Rangers squeaked past Queen of the South at Ibrox following an exciting Play Off Second Leg. They will now play Hibernian for the right to face Motherwell and gain promotion to the Premiership.
2-1 up on aggregate from the first leg, Rangers were heavily favoured coming into the contest, but Queens made them sweat when they took a 1-0 lead just before half time. With the away goal rule not in effect, this would have been enough for Extra Time and possibly penalties.
Rangers had come close on more than one occasion to taking the lead prior to Queens goal, but somehow had contrived to fail in converting their chances. On 35 minutes, Queens sprang a counter attack and Derek Lyle managed to head the ball past a despairing Cammy Bell to give the underdogs a surprising lead.
Queens were able to hold onto the lead as the half ended. The Rangers players were met with jeers and catcalls as they slouched off the pitch at the break. Despite the goal coming very much against the run of play, you had to wonder whether the players in Blue would have an answer to their predicament.
The answer was a muffled, rather than resounding, yes. But how nearly it was the opposite. With about an hour gone, Queens player Gavin Reilly found himself through on goal, with only Bell to beat. Horrifically for him though, his first touch was a despicably poor one and Bell gratefully collected it. A mere 2 minutes later, Rangers had the goal they needed.
In fairness to Rangers, the goal had been coming. Had Reilly been more fortuitous with his chance, it would have given Queens a genuinely shocking lead, as Rangers had been by fair the dominant side in the match. Despite missing some good chances, you always felt Rangers were capable of getting at least one, and get one they did courtesy of Lee Wallace.
Queens were most certainly gallant in defeat and deserve plaudits for pushing Rangers as they did. However, it is The Gers who will advance to face Hibs in the Semi Final.
Results this season suggest that Hibs would be favoured but, as history has taught us, a wise sage would never discount Hibs penchant for bottling big games As a browbeaten Hibee myself, I know all too well of Play Off pain when Hibs are the favoured side. The result with Hamilton last season still sticks in my craw.
If Rangers play like they did in the two legs with Queens, they should have more than enough to beat a Hibs side that fails to show up. Hibs will need to be at their best to get past the Glasgow Giants and earn a crunch game with The Well.
I hope, rather than expect, Hibs will be able to recall the great performances they’ve had against Rangers during the regular season and not be overawed by the occasion. I feel slightly more secure with Alan Stubbs behind the counter than I did when Terry Butcher was presiding over proceedings. But then again, that’s like saying I’d rather be at sea on a wooden raft instead of a Rich Tea biscuit.
One thing is for sure, the tie will be a tense and dramatic encounter. There is still plenty of promotion blood to be spilled this season. Both the match on Wednesday Night and Saturday Afternoon will be on BT Sport. Catch them if you get a chance!
Peace Out
Monday, 18 May 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
This and That: Strauss makes a dry roasted mess of the KP situation
I must admit that I don’t follow cricket on a week to week (or should that be wicket to wicket?) basis, but I want to speak briefly about the Kevin Pietersen situation.
England’s new Director of Cricket, Andrew Strauss, announced yesterday that Pietersen would not be selected for any of the upcoming summer tests. For all intents and purposes, Pietersen’s England career is over.
This is all despite Pietersen turning down a lucrative deal with the IPL and playing in domestic county cricket with Surrey, in hopes of earning a call up. This also despite Pietersen having a pretty good stab at doing that as well.
Despite all this hard work and the desire that he had shown, Pietersen was called into a meeting on Monday night and was given the axe. The main reason for his being dropped? A “lack of trust”, which is up there with David Moyes deciding a youth team player has “attitude problems” when he wanted to justify not playing a Shane Duffy or Ross Barkley.
I wonder how many other England cricketers will fall by the wayside to this hackneyed and downright bush league excuse when Strauss decides he needs a handy excuse to drop someone.
Because let’s not beat around the bush here. Pietersen was dropped because Strauss has a personal gripe with him. This is ultimately the only reason he will no longer play for England. Pietersen was offered to oversee the one day team in a consulting capacity. Why would you offer such a position to someone if you had trust issues with them?
Answer: You wouldn’t
What Andrew Strauss has done with his very first act in his new role is show that he isn’t cut out for the job. I’m pretty sure England would lose The Ashes with or without Pietersen in all honesty, but that’s beside the point.
This wasn’t a test of whether Strauss could win The Ashes; but rather it was a test of whether he was capable of putting his own personal feelings and bias to one side for the good of the National Team. He has failed that spectacularly with this decision.
Regardless of whether England were to win The Ashes or not, it’s almost certain that they’d have a better chance of winning them with Pietersen than without. Andrew Strauss should concern himself with picking the best team possible. He has failed to do that by omitting Pietersen.
All this ultimately means is that when England crash in defeat to The Aussies, which they probably were always going to, England and Pietersen supporters will have an extra stick upon which to beat Strauss with.
If he had picked Pietersen, supporters could have comforted themselves with the idea that he picked the best side possible and it would have bought him sometime. As he hasn’t, it will be open season on Strauss following the likely defeat.
He has no one but himself to blame.
Peace Out
England’s new Director of Cricket, Andrew Strauss, announced yesterday that Pietersen would not be selected for any of the upcoming summer tests. For all intents and purposes, Pietersen’s England career is over.
This is all despite Pietersen turning down a lucrative deal with the IPL and playing in domestic county cricket with Surrey, in hopes of earning a call up. This also despite Pietersen having a pretty good stab at doing that as well.
Despite all this hard work and the desire that he had shown, Pietersen was called into a meeting on Monday night and was given the axe. The main reason for his being dropped? A “lack of trust”, which is up there with David Moyes deciding a youth team player has “attitude problems” when he wanted to justify not playing a Shane Duffy or Ross Barkley.
I wonder how many other England cricketers will fall by the wayside to this hackneyed and downright bush league excuse when Strauss decides he needs a handy excuse to drop someone.
Because let’s not beat around the bush here. Pietersen was dropped because Strauss has a personal gripe with him. This is ultimately the only reason he will no longer play for England. Pietersen was offered to oversee the one day team in a consulting capacity. Why would you offer such a position to someone if you had trust issues with them?
Answer: You wouldn’t
What Andrew Strauss has done with his very first act in his new role is show that he isn’t cut out for the job. I’m pretty sure England would lose The Ashes with or without Pietersen in all honesty, but that’s beside the point.
This wasn’t a test of whether Strauss could win The Ashes; but rather it was a test of whether he was capable of putting his own personal feelings and bias to one side for the good of the National Team. He has failed that spectacularly with this decision.
Regardless of whether England were to win The Ashes or not, it’s almost certain that they’d have a better chance of winning them with Pietersen than without. Andrew Strauss should concern himself with picking the best team possible. He has failed to do that by omitting Pietersen.
All this ultimately means is that when England crash in defeat to The Aussies, which they probably were always going to, England and Pietersen supporters will have an extra stick upon which to beat Strauss with.
If he had picked Pietersen, supporters could have comforted themselves with the idea that he picked the best side possible and it would have bought him sometime. As he hasn’t, it will be open season on Strauss following the likely defeat.
He has no one but himself to blame.
Peace Out
Monday, 11 May 2015
This and That: This Week in Wrestling
Looking for something great to watch this week in the wacky world of wrestling? Here are a few suggestions from yours truly
Sign up to New Japan World and watch Invasion Attack and Dontaku
After a while of not watching NJPW, I decided to catch up after The “It Girl” Melanie Price gave me the impetus on the old Twitter machine. I can’t thank her enough, because these two shows are top stuff!
I’ve had an NJPW World subscription since January and it’s well worth the money. Sometimes the videos over buffer somewhat, but I often find that if you stick the videos on Low Quality it takes care of this and picture quality is just fine.
There is the annoying habit New Japan has of dubbing out most of their music. It’s not exactly the dubbed themes that bother me as much as the fact that they play them over the existing sound meaning that it drowns out the crowd. Here’s an idea New Japan, if you know a show is going online, why not have the wrestlers come out to the generic in house music in the arena to get around this issue?
I mean, it’s not like WWE Network where they have to dub over shows from the past by other companies. It’s your show and you’re running it now. If you can’t be bothered to spring the yen required to lease Jushin Liger’s theme, then don’t have him come out to in the arena. Play his generic in house theme and keep the actual Liger theme for House Shows.
This is a small gripe overall though. The wrestling in New Japan is quite sensational at times, and Invasion Attack from the 5th April 2015 is no exception. Highlights included a crazy Junior Heavyweight spot-fest between The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and former WWE/NXT stalwart Trent Berretta) as well as a scintillating main event between AJ Styles and Kota Ibushi.
AJ Styles in particular was excellent on the show, living up in every way to his “Phenomenal” nickname. AJ is one of those rare cases of a wrestler who seems to just keep getting better as time goes on. His heel mannerisms and crowd work are better now than they were even 2 years ago. He was brilliant back then and he’s somehow conspired to be even better today.
Ibushi is one of the wrestling world’s premier high flyers, and this match had no shortage of crazy high-spots. However, the match did also have a solid psychological foundation, with AJ being a heel and Ibushi fighting from underneath. I don’t tend to do star ratings anymore these days, but this match would be ****+ on most people’s watches. How much more it is than that depends on the individual. Still, the match was excellent and well worth signing up to NJPW World for.
I’ve not yet finished Dontaku, but I’ve seen most of the card and it’s another good one. Kenny Omega continues his streak as one of the most outrageously entertaining people in wrestling in his match with Alex Shelley. Some solid character work from both guys in this and some great near falls at the end.
Karl Anderson’s infatuation with former WWE Diva Maria led to some of the best moments of the show. Anderson and Doc (Formerly CM Punk SES Member, Luke) Gallows and Amber took on ROH’s Mike Bennett, Matt Taven and Maria in a 6 person tag match.
The big story coming in to this match was Anderson being smitten with Maria and it distracting him from getting the job done, as evidenced by Bennett and Taven defeating Anderson and Gallows on more than one occasion leading to the bout. Anderson was just brilliant in this. It was the little touches I liked. Andersons nickname is “The Machine Gun” so when he’s announced he mimes firing a machine gun while bullets play over the sound system.
On this occasion, he was so distracted thinking about Maria that he forget to do the machine gun mime, which is lovely little nuance that I really enjoyed. The match followed in a similar vein, with Anderson frequently getting distracted and Gallows chastising him. A really great Sports Entertainment™ Style match, which would probably work as a good bridge for people unfamiliar with New Japan who were thinking of crossing over from traditional western wrestling.
New Japan have placed quite a few American wrestlers in notable roles in the show (Anderson, Styles, Omega, Shelley etc) which I think is to help entice non-Japanese viewers to watch the shows a bit more, by giving them someone who they can understand and follow. On paper, this would appear to be a smart move, and we’ll see if it helps more people to make the transition over.
Both Invasion Attack and Dontaku are available now at njpwworld.com
You can subscribe for 999 yen a month. I suggest anyone who is looking for a regular alternative to WWE to check it out, even if it’s for just a month or two
Not a WWE Network subscriber? Sign up this month for free!
So yes, WWE are doing another in a seemingly endless string of “free months” on The Network for new subscribers. Sitting on the fence and not sure whether to sign up? Well get yourself a free month and find out. Now’s as good a time as ever.
My recent regular watch has been WCW Nitro’s from the spring/summer of 1996. This has mainly been brought about by both Scott Keith reviewing them on his blog (www.rspwfaq.net ) as well as Bryan, Vinny and Craig reviewing them on their weekly podcast over at www.f4wonline.com
I started off around March time and have just finished watching Bash at the Beach 96. It’s funny watching the company evolve and change around this time. When I first started tuning in the company was still being built around Hulk Hogan as the hero babyface taking on recycled 80’s monsters, with Randy Savage as his loyal sidekick.
Then, sometime around April, Hogan skips town to make movies or some such, and the company becomes all about a Randy Savage and Ric Flair blood feud for a while. The shows improve exponentially at this point, as Ric Flair cuts many a wild promo while openly spending the Macho Man’s alimony (While it also being suggested that he’s nailing Savage’s ex-wife Elizabeth during this. Her footing the bill for Flair’s mad escapades is just so funny for some reason and great heel shtick). Savage goes promptly nuts and awesomeness ensues.
Add to that the interesting layered storyline between Lex Luger and Sting, wherein Luger was a heel but babyface Sting was still his friend and thusly getting dragged into all sorts of situations that he didn’t want to be dragged into, and it really wasn’t surprising why Nitro was doing so well at this point in time.
The show really was captivating, even if lots of points on it didn’t make sense and storylines seemed to change on a whim. If you get a chance, I’d recommend watching one of the Raw’s from that time period to compare and contrast the two. Nitro seems fresh and edgy while Raw feels stale and by the numbers.
And then on the 29th May 1996, Scott Hall appears for the first time and everything goes nuclear. This is another instance where some storylines are modified and others are downright changed completely to accommodate the “invasion” of Hall and later Kevin Nash.
Though it is somewhat jarring to see so many things get chucked out with the bath water to accommodate the arrival of The Outsiders, Lex Luger is just a full-fledged babyface all of a sudden without much explanation for instance, the fact remains that the storyline of two wrestlers invading and causing havoc makes compulsive viewing.
Kevin Nash in particular as a snarky big guy is brilliant. On the go home show for Bash at the Beach, he and Hall purchase tickets for the show and sit on the front row. When security guards come over to inspect them, Nash yells mockingly “We came to see the big boys!”
An angle on an earlier show sees The Outsiders crash a tag title match with baseball bats, so ARMED POLICE come out to stop them! It’s amazing seeing WCW, a company not usually renowned for getting new people over, do such a masterful job of making these two men look like such a gigantic threat to the company. They had nothing but baseball bats and WCW were so freaked out that they required policemen with guns to counter them. Just incredible stuff!
I can’t recommend these shows strongly enough. Well worth your time considering they’re free for a month if you’re a brand new subscriber.
I also highly recommend you read Keith’s rants as well. They make a great companion piece to the actual shows. Scott’s irrational love for a certain JTTS makes for great reading to boot.
Head to www.wwe.com/network to sign up
Head to www.rspwfaq.net to read Scott Keith’s musings
And head to www.f4wonline.com to listen to the Bryan and Vinny Show, along with other shows. Sign up and you can get even MORE content, along with both the Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly Newsletters
Here’s hoping I’ve made money for someone today. Hey, if I like something I try to spread the word. The world of a wrestling fan would be worse off without these things to populate it
One final plug. Grand Pro Wrestling returns to the Rose Club Hindley this Friday. Visit www.grandprowrestling.co.uk for further information
In addition, Future Shock Wrestling returns to Prestwich this Saturday, when Jack Gallagher takes on Zack Gibson. For more information, visit www.futureshockwrestling.co.uk for further information
And that, to quote Carl Clinch, is AAAAAALLLLLLLLLL the plugs
Watch some wrestling this week, there’s plenty on offer!
Peace Out
Sign up to New Japan World and watch Invasion Attack and Dontaku
After a while of not watching NJPW, I decided to catch up after The “It Girl” Melanie Price gave me the impetus on the old Twitter machine. I can’t thank her enough, because these two shows are top stuff!
I’ve had an NJPW World subscription since January and it’s well worth the money. Sometimes the videos over buffer somewhat, but I often find that if you stick the videos on Low Quality it takes care of this and picture quality is just fine.
There is the annoying habit New Japan has of dubbing out most of their music. It’s not exactly the dubbed themes that bother me as much as the fact that they play them over the existing sound meaning that it drowns out the crowd. Here’s an idea New Japan, if you know a show is going online, why not have the wrestlers come out to the generic in house music in the arena to get around this issue?
I mean, it’s not like WWE Network where they have to dub over shows from the past by other companies. It’s your show and you’re running it now. If you can’t be bothered to spring the yen required to lease Jushin Liger’s theme, then don’t have him come out to in the arena. Play his generic in house theme and keep the actual Liger theme for House Shows.
This is a small gripe overall though. The wrestling in New Japan is quite sensational at times, and Invasion Attack from the 5th April 2015 is no exception. Highlights included a crazy Junior Heavyweight spot-fest between The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and former WWE/NXT stalwart Trent Berretta) as well as a scintillating main event between AJ Styles and Kota Ibushi.
AJ Styles in particular was excellent on the show, living up in every way to his “Phenomenal” nickname. AJ is one of those rare cases of a wrestler who seems to just keep getting better as time goes on. His heel mannerisms and crowd work are better now than they were even 2 years ago. He was brilliant back then and he’s somehow conspired to be even better today.
Ibushi is one of the wrestling world’s premier high flyers, and this match had no shortage of crazy high-spots. However, the match did also have a solid psychological foundation, with AJ being a heel and Ibushi fighting from underneath. I don’t tend to do star ratings anymore these days, but this match would be ****+ on most people’s watches. How much more it is than that depends on the individual. Still, the match was excellent and well worth signing up to NJPW World for.
I’ve not yet finished Dontaku, but I’ve seen most of the card and it’s another good one. Kenny Omega continues his streak as one of the most outrageously entertaining people in wrestling in his match with Alex Shelley. Some solid character work from both guys in this and some great near falls at the end.
Karl Anderson’s infatuation with former WWE Diva Maria led to some of the best moments of the show. Anderson and Doc (Formerly CM Punk SES Member, Luke) Gallows and Amber took on ROH’s Mike Bennett, Matt Taven and Maria in a 6 person tag match.
The big story coming in to this match was Anderson being smitten with Maria and it distracting him from getting the job done, as evidenced by Bennett and Taven defeating Anderson and Gallows on more than one occasion leading to the bout. Anderson was just brilliant in this. It was the little touches I liked. Andersons nickname is “The Machine Gun” so when he’s announced he mimes firing a machine gun while bullets play over the sound system.
On this occasion, he was so distracted thinking about Maria that he forget to do the machine gun mime, which is lovely little nuance that I really enjoyed. The match followed in a similar vein, with Anderson frequently getting distracted and Gallows chastising him. A really great Sports Entertainment™ Style match, which would probably work as a good bridge for people unfamiliar with New Japan who were thinking of crossing over from traditional western wrestling.
New Japan have placed quite a few American wrestlers in notable roles in the show (Anderson, Styles, Omega, Shelley etc) which I think is to help entice non-Japanese viewers to watch the shows a bit more, by giving them someone who they can understand and follow. On paper, this would appear to be a smart move, and we’ll see if it helps more people to make the transition over.
Both Invasion Attack and Dontaku are available now at njpwworld.com
You can subscribe for 999 yen a month. I suggest anyone who is looking for a regular alternative to WWE to check it out, even if it’s for just a month or two
Not a WWE Network subscriber? Sign up this month for free!
So yes, WWE are doing another in a seemingly endless string of “free months” on The Network for new subscribers. Sitting on the fence and not sure whether to sign up? Well get yourself a free month and find out. Now’s as good a time as ever.
My recent regular watch has been WCW Nitro’s from the spring/summer of 1996. This has mainly been brought about by both Scott Keith reviewing them on his blog (www.rspwfaq.net ) as well as Bryan, Vinny and Craig reviewing them on their weekly podcast over at www.f4wonline.com
I started off around March time and have just finished watching Bash at the Beach 96. It’s funny watching the company evolve and change around this time. When I first started tuning in the company was still being built around Hulk Hogan as the hero babyface taking on recycled 80’s monsters, with Randy Savage as his loyal sidekick.
Then, sometime around April, Hogan skips town to make movies or some such, and the company becomes all about a Randy Savage and Ric Flair blood feud for a while. The shows improve exponentially at this point, as Ric Flair cuts many a wild promo while openly spending the Macho Man’s alimony (While it also being suggested that he’s nailing Savage’s ex-wife Elizabeth during this. Her footing the bill for Flair’s mad escapades is just so funny for some reason and great heel shtick). Savage goes promptly nuts and awesomeness ensues.
Add to that the interesting layered storyline between Lex Luger and Sting, wherein Luger was a heel but babyface Sting was still his friend and thusly getting dragged into all sorts of situations that he didn’t want to be dragged into, and it really wasn’t surprising why Nitro was doing so well at this point in time.
The show really was captivating, even if lots of points on it didn’t make sense and storylines seemed to change on a whim. If you get a chance, I’d recommend watching one of the Raw’s from that time period to compare and contrast the two. Nitro seems fresh and edgy while Raw feels stale and by the numbers.
And then on the 29th May 1996, Scott Hall appears for the first time and everything goes nuclear. This is another instance where some storylines are modified and others are downright changed completely to accommodate the “invasion” of Hall and later Kevin Nash.
Though it is somewhat jarring to see so many things get chucked out with the bath water to accommodate the arrival of The Outsiders, Lex Luger is just a full-fledged babyface all of a sudden without much explanation for instance, the fact remains that the storyline of two wrestlers invading and causing havoc makes compulsive viewing.
Kevin Nash in particular as a snarky big guy is brilliant. On the go home show for Bash at the Beach, he and Hall purchase tickets for the show and sit on the front row. When security guards come over to inspect them, Nash yells mockingly “We came to see the big boys!”
An angle on an earlier show sees The Outsiders crash a tag title match with baseball bats, so ARMED POLICE come out to stop them! It’s amazing seeing WCW, a company not usually renowned for getting new people over, do such a masterful job of making these two men look like such a gigantic threat to the company. They had nothing but baseball bats and WCW were so freaked out that they required policemen with guns to counter them. Just incredible stuff!
I can’t recommend these shows strongly enough. Well worth your time considering they’re free for a month if you’re a brand new subscriber.
I also highly recommend you read Keith’s rants as well. They make a great companion piece to the actual shows. Scott’s irrational love for a certain JTTS makes for great reading to boot.
Head to www.wwe.com/network to sign up
Head to www.rspwfaq.net to read Scott Keith’s musings
And head to www.f4wonline.com to listen to the Bryan and Vinny Show, along with other shows. Sign up and you can get even MORE content, along with both the Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly Newsletters
Here’s hoping I’ve made money for someone today. Hey, if I like something I try to spread the word. The world of a wrestling fan would be worse off without these things to populate it
One final plug. Grand Pro Wrestling returns to the Rose Club Hindley this Friday. Visit www.grandprowrestling.co.uk for further information
In addition, Future Shock Wrestling returns to Prestwich this Saturday, when Jack Gallagher takes on Zack Gibson. For more information, visit www.futureshockwrestling.co.uk for further information
And that, to quote Carl Clinch, is AAAAAALLLLLLLLLL the plugs
Watch some wrestling this week, there’s plenty on offer!
Peace Out
Monday, 27 April 2015
This and That: More sour grapes from the Red and White section of London
So, how was everyone’s weekend?
Mine was awesome when it came to football. Saturday I ventured down to Edgeley Park to watch Stockport County’s final game of the Conference North season against Harrogate Town. County played poorly in the first half but ended up coming back to win 2-1 and end the season on a high.
County’s big push for Season Ticket renewals for next year was the promise of promotion to the Conference Premier. While it is positive to show such ambition, I do worry that it will be a big ask with the side currently at County’s disposal. Hopefully some undiscovered diamonds can be unearthed and County can advance up to the next tier.
The fact that 2,601 people decided to show up for a fixture in England’s sixth tier shows that there is a market for local football in Stockport. You would hope that should County get promotion, the crowds would increase further. I’m certain there’ll be a good crowd for the local derby with FC United next season, if nothing else. So long as it doesn’t clash with Everton, I’ll make sure to attend the Edgeley portion of that derby.
On Sunday, I was in attendance at Goodison Park as Everton gained an impressive 3-0 victory over a Manchester United side that had been in good form leading up to the contest. Truth be told, Marouane Fellaini missed an incredible chance to score while the game was still at 1-0, which could have turned the game.
As it was, Fellaini’s miss was followed up with two more goals from Everton and the three points were professionally secured.
I’m delighted with the result, as you can imagine. James McCarthy and John Stones both played very well and the match highlighted how important both are to Everton. Hopefully Everton can hold onto them, as I’m sure there will be no shortage of suitors in the summer transfer window. The same could be said for Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas.
Everton have had a disappointing season, but this remarkably strong finish suggests that should enough of the big stars remain, with some of the dead wood being replaced, Everton may just have a decent season next term. It’s the hope that kills you.
One of the big talking points of the weekend though was surely Chelsea’s hard earned point against Arsenal at The Emirates, something that caused much disconcertion among certain folk in the footballing world.
Indeed, following the contest, Arsenal fans serenaded Chelsea with chants about how boring they were. Biting satire, I’m sure you will agree. I can’t surely be the only one who was a bit perturbed with the churlish attitudes of the assorted Gooners in attendance?
Let us not forget, that when Arsenal won the title in 1989 and 1991 under the stewardship of George Graham, they were known as a deeply negative team. Graham’s famed offside trap tactics won many a close game for Arsenal.
Did the Gooners chant “Boring, boring Arsenal” at the time? Of course not! They were loving it! They would chant, with indefatigable glee, “1-0 to The Arsenal!” as Graham and his sides squeezed blood from a stone to secure silverware.
Long before Arsene Wenger was winning titles playing lovely football with the likes of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, Arsenal were loathed for being a dire defensive outfit.
And it’s not even like that’s a bad thing. Graham did what he had to do to win trophies, just as Jose Mourinho is doing now. What I can’t stand is the barefaced hypocrisy from the Arsenal support. Even if they weren’t supporting the club at that time, they should be aware enough of their own history enough to realise the irony of mugging off another team for negative tactics.
The further irony is that Chelsea in the past were renowned for a being an exciting flair team. From the Osgoods to the Zola’s, Chelsea were a good cup team who put on exciting footballing exhibitions. Back in the early 90’s the roles of Arsenal and Chelsea were very much reversed. It’s refreshing to see so many Chelsea fans admit that they don’t mind this reverse as they’re happy to have the silverware. Such honesty is hard to come by in the modern game.
And therein lies the rub. Supporters of Arsenal and the football "purist" supporters of other clubs, including my own, wouldn't be half as bothered with the tactics on show if our clubs were using them and winning trophies.
Considering some of the Arsenal support like to taunt Chelsea for their supposed lack of history (which ignores all the FA Cups the team won prior to Abramovich’s millions) some of them seem to be very unclear about their own clubs history.
What it all boils down to is sour grapes.
John Terry, despicable though he is at times, was celebrating wildly after the 0-0 draw because his side had essentially sown up the title. The fact that they’d been overly defensive to secure the point didn’t matter to him or his manager in the slightest.
Football, is a results business and Jose Mourinho got the result he needed.
Even when Arsenal were winning things playing nice football under Wenger, they still had Adams, Viera and Keown providing defensive grit when necessary.
I hate the antiseptic and covertly cynical approach of "Tikki Takka", but if Everton started doing it and won the Premier League, you wouldn't hear me complaining. It would be the same if they used the defensive approach of Mourinho.
Basically, for any Arsenal supporter to complain about Chelsea’s tactics is just another example of their entrenched entitlement. Mourinho’s tactics worked while Wenger’s didn’t. Take your lack of winning the title with some good grace and have a think about your own clubs history before insulting Chelsea on their supposed lack of one.
Peace Out
Saturday, 25 April 2015
The Everton Shopping List
Transfer speculation is a part of football that is ingrained in your average football supporter.
No matter who your team has on their current team sheet, most of us are always looking at other players that we think could improve the squad. Ultimately, it makes sense. Players age, suffer injuries and sometimes get their heads turned by other clubs, so there’s always a reasonable argument to be made to be looking at other players.
As an Evertonian, I was generally happy with the clubs starting XI as the season began. However, outside of John Stones and maybe Muhammed Besic, it’s hard to make an argument that any of Everton’s squad has actually had a good season.
Besic has looked promising, even though he isn’t the finished article yet. He’s had a decent first season though and I feel optimistic about his future. He always looks one challenge away from a Red card, but he fights for the cause and never gives anything but 100%
He’s the sort of aggressive CDM that I always dreamed of being when I used to play in my youth. The best thing about him to me is the accuracy of his tackles. Besic isn’t a Souness type who doesn’t really care about catching or even hurting the man. Besic wants the ball and nothing but the ball, and he times his tackles accordingly. I think no one is more perturbed when he commits a foul than he himself. He’s dedicated himself to the art of tackling, and I can respect that.
Stones has been solid every time he’s played this season. He’s an excellent defensive prospect, and is a shoe in for Club player of the season in my honest opinion. Hopefully that’s mirrored by the rest of the fan base and also those within the club.
However, outside of those two, I honestly think every senior player in the squad needs to be held under scrutiny after this season, some more than others.
Romelu Lukaku broke Everton’s European goal record this season but hasn’t had as good a season as last term. That being said, he’s still young and has time to come good, so he’d be near the bottom of the list for me in regards to people getting criticism
I can’t say the same for Arouna Kone however. My level of dislike for Kone isn’t as high as some other supporters that you’ll come across. In fact, I don’t actively dislike him at all. I actually kind of like him. The memes of him riding varying different animals only endeared the man to me. However, I do think it’s probably time to move him on next term.
As far as replacing him goes, I was leaning towards promoting from the youth set up, but I’m thinking maybe a loan spell for some of the younger strikers could be more beneficial at this stage.
It’s always hard to gage with a younger player what will benefit them more. With someone like Chris Long, he’s still quite young so the best thing for him could be to get some regular playing minutes. He would most certainly be behind Lukaku in the pecking order, as would be Connor McAlney.
There’s also the risk that thrusting either player into the position as back up could be a case of too much too soon.
As a fan base, we generally do quite poorly with giving the younger players in the team a chance. Long or McAlney could enter competent performances but not amazing ones, thus leading to the usual section of naysayers declaring that they aren’t good enough. We do this with pretty much every young player. Even Ross Barkley gets overly criticised if he doesn’t have a 9 out 10 rating in every match.
But what if indeed they aren’t ready?
We’ve had some good defenders come through the youth ranks in Tyias Browning, Seamus Coleman and Shane Duffy. We’ve also had some good midfielders in Barkley and Kieran Dowell. Mason Springthorpe was a relatively decent goalkeeper too.
However, have we had a top level striker come through the youth ranks since Wayne Rooney? Kissock didn’t work out, we all know what happened with Jose Baxter and Hallam Hope never really got any traction at the club.
Is it right to have a youth player as first choice back up if Lukaku goes down? I’d feel perfectly fine with plugging in Browning or Garbutt to the squad if a defender went down injured. If Lukaku went down with injury or suspension and we only had Long to replace him, I’m not sure how I’d feel.
If you’re a young defender, you’ve got other defenders to fall back on. Same if you’re a midfielder. If you’re a young striker, it really is you up there on your own under full glare of the spotlight. I think it’s a great credit to a lad like Harry Kane that he’s been able to perform so well in such situations.
I’d certainly like to see Long and McAlney set some minutes in pre-season and maybe some minutes in the early months of the season. The good thing about the loan market is that you have some more flexibility in when you can arrange them as opposed to transfers. Long could have a few games for the first team and then be sent to a team in The Championship for more minutes if need be.
Should Kone leave, I feel another striker who has played regular first team football would be required to come in, if only to bring some experience to the table.
I’ve decided to look at one goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker that Everton could use to shore up the ranks. In some cases, multiple players could be required in certain areas, but for lengths sake, I’ll limit it to one player. The players named were selected using a mixture of what I’d like to see, what I think the manager wants and also the calibre of player that Everton could attract.
Goalkeeper
Who: Costel Pantilimon
Why: League Cup winner and did well whenever called upon as backup for City. I work with City fans who really have no negative opinions on him whatsoever and quite a few were sad to see him go. Only 28 years old, so has a good 5 years in him yet.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: It depends on whether Sunderland stay up I imagine. If they go down, there could potentially be a fire sale and he might be sold to raise funds. Everton could probably get a good deal for him. If Sunderland stay up, they would be less willing to sell, which might put him out of our price range.
Defender
Who: Virgil Van Dijk
Why: I’ve been a big fan of this lad for a while. Good defensively, can play it out of the back like Martinez wants and also takes a mean free kick. He’s got future star written all over him. He could be plugged straight into the squad. I’m fully confident that Van Dijk will be first choice for Holland in the next 2-3 years
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I’m pretty sure Van Dijk wants to move from Scotland to a bigger league. At the end of the day, he wants to play for Holland and he increases his chances exponentially if he moves to the Premier League. He’d probably get a lot of minutes for Everton, which would surely appeal to him, but there are other clubs who are looking at him. Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Man United have been linked with him. All of those clubs would probably look more attractive to him from a prestige standpoint. There’s also the fact that Celtic will be very unwilling to sell him unless it’s for a decent price. We might find that we get priced out of the market if this goes to a bidding war.
Midfielder
Who: Tom Cleverley
Why: Let’s face it, he’s signing so we might as well plan for life with him in the team. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s terrible, but I’m also completely unenthused that he currently seems to be our marque signing. He could conceivably do a job for us and combined with some other signings, his incoming wouldn’t be too grim.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I think he’s nailed on. Martinez has been expressing an interest all season and will probably move planets to get him.
Striker
Who: Danny Ings
Why: Imagine the reaction across the park if we poached him from them? On a serious note, despite his recent goal drought, Ings has had a good season and I think he’d make a good addition to the striking options upfront. It could be that signing Ings might light a fire under Lukaku. They might even make a good partnership if played together.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: Not very likely I say. No transfer fee, as he’d be out of contract, but I’m pretty certain he’s Liverpool bound. I’d like to have him at Everton though.
So, if Everton managed to acquire the players listed, how do I think they’d line up?
I’d personally go for a 3-5-2 formation of
Pantilimon
Stones, Jagielka, Van Dijk
Coleman, Barkley, Cleverley, McCarthy, Baines
Ings, Lukaku
With a bench of Robles, Browning, Galloway, Besic, McGeady (Sadly, I think Mirallas will be off in the summer), Naismith and Long
The formation could potentially swap between a 3 or 5 at the back, should the need arise. I think that’s a decent enough Starting XI that isn’t based completely in the realms of fantasy. Whether we get any of the aforementioned players remains to be seen, but with that team I think we’d give anyone a game.
I’m probably way off, I usually am, but hey-ho
Peace Out
No matter who your team has on their current team sheet, most of us are always looking at other players that we think could improve the squad. Ultimately, it makes sense. Players age, suffer injuries and sometimes get their heads turned by other clubs, so there’s always a reasonable argument to be made to be looking at other players.
As an Evertonian, I was generally happy with the clubs starting XI as the season began. However, outside of John Stones and maybe Muhammed Besic, it’s hard to make an argument that any of Everton’s squad has actually had a good season.
Besic has looked promising, even though he isn’t the finished article yet. He’s had a decent first season though and I feel optimistic about his future. He always looks one challenge away from a Red card, but he fights for the cause and never gives anything but 100%
He’s the sort of aggressive CDM that I always dreamed of being when I used to play in my youth. The best thing about him to me is the accuracy of his tackles. Besic isn’t a Souness type who doesn’t really care about catching or even hurting the man. Besic wants the ball and nothing but the ball, and he times his tackles accordingly. I think no one is more perturbed when he commits a foul than he himself. He’s dedicated himself to the art of tackling, and I can respect that.
Stones has been solid every time he’s played this season. He’s an excellent defensive prospect, and is a shoe in for Club player of the season in my honest opinion. Hopefully that’s mirrored by the rest of the fan base and also those within the club.
However, outside of those two, I honestly think every senior player in the squad needs to be held under scrutiny after this season, some more than others.
Romelu Lukaku broke Everton’s European goal record this season but hasn’t had as good a season as last term. That being said, he’s still young and has time to come good, so he’d be near the bottom of the list for me in regards to people getting criticism
I can’t say the same for Arouna Kone however. My level of dislike for Kone isn’t as high as some other supporters that you’ll come across. In fact, I don’t actively dislike him at all. I actually kind of like him. The memes of him riding varying different animals only endeared the man to me. However, I do think it’s probably time to move him on next term.
As far as replacing him goes, I was leaning towards promoting from the youth set up, but I’m thinking maybe a loan spell for some of the younger strikers could be more beneficial at this stage.
It’s always hard to gage with a younger player what will benefit them more. With someone like Chris Long, he’s still quite young so the best thing for him could be to get some regular playing minutes. He would most certainly be behind Lukaku in the pecking order, as would be Connor McAlney.
There’s also the risk that thrusting either player into the position as back up could be a case of too much too soon.
As a fan base, we generally do quite poorly with giving the younger players in the team a chance. Long or McAlney could enter competent performances but not amazing ones, thus leading to the usual section of naysayers declaring that they aren’t good enough. We do this with pretty much every young player. Even Ross Barkley gets overly criticised if he doesn’t have a 9 out 10 rating in every match.
But what if indeed they aren’t ready?
We’ve had some good defenders come through the youth ranks in Tyias Browning, Seamus Coleman and Shane Duffy. We’ve also had some good midfielders in Barkley and Kieran Dowell. Mason Springthorpe was a relatively decent goalkeeper too.
However, have we had a top level striker come through the youth ranks since Wayne Rooney? Kissock didn’t work out, we all know what happened with Jose Baxter and Hallam Hope never really got any traction at the club.
Is it right to have a youth player as first choice back up if Lukaku goes down? I’d feel perfectly fine with plugging in Browning or Garbutt to the squad if a defender went down injured. If Lukaku went down with injury or suspension and we only had Long to replace him, I’m not sure how I’d feel.
If you’re a young defender, you’ve got other defenders to fall back on. Same if you’re a midfielder. If you’re a young striker, it really is you up there on your own under full glare of the spotlight. I think it’s a great credit to a lad like Harry Kane that he’s been able to perform so well in such situations.
I’d certainly like to see Long and McAlney set some minutes in pre-season and maybe some minutes in the early months of the season. The good thing about the loan market is that you have some more flexibility in when you can arrange them as opposed to transfers. Long could have a few games for the first team and then be sent to a team in The Championship for more minutes if need be.
Should Kone leave, I feel another striker who has played regular first team football would be required to come in, if only to bring some experience to the table.
I’ve decided to look at one goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker that Everton could use to shore up the ranks. In some cases, multiple players could be required in certain areas, but for lengths sake, I’ll limit it to one player. The players named were selected using a mixture of what I’d like to see, what I think the manager wants and also the calibre of player that Everton could attract.
Goalkeeper
Who: Costel Pantilimon
Why: League Cup winner and did well whenever called upon as backup for City. I work with City fans who really have no negative opinions on him whatsoever and quite a few were sad to see him go. Only 28 years old, so has a good 5 years in him yet.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: It depends on whether Sunderland stay up I imagine. If they go down, there could potentially be a fire sale and he might be sold to raise funds. Everton could probably get a good deal for him. If Sunderland stay up, they would be less willing to sell, which might put him out of our price range.
Defender
Who: Virgil Van Dijk
Why: I’ve been a big fan of this lad for a while. Good defensively, can play it out of the back like Martinez wants and also takes a mean free kick. He’s got future star written all over him. He could be plugged straight into the squad. I’m fully confident that Van Dijk will be first choice for Holland in the next 2-3 years
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I’m pretty sure Van Dijk wants to move from Scotland to a bigger league. At the end of the day, he wants to play for Holland and he increases his chances exponentially if he moves to the Premier League. He’d probably get a lot of minutes for Everton, which would surely appeal to him, but there are other clubs who are looking at him. Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Man United have been linked with him. All of those clubs would probably look more attractive to him from a prestige standpoint. There’s also the fact that Celtic will be very unwilling to sell him unless it’s for a decent price. We might find that we get priced out of the market if this goes to a bidding war.
Midfielder
Who: Tom Cleverley
Why: Let’s face it, he’s signing so we might as well plan for life with him in the team. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s terrible, but I’m also completely unenthused that he currently seems to be our marque signing. He could conceivably do a job for us and combined with some other signings, his incoming wouldn’t be too grim.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I think he’s nailed on. Martinez has been expressing an interest all season and will probably move planets to get him.
Striker
Who: Danny Ings
Why: Imagine the reaction across the park if we poached him from them? On a serious note, despite his recent goal drought, Ings has had a good season and I think he’d make a good addition to the striking options upfront. It could be that signing Ings might light a fire under Lukaku. They might even make a good partnership if played together.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: Not very likely I say. No transfer fee, as he’d be out of contract, but I’m pretty certain he’s Liverpool bound. I’d like to have him at Everton though.
So, if Everton managed to acquire the players listed, how do I think they’d line up?
I’d personally go for a 3-5-2 formation of
Pantilimon
Stones, Jagielka, Van Dijk
Coleman, Barkley, Cleverley, McCarthy, Baines
Ings, Lukaku
With a bench of Robles, Browning, Galloway, Besic, McGeady (Sadly, I think Mirallas will be off in the summer), Naismith and Long
The formation could potentially swap between a 3 or 5 at the back, should the need arise. I think that’s a decent enough Starting XI that isn’t based completely in the realms of fantasy. Whether we get any of the aforementioned players remains to be seen, but with that team I think we’d give anyone a game.
I’m probably way off, I usually am, but hey-ho
Peace Out
Monday, 20 April 2015
This and That: Celtic's paranoia once again to the fore
This weekend, Inverness Caledonian Thistle won a thrilling Scottish Cup Semi Final against Celtic 3-2 after extra time.
The win will set up a final with Falkirk, who sneaked past my Hibees 1-0 in the other Semi Final the previous day.
However, controversy reigns in regard to Celtic’s defeat, thanks mostly to an incident involving Caley Thistle player Josh Meekings in the first half.
Meekings clearly obstructed a Leigh Griffiths header that was goal bound with his hand. This should have led to a Celtic penalty and a red card for Meekings. Instead, the decision wasn’t given and this has led to much unrest amongst the Celtic support.
At the time of the handball, Celtic were 1-0 up and in control. Should the penalty have been given, Celtic would have had an excellent chance to enter the second half 2-0 up with an extra man advantage.
Now, there’s no doubt the decision was a bad one. Referee Steve McLean had a decent enough view of the incident to give the penalty, but chose not to. It was a bad decision, but in my opinion that’s all it was. However, amongst certain areas of the Celtic support, the desire to be the victim has once again reared its ugly head.
The following is a direct copy and paste from comments on The Guardian match report (Link at the bottom of the article). It was written by poster aaronbeck
· Celtic have only lost 5 games in Scotland this season. Steven McLean has been the referee for 3 of them.
Celtic's record without Steven McLean as referee: 30 wins, 5 draws, 2 defeats
Celtic's record with Steven McLean as referee: 1 win, 0 draws, 3 defeats
https://twitter.com/footballisfixed
Steven McLean's brother played for Rangers. He chose to represent Northern Ireland instead of his native Scotland.
The assistant referee did not 'fail to spot' the incident, as is evident from the video below. He can be seen excitedly repeating the same phrase into his microphone three times. He appears to be saying 'Its a Pen!''Its a Pen!' 'Its a Pen!'
http://videocelts.com/2015/04/blogs/latest-news/did-alan-muir-shout-penalty-penalty-to-stevie-mclean
Mr McLean needs to explain why he chose to ignore what his assistant was telling him.
The SFA needs to explain why, given his background and track record, they selected Mr McLean to referee an important match involving Celtic. (End of quote)
So yeah, the reason for the bad descision wasn’t just human error but a concerted plot to deny Celtic advancement to the final. It’s a giant conspiracy to keep them out of Scottish Footballs showpiece event
I would ask Mr Beck, if that is his real name, one question however. Why would the SFA not want Celtic in the final?
Seriously, why wouldn’t they?
Out of all the possible finals, the SFA has ended up with the least marketable one possible. Falkirk and Inverness are both good sides with dedicated support, but honestly, if Hampden is anything more than half full for that final I’ll be amazed. You’ll be able to hunt wild deer in the atrium FFS.
The best final on offer by far would have been Hibs Vs Celtic. It would have presented the best chance to fill the stadium and would have also provided the best TV ratings. It also would have likely produced the best actual football match to boot.
Rather than prove that nefarious powers were at work to fix the final, I would argue both results are the best argument you could give for proving otherwise. This is quite possibly the worst final you could have out of all the possible options. Again, no offence intended to Falkirk and Thistle, but their support is smaller in number than the two Irish giants.
I have no doubt that the match between Falkirk and Thistle has all the possibility of being an exciting match, but I’m a football fan and can view it as such. To your average man/woman/educated asparagus plant on the street, this final is not a box office final. It will most surely do poorly in the ratings comparatively to what it would have done with Celtic in the match instead.
Celtic supporters need to realise that rather than being the plucky club fighting underneath against the establishment, they now ARE the establishment. They are the biggest and best team in the country. When decisions go against them now, you can rest assured it’s because the referee has had a mare and not because of some kind of grand conspiracy to keep them out of showpiece events.
The SFA wants, nay NEEDS, Celtic to be the featured attraction right now because they are a proven draw. I bet many an SFA official was pulling his or her hair out when that third Caley goal went in. They might as well have burned a bag full of money in an oil drum.
I, for one, am glad we have two slightly less fashionable teams fighting it out to decide who wins the cup, but a lot of people really won’t.
Celtic fans need to take defeat in their stride and move on. Every time they lose can’t always be the result of dirty pool. It’s getting to the point of ridiculousness now. The ref made a bad decision, you lost, that’s all there is to it. Nine times out of ten, you’ll get decisions going for you as you’re a big club. On this occasion, there was the perfect storm of ineptitude from the officials that led to your downfall. Get over it
Peace Out
http://www.theguardian.com/discussion/p/47kvd
The win will set up a final with Falkirk, who sneaked past my Hibees 1-0 in the other Semi Final the previous day.
However, controversy reigns in regard to Celtic’s defeat, thanks mostly to an incident involving Caley Thistle player Josh Meekings in the first half.
Meekings clearly obstructed a Leigh Griffiths header that was goal bound with his hand. This should have led to a Celtic penalty and a red card for Meekings. Instead, the decision wasn’t given and this has led to much unrest amongst the Celtic support.
At the time of the handball, Celtic were 1-0 up and in control. Should the penalty have been given, Celtic would have had an excellent chance to enter the second half 2-0 up with an extra man advantage.
Now, there’s no doubt the decision was a bad one. Referee Steve McLean had a decent enough view of the incident to give the penalty, but chose not to. It was a bad decision, but in my opinion that’s all it was. However, amongst certain areas of the Celtic support, the desire to be the victim has once again reared its ugly head.
The following is a direct copy and paste from comments on The Guardian match report (Link at the bottom of the article). It was written by poster aaronbeck
· Celtic have only lost 5 games in Scotland this season. Steven McLean has been the referee for 3 of them.
Celtic's record without Steven McLean as referee: 30 wins, 5 draws, 2 defeats
Celtic's record with Steven McLean as referee: 1 win, 0 draws, 3 defeats
https://twitter.com/footballisfixed
Steven McLean's brother played for Rangers. He chose to represent Northern Ireland instead of his native Scotland.
The assistant referee did not 'fail to spot' the incident, as is evident from the video below. He can be seen excitedly repeating the same phrase into his microphone three times. He appears to be saying 'Its a Pen!''Its a Pen!' 'Its a Pen!'
http://videocelts.com/2015/04/blogs/latest-news/did-alan-muir-shout-penalty-penalty-to-stevie-mclean
Mr McLean needs to explain why he chose to ignore what his assistant was telling him.
The SFA needs to explain why, given his background and track record, they selected Mr McLean to referee an important match involving Celtic. (End of quote)
So yeah, the reason for the bad descision wasn’t just human error but a concerted plot to deny Celtic advancement to the final. It’s a giant conspiracy to keep them out of Scottish Footballs showpiece event
I would ask Mr Beck, if that is his real name, one question however. Why would the SFA not want Celtic in the final?
Seriously, why wouldn’t they?
Out of all the possible finals, the SFA has ended up with the least marketable one possible. Falkirk and Inverness are both good sides with dedicated support, but honestly, if Hampden is anything more than half full for that final I’ll be amazed. You’ll be able to hunt wild deer in the atrium FFS.
The best final on offer by far would have been Hibs Vs Celtic. It would have presented the best chance to fill the stadium and would have also provided the best TV ratings. It also would have likely produced the best actual football match to boot.
Rather than prove that nefarious powers were at work to fix the final, I would argue both results are the best argument you could give for proving otherwise. This is quite possibly the worst final you could have out of all the possible options. Again, no offence intended to Falkirk and Thistle, but their support is smaller in number than the two Irish giants.
I have no doubt that the match between Falkirk and Thistle has all the possibility of being an exciting match, but I’m a football fan and can view it as such. To your average man/woman/educated asparagus plant on the street, this final is not a box office final. It will most surely do poorly in the ratings comparatively to what it would have done with Celtic in the match instead.
Celtic supporters need to realise that rather than being the plucky club fighting underneath against the establishment, they now ARE the establishment. They are the biggest and best team in the country. When decisions go against them now, you can rest assured it’s because the referee has had a mare and not because of some kind of grand conspiracy to keep them out of showpiece events.
The SFA wants, nay NEEDS, Celtic to be the featured attraction right now because they are a proven draw. I bet many an SFA official was pulling his or her hair out when that third Caley goal went in. They might as well have burned a bag full of money in an oil drum.
I, for one, am glad we have two slightly less fashionable teams fighting it out to decide who wins the cup, but a lot of people really won’t.
Celtic fans need to take defeat in their stride and move on. Every time they lose can’t always be the result of dirty pool. It’s getting to the point of ridiculousness now. The ref made a bad decision, you lost, that’s all there is to it. Nine times out of ten, you’ll get decisions going for you as you’re a big club. On this occasion, there was the perfect storm of ineptitude from the officials that led to your downfall. Get over it
Peace Out
http://www.theguardian.com/discussion/p/47kvd
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
WWE New Year's Revolution 2005 Review
WWE New Years Revolution
The WWE Network has been substantially eating into my life since I signed up just before the Royal Rumble.
Despite the odd case of bizarre music dubbing (Prince Iaukea’s faux “Purple Rain” theme is edited out but X-Factors “Uncle Kracker” theme remains intact?) I’ve been having a mighty fine time watching the shows and Pay Per Views that I had never seen before but had always wanted to.
I’ve also been re-watching shows that I have seen before, just to see whether the crusty hands of time have altered my memories of them in anyway.
Sometimes I’ll want to watch a show for a particular reason, but other times I’ll just skim through the shows on offer until I see one that I feel like watching.
New Years Revolution was a show I hadn’t watched since way back in 2005 when it first happened. I remember being a bit “meh” on it when it first happened, while also remembering a lot of people on the internet complaining about it. Thus, I decided to watch it again.
The event took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. To my knowledge, this has been the first and last time that WWE produced a live Pay Per View Event from Puerto Rico. The crowd were, understandably, excited to see such a big event.
Commentators for the show were Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, with Jonathon Coachman popping in towards the end as well.
Opening Match
Raw Tag Titles
Champions – William Regal and Eugene
Vs
Challengers – Tyson Tomko and Christian
The Background
This was back before the Raw and Smackdown Tag Titles had been unified. The Eugene character was an interesting one to say the least. Played by Nick Dinsmore, Eugene was Eric Bischoff’s storyline nephew who had some form of Special Needs. It was never outright said by WWE that this was the case, but it was strongly implied that he was mentally ill (Although WWE never felt it was relevant to furnish us with what Mental Illness he actually had)
As a consequence, Eugene had a childlike innocence to him. His other main character trait was that he was a huge wrestling fan, who had watched wrestling so much that he had developed the ability to copy the moves of his favourite wrestlers like some form of savant. At first, the gimmick was popular and it looked like Eugene was going to reach higher parts of the card than originally expected. However, during the summer of 2004 he’d taken part in a feud with Triple H, which had ended with him being decisively beaten. He faded into the mid card before becoming nothing more than enhancement talent.
Upon his debut, William Regal had been assigned to Eugene by Eric Bischoff, so as to look after him. At first Regal had hated the idea, but during the ensuing months, he grew to care for Eugene and they ended up firm friends and Tag Team Champions to boot.
Tomko was essentially just Christian’s muscle, brought in to be his “Problem Solver”. Christian himself was firmly entrenched as a sneaky mid card heel. He would eventually leave WWE later in 2005, frustrated with his lack of push.
There wasn’t really a particular heated storyline going into this. Christian and Tomko were essentially just “Challengers of the Month” and this was the show they were to get their shot.
The Match
Pretty much a standard opening tag contest. Eugene performed a lot of comedy in the opening exchanges, which the crowd responded to reasonably well. Eugene and Christian entered solid enough performances but Regal had an off night and Tomko wasn’t particularly good at this point in his career. There were a couple of instances where Tomko and Regal were on different pages and had some sloppy exchanges as consequence.
Christian entered a serviceable performance. He looked annoyed at Eugene when he was supposed to, taunted the crowd now and then and was basically just “there”. Disappointing from him really, considering his experience in tag wrestling. Tomko lumbered around and did what he could. Regal seemed to not have his head together at all for this for some reason. Maybe he was carrying an injury or was struggling with fatigue due to the travel involved to get to San Juan?
Heels got the heat on Eugene as well as a further heat on Regal. Eugene got the hot tag but injured himself during his comeback. He threw a dropkick and landed very badly on his leg, causing a legit injury. The match was hastily ended, with Eugene getting a weak roll up on Tomko.
WINNERS – EUGENE AND REGAL
RATING - *1/2
OVERALL THOUGHTS – Standard formula tag match with an abrupt ending due to Eugene’s injury. Can’t really fault any of the guys in the match for the finish, as they were making the best of a bad situation. The match up to that point had been average at best and would have probably ended up around the ** mark if the ending had gone as planned. Basic opener that the crowd responded to well.
I should point out that there were numerous skits by the swimming pool involving Maria, Christy Hemme, Candice Michelle and Stacy Keibler in bikini’s. It all built up to them having a chicken fight in the pool. It was what it was, but didn’t really add anything to the show and I must question actually paying to take them to San Juan just for that.
Second Match
Women’s Title
Champion – Lita
Vs
Challenger – Trish Stratus
The Background
In storyline, Lita had been forced to marry Kane and was due to give birth to his Demon Spawn™ until an unforeseen accident, which we’ll cover in more detail later on, caused her to miscarry.
Trish, being the heel of the piece, decided to mock Lita about losing her baby. It was tasteless but at least created the desired reaction of fans wanting to see Lita beat Trish up, so every cloud. The two had an abrupt match at Survivor Series which had ended in a Disqualification, and was notable for Lita causing Trish to bleed from her nose.
The re-match was a hotly contested bout on Raw, that was actually the Main Event on that particular show, which saw Lita win the title clean to gain a measure of revenge. This was probably the highest status the much beleaguered Women’s Title would ever reach in WWE.
The match on this show was a continuation of the storyline.
The Match
Unfortunately this was the second match on the show that had to go home early due to a legit injury. Lita dove off the apron early in the bout and injured her leg severely. Unable to carry on, an audible was called and Trish kicked Lita to win the match and the title.
WINNER – TRISH STRATUS
RATING – I can’t really give it one as there wasn’t much of a match up to the injury and it would be unfair to mark the ladies down for having to go home early.
OVERALL THOUGHTS – Looked like it was going to be another solid match between the two before the injury. I’m not sure if Trish was due to win anyway and they just went to the planned finish early, or if Lita was due to win and they changed the finish on the fly. Lita would come back after this to help train Trish’s Wrestlemania opponent Christy Hemme. However, the feud would fizzle out in Spring as both women would take their characters in different directions
Third Match
Intercontinental Title
Champion – Shelton Benjamin
Vs
Challenger – Maven
The Background
Maven was fresh off a heel turn around this show. I can’t pinpoint the exact date, but I know he was a face at Survivor Series so it was sometime between that show and this one.
Shelton had been champion since October when he’d defeated Chris Jericho. He’d been pushed as an Upper Mid Card face that could hang with the Main Eventers, but didn’t often defeat them.
Maven had pinned Benjamin in a tag match to set up his role as challenger.
The Match
This match got a lot of negativity at the time but I remembered loving it then and I still love it now. Maven stalled for a few minutes at the start of the match, drawing a decent amount of heat while doing so. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore and rolled out of the ring to grab a microphone.
He cut a promo on the audience telling them to be quiet as they were distracting him. This of course only caused the fans to boo him louder and yell obscenities at him in Spanish. Maven continued to insult the crowd declaring “I can’t concentrate with you talking all that gibberish” which went down about as well as you could imagine and still cracks me up every time I see it.
After cutting his promo, Maven finally got into the ring again where he was promptly rolled up by Benjamin for the win. Fabulous!
WINNER – SHELTON BENJAMIN
RATING – Again, I can’t really rate it as a traditional wrestling match because it was essentially an angle more than anything else.
OVERALL THOUGHTS – A lot of people got cheesed off by this match back in the day because having something like this on a Pay Per View was seen as a rip off. I really don’t see that though. To me, a Maven Vs Shelton match would hardly have been a classic. It would have been, at best, an average mid card match and nothing more.
By booking it the way they did, it made the match unique and also gave Maven a great opportunity to get his smarmy heel act over. He was excellent in this and incited the crowd beautifully. Plus, it was funny to watch the arrogant heel get his comeuppance and it made Shelton look strong in the process.
If the first two matches hadn’t had abrupt finishes as a result of injuries, this match probably wouldn’t have received as much of a backlash as it did. I think the fact they followed two interrupted matches with an extended angle made people have a more negative view of this match than was deserved.
Following the match, Maven called Shelton back in to face him again, as he wasn’t ready previously. Shelton obliged, drilled him with a T-Bone Suplex, and beat him again. Marvellous!
Fourth Match
Muhammad Hassan with Daivari
Vs
Jerry Lawler with Jim Ross
The Background
With Islamaphobia rife throughout the Western World, the WWE decided to deal with it in their usual calm and measured way, by debuting Hassan as a stereotypical angry Muslim.
At first, it seemed like they were going to go a different direction with the gimmick and play up the idea that Hassan and Daivari were both normal Americans who were mistreated just because they happened to look Asian (Hassan himself was actually Italian) but by this show they’d gone the whole hog and had just made them evil men who wanted to put Americans in The Camel Clutch.
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler had gotten on the bad side of the two, by decrying their Anti-American comments, so naturally a match was made between the potential hot new heel Hassan and the aging half retired Lawler. This was supposed to get Hassan over somehow. Don’t look at me, I didn’t book it
The Match
The first problem with the match is the length. It takes up nearly 10 minutes, which is far too long for what it needed to be. Secondly, with Lawler wrestling and Ross seconding him, the match had no commentary whatsoever, which only hurt it further.
Hassan sold far too much for a guy they supposedly had top card plans for. He should have polished Lawler off pretty quickly and moved on to fry bigger fish, but that’s not how the match was booked at all.
The work wasn’t particularly thrilling either. I like Jerry Lawler and think he is a good storyteller in the ring, but this match was just flat and uninteresting. Hassan eventually pinned Lawler with a Complete Shot after a tedious contest.
WINNER – MUHAMMAD HASSAN
Rating - *
OVERALL THOUGHTS – Boring match that did nothing to elevate Hassan and was a waste of Lawler’s Legend Status. Hassan would start gaining a little bit of momentum over the following months once he started working with fulltime roster members. He’d even get to face Hulk Hogan at Backlash. In the summer of 2005, he was traded to Smackdown and was positioned to be Batista’s Summer Slam foil.
However, in the build up to a match with The Undertaker where he’d earn his #1 Contendership status to Batista’s Title, WWE shot an offensive angle where a group of balaclava clad mercenaries attacked Undertaker with a piano wire while Hassan prayed outside the ring. Awful as this was, WWE probably would have got away with it, but two days after it was shot there was an Islamic Fundamentalist attack on London.
WWE couldn’t edit the footage in time, or so they claimed, so instead played a pitiful disclaimer at the bottom of the screen while the angle commenced. This netted them a boatload of negative publicity and things got so bad that they decided to “kill off” the Hassan character at that year’s Great American Bash. Undertaker Power Bombed him off a stage and we never saw him again. Ah, WWE, classy till the end. Marc Copani, who played Hassan, got into acting I think. I wish him well to be honest; it wasn’t like he booked any of the stuff that got WWE in hot water. He was essentially made the scapegoat and kicked to the curb, when he’d merely been doing what he was told.
Fifth Match
Snitsky
Vs
Kane
The Background
Remember the whole “Lita being pregnant” thing from the second match? WWE decided that they wouldn’t deliver on Lita actually having a child with Kane. With that decision made, they needed a way of getting rid of the imaginary child. Snitsky was the man who ended up with that job.
One week Gene Snitsky was just there on Raw, and nothing would ever be the same again. After Kane had forced Lita to carry his wicked offspring, he then naturally followed that up with the logical step of forcing her to marry him. Ah, young love.
This led to a number of occasions where they’d squabble and Kane would lose a match or two as direct consequence. Kane was booked against Snitsky on Raw one week, who everyone watching just assumed was an enhancement guy who was there to put Kane over. Oh, if only we had been so lucky.
In fact, Kane and Lita had another one of their weekly arguments during the match. While they argued, Snitsky grabbed a nearby chair and walloped Kane in the back with it. The force of the chair shot sent Kane tumbling onto Lita, thus causing her to miscarry.
“Hmm” I thought “It’s strange that they’d use a Jobber of the Week for this sort of angle as opposed to a recurring character”. Oh how wrong I was. Because Snitsky was not there as part of a one shot deal, no sir. Next week on television, Jim Ross interviewed Snitsky about the incident. Snitsky, showing no compassion or sympathy, simply declared that “It wasn’t my Fault!” and thus a catchphrase was born.
Snitsky continued to show no lament for his actions. In fact, he even seemed perversely proud of them. At one point he even punted a doll into the crowd! Snitsky was here to stay and WWE decided to go all the way with him and actually let him put Kane out of action in October for a prolonged period of time. This show was Kane’s return and he was looking for revenge.
The Match
This is a strange one for me. The match told a decent story and had sustained crowd heat throughout. However, both men got very tired and as consequence the offence on display was beyond sloppy.
At one point, the brawl spilled to the outside of the ring and Snitsky removed the protective mats, exposed the dreaded concrete. Snitsky then tried to Piledrive Kane onto said concrete, but Kane countered with a back drop and Snitsky took a bump on the unprotected floor. This was a standard spot but the crowd went nuts for it. San Juan really, REALLY liked Kane and it made the match much more entertaining than it normally would have been.
There was some good progression in the match as far as storytelling. Earlier on, Kane tried his Top Rope Clothesline, but Snitsky countered with a raised boot. Later on Kane tried it again and this time managed to get it, which popped the crowd. I don’t know why, but I liked the little touch of him failing the first time. It made it seem like he’d achieved something when he finally connected with the move.
There were some slow points though. Snitsky used at least two rest holds throughout the bout. And, as much as I’d like to ignore it, the work wasn’t good. Snitsky in particular was out of position a few times and hit some sloppy looking moves.
In the end, Kane drilled Snitsky with a Tombstone to pick up the victory, but it was a very ugly looking one that almost ended in disaster. Kane lost his grip of Snitsky on the move and nearly dropped him right on top of his head. It gave me cause to shudder when they showed the replay.
WINNER – KANE
RATING - *1/2
OVERALL THOUGHTS – I’m torn on this one. I was hovering around ** for it but I couldn’t in good conscience give a match this awful that high of a rating. The work in this match leaves a lot to be desired, but both guys work really hard and the live crowd enjoyed it. I personally enjoyed it as well and got into the story of the match, but in the cold harsh reality of star ratings, this was a bad match. Still, I give props to both men as the match build and story made sense and they were clearly putting their all into it.
The feud raged on for a bit longer after this and there was a genuine possibility that Wrestlemania would feature Kane and Undertaker Vs Snitsky and Heidenreich, but thankfully WWE came to their senses and we weren’t subject to having that atrocity foisted upon us.
Main Event
Elimination Chamber for The Vacant Raw World Title
Shawn Michaels as Guest Referee
Triple H with Ric Flair
Vs
Edge
Vs
Batista
Vs
Chris F’ing Benoit
Vs
Chris Jericho
Vs
Randy Orton
The Background
Triple H had won the Title in September, cutting the legs off hot new babyface Orton in the process, and held it until December of 2004. Due to a disputed finish in a Triple Threat Match between Triple H, Edge and Benoit, the belt was held up with the new Champion to be crowned in the Elimination Chamber
Michael’s was instilled as Trouble Shooting Referee™, thanks in large part to having issues with pretty much everyone in the match at some point or another. At this point though Michaels was firmly entrenched in a feud with Edge, who was trying to get over as an opportunistic heel. It would take winning the first ever Money In The Bank Match and stealing Matt Hardy’s bird to finally get Edge past the Upper Midcard to Main Event barrier. At this point he was a moderately over heel with something missing.
The big story going into the match was the rise of Batista. Obstensibly he was there merely to help Triple H win, but ever so small cracks were starting to appear in his relationship with Triple H. Hints were given that maybe he’d take the Title for himself.
Orton was pretty much dead in the water as a face by this point and would be a heel again about a month after this. Ditto for Jericho, although his heel turn would take a bit longer. Benoit was coming off probably the most successful year of his career, which had seen him win the Title at Wrestlemania XX and generally have great matches with everyone from Triple H to Sylvain Grenier.
The Match
What struck me first off was how over everyone in the match was. The San Juan crowd gave everyone, barring Edge, a babyface reaction. Triple H, the companies top heel at the time, received a thunderous ovation, as did Batista. Edge was seemingly the only one to draw any heel heat on his way to the ring. As a result, everyone was clearly jazzed by the reaction and were all up for having a good match.
With such a collection of excellent workers, the match was naturally a good watch. Benoit and Jericho started out and hit each other really hard, as they were always want to do. Edge’s elimination eventually came at the hands of Michaels. Edge had clobbered Michaels by mistake, so a perturbed Michaels had Super Kicked him to lead to a pinfall. Benoit and Jericho had Triple in a dual submission, causing him to be rescued by Batista
Batista was given scalps of both Benoit and Jericho and was generally booked very strong. It eventually came down to Batista, Orton and Triple H. Orton was able to clock Batista with an RKO and eliminate him. Of interest though was the fact that Triple H could have potentially saved Batista, but he instead left him to his fate. This was a nice subtle touch that added another layer to the Evolution storyline.
Batista eventually clocked Orton with a Lariat before leaving The Chamber, which allowed Triple H to spike Orton with a Pedigree to beat him once again.
WINNER – TRIPLE H
Rating - ****
OVERALL THOUGHTS – An excellent Main Event that made Batista look like a monster while also sowing the seeds for his eventual face turn a month later. Orton was made to look like a chump again, but that was par for the course at this point in his babyface run.
Benoit, as always, was the glue that held everything together and Edge gave a good showing of himself up until his elimination. Back in the day, I very much had a feeling of “What was the point of all that if the belt just ends up with Triple H again?”, but looking at it now I feel a bit differently.
This was the match that tied up some loose ends while also laying down the tarmac for the Road to Wrestlemania. This was the match that essentially finished Orton as a top level face, ending that chapter of his career so he could switch back heel in time for his match at Wrestlemania with The Undertaker. It also set up the Edge and Michaels marriage for the next month, which in turn led to Michaels Vs Angle for Wrestlemania while also giving Edge something else to complain about before he won the briefcase at Mania.
And it also set Batista up as a monster, while also teasing that at some point he might kick Evolution to the curb. This match was the perfect way to get things rolling for Wrestlemania and it was a brilliant match to boot!
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS – Not a particularly great show this one, but it does have its moments. I would recommend watching maybe just The Maven/Shelton match and the Chamber match on The Network. Kane/Snitsky is an acquired taste, but you may get some enjoyment out of it if you fast forward through the rest holds and can put up with the sloppy offence.
Peace Out
The WWE Network has been substantially eating into my life since I signed up just before the Royal Rumble.
Despite the odd case of bizarre music dubbing (Prince Iaukea’s faux “Purple Rain” theme is edited out but X-Factors “Uncle Kracker” theme remains intact?) I’ve been having a mighty fine time watching the shows and Pay Per Views that I had never seen before but had always wanted to.
I’ve also been re-watching shows that I have seen before, just to see whether the crusty hands of time have altered my memories of them in anyway.
Sometimes I’ll want to watch a show for a particular reason, but other times I’ll just skim through the shows on offer until I see one that I feel like watching.
New Years Revolution was a show I hadn’t watched since way back in 2005 when it first happened. I remember being a bit “meh” on it when it first happened, while also remembering a lot of people on the internet complaining about it. Thus, I decided to watch it again.
The event took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. To my knowledge, this has been the first and last time that WWE produced a live Pay Per View Event from Puerto Rico. The crowd were, understandably, excited to see such a big event.
Commentators for the show were Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, with Jonathon Coachman popping in towards the end as well.
Opening Match
Raw Tag Titles
Champions – William Regal and Eugene
Vs
Challengers – Tyson Tomko and Christian
The Background
This was back before the Raw and Smackdown Tag Titles had been unified. The Eugene character was an interesting one to say the least. Played by Nick Dinsmore, Eugene was Eric Bischoff’s storyline nephew who had some form of Special Needs. It was never outright said by WWE that this was the case, but it was strongly implied that he was mentally ill (Although WWE never felt it was relevant to furnish us with what Mental Illness he actually had)
As a consequence, Eugene had a childlike innocence to him. His other main character trait was that he was a huge wrestling fan, who had watched wrestling so much that he had developed the ability to copy the moves of his favourite wrestlers like some form of savant. At first, the gimmick was popular and it looked like Eugene was going to reach higher parts of the card than originally expected. However, during the summer of 2004 he’d taken part in a feud with Triple H, which had ended with him being decisively beaten. He faded into the mid card before becoming nothing more than enhancement talent.
Upon his debut, William Regal had been assigned to Eugene by Eric Bischoff, so as to look after him. At first Regal had hated the idea, but during the ensuing months, he grew to care for Eugene and they ended up firm friends and Tag Team Champions to boot.
Tomko was essentially just Christian’s muscle, brought in to be his “Problem Solver”. Christian himself was firmly entrenched as a sneaky mid card heel. He would eventually leave WWE later in 2005, frustrated with his lack of push.
There wasn’t really a particular heated storyline going into this. Christian and Tomko were essentially just “Challengers of the Month” and this was the show they were to get their shot.
The Match
Pretty much a standard opening tag contest. Eugene performed a lot of comedy in the opening exchanges, which the crowd responded to reasonably well. Eugene and Christian entered solid enough performances but Regal had an off night and Tomko wasn’t particularly good at this point in his career. There were a couple of instances where Tomko and Regal were on different pages and had some sloppy exchanges as consequence.
Christian entered a serviceable performance. He looked annoyed at Eugene when he was supposed to, taunted the crowd now and then and was basically just “there”. Disappointing from him really, considering his experience in tag wrestling. Tomko lumbered around and did what he could. Regal seemed to not have his head together at all for this for some reason. Maybe he was carrying an injury or was struggling with fatigue due to the travel involved to get to San Juan?
Heels got the heat on Eugene as well as a further heat on Regal. Eugene got the hot tag but injured himself during his comeback. He threw a dropkick and landed very badly on his leg, causing a legit injury. The match was hastily ended, with Eugene getting a weak roll up on Tomko.
WINNERS – EUGENE AND REGAL
RATING - *1/2
OVERALL THOUGHTS – Standard formula tag match with an abrupt ending due to Eugene’s injury. Can’t really fault any of the guys in the match for the finish, as they were making the best of a bad situation. The match up to that point had been average at best and would have probably ended up around the ** mark if the ending had gone as planned. Basic opener that the crowd responded to well.
I should point out that there were numerous skits by the swimming pool involving Maria, Christy Hemme, Candice Michelle and Stacy Keibler in bikini’s. It all built up to them having a chicken fight in the pool. It was what it was, but didn’t really add anything to the show and I must question actually paying to take them to San Juan just for that.
Second Match
Women’s Title
Champion – Lita
Vs
Challenger – Trish Stratus
The Background
In storyline, Lita had been forced to marry Kane and was due to give birth to his Demon Spawn™ until an unforeseen accident, which we’ll cover in more detail later on, caused her to miscarry.
Trish, being the heel of the piece, decided to mock Lita about losing her baby. It was tasteless but at least created the desired reaction of fans wanting to see Lita beat Trish up, so every cloud. The two had an abrupt match at Survivor Series which had ended in a Disqualification, and was notable for Lita causing Trish to bleed from her nose.
The re-match was a hotly contested bout on Raw, that was actually the Main Event on that particular show, which saw Lita win the title clean to gain a measure of revenge. This was probably the highest status the much beleaguered Women’s Title would ever reach in WWE.
The match on this show was a continuation of the storyline.
The Match
Unfortunately this was the second match on the show that had to go home early due to a legit injury. Lita dove off the apron early in the bout and injured her leg severely. Unable to carry on, an audible was called and Trish kicked Lita to win the match and the title.
WINNER – TRISH STRATUS
RATING – I can’t really give it one as there wasn’t much of a match up to the injury and it would be unfair to mark the ladies down for having to go home early.
OVERALL THOUGHTS – Looked like it was going to be another solid match between the two before the injury. I’m not sure if Trish was due to win anyway and they just went to the planned finish early, or if Lita was due to win and they changed the finish on the fly. Lita would come back after this to help train Trish’s Wrestlemania opponent Christy Hemme. However, the feud would fizzle out in Spring as both women would take their characters in different directions
Third Match
Intercontinental Title
Champion – Shelton Benjamin
Vs
Challenger – Maven
The Background
Maven was fresh off a heel turn around this show. I can’t pinpoint the exact date, but I know he was a face at Survivor Series so it was sometime between that show and this one.
Shelton had been champion since October when he’d defeated Chris Jericho. He’d been pushed as an Upper Mid Card face that could hang with the Main Eventers, but didn’t often defeat them.
Maven had pinned Benjamin in a tag match to set up his role as challenger.
The Match
This match got a lot of negativity at the time but I remembered loving it then and I still love it now. Maven stalled for a few minutes at the start of the match, drawing a decent amount of heat while doing so. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore and rolled out of the ring to grab a microphone.
He cut a promo on the audience telling them to be quiet as they were distracting him. This of course only caused the fans to boo him louder and yell obscenities at him in Spanish. Maven continued to insult the crowd declaring “I can’t concentrate with you talking all that gibberish” which went down about as well as you could imagine and still cracks me up every time I see it.
After cutting his promo, Maven finally got into the ring again where he was promptly rolled up by Benjamin for the win. Fabulous!
WINNER – SHELTON BENJAMIN
RATING – Again, I can’t really rate it as a traditional wrestling match because it was essentially an angle more than anything else.
OVERALL THOUGHTS – A lot of people got cheesed off by this match back in the day because having something like this on a Pay Per View was seen as a rip off. I really don’t see that though. To me, a Maven Vs Shelton match would hardly have been a classic. It would have been, at best, an average mid card match and nothing more.
By booking it the way they did, it made the match unique and also gave Maven a great opportunity to get his smarmy heel act over. He was excellent in this and incited the crowd beautifully. Plus, it was funny to watch the arrogant heel get his comeuppance and it made Shelton look strong in the process.
If the first two matches hadn’t had abrupt finishes as a result of injuries, this match probably wouldn’t have received as much of a backlash as it did. I think the fact they followed two interrupted matches with an extended angle made people have a more negative view of this match than was deserved.
Following the match, Maven called Shelton back in to face him again, as he wasn’t ready previously. Shelton obliged, drilled him with a T-Bone Suplex, and beat him again. Marvellous!
Fourth Match
Muhammad Hassan with Daivari
Vs
Jerry Lawler with Jim Ross
The Background
With Islamaphobia rife throughout the Western World, the WWE decided to deal with it in their usual calm and measured way, by debuting Hassan as a stereotypical angry Muslim.
At first, it seemed like they were going to go a different direction with the gimmick and play up the idea that Hassan and Daivari were both normal Americans who were mistreated just because they happened to look Asian (Hassan himself was actually Italian) but by this show they’d gone the whole hog and had just made them evil men who wanted to put Americans in The Camel Clutch.
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler had gotten on the bad side of the two, by decrying their Anti-American comments, so naturally a match was made between the potential hot new heel Hassan and the aging half retired Lawler. This was supposed to get Hassan over somehow. Don’t look at me, I didn’t book it
The Match
The first problem with the match is the length. It takes up nearly 10 minutes, which is far too long for what it needed to be. Secondly, with Lawler wrestling and Ross seconding him, the match had no commentary whatsoever, which only hurt it further.
Hassan sold far too much for a guy they supposedly had top card plans for. He should have polished Lawler off pretty quickly and moved on to fry bigger fish, but that’s not how the match was booked at all.
The work wasn’t particularly thrilling either. I like Jerry Lawler and think he is a good storyteller in the ring, but this match was just flat and uninteresting. Hassan eventually pinned Lawler with a Complete Shot after a tedious contest.
WINNER – MUHAMMAD HASSAN
Rating - *
OVERALL THOUGHTS – Boring match that did nothing to elevate Hassan and was a waste of Lawler’s Legend Status. Hassan would start gaining a little bit of momentum over the following months once he started working with fulltime roster members. He’d even get to face Hulk Hogan at Backlash. In the summer of 2005, he was traded to Smackdown and was positioned to be Batista’s Summer Slam foil.
However, in the build up to a match with The Undertaker where he’d earn his #1 Contendership status to Batista’s Title, WWE shot an offensive angle where a group of balaclava clad mercenaries attacked Undertaker with a piano wire while Hassan prayed outside the ring. Awful as this was, WWE probably would have got away with it, but two days after it was shot there was an Islamic Fundamentalist attack on London.
WWE couldn’t edit the footage in time, or so they claimed, so instead played a pitiful disclaimer at the bottom of the screen while the angle commenced. This netted them a boatload of negative publicity and things got so bad that they decided to “kill off” the Hassan character at that year’s Great American Bash. Undertaker Power Bombed him off a stage and we never saw him again. Ah, WWE, classy till the end. Marc Copani, who played Hassan, got into acting I think. I wish him well to be honest; it wasn’t like he booked any of the stuff that got WWE in hot water. He was essentially made the scapegoat and kicked to the curb, when he’d merely been doing what he was told.
Fifth Match
Snitsky
Vs
Kane
The Background
Remember the whole “Lita being pregnant” thing from the second match? WWE decided that they wouldn’t deliver on Lita actually having a child with Kane. With that decision made, they needed a way of getting rid of the imaginary child. Snitsky was the man who ended up with that job.
One week Gene Snitsky was just there on Raw, and nothing would ever be the same again. After Kane had forced Lita to carry his wicked offspring, he then naturally followed that up with the logical step of forcing her to marry him. Ah, young love.
This led to a number of occasions where they’d squabble and Kane would lose a match or two as direct consequence. Kane was booked against Snitsky on Raw one week, who everyone watching just assumed was an enhancement guy who was there to put Kane over. Oh, if only we had been so lucky.
In fact, Kane and Lita had another one of their weekly arguments during the match. While they argued, Snitsky grabbed a nearby chair and walloped Kane in the back with it. The force of the chair shot sent Kane tumbling onto Lita, thus causing her to miscarry.
“Hmm” I thought “It’s strange that they’d use a Jobber of the Week for this sort of angle as opposed to a recurring character”. Oh how wrong I was. Because Snitsky was not there as part of a one shot deal, no sir. Next week on television, Jim Ross interviewed Snitsky about the incident. Snitsky, showing no compassion or sympathy, simply declared that “It wasn’t my Fault!” and thus a catchphrase was born.
Snitsky continued to show no lament for his actions. In fact, he even seemed perversely proud of them. At one point he even punted a doll into the crowd! Snitsky was here to stay and WWE decided to go all the way with him and actually let him put Kane out of action in October for a prolonged period of time. This show was Kane’s return and he was looking for revenge.
The Match
This is a strange one for me. The match told a decent story and had sustained crowd heat throughout. However, both men got very tired and as consequence the offence on display was beyond sloppy.
At one point, the brawl spilled to the outside of the ring and Snitsky removed the protective mats, exposed the dreaded concrete. Snitsky then tried to Piledrive Kane onto said concrete, but Kane countered with a back drop and Snitsky took a bump on the unprotected floor. This was a standard spot but the crowd went nuts for it. San Juan really, REALLY liked Kane and it made the match much more entertaining than it normally would have been.
There was some good progression in the match as far as storytelling. Earlier on, Kane tried his Top Rope Clothesline, but Snitsky countered with a raised boot. Later on Kane tried it again and this time managed to get it, which popped the crowd. I don’t know why, but I liked the little touch of him failing the first time. It made it seem like he’d achieved something when he finally connected with the move.
There were some slow points though. Snitsky used at least two rest holds throughout the bout. And, as much as I’d like to ignore it, the work wasn’t good. Snitsky in particular was out of position a few times and hit some sloppy looking moves.
In the end, Kane drilled Snitsky with a Tombstone to pick up the victory, but it was a very ugly looking one that almost ended in disaster. Kane lost his grip of Snitsky on the move and nearly dropped him right on top of his head. It gave me cause to shudder when they showed the replay.
WINNER – KANE
RATING - *1/2
OVERALL THOUGHTS – I’m torn on this one. I was hovering around ** for it but I couldn’t in good conscience give a match this awful that high of a rating. The work in this match leaves a lot to be desired, but both guys work really hard and the live crowd enjoyed it. I personally enjoyed it as well and got into the story of the match, but in the cold harsh reality of star ratings, this was a bad match. Still, I give props to both men as the match build and story made sense and they were clearly putting their all into it.
The feud raged on for a bit longer after this and there was a genuine possibility that Wrestlemania would feature Kane and Undertaker Vs Snitsky and Heidenreich, but thankfully WWE came to their senses and we weren’t subject to having that atrocity foisted upon us.
Main Event
Elimination Chamber for The Vacant Raw World Title
Shawn Michaels as Guest Referee
Triple H with Ric Flair
Vs
Edge
Vs
Batista
Vs
Chris F’ing Benoit
Vs
Chris Jericho
Vs
Randy Orton
The Background
Triple H had won the Title in September, cutting the legs off hot new babyface Orton in the process, and held it until December of 2004. Due to a disputed finish in a Triple Threat Match between Triple H, Edge and Benoit, the belt was held up with the new Champion to be crowned in the Elimination Chamber
Michael’s was instilled as Trouble Shooting Referee™, thanks in large part to having issues with pretty much everyone in the match at some point or another. At this point though Michaels was firmly entrenched in a feud with Edge, who was trying to get over as an opportunistic heel. It would take winning the first ever Money In The Bank Match and stealing Matt Hardy’s bird to finally get Edge past the Upper Midcard to Main Event barrier. At this point he was a moderately over heel with something missing.
The big story going into the match was the rise of Batista. Obstensibly he was there merely to help Triple H win, but ever so small cracks were starting to appear in his relationship with Triple H. Hints were given that maybe he’d take the Title for himself.
Orton was pretty much dead in the water as a face by this point and would be a heel again about a month after this. Ditto for Jericho, although his heel turn would take a bit longer. Benoit was coming off probably the most successful year of his career, which had seen him win the Title at Wrestlemania XX and generally have great matches with everyone from Triple H to Sylvain Grenier.
The Match
What struck me first off was how over everyone in the match was. The San Juan crowd gave everyone, barring Edge, a babyface reaction. Triple H, the companies top heel at the time, received a thunderous ovation, as did Batista. Edge was seemingly the only one to draw any heel heat on his way to the ring. As a result, everyone was clearly jazzed by the reaction and were all up for having a good match.
With such a collection of excellent workers, the match was naturally a good watch. Benoit and Jericho started out and hit each other really hard, as they were always want to do. Edge’s elimination eventually came at the hands of Michaels. Edge had clobbered Michaels by mistake, so a perturbed Michaels had Super Kicked him to lead to a pinfall. Benoit and Jericho had Triple in a dual submission, causing him to be rescued by Batista
Batista was given scalps of both Benoit and Jericho and was generally booked very strong. It eventually came down to Batista, Orton and Triple H. Orton was able to clock Batista with an RKO and eliminate him. Of interest though was the fact that Triple H could have potentially saved Batista, but he instead left him to his fate. This was a nice subtle touch that added another layer to the Evolution storyline.
Batista eventually clocked Orton with a Lariat before leaving The Chamber, which allowed Triple H to spike Orton with a Pedigree to beat him once again.
WINNER – TRIPLE H
Rating - ****
OVERALL THOUGHTS – An excellent Main Event that made Batista look like a monster while also sowing the seeds for his eventual face turn a month later. Orton was made to look like a chump again, but that was par for the course at this point in his babyface run.
Benoit, as always, was the glue that held everything together and Edge gave a good showing of himself up until his elimination. Back in the day, I very much had a feeling of “What was the point of all that if the belt just ends up with Triple H again?”, but looking at it now I feel a bit differently.
This was the match that tied up some loose ends while also laying down the tarmac for the Road to Wrestlemania. This was the match that essentially finished Orton as a top level face, ending that chapter of his career so he could switch back heel in time for his match at Wrestlemania with The Undertaker. It also set up the Edge and Michaels marriage for the next month, which in turn led to Michaels Vs Angle for Wrestlemania while also giving Edge something else to complain about before he won the briefcase at Mania.
And it also set Batista up as a monster, while also teasing that at some point he might kick Evolution to the curb. This match was the perfect way to get things rolling for Wrestlemania and it was a brilliant match to boot!
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS – Not a particularly great show this one, but it does have its moments. I would recommend watching maybe just The Maven/Shelton match and the Chamber match on The Network. Kane/Snitsky is an acquired taste, but you may get some enjoyment out of it if you fast forward through the rest holds and can put up with the sloppy offence.
Peace Out
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