Post by The Senator on Aug 22, 2005 15:27:51 GMT -5
Ok, I went into this mainly as a favor to some friends who wanted for me to watch it with them, and I'll admit that the Hogan Michaels feud had me stoked, it's the only feud that really has been carrying WWE television over the last month. The rest seemed like filler to me, Angle/Eugene had promise as long as Angle won, and the ladder match would be solid but predictable fun, but the rest really did not catch my interest. That said, here goes:
Benoit/Jordan: US Title
Ok, now THIS is how to start off a PPV the right way! Benoit dominated Jordan in under a minute, my friends all laughed, as I said that this match had to be under two minutes, and I was correct. The WWE did the right thing here, Jordan is not on Benoit's level, and never will be. The US title instantly won some credibility with this match.
Hardy/Edge
After a backstage segment that had to be at least five times as long as the Benoit match, we get this long anticipated brawl. Seriously, this was nothing more than a rather stiff slugfest between the two, aside from a memorable spear through the ropes that knocked Hardy from the apron to the floor with Edge following through, this was not memorable in the least. Kinda cool to see a ref stop finish, you see those all the time in Japan, and I think it's as good of a way to end a match as any. Matt did get a bit squashed, though, not good for any future matchups of his, as it made him look rather weak.
Guerrero/Mysterio: Ladder match
The backstory of this was awful, and the main reason I have not watched a moment of SD for the last three weeks or so. The match was fun though, although there were more than your usual screwups. Even then, however, they were sick enough to actually add to the match, and really, this was a good ladder match. Horrid "writery" finish killed most of the heat from this, but even then, it was a good match.
Angle/Eugene: Gold Medal Match
Short and by the book. It was rather funny to hear the crowd cheer Angle and boo Eugene, though. The right guy won here, and did so with little trouble, as it should have gone down. Can't complain too much, really.
Taker/Ortan
Their WMXI match was unexpectedly good, so I had decent but not high expectations for this. The match was fine, but nothing really memorable, although it was nice to see Ortan deviate from his usual chinlock arsenal to work on the leg of Taker. The finish was supposed to be clever, but the camera angle betrayed it as being a work too early. If a fan really did charge the ring, Taker'd have punched the crap out of him, and they would have cut away immediatly. Not a horrible effort, though, and it does set up a rematch.
Cener/Jericho: WWE Title
This started out with tons of Jericho offence(I'll admit I was a bit distracted during this match, although I do not think I missed too much of it), until Cener started to his his FOUR MOVES OF DOOM, although the 5 knuckles to the shoulder got countered. The crowd (both in the arena and at my friends place) really got into it at this point, hoping for Jericho to win, but Cener got off an impossible fireman carry slam for the win to the disappointment of many. It was really nice to hear the huge Jericho chants, though.
Batista/JBL: World Title
Short match with a lot of brawling, and Batista retains. Not much else here, although I admit I wish I was live so I could have walked out with a few of those JBL $100 dollar bills:)
HBK/Hogan
Great, great stuff. HBK did indeed bump like a maniac for Hogan, and Hogan was able to hold up his end decently, moving around faster than you would expect, and using his Hoganisms to get the crowd behind him. John Cener, take notes here if you want to be the next Hogan.(and believe me, he does, although the writers can't decide if they also want him to be the next Austin)
HBK, though was working triple time here, and make Hogan look great. Hogan's hulk up after the SCM just seemed to make sense, as if HBK woke up the sleeping giant, and the finish, although Michaels should have won, was just fine by me.
Overall, SS was the second or third best WWE PPV of the year. There were no matches like HBK/Angle(funny how the so called "has been" Kid's name keeps coming up), like WM, and the athmosphere was not anywhere near One Night Stand's. However, this was a clear improvement over the usual WWE crap that has been coming down the pike as of late, and I was entertained, and at the end, that's what counts.
Benoit/Jordan: US Title
Ok, now THIS is how to start off a PPV the right way! Benoit dominated Jordan in under a minute, my friends all laughed, as I said that this match had to be under two minutes, and I was correct. The WWE did the right thing here, Jordan is not on Benoit's level, and never will be. The US title instantly won some credibility with this match.
Hardy/Edge
After a backstage segment that had to be at least five times as long as the Benoit match, we get this long anticipated brawl. Seriously, this was nothing more than a rather stiff slugfest between the two, aside from a memorable spear through the ropes that knocked Hardy from the apron to the floor with Edge following through, this was not memorable in the least. Kinda cool to see a ref stop finish, you see those all the time in Japan, and I think it's as good of a way to end a match as any. Matt did get a bit squashed, though, not good for any future matchups of his, as it made him look rather weak.
Guerrero/Mysterio: Ladder match
The backstory of this was awful, and the main reason I have not watched a moment of SD for the last three weeks or so. The match was fun though, although there were more than your usual screwups. Even then, however, they were sick enough to actually add to the match, and really, this was a good ladder match. Horrid "writery" finish killed most of the heat from this, but even then, it was a good match.
Angle/Eugene: Gold Medal Match
Short and by the book. It was rather funny to hear the crowd cheer Angle and boo Eugene, though. The right guy won here, and did so with little trouble, as it should have gone down. Can't complain too much, really.
Taker/Ortan
Their WMXI match was unexpectedly good, so I had decent but not high expectations for this. The match was fine, but nothing really memorable, although it was nice to see Ortan deviate from his usual chinlock arsenal to work on the leg of Taker. The finish was supposed to be clever, but the camera angle betrayed it as being a work too early. If a fan really did charge the ring, Taker'd have punched the crap out of him, and they would have cut away immediatly. Not a horrible effort, though, and it does set up a rematch.
Cener/Jericho: WWE Title
This started out with tons of Jericho offence(I'll admit I was a bit distracted during this match, although I do not think I missed too much of it), until Cener started to his his FOUR MOVES OF DOOM, although the 5 knuckles to the shoulder got countered. The crowd (both in the arena and at my friends place) really got into it at this point, hoping for Jericho to win, but Cener got off an impossible fireman carry slam for the win to the disappointment of many. It was really nice to hear the huge Jericho chants, though.
Batista/JBL: World Title
Short match with a lot of brawling, and Batista retains. Not much else here, although I admit I wish I was live so I could have walked out with a few of those JBL $100 dollar bills:)
HBK/Hogan
Great, great stuff. HBK did indeed bump like a maniac for Hogan, and Hogan was able to hold up his end decently, moving around faster than you would expect, and using his Hoganisms to get the crowd behind him. John Cener, take notes here if you want to be the next Hogan.(and believe me, he does, although the writers can't decide if they also want him to be the next Austin)
HBK, though was working triple time here, and make Hogan look great. Hogan's hulk up after the SCM just seemed to make sense, as if HBK woke up the sleeping giant, and the finish, although Michaels should have won, was just fine by me.
Overall, SS was the second or third best WWE PPV of the year. There were no matches like HBK/Angle(funny how the so called "has been" Kid's name keeps coming up), like WM, and the athmosphere was not anywhere near One Night Stand's. However, this was a clear improvement over the usual WWE crap that has been coming down the pike as of late, and I was entertained, and at the end, that's what counts.
