Last night’s WWE pay-per-view at 1st Mariner Arena began with the biggest title win of Matt Hardy’s career, and ended with Triple H coming out of a fantastic fatal four-way main event with his 12th world title.

Being there live always is a different experience from watching at home on pay-per-view, but from where I was sitting (the eighth row, facing the stage), it was a really good show.

The sold-out crowd was hot almost the entire night. In fact, the atmosphere and energy was reminiscent of a live show during the “Attitude” era. I know the ratings for WWE programs have been dipping lately, but WWE still puts butts in seats and sells loads of merchandise.

The big news coming out of the show was Triple H ending Randy Orton’s WWE title reign of nearly seven months. In other significant developments, Edge was taken out on a stretcher after his unsuccessful bid to regain the world heavyweight title from The Undertaker, and Mick Foley debuted as the new Smackdown color commentator.

Triple H’s victory was historic for a couple reasons. For one, it was only the second time the WWE title has changed hands in Baltimore, and the first since Superstar Billy Graham defeated Bruno Sammartino on April 30, 1977.

And by capturing his 12th world title, Triple H moved into a tie for second place with Hulk Hogan for the most world championships, trailing 16-time champ Ric Flair. I know there are fans who have a problem with Triple H getting the title again, but I’m not one of them. Except for a couple hours back in October – when he won the title from Orton and lost it back to him in the same night – Triple H has not held a world title since April 2005. It was his time and it makes sense based on the story lines.

There was a time when I had grown tired of Triple H as champion, too. Between September 2002 and January 2005, he won the title five times, giving him 10 reigns for his career at that point. At the rate he was going, I figured he would have Flair’s record beat by now. Triple H obviously has tremendous influence backstage, and I give him credit for keeping himself away from the title for three years.

Most wrestling pundits believe it’s just a matter if time before Triple H turns heel again, but I’m hoping it doesn’t happen, because that really will seem like the same old, same old. I might be in the minority on this, but I always have liked Triple H better as a babyface. I think it would be great to shake things up and keep Triple H a babyface and have John Cena turn on him.

As for Orton, I think he has turned a corner in his career, and he certainly has several more title reigns in his future.

Here’s a match-by-match look at the show in the order in which they were presented:

Dark match – John Morrison and The Miz defeated Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore: It was a short, fast-paced match and the crowd was into it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but The Miz has really improved in the ring as of late.

After the match, the announce teams were introduced. As usual, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Tazz all got big pops. Michael Cole always gets mostly boos, but I don’t think he deserves it. Mike Adamle got all boos, and he does deserve it. Foley got a great response. Even though it had been out there since Friday that WWE had offered him the position on Smackdown, most of the crowd seemed surprised to see him. For those who bought the pay-per-view, how did Foley do? Without hearing a word of the commentary, I’m confident that he was better than Jonathan Coachman, who I would assume is headed back to Raw to replace William Regal as general manager.

Matt Hardy defeated MVP to win the U.S. title: This was an excellent opener, as these two work well together. The crowd was very enthusiastic in cheering Hardy and jeering MVP. MVP, who had held the title since last May, missed a big kick to the head, and Hardy hit the Twist of Fate for the pin.

ECW champion Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero: Every time I see Kane up close I think how TV just doesn’t do him justice as far as how big he is. Even though Kane has done jobs for the likes of Mark Henry, The Great Khali and Umaga over the past 18 months, the fans still treat him like a superstar. The match was fine, but nothing special, as Kane won with a chokeslam after snatching Guerrero by the throat as Guerrero hit a frog splash. I was surprised that Bam Neely didn’t play more of a role. If this was Guerrero’s last shot at Kane, I have no idea who “The Big Red Machine’s” next challenger will be.

The Big Show defeated The Great Khali: The match wasn’t good, but I’ve seen a lot worse. Big Show is capable of having good matches with good workers, but there wasn’t much he could do with Khali. As expected, Show won clean with a chokeslam.

Shawn Michaels defeated Batista: Special referee Chris Jericho got a nice pop even though he has been acting heelish on television lately. Although Batista got mostly cheers when he came out, Michaels was clearly the crowd favorite once the match started. For most of the bout, Jericho just seemed like a regular referee. He did end up getting in both men’s faces at different points. The finish came after Michaels seemingly suffered a knee injury, and Jericho refused to allow Batista to go after him. Michaels then struggled to his feet and hit a superkick for the win.

Michaels did a great job of selling the knee, and he was helped to the back by two referees. It was a very good match, but it seemed a little anti-climactic because Jericho called it right down the middle when a lot of people – myself included – were expecting him to turn on one or both competitors. I also thought there was an outside chance that Flair would show up, as he was in Baltimore Friday doing local television and radio programs to promote the show.

Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Melina, Victoria, Jillian Hall and Layla defeated Mickie James, Michelle McCool, Maria, Kelly Kelly, Cherry and Ashley: The pace was pretty quick here and there were a lot of spots. Phoenix pinned Ashley for the win. Since James wasn’t involved in the decision, I’m not sure what purpose this match served – other than two give a few losers the opportunity to chant “We want puppies.”

World heavyweight champion The Undertaker defeated Edge: It wasn’t quite at the level of their WrestleMania match, but it still was really good. Edge got a great heel reaction when he was introduced. After a nice back-and-forth battle, Undertaker went for the Last Ride, but Edge reversed it into a sunset flip. As Edge attempted a pin, Undertaker hooked his arm and caught him in the submission move that WWE still hasn’t come up with a name for (yes, I know it’s called the gogoplata). After staying in the hold perhaps for longer than anybody, Edge finally tapped out.

I really didn’t expect the same tap-out finish as their match at WrestleMania. Undertaker at first refused to release the hold, and Edge was doing the bleeding-from-the-mouth bit. Vickie Guerrero came out and was hysterical as Edge was taken away on a stretcher by paramedics. I’m interested to see where this goes from here. With Edge tapping out two times in a row, I don’t see how another title shot for him against Undertaker could be justified.

Triple H defeated Randy Orton, John Cena and JBL to win the WWE title: The crowd was super-hot for this match. During the introductions, Orton and JBL got great heat and Triple H got his usual loud ovation. It was Cena, however, who got the biggest reaction of the night, and he definitely was getting a lot more cheers than jeers. Cena came off as exactly what he is – the biggest star in the company. There is no denying that fans are passionate about him whether they love him or hate him. Once the match started, however, the Cena haters got a lot louder.

At about the 10-minute mark, Cena eliminated JBL by forcing him to tap out to the STFU. While Cena still had the hold applied, Orton kicked him in the head and pinned him, and it was down to the champ and Triple H. They battled for nearly 20 minutes before Triple H hit the Pedigree for the pin after a series of reversals. Triple H then got the pyro and confetti treatment that eluded him at WrestleMania. After Triple H’s celebration ended, Orton lingered around the ring. He stared at his hands, conveying the fact that it had sunk in that the belt had slipped from his grasp. He then very slowly walked back up the ramp.