WWE Judgment Day 2009 Review

The day of judgment has come... Jeff Hardy looks to take down Edge for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as Batista challenges Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. Also, John Cena looks to score some revenge against The Big Show in a grudge match.

Match 1: CM Punk vs. Umaga
With the PPV taking place in Chicago, it is only fitting to have CM Punk kick off the show in his bout here against Umaga. Looking back, it is easy to forget how good Umaga was in the ring and simply being able to look back and rewatch his matches is certainly a treat. Solid opening contest here with Punk doing a great job of being the underdog throughout the match and teasing the match around him possibly being able to hit his GTS finisher. Punk finally looks to have the match in control and after a few kicks to the head of Umaga, Punk decides to go for his GTS but fails as the weight became too much for Punk to bear. Umaga is able to follow it up with a Samoan Spike to score the win. Interesting booking decision here to have Punk take another L on a PPV following his Money in the Bank victory.
Winner: Umaga
Rating: ***1/4

Match 2: ECW Championship - Christian (c) vs. Jack Swagger
Jack Swagger gets his rematch for the ECW Championship against Christian after losing to him a month earlier at Backlash. Loved how they structured the rematch here in differentiating this match from their first one and really emphasizing how Christian's years of experience was becoming very troublesome for the rookie in Swagger. Swagger almost sealed the win for himself but was caught by the referee as Swagger had a handful of tights on the pin. However, the veteran is able to take a play out of the rookie's playbook as he grabbed a handful of Swagger's tights on the pin to win the match and retain the belt. Nice following match after the opener with a smart finish as the whiny Swagger takes an appropriate loss.
Winner: Christian
Rating: ***

Match 3: Shelton Benjamin vs. John Morrison
Shelton Benjamin's former partner in Charlie Haas plays the role of a cheerleader as Benjamin takes on John Morrison in the third bout of the night. The two SmackDown stars put on a pretty good match here despite the crowd really not investing much of their emotions into it. As you would expect, good amount of athletic moves from the two including Morrison hitting a 450 splash to Benjamin out of the ring. Morrison knocks Haas out of the equation and follows it up with a Flying Chuck and a Starship Pain on Benjamin to pick up the win.
Winner: John Morrison
Rating: **3/4

Match 4: WWE Intercontinental Championship - Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Chris Jericho (Taken from Rey Mysterio - The Life of a Masked Man DVD (Disc 2) Review)
Their feud back in WCW is renewed in 2009 as Chris Jericho joins the SmackDown brand and looks to embarrass Rey Mysterio in Chicago. This match was exactly what you would expect, a lot of reversals, fast paces action, and an awesome crowd as Chicago crowds are often always the best for wrestling. Jericho shows off why he is indeed an amazing heel and why he has held the belt more than anyone else early on and throughout basically by toying around with Mysterio but that didn't mean Mysterio would give up without a battle. Mysterio repeatedly reversed move after move from Jericho and did it crisply and precisely to his advantage before finally hitting a 619 which he tried to do earlier on to get the win.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Rating: ****

Match 5: WWE Championship - Randy Orton (c) vs. Batista
At this point in his career, I think it is safe to say that Randy Orton was at his peak in terms of being an all-around superstar. At this point, he was also becoming The Viper and he certainly was amazing in being that slithering heel that would try to escape any predicament that got in his way in any means necessary. Not sure if Batista was limited in the ring at this point, but Orton did a great job of building the match around him trying to escape the wrath of Batista and even trying to get himself counted out at one point. Orton would eventually go on to successfully retain his belt by purposely disqualifying himself via smacking the referee in the face. Afterwards, the rest of Legacy come up to pummel Batista before the young Ric Flair came out to make the save. Take it for what it was, another Orton vs. Batista match that for whatever reason, just didn't really grab anyone's attention too much. For two guys have been doing this together for so long, I always found it quite strange why their matches against each other never really proved that statement.
Winner: Batista (via disqualification)
Rating: **

Match 6: The Big Show vs. John Cena
After The Big Show chokeslammed John Cena through a searchlight at Backlash a month earlier, Cena looks to score some revenge against Show in their grudge match here. Kind of odd to me how this is just a basic match without any stipulations being involved, we've seen these two go at it many times before but I guess it sets up for a later match down the road at Extreme Rules. This match was as you would expect, very slow and filled with Show dominating the match throughout as Cena again plays the role of the underdog and looks to not even stand a chance against his bigger opponent. Finally, Cena is able to find an opening and hit an Attitude Adjustment on Show to big up the "miraculous" victory. We've seen these two go at it so many times before and the novelty of picking up Big Show for an Attitude Adjustment is completely gone. 
Winner: John Cena
Rating: *3/4

Match 7: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Edge (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
If we're still in the business of talking about recycled matches, how many times have we seen these two go at it? Regardless, I'm not one to complain when these two step in a ring at any time so here we are for the main event of the night. Love the fact that these two are closing out the night and per usual, they delivered the goods. Jeff Hardy more than proved in 2008 that he doesn't need all kinds of glitz and glamour to have a good match and he continued to prove that point here. Never a dull moment and Hardy splashed in some innovative daredevil moves that brought him to the dance. One of the coolest spots in the match saw Hardy run the barricade outside and try to splash onto Edge on the announcers table but only got met with a Spear. Back and forth they collided as they brought the fight to outside the ring where Matt Hardy ambushed Jeff from behind with his cast as the referee was unable to see. Jeff was able to shake it off a bit and go for a Swanton Bomb but stumbled a bit from the top as Edge went up and hit Jeff with an Edgecution from the top for the win. Loved how Hardy sold the attack at the end and loved how Edge won using a different finisher. Add that to the list of great matches these two have had together.
Winner: Edge
Rating: ****

Overall PPV Thoughts and Rating:
Interesting PPV offering here without any appearances from the Divas and the Raw matches being the lower points in the show. However, the other matches on the card certainly earned their spots and while the main event is pretty forgettable, it was still a nice way to close out the night. While still a solid show, there's nothing really out of the ordinary to write home about.
Rating: 7.5/10