Cassidy’s
WWE Week In Review XI
July 13, 2008- July 18, 2008
Welcome to the eleventh edition of Cassidy’s WWE Week In Review. Feel free to contact me on Wrestling 101 anytime with comments, questions, and anything in between.
The last RAW before The Great American Bash came to you from the RBC Center (at the North Carolina University) in Raleigh, NC. RAW started with Shane & Stephanie McMahon, again pleading with the WWE Talent to unite and work together while the WWE Chairman Vince McMahon recovers. The McMahon siblings told the world that if things don’t change and order continues to be nonexistent on RAW then "actions will be taken". No sooner that this announcement was made, the cameras cut to RAW in the middle of a brawl on the outside of the ring between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. These rivals at the Bash fought each other all the way backstage until WWE Officials were finally able to separate the two.
After this, a mentally disturbed Kane came out holding some sort of burlap bag in his hand. The Big Red Monster came to the announce position of Michael Cole & Jerry "The King" Lawler and delivered a very angry "I’m Sorry" to the team.
The opening match of RAW saw Mickie James take on Katie Lea Burchill in a non-title match. Mickie was able to secure a win over Katie Lea, but The Siblings Burchill assaulted the Women’s Champion until Kofi Kingston came out to help the diva in distress. Kofi got a taste of revenge for Paul Burchill’s attack last week, but he wanted more. Kofi laid his Intercontinental Title in the ring and challenged Burchill to an Intercontinental Title Match and that’s exactly what took place- Kofi Kingston defending the Intercontinental Title against Paul Burchill. Mickie James & Katie Lea Burchill were at ringside to back up their superstars. An attempted interference by Katie Lea distracted her brother long enough for the champion to score with the Trouble In Paradise and retain his title.
Backstage, the self-proclaimed "International Superstar" Santino Marella was having a chat with RAW’s resident educator, Matt Striker. Marella explained that he was laying out an open challenge to any RAW Superstar to face him in a match. Following this proclamation, Matt Striker directed Marella to look behind him, where The Big Red Machine Kane was standing. Marella told Kane that he didn’t mean that he wanted to face Kane. Kane demanded to know where CM Punk was at. Marella obliged (against his will). Marella would make his way out to the ring to await his mystery opponent. Marella’s challenge got answered by none other than a former champion; a former Women’s Champion, that is- The Glamazon Beth Phoenix. Phoenix answered Marella’s challenge and the match was official. The Powerhouse Diva rolled up Marella to pick up the win.
The next match is set to include RAW’s newest diva, Kelly Kelly. However, after Kelly Kelly makes her way to the ring, the cocky World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase make their way to the ring and tell Kelly Kelly to leave the ring so the champions can speak. The Priceless Duo proclaim their dominance as a tag team and that they are better than their fathers. This brings out WWE Legend, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Duggan explains to the young team that he’s worked with both Dusty Rhodes & "The Million Dollar Man" and that they should show more respect for those who’ve paved the way. The tag champions responded by telling "Hacksaw" that he was pathetic and that his career is a joke. They then left a distraught Jim Duggan in the ring. As the champions were leaving, JBL appeared on the Titan Tron and offered Rhodes & DiBiase the opportunity to team up with him to take on John Cena & Cryme Tyme in the 6-Man Tag Team main event.
Backstage, Kane catches up with the World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk. Kane tells Punk that they have teamed together before and that he needs to face CM Punk tonight. The champion tells Kane that he needs to face Kane as well, but for Punk, it’s to prove that his winning of the World Title two weeks ago was not a fluke. Punk accepts the challenge and asks Kane what’s in the bag. Kane just laughs and backs away. CM Punk would go on to defeat Kane via count-out, but the major story was post-match. Kane, enraged after losing the match, tossed several steel chairs into the ring and wrapped one around the World Champion’s neck and was going to attempt to severely injure the champion, but Punk got help from an unexpected source- the #1 Contender for his World Heavyweight Title Batista. Batista cleared the ring of Kane, but after Batista put his hands on Punk, Punk told him to not lay his hands on him again and shoved The Animal. Batista responded with a thunderous Spinebuster. Batista will challenge CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Title at the Bash on Sunday.
The next match on tap is Chris Jericho taking on Paul London. Jericho comes out with his new protégé Lance Cade at his side. Cade grabs a steel chair and paces the ringside area to keep an eye out for Shawn Michaels. Jericho makes short work of the former tag team champion, forcing the Superstar that idolizes HBK to tap out to the Walls of Jericho. Y2J then tells London that he has two paths he can take in his career- the honest path of Chris Jericho or the lying and cheating path of Shawn Michaels. This brought out Shawn Michaels who promised Jericho the same thing that Y2J has been promising Michaels- "the worst is yet to come". These two will go one-on-one in six nights at The Great American Bash.
Backstage we see Jamie Noble trying his best to hook up with Layla. Layla tells Noble that she doesn’t date short guys, but Noble insists and offers to face the next guy who walks by. Snitsky comes up to the loudmouthed Cruiserweight and tells him to keep it down. Noble originally agrees, but after Layla shows her disapproval, Noble tells Snitsky to meet him in the ring. Noble leads the monster out to the ring, but is ultimately destroyed by Snitsky in the middle of the ring, as Layla looks on.
The main event of the night was a 6-Man Tag Match pitting John Cena & Cryme Tyme against the team of JBL, Cody Rhodes, & Ted DiBiase. JBL eventually caused the disqualification and the loss for his team, but the Mauling Millionaire had a more sinister plot in store for his Great American Bash opponent, John Cena. JBL lured Cena out to the parking lot for a preview of their NYC Parking Lot Brawl at the Bash. Cena searched high and low for JBL, but eventually gave up and began walking back to the arena. JBL then knocked Cena out with a lead pipe and dragged him towards a nearby car and leaned Cena up against the side of the car. JBL then did the unthinkable- he got into another car and drove as fast as he could and sandwiched the skull of John Cena between the two vehicles. As JBL admired his handiwork, he got a troubled look on his face as RAW went off the air. Has JBL gone too far? What is the status of John Cena? Is there any possible way that Cena could have survived something like that?
WWE.com announced on Tuesday that John Cena was only grazed and was able to escape the attack perpetrated by JBL, so the NYC Parking Lot Brawl will still take place this Sunday.
The 110’th edition of ECW on Sci-Fi came to you from the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, NC. The show started off with Tazz in the ring. The ECW Original introduced the World’s Strongest Champion Mark Henry with his new manager, WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas. The Powerful Duo put on a demonstration in the middle of the ring. To prove his strength and dominance, the ECW Champion bent and rolled up an ordinary kitchen skillet like it was tortilla shell. After this, the #1 Contender for the ECW Title at the Bash Tommy Dreamer came out and tried his best to bend the skillet. Though he didn’t bend it by means of strength, he bent it by smashing the champion over the head with the pan. This laid out the champion en route to their title match this Sunday. As a result of this, ECW General Manager kicked Tommy Dreamer out of the Time Warner Cable Arena and gave him the night off.
The opening match of the night saw ECW’s Mike Knox defeat SmackDown’s Resident Reject Shannon Moore with the Knox Out. The next match saw WWE Newcomer Evan Bourne pick up a huge win over a former ECW Champion in Chavo Guerrero.
Backstage, Mark Henry & Tony Atlas confront Colin Delaney. Mark Henry tells Delaney that he has no problem with him, after this Henry returns and puts Colin into a bearhug and throws him over an anvil case to the concrete floor, leaving him laying.
The main event of the night was a very special one night only reunion of The Hardys. ECW’s United States Champion Matt Hardy teamed up with his brother Jeff Hardy from Friday Night SmackDown to defeat the WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison in a non-title match.
WWE.com announced on Thursday that the WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison will be defending their WWE Tag Team Titles at The Great American Bash in a Fatal 4-Way Match against Finlay & Hornswoggle, Hawkins & Ryder, and Jesse & Festus.
The final Friday Night SmackDown before The Great American Bash was in celebration of the wedding of Edge & Vickie Guerrero. The night started off with some video footage of Edge & Vickie’s private wedding ceremony from earlier in the day. SmackDown would be a special wedding reception for the newlyweds.
The newly-married power couple made a point to be on the stage with the rest of The Family for the duration of SmackDown. The opening match of the night saw a preview of the Fatal 4-Way Tag Match for the WWE Tag Team Titles at The Bash when ECW’s father-and-son duo Finlay & Hornswoggle took on Hawkins & Ryder. Before the match, Edge inserted himself into the contest as special guest referee. His first order of business as special referee was to dispose of Finlay’s shillelagh by tossing it far away from the ring. Edge made certain that his protégé tag team would get the momentum heading into this Sunday’s Bash by spearing Finlay after Finlay attempted the Celtic Cross on the new groom and single-handedly giving the win to Hawkins & Ryder.
The celebration was short-lived, however, as the newlyweds had to have their first dance as a married couple. Edge & Vickie’s pleasure was interrupted by some business as the World’s Largest Athlete Big Show cut in on Edge & Vickie’s dance. Edge had a big surprise for the Big Show as he put Show in a 4-on-1 Handicap Match as revenge for last week’s No Disqualification Match. Big Show’s opponents were no lightweights in The Franchise Player MVP, The Gold Standard Shelton Benjamin, The Undefeated Moscow Mauler, & The Punjabi Giant The Great Khali. Big Show weighs in at 441 pounds and was set to face a team that weighed in at over 1,000. After having little success in one-on-one encounters with Big Show, all four members of the opposition set forth to lay out Big Show. It took all four of them to lay out Big Show, but the job was done.
Speaking of Shelton Benjamin, it was announced during the Handicap Match that Shelton Benjamin will challenge Matt Hardy for the United States Title this Sunday at The Great American Bash.
In another piece of their wedding reception, the new bride Vickie assembled a group of SmackDown Divas outside the ring for the ceremonial throwing of the bouquet. Michelle McCool attacked her Bash opponent Natalya on the outside and was ejected by the General Manager. Vickie would throw the bouquet and it was caught by Cherry. Vickie then announced that Cherry has earned the right to face Vickie in Vickie’s first ever one-on-one match, but first Cherry would have to face Natalya. Natalya made short work of Cherry, forcing her to tap out to the Sharpshooter. Vickie would make even quicker work of Cherry, immediately having the referee start the match and pinning Cherry.
The next contest saw two returns to SmackDown- the first was the return of Jimmy Wang Yang. The second was the SmackDown Return of Brian Kendrick. Kendrick came out sporting a new look and a new bodyguard named Ezekiel. Ezekiel would prove very beneficial to the former tag team champion as he didn’t even need to lay a hand on Yang. Ezekiel distracted the Resident Redneck enough times and Kendrick was able to put Yang away with Sliced Bread #2.
Next up was Umaga Vs. Mr. Kennedy. After last week’s attack by Umaga, Mr. Kennedy was out for revenge on the Samoan Bulldozer. The size difference proved to be too much for the Green Bay Native as Umaga was able to pin Kennedy and pick up the win.
In a second preview of the Fatal 4-Way Match this Sunday, The Miz & John Morrison defeated Jesse & Festus in a non-title match.
In another match made by Edge & Vickie, it would be Brother Vs. Brother in the SmackDown Main Event as United States Champion Matt Hardy would face his younger brother Jeff Hardy in a non-title match. Before the match got underway, The Hardys sent a message to Edge, Vickie, & The Family by destroying the wedding cake and throwing it all over Chavo Guerrero, Curt Hawkins, & Zack Ryder. This would lead to an attack in the middle of the match by The Family. Edge laid out both Hardys with Spears and celebrated with his wedding guests and his best man.
All seemed to be going well for the duo, that was until WWE Champion Triple H made an unwelcome appearance at the wedding reception. The Game proceeded to ruin the wedding of his #1 Contender and his General Manager as he showed a secretly taped video of a foundation rattling affair between Edge and The Wedding Planner Alicia Fox. While the champion held off Hawkins & Ryder by bringing out his trusty sledgehammer, the short marriage of Edge & Vickie crumbled as the video clearly showed Edge being unfaithful to his new wife one day before their wedding took place. Alicia was quick to exit the ring in embarrassment and Edge was forced out of the ring by his furious bride. With a marriage that is not even a day in progress, is this power couple heading for a hasty divorce or will the two work things out between them? How will this affect Edge’s chances of winning the WWE Title this Sunday at The Great American Bash? Who will be sporting gold next Friday on SmackDown and who will be seething from their losses?
Superstar of the Week: Triple H
Ratings Report
SmackDown: July 11- 2.3 Rating (Up From Last Week’s 1.6 Rating)
RAW: July 14- 3.2 Rating (Down From Last Week’s 3.5 Rating)
ECW: July 15- 1.42 Rating (Up From Last Week’s 1.38 Rating)