WWE – Judgment Day 2008 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

judgmentday2008
Available at Amazon.com

There comes a time when everyone must stand before the judge and jury so that they can be told of their fate. When speaking of a “judge” and “jury” though, those words may simply be associated with something other then people. All those that you know, including yourself, have done something in their lives that they must face head on or risk paying the penalty for without even realizing it. The WWE is full of those that must stand up on their own for the things they’ve done and the people they’ve hurt. But instead of dealing with a judge and jury; they head straight into the den of their executioner.

In May 2008, at the Qwest Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, World Wrestling Entertainment put on their annual pay-per-views spectacular called Judgment Day. Six matches were listed on the card and each one contained participants that would need to stand before someone else that was looking to skip due process and step right to the conviction and punishment. Three singles titles were on the line that evening and two of the champions were looking to walk out of the Qwest Center with gold still around their waists. Two other combatants were hoping to capture a prize that had been declared vacant. Four men would vie for the WWE Tag Team Championships. And a few others merely wanted to settle some scores.

The biggest match of the evening was one that had been carried over from before WrestleMania XXIV. Randy Orton had managed to hold onto his beloved championship on the grandest stage of them all, but would go on to lose it shortly after at Backlash. His opportunity to retrieve his gold came the next night on Raw, but that night had started General Manager William Regal’s reign of terror as stopped the match halfway through and proclaimed the steel cage match for Judgment Day.

Over on SmackDown, the World Heavyweight Title had been declared vacant thanks to General Manager, and Edge’s fiancée, Vicki Guerrero. The Undertaker had been stripped of the title due to using a submission move (dubbed “that move”) which was considered banned. Now up for grabs, Undertaker and Edge would battle it out again in hopes of taking back what they both laid claim too.

Other matches for the night included Mickie James going up against insurmountable odds as the Glamazon and Melina would look to team up against her and take her title. But greed sometimes wins out over teamwork. The Miz and John Morrison looked to hold onto their tag team titles, but would have worthy adversaries in CM Punk and the ECW Champion Kane. It would be a night of brutality, technical skills, and sheer pain as all looked forward to passing judgment on whoever stood before them. WWE has had success with Judgment Day in recent years, but never could seem to provide a strong card from start to finish. Hopefully this years’ event would be different.

**Warning: There are spoilers to the event in this review!**

~ John Cena Vs. JBL – These two have battled it out before not only on many occasions but also at WrestleMania and at a past Judgment Day. Let’s just say that this is not their greatest match. It moves incredibly slow and just never quite seems to get going. I swear, Cena’s random out of nowhere F-U to end matches is really beginning to piss me off. His opponents sometimes beat the crap out of him for ten to fifteen minutes and then he hits the “Lazy Man’s DVD (death valley driver)” and that’s all she wrote. There just isn’t much about this match to like and so I didn’t.

God, Cena goes from curtain jerking this event to main eventing in like two months. Not bad.

~ WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Miz & John Morrison (c) Vs. Kane & CM Punk – Morrison and the Miz have honestly become one of my favorite tag teams in the WWE. Morrison is probably the only good thing to ever come out of Tough Enough and he improves every time he’s out there. As for the Miz; I used to hate the guy but he’s beginning to grow on me. Is it too much to ask for the tag champs to at least come out together?

Punk and Kane is just an odd couple team if I ever saw one. Not sure why but they look stranger together then Kane did with either X-Pac, RVD, or the Hurricane. This match makes little sense to me considering Kane has the ECW title and Punk has the MITB briefcase. There’s no real need for them to compete for the tag straps when another team could get in on this. Weird boxing match introductions here too. The match itself is rather short and never gets much of a chance to get rolling. I would rather there have been a more suitable team competing for the gold.

~ Chris Jericho Vs. Shawn Michaels – HBK went from Flair to Batista to Jericho all in the course of about two months. And the best part is that each feud was solid and made a lot of sense. Anyway, this leads to the best match Jericho has had since returning to the WWE. Michaels can still go and lead anyone to a good match, but the same can be said for Y2J. Throw both of them in the ring together with the mindset that they’ll both do anything to win and you’ve got one hell of a match coming. It is fast paced and technical from two guys that really know how to wrestle.

~ Todd Grisham Interviews Mickie James

~ Triple Threat For The Women’s Championship: Mickie James (c) Vs. Beth Phoenix Vs. Melina – It appears that the boxing match introductions are a theme going on now. Ok, this is an excellent match even though it is far too short for a PPV women’s title match. Melina has become bearable now that she has lost the annoying scream and heel persona. Mickie is my favorite ever and I love her. Beth Phoenix proves that she is one of the top women’s wrestlers ever with just one move here. She actually grabs both Melina and Mickie in a double backbreaker with them draped over her shoulder. It is just incredible and one of the coolest visuals I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match (men or women).

I find it odd that Jim Ross said Mickie James was “channeling” Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts with her DDT for the victory. I watched Jake wrestle for years and never once saw him perform a leaping DDT.

~ Batista Threatens Shawn Michaels

~ World Heavyweight Championship Match: Undertaker Vs. Edge – EDIT: I saw this live on PPV when it aired and Edge had issues with his pyro that evening. He didn’t get it to go the first time he raised his arms, but it worked on the second. The DVD has the little mix-up eliminated from view. HA! Oh, and Undertaker’s submission move chokehold (go-go-plata) is banned.

Michael Cole lets us know that the title has been vacated a couple times before, but never once has the title been stripped from the champion. I find that hard to believe. Still, Edge and Taker are set to do battle again for what seems like the umpteenth time in the past year. Not to mention they would go on to battle once more at the next PPV, One Night Stand. This would actually be one of their better matches in a while as both men seemed to put every ounce of energy and heart into it. Plenty of back and forth action with some near falls that are very convincing. I don’t care what anyone says, Undertaker is still one of my favorites and his entrance and ring presence still makes me feel like a kid again.

The ending came kind of out of nowhere and was not what I was hoping for as a countout is not the kind of finish appropriate for such a good match. Yet it was made even worse when the screwjob finish decision from Vickie Guerrero causing the title to remain vacated and this feud to continue.

~ Randy Orton Talks Of Reclaiming His Title

~ MVP Vs. Jeff Hardy – MVP wasn’t too pleased at being left off a major WWE PPV, but then again man…you did just lose the United States title. The man who beat him, Matt Hardy, makes his way out to answer MVP’s challenge to anyone in the back with an opponent for him; his brother Jeff. Maybe it’s just the chemistry that MVP has with the family, but this was a good little match. MVP’s feud with Matt was one of the best I’ve seen in the entire WWE in a long time complete with excellent matches. This match against Jeff is no different as both men work well together in this impromptu bout.

~ Steel Cage Match For The WWE Championship: Triple H (c) Vs. Randy Orton – The steel cage lowers and of course we aren’t going to get the favored “escape only” clause. Orton and Trips have had numerous bouts before, and not just in the past month or two. It was nice to add a good stipulation to this match at least making it different. Believe it or not, there were a lot of escape attempts from both men which built up the anticipation and tension a good bit. It constantly made me remember old school matches where the opponents would end up on opposite sides of the ring and racing to the bottom of the cage so they could touch the floor first. It could have been better, but was a nice hot finish to close out the show.

The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and it looks great again. No problems with pixilation or static during pyro or any of the video packages. All looks crisp and clear.

The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and there are also no problems here. Everything can be heard clearly from all the commentary to the entrance themes to the explosions to the bumps and thuds.

Todd Grisham Interviews Jeff Hardy – A very short interview in which Jeff talks about losing his house and dog in a fire and that he’s now back to do everything in full effect.

SmackDown 05/09/08: Chase For The Gold – Flashback to Vickie Guerrero stripping Undertaker of the title. He was then placed in the championship match for Judgment Day, but his opponent would be determined by a tournament. Wrestlers would compete in matches to advance to a battle royal with the winner going onto face Taker. It came down to Big Show and Batista with Show getting dumped out on his butt. Batista was on his way to face Taker, but Edge was conniving once again and made it into the title match. HA!

Cue Taker’s creepiness. Sadly this is only a mashed together quick montage of the entire chase.

TrailersBehind Enemy Lines: Columbia, WrestleMania XXIV, and The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment.


The ‘E’ has delivered again with yet another decent PPV this year. Their track record for 2008 so far is extremely good and spirits should be high for fans all over the world. Judgment Day has three singles’ championship matches that delivered like they were supposed to and a one-on-one with Jericho/Michaels that was far beyond expectations. Throw in a decent little tag titles match and an impromptu MVP/Hardy and all is good in the hood. Cena/JBL just left a bad taste in my mouth and luckily it was at the beginning of the card so it was said and done quickly. The special features aren’t much, but they never are. I would have liked to see a match or two from the “Chase For The Gold,” or at least the full length battle royal. Giving only the highlights is an awful tease to what was a very creative little tournament. Judgment Day still continues a successful year for the WWE as their monthly PPVs are proving to be well worth the buck each and every month.

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WWE Home Video presents Judgment Day 2008. Featuring: Triple H, Randy Orton, JBL, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, John Cena, Undertaker, Edge, and many more. Running time: 180 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: June 17, 2008. Available at Amazon.com