Home Town Hero: Del Rio actually gets a pretty big pop from the crowd and there’s even a few pro-ADR signs in the crowd. He pulls a face tactic in waiting to speak so the crowd can cheer him more. Speaking in English, he does slip in some Spanish which gets the biggest pop so far. It’s the kind of reception you’d expect Cena to get in Boston. Oh wait they booed him last time! He tries to weasel his way out of a match with Big Show citing what Cena did him on RAW, but Teddy comes out to rain on his parade. He even asks the crowd if they want to see Alberto-Show and we all know what happened the last time the crowd was consulted.
Sala De Dolor: Considering who just walked out, I’m sure you can guess what the title of this bit means. So Henry has to face Morrison? I highly doubt they’ll book Starship Botch to get the win so close to Vengeance. He’ll get his usual flashy moves in, but it will all be for naught, a common theme with him as of late. That WSS to end the 6 man tag match on RAW was impressive, but it would have been even more so if he had caught him and then hit the WSS in one fluid motion. JoMo actually hits Starship Pain correctly, landing his torso on Henry, instead of overshooting it. Henry tosses him off and does that same toss-up WSS for the victory.
Even Rarer Then a Bigfoot Sighting: Is a Daniel Bryan sighting on TV! Did Creative suddenly realize he’s on the roster. More importantly then getting back on TV for Bryan is that he appears to be back in Booker’s Fave 5. Facing Wade Barrett is a good choice as it seemed they were headed towards an actual feud before Bryan dropped off the face of the Earth. The history between the two is there and could make for some entertaining matches. Bryan has said he’s not shaving his beard until ‘Mania, which means it’ll look something like Eric Young’s. Speaking of which, on Impact, Robbie E called Young an ‘Amish hamster’ which was pretty humorous. In that vein, Barrett hits what looks like Abyss’ Black Hole Slam on Bryan. But I digress. Barrett continues to bulldoze over Bryan and everytime it looks like The American Dragon looks like he’s coming back, he gets stopped. He gets caught off the top rope by Barrett who turns it into Wasteland for the win.
Double Duty Dolph: So Ziggler has to defend the US Title against The Ultimate Broski on Sunday in addition to being in the Tag Title match? If Vickie’s reaction is any indication, Dolph won’t like it one bit. When was the last time a wrestler was double booked at a PPV in advance? I’m not sure if Bourne’s injury that they played up on RAW is legit or not, but they might cancel the Tag match for it or this US Title match is just a smokescreen and they’ll find some way to get it off the card. Then why announce it at all?
Obligatory Tag Match: Two Vengeance matches in Sheamus-Christian and Ziggler-Ryder come together in another obligatory tag match like the 6 man one on RAW. Of course, Cole rants on and on about Ziggler’s double booking, with that and other subjects besides the actual match accounting for 90% of the commentary. Thankfully Josh Mathews is there to bring the focus back where it belongs. Christian tries to cause a distraction, but Sheamus still manages to hit a huge Brogue Kick for the win as Christian hightails it up the ramp. Captain Charisma is giving new meaning to the word ‘cowardly’ in the term ‘cowardly heel’.
The Bagman: So Rhodes is out to cut a promo on Randall and I couldn’t be happier. Anytime Rhodes gets mic time you know it will be good. He gets practically poetic, mentioning The Viper’s venom that contaminates the blood in his veins and name dropping Legacy and his dad, Dusty Rhodes. He basically calls Orton a Machiavellian prince and if you don’t know what that means, look it up, as it’s a valid description of Orton as the leader of Legacy. This is one of the best promos of the year. Rhodes isn’t doing the usual heel I’ll-beat-you-up schtick, he’s giving valid reasons, such as Orton using him while a part of Legacy, and drawing a much bigger picture, which gives more the viewer to invest in or care about. He calls out Orton who, in contrast to the depth and detail of Rhodes’ words, says bagging him will only ‘increase the torture’ blah blah blah. In other words the usual bland, repetitive stuff Orton says all the time. A little brawl breaks out, with the brunt of Orton’s rage being taken by The Baggers. WWE is drawing a stark contrast between these two, in that Rhodes embodies a more thoughtful approach while Randy is all rage and anger.
Mask v Mask: I know they wanted to have this match tonight since they’re in Mexico, but it has a big PPV feel to it, considering the consequences of a luchador removing his mask. Cole and Josh actually do a very nice job of setting the stakes in describing what exactly a mask means for these wrestlers. Cole even goes into the history of the Sin Cara and Mistico characters, something that was missing earlier in the feud. The match is what you’d expect with lots of high flying moves and Cara Black in control most of the time. Black actually gets in a few submission moves and shows some decent technical skills. He even attempts to remove Blue’s mask, getting it up over the mouth. The action is back and forth after that, but Blue hits a top rope hurricanrana type move and then a Swanton, but Black kicks out. He is unable to get out of Blue’s armbar submission and taps out. So it’s unmasking time. Black refuses to do so at first, but Blue manages to rip it off and we finally get to see the face of the imposter.
WTF?: Ok so having Beth and Natalya doll up before going out to the ring tarnishes their anti-Barbie message enough, but what is Beth wearing? It looks like some flower blouse/dress thing that Vickie would wear. Plus the Divas title almost blends into it. For that matter where’s her headband thing? It’s almost as if she’s moving away from the Glamazon gimmick. So their whole message is that they’re going to make Eve ‘cry’? I know they’re trying to make themselves out to be monster heels, but it just isn’t working that well. At least Eve comes out to stand up for herself. Pushing Beth over almost makes her dress fall off, which would have been a gross violation of the PG mandate.
Home Town Hero Redux: So when Ablerto comes out for the main event he gets another good reaction from the crowd, though not as big as when he comes at the beginning of the show. Josh and Booker correctly point out to Cole that it was his fault that Del Rio has to defend the title in a Last Man Standing match due to tapping out to JR. Cole then proceeds to whine about how unfair it is for Del Rio to face the Big Show after RAW and before Sunday. Anyone listening to commentary immediately rolls their eyes. This might not mean anything, but Del Rio is sporting silver trunks instead of his usual gold ones. Given his high-class and sophistication, you’d think he’d stick with gold to keep up the gimmick. ADR evantually tries for the CAB, but can’t fully turn Show over and it looks some sort of modified armbar with Show in a position as if he was getting a crossface applied. He eventually gets to his knees and then to his feet, lifting Del Rio up while he still has the hold applied and tossing him away. The hold was locked on for like a minute and a half and you don’t really see that kind of thing on TV anymore. After such a good spot, Ricardo jumping on Show to cause the DQ is a letdown. Mark Henry runs into the ring and immediately runs into a WMD from Show. They certainly are booking Show as the stronger of the two with him standing tall with both World Champions laid out in the ring.
