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Archive for November 8th, 2007

Best costume contest: Hottest Halloween dive is… It’s Mickie James, 21%. Wow, kind of a shame they telegraphed the results by listing the names in order of finish before the results percentages were posted.

Kelly Kelly was number two with 17 percent. Torrie a distant third at 15… I told you she was past it! Meline and Maria tie for fourth with 12 percent each and the rest don’t matter.

So, who will be the special guest referee?

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin

2. Mick Foley

3. JBL

I voted for Austin. The Rattlesnake is the best entertainment-value choice. Sure, gotta love Foley, but it’s all about Stone Cold for me. JBL? Are you kidding?

History of the rivalry before the reveal. That Batista spear off the stage was fun.

Back to the Grish…. here we go… this is clearly the final match…

Over 13 million votes? Cool!

Crowd pops larger for Stone Cold than anyone. And they HATE JBL….

Aww crap… JBL interferes…. Is this a fix?

Way to draw heel heat… for a color commentator?

Here comes Foley…

OK, it’s just a clusterfudge before the result is announced.

OH HELL YEAH! It’s Stone Cold 79%!

AND HE’S HERE!

Like the Been There, Destroyed that shirt.

JBL clotheslines the Texas Rattlesnake?

Fun exchange! Stunner!

Cool little warm-up.

Four-corner pose. And here comes Taker… And we’re into the World Entrance Entertainment segment now…

Love that glance between Taker and Austin. The history there makes it speak volumes and makes me wish Austin could come back for a short, meaningful run. Wouldn’t even have to involve a title. Austin doesn’t need that.

Ugh. Batista out with the title on him. No wonder SmackDown is the least-liked show of WWE’s trio of prime-time shows.

Batista is a big, slow slug; so’s Taker. Only Austin is electric.

This could be painful. Horrible without Austin.

Let’s see…

Fast start by Taker. He’s hyped. Cool.

And now predictably slowing down with tie-ups in the middle of the ring. Ugh.

A couple near-falls traded.

Taker’s matches are so paint-by-numbers these days…

Batista selling like crazy for a long time for Taker.

Nice duck from the knee to the back in the corner. Batista’s turn to take control for a bit. He’s a big man, he gets those opps.

Great high-flying clothesline off the ropes from Undertaker. He still puts out effort; Taker’s no Nash or Hall.

Another great flyer move as Taker goes for a knee in the corner again and flips head over ass out of the ring. A bit later, I like the big leg across the neck on the ring apron.

Taker’s converting me; he can still put together a fun match.

Weird homoerotic tie-up in the middle of the ring, Taker avoids the pin.

Batista tries to pin him. Looked like a three to me, but it wasn’t the scripted finish so they call it a nearfall. OK, whatever.

Great kickout by Batista. Crowd was ready for the Taker win, though.

Spear to Taker. 1… 2… No!

Storyline is Batista can’t beat Taker… guess we’ll see if they build on that or pay it off.

Last Ride on Batista out of the corner.

Nearfall!

Spinebuster reversal by Batista. Taker kicks out.

Batista Bomb… NO! Kickout again!

Second Basista Bomb… that’s it. Crap.

WINNER: Batista… Winner… Still World Heavywieght Champ. Too bad. Taker gave great match tonight

RATING: 8.1, helped considerably by convincing near-falls in the last five minutes.

Wow, no Stunners by Austin post-match, no beers? What a rip. You expect that when Austin refs. But no, it’s over folks.

That’s a pretty decent Cyber Sunday 2007, even if the REAL main event was match 5, not match 7… Hey-ohhh! PUBLISH!

Brooke and her “jungle” don’t interest me at all.

Jillian and her Britney wannabe act is tired. King seems to love it, but he’s paid to.

Boy, I’m tired of Umaga as a “punishment” opponent. When’s the last time he really crushed anyone? And Triple H just doesn’t fit into this face/Degeneration X persona anymore. With his new, borderline blasphemous “King of Kings” moniker, he just feels more like he needs to go back to being a hardcore heel again. But even that’s tired. Triple H is reaching Undertaker status, where he’s very very good, but overexposed and hard to get worked up over anymore.

But hey, we have three stips that were voted on.

1) Street Fight

2) First Blood

3) Steel Cage

I think I voted steel cage… Here’s the Grish….

And it’s… street fight by 57%? No one wanted the first blood match.

Hmm, OK. This could be livable. Really wanted that steel cage to come down, though.

Crowd’s disappointed there will be no cage, too. Street fights always kind of suck for the live audience, though, since the match invariably goes outside of the ring AND outside of the arena, which is a real heat-suck for the live crowd. And I know whereof I speak, since I was at the SummerSlam in Minneapolis several years ago and that hardcore match that went outside of Target Center really sucked the passion out of the live crowd.

Wow, H is no-selling for Umaga. No surprise.

Yup, action goes out of the arena early… and come crashing back in!

Taking the action close to the crowd. Nice.

Back in the ring now. That’s good for the live crowd.

Trash can move. Nice shot on Umaga! And he goes down. Nearfall. Good deal.

Goes for it again. Samoan drop reversal by Umaga.

Action’s heating up in the ring.

Eventually a nearfall by Umaga. Nice whip into the steel steps.

Back into the ring. Umaga dominating for a nice stretch by now. This is good for ring psychology.

H is finally selling? For Umaga? Crowd pops and buys it. Guess son-in-law is a company man.

Steel chair now. What exactly is the difference between a Street Fight and an ECW rules match again?

Reversal by Triple H… nice nearfall. Almost thought the match was over.

Here’s the pedigree… nope! Reversal.

Nice swinging sidewalk slam by Umaga. H is getting manhandled. Good sell job.

Action moves out to the announce tables. Funny how they upset the ECW and Smackdown tables but not the live announcers for the match at the Raw table.

Samoan Bulldozer on top of a table! It collapses! Nice break-down.

Umaga misses the top-rope head-butt. Here comes the turnaround so that the predictable Triple H win comes off.

It’s the sledgehammer! Well, at least it’ll end on a crowd-pleaser.

Low blow by Umaga.

Sledgehammer by H. Pedigree. Triple H win!

WINNER: Triple H.

RATING: 7.2 (out of 10)

Well at least the finish wasn’t bad. Predictable but nice turns.

About a half-hour left. Probably only one match remaining…

PUBLISH… see you in the next post.