WWE New Year’s Revolution 2007
Date: 01/07/2007
Location: Kansas City, MO
Announcers: Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler
The Setup
After protecting Umaga as undefeated since first coming up to the main roster, WWE was finally poised to do the first Cena/Umaga match. The moment Umaga debuted, he looked manufactured in a lab to feud with Cena. The only questionable move was jamming this into a show where it was hard to build interest, since it was so close to the Royal Rumble. This show also had DX facing the super tag team of Rated RKO underneath for the tag team titles. That program had a lot of build, as all four men were getting a substantial push at the time.
The Business
The show did 225,000 PPV buys (149,000 domestic), according to Wrestlenomics. Those numbers were up 3,000 worldwide buys and down 10,000 domestically from the last Raw-only PPV, Cyber Sunday 2006. This number was also down 29.7 % from 2006’s New Year’s Revolution (320,000 worldwide buys), headlined by Cena defending the WWE title in an elimination chamber. Some data shows how effective the Chamber could be as a draw, but honestly, to be on par with Cyber Sunday, which was canceled as a PPV concept because it never drew, doesn’t speak well of the kickoff to the feud or the timing. The NYR PPV wasn’t the best choice to maximize interest, but you don’t want to be on par with Cyber Sunday, regardless of circumstances. Prowrestlinghistory.com reports 10,000 in attendance in Kansas City, with a $560,000 gate, which was solid.
The Results
IC Title/Cage Match: Jeff Hardy (C) def. Johnny Nitro in 14:41 ***1/2
Tag Team Turmoil: Cryme Tyme def. Cade & Murdoch, Haas & Benjamin, Highlanders, Jim Duggan & Super Crazy in 18:14 **1/2
Ric Flair def. Kenny Dykstra in 9:59 **
Women’s Title Match: Mickie James (C) def. Victoria in 6:49 *3/4
World Tag Team Title Match: Shawn Michaels & Triple H NC Edge & Randy Orton (C) in 23:20 ***3/4
Chris Masters def. Carlito in 5:58 3/4*
WWE Title Match: John Cena (C) def. Umaga in 17:16 **1/4
Notable Happenings
In the main event, they did the deal where Umaga dominated and Cena “barely escaped” with his title after a rollup win. It made sense for a first match to set up another, but it didn’t leave the match as anything more than a solid outing between the two.
The company and workers had to call an audible in the tag title match when Hunter tore his quad for the second time in his career. A bloody Shawn went absolutely wild, laying both Rated RKO members out with chairs and driving an elbow through an even bloodier Orton on the announce table. Even Hunter – with the torn quad – gave Edge a pedigree on the fucking announce table. Hunter’s injury threw off the good tag match they were building, and time stood still as the match fell apart a bit. But Shawn Michaels channeled 1995 Shawn and went wild, making it the only thing memorable on this show almost two decades later. He was diving out of the ring and swinging chairshots like Balls Mahoney possessed him.
Vince was shown talking to Coach backstage about the feud with Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell and teasing a match between the two. The constant mentions on TV all led to the hair match between the two at Mania, which was huge business for the company.
The Best, The Worst, The Underrated
The Best: Shawn’s epic freak out/save after Hunter’s injury was incredible in the tag team title match.
The Worst: The limp breakup of Carlito vs. Chris Masters in the feud and match no one wanted to see.
The Underrated: Jim Duggan and Super Crazy for getting a strong reaction for a team I barely remember existed.
Backstage Notes
After being the final two heels eliminated in the main event of last year’s New Year’s Revolution Elimination Chamber match, Carlito and Chris Masters were wrestling each other in a split that no one gave a fuck about.
Hunter’s injury kept him out of action until Summerslam later that year. You have to figure they probably would have gone for something with DX as a unit, as Mania, if not for the injury, so who would Cena have faced if that was the case?
Rating: 5.5/10.0
The opener and tag title match at least made me comfortable giving the show an above-average rating, but there’s a lot of filler. The show wasn’t epic, but it’s also not a bad show by any means.
The Video
Back Then Wrestling 