Views from the Hawke’s Nest: WWE Vengeance 2005

 

 

June 26, 2005
Las Vegas, Nevada

 

Carlito (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin [Intercontinental Championship]

Shelton lost the title to Carlito recently, and he was very focused in the early stages of the match. After several minutes of Shelton dominating, Carlito managed to cut him off and then work him over. Carlito did not do a good job here. Nothing remotely compelling about his heat segment. It was thankfully short though, and Shelton made his comeback after hitting a Samoan Drop. Carlito undid a turnbuckle pad, and Shelton crashed into it head-first after a failed Stinger Splash. Carlito pinned him: 1…2…3

Carlito looked terrible here, as he displayed no charisma while on offense whatsoever. Shelton was fine in the opening stages of the match, but he didn’t show any fire when it mattered. Between the lackluster performances and the unsatisfying ending, this was a poor way to start the show.

Match Rating: **

 

Christy Hemme vs. Victoria

Hemme took it to Victoria early, but she got cut off by a hot shot. This feud seems to revolve around Hemme calling Victoria a “bitch.” Victoria’s response seems to be that she agrees. Scintillating stuff. Hemme made her comeback after avoiding a Victoria moonsault. The problem with this match is neither wrestler is likable at all. That makes it impossible to care. Victoria eventually grabbed onto the ropes to get the win with a pinning combo.

I did not enjoy this. The execution was poor, and the feud seemed poorly conceived.

Match Rating: 1/2*

 

John Cena cut a super-grating promo in the back. Fans would turn on him very soon after this.

 

Edge (w/Lita) vs. Kane

The hype video for this match was hysterical. It’s hard to believe anyone wrote this story with anything but comedic attentions.

Kane was running through Edge for a while. Edge eventually hit a spear on the floor, and that gave him control. Kane made a comeback because it was time for the comeback. Holy shit, SNITSKY, ran in. I forgot about him and that feud. Kane gave him the boot. Lita went into the ring with a chair. She dropped it and started feeling Kane up. Kane didn’t fall for it, and he goozled her. Snitksy then kicked Kane in the face to get Edge a nearfall. Edge accidentally hit Snitsky with the MITB briefcase. Kane then hit Edge with the chokeslam: 1…2…3

This match succeeded in managing to make fans care, and I have to give it credit for that. Kane and Edge also worked very hard and worked within their limitations. It was a very strange match though with Kane overcoming ALL the odds to pin the Money in the Bank winner clean. It’s even more maddening to know that Kane was being put over the wrong people a DECADE ago. For fucks sake.

Match Rating: **1/2

 

Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels

I’m curious to see how this one is worked compared to their first match.

Angle was a step ahead of Shawn early, but he wasn’t in control or anything like that. Angle got firm control after hitting the Olympic Slam on the the announce table. Kurt destroyed him for a while in the ring after that. He even hit a Buckle Bomb! Shawn appeared to be on the verge of coming back a few times, but Angle kept cutting him off. Angle got sick of destroying him and settled into a chinlock for some reason. Shawn reversed it into a back suplex and then made a comeback. Angle fought back, but Shawn reversed the Olympic Slam into a DDT. Angle later managed to hit the Olympic Slam for a nearfall. Shawn then reversed an Ankle Lock and that caused a ref bump. Angle got the Ankle Lock again. They were teasing the Wrestlemania finish, as Shawn at in it for a LONG time. Shawn finally escaped. Superkick. Angle actually recovered first and foolishly went to the top rope. He dove off and ate a weak superkick: 1…2…3

I liked Angle a lot in this match. He was kicking ass and everything he did made it seem like he was entirely focused on winning the match. Shawn was a bit more casual here, and some of his work felt paint-by-numbers. That works in some contexts for sure, but I don’t think he added much to this one. Sitting in the ankle lock for so long is also just obnoxious.

Match Rating: ***3/4

 

Batista was cutting a promo backstage when he was confronted by Triple H. It got physical, and they LOCKED UP. I howled with laughter.

 

We then had an in-ring segment between Lillian Garcia and Viscera. This was some riveting PPV content. What the fuck was going on here? She started to sing him a song about “needing you to fill me up inside.” She then proposed to him. Viscera said he would consider it, but The Godfather then came out.  You know what happens next. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. That Max Landis fella should have made The Godfather the subject of his student film about wrestling.

 

John Cena (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian (w/Tyson Tomko) [WWE Heavyweight Championship]

Tomko got ejected very early in the match. Cena gave Christian an FU to the floor. Jericho and Cena then went at it for a while. Jericho was mostly in control. Christian recovered after Cena gave Jericho a DDT on the floor. These were at least impactful ways to execute the “two men in, one man out” triple threat structure. That structure is still trite though. They took out Cena though, so Jericho and Christian could do a sequence. All three started doing stuff together after a Tower of Doom spot. They did lots of nearfalls and signature movez. Tomko returned and gave Cena a lariat: 1…2…NO! Cena eventually finished Christian with the FU to retain the title.

This was a fun semi-main event overall. They worked a fun pace, and I was never bored exactly. The match had its faults though. The “two men in, one man out” structure seemed particularly tired here. It was frustrating in part because they clearly put in a ton of effort into putting together this match. I just wished they did something more clever in the beginning. The closing sequence also had that “choreographed” feeling that can make it difficult to suspend my disbelief.

Match Rating: ***1/4

 

Batista (c) vs. Triple H [Hell In A Cell Match for the World Heavyweight Championship]

I have never seen this match. Not sure what to expect.

After a couple of minutes of Batista offense, HHH got control and used a chain on Batista. Batista came back with some chain shots of his own. HHH got busted open but then hit a spinebuster. HHH then started using a barbed wire chair on Batista. Batista came back with a lariat and then used the chair on HHH. HHH tried to hit a pedigree on the chair, but Batista reversed it into a powerslam onto the chair. HHH hit a DDT on the chair. Batista was busted open after that. HHH managed to hit Batista in the face with the sledgehammer for a nearfall. Batista hit a desperation low blow, but HHH then punched him in the face with the chain. Batista then blocked another chain shot with the sledgehammer, which caused HHH to spit out blood. Lol. In what seems like a misstep, they went back to the floor. Batista hit HHH with the steps and then put the steps in the ring. HHH came back with a low blow and a pedigree: 1…2…NO! HHH went to pedigree him on the steps, but Batista reversed it into a spinebuster onto the steps. In a GREAT spot, Batista went for the Big Dave Bomb but HHH looked like he was going to hit him with the sledgehammer on the way up. HHH couldn’t swing it though, and Dave followed through: 1…2…3

This was a great main event and fine way to blow off the Batista/Triple H feud. It was appropriately violent and epic in structure. It made Batista look like a character who was equal to HHH (which is no easy feat given how HHH was booked for so long).

It’s surprisingly refreshing to see a WWE match willing to use blood to get violence over. I understand the risks of blood use in wrestling, and I can certainly appreciate how archaic it looks. While I’m in no way advocating for it to be used regularly, I do think there’s an appropriate way to use it. This was one such case.

Match Rating: ****

 

Watch some WWE matches for free!

CM Punk vs. John Cena

The Rock vs. Eddie Guerrero

Bruno Sammartino vs. Ernie Ladd

Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart

Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart

Shawn Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin

Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler

 

Watch some NJPW for free!
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto (G1 Climax)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jun Akiyama (G1 Climax)
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata (G1 Climax)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Prince Devitt (G1 Climax)
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Togi Makabe (Chain Match)
Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson
Kota Ibushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi [Fantastic Match]
Prince Devitt vs. Kenny Omega
Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi (With thoughts from Prince Devitt)
Katsuyori Shibata &Wataru Inoue vs. Eddy Guerrero & Black Tiger

 

If you want to watch some ROH matches for free, check out:
CM Punk vs. AJ Styles
Eddie Guerrero vs. Super Crazy
Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins
Daniel Bryan vs. Nigel McGuinness [Great match]
The Young Bucks vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
El Generico vs. Chris Hero
The Young Bucks vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli
AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
CM Punk vs. Brian Kendrick

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

The final three matches really worked well together for this show. All three were quite different and didn't feel repetitive at all (rare for this company). The first few matches on the show were not especially good, but the important matches being good to great more than makes up for them. Watch this show.