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When this PPV was announced the plan was to
have all the matches end in submissions but someone in the WWE actually took a
look at that idea and decided that only the main events would be submission
matches. Now considering some of the matches booked for the card that was a wise
choice and saved the crowd the horror of seeing Kane and Khali trying to make
each other submit. We were going to get an Intercontinental title match with
Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison but they couldn’t come up with a finish for the
match so we will see them go at it at the Hell in a Cell PPV in three weeks
unless they change their mind again.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The "Bo's Prediction" part of the review below was
posted on late Saturday Night (091209). |
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UNIFIED TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
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Big Show &Chris Jericho vs. MVP & Mark
Henry |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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The dynamic of having Jericho on both shows makes it less than
likely that he and Show will lose their titles. His facials at the start of the
Bob Barker hosted Raw were worth watching the show since he looked ticked,
disdainful and whiny at the same time. The sudden teaming of MVP and Henry
actually could work but it would have made more sense if the Hart Dynasty were
the challengers here since the show is in Canada. I expect a decent match with
Jericho and MVP doing all the work. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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I would have expected this match to have
come second or third on the card but not as the opener. MVP and Henry actually
came out in semi matching outfits. Common sense had Jericho and MVP start out
the match and they kept the audience into the match. We actually saw Henry pick
up Show twice during the match. The best move in the match was a float over into
DDT by MVP on Jericho. Show punched Henry in the head from outside of the ring
and Jericho got the pin to keep the titles. This was a pretty decent opener that
didn’t lose the attention of the audience at any point. This program has some
mileage on it so we aren’t even close to seeing it end.
This was followed by Josh Matthews interviewing Legacy who said that they were
going to win and break DX. |
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UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH:
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Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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Since this match was added at the last minute and hasn’t had much
of a buildup I find it hard to see the audience caring about it at all. The Miz/Cena
‘feud’ was dull and pointless so they had the Miz challenge Kofi for his belt
which gets little TV time and even less interest. Kofi loses nothing if he
doesn’t retain the belt and the Miz is obnoxious enough to get the fans worked
up so let him win here and see what he can do with it. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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This match was added the day before the PPV
and usually in that case the match sucks because the crowd has a hard time
getting into it but this was surprisingly good. The Miz did his opening speech
in French and then Kofi came out to a very good pop. The bulk of the match was a
kick fest with a lot of almost pin falls. It is hard to believe that at one
point Miz had little wrestling ability at all because he showed he is capable of
having a good match. Kofi kept his belt by finally nailing a trouble in paradise
but this feud isn’t near over yet as we saw on the Raw that followed the PPV.
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TAG TEAM GRUDGE MATCH:
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DX vs. Legacy (submissions count anywhere in
the Bell Centre) |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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The nature of the match suggests that it will go long since the
four will take a tour of the facility during the match. That means we will go
into the stands, the bathrooms, on the ramp entrance, backstage and anywhere
else they can think of. HBK has used the figure four as a finishing move; HHH
has used it also but has also used a version of the Indian death lock. DiBiase
has used the million dollar dream (called Dream Street) but Rhodes hasn’t used a
submission yet so he has to come up with one. The clock is ticking on Legacy as
it is currently constructed since DiBiase has to turn face before Marine 2 comes
out and Cody still has the attack of Dusty by Orton on his mind story wise. If
you are going to break them up then there is no harm in letting Legacy go over
here since Orton isn’t going to leave the building with the title. That is what
a smart booker would do since DX won the last match but considering who DX is
they will want the win. If that sounds like a move straight out of the WCW
playbook it is and the WWE hasn’t shown they have learned anything from it. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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Everything started with the fans cheering
the man who screwed Bret and the son in law of the other man who screwed Bret.
Once DX got into the ring the ‘You Screwed Bret’ chant started and HHH joked
that HBK was the one who did it and he wasn’t there. Legacy came out next and
the first thing I noticed was the weird bump on the back of Ted DiBiase’s ear.
It was kind of distracting and JR would have told us what the deal was but Cole
and Lawler had no comment. This match went into the stands, out to the
concessions area, back down the stairs, into the seats by the entrance and back
behind the screen. The match showed the four men just beating the hell out of
each other. HBK was tossed onto the floor from the seats by the screen and the
action went backstage so that Legacy could beat the hell out of HHH while HBK
recovered. After destroying the beverage table and HHH got clocked in the head
with a cooler Legacy went back to the ring area to beat on HBK some more. The
finish had Rhodes lock HBK in a sharpshooter on the ring post while DiBiase
locked in the Million Dollar Dream on him as well. HBK tapped and for the first
time in a while the booking team didn’t have the star team go over at the
expense of the younger team. DX beating the Spirit Squad like a drum killed them
and drove most of the team out of the WWE. Granted that was a lame gimmick but
if they had been booked as a team that won despite the lame outfits then we
would have created some more mid card talent and pushed one or two as a major
star. So far the show hasn’t had a bad match yet but that would change very
soon.
This was followed by an interview segment involving Orton and Matthews that was
supposed to be borderline creepy but really wasn’t. Orton was more or less
calling Cena a hypocrite and as he kept talking I expected him to attack
Matthews but he didn’t. |
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SINGAPORE CANE/LET'S GRAB A BEER MATCH:
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Great Khali vs. Kane |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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This waste of time feud should have ended at the last PPV but
because the WWE apparently believes in torture continues with this match. I
guess there will be perverse pleasure in listening to Jim Ross try to make this
match interesting but that’s about all we will get here. Since Kane went over
last time then Khali will go over here and hopefully end this torture of a feud. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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The only thing interesting about this match
was the fact that each ring post had a bouquet of canes on it. Kane was the
first to use the cane and as the match continued we could see the welts forming
on each man. Runjin Singh used a cane on Kane here but when it was all said and
done Kane won with a choke slam. This wasn’t bowling shoe ugly but I hope that
this is the end of this program since Kane has won both PPV matches.
This was followed by Eva interviewing CM Punk who actually mentioned Jeff
Hardy’s legal problems. He claimed he wasn’t scared of the Undertaker but when
the lights went out he hid behind Eva. Jimmy Wang Yang picked up some PPV money
by revealing he was just playing with Punk and got beat up for his trouble.
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ECW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH (no
stipulations):
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Christian(C) vs. William Regal |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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At the last PPV there wasn’t even a match between these two since
Regal’s still unnamed faction liberally interfered in the match a few seconds
in. If the bookers allow these two to actually wrestle for a while before the
interference starts then we could get a good match here. Booking 101 suggests
that Christian wins here since he has been getting beaten down on a regular
basis but if you want to really push the heel group then Regal needs to go over
and become so hated that fans will be begging for him to get his ass kicked.
Christian doesn’t lose much if he loses since he is over with the fans more than
anyone else on the ECW roster. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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Christian came out to a nice pop. Regal and
his minions came out next but it was announced that by orders of ECW GM Tiffany
Koslov and Jackson had to leave the ring and as quickly as possible. With the
two big distractions out of the way we got a damn good match here. The first
blood of the night came from Regal who took a hard shot to the mouth. Regal
showed new move after new move in this match and Matt Stryker kept calling him
Master Regal in between showing us he got a new dictionary. After a great deal
of back and forth offense Christian hit the kill switch and retained his title.
From a wrestling standpoint this was the best match on the card. |
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INTERCONTINENTAL MATCH:
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Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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So let’s see how this works. Mysterio has been on vacation more
or less after the last PPV so we have a match that has had little or no set up
involving one of the most popular men on the roster and a guy who has gotten
past having being stuck with a lame name and gimmick. We can get the motivation
by having Jim Ross say that Ziggler used his rematch clause but wouldn’t it have
been better if they had a few encounters before the PPV? This should be a good
match but I do not expect Ziggler to win here because he was supposed to have
won at the last PPV but Rey was promised a long run with the IC belt so they
changed their minds the day of the show. If Ziggler does win maybe his finisher
will finally get a name. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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This was followed by the introduction of the
first ever IC champ Pat Patterson. He was warmly received since he is Canadian
and as he was about to introduce new IC champ John Morrison Dolph Ziggler
crashed the party. The two exchanged old jokes (but still funny ones) for a
while. The crowd started chanting ‘shut the f-up’ and then Ziggler kicked
Patterson after calling him a coward. He was about to do something else but then
Morrison came out. Since the two were screwed out of PPV money at the last
minute this segment made you want to see Morrison take Ziggler out. |
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WWE CHAMPIONSHIP-"I QUIT" MATCH:
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Randy Orton(c) vs. John Cena |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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Cena has gotten his ass kicked at the end of each match that he
and Orton have been involved in. At the last PPV Brett DiBiase interfered and he
got an RKO in the ring ropes before losing. On Monday’s show he got an RKO into
a chair at the end. I have been watching wrestling for years and when that
happens then the guy who gets his ass kicked always wins the big match that
follows. That isn’t going to change this time around so Cena is getting the
belt. Orton is better as the whiny challenger anyway and the fact that he has to
say ‘I Quit’ gives the fans something else to insult him about. Orton can quit
and move on but it has already been established that Cena hasn’t submitted,
tapped or anything of the kind. You also have to balance the roster of champions
with having at least one face. Punk is a heel, Regal is likely to win the ECW
belt and he is also a heel so you need at least one face as champ and Cena is
it. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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The ending here was as expected but it was a
pretty good journey to get there. The announcers referenced the fact that Cena
got an RKO into a chair at the end of the last Raw. Cena took a header out of
the ring and Orton cracked him with a monitor. Orton used handcuffs on Cena and
cuffed him to the ring to beat on him. After hitting him in the head with the
mike he took one cuff off and hung him from the ring then beat on him with his
fists and one of the leftover canes. He even threw water in his face but Cena
spit it back at him. You could see the red marks on Cena’s stomach after the
cane shots. Orton then took one cuff off and locked the other one onto the
bottom turnbuckle and kicked Cena some more. He tried to hit him with a chair
and missed. Cena then flipped him and got the key from around Orton’s neck and
cuffed him with one end so they couldn’t escape each other. Orton hit Cena with
an RKO and tried to get the key so that he could unlock himself but Cena won’t
let him. Cena locked in the STF but used the chain to pull Orton back in an
uncomfortable position and Orton said the words. This was another great match. |
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WORLD TITLE MATCH:
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CM Punk vs. Undertaker in a submissions match |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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Last I heard the original plan was for Taker to go over here and
win back the belt but I have also heard that this match is the only one that
will have a screw job ending. Punk hasn’t used his original finisher the
anaconda vise in a while and Taker has the previously named Hell’s Gate so both
have submissions in their arsenal. I would expect a chair or something to be
involved here while the ref isn’t looking and Punk submitting a bloody and
unconscious Taker. I would also expect to see Taker come out on Smackdown and
announce that a rematch has been set up by GM Teddy Long and that rematch will
take place at Hell in a Cell. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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Punk came out in his brand new T-shirt
and Taker followed in his multi buckled long armless coat. Punk jumped out of
the ring on Taker but when the action got back into the ring Taker threw Punk
out and onto the floor. At one point the two just started punching and kicking
each other as the crowd cheered. Taker hit snake eyes but took more kicks from
Punk. Out of nowhere Taker put Punk in the Hell’s Gate and Punk tapped out. As
Taker was moving around the ring Smackdown GM Teddy Long came out and informed
the crowd that Hell’s Gate was still a banned move (a ruling by Vickie Guerrero)
and that the match had to continue. Once the match restarted Punk put Taker in
the anaconda vise the bell rung. Ref Scott Armstrong (refs aren’t named but I
still know who they are) then handed Punk the belt and ran to the back. Yes,
boys and girls, the Montreal Screw Job lives again. Punk walked up to the top of
the ramp (where Teddy was still standing and looking something) and gloated as
the Undertaker stood in the ring ticked and confused at the same time. Word that
the finish of this match was going to become a screw job started leaking out the
day before but I really wasn’t expecting this move even though it made perfect
sense. |
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This renamed PPV actually
turned out to be a good one with an ending that we all should have seen coming
and a booking decision that made sense and wasn’t based on who the participants
in the match were. The Kane/Khali match sucked but not at the level I was
expecting and showed that getting hit with canes leaves marks. The dropping of
the IC match between Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison didn’t leave them off the
card since they shared the ring with the first IC champ Patterson. The Miz/Kingston
match was actually pretty good considering it was added the day before the show.
It was also interesting that the Jeff Hardy legal situation was actually
referenced by Punk to further establish his heel character. The day after the
show actually named two matches for the Hell in a Cell PPV in three weeks which
means the card should be set by next week. |
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Photo ©
2009 WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment
Article © 2009 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
