Tastycles' The Bash Review
Scramble match
Christian and Swagger started us off, and gave us their usual good chemistry. Finlay came in and did nothing except get pinned by Swagger and mince a bit. Then Christian and Swagger got back into it. Finlay's tenure was completely pointless, essentially. Dreamer came in, and did a bit more, also firing the crowd up a little. Mark Henry came in and rather predictably shook things up a little, but the whole match seemed to just trot on, without any real excitement. They repeated Mark Henry's MITB spot. The idea for Dreamerto be on the defensive at the end was good, and it certainly gave him some credibility. On the whole, not bad, but it didn't excite the way a time limit match should. Man of the match: Swagger, Chump of the match: Finlay 7.2 out of 10
Jericho vs Mysterio
I had high hopes for this match, and they were fulfilled. At first, I thought it was good, but not as good as at Extreme Rules, which is probably true, but they pushed the boat out here to do some innovative and interesting spots in what is the third or fourth time they've faced each other in 6 weeks. Another tip top match, and Mysterio showed that given a decent opponent, he can be incredibly good. Good spots, and good inbetween parts again from these guys, in what has been undoubtedly the feud of the year for me, matchwise at least. The codebreaker spot was amazing, to say the least. Absolutely superb match, fantastic, it got my non wrestling fan flatmate out of his seat. Man of the match: Both, Chump of the match: be serious 9.6 out of 10
Dolph Ziggler vs The Great Khali
This match was about as good as you'll ever get from Khali, but I am not happy with the way it ended. Not because it makes Ziggler look weak, he's a heel and Khali's a giant, but Kane vs Khali is not a money feud by any stretch of the imagination. Ziggler did well, though, and I suppose Kane has a purpose now, but still, weird. Man of the match: Dolph Ziggler, chump of the match: Great Khali 4.2 out of 10
Colons vs Legacy vs Edge/Jericho
This was a well booked match with Edge and Jericho on the outside and not in it. I imagine this will lead to one of them, probably Edge, having a big face turn in the near future, maybe as close as NoC, who knows though? The match itself was solid, with good psychology. Cody Rhodes absolutely doesn't have that it factor though, and it shows very much. Carlito, understated as usual, impressed. Man of the match: Carlito, chump of the match: Cody Rhodes. 7.4 out of 10
Melina vs Michelle McCool
Suprisingly good psychology in this one, but it was ultimately a squash match. Melina did well to fake her injuries, and is certainly the best female performer on Smackdown, and surpassed by only Beth and Natalya in the whole company. Anyway, the fact she got hardly any offence in made it a big gash waste of time. In short Melina good, match bad. Man of the match: Melina, chump of the match: Michelle McCool 3.1 out of 10
Jeff Hardy vs CM Punk
Very unusual match for these two, using mostly mat wrestling, something we basically never see Hardy do. The two then worked through a good series of moves and spots, that was very solid, from two guys that can be very sloppy. The fake end was a clever spot, and the absolute heelturn from Punk is here, but it is pretty pathetic for this to happen only months after Orton did it. It extends the feud, but it's pretty fucking cheap. Man of the match: Jeff Hardy, Chump of the match: DQ Punk. 7.9 out of 10
The Miz vs. John Cena
A strange one. It wasn't that a bad match, but it killed the build up to this feud, and Miz loked like a pussy, and wasn't even resourceful enough to get a DQ/countout win, or a narrow defeat or anything. I thought Cena would win, but there was no need to make Miz look like that much of a spastic. Disappointed, but I won't be bitching about it, Miz could go anywhere from here. To be honest, although he's done well in previous weeks, he did look bad tonight, but h's still been in a singles match on PPV that people want to see, at the end of the day. Miz has done well in this feud, and he will move onwards and upwards, but this feud has suffered, nonetheless. Man of the match: Cena, chump of the match: Miz 5.0 out of 10
Three stages of hell.
I've never seen a delibrate DQ in a three falls match, which I suppose was quite clever, but it made the second fall quite lacklustre. It then descended into the usual slowpaced railings a thon. These two don't have chemistry, their matches against each other are among their individual worst, and their glorified stretcher match. The Legacy build was a complete waste of time and point, didn't swerve anyone, just served to make this feud one match longer. Dire. Man of the match: neither, Chump of the match: both 4.7 out of 10
Production and extras
Commentary was very good, and the three duos have settled in with each other. The Legacy fall out was a strange sideshow, but I thought the Teddy Long segments were very good, and set up Edge and Jericho well, certainly. The promos were good, Cena vs. Miz in particular, clever, and the show ran pretty well. There were somesmart ideas through the night from the agents too. All in all, very good. 8.6 out of 10
Overall
A moderate PPV with the solitary gem of Mysterio vs. Jericho kept this from being a hugely low score thanks to the two of the matches being arse. Stand up, divas and HHH/Orton. 49.8 out of 90 (55%)
