Man Of Steel Report

1) CM Punk Vs Umaga ( * * * )
So we were straight off into the Man Of Steel Semi-Finals and this was a great way to kick off the evening. Punk really has caught on with the crowds, and whilst the critics keep saying that Umaga is nothing more than your typical stereotypical Samoan savage circa 1970's, there is no denying he's an effective one. He played his part here, brutalising Punk in the early going, but Punk rallied and finally finished off Umaga with the Go2Sleep. The crowd appreciated that one.
2) Elijah Burke Vs Mistico ( * * * 1/2 )
So with Punk on his way to the final could his long-term rival Elijah Burke find his way past Mistico to join his adversary? Well of course he could, but that inevitability didn't detract one iota from a fantastic little bout. Mistico is small, even for a Cruiserweight, but, as his recent match with Triple H showed, he is a fantastic talent. He was also willing to bump like a bitch for Elijah Burke and this all added to a very believable and exciting match. In the end, Burke won with the Elijah Experience, but Mistico did get a nice ovation for his efforts.
3) Finlay & Jazz Hands Gee Vs Randy Orton & Jay Reso ( * * )
Say what you want about the stupidity of Gee's new "Jazz Hands/Amnesia" gimmick, but the fans love it and the chemistry between him and Finlay is quite something to behold (and that's even before we've got to the Hornswoggle/Lil' Louis part of things). Quite what Orton & Reso had done to deserve this wasn't clear at the start, but became clearer towards the end. Because whilst we were all waiting for the Finlay/Gee partnership to dissolve, it was the Orton/Reso alliance that proved to be short lived as Orton RKO'ed his partner, enabling Finlay to get the pinfall on Reso. We suspect that it's Reso who's supposed to have turned face as a result, although it was never really made clear.
4) Milano Collection AT Vs Matt Sydal ( * * 1/4 )
So. thanks to Lizzy Valentine giving the Dean, erm, well, some "attention", her supposed main squeeze Matt Sydal was ever so coincidentally made the number one contender to the Cruiserweight Title. The only real drawback to this match was that it was so damn short (six minutes for a Title match?!?) and thus never really had a chance of catching fire. The end came when Valentine tripped up Milano and Sydal got the pinfall as Valentine held down the champion's leg. We had a new champion and backstage Dean Roberts was, no doubt, happy indeed.
5) America's Most Wanted Vs MNM ( * * * )
Wasn't there some stipulation whereby these two teams could never meet again? Well, if there was it's been ignored, although really these are the only two "full-time" teams with any real chance of being accepted as challengers to Elijah Burke & Chris Jericho at Neon Blue. This was a good match, with the two teams finding that old chemistry fairly quickly and it gave the fans the result they wanted when Chris Harris pinned Joey Mercury to seal the win for AMW. After the match Melina and Mercury consoled each other but Nitro was having none of it, and walked off alone.
6) Matt Morgan Vs Mohammed Fakjir ( * * )
A step up for Fakjir or a distinct step down for Morgan? As ever the truth is somewhere in between. Fakjir made the mistake of "dissing" Morgan and not even Justice Porter seemed as if he wanted to back up his boss in this one. But it was to be a night to remember for Fakjir as he got a pinfall victory over the former world champion...although he did need help from The Anderson Family to do so. As Morgan was in the ascendancy, the lights went low, the wierd hymnal music kicked in and the Anderson Family walked out. The lights then went out completely and when they came back on the referee had disappeared, and Morgan was alone in the ring with Acid and Shelley. Shelley distracted him, Acid smacked him with an evil chair shot and the lights went off again. When the came back on, Morgan was still flat out, Fakjir was looking on incredulously and the referee was in the ring again seemingly with no idea what had gone on. Fakjir went for the pin, the referee counted and we had our winner. Fakjir and Porter scarpered before the namless, hooded creatures of the Anderson family returned and carried Morgan's "corpse" away. Very strange, but strangely effective at the same time.
7) CM Punk Vs Elijah Burke ( * * * 3/4 )
Man Of Steel final time, and not even the fact that this final was largely obvious (despite the booker's best efforts to add a bit of doubt) from the moment the tournament was announced could shake the fact that this was a match that everyone was looking forward to. And boy did the two step up to the plate when the pressure was on. It is perhaps a it premature to compare this to 1998's Dean Roberts/Matthew Mercy Man Of Steel final in terms of historical presence, but there was no doubting that in years to come this may be regarded in the same light. The fans were loving this one and were willing Punk onto victory, but some controverisal chicanery from Burke involving some brass knuckles meant that Burke got the shock victory and became the 2007 Man Of Steel, following in the footsteps of the likes of Abyss (2006), Matt Morgan (2005) and Matt Hardy (2004). And as that list shows, whilst the MoS tournament may be a great one to win, Burke will have to continue to step up his game in the weeks and months to come.
8) Alexis Laree Vs Jenny Tayor ( * 3/4 )
Quite how they were supposed to follow the previous match, of course, is difficult to imagine. Unless that was the point (i.e. chance for the fans to get their breath back before the main event). Throw in the fact that you had two babyfaces doing battle in a completely technical match, its a wonder people didn't fall asleep. That said, the actual wrestling was satisfactory and Laree wrapped it up with the Laree-D-T.
9) Triple H Vs Matthew Mercy ( * * * * 1/4 )
Few matches these days have that really big aura about them, despite what the IWF might try and tell you, but all through the night you could tell that this was one of those rare occasions. We know they've fought before, but it's been so long since a proper one-on-one battle that there was a genuine spine-tingling sense of anticipation for this one. The two men delivered with world-class performances too; they built up slowly and made everything count and the fans were with them every step of the way. After cleaning house in the early going Mercy looked in control, but HHH fought back and managed to subdue the attack of Double M. The two traded the advantage until the hot closing sequence kicked in. Both men managed to wriggle free of their opponent's finishing moves, but HHH couldn't escape the Mercy Bomb for a second time. He did however kick out, much to the surprise of Mercy and momentarily it looked as if HHH would do the impossible. But Mercy regrouped, hit the Mercy-Bomb again and clinched the 1-2-3 that won him his 4th World Title (and his first since 2002). The crowd most certainly approved of the title change!

Most years the Man Of Steel PPV can often be of little consequence other than the tournament finals themselves. This year, however, was a glorious exception. Maybe it was the pressure of a poor (from a buy-rate point of view) Super Series or maybe it was just an attempt to have a really solid build up for Neon Blue, but this was a show that was jam-packed with action and incident. The Man Of Steel finals were great, and whilst many may have been surprised that Elijah Burke took the ultimate glory, Punk's controversial loss took nothing away from him and his post match interview, where he hinted that he would soon reveal his the chosen date for cashing in his Gold Rush ticket hinted at a very bright future. Needless to say, the evening's events won't have done Burke any harm either! The main selling point of the evening was the cataclysmic main event between Mercy & HHH which was another fantastic affair; Mercy's title win was very warmly revceived as well and there are sure to be many more battles between the two before the end of the year as well.
The undercard was packed full of great stuff as well; be it The Anderson Family's "kidnapping" of Matt Morgan, or Randy Orton turning on Jay Reso or Matt Sydal winning the Cruiserweight Title this was a big night for a lot of people. Granted, it wasn't the best in-ring show the IWF have ever put on (and that's not to say it was by any means a bad one though) but the sheer entertainment value and the fact that this was a show that was booked to matter means that it gets a good thumbs up from us.