Raw and Smackdown
Match 1: The Dudleys (Spike, D-Von, Buh-Buh) beat Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman and Paul London. Both the faces & the heels did their jobs well & there were enough spots to keep everyone entertained. The bout probably needed another 4 or 5 minutes, as at 8 minutes in length, it just couldn't build up as effectively to the entertaining climax. Nowhere near perfect, but a handy little opener. 6.5/10
Match 2: Kane defeated Matt Hardy in a TILL DEATH DO US PART MATCH OF DOOM!!!!!!!!!!. More intense than their 'N0-DQ' match from Vengeance, the short length (7 minutes) of this bout actually worked in it's favor. Good psychology as Matt never let up on the pace & logically even went for a countout win. Well booked ending with Matt knowing that he was only one big move away from victory & going to the top rope for that move. But the only thing he received was an awesome top-rope chokeslam. Surprisingly good match in an ordinary storyline. Well done to both men. 7/10
Match 3: John Cena beat Booker T in 1 out of 5 matches for the U.S Title. Disappointing match which not only took a while to get going, but started off very sloppily. Cena & Booker almost appeared as if they had never been in the ring together!!! They eventually started to mesh though & as the pace started to quicken, the crowd got involved in what was becoming a very good bout. Then it just ended..... at the 7 minute mark!!! Way too much of an anti-climax for an important match such as this. The structure of this bout very much let it down & these 2 can do so much better. 4/10
Match 4: Edge beat Chris Jericho and Batista in a Triple Threat to retain IC Title. Good dynamics in this match, as there was enough variation between the 3 competitors. Batista's power & the crowd favoritism of Jericho over Edge really helped to make this bout quite good. As per usual in Triple-Threat matches, the 3 combatants were hardly all in the ring at the same time, but that's almost expected nowadays. The main problem with this bout though, was that it was a little too fast-paced!!! Or to be more correct, a little too helter-skelter. This resulted in too many moves being performed for basically no reason at all, and a general lack of psychology in the match. Still pretty good though 7/10
Match 5: Kurt Angle defeated Eddie Guerrero. Very good match which was basically a shortened version of their WrestleMania 20 bout. I think the fact that both men were not quite at their fittest held this 14 minute match back a little, but not all that much. Almost UFC style in structure (& to some extent, pacing), both men almost immediately went for each other's ankle & so began an excellent battle of cat & mouse. Angle looked superb in his major return bout, while Eddie was impressive in matching & countering Kurt's technical skills. It was logical & sensible that the constant ankle work would not lead to the fastest paced climax, and while they still turned it up a notch, that probably stopped this bout from getting a higher ranking. I'm also not sure if it was a good move to have Angle kick out of Eddie's Frog Splash!!! MOTN 8/10
Match 6: Triple H beat Eugene. I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I really liked this 14 minute match. Triple H played the heel role perfectly (not that you would know with the sound on), while Eugene really stepped it up a notch inside the squared circle. While Dinsmore's style is unorthodox, his enthusiasm more than made up for it during this bout. Greater intensity here mixed really well against Triple H. Very entertaining with Triple H continuing to play the sadistic, humorous & brutal villain, all in one. While Eugene's Rock Bottom, Stone Cold Stunner & Big Boot/Legdrop combo all fitted perfectly into different parts of the match. To cap it all off, we saw a well booked finish involving Flair & Regal. Plus, the correct wrestler won the match relatively cleanly. I can see this match being under-rated & it really does deserve multiple viewings!!! 7.5/10
Match 7: JBL defeated Undertaker via DQ to retain Smackdown World Title. Nowhere near as bad as it could have been. In fact, it was quite a good big man match, with enough variation to make it more than satisfactory. At 18 minutes (plus a 4 minute aftermath, which included JBL being chokeslammed through his limo), the bout definitely lasted a few minutes too long. 12-15 minutes would have been about right. The DQ ending was also a definite disappointment, although it sort of makes sense from a short to medium-term booking perspective. Plus, that's why the aftermath existed. Well booked (apart from the length), I liked the good (& clever) leg work done by JBL early on. There were also a couple of good spots (EG: the simultaneous big boots). Both men gave a pretty good performance & I think saved what was a pretty ordinarily set up feud. 7/10
Match 8: Randy Orton beat He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named to win the Raw World Title. : Much like the pay-per-view as a whole, this was a very solid, if unspectacular, main event. It definitely lacked something that a big main event match should have, but I can't really put my finger on it. Maybe it was a general lack of excitement, pace and/or spots. Apart from that though, it's hard to fault the bout too much. The result aside, which I feel is too soon, Orton continued to show signs of great potential & improvement. But he also showed the same usual signs of inexperience. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was his usual intense self & his exceptional selling went to another level here. The fantastically booked ending came at the 20 minute mark when Orton literally hit the RKO out of nowhere. That ending alone almost legitimized the move right up there with DDP's 'Diamond Cutter' & Steve Austin's 'Stone Cold Stunner'. Solid match. 7.5/10
Overall: 6.8
Damn good PPV. One of the best of the year so far
