Ranma4699
02-18-2008, 03:11 AM
No finale to the fiesta
LAS VEGAS – Chavo Guerrero earned the right to be called ECW Champion for another night at No Way Out. Guerrero denied CM Punk the gold when he capitalized on Punk slipping off the turnbuckle, hitting him with a Frog Splash.
The two rivals have had their eyes on each other since Guerrero made a New Year’s Resolution to become ECW Champion. From that point forward, he stuck to Punk like a leech, challenging the then-champion to match after match despite losing multiple times.
Since Guerrero became champion after defeating the Straightedge Superstar on ECW on Sci Fi, Punk has managed to get under his skin. He crashed the new ECW Champion’s fiesta, disguising himself as a member of the mariachi band and cracking a guitar over Guerrero’s head. Punk followed that by casting him into the water in the first-ever Gulf of Mexico Match. Just five days before No Way Out, the Straightedge Superstar put him to sleep while the ECW Champion watched Punk’s tune-up match against Mark Henry at ringside.
After successfully defending the ECW Championship on Sunday, Chavo has proven he doesn’t need tricks or help from his “familia” – newly engaged World Heavyweight Champion Edge and SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero – to win. Still, Punk is as resilient as Superstars come. He believes the title belongs around his waist, and as long as it’s in Chavo’s possession, Punk is not likely to rest.
With his victory, Chavo Guerrero has established himself as ECW Champion … but only for now.
The Deadman doubles down
The number 16 is a benchmark number in many sports. There are 16 games in an NFL season, the Boston Celtics have won 16 NBA Championships and Hockey Hall of Famer Henri Richard – who has won more Stanley Cups than any other player in NHL history – wore jersey No. 16. But after one wild night in “Sin City,” the number 16 now represents an even bigger threshold for Undertaker.
The Deadman outlasted five other Superstars to win the SmackDown/ECW Elimination Chamber Match at No Way Out Sunday night, meaning that in his 16th WrestleMania appearance, Undertaker will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. The Phenom currently owns a perfect 15-0 record on sports-entertainment’s biggest stage, and should he earn victory number 16 on March 30, he will walk out of the Florida Citrus Bowl as a six-time World Champion.
While the six Chamber participants – Batista, U.S. Champion MVP, The Great Khali, Big Daddy V, Finlay and The Phenom – have a combined nine World Championships and dozens of WWE accolades under their collective belt, only Batista had ever set foot inside “Satan’s Structure” before No Way Out. But even a lack of experience, a quintet of opponents, 10 tons of steel and two miles of chain couldn’t stop Undertaker from becoming the first Superstar to officially punch his ticket to WrestleMania XXIV.
Undertaker didn’t just win the match, however; he began the match as the first participant, and he also had a vital hand in every elimination. The Phenom and Batista were the first two entrants, a fitting cap to their year-long rivalry that began at WrestleMania 23. But after the first four-minute interval, both men were ripe for the picking when Big Daddy V was the first Superstar let out of his pod. Unfortunately for Matt Striker’s client, the odds weren’t in his favor. Near the end of the second interval, The Deadman dropped V with a DDT on the steel Chamber floor, allowing Batista to secure the pin.
The Great Khali came out next, but suffered the same fate as V. Khali became the latest victim of Undertaker’s vicious new submission hold, tapping out to be eliminated shortly before Finlay entered the match. That left MVP as the final entrant, and when he entered at the end of the fourth interval, the stage was set for a showdown.
MVP was able to bust Undertaker open with a piece of his bling, but that only further angered The Phenom. He chased MVP up on top of one of the pods, and in an impressive feat of strength, Undertaker chokeslammed the U.S. Champion down to the mat below, allowing Finlay to eliminate the brash Ballin’ Superstar. Finlay looked to be in control at that point – even utilizing a shillelagh introduced by Hornswoggle, who popped up from under the Chamber like a green-clad gopher – but the Irishman was soon eliminated after being chokeslammed over the top rope onto the steel floor by an exhausted Deadman.
That left the match right back where it started – with Undertaker and Batista. The two behemoths slugged it out, and The Animal nearly won the match after a punishing Batista Bomb. Somehow, Undertaker escaped the pinfall, and moments later would secure his own.
So now, on March 30, Undertaker – who has vanquished 15 of WWE’s greatest Superstars on the WrestleMania stage – will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship for the second WrestleMania in a row. This year, however, he will be looking to take the gold from an Ultimate Opportunist who has robbed him of it twice over the past year: Edge.
The Rated-R Superstar has also never been officially defeated at WrestleMania – the only blemish on his 5-1 record being last year’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, a contest he was unable to finish due to injury – making this arguably the biggest World Championship Match in WrestleMania history. One Superstar will walk out of the Florida Citrus Bowl with the first official loss on their WrestleMania record, and the other will walk out as the World Heavyweight Champion.
The Deadman certainly hasn’t forgotten Survivor Series, where Edge’s interference prevented him from winning the title inside Hell in a Cell, or Armageddon, where the Rated-R Superstar enlisted Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins to win the gold in a Triple Threat Match. Will WrestleMania XXIV see The Phenom gain revenge – and the World Heavyweight Championship – or lose the greatest streak in sports-entertainment?
Never Say Die
The Ric Flair Express just keeps on rollin’. Despite having Mr. Kennedy, one of WWE’s brightest young Superstars, determined to derail the 16-time World Champion’s career at No Way Out, Flair once again managed to prevail.
Hobbled by a serious knee injury, the “Nature Boy” proved dogged in his desire to live another day. The man who has already survived Career Threatening Matches against Randy Orton, Umaga, Triple H, William Regal and MVP would not be intimidated by Kennedy, who offered his opponent an opportunity the week prior to forfeit their match. “Naitch” informed the loudmouth from Green Bay, Wis., in no uncertain terms, that not only was he prepared to fight, but he was ready to win.
But Kennedy sent a message of his own with a dropkick to Flair’s injured leg, showing him that he wouldn’t hesitate to maim the legend if it meant ending his career and forever etching his own name in history.
So, in many ways, sports-entertainment’s past and future fought for history at No Way Out. The two verbose warriors put on a clinic in Grade A, solid wrestling. After a brutal back and forth, however, the 16-time World Champion captured Kennedy in a Figure-Four Leglock. In a heaping of poetic justice, Flair tightened the screws on Kennedy’s knee and forced the loudmouth to tap out for the career-saving win.
Flair realizes that one day he will be forced to retire, to close the book on a storied career. For now, though, the legendary Superstar continues to style and profile and has earned the right to WOOO! another day.
World Title's telltale hour
It was a telltale hour for the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out. Within sixty minutes of witnessing The Phenom’s triumph in a grisly Elimination Chamber Match, the Ultimate Opportunist capitalized on an injured Rey Mysterio to retain the gold and form an ample WrestleMania-based knot in his Rated-R gut.
Before Edge stepped into the Vegas arena to play his hand against Mysterio, the champion watched from his locker room suite as Undertaker emerged from enclosed brutality against five other top contenders. Still, even with the freshly formed shadow of a specter lingering in his psyche, the Ultimate Opportunist still maintained a significant advantage.
Heading into No Way Out, the odds in Sin City were in Edge’s favor, as his challenger suffered an apparent biceps injury at the hands of Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins at an international live event. Intent on recapturing the World Title, Mysterio – once again the underdog – was determined to compete against the Rated-R Superstar to not only conclude their personal rivalry, but to also reclaim the gold.
Another factor to be considered: Just days earlier on SmackDown, General Manager Vickie Guerrero took the raw end of a West Coast Pop intended for her newly enfianced lover, Edge. The diamond ring-bearing GM’s absence allowed Theodore Long to step in and render a decision to bar Hawkins & Ryder from ringside for the title match, thus, balancing the odds for the challenger.
Battling through this excess of external factors, the Master of the 619 still managed to come within inches of reliving his golden dream. From bell to bell, the masked Superstar fought hard and flew high, essentially one-armed – which Edge shrewdly prepared for and used to gain the upper hand.
The champion focused his attack on the vulnerable biceps of Mysterio, his arm’s covered bruising acting as a blackened target. The Rated-R Superstar sustained a 619, but quickly recovered as a pained Rey recollected himself. And, just as he snared the World Heavyweight Title at Armageddon, then slipped past Mysterio at Royal Rumble, Edge seized the opportunity for a spear and found his way to victory at No Way Out.
Leaving Mysterio clutching his injured – and potentially worsened – right bicep, the Ultimate Opportunist fled clasping his title and nearly bumped right into the returning Big Show. Edge avoided any confrontation with the massive Superstar, but the same could not be said for Mysterio or Rey’s close friend, boxing champion Floyd Mayweather. Read full story...
But though he may have eluded one giant, a towering Phenom now awaits the Rated-R Superstar at WrestleMania XXIV.
The Deadman has pursued the World Heavyweight Title since May 8, 2007 – an evening on which infamy was defined by Edge’s opportunistic championship seizure. That night, the Ultimate Opportunist moniker was born as Edge cashed in Money in the Bank (which he seized from Mr. Kennedy) at the most inopportune moment for Undertaker. Minutes after The Phenom's Steel Cage encounter with Batista and a savage assault by Mark Henry, the Rated-R Superstar stole the gold from the war-torn Deadman.
More than one year later, sports-entertainment proves life to be cyclical, as Edge will now meet Undertaker, who boasts a 16-0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Can even the most ideal opportunity keep the World Heavyweight Title around the Rated-R Superstar’s waist? Or will the Ultimate Opportunist find the angle he needs and make history by burying The Deadman’s impressive accolade at the Granddaddy of Them All?
Showtime in Vegas
For the first time in more than a year, Big Show returned to WWE in the best shape of his career at No Way Out. The giant’s appearance after Edge retained his World Heavyweight Championship against Rey Mysterio has shocked the sports-entertainment world – and his showdown with WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather sent riptides through the globe.
Almost nine years to the day after his initial WWE debut at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1999, Big Show returned to deliver a message to our fans and to the Superstars of WWE: “I have been a champion before, and it’s only a matter of time before I am a champion again.” Now that Big Show – 108 pounds leaner – has returned and served notice that he is focused and in the best shape of his life, will any member of the respective rosters be safe?
One person who wasn’t exactly safe on Sunday night was Mysterio. Big Show bullied the injured Mysterio as he left the ringside area, and then goaded Floyd Mayweather – a close friend of Rey Mysterio’s – into an altercation. Earlier in the night, Mayweather and the masked Superstar had a conversation in the locker room area, and the champion boxer wished his friend good luck in trying to regain the gold from Edge.
Considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world today, Mayweather sat at ringside enjoying No Way Out and Rey’s bid for the title before Big Show began taunting him. The boxing champion learned quickly that trying to inflict pain upon the former WWE, WCW and ECW Champion is not an easy task. Big Show may have been bloodied by the left hook of Mayweather, but the incensed giant gave chase as Mayweather quickly retreated with his entourage in tow.
After the hit and run encounter, Big Show was calmed down by Shane McMahon, who headed off the charging giant and made sure the altercation did not escalate further. Shane and Show could be seen having a heated conversation up the ramp on the way out of the arena.
What will Show’s return mean to Raw, SmackDown and ECW, and which championship might Big Show eye now that he has returned and vowed to regain gold?
Robbery on the Strip: 'Mania Gamble Goes Bust
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, and it appears John Cena’s dreams of winning the WWE Championship and headlining WrestleMania XXIV will stay in Sin City.
Our fans in the Thomas & Mack Center didn’t need crime scene investigators to figure out that WWE Champion Randy Orton robbed Cena tonight of the WWE Title and the main event at WrestleMania. Cena could only look on helplessly and see the after he watched Orton slap the referee - and his WWE Title and WrestleMania dreams - away.
Thanks to then intentional blow, Orton lost the match, but came away with much more. He was disqualified, but he was still WWE Champion. (A man can only lose a title by pinfall or submission.) And most importantly, he had eliminated his greatest nemesis from title contention and will walk into WrestleMania as WWE Champion.
Cena, who earned a guaranteed WWE Championship Match on the grandest stage of them all with a victory at Royal Rumble, decided to cash in his WrestleMania opportunity at No Way Out. He knew he was taking a gamble, but he could not wait to get revenge on Orton. The self-proclaimed “one-man dynasty” had taken everything from Cena. Orton had sidelined him with an injury for four months and forced him to relinquish his WWE Championship. Cena waited for months to get his hands on Orton and take back the WWE Championship he never lost in the ring. He desperately wanted to take away Orton’s precious gold and enter WrestleMania XXIV the WWE Champion.
But “The Champ” probably never imagined that Orton would find a way to slither out of Las Vegas with the WWE Championship. Cena and Orton's showdown initially was a back-and-forth war. Cena unleashed a furious assault on the Legend Killer, while Orton seemed determined to vanquish his nemesis once and for all. However, Orton backpedaled into retreat mode, as it was clear Cena was 100 percent recovered from his torn pectoral tendon.
At that point, it was obvious Orton wasn’t interested in winning the match; he just wanted to leave Vegas with his cherished WWE Championship. The third-generation Superstar did everything he could to avoid Cena. He even feigned a knee injury in an attempt to get himself counted out, but Cena wouldn’t allow it. "The Champ" refused to lose, managing somehow to survive a skull-cracking RKO on the concrete floor and avoid a countout. When a battered Cena urged Orton to bring it, the WWE Champion chose the coward's way out and slapped the referee.
Ultimately, Orton’s plan worked – Cena won the match, but nothing else. Technically, Cena was the winner tonight, but he didn’t look like one. All he could do was FU and clamp an STFU on Orton, but some swore they saw Orton smiling while he writhed in pain in the hold.
A small smirk crept along the corner of Orton’s mouth. It was as if he was saying to Cena, “Take that! You took the ultimate gamble with your WrestleMania opportunity and lost. You’re now out of the WrestleMania main event! You have nothing!”
Cena burned a hole into Orton, but could only trudge up the ramp and shake his head. The Legend Killer soon followed and staggered up the ramp, holding the gold high as boos rained on him from the Thomas & Mack Center's rafters. What happened to Cena in Las Vegas was a sin and a shame, but what could he do? Once again, Orton took away something he held dear to his heart. Did Cena regret taking his WrestleMania gamble at No Way Out? With his WrestleMania dreams now dashed, what’s next for John Cena?
The Game gets his title match at WrestleMania
Once again, the King of Kings proved that the Elimination Chamber is his playground. And he is its schoolyard bully.
For the third time in history, Triple H has entered “Satan’s Structure” and walked out victorious. This time, the 11-time World Champion leaves the 10 tons of steel at No Way Out with a WWE Championship opportunity at WrestleMania XXIV against former Evolution teammate, Randy Orton.
But this tough victory did not come easily for The Cerebral Assassin, who had to survive challenges from five other top Raw Superstars – Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy, John Bradshaw Layfield, Umaga, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels – to earn the WWE Title berth in Orlando, Fla.
JBL was eager to get revenge on Y2J for a loss on Raw earlier in the week, but was eliminated thanks to Jericho’s Codebreaker. The self-made millionaire didn’t take his loss lightly, as he delivered chair blows to everyone in the ring.
The Intercontinental Champion was our fans’ choice to win the match, and he entered the Chamber as the final competitor. His Swanton Bomb from the top of the chamber led to Umaga’s elimination by Y2J, who was then eliminated after a dose of Sweet Chin Music.
Hardy caught the bloody, battered Michaels with a Twist of Fate, and HBK’s own DX partner showed no mercy, finishing off The Showstopper with a Pedigree.
Hardy was the last roadblock to The Game’s victory. The Intercontinental Champion defeated Triple H at Armageddon just two months earlier, but the King of Kings was not to be denied. He outlasted the red-hot Hardy, stunning the high-flyer with a Pedigree onto a steel chair to claim the victory.
As the crowd in the Thomas & Mack Center gave the combatants a standing ovation, Triple H stretched his arms high, staring at the WrestleMania XXIV logo hanging from the rafters.
After a brutal night of battle in this chamber of horrors, his ticket to Orlando to face the Legend Killer is now confirmed.
LAS VEGAS – Chavo Guerrero earned the right to be called ECW Champion for another night at No Way Out. Guerrero denied CM Punk the gold when he capitalized on Punk slipping off the turnbuckle, hitting him with a Frog Splash.
The two rivals have had their eyes on each other since Guerrero made a New Year’s Resolution to become ECW Champion. From that point forward, he stuck to Punk like a leech, challenging the then-champion to match after match despite losing multiple times.
Since Guerrero became champion after defeating the Straightedge Superstar on ECW on Sci Fi, Punk has managed to get under his skin. He crashed the new ECW Champion’s fiesta, disguising himself as a member of the mariachi band and cracking a guitar over Guerrero’s head. Punk followed that by casting him into the water in the first-ever Gulf of Mexico Match. Just five days before No Way Out, the Straightedge Superstar put him to sleep while the ECW Champion watched Punk’s tune-up match against Mark Henry at ringside.
After successfully defending the ECW Championship on Sunday, Chavo has proven he doesn’t need tricks or help from his “familia” – newly engaged World Heavyweight Champion Edge and SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero – to win. Still, Punk is as resilient as Superstars come. He believes the title belongs around his waist, and as long as it’s in Chavo’s possession, Punk is not likely to rest.
With his victory, Chavo Guerrero has established himself as ECW Champion … but only for now.
The Deadman doubles down
The number 16 is a benchmark number in many sports. There are 16 games in an NFL season, the Boston Celtics have won 16 NBA Championships and Hockey Hall of Famer Henri Richard – who has won more Stanley Cups than any other player in NHL history – wore jersey No. 16. But after one wild night in “Sin City,” the number 16 now represents an even bigger threshold for Undertaker.
The Deadman outlasted five other Superstars to win the SmackDown/ECW Elimination Chamber Match at No Way Out Sunday night, meaning that in his 16th WrestleMania appearance, Undertaker will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. The Phenom currently owns a perfect 15-0 record on sports-entertainment’s biggest stage, and should he earn victory number 16 on March 30, he will walk out of the Florida Citrus Bowl as a six-time World Champion.
While the six Chamber participants – Batista, U.S. Champion MVP, The Great Khali, Big Daddy V, Finlay and The Phenom – have a combined nine World Championships and dozens of WWE accolades under their collective belt, only Batista had ever set foot inside “Satan’s Structure” before No Way Out. But even a lack of experience, a quintet of opponents, 10 tons of steel and two miles of chain couldn’t stop Undertaker from becoming the first Superstar to officially punch his ticket to WrestleMania XXIV.
Undertaker didn’t just win the match, however; he began the match as the first participant, and he also had a vital hand in every elimination. The Phenom and Batista were the first two entrants, a fitting cap to their year-long rivalry that began at WrestleMania 23. But after the first four-minute interval, both men were ripe for the picking when Big Daddy V was the first Superstar let out of his pod. Unfortunately for Matt Striker’s client, the odds weren’t in his favor. Near the end of the second interval, The Deadman dropped V with a DDT on the steel Chamber floor, allowing Batista to secure the pin.
The Great Khali came out next, but suffered the same fate as V. Khali became the latest victim of Undertaker’s vicious new submission hold, tapping out to be eliminated shortly before Finlay entered the match. That left MVP as the final entrant, and when he entered at the end of the fourth interval, the stage was set for a showdown.
MVP was able to bust Undertaker open with a piece of his bling, but that only further angered The Phenom. He chased MVP up on top of one of the pods, and in an impressive feat of strength, Undertaker chokeslammed the U.S. Champion down to the mat below, allowing Finlay to eliminate the brash Ballin’ Superstar. Finlay looked to be in control at that point – even utilizing a shillelagh introduced by Hornswoggle, who popped up from under the Chamber like a green-clad gopher – but the Irishman was soon eliminated after being chokeslammed over the top rope onto the steel floor by an exhausted Deadman.
That left the match right back where it started – with Undertaker and Batista. The two behemoths slugged it out, and The Animal nearly won the match after a punishing Batista Bomb. Somehow, Undertaker escaped the pinfall, and moments later would secure his own.
So now, on March 30, Undertaker – who has vanquished 15 of WWE’s greatest Superstars on the WrestleMania stage – will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship for the second WrestleMania in a row. This year, however, he will be looking to take the gold from an Ultimate Opportunist who has robbed him of it twice over the past year: Edge.
The Rated-R Superstar has also never been officially defeated at WrestleMania – the only blemish on his 5-1 record being last year’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, a contest he was unable to finish due to injury – making this arguably the biggest World Championship Match in WrestleMania history. One Superstar will walk out of the Florida Citrus Bowl with the first official loss on their WrestleMania record, and the other will walk out as the World Heavyweight Champion.
The Deadman certainly hasn’t forgotten Survivor Series, where Edge’s interference prevented him from winning the title inside Hell in a Cell, or Armageddon, where the Rated-R Superstar enlisted Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins to win the gold in a Triple Threat Match. Will WrestleMania XXIV see The Phenom gain revenge – and the World Heavyweight Championship – or lose the greatest streak in sports-entertainment?
Never Say Die
The Ric Flair Express just keeps on rollin’. Despite having Mr. Kennedy, one of WWE’s brightest young Superstars, determined to derail the 16-time World Champion’s career at No Way Out, Flair once again managed to prevail.
Hobbled by a serious knee injury, the “Nature Boy” proved dogged in his desire to live another day. The man who has already survived Career Threatening Matches against Randy Orton, Umaga, Triple H, William Regal and MVP would not be intimidated by Kennedy, who offered his opponent an opportunity the week prior to forfeit their match. “Naitch” informed the loudmouth from Green Bay, Wis., in no uncertain terms, that not only was he prepared to fight, but he was ready to win.
But Kennedy sent a message of his own with a dropkick to Flair’s injured leg, showing him that he wouldn’t hesitate to maim the legend if it meant ending his career and forever etching his own name in history.
So, in many ways, sports-entertainment’s past and future fought for history at No Way Out. The two verbose warriors put on a clinic in Grade A, solid wrestling. After a brutal back and forth, however, the 16-time World Champion captured Kennedy in a Figure-Four Leglock. In a heaping of poetic justice, Flair tightened the screws on Kennedy’s knee and forced the loudmouth to tap out for the career-saving win.
Flair realizes that one day he will be forced to retire, to close the book on a storied career. For now, though, the legendary Superstar continues to style and profile and has earned the right to WOOO! another day.
World Title's telltale hour
It was a telltale hour for the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out. Within sixty minutes of witnessing The Phenom’s triumph in a grisly Elimination Chamber Match, the Ultimate Opportunist capitalized on an injured Rey Mysterio to retain the gold and form an ample WrestleMania-based knot in his Rated-R gut.
Before Edge stepped into the Vegas arena to play his hand against Mysterio, the champion watched from his locker room suite as Undertaker emerged from enclosed brutality against five other top contenders. Still, even with the freshly formed shadow of a specter lingering in his psyche, the Ultimate Opportunist still maintained a significant advantage.
Heading into No Way Out, the odds in Sin City were in Edge’s favor, as his challenger suffered an apparent biceps injury at the hands of Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins at an international live event. Intent on recapturing the World Title, Mysterio – once again the underdog – was determined to compete against the Rated-R Superstar to not only conclude their personal rivalry, but to also reclaim the gold.
Another factor to be considered: Just days earlier on SmackDown, General Manager Vickie Guerrero took the raw end of a West Coast Pop intended for her newly enfianced lover, Edge. The diamond ring-bearing GM’s absence allowed Theodore Long to step in and render a decision to bar Hawkins & Ryder from ringside for the title match, thus, balancing the odds for the challenger.
Battling through this excess of external factors, the Master of the 619 still managed to come within inches of reliving his golden dream. From bell to bell, the masked Superstar fought hard and flew high, essentially one-armed – which Edge shrewdly prepared for and used to gain the upper hand.
The champion focused his attack on the vulnerable biceps of Mysterio, his arm’s covered bruising acting as a blackened target. The Rated-R Superstar sustained a 619, but quickly recovered as a pained Rey recollected himself. And, just as he snared the World Heavyweight Title at Armageddon, then slipped past Mysterio at Royal Rumble, Edge seized the opportunity for a spear and found his way to victory at No Way Out.
Leaving Mysterio clutching his injured – and potentially worsened – right bicep, the Ultimate Opportunist fled clasping his title and nearly bumped right into the returning Big Show. Edge avoided any confrontation with the massive Superstar, but the same could not be said for Mysterio or Rey’s close friend, boxing champion Floyd Mayweather. Read full story...
But though he may have eluded one giant, a towering Phenom now awaits the Rated-R Superstar at WrestleMania XXIV.
The Deadman has pursued the World Heavyweight Title since May 8, 2007 – an evening on which infamy was defined by Edge’s opportunistic championship seizure. That night, the Ultimate Opportunist moniker was born as Edge cashed in Money in the Bank (which he seized from Mr. Kennedy) at the most inopportune moment for Undertaker. Minutes after The Phenom's Steel Cage encounter with Batista and a savage assault by Mark Henry, the Rated-R Superstar stole the gold from the war-torn Deadman.
More than one year later, sports-entertainment proves life to be cyclical, as Edge will now meet Undertaker, who boasts a 16-0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Can even the most ideal opportunity keep the World Heavyweight Title around the Rated-R Superstar’s waist? Or will the Ultimate Opportunist find the angle he needs and make history by burying The Deadman’s impressive accolade at the Granddaddy of Them All?
Showtime in Vegas
For the first time in more than a year, Big Show returned to WWE in the best shape of his career at No Way Out. The giant’s appearance after Edge retained his World Heavyweight Championship against Rey Mysterio has shocked the sports-entertainment world – and his showdown with WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather sent riptides through the globe.
Almost nine years to the day after his initial WWE debut at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1999, Big Show returned to deliver a message to our fans and to the Superstars of WWE: “I have been a champion before, and it’s only a matter of time before I am a champion again.” Now that Big Show – 108 pounds leaner – has returned and served notice that he is focused and in the best shape of his life, will any member of the respective rosters be safe?
One person who wasn’t exactly safe on Sunday night was Mysterio. Big Show bullied the injured Mysterio as he left the ringside area, and then goaded Floyd Mayweather – a close friend of Rey Mysterio’s – into an altercation. Earlier in the night, Mayweather and the masked Superstar had a conversation in the locker room area, and the champion boxer wished his friend good luck in trying to regain the gold from Edge.
Considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world today, Mayweather sat at ringside enjoying No Way Out and Rey’s bid for the title before Big Show began taunting him. The boxing champion learned quickly that trying to inflict pain upon the former WWE, WCW and ECW Champion is not an easy task. Big Show may have been bloodied by the left hook of Mayweather, but the incensed giant gave chase as Mayweather quickly retreated with his entourage in tow.
After the hit and run encounter, Big Show was calmed down by Shane McMahon, who headed off the charging giant and made sure the altercation did not escalate further. Shane and Show could be seen having a heated conversation up the ramp on the way out of the arena.
What will Show’s return mean to Raw, SmackDown and ECW, and which championship might Big Show eye now that he has returned and vowed to regain gold?
Robbery on the Strip: 'Mania Gamble Goes Bust
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, and it appears John Cena’s dreams of winning the WWE Championship and headlining WrestleMania XXIV will stay in Sin City.
Our fans in the Thomas & Mack Center didn’t need crime scene investigators to figure out that WWE Champion Randy Orton robbed Cena tonight of the WWE Title and the main event at WrestleMania. Cena could only look on helplessly and see the after he watched Orton slap the referee - and his WWE Title and WrestleMania dreams - away.
Thanks to then intentional blow, Orton lost the match, but came away with much more. He was disqualified, but he was still WWE Champion. (A man can only lose a title by pinfall or submission.) And most importantly, he had eliminated his greatest nemesis from title contention and will walk into WrestleMania as WWE Champion.
Cena, who earned a guaranteed WWE Championship Match on the grandest stage of them all with a victory at Royal Rumble, decided to cash in his WrestleMania opportunity at No Way Out. He knew he was taking a gamble, but he could not wait to get revenge on Orton. The self-proclaimed “one-man dynasty” had taken everything from Cena. Orton had sidelined him with an injury for four months and forced him to relinquish his WWE Championship. Cena waited for months to get his hands on Orton and take back the WWE Championship he never lost in the ring. He desperately wanted to take away Orton’s precious gold and enter WrestleMania XXIV the WWE Champion.
But “The Champ” probably never imagined that Orton would find a way to slither out of Las Vegas with the WWE Championship. Cena and Orton's showdown initially was a back-and-forth war. Cena unleashed a furious assault on the Legend Killer, while Orton seemed determined to vanquish his nemesis once and for all. However, Orton backpedaled into retreat mode, as it was clear Cena was 100 percent recovered from his torn pectoral tendon.
At that point, it was obvious Orton wasn’t interested in winning the match; he just wanted to leave Vegas with his cherished WWE Championship. The third-generation Superstar did everything he could to avoid Cena. He even feigned a knee injury in an attempt to get himself counted out, but Cena wouldn’t allow it. "The Champ" refused to lose, managing somehow to survive a skull-cracking RKO on the concrete floor and avoid a countout. When a battered Cena urged Orton to bring it, the WWE Champion chose the coward's way out and slapped the referee.
Ultimately, Orton’s plan worked – Cena won the match, but nothing else. Technically, Cena was the winner tonight, but he didn’t look like one. All he could do was FU and clamp an STFU on Orton, but some swore they saw Orton smiling while he writhed in pain in the hold.
A small smirk crept along the corner of Orton’s mouth. It was as if he was saying to Cena, “Take that! You took the ultimate gamble with your WrestleMania opportunity and lost. You’re now out of the WrestleMania main event! You have nothing!”
Cena burned a hole into Orton, but could only trudge up the ramp and shake his head. The Legend Killer soon followed and staggered up the ramp, holding the gold high as boos rained on him from the Thomas & Mack Center's rafters. What happened to Cena in Las Vegas was a sin and a shame, but what could he do? Once again, Orton took away something he held dear to his heart. Did Cena regret taking his WrestleMania gamble at No Way Out? With his WrestleMania dreams now dashed, what’s next for John Cena?
The Game gets his title match at WrestleMania
Once again, the King of Kings proved that the Elimination Chamber is his playground. And he is its schoolyard bully.
For the third time in history, Triple H has entered “Satan’s Structure” and walked out victorious. This time, the 11-time World Champion leaves the 10 tons of steel at No Way Out with a WWE Championship opportunity at WrestleMania XXIV against former Evolution teammate, Randy Orton.
But this tough victory did not come easily for The Cerebral Assassin, who had to survive challenges from five other top Raw Superstars – Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy, John Bradshaw Layfield, Umaga, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels – to earn the WWE Title berth in Orlando, Fla.
JBL was eager to get revenge on Y2J for a loss on Raw earlier in the week, but was eliminated thanks to Jericho’s Codebreaker. The self-made millionaire didn’t take his loss lightly, as he delivered chair blows to everyone in the ring.
The Intercontinental Champion was our fans’ choice to win the match, and he entered the Chamber as the final competitor. His Swanton Bomb from the top of the chamber led to Umaga’s elimination by Y2J, who was then eliminated after a dose of Sweet Chin Music.
Hardy caught the bloody, battered Michaels with a Twist of Fate, and HBK’s own DX partner showed no mercy, finishing off The Showstopper with a Pedigree.
Hardy was the last roadblock to The Game’s victory. The Intercontinental Champion defeated Triple H at Armageddon just two months earlier, but the King of Kings was not to be denied. He outlasted the red-hot Hardy, stunning the high-flyer with a Pedigree onto a steel chair to claim the victory.
As the crowd in the Thomas & Mack Center gave the combatants a standing ovation, Triple H stretched his arms high, staring at the WrestleMania XXIV logo hanging from the rafters.
After a brutal night of battle in this chamber of horrors, his ticket to Orlando to face the Legend Killer is now confirmed.