Night of Champions Review

As I stated yesterday, I had to start this show about an hour and fifteen minutes late, so I actually got an alert on my phone spoiling the outcome of the opener. I decided to not look at my phone until after the show. The WWE Tag Team Title match opened the show and this was a good, fun choice. These are the two best tag teams in the WWE and they showed why. They've performed better, but the leg work went with the prior story and both teams worked hard. After about 13 minutes, Stardust rolled up an Uso to end their near seven month reign. My only real gripe is that the change should've been more definitive. The Usos did a fantastic job of selling how much it hurt to lose the straps. ***1/4

The United States Championship match came up next. Sheamus showed up with a longer beard, which is a look that suits him. Much like their match at Payback, I expected this to be a hard hitting battle and that's exactly what it was. The build up to this was lacking but they went out and decided to just beat the crap out of each other, which is exactly what these two should do. Seeing Cesaro be the first man to counter the ten Beats of whatever and pull out a variation of the Alpamare Waterslide to reverse the Brogue Kick was awesome. Sheamus would win in just over 13 minutes in what would turn out to be the match of the night. I hope we get a dominant Cesaro over the new few weeks and he earns a badass rematch. ***3/4

Stunt Doubles galore as The Miz and Dolph Ziggler competed for the Intercontinental Championship next. For some reason, Florida Georgia Line was out on commentary and hearing JBL just reel off their accomplishments, which he had to repeat since there aren't that many, was annoying and took away from the match. Speaking of the match, it wasn't the greatest. While these guys have chemistry, this didn't work as well as their SummerSlam match and the Miz won with a cheap rollup in 9 minutes. I didn't like that we got another rollup win and I hate that the title is a hot potato. I need Bad News Barrett back. **1/4

We get a recap of the Roman Reigns injury story before Seth Rollins comes out and gives Reigns until the count of 10 to face him. Of course, he doesn't show up so Seth is given the forfeit or countout victory. He then issues an open challenge, which never goes well. A taxicab is shown pulling up to the arena and out steps Dean f'n Ambrose. The Tennessee crowd doesn't give the man the pop he deserves, but it's still a good one. Ambrose and Rollins have another exciting brawl around the arena. Ambrose plays the lunatic role to absolute perfection and this was as fun as it could be. Ambrose/Rollins at Hell in a Cell, in the cell please.

Sporting new patriotic gear, Mark Henry came out for his match with Rusev. The national anthem played, Henry had tears in his eyes and everything is incredibly overdone. Even more overdone considering the fact that nobody cares about this angle. Seriously, can't anyone just wrestle Rusev? Why does it have to be about America? It's so forced. Also, Rusev has yet to really have a good match so I don't get the continued push. He makes Henry submit in eight minutes. **

In the ultimate match that nobody cares about, Chris Jericho stepped into the ring with Randy Orton. I've already stated how much I dislike the idea of having a match because of an attack that occurred due to it being the "season premiere" of Raw. This was the definition of a filler match as, even though it got 15 minutes, it didn't matter. Orton won a solid match by catching Jericho in an RKO, but it did nothing. The crowd didn't care either. **3/4

The pre match promo for the Divas Title match was excellent. Paige really shined during it and I just felt that she needed to retain here. Let me get this out of the way first, Nikki Bella impressed me. She wasn't amazing, but she held her own with two of the better Diva workers and took a nasty bump to the outside that I have to give her props for. However, it just seemed like Nikki was just there, while the real story was Paige/AJ. They continued their sexual tension and frenemy angle before AJ made her tap out to the Black Widow in nearly nine minutes. Solid Divas match, but again, why does AJ need the title? Paige should've kept it to continue to establish her. This title swapping is killing me. **1/2

Main event time as Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Title against John Cena. This was a more competitive match than SummerSlam, but I enjoyed it less. Maybe because I'm not a big Cena fan. Oh well, Cena pulled out everything including an STF for like three minutes and FOUR Attitude Adjustments! As he made the cover after the fourth AA, Seth Rollins rushed out and nailed him with the briefcase, resulting in the disqualification. Seth then laid out Cena and planted Brock with the Blackout. He was cashing in! I was losing my mind in my house but then Cena cock blocked and stopped the cash in. Brock, always doing what the fans want, nails Cena with the F5 to close the show. ***1/2

Overall, this was a solid show. Nothing was terrible and everything was between two and four stars. It was mostly an enjoyable three hours and featured some exciting moments. I'd give it a 7/10.

Night of Champions Predictions

Thanks to my new job, this will be the first Pay-Per-View on the WWE Network that I am unable to watch live. I'll have to start it at 9:15 when I get off but that's fine, I'm still here to dish out my predictions. The card looks underwhelming to say the least, although the news of Roman Reigns' hernia injury opens up the intrigue. Now, we have another top face down, which brings the count in 2014 up to four, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns.

This is one of the two matches that I'm looking forward to least. Rusev's feud with Mark Henry has been a lot less entertaining than his feud with Jack Swagger, mainly because we get less Lana vs. Zeb Colter. Having these two close the go home show on Raw was terrible because not many people care for this. Anyway, Rusev is going to stay undefeated until someone important can stop him and Mark Henry isn't that guy.

Winner: Rusev

I know people got their panties in a bunch when The Usos retained the WWE Tag Team Titles against Erick Rowan and Luke Harper at Money in the Bank and Battleground, but I was fine with it. I love the Usos and they've been the best tag team in 2014, while Cody Rhodes and Goldust were arguably the best team in 2013. Nobody could top them for a few months but then they got pushed aside. I wish it was still the regular Brotherhood but I enjoy the Dust Brothers and this could steal the show. Usos retain, sending the Dust Brothers further off the deep end.

Winners: The Usos

One of the matches with the worst builds on the card tonight. Cesaro has done nothing of note since WrestleMania XXX and that will more than likely continue tonight. However, this is a match that I think could be affected by the Roman Reigns injury. With Reigns out, the WWE is in dire need of top faces and Sheamus has filled that role and filled it well. Two days ago, this would've been an easy choice of Sheamus, but I can see Cesaro stealing one and Sheamus moving back up in the card.

Winner: Cesaro

The Intercontinental Championship getting shine is always fun, even though I don't see either of these guys moving up in the card following this feud. The stuff with the stunt doubles has been original and different, which I appreciate and I'm sure this will at least be a solid match. These two Ohioans are really good friends in real life, so their chemistry is pretty good. With the title changing hands on the last two Pay-Per-Views, I don't see that happening again here.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

I can see this going one of two ways. There's the good way, in which Brie Bella ruins Nikki's chance to become Divas Champion and Paige gets to keep the title. Or the bad way, where Nikki wins the belt to that her program with Brie can have the Divas Title. I don't think their stuff needs the Title since they have Total Divas and a built in sibling rivalry, plus I don't think they should cut the legs off of another Paige title run. I'm going with my heart here.

Winner: Paige

Here is the match with the least build and the one that I care the least about besides Henry/Rusev. This has, literally no point. Randy Orton attacked Chris Jericho because, and these are his words, "What can I say? It's the Season Premiere." I don't even want to write more about this. I expect a good match because it's these two, but with little to no heat.

Winner: Randy Orton

As stated earlier, Roman Reigns is going to miss six or more weeks following his hernia surgery. After seeing him beat Seth Rollins on free television, I expected Seth to win here thanks to shenanigans from Kane. However, with Reigns out, I sense Seth comes out and calls for a forfeit victory before Dean Ambrose returns to a massive pop. I doubt they'll actually have a match as I can see that being saved for Hell in a Cell, but it should be fun.

Winner: N/A

Man, the WWE better not screw this up. Having Brock Lesnar obliterate John Cena at SummerSlam was the correct move and having Cena win back the belt here would be terrible booking. Brock needs to remain the dominant Champion that he is. Cena can put up a better fight this time around, but he doesn't need that 16th title here.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

WWE Network Reviews: Night of Champions 2010

Night of Champions 2010
September 19th, 2010 – Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois – Attendance: 13,851

So, after airing in June in 2008 and in July in 2009, Night of Champions moves to September in 2010. That's where it has stayed since then and this just so happens to take place in Chicago, a hotbed for wrestling. This show was the first after Nexus got destroyed by John Cena at SummerSlam. Both Cena and the Nexus leader, Wade Barrett would compete in a Six Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship on this card. I also remember this card featuring Kane vs. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship and it features Daniel Bryan's first title match as he faces the Miz for the United States Title. Should be at least decent fun.

As is the case for the past two years of this show, the Champions are showcased in the intro video. There are seven titles on the line and eight matches tonight. The commentary team is Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker. I'm so happy Striker is there to save this team.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Dolph Ziggler (c) w/ Vickie Guerrero and Kaitlyn vs. Kofi Kingston
Dolph and Kaitlyn was something that just completely worked. I loved their NXT Season 3 stuff. Also, if Dolph is disqualified or counted out, Kofi Kingston becomes the Champion. An athletic sequence to start as Striker talks about Vickie looking hot in her Lane Bryant outfit. Kofi knocks Dolph outside and Kaitlyn checks on him, so Vickie sends her to the back. Well, there goes my eye candy. Kofi misses a splash in the corner and crashes there. Michael Cole wants Vickie to do a book on tape so he can listen to her voice more. Kofi runs into a big boot from Dolph for two. Dolph wears down Kofi with a sleeper hold and when Kofi rallies, he eats a Fameasser for two. Dolph goes to another sleeper of sorts and hits a very high jumping elbow for a near fall. Kofi goes up and hits a cross body that Dolph jumped into to make it look better. SELLING. A series of reversals ends with a Lou Thez Press, RIGHT HANDS RIGHT HANDS THE RATTLESNAKE STRIKES. Boom Drop from Kofi and he signals for Trouble in Paradise. Dolph ducks and gets the Sleeper Hold, but Kofi counters into the SOS! He covers but Dolph gets his foot on the bottom rope. When he rolls outside, Kofi meets him with a lame looking splash. Inside, the Sleeper Hold is on again and Kofi fades but rallies. He breaks it and puts one of his own on! Dolph breaks it and Vickie goes to slap Kofi but Dolph shouts at her not to do it. Kofi tries to hit Trouble in Paradise while his back is turned but Dolph ducks and connects with the Zig Zag.

Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Dolph Ziggler in 12:42
Good opener. Dolph continued to try and use his sleeper hold but Kofi had an answer for nearly everything. These two always had good chemistry. ***

ESPN's Todd Grisham interviews Edge about the Six Pack Challenge and his worries, but he's very confident. Basic stuff.

Big Show vs. CM Punk
CM Punk gets a positive reaction but nothing compared to what he'd get at every Chicago show following Money in the Bank 2011. I'm pretty sure this is around when Punk started getting frustrated with the company. He was the best heel in the company but was in a useless match here. He cuts a promo on how much he loves Chicago but hates the people. Punk starts with kicks to the legs wisely, but Show headbutts him and stops that. Show chops Punk so hard that he falls over the top. Punk hits a knee to the face and then does an impressive front flip to the outside. I've never seen that to the outside. He rolls inside and is hoping for the countout win but Show is in at nine. Punk continues to be in the driver's seat until he jumps off the top and is met with a huge Spear. Show knocks out Punk and it's over. 

Winner: Big Show in 4:43
Not much here. Punk impressed with a few things but this wasn't very important or memorable. **

Josh Matthews now interviews Chris Jericho about the Six Pack Challenge. Similar to Edge's promo, he's confident and brings up beating The Rock and Stone Cold in the same night, winning a Scramble Match and winning an Elimination Chamber. 

WWE United States Championship
The Miz (c) w/ Alex Riley vs. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan is rocking some super generic music. In the first wrestling sequence, Miz overpowers Bryan but his hip toss is blocked and Bryan attempts to lock on the LeBelle Lock but Miz escapes. Bryan hits a huge dropkick and goes back to working on the arm. Michael Cole is incredibly annoying with “Miz Boner” going for the whole match. Miz actually uses some submissions early on that target Bryan's arm to hopefully negate the LeBelle Lock. Bryan counters a hammerlock in a very cool way with a backflip, but he still gets a shoulderbreaker from Miz. Striker is on point tonight as he says Miz channeled Arn Anderson and that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Miz continues to focus on the arm with a sick looking move on the ropes. Bryan uses Miz's momentum to send him outside and follows with a suicide dive that wakes the crowd up. Inside, Bryan hits a dropkick for two while Alex Riley looks like a worried douche. They trade punches until Bryan is like, “I'll just kick you a bunch.” His last kick is one right to the head but Miz kicks out. Bryan sets Miz up on top but gets pushed onto the rope where he is crotched. Miz follows from the second rope with a big clothesline, which is a spot that Bryan used to do with Nigel McGuinness albeit much more violently then. Miz goes right back to the left arm and pulls back on it hard. Bryan counters the Skull Crushing Finale into a pin but Miz kicks out. Bryan goes for the LeBelle Lock but Riley gets on the apron. Miz accidentally knocks him off and Bryan gets a two count with a rollup. Miz uses a small package to get two of his own. He snaps and fires away with lefts on the challenger and gets pulls away by the referee. He goes in again but Bryan catches him in the LeBelle Lock and Miz taps out!

Winner and New WWE United States Champion: Daniel Bryan in 12:29
Along with his Falls Count Anywhere match against John Morrison, this is my favorite Miz match ever. Daniel sold the shoulder work extremely well and everything about this match was enjoyable. Really good stuff and historic as it's Bryan's first title victory. ***3/4

Josh Matthews is conducting another interview with a Six Pack Challenge competitor, this time John Cena. Cena talks about all of the percentages in a very Rock like promo. Not as funny, but along the same lines. It wasn't bad.

WWE Divas and Women's Championship Unification Lumberjill Match
Melina (c) vs. Michelle McCool (c)
When Matt Striker sees the Lumberjills, he remarks “Jillian Hall is still here?”. They do a callback to their match last year as Michelle McCool goes to dropkick Melina during her split entrance again but Melina dodges. Melina goes for a move in the corner but McCool knocks her outside. The Divas don't do anything to her though as it's clear that they're only really pissed at McCool. Michelle hits the Moonlight Drive for two, showing how weak John Morrison's finisher was. Faithbreaker is countered into a facebuster as Melina must have watched some Billy Kidman before this. Michelle comes back with a belly to belly suplex though. Melina gets a rollup but the referee is distracted by Natalya, so McCool kicks out. She runs out to beef with Natalya and gets attacked by every Diva. Rosa Mendes, in her awfulness, decides to try and hit Jillian and it's a laughably bad botch. Melina dodges a McCool bit boot with a Matrix type move, but McCool slams her to the mat. Both girls fall outside and the Lumberjills just stand around watching them until it's just McCool and things break out again. Layla and Melina go at it in the ring and Layla is tossed out. McCool sneaks in and hits a big boot to end it.

Winner and New Divas and Women's Champion: Michelle McCool in 6:34
Not as good as their match the previous year, but still a solid women's contest. It's crazy how most of the girls around the ring and in the match are no longer with the company. **

Layla and Michelle McCool each leave with a championship. Todd Grisham finds Wade Barrett and asks for thoughts on the Six Pack Challenge.

World Heavyweight Championship No Holds Barred
Kane (c) vs. The Undertaker
The promo package for this goes all the way back to the beginning of their history in 1997, which is cool. I really want to know who decided to change Kane's theme from “Slow Chemical” because they should be fired. Undertaker is pissed about this too as he attacks Kane during his entrance. They fight up there for a few minutes and gradually make their way to ringside where Kane tosses his brother into the steel steps. Nothing of real note happens as it's pretty basic and boring. When they finally get in the ring, Kane hits a flying clothesline. They go back outside and Kane throws Taker on the announce table and hits him with the top piece. Taker sends him into the steps to get a bit of an opening. Guillotine leg drop from the Phenom and he's starting to get in his offense. He clotheslines Kane into the time keeper's area and leaps over onto him in a cool spot. The fight now spills into the crowd for a while. They make it back to the ring and Kane is back in the driver's seat. He channels the Undertaker with jabs in the corner. Undertaker rallies with his clothesline, snake eyes, big boot and leg drop but only gets a near fall. Undertaker goes for the Tombstone but Kane counters with his own and covers to earn a clean victory over his brother.

Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Kane in 18:29
Well that was boring. They brawled for most of the match but it wasn't anything worth watching. Seeing The Undertaker get beat cleanly was surprising though. *3/4

Randy Orton is interviewed about the Six Pack Challenge. It's nothing special.

WWE Tag Team Championship Turmoil Match
The Hart Dynasty (c) w/ Natalya vs. Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre vs. Evan Bourne and Mark Henry vs. Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Usos w/ Tamina
The first two teams are the Hart Dynasty and The Usos, and it's crazy to see how far the Usos have come. Striker mentions that he likes to play “Six Degrees of the Hart Dungeon” and I totally want to play this in my free time now. Some solid action to start and Smith hits a sweet belly to belly. When the Usos retreat outside, Kidd nails a gorgeous top rope Asai moonsault onto them. Tamina tries to intervene so Natalya stops her, but an Uso kicks Kidd in the head, allowing the other to pin him and we're guaranteed new Tag Team Champions. It was a weak elimination. Santino and Kozlov are out next to a huge pop. They are in control as Santino tries the Cobra. Tamina gets on the apron to do the Cobra too, which allows The Usos to his a Samoan Drop and eliminate them quickly. Mark Henry and Evan Bourne are next in. Bourne hits some kicks, knees and a hurricanrana to get the crowd excited. Henry eventually hits the World's Strongest Slam and Bourne follows with AirBourne as the Usos are gone. The final team to enter are Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, who would go on to be called The Dashing Ones. McIntyre starts with his mean streak as he works over Bourne. He and Cody do this for a bit because Bourne makes sense as the face in peril on his team. McIntyre hits an interesting backbreaker before applying a chin lock. Bourne counters a suplex and hits a big knee as he makes the hot tag to the Kool-Aid man. He wails away on both of his opponents for a bit. Bourne gets tagged and climbs onto Mark's shoulders. McIntyre cuts that off and Cody is able to beat Bourne.

Winners and New WWE Tag Team Champions: Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre in 11:29
Rapid fire match here. Quick eliminations allowed for nothing to be a down point. When it got to the end, it was your basic tag team match which was fine. **1/2

We get a vignette for big deal, fairly quick himself, Alberto Del Rio. He shows off how rich he is and calls the fans mentally constipated, which is a new one. The video package for the main event is shown and then Sheamus is interviewed. Again, it's nothing special.

WWE Championship Six Pack Challenge
Sheamus (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Edge vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett
We get in ring introductions for each guy and Michael Cole mentions that the guys in the ring have a combined 32 World Title reigns. Once the bell hits, everyone brawls and some of it spills outside. Cena and Jericho get into a fist fight and if I'm Jericho, I avoided the one guy that I've never beaten in the WWE. And just as I type that, Jericho gets a bulldog and then eats an RKO to be eliminated at 1:25. Everyone stops working and just looks in disbelief at Jericho getting knocked off. He would leave after this show until the start of 2012. When the shock is over and Jericho's gone, Wade Barrett finds himself surrounded by the other four guys. They all owe him for the Nexus attacks to they beat him up. Orton and Cena end up together and they try to act like the crowd is excited, but they're not. It's happened way too often to be special. It gets interrupted so the WWE's poster children throw everyone out again and it's just them. They go for their finishers instantly but continue to counter each other for a bit. Sheamus starts to beat on Cena in the ring while everyone else is down. He sets up for the Celtic Cross but Cena fights out. Sheamus pretty much owned Cena in their early feud. Edge and Sheamus hit Cena with a double second rope suplex. On the outside, the unit of Edgemus toss Barrett into the barricade and continue to work well together. Edge eventually sees a chance and goes to Spear Sheamus but misses. He eventually hits the Spear and then hits one on Orton before eating an AA from Cena, which eliminates him at 15:00.

Wade Barrett targets John Cena and gives a precursor to his bare knuckle character by punching Cena a few times. He goes for Wasteland but of course, it's reversed to the AA, which gets reversed into a DDT. Cena comes back and hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle but Wade avoids the AA. Sheamus gets in and is put in the STF but manages to reach the ropes. The Nexus runs down but John Cena fights them off until he gets caught with Wasteland. Wade pins him and the crowd pops hard at 18:58. Nexus rolls Randy Orton into the ring and then get on the apron but Cena attacks with a chair. The members who get in are all met with RKOs and Orton hits Wade with a backbreaker. He follows with an RKO and eliminates Wade at 20:32.Well, the fall of Wade Barrett continues. Sheamus connects with the Brogue Kick but Orton gets his shoulder up. High Cross is reversed into an RKO and Orton wins his seventh World Title.

Winner and New WWE Champion: Randy Orton 21:28
As with most Six Pack Challenges, this was fun. The early Jericho elimination was a shock and the time until the next elimination featured a cool team up of Sheamus and Edge. Everything after that was fast paced, but I feel that Wade could've won here to save the Nexus angle. ***3/4

Overall: 6/10. Average. Of the Night of Champions series, this was the worst so far. It was still not a bad show though. The opener was good and the only other matches that are worth checking out are the main event and the United States Title match. The World Title match was boring and the other matches are just passable.

Smackdown Report 9-19-14

I appreciate getting the actual Smackdown intro this week instead of just going straight to the ring. The main event is announced as Roman Reigns vs. Rusev, which will surely end in a disqualification or something. The suddenly healed Jimmy Uso faces Stardust to open the program. Commentary spends it's time hyping up how Smackdown is number one show on Friday for 15 straight weeks, which would be impressive if Friday wasn't a death night for most channels. Jimmy wins in about two minutes and then the Usos hit a double superkick on Goldust after the bout.

The mid card title feuds get fused here as United States Champion Sheamus tags with Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler against The Miz and Cesaro. For those wondering, R-Ziggler and Damien Mizdow are both at ringside. This gets about ten minutes and is a good match but I hate that the number one contender to the Intercontinental Title eats a pin two days before his title match. Am I supposed to consider Miz a threat? Also, if he now beats Ziggler, how does that make Ziggler look? Meh.

We get recaps of the long running rivalry between SLATERGATOR and Adam Rose and his bunny. Adam Rose has a new fuzzy jacket and wins after his bunny gets involved again. I enjoy SLATERGATOR but they keep losing. The bad Mark Henry/Rusev angle from Raw is recapped before we go to the goddess that is Renee Young. She is interviewing another hottie in Lana and then there's Rusev. They say a lot of stuff that I don't understand, with some English thrown in there. Big Show teams with Los Matadores to take on the Wyatt Family. This is what the Wyatt Family has been reduced to. Remember when they beat the Shield twice? At least they win here.

More Renee Young! She interviews Roman Reigns who says the same stuff as always, about being a one man army who brings the fight no matter what. AJ Lee is out for commentary and this just keeps getting sexier. It continues as Paige comes out for a non-title match against Nikki Bella. I like that there's still some first time ever matches for Paige. This is short and Paige wins cleanly. So, Eva Marie and Natalya, who have nothing going for them, can get wins over Paige and AJ Lee, but Nikki, who ACTUALLY has a title shot in two days, loses cleanly? Not good. Nikki does lay everyone out and hoists the Divas Title in the air so there's that.

Time for more of the Bo Dallas/Jack Swagger feud as they have a rematch from Raw. It's also our weekly rematch! Bo Dallas manages to win this time and does his victory lap with his flab flopping around. He gives hope for guys like me. I Bolieve. Bo says that Jack has lost his swagger, which is such a good line. We then get a recap of the John Cena/Brock Lesnar/Paul Heyman segment from Monday.

We've seen Roman Reigns vs. Rusev before and just like then, this doesn't end cleanly or decisively. After a solid little eight minute match, Seth Rollins shows up. He tries to jump from the top and hit Reigns with the Money in the Bank briefcase, but catches Rusev instead, resulting in a Rusev disqualification win. Reigns and Rollins brawl, as Rollins scurries through the crowd. Rusev gets his arm raised in victory until Mark Henry and a giant American flag show up. Henry slams Rusev and this thing is over.

Another week, another nothing episode of Smackdown. I hate that you could totally miss every Smackdown and never miss out on anything. 4/10. Until next time, follow me on Twitter @the_kevstaaa.

NXT and Superstars Report 9-18-14

In the first episode of NXT since TakeOver: Fatal Four Way, we were joined by Titus O'Neil to kick things off. This was not all that surprising since he tweeted his displeasure at the NXT guys taking "his" time on Raw recently. He promised to take time up on NXT, even calling it NX-Titus. He's interrupted by Sami Zayn, who calls him a buffoon that never wins. He's cut off by Adrian Neville, who is then cut off by Tyson Kidd. Kidd continues to be entertaining in this cocky heel role and Neville called out Zayn saying he would NEVER be NXT Champion. William Regal comes out to get his Teddy Long on, making a tag team match for the main event pitting Kidd and Titus against Sami and Adrian. My only gripe with this is that it's too similar to what we see on Raw and Smackdown already.

After some TakeOver: Fatal Four Way highlights, the NXT Women's Champion Charlotte is here. She takes on Emma, making her return to NXT. It's awesome that they use Emma's NXT titantron rather than her main roster one. I was a bit disappointed int this match. Charlotte and Emma seemed to not really have the chemistry I hoped for and while the match was decent, it was completely forgettable. Charlotte wins with the "Natural Selection." 

The highly anticipated debut of Hiedo Itami was next as he would face Justin Gabriel. I give Alex Riley credit for building up Gabriel as a daredevil who climbs mountains and things like that. That's a gimmick that could work for him. Itami showed up, slimmer than I remember from his appearances in ROH. He looked a bit rusty or off, but that's expected in your first match. He wins with a double foot stomp, which is a finisher I like. The Ascension attack after the match and completely wipe out Itami. Also, cool little not is that commentary mentioned that Itami's friend Funaki, has been around to help him.

In a rematch of NXT TakeOver: Fatal Four Way, CJ Parker went head to head with Baron Corbin. For those who don't remember, Corbin squashed Parker in about thirty seconds. Tonight, Parker would do a little better as this went about two minutes. Corbin still dominated which is fine but I wish it was against someone else. CJ Parker is someone with a character and is not awful in the ring. We also got a cool self shot video of Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, where Carmella, from their video in the Hair Salon a few weeks ago shows up saying she got fired and wants to be a wrestler. It was funny as expected and I like that Carmella is coming in this way.

Main event time as this tag match was given about fifteen minutes. Tyson Kidd and Titus O'Neil actually worked pretty well together but the story of the match was clearly Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn. Adrian had to deal with "Better than Neville" chants while Sami performed. Sami even blocked a Neville dive outside by hitting one of his own in a cool callback to the Fatal Four Way match. The end came as Sami accidentally distracted the referee, allowing Titus to knock Neville off the top and Kidd pins him for the second time. 

Something about NXT continues to feel special. Even on an episode like this that wasn't great, it was still good and felt different. The Corbin squash was alright as was the women's match. The main event was very good and the Hideo Itami debut was cool. It just needed some Sasha Banks, Bayley or Tyler Breeze. 7/10. On Superstars, we got an opening tag where Luke Harper and Erick Rowan defeated Los Matadores. This was there. Sin Cara and Justin Gabriel met in their third straight match, trying to best the Emma/Alicia Fox series. We got another solid bout between them and Gabriel takes two losses in one night on the Network. 4/10.

Top Ten Thursday: Night of Champions Matches

Recently, I reviewed all of the Night of Champions Pay-Per-Views and they will all be posted on this blog. A bit of a spoiler here though as I will be listing the top ten matches from that show's history, so you'll see some match ratings that I've yet to post here. The qualifications are simple; just be a match that happened on a Night of Champions Pay-Per-View. I am also not counting Vengeance: Night of Champions since it falls under the Vengeance history. Honorable Mention goes to Michelle McCool vs. Melina from Night of Champions 2009. The best women's match in the show's history. This will be short recaps while the actual reviews will be posted soon.

10. WWE Tag Team Championship: AirBoom (c) vs. Awesome Truth

The opener to the 2011 Night of Champions was for the WWE Tag Team Titles and it was a good one. R-Truth and The Miz were hot as a team with awesome, pun intended, chemistry, and AirBoom was one of my favorite thrown together tag teams. The crowd was hot for this and it had a unique twist on the usual tag formula and I appreciated that. AirBoom retained when Awesome Truth got disqualified, which played perfectly into their conspiracy theory angle. This was hot, helped advance a story and had good wrestling. That's all you can ask for. ***1/2

9. World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. Batista

Following the 2008 Draft Lottery, Raw had no World Champion. Edge, the reigning World Heavyweight Champion, was on Smackdown and Triple H and the WWE Championship was drafted over to Smackdown with him. This show was Raw's last chance to get a title back as both Batista and John Cena had title shots. We'll touch on Cena's later but this was fun. Edge and Batista always had good chemistry and the overbooking worked here. Edge needed help from Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, Vickie Guerrero and Chavo, so Batista stayed strong even in defeat. After laying him out with the World Title, Edge pinned Batista for the three to retain. ***1/2

8. WWE Intercontinental Championship: Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler

I got a kick out of the "Hi, I'm Dolph Ziggler" stuff from the early stages of Dolph's career, but I never thought he'd be someone I could take seriously. That all changed during this Intercontinental Title feud with Rey Mysterio. Both guys put on one of the best matches on the card of the 2009 show, nearly stealing the show. I didn't expect Dolph to get a near 15 minute Pay-Per-View at this point in career but he did. Rey Mysterio retained with the 619 and they would best this performance a month later at SummerSlam. Also, Maria accompanied Dolph to the ring, which is always a good sight. ***3/4

7. WWE Championship: Sheamus (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Edge vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

With the red hot debut of the Nexus, Raw had a crowded main event picture in 2010 as Wade Barrett joined the fray. The WWE decided that a Six Pack Challenge would be the way to go. Chris Jericho was eliminated in the first few minutes and would leave the WWE until 2012. Wade Barrett earned his first pin on John Cena thanks to help from the Nexus, which was pretty cool. The final two superstars were the Champion, Sheamus, and Randy Orton. Orton was in the midst of his face turn, which featured a stale character but a great in ring worker and he won with an RKO to win the title. Fun match. ***3/4

6. WWE Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. Daniel Bryan

At SummerSlam 2013, the month before, Daniel Bryan did the unthinkable and cleanly beat John Cena for the WWE Title. Triple H would then Pedigree Bryan, allowing Randy Orton to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase. This would kickstart the Bryan vs. Authority storyline, that had a lot of bumps, but ended the way it should have. However, these two would have their first of three straight Pay-Per-View main events here and they delivered. We got a back and forth match and Bryan continued to look like an absolute star. I expected a DQ finish or something like that, but instead, Bryan won in about 17 minutes. The decision was changed the following night, but the match was still a barn burner. ***3/4

5. WWE United States Championship: The Miz (c) vs. Daniel Bryan

During the inagural season of NXT, Daniel Bryan was given The Miz as his pro in a pairing that everyone was intrigued by because everyone knew that Bryan was light years ahead of Miz as a worker. Miz impressed me greatly during his upper mid card run from 2009-2011 and this was his best match ever. Miz played a great villain and he worked Bryan's arm wonderfully. I saw Miz do some things that I remember Nigel McGuinness did in his classics with Bryan that I appreciated. The arm work, the spots, the crowd, the interference from Alex Riley and everything else about this match was great. Bryan overcame his former pro with the LeBelle Lock after 12 minutes. ***3/4

4. World Heavyweight Championship: Sheamus (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio

The 2012 Night of Champions was the best in the show's history and this match is one of the reasons why. Sheamus was in the middle of a very good run as World Heavyweight Champion. During that run he had some good matches with Alberto Del Rio, but nothing would top this encounter. Everything came together beautifully here as this has to be top five in the career of both men. Del Rio worked the arm and Sheamus sold like a champ. After losing to John Cena and looking weak the year before, Del Rio looked great in defeat here. An awesome 14 minutes that you should give a look at for sure. ****

3. World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Jeff Hardy

After cashing in his second Money in the Bank briefcase on June 7th, 2009, CM Punk became an interesting character. He started to slowly turn heel during a feud with Jeff Hardy that produced good matches. They wrestled for three straight Pay-Per-Views with each match being better than the last and this was the second in that series. They got the main event spot on this show and made the best of it by having the best match of the night and the fans got sent home happy as Hardy captured the gold in about 15 minutes. Much like Mysterio/Ziggler, they would best this a month later at SummerSlam. ****

2. WWE Championship: Triple H (c) vs. John Cena

As stated earlier, Raw had two chances to bring a title back home in 2008, and after Batista failed earlier in the night, a lot of people expected John Cena to win in the main event. The build was great as they went back to their WrestleMania 22 match from two years eariler. Triple H was out for redemption after tapping out to Cena on the grandest stage of them all. This was a great sequel as we got a lot of false finishes and counters of finishers. This is a clean loss that Cena has under his belt that I always forget about as Triple H pinned him following a Pedigree in 19 minutes. ****

1. WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. John Cena

Being a huge CM Punk fan, I loved that he had a long run as WWE Champion, but hated that he took a backseat to John Cena. They would meet in a Triple Threat match involving Big Show at SummerSlam, but their build to Night of Champions was excellent. Punk added Paul Heyman and Cena took some jabs. He was wrong about Punk "only keeping the belt by any means necessary", but was spot on about Punk not wanting change, just wanting to be in the top spot. What followed was the best 27 minutes in the history of this Pay-Per-View as we got so many near falls I couldn't keep track. I did think that the finisher kick outs were a tad overdone and the draw finish hurt the score. However, Punk in Yankee pinstripes in Boston was cool and the match was still great. ****1/4 

Tuesday Night Network Report 9-16-14

#Rematch. With all their talk of making sure something trends, the WWE should be sure to have that trending. Main Event kicks off with a match that we've not only seen on Smackdown, but we saw again on Raw just 24 hours prior. Seriously? Damien Mizdow and the Miz against Dolph Ziggler and R-Ziggler. While this was the best in the trilogy of this series, it was also the longest as this took up the first quarter of the show, going fifteen or so minutes. Solid match that the Miz's won, but I didn't need to see it for a third time, especially within five days. Instead of showing you another image of this match, here's a shot of Dolph and Eva Marie modeling Dolph's new shirt.

#AwfulVoice. Renee Young interviews Seth Rollins. Seth looks smug but he shouldn't because he lost cleanly to Roman Reigns on Raw. He claims everything is alright because he's still Mr. Money in the Bank and he took out Dean Ambrose. Brie Bella and her awful new auto-tuned theme music is out next. Seriously, it's bad. Her opponent was Cameron, and this must be a battle of worst theme songs. Where's Cesaro? The match was pretty much what you would expect from Brie and Cameron as Brie picked up the win. Also, the "Brie Mode" stuff is annoying. Brie Mode on the show was supposed to be a wile side of Brie when she drinks...but she wasn't really wild. The hashtag up there was for Brie's terrible voice, not Renee's. 

#Recap. Along with rematches, recaps are the WWE's favorite thing and it's time for one about Brock Lesnar and John Cena. It's clips of the SummerSlam beatdown, Paul Heyman's awesome promo work and their brawl on Monday. The #MainEvent of #MainEvent pits Seth Rollins against Big E. Big E is another victim of WWE's lack of creative. Talented big guy with nothing to do after being Intercontinental Champion a while ago. Just like the opener, this got about fifteen minutes, which I appreciate. Just like he was doing earlier in the year, Big E did really good and Seth was his usual great self. Seth won and look at that...another solid edition of Main Event. 6/10.

For the other WWE Network Tuesday shows, we had the Monday Night War and Countdown. The Monday Night War focused on the Montreal Screwjob and Bret Hart, which is a story that's been told a lot so I won't dive into it. Countdown was really fun as it was the best Royal Rumble moments. At  10 we had Mr. McMahon winning the 1999 Royal Rumble which was fine placed where it was. 9 was Drew Carey coming in, which I wouldn't have had on the list. An honorable mention would've been fine. 8 was the Three Faces of Foley in 1998 and 7 was the awesome series of Kofi Kingston escaping Royal Rumble eliminations. Nothing beats his handstand walk. 6 was the 1994 tie, while 5 was Mr. McMahon tearing his quads in 2005. 4 was the 2006 performance of Rey Mysterio and 3 was Shawn Michaels' overrated performance in 1995. 2 was Roman Reigns eliminating 12 people this year, to which Renee Young hilariously states it was 11.5 because one of them was El Torito. Reigns responds with "He's a man. He's a full little man bull." And number one, rightfully, was Ric Flair in 1992. "With a tear in my eye...this is the greatest moment in my life." If you haven't watched the 1992 Royal Rumble, do so now.

Until next time, follow me on the Twitter @the_kevstaaa

Raw Report 9-15-14

Raw kicks off with Paul Heyman, the man who can build a match better than anyone. He promotes John Cena/Brock Lesnar until he's cut off by Cena. When he goes to introduce Brock, it turns out that Brock's flight has been delayed, so the WWE is saving Brock for Halftime of Monday Night Football and telling the fans this in advance. Cena decides that if Brock can't make it he's going to beat up Paul Heyman. So much for the anti-bullying "Be A Star" campaign huh? The WWE app informs us that Heyman is locked in a room with The Great Khali as security. Heyman made this watchable, but overall, this sucked.

Chris Jericho's knee injury from last week has vanished and he stepped into the ring with Corporate "Over the Hill" Kane. This was your basic match between both guys. They didn't have much chemistry in 2000 and it's not great here, however they did run through the commercial. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good. So, even though he's lost about 10,000 matches in his career, Kane only lost due to an exposed turnbuckle because he needs to be protected for some reason. Whatever. We also get hype for Mark Henry/Rusev and it's announced that Henry will be "rallying America" tonight.

Roman Reigns is interviewed by the perfection that is Renee Young and we see a video of the Shield splitting. I guess they need to remind Roman every week since he totally forgot about the Shield splitting for like, two months. Apparently, he's going to face Seth Rollins tonight so that should end in a no contest of sorts to protect the Pay-Per-View. Jack Swagger beats Bo Dallas next in about six minutes and I have no clue what the plan is for Bo Dallas at this point. Also, it's announced that the Night of Champions Pre-Show will be one hour. I would complain but that's an extra thirty minutes of Renee Young.

It's time for my favorite part of Raw, Paige and AJ Lee. The Bellas are there too though. It's AJ and Brie Bryan taking on Paige and Boob Bella. Basic divas stuff and they made sure to keep Nikki and Brie separate. Paige won cleanly for her team and Nikki dropped Brie with that Rack move after the match. AJ and Paige decided to skip for a while after. Not my favorite Paige/AJ segment but I didn't hate it. We also get Smackdown highlights, a nonsense Bray Wyatt promo and then more shenanigans from Paul Heyman and the Great Khali.

Bray Wyatt faced the Big Show next in a match that could actually be Pay-Per-View quality but who needs that huh? Show could put over Bray in a short feud and maybe help get the momentum back that Bray lost so fast. This was decent but could've been better. As soon as it looked like Show was on the verge of a win, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan ran into the ring to cause the disqualification. Show beat them up as Bray laughed in his rocking chair. Man, Bray has quickly gone from incredibly interesting to someone I don't care about at all.

Six man tag team time as two of the feuds going into Night of Champions come to a head. The Usos team with Sheamus to take on Goldust, Stardust and Cesaro. It irks me to no end that they call them "Gold and Stadust". It's grammatically incorrect. They mention that Jey Uso's leg injury is somehow magically 100% healed just like Chris Jericho earlier in the show. Cesaro mocked the "Ten Beats of wherever" and Sheamus cleaned house once he got the hot tag. This was a fun six man tag that was probably the best part of the show.

On this one hour Night of Champions Pre-Show, Christian returns to host the Peep Show, with special guest Chris Jericho. I don't know why. We see clips of Mark Henry's Olympic run, showing that the WWE would mention Olympics from 1996 but forget wrestling that happened a year ago. John Cena doesn't want to give Brock until the halfway point of the show, he gives him until halftime of the Monday Night Football game for real. Cena decides not to attack Heyman because he won't stoop to that level. I guess John Laurinaitis and the beating he took years ago from Cena are above that level. Brock shows up, they brawl and Brock dominates. Cena uses cheap shots to take advantage. This was intense and should have closed the show.

To promote Total Divas and the episode that focused on the split of The Funkadactyls, we get a match between Cameron and Naomi. It's been a while since we've seen Cameron. The WWE acts like Total Divas happens in present day, when it's recorded months prior. Anyway, this somehow was given more time than the tag match earlier. Total Divas > Divas Championship in the eyes of the company. I'm also going to bunch in the weekly Smackdown rematch here, as Dolph Ziggler and R-Ziggler beat The Miz and Damien Mizdow again. The booking team is so lazy it hurts.

So it's time for Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins. As they make it through a commercial it seems like this is actually happening. Teddy Long, where are you to turn this into a tag team match playa? Roman Reigns wins cleanly. What the fuck was that? Don't get me wrong, it was a good match, but why would you give this away for free? Isn't the object to get subscribers to the WWE Network? Instead, you give away a big first time ever match on Raw. The week before. With a clean finish. Why the hell would I be inclined to order the Pay-Per-View? Stupid booking.

Final segment time and it looks like it's going to be Mark Henry rallying America against Rusev. Are you serious? I'm all for mid-card feuds main eventing shows but not when it's a feud that not many people care about. Henry decides to not go back to the red, white and blue gear so I cared even less. He tries to get sympathy for the country so Lana and Rusev interrupt. She badmouths Obama, puts over Putin and it's the usual stuff. They end up brawling and for some reason this went 15 minutes over. A three hour Raw should only go over 11:00PM if it's something big. Not this. The crowd didn't care. Awful ending.

This was a weird ass Raw. You give away a Pay-Per-View match for free six days beforehand and are still having the match this Sunday. You have a mid-card feud go on last on the go home show. You put the part time Champion on in the mid-card because people who watch Monday Night Football tune into Raw during halftime I guess. Whatever. This was a poor go home show and the lazy booking/writing continues. 3/10.