WRestling’s 3R’s PPV Edition 4.03.07: WWE WrestleMania XXIII
Posted by Larry Csonka on 04.03.2007
Not even the Death Flu can stop me from delivering the 3R’s of WrestleMania!
Introduction!
Welcome back to another PPV edition of WRestling's 3R's! It is time once again to break down the PPV of the past weekend in the 3R's style. And it wasn't just any PPV; it was what is considered by many to be THE PPV, WrestleMania. WrestleMania XXIII to be precise, from Ford Field in front of a reported crowd of 80,103. Unfortunately I was too ill to cover the event as usual, but would like to thank Arnold Furious for taking over last minute for me. It has been a rough week, being sick, a short hospital stay and not being able to have any real food in a week really sucks and takes the life out of you. But I was able to tape WM, I watched some, slept through some due to the meds, but I of course sat down for a full viewing Monday. What did I think and how did I rank things in the way of the R's? Let's get to work.
How the 3R's of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 3 R's. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R's all to its own. I then group my feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and need discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles, Diva searches and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come, unless you are TNA. They have a special R all of their own, the 6th R; the Russo-FN-Riffic~!
This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a "mark" column, nor a "smark" column, I cannot speak for Geoff, but my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 4th, 5th or even a 6th R to the column, so beware of those~! I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether very positive or negative.
WWE WrestleMania XXIII~!:
The Matches:
Mr. Kennedy won the MITB Match @ 19:15 ***¾
Great Khali defeated Kane @ 5:35 via pin ¼*
US TITLE MATCH: Chris Benoit retained the US TITLE over MVP @ 9:20 via pin ***
WORLD TITLE MATCH: The Undertaker defeated Batista to become the NEW WORLD CHAMPION @ 15:47 via pin ***½
The ECW Originals defeated the New Breed when RVD pinned Matt Striker @ 6:27 *
BATTLE OF THE BILLIONAIRES/HAIR VS. HAIR MATCH: Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga @ 13:03 via pin **
LUMBERJILL/WWE WOMEN'S TITLE MATCH: Melina retained the WWE WOMEN'S TITLE over Ashley @ 3:12 via pin (ASS) TRASH of the Night!
WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena retained the WWE TITLE over HBK @ 28:22 via submission **** MATCH of the Night!
The Right:
And your Money in the Bank winner is… MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAA KENNNNNEDAYYYYYYY…KENNEDY~! - As is a theme with some of the matches this evening, this could have gone either way. I mean look at it; you have 8-men, Sharmell, Little Bastard and a bunch of ladders all out there. The potential for clusterfuck is definitely there. But thankfully the magic of WrestleMania seemed to compel these men and we got a damn fine match. I do have questions about using this as the opener, but we can talk about that later on. The match started with the crazy brawl, and then in something I don't think anyone saw coming, Finlay hit the top rope and did the big dive onto the other 7-men, that were on the floor. Tremendous. You'll never see that again probably, unless it is another WrestleMania. They did some comedy with King Booker pulling out the stepladder and then killing people with it, good stuff. Punk did the Terry Funk spinning ladder spot, not very well, but he did it and I popped because, that spot rules. Edge then delivered a SPEAR buffet and got the big ladder, but that backfired on him and Matt Hardy had him on the floor and then slammed him on a ladder that was on the apron and barrier. He then talked his brother into dropping the seated senton onto Edge, and he did and about killed Edge while breaking the ladder in half. SICK. Matt checked on his brother, and then looked at Edge and said, "FUCK YOU GIRLFRIEND THIEF~!" Actually he looked amazed and went back to business. Orton would get RKO bonanza, Matt and King Booker had a fun spot where Booker was about to win, but Matt threatened Sharmell and the King went to her aid! And then we went to the end of the match. Finlay hits the CELTIC CROSS on Matt, on the ladder and looked poised to climb. But he was too banged up to do so and LITTLE BASTARD came from under the ring to help out Finlay. And you know, this WORKED big time because the crowd popped and many went to their feet for this, so it is all good. He climbed the ladder and Kennedy returned to stop him. Little Bastard had some "short rights" for Kennedy, but that just pissed off Kennedy who then got revenge for the "Leprechaun Bomb" on Smackdown and delivered a Kamikaze Roll from the ladder on Little Bastard, about killing the little man. Kennedy then battled with Punk, and in the end tossed a ladder in his face and made the climb to win the Money in the Bank. Damn fine stuff here.
Benoit vs. MVP - This was a match that I really felt could go either way. MVP has been very limited since his being called up, but part of that is due to management handcuffing him. The good news is that they had some time on the house shows to get some chemistry down, and in the end it all worked out well. The early story was that MVP, "Superstar Athlete" did his homework on Chris Benoit and was able to counter him early on. And then there was the fact that MVP was focusing on the arm/shoulder of Benoit, because if the arm is torn up he can't apply submissions or throw tons of suplexes. I thought that this was a damn fine game plan. They had a good match and in the end, Benoit used the diving head butt for the win. This was great because it played into the arm work, and also you could say threw off MVP from his plan, because he was nullifying the arm and was not expecting the head butt. The biggest issue is that they only got about 9-minutes for the match. They told a very good story for that amount of time, but I have to question why they didn't get more. This was an obvious test for MVP, so why not call the audible and go longer with the match. I think that this could have been even better than what we got, and is a shame that we didn't get a chance to see if it could be.
The Battle of the Billionaires - And so here we had the battle of the billionaires, the showcase for Vince's ego! I have said that they have done a great job of building the match, they got a ton of publicity and it will create a lot of buys. They got Austin involved and that made fans happy, and helps promote their movie, which is smart business. But I also hated that the IC and ECW titles were tied down to this and not defended. Anyway, they had some silly stuff before the match. Trump meeting the Boogey Man and asking him for a sandwich, Vince making his grand daughter shit herself, classy stuff. But that being said we need to discuss how the match came off. It worked and worked about as perfectly as you could have hoped. Lashley and Umaga looked as if they worked as hard as they could. Umaga took a sick charge to the floor, than ended up as a suicide senton that only connected with the floor, no hand man, and that had to suck. And then Lashley did almost the same bump through the ropes off a spear miss, and that had to suck as well. Lashley got to beat down Estrada early for getting involved, which people popped for so it worked. Austin was playing impartial, pulling the guys off of each other and Shane McMahon hits the ring and then WHAM Samoan Spike for you Stone Cold. Shane then gets involved, he jabs at Lashley, he and Umaga double team him, we get more wildness as Austin takes another spike and then Trump does a horrible diving clothesline on Vince, with even worse punches, but it all worked because people popped. Shane connected with Gimmick Infringement on Lashley and then showed off his referee shirt. But Austin would live, dispose of him, Stun Umaga, allowing Lashley to get the spear for the win. Not a classic, but entertaining due to all of the bells and whistles. After the match they delivered as well. Vince tried to run, Lashley brought him back and they tied him down to the chair. They gave him about the quickest haircut you'll ever see in wrestling, including a bunch of shaving cream and regular razors as well. They shaved Vince pretty clean in the time they had, and then after a small Vince explosion of madness, Austin got about the worst stunner ever on Trump, but again it worked. The promised a haircut, you figured on stunners and they gave it to you. It isn't rocket science, you make a promise, you build something up and you deliver. It worked.
The Undertaker vs. Batista - Now this one was a match that I don't think many had high hopes for. Sure the Undertaker has been on a roll and looks to be in tremendous shape, but since his return from injury Batista hasn't had that good a track record with good matches, and even looked gun shy most of the time. That's understandable when you have torn every major muscle 43 times in the last few years. Batista came out and said before the event that they would steal the show, ala Steamboat and Savage at WM III. Well, they didn't steal the show and they are no Steamboat or Savage, but what they did was have a damn fine match in my opinion. In my opinion I feel some are overrating it (**** or more) and others underrating it (**½ or so) and that's fine, personal preference and all. But they did have a damn good match. They started out quick and kept a quick pace throughout the whole match, much different than most Batista or Undertaker matches. Taker worked his ass off, including busting out the awesomeness of the NO HANDS SUICIDE ‘FN' DIVE. For a man in his 40's he does that with such ease and it always leaves me in awe. Batista held up his end of the bargain as well, a top rope shoulder block, powerslam through the table outside, kicking out of the last ride. These guys clicked big time and busted their asses to prove a lot of people wrong. What we ended up with was a very good match and a cool moment with Taker winning another title at WM, 10-years after he last won one at WM. Good stuff once again.
Cena vs. HBK - And here we were, the end of the evening, the main event of WrestleMania XXIII. John Cena, the heir apparent, the next Austin, Rock, Hogan for the company, the IT guy. Battling Shawn Michaels, the heart break kid, the show stoppa, the ICON, the main event and MR. WrestleMania. A man who most thought would be mostly a supporting player this year and would take time off for his various injuries. But when HHH went down, the man stepped it up and put the company on his back and decided to be the HBK of old. It appears as if this match was either loved or hated due to how they laid things out. I loved the slow beginning to the match. They had to fill almost 30-minutes, and you cannot go balls to the wall right off the bat. It also fits into the whole "HBK playing mind games" deal, as he wanted to control things and make sure they stayed his way. They played that HBK had the avoided Cena early due to speed and cunning and worked the knee. He then would get the Asai Moonsault to the floor, onto Cena who bent the wrong way over the table and in these early minutes HBK was in firm control. Cena started to come back, HBK gigged and looked to be in trouble, until he busted out a PILEDRIVER on the ring steps. And then Cena was busted open. The match then started on it's rise to the climax, and about the last 5-minutes were absolutely perfect as they did some tremendous countering to each other's finishers. I have SOME issues with Cena's lack of selling down the stretch, but it does fit that "superman" baby face character that he portrays. Finally Cena gets the STFU and HBK taps to end a great match. A great match and another notch for Cena as he steps it up in another big match. Also this was a classic HBK match, the slow build and work was classic him. And while I am sure he wanted a classic, he should be happy with what they did out there. Tremendous stuff.
And what the hell, lets mark out! - Some people think that I don't like to have fun during the shows and just nitpick. That is the farthest from the truth. Nobody likes to mark out more for a show than I do, and this had some good moments to do so. Kane slamming Khali was a tribute to WM III, as was Kennedy beating down Little Bastard, in tribute of Bundy almost killing Little Beaver. Taker winning the title 10-years after winning it the last time at WM was a mark out moment. And while this last one was colossal filler, the whole deal with Cryme Tyme, Eugene and the legends was hilarious and I loved it. I mean, who didn't love seeing IRS dancing with his briefcase? The Dr. of Style Slick returns! Steamboat makes a cameo! DAMN. That was fun, and considering how shitty I was feeling, that was a nice little pick me up.
Purgatory:
The Battle for ECW - WrestleMania XXIII saw a first; the first ECW vs. ECW match ever at the event. And not only that, it was a battle of new vs. old, the Originals vs. The New breed. A gang war if you will to see who would run supreme over ECW. They had weeks of build on TV, even kicked off by Vince McMahon himself anointing Elijah Burke the leader of the New Breed. And then they got to WrestleMania, they all hit the ring and we got a random, going through the motions, run of the mill 8-man tag team match. Add on top of that the fact that they only got 7-minutes or so. It was every TV match that these 8-men have had, which is a shame because they really had the chance to go out there and do something to make themselves seem worth while. But the sad fact is that management didn't give them the time to shine, which there was plenty of, and the guys didn't seem to really care. Also, where was my POOOOOOUNCE? Monty, er, Marcus just looked like a regular guy, that wasn't cool. And I guess RVD has re-signed or that they are confident that he will re-sign with the company since he got the big WM win.
The wRong:
Kane vs. Khali - And here we go to our 2nd worst match of the night. As expected this was bad, but thankfully not as bad as it could have been. It was basically an extended squash for Khali, with Kane getting some hope spots. The one thing they did that was "good" and saved it from being totally horrible was that the did the big slam spot, which got a good pop and was a nice little nod to the WM III slam. But other than that it was all JUDO CHOP, TREE SLAM and one-foot cover for the win. Joy. I am not one to support the WM squash. Back when it was Bundy it worked because it led somewhere, this isn't. I suppose it could have been a lot worse, but it was bad enough.
The Ridiculous:
Ashley vs. Melina - Here's a little information for everyone. Just because a match gets the "death slot" on a card doesn't mean that it has to suck. Yes the match before the main event, most times, is considered the death spot on a show. That is why a match like this makes its way so close to the main event. To cool the crowd down and to get them rested for the main event. But sometimes the match placed in this spot does indeed suck, and in this case it sucked badly. Ad not the good sucking that you'd want from all of these chicks. The match was just bad, no flow and no direction. Ashley looks more anorexic by the day, please eat a damn sandwich! I think what was funny is that when the chicks hit the ring for the big brawl, Mickie James' Jeans decided to stand there and fix her outfit and look hot, since she was left out of things. That was great. Anyway, worst match of the night for sure.
Showcase/Layout/Filler/Rip Off - As always I have some issues with this show, even if it was a really good show overall. Some will say that it is nitpicking, but I think I have some very good points here when you think about it.
-Filler: Man there are times when JD and I totally agree on things and this is one of them. There was a ton of filler on the show this year. They had "The Condemned" Trailer, which I understand as they have to marker the movie. The Hall of Fame thing I always question, it just cries filler. Here are these Hall of Famers. We are going to trot them out and you should politely applaud, we're not going to let them talk or anything, just applaud so we can then go show another "All Grown up" spot.
-Rip Off: I know that we have had this discussion a lot, especially when it comes to WWE PPV, and you know what, we're going to have it again. They have you pay $50 for this show and promise "4-hours of action." Now we discussed some of the filler about, but the problem is the fact that the ended the show @ 10:30. This annoys me to no end. They give us a bunch of filler, only 8-matches and then have the audacity to end the show that early. I hate that and I feel like I am being ripped odd when it happens on a regular show, and more so when it is WrestleMania. They could have avoided this…
-Showcase: You know, when I posted the "RetRo" R's of last year's WrestleMania I got some complaints on my discussion of "Showcase." Chris had this to say about it: You may not have noticed, but between Raw, Smackdown, and ECW, there are nine total championships in WWE. With only 11 total matches at WrestleMania, a true showcase would mean a whopping two matches devoted to non-title feuds. Is that how you'd rather have it? I would certainly agree that all titles should have been showcased during the early WrestleMania's, but it's simply not practical anymore. And is that really a big deal? I think you need to grow up Mr. Csonka. Why isn't it practical anymore? In all actuality the titles should be the MOST important thing on the shows and the chasing of the titles is where the money is made. Why was it more important in the early WrestleMania shows but not now? I noticed how many titles there are because I discuss how badly booked that they are. They have three separate shows, they separated the rosters and still can't find time to effectively book the titles. You see, I am sorry, but it bothers me that the IC Title hasn't been defended at a WrestleMania since WrestleMania 18. The last 5- WrestleMania shows that title was not on the line. WWE likes to boast about London and Kendrick being such long running champions, but didn't take the time to have a program for them at WrestleMania, let alone give them a pre-show match. This is the first year that ECW was represented at WrestleMania and the title and champion was an afterthought to Vince. Sure the match and build will and probably drew a lot of buys, but the titles become so secondary. Same with the Cruiserweight title. I just feel that if this is "The Biggest Show of the Year" that they should have the titles all defended, the only time of the year where you can and could see every WWE/ECW Title on the line. THAT is a showcase. I don't need to grow up, they need to try and please their audience more than they do.
-Layout: And the Showcase argument plays into the layout of the show. Now either this was the worst crowd ever, or the layout of the show really hurt things. First of all having the MITB match kick off the show is a very questionable move. Sure it gets people excited, but in past years it has been a great match and if it was again this year, which it was, everyone now has a huge uphill battle to fight to get the crowd into their match. Also, having the World Title Match on so early I feel was another mistake, like years past, Smackdown is the bastard step child when it comes to where there match is on the card. Maybe, since you know, we had a lot of filler and ended the show about 20-minutes early, we could have had another match or two on the show to help space things out. Maybe those tag champs that have had the titles forever on Smackdown, how about those kids on the card? Hell I would have even taken a Cruiserweight clusterfuck match. The point is that this was flawed in my opinion, not going to change my mind there.
Closing Thoughts:
WrestleMania XXIII has come and gone and in the end I was a happy camper. The Money in the Bank match delivered and they look to be headed towards a huge Kennedy push, which I expected and am looking forward too. Khali vs. Kane was bout what you would expect, bad, but could have been much worse. MVP stepped up his game with Chris Benoit, and while he still needs more work before a huge push, he will be a good upper card foil for now and I hope that the let more of his character come out ala in DSW. Batista and Undertaker kept the theme alive, that being things could be bad or great as they had a damn fine match, much better than I expected and I am glad of that. The battle for ECW was disappointing as they got no time and walked through the match in my opinion, but the Billionaires match delivered in everyway that they promised. The chicks match sucked as they lived down to the death spot mystique but the show ended on a high note as HBK and Cena tore it up in a great match. Overall I will go with a 8.0 out of 10 and a recommendation to buy the replay and you HAVE to get the DVD for the Hall of Fame stuff. While I have some problems with the show's concept and the lack of title matches, overall it delivered and I don't think anyone would be disappointed with this show as a whole.
2007 PPV Rankings:
1. WWE WM XXIII (Combined Roster) 8.0
1. WWE Royal Rumble (Combined Roster) 8.0
3. TNA Final Resolution 7.0
4. WWE New Year's Revolution (RAW) 6.0
4. TNA Against All Odds 6.0
6. TNA Destination X 5.5
7. WWE No Way Out (SD) 4.0
2007 TOP 5 PPV Match Rankings:
1. (WWE Royal Rumble) Last Man Standing WWE Title MATCH: Cena vs. Umaga ****¼
2. (WWE Royal Rumble) The Royal Rumble Match ****
2. (WWE WM XXIII) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels ****
2. (TNA Destination X) NWA Title Match: Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe ****
5. (WWE WM XXIII) Money in the Bank III ***¾
5. (TNA Final Resolution) 30-Minute Iron man Match: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe ***¾
2007 PPV MVP AWARDS: This is a little added deal here, as I feel that there are some other things that should be mentioned from the PPV's. Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: A Rumble to Remember – WWE Royal Rumble JBL: Solo Commentating – WWE No Way Out AJ Styles and Rhino: Elevation X – TNA Destination X Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: "They still got it!" – WWE WrestleMania XXIII
Thanks for joining me for this special edition of the 3R's, and don't forget to check out the regular edition complete with all of the other shows from the week!
