The Undertaker vs. CM Punk vs. Batista vs. Rey Mysterio in a Fatal 4-Way for the World Heavyweight Championship
We continue on through the fall of 2009 and we once again have our second show in the month of October, but it is no longer the fan interactive show that was Cyber Sunday and instead it is a show to see whether RAW or Smackdown was the better brand. On top of that, we do have the two big titles defended on the show as Punk doesn’t even get a one-on-one rematch against Taker after losing the title to him at Hell in a Cell and instead, he’s one of four men including Taker, Batista, and Mysterio. After coming close to winning the tag titles at HIAC, Batista and Mysterio now get back into the title picture and while this match has potential to be a really great match, it does seem already that Punk was being pushed to the backburner after really getting himself over as the top heel of the brand.
On the 10/9 Smackdown, GM Teddy Long congratulated Taker on his win at the PPV until Punk interrupted and demanded a rematch as he wanted it to be a submission match with Long at ringside and Scott Armstrong as the ref, but then Vince McMahon came out and announced Taker would face Punk, Batista, and Mysterio at Bragging Rights in a 4-Way. Later that night, Punk would defeat Batista by countout only for Batista to give him the Batista Bomb after the match, and on the 10/16 Smackdown Punk spoke with Vince saying the 4-Way was a good idea and Vince granted him his rematch for the next week. Later that night, Mysterio defeated Batista though it appeared Batista kicked out before the three and he seemed upset about it, but he would raise Mysterio’s hand out of respect only for Punk to attack Mysterio and hit the Go 2 Sleep. On the 10/23 Smackdown, Punk met with Long and Armstrong to talk about the match and Armstrong said he wouldn’t do Punk’s dirty work until he was met by Vince who took him to a private meeting, and later that night Vince met with the three men and said he was excited about the match. Batista and Mysterio would defeat Chris Jericho and Kane in a tag match and in the main event, Taker would defeat Punk in a submission match to retain the World Title. It definitely felt that they rushed through the Taker/Punk rematch just to get to this match and now it seemed very unlikely that Punk would get the title back, but as mentioned this had plenty of potential to be a sneaky great match.
Taker, Batista, and Mysterio all get big pops from the crowd though Taker easily gets the biggest of the three while Punk was pretty hot as a heel. Punk wastes no time and knocks Mysterio down to start the match before going outside to stall, and Batista goes outside and chases Punk back into the ring as Punk ducks a shot from Taker who nails Batista instead. Punk kicks at Taker and pounds on him as he stomps on him repeatedly in the corner only for Taker to grab him by the throat, and he tosses Punk over the top to the floor and Mysterio comes off the apron with a seated senton to Punk. Batista pounds on Taker who ducks a shot and he hits a flying clothesline on Batista as Mysterio gets in the ring and hits a dropkick to Taker’s knee, and he kicks at the leg and hits a springboard dropkick that sends Taker over the top to the floor with Taker landing on his feet. Mysterio hits a low dropkick on Taker who quickly returns to the ring and he hits a big boot on Mysterio, and he rams Batista into the buckle and works the arm as he goes up top and hits Old School on Batista. He grabs Mysterio’s arm and goes up top again only for Punk to crotch him on the top rope and he returns to the ring, and he kicks at Mysterio who battles back until Punk sends him to the outside and he nails Taker as he goes up himself. Taker blocks a superplex and hits a pair of headbutts that sends Punk to the mat only for Punk to get a shot in, and he goes up again and hits a superplex on Taker as Mysterio hits a springboard splash on Taker for a two count as Punk breaks it up. He sends Mysterio to the outside again and Batista pounds on Punk before hitting a clothesline and he whips him into the corner, and he splashes Punk and hits a powerslam only for Taker to hit a big boot on Batista while Mysterio goes up top. Taker catches him on a dive and blocks a hurricanrana as he looks for the Last Ride only for Batista to hit the spear on Taker, and Batista and Mysterio square off until Taker grabs Mysterio by the throat only for Batista to nail Taker from behind as Taker falls into the ropes. Mysterio hits the 619 on Taker and then Batista hits the spinebuster on Taker for a two count as Punk breaks it up, and he stomps on both men until Mysterio gets a shoulder in and he nails Punk before leaping up top. Punk puts Mysterio on his shoulders and hits the Go 2 Sleep for a two count as Batista breaks it up, and Punk rolls outside to regroup as Taker takes Batista to the mat and hooks Hell’s Gate on until Punk breaks it up. He pounds on Taker on the mat and stomps on Batista as he hits the running knee on Taker who catches him in the Last Ride for a two count as Batista breaks it up, and Taker and Batista trade blows with Batista taking control until Taker grabs him by the throat and he hits the chokeslam for a two count as Punk breaks it up. He pounds on Taker who grabs him by the throat only for Punk to kick at him though Taker sends him over the top to the floor, and he hoists Batista onto his shoulders only for Batista to slide off and he gets a kick in as he hits the Batista Bomb. He gets a two count as Mysterio breaks it up and then he gets a two count as Batista breaks it up, and they argue until Batista sends Mysterio to the outside and Taker grabs Batista by the throat as he hits another chokeslam for a two count. He grabs Batista by the throat again only for Batista to battle back and both men clothesline each other while Mysterio gets on the apron, and Punk gets in the ring and gets a two count on Batista before getting a two count on Taker and Batista sends Punk to the outside. Mysterio attempts a springboard only for Batista to catch him and he tosses him over the top onto Punk on the floor, and then Taker hoists Batista up and hits the Tombstone which gets the three and he retains the title. After the match, Taker celebrates with the title and heads to the back as does Punk while Mysterio checks on Batista and Josh Matthews gets in the ring for an interview, and Mysterio says that they did their best and did have a confrontation but they tried hard and came close though tonight wasn’t their night. He says that it was every man for himself and they are still standing as they will have another day, and Batista says that he was close and he thinks he’s tired of coming close as well as being stabbed in the back by his best friend. Mysterio tries to explain himself as Batista says he’s not playing and he wants to rip Mysterio’s head off, and he hits a clothesline on Mysterio and kicks him to the outside as he goes outside himself as he stomps on him repeatedly. He yells that Mysterio is supposed to be his friend and Mysterio begs him to calm down only for Batista to send him into the barricade, and he starts to head to the back before hitting a running boot on Mysterio and then he heads to the back as officials check on Mysterio.
The match itself was really good as all four men worked hard and put on a solid title match. All four men had really good chemistry with each other and it was good to see Mysterio back in the title picture as he had a brief moment with Taker which was cool, and Punk kept himself involved throughout the whole match and tried to sneak his way to the title when he could. Batista being back in the title picture also felt refreshed since he had been out of it for a while and Taker was hitting his peak by this point, and it was a shame they only got 10 minutes to work with though they made the most of it. It was fairly obvious that Taker was going to retain and they did keep Punk strong by not having him take the pin which seemed like that would be the way they would go, but even Taker’s win was forgotten about as it was more about Batista turning on Mysterio and attacking him after the match. The crowd was into the match and popped for Taker when he won. Taker retains the title over all 3 men and we know Batista and Mysterio will have something going forward, but it was now going to be interesting to see where Punk would go after this.
Final Grade: ***1/2
