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Jon Gargis of Cartersville, Ga. (4.0): Best Match: Taker-Edge TLC for the unexpected finish. Worst Match: Hardy-Umaga (barely). Undertaker will return, either, because the blatant outside interference will require McMahon to invalidate the "last match" stipulation, or for some other reason. If this were indeed his last match, then building it up for only two weeks is a slap in the face to his years with the company. The main event's big bumps are nice, but the set-up of them makes the match somewhat predictable and it doesn't make sense for the competitors to set tables (and stack them?!?) when they should be focused on knocking out their opponent. An injured Orton is a big blow against Raw whether or not he remains in the title hunt (Or was he slated to win tonight?). On an all-hardcore PPV, it was funny to see Shawn Michaels put the padding back on the stretcher before using it against Batista. Cena-JBL was blah and the (fake) blood from the mouth seems improbable, less realistic than blading after a weapon shot, and overdone after seeing Undertaker's opponents bleed from the mouth while in his choke maneuver. And I've said it before, but the production crew needs to use a camera shot that doesn't show how fake Cena's Five-Knuckle Shuffle is. Big Show's win was predictable after ECW teased a Show-Kane faceoff, but since most of his opponents have little to no championship credibility (C.M. Punk being the one exception), there's no one else to go to. Why were there Singapore canes hanging on poles in that match when a garbage can full of them was at ringside? But at least that match wasn't as bad as the opener. I don't know what's worse - competitors landing on an obviously padded surface or a camera purposely out of position so we don't see the landing at all.

Jeremy Quist of Lynchburg, Va. (6.5): Best Match: TLC. Worst Match: None. I really do not believe that any match was bad overall. I thought the women tried very hard. The singapore cane match is not meant to be a wrestling classic. I found Big Show entertaining enough to keep my attention. Hardy sliding down the stair rail for the splash was innovative, but the spot off the truck that we conveniently could not see was hokey. It's a shame to see Hardy opening in an awful gimmick match with Umaga when he should have been crowned champ at MSG in January. I read McNeil's preview that said HBK needed to lose so that he would have something to do. I agree that he is being misused, but with the draft on the horizon it hardly seems necessary for Batista to beat him like a jabroni. Shawn is reaping what he sowed. Years ago when WCW was misusing Bret Hart, HBK said on Raw, "Bret Hart, who the hell is that- some mid-carder?" Shawn really came across as a semi-jobber in the match. Randy Orton got hurt. There is no question that was legit. They cannot afford to lose another star. The match was okay, but clearly finished prematurely. Triple H really did not need the sledgehammer shot. He must not have picked up quick enough the amount of pain that Orton was in. Sure the sledgehammer never touches Orton, but why make a him take another fall at that point. As a fan, I want Orton healthy for another day. I don't care that you do not finish your match. Get him immediate medical attention when it is obvious that the injury is serious. Undertaker is not finished. Anyone that believes he is might as well write "mark" on their forehead. He is probably going on another vacation. Who knows? The point is that there is no way that he would not end his career at a WrestleMania unless he was forced to due to injury. The match was great, but wrestlers have to set up their own spots. My suspension of disbelief is murdred when Edge sets up a table, and then climbs the ladder to win only to get powerbombed into the same table he just set up for no reason. I have a real problem with faking Undertaker's retirement. That day should be one of a kind and original. He deserves a bigger send off than Flair got. They would be wise never to cry wolf with his retirement ever again. It is just too big of a deal to toy with.

Rome Colon of Brooklyn, N.Y. (7.0) - Best Match: HBK-Batista. Worst Match: Cena-JBL. I would have marked out huge had JBL used that bull whip on Cena, but not to be. Like many others, I was annoyed to see JBL bleed from the mouth not even a full second after Cena had the STFU locked. The HBK-Batista match was the match of the night for me because of how they managed to progress their storyline even further as well as put over Batista as a real monster. Shawn Michaels just continues to bring out the absolute best out of everybody. He is definitely putting in the work to be WWE's MVP of 2008, although Foley put him over as the MVP of his era (kudos for that). Batisa's lines referring to HBK's lines at Wrestlemania were just perfect. It was nice to see The Animal cash in on his guarantee that he would hurt HBK at a time and place of his choosing. Nobody walks that fine line of babyface and heel better than Y2J. Great job of having him involved without affecting the outcome of the match. Orton's bump was nasty. It'll be sad if he's out for any extended amount of time, as I was really looking forward to what would become of him and Batista, but we still may see it as it may not require anything physical. The finish to Hardy-Umaga was phony but not as phony as Undertaker purposely setting up the ladder next to the two tables on the outside. What seemed like an eternity of getting that ladder just right for him to do the bump safely just made me cringe because of how obvious it was. They could have had Chavo or Hawkins and Ryder do that instead while La Familia was putting the beatdown on The Deadman and nobody would have really noticed it. Badly done. The ending was very anti-climatic. I don't mind Edge winning but it's hard to take us seeing the last of The Undertaker seriously. WWE just pulled off one of the greatest farewells ever for Ric Flair, and now we're supposed to say goodbye to The Phenom. I just wasn't buying it and judging by the crowd's silence and scattered applause, neither were they. I don't mind Taker going on vacation or hiatus, but when he does choose to retire, I want to see it on the scale of Flair's farewell, not this. I want to see HBK-Taker in Texas at WrestleMania 25, with Stone Cold as the referee, keeping my fingers crossed. Overall, an entertaining show. I saved my money for this, rather than Judgment Day and I think it was a good decision. Without Undertaker and Randy Orton, it'll be interesting to see how Night of Champions unfolds in the main event scene.

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