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DWF 26/11/07

91Posted on 07/22/05 at 00:05:37

Ever so slightly different format here, but it's exactly the same actually. Anyway...

Masato Tanaka vs Owen Hart

Pretty Perfect have little to cheer about. Despite a "win" over Jerry Lynn
recently, they remain bitter than Psychoanalysis remain champions as they
have been banned from further title shots until the titles change hands, and
that ban will stretch if they interfere to assist a title change. So they
announced tonight that they are refusing to compete in any tag team matches
until they are granted a title shot, and thus understrenghtening the tag team
division vastly.

Whether or not anyone calls them on this threat is to be seen, but meanwhile
Owen Hart had himself a singles match against Masato Tanaka. Tanaka has had
a great year with some big wins, including a couple over Chris Benoit, but
tonight was not his night. After a highly charged affair, it took one
enzuigiri from Owen to put Tanaka down, and the Sharpshooter did the job. Now
Owen keeping it on after the bell for a few extra seconds too many cannot be
condoned, nor can Curt Hennig hanging around at ringside during the match and
providing a majot distraction throughout as he threatened to interfere, but
Pretty Perfect may just remain what they say they are - absolutely PERFECT!
In their eyes at least... **** 1/4

Joey Matthews vs Larry Zbyszko

Larry Zbyszko has had a hard time lately. A loss to John Cena last night, and
now a loss to Joey Matthews tonight, embarassingly so and once again, Cena was
at the centre of it. In reality things were going well for Larry and was ready
to hit the Shoulderbreaker, until he got distracted by events on the video
wall - John Cena was now spraying his car, and got someone to hotwire it and
drive it off. Larry was completely flabbergasted - moreso when Matthews rolled
him up for the quick win. Another win for the Young Lions, as he and York ran
off, another mystery of sorts solved (in their eyes).

Larry wasn't going to let this lie and sent Coach to intercept him in the
corridor. Cena invariably begins embarassing him ("something on your shirt
there bud") until Zbyszko came up from behind and jumped him, and stomped him
down a bit, with Coach putting some weak-ass kicks to boot. *** 3/4

The Syndicate vs Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon

The Syndicate are in line for another shot at La Resistance in the near
future after their French counterparts drew a deliberate disqualification to
save their Intercontinental tag titles last night. Meanwhile they had one other
matter to attend to - the avenging of a defeat recently suffered to two time
tag team champions Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon. Now Furnas & LaFon are a
fantastic team as teams go, but these last few months for The Syndicate, ever
since they suddenly became embroilled in the world tag title scene with
Psychoanalysis (despite being constantly denied a final two-on-two match to
find out once and for all which team is better), has seen them on a
rollercoaster ride of form.

Tonight was no different despite Shamrock still being groggy from last nights
attack from Brian Pillman leaving him a suspected concussion, which he STILL
refused to take heed of despite doctors advising him not to wrestle. Wisely
though, he accepted that Lance Storm needed to do most of the work, and that
he did. Shamrocks job was to come in when the advantage was there and use his
punishing hard hitting style to finish things off, which is exactly what he
did after Lance made a hot tag following a brief spell from Furnas & LaFon.
Shamrock didn't take long to belly-to-belly both men out of their boots and
finish the job on LaFon with the ankle lock. Now this may well be a sure fire
La Resistance rematch, but to be honest, their true sights are set on the
world tag team titles and Psychoanalysis. And there's a fair chance of that
on the back of tonight. *** 1/4

Hector Guerrero (c) vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. (cruiserweight title)

Hector Guerrero had another title defense today, this time against nephew
Chavo Guerrero Jr. - no love lost there as Chavo Jr. remains estranged from
the four older brothers, so family loyalty was never an issue. Suffice to say
Hector had to resort to dubious tactics to garner a win, as the two tangled
into the ropes followed by Hector throwing an errant and very deliberate elbow
into the face of Chavo, followed by the Butterfly Suplex and a hand full of
tights for the win. Still cruiserweight champion, but how much longer will it
be before someone cottons on to the blatant cheating and scouts him out. **** 1/4

The Pitbulls vs Los Villanos

The Pitbulls are an impressive force at the worst of times. At the best of
times, they are truly phenomenal. Having beaten many of the top teams,
including even the likes of Kidman & Corino, Los Villanos were never going to
give them any major trouble. In fact, they were never going to give them any
offence of their own, and a few minutes later after a squash to end all
squashes, Los Villanos were peeled off the mat, defeated. The Pitbulls
meanwhile continue to stride as they look for a title shot of their own. ***

"The Rock" Brad Armstrong (c) vs "Unnecessarily Evil" John Cena (intercontinental title)

The Intercontinental title was on the line again as Brad Armstrong was due to
put his title on the line against the unnecessary one, John Cena. Sadly for
Cena, he was not granted doctors clearance after Zbyszko had waylaid him
earlier. None the less, "The Rock" came out and scarily was even getting a few
cheers - the recent clashes with less popular wrestlers such as Los Guerreros
and Kurt Angle have bumped him up in many peoples estimations, even if he
hasn't laid a finger on them to date.

Matt Hardy then entered, along with Gene Snitsky and Heidenreich, to take it
upon himself to provide an alternate opponent, only for him to just nominate
HIMSELF to take on Brad. Brad did the eyebrow thing, but went into battle just
like he would any other match.

"The Rock" Brad Armstrong (c) vs "Commissioner" Matt Hardy

Brad put out his usual good accounting, but
with Snitsky and Heidenreich making nuisances of themselves on the outside, it
became an uphill battle. Finally Snitsky distracted the ref, allowing
Heidenreich to come in and clothesline Armstrong.

The Twist of Fate followed and it looked good for Hardy, only for Jody Fleisch
to spring down to the ring. Heidenreich and Snitsky dived in the ring and
intercepted him at the last second and held him back, while Hardy put the boots
to him. Finally the ref got in and ousted the three illegal men from the
ring. The distraction was enough for Brad though as Matt turned right into
the Rock Bottom, followed by the Peoples Elbow for the win.

Things didn't end there though. Snitsky and Heidenreich jumped in, and wisely
Brad made a quick exit to the outside. With that option gone, the threesome
dragged Jody Fleisch back in and beat him down some more. After a few moments,
Brad came back in and Hardy decided to pull his boys from the ring rather than
beat down his entire roster. With only Jody Fleisch left in the ring, Brad
helped him back to his feet and hit another Rock Bottom, just as he did last
night to Rey Mysterio. Another Peoples Elbow followed, and Brad quashed the
cheers again. For now. **** 1/4

Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Classic

Rey Mysterio might not have become Intercontinental champion last night - it's
debatable whether or not he'd blame Los Guerreros for not winning the title
as in reality Brad probably had him beat (they may have done him a favour by
getting him the DQ win in all actuality) but in any event, there are scores
to be settled, so the match against Chavo Classic was a chance to get even a
little bit. Rey far outpaced his older opponent and wrapped up a fairly
comprehensive win on this occassion. Rey is doubtless in line for another
shot at Brad Armstrong in the near future, and he's well on the way to
getting it on the back of this. *** 3/4

WAR GAMES: Raven, Dynamite Kid, Sean O'Haire, Chris Jericho & Rob Van Dam vs Don Muraco, Billy Kidman, Steve Corino, Kurt Angle & Alex Wright

As guarenteed last night, we had ourselves a War Games match tonight that ended
up changing as the night went on. The two team captains were, unsurprisingly,
to be worlds heavyweight champion Don Muraco and bitter rival and former
champion Raven. But dissension soon kicked off in Don Muracos team. He
announced his teammates would be Billy Kidman, Steve Corino, Rhyno and Kurt
Angle - a useful addition in a submission environment like this. But when the
team was introduced in the ring, as if Kidman and Corino telling Muraco that
they had both eyes on his title wasn't enough, things got worse when Rhyno
demanded the money owed to him by Muraco up front before this match. Muraco
had a quick brief with manager Jeff Hardy, then his other teammates and then
told Rhyno his payment was right here... and with that, Kidman, Corino and
Angle all jumped Rhyno and beat him down. Looks like there won't be any money
coming his way any time soon for his helping Muraco out and the beating he
took may mean no wrestling for a while either.

So with Muraco a man down, Raven had an advantage of sorts when he introduced
his four teammates - Dynamite Kid, Chris Jericho and worlds tag team champions
Psychoanalysis. This however turned out to be a rare error of judgement on
Ravens part as the moment Pillman and Jericho locked eyes on each other, they
went right into it. O'Haire quickly pulled Pillman back while Dynamite
restrained Jericho. Raven was fuming and apologetically told O'Haire that there
was no way he could have a loose cannon like Pillman on the team. If Pillman
wasn't mad before, he was losing it by now and turned his attentions towards
Raven. Thankfully O'Haire was still keeping him back, but it seems that O'Haire
is slowly losing any ability he once had in keeping Pillman under control.

So with both teams a man down, it came for Muraco to turn the tide and invite
somebody with whom he's done quite a bit of work with lately onto the team,
that person being Alex Wright. With the dangerous Ulf Herman at his side, the
tides were definitely turned. Then, right before the match, Raven turned the
mood of his dejected partners backstage when he brought in Rob Van Dam as his
replacement fifth man. Good choice, with RVD being another former champion.

So with the sides back at five against five, we got to the match. And starting
things off were former champion Billy Kidman and Sean O'Haire. O'Haire took
the early advantage with his power advantage, but Kidman demonstrated why he
is a two time champion by gaining a surprise advantage midway through the
opening period that he did not lose. With Muracos team then winning the coin
toss, they could start picking and choosing who they'd send out next. That man
was Alex Wright and the advantage soon told as they wore down Sean O'Haire.
O'Haire put in a very brave fight and managed to keep himself alive somewhat,
but things were looking bleak.

This prompted his team to respond by sending out one of their key men, Dynamite
Kid. Dynamite shifted the tide well and linked up with old rival Billy Kidman.
O'Haire meanwhile showed the stamina and tenacity he showed at the Royal
Rumble match earlier in the year, so it made sense that they'd send Steve
Corino out next with Corino being the man who went the hour along with O'Haire.
Corino immediately focused his attention on hitting his devastating version of
what he calls the Old School Expulsion, but nobody was sitting in position for
it and Corino was worked over as well as Dynamite and O'Haire coped very
nicely.

With things going well, Raven decided to save himself, and send out Rob Van
Dam next, who quickly added an extra dimension to the team. By now, Alex Wright
was the first man to be bust open after taking a nasty blow from an RVD spin
kick. With only two options left, Muraco decided not to go out himself and
out came Kurt Angle. Despite his loss last night, Angle is always a volatile
foe and in no time at all, he'd suplexed all three opponents, including an
extra belly to belly for O'Haire. And just like that, the complexion had
changed again. With his men taking a beating, Raven decided he had no choice
but to go out himself and he went straight for Angle who had defined himself
as the match turner. Just as Raven started gaining an advantage over him, Ulf
Herman broke his way into the cage and nailed Raven from behind.

With officials quickly throwing Herman out of the ringside area, with the
damage done, Don Muraco came out as the final man from his team. Now O'Haire
was the man mounting a comeback, resulting in Muraco stepping into the ring
and straight away waffling O'Haire with the title belt. Officials confiscated
that but once again, the damage was done. For the next two minutes, Muraco and
co. wore down their opponents until Dynamite Kid provided a little motivation
with a brief fightback just as Chris Jericho entered as the final man in the
match. From here, any submission would end the match. And Jericho injected a
little bite straight away, and when O'Haire and Muraco engaged in a slugfest
that provided an interesting match-up.

Just when the match was becoming finely balanced, out ran Brian Pillman. Right
away everyone sat on tenterhooks to see what he'd do. Bolting into the cage,
he went right for none other than Don Muraco. O'Haire looked a little confused
but none the less joined in and the tag team champions punched out Muraco.
Muraco held his own well though, but the end result was all three of them
leaving the ring, going through the open door and fighting to the back.

So, back to four on four, only without captain Don Muraco at their side, his
team sunk a little, and sure enough, team Raven soon turned the tide. Corino
did manage to plant Rob Van Dam with the Old School Expulsion and right away
went for a figure four, but it was broken up and one by one the heels were
put down. Angle was thrown into the side of the cage, Kidman was beat down in
the corner and he wisely rolled out of the ring to avoid further punishment.
Corino and Wright couldn't possibly do things by themselves and with Ravens
team working both men over two against one, the match soon came to an end with
Raven finishing Alex Wright with the Texas Cloverleaf.

So victory for Raven who looked especially good and will have one eye on a
possible title shot. Psychoanalysis showed a little unity again with Pillman
aiming at the same target as O'Haire, even if it was via outside interference.
And Dynamite Kid will be hoping this results in a title shot in the near
future once again after his defeat last night. As for Muraco, he may well have
his sights set on several people to extract a little revenge on. The tag
champions Psychoanalysis will definitely spring to mind here. ****
Snabbit888Posted on 07/26/05 at 07:19:43

Ooh... Pretty Perfect playing hardball now.  Hehe.

Cena just won't let it lie with ol' Larry, will he?

The Syndicate continues their ascent toward a world Tag Team Title shot, though I'm looking forward to the Shamrock/Pillman confrontation after what happened at the PPV.  Was sooooo glad Frank Shamrock got destroyed.

Hector Guerrero as Cruiserweight champion just seems... meh.  Someone needs to get that title off of him soon.

I forgot you still had the Pitbulls.  *shrug* Neat.

Hehe... Brad Armstrong rules so much.  Another title defense, and another random Rock Bottom to someone who helped him.  Brad Armstrong = future World champion

Mysterio beats Classic, as expected.

HUGE main event for TV.  Raven gets the win for his team.  Another clash with Raven and Muraco has to be in the future.