Well Deserved Praise

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Wasn't really bad for the second Raw PPV of 2005, it was okay in my opinion but could have been better.FIRST MATCH- SHELTON BENJAMIN VS. CHRIS JERICHO FOR THE WWE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP What a great match this was. Great athletic moves by both men it was amazing. Benjamin reverses a roll-up into his own for the win to retain his WWE IC Title. 6/10 SECOND MATCH- REGAL & TAJIRI VS. HEART THROBS VS. ROSEY & HURRICANE VS. LA RESISTANCE VS. MAVEN & SIMON DEAN IN A TAG TEAM TURMOIL MATCH FOR THE WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP I like Tag Team Turmoil matches, & this one wasn't really bad. Rosey & Hurricane defeat La Resistance last with a super splash by Hurricane to win the World Tag Team Titles. 5/10 THIRD MATCH- EDGE VS. CHRIS BENOIT IN A LAST MAN STANDING MATCH Last Man Standing matches are supposed to be like brutal & violent, but this one was not. It was a bit slow but both men tried everything to put a great effort in the match. Edge wins after hitting Benoit on the back of the head with a brick to knock him out for the 10 count & to be the Last Man Standing. 4/10 FOURTH MATCH- KANE W/ LITA VS. VISCERA W/ TRISH STRATUS A big man vs. big man match which was okay. Lita hit Trish with her crutches during the match. Kane defeats the big man Viscera after a Chokeslam {Which he found difficulty in doing it because Viscera was twice as heavy as him}. After the match Trish slaps Viscera which leads to Viscera doing a bear hug on Trish followed by a running jump slam on Trish which led her to be injured much to the delight of the fans. 5/10 FIFTH MATCH- SHAWN MICHAELS & Hollywood HULK HOGAN VS. MUHAMMAD HASSAN & DAIVARI I was really looking forward to seeing Hulk Hogan's return. Too bad the match wasn't how I planned it'd be. Michaels & Hogan win after Sweet Chin Music followed by Hogan Leg Drop on Daivari for the win. 4/10 SIXTH MATCH- TRIPLE H W/ RIC FLAIR VS. BATISTA FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP The awaited rematch for the World Title between Batista & HHH has come & I've got to say that their Wrestlemania encounter was a bit better than this match. After focusing on Batista's back almost the whole match, it wasn't enough as Batista nailed the Batista Bomb for the victory to retain his World Title in his first title defence. 4/10 So this Backlash PPV was not very bad, but could have been a bit better with probably more matches & more time on the HHH-Batista match probably.Overall: I'll give it 7/10 & a B

Match 1: Intercontinental Title-Shelton Benjamin (c) vs. Chris Jericho-Entertaining. The match ends when Jericho goes for a Lionsault. Shelton tries to counter, but Jericho lands and goes for the Walls of Jericho. Shelton rolls him up for the win. 7/10 Winner and still Intercontinental Champion: Shelton Benjamin by pinfall.Match 2: Tag Team Turmoil for the World Tag Team Championship- William Regal and Tajiri (c) vs. Maven and Simon Dean, Hurricane and Rosey, La Resistance, and The Heart Throbs. Interesting match, as usual. La Resistance rolls up Regal and then grabs the tights. Then Hurricane and Rosey come in. La resistance tries to do their move, but Rosey throws them off. Hurricane climbs on top of Rosey and jumps off of him and lands on conway. 1-2-3. 7/10 Winners and new World Tag Team Champions: Hurricane and Rosey by pinfallMatch 3-Last Man Standing match-Edge vs. Chris Benoit-Last Man standing matches are always good. But 'tis not be overused. This all started at Wrestlemania, when Edge hit Benoit with a chair to win. Anyway, this was interesting. Benoit hits his German suplexes, then does one off of a ladder. He goes for the swan headbutt but misses. Edge does the edgecution onto the money in the bank briefcase. Benoit gets up but gets speared. He gets up but gets speared again. He gets up again and gets hit by a brick. It's over. Great Match 8.5/10 Winner: Edge by knockoutMatch 4-Kane(with lita at ringside) vs. Viscera (with Trish stratus at ringside) This match didn't mean much, but Kane seemingly can't be in a horrible match. Viscera tries to kiss Lita, but Kane does a 500-pound chokeslam for the 1-2-3. After the match Trish yells at Viscera. He bearhugs her and jumps on her. EMT's rush to her aid. 5/10 Winner: Kane by pinfallMatch 5-HBK and Hulk Hogan vs. Muhammad Hassan and Daivari-Wasn't important, but great to see "the immortal one" in action. Match ends when Hogan tries to leg drop hassan, but he grabs hogans leg. HBK gives daivari sweet chin music and hogan covers. 6/10 Winners: HBK and Hulk HoganChristian does some rap. I'm gonna go get a coke. Match 6-World Heavyweight Championship-Batista vs. Triple H-Interesting. Batista tries to clothesline HHH, but hits the ref. Trips hits the Pedigree but no ref. Batista gets up and gets a low-blow. HHH goes to the top-rope but Batista gets up and gives him a Batista Bomb off the top rope for the win. 7.5/10 Winner and still World Heavyweight Champion: BatistaOverall good 7/10

A solid PPV. To be fair ALL of WWE's PPV's throughout 2005 have been solid.Match 1 saw the greatest pure athlete in my opinion, Shelton Benjamin put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Chris Jericho. This was a fantastic battle, which saw Benjamin winning the contest.Next up William Regal and Tajiri put their Tag titles on the line as they challenged the Raw tag teams. They won The Heart Throbs, Romeo and Antonio in a 3 minute bore, then won Simon Dean and Maven, but lost to La Resistance. Finally The Hurricane and Rosey pinned Rob Conway to capture their first Tag Team titles.Next up Kane took on Viscera. Oh yes, this was complete with One Man Gang style elbow drops and King Kong Bundy style splashes, but after 6 minutes of slow action, Kane chokeslammed Big Vis for the win. Afterwards Vis splashed Trish Stratus! Next up Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels took it to Muhammad Hassan and Daivari (hey did anyone else think that Hogan and HBK would lose?!.)These two men certainly made the ladder match at WM XXI memorable and they did just that in this match. Yes I'm talking about Edge and Chris Benoit in a brilliant last man standing match. Moments included Edge superplexing Benoit off the top rope onto a bin and Benoit doing to the diving head butt off the top of a ladder but missing. Edge won.Then the main event, which consisted of World Heavyweight Champion, Batista and Triple H. Batty won, which made me realise how can Trips lose TWO times on the row to Batty?! Overall Grade A

***spoilers****Another year, another beginning. With the upcoming draft between Raw and Smackdown, it's our last chance to see some of these guys go at at, and go at it they did.Match #1 - INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP (Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin) What can I say, this was indeed a great match. As introductory matches go, this could have held a higher slot in the event card if WWE had wanted. Best match of the night. Both superstars showed amazing performance with Shelton making like Rey Mysterio. This guy is truly an athlete and seeing him bounce up to the top rope to superplex Jericho was just awesome. Benjamin reverses the WALLS into a pin for the win. (9/10) Match #2 - TAG TEAM TITLE (Regal/Tajiri vs. Heart Throbs vs. Simon Dean/Maven vs. La Resistance vs. Hurricane/Rosie) Also a great entry. Regal and Tajiri beat the "Heart Thobs" causing Simon Dean and Maven to come out. This part was somewhat slow but entertaining. Tajiri was able to pin a Heart Throb so Regal got his chance at a pin with his knee to the jaw on Simon Dean. Then, oh, yes, the French guys. We just love them...they stole it with a pull of Regal's tights. Finally Rosie and Hurricane came out with the victory after an awesome double team move off the turnbuckle/Rosie's shoulders. (7/10) Match #3 - Last Man Standing (Edge vs. Benoit) An OK match. Not as entertaining as the intercontinental match. There was plenty of counting and drops (a German suplex off a ladder anyone?) Edge came away with the victory after hitting Benoit over the head with a brick. (6/10) Match #4 - Kane vs. Viscera - A slow match but, then again, that's what one would expect from the big guys. Kane chokeslammed Viscera after he got a little too close to Leta's mouth. Some other highlights include Lita hitting Trish with her crutch and Viscera bear hugging then dropping on Trish. After that, the crowd loved him, so, it worked. (5/10) Match #5 - Hogan & HBK vs. Daivari & Hassan - Pretty good match, but heck, it was nice to see Hogan again. Didn't get to see that leg drop though. All an all, a nice match with HBK super kicking Daivari in the face for Hogan's pin. (7/10) Match #6 - HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (Triple H vs. Batista II) If you saw Wrestlemania 21 and enjoyed the main event, your bound to have enjoyed this one. Probably better than the Wrestlemania version, it was quicker and better organized. PAcing seemed to flow and Triple H didn't get destroyed like before. There was more of a battle present rather than a slaughter. Refs were falling like dominoes and one even got a massive pedigree. Nice finish, action, and pacing. Batista delivers the Batista bomb after receiving some turnbuckle punches from HHH. (8/10) Pretty good PPV to start off this year. It's actually more of a tribute to the shows' present rosters with the upcoming draft. Christian even came out to do a little rap. It had CLB all over it but was an alright little segment. Also TRUST COMPANY's song Stroner complimented the main event well. (7/10) So far so good.