WWE Unforgiven 2007

WWE Unforgiven 2007
Memphis, TN
Fed Ex Forum
September 16, 2007

For whatever reason, I had a sealed DVD of Unforgiven 2007 sitting in my collection. No idea where I got this from or why, but it’s been sitting around in my basement for years, so due time to finally bust it open. I breezed through this event while wrapping Christmas presents the other night. It’s always fun to throw on one of these random kinds of events when you’re not in the mood for fully paying attention.

2007 started off quite strong for the WWE, but ended up being a horrible year, probably the worst in company and wrestling history due to Chris Benoit and the aftermath of his disgusting actions. Not only that, but after a strong start to the year, by summer we had one of the most horrendous angles in WWE history, the supposed death of Vince McMahon (who’s “memorial service” was coincidentally originally scheduled for the night they had to do the Benoit tribute show) and the hastily planned shitfest “McMahon’s son” angle that was thrown together right after. Combine all this with a year filled with more young wrestling deaths (like Crush), the implementation of the wellness policy and subsequent suspensions, and a ton of roster turnover, and the year definitely concluded on a sour note.

I was still going to Matt’s on a near weekly basis to watch Raw, but have no major memories of any of these angles from fall 2007. I think a lot of these feuds were hastily done because of the industry fallout, and it wasn’t until early 2008 that things began to stabilize again in the company. I also have no clue if they were still doing branded events at this point, as this includes matches from all three shows. How f’n long did ECW last for anyway?

1) ECW World Champion CM Punk pinned Elijah Burke at 11:54 with a modified victory roll

So prior to this match they showed highlights from a seemingly epic CM Punk-John Morrison TV match where Punk finally won the title. Why in the fuck not have that match at the PPV instead of this? Anyway, really funny and weird to see early era Punk in action, still with the longer hair and a lot less tattoos. I was a huge Punk fan at this point, hopeful he’d eventually get even a minor push on Raw at some point. I don’t believe anyone could have predicted at this point the impact he would go on to have on the company in the coming years. For now, he was a highlight of the dismal ECW brand. I have no memories of Elijah Burke. Don’t think he lasted very long in the WWE before heading over to TNA. It’s funny how much transition there was in the roster at this point. Definitely the opposite by the mid 10s. This was a weirdly booked match as Burke just endlessly worked over Punk (in the most basic, non-extreme way possible) before Punk suddenly won with a roll up. Way to book your new champ as a loser!

2) WWE Smackdown! Tag Team Champions – WWE US Champion MVP & Matt Hardy defeated Deuce & Domino (w/ Cherry) at 9:19 when Hardy pinned Deuce with the Twist of Fate

Hahaha to this crap! I had stopped watching Smackdown two years earlier, but remember some of these angles and characters from Matt’s descriptions at the time. This was part of the goofball storyline of Hardy and MVP trying to constantly one-up each other, then ha-ha-lariously ending up as tag champs. Deuce & Domino sucked the life out of the arena. Talk about a dead act! Their 50s greaser gimmick belonged back in OVW. And a HUGE LOL to the future Sim Snuka being on the team. I barely remember Cherry. Don’t think she ever did anything outside of this dead weight team. This belonged in the first hour of Smackdown, not a PPV. Unsurprisingly this match is entirely focused on the Hardy-MVP storyline and D&D are nothing but background jobbers.

3) Triple H pinned Carlito at 10:41 with the Pedigree after hitting a low blow behind the referee’s back as Carlito attempted to hit Triple H with a trash can; pre-match stipulations stated Carlito could not be disqualified

Talk about death in the ring, here’s Carlito in yet another undeserved high profile match. Triple H had returned from injury back at Summerslam and was biding his time in these pointless mid-card feuds before unsurprisingly getting back into the title picture in 2008. Carlito is back to being a heel and according to Raw GM Coach’s stipulation, he couldn’t be disqualified. They tried to make Carlito a bad ass by giving him free reign to pound on Triple H with weapons, but this just sucked. Triple H of course battled against the odds and came out on top, not that anyone in their right mind would have picked fucking Carlito to beat him.

4) WWE Women’s Champion Candice Michelle pinned Beth Phoenix with a reversal into a crucifix at 7:06

I was fan of Candice Michelle during her relatively brief time in the WWE. She had vastly improved as a wrestler, yet would go down with injuries just weeks after this event and her career never truly recovered, eventually being released in 2009. Beth Phoenix too had yet to really establish her character or presence, as she was out with injuries throughout most of 2007 before returning back in summer. I remember the lukewarm reactions a lot of these divas received in the absence of Trish. This match was all Edge’s future wife beating the shit out of Michelle before Candice eventually wins it by surprise. The story was better than the Punk-Burke one in the opening match, and Candice looked great doing all she could to hang on. It was also a big memory to hear Candice’s dancey entrance music.

5) Batista defeated World Heavyweight Champion the Great Khali and Rey Mysterio Jr. to win the title at 8:02 by pinning Khali with a spinebuster after hitting a powerbomb on Mysterio onto Khali – following a seated senton by Mysterio onto Khali – and then shoving Mysterio out of the ring

Hahaha, what a hilarious trainwreck of a match. I’m glad I didn’t watch Smackdown in 2007 and missed out on the ridiculously stupid push of the Great Kahli. The year started hot with the Undertaker-Batista title feud, until the Undertaker went down with injury, and Khali won the title in a battle royal. I couldn’t tell you what the point of Rey Mysterio being in this was, other than he was friends with Batista. You really had to suspend your belief during the portion of the match where Batista was laying on the floor and Khali was manhandling Mysterio. He should have been able to easily pin that little geek. Khali was beyond useless and Batista eventually wins it by first power bombing Mysterio on Khali, then using a slow motion spinebuster on Khali. The crowd was way into Batista still at this point, but he wouldn’t be champ for all that long.

6) WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch defeated Paul London & Brian Kendrick at 10:49 when Murdoch pinned Kendrick following a sit-down spinebuster from Cade

More geeky Raw tag teams! The crowd was just dead silent throughout this. I remember Cade and Murdoch getting a sustained push and tag title run, despite being so bland and heatless. I was a fan of the London and Kendrick team, who were primarily on Smackdown, but they never got much of a chance on Raw. I watched a shoot with London and Kendrick from some time back and London is just merciless ripping into the WWE. No wonder they’ve never bothered to bring him back for 205. Ross and Lawler are so bored that they’re talking about Murdoch’s sideburns through a portion of this and whether or not he likes barbecue. The crowd wakes up for some of London and Kendrick’s stuff, but the “raw boned” Cade and Murdoch eventually overpower them.

7) Randy Orton defeated WWE World Champion John Cena via disqualification at 7:21 when Cena refused to adhere to referee Mike Chioda’s orders to stop assaulting Orton in the corner; after the bout, Orton pulled Cena’s father – sitting ringside – over the barricade; Cena then attacked Orton and locked him in the STFU, allowing his father to kick Orton in the head before leaving ringside

What the fuck was this shit? What a HORRIBLE finish. The crowd booed the shit out of Cena through this whole thing and cheered Orton, who just weeks before, punted John Cena’s fucking dad in the HEAD! I have no idea why the crowd began to side with Orton, who sucked life out of the ring with his bland matches. For a guy vowing revenge, Cena was content to just wrestle a basic match against Orton before “losing his cool” and unloading with regular punches until the ref inexplicably called for the bell. What a shit finish! We get a brawl after that concludes with John’s unnamed father (Mr. Cena as Ross kept referring to him as) punting Orton in the head while he was locked into the STFU. Horrible stuff. And of course this would lead to the insane surprise of John Cena winning the 2008 Rumble, only to cash in his shot against Orton at No Way Out.

8) The Undertaker pinned Mark Henry at 11:27 with a powerbomb out of the corner as Henry stood on the middle turnbuckle

Wow this was awful. Why was Undertaker always a Smackdown guy? He was seemingly always embroiled in these kinds of mid 90s monster style feuds in between heavyweight title feuds. Mark Henry had put the Undertaker out of action four months earlier, so this was the Undertaker’s big return. We get all the usual lightning and smoke and bullshit before the bell rings and this turns into a Smackdown main event. JBL’s over-the-top commentary was unintentionally hilarious, as this match was far from the dramatic, monumental war he was making it out to be. And why in the fuck was this the main event of the PPV? Typical plodding crap from these guys.

Objectively this was a shit PPV, but I really enjoyed watching it and thinking back on this terrible year of WWE history.