WWE Vengeance: Night of Champions 2007 Review

Match 1: World Tag Team Championships - Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch (c) vs. The Hardys
Tend to forget how big The Hardys were in 2007, Jeff Hardy's stock was just getting started here in 2007 as he teams with his brother in Matt Hardy to take on Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. Two guys who ain't no slouches, another underrated team back in the day. Hardys also tend to have great chemistry with nearly anyone they face. That was no different here, great action here as both teams are phenomenal in their respective roles. Cade & Murdoch come off as such smug heels and it really shows when they take advantage of a distracted referee. The Hardys are the complete opposite, cool moves and always catering to the fans. Murdoch was able to push Jeff off the top rope which allowed Cade to hit his finisher for the win. Nice opening contest to pave the way for the next eight championship bouts.
Winners: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Rating: ***

Match 2: Cruiserweight Championship - Chavo Guerrero (c) vs. Jimmy Wang Yang
I always love to mention how great JBL was in the booth for SmackDown. He quickly noted how incredible the lineage of the Guerrero family is before hyping up Chavo Guerrero to the moon. Just makes this dude sound like a legit champion. Always enjoyed watching Jimmy Wang Yang, even with his ridiculous gimmick. Fun to watch and his style meshed with against Chavo. Wang Yang was able to hit his Moonsault finisher but Chavo was barely able to kick out. Wang Yang got another attempt for it but was pushed off before Chavo hit a Frog Splash to the back of Wang Yang for the win. Another good match to start the show. JBL really pushed Chavo to another level on commentary. Makes the average viewer dislike and respect Chavo even more.
Winner: Chavo Guerrero
Rating: **3/4

Match 3: ECW Championship - CM Punk vs. Johnny Nitro
This is the infamous match where CM Punk was scheduled to face Chris Benoit for the vacant ECW Championship. We all know why things changed as Johnny Nitro inserted himself into the picture after being drafted to the ECW brand a week ago. Tazz hyped it up as much as he could, saying this was a golden opportunity for Nitro. Even the crowd wasn't buying it as they were chanting for Benoit and stayed fairly quiet throughout despite the best efforts from Punk and Nitro. Pretty short match that saw Nitro hit a neckbreaker from the middle rope to score the big win. The chemistry wasn't all there but this was only the first of many matches that they would continue to have that summer. Better than what people make this match out to be but they would improve vastly against each other later on.
Winner: Johnny Nitro
Rating: **3/4

Match 4: Intercontinental Championship - Santino Marella (c) vs. Umaga
Ricky Steamboat comes out to introduce Santino Marella to the show before Umaga comes out looking for blood. Marella looks to justify his Milan victory a couple months back over Umaga once more. However, Umaga destroys Marella easily before getting disqualified for continuously beating down Marella in the corner while ignoring the referee. Umaga then hits his running finisher in the corner afterwards before returning once more to hit a Samoan Spike. The crowd ate it up and gave Umaga the biggest pop of the night.
Winner: Santino Marella
Rating: 1/2*

Match 5: United States Championship - MVP (c) vs. Ric Flair
MVP gets in the face of Magnum T.A. at ringside before the match and follows that up by getting in Ric Flair's face as he was making his way into the ring. The cocky MVP truly embraces his role as a heel and it showed here against the legendary Flair. Match was exactly booked how it needed to be booked. Flair looked to be too much for MVP who obviously underestimated Flair and remained cocky throughout. Flair was able to place MVP in a Figure Four before MVP was able to grab a hold of the ropes. MVP manages to rake Flair in the eyes before hitting a Playmaker to steal the win. A page completely out of Flair's book. Great stuff.
Winner: MVP
Rating: **1/2

Match 6: WWE Tag Team Championships - Open Challenge - Deuce 'N Domino (c) vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Jimmy Snuka
Was there really not a better team to go against Deuce 'N Domino? Sgt. Slaughter & Jimmy Snuka look so out of place. While Slaughter wasn't so bad, Snuka looked so old and so out of shape. I was cringing throughout this embarrassing performance. The Houston crowd doesn't know how to react to any of this. Deuce squeezes out the win for his team when he reverses a dive off the top from Snuka into a pin. Deuce 'N Domino may have scored the win but they were booked like absolute chumps here. They then attack Slaughter & Snuka afterwards before Rick Martel & Tony Garea make the save. No wonder Deuce 'N Domino didn't last too long in the WWE considering they were booked like this.
Winners: Deuce 'N Domino
Rating: 1/2*

Match 7: World Heavyweight Championship - Last Chance - Edge (c) vs. Batista
Batista's final opportunity to score the World Heavyweight Championship against Edge is now. Batista greets the great Harley Race before the match as he looks to dethrone Edge. Although their matches can be repetitive, they definitely have put together a nice collection of matches against each other. This one was no different. From the start, Batista played the role of a hungry challenger looking to regain the gold from the person he despises the most, Edge. They told a great story of Batista doing everything in his power to win and Edge doing everything in his power to simply survive Batista's onslaught. Edge would eventually low blow Batista as the referee then called for a disqualification. However, Teddy Long came out and ordered the match to restart. Edge hit a Spear but Batista was able to kick out. The action spilled outside where Batista planted Edge on the floor with a Batista Bomb. That had to hurt. Batista tossed Edge back in the ring but the referee counted Batista out. Smart finish to keep the belt on Edge and to protect Batista in the process. Batista hits another Batista Bomb on Edge for good measure.
Winner: Edge
Rating: ***

Match 8: Women's Championship - Melina (c) vs. Candice Michelle
Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler are praising the improvements of Candice Michelle as she challenges the champion in Melina. Basic Divas match that only went on for a few minutes before Candice hits a spinning kick to Melina to score the surprise win. She captures the gold and cries out in joy as Melina looks on in astonishment. Nothing much to say here other than Candice's big win. Just a way to gap the main matches.
Winner: Candice Michelle
Rating: *

Match 9: WWE Championship - John Cena (c) vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Mick Foley vs. King Booker vs. Randy Orton
Hectic would be the word to describe this match. It felt like an easy way to book all these guys on the PPV with Mick Foley just randomly tossed in the fire for whatever reason. They billed this match as a champion's challenge match as all participants have one time or another been a world champion if you include Bobby Lashley's ECW Championship. There really wasn't any doubt that John Cena was going to drop the title. The idea of this match was to really just have a main event for the show while teasing future matches for Cena against these guys with Foley added to the mix. The match only lasted a little bit over ten minutes and had a few cool spots like Lashley being driven through the announcers table and Lashley hitting a sweet dive over the top rope onto everybody. Cena was able to hit an FU on Foley for the win. While it was fun to see everybody hit their finishers and what not, it was just a shame that it didn't go on any longer because just when the action was getting fun, it ended. Regardless, a nice way to build future PPV matches for Cena's 2007 reign.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: ***

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
I dig the concept of the show but with nine matches being on the card, there's bound to be a few fillers and questionable matches. For the most part, this was a stinker of a PPV with the best matches on here barely being *** matches. Great concept, poor execution.
Rating: 5.75/10