| 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 Thumbs in the middle 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 | WWE Hell in a Cell: Thumbs Up Best Match: Jericho & Show vs. Batista & Mysterio Worst Match: Mickie James vs. Alicia Fox Despite giving the show a thumbs up, I do think the show would have benefited from one less cell match. I think three is too many for one show. First I was surprised to see the World Title open the show and even more surprised to see it being so average and short. It didn't really seem up to par and frankly Punk shouldn't have lost. Taker should just be a special attraction wrestler and not compete for the World Title. I thought the Intercontinental Title match was very good. Glad to see them get some time and hope Morrison and Ziggler get their due in the future even beyond where they are at. Tag title match was very good. Going in I figured Rey vs. Jericho would be good, but didn't figure Batista and Show would add much. It was well done and they had some good spots. Glad Jericho and Show retained. Womens match was okay, nothing great, nothing horrible, but still felt like it could have just been on Raw. Cena vs. Orton was good, but was surprised again that the title match was this early in the show as I was expecting it to close the show. I guess Orton vs. Cena is going to continue, but Raw really needs some new main eventers. McIntyre vs. R-Truth was alright. Figured Drew was winning since Vince gave him the stamp of approval. Triple threat was pretty good, almost that it would be cancelled since it seemed like they were running low on time. Glad to see Kingston, retain, but Miz and Swagger need to get more of a push. Main event was good, although it was more of an angle than a match. Triple H got to sit out for most of it. Was hoping Legacy would go over, but at least they got to beat down DX for a while. Hope we are done with this feud as well. We need some fresh matches going forward. Robb Block Thumbs Up Best Match: John Cena vs. Randy Orton - Hell in A Cell Match Worst Match: ---
I thought this was a really, really good show. The placement of the matches was a little mind-boggling, but, this was arguably the most wrestling-heavy WWE pay-per-view of the year. Everything got time, even surprisingly the women's match, and everything delivered to my expectations or exceeded them. Punk looked good bumping around for Undertaker. I liked the story of the Morrison/Ziggler match, Dolph tried what felt like twenty covers, and kept getting angrier and more agitated after each successive kick-out. Women's match was good, Alicia is coming along nicely, and I cringed when she bent so bizarrely on the finish. I loved the tag match, lots of cool spots involving everybody, glad to see Rey, one of the best in the world in '09, back in the game and this had a great final act with the surprise KO after the crowd was rallying behind the good guys so big. Cena vs. Orton was tremendous, I know their match at Breaking Point was pretty polarizing, but I can't fathom many people not being completely blown away by this. It had that "big match" feel you just rarely get anymore these days. Terrific performances by both guys, great timing, wonderfully expressive facially and with body language, etc. The R-Truth/McIntyre was short but physical enough for me to dig. The three-way was also fine, although subject to poor placement, Kofi nailed Swagger twice in the face with great kicks, and Miz is a great asshole. Main event was fairly good, for what it was, but I'm not a real big backer of this feud or DX in general. Shawn's selling was decent, although I'm tiring of his mopey, horse face and receding hairline. Triple H selling that double-DDT on the ramp by being motionless for nearly ten minutes was overkill. The finish didn't do anything to help the young guys, either; just another pay-per-view finale seeing staler than stale HHH gloating in-ring. Brian Hammons 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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