WWE One Night Stand 2007
June 3, 2007
Jacksonville, Florida
A
PPV I convinced my parents to order ten years ago before I graduated
the 8th grade, One Night Stand! Hard to believe it's been ten years
since this event as Bobby Lashley looks to reclaim his ECW Championship
against Vince McMahon while John Cena takes on The Great Khali in the
main event for the WWE Championship!
Match 1: Stretcher Match - Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam
Rob
Van Dam was on his way out of the company at this point as Randy Orton
was on the rise to become the company's top heel. Circumstances like
this sometimes creates great stories as RVD's health was in jeopardy
because of The Legend Killer. Nobody sells injuries better than RVD and
with Orton on a head-hunting terror, this made for great stuff. Of
course, they built the match around the injury and the commentators did a
great job of begging the question if RVD should even be competing. One
of the sickest spots of the match saw RVD miss a dive from the outside
of the ring and smack his right leg on the stretcher while his back
completely smacked the floor. Orton looked to have the match won until a
kick to the head by RVD allowed him to push Orton on the stretcher past
the line to win. Afterwards, Orton viciously attacks RVD with a punt to
the head on a DDT on the floor. Loved the swerve finish despite these
matches being a bit ridiculous at times. Like... why couldn't Orton just
push the damn stretcher past the line? Why was it so hard for him?
Regardless, solid opening match and a nice way to write RVD off with
Orton looking like an absolute monster.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Rating: ***1/4
Match
2: Tables Match - The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer & CM Punk vs. The New
Breed (Elijah Burke, Matt Striker & Marcus Cor Von)
If
you've never seen the Extreme Rules match between The ECW Originals
against The New Breed on the ECW after WrestleMania 23, do yourselves a
favor and check it out. That match is one of my favorites from the
show's run and one that doesn't get the love it deserves. I just had to
mention that. This match was pretty odd, it's a Tables Match that
started with teams tagging each other in before it spiraled into
everybody running around and beating each other up until rules just got
thrown out the window. Pretty quick and fun match that ended with CM
Punk superplexing Matt Striker through a table that had Elijah Burke
laying prone on.
Winners: The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer & CM Punk
Rating: **1/2
Match 3: WWE World Tag Team Championship - Ladder Match - The Hardys (c) vs. World's Greatest Tag Team
We
really don't give enough credit to Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy. For that
matter, we don't give Shelton Benjamin enough credit, either. All four
guys in this match beat the living crap out of each other with some
nasty spots that for whatever reason, have gotten completely overlooked
over the years. Of course, whenever you get The Hardys in a Ladder
Match, good things happen and that was certainly the case here. Dives
everywhere and Benjamin getting tossed around the ring and going through
ladders was something else. But the match itself really suffered from a
fairly dull first half before finally picking up despite some sluggish
spots. Loved the ending with Jeff hitting a Swanton Bomb while his
partner in Matt retrieved the belts to secure the win. Great Ladder
Match that probably underachieved just a tad bit considering the talent
in the ring. I mean that in the most respectful manner possible. Either
way, check this match out! It has unfortunately become so forgotten.
Winners: The Hardys
Rating: ***3/4
Match 4: Lumberjack Match - Mark Henry vs. Kane
Interesting
to see Chris Benoit make his way to the ring as a lumberjack for this
match as it would later become his final PPV appearance before his
death. With that being put aside, this was a surprisingly solid match
from the two that I enjoyed way more than I should. I know not everyone
loves to watch two big guys fight each other but with two veterans in
the ring like these guys, they certainly used it to their advantage and
made every strike and every move count. Mark Henry was in control of the
match for the most part with Kane getting in his offense at the right
times. However, Henry is able to clench Kane in a bear hug and puts him
unconscious for the referee to call for the bell. Interesting finish and
I dug it, they're trying to consistently build Henry as a monster and
that ending was a fine way to do it. Even if it was at the expense of
Kane who would later challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship in
the summer.
Winner: Mark Henry
Rating: **3/4
Match 5: ECW World Championship - Street Fight - Mr. McMahon (c) vs. Bobby Lashley
Unpopular
opinion: I loved this feud back in the day and I get some serious
nostalgia from watching this again here in 2019. Of course, the ECW
World Champion in Vincent Kennedy McMahon had both Umaga and Shane
McMahon by his side for this one. Loved the start of the match with
Bobby Lashley leaping over the top rope in the beginning of the match
and diving onto Umaga by barely hitting him with his foot. As you could
imagine, they used all the smoke and mirrors here for this one... and it
worked. Nicely built match here for Lashley to "overcome the odds" with
him taking both Shane and Umaga out of the equation before they finally
got back into it and demolished Lashley including an elbow drop from
the top rope through the announcers table. However, Lashley was able to
escape a Coast to Coast attempt from Shane that resulted in Umaga
getting his face smashed in with a trash can. A Spear to both Shane and
Vince led to Lashley reclaiming the ECW World Championship. I probably
enjoyed this match more than most people and that's fine. Never did and
never will understand the hate Lashley was getting from the internet,
the dude worked his tail to the bone and this match is a prime example.
Winner: Bobby Lashley
Rating: ***1/4
Match 6: Pudding Match - Candice Michelle vs. Melina
How
far have we come with women in the WWE? Look no further than right here
as Candice Michelle takes on the Divas Champion in Melina... in a
Pudding Match. This was as bad as you could imagine. Candice submits
Melina to score the win as Maria attacks Melina in the pudding bowl
afterwards along with tossing in the referee. Yikes.
Winner: Candice Michelle
Rating: n/a
Match 7: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Steel Cage Match - Edge (c) vs. Batista
Funny story, I actually reviewed this match as part of my Batista - I Walk Alone DVD (Disc 3) Review
but since that was so long ago, another viewing was needed. Looking
back, I'm really not so sure why I gave this match a low score back in
the day. This was certainly a joy to watch and the two told a fantastic
story throughout the match with Edge trying to sneak his way out of
fighting the bigger and stronger Batista. Edge was great in basically
playing the role of a mouse that a cat couldn't catch and instead of
trying to win the match, he was just focused on not losing. By that, I
mean using every opportunity in the books to try and escape the cage.
And once Edge got in his offense, he gave Batista a run for his money
and made Batista earn his win if he was going to get it. Loved the
finish here with an exhausted Batista trying to crawl through the cage
door as Edge was on the opposite end of the cage as he tried to climb
his way out. Edge narrowly beats Batista out and escapes with his World
Heavyweight Championship before he runs out of the arena as Batista was
on his tail. Solid finish to the match and loved seeing Batista look so
frustrated after the match. Storytelling at its finest.
Winner: Edge
Rating: ***3/4
Match 8: WWE Championship - Falls Count Anywhere Match - John Cena (c) vs. The Great Khali
After
John Cena became the first person to ever submit The Great Khali weeks
prior at Judgment Day, he must become the first person to pin him here
in order to retain his WWE Championship. Leave it to John Cena to bring
the best out of Khali and deliver a great match out of him here. Like
the ECW World Championship match earlier, they had to use the smoke and
mirrors to get the most out of the situation and thankfully, they
delivered. Being so limited, Khali must be rely on his opponents to make
the match worthy of a viewing and Cena was great in his role and making
Khali look like an unstoppable giant throughout. They brought the fight
outside the ring with Cena doing everything in his power to stop Khali
including hitting him with the camera boom before hitting an FU to Khali
off the top of the stage for the win. Take it for what it was
considering how limited Khali can be, but it was certainly a passable
main event match and a solid way to close out the night and send the
fans home happy.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: **1/2
Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
This
may be me being completely bias of the show since it brings me back
great memories of my childhood, but I enjoyed this show aside from the
Divas match. I was certainly entertained throughout the show and the
matches all served their purposes nicely and nothing felt out of place
on the card.
Rating: 8/10
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
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