Gonna have to be honest. This review will be tainted as last night was a mark out moment for me. I attended Fatal 4 Way live, only the second time I have seen a PPV in person, and the first time I had seats on the floor. I did have floor seats for an episode of Monday Nitro a while ago, but obviously this was a bigger deal. So, while it may not have been the best PPV event of the year, it was a lot of fun for me. I'll be as objective as possible.
- We got a bonus match to kick things off with home town boy Zack Ryder AKA Long Island Iced-Z taking on MVP in about a 5 minute match. Ryder got more of a pop than he probably would anywhere else and MVP was very over with the crowd. Maybe it just hits home more for me, but Ryder's gimmick is golden. Ryder gets the win here with the Zack attack.
- The PPV kicks off with Mr. McMahon coming out to announce that Bret Hart will not be here due to the attack by NXT on last Monday's Raw. Damn. I would have liked to seen Hart. Couldn't hear the rest of what McMahon said as we got a pretty significant "Daniel Bryan" chant going. And that would continue throughout the night.
- First match was the IC Title match - Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre. Drew brought Teddy Long out and said he would have to be the one to present him with the belt when he beat Kingston. Never happened. At one point Drew tossed Kofi into the ref knocking him out. He hit his finisher on Kofi and brought Long in to make the count. Which makes me wonder, if Long can come in and take over referee duties couldn't he have DQ'd Drew for knocking out the other ref? I know, this is pro wrestling, screw logic. Teddy stops the count after 2 and allows Matt Hardy to run in and attack McIntyre while Kofi comes to his senses, hits the Trouble in Paradise and pins Drew to retain. A pretty good opening match. I hope this is the end of Kofi vs. McIntyre though as I don't believe it is a good pairing.
- Match two was the divas 4 Way. Gail Kim showed she's a much better wrestler than any of the others but still didn't get the win. Alicia Fox won surprisingly. Supposedly Maryse had a wardrobe malfunction. Didn't catch it.
- Jericho comes out and cuts a promo about how he used to be the young, hungry star and now he is at the top where people come after him to make a name for themselves. This was similar to what HHH had to say about Sheamus before Wrestlemania but so much better. Evan Bourne came out to face him. The Long Island crowd was about 75-25 in favor of Jericho from what I could tell. Anyways, this was an awesome match - match of the night by far - and the crowd was very into it. Bourne gets the clean win after 3 attempts at the SSP. I really hope this push for Bourne continues.
- World Title Match was next. This one was over way too quickly. It only seemed to go about 10 mins, which was a real head scratcher when everyone realized the PPV was ending before 11 o'clock. Big Show was made to be unbeatable in the first few minutes and in the end it looked like CM Punk might get the win until Kane came out with a casket and singled him out. He got him in the casket but Gallows came out and made the save and was able to run him out of there. I don't get that. 2 minutes later Rey Mysterio hits the 619 on Jack Swagger to win his 2nd World championship. I don't see him holding onto the title for long and I don't see the point of putting the belt on him, but at least he can now make the claim that his first title reign was not a fluke. When guys are champ for multiple times, it looks bad that a talent such as Rey only has 1 run with it. It won't last though.
- Miz vs. Truth was next. Miz came out and rapped to R-Truth's song. He might actually be a better rapper than Truth, which puts him a step above "sucks". Crowd really died on this match. It was nothing spectacular. Miz got the win in lackluster fashion. Glad they are keeping the belt on him. Oh, and more "Daniel Bryan" chants during this match.
- Hart Dynasty vs. The Usos and Tamina in a 6 person mixed tag match. Oh, they finally remembered Natalya can wrestle! This was a fun match to me and I'm glad they are giving the Harts PPV time, though it should not have been placed this high on the card. Harts get the win when Nattie pins Tamina. She should be vying for the Women's title.
- WWE Championship match was the obvious Main Event as they've been pushing that more than anything else. BTW, is the World Title seeming like a second-tier title more than ever or what? It was pretty good, not great. Crowd was about 60-40 Anti-Cena to Cena fans. Most were very behind Orton as would be expected. There was a cool sequence where Randy Orton really came across strong and you thought he would win it. The crowd was anxiously (or maybe not) anticipating an NXT appearance and it came about 20 mins into the match. It started backstage when some of the superstars were shown watching the match and as everyone knew right away, behind them stood the NXT stable (who may be called "the Nexus", so I hear) who let them have it. They made their way to the ring as Cena was all alone and gave him a nice beat down. I was moving around at this point but I know Gabriel and Barrett both hit their finishers. The announcers cleared out, even hopping over the barricades to sell the fear, and Edge and Orton mixed it up with the NXT guys. Sheamus snuck in once Cena was left alone and took advantage, pinning Cena and becoming the world champ. I know a lot of people did not like the ending but I was fine with it. So it ended in a melee? So there was not a clean win? Who cares? The NXT angle is the best thing going right now and for it to continue to work they've got to book them as ruthless at all costs. Nothing is safe - Raw, Smackdown, and even PPV. I hope they ruin the next one too. That's how you get them over. And it felt really cool to be there and see it unfold in person.
So I was 2 for 5 in my picks, and I'm glad I was wrong. The show was a little short but I'm not as mad about it as some are. I guess it couldn't have hurt to stick another 10 minute match in there, but maybe they didn't know how long the last angle would take. Unless they want to go with the idea that NXT forced them to end early. That would be a cool twist. While Fatal 4 Way may not have been the best of WWE's efforts, it certainly has us all captivated by the NXT invasion. I'll be tuning into Raw tonight.
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