WWE: No Way Out 2009

So we open with the WWE title Elimination chamber, which surprises me. I mean, I thought it would be a good idea for them the spread out the chamber matches across the show, but given the line ups, I was convinced they'd finish with this one. When did Triple H, Edge and Taker last curtain-jerk a PPV? (Yes, I know the answer). Thank God they only booked five matches - fifteen minutes in, and we still haven't had the first bell.

So Edge's early elimination is a slightly surprising booking twist. The first twenty minutes is fairly slow - not bad, just not particularly interesting. The Kozlov-Show oneupmanship is nicely done - Show in particular sells the fact he can't take his eyes of the other big guy, even when they are both targeting Hardy. The pace picks up after Taker enters, and the eliminations follow in exactly the way you'd expect - Kozlov first (he's basically Umaga at this point), then Show, who as ever requires everyone to work together to beat him, then Hardy, who I assume is moving on to properly feud with his brother. The final stretch after Show's elimination is very heated, but does start to go on too long - I just don't see a drawn out Trips-Taker final battle with all the finisher kickout trimmings is necessary at this point, when a singles match between the two can't be too far away. Anyway, a solid effort all around.

By the way, I'm really not that much of a fan of elimination chambers. Firstly, I find them far too gimmicky. Firstly, why the pods? Why the gameshow "randomised" entry? For all that metal, I don't think the structure is anymore deadly than a normal cage. Plus, the the announcers feel the need to overhype how brutal the match is, which is never matched by what's happening in the ring. JR calls it "Satan's vacation home in Hell". This raises a number of issues, not least of which is why is Satan holidaying in Hell?

OK, Orton vs. McMahon, no DQ. What are the odds at this point of Stephanie turning on her family and siding with Legacy? This is your expected WWE sport-entertainment McMahon brawl - heavy on spots, bumps, blood, weapons and run-ins. They really have done everything to make Shane look like a threat rather than a, you know, non-wrestler. Randy takes an unprotected shot with the monitor that was pretty sick. Shane takes out both of Simply Priceless, and kicks out of more stuff than most people would. I can't decide whether I like this. On one level, it's a bit of an ego thing for Shane. However, if Randy, next world champion, is going to have a reasonably long match, you want to believe that his opponent is actually on the same level. Either way, no complaints about Randy's performance here - looks killer on offense, sells like a king.

Finlay and Swagger have, unusually for this card, a professional wrestling match, so obviously the crowd don't care. In fairness this wasn't a patch on the first two on Sci-Fi, but they were hindered by less time and some angle involving Hornswaggle accidentally distracting Finlay (but actually not). Would it really hurt to take ten minutes off the first match, and give these guys a chance, especially when you are building up a new guy? Here's a reason for loving Finlay - with an injured arm, he puts his knee in Swagger's face when going for pin instead. Wonderful attention to detail.

The Michaels-JBL match was going along fine. I figured it would be more violent, but it wasn't a major problem. JBL is perfectly reasonable dominating the middle part of this match. I'm assuming there are two Shawn Michaels - the one who goes out there to take a beating, and a second one who participates in the finish. Otherwise, that would make the entire match pointless for the sake of popping the crowd for twenty seconds. That wouldn't be good wrestling at all. And if that were the case, well, it would almost be like Shawn Michaels wasn't good at wrestling any more. Imagine.

The main event was the best match on the card. Plenty of people have pointed out how great Rey is here, and they aren't wrong. He works for six men, bumping, leaping, constantly moving or doing something. It didn't feel like the same Rey who has been coasting along these past two years. He makes Kane and Knox look interesting. Jericho is fine here - I enjoyed him spending a lot of time out the outskirts while Rey does all the work, then sneaking in and hitting about a hundred Codebreakers during the whole match.

Oh, and Edge was in this thing. Cena's elimination was actually shocking, because I'm an idiot and can't work out then when Edge turns up somewhere he's not expected, it's normally because he's going to sneak a title victory. Whatever you say about Cena beating everyone prior to his 2007 injury, he has put over everyone since coming back. The final stretch was properly exciting, as Rey sold all of Edge's pretty weak offense, and almost everyone believes (or wants to believe) that Rey might win. The final pod bump looked amazing, as did the spear. OK, so I liked this, much more than the first one. It's mainly Rey's effort, but it also felt better booked. The final two finisher stretch was better because it's a crowd favourite vs a hated heel. The high spots are better. Even the slower middle part was more interesting, with Rey working working with two guys who has recently feuded with, and making their short exchanges mean something. Everything prior to this was pointing towards an average show, but due to the main event, it ended on a very positive note.