The busy pay-per-view period continues, and this time it’s World Wrestling Entertainment’s turn, with a new name - Bragging Rights - as members of the Raw and Smackdown rosters try to see just who is best, as well as the Undertaker and Randy Orton defending their respective titles. Sadly, Jim Ross is still indisposed, so Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Todd Grisham are handling commentary duties.
The show began with the first of the tournament matches, with Raw’s United States Champion The Miz facing off against Smackdown’s Intercontinental Champion John Morrison in a non-title affair. To say that this was a good way of starting the show would be an understatement. A good background story was backed up by a very good showing from the two former Tough Enough contestants. It featured good solid action with plenty of near falls, and Miz getting the win after pushing Morrison off the top rope, just as he was about to take Miz out with the starship pain. Good stuff, with Raw going one up in the series.
Tournament match two saw the Divas in action, with Smackdown’s Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix and Natalya against Raw’s Melina, Gail Kim and Kelly Kelly. Another good encounter here. I was really impressed with the exchanges between Beth and Gail. WWE just seems to be missing the boat with the former TNA Knockouts Champion. But anyway, Kelly was the proverbial punching bag in this one, before we got the obligatory mass brawl, and Beth pinning Melina after slamming her face first into the mat. See, these Divas can have some good matches sometimes!
Then it was on to the Undertaker, defending his World title against three former champions, Rey Mysterio, C.M. Punk and Batista in fatal four way action. This one began at a rather frantic pace, but slowed down a little when the two big men began to duke it out. There were plenty of near falls, with each one being broken up, and it looked like anyone could win this, until the dead man finally got the pin after taking Batista out with the tombstone. The animal was none too pleased though, as his little buddy Mysterio had broken up his pin attempt just moments before. You kind of knew that something as going to happen when Josh Matthews got into the ring to interview Mysterio and Batista after the match. Batista flipped, blaming his “best friend” for his loss, before beating the hell out of him. So I guess the big guy is a hated heel now then. Oh, and the match wasn’t too bad either.
The final tournament match saw Raw’s D-Generation X, the Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and Kofi Kingston face Smackdown’s Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, Finlay, R-Truth and the Hart Dynasty. This one certainly lived up to the hype, and I just loved the exchanges between Finlay and Michaels. Tremendous action throughout, with the Big Show turning on his team-mates, and costing them the match, choke slamming Kingston off the top rope, and then taking Triple H out with the big right, leaving his tag team partner Jericho to mop things up by pinning Kofi. Good, dramatic stuff.
The final match saw Randy Orton defend the WWE title against John Cena in an anything goes sixty minute iron man match. This was promoted as the final encounter between these two long-time rivals, and as with the previous matches on this show it certainly delivered. This was by far the best and most dramatic match these two have had this year. You had double pins, submissions, finishers countered with finishers, the champion attempting to blow the challenger up, a brawl through the crowd, and the destruction of the announcer’s table. With just a minute or so left, both men were tied at five decisions each, before Cena locked on the STF again, and with just five minutes left, Orton tapped, giving Cena the one fall lead and the title win. I really hope that this is the end of their rivalry, because I don’t think that they can top this effort.
In conclusion - a really enjoyable show. There wasn’t one bad match here, however, if they’re going to make this Raw v Smackdown encounter an annual thing, how about tweaking the concept a little? Why not make every match a Raw v Smackdown encounter? Why not have the WWE Champion face the World Champion? Why not end the show with a 5-on-5 match? While we’re at it, why not make that a War Games match? It would certainly make for a slightly more interesting show, wouldn’t it?
It’s gimmick match overload time again, but this time it’s World Wrestling Entertainment’s turn, as their two biggest titles are on the line in Hell in a Cell, shown live here in Britain in the early hours of Monday morning on Sky Box Office.
The broadcast began with the first Hell in a Cell match, and C.M. Punk defending his World title against the Undertaker. A relatively short match to begin the show with saw some good action, and some early use of the cage as a weapon. Once again the protagonists had some good exchanges of blows, before the Undertaker countered Punk’s attempted chair shot by booting said weapon to the champion’s face. Seconds later Punk fell to the tombstone, with the Undertaker getting the title winning pin. A nice way to start the show, and an enjoyable match, but at a shade over ten minutes long it felt ten minutes too short.
Next up was John Morrison defending the Intercontinental title against perennial number one contender Dolph Ziggler. Mr. Ziggles continues to impress, improving each and every time I see him, while Morrison just impresses the hell out of me anyway. The shaman of sexy or whatever the hell he’s called was the best thing in this match, and Ziggler wasn’t far behind, but I’m left to wonder just how many more chances he’ll get at this title, because he came up short once again, with Morrison getting the pin after taking him out with the starship pain thing.
The title action continued with Alicia Fox challenging Mickie James for the Divas title. This was okay in parts, but there were times where Miss Fox looked way out of her depth, and she almost messed up Mickie’s finishing DDT. Mickie needs some more seasoned challengers. In other words, where’s Gail Kim when you need her.
Then it was on to what was, for me, the best match on the show, with Batista and Rey Mysterio challenging Chris Jericho and the Big Show for the Unified Tag Team Championship. This match was just perfect. It played to everyone’s strengths, and it just made sense, and for some odd reason I just loved the David versus Goliath exchanges between Mysterio and the Big Show. As far as no frills, no gimmick action was concerned, you couldn’t get much better than this, with the hated heel champions retaining their titles after the big guy knocked the little guy out as he came off the top rope.
The second Hell in a Cell match followed, with John Cena defending his title against Randy Orton. And before you ask, no, I didn’t see Cena dropping his razor blade, but as far as the match is concerned this wasn’t too bad, certainly the best effort these two have put in in their latest feud. The cell, of course, played a major part in that, giving us something we haven’t seen from these two before. Cena looked like he was going to retain the title at one point as Orton tapped to the STF, but sadly for him the referee was taking a snooze. The viper came back strongly though, and despite Cena having injured his right knee, Orton punted Cena before getting the title winning pin. The punt wasn’t as severe as the previous efforts though, as Cena was able to get back to his feet afterwards.
My fellow Brit made his pay-per-view debut next, as Drew McIntyre took on R-Truth. You know, I remember recommending this guy to a certain wrestling promoter a few years ago, although he’ll deny that this ever took place. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. A short and sweet match, with the former Mr. Galloway putting on a good performance en route to getting the win with his under hook DDT. Nice one.
Triple threat action followed, with Kofi Kingston defending the United States title against the Miz and Jack Swagger. One thing that surprised me was that Kingston was introduced as being from Ghana, especially after all the trouble they went to before, making out he was West Indian. Although this was another of those nice little encounters, it was kind of predictable in a way, with the heels teaming up against Kingston, before they inevitably disagreed and started beating the hell out of each other. The Jamaica…I mean African guy again looked impressive, getting the pin after taking Swagger out with that brilliant kick of his, before getting the pin on the Miz, who had just fallen to Swagger’s brilliant power bomb.
The final match of the show was definitely the most dramatic, with D-Generation X facing Legacy in the third and final Hell in a Cell encounter. This one started long before the teams got to the cage, with Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase attacking Shawn Michaels and Triple H during their entrance. We then had a brief fight through the crowd (insert TNA reference here), before the Game got taken out on the stage, and the Heartbreak Kid was dragged into the cage for a prolonged spot of two on one action. Triple H was unable to jump to his partner’s rescue though, because the cage had been locked by Rhodes and Dibiase, which made me wonder what happened to the key that the other referees had been using all evening. But hey, this is the professional wrestling business we’re talking about here, which means that logic often flies out of the window. Eventually, Triple H left the arena, returning some time later with a pair of bolt cutters. It was then that another official arrived on the scene with a second chain, which Triple H used to clobber Dibiase, leaving him outside the cage while DX doubled up on Rhodes. It wasn’t long before they took him out with a combined sledgehammer shot/sweet chin music to get the winning pin. As the cell was raised after the match, Dibiase jumped into the ring to check on his partner, only to be super kicked by Michaels for his troubles, ending what was a great encounter.
In conclusion - although this show had it’s slightly iffy and often predictable moments, it was nonetheless enjoyable, even though one particular match did seem a tad too short, and the match order did seem a little arse backwards. But then again, I guess that’s what happens when you don’t adhere to the company’s dress code.
As I said before, the match of the night for me was the Unified Tag Team title match, with the DX/Legacy match not far behind. I must admit that I did have my doubts about this kind of concept, but in the end it was well executed. Kudos to the WWE creatives for giving us something new.
It’s new concept and name time in World Wrestling Entertainment. Having changed The Great American Bash to just plain old The Bash, WWE have now gone one step further with a new name and concept, Breaking Point, with all the main event matches to be decided by submission.
The show began with MVP and Mark Henry challenging Chris Jericho and the Big Show for the Unified Tag Team Championship. As an opener it was pretty enjoyable, and even old Henry managed to put in a couple of good moves. The best part of the match for me though were the exchanges between Jericho and MVP. The champions retained the titles in this one. After Henry countered Jericho’s code breaker, Show connected with a big right from the ring apron, knocking the big lug out. Jericho got the cover soon afterwards.
The title action continued with the Miz challenging Kofi Kingston for the United States title. This was even better than the first match, and proof that there are some good stars coming up through the ranks. Kingston got in some good looking offence early on, before the re-modelled Miz made his comeback. It wasn’t enough to get him the win though, even though there were plenty of near falls, before Kingston got the pin after his paradise kick, which came from out of nowhere. Excellent stuff.
The first big grudge match of the show followed, with D-Generation X taking on Legacy in a submissions count anywhere match. Of course, with this show being held in Montreal, we had a reference to a certain incident twelve years ago, in which Triple H claimed total innocence. Then it was down to business, with a brawl around the arena (is this a TNA show?) and some innovative submission moves before Triple H got knocked out backstage. This gave Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase the chance to double up on Shawn Michaels in the ring. HBK fought back briefly, but eventually fell to a double submission, with Rhodes applying a figure four around the ring post, and Dibiase capping things off with his old man’s sleeper hold. It wasn’t long before Michaels tapped. While the second match was excellent, this one was even better.
Things went downhill a little with the Singapore cane match pitting the Great Khali against Kane. This really wasn’t very good at all, and just seemed to be filled with endless cane shots, with Kane getting the pin after a choke slam. I really hope this little rivalry gets put to bed.
Then it was back to title action, with William Regal mounting another challenge for Christian’s ECW title, with Regal’s friends Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov banned from ringside. This one lasted quite a bit longer than their Summerslam encounter, and proved to be a great undercard match, with some good exchanges and two good performances, with Christian getting the pin after taking Regal out with the killswitch un-prettier whatever it’s called. Nice stuff.
After a rather pointless segment involving Pat Patterson, Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison, it was on to the first main event, with John Cena again challenging Randy Orton for the WWE title, this time in an I quit match. I’m not really sure what to think of this one. It was slow and methodical at times, and was actually a lot better than their previous encounter, however, I’m not really sure about the part of the match where Orton handcuffed Cena and draped him over the ring post. It looked more like a torture scene than a wrestling match, and given that WWE are meant to be gearing their product towards a younger audience I’m not really sure if this was called for. But anyway, back to the match. Cena eventually managed to get Orton’s handcuff keys, putting one cuff on the champion and applying a variation of the STF, using the chain for extra leverage. Orton quickly quit, giving Cena the title win.
The final match of the evening saw the returning Undertaker challenging C.M. Punk for the World title in a submission match. This was more a brawl than anything, and a damn short one at that. This was supposed to be a main event match, but the actual ring time was under ten minutes! Also, given what part of the world this was happening in, it was kind of obvious to this particular writer what was going to happen. Punk tapped out to Undertaker’s hell’s gate submission, but Smackdown GM Teddy Long promptly appeared and reminded everyone that his predecessor Vickie Guerrero had actually banned that particular hold ages ago. The match was promptly restarted, Punk applied the anaconda vice, and the referee promptly called for the bell. Punk had retained the title in what could have been a good match, but was ultimately rather confusing and wanting.
In conclusion - when my brother first told me that this show was being held in Montreal, I immediately said that there was going to be a screw job finish somewhere. And I was right. My, how original the WWE creative team are! As for the match concerned, I still can’t figure out why the final match of the show, the main event between Punk and the Undertaker was given so little time. They could easily have been given the time that was previously allocated to the Ziggler/Morrison match, but instead they had to put in a pointless segment that would have been better played out on Smackdown.
As for the rest of the show, it was good, save for the Kane/Khali match. If they don’t tinker around with the concept of this show, it could last a good few years.
It's the biggest show of the summer, as the good and great of World Wrestling Entertainment gather in Los Angeles for Summerslam, shown live on Sky Box Office here in Britain, and headlined by John Cena challenging Randy Orton for the WWE title, and Jeff Hardy defending his World title against C.M. Punk in a TLC match.
Title action begins the show, with Dolph Ziggler challenging Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental title. The creatives needed a strong match to start the show with, and they got it with this one. Ziggler and Mysterio put in a great performance, worthy of the title and worthy of an event the size of Summerslam. Great moves throughout, well, except for the power bomb into the turnbuckles which almost went wrong. This was a whole lot better than their effort last month, with a great storyline and plenty of false finishes, with Mysterio retaining the title after taking Ziggler down with a hurricanrana from the top rope. Nice effort from both wrestlers here. Could this be a dark horse for the various match of the year awards?
Then it's on to a match that promised much - Jack Swagger taking on MVP. While this wasn't as fast paced as the previous match, it was full of good, solid, wrestling action, and featured good performances from those involved. MVP came out on top, taking Swagger down with the playmaker. Not overly flashy, but good nonetheless.
The title action continued with Cryme Tyme challenging Chris Jericho and the Big Show for the Unified Tag Team Championship. This certainly was an interesting match, and it's nice to see WWE giving their somewhat floundering tag team division exposure on a major pay-per-view. Both teams gave a good account of themselves, and Jericho proved once again that he's the best talker in the company at the moment. Action wise it was good, and as in the previous match nothing overly spectacular, with Cryme Time coming up short. After JTG made it to the ropes while in the walls of Jericho, the Big Show clobbered him from ringside with the big right hand. Three seconds later and the champions had retained their title in a solid outing.
The battle of the monsters was next, with Kane facing off against the Great Khali. Well, we all knew that this wasn't going to be a scientific classic. It was two big guys beating the hell out of each other, and it wasn't that pretty to watch. It was okay in parts, but once again Khali looked extremely limited, with Kane getting the win after taking the big man down with a DDT. I guess this won't be on any future best of Summerslam compilations.
Then it was time for the big reunion, with De-Generation X reforming to take on Legacy. To say that DX's entrance was great would be an understatement. Unlike the Spirit Squad before them, Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase looked far more competitive against DX, and at times looked the equals of Shawn Michaels and Triple H, and that's what made this match good. Dibiase and Rhodes looked great as a team, and this was probably their best performance as a unit. Michaels and Triple H were, as always, dependable, putting in a good performance as they attempted to take down the young upstarts. All of these ingredients made for a great match, which saw Legacy counter various finishers at times, before a groggy Michaels finally took Rhodes down with sweet chin music to get the winning pin. Given the way that this one played out, I really hope we haven't seen the last of these two teams against each other.
The title action then continued with William Regal challenging Christian for the ECW Championship. Regal is accompanied by Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson for this one. Just when I was looking forward to seeing a British wrestling ambassador in action, we get the proverbial blink and you'll miss it affair. Within seconds of the bell sounding, Christian took Regal down with the killswitch engage, and a three count later it was all over. The extra curricular activity lasted longer than the match itself, as Jackson and Kozlov took care of the champion. Not really much I can rate here fellas.
Main event time #1, with John Cena challenging Randy Orton for the WWE title, in chapter 421 of their long standing feud. Yep, it would have been nice if someone else began to feud with the champion, wouldn't it? Now, although this was a technically sound battle with hardly any faults, I just couldn't get into this one. Then it dawned on me why, because this is just like Orton's title defences against Triple H. They're just lacking that certain something that should make them special. Perhaps it's because we've seen these two against each other so many times before. Perhaps it's the way that Orton's title reign has been booked. The first ending kind of sucked as well, after Orton got himself disqualified after pushing the referee, and ring announcer Lillian Garcia completely bodged up the announcement, saying that Vince McMahon had sent word that if Orton got himself disqualified, he's lose the title. Orton then got himself counted out, and Cena was declared the winner. But then McMahon sent word to Lillian again that the match would be re-started, and Orton would lose the title if he was counted out. Orton then got the pin with his feet on the ropes, but another referee came down and told the first referee what had happened. The match was then re-started again, and just as Orton was about to tap out to the STF we got had the "fan" running into the ring. After he was carted away it wasn't long before Orton took Cena down with the RKO to get the win. So after multiple finishes the match came to an end. It was over complicated, and unneeded.
Main event time #2, with C.M. Punk challenging Jeff Hardy for the World Championship in a TLC match. Now this was more like it. This is what a main event should be all about, two men going all out to win the gold in an action packed encounter. Punk and Hardy put on one hell of a match, throwing everything they had at each other, and using anything they could get their hands on, tables, ladders, chairs, commentary tables, television monitors. The bumps they took here were incredible. Punk superplexing Hardy off the top rope and onto a ladder was a thing of beauty. Hardy coming off a giant ladder and putting Punk through one of the announce tables with a swanton wasn't far behind, and when officials came out to check on the condition of the combatants it brought back memories of a certain match at the 1998 King of the Ring. But even that didn't keep them down. Punk struggled to get back into the ring as Hardy was being fitted with a neck brace. Hardy got up off the stretcher, pushed the medics out of the way, and got back into the ring, climbing the ladder the same time as Punk, and only missing out by inches as Punk pushed him off the ladder before claiming the title as his own. But then things took an interesting turn. We heard the famous bells, and the lights went out as Punk stood over the fallen Hardy. When the lights came back on, Hardy was gone, and Punk didn't notice at first that he'd been replaced by none other than the Undertaker. Yep, the dead man was back, and he sprang to his feet and took the new champion down with a choke slam. What a way to end the match, and what a way for the legend to return. Everything about this whole match was awesome, just awesome.
In conclusion - the 2009 version of Summerslam was a very good show, well, for the most part. It started off well with the Mysterio/Ziggler battle, and went along in the same vein with the return of DX and the Cryme Time v Jericho/Show encounter. Unfortunately things took a slight downturn with the battle of the big men and the Cena/Orton title match, but thankfully ended on a high note with the epic Punk/Hardy battle and the return of the Undertaker. So in all things turned out better than I thought they would, and although this won't go down as my favourite ever Summerslam (that honour's still taken up by the 1989 show), this will probably be a show I'll enjoy watching again.
It’s that time of the year again when every title in WWE is up for grabs on the same night, with Randy Orton defending the WWE title against Triple H and John Cena in a triple threat match, and C.M. Punk defending the World title against Jeff Hardy at Night of Champions, shown live in the early hours of Monday morning here in Britain on Sky Box Office, with the usual suspects handling commentary duties.
The show begins with the Legacy team of Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes challenging Chris Jericho and his new partner for the Unified WWE Tag-Team Championship. Jericho’s choice - none other than the Big Show. An interesting heel versus heel match to begin the show with. The crowd were kind of quiet with this one to begin with, until they committed the cardinal sin of cheering for Jericho and Show. The action was okay, nothing spectacular, and ended when Jericho took Dibiase down with the Code Breaker, with Show finishing him off with the Colossal Clutch.
Next up, Christian challenging Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Championship. Now this was a lot better, a nice back and forth affair between two wrestlers well suited to each other. Unlike the heel versus heel match, this face versus face battle was a lot better received by the fans, and rightfully so. Sadly, Dreamer didn’t get the job done, as Christian countered Dreamer’s DDT attempt by taking him down with the Killswitch Engage, ending a good match. Although Christian is a worthy champion, I’m still a little saddened that the heart and soul of ECW lost.
Then it was on to the six pack challenge, with Jack Swagger, Carlito, The Miz, Primo & MVP challenging Kofi Kingston for the US Championship. It’s your usual multi-man madness here, with lots of fast paced action and high spots aplenty. Six good performances here, and it was nice to see that the Miz was able to show a lot more than he did against Cena. As for stand out performances, Primo and Kingston seemed to be the best ones here, with Kingston getting the pin after kicking Carlito in the back of the head. Good stuff here.
The first women’s match follows, with Melina challenging Michelle McCool for the Women’s title. I really enjoyed this match. Melina once again proved that she’s probably the best female wrestler in WWE right now, and McCool has improved a hell of a lot. It may not have been on a par with their counterparts in TNA, but it was still pretty good, and the way that McCool interrupted Melina’s trademark ring entrance was kind of cool (no pun intended). McCool retained the title, getting the roll-up after Melina had taken her down with what could be termed as a variation of the Lou Thesz press.
Main event time #1, with Triple H and John Cena challenging Randy Orton for the WWE title in a triple threat time. If you’ve been keeping tabs on my reviews this year, you’d know that I’ve found Triple H versus Orton extremely boring this year, so I wasn’t really holding out much hope for this match. Well, the action was okay, but as with the previous encounters, it wasn’t really that special, and the addition of Cena didn’t really add much to the equation. Once again it seemed overlong and just a bit dull, with the only interesting part being where Triple H and Cena used submission holds on Orton at the same time, with the referee confused when Orton tapped. The confusion stopped when Orton’s Legacy buddies ran in, able to do anything because disqualifications weren’t valid in this match. Orton soon got the pin, taking Cena down with the RKO just as he was about to take Cody Rhodes out with the Attitude Adjuster. I really hope we don’t see a re-match at Summerslam.
The second women’s match followed, with Mickie James challenging Maryse for the Divas Championship. Although this match contained the second best women’s wrestler in WWE in the form of Mickie James, it wasn’t as good as the Women’s Championship match. It was okay, but nothing special, and if anything it suffered from it’s place on the card, because the crowd were kind of dead after the WWE title match. James became only the second woman to have held both the Women’s and Divas titles when she pinned Maryse after taking her down with a DDT.
Then it was on to Dolph Ziggler, accompanied by Maria, challenging Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship. While the action wasn’t as intense as Mysterio’s rivalry with Chris Jericho, it was still a pretty good match, with Ziggler showing a lot more talent than he was allowed to show in his previous pay-per-view outing against The Great Khali. Mysterio was, as always, great in this match, but then again Mysterio looks great in most of his matches. However, my one criticism about this match is that it was, like the WWE title match, a little too long. The masked one came out on top, retaining the title after taking Ziggler down with the 619/big splash combination.
Main event time #2, with Jeff Hardy challenging C.M. Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship. As the old saying goes, they saved the best for last with this one. Punk and Hardy are a perfect match for each other, both wrestling-wise and philosophy wise, Punk’s straight edge complimenting Hardy’s lifestyle choices perfectly. What we had here was a great continuation of their match a few weeks ago at The Bash, with Punk really beginning to excel in his new found heel status, reminding us just why he was so successful in Ring of Honor. This one had a great ending. Frustrated at his inability to put Hardy away, Punk grabbed his title belt and began to walk backstage, only to be stopped by the enigmatic one. Hardy quickly took Punk down with a Twist of Fate, finishing him off with a top rope swanton to win the World title. Very good match.
In conclusion - Night of Champions has it’s good and bad points. While some of the matches seemed a little boring, and some seemed just ordinary, there were some really good moments here. Melina/Michelle McCool really surprised me, while Punk/Hardy was definitely match of the night. But the creatives really need to look at the Raw main event picture, because Triple H/Orton, even with Cena mixed in, is really starting to grate. The initial out of the ring stuff was good, but inside the ring the action continues to be second rate, and is still lacking intensity. If they’re going to go with another battle between these two at Summerslam, then they’re going to have to do a whole lot better.
