TheOneBigWill's 'take' on Backlash April 27th, 2008:
The Matches:
1. United States Championship: M.V.P. (c.) v. Matt Hardy: Very solid opening contest with a feud that has likely seen its last breath. Going into the match, I questioned M.V.P. retaining via getting Disqualified to keep the U.S. Championship for a solid year.. apparently with Matt Hardy picking up the victory and the Championship, this feud has come to an end. Short of possibly one final rematch.
I'll admit to being happy Matt Hardy won the Championship, but only if it leads to the possible feud between Hardy and John Morrison. If Hardy ends up in crap feuds with Chuck Palumbo and Chavo Guerrero I'm gonna be majorly upset.
2. E.C.W. Heavyweight Championship: Kane (c.) v. Chavo Guerrero w/ Bam Neely: My first overall opinion is this match got way too much time then what it should've been allowed. The whole advantage for Chavo was a knee that was suppose to be "shattered" through storyline purposes.. and outside of a couple leg takedowns and Neely wrapping Kane's knee around the ring post about 2-3 times, Chavo didn't really do much to the "injury."
The match did have a nice finish, as Chavo leaps off with the Frog Splash, only to be caught in a chokehold when he connected with Kane. Kane gets up, Chavo goes up, then comes down hard. The match and the title, go to Kane. The only disappointment honestly was there was truly no purpose for Bam Neely to be at ringside. The match had rules, which meant if he got caught interfering, he'd of gotten Chavo DQ'ed. He barely got involved at all because of that.. and when Chavo needed the distraction the most, after the chokeslam, Neely just stood outside the ring looking stupid.
Kane v. Neely for Judgment Day, possibly? Either that or (forbid) a handicap match, with the guy who gets the pin taking the Championship.
3. Big Show v. The Great Khali: Khali starts early with the advantage. My absolute favorite match regarding announcing, as Micheal (I don't pay attention to whats going on) Cole repeated throughout the entire match how he was astounded and shocked at how much Khali had dominated Big Show in the weeks leading up to the event.
I'm curious what show Cole had been watching for the previous 3 weeks, as the only thing I seen was Khali continuously backing down from Big Show and walking away. Of course short of him coming out during the Mark Henry/Show match on SD recently, and double handed chokeslamming Show. Outside of that, Khali did nothing.
In the end, this match went to Big Show without much surprise. And it always likely collected the end of the year award for "What were they thinking, booking this crap?" The match was everything I predicted and less.. punches, kicks and chops. (oh my)
4. Grudge Match: Shawn Michaels v. Batista (w/ Special Ref: Chris Jericho): Ladies and Gentlemen.. Chris Jericho, your random placement of the night! Not only did Jericho call the match right down the middle like a normal official, but he didn't get involved in anything, outside of to pull Shawn off of a rope break.
So the question begs to be asked. WHY.. Why, was he involved? I said it from day one, I thought he was only involved because they don't know where to place Jericho right now, or how to use him.. so they stuck him in a high profile match, as nothing more than "eye candy" for the Women.
As far as the match, not even Shawn Michaels could save Batista from looking stiff and horrible. I can't help but cringle everytime I see Batista anymore, as its like he doesn't have bendable body parts. He gets hit, and falls without bending any part of his body. Furthermore, I'm gonna be majorly pissed if at the end of the match Shawn ended up tearing his quad due to landing wrong from countering the Batista Bomb.
The injury served no purpose, other than (hopefully) for Shawn to come out tonight and admit that he took a page out of Ric Flair's book in being "the dirtiest player in the game" and faking the injury all along, to get the victory. I thought thats what was going to be revealed as I assumed H.B.K. would suddenly begin walking fine after he got the win. Instead, he had Jericho and two other officials help him to the back. (If the injury is indeed fake, he over sold the SHIT out of it)
5. 12 Diva Tag Team Contest: I think the W.W.E. did the best thing they could do with this match. 7 minutes of Mickie James against Beth Phoenix, Melina, Natalya & Victoria.. then 3 minutes of Michelle McCool against Jillian Hall, and the others.. followed by Cherry randomly coming around ringside thinking she's suddenly a bad ass and picking a fight with the entire team.
This lead to a "let's trade off finishing moves" highlight reel in the ring. That ended with Beth picking up the victory. The only thing I ask for, come Judgment Day.. is if they feel they have to use more than two divas in a match at one time.. they match it a Fatal Four Way with Mickie, Beth, Victoria & Natalya.. or even McCool, who is the second place face with any type of talent. (sadly)
6. World Heavyweight Championship: Undertaker (c.) v. Edge: I honestly don't think this match lived up to its Wrestlemania counterpart. The match started off much the same way as Mania's did.. slow and boring. Both men trying to get the upper hand, with Edge finding a couple great counters to the Old School rope walk and chokeslam.
The match began to pick up when Edge almost suckered himself into a Last Ride from the top rope. Then I started getting majorly into it when one of the Edgeheads showed up and blasted Taker with the Championship. I knew Edge wouldn't win off that, however I was thinking he was gonna connect with a spear. Which never came.
The other Edgehead showed up, only to be used as target practice as Taker tossed Edge into him, then set him up for a Last Ride. Edge countered out into a sunset flip, which personally I was thinking he would've jumped out of it, hit the ropes and connected with a spear. (would've been far more exciting) However the end came, much in the same fashion as Mania, as Edge counters with the sunset flip, only for Taker to lock in his apparently uncounterable submission hold.
After the bell rings, Taker refuses to release the hold. I have a feeling one more Edge/Taker match is likely for Judgment Day, this time being a T.L.C. match as Taker can't win with his submission in that match.. yet it'll be the second straight T.L.C. that Edge will likely lose.. which I hate.
The Promos/Segments:
Matt Hardy: After winning against M.V.P., Hardy acts as if hes just became the World Heavyweight Champion. (I suppose this is as close as he'll get to a top single's title) Hardy pretty much guaranteed us all an M.V.P. revenge segment by claiming to be better.
Randy Orton/John Cena: Cena is shown backstage talking country music to Jimmy Wang Yang. (Of all the people) This is almost similar to having Umaga and Festus have an intellectual conversation about politics and world events. Orton shows up and tells Cena that just like at Wrestlemania, he won't win tonight. Cena replies with win, lose, or draw.. Orton will go home broken.
Randy Orton/Triple H.: In the continuing segments with Orton proclaiming an early victory, we now see him standing over Triple H., not even having the courage to face him face to face. Orton says Triple H. won't win tonight. I'm curious if it was an omen that Orton didn't look eye to eye with H.H.H. because of the later outcome.
Randy Orton/C.M. Punk: While Orton was about to confront J.B.L., C.M. Punk is randomly loitering backstage and decides to steal some spotlight. Punk teases a cash-in, as he wishes Orton goodluck, then taps his case and walks away.
Main Event: W.W.E. Championship: Fatal Four-Way Elimination: Randy Orton (c.) v. J.B.L. v. Triple H. v. John Cena: It was said a while back that multiple man matches, such as Triple Threats and Fatal Four Ways never work greatly because you'll constantly have one guy on the outside of the ring, over-selling a clothesline. Well, that was more or less the exact case in this match.
First we have Orton playing it smart, by sitting at ringside while the other three go at it. Then we have Cena wasting about roughly 5-10 minutes after falling, ribs first, into the announcer's table. Finally we have Triple H. selling a head injury, after dropping (back of the) head first against the steal ramp.
Cena botched an F-U on J.B.L., but picked up the elimination after an S.T.F.U.. Orton quickly recapped Mania's results, by blasting Cena in the head and getting the elimination there too. The match comes down to Triple H. versus Randy Orton.
Several great counters to finishers, but overall way too much time spent on a single's match between two guys that we've seen way too much. Orton hits the R.K.O. but wastes too much time going for the cover. Later Triple H. attempts a pedigree, countered by an R.K.O. attempt, countered back into the pedigree and we have a 12 Time W.W.E. World Heavyweight Champion in Triple H.!
Overall Thoughts: All in all Backlash was a solid Pay Per View. The matches people expected to suck (Divas/Giants) did.. and personally I was let down by the Taker/Edge finish, as its getting too repetitive. The Kane/Chavo match was better than I figured it'd be, but still wasn't great.
Again, if Shawn Michaels isn't hurt then hes made me a believer with the incredible sell-job hes doing on that injured knee. Jericho being in that match served about as much purpose as placing all the top named divas in the cluster they were involved in.
The Fatal Four Way was a letdown, as it took an extra month for the predictable to finally happen. I suppose Orton's legacy will remain with him being one of very few heels to retain at Wrestlemania, however it was all for not as he dropped the Championship to the guy who would've won at Mania anyways.. which makes it utterly pointless.
No sign of William Regal, so apparently that full out storyline will begin on Raw along with Mr. Kennedy's long awaited return. All in all, good (not great) but still solid Pay Per View.
seriously, the couldnt have had Shelton Vs Punk, with the case on the line??? too much?? Especially since they planted the damn seeds for it the ECW after WM?? I forgot this is WWE creative, and they forget shit LOL.
