Weekly Rundown: 1st – 5th June 2009 (Extreme Rules Edition)
Raw 01/06/2009
ECW 02/06/2009
Superstars 04/06/2009
Smackdown 05/06/2009
Jump to The Raw Review –>
Jump to The ECW Digest –>
Jump to The Superstars Recap –>
Jump to The Smackdown Summary –>
The Raw Review - 01/06/2009
So we’re back after the 2 week ‘general maintenance’ and my own personal 2 week vacation. Obviously this means we are also 2 weeks behind and I’m hoping to rectify that over the next couple of days. I’ve got 17 hours of shows to trawl through before I even get to the 3 hour Raw that is taking place as I write this, so as you can appreciate I might not put in quite as much detail as I usually would do.
I’m writing this more for posterity than anything else, as I realise literally no one will be reading this to find out what is currently happening in the WWE, but perhaps in days, weeks, months or years to come someone will want to know what took place at one of these shows and they will be able to check in our archive and find what they are looking for.
On with the show…
Opening Segment
A Caged Champion
The show kicks off with Legacy who are standing inside a Steel Cage (the stipulation of Orton’s match against Batista at Extreme Rules, just in case anyone didn’t know that.)
Orton reminds everyone of the match and asks the crowd if he should be worried. After a unanimous ‘Yes’ Orton says the fans are once again showing they know nothing, before explaining how he has put The Animal on the shelf before and he plans on doing the same come Sunday.
Orton tells Batista that by order of Vickie Guerrero he has a Steel Cage match tonight to prepare. He then produced a coin and said Rhodes was heads and DiBiase was tails; it came up heads. Rhodes Vs. Batista in a Steel Cage tonight.
Just as the WWE Champion looks set to leave Flair’s music hits and he walks out to challenge Orton. Orton reminds him that as he is retired he can’t compete. Flair jabbered about the champ being a man and requested a Parking Lot Brawl. Orton accepted and seemingly upstaged the main event he had been so vocal in creating just a few moments before.
Match 1
Steel Cage Match
Cody Rhodes
Vs.
Batista
We’re not wasting any time here as Raw kicks off with what could have easily passed as a ‘top of the card’ match, not necessarily for it’s quality but more for it’s stipulation.
We get a run down of Cage Match rules from Lillian Garcia, then King and Cole on commentary. Rhodes realises he might be up against it early and tries his best to scramble over the top as quickly as possible but is stopped in his tracks by the No.1 Contender; Batista.
For all the hype in the previous promo this was actually a complete squash match with Rhodes’ only actions being those of a desperate man trying to escape. Orton came to ringside towards the end of the match but was ‘completely helpless’, demonstrating how the cage is designed to keep others out of the action.
Rhodes’ final escape plan was thwarted and turned easily into a big Batista Bomb, allowing The Animal to pick up the victory via pinfall which I don’t think should be allowed in Cage Matches. I’d much rather see an ‘escape only’ stipulation imposed but I suppose that does limit the finish in a lot of ways.
Batista wins by Pinfall.
Segment 2
Guerrero’s Scheme
Backstage Vickie and Chavo attempt to persuade The Big Show to team with The Miz against Cena and a partner of his choosing. Show got to pick Cena’s partner out of a bag full of names and neither of the Guerrero’s looked shocked when Chavo’s name was drawn. 3 on 1 match coming up then.
Match 2
Divas Tag Match
Mickey James & Kelly Kelly
Vs.
Beth Phoenix & Maryse (w/Rosa Mendes)
Run of the mill Divas action here; Nice to look at, not badly executed but ultimately not very interesting.
After the distraction from Mendes, Maryse grabbed the pinfall over Kelly Kelly with her DDT Finisher.
Beth Phoenix & Maryse win by Pinfall.
Match 3
Tag Team Match
Carlito & Primo
Vs.
William Regal & Matt Hardy
When it was announced that the tag straps would be unified I honestly thought it would pep up the division and lead to some good team rivalries and great matches. Sadly until now this hasn’t happened, with Carlito & Primo bouncing through a series of meaningless bouts without really entertaining immensely.
The idea of a Regal/Hardy team sounded pretty good to me, with both guys being high on my list of favourites, however it became pretty obvious early on that IF they were going to develop into any sort of team it was going to be a violently unstable one.
Hardy, still pulling the injured wrist routine, became disillusioned with his partner early on when Regal chose to ignore the call for a double elbow and instead landed a big clothesline. Matt retaliated with some subordinate behaviour of his own a few minutes later, tagging himself into the match with a slap to Regal’s back.
The climax of the match saw even more miscommunication when Hardy accidentally drilled Regal with the cast, allowing Carlito to land a Backstabber and pick up the victory. Hardy and Regal then argued in the ring after the match.
Carlito & Primo win by Pinfall.
Segment 3
Flair waits, Hardy & Regal make a proposal
Backstage Flair paces the parking lot before Batista appears. Flair tells him not to try to talk him out of it and says he should be thanking him as Orton might not even make it to Extreme Rules after he’s done with him.
Flair delivers a big piece about not wanting to retire but being forced to and desperately wanting to prove to everyone that he still has it. He then asks Batista to support and believe in him and The Animal says that he always will.
Hardy and Regal then go to Vickie and ask for another chance at the Tag Champs. In return for this they offer to help her beat Santino in a warm-up for the Hog Pen Match at Extreme Rules.
Match 4
Tag Team Match
The Miz & The Big Show
Vs.
John Cena & Chavo Guerrero
The Miz comes out and says some pretty honest things about Cena, mainly that he aims to please the same demographic as the Jonas Brothers, Spongebob Squarepants and Hannah Montana.
King and Cole tried desperately throughout to sell the Submission match between Cena and Show at Extreme Rules but I’m still convinced it’s going to be a load of rubbish.
Show told Miz to stand on the apron and not get involved, before destroying Cena for the best part of 5 minutes. Cena managed to recover just enough to go for the STF but once again couldn’t lock it on. The Miz then drove Cena into the announce table and got chewed out by Show for even touching him.
A few minutes later Miz decided to tag himself in and ‘pick the bones’, beating Cena down in the corner and scoring a near fall. Cena then began building offence and hit the Attitude Adjustment but seconds later Show hit him with a big Chokeslam.
The Miz refused to tag Show back in and the Giant laid him out with a massive right hand before Chavo tagged himself into the match and covered Miz for a very unlikely victory.
Chavo tried to celebrate with Cena but got hit with an Attitude Adjustment for his troubles, leaving Show and Cena to battle it out. Show got the upper hand and locked in a Camel Clutch, asserting his dominance going in to Extreme Rules.
Chavo Guerrero & John Cena win by Pinfall.
Segment 4
U.S Championship Hype
Backstage Josh Matthews speaks to the U.S. Champion M.V.P and the No. 1 Contender for his title; Kofi Kingston. M.V.P says he is impressed how Kofi earned his shot and Kingston reciprocates by saying he has been impressed with him since he came to Raw.
They both claim they will leave tonight’s show the U.S. Champ and have a little bit of light hearted banter.
Match 5
U.S. Championship Match
M.V.P (c)
Vs.
Kofi Kingston
This should be an interesting one (and a match I’d much rather have seen at Extreme Rules than Cena Vs. Show.)
So far all of Kingston’s title reign’s have been very short-lived and I’m hoping they don’t give him the belt only to have him drop it back again in the very near future.
This was in truth a very good match and if the rivalry grows I’m sure they both have a lot more to give as they seemed to work very well together.
Kingston pulled off somewhat of a shock victory by reversing a cover into a roll-up. M.V.P initially looked annoyed with himself but then handed the belt over and praised the new champ before leaving with a smile on his face.
I wouldn’t think this is the last time we will see these two guys face off.
Kofi Kingston wins by Pinfall and becomes the NEW United States Champion.
Segment 5
Determined Orton
Backstage DiBiase attempts to talk Orton out of the Parking Lot Brawl with Ric Flair, saying he has nothing to gain from it and everything to lose.
Orton says he is confident and will show Batista what he is in for Sunday at Extreme Rules. DiBiase tells him that is exactly the same thing that Rhodes said at the start of the night, before walking off and leaving Orton to think about it.
Match 5
Singles Match
Vickie Guerrero
Vs.
Santino Marella
Vickie makes her way to the ring first carrying 2 buckets of ‘slop’. The current ‘Miss WrestleMania’ waves to the baying crowd before Santino enters and physically gags at the sight/smell of what is in the buckets.
We were then shown clips of ‘Hog Pen’ matches in the past although they wisely omitted anything that linked Triple H to them.
At the start of the match Santino threatened to dump one of the buckets on Vickie and looked like he might do so until Regal and Hardy showed up. Santino spun round and threw the slop over them (and the commentary team, half the cameras and the front row.)
However, the fun and games were soon put to an end as Regal and Hardy destroyed Santino, leaving him down and out in the ring for Vickie to empty the second bucket of slop over.
I don’t think the match ever even got started.
Match ends in a No Contest.
Main Event Match
Parking Lot Brawl
Randy Orton
Vs.
Ric Flair
Backstage Orton hunts for Flair before being jumped by the dirtiest player in the game and thrown into a shutter.
The two brawled around the backstage area, throwing each other into a number of fixtures and fittings and generally using the environment to their advantage. As with most ‘backstage’ WWE action these days, it didn’t take long for the brawl to make it’s way out to the ringside, area where Orton took the upper hand.
After some ‘textbook Ric Flair’ (a low blow) the Nature Boy took advantage and beat Orton from the top of the ramp to the ring, which was still encompassed by the Steel Cage which was lowered so that King and Cole could hype all the matches set to take place at Extreme Rules earlier in the show.
Flair stripped the announce table and placed Orton on it, before locking in the Figure 4 (I don’t see what added impact a Figure 4 has on a table, but there you go.) Priceless came to Orton’s aid and began slamming Flair into the cage before rolling him inside the structure and delivering a 2 on 1 beating.
Orton then entered the ring and dismissed his cohorts, who chained the door shut. Batista appeared and chased away Priceless, but couldn’t get the door open to help his mentor. While ‘The Animal’ attempted to climb over the cage Orton hit a RKO and put Flair down and out, before smiling sadistically and goading Batista, knowing full well he couldn’t get at him.
Batista then had to watch on helplessly as Orton delivered the Punt to Flair. It was a pretty poor one by all accounts (it didn’t look like ANY contact was made at all) but the show went off the air almost instantly afterwards so the lack of replays helped add credability.
Once again this match didn’t have a definitive ending, but Orton clearly came out on top.
Orton wins by T.K.O.
The ECW Digest – 02/06/2009
Opening Match
Singles Match
Evan Bourne
Vs.
Mark Henry (w/Tony Atlas)
I wish they’d either give Henry a decent rivalry/storyline/push or just take him off the card altogether because his matches are getting incredibly stale. I think a lot of people would instantly write him off and say ‘get rid of him, he’s crap’ but I think that anyone who happily participated in a storyline where he slept with Mae Young deserves another chance.
Bourne was good as ever but I don’t think the ‘Rey Mysterio’ formula works for him and would much rather see him against an equally athletic Superstar where he can show off his talent.
Pointless Tony Atlas attempted to get involved at the end of the match and cost his protoge’ the bout via DQ. Afterwards Henry chewed him out and said he doesn’t need him, leaving Atlas looking humbled and upset.
I hope this situation develops.
Evan Bourne wins by Disqualification.
Match 2
Singles Match
Zack Ryder
Vs.
Dustin Carwile
Looks like it’s Ryder’s turn to squash the ‘Local Talent’ tonight, Kozlov must have the night off.
Carwhile, also known as Dustin Starr, got beaten down from bell to bell and landed just one move throughout the whole match; a Sunset Flip.
Ryder looked good, but then it’s hard not to in a squash match…unless you’re Vladimir Kozlov.
Ryder grabbed the win with his slightly bizarre but painful looking finisher, to continue his winning streak in the land of Extreme.
Zack Ryder wins by Pinfall.
Segment 1
Helms interviews Finlay
So Helms is indeed injured and I guess this is a good way of keeping him on-screen while he recovers, although I’d have much rather had him return to his little ‘Jus Sayin’ bubbles.
Finlay appears with a colossal black eye and after being asked when he will return answers as soon as possible and hypes his apparent feud with Jack Swagger.
Match 3
Singles Match
Tommy Dreamer
Vs.
Paul Burchill (w/ Katie Lee)
Katie Lee chats to Dreamer as they make their way to the ring and tells him (in her awful, slightly backward sounding accent) that Paul is going to ruin his chances of winning at Extreme Rules.
I’d just like to take this chance to point out to any non-UK visitors that we don’t all sound like her, thankfully.
Dreamer and Burchill put on a good match which the ECW Original won with a Dreamer DDT, building momentum for the title match this Sunday.
After the match Dreamer looked clearly upset and sincerely thanked the fans, leading me to believe that he’s either a really good actor or that more likely this will be his last appearance on ECW.
Swagger interrupted his ‘goodbye’ speech and blathered on about him being a failure. He said on Sunday he is going to win the title and put an end to his career. Dreamer said it was about more than the title then said that he would be in the ring next week as the ECW Champion.
Tommy Dreamer wins by Pinfall.
Main Event Match
Singles Match
Tyson Kidd (w/The Hart Dynasty)
Vs.
Christian
I like the idea of the Hart Dynasty and I think it’s good they are getting matches against the biggest names on ECW, but the fact that Christian seems to be completely out of the title picture (despite being the champion) doesn’t bode well for his chances of retaining at Extreme Rules.
Kidd and Christian went back and forth for the majority of this match, with Kidd getting the upper hand more often than not. Kidd was aggressive and performed very well, giving the Champ a run for his money and proving why he has risen so quickly through the ranks.
The ‘Hart Foundation’s Dynamo’ could have won the match on numerous occasions with a selection of submission holds, but Christian was able to reverse or find the ropes each time.
The end of the match saw a dramatic series of very near falls for both men before Swagger made an appearance and almost cost Christian with a distraction. Dreamer wasn’t far behind to ‘even the odds’, taking out Swagger and D.H Smith, leaving the champ to hit the KillSwitch in the ring and grab a win.
After the match Dreamer congratulated Christian before turning on him, hitting a Dreamer DDT and kissing the championship that he soon hopes will be his.
Christian wins by Pinfall.
The Superstars Recap - 04/06/2009
Opening Match
Tag Team Match
Hornswoggle & Goldust
Vs.
‘The’ Brian Kendrick & Jamie Noble
Once again Kendrick attempts to find a suitable tag partner to take on Carlito and Primo for the Unified Championships.
Hornswoggle put on Kendrick’s jacket at the start of the match and played to the crowd, which is pretty much all he can do in a ‘proper’ wrestling match, bless him.
Goldust tagged in Hornswoggle who instantly proved my last sentence wrong by hitting an axe handle from the second rope, but then got pie faced and punished by Kendrick.
Kendrick then tagged in Noble who refused to do any serious damage to the little guy and instantly tagged himself back out.
Hornswoggle managed to hit a couple of kicks and tag ‘The Bizarre One’ who wasted no time in taking out both men, before tagging in the little guy who picked up the win with a Tadpole Splash.
The search continues…
Hornswoggle & Goldust win by Pinfall.
Match 2
Singles Match
David Hart Smith (w/The Hart Dynasty)
Vs.
Tommy Dreamer
Christian joined the ECW commentary team for this match.
Dreamer got a massive ovation as he made his way to the ring, with fans really showing him a lot of respect in what could be his last televised match.
Dreamer and Smith did well in the ring while the three man commentary team did their best to hype up the title match at Extreme Rules.
David Hart Smith showed a lot of his fathers traits in the match and it is sad that at the end of the match he wasn’t given the chance to shine by picking up a clean victory.
Natalya attempted to slide a chair in to her ally but Christian prevented this, drawing the referee’s attention. While the officials back was turned the other member of the Hart Dynasty, Tyson Kidd, slid into the ring and delivered a big kick to Dreamer who was at that point in charge of the match.
Smith then rolled up the ECW original and scored a big, albeit assisted win.
David Hart Smith wins by Pinfall.
Main Event Match
Tag Team Match
Chris Jericho & Dolph Ziggler
Vs.
Jeff Hardy & R-Truth
Before the match Jericho informed the crowd that as the Superstar of the Year this show is officially his. He crowed about how he attacked Rey by posing as one of his mask wearing fans on last week’s Smackdown then outlined his intention to win the I.C. Title at Extreme Rules.
I have to admit I glossed over most of this match (as I’d been watching WWE programming for about 4 and a half hours by that point and I wanted to take a break) but what I did see was pretty impressive in terms of wrestling.
Hardy and R-Truth picked up the win after Truth took out Jericho with a suicide dive leaving Jeff to hit a Twist of Fate/Swanton combo on Ziggler and score the 3.
Jeff Hardy & R-Truth win by Pinfall.
The Smackdown Summary - 05/06/2009
Opening Segment
The Cutting Edge with Jeff Hardy
The ring and ringside area look like a ladder forest as Smackdown comes on the air. There are ladders everywhere, even on the announce table.
Edge makes his way to the ring through the plethora of steel steps and welcomes everyone to the Cutting Edge before welcoming his guest; Jeff Hardy.
Jeff weaves under the ladders to demonstrate his lack of superstition then finally enters the ring where he climbs one of the two central ladders and sits on the top, explaining that he is very comfortable with his surroundings.
He grabs the title belt and says come Sunday he will be a very comfortable World Heavyweight Champion.
Edge explains how dangerous the Ladder Match will be, then says that every time Jeff gets close to grasping the title, he will knock him back down to the ring.
Both men end up perched atop the ladders with the title belt hanging between them (one of those blatant photo opportunities for the WWE magazines/WWE.Com) and after a little more chatting Edge uses the belt to drill Jeff before pushing his ladder over, sending him crashing to the outside via the top rope.
Match 1
Singles Match
Shelton Benjamin
Vs.
John Morrison
This was another very solid match between these two guys and I would have liked to have seen them go at it in a stipulation match at Extreme Rules. That being said they weren’t scheduled to wrestle at Judgement Day until a short while before the event began so I might be surprised when I come to watch the Pay Per View.
Morrison tweaked his knee and was effectively wrestling on one leg for a lot of the match, but still managed to pick up the win with Starship Pain to wrap up a very good bout.
John Morrison wins by Pinfall.
Segment 2
Jericho on unmasking Mysterio
Jericho comes to the ring and splices his usual spiel about the fans being parasitic hypocrites with a none too original speech about Mysterio hiding behind a mask. Jericho said that he would reveal the true face of Rey Mysterio at Extreme Rules before becoming a 9 time Intercontinental Champion.
R-Truth interrupted him and after delivering a stellar performance of ‘What’s Up’ to the music-loving Tennessee crowd, asked Jericho the same question. Jericho asks R-Truth why he thought he could come out and cut him off in mid flow when he wasn’t done, and Truth said he was ‘done as done is gonna get’.
calls him a hypocrite for the way he attacked Rey last week and (in a voice reminiscent of B.A Baracus) told him it was the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.
Match 2
Singles Match
Chris Jericho
Vs.
R-Truth
Another pretty good match with two very strong performances. It was especially nice to see R-Truth getting a little bit of microphone time that didn’t revolve around him rapping his way to the ring or coming up with a new gimmick for (Kung-)FuNaki.
Jericho picked up the win with a Codebreaker out of nowhere which looked like it might have been genuinely painful.
After the match Rey Mysterio jumped Jericho at the top of the ramp and beat the hell out of him before being escorted away by officials. Just when it looked like Rey might be leaving he ran and hit a Seated Senton from the stage down onto Jericho and the cold, hard concrete.
Chris Jericho wins by Pinfall.
Match 3
Singles Match
C.M Punk
Vs.
Umaga
I can sort of let them off having these two guys meeting before the PPV because the whole concept of a strap match is completely different to that of a standard match. However the chemistry between these two is practically non-existant and the sooner this rivalry ends the better for everyone, in my opinion.
The majority of this match saw the Samoan Bulldozer manhandle Punk, with all his attempts to fight back quickly snuffed out with a big impact move.
At the climax of the match (as you’d probably have guessed given how things had gone so far) Punk pulled off an unlikely victory by hitting a GTS against the odds after Umaga had tried to introduce a ‘Samoan Strap’ to proceedings.
C.M Punk wins by Pinfall.
Match 4
6 Diva Tag Team Special Referee Match
Layla, Michelle McCool & Alicia Fox
Vs.
Melina, Eve Torres & Gail Kim
Special Referee: Maria
It seems like the plan with Divas at the minute is to cram as many of them into a match as physically possible.
This was a pretty hectic match which broke down completely at the end and saw an unlikely end when Layla scored a pinfall over the WWE Women’s Champion; Melina.
Michelle McCool, Layla & Alicia Fox win by Pinfall.
Match 5
Singles Match
The Great Khali (w/Runjin Singh)
Vs.
Dolph Ziggler
Again this is a match I wouldn’t have minded seeing at Extreme Rules (especially compared to the other match featuring a 7+ft Superstar.)
Khali pretty much squashed Dolph in this one, gaining a measure of revenge on the young upstart and picking up the victory with a Punjabi Plunge.
The Great Khali wins by Pinfall.
Main Event Match
Champion Vs. Champion Non-Title Match
Rey Mysterio
Vs.
Edge
I don’t know if the idea of an Edge/Rey match sounds boring or if it’s because I’ve written almost 6 hours of results straight, but I really have very little interest in this main event and I’m hoping for some outside interference to pep things up.
This was mostly back and forth action with some very near falls, Edge locking on a submission every so often to slow things down and drag things out.
Towards the end of the match Mysterio began to gain the upper hand and looked to have things sewn up when he hit a 619. However, Edge managed to recover quickly and dodge the Seated Senton, landing a Spear seconds later and grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat.
After the match Edge searched under the ring and produced a ladder which he clearly intended to drive into Mysterio at the earliest opportunity.
Hardy then made a dramatic entrance with a steel chair. He hit Edge’s ladder with the chair before hitting a Twist of Fate across the steps and then a Leapfrog Leg-Drop from the corner. Jeff then climbed the ladder and sat on the top with the title belt as the show went off the air.
Edge wins by Pinfall.
Formerly ECW One Night Stand, the newly named ‘Extreme Rules’ makes its début in the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Find out what took place at Extreme Rules 2009!
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Previews and Predictions of all the matches set to take place at Extreme Rules (as of 31/05/2009)!
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