What Worked
Regal
vs. D-Lo on heat was a fun match, everything Regal does is really crisp
and stiff, which was a contrast with D-Lo’s Entertainment punches. D-Lo
was sort of just there as he didn’t get in a ton of stuff. I would like
to see what they could do with a PPV match, but this was fine stuff.
Eddie Guerrerro is the fucking man, this match was way better then it had
any right to be, as Eddie was in full Dan Kroffat carry the load mode,
The section with the Romero special was sweet, and the most mat wrestling
I can remember on a WWE PPV in a long time. Eddie also leaned really into
to RVD’s kicks which made them look way better then they usually do. The
missed frog splashes were nice, but I think a different ending would be
better as the WWF has overdone the roll up finish.
I
enjoyed Ric Flair and Big Show vs. Austin, I thought all three worked hard
and the hit some fun spots, Flair continues to look good, as he took bigger
bumps then most of the guys on the show, and his exchanges with Austin
were much crisper, and had more of an iconic feel then anything done in
the vaunted Hogan comback. I was amused by Lawler trying to sell the humilation
of Flair being put into the figure four considering that heel Flair gets
put into the figure four in every match he ever has, hell I have a tape
with Brett Wayne Sawyer taking a fall on Flair with the Figure Four. I
would have rather seen a Flair v. Austin sinlges but the Big Show continues
his remarkable reign of not pissing me off
Edge
vs. Kurt Angle was fine professional wrestling with Edge adding more to
this match then he did to the last PPV match. The Belly to Belly bump was
pretty nasty as was the full flip on the German Suplex. Angle looked great
including hitting a spear which smokes Edge’s shitty spear. Angle looked
smaller too, so he may be already trying to flush all of the “entertainment”
out of his system for the Olympic training. I actually liked the roll up
finsih too as it looked really fast and forceful. This was no Satanico
v. Shiro Koshinaka or anything, but I have seen much worse Cabellara matches.
Booker
T’s hot ass
I think HHH’s bizzaro C Thomas Howell in Soul Man tan distracted me from
the Hell in the Cell match. Is Bill Watts booking smackdown and HHH eyeing
the black superman babyface role? The match itself was prettty great with
Jericho taking some really nice saneish bumps and Porkchop Cash even bumping
pretty big. The ending was cool, and I am glad the don’t have to hurl someone
of that thing everytime. I also really dug the 80’s AJW style ref blood,
although when you are in a cage match and you are being out bumped by the
ref and the ref isn’t Josh Milton or Charles Robinson that isn’t a good
thing. Easily the best match Kareem Muhammed has had since returning.
What Didn’t Work
Finlay
clearly isn’t training Stacey and it is a shame the Woman’s division had
to be wasted on a shitty Dudley brother brakeup angle.
That
Hardy Boys versus Heyman and Lesner was so much better when it was Rock
and Roll’s v. Cornette and Killer Kyle. Ugly match and they need to get
Lesner some more spots becuase he is looking less like Goldberg and more
like Emory Hale at this point
I
remember nothing about that tag match, I don’t see this vaunted Rikishi
improvement that Dean is always babbling about
Hogan
vs. Undertaker was actually better then I expected, as it was just run
of the mill awful instead of epically awful. Hogan actually looked better
then he did against the Rock, but this was still about as shitty as it
gets. I have no faith in Undertaker vs. Sugar Bear Harris next month being
any better.
Phil Schneider