The 2009 No Way Out was the 11th No Way Out professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on February 15, 2009, at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. It was the final No Way Out held until 2012 as No Way Out's February slot would end up being replaced by Elimination Chamber in 2010.
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 two 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 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 defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in a match where Michaels would gain financial freedom from JBL if he won but would become a permanent employee of JBL if he lost.
Production
Background
No Way Out was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 20th In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in February 1998. Following the discontinuation of the In Your House series, No Way Out returned in February 2000 as its own PPV event, thus establishing it as the annual February PPV for the promotion. The 2009 event was the 11th event in the No Way Out chronology and was held on February 15 at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions.
Storylines
No Way Out featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi—World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers were portrayed as either a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers were from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a television program of the same name.
It was announced at the Royal Rumble that two Elimination Chamber matches would be held, in which SmackDown's WWE Championship would be defended in one and Raw's World Heavyweight Championship in the other. Qualifying matches for Raw's Elimination Chamber began on the January 26 episode of Raw, in which Kofi Kingston defeated Kane, Rey Mysterio defeated William Regal, and Chris Jericho defeated CM Punk. Mike Knox would later qualify by winning a six-man battle royal at a live event on February 2. Kane was announced as the final participant by Raw General Manager Stephanie McMahon in exchange for Kane convincing the Undertaker to face Randy Orton in a match the next week on Raw. Qualifying matches for SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match began on the January 30 episode of SmackDown, in which The Undertaker defeated Mark Henry; The Big Show defeated Festus; and Triple H defeated Vladimir Kozlov and The Great Khali in a triple threat match; SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced that since Jeff Hardy lost the WWE Championship to Edge at the Royal Rumble, Hardy's rematch clause for the championship would be used to include him in the Elimination Chamber match. Vladimir Kozlov, the last entrant, won a battle royal to qualify.