2-for-1 recap (April 5-16)
Here's what happened in the last two weeks:
On Raw: Jack Swagger took his championship seriously, appearing in a nice suit and tie to deliver his first speech as champion. He said that he had planned on cashing in Money-In-The-Bank against John Cena, but then decided to take on a superior opponent: Chris Jericho. (While I'm sure Jericho appreciated the "Jericho > Cena" implication, he'd probably rather have kept the title. Just sayin', Jack.) Cena disagreed, said Jack isn't champion material, and challenged Jack to a match with Cena's own title on the line; Jack politely declined, and then Randy Orton threw down his own challenge. This is one yummy title picture. :)
Orton and Swagger put on an awesome non-title match, which Orton won with the RKO (which, by the way, I LOVE that move every time I see it).
Cena and Batista took on ShowMiz for the tag titles. Cena took a beating while Batista took his sweet time strolling to the ring; then, when Cena finally went for the tag, Batista walked away again. Cena chased him up the ramp and they brawled; meantime, the ref did the ten-count and ShowMiz were declared the victors. Guest host David Otunga, one of the NXT rookies, re-set the match with himself as Cena's partner. The rematch got off to a decent start, but then Cena started to show some fatigue, and he looked for the tag, but Otunga bailed out, and Big Show hit a knockout punch for the win. Then Batista came back to the ring, hit a powerbomb on Cena just for good measure, and announced that he's invoking his rematch clause against Cena in a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules.
Carlito (meh) took on Evan Bourne (YAY!!!); Evan battled through to nail the Air Bourne for the win. Kickass.
Newsflash: ShowMiz is hilarious, I love these guys. Miz continued to talk smack about everyone, declaring that ShowMiz is the best tag team ever.
Ted Dibiase copped a major attitude and got some great heel heat from the crowd. My Man Christian tried to beat some sense into him, but lost that round.
Triple-H and Sheamus continued to feud. To match the signature sledgehammer, Sheamus kept his metal pipe ("diet sledgehammer," as Rich Twilling called it, LOL). I'll admit, Sheamus is getting better. I'm no longer bored by him, but I'd still rather that his screentime was spent elsewhere.
In a fantastic backstage segment the following week, David Otunga tried to make nice with Batista. Batista said he should fetch a cup of coffee. Otunga tried to laugh it off, but Batista just glared at him totally deadpan, so Otunga said, Well, uh, I'm getting coffee anyway, so... sure. LOL. However, in Otunga's later match against Cena, Batista came out to provide moral support (in a sweater vest. OMG).
Batista vs. Orton: Mmmm-hmmm. Deliciousness incarnate. They both seemed to be working out some anger, which is to be expected, considering their history. Orton finally hit the RKO and went for the pin, but Swagger ran out to break it up; ref called the DQ, Swagger hit a powerbomb on Orton, Cena ran out to clobber Swagger. Then Cena locked in the STF on Batista and ignored the refs when they tried to break it up.
On Smackdown: Swagger talked about how he was born to be a champion and what a great champion he is. John Morrison disagreed, saying that Swagger only got lucky, and made fun of his lisp. (Jerk. I think the lisp is cute.) Swagger took exception to this and proceeded to beat Morrison in a hell of a match.
Backstage, Jericho was pretty pissed about how he lost the title to Swagger. Swagger said Hey, no hard feelings, I only cashed in on you because you're injured and it was a sure thing. That didn't make Jericho feel any better. Later, Edge warned Swagger that his arrogance & cockiness will cost him the title.
In a match to determine the #1 contender to Swagger's title, Edge and Jericho turned it into a grudge match and beat the hell out of each other to a double count-out. Oops. On Raw, guest host David Hasselhoff declared that Randy Orton would face Swagger for the title at Extreme Rules. Jericho and Edge were both unhappy with this decision, so Teddy Long booked a pre-PPV triple-threat match: Edge vs. Jericho vs. Swagger for the title. Swagger managed to pull out a win, and after the match Jericho went after Edge again.
Dolph Ziggler got irritated for no discernible reason in a backstage interview with Josh Matthews, and choked him out. Teddy Long demanded that he apologize, which he did (in a hilariously put-upon fashion); R-Truth decided it wasn't a sincere apology (gee, you think?) and said Ziggler's never told the truth in his life and he's about to find out that "the truth hurts." Urg. R-Truth is ok, but that was just painful. At any rate, Ziggler won. Yay. He's growing on me. :)
Drew MacIntyre and Matt Hardy: still feuding. Not that it's very interesting. I've never been a big fan of either of the Hardys, and Drew doesn't do much for me (though I do like his accent).
CM Punk and his Straight-Edge Society (a grand total of 2 followers) put on some more awesome promos just brimming with creepy fanaticism. Rey Mysterio accepted Punk's challenge for Extreme Rules.
In summary: Wicked bad blood between Cena and Batista. Orton vs. Swagger for the heavyweight championship should be good. Jericho and Edge are still really hating each other. Also continuing to build Triple-H vs. Sheamus, and the great ultimatum between Mysterio and Punk: Mysterio's allegiance vs. Punk's hair.
On Raw: Jack Swagger took his championship seriously, appearing in a nice suit and tie to deliver his first speech as champion. He said that he had planned on cashing in Money-In-The-Bank against John Cena, but then decided to take on a superior opponent: Chris Jericho. (While I'm sure Jericho appreciated the "Jericho > Cena" implication, he'd probably rather have kept the title. Just sayin', Jack.) Cena disagreed, said Jack isn't champion material, and challenged Jack to a match with Cena's own title on the line; Jack politely declined, and then Randy Orton threw down his own challenge. This is one yummy title picture. :)
Orton and Swagger put on an awesome non-title match, which Orton won with the RKO (which, by the way, I LOVE that move every time I see it).
Cena and Batista took on ShowMiz for the tag titles. Cena took a beating while Batista took his sweet time strolling to the ring; then, when Cena finally went for the tag, Batista walked away again. Cena chased him up the ramp and they brawled; meantime, the ref did the ten-count and ShowMiz were declared the victors. Guest host David Otunga, one of the NXT rookies, re-set the match with himself as Cena's partner. The rematch got off to a decent start, but then Cena started to show some fatigue, and he looked for the tag, but Otunga bailed out, and Big Show hit a knockout punch for the win. Then Batista came back to the ring, hit a powerbomb on Cena just for good measure, and announced that he's invoking his rematch clause against Cena in a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules.
Carlito (meh) took on Evan Bourne (YAY!!!); Evan battled through to nail the Air Bourne for the win. Kickass.
Newsflash: ShowMiz is hilarious, I love these guys. Miz continued to talk smack about everyone, declaring that ShowMiz is the best tag team ever.
Ted Dibiase copped a major attitude and got some great heel heat from the crowd. My Man Christian tried to beat some sense into him, but lost that round.
Triple-H and Sheamus continued to feud. To match the signature sledgehammer, Sheamus kept his metal pipe ("diet sledgehammer," as Rich Twilling called it, LOL). I'll admit, Sheamus is getting better. I'm no longer bored by him, but I'd still rather that his screentime was spent elsewhere.
In a fantastic backstage segment the following week, David Otunga tried to make nice with Batista. Batista said he should fetch a cup of coffee. Otunga tried to laugh it off, but Batista just glared at him totally deadpan, so Otunga said, Well, uh, I'm getting coffee anyway, so... sure. LOL. However, in Otunga's later match against Cena, Batista came out to provide moral support (in a sweater vest. OMG).
Batista vs. Orton: Mmmm-hmmm. Deliciousness incarnate. They both seemed to be working out some anger, which is to be expected, considering their history. Orton finally hit the RKO and went for the pin, but Swagger ran out to break it up; ref called the DQ, Swagger hit a powerbomb on Orton, Cena ran out to clobber Swagger. Then Cena locked in the STF on Batista and ignored the refs when they tried to break it up.
On Smackdown: Swagger talked about how he was born to be a champion and what a great champion he is. John Morrison disagreed, saying that Swagger only got lucky, and made fun of his lisp. (Jerk. I think the lisp is cute.) Swagger took exception to this and proceeded to beat Morrison in a hell of a match.
Backstage, Jericho was pretty pissed about how he lost the title to Swagger. Swagger said Hey, no hard feelings, I only cashed in on you because you're injured and it was a sure thing. That didn't make Jericho feel any better. Later, Edge warned Swagger that his arrogance & cockiness will cost him the title.
In a match to determine the #1 contender to Swagger's title, Edge and Jericho turned it into a grudge match and beat the hell out of each other to a double count-out. Oops. On Raw, guest host David Hasselhoff declared that Randy Orton would face Swagger for the title at Extreme Rules. Jericho and Edge were both unhappy with this decision, so Teddy Long booked a pre-PPV triple-threat match: Edge vs. Jericho vs. Swagger for the title. Swagger managed to pull out a win, and after the match Jericho went after Edge again.
Dolph Ziggler got irritated for no discernible reason in a backstage interview with Josh Matthews, and choked him out. Teddy Long demanded that he apologize, which he did (in a hilariously put-upon fashion); R-Truth decided it wasn't a sincere apology (gee, you think?) and said Ziggler's never told the truth in his life and he's about to find out that "the truth hurts." Urg. R-Truth is ok, but that was just painful. At any rate, Ziggler won. Yay. He's growing on me. :)
Drew MacIntyre and Matt Hardy: still feuding. Not that it's very interesting. I've never been a big fan of either of the Hardys, and Drew doesn't do much for me (though I do like his accent).
CM Punk and his Straight-Edge Society (a grand total of 2 followers) put on some more awesome promos just brimming with creepy fanaticism. Rey Mysterio accepted Punk's challenge for Extreme Rules.
In summary: Wicked bad blood between Cena and Batista. Orton vs. Swagger for the heavyweight championship should be good. Jericho and Edge are still really hating each other. Also continuing to build Triple-H vs. Sheamus, and the great ultimatum between Mysterio and Punk: Mysterio's allegiance vs. Punk's hair.