WWE - Summerslam 2004 (DVD)

One thing that WWE have been accused of in recent years is not giving their undercard matches enough ring time, they tried to cram far too much into a three hour show. Maybe if they had cracked down on the pointless diva backstage segments then each match could have got a nice allocated time and we would not have had to see Undertaker and John Bradshaw Layfield huff and puff for 20 minutes.

Anyway, on to the matches.....

...That would have ended Kane's WWE career for sure.

I can not remember when Matt Hardy had a match as decent as this, actually I can say the very same thing about Kane! They both gave a lot in this match and for once it was not just a spot-filled match with both guys boring us with punches until the next spot rolled around.

Kane even walked out with a clean win, he won by chokeslamming Matt from the top rope and the impact ... more

One thing that WWE have been accused of in recent years is not giving their undercard matches enough ring time, they tried to cram far too much into a three hour show. Maybe if they had cracked down on the pointless diva backstage segments then each match could have got a nice allocated time and we would not have had to see Undertaker and John Bradshaw Layfield huff and puff for 20 minutes.

Anyway, on to the matches.....

[Six-Man Tag Match]
Paul London & Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Vs. The Dudley Boyz

Now normally I would tell you how The Dudleyz are great at getting a live crowd hyped up for the rest of the night, and I've said it many times you should know by now, but this match was not as over with the Canadian fans as it would be anywhere else in the world!

It was not a bad match by any means, on the contray it was a nice solid 6-man bout with some great spots in such as Paul London's suicide type dive onto Bubba-Ray Dudley, just the fact that the fans did not seem to care which was a shame.

Billy Kidman and Paul London as a tag team are gelling along very, very nicely in my opinion. They should have put these two guys together a long time ago. I just hope World Wrestling Entertainment do not go and do something stupid like split them up to feud against each other yet......

Winner: The Dudley Boyz

[Til Death Do Us Part Match]
Matt Hardy Vs. Kane

After the disaster that was their first match on the last pay-per-view you can excuse me for not holding out much hope that this match would be any kind of an improvement, boy was I in for a shock.

The first and important thing was for Kane not to lose the match. Ok, Matt Hardy is upset about Lita shagging Kane and is angry, good, but Kane is meant to be a monster and forcing him to job once to Matt was bad enough but twice on back-to-back pay-per-views? That would have ended Kane's WWE career for sure.

I can not remember when Matt Hardy had a match as decent as this, actually I can say the very same thing about Kane! They both gave a lot in this match and for once it was not just a spot-filled match with both guys boring us with punches until the next spot rolled around.

Kane even walked out with a clean win, he won by chokeslamming Matt from the top rope and the impact that Matt made when he landed looked mighty impressive. Lita spoiled the match a bit by just being there, this woman has no business being anywhere near a wrestling ring....

Winner: Kane

[U.S. Championship match 1]
John Cena Vs Booker T

Despite Booker T's new ring attire of red trunks and red boots this encounter was a complete snoozefest. John Cena's ring performance over the past six months or so has really started to deteriorate rapidly and something needs to be done, perhaps turning him heel with relight that fire in his belly.

Booker T bores me. I'm sorry, no offence to Booker T or his fans but he really bores me to tears in the ring, I wish I could explain why he bores me but the fact is I have no idea why. When Booker T comes on the television this signals that it is time for me to make a sandwich/use the toilet.

Winner: John Cena

[Intercontinental Championship]
Chris Jericho Vs Edge Vs Batista

Edge, who comes from Torronto, was booed throughout the entire match by the fans in his hometown and Edge played it up to perfection, making various heel facial features, takes a talented wrestler to act like that when your hometown turns on you without warning.

I have absolutely no idea why Batista was placed into this match. He looked totally out of place and for large parts of the match he was left outside on the floor whilst Edge and Jericho had some nice moves exchanged between them.

There really was no doubt that Edge would walk out with the belt, they obviously want Edge to have a nice run with the championship before pushing him for the world title at the end of this year.

It was not a great match, in fact the Kane/Matt Hardy match was better than this, I really hope things turn out better as the card goes along.

Winner: Edge

Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle

This was the match that I was personally looking forward to on the entire card. Although it was a damn fine match between two great wrestlers, it was not a patch on their Wrestlemania encounter.

It was much shorter than I thought it would be. Angle won via an anklelock on a nuncovered ankle. For people who were confused as to the finish check out my Wrestlemania 2004 review. This time Angle took off Eddie's boot and sinched in the anklelock on Eddie's unprotected ankle causing him to tap out.

The match was interupted in England for about three minutes as the transmission went on the blink, so we missed three valuble minutes.

I hope they give these two another match on the next Smackdown pay-per-view because I think we could get another match out of them that could be better than their Wrestlemania encounter.

Winner: Kurt Angle

Triple H vs. Eugene

Triple H and Eugene had to follow the excellent match between Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero, could they follow up with a decent performance? In this writers eyes they did not match Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero's match but they did put on a good display all the same.

The fans started chanting "Eugene Sucks" and this did not phase Eugene one little bit, he took it in his stride which proves yet again what a great wrestler Nick Dinsmore really is.

Again Triple H showed that his reputation is unfounded as he sold moves by Eugene and sold them well, even allowing Eugene to hit the pedigree on him. I do not think that there was any doubt that Triple H would not win though, and he did via his pedigree

I just wanted to mention Ric Flair here. He came out and when the ref told him to go to the back Flair reacted like a madman screaming "fuck you" over and over again until he got knocked on his arse by Regal. The best spot of the night was after the match when Triple grabbed an unconcious Flair by his leg and dragged him away up the ramp - Flair is brillient!

Winner: Triple H

[Diva Dodgeball]
Raw Vs Diva contest

I decided to make myself a rather delicious turkey and pickle sandwich, oh man that sandwich tasted great!

Winner: My Stomach

[WWE Championship]
John Bradshaw Layfield Vs The Undertaker

For the first twelve minutes or so you could have been excused for thinking the match was taking place inside an empty arena, or that the match was little more than a dark match as the fans buggered off to get food and nattered away to eachother.

You could clearly see Undertaker was not happy. The crowd were more interested in racially abusing Orlando Jordon. I found this to be sick and very wrong in todays world, Canadians in attendence, who took part in this, should be fully ashamed of themselves.

The crowd stopped racially abusing Orlando at the end of the match and started paying interest to the match inside the ring. It was a poor outing for both men I never thought I would say this but even John Bradshaw Layfield is capible of better matches than this.

The finish was a little confusing, Undertaker suddenly struck John Bradshaw Layfield in the face with the belt for no reason and was disqualified. I have no idea why they did this, a better finish would have ben to have John Heidenreich make his entrance and beat up Undertaker.

The only highpoint was John Bradshaw Layfield being chokeslammed through the limo roof.

Winner: John Bradshaw Layfield

[World Heavyweight Championship]
Chris Benoit Vs Randy Orton

Wow. That is the only thing I could think of to describe this match up. Both men gave an excellent account of themselves in this match. Benoit hit a middle rope tope and ended up going face first into the fan barrier!

Jerry Lawler almost put a dampner on the match with his useless commentary, for gods sake get him out of there and put Jonathan Coachman in his place!

The match had almost everything, false finishes, botched moves, busted mouthes, topes, diving headbutts, attempted RKO's, attempted crossfaces. The match was clean throughout with no member of Evolution at ringside, which enhance the enjoyment of the match for me.

After the match had finished Benoit headed back to the ring for what they thought would be more wrestling but both men shook hands in the ring, does this signify a facy Randy Orton? I certainly hope not. Randy is much better as a heel in my opinion. He was a face before and he sucked!

Winner: Randy Orton

So there you have it folks, SummerSlam 2004 is in the books, not one of WWE's strongest pay-per-views, but it will by no means be thir worst offering of the year. Giving some of the matches more time and getting rid of the useless divas would have improved the show. 

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