WWE Week In Review: December 6, 2009- December 12, 2009

Welcome to the eighty-fourth edition of the WWE Week in Review. 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. I have also added a section that lists where WWE will be hosting their weekly shows.

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Six days before WWE TLC, the 863rd edition of WWE Monday Night RAW came to you, live, from the American Airlines Center in the third largest Texan city of Dallas. The billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and the cable network, HDNet, Mark Cuban would serve as the Guest Host of RAW. Six days before he and tag partner, Big Show, would defend the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles in a TLC Match against D-Generation X, Chris Jericho would have to compete in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match against both members of DX.

Monday Night RAW
Good Week For: Jeri-Show (showed their TLC Match prowess by using a chair and a ladder to decimate DX)
Bad Week For: Mark Cuban (had his night as Guest Host end with Sheamus putting him through a table)

Not only would he go face-to-face with Sheamus in the Championship Showdown later in the night, WWE Champion John Cena was in non-title action in the opening match as he went one-on-one with Carlito! In the middle of the match, Sheamus came out! Cena was temporarily distracted by the arrival of the #1 Contender, but Guest Host Mark Cuban took action and stood in the way of Sheamus interfering in the match! Cuban then signaled for security to come out and keep Sheamus back. The security force came out and Sheamus opted to back away. It looked as though Carlito would take advantage of the distraction by Sheamus, but Cena was able to counter the Back Stabber into the Attitude Adjustment and pick up the victory! What would go down in the Championship Showdown when Cena & Sheamus go face-to-face just days before their title match at WWE TLC?

Next week on RAW, one night after WWE TLC, the 2009 Slammy Awards will take place during a special 3-hour edition of Monday Night RAW! Five time Emmy-award winner Dennis Miller will serve as Guest Host of the special! Who will take home the coveted gold statue for such categories as “Superstar of the Year” and “Match of the Year”?

Randy Orton & Legacy made an appearance on RAW as Randy Orton once again tried to take advantage of the Guest Host. Orton said that he “applauds” Guest Host Mark Cuban for “taking charge” and states that the Championship Showdown between John Cena & Sheamus will end in “chaos”. Orton then says that he “does not care” who wins between Cena & Sheamus and that is because of what Mark Cuban is going to do! Orton then tells Cuban to lift the ban that keeps Orton from challening John Cena for the WWE Championship! Legacy member Ted DiBiase then says that he knows that “rich people” have “pride”, but that they “don’t have to be stupid”. DiBiase then reminds Cuban of the RKO that Randy Orton delivered to the billionaire back at the 2003 Survivor Series! Despite Orton & Legacy’s attempts at intimidation, Mark Cuban refuses to lift the ban on Orton! Cuban then states that he has got something “set up” for Orton; announcing that Randy Orton will go one-on-one with Kofi Kingston and, to prevent a repeat of last week’s one-on-one match, Cuban will serve as the Special Referee for the match! However, Cuban did not only have bad news for Randy Orton, but for Legacy as well as Cuban revealed to Legacy that they were about to compete in tag team action against Primo & Evan Bourne!

In a rematch from last Thursday’s WWE Superstars, Legacy was able to defeat the high-flying tandem of Primo & Evan Bourne. After the match, Guest Host Mark Cuban tells Legacy that he is ejecting them from the arena! Security then came out and escorted Orton’s proteges out of the building! How will Randy Orton fair against Kofi Kingston with Legacy ejected from the arena and Mark Cuban serving as the Special Referee?

Kelly Kelly serves as the guest ring announcer as former Divas Champion Maryse went one-on-one with former Women’s Champion Gail Kim. Maryse would walk away with the victory under questionable tactics as Maryse used the ropes to her advantage to defeat Gail Kim! After the match, Maryse confronted Kelly Kelly on the outside and ordered Kelly to announce her as the “next Divas Champion” before shoving Kelly Kelly! Kelly shoved back, but Maryse came back with a shove that knocked Kelly to the floor! Maryse then grabbed Kelly Kelly by the hair, but Divas Champion Melina rushed to make the save and chased Maryse off before she could do any more damage!

Then it was time for Randy Orton to go one-on-one with Kofi Kingston with Guest Host Mark Cuban as the Special Referee. Orton looked to have the victory in his grasp as he set up for the RKO, but Kofi countered into a backslide and, with the help of a lightning-quick three count from Mark Cuban, Kofi got the win over Orton! As Orton stared in disbelief, Cuban stated that he had waited six years to get even with Orton and then announced that the “rubber match” will take place between Orton & Kofi at WWE TLC! Who will win this Sunday at WWE TLC? Will this match put an end to the rivalry between Randy Orton & Kofi Kingston?

Following his non-title victory over The Miz last week, Mark Henry faced the United States Champion again, but this time it was for the title! “The World’s Strongest Man” seemed to have everything under control after catching The Miz coming off of the top rope, but Miz was able to counter into a DDT on the big man to pick up the win and retain the United States Title! Who will be the next Superstar to challenge The Miz for his gold?

In Mixed Tag Team action, the team of Hornswoggle & Eve Torres picked up the win over Chavo Guerrero & Jillian. After the match, Chavo got a hold of Hornswoggle and threw Hornswoggle aggressively to to the mat and was prepared to do more damage to Hornswoggle when Eve stepped in! Seeing that Eve might be in danger, Chris Masters entered the ring and got in the face of Chavo! Chavo tried to attack Masters, but Masters locked in the Masterlock on Chavo before slamming Chavo down! How will Chavo respond to Masters saving Eve & Hornswoggle?

Then it was time for Unified WWE Tag Team Champion Chris Jericho to face both members of D-Generation X in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match. As expected, DX were dominating the match; that was until Jericho shoved the referee into Triple H! With the referee down, Big Show came out to even the odds for his tag team partner! With Big Show’s attention on Shawn Michaels, Triple H grabbed a steel chair and waffled “The World’s Largest Athlete” in the back with it! However, Big Show was barely phased and delivered the Knockout Punch to Triple H through the steel chair! Shawn Michaels was able to slip out of the ring and retrieve a ladder, but once HBK tried to put in the ring, Jericho utilized a baseball slide to send the ladder into Michaels! Big Show then got control of the ladder and took down both members of DX with it. Jeri-Show then placed both members of DX into the open ladder and closed the ladder on the duo before Jericho “compacted” DX using a steel chair on the ladder containing Triple H & Shawn Michaels! Jericho then sets up the ladder in the middle of the ring and stands on top of it, holding the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles up high! Will this be the scene come WWE TLC or will DX be the ones with the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles?

Then it was time for the Championship Showdown between WWE Champion John Cena and #1 Contender Sheamus. Guest Host Mark Cuban served as the moderator for the Showdown and introduced both competitors and both Superstars came to the ring. Cuban explained that he would be asking three questions to both Cena & Sheamus. Cuban asks Sheamus why Sheamus believes he will win the Tables Match at WWE TLC. Sheamus proclaims that what took Cena “years” will take him “weeks” when he wins the WWE Title at WWE TLC! Cuban then proposes the same question to John Cena, who replies with “no comment”. Cuban then moves on to the second question and asks Sheamus if he is concerned about the dangers of the Tables Match. Sheamus stated that Cena has never faced anyone “like him” before and vowed that Cena will “lose everything” at WWE TLC! When it was Cena’s turn to answer, Cena once again uttered “no comment”! Cuban then moved on to the third and final question and asked for any last comments for their opponent this Sunday. Cena finally has a “comment” and states that he has faced everyone in his seven-year career in the WWE and that he has always been “the man to beat”. Cena then says that he has “never given up” and that he has “earned the right” to be the WWE Champion! Cena then proclaims that he is not “intimidated” by Sheamus. “The Celtic Warrior” takes offense to the words of Cena as both men dismantle the tables and podium set up in the ring! The WWE TLC opponents then go face-to-face, ready to fight, but Guest Host Mark Cuban steps in between the two. Sheamus then shoves Cuban to the mat, which distracts Cena long enough for Sheamus to once again deliver a blindsided kick to Cena! Sheamus then sets up a table in the corner before delivering a second vile kick to the head of a recovering John Cena! Mark Cuban slowly gets to his feet and then gets in the face of Sheamus before shoving “The Celtic Warrior” to the mat! An irate Sheamus responded by attacking Cuban and driving the billionaire through a table! Proud of his handiwork, the ruthless Sheamus stood over the destruction he had just caused as John Cena and EMT’s tend to Mark Cuban. Sheamus has twice gotten the better of the WWE Champion John Cena and, for the third week in a row, has put someone through a table. Will this remorseless and barbaric attitude of Sheamus lead to “The Celtic Warrior” claiming the WWE Championship this Sunday or will the ever resilient John Cena once again overcome his opposition and put Sheamus through a table to retain the WWE Title?

Five nights before WWE TLC, the 183rd edition of ECW on Syfy came to you from the Toyota Center in the site of two past WrestleManias- Houston, TX. Before they faced each other in a Ladder Match for the ECW Championship at WWE TLC, champion Christian and #1 Contender Shelton Benjamin would make their last appearance on ECW before their title match on Sunday.

ECW on Syfy
Good Week For: Vance Archer (showed his dominance in his first true test on ECW by defeating Tommy Dreamer)
Bad Week For: William Regal, Ezekiel Jackson, & Vladimir Kozlov (despite William Regal’s best efforts, the trio continued to crumble)

Vance Archer has been dominating ECW since his debut, but he would face his first true challenge as an ECW Superstar as he went one-on-one with the “ECW Original” Tommy Dreamer. Though Archer had some trouble with the veteran in the contest, he was able to defeat Dreamer and pick up his biggest victory to date!

Backstage, the masked wrestler who attacked The Hurricane on WWE Superstars last Thursday informed General Manager Tiffany that his name is “The Ripper” and the Diva with him is “The Beautiful Nightmare”. Seeing that “The Ripper” was obviously Paul Burchill in a mask and “The Beautiful Nightmare” was Paul’s sister, Katie Lea Burchill, Tiffany decided to give “The Ripper” the chance to earn an ECW contract next week; but he has to defeat The Hurricane to do it! Masked or not, can Paul Burchill earn his way back to ECW with a win over The Hurricane next week?

The new tag team of Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta picked up another impressive win on ECW; this time over Mark Franks & Danny Vaughn.

Then it was time for the main event as ECW Champion Christian teamed with his #1 Contender Shelton Benjamin and Yoshi Tatsu to face William Regal, Ezekiel Jackson, & Vladimir Kozlov in a 6-Man Tag match. In the middle of the match, Ezekiel Jackson went to tag in Vladimir Kozlov, but, like Jackson did last week, Kozlov refused the tag and walked out on the match! Not pleased with the actions of Kozlov, “Big Zeke” pursued Kozlov and attacked Kozlov on the ramp! William Regal quickly stepped in to try and prevent any more dissention in the group. However, while this was all taking place, the referee had reached his ten count; meaning that Regal, Jackson, & Kozlov lost via count-out!

After the match, Shelton Benjamin launched himself onto William Regal & Ezekiel Jackson on the outside of the ring! On the other side of the ring, ECW Champion Christian grabbed a ladder and set it up in the ring and climbed the ladder to grab his championship; much like he will have to do this Sunday! However, Shelton Benjamin recovered and spring boarded from the ropes to the ladder! Both champion and challenger ascended the ladder and both Superstars grabbed hold of the ECW Title belt as they argued over who would be champion come WWE TLC! Who will ascend the rungs of the ladder to greatness this Sunday and claim the ECW Championship?

The 35th edition of WWE Superstars came to you from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX and from the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. “The Ballin’ Superstar” MVP would go one-on-one with a familiar foe as he faced “The All-American American” Jack Swagger. Following his win over Matt Hardy on last week’s WWE Superstars, Dolph Ziggler would look to defeat another veteran as he squared off with “The Fighting Irishman” Finlay. In tag team action, The Hart Dynasty would face the unusual pairing of Slam Master J & Jimmy Wang Yang.

WWE Superstars
Good Week For: Jack Swagger (earned a hard-fought victory over MVP)
Bad Week For: Jimmy Wang Yang (was the recipient of a scoop slam by Natalya on the outside)

SmackDown also hosted a tag team match as The Hart Dynasty faced the first time pairing of Slam Master J & Jimmy Wang Yang. During the match, Natalya took advantage of the referee being distracted by delivering a scoop slam to Jimmy Wang Yang on the outside of the ring! The interference by Natalya would lead to a victory for The Hart Dynasty!

The main event of the evening was from RAW as “The All-American American” Jack Swagger picked a hard-fought victory over “The Ballin’ Superstar” MVP.

Just two days before WWE TLC, the 538th edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown came to you from the Toyota Center in the site of past WrestleManias, WrestleMania X-Seven and this year’s 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, Houston, TX. Three weeks after being assaulted by Batista and a steel chair, Rey Mysterio would return to SmackDown and face the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Title, Batista, in a Street Fight.

The opening match of the night was a tag team match featuring CM Punk & Luke Gallows taking on R-Truth & Matt Hardy. Before the match, CM Punk says that the new Jeff Hardy DVD set is “flying off of the shelves” and refers to the DVD as “trash”. Punk then states that parents might as well buy their kids “hallucinogens”, because the DVD will cause “hallucinations” of being able to “do the impossible”. Punk & Gallows then symbolically destroy the DVD set! R-Truth & Matt Hardy then come out for their match, but Matt is carrying a duffel bag full of copies of the new Jeff Hardy DVD; which he passes out to the audience amidst the protest by CM Punk! Once in the ring, R-Truth blasts CM Punk with the microphone before the match begins!

While R-Truth & Matt Hardy successfully disrupted CM Punk’s speech, they were not as successful in the tag team match as they lost to CM Punk and “The Straightedge Follower” Luke Gallows. Can anyone stop this “Straightedge Society” of CM Punk & Luke Gallows?

At the orders of SmackDown Consultant and ex-girlfriend, Vickie Guerrero, Eric Escobar went one-on-one with one-half of the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions, Chris Jericho. However, Vickie interrupted the match and announced that the match would be a 2-on-1 Handicap Match with Eric Escobar facing Chris Jericho and Big Show! As expected, Jeri-Show dominated Escobar and Jericho forced Escobar to submit to the Walls of Jericho.

After the dominant victory over Eric Escobar, Jeri-Show discussed their TLC Match title defense against DX with Chris Jericho vowing that Jeri-Show will “end” DX at WWE TLC! Jericho also vowed to “change” the lives of DX “for the worst” and proclaimed that they have the biggest weapon available in Big Show. Big Show then declares that Jeri-Show is “the end of DX”! After decimating DX using the available TLC Match weapons on RAW, will Jeri-Show truly “end” DX this Sunday or will DX claim their first tag team titles?

Two days before he challenges John Morrison for the Intercontinental Title at WWE TLC, Drew McIntyre appeared on SmackDown to have a face-off with the Intercontinental Champion before the event. McIntyre stated that any proposed loss to John Morrison is “fictitious” before John Morrison came out dressed as the star character in the hit movie, “Braveheart”, William Wallace! Dressed as the Scottish cinema character, Morrison said that the proud Scotsman that stands before him is a “joke” and that no one can tell what Drew McIntyre is saying with his Scottish accent. McIntyre responded by saying that the Intercontinental Champion should “respect” him. The confident Morrison then proclaimed that McIntyre “will never take” his title! McIntyre then challenges Morrison to “fight” him and “The Friday Night Delight” gladly accepts as champion and challenger engage in a brief brawl before McIntyre opts to exit the ring! Who will emerge as the Intercontinental Champion this Sunday?

After last week’s match with Kane, the bizarre Mike Knox actually requested a rematch with “The Big Red Machine”, to which Kane accepted! Unfortunately for Mike Knox, the result was the same as last week with Kane delivering a chokeslam to “Monstrous” Mike Knox.

It was announced on SmackDown that, at WWE TLC, Michelle McCool will defend the Women’s Title against the Diva she has tormented relentlessly as of late, Mickie James!

Before she would battle her tormenter, Michelle McCool, for the Women’s Title at WWE TLC, Mickie James teamed up with Maria to defeat the Women’s Champion and Layla in tag team action! Will Mickie claim her fifth Women’s Championship reign this Sunday or will Michelle McCool defeat Mickie when it matters the most and retain the gold?

Then it was time for the main event as the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Title, Batista, would go one-on-one with his former best friend, Rey Mysterio, in a Street Fight. With vengeance on his mind, Rey held his own against Batista, but was unable to put “The Animal” down for the three count. Rey even utilized a steel chair to take advantage of Batista, but “The Altered Beast” ended it all with a steel chair shot to the skull of Mysterio, which won the match for the #1 Contender.

After the match, the ruthless Batista took the steel chair and placed it around the neck of Rey Mysterio! Batista was ready to jump off of the second turnbuckle and cause serious damage to Mysterio, but the lights went out and the familiar gong symbolized the arrival of The Undertaker! “The Phenom” rained down upon Batista with several right hands and grabbed the steel chair to exact revenge on “The Animal”, but Batista quickly exited the ring; temporarily avoiding destruction at the hands of The Undertaker! When chairs are legal at WWE TLC, who will emerge as the World Heavyweight Champion?

Superstars of the Week: Unified WWE Tag Team Champions Jeri-Show

One night after Survivor Series, RAW was host to a three-hour special celebrating Thanksgiving. One night earlier, John Cena had successfully defended the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Match against two of the greatest Superstars in WWE history; Triple H & Shawn Michaels. After defeating these two veterans, Cena was “introduced” to the new #1 Contender for his WWE Title, Sheamus, who had won a Breakthrough Battle Royal to earn the biggest opportunity of his young career. The Superstar who forced Jamie Noble into retirement had his sights set on John Cena and the WWE Championship. Cena’s first confrontation with Sheamus would certainly be one Cena will never forget as the animalistic Sheamus blind-sided “The Champ” with a kick to the skull before sending Cena crashing through a table! After this destruction by “The Celtic Warrior”, it was revealed that he will get his title opportunity at WWE TLC in a Tables Match; where the object of the match is to drive your opponent through a table to win! Ruthless since his WWE debut, Sheamus took it to another level, entirely, en route to his first championship match. After putting Cena through a table, Sheamus also put Santino Marella through a table and even billionaire Mark Cuban was not safe from the warpath of “The Celtic Warrior”! Despite Sheamus’ list of victims, WWE Champion John Cena was seemingly unimpressed by it all; citing that he has been through it all in his seven-year WWE career! This Sunday at WWE TLC, the “never say die” attitude of John Cena will be tested against a new and ruthless opponent in Sheamus. Can Cena stop the seemingly unstoppable and put Sheamus through a table to retain his WWE Title or will Sheamus do in weeks what took Cena years by claiming the WWE Championship?

After the ECW Championship had been overlooked at the last couple of WWE pay-per-views, ECW Champion Christian set out to change all that and proposed that he and his new #1 Contender, Shelton Benjamin, “steal the show” at WWE TLC by competing in a Ladder Match for the ECW Championship! “The Gold Standard” agreed to challenge Christian for the title in a Ladder Match and now these two Ladder Match veterans will put it all on the line this Sunday at WWE TLC. In recent weeks, Christian & Benjamin have watched each other’s backs to make sure they both enter WWE TLC at their best and, with their Ladder Match rapidly approaching, Christian & Benjamin look to be ready for anything come this Sunday. Who will climb the ladder and grab the ECW Title belt this Sunday? Will Christian continue his impressive reign as the ECW Champion by defeating Shelton Benjamin in a Ladder Match or will “The Gold Standard” take his spot atop ECW as its champion?

While aggressively ending his friendship with Rey Mysterio, Batista has found a more suitable ally; an unforgiving steel chair! At Survivor Series, “The Altered Beast” utilized the steel chair to decimate Rey Mysterio and on SmackDown that same week, Batista used the chair to defeat Kane and become the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship! After learning that he would face The Undertaker for the title in a Chairs Match at WWE TLC, “The Animal” has twice assaulted Undertaker with a steel chair! While two weeks of brutal steel chair assaults have left The Undertaker in questionable condition for the match, Batista will be competing in the match just two nights after a Street Fight against Rey Mysterio! This Sunday, chairs will be legal when The Undertaker defends the World Heavyweight Championship against Batista. Will “The Phenom” pay Batista back in full for the recent assaults or will “The Animal” use a steel chair to his advantage and regain the World Heavyweight Championship that he covets more than anything else?

Since becoming the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions at Night of Champions in July, Chris Jericho & Big Show have defeated some of the best teams in the WWE. At WWE TLC, Jeri-Show’s reign could come to a “crashing” end as they face their biggest test to date when they are challenged by D-Generation X in a TLC Match! DX has vowed to rid RAW of Chris Jericho by dethroning Jeri-Show and forcing Jericho to go back to SmackDown, while Jericho has vowed that DX will never take the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles from himself & Big Show. Jeri-Show seemingly has the advantage with Chris Jericho being the only Superstar with TLC Match experience, while the sheer size and power of Big Show turns a table, ladder, or chair into the ultimate weapon! Will DX win the tag titles for the first time in their legendary career as a team or will Jeri-Show’s mix of size, power, and experience lead to the downfall of DX this Sunday?

On a recent edition of SmackDown, Drew McIntyre used the steel structure of the ring to his advantage to earn a victory over Intercontinental Champion John Morrison in a non-title match. Following his non-title victory, Drew McIntyre will get the opportunity to claim his first championship when he challenges John Morrison for the Intercontinental Title at WWE TLC! Can the man pegged as a “future World Champion” by WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon end the impressive reign John Morrison has had as the Intercontinental Champion or will Morrison overcome the challenge of Drew McIntyre to retain his title?

In a rivalry that goes all the way back to WWE Bragging Rights, Randy Orton & Kofi Kingston will finally settle things at WWE TLC when they go one-on-one in the “rubber match” between the two! Randy Orton claims that Kofi Kingston cost him the WWE Championship at John Cena and has since targeted Kofi. However, unlike past victims of Orton, Kofi has refused to be bullied by Orton and has gotten the upper hand over Orton on several occasions; even putting Orton through a table on RAW! In their first one-on-one match, Orton was given the big assist by his protégés, Legacy, as the team injured Kofi before the contest leading to an easy victory by “The Viper”. The following week they had the rematch with Kofi using a backslide to roll-up Orton and, aided with a lightning-quick count by Guest Host Mark Cuban, Kofi picked up the win! After earning one win a piece under questionable circumstances, they will go one-on-one at WWE TLC. Will Randy Orton put this rivalry to rest or will Kofi Kingston once again get the better of “The Viper”?

After weeks of humiliation at the hands of Michelle McCool, Mickie James will get her opportunity at revenge, as Mickie will challenge McCool for the Women’s Championship at WWE TLC! Which SmackDown Diva will emerge as the Women’s Champion?

Accomplishments
One Time ECW Champion
Two-Time All-American in Amateur Wrestling

Did You Know?
As an All-American amateur wrestler at the University of Oklahoma, Jack Swagger set the single season record with most pins; scoring thirty pins in one season.

Next Week’s WWE Television Schedule
Sunday, December 13: WWE TLC, LIVE on pay-per-view, from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX
Monday, December 14: 2009 Slammy Awards, LIVE from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX
Tuesday, December 15: ECW on Syfy from the Laredo Entertainment Center in Laredo, TX
Thursday, December 17: WWE Superstars from Corpus Christi, TX & Laredo, TX
Friday, December 18: The Laredo Entertainment Center in Laredo, TX Hosts SmackDown
Saturday, December 19: WWE Tribute To The Troops from Baghdad, Iraq