01/21/2008
Show Place Arena
Upper Marlboro, MD
Show starts with Justin Roberts asking us to rise for the playing of the national anthem. He brings out Teddy Long who says that he is running the show since Vickie Guerrero isn't here tonight. Announces the card.
Opener:
Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore vs. The Miz/John Morrison
Morrison and Miz out first and they run down the crowd. Match starts slow with Jimmy and Morrison. Big 'You Suck' chants at Miz/Morrison. Morrison does a lot of taunting and Rick Rude like gyrations. They do a spot where Morrison gets his face in Miz's crotch in the corner. Yang takes the mic and says "It looks like you really do suck!". Finish sees Morrison distract the ref while Jimmy hits a moonsault on Miz and pins him. Then Miz rolls him up with the tights for the 3 .Very solid match.
Kofi Kingston vs. Elijah Burke
Kingston has a LOT of promise and he has a great look to him. Elijah mimics him and taunts him in the beginning and then the match was pretty fast paced after that with both guys getting offense. Finish comes with Kofi countering the Elijah Express with a nice looking kick for the 3.
Kelly Kelly vs. Victoria
Victoria carries the match but Kelly looks decent. Kelly wins with a small package of some sort.
Tommy Dreamer vs. Big Daddy V
Pretty poor match with V picking up the win after his elbow drop. Tommy got in a bit of offense and even got a near fall after he hit his DDT. They also did a spot where V splashed Matt Striker in the corner by accident. Tommy sold pretty well after the match.
CM Punk vs. Shelton Benjamin
Punk was mega over and got the biggest pop of the night (at that point). Pretty good match with back and forth offense and some good near falls. Shelton worked over Punks left leg for most of the match. Punk gets the win after a GTS.
Intermission
Jamie Noble vs. Deuce
Deuce came out alone (no Domino, no Cherry). Jamie Noble played face. Pretty decent match and Noble picks up the win.
Kane vs. Great Khali
Khali is GIGANTIC in person. Kane comes out to get a pop that almost matched Punks. Pretty slow paced match but not that bad. Kane picks up a surprising win with a poor looking chokeslam.
Main Event
Batista vs. Edge
Batista gets the biggest pop of the night for his entrance. Edge draws mega-heat. This guy is fantastic. He mocked the crowd on the entrance ramp and ripped signs and just played his character to the max. They did about 10 minutes of Edge being too scared to come to the ring and Batista went in the crowd to let Edge get in the ring, etc. Edge ended up getting slammed into the ring from the apron and the match finally got underway. The two had a pretty excellent match and the finish saw Edge walk out and get counted out.
But this wasn't the end since Teddy Long came out to remind us that he was running the show. He said the match will restart and if Edge gets DQed or Counted out then he will lose the title. So the match continued. Edgeheads stormed the ring after a few minutes and distracted the ref while Batista had Edge in the powerbomb position. Edge hit him in the head with the title belt while the ref wasn't looking and scored the 3. After the match Batista cleaned house with a double spear to the Edgeheads and a Batista Bomb to Edge.
Batista then walked around ringside and high-fived fans for a good 10-15 minutes. He also got on the mic and said some shtick about how we should stay in school and live our dreams because he is an example of somebody living his dream. That was the end of the night.
Biggest pops:
Batista
CM Punk
Kane
Biggest Heat:
Edge
John Morrison/Miz
Big Daddy V
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