After the usual video packages, we start out with Chris Jericho. 10 out of 10 already. Or not. He's got a huge bruise on the left side of his face to sell what Tyson did to him. When Big Show, a WWE employee, punches somebody like that nobody has a bruise. When Mike Tyson, a guest host, punches somebody they put it over huge. What I'm saying is maybe you might want to put over your own employees as much as you do the guest hosts. Anyway, Chris cuts his usual awesome promo ripping on the fans, calling himself the baddest man on the planet and talked about winning the World Championship again.
Chris Jericho d. John Morrison (***)
First move of the match? Morrison punched him in the jaw. I love that. They went to a quick commercial as Drew McIntyre - newly engaged to Tiffany by the way - came out to make mean faces at ringside. The match was solid as predicted with a lot of great counter wrestling, which is typical in a Jericho match. They had some good nearfalls throughout and then Jericho had him in the Walls of Jericho. Wasn't as good as last week when he did it to JTG by burying the knee into his head, but that's probably because they needed Morrison to get to the ropes. Morrison got back to his feet, talked shit to McIntyre, turned around and ate a Codebreaker from Jericho for the pinfall. Hopefully by the summer we see this as a World Title feud with Jericho as the champion against Morrison. That’s the feud to really make Morrison.
Did you know? 7 of the last 10 Royal Rumble winners went on to win the World Title at Mania. That's nice although I bet you can't tell us who won in 2004, eh WWE?
CM Punk came out. Same deal as last week. He was there to save a member of the audience. Who was it? A black man named Trevor that shockingly looked like an indy wrestler. Amazing. Punk shaved his mini fro as Trevor converted to straight edge. If you're wondering, yes, Punk is going for the Jesus look by saving people. The plan is to have a Mania match against Mysterio in a mask vs. hair match that Punk would lose.
CM Punk & Luke Gallows d. Matt Hardy & The Great Khali, The Hart Dynasty & Cryme Tyme to be #1 Contenders to the Tag Titles (*1/2)
Yes, they actually had Hardy team with Khali. Is this version 2.0 of Matt Hardy? I have no idea. I think Ranjin Singh was pissed that Hardy almost did a dance beside Khali. The match was just okay, nothing special. It's hard for me to get excited about a tag match with four different teams where you know at least two of them aren't winning. I thought the Hart Dynasty would go over, but I'm fine with Punk/Gallows winning. I like the pairing. The pin was done by Gallows on JTG with the Twelfth Pole, which his reverse full nelson slam. After the match, Trevor the Straight Edge dude celebrated with them. This means Punk & Gallows get a title shot at DX whenever they want to work on a Tuesday, I guess.
Backstage, Matthews talked to Batista who said he's done talking about Rey and that he's scared of the Undertaker. He was also in his locker room, angry about being interrupted. Insert Batista jokes here.
Undertaker came out. Hey, first time he showed up to work in a couple weeks. Nice. He mentioned it being a new decade and how he dominated the last two decades. In other words, he's old. He said whoever wins tonight will lose to him at the Rumble. He also said he'll be at Raw on Monday to answer Shawn Michaels' WrestleMania challenge. He says no matter his reply, Shawn will rest in peace. Five minutes of airtime and did a good job of promoting him to be at Raw on Monday. This was fine.
Mickie James d. Beth Phoenix via DQ (*1/4)
They showed the build to it, Mickie James-Canton smiled at her actions when she kicked Beth last week and Beth came out pissed off. No Glamapose, even. That's how pissed she was. It makes you think: "That woman's so mad she's not even doing her pose!" They had a physical match. It was Beth dominating with Mickie trying to fight back, which is great because she's a good underdog due to her size. They have the best chemistry of any two women in the company, no doubt. Beth hung Mickie upside down in the corner (Striker called it the "Tree of Joey Lawrence" because he used to say "whoa" - made me want to punch Striker) and the match ended there with the ref DQing her. In came Michelle, who was shoeless, with Layla. Beth left showing she had no concern for Mickie. Team Laycool beat up on Mickie, including a bump where they swung her head into the turnbuckle that looked painful. MJC was a bump machine here. Michelle, the shoeless heel in her ripped shirt/jean look (WTH?), then finished her off with the Styles Clash…err Faith Breaker. I'm assuming this leads to a triple threat at the Rumble. I know I'm biased, but it really is one of the better feuds in WWE right now.
Kane d. Dolph Ziggler (*3/4)
Third straight week. This was longer than the first two, going over 10 minutes this time. I understand why they're doing it - to try to make Dolph more credible - although I can't say I love it. The match was just…I don't know…okay. It's not bad, but it's not great. They're trying to get Ziggler's sleeper hold over as a big move. The problem is nobody's reacting to it. We've been conditioned to think the sleeper is just a transition hold in this era. They had psychology by Kane breaking up the sleeper on the floor this week as opposed to last week when he lost by countout. Back in the ring, Ziggler hit a Fameasser for two (legdrop on the back of the head) and went for the Zig Zag. Kane blocked it and won with the chokeslam. Basically they worked 12 minutes so the nearly 40 year old can beat the rising star in his 20s. Good effort. It's just that they really didn't click in terms of having as good of a match as they wanted.
In case you forgot, here's a video package from the Fiesta Bowl that was shown on Monday telling you that John Cena's the biggest star in WWE. Thanks for the reminder.
Matthews caught up to Rey backstage. It was hilarious seeing random people like Maria wishing him luck. She looks like a giant compared to him. Mysterio talked about being the underdog
Rey Mysterio d. Batista in a Steel Cage Match to become the #1 Contender to the World Title (**1/2)
Their best match was about a month ago on Smackdown when Rey won on a counter. This one was pretty good and better then last week's terribly booked match although it was short at only 8 minutes. They really told a good story in the match with Mysterio using his speed to climb up the cage a number of times with Batista chasing him. I like how they used some psychology by making a big deal about Rey not being able to hit the 619 in the cage, so instead he jumped off Batista's shoulders to climb up. My one gripe with WWE cage matches is nobody goes for the door enough. If you knock a guy down and out, why not just walk out of the door quickly? They should do it where you can win by pinfall, submission or climbing out, but no using the door. It'd be better for the psychology of the matches. I also wouldn't mind blood. That's not happening, though. The finish saw Batista going for the Batista Bomb only for Rey to counter and climb up the cage quickly to get out. Batista went out the door, Rey kicked it into his face and fell down for the win. This means Batista's in the Rumble match, which adds more star power to that.
I was very sure that Batista was going to win this match while heading to the Rumble to take the belt from Undertaker. I guess I'm wrong on that. Now it makes me think Undertaker's going to hold the title until WrestleMania, Michaels is going to win and that's how they'll set up the rematch. Who knows, though? Could be a lot of twists and turns between now and the end of March.
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Three Stars of the Show
1. Chris Jericho - For the promo, the match and the bruise. Best in the world.
2. Rey Mysterio - Consistently great. Maybe he's even underrated.
3. John Morrison
There were barely any backstage segments. When there were, they were done like old school wrestling promos. It was a wrestling show with good booking from top to bottom. The promos by Jericho and Punk were great as well. That's what Smackdown is. No attempts at lame comedy like last week either. See, you don't even need a GM at all. Just let the stories tell themselves.
Ter 2 Fev 2010 - 21:38