I’ve had this DVD for a while, but because we were birthing babies last week and this week, I had to put it on the back burner. 

I reviewed this show after it occurred live in July. After watching it again on DVD, most of what I said still holds true. Matt Hardy/MVP was an excellent opening match. The Women’s Title match was actually longer than I thought (but still good). Rhodes vs. Orton was actually pretty good given that the old man was working on a bum leg. Cena vs. Lashley was a great match that was limited by the fact that you couldn’t get emotionally invested in a feud built around respect. It might sound good and make for happy endings, but you need a disturbance in there to really get people to care about the feud.

My main issue with this release are the lousy extras that come with it. You basically get two promos, and that’s it. One extra is the John Cena/Bobby Lashley contract signing from Raw where King Booker and Mr. Kennedy ran in. The other extra is Edge’s Mardi Gras celebration on Smackdown before he had to surrender the World Championship. Couldn’t we have gotten a match or two instead? What about the battle royal where the Great Khali won the title? What about the promo where Edge actually had to surrender the title? What about the tag match that ensued from the Raw contract signing? What about anything from ECW? Whoever is choosing these extras fell asleep at the wheel for this release.

The DVD is okay if you’re just expecting a decent wrestling show, but that’s about all you’ll get out of it.

Results from gerweck.net

You know, I guess I’ve paid so little attention to WWE lately that I really didn’t know too many of the matches going in besides the main events, but I guess the hard sell for the show was the mystique of the return of both Rey Mysterio and Triple H. Other than that, I knew there were a couple of title matches, and that was about it.

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For those of you too cheap and/or lazy to call me long distance at 317-592-9401, here is my hotline commentary from last week’s Indy Wrestleline Tuesday report on Option 2.

Make sure to call tomorrow to hear me rant and rave about a bunch of local Indy indy guys that you’ve probably never heard of. At least it will be funny…

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Results from Gerweck.net.

By the way, if you want to hear The Russ, I’m going to start doing weekly updates again on The Indy Wrestleline. Call (317)592-9401 and press option 2 for “The Way I See It” every Tuesday afternoon. I’ll have some thoughts on there today about TNA and Pacman Jones.

They opened the show with a few video packages. The last one ended with a Pacman Jones highlight reel from the media hoopla over the past week. Jones apparently arrived at the building gun-free, so the element of danger has been minimized. Maybe they’ll start a fire on the roof again instead…

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Apparently TNA is using the same method to book pay-per-views now as WWE does. Yesterday, they had three matches announced on their web site. After last night’s Impact, it’s up to eight now, and the show’s on Sunday. Way to build the excitement there…

Anyway, there will be a TNA roundtable here next week to talk about some of the insane things TNA is doing lately around hiring Pacman Jones and practically giving Kurt Angle a wife-beater gimmick in spite of the Chris Benoit deal and how they are pretty much openly flaunting their dissatisfaction with Spike TV and Viacom. Come back and check it out.

By the way, Pacman Jones is supposed to be there on Sunday, and one hopes that there is a metal detector at the door so he doesn’t unload his Glock into the crowd or something. Maybe that’s the incentive for having the guy show up: “Come to TNA tonight, and you might see someone get capped and strippers get ‘rained’ on.”

So anyway, let’s get to the matches…

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Results from gerweck.net

Another whole lotta nothin’…

WWE U.S. Champion Montel Vontavious Porter retained over Matt Hardy. One of Chris Benoit’s great professional accomplishments before he did what he did was getting MVP ready for the big time. Pairing him with Hardy could only help him here. A decent opener with good action. MVP went over with the Playmaker.

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Results from gerweck.net 

A week late and a dollar short, as my old man used to say. Let’s just get this over with quickly…

Christopher Daniels won the 10-man Ultimate X match to become #1 X-Division Contender. The opening part of the match was an Elevation X match, where if you were thrown out over the top rope before all ten men entered the ring (at 1-minute intervals), you were eliminated. You know, I don’t even think that AWA’s Team Challenge came up with the complicated rules that TNA uses sometimes. So, before Senshi came in at #10, Puma, Petey Williams, Shark Boy, and Sonjay Cabdriver got eliminated. So, now it’s a 6-man match before it even got started… nice false advertising there. Anyway, the only big spot after all that was Frankie Kazarian hitting a Diamond Cutter on Daniels off the top rope. The focus of the match was basically to hit Daniels with as many cars as possible while still allowing him to win the match. After the match, I guess Daniels, Elix Skipper, and Senshi reunited as XXX, and I’m pretty sure no one cared.

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It’s just me this week, because I wasn’t prepared and I didn’t tell anybody we were doing this, so let me just get right to it.

Rhino vs. Cowboy James Storm

This will probably be a good match, but you know Storm will win. My problem is the use of the alcoholism storyline so soon after the Benoit murders. On one hand, Rhino has looked like the sympathetic character by frankly discussing his issues with the bottle. On the other hand, it’s tacky and unoriginal. We all remember Jerry Lawler dumping a bottle of Jack Daniels all over Jake Roberts’ face. Same thing here.

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Here’s an idea: O.G. is Oscar Gutierrez, AKA Rey Mysterio, who already got exposed by Sports Illustrated last year.

From: Gerweck.net

As previously reported, Dr. Phil Astin of Carrollton, GA was indicted on Monday for improperly prescribing various controll substances in 2004 and 2005 to two patients with the initials “O.G.” and “M.J.” Bob Ryder of 1wrestling.com is reporting that the individual listed by “M.J.” may be a former WCW/WWE wrestler. According to the report, “O.G.” may be a current WWE superstar.

We may be only at the tip of the iceberg with this scandal, folks.

It’s been four days now since the body of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit was discovered along with the bodies of his wife and son, who were murdered at his hands.

It’s taken four days for me to get to the point where I’m sitting here and composing and organizing the thoughts and the facts and the feelings to a point where it’s hopefully coherent and readable.

I think everyone reacted to the initial news of the deaths of the Benoit family the same way. Someone must have broken into the house and killed everyone. No one even considered that the cause could have been murder-suicide. By the time WWE Monday Night Raw went on the air, there still wasn’t any discussion of what investigators now believe to be the causes of death: strangulation, suffocation, and suicide. Vince McMahon praised Benoit and dedicated the evening’s programming in tribute to him.

Two hours into the 3-hour broadcast, investigators told the media that they believed that Benoit killed his wife Nancy and son Daniel over the weekend, and then killed himself on Monday. At that point, the responses to these incidents have ranged from merciful (to forgive him for making a bad choice, possibly in the heat of the moment) to delusional (police cover-up for a criminal at-large) to ignorant (I could care less who he murdered because he was a great wrestler) to hateful (people hoping that he burns/rots/is located at this moment in Hell).

Pro wrestling is at a crossroads. The death of Eddie Guerrero was in the mainstream media for a day. The killing of the Benoit family has had legs for four days now across major network and cable news programming, as well as the print media. In fact, Benoit’s picture is on the cover of People magazine last week. There is truly an opportunity right now to correct the ills of the pro wrestling business so that it never happens again.

Sadly, WWE already seems to be moving on and sweeping any mention of Benoit under the rug.

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I’ve got several running news headlines over on my blog, as well as links to the Atlanta media outlets. I also know that several on the site plan to offer commentary on this subject this week, but we decided to wait for the autopsy report yesterday before delving into too much speculation and/or judgment. Right now, I know that I personally am still trying to process how Benoit could have done all this given that he had a good public image.

I’ll have more reaction on Tuesday, but this news is… crushing.

From WWE.com:

World Wrestling Entertainment is deeply saddened to report that today Chris Benoit and his family were found dead in their home. There are no further details at this time, other than the Benoit family residence is currently being investigated by local authorities. Tonight’s Raw on USA Network will serve as a tribute to Chris Benoit and his family. WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family’s relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy.

Report: Benoit Deaths Being Investigated as a Murder-Suicide

Detective Bo Turner told television station WAGA that the case was being investigated as a murder-suicide, but said that could not be confirmed until the evidence was examined by a crime lab. WAGA reported that investigators believe Benoit killed his wife and son over the weekend, and then himself sometime Monday.A concerned neighbor called police. The bodies were found in three different rooms. Benoit maintained a home in metro Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the defunct World Championship Wrestling. Benoit’s wife managed several wrestlers and went by the stage name, “Woman,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its Web site.They met when her then-husband drew up a script that had them involved in a relationship as part of an ongoing storyline on World Championship Wrestling, the newspaper said. Benoit has two other children from a prior relationship.The federal-style house is in a secluded neighborhood set back about 60 yards off a gravel road, surrounded by stacked stone wall and double-iron gate. Monday night, the house was dark except for a few outside lights. There was a police car in front, and two uniformed officers.

Wrestling Champ Chris Benoit Found Dead With Family 

Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department told ABC News that Benoit had missed several appointments over the weekend, leading concerned parties to ask police to do a “welfare check.” When sheriffs arrived at the Benoits’ home, they found the wrestler, his wife and their son dead. There were no signs of gunshot wounds or stabbing, according to Pope. Authorities are not ruling out other causes, such as poisoning, suffocation or strangulation.Pope told ABC News that his department is looking at this situation as a “possible double murder, suicide.” Pope said “the instruments of death were located on scene,” but he would not specify what those instruments are or where in the house the bodies were found. Pope added the department is “not actively searching for any suspects outside of the house.” An autopsy has been scheduled for Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. However, it could be weeks before there is a result.

Results from Gerweck.net

I guess the theme of the show as “Night of Champions” is that they brought back a bunch of old champions to remind us that the “good old days” were a lot better than WWE is today. Why not just put together a Legends PPV of old stuff for us then? I would seriously crack up if that doubled the buy rate of, say, One Night Stand or Great American Bash or one of those other lackluster shows. I think I went 4 for 9 on my picks, which just goes to show you that I am horrible at predicting anything (although I guessed that Foley would be the one to put over John Cena at the end of that match–then again, I don’t think that was much of a stretch).

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Vengeance is this Sunday, and they’re billing it as the night of champions… every match is a title match. Hopefully, they’re fighting over the actual belts and not the cheap foam ones they sell up in the souvenir stand. Sitting around the table this week are me, Birdsong, and Eks. The throw-out question this week was a multi-parter, with which I attached the official WWE draft scorecard:

Here is the official draft scorecard:

To Raw: Mr. Kennedy, King Booker, Bobby Lashley, Snitsky, Sandman, Jillian, Daivari, Brian Kendrick, Paul London, William Regal

To Smackdown: Ric Flair, Chris Masters, Great Khali, Torrie Wilson, Bob Holly, Victoria, Eugene

To ECW: Chris Benoit, Boogeyman, Viscera, Johnny Nitro, The Miz

So, now that the WWE draft is over, answer the following multi-part question:

1) Which wrestler(s) benefit the most from moving?
2) Which wrestler(s) benefit the least from moving?
3) Which wrestler(s) should have been moved but wasn’t and where would you send them?

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If you ever take a trip down to Cobb County, Georgia, you better read the signs and respect the law and order or you’ll serve HARD TIMES!

Anyway, apparently law and order seem to be the order of the day in WWE, and not just because fake FBI agents are poking around backstage on Raw. Take a look at these three items:

Law: Charges Filed Against Jerry Lawler. Guess you shouldn’t punch out your workers.

Order: Bischoff Shoots on TNA, Can’t Compete With WWE. Eric states the obvious that never gets reported. Sting, Christian, Angle… they’re still doing 1’s.

Justice: Did Vince McMahon’s Fake Death Violate Security Laws? Guess the feds could get over on Vinnie Mac after all.

Also, Konnan and The Truth quit TNA. What would the company have had to do to keep them? Give them a kidney?