WWE Judgment Day 2009 Review

Umaga Vs CM Punk

Punk is over-as-expected in his home town of Chicago and it's a good decision to pop the crowd to open the show. This feud is total filler to hold back Punk from cashing in his MITB. Literally – that is the basis for this match, that Umaga randomly attacked him and stopped a cash-in. I'd have seen some logic had Punk defended the case against Umaga, but as he doesn't I don't understand Umaga's motive. I'm always happy to see a card full of singles matches, and even happier when they all get 10-15 minutes to work within. Sadly, this match fails to make the most of that and actually needed to be shorter. The pace dips noticeably during the middle section where Umaga is on the offensive and the hot crowd soon goes cold. A match like this shouldn't be hard to book – the home town hero against the exotic monster heel is a classic – and the secret is the urgency of the contest. Punk ought to have been much more aggressive as we'd naturally expect Umaga to overpower him. He is the kind of scrappy underdog who needs to work harder but can still make a believable stand against almost any opponent. Instead of this Chicago gets the pleasure of watching their hero on his back much of the time, only really coming to life to make a predictable, brief and ill-fated comeback. Solid enough I suppose, you can't really go wrong with two good workers like this, but I was never grabbed by the pedestrian story that was told. I'm also not sure what a clean loss does for Punk at this time.

Rating: 3 Stars

ECW Championship
Christian Vs Jack Swagger

I've always liked Matt Striker on commentary. He isn't perfect but he adds something that the other WWE commentators don't – COLOUR! He doesn't just say the names of moves or provide history, he also brings in psychology, highlights details from the match itself to increase their effect or help blend a botch into the narrative. He compliments a talented-but-green grappler like Jack Swagger perfectly, making the best of the rookie's talents while hiding his flaws. Combine this with the veteran Christian as an opponent and Swagger could hardly ask for a better start to his career. He's been a good ECW Champion but lacked a solid in-ring feud to show off his moves until now. This said, the match here tonight isn't anything extraordinary from either man and ends a few sequences short of it's potential. They keep a nice pace and bust out some more unusual manoeuvres, but the crowd is fairly dead and you never feel this is anything more than Swagger's obligatory rematch. Still, an enjoyable watch.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

John Morrison Vs Shelton Benjamin

A great under-card feud up next with a simple but attractive premise – who is the better athlete? When the answer is so genuinely unclear and with ten minutes on the clock you've got everything these men need for a good match. Benjamin starts off strong with an exploder suplex which sets the tone for a pacey, athletic encounter involving numerous wrestling styles. Benjamin is such a gifted and rounded athlete and, although he suffers a loss here, in my mind he was the winner of the prize at stake. He does a good job of blending his collegiate grappling between Morrison's high-risk spots, keeping the pace from jolting around too much. The top-rope 450 splash by Morrison is especially memorable, but like many of the big moves it is a little bit botched. Nothing so bad it distracts from the contest but just enough to leave you disappointed.

Rating: 4 Stars

Intercontinental Championship
Rey Mysterio Vs Chris Jericho

The smarky Chicago crowd are firmly behind Jericho to begin with, despite what JR would have you believe. The simple truth about Chicago is that it appreciates great wrestlers and wrestling – period. While they've been a bit quiet this evening they come alive for this match here and rightly so. This is an athletic, crisp contest with a thunderous pace between two of the very best performers to ever work in a WWE ring. You might say both men are demoted to work with the Intercontinental Championship, but this match and the rest of the trilogy that begins here actually elevates the title considerably. This is match of the night by a fair margin, no matter where it is on the card. I love the story of Jericho avoiding the 619 at all costs – it adds character to the match AND builds anticipation from the audience with every failed attempt. So many great near-falls, Mysterio of course a rare main-event performer who Jericho can look physically dominant against for a change. The numerous counters to Rey's offence are marvellous without ever making Rey look weak. The ending is a bit abrupt, but it puts the 619 over well and leads right into their next match.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

WWE Championship
Batista Vs Randy Orton

They've really made a mess of this feud so far, and this match does nothing to change that. How they managed to drop the ball with Orton since the start of the year is bewildering – he was the greatest heel of all-time when he punted Vince McMahon but once HHH was done with him he became just another cookie-cutter baddie in the WWE bakery. As a match this represents the worst tendencies of both men, which is a shame as I'd once pencilled this in as a future WrestleMania main-event. It just sort of “happens” - plodding, messy Batista slams scattered between the Orton stomps and rest holds – and the crowd just boo throughout, never quite sure who “sucks” more. For some reason WWE decided that Orton should be a coward at all times, so naturally he runs and cheats and blah blah blah. Seriously, didn't they see how Orton got over in January was the complete opposite of this? He was violent, scary and unpredictable. He was immoral and remorseless. He was not Jericho or Edge or JBL. He wasn't afraid of a fight. Now he is, because WWE creative don't know how to write any other kind of villain. This match isn't anywhere near as bad as the upcoming match with Cena at SummerSlam 2009 will be, but it's doing similar things. Ric Flair returns as a nice surprise, but it doesn't go anywhere good and in the meantime results in an old, retired man chasing off three fresh young men which just looks stupid.

Rating: 2 Stars

John Cena Vs Big Show

I'm not sure if anyone actually enjoyed this feud, but here at the start it actually did have potential. The best aspect of this match is the unique vulnerability shown by Cena - unfortunately this vulnerability comes at the expense of a good work-rate from both men. Neither Cena nor Show do much moving, with long stretches involving Show just walking across the ring. It's boring, lazy and just plain drags. When Cena does wake up he no sells everything, leaping to his feet and running around as if he isn't injured one bit. In the end, “broken” ribs and all, he lifts 500lbs and hits the AA for the clean win after putting almost no offence in on Show. All that Cena weakness is undone in an instant and Show look pathetic and incompetent. Not much to even say about this one, it was simply the worst match of the night.

Rating: 2 Stars

World Heavyweight Championship
Edge Vs Jeff Hardy

The main-event is a decent back-and-forth contest, well performed but lacking the electricity this pairing ought to generate. I've never understood why JR had such trouble calling Jeff Hardy matches. More than any other big star, JR would constantly mix up the names of Jeff's move-set, even when he just heard his broadcast partner call it correctly. I'm a fan of both JR and Grisham in the booth, but here they manage to work in as many clichés as they can and although Edge and Hardy make some good near-falls they're miscalled which dampens their effect. The match has plenty of time to work with and the pace is solid for all of it. Edge hits a fantastic mid-air spear off the announce table, which is always a good spot. This leads to a well timed near-count out for Jeff who sneaks back in at nine and a half. The pace builds up nicely into a run-in by Matt Hardy which Jeff survives, but Edge counters a Swanton attempt into a top-rope Edgecution, or as JR calls it, “ the nastiest super-plex I think I've ever seen!”, and picks up the win. Good ending, but JR really needs to do some research on the SmackDown! superstars move-sets!

Rating: 4 Stars

WWE Judgment Day 2009 Final Score: 3.5 Stars

A pretty standard WWE show with the usual mixture of match quality. The Mysterio/Jericho match is just the beginning of a classic series, their first proper work together since their amazing matches in WCW. This match and the entertaining under-card manages to make up for the disappointing main-events, and it's easy to see the huge divide in quality between SmackDown!/ECW and Raw right now. When the flagship is holding back the fleet, something is badly wrong and Raw aren't about to get it together any time soon. It's going to take thievery of some SmackDown! talent and the return of a few legends before they actually start being great again, proving how the foundations of the brand at this time is dangerously weak. SmackDown! always flourishes but right now they've got a fantastic mix of established stars, young athletes and dependable workers up and down the card.