Okay so it's been a little while since I last did a wrestling review. I've been busy with the Beatles reviews and movie lists, but I will be catching up and I will have my usual Mega match of the year post. So I promise to no longer neglect my wrestling readers. Also on the news front Abbey Road and The Big Pink will be reviewed tomorrow. But for now let's hit this in order.
The Undertaker defeats CM Punk in Eleven Minutes with the Tombstone to win the WWE World Heavyweight Title.
Well no surprises here, this was the logical course of action. I have to say when I saw that they had opted to open the show with Punk-Taker I feared another screw finish but they delivered a short action packed match up. Many would liked to have seen Punk prevail but they have to protect Taker's gimmick and he should beat Punk clean in the Hell In A Cell environment. However we'll get a better understanding of where Punk stands in the coming weeks, hopefully he'll get his win back quickly as another Taker title reign has little upside. I am however worried he'll be shuffled down the card. As for the match itself, it was short and to the point, most of the action was crisp and Punk was treated as on relatively equal footing, despite lasting just over ten minutes this was no squash. My only real gripe is why did this match need to be in the Cell? The feud certainly didn't call for it, the match barely utilized their cell, and there wasn't a drop of blood. Infact I'd like to have seen Punk go over this month in a regular match to truly establish him as an equal before blowing the feud off down the line. As is, it was a good solid opener to get the crowd going, nothing to write home about but it was entertaining enough while it lasted. It's just a shame it didn't go longer and wasn't more intense. (**1/2)
John Morrison retains the US Title defeating Dolph Ziggler in sixteen minutes with Starship Pain.
These two have real potential, they both have clear and obvious flaws, and this match was more than a little rough around the edges but for the most part it was well based good athletic action. They really brought the crowd into this one, and it got continually better as it went along. They both certainly need to refine their in ring styles but they have a solid chemistry and I'd love to see a rematch. It's so refreshing to see a good worthwhile undercard matches after years of bland interchangeable action. (***1/4)
Mickie James defeats Alicia Fox with a Mickie-T to retain the WWE Divas Title in five minutes.
Wow this was just ugly. I don't know if there planning to turn Mickie heel but they are certainly planting the seeds, she seems angry as hell after every match these days. However she could just be angry at herself as her last few matches have bombed, not always her fault but since that disappointing botchathon with Gail Kim Mickie seems a little off. This certainly didn't need to be on PPV, but on a plus note both ladies looked amazing. (1/2*)
Jerishow defeat Rey Mysterio & Batista to retain the WWE Unified Tag Team Titles in fourteen minutes.
I really like what they've done with the tag team belts giving them some actually credibility and some really well built feud. Also by using multiple big names in a single match it really frees up some room for the likes of Morrison and Ziggler to shine. Furthermore it means teams like Henry-MVP and eventually Legacy can mix it up with the big boys with out getting the DX treatment. The match was exactly what it needed to be; alot of fun but not a show stealer. Lots of good nearfalls, and all four guys have great chemistry together. The psychology was absolutely spot on, with the early action with Mysterio and Big Show evolving and working it's way into the later stages of the matches. Best of all the crowd were massively into every last moment and it felt fresh in a product that's horribly stale. Good stuff keep it up, a rematch would be nice. (***1/4)
Randy Orton defeats John Cena to capture the WWE World Title in twenty one minutes.
There's no doubt about it, these guys really know how to wrestle each other, they know how to tell a good brutal and often dramatic story in the ring together. They really do mesh well, they're not having match of the year candidates but they are having good satisfying main events, so what's the problem? The problem is we've seen these guys wrestle eleven times in two years, when they've had there Iron Man match at Bragging Rights, they will have literally main evented a whole years worth of PPVs against one another. We need to mix it up, and you know what? Hell in a Cell could have done it, were this actually a Hell in a Cell match, these guys are great at brutal bloody gruelling beat downs. Of course we got no blood, we got no grueling beat down, instead we got a good solid intense match, but just a match. I would loved to have seen these two put on a blood bath alla Flair-Triple H or Lesnar-Taker, but no we got just another match. The crowd were massively into the near falls, and Orton played his character to perfection, but it's time for something new. To end on a positive the finish to this match was really well thought out and very creative, you could tell the crowd were fully expecting Cena to dodge the Punt of Doom. (***1/2)
Drew McIntyre defeats R-Truth in four minutes.
Well this was what it was, a catch your breath match after the midway main event. McIntrye has good potential, and I love his gimmick, someone who doesn't give a crap about entertaining he just wants to win, in fact it's great to see him squash R-Truth. There was nothing much to the match up however just an excuse to introduce Drew to the PPV audience. (3/4*)
Kofi Kingston retains The US Title against The Miz & Jack Swagger in eight minutes.
Triple Threat matches between emerging talents are always clunky and a little awkward and this was no exception, all three guys have a good upside, but this match just didn't click. We know Swagger can deliver serviceable PPV matches and the next night on RAW Miz and Kofi would put on a show but tonight wasn't there night. They worked hard and had some inventive and fun moments but this was nothing to right home about, but then judging by it's place on the card it was never meant to be. (*3/4)
Degeneration X defeat Legacy in eighteen minutes.
This was an interesting concept for a match up, it harked back to the days of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. After an exciting enough start Shawn is left alone with the two heels and takes an unholy long beat down, Shawn is brilliant at taking beatings and sells superbly but fifteen minutes is a long time to sustain a beat down. It would have been better obviously if they'd used the cell more and left Shawn lying in a pool of his own blood similar to the first ever hell in the cell. However the real problem is that Triple H isn't Hulk Hogan, he isn't even John Cena, when he made the super hero comeback the crowd was tepid, they had there big moments earlier with Cena and Taker they weren't thrilled to see Tripper, infact they seemed happy cheering for HBK to make the two on one comeback. This therefore is the problem. The long beatdown means this match never had a chance to be great, it relied totally on delivering a big happy ending, but the crowd simply aren't that into Triple H. So all in all this was a decent match but nothing more than that, it lacked the crowd heat to be special. (**3/4)
Overall Thoughts: This is a tough show to rate, it wasn't bad, most of the matches were good, nothing was bad, and a couple of the matches felt fresh and vibrant but in three hours we didn't really get a match worthy of Hell In A Cell, or even a match that utilized the cell properly. No blood was a huge disappointment and in many case the Cell seemed more like a hinderence. It's a show that if you watched it you don't have much to complain about and all in all you probably enjoyed it, but if you didn't you can rest assured that you didn't miss anything special. (6.5/10)
0 comments:
Post a Comment