Check This Out...

6.02.2008

One Night Stand: Officially A Fling

This show was supposed to be terrible. It was thrown together, a mere continuation of feuds that had been going on for a while, or too long. While this wasn’t a five star outing on the part of WWE, it was much better than I had anticipated.

Good matches, shocking endings and a shocking, serious injury were highlights, and a lowlight of the E’s annual Extreme Rules only PPV. Of course it couldn’t be all good, we did get a backstage segment with Cena, Mickie and Adamle that was very Monday Night Raw, but other than that, I can’t complain too heavily.

Jeff Hardy and Youmanga jerked the curtain, something that I can’t say completely surprised me, and other than Jeff Hardy not knowing how to work a fire extinguisher it was a pretty good match, filled with high spots and a great attention getter to the pull the audience in.

In typical falls count anywhere fashion the action spilled into the crowd, into the backstage area and finally to outside the arena. There were a few spots in here that elicited an O from me, and the people who gathered to watch the show. The slide down the rail into a clothesline/crossbody combo was one.

Another was Youmanga taking a Steve Blackman like dive, though not as high, from the ladder of an 18-wheeler to the “concrete below,” which set up a decent finish. The finish was marred by shoddy camera work, either purposeful or by mistake. We didn’t see the impact of the move, and barely saw the three count. Either way, I wasn’t disappointed too badly.

While it was heavily predicted that Jeff Hardy would go over, I believe the way in which he went over can keep Umaga looking strong, especially if Umaga departs “Raw” for greener or bluer pastures on Friday nights. It took a several high impact moves and a sick high spot to put him away, and while he’s still being buried in our minds, the crowd will remember how hard it was for him to be put away.

The ECW 5 man Singapore cane match wasn’t anything to stand and applaud, but it wasn’t the sheer disappointment and clusterfuck I thought it would be. I expected Big Show to dominate the entire match, with nobody getting any time otherwise, but I was wrong, and pleasantly surprised.

I’ve long been a fan of the involvement of other sport athletes in pro wrestling, not necessarily in competitive matches, but in an outside role, even getting involved in the match. Much like Shawne “Lights Out” Merriman did at ONS. I personally marked out because hell, it was Shawne Merriman, he plays for the Bolts.

Merriman almost belongs in the world of wrestling. He’s an over the top kind of personality, he has a nickname, and is a pretty imposing figure, not to mention his past gas use. While the shot he took and the shot he gave weren’t great, they weren’t bad for a first timer either.

Show was taken out rather early, and seeing the teamwork aspect from the normal rivals put over Show as a “force.” He was beaten by all the participants, and thrown to the outside rather early, Show also appeared to take a legit cut over the eye when he hit the steps face first. That allowed everyone else a shot to get their stuff in.

Show of course made his comeback, dominated the latter stage of the match, and delivered a sick cane shot to the well trodden skull of Tommy Dreamer, which was our finish. I wasn’t particularly fond of the one foot cover for the victory, but it did fit, and sets up yet another Giant vs. Giant match, this time for ECW gold at Night of Champions.

Speaking of Night of Champions, formerly, “Vengeance: Night of Champions” WWE dropped the former title in favor of the new title. I think they could also do this next year and instead of calling this show “One Night Stand: Extreme Rules” they could simply call it Extreme Rules, but I don’t know how well that would work out for them.

The structure of the card itself was something that didn’t bother me. Hardy and Umaga is a rivalry with a back story of sorts, but not like the subsequent matches, other than Melina and Beth Phoenix, the other matches reached a blow off point this evening, I hope so, at least in a few cases.

One of those where I hope the rivalry is over is between JBL and John Cena. While I don’t fully expect it to be over, Cena came out on top yet again, and there aren’t many more roads left for this vehicle to travel down. I did like JBL screaming, “I want my damn torch back” throughout the match.

While JBL isn’t on my top 5 list, I do firmly believe that he is a solid heel, and serves a purpose in the company…other than being Mr. Soapy Fingers. With the upcoming draft, I wouldn’t mind seeing him head back to “SmackDown” and taking Cena with him, as a matter of fact, I’d much prefer seeing Cena head to Friday nights.

While much derisiveness has been hurled towards Cena’s in ring ability it warrants mentioning again. I had a small group of people watching this PPV with me, and his initial comeback was called by three of us, simultaneously. “Shoulder block, shoulder block, proto-plex, and five knuckle shuffle,” and an attempt at an FU, if only he could change it up a bit. The finish itself left much to be desired, but with Cena going over, it would have anyway.

Melina and Beth Phoenix in an “I quit match” was something I expected to be boring, and serve purpose for a bathroom break, a fresh Mountain Dew, and another serving of nachos, but I was pleasantly surprised by the match. Beth Phoenix and Melina may have been the show stealer depending on who you ask. As it relates to if Melina is now a face or if Beth is just a huge heel, I’m leaning towards Beth being a huge heel.

The stretcher match made perfect sense, Batista had repeatedly said he was going to hurt Shawn Michaels, and what better way than a stretcher match (the other matches were already taken) was there? I had expected Big Dave to be on the losing end, but with the finish and the events that lead to it, I didn’t mind seeing the Shaminal get a W.

Chris Jericho who Donnie doesn’t have time for, did a tremendous job at ONS. It raised a few question from several, but it makes perfect sense. Jericho and Michaels will break into a feud now, and Jericho wasn’t really trying to help Shawn, he was getting Batista to beat on Michaels some more. Remember, Jericho wanted the match to begin with.

The last man standing match was a match that I had waited for all night. It was the one I was most intrigued by and the reason we forked over the money to watch the show. I expected Orton to go over for no other reason than to continue this feud until after the Draft, and it was before Taker/Edge.

It appeared to be going in that direction until Orton broke his left collarbone. That wasn’t confirmed at the time, but Orton said it, Lawler said it, and Triple H expressed genuine concern after the match. The match was a solid one, and though the finish was a seat of the pants finish, it was able to maintain the brutality expected from a Last Man Standing match.

If I had my way, and Orton was truly supposed to go over in that match, he should have gone over anyway. I know he is legit injured, but imagine the heel heat he could have gotten by winning anyway and debuting as the new WWE Champion in a sling and burying Hunter by saying he’s so much better than Hunter because he won the WWE Championship with a broken collar bone.

Wishful thinking yes and it could very easily go the other way. Though after the match the fans were still booing, and he remained in character (kudos) him battling through a broken collarbone and winning the WWE Championship would have most likely elicited some cheers, though they would possibly be begrudged cheers.

People hate Orton, and God bless him for drawing that much heat and being that good at his job. A late update posted online said that Orton was taken to a room backstage and examined, and was then taken to San Diego Medical Center and diagnosed with a broken left collarbone, so it is officially confirmed.

The TLC match had most people intrigued. If not for TLC, for the stip that Taker would leave WWE if he lost. While I don’t think I would have had the interference from every member of La Familia, I do understand it, and I respect Edge for playing the chickenshit heel in the way that he does.

This was easily match of the night, a great way for Edge and Taker to get the spotlight, after Edge voiced his displeasure in having so much to follow at WrestleMania. I think Mick Foley did an excellent job on commentary, putting over both Edge and Taker in the right places, and planting the seed early on that Edge may actually win.

I also liked the way the match was put together. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Edge didn’t take all the major bumps, and Taker took his fair share, and with the exception being the final bump, and possibly the choke slam on the gimmick ladder, everything appeared to go perfectly.

I don’t want to over critique, but I do think Taker baited the finish a little much, but I honestly can’t blame him. That is a big bump for anyone, and an even bigger bump for man his size, and his age. I don’t know many 6’10, 43 year old guys that would be willing to take that bump.

I expected Edge to go over, because I believe that this can become more intriguing, though not immediately. Let it simmer, let it move to the back of the minds of the fans and then do it again. There are several ways it could go, Vickie gets fired and the decision is reversed, or Edge turns on Vickie, and she enlists the help of Taker to get back at Edge, though all that remains to be seen.

I don’t think anyone expected much from One Night Stand, but I will be so bold to say that this was one of the top four PPV’s of this year, and we’re at the halfway point. Hopefully Raw’s negative ratings haven’t hurt PPV buys, because I believe if people saw, or read anything about One Night Stand they may tune into “Raw” and “SmackDown” to see what happens next.

DJB’s What Not To Watch-PPV Edition:
John Cena/Mike Adamle/Mickie James backstage segment

Tha Results…
*Jeff Hardy def. Umaga-Falls Count Anywhere
*Big Show wins five man Singapore Cane match
*John Cena def. JBL-First Blood
*Beth Phoenix def. Melina-I Quit
*Batista def. Shawn Michaels-Stretcher Match
*Triple H def. Randy Orton-Last Man Standing
*Edge def. Undertaker-Tables, Ladders and Chairs


5 comments: on "One Night Stand: Officially A Fling"

Anonymous said...

John Cena is a mutha'ucka, I'd like to slice him up and have him wake up in a smoothie because he's shi-. I'll pop an apple in his ass.

Anonymous said...

John Cena is a mutha'ucka ooo yeah, too many mutha uckas uckin with my shi.

There were apparently some mutha'uckas booking this, but there werent too many mutha'uckas uckin with this shi

Anonymous said...

This ppv was better then either Backlash or Judgement Day ppvs were. I think Phoenix and Melina showed that the WWE divas can hang with the TNA knockouts. I has very impressed by both of the ladies use of submission moves. Melina looked better then ever in the ring. Who ever hase been training her latley deserves a big thumbs up.
I think the only match that wasn't that good was Triple H vs. orton and that is probabky due to Orton's injury. Hope he is better soon cause he is one of the main reasons I enjoy RAW.
I had a gut feeling Edge would win cause it was to obvious Taker would win with the stimulation was if he lost he would have to leave the WWE for good (TNA just did this with Joe and you knew Joe would win so I had a feeling the WWE would do the opposite). I know they will find some way to bring him back, maybe somehing to do with the big news confernce on Tues.

Anonymous said...

Pyro said...

It was a pretty good ppv but where I have to disagre with you is on not minding seeing Batista win. Apparently he's transitioning into the main event again. Reports stated yesterday that he was going to take some time off...now reports say he and Edge are going to feud for the World Heavyweight Championship. I didn't think Batista could go for the World Heavyweight Championship as long as Edge was Champion? Push somebody else, let Finlay work Edge on a PPV, let somebody do something. No Batista again...I can't stomach it, I JUST CANT!

Anonymous said...

I know a few people who said they were glad Orton is hurt, so they don't have to see him. Dude has TOO MUCH heel heat. That's disturbing.

Seems as though it was a good show...shoulda bouht it