I just got home from the
Vengeance PPV.
It began with a match made on Heat: Coach and Garrison Cade versus the debuting team of Tajiri and Rhyno. This was a solid opener with Tajiri hitting all of his trademarks, including a Green Mist in Cade's face (he was aiming for Coach).
Tajiri pinned Coach after a wicked looking kick.
Next was the first promo to build up the story with Eugene that evening: Evolution talk about his situation (none of them are happy with his honorary membership), then HHH watches Chris Benoit trying to have a talk with Eugene while sneering behind a door.
Chris Jericho versus Batista was next. I don't think this match really meshed up. Batista won, but Chris had a leg on the ropes. This will most likely continue the feud.
Another skit saw HHH and Ric Flair with Eugene. Much to his disgust (but for Hunter's plan), Ric gave Eugene one of his robes.
This led straight into the World Tag Team title bout. It started with some cool comedy, as Eugene acted like Flair in the ring, right down to a 'Flair flop". Ric wasn't happy with any of this.
The finish came after Sylvain Grenier smashed Euge's head into the ring steps. He snapped, pushing the referee and going medieval on Sylvain. He drew the DQ win for the champions.
Kane versus Matt Hardy was a massive brawl. Lita came out to stop Kane when he wanted to crush Matt's head with steel ring steps, leading to a Matt attack and a pinfall victory. I was surprised; I expected Matt to lose and get beaten more to justify him leaving for awhile due to legit injury recovery.
Afterwards Lita went to Matt backstage. He asked her to stay away from the ring to protect herself and her baby while he thought of what to do. I'm hoping this will lead to this crapfest ending for a while. Hopefully, for good... but I may be hoping in vain.
Next was the Intercontinental title match. I don't think Orton and Edge really clicked here... in the days of Wrestlemania 3 this kind of match worked with Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage, but today it came across as too many restholds, and even the audience began a "Boring" chant.
Edge became the new IC champ, leaving Orton sobbing in the ring.
Next was the "palate cleanser / bathroom break" match: Molly Holly versus Vickishi - I mean Victoria for the Number One contendership.
They tried. They really tried. To be honest, this match would have been more interesting if they involved Gail Kim. As it was, we've seen these two wrestle each other too many times now - and I absolutely loathe this lapdancer gimmick for Vicki. Still: she won with a savate kick (the match story saw Molly try to hurt her back to take away the Widow's Peak), and now we'll see another Trish/Victoria match - although with Trish really injured, this will probably be another "match" like the one with Nidia last week.
Finally the main event: Chris Benoit defending the World title against HHH. This was a solid technical battle. The endgame saw Eugene come out after a ref bump. He wouldn't wake the ref for Benoit, leading to Chris in the heat of the moment slugging him. He next stopped HHH from using a stell chair, leading to Hunter smacking him.
A few seconds later he stood over both fallen combatants, walking to each while debating a chair shot. He ultimately couldn't bring himself to hit either one. Benoit struggled to get the chair from him, with momentum leading to him hitting HHH with it, leading to a pinfall and Benoit retaining the title. The show ended with Eugene apologizing from outside the ring while an angry Hunter yelled.
There were some "Ehh" matches, but only 'Pregnant Lita was crap. Compared to the Great American Bash (both on paper and from all the reports I read), this was a solid PPV.
(If past history is a teacher, Rick Scaia won't see it the same way.)
