Though the undercard was comprised of a batch of some pleasant surprises and a few mild disappointments, by and large, everything was "pretty good" or better, and it certainly averaged out to a more satisfying overall experience than WM25 was. Not a pitch perfect home run of a show by any means, but one that didn't make any missteps quite as egregious as putting on an alleged "main event" that sucked so bad it actually seemed designed to antogonize (rather than entertain) the fans.
 
That said: where Backlash did disappoint the most was probably once again in the HHH/Orton six-man tag, as once again, WWE displayed a baffling hard-on for pushing Orton beyond his demonstrable level of ability. Having already failed in the ratings in four previous pushes to the main event, he's going to be sticking around in that capacity as YOUR new WWE Champ. Yay?
 
Fittingly, the proven failure that is Orton was crowned champ in the match that came closest to failing on the night. After blanding its way through an opening two-thirds that had the crowd silent and would have sent us home viewers reaching for the remote control if it'd been a free TV match, things finally built to a serviceable crescendo and then.... BAM, something goes wonky and they screw up the pinfall: HHH kicked out, but the bell rang,and the ref retroactively called it a "two," forcing a restart, at which point a confused Orton just awkwardly delivered his patented bootie-kick to HHH without trying to cover or otherwise segue into a do-over finish. D'oh. Insult to injury: the crowd, not exactly sold on either the sloppy finish nor on the "devastating" nature of Orton's cute little bootie-kick, were 95% silent during a "huge" post-match angle where HHH was stretchered out in a cervical brace while the announcers oversold it as a career-ending affair. The other 5%? a tiny minority of body-spray-wearing, fraternity-joining, girl-roofying Orton fans who actually got a barely audible "Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" chant going. Whoops.

So: the match was mostly boring and overlong, got a little bit messy towards the end, and didn't result in the expected outcome. If I may misquote Kant, it strikes me as not unlike the spectacle of a guy trying to milk a he-goat: nothinhg will happen for a really long time, whatever you finally DO get to come out isn' gonna be what you expect, and the mere fact that you tried and didn't realize your mistake means you're a fucking idiot. Bravo, WWE, bravo.

Still, I guess it's heartening to know that Orton's unblemished record of everything he's touched since 2004 turning to shit remains intact. Good ol' reliable Randall. If I know the guy (and I do), we can now rest assured that RAW won't touch 4.0 in the ratings in a "non-stunt-booking" week until he's deposed; the cure for insomnia, catnip for the flipping finger, pure ratings death.... call him whatever you want, but nothing about this dude is about to change on this, his latest foray to the top.

The disappointing thing is that there are actually some fans out there (you know, half-way intelligent ones who read OO and everything) who WELCOME this change, purely on the grounds that at least Orton isn't Triple H. And people call ME tired and predictable for ripping on Randall? Hey, Wankers: 1999 called, and it wants its irrational HHHatred back. At least MY pointless grudge only has its roots back in 2004. 

I digress. All isn't doom and gloom when it comes to Backlash, I swear. John Cena and Edge had a top shelf main event brawl that instantly goes on the short list of early Match of the Year candidates. And before that, the tightly bunched under-card of good matches was definitely highlighted by Ricky Steamboat and Chris Jericho surpassing all expectations. Good stuff.

Here's the rundown of the just-completed Backlash 2009 pay-per-view:

• Intro/Pyro/Etc., and we're live from an arena named after Dunkin Donuts.... mmmmm.... donuts. We're welcomed to the show by Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, and Michael Cole, who now seemed to be our de facto "PPV Trio" of commentators. [Idea: how about JR/Lawler call all PPV matches as a "Hall of Fame Duo," and handle most intro and trainsitionary stuff on their own, but then for matches, a third man is added based on brand. For RAW matches, Cole steps in; for SD, Grisham; for ECW, Striker. That way, you alleviate the oddness that comes up when JR tries to talk up SD in a booth with two RAW guys who don't know how to react and the bush-league-ness of not having an ECW regular to call the proper cliches and tell the full backstories of their matches.] Lawler, proving he reads his OO (or not), spends the intro talking about how "Man, WrestleMania was so huge, but we left so many things unsettled that now we're hear at Backlash to tie up these loose ends once and for all." Way to make everybody who paid for the show feel good about the expenditure: "We can't even deliver a pay-off at the biggest show of the year, so imagine how many unsatisfying loose ends you just paid to see tonight, idiot!" YEAH!
   
  
• Christian beat Jack Swagger to win the ECW Title. The crowd started out lukewarm at best (there's a good chance over half of them had never seen Swagger before, if you look at ECW's ratings; and others may not even have known Christian was back), but took no time heating up, as these two IMMEDIATELY went to full throttle. Crisp reversals and some crazy bumps (including some balancing act work on the apron and Swagger MANFULLY~! tossing Christian out of the ring and all the way into the ringside barricade) have a way of getting fans to perk up. A couple bits of nice intra-match psychology, too, as on two occassions, the guys would go for a spot, miss it/have it countered, but then several moments later (not instantly, but after like 4-5 other moves) pull the original move out of their ass and land it; it was sold by announcers as a matter of experience showing how crafty Christian was and how far Swagger's already come in his rookie year. Excellent back and forth with no real pauses I can remember; just all tit for tat. Finish was more of the same, with both guys having the same basic idea, but Christian timed his better, so his worked... namely: both guys decided to try to remove a turnbuckle cover, but Christian did it deviously enough that the ref decided to focus his attention on what Swagger was doing. While the ref was admonishing Jack, Christian finished his dirty work, then drop-toe-held Swagger into the exposed steel. One Unprettier (nee "Killswitch") later, and we had a new ECW Champ. Pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered: right at 10 minutes, and just as good (if not a notch better) than their last Tuesday night performance. Crowd was into it, too.
   
  
• Backstage: Christian is congratulated by Tommy Dreamer and others, then excuses himself... and walks down the hall to talk to Edge. Edge is all "Oh, so you won your title, and now you think you're better than me?" and Christian's all "Hey, chill, I didn't say that. And what's gotten into you, anyway? You used to be fun." To that, Edge went on an awesome extended rant that what "got into him" was John Cena and how he hates Cena and everything about Cena, but that's OK because tonight, he ENDS John Cena, and he'll be one jolly bastard. So just you wait: it may make every single fan sad, but Edge promises he'll be happy as hell before the night is up. Nice to see SOMEbody finally throw us a bone and have Christiand and Edge interact, though the REAL strength here was the final sell by Edge on the intensity of his rivalry with Cena.
   
  
• Chris Jericho beat Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat. Better than any of us had any right to expect, and I think most observers (even the unbiased ones, unlike me) would agree that until the main event, the holder of "Match of the Night" honors belong in part to a 50-plus-year-old man. Jericho tried to chickenshit it up early, but Steamboat kept catching him and nailing him with kicks or chops. Huge "You still got it" chant after Steamboat nailed a big plancha. In the ring for more chops and armdrags, until Jericho proved he's watched at least as many Ricky Steamboat matches as I have by countering that dastardly skinning-the-cat with a clubbering clothesline, sending the Dragon out of the ring. Fairly standard methodical heel beatdown (nothing fancy; Jericho didn't want to wow the audience with anything of his own, it seemed, wanting to leave the cool bits all to Steamboat), with nary 30 seconds going by without Professor Steamboat sneaking in some kind of Hope Spot (to no avail). Finally, Jericho tries his running bulldog, but Steamboat shoots him off into a turnbuckle, instead. In the corner, Steamboat hoists Jericho up, and then joins him, both of them on the top rope. Steamboat (who retired due to a back injury, mind you) nailed Jericho with a top rope backdrop driver. Are you shitting me? Wow. Big pop and a convincing near-fall (the first one, and it proved the fans were now officially tricked into thinking Steamboat might actually win).
   
  A bit more offense and a few more near falls for Steamboat, then he goes for an Electric Chair after catching Jericho on the ropes. But Jericho rolls through and immediately into a Walls of Jericho. Steamboat battles, won't tap, and when Jericho pulls him away from the ropes, he's left with only one out: he grabs Jericho's ankle and manages to counter his way into a Figure Four (kind of; you'd think after 1000 matches versus Flair, Steamboat would have learned how to cinch it in the right way, but I guess not). Jericho gets to the ropes, but Steamboat's up for his final rally. Top rope chop. Eventually the flying cross body. But only a two-count. D'oh. Steamboat goes up top to try again, but this time, when he leaps off, Jericho catches him in mid-air for a picture perfect Atomic Codebreaker. Holy shit: I mean, we've seen Kofi and CM Punk both manage to take that bump but nobody else on the roster has tried it, and here's Old Man Steamboat pulling it off perfectly. That's it, all over, right? NO~! Jericho covers, but at the last second, Steamboat stretches a leg as far to the side as it'll go and catches the bottom rope.
   
  At this point, Chris Jericho begins replaying the final minute of Steamboat/Savage at WM3 for us: in his best over-emotive Macho Man Savage way, he begins pointlessly bullying the referee and arguing the call even though it was clearly and obviously 100% right. Figuring he's still got the match well in hand, he finally gives up on that, and turns around to polish Steamboat off. Picks him up for a scoop slam. And then IT'S STEAMBOAT WITH THE SMALL PACKAGE~! ONE! TWO! THR..... AAAAHHHHHHHHH DAMMIT I FELL FOR IT!!! Instead of Steamboat completing the WM3 reenactment, Jericho kicks out, and after a quick pair of reversals, locks in the Walls one more time. This time, there is no escape: Steamboat taps, Jericho wins.
   
  Somewhere in the 13-15 minute range, and just really good. Slow for a bit during Jericho's main heel beatdown (but again, I'm guessing that was by design to make the rest of Steamboat's moveset seem that much more dynamic by comparison), but the real gauge here is the simple fact that starting with the top rope back superplex, the fans BELIEVED. They believed the 50-plus-year-old guy could beat the in-his-prime recent World Champ. THAT, my friends, is skill. Hell: even *I* admit I believed when I recognized the basic components of the WM3 finish being recreated. When Jericho kicked out of that, it was an all-too-rare moment of me yelling at my screen out of sheer visceral emotion. Good stuff. Being "objective" this is still nothing less than a very good match (if you're a lame-ass Meltzerite who prefers random labels and so forth, rather than informative and descriptive prose, think around ***1/2), but for the unobjective like myself, it was even more fun than that and a damned fine outing for my first-ever favorite wrestler. Man alive: even at age 10, I had great taste, didn't I?
   
  
• Kane beat CM Punk. Credit to them: this counts as another "pleasant surprise" in terms of how hard they worked... but try as they might, the crowd never really bought into it, and it's not like I can blame them: nothing was done at any point to make this seem PPV-worthy. Good action and pace, though, with a running thread being that Punk worked on Kanes "choke-slamming arm"... but then, in the end, Punk went for a roundhouse kick, Kane blocked with his OTHER arm and trapped Punk's leg, then using that other arm to help with the lift, delivered something that (in the olden days of Taz) might have been called a "head and leg chokeslam." And that was enough to get the 3-count. Huh. Nice twist on an old standard in terms of the final spot, but what the hell is the point of putting Kane over? He doesn't really gain anything, nor would he have lost anything by dropping the match; he's kind of in a spot at this point where he's locked into a middlin' spot on the card and nothing WWE does will unconvince the fans of that. On the flip side: Punk loses a lot, especially if we're to be taking his Money int he Bank title shot seriously as he slides into a spot as one of SD!'s top 2 or 3 babyfaces. Like I said, though: surprisingly watchable in terms of action, no matter the oddball finish, and at just 8 minutes or so, it didn't even come close to overstaying its welcome, either. Now one hour into the PPV, and we've had three matches, and I think all three came off better than anyone would have guessed. Not bad.
   
  
• Jeff Hardy beat Matt Hardy in an "I Quit" match. And here's where the streak of "pleasant surprises" ends, and gets balanced by a mild disappointment. Nothing downright stinky, mind you, just still not even close to the epic video-keeper match we keep expecting the Hardys to give us. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked: "I Quit" is the anti-Last-Man-Standing in terms of "gimmick match gravitas." There's something compelling and manly about getting up at a 9-count after absorbing your 17th Sure Death Blow; there's something vaguely obnoxious and sissified about Matt Hardy half-blubbering "No, I don't quit" into the house mic 17 times over the course of a match. And that's pretty much what we got here: some nice spots, but where other types of matches would have the genuine drama of near-falls or last-second-stand-ups or ladder-teases or whatever, THIS match had a ref shoving a mic in a guy's face after even the most tepid of moves. Kinda spoils any shot at tension andbuilding momentum. Finish had Jeff duct-taping Matt to a table and then climbing on top of a big ass ladder; Matt first tried to use the mic to tell Jeff "I love you bro, don't do this, our mom in heaven wouldn't like it." Hokay.
   
  Jeff, at least, was having none of it, and so Matt finally gave up on that tack: it wasn't an "I Love You" Match (although I now have visions of rolling around in a comapnionable manner with Lilian Garcia until one of us can get the other to utter those dreaded words into the mic I'm sure she always carries around; not safe for WWE's TV-PG philsophy, but I think we'd both have fun!). So to finally evade danger, Matt quits talking about family and just says "Fine, I quit. I quit, no get down from there." Jeff goes down a few rungs, but then stops at the level of the top rope, steps over to the rope, and then does a leap-frog over the ladder to legdrop Matt just for the hell of it. PLAY JEFF'S MUSIC! I have problems with that ending, but unlike the undeniable momentum-killing of the "I Quit" gimmick, I think your mileage may vary... to a lot of folks, it could have just been the perfect bad-ass-Jeff-Hardy happy ending you wanted, instead of something contrived and overwrought. And I think that will dictate whether you look at this as a solid and hard-worked, but ultimately disappointing, match, or look at it as an unconditionally above-average match with no strings attached.
   
  
• Vince McMahon's Shitty Sense of Humor Theatre. So The [redacted] Khali gets in the ring and through his interpreter says its so totally time for him to smooch Santina Marella. Santina comes out and says no, because she's already in love with another man: Jim Ross (who clearly didn't know this was coming, and reacted with a mighty "No Sale" to Vince's unfathomably immature and roaringly unfunny idea of a practical joke). Unsure what to do when JR wouldn't even acknowledge the "plot twist," Santina hemmed and hawed until somebody finally hit Beth Phoenix's music. She came out and told Santino to quit faking and just admit he's pretending to be his own sister, but Santino won't. So Beth says "Fine, then I want to fight you and take your Miss WrestleMania crown." At which point Khali gets all chivalrous and wants to defend Santina. Causing Beth to go on a lengthy diatribe about how stupid Khali must be (and how ugly Indian women must be) if he's attracted to a man in drag. Finally, Khali quits being good natured and judo-chops Beth on the head. At which point Santina decides it's time to defend "her" Miss WrestleMania crown. A ref gets in the ring, calls for the bell, and Santina rolls up Beth for the insta-pin. Then, as Santina celebrates, Khali decides he wants to see some bOObies, and pulls off Santina's top. Santino sells it like a champ and runs off wearing an arm-bra. PLAY KHALI'S MUSIC.
   
  So to sum up: Khali either likes men or is a serial sexual harrasser. Beth Phoenix (one of a small handful of WWE's actually talented women) gets pinned in 3-seconds flat. And the once-bullet-proof Santino continues his string of really unentertaining outings in one of the single poorest segments ever allowed on PPV. EVERYBODY COMES OUT LOOKING GREAT~! Or not. That's really tremendous booking, there, monkeys. It's one thing for Vince's shitty sense of humor to get play for a few minutes on free TV. It's an entirely other (and mind-boggling) one for it to get 15-plus minutes of PPV time. Wow.
   
  
• Team Orton beat Team Triple H, and in so doing, Randy Orton won HHH's WWE Title. Odd start, with the faces attacking the heels up on the ramp during their entrance. HHH and Orton brawled backstage, then HHH came out (no Orton), and insisted the match start as a handicap match. Huh. So HHH, Batista, and Shane McMahon took turns passing Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase around like Ryan Seacrest at Elton John's house. This lasted for 6-7 minutes and then Orton just ran down and joined the fight as if nothing was amiss; no explanation was ever really given (or even attempted) for what could have transpired in the 20 seconds HHH was backstage that would have left Orton MIA for 8 whole minutes before magically re-appearing without a scratch. What the hell? Did Orton have some bad fish last night and have an immediate and emergency pre-match case of Explosive Diarrhea or something, and this is what they came up with to give him some potty time? I dunno, but it sure as hell seemed odd and clunky.
   
  Once Orton was finally back, things went from "odd" to "completely normal, if not formulaic," as the heels took over. Batista was a Face in Peril for about 3 minutes, long enough to make a decoy-hot-tag (lukewarm tag?) to Shane, who then became our GENUINE face in peril for the next 6-8 minutes. Or possibly the next 17 years. I'm not sure, I couldn't really tell; it could have been either. Oy. Plus 10 for putting on a clinic on "cutting the ring in half," Legacy, but minus several million for then performing all offensive moves in yourhalf of the ring at half-speed. Or, as Orton calls it: his only speed.
   
  Finally at around the 20 minute mark, it's the real Hot Tag to HHH... crowd (which, like me, seemed underwhelmed by most of the preceding part of the match) finally heats up as the action finally hits a palatable gear. HHH goes house afire for a bit, but when DiBiase and Rhodes keep getting involved, Batista and Shane have to join in, too, to make it a bona fide Pier Six Brawl. HHH and Orton keep it mostly in the ring, while the other four spill outside. DiBiase hit his finisher (the Million Dollar Dream Slam thingie) on Batista on the HARD CONCRETE FLOOR (read: black pads). Cody and Shane brawled over near the timekeeper, where Cody grabbed a steel chair and KO'ed Shane. Then, as Batista started getting up, Cody lined him up for a chair shot, but Batista blocked it and grabbed the chair himself. Inside the ring, HHH and Orton were doing their thing, and HHH had finally gotten Orton in position for the Pedigree when he saw Batista wielding a chair....
   
  HHH got furiously angry and grabbed the chair out of Batista's hands, shouting, "What the hell? If you get disqualified, I lose my title." Batista is mildly miffed by this, but decides to let it go, and shuffles over to tend to Shane. Meantime, the ref gets rid of the chair, and HHH turns around and walks right into an RKO. One. Two. RING THE BELL~! Whoopsie-daisy. HHH kicks out after the premature bell, and the ref retro-actively signals it's a two and the match is still on. Orton gets up, meanders around, then just punts the still-prone HHH in the head. Another cover. One. Two. And three. Ring the bell again! And this time, it counts! A full 25 minutes, all told, though they really only had about 10 minutes worth of wortwhile material (some of the fun/satisfying beatdown at the start, and definitely the hot final 5 minutes until the sloppy finish). Still averages out to being alright, but in my book, this is the second "mild disappointment" of the night, since we STILL got no twists, no turns, no McMahon family pay-off so that we can just get a sense of this thing ending or going forward towards something interesting. I'd kill to feel like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel; instead, it feels like we'll have more  of the same served up which ain't all that promising given thr trouble HHH/Orton have had keeping their heads above water. Or, rather, above 2.5 stars.
   
  After the match: HHH stayed motionless and eventually medics came and put him in a cervical neck brace and carted him off on a stretcher. Randall's less-than-thrilling Bootie Kick Of Doom left most of the audience clearly unconvinced that HHH was in any real peril, so they were talking quietly among themselves as a small but vocal minority of douchebags busted out the "na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" song for Hunter. On the intarwebs, at least I would have known sentiment like that is just the result of the trusty ol' HHHatred... but out there in the arenas, I suspect it's less that and more a case of Randy's Metrosexual Mantard Army (who I first identified and even talked to in 2004 at a RAW taping, and who were part of the reason why Vince decided the world clearly wanted Randy Orton to be a babyface hero) being heard. Either way, the entire thing pretty much backfired and blew up in their faces: this supposedly deadly-serious major injury was blown off by most fans and a few even seemed to be happy about it. Counter productive to say the least.
   
  
• Edge beat John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match to win the World Heavyweight Title. I'm gonna flake out on you, as I sometimes do in these more spectacular gimmick matches, and just tell you to go see the damned match for yourself. [It shouldn't be too hard to find out there in the web, what with all the illegally-but-easily obtainable free downloadable chunklets out there.] Words just won't do it justice. Plus, not even *I* am wordsmith enough to figure out how a match that featured so much of Edge and Cena just laying on the ground while a ref counted to 8 or 9 should be featured in the written word. Honestly: that was like 75% of the match, AND IT FREAKING RULED. Obviously, it's what happened in between those vast stretches of laying down and counting that made it awesome, but... I dunno. No way will I be able to describe it and do it justice.
   
  So, instead, I'll just try to hit the key thematic elements in lieu of play-by-play... opening "theme" was that both guys knew and respected each other and knew how hard it was gonna be to keep the other down for 10, so they were swinging from the fences from the get-go (unlike WM25's Orton/HHH match that featured attempted finishing holds in the opening minutes, this worked, since the finisher wasn't a "finisher" here; it wouldn' keep a guy down for 10, but it MIGHT keep a guy down long enough that you can follow up with another move or combo of moves; this was all told and explained well by the announcers in addition to being executed well by Edge/Cena).... second "theme" was an extended period of brawling at ringside, mostly involving the ring steps; Edge would use them as a stationary prop to whip Cena into (or to try to Spear Cena into, but to end up eating the steel himself) while Cena would MANFULLY~! lift and throw the steps around because he's all strong...
   
  Third theme was the start of the convincing counting/near-knock-outs, but limited to stuff done mostly in the ring. Highlight of this second was a top rope (not-)F-U by Cena. Edge's big spot in this section was catching Cena coming off the ropes and spearing him out of mid-air.... then, at about the 20 minute mark, we enter our fourth phase, which is pretty much the "Well, fuck, if things like top rope F-U's and mid-air Spears aren't gonna work, then let's take it outside, on top of tables, and into the audience!" phase. Good times. One killer spot: Cena F-U's Edge off the top of the announce table and into the SECOND FRICKING ROW (I'm assuming the two guys he took out were paid plants).  They eventually brawl up and into the crowd, all the way up to the concourse level, and then back into the arena, and back down the steps, and by the time all is said and done, they've basically just taken the long-cut to get up onto the entrance stage. Huh.
   
  Now it's End Game with 5 final minutes of killer brawling and near-counts. Edge with a bulldog onto a speaker. Cena with a DDT on the steel ramp. Edge with a con-chair-to on the steel. Edge with another Spear. Big rally by Cena, and he hoists Edge up, threatening to F-U him off the stage and onto cement, but.... here comes Big Show? Yep. He intercepts the F-U, clobbers Cena once or twice, and then picks him up into Chokeslam Position. Then he carries Cena around for a bit, as if scouting possible objects or surfaces onto which he might drop Cena. Finally, Show makes a decision: he chokeslams Cena INTO a giant spotlight. Glass shatters; that part looks cool and convincing. But then the thing magically "explodes" with the ferocity of a sparkler; that part seemed kind of cheesy. Anyway, Cena's covered in glass and contorted inside the "exploded" spotlight: Big Show gives Edge a glance, then leaves. Edge glances at Cena's carcass and says "that looks good enough for me, why don't you go count, ref?".... which the ref does. He gets to 10, and Edge is your new World Champeen.
   
  Just a sweet 30 minute brawl with tons of genuine drama to go with lots of physicality and well-conceived stunts/spots. Even the last spotlight thingie worked (since there was another identical spotlight in the same position on the opposite side of the stage and they were there all night; it didn't even occur to me that it was a "prop in play" until after Show chucked Cena), though I could have done without the cheesy pryo, I guess. Then we get plenty of shots of Edge embracing his sweet, sweet title belt while announcers accuse him of winning it cheap (or worse, not winning it at all, because Michael Cole thinks BIG SHOW really won it; then again, Cole is a shill for RAW, which is now home to both Cena and Show; convenient, eh?).
   
  After the Match: here come the medics again, and as we get multiple angles and replays on Cena's bump into the spotlight, they tend to the fallen ex-champ. They even put him in the exact same cervical brace they'd just put HHH in half an hour earlier. Oy: there's another reason why the finish of the six-man was lame and counter-productive... they did the EXACT SAME THING HERE. It's like the monkeys who wrote one finish didn't even talk to the monkeys who came up with the other. Otherwise, they would NOT have both done the same thing, and they WOULD have given the "stretcher job" finish to Cena, since his greivous injury came at the end of a grueling/awesome 30-minute brawl and a brutal spot/bump (whereas HHH's came after he did about 5 minutes of work in a tag match and fell prey to nothing more than Orton's bootie-kick). Unless the monkeys have already written the top-shelf, high-drama story of Triple H and Cena being together in the same hospital tonight on RAW, then there's ZERO reason why both finishes should have been the same; it just dilutes the impact of both, which is unfair to Cena since he actually did enough to "sell" the injury angle, and inconvenient for HHH since his injury angle didn't even have enough juice to it to be able to afford dilution. Anyway, I digress.... PPV fades to black with Edge clutching his precious as he watches Cena being stretchered.