The 2006 WWE Survivor Series is history and, frankly, the show was better than I anticipated. I wasn’t looking forward at all to the show, bar a couple matches but, for the most part, each match delivered and made the show one that I am not sorry I paid to see.
Match 1: Booker T won the first of the Best of Seven Series over Chris Benoit with interference from his real life wife Sharmell. This was a solid wrestling match which kicks off a rehash of the Best of Seven Series that Booker and Benoit had in WCW years back. The second match in the series will be shown on the live primetime special this Tuesday night on UPN. More about that later.
Match 2: Trish Stratus defeated Melina in a surprisingly good interpromotional women's match. Melina trained in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for quite a while and can hold her own in the ring. There was interference by Mickie James for Trish and Mercury and Nitro for Melina, but both Trish and Melina came out of the match with respect from the fans (Trish already has a lot of respect but Melina needed to prove herself and did fairly well.). Trish held onto the women’s title.
Match 3: Triple H beat Ric Flair in a very bloody No DQ, Last Man Standing match that lasted over 26 minutes. The usual weapons were used including a screwdriver, the announce table, and the sledgehammer which finally did Flair in. The match was very good considering Flair's age and the length of the match. This feud is far from over. Flair was stretchered out after the match for dramatic effect. I can’t get over how a man of 56 years of age who has been wrestling for so many years can still put on performances like this one. Speaking of Flair, if you haven’t read his autobiography, you really should. It’s one of the best books I have read by a wrestler with parts being alternately touching, funny, and very honest. It was quite controversial when it first was released especially for the shots Flair took at Bret Hart. You can check it out below. I plan to review it soon for those who haven’t read it yet.
Match 4: John Cena retained the World Championship over Kurt Angle. Angle had Daivari as a ref but he was knocked out early and two more refs were called in by the end of the match. Cena won with the FU infuriating Angle. This was a very solid, better than average match even with the craziness of Daivari interfering then being knocked out and a second ref being knocked out and a final ref counting the pin. I noticed at least half the crowd was on Angle’s side and booing Cena. When this happens to a babyface (good guy) usually, they have no choice but to turn heel (bad guy). If the fans are turning on him, he has to go with what they feel. You can’t have a good guy being booed out of the building and he nearly was at times tonight.
Part of the reason I think Cena is getting booed is that the young males in the crowd don’t see him as a “real rapper” and feel he is too gimmicky and “nice” while the females go crazy over him. This leads to the males not liking him even more. This happened to The Rock notably when he was breaking in. He was a good guy but the fans just didn’t take to him after a while and turned on him. He had no choice but to go heel and it worked wonderfully for him. He got the boos, he showed a whole new side of his character, and was then able to turn face again when the crowd was ready to accept him.
I think it’s time for Cena to turn heel again and stay heel for a while until the crowd sees him as a bad guy and not just a gimmicky rapper. On a side note, he truly is a rapper and released a second CD of his original rap songs recently. You can take a look at that CD below as well. I will review that soon. It’s not the Cena we all see on TV, that’s for sure! There are two versions of the CD out – one uncensored and one censored. I highly recommend you buy the censored one if you are giving it to or getting it for anyone under about 16 years of age.Match 5: In the lame battle of the General Managers match, the ridiculous (but often funny) Boogeyman interfered for Smackdown’s Teddy Long knocking Eric Bischoff out and allowing Teddy Long to get the pin. This match should never have been on the show and meant nothing. I think it was an effort to try to make the fans see that Smackdown isn’t the “B” show that most perceive it to be. WWE has been portraying Smackdown as its secondary show for a long time and the ratings reflect that. I think they are desperately trying to undo the damage now. It will take quite a while for fans to see Smackdown as on par with Raw, even though there is tremendous talent on Smackdown just as there is on Raw.
Match 6: The last match was the Survivor Series Smackdown vs. Raw Team Match with Smackdown being represented by an injured Batista, JBL, Randy Orton (taking the spot that the late Eddie Guerrero was to have had), Bobby Lashley, and Rey Mysterio competing against Raw's Shawn Michaels, Kane, Chris Masters, Big Show, and Carlito. Batista did wrestle but was eliminated quickly to spare his back any further injury. Randy Orton ended up getting the RKO on Shawn Michaels to give Smackdown the win.
I couldn't help but feel a lump in my throat knowing that whole scenario belonged to Eddie but this opened up a spot for Orton that was previously closed. Orton has not been pushed hard since he returned from his latest injury, was traded to Smackdown, and paired with his real life father "Cowboy" Bob Orton. He was to have a match against the Undertaker on the show before Eddie’s death but, as we all know, things changed after that and he was placed on Team Smackdown instead. Expect to see the rematch of Orton vs. Undertaker at the next pay per view.
The match was average with some good action but these team matches are always tough to follow. After the match several of the Smackdown roster came out to celebrate with Orton and the Smackdown team but were interrupted by the Undertaker’s music. The “Dead Man” appeared with a casket (which many are saying is too soon considering the death of a coworker just two weeks ago). The casket was on its side and set ablaze by a menacing, furious Undertaker who tossed Orton out of the ring then chokeslammed several others before the ring was cleared and he was left alone to close the show.
This sets up his rematch with Orton for the Armageddon pay par view next month. Frankly, I am sick of seeing Orton and Undertaker wrestle and wish the two would move on to new feuds. Hopefully this will be the final match in the series as there simply is not much left to do that hasn’t been done with this storyline.
I mentioned that Edge was injured and working around wrestling in my previous columns. He showed up on the show tonight with Lita debuting yet another “talk show” called “The Cutting Edge”. He called out Detroit Tigers baseball player Dmitri Young (the show was in Detroit) and proceeded to run him and all of baseball down. Finally Young asked Edge where his title was and Edge, angered by the remark, said he was leaving the “stinking city”. This was another way to keep Edge, who WWE sees as prime main event material, on TV without having him wrestle. Whether he will have surgery or try to work through his chest injury, I am not sure, but he has been very carefully protected since he tore a muscle in his pectoral region.
The Survivor Series was more solid that I expected and opened some new storylines. I like the interpromotional matches but I think it is time to go back to separate brands now. I also strongly believe it is time to push Smackdown as a show just as worthy of Raw and to prove that the talent there can work great matches and have good storylines, certainly as good as Raw. I am hoping this win for Team Smackdown is the start of a push for the show.
Although there were no Match of the Year candidates on the show, it delivered what it promised and was worth watching. I really didn’t expect it to be.
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TNA Impact’s Saturday night Spike TV show ratings have fallen over the past few weeks. I am worried about this because the debut of Christian Cage (Formerly Christian in WWE), should have gotten more viewers more interested in the show, not less. I think the problem, besides the bad night and time slot (Saturday at 11 p.m. is a terrible slot), is that the TNA writers are trying to pack too much into the one hour show. They have scores of talent and they want to showcase them all. But, in doing so, the show comes off as disjointed and hard to follow. They need to slow down and let storylines play out and allow time for matches to build. Hopefully, the ratings will pick up but I suspect that won’t be until after the first if the year. December is always a tough month for ratings and Saturday nights are nights when people get together for parties, shopping, whatever. I hope TNA can build up their audience slowly and, after the first of the year, will take off like so many of us fans are hoping it will.The Turning Point pay per view should be a good one as all TNA's pay per views seem to blow fans away. They have the time to showcase their strong talent pool and usually have at least one big bump or spot per show that has fans talking the next day.
* Be sure to tune into WWE’s primetime special on Tuesday, November 29 on UPN at 9 p.m. EST.
The only matches announced so far are Rey Mysterio vs. The Big Show and Chris Benoit vs. Booker T. in their second in their Series of Seven matches. The show will air live. I have no idea why they are having this special or what it is leading to but, for wresting fans, the more wrestling the better!
* Indy workers! If you would like a link to your website in my links area, please send me your name and link. I am updating all the links and would love to include as many workers, male and female (managers as well) as possible. From the smallest promotions to the largest, if you’re an indy worker and have a website, send it in to me and I will add it to my growing list. Of course, any contracted workers are most welcome to send in their links as well. I have updated the links section with many WWE, TNA, and Ring of Honor workers’ websites as well as independent workers. I am most interested, also, in any women in any form of the wrestling business. Past wrestlers or wrestling personalities who have moved on but are still recognized and followed are also welcome to send in links to your site. Fans don’t forget easily and they like to keep up on what the people they watched are doing now, even if it isn’t wrestling related.
* I also would like to amp up the indy promotions and wrestling schools links. I have added several indy promotions to the links but want them all from the smallest to the largest represented. Please send your promotion or school’s name and link to me and a short explanation of the promotion or school so I can add that to the link area.
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Lastly for now, I have reviewed WWE’s Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 for PS2. It was a challenge writing the review because I am an armchair gamer but I did it and I think you will get a good idea of just how good the game really is. You can read that review on the site and check out the game below. It’s the most amazing game! I cannot believe how far video games have come in the last few years and this one blows the others away! If you’re thinking of buying it as a gift, do it now, the game is selling out fast!I wish I could stick around and chew the fat for a few thousand more words but I must end this now. Please stop by during the week for commentary and news. As I have said, I try to send the newsletter out only once a week but I write more often so stop by and see what’s posted.
Also, let’s get the forum going! I thank all of you who posted tributes to Eddie and will be sending the link to his family. Please hop in and feel free to discuss whatever you want. I check the forum daily and I would love to interact with the people reading my work here. Don’t be shy, I never allow flaming or any sort of dissing to go on in any of my forums so you can rest easy knowing I am watching for trouble makers and they will be banned. I believe you can discuss wrestling in a mature and friendly manner and even disagree in a way that isn’t insulting. I do it on my personal website, Wrestling one the Fringe boards and I will do it on the forum here.
That’s all for now folks. A commentary and a review coming at you soon, more than likely this week, so bookmark the site and check back!
Feedback is most welcome so please take a moment to send in suggestions, questions, or whatever you want. I may not be able to answer every question personally but can do so on the forum or in a Q & A right here.
Don’t forget to visit my personal wrestling website, WRESTLING ON THE FRINGE for up the minute news, columns, commentary and more. I am updating the site with all new content this week. You may be interested in some past interviews I did with several wrestlers like Matt Hardy, Test, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Juventud Guerrera, Shane (Gregory) Helms, and more. Go to Patty’s Place and look at the long list of archived columns and click on the review or column you want to read. I plan to conduct some interviews for this site in the near future.Take care and thank you for reading.
Below are links to some of the things I spoke about above. Check them out. They are all quality items I personally recommend! There are also some new Eddie Guerrero merchadise and links to his DVD and his soon to be released book of the same name.
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