VENGEANCE THOUGHTS
by Joe DeProspero
All around, I’d say it was the best WWE pay per view since…the last good WWE pay per view! For the past few years, I’ve been regularly checking out the monthly shows from the comfort of my own den. But per the request of a friend, I ventured over to the local Hooters that carried all of the WWE pay per views. I was hoping that it wasn’t going to be one of those deals where one small TV in the place was showing it, and I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere close to it to see or hear anything. Man, was I off. You could literally hear Michael Cole’s voice booming from outside of the place, and there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. Incidentally, the amount of hardcore fans in the house made the show that much more enjoyable (The waitresses and Coronas didn’t hurt either!).
Not surprisingly, I had been eagerly anticipating Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero. And, also not surprisingly, they delivered one hell of a match. This has been a bout that many have looked forward to ever since both men joined WWE. This was the first time I remember them having any sort of one-on-one match with one another. I certainly was not disappointed. The action was tremendous, the crowd was hot, and the atmosphere was top-notch. You really can’t ask for any more than that.
The Jamie Noble-Billy Gunn match was better than I expected it to be. Billy seems to have added some new moves to his repertoire, and I totally appreciate that. It makes for a more entertaining match-up. Noble is rarely off his game, so he obviously added to making this one better.
Anyone who knows me knows that I look more forward to getting my teeth cleaned than I do for a Sable-Stephanie match. But, I have to say, I was pleased with how they handled it. It certainly wasn’t a memorable match, but it was kept short and almost sweet. And now that it’s over, I hope I don’t have to see Steph in the ring for a good long time.
Cena-Undertaker was pretty solid. It had its dry parts, and I initially wanted to see Cena go over, but I was satisfied with the ending. Cena looked pretty strong, the match was given a good amount of time to tell a story, and a rematch seems entirely possible. If Cena was going to lose, that was the way to do it.
The tag title match was off the charts solid in my opinion. The springboard moonsault that Rey did to the outside was outstanding, and the pacing of the match was perfect. Oh, and a hot crowd helps too! I plan to buy the DVD of this PPV if for no other reason than to see Benoit/Guerrero and this match one more time.
Anytime Zach Gowen steps into the ring, he amazes me. So, seeing him pull off what he pulled off in his match wowed a lot of people. That being said, I don’t see why Vince scored the pinfall victory. I am well aware that Zach isn’t being pushed as World Champion anytime in the next 100 years, but he’s going to be an active wrestler and he can’t even beat Vince? Sure, he’s disabled, and he’ll have many, many more memorable matches in WWE, but I found it odd that they’d build up his match with Vince as his first appearance on pay per view only to have him lose to a non-wrestler. But, perhaps they’re doing with him what they did with John Cena- making him look impressive in defeat, only to come back stronger and avenge his loss? I sure hope so. I’d certainly be willing to stick around and watch anything Gowen has to offer.
Angle-Big Show-Lesnar capped off the evening with a surprising win by Kurt Angle and proved to me that WWE is capable of making Big Show somewhat credible as a main eventer even after all they’ve done with him.
Overall, the Vengeance pay per view confirmed once again that Smackdown is by far my favorite of the two WWE shows. Even if storylines are ever lackluster, the stars they boast on the their roster- Angle, Lesnar, Guerrero, Benoit, Mysterio, Tajiri, etc.- are more than capable of picking up the slack and putting on an excellent show regardless. Of course, there are several guys on Raw who I enjoy watching, but with the guys Smackdown has, it’s no wonder that Vengeance was so much better than Bad Blood.
On that note, I take my leave. As always, thanks for reading, and send any thoughts you might have to the e-mail address below. Peace!
Send all feedback to SKAJOE@aol.com.
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