Live Notes From Last Night's Judgment Day PPV
Credit: Joseph Heidleburg & PWInsider.com
The US Airways Center was pretty full, some of the camera side was empty but most of the seats were filled, which is pretty good showing
Matt Hardy got big pops to open up the show with the Heat match. His match with Simon Dean was quick, short and to the point and got the crowd into the show. Hardy won the bout.
Judgment Day started and during the opening video package surprisingly Rey was getting some decent boos. Man, some just don't like the Underdog thing. Huge crowd pops for Taker and Angle during it though.
Opening match was alright, not as good as the first match that started the feud. The crowd started to get into it by the end though. Pretty decent pop for the title change, but I don't think the crowd was really into London/Kendrick. There was a big pop for the after match breakup angle which I guess they like to see Heels turn on each other.
Benoit came out to a very good pop, but the crowd was a bit dead for this because of all the mat work. Still, they were into Benoit's Germans and they popped for Benoit getting the clean tap out.
The JBL promo got pretty big heel heat, I couldn't hear much because of all the boos going on during this. I shudder ed though when Chavo showed up because I feared for what was coming for the main.
The Divas match was odd because Melina usually gets good crowd heat, Jillian got a nice pop during her entrance and then the crowd promptly died for the match. The after match angle with Kristal the crowd liked.
The CW match really didn't get much love and outside of the highspots the crowd wasn't that into it but you can't blame them because they haven't given a reason for us to be into them. Helms winning got a mild positive reaction actually.
Huge crowd pop for Melina and Nitro getting fired backstage. That was great to hear.
Mark Henry is one rotund dude. and got looks of ewww from the people I went with. I don't know if you can chalk that up as heel heat or just disgust. Angle is over as hell and we loved seeing him there. I find it funny that I tried to start a "Please Don't Die" chant for Kurt and 20 seconds later he lands right on his neck after his first offense move. Ouch! Crowd didn't like the countout finish, but obviously loved Angle going psycho on Henry with the Angle Slam on the table and the chairshot.
The crowd seemed to be into the Booker T stuff, but not in terms of heel heat more in terms of this guy is good. I was surprised with how much of a positive reaction Lashley got. He didn't get a huge pop, but he did get a favorable response. I think a lot of people were expecting Booker T to win. Most of the people in my section (including me) popped for Booker winning, and most of the crowd popped for Lashley spearing Booker into the throne. They may have something with the Lashley guy.
Can't say much for the Taker match except Taker probably got the second biggest pop right behind Rey of the night. And it really does get cold during his entrance. I used this one as my merch/potty break so I can't say much for the match except people were stunned that Khali won.
The main event was best match of the night. Rey started the night with mixed chants, but by this match the crowd was into him. The crowd especially liked Rey playing to us to distract the ref, then kicking JBL low in the corner and then playing up to the crowd that he did nothing. Crowd popped pretty big for Rey retaining.
They closed the show with just Rey celebrating, he went over to his wife and kids and celebrate with them a bit. He then posed a bit on the ramp and that was the show. It was an alright show. Not slam dunk but not at horrible show at all. Not bad for my first live WWE PPV.