The Straight-Edge Pledge. CM Punk, accompanied by his disciple Luke Gallows, asked the audience about their New Year's Resolutions, and how many of them broke it within the first day. Punk has grown tired of preaching time and time again to a relentless audience, so as of next week... and all the weeks after that... he will take one member from the audience and beat them down until they accept the Straight-Edge lifestyle.Mr. Punk's Time to Beat. The only 3-time "Straight-Edge" World Champion, predicted a fourth reign by first setting the time to beat (which no one would be able to break), followed by an impressive victory over The Undertaker at The Royal Rumble. Except his opponent was Matt Hardy, the older brother of the man CM Punk forced out of the WWE in a Loser Leaves Steel Cage Match back in August. CM Punk's best bet to take out Hardy in a timely fashion was to kick hard and go for submission maneuvers. Which Punk did for the most part, getting Matt in various sleeper holds, but he should have gone with the Anaconda Vice. In the end, Punk struck with the GTS setting the time to beat at 7:20.
Dolph Frizzed Out. The following Beat the Clock Challenge pit "The Big Red Monster" Kane against Dolph Ziggler. The Undertaker has mentioned before that nothing warms his dark heart than to do battle with his brother, but Kane went about this match the wrong way. Instead of relying on his body and strength to quickly put down his opponent, he changed his style to match speed with Ziggler. Dolph Ziggler, not off-base with the sheer size of Kane, as he has done battle with The Great Khali over the summer, is unfamiliar with taking down an opponent, let alone the Big Red Monster, in under 7 minutes and 20 seconds. Ziggler focused on the head of Kane, rather than his nimble legs, with various kicks and shots to the head, and applying a sleeper hold along with a body scissor to wear him out. This was a bad strategy, especially when time is running out with less than 30 seconds, a sleeper hold can take up to 2 minutes to fully cut off the air passage into the lungs of a normal person, let alone Kane. What is a mystery is when both men failed to beat the clock, Ziggler struck with the Zig-Zag; why didn't he do that 30 seconds ago? All he got out of the match was a lesson in strategy and a reminder to bring extra gel for his frizzy hair.
JoMo-McIntyre, Best Feud. Last week on WWE Superstars, John Morrison issued his championship rematch against Drew McIntyre for January 1st. Drew McIntyre, since coming to the WWE, has not lost a single match, and captured the I-C strap on his first try, would John Morrison be able to grant "The Chosen One" his first loss? John Morrison, no doubt, has been more aggressive as of late, and has shown more passion than in his whole wrestling career. He struck with everything he had, even an innovative standing moonsault kick on the barricades; but his "party" would end as he hung upside down, after getting his leg caught in the ropes. The referee admonished McIntyre for taking advantage of Morrison's predicament, but Morrison was able to pull himself together to connect with the Flying Chuck. McIntyre, unfortunate for Morrison, was able to withstand any offensive strike thrown his way, but it was due to Morrison's aggressive nature that cost the former champ the match. Morrison failing to listen to the ref when urged to back away from the corner, accidentally knocked down the referee with the assist from McIntyre. Despite losing the match via DQ, Morrison met up with McIntyre up the ramp to deliver much needed punishment. It was an after match brawl altercation that saw a fleet of referees prying apart these two superstars.Women's Wrestling at its Best! Seated by the SmackDown announce table, The Women's Champion Michelle McCool and her protege, Layla sported homemade t-shirts: one which read "Piggy James *hearts* Food," and the other "We *heart* Glamazon." After last week's stare down from The Glamazon, Michelle McCool, without a doubt, feared the much stronger adversary. The divas' match was slated for Beth Phoenix against Mickie James, picking up from last week's ambush when Phoenix tossed Mickie James alongside the announce table. These two have had a storied-rivalry that has carried over from RAW; but would that rivalry be put on hold after a miss-queue interference caused McCool to accidentally kick Beth Phoenix in the face? After the match ended in DQ granting Beth the win, the team of LayCool ganged up on Mickie James, before Beth Phoenix cleaned house. Mickie James was stunned by the assist and Beth's sportman-like slap to the hand. But, the GlamAddicts were relieved to see Phoenix continue her dominance over the SmackDown women's division after administering a GlamSlam to Mickie James. Beth Phoenix has not befriended Mickie James nor will she fall victim to McCool's false admiration.
The Littlest Man with the Biggest Upset. Chris Jericho claimed that he is the omnipotent center of the WWE, and after winning his tag titles from DX, which allows him to appear on every brand, he will capture every other title that the WWE has to offer by first defeating the Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. To capture every title would be a monopoly that has never occurred or deemed possible, but if anyone were to ever attempt such a feat, and succeed, it would be Chris Jericho. In 2001 at Vengeance, Y2J defeated The Rock for the WCW Title and minutes later faced Stone Cold for the WWE Title, on the same night, to become the first ever Undisputed World Champion; so for Jericho to deem himself omnipotent in the WWE is not heretic, it's just facts. Chris' opponent in the Beat the Clock Challenge was none other than his old time rival, Rey Mysterio. 619, having lost his World Heavyweight Title match last week due to Batista's interference, looked to climb the proverbial ladder once more in order to be a 2-time World Champion. The two knowing each other so well had an intense match up, to the point that Cole and the rest of the fans were shouting for a quick cover. Mysterio attempted the 619 but Jericho grabbed him in mid strike and applied the Walls of Jericho. With a little over a minute left on the clock, people were anticipating the outcome. This is when being a wrestling fan pays off, because it doesn't matter who wins by virtue of the hell of a performance they put on. Mysterio attempted another 619 but it was countered in mid air by a Code Breaker! Both of these men went toe for toe, and it was unbelievable the reception they received, but in the end Mysterio managed a small package roll up... Beating the clock at 7 minutes and 19 seconds. Mysterio won with a second left on the clock!
Rey Costs Batista 1-second. The final Beat the Clock Match featured Batista against R-Truth, which should have been a squash match in record fashion. Even Matt Striker, after CM Punk's match, asked Todd Grisham which of the following matches would be able to beat that record, that was a joke because Batista could clearly throw R-Truth like a rag doll. R-Truth's body cannot compare to Batista's physical appearance, which is so intimidating that his veins look muscular. Batista could have easily struck with a spine-buster followed by the Batista Bomb and have been done in 45 seconds; however, Batista knows that he could do that, but he decides instead to focus his attention to his former friend, and current Time-to-Beat, Rey Mysterio. Valuable seconds were wasted with Batista's over-confidence and it cost him. He struck with the Batista Bomb and went for the cover, but he was counted out because Mysterio pulled the referee out of the ring. The clock should have stopped, and the referee should have ruled Batista the obvious winner, as he was about to count 3 with 3 seconds left to spare. Rey Mysterio was believed to be the winner, but "Official Consultant" Vickie Guerrero ruled otherwise. Next week, Batista will take on Rey Mysterio, again, in a #1 Contender's Match to determine Taker's opponent for the World Heavyweight Title at the Royal Rumble.
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