Judgment Day 2009

Once again, no title win for perennial #1 Contender Batista (and since he turned on Evolution, has he actually been involved in a feud that was not over the title? Actually, I know the answer, he feuded with Shawn over retiring Flair, but that's it), as this Legacy marches on to the inevitable rematch with Triple H.

The winner here most likely faces Tommy Dreamer at Extreme Rules, which would suggest Swagger might come away with the belt. But I think that Swagger is in the "depush" phase of the popular "bring them in, push them hard, then depush them for a while so they don't get a big head" theory of promoting new wrestlers. I don't understand it, but there it is. Anyway, Christian-Dreamer would be a better match, I think.

Another match that will benefit from Extreme Rules coming up (begging the question, why have this PPV at all, but I gave up that fight for lost long ago), as this is entirely a filler feud until Punk finally cashes in for the belt. Meanwhile, Jeff may or may not be under contract in three months, so even without the spectre of Money in the Bank hanging over it, the result is pretty obvious.

I'm not sure how much longer they can keep Cena out of the WWE Title picture without being obvious about it, but given that they're probably going to keep stretching the whole Orton-Batista-Triple H thing out until SummerSlam, no doubt, this feud will have to continue as well, probably with a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules in the cards.

You know, I would have thought that Punk couldn't possibly lose this match, but then we thought he couldn't possibly lose to Kane at Backlash, either. And what has Kane been up to since beating Punk cleanly, again? Yeah, that was a great decision, wasn't it. Anyway, I suspect that they're continuing to put Punk on PPV in semi-meaningless matches just to continue the idea that yes, he's here, and he could cash in tonight, and I have to say, I'm okay with that.

Part of me feels Jericho is above this, but god bless them for putting two top stars in a meaningful IC Title match. Jericho's an 8 or 9 time Champ, and seems destined to be a SD main eventer, so I foresee Rey retaining in a MOTNC furthering Jericho's slide into paranoid madness.