No Way Out (2009)

No Way Out (2009)
Promotional poster featuring Vladimir Kozlov
Theme song(s)	"Hunt You Down" by Saliva[1]
Information
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown ECW
Sponsor(s)	AT&T
Date	February 15, 2009
Attendance	11,200[2]
Venue	KeyArena
City	Seattle, Washington
Pay-per-view chronology
Royal Rumble (2009) No Way Out (2009) WrestleMania XXV
No Way Out chronology
No Way Out (2008) No Way Out (2009) No Way Out (2012)

No Way Out (2009) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was presented by AT&T. It took place on February 15, 2009, at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington.^[3] It was the eleventh event under the No Way Out name and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown and ECW brands.^[4] Five matches were held on the event's card.

The main events for the Raw and Smackdown brands were their at-the-time annual Elimination Chamber matches for their respective world championships. The WWE Championship was contested for in the Smackdown main event with champion Edge defending against Jeff Hardy, Triple H, The Undertaker, The Big Show, and Vladimir Kozlov. Triple H emerged victorious by eliminating Undertaker last. Later in the evening, the World Heavyweight Championship was on the line in the Raw main event. The match was to originally feature champion John Cena defend against Kane, Rey Mysterio, Mike Knox, Chris Jericho, and Kofi Kingston. However, as Kingston was making his way to the structure he was attacked by Edge and taken out of the match. Edge then assumed Kingston's place in the match and won by eliminating Mysterio last, resulting in both of WWE's world championships belonging to members of the Smackdown brand.

The ECW brand's lone match saw Jack Swagger defend his ECW Championship successfully against Finlay. The remaining matches on the card were all from the Raw brand and saw Melina successfully defend the WWE Women's Championship against Beth Phoenix, Randy Orton defeat Shane McMahon in a No Holds Barred match signed after Shane got revenge against Orton for an attack on his father Vince McMahon, and Shawn Michaels defeat John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a match where Michaels would gain financial freedom from JBL if he won but become a permanent employee of JBL if he lost.

Event

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a dark match took place in which Melina defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the WWE Women's Championship.

Preliminary matches

The first match was an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship involving Edge, Jeff Hardy, Triple H, The Undertaker, Big Show and Vladimir Kozlov. Edge and Hardy were the first two entrants. Approximately three minutes into the match, Edge attempted to perform a Spear on Hardy although Hardy pinned Edge with a Small Package to eliminate him. During the match, Kozlov entered at #3, Big Show entered at #4, Triple H entered at #5 and Undertaker entered at #6. Approximately twenty-two minutes into the match, Undertaker performed a Last Ride on Kozlov, pinning Kozlov to eliminate him. Approximately twenty-six minutes into the match, Triple H performed a Pedigree on Big Show, which was followed by Hardy performing a Swanton Bomb off the Top of a Chamber Pod on Big Show. Triple H pinned Big Show to eliminate him. Approximately twenty-eight minutes into the match, Undertaker performed a Tombstone Piledriver on Hardy, pinning Hardy to eliminate him. Undertaker performed a Tombstone Piledriver on Triple H although Triple H placed his Foot on the Bottom Rope, voiding the Pinfall at a two count. Triple H performed a pedigree on undertaker, who kicked out at a two count. After the two fought, Triple H performed a second Pedigree on Undertaker, pinning Undertaker to eliminate him to win the match and the WWE Championship.

The second match was a No Holds Barred match between Randy Orton and Shane McMahon. During the match, a Trash Can, an exposed Turnbuckle and a Kendo Stcik were all used as Weapons. Shane hit Orton with a Television Monitor, causing Orton to bleed. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase interfered, attacking Shane. Rhodes attempted to hit Shane with a Steel Chair but accidentally hit Dibiase with the Chair, allowing Shane to perform a DDT on Rhodes onto the Chair. Shane performed a Coast-To-Coast on Rhodes whilst a Trash Can was placed in front of Rhodes and attempted to perform a Leap of Faith on Orton through an Announce Table but Orton avoided the move, causing Shane to crash through the Announce Table. Orton performed a Superplex on Shane through a Table for a near-fall. Orton performed an RKO on Shane, pinning Shane to win the match.

The third match was for the ECW Championship between Jack Swagger and Finlay (with Hornswoggle). Swagger performed a Gutwrench Powerbomb on Finlay, pinning Finlay to win the match and retain the ECW Championship.

The fourth match was between Shawn Michaels and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Michaels performed Sweet Chin Music on JBL, pinning JBL to win the match.

Main Event

The main event was an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, scheduled to involve John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Kofi Kingston, Mike Knox and Kane. Before the match, Edge attacked Kingston, performing a Con-Chair-To on Kingston on the Steel Steps. Edge locked himself in a Chamber Pod, replacing Kingston in the match. Jericho and Mysterio were the first two entrants in the match. Kane entered at #3, initially dominating the match. Approximately nine minutes into the match, Mysterio performed a Diving Seated Senton off the Top of a Chamber Pod on Kane, pinning Kane to eliminate him. Knox entered at #4, taking control of the match. Approximately fourteen minutes into the match, Jericho performed a Codebreaker on Knox, pinning Knox to eliminate him. Edge entered at #5, being immediately attack by Mysterio. Cena entered at #6, taking control of the match. Jericho performed a Codebreaker on Cena, which was followed by Mysterio performing a 619 on Cena, which was then followed by Edge performing a Spear on Cena, pinning Cena to eliminate him at approximately twenty-two minutes into the match. At approximately twenty-three minutes into the match, Mysterio pinned Jericho with a Double Leg Cradle to eliminate him. Edge fought with Mysterio on the Chamber Floor, where Edge pushed Mysterio through a Chamber Pod. Edge performed a Spear on Mysterio, pinning Mysterio to eliminate him to win the match and the World Heavyweight Championship.

Aftermath

Orton continued his feud with the McMahon family, after No Way Out. On the very next night on Raw, Orton faced Shane McMahon in an unsanctioned match, before both Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase had to interfered in the match, after the interference, Orton then punted Shane in the head. When Raw GM Stephanie McMahon came out to check on her brother's condition and confront Orton, he hit her with an RKO, that brought out the furious Triple H to the ring to check on his wife and led to him seeking revenge on Orton any way that he could. On March 2, 2009's episode of Raw, where Orton (who is the winner of this year's Royal Rumble) was goaded by Triple H into choosing to face him in the main event of WrestleMania XXV for the WWE Championship.

Also on the same night, after No Way Out, Edge revealed that he entered the second Elimination Chamber match with the approval of his (kayfabe) wife, Vickie Guerrero (who happens to be the GM of Smackdown at the time). Dethroned champion John Cena then invoked his rematch clause, but Edge chose not to defend the title on that night and returned to Smackdown with it. Cena and Edge were eventually signed to face off in a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania with Big Show (who is Edge's ally), as their third opponent.

With their feud now over, Shawn Michaels and JBL went in different directions. JBL went on to feud with CM Punk over the WWE Intercontinental Championship, which he won on March 9, 2009 to become the ninth Grand Slam winner in company history. Michaels, meanwhile, began feuding with The Undertaker in an effort to set up a match between the two of them for WrestleMania, which eventually took place.

Reception

No Way Out was generally well received by critics. The Sun in their review noted that the unpredictability, shocks and top-notch wrestling overshadowed the few minor missteps of the evening, such as Vladimir Kozlov's stiff wrestling and the relative unimportance of the Orton/McMahon and Swagger/Finlay matches, criticizing the quality of both. Overall however, they awarded the event 8 out of 10, heaping praise on the use of Edge and his character.^[5] The event had 272,000 buys, down on the No Way Out 2008 figure of 329,000 buys.^[6]

Results

Elimination Chamber entrances and eliminations (SmackDown)

Elimination Chamber entrances and eliminations (Raw)

References

External links

• The Official No Way Out Website
• No Way Out at In Demand.com