Summerspam

Summerslam has been and gone. To be honest, it was a pretty good PPV. Especially seeing how bare of huge stars the card was for one of the Big 4.

Time for a dis-jointed view of events. Don't expect any chronological order.

The main event was great. The atmosphere that came across on TV was a very rowdy one. I don't think the crowd were quiet at any one point. From the opening collar and elbow that went to Cena putting Orton in the side-headlock resulting in Cena getting the crap boo'd out of him, I knew it would be a good match. I think the only criticism I have for this match is Orton's no-selling of the 5 knuckle shuffle. He just got straight up and walked into the F-U. I'm sure he was meant to look dazed, but he failed miserably. Despite this, it was an enjoyable main event with a pretty good ending (even though Cena's still champ).

Khali v. Batista was a million miles away from what I was expecting. I had very low expectations, which were blown away by a performance that sucked even harder than I'd anticipated. The match ended in a DQ. A blatant DQ aswell. AFTER SEVEN MINUTES. Goodbye to any prestige that belt once held. The only up side to this match is that Dave didn't look like he cared how he hit Khali with the chair after the match. He genuinely looked as if he didn't care if Khali got hurt. Always a bonus.

The Diva Battle Royale, was exactly what it claimed. However I think judging by last night's costumes, The Camel Toe Convention would probably be a better name. Nothing special, but I'm glad that Beth Phoenix won rather than someone who can't actually wrestle. However in the middle of her celebrations MVP's music began and we were straight into the next segment. This renders any sense of accomplishment for Phoenix absolutely redundant.

Then we enter the beer drinking contest. The crowd were chanting for Austin as soon as MVP mentioned the word beer. However I suspect that if Austin hadn't appeared on SNME last week, then no one would've been chanting his name, and the surprise of him coming out would've been even bigger. No great loss though, as he got a HUGE pop and did exactly what people wanted. I wasn't at all surprised that he gave MVP the Stunner before the contest began.

Best night of the match was easily HHH v. King Booker. Something absolutely magical happened in this match that hasn't been seen on WWE TV for quite some time. I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but it was truly wonderful and special; Booker and Triple H worked the crowd. On WWE TV you say? Unbelievable I know. But they worked them well and had a fantastic match with a great sequence of reversals to end the match.

A close second was the IC triple threat match. From the way that match panned out, I'd guess that we'll see a feud between Carlito and Kennedy. Leaving Umaga to battle it out with the returning Jeff Hardy. The only thing is that Umaga's recently turned face. Would that possibly mean that Jeff would come back heel? He'd get huge heat because he's so over as a face. Think of Hogan turning heel in WCW, only not to that scale. His old fans who loved him would absolutely hate him. Wonderful.

The biggest disappointment of the night came when CM Punk lost to John Morrison in a pretty average match. And to be honest, that's probably quite a generous way of putting it. Some great spots (modified backdrop onto the apron anyone?) got no reaction from a crowd who obviously didn't care. CM Punk wrestled in the first 5 star match in the US for over 7 years in 2004 after a 60-minute time limit draw. However, give him a 10 minute spot at PPV which is booked poorly (ie he should win the strap at one of the Big 4, and especially with a clean win), then you're going to get what we saw last night. A huge shame to be honest.

The most important thing that I noticed last night was that Rey Mysterio, having been connected to the evil Dr. Phil Astin, makes his return from injury with almost no muscle definition whatsoever.

Also worthy of note was how small HHH looked compared to his usual juiced-up self. They both look far better for it, but I don't think it's a coincidence that these two have shrank in size during time off when the Benoit tragedy occured and the word 'steroids' has been thrown about non-stop.

Special mention to Kane and Finlay who had a good match and bumped like mad for each other. The tease of the chokeslam throughout the match made it that much more special when he pulled it off. One day the bookers will realise that Hornswaggle adds less to the company than Khali and kill him off. My dream match for Unforgiven would be champ vs. champ. Hornswaggle vs. Khali. The same 2 moves repeated for 40 minutes (If title matches have to last 20 minutes and there are two titles then it has to last 40)!

After rumours surfaced last week of JR and the King being split up, I was quite relieved to hear of this stale duo being refreshed. It seems that in the past few years that they've forgotten how to call matches and put people over whilst being entertaining. But a rumour of the King being kicked off Raw seems to have sent a message to him that he doesn't like. So what does the King do? Comes out with some absolute nuggets of gold in his colour commentary.

JL: She looks like my fourth wife!
JR: How many wives have you had?
JL: Three.

JR even managed to get a beautiful line in after the Mae Young skit. "Old chicken makes good soup" says Vince after Mae Young kiss-raped him. Back to the arena and a horrified JR: "I'm never eating chicken soup again for as long as I shall live".

Lots happened at the PPV, and it was an alright show really.