 Match 1: Tommy Dreamer vs. Elijah Burke vs. Kevin Thorn This easily tops anything that happened on Raw last night. Tons of near falls. Everyone had an equal shot, even though most of the heat was on Dreamer. They played up Dreamer wanting to win the title again so badly, so that told you right away how this was going to end. Thorn busted out a vertical neckbreaker (Train Wreck) on Burke for 2. However, later in the match, he went for the Shock Treatment, the horizontal backbreaker, but Dreamer cut him off and hit the Evenflow DDT. Burke's idea of gratitude? Stealing the pinfall by tossing Dreamer out of the ring. Winner: Elijah Burke. Burke & Dreamer advance to next week's final round.CM Punk is backstage, high-fiving tech guys and refs. He runs into his opponent du jour, Matt Striker, along with Big Daddy V. I've a feeling the behemoth will play a role in tonight's main event. Note how Striker positions BDV between himself & Punk. The champ recalls his school days, and reveals that he actually liked it in school even going so far as to teach a couple of the teachers. Striker's not scared, but he should be.
Match 2: Nunzio vs. Mike Knox Gotta figure that Knox is being given a chance to move up the ladder since returning a couple of weeks back. Protracted squash, and they played up the size differential between the combatants. Nunzio made a rally and worked on the legs of Knox with kicks, but the Phoenix native recovered and won with a punt kick (called a bicycle kick). Winner: Mike Knox. Knox looked like he might've legit injured a leg, and sold it briefly after the match.
Match 3: Mike Mizanin (w/Extreme Expose) vs. Silas Young Squashola. You know things are bad when the Extreme Svengali is given a rent-a-jobber to beat up. This is filed under waste of space. Winner: Mike Mizanin. Post-match, Balls Mahoney came out, and again asked Kelly Kelly for a date. She hesitates, and Miz "answers" for her with a mic shot to the head. Tazz questioned the whole chick magnet gimmick during the match. Well, the truth is, he's a Svengali. As such, he needs to be taken down a few points, starting now.
Tonight's opening match is recapped. Backstage, Dreamer & Burke exchange promos on each other, playing the punk cards. Unfortunately for Dreamer, he'll need a miracle to get to No Mercy.
Match 4: CM Punk vs. Matt Striker (w/Big Daddy V)(non-title) Very competitive main event match, probably the last one Striker will have for a long while. He worked on Punk's right hand, stomping and kicking it, even punching it, hoping to weaken the champion to the point where he couldn't use any of his finishers. Unfortunately, this kind of sound thinking only lasts for so long. Punk would indeed come back and put Striker to sleep. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to celebrate, as he was attacked by Big Daddy V post-match, laid out with a clothesline and a Samoan drop. Winner: CM Punk.
|
