WWE Vengeance was this past Sunday and to be honest, it exceeded my expectations. We have had far too many PPV’s in the past couple of months but WWE provided a unique twist on a rather average card and concept. All matches were pretty solid with a decent amount of time to tell their story (it’s just a shame their builds were not given the same treatment.)
WWE used the broken ring gimmick again with Mark Henry and Big Show but I think the real talking point is how good the actual match itself was before this incident. We had both competitors looking strong with kick outs from both finishers and both seemed to move round the ring well. I had to agree when King said that this looked like a cruiserweight match, granted it wasn’t that quick a pace but it was a refreshing change after watching someone like The Great Khali fall over his own feet.
After the ring collapsed we had the scenario of the main event to take place. WWE’s clever booking in still holding the main event in that broken ring was exactly what this main event needed. Most people had the result in their back pocket but the inclusion of such a simple distraction gave the match that unknown factor which took most people by surprise. Hats off to both men as they put on a solid match and displayed some interesting moments backstage which are the best I’ve seen in the past few years.
Granted this didn’t change the result or give us a shock ending to the PPV but it did leave a mark on the PPV which made it unique to every other filler PPV WWE has produced recently.
Then we move on to RAW. The first thing that struck me was the use of just two commentators. Where was madman Booker? Although Michael Cole took advantage of this extra air time I think it did a good job to prove that 2 men is more than enough with the current commentators that WWE use. Here’s hoping that JR can take the spot after this upcoming weeks challenge and Michael Cole can be used in some other function such as a Manager.
Triple H started the show by giving a moving speech about losing his friend. It was nice to see him deliver a promo where he started slow rather than just barking the odds from the off. John Laurinaitis then decided to walk out and give us his lost puppy face look as he seemed too stupid to understand what Triple H was telling him when he kept cutting him off with the “shut up” lines.
The segment then took a more violent direction when Kevin Nash hit Triple H in the back with a sledgehammer. I thought Triple H did a fantastic job of selling his injuries on the ramp; he legitimately looked like he couldn’t breathe. When the show came back from the adverts (commercials to you fine American folk) Triple H unfortunately ruined that image as he collapsed backstage in a less than Oscar winning fashion. Then the segment took another violent turn when Kevin Nash prevented Triple H getting in to an ambulance and hit him in the face leaving him to fall face first whilst being strapped to a stretcher. I was quite taken aback by this as it was quite a risqué move in the PG environment but probably did wonders for people’s interest in this feud.
We went to more adverts/commercials and when we came back we watched the ambulance drive away. Kevin Nash and Triple H had taken up the first 35 minutes of the show at this point and I fully expected a semi truck to smash in to the ambulance with Kevin Nash driving it, going to more adverts/commercials and returning to see Kevin Nash standing on the wreckage with Triple H’s head on a stick screaming like the predator! It really felt like nothing else was going to happen on this RAW. Thankfully we did get some wrestling in after this but it is rather clear WWE are heading in to a singles match scenario for these two. Personally I’m quite looking forward to it as Nash seems to be in the best shape I’ve seen him in a long time and it was refreshing to see RAW start with such ‘chaos.’
CM Punk was again pure gold when he let loose on the microphone with John Laurinaitis. Punk’s natural confidence on the mic combined with his solid wrestling ability is surely going to make him the top star within the company as we move forward in the next few months.
One note that I wanted to point out is why does Christian wear a shirt which looks like it was completed by an infant as a school project? It seriously stands out from any other merchandise and not in a good way. His whole heel persona doesn’t seem to be working with his current entrance music and silly blue shirt, please change this WWE.
The main event ended with the announcement which I presume was supposed to shock us all when Cena chose Rock as his tag team partner. Why did WWE have to announce this on WWE.com so long ago? It could have been a great moment (apart from Cena spitting on his microphone just as he said his name!) instead we had everyone chanting his name and Cena trying to act like it wasn’t a known fact. The whole idea seemed to be silly but at least the ball is now rolling.
WWE originally announced that Cena and Rock were going to be on a 5 man survivor series team rather than be in a traditional tag team match. Maybe this is something that they have changed but I hope that all the stories from RAW can be brought into this match as we all originally suspected. If this was the case then lower talent can get a spot on the card and to be honest we have already seen Triple H and Punk take on Truth and Miz, is it really that different to have The Rock and John Cena do the same? The good part of all this is that the PPV isn’t on next week like has been the case recently, so WWE has time to work on this.
Here’s hoping that WWE are starting their road to WrestleMania now and we get treated to a superb 25th anniversary of the Survivor Series from MSG.
Are you looking forward to Survivor Series? Do you think WWE will rush through all of this like they have been doing recently or do you believe that the road will slowly be built between now and next April?
Let me know at beansontoastuk@msn.com or get in touch via Twitter at @BeansOnToastUK
Martyn
