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Break ground happened!

There are pictures up at http://www.wwe.com showing Big Show’s eye Monday morning. It’s pretty rough to look at, as it’s swollen beyond belief. Show is pretty much my favorite big-man worker in the business, sans the Undertaker, and is a better wrestler than any legit seven-footer I’ve ever seen.

I was watching the show, and the injury was obvious as soon as it happened. Orton went for an RKO, which Triple H countered by tossing Orton over the top. What went wrong, it seems, is that there were overturned steps outside the ring where Trips tossed Orton. Seeing the steps, Orton seemed to adjust a bit, getting his right foot caught on the top rope. Because of this, he fell straight to the floor, landing on his shoulder. Trips rolled outside, at which point he recognized the injury and abruptly rushed the finish of the match.

The crowd gave Orton a standing ovation after he finally got to his feet, but in classic heel fashion, he cursed the crowd before going backstage for what could be the last time for a long while. No word on how long he’ll be out, but I would think it’s somewhere in the four-to-six-month range.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Regal, as he was enjoying the most significant on-screen role of his career, and this all but guarantees he’ll never get another sustained push. This explains the seemingly odd choice of removing him from Raw after a match with Kennedy this week.

As a fan of the performer, I just hope he hasn’t fallen back on the addictions that nearly cost him so much 10 years ago.

ECW On Sci-Fi (To Air Tonight at 10 PM)

The Undertaker b. Batista
They give this some time. Undertaker dominates early and the action eventually spills to the outside. On the outside, Undertaker throws Batista into the ring stairs. Undertaker gives a leg drop to Batista off the apron. Both try finishers but miss. Undertaker ends up hitting a chokeslam for a two count. Batista a spear for a two count. Undertaker puts the steps in the ring. Undertaker goes for the Tombstone but Batista counters with a spear. Batista goes for the Batista Bomb but Shawn Michaels comes out. He gives him a superkick. Undertaker ends up getting the win.

Overall, sounds like a pretty good show. Batista-Taker is being hyped pretty heavily by most of the reports I’ve read, so it should be another in a long line of great matches between the two. Edge-Punk was good the first time (several months back), so hopefully this one lives up to the hype.

On first watch, and live, Money in the Bank IV seemed like the best one yet. John Morrison absolutely stole the show with sick spot after sick spot. Shelton brought it, as he always does, and this was really the first year where EVERYONE in the match had a cool, innovative spot. The right guy (CM Punk) went over, and Matt Hardy’s pop was ungodly. Since I’ve always liked him 1,000,000,000 times more than his overrated spot monkey of a brother, this bodes well. ****

Batista-Umaga was the worst match of the night besides Bunnymania. Crowd was into Batista until the match started, at which point we started a “Youmanga” chant that caught on in the stands. Horrid match with a botched finish. *1/2

Kane over Chavo shocked everyone with how quick it was, though my bud couldn’t stop laughing afterwards. No rating. Oh, and Chavo got no reaction.

The whole day was Flair’s. From the moment we got to Fan Access, everything just had an epic feel to it. The most commonly seen shirts were of Flair (also a lot of Cena, Triple H, DX, Kennedy, Hogan, Austin and, of all things, Bret Hart shirts). As for the match itself, while I don’t think highly of Flair’s work these days ... it was awesome. He brought it again for the first time in a non-gimmick match since the Triple H RAW match, but the showstopper was, as usual, HBK. Michaels absolutely busted his ass to make Flair look like a million bucks and still credible. The drama and storytelling were just unbelievably well done, especially from HBK. The pained look on his face throughout the match every time he was close to finishing was just the latest example of why he is the greatest drama man in wrestling ... maybe ever. ***1/2-**** on first viewing.

Bunnymania was terrible. Crowd was dead, wrestling sucked, Snoop got the biggest pop. -*

The triple threat match was good, but far from great. Felt a lot like the Angle-Orton-Mysterio match, actually, in that it was rushed. Some really cool spots, though, and a sick finish. Right guy went over, too. Orton is the man. ***1/4

Edge/Undertaker was impressive. The crowd was kinda dead at the start (largely, I suspect, because the finish wasn’t in doubt and no one watches Smackdown). But these two pros went out and got the crowd on the edge of its seats, working a damn fine pro wrestling match. Nothing overly fancy here (outside the usual awesome Taker plancha, which is even more impressive live), just outstanding pro wrestling. I had no problem with the gogoplata submission finish, nor did the live crowd. The finish makes Edge look GREAT, as Taker was still nearly out after the match ended. ****1/4-****1/2.

Overall, I enjoyed the hell out of the show, and I hope to God I get to go back to Mania some day. This whole weekend has been crazy, and I need to catch some sleep. More on the best wrestling weekend of my life later this week.

To be honest, I’m looking forward to tonight’s Ring of Honor show almost as much as ‘Mania itself. For those who may not know, ROH is a tremendous independent wrestling promotion based out of Pennsylvania, and it provides, generally, the best in-ring wrestling action in North America. My next post will feature the results of the show, reviews of the matches, and all the pre-WrestleMania dirt you can handle.