October 24, 2006 – St. Louis, Missouri
Rob Van Dam comes to the ring to find out when he’ll be getting his title shot. Paul Heyman replies by saying that if RVD wants a world title contract he’ll have to retrieve it in a ladder match. Then Heyman’s security attacks RVD, but he fights them off.
CM Punk def. Matt Striker
This was set up the same way as Punk’s match last week with Rene Dupree, where Punk was on defense the whole time. Different here was that rather than winning, Punk was cut off by Mike Knox who attacks and then retreats. *
Test def. Hardcore Holly
It seems they might have overestimated the good will that Holly had with the fans after his match with RVD, because this went way long at around 13 minutes and the crowd turned on the whole thing. And then Test won with a handful of tights. What a terrible series of choices this thing was all around. Test beats Holly up with a chair after the match. ¾*
Rebecca is back to interview Sandman, who could be facing Umaga at Cyber Sunday if the fans vote for him over Chris Benoit and Kane. That’s not happening, so this promo doesn’t matter.
Rob Van Dam def. Big Show {Ladder Match}
I like ladder matches that are more about wrestlers beating up their opponent until they’re too incapacitated to stop them from climbing the ladder, rather than spot fests. This was that kind of match. Unfortunately, it was also a Big Show match in which his opponent wasn’t Ric Flair or Brock Lesnar, so there was a low ceiling. And if my understanding is correct, the whole RVD-can-pick-the-time-and-place-of-his-title-match stipulation goes nowhere. **¾