Test Passes Away, Shawn vs. Undertaker, Raw, Smackdown

Welcome to the “Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker feud is making for excellent TV and we’re just getting started” edition of The Wrestling List. They are putting on a show so far and I love the build that is being put on it as Mr. WrestleMania vs. the undefeated streak of Undertaker’s. Plus, Shawn has never lost to Undertaker one on one. WWE has a perfect build to this marquee match.

Sad news to start this week. Andrew “Test” Martin passed away on Friday. He was found in his apartment in Tampa and no foul play is said to be involved. A neighbor called the police after she had noticed him to be motionless for several hours as she could see into his apartment. She then called the police to do a welfare check on him and they found him to be passed away. Martin was 33. Way too young to be passing away for sure!! My thoughts and prayers obviously go out to everyone!! The media has picked up the story and several wrestlers have commented on his passing on their websites. Many in the industry are taking it very hard. Trish Stratus posted a memorial in her My Space status update and Kelly Kelly posted a really sad posting on her My Space which said: "You were my world my best friend the one i always ran to u were always there for me..what happened to our plan...Why did god take u away from me...my heart is always with u and u only..I know your in heaven watching over me now my angel..." WWE News: The Royal Rumble buyrate number was released last week. The show did 445,000 buys as compared to last years 575,000 buys. Last week’s Raw rating was a 3.7 which is down from the previous week’s 3.8. ECW did a 1.3. Smackdown on March 6 did a 2.0 which was down from the previous week’s 2.3. TNA News: TNA has announced that Danny Bonaduce will be competing at the Lockdown PPV in April but no word on who against. Last week’s Impact rating was a 1.2.

Not much talking and mostly action on last week’s Smackdown. Solid show. Very good segment with Jeff and Matt Hardy. Matt came to the ring for his “tell all” where he basically said that he was behind everything that had happened to Jeff over the last several months. He brought up the incident with Jeff’s house as well. Matt held the dog strap of Jeff’s dog and said he wanted to present it to Jeff in a symbol of love. Jeff eventually made his way to the ring and couldn’t believe that Matt was behind everything. Jeff said that Matt hated him but that Matt hated himself more. He called Matt sick and demented. Jeff then said that he was demented too and jumped on Matt landing punches. Matt got out of the ring to the floor and started backing up while he was saying he was sorry. Matt walked to the back and then paused with a smile on his face. He then finished walking to the back. Very solid segment and it was a job well done in continuing to build up their feud. WWE did announce that Jeff and Matt will wrestle at WrestleMania 25. In the main event, Undertaker defeated Kozlov with the tombstone. Edge got a win on Kofi in a solid match. Edge went for the spear and Kofi was able to counter it into a sunset flip. Edge then avoided Kofi’s kick and got him in a sharpshooter. Kofi tapped out and it gave Edge the win. Only followup on Edge and Vickie was Edge talking to Chavo. He didn’t like what Chavo had to say either and shoved him against the wall asking if everyone had a conspiracy against him. Miz and Morrison retained the World Tag Team titles against The Colons when Morrison hit the moonlight drive on Carlito for the win. The Bellas were at ringside for the match arriving with The Colons but they left with Miz and Morrison. Am I the only one that can’t ever remember which team holds what tag title? Shelton Benjamin and Chavo Guerrero took on MVP and R Truth. At one point, Shelton wouldn’t tag into the match from Chavo and then tagged himself in. The finish had Shelton hitting the paydirt on MVP for the pinfall. Finlay defeated Kendrick to get the last Money In The Bank qualifying spot. Maria and Melina defeated Maryse and Michelle. The finish had Maryse reaching for a tag but Michelle wouldn’t take it and Melina pinned her. After the match, Maryse confronted Michelle about it. Michelle got on offense against Maryse quickly and they were eventually separated.

Tonight’s Raw was from San Antonio and the crowd was very into it. The hometown guy, Shawn Michaels, was out first on the show and got a big pop. Really good opening match. Shawn teamed with The Undertaker against Kozlov and JBL. Undertaker’s music hit before Shawn was even done posing. That set the tone as Shawn went to tag early on but Undertaker wouldn’t. He later tagged in and everything was fine as far as them working as a team. Undertaker got the hot tag and came into the ring. He was about to finish JBL and pulled back his hand ready to deliver the chokeslam. Shawn then tagged himself in and hit the superkick on JBL for the win. As Shawn got up, he ducked a kick from a very angry Undertaker. Shawn talked trash all the way up the aisle and then Undertaker followed him up the ramp. Shawn disappeared and Undertaker did his normal thing on the ramp where he turns and looks at the crowd. As he turned, Shawn reappeared and Undertaker turned back around into a superkick. Shawn then let him know all about it and the San Antonio crowd was loving it. Yeah, me too!! Great stuff in this first segment!! Triple H faced Cody Rhodes in a match. Orton and Dibiase arrived before the match started. Triple H wore Cody out all around ringside and then grabbed the sledgehammer. Legacy had been making their way to ringside until that happened. He hit the pedigree on to Rhodes. As Legacy again tried to make a charge, Triple H held the sledgehammer in hand and proceeded to wave which brought the cage down from the roof. Triple H chased Legacy from the ring and made it back just in time for the cage to finish lowering. Orton and Dibiase were unable to get back in time. The bell rang for the match to start and Triple H actually dropped the sledgehammer. He pounded on Rhodes. Orton and Dibiase would try to climb the cage and then Triple H would just throw Rhodes into whoever was climbing which was really cool. Triple H went and faced off with Orton through the cage which was a nice visual. Dibiase was almost over the top at that point and Triple H took a sledgehammer swing at him. Triple H then blasted Rhodes with the sledgehammer and got the win. He faced off with Legacy after that. Later in the night, Todd tried to talk to Triple H as he left asking him how he got Vickie to agree to the cage. Then, we saw Triple H get in his vehicle and kiss Stephanie who was in the passenger seat. There is your answer. The main event was John Cena taking on Edge with Vickie as the special referee. Earlier in the night, Edge forgave Vickie for what she did with Edge saying that Show was using her. Show later told Vickie that he loved her and kissed her while adding that Edge was the one using her but he had taken it a step further with marrying her. The stipulation was made on if Cena touched Vickie, then he was out of WrestleMania. Vickie of course wouldn’t make counts for Cena. Cena went for the five knuckle shuffle and Vickie jumped on top of Edge. Cena backed off and she moved. Cena then hit it on Edge. He picked up Edge for the adjustor but Vickie pulled him off. Then, he put Edge in the STF and Vickie grabbed on to Cena. Big Show arrived and the double team was on. Vickie got in some slaps as well since Cena was tied in the ropes. Edge then hit a spear on Big Show as the show ended. Chris Jericho made his challenge to Ric Flair saying that he was giving Flair the chance that he wanted to take the spotlight that he so badly couldn’t let go of. Flair walked out saying he was retired but had some guys who did want a piece of him. He brought out Steamboat, Piper, and Snuka. All four surrounded Jericho in the ring. Jericho tried to escape and three of them jumped on him. Jericho got out of the ring but caught a right hand from Flair as he went up the ramp. Jericho was later interviewed by Todd who said that he was challenging Steamboat, Piper, and Snuka to a handicap match at WrestleMania and wanted Flair in their corner. He also invited Mickey Rourke to be in the front row to watch. The team of Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, and Melina defeated the team of Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall, and Layla when Melina pinned Beth with a rollup. Santino did commentary on the match which was entertaining as usual. MVP, Kofi, and CM Punk defeated Kane, Henry, and Shelton when MVP was able to trip up Shelton leading to Punk’s GTS for the win. On commentary during that match was Christian, Finlay,and Hornswoggle. Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler following a 619 and splash.

Other notes from Raw. Wow, Kelly made me sad tonight seeing her blow a kiss to the heavens upon her entrance. No doubt on what that symbolized. I wondered if we would see her on TV tonight but she did not actually enter the match. No mention of Test on Raw tonight. How great was it to see Flair and Steamboat side by side??!! Loved that!! Memories. One of the greatest rivalries ever in wrestling history. Then, you have Piper and Snuka out there as well which had an incredible hard hitting feud. I loved the hometown pop for Shawn Michaels. Is there ever more buzzkill than a JBL entrance following two great entrances such as Shawn and Undertaker? It really is like channeling 1997 all over again with Shawn outsmarting Undertaker. This is going to be a lot of fun with them over the next few weeks. Does Hornswoggle ever talk besides grunting? I loved Christian’s line about how Punk won last year cause he wasn’t in it last year. They announced the participants for the 25 diva battle royal at WrestleMania as far as the current group of stars. There were 6 spots left so we’ll see who the returning ones are. I’ve seen quite a few names turning it down. The WrestleMania moment tonight was on WM 15. I think I like that WrestleMania less and less as time goes by. The main event was really good with Austin and Rock but the rest of the show didn’t have a lot of memorable moments on it. Of course, Butterbean knocking Bart Gunn out cold is a big time memory. I’ll never forget the reaction of me and my friends that night as we watched that nasty knockout shot land on Bart. Yeah, that Brawl For All idea didn’t turn out so well for WWE .

This Friday will be the 500th episode of Smackdown. All three brands will be represented on the show. Only match announced is MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin.

Have a great week!! Take care and God bless!!