[RealTeenwolf]

Originally Posted by sirdilznik

On first viewing of ONS:

(On a side note: How much of a humongous disappointment has Y2J's return been?)

how much of a humongous disappointment has his whole WWE career been?

[Word]

Jericho return hasn't been a disappointment at all. Probably not amazing but what I expected.

[Benjo™]

WWE One Night Stand 2008

TLC - World Heavyweight Championship
The Undertaker vs. Edge - ****

[-Destiny-]

Taker/Edge - ****1/4

If HBK/Tista haden't had such a bizarre conclusion then that would be in here too.

[-Mystery-]

Edge vs. Undertaker - One Night Stand
These two have had a string of great matches and that trend continued with this match. The story of this match was perfect. Taker's career was on the line in a match he had never been in and on top of that, the man he was facing is a perfectionist when he comes to TLC matches. So, the odds were heavily stacked against Taker and the crowd ate this story up. As with all the past Taker/Edge matches there was slow build up which I thought complimented this match perfectly because each spot continued to get bigger and bigger until finally, you had a huge spot to finish the finish. Now, to briefly touch upon the spots, they were really damn good. As I noted above, they gradually became bigger and bigger which is how matches like these should be built. The sickest spots of course were the final spot and Edge going through the two tables via the Last Ride. The other smaller spots were cool and entertaining, I marked for the spot when Taker chokeslammed Edge onto the ladder.

Moving along, the run-ins in this match were perfectly executed. Some might not like the fact that there were two separate run-ins but it made perfect sense because instead of all four coming out at once, Edge anticipated the possibility that he might get in trouble more than once so he went with two sets of run-ins which happened at the perfect time as both times Taker was surely going to obtain the title. Not to mention it just continues to feed into Edge's ultimate opportunist gimmick and continued to stack the deck against Taker.

Now, some people mentioned spotty psychology which had me scratching my head after the match because I really didn't see any minus Edge attacking the wrong leg at first but quickly covering that up and going after the proper leg. I'm not sure what spotty psychology people were referring to but if it was direct at Edge stacking a second table after spearing Taker, then that was fine because Edge wasn't sure if Taker was down and out fully and wanted to prepare himself just in case Taker got up. Or was it when Taker moved the ladder away from Edge after taking out Neely & Chavo? If so, that can be easily explained with Taker wanted to minimize the risk of Edge easily getting up and shoving over the ladder. Granted Edge actually did that but, Taker thought Edge wouldn't be able to make that long of a crawl late in the match and he had the wing span to reach the title.

So, overall I thought the psychology was very good. Edge attacking Taker's leg was brilliant because not only did it play off him attacking the leg at Judgment Day but it was also done to hinder Taker's ability to climb the ladder. The subsequent selling by Taker was great stuff especially when he climbed the ladder with one leg. I won't lie I leaped from my chair slightly and marked because it was such an awesome piece of psychology that most wouldn't do. Also, the story telling was good. As I noted above, the odds being stacked against Taker played out well throughout the match and the crowd was really into the match and they seemed to buy into the fact that they could be witnessing Taker's last match. Overall another great match from Taker & Edge. I've come to the conclusion that these two can't have a bad match together. This was probably my second favorite match between the two. Overall ****1/4 - ****1/2

[PulseGlazer]

Originally Posted by -Mystery-

Edge vs. Undertaker - One Night Stand
These two have had a string of great matches and that trend continued with this match. The story of this match was perfect. Taker's career was on the line in a match he had never been in and on top of that, the man he was facing is a perfectionist when he comes to TLC matches. So, the odds were heavily stacked against Taker and the crowd ate this story up. As with all the past Taker/Edge matches there was slow build up which I thought complimented this match perfectly because each spot continued to get bigger and bigger until finally, you had a huge spot to finish the finish. Now, to briefly touch upon the spots, they were really damn good. As I noted above, they gradually became bigger and bigger which is how matches like these should be built. The sickest spots of course were the final spot and Edge going through the two tables via the Last Ride. The other smaller spots were cool and entertaining, I marked for the spot when Taker chokeslammed Edge onto the ladder.

Moving along, the run-ins in this match were perfectly executed. Some might not like the fact that there were two separate run-ins but it made perfect sense because instead of all four coming out at once, Edge anticipated the possibility that he might get in trouble more than once so he went with two sets of run-ins which happened at the perfect time as both times Taker was surely going to obtain the title. Not to mention it just continues to feed into Edge's ultimate opportunist gimmick and continued to stack the deck against Taker.

Now, some people mentioned spotty psychology which had me scratching my head after the match because I really didn't see any minus Edge attacking the wrong leg at first but quickly covering that up and going after the proper leg. I'm not sure what spotty psychology people were referring to but if it was direct at Edge stacking a second table after spearing Taker, then that was fine because Edge wasn't sure if Taker was down and out fully and wanted to prepare himself just in case Taker got up. Or was it when Taker moved the ladder away from Edge after taking out Neely & Chavo? If so, that can be easily explained with Taker wanted to minimize the risk of Edge easily getting up and shoving over the ladder. Granted Edge actually did that but, Taker thought Edge wouldn't be able to make that long of a crawl late in the match and he had the wing span to reach the title.

So, overall I thought the psychology was very good. Edge attacking Taker's leg was brilliant because not only did it play off him attacking the leg at Judgment Day but it was also done to hinder Taker's ability to climb the ladder. The subsequent selling by Taker was great stuff especially when he climbed the ladder with one leg. I won't lie I leaped from my chair slightly and marked because it was such an awesome piece of psychology that most wouldn't do. Also, the story telling was good. As I noted above, the odds being stacked against Taker played out well throughout the match and the crowd was really into the match and they seemed to buy into the fact that they could be witnessing Taker's last match. Overall another great match from Taker & Edge. I've come to the conclusion that these two can't have a bad match together. This was probably my second favorite match between the two. Overall ****1/4 - ****1/2

Mark.

[Andy3000]

Fantastic stuff, Mystery. I was intending on writing a whole speil about why I rated this match as high as I did (coincidentally, ****1/4-****1/2), but you literally mentioned EVERYTHING that I wanted to, so props. I also loved the part with 'Taker climbing the ladder with one leg, btw.

Actually, one thing I will say, touching on what you said about each spot building upon the previous, is that the match seemed more along the lines of a "Michaels/Ramon" ladder match, working a match with the ladder (and chairs and tables) being incorporated and pretty much every spot making some kind of sense, as opposed to a Hardys/Dudleys/Edge & Christian style "Let's throw ourselves off of stuff through other stuff from high places" dynamic. Call me old fashioned, but I'm glad they went "old school" (no pun intended) for this.

Ryder's MANLY chokeslam thru that table from the apron to the floor was awesome, by the way. That's all.

[Ownage™]

-Mystery- I need to watch the match again but I remember thinking some of the stuff they did didn't make sense. For example, the time when Edge clocked Taker with two sick chair shots on the outside. Taker was down and out, not even inside the ring, and even Mick Foley said it, Edge could've easily went into the ring, climbed the ladder and won the match. But what did he do? He set Taker up on a table on the outside and splashed him through it. Yes, he hurt Taker more but he took damage himself and wasted a chance to win the match.

You defended the part where Edge stacks the second table onto the first and then begins to climb but your logic there was stupid imo. He put back up the table because he wasn't sure if Taker was down for good? He should have been focussed solely on winning the match and as it turned out in the end he couldn't possibly tell that stacking another table would be to his benefit. They weren't trying to go for that logic either. Either Taker, Hawkins or Ryder made a mistake in moving the table in the first place or that spot was just poorly booked because we all know that the only reason Edge put the table on top of the other one was to take the Last Ride.

There was also another time when Edge dished out punishment, started to climb the ladder and when Taker tried to prevent him from winning Edge speared him. Surely previous punishment + finisher = an attempt to climb the ladder, but not in this match. I can't remember exactly what happened but Edge tried to do something and the sequence ended with him getting Chokeslammed onto the ladder.

I need to watch the match again to settle on a rating but right now I wouldn't go higher than ****.

[-Destiny-]

Yeah it was a ladder match, it was fun. I doubt the bookers even go into the reasonings behind what happened in the match as deep as that.

[- Styles -]

TLC - World Heavyweight Championship
The Undertaker vs. Edge - ****