WWE Week In Review: December 13, 2009- December 19, 2009

Welcome to the eighty-fifth 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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The inaugural edition of WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs came to you, live on pay-per-view, from the AT&T Center in the home of the Alamo and “The Hearbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, San Antonio, TX. In his hometown, Shawn Michaels would be joined by his D-Generation X partner, Triple H, as the legendary duo challenged Jeri-Show for the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles in the epically dangerous TLC Match. John Cena would defend the WWE Championship against a foe like he has never faced before in “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus and he would have to do so in a Tables Match. After witnessing Shelton Benjamin become the #1 Contender for the ECW Championship, Christian proposed that they battle over the ECW Title in a Ladder Match and “steal the show”. Batist’s obsession with, and only with, the World Heavyweight Championship led him to a steel chair-aided assault on The Undertaker which led the familiar adversaries to a Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Title. After defeating the champion in a non-title match, Drew McIntyre would challenge John Morrison for the Intercontinental Championship. After almost two months of an intense back-and-forth rivalry, Randy Orton & Kofi Kingston both chalked up one controversial win over the other and WWE TLC would host the “rubber match” between the two. After weeks of humiliation at the hands of Michelle McCool & Layla, Mickie James would get her shot at revenge as she challenges McCool for the Women’s Title.

The Intercontinental Championship was up for grabs as “The Chosen One” Drew McIntyre challenged champion John Morrison and, after a well-placed thumb to the eye of “The Friday Night Delight”, McIntyre hit his signature Scot Drop on Morrison to allow McIntyre to pin Morrison and claim the Intercontinental Championship!

After the biggest win of his WWE career, Drew McIntyre was confronted by a fellow newcomer in Sheamus, who vowed that McIntyre would not be the only newcomer winning gold!

Mickie James challenged Michelle McCool for the Women’s Championship, but Mickie ran into trouble with Layla in the contest after Layla shoved Mickie off of the top rope. Mickie got a hold of Layla, but McCool accidentally knocked her friend off of the apron! Despite the mix-up, McCool was still able to hit a big boot on Mickie and retain the Women’s Championship!

“The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus would have the biggest match of his young career as he challenged John Cena for the WWE Championship in a Tables Match. In a grueling match that saw John Cena suplex Sheamus on the steel ramp and attempt to slam a table on top of Sheamus, it was one simple maneuver that led to Cena’s downfall. With a table set up in the ring, Cena went to set Sheamus up for a match-ending superplex through the table, but Sheamus fought the superplex attempt and shoved John Cena off of the top rope and Cena went crashing through the table! The world was in shock as Sheamus was announced as the new WWE Champion! In what many would call the biggest upset of the year, Sheamus defeated a six-time World Champion in John Cena to win the WWE Championship after only being on RAW since October 26! How will John Cena respond to this shocking loss at the hands of Sheamus?

After using his new favorite ally, a steel chair, over the last few weeks, Batista would get the opportunity to use them all he wanted as he challenged The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship in the first ever Chairs Match. The unique match would allow chairs to be legally used in the contest, but any other illegal weapons or maneuvers would still warrant a disqualification. This is a rule that “The Animal” thought he would get away with breaking; with the referee’s back to the action, Batista utilized a low blow to The Undertaker that allowed Batista to waylay the champion with a steel chair shot leading to Batista pinning The Undertaker to win the World Heavyweight Title, or so Batista thought. After Batista was declared the new champion, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long came out and refused to allow the title to change hands following an illegal maneuver like the one Batista used. Having dealt with the bad side of The Undertaker before, not to mention still being under probation by Mr. McMahon, Teddy Long made the decision to restart the championship match! When Batista re-entered the ring to restart the match, The Undertaker blasted “The Animal” in the back with a steel chair before spiking Batista with the Tombstone Piledriver that led to The Undertaker retaining the World Heavyweight Championship!

Before he went one-on-one with Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston was confronted backstage by Orton’s protégés, Legacy, who told Kofi they were there to deliver a “message” from Orton. Kofi referred to Legacy as Orton’s “sidekicks” and Legacy responded by claiming that Kofi is “terrified” of Randy Orton! The fearless Kofi Kingston responded to the allegation by walking right into Randy Orton’s locker room and telling Orton, to his face, that Orton is a “coward” and saying that Orton does not deserve another title shot! Kofi then added that he’s looking forward to “beating down” Orton!

After a Legacy-aided win and a Mark Cuban-aided win for Randy Orton & Kofi Kingston, respectively, WWE TLC would host the “rubber match” between these two bitter rivals. The end of the match came when Kofi went to hit Orton with Trouble in Paradise, but “The Viper” was able to duck the maneuver and hit a lightning-quick RKO on Kofi to pick up the win!

Backstage, an enraged Batista confronts SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long and protests that he was “robbed” of the World Heavyweight Title and demanded that Long “make it right” before threatening Long with a steel chair! After inciting the wrath of “The Animal”, will Long be forced to “make it right” for Batista?

The main event of the evening was a TLC Match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship as Jeri-Show defended the titles against D-Generation X. In an incredible contest filled with destruction and mayhem, the dangerous match looked to be firmly in the control of the champions as Jeri-Show utilized the ladder, much like they did on RAW, to place DX in the ladder and close the ladder of the legendary duo before using a steel chair on it! After this scissor ladder assault, Big Show pulled on the ladder, which came apart into two pieces! That would not be the only thing Big Show would destroy as, on the outside, he hoisted Shawn Michaels up for a chokeslam and threw Shawn Michaels into Triple H and both DX members went crashing through a table! Back in the ring, Jericho tried to use half of the broken ladder to no avail. However, Jericho gets the idea to use his mammoth partner as the ladder! Jericho gets on the shoulders of “The World’s Largest Athlete” and Jeri-Show slowly works together to try and get the title belts. With Big Show holding Jericho on his shoulders, Shawn Michaels hit Big Show with Sweet Chin Music, which knocked Jericho off of Big Show’s shoulders and sent Jericho sailing to the outside of the ring where his face bounced off of a table! Back inside the ring, Shawn Michaels delivered a second rendition of Sweet Chin Music before both members of DX used the half ladder to send Big Show to the outside of the ring! Triple H held the half ladder as Shawn Michaels ascended it and grabbed the belts! For the first time as a team, Triple H & Shawn Michaels have won the tag team titles! Not only did DX claim their first tag team titles together, they have vanquished Chris Jericho back to his “home brand” of SmackDown! After being dethroned by DX, how will Chris Jericho & Big Show respond to their defeat?

One night after WWE TLC, the 864th edition of Monday Night RAW would be a three-hour special to present the 2009 Slammy Awards, which came to you, live, from the American Bank Center in the coastal city of Corpus Christi, TX. Five-time Emmy Award winning comedian, Dennis Miller, would host the three-hour extravaganza with Superstars & Divas from all three brands appearing on the show.

2009 Slammy Awards 3-Hour Special
Good Week For: John Cena (defeated CM Punk & Randy Orton in the same night to become Superstar of the Year)
Bad Week For: Chris Jericho (was forced out of the building by DX and their one night recruits)

Slammy Award Winners
Superstar of the Year: John Cena
Diva of the Year: Maria
Tag Team of the Year: Jeri-Show
Match of the Year: The Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels at The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania
Breakout Star of the Year: Sheamus
RAW Guest Host of the Year: Bob Barker
Shocker of the Year: CM Punk forces Jeff Hardy to leave the WWE
Extreme Moment of the Year: Jeff Hardy hits the Swanton Bomb off of a ladder onto CM Punk
“Oh My” Moment of the Year: Michael Cole vomits on Chris Jericho

In 6-Man Tag action, ECW Champion Christian teamed with Kane & The Great Khali to defeat the dysfunctional trio of William Regal, Ezekiel Jackson, & Vladimir Kozlov. The end of the contest came after Vladimir Kozlov tagged himself into the match and lost the match in embarassingly quick fashion!

ECW General Manager Tiffany & SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long presented the Slammy Award for the 2009 Breakout Star of the Year, which went to the new WWE Champion Sheamus! The new champion came out to accept his award and asked if he is being taken “seriously” now that he is the WWE Champion. “The Celtic Warrior” then proclaims that John Cena will never take the WWE Championship from him! Will Sheamus stay true to his word? When will John Cena seek his mandatory rematch for the title?

After losing to Randy Orton at WWE TLC, Kofi Kingston was set to go one-on-one with one of Orton’s protégés, Cody Rhodes, but the match quickly ended once the other half of Legacy, Ted DiBiase got involved! Legacy double-teamed Kofi until Evan Bourne made the save! Guest Host Dennis Miller then announced that Legacy would face Kofi & Bourne in a tag match!

Showing why they were in the running for the 2009 Tag Team of the Year, Legacy picked up the win over the high-flying team of Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne.

Santino Marella & Vickie Guerrero appear to announce the 2009 Shocker of the Year, which went to CM Punk for Punk forcing Jeff Hardy to leave the WWE!

With four Superstars up for the 2009 Superstar of the Year, a four-man tournament was held to determine which Superstar would earn the honor. In the first match of the tournament, former WWE Champion John Cena was able to defeat former World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk to advance in the tournament!

Following his victory over CM Punk, John Cena spoke about his loss to Sheamus and apologized to anyone he “let down” by losing the WWE Title. Cena then vowed that what happened at WWE TLC will not happen again and that he “can’t be stopped”. Cena then made the bold declaration that he will not lose another match until he regains the WWE Championship! Can Cena stay true to this promise?

Before he and Shawn Michaels defended their newly won Unified WWE Tag Team Titles against former champions Jeri-Show, Triple H made an appearance to announce the 2009 Match of the Year, which went to the classic showdown between The Undertaker & Shawn Michaels at The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania!

Shawn Michaels came out and accepted the award and stated that he is “proud” of his match with The Undertaker and says that he “can beat” The Undertaker before HBK challenges The Undertaker to a rematch at WrestleMania XXVI! How will The Undertaker respond to this challenge for a rematch? Can Shawn Michaels really end the undefeated WrestleMania streak of The Undertaker?

The tournament to determine the 2009 Superstar of the Year continued as World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker squared off with Randy Orton! The end of the match came when Legacy came out and distracted The Undertaker. The distraction by Legacy allowed Randy Orton enough time to recover and hit Undertaker with the RKO on the outside of the ring! Following this devastasting maneuver, Orton narrowly beat Undertaker getting in the ring to get the count-out victory! With it down to two very familiar adversaries in John Cena & Randy Orton, who will emerge as the 2009 Superstar of the Year?

WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon appeared on the show and presented the Slammy Award for the 2009 RAW Guest Host of the Year, which went to Bob Barker!

The Unified WWE Tag Team Titles were on the line as new champions D-Generation X defended the gold against former champions and 2009 Tag Team of the Year, Jeri-Show. The legendary joking duo of DX started and ended the match by Shawn Michaels kneeling behind the referee and Triple H shoving the referee, which caused the quick, and intentional, disqualification! After the match, Triple H reminded Chris Jericho that he just had his rematch! Shawn Michaels added that, technically, Jericho is “trespassing” on RAW seeing as he is a SmackDown Superstar and he just had his rematch! DX then brings out some one-night only DX recruits to force Jericho out of the building! ECW Champion Christian, Shelton Benjamin, R-Truth, Finlay, Cryme Tyme, & The Hurricane “assisted” Chris Jericho all the way out of the arena! Now that Chris Jericho & Big Show are no longer the tag team champions, is this the end of Jeri-Show?

Carlito, Eve Torres, & Chris Masters appeared and presented the 2009 Extreme Moment of the Year award, which went to Jeff Hardy and his Swanton Bomb off of a ladder to CM Punk! Jeff’s brother, Matt, accepted the award for his brother, but was quickly hit with a cheap shout by Carlito! Chris Masters responded by locking Carlito in the Masterlock and throwing Carlito to Matt Hardy so that Matt could deliver a right hand of his own!

In a 6-Man Tag match, the team of John Morrison, Mark Henry, & Yoshi Tatsu defeated the team of the new Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre, United States Champion The Miz, & Zack Ryder.

Following a huge 14-Diva Tag Match featuring the nominees for Diva of the Year, the 2009 Diva of the Year, as voted on by the fans on WWE.com, was Maria! However, Batista pulled a “Kanye” and interrupted the proud Diva’s speech to state that he was “robbed” of the World Heavyweight Title at WWE TLC before “The Animal” was escorted from the building!

Abraham Washington, Tony Atlas, & everyone’s favorite mostly-nude male stripper, Big Dick Johnson, presented the 2009 “Oh My!” Moment of the Year, which went to RAW Play-by-play Commentator Michael Cole for his “vintage” vomit that he got on Chris Jericho at the SmackDown 10th Anniversary celebration!

Former Yankees outfielder, Johnny Damon, will serve as the Guest Host on next week’s RAW with some “WWE Secret Santas”! What will the MLB free agent have in store for RAW?

Staying true to his word to not lose a match until he regains the WWE Championship, John Cena defeated long-time rival Randy Orton in the Finals of the Superstar of the Year Tournament to earn the 2009 Superstar of the Year award! After the match, the new WWE Champion, Sheamus, came out and proudly held the WWE Title in the air in front of Cena. When will Cena get his rematch for the WWE Championship? Can Cena defeat “The Celtic Warrior” and regain the title?

Two nights after WWE TLC, the 184th edition of ECW on Syfy came to you from the Laredo Entertainment Center in “The Gateway City” of Laredo, TX. ECW General Manager Tiffany invited a special guest to ECW as former ECW Champion, Kane, would appear on the show. Also, after attacking The Hurricane almost two weeks ago, the man who calls himself “The Ripper” would face The Hurricane with The Ripper earning an ECW Contract if he wins.

ECW on Syfy
Good Week For: Kane & Ezekiel Jackson (both advanced in the ECW Homecoming tournament)
Bad Week For: The Ripper/Paul Burchill (as unable to defeat The Hurricane and earn an ECW Contract)

Continuing his ruse to try and get back onto the ECW Roster, Paul Burchill would compete for his ECW Contract as “The Ripper” when he faced The Hurricane. However, after unmasking The Ripper and hitting the Shining Wizard, The Hurricane defeated The Ripper to prevent The Ripper/Paul Burchill from rejoining the ECW Roster!

In the first ECW Homecoming Qualifying Match, former partners Ezekiel Jackson & Vladimir Kozlov went one-on-one with William Regal choosing to be in the corner of Vladimir Kozlov. However, that turned out to be an elaborate trick by the dastardly William Regal as Regal ended up intentionally costing Kozlov the match! After Regal tripped Kozlov, “Big Zeke” capitalized and hit Total Domination to earn his spot in The Homecoming Finale Battle Royal! After the match, Regal & Ezekiel laid out Kozlov by throwing him, head first, into the side of the announce table! Now that William Regal has apparently given up on keeping his “Ruthless Roundtable” together, what made Regal decide to join Ezekiel Jackson in Jackson’s battle against Vladimir Kozlov? How will Kozlov respond to this attack by Regal & Jackson?

ECW’s newest tag team, Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta, were in action on ECW, defeating Julio Cruz & Jorge Arias in impressive fashion.

The main event of the evening saw “The Big Red Machine” Kane pick up a win over Zack Ryder to advance to The Homecoming Finale Battle Royal for a shot at the ECW Championship!

On next week’s ECW on Syfy, former ECW Champion Jack Swagger will take part in the ECW Homecoming tournament as he goes one-on-one with Yoshi Tatsu! Which Superstar will join Kane & Ezekiel Jackson as a competitor in The Homecoming Finale Battle Royal on January 12?

The 36th edition of WWE Superstars came to you from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX and from the Laredo Entertainment Center in Laredo, TX. In a rematch from last week’s WWE Superstars, “The Ballin’ Superstar” MVP would face “The All-American American” Jack Swagger. In a rematch from last week’s ECW on Syfy, Vance Archer would go one-on-one with “The ECW Original” Tommy Dreamer. In tag team action, Cryme Tyme would square off with the team of Mike Knox & Dolph Ziggler.

In a rematch from last week’s ECW on Syfy, Vance Archer defeated Tommy Dreamer in Archer’s debut on WWE Superstars.

The main event of the evening saw “The Ballin’ Superstar” MVP pick up an impressive victory over “The All-American American” Jack Swagger. Is this loss by Jack Swagger a sign of things to come this Tuesday night on ECW on Syfy when Swagger faces Yoshi Tatsi with a spot in The Homecoming Finale Battle Royal on the line?

Five nights after WWE TLC, the 539th edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown came to you from the Laredo Entertainment Center in “The Gateway City” of Laredo, TX. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long would appear on the show to address the World Heavyweight Title situation.

Friday Night SmackDown
Good Week For: Rey Mysterio (defeated Batista to become the new #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Title)
Bad Week For: Batista (failed to defeat Rey Mysterio to claim the #1 Contender’s spot)

The opening match of the night was a 6-Man Tag match and it saw the new Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre team with CM Punk & Luke Gallows to defeat the team of former Intercontinental Champion John Morrison, Matt Hardy, & R-Truth. It was CM Punk who, behind the referee’s back, hit Matt Hardy in his mid-section with Punk’s Slammy Award that directly led to Punk getting the win for his team!

Next week on SmackDown, new Unified WWE Tag Team Champions D-Generation X will present a “DX Christmas”! What will the legendary duo have in store for SmackDown on Christmas Day?

As Vickie Guerrero continues to send him through the “wringer”, Eric Escobar faced “The Big Red Machine” Kane in a losing effort.

Before he went one-on-one with The Great Khali, Chris Jericho had a few things to say regarding his treatment on RAW. The former Unified WWE Tag Team Champion stated that he was “unfairly ejected” from RAW on Monday night and claimed that he and Big Show’s rematch for the tag titles on RAW was “the biggest screwjob in WWE history”! Jericho then proclaims that he will leave RAW when he “wants to” and stated that Big Show was “taken” from him. Jericho then vowed that it is “not over”!

Chris Jericho was in action on SmackDown as he faced the returning Great Khali. Jericho tried his best to take down “The Punjabi Playboy”, but the sheer size and strength of The Great Khali proved to be too much for Jericho as he opted to take a count-out loss to Khali!

The Hart Dynasty was in action on SmackDown, picking up an impressive win over Slam Master J & Jimmy Wang Yang. After the match, The Hart Dynasty revealed that, on next week’s SmackDown, they will challenge D-Generation X for the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles! Can the confident Hart Dynasty earn their “Christmas presents” by upsetting DX and winning the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles or will DX retain their gold?

“The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix picked up a dominant win over the 2009 Diva of the Year, Maria, on SmackDown. Could Beth Phoenix be the next challenger for the Women’s Championship?

The main event of the evening saw former best friends face off as Batista faced Rey Mysterio with the #1 Contender’s spot for the World Heavyweight Championship on the line. In the end, Batista’s frustration led to the downfall of “The Animal” as Rey Mysterio was able to surprise Batista with a roll-up to win the match and earn a World Heavyweight Title shot against The Undertaker next week on SmackDown! Can Rey pull off the upset next week and become the new World Heavyweight Champion?

Superstar of the Week: New WWE Champion Sheamus

Accomplishments
Three Time WWE Intercontinental Champion
Two Time WCW United States Champion
Nine Time WWE Hardcore Champion
One Time WWE World Tag Team Champion (with Booker T)
Two Time WCW World Tag Team Champion (with Ricky Steamboat & Barry Windham)
One Time WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champion (with Big Josh & Tom Zenk)
1997 Slammy Award Winner for Best Couple (with Marlena)

Did You Know?
Goldust is the son of WWE Hall of Famer “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and is the half-brother of Legacy’s Cody Rhodes.

Next Week’s WWE Television Schedule
Monday, December 21: RAW, LIVE from the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, FL
Tuesday, December 22: ECW on Syfy from the Amway Arena in Orlando, FL
Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve): WWE Superstars from Tampa, FL & Orlando, FL
Friday, December 25 (Christmas Day): The Amway Arena in Orlando, FL Hosts SmackDown