Well not often do I shell out $35 to watch a WWE PPV these days (or even bother to watch for free) but I just had to see the match with Hogan and HBK, and at one point I wanted to see the match with Edge and Matt Hardy, anyways I did order the PPV last night and I thought I'd do a quick run through of the matches and give you my 2 cents on them:
Orlando Jordan (C) vs. Chris Benoit for the WWE US TITLE
A two minute squash for the US belt, I don't know if this was done strictly because of time constraints(it was added at the last minute) or if this was the plan all along but in any event this is what Benoit needed after shockingly LOSING to OJ at Great American Bash. Maybe this means they are gonna pull Benoit off the backburner on Smackdown and do something with him.........not likely though. One day last week I finally got around to watching SummerSlam 2004, and it's hard to believe it's already been a year since Benoit dropped the World title and has been back to being lost in the shuffle ever since. We'll see where he goes from here.
Edge vs. Matt Hardy in a "You banged my girlfriend you son of a bitch" 'Streetfight'
Well as I've covered here recently this match had the potential to be a HUGE deal for WWE had it been handled properly but thanks to some VERY shitty writing this went from one of the biggest 'shoot' angles in years to the second match on the card......pretty damn sad. Anyway they did a pretty good job of making it look mostly like a fight and not using any wrestling holds. The spear through the ropes to the floor was an awesome spot as well as Edge dropping Hardy face first on the ringpost, but the refferee stoping the match because Hardy couldn't continue and Hardy having to be helped from the ring made him look like a complete ass! Let's see Edge steals his girlfriend, MATT gets fired for it, the fans demand he comes back and he gets his ass handed to him as Edge and his girlfriend leave hand in hand. Once again it's another example of WWE looking to teach someone a lesson instead of doing what's best for business. The finish should have been done in reverse with Matt winning after the match is stopped, Matt would be back strong, gain some revenge and Edge would keep his 'heel heat' and they could have had a series of rematches. But instead they wanted to teach Matt and the fans a lesson. They wanted to punish Matt Hardy for going public with this situation and making Edge, Lita, and the WWE look bad and they wanted to send a message to all those fans who chanted "You screwed Matt" and demanded his return. The message was simple, you want Matt, well there he is beaten to a bloody pulp. Well Matt hope you enjoyed the time in the spotlight cause you'll back to Sunday Night Heat or released again before you know it.
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero- Ladder Match for the Custody of Rey's son Dominick
Ok first off lets read that again, A LADDER MATCH FOR THE CUSTODY OF REY'S SON DOMINICK!?!?! WTF?? Eddie and Rey have incredible matches and Eddie is a tremendous heel, so why do you need such a ridiculous premise behind this match? First off they want you to believe that Eddie REALLY IS Dominick's biological father when anyone who ever saw Rey in WCW without his mask can see the kid looks JUST LIKE HIM! Anyway storyline bullshit aside this was an incredible match with some ladder spots that made you cringe. Rey wins it after Eddie's shoot wife comes out and pushes him off the ladder. Also there was a great spot where Eddie was gonna smack the shit out of the kid but Rey cuts him off. All in all, a good match with a shitty finish and dumb premise.
Kurt Angle vs. Eugene- No Time Limit for Angle's Gold Medals
Angle comes right in and goes after Eugene with a smack to the head and it's on from there. Now bringing up last years SummerSlam in Toronto again, Eugene was going against mega heel Triple H and the crowd booed him out of the building which made the whole match seem awkward and once again this is what happened in Washington, the crowd completely shit on Eugene and sided with Angle which made for some awkward moments in the match and for the announcers. Angle wins with the ankle lock after taking the Rock Bottom and the Stunner. I think it's time to lay the Eugene charcter to rest and find Nick Dinsmore a new character on Smackdown.
The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton- Wrestlemania Rematch
Nothing really special here, a match very simular to there match at Wrestlemania at the end a "fan" jumps into the ring and Undertaker gets distracted as the refferee and security drag him out of the ring 'Taker turns around and gets the 'RKO' for the pin. Winner Randy Orton and as for the "fan" it is revealed to be none other than "Cowboy" Bob Orton. Big shock there.
John Cena (C) vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship
This was probably Cena's best match to date as Jericho was really working his ass off in this match and the crowd was WAY into it with dueling chants of "Let's go Jericho", and "Let's go Cena" going at one point. It looked as if Jericho was gonna win it with the 'Walls of Jericho' but Cena made it to the ropes. Smooth finish where Cena shoots him in for a 'tiltawhirl suplex' but swings him up into an 'F-U'. Suprisingly great match.
Batista (C) vs. JBL- No Holds Barred for the World Championship
Well with Mohammad Hassan being killed off by UPN, uh I mean the Undertaker. We are left with another Batista/JBL match. Decent match considering who it is, but having just watched the Cena/JBL I quit match from Judgement Day it made this one seem a bit uneventful. Anyway strong finish with Batista powerbombing JBL onto the ringsteps. Good match, nothing to write home about.
Main Event
Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan- ICON VS. LEGEND
Well I have to say I was initially shocked by the finish of this match, the standard "Hulkster" finish. But Michaels point was proven here, using his political stroke with McMahon and going over wouldn't have proved anything at this point, but going out there and making a 55 year old man with bad knees and a bad hip that moves like a cripple look like a million bucks proves that Shawn Michaels is everything he says he is. He bumped his ass off and flew all over that ring and made Hogan look like the 'Hulkster' of old and then put him over in the center of the ring.(with all the Bret Hart talk, I really thought we would see the Montreal screwjob revisted for the 18th time) Who else could that? His match with Angle on RAW wasn't horrible, but he looked his age and most everything he did looked weak. The only problem I have with the match is the fact he shook hands with Hogan and went back to being a babyface afterwards, the WWE really needs that HBK back that we've seen for the past 6 weeks, I know he's a christian and won't go back to his D-X ways but just that cocky character that owned those people in Montreal last week. Imagine how much John Cena could learn doing a program with Michaels. Oh well, it was a great match with an ending no one expected. The only problem is, will this make Hogan think he's back and ready for another main event run. There's already talk of a match with Triple H at the next ppv. If so we'll how great "the Game" really is if he can drag that kinda match out of Hogan.
A two minute squash for the US belt, I don't know if this was done strictly because of time constraints(it was added at the last minute) or if this was the plan all along but in any event this is what Benoit needed after shockingly LOSING to OJ at Great American Bash. Maybe this means they are gonna pull Benoit off the backburner on Smackdown and do something with him.........not likely though. One day last week I finally got around to watching SummerSlam 2004, and it's hard to believe it's already been a year since Benoit dropped the World title and has been back to being lost in the shuffle ever since. We'll see where he goes from here.
Edge vs. Matt Hardy in a "You banged my girlfriend you son of a bitch" 'Streetfight'
Well as I've covered here recently this match had the potential to be a HUGE deal for WWE had it been handled properly but thanks to some VERY shitty writing this went from one of the biggest 'shoot' angles in years to the second match on the card......pretty damn sad. Anyway they did a pretty good job of making it look mostly like a fight and not using any wrestling holds. The spear through the ropes to the floor was an awesome spot as well as Edge dropping Hardy face first on the ringpost, but the refferee stoping the match because Hardy couldn't continue and Hardy having to be helped from the ring made him look like a complete ass! Let's see Edge steals his girlfriend, MATT gets fired for it, the fans demand he comes back and he gets his ass handed to him as Edge and his girlfriend leave hand in hand. Once again it's another example of WWE looking to teach someone a lesson instead of doing what's best for business. The finish should have been done in reverse with Matt winning after the match is stopped, Matt would be back strong, gain some revenge and Edge would keep his 'heel heat' and they could have had a series of rematches. But instead they wanted to teach Matt and the fans a lesson. They wanted to punish Matt Hardy for going public with this situation and making Edge, Lita, and the WWE look bad and they wanted to send a message to all those fans who chanted "You screwed Matt" and demanded his return. The message was simple, you want Matt, well there he is beaten to a bloody pulp. Well Matt hope you enjoyed the time in the spotlight cause you'll back to Sunday Night Heat or released again before you know it.
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero- Ladder Match for the Custody of Rey's son Dominick
Ok first off lets read that again, A LADDER MATCH FOR THE CUSTODY OF REY'S SON DOMINICK!?!?! WTF?? Eddie and Rey have incredible matches and Eddie is a tremendous heel, so why do you need such a ridiculous premise behind this match? First off they want you to believe that Eddie REALLY IS Dominick's biological father when anyone who ever saw Rey in WCW without his mask can see the kid looks JUST LIKE HIM! Anyway storyline bullshit aside this was an incredible match with some ladder spots that made you cringe. Rey wins it after Eddie's shoot wife comes out and pushes him off the ladder. Also there was a great spot where Eddie was gonna smack the shit out of the kid but Rey cuts him off. All in all, a good match with a shitty finish and dumb premise.
Kurt Angle vs. Eugene- No Time Limit for Angle's Gold Medals
Angle comes right in and goes after Eugene with a smack to the head and it's on from there. Now bringing up last years SummerSlam in Toronto again, Eugene was going against mega heel Triple H and the crowd booed him out of the building which made the whole match seem awkward and once again this is what happened in Washington, the crowd completely shit on Eugene and sided with Angle which made for some awkward moments in the match and for the announcers. Angle wins with the ankle lock after taking the Rock Bottom and the Stunner. I think it's time to lay the Eugene charcter to rest and find Nick Dinsmore a new character on Smackdown.
The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton- Wrestlemania Rematch
Nothing really special here, a match very simular to there match at Wrestlemania at the end a "fan" jumps into the ring and Undertaker gets distracted as the refferee and security drag him out of the ring 'Taker turns around and gets the 'RKO' for the pin. Winner Randy Orton and as for the "fan" it is revealed to be none other than "Cowboy" Bob Orton. Big shock there.
John Cena (C) vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship
This was probably Cena's best match to date as Jericho was really working his ass off in this match and the crowd was WAY into it with dueling chants of "Let's go Jericho", and "Let's go Cena" going at one point. It looked as if Jericho was gonna win it with the 'Walls of Jericho' but Cena made it to the ropes. Smooth finish where Cena shoots him in for a 'tiltawhirl suplex' but swings him up into an 'F-U'. Suprisingly great match.
Batista (C) vs. JBL- No Holds Barred for the World Championship
Well with Mohammad Hassan being killed off by UPN, uh I mean the Undertaker. We are left with another Batista/JBL match. Decent match considering who it is, but having just watched the Cena/JBL I quit match from Judgement Day it made this one seem a bit uneventful. Anyway strong finish with Batista powerbombing JBL onto the ringsteps. Good match, nothing to write home about.
Main Event
Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan- ICON VS. LEGEND
Well I have to say I was initially shocked by the finish of this match, the standard "Hulkster" finish. But Michaels point was proven here, using his political stroke with McMahon and going over wouldn't have proved anything at this point, but going out there and making a 55 year old man with bad knees and a bad hip that moves like a cripple look like a million bucks proves that Shawn Michaels is everything he says he is. He bumped his ass off and flew all over that ring and made Hogan look like the 'Hulkster' of old and then put him over in the center of the ring.(with all the Bret Hart talk, I really thought we would see the Montreal screwjob revisted for the 18th time) Who else could that? His match with Angle on RAW wasn't horrible, but he looked his age and most everything he did looked weak. The only problem I have with the match is the fact he shook hands with Hogan and went back to being a babyface afterwards, the WWE really needs that HBK back that we've seen for the past 6 weeks, I know he's a christian and won't go back to his D-X ways but just that cocky character that owned those people in Montreal last week. Imagine how much John Cena could learn doing a program with Michaels. Oh well, it was a great match with an ending no one expected. The only problem is, will this make Hogan think he's back and ready for another main event run. There's already talk of a match with Triple H at the next ppv. If so we'll how great "the Game" really is if he can drag that kinda match out of Hogan.
