WWE Saturday's Night Main Event July 2006

Hello and welcome to another edition of Seanomaniac Wrestling Reviews, the only wrestling review series on the internet more likely to walk out on your company than Neville or Nia Jax! It’s time for another review and it is time for WWE’s Saturday Night Main Event of July 2006. Yes, WWE held two Saturday Night Main Events that year, the first before Wrestlemania and now this one before Great American Bash and Summerslam. There has been a bit of change in WWE with RVD losing his championship to Edge following his arrest alongside Sabu, RVD would also drop his ECW Championship to The Big Show so things were not great for The Master of The Five Star Frog Splash. Anyways, this card features Sabu vs Steven Richards in an Extreme Rules Match, DX taking on The Spirit Squad in a rematch from Vengeance and John Cena vs Edge for the WWE Championship. Shall this be mostly filler like that last show? Let’s find out!

Opening Promo

Highlights from Raw and Smackdown are shown with no real hype packages for any of the matches, it would be considered weak by anyone’s standards.

Hulk Hogan Is Here!

It is all about Hogan Knows Best as Hogan and Brooke appear on my screen, long before the duo would be despised in TNA. Hogan and Brooke talk before Randy Orton comes out with a rose for Brooke. Orton challenges Hogan to a match at Summerslam, Hogan accepts the match for Summerslam against Randy Orton.

Batista/Rey Mysterio/Bobby Lashley vs Mark Henry/King Booker/Finlay

Batista returns! There is two big moments that just have happened at Saturday’s Night Main Event. Batista was injured at the hands of Mark Henry, Batista had been out with injury since December of 2005. So, it is great to see Batista back on Smackdown when the show is always looking weak in comparison to Raw. King Booker is on a hot streak, finally finding a place in the WWE upon winning The King of The Ring. JBL is also on commentary with Tazz moving to ECW with the relaunch of the brand.

Lashley and Finlay begin the match, Lashley shoulder blocks Finlay. Irish whip, Lashley has Finlay by the boot. Belly to belly suplex by Lashley, stand-off between the six men with a commercial break. Finlay has Mysterio in a sleeper, huge clothesline by Finlay. Reverse chinlock by Finlay, Mysterio escapes and a huge springboard moonsault with Booker making the save. Finlay throws Hornswoggle in the ring, Hornswoggle nails Mysterio with the shillelagh. Booker tags into the match, stomping all over Mysterio. Tag to Henry, headbutt by Henry. Henry misses a huge splash, kicks by Mysterio.

Tag to Batista, the referee missed the tag as Booker distracted the referee. Booker and Finlay put the boots to Mysterio, Mysterio nails Booker with a hurricanrana. Hot-tag to Batista, clotheslines all around. Scoop slams, powerslam. Spinebuster to Booker, Lashley has Finlay on the floor. Booker eats a 619, Batista Bomb on Booker and this match is over.

Quick match, this night is more about showing off WWE and having fun, do not expect anything resembling a pay per view quality match on this show. I thought it was fun, the fans thought it was fun so good to see Batista back in a WWE ring.

Winners: Batista/Mysterio/Lashley over Finlay/Booker/Henry via Batista Bomb!

DX Mocks Vince Mcmahon/Diva Bull-Riding

DX takes over Vince’s promo with the Spirit Squad, mocking Vince once more with a silly voiceover implying that Vince wants to be spanked by The Spirit Squad. Divas riding bulls in a sexy way which goes on for far too long, what a waste of time.

Johnny Nitro & Melina vs Carlito & Trish Stratus

More important things on this show with Melina becoming more serious with actual ring attire this time around and Trish Stratus is back from her scary injury at the hands of Mickie James. Also, we are continuing the feud between Nitro and Carlito with Carlito continuing his rise and chasing the championship. Carlito and Nitro enter the ring, Nitro wants no piece of Carlito so Melina and Trish begin. Forearms are traded, Trish smacks around Melina.

Nitro trips Trish off an Irish whip, Melina pounds away on Trish. Trish fights back with chops, Melina hair-pulls Trish down. However, both women sell with both men tagging into the match. Right hands and dropkick by Carlito, wheelbarrow suplex by Carlito. Trish takes out Melina, Nitro eats a Backstabber and this match is over.

Hardly a match, I guess it was nice to see Trish back in the ring but that was hardly worth the price of a ticket.

Winners: Trish/Carlito over Nitro/Melina via Backstabber!

D-Generation X vs The Spirit Squad (Elimination Match)

A rematch from Vengeance, a little change is that this is an elimination match with holding cells on the outside to keep eliminated superstars from entering the match illegally. Mikey and Michaels begin, Mikey attacks Michaels from behind and beats on HBK before a megaphone ends The Spirit Squad’s fun. HBK takes down everyone, the Spirit Squad regroup on the floor. Triple H interrupts with an air-horn, Superkick for Mitch and Mitch is gone.

Commercial break where it looks like the Spirit Squad were riding one another, spinebuster on Johnny and Johnny is eliminated from the match. The Spirit Squad are down to three, Kenny runs from Michaels until Vince nails Michaels with a chair on the ramp. No DQ because screw the rules, tag to Nicky. Forearm by Nicky, Vince comes to ringside for this match. Sleeper by Nicky, HBK counters with a back suplex. Tag to Kenny, Kenny misses his leg drop and a tag to Triple H. Right hands and a high knee, facebuster for Nicky. Spinebuster for Kenny, Mikey saves Kenny from the pedigree. Double clothesline and Pedigree on Nicky with Nicky being eliminated.

Mikey attacks The Game, Mikey runs into a Sweet Chin Music. Mikey is eliminated and Kenny is all alone, scoop slam by Triple H. Michaels nails his elbow drop on Kenny, DX rally the crowd. Vince freaks out at ringside, Sweet Chin Music into a Pedigree and this match is over.

Fun match with typical shenanigans from Vince, I liked the Spirit Squad but they were ruined from the beginning of this feud. I am not sure why they were still world tag team champions, they were made look foolish from beginning to end. The gimmick would be soon gone which was a shame, I feel there could have been a bit more mileage out of the group.

Winners: DX over The Spirit Squad via Pedigree!

Undertaker is Taken Down!

Khali and Big Show form an alliance before Khali asks for a Punjabi Prison Match, Taker comes down to the ring and is laid out by the two monsters, things still look good for Khali and Show has some steam as ECW champion.

(Extreme Rules Match) Sabu vs Steven Richards

Sabu hammers Richard with the chair, Air Sabu in the corner and a beautiful Triple Jump Moonsault with Richards screaming out in pain. Two for Sabu, Sabu pulls out a table. Richards clobbers Sabu to no avail as Sabu dodges in the corner, Richards crotches himself and is laid out on the table. Sabu climbs to the top and drops Richards with an elbow using the chair through the table for the win, follow-up Arabian Facebuster for an exclamation point. Squash match, DUD!

Winner: Sabu over Steven Richards via Elbow Drop!

Randy Orton & Hogan/Bull-Riding Trash

Orton chats up Brooke, Hogan comes in to warn off Orton. Orton RKOS Hogan off the back of the car, Orton looks on happy with his work. Michelle McCool beats Victoria in riding the bull, yawn!

(WWE Championship Match) John Cena vs Edge © W/ Lita

As stated before, RVD got arrested which changed plans on Raw. Edge won the championship, Cena wants his championship back, it is more personal with Edge costing Cena the championship in many ways at ECW’s One Night Stand. Match begins with Edge deciding to leave, Cena gives chase. Right hands by Cena, eye rake by Edge. Hotshot by Cena, Edge is on the apron but Edge lowbridges Cena. Cena dives over the top, commercial break and we are in the ring. Clothesline by Edge, Edge places Cena on the top rope. Edge slips and luckily, everyone ends up ok with no real damage/harm done to either man. Cena fires up, Lita grabs Cena’s foot with Edge booting Cena in the face for two.

Right hands with Cena winning the war, rights and lefts floor Edge. Clotheslines by Cena with a huge shoulder block, spinning side slam to setup The Five Knuckle Shuffle. Cena connects, FU in the middle of the ring with Lita dragging out the referee. Edge misses a spear, STFU from Cena. Lita slaps down the referee and the referee rings the bell. Cena believes he has won the championship but the referee reveals Cena won by DQ. Cena takes the news badly and Edge takes an FU through the announce table.

That was at an electric pace to make up for the lack of quality in the match, DQ finish was nicely done with Cena not seeing the slap so it seemed believable that Cena would think he had won the match. Good setup for their match at Summerslam, I look forward to see where we go from here.

Winner: John Cena over Edge via DQ!

That was WWE’s Saturday Night Main Event of July 2006, a step up on the show from March in my opinion. The match quality was poor but they were some meaningful returns alongside some big announcements like the Punjabi Prison match. It was a breeze to get through and a nice break from the three hour shows, I would not recommend it unless you need to kill a hour. Thanks for reading and remember: There’s always another night!