[10.0] "One of the best Smackdown episodes ever. You'd be forgiven for thinking the first half of the show would be an afterthought considering the entire second half was the gruelling Iron Man match, but it isn't as it also has a wonderful feel good tag title win for Los Guerreros in another really good match with Benjamin and Haas. The opening tag match is a good sprint building up to the cruiserweight title match the next week and Shaniqua's handicap match win was short and to the point putting her over in a dominant way. There's very few backstage segments and no long in-ring promos here as it really went all out as a great wrestling show and it really delivers with the excellent 60-minute Iron Man match where Brock Lesnar recaptured his WWE title against Kurt Angle. Excellent wrestling, in-ring psychology and really well paced for a match of this type, it stands out as one of the best Smackdown matches ever!"
[9.0] "Outside of the Shaniqua squash, this was probably the best episode of the year, of course because of the ironman match, which is probably the TV MOTY along with HBK/HHH in December."
[10.0] "I thought this was a perfect episode of Smackdown, but maybe Im biased because I love the iron man match so much. They kept the Mcmahon stuff for this show way down, and they only had one backstage segment. The opening tag match was a great sprint, the women's match was short but Shaniqua had some decent spots, and Los Guerreos vs the World's Greatest Tag Team was a good match. Obviously, the main selling point of the show was the 60-minute iron man match which I am very high on, and you can't really ask for a better way to close off your show."
[8.0] "Gute Ausgabe von SmackDown. Der Opener war schlecht. Die Divas waren sehr schlecht. Beide Matches konnte man getrost streichen. Worlds Greatest Tag-Team vs Los Guerreros war in Ordnung. Kaum ist Chavo wieder zurück und schon hat er wieder einen Titel und Eddie gleich zwei. Die Tag-Team Aktion vor dem Frog Splash sah ziemlich unglücklich aus. Der Main-Event war exzellent. Das beste Ironman Match Allerzeiten. Man merkte das Lesnar alles machte um zu siegen. Selbst ein Stuhlschlag für ein DQ machte ihm nichts aus sofern Angle geschädigt wird. Lesnar hatte einen Vorsprung von drei Entscheidungen und Angle hatte noch fast das Comeback geschafft."
[6.0] "I do wish this show's first 1/3rd had some higher-quality/longer matches, and I wish the main-event had reached 'great' levels, but since that first 1/3rd was still decent and the main-event was still really good, this was ultimately quite a good TV episode. Mysterio & Benoit vs Tajiri & Rhyno was an awesome sprint that made the best of all 4 guys. At only 3 minutes long it's too short to rate, but it was heaps of fun. NR. Nidia & Torrie vs Shaniqua was another very short match, this time a mindless and pointless squash. Shaniqua's monster spots were okay, though she looked awkward and shaky at points. NR. The Vince and Stephanie backstage segment was yet another instance of the McMahon obsession with making their wrestling show a family drama all about themselves, and I couldn't care less for it. Cena's pre-recorded rap was filled with pretty dated references, but his delivery was impressively confident and smooth as always, plus this rap thankfully wasn't filled with as many edgy sex-related jokes and insults as usual. Haas & Shelton vs Eddie & Chavo was quite good. It didn't do anything to an especially great level, but all 4 men were still engaging with everything they did. It had the usual solid tag-beatdown work from Haas and Shelton, and then some fiery and nicely athletic attacks from Eddie and Chavo (who looked very rejuvenated and keen to impress here in his return match). Their chemistry was very good, seamlessly moving between, and perfectly timing, all their various exchanges and spots. ***1/4. Angle vs Lesnar, the big match that this whole show was built around, was totally unlike how WWE would usually book their WWE/World Heavyweight Title matches, and it was really good as a result of that. Lesnar's various dastardly strategies for gaining control and increasing his falls total was great to see, and he presented himself as an appropriately overwhelming monster. Angle showed good intensity as he attempted to fight back to control bit by bit, and it was very engaging seeing him eventually manage to get right on Lesnar's heels as he chased to even the score. It was jarring seeing big non-finishers and finishers which usually take about 2 attempts to put someone away, actually put either man away here, since that went against WWE's established in-world meta, but it was ultimately great to see finishers as well as big top-rope moves finally given the respect and protection they deserved, plus that meant you never knew if the next big move might actually result in a fall or not, making the match far more engaging. I really liked the story told that Angle would have won had the match gone on longer or had Lesnar's cheating moments been punished, since he was the one ultimately in control by the end. Unfortunately, Lesnars tactics were ultimately vindicated, since he was able to outlast Angle's ending dominance and hold on until the clock ran out to become the new champion. ***1/2"
[9.0] "Amazing episode. Even the worst match on the card was still passable. Both the tag matches were awesome. I would give the tag title match (***3/4). The main event was absolutely amazing. (****3/4)"
[9.0] "Really good episode, most of it is the fantastic Iron Man match and 2 of the other 3 matches are quite good for their length. One to check out, for sure."
[9.0] "Neben dem grandiosen Ironman Match (**** 3/4) bietet diese SmackDown Episode ein gutes TT Titel Match (*** 1/4) und ein für die Zeit ordentliches Tag Team Match mit Benoit & Mysterio. Dazu ordentliche Storyweiterführungen. Ziemlich gute SmackDown Episode!"
[9.0] "Eine sehr starke Show die ganz klar durch den Main Event geprägt ist. Die restlichen Matches der Show waren solide und Guerreros vs WGTT war gut. Insgesamt 2 gute Matches und nette segmente."
