Weekly Rundown: 30th March – 5th April 2009 (WrestleMania XXV Edition)
Raw 30/03/2009
ECW 31/03/2009
Smackdown 03/04/2009
The Raw Review - 30/03/2009
Welcome to the final Raw Review in the lead up to WrestleManiaXXV! Before the title credits we are shown a hearse in the parking lot as The Undertaker’s music plays ominously. We are then informed by the commentary team that there will be a ‘funeral for Mr. Wrestlemania’ hosted by the Deadman tonight, as well as a match between The Big Show and John Cena.
Opening Match
Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Eve Torres, Tiffany, Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, Maria, Mickey James & Melina
Vs.
Natalya, Jillian Hall, Layla, Nikki Bella, Maryse, Beth Phoenix, Katie-Lee, Michelle McCool & Rosa Mendes
By the time I’d worked out who was on the heel team (as they were already in the ring as the show got underway, so didn’t get announced) this match was all but over. Hardly any of the Diva’s got involved and the match concluded when Tiffany (who I haven’t really seen or heard anything about) picked up the win over Katie-Lee who had just tagged herself into the match at the Glamazon’s expense.
As soon as the match finished Santino’s music hit the speakers and he made his way to the ring in a silk dressing gown, informing the diva’s in the ring that despite failing to qualify for the Diva Battle Royal at WrestleMania, he had gone over her head in order to get himself in.
He said he went all the way to the top, to WWE President Jack Tunney (Tunney was an on-screen President of the company in the mid-80′s in an attempt to appeal to the Canadian market as the company expanded) and said that he found out that he had actually passed away years previous. Despite this Santino said he WILL be heard, and announced that he was more dominant than all the divas including Beth, and would prove it in a swimuit contest.
Once in the ring he revealed that he was wearing a Mankini, and proceeded to dance around while the selection of diva’s looked on in horror. Eventually it became too much and they attacked him en-masse and dumped him out of the ring, where Beth and Rosa Mendes ran to his aid.
Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Eve Torres, Tiffany, Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, Maria, Mickey Jame & Melina win by Pinfall.
Match 2
Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler Vs. Chris Jericho
This one should be fun to watch and it’ll be interesting to see what Lawler still has in the tank with regards to wrestling. I don’t expect it will run for too long and I can’t see a result other than a Jericho victory, as all a Lawler victory would do is dent Jericho’s credibility going into WrestleMania.
Jericho started this match with real aggression, and dominated Lawler for what seemed like an age before The King finally began to mount some offence. His attempts were futile as moments later Jericho pulled the legs from under him and locked on the Walls of Jericho to end the match.
Jericho looked to be leaving after the match, but then seemed to change his mind and re-entered the ring. After shouting abuse at his fallen opponent and standing him up, Lawler stunned him with a punch and sent him rolling from the ring. Lawler beckoned him back into the ring but Jericho grabbed a micraphone and said he didn’t need to as he’d already won the match, then he continued to waffle on about how he was going to beat his opponents at Mania while walking up the ramp.
He claimed that the imminent loss and beating of his 3 legendary opponents was on the conscience of Mickey Rourke, as it was his ‘moment of false bravado on the red carpet’ that had led to this match at WrestleMania. Jericho actually fluffed his lines pretty badly on this one, but recovered well.
Chris Jericho wins by Submission.
Segment 1
Cena, Edge, Priceless and HBK
Todd began to ask Cena how he rated his chances at WrestleMania, but before he could even finish his question Edge interrupted and said that given his opponents, Cena’s chances of winning at Mania were nil. After Grisham had left, Edge said things didn’t have to be that way. He went over how Show had knocked both of them out in the past few weeks and that the only way either of them stood a chance was to team up and take him out of the equation before fighting it out themselves.
Cena said that made sense, but he’s never trusted Edge and would rather lose alone than win with his assistance.
After this Cole told us that Orton would later make a ‘WrestleMania Address’ and then asked Priceless what kinds of things he was going to say. Rhodes said he would address the incidents of last week and with the McMahon family, before DiBiase said this wasn’t the only focus of the address. He then said that Orton had an announcement that affected the whole of the WWE Universe, which will change significantly following WrestleMania.
Finally in this segment we cut back to the hearse from earlier, where a coffin has been removed. The coffin is opened by the driver and Shawn Michaels appears from inside it. He says something along the lines of ‘Were you expecting someone else?’ but the sound equipment didn’t work and it ended up looking like he was miming it.
After the break it was then replayed with audio before Jerry Lawler made his way back to ringside to resume his announcing duties.
Match 3
Rey Mysterio Vs. JBL
So let me get this straight, 6 days before Rey and JBL are set to meet at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship, the creative team decide ‘I know what! We’ll put on exactly the same match…for free…on Raw!’.
This could be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. Not only has this match been done to death in the past with much higher stakes, they now decide to have the two guys meet in exactly the same circumstances as the match they are hoping will draw buys for the Pay Per View. So the IC title will be on the line at Mania… great. It’ll still be the same two guys fighting in the same type of match.
As if the match at Mania wasn’t going to suck badly enough (mainly because we’ve seen it before, a lot), they now decide to force it down our throat on Raw too.
As with pretty much all the bouts between these two (or in fact most matches that are Rey Vs. someone bigger than him) JBL dominated the match only for Rey to steal one at the end with a 619/splash combination.
Rey Mysterio wins by Pinfall.
Match 4
The Big Show Vs. John Cena
Back to slightly more sensible hype of WrestleMania matches, this one may give us a glimpse of what’s to come at Mania, without actually showing us the exact same match.
Show understandably started this one in the driving seat and maintained control for over half the match, derailing any and all attempts Cena made at knocking the giant off his feet. Show looked like he might have cost himself the match at one point when he went for some sort of splash from the second rope which Cena dodged and replied to with a top rope Fameasser.
After a commercial break The Big Show had once again gained the upper hand and before long called for the Showstopper Chokeslam. Cena reversed this awfully into a DDT and then tried in vain to lock in the STF, before Show batted him away and began to prepare for the Knockout Punch. Cena dodged this, but then failed in his attempts at an F-U/Attitude Adjustment before Show wrapped up the match with a Chokeslam.
After the bell had rung Edge slid into the ring and looked like he may go for Show, but instead pounced on the fallen Cena and beat the hell out of him before a number of officials dragged him away.
The Big Show wins by Pinfall.
Segment 2
Funeral for Mr. Wrestlemania The Undertaker
HBK makes his way to the ring, which now contains a casket, some stills of Michaels and wreathes. HBK informs his opponent that this funeral is in fact for him before outlining that every time they had met in the past Micheals had come out on top, and this Sunday will be no different.
After another few minutes Shawn wrapped it up and the lights went down. When they came back up Taker was in the ring and Michaels was nowhere to be seen, although the casket that was open had now closed. Taker realised this (about 5 minutes after everyone else) and threw the lid open only to find it empty. Seconds later Michaels slid out from under the casket and hit a Sweet Chin Music, once again getting the upper hand on The Deadman.
Surely he can’t win at Mania now can he?
Main Event Match
C.M Punk Vs. Kane Vs. M.V.P Vs. Shelton Benjamin Vs. Mark Henry Vs. Kofi Kingston Vs. Christian Vs. Finlay (w/Hornswaggle) in an Over-the-Top Battle Royal Match
Order of Elimination:
- Finlay eliminated by Mark Henry
- Mark Henry eliminated by Everyone Else
- Shelton Benjamin eliminated by Kane
- M.V.P eliminated by Kane
- Kofi Kingston eliminated by C.M Punk
- C.M Punk eliminated by Kane
- Christian eliminated by Kane
As always, I love a good Battle Royal so I enjoyed this one, but as they go it was nothing out of the ordinary. Kane got the victory here and it seems that all the signs are pointing to him being the favorite come WrestleMania, although I doubt highly that when it comes down to it he will be leaving with the briefcase.
Kane wins the Battle Royal Match.
Segment 3
Orton’s WrestleMania Address
Orton kicked this segment off with a little bit of self-promotion, reminding everyone of how he had become the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history before explaining that his mentor, Triple H had turned on him the following night in a fit of jealous rage. He then showed clips of Evolution turning on him.
Orton said that since that moment it had been his plan to ruin Triple H’s life, but he had to wait until he had got a solid group behind him, until Triple H was at an even higher level than he was back then, and when Triple H had something that he cared about even more than the World Title.
Orton then claimed this process began at Royal Rumble, when he eliminated Triple H to become the No. 1 contender at WrestleMania, cue another clip of the aformentioned event. After this clip Orton said simply taking the title from The Game at Mania wasn’t enough, and so he began to take out his family one member at a time, you guessed it; another clip montage.
After this Orton finally admitted that he was in control and aware of his actions the whole time, and I.E.D was just a cover for this. The crowd had began to show their disgust by now and Orton exploded at them, claiming if they didn’t sit down, shut up and listen to the rest of what he had to say he would get p*ssed off, something they didn’t want to happen.
Finally in Orton’s clip show he displayed the events of last week’s Raw (See Raw’s Main Event Match). After this Orton dropped the bombshell that if Triple H gets disqualified or counted out at WrestleMania he loses his WWE Championship, furthermore if he even shows up with a Sledgehammer he will be instantly disqualified.
Just as Orton began to inform us why him having the title would change the WWE landscape a car was shown on the TitanTron pulling into the arena. Orton called out Priceless and his personal security and told them to guard the rampway, before telling Triple H to come out if he dared.
Just as everyone expected The Game’s music to play, Vince McMahon’s signature tune boomed out around the arena and the WWE Chairman made his way out from the back. As he began to remove his jacket Shane McMahon’s theme also played and he was joined on the stage by his son. Finally Triple H joined them and the three men made light work of the security, before bearing down on Legacy who stood watching from the ring.
A brawl ensued with Triple H and Orton going at it in the ring while Vince took care of DiBiase and Shane dealt with Rhodes. As Raw went off the air the McMahons and Triple H seemed to be in firm control of the situation.
Fantastic end to Raw and just the thing to get everyone interested in WrestleMania!
The ECW Digest – 31/03/2009
Opening Match
Finlay (w/Hornswaggle) & Christian Vs. Mark Henry (w/Tony Atlas) & Kane
Another Money in the Bank themed match but slightly toned down in comparison to the 8 man battles we’ve seen recently. The highlight of the match came from the slammy award winning commentary team when they speculated if a normal ladder would be enough to hold the weight of Mark Henry.
Christian looked like he might have the match won with The Fulcrum Prison Blues (wondering why it’s called that? Click here and see the opening match of the ECW Digest) but after attempting to finish the match with a cross body from the top rope, Henry caught him and delivered a Worlds Strongest Slam to pick up the 3.
After the match Henry attacked his partner Kane, again proving there are no friends in the Money in the Bank Match.
Mark Henry & Kane win by Pinfall.
Main Event Match
Nikki Bella (w/ The Miz & Morrison) Vs. Brie Bella (w/Carlito & Primo)
That’s right WWEBlog.co.uk fans, you read it correctly, we’re at the main event already AND it’s a diva’s match between the Bella Twins.
So after watching about 25 minutes of WrestleMania hype promo’s (not to mention commercial breaks), we’re treated to THIS match. Don’t get me wrong the Bella’s aren’t bad, infact as diva’s go they are very competent wrestlers.That being said, is this really the best match to wrap up the pre-WMXXV ECW with?
This should have started the show and the tag match should have finished things if anything, but to have a 1 hour show in which there was only (and I worked this out bell to bell) 8mins 50 seconds of ACTUAL new material, feels like a slap in the face.
I feel like I wasted an hour of my life doing this, if I’d wanted a recap of all the WrestleMania matches I’d have watched the previews on the Box Office channel (Or *Cheap Pop* I’d have read the WWEBlog.co.uk Previews and Predictions articles)
For anyone who cares, Nikki grabbed the win after both sets of champions had done their part in distracting the referee.
Nikki Bella wins by Pinfall.
The Smackdown Summary - 03/04/2009
What a hassle bringing you the Smackdown Summary has been this week! In many countries around the world (including the UK) Smackdown was inexplicably replaced by a ‘Best of WrestleMania’ special. At first I thought along the lines of ‘oh, must be having a day off before the big one’, that was until I remembered there was a U.S Championship match scheduled.
Smackdown was eventually shown here the day after and so I can finally bring this to you, after all the fuss it really didn’t turn out to be worth it.
In other Smackdown news (I’m sure everyone knows by now) Tazz’s contract expired this week and he chose not to renew it, leaving the company on Tuesday and making this his last broadcast.
That is unless he does them a huge favour and calls WrestleMania. I really really hope he does, but don’t be surprised if Matt Striker gets the nod and calls the Smackdown bouts alongside J.R.
Opening Match
Michelle McCool & Maryse Vs. Gail Kim & Maria
A nice bit of Diva’s action here but nothing important.
Maryse and McCool seemed to work well together in the early going, keeping Maria isolated in their corner and making frequent tags. It wasn’t long until Maria managed to get the tag and Gail Kim jumped in the ring and destroyed both her opponents, picking up the win shortly after with a modified Neckbreaker.
It looks like they might be pushing Kim and I’m starting to wish that I’d picked her for the Diva Battle Royal.
Gail Kim and Maria win by Pinfall.
Segment 1
M.V.P’s 3 Step Plan
After the previous match Eve asked M.V.P who was going to go to WrestleMania as United States Champion. M.V.P explained that tonight was part of a 3 step plan:
1. Beat Shelton and retain the U.S Title
2.Win the Money in the Bank Match
3.Cash it in and win a Heavyweight Championship
Just as he had finished outlining this, Shelton interrupted and said that M.V.P isn’t just facing anyone, he’s facing The Gold Standard, who will take back the U.S Championship tonight. M.V.P replied by telling Shelton that he considers him to be the best of the best, but that he still won’t win the title back tonight.
Segment 2
Axxess and Edge
After this we had some clips of WWE Fan Axxess, which looked pretty cool. Todd Grisham and The King looked at the back story of the matches at Mania while the fans enjoyed themselves in the background.
During the recap for the World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat match Edge delivered a piece to camera about how he had an epiphany while he was beating the hell out of Cena on Raw. He basically said that he’d been too distracted by Vikki and that the Title was the most important thing in his life, because it proves he is the best at what he does and he will never ever let it go.
He admitted that Big Show was bigger than him (Really? I must have overlooked that!) and Cena was stronger than him, but he was better than both of them and at WrestleMania he was going to prove it.
After a look at the build up to the 25 Diva Battle Royal, which included another chance to see Santino in his Mankini, it was time for the United States Championship Match.
Match 2
M.V.P (c) Vs. Shelton Benjamin for the United States Championship Match
This was a good match and great promotion for the Money in the Bank. Shelton and M.V.P both looked sharp and surprisingly the fans seemed to be into this match like it was a World title bout.
Shelton looked like he might have it won with a ‘Throwback’ from the top rope, but M.V.P kicked out to the crowds delight. Moments later he hit a big boot and then wrapped up the match with a Playmaker, retaining the United States Championship.
I don’t think this is the last time these two men will compete for the U.S Championship and after seeing this match I really hope I’m right.
M.V.P wins by Pinfall and retains the United States Championship.
Main Event Match
Jeff Hardy Vs. Ezekiel Jackson (w/Brian Kendrick) in an Extreme Rules Match
After more footage from Axxess including a fantastic Stone Cold montage, we got to the main event match.
Jeff had gone with some sort of green and white alligator like face paint for tonight’s match, I’m pretty sure he’s only 2 or 3 weeks away from becoming the new Doink.
As for the match, I’m struggling to understand why they bothered classing this one as an extreme rules. The majority of the bout seemed to be Jackson bearhugging Hardy, which felt like it went on for days. The only time this one came close to being extreme was when Jeff knocked Jackson over the top rope and then cross bodied him and Kendrick.
No weapons, no illegal moves, no interference from Kendrick (not effective interference at least).
Jeff won it with a Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb but it seemed pretty obvious they were doing all they could to preserve him going into WrestleMania. Quite frankly a bit of a let-down for a match that was touted as ‘Extreme Rules’ and the last thing we see before WrestleMania.
Jeff Hardy wins by Pinfall.
The biggest Pay Per View of the year! Wrestlemania is where Stars are Born, Champions are Crowned and Legends are Made.
Live ‘as they happen’ results from the biggest Pay Per View of the year!
WrestleMania XXV Previews and Predictions
Previews and Predictions coming in to the WWE’s biggest Pay Per View of the year!
Wrestlemania XXV Confirmed Matches
Find out what matches are currently scheduled to take place at the 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania.
Keep upto date with all the latest here on WWEBlog.co.uk by joining our mailing list.
Simply Click Here to find out how!
