Judgment Day Thoughts

So without my PPV posse in tow, I headed to the theatre last night to check this one out. However, I did win a prize in the post-show trivia contest: A WWE "One Night Stand" kit, which consisted of a leather pouch with the WWE logo on it (guaranteeing that I will never ACTUALLY use it during a real one-night stand), toothpaste, a comb, mouthwash, etc. I remember the days when you just won DVD's.... not to mention that One Night Stand is in two weeks from now, not tonight.

Anyways, the show was pretty decent, and has to make them feel good about unifying the three brands every month on PPV. Not a lot of time-filler here, and most of the matches got a decent amount of time to tell their story.

Ric Flair vs. Carlito: Obviously, they're still punishing Carlito for his pre-WM comments, but at least Flair was made to look like a legend in one of the cities he starred in decades ago. And the match was actually a good effort on the part of both guys.

Bobby Lashley vs. Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Umaga: Meh, but it was kept really short. I suppose the idea is for Lashley to face Vince now at Not ECW One Night Stand. So from that standpoint, it worked. Just sucks to be Umaga right now, is all.

CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke: This one was surprisingly good, and I'm glad WWE gave so much PPV time to let this one develop. A lot of false finishes there, and yet the right guy definitely won. Now, its just a matter of dissolving ECW and letting Punk go to SmackDown (Burke, too, for that matter).

The Hardyz vs. Cade and Murdoch: I am quickly becoming a Cade and Murdoch fan, and not because of this ultra-lame "respect" angle. They're actually developing into a nice old-school team. Would have liked to see them win, though, so they could have done the blowoff match at the next PPV (and they may still if they do a decent angle tonight on Raw).

Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton: This was more an angle than it was a bonafide match, but it was played out really well. Hell, if Orton is the only credible heel they have left on Raw, might as well make him look like a total dick. And having Shawn Michaels' wife run out was a nice touch.... but it would have made MORE sense had the event been even remotely near where they live, you know?

Batista vs. Edge: I would have rather seen this one end inconclusively, rather than Edge getting a clean pinfall (or at least through Sexual Chocolate-ference), but both these guys put on a decent show. Hell, looking at Batista's last few PPV appearances, he's on quite the streak of being in "better than expected" matches. Oh, and yes -- I did hear Edge saying "EVER!!!" in the pre-match promo. Another point for the Bulldog....

Chris Benoit vs. MVP: Another in a series of fantastic matches between these guys. This was the very definition of Benoit putting young talent over, especially losing in two straight falls. Yet JBL continued to put Benoit over on the mike, which leads me to believe that either he's going to turn heel soon (which is actually overdue) or MVP's turning face. Regardless, though, GREAT match.

John Cena vs. Great Khali: I read some of the message board comments this morning, mostly from people who just saw the result and crapped all over it. But it was a GOOD match. Not in the traditional sense of, say, Benoit-MVP, but for what it was, both guys did their jobs really well. It reminded me of a Hulk Hogan match from the 80's, actually, the way Cena was against overwhelming odds and still came through in the clutch. Also, Khali did NOT suck out there, especially with that one roundhouse kick he delivered. Yeah, so he tapped out at the end. So what? It wasn't like many people were expecting him to win the match, was it? It may have been nicer had Khali won by countout, setting up a rematch (another old Hogan formula), but then you would have all crapped over the rematch. It does look like we're going to have Cena-Orton at SummerSlam ("Two years too late"), but that's more a function of injuries more than anything else.