WWE No Way Out 2008 - 17/02/2008

ECW Heavyweight Title Match: Chavo Guerrero (c) vs. CM Punk

The famous gulf of Mexico match happened earlier in the month. I haven’t watched that in years. I really want to see that but I’ll stick with this. I love Chavo. I might be the most high on Chavo than anyone ever. Including Chavo himself. He’s like Mr ***1/4-1/2 for me. I love how he brings the rudo style of lucha libre to his matches, which is more grounded and dickish, than the technico side that’s all charisma and flash - Rey Mysterio & Face Eddie, etc. But Chavo has some great flair to his hurricanranas and tornado ddts as well. He threw a random sunset senton to Punk’s back. Punk was pretty over too. You would constantly hear the familiar “CM Punk” chants ring out whenever Chavo was in control. He had some nasty head kicks. He laid Chavo out on the apron with one with Chavo doing an awesome bump, selling it like death. The finish fucking great and something that you’ll only see by a smart wrestler like Chavo. Chavo hanging onto the ropes while Punk attempted a rana, causing Punk to eat the dirt and hit the frog splash was so sweet. ***1/4

World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Elimination Chamber Match: Finlay vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. The Undertaker vs. Batista vs. Big Daddy V (w/Matt Striker) vs. The Great Khali (w/Ranjin Singh)

God bless Finlay and The Undertaker because based on the wrestlers they have to work with (maybe not Batista tbf), they have their work cut out for them. This was built around Taker vs Batista. I think they milked all they could out of that feud and this is just an extra milk. They kicked off the match as the first two people in the ring. They took care of Big Daddy V and Khali with ease. It was too easy imo but that’s a different story. And they finished it. It revolved around them. Finlay and MVP added some much needed difference to all the big man bombs that was a chore to get through. MVP isn’t great but him being a chickenshit and not wanting to get in the ring, blocking off the pod was great. And he took a big bump off the pod for a great elimination. Finlay was solid and bumped for everyone. Him getting chokeslammed on the chamber floor was gnarly. I liked the actual finish with the Tombstone transition from the outside but the grand stand off didn’t really do much to peak my interest. There were some decent things but this is one of the more uneventful EC matches. **1/2

Ric Flair's Career On The Line Match: Mr. Kennedy vs. Ric Flair

This had zero heat. Now, that could be for two reasons. No one believes Flair is losing by this point until WM. Or Kennedy isn’t very good and can’t draw heat. I think it’s both. He does okay at working Flair’s injured leg but as there is no heat, it doesn’t mean much. The match ends. I’m not sure what else I can offer to this that isn’t just hating on Mr Kennedy. It was a functional match for Flair to do his farewell tour routine. **1/4

World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge (c) vs. Rey Mysterio

This is a rematch to their Rumble match where Vickie Guerrero interfered. I do like that she continues being in her wheelchair after the fact though. Rey has torn his bicep which is never nice to hear. It must have been bad because this is only like 5 minutes long. Edge throws him into the stairs and locks on a shit armbar. Rey did a few nifty aerial dives but this was pretty much a “do a few things and finish” match. Very TV like. NR

WWE Heavyweight Title Match: Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena

I never get why to this day they didn’t do this at Wrestlemania. Is it just Triple H being an egotistical knob? Probably. This in 2022 is a match that has been done to death but their early matches feel so fresh, even now. They had some great matches around this time as well. This one is one of those great matches. Orton was fantastic in this match. Offensively he does all the Orton tropes but there is more purpose to them. He punches his way into control early in the match, even punching the surgical repaired pectoral muscle - awesome heel move - and unleashing nasty stomps on the ankle and chest. Even his headlock looked deadly. Orton is great when on point and he was on point in this match. Cena did what Cena does and perfectly fit his performance to his opponent’s work. His selling was perfect. He sold everything like death, the aforementioned headlock especially. His brief comebacks were full of fuel and had the crowd cheering all the way when he was exploding. Even the ones who were booing him previously. The finish was a work of genius. Orton feels the pain from the applied STF and decides to wuss out, asking Chioda to count him out and when that doesn’t work when Cena interrupts the plan, he slaps the ref and causes the DQ. I loved that. That is great character work, perfectly implemented with teases and protects the match result a while longer. Epic match. ****1/2

WWE Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Elimination Chamber Match: John Bradshaw Layfield vs. Triple H vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga

The match got off to a really rough start with Michaels and Jericho starting the match. I like both guys, and their feud that comes later in the year, but their 5 minutes did not get things off to a hot start. It was quite unremarkable. There was a random chop exchange and a few other bits but there was no spark which is what the first two guys are supposed to do. Umaga did some good big man stuff. He kept it simple and sold really well for everyone. JBL didn’t do much but him laying out everyone with chairs after he got eliminated was awesome. The end stretch with Jeff Hardy and HHH was solid as well. Hardy kicking out of the first pedigree was surprising. The crowd popped big expecting that to be it. However HHH blew off a Hardy low blow far too easily after that (which is normally a guaranteed transition of control) so that was annoying. But the match turned into something good in the end though. Perhaps not as good as it should’ve been. ***