Match Of The Week: 04.14.07.

April 20th, 2007.

WWE Friday Night Smack Down!

The HooliganZ vs. Deuce & Domino (Tag Team Title match)

Well, this may be the last time I pick a match from Smack Down! for quite a while. Not too much else interesting happened in the world of WWE this week. They were in Italy and crowned a new IC Champion on RAW as well (Someone who debuted, mind you), but this still sticks out in my mind as the Match Of The Week.

The HooliganZ had to lose the tag team titles eventually, it's just the way that it goes, I just wish they would have given them the full year long run. But I guess I'm not that upset by the way in which they lost the belts, since Paul London kind of got taken out of the match. Maybe this will end up being for the best. If not, there is always TNA still, right?

Match Of The Week: 04.07.07.

April 13th, 2007.
WWE Friday Night Smack Down!
The HooliganZ vs. Deuce & Domino (Tag Team Title match)



It's kind of weird that Deuce & Domino keep getting title shots and other matches and just keep losing, yet they keep coming back. In an interesting turn of events though, HooliganZ actually won this match on a DQ when the Greasers refused to leave the ring and double teamed Paul London.

The rest of Smack Down! was all right. Finlay vs. Kennedy, sadly, got turned into a tag match with them teaming up against 'Taker and 'Tista. Chris Benoit vs. MVP was kind of decent though.

On Raw, we saw Lashley fight Shane McMahon in a Hair vs. Title match. If Shane won, he was to become the new ECW Champion. If Shane lost, he'd have to shave his head like his daddy. Somewhat disappointing though, as no one was shaved nor had the title change hands.

ECW saw C.M. Punk join the New Breed. Kind of interesting.

And for TNA Impact! we had a main event of Samoa Joe vs. A.J. Styles, which was actually really good leading into Lockdown.

But I still voted for this HooliganZ match because I'm hoping these guys can carry the titles for a full year and then even beyond that. Here's to hoping!

Match Of The Week: 03.31.07.

April 6th, 2007.
WWE Friday Night Smack Down!
The HooliganZ vs. Gregory Helms & Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Non-Title match)

The week following Wrestlemania 23, I expected a lot more from WWE. Raw didn't really deliver a lot except for some tag teams that came out of seemingly nowhere. They had two battle royals and eventually got the tag belts off Cena & HBK. While The Hardyz win was acceptable, it just kind of sucked because they went through hell the night before in MITB and should have been selling their injuries as such. Wouldn't it have been more interesting to see a tag team who didn't fight at WM23 win the titles? Let's say... The HooliganZ? Then they'd hold both the Raw and SD! tag titles. That'd be interesting. I couldn't figure why else they'd put them in a Raw battle royal, but oh well. I also would have settled for Cade & Murdoch.

ECW on Sci-Fi had a huge garbage match to end the show, which was really cool. Still, it was a rematch from WM23, which is just kind of a slap in the face to anyone who actually dished out the $50 for the PPV.

I put HooliganZ as the winners yet again because they faced an interesting team in Chavo and Helms. Chavo actually defeated Gregory Helms for the Cruiserweight Title, so it'll be interesting to see where this goes. And also, they're just four really well matched guys, so I dig it.

Plus, many people have said The Greasers gimmick was dropped and they were back to OVW, yet there they were, at the end of the match waiting for a title shot. Shows the internet isn't as smart as it thinks some times.

Match Of The Week: 03.24.07.

March 26th, 2007.
WWE Monday Night Raw
C.M. Punk vs. Kenny Dykstra

Well, well, well... It was the last week before Wrestlemania 23 and most things were just going crazy. Within WWE, wrestlers were jumping brands like there were no longer contracts to each show, while at the same time not really doing too much of anything new because, well, you know, it was almost Wrestlemania so they couldn't do too much to ruin the show in advance.

While TNA has pretty decent matches on Impact!, WWE seems to keep winning the war with wrestlers like C.M. Punk, Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Carlito on a more permanent basis. I've picked a Punk match again for this week, but don't mistake this simply for any sort of bias toward Punk himself-- he was on EVERY show this week. On Tuesday, he competed in an eight man tag match on ECW, part of the Money In The Bank Wrestlemania Ladder match deal. He teamed with The Hardyz and Edge to take on Ken Kennedy, Booker T, Finlay and Randy Orton. On Friday Night Smack Down!, C.M. Punk wrestled Booker T which was really neat to see as well and probably would have won this spot had it not been for this match on Raw and the history behind it.

Most people may not remember, but C.M. Punk was actually involved in feuds with Ken Doane and Johnny Jeter in OVW. Since it seems like Punk is scoring wins (And the occasional loss) over the same guys over and over again (How many matches can he have with Stevie Richards or Hardcore Holly?) in ECW, it's about time he's got some new competition. Sure, he's faced Johnny Nitro, Ken Kennedy and I said a few moments ago Booker T at various points in time, but this match was different. Punk and Doane both have a great feel to each other in terms of knowing each other well from OVW and, well, they worked a great match. It was great to see this as kind of a tribute to their OVW days more than just C.M. Punk gaining some random victory over someone who loses more often than wins any way or is just... you know... the same guy he fought two weeks ago.

Despite what you may believe or read on the internet, Ken Doane and C.M. Punk really are the future of this business. I look forward to seeing this match on a much bigger scale one day, perhaps even with a title or two involved. Now if we could just get WWE to bring Johnny Jeter up to the ECW brand to work some matches with Punk, we'd be all set.

This was also- don't forget- Punk's biggest showing yet in ways. While part of ECW, he tapes in front of the SD! crowd any way, but this was live on Monday Night Raw, arguably the "A Show" over SD! being the "B Show". So people who may not watch ECW or Smack Down! for whatever reason may have been exposed to Punk for the first time here. Let's hope it will not be the last time.