Reviewing the Past: Unforgiven 2005

Date: September 18, 2005
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

2005 when I look back on it, looks to be some what of a dark period for the WWE. The year just didn't seem to have many things happen that were all to memorable. This is when John Cena was first starting his tenure as the WWE's #1 guy and the WWE were fully behind him. Also this was the year of the Matt Hardy and Edge fiasco with Lita. They took a real life situation and made it into a storyline, a really awkward story line.  Anyways onto the PPV.

Ric Flair defeated Carlito (c) by submission
- I didn't got into this match expecting much, because I never really enjoy Ric Flair's matches from this time. But these two actually worked really well together. Carlito was the IC Champ for about 3 months at this point and its the one belt that has eluded Ric Flair all his career. The crowd got really into this match, it was good for an opener, they had a really good spot where Flair did his usual spot where he went to the top rope, but jumped off, and hit Carlito. The crowd popped as Ric Flair looked in shock that his usual spot actually worked for once. I think this was the first time I've seen it work too! Flair wins by the figure four securing his first ever IC Title. After the match they did a hilarious thing where Flair said he was going to take over Oklahoma City and they had him bring all these ladies from the crowd to the back into a limo, they would return to the limo a few times over the course of the night. It was really funny, actually the highlight of the PPV.

Trish Stratus and Ashley Massaro defeated The Ladies in Pink (Victoria and Torrie Wilson) (with Candice Michelle)
- So the only two talented people in this match up are Victoria and Trish and that was clear. They did most of the work, Ashley and Torrie were liabilities at best, they had limited skills. I think Ashley was by far the worse, you could tell she was a diva search winner. Her moves look so awkward and slow. The only nice parts of the match was when Victoria and Trish were int he match. Trish and Ashley win. Forgettable match.

Big Show defeated Snitsky
- This match is as bad as it sounds. Anything with Snitsky in it usually is going to be some what cringe worthy. I'm never usually a fan of big man matches, because they tend to be slow and dull. This was slow and dull. Not much to say about this, it was filler. Big Show beats Snitsky with a chokeslam.

Shelton Benjamin defeated Kerwin White
- Kerwin White is Chavo Guerrero for anyone confused. Chavo really will do anything he's told wont he? Anyways, this match was slow paced and never really took off. The fans didn't really give a crap about it either. Shame, I was expecting a fast paced match with both Chavo and Shelton in it. Shelton wins with the exploder suplex. Third filler match in a row. This PPV was quantity over quality.

Matt Hardy defeated Edge w/Lita - Steel Cage
- This is probably the most memorable feud from 2005 and this is basically where Matt Hardy's star came to its peak. Man the crowd was really behind this guy. Shame the WWE didn't use it and let him run with it. This match was really really good. The hatred between these two was really shown and the lined were blurred from what was real or fake with their hatred towards each other. There are a million amazing spots in this match, Edge gets busted open, and is all bloodied. The crowd is just jumping on every thing Matt does with excitement. Its weird that this really solidified Edge's place for the rest of his career as that evil heel. Lita being by his side benefitted his career more than people care to remember. Lita manages to get into the match at one point and it leads to Matt giving her a twist of fate. The crowd loved it. So the high spot of the match is Matt Hardy climbing to the top of the cage and hitting a leg drop on Edge and winning. This match is by far the best match on the PPV and it a must see for any WWE fan. It's a shame though, they could have made Matt Hardy into a huge star after this whole ordeal.

Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch defeated The Hurricane and Rosey (c)
- The tag team division must have been really really weak in this period of time. Because Cade and Murdoch were just around like a few weeks and they already had a championship match. Plus The Hurricane and Rosey seems to be setting the bar low for tag team champions. Anyways, they did a injury spot where Hurricane hurt himself was getting helped out by official but ran back to help out his partner. The whole thing kind of ruined the match, I wish they wouldn't have done it, unless the injury was legit. There was another funny moment, while Lance Cade was in the ring, Trevor Murdoch instead of waiting for a tag got to distracted with Lillian Garcia. Demanding for a kiss, Cade came outside of the ring to get him back on track, and points to Lillian and says "LATER!". I thought that was a funny note. Anyways, Murdoch and Cade win the belts and no one cares at all. The crowd was silent. Surely WWE could have done better than this? I guess have two sets of tag belts at the time really stretched all the teams thin.

Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Masters
- Yeah at one point the WWE really were high on Chris Masters, even if his talent was questionable at best. But if there was anyone that can make someone look really good its HBK right? This match was decent, due to Shawn Michaels carrying the whole thing. Before the match started though Masters got Shawn in the masterlock, then released it. Masters basically spent most of the match trying to get it in. The announcers kept playing up the "passing of the torch" bit, that is Masters beats Michaels then the torch will be passed. Yeah right. Shawn Michaels is one of the best in the business when it comes to making big guys looking good and having a good match with them. HBK managed to make this enjoyable, HBK wins with a superkick. No torch will be passed tonight.

Kurt Angle defeated John Cena (c) by disqualification
- John Cena and Kurt Angle had shown they had some pretty good chemistry in the ring together shown in their previous matches. I think Kurt Angle is just so good, he can hide all of Cena's short comings at this point. I miss Kurt Angle in the WWE when I watch these old matches with him in it. He truely is one of the greats. Also its weird that Cena's isnt being booed as hard as he gets booed today. Give it a few months. This was a decent match, there was a ref bump, Cena then hit Angle with the FU had the three count but the ref was down. Angle managed to use his medals as a weapon against Cena too. Eric Bischoff comes to the ring while Angle puts Cena in an ankle lock and just starts yelling stuff at Cena. The ref recovers and calls for the bell and for some reason Cena gets DQed. So this match was ruined by the crappy ending.

- So this show wasn't good at all. All the matches besides one classic are 3 stars at best. There was too much filler. Too many short matches. WWE seemed to run into these problems alot when they were doing separate PPVs for both Raw and Smackdown. That's just lack of talent on the roster. This roster WWE was working with in 2005 looks to be really weak. 2005 isn't really a timeframe I'm all that knowledgeable about. I didn't watch much back then. If you are thinking about watching this PPV, skip everything besides the Flair skits and Matt Hardy vs. Edge in the Steel Cage

4/10

Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDHXqWh2T7E