Judgment Day

[Al]

From Meltzer's recap...

 

Cena won an incredible bloodbath. Seriously, I think this will end up being the best match of either man's career. Cena was a genuine crimson mask. They destroyed JBL's limo taking bumps on the hood and roof and bleeding all over it, including Cena ripping off a gimmicked door and using it as a weapon. They had prop after prop that they used. JBL bled after getting his head put through a television set screen. No interference, just a long, bloody brawl. Cena threatened to hit JBL with a huge exhaust pipe and JBL quit before getting hit. Cena hit him with it anyway, sending him through the set.

So did anyone see the match? How was it?

[Guest Flyboy]

Seriously, I think this will end up being the best match of either man's career.

It's kinda sad that the "best match of their career" will be known simply as a overdramatized hardcore-type match. Now, I didn't see the match, but that really can't be saying a lot could it?

[Al]

Seriously, I think this will end up being the best match of either man's career.

It's kinda sad that the "best match of their career" will be known simply as a overdramatized hardcore-type match. Now, I didn't see the match, but that really can't be saying a lot could it?

Well, Tim Cooke and company are probably throwing chairs at the thought of this match comparing to Eddie/JBL from last year's Judgment Day. So Bradshaw has a great match under his belt. The jury's out on Cena's career. He has a long way to go.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

Looking around the 'net, it sounds like the main event's about to become 2005's Eddie/JBL.

 

It's kinda sad that the "best match of their career" will be known simply as a overdramatized hardcore-type match.

Not really, since neither one is a particularily good wrestler. JBL won't ever be and I can't see Cena breaking out.

[goodhelmet]

Here are complete results from the Meltz...

 

Akio vs. Nunzio is the Heat match. Nunzio won with a side cradle in a basic fast paced short match.

 

MNM vs. Charlie Haas & Bob Holly are opening things up. Finish was the snapshot on Haas and Mercury got the pin. Crowd wasn't into it at the start, but turned into a hot match. Not quite as good as the Cow Palace match last week, but only because they didn't give them 15:00. I've got a feeling by the end of the night they'll wish they had because it felt rushed.

 

Big Show vs. Carlito is next. After a ref bump, Matt Morgan gave Show a high kick and F-5. When Hebner recovered, Carlito got the pin. Short mostly comedy match.

 

Michael Cole just talked about how much he loved watching ECW in the day. Boy was that convincing.

 

Paul London vs. Chavo Guerrero for the cruiserweight title is up. There is a good chance Booker T and Kurt Angle will be in the ring within minutes as they shot a backstage vignette where Booker vowed he wasn't waiting for his match and would take Angle out right now. Well, this wasn't WCW. London with with a 450. They tried all kinds of big moves, but a lot seemed off and a lot of the basic stuff was sloppy. Still, overall good.

 

Booker T is searching for Angle everywhere. But where is Kurt Angle? Billy Kidman was in the bathroom. Funaki and Shannon Moore were backstage. Why is everyone suited up and in full gimmick when they aren't even wrestling? Of course, Kurt snuck into Booker's dressing room and jumped on Sharmell. But then his music started playing and of course, he got up since he has to have a match. This is a candidate for among the worst angles of the century. Angle came out and the crowd was dead. They don't realioze how bad they are killing these guys with the angle.

 

Kurt vs. Booker is up now. Good match. Angle took a beating. He was bleeding hardway from the mouth and the forehead. Booker won by reversing an Angle slam into a cradle. Angle laid out Booker after the match, threw Sharmell into the ring and tried to handcuff her to the ropes. Booker made the save and handcuffed Angle to the ropes. Booker & Sharmell both slapped the hell out of Angle, ending with Sharmell kicking him low. They are having trouble unhandcuffing Angle from the ropes right now so now the announcers are having to stall. Maybe Angle is switching sides because this wouldn't make sense any other way.

 

Roberto Duran is at the show. Tazz explained that Duran was an expert on quitting.

 

Orlando Jordan vs. John Heidenreich is here to stink up the show. The focus was all on this young girl actress at ringside as Heidenreich's friend doing the Heidenreich walk. Jordan won clean with a DDT in a match where Heidenreich set new standards for awful that even Snitsky can't approach. Still, this was actually better than their Smackdown match.

 

We've got 70 minutes left and only two matches.

 

Eddie vs. Rey is up now. Very strong emotional reaction to this match. Easily the best thing on the show so far. Ending was Mysterio springboard off the ropes but Guerrero whacked him with a chair shot for the DQ. Chavo Guerrero was involved at the end. Eddie hit Mysterio with five hard chair shots after the match. A lot of heat on Guerrero leaving. Finish worked in getting Guerrero over and Mysterio got a big hand as he was being helped out.

 

They've kept the blood off the show (accidental in the Angle match), no tables breaking or any shortcuts so expect all of that in the next match.

 

Cena won an incredible bloodbath. Seriously, I think this will end up being the best match of either man's career. Cena was a genuine crimson mask. They destroyed JBL's limo taking bumps on the hood and roof and bleeding all over it, including Cena ripping off a gimmicked door and using it as a weapon. They had prop after prop that they used. JBL bled after getting his head put through a television set screen. No interference, just a long, bloody brawl. Cena threatened to hit JBL with a huge exhaust pipe and JBL quit before getting hit. Cena hit him with it anyway, sending him through the set.

[goodhelmet]

Well, looks like another show I have to put on my wishlist.

 

I want to make one note in reference to...

 

Well, Tim Cooke and company are probably throwing chairs at the thought of this match comparing to Eddie/JBL from last year's Judgment Day. So Bradshaw has a great match under his belt. The jury's out on Cena's career. He has a long way to go.

I think JBL-Eddie taught us to never underestimate anything or to pre-judge something before it happens. I did that for Wrestlemania and got burned. Supposedly, it was an entertaining show with a few good matches.

 

Think about it... never in a million years would I think I liked ONE JBL matchmuch less two. If this is another JBL match where I have to give props, so be it.

 

IN the last two weeks, I have gone from thinking Jim Duggan was absolutely worthless to loving two of his matches... to the point where I want more more more Jim Duggan. Who would've thunk it? It just goes to show that until you actually see the match, you never know what to expect.

[Mad Dog]

Cena had better matches during his first three months in 2002.

[Guest Dazed]

Cena had better matches during his first three months in 2002.

I'd love you to expand on this.

 

Because the JD match was bad? Or because those matches were good? Anything in particular worth checking out?

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

IN the last two weeks, I have gone from thinking Jim Duggan was absolutely worthless to loving two of his matches... to the point where I want more more more Jim Duggan. Who would've thunk it? It just goes to show that until you actually see the match, you never know what to expect.

I've not seen any of his Mid-South stuff, but from what I've always read, you shouldn't have thought he was worthless, since it sounds like he could hold his own during his pre-WWF days.

[goodhelmet]

I didn't believe people who said he could go. I had zero faith in Jim Duggan to entertain me after 18 years of NOT entertaining me.

[JHawk]

It's kinda sad that the "best match of their career" will be known simply as a overdramatized hardcore-type match. Now, I didn't see the match, but that really can't be saying a lot could it?

A good gimmick match is still a good match. Hell, probably the defining match of Magnum T.A.'s career was the I Quit Match with Tully Blanchard, and you could call that an overdramatized cage match if you'd like and be relatively adequate. That doesn't stop that match from being a classic.

 

Did anybody actually see last night's match though?

[Mad Dog]

Cena had better matches during his first three months in 2002.

I'd love you to expand on this.

 

Because the JD match was bad? Or because those matches were good? Anything in particular worth checking out?

The Judgement Day wasn't bad but I think he's been involved in better matches. His 2003 Vengence match with Undertaker was about on the same level with this. His Smackdown match with Jericho in 2002 was slightly better. I haven't seen his debut match against Angle in a long time but I remember it being solid.

[MyOwnSummer]

Did anybody actually see last night's match though?

I did, I watched the show at the theater. It was certainly entertaining and both men, especially Cena got some good colour going.

 

Angle/Booker was nothing special, and the angle surronding it was embaressing to watch.

 

Chavo/London was entertaining though it had it's flaws. London was making everyone in the theater pop, and he got some huge sympathy groans as well.

 

Eddie/Rey was my favorite match of the night. I didn't mind the DQ ending at all, and Eddie did a bunch of little things that really added to it for me, such as rolling Rey in and out to break the count, and dropping down to avoid the West Coast Pop only for rey to hit a Diving headbutt.

 

MNM vs Haas/Holly seemed to have been rushed but Haas brought his A game hitting some good spots. Holly getting thrown into the post shoulder first looked strange because he went sailing past it while trying to turn himself into it.

 

Heindreich vs Jordan was painful. The Heindreich walk looks like he's paralyzied on one side.

 

Big Show vs Carlito... not as bad as the Heindreich match, but that's all I can say.

[Tim Cooke]

Was supposed to see this but had to bail at the last minute. I'm very interested in Eddy/Rey and the main event intrigues me but Cena is pretty shitty in general. The big reason Eddy/JBL worked was Eddy brought his A+ brawling game. JBL is a decent to great brawler when in with someone who can go. I haven't seen Cena throw a good punch ever. Angle/Booker is something I want to see. I think Booker in March of 2001 against Angle in March of 2001 could have been good but today, I don't know.

[sek69]

I wonder how many times JBL will surprise people before folks start to realize he's a pretty decent brawler type worker. This has to be at least the third or fourth time everyone pulled a Keith and dismissed a JBL match as garbage only to have it turn out to be a good to excellent match.

[The Thread Killer]

I saw the show last night.

 

Go watch Dude Love vs. Steve Austin at Over The Edge 98. If you saw that match, then you've seen JBL vs. Cena, except this one had more blood, and more gimmick spots.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

The Undertaker choke-slammed Brisco and Patterson through announcers tables again?

[goodhelmet]

I wonder how many times JBL will surprise people before folks start to realize he's a pretty decent brawler type worker. This has to be at least the third or fourth time everyone pulled a Keith and dismissed a JBL match as garbage only to have it turn out to be a good to excellent match.

Was it dismissing a JBL match or a Cena match? I think tight now, at least as far as the net is concerned, it is Cena that people have little faith in when it comes to ring work.

[Guest Cam Chaos]

I think he's made for brawling and would have probably made a great corporate champ a few years back when more main events had brawl sections on a monthly basis rather than limited to gimmick matches. Over the last two years MEs have once again became ring-centric rather than heated arena wide brawls so I think he stands out a lot more.

[Guest Some Guy]

I wonder how many times JBL will surprise people before folks start to realize he's a pretty decent brawler type worker. This has to be at least the third or fourth time everyone pulled a Keith and dismissed a JBL match as garbage only to have it turn out to be a good to excellent match.

Was it dismissing a JBL match or a Cena match? I think tight now, at least as far as the net is concerned, it is Cena that people have little faith in when it comes to ring work.

There are still some who hold residual anger over JBL's push and refuse to acknoweldge that he has done a single good thing in his career, but for the most part it has been Cena hate.

 

I'm glad that this match came off well and I'm glad they realized that Cena needed every gimmick in the world to have a good match. After the substandard WM match they needed to hit a HR.

 

Unfortunately for Cena, one good match does not a career make. He needs to learn how to work a regular non-gimmick match where his offense isn't just his three signature moves.

 

When this comes out on DVD, I'll pick it up and see what all the fuss is about.

[Coffey]

I liked Bradshaw's WWE Hardcore title reign. I won't front. He got the new belt made with Texas on it and he wore a life preserver against his opponent in a match on Sunday Night Heat.

 

I wouldn't say that I "like" Bradshaw, although I definitely don't dislike him. He's entertained me a lot. Hell, A.P.A. had me laughing all the time.

 

My pops used to mark for Bradshaw. Not like he marked for Rick Steiner though. Of course, that was a long time ago. The Monday Night Wars were still taking place.