lights go out and Muhammed Hassan appears on the TitanTron. Enjoy your party this week because next week, he�s debuting, and the party will be over. Thoughts: Since I haven�t had the chance yet, allow me to give my thoughts on Hassan. Are we supposed to boo this guy because �Arabs BAD!�, cheer him because we agree that Arab-Americans are being hassled since 9/11, or admire him because he�s trying to rise above the racial issues and become champion? In my opinion, this is a toned down version of a character that Vince probably wants to do: an OBL sympathizer in the vain of Sgt. Slaughter: Iraqi Sympathizer. Problem is, that would hit a nerve that no-one wants to hit, since people are still sensitive to that issue (not that they shouldn�t, of course), so instead they do a half-assed version that will die a slow death by Wrestlemania. - Simon Dean heads to the ring. He wanted to pitch the Simon System some more this week, but GM Jericho won�t allow it unless he has his first sanctioned wrestling match. He tries to launch into his spiel, but Hurricane interrupts. Simon Dean vs. The Hurricane Simon drops into an amateur position, so Hurricane just rolls him up for 2. They do a little matwork, and Hurricane counters a fireman�s carry for 2. Dean takes control with some basic offense and hits a backbreaker. He makes a production of dropping an elbow for 2 and does push-ups while choking Hurricane. He tries to come back, but Simon stops the rally and hits the chinlock. Dean stops another rally, but Hurricane hits the headscissors and tries a Shining Wizard, but Dean ducks it and rolls him up (grabbing the tights) for the pin. Rating: 1/10 Thoughts: With the gimmicks and the basic wrestling, this made me think I was watching Wrestling Challenge in the early 90s. I thought that WWE had evolved past this kind of style at least a little bit in the midcard, but it looks like they think that if fans liked it when they were 10, they�ll like it when they�re 20, which is horrible logic. I guess it goes with Dean�s character that if he only got his wrestling license a few weeks ago, he only knows the basics, but Nova can do so much more in the ring and they are saddling him with this crap gimmick that will go nowhere fast. - Backstage, Da Coach talks with Randy Orton, who is happy about Vince�s announcement, since it means that he�s back in the title hunt. Before he can say any more, Edge�s music hits and he heads to the ring. He WAS all set for his first World Title defense tonight, but now it�s held up. That is a crime against him and the fans make him sick for not protesting in droves for Edge�s cause. It was perfectly clear that Benoit�s feet hit first in the battle royal, and that Benoit�s shoulders were down for the three count, but he was screwed out of the title, AGAIN! Who is to blame for all this? Randy Orton for his shoddy performance as GM last week. Hey, it�s not his fault that Orton�s reign was a failure, but he wants Orton to come out and explain himself. He does, and he declares that Edge is �nothing� and the only person to blame here is Edge. And yeah, Edge may think Orton was a failure as champ, but at least he WAS champ. Ooh, snapburndiss. Edge reminds him that it was HE that ended Orton�s 8 month IC title reign, which makes him Edge�s bitch. That triggers the brawl, and the suits come out (including Arn Anderson and Dean Malenko, who the fans react to) to eventually break it up. Thoughts: Both guys were pretty on here, though Orton tripped over his words a tiny bit, but you definitely could sense the hatred these guys have for each other. This is why a tournament for the title would work; all of the upper card guys have interacted with each other, so any match in the tourney would have automatic heat, since everyone wants the title (which they have built up WAYYY better than the WWE title, by the way). - Behind the scenes of Blade: Trinity, focusing on HHH beating up Ryan Reynolds, including a powerslam that actually looked like it hurt like hell. Shelton Benjamin � vs. Captain Charisma (w/Tyson Tomko) Christian�s outfit looks like a knockoff of the Flash�s outfit. After Benjamin stops laughing at him, he flapjacks him for 1. Christian pounds away in the corner and tries a monkey flip, but Benjamin lands on his feet hitting a clothesline off the top for 2. Tomko clubs him in the back, and Christian gets 2. He locks in an abdominal stretch, but Benjamin fights free and retains control, only to miss a corner splash and get powerbombed for 2. Tomko slides the belt in and gets the ref�s attention, but Benjamin catches Christian with a boot, so Tomko forgets the subtlety and waits until the ref takes the belt back to the timekeeper to go in the ring and boot Shelton down, but that only gets 2. Christian tries the Unprettier, but Benjamin escapes and Christian somehow gets his mask turned around, blinding him and causing him to fall prey to an Exploder for the pin. Jericho comes out on stage and announces an Orton/Edge match for next week before singing the �Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye� song with Fozzy. Rating: 2/10 Thoughts: They really didn�t bring much intensity to the match, and the wrestling was a bit uninspired. Seemed like the only reason, while funny, was to get Christian in an embarrassing getup. - Smackdown Rebound. - Lita walks, but runs into Gene Snitsky. He wishes her luck in her match tonight, but it�s just too bad that neither her husband nor her baby will be there to celebrate with her. Of course, the baby wasn�t his fault. - We replay Vince�s announcement, and head to the locker room to see HHH getting Bischoff�s voice mail. He knows Eric and he aren�t on the level right now, but he reminds Eric that he is the Franchise of RAW. Flair chimes in by mentioning his book, movie, and the fact that he�s on the cover of RAW Magazine this month. He starts to threaten Bisch, but Batista grabs the phone, telling Trips that threatening the guy that holds all the cards isn�t the best idea and not to make a huge mistake. HHH takes that as Batista not wanting him to be champion (kind of a reach there, Hunter) and Batista tells him �As far as I�m concerned, there�s only one real World�s Champion.� Flair immediately tells Trips that Batista is talking about him (Triple H that is). Thoughts: Makes sense that Batista would hold Flair in a higher regard, since Flair has been Batista�s �manager� in Evolution for the longest time, so Batista probably looks at him like a mentor. It would be an interesting dynamic with Flair, since he would be torn between two �lovers�, so to speak, and the fans desperately want to cheer the guy, so it would be smart to turn Flair soon after Batista. It would also make HHH a �lone wolf�, which he can do, or he can make another Evolution-like group. There are so many ways they can go with this, so it will be interesting to see how (not if, how) WWE screws it all up. Batista and HHH (w/Charlotte�s Own Ric Flair) vs. The Canadian Chrisses Wow, they�re putting the Women�s title match last. Gutsy. Unfortunately, Lillian Garcia has the gall to announce HHH as �the former World Heavyweight Champion�, so he charges into the ring and chases her out of the ring and into the crowd. As you�d expect, Flair is wildly cheered, and a �We want Flair!� chant even breaks out. The Chrisses work over HHH to start and Benoit tries the Crossface, but Batista saves HHH�s ass again. Back in, Jericho tags and sends HHH to the outside before he and Benoit dropkick Batista out, shoving HHH onto him from the apron as we take a break. Coming back, Batista has a camel clutch on Jericho (Flair helped the heels get the advantage during the break), and the heels take turns beating on him until Jericho sidesteps a Batista charge and trips him into the turnbuckle before making the tag to Benoit. Benoit cleans house on everyone (including Flair, which draws boos) before hitting the Rolling Germans on HHH, followed by a Lionsault, the headbutt, and a Walls/Crossface combo. Batista breaks it up and drills Benoit with a spinebuster before choking Jericho. HHH has had enough and cracks Benoit with a chair (pretty good shot too, since it split Benoit open pretty bad), drawing the DQ. HHH shows his displeasure by cracking Jack Doan and goes to hit a Batista-held Jericho, but Y2J moves and Batista gets it instead. Flair cradles Batista�s head and helps him to a sitting position while HHH apologizes and leaves by himself, yelling at the fans that he didn�t lose. Rating: 3/10 Thoughts: Pretty bland, as this combination is starting to get a little stale. It might just have been a timing issue, but it looked like HHH had a few seconds to stop himself from hitting Batista when Jericho escaped. Of course, even if it WAS a timing mistake, they could definitely bring it up next week and no one would notice the difference. - Trish shoos away a couple of guys checking her out while she stretches and Lita approaches. Trish asks whose plans the Walking Kiss of Death will foil tonight and Lita answers �Yours�, punctuating it with a big smooch. Trish Stratus � vs. Lita (Women�s title match) They lockup and tumble to the floor to start. Back in, Trish boots and chops away, ducking a clothesline with the Matrix dodge, but Lita uses her smarts and takes her legs out for 2. Legsweep gets another 2 and Lita backdrops Trish out, following with a suicide dive and MAN, does she land BADLY, badly in a �head bends one way, body bends another, neck goes snappy-snappy again� way. The ref immediately checks on her as we see replays, and now everyone�s concerned. She somehow rolls back into the ring (drawing applause), and I guess we�re going to continue, which is either really brave or immensely stupid. Meanwhile, Trish removes the faceguard (yes, that pretty face is uninjured) and hits Lita with it before getting a hangman�s choke in the corner before getting a full nelson (Lita actually seems to be ok, thankfully), but Lita fights free. Trish slugs her away and goes up, but Lita crotches her and hits a superplex (with another hard neck bump. What, did they replace her neck with a Slinky?), but that only gets 2. Trish ducks a clothesline and hits the Chick Kick, but Lita kicks out at 2. Trish pounds on her in the corner, but Lita gets a powerbomb and goes up, but Trish cuts her off, putting Lita on her shoulders. Lita counters with a rollup for 2. She tries the DDT, but Trish grabs the ropes and gets 2 on a rollup. Trish tries some Stratusfaction, but Lita pushes off and counters into an inverted Twist of Fate and a moonsault for the title. Rating: 5.5/10 Thoughts: Hey, you gotta hand it to them; they brought a ton of intensity to this and showed that with the right booking, the chicks can hold their own in the main event spot themselves. Lita is EXTREMELY lucky that she isn�t lying in a hospital bed today (or worse), and I guess we won�t be seeing that move in her arsenal anymore. It�s just funny that, even though they all are good workers, the Women�s division is down to four ladies, and they can�t sustain that without bringing in some new blood. Lita and Trish can trade the belt only so many times before people get sick of it. Final Thoughts: Pretty bad first hour, but the second made up for it a bit. Nothing real Earth shattering occurred, and it seemed that they were using this week to build for next week, but RAW is building up some good stuff that should (keyword there, should) make for some interesting developments in the New Year. And that�s all people really want: reasons to tune in every week. Speaking of, keep reading each week! Send feedback to [email protected]. © Copyright by TheSmartMarks.com |