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Archive for November 28th, 2007

For the second PPV in a row, WWE is ending things with a SmackDown World Heavyweight title match involving Batista and Undertaker. I enjoy ‘Taker, but the only way anyone could ever get me to admit that Batista’s a good champion is if the ONLY alternative was to make Finlay champ. Yes, that would be worse, so no thanks, my friend.

I guess what salvages the choice to put it at the end is that it IS a Hell In A Cell match; too bad Mick Foley isn’t involved. But I guess he’s better off hawking diet pills than trying to maintain an in-ring career at this point.

Taker dominated early and I’m kind of pleased to say that it wasn’t a “lazy big-man” match like last month. Something about the Hell In a Cell match seems to bring out the best in whoever is involved, and this one gets pretty brutal and pretty amazing at the same time. The action seems faster and more brutal.

Taker seemed on his way to the win when the all-too-publicized return of Edge screw-jobbed him out of it. Edge was hiding under the ring and gets up inside and breaks up the count. He then hits Taker with a variety of objects, including a chairshot of the sort that I thought he vowed would be banned in WWE, in the wake of both the Chris Benoit Family Tragedy and the drug-steroid scandals that followed. But then, Edge is one of those rumored to have suffered a ‘roid-related suspension, so maybe he wasn’t exactly setting at home watching when the word came down from VKM.

Anyway, Edge knocks Taker senseless, drapes Batista over Taker and allows The Beast to get a cheap win. So I guess he figures Batista is more of a clear-cut good guy for him to feud against in his quest to regain the World Title. Maybe that’ll help business on Smackdown pick up. Time will tell.

WINNER: Batista (with some help from Edge)
RATING: 8.6

While I’m not thrilled with the match-up, Michaels has carried many a WWE superstar to great matches, so hopes are high for this one. Shawn Michaels comes out of the gate fighting hard and dominates about five or six minutes without allowing Orton even a minor breather.

This is the electrifying Shawn Michaels who thrilled crowds 20-25 years ago but who is harder and harder to find in-ring anymore these days because Michaels is simply too old to be believed anymore. He might not be quite Ric Flair old, but Michaels IS old. Still, five or six minutes like these remind us of just how great Michaels used to be.

Orton finally gouges an eye to turn the momentum around and start looking like a champ defending his title instead of a punching bag for a guy closing in on his 50s. Gotta keep that Legend Killer gimmick going, after all. Unlike John Cena, WWE will never feature Orton on kids party invitations – his character’s too much of an evil badass – but Orton is the champ and the face of RAW from now until probably WrestleMania at least.

They give Orton some time to dominate as well and then go into trading finishers and nearfalls, including a crossface hold that could bring to mind some sad memories for longtime WWE fans, and I think Ross had to choke himself back from calling it the Crippler Crossface.

The finishers get more and more convincing, the drama builds and just when you think Michaels has it locked up, Orton escapes, attempts an RKO that Michaels dodges to set up a superkick … but Orton dodges that and LANDS the RKO for the pin.

Like so many Michaels matches, he works just hard enough to make you wish he were still 10 years younger and worthy of a title change. But it didn’t happen tonight; however, hopefully Michaels’ work ethic rubs off on Orton, making him into a better champion.

WINNER: Randy Orton, to retain the WWE Title
RATING: 8.4

OK, here’s where the night takes a bad turn.

We all get the David vs. Goliath allusion, but it’s a gimmick that’s been done to death, and definitely the wrong direction for a monster like the Great Khali. Khali has the potential to get more over with the fans than Andre the Giant, because Khali is younger, bigger, and in much better physical shape than Andre ever was. But to do it right, they can’t jerk him into meaningless storylines like this; that’s how they wasted the wrestling career of The Big Show.

The pre-match pep talk from Vinnie Mac to Hornswaggle was good fun, but the match itself just didn’t come off well. Next to the Great Khali, Hornswaggle looked even tinier, like a midget on hoodia. The match itself was mostly ring intros, some crowd interaction when the “We want Shaq” chant filled the arena; and that was a fun tease, because Shaq is one of the few folks who has the height and weight to maybe put together a good “wrestler vs. athlete” match, but if they do something like that, it’ll be a WrestleMania, not Survivor Series.

The match itself was too predictable, with Hornswaggle unable to even make Khali blink, but striking the Midge down effortlessly when Hornswaggle started getting a bit of action in against Khali’s manager. Then, even more predictably, the save comes in the form of a Finlay run-in, which sets up a feud between Khali and Finlay, which is what this was all about to begin with. And since Finlay is the most boring wrestler on earth, that is ALSO a program that holds no interest for me.

Now, a Khali-Undertaker program… THAT would be something.

WINNER: The Great Khali (via DQ)
RATING: 2.2 (out of 10)