No Way Out live notes and instant reaction

If the Road to Wrestlemania starts at the Royal Rumble, I guess this is the late night car park which we got lock into, just off that road. What with it being called No Way Out and all. We just have to sit back, watch the cars bound for Glory Orlando to drive by, and wait for the attendant to unlock the car park in the morning.

So, since we are going nowhere for a bit, we may as well watch a bit of telly.

01.03am

As usual, we have had the video introduction. And as usual, when the Chamber is involved, it is the most evil structure eve conceived, and nothing could be worse.

That is, of course, until we get to Vengeance, or something, and we have a Hell in a Cell, and the same adjectives are rolled out again. Also, we need to keep an ear out for Michael Cole doing a reference to the chamber being a wild animal or a carnivore or something.

To start with, we are going with the ECW title match. Yeah, that’s an equal brand. Of course it is.

01.10am

Joey Styles does the usual countries run down. That means King won’t do it. Which might mean no Liechtenstein reference tonight. Boo.

Match is ok, by the way.

01.14am

A surprisingly over Chavo wins this one clean, which I’m a little surprised about. I thought that Chavito would be the man to keep the belt here, but I’m surprised at Punk being cleanly pinned, without at least getting a false finish in.

I’m sure the whole world will now say this is because Punk is in the doghouse. That guy should invest in a kennel if those rumours are true every time

01.19am

Backstage, Rey Mysterio is interviewed by Mike A-dumb-guy, who asked Rey about his injury. Rey says it is torn by he will still win. Interesting to see that they have addressed Rey’s injury, and I suspect that may mean that Edge beats him due to the arm breaking down.

Mysterio is interrupted by boxer Floyd Mayweather Jnr, who talks to Rey. Except he didn’t, because both men simply said things at one another, which did not answer the other’s questions. Hard to know the point of the current WBC Welterweight champion turning up. He did shake Rey by the hand. Which ripped his bicep a little more.

01.30am

Khali and Big Daddy V just about fit into the pods, and do so along with MVP and Finlay. It will be Batista and Undertaker to start this off.

Finlay’s music is now the same as Hornswoggle’s.

01.37am

Generic battling by Undertaker and Big Dave, before the countdown starts and the spotlights flicker.
Big Daddy V is next into the match. Despite the spotlight falling on Great Khali. Hmm. Someone will get hell for that.

01.39am

Big Daddy pushes Taker towards the wall of the chamber........and the Deadman falls through the door, falling awkwardly on his arm. I’m fairly sure that was unintentional. This match was always going to be a bit slow anyway, but that’s two (I think) mistakes not halfway through it.

01.43am

Big Daddy V is pinned by Batista before Great Khali’s light shines, and this time the big man is in to a big “You can’t wrestle” chant.

He is soon eliminated thanks to the undead zombie knowing shoot fighting submission holds.

01.46am
Finlay is in now, and this match is far from a classic, but at least they had the good sense to get the two big lumps out the way. But why book them in it in the first place?

01.50am

Coach and Cole describe the glass comprising the cell as ‘bullet-proof’. But not Taker proof, as within 90 seconds of them saying this, Finlay throws Undie straight through it.

01.52am

After a neat spot where Taker was waiting for MVP to enter, so Porter tried not to come out, MVP has completed the line up, and four men remain.

01.57am

We are down to the two who started it, Batista and Undertaker, but two cool spots to eliminate MVP and Finlay have livened the match.

First, Taker did a modified chokeslam from the top of a pod on MVP, getting rid of him, then after Hornswoggle appeared to give Finlay a shillelagh to pound the others, Taker managed to chokeslam him over the rope and onto the grate.

Both men are bleeding, and the crowd are eating up the action. Reactions just for punches right now.

02.04am

Predictable outcome, as Taker wins, but with an amazing counter into the tombstone which description cannot do justice.

That actually turned into quite a nice match, although I found to hard to get emotionally into the match, as I was so sure that Taker would win.

Backstage, Teddy Long bans The Edgeheads from ringside. Next up is Kennedy v Flair.

02.20am

For what it was, a great little match. I would have liked to have seen it go longer, but what there was of it was extremely good. Save for two moments. Firstly, Flair’s ass. Possibly the only man as proud of his ass as Vince McMahon, Ric managed to air his rear to the world on PPV yet again. Secondly, there was a very obviously spot where Kennedy pulled Flair into an inside cradle while the Nature Boy was trying to put on a Figure 4.

But I’m picking. Kennedy broke out the figure 4 round the post, as JR brilliantly called it having been not sued since Bret Hart. And it was fitting that there was a man wearing black tights, who is excellent on the mic, with bleached blonde hair, playing the heel role to the hilt. And that man was Ken Kennedy, not Ric Flair.

I enjoyed this, but I would have liked to have seen Kennedy be the one to end it for Flair at Mania.

02.37am

Edge v Rey was next, and to be fair it was quite poor, but that is understandable. The pace was very slow, considering the combatants, and it seemed that they were simply going through the motions to set up a few spots. Rey looked in genuine discomfort.

02.48am

Well, it’s the Big Show. Paul Wight is here, and he is smiling. I thought for a moment that he was here to annihilate Rey Mysterio, who was still at ringside recovering when Show’s music hit.

And I’d be right. After some generic waffle about winning titles and losing weight, Show grabbed Mysterio and threw him in the ring. He taunted Mayweather, at ringside, and as Show lifted Mysterio in the ring for a chokeslam, Pretty Boy Floyd, brother of Freddie Joe (not really) hit the ring.

It wasn’t quite Austin/Tyson, as the two faced off, but eventually Mayweather landed one on Show, who had bend down to challenge the Welterweight champ, who then scarpered with his entourage. Show gave chase, and was stopped by Shane McMahon. Show was bleeding a ton from his nose. Cool visual

Mayweather v Show at Mania? Surely not...........

Amazing segment, providing it leads somewhere. If Mayweather is involved with Mania, it’s going to draw a ton of publicity. Seriously, if you did not see this, is was played magnificently. Think a combination of Lawrence Taylor and Mike Tyson’s build to Mania.

Interesting that the commentators said nothing after Show began talking. Straight after the segment there was a Wrestlemania vignette, a shot of Jeff Hardy backstage, then it was thrown to the WEF’s Mike Adamle – that’s what he said instead of WWE. My God he is hopeless –who built up Orton v Cena. The Floyd/Show encounter was not mentioned.

02.56am

King did a countries run down. Still no Liechtenstein. L

Oh, and Orton and Cena are in the ring. WWE title match is now. Raw chamber last it seems.

03.17am

Terrific match. Slightly lame ending, but once again totally understandable taking into account where they are trying to take this. Also, this probably explains why it was not on last.

Basically, Orton played his heel role marvellously, although Cena got his usual mix of cheers and boos. (Not to be confused with Ron Simmons, Jake Roberts or Scott Hall. They said “Cheers” too much. And drunk too much booze. And our PPV money is helping [ay for their recovery.)

A very good ‘Cena’ match, if you know what I mean, with the story being that Orton tried to get out of the match but getting Cena counted out, then himself, then Cena again. When he didn’t think he could win it, he slapped the ref who had to throw the match out.

The build of tension was great in this match. In fact, it’s been very good all night. Orton is a terrific heel. They call Batista an animal, but Orton’s actions remind me of a Lioness in a nature documentary, stalking prey and acting the carnivore.

If you are going to book finishes that are not clean, this is basically the way to do it. It made total sense, storyline-wise.

03.28am

The chamber match will begin with Michaels and Jericho. For some reason Lillian introduced some men with weights and some without. Ross said that the Chamber “has been called Satan’s Structure”. Yes, but only by you Jim. The rest of us say “Elimination Chamber” – because that’s its name.

03.35am

Great start to this contest with one blip. Umaga is in as the third man, after a terrific exchange between HBK and Y2J for the opening sequence. Umaga predictably dominates, hitting an amazing double Samoan Drop.

However, he did try to do a modified Bansai Drop on HBK using the steel, but missed by a few inches. Unfortunately for him, the camera was in close up. I think the live audience missed it though.

03.38am

JBL is in, and bizarrely breaks up a double submission that Y2J and HBK have on the man they (Regal) call Yoomanga.

Michaels is bleeding bucketloads, but no-one knows why. They keep showing replays of people beating on Michaels, but its hard to tell when he bladed. But man is he juicing.

03.42am

Triple H in next an on fire from the outset. Jericho and Michaels are bumping like crazy in this one.

JBL is the first one out. Trips was about to pedigree Y2J when JBL hit the clothesline from hell on the game. Jericho interrupts with the Codebreaker. JBL brings a chair in to clean up on everyone in anger at his loss. Hmmm. I thought he might have just done Jericho, to avenge the pin and lead to a Mania date, but he landed everyone, even Umaga. Actually, he didn’t hit Hunter, who was already down. Jericho and Michaels got their hands up, Umaga took an unprotected one. Jericho has now bladed too.

03.44am

Jeff is in last, with only Umaga standing.

03.48am

Umaga in gone. And how. After an ass crash to Jericho through a pod, he sets up Y2J for a spike, but gets hit with Chin music. Y2J hits the Codebreaker, the Triple H with a pedigree. Just to ram it home, Jeff hits a Swanton from the top of a pod. Can’t see him winning now. If he was going to win, he’d have ended with that.

Bodies fall quickly now. Chin music to Jericho and a pin by Hardy gets rid of Chris, and after a twist of fate to Michaels, Hunter throws Hardy away but then pedigrees and pins his DX colleague.

Hardy and Triple H left, and the crowd are pro-Jeff.

03.51am

Oh my. A bloody Hunter is shocked in the ring because Hardy kicked out of a pedigree. Who does he think he is, Ultimate f’n Warrior? Could he do it?

03.53am


Err, no. Its over, and Triple H wins. The chair that was brought in earlier was placed centre of the ring, and Jeff tried the twist of fate on it. Trips countered, sending Jeff back first onto the chair. Pedigree on the steel next, and its over.

Fabulous match. Amazingly booked. And Hardy still looks a million dollars. He has to win the belt after Mania. Has to.

03.55am

End show, and it was an absolute belter. Terrific Pay Per View event, with only really Edge v Rey a letdown, and that was more than understandable.

Two outstandingly good Chambers, booked almost impeccably considering the talent inside, a quality WWE title match with a forgivable DQ ending, and two serviceable matches with Flair/Kennedy and Punk/Chavo.

Two out of two for WWE in 2008 so far. 42 days to Mania............