By Greg Parks, Torch specialist

Back at T.C. Hooligan's for this month, and I think there was one booth empty and that's it. There were seven of us for this one, historically one of WWE's top two or three PPVs of the year. We once again shared the platter of chicken wings, then we each got an entree later on; I went with the pizza rolls. There was a three-way tie for first in the prediction contest we do, and I was one of them - we only got two wrong.

Everyone in the place tried to quiet down once we realized DX was messing with the opening, and we were able to hear most of it.

(1) Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler

Someone facetiously wondered if the cameraman who was knocked down during this match was Sim Snuka. When telling the guys about Dolph Ziggler wrestling at Kent State (according to JR), I wondered if Jack Swagger wrestled here at SUNY Brockport; they hold a national wrestling tournament here every year, and Oklahoma has been one of the schools that has participated. There were some loud fans in back of us that for most of the first hour or so, reminisced about the good ol' days, including The Rock. This match was really solid, much better than last month's. Someone next to us said that while she was happy Rey won, "the other guy was very good though." (***1/4)

(2) Jack Swagger vs. MVP

This was one match I predicted wrongly - I went with Swagger. In fact, all seven of us did. The guys at the other table talking about older wrestling were on the subject of how awesome heel Doink was. Our waitress this month did not seem happy, and one of my friends who talked to her said she didn't like working nights like this (e.g. packed for wrestling). Must make good tips though. This was slightly disappointing, but it didn't seem like it was booked to stand out. (*3/4)

-On the big screen, the "Please, Don't Try This At Home" message looked like it said "Please, Try This At Home" because "Don't" was in a color that didn't mesh with the big screen.

(3) Chris Jericho & Big Show vs. Cryme Tyme

I wondered if I could by that jersey with "Shad" on the back on WWE.com. One of my friends noted that Show's offense was rubbing off on Jericho, since we saw a headbutt early on. We also discussed calling spots in the ring, and to me, it looks like Jericho has gotten sloppy in that area lately. Two of my friends were also focused on the Yanks-Red Sox game being shown at the bar, and luckily, they could see one of the TVs from our seats. (**)

The picture went out after the pin- then for about five minutes, we had an apology for the inconvenience from DirecTV.

(4) Kane vs. Great Khali

This was the designated smoke-break match for one of my friends. They botched like three moves in the first minute, so I think DUD says it all.

(5) DX vs. Legacy

Some of us that were on Legacy's side (okay, most of us) joked about DX's entrance being botched and them being run over by the tank they rode in on. There was one loud anti-HBK fan early on, but I didn't hear from him after the entrance. Our other food came at this point and while our table pulled for Legacy, most everyone else was for DX. (***1/2)

(6) Christian vs. William Regal

Really? That's it? I was looking forward to this one! (NR)

(7) John Cena vs. Randy Orton

We sat next to the kid from last month again, and he and my friend from last month went at it once more, as he supported DX, Cena, and Hardy. He (and we) supported Legacy, Orton, and Punk. One of my friends noticed that Orton looks completely bald now. A few of us talked about "The Goods," which three of us saw last night. A mild thumbs up, by the way. One of my friends filled in another on a wrestling-gone-wrong story about the wrestler who knee-dropped the other one off the top rope until blood spurted out; it was in Mexico and was a receipt from the Brody incident but I can't remember exactly who it was. The second ref running out got a huge pop from the crowd, and at first, there was confusion over the "fan," but one of my friend suggested it was The Miz. (***)

(8) C.M. Punk vs. Jeff Hardy

The suplex on the ladder we thought would've hurt Punk more. One of my friends also predicted a Matt Hardy heel turn to end this one, which I hadn't thought about since his return, but I could've seen it happening. Match was awesome, as was Taker replacing Hardy on the mat. (****1/4)

Hard not to give this show a thumbs-up. Four three-star matches and a newsworthy PPV to boot. My friend, who's big on putting the younger guys over, was disappointed that Punk would lose the title to Taker eventually, but I argued that Punk was already on the level of others after main-eventing more than one PPV. He countered that you haven't truly been "put over" until you beat one of Cena, Orton, Triple H, Taker, etc. I kept trying to tell him that you don't necessarily need to win to be put over, since wins and losses don't mean as much anymore in the big picture (not that I agree with that). But that's an argument for another day.

PWTorch VIP members have first-look access to all of Torch Smackdown specialist Greg Parks's latest blogs in the newly upgraded VIP Forum. His blogs are published first in the PWTorch VIP Forum, and Parks interacts with other VIP members and Torch staff and contributors in the blog comments area afterward. Some of Parks's blog entries will be exclusive to the VIP Forum.

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