The opening videos play and it's good to see a web show with wrestling clips in its opening package. Heat is really starting to get to me. It just makes no sense and makes me wonder exactly what kind of idiot made it, but then again, probably 50% of the WWE staff has no prior wrestling background or knowledge.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Juventud (c) Vs. Paul London
This was a good back-and-forth match. It had a great chain wrestling opener followed by the high flying opening spots you've probably seen in TNA a million times. It was a good way to let the people know what was coming up: a good mix of high flying and power wrestling. This is the epitome of a WWE Cruiserweight match: good high flying spots, but not compromised of them. Juvi has had that bad penchant to flip everywhere in the ring and it just won't work in WWE. You may be rolling your eyes, but stuff like that does not work in WWE unless you got a ladder. Put it in TNA and it is gold to the crowd, but here, it just does not fly. Juvi looks like he has finally adapted to the WWE style, but he's got a few more quirks in his offense. I'd like to see him incorporate some bigger moves besides counters and his finisher and a little less flipping. This was surprisingly a match given some time as they went at it for almost twelve minutes, which in comparison London is normally given about five to seven. It may not seem like much, but even three more minutes in wrestling is enough time to get the crowd that much more into it just like each man did here. Whoever said London gets dead reactions is not watching Velocity; the guy is getting bigger pops than most of the WWE roster at this point and Juvi is right up there with him. The guys put on a good back and forth match and the crowd ate it up. It was a great way to open the show and a good way for me to see that Juvi has finally acclimated himself. Finish came when Juvi hit the Juvi Driver, which looked a little sloppy. If there is one thing hurting the match, it would be that move as it had no momentum and it really didn't look like a match ender move. It would be like doing 450 moves here and there and being pinned with a simple scoop slam.
Winner: Juventud
Star Wrestler: Paul London
Paul London is just a phenomenal worker. If he had been given the same kind of push AJ Styles had in TNA, we would probably have a different Triple Crown winner. London's ability to make Juvi slow down a bit more and really get the crowd into was great and I loved the way the two meshed together. They botched one or two moves, but with the flow of the match, they went seamlessly right into the next move like nothing went wrong. That is some good workrate right there. By the end of the year, I expect Juvi will be completely used to the WWE style and crowd and by then, that guy will be putting on classics. As it is, he still has some minor bugs, while London has mastered the WWE style better than any other cruiserweight on the roster. That's a great feat right there.
An ad for SmackDown! magazine, which I'm sure is selling well, with Batista on the cover is then show.
Christian Vs. Brian Kendrick
This was booked to make Christian look great, and it did just that. It was good at that too and Christian was in rare form tonight. He targeted the gut of Kendrick (Unprettier does too if you think about it) and worked over it with some very nice offense of gut busters, face busters, and great kicks. Kendrick made Christian look like a million bucks, which is exactly what he needs. If he's going to be in the Taboo Tuesday voting or whatever, the guy needs to start winning a bit more here and there and gain some credibility. This match did just that, though it really needed to be on SmackDown! for the viewers at home to see it and see Christian isn't a punked out bitch like he's been playing all summer. Kendrick made his comeback like usual but if you watch him, he didn't do anything to land on his gut and when he accidentally did, he sold it like death. Even his top rope move didn't focus on the gut when he's been using the Crossbody in WWE lately. He was able to modify it and sell the gut-work Christian did. That's impressive right there. Crowd wasn't as hot for this one as the opener, but the way they did it and the effect they put out, it turned out very well and mostly for Christian as the guy needed some support back. Finish came with the simple Unprettier thus ending Christian's work on the gut of the former Spanky.
Winner: Christian
Star Wrestler: Brian Kendrick
Christian was in rare form tonight. He was probably at his best since coming over to SmackDown! in reality. His work on Kendrick was great and he stayed right on top of him and was even selling Kendrick's comeback well. That's a bad habit for some heels to get as they won't sell the comeback as much as needed. That will kill the momentum of the match and make you look like an idiot for almost losing (or in fact losing) to that guy. Despite all this though, Kendrick was the shining star. His offense made sense putting over Christian and you could tell how bad he was trying not to re-aggravate his gut. It was amazing work on Kendrick's part. Kendrick needs to get all the enhancement talent in WWE together and just tell them straight up to do what he does. In the end, it will make management happier with their work and get their opponents that much more over. Spectacular job, Kendrick; hopefully this opens some eyes backstage as to what an ROH guy can do.
An ad is then shown for that Diva's uncovered book. Seriously, who is going to buy that? It's going to be like 10 bucks, and for that same price, you could probably buy two issues of Playboy or Penthouse. Trust me; all this book is doing is trying to get horny men to enjoy puberty. Don't give them the luxury of being right. A recap is then shown of the main event from SmackDown! thus hyping this week's main event as well as the six man. WWE needs to lay down on the tag matches in the SmackDown! main event. This will be the fifth time in six straight weeks we've had one. For the perpetual tag team hater, this does not spell good news.
WWE Tag Team Championship
Legion Of Doom (c) Vs. British Lords
This was not as great as the match the two almost had a few weeks ago (or rather how that one started), but the way the British Lords cut the ring in half and went to town on Heiden-hawk was great tag team psychology and probably the best I've seen in WWE all year round. The team of LOD is working so well with Animal as the veteran and Heidenreich as the rookie who always gets trapped into these precarious situations; it makes so much sense, but I'm just wondering how much more Animal has in the tank for WWE. He's great and a lot better than other people making their umpteenth comeback, but the guy can't have much left. The match was a perfect setting for LOD. Not too long, not a squash; enough time to get Heidenreich over and the hot tag set up as well as play off the intelligence of the Lords. This was just a fine booked match. I'd like to see a match between the two go longer, but I'm afraid it would fall apart with either Animal or Heidenreich getting blown up too fast. I literally can not wait for MNM or the Lords to turn face so we can get a program going with them though; with the tag team psychology each team has, that should be fantastic. Finish came a la the old match these two had with MNM running in and beating down everyone.
Winners: No Contest
Star Wrestlers: British Lords
Usually, I only give a star nod to both members of a team if I can't tell them apart in look and name; this was not the case. Both Regal and Burchill were superior in their psychology and working over the neck/shoulders of Heidenreich. Straight from the get-go, that's exactly what they went for. All guts, no glory right there. With the way these guys are functioning and getting over, I'm wondering how long it will be before they get the straps. They make the rest of the tag teams in WWE look like mincemeat with their offense, psychology, selling, and overall tag team ability.
After the match, the Mexicools and the Tolands run out and we get a huge melee which ends up with a stand off between the Tolands and the Lords until the Tolands backed away and left. Great melee and a perfect way to lead in from Velocity to SmackDown! next week with that four-way. Here's hoping the Lords win as Velocity goes off air once more.
Velocity this week was about the normal way: all good matches mixed in with a recap and some ads. It's what I've come to expect. Velocity delivers each and every week on a continuous basis that the creative team for the A and B shows wish they could even come close to emulating. I have yet to see a bad Velocity since it came to WWE.com and while Heat started off and quickly faltered, Velocity is soaring up there in terms of quality and I am eating it up. I can't get enough of it. Seeing London, Spanky, and the rest of the cruiserweights with the other talented lower mid-card of WWE is just a great thing and they always find a way to mix it up and get the crowd more riled up than SmackDown!
Well, one more down so only eight more to go until I'm caught up. At least, that's until Friday when two more shows come on and I'm back up to ten. Oh, well; I'm getting there. Thanks for sticking with me again and if you want to, you can drop me some feedback as my contact information is below. That's going to wrap it up, guys, so 'till next time, this is "Squared Circle Reviews" signing off and hoping you enjoy what you watch.
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