WWE Unforgiven 2005
September 18, 2005
Oklahoma City, OK
Reviewed on May 20, 2014

The Batista-John Cena era was well underway in WWE. For the past two years John Cena was slated to be the future, but something happened once he got there. After disposing of JBL, Cena went up against several internet favorites and the cheers went away. Cena was soon booed in arenas all over the world…and he NEVER got passed that. It began with Christian and Chris Jericho. Today it’s Daniel Bryan. The point is, John Cena became the machine’s champion. And the fans forever resented him for it.

Unforgiven is the start of a serious push for some guys that to be fair probably didn’t deserve it. Most notably in this case is Chris Masters. While Masters became a solid hand later, he was clearly not ready for this spot.

Another point of interest of this card is the Matt Hardy-Edge cage match that spawned from the real life Hardy-Edge-Lita feud. One of the first instances of what was later called the Reality Era was shown here.

The Card

Intercontinental Championship
Carlito© vs. Ric Flair

This was the period where HHH was gone after Batista destroyed him, and Flair was on his own. Flair became a face as a result.

Pretty slow start with a lot of strutting and wooing.

Ha, awesome spot where Flair actually hits a move off the top rope instead of being slammed off.

Ric Flair wins the title by submission in 11:46. Carlito goes to spit the apple in Flair’s face, but Flair punches him causing Carlito to choke. Figure Four and Carlito taps. I thought it started pretty boringly, but the finish was pretty good and the crowd was very into it.

Postmatch promo with Flair setting up the future Flair-HHH feud.

Lita and Edge were such awesome heels.

Torrie Wilson and Victoria vs. Trish Stratus and Ashley

The hell if I know what this feud is about.

Apparently Trish was injured since April and is just coming back now. I remember her being a bitch heel before that, so I guess it’s one of those babyface comebacks.

Victoria and Trish start. Those two always had good chemistry.

Trish and Ashley win when Trish pinned Victoria in 7:07. Chick Kick for the win. This wasn’t too bad actually! Mostly Trish vs. Victoria which is what was needed…since Torrie can’t wrestle and Ashley kinda can’t either.

Flair taking a bunch of lady fans to his limo. Flair is hilarious.

Big Show vs. Snitsky

Oh man this might be awful.

Sick back suplex by Snitsky on the Show!

Big Show pins Snitsky in 6:11. Chokeslam for the win. Actually…not bad! I’m shocked. It was short and to the point, and there was some good power wrestling there. That back suplex was awesome.

Haha, more Flair stuff.

There’s a lot of HBK vs. Chris Masters hype…even though the match isn’t coming up yet.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Kerwin White

Oh man Kerwin White.

Shelton Benjamin pinned Kerwin White in 8:06. White tries to hit Benjamin with the golf club…but Benjamin counters with the T-Bone for the win. Match was surprisingly dull. Not sure what was missing. I guess it wasn’t bad though.

Steel Cage Match
Matt Hardy vs. Edge

Story here: Where do I start? In real life Adam Copeland slept with Amy Dumas, who was Matt Hardy’s girlfriend. This led to Matt Hardy legit getting fired, but the crowd wanted him back. Crowd chanted “We Want Matt” everywhere. They brought him back and it was a huge deal all around. Edge and Matt had a lame Summerslam match though that ended via ref stoppage. Oddly, there was a shoehorned Kane storyline in this too, since Kane storyline wise was married to Lita. That got forgotten here.

Action packed start. Edge tries to escape quickly, but Matt lets him know this is gonna be a long one.

Powerbomb from the top leading to a ten count with both men down. Come on, it’s a Cage match, let’s not have that crap in here.

Crowd really gets behind Matt as he traps Edge in the ropes (as Edge trapped him at Summerslam) and punches away.

Side Effect off the top! Lita brings a chair into the ring…and then breaks up the pin!

Twist of Fate to Lita! Spear by Edge! Matt Hardy won’t die though.

Matt Hardy pins Edge in 21:05. Yodel Legdrop from the top of the cage ends Edge! Great match here. You really felt Matt Hardy hated both Edge and Lita here. Surprisingly, this didn’t launch Matt to the main event. Instead, this was perhaps his career peak. Still, a great match is a great match.

Bischoff-Cena confrontation. This came off as a poor man’s Austin-McMahon.

World Tag Team Championship
The Hurricane and Rosey© vs. Cade and Murdoch

Hurricane and Rosey were one of the least cared about Tag Champs ever.

WHATSUPWITTHAT?

Sick DDT from Murdoch on Hurricane where Hurricane was laying on the apron and Murdoch standing on the outside. Hurricane is dead.

Basically a handicap match now.

Murdoch and Cade win the title when Murdoch pinned Hurricane in 7:40. Hurricane staggers back and makes the tag, but he is still woozy and Cade and Murdoch hit a double team clothesline move for the win. Interesting story of the match with Hurricane, but match overall was pretty bad. The tag division overall at the time was really weak.

A girl comes out of Flair’s limo with only Flair’s robe on. Flair is hilarious.

Maria interviews Chris Masters. Maria asks him why he is called the Masterbate. No idea we had dumb Maria at this time. What an awesome character that was.

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Masters

Story here: Masters says HBK is a fossil and it’s time for new blood. HBK said that “Greenhorn”, people need to know their spot in the pecking order and Masters isn’t at the top yet.

Masters gets an early Masterlock but HBK manages to escape.

Torture Rack from Masters!

Michaels counters a Masterlock by jumping over the top rope, which was awesome.

Shawn Michaels pins Chris Masters in 17:27. HBK gets caught come off the top. Masters catches him and turns it into a near Masterlock, but HBK counters and hits Sweet Chin for the win. Wow, Chris Masters looked great here. It had to be HBK, since Masters didn’t remotely do anything before or after this match quality wise. HBK just knows how to wrestle bigger opponents. Very good match.

WWE World Championship
John Cena© vs. Kurt Angle

This match seems structured as Cena being the underdog and Angle being the big match experienced favorite.

This has been a good back and forth match.

Ref bump, and Cena gets the FU for zero!

Angle comes back with the Ankle Lock and Bischoff taunts him.

Kurt Angle wins by DQ in 17:17. Cena takes the WWE title belt and nails Angle…and the ref sees it! Seriously? That’s the PPV finish? A good match ruined by its ending. It’s endings like this that led to people not purchasing the B-tier PPVs anymore. Angle and Cena brawl some more afterwards.

Unforgiven 05 is a weird show as nothing was really bad on this show and there was some greatness…but none of it really mattered at all. Chris Masters? Midcarder a year later and unemployed the year after that. Matt Hardy? Ranged from upper midcard to midcard hell for a while until his brother overshadowed him again. He never got over the break-up with Lita. The finish to Angle-Cena just extended the storyline. I barely remember the rest of the show and I just watched it.

A good effort for all involved. For the great match and no bad matches this was in B territory…but you can’t have your main event end like that.

Final Grade: C+