DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu - Judgment Day Review & 'Greatest Finishing Move Ever' Poll
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, May 19, 2004 at 12:14 AM EST




THE WRESTLING MENU #87

I am posting this column a little bit earlier than my usual Wednesday afternoon timeslot, as there doesn't appear to be too many 'Judgment Day' reviews out there at all. I should be back to my normal time next week.

Welcome one and all to the 87th edition of 'The Wrestling Menu', the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Well, I ended up ordering Judgment Day. I was extremely close to not doing so because of the poor build-up & quality of matches on the card. But I kept in mind that the WWE often come through with the goods on pay-per-view. So I ordered it at the last moment realizing that this may have been the first ppv ever to receive a failing grade from myself.

My review of Judgment Day is in the 'Main' section of today's column. Whether it passed or failed might actually be irrelevant come 'The Great American Bash' in 6 weeks time. If the WWE builds up that ppv as poorly as this one, I definitely think I will give it a miss. As far as I'm concerned, it is an additional event (meaning more money spent). Plus, the buyrates from Judgment Day will definitely come in very low, meaning that the WWE should logically learn their lesson.

A shorter column today to lighten the load. I hope you all like it. On with the show...


APPETIZERS

The WWE's 2 Best Current Finishing Moves

Ok, it's time for DaveyBoy to make another controversial 'way out there' statement, which should have the e-mails coming in by the screen-load!!! A few weeks back when I was thinking about ideas for polls, I decided to next go with the poll that is in the 'Dessert' section of today's column: 'The Greatest Ever Finishing Move'.

After coming to this decision, the obvious first question I asked myself was what is my opinion on this topic. About 6 or 7 came to my mind & then I narrowed them down to 2 standouts which are very different. Sorry to leave you in suspense folks, but I'm not going to reveal them to you until next week.

But then I asked myself a further question: What is the best finishing move in the WWE right now? Finishing moves can be rated by different people on a number of criteria. For example; One person might like finishing moves to have impact, while another might prefer the more spectacular type. Similarly, one person might prefer the finisher that can be hit out of nowhere, while another might like one that is built up to (by working on a certain part of the body). I personally would think that a combination of all criteria should be used when deciding on the quality of different finishing moves.

When deciding on what I thought was the best finishing move in the WWE currently, I pretty quickly narrowed it down to 5. And I will give away something here: None of the 5 rank too highly on my greatest finishing move of all time list. I then narrowed it down to 2 controversial picks... One a submission move & the other the more standard type of pinning finisher.

So why are my picks controversial...??? Well, some people might not have my 2 picks in their top 20, let alone top 2. In fact, the 2 finishing moves I've chosen may not even have been seen by some WWE viewers. Why...??? Because the Women's Division is not exactly the most popular part of WWE programming. In fact, for many, it is often the time for a channel flick or bathroom break.

That's correct... In my opinion, the 2 best finishing moves in the WWE today belong to women. They are Gail Kim's new submission move & Victoria's 'Widow's Peak'. Gail Kim has actually showcased 2 new submission moves in the past month, but the one I'm talking about is the one where she grapevines her opponent's head/neck with her legs & pulls back on her opponent's arm with her own arm. All this while none of her body is touching the mat (although she can take the move down to the mat to give it even more intensity). I believe the move is still to be named. But it just has a good mixture of intensity & appearance. Furthermore, it's believable, in that it actually looks like it hurts.

Victoria's 'Widow's Peak', which we actually haven't seen in quite some time on Raw, is purely & simply an impact move. It's one of those moves that when viewed for the first time really looks like it hurts. But if you watch it again on videotape (even slow-motioning it) you can see that it's completely safe for both wrestlers. I suppose it can be compared with Christian's 'Unprettier', Triple H's 'Pedigree' or The Undertaker's 'Tombstone Piledriver' in that regard. But the 'Widow's Peak' has something a little more to it. Maybe the impact appears to be a little greater. Maybe it's just a little more spectacular. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I believe it to be better than those other moves.


MAIN - Judgment Day Review

For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key that explains what the final PPV Rating means:

<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F]
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: Armageddon '03)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Royal Rumble '04 & No Way Out '04)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: Backlash '04)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: WrsetleMania 20)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: WrestleMania 19)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: SummerSlam '02)
80+ : Make sure that the video or dvd is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

REY MYSTERIO & ROB VAN DAM defeated THE DUDLEY BOYZ: Obvious & good choice for the opener. Very solid 15 minute old-school tag-team match with The Dudleyz playing the bigger, cheating & double-teaming heels, while the faces seemed to always be in peril. Good move to have RVD wrestle the first 5 minutes, as the crowd was extremely hot for the eventual tag to Rey. I'm unsure if it was as wise to have Rey wrestle the next 7 minutes though, as only 1 tag by a team in 12 minutes makes it feel like you're almost watching a singles match to a degree. Some of the spots were too unnatural & choreographed for my liking, and while most people will think I'm talking about RVD, I'm actually talking about Rey. He was either not on the top of his game here, or the WWE are really misusing him. Probably the worst thing about the bout was that we knew the winner before the ending, as RVD's music started up halfway through the match!!! Solid, but flawed. Could have been a great deal better. Match Rating...7

TORRIE WILSON defeated DAWN MARIE: Prior to this match, Kurt Angle came out & took an eternity to state that if Torrie lost, she would be fired. This started terribly bad!!! It was as sloppy as I have ever seen & both women seemed to be waiting for their opponent to do something, on more than one occasion. Thankfully, it got a little better. But not much more. Then it dragged out a little too long at 7 minutes. The only time the crowd got involved was when Dawn-Marie lost her pants. Match Rating...3

MORDECAI defeated SCOTTY 2 HOTTY: This was the first time I've seen Mordecai, as we had his SmackDown promos edited out in Australia (for time reasons I think). A 4 minute squash match & an average one at that. Way too methodically paced & without any excitement at all. Luckily, nothing was really botched. More of an introduction to the character, than an actual match. Match Rating...4

CHARLIE HAAS & RICO defeated HARDCORE HOLLY & BILLY GUNN to Retain the WWE Tag-Team Championship: Decent 10 minute tag match here. I thought Rico's shenanigans at the beginning of the bout went on too long & bogged the match down. But following that, we pretty much went to the match format of the opener, with Holly & Gunn playing the prototypical heel team decently (but not as good as The Dudleyz). Again (similar to the opener), Haas was dominated way too much for my liking. When Rico finally got the hot tag though, he did bring a lot of intensity to the bout, and the whole final 3 minutes or so were surprisingly very good. Match Rating...6

CHAVO GUERRERO defeated JACQUELINE with One Arm tied behind his back to Win the WWE Cruiserweight Title: The stipulation in this bout was never going to mean it would be a classic (pardon the pun), but I suppose it wouldn't have been without the stipulation anyway. This 5 minute match was more for entertainment purposes than anything else. It moved along at a decent enough pace, and more importantly, it definitely increased Chavo's heel heat in my opinion. Chavo ended up winning easily when his arm was untied & Chavo Classic provided distraction after distraction to allow his son to hit a succession of moves to leave Jacqueline out for the count. Terrible as a wrestling match, but good in serving heat & (to a lesser extent) entertainment purposes. Match Rating...5

JOHN CENA defeated RENE DUPREE to Retain the United States Title: I'm really torn on this 10 minute match. It was very flawed, but sort of entertaining as a whole. In fact (and this may sound harsh on Cena), the match sort of lived & died on Dupree. Cena was pretty much along for the ride (apart from getting his usual favorable crowd reaction). Dupree made quite a few inexperienced errors (especially early) which resulted in a fairly messy bout. There were also way too many restholds instigated by Dupree, which occasionally slowed the match to a maddening pace. But when the action was moving, there was good energy, intensity & crowd involvement. Both these guys have a huge future. Match Rating...6

THE UNDERTAKER defeated BOOKER T: Ok match which had decent intensity. Psychology was tried for wrestling-wise, but pretty much failed. However, I really liked the way Booker T reacted to pretty much everything. Without knocking The Undertaker, I think this bout proved that Booker can still get it done in the ring on more than one level. In fact, I have to be honest & say that I was disappointed that he wasn't given the win here. Good crowd response, but the match was pretty much unspectacular. One rating point off for the bad booking, in that the silly supernatural crap in the feud had no relevance to the bout whatsoever. Match Rating...5

JOHN BRADSHAW LAYFIELD defeated EDDIE GUERRERO by Disqualification in a Match for the WWE Championship: Very good intensity & crowd involvement in this main event. The enormous build-up given to this feud did help out the match & like I said last week, it was actually wise of the WWE to add more to the feud than simply an immigrant issue. Mostly a brawling match (which was to be expected), with pretty much no moments of fast-paced wrestling whatsoever. Eddie bladed way too much (a'la Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 19) & that did add to the psychology & intensity of the bout. It also provided a sufficient excuse for the slow pace & many restholds. Good duration at 23 minutes, with a disappointing DQ finish, that was luckily overcome by a further 5 minutes of hardcore intense action afterwards. Match Rating...7

PPV RATING (43/80) = 54

Looking at the key, I have basically given 'Judgment Day' a 'D' grade & said that it was 'mediocre & disappointing'. Well, mediocre it was, but it wasn't disappointing. In fact, due to the low expectations I had for the matches, I often found it hard not to rate them too lightly. I really did expect this card to fail. It passed pretty much because of an above-average main event & a solid opener. But even those 2 bouts were not standouts in any way, shape or form. Luckily, there were only 2 failing matches on the card (not surprisingly, they were the final 2 matches announced). In retrospect, it doesn't bother me that I ended up purchasing the ppv, but to those that didn't, you didn't miss much anyway.


DESSERT

'Greatest Finishing Move Ever' Poll

Ok, it's time for another poll. My previous polls have had an excellent response & I think this one will be no exception. Once more, I'm not going to give my choice for best finishing move this week. That (& maybe my top 3) will be revealed next week.

I suppose after talking about this topic in my 'Appetizers' section today, I need not say much more. Just remember a few things when voting:

- You may choose any type of finishing move (standard or submission).
- The finishing move you choose can be from the past or present .
- The finishing move you choose can be from any wrestling organization (WWE, WCW, ECW, etc...)
- If more than one person has used the finishing move that you choose, you may want to state which person you thought did it the best.
- You are able to vote for a double-team move performed by a tag-team.

I think that's about it. So, ladies & gentlemen, it's:

Voting Time

What, in your opinion, is the greatest finishing move in professional wrestling of all time...???


On that note, that's all I have for edition #87 of 'The Wrestling Menu. If you were one of the few that viewed Judgment Day, let me know if you think I was too light with my ratings, or whether the ppv did actually earn a passing grade. Also, what do you think of my opinion that the 2 best finishing moves in the WWE today are performed by women? But most importantly, please vote in my 'greatest finishing move' poll. It will be interesting to see some of the choices & which move tops the poll. I have always replied to all feedback & I will attempt to continue that streak this week. Just be patient though, as I will be out of town Friday through Sunday. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com

What's on the agenda for next week's 'Wrestling Menu'...??? Well, apart from the poll results, I'm not quite sure at the moment. I will most probably discuss a few timely issues in the ever-changing world of the WWE. Whatever comes your way, look out for that column same Wednesday time & same LOP channel next week. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.












*NEW GALLERY* Must See Hot Shots of the TNA Knockouts CROSSING THE LINE!

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