WWE superstars will step outside the ring this weekend.
Scheduled to appear on this Sundays on NBC’s Deal or No Deal are Randy Orton, Edge, WWE champion John Cena and ECW World champion Bobby Lashley.
With WrestleMania 23 just a few weeks away, WWE is pulling excellent ratings across the board.
This week’s edition of WWE RAW did a 4.3 cable rating with a 6.5 share. This is the highest number since June 19, 2006 (the RAW after the reformation of Degeneration X). The show earned hours of 4.2 and 4.3.
Last Friday’s edition of SmackDown did a 3.3 cable rating with a 5.6 share. This is the best number of since moving to the Friday night timeslot.
The following report is courtest of lordsofpain.net …
After a recap of McMahon/Trump rivalry and the confrontation of their representatives Umaga and Bobby Lashley on RAW, ECW goes to the first match of the night
Mr. Kennedy vs Sabu: Money in the Bank Qualifier
Sabu quickly goes for Kennedy’s leg. Sabu goes for a springboard move, but Kennedy catches him and converts it into a back drop for 2. Sabu is whipped into the corner but gets the leg up to catch Kennedy in the face on the follow through. Sabu hits a springboard back elbow on Kennedy. Kennedy rolls out of the ring. Sabu hits the baseball slide and the slingshot follow up on Kennedy outside the ring. Sabu throw a chair into the ring and sets up a table on the outside. Sabu slams Kennedy’s head into the ring steps and lays Kennedy across the table. Sabu goes into the ring to attempt a double jump onto Kennedy.
Sabu gets to the top rope when Kennedy gets off of the table. Sabu held his balance for the couple of seconds to still take down Kennedy. Both men back into the ring. Sabu sets up for the triple jump moonsault. Kennedy grabs Sabu’s leg causing him to crash into the chair. Kennedy rolls up Sabu for 2. Kennedy works over Sabu in the corner. Kennedy takes the table from the outside into the ring. Sabu catches Kennedy with a leg drop from the top rope on his way back into the ring. Sabu sets up Kennedy for the Arabian face buster. Kennedy moves out of the way and Sabu goes butt first through the table. Kennedy DDTs Sabu on the remains of the table to pick up the victory.
Winner: Mr. Kennedy
Mr. McMahon is shown arriving at the arena.
Balls Mahoney vs Matt Striker
Striker comes out with an early advantage. Balls Mahoney quickly takes control with his punching combo and clothesline takedown. Balls goes to the top rope and hits a leg drop on Striker. Balls gets to his feet when Snitsky from nowhere hits a big boot on Balls to cause the DQ. After Balls is announced as the winner, Snitsky hits the big boot on Striker.
Winner: Balls Mahoney
Mr. McMahon says that tonight Bobby Lashley will defend the ECW title against Hardcore Holly in a cage match. However, McMahon is going to surprise Lashley and Donald Trump like the surprised him last night. Lashley has five minutes to defeat Holly or he will lose the ECW title.
Marcus Cor Von & Kevin Thorn w/ Ariel and Elijah Burke vs Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer w/ Sandman
RVD and Thorn start it off. RVD takes down Thorn with a corkscrew cross body. Dreamer gets the tag. RVD and Dreamer hit a drop toe hold elbow drop combo for 2. Dreamer mounts Thorn in the corner but is knocked off by Cor Von. Cor Von gets the tag and picks apart Dreamer. Dreamer stops Cor Von’s momentum with a reverse DDT. Thorn and RVD both get the tag. RVD hits Thorn and Cor Von with a series of kicks. RVD hits the split legged moonsault on Thorn for 2. RVD connects on a rolling thunder attempt only to have Cor Von break up the pin attempt. Dreamer throws Cor Von out of the ring and dives on him from the apron. RVD goes to the top rope for the frog splash. Ariel attempts to give Thorn his walking stick to use as a weapon, but gets a cane shot across her backside from Sandman. The distraction allows Burke to pull RVD’s leg and crotch him on the top rope. Thorn hits the dark kiss on RVD for the win.
Winners: Kevin Thorn and Marcus Cor Von
Andrew “Test” Martin was released from WWE today. His release comes after a series of events, such as him getting suspended for violating the WWE Wellness Policy and then being involved in an automobile accident this past weekend.
Martin commented on his release via his MySpace website:
“Just want to thank you fans for the last year…I love to hear you boo me. I always said I would get out of wrestling when it wasn’t fun anymore….and that’s what I did. Don’t get me wrong I still love wrestling, I always will but right now the WWE is not for me but no sour grapes I had some fun up until a month ago when the politics kicked in like they always do and at first ECW was so much fun, I can only imagine it when it was the real ecw but when Paul Heyman left ECW left with him..what was left of it. Sorry if I let any of you fans down but I needed to leave there for me…so to all the fans thanks again.”
The following is how the card for WrestleMania 23 looks following last nights WWE RAW:
World Title Match
Batista (c) vs. The Undertaker
WWE Championship Match
John Cena (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
Battle Of The Billionaires
Umaga (representing Vince McMahon) vs. Bobby Lashley (representing Donald Trump)
Money In The Bank Ladder Match
King Booker vs. CM Punk vs. Edge vs. Jeff Hardy
(4 more participants still to be confirmed)
The following report is courtesy of wrestleview.com …
World Tag Team Championship: John Cena & Shawn Michaels v. Rated RKO
Edge and Randy Orton appeared on the titan tron. Orton said there must be some sort of misunderstanding. Orton said Edge and he weren’t ready to compete. He said they would be later tonight and they’d make into the match for their match. Orton told HBK to listen up. He said HBK was robbed at the Oscars last night for not winning best actor. He said Michaels may have Cena’s back, but not his sides, his back or his jaws. He told John Cena to watch his back because HBK was a liar. He said to everyone who doesn’t believe him, Edge and Orton put together a little video recap of ‘historic’ Shawn Michaels.
A video aired putting over all the times Michaels had turned on people in the past. Very awesome stuff. Edge called Michaels a liar repeatedly and said Shawn said having your back and stabbing him in the back are two entirely different things and said we’d see them later tonight.
Cena turned around as HBK mouthed ‘do you trust me?”
Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Jeff Hardy v. Shelton Benjamin
After back and forth and a commercial break, we came back to Shelton Benjamin being in control, with a headlock. Jeff Hardy fought back again, but this time got back body dropped to the mat. Shelton went for a cover but didn’t get anything. Benjamin collected Hardy and hit another backdrop before putting the boots to him on the mat. Shelton slapped on a modified chin lock and again the crowd rallied behind Hardy.
Hardy hit his jawbreaker and hit two clotheslines before hitting a back elbow and a swinging take down. Shelton ducked under a clothesline and leapt to the apron. Shelton went for a springboard move off the top rope but completely botched it and landed on his head. Hardy went for a cover. Hardy hit a crescent kick before hitting the twist of fate. Hardy loaded up the swanton bomb and nailed it for the three count.
Winner: Jeff Hardy via pin fall
Hardy walked up the ramp before Vince McMahon appeared on the titan tron and cut off the fun. He said Umaga was the guy who dethroned Jeff Hardy last week on RAW. He then showed us a bunch of pictures of Donald Trump’s shaved head.
A video was aired of Ashley Massaro in her Playboy shoot.
Melina was in the back being jealous and complaining about everything. She whined about Ashley, was pissed off about Mick Foley getting attention, especially after she ‘fired him’ last year, etc. She whined about a ‘falls count anywhere’ rematch with Mickie James and her match with Maria later tonight. Johnny Nitro exploded on her and told her to shut up, that she was all caught up in herself.
Johnny Nitro v. Super Crazy
Nitro assaulted Crazy before the bell and laid into Crazy with some super stiff punches. Nitro tossed Super Crazy into the ring steps and then hit a wheel barrel face buster on the outside of the ring. Nitro just walked off, seething still, not giving a crap about his match with Super Crazy. He looked down from the ramp, happy with his work. Crazy was left unconscious.
Winner: No Contest
Melina v. Maria
Melina sat in with a camel clutch, humbling people everywhere. Maria powered out of the move before getting hammered with a kick to the mid section. Maria caught the champion with a boot to the face and a face buster. Maria hit her bulldog and went for the cover but Melina kicked out at two. Maria hit an Irish whip and a nasty lariat before going for the broncobuster. Melina got a knee up just in time and Maria ate it in the, uh, private, uh, area. Her bronco has been busted. Melina rolled her up and got the three count for the win.
Winner: Melina via pin fall
Vince McMahon climbed into the ring and put the match over a little bit more. Vince and down his riches and everyone else’s riches and how embarrassed Trump would be after the match. He said he was going to give him a billionaire ‘bitch slap’. A video aired of Umaga totaling former World Champion Rey Mysterio. Vince introduced to us the man who would assure him victory at Wrestlemania, WWE Intercontinental Champion Umaga. Vince said anything Trump could do, he could do better.
After some more Vince Babbling, Donald interrupted him on the Titan Tron. Trump said Umaga was an animal. He said the proper thing to do with animals was to ‘tame’ them. He said the only way he knew how to tame someone, was to find a superior product, and he said he found that in ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley.
Lashley came out and stared Umaga down in the middle of the ring. Vince screamed for some security from the back. The two broke from security and brawled all around the ring. The two spilled to the outside of the ring and they brawled all up and down the table. The two brawled all around the announce table area before being broken up by security again. Lashley leapt off the ring steps at Umaga who spine bustered him to the floor and began whaling away with lefts and rights before being split up again.
Today on FresnoBee.com, there is an interview with Ric Flair.
In it, the Nature Boy hints that retirement may not be too far in the future: “To me, I’d like to wrestle for another year. I’d like to walk away with my head held high and know that I had the most illustrious career of anybody alive, in the history of our business. And I think I already have that.”
Flair turned 58 years old yesterday. Sounds like he may hang up his tights after Wrestlemania 24. That would be our guess.
Matt Hardy has a MySpace page. In other words: he’s just like everyone else. Below is an excerpt from his latest blog entry …
It’s that time again ladies and gentlemen - Matt Hardy is back with his latest blog. Last night I went out in Raleigh with a bunch of friends celebrating one of my amigo’s birthday. What a great time we (and I, especially) had last night - it was one of those times that just makes you appreciate life and what’s really important - which brings me to the theme of this blog. I’m gonna let you know what’s really important to me - maybe it will help you remember and realize what’s really important to you.
And if there’s isn’t anything that’s really important to you, maybe this will help you realize what should be important to you.
Click here to read the rest of the entry.
“Much of our content is still shot in film, but we’re experimenting with [HD] more and more. We’re even trying to shoot [World Wrestling Entertainment] in HD. That’s kind of challenging. Does a punch hit or does it just go by? You see everything in HD. You’ve got to be very careful.” This is one of WWE’s major concerns; as they don’t want people to be able to see a missed mark or blow clearly.
