By Greg Parks, PWTorch columnist

There were six of us gathered at T.C. Hooligan's tonight, and once again, we were blessed with booth seating, giving us easy access to several TVs to watch the show on. It was the regulars: Doug, Kurt and I; Doug's two friends, Rob and Josh; and Kurt's friend Mike, on break from Army. I'll preface this by saying that I think I liked this PPV a lot more than some other people around the 'net. Also, Kurt and I tied for first in the prediction contest. Most of our "crazy predictions" involved someone turning in the main event, but none happened. My meal tonight was wings with Hooligan's sauce (a sweet type of sauce) and mushroom stuffed mushrooms. Yes, you read that right.

While the PPV opening was playing, Doug informed us that Skillet was a Christian Rock band. No wonder I never heard of them. Not that I'm not Christian, I just don't listen to that kind of music I guess. I have had hiccups on and off throughout the day since like 5pm, and I thought I got rid of them on the ride to Hooligan's but they came back. And I didn't have a teaspoon of sugar on hand to rid myself of them.

(1) C.M. Punk vs. Undertaker: The place was buzzing about this being the first match. One Punk fan stood and didn't Punk's hand gestures during his entrance, making his allegiance known to the crowd. Rob asked if Taker was too old to wrestle on Smackdown every week. Short answer, yes. Long answer, no. Josh, a very, very casual fan, noted that Punk looked scared, which is why he predicted Taker. Big pop for Taker's win, but the match felt underwhelming. **3/4

(2) John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler: Everything these guys did was crisp, and the selling was spectacular. Reminded me of a good Michaels vs. Perfect match from the early 90s. I can't say enough about what these two did out there- tremendous job and kudos to both. ****

-During the introduction of the Ninja Turtles, Kurt and I suggested Jericho come out and cut a promo on them. No dice. I visited the restroom at this point, and heard some scuttlebutt from fans talking about how disappointing the opener was.

(3) Alicia Fox vs. Mickie James: I really think there is some bias as far as women's wrestling goes and some people have a pre-conceived notion about how the match will go before it even starts. This was one of the better women's matches and Alicia Fox really looked like she belonged. The DDT landing was sick and we all cringed upon seeing the replay. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how good Foxy looked tonight, too. **

(4) Big Show & Chris Jericho vs. Batista & Rey Mysterio: Mike is a big fan of Jericho and we talked about how Jericho's old Lion Tamer is world better than his Walls of Jericho. We missed the end because we were ordering, but luckily caught the replay. ***1/4

(5) John Cena vs. Randy Orton: Give WWE props, all three of the Hell in a Cell matches were different. But "boo" on the no blood. Kurt remarked that Orton needs to grow his hair back out, but I've grown accustomed to this look, so it don't bother me. It was nice to see Orton changing up the chin-lock- with one while Cena was tied up in the ropes. That was bizarre. This title has changed hands too many times for my liking, but I can reconcile that by saying if a couple guys are all the same ability-wise, it makes sense that the title would change often. Doug thought Orton whiffed on the kick, and Mike said, "Cena's eyebrow is going to be hurting this week." ***1/4

(6) R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre: Nice to see this good feud get acknowledged with a PPV match. Too bad they were sent out there to die in front of the live crowd. Drew's music was better when he wrestled the dark match we were at live. I even found it online! *

(7) The Miz vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston: Mike talked about his trip to Jamaica, since Kofi was wrestling. Rob also mentioned that he is going to Ghana in the near future, so both of Kofi's bases were covered. Rob is a big Kingston fan, so we told him to get pictures of him and Kofi's family doing the "boom, boom, boom" hand gesture. Match was solid enough. **1/4

(8) DX vs. Legacy: I gotta say, some guy came up to us and apparently asked me (as I was sitting on the outside) if we were from the Pain Clinic radio show (from there in Rochester), and I didn't hear what he said, so I said yes. And he asked me if someone was there with us and asked us if he could get a job helping us out. I felt bad and had gotten in too far to back-track, so I tried to end the conversation without really saying much in those regards. I felt bad. While the psychology and angle-within-the-match were great, there seemed to be some homo-erotic undertones with Shawn and Hunter that we picked up on. Kurt despised Shawn's lack of long-term selling at the end, but I was more forgiving of it. We see it from Cena every week. ***3/4

Again, I think I liked this more than most, but overall, every match on the card was solid (save for Drew vs. Truth, which wasn't really meant to be). And aside from the first match, no real disappointments, even though the opener wasn't below-average. Solid thumbs up from my view.

[John Morrison art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

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