411's WWE Heat Report 12.02.07
Posted by Scott Slimmer on 12.02.2007
We've got Paul London and Charlie Haas in the best online Heat match ever. 'Nuff said.
Hey guys and gals, I'm Scott, and this is 411's ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT WWE Heat Report.
I've always prided myself on writing the Best Damn Heat Report on the Net, and part of being the best is continually striving to improve. So last week I was proud to debut a completely new format for the Heat Report. The most dramatic change was a drastic reduction in the length of the play-by-play. I loved writing in-depth, detailed reports of each match, but I completely understand that most readers would rather just get right to the highlights. So from now on I'm going to be presenting a more condensed Overview of each match in order to give you a clear view of the main events while skipping over some of the more minor details. However, in order to compensate for the abbreviated length of the Overview, I'm also going to be adding a Background, Analysis, and Rating for each match. The Background will provide a brief review of the recent events in the careers of each of the wrestlers involved in the match while the Analysis and Rating will allow me to give you my opinion on the quality and future implications of the match. Finally, I'll still include the Result, Length, and Best Spot in order to continue to provide the most complete coverage possible. Okay, enough with the boring stuff. Let's get to the wrestling.
Match 1: Paul London vs. Charlie Haas
Background: Paul London and Charlie Haas have both spent the majority of 2007 as tag team specialists. Paul London and his partner Brian Kendrick picked up an important win over the Highlanders last week on Heat and are now arguably the Number One Contenders for the World Tag Team Championships. However, this past week on Raw Brian Kendrick had his hands full with Mr. Kennedy, and that leaves Paul London to fly solo on Heat. At the other end of the spectrum, Charlie Haas and his partner Shelton Benjamin wrestled their last match (at least for the immediate future) as the World's Greatest Tag Team last week on Heat. Benjamin has since moved to ECW to pursue fame and fortune as an Extremist while leaving Haas to fend for himself as a singles wrestler on Heat. This should be an interesting match-up between two incredibly talented rising stars who will have to leave their comfort zones and wrestle without the benefit of a partner watching their back.
Overview: London takes control early with a standing side head lock followed by a headlock takedown. London gets a second headlock takedown for a one count and then a third headlock takedown off the turnbuckles for two more one counts. Haas retaliates with a back suplex, but London regains control with a head scissors. London goes for a springboard missile drop kick, but Haas ducks and London damn near breaks his leg when he hits the mat. That looked scary as hell. I was seriously having flashbacks of Sid in WCW there for a second. Anyway, Haas momentarily fights back and whips London to the ropes, but London floats over into another headlock takedown for a two count. Haas retaliates with a shoulder block, but London comes back with a volley of kicks to Haas' legs and midsection. London whips Haas to the corner and hits a sweet running drop kick in the corner for another two count. Haas whips London to the ropes and goes for a hip toss, but London counters into a hip toss of his own followed by two more hip tosses and a spinning heel kick that knocks Haas out of the ring.
London goes for a plancha as Haas rolls back into the ring, so London lands on the ring apron and comes back with a slingshot kick to Haas that gets a two count. London catches Haas with a back elbow shot and goes for a second rope corkscrew flying cross body, but Haas counters into a Fujiwara arm bar. London had more or less been control for the entire first seven minutes of this match, but now Haas looks to have turned the tide. Haas rolls into an inverted Fujiwara arm bar and spins into a mounted arm bar. Haas hits a hammer lock scoop slam for a two count and then goes back to the mounted arm bar. Haas rams London's shoulder into the top turnbuckle a follows up with a cross arm breaker for another two count. Haas returns to the mounted arm bar and then switches to a hammer lock. Haas wrenches on the arm and drops a leg onto it but still only gets a two count. Haas once again returns to the mounted arm bar and goes for another hammer lock scoop slam, but London floats over and hot shots Haas onto the top rope. London storms back with an inverted atomic drop followed by a head scissors takedown, a standing drop kick, and a running shooting star press for a two count. Haas ducks a roundhouse kick and goes for a German suplex, but London lands on his feet and gets a roll-up for another two count. London goes for a head scissors takedown out of the corner, but Haas flings him over the top rope and onto the ring apron. London goes for some sort of springboard maneuver back into the ring, but his foot gets caught on the top rope and he lands right on his shoulder instead. London seems to be legitimately hurt, so Haas covers him for the quick three count. I didn't see the X sign from the ref, but another ref and a trainer rush to the ring to work on London. It looks like it might be a dislocated shoulder. Sucks that such a great match had to end with an injury.
Analysis: I've been watching Heat online and writing 411's WWE Heat Report for more than two years. I've seen Shelton Benjamin, Chavo Guerrero, Val Venis, and Rob Conway have some amazing matches that legitimized Heat and made it more than just WWE's D-show. The bottom line is that I know my Heat, so trust me when I say that this match is the best online Heat match ever. London and Haas were given the time to really tell a story in the ring, and they did a great job of progressing from a fast-paced match dominated by London to a methodical test of grit dominated by Haas. And the amazing thing is that this was still a great match despite the fact there wasn't even a finish. The botched finish may have knocked this match down from legendary to simply great, but that still allows it to be the best match I've ever seen on Heat. Just think how good it would have been with a clean ending…
Result: Charlie Haas defeats Paul London after London falls off the top rope. Length: 14:10 Best Spot:: London's second rope corkscrew flying cross body into a Fujiwara arm bar by Haas Rating: ***¼
Match 2: Carlito vs. Christian York
Background: Carlito has recently grown increasingly dissatisfied with the direction of his career in WWE and thus requested his release several weeks ago. Since then he has been jobbed out time and time again, and now he finds himself stuck on Heat. Armageddon is only two weeks away, and while Carlito will almost certainly not have a match on the card, the end is still near for Carlos Colon's baby boy. Carlito's opponent this week is indy star Christian York. York got his start in Matt and Jeff Hardy's OMEGA promotion where he formed a tag team with Joey Mathews (a.k.a. Joey Mercury). York & Mathews then gained fame as a tag team during their tenure in the dying days of ECW. York has since wrestled in ROH, XPW, and TNA. He now wrestles in Ohio Valley Wrestling even though he is not under contract with WWE.
Overview: Carlito takes control early with a kick to York's gut and a series of forearms shots to York's back. Carlito works over York in the corner and the connected with a back elbow shot that knocked York out of the ring. Carlito rolls York back into the ring and then hits a springboard missile drop kick for a two count. Dude, that kick damn near connected below the belt. Carlito shouldn't be anywhere near a wrestling ring when he's in this kind of mood. That's how guys get injured. Carlito wrenches on York's neck and follows up with a Roll of the Dice. Carlito continues his assault with a scoop slam and a Hogan leg drop. This shit is just getting bizarre. York fights back with a drop kick to Carlito in the corner followed by a sweet rolling shoulder block for a two count. York goes for a scoop slam of his own, but Carlito floats over into the Back Stabber for the three count. It's like Carlito is actually looking for ways to get fired.
Analysis: That… um… that was not pretty. It was booked as a squash match, but the point of a squash match is to make the dominant star look good. In this case that was supposed to have been Carlito, but Carlito clearly had no interest in doing anything other than getting back to the locker room. It was all York could do to just try and not die as Carlito staggered from one sloppy move to another. I've tried to like Carlito, I really have. But any wrestler who would waste our time with a performance like this, even if he does know he's on his way out the door, doesn't deserve to wrestler for the most famous promotion in the world.
Result: Carlito defeats Christian York with the Back Stabber. Length: 3:33 Best Spot:: Carlito's Roll of the Dice Rating: ½*
Match 3: Maria vs. Jillian
Background: Maria is hot. Jillian is hot. I think that just about covers it. But seriously, there really hasn't been much in the way of build for this match. Maria and Jillian faced each other in the 10 Diva tag team match at Survivor Series two weeks ago, but neither of them really played any sort of significant role in the match. This is you TNA main event. No, wait, that should be T&A main event. Sorry for the confusion.
Overview: Thankfully Jillian refrains from singing before the match. Jillian takes control early with an arm wringer, but Maria fights back with a tilt-o-whirl hurricanrana. Yes, you read that correctly. Jillian retaliates with a back breaker but only gets a one count. Jillian works over Maria in the corner and then grabs a handful of hair before flinging her down to the mat. Jillian locks in a modified surfboard, but Maria gets back to her feet and levels Jillian with a short arm clothesline. Maria scores with another clothesline and a monkey flip out of the corner. Maria catches Jillian with a clothesline in the corner and then hits the Bronco Buster. In the immortal words of the great Joey Styles, "OH MY GOD!" I am so hard right now. Maria goes for the Trish Stratus running bulldog, but Jillian counters into a full Nelson face buster for the three count.
Analysis: These two ladies should send Carlito a thank you note for making sure that they didn't have the worst match of the week. Both Divas certainly put forth their fair share of effort, and that alone makes this match far better than Carlito's match. However, effort was just about all that these ladies had going for them this week. Jillian may not be at the level of Mickie James or Beth Phoenix, but she can at least hold her own in the ring. The problem here was that Maria is just far too green to really be of any use in a one-on-one match. Jillian did her best to get Maria through the match in one piece, and like I said, I give both ladies a ton of credit for at least putting forth a ton of effort.
Result: Jillian defeats Maria with a full Nelson face buster. Length: 3:35 Best Spot:: Maria's Bronco Buster… it made me happy… oh, so happy… Rating: *
Okay kids, that's it for this week's edition of Heat. Hope you had fun. Fell free to email me with any comments or suggestions. I'll be up in Chicago working on an experiment next week, so one of the other fine writers here at 411 will be covering the Heat Report. I'll be back in two weeks.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't plug 411's hella sweet podcast series. Be sure to check out the TNA Conference Call 10-25-07 – Christian Cage to hear yours truly chat it up with the Instant Classic.
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