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Brian Jaffe of Iowa City, Iowa (7.5): The streak of strange endings to WWE shows continues. But we'll get to that when it comes. The in-ring introductions for the title matches gave the night a real important feel. Miz and Morrison have emerged as a top tier tag team; I truly enjoy watching them every week. "The Moonlight Drive" is the best name for a finisher in WWE today. Vladimir Kozlov has actually won me over, as he's unique enough to truly stand out. The blackout entrance, the sambo wrestling, and how he just destroys opponents interests me. Just get a new finisher. Mark Henry vs. Big Show is sad, as Big Show should be doing so much more, like going after the World Title. Hardy vs. MVP was a bit slower than I thought it would be, but was still a good match. Zach Ryder and Curt Hawkins don't really interest me too much, but Jesse and Festus really do. Finlay is in a good place in his career; he has a bit of gimmickery to get the fans to love him, but it's his wrestling that really makes him stand out. The end of the show was strange, as seeing the World Heavyweight Championship vacated for I think the third time in two years is kinda lame. However, the way the segment was done was very interesting and leaves me wanting more. That's been the M.O. of WWE this week: strange, perhaps controversial decisions (Raw blackout, ECW walkout, Smackdown Title sacated) that the fans may not enjoy, but will definitely get them to tune in again.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (5.0): Best: MVP vs. Hardy. Worst: Bait, switch, and strip. Before I gon on, I do owe Mick Foley a bit of an apology. I wasn't all that kind about him in my Backlash reax. I based my response on what I could hear in between the noise from the Sam's Town crowd. He came off much better unadulterated in my ears (though I think he needs to go off script more as some of the comments he made during the night just don't sound like they'd come from Mick). One thing they got right to an extent was building the night as "Championship Friday." All three champions were built up to defend the respective titles. Miz/Morrison seemed the most vulnerable, but when they retained I knew something was up and likely with Undertaker. Colin Delaney gets squashed again but at least this one served a dual purpose: further build Kozlov and set up for Estrada on Tuesday, I liked the little promo where Mark Henry introduces himself to Nunzio. Would have liked a better explanation why they were even in a match together, but the promo told well of Henry's confidence. But Big Show not getting involved in the match made his post-match promo of Henry picking on someone his own size come across bad. MVP-Hardy was a very good rematch which leaves a question I fear asking: what happens to MVP now? Assuming there isn't a U.S. Title feud afoot (and I hope there is just a little more to solidify Hardy's hold of the belt at the start), MVP is left out in the cold. Maybe the draft could be in his favor; one can only hope. Finlay vs. a jobber seemed like a million steps backwards from how Finlay was when he started. I'm not blaming Hornswoggle for this; the blame clearly goes to Creative on the backpedaling of the McMahon son storyline when JBL went back to the ring. I figured Vickie would be in vindictive mode come Friday, so stripping Undertaker of the title came as no surprise. I can buy her quoting from regulating authorities regarding his submission choke hold. The way in which the belt was taken away from him was ridiculous. Festus was off TV at least two weeks selling the effects of the hold as he was at the time the one held in it the longest, and sold it again tonight. Edge should not have been on TV, or if so sell the damn hold! While he was silent, there was no collar, no made up bruising to indicate potential ruptured larynx, no sort of throat pain. Speaking of selling, how much further to hell can a storyline go? The Michaels-Batista match has now shifted toward whether Shawn faked a knee injury. For the record, the knee is a sell, probably to buy Shawn more time to heal from the Botched By WWE table splat at WrestleMania. But I am so unconvinced that Shawn faked a fake injury. Michael Cole tried to convince the crowd that injury was the right knee, when my own eyes at Backlash, every review I read everywhere, every replay and every piece of footage on TV or WWE.com clearly show Shawn's selling left. The right knee hops; the left turns inward. A man with a 20-year history of knee issues would better than anyone else how to sell this. And it would make no sense for a match story for Shawn to sell right when it's his left leg he stands on for Sweet Chin Music. And Batista sold the wrong shiner at Backlash (left eye when he got hit on the right side of his face) and then sold nothing on Smackdown. Mick brought up how the Hardy-Edge story of 2005 could find parallels in the MVP-Hardy match/feud (as in getting caught up in the personal). Sure as Smackdown was in Atlantic City and I live in Las Vegas, I'd all but bet a paycheck that Shawn's legit left knee injury from Taboo Tuesday 2004 doesn't see the light of day in this feud. You know, the torn meniscus that limited him in the match, but he was still able to cap Triple H with a Sweet Chin Music to nearly win by holding on to the rope... the same way he capped Batista at Backlash. Judging by the frustrated faces I'm seeing (Shawn, Mick, and even Batista a little tonight) this story is doing no one any good.

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