WWE Vengeance

WWE VengeanceWWE Vengeance

By Big Red Machine
From June 26, 2005
Discussion

WWE Vengeance 2005 (6/26/2005)- Las Vegas, NV

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Carlito(c) vs. Shelton Benjamin- 5.75/10
The ring announcer accidentally called Carlito the challenger (though it was odd that he did come out first, which was confusing).
The match as a whole was decent, but the finish was awesome.

CHRISTY HEMME vs. VICTORIA- 4.25/10
The angle leading up to this involved Victoria busting Christy open by breaking a glass object of some sort over the back of her head. This is the only time I can remember seeing a woman get color in WWE. As a result of said attack, Christy was also wrestling tonight’s match with “a mild concussion.” That will probably never happen again, even as an angle, (and it’s a good thing too).”
The match was short but very enjoyable. Christy really did a great job of getting you behind her. She showed great babyface fire in this match, but the crowd responded by booing her and chanting “WE WANT PUPPIES!” You know what, crowd? This show is in Vegas. If you want puppies, go get a hooker.

JOHN CENA PROMO- good

KANE vs. EDGE (w/Lita)- 7/10
This whole angle was always odd to me. Obviously they did it because people were booing Lita anyway so they needed to turn her heel and they figured that while they didn’t have Matt Hardy, the pieces were already in place for Kane to play the role of Matt Hardy… except that, in the kayfabe universe of WWE at the time… Lita was a rape victim (who also had a miscarriage) turning heel on the guy who raped her, so booing her in this kayfabe situation is just horribly wrong. I think it would have been better to turn Kane and Lita heel together and then bring Matt back to work with them, with the angle being that Matt is angry that Lita actually fell in love with Kane and forgot about Matt, despite their long relationship and the way Matt fought for her. This would make booing Lita the character come across as less awkward (and would also avoid the possibility of a Matt vs. Edge match turning into a shoot fight).
The crowd’s hatred for Edge and Lita was definitely something to behold. They actually popped when Kane set up to Pillmanizer Lita’s neck. Think about that for a second. The crowd popped when the big bad evil three-hundred pound monster attempted to break the neck of the hot young 135 lbs woman.
They had a great match, but a significant part of your enjoyment of it will definitely depend on what you think of the overbooking. Personally, I thought it was awesome and made for some great nearfalls.

HBK PROMO- okay

KURT ANGLE vs. SHAWN MICHAELS- 9/10
AMAZING! With two of the best of all time, you really can’t miss. The crowd was hot for everything they did,, and they did some pretty damn awesome stuff.

COACH INTERVIEWS BATISTA- Dave cut a good promo. Then Hunter showed up and cut a great promo. Then they had a shoving match.

LILLIAN & VISCERA SEGMENT- Bad segment.
Lillian invites Viscera out to the ring and sings a song declaring her love for him, then gets down on one knee and proposes. Vis is unsure. The Godfatrher then arrives with a bunch of his hos and convinces Vis to dump Lillian. Everyone did their jobs well here (even the hos), but this made you feel REALLY bad for Lillian, and she never got any revenge or anything at any point down the road. She got her heart broken and nothing came of it. Yes. Life sucks sometimes. But in wrestling, it doesn’t have to. I don’t watch wrestling to be sad. I watch it to be excited and entertained and happy (the reason we hate those darned heels so much is because they get in the way of that last part). To do something this saddening and then have it not lead to anything is not something I want to see.

WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena(c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian (w/Tyson Tomko)-7.5/10

HELL IN A CELL MATCH FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Batista(c) vs. Triple H- 9/10
An awesome story of violence and resilience on both ends. Hunter almost always rocks in Hell in a Cell, and he carries Batista to best singles match of Dave’s career (that I can remember).

An absolutely awesome show from WWE, and a must-buy for fans of Triple H and Batista.


BONUS MATCH: Shawn Michael, John Cena, & Hulk Hogan vs. Christian, Chris Jericho, & Tyson Tomko (from the 6/27/2005 Raw)- 4/10
Shawn and Cena sell until Hogan comes in and runs wild. Hogan doing Cena’s “You can’t see me” was fantastic, but seeing Hulk play superman and beat up three men after HBK and the WWE Champion got their butts kicked by these three was actually annoying. They all do Hogan’s poses for a while. Shawn looked a lot less grumpy about it than he did at Backlash earlier this year.

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