Triple-H gave Sheamus the Pedigree. Is the Celtic Warrior one of the Elimination Chamber competitors?
Smackdown opens up with the Awesome one himself, The Miz. Miz was feeling extra proud of himself having gotten the better of Booker T, not once, but twice. He then went on to say that after the beating he handed to both Orton and Booker he was ready to focus on making a run at the World Heavyweight Championship belt.
But before Miz could continue, Wade Barrett interrupted him. Barrett reminded Miz that it was him who softened up both Orton and Booker, giving Miz the cleanup work. The Miz countered, telling Barrett that he would have no problem giving Barrett a taste of what Booker and Orton got from Miz last week. “If a fight is what you want, then a fight is what you’ll get… right now!” chimed Barrett and we started his descent towards the ring.
As Barrett got to the front of the ring, Orton came running down the ramp and attacked Barrett from behind. He bounced Barrett’s head off the ring post and apron, knocking him to the floor. As he was ready to set Orton up for another attack, possibly an RKO, Miz grabbed Orton from behind and gave him the Skull-Crushing Finale. Smackdown cut to a commercial break after the attack.
When Smackdown resumed, the audience was informed that through Twitter, Roose found “humor” in seeing three championship-worthy stars fight in a triple threat match as his main event.
The first match saw Justin Gabriel defending his United States Championship for the first time since winning it at the Royal Rumble. Roose awarded Sin Cara a title shot after beating Heath Slater last week. The two high-fliers started off fast-paced, trading flying attacks, high kicks and eye-dazzling reversals.
Sin Cara hit Gabriel with a DDT, setting himself up for an attempt at his moonsault. With Gabriel lying on the matt helpless, Sin Cara ascended the top rope. But out of the crowd came the New Age Outlaws. Billy Gunn distracted the referee and Road Dogg pushed Sin Cara off the top rope. Gabriel came to, scooped Sin Cara into a roll-up and pinned him to retain his US belt.
After Gabriel exited the ring, the Outlaws slid in and continued their assault on Sin Cara. But before they could do too much damage, both Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio ran out and chased the Outlaws from the ring.
Sheamus, fresh off of a dominating performance against Godfather last week, started off with how he’s always been a fighter. Sheamus then said he wanted to throw his hat in the Elimination Chamber. “As a fighter, I want to be champion, and not a single person will stand in my way of the belt. Including you, Triple-H. Even if I have to kick your head clean off your shoulders, fella, I will win back the World Heavyweight belt at the Elimination Chamber.”
John Cena’s music hit, and he came out to poke the bear. He told Sheamus that in order for him to kick the head off the shoulders of Triple-H that he would have to kick the head off his own first. “I’d be glad to arrange that for ya, fella,” Sheamus said with a smile. The match was set for later that night in what would become a classic Smackdown Match.
The lights went out and the D-X music broke, much to the approval of the fans. After a raucous reception from the fans, Triple-H took the mic. “I see the entire Smackdown roster has interested in this around my waist,” Triple-H said, slapping the front of his title belt. “But only five lucky guys will get a chance to join me in the Elimination Chamber in two weeks. Roose informed me back stage that I will be allowed to choose two worthy candidates of my own to compete in the Chamber, but I won’t make that announcement until next week.”
But before Triple-H could finish, Zack Ryder’s music hit, with Heath Slater following closely behind him. “Hey broski, need not look any further because the two of us are your obvious choices to wrestle in the chamber with you, dinosaur!” Shawn Michaels grabbed the microphone from his buddy and chimed in, “Who do you think you’re calling dinosaur, slappy?” Triple-H took back his mic in a comical fashion. “If you two think you’re so deserving of being in the Chamber with myself, then why don’t you get your butts in the rings with these two dinosaurs and if you beat us then maybe I’ll think about bringing in a couple clowns like you.”
So the match started out with Triple-H and Ryder. Triple-H started out the match by making a fool out of Ryder. Throwing him around the ring. He then tagged in his partner, HBK, and Michaels went to work on Ryder a bit. Ryder was able to get some offense in, finding Heath Slater for the tag. The two controlled HBK for a bit, but he was able to rally and get the hot tag with Triple-H.
Triple-H came flying in, hitting Ryder with the high knee. He then threw Ryder back into the rops to hit the face buster on his knee. A kick to the gut later, Triple-H gave Ryder the Pedigree and earned a 1-2-3 win in his first action since the Rumble.
Following the match, Eve was shown confronting Beth Phoenix back stage. Eve told Phoenix that she wants a title shot for the Women’s Championship. “What makes you so sure you deserve a shot at my belt?” Phoenix quipped. Roose showed up before Eve could respond and told the challenger she could have her match with Phoenix for the belt if she could beat Phoenix in a non-title match… up next!
Phoenix got some early offense in on Eve, who was determined to get her title show. Eve fought back but Phoenix hit Eve with a vicious clothesline, setting her up for the Glam Slam. But Eve countered, rolling up Phoenix and winning the match.
Back stage, Kofi Kingston stormed into Roose’s office, demanding a match with Road Dogg. Roose gladly granted Kingston his wish.
Kingston, still feeling it from the assault he took last week on his shoulder, was troubled early from the start. Road Dogg continued his assault on the shoulder of Kingston. After landing a big suplex, Road Dogg went for the pin but all he got was a long two count.
Road Dogg continued the assault, but Kingston reversed his attempt at Shake, Rattle n Roll with a spinning heel kick. Kingston continued his rally, eventually hitting the Trouble In Paradise for the win. But as soon as Kingston got his three count, Billy Gunn entered the ring and attacked Kingston. While the two Outlaws continued to stomp on Kingston, Mysterio and Sin Cara came out and began to fight with the Outlaws. Kingston got up and helped his friends fight off the Outlaws. The counter-attack ended with Mysterio hitting the 619 on Gunn, forcing the two Outlaws out of the ring.
In the night’s pre-main event match, Sheamus and Cena attempted to settle their differences in the squared circle. Sheamus and Cena traded early blows. After a drop kick from Cena to the Celtic Warrior, Cena went for an Attitude Adjustment. Sheamus elbowed his way out of it, Irish Whipped Cena into the ropes and then attempted White Noise but Cena countered that as well.
Cena pushed Sheamus into the ropes and then slammed him down, setting up the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. Cena let Sheamus know he couldn’t see him before dropping the fist on the Irishman. Sheamus kicked out of the pin. Cena decided to go to the top rope and hit the leg drop. But Sheamus rolled out of the way, leaving Cena to land on an empty mat.
Sheamus then put Cena into the White Noise, setting him up for a Brogue Kick. As Sheamus began to signal his finishing attack, Triple-H ran out and attacked Sheamus from behind, prompting the bell. Triple-H tossed Cena out of the ring, turned and hit the Pedegree on Sheamus, sending a message that his head won’t be kicked off his shoulders.
The final match of the night was the triple threat match granted by Roose earlier. As the bell run, the three men looked around, not knowing who should attack who the first. But then both Orton and Miz went after Barrett, knocking the English man out of the ring. The two then collided with Miz getting the early advantage on Orton.
Orton was able to fight back against the Miz, but Barrett gathered himself and re-entered the ring only to start his first offense of the night on Orton. Barrett wore down Orton with punch after punch, taking time to turn his attention to Miz where he kept him off his feet. But when Barrett turned his focus back to Orton for a third time, the Apex Predator hit Barrett with a drop kick.
All three men lied down in the ring, fighting to get back to their feet. A three way battle of trading blows ensued and Orton flung Miz into the ropes to set him up for a vintage scoop slam. Orton than grabbed Barrett and threw him through the ropes to set up the DDT. Orton connected and set up Barrett for the RKO. As Orton signaled, Miz got up and attacked Orton from behind with the Skull Crushing Finale. But before Miz could get the three count, Booker T rushed down to the ring and pulled Miz off Orton, prompting the bell. The two stars fought their way up the ramp and out of the arena. Meanwhile in the ring, Orton hit Barrett with the RKO, ending the show.
MATCH 6
Real Deal vs Roose: Road to Wrestlemania 