I was on vacation last week and that is why there wasn’t a match review last Wednesday. While I was gone, WWE was in England and I decided to review a WWE England match this week. There were some great England matches I could have picked like Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog or John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels. Those matches are too well-known so I tried to pick a match that not everyone has seen or remembers. I remembered that Chris Jericho’s DVD has a SmackDown match in England against Undertaker. I thought that was a very appropriate match to review because Undertaker competed in a SmackDown match in England against Dean Ambrose that aired on TV last Friday.

The Facts:

  • This match happened at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England
  • This was the first ever Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho singles match on WWE TV.
  • Undertaker’s World Heavyweight Championship was not on the line in this match. At the Survivor Series Pay-Per-View on November 22, Undertaker retained his championship after defeating Jericho and Big Show in a triple threat match. Three months later, Jericho eliminated Undertaker and won the World Heavyweight Championship at the Elimination Chamber PPV.
  • When this match happened, Undertaker was 44 years old and Jericho was 39 years old.
  • The announcers during this match were Todd Grisham and Matt Striker.
  • The time length of this match shown on TV was 9:49.
  • The episode of SmackDown that aired this match can be seen at http://youtu.be/lbJzNCgSrG0.

The Match:

Jericho attacks Undertaker in the corner of the ring. The referee breaks it up. Undertaker grabs Jericho and now Undertaker is attacking Jericho in the corner. The referee starts counting to five and Undertaker looks at the referee. The referee gets scared and runs away from Undertaker…haha. Jericho yells, “C’mon ref…c’mon get him out.” Undertaker whips Jericho into the ropes and bends down so he can give Jericho a backdrop.  While Undertaker is bending down, Jericho kicks Undertaker’s upper body. Undertaker stares at Jericho and clotheslines Jericho out of the ring. Undertaker puts Jericho on the ring apron and Undertaker hits Jericho with his ring apron leg drop. Both men are back in the ring. Undertaker works on Jericho’s arm and then goes for Old School. Undertaker is on the ring ropes and Jericho climbs to the middle turnbuckle. Jericho pulls Undertaker down. Nice counter by Jericho! SmackDown goes to a commercial break.

After the break, Jericho is attacking Undertaker on the mat. Undertaker goes to the corner and Jericho attacks him there. That was a smart move by Undertaker because the referee stops Jericho’s attacks. Jericho walks back to the corner and Undertaker gets in some offense. The offense is brief and Jericho hits Undertaker with a dropkick off the middle turnbuckle. Pin attempt and Undertaker kicks out at two. Jericho attacks Undertaker and Undertaker falls out of the ring. Jericho jumps off the ring apron and hits Undertaker. Jericho throws Undertaker back into the ring. Jericho uses the ring ropes to choke Undertaker and Jericho says, “ASK HIM!” to the referee. The referee breaks it up and Undertaker again takes advantage of it by attacking Jericho. The offense is brief and Jericho is in control of the match again. Jericho has been talking during the entire match. Right now, he is saying, “C’mon Undertaker”. Jericho uses the ropes to choke Undertaker again and the referee tells Jericho to get him off the ropes. Undertaker grabs Jericho’s throat, but Jericho quickly gets Undertaker off him. They do the “Boo…yay…boo…yay” punches. Undertaker wins the punching contest and attacks Jericho in the corner. Snake eyes by Undertaker. He goes for the running big boot, but Jericho hits Undertaker with a dropkick! Undertaker kicks out at two. Undertaker again puts his hand on Jericho’s throat, but Jericho prevents Undertaker from doing a chokeslam. Jericho bounces off the ropes and Undertaker hits him with a boot to the face. Undertaker runs at Jericho in the corner, jumps and Jericho gets out of the way. Undertaker landed on the top turnbuckle. Jericho attacks Undertaker in the corner. Undertaker picks Jericho up and he is going for the Last Ride. Jericho gets away right before Undertaker can finish the move. CODEBREAKER BY JERICHO!!! He can’t pin Undertaker immediately and Undertaker kicks out at two. Jericho mocks Undertaker by doing Undertaker’s throat slash gesture. That was awesome! Jericho was a great heel in 2009. Jericho is going for the Tombstone! Undertaker reverses it and now Undertaker is going for the Tombstone! Jericho avoids it and attacks Undertaker’s leg. Undertaker goes down. Lionsault by Jericho! Undertaker sits up and while he sat up, he made a sound with his voice that sounded really cool! Undertaker goes for the chokeslam and Jericho reverses it into the Walls of Jericho! Amazing! “ASK HIM!” says Jericho. Undertaker counters it and turns it into Hell’s Gate! Jericho taps out!!!

Winner: Undertaker

Rating: ***1/4

When I first saw this match in 2009, I was surprised when I heard that this was the first Jericho vs. Undertaker match. Both of them had been in WWE together for ten years when it happened. Both Jericho and Undertaker took some time off during those ten years, but I think there’s no excuse for waiting that long to have this match. Their first match wasn’t a classic match, but it was good and entertaining. I think Jericho and Undertaker could have had a better match and they were saving their good stuff for their PPV match. I didn’t see that triple threat Survivor Series match, but I did see the famous “I’m from Winnipeg you idiot” moment that happened during the match. This match-up would have been a great PPV main event and fans got to see it on free TV. I think fans would be more interested in SmackDown if two great WWE superstars like Jericho and Undertaker were in the main event more often.

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