This Week In WWE: July 5, 2009- July 11, 2009

Welcome to the sixty-second edition of This Week In WWE. Feel free to contact me on TWO or Wrestling 101 anytime with comments, questions, and anything in between. I have added a new section at the end of the article highlighting a different WWE Superstar or Diva every week. Please contact me if you have a request for a Superstar or Diva you would like to see highlighted in an upcoming edition.

The 841st edition of Monday Night RAW came to you from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. Confirmed for RAW was the finals of the Night of Champions Tournament to determine who would challenge Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at the Night of Champions as Triple H went one-on-one with John Cena. Also, WWE Legend "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase would be running the show as the Guest Host of RAW.

RAW kicked off with the Guest Host of RAW, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. The WWE Legend was accompanied by his son, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes of Legacy. "The Million Dollar Man" states that no championship matches can take place before the Night of Champions, but that he can use his unlimited power to make a championship match for the Night of Champions. With that, the Guest Host announced that, at the Night of Champions, Unified Tag Team Champions Edge & Chris Jericho will defend the titles against Legacy! "The Million Dollar Man" was not done with his blockbuster announcements as he made two big matches for RAW. First, it would be Cody Rhodes going one-on-one with the man who pinned his mentor, WWE Champion Randy Orton, last week- "The World’s Strongest Man" Mark Henry! "The Million Dollar Man" then turned his attention to his son and brought up DiBiase’s confrontation with Randy Orton at The Bash and announces that it will be the protégé taking on the mentor as Ted DiBiase will square off with the leader of Legacy, Randy Orton! What will happen when Ted DiBiase is forced to face, not only his mentor, but the WWE Champion Randy Orton?

The opening match of the night saw Unified Tag Team Champions Edge & Chris Jericho defeat the former champions, Primo & Carlito, in a non-title match. After the match concluded, Carlito shocked the world by attacking his younger brother! The elder Colon seemed to have lost it as he ran Primo shoulder-first into the steel ring post before throwing him to the outside and pounding his brother on the floor. Carlito then threw Primo over the announce table and walked away from the scene. What has caused Carlito to turn on his own flesh-and-blood? How will Primo respond to Carlito’s assault?

Backstage, Randy Orton meets up with Legacy; Orton tells DiBiase that "losing to me will accomplish nothing." DiBiase takes exception to Orton’s assumption that Orton could beat him. DiBiase boldy tells Orton that his father is much better than Ortons’ father. A fired up DiBiase then tells his mentor that he will beat him! Will DiBiase beat the WWE Champion or will Randy Orton prove to Ted DiBiase that he is better than him?

In Divas action, the team of Mickie James & Gail Kim defeated the team of Divas Champion Maryse & Alicia Fox with Gail Kim getting the pinfall over the Divas Champion! Things have not been looking good for the Divas Champion, what will happen when she squares off with Mickie James with the title on the line at the Night of Champions?

MVP made an appearance on RAW to present The VIP Lounge. MVP introduced his guest, "The All-American American" Jack Swagger. MVP started by calling Swagger a "fraud" due to his actions on his RAW debut last week. "The All-American American" responded by calling MVP a "con" and declaring that he is the real "MVP of RAW." MVP admits that he’s made some mistakes in his life, but that he has owned up for them. MVP then says that, unlike Swagger, he has never been afraid of a fight. MVP then gets in the face of "The All-American American" and Swagger calls MVP a "criminal" before deciding to back away from MVP and make his exit. For two weeks in a row, Jack Swagger has avoided a confrontation. With all the personal insults he made against MVP, will MVP be on the hunt for "The All-American American" in the coming weeks?

Then it was time for Cody Rhodes to face the difficult task of trying to take down "The World’s Strongest Man" Mark Henry. Henry quickly planted the second-generation star with the World’s Strongest Slam, but Rhodes immediately rolled out of the ring and walked out of the match, giving Mark Henry the win via count-out. What’s next for Mark Henry? Will he continue to pursue Randy Orton and the WWE Championship?

Cody Rhodes did not have much luck against Mark Henry, but how would his tag team partner, Ted DiBiase, fare against Legacy’s mentor and WWE Champion Randy Orton? Ted DiBiase put up a valiant effort against Orton, but in the end, the lightning-quick Orton was able to plant his protégé with the RKO to pick up the win.

Backstage, DiBiase confronts his father and accuses "The Million Dollar Man" of trying to steal his "spotlight" and setting him up to fail against Orton. The elder DiBiase denied his son’s allegations to which DiBiase responded with a vicious slap to his own father’s face!

In a fast-paced non-title bout, Evan Bourne was able to pick up a big win over the United States Champion Kofi Kingston. However, there would be no rest for the weary as Big Show wasted no time in coming to the ring and attacking both Superstars. Big Show focused on the United States Champion, but Evan Bourne tried to save Kofi, but "The World’s Largest Athlete" just kept swatting Bourne away. Big Show then plowed through Bourne with a vicious spear, making sure that Bourne would not interrupt his ruthless attack on Kofi Kingston. With Bourne out of the picture, Big Show delivered several blows to the ribs of the United States Champion. Big Show then locked his patented camel clutch in on Kofi. What drove Big Show to attack Kofi Kingston in such a fashion? How will Kofi & Bourne respond to this assault by Big Show?

Then it was time for the epic main event as "The Game" Triple H squared off with John Cena to determine who would face Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at the Night of Champions. The end of the match came when Randy Orton sent Legacy into the ring to attack both Triple H & John Cena. Legacy did as they was told and quickly left the ring. Orton then declared that the match was a No Contest and that neither man would face him at Night of Champions! However, the Guest Host had different plans as "The Million Dollar Man" informed Randy Orton that he will be defending the WWE Championship at Night of Champions against both Triple H & John Cena in a Triple Threat Match! Can Orton survive a Triple Threat showdown with "The Game" and John Cena? Who will leave the Night of Champions as the WWE Champion?

WWE.com announced on Tuesday that Unified Tag Team Champion, Edge, suffered a torn Achilles tendon in his left ankle at a WWE Live Event this past Friday. Edge had surgery on Tuesday morning in Birmingham, AL to repair the torn tendon. It is currently unknown how much time Edge will miss due to the injury and what the status of the Unified Tag Team Titles are.

The 161st edition of ECW on SyFy was a special Thursday edition and came to you from the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, CA. Confirmed for the Thursday edition of ECW was a #1 Contender’s Match between "Captain Charisma" Christian and "The Russian Militant" Vladimir Kozlov to determine who would face Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Championship at the Night of Champions.

The opening match of the night was a Divas match that saw Nikki Bella go one-on-one with Katie Lea Burchill. As far as the referee in the match was concerned, it was a one-on-one affair; the end of the match came when Nikki Bella was thrown to the outside. With the referee’s attention on Katie Lea Burchill, Nikki Bella switched places with her twin sister, Brie, which allowed Brie Bella the opportunity to win the match for her sister.

After being embarrassed by Yoshi Tatsu last week, Shelton Benjamin got a measure of revenge by defeating the new ECW Superstar.

In the backstage area, a horrific scene was averted by the mysterious green-clad caped crusader who, like last week, saved a crew member from certain peril. This time the masked man caught a crew member who had fallen from a ladder. As soon as the potential victim was safe, the mysterious man once again disappeared with the whoosh of a hurricane. Will this timely savior reveal himself to the public?

In his ECW debut, Ezekiel Jackson put on an impressive showing, getting a decisive victory over Jack Meridol. What big things can we expect from this Harlem-raised behemoth?

ECW also saw the second edition of "The Abraham Washington Show" and Abraham Washington topped his guests last week by having the ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer on his new show. Washington did not endear himself to the "ECW Original" as the talk show host called Dreamer "huge" and a "senior citizen". Dreamer did not take kindly to the insults and called Washington a "Lego head" in reference to the host’s bizarre "hair". Dreamer then made the bold prediction that Christian would defeat Vladimir Kozlov in the main event and face him at the Night of Champions for the ECW Title. This brought out "The Russian Militant" Vladimir Kozlov, who crashed the show and got in the face of the ECW Champion.

Then it was time for the main event as "Captain Charisma" Christian squared off the "The Moscow Mauler" Vladimir Kozlov. The end of the match came when the wily veteran, Christian, drove Kozlov’s head into an exposed turnbuckle. Christian then hit the Killswitch and punched his ticket to the Night of Champions to challenge Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Championship! Will Christian prevail at the Night of Champions and regain the ECW Title he was never pinned for or will Tommy Dreamer keep a strong grip on the ECW Championship?

The opening match of the night was from SmackDown and it saw R-Truth pick up a win over Ricky Ortiz.

ECW provided a rematch from last week’s Superstars as "The Long Island Loudmouth" Zack Ryder once again defeated "The So-Cal Surfer" Tyler Reks.

The Superstars of RAW main evented the show as "The Lucky Little Guy" Hornswoggle defeated "half" of "The Mexican Warrior" Chavo Guerrero, who wrestled the match on his knees by order of WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon. How will Chavo respond to this humiliating loss?

The 516th edition of WWE SmackDown came to you from the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, CA. Confirmed for SmackDown was a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship as Rey Mysterio defended the title against former Intercontinental Champion and one-half of the reigning Unified Tag Team Champions, Chris Jericho. World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk would be in action as he took on The Great Khali in a non-title match. CM Punk’s #1 Contender, Jeff Hardy, would also be in action as he squared off with "The Big Red Machine" Kane.

The opening match of the night saw the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Title, Jeff Hardy, face off with "The Big Red Machine" Kane. Before the match, "The Strange Enigma" Jeff Hardy came to the ring wearing an eye patch to further mock his Night of Champions opponent, CM Punk. Jeff said that his eye felt like it was "on fire" last week during the tag team main event. Jeff then accuses Punk of faking his eye injury and then states that his eye injury is just as "serious" as Punk’s. Jeff then removes the eye patch.

Then it was time for Jeff Hardy to square off with Kane; it looked as though Jeff was poised for victory as he set Kane up for the Swanton Bomb. However, CM Punk came out and distracted "The Extreme Enigma", which gave Kane the opportunity to deliver a thunderous chokeslam from the top rope on Jeff Hardy and pick up the win over the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Title. How will Jeff Hardy respond to CM Punk’s interference?

Dolph Ziggler was also in action and picked up a big win over "The Guru of Greatness" John Morrison by rolling Morrison up and hooking the tights. Ziggler’s rise on SmackDown has become meteoric; what is the next step for "The Name Dropper"?

The Divas of SmackDown were in action as the team of former Women’s Champion Melina & Eve Torres defeated the team of Women’s Champion Michelle McCool & Layla. After the match, McCool & Melina got into a brawl on the outside of the ring. The referee stepped in and held Melina back while McCool made her escape. Melina is determined to regain the Women’s Title from Michelle McCool; when will she get her opportunity to do so?

Then it was time for World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk to face the unenviable task of squaring off with The Great Khali. Before the match, CM Punk had some words for his opponent at the Night of Champions, Jeff Hardy, who was seated for commentary at ringside. Punk tells Jeff that his eye injury is real and that Jeff is the one who caused it. Punk then shows his prescription medication for his eye and tells Jeff that, unlike Jeff, he only uses legally-obtained prescription drugs. "The Straightedge Superstar" reminds Jeff that Jeff has two "strikes" against him in the WWE for drug test failures. Punk then proclaimed that he has had "zero" drug test failures and "zero" suspensions in his WWE career and, at the Night of Champions, Jeff will have a "zero" chance of beating him for the World Heavyweight Title.

CM Punk then squared off with The Great Khali, but the match came to an abrupt end when Kane arrived on the scene with a steel chair in hand. With his sights set on "The Punjabi Nightmare", Kane got into the face of Khali. However, Khali also armed himself with a steel chair. Kane struck the first blow as he delivered a chair shot to the shoulder of Khali. Khali responded by knocking the chair out of the hands of "The Big Red Machine" and blasting Kane with a steel chair shot of his own! What will happen next between these two behemoths?

In a rematch from last week, The Hart Dynasty faced Cryme Tyme in a tag team encounter. In the end, it was a distraction by Natalya that allowed The Hart Dynasty to pick up the win.

Before the much-anticipated Intercontinental Championship match, one-half of the Unified Tag Team Champions, Chris Jericho, had a couple of things to say. Jericho said that he should be satisfied with being one-half of the Unified Tag Team Champions, but that his greatness as a Superstar would not allow it. Jericho then vowed to break his own record and win the Intercontinental Title for the unprecedented tenth time.

In another incredible match in their personal rivalry, Rey Mysterio was somehow able to defeat Chris Jericho to hang on to his Intercontinental Championship. However, after the match, Rey Mysterio had to dodge an attack by Chris Jericho’s partner, the other half of the Unified Tag Team Champions, Edge. Rey Mysterio exited the ring, but was ambushed by Dolph Ziggler! Ziggler then threw Rey back into the ring where Edge delivered a vicious spear to the Intercontinental Champion. The Unified Tag Team Champions then delivered a devastating double-team version of the Codebreaker on Rey Mysterio. Edge & Jericho then invited Ziggler into the ring before making their exit. Dolph took advantage and laid out the Intercontinental Champion in the middle of the ring. What is the reason for this assault by Dolph Ziggler? Has Ziggler set his sights on the Intercontinental Championship? How will Rey Mysterio respond to this attack?
 

 Superstar of the Week: Dolph Ziggler