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"Piggy James" was a disgrace, Donald Trump plummeted WWE stock and more 2009 nightmares.
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00:00In many ways, it doesn't actually matter what WWE did in 2009, because that was the year when Shawn Michaels
00:05and The Undertaker stole the show at WrestleMania.
00:07You should go and watch that match if you haven't already. It hasn't aged. It's fantastic.
00:11When you can deliver something like that, a lot of other stuff can and should be overlooked.
00:15But as we are 16 years removed, as I am talking to you, why don't we tear the lid of
00:19the can right now?
00:20What didn't work way back when, and what did we learn from that point onwards?
00:24The answer is not a lot, but I am, Simon Miller. Let's dig deep.
00:27Number 10, The Kazani Debut
00:29This was very strange, and it was all because of the name.
00:32Kazani took on such a moniker, because during his early vignettes, he spoke in carny talk.
00:37This is of course tied into wrestling, because where do you think the likes of kayfabe came from?
00:41That's the language wrestlers would use to try and protect the business from outsiders, but why would you make that
00:46into a character?
00:47Especially to an audience where the vast majority would have no idea what you were going on about. It was
00:51too inside.
00:52The man behind this persona described it as the love child of Jake Robertson, Doink the Clown.
00:56If that was the idea, man, WWE did not get that across at all, because that sounds awesome.
01:01After he did arrive on Smackdown on the 2nd of January, he started a feud with MVP, and it was
01:06fine.
01:07I wouldn't say it was all that great.
01:08And that was an issue, because when somebody does come in, you just want it to feel like the hugest
01:11thing ever, and you want that build to work.
01:14It didn't.
01:14I think most fans were confused, and the casual crowd definitely didn't get it.
01:18WWE soon realized this, and the whole thing was done by March, which is when it vanished.
01:23Can you believe it?
01:24Kazani then got released too.
01:26That's just wild, dude.
01:27Why couldn't we have tried again?
01:28It was the gimmick that was the problem.
01:30I tell ya.
01:312009.
01:32A lot of wrestlers have said this.
01:34Walking on eggshells.
01:35Number 9.
01:36That weird boxing match.
01:37A feud we do forget about today is Chavo Guerrero vs Horn Swoggle.
01:41Swoggs was continuing his run since being revealed as Vince McMahon's illegitimate son, even though he wasn't.
01:46And Chavo just got treated really oddly during his time there.
01:49We never go and look up Kerwin White.
01:51They fought throughout 2009, which gave us a blindfold match.
01:54Guerrero dressing up as a bull for a Texas bullrope belt.
01:57And for some reason, Mark Henry one day came out as Mark Swoggle for a single evening,
02:02when we couldn't even be bothered to come up with a good pun.
02:04The 24th of August Raw stands out, however, as these two worked a comedy boxing match with oversized gloves.
02:09You can see it on the screen right now.
02:11Now, I absolutely love Goofy Wrestling for Life, but this was not that.
02:14Even a kid would have raised an eyebrow.
02:16All of this was just the same punchline over and over again.
02:19But Looney Tunes would be a good way to explain it,
02:22because Chavo would promise to catch that varmint, and then he failed and he never did.
02:25It may have been alright if it had only gone for a few weeks, but this went on for months.
02:29I'm not sure it helped either guy, and again, do we speak of this today?
02:33No.
02:34No, we don't.
02:35Number 8.
02:36The Summerfest
02:36If I were to call the WWE Raw guest host era Mick's bag, I would be being very kind.
02:42It was also another idea that went on for too long,
02:45but at least some of the celebrities that stepped in were super fun.
02:47Bob Barker, for example, will forever be a legend.
02:49Even if he wasn't into wrestling, you could never tell,
02:52because he'd clearly done some merch beforehand,
02:53and he most definitely did not come in cold.
02:56It all changed when we got to the August 3rd show, though, because it was the opposite.
02:59Actor Jeremy Piven came in to promote whatever his current wares were,
03:03and man, he clearly did not want to be there,
03:05and it all fell apart when he was putting together a lumberjack match with the Miz and John Cena,
03:09and he said the loser shall be banned from Summerfest.
03:13That's right, the Summerfest, that well-known WWE pay-per-view.
03:17Cena corrected him instantly, and fair play to Piven.
03:20He joked that he had screwed up badly, but you could see it in his face.
03:23I presume his agent had been told this would be a great idea, and he did not agree.
03:27Despite a lot of fluffs like this, the concept ran till May 2010, which was way too long.
03:31It only stopped because I think McMahon saw that random celebrities didn't equal ratings.
03:36It should have been a random idea broken out here and there just to add a pep to your step,
03:40not the focal point of flipping raw.
03:42It was really strange.
03:43Number 7. Edge's Unfortunate Injury
03:45So when we say worst here, we mean because he actually robbed us of something that would have ruled.
03:48In 2009, there was no real tag team scene in WWE, when for whatever reason, Edge and Chris Jericho got
03:55put together.
03:56We also won the tag titles from the clones at the Bash pay-per-view.
03:59Yeah, this created noise.
04:01They were huge stars.
04:02What were we planning?
04:03We never found out because a week later, the rated-R superstar tour is Achilles drawing a house show of
04:07all things against Jeff Hardy.
04:09I suppose creative wanted to see if they could wait it out as we didn't strip these two of the
04:12belts,
04:13and instead Jericho was allowed to sub in a new member.
04:15He picked the big show.
04:16Fair play to those guys.
04:18The name Jerry Show was terrible, but he actually managed to do more than alright.
04:22At the same time, oh, what could have been?
04:25It's hard to get super pumped because Vince McMahon booked the tag team scene so badly nobody had any confidence,
04:29but this actually felt like a change given it was two former world champions at the helm.
04:33They genuinely had the potential to be one of the best duos of the modern era.
04:37I don't know, maybe that's hyperbole, but it's a proper what-if.
04:40They did indeed feud when Edge came back eventually, and that was good,
04:43but it's not like we hadn't seen this before.
04:45Therefore, the tag team likely would have been more interesting.
04:48As it is, Rated Y2J, which is also a bad name, will be filed under a sliding doors moment.
04:54It's a mystery like evolution.
04:576. Jeff Hardy's Difficult Year
04:58Towards the end of 2008, it seemed as if the Jeff Hardy push was back on track.
05:02A world title had finally come his way after previous attempts had stuttered due to Hardy's outside-the-ring personal
05:08issues,
05:08so seeing him get to the top sort of made you feel like this was his time.
05:11As we would learn, it actually wasn't.
05:14Because come halfway through the year, the stories were back once again when we actually found out that Jeff's contract
05:18was going to end,
05:19and he decided he wasn't going to resign because he wanted time off.
05:23It meant come August, the creative team put Hardy in a loser-leaves-town cage match against CM Punk.
05:28Punk won.
05:29Hardy was gone.
05:30Any hope this was another turning point then got dashed again because in September, Hardy was arrested for drug trafficking
05:36and possession.
05:36It was so disheartening because everybody wanted Jeff to be alright, and this was scary if nothing else.
05:42Although the good news today is he seems to be long past all that.
05:45That's what matters.
05:46Wrestling comes second.
05:47Seeing somebody so popular go from these heights to being for son on Grata sucked though.
05:51Jeff's fan following was ridiculous, and he was the breath of fresh air WWE needed in 2009,
05:56and then it felt like it was never going to happen.
05:59There was even some criticism when he turned up in TNA because of this desperation for Hardy to be the
06:03dude in WWE.
06:04Although really, when we do take the whole career into account, you do have to call it a Hall of
06:08Fame run.
06:09Even today, there is a whole generation of fans who got into wrestling due to that guy.
06:14I checked.
06:14That doesn't just happen.
06:165. The WrestleMania Main Event
06:17So we talked about The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels from Mania 25, and yes, it's one of the best WWE
06:23matches ever.
06:24Not sure anybody expected it to be of such a level though, because nope, it was not put last at
06:29WrestleMania, and this did make sense.
06:31The WWE title always headlined the biggest show of the year.
06:34But that doesn't mean it was correct.
06:36The truth is, Randy Orton vs. Triple H was fine, all things considered, but so damn mismanaged.
06:40The build to this had been unhinged, and Orton terrorized Triple H and the McMahons,
06:44and yet when they were allowed to officially beat each other half to death, they locked up and wrestled.
06:49It's still mad today.
06:50The game should have tried to kill this guy instantly.
06:52It'd be like you telling me you want some cheese, and you go out and eat some chocolate.
06:56What are you doing?
06:57Throw in that the fans were still in awe from Taker and Shawn, and well, maybe worst of the year
07:01is a bit strong, but it was a talking point for ages.
07:04The audience was also miffed due to the stipulation included on Raw.
07:07If Triple H got disqualified, Randy would win the title.
07:11Again, we underlined it.
07:12All people wanted was for Hunter to ruin this guy.
07:14Hindsight is a powerful tool though, so WWE does need some leeway here.
07:19It is still true, mind.
07:21If only we'd flip these.
07:22Different story.
07:234. Donald Trump buys WWE stock
07:26So this was hilarious, and sums up why wrestling and the world at large is stupid.
07:30Sort of tied into the fact that Vince McMahon had been trying to get his character off TV for two
07:33years.
07:34When we got to 2009 and he tried again, he was going to sell off Monday Night Raw.
07:38This happened on the 15th of June as Vince revealed he had an offer he just couldn't say no to,
07:43and the big twist was that Donald Trump was the buyer.
07:45None of this was real for the record, but WWE still sent out a press release under the guise of
07:50kayfabe,
07:50and have a guess what happened.
07:52As soon as Trump announced next week's Raw would be commercial-free,
07:55the stock market panicked thinking this was all legit,
07:57and WWE plunged 7% on the exchange.
08:00That's very funny because it's still real to me, damn it.
08:02The story was then killed instantly.
08:04We did double back down on Raw as Donald agreed to sell the shares back,
08:07and of course Vince McMahon was going to have to pay double,
08:10and then we moved forward like nothing had happened.
08:12So all WWE did here was cost themselves a lot of money.
08:16Whoops.
08:163. Sean Needs Money
08:18And this is sort of similar to the last story, because the line between reality and fiction became too clear.
08:23After the global recession, Shawn Michaels came out and told us he was broke.
08:27No more family savings, and because JBL was rich, he was going to ask him for employment.
08:32Instantly fans in unison said,
08:34But you're still working for WWE, Sean, and you're one of their top stars.
08:39I mean, they must be paying you something.
08:41This actually began at the end of 2008, but went full throttle in 2009,
08:44and I suppose it peaked when HBK beat Bradshaw at No Way Out.
08:48Instantly Michael then went into the Undertaker feud,
08:50so yep, even WWE just nixed this to decide it wasn't the best idea.
08:54Of course it was the classic WWE thing of looking at the world of large and picking a news story,
08:59but it just held no weight.
09:00Shawn had been a top guy for years too,
09:02So even if he was strapped for cash, well again, you're literally working for WWE right now, we can see
09:07you.
09:08I think a lot of fans also didn't want reminding of their current woes when watching their entertainment show,
09:12so it was too close to home.
09:13WWE has always fallen foul to that a lot.
09:16Sometimes, just be fun, that's what people want.
09:19Number 2, Santina Marella
09:20Some people say this has just aged poorly,
09:23but I would argue it wasn't great at the time either, and look.
09:26Santina Marella is one of my favourite wrestlers ever, we just talked about this.
09:30If we watched to have fun, he was Mr. Fun.
09:33No, I shouldn't have described him that way.
09:35All of this was just extra bad, because before WrestleMania 25,
09:38WWE had made a big song and dance,
09:40and the D.Va Battle Royal to crown the first ever Miss WrestleMania would be a big deal.
09:44We even brought back iconic D.Va Sonny to make sure this got all the spotlights on it.
09:48I think a lot of fans were actually intrigued to see what we were going to do.
09:51It was also the only female match on the card, so there was hope it would deliver.
09:54Then we got the winner, and yep, it was Santina Marella who was dressed as his fake sister Santina.
10:00And of course, he threw out Beth Phoenix to get the victory.
10:02I can tell you, my friends, the backlash was instant.
10:05It was seen as the same old nonsense when it came to the women.
10:08As always, just imagine WWE doing this today,
10:10because they absolutely wouldn't, and that's what sums it up.
10:13Even when WWE did the first women's money in the bank and James helped Carmella,
10:16people weren't having that either.
10:18So once again, there's the connection.
10:19It was like any time WWE wanted to highlight the female division with a big first-time match,
10:24it sort of got turned into a joke.
10:26There were just way better ways to finish this, and when you do go through the roster,
10:29there were loads of individuals who had benefited far more.
10:32But no, this was a punchline again.
10:34I think come WrestleMania, people were just done with it.
10:37Number one, Piggy James.
10:38Mickie James has managed to brave face with this
10:40and look at things through a different lens in the years since.
10:43There is no doubt that in the late 2009, when WWE was doing this,
10:46everybody involved was probably face-palming,
10:48and looking at the creative team and saying,
10:50why the flub are you making us do this?
10:52It all began the 20th of November when Michelle McCool and Layla introduced a parody of
10:56Old MacDonald Had a Farm, and essentially, they just kept calling Mickie James fat.
11:01Now, this left Mickie in tears, but also, Mickie James wasn't fat.
11:05She was the opposite of fat, not fat.
11:07Eventually, it did become the Piggy James storyline,
11:09because that's what the heels kept on saying.
11:11And backstage, Michelle even went to Mickie and was like,
11:13listen, I don't want to do this.
11:15I find the whole idea entirely uncomfortable, because yes, it was really uncomfortable,
11:19or it was just downright bullying.
11:21And look, there's nothing new about working storylines that kind of tie into things that
11:24can happen in the real world.
11:25But unless you sit down with everybody and say,
11:27are we all cool here?
11:29Then I really don't think you should be doing it.
11:31Also, if you have been bullied, you know how horrible it can be on your psyche and your brain.
11:35Probably shouldn't use it in a wrestling angle without really going through it all.
11:38A couple of words to sum it up would be ridiculous and shameful.
11:41And yes, eventually, Layla came out wearing a fat suit with a pig nose,
11:45because of course she did.
11:46This actually was prolonged into 2010 too.
11:49And while Mickie James did get a few wins,
11:51it never really felt like she got that stamping point to tell the audience,
11:54don't be a bully, because you're an asshat.
11:56If nothing else, it was also saying unrealistic body standards,
11:59because again, go and look at Mickie James from 2009.
12:02Who the flub would deem her overweight?
12:04This was really stupid.
12:06Know if anything else in 2009 that probably needs a rain check today?
12:08Then make sure you let me know in the comments below before you like the video,
12:11share the video, and damn it, subscribe.
12:13You can also click the video on the screen to pick another year in WWE
12:16as we talk about their worst moments.
12:18But otherwise, I appreciate you, my friends.
12:21I'll talk to you again soon.
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