WWE Live in the UK: November 2009

Once again WWE graces the UK shores with their shows and I must say I was surprised by how good they are. Sure they are not perfect, but then I would be a fool to expect this.

Raw

Highlights include a great (is a little long) opening between Hatton, Jerishow and DX, an excellent backstage interview with The Miz which reminded me of early The Rock. Match between Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger is pretty good. The main event is a great tag match between DX and Jerishow

Lowlights unfortunately are in abundance with a horrible Divas match between Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox. Many have told me how good Kelly Kelly is now. Sure, compared to when she started she is amazing, but it's not exactly Kurt Angle in the ring! Sheamus's horrible match was almost like a flashback to 1980s job matches. MVP's VIP Lounge was so long, so very, very long! What is worse is I have to suffer a Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry match too! A painful match between Chavo and Ricky Hatton which was just stupid to watch. Seriously, who did Chavo betray to be in matches like this?

ECW

Highlights are few and far between and it seems unfair seeing as the show is only less than an hour long. The only highlight is unsurprisingly the main event ECW Championship match between Christian and William Regal.

Lowlights are essentially everything else, from the painfully unfunny Abraham Washington show, a pointless match between Goldust and Paul Burchill, another almost squash match between Vance Archer and Jason Blackwell. This is not helped with a horrible Zach Ryder/Rose Mendes fantasy scene that made no sense and even a segment with the superhot Tiffany is dull.

Superstars is a show that no one watches and the reason is that it is less than an hour like ECW and feels (mainly because it is) like the WWE leftovers. Matches includeTed Dibiase vs. MVP, Zack Ryder vs. Shelton Benjamin and Matt Hardy vs. David Hart Smith. Would you really want to watch any of those matches if you had a choice? A painful 'Ask the Divas' segment that really should have been left on the website. Do I really want these girls giving me advice? Really?

Smackdown

Highlights include a great match between CM Punk and R-Truth, a pretty good match from Mickie James and Natalya that really proves that some Divas can wrestle, a great Intercontinental match between John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler ruined somewhat by the ending and an awesome spectacle, but just wasn't given the time it deserved.

Lowlights include the humiliation of Mickie James by Michelle McCool and Layla which isn't as entertaining as they think it is. An awful contract signing between Rey Mysterio and Batista that was so dull I have no other words to describe it. Another squash match this time featuring Beth Phoenix and Lisa Taylor which is great at showing how dominant Beth is, but a waste of time really.

Extras include the 20-Man Battle Royal from the Royal Albert Hall event from 1991. This is shows just how deep the talent pool in WWE was at the time: British Bulldog Davey boy Smith, Legion of Doom, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Kerry Von Erich and even Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker! People who like the Royal Rumble, will love this match. Also included is the main event from Rebellion 2002 between Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman vs. Edge. This is an interesting match and really proves just why losing Brock was such a blow to the WWE as he really was awesome to watch. Photo Recap of the WWE European Tour from Fall 2009 is actually a less than two minute thing with clips of wrestlers describing the fans. You wonder why if they went to the effort of interviewing so many that they didn't include the whole interview and not just the generic comments that we hear all the time about how the fans are wild.

WWE Live in the UK November 2009 is a great set for those who were there to relive their experiences and this actually wasn't a bad set of shows. Granted, it is a bit odd to watch these isolated shows and not see what happened the week before or after, but they are certainly worth watching. The two extra matches actually make this set an even more must-have item and those who haven't seen them will certainly enjoy these... probably more than the new stuff.