Pretty much everything I said about past Payback and Backlash PPVs can be used for the Judgment Day and Extreme Rules PPVs as well. Naturally, if you put 2 and 2 together with WWE's calendar year, you know I'm going to review my favorite matches from both Judgment Day and Extreme Rules in the coming weeks. The original concept of Judgment Day was to carry over from the fallout of Backlash, which was the fallout of WrestleMania. The only difference during the Brand Extension days was that it was primarily for SmackDown talent, while Backlash was for RAW. But in many ways, yeah, this was the "final chapter" in a lot of feuds that had started months ago heading into Mania. That concept alone should have a lot of fans bored, but there are a surprising number of instant classics that took place at Judgment Day over the 11 years it existed. And I'm going to give you my 8 favorite matches from 8 different Judgment Day events today.
Number 8: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (Judgment Day 2009)
Jericho and Mysterio had a wonderful trilogy of matches in 2009 that temporarily restored credibility to the Intercontinental Championship. The match at Judgment Day I think is the weakest of the three, but it set a good standard for them to try and top. The psychology and storytelling in this match was how Jericho was determined to make sure Mysterio didn't hit the 619. If he could kill that momentum and crush the fans' spirits, he'd have succeeded in his own mind. Little subtleties like that are the reason Jericho has consistently been one of my all-time favorites, but especially when he gets to be the heel. This match was thought out and performed very well, leaving the fans in Chicago happy with the show-stealer they received.
Number 7: Chris Benoit vs. Finlay (Judgment Day 2006)
This one's purely out of nostalgia. My first experience with pro wrestling happened on a 2006 episode of SmackDown. The match I saw was a Chris Benoit/Finlay match. They tore the house down and kept me completely enthralled with their ring work. I was hooked from that moment on. So seeing these two go at it for a lengthy period of time during Judgment Day 2006 was a real treat. This is a match for fans of wrestling, filled with technical moves and psychology. A very rough and physical match, Benoit and Finlay went out and showcased the "sports" aspect of sports entertainment. I watch this match with a smile, because it reminds me of what got me into the world of professional wrestling in the first place. I hope that match from SmackDown finds its way to WWE Network sometime down the road, because I'd love to get reacquainted with it.
Number 6: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels (Judgment Day 2008)
As far as story was concerned, this match served as the stepping stone for one of the biggest rivalries of 2008, if not THE biggest. The equation for why I enjoyed this one is simple. Put my number 1 and 2 favorite performers in the ring together and have them go at it. The result will be a match that leaves me thrilled. Even matches that would be considered simply average get a boost in quality when you have guys like Shawn and Chris in the ring together. This match didn't even need Jericho's Intercontinental Championship on the line to make it pop. The story was just that interesting heading in, but it was only the beginning to a long list of memorable encounters these two had in 2008.
Number 5: Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit (Judgment Day 2001)
As far as a 2 out of 3 falls match goes, I thought Angle and Benoit really brought it. It's hard for two performers like them to have a bad match and they'd really found a nice rhythm by this point. Both men had regular finishers and submission finishers, so having the first fall be pinfall only and the second being submission only was a good idea. The ladder match as the third fall feels a little out of place for their competitive rivalry, but makes sense with the Benoit stealing Angle's gold medals story they used for this match. Little nuances they threw throughout the match really helped as well. From Edge and Christian helping their buddy Angle (setting up a moment later in the night when Benoit joined a team with Chris Jericho so he could get his revenge on Edge and Christian), to sequences of Angle and Benoit trying to duplicate each other's signatures, this match really delivered in action and pacing, told a solid story, and showcased why Angle and Benoit are two of the all-time greats of the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras.
Number 4: Edge vs. Kurt Angle (Judgment Day 2002)
A real turning point int he careers of both men at the time. A star on the rise, Edge really needed a huge victory to cement his status, and Angle was just the type of performer to help give Edge the rub. Add a stipulation where the loser would have his head shaved bald, and you had a match that guaranteed people would be watching because the stakes of humiliation were at an all-time high. The action really delivered, with momentum swinging like a pendulum, tons of signature moves being hit, and kickouts happening constantly. Edge came out victorious and it really helped validate his status towards the upper mid-card, semi-main event level at the time. But the real defining moment here is that it brought us the bald Kurt Angle we know today. The baldness brought an end to his goofier days and unleashed a more aggressive side to him. And for me, I noticed that a lot of my favorite Kurt Angle matches occurred after he got his head shaved. Food for thought, but I might have this match to thank for that.
Number 3: The Rock vs. Triple H (Judgment Day 2000)
I'm not the biggest fan of the Iron Man match purely on concept. It really takes 2 performers I'm actually invested in to make the hour feel worth it, as well as how they book the falls in the match. The pacing for it really makes the timing go by. I'll give the most credit, however, to The Rock and Triple H. Those men really brought out the best in each other around this time and were perfect opponents at the time. If I had one little critique, I'm not a fan of the overbooking. The Shawn Michaels as ref factor is nearly non-existent throughout. Triple H doesn't want the McMahons to interfere so he can settle this man to man, only for them to interfere with only a few minutes left in the match (or maybe him saying that was a ruse, I couldn't tell). And the Undertaker returning and debuting the biker gimmick is a fun moment for any Taker fans, but really diminishes the end result of a match that was working so well for 59 minutes. Other than that, it's one of the stronger examples of the Iron Man match that combined both sports and entertainment into an hour of pure fun.
Number 2: John Cena vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (Judgment Day 2005)
There must have been something in JBL that made him want to bring a little extra something around the time of Judgment Day, because he put on bloody, gruesome main event matches for two years in a row. His I Quit match with John Cena was lacking in story, but made up in the action category. The subtext for the match was that in JBL's mind, saying "I Quit" means you give your soul to somebody. At the time, it was virtually impossible to imagine one of them would say it, so it added a lot of suspense to what was happening. The physicality in their spots were really inventive and I was absolutely blown away by the amount of buckets that Cena bled. It's freaking disgusting, but in that awesome kind of way. For anyone that was disappointed with the level in quality their WrestleMania 21 match was lacking, this match more than made up for it.
Number 1: Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (Judgment Day 2004)
This match had all the brutality that the JBL/Cena match has (I mean, look at Guerrero after that chair shot. Absolutely brutal!), but has a deeper, more personal story attached. JBL targeted Eddie's Latino heritage in some very racially insensitive promos and vignettes, attacked Eddie's family, culminating with his mother suffering a heart attack. Things couldn't get more bitter between these two if they tried. This match beautifully and brutally showed why Eddie deserved to be WWE Champion, displaying a "never say die" heart that the fans had to appreciate. It also showed how far JBL was willing to go to get the WWE Championship, stooping to all kinds of low, dirty tactics. The blood more than makes up for the DQ finish, which I'm not normally a fan of. The DQ in this instance helped show just how much these two men hated each other and promised that the feud would continue. JBL might've won the fight on a technicality, but Guerrero won something much more important. He regained a level of honor and pride as he stood over JBL a bloody mess and still WWE Champion. An absolute classic to remind us why Eddie was one of the absolute best.
Are there any that I'm forgetting? Is there one on this list that you think isn't deserving of a top spot? Well, let me know in the comments and also suggest what type of wrestling countdown you'd like to see me do next.
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