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WWE Judgment Day PPV Reax #1: "Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio could have gone all night..." May 18, 2009 - 1:14:02 AM
We are looking for more Reax to Sunday night's PPV. Send a brief review of the PPV if you saw the show following our Reax guidelines found below to pwtorch@gmail.com
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (8.0): Best: Miz-Santino promo; Swagger vs. Christian. Worst: Morrison vs. Benjamin (sadly). Coming into this PPV, I knew the outcomes of all of the matches, so the reax is based more on what I saw than what I knew. How much more body area does Umaga have left before the face paint isn't face paint? The match against Punk was a decent one, but JR making a point to tell the crowd that there is no given reason for a match to take place reeks of creative laziness. Swagger vs. Christian has the best head start toward Extreme Rules as two matches have now ended with mischief that Christian has gotten away with. Swagger gets to make another point that Christian got away with it leading to Extreme Rules, where the rules are thrown out the window. Simple, but effective old school storyline. Morrison vs. Benjamin looked experimental from start to finish. There was the awesome looking 450 pike dive to the outside. It was awesome in the air, but the tuck was so tight that Benjamin had to put himself into position to take the bump which made it look very awkward. There was the very smooth side slam into huracanrana into leg sweep that worked, and the springboard enziguiri into the stumbling running powerbomb into the corner that didn't. Morrison's face repertoire should not be a visible work in progress. Miz is 4-0 all right - 4-0 on great promos. He countered the "What?"s beautifully with the duck noises. Having Soriano as "Cena surrogate" was a brilliant move. The Miz-Santino exchange was fabulous, and turning Santino was probably for the best since he's run his course as a heel for now. I'm kinda hoping that this becomes a transition out of the whole Santina mess for him. Mysterio-Jericho went about as well as it could go with Mysterio wrestling hurt. Rey must not be in too bad of shape to not be dropping the title just yet; Extreme Rules could be booked in such a way that allows him to bow out fitting the match. Stretcher match, maybe? And like at WrestleMania 22, the crowd "was kinda on the weird side" (as Tazz put it then) when it came to Rey. They were a little more pro-Cena this time than Mania 22, but then Cena gave the haters a reason to go back at it with his extreme underselling post-match. Raw's top heel loses by DQ, and it didn't seem to bug the Chicago crowd much. Having Flair come in for the save put the happy end spin on it, but there was a brief moment that a heel turn could have happened. Randy vs. Batista had that same "I've found my niche" feel here as it did at No Way Out 2008 against Cena. Had the same finish of slapping the ref, too, but this time came after milking other attempts to shadily save his title (which Orton-Cena didn't have). Did I hear boos for Jeff Hardy on the Sharpshooter? I'll be a dirty bird! But Jeff did a very nice one. Would be nice to see Jeff successfully transition from full-out high-risk showman to finesse wrestler after seeing him bust out that move. With the finish what will WWE go with at Extreme Rules? Matt-Jeff in a HIAC, or Edge-Jeff in something else. Either possibility is there to go with. The top titles are pretty well on their way, which is a good sign already.
Phil Sanchez in Arizona (9.0): Another Solid effort from WWE. Best Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho. Worst: I didn't think anything on the show was bad, so no worst match. Umaga is a great big man. It was the right call to put him over. It doesn't hurt Punk one bit to lose to such a monster. Christian and Swagger didn't have their best match, but still it was a solid effort with good storytelling. Morrison winning in a fine match was also a good move. How can you not like the Starship pain? Great move, great name. Miz on the mic is money. Is Morrison the Marty Jannetty? Jericho and Rey could have gone all night. Awesome. Orton is a great heel, and did what a heel would actually do. Welcome back 'Naitch. Cena and Big Show exceeded my expectations. Edge and Hardy always deliver. Tonight was no exception. It would have been a great night for Punk to cash in. It actually surprised me that it didn't happen. I can't wait to see what happens next.
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