Please accept my apologies for the late recap. I was away on travel and then inundated with personal work, so excuses aside this was the soonest I could provide the report. I appreciate your patience – I’ll be “extra on time” this coming Friday.

We open tonight with a recap of Edge’s attack at the hands of Del Rio and Brodus from earlier in the week. Edge is arguing with Teddy Long about the unfairness that he isn’t allowed to retaliate on their chair attack to his elbow and arm. Long has mandated neither of them (Edge or Rio) are to lay a hand on each other until Wrestlemania … on Smackdown anyway. Strange mandate but if he breaks the rule he’s banned from Wrestlemania. Suddenly Teddy is wielding power?! Whatever…

The action from Columbus, OH opens with Rey Mysterio’s introduction. He is set to face CM Punk. What a match—my least favorite vs. my favorite “superstars” facing each other. Considering I’m not an 8-year old boy and I live in Chicago … take a guess at which is which. Any regular reader of SD recaps knows this anyway. Anyhow, it’s not about me. This is a Wrestlemania Rewind match, where Punk was forced to do a job clean last year to Rey and I’m still pissed about it. We get a recap of Punk’s sabotage attack on Orton on Raw last week. Side note, I can’t wait to see what kind of reaction Punk gets on Monday Night Raw in Chicago…I’m biased but I feel Chicago crowds are always some of the best in terms of exuberance and knowledge…plus they’re generally more heel-oriented (per capita) than most other cities. If anyone saw Night of Champions this past Fall, they’ll remember the great pop CM Punk got from the hometown crowd before he delivered a classic promo.

Anyway, that was a total sidebar so back to this match between Punk and Mysterio. I’m going to seriously lose my serenity if Punk has to job out to Rey again though, especially with all his momentum lately. Punk comes out on offense first and reverses a 619 attempt with a knee to Rey’s gut. Rey lands his right kick but misses the reverse springboard dive. Rey has already used 4 of his 5 total moves in the first minute of the match but (around the world head-scissors takedown, springboard off middle rope, 619, and head kick to seated opponent) and missed two of them. All that remains is his little plunge off the top and he can collect his paycheck for the night. Meanwhile, Punk is stomping away at Rey but can barely get a one-count. An Abdominal stretch is applied next by CM Punk, as he digs his elbow sharply between the ribs of Mysterio. Great heel psychology utilized by this subtle touch. Mysterio works his way out and the two trade some chain wrestling techniques until CM is finally pushed outside the ring. Punk manages to get Mysterio into a horsey-back ride position and harshly drops Rey chest-first into the top of the crowd barrier. Back from commercial to see Punk get a nearfall. To quote Booker, ‘right now CM Punk is all over Rey Mysterio’. Rey is getting intermittent offense in but Punk seems to be a step ahead each stage of the match, as he’s using some nice counters. Bouncing off the ropes, Punk lands a flying cross body (interesting) for another two-count and the announcers begin to talk up his frustration. Punk climbs to the top rope and I’m waiting for the imminent disaster to occur. It does in the form of Mysterio dropkicking CM Punk in mid-air. The crowd chants “619” over and over and Rey lands a beautiful reverse springboard off the ring apron onto Punk on the outside ring floor. Suddenly, Cody Rhodes enters the screen and slams Rey into the ring post. His vicious attacks continue and he returns the favor of what Rey did to him weeks ago by exposing a metal knee brace and delivering a running knee to Rey’s face. The obvious decision is a DQ victory for Rey Mysterio so Punk still can’t get over on Rey despite the fact Mysterio lies in pain with his mask half-off.

We go backstage to a dialogue between Edge and Christian. Christian is trying to talk Edge down from his match with Drew McIntyre, saying it’s too risky with WM 27 just around the corner. Edge says he has to do it to show Del Rio that he’s 100%. The match between t he two starts back and forth and Edge’s arm is heavily wrapped. Drew obviously is targeting the arm with various holds and blows to the arm. Other than the arm angle, this match is pretty conventional until Edge manages to lock in his sharpshooter-like submission hold to get Drew to tap out. I’ve really been impressed with Edge’s new moves lately—this boston crab like move for a win, some recent flying body splashes off the top, and some others not totally coming to mind at the moment. And just as I’m saying this he goes to the spear after the bell to lay out McIntyre even more. The Sinister Scotsman become a bit of a jobber, ay?

The next segment is more documentary-style commentary about the Triple-H vs. Undertaker match. Instead of just HBK, this time we get Arn Anderson, JR, Cena, Harley Race, and some others. There’s some hyperbole as AA compares the streak to winning 18 straight Super Bowls (Really? … Really??). Anyway, it’s the same thing we saw on Raw earlier in the week. What no one seems to mention is these two already wrestled about five years ago at Wrestlemania! It’s kind of like with WM 3 when everyone pretended like Hogan and Andre never wrestled and Andre was never body slammed…as we know, they met many times and Hogan slammed him plenty back in the circa 1980-1981 era. Anyhoo…I’m rooting for Triple H.

After Layla defeats Rosa Mendez with a neckbreaker, LayCool gives an annoying promo about Snooki. Using annoying in tandem with this group of twats is just redundant. It’s a shame great wrestlers like Morrison and Ziggler got caught up in this mess. If only they could just face each other 1×1 in even a standard, no stipulation match that would be so much better utilization of the two. Oh well, I’m talking like these decisions are being made by wide folks with common sense and understanding of what true wrestling fans want to see. After the Divas get their two minutes of airtime, we get a replay of The Corre devastating Kane and Big Show last week.

Next up is a good matchup with Kofi Kingston vs. Wade Barrett…for the Intercontinental Championship! Finally Kofi is defending the title and having Barrett win the IC Title would be a good move in my opinion. This would be a good WM 27 match as well but we’re treated to it now instead. Let’s see what happens… The entire Corre is with Barrett in force and that can’t bode well for Kofi. My prediction up front is a chaotic ending that results in a rematch at WM27 but Kofi retains tonight. After the bell Kofi gets a quick crucifix pin attempt but only for a one-count; he follows with a nice crisp dropkick. Kofi later with a nice cartwheel into a flying forearm move. Barrett charges Kofi in the corner but eats two boots. Eventually Barrett gets control as Kofi goes for a high risk move but it backfires. With Kofi on the apron, Barrett delivers his running pump kick that lays out Kofi. Kingston is roughed up some more on the outside, but all by Barrett—no interference yet by The Corre. Back in the ring, Kofi’s momentum is interrupted by a powerful side slam by the Englishman. He’s back in control with some wearing-down tactics and is working the upper back/lower neck area. Hard body slam followed by a missed flying elbow drop from the middle rope. Barrett misses his big kick, which gives Kofi an opportunity to launch some offense. The commentators debate whether or not The Corre should share their tag titles and let EZ Jackson/Barrett defend (a la “Freebirds” rule), which would be kind of cool. Inside the ring Kofi’s offense is interrupted by a reverse kick, but then Kofi lands the pele kick and his gorgeous aerial flying body press from the top rope. Barrett kicks out at two though. Kingston lands the ‘Boom Drop’ and starts slamming his hands. Suddenly the ref is distracted by one of The Corre on the near side of the ring. On the opposite end Slater jumps to the apron but Kingston Pele kicks him down. Kofi goes for Trouble in Paradise on Barrett but is caught perfectly in the fireman’s carry position. Barrett deliver Wasteland powerfully and gets the pinfall! WADE BARRETT IS NEW INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION. That reign by Kofi was clearly just a placeholder anyway so I definitely like the change of hands. After the bout, Justin Gabriel lands the 450-splash for good measure. The Corre stands triumphant in the middle of the ring with three belts now—the tag titles and the IC Title. Works for me.

Next up we have another round of smack-talk re: Undertaker vs. Triple H. This time UT’s turn to retort to Hunter. I’m going to gloss over this in the interest of time…there’s been enough words about this match (and they’ll repeat on Raw anyway), so let’s just get the talking over with and get it on. UT basically says he feels Triple H’s confidence is fading to uncertainty and soon the uncertainty will turn into despair. Then he gets into talk about Armageddon, apocalypse, mega proportions…etc. He emphasizes that HHH’s epitaph will read “Died Trying”.

Next match is Jack Swagger vs. R Truth, so of course we get Michael Cole being a big a douche-bag…he’s beyond obnoxious talking smack to Truth. While I agree that Truth’s entrance gimmick’s annoying, it’s nowhere near as bad as Michael Cole trying to be the heel. All we get is “come on Jack, get him Jack”, etc. from Cole over and over. It’s really hard to not press the fast frwrd button. One funny moment in the match is Truth holding the ropes to avoid a clothesline. Swagger stands in the middle of the ring starting at Truth, and R Truth is holding the ropes and gives him a little hip gesture to basically say “F U”. Had to see it but it was kind of amusing. R Truth is limping now and dives over the top onto Swagger and they both seem hurt equally. Truth to the top rope but cut down by Swagger. Truth is favoring the right ankle so we know what this means. Jack stomps at the ankle, DDTs the ankle, and then applies the ankle lock. R Truth holds on for a bit but then taps out. Cole is insufferable in his celebration and smack-talk/taunting after the match.

After the obligatory, painfully-long introduction of Alberto Del Rio we get set for the main event of Del Rio vs. Christian. Brodus Clay in Rio’s corner and Edge with Christian. Let’s see how these extra players will factor into the outcome. Side headlock by Del Rio but Christian throws Alberto in to the ropes and lands a flying forearm. No clean break by Del Rio in the corner and this enables him to get the upperhand over Christian. Next comes a series of impressive moves. Del Rio charges Christian in the corner and we get a sweet, full back body drop that sends Alberto way over the top rope/ring post to the outside. Christian follows with a full-bore flying body press from the top rope all the way down to the ringside floor. Both men lay down in pain but Christian is the man as we go into break! After commercial a reverse springboard sunset flip by Christian gets him a nearfall. Del Rio on the outside with Edge just starting at him with angst building. Christian misses baseball slide and is thrown into ring steps. Edge storms away frustrated. Inside the ring now, Del Rio works that shoulder and pec area of Christian. Del Rio with a middle rope dive on to Christian’s injured chest area. Alberto points to the WM 27 sign, as all superstars I’m sure are mandatorily required to do. Alberto now is in full control with arm bars, kicks/stomps and ground and pound. Moments later, Christian lands another sweet move with a frankensteiner off the middle rope to get a near fall! Christian now in command with some versatile offense, but then he misses a flying body press from the top rope. Edge still watching carefully from back of screen shot. Del Rio charges and misses his flying head kick and Christian reverts this into his spinning DDT off the top rope. He has the match won but Ricardo Rodrigues makes a save by placing Alberto’s leg on the bottom rope. Edge rushes over but is blindsided by Brodus Clay. Alberto goes for cross armbreaker but it’s avoided by Christian. Christian goes for his Killswitch finisher but can’t get it applied. Back and forth as Del Rio lands the head kick this time and gets a partial arm breaker applied but Christian gets to the ropes quickly. Pretty good match here. They two double clothesline each other, and outside the ring Edge lays out the big Clay with a spear followed by a pair of chair shots. In the ring, Del Rio is distracted and hit with the Killswitch. CHRISTIAN GETS THE VICTORY VIA PINFALL. Wow, surprising that Christian would go over twice on Del Rio leading into a WM 27 title match for Del Rio. Edge is desperate to shatter Del Rio with a chair but Christian runs in and grabs the chair and talks sense into Edge. Alternatively, Christian decides to use the chair on Del Rio, much to the approval of Edge. We end with Edge talking smack to Del Rio as Christian and Edge go backstage triumphantly.

Pretty good episode with a good main event, solid opening match (and reappearance of CM Punk on Smackdown), and an IC Title change. I have a feeling for some reason that Christian and Edge may have something go down at WM 27 and the strap ends up with Christian soon enough…just a hunch.

Source: wrestlingtruth.com