Heading into 2009, Jeff Hardy and John Cena were the champions of WWE. Cena was the Raw champion whereas Hardy was the Smackdown champion. Cena won the belt from Chris Jericho at Survivor Series in his return match from injury, while Hardy won it from Edge at Armageddon. Both reigns were short, as Cena lost it to Edge at No Way Out and Hardy lost to Edge at the Royal Rumble, who then lost to HHH at No Way Out. The main feuds heading into Wrestlemania were HHH vs. Randy Orton and Cena vs. Edge/Big Show. The Orton/HHH feud was much better received than the Cena feud, though personally, both were bad (cannot forget HHH invading Orton's home, throwing him through the window, and Orton getting up 10-20 seconds later and NOT BLEEDING, and HHH squashing Cody in a regular match that turned into a cage match that turned into a no DQ match without any announcement). At Wrestlemania, Cena overcame Edge and Big Show, while HHH retained to a bad reaction from internet fans. However, Orton won it a month later at Backlash while Edge won the title back from Cena after Big Show chokeslammed him through a light off the stage.
After Backlash, Smackdown put on some excellent wrestling-based programs for several months, while Raw was subject to some of the worst programming in history for the rest of the year. Orton feuded with Batista in a VERY boring feud while Edge feuded with Jeff Hardy in a very good feud. Both Orton and Edge retained at Judgment Day whereas at Extreme Rules, both Orton and Edge lost to Batista and Hardy respectively. Batista won despite being injured and having to be out for several months, and ended up losing it back to Orton the next night on Raw, making the decision make even LESS sense than before. Hardy defeated Edge, yet lost it to CM Punk a minute or so later as he had the MITB briefcase. Punk and Hardy had an epic feud that lasted throughout the summer, with Punk turning heel in July and Hardy winning the belt at the Night of Champions PPV, until Punk won it back at Summerslam and then defeating Hardy on Smackdown that week to retire him from WWE. After the feud with Batista, Orton had an even more boring feud with HHH, and it was a feud that neither gained anything from as their matches all lacked clean finishes. It lasted until Night of Champions and Orton retained the gold throughout the feud. Orton then feuded with John Cena, and their feud was only slightly better as they've feuded several times in the past. Cena and Orton traded the title throughout their feud, with Cena winning it at Breaking Point, Orton winning it back at Hell In A Cell, and Cena winning it back at Bragging Rights to end the feud. Cena then feuded with HHH and Shawn Michaels, which was a terrible feud that Hornswoggle (HORNSWOGGLE!) was the main focus of. The title took a backseat to a midget... Cena retained at Survivor Series and then feuded with Sheamus, who was fresh off debuting in ECW. Cena lost the title to Sheamus, before he was ready, in fluke fashion to close out 2009. After ending Jeff Hardy's WWE career, CM Punk feuded with the Undertaker. The feud was very lackluster, with Punk retaining at Breaking Point after a rehash of the Montreal screwjob, and then losing to Undertaker at Hell In A Cell. Punk would tread water for nearly two years after that loss, leading two very weak stables in the Straight Edge Society and the New Nexus. After defeating Punk, Undertaker would feud with Batista, who turned heel, to close out the year. The quality of Smackdown would also decline after the Montreal Screwjob 2009, as the match quality also declined as well as the storyline quality (Piggy James, Eric Escobar vs. Vickie Guerrero)
Despite Raw's poor booking in the main event scene, that wasn't the worst part of the product in 2009. No, it wasn't the quality of the wrestlers on the show or the quality of the matches either (though that was a problem too). Nearly every week on Raw in 2009, there was at least one segment on the show that made you cringe and facepalm. Jillian/Festus singoff, Vickie/"Santina" match, Vickie pouring pig slop on Santino, Vince/Kroeke opening segment (it was a fake Stan Kroenke), the entire Hornswoggle/Chavo series, Raw's Got Talent, Diva Bowl, Little People's Court, any backstage segment involving Hornswoggle or the guest hosts, Jeremy Piven/Dr. Ken opening segment, random girl chasing a guy in a tiger suit with a golf club around the ring (an attempt at a clever play on Tiger Woods' divorce), etc... all in the same year!
2009 was not a good year for the WWE, as the status quo from the last few years was getting really stale, Hardy was the only new star really made (Punk's arguable but he had to be rebuilt again in 2011 as he was planning on leaving prior to the big push when he had no momentum) and he left that same year, and some of the worst programming in WWE history was in 2009.
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