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Morning Glory #23: Report Card - WWE Vengeance 2003
Since the Brit Pack seems to have dissolved, I’ve decided to go it alone, and present my own review of last night’s PPV, WWE Vengeance. I didn’t have much hope for this PPV going in – I’m a Raw fan over the Smackdown brand, but the Benoit/Guerrero and the Cena/Undertaker matches definitely had me intrigued. I’m gonna be much tougher reviewing this PPV, too, because it’s one of the ones that us Brits actually have to pay for. As with my work in the Brit Pack, I’m reviewing the matches School Report style, with grades ranging from A* to U. So, without further ado, here we go….
Eddie Guerrero d. Chris Benoit for the WWE US Title @ 22:14
The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw Eddie coming out in the lowrider was “Shit, it’s the opener, it’s gonna be short”. I was wrong, thankfully. The match was great from the opening bell, using a lot of counter wrestling, holds, and psychology. They’re two of the best wrestlers on the roster, so yeah, that worked very well. Eddie busted out the Backdrop Driver, which ALWAYS impresses me, as it’s one of the sickest bumps you’ll see on WWE TV, and I was surprised that he used it on Benoit, who’s had a serious neck injury. Crowd seemed torn from start to finish, with Eddie getting a sizeable face pop to begin with, and Benoit getting loud ‘BENOIT!’ chants during the match. Benoit’s always better on PPV in terms of crowd interest, because he has the ringtime to get over using his technical wrestling, whereas on TV, he doesn’t have that space. I was also very impressed with the announcing in this match, especially Tazz’s work. He pointed out a number of times that Benoit was working on the shoulder to soften Eddie up for the Crossface – remember this, as I’m gonna reference it later in the review.
The ending to the match, however, really left me with a sour taste in my mouth. One thing I really dislike (and people who follow the oWa will attest to this) is run-ins on PPVs. I don’t mind them at all in TV matches – TV matches mean nothing in the long run, unless they’re hugely built, and are there to further the storyline, leading to the big PPV match. PPV matches, on the other hand, should be mostly clean. Cheating by the heel does no harm – I wasn’t bothered in the slightest by Eddie’s cheating, and the ref bump, but what a run-in does, especially one of this nature, is take the heat off the two involved, and put it onto the interfering wrestler. In this case, the Rhyno-Benoit feud has begun fully, and they better give us a damn good reason for the Rhyno heel turn, as their whole ‘tension’ angle seemed to disappear a while back. Personally, I would’ve let Benoit finish clean here with the Crossface, then done this finish in a Smackdown rematch.
Benoit’s obviously heading towards a showdown with Rhyno at Summerslam, and that will probably rock, given that Rhyno’s easily one of the most underrated wrestlers on the WWE roster. Eddie’s future, on the other hand, is a mystery to me. I was hoping he’d lose this, and be pushed into a feud over the WWE Title with Kurt Angle, but now he’s US Champion, that’s doubtful. A champion vs champion match would sure as hell be interesting, but it’s highly unlikely that the WWE would do that at this point in time. I’ll guess that Eddie will defend against someone like Billy Gunn or a face Sean O’Haire at Summerslam, but I’m honestly not sure. Given a long title run, Eddie could do some serious good with the US Title, but if he’s treated like Christian was with the IC Title on Raw, it’ll end up dead in the water.
B- (Take away the run-in, this would’ve been a B+)
Jamie Noble d. Billy Gunn @ 5.00
Billy’s changed that horrible haircut, thank God. I’m getting more sick of Torrie Wilson with each appearance – she’s good-looking, sure, but she basically has no talent for wrestling or valeting, for that matter. Someone like Trish Stratus is just as beautiful, but they can actually work in the ring, and on the mic. Torrie is interchangeable with any blond model the WWE could pick up at any time, which is why she’s boring. Anyhoo, the match. It was short and unoffensive, and really, the people who say Billy’s the worst worker on the Smackdown roster are simply wrong. He’s not a good worker by any means, but he tries hard (despite blowing up early in matches), and has some decent moves in his arsenal. Noble won with a roll-up, and got a good face pop, as he now gets to sleep with Torrie on Smackdown. I have a good idea as to what they’ll do here – Torrie said she’d ‘sleep with’ Noble, and she didn’t mention sex, so therefore, technically, she could climb into a bed with him and go to sleep, literally. That’ll probably be the payoff, I’d guess.
It seems the WWE’s annual push of Billy Gunn has ended already, which is a good thing, as it’s only lasted, what, three weeks this time? I think the reasoning will be that Billy’s not at all over, and that’s understandable, as since his return, we’ve been given no reason whatsoever to cheer for the guy. Noble has a character, and although it’s not been developed as well as it could’ve been, it seems to be doing well in this angle. Gunn has no character of note, and the only reason the fans have been given to care about him is that he has Torrie with him. This formula (put a valet with someone who’s not over for the entrance pop) never really works (see Saturn and Terri, for example), and it seems that poor Billy is doomed again. Hopefully, they’ll team him with someone permanently and give him a run in the tag division, because his work really is good there.
D
Bradshaw won the Bar-Room Brawl
Again, this was relatively unoffensive. I don’t like Bradshaw, and I was distraught at the wasting of some great talents in this match (Spanky, Sean O’Haire, Chris Kanyon), but really, it was just filler, and it acted as some good comedy with Brother Love, and the Easter Bunny, especially. It reminded me of that Junkyard Invitational that WCW did in 1999, but this was better, if only because you could see what was going on for the best part. O’Haire’s mid-match destruction trail looked good, and I think he could get over hugely if he were pushed in his old ‘Devil’s Advocate’ gimmick. Spanky dancing on the table cracked me up – this kid needs a push, STAT, and I think putting Brother Love with a heel from OVW could help them no end. A fun little filler segment.
C
Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin d. Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles @ 14:52
Being perfectly honest, I’m not a big fan of tag team wrestling. I know some of the Oratory staff (Justin and Corey come to mind) love it, but for some reason, it never really impresses me. I think the critics of Haas and Benjamin need to shut up at this point – they’ve developed into fucking good workers very quickly, showing the same kind of transition from amateur wrestling to professional wrestling that Kurt Angle did. Rey was just Rey, which is good, and Kidman looked better than he has done in ages. Hopefully people will see why I’m such a fan of him now. I was surprised that they didn’t turn Kidman on Rey here, but maybe that will come on Smackdown. They used the traditional tag team formula to perfection here, and it came off as probably the best tag team match since No Mercy 2002’s touted match between Rey and Edge, and Benoit and Angle.
I’m still convinced we’ll see a Kidman heel turn and a subsequent feud with Rey going into Summerslam, but what they do with Benjamin and Haas now is tough to predict. The tag team division is basically horrid on Smackdown at this point – they need a lot more permanent teams, but I think while they re-build, they should probably give the APA to the champs for a Summerslam match, if they even bother putting a tag match on. APA are over enough to make the fans care about the feud, and while the end result wouldn’t be much cop, it saves wasting two singles guys in a thrown together team. If the division dies – which it could well do some time in the future, Benjamin and Haas will be huge singles stars, mark my words.
C+
Sable d. Stephanie McMahon @ 6:23
They did what they could – an energetic catfight, and while it didn’t impress me at all, it wasn’t long enough to really harm the flow of the PPV. The only interest the match really held for anyone, I think, was the premise of possibly seeing Sable topless – which is meaningless at this point anyway, as she’s done Playboy twice, but whatever. The finish of the match was the second of the two matches that left me with a bad taste in my mouth (the first being the US Title match). Whereas in the US Title match, I was complaining about the run-in itself, here, I’m complaining about who did it, and why. Rhyno attacked Benoit, kicking off a feud we’ve been waiting for a while to see. In this one, A-Train ran in to cost Stephanie. Why? I have no idea – he’s not been at all involved with either woman in the build-up to the match. It didn’t make sense at all.
The major beef I have, though, is that this is probably the beginning of another A-Train push that NOBODY wants to see. I’m sure Matt Bloom is one hell of a nice guy backstage, but that doesn’t make a difference – he’ll never be over until he wears a mask and a shirt, and has a totally different gimmick. He’s not like the Big Show, who, for however much he sucks, will always be over due to his size, and the sad thing is, he’s not that bad of a worker. The A-Train push failed last time, and it will fail this time. Until Vince, or the writers, or Steph, or whoever, realizes that Matt Bloom will NEVER get over without a total makeover, we’re probably doomed to seeing an annual failed A-Train push.
Bleh.
F
The Undertaker d. John Cena @ 16:01
Video package for this match was dope – really made it out to be a huge feud, which, by the amount of airtime it had on Smackdown, it wasn’t really treated as such. The opening five minutes were pretty disheartening. Taker basically beat the fuck out of Cena, before chokeslamming him, and pulling him up. Taker beating the fuck out of him for five minutes is fine – it’s the opening segment of a match, and the babyface usually gets on top – but I despise the pull-up spot. It makes whoever’s on the receiving end seem very weak. However, the rest of the match pretty much made up for that. Cena basically dominated a brawl-type match, with Taker making the babyface comebacks at the right points. For those who say Cena carried this, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. A one-year rookie like Cena is not going to carry anything at this point in his career. A lot of the work may have been done by Cena, but Taker told the story of the match, something he’s always done well.
The psychology of the match was good (Cena working on the ribs, and like the Benoit-Eddie example, I’ll discuss this soon), and generally, Taker made Cena look like a legitimate threat. I wasn’t impressed by the ending, as Taker went over cleanly, but unlike some, I won’t actually bitch about it for a while yet. I didn’t bitch about HBK going over Jericho at Wrestlemania, because I knew Michaels would return the job, and it’s the same here. I’m also keeping an eye on who bitches about the finish, as, if I remember them giving no complaints to HBK’s win, I get to yell “HYPOCRITE!” at them. Seeing as how the ‘internal bleeding’ angle was used, I probably would’ve had a stoppage finish here. I used it in the oWa a few months ago, and it worked nicely there, and I think the same effect would’ve been had here – Cena gets over as a machine type who stopped Undertaker, and Taker gets over as a tough bastard who didn’t give up. I see a rematch some time in the future, where Cena will more than likely get the win. Kudos to Taker for working so hard following his personal tragedy recently, too. Great brawl.
B+
Vince McMahon d. Zach Gowen @ 14:01
I felt this was given a little too much time, but it was kind of entertaining, and had the right finish with the right person going over. However….look back at the matches that went before this. In the US Title match, Benoit worked over Guerrero’s shoulder, to set him up for the Crossface. Jamie Noble took out Billy Gunn’s knee, and he sold it throughout the match. Undertaker injured his ribs, and John Cena capitalized on that by working them over for the remainder of the match. You see, this is WRESTLING, and the object of a match is to win by pinfall or submission. The easiest ways to do that, obviously, are to set up the opponent for the finishing move, or capitalize on an already injured, or prone body part. Vince McMahon did just that at the beginning of this match. Zach Gowen has one leg, therefore take that away, and he can’t walk. Therefore, Vince was using the realistic tactic in order to win the match. However, after five minutes of non-stop offense by Vince on the leg, it’s time for Gowen to make his babyface comeback. Except it’s totally unrealistic, as Gowen, after the offense from Vince, hops around on the leg like nothing’s wrong.
Now, if this was Undertaker, or Billy Gunn, or Goldberg, or even Kurt Angle, 99% of fans would say that the match was unrealistic, the psychology was fucked, due to the lack of selling from the wrestler. Of course, this doesn’t work for Gowen, because he only HAS the one leg. Sure, the kid can do stuff that’s incredible for a one-legged man – moonsaults, etc – but being perfectly honest, he doesn’t belong in a wrestling ring with able-bodied wrestlers. Nobody should realistically lose to him, which is why Vince going over was right, and why Zach shouldn’t ever win a match, unless the match involves no offense whatsoever on the leg, which would make the opponent look VERY dumb. I have nothing against Zach – for the kid to even get into the business is an inspiration, but really, it’s just not feasible. Marks are obviously realizing this, too – that was a totally mixed reaction at the end when they were hoping for a standing ovation.
E- ( A totally unrealistic match)
Kurt Angle d. Brock Lesnar & Big Show to win the WWE World Heavyweight Title @ 17:29
Now, THIS was a good match. WWE seems to have realized that Triple Threat matches work best if they’re used sparingly, especially in the main event, and I think this was the first one to main event since last year’s Vengeance Triple Threat. Big Show worked his ass off, and while there’s no way he should be a main eventer, the work of Angle and Lesnar made this great. Some awesome spots here, and the formula of a different guy in control at different times, with loads of finishers and the pins being broken up was extremely watchable. Lesnar’s powerbomb on Show was just crazy. I think the right man went over, in that Lesnar’s been boring for a while now, and Angle is Smackdown God, but where they go from here is again, a mystery.
Lesnar is now a bit of a problem for the bookers, I think. When he was heel, fans cared about him because he beat their favourites badly, like Rock, Hogan and Taker. When he turned face, the only reason they were given to care about him at all was that he could do some insanely powerful moves, and he never lost. Now those moves are being done every week, and he’s actually being made to job and look vulnerable, pretty soon, his heat is going to dwindle. When they were booking him as the Goldberg-esque monster face, they should’ve thought about this, and given him some character development to help him out. The best solution, I feel, is to turn him heel, and push him as the Robo-Brock type that he was getting over as back in late 2002. It’ll help him out a ton, freshening up his stale character no end, and will help any face who manages to go over him against the odds, too.
Angle’s now champion, and while I think this is the right move, as Brock needs a break from the main events IMO, I can’t see an opponent for him for Summerslam other than Big Show. Eddie Guerrero would work, but I think they’ll have him defend the US title instead. Rhyno and Benoit are feuding with one another. If Cena had gone over tonight, I would’ve said him, but I think he’ll be rematching with Taker at Summerslam. Brock-Angle is likely being saved for Wrestlemania XX, so it seems that Big Show is the only option, and that isn’t a good thing. However hard he works, I’ll always be pissed off that he’s in the main events over someone like Benoit, or even an O’Haire or a Spanky. The best thing to do, honestly, would be to push someone totally new, like O’Haire, or even one of Haas or Benjamin into the #1 Contender’s spot. Anyone but Big Show, really, because I’m sick of him at this point, and he desperately needs to be de-pushed back to mid card level. To be honest, Drq’s idea to trade Kane for someone would work nicely, as Kane would be the perfect contender for Angle’s title.
A
The Bottom Line…...
In terms of ringwork, this was basically an awesome PPV, with no really horrible matches save the two McMahon ones, and three awesome matches for totally different reasons. The good (US Title, Main Event, Cena/Taker) was long, and the bad was reasonably short, so I have no complaints there. Did I enjoy it more than Raw’s offering, Bad Blood? I’d have to say yes, I did. Smackdown undoubtedly has the better in-ring workers, but this leads me to my second point.
While I *did* enjoy Vengeance a lot, what the future holds for Smackdown still leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. I’m not so worried about Cena/Taker, because I do think that Cena will win the rematch if it happens – and as I said, I’ll wait a few months before I bitch. What I am worried about is the direction Smackdown is going in general. From Bad Blood, you could see right away that Nash was sliding down the card, that Goldberg was being built as the next logical contender to HHH, that Randy Orton was being pushed, and that Kane was in line for a big angle soon. For me, those were pretty much positive signs – the only negative being the use of Chris Jericho. This PPV gave us the signs that both Sable/Stephanie and Gowen/Vince are not over, that we’re going to see another A-Train push, that Guerrero and Benoit are likely to be in midcard feuds for Summerslam, and that Smackdown’s Summerslam main event is likely to be Kurt Angle vs Big Show, while where Lesnar goes is unknown. To me, that isn’t positive at all.
So, in closing, while this was a totally enjoyable show from a wrestling standpoint, once again, Smackdown can be deemed as a total failure in terms of pushing the right people and the right situations, and it’s likely that for a long time (until Big Show is out of the main events, and Zach Gowen isn’t being pushed at least), I’ll be preferring Raw to Smackdown. The characters and angles just don’t compare, really.
Peace,
Scott Newman:
scott.newman@ntlworld.com
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