Match 1: John Cena defeated Big Show to win U.S Title. !!! It was 9 minutes of predominantly slow-paced action that The Big Show dominated for the most part, until the final few moments. Good finish which didn't hurt either wrestler's credibility, as Cena got the win with his knucks. Decent enough bout, but not quite the special opening to WrestleMania 20 that I was expecting. 5/10
Match 2: RVD and Booker T defeated Dudley Boys, La Reistance, and Mark Jindrak/Garrison Cade in 4 way to retain Raw Tag Straps. At 7 minutes, this was far too sort in both length & excitement. At the very least, we should have seen the tables come out from under the ring!!! Like the opener, it was decent enough, but just a little too ho-hum for my liking. What's worse, is that none of the teams really came out of the match with their reputations enhanced. 4/10
Match 3: Christian defeated Chris Jericho. Very good 15 minute match, despite a clearly botched top-rope move during it. Excellently paced, and a good combination of the 2 wrestlers' spots, plus a few different moves. It was also an effective mixture of mat & high-flying wrestling, which should leave these 2 in a good position to break through toward a main event standing. The match did lack a little in psychology, but nothing in intensity. The ending was well booked, if a little predictable. While the aftermath (including the Trish Stratus heel turn) was also well done. A good job, all around. 8/10
Match 4: Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Batista defeated The Rock and Mick Foley. Extremely entertaining, and the 17 minutes that it lasted for, seemed to fly by. Everyone did their job well, with Flair being the usual barrel of laughs. If there can be such a thing, this was the most organized of disorganized messes that I've ever seen. Very well booked & performed, this actually was a lot better than what I thought it would be. I guess charisma does go a long way in professional wrestling. 8/10
Match 5: Torrie Wilson and Sable beat Stacy Keibler and Jackie Gayda. Nothing we haven't seen before, but I guess it's been a while. Kudos to the WWE for keeping it so short (3 or 5 minutes, depending on at what point you consider the match to have started). 3/10
Match 6: Chavo Guerrero won a CW Open. Also involved were: Utlimo Dragon, Shannon Moore, Jamie Noble, Funaki, Nunzio, Billy Kidman, Mysterio, Tajiri and Akio. What on Earth were they thinking when they decided to have 8 pinfalls in 11 minutes? What the hell were they thinking not using arguably 2 of the most talented cruiserweights on the entire roster (Akio & Paul London)? I suppose the writing was on the wall when Ultimo Dragon almost slipped on his a$$ during his entrance!!! It was actually Billy Kidman, of all people, who brought the most excitement to this match. That shooting star press to the outside gave me nightmares of Brock Lesnar last year. When it came down to Rey vs Chavo so early on, I was expecting about 10 minutes of action similar to their 'No Way Out' bout. I almost threw something at my tv, when Chavo pinned Rey (again) uncleanly approximately 2 minutes later. Not exactly terrible, but we were owed something special from the cruiserweights tonight, and these guys could have got it done if they were allowed to. 4/10
Match 7: Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar. A slow intense test of strength would have been fine in normal circumstances, but this was anything but normal circumstances. Surely, the WWE would have known that the crowd were going to react in that way towards both wrestlers!?!?!? They should have got the action started immediately & at least tried to make the fans concentrate on the actual bout. But they went the slow & methodical route, and pretty much continued it for the 13 minute duration of the match. Goldberg won cleanly, and Austin stunned both of them afterwards. 4/10
Match 8: Rikishi/Scott 2 Hotty defeated WGTT, APA and Bashams to retain Smackdown Tag Straps. Can I simply write "See comments on the Raw Tag Title match" & leave it at that...??? Seriously, it was almost a carbon copy. It also lasted 7 minutes. It also had the face champs retain the titles. And it was also decent, but nothing special. Could have, and should have, been much better. 5/10
Match 9: Victoria defeated Molly in a Hair vs Title bout. The worst thing was that the pace of this bout suggested that it was at least going to last 10 minutes. If the match was only going to go 5 minutes, then why didn't we see a fast-paced & spot-oriented match!?!?!? 3/10
Match 10: Eddie Guerero defeated Kurt Angle to retain Smackdown World Title. Not the main event & nowhere near 30 minutes in length (it ended up being 22). This was unfortunately not the match of the year contender that I was expecting. The match itself was technically very good, but it had far too few exciting (or memorable) moments. The ending was very cleverly booked though, with Eddie undoing his boot laces, to slip out of the anklelock. I suppose we often have to look past pre-match expectations, and when all was said & done, this was still a very good match. 8/10
Match 11: Undertaker defeated Kane. overall, there was an uneasy mix of everything about The Undertaker. The look, the characteristics, and especially the wrestling style. It just didn't quite gel. 4/10
Match 12: He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named defeated Triple H and HBK to win Raw World Title. Excellent & memorable match where all 3 combatants brought close to their best. Right from the beginning of the bout, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named looked his intense & crisp self, while HBK & Triple H stepped it up a notch or two from their 2004 performances thus far (they were a lot more effective here, than at The Royal Rumble). At 25 minutes in length, this wasn't the most perfectly paced match. Nor was it a technical masterpiece (which I would have preferred that they tried for in the first 8-10 minutes). But I suppose that is the inherent problem with Triple Threat matches. What it undoubtedly was though, was exciting, entertaining & memorable. A superb finish capped it all off very well. Great stuff!!! 9/10
Overall: 5.8.
A damn good main event, and a must for fans of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named