WWE Judgement Day Play-By-Play
 

Well, Play-By-Play may be stretching it. I'm not going all out with this one, I'm just going to post key moments and results.

Not bothering with a big intro, tough!

Match one. Ric Flair beats Carlito with a figure four leglock, much to the crowds delight. Carlito's finisher is now called the "Back Stabber"... that's an improvement anyway. Okay match, about the best you can expect from Flair nowadays. Not sure I like the fact Carlito has been buried against the near 60yr old Flair (who the WWE has no plans for, anyway, so therefore he did not need to go over). The punishment continues. No sign of Torrie.

Interview segment, and Shawn Michaels addresses the fact that rumours are saying he won't compete tonight. Randy Orton then attacks him backstage... didn't see THAT coming! :shifty:

So either it's a way of getting 'HBK' out of his match with Orton, or it's the storyline excuse for Michaels being injured in the match tonight.

A video package for the 'Lashley/Umaga/McMahons' saga. Presumably that match is up next.

Yes, it is the 3-on-1 rematch/rehash next. Umaga, ECW World Champion Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon vs Bobby Lashley....

Still no Armando Estrada too (I assume "Allejandro" has gone the way of "Phatu" "Kane The..." and all of the Divas surnames in the mysterious disappearing names file).

Lashley pins Shane McMahon in fucking seconds to win the ECW title back. Vince and Umaga were barely involved. The video package beforehand lasted longer.

Oh okay... after the match, Umaga attacks Lashley, and Vince announces that because Lashley didn't pin Vince, then Vince is still the ECW champ... apparently, in order to win the title, he has to beat Vince.

Still your ECW World champion, Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

LMAO at the WWE heeling Carlito up. Apparently he had some new black attire, being evil now and all. I kind of had a feeling Ric Flair would go over, as the WWE seems to give him wins at all the inappropriate times, but I went with Carlito because it would be the smart thing to do. Flair could have won some matches in between, but Carlito really should have gotten the big win to start off, and the big win to close.

Well he must still have his "nuclear heat", stemming from his attitude about his WrestleMania bumping.

Giving him the loss to decrepit old Ric (legend that he is) is burying him without even building him up first.

Backstage, a doctor tells Shawn Michaels that he is refusing him permission to wrestle tonight.

Who figured?

I guess this is the best direction to go under the circumstances, as they want to milk Lashley winning the Title back, but they need to keep him looking stronger. I'm not liking Vince as Champion, though. I still maintain that it should have been Umaga or Shane.

Yeah, ignore the "official" thread. :y:

It's kind of funny that Ric was just as unhappy about being left off the card.

ECW's only other offering tonight is up next, as C.M. Punk (complete with classic wrestling rib-injury taped guts) is taking on Elijah Burke.

I don't really bother with ECW much, but I'm surprised at the lack of reaction for Punk. Is this a regular thing now? He was getting great reactions a few months back. Did joining the New Breed kill his heat?

I'm glad HBK is being left off the card. Now all they need to do is replace the Michaels vs. Orton match with London & Kendrick challenging for and winning back their WWE Tag Team Championship. Two years in a row at Judgment Day, baby!

I didn't see an "official" thread.

Probably. I mean, the kiddies probably think he's a bad guy because he showed humanity, and smarks stopped caring when the WWE fucked up with him. And before anyone says "zOMG! Punk is overrated! Let's put him in the main event of WrestleMania and unify the World Titles! I'm funny," he didn't need a main event push, what he needed was decent development of character. The WWE has fucked that up pretty good.

Elijah Burke has some good heat on him. I'm not sure if that will translate from ECW over to the Judgment Day crowd, but if it does, the fans should get more and more behind Punk, and if the match is great, the fans could begin to care about him again.

I'm pretty sure there isn't an official thread. :-\

I dislike the ref, hes annoying. :(

Nice to see Punk slowly revert back to his ROH moveset/style.

Good match so far, although its starting drag. I think Burke may win it though.

To be honest, I havn't really been concentrating on this match so far, been a bit distracted, but what I have caught has looked pretty smooth and the crowd are into it. That's a good sign.

As far as pushing/not pushing Punk... my philosophy would be, if the crowd reactions are great, run with it... doesn't always work, see Hogan in 2002, but you never know until you try. RVD was cut off at the knees in 2001, after getting so over he ended up in the main event of No Mercy 2001, because WWE didn't want to stir shit with the veterans by pushing this newbie. I say fuck that. If Punk is over, push him, don't fuck with him until they decide he's finally allowed to get over.

And I'm not a fanboy, I'm not a huge fan of Punk, but I do think he's worth a risk.

Isn't this Punk's first singles match on WWE PPV?

Yes.

Good job by both guys for getting the crowd into the match.

Unfortunately, the crowd seem to be giving up on this match rather than sticking with it. Punk and Burke are struggling to build momentum.

As soon as I write that, Punk hits a nasty sounding enziguiri that brought the crowd back to life.

Ah, I found Xero's thread. Ah well, this seems like the place to be at the moment.

I was pretty sure Punk was taking it, but a Burke win wouldn't be that surprising. I am still pulling for Punk to form a stable of his own, with Kevin Thorn as the first member. With Ariel gone, God knows he needs something to do.

Awesome Elijah Express just there.

Burke reverses a G2S into the Elijah Experience, but Punk kicks out. Punk crotched on the top rope, and Elijah hits the "Elijah Express", or a double knee to the back. Pin, but Punk's hand gets the rope to break it up.

This time the Elijah Experience is reversed into the Go 2 Sleep, and Punk takes the victory in what I believe to be his PPV singles debut.

Burkes selling, and lets be honest, the move depends on the seller, of of the Go2Sleep is shit.

Good match in my opinion.

Is it just me, or do crowds suck these days? It's rare that they actually get into things, and translate their energy through the product, these days. I mean, sure the WWE makes it difficult with a generally shitty product, but they did buy tickets.

Holy shit, that sounds like a hot finish.

What was wrong with Anaconda Vice, by the way? The best finishers are those you can hit on anyone. You can't put a big guy in the Go 2 Sleep.

Is Kane on this show? Who's going to replace Michaels against Orton then?

Anyone hear thinking Jericho? Highly unlikely with no pre-announcement, WWE "surprise opponents" are usually shit. We'll probably get Santino Marella or someone.

Orton is making his way to the ring. Will Michaels "gut it out", will the match be called off, will Orton have a different opponent?? Let's find out....

Holy shit! Is that Bret Hart?

Not doing to terrible on Tipsters rn

I doubt Jericho is truly in shape for a return. Kane does seem like the logical choice. He's on the poster, and he isn't even on the card.

Bret Hart AND Chris Jericho?!!

Okay they were about to announce Orton as winner by forfeit, but 'Sexy Boy' hits and Michaels is stumbling toward the ring, selling his 'concussion' from earlier.

The Anaconda Vise was a damn good finish. Especially when he used to break out the combo, and plant his opponent with the uranage. The Go To Sleep just doesn't seem to fit Punk.

That sucks dick.

Orton's concussion selling from his Evolution/World champ days on RAW were much better than HBK's drunken man act.

I would have marked out for Mick Foley vs. Randy Orton in another classic Street Fight.

Am I glad I ordered this show now or what?

You know Shawn Michaels is going over, too. Punk overcame his injury, so of course HBK can't allow himself to be upstaged.

So the WWE's official doctor (Ferdinand Rios?) has categorically told Michaels that he will not clear him to compete, yet this match is going ahead??

Surely the referee (who is repeating the whole Kennedy "are you sure you want to do this?" spiel) does not have any official decision that would allow Michaels to compete? And if he had any sense, he wouldn't allow a man with a 'concussion' to compete.

Michaels is full on selling the concussion, very well. Orton going to work on the head of Michaels.

I'm getting the feeling Orton could get himself disqualified by waffling Michaels with a steel chair and worsening HBK's condition. This would get heel heat for Orton, put Michaels out of storylines, and give HBK the win.

Royal Rumble 2004. VERY convincing sell job by Orton. I truly fell for it.

That's a good point. The WWE clearly didn't think this through.

Ah Michaels collapses during the Sweet Chin Music, stumbles to his feet, but the referee stops the match. Orton wins by stoppage.

Anti climactic ending there.

edit : I spoke too soon.

Who the hells the chick in the ring?

This is why they need more MMA style matches. This ref stoppage finish can work in the right circumstances. WWE have only ever found that instance once though - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin. And Ken Shamrock, a UFC legend was who it was built around.

:|

The WWE is really throwing shit booking at HBK lately. There was the double pin with Orton a while back, and then he got the non-title win over Edge. This match shouldn't have even started if the referee was concerned about Shawn Michaels' health, so why end it like that? It's only going to piss off the fans. They should have just had Michaels pin Orton and that be that.

This was less of a match than an angle. There was no real wrestling in this bout.

Referee helps Michaels stand up, only for Randy Orton to RKO him. Michaels' wife Rebecca hits the ring crying, as officials and medics attend to Shawn.

In the realms of kayfabe, that referee should be fired for allowing Michaels to compete.

This brings back memories of the famous Michaels post-concussion collapse of 1995. They are treating this as "real as real can be", with sombre commentary and lots of "this is real" bait. Which, by the way, it isn't. And this isn't 1995, so nobody in the audience believes it. In fact, I even hear boos.

You're right. Under the right circumstances they can be awesome. This was just a non-finish because the WWE have booked themselves into a corner.

Back to my belief that Vince is out of touch. Only he still believes this shit works. They might be able to save this if they do something with the referee on RAW. Who was officiating, by the way?

Marty Elias was the ref, right?

I'm both surprised and impressed that Punk-Burke got 16 minutes!

Interview backstage with The Great Khali, and his new interpretor. I didn't know you could get a job as interpretor in "cretin".

Khali says Cena stands no chance tonight (which means he does), he has demolished Cena many times recently (meaning he will lose) and if Cena wants some, he can come get some (which he does and he will). The least inspiring WWE Championship match since Bret Hart hit the circuits defending against Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart.

I think so.

It's The Hardy Boyz vs The Redneck Wrecking Crew next. Everytime Cade/Murdoch's music starts, it evokes memories of The Big Boss Man's music. I keep expecting to hear "if ya ever take a trip, down to Cobb County Georgia...".

I don't know why Michael Cole and JBL are commentating on the Raw World Tag Team Championship match. Matt Hardy is the only (flimsy) link to SmackDown in this Raw match, featuring Raw wrestlers, for a Raw title.

Lance Cade reminds me of a better conditioned Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine, in his earlier years.

I was thinking it might have been him. He's relatively new to the WWE, so I can see someone calling him out and talking about what a cockish call it was letting Shawn Michaels compete. They could give the dressing down role to "Rebecca Michaels", John Laurinatis, Linda McMahon, Jonathan Coachman or even Triple H. It'd make an interesting angle storyline-wise, as I don't think the referees get enough love.

It obviously can't lead to a Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Elias match, or anything, but I can picture a promo where Shawn Michaels returns and give Marty some Sweet Chin Music after abusing him on the mic a bit, coked-up HBK style.

Methinks JR and King are getting too old and shitty to call PPV. Cade and Murdoch are getting some love now, so I glad for them. I've always thought Cade can be something, and Murdoch is deceptively good.

I would love to see Deuce & Domino traded for Cade & Murdoch, by the way. :y:

The World Tag Team Championship should theoretically be on the same brand as the World Heavyweight Championship, and Cade & Murdoch would be able to have some fun matches as tweeners on that brand. With some battles against London & Kendrick, Regal & Taylor as well as the new redneck team coming in, they could become a pretty great tag team over there.

Deuce & Domino seem more like a RAW team, and most of the teams there are babyfaces. Eugene & Hacksaw Jim Duggan, The Highlanders and Cryme Tyme.

I think the swap would be good for all involved.

Would not surprise me to see Cade and Murdoch take the titles tonight. It seems inevitable, much like MVP's eventual US title win (again, probably tonight).

I guess Vince v Lashley is a lock for One Night Stand now. *sigh*

I think they will take the belts. I mean, that's the only real reason for continuing the feud.

Murdoch is the weak link here, however. Would like to see Cade team with Finlay. Could be a great learning experience for Cade, and a credible tag team.

Let's just hope he doesn't waste the Hell in a Cell stipulation on himself, again.

I know a lot of people are anti-teams breaking up and feuding, but assuming they lose tonight, or whenever they inevitably drop the belts, I think a Lance Cade vs. Trevor Murdoch feud would be pretty cool.

After MVP wins the United States Title tonight, I hope he spits on the belt and chucks it aside, and brings in a new belt to represent the Championship. That would make my day.

Solid PPV so far.

I think MVP really needs to win tonight. He can't deserve another rematch if he loses.

I'm hoping we see Edge vs. Matt Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship at One Night Stand, to be honest.

Jeff Hardy pins Cade with the swanton.

First, the WWE need to decide weather to push Matt as a singles competitor or a tag team guy.

But having Edge-Matt at ONS would be great!

Another handshake after the match. Interesting.

He will win tonight. Him losing at WrestleMania didn't surprise me, and I called him losing at Backlash. I can't really see him losing tonight.

Chris Benoit should win the first fall quickly, locking in the Crippler Crossface. MVP should tap to get Benoit off him, so that MVP can avoid any major damage from the move. The second fall would go to MVP via pinfall, probably with The Playmaker (sigh). Which gives us the final fall, with these guys going all out (MVP would have gone all out the previous fall as well), with a series of reversals, which leads to MVP rolling up Benoit for the pin.

So, One Night Stand looks like it's going to an all extreme rules PPV, least it seems that way. Interesting.

Wow, I was not expecting The Hardys to retain.

New plan: The Hardys vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team in a TLC Match for the World Tag Team Championship at One Night Stand. :drool:

They might actually be trying to "MVP" Cade & Murdoch, by having them lose two Championship matches to The Hardys, and then going over them in the third, much like MVP probably will tonight.

Edge vs Batista is next.

This is stupid, the Edge-'Tista match should be the main event.

Especially as the Cena-Khali match will likely be rubbish, and is really just there to showcase Cena.

I'm thinking Edge retains via a Mark Henry interference, which keeps Batista busy for the next PPV and allows Edge to take on a fresh challenger.

Believe it or not, I think this match structure makes sense. Edge is going to beat Batista, which will not make the fans too happy. It's probably not a note to end the show on. John Cena vs. Khali will suck, don't get me wrong, but Cena winning has the "face" going over in the big match.

So the US Title gets priority over the World Heavyweight Title? Nice. I remember those belts used to mean something, so hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

I remember when the IC title used to be defended at PPVs.

Potential matches for One Night Stand:

* Edge vs. Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship
* John Cena vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
* Vince McMahon vs. Bobby Lashley for the ECW World Championship
* Batista vs. Mark Henry
* The Hardys vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team in a TLC Match for the World Tag Team Championship

The title should really be strong enough to make IC Title matches in and of themselves draws for PPV. John Cena defending the WWE Championship and Santino Marella defending the Intercontinental Championship on the same night should be huge. Alas, not in today's WWE.

lol@Batista actually stopping and kicking the steps. :/

Remember when Batista used to be cool, and we used to really like the guy as a collective whole? Those were the days.

How's the match looking?

Edge wins with a bland old roll-up pin.

Edge wins via rollup.

Seems like they're going for a chicken shit pussy ass heel thing with Edge. So long as he gets a moderately long reign, I dont care.

Why do I get the feeling they are going to prolong this feud between Edge and Batista? :(

At least they were smart enough to give this match less time than Burke vs. Punk and The Hardys vs. Cade and Murdoch.

Diva segment. Meh.

MVP vs Benoit next. Two out of three falls.

It'd be nice for someone to win 2-0 in a '2 out of 3 fall' match. Not that its gonna happen though.

The PPV has flown by so far.

Very good, even match so far.

Wow Edge/Batista isn't even the last Smackdown match on the card. :|

MVP takes the first fall by pinfall.

MVP WINS...2 falls to zero!

MVP won 2-0? Strange. Also, fuck that bullshit@ the WHC not being last on the Smackdown card...they did this with WM to, are they trying to bury the title or what?

Cena and Khali to go on for a half hour??

And only 2 weeks of build up for One Night Stand, yikes!

Bit late, MVP won the title, 2 falls to none.

Been saying it for some time now, the United States title could easily make claim to being the most honored championship not only on SmackDown but the entire WWE.

How's the cena/Khali match going?