No Way Out 2005: Cena Breaks Through While a Thin SmackDown Card Struggles Around Him

The opener gives the card exactly what it needs: recognizable stars, clear tag structure, and enough time for the match to develop. The Bashams isolate Mysterio with quick switches and grounded control while Guerrero waits for the hot tag, creating an easy rhythm for the crowd to follow. Eddie's eventual comeback adds the personality the champions lack, especially when he begins looking for shortcuts. Mysterio initially objects to using the title belt, then helps create the distraction once the Bashams try cheating first. Eddie blasts Doug with the belt while Rey lands the 619, and the challengers win the titles. The finish fits Guerrero perfectly and begins an important partnership without sacrificing the match's solid wrestling base.

Heidenreich controls too much of a short match without having the offense or pacing to make that control interesting. Booker supplies the recognizable movements, including the side kick, spinebuster, and Spinaroonie, but several exchanges look mistimed and the crowd never settles into the idea that this is building somewhere useful. The finish makes the whole segment worse. Heidenreich takes the fight outside, grabs a chair, and strikes Booker in the throat directly in front of the referee for an obvious disqualification. He then rolls Booker back inside and tries to pin him as though he does not understand the match is over. That is consistent with the character, but it turns an already weak contest into a joke rather than a meaningful feud chapter.

Paul London is the reason the Cruiserweight Open has any sustained energy. He eliminates Funaki, Spike Dudley, Shannon Moore, and Akio while introducing the match's best athletic sequences, including the 450 Splash and a top-rope neckbreaker. The problem is the format. Several eliminations occur after very little punishment, the entrants arrive too quickly for individual stories to form, and Akio's countdown elimination feels especially anticlimactic. Chavo Guerrero enters last with a structural advantage, survives London's late comeback, and steals the title by reversing a roll-up while using the ropes. The result makes sense for Chavo's heel character, but the match never lets its talented field build momentum. It functions as a title change more than a showcase.

The central problem is credibility: almost nobody in the building believes Luther Reigns is beating The Undertaker. Reigns gets enough control to fill eleven minutes, using the exposed turnbuckle, a low blow, basic power offense, and a leg submission while commentary works aggressively to portray him as dangerous. The crowd remains mostly quiet because the match never offers a convincing reason to change expectations. Undertaker's comeback follows the familiar sequence of corner clotheslines, Snake Eyes, the big boot, chokeslam, and eventually the Tombstone. Reigns briefly interrupts the finish with a reverse DDT, but even that near fall generates little suspense. The work is less chaotic than Booker-Heidenreich, yet the length makes the boredom more damaging. This feels like television filler occupying pay-per-view time.

Angle gives Cena the ideal opponent for a breakthrough match because every exchange tests whether the younger star can survive a superior technician. Angle controls the opening mat work, launches Cena into the turnbuckle with a German suplex, and repeatedly returns to the ankle once Cena's power comeback begins. Cena survives the Angle Slam, escapes multiple Ankle Locks, and even kicks out of sequences that would have finished him earlier in his career. The match wisely avoids the expected Shawn Michaels interference, allowing Cena's victory to stand on its own. After Angle accidentally strikes the referee and reaches for Cena's chain, Cena tackles him and lands a final FU for the pin. The win feels earned, consequential, and perfectly timed for WrestleMania.

The cage match is methodical for long stretches, but the violence and finish give it a distinct identity. JBL tries to avoid the barbed wire while Big Show uses his size to control the champion, eventually bleeding after being driven into the cage. The Cabinet's interference introduces bolt cutters, and JBL uses them as a weapon before trying to cut his way out. The match peaks when Big Show catches JBL on the ropes and chokeslams him through the ring. Show then breaks the door chain and steps toward the floor, apparently winning, only for JBL to be declared the victor because he crawled underneath the ring and escaped first. It is ridiculous and clever at the same time, perfectly matching JBL's championship character.