WWE Unforgiven 2004 (2004)

I picked up this DVD last Saturday. The next day, Eddie Guerrero passed away. What a shock that was. In a way, I'm glad that he isn't featured in this PPV (although he can be seen in some of the promos), because it would be uncomfortable (to say the least) to watch him in action right now. Rest in peace, Eddie.1) Batista and Ric Flair vs. Chris Benoit and William Regal. Not bad, but too long for an opener. And don't you think Ric Flair should retire gracefully just about now? Aren't there any talented young guys for WWE to pick up anymore? **1/2 2) Victoria vs. Trish Stratus (for the women's title). Victoria's strength and Trish's technique make for a pretty good and even matchup, but it could have been even better. **1/2 3) Tyson Tomko vs. "The Mystery Woman" (Steven Richards). OK, this is a waste of time, but there is some fun in watching Tomko beat the crap out of Richards. Thankfully, this was the only "comic relief" match of the night. *1/24) Chris Jericho vs. Christian. A ladder match for the intercontinental title. I'll give both men credit for the amount of physical punishment they take here, but the match itself is VERY draggy. **5) Shawn Michaels vs. Kane. No disqualifications. Brutal but sluggish. What's more, the Kane / Lita / Matt Hardy storyline is distasteful and disrespectful to everyone involved, especially Lita, who deserves to be IN the ring wrestling instead of outside playing the terrorized wife. **6) La Resistance vs. Tajiri and Rhyno (for the tag team title). Only the disappointing ending keeps this match, which probably has more pure technique involved in it than any other in this PPV, from a *** rating. Tajiri uses his legs about as well as Rey Mysterio, and Rhyno seems like a guy who is full of energy and means business. **1/2 7) Triple H vs. Randy Orton (for the heavyweight title). Two thirds of a good main event. Orton is either a very good actor or he really is in a lot of pain as HHH works on his left leg most of the time. But Orton is quite resourceful in his own right, and executes a variety of moves on HHH. It's all very intense, until Batista and Ric Flair interfere and turn it into a handicap 3-on-1 (4-on-1 if you count "The Coach", but I don't) match (the referee gets knocked out and misses all of this, of course). I understand why this had to be done (this way, Orton loses but still comes out as the winner in the ethical sense), but it's still a cheat. **1/2

This PPV was a 20 min. drive from my house and it was worth the drive and the 2-month waiting period that made me count down the days to my very first PPV.The first match had Batista wrecking Chris Benoit's back with Spinebusters. Ric Flair was his usual flopping-self, but tapped to the Crippler Crossface real quick. The Diving Headbutt that Flair was given was freaking' awesome.Trish and Victoria, two of the most lovely divas on the Raw roster besides Stacy and Lita, faced off for the Women's Title. Victoria started off by stripping on the entrance ramp. Trish made this one quick by delivering Stratusfaction after Victoria Cross-Bodied Tyson Tomko on the outside. The luscious Trish is still champ!Shawn Michaels made his return to the ring to face the man who crushed his throat, Kane, accompanied by his pregnant but still hot wife, Lita. Michaels got thrown through the Spanish announcer table, welcome back HBK. HBK did get the last laugh though. He delivered the Elbow Drop, then countered a Chokeslam into Sweet Chin Music. I can just imagine hearing J.R.'s raspy voice yelling "Sweet Chin Music, oh my god!" The main event was also freaking' sweet. Randy Orton faced Triple H, who got his 100th title shot in the last month because Eric Bischoff is a little wussy who can't say no to Triple H. Seriously, Bischoff is Triple H's b**ch. Just like always Earl Hebner gets knocked out for 20 min. when someone taps him, so Evolution and special guest, Coach, get to try and screw Orton out of his title. Orton did get a little vegeance on his former friends, when he RKO'ed everybody standing. Unfortunately for Orton, there was a steel chair in his destiny. Triple H grabbed a chair and smacked the crap out of Orton, right on top of his head. Triple H, then finally got his moment in the spotlight when he hit the Pedigree on Orton. Again, Orton met that steel chair when he was Pedigreed. Just like my cousin had said, Triple H won the World Heavyweight Championship for the 9th time.

After the disappointing Vengeance in July Raw follows up with another poor p.p.v. Uninspiring matches and an unhealthy focus on Triple H in the main event.Match 1: Flair & Batista vs. Regal & BenoitI like the combination of Flair and Batista in a team. As for Regal and Benoit, I always expect much from them. But there is no heat in this match. Flair looks ridiculous with all his flops. Not even Chris Benoit impresses me. Benoit however, forces Flair to submit to the Crossface in 18:30. Benoit headlined SummerSlam last month and now he opens up Unforgiven. If you lose one title match you're immediately sent back to the murky depths of the midcard (the only exception is Triple H).Match Rating: 2/5We're backstage. Christian doesn't want Tyson Tomko to escort Trish to the ring. Tomko does anyway.Match 2: Trish vs. Victoria. Women's ChampionshipI'll cut this one short: Pretty dull match. Only highlight was Victoria's gutbuster.Match Rating: 2/5Post-match Tomko attacks Victoria but 'the mystery woman' from the last Raw episode makes the save. Tomko calls her out and apparently this is going to be a match. Tomko ain't happy. Me neither. I can feel the suck emanating from the ring already.Match 3 Tomko vs. Steven RichardsSo, 'the mystery woman' is Steven Richards. Does ANYONE care? Though it's a complete squash, this god-awful match lasts almost ten minutes! Finally Tomko hits the modified swinging neckbreaker he uses as finisher. 1-2-3 and not soon enough. Not only was this the worst match of 2004, it was one of the worst matches I've ever seen as well.Match Rating: 0/5Promos for The Feud That Never Ends; Jericho vs. Christian. Match 4: Chris Jericho vs. Christian. Intercontinental Championship Ladder MatchUsually I have a problem with Ladder Matches because the wrestlers take forever to climb the ladder, even in the beginning of the match. IC title is vacant here since Edge got injured and WWE decided to bring back the 30 Days Rule that nobody has cared for in years. Some high-risk moves here; Jericho hits a Lionsault on the ladder, looks very painful. Later Jericho removes the ladder and Christian hangs high above the ring, holding on to the title. Nice. A bulldog from Jericho from the top of the ladder finishes Christian off. Match Rating: 4/5Lita is interviewed. She says she hopes Shawn destroys her husband tonight. Kane comes out and says his match against HBK now is a No Disqualification Match. Man, this is getting boring. I'm sorry I have problems paying attention when this angle is involved. Edge tells Jericho that he's taking back what's his (the IC belt) as soon as he's ready. I'm looking forward to an Edge heel turn because that guy sure is annoying.We take another look back at the marriage of Kane and Lita and if I wasn't paying for this I'd be switching channel.Match 5: HBK vs. Kane. No Disqualification.Comeback match for Shawn. Match is what you can expect from these two. I'll give credit to HBK for being 39 years old and still one of the most motivated wrestlers in WWE. Normally I'd give a match like this a 3/5 rating, but the build-up was poor, the match predictable and the Kane/Lita storyline is pathetic, so this match gets 2/5. Kane has been used three times now to put returning wrestlers over (Undertaker, Edge and now HBK).Match Rating: 2/5The master of burying talent Triple H, is interviewed. Trips says he made Randy Orton a superstar and then he says some crap that finishes off with him making Randy Orton a superstar. Stale and repetitive interview.Match 6: La Resistance vs. Tajiri & Rhyno. World Tag Team Championship.Average tag team match with all the usual match clichés; The faces get the early advantage. The heels come back and dominate one guy. The heels take a cheap shot towards the other guy and when the referee stops him from running in, the heels double-team the legal man. The illegal heel enters without a tag but the ref allows it. The faces make the hot tag. One face clears the ring. The heels win via screwjob. Not a great match but I'm satisfied with the result. La Resistance is the best tag team right now.Match Rating: 2/5Match 7: Orton vs. Triple H. World Championship.The fans aren't into this match and can anyone blame them? I don't know whose idea it is to have Triple H with his played out character in every damn main event while more deserving wrestlers are held back. Orton starts up the match with two sidelock takeovers and Trips with some half-assed counters. Orton has the advantage. He spits on HHH and slaps him in the face. Now Trips starts working on Orton's knee. A mediocre match so far. Later the referee gets knocked out. *Of course* Evolution interferes. Orton fights them off but HHH recovers and hits the Pedigree for the victory. Evolution celebrates. Be sure to read Triple H's new book: 101 Ways to Screwjob a Match. Match Rating: 2/5The Good: The Jericho/Christian match.The Bad: The Tomko/Richards match was ten minutes of my life I will never get back. Kane is badly misused. It seems Triple H is the only heel allowed to be in the main event. Seeing the world's largest nose prancing around with the title for another six months doesn't do it for me.Unforgiven Rating: 2/5

What an average pay per view. It seems clear that from the listof average list of ppvs from the WWE after Wrestlemania havebeen average at best. As one fan on IMDb pointed out, theproblem is that there is special treatment given to such wrestlerssuch as TripleH who married Stephanie McMahon and thuspeople hitting himself together with Vince McMahon his father inlaw, to do as he pleases. In this case it involves Holding the title,while giving us one pitiful performance after another usingsledgehammers and a chair when a great opponent like ChrisBenoit or others threaten him. The other problem also stated is that each ppvs seems tobe just one long RAW or Smackdown episode with nothing reallybeing resolved, such as the JBL vs Undertaker affair. World Heavyweight Championship Triple H vs Randy Orton Average fight don't let the other reviews fool you. I amone of a few people who predicted Orton would lose the titleright after Summerslam. Randy Orton was made the youngestchamp to remove Brock Lesnar of the histiry books plain andsimple. Triple H with help from Evolution regains the titleand stops Orton's streak. Shawn Michaels vs Kane So so match. Kane is a stupid story with Lita being pregnant(which she isn't) and she names Michaels his opponent forrevenge. A decent match, but Michaels is getting to oldfor these beatings and still coming out the winner. Chris Benoit & William Regal vs Ric Flair & Batista Again so so match, Benoit should be wrestling for the titleagainst Orton, but instead hes jobbed into wrestling Evolution,World Tag Team Championship La Resistance vs Rhyno & Tajiri Again one law RAW rivalry that went nowhere. La Resistanceis giving a threat by Rhyno and Tajiri, but they easilytake care of business. Womens Championship Trish Stratus vs Victoria Interesting match, both Victoria and Trish are bonified sexsymbols on RAW, and they both can wrestle. Decent. Overall an average ppv, no wonder no one forks over fiftyor thirty dollars for these mediocre ppvs. Taboo Tuesdaywas also a flop it seems the writers for the WWE stillhaven't learned how to write up a good pay per view.