Judgment Day 2005: Cena and JBL Spill Everything While SmackDown Finds Its Post-WrestleMania Identity

MNM enters early in its championship run and works like a team trying to prove that the act is more than an entrance. Mercury and Nitro isolate Haas with quick tags, cut off his athletic bursts, and use Melina's presence to keep the challengers reacting rather than dictating. Holly's hot tag brings the expected chops and power, but the match never develops into a major finishing stretch. Instead, MNM survives through timing and opportunism, eventually landing the Snapshot on Haas for the clean pin. The veterans make the champions look polished without threatening to take the titles. Eight minutes is about right. The result reinforces MNM's place on SmackDown and gives the pay-per-view a competent, energetic opening without pretending the challengers are a long-term team.

The match is built around whether Carlito can survive long enough for Matt Morgan to matter. Big Show controls almost everything meaningful, throwing Carlito around and repeatedly cutting off the smaller wrestler's attempts to create distance. Carlito gains brief momentum only after the referee is compromised, opening the door for the interference everyone expects. Morgan enters, hits Big Show with an F-5, and Carlito takes the pin. As an angle, the finish establishes Morgan as Carlito's dangerous bodyguard and gives the heel a useful escape. As a wrestling match, there is almost no competitive structure or suspense because Big Show dominates until the interference arrives. The short runtime helps, but the entire bout feels like a television segment placed on pay-per-view.

London and Chavo work a compact title match around one simple idea: Chavo can slow the champion down, but he cannot keep him grounded forever. Guerrero targets the ribs and uses positioning to interrupt London's aerial offense before it develops. London sells the damage consistently, then creates increasingly desperate bursts through speed and springboard attacks. The match never becomes a pure spot exhibition because Chavo keeps dragging it back toward body work and control. London finally survives the pressure, creates separation, and lands the 450 splash for the clean retention. Ten minutes is enough to tell the story without exhausting it. The crowd is not molten, but it respects the execution. The match gives the cruiserweight title credibility and London a meaningful pay-per-view defense.

The bell-to-bell work is far better than the storyline surrounding it. Booker wrestles with urgency, attacking Angle early and making the match feel like revenge rather than a standard singles contest. Angle gradually regains control through suplexes, mat pressure, and the ankle lock, while Booker survives long enough to create a competitive final stretch. The finish is simple and satisfying: Angle looks for another Angle Slam, Booker counters the position, catches the leg, and rolls him up for three. The crowd responds to the victory because it understands what Booker is avenging. Unfortunately, the match cannot escape a feud built around Angle's sexual harassment of Sharmell, and the post-match angle continues that material. The wrestling is solid. The story around it makes a full rewatch difficult to recommend.

The United States Championship receives less than five minutes and almost none of it feels pay-per-view worthy. Heidenreich's offense is awkward and poorly timed, while Jordan spends most of the match reacting rather than establishing any convincing champion's strategy. The referee bump creates the finish, with Jordan using the opening to land a low blow before hitting a DDT for the pin. Nothing in the sequence makes the title feel more important, and the audience has little reason to invest beyond Heidenreich's novelty babyface act. The match is short enough to avoid becoming exhausting, but that is the only meaningful positive. A championship defense should either elevate the champion or create a credible challenger. This does neither and instead exposes the limitations of both performers.

Guerrero wrestles with a bitterness that changes the familiar rhythm of his matches with Mysterio. Instead of playful counters between partners, Eddie repeatedly cuts Rey off, attacks the damaged ribs, and refuses to let the crowd's support soften him. Mysterio's comebacks become acts of survival, especially when he finds openings for the flying headbutt and 619. Chavo briefly appears to distract the referee, but Eddie's choice to use a chair ultimately belongs to him alone. Mysterio avoids the first shot and appears ready to regain control, only for Guerrero to deliberately strike him and take the disqualification. The non-finish is frustrating as match resolution, yet it succeeds as character progression. Eddie is no longer trying to beat Rey. He is trying to hurt him.

Cena and JBL turn their WrestleMania rematch into the violent championship struggle their first match lacked. JBL dominates long stretches by choking Cena with a belt and chain, smashing him with steel, and opening a huge cut that transforms the crowd's reaction. Cena's comeback is equally physical, moving from the ring to the limousine and finally the truck used for his entrance. Both men bleed heavily, but the violence follows a clear story: JBL keeps trying to make the new champion surrender, and Cena keeps refusing. The finish works because JBL quits before Cena can strike him with a massive exhaust pipe, choosing self-preservation over pride. Cena hits him anyway, sending him through glass. It is excessive, memorable, and the first truly great defense of Cena's WWE Championship reign.