american bash

...'cause I wouldn't go so far as to call it great. Thin overall, sometimes borderline irrelevant, with some bright spots.

First off, the fatal 4-way. I'll grant it was time for Miz & Morrison to lose the belts, even though they remain undisputedly the best tag team on the WWE horizon. But to give the belts to Hawkins & Ryder? To me, that's painting themselves into a corner unless it's meant as a transition reign. We'll see where they plan to go with this. One positive sidenote: dressing Hawkins & Ryder in different colours is a good idea; at least I can tell them apart now. And maybe they'll actually develop individual personalities.

Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin: see my post "the value of unexpectedness" dated July 14. It was an OK match, but I thought they didn't flow as well as they used to back in the day. No emotional interest whatsoever.

Mark Henry vs. Tommy Dreamer: I must admit I haven't watched a single episode of ECW since Kane dropped the belt and was drafted back to Raw. Tony Atlas? Colin Delaney? Yawn. Even less interest than the previous match. Time to turn things around.

Y2J vs. HBK: Finally, something to keep my attention. For a moment, I thought they were heading down the "but is it real?" route the minute Shawn started clutching at his ribs, but they played it fairly clean. I cheered throughout, except when we got close-ups of Y2J pursing his lips (someone slap him for me), and even harder once the blood started pouring. Viva evil Y2J!

Two non-match related comments: first, great Summerslam ad. Second, interesting survey question, which added up to "So, who's the best heel?" Glad to see Vickie's victory here.

Michelle McCool vs. Natalya Neidhart: How awful is that belt, anyways? It's pink, it's bedazzled, it's shaped like a butterfly. It looks like a Bratz accessory! I can't seriously see Natalya holding something so ridiculous. Let's see if Michelle can be taken seriously with it. Dull match, even though I have previously given props for girls using submission moves.

CM Punk vs. Batista: This redeemed everything else. It's another one of these great combinations: Punk forces Batista to move faster, Batista makes Punk put all his weight behind each move. I loved the back and forth; I was hoping Punk would retain, even though I am an Animal lover at heart. Kane's interference was perfect: Punk keeps the belt, at no cost to Batista, and Kane remains involved at championship level. I also enjoyed how they used the shot taken from the downed cameraman in the replay of Kane's attack - it was like the missing end shot from the Blair Witch Project. Great job.

JBL vs. Cena: I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed a JBL match. Oh look. This wasn't any better. The moves were clunky; the stunts were only so-so and predictable from a mile away. Psycho Cena doesn't do it for me.

HHH vs. Edge: I was actually expecting Vickie to "excuse me" her way into changing stipulations or something, right from the get-go. When it didn't happen, we were actually treated to a match - no gimmicks, no constant interference, no crooked refereeing - a real match. A good one, at that. We all knew it was too good to be true, so the arrival of Alicia Fox with Vickie right on her heels, was unavoidable. But it was good, other than the fact Alicia needs to learn to start doing backhanded maneuvers BEHIND the referee's back. As to the spear, what can I say, except Eddie must be so proud of his mamacita.

I can't wait 'till next week to see how things develop. I was quite entertained when Edge and Vickie had broken up; the hell she could stand to put him through...I thought that hadn't been explored to its fullest. I guess there more to come. So things ended on a high note, after a highly uneven card.

(669)