12
06-17-2004, 05:20 PM
So Bad Blood has come and gone and I finally got to watch it this afternoon and so here is the 2nd ever 12th view: 5* PPV review (formerly the 12-I.D 5*PPV review).
For those unfamiliar with my match grading system (most of you) I will break it down for you.
There will be 2 marks awarded the first will be the * rating of the match compared to the rest of the matches on the PPV.
The rating in brackets will be the * rating compared to an average PPV match (an average PPV match is worth 3*’s).
I will also be judging whether the matches were PPV worthy or belonged on Raw.
On with the review, feedback would defiantly be appreciated. It may be long but stick with it.
Match 1:
World Tag Team Championships
Chris Benoit and Edge vs. La Resistance (c)
Now this match was early on the card so I was hopeful that maybe we may get a clean finish because it would be legitimate that Benoit could prepare for his match later on. The match was too short but for what it was it was pretty standard tag-team stuff that we saw but better on Raw last week. I am glad Edge didn’t turn heel because I didn’t think he is ready as I watched the match. The ending was what it was; there isn’t much to say about it really, considering Benoit didn’t sell any injuries in his later match.. The entire match was kind of a non-event.
BB RATING: ***
PPV RATING: *
PPV WORTHY? No – We have seen better on Raw.
Match 2:
Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko
The big bad problem solver makes his PPV debut. It wasn’t really a competitive match, Jericho was carrying Tomko it would have been obvious to even the naive of marks. It was a pretty standard ending also, one that we have seen a hundred times before. If Jericho is going to use the enzeguiri as a finisher he needs to name it something other than enzeguiri to make it known it is a match winning move. Not impressed with Tomko and hope Y2J moves on soon.
BB RATING: **
PPV RATING: *
PPV WOTHRY: Yes – debut made it a special event.
Match 3:
Intercontinal Championship
Randy Orton vs. Shelton Benjamin
I like this match quite a lot. They began looking fairly awkward in the ring together and at a slower pace than I had expected. There was a couple of spots that were nice and a couple tat didn’t work, like the slug-fest in the middle, people are aware wrestling is fake so having these to wrestling punching each other for so long made it appear very false. I also thought Benjamin was a little sloppy in the ring whilst Orton looked composed and focused, perhaps a sign that he is ready to move on? A good spot was the figure 4 and rollup combination but I was curious as to the boos that Benjamin received when he applied the manoeuvre, he is definitely not over. Benjamin needs a new finisher. In all, the entire match was nicely paced and once it got going it worked really well, including the interference. The finish however was a bit suspect as Orton didn’t really get hold of much tights and so it looked a little odd that a small pinch on the tights would make so much difference. As for Orton holding on to the belt I think WWE have made the right choice because on last nights match I don’t think that Benjamin is ready to hold the belt.
BB RATING: ****
PPV RATING: ****
PPV WORTHY: YES - a good solid match that was given the right length to let the competitors show their stuff.
Match 4:
Women’s Championship
Lita vs. Trish Stratus w/ Tyson Tomko vs. Gail Kim vs. Victoria (c)
I would have liked to have seen Tomko stay at ringside; his involvement would have helped Trish win and would help to get Trish over as a heel which she needs at the minute considering she is one of the worst actresses in the WWE (yes including Torrie). However…Lita looked very sloppy in the match, a lot of loose spots by her. Gail Kim continues to impress me and I think she should have been given the nod. The first part of the match wasn’t done well as I felt that there should have been more time with two people in the ring because there wasn’t anytime to build a story because they kept swapping who was in the ring. I didn’t like the ending; I had forgotten where Victoria was and why she wasn’t in the ring. As for the actual result I think Kim should get the nod over Trish because Trish doesn’t need it whilst her feud with Y2J is ongoing.
BB RATING: **
PPV RATING: **
PPV WORTHY: Yes, the novelty of having a fatal fourway deserves to be on PPV.
Match 5:
Eugene vs. Jonathon “The Coach” Coachman
Eugene is so completely over. I am becoming a Eugene mark. This wasn’t a wrestling match and I kind of got the feeling it shouldn’t have been on the PPV but for entertainment value this was gold. The spots were hilarious and Dinsmore is keeping Eugene fresh with new spots every match. When I was writing notes for this I put “funny” 5 times in reference to different spots and “hilarious” twice. The end was genius but he really does need a finisher of his own. The post match was a nice touch with Regal coming out; it was nice to see the caring Regal who is waiting for a face turn in my opinion. I am going to give this a rating for entertainment value not as a match because I don’t really feel it was a match.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: *****
PPV WORTHY (As a Segment): YES – comedic value of it was priceless but I think both this and the Women’s match should have been before the IC title match.
Match 6:
World Heavyweight Title
Kane vs. Chris Benoit (c)
Kane’s vocality early on I think was over the top, in the context that he can sit right up of a tri-fector of German suplexes but howls like a baby for a punch. The match story in my opinion was very good, the focus on Kane’s arm. I got a little bored when Kane was on the offence because although Kane was extremely dominating I never go the feeling that he would win, I always thought Benoit would pull it back, which he did. I read about the WWE going for more wrestling based, spot free wrestling and for a big-small man battle this was a great example. A couple of parts I didn’t like were the Benoit nasally spitting on Kane, it wasn’t needed and was kind of gross. I wish that one day I could see a match where one finisher will do the job to get the win but obviously that was not the case here. A good solid match worthy of a World Title bout with a nice finish.
BB RATING: *****
PPV: RATING: *****
PPV WORTHY: YES see above
Match 7:
Hell in a Cell
Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels HBK
I liked how this wasn’t standard HIAC stuff, no roof spots and the addition of tables and ladders was a nice and different change. I said in my prediction that I knew they would do something different and they did. The entrances gave me an odd feeling, like a kind of “Been here done that” kind of feeling. In the weeks leading up to HIAC we have seen Trips and HBK try to tear each other apart so that when we saw that they didn’t follow that up and started quite slowly I was a little disappointed. There was some nice spots but I think Trips bled to soon and both men started acting like they were about to pass out with 20minutes left to go which made the match drag. I can’t complain about the rest, it was a nice solid match but I felt it did drag on quite a bit because of the slow-mo actions of the participants.
BB RATING: ****
PPV MATCH: ****
PPV WORTHY: YES – gimmick and the general match was enough.
For those unfamiliar with my match grading system (most of you) I will break it down for you.
There will be 2 marks awarded the first will be the * rating of the match compared to the rest of the matches on the PPV.
The rating in brackets will be the * rating compared to an average PPV match (an average PPV match is worth 3*’s).
I will also be judging whether the matches were PPV worthy or belonged on Raw.
On with the review, feedback would defiantly be appreciated. It may be long but stick with it.
Match 1:
World Tag Team Championships
Chris Benoit and Edge vs. La Resistance (c)
Now this match was early on the card so I was hopeful that maybe we may get a clean finish because it would be legitimate that Benoit could prepare for his match later on. The match was too short but for what it was it was pretty standard tag-team stuff that we saw but better on Raw last week. I am glad Edge didn’t turn heel because I didn’t think he is ready as I watched the match. The ending was what it was; there isn’t much to say about it really, considering Benoit didn’t sell any injuries in his later match.. The entire match was kind of a non-event.
BB RATING: ***
PPV RATING: *
PPV WORTHY? No – We have seen better on Raw.
Match 2:
Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko
The big bad problem solver makes his PPV debut. It wasn’t really a competitive match, Jericho was carrying Tomko it would have been obvious to even the naive of marks. It was a pretty standard ending also, one that we have seen a hundred times before. If Jericho is going to use the enzeguiri as a finisher he needs to name it something other than enzeguiri to make it known it is a match winning move. Not impressed with Tomko and hope Y2J moves on soon.
BB RATING: **
PPV RATING: *
PPV WOTHRY: Yes – debut made it a special event.
Match 3:
Intercontinal Championship
Randy Orton vs. Shelton Benjamin
I like this match quite a lot. They began looking fairly awkward in the ring together and at a slower pace than I had expected. There was a couple of spots that were nice and a couple tat didn’t work, like the slug-fest in the middle, people are aware wrestling is fake so having these to wrestling punching each other for so long made it appear very false. I also thought Benjamin was a little sloppy in the ring whilst Orton looked composed and focused, perhaps a sign that he is ready to move on? A good spot was the figure 4 and rollup combination but I was curious as to the boos that Benjamin received when he applied the manoeuvre, he is definitely not over. Benjamin needs a new finisher. In all, the entire match was nicely paced and once it got going it worked really well, including the interference. The finish however was a bit suspect as Orton didn’t really get hold of much tights and so it looked a little odd that a small pinch on the tights would make so much difference. As for Orton holding on to the belt I think WWE have made the right choice because on last nights match I don’t think that Benjamin is ready to hold the belt.
BB RATING: ****
PPV RATING: ****
PPV WORTHY: YES - a good solid match that was given the right length to let the competitors show their stuff.
Match 4:
Women’s Championship
Lita vs. Trish Stratus w/ Tyson Tomko vs. Gail Kim vs. Victoria (c)
I would have liked to have seen Tomko stay at ringside; his involvement would have helped Trish win and would help to get Trish over as a heel which she needs at the minute considering she is one of the worst actresses in the WWE (yes including Torrie). However…Lita looked very sloppy in the match, a lot of loose spots by her. Gail Kim continues to impress me and I think she should have been given the nod. The first part of the match wasn’t done well as I felt that there should have been more time with two people in the ring because there wasn’t anytime to build a story because they kept swapping who was in the ring. I didn’t like the ending; I had forgotten where Victoria was and why she wasn’t in the ring. As for the actual result I think Kim should get the nod over Trish because Trish doesn’t need it whilst her feud with Y2J is ongoing.
BB RATING: **
PPV RATING: **
PPV WORTHY: Yes, the novelty of having a fatal fourway deserves to be on PPV.
Match 5:
Eugene vs. Jonathon “The Coach” Coachman
Eugene is so completely over. I am becoming a Eugene mark. This wasn’t a wrestling match and I kind of got the feeling it shouldn’t have been on the PPV but for entertainment value this was gold. The spots were hilarious and Dinsmore is keeping Eugene fresh with new spots every match. When I was writing notes for this I put “funny” 5 times in reference to different spots and “hilarious” twice. The end was genius but he really does need a finisher of his own. The post match was a nice touch with Regal coming out; it was nice to see the caring Regal who is waiting for a face turn in my opinion. I am going to give this a rating for entertainment value not as a match because I don’t really feel it was a match.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: *****
PPV WORTHY (As a Segment): YES – comedic value of it was priceless but I think both this and the Women’s match should have been before the IC title match.
Match 6:
World Heavyweight Title
Kane vs. Chris Benoit (c)
Kane’s vocality early on I think was over the top, in the context that he can sit right up of a tri-fector of German suplexes but howls like a baby for a punch. The match story in my opinion was very good, the focus on Kane’s arm. I got a little bored when Kane was on the offence because although Kane was extremely dominating I never go the feeling that he would win, I always thought Benoit would pull it back, which he did. I read about the WWE going for more wrestling based, spot free wrestling and for a big-small man battle this was a great example. A couple of parts I didn’t like were the Benoit nasally spitting on Kane, it wasn’t needed and was kind of gross. I wish that one day I could see a match where one finisher will do the job to get the win but obviously that was not the case here. A good solid match worthy of a World Title bout with a nice finish.
BB RATING: *****
PPV: RATING: *****
PPV WORTHY: YES see above
Match 7:
Hell in a Cell
Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels HBK
I liked how this wasn’t standard HIAC stuff, no roof spots and the addition of tables and ladders was a nice and different change. I said in my prediction that I knew they would do something different and they did. The entrances gave me an odd feeling, like a kind of “Been here done that” kind of feeling. In the weeks leading up to HIAC we have seen Trips and HBK try to tear each other apart so that when we saw that they didn’t follow that up and started quite slowly I was a little disappointed. There was some nice spots but I think Trips bled to soon and both men started acting like they were about to pass out with 20minutes left to go which made the match drag. I can’t complain about the rest, it was a nice solid match but I felt it did drag on quite a bit because of the slow-mo actions of the participants.
BB RATING: ****
PPV MATCH: ****
PPV WORTHY: YES – gimmick and the general match was enough.