Raw only
Match 1: Tajiri and Rhyno beat Garrison Cade and Johnathan Coachman. I suppose there really wasn't a clear choice for opener, so I'm fine with this. It pretty much meant nothing, but was entertaining enough for it's 7 minute duration. Tajiri practically provided all the highlights as far as I was concerned. Nothing anywhere near special, but nothing too bad either. 5/10
Match 2: Batista defeated Chris Jericho. Disappointing & by-the-numbers match which took an absolute eternity to get going. It started out as if the encouraging feud was going to carry over into this match. But the next 7 minutes turned into a slow boring resthold-fest. If they were attempting psychology, it didn't work!!! Jericho hardly got in any offense at all. At that stage, this was heading for a match rating of about 3. But the final 4 minutes were pretty well put together & saved it a little. 4/10
Match 3: La Resistance beat Ric Flair and Eugene via DQ to retain Tag Titles. Extremely entertaining byplay between Eugene & Flair in the opening few minutes of this 12 minute encounter. Some of Eugene's mocking had just the right blend of looking something like what Flair does, but nothing like him at all. In return, Flair's facial expressions & actions were priceless. The match eventually settled down & turned into a pretty average tag-team bout. That is, until Eugene got angry at his cheating opponents & went berserk causing his team to be disqualified. Nothing much more to say really... Just an average bout given an extra point because of the entertainment value. 6/10
Match 4: Matt Hardy defeated Kane in a No DQ Match. Above average intensity in this bout & predominantly well-performed (a messy 'Twist Of Fate' being the main exception). But this match lacked one thing: Something spectacular. Anything would have done... It could have been gimmicky, hardcore, high-flying, backstage, etc... Anything like that would have raised this match another level. But it didn't come. The ending was also disappointing & anti-climactic, as Lita distracted Kane enough to allow Matt to get the soft win at the 11 minute mark. 6/10
Match 5: Edge beat Randy Orton to win the IC Title. I knew this match was going to be given over 20 minutes (it got 26) & I think the main question to be answered was could these 2 put on a consistent quality match over that timeframe. I'm still unsure if I have the answer to be honest. The bout was far from perfect, but I'm almost tempted to answer in the affirmative. There was a heap of slow spots in the match (the first 7 or 8 minutes, plus the 2 sets of headlocks in the middle), but the better parts were very well put together & performed. Most importantly, there were times when these 2 guys had the crowd in the palm of their hands. To top it all off, the final few minutes were excellent & possibly the best ending to a match this year. Overall, a very hard match to rate. Giving them 26 minutes was way too ambitious & hurt the match. But both Orton & Edge showed the amount of potential they have. 7/10
Match 6: Victoria defeated Molly Holly to become #1 contender. Very good women's match which could have done with some crowd involvement. Lasted just under 7 minutes, but had pretty much everything. It started off at a cracking pace & then turned into a very good psychological bout. The ending capped it all off with Victoria unable to hit 'The Widow's Peak' due to a shoulder injury, but then ad-libbing with an excellent super-kick for the win. Victoria was tremendously impressive, while Molly was her usual solid self (although not at her best). 6/10
Match 7: He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named beat Triple H to retain World Title. This match has to be split into 2 separate parts: Pre-Eugene & Post-Eugene. The 22 minutes before Eugene appeared was an absolute clinic!!!! I thoroughly enjoyed how both wrestlers performed every single move with crispness & intensity. Seriously, they could have easily gone over an hour after that beginning. After Eugene entered the equation though, the match became way overbooked & simply a case of 'whose side will he take'. It was still pretty entertaining, but just didn't fit the mood set down earlier in the bout. The ending came almost anti-climactically at the 29 minute mark. If we did learn a couple of things from this match, it's that He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is a genuine main-eventer & that Triple H is not quite past his best just yet. 8/10
Overall: 6.0
A pretty decent PPV all around. Much better then the previous crappy PPV's they'd put out this year.