Batista vs. Randy Orton

[7.0] "Short matches can be good. Or even really good. I mean this match is a simple story. Randy Orton the cowardly snake stuck in the cage with the Animal. Randy constantly trying to escape the cage but failing but once he finally has the opportunity to escape the downed Animal, he instead gets full of arrogance and tries to punt him instead. 3.75/5"

[5.0] "The main criticism of this match is the fact that it lasts just 7 minutes. While it was short and could've used 5 more minutes, it made Batista look strong, even if his injury made this match pointless about a week later."

[5.0] "Well that ended out of nowhere. I liked how they paced it, Orton was phenomenal constantly trying to escape the cage, being an annoying, coward heel, but just when they were picking up the speed they ended it. I don't know if somebody was injured or what, but that just didn't feel right."

[4.0] "A serviceable match, but only just. I don't even have a lot to say because this was as basic a cage match as you can get. Standard cage stuff among both of these guys usual moves. The finish was lacking too. I think Batista hitting the Batista Bomb straight out of Orton holding the cage would have had a better impact than an escape into fake RKO, which only led to a normal Batista Bomb. Orton certainly did not look like the killer champion they'd been trying to make him out to be for months. It also absolutely did not feel like a WWE title match in offense, length, or story-telling. The match wasn't BAD by any means, but there's nothing about it that at all matched or exceeded expectations."

[6.0] "A disappointingly short and pretty bloodless match given Batista's injury, but ultimately this match was fine. It told a consistent story throughout and there weren't any issues or botches. It felt like a typical TV match but that was probably fine given the limitations."

[6.0] "I could certainly criticise the booking of the title scene in this time period, but I thought the match was better than the current rating would indicate. Orton had a very good performance as the cowardly heel. His selling was great, and everything he did felt like an act of desperation to either get away from or take advantage of The Animal. Batista was appropriately threatening and dominant in response, building to a surprisingly decisive finish. The storytelling was effectively and well executed, but ultimately the match was a bit too lacking in excitement for me to go with a higher rating."

[3.0] "Batista vs Randy Orton was bad, nothing happened, I know that the match was shortened because batista was injured a few weeks before but why give him the title ?"

[8.0] "Orton is one of the more frustrating wrestlers but when he has an interesting gimmick, such as being a mega chickenshit, he goddamn commits to it. And he does it here. The first thing he does is try to escape the cage and does everything he could to escape Batista. Batista is really good at dishing out punishment in contrast. He is so intense and scary. He rams Orton into the cage and pummels him with punches. Orton sold the beatdown really well and he sold the desperation of the situation perfectly. The time was perfect for the story they were going for as well. A great match all around. ***3/4"

[1.0] "This is one of my personal least favourite matches when accounting for context. The length of this is unforgivably short and somehow it still feels like a slog. The only positive is that it wasn't the main event."

[2.0] "So Randy Orton, fresh off recently winning the World Championship after a horrifically botched booking at WrestleMania, all of a sudden was then forced to drop the title to an injured Batista in a 7 mins Steel Cage match' L-A-M-E. The WWE Title picture in 2009 was just the real shit at that point, and this alone was more than enough proof. [*]"

[5.0] "It's reasonably entertaining but I was shocked by how little there is to it. It's actually ridiculously slight for being a PPV title match. The finish at least was pretty good with the powerbomb and RKO teases before Batista puts it away."