Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Umaga crushes Punk in his hometown: The great WWE tradition of burying or humiliating the home town hero in his home town continues. The result of this match utterly killed the crowd for the next three matches. However, that was only due to the finish, the rest of the match was very solid, Punk showed some good fire and the final three move sequence from Umaga was devastating. The Samoan Spike is a horrible finisher but as part of a three move combo (savate kick, arse thump, spike) it's pretty cool. Umaga worked a nerve pinch for far too long and Punk isn't Cena, he isn't a great match up against big men but he did his best. A solid opener. (**1/4)

Ramifications: Umaga is re-established as a top name on Smackdown, Punk looks like he'll be taken a step back with this match and will be positioned away from Edge, this match will be continued over to Extreme rules, I suspect a gimmick will help this match raise it's level.

Christian retains against Swagger in another dissapointing effort: Christian tried to bring the fire but still just wrestles like a goof. No intensity here, Swagger played his role well and what he did was crisp if uninsipired. I actually thought this was worth than last months match up. Christain won by grabbing the tights after Swagger had attempted the same trick. I like the storyline but they need to bring it next time. Cage has to learn how to do that roll up if he's going to persist on doing it. The best way to sum up the flaw with these two, is that you get a very cool spot every minute or two but inbetween the action is just very flat and very phoney, this has been Christian's weakness his entire career. (*1/4)

Ramifications: Koslov isn't ready and no body wants to see him on PPV and the new Hart foundation are busy on the lower card so I guess Jack will get one more shot at Christian. This will be their last chance to get it right and pull of a good match. I could easily see this series of matches being held against them by management. If they remember Tommy Dreamer's storyline they might throw him into a title match as Extreme Rules would be the most logical PPV for him to get his last chance.

Morrison continues on the right track: The crowd clearly didn't know who to cheer for, as last time they watched these guys were both midcard heels, but that didn't matter as both guys showed off some great athleticism and some very cool moves to win the crowd over. The first move of the match was a pump handle suplex from Shelton Benjamina and that set the tone. Morrison hit an insane springboard 450 press to the outside before finishing Morrison with the equally impressive springboard Enzenguri and the Split Legged Sky Twister Press or "Starship Pain" for the 1-2-3. This was just what you want from a mid card PPV match. (**3/4)

Ramifications: Morrison will need stronger defined heels to work against if he's going to move up the roster. If Jericho is going to be kept away from the Main Event for a little while I'd love to see those to lock up. Shelton looks like he's reuniting with Charlie although I don't really see these two making PPV next month.

The Miz is equally awesome on PPV: Miz called Morrison Marty Jannetty before launching into a fun promo, including ripping on a Chicago cubs player. He had some great lines in the mix, including calling the crowd a bunch of ducks for going "what, what, what". Santino came out and had a brief stand trade of will Miz, Santino had one great line, "I hope you've got a metal detector" before showing off his guns. They then had a fun cheer boo brawl before Miz hit his DDT and Chavo came out and frog splashed Santino.

Ramifications: This segment went a little long but Miz continues to be one of the hottest acts on WWE tv. Santino as we know elevated his feud wth Vickie and Chavo with new found confidence and Miz continues to mess with Cena. Miz could do with some impressive victories in between promos to build him up for an eventual showdown.

Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho steal the show (as I predicted): Rey and Jericho turned it up to eleven going all out and putting on perhaps the best twelve minute match of the year. Jericho hit a some great offence a really lovely tilt a whirl reverse train wreck. The story of the match played out brilliantly with Jericho saying consistantly garenteeing he would not be hit with the 6-1-9, they teased it brilliantly throughout the match with multiple counters and some really dramatic moments especially with Jericho locking Rey in the Walls. Rey ended up hitting an unorthadox 6-1-9 to set up the Salmon leap for the win. Twelve minutes of a four star plus match. (***1/2)

Ramifications: The IC Title is back baby! If this is a taste of things to come I can't wait, these guys can both step up and down the ladder with ease and this truely is a great division. Smackdown is a brilliant show, Rey has a tonne of potential opponents as does Jericho, Morrison, Punk, Shelton and Umaga all could be awesome matches. Even R-Truth could be utilized for a good little match up. However I hope at Extreme rules we get a rematch with that goes a good 15 minutes plus.

Ric Flair returns to rescue a dull match: Batista and Orton were working a rather uninteresting match with Orton running for his life from Orton before slapping the ref to draw a DQ. This was totally a case of storyline above match quality. However the big story of the match was the return of Ric Flair, who came out looking in good shape and with a real spring in his step, to a huge pop. (**1/4)

Ramifications: Orton and Batista will obviously lock up once again and Orton will find away into drawing Ric Flair out of retirement to set up a potential six man tag match with Evolution vs. Legacy. I'd rather see him stay retired and be a manager or special referee to even the odds and block of any interference, but Flair loves wrestling more than anything else in his life and as he said a year and a half and ago he will die in the ring. It's great to have him back his promos with Orton and Batista were easily the highlight of RAW, I just hope they find away to do this right. RAW needs the Flair effect on ratings and to motivate a stagnant show.

John Cena pulls out a last ditch win over Big Show: Cena is good with Big men but this match wasn't particularly well plotted out and was pretty dull in places. However I really liked the how they put over that Cena couldn't lock on the STF on a man the size of Big Show before having to nail a suprise Attitude Adjustment for the 1-2-3. Another match that was all story and little wrestling. (**1/2)

Ramifications: This feud clearly isn't over, mostly as both men have nothing better to do. Given what took place on RAW the booking of the match was doubly execellent as Big Show challenged Cena to a submission match knowing full well that Cena cannot lock the STF on a man his size. This sets up a nice super hero win for John Cena to send the kiddies home happy next month.

Matt Costs Jeff the world Title, again: Jeff is just a horrible main eventer, when he's not winning he wrestles without any conviction or passion. He looked limp and frustrated until the final third of the match up. The thing that really stands out as bad about Jeff's performance is not his wrestling but how bad his facial expressions and manurism. When Orton wants a reaction from the crowd he gives them one look or changes his body language and he gets a bigger pop than Jeff does when he hits the twist of fate. Jeff throws his arms up like a jobber, they really should use Flair, Michaels and Taker to teach the younger guys how to play to the back row. Jeff has never learnt the subtlies of the business, he relied on being a spot monkey for too long in his career, Even RVD is better at working a crowd and they come from similar back grounds.

The match really picked up in the second half with some nice spots and wrestling sequence, in particular the spear spot and the top rope DDT but this match never threaten to be remotely memorable. Matt Hardy hits Jeff with the cast late in the match to set up the finishing sequence and in a great comedy spot Matt was hiding behind the barracade so the ref didn't see him but the Barracade immediately fell revealing Matt. Satisfying Main Event nothing more nothing less. (***)

Ramifications: This match will likely carry over to Extreme Rules if Jeff has resigned as Jericho and Rey will simply have to have a rematch, the match was that good. Unless CM Punk cashes in MITB which he shouldn't, these two will have another match, I'm guessing there going to waste TLC for no particular reason.


Overall Thoughts: This was an odd show, everything delivered to a satifsying level but there was nothing here that stood out as must see. Jericho Rey was very good but I suspect we will get a longer incarnation in the near future, the main event ended well but meandered for the most part. The return of Flair gave the show the newsworthy note it needed. This is one of the those shows that if you ordered it you'll be satisfied and happy with what you saw, but if you didn't you wouldn't be particularly bothered that you missed it. All in all a fine off brand PPV. (6.5/10)