Summerslam 2007 thru WrestleMania 25
Writing Began: June 25th, 2007 (Day after Vengeance 2007)
Writing Finished: August 25th, 2007 (Day before Summerslam 2007)
iEvents Going on at the Time:i
The Great American Bash 2007:
John Cena beat Bobby Lashley to retain the WWE Championship, The Great Khali beat Batista and Kane to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, and the newly-rechristened John Morrison beat C.M. Punk to retain the ECW Championship. Umaga retained the Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy, while MVP (Montel Vontavious Porter) retained the US Championship against Matt Hardy. Randy Orton defeated “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes in a “Bullrope” match; after the match, Orton tried to give Dusty a concussion via a kick to the head, but Dusty’s son Cody Rhodes ran in to protect his father. Carlito defeated The Sandman in a “Singapore Cane on a Pole” match, Candice Michelle defeated Melina to retain her Women’s Championship, and Hornswoggle managed to win the Cruiserweight Championship by interfering in a “Cruiserweight Open” and pinning Jamie Noble.
Other Notes:
“Raw”: Randy Orton was on a mission to win the WWE Championship from John Cena, managing to get inside Cena’s head by assaulting Cena’s father. King Booker had just come out on the winning-side of a feud with Jerry “The King” Lawler to decide who truly was “The King of Wrestling”, only to be challenged by “The King of Kings” Triple H, who was due to return at Summerslam 2007. Beth Phoenix had just returned after a year-long absence, and was quickly making waves in the Womens Division. Both Mr. Kennedy and Carlito were claiming to be the #1-contendor to the newly face-turned Umaga’s Intercontinental Championship.
“Smackdown!”: Batista was granted a 1-on-1 match against The Great Khali, with Khali’s World Heavyweight Championship on the line; at the same time, the tag-team of Deuce and Domino were both looking to make a name for themselves by attacking Batista. MVP (Montel Vontavious Porter) and Matt Hardy were involved in a unique feud in which the two didn’t actually actively hate each other, but were more just mildly annoyed by the others’ presence, with the two competing in many good-natured contests such as who could hit the most bulls-eyes in darts. Rey Mysterio was getting ready to return at Summerslam 2007 against Chavo Guerrero, the man who put him out of action almost a year earlier. Finlay began a feud with Kane. The Undertaker was already announced to be returning at Unforgiven 2007 against the man who injured him, Mark Henry.
“ECW”: C.M. Punk had been on a bit of a losing-streak as it pertained to winning the ECW Championship from John Morrison, and was seeking to prove the whole affair one long fluke. Viscera had recently changed his name and look to become “Big Daddy V”, and was looking to go straight to the top of ECW.
In addition, Mr. McMahon had recently been served a paternity suit, with the identity of the child being a current superstar.
August 2007
SUMMERSLAM 2007
R – WWE: CENA/Orton
S – Rey/Chavo
I – Diva Battle Royal
S – World: KHALI/Batista
R – Trips/Booker
E – ECW: MORRISON/Punk
S – Kane/Finlay
R – IC: UMAGA/Carlito/Kennedy
///
Umaga/Carlito/Kennedy – Kennedy wins the IC title.
Kane/Finlay – Kane.
Backstage, MVP and Matt are in Long’s office; Matt claims that he had several ideas for contests they could have on the PPV, but MVP claims they were all lame, citing that he’d “rather not even show up than look as stupid as you in some lame tap-dancing contest or whatever you were planning”, and then starts ranting about how he is “better than everyone”. Trips walks into Long’s office, and asks MVP if he’s better than him, too. MVP plays it off, “I ain’t got beef with you, I’m just trying to have a professional business meeting here, you don’t need to be getting in my face or nothing.” Trips stares him down, and MVP leaves, saying he has a date with a cheerleader anyway. Long welcomes Trips back, as does Matt; Trips says it’s great to be back, and he just wanted to check-in with some old friends. As Trips is leaving, he mentions that he knows Matt can beat MVP; “I’ve seen ya tap-dance. You’re good.”
Morrison/Punk – Punk is about to win, but Big Daddy V runs in, throwing the match out.
Trips/Booker – Trips wins in quick fashion.
Khali/Batista – Khali wins cleanly. After the match, he brutalizes Batista with the Claw.
Divas – Beth Phoenix wins.
Rey/Chavo – Rey.
Cena/Orton – Orton goes for the RKO, but Cena pushes him away and lifts him onto his shoulders for the FU. Cena goes for a big slam, lifting Orton vertically and holding him there for extra emphasis, but on the way down – with Cena now having turned to his side to put power behind the slam – Cena keeps his head too close to Orton’s shoulder, and Orton hits the RKO. Orton is hurting, but crawls over for the pin and the title.
September 2007
RAW
The night after “Summerslam”, Orton comes out to celebrate. He is almost immediately interrupted by Cena, who points out that Orton might have been the better man the previous night, but he thinks that his year-long reign should warrant him a rematch. Before Orton can answer, Triple H makes his entrance; Trips says that his only goal upon returning was to win the title, and that (to Cena) “no offense, but I won my match last night”. ORTON/Trips/Cena for the WWE title at “Unforgiven”.
Backstage, Booker tells The World’s Greatest Tag Team that he is quite impressed by them, and invites them to join him on his crusade to taker over “Raw”. TWGTT become Booker’s new Court.
Vince announces that he was informed of who his illegitimate son was, and he will make the announcement at the PPV.
With Umaga, Carlito, and Jeff all wanting shots at Kennedy and his IC-title, they do a 3-way to decide who gets a match at “Unforgiven”; Jeff wins.
Santino rubs Sandman the wrong way.
SMACKDOWN
Deuce-Domino continue their attacks on Batista; Rey comes to his aid.
With both Batista and Rey occupied with Deuce-Domino, the announcers wonder who will step up to Khali; Flair answers the challenge.
Taker returns against Henry.
MVP finally grants Matt a match.
ECW
Punk and Morrison have a rematch, and again, V interferes, but this time Burke makes the save. he next week, Burke says that he’s tired of being overlooked, and wants his revenge on Morrison since Burke has been the face of ECW for longer than Morrison has.
UNFORGIVEN 2007
R – WWE: ORTON/Trips/Cena
S – Taker/Henry
E – Punk-Elijah/Morrison-V
R – IC: KENNEDY/Jeff
S – World: KHALI/Flair
R – Santino/Sandman
S – STag: DEUCE-DOMINO/Batista-Rey
R – Cody-Highlanders/Booker-TWGTT
S – US: MVP/Matt
///
MVP/Matt – Matt wins the US title.
6-man – Haas pins Cody after a one-sided match.
Deuce-Domino/Batista-Rey – Batista and Rey win the tag-titles.
Santino/Sandman – Sandman wins, then canes the shit out of Santino.
Khali/Flair – Khali grabs Flair with the Claw, but Flair manages to kick Khali in the balls. He kicks him again, chop-blocks the knee, and goes for the Figure-Four, but Khali is too big, and gets him with the Claw again. Flair fights valiantly, but eventually passes out.
Backstage, Jeff is on his way to the ring, but Matt stops him along the way; Jeff congratulates Matt, and Matt says he knows they’ll both be champions when the night’s over.
Kennedy/Jeff – The two men make their entrances, but just as the bell is about to ring, “No Chance” is heard on the speakers. Vince – wearing the world’s biggest shit-eating grin – makes his way down the aisle and gets into the ring. He announces that after almost two months, he has finally discovered the identity of his son, and that his son is indeed standing in the ring with him. “Ladies and gentleman… my son… is none other… than the one and only… REFEREE JACK DOAN!” Jack Doan is shocked, and goes to hug Vince, but Vince knocks him out. “Yeah, like my son is some lowly referee. How dare you try to hug me, you’re fired!” Vince regains his composure. “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce my REAL son… MISTERRRR KENNEDYYY!!!” Kennedy is in complete disbelief; “Daddy?” “Yes, it’s me son, your long lost father!” “Daddy! I’ve missed you so much!” “And I’ve missed you, too, son… you know, for the last two months, I mean.” Kennedy promises he will make his father proud, to which Vince assures him he already has; Vince is honored to have such a “kind, funny, athletic, intelligent, handsome young man” as his son. “Do me proud, son, do me proud!” Another ref comes down, and Vince takes a seat at ring-side as the match begins. Back and forth match, until Kennedy goes for the Kenton Bomb and misses; Jeff then hits his own Swan Bomb and wins the title. Both Kennedy and Vince can’t believe what happened, with Vince giving Kennedy the evil-eye for embarrassing him. Once Jeff leaves, Kennedy backs the ref into a corner, and yells at him to reverse the decision; “You reverse the decision, or I’ll have you fired! I can do that, you know who my father is!” The ref gives in and orders Jeff back to the ring; Jeff does, and is stripped of the title, with the ref citing that he just realized that Kennedy kicked-out at the last possible second. Jeff: “Then restart the match!” Kennedy pauses for a second, then clocks Jeff with the belt. Vince orders the bell to be rung, and Kennedy pins the unconscious Jeff to “retain” the title. Vince celebrates, gets in the ring, knocks THIS ref out, and the two embrace. Vince grabs the mic: “That’s my boy!” Matt runs from the back, causing Vince and Kennedy to run.
Punk-Elijah/Morrison-V – Elijah pins Morrison.
Taker/Henry – Taker wins easily.
Orton/Trips/Cena – Trips has it just about won until Cody Rhodes(!) runs in and attacks both Trips and Cena, allowing Orton to win.
October 2007
RAW
Cody explains that he has to take destiny into his own hands, and if following Orton’s example is how to get the job done, so be it. Due to Cody’s interference, the ORTON/Trips/Cena rematch is made into a HIAC match, and Cody is punished against Umaga.
The Jeff/Kennedy feud continues, with Kennedy constantly coming up with reasons not to wrestle (“I was sending a lot of e-mails to all my fans, and my carpal-tunnel started acting up!”).
TWGTT, wanting to impress Booker, pick a fight with The Hooliganz.
SMACKDOWN
Flair is “out with injuries”, so Rey stands up for him and challenges Khali for the title. Both Khali and Runjin treat it like a joke, but eventually agree to give him a title-shot as long as they [Khali and Runjin] get to pick the match. Rey agrees, to which Runjin announces that Khali has chosen to make it a Ladder Match!
With Rey occupied with Khali, Deuce and Domino worry that they won’t get their rematch for the tag-titles; however, against Batista’s advice, Rey agrees to wrestle two matches at the PPV.
MVP says that, even though Matt might have gotten lucky at “Unforgiven”, it still doesn’t prove that he’s actually the better man; Matt, tired of these athletic challenges that don’t prove anything, tells MVP that he’ll agree to one more challenge, and that’s it. MVP proposes something that he claims will be the “Most Extremely Gruelingly Athletic Challenge” [“M.E.G.A. Challenge”] that Matt has ever been in, but refuses to provide any details; Matt is wary at first, but eventually says “Fine, fine, whatever will end these stupid challenges”. MVP has an evil smile on his face.
Backstage, Kane welcomes Taker back; as Taker walks away, Kenny accidentally bumps into him, igniting a small TV feud.
ECW
Burke gets his title-shot against Morrison.
Boogey and Thorn start a “weird” feud, which leads to a Punk-Boogey/V-Thorn tag match at the PPV.
NO MERCY 2007
S – Ladder, World: KHALI/Rey
R – HIAC, WWE: ORTON/Trips/Cena
E – Punk-Boogey/V-Thorn
S – M.E.G.A. Challenge, US: MATT/Mvp
R – Jeff-Hooliganz/Kennedy-Twgtt
E – ECW: MORRISON/Burke
R – UMAGA/Cody
S – STag: BATISTA-REY/Deuce-Domino
///
Batista-Rey/Deuce-Domino – Flair makes a surprise return to be in the faces’ corner. Cherry tries to distract Rey by flirting, but Flair pulls her off the apron and kisses her; Rey gets the win to retain.
Umaga/Cody – Cody’s offense has no effect on Umaga, Umaga wins.
Morrison/Burke – Burke wins the title!
6-Man – Kennedy helps Benjamin pin London.
M.E.G.A.: After returning from the video-package, we can see that there is various sports equipment around the ring, mainly outside the four corners of the ring: A basketball hoop, a batting-tee, a mini goal-post, and a soccer-goal, along with a “Dance Dance” game set-up at the top the aisle. There is also a “penalty box” outside the ring. MVP explains the rules: “Now, the reason I demanded this match with Matt Hardy is because I didn’t want to waste anymore time proving how much better I am than him, so I decided to combine everything into one match, something I like to call the ‘Most Extremely Gruelingly Athletic Challenge’, or ‘M.E.G.A. Challenge’ for short: The two combatants will enter this ring, and begin like any other wrestling match. Now, when I – I mean, either one of the participants – knock the other participant off their feet, they have to sprint outside the ring and try to complete one of the four challenges. Now those four challenges are to either shoot a b-ball through a hoop, knock a softball into the nose-bleeds, throw a football through the goal-posts, or score a soccer goal. Now, while you’re trying to do that, your opponent can try to distract you, they can try to block the shot or just push them out of the way. Now, if the person going for the shot doesn’t make it, either because it was blocked or I – I mean, the other participant – dropped them with a quick left jab or whatever, the participant who failed to complete the challenge must report to the Penalty Box, where they must spend thirty seconds, which then gives their opponent an opportunity to try to complete a challenge. Once I – participant, participant, sorry – finish all four challenges around ring-side, they have to sprint up the aisle – and this is because I have to prove I’m a better dancer than Matt Hardy, too – and complete a round of “Dance Dance Revolution”. Once that’s done, I will once again be the United States Champion, and, even more importantly, once again prove that I am better than Matt Hardy.” Matt makes his way to the ring, does his best to grasp this ridiculous idea, and the match starts. It’s a complete mess from the beginning, with nobody able to complete any of the challenges due to the constant tackling, running back and forth to the Penalty Box, etc. After about five minutes of trying, Matt grabs the mic: “You know what? This is just absolutely stupid. I’m not doing this. You want to challenge me to game of soccer, challenge me to a game of soccer, you want to challenge me to a wrestling match, challenge me to a wrestling match, but don’t combine the two.” MVP yells back that Matt’s chicken. “I’m not chicken, but I refuse to compete in this complete joke of a match.” “Joke?” “Yes, joke.” “Joke? This is the hottest thing in Japan right now, Mexico’s gonna make this part of their Olympics, this ain’t no joke!” “It’s stupid!” “Why’s it stupid?” “I’ll show you why it’s stupid: Is this a No-DQ match?” MVP thinks for a second, then says “Sure, why not”. Matt grabs the bat and hammers MVP with it repeatedly; with MVP down, Matt runs around and completes all the challenges.
Punk-Boogey/V-Thorn – Boogey pins V.
HIAC – Trips pins Orton for the title!
Ladder – Deuce-Domino try to interfere, but Batista makes the save. Runjin gets on the apron to protest, which distracts the referee and gives Batista the opportunity to spear Khali. Rey wins the title!
November 2007 (1st Half)
RAW
With Orton out of the way, Trips grants Cena a 1-on-1 match; however, seeing as the next PPV is “Cyber Sunday”, there is no guarantee that Cena will be the getting the shot, as either Orton or Cody could get the match, instead.
Cade-Murdoch will defend the tag-titles against either Cryme Tyme, TWGTT, or The Hooliganz.
Vince and Kennedy come out for an interview, but are interrupted by the returning Shane McMahon. Shane: “I only came back for one reason. That reason was to try to reason with you. Now I know I’ve set myself up for Mission: Impossible here, but please, Dad, just listen. We’ve always been a dysfunctional family. No two ways about it, we just do. This isn’t just some annoying uncle who never returned the ten bucks you leant him, what we have goes far beyond that. We have a father and son who have headlined ‘WrestleMania’… we have a father whose choked-out his own daughter for control of his company… a mother who has kicked an announcer in the balls, a father who has cheated on his mother, a mother who has been slapped by her own daughter, a brother and son who has fought for his mother’s honor and his sister’s choice of husbands, children trying to take over their parents’ company, parents trying to put their children out of business, it’s just the most incredibly messed-up family in the history of families. But the key, Dad… was ‘family’. No matter what happened, no matter who was feuding with who, no matter who was trying to get their slice of the pie, it was always about family. And this family has worked hard to get where they are, you’ve worked hard, Mom’s worked hard, Stephanie’s worked hard, and I’ve worked hard, and I’m not gonna sit back and watch some stranger walk into the castle and steal the throne.” To Kennedy: “If you want it, show how much you want it. Prove you’re a McMahon, prove you’ve got balls the size of grape-fruits.” “And how do I do that?” “Fight your father. Hey, he wanted to test my toughness, well I proved it, as did my sister, as did my mother through all these years. If you’re really a McMahon, you’ll fight the man you so lovingly call ‘pops’.” “Why should I fight my own father?” “Because, in his own screwed-up head, that’s the only way to prove you belong in this family – that you’re willing to fight to stay in it.” Before Kennedy can say anything, Vince interrupts: “Now wait just a damn minute. I know what you’re trying to do… you’re trying to drive a wedge between us. Well it ain’t gonna happen, your little Amateur Psychology won’t work, my son – MY REAL SON – is too smart for that. I fought with you and your sister and your mother for so long because you were all selfish! All of you! Ken, though... he loves me, not for the money, not for the fame, or the power, but he loves me simply because… I’m his dad. Yeah, that’s it, and I love him because he’s my son. He’s the fruit of my loins. You’re not gonna drive a wedge between us, but I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. We have ‘Cyber Sunday’ coming up in a few weeks, and since you think Ken should fight a McMahon so badly, I’m gonna let YOU fight him! And since this is ‘Cyber Sunday’, I’ll let the audience decide what kind of match you two should have!” Vince thinks for a minute: “Ok, I got it… how about… you two can either fight in an “Anything Goes” match… a ‘No Holds Barred’ Match… or… I got it, a ‘Street Fight’!” The announcers play up how they’re all the same thing, that Vince is stacking the deck against Shane. Shane thinks for a moment, then shows his acceptance by attacking Kennedy; Kennedy rolls out of the ring quickly.
SMACKDOWN
Batista and Rey will compete in a “Dual Championship” match, in which both their tag-titles AND Rey’s World-title will be on the line. Their opponents will either be Deuce-Domino, the Majors, or Khali-Henry.
Matt will defend the US-title against either MVP, Masters, or Finlay.
Hornswoggle will defend the Cruiser-title against either Yang, Chavo, or Noble.
Taker plans on making a statement, in which all three brands are to offer up one “Sinner” for him to destroy; either Santino (Raw), Kenny (SD), or Striker (ECW).
ECW
Burke will defend the title against either Punk, Morrison, or Miz.
CYBER SUNDAY 2007
R – WWE: TRIPS/[Cena, Orton, Cody]
S – World/STag: BATISTA-REY/[Deuce-Domino, Majors, Khali-Henry]
R – Kennedy/Shane [No Holds Barred, Street Fight, Anything Goes]
S – US: MATT/[Mvp, Masters, Finlay]
I – Taker/[Santino, Kenny, Striker]
E – ECW: BURKE/[Punk, Morrison, Miz]
S – Cruiser: HORNSWOGGLE/[Yang, Chavo, Noble]
R – RTag: CADE-MURDOCH/[CrymeTyme, Twgtt, Hooliganz]
///
Cade-Murdoch – Cryme Tyme win the titles if picked, otherwise C-M retain.
Hornswoggle – Yang wins the title if picked, otherwise Hornswoggle retains.
Burke – Punk wins the title if picked, otherwise Burke retains.
Taker – Taker dominates.
Matt – Matt retains.
Kennedy/Shane – Kennedy wins.
Batista-Rey – Batista-Rey retain, Rey saves Batista and scores the pin (preferably on Khali).
Trips – If Orton or Cody are picked, the other one tries to interfere on their behalf, and if Cena is picked, BOTH Orton and Cody try to ruin the match; however, Shawn Michaels makes his surprise return to run interference against Orton and/or Cody, allowing Trips to win cleanly.
November 2007 (2nd Half)
RAW
Shawn returns to “Raw”, announcing that he is on a mission to make Orton pay. Orton appears on the Tron, and warns Shawn that he has some tricks up his sleeve, to which Shawn replies “What, your little lap-dog Cody? I’m not worried about Cody, Hunter’s already taken care of him.” We cut to split-screen of Trips standing in front of Cody’s door, which has been barricaded via forklift. Orton: “As cute as that is, maybe Cody’s not the one I’m talking about.” Shawn is puzzled, and doesn’t notice that TEDDY HART, HARRY SMITH, and NATTIE NEIDHART have jumped the rail; they attack Shawn from behind, beating on him until Trips runs down for the save, at which point they run. Lawler: “Do you know who that is!?” Jim Ross: “You’re damn right I know them! Those are the Harts! Those are the relatives of the Hart family! What the hell are members of the Hart family doing here?”
The next week, the Harts introduce themselves (“You might not know us, but you know our names!”), and align themselves with Orton and Cody; Orton claims the group to be the greatest collection of next-generation wrestlers ever assembled. Trips and Shawn run-in to attack, but the 5-on-2 game is too much for them, until The Hooliganz run out! The next week, London and Kendrick reveal that they were both trained by Shawn, and that they couldn’t watch their mentor get attacked. DX-Hooliganz/Harts-Orton-Cody is announced for the PPV. The Harts hint that they might have “some help” at the PPV, telling DX “don’t be surprised if an old friend of yours shows up”.
Cryme Tyme win the tag-titles if not done at “Cyber Sunday”. TWGTT, looking to make their mark, challenge them for the titles.
If Trips/Cena didn’t happen at “Cyber Sunday”, they have a much-hyped match on “Raw”; Trips wins cleanly, and the two shake hands afterwards. Shawn and the Hooliganz keep the Harts, Orton, and Cody at bay.
Kennedy insults Cena for losing to Trips, which prompts Cena to attack Kennedy; in return, Kennedy – trying to make Vince proud – challenges him to a match at “Survivor Series”. Before that happens, however, Cena is found to have been attacked backstage; JR makes the announcement that Cena will not be able to compete at the PPV, and mentions that he finds the whole situation very fishy.
Sandman gets in Kennedy’s face about his weaseling out of the match with Cena. Umaga and Carlito continue to feud.
SMACKDOWN
Batista-Rey take on Khali-Henry if not done at “Cyber Sunday”; Rey saves Batista and pins Khali.
One more Matt/MVP match if didn’t happen at “Cyber Sunday”; Matt retains. MVP wants one more rematch, but Long says he has to step aside. MVP complains about Long’s decision, but Kane butts in.
Finlay is named next in line for US title; instead of wrestling Matt immediately, he decides to have some “warm up” matches over the next few weeks (brutalizing low-carders) in order to show Matt what he’s in for. Meanwhile, Matt is a fighting champion, beating Masters twice.
Batista-Rey-Flair-Matt/Khali-Henry-Finlay-Masters is announced for the PPV.
Yang wins Cruiser title if not done at “Cyber Sunday”. Hornswoggle tries to recapture the Cruiser-title, but to no avail.
Jesse-Festus debut, Deuce-Domino make fun of Festus; Jesse looks sad.
ECW
Punk wins the title from Burke if not done at “Cyber Sunday”. The next week, Burke requests a rematch, which Punk grants him, but Morrison interrupts; the faces chase him off.
Miz and Thorn feud with the lower faces.
Punk-Burke-Balls-Richards/Morrison-Thorn-Miz at the PPV, with the fourth man on the heel side remaining a mystery.
V and Boogey feud.
INTERFED
While there will be three 8-man elimination matches at the PPV, there will be a tri-branded 10-man elimination match, as well. Representing “Raw” will be Sandman, Umaga, Kennedy, and Carlito; representing “Smackdown” will be Kane, Yang, MVP, and Hornswoggle; and representing “ECW” will be Boogey and V.
SURVIVOR SERIES 2007
R – Trips-Shawn-Kendrick-London / Teddy-Harry-Cody-Orton
S – Batista-Rey-Flair-Matt / Khali-Henry-Finlay-Masters
R – RTag: CRYMETYME/Haas-Benjamin
E – Punk-Burke-Balls-Richards / Morrison-Thorn-Miz-???
S – Jesse-Festus/Deuce-Domino
I – Sandman-Umaga-Kane-Yang-Boogey / Kennedy-Carlito-MVP-Hornswoggle-V
///
10-Man – Hornswoggle insists on starting the match, but quickly realizes he is starting against Kane; Kane choke-slams him, but V breaks up the pin. V dominates Kane, who then tags in Umaga. Umaga and V face off, with Umaga getting the upper-hand and pinning him. As V exits the ring, he grabs Hornswoggle and hurls him at Umaga; Umaga catches him, squashes him, and pins him, too. Carlito pins Yang, MVP pins Sandman. Boogey pins Carlito. This leaves Kennedy and MVP against the monstrous team of Umaga, Kane, and Boogey. The heels double-team Boogey for the pin, and then do the same to Umaga with the same results. Kane fights back against the heels, but the ref is bumped; the heels grab some chairs, and start decimating Kane, but the lights go out and the gong is heard. When the lights come back on, Taker is in the ring; Kennedy throws MVP into Taker, and he gets choke-slammed; Kennedy bails on the match, but just as he gets to the top of the stage, ANOTHER theme hits, this time Cena’s. Cena, wearing some heavy bandages, meets Kennedy at the top of the stage, beats on him a bit, and tosses him back into the ring. MVP makes it back to his feet, and the heels notice they’re surrounded. The gong bongs again, the lights go out again, and when they come back on, both Taker and Cena are gone; the heels and the announcers are all like “What the hell is going on???”, the ref wakes, Kane does a double choke-slam on both heels, and pins them simultaneously. The announcers play up how “anything can happen in WWE!”
Survivor: Kane
Jesse-Festus/Deuce-Domino – Jesse-Festus win.
ECW – Marcus CorVon makes his surprise return. Thorn is eliminated quickly by Richards, then Richards is eliminated by Miz. Balls pins Miz, CorVon pins Balls. CorVon knocks Burke across the ring with the Pounce, and pins him. Punk pins Morrison, but CorVon hits the Pounce to win the match.
Survivor: CorVon
CrymeTyme/Haas-Benjamin – Haas-Benjamin win the titles.
SD – Masters is quickly eliminated by Matt. Finlay and Flair face-off for a while, with Flair getting Finlay in the Figure-Four, but Finlay reverses; Flair is close to submitting, but makes the ropes and tags in Matt, who eliminates Finlay. Finlay is furious, and clubs Matt with the Shillelagh, which causes him to be pinned. Flair has both Khali and Henry going, kicking them in the balls, etc., until they manage to double team him by running at him from both sides and splashing him, resulting in the pin. This leaves Batista and Rey against Khali and Henry. Henry manhandles Batista, and has him pinned, but Rey breaks it up; Rey pins Henry. Khali then manhandles Batista, and just about has him pinned, but Rey comes to the save again. This time, however, Batista is embarrassed that he once again needed Rey’s help, and turns on him; Batista gives him the Batista-Bomb, leaving Rey open to a pin by Khali. Batista then decides to get himself counted out instead of finish the match, and after the match, Batista B-Bombs him again. Flair makes his way back to the ring and confronts Batista; Batista walks away, and Flair helps Rey to his feet.
Survivor: Khali
Raw – Trips quickly eliminates both Cody and Orton. The Harts fight back and manage to eliminate London then Kendrick. The Harts double-team Shawn, focusing on the injured knee, to the point where he has to tag in Trips; Trips take control, and goes to run the ropes, but Nattie trips him, which distracts him enough to get hit with a Hart Attack when he turns back around. Furious, Trips threatens Nattie with the sledge, but leaves her alone at the ref’s behest; instead, he hits both Harts with it. Shawn, battered, tries pins on both Harts. The Harts continue to double-team Shawn until Shawn hits a Super-Kick on Harry out of nowhere. Down to Shawn and Teddy. Teddy continues working on the knee, and has it just about won, but Shawn gets the Super-Kick from nowhere, and is about to get the pin, but now BRET HART’S music kicks in! Shawn is taken completely aback! Bret shows up on the ramp, complete with sunglasses! Shawn, completely distracted, gets taken down by Teddy, and locked in the Sharpshooter. Shawn fights valiantly, but eventually his knee gives out and he submits! Bret and Harry make their way back to the ring, and the Harts celebrate.
Survivor: Teddy
Immediately after the match, Vince comes out, screaming “No! No! No! No way a Hart is gonna win tonight! I hate the Harts! No way a Hart can win at Survivor Series! Ain’t gonna happen!” Vince turns his attention to Bret. “Wait a second… you’re not Bret Hart…” Vince is correct – the fake Bret is actually Kennedy in a wig and glasses, and Vince and Kennedy embrace: “We sure showed that damn dX!” On cue, Trips and Cena run down to the ring, and the three faces chase the heels off. The show goes off the air with the faces in the ring, and Jim Ross saying “I have no idea what the hell is going on anymore, good night.”
December 2007 (1st Half)
RAW
After tricking DX, the Harts align themselves with Vince, while still maintaining a loose relationship with Orton and Cody. DX want the Harts, which Vince grants them at “Armageddon”; as a concession, Vince bars Orton and Cody from ring-side.
Cena returns and challenges Kennedy, calling out the way he hides behind his father and his family name. Vince, who originally backed Kennedy’s action of attacking Cena backstage, now does a complete 180* and insists that Kennedy should face Cena 1-on-1 “in order to prove you’re worthy of being a McMahon.” Kennedy is confused at first, but does as his father insists.
CrymeTyme wants a rematch against TWGTT, but Booker insists that they are not worthy of receiving a shot; Booker explains that he finds their “thug” ways insulting, to which CrymeTyme reply that they’re just “having fun”. Booker will team with Benjamin to defend the tag-titles against them.
Cody and Orton decide to pick on Sandman, if for no other reason than they feel they can. Sandman tells them that he’ll take on both of them; Orton back-peddles, claiming that Sandman is “below” him, but offers Cody up instead.
SMACKDOWN
Rey makes it clear that if Batista wants a shot at him and his title: “I don’t know why you did what you did, I don’t know if you were jealous that I was able to beat The Great Khali when you couldn’t, I don’t care, but if you want a shot at me and my title, all you have to do is ask. I’ll give it to you, no questions asked, on one condition… you actually look me in the eye like a man, instead of stabbing me in the back.” Batista swaggers down to the ring and grabs the mic: “Look you in the eye, huh? Kinda hard to do, ya know? But here, let me give it a try.” Batista gets on his knees. “I’m gettin’ dizzy, there’s not enough oxygen down here.” He gets back up. “Let me tell you something Rey. We were friends. We’ve been friends for a few years, now. But I’m not here to make friends. I didn’t get into this business to make friends. I’m here to be champion. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, and it’s all I’ve ever worked for. And unfortunately, Rey… little buddy… sometimes friendships get in the way. The reason I attacked you, Rey, is because I don’t like that you’re the World Heavyweight Champion. And I’ll tell you why. You’re just not World Champion material. A World Champion should be the biggest, baddest guy walking the planet. A badass, a tough guy, a guy who can beat the best of the best into a bloody pulp. Rey… you can’t beat anyone to a pulp. I went toe-to-toe with the Great Khali, all you did was run around in circles, I tried to dominate him, you just tried to make him dizzy. That’s not a strategy, that’s a cop-out. I might not have gotten the job done, but at least I played the game, I didn’t look for short-cuts. And that made me angry. It made me angry to see a guy whose entire strategy is to run away from his opponents wearing that title. Look at how you won that title, you ran up a ladder! You kick your little legs, you spin in circles, you run away from your opponents, and you think that’s enough to wear that belt? Rey, you’re not a champion… you’re not even a man… you’re half of one. You’re giving me a shot at that title? Boy, one shot is all I’ll need.” Rey is furious, and about to speak, but Flair makes his way out, looking completely disgusted at Batista. “Big man… you and I have been up and down the block a number of times. I recruited you for Evolution because I thought you were a man. Sure, we did some dirty things, but we fought for what we believed in, we scratched and clawed, and we fought like men. We didn’t get jealous of other people, we had nothing to be jealous of. But now you’re saying you’re jealous of Rey? You’re jealous, and you attack him? Big man, if you wanted a shot at the title, you could have simply asked, and I’m sure he would have given it to you just like he did right now. I’m disappointed in you, I thought I taught you better than that, I took you under my wing because I thought you had what it took to be the best. But if you’re gonna be the kind of man who lets jealousy eat away at him… I guess I was wrong about you. You think you’re something? You don’t have respect for the champion? Big man, I will beat some respect into you. You’re not getting a shot at that title until you go through me, because buddy boy, I might have taught you a lot, but you don’t know everything. Batista, Ric Flair, ‘Armageddon’!” Batista rebuts: “Ric… we’ve been through a lot together, but like I said, I’m here to be champion. I have no reason to face you because you’re not the champion. You haven’t been the champion in a loooong time. You’re nothing but a broken down has-been.” Flair snaps and attacks Batista, but Batista fights him off, which is the cue for Rey to get involved; the faces eventually get Batista out of the ring, at which point he walks to the back like he doesn’t need to be part of this. 3-way for the title at the PPV.
After what happened at “Survivor Series”, MVP decides to try to make his name by calling out Taker.
Finlay decides to cash-in his US-title shot at “Armageddon”.
With Rey and Batista at odds, the tag-titles are vacated, and a small tournament is set-up. Long announces that it is open to any eight tag-teams that would like to compete. Week 1 will see the first two quarter-finals, Week 2 will see the second two quarter-finals, Week 3 will see the two semi-finals, and the finals will be at the PPV. To keep the suspense, the brackets will not be revealed until match-time.
Week 1 begins with a match between Jesse-Festus and Funaki-Moore, which begins with Moore giving Jesse a bit of a lesson, but then quickly ends when Festus tags in and trounces Funaki in no time. The second match begins with The Major Brothers making their way to the ring, and anxiously awaiting their opponents. Surprise, surprise, as Jeff Hardy’s music hits, and the Hardys make their way to the ring. Back-and-forth match as the Majors are actually able to go hold-for-hold with the Hardys, and, in a surprising upset, Brett actually manages to pin Jeff cleanly. The teams shake hands afterwards.
Week 2 starts off with Deuce-Domino, who are shocked to see their old enemies The Hooliganz make their way down to the ring. The Hooliganz are able to extract revenge on Deuce-Domino. The second tournament match of the evening begins with the “Raw” tag-champs TWGTT making their way to the ring, eager to prove that they are not only the most dominant team on “Raw”, but the most dominant team in all of World Wrestling Entertainment. They’re chomping at the bit to get things going, but are dismayed when The Great Khali and Mark Henry make their way to the ring. The two giants easily decimate TWGTT, pinning Haas to advance. After the match, the giants leave, and Cryme Tyme come out and steal the “Raw” tag belts.
Week 3 sees The Majors cleanly beat The Hooliganz, and Khali-Henry moidering Jesse as Festus is held at bay. At the PPV, it will be The Major Brothers against The Great Khali and Mark Henry for the WWE Tag Team Championships.
Quarter-Finals:
- Jesse-Festus/Funaki-Moore
- TWGTT/Khali-Henry
- Majors/Hardys
- Deuce-Domino/Hooliganz
Semi-Finals:
- Jesse-Festus/Khali-Henry
- Majors/Hooliganz
Finals (PPV):
- Khali-Henry/Majors
ECW
After his impressive showing at “Survivor Series”, CorVon is named #1 contendor.
Morrison and Burke continue their feud.
ARMAGEDDON 2007
S – World: REY/Batista/Flair
R – Dx/Harts
E – ECW: PUNK/CorVon
S – Taker/MVP
R – IC: KENNEDY/Cena
S – STag: Majors/Khali-Henry
R – Cody/Sandman
E – Morrison/Burke
S – US: MATT/Finlay
R – RTag: BENJAMIN-BOOKER/CrymeTyme
///
Benjamin-Booker/CrymeTyme – Haas interferes, allowing Booker to get the pin. TWGTT get their belts back.
Matt/Finlay – Matt retains.
Morrison/Burke – Burke.
Cody/Sandman – Orton is at ring-side, but does not interfere, instead allowing Cody to lose on his own.
Majors/Khali-Henry – After a few minutes of the heels having their way with them, Brett and Brian meet in the corner to discuss a strategy. They both climb out of the ring and start taunting the two giants, which causes Khali and Henry to give chase. The Majors engage them in a game of cat-and-mouse up the aisle, causing the behemoths to tire and get counted out. JBL notes that it was a brilliant strategy, as a vacated title is one of the only times a contendor can win a title via count-out. The heels are furious, and run back into the ring to make them pay, but the new champs quickly scamper off.
Kennedy/Cena – Kennedy wins surprisingly cleanly.
Taker/MVP – Taker.
Punk/CorVon – CorVon wins the title cleanly after a Pounce.
Trips-Shawn/Teddy-Harry – Trips-Shawn win.
Rey/Batista/Flair – At the end of the match, Batista B-Bombs Rey through the announce table, effectively taking him out of the match; with the ref tending to Rey, Batista decimates Flair with a chair and pins him.
December 2007 (2nd Half)
RAW
Vince is disappointed in The Harts, but they plead with him to give them another chance. Vince agrees, and makes a 4-way match between Trips, Shawn, Teddy, and Harry, pointing out that this type of match would force Trips and Shawn to work against each other, which Teddy and Harry could then take advantage of.
Trips and Shawn, upon hearing the news of the 4-way, make an agreement that, should they be the last two in the ring, they will fight completely cleanly, so that the better man may win. They pinky-swear to it.
Orton mouths-off at Cena about his loss to Kennedy; Cena tells him “any time, any place”.
After beating Cody, Sandman wants a shot at Kennedy’s IC-title.
Carlito mocks Jeff’s loss in his SD match against The Majors.
SMACKDOWN
Flair is completely over the edge with anger, and attacks Batista at every opportunity, which prompts Batista to hire Khali and Henry to keep Flair (and Rey) away from him. Matt steps up to even the odds.
MVP picks on Eugene.
Deuce-Domino challenge The Majors for the tag-titles.
ECW
With his win over Morrison, Burke is named the #1 contendor to CorVon’s title.
Nunzio challenges Morrison, calling Morrison little more than a flamboyant pretty boy.
Striker mocks Punk.
DECEMBER TO DISMEMBER 2007
R – WWE: TRIPS/Shawn/Teddy/Harry
S – Rey-Flair-Matt/Batista-Khali-Henry
E – ECW: CORVON/Burke
R – Cena/Orton
S – Mvp/Eugene
E – Morrison/Nunzio
R – IC: KENNEDY/Sandman
E – Punk/Striker
S – STag: MAJORS/Deuce-Domino
///
Majors/Deuce-Domino – Majors.
Punk/Striker – Punk makes quick work of Striker.
Kennedy/Sandman – Kennedy.
Morrison/Nunzio – Morrison wins in a very technical match.
MVP/Eugene – MVP.
Cena/Orton – Cena wins, as Cody just stands there doing nothing to interfere.
CorVon/Burke – CorVon.
6-Man – Batista eventually bails on the match, allowing the three faces to take advantage. Flair, with the help of his team-mates, pins Henry.
4-Way – Harry is eliminated first, then Teddy. Trips and Shawn both give it their all, with Trips eventually hitting the Pedigree for the win. After the match, he helps Shawn to his feet, and the two shake hands and embrace.
