Degeneration-X (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) vs. Chris Jericho & The Big Show vs. John Cena & The Undertaker from WWE 2009

Recap from Barry Murphy:

What a time capsule of a match this is. I believe this was the last time WWE did a television show from Madison Square Garden – which has mainly played host to Christmas-week house shows of late. This particular Raw was one of the stronger episodes in the downright repugnant year that was 2009. The concept of guests hosts debuted, and John Cena spent most of the year feuding with Big Show and Randy Orton. Among other things, this show had a superb angle with Kofi Kingston running wild on Orton, putting him through a table in the crowd, to a huge ovation. Young Kingston seemed to be on the cusp of breaking out in a very real way, but WWE WWE’d themselves out of that. This was the Survivor Series go-home show, capping off one of the worst builds in the show’s history. Cena was facing Michaels and Triple H in a three way – but their match was largely built around comedy and DX insisting they wouldn’t turn on each other. They did during the match but there wasn’t a hint of such beforehand. Smackdown was very strong during the Summer but had run out of momentum during the fall, following Jeff Hardy’s departure and CM Punk’s inexplicable demolition at the hand’s of The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell. Undertaker defended his world title against Big Show and Jericho at Survivor Series, also in a three way with marginally better build. Both matches were fairly entertaining when all was said and done.

Match Analysis

Michaels, Jericho and Cena started but all three quickly tagged out. Undertaker and Triple H had a stare-down (both were still active competitors at this time). Not to be that guy, but the contrast of star power then versus now is scary. The ever-changing rulebook on what a multi-team tag match actually is dictated that this match would have three legal participants at a time, as opposed to the more frequent two.  The babyfaces worked over Show before Taker took control of Triple H. Michaels tagged in and there was another staredown. This was after their first legendary Wrestlemania match, but before they had began teasing the rematch. Show ran in before too long to disrupte the magic. He was pretty huge here, even by Big Show standards. The action was thick and fast as Jericho tagged in, went for a lionsault, HBK got his knees up, but Jericho caught him in the walls. Undertaker intervened but then Cena tagged himself in, to a chorus of boos — moreso for stopping Undertaker in his tracks rather than standard Cena hate. He was actually fairly well received during his entrance. A match with this breakneck pace and a little bit of time was a much-needed breath of fresh air at this point in 2009. Smackdown, still a relevant and self-contained brand, was kicking Raw’s ass creatively and in the ring, as the red brand had dire angles and no must-see matches to speak of. Cena and Triple H squared off, calling back to the 2008 Royal Rumble. Big Show once again played spoiler and hit a double chokeslam. Undertaker RAN WILD~! on Big Show. This was a sight to see. ‘Taker hit those ropes like it was 1991 again and got big air on his clothesline. Michaels got his shine against Jericho but went for Sweet Chin Music on Cena. Cena ducked and hit his comeback to a mixed reaction. Triple H tagged himself in before Michaels could get AA’d. More mult-man melee! Superkick from HBK on Show. Codebreaker on HBK. Chokeslam on Jericho. The crowd is going crazy! AA to Triple H for the CLEAN PIN~!~!~!~!!~!

The Undertaker immediately ran in and tombstoned John Cena after the match, to a huge reaction. Michael Cole, who had otherwise been fine calling this match, said it was “another Madison Square Garden moment!” in a very forced soundbite. That was his big issue in 2009; forcing catchphrases and buzzwords at every turn. In the early minutes of this match he dropped the  “longest episodic show” line in relation to Raw, and also called this one of the greatest matches in Raw history, before the entrances were even finished.

This was one of many years where a John Cena vs. Undertaker match at Wrestlemania was heavily rumoured, and unless I’m mistaken this was the closest we ever came. While it could just have been a manufactured ‘Madison Square Garden moment,’ I remember being convinced at the time that Cena was going for the streak at ‘Mania. A month later, Michaels accepted the Slammy Award for ‘Match of the Year’ for his bout against Undertaker, and issued a challenge for a rematch.

Conclusion

This was a very entertaining, mile-a-minute match with six top stars in the world’s most famous arena. It was WWE at its best, in a year when they were arguably at their worst. Well worth a watch on YouTube, if not for the match, then for one of the great mashup themes of all time; Jerishow! ***1/2