| This was the first episode I watched in a few weeks and I was thoroughly entertained.
First off, having Maven be the focal point was a refreshing change. He showed a lot of charisma and comfort on the mic, and hopefully it's a sign of good things to come.
The build-up to the main event was superb, in my opinion. The conversation with him and HHH was awesome, as were the spots where people were trying to sway his opinion. I also loved how Maven was wary of each person, especially Randy Orton and his no title shot stipulation. Those kinds of details are often overlooked, and it was nice to see such attention to detail.
Another good thing was that both options were totally believable, and could have gone either way. Then, once the match started, I also thought it could have gone either way. The teased dissention between HHH and Batista was good, because it made me think maybe Batista would turn. The match itself may have been a mess, but the build-up was brilliant.
The other matches on the show were solid, and it was great seeing E+C back together. They were my favorite tag team for a while, and it was good that they made a big deal about them reuniting.
looking ahead, I think each of the 4 Survivor Series winners will book himself against HHH, and HHH will win every week until the last, where either Benoit or Jericho will win the title thanks to a Batista face turn. |