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On Friday night, the ECW and Smackdown rosters paid a visit to the San Diego
Sports Arena for the first time since October. Aside from a serious-looking
injury suffered by Edge (more on that shortly), the show was enjoyable, yet a
little on the slow side. As usual, the WWE's no-cell-phone policy was in effect,
with ring announcer Justin Roberts letting us know that anyone using their phone
inside the venue would have it confiscated, and even face "possible
prosecution." I'd really like to think our courts have better things to do.
What better way to start off an ECW/Smackdown show than with a Raw wrestler?
That's right, Evan Borne - last seen in this building nine months ago, suffering
a severe ankle injury during a six-man tag match - took on Shelton Benjamin in
the night's first bout. Benjamin was on offense for most of the match,
working at a slow and plodding pace, though things picked up nicely whenever
Bourne went on the offensive. After Benjamin missed a Stinger Splash, Bourne
picked up the win with a shooting star press. Decent opener.
Prior to introducing the next match, Justin Roberts tossed to ECW GM Tiffany,
who was in the cheap seats with a family. Tiffany asked one of the family's kids
a trivia question - who won the IC strap at The Bash - and upon getting it
right, Tiffany let them know they were being upgraded to the front row.
Next out was FCW's Drew McIntyre, who cut an anti-American promo (yet didn't
bother working in anything about the 4th of July). He said he would become the
youngest-ever WWE Hall of Famer, then said he would destroy tonight's opponent,
also a Hall of Famer. Out came Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, who took in every
bit of adulation poured upon him, right down to the "I Paid to See Steamboat"
sign he pointed to in the crowd. The two worked a pretty uneventful match, with
McIntyre spending most of it working on Steamboat's left leg, injured during the
bout. The match ended when McIntyre went for a figure-four leg lock, but was
cradled by Steamboat for the win.
The evening's third match featured Dolph Ziggler taking on The Great Khali (and
his purple pants). Ziggler played the cowardly heel, but Khali finally caught up
to him and made pretty quick work of him. Khali with the pin - so far tonight,
the faces are up 3-0 on the heels.
Our next match was a fatal four way for the ECW belt, as Tommy Dreamer defended
against Christian, Jack Swagger and Mark Henry. Guess we aren't supposed to
question why two Raw guys are challenging for the ECW title. The match was
pretty good, and featured a cool spot in the corner that had Henry taking out
all three guys at once. Dreamer picked up the win with a pretty weak-looking DDT
on Swagger. Afterward, Dreamer pointed to a fan and had him come to the
barricade, then pulled a Mean Joe Greene and gave the fan the shirt he wore
during the match. Um, thanks?
The final match before intermission was Edge versus Jeff Hardy. Edge jawjacked
with fans along the aisle as he approached the ring, even tearing up a sign
along the way. He also repeated the same spot three times before the match got
started - standing on the ropes, then pretending to slip off - with decreasing
humor every time. Almost immediately after the bout started, however, Edge went
down with what appeared to be an injury to his left ankle. Edge was standing in
the corner, and when Hardy charged at him, Edge tried to leapfrog him and came
down wrong on his leg. Interestingly, Steamboat's injury earlier in the evening
(which at first appeared legit, until McIntyre started working on it) happened
the exact same way. As Hardy backed off, the ref gave the "X" signal, and Justin
Roberts announced that because Edge could not continue, Hardy was the winner. As
two referees helped him to the back, Edge grabbed the house mic and simply said
"sorry" to the fans.
After a 10-minute break, Maria was the guest referee for a diva tag match
featuring Alicia Fox and Michelle McCool against Raw's Gail Kim and Melina. The
story of the match was that Melina wanted Michelle, who stayed as far from
Melina as possible. The action in this bout was fast and furious, with lots of
good, solid spots all around. The faces went up 6-0 on the heels for the evening
when Melina got the pin on Michelle.
Unlike Edge, Chris Jericho was introduced as one half of the tag-team champions
when he came out for the next match. Wearing both tag title belts, Jericho
heeled the fans, for some reason calling them "manatees," before John Morrison
came out to face him. The two had a nice match, which included a neat spot where
Morrison went for a springboard off the second rope, but Jericho shoved him over
the top to the outside. The crowd was live and bit on several false finishes for
Morrison, before Jericho picked up the win by holding the ropes.
After encouraging fans to pick up "12 Rounds" on DVD, Justin Roberts introduced
the main event, featuring CM Punk defending the World Heavyweight title against
hometown hero Rey Mysterio. Punk came out as a babyface, slapping fans' hands at
ringside; Rey, meanwhile, was of course incredibly over as well. After the
"big-match" introductions, the action got started, with Punk looking
increasingly heelish as the match progressed. Once, when Punk had been knocked
to the outside, Rey held the ropes open for him, and after climbing through,
Punk shook his hand. However, when Punk offered to return the favor moments
later, he took a cheap shot as Rey was entering. The end came when Rey slid out
of the GTS and set up Punk for the 619, but Jericho ran in and distracted Rey.
This allowed Punk to hit the GTS for the win. Afterward, Jericho came in and
started putting the boots to Rey. Punk stopped him, then started kicking Rey as
well. The double-team lasted until Jeff Hardy ran into the ring and cleaned
house. Rey hit a double 619, then Hardy hit a double swanton.
Afterward, Rey thanked the crowd for its support, and said how he loves to
represent San Diego. He says that wherever the WWE goes - Japan, Australia,
Europe - there are always "619" signs in the crowd. Rey signed off with a
message in Spanish, then greeted fans at ringside.
The fans were much hotter than the typical San Diego crowd, which made for an
exciting show. No actual date was announced for a return to San Diego.
