The Year in PPV- 2009, Part II

2009 continues on a night when everything goes extreme...


6. Extreme Rules

Evolving from the One Night Stand PPV, Extreme Rules was the WWE's PG method of saying we can still be extreme. If by extreme you mean Hogpen matches, Fatal 4-Ways, Submission matches, and Samoan strap matches. There are a handful of times where they TRY to go extreme, like the No Holds Barred match for the Intercontinental Championship between Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho. These two have all the capabilities of doing something memorable and extreme, yet they resort to maybe using ONE steel chair towards the end of the match. If that's all they do, then what was the point? A much better example of how to go extreme was the Hardcore Triple Threat match for the ECW Championship. Christian defended the title against Jack Swagger and Tommy Dreamer, and I believe if Dreamer lost he would retire from pro wrestling. Now, having binged my way through many ECW PPVs on the WWE Network, I've grown a huge amount of respect for all Tommy Dreamer has done. With that in mind, you know EXACTLY what's going to happen, so just enjoy the moment for what it is.

Batista challenged Randy Orton in a Steel Cage match for the WWE Championship, which wasn't awful, but it was a bit too brief for my taste. The main event was really good, however, in the form of a ladder match between Edge and Jeff Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship. Here we have an extreme gimmick match that makes PERFECT sense. These are two men whose careers have been made by the ladder match (Edge with the amount of ladder match victories he's had, and Jeff Hardy for all the crazy risks he takes), and have also been made through each other (beginning with the tag team ladder match at No Mercy 1999). They do a good job of combining memorable spots with in-ring ladder psychology (if that's a real thing). And it would've appeared that the night ended on the perfect extreme note, but oh, how the landscape can change in such a short time...

Mild Recommendation


7. The Bash

In another PPV name change, WWE turned The Great American Bash into simply The Bash. Doesn't really matter since this was the LAST edition of the longstanding PPV, so what better metaphor to sink the ship than change the name. Anyways, this show does have a handful of fun moments. Not good ones, but fun ones. For example, this show brought back the Championship Scramble match (check out my review of Unforgiven 2008 if you need a reminder). This match saw Tommy Dreamer, Christian, Finlay, Jack Swagger, and Mark Henry battle it out for the ECW Championship. It was a lot shorter than the previous installments, and rightfully so. This match was a decent concept, but I think the trouble was keeping the crowd interested the entire time. Another fun moment was seeing John Cena FINALLY shut The Miz up in their feud that hard started (solely by The Miz) months ago.  

We also got to see the CM Punk/Jeff Hardy feud continue as they fought for Punk's World Heavyweight Championship. The heel turn for Punk was a tremendous slow burn for the summer, and this match was an indicator of that. Look at how subtle he does things. He still comes out to applause, since he hasn't deliberately done anything evil, but watch how he changes at times. The main event also saw a 3 Stages of Hell match between Randy Orton and Triple H for the WWE Championship. I've gone over it before, and I'll just wrap up their feud by saying I HOPE we never have to see these two fight on a PPV again after this! It's just not clicking with me, nor most of the fans I think. But the true highlight of the show was the Chris Jericho/Rey Mysterio match that put Jericho's Intercontinental Championship on the line against Rey's mask. This match was the final chapter in their epic PPV trilogy and is considered by many to be the best installment. The high stakes and the psychology make this an instant classic to bring a bit of gravitas to an overall so-so kind of show.

Mild Recommendation


8. Night of Champions

Now THIS is why I miss having 8 or 9 titles in the WWE. I don't care if having 5 titles makes them seem more important...THEY'RE CHAMPIONSHIPS! It doesn't matter if you have 5 or 10 of them, they should always be treated important, and when you have them all defended on one night, that makes it feel pretty important. This show had a mystery surrounding who Chris Jericho will choose to be his partner to defend the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships against The Legacy, a Women's Championship match (Michelle McCool vs. Melina) AND a Diva's Championship match (Maryse vs. Mickie James), a young talent in Dolph Ziggler challenging a veteran competitor in Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship, and a 6-Pack Challenge for the United States Championship (Kofi Kingston vs. MVP vs. Carlito vs. Jack Swagger vs. Primo vs. The Miz). That's a pretty solid undercard if you ask me, and proof that midcard titles can be a big deal as long as you book them properly. So, with that in mind, can we PLEASE bring back the Hardcore and Cruiserweight divisions? 7 belts...that's all I ask for.

All three world title matches were treated important as well. The ECW Championship match saw Tommy Dreamer defend against Christian in a solid match that saw two friends with mutual respect fight for a championship they'd do anything for. The WWE Championship was on the line in a triple threat with Randy Orton, John Cena, and Triple H. This match was about the same as their match from WrestleMania XXIV, but didn't have that big fight feel or first time appeal of their first match. The main event was a World Heavyweight Championship match with CM Punk defending against Jeff Hardy. The slow burn continued, and now it became a culture clash of the straight-edge superstar going against the risk taker who has made some bad decisions in life. It created a fine line that displayed Punk to be the role model he felt the WWE Universe needed, while also giving the fans a hero in Jeff Hardy that they hope can overcome his demons and achieve victory.

Recommended


9. SummerSlam

And then we get to the biggest party of the summer, SummerSlam. This was the first in a six year tradition of holding SummerSlam in the Staples Center. The show kicked off with a fast and furious Intercontinental Championship match between Rey Mysterio and Dolph Ziggler. This match really did wonders for Dolph Ziggler and was one of those matches that made me look at him and go "that kid's got 'It!'" Fast forward 6 years later, and he still has "It!" Moving on, the show also featured the return of D-Generation X in an amazing spectacle entrance complete with pyrotechnics, gunfire, and a tank. The Game and the Heartbreak Kid reunited to teach The Legacy a lesson in a tag team match that serves as a SummerSlam gem. I wish more people were talking about this match, because it is absolutely spectacular to see these two rookies hang with two of the all-time greats in a back and forth encounter.

Randy Orton defended his WWE Championship against John Cena in a match that is remembered for its multiple endings. While this may not be their best encounter, in fact it may be their worst from this year, the endings do at least add a bit of freshness to a traditional by the books match between the two. The highlight of the show was the TLC match for the World Heavyweight Championship. In what would be his last PPV with the company, Jeff Hardy looked to retain his title against CM Punk, who had finally gone off the deep end and made his full transition into a heel. And to be perfectly honest, I LOVED every bit of his heel turn. He's absolutely fantastic at it, it feels like home for Punk more than being a generic babyface. This TLC match took two guys that were very comfortable going to the extreme and put them in a big blowoff match that felt like a Hollywood blockbuster. And like most blockbuster nowadays, there is a fantastic scene that takes place after the film's conclusion.

Highly Recommended


Thoughts: This string of PPVs had some pretty solid momentum heading into summer, and was able to build to a GREAT SummerSlam. The highlights of this time was definitely the Punk/Hardy feud, the Jericho/Mysterio match from The Bash, seeing the stock rise for wrestlers like Legacy and Dolph Ziggler, and knowing that the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were back just in time for the final batch of PPVs in 2009.

Concluded in Part III...


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