Judgment Day Review

I cannot remember a PPV that had less build-up than last night's installment of Judgment Day. Perhaps that was due to the fact that there was little difference in the matches from the last PPV (Backlash), or perhaps the fact that Judgment Day comes in the middle of a 3 PPV in 2 months run, sandwiched between the aforementioned Backlash and One Night Stand (June 1st).

Since Vince McMahon likes to draw an analogy between the WWE and filmmaking, I'd liken Judgment Day the sort of movie that has great performances but somehow feels empty in total.
In short, the PPV felt more like a really good house show, rather than an event, which I believe PPVs should be.

The feud between JBL and Cena could be a good program given the past history between these two. Their "I Quit" match a few years back is still one of Cena's best matches, and JBL is the sort of over the top heel that mutes some of the anti-Cena crowd. There were several problems with last nights match, however. With Cena filming his movie two of the three weeks leading up to Judgment Day, there was little interaction between the two. JBL was left to destroy lesser competition and then glare at the camera for two weeks. Last night's match led off the PPV and it wasn't the sort of 'out of your seat' match that leads a show. Instead it was a beat-down by JBL with a clean, sudden win by Cena. While I can understand keeping Cena strong with the win, it virtually kills a rematch. Cena took JBL's best and beat him anyway. There's no drama for a return, or a longer program. On top of the booking, JBL still seems rusty and almost disinterested in the ring. His promos are still some of the better heel mic moments, but the physical action has yet to come back to where it was before his retirement. The sad thing is that I felt he was just starting to click in the booth before abruptly returning to active wrestling. Where they go from here, whether this program will continue or not is a mystery.

The tag-team match between Miz/Morrison and Punk/Kane had much better action. Punk showed some great work, good considering that a guy with the MITB shot has been getting jobbed of late, and Kane was his usual solid self. Miz has been better of late, and his partnership with Morrison, who I think is highly underrated, has been good for both. I didn't expect the outcome to be anything other than it was. A solid match, but nothing special.

Perhaps the most anticiapted match for me was the HBK-Jericho match. I've enjoyed this program and the interaction between Michaels, Jericho, and Batista has been wonderful. All three men are above the bill guys and having them work with each other means you always have a top-flight match no matter what the combination. All three are also shades of gray when it comes to their character. They are all popular but none works straight babyface, they have touches of heel in them as well. This makes for an interesting dynamic that I think Creative could use for a summer's worth of matches. However last night's match did not really advance that scenario. Jericho and HBK had a fantastic match, filled with great move-counter move-counter move action- what you would expect from great mat generals. There were nice touches, as when Y2J feigned his own injury and hit HBK with a finisher, but ultimately a clean HBK victory and then a standard two babyface handshake effectively killed any heat between the two men. Sure Batista later showed to threaten Michaels, but I was disappointed because they could have gotten so much more from this.

What I would have liked to see would have been a Batista interference in the match. An attack on Michaels that inadvertantly speared Y2J and cost him the match, then some Sweet Chin Music to Batista. This would have set up a three man chase, with each guy having heat with the other two. You could have then had months of the three interfering with each other, building to perhaps a Summerslam Triple Threat. They also could have thrown the IC belt into the mix, bringing that title back to some type of prominence. You could even have Batista win it and take it to Smackdown for a while, giving it some play on the other brand and establishing it as an interbrand title that all brands fight over.

Finally we had a Diva match that featured solid wrestling. After months of giving us inferior Diva matches, Creative put Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, and Melina together in a Triple Threat for the title. All three women worked wonderfully together, and the match featured THE spot of the night- Beth Phoenix' double back-breaker. The crowd loved it and it was so impressive that it is the one thing I guarantee everyone talked about leaving the arena. Keeping the belt on James and having her pin Melina keeps their feud going and it gives Melina a cause to continue to interject herself as well. I really enjoyed the match and I have to say that for me, it was the best of the night from both work and booking. It was the one match on the card that I'd love to see again. When is the last time one could say that about a Diva match?

Undertaker-Edge was another solid effort from these two. However they've now had 4 months or so of this program and despite the continuing vacated-title storyline, I feel as though I've seen it all between these two. I don't necessarily mind booking the match the way they did, however, I'm not looking forward to yet another rematch in three weeks. Edge is the best heel in WWE at the moment and I think he could use a change to Raw to feud with some new blood.

The unannouced match between Jeff Hardy and MVP was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night. Both men are fabulous workers, however they were rather sloppy with each other. The ending makes sense as Hardy needs a quick rebuild, and MVP dominated most of the match showing a harder physicality, but I expect more from these two and the match seemed like something I'd see on Raw rather than a PPV.

The final match was the cage match for the WWE Championship. Unlike some I'm fine with HHH carrying the belt again. Cena needed a break from holding the title, and Orton as the young star chasing the older veteran works for me better than the other way around, at least for a while. HHH can show the younger guys like Orton, and Hardy, Punk, Kennedy, and other potential main event guys how to work as champ for when their time comes. The problem I had with the match last night was that it really need not have happened in a cage. There was no juice, no real high spots, so the cage was manufactured drama rather than being a natural part of the drama.

The constant flashes to Regal in the luxury box seems to me to be a signal that there's some changes perhaps in the near future on Raw. Perhaps the rumoured draft will be a way to shake up the lineups and rejuventate some of the competition.