The Wrap-Up is a bit late today because I spent the last 9 hours driving from the Philadelphia area to Freeport, Maine for work. Deal with it.- Fatal Four Way sounded like a halfway decent event last night. Both secondary titles stayed put, but both World-level Championships changed hands. In the Smackdown foursome, Rey Mysterio became a two-time World Champion after Kane came down and antagonized CM Punk and Big Show. That left Mysterio and Swagger, and Mysterio, the best wrestler with a shitty finisher, used said shitty finisher to defeat Swagger. Hopefully, this title reign is a bit better-booked than his last one nearly five years ago. In the other title match, the n(XT)Wo came out and beat the pants off John Cena (not literally, because like choking a guy out with a tie, THAT'S NOT PG), allowing noted ginger and former Champ Sheamus to regain the title he lost to Cena at Elimination Chamber (*sigh*) four scant months ago. Something tells me Cena and Sheamus are going to be headlining SummerSlam this year... Also on the card, an impromptu match between Evan Bourne and Chris Jericho that is said to have stolen the show. Looks like this one's a buy on DVD. Funniest tidbit though? There was an audible "Daniel Bryan" chant. Dude, Danielson is set for life if/when they hire him back.
- ROH ran its iPPV Death Before Dishonhor VIII on Saturday night, and unlike at the WWE PPV that happened the next night, the main title didn't change hands. Yep, Tyler Black retained over Davey Richards. I thought that with DR retiring at year's end, they would give him a reign starting now and ending at either Glory By Honor or Final Battle. Guess not. People are saying this was a great match, but I'll be the judge of that. Otherwise on the card, Kevin Steen went over El Generico, via shenanigans in the opener. Well, legal shenanigans since it was no-DQ. Reports don't intimate that Steve Corino or Colt Cabana made an appearance, but I wonder if Generico would be happy eating a wrench shot and then a super fisherman buster to end the feud. Roderick Strong won the gauntlet and Christopher Daniels beat Kenny Omega, setting those two up to feud for who gets the next shot at Black I suppose. Kings of Wrestling retained as well.
- Don't look now, but Big Dave Batista, who apparently left the WWE not just because he was butthurt over being passed over for a movie role for Triple H but because he didn't like the "creative direction" of the company going forward, is going to try his hand at MMA. Interesting, and by interesting, I mean he may die in the Octagon. If I may editorialize here, I think wrestlers need to stop thinking they can step right into MMA and succeed just because Brock Lesnar did. Lesnar, aside from being a genetic freak and a successful amateur (read, REAL) wrestler, has amazing work ethic and a high tolerance for living at the bare minimum. I mean the dude lives in a shack with no electricity in Minnesota when he's training for Christ's sake. He also trained for years before taking his first UFC match. Batista? Yeah, not so much. Dude's pushing 40, has an injury history longer than Scott Hall's rap sheet and has spent a way longer time previous to his MMA debut fake-fighting than Lesnar did. I hope he doesn't get slaughtered for his own sake, but let's be real here, if Batista lasts for more than two fights without getting majorly injured, then I will probably shit myself in shock.
- Bryan Danielson has a new site... what? You DIDN'T think I'd plug the website? Silly, silly people.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography
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