by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

Rather than feel like a slightly-amplified edition of a typical weekly broadcast, Vengeance capped off a night of great action ("Holy Shit" worthy in spots, even) with a surprising WWE Title win for Kurt Angle.  That title change comes in Angle's first PPV match back from major neck surgery, and came via a clean pinfall over the man who took the title from him in his immediately preceding PPV contest (Brock Lesnar).

Here are your full results from tonight's WWE Vengeance pay-per-view [as always editorial comments and opinion are tacked on in red italics, if you're interested]:

• On a special hijacked-by-SD! edition of Heat, Ultimo Dragon beat Kanyon.  About 4-5 solid minutes, with Dragon getting the pinfall following his leap-over DDT-type thingie.
• Opening the PPV, proper, was Eddie Guerrero taking the resurrected US Title with a win over Chris Benoit.  I missed the first 10 minutes or so of the PPV, as I was in transit to a friend's house to watch the show, but I'm pretty sure I picked up this match in the very early stages.  They hit a great sequence of near-falls right as I walked in, as part of an extended mat wrestling phase to open the match.  The crowd seemed resistant to booing Eddie, outright, and wound up popping for big moves by both guys as things heated up.  The psychology here was Benoit working tenaciously on Eddie's shoulder, trying to soften him up for the Crossface.  Eventually, Eddie rallied, and it was back and forth for a little while longer, until it was time for Eddie to cheat.  Benoit, going for the Swandive Headbutt, wound up taking out the ref when Eddie pulled him into the way.  This opened things up for Eddie to go out and grab the title belt and use it.  He eventually did a spot where Benoit was laid out following a belt shot, and then Eddie laid the belt by Benoit and pretended to be KO'ed himself.  The tactic didn't work this time, though, as the ref remained knocked out himself.  As Eddie tried to revive the official, Benoit recovered and rallied.  And then, with no clear agenda, Rhyno came out and hit the ring...  and Gored Benoit!  Eddie seemed surprised, but pleased, by the turn of events; Rhyno spit on Benoit, then turned and left the ring to boos.  Eddie took advantage, and as the ref finally came to, covered Benoit for the (tainted) pinfall at about the 20 minute mark.  [You give these two 20-plus minutes to open a show, and you'll have to dig really hard to find something to criticize.  Really good match, and Rhyno's heel turn was something that I did not see coming -- I was more expecting Tajiri to be the interference/difference maker in this one.  Now, you've got options for Benoit vs. Rhyno AND Benoit vs. Eddie in rematches, which is nice... and I still say Tajiri is in the mix whenever he comes back, too.  If you remember Rhyno vs. Tajiri for the ECW TV Title, you'll know this could be a very good thing.  So: good match, and thumbs up on getting Rhyno into something relatively important for the first time since he's come back from injury.]
• Jamie Noble beat Billy Gunn in the "Indecent Proposal" match.  Noble started off with a promo that introduced us to his steel briefcase full of sex toys and such.  Of course, this became a foreign object (used by Gunn) inside of 10 seconds.  Then they settled down, and for the most part, Gunn was in control and Noble was outstanding in making his offense look like a million bucks.  Nidia eventually appeared at ringside, and wound up getting into a tussle with Noble outside the ring (who bounced back and forth between Nidia and Torrie as both hauled off on him).  Torrie's involvement set up the finish, which was Gunn bumping into Torrie when she was standing on the apron, but instead of letting her fall, he grabbed her and held her on the apron.  But the delay was enough to allow Noble to roll him up from behind and, with a handful of tights, get the pinfall at about the five minute mark.  Now, per stipulation, fans must sit through a sure-to-suck skit on Thursday when Torrie will "sleep with" Noble. [This did its job: Noble made Gunn look good, but in the end, this was just a brief set-up for a story they want to tell on Thursday.  That skit may or may not suck, but it won't be the fault of this very decent little match.  When they showed us the contents of the Noble's briefcase, I really expected this match to be decided by a dildo shot upside the head... but alas, I was disappointed on that front.]
• Bradshaw was named the winner of the APA Invitational Bar Room Brawl.  The deal here was that a saloon-type set was created near the entrance stage, and about 2 dozen workers all sauntered in (some to music, some not deemed worthy) to fight until there was only one man left drinking.  The rules weren't quite clear, but I guess it was sort of a "once you're knocked down, you're out" or something.  Brother Love kicked things off with a promo, asking for a moment of reflection; but when the suckers bowed their heads and closed their eyes, he attacked with a bar stool to get things started.  High spots included: Sean O'Haire barely containing his laughter as he found himself smack-dab in the middle of both Brother Love and the Easter Bunny...  Spanky going through a table after being tossed off the bar...  Matt Hardy trying twice, but finally succeeding in putting a slew of jobbers through another table...  and Funaki sitting peacefully at the bar, drinking steadily while others fought, only to be eliminated when he passed out drunk...  final segment was Bradshaw taking out Brother Love to be named the winner after maybe 4-5 minutes of brawling.  [Stupid crap, yes, but not without some value in terms of comic relief.  Entertainment-wise, I'd probably say this is preferable to something like a straight-up APA vs. FBI match, which would probably have been the logical alternative.  But me-being-a-smark-wise, I'd say I'd have found something worthwhile for Matt Hardy to do before putting this on a PPV, so... well, let's not go down that road.  Let's just try to enjoy this for what it was: stupid fun.]
• Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin retained the WWE Tag Team Titles with a win over Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman.  This was, hands-down, the Match of the Night.  Amazing work by all four, as The World's Greatest Tag Team once again showcased uncanny teamwork and synergy, while Rey and Kidman brought the highspots.  Early on, Rey got beat down, only to make a very warm tag to Kidman; I say very warm because the real hot tag came later...  six or so minutes hit, Kidman hit an amazing spot, climbing to the top rope in the MIDDLE of the ropes (i.e. not on a turnbuckle) and then delivering a Shooting Star Press to Haas and Benjamin, who were on the floor.  "Holy Shit," indeed.  But then, it was Kidman eventually morphing into the babyface getting his ass kicked.  Around the 15 minute mark, Rey was tagged back in, and from there on out, it was basically chaotic for a few minutes until the finish.  One great tease had Rey getting a 2 count after being catapulted by Kidman into a top rope rana on Benjamin.  But the actual finish had Benjamin coming off the top rope with a clothesline while Haas held Rey up (kind of like a top rope Hart Attack) for the pinfall at somewhere in the 18 minute neighborhood.  [Just awesome.  Nonstop action, all really tight.  I cannot say enough good.]
• Sable defeated Stephanie McMahon in a match that wound up not quite resembling the titillating catfight you might have expected.  Steph came out and gave us "Intensity," while Sable gave us "Cowardice."  For a minute or two, this was all Steph chasing Sable.  Once they finally locked up, this actually featured a few wrestling moves.  They mostly brawled back and forth for a few minutes, until they finally went for the catfight elements that brought the crowd to life, as Steph ripped Sable's top part of the way off.  We never saw anything naughty, but the ref was distracted by the turn of events, ceasing to pay attention to Steph so that he could give his shirt to Sable so she could continue.  During this distraction, A-Train ran out and steamrolled through Steph.  Sable made the cover and got the cheap win at about the 7 minute mark.  [Different and better than what I had expected.  I thought "stupid catfight," and got a credible brawl.  The storyline getting here teetered on the brink of retardedness at times, but all credit to Steph and Sable for putting a hard night's worth of work into the match itself.  I'm not so keen the finish with A-Train, as it means (a) this storyline is probably not over, and (b) it will now feature the added negative interest level that follows Albert.]
• Undertaker pinned John Cena, but was "taken to the limit" in the process.  Taker got out of the gate fast, and actually had Cena apparently beat at about the five minute mark.  But Taker pulled him up at the 2 count.  Huh.  I actually took that as a good sign that Cena would get the cheap win later, but well, it didn't turn out that way... instead, this was the start of Cena rallying, and he used an exposed turnbuckle and then the exposed barrier outside the ring to cause "internal bleeding" in Taker.  Cena controlled the latter half of the match, and despite the babyface pops his raps usually generate, came off well as the heel here.  Big finish, as Cena thought he had the match won following an F-U, but Taker kicked out.  Cena then mounted Taker in a corner to deliver some punches, but Taker countered by elevating Cena for the Last Ride Powerbomb.  Taker got the clean pinfall as a result, but Cena was actually first to his feet and first to leave the ring as Taker and the announcers sold the heavy price Taker had to pay to get the win after about 15 minutes of action.  [Good outing by Taker, and an important outing for Cena, who seems more and more "main event" in his ability to manipulate a crowd.  Sure, he lost, and I know that pisses off a lot of you, but there's enough here for Cena to put a good spin on the match in the next promo he cuts.  Enjoyable match.]
• Vince McMahon beat Zach Gowen via pinfall.  Basically, this match had Vince doing his level best to seem like an asshole for picking on the kid with one leg, only to have Zach comeback and hit an impressive move or series of moves to give you that inkling of hope that he might score the upset.  Moonsaults, dropkicks, legdrops... that was Zach's arsenal.  Vince stuck to kicking the other guy's one good leg a lot.  Dick.  Finish had Vince get busted WAY wide open with a Van Daminator type move (Vince's fault: he had the chair turned the wrong way, I think)... then Zach decided to go for the final blow by hitting a spinning moonsault type move (camera didn't quite catch it, but it was not just a standard moonsault).  But Vince had just enough left to move, and Zach landed hard on his back.  Vince capitalized on the mistake by immediately making the cover for the three count at the fifteen minute mark.  Tazz and Cole put it over as just one mistake made by Zach that cost him the match.  After Vince left, the crowd gave Zach a standing ovation.  [I remain impressed every time I see Zach do the things he does.  This was precisely the formula you'd have expected from Vince and Zach, but it was done well enough to still be pretty entertaining from start to finish.  Nothing resembling a **** wrestling match, here, but still pretty damn fun.]
• In the main event, Kurt Angle outlasted both Brock Lesnar and the Big Show to claim Lesnar's WWE Title in a match that had a No Disqualification stip added.  Started out with Angle and Lesnar putting Thursday night's dispute behind them so that they could team up against Show.  This led to brief sequences with first Lesnar and then Angle doing one-on-one bits against Show when the other guy powdered out.  This lasted for 6 minutes, maybe, before Angle broke up a pinfall attempt by Lesnar.  This, predictably, didn't go over so well with Brock, and the little partnership between him and Angle went out the window.  Things were intensified a bit by the No DQ stip, and at about the 10 minute mark, Angle introduced a steel chair, and started swinging it like a champ.  He took out Lesnar with a couple killer shots, and then did a big spot with Show, knocking him from the ring.  Show countered, however, and tried to chokeslam Angle through the Spanish Announce Table; Angle countered, though, and Angle Slammed Show through the table.  Now, back in the ring, it's Lesnar vs. Angle, one-on-one, for an extended sequence.  They go back and forth for several minutes, until Show finally comes around in time to break up an Ankle Lock attempt by Angle.  As we entered End Game, all the guys started hitting big moves for some teased finishes, but the actual finish was this:  Angle locked Lesnar into the ankle lock, but had to break it when Show attacked.  He gave Show the Angle Slam, and then turn his attention back to Lesnar.  He delivered the Angle Slam on Lesnar, and -- with Show still out -- made the cover for the title win after a 20 minute war.  Angle celebrated with his title as the show came to a close.  [Really good match, second best of the night, I think.  Show was used perfectly: when he was in there, he was the convincing monster, but they also had the sense to write him out for spots that let Lesnar and Angle do some nice wrestling.  The finish with Angle winning clean shocked me, and made the already good show seem a bit more special.  Where to now?  Maybe Lesnar's a sore loser and goes heel to put some mustard on his rematch against Angle?  I don't know, but Angle going over certainly introduces that possibility...]

You give me four Very Good or better matches, plus a few yucks in the bar room brawl and a cat fight that was way better than I'd expected (and nothing substantial to complain about in either of the other two matches, either), and I am gonna be one happy camper.  The tag title match stole the show for me, with the main event a notch below; Benoit/Eddie and Taker/Cena were both really good, too, battling for the #3 spot.

In fact, off the top of my head, I can't think of a WWE PPV so far this year that I enjoyed much more than this one.  But maybe that's something I should contemplate a bit more before making rash judgments.  I'll have more thoughts and fall-out in OO tomorrow.  

For now, it's enough to say Vengeance gets and easy and enthusiastic Thumbs Up from this corner. 

E-MAIL RICK SCAIA
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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH.  He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.

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