Unforgiven 2006 Review
Mood:  happy
If you've read my review and comments about the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania 22 and last month's Summerslam, you would have realized that my reviews were not complimentary. I'm sure many of you have come to the same conclusion that I have; that the
WWE PPV's have been below standard. I'm glad to say that I had a chance to watch Unforgiven last night and it was one of the best PPV's I've seen in a long time. What did the PPV have that made it so good? Read on, friends, read on.

Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro: A huge surprise for this match was the length of it. It had to have gone at least 15 minutes, and with that time, the match had developed into a good match, rather than passable in matches with half the time.

In the beginning, Hardy had a good share of momentum in the match with a few Ricky Steamboat like arm drags. The only reason I mentioned that is becaue I'm a Steamboat mark. Nitro worked on the leg of Hardy most of the match, which many people would understand, taking away Jeff's high flying ability, but it didn't mesh right. Meaning that once Nitro weakened the leg, there was no other option he had to use that injury to win the match. If he had a leg submission move as a finisher, it would have worked better for me. I'm not arguing against it, its just that there should have been a more deep reasoning as to why he does moves that he does. Also that fact that the ending had nothing to do with the damage done to his leg, which made it seem out of place, although not by much.

The match, however, was great and although the finish was pretty lame, it doesn't take away much from the match itself. 8.5/10. Great match.

Kane vs. Umaga: This supposed feud started at Summerslam because of Kane interfering on DX's behalf. Umaga was interfering on the McMahon's behalf and there their paths were crossed. This battle was supposed to determine who was the real monster of the WWE.

The match was surprisingly good, as both men used their strength and speed to pick up the match to a good pace. Kane and Umaga no selling at points in the match helped the match as a whole in determining who was the bigger monster. The only thing that dropped the match down quality wise was the double count out finish. 6/10. Good match, and hopefully a rematch with a good ending.

Spirit Squad vs. Highlanders: There are WWE tag team champions? There are WWE tag teams? Could have fooled me, seeing as there have been hardly any mention of them on WWE programming. The Spirit Squad have a ton of potential and great athleticism to be huge stars, but they have two things holding them back.

1) They are male cheerleaders. Let me say that again. They are MALE CHEERLEADERS.

2) They have had their butts kicked constantly by DX. Those 2 guys decimated the tag team champions and 5 guys in the Spirit Squad. Who can take these guys seriously or even as threats to anyone because of that. It is that fact that also degrades the value of being tag team champions. If they can be beaten so easily, and the tag team championship means you are the best tag team, why would anyone take these guys seriously. Onto the match.

The Highlanders are a breath of fresh air. While they seem more of a comedy act, they at least add dome spark to a dying tag team division. It was a basic formulaic tag team match with the Spirit squad getting the win over the Highlanders for the second time. I wonder of these guys will lose the tag team titles to Cryme Tyme? Maybe they'll just steal the belts as part of their "training." 7/10. Basic tag team contest.

Degeneration X vs. the McMahons and Big Show (Hell In A Cell): Can it be? Is it so? Could this be the blow-off match between
the never ending feud between DX and the McMahons? Lets find out.

I was surprised that they would allow this match to be on a PPV card where the main event was a TLC match. It seems to be a bit too much for me. Another thing I thought was going to happen was that they would have placed themselves in the main event. Thankfully that did not occur.

The match started out with Big Show being incapacitated due to two well placed kicks to the nether region courtesy of DX, and this left the McMahons to fight DX by themselves.

As planned, this match was quite bloody, starting very early in the match with Shane tasting steel and busting his forehead open. The match itself wasn't following a format of some kind; it was just a fun brutal match, which was fine for me as seeing that this feud had gotten stale months ago. Of course the ending was great which provided a great comedic element. With Shane down for good after receiving an elbow form the top rope from HBK with a chair around his neck and Big Show knocked out and slumping over the top rope, Vince wanted to finish them off himself, but DX had other plans. They yanked down Big Show's tights and looked at Vince McMahon. The look on Vince's face when he went from angry and crazed to scared and a little disgusted was worth it. I even chuckled out loud from watching it, and there was where Vince joined the Big SHow's K.M.A club. A superkick and a sledgehammer shot later and the match was over.

This was a fun match to watch. All 5 guys worked hard there and I was hoping Big Show had a bigger role, but seeing how this was about DX and the McMahons, it was fine the way it was. 9/10. Fun and brutal at the same time. The ending was great as well.



Lita vs. Trish Stratus:
This was Trish Stratus' last match and she has had a great career in the WWE. I believe she has done more for the women's division and the WWE than 80% of the roster right now. From her debut of I think February 2000, all she needed to do was rely on her looks, which I think any diva would do and have done, but she wanted to be more than eye candy and she worked hard at it. As of now, I regard her as one of the best wrestlers, not just a woman wrestler, but a wrestler of all time. The transformation she underwent is nothing short of incredible.

You read about how the divas in the WWE all say that they want to wrestle in the ring and want to get training, but do they? Sure they can try and do a basic move here and there, and they know how to fall, albeit awkwardly at time, and hope not to get hurt, and the announcers sell it like their the next coming of Ric Flair or Bret Hart, but they are in no way near Trish's league. Lets take Torrie Wilson. She has been at this for years, not just in WWE, but WCW as well. She claims she wants to be more than just do swimsuit photoshoots and she wants to get in the ring. After all this time, she still sucks in the ring. Same goes to Stacy Keibler, Candice, Maria and any other diva wannabe that thinks all they have to so is fall down and slap someone to be a WWE diva/superstar. They are an embarrassment to women like Trish, Victoria, Lita and Mickie James. It took Trish less than a year to go from valet to superstar and from then on, she has worked harder than anyone I've seen because maybe she has to because she's a woman or she wants to because she wants to prove something, but I'll tell you this. She is one of the greatest wrestler to ever step foot in that ring and I will always appreciate her for that.

Her final match was with Lita, a woman who she has feuded for a while and it was quite a proper send off. These women worked very hard to deliver a good and memorable match. I loved the ending of the match, when Trish grabbed Lita's legs and the moment she placed her right leg over Lita's right leg, the pop was probably the biggest of the night. What a fitting tribute.

Trish Stratus defeats Lita with the sharpshooter in her last match and claims the women's title for the 7th time. I hope Trish all the success out of the WWE and hope that one day she will be back, even for one time only.



Carlito vs. Randy Orton:
This was the match I thought had the most potential. Both of these guys are young and are the future of the business. Also this is the first singles meeting between the two and I assume that people would want to see what these guys can do without any help. Carlito started this match by using his aerial and athletic skills, while Orton tried to ground him with basic mat attacks. This match played into ring psychology but could have done more, but seeing as this is their first meeting, it was fine. The ending of the match was great as well as Carlito went for another top rope aerial maneuver but was countered into a sudden RKO for the 1 2 3.

I thought this match was a good length, but I am hoping this leads to a return match not only so this match can be longer and have more leading up to a rematch, but that both men can benefit from it with Carlito facing a former World champion which makes him credible were he to enter the heavyweight division and compete for the WWE title and Orton to keep his stance as a bona fide main eventer by facing off against up and comers like Carlito. 8/10. Good match but can do more if they have a rematch.

John Cena vs. Edge (TLC):
I am a fan of Edge and am happy that he is at the top where he belongs. I am also a fan of John Cena because I am a fan of his work ethic and believes that he deserves to be where he is at, but at the same time needs to realize that some changes are in order for him to stay at the top of the WWE. Like I've said before, this is no fault of his, but the WWE needs to wake up to this.

Last year at Summerslam, in his hometown, the crowd started to boo him in the middle of the match. I have never ever, to my recollection, read or witnessed a wrestler booed in his hometown. Not once. A lot of those people cheered him, but there were boos. If that's not a sign that changes need to be made, I don't know what is.

Edge and Cena have had good matches in the past few months, but the TLC match had two purposes. First of all, this was Edge's match. He had competed in many of them and has won the majority of them.
(He claims that he has never lost, but he did lost one. TLC3 where Benoit & Jericho defeated the Hardys Dudleys and Edge & Christian in a TLC match on Smackdown in 2001.)

It's second purpose was to prove to the people that John Cena was tough and was willing to take on any challenge no matter how stacked the opposition is.

I want to add that when Edge came out, (first, might I add. Shouldn't the champ come out last?) the emotion on his face was quite touching. He appreciated it and the crown knew it. The match had a lot of good spots and lived up to the idea of the TLC match of being a brutal contest. One spot was where Edge laid out Cena with a brutal chairshot that Cena didn't have the time to cover his head. Ouch! When Edge was laid out of the ring and Cena climbed up the ladder, Lita came out and pushed the ladder and Cena landed through a table outside of the ring.

The finish was also great as both Cena and Edge climbed both sides of the ladder and Cena grabbed Edge and game him a FU off the ladder onto two stacked tables. A funny note was that two referees were actually stepping on the first rung and holding that ladder so that it didn't give away. With Edge down, Cena grabbed the belt and became a 3 time WWE champ. 8.75/10. Another great match.



There you have it folks, a review of the Unforgiven 2006 pay per view which in my opinion was one of the best pay per views that the WWE has produced this year. Very good to great matches with enough time for them to develop into memorable matches and can further animosities between opponents which can lead into hopefully better matches in the future.