Ric Falir vs. Carlito. This match is slow but not dull, as Carlito seems bent on winning via submission (he works on Flair's arm like its going out of style, and there seemed to me to be several moments where he could've gone for a pin and chose not to). Flair works his usual magic, spraying charisma all over the arena and eventually breaks out the figure-four leglock, much to the delight of the crowd. Nice opener.

Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Umaga vs. Bobby Lashley. I'm not a big fan of handicap matches, and I'm even less wild about the prospect of anyone whose last name is "McMahon" wrestling a match (I like Umaga, though). So imagine my delight when this ended after about two minutes. Hey, I'll take it.

CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke. A swell showcase for these two young midcarders. This is a solid, no-frills match that could've occured 20 years ago between, say, Jimmy Snuka and Jake Roberts. This isn't anything that'll bring you out of your seat, but quite good nonetheless.

Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels. Earlier in the show, Michaels was attacked backstage, and suffered injuries; he stumbles to the ring here, concussed and clearly unable to compete. Orton beats on him mercilessly, but Michaels fights back gamely until the ref stops the match. This goes on for much longer than is probably necessary.

Hardy Boyz vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. Trevor Murdoch is not actually related to the legendary Dick Murdoch, in case you were wondering. The formula here is easy: beefy Southern ass-beaters wallop on skinny high-flyers, generating sympathy for the wirey underdogs. Sometimes there' no need to innovate, and the four men here seem to understand that, as this is another very traditional, no-nonsense match which manages to whip up the crowd something fierce. People still just love the Hardy Boyz, what can you do?

Edge vs. Batista. I've never quite understood the Batista phenomenon, but this isn't a bad match at all, a nice contest between a power wrestler and Edge's more scientific attack. Lots of great back-and-forth near the end caps off this perfectly fine title match.

MVP vs. Chris Benoit. This is a two-for-thee-falls match, which is usually pretty predictable, but isn't in this case, at least not in the usual way. Benoit is, er, was able to carry even the most useless load to a pretty groovy match; MVP isn't exactly Magnum T.A., but he's able to keep up nicely. Great match, maybe the best of the card.

John Cena vs. The Great Khali. Another great match here, as Cena works past Khali's, uh, limitations to pull off a fun, breezy match. Again, this could've been one of the better Hulk Hogan matches from 20 years ago; say what you will about Cena, but he seems to intuitively understand how to whip up that kind of big match with just about anybody. The crowd ate this one up with a spoon, and I did as well.

The DVD

Video:
All WWE shows are shot on video, and the image quality relfects that. This looks good overall, without a lot of artifacing or pixelation, but it will never look as good as a film image. But that's par for the course for sports (or even "sports entertainment") events. Judgment Day, like most other WWE releases, is presented in the 1.33:1 full-frame ratio.

Audio:
This disc sounds great, the Dolby 5.1 reproducing the roar of the crowd, the strikes, the impact on the ring and the commentary track with great gusto. A Spanish-language track is availible as well.

Extras:
Featured extras include Teddy Long & Kristal Celebrating with MVP, a short video package on The New Breed, and Todd Grisham's post-match interview with Randy Orton.