A veritable feast of wrestling last night between Raw and ECW. Thursday has become my favourite night of the week.
Report:
Jeff Hardy beat Shelton Benjamin in a Money In The Bank qualifier for Wrestlemania 23 to start Raw off. He finished him with The Side Effect followed by The Swan Tom Bomb from the top rope.
Next up Johnny Nitro was scheduled to fight Super Crazy (âI am Super. I am Crazy. I am Super Crazyâ) Nitro was still absolutely raging over losing his MITB qualifier to CM Punk last week and before Super Crazy had reached the ring to begin the match he slid out under the ropes and met him with a baseball slide type kick to the head. He then proceeded to pummel Super Crazy before the bout had officially begun. After knocking the Mad Mexican out he just walked off backstage.
Melina then defeated Maria in a Womenâs Non-Title match up. Maria tried to get the champion with a Bronco Buster but Melina blocked it with her foot before rolling Maria up for the 1-2-3 count. Sheâs defending the title against previous champion, Mickey James, in a falls count anywhere match on Raw next week.
As alluded to earlier in the week, Bobby Lashley, the ECW World Heavyweight Champion, was announced as Donald Trumpâs representative to take on Mr McMahonâs, Umaga, in the Bald Billionaire match at Wrestlemania. McMahon came out with Umaga and was posturing in front of the crowd, telling them what he was gonna do to Trumpâs hair when Donald appeared on the big screen, told him to shut up and introduced Lashley as his man. Bobby roared into the ring then and after an initial stand-off Umaga hit him with a cheap shot. Lashley then flew back at him and they had a massive brawl in and outside the ring as at least 20 security personnel and referees tried to break it up. Awesome stuff. What a fight this will be at âThe Big Danceâ.
Then The Great Khali was undertaking the Master Lock Challenge - nobodyâs ever broken out of Chris Mastersâ Master Lock but Masters couldnât even get his arms around the shoulders of the big brute from India - when Kane, from Smackdown, came haring into the ring. Last week The Great Khali interfered in a MITB qualifier between Kane and King Booker. He pounded Kane allowing King Booker to take the win and so The Big Red Destroyer was hell bent on revenge. He hit Khali with some big right hands, knocking him towards the ropes before sending him over the top with a clothesline. Expect these two animals to face off at Wrestlemania.
Jerry âThe Kingâ Lawler was then announced as the 3rd inductee into the Class of 2007 Hall of Fame following in the footsteps of Dusty Rhodes and the late, great âMr Perfectâ Curt Hennig.
Before the main event we had Carlito continuing his fine recent form by defeating Kenny Dykstra by virtue of a quality Back Cracker to get the âWâ. His attitude has improved no end since the legendary âNature Boyâ Ric Flair questioned his passion and desire on Raw a few weeks back.
Then the main event - tag team titles on the line as John Cena and Shawn Michaels defended the belts against Team Rated RKO, Edge and Randy Orton. Initially this was meant to kick the show off and Michaels and Cena were in the ring when Edge and Orton appeared on the big screen. With Michaels challenging Cena for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania Team Rated RKO sought to put some doubt in the champâs mind about whether he could trust his partner.
They showed a montage of Michaels turning on his tag team partners going down through the years and it was brought back some smashing memories. From attacking Marty Janetti and firing him head-first through a window on Brutus âThe Barberâ Beefcakeâs Barber Shop in 1992 right up to 2005 when he knocked Hulk Hogan out with a Super Kick as they were celebrating a victory together, all the incidents were there. They told Cena to think about this and theyâd see them in the ring later.
And my oh my what a bout it was. Thereâs too many things to mention but there was a great moment where Cena had thrown Edge over the top ropes and turned around just as Michaels was lining up Orton for the Super Kick. Orton ducked leaving Cena to catch Michaelsâ boot as it was about to smack him in the face. There was a moment where it looked like they would turn on each other but their opponents resurfaced to attack both of them. Edge was battering Cena and Orton went outside and got one of the belts to attack Michaels with. Michaels wrestled the belt off him and knocked him to the ground before lashing Edge in the back with it before throwing the belt into Ortonâs hands as he groggily got to his feet. Edge hazily turned around to see Orton standing there with the belt and presumed his partner had attacked him. Edge got into a huff and walked out of the ring with Orton pleading his innocence. As Orton turned around he was met with Sweet Chin Music as Michaels connected beautifully with the Super Kick to the chin. Orton stumbled backwards into the waiting arms of The Champ and Cena gratefully lifted him up before finishing him off with The FU for the 1-2-3 count.
The crowd went absolutely ballistic and as both men raised each otherâs hand aloft I couldnât help get a little bit wet thinking about their fight at Wrestlemania (midnight in April 1 - party in my gaff).
I fooking love wrestling. It has become my life.