-Taped from Little Rock, Arkansas

-Your hosts are Tool Grisham and Stryke

-A look back at what happened at Money in the Bank as Kane defeated Rey Mysterio to become the world champion. Yup, that’s yet another world title change.

-Kane walks out with the title. I thought I saw Steve Austin lurking in the background, but I was just seeing things. Think about this. This is already Kane’s longest world title reign, and his only world title reign came in 1998. Way to push new stars there WWE. Kane talks about winning the belt while creepy music plays in the background. Crowd noise is clearly being piped in. You can just tell by the way people are sitting, yet you can still hear noise. The music is annoying. The promo is boring. A segment dying before your very eyes. The music picks up and Kane says he won the world title for his brother. Clips of Taker are shown What a load of malarkey. Should be blatantly obvious to even a child that Kane is the one who put his brother in the vegetative state. And if he didn’t? Means WWE changed its mind again.

-Announcers hype a 2-out-of-3 falls number one contender’s match between Mysterio and Swagger.

-Matt Hardy and Christian vs. Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes

Has there ever been a worse wrestler with a better entrance? I’d like to see a study done on this. Rhodes, on the other hand, has one of the worst entrance themes in the history of professional wrestling. It sounds like a crappy Bon Jovi knockoff. Hardy is wearing a shirt cause he’s fat. Mundane tag team match develops. Considering the competitors involved, I’m not all that surprised. Nothing offensive but nothing I’d go out of my way to see either. Stryker makes a Bob Holly reference and says when Mr. McMahon saw McIntyre, he saw money. I saw money too. Problem was it wasn’t going to WWE. Rhodes is in the running for worst gimmick in wrestling. Heat segment on Christian. He’s the easy winner in WWE. Hardy takes his shirt off before the hot tag and his ribs are tapes because of Money in the Bank. Or he’s fat. Hardy gets a visual three count after the swinging DDT, but Rhodes distracts the referee. Hardy accidentally punches Christian. Still gets the side effect on Rhodes. McIntyre boots Hardy in the face for three.

-Winner (s)/Rating: Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes/**

-Hardy and Christian have an uneasy handshake. I’m assuming Hardy and Christian are going to start a feud fairly soon, but that would really just be a rehash of the stuff they’ve done 10-12 years ago.

-Jack Swagger interview. He references Eddie Guerrero for the cheapest possible heat because of the Way Rey won on Sunday. Completely uncalled for. Swagger threatens his opponent for later tonight. Good promo other than the Guerrero reference.

-Alberto Del Rio vignette. He looks like every Mexican drug dealer in every mediocre action of the last ten years. Still not sure what the hell his gimmick is supposed to be.

-Layla and Michelle McCool are boozing it up. I remember when they were called The Beautiful People and were over. They give each other jewelry. Teddy Long walks in on this lesbian moment and announces Layla will face Tiffany next week. I’m excited to review that. And by excited I mean dreading.

-Kofi Kingston is receiving medical attention after everything that went down at Money in the Bank.

-Kofi Kingston (Intercontinental Champion)(w/Michael McGuillicuty) vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero)

Kofi is wearing red and yellow brother. These are two guys WWE pushed for about a week in the fall last year but gave up on. Now they’re both basically in the same spot. Ziggler was supposed to win the I-C title about three different times but never did. Decent match develops. McGuillicuty is tossed by Guerrero as he tries to help Kofi back in the ring. Ziggler controls most of the match and works over the injured neck of Kingston. At least the psychology makes sense. Kofi goes crazy on Ziggler with a number of shots. Clothesline, boom drop, trouble in… no. Ziggler ducks and sends Kofi outside. Guerrero grabs the leg. Zig-zag. Ziggler applies a sleeper on Kingston and gets the win. Considering the complete lack of build-up, that was a blah ending. I’m assuming Ziggler is going to be challenging for the Intercontinental championship. Maybe he’ll even win this time.

-Winner (s)/Rating: Dolph Ziggler/**1/4

-An okay match that is at least leading to something.

-Big Show is a happy and jolly man walking to the ring.

-Big Show vs. The Masked Man (w/ Straight Edge Society)

Having C.M. Punk be unmasked for free on television with no build was amongst the dumbest things I’ve seen in wrestling this year. Can’t really say the dumbest considering TNA’s continued existence. Punk, Gallows, and Serena are all at ringside. For some reason, the guy under the hood is wrestling Show despite having never wrestled in WWE before, and he’s never even been mentioned as a wrestler. Show simply unmasks the S.E.S member, puts the mask on himself, and punches Joey Mercury (the worst kept secret in history) in the face. He of course gets the three count. What a farce.

-Winner (s)/Rating: Big Show/DUD

This is Lesson 101 on how to kill the heat of a feel group. Big Show has pretty much squashed through every member of the Straight Edge Society.

-Cody Rhodes provides some grooming tips. I didn’t think it was possible for them to bring down Rhodes any lower than with how poorly the break-up of Legacy was handled. Boy, was I wrong. If they’re trying to make Rhodes the gayest character ever, they’re doing a fantastic job. If they want him to be a serious wrestler, they’re failing miserably.

-Raw Rebound. Read the review if you want to know what happened.

-Rey Mysterio interview. He’s very yellow. Nothing worth mentioning is said. He just wants to be world champion again.

-Alberto Del Rio, our resident drug cartel leader, takes pride in himself. Then why the hell did you sign with WWE? That’s one way to insure you have no pride at some point down the road. He also loves himself. Isn’t this awfully similar to Cody Rhodes’ gimmick. Considering he speaks Spanish, does anyone want to bet he feuds with Rey Mysterio within six months? And since he’s a new superstar, shouldn’t he have to earn his stripes on NXT? Why introduce new people at all with NXT going on?

-2-out-of-3 Falls-Number One Contender’s Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger

Gotta love how Mysterio is basically limping and selling an ankle injury, but he’s still probably going to beat Jack Swagger. I guess Swagger has been elevated somewhat from wrestling Santino at the beginning of the year, but his world title reign was as poorly booked as any title reign I’ve seen in years. Swagger tries to use his power, but Mysterio kicks at the legs. He hits a hurancanrana and dropkicks Swagger on the apron. Mysterio at least continues selling the ankle throughout. After a commercial break, Swagger is in control. He doesn’t focus all that much on the ankle, which is an appalling lack of ring awareness. Finally he hits a leg DDT. Mysterio with a comeback that Swagger counters into a wheelbarrow slam. Ankle lock but Mysterio reaches the ropes. Referee counts to five, and Swagger is disqualified. What a joke. Commercial break. Mysterio climbs back in the ring. Swagger goes shoulder first into the post. Mysertio to the top. Hurancanrana. 619 is turned into the ankle lock again. Mysterio taps away the second fall. I’m stunned Rey Rey didn’t win two straight falls. Swagger rams Mysterio’s back on the outside of the ring. Two splashes off the second rope only get two. He goes for a third and eats two boots from Rey Rey. Series of counters leads to Rey getting a flash pin for three.

-Winner (s)/Rating: Rey Mysterio/**1/2

-This wasn’t even close to matching the quality of their match at Money in the Bank match. This made Swagger look horribly incompetent and like a complete geek. To compound this crappy booking, Kane comes out and chokeslams Swagger. Kane doesn’t attack Mysterio but instead raises his hand… until he decides to come back and go for a chokeslam. Rey Rey counters out of it and gets a 619. He makes a B-line for the exit.

Final Thoughts: The one positive about the show is it set up for Summerslam well. Ziggler defeating Kingston certainly will lead to an I-C title match. Rey Rey will be wrestling Kane. This means we’ve got three main events set up for Summerslam for sure with a couple mid-card matches one could logically see being booked. This was a fairly mediocre show, and the lack of star power on Smackdown becomes more evident with each week. Also, burying guys like Punk and Swagger doesn’t do themselves any favors either.

So tonights a big night for WWE as they host the viewers choice edition of Monday Night Raw during the next three hours. It would be not only one of the best nights of Raw, but also one of the best endings of a Raw episode in years. So lets get this started as tonight Chris is taking over the Raw Reviews.

Opening up the night is General Managers from both Raw and Smackdown! in the form of Bret Hart and Teddy Long. Of course the bantering of tonights historic evening is going on until the interruption of Randy Orton. Orton demands Edge one way or another and of course Edge obliges the fans by coming out and telling everyone that he is going to finish what he started. The “Hitman” and Teddy Long offer the choices of debate, sit up contest, or an one-arm match where Edge will have one of his arms tied behind his back. Didn’t Austin do that years ago? Great segment though as it really puts both superstars over as bad asses who aren’t going to back down from anyone. Even Edge isn’t playing the chicken-shit heel and is prepared to fight mono e mono. Of course the night has to continue and we have The Big Show come to the ring for his match against his former tag partner Chris Jericho where the fans are going to pick the stipulation of course from WWE.com. Hey at least there are smart phones out there now that can surf the web while you’re at an event. So we have the first match of the night:

Chris Jericho vs Big Show in a Bodyslam Challenge
The Big Show knows he’s gonna have fun with this so we have Big Show opening his arms in allowance to let Jericho try, but Jericho being the ass he is has to go and slap the Big Show. Head-butts and chest chops fly in retaliation from the Big Show but Jericho finds a way to reverse the situation in an attempt to body slam the Big Show. Hey so far both talents have found a way to make this match entertaining and that is what counts. The end of the match comes as Chris Jericho attempts a cross body press but the Big Show catches him and body slams him down winning the first end of the match. Of course not to disappoint the fans he makes Jericho tap to a modified camel clutch and then throws him over the top rope to show he could have beaten Jericho under any stipulation.

The Unified Tag Team Championships are on the line as the fans get to choose who the Hart Dynasty fight against, The Uso’s, The Dudebusters, or one of the worst tag teams of the decade The Great Khali & Hornswaggle. Why can Hornswaggle just be put into comedy skits and not actually have a role in any wrestling match?

This absolutely shows the stupidity of these viewers choice shows and clearly shows that most of these rigged votes because it makes no sense that a make shift team would win over a feud that has been building for the last two weeks. I’m gonna say that in some way the Uso’s are still going to make an impact tonight.

Unified Tag Team Championship match: The Hart Dynasty vs The Great Khali & Hornswaggle

Not the greatest way to start, but we have Tyson Kidd going up against Khali. I’m not sure why anyone would start that way though the quickness could have been the plan in order to chop the giant down to size. We have a tag from Khali to his pint-sized partner and of course the tadpole splash is attempted but after a miss and a slam we have Tyson Kidd pinning Hornswaggle for the win and retention.

Of course this isn’t the end and finally The Uso’s show up though after two weeks the Hart Dynasty get to show dominance and aren’t laid out for the first time. Short and sweet but it got the point across.

We get footage of the Undertaker’s memorial from Kane and really this is going to be an interesting storyline as who knows what we’re going to get from Kane as I’ve always felt that Kane can still be a force to reckon with if used correctly. This is possibly the best promo from Kane in the last five years, hell possibly 10.

Hey look at this, we finally are going to get the guest hosts out in the open as it’s going to be the A-Team movie cast. Epicness in it’s history making as a still contracted UFC fighter is making an appearance. Bradley Cooper comes out first and he schills the movie out to the fans of the WWE and really says nothing…fail.

Jerry Lawler earlier left the commentation booth and is found backstage wandering around but gets dragged in the back by Murdock and B.A. Rampage is on a WWE screen and the first job is to find King’s crown….. not that epic but still semi funny and of course the Guest Host whores.. I mean the Bella Twins have to earn their money some how by making it on screen.

Santino comes out to a semi decent pop as he’s going up against Kozlov as he’s tried to join the ranks with Vladimir and William Regal. This is going to be either an arm wrestling match, a dance off, or a match. Of course a Brian Gerwertz classic as this is going to be a dance-off.

Santino Morella vs Kozlov in a Dace Off
Santino’s strength shows in his promo ability but this is of course going to be a great waste of time, but hey for three hours you gotta give something entertaining. Santino does almost every bad stereotypical dance style in existence, but soon Kozlov is going to do something horrible. He speaks. Holy crap he’s doing the Robot and a decent Moonwalk, but of course he has to bring back horrible memories of Dude Love and Scotty 2 Hotty. God damn that was more awesome than it should have been, of course the ending dance moves and head butt are probably being YouTubed right now.

It’s going to be a Divas specialty match as we could have 6 on 6, a battle royal, or champion vs champion.

Diva Battle Royal
Do you really want me to do commentary for this? I didn’t think so and if you did… damn you. We basically have the Divas all fighting over and doing basic pushing and shoving. Tiffany is eliminated by the co-Womens champs… how do they both…nevermind. Kelly Kelly is gone next. Gail Kim is gone. Bella Twins next and we are down to the wire. Lay-Cool is eliminated but that leaves us with Eve vs Jillian Hall and Maryse. Eve is quickly dumped out and as Jillian tries to celebrate with Maryse, she gets whats coming as Maryse dumps her out. You can see Maryse being pushed against Eve very soon.

We get the announcement that Edge vs Orton is going to be the One-arm tied behind his back match. But we get Sheamus walking back stage but he gets confronted by Kane about Undertaker. Sheamus shrugs it off stating that if he did such a great thing he would have sung highly about it. Sheamus is going to face either Evan Bourne, Mark Henry, or Kane.

Sheamus vs Kane
This is something that I can actually say I’m looking forward to as I am a fan of two big guys who can tell a story in the ring. This is going to be a brawl and what else would you expect? Kane is dominating the match for the first few minutes until he tries to go for his top rope clothesline. Sheamus though gets huge top rope body slam on Kane for a two count. Second times must be a charm though as Kane is able to get his top rope clothesline the second time. Sheamus counters the chokeslam in a very decent fashion and almost hits his big boot but then gets thrown over the top rope. I, as well as other insiders have pretty high hopes for Sheamus and really see the potential that he brings despite some of the unwarranted hatred from a majority of the internet crowd. Sheamus loses via a count out but really this didn’t make him look weak but at the same time made this budding inter-brand feud seemingly interesting for future bookings. Not to say that the Undertaker’s disappearance is a mystery to those of us online, but hey it can definitely provide some entertainment especially for Kane.

We get to vote on Cena’s opponent also as we get to pick between Swagger, Rey Mysterio, or CM Punk. Intriguing to say the least as I can see all three of those men having a decent match with the champ. Wade Barrett gets his cameo interview for Raw, and as we reported on ProWrestlingPonderings.com Facebook page earlier that we can expect to see him on Raw with his mentor Chris Jericho. Of course this could just be good foreshadowing to what would happen.

We then get to see Ted DiBiase Jr. with Virgil, but we get the typical skit that we had to expect was coming. But hey seeing Virgil face to face with Rampage was well worth it. It of course turned out to be I.R.S., yes Irwin R. Scyhster who confiscated the crown. Why couldn’t Ted Sr. be in attendance?

U.S. Champion R. Truth & John Morrison vs. The Miz and Zack Ryder
The main story here is the building of The Miz vs R. Truth where in some odd fashion R. Truth seems to be getting the larger push than the usual suspect of John Morrison. Of course, as is reported on many sites, McMahon is high on R. Truth and it I can’t say that R. Truth doesn’t at least get a decent pop on house shows and during his TV appearances. The pairing of Zack and Miz is also pretty awesome, no pun intended, as the character parallels are obvious. This is a great tag of mid-card talent that showcased all of their skills. It’s exactly what WWE needs to build their mid card talents into upper-mid card superstars. Hell I wouldn’t mind seeing all four of these men in a Fatal Four Way at the PPV for the United States title. It’s a shame that Dolph Ziggler fell off the radar, though this rebuilding of the sleeper hold as a finisher is growing on me. Great back and forth match that ends with Miz and Zack Ryder getting the win over R. Truth and Morrison. Good match that held the crowd and didn’t make anyone look weak and allowed them to schill the NXT Season 2 which I still have yet to watch…grah I’m behind.

We see Edge and Bret Hart in the back and of course Kane has to accuse Bret… yes the lethal Bret Hart would have been able to take out ‘Taker… still a fun little skit that did touch some nerves obviously when Kane mentioned that the legacy of the Undertaker might challenge that of Bret’s.

Edge vs Randy Orton in an arm-tied-behind-back Match
The build to this was decent and it really does put over that Randy is going to have that “Stone Cold” aura where he still has heel tendencies but is going to be the people’s choice. Can WWE build a better tweener than Russo? I think so. Of course Edge had to find a way to get a no-contest but that just made the anticipation for when Orton has full use of his arm even more. On a side-bar note, has anyone else noticed that Orton hasn’t used wrist tape since he became a tweener? Had this been the end of Raw, it still would have been a so far entertaining show that really didn’t have a lot to suffer through.

For the first time we see the WWE Champion John Cena and we get another A-Team skit. Mean Gene, as Rampage tweeted, is a PIMP when it comes to the interview unlike Josh Matthews, who is just a scary stalker.

Drew McIntyre vs Matt Hardy
So we see this feud come to fruition on Raw which isn’t so bad seeing as how it wasn’t really going anywhere on Smackdown!. The returning Matt Hardy comes out to the ring to what sounded like one of the louder reactions of the night. This guy really needs to channel those Version 1 promo abilities as Matt Hardy hasn’t impressed me ever when he’s a face. But I do have some hopes for Drew as well as I have watched him in Irish Whip Wrestling, though the weak argument that Matt is on Raw now and thus isn’t suspended is just stupid. Does this mean he’s a Raw superstar? Or can Teddy Long actually un-suspend him? Whatever it is thank god Matt isn’t in those horrendous purple key tights. What was that crap? Decent match though despite it’s quickness as it did provide something to the feud as Matt legitimately acted like he was pissed at Drew instead of just going for the win and being satisfied with that. Did he just eat some of Drew’s hair? WTF moment of the week for me so far.

B.A. Boracas has been captured and it’s Ted Jr with I.R.S. and Virgil. Wow this is going to get dumb real fast. Dana probably is laughing his ass off though seeing as how it clearly shows the ridiculousness…entertainment part of the WWE. Smart move on WWE though to not capitolize on making it a UFC vs WWE issue. Roddy Piper on Raw though is always a good thing and no doubt this is going to blow up in Teddy’s face. Dusty Rhodes and Mean Gene to the rescue? Wow. Well it’s always fun to see the legends involved and this was meant to be a feel good moment. Spinebuster by Rampage Jackson! If this man wanted to be a wrestler, I’m damn sure he’d have money written all over him.

WWE Champion John Cena vs CM Punk
The leader of the Straight Edge Society CM Punk is once again going to face John Cena, let’s hope it turns out better than his past outings with the WWE Champion on Raw. This was a good match with some good sequences for both Punk and Cena. I’ll give credit where it’s due in that Cena may not be a technical marvel but what he does have he uses well and can definitely tell a story in the ring which for many wrestling fans can sometimes be deemed more important than how many suplex variations a talent knows. Punk deserves half the credit as well as he has proven throughout his career that he can have a good match with almost anyone, no matter what. Is it just me or did we actually see a faster paced style from John Cena and CM Punk tonight than what we’re used to seeing? Good back and forth action with Punk trying to wear down Cena’s strength while we saw more high impact moves from Cena. Both went for submissions, but it would be hard pressed to say that Cena didn’t do more damage per hit than Punk which is the way it should be. I just don’t understand when a heel does flashy crowd pleasing moves.. it just shouldn’t happen. That’s heel 101 as far as I’m concerned and you can tell that Punk knows how to work both heel and face very well… though Wade Battett and the rest of the NXT wrestlers came out to invade the show boat promotion of the WWE. All the season 1 NXT rookies, including everyone’s favorite Daniel Bryan, have come to invade the WWE! This is what we’ve been waiting for out of the WWE and this is definitely going to take them to the next level. This by far has been one of the best endings to not only Raw but a wrestling show period. I’m as excited for this as I was when the Age of the Fall first came out at Ring of Honor’s Man Up PPV. This is just a plain win for all the talents of WWE and everyone. It was great to see them actually seem renegade as they attacked everyone from Lawler, to the ref, to Striker, to even the ring announce crew. Justin RRrrrrrrRoberts just got decked…win. The WWE has officially been invaded and hopefully they will do more with this than they did that horrendous WCW Invasion..sorry I had to bring that up. I hope you all enjoyed this review and be sure you listen to the podcast that was posted on Monday following this episode.

Be sure to check out my Strikes & Bumps ROH Columns every Sunday as well and do leave me some feedback.

-We open the DVD with a video package showcasing John Morrison’s best moves in WWE. All these various nicknames make him sounds so hokey. He’s a great athlete though; some would say he might be the next Shawn Michaels. Morrison is the host of this DVD, and he’s on a California beach. It’s where he grew. This segues to…

-ECW Championship: John Morrison (champion) vs. C.M. Punk (ECW)(September 4, 2007)

Yeah, I don’t get it either. Least this is an awesome match. This was back when I HATED Morrison because all he did was beat C.M. Punk, who’s pretty much my favorite wrestlers in WWE these days. This is Punk’s last chance to be ECW champion. Basic start while the crowd chants for Punk. Music to my ears. Punk with a hip toss and into an armbar. Morrison with an uppercut. Punk regains control as he dropkicks Morrison off the second rope. Slam and a legdrop get an early two count. Series of kicks and chops. Vertical suplex. Morrison regains control and tries a powerbomb from the apron to the floor. Punk hits a springboard splash onto the outside. Punk rolls Morrison up after a commercial break. He tries the knee in the corner, but Morrison rams his head into the mat. Morrison hits a springboard dropkick and Punk crumples to the floor. Chinlock by Morrison. Knee to the gut as Punk was about headbutt . Roll-up by Punk gets two. Running knee by Morrison gets two.  Sleeper by Morrison. Punk tries to escape, but gets slammed down. Morrison climbs to the top, but Punk superplexes him. Quite the noise. Kick to the gut and series of right hands. Punk with clotheslines and a leg lariat. 1-2-NO!  Running high knee in the corner. Bulldog. 1-2-NO! Welcome to Chicago try, but Morrison gets a pele kick. He sets up for the Starship Pain and gets it. 1-2-NOO! Neckbreaker but it’s GTS time. Morrison rolls Punk up and grabs the ropes. Referee notices and stops the count. Punk gets a roll-up for two. Enziguri. Punk with a blind charge that misses. Morrison misses a flying kick. GO 2 SLEEP!!!!! 1-2-3!!!!

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW ECW Champion-C.M. Punk/12:30 shown/***1/2

-I’ve got a personal bias toward this match for obvious reasons. This is very good all things considered. Both guys actually came out looking better. I think this was the first sign Mr. Morrison could be something special.

-Morrison talks about his days with The Miz and more specifically, “The Dirt Sheet.” We see highlights of this internet sensation. This was a pretty awesome show. Wish they could have gotten more time as a team.  I think this was a far better way to showcase Morrison’s personality than the stupid promos Morrison cuts on Smackdown these days.

-The Miz and John Morrison vs. D-Generation X (RAW)(November 3, 2008)

Miz and Morrison had been mocking Triple H and HBK in recent weeks, meaning this won’t end well. This was also the night before the presidential election of 2008. Match starts during a commercial break. Michaels and Miz tag in and Michaels takes control. Flying forearm. Atomic drop. Flying elbow. Basically the usual. Tune up the band. Morrison interferes, but Michaels fights him off. This does give time for Miz to clothesline Michaels. Heat segment on HBK. Enziguri leads to the hot tag as Triple H comes in punching. High knee on Morrison and he goes after Miz too. Facebuster on Morrison. Spinebuster on Miz, who prevents the pedigree. Chuck kick by Morrison. Michaels breaks up the three count. Morrison kips up ala HBK and tunes up the band. SUPERKICK! Miz tags in, and they tell the crowd to suck it. Well, that’ sjust dumb. Why not cover Triple H? Miz in the pedigree position. That fails. Morrison gets sent out.  Superkick by HBK leads to a pedigree and the win for D-X.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: D-Generation X/6:38 shown/*1/2

-Of all the Miz and Morrison tag team matches, did they really have to show this one? It’s not all that good, and we see Morrison (or in this case his team) do the job.

-Morrison talks about enjoying his time with the “WWE universe.” He answers a bunch of questions about alternative occupations, what it was that made him want to be a WWE superstar,  his ideas for ring gear, where his nicknames came from, where the palace of wisdom is located, if they serve chocolate at the palace of wisdom, what other things he can do in slow motion, what Morrison does to attract women, if someone can shred cheese on his abs, and if he was going to ever be the world champion. This came off heavily scripted and lame.

-John Morrison vs. Evan Bourne (ECW)(April 14, 2009)

I’m certainly not going to complain about Evan Bourne being on any DVD. Mat wrestling to start. Shoulder tackle takes Bourne down. Bourne comes back with an armdrag and he turns into an armbar. Morrison misses a dropkick from the second rope and almost gets pinned. Bourne gets tossed neck first into the middle rope. Euroean uppercut. Bourne comes with a flurry. Morrison stops him, but Bourne hits a leg lariat. Bourne kicks Morrison in the corner. Blind charge in the corner leads to a palm strike by Bourne. Leg sweep by Morrison. Running knee and Bourne falls to the floor. Back in the ring where Morrison works Bourne’s back and neck over. Bourne escapes with a headscissors. Morrison drifts to the outside. Bourne comes off the ropes but gets dropkicked in the leg. After a commercial break, Morrison is seen chinlocking Bourne. Bourne with a series of kicks to the leg. High sends him back down. Morrison back to work. Strikes by Bourne, but Morrison applies an armbar. He tweeks it and almost gets a three count. Chickenwing takes Bourne down.  Bourne finally escapes and hits back elbow. Kick to the gut and lariat. Hurancanrana and a dropkick leads to a one more kick to the midsection.  Morrison goes to the top, but Bourne palm strikes him. Bourne leaps and gets a hurcancanrana on Morrison off the top rope. Morrison stun guns Bourne, and they exchange roll-ups. Bourne crossbodies Morrison over the top rope. Bourne leaps off with two knees to the face. 1-2-NO! Two kicks to the chest, but Morrison reverses. Neckbreaker try but Bourne comes back with a knee. To the top for a shooting star press. Pele kick by Morrison. Moonlight drive neckbreaker gets three in a great match.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: John Morrison/13:33 shown/***3/4

-This is like the best match in the history of the ECW television program that aired on SyFy. Very good work from both men. What a different feeling this match had too.

- John Morrison showcases some of his work-out routine. He does some cool –looking stuff that I couldn’t do in my dreams No jokes here.

-Non-title match: John Morrison vs. Chris Jericho (Intercontinental champion)(WWE Superstars)(June 11, 2009)

I believe this is the first match from the new version of WWE Superstars to make the cut on a WWE DVD. Jericho stalls by walking outside the ring. Headlock by Jericho and he wants the referee to ask Morrison if he wants to give up. Awesome moment there. Armdrag into the armbar. Forearms and a slap to the back of the head. Morrison fires back. Leg lariat into another armdrag. Jericho regains the advantage briefly but a blind charge leads him into the boot of Morrison. Clothesline over the top and a screwdriver dive to the outside. Jericho comes back by knocking Morrison off the ropes. Commercial break and Jericho controls the entire way. Morrison is knocked to the floor while selling the knee. Back suplex and a chinlock by the I-C champion. Backbreaker and a Russian legsweep get a two count for Morrison. Running enziguri quickly gets Jericho back on top. Morrison quickens the pace. Series of reversals and Morrison hits a twisting DDT. Blind charge and Jericho comes with a bulldog. Lionsault misses. Chuck kick, a move named after Chuck Morris. 1-2-NO! Jericho is swatted off a codebreaker try. Running knee. Morrison gets his legs tangled up and almost gets put in the Walls of Jerichio. Starship pain attempt, but he reverses another Walls of Jericho attempt into a roll-up. Jericho then with a roll-up of his own. He holds the tights and gets the three.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Chris Jericho/10:25/***

-Morrison sure is doing a lot of jobs on his own DVD. I can see these two having some excellent matches on Pay-Per-View. This felt more like a prologue. Really enjoyed the match since Jericho can do no wrong at this person.

-John Morrison does some cool-looking and dangerous exercising in various arenas across the country. His athleticism is something no other WWE star can touch, and that’s something which no one can take away. I can rip Morrison for a lot of his goofy talking, but he’s an intense guy when it comes to working out.

-John Morrison vs. Edge (WWE Smackdown)(June 19, 2009)

Edge cuts a promo burying Morrison beforehand. What a lovely way to put over the man you’re trying to showcase on his own DVD. Morrison cuts a promo that’s nowhere near as good as Edge’s. Basic to start as neither man gains an advantage. Morrison does get an grab an elbow. Edge pulls the hair. Morrison with an armdrag and an armbar. Edge uses a number of shortcuts and takes control on Morrison. Nothing too fancy as Morrison takes quite the beating for a few minutes. Morrison kicks Edge on a blind charge. Clothesline and a dropkick gets two. Morrison climbs to the top, but Edge rams him abdomen first on the top turnbuckle. Morrison flails all the way to the ground. Commercial break and we come back with Edge once again methodically working Morrison over. Morrison with rights. Leg lariat off the ropes but his ribs are injured to follow up. Backbreaker/flatliner combo. Edge kicks Morrison but misses a dropkick. Running knee gets two for Morrison. Edge with a huge boot. Edge climbs to the top but gets pele kicked to the floor. This time, Morrison is able to follow up. Morrison beats Edge up out on the floor for a brief time before going back into the ring. Morrison goes for chuck kick, but Edge applies… a sharpshooter? Well, that’s interesting. Morrison reaches the ropes. Russian legsweep by Morrison. Set-up for startship pain, but Edge crotches him on the top rope. Morrison is hung in the tree of Joey Lawrence. He manages to get a roll-up, but Edge throws him off into the middle post shoulder first. Edge’s spear attempt misses. Chuck kick gets a long two count. Moonlight drive neckbreaker is turned into an Edgecution. 1-2-NO! Morrison twisting DDT for two. Starship pain misses. Uh oh. SPEAR! 1-2-3!

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Edge/14:19 shown/***1/4

-Another good match but also match with Morrison losing. I would have appreciated seeing some of Morrison’s other title wins. He did win the Intercontinental championship a couple years ago and had some amazing matches with Jeff Hardy.

-Highlight package of Morrison’s coolest looking moves while he describes what they do. He makes sure to tell the kids not to try his maneuvers at home. Would be nice if these moves were helping win bigger matches. I like Evan Bourne, but beating him doesn’t mean a great deal right now.

-Non-title match: John Morrison vs. C.M. Punk (World Heavyweight Champion)(WWE Smackdown)(June 26, 2009)

Punk wasn’t a full heel at this point, but he was getting close. Regardless, he’s awesome and I miss him being world heavyweight champion. Code of honor is followed for this match. Feeling out process. Punk applies a headscissors. Morrison switches the momentum with an armbar. Series of covers by both men. Knee lift. Series of them by Punk. Counter of another kick by Morrison as he goes with a kick of his own to the leg. Chinlock as Morrison uses Punk’s own arms to choke him. Punk switches it up. Neckbreaker by Morrison. Ram into the corner but Morrison misses the chuck kick. Powerslam gets two for Punk. Series of kicks by Punk. Leg lariat and a running knee in the corner. Bulldog gets a two. He calls for Go 2 Sleep now. Morrison fights it off. German suplex by Punk gets two. Commercial break. Feel like I’ve written that a lot tonight. Headscissors applied by Punk, and he elbows Morrison in the head. Elbow to the back of Punk. Hard clothesline takes Morrison down again. Figuere four on the head. Morrison reaches the ropes. Punk kicks his way out and ends up at ringside. Morrison kicks Punk and moonsaults his opponent. Two count in the ring. Forearm exchange. Clothesline by Morrison. Dropkick. Leg lariat. 1-2-NO! Punk turns a running knee by Morrison into a half crab. Morrison jumps from outside to inside and almost gets put to sleep. Flying chuck. 1-2-NO!  Starship pain setup. Punk pushes him down and hits a gordbuster off the top. After getting a two count, Punk tries another Go 2 Sleep. Series of roll-ups. Morrison gets one more as he hooks the shoulders and gets  the upset win.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: John Morrison/12:50 shown/***1/4

-Really good match and it was nice to see Morrison actually win a match. Also would have been nice if this victory had gone anywhere. Morrison would have to wait more than a month to actually receive a world title match, but he wouldn’t even receive it on Pay-Per-View.

-John Morrison goes to see how surfboards are made, like a better-looking Mr. Rogers.

-World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Hardy (champion) vs. John Morrison (WWE Smackdown)(July 31, 2009)

Feel like I’ve seen Hardy on television recently. Not sure where. Might have been some horrible dream I had on Monday night. These two start out slow, so this match is getting some time at least.  Hardy quickens the pace up with a roll-up for two. Morrison responds with a clothesline. Back and forth with Hardy in control. Legdrop to the abdomen blocked. Morrison slingshots Hardy over the top rope, to the floor. Morrison fakes a dive, kicks Hardy, and springboard moonsaults the champion. Commercial break. Chinlock from Morrison after they come back from break. Hardy goes for a twist of fate but it almost the victim of a jack knife pin. Hot shot off the rop. Morrison misses starship pain. Hardy dodges and gets a whisper in the wind. Snapmare into a resthold.  Hardy gets a legdrop from the second rope for two. Chinlock. Morrison judo throws him and sells the neck. Backbreaker and Russian legsweep by Morrison. Standing shooting star press gets two. Morrison with 10 punches in the corner. Neckbreaker gets two. The two men punch each other while on the apron. They continue batting to the top rope. Both men spill to the outside. Come back after another commercial break with Morrison punching away. Hardy gets a clothesline. Another legdrop to the midsection, followed by a dropkick. To the outside again where Hardy sends Morrison into the barricade. Hardy uses the stairs as leverage to fly into Morrison. Back inside, the champion gets two. Twist of Fate countered. He tries another whisper in the wind but fails. Running knee by Morrison gets two. Chuck kick misses. Leg lariat does not. Hardy gets crotches on the top rope. Morrison chuck kick finally. Another two count. Moonlight neckbreaker doesn’t work. Hardy hits a front forward suplex. To the top rope. Swanton bomb hits. 1-2-NO! Hardy goes for a double stomp in the corner. Morrison kicks away and hits… no, he doesn’t hit starship pain. Twist of fate. Swanton hits again.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Jeff Hardy/14:49/***1/2

-The match quality of this DVD is certainly not in question as there have been a number of good matches showcasing Morrison at his best. Hardy was at his peak of popularity and in-ring prowess. This was also during a period when Smackdown was at it’s best as Hardy feuded with Punk. Rey Mysterio feuded with Chris Jericho, and John Morrison continued his rise.

-John Morrison goes surfs up dude.

-WWE Intercontinental Championship: Rey Mysterio (champion) vs. John Morrison (WWE Smackdown)(September 4, 2009)

This was just before Rey Mysterio’s drug suspension took hold. Since Mysterio was the I-C champion, he had to lose the belt immediately. He chose John Morrison, and he certainly did everything in this match to make you miss him even before he went on “vacation.” This is definitely the best match of Morrison’s career and the biggest victory to boot. Morrison seemed to be missing that elusive babyface victory because while he’d have some tremendous individual matches, he’d lose a lot. This DVD is a perfect example of this as the DVD shows losses to Edge, Chris Jericho, and Jeff Hardy. Beating Punk was nice, but he’d done that before. Not to mention, it was a non-title match.  Some amazing athleticism from these two. Very cool moves from these guys. Hope these two can have another match in the near future. I’m actually stunned WWE hasn’t had these two wrestle a return match.  After one of the longest and best free television matches in 2009, Morrison hits starship pain for the win and the championship. Fantastic.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW Intercontinental champion- John Morrison/18:21/****1/4

-The last match on this DVD was at least a big victory for Morrison as he put a top level performer in one of the best matches of his career. I’ve seen this match three times now and find new reasons to love it.

-Morrison thanks us for going on a journey through his life. What? I saw a couple segments about his workout and surfing. I learned nothing about his life. In fact, the first two years of his career were completely ignored.

-Bonus promo with John Morrison cutting a promo as ECW champion. He’d been Johnny Nitro for a couple years before, and this was his first official show as John Morrison. I completely forgot that two minute period when had a press agent named Paul McBride. Does anyone actually remember this?  He’s certainly no Melina. CM Punk comes out, and they exchange words. Morrison with a cheap shot. He beats him down. Segment over. Makes sense why it was included I guess

Final Thoughts: I guess a big question comes to mind with this release. What’s the point. I can see a few years from now, if Morrison finally starts getting a maintained push, giving him a two or three disk set that showcases various matches from his career. This didn’t seem all that useful  since a lot of the matches show Morrison losing, and the segments between the matches don’t give us a whole lot of insight. In particular, the segment where he answered questions was lame.

There are still pluses to the DVD. All of the matches are very good, and you will have a hard time finding them on another DVD. The negative is that Morrison still hasn’t that break-out match as a babyface singles wrestler on Pay-Per-View. I’d recommend getting this down the road for ten bucks or something like that. Otherwise, save your money for the possible three disk set down the road.

Todd Grisham and Matt Striker introduce the show and Grisham reminds us we are three weeks away from WrestleMania 26.  Tonight, Edge will take on The Big Show in the Main Event, and the 2010 Royal Rumble Winner is on his way down to the ring.  They show us highlights of Edge facing The Miz one week ago and hear the commentators tell us about Edge surviving 29 other Superstars to win the Rumble.  Personally, I feel this is misleading.  Edge was one of the last men in the ring at the Rumble and most of those 29 stars were already eliminated.  Yet, they make this claim year in and year out.  Only a few men can actually claim to have outlasted 29 men to win the Royal Rumble, those who started in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.  Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, and sadly Vince McMahon can claim this distinction.  I understand why the WWE talks about the Royal Rumble Winners this way, but, still, I personally find it misleading.  Anyway, I digress, there’s a show to review.

Edge talks about being concerned for his Mania opponent, Chris Jericho, because Chris has been saying the same things over and over for the last couple of weeks, yet Jericho continues to get Speared by Edge, emphasis on the word Speared.  Edge says the same thing will continue to happen, week after week, until WrestleMania.  Edge and the crowd start chanting “Spear, Spear, Spear” until one half of the Unified Tag Team Champions and Edge’s opponent for the night, The Big Show hits the arena.  Show is coming off another successful title defense on Monday, defeating DX.  He’s greeted by Edge who reminds us that Miz got speared last week and the Big Show is going to get speared. But Show responds that Edge isn’t the only reason he’s here because he finds out who ShoMiz’s opponents will be at WrestleMania.  Big Show talks about what he’s going to do when he gets his hands on Edge and Edge asked if he’s going to get eaten.  Well, Show says he eats pieces of crap like Edge for breakfast and Edge channels Happy Gilmore.  The Rated R Superstar gets in Show’s face and threatens a spear.  Show charges and the crafty Edge pulls the rope down, dumping Big Show out of the ring.

Backstage Teddy Long is in his office when Drew McIntyre comes in.  Vince McMahon has expunged McIntyre’s loss to Kane last week, so the Intercontinental Champion is still undefeated.  Drew is therefore entered into another Qualifying Match against Matt Hardy, which is next.  McIntyre offers Teddy a handshake as a thank you and Long simply walks away.

Money in the Bank Qualifier
Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Matt Hardy

The Intercontinental Champion is officially announced as “The Undefeated Drew McIntyre” so I guess thanks to the power of the Chairman, a loss no longer matters.  If a loss doesn’t matter, then you could further theorize that a match doesn’t matter.  And you could even then go on to say that if there is no need for matches, there is no need for the WWE.  But, World Wrestling Entertainment presses on, and so will I as Matt Hardy comes to the ring with Justin Gabriel, his NXT Rookie.  McIntyre looks to win this early, going on the offensive as soon as the bell rings.  The fans are chanting for some Mattitude, though, and it fires up Version 1.  They take their fight outside the ring where Hardy gets slammed chest first into the barricade.  Drew McIntyre rolls in the ring looking for a possible count out.  We get a commercial and come back to learn that Drew has been focusing on Hardy’s back as the fans continue to chant for the Hardy brother.  McIntyre hits a fantastic Northern Lights Suplex with a bridge, but can’t get the pinfall.  The Intercontinental Champion looks to be in clear control of the match, but Hardy fights him off in the corner and comes off the top with an elbow, following it up with a Twist of Faint attempt, but it’s reversed.  Drew turns it into a Future Shock DDT attempt, but that is countered.  Drew puts Hardy to the mat and bridges over, but Matt kicks out and reverses it into a roll up that nets Matt Hardy the win and a spot in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match.  He also gives Drew McIntyre his second loss in as many….wait…no…officially this is his first official loss.  Thank you Todd Grisham for saying “Drew McIntyre loses again for the first time.”  Drew, in frustration, throws the cover off the announce table while the fans tell him how they feel.  He gets in Strikers face telling him, and those who can hear Drew through Striker’s microphone, that he WILL be at Wrestlemania.

Rating:  **

Winner:  Matt Hardy (w/Justin Gabriel)

The Money in the Bank Ladder Mach now has Christian, Shelton Benjamin, Jack Swagger, Kane, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, and MVP.  One spot remains open for the chance to climb the ladder and get that contract for a guaranteed chance at a World Title.  Morrison is backstage with…someone…talking about his parkour a little bit.  That only makes me respect the man more, because parkour is tough.  I don’t know personally, but I’ve seen how tough it can be.  R-Truth comes in and they talk about losing their chances to be on WrestleMania and tonight is their last shot.  They look focused.  Truth has some ideas for tag team names and the two brainstorm with ideas like “Dis ‘n’ Dat,” “Black Magic and The White Shadow,” and “Rock ‘n’ Rap.”  They agree on “The Unified Tag Team Champions.”

We get a quick preview of Rey Mysterio vs. Luke Gallows before The Gold Standard Shelton Benjamin comes to the ring.  He’ll face off against fellow Money in the Bank Qualifyer, Dolph Ziggler.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Shelton Benjamin

The two men meet in the center of the ring with a headlock from Shelton.  The veteran will be competing in his 5^th Money in the Bank Ladder Match.  In the ring, Ziggler locks on a sleeper, but Shelton counters out with a jawbreaker, but the damage was enough for Dolph to get control of the match.  He works to keep Benjamin grounded and reduce his air supply.  The almost white-haired warrior is all over The Gold Standard, but Shelton twists to his feet following a monkey flip and connects with a kick to the back of Ziggler’s head.  The match then becomes much more even as both men go back and forth with an advantage.  Shelton avoids a Zig Zag and hits Paydirt leaving Dolph out on the mat.

Rating:  ** ½

Winner:  Shelton Benjamin

This was a good match between two of the better wrestlers in the WWE.  I hope that Benjamin gets pushed higher up on the card.  He deserves it.  He’s been around for a while and has the credentials and skills to be a contender.

We get a promo about Shawn Michaels “My Journey” the newest DVD focusing on Michaels, and backstage Rey is giving his daughter a Mattel action figure as Tiffany comes in to keep an eye on her while Rey Rey heads ringside for his match.  The Straight-Edge Society come out first, and our Savior, the Pastor of Purity CM Punk has a microphone.  He’s criticizing parents for letting their kids support Rey Mysterio.  Subconsciously, Punk says, the kids are just trying to fill the neglectful void their parents left.  He compares Rey to all the neglectful parents.  Punk calls everyone in attendance cowards, just like Mysterio.  Rey is not a superhero and he refuses to face Punk Man-to-Man.  Rey takes cheap shots and has stripped Punk of his chance to become a 3 time Money in the Bank winner.  Mysterio put his hands on Luke Gallows for no reason, and our Straight-Edge Savior tells Luke it wasn’t his fault and the Pastor wants his Detoxified Disciple to make Rey Mysterio pay and suffer.  Luke’s not just fighting for himself or CM Punk, but for an entire Society.

Luke Gallows (w/CM Punk & Serena) vs. Rey Mysterio

The fans pop wildly as the Ultimate Underdog makes his way down to the ring to face the Straight-Edge Soldier that is Luke Gallows.  He gives his shirt to one of the fans Punk had taunted and interacts with several others on his way to the ring.  Gallows comes out swinging, clearly overpowering Rey from the starting bell.  Rey puts on some speed and brings Gallows down with a head scissors, but Luke overpowers him again as we see CM Punk’s NXT Rookie, Darren Young watching on from backstage.  The fans want a 619, but Rey is in no position to do that or any more as Luke Gallows stomps him in the corner.  Gallows puts his head down and Rey kicks him in the face.  Luke charges in and Rey pulls the top rope down, sending his bigger opponent to the floor where Punk comes over and whispers instructions.  During a commercial break, Rey tried to mount some offence, but when the cameras return, Gallows is quickly back in control of the match.  Gallows sends Rey to the floor but does not want to win by count out, he wants to send a message to the Ultimate Underdog.  Rey, again, fights to come back but is met with a fall away slam by the big man before Luke locks in a bear hug.  Mysterio punches out of the hold, but is sent into the corner.  Gallows charges in and Rey leaps over, sending Gallows shoulder into the ring post and the masked wrestler quickens the pace, hitting a handful of springboards before Gallows overpowers him once more.  Rey manages to climb the ropes, but is met with a punch and Gallows follows it with a big splash, but Rey kicks out and locks in a submission that looks like Jimmy Jacobs End Time.  Gallows gets to the ropes and is left prone for a 619, but Serena comes onto the apron to prevent it.  Punk comes in the other side to distract Rey and Luke comes in for a powerbomb, but Rey shifts his weight and Gallows falls backwards with Mysterio on top of him for the win.

Rating:  ** ¾

Winner:  Rey Mysterio

Punk comes in the ring, but Rey slips out of the Straight-Edge Savior’s grasp, avoiding a GTS and escaping before more damage can be done.  Punk looks furious and this rivalry is only heading up.

Backstage Big Show is backstage with Chris Jericho.  Jericho is congratulating Show, but Show doesn’t think it’s sincere.  Jericho wants Show to chokeslam Edge for him and Show says he’s not doing anything for “One Way Jericho” any more.  It was always about Jericho, never about the team and Big Show is doing this for himself.

No. 1 Contenders Match for the Unified Tag Team Titles
John Morrison & R-Truth vs. Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad Gaspard) vs. The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & David Hart Smith w/Natalia)

As Truth comes to the ring, we’re shown the confrontation between R-Truth and his NXT Rookie David Otunga from this last Tuesday.  A lot is on the line in this match as three dynamically different tag teams hope to go on to WrestleMania to face The Big Show and The Miz.  Morrison starts the match with Shad Gaspard and the big man takes control.  As they toss to another commercial, Shad tags out to JTG.  Cryme Tyme team up on John Morrison before DH Smith tags himself in and hits a series of suplexes to John Morrison.  The Friday Night Delight desperately needs a tag, but finds himself in Cryme Tyme’s corner and would rather bring his partner in.  As Tyson Kidd gets the tag, Morrison does roll over to R-Truth and The Truth comes in the ring.  Morrison gets up and sends Shad and Smith to the floor, leaving the two legal men, Tyson Kidd and R-Truth, to fight in the ring.  Truth hits the Lie Detector for the win and “Truth & Wisdom,” as Matt Striker deemed them, will go on to WrestleMania.

Rating:  ** ¾

Winners:  John Morrison & R-Truth

Both men celebrate in the ring and John Morrison seems to channel Booker T with a Spinnerooni of sorts, break dancing in celebration.  After a commercial, LayCool is backstage kissing Vickie Guerrero’s ass and thanking her for helping Michelle win the Women’s Championship last week.  They present Vickie with a “Simply Flawless” tank top and I hope to GOD Vickie doesn’t wear it in public.  Beth Phoenix walks into the scene and asks when she’ll get her shot at the Women’s Championship.  Guerrero scoffs at her and claims herself as the most dominant Diva on Smackdown (gross) and Phoenix isn’t going to get her shot any time soon.  Vickie warns the Glamazon not to cross her and tells her to ask Mickie James if she needs any proof.  The Main Event is up next.

The Big Show vs. Edge

Both times Edge has come to the ring tonight, announcer Tony Chimel has sounded like he’s either got a serious man crush or is going through a 2^nd puberty.  His voice has cracked both times he’s announced the arrival of the Rated R Superstar.  That’s not relevant to the match, of course, but I thought it was kind of funny, so I wanted to share.  The No. 1 Contender to Jericho’s World Heavyweight Championship starts off using speed to avoid The Big Show at first, but Show catches him and sends a couple of head butts to Edge, taking him to the match.  Edge rolls out of the ring and uses the ropes on Show, but the big man is barely fazed and comes back on the offensive.  He taunts the Rated R Superstar, asking if Edge has any more jokes as he steps down to the floor and picks Edge up off the apron.  Edge sends him into the ring post and starts to mount some offense, but Show overpowers him again.  The World’s Largest Athlete seems to enjoy torturing Edge and Striker points out that Jericho has to be backstage enjoying it as well.  Show puts Edge in a sleeper on the mat, but Edge breaks out of it with a jawbreaker, but again Show is on the attack, grounding Edge in the corner.  Show climbs to the second rope, but the Rated R Superstar avoids the splash and starts to build some momentum.  He hits a bull dog on Show, but only gets a 2 count as the big man pushes Edge off him with authority.  Show looks for a chokeslam, but Edge turns it into a DDT and looks for a spear as Show gets to his feet.  He hits the 500lb Big Show with the spear to win the match.

Rating:  ** ½

Winner:  Edge

The fans pop loudly for the spear and the win before Jericho tries to sneak in behind Edge and hit him with the title.  Edge ducks and turns around to connect with a “spear, spear, spear, spear, spear!!”  Edge stands victorious in the ring as Jericho’s weekly spear prescription is filled.  There are two more Smackdowns until WrestleMania, and Edge looks to spear Jericho on each of them as well as The Granddaddy of them All.  The show ends with a nice show of Jericho under the Tron holding up his title with Edge on the screen raising his hands high.

This wasn’t a terrible Smackdown, but nothing monumental either.  Things look to be heating up, though, as we “Edge” closer to professional wrestling’s Super Bowl, WrestleMania.

119. Rey Mysterio defeated John “Bradshaw” Layfield to win the Intercontinental Championship(:21)(Wrestlemania 25)
Match Quality: 0/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 7/10
Total: 9/25

Analysis: A match that goes just 21 seconds can’t be called anything special. What I enjoyed were the pre and post-match promos involving JBL. He came out as the most pompous asshat ever and talked about making Wrestlemania history. He proceeds to lose in expedient fashion and then immediately retires. The historical significance comes from this being JBL’s last match (most likely) and a start of a great run for Mysterio as the Intercontinental champion. While not a long segment, it actually turned out to be one of the highlights of the show.

118. L.O.D. 2000 (Hawk and Animal) (w/Sunny) won a 15 team Battle Royal. Also in the match were two teams representing Los Boricuas (Savio Vega and Miguel Pérez, Jr., and Jose Estrada, Jr. and Jesus Castillo), The Truth Commission (Recon and Sniper), Bradshaw and Chainz, two teams from the Nation of Domination (Mark Henry and D’Lo Brown, and Faarooq and Kama Mustafa), The Quebecers (Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Ouellet), The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher), Too Much (Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher), Disciples of Apocalypse (8-Ball and Skull), Steve Blackman and Flash Funk, The Godwinns (Phineas and Henry) and The New Midnight Express (Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart) (8:19)
(Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 9/25

Analysis: Boy, it seems like it’s been forever since Wrestlemania featured a Battle Royal. By my calculations it’s been a clean decade. Anyway, this was a bit of a shocker since L.O.D. came back to generate the first big crowd from a Boston crowd. There was something special right off the bat for what was one of the biggest Wrestlemanias of all time. Weeks earlier, the legendary Legion of Doom fought in the locker room and appeared ready to split. Now they were back together to participate in the 15 team Battle Royale, which would earn the winners a shot at the tag team titles at Unforgiven a month later. They were now L.O.D 2000 with different haircuts, clothing, theme music, Sunny as their manager and a new lease on life. Hawk and Animal dominated their way to a quick victory over their old nemesis team, The Midnight Express. Although this was a Wrestlemania that tried to buck tradition in every way, tradition always found a way to creep itself back into the picture. It’s pretty historic since this was pretty much the last hurrah for L.O.D and even though the match went far too quickly to really mean anything, it was a nice way to open.

117. The Islanders (Haku and Tama) and Bobby Heenan defeated The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) and Koko B. Ware (7:30)(Wrestlemania 4)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 9/25

Analysis: This is pretty famous angle as Matilda was kidnapped and apparently it caused quite the stir with certain young fans. This felt a little too similar to the six man tag from the year before with Davis and The Hart Foundation against The Bulldogs and Tito Santana. We even get a similar ending as Koko B. Ware gets pinned by Bobby Heenan. Heenan’s outfit was pretty hilarious too with the buckles and his inability to actually use his hands. Looking at Matilda, I’m not sure I wouldn’t do the same thing. This is the last Wrestlemania appearance for Dynamite Kid. This match was a carbon copy of last year’s match except Haku and Tama are not exactly Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart.

116. The Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid in a No Disqualification match to win the WWF Championship (21:19) (Wrestllemania 13)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 3/10
Total: 9/25

Analysis: After years of putting up with garbage opponents while still managing to say so very over, The Undertaker finally wins the WWF title and gets to hold it for an extended period of time. Bret Hart also plays an interesting role in this match since he interferes at various points. Normally, I’d criticize the main event of a Wrestlemania for having any sort of interference, but with the quality of this match the way it was, his presence was appreciated. Hey, when you have one of the greatest matches in the history of the biggest annual show, why not to try to carry a match you’re not involved in? Shawn Michaels, on the other hand, had a “knee injury” and “lost his smile” so he’s out of action. He’s still in the main even since he sits with Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, and Vince McMahon at the announcing table. They created a clusterfuck that further distracted from this match. It’s been made pretty obvious since then that he was faking it so he wouldn’t have to job to Bret Hart.

Onto the match itself. Knowing that Sid officially wrestled in two Wrestlemanias and both of them were the main event kinda makes me a little ill. The Undertaker took down a trip down memory lane by wearing the outfit he wore when he came to the WWF back in 1990. The match itself is what you’d expect as I said before. Without these two having a real issue and just the way this main event came together meant a lot of the heat was taken away. Everyone pretty much admitted without saying Steve Austin against Bret Hart was the main event since they could actually go out and have a great match, not to mention having a real issue to fight over. I’m glad Taker won the championship even while having to sit through this mediocre match and deal with four announcers trying to talk over each other.

115. TAKA Michinoku defeated Aguila to retain the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (5:57) (Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 0/5
Entertainment Value: 4.5/10
Total: 9.5/25

Analysis: This was a rare chance for the light heavyweight title to even be defended. The WWF/E has never been willing to give the cruiserweights a fair chance. Even with these two talented high flyers, the Boston crowd was either recovering from the big surprise earlier or saving itself for what was expected to be a huge celebration. This match was actually pretty crowd, but there really isn’t much more to it than that.

114. Razor Ramon (w/The 1-2-3 Kid) defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett (w/The Roadie) by disqualification (13:32) (Wrestllemania 11)
Match Quality: 4.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 9.5/25

Analysis: John Turturro was talking and we couldn’t hear him. There were audio problems all over this Wrestlemania, and the WWF looked pretty bush league on this night. The audio problems continued with 1-2-3 Kid trying to cut an interview and his microphone not working. This was actually a rematch from the Royal Rumble and it was about as good. Despite these two working a whole lot in the winter of 94-95, I can’t think of them ever hitting three stars. Roadie makes his debut here. Three years later and he’s part of the most over tag team in WWF history. Don’t ever underestimate some of these wrestlers because you never know. One day, they might find a catchphrase or have a match that turns them into a star. That applies to everyone except Jeff Jarrett. In his case, all he has to do is start his own company and crown himself world champion multiple times. The fact that we don’t even get a clean finish for what should have been a blowoff match doesn’t help. Wrestlemania 11 was not exactly one of the WWF’s better efforts, and this match is proof why.

113. Matt Hardy (w/Shannon Moore) defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (5:39) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: After 19 years, the cruiserweight championship comes to the WWE. I realize the lightheavyweight championship had been defended back 1998, bu this is the cruiserweight championship title, a title made famous by Rey Mysterio Jr., Dean Malenko, and Madusa… so maybe it’s not that presitigious. This is an okay way to begin Wrestlemania 19, but you’d expect more from these two guys. That outfit Rey Mysterio wore was just plain bad if you ask me. I think a lot of people expected Mysterio to win the championship here. Instead, he got to eventually win the belt from Mysterio in his hometown as the main event of a Smackdown taping.

112. Virgil (w/Roddy Piper) defeated Ted DiBiase (7:41) (Wrestlemania 7)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: These two went onto have an epic match that got majors pops from the crowd at Madison Square Garden. Here was Virgil’s first major match in quite some time after years being Ted Dibiase’s bodyguard. Virgil had not wrestled very much over these four years, and this was just a chance for him to get out there with Dibiase and for Sensational Sherri to run out. Sherri had been with Randy Savage for the last couple years, but with Savage gone (and I’ll talk a lot more on that much much later on) Sherri would now manage The Million Dollar Man for the next few months. It was also very cool for Roddy Piper to be out there leading the charge for Virgil. Lord knows I’ve taken a few shots at Piper for being an idiot during some of these Wrestlemania, but he was perfect here. Virgil couldn’t cut a promo to save his life and really needed Piper to give him the impetus for breaking away from Ted Dibiase. This was decent, but their match at Summerslam was way better and provided a real mark-out moment. Here we had to settle for a count-out victory and Virgil returning the favor for Piper by inspiring him to get up even though he was on crutches.

111. Edge defeated Booker T (6:32) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: Wanna know about spinning your wheels booking? Here you’ve got the former WCW world champion going against another man from Toronto. It’s not these two wrestling that’s the offensive part. It’s the fact that they were feuding because Edge got a commercial in Japan for shampoo. That’s just horrible. Also, because Booker T did really bad on The Weakest Link (Remember that show?) everyone including Michael Cole of all people, were insulting his intelligence. That’s real nice. I’m amazed how Booker T remained in the WWF/E for so long considering how they treated him over the years. You can look at almost every Wrestlemania and there he is in yet another dumb ass angle or being treated like crap. Weird to see Edge acting like a babyface after spending so much time as a heel. I never thought the money would be made on Edge with him as a heel, but I guess you never really know about how things will shake down in professional wrestling.

110. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. defeated The Big Show in a No Disqualification match (11:36) (Wrestlemania 24)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: This certainly was better than it had any right to be, but no one can convince me putting Mayweather over Show was a good idea no matter in what context it was done. This whole rivalry really showed me what an ass Mayweather is, and it pretty much turned me into the biggest Oscar De La Hoya fan ever. Mayweather was that much of a jagoff. I hate boxing, but I’d be close to buying one of his fights to see someone beat him down. Too bad he had to go and retire. But the idea of giving him my money also revolts me, so I’ll just watch it at a bar or read the internet instead.

Big Show was a champ in this match to sell for Mayweather. This was also a smartly worked match too. I’ve been told Triple H really booked this match out of the abyss, so I guess props go out to him for making this spectacle far more watchable then I thought it would be. Props to the guys who took the actual bumps from Show. They may not have been actual bodyguards, but taking at bumps at the biggest show gets props from me.

109. The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man) (w/Slick) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) (8:02) (Wrestlemania 5)
Match Quality: 4.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: Akeem used to be the One Man Gang before he discovered his African roots. Slick then acquired the services of Ray Traylor and he became the Big Bossman. So these two guys form a team called themselves The Twin Towers. Twin Towers? Akeem? Someone in the WWF must have been a Houston Rockets fan. For those who don’t know, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson were the real twin towers playing for the NBA’s Houston Rockets.

The real history comes in the fact that this is the first appearance of one Shawn Michaels at a Wrestlemania. This means that next year is the 20th anniversary of Shawn Michaels’ first appearance at Wrestlemania. The WWE should mention this fact and find some way to commemorate it. It’s pretty rare for a guy to wrestle at 16 Wrestlemanias, and to be a part of Wrestlemania for 20 years is also amazing. This match was pretty good for what it was. The Rockers certainly did their best to carry those lumps known as the towers. Their selling here was top notch. This was also the first of five tag team matches at this particular Wrestlemania. 10 tag teams? You’re lucky if you have five regular teams between three brands these days. Okay match here, but sadly the best of the five tag matches.

108. Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) defeated Jake Roberts by count out to regain the Million Dollar Championship(11:50)(Wrestlemania 6)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: This feud had been building up since the previous year’s Wrestlemania when Dibiase stole Jake Roberts’ snake. Thanks to a drug suspension on Roberts, the feud was postponed and their big grudge match doesn’t come until now. And for the first time ever, Dibiase put his million dollar gold belt on the line, and he managed to retain it by nefarious means. Both men were on the outside of the ring, and thanks to Virgil’s helpful shove, The Million Dollar Man picked up the count-out victory. The match itself was perfectly acceptable wrestling with yet another crappy finish, but the idiot Canadians provided a huge distraction. I use idiot with all due respect since I’ve been to Canada and prefer many things (healthcare funded through taxes anyone?) over the United States. But there is no excuse for starting “The Wave” during a wrestling match, especially during one of this magnitude. I could provide you with a very long list of matches I would have much preferred “The Wave” in. Hell, just look at the matches that came before this one. I really don’t like “The Wave” since it has nothing to do with the sporting event you’re watching and is a major distraction. Now that I got that rant out of the way we can move onto the next match.

107. Demolition (Ax and Smash) defeated The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) (w/Bobby Heenan) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (9:30)(Wrestlemania 6)
Match Quality: 2/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: For some reason, these backstage segments came off really fake and scripted. The Colossal Connection and Demolition cut about the corniest promos of all time. Bad enough I have to watch this match, but letting them cut these crappy ass interviews just made both tag teams look bad. This is pretty historic since Demolition became the first tag team to win the belts three times. This was the last WWF match for one Andre the Giant. One would assume he received the tag belts with Haku as a thank you for his years of service. Axe and Smash had been the champions for over a year before losing to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. I would have much rather seen that return match here, but it wasn’t meant to be. Instead of givng the belts to an actual deserving team with talent, they gave it to a decaying Andre and Haku. The giant could barely walk at this point, and thankfully he would never wrestle at a Wrestlemania ever again. Demolition got to three peat by beating Haku and Andre not even tagging in legally. Andre got to exit Wrestlemania gracefully by turning face and leaving Haku with Heenan in the ring. He would make a cameo the following year to go after Heenan and his protégé Mr. Perfect when he wrestled Big Bossman. The match? With these four, it pretty much sucked. But I’ve always had a soft spot for Demolition. I know they made their last appearance at Wrestlemania 7, this was for all intents and purposes their last Wrestlemania being a relevant team.

106. Triple H (w/Ric Flair) defeated Booker T to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (18:47) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 3/10
Total: 10/25

Analysis: I don’t like this match, and it’s not even because the match itself isn’t that bad. Sure, it’s nothing more than mediocre, but this angle was horrific. You had Triple H saying that Booker T wasn’t the type of person to be the world heavyweight champion. You had “The Game” making cracks about WCW being a joke when Booker T was the five time WCW champion. Not to mention the cerebral assassin making cracks about Booker T dancing. Pretty darn close to being some racist garbage if you ask me. In fact, Triple H did such a brilliant job of burying his opponent that this match is the fourth of four main events. And how ironic that this was the debut of the big gold belt at Wrestlemania. Jerry Lawler even got into this disgraceful act too with some choice comments. I think even Jim Ross was getting legit pissed at Lawler too for acting like a real idiot.

I don’t think anyone in Safeco Field honestly believed the title was changing hands. The angle was bad enough, but the WWE essentially promoted Rocky against Steve Austin ahead of this match. Just remember what the ending segment of the RAW previous to this show was, Austin and Rock having a “concert.” The WWE also focused on promoting Hulk Hogan against Vince McMahon ahead of this match. Finally, people cared a heck of a lot more about Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar since there was a great deal of potential there.

2003 wasn’t the best of years for Triple H. He started off the year with Scott Steiner and did a fine job eating up Steiner. Anyone who bitches about what Triple H does now as far as having an ego has no right to complain. From his comeback in 2002 until Wrestlemania 20, he pretty much buried everyone in his path, Booker T sadly included. This had so much potential, but the big nose wasted it.

105. John “Bradshaw” Layfield defeated Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) in a Belfast Brawl (8:35) (Wrestlemania 24)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 0/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10.5/25

Analysis: This was a very unusual angle. Going into Wrestlemania 24, it appeared we were heading for JBL settling his feud with Chris Jericho and Finlay fighting Vinc McMahon in a match similar to this. Then out of nowhere seemingly, Vince McMahon dropped out of sight and Hornswaggle was no longer his son. Instead, Finlay was the father and JBL got thrown into the mix. All I can say is I wish JBL has stayed in the booth. This wasn’t a bad match by any means, but this is just your basic opening brawl with very little blood. The whole hackneyed storyline certainly didn’t do them any favors, but JBL’s lack of wrestling skill didn’t either. I also found it a bit odd that JBL got shifted back into the upper mid-card after this while Finlay has pretty much been shunted down to the background. Not exactly the best way to open a Wrestlemania.

104. John Cena defeated The Big Show to win the WWE United States Championship (9:14) (Wrestlemania 20)
Match Quality: 3.5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 10.5/25

Analysis: Yes, before crowd hated him, John Cena was actually pretty well-liked. Judging by the large pop he got from the Madison Square Garden faithful, I’d say he has a future in the WWE. One of the great ironies I always felt was that people loved it when he was a white boy rapper using rhymes and allegedly being controversial. Then he changed his persona more to a working class hero, only to have a lot of fans turn on him because he acts “fake.” Tell me, how can a guy have any street cred when they come from West Newbery, Massachusetts. The median income for a family living in this area is ALMOST SIX FIGURES. Oy vey. The match you ask? Look who’s involved. Cena’s green as an angry Hulk and Big Show is seemingly allergic to good matches. Cena does get his first ever title and his first ever win at his first ever Wrestlemania. Considering this was a freakin’ five hour show, I’ll forgive you if you forget he even won this opener by the end of the night. I wouldn’t forgive you if you gave this match anything higher than a 10 or 11 though. Oh, and the bitter/cynical crowd seemed pretty into Cena Ironic, isn’t it?

103. WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and British Bulldog fought Mankind and Vader (w/Paul Bearer) to a double count-out (16:08) (Wrestllemania 13)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 11/25

Analysis: Another forgettable match in a series of them as Owen Hart and the British Bulldog’s tag title reign appeared to be coming to an end. Conventional wisdom said they would be breaking up to have a singles feud while Mankind and Vader held the belts to feud with The Road Warriors. The twist came when Hart and Bulldog did retain the belts, only to seemingly break up the next night. Eight days after this show, we got a very happy reunion between Bret, his brother Owen, and his brother-in-law Davey Boy. That would take us through one of the best angles and matches in the history of the WWF/E. This represents the first Wrestlemania appearance for one Mick Foley after almost a clean year of feuding with Undertaker after Wrestlemania 12. This would also sadly be the last Wrestlemania appearance for Davey Boy Smith and Vader too. Weird to see this match not having a clean finish considering they didn’t have any plans to blow it off at any point. They probably should have had Owen sneak in for a quick roll-up victory of some sort. Not very good although it was almost certainly better than some of the matches and angles on this show.

102. The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu) (w/Afa) (14:22) (Wrestlemania 9)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 11/25

Analysis: I guess what always amazes me about Wrestlemania 9 is the times of some of these matches. They were handing out 10 minute matches like they were likely handing out steroids in the 80s. This wasn’t a bad match by any means, but The Headshrinkers were never the greatest workers ever. And really, whenever the Steiners wrestled in the WWF, I don’t believe we were getting their best. The only really good match I’ve ever seen from them is a Coliseum Video contest against the Hart brothers. Give that match a finish, and it’s a match of the year candidate for 1994. Still this is their first Wrestlemania and we get to see the Frankensteiner for the first time. You’ll notice some very low entertainment ratings. That has a lot to do with the overall event sucking and being a general chore to watch. Sadly, it would get much much worse before it got better.

101. Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar (w/Steve Austin as special guest referee) (13:42) (Wrestlemania 20)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 11/25

Analysis: If this was about only the actual match, I wouldn’t be able to give this a very good score. Here you had two guys who clearly looked like they didn’t want to be there. Goldberg’s one year WWE contract was up and this was his last match. Brock Lesnar should have won this match going away and moved onto something else, a rumored feud with Undertaker where he’d be doing some jobs.

For Lesnar, this wasn’t good enough. He announced his intention to leave the WWE after Wrestlemania 20. A dream match with two huge superstars was now reduced to mid-card comedy act. The MSG crowd, perhaps one of the smarkiest but also the most hardcore of WWE fans, turned on this in record time with numerous chants directed at and against each superstar. While no one loves to trash certain WWE fans more than I do, Lesnar deserved everything he got. The WWE gave this guy every opportunity to succeed. Numerous guys like ‘Taker, Rock, and even Hogan did jobs for him. Then this guy decides to leave the wrestling business to go try out for the Minnesota Vikings. That went about as well as you would expect. Then something amazing happened. Lesnar turned his attention to MMA and became one of the most polarizing figures in UFC. He achieved success early and won the Heavweight title before battling major health problems. All I know is Lesnar is an athletic freak, and I’m sure he’s long forgotten this match.

Why should he forget it? Goldberg and Lesnar has a slow deliberate match that was crapped on the by the New York faithful. From chants to fights in the stands to Austin figuratively ending the WWE careers of both men with stunners. This is the same Steve Austin who’d also ditched out on the WWE back in 2002…twice. Somehow I doubt you’ll see this match on a lot of “Best of” DVDs anytime soon. At least the crowd and Ross having to justify what was going on was pretty damn entertaining.

100. Owen Hart and Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated The Smokin’ Gunns (Billy and Bart) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (9:42) (Wrestllemania 11)
Match Quality: 3/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 11/25

Analysis: Oh great. This show needed something like this. It’s the debut of Bart “Who the hell is Butterbean?” Gunn and Billy “Mr. Asshole and definitely not the one” Billy Gunn. Together they form the WWF tag team champions at the time, The Smoking Gunns. They weren’t necessarily a bad team, but I wasn’t really into them. See, Wrestlemania 11 has the distinction of being the very first Wrestlemania I ever saw and just the second Pay-Per-View I ever saw. No I can’t believe I’m still a wrestling fan either. Being my second show, this was also my first experience with a mystery partner. It was actually a good one in this case. I had no idea the other one million times I’d be disappointed with a mystery partner in professional wrestling. Yokozuna actually got to be a part of a tag team and be partnered with one of the best in the game at this point.

The match itself is just sort of there. Yokozuna thankfully only has to wrestle half a match, but he still found time to use his time vulcan nerve pinch resthold. I guess it wouldn’t be a Yokozuna match without it. But because he’s big and such a threat, everyone in Hartford knows who’s winning. Owen Hart, after a long struggle, finally earns his first ever championship and actually got a babyface pop for it too. Very odd to see that in 1995 and something I didn’t even realize until this viewing just how big that pop was. Not the best of matches, but a very cool and historic moment.

99. The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobbs) (w/Jimmy Hart) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (12:10) (Wrestlemania 7)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 3/10
Total: 11/25

Analysis: I’m greatly insulted by this match. Bret Hart got the singles push of his career after this loss, so I’m very happy about that. The problem is Knobbs and Sags suck as wrestlers. Seriously, I’ve seen these guys ton in both the WWF and WCW. Other than their street fights with Cactus Jack, Maxx Payne, and Kevin Sullivan, I can’t think of a single match I enjoyed them in. Them winning the tag belts was just depressing. Thanks to Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, this became a passable match filled with a good beginning and a somewhat creative ending. Jimmy Hart’s football helmet ultimate led to the tag team straps changing hands.

This was the last hurrah for the Harts as a team. It’s amazing to me that Bret Hart has been in the WWF for seven years and is 32 years old at this point. So many of these guys wrestling for WWE these days are young pups in their 20s with barely seven years under their belt. Hart was a true survivor who literally fought his way up the card slowly but surely. I’m glad Bret got his big chance after this show as he’s easily one of my top favorite stars ever. If only, he didn’t have to lose to the freakin’ Nasty Boys.

98. John Cena defeated John “Bradshaw” Layfield to win the WWE Championship (11:26) (Wrestllemania 21)
Match Quality: 2/10
Historical Significance: 4/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 11/25

Analysis: This is one of the worst world title matches ever conducted at Wrestlemania. I almost considered doing play-by-play for this match since a lot of sentences would start “JBL does…” because really he so thoroughly dominated the contest, that it completely took the Los Angeles crowd out of this match. If you ask me, this should have been slotted before Shawn Michaels/Kurt Angle because the crowd was so into that match, and was then further killed by the sumo match, that there was no way the crowd could muster up the energy to be jacked up for this match. And I think everyone knew who was winning here too which certainly didn’t help matters. This was also before WWE fans learned to hate John Cena too so at least I didn’t have to listen to idiot chants like “You can’t wrestle,” “Same old shit,” or “Fuck you Cena.” Still between a catatonic crowd, Michael Cole’s announcing, and JBL being one of the worst WWE champions I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching hold that title, I’m not giving this a very high number. No sir.

97. Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon in a Street Fight (20:48) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis: I’m stunned to see this match wasn’t the actual main event considering the build-up. This was clearly one of the all-time egofests I’ve ever seen from these two. And when you consider the two people involved, that says a hell of a lot. I can understand the main event and HBK/Y2J getting 20 minutes, but this? You couldn’t donate these ten minutes to the cruiserweight title match or tag team championship match? Or how bout putting the RAW titles on the actual show itself? And before I talk more about the battle of the egos, why the hell did we get subjected to Limp Bizkit performing a second time. That’s just disgusting. It’s a wrestling show, not a second-rate concert show.

The match itself was about what you’d expect from a 50-year old and a 60-year old. They clearly planned and choreographed this match very very carefully. Roddy Piper making his first appearance at a Wrestlemania since number 12 was quite the shock. Even his beer gut couldn’t spoil the shock of seeing him. I guess this wasn’t bad, but just very overdrawn. But I will never take away Vince McMahon’s willingness to take a bump off a ladder or bleed like a stuffed pig for the sake of his company. Even so, McMahon wrestling evenly with a guy who admittedly isn’t the best pure wrestler but he was a six time WWF champion was kinda distasteful to watch too. I’m really glad we got the first two main events that I didn’t like out of the way first. Later on, I’ll be discussing the last two matches of Wrestlemania 19. It was like a shot of 50 dollar tequilia after drinking two shots of bottom shelf vodka

96. Hardcore Holly won a 15-minute Hardcore Battle Royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship featuring: Crash Holly (c), Tazz, Viscera, Joey Abs, Rodney, Pete Gas, TAKA Michinoku, Funaki, Headbanger Thrasher, Headbanger Mosh, Faarooq and Bradshaw (15:00)
Tazz pinned Crash with a capture suplex. (0:26)
Viscera pinned Tazz after a Powerslam. (1:00)
Funaki pinned Viscera with a flying shoulderblock from Bradshaw. (7:51)
Rodney pinned Funaki after throwing him into a backstage wall. (8:11)
Joey Abs pinned Rodney with a gutwrench suplex. (8:24)
Thrasher pinned Joey Abs after a clothesline. (8:46)
Pete Gas pinned Thrasher after a fire extinguisher shot. (9:29)
Tazz pinned Pete Gas with a T-bone suplex. (10:17)
Crash pinned Tazz after a cookie sheet shot. (14:20)
Hardcore won by pinning Crash last after hitting him with a candy jar to win the title. (14:59)(Wrestlemania 16)
Match Quality: 1/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 8/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis: This match has no business being considered a wrestling classic, but I thought this was one of the more entertaining matches of all time. You’ve got a collection of guys without an angle or in some of their cases, just plain suck. I remember really wanting Tazz to win, but hindsight has taught me a hard lesson With the debut of The Radicals, Tazz was a dead duck. Just knowing that all three members of the Mean Street Posse have a championship reign of any sort in the long history of the WWF makes me a little ill too. Still, it was funny to watch this match and Crash Holly had a highly entertaining title run. Gos rest his soul. The negatives are that the action was at times a little too hard to follow and Tim White screwing up the ending big-time by letting Hardcore Holly win instead of Crash. It is after watching this match that I really want my Bradshaw back. The one that drank beers, smoked cigars, and protected people, not this corporate jackass. Fun little match here.

95. Trish Stratus defeated Victoria (w/Steven Richards) (c) and Jazz in a Triple Threat match to win the WWE Women’s Championship (7:17) (Wrestlemania 19)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis: A fine way to continue the show since these three women have actual tournament. It was also nice to see this match come early in the show instead of being buried between main events. Trish Stratus got to regain her championship here in a nice moment. Victoria, the most criminally underused diva ever, was the champion ever and she brings even more awesomeness with her theme song. I really need an mp3 of that. The match itself was pretty good as I think this was the first time people really began to notice just how much Trish had improved since she first began. Being in there with such professionals likely helped too. Good entertaining stuff.

94. Triple H defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Heavyweight Championship (23:34)(Wrestlemania 25)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis: If this wasn’t the main event of Wrestlemania 25, I’d have hard time remembering this match took place. This was a convoluted angle that focused more on Orton’s attack of the McMahon clan as opposed to the WWE championship. Six days before the match, the McMahons came out and there was a brawl among Legacy and the McMahon clan. If there was ever an occasion where there should have been all kinds of run-ins and shocking returns (Batista), this was it. Instead, we got all full entrances and these two just had a match, and not a very good one at that. This was dreadfully boring and the crowd wasn’t enthralled with the action contained in the bout. Also, they threw in a stipulation that if Triple H was disqualified, he’d lose the championship. What should have been an intense brawl meandered for 20 boring minute. The stipulation never did come to play even though Triple H used the sledgehammer to essentially win the match. Not a great way to end the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania.

93. Randy Savage defeated Crush (w/Mr. Fuji) in a Falls Count Anywhere match (9:49) (Wrestlemania 10)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis: Sadly, this is the final appearance for a true WWF legend at a Wrestlemania. And unless there is a major shift in philosophy, I doubt we’ll ever see Randy Savage appear on WWE television again. This is an okayish match with some of the oddest rules I’ve ever seen in a match. The object was to pin your opponent on the outside of the ring and them whomever got pinned had 60 seconds to get back into the ring. Crush is pretty useless as I mentioned before when talking about his Wrestlemania 9 match. Savage proved that he still had some juices left. I think the guy easily had another three or four years left in him. I think he was an asset the WWF didn’t take advantage of throughout the mid 90s.

92. Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie defeated the New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) in a Dumpster Match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (10:01) (Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis:The Outlaws had taken a dumpster Charlie and Jack were in and thrown it over the side of the RAW set. At the time, it was pretty shocking stuff as all of a sudden RAW stopped being a show and became a “shoot.” Although many, including myself, have grown tired of Vince Russo’s schtick, there was a point when his writing contributed to major ratings, big buyrates, and powerful moments like when Foley and Funk were trapped in the dumpster. Unfortunately the styrophome peanuts kinda ruined the moment. The match itself was quite bleh as far as hardcore matches go. Foley and Funk did win the match, but they were forced to give up the belts the next night because the champs were placed in the wrong dumpster. Therefore, a lot of the entertainment value and historical significance That crazy Russo and his technicalities. The next night, the Outlaws would go on to win the belts, and essentially make this result completely useless.

91. Shane McMahon (w/Test) defeated X-Pac to retain the WWF European Championship (8:41)(Wrestlemania 15)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis: Conventional wisdom says X-Pac fights through all the interference that Shane-O-Mac throws at him and wins back the European title. But there’s a reason I’ve given this show the nickname of Russomania. A half hour before, D-X was one big happy family. Now Triple H, who has spent the last six months feuding with The Corporation, joins them. Not only that, but he turns on the guy who he pretty much brought back to the WWF to join D-X. Look, I understand (with ten years of perspective) how much the Triple H heel turn made sense. But these first six months were brutal. Once Vince Russo left and Triple H got to breathe, he became much much better. He stopped being such a whiner and became the diabolical cerebral assassin. He also started beating guys clean, something very refreshing after not watching him win any matches clean from about April until October of 1999. Finally, that feud with one Cactus Jack did more for Triple H then any of those dumb interviews about “the curtain call” or turning on his friends ever did.

90. Kane defeated Raven (c) and The Big Show in a Triple Threat Hardcore Match to win the WWF Hardcore Championship (9:18) (Wrestlemania 17)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12/25

Analysis: The hardcore title had pretty much run its’ course, but this was nowhere near as bad as some of the hardcore matches I’ve seen in the past. Raven brought a different dynamic to what surely could have been a horrific Big Show/Kane match. The other positive was just letting these guys walk around and throw them into random objects. Raven did almost lose his ankle at one point because Big Show can’t drive, but otherwise I enjoyed this match for the most part. It certainly wasn’t very historic or what you would consider a “good”match, but it served its’ purpose and didn’t wear out its’ welcome like a couple of other matches did on this show.

89. The Big Boss Man (w/André the Giant) defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect (w/Bobby Heenan) by disqualification (10:47) (Wrestlemania 7)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12.5/25

Analysis: Bobby Heenan and Rick Rude actually got the ball rolling on this angle when they started making fun of Bossman’s mother. Rude was “suspended” (actually let go after a contract dispute with Vinnie Mac), so Bossman marched through the other Heenan family members. First came Haku. Then The Barbarian at the Royal Rumble. Now came his big chance to win his first title and wrestle the man who might be the best wrestler in the WWF at this point. Bossman was pretty svelte at this point and I consider this to his best time as a wrestler. He was having great matches and involved in a good angle too. A part of almost wishes he could have won the belt since he really put a good effort to make himself look better and cut a good promo. At least he didn’t get humiliated and got to retain his Wrestlemania undefeated streak thanks to interference from Haku and Barbarian. Andre the Giant helped Bossman out in what proved to be one of his last WWF appearances ever. I think he was supposed to be in some sort of angle with the Heenan family, but he just couldn’t physically do it anymore. Pretty decent match for what it was, but Hennig being in his prime meant this was just about the minimum he could go in that ring at this point.

88. Mr. Perfect defeated The Blue Blazer (5:38) (Wrestlemania 5)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 12.5/25

Analysis: I think this match has gotten a bit of a reputation that it really doesn’t deserve. That is not to say this isn’t a good match; however, I feel that because of the tragedies that befell Owen Hart and Curt Hennig, people look at this match as something more than it actually is. It really is just an extended squash for Mr. Perfect, not that there’s anything wrong with that. And believe me, this is much preferable to watching the slugs and steroid monkeys shuffling out there. I’d rather watch this match a thousand times then watch some of the other matches from these first seven or eight Wrestlemanias. The historical points come from the fact that these two guys are making their Wrestlemania debut and by virtue of the fact that this match has acquired such a reputation.

87. Kurt Angle defeated Kane (10:45) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 5.5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 12.5/25

Analysis: Wrestlemania 18 was just plain not a good show. How the hell do you shaft Kurt Angle, the man who pretty much carried everyone on the roster the last year gets stuck in a match no one cares about. Kane isn’t the best of wrestlers, and he was also spinning his wheels in the WWF at this time. This is a decent match, just short of being something memorable. Between the placement and the fact that these two didn’t have a real good reason to fight, it just got lost in the shuffle. The highlights of this match for me were Angle’s bizarro black tights and his modified slam on Kane toward the end of the match. These two also appeared to botch the ending too as Kane’s shoulders did not appear on the canvas and Angle couldn’t get his feet on the ropes in time.

86. Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and Chyna defeated The Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko) (9:38)(Wrestlemania 16)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: We’ve got even more debuts in a series of them at this show. Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Eddie Guerrero made their first ever appearances at the grandaddy of them all. Chyna made her wrestling debut. Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay had competed in a battle royal before, but this was their first time actually participating in a real match. Back in 2000, I kind of dug Chyna, but the years have not been kind to her or my enjoyment of this match. Watching this yet again only served to insult my intelligence. Chyna has no business being in that ring with three professionals like Malenko, Saturn, and Guerrero. And the conceit of having her pin Eddie Guerrero makes things even worse. The Radicalz carried Too Cool and Chyna to a passable match here, but nothing to write home about. If you had told me seven years what would become of the Radicalz, I wouldn’t have believed you. To think that Dean Malenko would be the only one still employed by WWE… wow. Just a sad situation.

85. Matt Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules Match (13:13)(Wrestlemania 25)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: I don’t know what it is about these two, but they don’t have any chemistry whatsoever. This was at least better than their one-on-one match in 2001, but that doesn’t say a whole lot. Here they had the chance to use gimmicks and weapons but still didn’t have all that great a match. It’s also tough for WWE to feature great Extreme Rules matches with a PG rating and no blood rule. What also hurt the match was the general lameness of the feud because it was originally supposed to be Christian coming back to cause Hardy the WWE title at the Rumble. Then it what became a trend that helped kill the effectiveness of the show, creative changed their minds and we were left with this jumbled feud that barely made any sense. These two things combined to take a lot of the intensity out of the match. Wrestlemania 25 had a series of okay to good matches, but with the exception of one match, nothing came off as memorable. This was just another match unfortunately.

84. Chris Jericho defeated William Regal to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship (7:08) (Wrestlemania 17)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 1/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: This is incredibly the wrestling debut of one William Regal at a Wrestlemania. This was also the opener to what in my mind is the greatest overall Wrestlemania of all time. Wrestlemania 17 is in my mind one of the best shows for so many reasons. This match certainly isn’t one of them. Putting these two together was like oil and water. The match wasn’t bad but did not get nearly enough time to tell a great story. These are two guys who never seemed to have good chemistry together. Combine that with some dumb booking along the way (peeing in Regals tea?), and you’ve got a mediocre championship match.

83. Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog) (w/Jim Cornette) defeated Yokozuna, Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson (w/Mr. Fuji) (12:51) (Wrestllemania 12)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: I’m sort of saddened by this match because of the great stipulation attached to it that we never got. If Yokozuna and his team had won, Yoko would have gotten five minutes with Jim Cornette. This is the Wrestlemania debut of one Vader and the last appearance of Jake Roberts. Ahmed Johnson, who at this point was the next big thing in the WWF, didn’t get very ring time. I was sort of stunned by this since at the time since he was becoming very popular. Yokozuna was also getting larger and larger at this point. He’d be out of the WWF by the late fall because of his weight and this would be the last time he’d wrestle at a Wrestlemania. Sadly, his life would come to a tragic end in 1999. Considering the fate of three of these wrestlers and just thinking about all the problems of Roberts, it’s a pretty sad contest to watch. It’s very good even with some of the obvious limitations of the performers, but this was a nice way to open the show. If Yoko had gotten those five minutes, I’d rate this match a whole lot higher. As it is, it gets a good rating and that’s it.

82. The Undertaker defeated Kane (w/Paul Bearer) (16:58) (Wrestlemania 14)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: Pete Rose came out next and instead of being the usual unenthusiastic ring announcer all these celebrities tend to be, Rose trashed the city of Boston, in particular the Red Sox. He delivered a couple of a mediocre lines but when he mentioned Bill Buckner not being able to bend over to get his tickets. Good stuff. Boy, how things have changed in ten years. Since this speech, the Sawx have won not only one but two world championships. Kane, despite being the heel, tombstoned Rose to a big pop. Shades of grey! Shades of grey! Another trademark of the WWF Attitude Era. Everyone bow down to the great Vince Russo. Kane’s party wouldn’t last too long as The Undertaker made another grandiose Wrestlemania entrance with druids and fire. Although these two have fought way more times than I care to count, this match wasn’t as bad as some of the subsequent ones. The problem was mostly Kane slowing the match down and some overall plodding, especially in the middle portions. This match was notable since unlike Giant Gonzalez and Kamala, Kane would really never go away and has become one of the longest tenured WWF/E employees ever. It’s also pretty historic since this is the first (but sadly not the last) match between these two. These two would go on to have a big rematch the next month in the disappointing inferno match.

81. Shawn Michaels defeated Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match (18:28)(Wrestlemania 22)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Totals 13/25

Analysis: Hey Vince, you look a little baked. Press the stop button on the tanning bed next time for the love of God. The McMahon prayer thing that came shortly before this was either really offensive or really funny. You know, it was both.

Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 19. Triple H and Chris Benoit at Wrestlemania 20. Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania. Shawn Michaels was on quite the roll at this point as far as having the best matches at Wrestlemania. I am a firm believer that these three matches are why Michaels earned the right to be called Mr. Wrestlemania. Hogan, Austin, and Rock may have sold more tickets. Taker may have the streak, but Michaels has had the best match at so many of these events. Not to mention he’s got the most appearances of any active wrestler with 17.

Certainly an interesting angle to set this whole deal up with McMahon trying to pull a Survivor Series and screw around with Shawn. The problem is this: Vince McMahon is not a wrestler, and therefore has no business trying to go 18 minutes with anyone. The positive is this is the closest to a Vince McMahon beatdown you’ll ever see. While this breaks the streaks of classics, no one can ever criticize either man of tanking it. How many promoters, hell how many millionaires do you know that would put their bodies on the line like this? So there’s certainly something interesting and entertaining about that. As far as the match itself, it is too long but it really isn’t bad either.

Jim Ross’ commentary was also very emotional as well and I feel that added something to this match-up. Finally, you gotta love the first half of the foreshadowing of the D-X return. We’ll talk about the other half when I cover the main event of Wrestlemania 22.

80. Rob Van Dam defeated William Regal to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship (6:19) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: This match is almost a carbon copy of the previous year’s match between William Regal and Chris Jericho. I’m not a big fan of most of William Regal’s work in WWE. I’m not sure what it is, but when I look back at these matches as well as his return to wrestling during the spring of ’08, I’m just not a fan. The only difference between this match and the previous year is this is RVD’s first Intercontinental championship and a sign that he wasn’t just another ECW reject but a real player for this company.

79. Triple H defeated Chris Jericho (w/Stephanie McMahon) to win the Undisputed WWF Championship (18:41) (Wrestlemania 18)
Match Quality: 6/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: There’s a lot wrong with this match. First of all, there was no crowd heat because the crowd saw what they really wanted to see two matches earlier with Hogan making his comeback. Secondly, Chris Jericho had no business being the first undisputed champion ever because no one ever believed in him being the champion. No matter how many times he beat The Rock and Steve Austin, no one was buying him as champion. Of course, it didn’t help that the nWo debuting and Triple H’s comeback took away a lot of the attention off of Jericho. To make matters worse, Stephanie McMahon got slotted in as Jericho’s match, hence emasculating a champion who already has credibility problems. Finally Jim Ross, an announcer I love, just takes this whole leg injury thing way too far. He exaggerated Triple H’s leg problems so bad here, it was really damn annoying by the end of this match.

The whole idea of Triple H coming back and immediately winning back the belt was a pretty dumb idea. It even showed when Hunter got hurt again a couple months later and missed most of the summer. The fact that he also looked to have gained so much bulk hurt his mobility and he wasn’t the same wrestler he was back in 2000 and 2001. After losing some of that bulk during the summer, he would regain some of his form but he’s never been consistently great since that heel run at the beginning of the decade. And did I mention how annoying Stephanie McMahon was at this point? Jesus, the main event might as well have between those two. I think if this match had been earlier and the card and Stephanie hadn’t been at ringside, this entire match would have been more successful.

78. André the Giant won a twenty man battle royal that included both wrestlers and NFL stars (9:13) The participants were introduced in this order: Jimbo Covert (NFL Star – Chicago Bears), Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Harvey Martin (Former NFL Star – Dallas Cowboys), Danny Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, The Iron Sheik, Ernie Holmes (Former NFL Star – Pittsburgh Steelers), B. Brian Blair, Jim Brunzell, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic (NFL Star – Atlanta Falcons), Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Russ Francis (NFL Star – San Francisco 49ers), Bruno Sammartino, and William “Refrigerator” Perry (NFL Star – Chicago Bears)(Wrestlemania 2)
Match Quality: 4/10
Historical Significance: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: Since this is Chicago, Dick Butkus gets a huge ovation while Harvey Marin and Ed “Too Tall” Jones (both former Cowboys) get booed out of the building. Battle royals are very hard to rate, but the list alone of the people involved make this a pretty big deal. The Chicago crowd was also really up for this match as almost everyone got a reaction. Of all the football players involved in this match, Bill Fralic looked the most like an actual wrestler.

From a history standpoint, this is a huge deal since both WWF and NFL guys are interacting in the match. Also, there is no way the NFL would ever allow active players to participate in something like this today. With Bruno, Pedro, Bret, and Andre, that’s two former world champions and two future world champions. That combined with the magnitude of the battle royal makes this a pretty big deal as far as history goes. William “The Refridgerator” Perry also got a huge ovation since this was mere months after the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots soundly in Super Bowl XX. Of course, everyone and their mother knew Andre was winning this match simply because he always wins battle royals. It was interesting to see the execution of this match with guys who had never been in the ring before. This was also smartly booked to make the WWF guys look far superior to the NFL guys. Hey, it only makes sense.

77. Demolition (Ax and Smash) (w/Mr. Fuji) defeated Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (12:33)(Wrestlemania 4)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: I’ve always felt that Wrestlemania 4 could be summarized in the last half hour. Everything you as a wrestling fan needed to know, could be found in this match and the next one. Demolition walks to the ring. They received a noticeable babyface reaction throughout this match because they’re badasses and beat people up. Same principle applied to Steve Austin. Axe and Smash are craptacular as wrestlers, but it really doesn’t matter. These two were wicked over for the next three years to the point where they would have to be turned babyface by the end of the year.

The only disturbing part of this match was actually Monsoon and Ventura. They gave them very little chance to win this contest because they were too small. This isn’t exactly The Rockers against the Twin Towers here. Santana and Martel are 245 pounds each, and they’re wrestling two guys who are roughly 290. That’s only a 45 pound difference. Plus, Martel dealt with two opponents who were roughly the same size if not bigger just a year earlier with Orton and Muraco. And Santana is a former I-C champion who wrestled a wide variety of opponents. Very odd burial of Strike Force. Sure, they were transitional champions, but they weren’t that bad.

76. Rick Rude defeated The Ultimate Warrior for the Intercontinental Championship (9:36)
Match Quality: 5/10
Historical Significance: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 13/25

Analysis: This was one of Rick Rude’s finest hours as he carried The Ultimate Warrior to a very watchable match. Jesse Ventura’s commentary was classic

Next week, we enter the top 25. Expect to see a whole lot of Shawn Michaels. Ric Flair’s last match is also covered. Wish we could have left the memories alone.

February is upon us, and that means only one thing. It’s Chamber time. Time for the WWE to put on two more bloodless cage matches. Last year produced two four star matches and one match in my top ten. With a lot of interest, particularly in how Shawn Michaels will interject himself in the Smackdown chamber, this has the potential to be the most fascinating WWE February Pay-Per-View of all time.

-The Joker narrates a dramatic video package about this being the last opportunity for guys to main event Wrestlemania. Guess he needed the money.

-Live from St. Louis

-Your hosts are three men who should be run over on the road to Wrestlemania

-WWE Championship: Sheamus (champion) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Ted Dibiase vs. Randy Orton

The only awkward thing about this Pay-Per-View is that a world title match pretty much has to open the show. Sheamus and Kofi Kingston start the match off. I’m just going to get this rant out of the way in these first five minutes. I’ve read a number of people bashing Sheamus as champion on various messageboards. I know I’m the person who said him winning the WWE title was the dumbest move of the year, but since winning the belt, I think he’s done an admirable job holding the title. There hasn’t been a single moment when Sheamus has looked out of place as champion. I think his promo work is pretty good, and his in-ring work has been good with the exception of two crappy matches with Randy Orton. But I blame that on Orton’s not working a smart match. If there wasn’t this perception that Sheamus was in some way Triple H’s boy, I guaranfuckingtee people would be far more willing to give this guy a chance. But because the IWC hates Triple H and thinks he’s the devil incarnate, we get jokes about Sheamus not tanning and being a joke of a champion. To summarize, IWC fans can’t make up their damn minds on what they want and are enormous hypocrites. But I guess we all knew that. Rant over.

Sheamus and Kofi have a barely boring five minutes as I guess they had to wait for the “real stars” to come in the ring. Triple H comes in and the crowd wakes up. He and Sheamus face off. High knee and the knee drop. Clothesline in the corner. I can almost see geeks writing about how Hunter is burying Sheamus now. Another clothesline almost gets three. Kofi might as well be dead outside the ring. Hunter throws Sheamus to the outside, and they try to throw each other into THE STEEL STRUCTURE. Back inside and Sheamus gets a boot on Hunter. Attempt at the Razor’s Edge but Hunter gets a DDT instead. Kofi comes from nowehere and hits a messed up splash on Sheamus. He’s a house of fire going to work on both Sheamus and Triple H. Punches in the corner on Sheamus and other clothesline by Kofi. Leg splash on a prone Triple H outside the ring.

Orton in to a HUGE pop. He explodes on Sheamus and doesn’t leave Tiple H out of the beating either. He beats up Kofi for fun before going back to Sheamus. The other three men are down as Orton has fun with the, He tosses Sheamus outside and rams him into the chamber multiple times. Rights on Hunter and he goes into the cage. I personally don’t like Orton, but based on the crowd reactions of late…. turn him face NOW!!!!! Kofi leaps over and takes out all three men. Kofi leaps back into the ring on Orton, but he gets dropkicked. That looked nasty. Hunter in and he punches away. He drops Orton’s head on his knee, but Orton counters with a powerslam. Orton goes into viper mode. Series of attempts at finishers. Hunter and Kofi both get tossed once again. No one has been eliminated incredibly.

Dibiase hits a slingshot on Kofi and clothesline Triple H. Fist drops before turning to Orton. He helps his former (possibly?) leader out and they double team Triple H. They turn to Sheamus and work him over as well. Ram into the post shoulder first. Orton tries to open a part of the cage up and he places Kingston’s face outside the cage. Ew. Dibiase hooks a Boston crab. This will be used for video packages in the future. Hunter and Orton exchange rights, but Dibiase again helps. They ram Hunter into the cage multiple times once again and Orton sets up for the DDT. A DDT on the steel. Hunter is out. Now Orton and Dibiase simply wait for the bell to go off outside Cena’s pod. Ummm, what happened to Sheamus?

Cena fights his way out and takes on both members of Legacy. Flying shoulders on Orton Five knuckle shuffle. Dibiase next. Legdrop from the top on the back of the neck. Attitude Adjustment on Dibiase on to the steel. Orton tosses Cena on the other side. Dibiase crawls back in, but Cena hooks the STF. Orton breaks that up and hits a modified backbreaker. Cody Rhodes comes out with a lead pipe. He puts it in the cage and Dibiase grabs it. He “accidentally” hits Orton, and Cena hits the Attitude Adjustment. Dibiase hits Cena with a pipe. With Orton down, Dibiase takes advantage by pinning Orton. Rhodes looks like a man who’s about to die. Orton is eliminated at 24:02.

Orton glares at Dibiase on his way to the back. Kofi headscissors Sheamus back and gets a Trouble in Paradise. Dibiase is eliminated at 25:31. So moments after pinning Orton, Dibiase gets pinned by Kofi. Dumb.

Sheamus kicks Kofi down with the boot. Razor’s Edge and Kofi is eliminated at 26:12.

Three left after those lightning fast eliminations. Big knee by Sheamus on to Cena. Attitude Adjustment attempt, but Sheamus turns it into a backbreaker. Tree of Joey Lawrence and Sheamus works over Cena in the corner. Cena prone on the top rope. Sheamus goes for the Razor’s Edge again. Hunter hits him with the low blow. Pedigree and Sheamus is eliminated at 29:37.

I know Sheamus’ elimination thrills a lot of people. I could almost hear the cheering coming from keyboards everywhere. Cena hooks the STF, and Hunter tries to crawl and scratch his way out. However, Triple H has no choice but to tap at 34:24.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW WWE Champion-John Cena/34:24/***1/2

-Before Cena can even put the title on his waist, Vince McMahon comes out to announce that Cena is going to defend the WWE title against Batista right then and there. That explains why Batista walked out on the chamber qualifier and why he’s been so indifferent to wrestling matches lately.

-WWE Championship: John Cena (champion) vs. Batista

Cena can barely stand, but he punches Batista. Batista’s facial and look of embarrassment are amazing. Spear. Powerbomb. New champion.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW WWE Champion-Batista/:33/N/R

-Not quite sure what to think about all of this. Least what’s been going on with Smackdown and the interview from last week’s RAW makes more sense now. I just hate the idea of doing two world changes in the first 50 minutes of a show. Seems to make the title mean a hell of a lot less. I also hate this because it devalues Money in the Bank since one of the key ideas is that you can use your title shot at any time. I certainly hope that whenever they do Money in the Bank, they don’t change the title in the same way.

-A look back at what happened with Bret Hart last Monday. They think it’s the last time we’ll see Bret Hart. I will bet my Wrestlemania ticket it isn’t.

-WWE Intercontinental Championship: Drew McIntyre (champion) vs. Kane

McIntyre has a new entrance that makes him look like a huge star. Kane… oy vey. I understand the thinking of having these two wrestle together. You’re getting McIntyre a big win on Pay-Per-View against a WWE lifer. Too bad they don’t have enough guts to put McIntyre over in 30 seconds or a minute. Crowd is catatonic for this boring match. I’d have taken this chance to hit the concession stand or perhaps buy one of those CM Punk t-shirts all the kids are talking about. Kane uses some of the most boring offense I’ve seen in years, and McIntyre doesn’t help matters when he takes control. McIntyre with an eye poke and Future shock DDT after 10 FUCKING MINUTES! Whoever thought this match deserved that amount of time should be fired immediately.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating:Drew McIntyre 10:11/1/2*

-Maryse talks to French to Gail Kim as they get ready for their title match tonight. Gail responding in French was a nice little payoff to the last few weeks.

-WWE Diva’s Championship: Maryse vs. Gail Kim

Apparently, we’re not going to get this match for whatever reason. Vickie Guerrero makes it a tag team match with the Raw divas against the Smackdown divas.  This is the most disorganized Pay-Per-View in the history of Pay-Per-Views.

-Gail Kim and Maryse vs. Michelle McCool and Layla

For fuck’s sake. Why is Michelle McCool on the Pay-Per-View? Oh wait. I can think of one reason. Not that Gail and Maryse was going to be a five star classic, but at least WWE did something to build that match up. This is… there. Also, Maryse might be a terrible wrestler, but she generates 100x the reaction of McCool because her personality as a heel is tremendous, yet doesn’t get near the push on television. Maryse refuses to tag in, so McCool hits the Styles clash for three .

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating:Michelle McCool and Layla/4:43/*

-This show is falling off a crater. Maryse hits a French kiss DDT on Gail after the match to absolutely no heat.

-Miz interview. He talks trash about Daniel Bryan, i.e. Bryan Danielson. Miz and Daniel Bryan will be an amazing pair on NXT. Their interaction could make that show, and they could get one of the best feuds of the year. I’m pumped. MVP walks in and they’re apparently having a United States championship match tonight. So glad WWE announces things ahead of time.

-William Regal walks out for absolutely no reason as the most disorganized PPV ever continues. He also talks about NXT and basically explains the concept to all the fans. The fans are so enchanted, they chant “WHAT?” Then Edge walks out, says stuff, and spears Regal. The one important note is that Edge will choose his Wrestlemania opponent on RAW.

United States Championship: The Miz (champion)(w/Big Show) vs. MVP (w/Mark Henry)

Matt Stryker also talks about Daniel Bryan and makes disparaging remarks about him. Is there any doubt who’s getting that contract? Seriously, the various comments are only feeding the IWC’s anger and I for one am thrilled. WWE knows how to piss the IWC better than anyone, and I hope they keep up the good work in this case. MVP and Miz sure are having a match. It’s not much better or worse than the Royal Rumble. Announcers are talking about Tiger Woods, miserable cities, and NXT.  Miz almost gets three with a nice gut buster. It’s not that this is a bad match, but because WWE doesn’t announce things ahead of time or have any build-up, it makes it hard to care about these matches. Even better than a match no one cares about is a match no one cares about  WITH  a bad ending. MVP can’t seem to get any sustained offense until getting a belly-to-belly suplex from the top rope. The Ballin’ elbow also gets two. Big Show pulls his tag team championship partner out. Henry and Show begin brawling. Henry crashes through one of the barriers like the Kool-Aid man. OH YEAH! Big Show punches  MVP behind the referee’s back, and Miz gets the win.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL United States Champion-The Miz/13:02/**1/2

-They recap what happened earlier with the WWE title in case viewers were flipping back to the United States/Canada men’s hockey game.

-World Heavyweight Championship: The Undertaker (champion) vs. CM Punk (w/Serena and Luke Gallows) vs. R-Truth vs. John Morrison vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho

One of the Wrestlemania main events went up in flames as The Undertaker suffered 1^st and 2^nd degree burns on his arm and shoulder. ‘Taker looks as disheveled as I’ve ever seen him. Honestly, I can’t blame him for that. The fact that he still walked to the ring is even more amazing. Punk’s prematch promo is a lot of fun he runs down his opponents and in particular talks in Mysterio’s direction.

Punk and R-Truth start. Punk hits a leg lariat and belly-to-back suplex to get things started. Blind charge, and R-Truth eventually leg lariats Punk. Punk is clotheslined to the outside. Punk tries something resembling a powerbomb or piledriver, but R-Truth slingshots him into the chamber. He rams Punk into Mysterio’s chamber. R-Truth hits a dive on to Punk. More ramming into the chamber before they head back inside. Stroke hit, but Punk tries a Go 2 Sleep. R-Truth gets out but misses a spinning dive. Punk hits a big kick and the Go 2 Sleep. Truth is eliminated at 3:34.

Punk gets on the stick again and threatens The Undertaker. That’s the last person I’d be threatening right now. He encourages everyone to put their hand on the screen to take the pledge. No one can stop him… except Rey Mysterio. Hot start leads to a Mysterio crossbody for two. Big kick also gets two. Reversal into the corner. Set-up for the 619, but Punk powerslams him. If this is any indication for their Wrestlemania match, it’s going to be awesome. Punk again tries the Go 2 Sleep, but Mysterio gets a roll-up. To the outside, and Punk rams Mysterio’s head into the chamber twice. High knee in the corner, and Punk rams Mysterio into the chamber headfirst. They battle on the rope. Mysterio knocks him off and heads to the top of the pod. Punk goes for a top rope Go 2 Sleep. Mysterio crotches Punk on the rope and hits a hurancanrana outside the ring. Back inside, Rey Rey hits a legdrop. 1-2-3! Punk is eliminated at 9:59.

Up next, Chris Jericho. These two put on their usual match with all kinds of fast-paced spots and a little lucha thrown in for good measure. These two good sleepwalk to a great match. Mysterio ends his flurry by hitting a 619. Jericho rolls outside and ducks Mysterio diving into the cage. Mysterio hangs on the cage, but Jericho throws him to the floor. Jericho splashes inside for two. Jericho slows the pace down since we’ve quite a ways to go in this match. Mysterio quickly comes back and applies The End Time? Jericho works his way out of it and applies the Walls of Jericho.

Morrison breaks up Walls of Jericho in a really stupid move. Dropkick on Jericho Leg lariat on Mysterio. Jericho tossed to the outside. Back and forth with Rey Rey and Morrison. Rey Rey goes for something off the top, but Morrison hits a huge kick to the head. Jericho and Morrison back in the ring. Morrison climbs to the top but Mysterio pushes him into a chamber. Mysterio is backdropped by Jericho into the chamber. Jesus Christ, I feel bad for Rey Rey. He’s taking a brutal bearing in this match. Morrison flies over and hits both men. Standing shooting star press on Mysterio almost gets two. 619 set-up, but Jericho gets the Lucha backbreaker. I’m not a Lucha fan, but I love that spot. Looks so brutal. Morrison with a huge kick to the face of Jericho. Mysterio headscissors Morrison into the middle turnbuckle. He tries another hurancanrana off the top, but Morrison counters and gets the Starship Pain. Morrison is eliminated at 20:02. Jericho applies the Walls of Jericho as…

Undertaker comes in and goes nuts. Poor Morrison takes a clothesline over the top and I thought his neck might get snapped. ‘Taker tries a double chokeslam, but Jericho and Morrison hit a suplex on ‘Taker.  Jericho tries slapping ‘Taker and then hiding. ‘Taker breaks the damn door and goes after Jericho with a flurry of rights. I’ve never been so glad to not be a wrestler. Splash on Morrison in the corner. Another. Snakes eyes, but Morrison hits a chuck kick. He sells the ankle that’s been bothering him the last couple weeks on Smackdown. Starship Pain but ‘Taker gets the knee up. ‘Taker sits up, so Jericho goes back into the chamber and hides. Smart move says I. ‘Taker throws Morrison over the top and works him over. Set-up for The Last Ride. Jericho spears ‘Taker into the chamber as Morrison hangs. ‘Taker with a blind charge and he misses. Jericho and Morrison head back inside the ring. Knee by Morrison gets two. Morrison tries a leap. ‘Taker chokeslams him into the steel Good Lord. ‘Taker brings him back in the ring and simply pins him. Morrison is done at 28:25.

It comes down to these two. Jericho stalls as the crowd gets behind both men. ‘Taker with a series of strikes and kicks. He misses a big kick and is prone on the top rope.  Superplex that looked like it sucked for both men.  Jericho almost gets two. ‘Taker goes for a chokeslam, but Jericho rolls out and goes for Walls of Jericho. Hell’s Gate attempted, but Jericho ,manages to get the Walls applied. ‘Taker rolls out and gets Hell’s Gate. Jericho gets to the ropes and gets out of the hold. ‘Taker sits up and goes for the Tombstone. CODEBREAKER! 1-2-NO! Jericho punches on the top rope. You know what that means. Last Ride. ‘Taker gets up. Shawn Michaels of all people comes from a trap door and SUPERKICKS THE UNDERTAKER. JERICHO WINS! JERICHO WINS!

-Chris Jericho runs the hell out of the ring in expedient fashion since he wouldn’t want an angry Undertaker chasing him. The Pay-Per-View ends with Shawn Michaels leering over The Undertaker. AWESOME!

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW World Heavyweight Champion-Chris Jericho/35:34/****

Final Thoughts: The main event and ending saved this from being a godawful Pay-Per-View. The opening match and main event are worth seeing, but fast forward through the middle 90 minutes. That was all a complete waste of everyone’s time. I loved the main event a lot and thought the work put in by everyone made it special. Props to ‘Taker for pushing through and finishing the match when I would have fleed to the back like a little girl if I even saw a little pink on my arm. Put this on your Netflix queue, but don‘t bother with a replay.

Let the road to Wrestlemania… BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk

Booyaka Booyaka, the Ultimate Underdog, Rey Mysterio kicks off Smackdown as we head down the Road to Wrestlemania.  Rey defeated Dolph Ziggler last Friday to qualify for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match and tonight he’ll take on fellow Chamber combatant, the Pastor of Purity, our Straight-Edge Savior, CM Punk.  Todd Grisham comments on Punk and Gallows being in a match for the Unified Tag Team Championships on Monday, which they did not win, as Punk and Rey are in each other’s faces.  Punk starts things off pushing Mysterio in the face a couple of times and then it’s fast paced offence right from the start.  Punk slows Rey down, using kicks and submissions to keep Mysterio grounded.  The pace speeds up again as Rey takes things to the floor a couple of times, but Mysterio needs to be cautious as Serena and Luke Gallows are luring at ringside.  Their distraction is enough to allow Punk to slam Rey back first on the barricade, who then falls to the floor amongst the fans.  The Ultimate Underdog struggles to mount some offence while our Saviro works on the back of the masked man, keeping him on the ground as much as possible.  Rey looks to hit the 619, but Gallows and Serena intervene, Serena distracting the ref while Gallows attacks Rey from behind.  Rey positions Punk for the 619 again, but Punk ducks.  The Pastor of Purity then has Rey set for the Go to Sleep, but Rey counters it into a roll up for the win.  And he then pays for his victory with a beating at the hands of the Straight-Edge Society.  Punk proclaims he can save Rey.  Gallows places Mysterio on his Savior’s shoulders and Rey has a “crucifixion” of sorts (thank you Striker and Grisham) as Punk puts him to sleep.

Rating:  ***

Winner:  Rey Mysterio

This was an incredible match between Mysterio and Punk.  These two can put on a show.  And after the fact, Punk and Co. attacking Rey furthers the Straight-Edge Society and adds more heat to them.

After the break, Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre is making his way to the ring.  We’re reminded that McIntyre is still undefeated in singles competition and was hand picked by Vince McMahon to be a champion.  Drew has a microphone and tells us he’s unstoppable.  He doesn’t care who his opponent is.  Drew may believe himself unstoppable, but not many can stand toe to toe with his opponent and live to tell the tale without a notch in the “L” column.  That man is Kane.  McIntyre says he has nothing to prove to Kane, though.  He tells the Big Red Machine he can have a match next week, but both the ref and Kane disagree with this.  The bell rings, Kane sends a kick to Drew, and this match is underway.

Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Kane

During the break, McIntyre sent Kane into the barricade to take control of the match.  Grisham informs us that according to a poll McIntyre took himself, he’s more popular in Scotland than Sean Connery.  They also talk about ECW and the superstars there becoming Free Agents after next week, but in the ring, Kane has taken over this match.  The Big Red Machine attempts a couple of chokeslams, but is blocked both times, so he clotheslines McIntyre out of the ring.  The two of them fight outside the ring while the ref administers the 10 count and this match is officially over.

Rating:  *

Result:  Double Count Out

After the bell, McIntyre and Kane continue fighting.  Drew rolls back outside the ring to grab the Intercontinental Championship, looking to use it on Kane, but Kane has other plans.  He drops Drew with a  chokeslam and symbolically lays the title across McIntyre before leaving the ring.

Backstage, Mickie James has another run in with Michelle McCool and Layla.  McCool is still at it, making fun of Mickie and her weight.  A big bowl of cottage cheese comes into play and Mickie ends up smacking it out of McCool’s hands and onto Vickie Guerrero.  James takes off for the ring and we go to commercial.

Mickie James vs. Layla

The “Simply Flawless” LayCool come to the ring and Layla is ready to face Mickie James in the ring.  Gee, I wonder if the inadvertent covering of Vickie Guerrero is going to come into play.  Oh, look, here she comes.  Right on cue!  EXCUSE ME!!  Vickie calls a stop to the match and informs us that the match is now a handicap match.  Mickie’s all over this, though, as she works to overcome the disadvantage of a handicap match between here and LayCool.  As good as Mickie is at overcoming the odds, it’s not enough here as Michelle McCool hits the Faith Breaker as the numbers game takes its toll on James and this match is over.

Rating:  **

Winners:  Michelle McCool and Layla

Dave Batista is menacing his way through the backstage area.  He’s requested some time to talk about his recent actions and that’ll be next.  When Smackdown comes back from commercial, we recap Batista’s actions on Raw a couple weeks ago, attacking Bret Hart at the behest of Mr. McMahon.  Following his attack on Hart, Batista would return to Batista Bomb John Cena on the steel steps after a brutal assault on the former WWE Champion.  Then, last Friday, Batista stepped out of the ring and allowed himself to get counted out in a match with CM Punk, effectively removing him from the Elimination Chamber match at the same named PPV.  Well, now it’s time for The Animal to step out and talk to Josh Matthews about his reasons for the actions of the past couple of weeks.  Matthews asks Batista about his actions and the Animal takes his time to respond.  The crowd starts chanting for Cena and Dave sits on the top turnbuckle for a few seconds before leaving the ring with microphone in hand.  All the while, the spotlight Batista has repeatedly requested is following him around the ring.  A fan wearing a Cena shirt gets in his face, motioning the “You Can’t See Me” much to the delight of the fans, and the Animal finally gets back in the ring.  He holds the microphone up to his mouth, then drops it and walks out again, this time heading up the ramp as the fans tell him what they think of him.  He yells out at them angrily asking if they really want an explanation and returns to the ring, grabbing the microphone and dropping it once more, then even kicks it away from himself and heads back up the ramp again, this time leaving the arena.

I don’t know what to make of this segment, honestly.  It really looked just like filler, and terrible filler at that as it did absolutely nothing but show Batista refusing to address anyone.  I guess that was the point.  It furthers Dave’s heel push without him really having to do anything.

Following a break, the Smackdown General Manager Teddy Long came out to address Batista and his refusal to both compete and explain himself.  Teddy signs a match between Edge and Batista on Smackdown, stating that since he doesn’t feel like talking tonight, then maybe he feels like competing.  But first, it’s time for some tag team action.

The Great Kahli and Matt Hardy vs. The Hart Dynasty

Matt is in the ring wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day in advance and talks about Kahli always having a great Valentine’s Day, but Matt’s going to have the best one ever as he introduces his special Valentine, Maria.  Following Maria’s entrance, Tyson Kidd and DH Smith come down to the ring and this match is under way.  Smith looks like he’s going to start things off against Kahli, but DH quickly tags out to Kidd and the Punjabi Powerhouse pulls him into the ring.  Kahli tags in his partner Matt, and the Dynasty is ready to take control of the match.  A week ago, Hardy & Kahli teamed with Johh Morrison to face Drew McIntyre and the Hart Dynasty, Morrison, Kahli, and Hardy getting the win there.  Natalya gets involved outside the ring, but Maria will have none of it, pulling the legs out from under Matt.  Kidd gets a roll up on Hardy, but only a 2 count, Matt gets a roll up of his own and this one barely gets a 1, 2, 3 for the win.

Rating:  * 3/4

Winners:  Matt Hardy and The Great Kahli

I’m not sure why Hardy is teaming with Kahli.  I don’t understand the pairing and therefore am not going to really comment on it beyond this.  Hopefully, though, they will move on to push Matt a little more in the near future.  Following the match, we learn of the first inductee into the Hall of Fame’s class of 2010, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.  I don’t think I need to go into this video piece as it’s run on all three shows now.  We’ll find out the next Inductee on Monday.

After a break, we get the Raw Rebound and talk about Elimination Chamber.  Grisham and Striker thank Cypress Hill for the official theme song.  They talk about the two big title matches at the PPV, and then we see the aftermath of the Rey Mysterio/CM Punk match where Rey got attacked by the Straight-Edge Society, putting the Ultimate Underdog to sleep.  Now it’s time for two more Elimination Chamber combatants to square off as R-Truth will take on the Shaman of Sexy, John Morrison.

R-Truth vs. John Morrison

Truth comes to the ring before the break and when we return, instead of asking “What’s up?” this week he asks “Who dat?” in honor of  the Super Bowl Champions Saints.  Truth and Morrison shake hands before the bell and these two faces are ready to do battle.  Morrison starts the match with some high flying offense and Morrison twists his ankle, rendering him unable to continue and giving R-Truth the win.  Morrison would hurt himself coming off of a roll over Truth’s back, landing on his ankle wrong.  Truth would help John Morrison to the back.

Winner:  R-Truth (due to injury to John Morrison)

Still ahead, Jericho and Undertaker will face off in a No Disqualification match.  We see a quick preview for NXT, which begins in 2 weeks.  And when we return to the arena, the 2010 Royal Rumble Winner Edge is on his way down to the ring.  Edge talks about his possible opponents at Wrestlemania, previewing the Elimination Chamber matches.  His first great line is calling Punk the love child of Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Charles Manson.  Edge has the potential to face 12 different stars depending on who wins each Elimination Chamber match as well as his choice of the winner.  Edge talks about possibly facing The Undertaker, who is still undefeated (and getting huge pops for it) at WrestleMania.  Edge then talks about his match next week against Batista, but before he can get too far into this, he’s interrupted by The Best in the World at what he does, Chris Jericho.  Jericho and Edge have a long history in the ring and Y2J is out to talk about Edge not mentioning him as a possible WrestleMania opponent.  Jericho calls himself a bad luck charm for Edge.  Chris was there when Edge was injured, but Chris doesn’t get injured, he just wins championships and carries the company on his back.  He advises Edge to choose the Raw champion and stay away from Jericho, who will walk out of the Elimination Chamber with the World Heavyweight Championship (that’s Jericho’s guarantee and my prediction, by the way).  Bad things will happen if Edge keeps getting in Jericho’s face and Jericho predicts a victory over the Undertaker tonight in the Main Event.  Cue those bells!!  Taker comes out in response to Jericho’s claim at a pending victory.  The Dead Man walks slowly and methodically to the ring, as usual, and Edge clears out in preparation for this contest, joining Grisham and Striker on commentary.

Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho
No Disqualification

Edge talks about what it takes to win in the Elimination Chamber, an accomplishment he has under his belt, and Edge tells us it’s the hardest night of the career among other things.  Edge also talks about what it’s like to face The Undertaker.  The two of them have been involved in pretty much every match conceivable.  Striker asks the question on everyone’s mind, will Edge challenge Taker should he win at Elimination Chamber and Edge refuses to divulge the information.  In the match, Jericho and Taker are going back and forth, fighting outside the ring off the bat.  When Undertaker and Jericho come back in the ring, Taker looks for Old School, but Jericho hits the ropes, forcing The Dead Man onto the top turnbuckle and following up with a Superplex.  Jericho stays toe to toe with Taker and Edge comments that only an elite few can accomplish that.  But the momentum swings back in the Taker’s favor with Snake Eyes and a big boot.  The Dead Man raises an arm, looking for a chokeslam but Jericho rolls out of the ring and onto the commentator’s table.  Edge calmly tells him to get back in the ring as Taker follows Y2J outside.  He hurls Jericho over the announce table towards Edge and the two men stare each other down.  Undertaker rolls Jericho back in the ring and takes Edge down with a big boot.  Jericho fights his way back and exposes a turnbuckle, but it backfires and Y2J gets sent into it instead.  Taker hits the Last Ride on Jericho and edge rolls into the ring, Spearing the Dead Man in response to the big boot before walking out of the arena.  Taker sites up and picks up Chris Jericho, who then hits the Codebreaker and gets the win over the Undertaker, picking up momentum as we’re now just over a week away from Elimination Chamber.

Rating:  ** 3/4

Winner:  Chris Jericho

Not a bad match overall.  It furthered a couple possible storylines between Edge and either Jericho or the Undertaker.  I will reiterate my prediction that Chris Jericho will win the Elimination Chamber match and go on to face Edge at WrestleMania.  But before we get there, Edge will make his big return to singles competition on Smackdown as next week he’ll face off with The Animal Batista.

But starting off the show tonight is someone with a bone to pick with the returning Edge, the man who claims to be the best in the world at what he does, as well as the face of Smackdown, Chris Jericho.  Edge’s return to the WWE as the #29 entrant in the Rumble prompted Jericho’s departure from the match itself and he has something to say to begin this week’s show.  Jericho talks about meticulously constructing his return to the World Heavyweight Championship, but in ten seconds, Edge (whose return was “unannounced”) ruined those plans.  He rants about how everyone is talking about Edge, but he’s a con artist.  Chris talks of how Edge walked out on him last year, leaving Jericho to defend the Unified Tag Team Championships by himself (um, hello, did he not bring in the Big Show?).  Teddy Long informed Jericho (sometime before the show presumably) that he has to qualify for the Elimination Chamber, and Chris is prompt to call Long out to the ring.  When Teddy doesn’t show, Jericho storms back to his office only to be met by (brace yourself, here comes a shocker) Edge!  Edge informs Jericho that he’s the reason Edge worked so hard to get back to the WWE.  Chris tells Edge he’ll regret ever coming back, but Edge says it’s Jericho who will regret it.  In celebration of his return, Edge will bring back The Cutting Edge with his guest the World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker.

Smackdown emanated from Memphis, TN and we see Elvis’s home briefly.  Then the Smackdown announcers do a very brief preview of the Raw Elimination Chamber match before Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre comes down to the ring to qualify for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match against his rival John Morrison and The Big Red Machine Kane.

Elimination Chamber Qualifier
Drew McIntire vs. John Morrison vs. Kane

Facing a veteran of the Elimination Chamber match like Kane has to be intimidating to these two men, and the rivals go after each other to start the match.  Kane quickly breaks it up, but Morrison and McIntyre double team the big Monster before going after each other once more.  Following a break, Morrison is out on the floor with Kane and McIntyre fighting inside the ring.  Kane has McIntyre on the mat, but Morrison comes in to save the match.  This one fall to a finish match is your typical triple threat match where during most occasions; one of the competitors is briefly out of the action as the other two do battle.  The odd man out comes in to save the match and continue.  I personally am not the biggest fan of one fall to a finish triple threat (and fatal four way) matches in general, but I won’t go into that here.  Back to the match at hand, McIntyre brings in the Intercontinental Championship belt and hits Kane in the stomach before connecting with a DDT on the monster.  Morrison breaks up the pin fall, climbs the ropes and connects with Starship Pain on Kane (I guess it’s Rhyme Time) for the victory and earns the first spot in the Elimination Chamber match.

Rating:  ***

Winner:  John Morrison

As I said, I’m not the biggest fan of triple threats, but as they go, this was a pretty solid match up. Morrison and McIntyre have both torn it up of late and this is no different.  Kane has been in some solid matches with Dolph Ziggler over the last month and this match was a great effort for him as well.  A couple interesting side notes:  since Morrison pinned Kane and not Drew McIntyre, this leaves his undefeated streak intact; and (this more my personal opinion) putting Morrison into the Elimination Chamber match basically promotes him up to the World Heavyweight Championship competition, which is where he deserves to be, as he’s grown quite a bit since both his days as part of MNM and his partnership with The Miz.  Whether John stays in main event competition following Elimination Chamber remains to be seen, but I personally believe he’s ready for the opportunity.

Following the next match we see the exclusive footage from after Raw went off the air, but first, it’s time for another qualifying match.

Elimination Chamber Qualifier
R-Truth vs. Mike Knox

What’s up?  R-Truth is taking on the behemoth Mike Knox.  The fans are clearly behind Truth here, but it’s Knox who is dominant off the bat. As Truth pulls the ropes down on Knox and leaps over onto the Bearded Behemoth (that one’s my own, but Matt Striker can feel free to use it), Todd Grisham and Striker speculate as to the damage Mike Knox could do in the ring.  But R-Truth comes to life as both men quickly come back in the ring.  Truth hits a big missile drop kick and follows it up by bounding off the ropes to hit a spinning elbow that catches Knox on the nose according to Matt Striker and it’s enough to keep the big man down for the three count.

Rating:  ½

Winner:  R-Truth

Ok, I’m a bit bewildered here.  R-Truth earned a spot in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber at the same named PPV, but this match was very short and really rubbed me the wrong way.  Nothing against R-Truth.  While I’m not his biggest fan, he does have some in ring skills.  What leaves me scratching my head is the fact that a spinning elbow to the face from someone the size of Truth on someone the size of Mike Knox just doesn’t seem realistic enough to be a match winner.  Knox is a monster of a man and it seems to me like it would (and has in the past) take a lot more to bring the big man down.  I’m just sayin’.

After a look at what’s been happening between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon, we get a look at the brutal footage of John Cena and Batista after Raw went off the air Monday night.  Cena came out to help Bret, Batista returned to the ring and assaulted Cena, throwing him into a ring post, the steel steps, over the announce table, and hitting him in the face with the steps before bringing them and Cena into the ring to drop the Dr. of Thuganomics onto the steps with a Batista Bomb (payback for John Cena eliminating the Animal at the Royal Rumble).  Looks like Cena vs. Batista will be the big brand war match at Mania this year.  Backstage, Punk is discussing Batista with Serena and Luke.  Punk wants to make sure he’s protected from The Animal because without the Pastor of Purity, the Straight-Edge Society wouldn’t exist.  When we return from commercial, it’s time for the next qualifier match.

Elimination Chamber Qualifier
Batista vs. CM Punk

It’s Heel vs. Heel in this match and it’s hard to tell who has more heat between Punk and Batista.  Neither man is a stranger to the World Heavyweight Championship.  Batista stands in the corner eyeing Punk before stepping out of the ring.  Batista looks like he wants nothing to do with Punk or his Straight-Edge Society.  Punk insists the ref issues the mandatory 10 count while The Animal walks halfway up the ramp.  Batista turns around and looks on as the count reaches 10 and he is counted out, sacrificing his opportunity at the World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber.

Winner:  CM Punk

I can’t really give this match a rating.  I don’t think it Failed, but it really doesn’t deserve a rating since there was really not a match.  Obviously The Animal Batista has something beyond the World Heavyweight Championship on his mine and I reiterate that we will more than likely see John Cena vs. Batista at WrestleMania XXIV.

As we come back, Matt Hardy is backstage congratulation Maria for her appearance in Celebrity Apprentice and Maria, in turn, wishes him luck in his qualifying match.

Elimination Chamber Qualifier
Matt Hardy vs. Chris Jericho

Hardy’s entrance to the ring is followed by another commercial and when we come back, Jericho is already in the ring awaiting the bell.  Earlier Jericho was upset about having to qualify for the match.  Chris is familiar with the Chamber, having been in five before, but will he make it 6?  He’s got a tough competition with Matt Hardy.  Hardy, the man who will never die, is always a question mark in the ring as he has an adaptive style and he comes full bore on Jericho.  They battle outside the ring and Hardy gets thrown into the steps.  Could we have another count out victory in a qualifier match?  Not quite.  Matt just barely beats the 10 count and the match continues.  Smart wrestling from Jericho, who uses Hardy’s time out of the ring to conserve as much energy as possible.  Matt Striker compares the Elimination Chamber to a Steel Cage, Hell in a Cell and a War Games match all rolled into one, an interesting and accurate comparison, in my opinion.  In the ring, Hardy and Jericho are pretty evenly matched, but the Lionsault can’t put Matt away and in turn, the Side Effect can’t finish off Chris.  Jericho attempts to lock in the Walls of Jericho, but Hardy counters it into a roll up.  Jericho blocks a Twist of Fate using the ropes, hits the Codebreaker and covers Hardy for the win.

Rating:  **

Winner:  Chris Jericho

A pretty good match between these two superstars.  With Jericho in the Elimination Chamber, I will make this prediction:  Look for Jericho to win the Elimination Chamber match to set up Edge vs. Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXIV.

Up next, the new Woman’s Champion, Mickie James is out to talk about her victory over Michelle McCool at the Royal Rumble.  James talks about “what goes around comes around” and starts to say that she’ll take on any comers when she’s interrupted by Beth Phoenix’s music.  We photos from Beth’s participation in the Royal Rumble Match and Phoenix is happy James got her moment in the sun, but Beth plans on taking the championship.  EXCUSE ME!!!!  Ugh, just when you thought it was safe to watch Smackdown, Vickie Guerrero comes out and says that a match between Beth Phoenix and Mickie James isn’t happening.  As the official consultant for Smackdown, Vickie is making a tag match right now between Mickie and Beth and McCool and Layla.

Beth Phoenix & Mickie James vs. Layla and Michelle McCool

Guerrero called McCool the real No. 1 Contender to Mickie James’s Woman’s Championship and McCool starts the match with Beth Phoenix.  And the former Woman’s Champion is all over Phoenix, working on her leg to keep the big woman down.  Layla is cheering to come into the match, but Beth sends her off the apron with an elbow.  Phoenix comes back against McCool and makes a tag to Mickie.  Beth knocks both Mickie and Michelle down before leaving the ring.  McCool gets a tag to Layla, who goes to pin the downed James and the Woman’s Champion counters into a roll up for the victory.

Rating:  Fail

Winners:  Beth Phoenix and Mickie James

Ok, WWE, you’ve had a couple of weeks now to try and impress me with your so-called Woman’s Division and you’ve fallen flat.  The match at the Royal Rumble Failed as did this one in my opinion.  I know these women can wrestle, I’ve seen it.  So, why not let them showcase their skills?  After seeing a Shimmer DVD, the WWE just falls flat.  For that sake, I hope Serena Deebs never gets into the hunt for the Woman’s Championship, especially if they won’t let her showcase her in-ring skills.

In hopes of bringing things back up, it’s time for World Up with Cryme Tyme.  The world of the day is King.  King:  Supreme, above the rest, without equal, loved and respected by all peeps and peers.  Shad is glad the word is King in Memphis Tennessee and the two talk about BB King, the King of Blues, and of course, The King, Elvis Presley.  And you can’t talk about Kings in Memphis without talking about Jerry “The King” Lawler.  And Word Up ends with Cryme Tyme saying Lawler is taking them to see Puppies.  With the PG Initiative at the WWE, does this mean they’re going to the pet store?

Elimination Chamber Qualifier
Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler

Well, Rey Mysterio lost his title opportunity at the Royal Rumble, but he gets another chance against Dolph Ziggler.  This is the final Qualification Match to set the state for Smackdown’s Elimination Chamber.  Ziggler is all over the masked man as he tries to hold Rey to the mat.  The Ultimate Underdog uses his speed and luchadore background to fight out of the possible pinning predicament.  Rey does not look like he’s in peak condition following his match against Taker and Ziggler has the masked wrestler scouted from their match last year for the Intercontinental Championship.  Overall, though, the match is pretty even, both taking their turns with the advantage.  Rey tries several times to quicken the pace and Ziggler shows excellent prowess with several counters to springboards and fast paced moves by the Ultimate Underdog.  Ziggler looks for a belly to back suplex or some variant, but Mysterio counters into a roll up for the win.  Dolph looks for some revenge, but gets a 619 for his troubles.

Rating:  **

Winner:  Rey Mysterio

Well, the Road to WrestleMania stops in the Elimination Chamber.  And now both Raw and Smackdown’s Main Events for the PPV are set.  For Smackdown, the World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker will be inside the monstrous structure with Chris Jericho, CM Punk, John Morrison, R-Truth, and Rey Mysterio.  As I predicted earlier, I see Chris Jericho walking out of the Elimination Chamber with another World Championship around is waist to add more heat to his budding rivalry with the returning Edge.

After seven months on the shelf with a ruptured Achilles tendon, Edge comes back to the Smackdown ring for The Cutting Edge to close out this edition of the Friday night program.  He starts off the program telling us he’s glad to be back home and how he defied the odds by coming back months earlier than doctors predicted.  Now he’s headed to WrestleMania where he’ll either get to face The Undertaker (for the time being) or Sheamus depending on which title he decides to go after.  Last Monday, Sheamus got in the face of Edge who got speared out of his boots for his troubles.  Before the Rated R Superstar can continue, however, Chris Jericho comes down to the ring to make trouble.  Chris gets in Edge’s face once more, saying that he didn’t deserve to win the Royal Rumble.  Edge threw Jericho over the top rope, however, which proved that Jericho didn’t deserve to win.  Chris claims to be the Face of Smackdown once more, but Edge countered that with his return, he is now the Face of Smackdown.  Edge is sick of hearing Jericho claiming to be the best in the world at what he does.  He intends to make Jericho eat his words.  The Straight-Edge Society is next to come out and interrupt the party.  Punk gets a chorus of ‘You Suck” but he reminds us that he does not, because he’s better than everybody.  But the big picture is not about Chris Jericho and Edge, it’s not about the Elimination Chamber, it’s about The Undertaker.  Out of the three of them, Punk claims to have a bigger, more glamorous spotlight against the Undertaker, being the first superstar in WWE history to make Taker tap out.  He’s also the first to challenge the WWE Universe to live “One Nation, Under Punk, Indivisible with Integrity and Sobriety for all.”  This is further proof that he’s better than everyone because he’s Straight-Edge.  He proclaims that he will become for first four time Straight-Edge Champion.  Then, the bell tolls, the lights go out and when the return, Taker is in the ring.  He fights off Punk and Edge fights off Jericho.  Taker and Edge stare each other down with the Rated R Superstar motioning to his waist to signify where the World Heavyweight Championship will go following WrestleMania XXIV.  That’s it for Smackdown this week.  The table is set for Elimination Chamber and the next couple of weeks should be exciting as the tension flares up between Chris Jericho and Edge.

-Taped from Dubya See Dubya country

-Your hosts are those announcer guys no one cares about

-ECW Championship: Christian(champion) vs. Ezekiel Jackson (w/William Regal)

Nothing says opening match  like Ezekiel Jackson. I guess the nicest thing I can say about this match is that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I give Christian all the credit for this match not completely sucking it up. Jackson uses power moves to control, while Christian uses speed. It’s all very basic, and thank God for that. Matt Stryker says it’s almost disturbing when Jackson is on offense. I love shoot comments that aren’t meant to be shoot comments. Regal interferes at one point and gets tossed from ringside. One thing that I’ll say about WWE these days is the interference and run-ins have been minimized the last year or so and the referees actually have a reasonable amount of authority. Back inside and Jackson uses more deliberate offense. Some stiff shots make me glad I will never have to wrestle Jackson. Christian deserves a medal of honor and move to Smackdown for making this stiff look passable. Christian finally hits The Kill Switch for the victory.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL ECW champion-Christian/12:00/*1/2

-Cryme Tyme isn’t happy only one of them is in the Rumble so they talk with Teddy Long. Tiffany is also there being dumb and blonde. Khali walks in and they sing “Pants on the Ground.” The Miz walks in to make the segment even more wacky. Long makes a match with Miz and MVP for the United States title… next. I love how these two have had a pretty good feud going on RAW, but they make the match announcement two minutes beforehand with no build.

-Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton have a moment.

-United States Championship: The Miz (champion) vs. MVP

These two had an angle on RAW a couple weeks ago that was really good. Then they got jobbed out this past Monday and I stopped caring. This is a solid if forgettable one-on-one match. I literally forgot everything that happened immediately after watching the match. There’s a lot of squabbling with the announcers, particularly Lawler and Stryker. I don’t think those two like each for reals. After a few minutes, Miz rolls MVP for the win. Very poor roll-up too.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL United States Champion-The Miz/7:22/*1/4

-After the match, Miz taunts MVP before eating a playmaker. I don’t care what anyone says. That is very poor sportsnmanship on MVP’s part. Very heelish move and unless they’re turning him back, I question what the point was other than to get heat back. I wish WWE could just push guys and stop worrying about keeping everyone at the same level.

-Big Show and Chris Jericho have a moment. R-Truth talks trash. Randy Orton and Ted Dibiase have a moment too. This is the gayest Royal Rumble ever… literally.

-WWE Heavyweight Championship: Sheamus (champion) vs. Randy Orton

I didn’t have a chance to review the TLC Pay-Per-View, but I thought Sheamus getting the WWE title was one of the dumbest decisions they’ve ever made. I still think it, but while he is the champion, I’d like to at least see him hold the belt until Wrestlemania and get put over as many people as possible. I was hoping this could be a good heel vs. heel match. I could not have been more wrong. First off, Orton’s entrance went something like two minutes. So slow. Then the bell rang, and these proceeded to have a boring boring match. Limbs were worked over and quickly forgotton. The match moved in slow motion at certain points. The positive is the Atlanta crowd cheered for Orton passionately. Instead of writing this off as a fluke, I’ve become a believe in the idea that the “WWE Universe” wants to cheer for Orton because he wins most of his matches and he has a fully developed character that is at least somewhat realistic. Then to compound my boredom, Cody Rhodes hits Sheamus and this leads to Orton being disqualified. Orton had the RKO and appeared set to win the world title too. Bad match and I’m almost dreading a rematch between these two.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL WWE Heavyweight Champion- Sheamus/12:24/*1/2

-Ted Dibiase comes out, and Randy Orton fires both members of the Legacy after weeks of tension among the three men. Not exactly a stirring beginning to this feud. I’m at least curious to see how this is followed up on RAW. BUT I still think Dibiase and Rhodes will get booed out of the building unless something significant happens.  The other positive is Sheamus kicks Orton in the head with a boot and leaves him laying. Least the champ got to look strong in the end.

-WWE Women’s Championship: Michelle McCool vs. Mickie James

Quite frankly, this doesn’t deserve a recap. This is one of the lamest dumbest feuds I’ve seen in 15 years of watching professional wrestling. McCool is a terrible wrestler, a terrible talker, and if it wasn’t for her porking (pun very much intended)one of the main eventers, she’d still be teaching kids in Orlando. Mickie James puts this feud (God, I hope so) to bed by quickly hitting a DDT and pinning McCool and winning the women’s title.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Mickie James/:22/FAIL

The other Divas come out and throw cake in the faces of McCool and Layla.

-World Heavyweight Championship: The Undertaker (champion) vs. Rey Mysterio

These two had a decent little match on Smackdown a few weeks ago that was fun. I liked this match a great deal as well because Mysterio bumped around like a lawn dart, and Taker could just punch and kick to his heart’s content. Best match on the show up to this point although that doesn’t say a whole lot given the rest of the show. My main issue I didn’t feel for one second like Mysterio had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning this match. There were a couple of cool counters such as when ‘Taker countered the 619 into a near tombstone and the boot right into Mysterio who was trying to hit a crossbody.  ‘Taker catches Mysterio in the middle of the West Coast pop and hits his Last Ride powerbomb for the win.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL World Heavyweight Champion-The Undertaker/9:41/***

-Royal Rumble

I’m not providing play-by-play of the Royal Rumble, but here are list of entrants in the order they came out  and who eliminated them. I’ll give some overall impressions after the the list.

1. Dolph Ziggler (eliminated by CM Punk)
2. Evan Bourne (eliminated by CM Punk)
3. CM Punk (eliminated by Triple H)
4. JTG (eliminated by CM Punk
5. The Great Khali (eliminated by Beth Phoenix
6. Beth Phoenix (eliminated by CM Punk)
7. Zack Ryder (eliminated by CM Punk)
8. Triple H (eliminated by Shawn Michaels)
9. Drew McEntyre (eliminated by Triple H and Shawn Michaels)
10. Ted Dibiase (eliminated by Shawn Michaels)
11. John Morrison (eliminated by Shawn Michaels)
12. Kane (eliminated by Triple H)
13. Cody Rhodes (eliminated by Shawn Michaels)
14. MVP (elimninated himself)
15. Carlito (eliminated by Shawn Michaels)
16. The Miz (eliminated by MVP)
17. Matt Hardy (eliminated by Kane)
18. Shawn Michaels (eliminated by Batista)
19. John Cena (eliminated by Edge)
20. Sheldon Benjamin (eliminated by John Cena)
21. Yoshi Tatsu (eliminated by John Cena)
22. The Big Show (eliminated by R-Truth)
23. Mark Henry (eliminated by R-Truth)
24. Chris Masters (eliminated by Big Show)
25. R-Truth (eliminated by Kofi Kingston)
26. Jack Swagger (eliminated by Kofi Kingston)
27. Kofi Kingston (eliminated by John Cena)
28. Chris Jericho (eliminated by Edge)
29. Edge
30. Batista (eliminated by John Cena)

I thought there were a lot of positives and negatives to this Rumble. Positives included the inclusion of Edge. Having him come out as a surprise made the show memorable and gave the show an air of unpredictability. C.M. Punk eliminating people and cutting promos was highly creative, and my favorite elimination ever came when Punk threw Zack Ryder out after hitting him in the head with the microphone. I also liked Shawn Michaels eliminating Triple H in the middle out of nowhere, and the emotion he himself shows after being eliminated by Batista.

Negatives included the damn thing moving too fast. If these were 90 second intervals, then I’d be stunned. It didn’t help that guys were taking an hour and a half to get to the ring and being eliminated. I never got the sense that these guys were battling for an opportunity to main event Wrestlemania. This was particularly true of the mid-carders, most of whom were tossed out in short order. Dibiase or Rhodes in particular should have at least gotten a couple quality eliminations or lasted for 30 minutes to showcase themselves for a future push. Everyone except the main eventers basically looked like Santino did last year.

Overall, this was a Rumble with some awesome moments, but very little excitement except for Edge coming out and winning.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Edge/49:20/***

Overall Thoughts: Two three star matches does not a thumbs up show make. There were certainly some enjoyable moments in the Rumble, but everything in the undercard felt superfluous and rushed something awful. I’ll give it a thumbs down, but not so far down that I felt like my intelligence was insulted.