WWE 24/7 Thoughts- SMACKDOWN IN NEW ZELAND 3/4/06

Matt Hardy v. Road Warrior

PAS: I kind of liked this. Hardy had his knee attacked the night before on Smackdown when Animal turned heel, and Animal works over that knee for a bit. I especially liked Animal’s dragon screw for the finish, because it looked like he had never applied that move before.

TKG: Hey I think I saw the match where Road Warrior turned on Matt live. It was part of the series of matches were the WWE had Matt tagged with people that the crowd was indifferent to, and had the non-Matt guy work face peril. Dug the opening as Matt gets the crowd hot by teasing throwing the shirt only to get knocked down by Road Warrior. Matt knows his money is in the merch, can’t waste it. .Matt’s all about the selling of the leg as he tries to apply his stuff. Fine lil match.

Finlay v. Bobby Lashley

PAS: This was one the early matches against each other, so Finlay was in the process of turning Lashley into a good wrestler. He was still pretty green at this point and Finlay spent the match either controlling on the mat or bumping all over the ring. I especially loved his drop toe hold and various chinlock and cravate variations. Lashley has gotten a ton better, but this was a great match even when he was bad. Finlay is fucking awesome.

TKG: Before the match they do a Lashley man on the street segment. It may be the only time I’ve seen him come across really comfortable on the mic. Lashley has gotten good enough at this point that Finlay no longer needs to bump like Terry Funk and I had almost forgotten the period where he was bumping like a freak. Lashley is really temtative but this is Finlay’s match.

Boogeyman v. Orlando Jordan

PAS: This is weirdly long, as OJ gets a long control section. I didn’t think they actually had him work any matches. Boogeyman’s finisher looked really good, and this was shockingly okay. I also liked all the double entendres by Taz. “Boogey isn’t going to put a worm in Orlando’s mouth”, “ Orlando has juice all over his thigh”

TKG: This is set up by some long JBL mic work where he does the Volkoff spot and sings God Bless America to boos. The match itself wasn’t as bad as one would expect. And well Taz has been superfun the whole show as he works blue, takes shots at ugly people in the audience and just seems more loose than he ever did on Smackdown or PPVs.

Booker T v. Chris Benoit

PAS: This was maybe a step below their really great Smackdown series, but this was really great match. Both guys really lay it into each other, I love Booker’s body shots and he broke out a bunch of them. Benoit also does an especially great job of taking the scissors kick. It really looked like a nasty neck bump. The finish was really great as it was the Booker corner roll up countered into a sharpshooter into a crossface.

TKG: Yeah these two work each other well. This had more Booker stalling and mugging than the Smackdown series. Both guys work stiff with each other and Benoit alsso throws some beautiful worked punches at one point. Sometimes this type of one move transition to another move finish can come across overly pretty. Here these two guys get to do smooth finishing sequence that’s really great without being “ pretty” .

Rey Mysterio v. Randy Orton

PAS: These guys had one of my favorite matches of the year against each other on Smackdown. This wasn’t that match, as it was a lot more shtick. I enjoy a lot of Orton’s bullshit and I especially dug his dizziness sell after the satellite headscissors by Rey. Orton is a guy who usually tries one new thing a match, and most of the time it is stupid. Here he does a Argentinean backbreaker into a neckbreaker which he needs to chalk up as a failed experiment. These guys have really great timing with each other, and while their wasn’t as many holy shit moments as in the SD match, there was a couple of really pretty exchanges.

TKG: I didn’t like this as much as Phil. Orton’s over the top selling really came across bullshitty. Really Andrew WK over the top camp…like he was saying “this is all fake”. I often like Orton’s playing to the back of the dome goofy selling stuff but normally its combined with big bumps. Without the big bumps it felt like he was just goofing around. Orton and Rey have had two matches I liked a ton. This did very little for me.

Kurt Angle v. Undertaker v. Mark Henry

PAS: This is your basic WWE 3-way, each guy gets an exchange with everyone, Undertaker v. Mark Henry and Undertaker v. Kurt Angle exchanges were fine, Angle v. Henry wasn’t particularly good. Angle’s punches are pretty remarkably bad. I did like the Angle ankle lock reversals. Lots of ref bumps and bullshit for a finish and Taker and Angle get to bear up Henry a bit.

TKG: Most of match was really Taker as Henry v Angle segment was short while Taker gets kind of extended sections with both. Angle sells longer on house shows than he does on the TV…well he lays down for longer.