| I only buy WrestleMania PPVs because of the cost, only can afford so much these days. But I was tempted to see 3 Hell In A Cell matches. So I plopped down 39.95 for the Standard Def version. I was surprised the match order with the Cell matches. I was let down by Undertaker vs Punk. It didn't have that special feel. Orton vs Cena was better but not by much. DX vs Legacy was the classic style Hell In The Cell match, and I enjoyed that. All together it was a good PPV, not a must see, and not a lame duck, but a nice event. Best match for me is a tie: DX vs Legacy for the story telling and Cell use, and Batista/Misterio vs Jericho/Show for a match work. Worst was the Women's match. I am a HUGE Mickie James fanatic, but she needs real competition, not goofballs. I also loved the Morrison/Ziggler match. Ziggler needs a title soon, he's hot, people are getting on board with him thanx to JR pushing him, and he needs that title soon. Well my budget is blown for the month, but next PPV I forsee is WrestleMania. Just too many PPVs that cost too much, If they are going to do a PPV every 2-3 weeks, at least drop the price in half for every other one. Thanx Dave, Keep up the good work. Daniel Beling Baltimore Best match: Chris Jericho & The Big Show vs. Batista & Rey Mysterio Worst match: Alicia Fox vs. Mickie James Thumbs up Obviously, the opening PPV bout, Punk vs. 'Taker, doesn't approach living up to the past "Cell" matches. Although, for a wrestler in The Deadman's condition, I expected less from him. Mickie and Alicia did an above average job of landing correctly after maneuvers (per Diva standards). Until the DDT to end the match, which was viciously ugly. Chris Jericho & The Big Show vs. Rey Mysterio & "Big" Dave Batista stole the show. The various ways the teams were set up (Rey held by Batista, Jericho held by Big Show, etc.) and split apart, served well in maintaining the question of whether the tag titles would change hands. Despite Y2J and Rey Rey being future Observer Hall of Famer's, I was still shocked by how well worked this match was. John Cena vs. Randy Orton An awfully surprising way to make Cena break the STF used by Orton. Randy's expressions were spot-on all night. The Doctor of Thuganomics had a hell of a lot of heat on him. It was nice to see "The Viper" punt Cena at such an opportune moment. RKO is one of the very best heels in the World. R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre was exciting since I'm very big on the Scot. Truth laid out a good match to establish Drew as a strong up-and-comer. Not so sure about the finisher of a double underhook DDT in which McIntyre lands on his back, due to the fact that the camera has a difficult time showing it well. Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz was a perfectly acceptable match. Kofi used his vertical leaping to his advantage. Unexpected retain by the Jamaican from Ghana. No dominating performance by any participants. The Miz on the mic was definitely a welcome treat; Mike is above Ziggler and Morrison on promos for sure. DX vs. Legacy was certainly a satisfying main event. Michaels' facials & physical selling were executed marvelously. While it seems niave to say in hindsight, I thought Cody and Ted might emerge victorious. Hunter is convincing as a limp body. The story of him attempting, time after time, to get inside with different objects, and being ridiculed by The Legacy was fantastic. Finishing the match with the isolation of Cody and the tandem hammer/superkick to Cody was the best of all the cell bouts. Of course, Cena's dogtags aren't equal to the cross, but since he'll likely face Orton again, it'd work well for the angle where Andre the Giant ripped Hulk Hogan's cross off to be remodeled for Cena/Orton 1 Million, being that Cena's tags were broken off in the H.I.A.C. match. --Brian Thomas Thumbs up Best Match: John Cena vs. Randy Orton Worst Match: R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre I was there live and I thought it was a very good show, not sure how it played out on tv. Most of the wrestling was very good, but I was a little surprised by the match order. Cena and Orton had a great match and I thought the tag title match was really good as well. Taker/Punk left a little to be desired but they did the best they could given Taker's current limitations, and the crowd was very into it. Everyone loved the main event and when people were leaving everyone seemed to have really enjoyed the show. Nobody I spoke with had anything bad to say about it. - Dan Marsiglia Best match: Cena-Orton Worst match: Divas title This PPV to me was almost a bait-and-switch. I paid to see three Hell in a Cell matches and in two of them the cell was barely used. And the first one - a world title match no less - lasted barely 10 minutes and I spent most of it waiting for a swerve that never came. At least they made Punk look somewhat competitive. Morrison and Ziggler both worked hard although I thought Dolph attempted too many covers towards the end. There was a long sequence of move-cover-move-cover which hurt the flow of the match and it was nowhere near the level of Morrison-Mysterio from a few weeks back. Tag title match was fine. US title match was ok but hurt by its position on the card as you say. And McIntyre-Truth seemed like pointless filler - if they're trying to push McIntyre then it should've really been a two-minute squash. Cena and Orton had another good match with a couple of nice new spots but they could have done it as a regular no DQ match, so little did the cell come into play. At least Legacy-DX made use of the cell. Really, in this brave new PG-rated world I'd rather watch a regular cage match than HIAC because in the former at least you can do escape sequences and suplexes/dives from the top of the cage. In 2009 it seems all you can do in HIAC is throw someone against the cell a few times, but no raking their face against it in case there's any accidental juice, and we can't have that can we? I remain unconvinced about these themed PPVs. Thanks, Ben Gould London, UK |
Hey Dave,
Thumbs way down. Like dig a hole through the center of the earth, stick your arm through to China thumbs down.
Until Triple H and The Undertaker just retire already, these shows will likely all continue to suck because there is no mystery at all in the outcome.
The Undertaker's age has caught up to him. He is looking and moving like an old, beaten down wrestler. He can't go on the road, he can't do a lot in the ring, and CM Punk has been doing his best to carry Smackdown for the last few months. I'm not a grizzled CM Punk supporter who has followed him since the IWA days, but there is absolutely no good reason he should be tapped out last month and pinned clean this month by a guy like The Taker who gains absolutely nothing from it. If The Undertaker's character makes him impossible to book in a program that doesn't always involve him winning conclusively, maybe it's time to give him the Ric Flair sendoff already in order to allow the company to finally move forward and get someone new over.
The same thing with Triple H who made Legacy look like kids.
Just awful, awful shit that pushes me deeper into MMA fandom. If this was UFC, CM Punk and Legacy would have just knocked DX and The Undertaker out because they are old men who's physical peaks were ten years ago and the wheels of progress would have kept on turning. Instead, the wheel of progress is stuck on 1999 and instead of Rampage Jackson, GSP, Gina Carano, Kimbo Slice, Fedor, Brock Lesnar, Urijah Faber or Lyoto Machida, we get a 45 year old man dressed as a zombie doing campy magic and a couple of middle aged clowns telling dick jokes for yet another five years on WWE television. People’s tastes have changed, but we’re still being forced fed a menu from ten years ago.
I can't wait to see how badly WWE gets embarrassed when they run Survivor Series a day after UFC 106. WWE is going to ironically end up looking like CM Punk and Legacy did tonight.
Joe Bowen
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