Final Resolution 2008 (January Edition)

 

Only thing notable about the opener is the reveal of Salinas as the "thug" attacking Christy Hemme. I have an unhealthy love for Shelley Martinez.

 

Silliness throughout the show for the drinking championship between Young and Storm. Was what it was.

 

The rest of the show up to the main event was skippable stuff with the exception of Gail Kim v. Kong which was the best match on the show.Notable angle stuff was Sharmell getting a "broken jaw" from a shot from Roode and Nash walking out on Joe during the tag title match.

 

I will mention MCMG/Lethal v. Dudleys/Devine only for the stupid shit. The Dudley's suck, but did have a fun spot here trying to lift each other up to get the belt. Oh yeah, and Johnny Devine died three times. First, fell off top of the ladder that was in the ring through two side-by-side tables on the outside that didn't break. Second, he was on Bubba's shoulders and took a reverse hurrancanrana and landed on his head. Finally, pulled off the X ropes by the MCMG's and lands on his head.

 

Angle v. Cage for the title was best thing on show other than Women's match. AJ aligns with Angle and Karen is hot. Not much else.

 

 

 

Royal Rumble 2008

 

Flair v. MVP - Near falls to sell the career ending angle, sad to see Flair not being able to keep up and move like an old man.

 

JBL v. Jericho - Cool video hype package. Good match with Blood! Enjoyed work on throat to continue beating - badly missed face smash to setup lionsault turned the crowd on them -- cheap chair shot DQ finish may keep it out of re watches -- post fight brawl was good

 

Edge - Mysterio

Rey won Beat the clock to get shot, Edge loves Vickie -- Ugh.

decent enough match - MSG crowd boos Rey - Vickie interferences eats a 619 and edge hits spear as Rey springboards for the pin

 

Filler Stuff:

 

Flair in a towel and guys hugging him - HBK is a douche. Ashley wants Maria to pose for playboy, Santino out with cheap heat and fat oily naked guy in patriots gear. Adamle debut with the "Jeff Harvey"

 

Hardy - Orton

okay match - consistent with the night so far - RKO finish out of nowhere which I guess it is meant to be.

 

Cool little Royal Rumble Match stat package played before the match -- Michael Buffer doing intros

 

Rumble Match

1st 3rd - cool opening sequence with HBK/Taker and comedy from Santino -- not much else as far as standout except Hornswoggle going under ring after coming in at 9

 

2nd 3rd - Piper/Snuka in for nostalgia and Kane comes out at 20 and takes them out - nothing else noteworthy

 

Final 3rd - Match followed the norm until Cena's entrance - one of my favorite Cena moments. The final stretch between him and HHH was the highlight of the match.

 

 

Against All Odds 2008

 

Cool opening package

 

Styles/Tomko - Bullet/BG James

BG cashing in feast or fired - match not offensive even given the participants

 

Traci Brooks - Payton Banks

Roode made the replacement and the reason for the match - nice to look at - okay match to boot.

 

Steiner - Petey

TNA getting a lot of mileage out of feast or fired. Steiner wins both cases and as a result wins X and World title shots. -

 

Rhaka Khan debut as "Steiners freak" - just a match

 

Storm - Young

Silly premise, good match. probably best of both PPVs so far except Kong/Kim. Rhyno back to help Young win. Continuity!~

 

Rhyno return after months away.

 

Kong - ODB

notch above a squash

 

Abyss - Mesias

Has to be held in Orlando cause Greenville commission wouldn't sign off on it. Probably a work so that didn't have to string up wire and ropes taking too much time. Great visual - but just your standard match of this type - nothing special

 

Bobby Roode's promos on Booker/Sharmell are great

 

Roode - Booker T

Short, bad match with double count out after they all run down the tunnel and into the back

 

Dudleys/Devine - MCMG/LEthal

Stupid. If Dudleys win X division goes away - if X guys win Dudleys have to get under 275 -- so dumb - street fight. bad match - know its bad when best part was Bubba ray piledriving a blow up doll - as a result of win Lethal wins X title -- hopefully Guns can get away from being programmed with the black hole of talent Dudleys

 

Angle - Cage with Joe as enforcer

On par with their match last week - interference with Tomko turning on Christian to help angle retain

 

 

 

No Way Out 2008

 

Punk - Chavo

okay match -- clips of Gulf of Mexico match, lol

 

Elim Chamber # 1

May be a contender for rewatch. I wasn't expecting much and the first half of the match was slow and nothing as bums Big Daddy V and Khali were in. They were smart to eliminate them early. Star of the match by far was Undertaker as he performed the three highlights of the match 1) MVP was on top of a pod and Taker through him over his shoulder with one hand and MVP took a hell of a bump 2) Taker choke slammed Finlay on the metal grate (which Cole called concrete) and 3) Taker was on Batista's shoulder out on the grate and he was torpedoing him into the chains but Taker pushed off and landed in the ring which in turn flipped Batista into his arms in the tombstone position for the win.

 

Maria and Ashley at playboy mansion - Playboy or Santino for Maria

 

Kennedy - Flair - Career threatening match again

Pretty much same as MVP match with Flair getting killed until applying the figure four and getting the win

 

Hornswoggle McMahon angle in full effect - Vince and Horny in cage on Raw tomorrow

 

Vickie and Edge love each other - Rey wants title

 

Rey - Edge

Really short match - Rey has torn bicep -- hurt it during 619, pin after springboard into a spear

 

Show returns and picks on injured Rey - calls out Mayweather and awesome angle to set up WM followed

 

Cena - Orton

Short match which was just pretty much an angle with Orton beating the pec and trying to get counted out etc, finally he bitch slaps the ref for a DQ - Cena leaves Orton laying -- end of match

 

Raw Elim Chamber - Jericho - HBK - HHH - Umaga - JBL - Hardy

Awesome match. Clear re watch.

 

 

Destination X 2008

 

LAX - Rock/Rave - MCMG's - 1 contender

Fun and fast opener - Worked well and entertaining glad to see Guns away from Dudleys. Probably a re-watch.

 

Petey - Lethal - X title

Also a real fun match and on the re-watch list as well - pretty much same sentiments as last match

 

Rellik/Black Reign - Kaz/Young

Young scared of monsters. Stupid match with Young running away a lot only to come back as "Super Eric" and win. Black Reign and Rellik suck - feel bad for Kaz

 

ODB - Kong - Kim

awesome women's match with Kong retaining

 

Main Event info - Cage "won" cage match on impact for man advantage in six man at PPV but disputed, awaiting Cornette decision - Styles worried about Karen -- Nash says he isn't gonna be lazy. Cornette upholds decision and Cage team keeps advantage

 

Shitty promo by Rhyno

 

Dudleys - Curry Man/Shark Boy

Stone cold Shark Boy gimmick - Dudleys need to make 275 or fired due to last month and they did - BS

This is a fish market street fight with a bunch of fish along the aisles - fucking stupid - all played for comedy which is where Dudleys belong cause they suck. This was a bad, but mostly inoffensive comedy match - Curry Man actually put a hostess cake on a fishing line and "caught" Bubba - lots of other silly stuff.

 

Roode - Booker - winner has his lady to whip other girl with 10 lashes

very short match - these two seem to not work long together - this was a strap match and Booker lost after getting hit with handcuffs. Traci got lashed 10 times by Payton, but I'm sure Traci had some extra padding on her top where she was getting whipped. Sharmell returns from a "broken jaw" to lash everyone from Roode, to Atlas security, to Penzer to Cornette.

 

Rhyno - Storm - Elevation X

Modern scaffold match - everyone putting over how high and dangerous it is "two stories!~" They aren't Dundee or Koko Ware but the match wasn't that bad and they did a good job with the limitations this match gives.

 

Karen Angle has a huge announcement Thursday on impact apparently - AJ distraught as he hasn't seen her in 10 days.

 

Styles/Tomko/Angle - Nash/Joe/Cage

Angle not out for first five minutes -- match starts with 14 mins to go on PPV. Pretty good match - everyone did their stuff and Joe wins Lockdown title shot after choking out Tomko for the finish.

 

 

WrestleMania 24 (2008)

 

JBL - Finlay

Turns out Hornswaggle is Finlays son. JBL killed him in a cage match last month. This Belfast Brawl was fun and the second JBL match of the year I liked. Really heated. A re-watcher as a low contender.

 

Kim Kardashian is guest hostess -- no problem as this was back before the entire earth was tired of her.

 

Money in the Bank (Morrison, Carlito, Punk, Shelton, Kennedy, MVP, Jericho)

Watch you would expect from this type of match. They never hold up well, but it wasn't bad. Punk wins it.

 

Hall of the Fame recap -- Comedy with Snoop, Santino, Festus, and Foley

 

Umaga - Batista

Battle for brand supremacy. I guess ECW didn't make the cut. Angle created for WrestleMania filler and that is exactly how the match came off.

 

Recap of the pre-show battle royal for right to face Chavo for the ECW title. Kane won and the match is next.

 

Chavo - Kane

10 second squash

 

WWE gets 50 wishes to Make-A-Wish kids and give them seats where it is impossible to see. Raven Symone introduces them. King loves Raven ... yeah he does.

 

Flair - HBK Career Match

Michaels did his best to make you forget it was 2008 Flair and not 1988 Flair. About the best you can ask for and Flair gave a good showing. Certainly not MOTY, but a good match with a WrestleMania moment ending. In hindsight, it would have been that much better if it was truly the ending and last match of Flair's career. As it is, still enjoyable 5 years later.

 

Playboy Bunny Lumberjack Match between Maria/Ashley and Melina/Beth Phoenix

Snoop Dogg is the master of ceremonies which means riding a golf cart to the ring and sitting in a big chair. Lights go out during the one match people are probably watching only for the visuals. King nails Santino after Santino pulls Maria's leg during a pin (and for stealing his sandwich in Raw I assume). Phoenix wins the match. I stand corrected. Snoop throws a clothesline on Santino

 

HHH - Cena - Orton for WWE Title

Felt like your by-the-numbers WWE Triple Threat, but it picked up a bit at the end and I really enjoyed the finish. Orton retains.

 

Show - Mayweather

Great hype video for the match. Fun from start to finish. This is Pro Wrestling.

 

Undertaker - Edge

Really good match to end a good show. We had a good brawl, emotional match, spectacle (Show/Floyd) and wrestling matches.