Cena was good in 2003 but a bit uncoordinated with his moveset, then he turned face and became a patterning "5 move" guy but the crowd ate it up in 2004. (his only memorable matches from that year are No Way Out, WM20 and the June match with Taker) His Smackdown TV matches were terrible in 05 but on PPV, he delivered most of that year and got better after working with actually good workers like Jericho & Angle instead of Orlando Jordan. But yeah, he only became great in 06-07.
SummerSlam 2005:
Orlando Jordan vs Chris Benoit - N/A
- Can't rate this one for obvious reasons. The match consists of a punch by Jordan, a German Suplex by Benoit followed by the Crossface and it lasts 25 seconds! But it is awesome in its own way because the crowd is hot for the short amount of time it lasts and Benoit finally gets the US Championship!
Edge vs Matt Hardy - **1/2
- In under 5 minutes, it doesn't really manage to do much. Despite the interesting background storyline that is surrounded by real life drama, the match doesn't last enough to display the hatred they have for each other. They do hit each other with stiff punches and kicks but it ends way too fast. Matt's face hits the ringpost and after taking a few stiff punches and kicks, the match results in a no contest victory for Edge. I guess their Unforgiven match will be the one to truly deliver so I'm eagerly waiting to get there.
Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero - ***1/2
- Fuck, this custody of Dominick storyline is fucking stupid but as a match, this one is good. The ladder is put to great use throughout the match and rather than focus on mat wrestling, they go all out with memorable spots and innovative use of the ladder. Although there's focus on the family business with Vickie and Dominick both getting involved at one point or another, the wrestlers do a great job when it's about them. Several remarkable moments such as the Back Drop on the ladder leaning on the vertical one and Eddie doing his Slingshot Somersault onto a sandwiched Rey between two ladders. I also noticed the DVD version I watched has silenced Eddie's little rage when Vickie forgets to come out in time. Rey unhooks the briefcase to retain the custody of his son and I hope this terrible storyline is over before they close this feud inside a steel cage a few weeks after.
Kurt Angle vs Eugene - ***
- Pretty entertaining for the short amount of time it gets. Angle destroys Eugene which is all I ask for, Eugene gets booed and also hits a few "nostalgic" moves from his "heroes". Just a little fun match.
Randy Orton vs The Undertaker - ****
- I was sleeping on this one for quite a while. On this watch, I am not sure if I prefer it to their Wrestlemania match or not which says a lot. They get plenty of time and both men do an excellent job wrestling a well paced match with all their signature spots hit. Orton gets the victory after his father poses as a fan and distracts Undertaker. Taker also does a great job selling the leg injury which Orton worked on throughout the match. Just a damn good match and the perfect follow-up for Orton's SummerSlam career after the classic from 2004 with Benoit. And while I'm here, I gotta say that I like the way Taker sells the RKO with the jumping. It makes the move look a lot cooler.
John Cena vs Chris Jericho - ****
- Not as good as I previously remember it being but still great. The problem is the first half is pretty slow but after Cena hits that Diving Legdrop on Jericho as he's entering the ring, things get rolling. An extremely hot crowd with the dual chants ("Let's go Cena/Let's go Jericho") and it looks like both men are even more motivated to speed it up after that. After escaping the Walls, Cena gets Jericho up for a body slam that he turns into a FU for the win. This is the first time Cena started getting prominently booed by a section of the crowd although in here, it's more of Jericho-favoritism than Cena hate. And I can't blame fans for rooting for Jericho after that awesome backstage promo he cut earlier in the PPV. But I have to add that I didn't like the involvement of Bischoff in this storyline all that much. It felt so forced with them making Cena look like some kind of one-man army which didn't help him with the hardcore fans.
Batista vs JBL - ***
- A lot better than their Great American Bash match for sure. This is just under 10 minutes and with the No DQ stipulation, they get to go a bit more all out. A lot more exciting and the hometown crowd is hot for Batista. They make it work for the amount of time they get just fine and the Powerbomb on the steel steps was a good way to end this.
Hulk Hogan vs Shawn Michaels - ***1/4
- Shawn totally carried this. In the build-up, Hogan was too busy with his reality show while HBK cut those awesome promos, specially the one in Montreal and the Larry King mockery segment and in the ring, he does the same thing. Hogan is limited, slow and sticks to playing it safe for understandable reasons while HBK does all the hard work and also oversells the moves as revenge to Hogan pussying out of a rematch where HBK would win to make it even between them. The overselling makes the match a lot more entertaining, though. But I don't know why there was two ref bumps. A Bret Hart return was heavily teased with how much HBK talked about him the week before this show and him putting the Sharpshooter on Hogan after a "We Want Bret" chant but nothing came out of it. HBK hits a bloody Hogan with a chair as well as the Sweet Chin Music, but Hogan still hulks up and hits his predictable "moves of doom" for the victory. Average ending to a great PPV.
Overall: ***3/4 out of ***** (One hell of a PPV without a single terrible match. Two great ones in the middle of the card, others are fun stuff while the lower rated matches are fun. I also have to say the star power is strong for this PPV despite the lack of Triple H. Just look at the list of legends in it. Benoit, Eddie, Mysterio, Orton, Undertaker, Edge, Cena, Jericho, Hogan, HBK, Angle, Batista... and nowadays, WWE doesn't have 1/10th of this.)