Clash at The Bash: The Viper Reigns In Hell, Punk Turns Heel

              Since Backlash, I’ve been writing PPV recaps for the benefit of those who didn’t or couldn’t watch the show. But,honestly, I just couldn’t take notes while watching this particular PPV.  I did try, but right around after the Unified Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match (man, that’s a long title), I couldn’t concentrate on writing the “blow-by-blow” action as thoughts about Legacy’s future went through my mind after that little segment they had.  I’ll get to that later. Anyway, so, I decided to write something else about the show, mainly my opinions about everything that happened.  So here goes.

ECW Championship Scramble Match 

                Tommy Dreamer retained. Okay. I just don’t get why a couple of guys in there were even in the title picture, or why this became a Scramble Match, rather than the previously announced one-on-one match between the Champion Dreamer and Jack Swagger.

                What was the purpose if you weren’t going to get a new champion out of it? Did it establish Dreamer as a credible champ because he beat out four other guys?  I thought he was credible. He could have proved that more if he went one-on-one with the much younger much stronger Swagger. What did it do for the other guys involved?  Nothing.

Intercontinental Championship Match:  Title vs, Mask

                I got no problems with the result. Yeah, I would have liked Jericho to retain (mainly because I don’t approve of him and Edge getting the tag titles, but I’ll talk about that later.). But, let’s face it; Mysterio’s never going to get rid of the mask. It’s what he was known for other than the 619. 

I didn’t like the twist though, and I got a feeling a lot of people in Arco Arena, if not most, didn’t either because there were really loud Y2J chants. And if you’ve watched a Sacramento Kings game, you know they can get really loud. Mysterio had another mask on?  What a cheat! LOL.

Dolph Ziggler vs. The Great Khali

                This match started just okay. A bit entertaining too, but not really that interesting. As you would expect Khali would get the upper hand in the beginning.  Ziggler was okay too. I just hate it when he shrieks.

                Here’s what saved the match-up (and Ziggler): Kane came out!  That was a great surprise, since we probably haven’t seen him since the draft. He attacked Khali with the steel chair repeatedly until Khali can no longer move. Ziggler took advantage of that and got the pin.

                What does this mean?  Ziggler vs. Khali can go to rest. Ziggler could probably go and face other opponents his size. And Kane and Khali could face each other. I think that’s a better picture.

Unified Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match

                As a result of being on probation by his boss, Theodore Long decided to make this match, including the team of Edge and Jericho in the mix. My first reaction was too explicit that if I write it here I would probably get an “R” if were being rated.  This was because I have been waiting for my boys (Teddy and Cody) to get their hands on the gold for a while now, and the insertion of Edge and Jericho spelled doom for that dream or hope or wish, whatever you want to call it.

                And, I was right. Edge and Jericho won as the Ultimate Opportunist tagged himself in and speared his way to victory. Only good thing I see in this is, that the titles can still be defended on all three brands and therefore, hopefully, revive the dying Tag Team division. 

But couldn’t Legacy have done that? I had such high hopes for them.  And now it seems they are going to start tearing the team apart. I personally think it’s still premature to do that.  They haven’t even reached their potential as a full-blown stable.  Couldn’t they make them all champions first?

                And what does it mean for Edge and Jericho? Are they going to just stop going after the WHC and IC belts respectively? Much as I like the team, I don’t want them holding the tag titles too long. Give the younger guys a chance and stick with the singles titles.

Women’s Championship Match

                I had such high expectations for this match. Was it even five minutes long? 

I expected at least a ten minutes match but all I got was Michelle bending Melina like a pretzel where her foot’s touching the top of her head, interference from the Hair, and a Faith Breaker.

World Heavy Weight Championship

                This was good. Started a little slow for the likes of Jeff Hardy and CM Punk, but it got faster by the end. Jeff was so close to winning back the title but he didn’t.  Punk became a punk and kicked the referee on the back to give Jeff the victory by DQ but retain the title.

                But, we were all expecting the heel turn so it wasn’t that much of a surprise.  I don’t think Hardy vs. Punk is going to be over anytime soon too.  Jeff doesn’t look like he’s going to give it up just yet after what Punk did. I expect a long good feud from these two for at least the next couple of months.

John Cena vs. The Miz

                Sorry, Internet people. Miz didn’t win. But c’mon, you didn’t really believe they were going to let Miz win against Cena, did you? No, of course not. Cena is Superman folks.  Live with it.

                The match, even with the expected result, was fun to watch even though it looked like a Wrestling Clinic. We see the same old sh…stuff that Cena does, all with the smile on his face with the dimples showing, and Miz well…he got a beating.  At one point though, I though hey!  Cena’s does an Orton! You know, stomping on a limb.  But yeah, he only stomped once.

                Cena walked away the winner, probably ending his program with the Miz, as he act like he was kicking sand on Miz’s face.  He probably would go after the WWE Title now.  That is, if the last match on the card is the last match (for now) between the two guys involved.

WWE Championship Three Stages of Hell Match

                I personally am happy Orton retained.  But that wasn’t such a great match.  They still made him look weak. Winning the first fall by DQ followed by a thirty seconds Falls Count Anywhere second fall, which he loses after being hit all over his body with a steel chair? 

The last stage,the Stretcher Match could’ve been better had Orton won it by himself and not make him still look weak, needing Cody and Ted to do his work for him.

The match was even up to the point where he just can’t seem to make any of his moves work, like the punt and the RKO.  The DDT was good though. Why can’t they let him do the RKO and get it stifled every time he attempts it? Seriously, I think I last saw it work on Backlash.

Optimistically, this will be the end of it for Orton and Triple H, at least for the meantime. Triple H got his revenge, but didn’t get the title, which he supposedly didn’t really care about anyway.

Earlier that evening we saw Ted and Randy clash backstage. (That had me worried, and completely threw me off my concentration. LOL)  But eventually, Ted still came out to help Randy. Cody must be good at talking people into things as he convinced Ted to stick with the team. Too bad we don’t get to see that on TV.  But Ted is getting good at all the backstage segment stuff. I still don’t have an idea how things are going to turn out for Legacy after this. They may be starting to get Ted to tear away from the group and make him a babyface to promote Marine 2.  But I think it’s a little bit too early to break up the team. There’s something you need to watch Raw for.

Anyway, as Randy still got help from his team, will he now help them get the Tag Team gold? Maybe, hopefully, a little bit. They need to build them up before they can bring them down.