 We open with an overview of CM Punk vs. Chavo Guerrero, leading to the title match in tonight's main event.
Match 1: John Morrison & Mike Mizanin vs. Tommy Dreamer & Colin Delaney (WWE tag titles) After losing two non-title matches last week, Miz & Morrison might be willing to settle for some home cooking, as we're in Miz's hometown of Cleveland. Right now, I think he's well below the likes of LeBron James, Derek Anderson, Travis Hafner, and Drew Carey on the popularity scale with the home folks, not exactly in that order. Pretty standard stuff, pretty even. Dreamer put Morrison in the Texas Cloverleaf at one point (though not called as such by Joey Styles), but Miz broke that up, then gave Delaney a cheap shot, knocking the rookie to the floor. The champs then give Dreamer a double gutbuster, but Delaney has seen enough, and comes charging in with a chair to the gut of Miz, right in front of ref Mike Posey, who has no real choice but to call for the bell. Morrison & Mizanin are chased out with chair shots. Winners: John Morrison & Mike Mizanin via DQ.
Match 2: Shelton Benjamin vs. Stevie Richards Here's two guys who've been on winning streaks of late. A even matchup of youth & speed (Benjamin) vs. veteran experience & savvy (Richards). Benjamin crashes on a attempted cross-body block, and Richards follows with a thrust kick to the gut, then an enziguri. However, Benjamin blocks a attempt at a rollup by hitting the ropes, then follows with his inverted bulldog-STO. Winner: Shelton Benjamin.Post-match, Benjamin cut a short promo for Money in the Bank IV.
Clips are shown of the unveiling of Maria Kanellis' Playboy cover from last night's Raw. Backstage, Kelly Kelly & Kofi Kingston are admiring a replica of said cover, and Kingston endorses Kelly as a future cover girl. Kofi leaves, and Layla shows up, claiming Playboy contacted her, not Kelly. Kelly calls her out as a liar, and a catfight breaks out, broken up by Kingston and ref Scott Armstrong.
Match 3: Kane vs. James Curtis Squashola! Before the match begins, Chuck Palumbo, who faces Kane on Smackdown this Friday, rode out to the ring, and circled the ringside area, attempting to distract the Big Red Monster. Curtis tried taking advantage with a few shots to the back, but it didn't work. Focusing on both Curtis and Palumbo, Kane finishes off Curtis with the chokeslam in nothing flat. Winner: Kane.
Now, we're revisiting the farce that was Big Show vs. Brandon Hill from last night, including the verbal sparring between Show and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. after the match. Sounds like they added sound effects suggesting that Hill might've broken a leg after landing on the mat outside the ring after the match. Joey tells us that Colin Delaney & Tommy Dreamer (to reverse the billing a wee bit) have been granted a rematch vs. Miz & Morrison for next week, but this time, under extreme rules. These days, that doesn't always favor an ECW Original like Dreamer..... Lena Yada interviews CM Punk. Actually, she just holds the mic and Punk cuts a money promo on Chavo Guerrero. Without mentioning his name, Punk makes reference to Chavo's late uncle Eddie as the real definition of a "warrior", and rips Chavo for being a coward, relying on his aunt Vicki and Edge to help him win the title. Punk sounds confident about regaining the title. After all, he won the title the first time on Sci-Fi back in September from John Morrison. Can winning on free TV be a charm again?
Match 4: Chavo Guerrero vs. CM Punk (ECW title) This was easily the match of the night. A key turning point in the match came early on when Punk attempted a springboard clothesline, but Guerrero pushed him off the top and to the floor. From that point, Guerrero worked on the left knee of Punk, who wasn't able to really make use of it without any pain the rest of the way. Just the same, Punk hit a suicide dive and the springboard clothesline for 2. He went for the Go To Sleep, but Guerrero slid out and started the 3 Amigos. Punk, however, countered the 3rd Amigo into a small package for 2. Guerrero came right back with a tornado DDT off the turnbuckles, then hit the frogsplash. Winner: Chavo Guerrero. I stated before No Way Out that Chavo needed a decisive win to establish himself as a legitimate champion. He now has done that twice in the space of 16 days. The question now is, can they build up another challenger for Guerrero?
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