Jeff Hardy wins against Shelton Benjamin via Disqualification

Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin

Hopefully Shelton is over his bout of bronchitis.

The crowd is really hot for Jeff Hardy in Hot-lanta as we’re set to begin this match. The bell rings and this feels like a title match (it isn’t) as both competitors are still warming up. The two lock up and roll along the ropes. They stop in the corner and the lock up is broken up. The Tazz says they’re feeling each other out. The two competitors lock up again and they jockey for position. Hardy grabs Benjamin’s arm and wrenches it. He wrenches it some more and locks in a standing arm bar. Benjamin is fighting to get out of it and finally does with a drop toe hold and locks in a side headlock. Jeff Hardy fights up to his feet and pushes the Gold Standard into the ropes and whips him off. Benjamin goes into the ropes and levels him with a shoulder block for a two count. Benjamin now has Hardy in a sitting face lock and switches between that and a chin lock. Hardy again fights up to his feet and punches out of the hold but Benjamin kicks him and locks in the headlock again. This crowd is really hot tonight. I love a good crowd.

Hardy pushes Benjamin into the ropes and throws him off. As Benjamin comes off the ropes Hardy drops down so Benjamin jumps over him and comes off the ropes again into a hip toss. Benjamin is quickly up and gets taken down by an arm drag and Hardy locks in an arm bar. Benjamin is fighting and finally gets up and pushes Hardy into the corner, legally obligating him to break the hold. Benjamin, however, doesn’t feel obligated to make it a clean break as he kicks and punches the Rainbow Haired Warrior. The referee finally gets Benjamin off and really gets in his face. Charles Robinson rules.

Benjamin goes back to the corner and kicks him and then picks him up out of the corner. Benjamin hits a snapmare and gets Hardy in a chinlock again. Hardy is really fighting this one as he gets up and elbows out. Benjamin stops it with a kick and pushes Hardy into the ropes who in turn comes off the ropes and kicks him in the face. Hardy goes for a kick but Benjamin catches him and Hardy hits that nice flipping mule kick sending the Gold Standard out of the ring. Hardy follows it up with a slingshot baseball slide, knocking Benjamin down again on the outside. Benjamin now gets up and Hardy hits a nice crossbody Plancha. The crowd is happy with that result as Hardy picks Benjamin up and rolls him back into the ring. Hardy hits a body slam and walks towards the corner and climbs up to the second rope before Benjamin quickly gets up and jumps up to the top rope like a cat and starts punching Hardy. Hardy fights back and pushes him off and goes for a Swanton Bomb but Benjamin rolls out of the way and Hardy crashes and burns! Benjamin slowly crawls over for a close two count! So far so good as we go to commercial.

:::Commercial Break:::

As we come back from the break we see Benjamin holding Hardy’s hair while kneeing his back and then he violently locks in another chinlock. Hardy’s facial expressions while selling the hold are fantastic. Benjamin is doing a great job too. Hardy gets up to his feet and tries to punch out of it but Benjamin takes Hardy’s face and slams the back of his head against the canvas for a close two count. Benjamin picks Hardy up and tries to punch him but Benjamin stops him. Hardy is in the corner now and Benjamin is punching and head-butting Hardy in the corner. Hardy finally punches back as does Benjamin. This is turning into a brawl as both men are punching each other but Jeff Hardy gets the upper hand and headlocks him but its brief as he’s pushed into the corner and Hardy scales up the ropes for Whisper in the Wind but Benjamin is quickly behind him and takes his leg out and Hardy lands crotch first on the top rope and back flips off to the mat! Benjamin drags him to the middle of the ring for a close two count again! Benjamin can’t believe it! Benjamin is kicking Hardy in the hamstring and drags him to the ropes and hangs his foot on the bottom rope and jumps on it. They’re selling the knee injury from Saturday Night’s Main Event. Good continuity – FINALLY!

Benjamin has Hardy up and hits a chop block to the back of the left knee and Hardy goes down and that’s another close two count. Benjamin is doing everything he can to wrench Hardy’s knee and really break it. He has him in a leg lock and Hardy is reaching for the ropes but Benjamin drags him to the middle of the ring again and locks in a single leg Boston Crab. Hardy is in pain but he won’t quit. Benjamin breaks the hold and kicks the knee some more. Jeff Hardy is up and only has one good leg and he’s fighting back, punching Benjamin. Benjamin stops the comeback with a simple kick to the knee. Benjamin is now stepping on Hardy’s head. That’s just rubbing salt in the wounds you jerk! Just kidding – he was nice enough to hold himself up on the ropes so he didn’t really hurt him. Benjamin now drags him to the middle and locks in the single leg Boston Crab again. Hardy eventually gets to the ropes and rolls out of the ring.

Hardy is hobbling around outside on one leg and finally drops down. Hardy is pulling himself up on the barricade as Benjamin goes to the apron and jumps off into the foot of Jeff Hardy! Both men are now down on the outside. Hardy is the first up and he throws Benjamin back into the ring. Hardy is now punching Benjamin and whips him in the ropes and goes for a back drop but Benjamin grabs him by the hair and throws him into the ropes and Hardy comes off with a clothesline! Benjamin is up quickly and Hardy takes him down with a running forearm for a two count. Hardy goes to whip Benjamin into the ropes again but Benjamin twists the arm and hangs on but Hardy jumps and hits a spinning neckbreaker on the United States Champion for another close two count! Hardy is moving his leg to get some life back into it and goes to whip Benjamin into the corner but Benjamin reverses and Hardy scales the corner for a Whisper in the Wind! The crowd is really into it now as Hardy gets another near fall!

Benjamin kicks Hardy but Hardy hits his trademark jawbreaker and Benjamin falls into the corner and sits. Hardy goes for that slingshot dropkick but Benjamin was playing possum as he quickly (and impressively) gets Hardy on his shoulder and hits a running powerslam for a really close two count!! Nice spot!! Benjamin is really frustrated and is waiting for Hardy to get up and this crowd is nuts! Hardy is up and Benjamin goes for Pay Dirt but Hardy pushes him off and hits the Twist of Fate!! Now Hardy goes up to the top rope and hits the Swanton Bomb but MVP is running on the outside and gets in the ring and does that Player Kick to Hardy’s head, causing the disqualification.

Winner by Disqualification: Jeff Hardy

MVP takes off his necklace that says MVP and holds it over Hardy’s face. The crowd in Atlanta is furious as MVP raises up the necklace for all to see. MVP gets out of the ring and raises his arms as he’s going up the ramp.

source: wrestleview.com