Weekly recap
Raw (Oct. 26)
We open with Chris Jericho & Big Show; Jericho is lugging around Smackdown's brand-new Bragging Rights trophy like a proud parent, and Show points out that he himself is a proud member of the Raw roster. Jericho says that Show's loyalties to the JeriShow team take precedence. Show disagrees, and says that he turned on Team Raw for the sake of his own career; in gratitude, Smackdown GM Teddy Long has granted Show a world heavyweight championship match against the Undertaker. They argue for a bit until we meet tonight's guest co-hosts: Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, two of NASCAR's young guns.
Kyle and Joey seem to be divided on the subject of Show's treason; Joey thinks that what Show did was wrong, but Kyle supports Show's decision. Joey books Show vs. Triple-H for later tonight; Kyle books Jericho vs. Kofi Kingston.
Chris Jericho vs. Kofi Kingston: It's a good fight, but Jericho loses.
As Kofi is walking back up the ramp after the match, Randy Orton runs out and throws him off the stage. (Apparently, Randy's harboring some ill will over the fact that Kofi chased the Legacy boys away after their interference in the Orton-Cena match.) Later, in a backstage interview, Randy says that he blames Kofi for Randy's loss at the PPV, and he's just getting started with Kofi. Then the Legacy boys show up to offer Randy a sympathy gift: his own racecar. It's a hot car. (lesson_in_love: "OMG RANDY CAR WANT *GRABBY HANDS*" - teddysbabymama: "i want that car....wow... nevermind. i just want legacy. and that car. in that car. with me. wow...")
Elsewhere, Kyle & Joey are with Eve Torres when Jack Swagger swaggers in to demand a title shot against John Cena. Kyle & Joey opt to deny his request, stating that they will name a new challenger tonight. The Miz comes in to demand his own title shot, seeing as how he was the only other Raw superstar to win his match at the PPV. He has a point.
Santino Marella & Melina vs. Chavo Guerrero & Jillian Hall: Why can't Chavo ever wrestle a comedy-free match? This is unfair. However, HILARIOUS moment when Santino makes like Melina and drops into a split to duck a swing from Chavo. Hornswaggle interferes, dressed as Shawn Michaels again, allowing Melina to get the pin on Jillian for the win.
After the match, Hornswaggle gets an envelope which contains a written "cease & desist" order for his gimmick infringement of DX. Apparently DX are a little freaked out by Shawn's Mini-Me. Hornswaggle looks totally crushed by this. See that, DX? You jerks made Hornswaggle sad!
The Legacy comes out to offer themselves in challenge to John Cena in lieu of Randy Orton. (And that right there... that sounded incredibly dirty the way I phrased it; but I like it anyway. :) ) Cena puts in an appearance to decline their challenge; he says that they have to earn their shot, like everybody else. They can start by facing the Kool-Aid twins right now.
The Legacy vs. MVP & Mark Henry: Legacy loses. Bah. (teddysbabymama's icon says it all.) They argue the outcome with the ref, and Randy Orton comes out to interrupt. Orton demands his rematch against Cena, f**k the stipulations of the previous match; he'll go to the WWE board of directors if he has to. Then Kofi appears on the Jumbotron to say that Orton lost and nobody cares what he has to say. Orton challenges Kofi to come out and face him, but Kofi declines; rather, Kofi trashes Orton's shiny new racecar. Orton looks rather angry.
Evan Bourne vs. The Miz: Yay Evan! But he gets hammered at the start of the match. Then he makes a comeback, only for Miz to power out and beat him up some more. Then Jack Swagger comes out to flirt with Eve, the guest referee, from ringside. Eve is distracted, and Miz hammers on Evan some more before going out to deal with Swagger. Evan gets up and launches himself at them both, they go sprawling, and Evan beats the ten-count back into the ring to win the match. All-righty, then. That was just weird. *sigh* Evan deserves better than this kind of jobbing-out.
Sheamus vs. Jaime Noble: Sheamus is a new acquisition from ECW; I have to admire his fiery orange hair. Sheamus beats the tar out of Noble.
Big Show vs. Triple-H: Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels are here to support their respective teammates. Then Triple-H announces that the match is now a lumberjack match, with the entire Raw roster as lumberjacks; Jericho makes a strategic retreat with his Smackdown trophy. It's also a No-DQ match. They get rid of the ref and replace him with John Cena. Show holds his own in the match, and it finally looks like he's got it won when Cena makes a two-count and then stops, and wanders off out of the way to study his hangnail or something. Then the Raw roster takes turns hitting their signature moves on Show, and Triple-H wrangles him into a Smackdown shirt before hitting the Pedigree, and Cena gives him the full three-count. Triple-H wins (kind of). Today's moral: Comeuppance is a bitch, folks.
Post-match, our guest hosts are here to make a big announcement: the Survivor Series main event will be John Cena vs. Triple-H vs. Shawn Michaels. And Hornswaggle helped to decide this. See what happens when you piss off the leprechaun? Cena looks not pleased about this -- sorry, dude, you're totally collateral damage here.
Next week: Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne co-host. You know you're excited.
ECW (Oct. 27)
GM Tiffany promises that ECW will play a part in Bragging Rights next year. Yes! The gods have heard our prayers!
William Regal comes out to demand another title shot against My Man Christian. Tiffany denies him once again, and Regal throws a fit.
Christian says he's looking forward to his match against Yoshi, because Yoshi is awesome and he earned this title shot. However, Christian promises that Yoshi won't win tonight.
Christian vs. Yoshi Tatsu: (Yoshi's music is this hilarious peppy Japanese pop tune. And he's wearing shiny gold pants.) They shake hands before the match, and I can see that this could be an awesome passing-the-torch dynamic, but PLEASE NOT TONIGHT, not while I'm watching. The match starts off slow, but they work up to a lot of back-and-forth near-falls towards the end. (Here I am on the edge of my seat, yelling at the TV along with the live crowd. SO EXCITING.) My Man finally hits the Killswitch for the win. When it's over, Christian checks up on Yoshi and gives him a sympathetic hug. Awww. Then Regal's goons, Kozlov & Jackson, run in and beat the hell out of Christian; Yoshi tries to help and gets hammered. Regal comes into the ring to gloat while Christian lays there looking unconscious and totally smoking hot.
This Regal thing has to be coming to a head. And Yoshi is primed to be the next great face. Christian has had a great title run, but maybe we'll see him jump to one of the other shows in the near-ish future?
Smackdown (Oct. 30)
Matt Striker has returned to Smackdown's announce team! Praise the powers-that-be! On the other hand, I will miss JR, because he's always awesome.
Teddy Long opens the show. Chris Jericho interrupts, and right off the bat Teddy tells him that the Bragging Rights trophy is Smackdown property, and Teddy takes the trophy (LOL!). Jericho lets it go, if only so he can discourse on why he and not Big Show should get a championship match against Undertaker at the next PPV. Then Kane comes out to lobby for his own title shot. Jericho tells Kane to get out of his face, Kane gets angry and grabs Jericho by the throat. Before it can go any further, Teddy books Jericho vs. Kane for later tonight, declaring that the winner will be added to the Show-vs.-Undertaker championship match.
John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler: They exchange some trash talk before the match (Morrison was the only Smackdown member who lost at the PPV, Ziggler's lousy in bed, etc.). Then the match goes back and forth, with both guys getting in some good shots. Toward the end, Morrison goes for Starship Pain but Ziggler bails out of the ring; when Morrison comes after him, Ziggler trips him and hits a face-buster on the announce table. Morrison stays down, and Ziggler makes it back to the ring to win by countout.
Backstage, Vince McMahon congratulates Teddy on Smackdown's victory at Bragging Rights. CM Punk comes in to complain that he's not in tonight's main event or the championship match at the next PPV; Vince sympathizes with Punk, but doesn't change Teddy's booking. Vince does, however, set up a match for Punk vs. referee Scott Armstrong, claiming that all of Punk's recent loses have been this guy's fault.
Beth Phoenix vs. Jenny Brooks: Apparently, this Jenny is the only person to have defeated Beth in high school wrestling. Beth definitively kicks her ass this time.
Matt Hardy vs. Eric Escobar: Vickie Guerrero is here, dressed as a princess, to introduce her "Prince Charming." *blegh* Hardy wins the match.
They recap the PPV incident in which Batista finally reached his snapping point and kicked the snot out of Rey Mysterio. Mysterio comes out to say that he still considers Batista family, but he wants Batista to come out and explain himself. Batista comes out, but he's insulted that Mysterio has the gall to call him out. Mysterio stands his ground; he wants to know what Batista expected him to do in the fatal-four-way match. Mysterio actually apologizes for being in the match, but he still stands up to Batista when Batista gets threatening and tells Mysterio to get lost. Myaterio asks him to consider all that they've been through; Batista says that now he's only looking out for himself. With that, Batista leaves the ring. Later, backstage, Matt Hardy tries to talk to Batista. Matt says that he now regrets some of the things he did in his feud with his brother Jeff, but he can’t take them back. Batista walks away from Matt without responding, but when Matt turns his back, Batista attacks him. (Oh, yeah, I am digging this heel turn. Batista is going to be a killer heel. YES.)
Drew McIntyre vs. Finlay: Drew grabs a microphone to congratulate Team Smackdown on their win, but says that he didn’t really want to be on the team anyway. Gee, I think someone's a little bitter. Drew attacks Finlay outside the ring and Finlay is toast. Hell hath no fury like a Scotsman scorned.
CM Punk vs. Scott Armstrong: Punk backs Armstrong into a corner and bitches him out until Armstrong gets fed up and slaps him. Punk retaliates with a brief beat-down, then hits the Go-to-Sleep for the pin and the win.
Chris Jericho vs. Kane: Jericho talks smack to start; then they get to actual fighting. Jericho looks good, then Kane makes a comeback, and then Jericho comes back again and finally hits the Codebreaker for the win, thus earning himself a spot in the triple-threat championship match.
Sources:
Paul Marshall: Pulse Wrestling’s Real-Time WWE RAW Report - 10.26.09
Andy Wheeler: For Your Consideration (via Pulse Wrestling)
wwegirls: Girls Talk Raw
Chris Shore: Shore's WWE "ECW on SyFy" Live Coverage (via ProWrestling.net)
Brian Eison: Smackdown recap for 10/30/09 (via Pulse Wrestling)
We open with Chris Jericho & Big Show; Jericho is lugging around Smackdown's brand-new Bragging Rights trophy like a proud parent, and Show points out that he himself is a proud member of the Raw roster. Jericho says that Show's loyalties to the JeriShow team take precedence. Show disagrees, and says that he turned on Team Raw for the sake of his own career; in gratitude, Smackdown GM Teddy Long has granted Show a world heavyweight championship match against the Undertaker. They argue for a bit until we meet tonight's guest co-hosts: Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, two of NASCAR's young guns.
Kyle and Joey seem to be divided on the subject of Show's treason; Joey thinks that what Show did was wrong, but Kyle supports Show's decision. Joey books Show vs. Triple-H for later tonight; Kyle books Jericho vs. Kofi Kingston.
Chris Jericho vs. Kofi Kingston: It's a good fight, but Jericho loses.
As Kofi is walking back up the ramp after the match, Randy Orton runs out and throws him off the stage. (Apparently, Randy's harboring some ill will over the fact that Kofi chased the Legacy boys away after their interference in the Orton-Cena match.) Later, in a backstage interview, Randy says that he blames Kofi for Randy's loss at the PPV, and he's just getting started with Kofi. Then the Legacy boys show up to offer Randy a sympathy gift: his own racecar. It's a hot car. (lesson_in_love: "OMG RANDY CAR WANT *GRABBY HANDS*" - teddysbabymama: "i want that car....wow... nevermind. i just want legacy. and that car. in that car. with me. wow...")
Elsewhere, Kyle & Joey are with Eve Torres when Jack Swagger swaggers in to demand a title shot against John Cena. Kyle & Joey opt to deny his request, stating that they will name a new challenger tonight. The Miz comes in to demand his own title shot, seeing as how he was the only other Raw superstar to win his match at the PPV. He has a point.
Santino Marella & Melina vs. Chavo Guerrero & Jillian Hall: Why can't Chavo ever wrestle a comedy-free match? This is unfair. However, HILARIOUS moment when Santino makes like Melina and drops into a split to duck a swing from Chavo. Hornswaggle interferes, dressed as Shawn Michaels again, allowing Melina to get the pin on Jillian for the win.
After the match, Hornswaggle gets an envelope which contains a written "cease & desist" order for his gimmick infringement of DX. Apparently DX are a little freaked out by Shawn's Mini-Me. Hornswaggle looks totally crushed by this. See that, DX? You jerks made Hornswaggle sad!
The Legacy comes out to offer themselves in challenge to John Cena in lieu of Randy Orton. (And that right there... that sounded incredibly dirty the way I phrased it; but I like it anyway. :) ) Cena puts in an appearance to decline their challenge; he says that they have to earn their shot, like everybody else. They can start by facing the Kool-Aid twins right now.
The Legacy vs. MVP & Mark Henry: Legacy loses. Bah. (teddysbabymama's icon says it all.) They argue the outcome with the ref, and Randy Orton comes out to interrupt. Orton demands his rematch against Cena, f**k the stipulations of the previous match; he'll go to the WWE board of directors if he has to. Then Kofi appears on the Jumbotron to say that Orton lost and nobody cares what he has to say. Orton challenges Kofi to come out and face him, but Kofi declines; rather, Kofi trashes Orton's shiny new racecar. Orton looks rather angry.
Evan Bourne vs. The Miz: Yay Evan! But he gets hammered at the start of the match. Then he makes a comeback, only for Miz to power out and beat him up some more. Then Jack Swagger comes out to flirt with Eve, the guest referee, from ringside. Eve is distracted, and Miz hammers on Evan some more before going out to deal with Swagger. Evan gets up and launches himself at them both, they go sprawling, and Evan beats the ten-count back into the ring to win the match. All-righty, then. That was just weird. *sigh* Evan deserves better than this kind of jobbing-out.
Sheamus vs. Jaime Noble: Sheamus is a new acquisition from ECW; I have to admire his fiery orange hair. Sheamus beats the tar out of Noble.
Big Show vs. Triple-H: Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels are here to support their respective teammates. Then Triple-H announces that the match is now a lumberjack match, with the entire Raw roster as lumberjacks; Jericho makes a strategic retreat with his Smackdown trophy. It's also a No-DQ match. They get rid of the ref and replace him with John Cena. Show holds his own in the match, and it finally looks like he's got it won when Cena makes a two-count and then stops, and wanders off out of the way to study his hangnail or something. Then the Raw roster takes turns hitting their signature moves on Show, and Triple-H wrangles him into a Smackdown shirt before hitting the Pedigree, and Cena gives him the full three-count. Triple-H wins (kind of). Today's moral: Comeuppance is a bitch, folks.
Post-match, our guest hosts are here to make a big announcement: the Survivor Series main event will be John Cena vs. Triple-H vs. Shawn Michaels. And Hornswaggle helped to decide this. See what happens when you piss off the leprechaun? Cena looks not pleased about this -- sorry, dude, you're totally collateral damage here.
Next week: Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne co-host. You know you're excited.
ECW (Oct. 27)
GM Tiffany promises that ECW will play a part in Bragging Rights next year. Yes! The gods have heard our prayers!
William Regal comes out to demand another title shot against My Man Christian. Tiffany denies him once again, and Regal throws a fit.
Christian says he's looking forward to his match against Yoshi, because Yoshi is awesome and he earned this title shot. However, Christian promises that Yoshi won't win tonight.
Christian vs. Yoshi Tatsu: (Yoshi's music is this hilarious peppy Japanese pop tune. And he's wearing shiny gold pants.) They shake hands before the match, and I can see that this could be an awesome passing-the-torch dynamic, but PLEASE NOT TONIGHT, not while I'm watching. The match starts off slow, but they work up to a lot of back-and-forth near-falls towards the end. (Here I am on the edge of my seat, yelling at the TV along with the live crowd. SO EXCITING.) My Man finally hits the Killswitch for the win. When it's over, Christian checks up on Yoshi and gives him a sympathetic hug. Awww. Then Regal's goons, Kozlov & Jackson, run in and beat the hell out of Christian; Yoshi tries to help and gets hammered. Regal comes into the ring to gloat while Christian lays there looking unconscious and totally smoking hot.
This Regal thing has to be coming to a head. And Yoshi is primed to be the next great face. Christian has had a great title run, but maybe we'll see him jump to one of the other shows in the near-ish future?
Smackdown (Oct. 30)
Matt Striker has returned to Smackdown's announce team! Praise the powers-that-be! On the other hand, I will miss JR, because he's always awesome.
Teddy Long opens the show. Chris Jericho interrupts, and right off the bat Teddy tells him that the Bragging Rights trophy is Smackdown property, and Teddy takes the trophy (LOL!). Jericho lets it go, if only so he can discourse on why he and not Big Show should get a championship match against Undertaker at the next PPV. Then Kane comes out to lobby for his own title shot. Jericho tells Kane to get out of his face, Kane gets angry and grabs Jericho by the throat. Before it can go any further, Teddy books Jericho vs. Kane for later tonight, declaring that the winner will be added to the Show-vs.-Undertaker championship match.
John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler: They exchange some trash talk before the match (Morrison was the only Smackdown member who lost at the PPV, Ziggler's lousy in bed, etc.). Then the match goes back and forth, with both guys getting in some good shots. Toward the end, Morrison goes for Starship Pain but Ziggler bails out of the ring; when Morrison comes after him, Ziggler trips him and hits a face-buster on the announce table. Morrison stays down, and Ziggler makes it back to the ring to win by countout.
Backstage, Vince McMahon congratulates Teddy on Smackdown's victory at Bragging Rights. CM Punk comes in to complain that he's not in tonight's main event or the championship match at the next PPV; Vince sympathizes with Punk, but doesn't change Teddy's booking. Vince does, however, set up a match for Punk vs. referee Scott Armstrong, claiming that all of Punk's recent loses have been this guy's fault.
Beth Phoenix vs. Jenny Brooks: Apparently, this Jenny is the only person to have defeated Beth in high school wrestling. Beth definitively kicks her ass this time.
Matt Hardy vs. Eric Escobar: Vickie Guerrero is here, dressed as a princess, to introduce her "Prince Charming." *blegh* Hardy wins the match.
They recap the PPV incident in which Batista finally reached his snapping point and kicked the snot out of Rey Mysterio. Mysterio comes out to say that he still considers Batista family, but he wants Batista to come out and explain himself. Batista comes out, but he's insulted that Mysterio has the gall to call him out. Mysterio stands his ground; he wants to know what Batista expected him to do in the fatal-four-way match. Mysterio actually apologizes for being in the match, but he still stands up to Batista when Batista gets threatening and tells Mysterio to get lost. Myaterio asks him to consider all that they've been through; Batista says that now he's only looking out for himself. With that, Batista leaves the ring. Later, backstage, Matt Hardy tries to talk to Batista. Matt says that he now regrets some of the things he did in his feud with his brother Jeff, but he can’t take them back. Batista walks away from Matt without responding, but when Matt turns his back, Batista attacks him. (Oh, yeah, I am digging this heel turn. Batista is going to be a killer heel. YES.)
Drew McIntyre vs. Finlay: Drew grabs a microphone to congratulate Team Smackdown on their win, but says that he didn’t really want to be on the team anyway. Gee, I think someone's a little bitter. Drew attacks Finlay outside the ring and Finlay is toast. Hell hath no fury like a Scotsman scorned.
CM Punk vs. Scott Armstrong: Punk backs Armstrong into a corner and bitches him out until Armstrong gets fed up and slaps him. Punk retaliates with a brief beat-down, then hits the Go-to-Sleep for the pin and the win.
Chris Jericho vs. Kane: Jericho talks smack to start; then they get to actual fighting. Jericho looks good, then Kane makes a comeback, and then Jericho comes back again and finally hits the Codebreaker for the win, thus earning himself a spot in the triple-threat championship match.
Sources:
Paul Marshall: Pulse Wrestling’s Real-Time WWE RAW Report - 10.26.09
Andy Wheeler: For Your Consideration (via Pulse Wrestling)
wwegirls: Girls Talk Raw
Chris Shore: Shore's WWE "ECW on SyFy" Live Coverage (via ProWrestling.net)
Brian Eison: Smackdown recap for 10/30/09 (via Pulse Wrestling)