The Bell to Bell News Report 06.07.09

Posted by Randy Harrison on 06.07.2009

Ric Flair quits, Randy Orton rages (kind of), and Jeff Hardy re-signs (maybe). It's been a busy week in wrestling and what better way to catch up with what you may have missed than by clicking into the column that covers every single one of the past seven days, the Bell to Bell!




June is upon us and while that usually means that it's time to hit the beach or possibly time to start planning the first big cook-out of the year (even if Eddie Murphy says never to go to them), it also means that we're gearing up for a big summer of wrestling, both in shows and news. It may just be me, but the busiest time of the year outside of the pre-WrestleMania buzz is around the summer when the biggest stories of the past few years have seemed to break. This past week might not have the huge story that some people are looking for, but it's still got some news as the WWE heads into Judgment Day and TNA is still reeling from Sacrifice as they start their build to Slammiversary and two King of the Mountain matches. Along with all of the usual weekly shows, there's news on Jeff Hardy possibly re-signing with the WWE and Ric Flair quitting ROH.

Hockey update time! As I write this, Game Five of the Stanley Cup Finals is currently ongoing, with the series tied at two games apiece. Both teams held serve on their home ice, reducing the series to a best of three affair with the Wings holding home ice for games 5 and 7 (if necessary). While I'll admit that the Wings looked bad in the second period of game 4, that was their first really terrible period of the entire playoffs. Granted, it came at the worst possible time, but I don't think that it's time to sound the alarm bells just yet, like some of the media have been doing. To suggest that Henrik Zetterberg is too tired to play is a ridiculous statement considering how much of his career he has left in front of him and when you consider that the fifth game is the first time that Detroit will be skating with their full compliment of players with the return of Pavel Datsyuk, it's a testament to how good they are that they're even tied in this series. With future stars like Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader pitching in in Datsyuk's absence and doing a fantastic job, it should be a real boost when Pavel gets back into the game. Edit: At the time this posted, the Wings were cruising 5-0 and had just chased Marc-Andre Fleury from the game midway through the second period. Awesome performance from my Wings after a lackluster couple of games in Pittsburgh.

Moving on to my hometown Moose, they're also playing as I write this column, with their series tied 1-1 with the Hershey Bears. The Moose started out terribly in the first game of the series, blowing a 3-1 lead to lose in overtime in front of a sell-out crowd, which I worried could be the beginning of the end for the men in antlers. Luckily for me, I was wrong and Jason Jaffray came back strong in the second game, notching a hat trick to spur the Moose to a 3-1 win to tie the series. Three straight games in Hershey are up next for the Moose and I have to say that this is one of those situations where I don't agree with the AHL's playoff format. Instead of a 2-2-1-1-1 series where games 5 and 7 are played at the rink of the team with home ice advantage, they run a 2-3-2 format where the Moose could find themselves out of the series without any real advantage to having home ice. The MTS Centre has proven to be an intimidating place to play and if the Moose were down 3-1 and playing at home, they'd have a much better chance of extending the series there than they would playing in Hershey. I know that it's about scheduling and keeping the costs down in the minor leagues, but you would think that they could change it, at least for the final series. Edit: The Moose dropped the game 3-0, though they have another chance today to even the series. You can bet that I'll be glued to CJOB to listen to the game since I don't have access to MTS TV or Shaw, who are carrying the game on TV.


Sunday


The Stories

So yeah, that whole thing about "Summer is when lots of news happens"...I guess no one that works in the wrestling industry got that memo because Sunday was a whole lot of nothing. JR gave his take on the Kennedy release without really saying anything of substance, and also mentioned that Ric Flair's return to the WWE will likely not see him in the ring anytime soon (which is a good thing in my opinion). Outside of that, there's not a whole heck of a lot to talk about from Sunday. Unlike the past couple of weeks where there's been a show to cover, there wasn't even a PPV this week to save me from the duldrums. Not a promising start to a week that I had high hopes for. Not promising at all.



Monday


The Show



Monday Night Raw Results:

Steel Cage match: Cody Rhodes vs. Batista - Winner: Batista (pinfall, Batista Bomb)
Kelly Kelly and Mickie James vs. Beth Phoenix and Maryse - Winners: Beth Phoenix and Maryse (pinfall, Maryse DDT's Kelly)
Carlito and Primo Colon vs. William Regal and Matt Hardy - Winners: Carlito and Primo Colon (pinfall, Carlito's Backstabber on Regal)
The Miz and The Big Show vs. John Cena and Chavo Guerrero - Winners: John Cena and Chavo Guerrero (pinfall, Chavo pin after Show's KO punch on Miz )
WWE US Championship: Kofi Kingston vs. MVP (C) - Winner: Kofi Kingston (pinfall, victory roll)
Vickie Guerrero vs. Santino Marella - Winner: None (No contest)

After a shaky few weeks, the WWE managed to somewhat get things back on track with Raw this week as we saw a new champion crowned, a steel cage match and a fight in the parking lot to close the show. The biggest news from the show coincided with the best match of the night as Kofi Kingston became the new US Champion by defeating MVP in a great bout. The interview segment leading up to the match was great as both Kingston and MVP showed personality and the ability to hang on the mic, two things they'll need if they're going to stick at the top of the card down the road. From there, the match itself was presented like *GASP* the title actually means something!! It's rare these days to see a secondary title get the prestige treatment and in this case it was a breath of fresh air. The match was great and fast-paced, with a lot of action and near-falls to keep the fans interested. My only problem with the match itself was that the crowd was a little quiet as they were mostly unsure who to cheer for since both guys have gotten themselves pretty well over on Monday nights. Outside of the muted reactions though, the whole thing was fantastic, including the "passing of the torch" after the match with MVP handing Kingston the belt like he was Hogan at WrestleMania VI. Both guys are primed for a push now with Kingston ready to carry the ball at the top of the mid-card, while MVP seems to be on his way into a main event slot. Based on this match and the interview before it, both guys deserve where they're going to be and that's something I never would have imagined saying about Kingston when he made his debut.

The night's big angle saw a continuation of the Ric Flair/Randy Orton affair as well as the push towards Extreme Rules and Batista's title shot at Orton inside a steel cage. The Flair/Orton deal started out with an interview segment featuring Orton and Legacy inside a cage in the middle of the ring. Orton talked, gave Batista a cage match against either Rhodes or DiBiase, and Flair came out to interrupt and challenge Orton to a street fight in the parking lot. Orton accepted and Batista got Rhodes in the cage and killed him. I have to say that this is one of the oddest builds to a title match that I've seen as they're not only damaging Batista by keeping him from interacting with Orton on any meaningful level because of the Flair thing, but they're killing off Legacy at the same time because Batista has to squash them to get any kind of heat heading into the PPV. As you would expect, Flair and Orton threw down and Orton got the better of the old man. They fought all the way back to the ring, which had the steel cage back around it, and Orton decimated Flair inside of it while Legacy kept guard. Batista tried to make the save (sort of) but it was too late and Orton ended up punting Flair right in the head. IN THE HEAD!! While I get that the segment at the end of the show was meant to have Orton ramp up the emotional intensity against Batista for the cage match, it just fell flat. Apparently, Batista forgot that cages can be climbed and he just kind of stood out there and watched it all happen, choosing to emote rather than kick ass. It's a good thing that MVP is going to be pushed up into the main event scene because Batista/Orton is already beyond boring to me.

Another week, another interaction in one of the best little mini-feuds I've seen in a while as The Miz and John Cena were on opposite sides of tag team action. Miz teamed up with Big Show, while Cena was tagged with Chavo Guerrero. The match itself wasn't much of anything as it was barely five minutes, but it wasn't about the match. It was about the pre-match promo from The Miz and the post-match shenanigans with all of the participants. The Miz was great on the mic again, comparing Cena fans to fans of the Jonas Brothers and Cena himself to Hannah Montana. He called himself a winner and continued to push his undefeated streak against Cena, hyping himself as 6-0. You've got to say that for the little bit he's been given, Miz has run with it a mile, getting himself more TV time than he probably ever could have imagined after the split from Morrison. The finish with Show knocking out Miz for being annoying and Chavo tagging himself in for the pin was great, and after the match, Cena taking out Chavo and Show taking out Cena was just the icing on the cake. Considering the amount of time they had, they got a lot accomplished in the segment and on top of that, it was a lot of fun as well. For all of the problems there's been with the Orton/Batista feud, the Show/Cena feud has been booked really well heading into the PPV and while the gimmick and the outcome on Raw pretty much gives away a Cena win, it's still been an interesting ride getting there.

Of course, that brings us to the low point of the show and probably the low point of Raw so far this year. This was supposed to be a comedy segment featuring Vickie Guerrero and Santino Marella in a Hog Pen match, building to Guerrero's showdown with Marella's "sister" at Extreme Rules. There were two buckets of slop, which looked a lot more like baby vomit, and Vickie Guerrero brought them with her, along with Matt Hardy and William Regal. Santino threw one of them on William Regal before the match was even a minute in and threatened Vickie with the other bucket before Matt Hardy knocked him silly with a cast shot. From there, Vickie held it over him and finally slopped his crotch. Yeah, his crotch. That makes about as much sense typing it as you can imagine it made when it was actually happening. The whole thing was a disaster from beginning to end, only made worse by the fact that Booking 101 means that Santina is likely to go over at the PPV which will force this terrible angle to continue. One step forward and four steps back, I swear.



The Stories


"Please Lord, please tell me that Linda won't get half of this too..."

-- Monday saw two of the stranger stories in the past little while cross the desk at the 411 offices. In a story almost too strange to be true, Axl Rotten has announced on his MySpace page that he's going to be opening a wrestling school. While I have no doubt that he's more qualified to be a teacher than I am when it comes to wrestling, having Axl teach you how to wrestle would be like Stephen Hawking trying to teach you how to dance. It's just not going to lead to anything good and more than likely someone's getting hurt. The other story that caught my eye and gave me a chuckle was the press release touting Hulk Hogan's newest nutritional supplement, Hogan Energy. While I'm interested to try "Butch Daughter" Berry, "Accident-Prone" Apple, and "Linda's a Bitch" Lemon-Lime, I think that "OJ Was Onto Something" Orange might be my personal favorite as I've always been a big fan of orange all the way back to my Kool-Aid days. That's right. I could have totally gone the easy route and made a steroid joke, but instead I went with the disaster that is his family. I'm living like Larry, and I don't care what happens!! Insanity!!!



Tuesday


The Show



ECW on Sci-Fi Results:

Evan Bourne vs. Mark Henry - Winner: Evan Bourne (disqualification, Atlas-ference)
Zach Ryder vs. Dustin Carwile - Winner: Zach Ryder (pinfall, knee-assisted neckbreaker)
Tommy Dreamer vs. Paul Burchill - Winner: Tommy Dreamer (pinfall, DDT)
Tyson Kidd vs. Christian - Winner: Christian (pinfall, Killswitch)


ECW's go-home show for the pay-per-view based on their brand was actually one of the stronger shows they've had in a while as there was no nonsense with Kozlov and only a bare minimum of silliness with Zach Ryder. The focal point for the hour was the Christian/Dreamer dynamic heading into the PPV with Dreamer's career on the line. Dreamer was up first, taking on Paul Burchill in what will likely be his last televised ECW match. The match itself was alright, but it felt like just another match, rather than Dreamer's final ECW match. If it hadn't been for Katie bringing it up on the microphone before the match, it could easily have been forgotten. This felt like pretty much every other Dreamer match that there's been in the new ECW, with Dreamer taking a beating before either taking the pin or getting the DDT seemingly out of nowhere to win. This week saw the latter as Dreamer avoided a charge, dropped Burchill on his head and got the pin. While most weeks that would be alright, this week should have had a lot more as Dreamer's swan song to the three letters that are synonymous with his career.

The main event for the show saw Christian taking on Tyson Kidd in a non-title match and it was easily the best match of the night, even with an ending that was a little suspect. Kidd more than held his own against the ECW Champion and showed that he's got all of the tools to be someone that could be a big star in the company. This one got a good amount of time despite being raped by a commercial break that took nearly four minutes of in-ring action away and they made the most of it. While the match didn't do much for Christian as he's already established, Kidd may just find this to be one of those turning points that he can point to where he saw his career take an upswing. The crowd was actually really into it and I was as well, until the nonsense with Dreamer and Swagger coming out ruined the finish. I'm not suggesting that this one was going to be a five-star classic before the interference, but it easily knocked it down a half star or so to about three stars. I especially liked that Kidd had counters for Christian's moves and was able to use them to take the advantage, only relying on heelishness when it was absolutely necessary. Doing that once does more to get over his wrestling ability than a hundred squashes ever could have. The beginning may have lacked a little passion, but everything after the commercial break was gold.

Touching on the finish as its own thing, Dreamer and Swagger got involved and in all the confusion, Christian was able to drop Kidd with the Killswitch for the three-count. That led to some post-match mayhem as Tommy Dreamer shook Christian's hand before KILLING him with a DDT. This was great as it helps build Dreamer as a solid threat to the title despite the fact that he hasn't had a sniff of the title picture since the new brand was launched. I know that he's got no chance in hell of winning, but for someone who didn't know or wasn't "smart" to things, it would look like Dreamer really has a chance on Sunday. The only thing that I think was a bit of a problem was that the crowd kind of turned on Dreamer after the DDT, which should have been expected considering how over Christian is. There were a lot more boos in there than cheers, especially for someone who's trying to ride the emotional wave to the ECW title, but on the whole the segment was solid and a good way for the brand to build their main event at the PPV. The show could have used a little bit more Swagger as he was kind of left as an afterthought heading into the match, but that's excusable considering what they're trying to do with Dreamer.


The Stories


-- The big news on Tuesday was that in addition to broken fingers suffered at an earlier time, Samoa Joe is now dealing with a torn tricep muscle. He broke the news on his Twitter page and while it looks as though he'll be able to work through the injuries, he's likely going to be pulled from all bouts after the Slammiversary PPV. This is a real shame to me as he was just starting to regain some momentum after circling the drain for the longest time after his return. He finally seemed like there was some focus to the character again after veering off the tracks for a while, but all of that is going to be up in smoke again. If TNA is smart (and that's a BIG if), they'd have Joe continue to be on Impact in much the same role that Steve Austin was when he was injured. If they can make him be a part of the tapings and have interactions with the Main Event Mafia without hurting himself any worse or making him look foolish (big machete anyone?), hopefully Joe can avoid losing too much steam while he gets himself back to 100%. Austin became an even bigger star when he was injured because he was able to remain a focal point of the WWE's programming, while showing more of his personality and his ability to entertain. I'm not sure if Joe has either of those, but I guess now would be as good a time as any to find out.


Apparently, Striker thinks he's teaching Sex Ed...

-- Other news that may or may not be as big, depending on the temperature of the pool, saw Matt Striker's "Little Striker" make a very public appearance splashed across the far flung reaches of the World Wide Web. No one has been able to confirm that the pictures of the...uh...Striker in question is actually ECW color commentator Matt Striker, but all signs are seemingly pointing in that direction. Considering that the WWE has been pushing pretty hard to sell the "golly gee, we're family entertainment, we're rated PG and everything" line, this isn't good for Striker. That being said, I don't necessarily think that it's a fatal blow or anything because he's shown that he has the capability of growing into one of the better announcers the WWE has had in years and considering that the WWE needs all of the announcers they can get their hands on, they won't be dropping Striker anytime soon. It could be worse for Striker I suppose. I mean it's not like they found him hanging after some kind of weird sex or som...uhhh...let's move on, shall we?



Wednesday


The Stories


-- The biggest story from Wednesday was the renovation plans for the WWE's home arena, Madison Square Garden in New York City. The building has held WrestleMania's I, X, and XX along with countless pay-per-views and too many house shows to count, so to say the building has history for the WWE is a huge understatement. Apparently this is going to be a huge project that will cost upwards of $500 million and will see only the exterior walls and ceiling from the original building remain. The plan is to rip out the entire lower level and rebuild it in time for the Rangers and Knicks to use the building, and to rip out and rebuild the upper half of the arena next year. From all of the additions that it looks like they'll be making to the building, it appears that the crown jewel of WWE arenas will finally be looking like a 21st Century facility. I don't know if it will somehow lead to more shows going through that area or anything of that nature, but you can bet that a live Raw will be one of the first events held in the new building and that WrestleMania XXX is already signed, sealed and delivered for the "World's Most Famous Arena". Here's hoping that they don't make the interior look the same as the interior of every other arena in the world though, as MSG has a certain kind of charm inside that made any WWE event there look unique to let you know that it's an MSG event.

-- The Playa from the Himalayas will make his return to one of the companies that springboarded him to TNA as Sonjay Dutt will be back in Ring of Honor to work the next set of television tapings on June 19th and June 20th. No word on whether he's going to be a special attraction at both shows or whether he's actually part of the roster now and will be featured on the TV shows, but this is good news for both parties. Sonjay needed to get some time and work in after he quit TNA and ROH is always in need of an extra worker or two. Sonjay is a solid hand and while I don't think he's going to set the world on fire and go on a run towards Jerry Lynn's belt, I can easily see him carving out a niche as a second or third match guy to keep his name out there until he can possibly catch on with either the WWE or TNA again.



Thursday


The Shows



WWE Superstars Results:

Goldust and Hornswoggle vs. THE Brian Kendrick and Jamie Noble - Winners: Goldust and Hornswoggle (pinfall, Tadpole Splash on Kendrick)
David Hart Smith vs. Tommy Dreamer - Winner: David Hart Smith (pinfall, Kidd-ference)
Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler vs. R-Truth and Jeff Hardy - Winners: R-Truth and Jeff Hardy (pinfall, Hardy's Swanton Bomb on Ziggler)


As the best wrestling show on TV from the WWE since its debut, Superstars has a lot to live up to on a weekly basis, despite being a show that is little more than random matches with a sprinkling of storyline thrown on top. This week was probably the weakest show for me since the re-debut of the show and that's mainly because of the first half of the hour. I just don't get why they bothered to split up Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel Jackson if this is what they were going to do with them. Jackson hasn't even debuted on ECW yet, while Kendrick is stuck being completely destroyed by feuding with a midget. Granted, Kendrick may only have about six inches on Hornswoggle, but this is a guy that was built up well enough on Smackdown to be part of their Championship Scramble match. He didn't look out of place at all in that match and unless this is some sort of booking reaction to Kendrick's alleged love of the sticky icky, this is a silly way to use someone who could easily be a top mid-card attraction in the same vein as Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio.

The ECW contribution to the show saw Dreamer doing the time honored tradition of leaving the business on your back as he took a somewhat controversial pinfall loss at the hands of David Hart Smith. Kidd and Smith have been getting pushed hard on ECW TV and this just continues that push. Kidd got involved and cost Dreamer the match with a well-placed kick, continuing the hot streak that the Hart Triolgy have been on since Smith made his debut in ECW. The fact that Christian was on commentary and got involved with the Harts has me excited that once he's through with Swagger, we could get Christian taking on the entire Hart Trilogy. Given how exciting the end of the Christian/Kidd match was on ECW and how much better Smith seems to be since taking his extended sabbatical from Raw, it could easily give ECW a top feud for at least two or three months while they build the next challenger (Chris Masters, Kozlov, Evan Bourne, Mark Henry) up for a title shot.

The night's main event saw tag action with four of Smackdown's stars as Chris Jericho and Jeff Hardy continued their issue with Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth as their respective partners. The match was solid work, especially from Ziggler, who continues to surprise me. The highlight (outside of Jericho screaming "What's up, Truth?" at R-Truth while laying the paintbrushing on him) was the finish that saw R-Truth and Hardy at their high-flying best while picking up the win. Ziggler took the pinfall, as one would expect with Jericho being kept strong since his move to Smackdown, but it doesn't seem like it's going to hurt him too much because he's been holding his own and losing to the guy that's the number one contender isn't much to be ashamed about. Much like every week with Superstars, the main event wasn't something that could be headlining a pay-per-view or even a show like Smackdown, but it was very solid action and an entertaining match, nothing more and nothing less. Like I said though, the show felt a little down for me this week as the first two matches were a little less exciting than I've been used to from Superstars, leaving the main event a tough road to try to redeem the entire hour. Another good show, but this looks like what we can expect from Superstars from now on with a lot of undercard action with one or two big names thrown in to try to help draw viewers.




TNA Impact Results:

Kiyoshi and Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Daniels and Suicide - Winners: Kiyoshi and Sheik Abdul Bashir (pinfall, Shane Douglas chain shot on Daniels)
Consequences Creed and Chris Sabin vs. Beer Money Inc. - Winners: Beer Money Inc. (pinfall, DWI)
Daffney vs. Taylor Wilde - Winner: Daffney (pinfall, )
Matt Morgan vs. Jesse Neal - Winner: Matt Morgan (pinfall, Carbon Footprint)
Lethal Lockdown (King of the Mountain Qualifier): Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Nash - Winner: Samoa Joe (pinfall, hockey stick shot)

I didn't catch a lot of Impact, but what I did see, I have to say that I wasn't terribly impressed. I am getting a little tired of the Mick Foley/Jeff Jarrett stuff, though I do think that there could be some legs to this whole deal with Kurt Angle and Sting battling over the leadership role in the Main Event Mafia with Sting as the new sheriff in town. I also have to say that I like the fact that Eric Young is finally getting a chance with something that could really get him over legitimately instead of the comedy that he's usually been stuck with. He's doing the thing that Jim Cornette always talks about when it comes to someone getting over, he's being himself with the dial turned up. He's got to be frustrated in reality after tons of false starts and missteps from the TNA bookers and now he's getting a chance to voice those frustrations in a way that fans will be able to relate to. I'm not sure if it's going to lead to anything or if it's just going to be a way for Jarrett to squash him down after a build-up, but I'm hoping it's the former because Young deserves his chance to shine.

The only match that I saw completely from beginning to end was the main event and while I don't really like them using the Lethal Lockdown gimmick away from the actual match itself, this one really served the purpose again to get Joe over as the badass that is out for destruction rather than a cluelessly violent psychopath. I can't wait until Tazz's 90-day no compete is over so that TNA can be done with this whole "advisor" business because it's kind of silly with Joe looking like he's talking to himself all the time. I will say that I am happy about it though because it has gotten Joe back into a character more like the one he was when he was first introduced into TNA. I said it last week and I'll say it again this week, but kudos to Kevin Nash for taking his beating like a man. It would have been really easy for Nash to pull a power play and avoid nearly getting beaten to death by Joe, but he didn't and it has really helped Joe's credibility. It's a shame that he's hurt and all of this momentum that he's been gaining will likely be fizzling a little, but hopefully they keep Joe in the mix until Tazz can make his debut and Joe is healed up from his various injuries.


The Stories


Not quite what they wanted, but probably better than it deserved...

-- The buyrate for WrestleMania XXV was released on Thursday and the number is lower than expected. The show drew 957,000 buys, including international buys, which is down considerably from WrestleMania XXIII and slightly from WrestleMania XXIV. While the show is a huge success by any other standard you can measure it by and WWE claims to be satisifed with the figure due to the poor economy, they have to be disappointed considering that this is just two years removed from buyrate records. I'm sure that they'll continue to put on the happy face and say that everything is alright, but the company needs to address the fact that the show wasn't a very good show (outside of HBK/Taker) and that the buyrate they got was comparable or even a little better than the build they put into the show. I'm not trying to pull a Chicken Little and say that the sky is falling because this show still made them an assload of money, but the signs are starting to show that people aren't happy with the product and hopefully that will lead to some positive changes down the road for the company and its fans.

-- Speaking of positive changes, Chris Masters is on his way back to the WW....wait, that's not exactly positive (unless you're talking about his Wellness tests), now is it? I guess it's good news for Masters though, who has worked the indies but pretty much fallen completely out of the spotlight after being released by the WWE. My guess is that he could be brought back to Smackdown, but I would be surprised if he didn't end up becoming part of ECW's roster. He's been out of the WWE for a while, needed some work on his in-ring skills before he was released and is a guy that could grow into something decent with a year or so of Finlay's guidance. There's no word on when he's going to be coming back, but I would bet that it will be some time after Extreme Rules and that he could find himself jumping right into the title mix with Christian on Tuesday nights while they try to decide what the hell they want to do with Kozlov.



Friday


The Show



Friday Night Smackdown Results:

Shelton Benjamin vs. John Morrison - Winner: John Morrison (pinfall, Starship Pain)
Chris Jericho vs. R-Truth - Winner: Chris Jericho (pinfall, Codebreaker)
CM Punk vs. Umaga - Winner: CM Punk (pinfall, Go To Sleep)
Melina, Gail Kim, and Eve Torres vs. Michelle McCool, Alicia Fox and Layla - Winners: Michelle McCool, Alicia Fox and Layla (pinfall, Layla's kneeling neckbreaker on Melina)
The Great Khali vs. Dolph Ziggler - Winner: The Great Khali (pinfall, Punjabi Plunge)
Edge vs. Rey Mysterio - Winner: Edge (pinfall, Spear)


I'll be honest with all of you. If this were the era of brand-specific pay-per-views where Raw, Smackdown and ECW had their own shows like it was a few years back, I would have ordered the show that was on Friday night and been happy with what I got. As a go-home show for the PPV, it was outstanding and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the people that buy the show will do so on the strength of this broadcast heading into it. The show opened up with Edge's "Cutting Edge" talk show, with special guest Jeff Hardy. While Jeff didn't really blow me away with his promo work here like Edge did, he managed to hold his own and not look too out of place talking with someone as good as Edge. They did a fantastic job of selling their main event on Sunday, which should be the main event for the entire pay-per-view in my opinion, and both guys looked strong, especially Edge, who got the upper hand and spilled Hardy to the floor before reclaiming his belt. Great visuals with the ladders as well and I was happy with how this opening segment went and excited to see the rest of the show based off of it.

Moving on to the in-ring action, minus the two bouts featuring the Divas and The Great Khali, the entire show was full of great matches faturing all of the brand's biggest stars. After a great performance on the microphone to open the show, Edge brought it full-circle in a fantastic match against Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio to close things up for the night. These two have had a history of solid work in the ring and this week's match was no exception to that rule. The finish with Rey getting the 619 but missing the splash into the spear by Edge was tremendous and was one of those finishes that didn't hurt either man despite the clean pin because it was set up in such a way that it just happened that Edge capitalized on his opportunity. Though it's a loss for Mysterio, it's his first REALLY good match since he made his latest comeback and after months of working through ring rust, it looks as if he's finally back at 100%. I'm sure if I nit-picked, I'd be able to find problems with this match, but I was having way too much fun watching to nit-pick anything. That's the sign of a great match. When you can just sit back and enjoy and turn your brain off and these two did that for nearly twenty minutes. I'd even buy seeing Rey as a challenger for heel champion Edge once his reign as IC Champ is finished.

The great action inside the ring continued with the openig bout of the show between Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison. These two have been putting on awesome matches against each other for weeks now, either in singles or tag matches, and they tore the house down again in this one. If anything, this match was better than their previous matches because there was more of a continuity and flow to the match and a little less botching. Part of that comes in getting to know the guy you're working with and adapting to his style, but part of it is also that Morrison and Benjamin seem to be pushing each other to mature and become better in the ring with every match they have. They didn't get a ton of time to work with seeing as there had to be room for the matches later in the show, but they definitely turned it into a showcase for their talents, making every effort to show that they deserve to be considered main event talent in the future.

While I derided the choice of program a couple of weeks ago when it began, CM Punk and Umaga are slowly starting to win me over. I'm never a fan of giving away a PPV match the week before or the week after, but in this case it was a regular match building to a gimmick match and these two actually made it to where I want to watch them again on Sunday night. Umaga made a lot of fans during his feud with John Cena and this is the best that I have seen him since then. I've been critical of the way that they're booking Punk as Mr. Money in the Bank, but if he can get the big win over Umaga on Sunday, it's going to be something that he's able to fight past on his way to cashing in his title shot. The only problem with this one is that these guys have raised the bar with their free TV match and with the strap gimmick weighing them down they could find it hard to top this one on Sunday night. I'll be interested to watch and see if they can, but I'll also be have my expectations in check, just in case they come up short.


The Stories

-- Thursday saw a video come across the internet that had Randy Orton getting hot at a Mexican reporter for questioning whether Orton was too fra-GEEL-eh for the wrestling business, but it's Friday news because Friday saw the whole incident revealed as a work. For those of you that didn't get to see it, judge for yourself now.



Now, this may be the jaded wrestling fan in me talking, but I smelled work from the beginning. With how many strikes Orton already has against him and his seemingly new attitude (judging from how he dealt with the Kennedy situation), it would be foolish for him to go off like he did. I'm not saying it's totally outside the realm of possibility, but my Spidey-sense was tingling the second he got into that reporter's face. I do have to admit that the reporter replying "That's not polite" to Orton's threat of headbutting his teeth through his skull was priceless. Many laughs were had at that bit. They should have gone the full monty though and had Orton give that guy a Stossel. The fans in Mexico would have been clamoring for his blood the next time he came through on tour.

-- Ric Flair broke his silence on the whole ROH/WWE issue on Friday during an interview, stating that he voluntarily quit ROH because he didn't feel right appearing on TV for both companies while signing the praises of both. Flair suggested that the decision was his alone with no pressure from the WWE and that he only has a verbal agreement with the company for appearances, though there could be consideration given to him wrestling again. Hooray. Guess we'll be seeing Flair/Vince II at WrestleMania next year in Phoenix then. I'm going to say right now that what Flair did isn't exactly kosher to me. He went onto ROH TV, proclaiming them the greatest thing since sliced bread and just weeks later, he's high-tailing it back to the WWE. What kind of message does that send to the fans that someone who was hired on as a public shill gets happy feet at the first sign of an offer from somewhere else. If Flair had any inkling that he was going to get some interest from the WWE, he should never have allowed himself to become an on-air personality in ROH, and if he did know and became an on-air figure despite knowing that he might not be long for the company, that's a pretty shitty thing to do. Despite Flair's history with the WWE, he had a deal with Ring of Honor and by choosing to break that deal, he's showing himself to be as big a whore as Chris Jericho claimed he was in the build to WrestleMania. I'm not suggesting that this devalues Flair's career at all, but it definitely tarnishes his reputation a little when he leaves a company high and dry for the first sniff of a better deal.



Saturday

The Show



ROH on HDNet Results:

Claudio Castagnoli and Ernie Osiris vs. Colt Cabana and Brent Albright - Winners: Colt Cabana and Brent Albright (submission, Cabana's Billy Goat's Curse on Osiris)
Bobby Dempsey vs. Sal Rinauro - Winner: Bobby Dempsey (pinfall, Death Valley Driver)
ROH Championship: Four-way Match: Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Jerry Lynn (C) - Winner: Jerry Lynn (pinfall, Cradle Piledriver on Danielson)

This is mainly an action based show that hasn't had a lot going by way of storylines, so I'll just hit this with some bullet points to touch on things that jump out at me as I watch the show before deadline.


-- DAH EMM BAH SEEEEE!!! I've been incredibly happy since Prince Nana made his way back to ROH and when you team him up with Claudio Castagnoli, the potential for win is just epic.

-- Colt Cabana!!! Could this get any better?? I honestly don't understand why the WWE would have signed him because his style is not anything like what would get over there. I'll give you Santino Marella and his nonsense, but Cabana could never work in the WWE and I'm glad he's back in Ring of Honor.

-- AHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Eat that shoe, Ernie....EAT IT!! BWAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA Tyler ate it too!!

-- I love this sit-down interview stuff where each guy talks about the match. I've loved them as they've built towards this match and seeing them all together is a great way to lead in to the first ever ROH Championship match on HDNet.

-- Dempsey seems to be rather comfortable in his whole "Mikey Whipwreck" kind of role and they seem to be eating him up in it. I love Prazak busting on Dempsey the whole time, though he needs to stop with the faux British accent or whatever it is he's doing when he heels it up. That's getting old quick. I'll give it to Dempsey that his DVD is one of the best I've seen in a while. Most guys make it look like absolute shit.

-- Poor Ric needs to loosen that shirt collar. He's starting to look like Veruca Salt up in this bitch. It's REALLY distracting me from what he's trying to say because it just looks so silly.

-- Main event time and there's FORTY MINUTES of show left. This could be something spectacular. Fantastic touch by the company to give the in-ring introductions with ROH owner Cary Silkin in the ring with them. This is their chance to show just how much their title means and so far, they're making the most of it.

-- I would be posting notes on this as it happens, but I'm just watching and enjoying too much to even remember to. So far, this has been exactly what I had hoped it would be and then some and they've still got half an hour to go.

-- Honestly, I can't even begin to type during this, I'm that entertained and I'm paying that much attention. The highspots from Aries, Black and Danielson to the floor were spectacular, with the cherry on top being Danielson's springboard dive into the crowd on Black.

-- BRAINBUSTAHHHHH.....We have a new ROH champi....SHIT, foot on the rope!! This match is just awesome....though that 450 splash botch was not. That looked pretty vicious.

-- Dueling submissions. Tremendous. And that powerbomb by Black to break up both submissions was a great spot. All four men are down and I'm on the edge of my seat.

-- Gotta love the ROH crowd biting the hand that feeds, booing Lynn through the match and booing him even harder once he pinned Danielson with the Cradle Piledriver. I wonder if this is brewing up as a heel turn with Lynn talking about how he's done everything for the fans and that's how they repay him. Would make sense and probably be a great way for Lynn to get some mileage out of this title reign.


The Stories


Looks like he's going to be coming back into the fold...

-- The will he, won't he saga surrounding Jeff Hardy's lack of a new deal with the WWE continued on Saturday as he spoke to a local radio station, stating that there is a good chance of him re-signing a deal with the WWE. I think that for as long as he's on the fence, they should still consider going with the angle I talked about where Matt costs Jeff the title on Sunday and then either hurts him severely after the match or during a match of their own at the next pay-per-view, whatever the hell it's called (they all kind of blend together after a while). By doing so, they get a big star in Matt and if Jeff re-signs, they have two big stars instead of just one. Of course, this all could be a total work and he could just be trying to swerve people into thinking he has a chance in the title match on Sunday and the two sides could still be as far apart as they seemingly were a while back. There's no way to tell for sure what the deal is until either pen is put to paper, or an announcement regarding a release is made by the WWE. Let the speculation continue!!


That does it for me this week. I'll be back next Sunday with my thoughts on Extreme Rules, as well as what will likely be the final hockey updates of the season! In the mean time and in between time, I'll see you back here next time for the next edition of the Bell to Bell!


If you're a fan of MMA, be sure to check out Nokaut.com for more of my work.