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The 2009 version of no Way Out continues a
tradition recently set by the WWE-double Elimination Chamber matches to
determine who will be the Raw and Smackdown champions going into WrestleMania.
The Chamber itself was created during the Eric Bischoff Raw GM tenure and was
used for New Year’s Resolution. The rules of the Chamber are simple: six men
locked inside a mega cage inside pods that open up and let a new wrestler in the
ring after the proper intervals. Two men start the match and eventually all are
inside the ring in order to beat the holy hell out of each other. Since the cage
is topped with a roof and the entrance is locked you don’t see a lot of high
flying but you are guaranteed blood. The Chamber was created for use of the Raw
brand and allowed Smackdown to use Hell in a Cell but now both brands get a
chance to use it and as of last year the only time the Chamber is used is for No
Way Out. Because the Chamber matches generally go about 40 minutes this also
makes booking easy since you can only get five matches on the card.
With the 2009 version of No Way Out now in the books I can't say that it was a
conventional show. From beginning to end this was a different show from most WWE
PPV's, one that made it mandatory for fans to watch Raw the following night.
There wasn’t an additional match added to the card because it was filled to the
end of the satellite time. The Key Arena in Seattle was filled to the rafters
and the audience got what they paid for.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The "Bo's Prediction" part of the review below was
posted on Sunday afternoon (021509). |
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SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION
CHAMBER MATCH:
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The Big Show vs. Vladimir Koslov vs. HHH vs.
Jeff Hardy vs. The Undertaker vs. Edge |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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Edge has guaranteed that he is going to leave the Chamber as the
champ and so we can expect to see everything and the kitchen sink in this match.
That includes a new champion, btw. Jeff got over huge when he had the belt so it
makes sense to give it back to him but since he is going to fight Matt it isn’t
going to happen. Show isn’t going to be champ heading into Mania so he won’t win
but will do a lot of damage. Koslov is a work in (long) progress so his part in
the match will be to beat up anyone he can and yes, lose his first match on TV
(he loses at house shows all the time). That means that the winner will either
be HHH (who has won before so why do it again?), Undertaker (winning here means
he is champ going into Mania and after since the streak isn’t ever going to end)
or Edge. Edge plays the jerk champ well and he can match up with anyone in the
ring so having him at Smackdown saying ‘I told you so’ works. Now since this is
the last match on the card anything can happen with the Chamber so expect Koslov
to throw someone into a pod and bust it open. I have a feeling that Taker walks
out with the belt at the end of the night and the long delayed program between
him and Umaga to start up at the Smackdown tapings.
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BO'S REVIEW:
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Surprisingly enough this was
the first match of the card. I would have thought that the two chamber matches
would be back to back but since there was no hot match to open the show they
went with the Smackdown Chamber which paid off at the end of the show. The
Chamber seemed a little bigger this time around with room on the top for moves
from the top of the pods. The first person out was the Undertaker, Big Show
followed him out, Koslov casually came in and showed no fear of the structure
after that then HHH came out. HHH spit water at Show from the top of the pod
before going into his. Jeff was next than Edge followed him complete the bill.
The last one in was the first one eliminated since Jeff got out of the way of
the spear and pinned Edge who was incredulous that he was the first eliminated.
Koslov was next and he beat up Jeff before show came in and the two took turns
beating Jeff and competing against each other before they started trading shots.
HHH was in next and he actually picked up Show (well Show helped a lot). Taker
was the last man out and he kicked his way out of the pod. There were some
impressive moves in the match including: Taker giving a DDT to Show on the metal
outside the ring, Jeff going to the top of one of the pods and getting his leg
pulled thru by Show who beat on him for a while and Taker doing a superplex from
the top on Show. Taker pinned Koslov with the Last Ride. Jeff did the swanton
onto Show who was then pinned by HHH. Taker eliminated Jeff with a tombstone to
make the match between him and HHH. It was at this point that JR called the
Chamber Satan’s vacation home. HHH and Taker then exchanged punches and
finishers that they both kept kicking out of. HHH won with what must have been
the third pedigree of the match which makes him a 13 time champ. He and Taker
did a mutual respect deal at the end with each eyeing each other. This was the
eighth Elimination Chamber match that HHH has been in and the fourth of fifth
that he has won.
The match was followed by an
Edge tantrum backstage with Vicki that had her yell at him that it was his fault
he lost the match. |
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NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH:
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Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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To really get into this match you have to forget that Shane and
Stephanie were at each other’s throats when she took over as Raw GM. We also
have to forget that when Shane came out to attack Orton he was sucking wind
after a few minutes and still had to take on Legacy by himself. After we do that
then we can take this match seriously since we know that at some point Shane is
going to do something crazy during the match. When he has wrestled he has jumped
from the top of the Titan Tron, had his head shoved up his dad’s ass and shown a
general reckless disregard for his back by continuing to do the Van Terminator.
He set the move up right on the last Raw but his legs don’t have the same
strength that Rob Van Dam has so he usually comes up short on the coast to coast
jump but makes up for it by kicking his legs as far as he can. The stipulations
for the match suggest lots of interference from Legacy and someone (Steve
Austin) coming out to help Shane. This could be the perfect chance to introduce
DH Smith as the newest member of Legacy. As for who is going to win the match
the outcome really doesn’t matter. Shane isn’t going to be a regular and Orton
keeps his heat by winning or losing so expect Shane to come out on top so that
fans can give Orton crap for losing the next night.
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BO'S REVIEW:
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The match began as a punch
fest between the two of them. The match then went outside the ring for a while
so that Shane could set up a garbage can and a table. When the two got back into
the ring Orton uncovered one of the turnbuckles and threw Shane into it. Shane
got a kendo stick from under the ring and laid out Orton with it. He then took
the top from the Smackdown announce table and clocked Orton hard with one of the
monitors which busted him open legit. After laying Orton out on the cleared
table Shane went to the top rope but before he could jump Cody Rhodes and Ted
DiBiase ran out and started beating on Shane as Randy bled like crazy on the
table. They were going to smash Shane with a chair but Shane got loose and DDT’s
Ted on the chair. Shane then took the garbage can and set it up in front of Cody
so that he could hit him with what was called ‘the coast to coast’ but is the
Van Terminator. This time he pushed off better so he didn’t land hard on his
back. He tried to jump from the top rope onto Orton but Randy moved out of the
way. After telling Ted to get Cody’s carcass out of the ring Orton pulled Shane
back into the ring and did that cool hanging DDT on him. Orton tried to pin
Shane 3 times but he kept kicking out. Orton then set up the table and
superplexed Shane into it but he kicked out. Orton did the Garvin stomp on Shane
but Shane got up and started wearing Orton out with the folding chair. He worked
on the ankle a lot and then as Orton pleaded for mercy he clocked Randy on the
shoulder. As Shane had Orton set up for a head kick he hesitated then came in
for the move and in a case of perfect timing Orton hit him with the RKO for the
win. You could tell that this wasn’t the end of their program because Orton
limped to the back and Shane watched him all the way to the back. |
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ECW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
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Jack Swagger vs. Finlay |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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Most likely the match that opens the show and more than likely to
get enough time to allow each wrestler to show what he can do so that the crowd
will be pumped for the entire show. Swagger is saddled with a lame 80’s
wrestling name but he looks like someone that picked up on everything while in
developmental and someone with a great aptitude to learn. Putting him in the
ring with an excellent technical wrestler like Finlay allows him to make
mistakes in the ring and learn how not to do them again. We can expect a lot of
give and take here with Finlay taking a decent amount of punishment before
losing to Swagger. I would expect to see the returned Christian somewhere in the
back watching the match since he is going to challenge the winner. The WWE may
do a change up here but since the one thing that Swagger needs to work on is
promos then having him and Christian go at it will teach the cocky one how to
get over with his mouth as well as his talent. The most interesting part of the
match will be figuring out what Matt Stryker is going to say on commentary. A
great deal of fun in watching ECW is hearing him come up with info about
Japanese wrestlers and holds that are likely over the heads of most of the
people watching the show.
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BO'S REVIEW:
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The only actual wrestling
match on the show and it ended up suffering for it. By starting the show with
one Chamber match then a match guaranteed to draw someone’s blood you needed a
match that kept the crowd pumped and this wasn’t it. The two actually wrestled
and at about five minutes in the ‘boring’ chant started somewhere in the middle
of the crowd. The duo exchanged holds and everything else that you would expect
before Hornswoggle got onto the ring apron and was knocked off by Finlay.
Swagger then hit Finlay with the doctor bomb (after DR. Death) to remain champ
so he will be booked up with Christian as we move towards WrestleMania. The
match wasn’t bad here but it was placed at a bad place on the card. |
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ALL OR NOTHING MATCH:
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JBL vs. HBK |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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First, while this angle does seem to work it is one of the most
ridiculous angles that HBK has been in. We are supposed to believe that he is
broke and had to take money from JBL because he didn’t want to borrow from
friends like HHH. We are also supposed to believe that if he loses then JBL gets
the rights to his trademark even though all WWE merchandise is labeled property
of the WWE. The premise is lame and yet HBK makes it work with his facials. He
will win this match and begin the groundwork for his angle at WrestleMania
sooner rather than later. HBK will do most of the work here and once again make
us believe that JBL isn’t one of the most boring wrestlers on the planet.
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BO'S REVIEW:
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And with this the silliest
angle in a while is done. Shawn’s wife Rebecca was in attendance and she was
looking smoking hot. Early in the match JBL tried to get Shawn to hit him with a
chair and get disqualified but it didn’t work. HBK did do the flip fall from the
corner onto the floor here so that the two could get outside the ring. JBL went
outside the ring to taunt Rebecca and she slapped him hard. HBK took two
straight clotheslines from hell but kicked out both times. He then repeated the
flip dive but landed back into the ring. HBK then did all his moves before
laying out JBL with a superkick. The crowd went nuts and HBK pulled his wife
over the barricades so that they could walk to the back to a loud pop. Once
again HBK carried someone thru a match.
Jericho did a backstage promo guaranteeing a win. He then said he was going to
ask Ric Flair to come out of retirement so that he could challenge him to a
title match at WM 25 then said he was kidding. When we went back to the ring
Lawler told us that Shane had been taken to a ‘nearby medical facility’ because
he kept passing out. |
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RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER
MATCH:
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Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kane vs.
Chris Jericho vs. Mike Knox vs. John Cena |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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There isn’t much to calling these matches. You either start with
two workers who have a feud going (Knox and Mysterio) or two friends (Kingston
and Mysterio) then bring in a monster (Kane) to beat the crap out of everyone
until the next wrestler is let out of his ‘shatterproof’ pod. Since the Chamber
isn’t built for guys coming off the top rope Mysterio’s offense will be limited
but that won’t stop him from trying at least one flashy move. I don’t expect
Cena to lose here but I would expect the WWE to make us think that it’s
possible. There may be some blood here but none of the chambers will be busted
open since there is another Chamber match following. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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This match was where the fun
started. Cena was first out, was followed by Knox then Kane and then Kingston.
But Kingston never made it into the Chamber because Edge ran out of the back and
laid him out with a concerto on the steps. Edge then ran into the Chamber and
closed himself in a pod. Rey followed and the last man in was Jericho. As King
and Cole asked how Edge could be in the match the doors were locked and the
action started. The match had Rey thrown head first into Kane’s pod and Rey
doing a hurancanrana from the top of a pod before Kane entered. Kane took a 619
and a codebreaker before Rey dropped on top of him from the sky to get pinned.
Knox was in next and he slammed Jericho into the metal cage then threw Rey into
him before he hung Rey from the cage and beat the crap out of him. As he was
about to do his roll of the dice finisher on Rey Jericho hit him with a
codebreaker and pinned him. Edge was to be the next one in but Rey attacked him
before he could get out of the pod. Jericho, Rey and Edge did the tower suplex
from the top before Cena came in. Cena waved at Edge then proceeded to beat on
him but Edge eliminated Cena. Rey eliminated Jericho with the 619 and so it was
Rey versus Edge. The two went at it hard and Edge kept getting out of pins. We
had a ton of near falls but after Ray was thrown into one of the pods Edge
pinned him for the win. So at the end of the show the Raw and Smackdown champs
were both members of the Smackdown roster and since the draft isn’t until after
WrestleMania everyone will need to watch Raw to see how things work out. |
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All in all, this wasn’t a bad show. The family friendly move that
the WWE has made cut down the chances for blood and so the only juice on the
card was from a legit cut from a monitor on Orton. Edge coming into the Raw
match meant that the show started with a Chamber match (and him kissing a belt)
and ended with one. There weren’t any botched spots in any of the matches and
the comedy level was non-existent. We are now on the road to WrestleMania with
no PPV’s before it so the next few weeks for the WWE could be interesting.
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Photo ©
2009 WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment
Article © 2009 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
