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Going into last night's Pay-per-view, I felt WWE had put together a pretty strong lineup (well, as strong as it gets these days), even though a few top Raw stars (namely, Ric Flair and Shelton Benjamin) were missing from the show.  When Unforgiven was over, I felt that every match was either as good as it looked to be on paper, or exceeded expectations.  In my opinion, that makes the show a success.  Was it a blow away show from top to bottom?  No, but none of the matches stunk up the joint, Trish Stratus was given a nice exit, and the main event was fantastic and had the crowd going nuts.  Actually, the Toronto crowd is probably a big reason why this show came across so well on TV.  They were loud and active and made it fun to watch. 

Onto my thoughts on the show: 

The opening match was a good way to kick off the show, and I enjoyed the way the match was put together.  They started off quick, with the armdrag exchange, and then went into a long sequence of Nitro working over Hardy's leg.  Nitro really showed me a lot here, as he came up with a lot of different ways to work over Hardy without just doing the same moves we see in every match. As they geared up for the near fall section of the bout, things seemed to get a little off track, but Hardy got the crowd back into it with the Whisper In The Wind, and the last few minutes of the match were great.  I know some fans groaned over the finish, but in all honesty, Nitro needs the title a lot more than Hardy at this point.  Besides, with two other title changes on the show, this one would have been overshadowed anyway.  This was the longest TV match I've seen either have as a singles in a while (not counting three-ways), and while it might have benefited from being a little shorter, I think it worked.

Need we need a Marine promo package on the PPV?  Anyone who is ordering a Raw brand PPV has probably already made up their mind as to whether or not they are going to see the movie, which isn't out for another month anyway!  Shoving this down our throats is not going to helps John Cena with his occasional crowd problems. 

We then had two minor segments that were classic examples of WWE having a good idea, but not going far enough with it.  Smackdown General Manager Theodore R. Long was shown in a skybox.  Alone.  And every time they showed him he was in the box.  Alone.  First of all, would it have hurt WWE to have some "eye candy" accompany him to the show.  Certainly there are plenty of Divas sitting around with nothing to do, and it would have made Teddy look more like the "Mack Daddy" he is supposed to be.  Second, they could have interviewed him, and put over that Smackdown wanted Cena.  Even better, they could have shown some Raw talent talking to him, and speculated that Long was looking to make a "raid" on the roster.  I'm not saying it would be the focus of the show, but it would have made better use of having Long there. 

We then had Lita punking out her former partners in Team Xtreme, Matt & Jeff Hardy, backstage.  This set up the Hardys getting involved in Lita's match later.  Oh wait, no it didn't.  It set up the Hardys attacking Edge and costing him the title.  Oh wait, no it didn't.  It set up the Hardys laughing at Lita after her loss.  Nope, that didn't happen either.  All that happened was Lita got to make fun of the Hardys and got away with it.  Maybe it is just me, but I think Jeff and Matt's "on screen reunion" should have been more impactful than that.

I wasn't expecting much from Kane and Umaga, and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of effort they put into the match, particularly Kane, who was more fired up than he has been in a while.  Obviously, if you were expecting some sort of scientific masterpiece (and why would you be?), this wasn't going to work for you.  However, I thought it was a solid "big men brawling" match, that saw both men sell for each other and get the crowd into their exchanges.  The double countout finish was a let down, and the crowd let it be known loud and clear. Still, I won't blast WWE for booking it.  Too often, the brand runs through a feud too quickly.  Kane vs. Umaga has just begun, so I have no problem with them doing this finish and setting up a rematch (which, coincidentally, is going to happen tonight on Raw). Not every undercard match needs to have a conclusive finish in order to be entertaining. 

Was I the only one thinking that Vince McMahon taking a shot at Canada was done specifically to help curb any negative reaction that Shawn Michaels might get in Canada?  As it turns out, it wasn't necessary.

The Highlanders vs. The Spirit Squad was probably the low point of the night, simply because no one really cares about the tag division on Raw.  Nor should they, when the tag champions (all five of them) have been laid out numerous times on TV by DX for the last few months.  Then, when they finally face someone else, they win because it is a five-on-two situation. Yawn.  The bright side to this match was that we actually got to see some tag team wrestling, and I really liked the way the Highlanders were making quick tags as they were working over their opponents.  I didn't see the point in keeping the belts on the Squad, unless WWE felt (like with the Intercontinental Title), another title change on the PPV wouldn't be noticed.  Then again, this is tag team wrestling, so I doubt many WITHIN WWE would notice either.

I was so glad to see Hell In A Cell come on early on the PPV.  While I expected Edge and Cena to go on last, I was worried that we'd see Hell In A Cell right before it, and possibly drain the crowd before the main event (although in hindsight, nothing was going to drain that crowd and keep them from going nuts for Edge).  The new and improved Cell looked cool, except for one slight problem.  Well, actually not so slight, as the bars across the middle of the cage totally ruined the hard camera shot, keeping WWE from giving us many wide views of the whole ring during the match. This totally shocked me, only because WWE always thinks in terms of television presentation, and I can't imagine no one realizing those bars were going to be a problem. I have to wonder if the Cell will be altered again before the next time it is used.  Oh, and in regards to the crowd reaction, other than an obligatory "You Screwed Bret" chant at the start, the crowd seemed totally behind DX.  I wonder what tonight's Raw in Montreal will bring.

As for the match itself, it was a fitting final chapter in this feud (although, I fear it won't be a final chapter).  The beginning was bit hokey, with all the low blow spots on Big Show, who has spent the last few months on ECW rebuilding his reputation as a monster.  Then the blood and the big bumps (especially from Shane) began, and it turned into the carnage you'd expect from a Hell In A Cell match.  I was really glad that they stayed away from the "climbing on top of the Cell" spots, as well as taking some ridiculous bump off the top or side of the cage. Since there was a ladder match yet to come, it made no sense to have the "big bump" in this bout.  As for the finish, I thought Shane did a good job in selling the neck crusher spot, and felt that it was strange to have him doing a "serious" angle while the attention was being focused on Vince's head being stuck in Big Show's rear end.  Speaking of which, I don't know how much Big Show got paid for last night, but I'm not sure there is any sum of money in the world that is worth having someone's bloody head rammed in there.  The finish was all about the "brutality" and it worked.  Of course, it would take a sledgehammer being broken over his head to defeat the "Genetic Jackhammer", but the McMahons were finally destroyed, and DX was victorious.  With the McMahons being stretchered out, we shouldn't be seeing them on TV for a while (which is why the Raw preview teasing comments from Vince tonight worries me, unless he's making them from a hospital bed).  Otherwise, the effectiveness of the match will have been wasted.

Trish Stratus and Lita has the best women's match we've seen from WWE in quite some time.  Of course, that probably had a lot to do with the fact that they were given twelve minutes, which is three or four times as long as the standard WWE women's match.  This was a really good match, with both wrestlers laying in some stiff shots.  They did a few cool teases for the finish, and of course, there was a mega pop for Trish using the Sharpshooter for the win.  It is a simple equation: A Canadian using the Sharpshooter in Canada will get a pop.  However, the crowd was popping for Trish long before that, and I was glad to see her get a nice sendoff from her hometown fans.  I was disappointed that the cameras didn't stay with Trish as she exited the ring and went backstage, but there's always the chance that WWE filmed it and will put in on the DVD.  As for the Women's Title, I'd be fine with them retiring it at this point, given the state of the division on Raw.  Actually, it would probably make more sense to put it on Smackdown and send Victoria over there to rebuild the division.  Either way, it was nice to see WWE give Trish Stratus the classy exit and the big win in her final match.

Because of the way the card was laid out, Randy Orton and Carlito ended up being the "bumper match" between Trish's farewell and the main event, which were obviously the highlights of the night for the Toronto crowd.  As a result, the crowd wasn't as "up" for this as they might have been if it went on earlier.  Still, Orton got some heat with his prematch comments about Trish, and the match itself was a good nine minute bout, with the crowd getting into Carlito's highspots.  The hardway blood from Orton's mouth added a bit of drama to the match, in a strange way.  I thought the finishing sequence was cool, since it showed that the RKO can come out an anytime.  I know a lot of our readers were surprised at Orton getting the clean win, given his backstage problems (which were discussed in great detail last week in the Elite Section).  However, this feud is far from over, and after losing to Hulk Hogan last month, Orton needed a PPV win to get back on track.

That brought us to the main event, which was easily the match of the night (as it should be).  The crowd was fired up, and Edge seemed legitimately humbled by the reaction (or he's just a great actor).  Cena wisely stuck to his ECW One Night Stand gameplan of dealing with a hostile crowd by coming across as focused and determined on his way to the ring.  While there were one or two moments that were less than spectacular (Cena's weak chairshot on the floor, the stacked tables falling over and Cena setting them back up), considering they were doing a lot of big spots, it is amazing more things didn't go wrong.  Tons of big table and ladder bumps, and I think this match certainly lived up to the TLC reputation.  Towards the end, I thought they might actually go with the "tie" finish, and it would have been interesting to see what kind of reaction that got from the crowd.  Instead, they stuck with the plan, and had Cena win the belt.  I don't really agree with that decision from a booking standpoint, but it shouldn't take away from what was a really great (and brutal) match.  Cena's expression following the match was interesting, certainly not the euphoric reaction he normally has after winning a title.  I wonder if that will be followed up on tonight at Raw.

Overall, if you ordered last night's show, I think you're probably happy with your purchase. There was a great main event, Trish got her big farewell victory, DX decimated the McMahons, and the undercard matches ranged from solid to good, with nothing coming across as horrible.  It will be interesting to see where the top stars (Cena, Edge, DX) go from here.

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