The show had too few hits and too few misses to do the regular Hits and Misses I do for WWE shows. The truth being, the action on the card was pretty good. From an in-ring standpoint, there was little to complain about. But the way storylines were pushed and stories were told left alot to be lacking here, and Booker just continues to be a cancer to the show. Either he's playing a gimmick where he's dumb, or Vince isn't very smart by continuing to employ him to contradict himself and call "Spinebusters" "Sidewalk Slams". The three PPV's in five weeks simply caught up to WWE here, as the in-ring work was good, but few storylines were furthered or developed, other then Cena vs Awesome Truth.
Air Boom(c) d. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger: I was shocked when Ziggler and Swagger didn't go over here, as it hurts Vickie's stable and losing their second shot at the title obviously leaves them at no position for a third chance. I believed they would do one of two things with Ziggler: Put both belts on him like Miz, or take the US off. They did neither, so he's back where he started, with no character development. But that's where my beef ends.
This was an excellent opener, one of the best Ive seen from WWE in a long time. They teased quite a few false finishes, each believable nearfalls. Air Boom continues to progress as a true team, which is beneficial to the tag team division. Ziggler and Swagger looked impressive as well. I was surprised to see Ziggler take the pinfall, as he clearly has the more upside of the two. In all, great bell to bell action that was the perfect choice by WWE to start the PPV. All four men are growing on me as storytellers in the ring. ***1/4
Dolph Ziggler(c) d. Zach Ryder: Another nice touch by WWE in having Ziggler follow his tag title match with his US title defense. I fear this leaves him in the same place he was before, but he could blame Swagger for not saving him in their tag match and perhaps branching out on his own. It seems Dolph has a new finisher- The Superkick- So let the comparisons to HBK continue. Ryder himself was impressive on offense, but it made sense from a WWE standpoint for Ziggler to retain after Ryder had pinned him twice on television. In the end, the odds became too much for Ryder to overcome, and there's a subtle storyline tease in there with Swagger helping Ziggler retain through distractions here but not being available to break up the double finisher combo or the pin in the tag match. Id like to see a longer bout from these two, as they worked very well together. **
Beth Phoenix(c) d. Eve One of the better wrest;ed women's matches Ive seen in WWE in sometime, to be honest. I expected the typical Eve match- Great athleticism with some blown spots. But Eve and Beth worked fluidly together, and while I didn't buy into the idea of Eve winning the title, I did buy into the nearfall of the GlamSlam counter. This was easily my favorite Eve match, and she worked hard to match offense effectively with Beth Combined with the backstage segment, this keeps the Nattie/Beth vs Eve/Kelly storyline alive. This is a good thing, as there's nowhere else to go in a very shallow women's division. **1/4
Sheamus d Christian: This match just seemed to be lacking something. For the feud to continue, Christian needed to get the win over Sheamus. Sheamus has the larger upside, but he's not moving into the title picture yet, it appears. The match was well designed and well-wrestled, as Christian hung with Sheamus for nearly 15 minutes. It was a case of two pros having a very good match, but it nothing to affect either's standing. Perhaps it moves Sheamus up the ladder for a title match, but why didnt his victory at Hell in A Cell do that? Christian looks like a weak #2 or #3 heel as a result of cleanly jobbing at both PPV's. But there was good action with some nice nearfalls from two dependable wrestlers. **3/4.
The Miz/R-Truth vs HHH/CM Punk: My least favorite match of the night. Miz and Truth needed the win far more then Punk and HHH did, and Punk and HHH were protected. But how was it that Nash attacked HHH and the ref just let the distraction go? This would have been a nice time for the heels to outsmart Punk and HHH and get the dirty win, but the finish took all the shine off of them, and put the focus on HHH/Nash. The SCF/downward spiral combo finisher was nice, but most of the match was boring in my eyes. The right team won, but how they got there and the match itself left alot to be desired. *3/4.
Randy Orton d Cody Rhodes: In the theme of the night, this was a well-wrestled match. However, this win does nothing for Randy Orton, and damages Cody Rhodes. Cody finally has a chance to move into a major heel spot, but Orton kicks out of all three of his signature/finisher moves, even off a distraction from one of Cody's bagmen. It sends the message that Rhodes has no chance to hang with Orton, and that shouldn't be so as his former protege. I have two theories as to Orton's win:First, with both heels retaining in the main event slots, WWE wanted a babyface to go over somewhere near the top of the card. Second, they may not wanted to have the company's #2 face lose on three straight PPV's. Understandable, but why not move Orton and Rhodes lower on the card, and put Sheamus/Christian here? Sheamus is closer to the title picture then Orton right now it seems, so why not give him the higher spot? But as with all Orton matches in the past year, I enjoyed the action and how fluid Orton is in the ring. This match really got good when it kicked into 2nd and 3rd gear, and Rhodes did look impressive at this point when on offense. The RKO out of nowhere spot is getting overused, however, and is no longer a surprise. The bottom line is I don't like Rhodes taking the loss to one big move from Orton when Orton kicked out of 3 strong moves from Rhodes. A well wrestled match, nonetheless. **3/4.
Mark Henry(c) vs Big Show: The match was slow, plodding, and as boring as I expected in the first five minutes. I expected them to go the Show route as they do for every title match of his these days, which is the DQ or the countout. I was pleasantly surprised after the first 5 minutes, as both men moved and bumped better then I'd expected. And obviously, the spot of the night came when Henry superplexed Show off the turnbuckle, and they ring broke. This is a realistic way of portraying the two, as they way near 1000 lbs combined. It was at least as realistic as the Lesnar/Show superplex, for those not familar.
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For those who didn't watch or were too young at the time, they've done the same spot before. Im sure we'll get the comparisons and complaints, but it was 2004, and it's a realistic spot with someone of Big Show's size. I can't say Im excited about the feud continuing, but this was far better then I expected from the two, and the ring breaking was an impressive sight, to say the least. **1/2
Alberto Del Rio(c) d. John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match: A few good things of note here. Even with all the reports Cena would be leaving the championship picture, the first four title matches ending with the title being retained along with Del Rio getting 75% of the offense made for a suspensful match. There were several near 10 counts on both men, and Del Rio needed this win. The SuperCena complaints don't hold water here, even after he responded to the Miz/Truth double SCF/DownwardSpiral finisher, because he had a ten count. The title belt off the skull following made for a more realistic finish.
The match undoubtably had a big match/main event feel. The realism of them comntinuing with the match despite the collapsed ring added to this match's realism, something I can't praise enough. But the problem that arose for me is that I simply don't buy into Del Rio as champion. I know he's a heel, but he's beaten many opponents clean before. Im a huge John Cena mark, but as the top babyface, what would it have done for Del Rio to truly validate him as champion without interference? His offense simply doesn't look comparable to or as strong as Cena's, so while I bought the near counts by Cena on Del Rio, I never did with Del Rio on Cena, until he had interference. That's not a good thing, even for a heel champion. I enjoyed the match, as it truly was suspensful. But this was Cena's weakest LMS opponent(Edge, Umaga and Batista being the others), and the weakest of his LMS matches. In the end, I still don't buy Del Rio as champion. On the plus side, we have an interesting feud beginning with Awesome Truth and John Cena, and likely John Laurinitis as well. ***1/4.
Final Thoughts: This was a good match from a wrestling standpoint. To that end, the only match where I didn't get into the action was HHH/Punk vs Miz/Truth, which was surprisingly a boring match. While I enjoyed the ring work, there were several outcomes I groaned at, especially the Rhodes/Orton match. As for the main event? It had its good and its bad moments, but it was nothing special as compared to Cena's other LMS matches, and Del Rio simply isn't far enough developed as a main event heel to win with that much interference, regardless of the offense he got in. Honestly, I don't like Del Rio, but do I want to see him fail? Absolutely not. With regards to recommending to someone to order the replay? I can't. Nothing stood out as special about the show, other then a few spots, such as the Show/Henry superplex. It's just not enough, and it's the curse of having 3 shows in 5 weeks. All the action in the world can't make up for the lost storyline development here. Still, this was enjoyable from an in-ring standpoint for me from top to bottom. B-
