- Loved the opening to the show. The historical look back at past SS events was great as well as how it tied into today's product. The production team are the MVPs of WWE, I think. They always deliver the goods. They had the three man announce team of Cole, Lawler and Striker leaving The Grish to do backstage duties. They were fine, but I miss JR. Get better, Jim.
Team Miz (Miz, Sheamus, McIntyre, Swagger & Ziggler) d. Team Morrison (Morrison, Hardy, Finlay, Benjamin and Bourne) (**1/2)
From my preview: "The heel side should win. It makes more sense. It would be foolish to have guys like Sheamus or McIntyre get pinned in a match like this." I nailed that pretty well. Those two survived along with Miz. I was pleased that they got just over 20 minutes. Ref Scott Armstrong got legit hurt here. They showed the replay where he took a knee to the head by Sheamus although he might have slipped and hurt his own knee too. Morrison's team of jobbers lost as expected while he squared off 1 on 3 against Miz, Sheamus and McIntyre (why does Ziggler lose so much?). I thought he might pin Miz. Didn't happen. Sheamus got the win with his Razor's Edge like finish that needs a name. Good booking. Predictable, but it was the right call.
- Team Kofi had a skit backstage with my boy Christian mentioning he's different from then. No not because he is white, it's because he's in ECW. He's also the only one that's a champion, but that would actually put over the ECW belt. Can't do that. Christian did a R-Truth like rap rhyming fight with white as the black dudes thought it was pretty lame. Then they all drank Kool-Aid. Oh wait, that was just Mark Henry. It was decent comedy although that's to be expected with Christian. He was funnier as a heel though. Can't top the classic E&C stuff or his work with The Rock when he was calling himself Captain Charisma.
Batista d. Rey Mysterio (*1/4)
This was more of an angle than a match. I hate to toot my own horn, but check this out from my preview: "I would be surprised if this match is anything but a brutal beatdown victory by Batista. The strong rumor is that Mysterio's going to need knee surgery again and it could be as soon as next week. I can see him doing a stretcher job here. It will put over Batista huge as a heel monster while Mysterio's the perfect guy to sell a beating. What's interesting is that this PPV is in Batista's hometown of Washington. Are the fans going to cheer him even if he's a heel because it's his hometown? I think they might. I nailed this one too even calling the stretcher job. Not sure if he's having the surgery, but I guess it's possible. The beatdown was good with Batista hitting multiple powerbombs and also a spinebuster on a chair after the match. I liked that they want with the KO victory too. The announcers pointed out that he never went for a fall, which is a good way to put over just how much of a monster he was here. Well done. Of course, the crowd cheering for him wasn't the reaction that Vince probably wanted. That's what you get for turning the guy the month before they have a show in his hometown. The announcers basically ignored the cheers, which is the right move long term. By the way, when Rey was getting loaded on the stretcher guess what we heard? Yep, the dreaded SERIOUS VOICES~!
- Randy Orton talked to his team. He expected more out of them in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series. Then he told some jokes. Okay, he didn't, but what a nice surprise that would have been, huh?
Team Kofi Kingston (Kingston, MVP, Henry, R-Truth & Christian) d. Team Randy Orton (Orton, Dibiase, Rhodes, Regal & Punk) (***1/4)
It was a good match, better than the first one. Orton pinning Henry in about a minute was fantastic. I cheered for that. The match was basically two halves with different stories. The first 13 minutes saw the elimination of everybody except Kingston, Punk and Orton. I really hope we get a Christian/Punk feud in the future because I think it could be great. The next five or six saw Punk work over Kingston while Orton stood on the apron cheering him on. They made Kingston look like the underdog in that 1 on 2 scenario, then he countered a Punk rollup with a pin while using the tights. Everybody was going nuts for that. Then Orton comes in and Kofi KO's him with the Trouble in Paradise spin kick for the pinfall. I marked out legit. I'm a huge Kofi fan. And Orton sold it great. My prediction? I think the babyface side is going to win this one because Kingston getting the upper hand on Orton is the right way for this to go heading into what is likely going to be a singles match next month. Another one right for me. It's nice to come up with logical booking decisions and then to see it come through. I'm looking forward to more Orton vs. Kingston going forward. It's the best thing in WWE right now.
The Undertaker d. Chris Jericho & Big Show to retain the World Title (**3/4)
Fan: "Go back to Toronto." Jericho: "I'm from Winnipeg, you idiot." Best in the world at what he does. It's true. This was my only incorrect prediction of the night. I had Jericho for the win although that was more of a desire on my part because I think it's something of a crime to see him without a world title win this year (tag belts don't count). This was booked pretty evenly with the announcers putting over the Undertaker's toughness. Is that there way of mentioning that he moves slower in the ring these days? Lucky for him, Big Show was in the match too, so he wasn't the slowest guy out there. Jericho was all over the place, doing his best to score the victory. I really liked the spot where he missed the Lionsault, then turned it into the Walls and when Undertaker was reaching up for him he kept tilting his head back. That was a little thing that he added for those of us that saw Undertaker make him tap in that same position. Well done. I love things like that. The finish was the typical triple threat deal with each guy countering something with their finish. Show knocked out Taker, then tried to pin, Jericho broke that up, then they had a little squabble, Show KNOCKED HIM THE FUCK OUT~! Show went for the chokeslam, Undertaker countered with the Hell's Gate submission and Show tapped out like a little bitch. Solid match. I understand Undertaker winning since his next feud is probably Batista with the rumored Batista title win coming at the Rumble. The question is, what will they do at TLC before that?
- They had Josh Matthews interview Miz, Sheamus & McIntyre about their win. They all bragged basically.
Team Mickie James (Mickie, Kelly, Gail, Melina & Eve) d. Team Michelle McCool (Michelle, Beth, Jillian, Layla & Alicia) (*3/4)
It was what I expected it to be. The crowd wasn't that into the match although that's to be expected considering they were following a World Title match. There were lots of quick falls early. Why did they re-sign Gail only to have her lose matches on a regular basis when she's arguably the most talented in-ring woman on the roster? I don't understand. They had Beth do some power moves in eliminating Eve & Kelly, but then she got pinned by my beloved Mickie James-Canton. That left a two on one situation with Melina & Mickie against Michelle. I thought Mickie would score the pinfall to set up the obvious feud with Michelle. Didn't happen. Melina got it. The match was just okay. Aside from Mickie looking lovely in a new outfit (I notice these things), I thought Eve looked fantastic too. Maryse is probably back on Raw tomorrow most likely. Looking forward to it.
- They did an interview with Batista talking to The Grish. He said he was embarrassed for Rey. I think Batista's heel gimmick is that he doesn't talk much. He lets his violence do the talking. Or something.
John Cena d. Shawn Michaels & Triple H to retain the WWE Title (***3/4)
I got the match at ***3/4 out of 5, which is what I expected for it. It went 21 minutes. That was fine. They followed the WWE formula for triple threat matches to a tee. They had HBK superkick HHH early on to take him out for a bit, then they had it just Cena vs. HBK for a while. Just as Cena was going to finish him, Hunter saved Shawn and then put him through the announce table with a spinebuster. Ouch. Now it was Cena and HHH's turn to fight with Michaels breaking that up. They then did a three person submission spot, which was okay, but the crowd wasn't that into it. See what I mean about the WWE formula? The crowd knows the finishers are coming. They did a triple KO spot with HBK & Cena trying to pin HHH after hitting finishers, but that only got two. The crowd did react to that one. As for the finish? Let's go back to my preview one last time: I think Cena wins clean with the Attitude Adjustment probably on Michaels. Well, I was right about Cena winning and hitting the AA on Michaels, but he ended up pining HHH, who was knocked out after HBK superkicked him. He kicked him while HHH was going for the Pedigree. That's how they book a lot of these triple threats. Finisher on finisher on finisher. It's too repetitive. I'm fine with Cena winning. It's nice to see a champion actually retain. I'm not sure if it's going to lead to DX splitting up soon, but if it is the beginning of a heel turn for HHH then I will strongly support it. For those wondering, Cena's now 6-0 at Survivor Series (thanks to Travis for that research). I'm not sure if they'll even mention that, but it's worth noting.
The show ended with Cena on the ramp with the belt in hand.
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The show was good. Not the best PPV of the year (Summerslam), yet it was still one of the better ones. The results of the matches were predictable (I got 5 out of 6 correct), but that does not make it a poor show in any way. It was right for Kofi, Sheamus, McIntyre and Miz to the be the stars of their matches. They're part of the future. I'm not that crazy about Undertaker and Cena retaining the belts, but at the same time I'm the guy that wrote a column bitching about all the title switches. I'd like to say thanks to WWE for not booking title changes here. It's refreshing to see that they've actually come to their senses just a little bit.
There are a lot of questions that can be asked after this show: What's next for Orton vs. Kingston? What about the futures of both DX and Jerishow? Is Batista vs. Undertaker next? Who's next for Cena? Will tonight's strong performances lead to sustained pushes up the card for Miz, Sheamus and McIntyre? I think we'll get some answers on tomorrow's three hour Raw. With the Royal Rumble fast approaching it's getting to be that time of year where it's the best time to be a WWE fan. They need to deliver the goods going forward to not only keep the interest of those of us that are watching, but also to bring back viewers that may have stopped watching.
Three Stars of the Show
1. Shawn Michaels - He was the glue in the main event. He hit a lot of superkicks, didn't he?
2. Kofi Kingston - His star continues to shine brightly. I'm very excited about his future.
3. Rey Mysterio - Really did a great job of selling the beating. If he does have the knee surgery soon I'll miss him.
Dom 20 Dez 2009 - 21:49