Weekly update
Here's what happened on ECW and Smackdown this week, leading up to the Hell In A Cell PPV.
ECW (Sept. 29)
William Regal opens the show, announcing that GM Tiffany had a car accident and won't be here, and that Regal himself will be running the show tonight. Sensibly, he's not allowed to make any decisions about the ECW title; however, unluckily for my man Christian, Regal sets up a 4-on-1 handicap match for tonight: Regal, Vladimir Kozlov, Ezekiel Jackson, and Zack Ryder vs. Christian. Whoa, this could go badly.
Later, backstage, Regal gets chewed out over the phone by the home office. He gets overruled, and the 4-on-1 match is now 4-on-4; Tommy Dreamer, Yoshi, and Goldust will be joining Christian's team. Aw, *phbbbtt*. :P Yay for Christian having friends in his corner, but I'm kind of a sucker for the pre-PPV heroic stand against lousy odds, e.g. John Cena's gauntlet match on Raw.
Just before the big match, Christian is seen rallying the troops backstage. He tells Tommy that they're going to war; he tells Yoshi that they need him to step up tonight; he finds Goldust and calls him a freak. LOL.
Match time. Lots of tagging in and out; everybody gets in on the action. After a while, things start to look bad for My Hero, but he manages to tag out; then the traditional all-in brawl happens, and Yoshi takes down Regal for the win. Go team. :)
Smackdown (Oct. 2)
For this show, I had the rare opportunity to introduce a friend of mine to WWE fandom. She seemed to enjoy the show, so I count it as a success.
It's Smackdown's 10th anniversary! A plethora of superstars are partying backstage.
Batista vs. Kane: It's a match. Batista wins.
Backstage, Michael Cole is a dumbass; Hornswaggle slaps Maria's ass; Finlay proposes a toast, but CM Punk shows up to interrupt and declare a new era of prohibition on Smackdown. Everybody looks at him like, "Are you delusional?" and then they get back to their drinks. (Finlay actually downed his shot in the middle of Punk's rant, which made me laugh.) Vickie Guerrero is also here. Then Santino makes an entrance dressed as Undertaker, scaring the crap out of Teddy Long in the process.
The Miz & Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison & Kofi Kingston: Jack Swagger is on commentary. Miz and Morrison are in the ring to start, which reminds me of how irritating I found Miz when he was tag partners with Morrison. The new Miz is way cooler. Miz and Ziggler get the win.
Backstage again. Chris Jericho and Big Show arrive, both wearing suits (yay!), to announce that they are the real stars here. Then somebody stumbles over to throw up on Jericho's shoes, and Jericho puts on the best totally-grossed-out face ever, while Big Show takes one look at the mess and dives off-screen for some sympathetic hurling.
The Rock does a long and fairly entertaining piece on video. He makes fun of Dolph Ziggler and CM Punk, admits that he's a little afraid of Undertaker, and states his intention to guest-host Raw one of these days. Yes, please!
Michelle McCool vs. Melina, lumberjack (lumberjill?) match for the women's championship: Melina is less irritating tonight, but still irritating. McCool wins it to keep the championship. (Granted, Beth Phoenix hit Melina when the ref wasn't looking, which set up McCool's final blow. Beth Phoenix needs another title shot.)
Backstage, Drew McIntyre introduces himself to the room at large as the future champion. This is R-Truth's cue to attack him. Drew doesn't look like much, but he does have a really cute Scottish accent.
Now for the main event.
Undertaker, John Cena, & DX vs. CM Punk, Randy Orton, & Legacy: Whoa, lots of eye candy to keep track of. I had trouble deciding who to watch at any given moment. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had a long moment of Meaningful Glaring at each other (ha!). Dibiase & Rhodes, rather than bowing out to Orton like they used to, are totally in this match for themselves. LOVE. After the traditional end-of-match brawl clears up, Orton is trapped like a rat, alone in the ring with the other team, and Undertaker hits the Tombstone for the win.
After the match, there's a flurry of confetti. Ooh, sparkly! Undertaker just seems irritated by it. Punk runs away, clutching his title belt like a teddy bear while Undertaker gives him a Meaningful Glare.
Sources:
Kevin Innarelli: ECW Real-Time Coverage for 9/29/2009 (via Pulse Wrestling)
Brian Eison: Smackdown Recap for 10/02/09 (via Pulse Wrestling)
wwegirls: Girls Talk Smack 10/02/09
And tomorrow night, Hell In A Cell!
ECW (Sept. 29)
William Regal opens the show, announcing that GM Tiffany had a car accident and won't be here, and that Regal himself will be running the show tonight. Sensibly, he's not allowed to make any decisions about the ECW title; however, unluckily for my man Christian, Regal sets up a 4-on-1 handicap match for tonight: Regal, Vladimir Kozlov, Ezekiel Jackson, and Zack Ryder vs. Christian. Whoa, this could go badly.
Later, backstage, Regal gets chewed out over the phone by the home office. He gets overruled, and the 4-on-1 match is now 4-on-4; Tommy Dreamer, Yoshi, and Goldust will be joining Christian's team. Aw, *phbbbtt*. :P Yay for Christian having friends in his corner, but I'm kind of a sucker for the pre-PPV heroic stand against lousy odds, e.g. John Cena's gauntlet match on Raw.
Just before the big match, Christian is seen rallying the troops backstage. He tells Tommy that they're going to war; he tells Yoshi that they need him to step up tonight; he finds Goldust and calls him a freak. LOL.
Match time. Lots of tagging in and out; everybody gets in on the action. After a while, things start to look bad for My Hero, but he manages to tag out; then the traditional all-in brawl happens, and Yoshi takes down Regal for the win. Go team. :)
Smackdown (Oct. 2)
For this show, I had the rare opportunity to introduce a friend of mine to WWE fandom. She seemed to enjoy the show, so I count it as a success.
It's Smackdown's 10th anniversary! A plethora of superstars are partying backstage.
Batista vs. Kane: It's a match. Batista wins.
Backstage, Michael Cole is a dumbass; Hornswaggle slaps Maria's ass; Finlay proposes a toast, but CM Punk shows up to interrupt and declare a new era of prohibition on Smackdown. Everybody looks at him like, "Are you delusional?" and then they get back to their drinks. (Finlay actually downed his shot in the middle of Punk's rant, which made me laugh.) Vickie Guerrero is also here. Then Santino makes an entrance dressed as Undertaker, scaring the crap out of Teddy Long in the process.
The Miz & Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison & Kofi Kingston: Jack Swagger is on commentary. Miz and Morrison are in the ring to start, which reminds me of how irritating I found Miz when he was tag partners with Morrison. The new Miz is way cooler. Miz and Ziggler get the win.
Backstage again. Chris Jericho and Big Show arrive, both wearing suits (yay!), to announce that they are the real stars here. Then somebody stumbles over to throw up on Jericho's shoes, and Jericho puts on the best totally-grossed-out face ever, while Big Show takes one look at the mess and dives off-screen for some sympathetic hurling.
The Rock does a long and fairly entertaining piece on video. He makes fun of Dolph Ziggler and CM Punk, admits that he's a little afraid of Undertaker, and states his intention to guest-host Raw one of these days. Yes, please!
Michelle McCool vs. Melina, lumberjack (lumberjill?) match for the women's championship: Melina is less irritating tonight, but still irritating. McCool wins it to keep the championship. (Granted, Beth Phoenix hit Melina when the ref wasn't looking, which set up McCool's final blow. Beth Phoenix needs another title shot.)
Backstage, Drew McIntyre introduces himself to the room at large as the future champion. This is R-Truth's cue to attack him. Drew doesn't look like much, but he does have a really cute Scottish accent.
Now for the main event.
Undertaker, John Cena, & DX vs. CM Punk, Randy Orton, & Legacy: Whoa, lots of eye candy to keep track of. I had trouble deciding who to watch at any given moment. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had a long moment of Meaningful Glaring at each other (ha!). Dibiase & Rhodes, rather than bowing out to Orton like they used to, are totally in this match for themselves. LOVE. After the traditional end-of-match brawl clears up, Orton is trapped like a rat, alone in the ring with the other team, and Undertaker hits the Tombstone for the win.
After the match, there's a flurry of confetti. Ooh, sparkly! Undertaker just seems irritated by it. Punk runs away, clutching his title belt like a teddy bear while Undertaker gives him a Meaningful Glare.
Sources:
Kevin Innarelli: ECW Real-Time Coverage for 9/29/2009 (via Pulse Wrestling)
Brian Eison: Smackdown Recap for 10/02/09 (via Pulse Wrestling)
wwegirls: Girls Talk Smack 10/02/09
And tomorrow night, Hell In A Cell!