Match 1: Hell in a Cell 2009 - Hell in a Cell - D-Generation X vs. Legacy (Taken from WWE Hell in a Cell 2009 Review)
The
heated feud between these two teams finally hits its conclusion inside
Hell in a Cell. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase of Legacy looked confident
after talking things over with Randy Orton after his title win.
However, he made sure to remind them that win or loss, nobody comes out
of it the same. Legacy sneak attacks D-Generation X from behind as
Triple H & Shawn Michaels were coming down to the ring. The fight
starts outside Hell in a Cell before the bell even rings as the mayhem
gets taken into the stands. Finally, Legacy gets the advantage and lock
themselves inside with Michaels as Triple H was forced to watch as his
partner got decimated. Finally, and I mean finally, Triple H comes back
and opens up the door and makes the save for his team as they lay out
Legacy for the win. Hard to give this match more than *** when it was
basically a handicap match. This was Legacy beating down Michaels for a
strong part of the match before Triple H made the save that seemingly
took forever. After their big win at Breaking Point, you think a win
here for Legacy would have been in their cards. 2009 in a nutshell.
Winners: D-Generation X
Rating: **3/4
Match 2: Bragging Rights 2009 - Raw vs. SmackDown Bragging Rights - Team Raw (D-Generation X, The Big
Show, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, & Jack Swagger) vs.
Team SmackDown (Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, Finlay, R-Truth, &
The Hart Dynasty) (Taken from WWE Bragging Rights 2009 Review)
This is the first Raw vs. SmackDown Bragging Rights match in history and
it reminds me very much of the famous main event of the 2005 Survivor
Series. The main difference being that this one lacks that special feel
to it. The one in 2005 felt like a legit feud, this one feels rather
forced. The audience doesn't really have any brand allegiance and could
really care less who walked out the "more superior brand." This is the
deciding factor of the night as both brands have a tied score. This
isn't an elimination match so the first to score the pin or submission
scores the win for their squad. This was a pretty brief match as it
takes into account the main event after this. Everybody gets their shots
in until The Big Show hits a Chokeslam on Kofi Kingston followed by
taking out Triple H. Chris Jericho is left to pin Kingston to score the
win for his team. A rather predictable finish but it made sense
considering how Jericho is pretty much brainwashing The Big Show.
Jericho hilariously celebrates with his team and the trophy after the
match. If we could get a count on how many times Show has turned on
people, that would be great.
Winners: Team SmackDown
Rating: ***
Match 3: Survivor Series 2009 - Traditional Survivor Series Elimination - Team Miz (The Miz, Dolph
Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre & Sheamus) vs. Team Morrison
(John Morrison, Evan Bourne, Finlay, Matt Hardy & Shelton Benjamin) (Taken from WWE Survivor Series 2009 Review)
Best way to start off a Survivor Series is with a Traditional Survivor
Series Elimination match! This match was seven years ago and really
showed off the newer stars that would soon become main eventers like
Sheamus and The Miz. Nice opening match here that shifted the focus to
those newer guys as guys like Finlay or Matt Hardy had very minuscule
parts to the match. Really told us where WWE's agenda was. It came down
to The Miz having himself along with Drew McIntyre & Sheamus against
the lone John Morrison. Morrison put up a fight until Sheamus hit him
with running crucifix powerbomb to score the win for his team. Good
match and a nice way to open the show while displaying the younger
talent. Damn, that feels so weird saying that in 2018.
Winners: Team Miz
Sole Survivors: The Miz, Drew McIntyre & Sheamus
Rating: ***
Match 4: TLC 2009 - ECW Championship - Ladder - Christian (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin (Taken from WWE TLC 2009 Review)
This is one of the better WWECW matches that you will find as Christian
challenged Shelton Benjamin in this match in order to steal the show.
Expectations were obviously high for this one and you have to feel bad
for anyone that has to follow this match. I get that their objective was
to both steal the show and win the gold, but it felt like this match
was just spot after spot after spot. It certainly got the crowd going,
but I found it hard to really sink my teeth into this match. They had
some really athletic and innovative spots with the ladders as the crowd
ate it up. Christian got a cut on his face after Benjamin dropped a
ladder on his face which then made the trainers run out to delay the
match as they fixed the cut. You guessed it, the crowd was not happy and
it really slowed down the momentum the match had built. The end spot
came when Christian had Benjamin prone on top of a ladder set up between
the ring apron and the announce table where Christian splashed on
Benjamin from the top rope and through the ladder. Christian then
climbed the ladder to retain the belt. Good match that really didn't
live up to the huge hype the internet had built for it. Still, it was
lots of fun and a great way to open up the night.
Winner: Christian
Rating: ***1/2
Match 5: Royal Rumble 2010 - Women's Championship - Michelle McCool (c) vs. Mickie James (Taken from WWE Royal Rumble 2010 Review)
The feud between these two Divas has been a surprisingly good one with
McCool teasing Mickie for her supposed weight gain. This was supposed
to be their blow off to their long running feud but the WWE gave us a
total swerve here as Mickie James pinned McCool within the first few
seconds of the match which let her capture the Women's Championship from
McCool.
Winner: Mickie James
Rating: n/a
Match 6: WrestleMania XXVI - No Disqualification - Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Taken from WWE WrestleMania XXVI Review)
"The eyes of the world are on Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. The
eyes of the world are on WrestleMania." I don't think there has ever
been a match in the history of professional wrestling where the
competitors in the match had this much weight on their shoulders and
where the fans have been so inspired and amazed into both a match and a
feud. When wrestling gets things right, there's simply nothing like it
and everything that has been done in this feud has put every other feud
on this show to shame. I can't tell you how glad I am that this match is
the one that is closing out the show because WrestleMania XXVI is Shawn
Michaels vs. The Undertaker, the show is a one match event and every
other match on the card takes a back seat to it. This match stems from
all of their matches in the years past and most importantly, their match
last year at the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania which has led to
Shawn Michaels once challenging The Undertaker's legendary streak by
costing him his World Heavyweight Championship inside an Elimination
Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber PPV. Now, at WrestleMania XXVI,
Shawn Michaels is once again in search of finding Heaven by getting
through Hell. Michaels quickly let The Undertaker know that he has no
fear whatsoever as he copied The Undertaker's signature taunt before the
bell sounded. You can feel the excitement and electricity in the air.
Once the bell sounded, the match took off as the mad Undertaker went
head on to Shawn Michaels and put more emphasis in every move that he
performed. Early on in the match, The Undertaker seemingly injured his
leg which became a huge target for Michaels to set his sights on as he
attacked it masterfully. However, The Undertaker countered his onslaught
by attacking Michaels' famous back which led to The Undertaker leaving
Michaels outside for him to once again land a dive over the top rope.
Scouting the move, Michaels quickly jumped into the ring and knocked
down The Undertaker by taking out his leg. The storytelling and
psychology is bar none, I can't ever remember seeing a match where
everything is perfect and in place. Soon after, Michaels got The
Undertaker to get outside of the ring to which Michaels used the ring
ropes to propel himself onto The Undertaker on the outside. Just like
how Michaels was caught dead in his tracks last year with the Moonsault,
the same happened here as The Undertaker caught Michaels and landed a
Tombstone on the outside of the ring and onto the floor! Through this
devastating Tombstone, a large Last Ride, and a big time Chokeslam, it
wasn't even to keep down the spirited Shawn Michaels as he did not want
his career to come to an end just yet. This led to Shawn Michaels
gaining control of the match and dictating the pace of things as he once
again took The Undertaker to the limit by landing a Moonsault. Unlike
last year's foolish Moonsault, this one was different. But just like
last year's Moonsault, this one was both daring and out of desperation,
Michaels landed a huge Moonsault from the top rope and outside of the
ring by crashing through a table with The Undertaker's body being laid
prone on top of it! This ignited a short burst of fire and intensity
from Michaels which became short lived as his body collapsed after the
huge maneuver. Michaels then took The Undertaker back into the ring but
even through the incredible Moonsault, he could not keep The Undertaker
down for the victory. The Undertaker then got back into the thick of
things and landed a Tombstone inside the ring. The Undertaker stuck out
his tongue and put Shawn's hands together to get the win but it wasn't
enough as Michaels got his arm up to stay in the battle! To quote Jim
Ross from his call of last year's match at the 25th Anniversary of
WrestleMania, "Can you believe what we are witnessing here together
tonight?" In disbelief, The Undertaker saw Shawn Michaels climb up his
leg and screamed for him to stay down. However, the rebellious Shawn
Michaels looked straight at the face of adversity and spit right in it's
face by once again copying the signature taunt of The Undertaker by
slitting his throat on his knees. However, this wasn't even enough for
Michaels who then proceeded to slap The Undertaker directly at his fact.
Furiously, The Undertaker picked up Michaels and landed a jumping
Tombstone to pick up the incredible victory. Oh, man, that was every bit
of good that it promised and more. Shawn's near 25 year odyssey
concludes in the year of 2010 at WrestleMania XXVI and I can't think of a
better way to end it, with the same guy who nearly ended his career in
1998. I can't even put into words what that match represented and how
good it was, I got excited just writing about it. It's matches like
these that make you so proud to say that you are a fan of professional
wrestling and dare I say it, sports entertainment. Just like last year's
match, this one was very symbolic in that the defiant Shawn Michaels
once again taught us to forgo our fears and stand on the edge to grasp
what you need and want. You might fail or succeed, but you're better off
failing than you are not knowing. And just like last year's match, this
one is also a perfect phenomenon but for different reasons. It's
amazing how two matches can be so similar yet so different at the same
time. Professional wrestling can sure make amazing moments happen and we
witnessed just that during the main event of WrestleMania XXVI. For one
last time, let's let the world know about it, it's hell trying to get
to heaven. And for one last time, Shawn ran up that hill and slid back
down. At least he didn't finish where he started. Professional wrestling
can sure make a man think. Thank you, Shawn!
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: *****
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