No Mercy 2005:
Legion of Doom 2k5/Christy Hemme vs MNM/Melina - **1/4
- Just a fun opening match that doesn't go long enough to get redundant. Tag division is a bit too limited with only these two teams, though. So it's stale and I can't say I cared for this one much. Christy's attempt at the Doomsday Device was not terribly bad either even though Animal did an Electric Chair to make the move look good.
Bobby Lashley vs Simon Dean - **1/2
- Another fun match. Little more than a squash match but the side story with the cheeseburgers makes it funny and Lashley's offense is cool. Unlike most beginners, he's not invincible and Simon actually gets some offense in. Also liked the backstage segments throughout the PPV after it with Simon trying to eat all the burgers he ordered.
Chris Benoit vs Christian vs Booker T vs Orlando Jordan - ***3/4
- A highly enjoyable match with the ring action divided evenly between all four guys. Would have preferred a singles match between Benoit and Christian but I'm glad with what I got regardless. Some great nearfalls and well paced action. Benoit wins by making Christian tap out to the Sharpshooter.
Mr. Kennedy vs Hardcore Holly - **3/4
- Not a bad PPV debut for Kennedy. I find him hilarious and his dissing of Chimel wont get old. The match itself is well worked for two not so great workers and I enjoyed it while it lasted. I'm surprised Kennedy was even allowed to do the Green Bay Plunge since it requires the smallest botch to result in a broken neck. Also am I the only one who thinks these two look extremely similar from a distance? And post-match, the Hardcore Jobber takes a beatdown from Sylvan Grainer that writes him off the shows for a long period.
JBL vs Rey Mysterio - ***1/2
- A pretty good match between Bradshaw and the biggest little man. These two have some kind of chemistry that makes their matches work so well. Can't point out what it is but it was enjoyable. Nothing GREAT but good nonetheless. JBL gets his return victory after losing clean on Smackdown weeks before. Also The Boogeyman cannot come any sooner to rip that damn thing off of Jillian's face!
Randy Orton/"Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr. vs The Undertaker - ****
- Another very good match between Orton and Taker here. This one involves a casket so it's a bit different and the ring is not utilized entirely like their previous matches. This is also a bit different with Bob Orton's involvement. Personally, I think he slows it down a little but he spends enough time on the background to let his son go at it with Undertaker like only they can. Once Bob is inside the casket with the fire extinguisher, the pace picks up and match gets a lot better heading towards the end. Then the casket is opened up and Bob sprays the fire extinguisher in Taker's face, which saves the Ortons from losing this one. After a chairshot to the head, Taker is finally put out of his misery with the casket closed. Orton then sets the casket on fire post-match to write Taker off until Survivor Series. Nothing can go wrong when Randy & Taker are in the ring together! Has been such a great feud to watch and the matches have all been awesome.
Juventud vs Nunzio - ***1/4
- So much red, white and green on this one with Italy and Mexico! Also Nunzio only made ONE Smackdown appearance since becoming cruiserweight champion. What an injustice to the title as they put all the action on Velocity including the title change before this one. For the match, in 7 minutes, they do about everything necessary for a fast paced cruiserweight match. Highly enjoyed it and as expected, Juventud, or rather "The Juice" (lol), wins this one. Also what's the matter with the close-up camera angle they have on for damn near the entire match? Something was strange about it to me.
Batista vs Eddie Guerrero - ***1/2
- A very decent main event and the last ever match Eddie had on PPV. It's a bit slow paced with them using the strength game and restholds quite a bit as well as Eddie being schizophrenic about whether he should use his cheating ways or to be "the new" Eddie that wants respect. Outside of when restholds are abused, the action is pretty fine and it's an enjoyable match. Kinda touching to watch the ending as Eddie walks to the back after shaking Batista's hand since this would be his last time on PPV. The remaining shows from 2005 are going to be hard to watch from now since I know Eddie's life is about to come to an end after a handful of shows.
Overall: ***1/2 out of ***** (Probably the best Smackdown PPV from 2005 so far. Nothing is horrible and most of it ranges from good to great. I specially liked the Casket and US Championship matches but the rest of it was not bad either.)
Official DVD/Match/Show Discussion Thread
Re: Official DVD/Match/Show Discussion Thread
