World Wrestling Entertainment: The Second Coming

[Moonlight Drive]

The Great American Bash, or as the internet smarks now call it, The Great WWE Crash. The Great American Bash marked the beginning of the end (or so it seemed) for the WWE and sports entertainment as a whole. Vince McMahon began to run ludicrous storylines and stupid matches, along with a Raw where the World Championship changed hand 3 times. CM Punk got injured by a stiff Batista, who after also injuring his friend Rey Mysterio, was fired. Vince tried everything, he de-pushed Cena and Triple H, had another draft, brought back the Hardcore Championship, even gave both world championships to a final lifeline Hulk Hogan but each did more bad than good. All 3 shows plummeted to abysmal ratings, and ECW was taken off the air. People tuned away from TNA too, as the show got consistently terrible before getting the axe completely. That’s when Vince was given the boot, and Shane McMahon was placed at the helm, to try and rectify what had happened. Shane, like a young Vince, knew what people wanted Wrestling, not just entertainment. Shane decided he was going to do 2 things, bring in younger guys and raise them up, and let the veterans of wrestling once again become a centrepiece of the show, not just there treading water. They would go toe-to-toe with the young guys, and bring in tonnes of revenue. Shane aimed away from kids and to the newer fans, who liked the RoH style of wrestling ala CM Punk and Matt Sydal, and the older fans, who remember the glory days of Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker. All this came into motion at Armageddon, where Shane unveiled one of his many new signings, Kurt Angle, who claimed the World Heavyweight Championship from Hulk Hogan and took it to Smackdown! On the same night, Shawn Michaels also defeated the past his prime 53 year old to become the head of Raw with the WWE Championship. No matter how over a wrestler was, if he couldn’t put on a good match, Shane let them go. The ratings steadily began to increase with this combination of veterans and new blood, and here we are at the Royal Rumble, 2009, the second coming of the glory days of WWE!

World Wrestling Entertainment: The Second Coming

Owner: Shane McMahon
TV Shows: Monday Night Raw & Friday Night Smackdown

Monday Night Raw
GM: TBA
Commentators: JR & King

Roster

Main Event
Shawn Michaels (Face)
Edge (Heel)
Rob Van Dam (Face)
Brock Lesnar (Face)
CM Punk (Face)
Randy Orton (Heel)
Bret Hart (Heel)

Upper Mid-Card
MVP (Heel)
Shelton Benjamin (Heel)
Carlito (Heel)
AJ Styles (Face)
Big Show (Face)
Raven (Heel)

Mid-Card
Matt Sydal (Face)
Santino Marella (Heel)
Elijah Burke (Heel)
Kofi Kingston (Face)
Petey Williams (Face)
Paul Burchill (Heel)
William Regal (Heel)
Bubba Ray (Face)
D-Von (Face)
Chris Sabin (Face)
Alex Shelley (Face)
Jay Lethal (Face)

Tag Teams
Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)
The Empire (Paul Burchill & William Regal)
Team 3D (Bubba Ray & D-Von)
Shelton Benjamin & Carlito

Stables
Revolution (Randy Orton, Carlito, MVP, Shelton Benjamin)

Champions

WWE Champion
Shawn Michaels

Intercontinental Champion
MVP

World Tag Team Champions (Cross-Branded Title)
The Jamaican Phenomenon

Friday Night Smackdown!
GM: James Mitchell
Commentators: Mick Foley & JBL

Main Event
Kurt Angle (Heel)
Undertaker (Heel)
Chris Jericho (Face)
Samoa Joe (Heel)
Rey Mysterio (Face)
The Rock (Face)

Upper Mid-Card
Umaga (Heel)
Jeff Hardy (Face)
Mr. Kennedy (Face)
Booker T (Heel)
Christian (Face)
Kane (Heel)

Mid-Card
Afa (Heel)
John Morrison (Face)
Consequnces Creed (Heel)
Abyss (Heel)
Judas Messias (Heel)
Homicide (Heel)
Hernandez (Heel)
JTG (Face)
Shad (Face)
DH Smith (Heel)
TJ Wilson (Heel)
Paul London (Face)
Brian Kendrick (Face)
Vader (Heel)

Tag Teams

Londrick (Paul London & Brian Kendrick)
LAX (Homicide & Hernandez)
Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad)
Canadian Bulldogs (DH Smith & TJ Wilson)

Stables
The Ministry of Darkness (Undertaker, Kane, Abyss, Judas Messias, James Mitchell)

Champions

World Heavyweight Champion
Kurt Angle

United States Champion
Umaga

World Tag Team Champions (Cross-Branded Title)
Motor City Machine Guns

Top FCW Prospects
Joe Hennig
Kafu
Eddie Colon
Colt Cabana

Injured Talent
John Cena (Broken Knee, Due back May-June)


Pay-Per-Views
Raw
Smackdown
Both

New Years Revolution
Royal Rumble
No Way Out
Wrestlemania
Backlash
Judgment Day
One Night Stand
Great American Bash
Summerslam
Cyber Sunday
No Mercy
King of the Ring
Survivor Series
Armageddon

​

 

[wwe batista+cena]

looks good. good backstory. are you doing smackdown and raw because ecw and tna have gone?

 

[Moonlight Drive]

Yeah just SD! and Raw.

And the first show is going to be the Rumble

 

[Evil Austin]

Looks good, I am really interested in this new version of "Ministry of Darkness" Ill be reading ... good luck,

 

[Moonlight Drive]

Guys, I need some help to decide, is it really necessary if I post what happened on PPV up until the Royal Rumble? I'm not sure, because I think the backstory sort of carries the major moments

 

[wwe batista+cena]

post the rumble details. not word by word.

 

[Moonlight Drive]

Hmm, i think you miss understood, I'm doing the rumble show in full, I mean the results from PPVs Great American Bash --> Armageddon

 

[wwe batista+cena]

well why do the rumble in full. you'll have to explain what has happened in previous weeks.

 

[Moonlight Drive]

The Preview will explain that -.-

Look, I just wanna know if anyone thinks I should post the PPV Results for GAB through to Armageddon, or if it's unneccesary

 

[wwe batista+cena]

right. i think its unneccesary. theres no need to make the btbs history longer and make it harder work than it is.

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

I think you should go through the history. Helps us completely understand how things got this way, in a more in depth way.

Oh, and things look great so far.

 

[Moonlight Drive]

Past PPV Analysis
Part 1 of 3
The Beginning of the End

--------

Great American Bash

World Heavyweight Championship
Batista VS CM Punk (c)
CM Punk retains by GTS
In this match, Punk injured his shoulder after a botched superplex, he is out for 5-8 months

WWE Championship
Triple H (c) VS Edge
Triple H retains after Undertaker interfered and cost Edge the match with a Pedigree

ECW Championship
Tommy Dreamer w/Colin Delaney VS Mark Henry (c)
Henry retains after a Worlds Strongest Slam

NYC Parking Lot Brawl
JBL VS John Cena
JBL wins after a powerbomb onto a car hood

Chris Jericho VS Shawn Michaels
Jericho wins after Lance Cade distracted Michaels with a roll-up and a handful of tights

MVP VS Mr. Kennedy
Kennedy wins after he reversed a Playmaker into a Mic Check

United States Championship
Matt Hardy (c) VS Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin wins after a Reverse STO from the top rope

Divas Championship
Natalya VS Michelle McCool
Michelle McCool wins after a crossbody

----------

GAB News and Notes

The Great American Bash was a flop on all parties. Shelton Benjamin slipped on his leaping onto the top rope spot and hurt his neck, taking away from the whole match. The Punk/Batista match was sloppy; the only matches the crowd really got into were MVP/Kennedy and Jericho/Michaels. Apparently many backstage weren’t happy about McCool going over Natalya.

----------

Summerslam Background
Raw

The night after GAB, CM Punk announced to the world his injury. He subsequently surrendered the championship, but JBL made his way to the ring and proclaimed himself No. 1 Contender since he beat John Cena. He took the belt and apparently was named World Heavyweight Champion. Punk left the ring sadly as JBL stood there, and Batista came out, challenging JBL for a match later in the night, which Bradshaw accepted. Batista claimed the championship in that match, but then William Regal returned and gave JBL an immediate re-match, in a No DQ match. JBL low blowed an unsuspecting Batista and won back the championship. The following week, Batista took on Rey Mysterio with the winner going onto Summerslam to face JBL. Rey was kicked over the top rope, but awkwardly landed on his knee, tearing his ACL putting him out for 3-6 months. Batista won that match, and later in the night John Cena made JBL tap out in one-on-one action, and William Regal announced the Triple Threat match for Summerslam.

Chris Jericho the next night flaunted about his win, but it didn’t last long. HBK was unhappy about losing in such a controversial fashion, and Jericho didn’t want a re-match, but eventually gave in, saying he would take on Michaels at Summerslam if he could beat Lance Cade in one-on-one action next week. HBK was going to the ring for his match when he was jumped by Jericho, and thrown off the stage. The following week, it was announced HBK would take on Y2J at Summerslam in a No Holds Barred match, but Shawn couldn’t compete until then. Jericho took advantage of this situation, and in the weeks building up to the PPV, Y2J tried to goad Michaels into a wrestling match. HBK constantly refused, until the Raw before Summerslam HBK was invited to a special Highlight Reel, and Chris Jericho couldn’t touch Shawn Michaels otherwise he would be fired. Shawn obliged, and was attacked by Lance Cade. Jericho spat on HBK before leaving, setting up the climax for the most personal rivalry in the WWE at Summerslam.

Kofi Kingston and Paul Burchill were two young guys who writers felt both deserved a push. Burchill attacked Kingston two weeks in a row after title defences, before finally getting a one-on-one match with him the night after GAB. The match was a disaster though, a lot of missed spots and what not, the WWE continued on with the feud, Paul getting the win and getting himself a one-on-one Intercontinental Championship match at Summerslam. Kofi was constantly getting blindsided by Burchill, and the fans seemed to get sick of it, but writers persisted with the sneak attacks, until the last Raw before Summerslam where Kofi pinned Burchill in a mixed tag team match.

The Womens Division on Raw was thin and drawing low ratings, and the WWE decided to give Katie Lea a re-match with the champion Mickie James. Lea beat Mickie in one-on-one action, before the following week her and her brother Paul attacked James backstage. Mickie won a mixed tag with Kofi the Raw before SS.

Although he didn’t get a PPV match, Kane brutalised other superstars, wondering if ‘He’ was alive or dead. Kane announced at Summerslam we would find out who ‘He’ was

-----------------

Raw News and Notes

-After Rey and Punk were injured, Batista was getting a lot of backstage heat. Both the injuries were actually hardly his fault and more freak accidents, but everyone was searching for a scapegoat for Raws low ratings, and that scapegoat was Big Dave. Batista requested a release due to mental trauma and stress, which he was granted after Summerslam-

-Another scapegoat was womens wrestling. Vince was also searching for a scapegoat, but was in the wrong frame of mind, mentally unstable to see his families creation crumbling. He turned to drugs, and got into a devastating heroin addiction. Vince made a drastic, and foolish decision, abolishing the womens division of Raw, SD! and ECW after Summerslam, and firing every female wrestler except for backstage interviewers and valets. The WWE had a sexism law suit filed against them and lost millions in liability-

-People were tuning out during segments involving both Jericho and Burchill/Kingston, as the WWE were repeating the same moves week after week, until HBK was thrown off the stage. This let to poor selling of the PPV on Raws part, as all of their matches were perceived to be a let-down-

-The repetitiveness of the Burchill/Kofi and Katie Lea/Mickie feuds were slowly becoming a trademark for the WWE. With Vince constantly missing from production meetings and writers squabbling, they decided just to go slow and steady, something which Vince decided needed to change and something that would affect the WWE drastically in the coming weeks-

Raw Ratings

Week 1: 2.9
Week 2: 2.74
Week 3: 2.66
Week 4: 2.74

-------

Summerslam Background
ECW

ECW continued there new talent initiative, pushing Evan Bourne, Eddie Colon, Ricky Ortiz and Braden Walker. The only major feud was Mark Henry and Tommy Dreamer, which led to VERY low ratings. Henry squashed Delaney and Dreamer week after week, and Dreamer was given one last shot at the ECW Championship at Summerslam, and if he lost he would be fired from ECW.

ECW Ratings

Week 1: 0.9
Week 2: 0.83
Week 3: 0.85
Week 4: 0.77

------------

Summerslam Background
Smackdown!

After the Great American Bash, Undertaker made his much anticipated return to Smackdown! ‘Taker faced Edge for the right to face Triple H for the WWE Championship at Summerslam. After the match, Vickie announced a Special Guest Referee, none other than the Rated R Superstar, Edge! Undertaker delivered a tombstone to Vickie afterwards, and she was unfit to go through with the wedding on Smackdown! The following week, Triple H and Undertaker were forced to team against Kurt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, Edge and Chavo Guerrero. Edge won after a spear, going over Triple H cleanly. After the match, The Rated R Army bloodied the Deadman and The Game, to the extent many people tuned out. The WWE thought that an attack like that would incite ratings, but many people tuned out. For the following weeks, Undertaker and Triple H respectively took on hand-picked opponents by Edge to ‘test’ them. This also backfired, with the matches not living up to standards of a Main Event. At the end of Smackdown before Summerslam, Edge stood tall, spearing both Undertaker and Triple H after Triple H beat Mr. Kennedy.

After losing to Mr. Kennedy at the Great American Bash, MVP tried to get some more wins coming in. He took on Big Show but lost. Porter was incensed and attacked the Big Show afterwards, before on WWE.com the Summerslam match was announced. Porter had Show on the VIP Lounge the next week, where he was chokeslammed over the top rope. MVP next week cited Big Show had injured him, and paid to have a private security force with him. Fans hated this move, as Porter would come to the ring surrounded by his security force and not really get into his matches, as apparently he had a clause which allowed his security to not get disqualified, which confused many WWE fans.

Also, the Fin-Swoggle/Mizorrison feud continued, to many fans dismay. Hornswoggle and Finlay got two more wins over the tag team champions, before they were granted a shot at the championships at Summerslam. Miz was hit with water balloons while Finlay poured painted on Morrison before Summerslam, leaving a bad taste in EVERYONE’S mouth

-----------

Smackdown! News and Notes

-The MVP/Show rivalry was supposed to be something to help get MVP over, but the inclusion of the security force dragged down ratings. Generally, segments with Fin-Swoggle and Mizorrison dropped even more, but the writers had no direction, so they continued-

-Also, people began to get sick of Edge and Vickie constantly putting Triple H and Undertaker in awful matches week after week, getting frustrated that they couldn’t get top quality entertainment, instead they got Zack Ryder VS Triple H or Chavo Guerrero VS Undertaker-

-Vince used Matt Hardy as a scapegoat, as he used Batista. Vince felt Hardy was boring and generic, and in an attempt to boost ratings made Matt lose a ‘Loser Gets Fired’ match for the United States Championship against Shelton Benjamin on ECW. This left a sour taste in many fans mouth, and they voiced it at many shows, chanting ‘We Want Matt’ at both SD! and ECW, but Vince refused o back out of his decision, and the back corners he was taking sped up his downhill spiral-

Smackdown Ratings

Week 1: 2.73
Week 2: 2.76
Week 3: 2.65
Week 4: 2.51

----------------

Summerslam

World Heavyweight Championship
JBL (c) VS John Cena VS Batista
JBL wins by pinfall after Cena hit an FU on Batista and JBL tossed Cena over the top rope, covering the animal for the win

WWE Championship
Special Referee: Edge
Triple H (c) VS Undertaker
This match went to a No Contest when Edge laid out both competitors

No Holds Barred
Chris Jericho VS Shawn Michaels
Chris Jericho won after a Lionsault onto a table set up on the outside

ECW Championship
If Dreamer loses, he’s fired
Tommy Dreamer VS Mark Henry (c)
Tommy Dreamer wins after a Dreamer DDT onto a pile of thumb tacks

Intercontinental Championship
Paul Burchill VS Kofi Kingston (c)
Kofi Kingston wins by DQ after Paul Burchill hit Kofi with the championship belt

Women’s Championship
Mickie James (c) VS Katie Lea
Mickie James wins by pinfall after a Mick Kick

MVP VS Big Show
MVP wins by pinfall after a Playmaker

WWE Tag Team Championship
Finlay & Hornswoggle VS Miz & Morrison (c)
Finlay & Hornswoggle win by pinfall after a Celtic Cross/Tadpole Splash

--------------

Summerslam News and Notes

-The fans were very pissed off after they were robbed of a legendary championship match between Triple H and Undertaker, two of the greats of all time. After the match, Triple H went backstage and blame Vince for what was happening to the company. Vince didn’t take kindly to this, and due to his mental instability and since he was on heroin at the time, fired Triple H right there on the spot. This was a shock to everyone involved, and nobody was going to tell Vince he was wrong, fearing for their own jobs-

-Many backstage, Finlay included surprisingly, weren’t happy about the tag title situation, giving them to a trainer and a midget. But after what happened with Triple H, nobody dared tell Vince about it, so they went along with it-

-MVP/Show and Dreamer/Henry failed to deliver, dragging the whole show down. Nobody was happy about JBL going over, as they expected Cena to get the strap and once again carry Raw. The DQ ending to Burchill/Kingston was not well received either, people unhappy that one of the so-called ‘Big 4’ was possibly the worst PPV of the year (to come). The MOTN would have been Jericho/Michaels, but that was brought down by constant Lance Cade interference-

Coming up next
Part 2 of 3
Hulkamania is running backwards​

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

The HHH firing was done pretty smartly, as you had to find someway to do it. This PPV analysis looks awesome, as you truly break down how WWE fell apart well.

 

[Moonlight Drive]

Past PPV Analysis
Part 2 of 3
Hulkamania is running backwards

-----------------

Unforgiven Background
Raw

The night after Summerslam, Vince made what would turn out to be a monumental mistake. Signing Hulk Hogan to a 30 million dollar 6 month contract. Hogan made his debut on Raw, which initially got a big response, but viewers tuned out during his first match, a victory over John Cena, which made him No. 1 Contender for the WWE Championship. The following week, in what will probably rank as one of the worst Raw Main Events in history, Hogan beat JBL by DQ for the championship, setting up Hogan/Bradshaw at Unforgiven for the WWE Championship.

At Summerslam, we found out who ‘He’ was. And much to everyone’s chagrin, it was the Imposter Kane, who wasn’t dead. Imposter Kane laid out the real Kane on Raw week after week, to the fans horror and boredom, before the two would settle the feud with an Inferno match at Unforgiven, fans confused whether Kane was a face or a heel, as he seemingly changed week after week.

Many people thought that the Michaels/Jericho, no matter how great it was, was ended at Summerslam. But the WWE writers still had no direction since Vince hardly ever showed up anymore, and when he did he was under the influence of heroin and making drastic decisions, like firing Triple H and hiring Hogan, so they decided to extend the feud to Unforgiven. The night after Summerslam, Shawn Michaels was brutally assaulted by Lance Cade, leading to a one-on-one match the following week. The match ended in No Contest when Y2J and Cade assaulted HBK again, only for Cena to make the save. John Cena lost to Chris Jericho, then Lance Cade in consecutive weeks, before Cade and Jericho slammed John Cena through both announcers tables the Raw before Unforgiven.

After the DQ finish at Summerslam, the feud between Kofi Kingston and Paul Burchill continued. After Summerslam, Kofi beat Burchill in a match, only to be floored with the championship belt afterwards. Due to them being from Britain and Jamaica, and the writers strapped for gimmicks they could do without a lot of cost due to Hogans 30 million whole in the budget, they made a Flag on a Pole match for Unforgiven. In a very controversial Raw moment, the final Raw before Summerslam, Burchill set fire to the Jamaican flag, and then set fire to the US flag, stating ‘they’re no better’. Kofi tried to stop it, but he was taken out cold with the British flag.

--------------------

Raw News and Notes

-Another drastic decision made by a troubled Vince was the de-pushing of Cena. He justified his firing of Triple H by saying people didn’t want to see Friday Night Triple H, so he tried to back up that notion for his fragile mind by putting a stop to ‘Monday Night Cena’. John Cena lost 3 straight matches in the weeks leading up to Unforgiven, something unprecedented for John, one being to someone far below his league, Lance Cade-

Hogan’s return to Raw brought in a ratings high compared to past and future weeks, but it dropped straight after that. It was clear Hogan couldn’t go anymore, but nobody dare told Vince that-

Raw Ratings
Week 1: 2.87
Week 2: 2.65
Week 3: 2.66
Week 4: 2.4

-----------------------

Unforgiven Background
ECW

Strange to say, ECW had no background for Unforgiven. The show was stale, especially with Tommy as champion. After some VERY poor shows, ECW was taken off the air after Unforgiven, most superstars either went to developmental or changed brands after Unforgiven, although a few were fired.

------------------

ECW News and Notes

ECW Rating
Week 1: 0.6
Week 2: 0.52
Week 3: 0.49
Week 4: 0.38

-------------------------

Unforgiven Background
Smackdown!

Since Triple H was fired, Smackdown! had no champion. Vickie was still ‘unwell’ (in reality she had been fired) so the new GM was Mick Foley, while Todd Grisham took his place on commentary. Mick announced Edge VS Undertaker for Unforgiven, inside Hell in a Cell, for the WWE Championship. Undertaker took on Edge later in the night, but Edge replaced himself with Chavo Guerrero. They had a No DQ re-match the following week, fans confused why they would give away a PPV Main event on Free TV. The following week, ‘Taker beat Ryder and Hawkins in a Handicap match, before Edge, Shelton Benjamin and Umaga beat ‘Taker, Kennedy and Jeff Hardy the SD before Summerslam. The show ended with Edge spearing the Deadman.

After the GAB, Mr. Kennedy began feuding with Shelton Benjamin for the US Championship. Kennedy got three pinfall victories over the champion, followed by a DQ in a championship match. The following week, Foley announced the United States championship match at Unforgiven, Benjamin VS Kennedy. After weeks of Kennedy VS jobber with Benjamin in commentary, Benjamin, Edge and Umaga beat Kennedy, Taker and Jeff Hardy, thus setting up one of the least heated feuds in the WWE ever.

After there less than great match at Summerslam, many expected and hoped for Show/MVP to be over. But the writers persisted, like they did with Y2J/HBK, making a No DQ match for Unforgiven. The weeks leading up to unforgiven were matches with Big Show taking on the security force of Porter, which lost a lot of ratings.

WWE were once again forced to use a recycled feud, Jeff Hardy VS Umaga. Fans were bored by the feud, there was no mic work, and they’d seen it so many times before. It was basically just Umaga assaulting Jeff for 3 weeks until a 6 man tag match the SD before Unforgiven.

----------------

Smackdown! News and Notes

-MVP didn’t compete in one match from SS to Unforgiven, despite SD! needing some good matches and him being in prime physical health-

-The Big Show VS Security force (AKA OVW superstars) was a big ratings drop, thanks to them being almost complete squashes-

-Kennedy/Benjamin was supposed to be highlighting both of the young guys, but all we got were squash matches (a now SD! regular) with Shelton commentating-

Smackdown! Ratings

Week 1: 2.48
Week 2: 2.34
Week 3: 2.25
Week 4: 2.31

------------------------------

Unforgiven

WWE Championship
Hell in a Cell
Edge VS Undertaker
Edge wins after a spear after Undertaker got slammed through the top of the cell.

World Heavyweight Championship
JBL (c) VS Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan wins after the big boot/leg drop

No DQ
Big Show VS MVP
Big Show wins after a chokeslam through a table

United States Championship
Shelton Benjamin (c) VS Mr. Kennedy
Kennedy wins after he reversed a Reverse STO into a Mic Check

Umaga VS Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy wins by pinfall after a Swanton Bomb

Intercontinental Championship
Flag on a Pole match
Kofi Kingston (c) VS Paul Burchill
Kofi wins by retrieving the Jamaican flag after Burchill tried a Twisted Sister of the top rope and Kofi reversed

John Cena & Shawn Michaels VS Lance Cade & Chris Jericho
Cade & Jericho win after Cena tapped out to the Walls of Jericho

Kane VS Imposter Kane
Went to a No Contest after each man wouldn’t stop brawling

------------------------

Unforgiven News and Notes

-The ending to Kane/Imposter Kane attracted so much heat it wasn’t even remotely funny. After a damn boring 10 minutes, the two trading punches until the bell was rung, then Imposter Kane floored Real Kane with a chokeslam-

-Unforgiven marked a 5th consecutive loss for John Cena, pretty much solidifying his funeral-

-The Flag on a Pole match was pretty much considered intermission, as the whole gimmick was disliked by all in attendance. The crowd were often heard chanting ‘BORING’ ‘TNA CRAP’ and ‘WE WANT WRESTLING’-

-MOTN was definitely HIAC, but there were some missed spots that affected the match. Edge went for a spear on Undertaker on the apron, but when ‘Taker sidestepped, Edge mis judged the jump and totally crunched himself into the cell, getting busted open the hard way. Undertaker did a spot similar to HBK, where he was hanging off the edge of the cell and fell through some double stacked tables, but he slipped and only nipped his upper back on them-

---------------------------

No Mercy Background
Raw

The night after Unforgiven, Vince, who had shown up at a show for the first time in 2 and a half weeks, decided their would be a draft on Raw the next night, and he would pick the superstars changing (which not many people were happy about). The results were

Evan Bourne (Re-named Matt Sydal the next week) to Raw
MVP to Raw
Kane to Smackdown!
Shelton Benjamin to Raw
Boogeyman to Smackdown!
Jim Ross to Raw
Michael Cole to Smackdown!
Rey Mysterio to Smackdown!
Carlito to Raw
Hulk Hogan to Smackdown!
Big Show to Raw
Chris Jericho to Smackdown!
John Cena to Smackdown!

The draft wasn’t too well received, especially Hogan’s move, this time leaving Raw without a champion. Earlier in the night, JBL had been promised a re-match, which was booked for No Mercy. There were only promos from Smackdown! to Raw, leading to another repetitive, boring feud as no man actually appeared on the others show

Shelton Benjamin and the Big Show were two of Raw’s new draft picks, and they were soon pitted against each other after the Gold Standard called Big Show out. They took each other to a Double Countout the following week, before the match was booked for No Mercy

The week after the draft, MVP beat Matt Sydal to become No. 1 Contender to Kofi Kingston’s Intercontinental Championship. After Kingston beat Lane Cade the next week, MVP hit him with a sneak attack from behind and challenged the Jamaican Sensation for a match at No Mercy. Kofi attacked MVP after his match the next week and accepted, the Intercontinental Championship finally on the line.

----------------------

Raw News and Notes

-People were unhappy about Hogans move to Smackdown! as they already had the ‘tangled championships’ angle at Night of Champions-

-SD! appeared to come off best in the draft, picking up the World Champion, Chris Jericho and John Cena among others, but SD! ratings continued drop despite these changes-

-The commentary change wasn’t liked, because the fans were just getting used to JR and Cole on their respective shows-

Raw Ratings
Week 1: 2.44
Week 2: 2.37
Week 3: 2.25
Week 4: 2.23

---------------------------------

No Mercy Background
Smackdown!

After Unforgiven, Hulk Hogan made his first Smackdown! appearance, and was immeadiately place in a title VS title match against Edge. In an average match, Undertaker interfered and caused a Double DQ, causing Mick Foley to make another Triple Threat title match at No Mercy. Hulk Hogan took on Undertaker the next week with a win, then beat Edge. The week before No Mercy, there was a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight championship, which Hogan also won. The final week before NM, Edge hosted the Cutting Edge with Hogan and ‘Taker-and ended up getting a chokeslam/leg drop combo for his efforts. Undertaker then tombstoned the Hulkster, who had yet to lose on Smackdown!

Sadly, the Kane/Imposter Kane feud continued. Kane would dominate matches against jobbers, and Imposter Kane would play mind games. WWE need to realise that’s only awesome when ‘Taker does it. The fans weren’t into Imposter Kane doing stuff like that, and the week before No Mercy, in a very controversial moment, Kane set fire to an Imposter Kane effigy.

Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho both came to SD! in the draft. Their first show together, Jericho almost tore one of the tendons in Rey’s knee when he wouldn’t release the Walls of Jericho. The following week, Rey Mysterio cost Jericho a match against Jeff Hardy, with the winner facing Mr. Kennedy at No Mercy for the United States Championship. The match was announced on WWE.com, the final SD! before No Mercy Jericho once again brutally attacked Rey’s knee, leaving the ring as EMT’s attended to Mysterio.

At the Draft, Big Show injured Shelton Benjamin with a botched big boot that separated his shoulder. WWE turned this into a storyline and Benjamin challenged Show to a match at No Mercy. There were no physical confrontations between the two, just Show winning matches and Benjamin cutting promos on SD! Let’s just say the feud didn’t go over too well

To continue the burial of Cena, he was put in a program with Umaga. Umaga destroyed Cena on his first week on Smackdown! and the Samoan Bulldozer came out week after week after Cena’s matches and obliterated him. Another repetitive feud from the WWE

Finally, probably the best feud on SD! was Mr. Kennedy VS Jeff Hardy. Jeff won a No. 1 Contenders match against Chris Jericho and the two put on a Smackdown! classic the next week. The match was added to No Mercy and was one of the only things done right on Smackdown! and all of WWE for that matter

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Smackdown! News and Notes

-People were unhappy hulk Hogan didn’t lose a match the entire time he was on Smackdown! despite Edge and Undertaker both competing much better than him-

-The Kane/Impostor Kane feud was considered a huge yawn, same with Show/Benjamin. Kennedy/Hardy came off well, but fans got sick of the repetitiveness of Cena/Umaga, Kane/Kane and Show/Benjamin-

Smackdown! Ratings

Week 1: 2.35
Week 2: 2.26
Week 3: 2.19
Week 4: 2.2

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No Mercy

WWE Championship
World Heavyweight Champion, Hulk Hogan VS Edge (c) VS Undertaker
Hulk Hogan wins after a big boot/leg drop combo on Edge

World Heavyweight Championship
Hulk Hogan (c) VS JBL
Hulk Hogan wins after a big boot/leg drop combo

Shelton Benjamin VS Big Show
Big Show wins after a chokeslam

Intercontinental Championship
MVP VS Kofi Kingston (c)
Kofi Kingston wins after he reversed the Playmaker into a roll-up

Inferno
Kane VS Impostor Kane
Kane wins after setting the Impostor on fire

Rey Mysterio VS Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho wins after he made Rey tap out to the Walls of Jericho

United States Championship
Mr. Kennedy (c) VS Jeff Hardy
Mr. Kennedy wins after a Mic Check

John Cena VS Umaga
Umaga wins after a Samoan Spike
John Cena re-tore his pectoral muscle in this match, and will be out for 3-6 months

--------------------------

No Mercy News and Notes

-Rey wasn’t at full health, and you could tell. Rey once again took 2 months off due to leg problems, but would return to the ring at survivor series. His injured knee brought his match with Jericho down-

-Kennedy/Hardy was only given roughly 8 minutes, despite being the best build match on the card-

-The MoTN was MVP/Kingston-

-Hogan was visibly tired after his first match with JBL, and it was EXTREMELY unrealistic he could win in the WWE Championship match. But he did, and the downward spiral continued-

-This was the first PPV Vince had missed, his heroin habit become increasingly dangerous. But someone would stand up and take care of it soon...

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Coming up next
Part 3 of 3
Back from the brink​

 

[seX-Power]

Wow, this was a really good idea and I am really interested. I am glad BKB convinced you to write this and am really impressed on how you have planned this. Reading this I am actually kinda scared for the future of the WWE, as it may turn out like this.

I like how you made really bad decisions like giving Hulk two titles, it really made me feel that the WWE was fallling apart, and it makes me very excited for your shows themselves. Cant wait. 4 1/2 star preview.

BTW, if the WWE ever want to plan their demise, they'll call you lol.