WWE Armageddon
December 18, 2005 Sunday Night Heat Jamie Noble vs Funaki
After leaving ROH in October, Noble finally made his return to the WWE. I believe this was his first match back on TV/Net. Sadly, the WWE decided against putting this on the DVD. I believe it's still on WWE.com in the Heat archives though. Noble wins with the inverted Dragon Sleeper. Welcome back Noble.
PPV JBL w/ Jillian vs Matt Hardy
After being a semi noble tweener in the Raw vs SD feud, JBL reverted back to his heel ways after Survivor Series. In several tag team matches, JBL would walk out on his face partner. I believe Hardy was the last one he did it to. Anyways, before the match, JBL gets on the mic and trashes over Hardy. Hardy's music interrupts JBL. With JBL watching the entrance, Hardy runs in from the crowd and jumps Bradshaw. Quickly, JBL sidesteps away from Hardy and Hardy is hangs between the ropes. From there, it's a complete squash with JBL beating Hardy up badly. Closeline From Hell finally puts Hardy out of his misery. This was just a punishment match for Hardy. It seems as if he started an arguement when he found out that he was supposed to be chokslammed with all of the other SD jobbers at the end of the Survivor Series. Not a great first SD singles match from returning for Hardy.
7 Minutes. 1 1/2 Stars.
We get a recap of SD with Melina sleeping with Batista so that he will back out of the tag team titles match. He obviously didn't.
Backstage, Melina runs into the Mexicools. It seems as if they canceled their tag team match with MNM. That is if Melina will do the same thing she did to Batista for them. Ha.
MNM w/ Melina vs The Mexicools
The Mexicools won a tag team battle royal to get a tag team titles shot, but seeing how MNM lost the titles to Batista/Mysterio 2 days earlier, this is now a standard tag match. Psicosis is worked over by MNM for most of the match. I was actually thinking that Crazy wouldn't get in the ring. Crazy has enough and just comes in the match to attack MNM. MNM on the outside, Crazy wants to do some high flying moves, but the ref stops him. Crazy is a sad Mexicool. With the ref's back turned to Crazy, Crazy hits the ropes and dives over the ref to hit MNM with a plancha. Crazy is a happy Mexicool. Finally, Crazy is officially tagged in the match. Moonsault gets Crazy a 2. Crazy looks to hit the ropes, but Mercury is there to set him up for the Snapshot. 1...2...3. MNM wins with their finisher. A nice little tag bout. Maybe not a classic, but considering MNM has been stuck with feuding with LOD most of the year, this looked great in comparison.
9 Minutes. 3 Stars.
Backstage, Krystal tries to talk to Booker T about Match Four of the Best of 7 Series with Benoit. Sharmel interrupts and promises a clean sweep. Hey, she even has a broom.
Chris Benoit vs Booker T - Match 4 - Best of 7 US Title Series
Days before the Survivor Series, Benoit and Booker double pinned each other. As a result, Teddy Long held up the title and announced a Best of 7 series (Always trying to recapture that WCW magic). Booker has won all three thus far (Survivor Series, SD Special and SD) so Benoit needs this one to keep the series going. Early on, Benoit tries to lock in the Crossface, but Booker escapes. Benoit works over the leg of Booker with some Dragon Screw Legwhips. Booker tries a suplex (Cole suggests a delayed vertical ala Bulldog one), but he falls backward making it look sloppy. Surprisingly, it actually makes it look more real. 3 Amigos by Benoit~! Benoit was the only one able to do the 3 Amigos after Guerrero's death without being booed. Benoit decides that's not enough and hits 3 German Suplexes and feels at home. Sharmel distracts Benoit which leaves Booker to hit a missal dropkick. 1...2...No!~! Lowblow by Sharmel and Booker hits the Scissors Kick. 1...2...NO, Benoit kicks out again. Booker goes for the Book End, but Benoit counters it with the Crossface! Booker makes the ropes. Benoit is pissed so he hits Booker with 3 more German Suplexes. Flying Headbutt...1...2...NO Booker kicks out. Benoit goes for the Crossface, but the ref is knocked down. Sharmel comes in and hits Benoit with her broom. (Yeah, that should really hurt). Benoit tells Sharmel to "Come here" *Does the come here finger motion to further illustrate what happened* Booker attacks Benoit. Bookend is reversed AGAIN, but this time into a DDT. Crossface is locked in again and with the ref awake, Booker taps out. Benoit keeps the series going to at least a match 5. Solid match here. While some might think that both men deserved better at this time then just the US title, but they were putting on some great matches at the time. Due to a groin injury, this would be the last time Booker in the Best of 7 Series. Kinda a shame, they were having a nice throwback series.
20 Minutes. 4 Stars.
Teddy Long and Palmer Cannon comes to the ring. Teddy wishes to thank the fans for all of their support. Cannon has a surprise for Long. Cue the Xmas FBI music. Awesome, it's Savito Claus and the jolly elf, Nunzio. Nunzio is awesome as the elf, he keeps doing this evil little smile. Nunzio tries giving kids candy canes, but Savito Claus keeps giving them coal. Nunzio tries to get a Tag Team Titles shot or even a CW shot. Instead, Cannon has a surprise for them...The Boogeyman. Boogey takes Nunzio out and worms Savito Claus. Tons of worms everywhere. It's a very wormy Christmas.
Bobby Lashley vs Paul Burchill and William Regal
This match was made since Lashley defeated both men in singles action. Knowing that Regal and Burchill wasn't completely jobbed out, they made this match. The much more talented Regal and Burchill bumps all over for Lashley. Dominator to Burchill to get Lashley his second PPV win. Instead of doing this meaningless squash, they could of given Lashley a nice little feud with Burchill. Have Regal lose to Lashley in the weeks leading to the PPV. Then have Regal prep his rookie monster to get revenge on Lashley. It would be monster rookie vs rookie monster. I can't help but feel bad for Regal and Burchill. Here they are having to job painfully to an untalented wrestler who would be pushed to the moon over nearly everyone. 2 years later, Lashley quits without really putting anyone (besides people higher up than him) over. To me, that's not right. You're stealing from the company. Burchill and Regal does make this a decent squash though.
4 Minutes. 1 Star.
Over at the near by Friendly Tap bar, Josh Matthews tries to talk to Tim White about his feelings over the match that ended his career, Hell in a Cell. White doesn't reply to his questions until saying that the HIAC took everything away from him. White pulls out a shotgun, so Matthews cuts the interview short. White walks off of view. BANG~! Josh looks on with disgust at what he saw. Back at the arena, Tazz and Cole reacts for a few seconds, then they forget about it as the next match begins.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Although I ended up loving these WWE.com lunchtime videos, at the time (and still now) I feel as if this was poorly timed. With Guerrero's death, the last thing we needed was a death storyline. To the WWE's credit, they did a great job in turning this into a fun non serious storyline.
Juventud (c) vs Kid Kash - CW Title Match
"The battle of the talented wrestlers who blew their WWE careers because of their piss-poor attitudes." Juvi jumps Kash as he gets in the ring. He goes for a hurricana, but botches it some. It's okay though, it still looks good. Only gets a 2 count. Juvi locks in an armbar. Kash locks in his own armbar. Juvi hits a standing top rope hurricana, but can only get a 2 count. Kash reverses a Juvi driver into the Dead Level (Brainbuster), but Juvi reverses that into the Juvi Driver. 1...2...NO~! Kash kicks out. Juvi pulls Kash over to the corner for the 450 Splash. Kash moves out of the way and Juvi misses an awkward forward falling leg drop. Dead Level~! Kid Kash is your NEW CW Champion. I wanted to love this, but it didn't seem like Juvi was even trying at this point in his WWE career (The finish was a clear sign of it). A dead crowd didn't help matters. In fact, the only time the crowd was vocal, it was chanting Boring. And even that wasn't loud. Juvi would last a few weeks longer until being released after a rematch on SD. Only Juvi could make Kash look like a model employee.
10 Minutes. 2 1/2 Stars. Rey Mysterio and Batista vs Kane and The Big Show
This is Raw vs Smackdown. Tag Team Champions vs SD Tag Team Champions. A few weeks before this show, Batista was injured by Kane and The Big Show (Legit). That would be the first of two (Other being by Mark Henry) that would force Batista to miss the first half of 2006. Rey Mysterio looks like a freak. He's wearing white lipstick and has "619" written on his chin in white. Batista and Show starts off trying to over power each other. Nothing special. Batista tags in Mysterio to do the rest of the work. Kane is tagged in and Mysterio is forced in using his speed to keep away from Kane. Rey forces Kane down in the 619 position, but Kane gets out of it. Mysterio kicks him AGAIN in the 619 position, but Batista pulls Rey out of the ring. Batista and Show battle on the announcers table when Mysterio for the 3rd (!) time gets Kane in the 619 position. Kane catches Mysterio with the West Coast Pop. Chokeslam by Kane to win the match for the Raw guys. This was a SD match put on PPV. With Batista being hurt, Rey was forced to do everything. The match was decent, but I couldn't stand the fact that Kane was in the 619 position so many times. How is it that most matches, no one ever lays on the ropes, yet Rey gets Kane in it 3 fuckin times? This wasn't bad of a match, just not very good either.
9 Minutes. 2 Stars. Randy Orton w/ Cowboy Bob vs The Undertaker - Hell in a Cell
This was the culmination of a year long feud. Randy looks scared shitless as he steps inside the cell. Cowboy Bob is holding some urn. Match starts off slow with just some punches and kicks. Finally, on the outside of the ring, Taker tries to ram Orton in the cell, but Orton slides down from it. Well this is boring. Taker finds a chair and nails Orton with it. Yay...blood. Orton hits a RKO to Taker on the ropes. Cowboy Bob pulls Taker's hair through the cell. Wow, what a girly move. Taker grabs Orton's arm and gives him a big boot to legit break Cowboy open. Nick Patrick is knocked out and is bleeding on the ground. Some refs open up the door to get Patrick out. Cowboy Bob in his best Bellick (Prision Break) expression slowly walks in undetected. Taker covers Orton, but Cowboy pulls the ref out and punches him. Taker is pissed and beats up Cowboy. Orton reverses a Tombstone into his own Tombstone. Damn, that was sloppy. Taker looked like he could of been hurt from it. Since Cowboy knocked out the ref, Orton has Taker covered, but no one to count. Orton keeps punching Taker, with Taker always sitting up. Finally, Taker fails to sit up and falls back down. Closeup shot of Orton's face as he finally looks happy and relived. BAM. Taker's hand out of no where grabs Orton's throat. Nice little horror movie cheap scare moment. Tombstone to Cowboy. Tombstone to Orton. Taker wins the match and the feud. Well that's it? This match just never got exciting or going. For a feud that started off as great as this one did (Their WM match was the match of the night IMO), it ended in rather boring fashion. I can remember a lot of the IWC being upset that Orton lost. Personally, he should of won the feud, but he won the last two PPV matches. To have Orton go over here would of started off Taker's new MMA deadman gimmick to a bad start. This feud at least made Orton into a main eventer unlike the Orton/Hunter feud. Other than that, this match was worthless.
30 Minutes. 2 Stars. Overall
After a pathetic start to the year, SD ended the year with a moderate PPV. With the likes of Benoit, Booker, Regal, Noble, Kash and others now on SD, they now had a roster to put on good ppvs. It's just that the bookers needed to figure out how to put together a good card. Benoit/Booker and Mexicools/MNM were solid to good matches, but everything else was average at best. This may sound like a bad report, but seeing how terrible SD was just months ago, this was a highly successful show. 2006 would prove to be a much better year for SD ppvs anyways.
Best Match: Chris Benoit vs Booker T
Worst Match: Bobby Lashley vs William Regal and Paul Burchill
Grade: C-
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