ONE NIGHT STAND Report

Carlito Vs Shelton Benjamin ( * * ¾ ) – UK Title action kicked off this PPV from Lubbock, Texas, and although it was a bit brief (clocking in a just over 7 minutes in duration) there were more than enough big moves on show to get the crowd going, so in that sense it did what every opening match should do. Benjamin was the clear crowd favourite, and who knows that might have spurred him on. Because he continued his recent upswing and cleanly pinned Carlito to claim the UK title.

Melina Vs Nikita ( * ½ ) – Your average, run of the mill, no-storyline womens match. It was competent but the two of them were fighing a losing battle against crowd apathy. In the end, Melina retained and that’s about all you really need to know.

Brock Lesnar Vs Sean O’Haire ( * * ) – A big man battle, and a fairly decent one to boot. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly Flair/Steamboat but it was a decent, well put together bout which at least kept the fans entertained. As you might expect, O’Haire’s descent into hell continued with yet another high profile loss and Lesnar took the win following the F-5.

Tag Team Gauntlet ( * * * ) – Eric Bischoff’s attempts to make AMW “earn” their title shot led to this 7 team gauntlet, which we were assured would be drawn “fairly”. And it seemed as if it was when AMW weren’t one of the teams to start the match. This was a decent enough affair and at least had a storyline point behind it, and, towards the end especially, the heat was intense from the crowd. The order of results was as follows;
JBL & Edge defeated James Gibson & Bryan Danielson
Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho defeated JBL & Edge
Benoit & Jericho defeated Brian Kendrick & Paul London
America’s Most Wanted defeated Benoit & Jericho
AMW defeated Second City Saints
AMW defeated MNM to win the gauntlet match.
So all in all this was a good gimmick match which did what it set out to do. Although guest colour commentators Lance Storm and Charles Haas were less than pleased that AMW won and would be facing them at MuscleMania.

Raven Vs “The Graduate” Phil Jackson ( * * * ) - Paul Wardle stepped aside for this one and let his “mentor” Raven take on his erstwhile nemesis Jackson. It was a tidy little encounter too, albeit one slightly marred by the constant interfering by Wardle. Fans seemed to be expecting someone to make the save on Jackson’s behalf, but that help never came and Raven won following the Evenflow DDT. Wardle was particularily happy and taunted Jackson for having “no friends” (although we do believe he’ll find a “friend” in time for MM).

Xavier Vs Ed Leslie (DUD) - Ed Leslie…yes THE Ed Leslie who’s entire RWA/IWF career amounts to one match, and one which he lost at that. So really, if Xavier HAD to humilate one of Hulk Hogan’s friends in a match on the run-up to MuscleMania (the match hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it IS happening) why couldn’t they have made someone up? Who would really have cared? But no, Leslie it was and I suppose the only thing to be thankful about is that he got absolutely ZERO offence in. Xav was superb in his heelish way, and we did get to see the delightul Vicky hit Leslie with a Hurrancanara, but really this was a nothing match, reminiscent of the days when the PWF filmed three months of TV at a time in Alton Towers. Still the images of a bloodied Leslie will make for great scenes when the IWF put together their Xav/Hogan video package.

Morgan/Orton/HHH/Reso Vs Angle/Kanyon/Dean Roberts/HBK ( * * * * ¼ ) – Well if ever a show needed a killer main event, this might have been it. And boy did the headliners deliver. There was little more to this than MM opponents facing each other (hint, hint) but such was the star power that the Texan fans lapped this up from start to finish. Throw in the mutual distrust of MM headliners Morgan and Orton (who alongside Kurt Angle will be in the main event itself of MM) and the fact that Dean and HBK can never get along for very long and you had some intriguing side issues as well. In the end, Kurt Angle pinned Matt Morgan, but only after Randy Orton had hit his own partner with the RKO. A fantastic main event, and one which kept the MM pot bubbling very nicely indeed.

ONE NIGHT STAND Card

IWF One Night Stand
Sunday 19th March 2006
United Spirit Arena, Lubbock TX

Matt Morgan, Randy Orton, Triple H & Jay Reso
Vs
Kurt Angle, Chris Kanyon, Dean Roberts & Shawn Michaels

WORLD WOMENS TITLE:
Melina Vs Nikita

TAG TEAM GAUNTLET MATCH:
Winning Team gets World Tag Title Shot at MuscleMania
PARTICIPANTS:
America’s Most Wanted, Second City Saints, MNM,
Brian Kendrick & Paul London, JBL & Edge,
James Gibson & Bryan Danielson, Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho

UNITED KINGDOM TITLE:
Carito Vs Shelton Benjamin

Raven Vs “The Graduate” Phil Jackson

Brock Lesnar Vs Sean O’Haire

Xavier Vs Ed Leslie