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From TheSmartMarks.com TNA Live from St. Louis, Missouri. Eric Bischoff starts the show by gloating about his first draft pick, one of the biggest things to ever happen on RAW. Da Coach interrupts him and tells Eric that it�s been rumored that Paul Heyman is going to show up tonight, but nothing can bring Eric down from the high he is on. Mohammed Hassan and Daivari vs. Shelton Benjamin � (2-on-1 IC title match) JR tells us that Hassan has threatened a lawsuit after what Batista did to he and Daivari last week, so this is Bischoff�s way of avoiding it. Also, Hassan will be the champion even if Daivari is the one that wins the match. Benjamin controls on Hassan to start and suplexes Daivari on the ropes when he tries to interfere. Hassan gets a knockdown, but Benjamin nips up and hits a backdrop suplex followed by a kneelift. He goes for the Stinger splash, but Daivari pulls Hassan out of the way leading to a Flatliner and the pin. However, the referee notices Benjamin had his foot on the ropes and immediately voids his decision and restarts the match as we take a break. Coming back, Benjamin fights out of a Hassan chinlock and spears him, following up with a Samoan drop, but Daivari saves. Shelton chokes him, which allows Hassan to attack and send him shoulder first into the post. He wraps the arm around it again and distracts the ref so Daivari can snap it on the apron. Back in, Hassan gets a keylock and cuts off a rally with an armbreaker, tagging Daivari. He grabs a keylock of his own but this time Benjamin rallies, hits a Stinger splash, disposes of Hassan and hits the Exploder on Daivari for the pin to retain. Rating: 2/10 Thoughts: They definitely could have done more with this 2-on-1 concept than they did; everything before the restart was pretty much worthless. All this seemed to set up was more Hassan whining about discrimination which in turn will probably set up a Vengeance match. Hassan still hasn�t shown me all that much in the ring, though. Hey, in case you haven�t seen, HHH attacked Batista with a sledgehammer two weeks ago. William Regal tries to forbid Tajiri from going to One Night Stand. Chris Benoit enters and declares that ECW was fun and One Night Stand will be a fun night. Regal is dismayed at how Benoit has suddenly become �Mr. ECW� and tells them he�s agreed to join Bischoff�s anti-ECW crew. He tells Tajiri to make a choice, so Tajiri chants �E-C-W!� while the crowd joins in. Coach tells Bischoff that he�s heard if Paul Heyman shows up tonight, he won�t be alone. Bischoff thinks these rumors are from Heyman himself, and doesn�t believe a word of it. Hassan and Daivari barge in and demand the referee in their match overturn his decision. Bischoff can�t do it, but someone much bigger than him will hear them out next week. They think it�s Vince McMahon, but Bischoff tells him he�s even bigger than Vince --- Stone Cold Steve Austin. Chris Masters vs. Val Venis This was set up after Val almost broke the Master Lock last week. Val attacks him in the aisle and controls for the majority of the match, getting a few two counts. The crowd is completely dead for the match, it should be noted. Val punches in the corner, but Masters shoves him off and slaps on the Masterpiece (which is the new name for it, I guess). Val fights it, but fades and the ref calls for the bell. Rating: 1/10 Thoughts: More of a Heat match than anything else. Val showed some good intensity and it was smart to give him most of the offense on the still green Masters. Still, the crowd response should tell you all you need to know about exactly how over Masters is. Ric �WHOO� Flair tells HHH to just let Batista sign the contract and then the title is as good as his again. Eric Bischoff and a bunch of rent-a-cops are in the ring for the contract signing. He says that ECW died because they never had an attraction like Hell in a Cell and a performer like the man who is about to come to the ring, HHH. Of course, HHH does his complete entrance. Bischoff notes that even if either man is drafted to Smackdown before Vengeance, the match will still take place. That takes care of separating the titles if Cena stays on RAW then. HHH doesn�t care about the draft since, RAW or Smackdown, he�s the best yadda yadda yadda. He shows a video of his past HIAC triumphs. Batista makes his entrance and thankfully, he just briskly walks to the ring. Batista�s never been in a Hell in a Cell match (but he�s been in an Elimination Chamber, which is essentially the same thing), but knows that they will both bleed and quite literally �go to Hell.� He doesn�t fear the Cell or HHH. Both men sign and Batista tells HHH �You�ll have to kill me to take the title.� HHH answers �You�ll have to kill me to stop me.� Their issue will be finished as far as he�s concerned after this (code for: �I�m winning the title and going to Smackdown� most likely). Batista says �I will kick the Devil�s ass.� For people who have just tuned in, here�s Cena�s entrance again. The Heart Throbs and Victoria vs. Rosey, The Hurricane, and Christy Hemme (w/Stacy Keibler) This was set up after Victoria attacked Christy last week. The Heart Throbs work over Hurricane to start, hitting a couple of double team moves on him, but that�s not the point of the match as the chicks tag in and Christy goes off on Victoria, choking her and ultimately getting DQed. Screeching (apparently having taken lessons from Sharmell), she spears Victoria through the ropes and has to be pulled off. Rating: DUD Thoughts: So this is going to lead to a Christy-Victoria match at Vengeance. Goody goody fuckin� gumdrops. Bischoff tells a lackey to send a message to Heyman telling him that he wants a fight tonight. He reaches his office and meets Cena. Next week, for his first RAW match, he will team up with Jericho to face Christian and Tomko. Bischoff tries to recruit him for his anti-ECW team, but Cena refuses, telling Bischoff that he doesn�t play politics. He talks about watching Nitro at 8PM Monday nights with his friends and then turning to RAW at 9 because they were kicking his ass so badly. The Smackdown Rebound is an ad for the draft, which continues Thursday. Kane heads out, apparently for a match. His opponent is introduced�.and Edge�s music hits. Edge comes out and tells Kane that he isn�t his opponent tonight, but he will be at Vengeance. He debates whether or not they should go right now, but has a better idea. Lita comes out and tells Kane that, since Vengeance is in Las Vegas, after Edge kicks his ass they will go out and find a wedding chapel to get married. They share another lip and tongue lock while Kane looks on. We see an ECW billboard driving through Times Square in New York and Coach joins the commentary for the next match. Chris Benoit vs. Snitsky (ECW Rules match) Coach says that Heat this Sunday has been turned into �Extreme Heat� and he�ll be hosting it. Commentary essentially boils down to Lawler and Coach bashing ECW while JR defends it. Benoit loads up the plunder and smacks Snitsky with a trashcan lid. He tries for the Crossface, but Snitsky uses the lid to escape. He sets up a pair of garbage cans in the corners and whips Benoit into them before hitting a sidewalk slam on the lid for 2. He charges for a boot, but Benoit avoids and Snitsky crotches himself. Benoit gets a table and hits some Germans before setting him up on it. Benoit goes to the top, but Snitsky crotches him and hits him with the lid, sending Benoit to the floor. Suddenly, the Dudley Boyz come in from the crowd and 3D Snitsky through the table before escaping the same way as we take a break. Rating: DUD Thoughts: I hate how they�re passing off crappy Hardcore matches as �ECW rules�. ECW fans probably would have shat all over this. A couple of garbage cans is NOT what an ECW match is all about. And I also hate how Benoit has been so woefully misused in his role. How many times in ECW was he in a match that involved tables or weapons of any kind? Since this is ECW Rules, the match continued during the break with Benoit hitting the headbutt for the win. Security catches up with Heyman and the Dudleys and Coach demands they be arrested. Heyman points out how gutless of Bischoff it is for him to want a fight with Heyman and lead a crusade against ECW, but not show up and have him arrested when ECW shows up on RAW. Coach demands the cuffs be removed and tells him he will get Bischoff. Bischoff and part of his anti-ECW force (Edge, Christian and Tomko) head to the ring. Bischoff has always thought the Dudleys were a bit overrated, so they will take them out tonight and leave the rest to Kurt Angle and his Smackdown crew at the PPV. He calls Heyman out and he and the Dudleys come out through the crowd. ECW had what WCW never had: heart, passion, and a connection with the fans like nothing Bischoff can dream to have. Someone hit the douche with the purple WCW shirt and �Bring Back WCW� sign. ECW never backed down from anyone. Bischoff brings out the rest of his army (Maven, Rob Conway, Sylvan Grenier, and Snitsky), so Heyman brings out HIS guys. Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Axl Rotten, Rhyno, and Balls Mahoney come out, brandishing chairs and kendo sticks. A brawl breaks out and the ECW guys get the upper hand (though really, how hard is it to fight off Maven and La Resistance?) with Maven getting a chair kicked into his face by Dreamer. The ECW guys unfurl a hand-made ECW banner and drape it over the ropes, celebrating as we fade to black. Final Thoughts: Outside of the ECW stuff and John Cena�s appearance, nothing really special happened this week. The in-ring action was very mediocre. Still, one week in, the draft has already made for some interesting TV. It�ll be interesting who Smackdown gets for their first pick But that�s for JHawk to talk about. See you next week. Send feedback to [email protected] © Copyright by TheSmartMarks.com |