I liked the PPV in general. Is really funny because if you have analize every match, I will say nothing was really, really special, but all together, it made for a nice PPV.
As we discussed before the PPV, the show was massively focused on the Cena/Barret angle. To be honest, if the pay-off at the end was better, I would have prob ended up with a similar verdict as you. ...Not like anyone dramatically stunk the house out.
I liked John Morrison vs Sheamus, and tbh, apparently unlike you, I liked their little feud. If one thing could get critiqued about it was that Sheamus never really got Morrison in danger during the build up. But their match was really nice.
Nice pairing, but we've had already had Sheamus beat JoMo clean in a falls count anywhere match in VERY recent memory... T-h-e-n JoMo, THE FACE, starts fucking with Sheamus in the Santino segments each week... To me, it portrays JoMo as a poor loser, regardless of what anti-bullying message they hastily tried to tie in later down the line(*).... And now they're trying to sell JoMo's win as something special? He's beat plenty of former world champs in the past. I don't see how anyone benefits from any of it....
(*Not to mention, a side note, why has it fallen to JoMo to look out for Santino in the first, 2nd and 3rd instances when his buddy is a 300lb "sambo master"...?)
I don't get the hate on the Elimination Match. It is one of the best, imo, that we have seen in the last couple of years. Team Kofi vs Team Orton was only good when it was down to Punk/Orton vs Kofi. Team Miz vs Team Morrison wasn't anything to write about. Don't get me started on the year before that when we saw the horrible Team HBK vs Team JBL, and I don't get the hype about Team HHH vs Team Umaga. I liked this match, it entertained through out and the only bad part was Rey and Big Show winning. Alberto Del Rio should have come back and take the win.
....Well I wouldn't say I exhibited any '
hate' towards it.
Was extremely mediocre, that's all. The only guys with any real heat between them was Rey & Del Rio and they 'removed' Del Rio from the match way before the finish to leave us watching 2 ME-er faces easily getting the better of the SD low & mid-card heels.
100% agreed about Del Rio tho', however it woulda taken some damn inventive booking to get him past Rey AND Show.
...Any thoughts on how you'd have played that one? (Jus' for the hell of it, like...)
I blame Kane for the bad Edge vs Kane match. Edge is not as a good as he was 2 years ago, but he comes from having great matches with Alberto Del Rio, Ziggler, practically against everyone he was put against on Smackdown...
I know you're big on Edge, but "great"? ...You're way overstating the level of his matches since returning to SD....
*Vs. Swagger on PPV was dull.
*Vs. Del Rio was TV fodder with a dirty finish. (No direct criticism of the workers, but equally so, nothing to write home about as a result.)
*Vs. Ziggler.... TBH, I remember the segment with Vikki & Edge, but not the match.... Didn't make anywhere near the impression that his matches with Kofi & Bryan did though.
*Vs. 3-way qualifyer... Was ok I guess, but again "great"?
...Has he even had any other notable matches during this period to consider?
...til Kane. Kane comes from putting bad matches with The Undertaker. People put the blame on the Deadman...but Kane is still putting bad matches against other opponents. Seems to me Jacobs is the one to blame.
All that said, I acknowledge Kane has never been one to set the ring alight
so-to-speak.
Orton vs Barret are just boring together. BTW, imo, they should had avoided pinfall covers in general throughout the match. The moment Cena made the first count correctly, it killed the logic that he would turn. The ending was not bad, as some people claim. The thing is, WE had gotten all hyped about a turn or some elaborated plan about something big happening, that when WWE delivered one of the actual things they said it might happen (WWE never hyped HHH appearing, Cena turning, Otunga turning nexus on Barret, Miz cashing in, they hyped either Cena reluctantly helping Barret win or Cena getting fired) we got let down.
You're honestly saying that WWE didn't hype/tease an Otunga swerve or Miz cashing in? You're joking...? What has all that shit on Raw been in recent weeks (see Otunga) or the promo that very night (see Miz) then?
Regardless, I'm not condemning it because those things didn't happen and I acknowledge they, belatedly, brought a little 'sizzle' to the situation by having Cena screw Barret in the rematch on Raw, but I'm simply saying as bigger deal as this was made out to be; the culmination of how many months TV?... The pay-off was weak.
Last night's Raw pissed all over Survivor Series IMO.