WWE Vengeance (June 2006)

Original Airdate: June 25, 2006

From Charlotte, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Opening Match: Kurt Angle v Randy Orton: Orton stalls to start, and ends up getting tied up on the mat once Angle gets hold of him. Kurt gets pissed and tries to German suplex him off the apron, but Randy manages to hold onto the top rope for dear life to block - only to take a German on the floor after shaking Kurt off. Kurt uses a vertical suplex to bring him back in, and he ties him up on the mat again - toying with Orton. Randy manages to get in a dropkick to rattle Angle, and he dumps the Olympian to the outside for a toss into the barricade. Looks like we have a young Charlotte Flair in the front row tonight. Inside, Randy stays on him with a kneedrop for two, but Angle drops him like a Samoan to escape a chinlock, and cracks him with a European uppercut. Orton manages a backelbow for two to swing things back in his favor, however, and he has better luck with the chinlock on the second go around. Orton goes up, but Kurt meets him with a sloppy pop-up belly-to-belly superplex, but he makes up for it with a pair of nice release overhead suplexes. Olympic Slam, but Orton counters with an inverted headlock backbreaker for two. RKO, but Kurt blocks, and hooks up an insane seven-alarm rolling German suplex - then gives him a release German when the dazed Orton staggers to his feet! Randy falls out of the ring before Kurt can cover, however, and by the time Angle drags him back in, it all only gets two. Anklelock, but Orton blocks, so Kurt delivers an Olympic Slam to soften him up before successfully applying the hold! Orton manages to send him into an exposed buckle to escape, however, and a quick RKO finishes at 12:45. Good opener here! ***

Umaga v Eugene: Eugene has Jim Duggan, Doink the Clown, and Kamala in his corner tonight. Not that it helps him though, as Umaga destroys him at the bell, no-sells all of his stuff, and quickly polishes him off the with Samoan Spike at 1:39. Just a squash, but the cameos were fun, at least. DUD

Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Ric Flair v Mick Foley: Feeling out process to start, with Foley looking out of his depth. Not that he doesn't know how to do these things, he just looks rusty. Flair schools him on the mat, until Mick gets sick of it, and just starts punching him in the brain. Running kneesmash and a double-arm DDT setup the Mandible Claw (complete with a Nature Boy sock puppet), but Flair blocks with his own claw - right to the balls! He adds a flying axehandle, but twists his ankle on the landing, and Foley attacks it. Figure four, but Ric counters with an inside cradle to win the first fall at 4:08. Foley charges, so Flair hooks another inside cradle, but it only gets two this time, and an angry Mick tosses him to the outside. He beats Ric up in front of his family, but Flair reverses him into the steps, and they spill into the crowd for a quick brawl. Mick gets the best of that, and backdrops Flair back over the barricade, but Ric blocks a shot with a trashcan, and applies the Figure Four! Foley can't escape, but he certainly won't quit, so he whacks Ric with the can to break - getting disqualified in the process at 7:00. Afterwards, Foley pulls out a barbed wire bat, and goes nuts on Flair - Ric busting out a massive holy shit level bladejob to sell it. Nothing special as a match, but it was entertaining. * ¼

WWE Intercontinental Title Triple Threat Match: Shelton Benjamin v Carlito v Johnny Nitro: First fall wins it. Flair left a literal trail of blood in the ring when he left, wow. Carlito immediately dumps Nitro over the top, but Shelton sneaks up on him with a schoolboy for two, then adds a clothesline for two - trying to wrap this up quickly. Knee, but Carlito counters with his own schoolboy for two, then adds a rollup for two. Nitro hangs out on the floor as they trade off on the mat, trying to come in at the most opportune moment, but he gets backdropped, and sent over the top by Carlito with a slingshot. Carlito dives onto both men with a nice double-springboard somersault senton, then rolls Johnny in, but a tilt-a-whirl gets countered with a Russian legsweep for two. Carlito fires back with a nice rana, but Shelton saves Johnny from a straddling ropechoke by hitting Carlito with a pop-up flapjack, and he suplexes Johnny out of the ring. Benjamin with a vertical suplex on Carlito for two, and a Samoan drop follows, but Johnny breaks up the cover. Shelton punishes him with an alleyoop facebuster into the turnbuckles, but Melina puts Nitro's foot on the ropes at two. This all leads to a wild sequence that sees Shelton trying to superplex Carlito while Nitro is tied in a tree of woe - only for Johnny to sit-up, and basically German superplex both men down! That one really has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Carlito hits both men with a springboard double-backelbow for two, and Benjamin eats a lungblower - only for Nitro to pull Carlito out of the ring as he makes the cover, and score the fall himself at 12:03! Good action here, with hard work from everyone, and some especially crisp moves by Carlito. *** ¼

WWE Title Match: Rob Van Dam v Edge: Rob is also the ECW Champion here, but that isn't on the line. Feeling out process to start, with Edge mocking the champion throughout. Rob tries Rolling Thunder early, but Edge bails to the outside to avoid it, so Van Dam goes after him with a baseball slide, then adds a moonsault press off the barricade. Lita gets involved to allow Edge to take a shot to turn the tide, however, and the challenger delivers a nice sunset bomb off the apron that gets two on the way back in. That was very smoothly executed. Edge with a corner whip and a bow-and-arrow, but Rob backdrops him onto the apron, then dives at him with a bodypress that sends both men crashing onto the floor! Van Dam keeps after him with a spinning legdrop off the apron, but Edge dodges, and powerbombs him into the barricade! Van Dam is taking some grown man bumps tonight. Back in, Edge hits a backbreaker into a backbreaker submission, but Rob kicks free - only for Edge to neutralize a comeback with a big boot. He ends up missing a charge in the corner though, and Van Dam quickly capitalizes with a springboard sidekick, then starts mounting a comeback. A nice bridging German suplex gets two, and a spinkick sets up Rolling Thunder, but Edge counters with a powerslam for two. Van Dam fires back with a flying sidekick, but Edge won't play ball for the Five Star Frogsplash, so Rob changes gears with Rolling Thunder, then adds a splitlegged moonsault for two. Spinheel kick ends up taking out the referee, however, and Edge is able to capitalize with a clothesline in the confusion. Lita quickly passes him the title belt, but Van Dam ends up spinkicking it back into his face (drawing hardway blood in the process), though Lita crotches him on the top to prevent the Frogsplash, and Edge brings him down with an elevated DDT for a dramatic two count. Spear looks to finish, but Rob dodges, and Edge crashes right into a chair Lita is holding - knocking himself out for Van Dam to finish with the Frogsplash at 17:54. A few slow spots, but some great bumping (especially by Van Dam), and it built into a nice little match by the end. *** ¼

Kane v Imposter Kane: The Imposter is actually Luke Gallows, early in his career. Kane attacks before the Imposter can send flames up from the posts, but Imposter lands on his feet as Kane tries to clothesline him over the top, and he pulls Kane out for a beating. Back in, Imposter chokes him in the corner, and he delivers a sidewalk slam to setup some mounted punches. The Imposter runs through some classic Kane offense, and a powerslam gets him two. Kane counters a backdrop with a DDT, however, and he adds a front-powerslam as he starts mounting his comeback. He delivers a sidewalk slam of his own, but Imposter reverses a chokeslam - only for Kane to block. Imposter recovers with a big boot, but a trip to the top for a flying clothesline ends in Kane awkwardly superplexing him down. Chokeslam, but Imposter blocks, so Kane hits a big boot of his own - only to have the flying clothesline countered with a chokeslam for the pin at 7:08. Junk, but at least they weren't headlining SummerSlam with it this time. ¼*

Extreme Lumberjack Match: Sabu v John Cena: There are ECW and WWE lumberjacks at ringside for this. Sabu immediately dumps Cena for the ECW lumberjacks to abuse, but John fights them off, and hits a fisherman's suplex for two. He dumps Sabu to the outside for the WWE crew to work over, then in with a backelbow for two, but Sabu dumps him for the ECW jacks to sink their teeth into. That goes on for a while, and Sandman manages to lay Cena out with a cane shot before rolling him back on for Sabu to hit with a triple-jump moonsault for two. He applies a reverse chinlock, but Cena drops him into the corner to escape, so Sabu goes low. Triple-jump legdrop gets two, and the Arabian Facebuster looks to finish, but Cena kicks out at two. Air Sabu, but Cena dodges, and starts mounting his comeback - only for a brawl between the lumberjacks to distract him during the Five Knuckle Shuffle. That allows Sabu to attack with a chair, but a dive out of the ring backfires when John hits him with Sandman's cane! Cena throws the chair at Sabu on the way back in, and then drops Sabu over the top with an FU through a table! The lumberjacks roll him back in, and the STF finishes at 6:49. Not especially good, but lots of energy. * ¾

Main Event: Handicap Match: Triple H and Shawn Michaels v The Spirit Squad: I really hope they at least wrestle in their jerseys, because I'll never remember these five idiots' names. Well, except for Nicky, since he grew up to be Dolph Ziggler. Shawn starts with Mitch, and they feel each other out a bit, with Mitch getting cocky, and paying the price for it. The Squad try ganging up, but Shawn fights them off like he's Hulk Hogan in 1995, and Johnny bleeds hardway in the process. Badly too, gushing from his nose. Man, that's the second guy to bleed hardway tonight. Dust settles on HHH and Johnny, with Johnny trying to psyche him out with a martial arts exhibition, but getting punched in the face for his troubles. They should have brought back the Genius to manage these guys. HHH with a vertical suplex to setup a kneedrop, and a cross corner whip puts Johnny down for Shawn to crotch on the post a bunch of times. HHH follows up by pantsing him, so he passes to Mikey, and Hunter immediately tosses him over the top like a Bushwhacker in a Royal Rumble. Michaels is ready and waiting to drop Mikey crotch first across the barricade out there, so the Squad gang up on HHH, and manage to whip him into the steps. They cut the ring in half, but HHH quickly fights them off, and passes back to Shawn. Michaels plays Hulk Hogan again, and hits a flying elbowdrop on Kenny, but the Squad's strength in numbers prevent him from hitting the Superkick to finish. It's hilarious to watch the Squad fail at cutting the ring in half when it's five-on-one, and they're cheating constantly on top of it. They finally manage to get some traction on Michaels, but he's able to counter a tandem move with a double-DDT, and Hunter gets the tag! He comes in hot on all five members of the Squad, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! The Squad try to use their numbers advantage again, but they're such fucking losers that they can't even get a move in, and Kenny eats a Pedigree at 17:50. I'm kind of surprised this went on last, given that it was little more than a comedy match. It wasn't horrible, but it didn't really feel like a proper pay per view main event either. **

BUExperience: Maybe not the most memorable pay per view, but a very solid one nonetheless. There’s no classic matches or angles here, but there is a solid card, which I found was greatly aided in wise match order choices.

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