WWE Summerslam 2009 (Steelbook)

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Summerslam is usually one of the greatest ppvs of the year, at times, it can even be better than Wrestlemania, and is considered as the 2nd Grand Stage after Wrestlemania. This year however didn't quite live up to memory except for 3 amazing matches.Intercontinental Championship - Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph ZigglerThis was an extremely impressive encounter and awesome opener that didn't once drag or have a dull moment. From the get go it kicks into high gear with an amazing moonsault by Rey and what follows is a toe to toe, back and forward style of fast pace, counters and near falls. Very high quality stuff.MATCH RATING 8.5MVP vs. Jack SwaggerPerhaps if this was the opener, it would've been seen differently I don't know, because I always feel the opener's get alot of attention because everyone's hot and ready. Anyway this match was okay, but that was it. I expected more because Swagger proved his ability as ECW champion and MVP was US champion for a year because he was that good. Sadly this was just okay.MATCH RATING 6Unified WWE Tag Team Championship - Chris Jericho/ Big Show vs. Cryme TymeI love JeriShow and I was happy that the tag titles would be defended and that Cryme Tyme were getting there spot. This was alright, but nothing was memorable which isn't a good thing. Luckily the champs retained and continued their impressive duo.MATCH RATING 6Kane vs. Great KhaliThis shouldn't of been on the card, it was a waste of time and it was slow and boring. Kane deserves better, and Khali, no offence, but he can't carry a match. The time of this should have gone to the ECW title match which I'll get to in abit.MATCH RATING 2D-Generation X vs. LegacyNote: The DX entrance is something to check out I tell you now.A very good tag match it what is DX's last run as a team, and Legacy fighting like they really have something to prove. Thinking this was going to be a squash or a DX beating was incorrect, Legacy brought it, but so did DX, making this a tremndous affair.MATCH RATING: 8.5ECW Championship - Christian vs. William RegalThis match was another classic ECW screw job in that it got a lousy 8 seconds adding insult to talented Christian and William Regal. If you watch their Breaking Point match that follows, they proved they could bring it. But Breaking Point is a b ppv, this is an A ppv, this should've been that Breaking Point match. This was an embarrassment. And to think I was surprises ECW got 3rd to last billing on a PPV instead of the usual early match.MATCH RATING: 1WWE Championship - Randy Orton vs. John CenaWhat? Suddenly I was watching Summerslam 2007. Oh no wait this is Summerslam 09 still. So these guys fight again, lets be honest, their 07 match at Summerslam was pretty good, but that was it. These 2 are a stale feud together. Dont get me wrong, their Iron Man Match is a classic, but other than that this feud just doesn't do it for me. This match has its moments but it went on too long especially the ridiculous amount of false endings, and Lillian messing it up on the mic didn't help. I was glad Orton retained but I hope this feud stays clear now.MATCH RATING: 6TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship - Jeff Hardy vs. CM PunkMatch of the Night and Match of the Year contender. This match was both psychological and brutal at the same time, and kept within continuity of the story. What I mean is that it wasn't spot after spot like the other TLC's as much as we love them which had a better flow in my opinion and when something does happen it's more impactful, taking time to take effect for example the superplex onto the ladder, or Jeff missing the splash through the table or Jeff countering into a powerbomb off the ladder. Now the ending is a must see, an OMG moment. Jeff has done it before, but for some reason it just seemed more off a shocker. Perhaps because this is the first time he's done it since the attitude era, but he Swantons off a HUGE ladder onto Punk through the announcer table. When thinking of the height, think Mankind - Hell in a Cell 98. It was unbelievable.MATCH RATING: 9Overall the opening, main event and the DX/ Legacy matches are definatley worth watching. But everything else was very forgetful or dieing to be forgotten about. If I could change things, I'd take away the Kane/ Khali match, put that time towards the ECW match and a bit towards MVP/ Swagger. Shortened the WWE Title match and got rid of most if not all those false endings and gone from there.

This particular SummerSlam is a mixture of outstanding and frustrating. To get the bad stuff out of the way, you can expect to suffer the absolute unbearable. Namely match-ups we've seen before TOO MANY TIMES (Khali/Kane and Cena/Orton), ridiculous, tiresome booking and results which will just want to make you bang your head through the wall.But WHY I recommend the SummerSlam of 2009 is because of three downright excellent matches that will have fans hooked. It's the opener, tag-team and main-event that save the show from being a flop and turn it into a great WWE offering. There's some watchable content on the undercard as well, making this SummerSlam from the Los Angeles Staples Centre a fine one. Just make sure you have that remote handy. You WILL need that SKIP button.Intercontinental Championship MatchRey Mysterio (Champion) vs. Dolph ZigglerYet another IC title classic from Rey's glorious run. After Night of Champions, the supremely talented Ziggler was now over/recognised by the crowd. The result is a high-octane, blistering classic, filled with fluid exchanges and moves Mysterio hasn't used in years. Both men leave it all in the ring and further restore the Intercontinental Title's prestige. Would've preferred the outcome to have gone the other way, but still a mind-blowing opener. (9/10)Jack Swagger vs. MVPAh, how I miss MVP. Bags of personality and skill who could've gone on to be world champion like Swagger (and hopefully not as ill-treated). Nice little interview between the two characters before what is an average, forgettable collision. Decent enough encounter, though. One that's certainly nowhere as bad as some other matches on the show. (6/10)Unified WWE Tag Team Championship MatchChris Jericho & Big Show (Champions) vs. Cryme TymeAgain, the Jericho/Show pairing turned out to be an unlikely, but tremendous success. The heels work a solid defence against the entertaining duo of Cryme Tyme (who I personally felt were worthy enough to hold the belts for just a short time at least), carrying the limited Shad and allowing JTG to make an impression. Hardly spectacular, but actually quite lively here and there. (6/10)Kane vs. Great Khali (w/Ranjin Singh)Oh, lord...This somehow manages to be even worse than the match at WrestleMania 23. Absolute snore-fest. Don't even bother. (2/10)D-Generation X vs. LegacyTriple H and Shawn Michaels reform the D-X band once again. And the result not only works again, it succeeds again. A super entrance precedes a technical gem of a tag team contest. Those expecting a squash will be really surprised and happy to see Rhodes & DiBiase look like a real threat against the legends, taking it to them in impressive style. A true back-and-forth war of attrition that makes Legacy equal to the Game and the Showstopper. An excellent showing all-round. (9/10)ECW Championship MatchChristian (Champion) vs. William Regal (w/Ezekiel Jackson & Vladimir Kozlov)Those who watched ECW on Sci-Fi KNOW that Christian and Regal could tear the house down. WHY they weren't allowed to do so, I simply cannot fathom. Shafting this, yet allowing bouts like Kane/Khali and giving WAY too much time to Cena/Orton was wasteful. Nine seconds plus a beatdown at the end? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........(1/10)WWE Championship MatchRandy Orton (Champion) vs. John CenaTheir title bout at SummerSlam 2007 is one of my favourites; a real rollercoaster ride of fun proportions. THIS SummerSlam tussle? A grossly overbooked, tiring and lacklustre mess! Aside from having already SEEN these two go at it SEVERAL times, the action is average and the bout ends, restarts, ends and restarts OVER-AND-OVER again! You're much better off turning to bouts like SummerSlam 2007, the "I Quit" classic at Breaking Point and the Iron Man Match at Bragging Rights. Let's just pretend THIS ONE never happened. (4/10)Tables, Ladders & Chairs World Heavyweight Championship MatchJeff Hardy (Champion) vs. CM PunkThe feud of 2009, one of the greatest storylines ever on SmackDown television...all led to this excellent main-event. Right at home, Jeff would say goodbye to the WWE Universe with yet another breathtaking TLC display under his belt. The worthy World Champion gelled extremely well with Punk, who likewise cements his main-event status in a twenty-minute high-stakes drama. Both outcome and aftermath are wicked! Match of the night. (9/10)So, do THREE blistering matches make SummerSlam 2009 mandatory? Not really, but it's certainly a terrific show to check out. The WWE and ECW title messes bring the overall grade down, as does the tedious Kane/Khali match. But the TLC Main Event, the D-X/Legacy tag bout and the Intercontinental Title opener are TRULY must-see contests. There's a decent enough undercard too to pad things out.Only one special feature; a Divas battle royal, shown in highlights(!) which make its inclusion rather redundant. So would I recommend this SummerSlam? On the great strength of Hardy/Punk, D-X/Legacy and Mysterio/Ziggler, YES. Everything else, don't get your hopes up.

summerslam is still regarded by wwe as one of their flagship ppvs and alot of effort goes into trying to achieve and maintain that belief,summerslam 2009 had some tasty encounters but i cant call the event perfect.The event opened with a match between the intercontiental champ rey mysterio as he defended it against one of 2009s shining lights in dolph ziggler.This was a very skilled,fast,momentum changing,toe to toe match that warmed up the crowd brilliantly and set a stamp on the evening.A match between mvp and jackie swagger was up next,the two lads were engaged in a feud on raw that didnt raise pulses and this match wasnt that special either,since mvp turned face he hasnt been as effective and jack swagger hasnt been given a fair rub of the green after being a pretty dominant champ in ecw,being pulled out of a match at mania 25 due to being too green for vince and i wonder still whether swagger will get his chance in wwe which for me,he deserves.A tag match for the unified tag team titles was up next as jerishow defended them against cryme tyme,cryme tyme are a team that flatter to decieve at times,jtg is alot better than his larger companion and i have never really seen them impress consistently,this match wasnt that special,it was clear who would win and it was all wrapped up without too much effort.Kane and the great khali was a feud no one wanted to see in the first place and here it was at summerslam,a real crowd killer,dull,full of botches,mistimed moves and lack of quality,a dogs dinner of a match.The newly reformed dx went up against legacy next,perhaps this will be the last of dx as with hornswoggle now with them its all gone too childish,anyway,this match was very good,legacy battled like dogs when people thought they would be fed to the power of dx,a quality match and the second real showing of quality of the night.The ECW championship is often an afterthought for the wwe,however they brought it back and it certainly deserved more respect than the 8 seconds afforded to the champ christian as he went up against william regal,cant rate this match really,a real shock to the system.The WWE championship was contested next as the champ randy orton renewed his rivalry with an all too familiar foe in john cena,this match was ok at first but it overcooked itself with silly and false endings until it sucked the good out of itself,i dont like how this match went at all,thankfully the feud continued and ended alot better than this,brett dibiase anyone??????The evening ended with one of the matches of the year which was a saving grace for sure,the world heavyweight champion jeffrey hardy went up against cm punk in a tlc match and what a beauty it was,it had everything,drama of the highest order,spots that you wouldnt forget if you live to be 100 and much more,a near perfect match from bell to bell,and a great way to end an average pay per view,i think that with only 3 quality matches in 8 that i have to be as fair as i can and say 2.5 stars out of 5,summerfest ,summerslam ,whatever you call it,this wasnt the hottest event of the year.

summerslam 2009i c championshiprey mysterio (c) vs dolph zigglervery good opening contest, ziggler is really establishing himself as a great performer, lots of high risk moves, very good start to the ppvmvp vs jack swaggerthe storyline going into this was abit dull, okish match but would be better received on rawunified tag team championshipjerishow (chris jericho and big show) (c) vs cryme tyme (shad gaspen and jtg)so so match nothing really stood out, better of avoidedkane vs the great khaliboring yawn fest, khali cannot carry a match to safe his life, skipdx (triple h and shawn micheals) vs legacy (cody rhodes and ted dibiase)very good match, dx came out with and impressive enterance, legacy really worked well with two legends, this match was fun to watch and really could of gone either wayecw championshipchristian (c) vs william regalpathetic not even a match, last about 10 seconds, i dont know why the wwe done this because the next month at breaking point these two had a hell of a match, skip and if you need to see a match between these two buy breaking point 2009wwe championshiprandy orton (c) vs john cenafor what started of as a good match quickly went down hill, there was way to many false finishes and restarts that it made this match very hard to watch, i think this may be the worst fight from their rivallery.world heavyweight championship tlc matchjeff hardy (c) vs cm punkvery very good match, this had everything you would want from a TLC match, plenty of broken tables, chair shots etc... fantastic move at the end from jeff doing a swanton bomb off the top of a huge ladder on punk through the announce table, really needs to be seen to be beleived, great moty for suregood event

THE BIGGEST PARTY OF THE SUMMER & ONE OF THE BEST EVER!This was truly an excellent event, with a real bigtime feel, second only to Wrestlemania. The stage was excellent, the choice of venue was excellent( staples centre in la, home of WM21) and the marquee matches had a great build, none more better than the main event. Some real career performances tonight, and one of the most unpredictable WWE championship matches of all time!TLC Match for the World Heavyweight ChampionshipJeff Hardy vs. CM Punk- Kudos for WWE for allowing these two to go last. What a build this match had. Jeff winning the Title against Edge at Extreme Rules, only for Punk to cash in the money in the bank. Jeff regaining at night of champions, and the fantastic heel turn of Punk(my personal favourite heel turn of them all) in which he smashed a microphone over Jeffs head. These two were made for each- Jeff has a history of being a drug addict and living a high risk lifestyle, while CM Punk promotes the straight edge mantra, and degrading Jeff for this. The stage was set, TLC was a great choice of stipulation to end this rivalry, and these two put on a career performance(especially CM Punk) certifying themselves as main event superstars and putting this rivalry up there with the best in 2009. The match started off at a high pace, then after a couple of minutes the spots came, and boy were they great! But what i loved about this is how it wasnt one big spot after another, they were brutal yet moderate spots that didnt feel staged at all. What hurts the rating of this match is the no sell of the spots, or the work on the body parts. It really at times annoyed me and made me reluctantly drop the rating. There were numerous great moments, none better than the unforgettable swanton bomb by Jeff onto Punk on the announcers table off the biggest ladder ive ever seen! Great image. The ending sequence was unpredictable, and i love how Jeff tried to do a Foley by going against medical care and trying to win the match. Great match, would of been a 9.5 but the selling hurts it. Nonetheless this is one of the best matchees of either mans career-9/10WWE Championship MatchRandy Orton vs. John Cena- WOW, this was unpredictable and has recieved mixed reviews. If you watched this live you have no clue what the hell was going to happen, as the match was continuously restarted. The crowd was HOT, the match was borderline great, Orton and Cena both playing off their characters. Orton as usual slowed the match down, but it didnt hurt my entertainment. This match left everyone in complete shock and confusion afterwards, and i love that kind of unpredictablity. Im giving this higher than i should because the stops and what not kept me on the edge of my seat, so this match is more fun the first time than watching it again. I hope WWE dont do this again as it will become annoying but for one night, the overbooking worked wonders for this match, and the actually action was very good from two of the biggest stars in WWE-7.5/10ECW Championship MatchChristian vs. William Regal- LOL! This is funny, im giving this a much higher rating than it should because it was so funny how Regal had to be held back before the match, only to lose in just 8seconds! Its like all the big events in WWE has to have one of those quick matches, but why couldnt it be the Khali/Kane match instead of this? This could of been an instant classic( pardon the pun) yet it ended up being a squash-2/10D-Generation X vs. The Legacy- Best tag team match of the year in WWE! No doubt. The DX entrance was one of the best ive seen, but the match itself was great. Great storytelling, Legacy were so good in their role, and while they lost the battle, they ended up looking on the same level as DX, as they pushed DX to the limit. This was HBKs first match since his epic with the Undertaker and he looked like he hadnt lost a beat. The last 5minutes was fantastic unpredictable stuff that would draw anyone into the match. Great action and story telling, and Legacy ended up looking stronger than when they entered-8.5/10The Great Khali vs. Kane-TRASH. This my friends was unbelievably boring. I, and only i, stood by their wrestlemania 23 match, saying it wasnt as bad as people said, but this was BAD, REAL BAD, it put me to sleep almost. Watching it again it wasnt dud but it was still ****, and i would personally PAY for these two to never wrestle again. Atleast they tried at WM, here they seemed too sloppy and unbothered. I am being awfully generous with the rating, soley because i have seen so much more trash thats worse than this, but these two didnt help the event in any way-4/10Unified Tag Team Championship MatchCryme Tyme vs. Chris Jericho & Big Show- One of the two quality tag team matches of the night. Cryme Tyme has really improved when you watch back on them in 2006, Jericho was great as hes always been in his illustrious career, while the Big show was, well the Big show lol. JTG impressed me the most, and Shad was really close aswel, putting on a performance that put their careers back on the map. They lost here and it seems they will never win the Tag belts, but all 4 men ( even Big show) can be proud of their efforts here. Shads physcological and transitional work was fantastic, from using his strengths to his advantage against Jericho, while trying to combat Show with speed. The punch in the end was strong, just like the match-7.5/10Jack Swagger vs. MVP- The pre match promo from these two was superb, they made me pay interest to a match i had no real feel for. But just like the majority of young superstars in the WWE, they were unable to tell the story in the ring. They need to watch a HBK or Bret hart match. A match that should of been a brawl ended up being a very good wreslting match that didnt acomplish the goal of telling the hatred these two men had. The match itself was good, could of been better, but i ended up being disapointed after being pumped up by the promo-7/10Intercontinental Championship MatchRey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler- EXCELLENT OPENER! Rey has been phenomonal in 2009, putting on great matches with Jericho, Morrison and now Ziggler. Another of the many career performances in this match, as Ziggler introduced himself to the world with a fantastic performance with great body work, while Rey pulled off spots that not too many in the world can do without being tedious. What seperates him from other high flyers is that he knows exactly when to hit the spots, and not make it repetitive, and telling a story in the progress. Its good Ziggler didnt win, as he wasnt completely ready, and the fans loved this match. This year has really re-established the intercontinental championship which many thought would be buried when rey beat jbl at WM25-8.5/10This event was one of the top 3 WWE events this year along with No way out and Backlash. This was a truly epic Summerslam that felt pretty close to a WM. The event was really the coming party for many new superstars- MVP, Swagger, Cryme Tyme, Ziggler, Legacy and CM Punk. The event had MOTY candidates, unforgettable moments and matches, and one of the most unpredictable matches ive ever seen. Only extra is a divas battle royal, which i havent seen. If it was for two matches, this would of been a 5star event. For what it was it was THE BIGGEST PARTY OF THE SUMMER! GET THIS ASAP

2001's Summerslam had great matches like Jericho vs Rhyno, Jeff Hardy vs RVD, Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle and The Rock vs Booker T. The Invasion storyline may not be good but a lot of the matches were great and this PPV shows it.