Finlay d. Batista via DQ (1/4*)
It was more of an angle than a match. Finlay was on offense early. They went to the floor and Batista was gouging at his eyes when the ref threw the match out. He got DQ'd. Didn't care. He beat the hell out of him on the floor, tossing him into the guard rail and giving him a spear on the outside. He then stomped on Finlay saying HHH, HBK and Cena are all going to have to deal with him. In other words, that's WWE speak for saying if you think somebody other than one of those three is winning the Rumble you're incorrect. This beating was good. I really like heel Batista probably because I grew so tired of face Batista.
Throughout the show they showed some clips of Mysterio's past successes including winning the 2006 Rumble, then the World Title at Mania (I'm still bitching about that match getting less than ten minutes) and last week beating Batista to be number one contender. It's nice to remember history. Wish they did it more often.
The Straight Edge Society welcomes another
Next up was head shaving time. CM Punk came out with Luke Gallows. They mentioned that next week on SD, DX is going to actually work and defend the tag titles against them. As Punk walked down to the ring giving his usual sermon about saving the audience, a woman jumped the rail and hugged him. Luke held her off, calling for security. They dragged her up the ramp, but Punk saw she really wanted to be saved so he let her go. Her name was Serena. She NEEDS pills, but she wants to stop. Punk said he could help her. The facial expressions of both of them here were fantastic. He asked her if she was ready to pledge allegiance to him and the Straight Edge Society (SES). She said yes, so she repeated what he said in saying that she will stand in one nation under Punk. They went to commercial as the head shaving was about to commence. I guess it's become like a match where somebody is on the floor. Back from the break, he cut her hair off with the razor nearly perfectly. Lots of hair too, down to her shoulders. He kissed her on the head to welcome her to the SES and they even replayed it. The lasting image was Punk cradling her bald head on his scalp as they both smiled. This was really awesome. I'm sure some might complain about it running two segments, but did you hear the crowd? They are into this angle big time. They booed him the whole time. When the time comes for somebody to sit in the chair and beat the crap out of Punk they can make that person a star. I hope it's Bryan Danielson, but that's more of a wish on my part.
By the way, the woman was in WWE developmental and her name was Serena Deeb there. She's going with Serena Mancini in WWE and she's officially on the Smackdown roster. She's not up on WWE.com's superstars list yet officially, but trust me it's true. I'm glad because she's actually a trained wrestler rather than somebody they found in a bikini model search. I've heard good things about her from people I trust, so I look forward to watching her develop. Much like my beloved Mickie James, she's a Virginia native too. That might be my new favorite state.
John Morrison & R-Truth d. Chris Jericho & Drew McIntyre (***1/4)
It started out as a handicap match with Jericho & McIntyre vs. Morrison, but before it started they had Teddy Long change Vickie's decision to a tag match including R-Truth. Why not just announce it as a tag in the first place? I have no idea. I guess they had five minutes to call. This was the longest match on Raw or Smackdown this year, clocking it at about 18 minutes. It was well done with the heels working over Morrison for the majority of the match. I was a little disappointed in some of McIntyre's offense because it was too basic. He needs to do more than just the basic punches and stomps although that's how WWE trains their young guys to work. R-Truth got the hot tag and he cleaned house. Jericho ended up hitting an enziguri, but the ref was busy with McIntyre. That allowed Morrison to kick Jericho, who then fell victim to R-Truth's axe kick for the pin. I usually love the 18 minute matches, but it dragged at times to really prevent it from being great. Still, I'm not going to complain about a three star match.
Reason #6,834 why Chris Jericho is the best performer in WWE: He loses clean in tag matches even though he's a multi-time world champion. Would HHH lose a match like this to R-Truth's axe kick? Of course not. Wrestling's not about winning every match. It's about losing when it benefits the entire company and that's what this was. Nobody's going to remember the loss a week from now, but it does make Truth & Morrison look good in the eyes of the fans.
By the way, Morrison vs. McIntyre for the IC title in a No DQ match next week. I think Morrison gets the belt back especially since there's a rumor that McIntyre has a knee injury. I'm not sure about that, though.
Back from a break, Michelle McCool and Layla were in the ring. They were in the ring filled with food and a piggy cake as a going away party for Mickie. They told some bad jokes about her being fat only for Maria to come out. She looked tremendous. Michelle rips her for being thin. So Mickie's fat and Maria's too thin even though she probably weighs the same, or less, than Michelle. I'm not going to pretend to understand women. Anyway, Maria called them morons. She was about to get up all in their faces when Mickie's music came on. My girl Mickie James-Canton looked phenomenal in jeans and a white top showing off some stomach. If she did have some extra weight on her three or four months ago it's clearly gone now. She's in awesome shape, which is what frustrates me about the angle. She cut a promo on the heels saying women are beautiful in all forms whether fat, skinny or curvy (yes MJC you are curvy) and that there's nothing wrong with that. I kept waiting for Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" to start playing. Another highlight here was Mickie's dig on Michelle for her appearance on 5th Grader. That was funny. Mickie really delivered a strong promo here. That's the one we've been waiting months for and she did it perfectly. The fans were really into it unlike some promos on SD where it's the canned noise. From there, Mickie hit Michelle. Maria paired off with Layla and then Beth, shoeless like Michelle last week, came in. She didn't know who to go after. She ended up going after Maria. She threw her into the post, sending her to the floor and then took down Mickie. The three heels went after Mickie. Another brutal beating. This one ended with a pig cake in the face. I've never been more jealous of a cake in my life. To end it, she dumped the punch on her head. Poor Mickie was left there soaking wet with tears down her eyes. All of them did a great job, but this was one of the best performances by MJC in a long time.
This was really well done. When was the last time a woman's angle was given nearly ten minutes of TV time? The Trish/Mickie feud, I guess. They deserved it here. It's worked really well and I think people want to see th showdown. We also learned that it's Michelle vs. Mickie at the Rumble. I'm not sure if they'll switch the title although it would make sense. They could wait for WrestleMania. I don't have any insider info, nor would I ask. I like surprises as much as anybody.
By the way, the punch they used to dump on Mickie? Kool-Aid. See, Mark Henry is useful!
Cryme Tyme vs. Knox & Haas ended in a no contest (DUD)
Charlie Haas! Remember him? A minute in, Kane came out. He threw everybody over the top rope for the annual "Kane is a threat to win the Rumble" push even though everybody knows he has no chance of actually winning. The "Kane is a threat to win the Rumble" push is vintage Royal Rumble booking. Can't go a year without it.
The Great Khali & Matt Hardy d. The Hart Dynasty (3/4*)
Hardy & Khali again? Matt's really enjoying the Khali theme song, isn't he? I think he might feud with Ranjin Singh over who is the better dancer to the song. This was a Raw special at three minutes with Hardy winning on a rollup. Khali never got in the match. He was distracted by Natalya I guess because we have to remember Khali is the Punjabi Playboy. I'm not a fan of the Hart Dynasty losing, though. What happened to the possible Jericho/THD alliance that they teased us with a few weeks back? Make it happen!
Rey Calls Out Undertaker
Mysterio came out talking about how he's not afraid of Undertaker and he was going to call him out. God bless my DVR and the ability to fast forward through Undertaker's walk to the ring. Anybody else find it funny that a "dead man" has MMA fighting gloves on his hands at all times even when he's not in a match? I think it's hilarious. Maybe it's just me. Better than the purple gloves, at least. Undertaker asked him if he was afraid now. Rey said no. He said he'd defeat Undertaker at the Rumble. Undertaker said he admired his gallantry (good word, by the way), but he was only digging his own grave. I love when Undertaker speaks normal. When he speaks Undertaker-ese it's a huge letdown. He said Rey would lose at the Rumble, basically. Undertaker then left. Rey called him out again, but as he was doing that Batista snuck in behind him. He hit a spinebuster. Undertaker slowly walked back towards the ring. If he moves faster he might need another hip surgery. Batista hit a Batista Bomb and bailed through the crowd. He's the baddest grandpa with a nose piercing on the planet. I give him that. The show ended with Undertaker raising his fist while standing on the ramp while Rey tried to regroup in the ring.
Decent ending to a strong show. I think they've done a good job in making us think Rey has a chance at the Rumble although I really doubt he's leaving with the belt. In fact, Undertaker leaving the Rumble with the belt is probably the lock of the night. Good job of putting over Batista as the dickhead heel too. I believe the original plan was for a triple threat at the Rumble, but now they're going with Batista in the Rumble match to give it more star power. Fine with me. I enjoyed the Rey/Undertaker match a month ago. I hope they get 15 minutes to tell a good story again.
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Three Stars of the Show
1. CM Punk - I don't care if his promos seem long. He's in such a zone right now.
2. Mickie James - Yeah I'm biased, but she had to deliver a big promo and she did it very well.
3. Serena - When you make your debut by having your hair cut off you get a star from me. She was great. Plus, she's pretty cute. I like short brunettes.
Yep, it's a 7 again. I give a lot of 7's. I almost went 7.5, but relented. I think for me to go higher I need two matches as good as that tag match. Aside from the one long tag match, which I really liked, this was a promo heavy show. And you know what? That's fine with me because the promos on this show were fantastic. The Smackdown brand is on fire going into the Rumble. I hope the momentum continues all the way to WrestleMania because it truly is a fun show to watch week after week.
Ter 2 Fev 2010 - 21:43