WWE Bragging Rights 2009

WWE Bragging Rights 2009

Pittsburgh, PA - October 2009

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE Champion was Randy Orton, the World Heavyweight Champion was The Undertaker, and the Unified Tag Team Champions were Chris Jericho and the Big Show. The Women's Champion was Michelle McCool, while the Divas Championship was held by Melina. The United States Championship was held by The Miz, while the Intercontinental Championship was held by his former tag partner, John Morrison. Finally, the ECW Heavyweight Championship was held by Christian. 
WWE Bragging Rights 09' begins with a video package highlighting each brand and its own superstars before we get United States Champion The Miz (representing RAW) taking on his former partner Intercontinental Champion John Morrison. I thought The Miz already had his "I Came To Play" theme, but he was still rocking the unfitting thrash entrance song at this point. The build for this match featured multiple allusions to each guy wanting to prove they were the "Shawn Michaels" of the pair while the other was the "Marty Jannetty," which helps explain the "Mizzy Jannetty" sign in the front row. While The Miz still had some holes in his game, this match features some very, very good moments as these two had considerable chemistry and weren't afraid to put the boots to each other. The crowd bites on the nearfalls and react to the big spots and, at one point, there's even a very brief-but-audible "This is Awesome" chant. While I wouldn't go that far, this match definitely has me thinking that The Miz's in-ring work was more underrated than I thought back then. The finish is a bit out-of-nowhere, but that's not a bad thing as its clean without being super decisive. (3/5)

After a short video, R-Truth and Cody Rhodes run into each other backstage and have words. The Big Show arrives and basically chases him off, stating that Team RAW's actions will speak for themselves. 

Back to the ring we go for SmackDown Women's Champion Michelle McCool, Natalya, and Beth Pheonix vs. RAW Divas Champion Melina, Gail Kim, and Kelly Kelly. Kim and Pheonix start things off but they don't get many minutes before McCool comes in. What's immediately noticeable about this match is just how different it is called than a women's wrestling match of today, with many of Jerry Lawler's comments coming off as particularly onerous to my ears. The in-ring work isn't all that different from something you'd get today, though Kelly Kelly definitely would've benefited from some more training based on her work here. Considering she's probably the least capable worker of the whole bunch, its surprising that she was chosen to play the Ricky Morton role (especially considering that Gail Kim was right there). Melina gets the hot tag (no surprise there) and tries to take out all of Team RAW. She rolls up Pheonix, but Nattie distracts the ref. This allows Pheonix to gain control before a melee ensues. Pheonix and Melina seem to botch a spot in the corner before the Glamazon hits her finish to end the match. There was too much screaming in this, but this wasn't too bad for what it was. (2/5)

Backstage, Triple H and Shawn Michaels give a pep talk to their Team RAW teammates. Its not bad until the final minute, when it turns into a weird DX promo and they acknowledge the camera?

The Undertaker's World Heavyweight Championship is on the line next in a Fatal Fourway match against CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, and Batista next. I rewatched a Batista/Kennedy match not too long ago and was pleasantly surprised; Batista might actually be one of the more underrated main eventers of his era considering how much talk there was of his limitations at the time. As soon as the bell rings, Punk attacks Mysterio, which draws the ire of the other three and leads to him getting taken out on the outside. As is very common for these matches, the action is sadly always between just two guys, a trope that has never made sense as guys are left overselling when they should be fresh. That being said, matches like this also give us great moments because guys who might not usually get much time in the ring together and the action never really lets up (for example, CM Punk superplexing Undertaker early only to get hit by a Mysterio splash a split second after). While one would expect Mysterio and Punk to take the majority of bumps, it is remarkable how game Undertaker is to take punishment - not only does he eat a superplex, but he takes a Batista spinebuster like a champ a few minutes later. After taking a knee right to the noggin from Punk, Undertaker finally gets some big offense in by dropping him with a Last Ride, but this is the Deadman at his most human, staggering and selling throughout. Batista ends up delivering a Batista Bomb to the Phenom, but Mysterio breaks up the pin after being AWOL for minutes on end. This leads to dissension between the best friends, Batista pie-facing Mysterio to the floor in retalliation and ending up chokeslammed for his efforts. Taker goes for the cover, but he takes too long to get there and Batista gets a shoulder up. Taker looks to chokeslam him again but Batista counters and they up clotheslining eachother. CM Punk tries to pin both of them but fails and gets tossed back out of the ring by Batista. Mysterio tries a crossbody but gets thrown out of the ring and onto Punk on the outside. Taker then hits Batista with a Tombstone to steal the victory. I was expecting a bit more here as this one felt a little brief - but then again, better to want more of a good thing to have too much of a bad thing. (3.5/5)

After the match, Josh Matthews interviews Mysterio and Batista and, in a very predictable non-swerve, The Animal destroys Rey with a nasty clothesline. While the turn could be seen a mile away, Batista's speech before it is excellent and I like how Rey doesn't immediately get defensive or even all that pissed. Instead, he tells Dave to take it easy, trying to talk him down. Its a turn that, while predictable, doesn't come out of the blue and makes perfect sense in real time. Good stuff. (+1)

Team SmackDown vs. Team RAW is next - the Red Brand repped by Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Big Show, Mark Henry, and Jack Swagger, while the Blue Brand is made up of Kane, Chris Jericho, R-Truth, Matt Hardy, Finlay, Tyson Kidd, and DH Smith. One of the stories coming into this match was that Jericho and Big Show were the WWE Tag Team Champions at the time, but aside from that, the build-up was all about brand supremacy - the same BS that we still get 10 years later. Shawn Michaels plays the face-in-peril for a lengthy stretch early on and its fun to see him mix it up with guys like Finlay and Matt Hardy, guys he never had extended rivalries with. Michaels eventually makes the hot tag to Triple H who destroys the Hart Dynasty but gets shut down by a Kane chokeslam. Kidd makes the cover, but Triple H gets his shoulder up at 2. Jericho comes in and hits a bulldog, but misses on a Lionsault, affording Triple H the chance to tag in Kofi Kingston. At this time, Kingston was tagging regularly with Mark Henry, who had not yet entered his Hall of Pain era, which is one of those things I could've sworn had happened by this point but had not (he wouldn't get the World Heavyweight Title until 2011). Big Show comes in and turns on his team when he has a chance to help launch Kingston onto Jericho and then decks Triple H, giving the Blue Brand the victory. Why didn't Big Show turn earlier and save everyone the trouble? The finish doesn't make a ton of sense, but I still kinda like it as Big Show, hell, nobody in this match should really care all that much about "brand supremacy" when just about everyone's been on both brands at some point or another at this point. Plus, from a storyline perspective, it did help build up two potential rivals for JeriShow in Henry & Kofi and DX. Like the previous match, I also kinda dig that this one didn't run too long. (2.5/5)

Main event time - John Cena vs. Randy Orton in a 1-Hour Anything Goes Ironman Match. The pre-match video package is excellent for this as it really goes through most of their history and makes it clear that this is more than just a WWE Championship match, it is the final clash between two longtime rivals (even though this would not really be prove to be true). Orton was 29 years young at this time, looking a little thinner and smaller than he does now - though that may also be because, today, the average WWE Superstar is smaller than they were 10 years ago. Cena comes out to a generally positive review. While he's considerably more over now, the dueling "Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks" a distant memory, he wasn't nearly as controversial in 09' as he was in 06' and, in some ways, it wasn't unless he was up against "indie darlings" like Punk, Bryan, and Kevin Owens that he really drew much of the crowd's wrath. At the 5 minute mark, Cena locks Orton in an STF and Orton instantly taps - a nice bit of psychology. At the 10 minute mark, the Viper ties it up, playing possum and hitting Cena with an RKO when Cena attempts a 5 Knuckle Shuffle. Orton takes over from there, bashing Cena with a variety of weapons after sending him into the guardrail. Cena gets some color, which is surprising considering that 09' is definitely well within the "PG Era." Despite the blood, Cena rallies around the 16 minute mark - but when he attempts an Attitude Adjustment, Orton counters it into an RKO and both guys are rewarded a pin because they both had an arm over the other. Credit where its due, I'm not sure I'd seen that before in an Iron Man match. Orton tries to spear Cena in the corner, but Cena dodges and Orton hits the post. Cena then positions him on the top rope and hits a Super AA for 3 at the 20 minute mark. At this point, Legacy shows up and puts the boots to Cena during the "rest period." I think some would nitpick them not coming out sooner, but I kinda like the idea of Legacy not showing up until Orton was down and Orton recognizing that the element of surprise would be key and crucial. Orton ties things up after the beatdown, but Kofi KIngston shows up and runs off the Legacy before he can actually take the lead. Cena and Orton brawl their way towards the stage and we get a rigged mini-explosion followed by Orton sending Cena through a lightning grid - a spot that looked significantly cooler and more realistic. Orton covers and Cena is unable to kick out, selling the devastation. Orton then returns to the pyrotechnic table and sets off a number of fireworks - which doesn't quite make sense considering this is the last match of the night (so there shouldn't be all that many fireworks left to set off). By this point, Cena has crawled onto the stage. Orton strikes him with a chair and then Orton, like the maniacal villain he is, attempts to blow him up by setting off a number of fireworks - which Cena rolls away from. It might be the most dastardly, old school cartoon villain thing I've ever seen in wrestling (and I've seen a ton of wrestling). Its also remarkable that this is only halfway through the match as this is definitely the sort of thing that would qualify as a "death blow." As the match continues, there are no moments quite as inspired as this - but there are still some pretty nifty moments, including a hangman DDT from the apron onto the floor that gives Orton the 5-4 lead (after Cena had miraculously tied the match with an inside cradle), Orton trying to stall by putting huge distances between himself and Cena (which would've been an even more clever tactic for the last 5 minutes, rather than the last 20), and Cena mercilessly sending Orton through the timekeeper area. Down by 1, Cena gets a huge pop for giving Orton an Attitude Adjustment through a table to tie things up. Considering Cena had his fair share of boos when he came out, its really amazing how, over the course of this match, he is able to get over as the underdog enough for his comeback to get such a huge response. With 8 minutes left, Cena slides a table into the ring and then has to carry Orton from the wreckage into the ring, a very impressive show of strength that does betray the exhaustion that Cena should be selling. Cena tries to legdrop Orton through the table, but Orton moves and Cena goes crashing through it, the match still tied with just 4 minutes left. With 3 minutes left, Cena inadvertently knocks out the referee and then gets hit with an RKO! Another ref shows up, but Cena somehow kicks out due to the lapse in time. Orton takes out the second ref (Charles Robinson), which is kind of excusable considering that the match should arguably be 6-5. Orton goes for a punt, but Cena dodges and with less than a minute left, Cena locks in the STF! Orton taps as the clock winds down in a very dramatic ending. Overall, this felt like an absolute feud-ender and, for the most part, did actually serve that purpose. Even though they'd square off again on RAW 2 months later and, again, 2 months after that (not sure if these were dark matches or not, but I don't think they were), the fact is, they really didn't wrestle all that many times, 1-on-1, after their 2009 series. Still, like most Iron Man Matches, it is almost impossible to recommend devoting 60 minutes of your life to this one match. Its not necessarily slow at any point, there are some genuinely awesome moments, and while it throws realism out the window within the first 10 minutes, the story of the match makes relative sense and builds well. But 60 minutes is 60 minutes and a match has to be near flawless to feel like a "must watch" - which is my number one criteria for a 4-star match. (3.5/5)


I wasn't expecting to enjoy this show too much, but was pleasantly surprised by what the WWE produced here. The main event was imperfect, but very, very good - especially considering the stipulation, which demands a lot from the viewer. The Team SmackDown/Team RAW match was also better than I though it would be going in. While it lacked the crazy multi-man spots and finisher-spamming sequences that these matches are now practically guaranteed to have, we still got some interesting exchanges and, maybe best of all, the match didn't overstay its welcome or serve as just the lame "DX spotlight" that I feared it would be. The Fatal Fourway for the World Heavyweight Championship was also surprisingly brief and also quite good from beginning to end, capped off by a great heel turn out of Batista. The opener and the womens' match weren't anything too special, but didn't detract from the show either. With a Kwang Score of 3.10-out-of-5, Bragging Rights 2009 is actually one of the better main roster shows I've seen in quite awhile and not a bad way to spend a few hours if you're feeling nostalgic for this era. It certainly won't be everyone, but in my eyes, its aged better than I thought it would and kept me mostly engaged.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand