Unforgiven

[sek69]

WWE Unforgiven PPV match-by-match coverage

 

by Dave Meltzer

 

[email protected]

 

Tonight's Unforgiven comes from the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis, and features the return of Undertaker after surgery to repair a torn biceps.

 

We're looking for your thoughts on tonight's show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

 

C.M. Punk vs. Elijah Burke for the ECW title opens the show.

 

Burke dominated the match working the low back until Punk got the pin with a front rolling cradle. Decent match but the crowd wasn't much into it. Apparently they want to keep the program going because the first thing Joey Styles said was that Burke earned a rematch by dominating the match.

 

Matt Hardy & MVP defend the tag titles against Deuce & Domino next. Crowd was dead. Pretty much the story you'd expect with Hardy & MVP not getting along. Hardy used the old Anderson Brothers spot of using MVP's head bonking it on Domino's head and then Hardy used the twist of fate on Deuce for the pin. So-so wrestling, but continued a good storyline.

 

HHH vs. Carlito is up now.

 

Another match almost like you'd expect. The gimmick was Carlito could use foreign objects without being DQ'd but HHH couldn't. Carlito's offense was using the ring bell, garbage cans and finally powder. HHH recovered from powder without even selling one move, using a spinebuster, low blow and pedigree. Crowd was more up than the prior matches because of HHH's star power, but average match.

 

Candice Michelle vs. Beth Phoenix for the women's title is next.

 

They told a good story here with Phoenix dominating the entire match with power moves, including pulling hair out at one point. Crowd wasn't into it and some of Michelle's bumps into the corner were at the cringeworthy level. Michelle got the pin out of nowhere with a crucifix pin.

 

Great Khali vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Batista in a three-way for the World title is up now.

 

Mysterio gave both men a 619, but Batista power bombed Mysterio onto Khali and then pinned Khali with a spinebuster. I wouldn't call it a good match, but by the Khali match scale it was pretty good. Khali sure didn't help him on the lift either.

 

HHH congratulated Batista on winning the title.

 

Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick for the tag title are next. To me, it's kind of imperative that these teams have a good match to make it a good show.

 

Technically the best match on the show but crowd was pretty dead. Not anything special, but everything was solid and was only missing the crowd caring. Cade, who wasn't the legal man, gave Kendrick a spinebuster and Murdoch scored the pin. Basic tag match except for some flashy moves on London's hot tag.

 

John Cena vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title is next. So they are saving Undertaker for the main event spot.

 

Cena was disqualfied for not stopping punching Orton on the ropes and ref Chad Patton counted five. Shockingly, this was probably the worst title match of Cena's career including the days when he wasn't any good. After the match Orton flipped John Sr. over the rail. John went wild and and put Orton in an STFU on the floor and his father punted Orton in the head. I will say this, John's father's facials were the best stuff on the show. Even with the angle, the crowd was about 80% pro-Orton. People booed the hell out of this when it was over. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Obviously they are going to build for a Hell in a Cell like stip next month. I guess that explains why Undertaker is being put on last.

 

Jonathan Coachman announced a last man standing match for the next PPV while telling off John Sr. John Jr. snatched Coach and threw him on the ground. This whole scenario is such a great babyface scenario for Cena but the crowd still hated Cena.

 

Undertaker vs. Mark Henry headlines the show.

 

Nice ring entrance but terrible match. Crowd was so dead it was shocking. Henry kicked out of a choke slam but Undertaker used a last ride out of the corner and scored the pin. Both men were way off here. Actually worse than the Cena match. They all but announced Batista vs. Undertaker for the title next month.

 

Maybe the worst PPV of the year.

The angle with Cena/Orton/Cena Sr. was a straight up old school babyface heat gainer for Cena but the crowd was still overwhelmingly pro Orton. That's got to either be overestimated on Dave's part or proof that people are booing Cena for the sake of booing him. You'd think Memphis fans of all places would have ate that up.

 

Why put Taker in with Henry for his return match? You know you aren't going to get a ***** match from a guy coming back from injury, why put him in a match that is guaranteed to suck?

[Jingus]

The angle with Cena/Orton/Cena Sr. was a straight up old school babyface heat gainer for Cena but the crowd was still overwhelmingly pro Orton. That's got to either be overestimated on Dave's part or proof that people are booing Cena for the sake of booing him. You'd think Memphis fans of all places would have ate that up.

It being in Memphis wouldn't have much effect, because all the people who used to regularly pack the Midsouth Colisseum pretty much all stopped watching wrestling a long time ago. Except for anomalies like the Hogan show, Memphis wrestling is on life support.

[kjh]

The angle with Cena/Orton/Cena Sr. was a straight up old school babyface heat gainer for Cena but the crowd was still overwhelmingly pro Orton. That's got to either be overestimated on Dave's part or proof that people are booing Cena for the sake of booing him.

A key reason why Cena has got booed as a babyface over the last couple of years is that his persona is too clean cut and goody two shoes for the young adult male fans to get behind him fully. On paper this angle sounds like a great scenario for Orton to get heat on Cena, but in reality playing daddy's little boy was exactly the type of angle that was going to get fans to rebel to his push again.

[Jingus]

How bout that massive "You can't wrestle!" chant during the Main Event Staring Contest last night? Which was ironic because I, as big a Cena hater as you'll find and not a big fan of Orton either, thought they did that whole final segment very well. And that's in Nashville, where if someone is a babyface, they'll pretty much get cheered, period. (Except for Jeff Jarrett in his feuds with Ron Killings and Raven in early TNA, that doesn't count.)

[Loss]

At this point, Cena has been getting booed so long that it has become part of his appeal. There is nothing they can do to change it, and it's something he's going to deal with the rest of his career, or as long as he's a babyface. It doesn't seem to phase him or WWE, so maybe the fans who boo him (yet are still buying tickets) will eventually get bored with it on their own and stop, since they're being ignored anyway. But I doubt it.

[Tim Evans]

Cena reminds me of 1992 Hulk Hogan. He peaked so high that it was only a matter of time before he got booed.

[Jingus]

What peak? The boos started back in '05, barely a year into his first world title reign.

[Bix]

That's what happens when you have Jericho & Angle working to undermine you instead of putting you over.

[Jingus]

True, although the real contrariness wouldn't start until Triple "You're not a very good wrestler" H put the previous attempts at undermining to shame. The crowd response to Cena/Trips match at Mania was one of the more surreal things I've seen in wrestling.