Ring Crew Reviews: WWE Fatal 4 Way 2010

• Relevant Storylines: Chris Jericho decides the only way better than going out by being fired by Bischoff and carried out crying by security is to job to Evan Broune. Drew McIntyre hates Teddy Long’s kids. Kane gets his heat back miraculously without teasing returning his mask. And Nexus make a statement by taking out R-Truth and some random gopher that Shawn Michaels superkicked backstage for no reason years ago.

• Scheduled Card:
1. WWE Intercontinental Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston (c).
2. Fatal 4 Way Match for the WWE Diva’s Champioship: Maryse vs. Gail Kim vs. Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres (c).
3. Evan Bourne vs. Chris Jericho.
4. Fatal 4 Way for the World Heavyweight Championship: The Big Show vs. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger (c).
5. United States Championship: R-Truth vs. The Miz (c).
6. Six Person Mixed Tag Match: The Hart Dynasty vs. The Usos.
7. Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Championship: Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Sheamus vs. John Cena (c).

• Opening video package covers Cena/Orton/Sheamus/Edge and is actually the blander portion because it doesn’t seem to involve any particular feud (I’m speaking toward how the reel presents it). Instead, they just talk about the 1 in 4 odds for the champ and have a voiceover with Cole repeating the rules. The other match with Swagger/Punk/Show/Mysterio looks much better because of the highlighted feud material. Also, toward the end, there is a nWo-like warp except it’s red and footage of Kane invades the video package because of his hunt for UT’s attacker. The end of that package was great.

• Vinnie Mac joins us to start. He says that Bret Hart won’t be here tonight and plays some footage of Nexus putting him into a limo and trying to commit vehicular homicide. I’ve never been a fan of those kinds of segments where they take wrestling out of the ring and into real world violence that obviously isn’t going to happen in this environment. It can work like the Horseman attacking Dusty with a crowbar bit but I felt this one in particular was a big misstep in the Nexus invasion angle. Before Vince can even finish pretending like he had no part in the attack, a “Daniel Bryan” chant gets going. Drew’s music interrupts and they shake hands.

• WWE Intercontinental Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston (c). We get footage of Drew berating and humiliating Teddy Long on Smackdown. Kofi tries to make the save but gets taken down by Drew’s private security force. They put so much effort into Drew and then just pulled the rug out from under him. He wasn’t over much but how often has that stopped them? The tag team with Rhodes went nowhere and his pseudo-face turn pursuing Kelly Kelly appears to have hit a dead end as well. Drew calls out Teddy and here he comes sans music. Drew forces Teddy to watch on as he regains “his” IC strap.

• Kofi gets the advantage with some kicks and works the hamstrings. And oh God, looks like we’re going to have to breakout the cutaway cam count for Teddy as we’re already at 3. Drew cuts off Kofi with a hair toss. Drew sends Kofi off but eats a monkey flip. Kofi takes him down with a Bluechipper dropkick and clothesline Drew to the floor. Kofi comes flying out with a tope suicida and takes down Drew. Stryker and Cole put over the fact that Teddy has “kids to feed” and that’s why he took Drew’s crap. This begs the question: is Teddy a double agent working for Kuato and does he have access to a rock grinder? Drew takes a breather on the other side and Kofi tries to follow but Drew trips him on the apron and then sends Kofi shoulder-first into the ringpost. Drew goes to the GnP. Drew goes to the CLUBBINGBLOWS to sizable jeers. Kofi tries kipping up with a kick but Drew wraps his arm around the ring post and goes to the shoulderlock. King mentions he’s torn between watching the match and Teddy as we’re up to 6 on the cutaways. Kofi baseball slides through but gets taken down with a clothesline and Drew goes back to work on the arm. Drew stomps a mudhole in the corner and then flips Kofi with an armwringer. He goes to the top and bottom wristlocks for variation. Drew drops some knees on the arm and then mocks the “boom boom” strut to some big boos. Where has this personality been other than his intensity in the Edge mini-feud? Kofi tries to fight back with kicks that go nowhere. Drew goes back to the armlock. Alright, let’s get going. Kofi powers up with forearms. He tries a sunset flip but Drew escapes and hits a code-armbreaker. Nice. Cover gets 2. Drew tries a shortarm clothesline but Kofi flips over with a version of the Maivia Hurricane DDT. Kofi with more kicks and rights. Kofi hits some double chops and a Bluechipper dropkick. He goes for a flying burrito but Drew avoids. Kofi with a hybrid crucifix roll up for 2. Kofi then hits a pop up crossbody out of the corner for 2. Drew goes back to the arm (psychology!) to cut off and hits a fuckin’ sweet neckbreaker over the knee for 2. Kofi slides out of a slam and hits the Russian leg sweep. He hits the Boom Drop and calls for the Trouble in Paradise. McIntyre ducks and backdrops Kofi but he lands on the apron. Drew tries to back suplex him in but Kofi floats over for the corner but only gets 2. Drew with a big boot to get back on offense. Drew goes for the double arm DDT but Kofi escapes and hits a springboard tornado DDT out of the corner. Cover gets nothing as Drew has his foot on the ropes. Kofi leaps and mounts in the corner for some rights but Drew counters with a falling, running powerbomb. Delayed cover gets 2. Drew sets up something but Kofi goes to the ranhei for another close 2. Kofi hooks in a flying inverted triangle choke. Drew tosses him off and they take out Charles Robison. Drew sends Kofi into the ringpost bad arm first and then hits the double arm DDT, but no ref. Drew tries to revive him by kicking him around and then demands Teddy get in the ring to count it. Drew disrobes Little Naitch of his shirt and demands Teddy put it on. Teddy counts but stops at 2 ala Shane-O-Mac screwing Stone Cold at SS 98. The crowd is behind Teddy but the match has come to a complete stop for this. Drew threatens Teddy and goes after Kofi again. But MATT HARDY HAS COME OUT! He gives Drew the Twist of Fate and exits stage right. Kofi with the Trouble in Paradise and Teddy finds his way to 3 at 16:30. Cutaway count: 15-25. Match was good with solid psychology even if it didn’t play into the finish and good performances from both guys and the crowd got the storybook ending to the angle. ***1/4

• The Hart Dynasty are in the back and they are unified tag champs and wow that seems like 5 years ago. They say they will be able to keep it together even though Bret isn’t there and defeat the Usos.

• Fatal 4 Way Match for the WWE Diva’s Champioship: Maryse vs. Gail Kim vs. Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres (c). Stryker says the first ever divas champion was crowned here and it was Michelle McCool which tells us all we need to know about its lineage. Pier 4 brawl erupts with lots of hair pulling and wear forearms. Gail Kim goes for a crossbody but Fox hits a boot. She hits a bridged suplex for 2 but Eve breaks it up and tries a roll up for another 2. Maryse with a roll up that goes nowhere. Gail eats a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker from Alicia. Eve takes them both down with dropkicks until she succumbs to the numbers game. Stryker mentions “arrangements made before the match” and I’ll neglect to speculate about where Jerry Lawler’s imagination went with that. Maryse screams in French as the crowd is dead. Gail Kim flips over Fox on the apron and applies the Octopus Stretch out of a headscissors. That was cool. Eve puts the armbar on Maryse and we’ve got the dreaded teased simultaneous submission finish. Thankfully, Gail releases her to boot Eve. She tries to go after Maryse but Fox breaks it up and then applies her own armbar. Maryse takes a breather. Eve applies the Camel Clutch and Gail applies the Boston Crab for a nice double submission. Stryker calls it the “Haas of Pain” which isn’t even close to right. Maybe I misheard him and he just said house of pain. Maryse breaks it up and shitcans the faces to the floor. Fox and Maryse go face to face. Time to take it home as Maryse goes into pissed off La Femme Nikita mode. She hits a series of forearms and a sidekick but Eve breaks up the cover. Kim takes out both with a dropkick. Gail comes off the top with a double footstomp and rams Eve in the corner. Gail tries a rana on Alicia but gets alley ooped back into the apron. Eve with the Roll the Dice on Maryse and a moonsault but Alicia breaks up the cover. Alicia dumps her and rolls up Maryse for the win at 5:41. *. They tried.

• In the back, Mysterio and Showster have a heart to heart. Mysterio talks about his 20 years of experience. Show says they are friends and he respects Rey but he will knock out any of them to win the belt.

• Evan Bourne vs. Chris Jericho. This was set up by a match on RAW between the two where Bourne kicked out of the Codebreaker and Jericho was pissed and took out the ref and got disqualified. Jericho gets on the stick early and says that everyone under the age of 25 knows that he is the reason they started watching and gets a massive pop for that surprisingly. He says for everyone over 25 he’s the reason they keep watching and still gets a respectable applause for the line. He says that no longer is he a big name because Wade Barrett his NXT rookie is making a bigger impact lately. He says he’s aimed for the top of the mountain since interrupting Rock in his debut and taking HBK to the brink. This is good shit. Jericho says now HE’S the top of the mountain and best performer in the company. Another round of applause. He tries to go more heel but says he will snuff out Evan Bourne’s shooting star career and the crowd is still behind him.

• Y2J chant early. Shoving match goes nowhere. Jericho elbows out of a collar and elbow and then hits a running clothesline In the corner. Jericho paintbrushes in the corner and tells him to “COME ON, SHOOTING STAR!” Bourne comes back with a rana, drop toe hold, and a basement dropkick. Bourne gets a head of steam but runs into a clothesline. “LET’S GO JERICHO!” from the crowd. Cole calls it a split reaction as Jericho chokes in the corner. Jericho goes for another running clothesline in the corner but eats post and wipes out. Bourne hits a plancha off the top rope. Coming in, Jericho cuts him off and hits the springboard dropkick that sends Bourne reeling. Jericho with more shots as Bourne tries coming back but eats a dropkick for 2. The Jericho chants are so much louder and more vigorous than the Bourne chants that it’s not even funny. Jericho stares down the ref in a nice callback to him getting DQ’ed on RAW. Jericho goes to the chinlock (“Ask him! C’mon ref!”). Bourne flips out of a back suplex and goes back to the kicks. He hits a spinwheel kick off a whip reversal. Bourne with a running back elbow in the corner and a brutal basement yakuza kick for 2. Jericho with a bridged German suplex to cut him off for 2. Jericho goes up top but Bourne takes him down with a pop up Frankensteiner for 2 and that was beautiful. Bourne goes for the double knee seated senton but Jericho rolls through to the WoJ for a big pop. Bourne gets the ropes after about 20 seconds to loud boos. Jericho knocks him off the apron and then sends Bourne into the announce table. Jericho runs toward Bourne but gets drop toe held into the steps. Back in, Bourne hits the double knee drop off the top and runs it into a bridge for a close 2. Jericho with the Welcome to Chicago, Motherfucker for a close 2. Jericho goes for the lionsault but lands on his feet. Bourne comes back with a flying front kick. Bourne goes for the SSP but lands on his feet as Jericho rolls under. He goes for Jericho but eats a Codebreaker to another big pop. Nice sequence. Cover gets 1, 2,– Bourne gets his foot on the ropes and Jericho gets pissed at the ref again but no attack. Jericho shouts for him to “Stay down, you idiot!” Y2J chant. Jericho goes for a charge but eats turnbuckle and gets rolled up for a close 2. Jericho goes for the WoJ but Bourne goes to the front facelock and counters into a tornado DDT. Bourne goes up top but Jericho cuts him off and preps a superplex. Bourne knocks him off but Jericho comes back up again and crotches Bourne. I love that extended tease. Bourne gives Jericho a front suplex off the top and FINALLY hits the SSP on Jericho’s back. Cover gets 3 at 12:05. As usual Jericho’s heel antics elevate the match. It had the right finish but deflated the crowd a bit as it felt like the match a couple more minutes and a Jericho victory in store but very good match. If nothing else, Jericho at the end of his last run was doing more to put over guys like Bourne than a lot of guys in his position have done. It’s hard not to be a fan of Chris Jericho. ***1/2

• Fatal 4 Way for the World Heavyweight Championship: The Big Show vs. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger (c). The video package focuses on Kane’s search for UT’s attacker despite the fact that he’s not in the match. Kane seems to undergo a career resurgence every few years and this was it. His promos got a lot better and he just seemed to care more. Credit to him for running with the ball even though his matches have never been great. Punk is under a mask here but not for the first time. You’d assume he started in ROH or IWA: Mid South but like Kevin Nash, ten years before that, he wore a hood, lucha libre. He broke in in Mexico but people don’t know that.

• Punk and Swagger go for Mysterio until Showster shoves both down with headbutts and CLUBBING BLOWS. Punk goes for the rear mount RNC but Show snapmares him over. Mysterio with a basement dropkick on Punk and goes straight for his mask. Punk tries to fight him off but Mysterio gets on his shoulders and pseudo victory rolls Punk to the floor. Show easily shitcans Swagger and now Show and Rey square off. Show shoves him off. Mysterio ducks a big boot and gets a head of steam. Show threatens the KO punch and Mysterio takes a breather instead. Show palms him back into the ring from the floor. He tosses Mysterio into Swagger knocking him off the apron. Show swats down Punk for a cover but Swagger breaks it up. More chops for Swagger but Mysterio breaks up that cover. Swagger and Punk come with some weak stuff and Show tosses them away again. Mysterio counters with a tornado DDT on Show. He covers but Show kicks out WITH AUTHORITY! Punk with a Tajiri kick on Show and then Swagger gives him the VaderBomb but they all fight over who gets to attempt a cover. Punk and Rey get into a shoving match but both give Show a double basement dropkick. Swagger takes both down with a double clothesline. Swagger and Rey all alone now in the ring. Swagger hits a belly to belly suplex for 2 and then grinds his elbow into the back of Mysterio’s head. Swagger goes to a reverse full nelson but Mysterio knees his way out. Mysterio baits Swagger and then trips him up to set up the 619, but Punk takes out Mysterio with a springboard crossbody that only gets 2. Punk tosses Swagger to the floor. Punk with a back suplex backbreaker for 2. Punk with some taekwondo combination on Swagger and then hits the step up knee in the corner. He goes for another on Mysterio but Rey gets the boot up. Punk instead goes for a German which gives Swagger an opportunity to sneak him and gives them both a German to complete the double German suplex. Nice. Swagger tries covering both but each kicks out at 2. Swagger goes for the gutwrench powerbomb but Punk fights him off and gives him a Tajiri kick. Rey headscissors Punk into the ropes and goes for the 619 but Show recovers to catch Rey and gives him Snake Eyes onto the announce table. Show clotheslines Swagger and Punk around. He calls for the ChokeSlam but both Swagger and Punk roll to the floor. Show slides Punk back in but Swagger dropkicks the stairs into Show and then Mysterio gives him a 619 around the ringpost. It’s been done but still awesome. Punk then follows with a plancha on Show. Rey with a seated senton on Swagger. He goes for a springboard crossbody but Swagger big boots him down. Punk in with a G2S on Swagger but he’s too out of it to cover. KANE HAS COME OUT! And he’s pushing a casket or if you’re Michael Cole a “symbolic casket.” Looks pretty real to me. Kane opens the casket and signals for Punk. He ChokeSlams Punk into the casket and tries to shut it but Luke Gallows big boots Kane. That gives Punk enough of a chance to escape. Meanwhile, Rey hits the 619 and Drops the Dime to end Swagger’s reign at 10:28. That was Rey’s 2nd World Heavyweight Championship and 2nd overall world title because he’s never won the WWE strap. Eating a pinfall in a four way with Kane as a nonparticipant being the main story is a fitting unceremonious conclusion to Swagger’s uneventful run. He had heat and was cutting some great promos on Smackdown but was never given the chance to succeed feud wise as Show was the wrong opponent for him and he got shit in anyway. Match isn’t bad but it’s not any different than you might see on any RAW or Smackdown which more and more seems to be the case lately. **1/2

• In the back, Josh Matthews is with Cena. Cena says that if Nexus shows up he and the other WWE guys will be ready and stand united. Cena says whoever walks out tonight as champ will have earned it.

• Meanwhile, we get clips of Miz winning the US title in a 4 way by pinning R-Truth clean or if you are Jerry Lawler “practically stealing it.”

• United States Championship: R-Truth vs. The Miz (c). Miz comes out with the stick and says he wrote some new lyrics for R-Truth’s song. Stryker: “Sounds like DMX ate Ja Rule.” He raps over R-Truth’s beat but forgets the next few bars until the punchline at the end. This wasn’t Angle aping Cena in terms of comedy but it worked. R-Truth with a side headlock and a shoulderblock and Miz rethinks the stand-off. Major “Miz is awesome!” chant fires up. R-Truth gets sent off and takes down Miz with another series of shoulderblocks and Miz takes a breather. Truth steam rolls him on the floor and slides him back in for a 2 count. Truth tries an up and over off a whip but Miz cuts him off with a boot to the gut. Miz with some more kicks and goes to the keylock/chinlock hybrid. Truth comes back with a hiptoss. Miz backdrops him to the apron but Truth smashes him into the turnbuckle. Truth taunts to the crowd but Miz recovers to shove him off into the ringpost and then onto the steps. Count gets to 9 but Truth beats it back in. Miz tries to jump him but the ref DEMANDS A BREAK! Miz tries again but the ref is having none of that chicanery. Miz taunts and then hits the running clothesline in the corner. Miz goes to the body triangle resthold. Truth spins around and hits some GnP. He gets to his feet and sells the ribs and Miz big boots him down. Miz chokes on the ropes and the ref is really letting him hear it. I like the fiery refs who won’t take shit off the wrestlers. Truth tries fighting back but runs into a knee. Miz paintbrushes with the boot and grinds away at Truth’s face. Miz with a back elbow and then goes to the armbar/ab stretch and then turns it into a half bow and arrow. Truth punches out and hits a back suplex for a 2 count. Truth selling fatigue and the ribs here which allows Miz to hit a snap suplex. Miz taunts that he can’t hear the crowd. Truth hits the sitout gordbuster for 2. I can make out a faint “This is boring” chant which isn’t exactly fair but I wouldn’t argue with them too much either. Truth with a missile dropkick off the top. Truth hits some chops and a flapjack. Truth with a Flatliner/Downward Spiral but Miz kicks out at 2. Truth hits the awesome Osaka Street Cutter for 2. Truth goes for a charge but Miz hangs him out to dry on the ropes and follows up with a backbreaker/neckbreaker combo. Miz goes for the running clothesline again in the corner but Truth dodges and hits a scissors kick out of a pseudo tree of woe. Cover gets 2. Miz tries to shitcan Truth but he lands on the apron. They jockey for position up top. Truth knocks off Miz and goes for the flying crossbody but whiffs and lands on the injured ribs. Miz goes for offense but Truth gets a small package for a close 2. Always love the desperation small package. Miz goes for the Batista kick but Truth school boys him for another close 2. Truth tries the inside wheelbarrow roll through but Miz sits down on it for the 3 at 13:22. I like both of these guys and their characters but ordinarily they produce generic, serviceable but pedestrian matches. This is better than what they normally bring to the table due to increased moveset, selling from Truth, and the surprising but logical countered roll up finish. I’m satisfied. ***

• Grisham is in the back with Edge. Edge says that Cena has seen every champ lose so far so that’s on his mind. Edge namedrops Orton and is skeptical to his shoulder injury. Edge says Sheamus doesn’t belong in the ring with the rest of them. Edge then addresses himself and says he’s walking out the new WWE Champ.

• Six Person Mixed Tag Match: The Hart Dynasty vs. The Usos. Lawler says the potential for The Usos is unlimited. The women start and Tamina and Natalya go through some reversals. Jey and DH in. Smith works the arm wringer and baseball slides through and gets a roll up for 2. He goes to the side headlock. He gets sent off but takes down Jey with a shoulderblock and a belly to belly suplex. DH hooks Jey in the tree of woe and then tags in Tyson Kidd who hits a basement dropkick on him in the tree of woe for 2. Jimmy in with a bodyslam and goes to the wristlock on Tyson. Kidd uses the knuckle lock to climb up the ropes and backflip out to counter. He armdrags Jimmy over and hits a kick but runs into a knee and gets shitcanned. The Usos taunt to more annoyance than boos. Tyson slides onto the apron and kicks Jimmy to cut him off. Tyson flips out of a back suplex. He kicks Jimmy off and then uses the ropes to flip over to the apron. He hits a yakuza kick on Jey on the apron. Jimmy baseball slides through Tyson’s legs. Kidd goes for the splash but Jimmy catches him and Samoan drops him into the barricade. That was a beautiful 20 seconds. Jey in and goes to the chinlock on Kidd. Jey hits a kick and a leg lariat for 2. The heels hit a double back elbow and a double elbow drop. Jimmy works the cover for a couple of 2 counts. Snap suplex and then Jimmy goes back to the rear chinlock. Tyson goes for the tag but runs into a throat thrust for another 2 count. They work him over more in the heel counter with an assisted Runaway Samoan Semi for another 2. Jimmy hits a falling headbutt off the top for 2. “Daniel Bryan” chant gets going to show the crowd’s investment in the match. Uso goes for another Runaway Samoan Semi but eats turnbuckle. Kidd tags in Natayla. She has some rights for Tamina and a back elbow. She hits a snap suplex and another and a basement dropkick that Tamina was expecting to go to the other side and sells awkwardly. Natayla hits the Nail in the Coffin and covers but one of the Usos breaks it up. DH clotheslines him over the top. Kidd follows with a sprinboard flip splash on all of them. Tamina with a Samoan drop on Natayla and she heads up top. She whiffs on the Snuka splash and eats a discus clothesline and that’s enough for the 3 at 9:28. This match seems to fit right in with a night of mostly average, competent wrestling matches, but nothing special. **

• Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Championship: Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Sheamus vs. John Cena (c). The pre-match package gives each wrestler’s mini bio and career highlights. Edge’s place in the match is mostly about his resume and his beef with Orton. Orton’s is because of his father and grandfather telling him he’s the greatest and the unpredictability of the Diamond Cutter–…. RKO. Sheamus’s is about his heritage and the big impact he made in less than a year. Cena’s is that he’s champion and gone to toe to toe with the meanest and the baddest which according to the package are Batista and Triple H. You would think based on that thorough video package that this had months of build but it was probably more like a couple of in-ring confrontations and random beatdowns over the course of a few weeks.

• Stryker: “Cena’s psyche vs. Randy’s shoulder vs. Sheamus’s rage vs. Edge’s experience.” I wonder how long earlier in the day he was working on that tongue twister. Cena shitcans Sheamus and Orton dumps Edge to start. Cena and Orton try to soak in some alpha dog cheers from the crowd and it’s not quite the massive reaction you’d expect for arguably the company’s two biggest stars. Cena goes for the FU but Orton slides out and goes for the RKO but gets shoved off. Edge attacks him from behind and drags him to the outside. Sheamus jumps Cena with boots. Sheamus drops an elbow and rams Cena in the corner with shoulder surges and CLUBBINGBLOWS. Edge in and now he and Sheamus double team Cena. They hit a double back elbow and then hit a double Irish whip on Cena. “Cena sucks/Let’s go Cena” dueling chants. Sheamus takes down Cena with a clothesline and taunts as Edge school boys him for 2. Sheamus goes to work on Edge as part of the RAW locker room, The Hart Dynasty, Evan Bourne and Truth, look on from the back. Edge hits a diving clothesline off the second rope on Sheamus. He covers but Cena breaks it up. Edge easily shitcans Cena. Edge heads up top but Orton crotches him. Orton follows up top but Sheamus attacks him from behind. Edge goes for a crossbody off the top but Orton avoids and Sheamus eats it. Orton breaks up the pinfall. Edge ducks a clothesline and baseball slides Sheamus to the outside, but Orton comes back with another clothesline that sends Edge to the outside. Cena gets to the apron and Orton suplexes him back in and gives Cena a European uppercut. Orton goes to the Garvin/Malenko stomp. More dueling chants for Cena to show their concern for only one of the wrestlers. Orton goes for a knee drop but Cena avoids and Sheamus takes him down with the Irish Hammer. Cena and Sheamus slug it out. Cena with a snap suplex on Sheamus and goes for the FU but Sheamus slides out and hits the Irish Curse backbreaker for 2. Sheamus calls for the Razor’s Edge. Edge comes in and goes for the Spear instead and eats ringpost. Cena school boys Sheamus for a close 2 and then eats a clothesline. Second time in this match alone we’ve had that spot. Orton takes down Sheamus with a clothesline and then hits the delayed apron DDT on Sheamus and Cena to a pretty big pop. Cover on Sheamus gets nothing because he gets his foot on the ropes. Edge in and big boots Orton from behind. Edge preps the Spear on Cena. Cena avoids and this the shoulderblocks and ProtoBomb on Edge. He calls for the 5KS and hits it. Orton slides in and hits the neck/backbreaker on Cena from behind. Orton goes into his finishing sequence with clotheslines and a powerslam on Edge. Orton preps the RKO. Sheamus cuts him off and shitcans him. Cena backdrops Sheamus to the floor and that leaves Edge and Cena in the ring. Sheamus tries getting back in but Orton knocks him off the apron. Edge pseudo spears Orton off the ropes. Cena drop toe holds him into the STF from behind. Edge fights it and almost makes the ropes but Cena drags him back to the middle. Sheamus in and breaks it up. Sheamus drops some elbows on Cena and hits a shortarm clothesline on Edge for 2. Sheamus knocks Cena off the apron and then hits his taunt. He goes for a Bulldog powerslam on Edge but he slides out and hits the Edge-o-matic. Cena in and goes for the FU but Edge escapes and shoves him into an RKO. Cover but Sheamus takes out the ref. Cole mentions that this is No-DQ which is relevant. Orton boots Sheamus to the floor and turns around into a Spear from Edge. Sheamus hits the bicycle kick that sends Edge to the outside. Sheamus covers Orton but he kicks out at 2. Edge pulls Orton to the outside and they brawl there. Sheamus goes for Orton but he dodges and tosses him into the announce table. Edge then Spears Orton into the barricade. Meanwhile, Nexus jumps the four jabronis in the back watching the match on the monitors and destroy the obscenely expensive JeriTron 5000. The announce team breaks up as Lawler barricades Cole away from them. They destroy some more equipment and storm the ring and take out all the competitors. In the confusion, Sheamus slides out and pins Cena to win his second WWE Championship at 17:25. Sheamus hops the barricade and is happy to exit with his victory. This followed the basic triple threat formula but just added one guy. Normally, a match like this is good for two separate one on one matches: one in the ring and another on the floor. However, this was just an in-ring match with the two other guys selling on the floor or the apron until each one went into his five moves of doom sequence in the last few minutes. The interference does nothing for me and just devalues the victory for Sheamus. ***

• Post-match, Nexus continues to put the fists and boots to mainly Cena. Sheamus celebrates with the strap at the top of the ramp and Nexus chases him off with no commentary but an audible, “Daniel Bryan” chant.

The 411: From the outside looking in, this seems like a PPV worth watching: Two world title changes and a highlight on the Nexus and Kane-UT storylines that would dominate a big chunk of 2010. But everything just feels very workmanlike without a lot of excitement. Other than the title switches and match lengths, it feels like a long episode of RAW where every match is OK but never gets out of second gear and they are saving the big stuff for the PPV, except this is the PPV.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]