- Team Mysterio (Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, MVP, Chris Masters & Big Show) Defeats Team Del Rio (Alberto Del Rio, Tyler Reks, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre & Jack Swagger) When Big Show pinned Drew McIntyre to end the match.
Natalya beats LayCool to win the Diva's title. LayCool attacks her during her celebration and a returning Beth Pheonix clears LayCool out from the ring.
Kane Retains after the old "Both wrestlers had their shoulders pinned" finish over Edge.
Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater defeat Vladimir Kozlov & Santino Marella to retain the Tag belts.
Randy Orton beats Wade Barret after an RKO. Cena and Orton beat Nexus as they come to the ring, and Cena throws his Nexus arm band at them.
The undercard of the year. The main events of the zzzz.
First two hours had four good matches and a feelgood diva's title change. Then the show was basically over. Kane/Edge was Kane's customary awful title match (four in a row) but Orton/Barrett was, like last month, pretty blah for something with all that buildup. It had all the drama of a house show match, and Cena didn't even really do anything until the last 30 seconds. Maybe they pulled all the creative spots for tomorrow night since they thought too many people expected Miz to come out. The finish of Kane/Edge was at least better than the usual thoughtless DQ they do when they want to prolong programs (e.g. Orton/Sheamus at SummerSlam). So do they put Kane in the ladder match or stick to tables or chairs?
File in the Matt Striker highlight reel: at the count of 3 in the main event, there's a pause, then he shouts "CENA IS FREE!" Lawler: "Cena is fired." "...right."
On the bright side, WWE strung together its first good PPV undercard in a long time, highlighted by Daniel Bryan's customary awesome opener (four in a row). Sheamus and Morrison was another good match with a great surprise finish with Morrison winning. In fact it was such a surprise that no one reacted because no one believed he was winning (and because it ended with a flying knee instead of Starship Pain for whatever reason). I guess they're doing two PPV matches so John had to win the first one to keep it going.
Kaval/Ziggler didn't have a lot of heat because they put a TV jobber in a PPV match but it kept the quality streak going. Then they had a really fun Survivors match with Swagger, Rey, and Kofi running all over the place. The only sad part was that MVP in his hometown was by far the most popular guy in the match and he was the first one out.
Also John Cena's career is over, how sad.
1. Bryan made Ted tap to the LeBell lock.
2. Miz bonked Bryan with the briefcase then did an interview saying he was getting tired of carrying the case around.
3. Morrison pinned Sheamus after a couple flying kicks.
4. Ziggler pinned Kaval with a rollup.
5. The Tampa Bay Reys defeated Los Visionarios a. McIntyre pinned MVP when he fell on him while suplexing him into the ring 'cause Del Rio pulled his foot and held it. b. Del Rio eliminated Masterpiece with the armbar. c. Show knocked out Del Rio after he tagged out and he was carried out of the match and never came back. d. Show KO'd Cody after he was repeatedly struck in the face. e. Kofi pinned Reks with TIP. f. Swagger eliminated Kofi with the anklelock. g. Rey pinned Swagger after a rocket launcher. h. Show pinned McIntyre with a chokeslam. SURVIVAL: Rey and Show
6. Natalya won the women's championship by sharpshooting Michelle. Laycool attacked her after the match and Beth Phoenix made the save.
7. Edge and Kane double pin when Edge speared Kane and fell on him with all shoulders down.
8. Nexus beat Santino & Kozlov with the Heath-Zag aka the One-Hand Rock Slam.
9. Orton pinned Barrett after Wade shoved Cena and Cena shoved him back, right into the RKO. Cena hesitated for a second but counted the fall, then spent literally ten minutes saying goodbye to the fans.
I'll credit them on a good red herring. I was 100% sure Miz was cashing in tonight after that promo, but it didn't come. Tonight would have been a great night to do it, so I just wonder what they're waiting for now.
Jeers to that HORRIBLE Kane/Edge ending. Kane's been doing the mic work of his career during the last year, but his PPV title defenses have been terrible.
Last Monday made it so painfully clear how badly this company needs JR. JR would have gone to great lengths to put over both guys in the opener (DiBiase showed great stuff tonight on top of Bryan's normal good outing). Instead, you've got Michael Cole continuing to bury the talent after both guys busted their ass. I have to ask again, what's the PAYOFF to Cole's schtick supposed to be? I hope the answer isn't "to piss off the IWC", because at this point, the commentary is really becoming a detriment to the in-ring talent.
Happy trails to John Cena until tomorrow night. But actually, I'd love to see them try and sell this for a while. Maybe give Cena a vacation until the Rumble, just to throw people off?
I just hope that Barrett DOESN'T in a week or two ends "Cena's fired" so he can get his hands on him. That would be so lame.
they blew it with this PPV. It started off really good, then the screwjob cluster fuck you knew Kane-Edge would be, the horrible Santino match, and no Miz involvement in the finale, and Cena's final farewell looks so phony and I don't believe a person in the stands believe he will be gone more than a few weeks while he films his new movie.
Watch us get a Cena "farewell speech" tomorrow on Raw.
I made a last minute decison to buy this show on the strength of the undercard. It looked really strong on paper, and so it came to pass. Highlights included Daniel Bryan continuing to have loud reactions and great matches, the return of Beth Phoenix, and Cody Rhodes' hilariously over-the-top reaction to getting hit in the face by Kofi Kingston. That Survivor Series match was excellent as well, at least until the last three minutes when it seemed to fall apart. Did Swagger forget that he was supposed to be taking a splash from Rey the first time? I swear I heard Show calling him out on it too.
Random thoughts:
What was going on with the lights dimming three times randomly in the first half hour?
The commentary during the Ziggler/Kaval match was far too over the top, and only served to bury both men in my eyes.
Morrison pins Sheamus out of nowhere, crowd doesn't react. Please turn Morrison heel.
Really wasn't expecting an outcome other than what we recieved in the main event. I wasn't expecting the execution to be quite as lame as it was, though. I'm very cynical about WWE main events and those that compete in them, because WWE's booking of it has been utterly gutless for years now. Tonight was a night where they needed to take some risks, and of course, they didn't - which is completely predictable of 2010 WWE.
Okay, so the show finished on a bad note with awful Kane/Edge, Kozarella/Nexus and Orton/Barrett matches. But the undercard was so good that this is probably the best show of 2010 since Money in the Bank.
Now I'm confused as far as a possible Wrestlemania card is concerned.
Cena vs. Barrett? Cena vs. Orton? Cena vs. Orton vs. Barrett? Undertaker vs. Barrett? Cena vs. Orton vs. Undertaker vs. Barrett? Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz? Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole? Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler (unification match)?
Kaval is the biggest dummy in WWE history. He cashed in his guaranteed title shot for winning NXT for the INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE instead of the WORLD TITLE and he FAILED. I don't think a boner that monumental has ever happened before.
The show sucked, almost top to bottom. Bryan's opener was the best match but it wasn't nearly as good as the Ziggler match last month. Then everything else dropped from there, with two disgraceful World Title main events and the lousiest ending to CeNexus - the biggest and best angle they had going - possible. Normally, they'd have scanned the crowd looking for children and women crying because Cena is "Fired" but either they couldn't find any or they didn't bother because NO ONE BELIEVES HE'S FIRED.
Summerslam was lousy and Survivor Series was lousy. That's two of the Big Four in a row. I'm dreading the Rumble, I'll tell you that much, especially since I'll be there live for it. (Thank God my buddy in Miami was out of town, canceling the initial plan for us to be there live for Survivor Series.)
During the show, one of my friends asked: "What do you think would happen if we ran the company?" I said, "Are you kidding? We'd run the business into the ground. We'd just book shit because it's funny, but it'd only be funny to like three people." Then he said, "That's exactly what Vince does! Except he's the only one who thinks it's funny."
Originally posted by superfurryThe commentary during the Ziggler/Kaval match was far too over the top, and only served to bury both men in my eyes.
I kind of feel bad for Lawler. He has a comfortable schtick he doesn't like to stray from and probably never expected to need to 17 years into his WWE announcing career, but the commentary is so bad with Cole and Striker playing random contrarians with no business sense to amuse themselves that Lawler, when Lawler the person and Lawler the character haven't taken anything seriously in years, is so baffled by what's being said that he has to crowbar in all the normal, logical points that would've otherwise gone unsaid.
Morrison pins Sheamus out of nowhere, crowd doesn't react. Please turn Morrison heel.
I just don't think anyone expected the pin to come after a knee to the face two moves into Morrison's big comeback. If they'd built to a big Starship Pain crescendo or even just a flashier ending I think it would've gotten a good pop.
Tonight was a night where they needed to take some risks, and of course, they didn't - which is completely predictable of 2010 WWE.
I think the big disappointment of the angle is how they almost lucked into something that created real emotion with Cena in Nexus (Cena's loudest reactions in years, impromptu "never give up" chants) and apparently got nervous because his merchandise dipped and then dropped all the good parts of the angle and pussyfooted to "Cena has to be their butler and is kind of annoyed but still beats them up sometimes." I guess we'll see where it goes from here.
Originally posted by John OrquiolaDuring the show, one of my friends asked: "What do you think would happen if we ran the company?" I said, "Are you kidding? We'd run the business into the ground. We'd just book shit because it's funny, but it'd only be funny to like three people." Then he said, "That's exactly what Vince does! Except he's the only one who thinks it's funny."
I think ultimately, a LOT of people would do that. I know that a friend of mine and I are basically the same way.
I am not sure what I make of this PPV. Undercard looked good, but the last few matches reeked of terribleness and is it shocking that Nexus was involved in two of the last three matches. Just by reading the reports, it sounded like Cena's send off went on as long as Gone with the Wind. I am guessing its movie time for Cena or just some time away from the business to give Orton a chance to run with the ball. Maybe even elevate Morrison, Bryan or R-Truth. Unless its all a misdirection and this turns into an email campaign to get John back or the GM makes a match to get John back tonight verses Wade. Regardless, they did their job for making Raw interesting for tonight while sacrificing the PPV main event.
I also agree that if I had storyline powers, I would run it into the ground too, but I think what me and my friends find funny would actually have an audience as opposed to Vince. The real temptation is do you book yourself into the storylines just for the hell of it.
Originally posted by John OrquiolaKaval is the biggest dummy in WWE history. He cashed in his guaranteed title shot for winning NXT for the INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE instead of the WORLD TITLE and he FAILED. I don't think a boner that monumental has ever happened before.
Summerslam was lousy and Survivor Series was lousy. That's two of the Big Four in a row. I'm dreading the Rumble, I'll tell you that much, especially since I'll be there live for it. (Thank God my buddy in Miami was out of town, canceling the initial plan for us to be there live for Survivor Series.)
Agreed. Could've only been worse if someone cashed in the MITB briefcase for the IC belt. Or US belt, which I was afraid they were going to do with Miz/Bryan for a while.
You could make an argument that Mania was pretty lousy too, other than the main event. But one show with a near classic match doesn't really get a passing grade overall in my book.
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
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