Monday Night RAW: December 21, 2009

Last night TNA held a PPV with one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen, Kurt Angle v. Desmond Wolfe. I meant to do a full recap for the show, but just didn’t have time, maybe in the New Year. Tonight, we have RAW hosted by some baseball player, should be a better show then last week’s three hour snorefest. I love the fact they pulled Hogan and Foley out of the opening montage, and replaced them with DiBiase & Jeff Hardy. Oh no, tonight we get Little People’s Court, I really hoped they forgot that, and Swagger gets to job to Cena, yippee!

1. Justin Roberts introduces the guest host Johnny Damon, from the New York Yankees. He comes out to a mixed reaction, if he’s from the Yankees, why is he hosting in Florida? Was no one of interest from Florida available? Damon acknowledges the mixed reaction, and doesn’t quite seem sure of what he’s supposed to say. Damon says they have secret Santa’s tonight, to grant wishes, and then we hear a tiger growling. We get a stupid Tiger Woods joke, are they serious about this garbage? Five minutes in and I’ve had enough already, is that a bad omen for tonight?
2. Melina, Kelly Kelly & Gail Kim v. Maryse, Jillian & Alicia Fox. The diva’s come out in Santa outfits; Maryse looks great in her outfit. I’m surprised to see Gail, was Eve busy? We start with Jillian pounding on Kim, but she misses a charge to the corner and Gail gets the offense. Gail up top with a cross body for a near fall, Jillian misses the hand stand elbow and Gail on her shoulders. Gail gets hit with an electric chair drop, and Maryse tagged in. Maryse hits a backbreaker on Gail, but Gail reverses the head to the buckle and tags in Kelly. Kelly hits an impressive dropkick and then the Hurricanrana, followed by the legdrop for a near fall as everyone runs in. Maryse picks up Kelly, but eats a dropkick and gets pinned by Kelly. 2.25/5 Typical multi-diva TV match, fast and pointless. Alicia & Melina didn’t even get in the ring legally, so whatever. I’m skipping the Little People’s Court crap, couldn’t give a damn about this. The diva’s match got three minutes and the court skit got nine minutes, with more coming later, curses.
3. Randy Orton & Legacy v. Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston & Mark Henry. So does this mean the team of MVP & Henry is done, and why is Kofi in a six man now? We start with Kool-Aid Man and Orton; Orton slides out and tags Rhodes in. Cody brought in the hard way and then DiBiase gets nailed. Cody off the ropes and press slammed high over Henry’s head, Henry tags in Kingston who starts with a series of kicks and stomps Rhodes down. Kingston misses the corner dive, and The Viper tagged in as we go to commercial. We come back to Rhodes and Kingston, Rhodes has Kofi in a chin lock, Kofi fights out and backdrops Rhodes before tagging in Evan. Bourne with a double dropkick on Ted & Orton, Bourne hits the shooting star press on Rhodes but DiBiase saves the match. Orton pulls Bourne out and clotheslines him on the floor before rolling him back into Rhodes. Rhodes makes a tag, and Orton begins stomping on Evan, Orton gets a near fall then tags in Ted DiBiase. DiBiase with a delayed vertical Suplex, much like Davey Boy Smith, then gets another near fall as Evan Bourne showing his tenacity. Evan starts his way free and gets caught with a vicious lariat, it just about spun Bourne around in mid air. Legacy double team Evan Bourne, but Bourne hits a nice kick on Ted DiBiase and both men are down. Orton gets the tag, and so does Kofi as the rivals are going at it, Kofi with a dropkick, then the missile dropkick, as Kofi hits the boom drop for a near fall. Henry takes out Rhodes, as Orton tags DiBiase in and DiBiase hit with Trouble in Paradise for the win. 3.5/5 nice six man tag as all three guys really shined tonight. This is how I like Mark Henry, in small doses like six man tags. We go backstage to Damon with Eve, Bella Twins and Santa Claus, Carlito comes in and him and Eve under the mistletoe. Carlito goes to kiss Eve, and closes his eyes and out comes Masters. Carlito pulls off Santa’s beard and it’s the Slaughter. Damon makes the match Carlito v. Masters for tonight, then looks up and see’s he and Slaughter under the mistletoe. We go back to the Little People’s Court again and waste another five minutes. These skits are just so stupid, like who actually found this shit funny?
4. John Cena v. Jack Swagger. Ok, seriously, who thinks Swagger has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning this match? I wonder if Cena’s going to squash Jack Swagger like he did last week to Punk that was despicable. Swagger starts out with a series of nice amateur moves, that’ll confuse Cena, ah hell you can confuse by asking him one plus one! Swagger hits the shoulder blocks in the corner and chokes Cena down, Swagger looking good, it won’t last. There it goes as Cena hits the bulldog and then drops Swagger over the top as we go to commercial. We come back to Swagger with a double shoulder pulling move on Cena, nice, Swagger continues the offense, well he’s done better then Punk did. Swagger catching Cena in a side slam for a near fall, Swagger locks in the double arm submission on Cena again. Cena powers out of the submission and hits the belly to belly Suplex for a two count, Cena runs in to Swagger’s foot and Swagger back in charge. Swagger goes for the Vader Bomb and connects for another near fall, which should’ve been the win. Cena slowly gets to his feet and Swagger goes for the gut wrench, Cena counters out with a backdrop and both men are down. Cena hits a pair of shoulderblocks, as he forgets that he was getting pounded on for the last ten minutes. His comebacks are so stupid, worse than Hogan’s. Cena goes for the FU and Swagger able to counter and hits a nice powerslam. Swagger puts Cena on the second rope and goes for a superplex, Cena counters out and knocks Swagger down then goes for the legdrop, but Jack avoids it. Swagger goes for the Vader Bomb; Cena rolls out of the way and locks in the STF for the win. 3/5 Cena’s comebacks are so bad, he gets beaten up, hits one or two moves and wins, he never sells that he was pounded on, just frustrating. So, are we even going to see the new champ tonight, or what, we’re at the half point and no Sheamus. We go back to Damon & Santa Claus, this time played by Dusty Rhodes. One of these times it’s going to be Santino, as Dusty laughs out comes MVP. MVP wants to make 2010 the year of MVP and wants an opportunity to earn a title shot, as he asks for MVP v. Sheamus tonight. Damon says it sounds like a homerun of an idea for tonight and the match is on. So I guess we’re going to finally see the new champ, about damn time.
5. Carlito v. Chris Masters. Why does Carlito get some little respect in this company, it’s annoying as hell as Carlito is a great athlete, while Masters shouldn’t even have a job. At least Masters comes out with Eve, who looks great. The match starts with Chris Masters going for the Masterlock right away and Carlito gets the ropes, than hits a cheap shot. Carlito with a sleeper on Masters, who powers out putting Carlito in the corner, then hits a powerslam. Carlito counters the Masterlock, goes for the Backstabber, countered and back to the Masterlock for the win. .75/5 boring squash match, only good part was seeing Eve coming to the ring, Carlito squashed like Duane Gill tonight. Eve pulls out mistletoe and plants a big kiss on Masters, as we go to the Tribute to the Troops recap. Tribute was an ok show, for what it was, but I can’t be bothered to recap it. The matches were not bad, but nothing spectacular, the recap just now showed all the best parts. We now go backstage to the Bella Twins with the Tiger, MVP and Santa IRS. Miz demands all sorts of gifts from Santa, and IRS responds and says Miz can be audited. The fake Tiger Wood’s wife comes out and attacks the fake Tiger, lame. IRS says baseball players are the biggest tax cheats of all. Damon is under the mistletoe and out comes Mae Young who jumps on Damon, yuck how wrong is that, only Lawler can laugh about this garbage.
6. Sheamus v. MVP Sheamus looks great as the World Champion, much better then Captain Overrated John Cena. Next week’s guest host is some rap guy, that’s not impressive to me either, just about as bad as this baseball guy. MVP needs his old bouncy house intro; I miss that thing, just looked so cool. Someone with a sign that says “Santa give Sheamus a suntan”, that was cute. Sheamus starts out quickly pounding the daylights out of MVP; MVP gets nailed with a vile short arm clothesline. MVP tries to fight his way back, but Sheamus takes him back down and hits the Chokeslam/backbreaker on MVP. Sheamus misses the charge in the corner and MVP starts to work over Sheamus and hits a knee to the face. MVP goes for the big elbow drop and Sheamus with the pumpkick followed but the crucifix powerbomb for the win. 1/5 another squash match as MVP got very little offense in, and Sheamus destroyed. Sheamus should’ve done that last week during the six-man tag, but this was good. Cena makes his way to the ring as Sheamus grabs his title; Cena says he wants his rematch. What does Cena think he has Money in the Bank suitcase as he wants the rematch now? Sheamus leaves the ring and walks back up the ramp, as he should, why should he defend the title after he just wrestled a match? We go backstage to Johnny Damon with Vince McMahon, who’s making fun of Damon being kissed by Mae Young. Damon makes the main event for next week, Cena v. Sheamus and then asks about Bret Hart hosting RAW, Vince says that’s a humbug question.
7. Miz v. Santino Marella. Santino comes out dressed as Santa Claus throwing gifts to the crowd as Miz watches on. Santino grabs the mic and starts singing “Santino Claus is coming to Town” and says he has a list and checked it twice and doesn’t feel like being nice. Santino nailed by the Miz, Miz just starts stomping Santino, and chokes him on the ropes. Miz hits Santino with a neckbreaker and follows it up by pounding Santino in the corner. Miz attempts the corner clothesline and Santino avoids it, the knocks Miz down, Claus to the second rope and gets caught by Miz. Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale for the victory. 1/5 yet another glorified squash, this is looking like WWF Superstars in the 80s now. Miz grabs Santino’s sack and stomps on it, the kicks it out of the ring. Great now a recap of the Court thing, another waste of about four minutes, lame. Big Show headed to the ring to call out Santa Claus and demands his wish.
8. Big Show comes out to the ring and grabs the microphone, Show says that Damon promised one Superstar will get his wish granted tonight, Show says that will be him. Show demands Santa comes to the ring now, and here comes the Bella Twins with Santa Claus, would be cool if this one was Jericho. The voice certainly does seem to be Y2J; I may have predicted that correctly. Big Show invites Santa to sit on his lap, Santa asks Show if he’s been good and Show says yes. Santa asks Show what he wants, Show says he wants his best friend and tag partner Jericho back on RAW. Jericho Claus says Chris Jericho will be back on RAW next week, and then we get D-X Hornswoggle who comes in the ring and rips the beard of Santa to reveal Jericho. Horny slides back under the ring as Jerishow in the ring surrounded by a mini D-X army; this is stupid on so many levels. Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler sound like idiots laughing at this crap and thinking it’s funny. Jericho and Big Show start pounding down the midgets, Big Show side slams a midget and picks him up by one foot and throws him to the refs. Jericho gets a hold of Hornswoggle and throws him in the ring; Horny does the Shawn Michaels stomp and hits Sweet Shin Music. Big Show picks up Horny and D-X come running to make the save. Jericho thrown over the top rope and a double groin kick on Show, followed by a Suplex. HHH has the mic, and says they should squash Hornswoggle. Shawn says its Christmas and we can’t, Triple H says for Christmas he wants to squash him, Shawn replies by saying the little guy is growing on him. Shawn asks if they can keep him, promising to walk him and clean his cage. Triple H says that D-X has a height requirement; Shawn says he has an idea, and Triple H tells Horny to drop the court thing and he can be the D-X mascot. Gee, how politically correct is the WWE? Shawn says they have two words, and Horny yells out “Suck It”. What a freaking stupid waste of air time this was, lame beyond all belief. No matter how bad people say TNA is, at least it’s not as lame as this garbage.

Match Recap

1. Melina, Kelly Kelly & Gail Kim beat Maryse, Jillian & Alicia Fox 2.25/5
2. Randy Orton & Legacy lost to Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston & Mark Henry 3.5/5
3. John Cena pinned Jack Swagger 3/5
4. Carlito squashed by Chris Masters .75/5
5. Sheamus crushed MVP 1/5
6. Miz destroyed Santino 1/5

Well, it was better than last week’s show, but the D-X garbage was just too much, over half an hour was wasted on that. Having three squash matches back to back was a little much too; at least it wasn’t four, which was what I expected. Glad Swagger got some offense in, but seriously Cena’s comebacks are just so stupid. The Legacy & Orton six-man was a good match, as was Cena & Swagger, the divas were nothing major as usual, and the rest was throwaway. Judged on its own, not a good show, but compared to last week, it was ok.

Since Justin and Scott have only reached 2003 in their reviews and any extra work added on them to watch the next forty matches would be difficult and just too much at this time of year (especially when they have their own awesome sports/wrestling/TV forum), I’ll be doing solo shots of the final three years of this ten part column. I want to thank Justin and Scott for ALL their hard work and dedication when they were just merely doing me a favor. Let me assure you, those two guys are good people.

Alright, enough of the man love. As I mentioned in the 2005 column, this is my 500th post here at the blog. The interesting part about that is this post is actually a repost of a column I did after covering all the 2006 PPVs for TheHistoryofWWE.com. Anyways, it’s really hard to believe I’ve spent this much time on a blog, but here we are two and a half years later. I hope you all enjoy this!

Let’s get to the year that was 2006.

The Best of 2006: The Matches

This is WWE only, so you won’t see any TNA or ROH here. Except for a few matches, the workrate in WWE had tended to decline throughout 2006, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that this was just another year of mediocre wrestling. We’ve got some good ones on here! For me to consider a match to be a MOTYC, it has to be overwhelmed with three things: 1) workrate 2) great booking, and 3) a huge level of suspense. I got to believe what’s going on in that ring is for real! While most other publications or internet columnists like to cut the ballot date off at the end of November, I go from 1/1 to 12/31. Another rule that only makes sense is that I have to have seen the match. I’ve seen every PPV and SNME this year and a whole lot of weekly stuff. I haven’t seen every episode of all three brands in 2006, but when I hear people talking (or see, if it’s on the net), then I’ll find it somewhere and watch it. Enough chit-chat though, let’s start up the countdown!

Wait, first off, we have some awesome “honorable mentions”.

- WWE Champion John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Edge – Triple Threat Match (Backlash 04.30.06) ***¾

- World Champion Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels – non-title match (Raw 01.16.06) ***¾

- Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton – (ECW: One Night Stand II 06.11.06) ***¾

- Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly – (ECW on Sci-Fi 09.26.06) ***¾

- Edge, Randy Orton & Lita vs. John Cena, Carlito & Trish Stratus – (Raw 09.04.06) ***¾

Now to the countdown! Anything you see from here on will be **** or better.

10. After what seemed like forever since we had actually been surprised on PPV, they spring this baby on us. Every one involved worked their butts off regardless of the brand-extension gaps. You had no idea who was going to win this up until the very end and it left you hoping for more from all four teams involved. I can’t say that it saved the whole show, but it sure made for a great match. It also reminds us why we should definitely leave the wrestling to the pros. Isn’t that right, Joey? Here it is, the #10 WWE match of 2006.

- WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor vs. MNM vs. The Hardys – Four-Way Ladder Match (Armageddon – 12.17.06)

JBL puts the Hardys over as ladder match veterans. The faces dump the heels to start so that they can trade blows and keep the match between themselves. Kendrick takes a hiptoss from Matt while Jeff takes a rana from London. Jeff fights back with a sitout jawbreaker and goes over and attacks Kendrick to set up the double-wheelbarrow bomb. MNM takes the Hardys out to the floor to brawl while Regal and Taylor do the same in the ring with the Hooligans. Ouch! Half-nelson throw from Regal to London, then to Kendrick! Meanwhile, the Hardys don’t want MNM bringing the ladders to the ring, so they attack and do it themselves! Regal and Taylor have tossed out the champs and want to keep the Hardys from putting the ladders in the ring. They try and stop MNM from bringing them in as well, but that allows Matt to sneak in and nail them with a ladder. Now everyone is back in the ring. Taylor receives Poetry in Motion from the Hardys, which sets up a SNAPSHOT from MNM! Regal takes a double-superkick to the face from the Hooligans. Regal and Taylor get dumped, as does MNM. Kendrick gets whipped into a ladder by the Hardys, and he has no choice but to take a breather. London catches Matt with an enziguri, but Jeff nails him with a front dropkick to the face. Jeff sets up a ladder to go for the belts, but London surprises Matt with an inverted atomic drop and dropkicks Jeff off the ladder! Now London tries to head up the ladder. Kendrick intercepts Jeff’s attempt at bringing London down, and then London jumps off the ladder as he sees Nitro coming up behind him with a springboard attempt from the apron into him with something. The ladder falls over and that could’ve REALLY gone wrong had Nitro landed on one of the legs. The man is LUCKY! Mercury takes the ladder and starts jabbing everyone he sees and sets up the ladder again. Mercury starts climbing, but the faces swarm and bring the ladder to the edge of the ring. They tilt it over and send Mercury off the ladder out on top of Nitro outside the ring! Matt hits a pescado on Taylor and sends Regal face-first into the ringpost. Kendrick tries to climb up, but Matt stops him and brings him down face-first to the mat. Man, Matt Hardy is EVERYWHERE! Matt sets up the ladder in a corner and the Hardys double-whip Kendrick into it. London receives the same, except they try for Poetry in Motion. London avoids it and Jeff hits his face on the TOP of the ladder! OUCH! Cole ~ “It truly looks like Armageddon out here!” Really, Michael? The Hooligans beat down Matt for a bit. London tries to head up the ladder again, but he gets pulled down and clotheslined by Matt. Kendrick tries to shoot up the ladder and grab the belts, but Matt is there to yank him down by his tights. Matt sets up the ladder and makes a ramp out of it using the second rope. He wants to suplex London on it, but London blocks and hammers Matt down on the ladder. London lifts up the end of the ladder to put Matt at a 180-degree angle so that Kendrick can come off the top and deliver the DOUBLE-STOMP to Matt Hardy! Since the Hardys are incapacitated, MNM come back in to destroy the Hooligans. They give London a double-gutbuster and then set up the ladders to create a see-saw effect. Matt gets beat up some more and then is set up on the turnbuckle for a double-superplex on the ladders, but Jeff comes back in for the save. Matt and MNM are back on the mat while Jeff is up top! Matt gives MNM a DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER while Jeff leaps down on the ladder so that it comes up and hits MNM in the face! Mercury gets the worse of it as he rolls out to the floor with his face GUSHING OUT BLOOD! Yeah, his face is shattered. That was really sick, folks. Poor Joey. He goes away for six months and then he comes back and a few weeks later, his face gets broken. I blame Teddy. Matt and Kendrick fight on the ladder until Regal and Taylor hop in to save. Taylor slams Kendrick on and off a ladder set up in the corner and then Regal gives London a half-nelson suplex on that same ladder. Regal starts to climb the ladder to retrieve the belts, but then he finds out he’s afraid of heights! He comes down and tells Taylor to climb. He does, but Kendrick stops him half-way up. Regal gets pissed and throws Kendrick out to the floor. By the way, Mercury has been taken to the hospital. The Hardys return to the ring to stop the Englishmen. While Jeff is getting another ladder set up out on the floor, Matt is giving Regal and Taylor both TWIST OF FATES! Jeff climbs up the ladder for a possible SWANTON BOMB on Regal and Taylor, but then Nitro runs in out of nowhere and dropkicks the ladder through the ropes to send Jeff crashing throat-first on the top rope! Oh that was NOT smart, Jeff. Nitro nails Regal and Taylor with a ladder and then delivers the Shawn Michaels Special by climbing the turnbuckle and smashing the ladder into Regal. Nitro tries for the belts. Kendrick attempts to stop him while London climbs up on the apron to deliver a springboard dropkick to take him off the ladder. Crowd applauds the Hooligans, and it’s about time too. Matt meets Kendrick up on the ladder and hiptosses him down to the mat. London pounds on Matt and tries to grab the belts, but then Matt backdrops London to the mat as the ladder falls over. Jeff tries to retrieve the belts, but its set up too far from the belts so you know a spot is coming. Nitro starts the climb and gets nailed with a SUNSET FLIP POWERBOMB off the ladder from Jeff. Jeff looked like he could’ve blown out his knee on that one. Matt stupidly sets up two ladders beside each other and starts to climb with one foot on each ladder. Regal and Taylor pull the ladder out from under him like anybody with any common sense would. Matt gets right back up, but gets double-teamed and booted in the face by Regal. Regal and Taylor give the ladder climb another try and set up two ladders beside each other, but Kendrick is there to meet Regal up top. Taylor pulls Kendrick down and clotheslines him, but then gets dumped to the floor by London. Regal is still up on the ladder! Kendrick gets back to his feet and climbs the other ladder and tries for SLICED BREAD #2 to Regal off the ladder, but they’re too close to the ropes for the move so they another spot is ruined. London gets back in the ring and climbs the ladder. Matt meets him there, but gets knocked off the ladder. With Nitro and Taylor both clawing at his heels, London is still able to grab the belts and win the match. (20:13) Regardless of some contrived and blown spots, it was a great match that just might solidify the tag champs run as more than just killing time. I still hope Regal and Taylor get a good long title match soon because that would still be a great match. But wow, poor Joey. ****

9. What’s most saddening about this match is its most memorable moment; Vince McMahon’s bloody face being shoved up Big Show’s butt. No, I’m not British. Why do you ask? Terrible image aside, this match had awesome drama and Big Show really added a lot to the whole affair. Of course, DX came out the winners at the end and we can say goodbye the DX/McMahons feud for the time being at least. It’s a match that was able to mix brutality and fun together at the same time, which is really hard to pull off.

- Shane McMahon, Big Show & Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels & Triple H – Hell In A Cell (Unforgiven – 09.17.06)

JR does a great job of putting over how CRAZY this “Satan’s Playground” is noting that dozens of bones have been broken and thousands of stitches have been given out. H and Michaels dish out stereo kicks to the Big Show’s big show to put him down for a moment so they can beat down the McMahons. The Canadians start chanting “You screwed Bret” within the first twenty seconds. DX dump the McMahons and go back after Big Show who is back up to his feet. They give him another running field goal kick to the balls to once again keep him down. Next up, the McMahons eat the steel and get busted open as a result. Where is Big Show? Oh, he’s STILL down in the ring. Triple H pulls out a screwdriver and begins to twist it into Vince’s forehead! Triple H brings Vince back in the ring and Shawn goes up top for the elbow drop, but Show comes alive and catches Shawn coming off the top and slams him. Boy that was dumb. Triple H tries a whip, but Show stands his ground and flips H out of the ring: Harley Race-style. Show goes out for Triple H, but then gets double-teamed by DX and tossed into the steps to keep him incapacitated. Back in the ring, Shawn pairs up with Shane and Triple H pairs up with Vince with DX in control. Show comes back in again to end DX’s momentum. He levels H with headbutts while Shawn gets sent out via clothesline by Shane. The McMahons get a few licks in on H while cheering Show on at the same time. Show delivers the CHOKESLAM to H and then goes out to punish Shawn. He picks him up and gives Shawn a release powerbomb face-first into the cage and blades. Meanwhile, the McMahons are toying around with the Game. Show ~ “Hey, watch this!” He proceeds to toss Shawn into the cage like a lawn dart. Shane stomps H down in the corner to set up for the trashcan assisted COAST-TO-COAST! ALRIGHT! He connects! What’s great about that spot is that H’s ear was supposedly injured Monday night. They remembered to capitalize on the injury to make the spot more than just a spot. I like it when they do that. I got to mention that he’s bleeding from the ear. Shawn gets tossed back in the ring for some triple-teaming. Shane takes H out to the floor and sets up the steel steps and then catapults H into the cage wall to bust open his forehead. In the ring, Show delivers the pump splash out of the corner onto Shawn. Just as promised earlier, Vince goes for the cover for 1, 2, NO! He picks Shawn up off the mat. He hands Shawn to Show for the COBRA-CLUTCH BACKBREAKER! He continues the hold on the mat for a bit and then lifts him up for the inverted leg drop bulldog. Vince covers again, but picks Shawn up again at two. Triple H comes back with his body COVERED in blood and tosses Show. He hits the facebuster on Vince and tries for the PEDIGREE, but Shane pulls him off his dad and lifts him into a torture rack. Huh? He twists H around into what appeared to be a spinning rack neckbreaker or an inverted TKO, but JR calls it a counter into a neckbreaker. I’m not sure what happened there, but both men are down. Shawn gets back up and sends Shane out with an enziguri. Vince clotheslines Shawn down to stop his momentum as the Big Show walks over to take care of Shawn. Vince pulls down his pants to reintroduce Shawn to the “Kiss My WHAT?” club, but Triple H is there to prevent that from happening. Show nails him and sets Shawn up for a splash off the ropes, but Shawn pulls Vince in the way and he gets splashed instead. Big Show ~ “Yikes!” A distracted Big Show gets tripped up and posted by DX. Back in, Shawn nails Shane with the flying forearm and the kip-up. An HBK atomic drop into a Triple H spinebuster to Shane! Shawn goes up for the flying elbow while H brings a chair into the ring and Pillmanizes Shane’s neck! Shawn connects with the elbow drop! Shane is bleeding inside! Shawn tunes up the band for SWEET CHIN MUSIC, but Show is there to yank him out and throw him into the cage. Show hotshots H and brings the steps in the ring because he’s ANGRY! Vince is still down by the way and Shane is done. Show goes to ram H with the steps, but since they are covering his face, he can’t see Triple H running at him to nail him in the gut with a steel chair. Haha, he jiggles like Jell-O! A chair shot to the head on the steps KO’s Show. Wait, no it doesn’t, but the SWEET CHIN MUSIC will! He falls on the ropes, which becomes important in a minute. The last McMahon standing is Vince, and he looks FURIOUS. H gets rid of the steps as the crowd starts to boo! It’s a standoff between Vince and DX. They yank Show’s tights down past his rear end! Vince drops to his knees and gets his face stuck in between the cheeks. Show falls out to the floor to readjust himself, and I think I saw a wee-wee! Shawn hits the SWEET CHIN MUSIC while H grabs a sledgehammer and BREAKS it over the back of Vince’s skull for the academic three-count. (25:04) Wow, great match to hopefully end the feud. It told a great story and adding Big Show to the mix was the best thing for it, as it did wonders for the match. I couldn’t imagine it being good without him. ****

8. This is the match that gave Sabu a future in the new ECW. The crowd was extremely hot for the whole thing and it ended in an insane moment without a real winner. You can’t deny that it was awesome seeing these two nearly kill each other. Sounds sick, I know, but that’s ECW.

- World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Sabu – “Extreme Rules” match (ECW: One Night Stand II – 06.11.06)

Mysterio comes out with his old-school tights like he wore before he lost the mask in WCW. Rey has ECW stitched on the back of his mask, but the crowd interprets it as “sucking up” so they boo Rey. Joey calls Rey’s reaction mixed, but Tazz begs to differ. Both men have chairs in hand as the bell sounds. They lay the chairs down and actually begin to wrestle! They go through a nice little sequence and then come to a stand-off. They play patty cake with the chairs which goes nowhere. Sabu hits Air Sabu, but then takes a drop-toe hold into a chair. Rey follows up with a chair-assisted hurracanrana out from the corner. Sabu avoids a 619 and then heaves a chair into Rey’s face which sends him rolling out to the floor! Sabu pulls out a table and makes it into a scaffold between the ring and guardrail. He lays Rey on the table and then goes for a springboard dive from inside the ring, but Rey rolls off the table. Sabu changes his direction, but still misses Rey and lands chest-first on the railing. Back in, Rey hits a beautiful moonsault press for two! Rey tries for a sunset flip from the apron, but Sabu kicks him in the head and sets Rey up for a guillotine legdrop while laid out on the middle rope. Sabu covers, 1, 2, NO! Sabu puts Rey in a camel clutch to draw some “Sheik” chants from the crowd, so Sabu releases the hold and points to the sky. Sabu goes to the floor and pulls out another table before re-entering and delivering an Arabian Facebuster for a near-fall. Sabu goes back out and sets up the table vertically to the ring. Rey dropkicks Sabu on the apron and landing on the table. LA SILLA to Sabu THROUGH the table! Back in, Rey hits a springboard guillotine leg drop to the back of Sabu’s head. Cover, 1, 2, NO! Sabu comes back with a springboard leg lariat. Sabu hits the TRIPLE JUMP MOONSAULT for 1, 2, NO! Rey avoids the ATOMIC ARABIAN FACEBUSTER and then sets Sabu in a chair for LA SILLA. Rey goes for it, but then Sabu rolls out of the way to crotch Rey REAL good! Sabu heaves the chair at Rey again for a nice sonic boom to send Rey to the floor! Sabu puts Rey on that table made into a scaffold and then delivers a SPRINGBOARD DDT THROUGH THE TABLE ON THE FLOOR on Rey Mysterio!!! Neither man can continue so they call for a bell leaving this match a no-contest. (9:08) The crowd boos the heck out of that finish, but that just made the moment all the more insane. Sabu pretty much jackknifed himself. That was a pretty cool spot fest if I do say so myself. Should this match be classified as having a bad finish just because there was no real end result? I don’t think so because to me, that’s what makes something hardcore; two guys who cross the line of being able to continue to fight. Sabu wasn’t going to win the title and since he had had 75% of the offense in the match, it wouldn’t have made sense for Rey to go over here. ****

7. What has helped Ric Flair maintain a wrestling career after thirty years is that he didn’t wrestle in crazy gimmick matches. He was a wrestler’s wrestler; meaning he kept it on the mat as much as possible unless he was being slammed off the top turnbuckle. You also have Edge, who holds a fairly decent win/loss record when it comes to ladder matches and was undefeated in TLC matches at this point. You wouldn’t think someone like Ric Flair could put on an awesome TLC match at the age of 56, but it was as though he had waited his whole career to compete in one of these dangerous matches.

- WWE Champion Edge (w/Lita) vs. Ric Flair – TLC V Match (Raw – 01.16.06)

This was the best Raw of 2006, wrestling-wise. Edge had been making fun of Flair for weeks after he was charged (in REAL life!) with assault and battery in late-November. They wrestled at New Year’s Revolution, which Flair won by DQ after Edge hit Flair in the face with his “Money-in-the-Bank” briefcase. That same night, as we all know, Edge cashed in the briefcase and pinned Cena to win the WWE title. This could all come back to bite him in the butt now that he has Flair to contend with in a TLC match. Many overlook this match saying that Flair is out of his element, but that’s definitely not the case (no pun intended). By the way, this is LIVE from Raleigh, NC. Flair country, if you WILL. Flair hits some chops early, but Edge stops that with a knee and grabs a ladder and a chair from the outside. Edge jabs Flair with the ladder and then sandwiches him in between the rungs! Flair is trapped, so Edge picks up the chair and smashes it into the ladder. Flair finally gets free and rolls out to the floor. Edge follows him out and gets chopped out over the security wall. They brawl in the crowd for a bit, but then Flair takes a backdrop back out to ringside. Edge gives Flair a suplex on the floor and sets up a table and puts a chair on it. Lita hands him another chair for a CONCHAIRTO on the table, but Flair counters by grabbing Edge’s balls! Flair takes Edge off the announce table and drops him chest-first on the security wall. Lita takes this opportunity to jump on Flair’s back and choke him down, but Flair flips her off of him. Flair goes back after Edge, but then gets nailed with a steel chair to bust him open! Edge sets him on the table and Lita holds him down while Edge sets up a ladder in the ring. Remember, Flair is on a table over by the announce table! Edge starts to climb and once he gets to the top, he SPLASHES Flair through the table! CRAZY! Flair’s daughter Ashley is at ringside pleading with him to get up as we go to commercial! We’re back and a bloody Flair is vertical in the ring while Edge is still stumbling out on the floor. Edge gets back in and takes a low blow for it. Flair sandwiches Edge in between the rungs this time and proceeds to smash a chair on the ladder. I love how Flair is using Edge’s own tactics against him, knowing that he’s never been in a ladder match before. Flair pulls Edge free from the ladders and cleans his clock with a chairshot! Flair places the ladder on Edge and bashes the ladder with the chair some more and then makes the first attempt at retrieving the belt. Once he sees Edge is still moving, he gets down and moves the ladder to a corner. Flair chops Edge down and heads up the ladder, but Edge meets him at the top for a SUPERPLEX OFF THE LADDER! INSANE! Edge starts to climb the ladder, but now Flair is standing again. Edge decides to deliver a missile dropkick, but Flair avoids it. Nevertheless, we see a Flair Flop. WOOOO! Edge gets up first and knocks Flair out to ringside with a chairshot. Edge goes up the ladder for his belt, but Flair gets back in and pushes the ladder back to send Edge crashing through a table out on the floor! The crowd is going nuts, begging Flair to capitalize on this moment. Flair climbs the ladder and touches the belt, but Lita sneaks in and brings Flair down. She knocks Flair down and mounts him to punch on him, but Flair pushes Lita off and puts her in the FIGURE-FOUR! He lets go after about ten seconds and Edge is still out! Flair slowly starts the climb again. Edge is now up and at the ladder, but Edge climbs and punches Flair down to retain his belt. (16:38) Post-match, Edge SPEARS Flair down and goes for another CONCHAIRTO, but John Cena runs down for the save. Interestingly enough, Edge would be dethroned during his second title reign in a TLC match against John Cena himself, which we’ll get to later in the countdown. ****

6. We’ve got two guys who are given 20-minutes and who just so happen to RULE. What else do you need?

- Chris Benoit vs. Finlay – (Judgment Day 05.21.06)

This grudge match is a result of Finlay pulling some shenanigans on Benoit to continue in the KotR tournament. It’s all for naught considering Lashley beat Finlay to advance the finals. But in any event, both these guys just love to fight. I mean, Finlay says it at the beginning of his entrance music. “Benoit” chants start up before these guys even lock up with each other. They collar-and-elbow tie up their way out to the floor with INTENSITY! Back in, Benoit goes nose-to-nose with Finlay to bait in the quickest double-leg takedown I’ve ever seen to try for a SHARPSHOOTER. Finlay trips him up before Benoit can lock in the hold. Benoit goes to the mat with a headlock, but a quick rollup by Finlay causes him to break the hold. Finlay complains to the ref that Benoit jabbed him in the eye to slow things down and to get a quick shot in on Benoit. Genius! Finlay takes Benoit back to the mat with a reverse chinlock for a bit, but then wakes Benoit up with a slap to the face. Benoit returns the favor, only 1000x harder! Benoit stiffs Finlay to the other side of the ring and drops him with a textbook backbreaker. Benoit takes Finlay to the mat and tries to maneuver him around for the Crippler Crossface, but instead cradles him over for a near-fall with Finlay’s feet on the ropes. Benoit beats on Finlay in the corner, but then takes a thumb to the eye. Short-arm clothesline sets up a near-fall. Finlay puts Benoit in a hold that is so sick, I don’t even know WHAT to call it where he forces his foot behind Benoit’s head and pulls on both his arms. Let’s call it the IRISH TORTURE DEVICE! Benoit actually powers out of this insane hold, but goes right into a bow-tie chokehold. Benoit fights out and ducks a clothesline to hit the HAT TRICK of Germans. Benoit goes up top for the SWANDIVE HEADBUTT, but Finlay rolls out of the way. Benoit delivers a dragon screw leg whip and tries for the SHARPSHOOTER once more, but Finlay kicks him away. Finlay goes out to bring a chair into the ring, but Benoit baseball-slides the chair into Finlay. Benoit rolls Finlay in and nails the SWANDIVE HEADBUTT! He covers for 1, 2, NO! Finlay reverses a whip for Benoit to run chest-first in the corner, and then follows up with a clothesline from behind for two. Finlay works on the neck for a bit, but then hits a big running butt splash to Benoit’s lower abdomen for two. Finlay locks on a hammerlock/dragon sleeper submission hold! I don’t know why no one has ever thought of that before! Benoit bridges out, but Finlay drops him again with a European uppercut to the back of the head. Finlay just kills Benoit with the forearm shots. Benoit fights back with the same, but then Finlay starts to tear on Benoit’s shoulders. Benoit flips out a slam and puts Finlay down with a German suplex! He hits another suplex! Benoit tries for a third, but Finlay elbows out. Finlay repeatedly headbutts Benoit, but then takes an enziguri that sends him stumbling out of the ring. Benoit follows him out and ducks a swing of the shillelagh to give Finlay a German suplex on the floor! Benoit gets back in the ring at the count of six, Finlay in at eight. Benoit delivers a snap suplex in from the apron and holds on through the Three Amigos of Eddie Guerrero. Benoit takes too much time pounding his chest like Eddie, so Finlay shoves Benoit off the apron into the security wall. Back in, Finlay drives Benoit shoulder-first into the steel ringpost. He brings Benoit to the center of the ring and out of nowhere; Benoit takes Finlay down to the mat to lock in the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Once Benoit clasps his hands, Finlay taps immediately! (21:10) If guys like Benoit and Finlay can’t deliver, WWE might as well stop what they’re doing. Keep the memories you have and leave it at that. The match they had that set this one up was really great, but this was just better. Possibly the reason could just be due to the commercial break in the middle of it. You might be able to say that the finish was too quick, but it completely defines what the Crossface is meant to do. It’s meant to be unexpected and quickly executed. No one saw it coming, especially not Finlay. ****

5. A perfect definition of “good friends, better enemies.” These two put on a non-stop hardcore clinic, ending with a very memorable finish that few men could ever top. To say that Mick Foley is included this far down on a Match of the Year countdown in 2006 is a testament to just how great he still can be to the business.

- Edge (w/Lita) vs. Mick Foley – Hardcore Match (WrestleMania 22 04.02.06)

Edge has a baseball bat and you can just guess what he wants to do with it. Foley knocks it away from him and sends Edge down with a faceslam. Joey Styles is “losing his WrestleMania virginity” as he puts it by calling this match. He mentions that Foley is wearing the black flannel showing that he’s gone into a dark place preparing for this match. Foley sets up Edge in the TREEEE OF WOEEE position and follows up with an elbow drop to the face. Edge comes back with a knockdown to Foley. Edge tells Lita to throw in some toys for him to beat Foley with. A cookie sheet is destroyed by Foley’s head! Edge follows up by dropkicking a road sign in Foley’s face! Edge sets up for the spear and he gets it! Edge is obviously more hurt by it as Foley stands up and shows everyone that he has barbed-wire wrapped around his abdomen! Foley yanks out some wire-cutters from his shoe and takes that off of him. CRAZY! Edge’s arm is “busted open”. Foley takes his barbed wire and then starts whipping Edge with it! While Edge gets wrapped up in the ropes, Mick goes to the floor and pulls out his barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat better known as Barbie! Lita comes in and leaps on Mick’s back to try and save Edge, so Mick runs at Edge who is still in the ropes for a CACTUS CLOTHESLINE! That was AWESOME! Mick covers for two! Swinging neckbreaker on the floor gets two. Foley charges Edge with his head up against the steel steps, but Edge jumps up and tosses Foley awkwardly into the steps! Poor Mick. Edge beats on Foley some more before tossing him knees first into the steps again! Edge sets up a table out on the floor and puts Foley on it. Edge goes up top, but Foley simply slides off of the table. Edge comes down and goes after Mick by slamming his head into the steel rampway! That gets two. Back in, Lita hands Edge a bottle of lighter fluid and then Edge squirts it all over Mick! Lawler can’t believe Edge is going to light Foley on fire! Foley comes back with a quick pull-up piledriver for two. Lita saves Edge from a ONE-MAN CONCHAIRTO by getting in the ring, but then Foley turns around into a DDT on a cookie sheet for two. Edge brings Barbie into play and harms Foley with it REAL good. He even bulldogs Foley on it for two. Edge goes back to the floor and pulls out a SACK OF TACKS and pours them all in the ring! Foley counters with a back suplex on the tacks! Edge is all like OWWWW so Foley pulls out MR. SOCKO, and then wraps him up with barbed wire! MANDIBLE CLAW for Edge AND Lita! Lita’s lip is supposedly busted open. Foley grabs Barbie and nails Edge with it a couple times. Both men are busted open pretty bad. Foley goes out onto the apron and pours lighter fluid on that table that was set up on the floor. Lita comes by with Barbie and whacks Foley in the balls with it! HAHAHA! She sets the table on fire as Edge comes THROUGH the ropes and spears Foley THROUGH THE FLAMING TABLE! Joey ~ “OH MY GOD!” That’ll do it as Edge gets the three-count. (14:38) A flaming table and a barbed-wire wrapped Mr. Socko. THAT’s hardcore, folks! Edge does a great mutilated sell-job on his way to the back. ****

4. It seemed like this was a match where WWE wanted Randy Orton to get in there and learn something. Possibly the most underrated WWE match of 2006, for reasons I don’t understand. I enjoyed the heck out of this match.

- Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton – No Holds Barred, Falls Count Anywhere (Smackdown – 01.27.06)

Orton took Booker’s place due to an injury in order to finish his best-of-seven series with Benoit over the US Title. Orton is promised a favor in return, but I’m not sure that it ever paid off. After the Rumble, Orton went right into a feud with Rey Mysterio leading up to WrestleMania. Nice chain wrestling to start. Benoit comes out of a waistlock and goes to an overhead wristlock. Orton comes out of that into a side headlock. Benoit shoves him off into the ropes and takes a shoulderblock. He tries several times to do a German Suplex, but Orton blocks every attempt and slips through the ropes and out to the floor because he FEARS the move. Good psychology. Orton’s all, “I don’t think so, dude,” as we go to commercial. We come back to see Orton taking Benoit down with a headlock. Benoit tries to get out of that and surprise Orton with the CROSSFACE, but Orton gets away. Benoit works the arm with a standing armbar, but Orton rolls out of it and gets knocked down with some chops for two. Orton fights back and sends Benoit out to the floor with forearm shots. They fight on the announce table until Orton backs Benoit kidneys-first into the apron. Orton covers out on the floor for 1-2-NO! Back in, Orton covers again using the ropes for leverage for two. Nothing the ref can do about it either. Orton goes to the rigorous chinlock. Benoit fights out with an armdrag and gets caught with a HIGH dropkick. They go back out to the floor and Orton finds a trashcan lid and nails Benoit in the back with it. Now Orton grabs a trash can, but Benoit gives him a drop toe hold on it to buy himself some time. Benoit slams Orton’s face into the steps and chops him up against the ringpost. They go back over to the announce table for Benoit to slam Orton’s face on it and send him flying in Cole and Tazz’s seats! Orton fights back with a BLINDING rake to the eyes. Benoit takes a hotshot on the announce table for 1-2-NO! Back in, Orton delivers some knee drops and goes to the crazy chinlock again. Orton releases to stomp him and then goes out and brings a chair into the ring. Benoit ducks a wild swing with the chair and goes for the SHARPSHOOTER! Orton fights it, but Benoit holds on until he gets kicked away. Orton channels the spirit of NIKOLAI VOLKOFF and drops a big communist-like knee drop for 1-2-NO! Orton applies a sleeper/body scissors. Benoit breaks free of the body scissors. He remains in a front headlock, but fights out with a release Northern Lights suplex. They go out on the floor and brawl up the aisle way, but Benoit sends Orton back into the ring with chops. Benoit delivers a pair of knockdowns and then a running elbow drop for 1-2-NO! Benoit hits the Three Amigos and goes a superplex for the big exclamation point. Will he get it? Yes he does! Both men down at the seven-count, but then out of nowhere Benoit jumps on Orton to slap on the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE. Orton fights it off long enough to stand up and fall out to the floor along with Benoit. Orton grabs the trash can on the other side of the ring and walks over and hits Benoit in the head with it. Commercial time! We come back and Orton has Benoit in the ring and down on the mat in the tenacious chinlock. Benoit fights out of it with chops, but then Orton catches Benoit in a Stretch Backbreaker. Back out to the floor, Orton pulls up the protective mat to expose the concrete floor and tries to give Benoit a PILEDRIVER! That move is illegal in the WWE, even Cole says it is! I love how Orton takes advantage of the rules there to get the job done. Naturally, Benoit has to backdrop out of the piledriver. He grabs a steel chair and goes to KILL Orton with it, but Orton moves out of the way just in time for the chair to smash against the concrete. Benoit chases Orton back into the ring with the chair, but Orton kicks it away. Orton swings at Benoit, but he ducks and gets his Hat Trick of Germans! Benoit signals for the Swandive Headbutt and heads up top, but Orton brings up the trashcan lid to block and lets Benoit hit it face first. Hahaha, Orton is SMILING! Cole calls Orton a coward, which seems unjustified to me. That was smart. Orton slithers around waiting for Benoit to get up and take an RKO on the trashcan lid. Benoit blocks it and shoves Orton off into the ropes, and then NAILS Orton in the face with the lid, making Orton easy pickings for the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE and the win! (26:06) Just an all-around awesome match with tons of great psychology. ****

3. A classic match followed by a classic rematch. It’s amazing how they can create the same amazing atmosphere twice by doing two completely different matches. Sure, some spots were the same, but the ones that were different are what make this match so special. Up until the finish, you knew Undertaker meant what he said at No Way Out by telling Kurt Angle that he had his number.

- World Champion Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker – (Smackdown – 03.03.06)

This is the rematch from No Way Out due to the controversial finish. I still don’t know how the WWE can call that finish controversial, but who cares! We get another great match! Crowd goes into the dueling chants to start as Angle tries to avoid being stuck in the corner with Taker. Angle ducks Taker’s shots and turns things around on Taker in the corner. Taker comes out and brings Angle into the corner by his throat and delivers some body shots. Taker chases the ref out of the ring and charges into a boot off a whip in the corner. Angle catches Taker in an armdrag and goes into an armbar. Taker escapes and applies a Fujiwara armbar of his own. Taker lifts Angle up in a knucklelock lift and heads over to the corner to wrench on Angle’s arm some more. Taker decides to go OLD SKOOL, but Angle brings him down with a forearm. Angle stomps Taker down in the corner, but Taker goes back to the arm to regain control. Taker looks like he wants to try for OLD SKOOL again, but Angle drills him with a forearm before he can start the climb. Angle delivers the ten-count corner punch, but Taker lifts him up for the LAST RIDE to counter after seven. Angle tries to block it, so Taker drops him on the top rope instead. Angle gets booted off the apron into the security wall as we go to break. We come back to see Taker setting up the announce table, but Angle stops him and slams Taker’s head into the steel steps, but then he turns around and drops Angle with a clothesline. Taker places Angle on the apron and gives him the guillotine leg drop across the neck instead of delivering it on the chest. Angle WRITHES in pain as he falls to the floor. Taker brings Angle back in to avoid a countout and covers for 1-2-NO! I love how Taker created the opportunity to move from working on the arm to the neck. Taker grinds and hammers on Angle’s neck and shoulders, but then Angle reverses a whip and hits a powerslam out of nowhere! Cover, 1-2-NO! Angle applies a chinlock, but releases the hold when Taker starts pushing on Angle’s face causing more torque on the neck. Angle delivers a suplex for two, and then moves to a body scissors for a few near-falls. Taker stands up out of it, leaving Angle open for right hands. Angle baits Taker in the corner and avoids a running big boot to create an opportunity to weaken Taker’s leg for the anklelock. Angle tries to knock Taker off the apron, but he runs into a back elbow to slow things down. Taker heads up top, but Angle meets him there only to get knocked back down. Angle comes back with rights and delivers a top-rope superplex for 1-2-NO! Commercial break #2! After the break, we see Angle punishing Taker with another chinlock. Taker punches out, but then gets clotheslined out to the floor by Angle. He lands on his feet and pulls Angle out to the floor with him. That proves to a BIG mistake, as Angle reverses a whip sending Taker knees-first into the steel steps! Back in, Angle covers for 1-2-NO! Taker wins a slugfest and follows Angle into the corner with a clothesline! Make it two clotheslines! Taker follows up with the snake-eyes, but Angle ducks the big boot and hits a German Suplex! OH YEAH! Angle wants the ANGLE SLAM, but will he get it? NO! Big boot by Taker! Cover, 1-2-NO! Taker wants a CHOKESLAM, but Angle decides that the ANKLELOCK might be that much cooler! Taker kicks Angle away and goes for the TOMBSTONE out of nowhere! Angle reverses, but so does Taker! Angle escapes, ducks a clothesline and hits the ANGLE SLAM! Cover, 1-2-NO!!! The crowd collectively has a heart attack at this point. Angle pulls down the straps, makes up some new cuss words, and slaps on the ANKLELOCK again! Taker rolls through it and catches Angle in a CHOKESLAM! Taker staggers around, so Angle takes advantage and surprises EVERYONE with another ANKLELOCK! Taker turns around and pulls Angle into the Triangle Choke! Angle starts to fade away, but then rolls over Taker into a pinning predicament just like at No Way Out, but Taker slips out after one. The choke is still applied as Taker rolls onto his back. Will Angle tap out?! Angle’s arm drops once, twice, but not three times as he reaches the bottom rope. Taker sets Angle up for a leg drop, but Angle avoids it and hooks on the ANKLELOCK for the FOURTH time in this match! Taker actually kicks Angle off again, slips out of an ANGLE SLAM, and applies a Dragon Sleeper! Angle pounds his way out of it and drops Taker with a DDT for 1-2-NO! Angle goes for it all with a picture-perfect MOONSAULT, but there’s no water in the pool! ZOMBIE SIT-UP! Taker hits the TOMBSTONE and just as he covers Angle, Mark Henry and Daivari hop in the ring and begin their attack for the DQ. (28:42) Crowd is pissed off at the ending, and I can’t say I blame them. How are you going to give us a near 30-minute classic and end it on a DQ? Henry kicks Taker out to the floor and splashes him through the announce table to get their WrestleMania feud-a-roasting. This was equally as good, if not better than their No Way Out match by showcasing some different moves than what was done before. It was nearing ****¾ territory in my eyes up until that utterly terrible finish, and I have no choice but to subtract a ½* away from it. However, horrible finish aside, it’s still the best free TV match of the year. ****¼

2. Okay, so before, I gave this the nod for match of the year, but then I popped in No Way Out one day and my mind was changed. I loved how the Cena/Edge feud came to this; Edge being topped in his own specialty match. What better way to dethrone the champ?

- WWE Champion Edge vs. John Cena – TLC Match (Unforgiven 09.17.06)

If Edge wins, Cena signs a three-year deal with Smackdown. If Cena wins, he becomes the three-time WWE Champion alongside Mick Foley and Brock Lesnar. In case you didn’t know, this is also Edge’s hometown so the crowd is very pro-Edge. Also, JR goofs up again by saying Edge (and Edge has said as well) has never lost in a TLC match. I vaguely remember a TLC match on Smackdown five years ago that Edge and Christian lost which included Benoit, Jericho, the Hardys and the Dudleys. Actually, I remember it VERY well. Why does everyone seem to forget about that match? We start off with Cena working a headlock while breaking the hold and getting in three shoulderblocks. Cena runs the ropes and Edge catches Cena with a slap to the face. Cena takes him down and pounds away, but then he ducks low off a whip and takes a swinging neckbreaker from Edge. They go to the floor where Edge tries to Cena’s head off with a steel chair, but he misses and Cena takes him back into the ring for the Protoplex. Edge avoids a charge and then delivers the Edgecution. Edge goes out and brings two chairs into the ring and then sets up facing each other. Edge tries to suplex Cena on the chairs, but he counters and tries for the suplex. Edge flips out and drops Cena with an inverted DDT on the chairs! Edge brings one of the shorter ladders into the ring and goes for the belt, but Cena gets back up and shoves the ladder over. Edge lands on his feet and charges at Cena with a clothesline. While Cena is draped across the middle ropes, Edge goes out to the floor and slams a ladder in his face. Edge follows up and comes off the security wall and missile dropkicks the ladder into Cena! Edge gets back in and tries to ram Cena with the ladder, but he moves and hits the corner. Cena comes back with rights and then hiptosses Edge onto the propped up ladder in the corner. Cena sees there’s two tables set up beside one another and grabs Edge so he can FU him through the tables, but Edge grabs the ropes and lands on the apron. Cena wins a slugfest and comes off the ropes, but gets nailed with a forearm. Edge goes up top and gets crotched to disable him long enough for Cena to bring a table into the ring. He sets it up in the ring and then tries to superplex Edge through it. Edge is able to hammer his way out for a sunset flip powerbomb, but Cena puts the brakes on the hold for our first real botched spot of the match. The crowd is a little disappointed to say the least. They improvise with Edge giving Cena a powerslam through the table. “Cena sucks!” chant go up as the ref gets the table out of the ring. Cena is out on the floor, so Edge runs up the ladder that’s still propped up in the corner and dives out onto Cena! Edge tosses Cena back in and brings two chairs in the ring with him. He levels Cena on the mat with a chair shot and then sets up for the one-man Conchairto, but Cena trips Edge up once he goes for the fatal swing. Cena hits the Throwback (running flip neckbreaker) on the chair! He then picks up the ladder and sandwiches Edge in between the ladder and applies the STFU! JR tries to convince us that Cena is a TOUGH SONUVAGUN for doing what he just did. Cena releases the hold and then rams the ladder into Edge’s face. He lifts the ladder up onto his shoulders and FU’s the ladder on Edge! Sure, why not. Cena sets the ladder up in the corner and then delivers a Protobomb to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle from the ladder! Lawler ~ “I love a good fist drop, JR.” Cena goes out to the floor and brings another table into the ring, but then turns around in a WONDERFUL chairshot. I mean, that baby was nice. Cena is OUT. Haha, Edge starts to get cocky and bobbles his head as the crowd cheers! Edge sets Cena on a table and then goes out and brings another table into the ring, which he sets up on TOP of the table Cena is laid out on! Edge goes up top, but then Cena gets up and knocks Edge out onto the security wall. Cena goes out to the floor and pulls out one of those 16-foot ladders which will make it harder to climb, but a lot easier to grab the belt. I can’t let you forget about the ladder that was set up in the corner about five minutes ago because Edge is climbing it as we speak. He comes off of it and spears Cena off the big ladder to save his title! Not a perfect spear, but it worked. Edge begins to climb the big ladder, but then realizes Cena is up and dives out on top of him. Cena catches him and lifts Edge up into the FU position. He gets too close to the ladder, allowing Edge to climb off of Cena and onto the ladder. Cena stops him and powerbombs Edge into the smaller standing ladder. Yikes, that could’ve been disastrous. Edge falls out to the floor to rest, but Cena follows him out and has a steel chair in hand. Edge rises and Cena connects with a very, very weak chairshot. Cena rolls back in the ring and seems to be disappointed in himself. Cena begins to climb the 16-foot ladder to regain his title, but Lita comes down and turns the ladder over to send Cena through a table out on the floor ala Matt Hardy at SummerSlam 2000. The only difference was the table was horizontal instead of vertical like at SummerSlam. I’m proud of you, John. Edge finally starts to get up to his feet on the other side of the ring. Edge crawls in the ring and sets the ladder up underneath the belt as somehow Cena is back in the ring. Lita grabs a chair in the ring and nails Cena in the back with it, causing him to fall into the ladder and send Edge crashing through a table on the entrance ramp. OUCH! That looked like it hurt worse than Cena’s bump. Lita gets an FU to put her out of the match. The top table from the double-stack in the ring fell down because of the ring bounce from the FU, so Cena sets it back up because it’s very vital to the finish. Cena sets the ladder back up and begins to climb, and Edge has unbelievably made it back into the ring. He starts to climb the opposite side of the ladder to try and knock the challenger off, but Cena lifts him up on his shoulders for the FU off the ladder and through the double-stack of tables! The finish is academic as Cena easily grabs the belt to regain his championship! (25:29) That was one AMAZING match and possibly my favorite WWE TLC match. With a few minor obvious botches, it wasn’t perfect so I can’t give it the full five stars. ****¼

And now, to no one’s surprise, the #1 WWE match of 2006!

1. Absolutely tremendous match from bell-to-bell. It legitimized Kurt Angle’s title reign and proved that Undertaker could still go with someone talented. It’s no doubt the all-around best match WWE could muster up in 2006. After a couple more viewings, I boosted the rating up another ½*.

- World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker – (No Way Out 02.19.06)

Taker goes right after Angle, but Angle is able to dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge him to start. Angle pisses off Taker by shoving him in the back, so Taker goes crazy on him. Angle rolls out of the ring to avoid ALL of that. Back in, Taker works over Angle’s arm and shoulder for a good while. Taker goes for Old School, but Angle nails him in the face to put a stop to it. Taker counters a whip out of the corner into an arm whip. He goes for Old School again and this time it works. Taker hits the Snake Eyes, but Angle ducks the big boot and catches Taker for a German suplex. Angle punishes Taker in the corner with stomps and shoulder blocks. Taker counters a whip into the far side corner and follows in with a running knee to the face. Taker charges again, but Angle ducks out of the way. Taker gets knocked off the apron onto the barricade. Angle sends Taker face-first into the steel steps, but then Angle is caught coming off the apron and then driven spine-first into the ringpost. Taker sets Angle on the apron and delivers a legdrop across the throat. Back in, Taker goes for a chokeslam but Angle kicks him away. Now Angle goes after Taker’s left knee. He posts his knee a couple times and then applies the ringpost figure-four. Back in, Angle stomps away on Taker’s knee and then goes all Ric Flair on Taker by splashing his knee against the ropes. Taker tosses Angle to the floor out of desperation. Taker sets Angle up on the apron again for another legdrop, but Angle counters it with an ANKLELOCK out on the floor! Angle goes in to break the count and then comes back out to apply the hold once again. Back in, Angle applies a legbar but Taker kicks out of it. Angle comes back with a double-leg takedown, but Taker counters that with a TRIANGLE CHOKE! Angle makes the ropes. Angle rolls out to the floor to try and rejuvenate himself. Taker goes out after him and attacks him out on the floor. He even tosses him into Tony Chimel! That guy has had a rough night! Tazz ~ “Better Chimel than us.” Weren’t you a wrestler once? Geez. Taker sets up the Cole/Tazz announce table, but Angle catches Taker and drives him through the SAT with an ANGLESLAM! Angle cusses ref Nick Patrick out for trying to count out the Undertaker. Angle rocks your face off. He goes back out to the floor and pounds on Taker, but then gets whipped into the steel steps. Back in, Taker goes up top possibly for his flying clothesline, but Angle pops up and tries a superplex. Angle gets knocked back down to the mat, but then he comes back up and delivers a SUPER BELLY-TO-BELLY THROW. Angle covers for two. Angle comes off the ropes, but runs into a boot for two. Taker goes for the chokeslam, but Angle rolls through into the ANKLELOCK! Taker pulls Angle into the TRIANGLE CHOKE! Angle counters THAT into another ANKLELOCK! Taker rolls Angle off of him and then gives Angle a CHOKESLAM! That gets a near-fall! Now it’s time for the LAST RIDE! Or is it? Angle rolls out of that into another ANKLELOCK! Taker kicks him off again, but swings his way into an ANGLESLAM! Angle covers, but it only gets two. Angle can’t believe it! He pulls down the straps so he can finally get serious! They trade blows. Angle comes off the ropes and Taker catches him for the TOMBSTONE! Angle reverses it into a Tombstone of his own. Taker reverses it again but Angle rolls down into the ANKLELOCK! Angle grapevines the leg! OH SNAP! Taker rolls over so that he’s able to kick Angle repeatedly in the face to get him off of him. Both men back up, Angle delivers ANOTHER ANGLESLAM! Angle tries a rollup of sorts, but Taker pulls him in the TRIANGLE CHOKE again! Kurt looks like he’s going to pass out! The arm falls twice but on the third time, Angle flips over into a pinning predicament with Taker’s shoulders down on the mat for the three-count! ANGLE RETAINS! (29:48) Tazz tries to say that since Taker was the aggressor that his shoulders shouldn’t have been counted. Well, if they want to say that it was a controversial finish for the REMATCH on Smackdown, then that’s cool with me! Taker is another guy that can have great matches with great competitors, and Angle is capable of having a great match with just about anybody. Add these two together and you’ve got an excellent match. I would say that this was definitely Taker’s best non-gimmicked match since 1997; bar none. I would also go as far as to say that this is Angle’s greatest successful PPV title defense outside of Angle/Benoit at the Rumble 2003. ****½

EDIT: After reading that, chances are — either you think my writing has gotten better or its gotten a lot less creative. All the same, I hope you enjoyed that.

It’s all snowy here in North Carolina and when there’s anything white on the ground, our entire world shuts down, which means I’ve got nowhere to go. Having said that, my ten picks from 2007 are due. Look for it to be up sometime Sunday!

I always find WWE Christmas Shows with the Troops a very emotional experience.

Carlito is actually being a gentleman for once, surprise!

WWEFanNation provided this youtube video.

Monday Night RAW: December 7, 2009

Well, I’m a little late with this one as I got a virus and had to fix the computer which took all day yesterday. Finally got everything up and running, so let’s hope this week’s RAW is better than last weeks, although I don’t think it’s possible to be as bad as last weeks.

Tonight’s RAW guest host is Mark Cubin; I think he owns a sports team, not sure. Way to get D List celebrities Vince! Who’s next Torrie Spelling, maybe Joan Rivers, seriously this guest host thing is crap. They should’ve just had former wrestler as hosts, which would’ve been mildly entertaining at least. Oh boy, six nights from another lackluster PPV, and tonight Miz v. Henry, that doesn’t sound promising. Jericho v. D-X as well, that’s might be good, Jericho can usual bring it.

1. Mark Cubin is introduced to the crowd, way to dress for the occasion. He looks like David Flair and for a billionaire he dresses like a bum. Cubin goes for the cheap pop asking for Maverick fans, and says tonight he’s going to get crazy at ringside. He continues by saying tonight we get a showdown between Sheamus and John Cena, way to stay partial there Cubin. Well, if he’s endorsing Cena, I assume he’s going to cheap shot him. Cubin then says let’s get this show underway and brings out John Cena.
2. John Cena v. Carlito. Looks funny with both guys in Orange tonight, as we show Cubin at ringside with the Bella Twins. Carlito starts by pounding Cena down in the corner, then a stiff kick to the head and a nice knee lift. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment and Carlito reverses to a drop kick. Cena on the offense with the shoulder block and that stupid lift and turn move, Cena signals for a fist drop and Sheamus’ music stars as he comes down the ramp. Cubin goes up the ramp to stop Sheamus and brings out security. As Cena is distracted Carlito nails him from behind and then goes for the backstabber but Cena catches him in the Attitude Adjustment for the win.  2.25/5 match was going well till the Sheamus interference, then it just went to a quick end, Carlito deserves better than this.
3. Randy Orton & Legacy come down the ramp as we get the recap of last week’s beat down on Kingston. Orton starts by saying he applauds Mark for showing authority tonight and says the Championship Showdown with Cena and Sheamus will end in chaos. Orton says he doesn’t care who wins, because of what Cubin is about to do for him. Orton says the ban will be lifted tonight and that he will be the number one contender for the title no matter who wins. DiBiase has the mic and says rich people have pride but shouldn’t be stupid as we see what happened the last time Orton and Cubin were in the same building when Orton hit the RKO on Cubin. Cubin says you will not fight the winner of the table match and Orton got lucky last week with Kofi because the refs don’t have the guts to stop the match. Cubin continues by saying he respects Orton as a competitor and says Orton will face Kingston tonight, but Cubin will be the ref. Rhodes responds by saying Orton can and will hurt Cubin and calls Cubin all talk. Cody continues by making fun of Cubin’s team for losing the playoffs and challenges Cubin to get in the ring tonight. Cubin responds by saying let’s take this up in June after the Mavericks win the NBA finals, way to back down Cubin. Cubin then introduces Legacy’s opponents tonight.
4. Legacy v. Evan Bourne & Primo. This should be a good match, as four impressive young talents in one match. We go to commercial as B&P come out, we come back to Primo getting double teamed by Legacy and DiBiase gets a two count. DiBiase hits a nice dropkick on Primo as we get a promo for the Slammy Awards at the bottom of the screen which is next week. Primo hits a backdrop and tries to make the tag but Rhodes cuts him off; both men collide head to head and try to make a tag. Both men make the tag and Evan knocks Ted down and gets caught up top. DiBiase knocked back and Bourne hits the double knee. DiBiase nails Evan and hits Dream Street for the win. 3/5 nice tag match, a like the team of Bourne and Primo, at least it gives them both something to do. Nothing to complain about for this match really, might be the best of the night. After the match we see Cubin talking to the ring announcer who says Legacy is now to be ejected from the arena. Now a recap of Sheamus destroying Jamie Noble from about 6 weeks ago, good way to show off the destructiveness of Shamus.
5. Maryse v. Gail Kim We come back from commercials to see Kelly Kelli in the ring as she introduces the divas. Poor Gail, what a waste of her talents as she is the jobber of the Divas which sucks after the great matches she had in TNA with Awesome Kong. Maryse starts out by slapping Gail who responds with a spear. Gail whips Maryse in and she holds the ropes, Maryse goes for a kick and is blocked. Gail keeps the speed up as she pounds on Maryse, Maryse with a slap and then she tries to run and eats the ring apron, followed by a turnbuckle. Gail goes up top and Maryse pulls the legs out and scores the pin with her feet on the ropes. 2.75/5 basically just Gail dominating till Maryse hits a sweep and uses the ropes, probably about two minutes long. Why the divas don’t get more time for their matches is beyond me, like they can’t afford to give them 7 or 8 minutes for a match? After the match Maryse goes out to Kelly and grabs the mic, Maryse says close but not really, Kelly forgot one thing that she is the next champ and demands Kelly to say it. Kelly pushes her and Maryse starts to pound on Kelly as Melina comes out to make the save. We go backstage to DX decorating a Christmas tree and shill their merchandise. I love the fact there is a huge poster of Hulk Hogan behind them, as Shawn starts playing on the X-Box. Triple H gives Shawn a present, which he opens to reveal Hornswoggle. This crap is never going to end, well time to hit fast forward now, enough of this garbage. Next Sheamus moment is the knockout kick for the King that was hilarious.
6. Kofi Kingston v. Randy Orton. We see Cubin already in the ring as the referee as Orton is introduced. Are we ever going to just get the actual one on one match with these two instead of all the extra crap? Kofi starts by pounding Orton in corner and clothesline’s Orton over the top rope. Kofi does a nice dive through the ropes onto Orton and rolls Randy back in the ring. Orton springs up with a nice clothesline and Kofi is down. Orton begins his slow methodical beat down on Kingston as Cubin watches intently. Orton slams Kofi down and follows with the big knee drop, into a headlock. Damn, the match was going well till this rest hold, at least it was brief. Randy with a kick to the ribs and back to the headlock, Kofi fights his way out and gets in the corner. Cubin pulls him back and Kofi spring back in the corner again, followed by the side Russian leg sweep. Kofi hits the Boom Drop and readies for Trouble in Paradise which misses and Orton with the backbreaker, I love that move always looks so freaking painful. Orton glares at Cubin and begins to stalk Kofi and goes for the RKO, which is then reversed into a backslide for a quick count. 3.75/5 good match but the headlock dragged it down and the finish really put a bad mark on it. I just want to see a good one on one match with these two, no guest refs, no Legacy, just a match. Cubin announces the rematch at TLC; let’s hope it’s a good match. We now get another Sheamus clip; they’re really pushing him hard tonight, the battle royal from two weeks ago. I really would like to see Sheamus win the title; I think we really need some fresh blood on top.
7. Mark Henry v. The Miz. I really hate to say it, but I think Henry’s going to win the title. Henry’s been here fourteen years and he’s just as bad as he was in his rookie year. I really like The Miz; he’s got that certain something that could make a main guy one day. He’s got the talent and the ability to cut a promo, he may be better off in TNA though. Miz starts quick with headlock and Henry tosses him away. Henry hits a head butt and Miz goes for a sunset flip. Mark Henry almost sits on Miz, but Miz got out of the way and hits a kick to the face. Miz smartly holds Henry down and pounds on the big man. Henry once again overpowers The Miz and just squishes the champion. Miz hits a dropkick to the back knocking Henry out of the ring, Miz follows up with a dropkick into the back of Henry who hits the steps. Henry catches Miz and chokes him down and rolls in the ring, Miz off the top and gets caught. Mark goes for the slam and it’s reversed into the DDT for the win. 2.5/5 that was a quick and unexpected win, glad Miz won but not a good match, but what can you expect from Henry. We see Chris Masters with Mark Cubin as we come back from commercial.
8. Hornswoggle & Eve Torres v. Chavo Guerrero & Jillian Hall. What a waste of time and a waste of two great talents, Jillian & Chavo. Jillian should be feuding with Melina and Maryse and Chavo should be used better. This is going to be horrible and of course Horny is going to win, yuck. Not wasting my time recapping this garbage, unless something interesting happens, say hello to fast forward. Eve scores the pin after a nice senton drop on Jillian. 1/5 only good parts were Jillian looking great in purple and the senton from Eve, otherwise a complete waste of time. After the match Chavo grabs a hold of Hornswoggle, guess we know why Masters was at ringside with Cubin, as Eve is screaming at Chavo. Chavo throws Hornswoggle down and Eve stands in front of Chavo protecting Horny, Chavo gets in her face and Chris Masters then slides in the ring, so now he’s a good guy? Chavo pushes Masters back, and then Chris Masters starts doing that stupid pec dance, guess that’s his way of Hulking Up, as he puts the Masterlock on Chavo. Masters helps Eve out of the ring as Hornswoggle follows what a complete waste in every way possible. More of Sheamus as we see Sheamus’ interview from last week and the beat down on Santino.
9. Chris Jericho v. D-X. Jericho comes out with a microphone and as we see a sea of “Jericho Sucks” signs behind him. Jericho says he doesn’t suck, because he is the 2008 Superstar of the year and next week he’ll be the Superstar of the year again. Jericho says he is bigger than Raw or Smackdown and he goes wherever he wants. Chris says D-X will be embarrassed and banished, and to never underestimate Chris Jericho. We start with Jericho and Shawn as Jericho gets caught in the corner and double teamed; Shawn beats Jericho to the mat and runs him into HHH’s boot. More double teaming and a tag as Triple H whips Jericho into Shawn’s boot and another tag. D-X doing quick tags as Jericho is getting destroyed, what is the point to a handicap match anyway? Jericho throws the ref into HHH as Big Shows comes out and picks up Shawn by the ears. Show pounds Shawn in the corner as Triple H nails Show with a chair and Show hits the chair into the Game. Shawn with the drop toe hold on Show and grabs a ladder but Jericho baseball slides the ladder into Shawn. Someone should check on the ref, he may be dead! Show swings the ladder into both members of D-X and pins them both in the ladder and Jericho pounds the ladder with a chair, cool visual. Jericho rolls outside and grabs the belt and yells at DX they will never win these belts as Jericho climbs the ladder with the titles and Show stands in front. 2.25/5 match never really got going, about 2 minutes in and ref bump and then just another beat down.
10. Mark Cubin in the ring for the Championship Showdown as Mark brings out Sheamus & Cena. Not the way I want a show to end with a debate, where’s Scott Steiner when we need him. I want a debate between Steiner and Sid, which would be comedy gold. Cubin asks Sheamus why he thinks he’s going to win, stupid question. I’m not going to transcribe the whole thing as this is just going to drag on. Sheamus says he’s undefeated and it took Cena three years to win a title and Cena’s response is no comment, yeah whatever. I have to say I have a hard time understanding Sheamus, the accent is just hard to decipher. Sheamus says John never faced anyone like him, as Cena looks angry, or is that constipated? The crowd chants Cena and Cena once again says no comment, and the monkeys in the crowd cheer. For what, he keeps saying the same thing over and over again, just like his matches. Cena finally says he has a question, as he mention he’s been in the WWE for seven years, seems like so much longer. Cena goes over all the people he beat from Shawn Michaels to K-Fed. Cena’s doing a long drawn out history lesson now; as he talks about all his injuries and that he’s never given up. Cena tells Sheamus back up what you say or become a footnote. Sheamus knocks the table over and Cena responds by doing the same, Sheamus then nails Cubin, distracting Cena who gets nailed with the big boot, which the camera almost missed. Sheamus starts throwing the furniture around as we get the replay, Sheamus grabs a table and sets it up in the corner as Cena starts to get up and eats another big kick. Now Cubin slowly pulls himself up and Sheamus looks at him and they go nose to nose, and Cubin sends Sheamus down with a big shove, way to make the number one contender look good. Sheamus gets up and stares at Cubin, and hits a big knee to the stomach of Mark Cubin. Sheamus grabs the guest host and drives him through the table! The boos of the crowd are just raining down on Sheamus, who proclaims himself the new champion. Suddenly the Mavericks start to hop the barrier and Sheamus leaves the ring. Cena slowly gets up and Sheamus is at the top of the ramp as we fade out for this week.

Match Recap

1. John Cena squashed Carlito 2.5/5
2. Legacy over Primo & Evan 3/5
3. Maryse beat Gail Kim 2.75/5
4. Kofi Kinston pinned Randy Orton 3.75/5
5. Miz beat Mark Henry 2.5/5
6. Hornswoggle & Eve beat Jillian Hall & Chavo Guerrero 1/5
7. Chris Jericho v. D-X No Contest 2.25/5

Well a much better show then last week, at least we had 7 matches, even if one was a joke. Two matches were not bad, but still a lot of junk and useless crap. I know it’s the show before a PPV but still, can’t we have some good matches? Why didn’t Melina wrestle? Ah well, at least I have ECW to look forward too.

After moon rocketing to the main event level and number one contendership on last week’s RAW, Sheamus failed to follow his own act on this week’s episode.  The Celtic Warrior was featured in two segments but came out of both looking like a sub-par, unproven heel.

His first segment was a squash match against Santino Marella.  Before the bell rang, Sheamus cut a tepid promo, in which he passionlessly explained that he doesn’t have to pin Cena or make him submit to win the WWE Championship; he has only to put him through a table.  Far from confident or menacing, his iteration only really demonstrated how the undeserving contender has been handed the most accommodating (not to mention least compelling) stipulation imaginable as part of his mega-push.

Santino was a great comic foil for the stiff rookie.  He got in some good cracks on Sheamus, before the match, humorously suggesting that Sheamus was wary of him because he believed him to be “always after his lucky charms.”  When he referred to Sheamus’s paleness (suggesting that he was jealous of Santino for the fact that he actually had some pigmentation to his skin) I expected him to follow through with a Twilight joke.  (I know I’m not the only one to think that Sheamus, with his pallor and gravity-defying hair, resembles a jacked-up Robert Pattison/Leif Ericson amalgamation.)

Once the match started, however, Santino got in no shots at all.  It was a predictably thorough squash.  Sheamus’s pummeling a wrestler as popular and benign as Santino got him a lot of heat.  But it was again cheap heat.  He would have looked far more impressive squashing a competitor who’s done more in the past year than play dress-up and sustain a series of entertaining groin injuries.  Moreover, I don’t think Sheamus really needs any more heat.  He’s getting enough “why are they asking us to pay 50 bucks to see this guys wrestle Cena” heat as it is.

The second segment in which Sheamus appeared began with John Cena calling out the rookie in the most dramatic way possible: by offering him a championship match right there on the spot.  What hungry young powerhouse could resist?  Well, apparently Sheamus… for it wasn’t the number one contender who responded to Cena but Carlito.  It was great to see Carribean Cool back… even if it was confusing.  Carlito went on to deride Cena for his pandering to the fans and claimed that the champ’s fellow superstars are tired of his run on top.  I could see a degree of legitimate locker room resentment. I find it hard to believe, however, that a bunch of traditionalist, due-paying pro wrestlers would actually get behind an untested, hand-picked by management rookie.

Carlito’s involvement could have had more impact (the second generation wrestler is a gifted performer and has a stronger personality than anyone in WWE management seems to realize).  The segment however went nowhere.  Cena easily beat down Carilto and then went back to his calling out of Sheamus.

The Celtic Warrior finally did surface and stand glaring at the champ from the top of the ramp… but that’s as far as he got.  After a moment’s posing for the camera, he turned and walked backstage, Cena fuming and the crowd heartily booing in his wake.  Seeing as how Sheamus offered no explanation for his refusal to engage Cena, I was sure that his backing down in this segment pointed to his ambushing Cena in a later segment.  As it turned out, however, this was his last appearance on the show.  It was a bizarre choice creative made in the telling of the Cena/Sheamus story.  Not only did the Irish juggernaut come off looking like a coward, but Carlito’s serving as his mouthpiece made him look like a guy who had to get a more experienced heel to cut a decent promo for him.  The segment, coupled with Sheamus’s too easy beat down of Santino earlier in the broadcast, may suggest that creative is not entirely confident in the young upstarts ability to sell a main event angle… or at least is unsure as to how to tell a story around him.  Maybe the Celtic Warrior is being pushed on the booking committee just as he’s being pushed on the fans. 

Elsewhere on the show: Verne Troyer was a non-entity has host.  The only angle he was portrayed as having an authoritative hand in was the Mark Henry V.S. the Miz match, which was far from the show’s highlight.  The Miz/Henry match was significant, however, for two reasons.  One: Henry won, signifying that a long-intimated and much deserved push may finally be getting underway; and two: Henry’s win came off as an upset, which means that the Miz is officially over.  

Speaking of Mark Henry: he really shouldn’t have stood so close to Verne Troyer, when he came out to save the guest host from the Miz.  With the diminutive celebrity right at crotch level, it was all too apparent that Verne Troyer and Mark Henry’s packet are the exact same size.

Also, the production team showed profound mercy to the home audience, by going to a commercial break during the MVP/Mark Henry rap segment. 

Though it was billed at the top of the show, it was obvious that the Randy Orton/Kofi Kingston match wasn’t really going to happen, and the way they kept it from happening was well booked.  While making an energetic and celebrated entrance, Kingston was cheap-shotted and thrown into the ringside stairs by Cody Rhodes.  When Kingston  shook off the attack and persisted in climbing into the ring, he was again ambushed by Ted Dibiase, who focused his assault on Kingston’s knee.  The concerned official asked Kofi if he was still able to proceed with the match, and Kingston insisted that he was.  As he limped and hobbled, he clenched his fists and waved Orton out to the ring, displaying the intestinal fortitude of a certified hero face.

When the match finally started, Orton toyed with his rival.  Every time Kingston showed signs of mounting an offense, the former champ shut him down with a stiff kick to his injured knee.  Finally Orton landed an RKO and scored a very unclean pin on the popular Kingston.  This angle advanced their feud efficiently.  For weeks on RAW, Kingston has consistently gotten the better of Orton.  But with this match, Orton exacted a degree of revenge, in this most under-handed, heelish way imaginable.  The WWE audience is likely even more pumped to see these two go one on one.

In the main event, Triple H and Chris Jericho proved that they can put on an entertaining match that engages the audience, when they’re not following the Rock V.S. Hulk Hogan anyway.  The seesaw bout was highlighted by good color commentary by both Shawn Michaels and the Big Show, and by an exciting ending in which all four men were involved.  After Big Show clandestinely smashed Triple H with a right hand and laid him out cold in the ring, referee Mike Chiota ejected the giant from ringside (using that animated referee pantomime that would have been too overstated for most Mack Sennet two-reelers).  As the ref’s attention was on Show, Michaels snuck into the ring and evened things up by laying out Jericho with Sweet Chin Music.  A moment later he too was ejected by Chiota, leaving Triple H and Jericho dazed, partnerless, and with a few seconds to go home.

Jericho instantly went for a code breaker, which Triple H brushed off.  From there a series of well-done counters led to a roll up by Triple H for the three count.  With the Game’s victory, it looks like it will be Jericho in a two-on-one match against DX next week.  It will be exactly the kind of match in which Y2J shines: he’ll be all outrage and martyrdom when DX has the upper hand and smug, “best in the world at what I do”ness when he gets some offense of his own in.  Of course, despite his being not officially in the contest, expect to see Big Show play a part in the match’s outcome.  I would not be surprised if Jericho (with an assist from Show) pulls off an upset.  Jericho’s victory followed by a few weeks of gloating about how he single-handedly took down DX would be a good way to further the feud and instill in fans an eagerness to see Y2J get his comeuppance.

Between the tag title match and Christian’s ECW title defense against Shelton Benjamin, TLC is well on its way to being saved.

One final note:  Those of you watching this week’s RAW on television probably saw a handful of commercials for Robert Downey Jr’s new film Sherlock Holmes strewn about the broadcast.  If you looked carefully at those ads, you may have noticed an enormous actor made up to look like a man-beast appearing in two or three shots.  That actor is Robert Maillet, a giant and former WWE performer known during his stint with the company as Kurgan.

Kurgan received a modest push as a monster heel in the late 90s, before being relegated to sideshow status (literally), as a member of the short-lived  Oddities faction.  Maillet was an awesome-looking giant, who was a good worker for his size and had one of wrestling’s all time meanest scowls.  I’ve read that Maillet (who also appeared in Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300) accidentally punched Robert Downey Jr. in the face during filming of Sherlock Holmes!  The actor was knocked down and bloodied up by the encounter.

Truth Commission: 1, Iron Man: 0.

 On the official Lateral Press ratings scale, this week’s episode of RAW gets:

 Two and 1/2 stars (out of Five).

Remember how I said Raw was getting better? How lately it had been a vastly improved product over what we were forced to watch last spring? Well, I guess the WWE wanted to prove me wrong because last night’s Raw sucked big time.

I’ll cut them a little slack, it was the last show before they left for their annual Tribute to the Troops tour, I’m sure people were distracted and already concentrating on the worthy thing they do overseas and figured ‘we can just spit this one out quickly without giving it much thought’. The problem with that, is that you tend to get a product that’s not very good and that’s what happened last night.

First, I beg and plead that I will never again have to see Mark Henry either dance or rap on my TV screen ever again. The whole angle with him, Verne Troyer and The Miz was incredibly painful. At last The Miz was, as always, entertaining. He really is one of the best mic guys in the company right now and every week my love for him grows, but even with his presence, the whole thing was a waste of time.

Speaking of wastes of time… Diva matches. They’re generally short, they’re usually tag matches, and they’re always bad. Anyway, tonight’s match with Melina and Gail Kim vs. Maryse and Jillian Hall was no exception and was pretty bad, though thankfully short. I’m sorry, maybe it’s because I’m a woman and thus, am not that intrigued by the T&A factor, but I always find the diva matches a total waste, which is sad because I think some of the women are very talented. I just think the whole thing is handled badly and that the WWE has no idea what to do with the divas in the new family-friendly environment.

So Randy Orton’s so afraid of Kofi Kingston he needed his goons to beat him down first? I guess that’s a good sign for Kofi and that he’s getting a strong push, but it makes me feel a little sad for Orton. For a Mega Bad Ass feel, he seems to be a pretty big coward, just sayin’. Still, I am enjoying the elevation of Kofi Kingston and watching Orton mix it up with fresh blood, so even though tonight’s angle didn’t thrill me, I am enjoying the storyline on a whole.

Count me in as one who likes the new Bad Ass Cena. Cena was angry last night and for the first time in 2009, he was interesting. He was intense and on edge and I liked it. I also liked that they had Carlito come in and speak up for the rest of the locker room, though I think that message needs to be directed at more than Cena. DX and Orton are pretty good at hogging the spot light as well.

I love Chris Jericho and I love DX, but that promo at the beginning was pretty painful. Still, the match at the end of the night was good and I enjoyed HBK and The Big Show on commentary. Triple H really needs to start wearings pants for his promos though, he looked especially silly next to Jericho in his suit, just sayin’. Next we get Jericho vs. DX, which should be interesting, at least I hope so. To be fair, it would have to try pretty hard to be worse than this week’s Raw and I think we’re all praying that doesn’t happen.

The final RAW of November 2009 is in the books, and it featured no Little People Court. I’m not complaining about that, but it didn’t happen. Thank goodness. Below are the results from WWE.com’s Greg Adkins.

QUICK RESULTS:

- Maryse & Jillian def. Divas Champion Melina & Gail Kim
- Randy Orton def. Kofi Kingston
- Mark Henry def. United States Champion The Miz in a Non-Title Match
- Triple H def. Unified Tag Team Champion Chris Jericho in a Non-Title Match

BALTIMORE - Big things, small packages. You know the saying. And never has it held more true than when diminutive Hollywood actor Verne Troyer dropped by as special guest host of Raw in the run-up to the WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view.

Triple H def. Unified Tag Team Champion Chris Jericho
Just before heading out to confront Chris Jericho, Triple H and Shawn Michaels were irked by Hornswoggle when the little guy reminded them that he hasn’t given up on the idea of taking legal action against the two for emotional distress.

Unified Tag Team Champion Chris Jericho is none too pleased. During his no count-outs, no disqualifications match against Triple H, the mouthy egomaniac enjoyed several opportunities to put away his opponent, but he simply could not overcome The Game. While that fact alone is enough to leave a welt, the sting becomes compounded by the realization that he must now face DX next week in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, a match that Triple H insisted will be Jericho’s last on Raw once DX takes the gold away from Jeri-Show.

With Jericho staring down the barrel of a 2-on-1 situation against DX, the momentum clearly shifts to Triple H & Shawn Michaels as the two teams look toward their TLC Match at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.

Next week’s special guest will be Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban
They say everything is bigger in Texas – even the controversy. To prove it, the ever-opinionated owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, will be honored as special guest host next week when Raw rolls into Dallas.

Mark Henry def. United States Champion The Miz in a Non-Title Match
Being The World’s Strongest Man doesn’t mean you have the world’s thickest skin. After The Miz questioned whether Mark Henry had any personality, the big guy’s feelings appeared bruised. Just to prove Miz wrong, Henry laid down a slammin’ rap with special guest host Verne Troyer. Then, after pumping up the crowd, Henry proceeded to beat down The Miz.

The World’s Strongest Man and the “Mini Me” actor then invited a bouquet of Divas out, and they all danced in the center of the ring to celebrate.

John Cena called out Sheamus
Having survived being blindsided by Sheamus the week prior, WWE Champion John Cena dared The Celtic Warrior to try and slam him through a table again. Rather than Sheamus, though, The Champ received Carlito in the ring.

The Boriqua brother admitted that were Cena to lose at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Carlito and, allegedly, a host of other Superstars would cheer at the tops of their lungs. Carlito described how he and others are tired of always seeing Cena’s name atop the marquee. Before Carlito could spit his trademark apple in The Champ’s face, though, Cena beat him down and sent him scurrying. That’s when Sheamus showed, but he only stared Cena down before leaving to fight another day.

Randy Orton def. Kofi Kingston
If you can’t beat ‘em … get two cronies to soften ‘em up first – call it The Orton Creed. Before Randy Orton’s match against Kofi Kingston, his Legacy henchmen, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase, each executed separate attacks on The Dreadlock Dynamo. Determined to carry on, Kofi insisted he felt up to the challenge of Orton. Despite a valiant effort, however, Kingston appeared too fazed by the previous strikes and fell to Orton, who continued to viciously assail his opponent long after the bell.

Special guest host Verne Troyer arranged United States Champion The Miz vs. Mark Henry
Leave it to The Miz to come up with a line that took all the creative energy of two hamsters on a treadmill. The United States Champion promised special guest host Verne Troyer that he would be nice to him and even give the actor, who stars in the upcoming fantasy adventure film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, one million dollars! Get it? Like in Austin Powers? Ugh.

After Troyer mentally disarmed Miz, the self-proclaimed “Awesome One” was set to punt the little guy when Mark Henry decided to put the bully in his place. After more verbal vomit from Miz, Troyer finally decided to arrange a match pitting the United States Champion against The World’s Strongest Man. Yeeeaahhh, baby!

Sheamus pummeled Santino Marella
Sheamus doesn’t exactly come across as a lampshade-on-the-head type of guy. Which may explain why he became enraged at not being taken seriously last week just before he attacked WWE Champion John Cena during a contract signing for their Tables Match at WWE TLC. To emphasize the point, this week The Celtic Warrior challenged the only Superstar on the Raw roster he considers “a joke,” Santino Marella. Before the bout could even take place, though, Sheamus pummeled Santino, hurling him through a table and dismissively leaving him immobile.

Maryse & Jillian def. Divas Champion Melina & Gail Kim
After disguising herself as The Gobbledy Gooker last week and ambushing Melina from behind, Maryse was forced this week to face the Divas Champion head-on. The conceited Canadian teamed with Jillian in a clash against the lovely Latina & Gail Kim. Perhaps her time recovering from injury fueled Maryse since she actually managed to pin Melina without making any poultry excuses.

Jeri-Show and DX arranged Chris Jericho vs. Triple H for tonight
With less than two weeks until WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Unified Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho & Big Show presented their case against their rivals straight to the WWE Universe. The two rattled off a list of reasons they felt DX was unworthy of facing them in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match.

For their part, DX objected – strenuously. Triple H & Shawn Michaels stated that they’re eager to shut the mouths of their opponents once and for all. In fact, The Game challenged Jericho to a singles match, which the self-important Superstar grudgingly accepted. The four even figured out a way to raise the stakes. The match will involve no count-outs or disqualifications, and the loser must face the opposing team next week in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match.

Primo (Eddie Colón), dice sentirse muy “frustrado” con su posición en WWE, según señala PWI. El hijo del histórico Carlos Colón, siente haber logrado poco desde que rompió la pareja que formaba con su hermano Carlito, sólo trabaja en dark matches (encuentros no televisados) y ha sido dejado fuera en los Monday Nights RAW.

A  Primo le encanta la lucha libre, más que su hermano (Se dice que el mismo Carlito lo ha reconocido), así que este debe ser un momento difícil para él. Por su parte Carlito, la superestrella del Caribe, no ha sido visto en semanas, y su estatus con la empresa sigue siendo un misterio. Por ahora su perfil se encuentra activo en la página web de WWE

La última ocasión en que se les vio de forma relevante, fue previo y durante el tour Smackdown a Puerto Rico

Capa e ante-capa do albúm  A Rcoha 2010

Capa do DVD Carlito Gomes AO VIVO

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble!

by GrathiusXR:

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

Ah, wrestling.  At one point in our lives, many of us may well have been glued to our television screen writhing in agony as we watch our favourite wrestler defend the title belt in a thrilling match full of high risk moves and more sweat that you can find on a footy field in summer heat.

However, after awhile the sport gets stale and story-lines get a tad predictable and boring- which is sort of what the Smackdown vs Raw franchise has been the last couple of years.

That isn’t the case with the latest in the franchise, Smackdown vs Raw 2010, and our good friends over at THQ decided to throw a little costume launch event to celebrate not only the release of the game, but also allow us to appreciate it, for the latest in the franchise finally rises above the rest and shows it can still perform.

On a warm Wednesday night competition winners from the Gamespot and PALGN forums ate and drank with fellow staff from THQ’s PR as well as various website writers from IGN AU and Gamespot AU and of course OXCGN.

With Playstation 3s set up running the latest title in the wrestling franchise Smackdown vs Raw 2010 and many wrestlers of old and new showing their faces as well, the night was filled with laughs and high risk maneuvers all round.

Note that when I mean wrestlers old and new I really mean attendees dressed up as their favorite wrestler.

We had Mankind, Carlito, Yokozuna as well as some originals, Mr. Australia, and many more.

The facepaint was also in full ’slip, slop, slap’ with myself getting some glorious blue/orange on my face in imitation of Jeff Hardy, Adam Johnson getting some Blue Steel happening, Golddust making some commotion and we even had The Joker spoil the party for a while.

As a prize for going through the effort to make a costume and/or get some facepaint everyone was treated courtesy of THQ to a free copy of Smackdown vs Raw 2010 the night before release as well as some excellent Limited Edition Tin covered items which goes nice with my fellow Collector Editions and a copy of the Smackdown 10th Year anniversary DVD, which is covered in 3 DVDs and features some of the greatest moment in Smackdown history over the past decade.

It was a great little initiative and a kind gesture by THQ giving everyone these nice little presents for attending the launch costume party. Not only did every one manage to nab a copy for themselves both the overall costume winner and facepaint winners nabbed something a little special as well courtesy of Sony- a Playstation 3 Slim.

Mr. Australia took out best costume and won a PS3 Slim and a gaming monitor LCD, whilst the best face paint Adam “Blue Steel” Johnson took home a nice PS3 slim also.

I just missed out to Blue Steel in the facepaint competition but I wasn’t worried. Why? Because I got to play SvsR2010 ahead of its release, got to enjoy dressing up and putting on facepaint and have a chat with the guys over at IGN AU, Gamespot AU and some of the promo girls that were wandering around on the night.

It was great to see almost everyone getting into the spirit of the sport and dressing up and just getting involved in the night’s festivities.I would like to give a big thanks to THQ AU for inviting OXCGN to the costume party, as well as giving away the free gifts and also to Sony for getting involved and providing the 2 PS3 Slims as prizes.

It’s great to see Sony do some more for the community and getting involved in doing a bit more promotional work for supporting the console here in Australia.  Again a big thanks to everyone involved in making this happen and I hope to see more events like these promoting the games.

Now that I’ve got my copy of Smackdown vs Raw 2010, I can see many sleepless Saturday nights staying in and having amazing competitions with my mates in Triple Threat matches, Fatl 4-Way and Championship Scrambles matches.

Stay tuned to OXCGN in the following days for our review on the latest and greatest game in the franchise!

[ED: A big shout-out to Paul and Candice at THQ, and especially the girls at Mango, Annabelle and Katlin for making us feel like we're part of the family when attending these events. They know how to work the room, deal with the events and make sure everything flows according to plan, yet still have a fun time doing so. Hats off a warm welcome also to Katlin, great to see you in the 'big-smoke', great stuff and enjoy the gaming industry]

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

Please share us around

En las últimas semanas Carlito no ha sido programado en WWE y según Wrestling Observer, la actitud de carlito ha sido difícil, pues no ha querido participar en las giras, firmas de autógrafos, etc, dando como pretexto atender cosas personales, pero siendo la razón real el hecho de que los creativos de WWE no lo han tomado en cuenta.

Ya veremos qué pasa con la situación de Carlito con la empresa, pues esos roces no son nuevos

En la imagen, Carlito en la serie WWE Unmatched Fury, disponible en tiendasuperluchas.com (Últimas piezas antes de la línea WWE pase a Mattel)

Carlito, an upcoming rap artist here in Sweden released “Babylon Brinner” feat. Jacco & Aki last summer which was well appreciated by the audience. The track was produced by Masse (TSB). Now Masse has kindly released a really nice reggae remix of the track!

Carlito might be an upcoming artist but he ain’t a rookie. For those who don’t know, he used to rap in the constellation “Konkret Konspiration” in 2000 who featured “Streetzone Records – Jakten på Under Orden Vol. 2″ with their track “Snicksnack”. Since then, Carlito has been inactive but started to kick again last year which ended up with a guest spot at Masses tape “Gott & Blandat #2″ with the track “D Sån Där“.

This year he has released “Säg Pass” at whoa.nu, featured STORs mixtape “Skolans Nya Ledare” and have featured several gigs with Labyrint.

Download “Babylon Brinner (TSB Remix) here!

Mardi dernier j’ai été manger au resto Le Carlito de Trois-Rivières.

J’ai tout de suite aimé le look de l’endroit. Les murs en brique et faux-fini de plâtre donnent beaucoup de chaleur au restaurant. Les grandes banquettes créent tout de suite un sentiment d’intimité même si les autres client sont juste derrière vous.

Sur le menu, il y en a pour tous les budgets et tous les goûts, des pâtes aux grillades en passant par les steaks et poissons. Si vous y allez, ne passez pas à côté de l’entrée “Miche de pain au brie et pesto”, c’est un régal.

Pour couronner le tout, le service attentionné du personnel a fait de cette sortie une soirée mémorable.

Si vous passez par Trois-Rivières, ne manquez pas le Carlito!

Promoción especial en la serie de figuras tipo estatuilla WWE Unmatched Fury, rebajadas de MX $210 a MX $159 en tiendasuperluchas.com. Estas figuras no volverán a ser fabricadas, son las piezas finales debido al cambio de marca de juguetes de WWE

• John Cena Agotado
• Sabu
• Carlito
• Ric Flair
• Umaga
• Mr. Kennedy Agotado
• Jeff Hardy Agotado
• Mr. Perfect

Nota. Quedan muy pocas figuras del resto de las estrellas.
Nota. Aun quedan algunos rings WWE Steel Cage en promoción

Monday Night Raw 9/14/09
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario, CN

Announcers: Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler

- We open this week’s show with a look back at last night’s stiff I Quit match between John Cena and Randy Orton. And once we head inside the Air Canada Centre, Lillian Garcia introduces the Animal…Batista! He arrives to a good pop, arm still wrapped in a large brace. Batista has the mic and wants to say thank you to the fans before making his announcement. It’s been a tough year for him with a couple of bad injuries. He didn’t want to do this, but he has come back tonight to say goodbye. He thanks us for letting him have the time of his life in the ring. The fans bust out a big “Batista” chant as he says there has been rumors of his retirement for a while now. Before he can continue, Randy Orton decides to join us. Orton hits the ring and has a mic of his own. He is not very happy about losing the WWE Championship last night. But what does cheer him up is that Batista is retiring. He says the big bad animal is going out with a whimper, but whatever goodbye speech he had planned should be saved because nobody cares. Orton wants to know why he waited so long to retire. He believes that Batista is retiring because of Orton, not because of injuries. He tells Batista to hang his head and cry like he was going to do before Randy came out. Batista chuckles but Orton doesn’t think any of this is really funny. Batista says two things are funny to him: Orton’s predictability and the fact that he knows something that Randy doesn’t know. And Batista rips of the brace and attacks Orton, clotheslining him to the floor. Good to see that they made Batista look smart for once. Batista says he isn’t here to retire; he was here to announce that he is going to Smackdown. But, he did talk to the guest host and was guaranteed one more Raw match: a no holds barred battle with Orton! Orton heads back as we head to break.

- We are back and checking out downtown Toronto. Cole then takes us to a quick replay of our last segment. Back in the arena, Lillian brings out our guest host…Trish Stratus! Oh hell yes. Trish has kept the dark hair and is looking as fetching as ever. She doesn’t want to toot her own horn, but she thinks she will make a good host. We got Batista vs. Orton already. She puts over Bob Barker, but the crowd doesn’t like that for some reason. But, this isn’t the Price is Right, this is Raw and she knows Raw and she knows what we want. If she knew that, she would come back full time. Trish says that Orton is due a rematch, and he will get that match against Cena in a Hell in a Cell at our next PPV. She also wants to give us some Stratusfaction, and we will see plenty of her later tonight. Trish takes off as we are set for our first match.

1) Kofi Kingston & Primo vs. Jack Swagger & Miz

Kofi Kingston jogs down to the ring and he is followed by Primo as we are set for some tag action. Jack Swagger is out next and he is joined by the Miz. Cole tells us this is a return match from Superstars last week. Miz and Primo start off and Primo hammers away at Miz in the corner. Miz spikes Primo to the mat and then stomps away before tagging in Swagger. He slams Primo hard and picks up a near fall. Swagger hooks a surfboard and forces Carlito to the mat by switching to a double chicken wing. Swagger pulls Primo up and sends him hard into the corner. He goes for the Vader Bomb but Primo gets his knees up. He tags in Kofi, who comes off the top with a big chop to the head. He follows with some dropkicks and a clothesline. Kofi kicks Swagger into Miz and then takes him down with an inverted Russian legsweep for two. Kofi leaps onto Swagger in the corner and hammers away but Swagger steps out and drops Kofi face first on the top turnbuckle. Miz distracts Kofi by stealing the US title and taking off. That allows Swagger to hit the gutwrench powerbomb for the win. Swagger & Miz d. Primo & Kingston when Swagger pins Kingston with the gutwrench powerbomb; Grade: 1

- Kofi tries to shake off the cobwebs as we go to break.

- We are back and thanking Lynyrd Skynyrd for the PPV theme song before heading back to the ring. Mickie James heads out and joins the announce table as Lillian tells us this match will determine the number one contender for the Divas Championship.

2) Gail Kim vs. Alicia Fox in a number one contenders match

Gail is out first and Alicia follows her out as we try to determine a top contender. Gail hits an armdrag and Alicia bails to the floor. Gail nails her with a baseball slide dropkick but Alicia recovers and they head back in. Alicia hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Gail fires back out of a hammerlock but Alicia hits a nice Northern lights suplex for two. Alicia hooks a bodyscissors and…sorry, they showed Mickie and I lost focus. Alicia releases the hold and spikes Gail to the mat. She slams Gail but misses a scissors kick. Gail hits a neckbreaker and follows with some forearms and clotheslines. She hits a nice cross body off the top and gets two. Alicia shoves Gail into the corner but Gail avoids a charge and heads back up top. She misses a missile dropkick and Alicia drills her with the scissors kick to win the match and earn the title shot. That was a solid little match. Alicia d. Gail with a scissors kick; Grade: 1.5

- Alicia stares down Mickie as we head off to break.

- We are back and visiting with Cole and Lawler at ringside as they recap tonight’s events so far. We then get a recap video of Batista’s issues with Orton over the last year. Back live, Trish is in her office when she is accosted by Beth Phoenix. Beth wants to know why she was left out of the top contenders match but Trish is interrupted by Chris Jericho. Chris says Trish hasn’t gotten over him yet since he sent her packing. Trish says Chris is so full of anger and tension. She thinks Chris should be happy because he found his soul mate in Big Show. Beth says Trish can talk trash because she doesn’t have to go back it up. She says Jericho talks trash but gets in the ring and fights every night. Trish ran away and retired to teach yoga. Jericho has guts but Trish doesn’t. Trish says she didn’t retire because of Beth because she didn’t even know her and she will prove it. She will find a tag partner and take on Jericho and Beth tonight. Jericho comes in and tells Trish that he will take on Bob Barker at any time. Trish laughs it off and Jericho takes off. We now get stills of the DX/Legacy war from last night and then head to break.

3) Ted DiBiase vs. Shawn Michaels

We are back from break and Ted DiBiase is heading to the ring, flanked by Cody Rhodes. Cody mocks Triple H’s opening mic work and asks if we are ready for the dawning of a new era. They didn’t just beat DX, they forced them to submit and tap out. The Rock, Steve Austin, Undertaker, the McMahons and Rated RKO never made DX tap out like they just did. Ted says what they did didn’t surprise them at all because they did what they said they would do. They tortured DX into giving up. But, last night was just the beginning because they won’t stop until DX is off Raw and out of their lives forever. Cody says that as of this moment forward, they are no longer known as the offspring of Dusty Rhodes and the Million Dollar Man because they are known as the fathers of the Legacy. Triple H and Michaels are watching backstage and then start heading to the ring as we hit break. When we return, DX is heading out to the ring and looking for revenge. DiBiase hammers away on Michaels off the bell but Shawn fires back with some chops. Shawn is selling the affects from last night’s bout. He hits a swinging neckbreaker on Ted but is limping as he gets back up. DiBiase reverses a whip and hits Shawn with a powerslam. DiBiase sends Shawn over with a big back body drop and Shawn rolls to the floor. Triple H keeps Cody at bay on the outside until Shawn gets back in. DiBiase keeps the assault on and picks up a near fall. Ted clamps on a chinlock but Shawn fights up and fires free. Ted nails him with a standing dropkick for two and gets a near fall. Ted goes back to the chinlock. Shawn avoids a second dropkick attempt and goes for the figure four, but Ted rolls him up for two. Shawn pops up and hooks the figure four on a second attempt. Ted breaks the hold by going to the eyes. Ted hammers away at Shawn’s face and Shawn looks out of it. DiBiase hooks the Million Dollar Dream but Shawn runs him into the corner to break it up. Ted meets him with a kick and goes for a piledriver, but Shawn blocks it and dumps him over the top with a back drop. Ted scampers back in to avoid Hunter but he turns into an atomic drop. Shawn chops at Ted and follows with the flying forearm. He pounds on Ted and then heads up top. He balances himself and drops the big elbow but is slow to get up. Shawn tunes up the band but Cody hooks his leg and draws the lame DQ. Damn, that was a good match too with some great selling by Shawn. Michaels d. DiBiase by disqualification; Grade: 2.5

- A huge brawl breaks out between all four men and DiBiase and Shawn spill into the crowd. Hunter works over Cody at ringside a bit before they also end up in the crowd. The brawl rages on as we go to break.

- We are back and getting highlights of the big brawl from last segment. We then head back to the ring as Hornswoggle is heading out. He stops on the ramp as Evan Bourne heads out behind him.

4) Hornswoggle & Evan Bourne vs. Chavo Guerrero & Carlito

They hit the ring and are followed Chavo, Carlito and Rosa Mendes. Horny and Carlito start things off. Horny steals Carlito’s apple and tags in Bourne, who is all over Carlito. He tags in Chavo, who eats a dropkick. Horny pulls the ropes open and Chavo falls out to the floor. Bourne tosses him back in but Chavo meets him with a spin heel kick. He stomps away at Bourne and tags in Carlito. Bourne kicks his way out of the corner but Carlito stomps him back down. Chavo tags back in and he hooks a rear chinlock. Bourne recovers but eats a back elbow on a charge. He fights Chavo off and hits a heel kick for two. Bourne tags in Horny, who heads up top. Bourne takes out Carlito, but Chavo is up and stops Horny. Horny grabs the apple and spits it into Chavo’s face. He falls back and Horny drops the tadpole splash for the win. Hornswoggle & Bourne d. Guerrero & Carlito when Hornswoggle pins Guerrero with the tadpole splash; Grade: 1

- Chavo pouts in the ring and grabs the mic. He wants to know what he has to do. He tells Horny that he wins and that he gives up. We then head back to Extreme Rules when Batista beat Orton for the title in a cage match before going to break.

- When we return, Josh Matthews in with John Cena. He talks about promises, last night and the rematch at HIAC. He shows a lot of fire, but it’s business as usual from the champ. Cole tells us we have breaking news…DX will take on Legacy inside a Cell at the PPV. And it is time for our next match.

5) Trish Stratus & MVP vs. Beth Phoenix & Chris Jericho

Trish is out first and I can’t get enough. And MVP is her mystery partner. As MVP hits the ring, we hit a break. When we return, Jericho and Beth make their entrances and we are ready to go. The Toronto air has really agreed well with the Divas tonight, my Lord. Beth and Trish start things off and Beth overpowers her in the corner. Beth slams Trish but Trish is back up and firing away. She lays in some chops, ducks a clothesline with the Matrish and then kicks Beth down. Jericho comes in but MVP takes him out of the ring with a clothesline. Show comes down and attacks MVP on the floor. That draws the DQ. Henry comes charging out as well and he takes out Jericho. MVP & Trish d. Jericho & Beth by disqualification; Grade: .5

- Trish has the mic and says things won’t end like that on her show in her hometown. She tells Show that if he wants in, he has got it. This will now be a six person tag, after this break.

6) Trish Stratus, MVP & Mark Henry vs. Beth Phoenix, Chris Jericho & Big Show

When we come back, Show is putting the boots to MVP. He tags in Jericho, who works MVP over with some boots and fists. MVP dodges a kneelift and gets a roll up for two. Henry tries to rally the crowd but they seem split between Trish and Jericho. Jericho knocks Henry off the apron to prevent a tag. He locks in a cobra clutch as the crowd starts getting loud. MVP fires free and tosses Jericho with a throw. Jericho avoids a kick and tags in Beth. Beth comes in and shoves MVP. MVP looks to Trish, but Beth wants him. She shoves him again and tries to kick him, but MVP catches her foot and tags in Trish. She comes in and takes Beth down with a Thesz press. She calls MVP back in and they drop a double Ballin elbow. Jericho pulls Beth to the floor but MVP comes flying out with a cross body. Show trips up Trish from the floor, but Henry charges and takes Show out with a flying shoulderblock. Beth comes in and covers Trish but only gets two. Trish eats a back elbow on a charge and Beth heads up top. Trish catches her and takes her down with a headscissors. Trish hits the Stratusfaction and picks up the win! Trish, MVP & Henry d. Beth, Jericho & Show when Trish pins Beth with Stratusfaction; Grade: 2

- The winners celebrate and we get a video package of Legacy putting Batista on the shelf three months ago before taking a break.

- We are back and Cole tells us that Cedric the Entertainer will be hosting Raw next week. That should be an interesting little show.

7) Randy Orton vs. Batista in a no holds barred match

Back in the arena, Orton is stalking to the ring for our main event. Batista is out next and away we go. Orton bails off the bell and grabs a chair. Batista meets him out there and knocks the chair out of his hands. Orton turns the tables as they head back in and he goes for the hanging DDT. Batista blocks that and works Orton over in the corner. He hits a clothesline and Orton hits the floor. He reaches under the ring, but Batista heads out and knocks him down with another clothesline. Orton takes over as they come back in and he works the Garvin stomp, finishing with a kneedrop. Orton heads outside again and grabs another chair. He slides back in but Batista drills him with a spear. Orton rolls outside again and Batista follows him again. He slams his head into the announce table and then sends him flying over it. Orton tries to stumble away but Batista runs him into the stairs. He pushes Orton’s head into the steps with his boot and then tosses him back inside. Orton goes for an RKO but Batista blocks that and Orton again bails to the floor. He backs up the ramp but Cena comes out and forces him back towards the ring. Cena drills him with a clothesline and tosses him back into the ring. Batista hits a spinebuster, plants him with a Batistabomb and that is that. Batista d. Orton with a Batistabomb; Grade: 2

- Batista celebrates and we check out a replay before fading out. We got a decent show this week. It cruised along and everyone worked hard, but it was a bit of a train wreck. The Michaels/DiBiase bout was the match of the night, we got some good PPV build and it is always awesome seeing Trish back on TV. The rest of the matches were decent, but nothing really stood out. See you next week!

Final Grade: C+
MVP: Trish Stratus
Runner Up: Shawn Michaels & Ted DiBiase
Non MVP: Chavo Guerrero
Runner Up: Gail Kim

Carlito y Matt Hardy en Arecibo, Puerto Rico

Matt Hardy publicó en su Twitter esta imagen en donde podemos verlo junto a carlito, previo a al inicio de la función Smackdown/ECW en Arecibo, Puerto Rico

Twitter @Superluchas

Normando Valentin de Noticentro Al Amanecer entrevista a Primo Colón, sobre la gira de WWE que inicia en Puerto  Rico esta noche, y para la cuál, el elenco de Smackdown, fue reforzado con Triple H (Y por supuesto los locales hermanos Colón)

Monday Night Raw 8/31/09
Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
Announcers: Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler

- We open the show with our animation and then head inside the Joe where Michael Cole welcomes us to Detroit, the home of Wrestlemania XXIII.  Cole and Lawler run down some of tonight’s matches before we head to Lillian Garcia. She introduces tonight’s guest home, Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes. He’s just a common man…working hard with his hands! Big Dust struts out to a huge pop from the Detroit fans and the jukes and jives a bit on the ramp. Dusty heads to the ring as Lawler says we are in for a fun night. The Dream is all smiles as he grabs the mic, but the fans won’t let him talk as they overpower him with a “Dusty” chant. Dusty tells us that two years ago, he was inducted into the HOF right here in Detroit. This is a city that never quits and is a blue collar hard working city. He is also proud of his son Cody Rhodes. He knows that he gets a trifling attitude about himself, especially since joining Legacy. There is nothing that a father would not do for a son and he hopes Cody will see the light some day, maybe even tonight. In two weeks, John Cena will be in an I Quit match at Breaking Point. And Cena will challenge his son at that PPV, because Cody will take on Randy Orton for the WWE Title right here tonight. And Dusty will be in Cody’s corner. And Cena will be the guest referee. Well, that draws out the Champ, who most likely will not care for these decrees. Orton saunters to the ring as Dusty eyes him up and down. Randy has a mic and is drawing some nice heat from a rowdy crowd. Orton thinks it is obvious that Dusty is jealous of Randy because his son Cody looks up to Orton more than he has ever looked up to Dusty. Dusty is trying to make up for his shortcomings as a father and win him back by granting a title match. He says it is a shameless and pathetic act and asks Dusty if he thinks Cody will even agree to the match. Dusty thinks Cody is hungrier than Orton and is athletically gifted and Dusty will be there to raise his hand when he wins the belt. Orton says that Dusty is setting himself up for disappointment and Randy wants to know why he shouldn’t kick Dusty in the head like he did two years ago. Before Dusty can answer, Cody’s music hits and he confidently heads to the ring. King wonders if this is the destruction of Legacy. Cody tells Randy that the man in the ring is his father. Dusty’s legacy in the industry runs deeper than either of theirs. Cody says he and Randy are associates and even friends, but he will not pass up this golden opportunity. Just like Randy, Cody intends on becoming the youngest WWE Champion in history. It isn’t personal, it is strictly business. Orton wants to get things straight and he reviews all the stipulations. He thinks the fix is in and Dusty confirms that for him. Orton stares at the Rhodes family and stalks off. Backstage, there is a referee talking to six Divas and running down the rules for the upcoming American Dream Diva battle royal as we go to break. Dusty can still bring the goods, for sure. At least we are getting a fresh main event as well.

1) American Dream Diva Battle Royal

Participants: Beth Phoenix, Alicia Fox, Gail Kim, Jillian Hall, Rosa Mendes & Kelly

We are back and it is Diva battle royal time. Kelly and Gail are out together, followed by Beth, Rosa Mendes, Jillian Hall and Alicia. The winner of this will win a shot at Mickie James later tonight. The bell sounds and a brawl breaks out as all the ladies pair off. Rosa gets shoved into Beth and Beth doesn’t take too kindly to that, so she tosses Rosa over the top and to the floor. Alicia hits a nice scissors kick on Kelly but Gail grabs Alicia and eliminates her. Beth tosses Kelly out and she and Gail battle against the ropes. Gail tosses Jillian, but she hangs on to stay alive. Gail out maneuvers her and they both end up back inside. Gail misses a cross body from the middle rope but nails Jillian in the back as she tries a handspring elbow. They battle some more, trading right hands and elimination attempts along the way. Gain skins the cat to hang on and is able to pull Jillian out with a headscissors. Gail turns around and Beth stalks over and kicks her out to win the match and the title shot. Beth outsmarted everyone there as she laid low in the corner and picked her spot. She will take on Mickie James for the Divas Championship later tonight. The match had energy but was sloppy as all hell. Beth Phoenix wins the American Dream Diva Battle Royal; Grade: N/A

- Beth takes off as we check out some replays. He music fades and Chris Jericho’s fires up as he powerwalks to the ring and we go to break.

2) Chris Jericho vs. MVP

When we return, we get some clips from last week when Floyd Mayweather helped MVP and Mark Henry defeat Chris Jericho and Big Show to earn a title match at Breaking Point. The clock ticks and MVP heads out to the ring and man, is this crowd pumped up tonight. Charles Robinson calls for the bell and we are underway as MVP goes behind Jericho and tosses him to the mat. They trade takedowns and switches as the crowd chants for MVP. Jericho takes over and stomps away at MVP, smack talking about last week’s brass knuckles assault. He drops MVP with a back suplex for a near fall. MVP fights up and they trade right hands with MVP winning the duel. He tries for a kneelift, but Jericho blocks it and tries for the Walls, which MVP blocks. MVP drills Jericho with a big boot for two. MVP floats over a charging Jericho and hits a flying clothesline for a near fall. Jericho avoids the Drive By and knocks MVP to the floor with a springboard dropkick. MVP is out on the floor as we head to break. When we return, Jericho has MVP clamped in a modified half nelson. MVP fights free and catches Jericho with a fist to the gut on a second rope axehandle attempt. Jericho recovers and takes MVP down with a facebuster. MVP dodges the Lionsault and drills Jericho with a low dropkick to the head. He drops the Ballin elbow and gets two. Jericho slips out of the Playmaker and takes MVP down. He goes for the Walls but MVP rolls him up for a super close near fall. Jericho pops up and crushes MVP with the Codebreaker for a hard fought win. That was a really good match and a nice win for Jericho. That near fall at the end was great. Jericho d. MVP with the Codebreaker; Grade: 2.5

- Jericho heads off as MVP glares back at him. Backstage, Dusty is checking out the Rise and Fall of WCW DVD case when DX walks in. Triple H does a good Dusty impression. DX warns Dusty about Cody’s relationship with Legacy. Dusty says he has a lot of influence on his son and he will make sure Cody gives one of them a title match after he wins. Hunter and Shawn have a funny little back and forth over who would get the title shot, bickering like a married couple. Shawn gets a funny line about Hunter having enough title matches and Hunter says they shouldn’t argue in front of Dusty, so they will discuss it when they get home. Dusty asks DX if they want to hang with him and watch the WCW DVD and they are all for it. Shawn plugs the WCW DVD until Dusty jumps in and plugs his DVD, followed by Hunter plugging the DX DVD. Shawn asks if they should throw in the WCW DVD, but then wonders if they should watch Raw instead. Hunter says that Dusty is in charge and that he can tell them what is going to happen, so they don’t have to watch. Well, that is an odd message to send to your viewers. Shawn struggles putting the DVD on as we cut over to Hornswoggle, who is walking down the hallway decked out in cowboy gear. Hornswoggle will be taking part in a Texas Bullrope match after this break.

- The Just for Men Rewind takes us back to last week when Chavo got DQ’d in a boxing match against Hornswoggle. Chavo beat Horny down until Evan Bourne came out to make the save and take Chavo out.

3) Hornswoggle vs. Chavo Guerrero in a Texas Bullrope match

Back live, Lillian runs down the rules for this match. The winner will be the person to tie his opponent up with a bullrope. Hornswoggle is out first and he is followed by his arch nemesis, as they battle once again. Chavo is wearing a cow suit and doesn’t look very happy about it. Horny laughs at Chavo’s outfit as the referee tells Chavo that Dusty has ordered one more stipulation for him. He heads outside and grabs a cow head. He holds it up and shows it to the crowd before making Chavo put it on. Chavo reluctantly puts it on and the ref hooks the bullrope to both men and calls for the bell. They play tug of war with the bullrope until Horny goes behind and yanks on Chavo’s tail. Horny nails Chavo in the gut with a headbutt and then rides him like a horse. Chavo has had enough and slugs Horny to the mat. He takes off the mask and starts to tie up Horny. The ref yells at him to put the mask on as he heads up top. Just as he steadies himself, Evan Bourne comes out to distract Chavo. Horny yanks Chavo to the mat and then puts the mask back on him backwards. Horny runs around him and ties Chavo’s legs with the bullrope. He grabs his hands and hogties him for the win. Hornswoggle d. Guerrero; Grade: 0

- Horny and Bourne celebrate until Chavo pops up and takes Bourne out. Chavo charges at Horny but Horny ducks and Chavo hits the post. Horny bites his ass and then heads up top. He puts the cow mask on and Bourne assists with a Tadpole Splash. Chavo takes off and Bourne and Horny celebrate as we go to break.

4) Big Show vs. Mark Henry

When we return, the Big Show is making his way out to the ring. Henry is out next and is all smiles, natch. The bell sounds and Show smacks Henry during a staredown. They lock up and Henry shoves Show back a bit. They lock up again and Henry shoves him back again. We get a classic test of strength, which goes to a stalemate for a few moments until Henry starts to win it. Show buries a knee and a pair of headbutts, but they only stagger Henry. Henry drills Show back and sends him to a knee. Show goes for a chop in the corner, but Henry slugs him first. Henry hooks on a tight headlock and Show can’t break it on the first two attempts. Show drops to a knee and then fights to his feet and reaches for the ropes, but Henry stops him. Show finally reaches the ropes and Show lands a cheap shot on the break. Henry whips Show in but Show nails him with a big spear to finally put him down. Show hooks a front facelock and then buries some shoulderblocks in the corner. Henry fires out of the corner and turns Show around. He lands a pair of splashes in the corner and then puts Show down with a body block. Henry drops a big splash and gets a good near fall. Show staggers up but catches Henry with an elbow as he charges in. Show takes the turnbuckle pad off and runs a charging Henry into it, but the ref sees it and calls for the bell. OK, sue me, I enjoyed it. It was a fun power match and they worked it perfectly. Henry d. Show by disqualification; Grade: 2

- Show crushes Henry with a right hand to knock him out cold. King thinks the two matches tonight down bode well for the champs at the PPV. Backstage, DiBiase is checking in with Cody. He will make an impact here tonight. Orton comes in and asks Rhodes if he wants to go through with this. Cody says yes. Orton says whatever happens out there is just business, just as Cody said. Orton and DiBiase walk off and we go to break.

- We are back and checking out Comerica Park before heading backstage. Dusty and DX are watching the WCW DVD and the Fingerpoke of Doom clip. Dusty says that was the beginning of the fall. Dusty says that DX’s friend Big Sexy was part of that. They tell Dusty that WCW let it happen, not them, and that is why they lost the Monday Night Wars. Dusty says they didn’t lose the Wars and they won from 1996 until 1998. Shawn says they were using old WWE guys and that is why they won. Dusty asks Shawn what years he held the Championship and was on top of the card. Shawn stammers and says 1996 through 1998. Hunter says they made a huge run in the spring of 1998, right after Wrestlemania. Shawn is all fired up about WWF’s resurgence, but Dusty reminds him that he suffered a serious injury around that time. Shawn stammers again and says they can just have a good time reminiscing about the good old days. He storms off and Hunter tells Dusty that it isn’t his fault and Shawn is wound up about not being part of the Attitude Era. Hunter asks whose idea it was to take a no talent like Marc Mero and dress him up like Little Richard. Dusty calmly says it was his idea and they decide to just watch the DVD. Shawn comes storming back in again and says the Attitude Era was his idea and that he was sitting at home while they were rolling in the dough. He leaves again as we go to the ring. These skits have been pretty damn funny.

5) Kofi Kingston vs. Miz vs. Carlito vs. Jack Swagger for the Unites States Championship

Swagger is out first, followed by Carlito, Miz and Kofi. Miz bails to the floor after the bell and is content to watch the action from outside. Kofi attacks and hammers away at Carlito, but Swagger nails him and takes him down with a slam. Swagger gets tossed to the floor and then Miz comes in and knocks Carlito to the floor as well. He hammers away at Kofi but Kofi leapfrogs him and Miz hangs on to the ropes. Carlito charges in, but Kofi leapfrogs him and Miz backdrops him outside. Kofi charges and knocks Miz to the floor with a clothesline. Kofi leaps onto all three with a cross body and we head to break. When we return, Swagger is working on Kofi’s leg as Miz and Carlito are still out on the floor. Swagger hooks a single leg crab until Miz comes in and takes him down with a neckbreaker for two. Miz slugs Kofi down and works Kofi over in the corner. The crowd chants for Kofi as Carlito takes out Miz with a missile dropkick. He hammers on Kofi and Miz as Swagger bails to the floor to recover. Kofi heads up top and he drops onto Miz and Carlito with a cross body. Swagger breaks up the pin and runs Kofi into the corner. Swagger takes out Carlito and drops the Vader Bomb for two. He tries another one on Miz, but Miz gets his knees up. Kofi knocks Miz to the floor and then slams Carlito onto Swagger. He drops the Boomdrop on Carlito and gets two. Miz breaks up the Gutwrench powerbomb attempt and hits the SCF but Carlito breaks up the pin. Carlito takes Miz out with the Backstabber, but Kofi breaks up that pin and he nails Carlito with the TIP for the win. Kofi survives another close call to keep rolling on as champ. That was a really fun match and the crowd is still pretty hot. Kingston d. Miz, Swagger & Carlito when he pins Carlito with the Trouble in Paradise; Grade: 2.5

- We are back and thanking Lynyrd Skynyrd for the Breaking point theme song, Still Unbroken.

6) Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James for the Divas Championship

Back in the ring, Beth is out and ready to cash in on the shot she earned earlier. The Champ and birthday girl is skipping out next as we are set for the next chapter in this long standing rivalry. Mickie gets a quick near fall on Beth and then locks on a headlock. Beth fights her off and then runs her into the turnbuckle with a powerslam. She punches and stomps away at Mickie in the corner until the ref breaks it up. Beth baseball slide dropkicks Mickie into the post and that did not look pretty as the side of Mickie’s head bashed the post. Mickie staggers up but Beth steamrolls her down with a shoulderblock. She pulls Mickie up and drills her with a nasty shoulderbreaker for two. Beth punishes the arm but Mickie fires her way back into things. She fights Beth off with some kicks and nails her with a back elbow. She ducks a Beth clothesline and dropkicks her knee to knock her down. She follows with another low dropkick to the face. Mickie is favoring her left arm but is able to take Beth over with a headscissors takedown. Mickie heads up top but Beth knocks her to the floor. Beth quickly heads out and throws her viciously into the barricade. This is a stiff match as Beth’s stuff is just strong and crisp. Beth tosses Mickie back in and gets two. Beth charges and kicks Mickie in the shoulder. She tries for a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but Mickie counters with a DDT and picks up the win. Happy birthday Mickie! That was a nice little match as these two just have great chemistry together. Beth was super stiff and very aggressive throughout and Mickie’s selling was great. Mickie d. Beth with a DDT; Grade: 2

- We head backstage again where Shawn apologizes for getting sensitive before. He is working on things though. Dusty puts over WCW some more, including Flair, War Games and Magnum TA. Hunter says that WCW’s greatest moment isn’t on the DVD…the Shockmaster! Shawn doesn’t know what he is talking about. Hunter says it is the greatest thing ever and he runs down the whole story for him. As he is talking, a deep voice from the abyss calls out Hunter and Shawn’s names, sounding eerily similar to the Shockmaster. Then a huge flash of light goes off and the Shockmaster blasts through the wall, tripping and falling! The voice redoes the whole Shockmaster speech to perfection. The camera pans over and we see Arn Anderson with a mic and a script. He apologizes to Dusty and Shawn says he is glad he didn’t see it originally. DX takes off and Dusty shakes his head, looks at Shockmaster and says “it should have worked!” Shockmaster unmasks and it is Santino! He says he loves the Shockmaster as we head to break.

- We are back and Josh Matthews is with John Cena. Matthews says the WWE Championship’s fate is in Cena’s hands. Cena agrees with that. He doesn’t like Randy Orton and runs down the potential scenario of Cody defeating Orton with his Dad in his corner. This could prove to Cody that he doesn’t need to live in someone’s shadow. This could be the end of Legacy and the embarrassment could send Orton’s career spiraling. If Cena does choose a side, the story is simply, John Cena gives Cody Rhodes the Championship. He can’t do that, if Cody wants it, he needs to go out there and be the better man. If it not Cody’s time, it isn’t his time. If Orton wins, he runs into a brick wall at Breaking Point because Cena will not quit. He guarantees victory at Breaking Point and he will…not…quit. That was a good promo for Cena and he even got the crowd back on his side by the end of it. Back at ringside, Cole and King run down the Breaking Point card for us.

- The bell then sounds and we are ready for our main event. Randy Orton is out first and he wastes no time in walking to the ring. We cut backstage to see Dusty giving Cody a pep talk and then we take our final break. Will Cody be a man and stand to Orton? Or do we get another Fingerpoke of Doom? When we return, we find out that Bob Barker will be hosting Raw next week. Cody and Dusty are out next as we creep towards 11:00. This will either be a short match or Kidman’s stopwatch is broken again. Cena is out next to a split reaction. Now Dusty has the mic and says there is nothing a father wouldn’t do for his son and apologizes to Cena. Orton and Rhodes jump Cena and beat him down. DiBiase joins them and they hammer away at Cena. The DX music hits and they hit the ring and the crowd is going nuts as they take out Legacy. Triple H loads Cody up for a Pedigree but Dusty clubs Hunter with his boot. Rhodes takes out Shawn with Crossrhodes. The crowd is into this big time here, chanting for Cena. But he and DX are out as Legacy and Dusty stand tall in the ring.  Dusty hugs Cody, but that allows Randy to leap over and drop Dusty with the RKO. Now Cody is freaking out and screaming at Randy to look at him. The crowd is buzzing big time and screaming for Cody to do something. Cody just drops his head and looks around as the crowd chants his name and we fade out. Cody could have been made into a major star right there, but I understand holding off. Well, this was a pretty damn good show and breaks the streak of mediocre outings for sure. I wish the main event was legit and not a ruse, but what can you do. It still drew damn good heat. When they are done with the Guest Host concept, Dusty needs to be named full time GM as he is full of golden possibilities. See you next week…I am heading for the pay window!

Final Grade: B

MVP: Dusty Rhodes & DX
Runner Up: The Fans
Non MVP: Chavo Guerrero
Runner Up: Evan Bourne