No Way Out Reviews

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

I thought the show was pretty solid overall for only being known as filler between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. I was a little down on how the SD! chamber was too much Undertaker and Batista and a coupel of the others didn't play much of a factor. I also was not impressed with the way Orton got DQ'd, but it was better than having a screwy finish. We knew him and Cena had nothing else to do but fight one another at Mania with the winner of the RAW chamber being thrown in.

For those who didn't see it, the Show/Mayweather angle was booked brilliantly. Like the men involved or not, they both played their respective roles very well and the whole thing left a feeling over the crowd like nothing else on the entire show. A feeling of realism which WWE is often lacking in. The crowd and even myself could not tell whether or not Floyd punched him legit because of how much blood was involved almost immediately after the blows. The Shane McMahon involvement was a nice touch.

The RAW chamber match was also booked very well. Despite the predictable outcome with HHH winning the contest, Umaga and Jeff Hardy both came out of the match looking impressive. I expect to see both of them involved in the Money in the Bank at Mania.

The Phantom

This PPV suffered from the fact that there were too many big matches involved. Therefore the importance of the 2 Elimination Chamber matches and the 2 Championship matches were not as big as they could have been. But having said that, overall I thought it was a solid PPV

I’m a little surprised that Chavo got a clean decision over CM Punk. I don’t think they could drag this feud out another 6 weeks till mania, so hopefully we’ll see Punk take a more active role on the Smackdown brand. If Matt Hardy isn’t all healed up yet, then maybe a US Championship feud with MVP could be next on the cards for him? Otherwise I’m not quite sure where Punk can go from this?

I felt the Smackdown Chamber match suffered from there being too many big men in there. I also have to question the idea of having The Undertaker start the match. The guy is getting old now, so to expect him to go +30mins in a match like this when there is no real need to is a bit baffling. He spent half the time on the floor out of sight anyway. Overall this match was pretty predictable, with Take and Batista starting and finishing off the match. Not the greatest chamber match, but certainly not the worst.

Ric Flair lives to fight another day, wooooo. But did we need to see his ass again?

Big props to Rey Mysterio for competing at the PPV. His bicep injury looked very painful, and you could tell Rey was suffering throughout. The match was understandably kept short because of this.

Well the Big Shows return was interesting. He sure does look in fantastic shape, hopefully he can stay that way, and not fall back into his lazy ways. I really liked what they did between him and Floyd Mayweather. It seemed all real. The stare down, the hit and run, Shane McMahon coming out – it was well booked. I loved the conversation between Shane and Show as they walked up the ramp, it seemed so real. But then again maybe I’m …

Well, when a WWE Championship match isn’t the last match on the card, you know there’s going to be some sort of screwy finish. It was the lamest finish I’ve seen in years. There was a 101 things they could have done, but the slap to the ref was just a joke. Cena will now probably be in the Title match, because he technically did beat Orton, just not for the title.

The Raw Chamber match was very good, albeit seemed a little rushed (which was understandable since there was only 30mins left of the PPV). Umaga looked very strong in the match up. He needs a mouthpiece though if he is going to challenge for the title over the coming year – step forward Santino? We all knew Triple H was going to win, but there was that moment of doubt when Jeff kicked out of the pedigree. I’m not quite sure where Jeff goes from here either. The IC belt is a little bit of a hindrance for him, since he has to lose that in order to progress in the main event picture. It’ll be interesting to see what they do in respect to that.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

That's it? Good job Phantom. I was hoping others would comment.. good or bad, because this is the biggest time of year for WWE. If you don't want to comment now, then why bother later..

Crocker

It was an ok PPV, but far too predictable

Chavo Guerrero vs CM Punk

Decent match to open the show, two very good wrestlers and nice to see a clean win for Chavo, I expect Punk to be in the MITB match at Mania now.

Smackdown Elimination Chamber

The second worse elimination chamber ever(nothing can be worse than the ECW Oone), very predictible with Taker and Batista starting and smashing their way through everybody else, I would have like to see Finlay and MVP start and get a good few mins out of each other, Finlay actually looked competitive against the main two guys, it would have been nice to see Mr Porter last longer but he took a big bump.

Mr. Kennedy vs Ric Flair

Flair rides again, Kennedys career is sinking without trace, I expect him to be in the MITB match aswell

Edge vs Rey Mysterio

Pretty good match considering Rey's painfull looking injury. Nice tosee Edge getting the clean pin.

Big Show Segment

Big Show looked in great shape and got a huge pop when he came out that but that changed when he attacked Rey and Mayweather got involved. Lets see where the WWE go with this

John Cena vs Randy Orton

Ok match, Cena's still looking a bit usty but thats to be expected. Terrible finish, I would have prefered a double countout.

Raw Elimination Chamber

I fully expected Triple H to come out the winner in this one, and he did. But for a couple of minuites I actually thought Jeff had a chance. This was the best match of the night and five of the wrestlers(not JBL) looked good coming out of the match. Its a shame Umaga is now jobber for life. I exect Jeff to win the MITB match and get a title run later in the year.

Tyler Durden

Predictable, though that's not necessarily a bad thing, since I prefer that to mindless swerves.

Chavo Guerrero vs CM Punk

I like both men individually but there seems to be a distinct lack of charisma in most things they do with each other. Aside from their awesome "Gulf of Mexico" match, nothing has interested me in this feud and this match certainly didn't. Hard to see where they go from here since it seemed like a feud closer and they're is no other logical face to throw up against Chavo in ECW at this stage. Unless we count Stevie Richards. Which we don't!

Smackdown Elimination Chamber

I enjoyed this from the moment 'Taker stalked outside MVP's cell right to the end, but up to that point this was wretched. I like the logicality here and how the SD side of things seems cut and dried with the main event picture now (as opposed to Raw).

Mr. Kennedy vs Ric Flair

I am always fine with seeing Kennedy jobbed out. This was no exception to that rule.

Edge vs Rey Mysterio

So short (understably) that it's hard to judge this. It was it was and just existed to finish the feud.

Big Show Segment

This was the most fantastic piece of the show. I've never been a fan of Show at all personally. However, I'm very pleased for him that he is looking much healthier. The whole thing was just awesome. I do wonder where it takes us down the line though? To me....even though Show was attacking an injured man.....I came away from it thinking Mayweather was the heel when he fronted up one guy (albeit a huge one) with about 200 cronies around him and then ran away after he got in a couple of shots.

John Cena vs Randy Orton

I've been an advocate of Cena being much improved in the ring for some time, but this match did my view point no favours. It was sloppy to say the least. I actually didn't mind the finish so much.....we all knew we were going to get a cheap finish going in, and it wasn't the main event...........I suppose we just have to put it down to Cena being rusty and probably conscious of re-injury. I quite enjoyed the face slap/smirk finish having said that. And Randy.....start using long trousers when wrestling, you look positively ill out there with all that weight loss. I'm not for one second advocating steroid use, but wrestling is all about perception, and wrestling with small boots, short pants and nothing else does not help the perception of you being some kind of tough guy when you're about 6 foot 4 and look as though you way 10 stone. Dress the part Orton!!

Raw Elimination Chamber

Well we all knew Hunter was getting the win here so.....YAY.....he headlines Mania yet again. He had no momentum going into this and it just felt wrong him getting the Mania match from it. All I can recall him doing in recent times is losing to Orton, losing to Hardy, losing to Flair and doing some lame comedy DX parodies with Shawn. But of course he was getting in the main event! I can't believe some people actually thought for a second that anything other than that was going to happen here. The match itself was very fine. I enjoyed the efforts and the logic how each man was dismissed.

Generally a thumbs up by the numbers kind of show with the big one just round the corner.

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

Since Monday was a holiday for me. I didnt finish watching No Way Out till just now and am starting Raw as I write this. The other reviews were really good (especially Phantoms) so I will just toss in my comments since alot has already been covered.

Chavo Guerrero vs CM Punk

I totally agree with Tyler on this one. I really like both wrestlers, but for some reason they bore me to tears in a fued with each other. I was also suprised by the clean Chavo win. I would also like to see him take on MVP for the US title and then maybe turn heel over his losses to Chavo or something along those lines.

Smackdown Elimination Chamber

This match just seemed like Undertaker vs everyone else to me and once that became evident it also became quite clear that he was going to win. I thought this match was kinda a clunker just because they got the wrong people involved. Props to Finlay for continuing to be over despite them never planning on him being so. I also liked that they are seemingly giving us Undertaker vs. Edge for the title. Amazing its already been a year since Taker won it at last years Mania for what was supposed to be his "big last run". He looks to be getting that chance back.

Mr. Kennedy vs Ric Flair

Wrestlemania can't come soon enough. Flair shouldnt be beating anyone at this point. Even Mr. Kennedy

Edge vs Rey Mysterio

Good job Rey Rey. Do the job and sit on the shelf for another 6 months then come back to a huge pop and some stupid ninja outfit and then tear something else to go out for 6 months again. Edgeheads scream in delight.

Big Show Segment

I watched it 3 times. LOVED it. LOVED LOVED LOVED it. The realism was fantastic. Just like you guys all stated. Its just been desperately missing as of late. That was classic. I even wonder if Big Show didnt realize how much those shots would hurt. It looked like a broken nose to me, but we will have to wait and see. (although most of you have probably already seen haha). I hope they don't have some stupid boxing match at Mania though. That would be ghey.

John Cena vs Randy Orton

Great finish. Although anyone else notice how Cena popped right up suddenly after getting counted out and acted as if nothing ever happened to him? Its the one MAJOR flaw in Cenas game if you ask me. The Rock had a similar problem while guys like Jeff Hardy and HBK sometimes OVER sell. I liked the principle of the finish and sets up nicely for the triple threat.

Raw Elimination Chamber

I too actually thought they may have changed their minds at the last minute for Hardy to get the win, but alas Hardy is back to bridesmaid status. I thought this was a good overall match and the best of the night. I thought Jericho, Umaga and Hardy all managed to look good in losing last night, which is imperative in wrestling.


*** out of ***** for a non-big 4 PPV.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

I think Triple H winning was the best thing for RAW at this time. No, I have reason. There's no question that Triple H, Cena, and Orton are the three biggest stars on RAW and there was nobody else at this point to fill the void. Putting Hardy in there would have been a mistake. Sure he has a lot of momentum built up but he's not over to the point that I can justify him main eventing the biggest show of the year. Plus, he'll better serve mania by being in the MITB match which he was made for. Him and Umaga both came out of the match looking good.. not sure what else they could have done.

Tyler Durden

Lol, what void? Post Rumble they had the returning hero face against the companies nastiest heel of the year for the Title at Wrestlemania. There was NO VOID. All that happened was they had rushed their feud horribly so that they could do a "creative mish-mash" in order to somehow squeeze Poochie into the main event.

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

I actually think the match is better served as a triple threat rather than Cena vs. HHH or Cena vs. Orton personally.

Angel

I was actually there for this PPV so to me every match was excitting (Except for Chavo vs CM Punk since I was stuck at the Mechandice stand outside for the entire match! ) I had almost front row seats which I traded in so my gf at the time (Yes I'm bi) could come in with me since I got with her just like 2 weeks before the event and I bought my ticket a long time ago with my cousin. So I had rather ok seats.

But anyways the matches were incredible live and I couldn't tell much what was going on in the Elimination Chambers from where I was seating since the chamber covered the titontron from where I was at. But I did see the big moves like the chokeslam on MVP from the top of a EC Pod and Jeff Hardy's Swanton Bomb on Umaga. And I didn't notice the chair under Jeff when Triple H Pedigreed him so at the time I thought it was a crappy ending!

The John Cena vs Randy Orton match I liked especially because I was cheering so hard for Randy Orton and I do like Cena a lot but I didn;t want him to win so when Randy Orton slapped the ref I laughed so hard a Cena that he lost that way! I liked that ending

Edge vs Rey mysterio to me was the most boring match of the night but I still payed close attention and cheered for Edge for the first time. As for the Mayweather confronting Big Show segment I was shocked! One at seeing Big Show again and then two at Mayweather breaking Big Shows nose! At first I didn;t know who Mayweather was but I heard some people saying he's from UFC so I thought to myself "oh so he's a real fighter" and then when Big Show was taunting him I was think that I bet the guy could probably beat up Big Show and then he started punching out Big Show and I was amazed and shocked to see that because it looked so real and not one bit staged! I thought it wasn't part of the show because Big Show was really bleeding alot and Shane McMahon was stopping him and Big Show was pushing down UNLV security! Lol!

Well overal I think it was an extremely amazing show and the best I've ever been too!

I've been to
- Vengance 2005
- Raw House Show / the last Sunday July 2007