Welcome to The Announce Table, written by Boyo. This is my first article about the most recent PPV: Bad Blood 2004. So did it live up to the hype? Is Triple H vs HBK really over this time? Is Kane worthy? Is Eugene that funny any more? Let's find out.

We'll start with the main event: Triple H vs HBK was a great 25 minutes showcase of gritty, passionate caged wrestling. Too bad the match lasted over 40 minutes. It's fair to say that even the most ardent of Triple H marks would have struggled to stay awake to see the guy lazily lay his arm to rest over Michaels' fallen corpse. Michaels did a great elbow drop - off a ladder, through a table to huge crowd pops - but after that it looked like neither guy could be arsed. Three Pedigrees later and I think we all forgot that we hate Triple H and just wanted this to end. To be fair, there were some great spots, some blood, some fan-dabby-dosey in ring psychology and some great wrestling - too bad it just petered out at the end. So is it really over this time? This columnist says "no". Triple H will win the Heavyweight Championship off of Michaels one of these days; you mark my words....

Benoit vs Kane was very decent - probably the match of the night. Kane was put over really well, not tapping out to the Crossface or Sharpshooter, and Benoit getting the win via a roll-up after all his submission attempts failed was a fresh angle. The good thing is that Kane's reputation was enhanced, yet Benoit's move-set was not tarnished. It was great to see Beniot win (well, he was never going to lose was he?) with a different method, sometimes the Crossface can be "too over" if you know what I mean? Poor old Kane is probably asking himself what he's done wrong/who he's upset/both. Somebody - QUICK - get this guy a mask and get him to shut up.

The Orton promo before his match against Shelton Benjamin was killer material. It was golden stuff, perhaps Grammy winning(?), and even when the crowd heckled him because he slipped on the turnbuckle he took it in his stride, acknowledged their jeers and carried on. Orton was on a different level - not quite Rocky level but, by gum, almost. He had the crowd eating out of his hands and even had time to acknowledge a babe, and she was a babe. The match was good, with some fantastic wrestling at times, and Orton is almost "title-push-ready". Big props to Benjamin, too; his in-ring character is developing rather smoothly and I like the fact that he can jump ever so high. Like a kangaroo with a devastating arm-drag takedown he is.

Special mention goes to the Women's 4-Way, or as I call it, "Double Cross II". It was probably the best showcase of women's wrestling I've seen in a long time. Each woman did themselves proud. You had Victoria just throwing everyone around easily (a massively powerful woman - I didn't realise just how strong she is), Gail Kim getting Lita in a Brock-Lock, Lita's clotheslines were superb, and she executed a sick DDT. Trish, perhaps, was the biggest let-down - she didn't really do anything to distinguish herself, unlike the others. Then, all of a sudden, 1-2-3 Trish wins! Lita and Victoria looked genuinely shocked. What is the obsession with this woman as champion I ask you? Gail Kim is much more worthy.

So why my suspicions? Let me explain. Lita and Matt Hardy enter backstage, they are both looking forward to Lita's match, Hardy plans to be at ringside. Suddenly Eric Bischoff tells Hardy to leave the arena or Lita won't have her match. He gives no explanation except that perhaps the viewer may surmise that Kane will be making an appearance. That's a good start; it sets up a Kane spot during the Women's match. However, when you watch the Women's match it certainly seems like plans were changed halfway through. Lita was pretty much dominating and I was waiting for Kane to come down to ring and do something but then BOOM! Trish wins. I honestly don't think the other women in that match expected Trish to win like that. Victoria and Lita look genuinely confused - poor Victoria was outside the ring "recovering" and when she looked up Trish was on her way back to the locker-room with her belt. Titles don't change hands like that, do they? And Kane never showed up! The Matt Hardy segment looks wasted, he was not allowed at ringside for any reason at all. Maybe they're not going ahead with the Lita/Kane thing anymore? I hope this is the case. Then again, how much Kane do we really want to see on Bad Blood? If he interrupted this match we would have seen him on three separate occasions, and that's bad.

As for the rest, La Resistance vs Edge/Benoit was a solid, entertaining match. Robert and Sylvain did their credentials no harm at all and are looking PPV material.

Jericho vs Tomko was another solid match with Tomko putting in a decent showing. But I'm surprised that man colossus of a man like him couldn't kick out of that swat of an Inseguri. Even I could have kicked out of that, Tyson...

Eugene vs Coach was so-so, but the comedy was so-so overdone. Sometimes they were just pressing for laughs and missed the point of the humour. Yes, it's funny when someone acts like a pretzel and mimics The Junkyard Dog, but what the hell was the cookies thing all about? Seriously.

Overall a 7 out of 10

Boyo