A match-by-match look at last night’s WWE pay-per-view, which I attended at Verizon Center:

About 30 minutes before the action was set to start, a few people in the arena started doing the Ric Flair “wooo!” and the next thing you know, people all throughout the arena were doing it. I remember when that first started happening at shows I attended in Baltimore in the mid-to-late 80s when Flair was world champion. It’s amazing that the pre-show “wooos” are still around over 20 years later, even though Flair, unfortunately, isn’t on the scene. …

Jesse and Festus defeated Deuce and Domino (with Cherry) in a dark match. For a mid-card comedy tag team, Jesse and Festus are definitely over, or at least Festus is. It’s a novelty that probably will wear off at some point, but Festus’ Pavlovian gimmick is quite entertaining. A loud “We Want Festus” chant emerged while Jesse was in. …

Lillian Garcia sang the National Anthem. I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of Garcia’s pop music or her ring announcing (I’m more of a Howard Finkel guy), but she sure can sing the anthem. If only we could get her at Ravens home games instead of Maceo Miller. …

Rey Mysterio defeated Finlay in a stretcher match. Nothing wrong with this match, but I’m just not that into the Finlay character. The finish was botched, as Mysterio was headed across the finish line with Finlay on the stretcher, and it got tangled in some cords. Veterans that they are, Mysterio and Finlay did a quick improvisation and didn’t miss a beat. …

In the first upset of the night, The Miz won the online voting to receive a shot at ECW champion C.M. Punk. Somebody should have demanded a recount. Miz has to be the most incompetent simpleton to ever win an election – well, considering we’re not too far from the White House, maybe the second-most. Chants of “Y2J” and “You can’t wrestle” – obviously directed at Miz – broke out during the match, which was won by Punk with the GTS. …

Torrie Wilson, participating in a divas’ Halloween costume contest, wore a Washington Redskins uniform. That makes her a heel in my book. …

Shawn Michaels, not surprisingly, won the voting for a WWE title shot against Randy Orton in a landslide over Jeff Hardy and Mr. Kennedy. As I expected, a match between Hardy and Kennedy was added to the show. The crowd treated both guys as stars and they had a decent match. Since Hardy’s Intercontinental title was not on the line, it was no shock to see Kennedy get the pin. It was a little disappointing that we didn’t get Kennedy’s microphone shtick. …

With Matt Hardy – whose face looked pretty bad – not medically cleared to wrestle, MVP defended the U.S. title against Kane, who won big in the voting over The Great Khali and Mark Henry. I was pretty sure MVP wasn’t losing the title, and I also was pretty sure that Kane wasn’t getting pinned. It turned out that I was right on both counts, as Kane got the win when MVP was counted out. The crowd hated the finish, but I was just glad WWE didn’t take the belt off MVP. …

Speaking of unpopular finishes, the crowd wasn’t too thrilled when Orton retained the WWE title by getting disqualified for a low blow on Michaels. Until the finish, the crowd had been very hot for the match. Even when Michaels is less than 100 percent physically – as he was last night – he’s still very good, and Orton is a fantastic heel. I didn’t have a problem with the ending. Now is not the right time for a title change, and there was no way Michaels was getting pinned in his first match on pay-per-view since returning to action. Plus, the DQ finish puts more heat on Orton and ensures that the feud will continue. …

Triple H defeated Umaga in a very entertaining street fight. The crowd booed when the stipulation was announced, as the fans – myself included – wanted to see a cage match. I know Triple H has his detractors, but there’s no denying that he got the biggest pop of any active wrestler on the show. The highlight of the match was Umaga running off the Smackdown announce table, jumping onto the Raw table and splashing Triple H on the ECW table. …

As expected, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the runaway winner in the voting to determine the guest referee for the world heavyweight title match between the champion, Batista, and The Undertaker. The big surprise was that Mick Foley only received 11 percent of the vote, which was just one percent more than JBL. It was shocking – and a little sad – to see just how little reaction Foley got from the crowd. It’s hard to believe the hardcore legend now is just stunner fodder for Austin. …

Batista retained the title by pinfall in a good main event. These two always work well together, and the match told a good story, as Batista finally was able to defeat The Undertaker.