Last night’s WWE pay-per-view featured matches that ranged from decent to very good, and the booking was on the mark for the most part.

Here’s a match-by-match look at the show:

Edge defeated world heavyweight champion Batista and The Undertaker to win the title: As predicted, Edge regained the championship, Batista took the pinfall loss and the build is on for an Edge-Undertaker program. The only question I had going in was, “By what underhanded means will Edge win?” WWE came up with a good one – the old imposter gimmick. During the match, there were actually three “Edges” out there. Something similar happend to Undertaker at Survivor Series 2000, when a Kurt Angle imposter came out from under the ring. It also brought back memories of WCW’s Halloween Havoc in 1990 when Barry Windham impersonated Sting during a Sting-Sid Vicious title match.

Chris Jericho def. WWE champion Randy Orton by disqualification: Having JBL attack Jericho just as it seemed that Orton was about to tap out in The Walls of Jericho was a good way for Orton to retain the title without Jericho having to get pinned in his first pay-per-view match since his return. This will lead to a Jericho-JBL program (they had already shot an angle between them at the Tribute to the Troops show that was taped in Iraq earlier this month), which will be entertaining just for the promos alone.

Jeff Hardy defeated Triple H: The match told a good story, as Triple H delivered a hard slap to Hardy early in order to get him to be aggressive. After that, Hardy got fired up and later returned the slap. I think that Hardy winning to set up a title match against Orton at Royal Rumble was the right call, but I would have tweaked the finish and the post-match reaction. Instead of Hardy slipping out of The Pedigree and turning it into a pin out of nowhere, I would have had Hardy take advantage of an injury or even bend the rules a little to get the victory. By doing so, Hardy would have proved to Triple H that he does have the killer instinct, which would have fit perfectly with the story line. Also, I didn’t care for Triple H’s smirk after he lost. To me, that conveyed that he was laughing it off as a fluke. Triple H’s character is all about being the champion, so he should have been livid that he lost his chance for a title shot. If Triple H had gotten angry and then grudgingly shook Hardy’s hand, it would have given Hardy’s big win a little more punch.

Shawn Michaels defeated Mr. Kennedy: Another match that had good psychology. This was booked exactly as it should have been. Kennedy was portrayed as a legitimate threat to a top star, but in the end, the savvy veteran found a way to win. I’m sure a number of fans think that Michaels should have put Kennedy over, but Michaels is too valuable to be losing back-to-back high-profile matches (he lost clean to Orton last month at Survivor Series). For Kennedy, losing to Michaels after he more than held his own and nearly won is definitely not a step backward.

Rey Mysterio defeated U.S. champion MVP by countout: This was a good opener that some will say was marred by a bad finish. I didn’t have a problem, however, with MVP choosing to lose by countout instead of getting back in the ring to fight. Walking away to save his title is what one would expect of the character, and it likely keeps the program between the two going.

Big Daddy V and Mark Henry defeated CM Punk and Kane: I didn’t have real high expectations for this match, but it wasn’t bad. The finish was well done, as Punk came off the top rope and BDV caught him on his shoulders and hit a Samoan Drop. With the ECW champion getting pinned, I suppose there’s going to be a Punk-BDV title match before we get to Punk-Shelton Benjamin.

Finlay defeated The Great Khali: This match also was better than I thought it would be, and it was the only result that really surprised me. It’s one thing for Khali to lose to John Cena, Batista and The Undertaker, but getting pinned by Finlay shows that his push is done. So much for my idea to keep Khali strong for a match against Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 24.

WWE women’s champion Beth Phoenix defeated Mickie James: No surprise here, other than James actually got in a little more offense than I expected.