The WWE video plays and they show the recap montage of No Mercy showing the highlights. Definitely a PPV I think is getting too much criticism. With the two main event matches and Rey-JBL, it really was not as bad as many people are making it out to be. The Velocity video (with wrestling clips unlike Heat) is then shown and we go right into it.
Paul London Vs. Simon Dean
Ask yourself this question: what Dean match ever went on without a Dean promo? When you answer that, you can see what I'm going to review next. Dean bitches about his loss and humiliation by Lashley and the cheeseburgers. He says that he's a man of his word and ate all of them. Thank god for his system though since it burnt off most of it. He's still got some fat to burn so he calls out London. A yawn earning promo that really is not what I've come to expect from the Dean Machine. On a quick side note, why the hell did WWE.com bleep out ass? Paul London then runs out and brings out a burger! He then eats and enjoys it. He then pelts it out at Dean and mocks him with some squats. London is gold. Adding flavor to a match barely anyone will see is definitely a way to make London stand out as a great worker. Now this was a fun, little five minute match. If other promotions slowed the pace of the match down, they could make five minutes go a lot longer. London was great as normal in this one as he used his kicks as the offensive tool for the better part of the night and they got some good pops too. Dean was Dean in this match. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I don't mean to say he sucked either. It just seems that he hasn't really varied since the summer. It works for him and I love watching him tie-up his opponent and then wail into him before giving him a curb stomp, but I'd like to see more. London's mocking of Dean and Dean's payback with the burger were priceless though and I loved how it added a bit more to what would have been a flavor-less match otherwise. The only part of the match I did not truly enjoy was the standing SSP. Something about using that move and it not being the finisher just does not sit well with me. To the defense of high spots though, London hit Dean's cast while doing it and sold it well. Dean capitalized and hit the Simonizer for the win in a match that opened up Velocity well and got the crowd raring to go.
Winner: Simon Dean
Star Wrestler: Paul London
This was just a good back-and-forth match that used the time it had very well. This match definitely felt a lot longer than five minutes and it just goes to that Dean and London both know how to use their time well. Unfortunately, Dean needs to learn that his repetivive offense is going to get stale. I'd like to seem him mix it up a bit more with some unique moves and holds. It would really help him stand out. To be honest, I'd really like to see him do a 450 Splash of sorts. Some high flying move like that where he can sell that he can do that all thanks to the Simon System; that'd work well with him. London in this match was gold as always. Taunting, baiting, and attacking Dean flowed so well and his selling of even the minor things was great as always. London has been on a roll this past month and it's glad to see him caring again!
Funaki Vs. Kid Kash
Man, it's good to see Kid Kash. It's been a long time since I've seen him and I always enjoyed him. They show a good promo by Kash done earlier where he puts himself over in regards to Rey Mysterio and the Mexicools. Kash just has that natural cockiness in his look that you can't teach, you can't learn, and you can only hope to duplicate in a way that will be half as effective. Hopefully, WWE does something with Kid Kash from here. It'd be nice to see a cruiserweight with a legit southern drawl get up there. This was a damn fine match and a great WWE debut for the K-I-D. They did a great job of naturally building towards a good finish. It was slow in the beginning with the chain wrestling followed by some neck/back working by Kash and eventually, it just turned up from there. Kash was on fire tonight though and he smoked all of his 2004 and 2005 TNA work. It's great to see what he can do when he cares. That's not a knock at TNA either as it's common knowledge he hated working for TNA. Funaki was a bit sluggish and I wish he had sold a bit more in some pivotal spots, but overall, the match was great and really got the crowd going. For crying out loud, they had the crowd reacting loudly for a simple whip to the corner! Kash was playing an amazing heel in here and his whole offense was believable, quick, concise, and right in place. Kid Kash is going to have a good home in WWE, I think. In the end, Kash countered Funaki's attempt for a Tornado DDT into the Money Maker and he picked up the win in a great match and impressive debut.
Winner: Kid Kash
Star Wrestler: Kid Kash
Kash was just one hundred percent tonight in everything he did from the punches and kicks to the selling and bumping. Funaki, who's normally pretty good, was a bit sluggish at points and his selling was delayed in the early part of the match. Funaki did work the crowd over a lot, which Kash really didn't do in retrospect; but in the end, Kash was the true star here and he was the one getting the crowd into it with his selling, strategy, and move-set. From the sound of it, the crowd was definitely impressed with him as I think a lot of people watching at home will be too.
An exclusive interview with Chris Benoit about his match with Booker T follows. It was pretty lackluster considering Benoit's run of good mike work lately. He puts over how he doesn't like that Sharmell helped Booker T, but he's still going to face him and win. As lackluster of an interview as it was, exclusive interviews is exactly what Velocity needs to start standing out a bit more.
After that, they show the recap of Guerrero-Orton from SmackDown! I actually missed SmackDown! on Friday due to pure fatigue. I'm going to assume it was great match due to Eddie Guerrero; but in WWE, you really can never know. I do like the storyline Batista-Eddie have going on though, so I think it's safe to assume that it got furthered well. They then announce the main event for next week's SmackDown!, and like tonight's main event coming up, it looks horrible on paper.
Sylvan Vs. Hardcore Holly
What a lackluster main event idea. Why blow-off the feud on Velocity instead of helping it gain steam on SmackDown!? It makes no sense, but then again, mid-card feuds often don't. Then again, since when do mid-card feuds get exposure like this one did on No Mercy? Back on point, the match was really lackluster like I thought it would be. Holly started it off with a good, brawling control of Sylvan taking him to the outside with shots and chops. It sold the anger he had and the bad blood. Eventually, Sylvan got a shot into the ribs and took control of the injured part. This was where it all fell apart. I applaud them for using basic wrestling sense and having it be a good story, but Sylvan's offense to the ribs was completely piss-poor. I think he did two moves in the end that targeted the ribs coupled with one submission hold which was very weak. He locked in a Boston Crab on Holly, but just by the way Sylvan was standing and holding it, you could tell it wasn't damaging the ribs at all. Had Sylvan sat down on Holly's back or maybe do the move Liontamer style, it would have been one hundred percent more effective. As it was, it was just pathetic. The match had the perfect outline; brawling in the beginning, take control and work over a body part, and finish with a good comeback. However, the match's participants (or let me just say Sylvan) didn't do a good job of pulling it off. When it came time for the offense, the crowd didn't pop nearly as much as they should have considering the reactions Holly got early on. This can all be traced back to the lackluster rib working by Sylvan. It wasn't very believable, so why would the crowd be so into a comeback? Finish came when Sylvan went for the 3 Seconds Of Fame, but Holly countered into a small package and got the win.
Winner: Hardcore Holly
Star Wrestler: Hardcore Holly
Personally, I don't like Hardcore Holly. Outside of the ring, he represents everything wrong with the business from the mind-set of beating respect into people instead of having them earn it themselves to betraying the trust of people by just shooting them over a simple rib. Inside the ring, Holly, at this point, is just generic. Everything he does reeks of it. His chops and finisher are really the only thing that makes him stand out, but besides those, you can go anywhere to see the stuff he does and most likely better. Finally, he has no gimmick. Back before the brand extension, I could buy the Hardcore Holly gimmick because he was hardcore to a degree. Now? I haven't seen him get hardcore on anyone in forever. How much is it to ask for Holly to just go ballistic on someone with a chair? Despite all of this, I can't ignore Holly's attempts to salvage the match. Sylvan was a total idiot in control of Holly, and without Holly's selling, the crowd wouldn't have been into this at all. In theory, a match between these two should been a total Holly dominated brawl with Sylvan just getting enough rib-working in to hit his finisher. Holly could then grab the ropes and then continue the brawl for the win. The way Holly won this made him look very weak after the limited amount of offense Sylvan gave him and it was just a total let-down from the control he had in the beginning. All in all, the total blame falls on Sylvan for this match being lackluster, and Holly deserves all the credit for making it something other than a dud.
After the match, Sylvan goes for a chair and tries to attack Holly with it, but the ref grabs it and drops it on the mat. Holly then lifts him up and draws-out the stance before nailing him with the Alabama Slam and Velocity went off air for another week.
Overall, I thought this was a great way to do Velocity. Three matches, two exclusive interviews, and one recap. That is a great way to spend thirty minutes; and with the exclusive interviews and some of the mid-card feuds, WWE can promote Velocity a lot better. All they really need to do is say on SmackDown!, "Hey, look what happened on Velocity that prompted this," or "Benoit had this to say about Booker on Velocity." That garners interest from the crowd and they go to WWE.com to find more exclusive interviews. Right now, Velocity is doing well, but all it needs to be better is to just have WWE promote it a bit more on SmackDown! Do that and the ratings (or hits since it's on the internet) will increase at least by half and the wrestlers will start to work harder knowing their hard work is paying off. In the end, Velocity is delivering each and every week, so it's really up to WWE to make this WWE.com (which should really be advertised as commercial free) edition of it work.
That's going to wrap it up, guys. I've rambled for about four pages on a thirty minute show; funny how I bitch at the McMahons being long winded when I'm all that and more. Next up from me will be a review of a smaller branch of the NWA followed by Impact, Raw, and then some more Indy wrestling. I'm a reviewing machine, baby. Well, that's it so ‘till next time, this is "Squared Circle Reviews" signing off and hoping you enjoy what you watch.
Copyright © 2005; TheWrestlingVoice.com & Douglas Nunnally.
All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer & Privacy Statement
| What Did You Think About WWE Backlash 2008? |
|
|