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Kevin’s Random Reviews: WWE Judgment Day 2006
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...WWE Judgment Day
May 21st, 2006 | US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona | Attendance: 15,421
Originally, this was set to a PROGRESS review, but their streaming service was giving me issues and I didn’t feel like waiting. I went back into the randomizer and pulled out this show, which I don’t believe I’ve ever seen. I certainly remember nothing from it if I did. An interesting note for this show is that the theme song, “This Fire Burns” by Killswitch Engage, would go on to be CM Punk’s theme later in the year. This was the eighth of eleven Judgment Day events.
The opening video package focused on the three main feuds leading into this Smackdown exclusive Pay-Per-View. Michael Cole and Tazz were in the booth.
WWE Tag Team Championship: MNM [c] w/ Melina vs. Paul London and Brian Kendrick
Commentary noted that the champs lost five straight matches (not all straight up tags) to the challengers. With their confidence high, the challengers came out hot. They used quick tandem offense and high flying antics to puts the champions on their heels. Melina helped them turn it around with a cheap headscissors. To be fair, there are far less enjoyable ways to have someone interfere in your match. From there, they found ways to keep the pressure on Kendrick with various heel tactics. The hot tag to London went great and came close to winning a few times. He used an awesome drop sault to take out both opponents, but Melina broke up the pin by just sliding in the ring and screaming at the referee. However, Melina played a role in their downfall, as heel miscommunication led them to collide and knock her down. London then rolled Mercury up to steal it in 13:43. Good start to the show. They worked tag formula well and had the crowd invested. The heel stuff from the MNM trio worked as a good foil for the plucky faces. [***¼]
Post-match, Melina screamed at Mercury, causing he and Nitro to get into a brawl. That’s it for MNM for a while.
Chris Benoit vs. Finlay
If memory serves me right, these two had a banger on Velocity around this time. This was intense right off the bat. Their simple collar and elbow tie up wouldn’t even be broken as they went outside. They worked the mat for a bit, with Finlay using mind games. He complained about an eye rake, only to hit a cheap elbow. He slapped Benoit around to assert his dominance. Good stuff. Benoit picked up the pace with a German, but missed the diving headbutt. Frustrated and feeling the effects of a bit of leg work, Finlay got desperate enough to go after a chair. It backfired, though Benoit couldn’t maintain control. When Benoit rallied with rolling Germans, Finlay bailed for the shillelagh. Benoit still caught him with a German outside, for the biggest bump of the match. Finlay still fought him off and sent his shoulder into the ring post. Benoit wasn’t done, though, trapping him in the Crippler Crossface to win in 21:11. My kind of match. It was slow, but physical and violent. The pacing worked well and the psychology was consistent throughout. [****]
Jillian Hall vs. Melina
Nitro was ejected before the match began. Melina was aggressive in this one, sending Jillian into the ring steps and actually working her ribs. I expected nothing resembling a well-thought out match. She even did the Sasha Banks corner knee drop. Melina made one mistake and Jillian used a lame looking rollup to win in 4:18, even though Melina’s hand was on the bottom rope. Slight points for Melina giving a decent effort. [¾*]
Kristal came out to interview Melina and sounded very uncomfortable. She hyped asking a question on “everyone’s mind” only to just point out that it wasn’t a good night for Melina. Melina attacked her, but kind of got beat up.
Backstage, JBL hyped his main event match and said it was his time. He saw Chavo Guerrero, and yelled at him for being there to root for his friend.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Gregory Helms [c] vs. Super Crazy
HE’S SUPER! HE’S CRAZY! HE’S SUPER CRAZY! He also scored some early near falls with a series of pinning combinations to put the champion on his heels. His hot start included a dive to the outside, but Helms quickly took over and slowed the pace. Commentary spent the match arguing over whether Helms was a mat-based wrestler of a high flier. Either way, he kept cutting off any comeback attempts by Crazy. We nearly got another rollup finish, but Crazy survived. However, Helms countered a rana into a powerbomb and put his feet on the ropes to retain in 9:56. There wasn’t really anything outwardly wrong with this, it was kind of just there. [**]
Melina and Johnny Nitro complied to Teddy Long about getting screwed over twice tonight. When he refused to do anything about the injustices, Melina slapped him. Long promptly fired both of them, shipping Nitro to Raw for a singles run.
Kurt Angle vs. Mark Henry
Before Kurt even came out, Henry cleared off the announce table. He got on the mic to say that he hurts people. THAT’S WHAT I DO. No, he doesn’t have that catchphrase yet. Kurt attacked during the promo to get this started. Though he came out firing, Henry’s size was too much and he took over with relative ease. Kurt countered the World’s Strongest Slam into a DDT and THE STRAPS CAME DOWN. However, it only led to a near fall on the Angle Slam. Henry escaped the Ankle Lock and looked to put Angle through the table, but Angle moved with little to no drama. Then, in a lame finish, Henry squashed Angle with an avalanche into the ring post and got the countout victory in 9:11. There was some good psychology sprinkled in, but Henry was very boring in most of what he did around the time. Not even Kurt could fix that. [**¼]
Henry attempted to assault Angle after the match. Kurt turned it around and whacked him with a chair, before putting on the Ankle Lock and getting a tap out. He added an Angle Slam on the table, though Henry just slid off. He broke the table following a chair shot.
Backstage, Sharmell hyped up Booker ahead of his match and called him KING BOOKAH. Oh, baby.
King of the Ring Finals: Bobby Lashley vs. Booker T w/ Sharmell
Early on, Booker was looking for any kind of victory. He was open to take a countout, though there was no way that would happen after we just saw a countout. As Lashley got going, a Sharmell distraction allowed Booker to an opening. He failed to capitalize, but Sharmell got involved again. Still, Booker couldn’t do enough to keep Lashley down. Booker kicked out a powerslam, though I was hoping they’d go the route of him putting his foot on the rope to sell Lashley’s inexperience. Just when Lashley looked to be on the verge of a win, Finlay arrived and clocked him with the shillelagh. Booker hit the Scissors Kick and, at 9:15, King Booker was born. Decent enough. Booker did well to work around Lashley’s shortcomings. [**¼]
Booker’s coronation was temporarily interrupted by a Lashley spear. However, Sharmell nursed him back up and made him feel better by putting the robe back on him. Great character work.
The Great Khali w/ Daivari vs. The Undertaker
It’s the PPV debut of Khali, who feels right out the 90s as a monster for Taker to feud with. Khali tossed Undertaker around with ease. It lasts a long time. He just dominated Undertaker at every turn. Undertaker managed a few hope spots, but was mostly out of it. He did kick out of the Khali Chop, but barely. He got Khali in the Andre rope spot for his most sustained offense. Daivari set him free and another Khali Chop put Undertaker down. A foot on the Deadman’s chest later and he got the three count in 8:31. It was nothing more than a prolonged squash, but I’ll give it some points because Undertaker did his best to make Khali look good. [*]
World Heavyweight Championship: Rey Mysterio [c] vs. WWE United States Champion John “Bradshaw” Layfield
In the build to this, Rey was battered and beaten by all sorts of bigger opponents. JBL jawed with Rey in the early goings. They played the expected speed/power dynamic. Rey found several openings to get his offense going, including using a low blow as a measure of revenge. JBL disrespected Eddie by using Three Amigos to a TON of heat. He also added smack talk to Rey’s wife in the front row. I may not be a fan of JBL as a person, but the character was great. When Rey refused to lose by pin, JBL took to wearing him down with a sleeper. There was a nice twist on the arm drop sleeper spot, where JBL stopped the hold after two drops so he could win by pin, which failed. At some point, Rey was busted open, making for a cool visual under his mask. JBL toyed around too much and Rey hit the 619. JBL put the ref in the way of the West Coast Pop. JBL hit a powerbomb but took out the new ref when he didn’t get a three count. A chair backfired as Rey kicked it into his face. He used a 619 and Eddie’s Frog Splash to retain in 15:56. I liked that way more than I expected. They told a great story by playing on everyone’s emotions and it worked very well. One of the better JBL performances I can ever recall. [***½]
Chavo Guerrero showed up to celebrate with Rey.
