The Weekly Review #4

Welcome to the fourth edition of The Weekly Review! In this article you can read a sum up of all the important events that took place at the Royal Rumble and in the past week.

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Royal Rumble

The show opened with the ECW Championship match and it was a good match between the two rivals. Early on Regal was sent to leave ringside which eliminated Ezekiel's chances of winning by getting help. The match gets intense out of ring but eventually Christian hits the killswitch to retain his belt.

Following was a surprising match that ive been looking forward to for weeks. Theodore Long sets up a match between The Miz and MVP but unfortunately it ends with a roll-up by The Miz cutting a good match short. MVP gets the last say though by hitting the Playmaker.

Mickie James beats McCool in less than a minute leading into the WWE Championship. The fact that this match is before the other title match gives me a sixth sense that its not going to end normal and it doesnt. Randy Orton is looking in trouble but Rhodes jumps from the crowd barrier to make the save. The referee catches him red handed and Orton is DQ'ed right after hitting a RKO. Orton goes crazy and attacks Rhodes viciously and then Dibiase who was just trying to break things up. Then still WWE Champion Sheamus kicks Orton in the face to make the lasting statement.

Rey Mysterio comes out in San Diego Charger colors ready for the Undertaker. The match goes on until the breaking point when Mysterio hits to straight 619's on Undertaker. Mysterio goes for the hurricanrana to finish it off once and for all but The Undertaker catches him in mid air and sends him on his last ride. Rey Mysterio may now rest in peace!

Now its time for arguably the main event of the year with only match that contains 30 different wrestlers striding for the same goal of headlining Wrestlemania... the Royal Rumble. Early on CM Punk takes over by eliminating many of the early participants until its time to play the game. Things heat up and Triple H goes on a rampage taking out CM Punk and Kane. Shawn Michaels comes in and takes out Triple H with sweet chin music. Things heat up after John Cena and Big Show both join in. Underdogs R-Truth, Chris Jericho, and Kofi Kingston enter next to cause alot of havoc until the field is cleared and with just two spots left. Then much like the shades of 2008... Edge returns from his injury and starts stong delivering spears out to HBK, Cena, and Big Show. Shawn Michaels is then eliminated, smashing his dreams of Undertaker at Wrestlemania and it hits him hard. John Cena eliminates the last entrant Batista leaving just him and Edge. Edge then sneaks up from behind and gets the elimination to pick up his first ever Royal Rumble victory.

Best Promo: Pants on the Ground (Theodore Long and JTG)

Top Performer: Edge

Best Match: The Royal Rumble

Show Rating: 8/10

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Monday Night RAW

The show starts of with the Royal Rumble winner... Edge. He talks about his great recovery from an over career to a future Wrestlemania headliner. Hes been in the main event before but things didnt go right when hes failed to knock off The Undertaker and John Cena in past years. This time around he promises to win and he chooses to face the Wrestlemania rookie Sheamus over the Wrestlemania maniac that is The Undertaker. Sheamus then joins Edge and things heat up leading to a spear and attack that leaves Sheamus down.

Elimination qualifiers begin and John Cena full out dominates Cody Rhodes and finishes it with a Five Knuckle Shuffle followed by an Attitude Adjustment. The second match is between Triple H and Jack Swagger and I can almost guarantee you that the game will win. Later on in the match Swagger starts to prove me wrong as he takes control but he can only land a two count. Swagger points to the Wrestlemania logo as he gets cocky and it turns into Pedigree. Triple H qualifies.

The qualifying matches continue and it will be Randy Orton taking on Shawn Michaels in the biggest qualifier so far. The battle is intense enough and then HBK gets fired up and hits his trademark Elbow Drop. He starts to tune up Sweet Chin Music but Randy Orton is able to slip under it and sneak in a roll up to rob HBK. The Viper will head to Elimination Chamber and right now its looking to shake up as a great match. The field is already large enough but then Ted Dibiase is able to defeat the Worlds Strongest Man, Mark Henry. Two members of Legacy have qualified leaving just one more spot open.

The last qualifying match will be between Big Show and Kofi Kingston. The main event begins and of course the always arrogant Miz has to join the commentary table. Kingston is down outside the ring so The Miz decides to taunt him until MVP blindsides him out of nowhere to continue what they started weeks ago. Big Show then delivers that knock out punch to the referee leaving him unconscious. The blow leads to a DQ that places Kofi Kingston in the last Rumble spot. Afterwards the Big Show is furious and says that he couldnt see after Kingston poked him in the eyes.

Will Shapner is brought out leading into the introduction of Bret Hart. Bret Hart returns in the WWE and calls out Vince McMahon. Bret calls Vince a liar and tells the story behind his multiple injury recovery. Hart threatens to kick Vince's (hind end) and Vince continues to talk trash about Bret being pathetic. Bret just takes the words until Vince announces that Bret's dad wont be inducted into the Hall of Fame and then Bret unloads on McMahon. Batista then makes the save for McMahon and attacks Bret Hart. Batista holds him down and allows Vince McMahon to spit in his face once again ending the show.

Best Promo: Closing Segment

Top Performer: John Cena

Best Match: Triple H vs Jack Swagger

Show Rating: 6.5/10  

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ECW

The show opens with the Abraham Washington Show... enough said. A rivalry between Vance Archer and Shelton Benjamin but tonight its time to settle the score. Benjamin takes early initiative by taking control with his highflying attack. ECW goes on to put up a decent match but it ends when Vance Archer uses the ropes to pick up the win without the referee noticing. Yoshi Totsu defeats Trent Barretta later on to lead into the moment weve been waiting for.

Vince McMahon comes out to make a big announcement regarding ECW. He announces that the show will be rebranded as WWE NXT (next generation). Directly after, Gregory Helms is in the ring and he calls out Ezekiel and Regal. He asks Ezekiel how hes going to recover from his loss and Ezekiel attacks Helms instantly and brutally. Christian comes out with a kendo stick to save him but its to late and Helms is left downed in the ring.

The main event between Christian and Ryder begins and Christian takes early control and keeps it the whole match. Christian lands everything from missile dropkicks to crossbody blocks but it still isnt enough for the victory. Christian goes for the killswitch and lands it to perfection but is quickly attacked by Ezekiel and Regal. Ezekiel irish whips Christian into the steel steps to end the show on a high note for Jackson.

Best Promo: ECW was bad for promos but I would say Ezekiel and Regal taking out Helms and Christian was better than Abraham Washington

Top Performer: Christian

Best Match: Shelton Benjamin vs Vance Archer

Show Rating: 3/10

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Friday Night Smackdown

The show opens with a promo by Jericho. He gets on the microphone and of course believes Edge shouldnt have been in the Rumble and that Jericho should have won the match. He heads backstage semi mad and searches for Theodore Long but instead runs into no other than Edge. The two go back and forth showing maybe some foreshadowing of a match at Wrestlemania that has been rumored for a while now. In the end, Edge is able to talk off Jericho.

We saw it on Monday night and were going to see it again... Elimination Chamer qualifiers and the first is between rivals Drew McIntyre and John Morrison. At least we think until Kane comes out and turns it into a triple threat. The match barely starts and already a commercial break. So we get a break and then three entrances later we get another? The show comes back on and Kane seems to be having no problems with either opponents. Kane drops Morrison and sets up for the Chokeslam but McIntyre retaliates by using his belt as a weapon. McIntyre hits a DDT on Kane but John Morrison is there again to take out McIntyre and steal his pin on Kane.

The second wrestler to qualify is R-Truth. He has been getting a small push by taking place in a lot of hype for the Rumble and now he defeats Mike Knox to get his shot in the Chamber. I doubt he will win but he has more of a chance than most. Afterwards is the promo that reveals what happens after RAW went off the air. The crowd was obviously chanting Cena last Monday as RAW came to a close and he ended up showing. In then Batista hit the Batista Bomb onto the steel steps making Cena wish he never came out. CM Punk is set to take on Batista in the third qualifier but for some reason, Batista decides not to participate and instead gets counted out. CM Punk celebrates as he takes an easy victory.

Chris Jericho comes out and begins his match with Matt Hardy and wastes no time. Jericho dominates the match but Hardy is able to catch a few breaks to stay alive in the match. Jericho almost ceils it by using the ropes to get the pin but is unsuccessful. Shortly after, Chris Jericho finally keeps him down and will enter the chamber. At this point there is only one spot left in the Elimination Chamber and two guys with it in there sight. The main event is a hard fought battle between Dolph Ziggler and Rey Mysterio. The two fight a back and forth match for a while until Rey Mysterio sneaks in a roll up to qualify. After the match he leaves a stronger statement by hitting the 619.

Edge starts the first Cutting Edge weve seen in a while and his guest will be long time rival Undertaker. Undertaker has already beaten Edge at Wrestlemania so im thinking it would be better to target whoever comes out of the RAW Chamber. Instead of his normal guest, Edge is joined by Punk and Jericho. Both think there going to win the Chamber and shouldve won the Rumble. Then the lights go out and when they come back on The Undertaker take out both Jericho and Punk. Undertaker and Edge have a mid-ring stare down to end the show.

Best Promo: Cutting Edge

Top Performer: Rey Mysterio

Best Match: Kane vs Drew McIntyre vs John Morrison

Show Rating: 6/10 

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Brand of the Week: Monday Night RAW (RAW 2, SD 1, ECW 0)

Final Thoughts and Predictions: Not much thoughts as this week was mainly dedicated to Rumble qualifiers but one possible prediction is that Big Show will get revenge on being robbed and will take Cena's spot in the Chamber. John Cena will then take on Batista who threw his qualifying match.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave me a comment.

-Tkellionaire

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