Weekly Rundown: 6th – 10th April 2009
Raw 06/04/2009
ECW 07/04/2009
Smackdown 10/04/2009
The Raw Review - 06/04/2009
Tonight’s Raw comes hot on the heels of the 25th WrestleMania. To find out what happened check out our WrestleMania XXV Live Results!
Tonight there will be an ‘All-Star’ Match pitting the heel and face stars from last night’s PPV against each other in a massive team Vs. Team battle.
Opening Segment
Orton’s Lament
Orton made his way to the ring to start tonight’s Raw. The side of his face next to his right eye is red and swollen, presumably the result of either the Punt or Sledgehammer shot from Triple H.
Orton says he doesn’t know which sickens him more, the fact that Triple H cheated to win, or the fact that the fans absolutely loved it. He claims that last night’s result means nothing and he will get a rematch as The McMahons, The Company and all the fans owe it to him.
Orton then says that he WILL win the rematch, and the McMahon’s better not get in his way again. He then went on to go over what he did to them before Mania, before pretty much threatening to exact some punishment on Linda and/or the McMahon family grand-children.
As he ponders on this Vince’s music hits the speakers and he emerges in a pretty dapper purple suit. Wasting no time he enters the ring and Orton runs scared and heads up the ramp. Vince asks him how he dares to threaten his family or even mention his grand-children, before saying that he’ll happily fight Orton any time and that there is no way he’ll get another title match.
Vince then says there is some ‘Backlash’ to take place (nice link huh). He then announces that at Backlash, it will be Legacy (Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase) Vs. Triple H, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon. Orton says Vince is hiding behind his family, to which McMahon counters by saying Orton is the one who is scared and without Legacy all he amounts to is an abject failure.
Orton then says he will get his WrestleMania moment a day late, then challenges Vince to a match tonight, 1 on 1. Vince takes his sweet time, then accepts.
It seems Mania was more of a checkpoint in this feud rather than the end of the line.
Match 1
Lumberjack Match for the Unified Tag Team Championships
The Miz & Morrison
Vs.
Carlito & Primo
Michael Cole actually had the audacity to say the fans at WrestleMania last night were treated to a ‘bonus match’ in which the Tag Titles were unified. So let me get this straight, we have to sit through literally hours of hype for this match, sometimes pretty much dominating over half of an ECW broadcast, just so the actual match can be shoved off the card and given to the fans in attendance as a bonus match?
I was personally looking forward to this match last night, and it quite frankly p*ssed me off that they not only bumped it, but then failed to mention it AT ALL throughout the whole show.
So we get the same match on Raw, I don’t care, I wanted to see it during WrestleMania.
I’m sure there were a few people out there who parted with their hard earned money to see this match at WrestleMania, and I think it’s a bit of a slap in the face to then remove it, pass it off as a bonus match and then pretty much repeat it the next night on a broadcast of Raw.
Anyway, rant over. As for the match it was pretty good, the Lumberjacks did their role, being a little ‘over-enthusiastic’ on occasion. There haven’t been any new belts made up as of yet by the way, Carlito and Primo came to the ring with all 4 straps.
Things completely broke down towards the end of this with all 4 guys ending up on the outside and the lumberjacks practically brawling with anyone they could get their hands on. Carlito hit the Backstabber on The Miz and picked up the win, while Morrison was detained by the hoards on the outside.
Did anyone really expect them to lose the belts 24 hours after they had won them?
Carlito & Primo retain the Unified Tag Team Championships by Pinfall.
Segment 2
Vince and Shane
Shane and Vince meet backstage and discuss the match Vince just made at Backlash, before Shane tries to talk him out of facing Orton tonight. Vince tells Shane that he knows he has his back, should Rhodes and DiBiase get involved and seems set with going ahead.
Match 2
Raw Vs. Smackdown Divas Match
Jillian Hall, Mickey James, Layla, Kelly Kelly & Melina
Vs.
Natalya, Maria, Gail Kim, Eve Torres & Maryse
The Raw Vs. Smackdown nature of this one is designed to give us a little taste of next week’s Roster Draft in which Superstars and Diva’s from all three brands will face each other to determine which show wins a ‘pick’.
It also served to show why the draft couldn’t come soon enough, as despite spending pretty much all her time on ECW recently, Natalya is apparently still a Smackdown Diva, I’m all for the talent share thing but within reason. The boundries have been blurred for a long while now and it’ll be nice to get things cordened off into seporate brands again.
Mickey James won this one with a pinfall over Natalya, nothing special. We also found out that there will be an interview with Miss WrestleMania Santina Marella later tonight.
Team Raw win by Pinfall.
Segment 2
Shane and Triple H
Shane walks into Triple H’s dressing room and embraces the Champ before asking him to speak to Vince regarding the match tonight with Orton. The Game says he’ll give it his best shot, but also says he knows how headstrong Vince is and Shane shouldn’t get his hopes up.
Match 3
WrestleMania All-Stars Match
Jeff Hardy, C.M Punk, Rey Mysterio, Ricky Steamboat & John Cena
Vs.
Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, The Big Show & Edge
Cena got boo’ed badly as he made his way to the ring and every time he got tagged in or hit a big move, probably more so than any of the heel team did. I’d think they will seriously have to look at turning him heel soon, after all it can’t be good business to have the crowd boo’ing one of your biggest faces more than they do your out and out heels.
By all accounts this should have been an amazing match, on paper it looks like every fan’s dream. Actually, there were so many different rivalries going on at once that it kind of made it hard for everyone to ‘have their say’, despite going on for what seemed like an age.
Steamboat got huge pops from the crowd and incited a chant of ‘You’ve still got it’, which I have to agree; he has. It looked like he may lose the match for his team when Jericho locked in the Walls, but The Dragon battled through it and tagged in C.M Punk aka Mr (waste of) Money in the Bank.
Punk got the hell beaten out of him by Kane and The Big Show, before Show tagged Edge in with a little too much force giving the commentators another chance to chat about the love triangle between them and Vikki Guererro.
Jeff Hardy and Edge went at it for a little while before Matt got involved. Jeff quickly dumped him out of the ring and tagged in Cena so he could continue his attack on his brother. Rey Mysterio then got the blind tag which lead to a double 619 and a dual splash from Mysterio and Steamboat to Edge and Jericho, leaving Rey to get the pinfall.
Not terrible but upsetting that Rey Mysterio won yet another match without actually really doing anything. I’d much rather have seen Christian in his place in this one, but it seems like the creative team are doing all they can to keep Edge and Christian apart for as long as possible.
Steamboat posed for the crowd after everyone else had left the ring, it looks like that might be the last time we’ll see him in action for a long while.
Rey Mysterio, C.M Punk, John Cena, Ricky Steamboat & Jeff Hardy win by Pinfall.
Segment 3
Triple H and Vince, Vikki’s Announcement
Triple H walked in and Vince immediately told him that he wasn’t interested in hearing what he had to say. Triple H told him that he is the most stubborn son of a bitch he has ever met, but he’s proud of him. Before leaving, the Champ told Vince to finish it tonight.
After the break Chavo wheeled Vikki out onto the ramp after Lillian had introduced her. Vikki explained that when she took over as interim General Manager of Raw, it came with the caveat that following Mania she had to choose one brand or the other.
She has decided to choose Raw over Smackdown as in her words, it has become stagnant. She then announced a rematch between Cena and Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash, which will be Edge’s last chance at the title.
She then made the match between Legacy and The McMahons at Backlash a Championship Match. As you’d expect, if any member of Team Legacy win; Orton gets the gold, if any member of Team McMahon win Triple H keeps the title.
The pair then initially left the stage, only for Chavo to wheel Vikki back out minutes later. She hurriedly announced that she had forgotten to add that Edge Vs. Cena would be a Last Man Standing Match. In my opinion this wasn’t planned, she just completely forgot to announce it, even The King and Michael Cole seemed shocked when she burst back out and started babbling.
Segment 4
Miss WrestleMania
Lillian Garcia introduced Santina Marella, who came out to Billy and Chuck’s old ‘You look so good to me’ theme. Santino pretends to be a woman for a few minutes, wondering if she is going to get poster and magazine deals. He actually does a pretty good feminine voice.
Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes came to crash the party and as Beth told him that he was embarrassing himself, the crowd started up a ‘Santina’ chant. Beth, who is actually pretty good at delivering promos, challenged Santina to a match tonight, which s/he accepted.
A referee was introduced and this segment turned into a match.
Match 4
Singles Match
Santina Marella
Vs.
Beth Phoenix (w/ Rosa Mendes)
This match lasted all of about 2 minutes and surprisingly went in favour of Santina Marella.
Santina Marella wins by Pinfall.
Main Event Match
Singles Match
Randy Orton
Vs.
Vince McMahon
Vince starts the match by slapping the taste out of Orton’s mouth, knocking him back into the corner where he works him over with kicks and elbows.
Vince drives Orton’s head into the announce table three or four times before pushing him back into the ring apron. Back in the ring Orton reverses an attack and hits the Inverted Backbreaker, before dropping a set of knees onto the back of McMahon’s head, putting him firmly in control.
A RKO later and it looks like things could be all over, but Orton seems hesistant in going for a pin and instead begins to stalk his opponent, looking for the big Punt. Shane McMahon dives into the ring just in time and begins to beat on Orton, before Legacy pile out and begin to do a number on him.
Triple H is next to emerge, taking out Orton’s minions. The numbers game catches up with him eventually though, and after DiBiase delivers some sort of modified Million Dollar Dream it looks like things are only going to get worse.
Just as Legacy have The McMahon’s where they want them, Batista’s music hits the speakers and The Animal sprints to the ring, destroying Orton, DiBiase and Rhodes with a selection of Spears, Spinebusters and Batista Bombs.
As Legacy retreat up the ramp Vince grabs a microphone and announces that at Backlash Vince will be replaced by The Animal, much to the chagrin of Orton. Batista, Shane and Triple H look menacingly on from the ring as the show goes off the air.
Match ended in a No Contest.
The ECW Digest – 07/04/2009
Opening Segment
Teddy Long Kicks things off
The show begins with Teddy Long in the ring. He announces that following Vikki Guererro accepting the role of Raw G.M, he has been promoted to G.M of Smackdown. He then announced his former assistant; Tiffany as his replacement on ECW. She makes her way to the ring and begins to graciously accept the role, when Jack Swagger interrupts her.
He tells her that she has to learn quickly that normal rules do not apply to him, as the ECW Champion. She says the only rule she plans on following, is giving the WWE Universe what they want, before informing him that he will be facing either Mark Henry, Finlay, Tommy Dreamer or Christian at Backlash for his title.
It’s also interesting to note that Josh Matthews is now on commentary with Matt Striker. It looks likely that Todd Grisham will join J.R on Smackdown to replace Tazz.
Match 1
Six Man Tag Team Match
The Miz, John Morrison & Tyson Kidd (w/Natalya)
Vs.
Carlito, Primo & Evan Bourne
Fast paced match to kick off ECW. Despite being out of action for months, I wouldn’t be surprised if Evan Bourne was one of the stars drafted from ECW to one of the big two. He’s probably deserving of it too, especially in the eyes of the WWE writers as he is very much a Rey Mysterio type character, although with a much more varied arsenal.
I’m not saying Rey isn’t capable of more, it’s just that as of late he seems to only execute the same 5-10 moves every single match, whereas Bourne seems to switch it up and keep things fresh.
Miz and Morrison are also worthy of being drafted, which is also likely considering that they have pretty much been appearing on all three brands in the lead up to Mania. If after the draft everyone other than the Unified Champs are going to stay show specific, it’s highly likely they will want arguably the best tag team in the company on one of the 2 hour shows.
Tyson Kidd is an exciting prospect but I personally don’t think he’s ready to be drafted yet. His character needs to develop more, although again I wouldn’t be surprised if he was drafted away.
This match was indeed fast paced and showed that although ECW might not be the best in terms of storyline, it does often have a very high calibre of wrestling. The rivalry between The Colons and Miz & Morrison is wearing a little thin now, hopefully they will wrap it up at Backlash (if not before.)
Primo looked to have scored a pinfall over Tyson Kidd but The Miz managed to break it up and the match broke down. Kidd went for the Springboard Elbow but Primo rolled out of the way and hit the Backstabber before tagging in Bourne who hit the Shooting Star Press and grabbed the 3.
Carlito, Primo & Evan Bourne win by Pinfall.
Main Event Match
Elimination Chase to Backlash Fatal 4 Way Match
Christian
Vs.
Finlay (w/Hornswaggle)
Vs.
Mark Henry (w/Tony Atlas)
Vs.
Tommy Dreamer
The rules of the chase to Backlash are simple. These guys will meet in a series of matches (I assume 3), with one being eliminated each time and the one remaining superstar going on to face Swagger at Backlash for the ECW Championship.
Whoever gets pinned tonight is eliminated, so it made sense that Finlay, Dreamer and Christan would team up for long periods of the match in an attempt at removing Mark Henry from the equation. It didn’t last too long though, as Dreamer and Finlay’s fighting pride got in the way of good strategy and the two began going after each other.
After Dreamer hit Tony Atlas (who had tried to get involved in the match) Finlay took advantage of the distraction and struck Henry with the Shaleighle behind the ref’s back, picking up the 3 count and eliminating him from the Chase to Backlash.
Mark Henry is Eliminated by Pinfall.
The Smackdown Summary - 10/04/2009
Opening Segment
Matt Hardy Gloats
After we were treated to a recap video of WrestleMania, the show began and Matt Hardy’s music played as he smugly made his way to the ring. While this was taking place we found out that it is indeed Todd Grisham who now joins J.R on the Smackdown commentary team, and although they made a point of showing the two together there was no actual mention of Tazz.
Hardy says that there were a lot of ‘WrestleMania Moments’ on Sunday. He says that many people are claiming Taker/HBK is one of the best matches of all time, but by far the best ‘WrestleMania Moment’ of all time was when he beat Jeff in the most extreme way possible, by hitting a Twist of Fate through a steel chair.
After calling his brother a disappointment to all the fans at Mania, Matt says that everyone now knows that Matt is the best brother and he thought that one good beating would be enough to prove that to himself and everyone else. However, he has now decided that it isn’t, and until there is only one Hardy in the WWE he won’t let it drop.
Matt then claimed he would be waiting round every corner etc until he did leave, so he should do the right thing and come to the ring and announce he is leaving to all his ‘people’, and apologise to Matt for even attempting to be his brother. Matt wrapped up by saying that if he didn’t do that, Matt would make sure he left on a stretcher and after a while Jeff emerged from the back before charging into the ring and attempting to assault Matt, to no avail.
As Matt was leaving new G.M Teddy Long emerged and said that what he had said earlier had got his attention, so tonight the Hardy’s would face each other in a Stretcher Match.
Segment 2
Kofi’s on Smackdown
After the commercials Eve introduces Kofi Kingston who will later face the Big Show. Kofi talked about his childhood and how he had learned to wrestle in a ring he had built himself where the canvas was made from grass and dirt, and he used to think how he could shock the world just like Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels had at WrestleMania X.
He said he was proud to be involved in the Money in the Bank match and although he didn’t win, he was happy with his performance. He then said he hoped tonight was his night to shock the world, when he beats the 7ft giant; The Big Show.
Match 1
Singles Match
Kofi Kingston
Vs.
The Big Show
J.R and Grisham made a point of explaining how angry The Big Show has been this past week, due to not winning the championship at WrestleMania. No mention of the Vikki Guererro love triangle has been made yet, which is surprising seeing as how much of the hype for the World Heavyweight Championship match rested on it.
Show started in complete control but Kofi’s began to gain some momentum with his high energy, unorthodox style. Just as it looked like Kingston might be closing in on a big upset, Show caught him with a big right hand as he flew from the top rope. The three count was academic from there.
The Big Show wins by Pinfall.
Segment 3
Santino talks about Santina
Santino starts off by saying that all the Diva’s seem to be jealous of his twin sister Santina who had won the title of Miss WrestleMania. He says that he has come to scout Smackdown as he could get drafted on Monday night, and he wants to show all the fans that there is more than one Marella people should be jealous off.
He calls out someone to face him and to his dismay The Great Khali answers the challenge. Runjin Singh informs Santino that Khali will let him off on one condition; he gets Santina to participate in the Khali Kiss Cam. Santino takes offence and throws some insults at Khali, which leads to a 1 on 1 match between the two.
Match 2
Singles Match
The Great Khali
Vs.
Santino Marella
This one was over before it began, the very definition of a squash match. Khali dropped Santino with the Punjabi Plunge and picked up the win in under a minute.
The Great Khali wins by Pinfall.
Match 3
Divas Singles Match
Gail Kim
Vs.
Michelle McCool
Kim looks good and I’m glad they decided to bring her back as she always seemed like she had a lot of potential the first time she was in the WWE (and I heard good things about her while she was in TNA.)
McCool was ruthless in this one, attacking with stiff shots and generally aggressive offence. During the match we kept cutting away to Maryse who was watching this one in the back, leading me to believe the winner of this one might be the next in line for a Divas Championship shot.
Despite never actually controlling the match, Gail Kim picked up the victory with a reversal of a cover into a roll up.
Gail Kim wins by Pinfall.
Segment 4
The Cutting Edge with John Cena
Edge starts by talking about how he’d envisioned one of the biggest victories of his career taking place at WrestleMania XXV, but how that victory and his World Heavyweight Championship had been stolen by his guest tonight; John Cena.
Cena does his whole ‘The Champ is Here’ thing and the crowd go crazy, which makes me wonder how authentic these cheers are as at Mania he was practically booed from the building when he won. Edge explains to Cena that the title belt keeps him sane and that he thinks Cena ruined his life at Mania.
Cena asks him what he thought was going to happen when he brought him out here and said all this to him. Cena outlines all the different situations the two had been through, including wives, girlfriends, Cena’s Dad, Titles, Hometowns etc. Cena says Edge should have brought him out so they could talk about what could be the greatest rivalry in WWE history (that raised a loud but solitary boo from one member of the crowd), but instead he brought him out to cry about how he had stolen his title.
Edge says he hates Cena. It’s a strong word, but he really does hate EVERYTHING about him (he lists everything he can; Cap, t-shirt, wristbands, dog tags etc) and says that at Backlash it has to end, before bringing attention to the fact their match is Last Man Standing and both men claim they are going to win it.
Cena says Edge hates him because he’s a survivor, not because of all the things he listed (which he proceeds to remove from his body and throw into the crowd) and begs him to knock him down and see what happens. Edge removes his t-shirt and looks ready to fight, before walking away seemingly a broken man.
Match 4
Non-Title Tag Team Match
Carlito & Primo
Vs.
Priceless (DiBiase & Rhodes)
It’s nice to see Carlito & Primo wrestling someone other than The Miz & Morrison, even if it is a team that has more important matters to attend to than the Unified Tag Team Championships.
Carlito and Primo are still coming to the ring with all 4 championship straps. Surely it can’t be long before there is a pair of belts made up much like the WWF and WCW Heavyweight Championship belts were removed in favour of the Undisputed Title a few months after they were unified.
J.R and Grisham used this match as an oppertunity to chat about the 3 on 3 match for the WWE Championship at Backlash, heaping praise on Priceless despite their major heel status. Carlito and Primo were made to look like they were just ‘hanging on’ for large spells of this match, until Carlito got a ‘hot tag’ and began to dominate both Rhodes and DiBiase.
The numbers game caught up with him eventually and Priceless won the match when DiBiase pulled Carlito’s arm over the top rope and lead to Rhodes hitting the ‘CrossRoads’ and picking up the Pinfall.
After the bell Priceless destroyed Carlito and Primo before Orton sauntered down to the ring and began to pick the bones himself. The three members of Legacy then posed in the ring while the crowd booed loudly.
Priceless win by Pinfall.
Segment 5
Legacy explain Backlash
After the break Legacy are still in the ring and Orton explains the match at Backlash. He goes on to talk about Batista’s return at the climax of Raw and reminds everyone who put The Animal on the shelf in the first place.
He described Legacy as a well-oiled machine, while Triple H’s team is nothing but a bunch of hot heads and egomaniacs, and whether the victory comes by pinfall, submission, disqualification or count-out; after Backlash Orton will be the WWE Champion.
Main Event Match
Stretcher Match
Matt Hardy
Vs.
Jeff Hardy
After Todd Grisham explains the rules to the fans, including a demonstration of how to wheel a stretcher from one end of the ramp to the other, the Hardy’s made their way to the ring and the match began.
With less than 15 minutes of the show left to air when this match began, it was never going to be an epic encounter. The two battled back and forth and the most unique moment of the match had to be when Jeff mounted one of the stretchers near the top of the ramp and ‘surfed’ it into his brother who was waiting at the bottom.
Matt seemed to have the upper hand, twice almost getting his brother over the line at the top of the ramp. However Jeff had the wherewithal to fight back and almost reverse the situation into a victory for himself. After Matt’s failed attempt at driving one of the stretchers over his brothers head, Jeff leg dropped one end of the stretcher from the top rope, catapulting the other end into Matt’s face.
Jeff once again headed to the top rope, attempting to Swanton Matt who was laying prone on the stretcher. Matt moved and Jeff crashed and burned. Following a steel chair shot for good measure Matt wheeled his brother over the line at the top of the ramp to claim a second victory over him within a week.
Matt Hardy wins the Stretcher Match.
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