BRM Reviews WWE Judgment Day 2005

[Big Red Machine]

WWE Judgment Day 2005 (5/22/2005)- Minneapolis, MN

SUNDAY NIGHT HEAT MATCH: Akio vs. Nunzio- 4.25/10

WWE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: MNM(c) (w/Melina) vs. Charlie Haas & Hardcore Holly- 5/10
Melina cut a nice little introductory promo before the match. The match itself was a decent outing. Probably not the best choice for an opener, though.

THE BIG SHOW vs. CARLITO (w/Matt Morgan)- 4/10
WOW! I totally forgot that Matt Morgan had dark hair.
This was more of a segment than a match in some ways. Show got some revenge early on during the shine, then Carlito hit a low blow to be a heel, then Matt Morgan came in and looked strong by hitting Big Show with an F-5. Good stuff.

KURT-BOOKER VIDEO PACKAGE- this was fantastic… but it had one major flaw, which is that Kurt is such a hilarious person that you can’t help but laugh when he says something like “Booker, I want to sleep with your wife,” no matter how serious things are supposed to be.

BOOKER T & SHARMELL BACKSTAGE- okay.

WWE CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Paul London(c) vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.- 6/10
Good story with Chavo working over London’s ribs. Props to Michael Cole, too. Anything that we would normally assume was a shot to the midsection Cole made a point of calling it as a shot to the ribs.

BOOKER IS LOOKING FOR KURT BACKSTAGE-this took WAY too long. Rather than going around telling everyone to tell Kurt that you are looking for him, why not just go to the ring and call him out?

KURT SURPRISES SHARMELL BACKSTAGE- Kurt did an awesome job at being creepy here, but did Sharmell really not hear Kurt open the door and walk across the room to where she was?

BOOKER T vs. KURT ANGLE- 7.5/10
One of the mistakes that you often see in wrestling today is that at the beginning of what is supposed to be a grudge match, guys will start exchanging holds. In this match Booker, the fired up babyface, came out going for strikes while Kurt, who wanted things calm, went for rest-holds. Great stuff.
The match itself was great, too, with a great finish and some very satisfying aftermath.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Orlando Jordan(c) vs. Heidenreich- -2/10 (yes, a negative!)
While Heidenreich is asking for some new friends, the camera find a totally random “Sabu is G-d” sign. That was the only part of this match that was anywhere close to entertaining. Orlando gets in some sh*tty offense, but at one point Heidenreich randomly stops selling and starts to do a Superman comeback… but then stops the Superman comeback and starts selling again. Then Orlando pins Heidenriech after a DDT. Orlando goes away, and then the “friend” who Heidenreich found tonight, a little eight year old girl, tries to get Heidenreich to do his goofy march with her, but Heidenreich, who had been in the middle of a Superman comeback earlier… decides to sell rather than give this little girl a the fun experience of marching around the ring with a WWE Superstar. This match SUCKED!

JBL PROMO- awesome!

EDDIE GUERRERO vs. REY MYSTERIO JR.- 7/10
The DQ finish was very disappointing, as it felt like they were headed for something great.

I QUIT MATCH FOR THE WWE TITLE: John Cena(c) vs. JBL- 8.5/10
Whoever’s idea it was to get Roberto Duran in the building for this match was a genius. It gave credence to the announcers’ claims about how losing an I Quit Match can be a career-defining moment.
Anyway… this was awesome. These two guys just bled all over the place and hit crazy brutal spot after crazy brutal spot. The whole match was structured to make Cena look like the world’s toughest mother*cker, and it definitely succeeded. The only change I would have made to the match itself would be to have Cena get a lot closer to JBL with that giant pipe before JBL quit.
After JBL quit, Cena bashed him with the giant pipe anyway. I HATED this. Everything was built around the I Quit stip. JBL vowed to never say the words “I quit” but Cena made him say them anyway. An act of complete humiliation to JBL. The story is over and it has a happy ending. There was no reason whatsoever for Cena to assault JBL afterwards. All it does it take attention away from the “I quit” which the story had been built around and proves all of the bad things and lies that JBL had been saying about Cena to be true.

Overall, this was pretty much a two-match show, but JBL vs. Cena is definitely worth it if you can get the DVD pretty cheaply. A must-own for Cena fans, too.