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WrestleMania card taking shape
Published February 18, 2008
The only thing for certain after Sunday’s No Way Out is that this year’s WrestleMania could be one to watch.
No Way Out featured a pair of elimination chamber matches, three title matches and a big return followed by one big punch. It was a lot to digest, so let’s go to the results.
Chavo Guerrero retains the ECW Title by pinning C.M. Punk. Punk had Guerrero set up on the top rope, but Guerrero blocked a Punk hurricarrana, and then landed a frog splash for the win.
The Undertaker outlasted MVP, Big Daddy V, Finlay, the Great Khali and Batista to win the Smackdown/ECW Elimination Chamber match and earn a title shot at this year’s WrestleMania. Undertaker reversed Batista over the top rope into a Tombstone to get the final pin and will now head into a pay-per-view at which he’s never lost.
Ric Flair defeated Mr. Kennedy by submission to win their match. Kennedy fell victim to Flair’s figure-four submission and tapped out, leaving the Nature Boy to wrestle one more day.
Edge defeated Rey Mysterio by pin fall to retain the WWE World Title. Mysterio entered the match with a legitimately injured biceps, which reports say he tore during the WWE’s recent house tour. Edge took Mysterio’s 619, but snuffed out the West Coast Pop with a spear that led to the pin.
After the match, the familiar music of The Big Show echoed in the arena and out came the former world champion. Claiming to be more than 100 pounds lighter, Show announced he’s ready to be champion again, but didn’t announce through which brand. He was ECW when he took his sabbatical from the company. Show then turned his attention to Mysterio and tried to chokeslam him, but making the save was current boxing champion Floyd Mayweather. While Mayweather couldn’t tag Showas he stood, when Show dropped to one knee to give the boxer his shot, Mayweather bloodied him with a pair of punches to the nose and the mouth before he and his entourage left the ring.
John Cena defeated Randy Orton by disqualification, but Orton retains the WWE Title. Orton hit Cena with an RKO on the floor, but Cena rolled back in the ring and continued to come at Orton. Orton then slapped the referee to earn his disqualification, ending Cena’s title shot.
Triple H outlasted Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho, JBL, Umaga and Shawn Michaels to win the Raw Elimination Chamber match and earn a title shot at WrestleMania. Hardy was the last man eliminated, eating a Pedigree on a steel chair to fall victim to Triple H.
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Speaking of the WWE, if you didn’t watch Sunday’s Daytona 500, you missed a new Gillette commercial staring Cena and members of Gillette’s Young Guns, several of the younger drivers in NASCAR.
The spot features Cena “thanking” the drivers for teaching him to drive racecars by showing them some wrestling moves. But the drivers are so skilled they turn the tables on Cena and beat him with clotheslines, suplexes, an FU and put him through a table. The spot ended with Ryan Newman hitting Cena with a splash off the top rope.
Amazingly enough, Newman won Sunday’s race when he passed Tony Stewart on the final lap.
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In an easy Segway, NASCAR drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Reed Sorenson and Hermie Sadler were at Thursday’s TNA Impact as cornermen for a three-way dance between Homicide, Chris Sabin and Jimmy Rave. Montoya helped his man, Homicide, win when he clocked Rave’s tag team partner Lance Hoyt with a steel chair. That distracted Rave long enough for Homicide to pull of his finisher and make the pin.
Elsewhere in TNA, Abyss tossed his mask aside as he left the arena, A.J. Styles may or may not be married to Karen Angle now, and Samoa Joe is looking to smack Kurt Angle around.
The first two matches for the TNA Destination X pay-per-view were also announced. Rhino will face James Storm in an Elevation X match while Joe, Kevin Nash and Cage will take on the Angle Alliance of Kurt Angle, Styles and Tomko.
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We are just over one month remaining before Powerbombs and Press Slams gets put to bed for good, so I’d thought I’d take a look back at some of my favorite moments from the past eight years.
Moment No. 7 – Eddie Guerrero wins, and loses – February 2004, November 2005
The one thing this column has always been is fan accessible. I’ve never claimed to know everything about pro wrestling, so when one of the column’s fans has a question or a “where are they now?” request, I do my best to find out.
I’ve written more than 400 columns and have learned that fans appreciate what you do no matter what. Sometimes it’s the more simple columns, the ones that come from the heart, that people remember the most.
So was the case with a pair of columns written about “Latino Heat,” Eddie Guerrero.
Guerrero, who passed away Nov. 13, 2005, was one of my favorite wrestlers because of his ability to work with anyone and turn that match into a five-star classic.
When he beat Brock Lesnar for the world title at No Way Out in 2004, I penned a column talking about how great the win was and said I was unsure if he was the first Latino world champion in the company’s history.
Leave it to the fans to tell me he wasn’t. I received dozens of emails reminding me that Pedro Morales won the belt during the WWWF’s days in the 1970’s. I just smiled and was thankful so many people were reading the column and taking time out to help me keep my facts straight.
When Guerrero passed away just over a year later from a heart attack, I wrote another column about how his passing would have a lasting impact on the business. Again, the readers were there to share their thoughts on the passing of a talented former world champion.
I guess it’s those kinds of moments, the ones that make readers laugh or cheer or cry, that made this column worthwhile.
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That’s all for now. Enjoy this week’s programming and, as always, STAY TUNED!!
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