WWE Vengeance 2005 6/26/2005

June 26, 2005
Thomas & Mack Center
Las Vegas, NV
Attendance: 9,850
Buy Rate: .92
Announcers: Jim Ross, Jonathan Coachman and Jerry Lawler

Sunday Night Heat

Hurricane (Shane Helms) & Rosey (Matt Anoa’i) defeat the Heartthrobs to retain World Tag Team Championship

Fun Fact: Mr. McMahon announced on the 4/18 Raw that the Draft Lottery would take place in May. He would change that on 5/16 when he said the Draft would take place over the entire month of June, thus the reason why there’s two title matches on this show. It is the first time since Judgment Day 2003 that the two major titles would be defended together on a secondary show. The draft went as follows:

1. John Cena (From Smackdown to Raw)
2. Chris Benoit (From Raw to Smackdown)
3. Kurt Angle (From Smackdown to Raw)
4. Randy Orton (From Raw to Smackdown)
5. Carlito (From Smackdown to Raw)
6. Muhammad Hassan & Daivari (From Raw to Smackdown)
7. Big Show (From Smackdown to Raw)
8. Rob Van Dam (From Smackdown to Raw)
9. Christian (From Raw to Smackdown)
10. Batista (From Raw to Smackdown)

There was one post-draft trade. Mark Jindrak, Rene Dupree, Danny Basham, Kenzo Suzuki, Hiroko, and Chavo Guerrero head to Raw in exchange for William Regal, Candice Michelle, Sylvan Grenier, Simon Dean and Stevie Richards.

Pay Per View

1) Carlito (Carly Colon) defeats Shelton Benjamin to retain Intercontinental Championship with a roll-up at 12:46

Fun Fact: Carlito was drafted to Raw on 6/20. That same night, he faced Shelton Benjamin for the IC title and defeated him to win gold in his debut match for the second time in his career.

Scott: This was when Carlito was on WWE’s good side. His first ever match on Smackdown and he won the US Title. His first match on Raw and he defeated Shelton to win the Intercontinental Title. Shelton was on a roll as IC Champ, taking on a myriad of challengers from Christian to Chris Jericho, and all of them solid matches. The last time WWE was in Sin City on PPV, we had one of the greatest overall PPVs of all time in No Way Out 2001. Could this PPV match that? Well the opener is pretty solid as Benjamin has been hot since becoming a solo competitor and after getting screwed out of his title, he goes after the guy who stole it. Carlito dictated most of the action with typical chokes and other heel tactics. The crowd seems like they’re sensing a top-notch show here, as they’re buzzing throughout most of this match. Good psychology by Carlito as he goes after Shelton’s back, injured in the botched plancha from the Raw match. It turns into a pretty good back and forth match as Shelton tries to fight back with the injured back. One sweet move shows Shelton and Carlito battling on the top rope, and Shelton clotheslines Carlito with the top rope as he goes to the floor. Carlito retains his title with a roll-up and a healthy grab of Shelton’s tights and an exposed turnbuckle. A solid opener to what could become one of “those shows.” Grade: 3

Justin: Coming off the possibly the hottest PPV of all time, the Raw brand was notice to deliver a PPV outing that would match that intensity and deliver some historical impact as well. The show kicks off with an IC title match as Shelton Benjamin looks to regain the gold Carlito took from him the week before. The match gets off to a standard start with a nice pace that fed off the energetic crowd. That crowd energy would fuel the entire night, as they were lit off from the start. The match was really as basic as it gets, with Carlito showing off some good heel stuff, Shelton working in some nice comeback attempts and the crowd buying into the formula. The two had pretty similar styles and that led to good chemistry. Shelton would hit a really nice springboard bulldog, but Carlito would recover and roll him up to retain his gold. This was a hot opener, thanks to an amped up crowd and a formula that rarely fails in this type of setting. Grade: 2.5

2) Victoria (Lisa Marie Varon) defeats Christy Hemme after countering a sunset flip and using the ropes for leverage at 5:05

Fun Fact: On 5/30, Jerry Lawler hosted a bikini contest in the ring. Christy was chosen as the winner, but Victoria snapped and assaulted the Divas as well as Lawler. She claimed that she was tired of the attention Christy had been receiving and that she wanted to take her out. After spending the last year and a half as a face, Victoria was back on the heel side of the fence. On 6/6, the two ladies were on opposite sides of a six-person tag match. Christy would get her team DQ’d when she viciously choked and beat on Victoria. Two weeks later, Todd Grisham was interviewing Christy when Victoria jumped her from behind and smashed a glass over her head.

Scott: Victoria is one of the few divas in WWE history that is a great character regardless of what side she’s on. As a babyface she’s got that sweet good girl rhythm with the upbeat music and rocking body. As a heel she’s a vicious no-good bitch…with a rocking body. This stems from Christy winning a swimsuit competition and Victoria, the sore loser attacking her after the match. Christy’s star was rising until her loss at Wrestlemania to Trish Stratus, but she’s still one of the more energetic and hot divas. Unfortunately she suffers another loss here to the better wrestler, which consists of a lot of hair pulling and heel offense from Victoria. Christy is pretty good at selling but frankly she doesn’t bring much else to the table in terms of workrate. Seriously, is Jack Doan contracted to do every Women’s match ever? Victoria wins when she reverses a sunset flip in the corner and grabs some ropes. This was nothing great, just a time-filler. Grade: 2

Justin: After her face run began to peter out, Victoria snaps and goes back to being the crazed incensed vicious heel that she was meant to be. Christy was a ball of energy as always and she aggressively went at the more experienced Victoria. Victoria would viciously punish Christy on offense, but things would turn when she missed a great looking moonsault attempt. The crowd was behind Christy and stayed into the match. Victoria would cheat her way to a win but Christy was definitely showing some improvement in there. The match was a bit slow but both ladies worked hard and delivered a fine match. Grade: 1.5

3) Kane (Glen Jacobs) defeats Edge (Adam Copeland) with a Chokeslam at 11:11

Fun Fact: On 5/16, Edge defeated Kane to win Eric Bischoff’s Gold Rush tournament to earn a title match the following week. In the climactic moments of the match, Lita slid Edge’s briefcase in to the ring, allowing Edge to use it on Kane to win the match. After the bell, Edge and Lita embraced in the ring, with Lita officially turning heel and Kane effectively solidifying a face turn. It was a bizarre twist on this story, but the writers had to do it as Lita was just being buried with heat by the fans thanks to her cheating on Matt Hardy with Edge. So, in a play on real life occurrences, Lita hooks up with Edge and would now be in a perfect position to draw some big time heat. The following week, Edge would lose to Batista. On 6/6, Edge announced that he would face Kane at Vengeance and that he and Lita would be married by then as well. A week later, Lita came out to taunt Kane after he won a match. She brought out Snitsky and absolved him for the baby-killing incident, instead blaming Kane for what happened. She then announced that she and Edge would wed the following week. On 6/20, the wedding went down with some interesting twists and turns, including a Gene Snitsky poem. The highlight of the segment had to be the Matt Hardy tease, where his music played to a huge pop, but Edge and Lita just laughed it off and showed that it was a ruse. Before they would be united in marriage, Kane’s head popped up through the apron in a funny spot. He would clear the ring, break up the wedding and tombstone the priest.

Scott: This entire storyline makes no sense. Sure Edge is a slimeball and took Lita from Kane. But, didn’t Kane take Lita from Matt Hardy? So really this is about Lita being a slut on and off camera. I know WWE likes to make fans forget feuds so they can create new ones. Hell, this one was just nine months ago! I guess the only good thing out of this was that Lita started dressing all trashy with her boobs hanging out everywhere. Kane turned heel in the summer of 2003, and after about two years, we turn him face again! Of course the crowd couldn’t help but start the “We Want Matt” chants, meaning they wanted to see Matt Hardy. He gets cheated on, and fired! Tough year I’d say. Kane dominates the action early and boots Edge all over the ring. Edge takes control with a toss into the post and a spear to Kane outside. The match actually had a pretty good pace for a big guy/middle-size guy matchup. Kane is pretty basic in his approach and here he keeps up with Edge’s frenetic pace. However a lot of the match has the cameras on Lita and her little bikini-top and slutty smirks. Kane gets ready to finish Edge off, until we get a silly Snitsky run-in and some nonsense with Lita in the ring. Edge goes for the Edgecution DDT but Kane counters. More Snitsky nonsense and Kane finally hits the chokeslam and wins. Now here I would have thought Edge would keep his momentum going, but with the heels winning the first two matches we needed some balance. Overall not bad, but a lot of crap and interference in the end drops the grade. Grade: 2.5

Justin: Well, it certainly has been a busy month for this trio of stars. In some sort of weird double turn, Lita goes heel to hook up with Edge and Kane is turned de facto face, despite the fact that he took out Matt Hardy, raped and impregnated Lita and forced her to marry him. In the end, it all worked out well though because Lita would be the missing piece to Edge’s heel puzzle. Edge had been on a good role, but he just seemed to be missing something to complete his character. The slutty cheating jezebel Lita would complete that picture and help Edge garner heat like he had never seen before and also gave both of them a big time star presence. Kane would overpower Edge early, but the real story was the crowd just dumping all over Lita, who was suddenly a fresh character after feeling stale and stagnant for a while now. Once Edge took over with a spear on the floor, he would utilize some nice urgent offense, furiously assaulting Kane before he could make any sort of comeback. The fans were into Kane as Snitsky came out looking to take out his longtime enemy. Kane would fend Snitsky off initially, but Snitsky would return to save Lita as Kane threatened to take her out. After some reversals, Edge would accidentally take out Snitsky and Kane would grab Edge and drop him for the win. This match was much better than I expected it to be as they fought hard and it had the feeling of a hard-hitting war. The finish was hot and Kane gets the win to blow off the Edge and Snitsky feuds in one shot. I agree with Scott in that I was surprised Edge took the loss here, but Kane winning was an effective blowoff to everything that had happened over the last month. Grade: 3

4) Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) defeats Kurt Angle with Sweet Chin Music at 26:11

Fun Fact: Kurt Angle was drafted to Raw on 6/13 and immediately made an impact but taking Triple H to task, having a back and forth Woo confrontation with Ric Flair and challenging Batista to a match after Vengeance. That brought out Shawn Michaels, who told Angle not to forget about him as well. It was announced that Michaels and Angle would have their Wrestlemania rematch at the PPV. On 6/20, Triple H and Angle would defeat Batista and Michaels in a tag match.

Scott: The rematch. I could just give it a five now and move on, but that’s not how we roll here. Going into this match, I was curious to see how these two would give us another five-star match, yet make it different from their match almost three months earlier in Los Angeles. Here the psychology is very different. Michaels is taking his time, knowing what being put into the Anklelock did last time. Angle comes in even more confident than the first time. The pace is definitely quicker here, with some more vicious strikes, like Kurt’s German Suplex to Shawn on the Spanish announce table that doesn’t give way. Angle also hits a vicious powerbomb onto the turnbuckles. Both men definitely were more creative in their strikes in an attempt to change the colors on this canvas that will end up being a masterpiece. I’ve always liked this rematch more than their first match at Wrestlemania, and that’s saying a lot since that match is one of the greatest ever. Angle really took advantage of the pacing and kept hitting one strike after another, almost like chain wrestling. Michaels, the classic psychologist, bumps for Angle like there’s no tomorrow and then takes a long wrenching with a chinlock. Of course Shawn gets his nip-up and comeback, but as he’s about to tune the band up, Angle with a vicious clothesline. The Wrestlemania match was a back and forth affair. Here Angle dominated the action with Michaels making some sudden comebacks with DDTs and his top rope elbow. Now the juicy part of the match, and each guy went back and forth, strike after strike, with the occasional Angle Anklelock attempt. After being thrown outside and landing wrong on his knee, Angle ratchets it up again, and just like at Wrestlemania, Michaels is fighting, and fighting and fighting. This is where incredible psychology comes in. The Vegas crowd remembers Wrestlemania and how long Shawn waited before finally tapping out. Would it happen again? This time Shawn rolls out of it and Angle hits the post. Out of nowhere Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music but is too out of it to go for a pin. He finally goes for it and Angle kicks out. Angle goes to the top, but Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music again in mid-air and this time Michaels gets the three count. What an incredible display of workrate and in particular psychology. This is the Godfather Part II of wrestling rematches: The Perfect Sequel. Grade: 5

Justin: In the most anticipated rematch of the year, the freshly drafted Kurt Angle takes on Shawn Michaels, who was looking for revenge from his Wrestlemania defeat. They would start off slowly, working some basic mat stuff as well as some nice psychology with Michaels frustrating Angle by eluding his offense. Angle would keep trying to hook his Anklelock, but Michaels was able to escape each time. Angle would finally swing the tide and would wipe Michaels out with a stiff German suplex on the announce table, and making it worse was that the table didn’t break. Angle would dissect Michaels like an assassin with non-stop offense, including a sick powerbomb into the corner. Shawn’ selling was tremendous as always and you could feel his pain as Angle abused his back and crushed him with suplex after suplex. Michaels would make a red-hot comeback and nail a desperate Sweet Chin Music after fighting off more Anklelock attempts. Angle would recover and head up top but Michaels would drill him with a second SCM to pick up the win. This was a brutal war that featured epic selling and vicious offense and it was capped off with a tremendous finish. This rematch is definitely equal to its Wrestlemania predecessor and was a classic rematch by two of the all time greats. Michaels evens up the series but both men would veer off into decidedly different paths over the coming weeks. Grade: 5

*** Lillian Garcia and Viscera make their way to the ring. After his dalliance with Trish in the spring, Vis had transformed into something of a ladies man, wrestling in silk pajamas and making advances on various women. One woman that caught his eye was ring announcer Lillian Garcia. He began courting her and as they hit the ring here, Lillian finally confessed that she loved Vis as well. She sang Vis a song and then proposed to him. Before Vis could answer, the Godfather made a surprise return, marching to the ring with a bevy of Hos. Vis would take Godfather’s offer, opting to leave with the Hos instead of Lillian, breaking her heart. This was just a palette cleanser for the fans, but it ran a bit longer than it really needed to. ***

5) John Cena defeats Christian (Jay Reso) and Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine) in a Triple Threat match to retain WWE Championship when he pins Christian with an FU at 15:08

Fun Fact: On 6/6, John Cena was drafted to Raw and Chris Jericho announced the pick on his Highlight Reel. While Jericho and Cena bantered, Christian and Tomko came down to the ring. Christian called Cena a poser and attacked the champ but Cena and Jericho ran them off. A week later, Jericho confronted Eric Bischoff about rumors that Christian was being named the top contender to Cena’s title. Later in the night, Jericho and Cena defeated Christian and Tomko but Jericho attacked Cena after the bell, grabbed his title and stared at it lustily. After a commercial break, Bischoff announced that Vengeance would see a triple threat title match. Jericho and Christian would attack Cena a week later, adding intrigue into a possible alliance at the PPV.

Scott: John Cena’s Raw PPV debut is against a former champion who feels slighted, and one who never touched the brass ring. It took a few years, but the Peeps are finally getting what they wanted: Christian in a main event WWE Title match. Now I still don’t get what putting Jericho in the match means, I guess it’s to add some intrigue to the match, but really after only two months were they going to really take the title off of Cena? I doubt it, but maybe it was to let Christian dip his toe into the main event waters and for management to see if he fits there. It was also used to get Jericho’s heel turn over as well. He, like Kane, has turned sides so many times I forget when and where. The match is paint-by-numbers for a Triple Threat, as each of the three different pairs gets some time in the ring together. Cena is still crazy over, and it’s still from everybody. Cena still had the street-wise gimmick going, but you can tell the writers were already starting to water him down just a bit, now that he’s at the top of the card. Call it the “Diesel Effect”, where somebody who was a really cool heel, turns face, becomes champion, and becomes completely milquetoast and dull. His in-ring work is still a work-in-progress in my opinion, even though he hits a great super-duper-plex on both his opponents. As much as I’m not a fan of the Five Knuckle Shuffle, doing a double to his opponents was a pretty cool visual. The crowd did help the match’s energy, as there were probably an equal number of all three guys’ fans in the crowd. When Tomko came out and hit Cena I thought maybe Christian had his chance, but alas after an FU to Captain Charisma, Cena retains his title. It was a pretty solid match that had a hot crowd to help them along. Grade: 3

Justin: Upon John Cena’s rise to popularity and ascension as the face of the WWE, it only seemed like a matter of time before he was moved over to the flagship brand. He was still pretty damn over here as well, and it will be interesting to see if his act stayed fresh on his new show. That match got off to a fast start with Jericho and Christian focusing their attention on taking out Cena. Tomko would get involved but the ref would quickly toss him out for his interference. Cena fought back and in a nasty spot, he would send Christian out of the ring and to the floor with an FU. This was a pretty standard triple threat match but that was bumped up a bit by the great crowd energy, which had been par for the course this whole night. Cena struck again with another stiff move as he would drop Jericho with a stiff DDT on the floor. All three men stayed active and I thought Christian fit in nicely as a main event contender. The highlight of the match was a great superplex/powerbomb combo spot by all three men. After a good flurry, Christian would pick up a close near fall with an Unprettier. Tomko would return, but Cena quickly erased him as well. Cena would grab Christian, drop him with an FU and retain his title. Jericho avoids eating the pin here and he would lay claim that he deserved a rematch because he didn’t lost. This was well booked and kept a great pace. The finish was hot and all three studs worked hard to deliver a fun bout. Grade: 3.5

6) Batista (Dave Bautista) defeats Triple H (Paul Levesque) in a Hell in a Cell match to retain World Heavyweight Championship with a Demon Bomb on the steel steps at 26:54

Fun Fact: On 5/2, an angry Triple H demanded a rematch with Batista but Eric Bischoff told him he was entered in the Gold Rush tournament where he could earn it. Unfortunately for the Game, he was eliminated in round one by Chris Benoit. The next week, Batista refused to give Hunter a match, so Hunter said he was leaving and that Batista and Raw needed him more than he needed them. On 5/16, Ric Flair was the recipient of an attack at the hands of Christian and Tomko, but Batista hit the ring and saved his former mentor. The next week, Flair helped Batista defeat Edge in the Gold Rush finals. After the match, Triple H returned and charged to the ring. As Batista awaited him, Flair dropped Batista with a low blow and Hunter then drilled him in the head with the sledgehammer. Hunter grabbed a mic and simply said “Hell in a Cell”. Batista would accept the challenge the next week and then on 6/6, the contract would be signed. Hunter would get the last laugh on 6/20, when he was able to drop Batista with a Pedigree and pin him to end a tag match.

Scott: The final match in the trilogy. At Wrestlemania Batista vanquished his mentor to become champion. At Backlash he won the rematch with a bit of controversy as Triple H did get a Pedigree off and a definite three count if the referee was awake. So here we go to the Devil’s Playground to finish this. As expected, Triple H takes the early advantage, as he is a veteran of the big steel weapon. Four matches in the Cell, 4-0 record. A few minutes in and Triple H pulls the weapons out, as he grabs a steel chain from a toolbox. Batista, looking swank in the alternate white tights and pads combo, takes an early beating being the rookie of the Cell. More violence follows, then Triple H, busted open, pulls out a steel chair wrapped in barbed wire and smacks Batista in the back multiple times with it. A close up of Batista’s shredded back shows they’re not fake barbs. Then Batista gets the wrapped chair and smacks Hunter flush in the face with it, then Batista viciously shreds The Game’s face with the barbs. Batista then mashes Triple H’s face into the fence wall. Batista’s definitely getting used to the lay of the land in the cell, giving his mentor everything he can in this final chapter of one of the best feuds in recent memory. Batista drives Hunter into the barbed wire chair with a power slam. Quickly this is becoming one of the more violent Cell matches in recent memory. It passes the previous year’s Triple H/Michaels Cell match for me, and it may be coming close to the top of the list. Both men are busted open, thanks to blade jobs and real, sharp barbed wire. None of that rubber shit. Both men just go back and forth, one bomb with a weapon after another. Batista was not on the company’s list of future guys, as we all know it was more Randy Orton who they liked. Clearly here Batista showed he earned the slot. The violence factor in this match never slows down, as Batista brings the steps into the ring and just pastes Triple H’s face into it over and over. Hunter survives a Batista Bomb attempt with a low blow, then hit the Pedigree out of nowhere. Here he gets a two count, but I thought it was over. Triple H then tries a Pedigree on the steps but Batista reverses it and hits a spinebuster on the steps. The dull thud still resonates in my head. Batista then gets Hunter up for the big Bomb, but Hunter brings the sledge up with him, and is about to smack the champion with it…but he couldn’t. Batista drops him, and the war is over. What an awesome brawl and Triple H loses three times in one year to the same opponent for the first time in I don’t know how long, and that means one on one…not counting the two triple threat losses to Benoit. Regardless of semantics, this is very close to my favorite cell match of all time, and a brawl for the ages. Grade: 5

Justin: For the third straight month, Batista faces off with his former mentor, Triple H. At Wrestlemania, he vanquished the Game to take home the World title. At Backlash, he fought off a Pedigree and retained his gold. Here, he faces the Game in unknown waters, inside Hell in a Cell. I loved this match from the get go thanks to Batista’s swank white tights, which always make a wrestler look tremendous. Batista just emitted a star aura at this point, and that aura would be joined by substance by the end of the match. After a basic start, Hunter would bring the violence by brandishing a chain and viciously whipping Batista with it. Batista would then grab the chain and deliver some stiff receipts to Hunter as well. As hot as the crowd had been all night, they really peak here, just at the right time. Hunter tapped a gusher and finally hits a killer blade job in a match that deserves one instead of a gratuitous one in a match that didn’t call for it. Things got kicked up a notch when Hunter went under the ring and pulled out a chair wrapped in barbed wire. He would punish Batista with it, lacerating his back. Once again, Batista was able to wrestle away the weapon and use it himself, this time crushing Triple H in the face with it. I liked the methodical pacing of this as the two men made each shot really mean something and the offense was stiff and deliberate. It wasn’t as drawn out as last year’s cell snoozefest but it wasn’t as manically paced as say the KOTR 1998 cell match was. It fell somewhere comfortably in the middle and it really fit the feel of the feud. One of the best spots of the match came when Hunter came leaping off the turnbuckle but Batista met him with a sledgehammer to the throat. Hunter’s bloody spit take was tremendously done. Hunter fought back and would hit a low blow and a Pedigree for a great near fall. For the first time in a singles match since this feud started, Batista was forced to kick out of the Pedigree and he was able to do just that. I liked that they wove that psychology throughout the feud and paid it off here. Batista would then drop Hunter on the steps with a spinebuster and follow that up with a Batistabomb for the win. Even the finish had a great tease though, as Hunter grabbed the sledge on the way up but Batista snapped him down before he could use it. This was a great violent brawl and a big time star-making match. For as much crap as Hunter gets, he really did do his best to make Batista into a star since January. He has now laid down for the Animal three times in marquee matches and each one was a clean win. Batista rolls on, still champion and an even bigger star. Grade: 5

Final Analysis:

Scott: So after the real emotion-driven gem that was One Night Stand, WWE gets a chance to prove to all these ECW stalwarts that they can indeed put on a great show themselves, when they want to. This was their example. The wrestling was obviously better here than at ONS, but then again that show wasn’t about the matches themselves. They knew they had a gem built in with the Angle/Michaels rematch; the question was whether the two title matches would go off well. The triple threat was solid, but nothing to write home about. I’m sure some were disappointed that Christian didn’t come away with the title, but they weren’t going to take if off Cena just two and a half months after winning it. Jericho was in there to prep for the summer heel run. As for the Cell, Triple H was not going to make it a failure. So he helped Batista along in making the match a classic. Batista wasn’t totally helpless, as he executed his power moves with stunning effect. The result was the proper end to a great feud. The fact they were in mid-draft helped this show too because all the big players were on it, including the two hot champions in Cena and Batista. The draft would be complete by the next show and then we see some weaknesses come back to the fold. The undercard is a little shaky, but with two five-star matches this show can’t be given anything that low. The crowd also helped out here, as they were hot throughout. Four years apart, and Las Vegas pulled off back-to-back top notch shows. This after their first effort, Wrestlemania IX, is a complete piece of crap. The WWE brain trust wanted to put on a fantastic show to back up the now legendary first One Night Stand. They succeeded. Final Grade: A

Justin: Scott pretty much summed things up nicely. Rumors are out there that the WWE stars wanted to prove they could put on a show as hot as ONS and were motivated to prove that to the world. The truth is no matter how hard they tried, there was going to be no way to match the emotion housed in the Hammerstein Ballroom weeks before this, but they did deliver a hell of a show here. The undercard was solid stuff and the three marquee matches totally delivered to really carry the show. For the first time in a while, things are really being shaken up and the feel of each brand is changing significantly. Batista and Cena are clearly being positioned as the major faces of the company and they both pick up big wins here. Between the two, it is clear that Cena is the major player of the future and due to that, he is swapped over to Raw. Triple H was selfless in this feud and now he hits the sidelines for some much deserved time off. As a whole, this was a high quality effort and for the second time this month, WWE delivers a tremendous PPV outing that was well worth any money spent. Final Grade: A

MVP: Batista & Triple H
Runner Up: Shawn Michaels & Kurt Angle
Non-MVP: Christy Hemme
Runner Up: Shelton Benjamin