WWE Armageddon 2006

Let me be honest with you. I haven't been following Smackdown that much as of late. All the stupid gimmicks and brain-twisting illogics behind the booking makes ECW look inept, not to mention the shows have been getting progressively worse. However, there were a couple of matches worth watching, so I thought "To hell with it. If it ends up being a good show, great. If it ends up being a stinker, then at least it makes up for missing the ECW PPV."





My first thought on Armageddon when the show was over? It was a good show for once. Something Smackdown has been lacking as of late, but enough about that. Let's get on with the matches.

The Inferno Match is historic for two reasons: it's the first one in seven years and it's the first one Kane's ever won. Yes, that's right. Despite Kane feeling at home with these types of matches, he's never won a single one. Nor did he ever get any of the flames extinguished when he was set ablaze. MVP must have some good agents... or maybe he really is a Power Ranger. Who knows? Either way, entertaining opener.

What was supposed to be a regular tag-team affair between two teams becomes a four-way ladder match, with former tag-teams MNM and the Hardy Boyz added into the fray. All in all, this was a nice bait-and-switch tactic that resulted in a nice little stuntshow, but that hit Joey Mercury took with the ladder was sick. Might have suffered a broken nose or something. In any case, a good match.

God, I love JBL. Some of his comments during the Miz/Boogeyman match are just fucking hilarious. They should have him and Cole do all three shows because they're just that good. Styles and Tazz seem neutered as compared to the old ECW days and the long-standing tandem of JR/Lawler is getting quite old and stale. I mean, come on. It's like almost ten years those guys are together and it shows in their commentary. It's time to shoot the dog - but WWE will never pull the trigger.

Watching any match with Chavo Guerrero puts me to sleep - I'm sorry, I just had to say it. Nothing against the guy, but there wasn't anything he could do to make me care about the feud he has. Even though he tried to work some of his matches, Chris Benoit didn't really help matters either. Nor did the ear-wrecking shrieks of Eddie's widow, Vicki.

The Cruiserweight title match was a fairly decent match and I'll admit that I agree with JBL that the crowd was simply deflated due to the bloody affairs from earlier in the night. After getting a Ranger wannabe set on fire and a guy suffering a broken nose, the crowd really seemed somewhat bloodthirsty. On the other hand, Gregory Helms hadn't been that much interesting since the Hurricane gimmick from years back and this Jimmy Wang Yang Gang Bang Dang character is just absurdly stupid. Did I mention I don't follow Smackdown as much as I used to?

Undertaker matches put me to sleep too. I'll admit that it was a surprise to actually see Taker take the fall on the "soft" concrete floor (usually, it's the other guy who takes the fall), but as soon as that internal car camera showed up, there was no doubt that he would rise up again and eventually take the match. Outside of that, it was sleep-inducing.

Speaking of sleep-inducing, we have generic Diva strip session #19902819. In this case, it's a naughty-or-nice Lingerie contest hosted by Santa Claus, who is really the fat oily guy the Voodoo Kin Mafia fear a lot. They made be hot and nice-looking girls, but holy crap, man. They have about as much personality as a piece of shit... actually, I am being a little harsh. A piece of shit has a little more personality than these girls do. Gotta say it like it is.

The main-event was alright and while it was a fairly textbook tag match, it ended up being a better match than I feared it would be.

[pause]

DESPITE the participation of WWE champion, J*** C***. Not since the reign of the Iron Shiek has audience members reacted like this:

*Zzzzz*

Yep.

All in all, a good show.

Later.