Weekly Rundown: 2nd – 6th February 2009
Raw 02/02/2009
ECW 03/02/2009
Smackdown 06/02/2009
The Raw Review - 02/02/2009
Opening Segment
Legacy fail to make an Impact
The show opened as Lilian Garcia introduced Shane McMahon, who made his way to the ring before a video played showing the build up and his scuffle with Orton the week before.
Shane explains that Orton’s lawyers have told him that he wants to face Shane at No Way Out, and Shane has accepted, they will meet in a No Holds Barred match. Shane goes on to say he is not going to NoWay Out to pin Orton, but to destroy him so there is no chance of him making it to Wrestlemania.
Orton’s music hits and he appears on the ramp. He says that he plans on putting Shane in the same hospital as he already put Vince in. Orton then paces up and down the ramp, apprehensive to get into the ring while Shane removes his jacket.
Finally Priceless emerge from the crowd in an attempted ambush, but Shane-O-Mac came prepared and beat them down with a hidden kendo stick.
Match 1
C.M Punk & Mickey James Vs. William Regal & Layla
This was a mixed tag team match, Women Vs. Women, Men Vs. Men. Nothing really to shout about in this one.
Regal & Layla looked like winning the match by count-out although Punk managed to make it back into the ring before the 10 count. Literally seconds later Regal hit Punk in the side of the head with a vicious knee and picked up the pinfall.
William Regal & Layla win by Pinfall
Match 2
Priceless Vs. Cryme Tyme
Footage of the earlier failed ambush plays as Priceless make their way to the ring. Cryme Tyme dominated the largest part of what was a very short match, before Priceless got D.Q’d when Cody Rhodes refused to leave the ring and both men began double teaming Shad. They then demonstrated what appears to be a new tag team finisher, very similar to Orton’s DDT using the ropes. The two men held Shad horizontally DiBiase held him by the legs/waist while Cody hit the DDT.
Later Legacy are shown backstage, with Orton seemingly delivering a motivational speech to Priceless.
Cryme Tyme win by Disqualification
Segment 2
Jericho Vs. Rourke Hype
A video plays showing Rourke and Jericho on Larry King Live. After the commercials Jericho began to cut a pretty good promo about how Ric Flair (apparently the basis for Rourke’s character in ‘The Wrestler’, although I thought the story was more Jake Roberts) has become a washed up husk of his former self and should have his Hall of Fame status revoked, as should all the other has-beens living on their reputation.
This was cut short by Cena appearing on the Titan-Tron, delivering his usual shouty, crowd-pop-inducing shpiel. This time about how Jericho is the one living in the past and how he is going to shut Jericho’s mouth in their match later in the show.
Match 3
Kofi Kingston & Rey Mysterio Vs. Kane & Mike Knox
It’s nice to see Kofi getting a push, although it is a shame that it has come at Kane’s expense. Personally I feel Kane is a much under-utilized talent, he always seems to be there or thereabouts but never seems to get the actual push right to the top.
As for the match, it was the usual ‘speedy underdog Vs. big guy’ Rey Mysterio bout, although Kofi gave it an added element of entertainment. In the end Knox blocked Rey’s 619 from the outside, then Kane caught him when he attempted a springboard from the top rope and hit a Chokeslam for the pinfall.
Knox and Kane seemed to be functioning well as a team, looks like they may be getting a tag run in the near future.
Kane & Knox win by Pinfall
Segment 3
Legacy finally make an Impact
Stephanie and Shane were chatting backstage before Legacy attacked them both, beating Shane down. Orton considered hitting Shane with the punt before realising he could hit Steph with it instead. Just as it looked like she was about to get a face full of Randy’s boot, Shane dived in the way and took the kick in his ribs instead, before Dean Malenko and the backstage posse jumped in and split it all up.
Match 4
Beth Phoenix (W/Santino and Rosa Mendes) Vs. Candice Michelle
Beth pretty much dominated this one, Candice had a little bit of offense but nothing that looked like it could pick up the win. Beth won the match with her ‘Glam Slam’ and then instructed Mendes to throw Candice out of the ring while Santino did his trumpet dance.
Beth Phoenix wins by Pinfall
Segment 4
Breaking News and Performance Appraisal
Before JBL’s performance appraisal of HBK the commentary team announced that Ric Flair will be on Raw next week to address the situation with Chris Jericho. Wooooo.
To cut a long story short on this one JBL challenged HBK to a match at No Way Out. Upshot is if Shawn wins JBL gives him a hefty severence package and he is no longer in his employ. If JBL wins he owns Shawn; his name, his trademarks and his service for the rest of his life. Shawn obviously accepts and JBL adds the stipulation that until the match Shawn can’t lay a finger on him, then slaps him about a bit. Shawn refuses to rise to the bait and leaves the ring.
Final Segment
More Big Announcements
Stephanie and Kane have a chat backstage in which it is announced that:
- Kane is now in Raw’s Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out
- Randy Orton will take on The Undertaker on Raw next week
Seems like Kane is once again in the title picture with no real chance of winning it. I fully expect him and Knox to team up in the Elimination Chamber match. Next weeks Raw is shaping up to be quite an event, Flair AND The Undertaker!
Main Event Match
John Cena Vs. Chris Jericho
This one got off to a flying start, which it had to really given it started around ten minutes before Raw was due to go off the air. Jericho slowed the match down with what looked like a choke, before Cena attempted to power out of it but failed miserably when Jericho hit a big DDT. After finisher reversals from both men Jericho looked to have the win tied up with the Walls of Jericho, but Cena managed to reverse it and had Jericho tapping to a STFU (or just STF as it is referred to these days.)
John Cena wins by Submission
The ECW Digest – 03/02/2009
Opening Segment
Recap of last week
The show opens by showing a video of last weeks events, when Hornswoggle ‘borrowed’ Jack Swagger’s title. For anyone that missed it, Swagger hit the little guy when he went to give it back, this enraged Finlay who then drilled Swagger with his own ECW Title belt.
Match 1
Paul Burchill Vs. Tommy Dreamer
Burchill seems to be wasted on ECW. He’s a top quality wrestler although promo’s don’t seem to be his strong point and this could be what holds him back. Why they’ve paired him with someone who is even worse at promo’s than him is beyond me, because they are both British I assume.
Striker and Grisham showed just why they are Slammy Award winners when Striker came out with the line ‘They (The Burchill’s) are so well to do they think Manual Labour is the President of Mexico’. With quips like that, I really can’t see how these two are still on the third brand. (Just incase it went undetected, that last paragraph contained a teeny bit of sarcasm.)
The match was pretty good, Dreamer jobbed as usual when Burchill picked up the clean win with a jumping neckbreaker.
Paul Burchill wins by Pinfall.
Segment 2
Save_us_…Noble?
General Manager Teddy Long bumped into Raw superstar Jamie Noble backstage. Jamie explained that now Matt Hardy has left for Smackdown, ECW is needing someone to pull in the ratings and given that he’s one of the best superstars on Raw, he’s decided to lend out a hand; because ‘Noble=Ratings’.
After this The Miz & John Morrison made their way to the ring and began to lay into Tommy Dreamer, who was still hunched over in the corner recovering from his loss. After a lot of goading, including some particularly personal remarks, Dreamer snapped and attacked them, leading to a 2 on 1 beating of the ECW original. No doubt Dreamer will be wanting revenge on next week’s show.
Match 2
Jamie Noble Vs. The Boogeyman
The Boogeyman could be a fantastic heel if his gimmick took a more serious approach (lose the worms and maybe even the foaming mouth). The fact of the matter is his image is pretty menacing and he can wrestle well, so perhaps the reason he isn’t getting a push is due to his age. Despite not looking it he’s actually 44, so maybe the creative team don’t see a point in building up someone who may retire or suffer an age-related injured in the near future.
This match was a display of how good these guys are, their styles didn’t particularly match but they put on an entertaining match which Boogey won with a Pump-Handle Slam. Cue the worms.
Boogeyman wins by Pinfall.
Segment 3
Interview with the Champ
Todd Grisham began to ‘interview’ Swagger although as with most interview segments it turned into a rant type promo. Grisham asked ‘Last week didn’t go as you intended. What’s your motivation heading into your match tonight?’ and Swagger explained that he is very self motivated so he doesn’t need what happened last week to inspire him to win.
Main Event Match
Jack Swagger Vs. Finlay
Given Swagger is currently on a 5 month undefeated streak, it looked unlikely that an aging Irishman who brings out an inflatable toy every week was going to be the man who ended it. Don’t get me wrong, I like Finlay’s style of wrestling and he isn’t too bad at cutting a promo, but much like any of the more experienced people on ECW he isn’t really going anywhere.
Which is why it was a pretty big surprise that he managed to pick up the win with a Celtic Cross, after Hornswoggle had hit Swagger on the ankle with the shaleighle. This was a good match and if the two of them can step it up come No Way Out, they could get a few more fans interested in ECW.
Finlay wins by Pinfall.
The Smackdown Summary - 06/02/2009
Opening Segment
Elimination Chamber fills up
As the show began a number of Smackdown superstars were already in the ring. Kozlov and Khali were the last two superstars to make their way to the ring and it was pretty obvious that this match was going to be used to fill the empty spaces in Smackdown’s Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out. Just for clarification Vikki came out and explained that if he is fit, Jeff Hardy will fill one space, meaning the winner of this battle royal will be the final entrant.
Match 1
15 Man over the top rope Battle Royal
Elimination Order:
- Scotty Goldman
- Kizarny
- Jesse
- Shelton Benjamin
- MVP
- Chavo
- Kung Fu Naki
- ‘The’ Brian Kendrick
- Hawkins
- Ryder
- The Great Khali
- Primo
- Carlito
- R-Truth
This was a pretty good match, but then I love Battle Royal matches. It wasn’t rushed through like a lot of them seem to be when a vast number of Superstars end up in the ring at once, but sadly it was all too predictable.
It was only ever going to be Kozlov or Khali, and given the Chamber already had 3 faces and 2 heels, it seemed likely that another heel would make it in and even it up.
After he picked up the victory Kozlov delivered one of his shouty half and half speeches about becoming the champion.
Vladimir Kozlov wins and becomes the final entrant in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match.
Segment 2
The Hardys…Whatsup wid dat?
Todd Grisham interviewed Hurricane Helms (without the mask and green hair) about the situation with Matt and Jeff. Being a life long friend he lets us all know that Matt has always been a ‘self centred, egotistical jerk’ and in a roundabout fashion challenged him to a match.
After this Edge and Vikki chatted backstage. Edge seemed worried about the quality of the competition in the Elimination Chamber, then The Big Show entered and stirred things up regarding their match against The Undertaker and HHH later in the show.
Segment 3
Hurricane fails
After the break Matt Hardy was already in the ring and called out Helms. The two got into a short fight in which Helms never really seemed to have the upper hand. Matt eventually slammed him into the steel steps, then locked his arms and repeatedly elbowed him in the face in a brutal fashion. Referee’s eventually stopped it and Matt left while they tended to Helms.
Match 2
Shelton Benjamin Vs. MVP
As soon as this match was announced as a non-title bout alarm bells started ringing for me and I instantly doubted Shelton’s chances of winning. This match had been brewing since the battle royal, when MVP eliminated Shelton, who was none too happy about it and retaliated with a mean looking kick.
The crowd were 100% behind MVP in this one, after Shelton had already got on their wrong side with a shot at Payton Manning before the match began. It’ll be interesting to see if this cements MVP’s slow turn from heel to face, or if they will keep him as a ‘tweener’ for a bit longer.
As I assumed, MVP won the match with a Drive By and it looks like we now have a US Championship rivalry between two guys that can put on a pretty good match based on tonights performance.
MVP wins by Pinfall.
Match 3
Carlito, Primo & R-Truth Vs. The Miz, John Morrison & ‘The’ Brian Kendrick (W/ Ezekiel Jackson)
Before the commercials Carlito and Primo were shown waiting with the Bella twins. R-Truth turned up and the three guys began to head to the ring, leaving the twins in the backstage area.
There were a lot of little rivalries brewing in this match. Carlito and Primo had been feuding on and off with Kendrick and Jackson, and more recently with The Miz and Morrison, while R-Truth recently picked up a victory over Kendrick.
The most interesting thing about this match for me is the rivalry between the Raw and Smackdown Tag Team Champions, as if either team gets a substancial upper hand it could be interpreted as favoritism for a particular brand. Seeing as The Miz and Morrison appear to be doing quadruple duty at the minute (appearing on Raw, Smackdown, ECW and WWE.Com) it might not be a bad idea if they unified the Tag belts at the end of this feud, although it didn’t work out too well when they did it with the Heavyweight Championships.
Not a bad match overall, won by ‘The’ Brian Kendrick when he hit the Sliced Bread #2 on Carlito.
The Miz, John Morrison and ‘The Brian Kendrick win by Pinfall
Match 4
Michelle McCool Vs. Eve
Pretty run-of-the-mill women’s match. Eve did ok to say that it was her first match on Smackdown, but it was by no means a high quality performance from either Diva. Michelle played the heel well and picked up the win with a heel-hook which she refused to relinquish after the bell. Maria made the save.
Michelle McCool wins by Submission.
Segment 4
Breaking News
It was announced just before the Women’s match that Jeff Hardy would return on next week’s Smackdown. Matt Hardy delivered a small promo on the titan-tron after J.R asked him for his reaction to the news that his brother will return next week.
Matt re-iterated his sentiments from last week, saying he no longer had a brother, then went on to say that a week is a long time and it would be a shame if Jeff were to have another little ‘accident’. He closed the segment by saying that if Jeff did make it to next weeks show, he would welcome him with ‘open arms’.
Match 5
Umaga Vs. Kung Fu Naki
This match had ‘Squash’ written all over it Funaki lasted all of 2 minutes, and that’s only because Umaga took his time. The crowd seemed to be behind Umaga, cheering when he signalled for the Samoan Spike. A turn doesn’t seem likely so I expect he will destroy a real fan favorite sooner rather than later.
Umaga wins by Pinfall.
Main Event Match
Edge & The Big Show Vs. Triple H & The Undertaker
Edge and Big Show were the first team out and instantly began bickering. There were some good back and forths in this one, but for a match that had involved arguably the top 3 guys on Smackdown (and Big Show) it kind of struggled to live up to the high expectations set of it.
That said The Undertaker looked as fresh as ever although limited himself to short stints giving him plenty of time to recover on the apron. More bickering resulted in Edge falling victim to Big Show’s gargantuan right hand, before The Undertaker hit the Tombstone and picked up the win over the champ to finish the show.
The Undertaker & Triple H win by Pinfall.
Weekly Awards
Sign of the Week – ‘Where’s X-Pac?’ ECW during the main event.
Quote of the Week - ‘and then….BOOM’ J.R adding sound effects to the clip of Matt drilling Jeff with a chair at the Royal Rumble.
Match finish of the Week – Kane catching Rey and Chokeslamming him for the 3 count. I chose this because it was nice to see Kane getting a win over Rey instead of it being the other way round. Big Show slugging Edge and Finlay beating Swagger were a close second and third.
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