WWE House Show 3/3/2006

Written by: Bob Colling

There were two matches on the show that were not recorded. Neither of them seem to be epic matches that will be deeply missed. Those matches were Funaki beating Jamie Noble, and Finlay pinning Sylvan.

World Wrestling Entertainment House Show
Date: 3/3/2006
From: Sydney, Australia

Opening Contest: WWE Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms & Kid Kash vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick: Helms and Kendrick kick off the match. Helms gains control on the canvas for a brief moment. Kendrick takes Helms down with a head scissors and a dropkick before tagging in London. Helms comes off the ropes and is met with a double hip toss and fist drop for a near fall. Helms clubs London over the head and works over London in the corner before tagging in Kash who stomps away and clubs away on Paul. London kicks Kash into the corner and follows up with a dropkick in the corner for a near fall. Kash is taken down with a double slam and Kendrick gets a two count. Kash kicks Kendrick a few times and yanks Kendrick down by his hair after Helms distracted Kendrick. Helms gets tagged in and works over Kendrick for a few moments with an uppercut. Helms leg drops Kendrick a few times to get a near fall. Kash delivers a series of knees to Kendrick while the referee is distracted. Kash drives Kendrick down with a series of back breakers and a surfboard but doesn’t get a submission.

Helms backdrops Kendrick and taunts the fans afterward. Kash comes back in and works over Kendrick with a few knee strikes to the back. Kash chops Kendrick in the corner to continue the beating. Kash runs into a spin kick and Kendrick tries to make the tag. London gets tagged in and cleans house with spinning heel kicks. London hits a standing hurricanrana on Kash for a near fall and almost wins after a standing shooting star. Kash is sent over the top to the floor. London and Kendrick head to the top and hit a cross body to the floor on both opponents! London rolls Kash up back in the ring for a two count. Kash goes for a brain buster on London but Kendrick makes the save. Helms drops London face first across his knee and Kendrick hits the Slice Bread on Kash. Kash is double teamed with a Flatliner/kick combo and London pins Kash for the win. (***. A good match with plenty of fast pace action. Everyone looked good in the match and the fans popped for most of the match. A good start to the show.)

Second Contest: Matt Hardy vs. Road Warrior Animal: Early on, Animal uses his size advantage to work over Hardy. Hardy elbows Animal in the corner and leaps off the middle rope and fakes a knee injury. A few officials come out to check on Hardy. Hardy is helped to his feet but attacked by Animal who is tired of waiting. Hardy is knocked to the floor and Animal begins to work over the injured knee. I’m pretty sure Animal is working over the wrong leg that Hardy had been selling as injured, but no one seems to notice that. Hardy avoids a splash in the corner but is still hurting. Hardy counters a slam with a reverse DDT. Hardy plants Animal with the Side Effect! Animal pins Hardy after a dragon screw leg whip and using the ropes for leverage. (1/2*. What a joke of a match as people were not interested in watching it at all. Animal winning a singles match over Hardy is odd to see, as well. How he got a push in 2006 is surprising.)

Third Contest: Orlando Jordan vs. The Boogeyman: Jordan attacks from behind and hits a swinging neck breaker. Jordan wants a referee to come down as he is beating on the Boogeyman. Boogeyman pins Jordan after a spine buster in less than a minute.

Fourth Contest: WWE World Tag Team Champions MNM vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Bobby Lashley: Nitro and Lashley kick off the title match after a few moments of stalling. Lashley puts Nitro on the top rope but doesn’t do anything with the advantage. Bobby controls Nitro on the canvas until Johnny got to the bottom rope. Lashley holds Nitro up with a delayed vertical suplex and drops him down to the canvas. Mysterio tags in and hits a head scissors on Nitro. Mysterio misses a spear and hits the ring post. Mercury tags in and works over the left shoulder. Mercury leg drops Rey’s left shoulder but Rey nearly wins with a rollup. Rey plants Mercury with a wheelbarrow bulldog for a near fall. Lashley tags in and press slams Rey onto Mercury for a two count. Bobby has a cobra clutch on Mercury but doesn’t get a submission. Mercury slaps Lashley and runs around ringside before getting control back in the ring with strikes. Bobby runs over Mercury with a clothesline. Lashley goes for the Dominator but Nitro makes the save and the champs attempt a suplex but Lashley counters with one of his own on both men. Lashley tags in Mysterio, who enters to attempt a 619 on the champs but Melina trips him. Rey goes after her but is met with a clothesline from Nitro on the floor. That gives Mercury control of the match.

Rey is sent hard into the corner where the champs keep control of the bout. Nitro tags in and hits a gut buster on Rey with Mercury. Mysterio dropkicks a seated Mercury. Mercury prevents Mysterio from tagging out and Nitro gets tagged in. Mysterio has an inside cradle on Nitro but the referee is distracted not allowing a pin fall to be counted. Rey fights out of the corner and attempted a wheelbarrow bulldog on Nitro but MNM deliver a face buster for a near fall. Lashley distracts the referee to allow Mysterio being controlled some more. Rey continues to try and make the tag and finally Lashley gets the hot tag. Lashley cleans house with clotheslines and an overhead duplex on Nitro. Lashley press slams Mercury onto Nitro and sends Mercury over the top with a clothesline. Lashley plants Nitro with a running power slam but Mercury breaks up the cover.

Mercury flies over the top thanks to Mysterio avoiding him. Lashley spears Nitro and goes for the Dominator but Mercury enters and hits Bobby with a tag team title to cause the disqualification. (***. Another good tag match on the show as the match saw some good tag work from MNM and Mysterio sell very well for the young team. Lashley played his role very well and appears to be a decent big man worker. The cheap finish makes sense to avoid a title change and either of the baby faces from eating a pin.) After the match, MNM attack Lashley but Mysterio is able to hit the 619 on the heels.

Fifth Contest: WWE United States Champion Chris Benoit vs. Booker T: Early on, Benoit arm drags Booker but it’s a slow start to the title match. Booker works over Benoit in the corner with a few shoulder rams and strikes but Benoit fights back with a series of chops sending Booker to the floor. Booker gets out of a hammerlock with an elbow strike and they trade some chops. Benoit ducks a side kick to drop Booker with a chop. Benoit scoop slams Booker and follows up with an elbow drop. Benoit continues his offense with a snap suplex for a near fall. Booker drops Benoit throat first across the top rope from the apron to gain the advantage. Booker connects with a super kick but only gets a two count on the cover attempt. Booker has a headlock on Benoit but that doesn’t last too long. Benoit ducks a side kick and hits his three German suplexs. Benoit signals for the diving head butt and goes to the top where he hits the move! Benoit covers but Booker pops his shoulder up at two. Benoit goes for the Sharpshooter but Sharmel gets on the apron to cause a distraction. Booker knee lifts Benoit several times and Sharmel delivers a low blow with the referee distracted. Benoit locks in the Crossface and wins the match. (**. Well, I was expecting a longer match than that between these two. Far off from their great series of matches back in the 90s, that’s for sure.)

Main Event: WWE World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry: Taker looks to be getting cornered by the other three guys and he does indeed get triple teamed in the corner. Taker works over Henry while Angle hammers away on Orton in the opposite corner. Angle gets a few stomps in on Taker but gets tossed in the corner and hammered by Taker before falling to the floor. Taker also sends Henry to the floor leaving Orton in the ring with the Deadman. Orton begs for mercy but Taker isn’t going to agree to that and sends Randy over the top to the floor. Angle comes from behind with a school boy for a two count. Angle blocks a choke slam and Henry enters to club away on Taker. Angle and Orton are brawling on the floor with Angle locking in the ankle lock while Orton is draped over the railing. Taker rams Angle back first into the ring post and hammers away on Angle. Henry head butts Angle and steps on his chest to gain control of the bout.

Angle counters a slam attempt by locking in the ankle lock but Orton enters and makes the save. Orton and Angle trade upper cuts with Angle hitting a snap suplex for a near fall. Taker leg drops Henry on the apron as well. Orton stops Taker on the top rope to avoid Old School. Henry sends Angle face first into the ring steps. Orton manages to hit a superplex on Taker for a two count thanks to Henry breaking the count up. Henry misses a splash in the corner and Orton plants him with the RKO but Taker breaks up the pin attempt. Taker successfully hits Old School on Randy but Angle comes up from behind to attempt the Angle Slam but instead Taker delivers a big boot for a near fall. Orton pummels Taker in the corner with strikes and stomps. Angle is sitting on the top turnbuckle trying to recover. Orton attempts a duplex on Angle but Taker goes for a Last Ride only for Orton to slide out of it. Angle drops Taker with the Angle Slam and Henry breaks up the cover. Orton sends Henry to the floor following a dropkick. Taker sits up as Orton is playing to the crowd.

Taker choke slams Orton but gets pulled out of the ring by Henry. Angle enters the ring and hits the Angle Slam on Orton to win the match and retain the title. (**1/2. A good main event between the four men to close the show. Henry seemed to have had done nothing offensively during the match thus making he wonder why he was even in the match. I think people lost interest since they had to keep up with everything going on so the finish felt a little flat. A fine main event as I’ve sat through a lot worse.)

Final Thoughts:
It’s a fine house show to sit through and watch. The opening cruiserweight tag match was the match of the night as they got the crowd going pretty well and the action was entertaining from beginning to end. The tag title match and main event were also entertaining matches making it a good overall show in my estimation.

Thanks for reading.