WWE Night of Champions 2011: Aftermath & Discussion

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Night of Champions - September 18, 2011

1. Air Boom vs. The Miz & R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Championship - Very solid opener in my view and an entertaining match with two teams that look like they’ve got good chemistry together. Generally speaking, just a fun match with lots of good action. I thought The Miz did a great job selling his frustration during the match and it made the ending work. Miz pie faced the ref and gets DQ’d at the 10 minute mark. The ending might seem cheap but this plays in very well with the whole “conspiracy” angle Miz & Truth have as an explanation for them banding together. Their brief backstage promo and Truth slappin’ the crap out of the ref after the match was over brought some good heel heat and did just really confirm that this feud isn’t over. Air Boom looked strong through the match so this doesn’t really cheapen the win. Besides, right now, Miz & Truth are the only other really viable team in WWE right now so having either team lose cleanly at this stage just wouldn’t do anybody any favors. **3/4

2. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - This match was alright and was pretty much what I figured it’d be. It wasn’t anything special nor was it a bad match. It was a pretty competitive match with both wrestlers looking pretty strong really up to the end. The ending comes at the 10 minute mark when DiBiase pulls the mask off Rhodes and Cody ducks. He rolls DiBiase up while hooking the tights for the win. Nice old school heel win for Cody here. This match didn’t get a lot of build up and I thought they did a good job overall considering how little build they got. Cody Rhodes needed to retain here and he did. **

Sheamus & Christian Promo - Good solid promo with Christian coming out and initially pissing and moaning about how he deserves one more match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Christian led them in a chant of “one more match” and actually got a pretty good response from the crowd. Sheamus came out to a nice pop and insulted Christian for a few minutes. Sheamus offers to help Christian get another title match if Christian agrees that his first title defense will be against him. Nice, logical way to kick the feud up a notch. After all, the writing has been on the wall that a feud between them has been coming. Sheamus ends the promo with a crowd pleasing Brogue Kick. Good solid work by both men and it ended on giving the fans a happy moment. Thumbs Up

3. Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. John Morrison vs. Alex Riley for the WWE United States Championship - While it was a little on the short side at about 9 minutes, it was still a very entertaining match that packed a ton of action into those 9 minutes. The centerpiece of the match in and of itself was the friction between Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler but the match in and of itself still had some great action with a couple of great babyface near falls. Swagger looked pretty strong during the match and the ending comes after JoMo interrupts Swagger as he has the ankle lock on Riley. Swagger hits Morrison with the gut wrench power bomb and goes for the win. However, Ziggler pushes Swagger aside to pick the bones and score the win to retain his title. Lots of action, the champ needed to retain his title & he did and the match told a good story to further the building feud between Ziggler & Swagger with Vickie in the middle. ***

4. Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship - Personally, I thought this was a great match and that it actually surprised a lot of people. The match in and of itself had solid action throughout. Henry’s offense wasn’t flashy but it was believable and believability has been the key to this renaissance period in Henry’s career. As with everything else he’s done over the course of the summer, Henry’s work here was far and away above anything he’s ever done for the VAST majority of his wrestling career. I also liked how the announcers played up how Henry had never won “the big one” and doubting that he had what it takes to do it. Things picked up about the last 6 minutes or so in the match when Orton finally took Henry off of his feet. Henry hit the World’s Strongest Slam not long afterward and Orton showed some real resilience by kicking out. Orton hit his patented DDT on Henry off the middle rope and it just looked impressive given Henry’s size. The shocker comes at the end when Orton goes for the RKO, gets pushed off and takes a World’s Strongest Slam. Henry gets the clean win a little past the 13 minute mark to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. It was a great touch of them airing shots of the fans with shocked expressions on their faces. Orton seemed the underdog coming into this and I think most people were expecting a scenario in which he ultimately stopped the unstoppable juggernaut that has been Mark Henry. Henry’s post match promo was also great, the best he’s cut yet in my view. I think one thing that made it really good was really the fact that a lot of what Henry said is true. Everyone has doubted him, everyone has written him off. It was, again, believable and straight forward. Good work here from both men and I have to say that it’s a nice surprise to see Henry get a World Heavyweight Championship run. It’s even better to see Orton jobbing out to him clean as a whistle. ***1/4

5. Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix for the WWE Divas Championship - It was unusual to hear Kelly Kelly booed and even more unusual to hear “Kelly sucks” from the crowd in Buffalo. I know it’s Beth Phoenix’s hometown and all and I expected her to be the favorite, but it’s still unusual to hear Kelly get hate as she’s been consistently loved. This was honestly a surprisingly good back and forth match between the two. I know some are hoping that Beth would go in and just obliterate Kelly. Yet, at the same time, you’d have other fans that’d be griping about seeing a Diva squash match on a ppv. At the 5.5 minute mark, Beth hit a nice looking Superplex off the top and Kelly showed some vigor by kicking out. The ending comes at the 6.5 minute mark with Kelly countering Beth’s attempt at a Glam Slam with a modified Victory Roll for the win. I figured Beth would win this match and I’m kind of disappointed that she didn’t. I have to admit now that I’m starting to wonder if this Divas of Doom angle is ultimately something WWE is going to use as a means of flipping the middle finger at critics of the Divas as a whole with the Barbie Doll coming out on top each time against the “real female wrestler”. Still, very much above average for a Divas match and you do have to admit that Kelly has been the strongest women’s champ in WWE in a long time. **

6. Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship - I’m a little surprised this isn’t the main event of the night. The match started off with a slower pace but build itself up nicely over the course of the roughly 18 minute bout. Overall, it was a competitive back and forth match with both men getting in a good amount of offense. Both guys looked strong and hit some good moves on one another while looking resilient. Del Rio eventually locked on the cross armbar submission but Cena powered out of it with a genuinely impressive display of strength when Cena picked him up and slammed him to the mat. Cena then hit the AA and locked in the STF. Del Rio tried to fight it for a while but eventually tapped and Cena is the WWE Champion…again. I’m disappointed that they put the title back on Cena. Like a lot of others, I’m tired of seeing him with the title and just wish the WWE would show some faith in someone else. That being said, however, it was still an entertaining back and forth match with both guys working well together and delivering. ***

7. CM Punk vs. Triple H in a No Disqualification Match - This was a hard hitting, very physical match where both wrestlers worked their asses off. Generally speaking, the entire match looked dead even even when you factor out all the interference. Trips & Punk were going at it back and forth until The Miz & R-Truth come out and jump the both of them. They beat both of them down for a bit, including Miz hitting Trips with the Skull Crushing Finale before rolling Punk on top of him. Punk & Trips eventually cleared the ring and got back into this as John Laurinaitis makes his way to ringside. Triple H then hits Punk with a Pedigree but Punk kicks out for a very believable near fall. Kevin Nash makes his way through the crowd and enters the ring and attacked Punk first before beginning to unload on Triple H. He beats on Trips for a bit before setting him up for the Jackknife power bomb. Punk intervenes and Punk winds up taking the move instead. Trips eventually lays Nash out with a sledgehammer outside the ring as Nash is busy taking all the monitors and stuff off the announce table to, presumably, power bomb Triple H through it. Trips then comes back into the ring and hits Punk with a Pedigree and getting the win at the 24 minute mark. I’m disappointed that Punk didn’t win but it’s not as though he doesn’t have valid excuses and he certainly didn’t look weak. There was a lot of interference in the match but it involved all this conspiracy storyline and all the characters involved played their parts very well. I think we all expected Nash to show up and it’ll be interesting to see where they go with this on Raw tomorrow night and see what Hell in a Cell plays in this as it’s only two weeks off. Some could argue that the match was overbooked and I could understand that. WWE doesn’t go this route often but it was a no DQ match and everyone involved in the match actually had some role to play in the angle. It’s not like we had simply members of a faction run in to help their guy just because he happened to be aligned with them. But overall, definitely a main event caliber match with great action and a great story being told. ***1/2

Overall Show - Overall, I thought this was a very solid show from top to bottom. There weren’t a lot of OMG! moments nor were there wrestling matches on the caliber of Orton vs. Christian or Cena vs. Punk as we’ve seen in other ppvs over the summer. However, there were several very good matches on the card and even the matches that seemed more like filler, the IC title & Divas title, were solid all things considered. The opening tag match was fun and entertaining with two teams that worked quite well together. The finish would seem cheap if these weren’t the only truly relevant tag teams in WWE right now. Neither team really could afford a straight up loss at this point so having the heels get DQ’d while looking strong will keep the feud going. The IC title match was a solid though unspectacular match. It was quite good considering the lack of general build. It still had some good action and it had the right outcome. The United States Championship match was a little short for a 4 way dance but they packed a helluva lot of action into the match while it lasted. It also told a good story with the Ziggler/Swagger angle and also had the right result with the champ retaining. The WHC match was surprising in that it was a better match than I thought it’d be and the fact that Randy Orton jobbed clean to Mark Henry. Henry’s worked very hard these past several months and his character has been nothing short of great. The Divas Championship match was actually pretty decent. I would have preferred Kelly Kelly have lost personally but at least she’s been a strong champion and it was better than I thought it’d be. I’m disappointed that John Cena is again WWE Champion. I’m tired of Cena in the title scene as a fan, just burned out on the guy in that light. At the same time though, his match with Alberto Del Rio was very good and competitive. I know that there’ll be cries and complaints about Super Cena returning tonight and it’s understandable. The main event with Triple H & CM Punk was also a great physical match that told a great story. It might look convoluted on the surface but it wasn’t just guys interfering in a match. Everyone that came into the match had a part to play in this big conspiracy storyline. Triple H got the win but it certainly couldn’t be called “clean” and Punk didn’t look weak. Aside from Cena becoming WWE Champion again, I enjoyed the ppv.

Grade: B

 

[[cL]]

Generally PPV's are where questions are answered OR where they pose NEW questions. Well if the latter is what they were going for tonight, the succeeded in spades. What the heck happened at the end of the Punk/HHH match? Heck what happened DURING the match? I am a very active member of the IWC and I post and read posts here daily so I, like most, knew there was going to at LEAST be a Kevin Nash run in. I can even say, though I was hoping against it, I kinda figured there'd be a Truth/Miz run in...Unfortunately there was. So I'm cool with that, because they'd been talking a lot about conspiracy and how HHH wasn't going to be COO after tonight and blah blah blah. So they do the run in....but attack BOTH guys. (WTH?)
Then beat the ref up.
THEN as the ref is out Johnny Ace hits the ring to check on the first ref. Second ref comes barreling down to the ring just as HHH hits the pedigree, and Johnny Ace keeps the second ref from getting in the ring to count the three.
(saw that coming, typical move, been in the script for years.)
After Johnny Ace keeps the count from happening over HHH, Punk hits the GTS and has HHH covered. Johnny Ace quickly pushes the second ref into the ring for the count but gets stopped by..... R TRUTH
(WTH???)
Punk hits the GTS on Truth and we're done with the Awesome Truth for the night. Match goes on.....but then...
Here comes Kevin Nash (saw that coming)
and he attacks....(can you guess?) BOTH GUYS.
(WTH???)
Nash beats up Punk. Punk down. Nash beats up Hunter. Hunter out of the ring. Punk up beats on Nash. Nash recovers, Jackknife power bombs Punk. Out of the ring to attack Hunter. Starts tearing up the announce table. Turns around, Hunter hits Nash with the sledgehammer. Nash, sleeping.
(WTH???)
Hunter back in the ring, pedigrees Punk for a 3rd time and gets a clean win.
So yeah, if the intention of NOC was to leave the viewer with more questions than they had coming in, WELL DONE WWE. If not then, WTH????


So here's the thing, obviously HHH isn't going to job to anyone especially with his new seat in Stamford. But tell me this. WHY.
WHY go through all the trouble to push Punk to such a high level to have him cleanly lose the last TWO PPV's. I mean, he beat Cena clean at SS and then got jumped and lost the title. And now this. I know people are gonna say, "just watch the show, see whats gonna happen, stop complaining" to that I say shut up. I'll complain all I want. This is dumb. First you have Beth Phoenix lose, in her home town, to KELLY KELLY the EXACT same way she lost at SS.
(WTH???) and John Cena's champ AGAIN, diminishing the whole ADR push. (WTH????) Hell if you were gonna do that, you coulda had Punk lose clean at summerslam if you were gonna just put the belt back on Cena anyway?!!?!? What was the point? Have Cena fued with ADR to pull him away from Punk so that HHH could beat him and bring his buddy back into the company so HE could beat him?

How do you follow up 2 great PPV's with this? How do you explain that?
The only saving grace to this night was Mark Henry winning the WHC. He toiled and worked his butt of for 15 years and I say hats off to him. Other than that, seriously WWE...WTH????

 

[Prince Punk]

See I really don't understand WHY they put the title back on Cena Del Rio's only title defense was against Rey, and then they put it back on Cena.... The only thing I can figure is that they are going to have Cena drop it to Del Rio in a more fashionable sense than when he cashed in... Currently it makes him look like he does not belong in the main event. Seeing as he had already beaten Rey Rey on smackdown on several occasions he came off weak. But hey who knows maybe they have grander plans, just have to wait and see (I honestly think they are trying to build Cena to have more title reigns than ANYONE else.) as raw is tomorrow night

However I was happy to see them actually give Henry the ball seeing as how they have pushed him and I hope he does get to dominate for awhile and he should not actually be pinned to lose the title as this monster thing with him is working so let it! If you want the belt off him have a triple threat and have Orton pin christian or have Christian pin Orton after Henry does the damage and have kane or big show come back to distract Henry while someone else picks up the victory.

 

[the Albanian viper]

A b is a solid grade 4 this ppv and also seeing what happened in the m.e. what will the rumored returning Vince McMahon have planned for John Laurenitis. Will he be fired for what he pulld @ the ppv only time will tell. Also will miz and truth be
fired/suspended/fined for there actions @ night of champions attacking 3 refs in 1 night and as for Mark Henry i personally think he is nothing more than a transitional champion. Now the reason i say that is with the imminent return of undertaker @ vengeance. I believe wwe will put the WHC on him for 1 last reign before he retires @ wrestlemania 28.

 

[keehlnate]

You can't always get what you want. That makes WWE too predictable. Don't expect that Beth Phoenix will win because she is at her hometown. Don't expect Alberto del Rio will win because he just received his big push. Don't expect that CM Punk will win because he got the wwe universe within his hands.

Me too, I only have 3 out of 7 matches correctly but I'm not upset. Actually I'll be more upset if I got it all right. 3 out of 7 means that WWE is still unpredictable.

 

[lishenlong]

this was by far the best pay per view for the year! and obviously miz and truth wud attack both hhh and punk ..because they named them along with cena as art of the conspiracy couple weeks back...dont u idiots follow :S and they obviously wanted punk to win so hhh wud be gone!

gud PPV ..has me wanting to see what happens on raw tomorow

 

[marklouis]

After watching the main event, I though Vince Russo had returned to leading the wwe creative team. Completely overbooked, and it killed what was a pretty good match. And you have all of that, & nothing changes. HHH doesn't turn heel, neither he or Punk get screwed over. There was just no point to it. And I don't care about the Miz/Truth conspiracy garbage. The other matches were fine, but nothing spectacular. I was disappointed to see Cena regain the title, but it wasn't unexpected. I was shocked Beth Phoenix lost in her home town. The rest of the card was largely forgettable.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Being unpredictable means nothing if they can't make sense while they do it.

If R-Truth and The Miz came down to the ring to assure Triple H lose his job as COO then why did they beat down on Punk? Okay, with Punk now being an honorable man, Punk probably wouldn't have gone along with Miz and Truth's plan so they beat him up and placed him on Triple H to make sure they got their way. This makes sense, BUT....

WHY did R-Truth break CM Punk's pin? If CM Punk was going to win and get rid of Triple H just like both Miz and Truth wanted, then why would R-Truth pull the referee? That makes absolutely no sense.

I don't mind Predictability if the storylines are well-written.

But I hate this "unpredictability is more important than making sense" mindset.

The night was a huge clust****ck.

 

[TLK]

So here's the thing, obviously HHH isn't going to job to anyone especially with his new seat in Stamford. But tell me this. WHY.
WHY go through all the trouble to push Punk to such a high level to have him cleanly lose the last TWO PPV's. I mean, he beat Cena clean at SS and then got jumped and lost the title. And now this.

Not sure if you know what the term "losing cleanly" means. Do you mean to tell me that everyone who has lost the title to the Money in the Bank briefcase-holder lost the title in a clean manner? That's ludicrous. Being Jackknifed by a returning Kevin Nash leading to Del Rio hitting his finisher on an already battered Punk is not a clean loss. Orton's loss to Henry tonight was clean. No funny business, no run ins, nothing. Just Henry pinning Orton after his finisher. These two scenarios, along with what happened during the H/Punk match tonight, are not even remotely comparable.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

^ Its not about predictability, its about progressing entertaining storylines. Henry over Orton makes sense, and Henry as a champ is a storyline I'm interested in. HHH over Punk makes sense as well (everyone should've known Punk was going to do the job once HHH's position went on the line, no way HHH leaves his role after a few weeks).

Cena's win didn't make as much sense, mostly because it was hyped so poorly and also because Del Rio didn't get a chance to shine as champion. I have faith in WWE that they'll have something in store for both men (I'm starting to like Cena, and I am an ADR fan), but this match looks like the storyline is near completion rather than approaching its height. I'm hoping The Rock will cost Cena the title soon to build heat, but not sure it will happen.

 

[thomas1027]

if anyone thinks this was the best ppv of the year,thats sad. i thought i was watching tna. i honestly think now vince is trying to kill this business.this is why he is losing viewers. creative has completely lost it. this ppv was the worst i have ever seen.

 

[InuJoshua]

Generally PPV's are where questions are answered OR where they pose NEW questions. Well if the latter is what they were going for tonight, the succeeded in spades. What the heck happened at the end of the Punk/HHH match? Heck what happened DURING the match? I am a very active member of the IWC and I post and read posts here daily so I, like most, knew there was going to at LEAST be a Kevin Nash run in. I can even say, though I was hoping against it, I kinda figured there'd be a Truth/Miz run in...Unfortunately there was. So I'm cool with that, because they'd been talking a lot about conspiracy and how HHH wasn't going to be COO after tonight and blah blah blah. So they do the run in....but attack BOTH guys. (WTH?)
Then beat the ref up.
THEN as the ref is out Johnny Ace hits the ring to check on the first ref. Second ref comes barreling down to the ring just as HHH hits the pedigree, and Johnny Ace keeps the second ref from getting in the ring to count the three.
(saw that coming, typical move, been in the script for years.)
After Johnny Ace keeps the count from happening over HHH, Punk hits the GTS and has HHH covered. Johnny Ace quickly pushes the second ref into the ring for the count but gets stopped by..... R TRUTH
(WTH???)
Punk hits the GTS on Truth and we're done with the Awesome Truth for the night. Match goes on.....but then...
Here comes Kevin Nash (saw that coming)
and he attacks....(can you guess?) BOTH GUYS.
(WTH???)
Nash beats up Punk. Punk down. Nash beats up Hunter. Hunter out of the ring. Punk up beats on Nash. Nash recovers, Jackknife power bombs Punk. Out of the ring to attack Hunter. Starts tearing up the announce table. Turns around, Hunter hits Nash with the sledgehammer. Nash, sleeping.
(WTH???)
Hunter back in the ring, pedigrees Punk for a 3rd time and gets a clean win.
So yeah, if the intention of NOC was to leave the viewer with more questions than they had coming in, WELL DONE WWE. If not then, WTH????


So here's the thing, obviously HHH isn't going to job to anyone especially with his new seat in Stamford. But tell me this. WHY.
WHY go through all the trouble to push Punk to such a high level to have him cleanly lose the last TWO PPV's. I mean, he beat Cena clean at SS and then got jumped and lost the title. And now this. I know people are gonna say, "just watch the show, see whats gonna happen, stop complaining" to that I say shut up. I'll complain all I want. This is dumb. First you have Beth Phoenix lose, in her home town, to KELLY KELLY the EXACT same way she lost at SS.
(WTH???) and John Cena's champ AGAIN, diminishing the whole ADR push. (WTH????) Hell if you were gonna do that, you coulda had Punk lose clean at summerslam if you were gonna just put the belt back on Cena anyway?!!?!? What was the point? Have Cena fued with ADR to pull him away from Punk so that HHH could beat him and bring his buddy back into the company so HE could beat him?

How do you follow up 2 great PPV's with this? How do you explain that?
The only saving grace to this night was Mark Henry winning the WHC. He toiled and worked his butt of for 15 years and I say hats off to him. Other than that, seriously WWE...WTH????

Are you in my head? This is almost word for word what I was thinking. The only difference is that I figured Miz and Truth attacked both of them because they made it clear that they didn't like being pushed aside for Punk, but R-Truth breaking up Punk's pin made NO SENSE. Neither did Punk stopping HHH's jack knife. Punk may be a face, but he sure as hell isn't an honorable one. If he is supposed to be so dead set on getting HHH fired, why would he stop Nash from helping him? It's obvious Nash was trying to stop HHH on Johnny Ace's orders. If you notice, Johnny Ace started texting on his phone right when R Truth stopped the pin.

Kelly winning the exact same way as her SS match was dumb too. Give Nattie a shot, because they've booked Beth into looking so stupid that she lost the exact same way twice in a row.

And the Del Rio/Cena match was just boring. I'm a fan of both guys, but the flow of the match felt so slow and until Cena's reversal of the armbar, there was nothing of interest that happened.

Everything up to Henry's win was great. Everything after not so much.

And I'm not mad because some of the people I wanted to win didn't win. The way ADR's, Beth's and Punk's losses were booked made no sense. As long as it makes sense, I don't care who wins, but these matches were booked with no logic or direction IMO. I'll wait until tomorrow and wait to see if they can fix it.

 

[WhyTravisFelt]

MarkLouis said it best. During the final ten WTF minutes of the match I actually exclaimed the exact sentiment aloud to my viewing companions: "when did WWE hire Vince Russo back?" This was the dumbest, most asinine main event finish I have seen in a very long time; like three months of nonsensical TNA storylines rolled up into a fifteen minute span (and this is coming from a fan of both products) R-Truth and Miz throw CM Punk over HHH, then a few minutes later they pull him off of HHH, and why are these two here anyway? I thought this was a joke tag team? Nash attacks both guys, presumably after a text from Johnny Ace, and for what purpose? This match was nonsensical to the point of being probably the most blatant metafictional attack on the smark's intellect, which can really only serve to alienate the mainstream fanbase who are going to be left utterly dumbfounded. I like David Lynch as much as the next avant-garde artsy-fartsy liberal arts grad, but that doesn't mean I'd invite my wrestling buddies to come over and dissect Mulholland Dr. with me. Punk at least looked like a bonafide competitor after kicking out of two pedigrees, and that's about the long and short of the good I'll take away from the match.

 

[TLK]

Nash attacks both guys, presumably after a text from Johnny Ace, and for what purpose?

The fact that you're asking this question means the WWE did a good job of leaving fans wanting more. Pretty sure you'll know more after tomorrow night. Sure, the finish to the match was crazy, but this entire storyline has been fairly convoluted. Miz/Truth interfering made sense given the promo they delivered backstage earlier in the night. Still a little perplexed about Truth pulling Punk off H.

 

[MisterRob]

There were some things I liked and some things I didn't like. Overall I'd say the PPV was definitely good, though. I thought Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase was good and I thought the finish was well done; Rhodes needed to keep his title and win and yet he did it in a way that didn't make Dibiase look weak and could very much continue the fued between the two. I'm all for the feud continuing and Dibiase being pushed further.

I really liked the finish to the four way, as well. I love the fact that Swagger had the win, making him look strogner, only for Ziggler to push him aside and steal the win from him. It makes Swagger look good and it continues the feud between them. Great finish in my mind, and I"m glad Ziggler kept the title tonight.

I love the fact that Mark Henry won. I was actually worried they'd have Orton win and it'd be the same old thing and Henry would get derailed, so I'm very happy to see that not only did they continue Henry's dominance and give him the chance to keep going and become the champion, but he did it by pinning Orton CLEANLY. Great job by WWE here.

On the other hand I really hated the fact Kelly Kelly won. It wasn't even the fact that Beth Phoenix lost in her home town. To me what's so disappointing is the fact that Beth Phoenix has lost twice, and now where do they go from here? I don't see the point of Kelly Kelly retaining her title in the same fashion she did before because now there's nowhere to really go with this feud and its pointless to continue it because Kelly has already won TWICE. I'm not finally behind the Divas like Kelly and finally seeing them as credible, etc, if that's what WWE was hoping for. I dislike the Divas like Kelly and I want to see something different, and a solid champion like Beth take the title and dominate for a while until someone can take it away from her. That's what, I feel, this angle needed to keep going.

Even WORSE was the decision to have Del Rio lose the WWE Championship. This is such a horrible outcome to me. Not only does Cena win the title AGAIN and we're back to the same old shit. But Del Rio barely had a chance to hold the title and gain any credibility as the champion. This match would've been the perfect opportunity to help put over Del Rio further and help cement him as a true main eventer. He needed to beat Cena, and he needed to keep the title. After everything Cena accused him of and insulted him over he needed, as a heel, to get away with the title and force Cena to chase him further. They really dropped the ball on this match in my mind. Del Rio loses the title before he even gets started, really.. and looks weak doing so by tapping out and being beaten cleanly. Un-fucking-believable.

I'm also not a fan of the main event and how that played out. It really was a cluster fuck and aspects didn't make much sense. The problem I think is that they really did need to have some sort of angle play out in this match. Either they needed to turn Triple H heel and have a screw job for Punk (and that's the choice I think needed to happen and would've been the best option), or they needed to have Punk or someone else have a twist in the match. To me this outcome really accomplished nothing; Triple H pins Punk and its not as dirty or controversial as it needed to be to NOT take some momentum from Punk. And now where do they go? Nowhere as interesting as where they COULD have gone, in my opinion.

Good PPV overall, but just as many disappointing things as there were good things.

 

[VencomHardcore]

Here is my take on what is happening with the storyline. And contrary to what people are saying THE ENDING WAS VERY EASY TO UNDERSTAND

Miz and Truth attack HHH and Punk to get him out as COO. JL wants the job of HHH OR is working for someone else so that is his motivation behind texting Nash and not allowing the ref to enter the ring.

Miz and Truth are not aware of the plan of JL and Nash hence the beatdown. Meanwhile, HHH now finds out that JL and Nash want him out of the company.

CM Punk is more pissed because for him its a complete set up to keep him down. He helps HHH just to finish the match because CM Punk isn't aware of the motivations of Miz/Truth and JL/Nash .

This makes sense but for those that don't read complex novels, this would be a complete overbooked clusterfuck. And what seperates TNA from WWE is that the motivations of all the characters will be revealed in time.

That is what good writing does. Things happen. You don't know why and slowly you get the reasons, motivation and payoff.

WWE is just using another way to tell the story making people think for once.

 

[ellax]

Air Boom vs. The Miz & R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Championship - I like both team's chemistry. Result is predictable because of the fact "Air Boom" just started less than a month. For an opening match, decent. ***

Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase for the WWE Intercontinental Championship -
The wrestlers' chemistry built throughout these years paid off really well. I'm also not surprise with the result considering how short the feud was for both of them. Ted only reappear after 2 wks being bagged and 2 days before the ppv. Something will be damn wrong with Ted gets the title. Decent match too. ***


Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. John Morrison vs. Alex Riley for the WWE United States Championship - Hell, it's one of the better ones the whole night. Although we know this match is purely setting up for Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger and the 2 faces are merely extras in the match, the whole match is so filled with actions and you can never be bored when u have John Morrison in the ring. Very predictable result but I damn like the execution of it. Having Dolph push Jack away for the pin. Great set-up. ****

Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship - Mark Henry deserves it. Although I really wish this match can be longer. The length is ok, but I hope this will be a longer match. I'm definitely a fan of the Hall of Pain. ***1/2

Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix for the WWE Divas Championship - Kelly REALLY sucks. She is the diva version of "super cena". I feel sad for Beth. It's her hometown. But I shouldn't be surprise, WWE never respect Divas. This match is probably better than the next purely because the match is kinda not bad although the result suck ass. **1/2

Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship - There we have it again, Super Cena wins the title once again. ADR's gimmick has been overused, his in-ring performance is just average, I just don't understand why he's getting this much push. Super Cena didn't make the situation for ADR any better, in fact, making it worst. This match is stale, predictable and boring. Probably the worst match of the night. **

7. CM Punk vs. Triple H in a No Disqualification Match - I JUST LOVE CM PUNK ICE-CREAM BARS!! The match was good. I just love it when they extend the whole match to the audiences and all the way to the entrance, then back, the amount finishers had been exchanged throughout this match. Truth and Miz coming out and "spoil" the match was kindly a surprise. They seriously should keep it there. The biggest match ruining factor: The super expected Kevin Nash entering the ring and clear house. Who send the text? Johnny Ace. And who won? HHH because it is impossible to remove a COO who had yet to have his ass sit hot enough to be kicked off. Man I wish I can be working for WWE. Really disappointed that Punk didn't win but knowing the story go, he can't win. Sad to say. ***1/2


Overall - When you have a predecessor like MITB, setting such high standards, it's really hard for other ppv to follow. I like the whole build up for Night of Champions, but the ppv is just disappointing and really didn't live up the hype. Last year's Night of Champion was damn good, but this year, well, I think I'm more concerning about tomorrow's RAW now I guess.

Grade: C

 

[Demois_Slade]

Just like everyone else here, John Cena's win and the main event really pissed me off. WHY THE HELL DOES CENA NEED ANOTHER TITLE REIGN RIGHT NOW?!! also the main event was completely ridiculous! the only part of the show i enjoyed was henry's clean win

 

[thomas1027]

if i have to hear there making us think one more time, i will shoot myself. damn......no, they personally have no clue what their doing.there creative absolutely sucks. now we have to see vince tomorrow and come out and in time find out he told john to do us as revenge. you have a good talent like miz and he is with r-truth. come on. then nash appears. i feel like im watching hogan in tna. nash is done. stop bringing these old fucks back. whats next, xpac will return and scott hall. might as well bring back the nasty boys. their old. pedro morales. and john cena as champ again. holy fing shit. you mean to tell me there is noone else who can be champ....... they should send wade barett over to raw and give him the belt. same old shit just a different ppv.

 

[somehetero]

Here is my take on what is happening with the storyline. And contrary to what people are saying THE ENDING WAS VERY EASY TO UNDERSTAND

Miz and Truth attack HHH and Punk to get him out as COO.

Of course. That makes complete sense, because they think he is conspiring against them.

JL wants the job of HHH OR is working for someone else so that is his motivation behind texting Nash and not allowing the ref to enter the ring.

This makes sense if you have Nash only attack HHH, but Nash clearly entered the ring with motivation to attack them both. He set his sights on HHH after dropping Punk, but he clearly wanted to take them both out.

Miz and Truth are not aware of the plan of JL and Nash hence the beatdown.

To me, the only way it all makes sense is if they are ALL working together. Lauranitis sent in Miz and Truth and they failed, so then he called for Nash.

CM Punk is more pissed because for him its a complete set up to keep him down. He helps HHH just to finish the match because CM Punk isn't aware of the motivations of Miz/Truth and JL/Nash.

Punk attacked Nash for two reasons; because Nash attacked him first and because he didn't want there to be any doubt that HHH would lose to him clean and honor his promise to step down rather than try to throw out the stipulation because of Nash's interference. The second is the same reason he helped HHH clear out Miz and Truth.

To me, the only way it all comes together is with Vince puppeteering Lauranitis to sign Nash and control him, Miz, and Truth to force HHH out so that he (Vince) can get back in. It all makes sense if Nash's original motivation was to piss off Punk and get a challenge, then piss off HHH enough to get him involved, then twist them both up to fight each other. Nash, knowing Punk's hatred for HHH, could safely assume that the COO spot would eventually be involved in the stipulation if it wasn't pushed behind the scenes by Lauranitis.

I feel like this whole thing will wind up being a "book as we go" crap fest where Vince drags it out to watch what the IWC thinks should or will happen just so that he can go the opposite way. Too many booking decisions in recent history REEK of Vince fishing for the predictions of the IWC and mainstream fans only to change the booking to something stupid at the last minute just to "surprise" everyone (read: make everyone else wrong).

 

[VencomHardcore]

Of course. That makes complete sense, because they think he is conspiring against them.




This makes sense if you have Nash only attack HHH, but Nash clearly entered the ring with motivation to attack them both. He set his sights on HHH after dropping Punk, but he clearly wanted to take them both out.



To me, the only way it all makes sense is if they are ALL working together. Lauranitis sent in Miz and Truth and they failed, so then he called for Nash.



Punk attacked Nash for two reasons; because Nash attacked him first and because he didn't want there to be any doubt that HHH would lose to him clean and honor his promise to step down rather than try to throw out the stipulation because of Nash's interference. The second is the same reason he helped HHH clear out Miz and Truth.

To me, the only way it all comes together is with Vince puppeteering Lauranitis to sign Nash and control him, Miz, and Truth to force HHH out so that he (Vince) can get back in. It all makes sense if Nash's original motivation was to piss off Punk and get a challenge, then piss off HHH enough to get him involved, then twist them both up to fight each other. Nash, knowing Punk's hatred for HHH, could safely assume that the COO spot would eventually be involved in the stipulation if it wasn't pushed behind the scenes by Lauranitis.

I feel like this whole thing will wind up being a "book as we go" crap fest where Vince drags it out to watch what the IWC thinks should or will happen just so that he can go the opposite way. Too many booking decisions in recent history REEK of Vince fishing for the predictions of the IWC and mainstream fans only to change the booking to something stupid at the last minute just to "surprise" everyone (read: make everyone else wrong).

JL , Miz / Truth are not all working together Hence Nash taking out Miz/Truth .

Miz and Truth have thier own motivations that have nothing to do with JL or Nash. They want the main event and see HHH as the person standing in the way. Under Vince , they got main event shots.

I do think vince is behind it. He has motive. HHH took his job. Nash has a beef with punk thats personal. And Nash is only after the money.

This isn't being booked on the fly because a story this complex has to be mapped out so someone can understand it.

 

[metalbass]

My thoughts on the Night of Champions PPV:

Air Boom vs. Awesome Truth: I missed the match because I wasn't home at the time. I like the finish though as it helps further the 'conspiracy' and adds extra legitimacy to the Awesome Truth moving forward.

Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase: Very well paced match and good for what it was. I like that it wasn't a squash and Ted is now starting to look like a player in the mid-card scene again. ***

Fatal 4 Way: I'm actually a little disappointed in this match to be honest. I understand that it was mainly there to further the storyline between Dolph and Swagger but I didn't like the weak push at the end after Swagger did all the work. It could have also been longer with the type of match even if it had the same result and could have been a lot more than what it was. **1/2

Randy Orton (c) vs. Mark Henry: I feel good for Mark Henry taking the strap. The rope-assisted DDT on Mark Henry looked painful as HELL with a guy that huge taking the bump. I thought the overall psychology in the match was great and the pacing worked well for me. ****

Kelly Kelly (c) vs. Beth Phoenix: I'm probably in the minority here but I'm glad Kelly Kelly kept the title. She has improved leaps and bounds over the past year and has been a credible champion to me for the past few months. Beth losing twice just goes to show even though Kelly looks like a barbie doll, she can sure perform in the ring when all is said and done. Also, VERY NICE SUPERPLEX!!!! This was the better of the two matches they've had. ***

John (Super) Cena vs. ADR (c). Horrible match! The pacing was lousy, the ending was horrible and only made ADR look weak in the process. Where does ADR go from here? If this match is any indication, he'll be likely on the next future endeavoured list. *1/4.

CM Punk vs. HHH: A pretty good back and forth battle with a nice top rope elbow through the announcer's table that made me jump out of my seat. Everyone and their grandma knew there would be a bunch of interference in this match but to me made perfect sense throughout. This whole thing with CM Punk, HHH, Nash, Lauranitis, R-Truth and Miz is starting to pick up well. I actually want to see RAW tomorrow to see how this all shapes up! **** (which is good since I generally don't like run-ins and screwed up endings).

Overall: B

Booker T worst line of the night: "The knee bone's connected to the... uhhh..... ANKLE BONE!!!!" My thoughts, "SINCE WHEN???????"

Bump of the night: R-Truth over the top rope right on top of the ref. I'm sure he's legitimately hurt.

Sign of the night: If Beth loses we RIOT!

 

[somehetero]

When did Nash take out Miz and Truth? Nash didn't come out until HHH and Punk had already taken care of Miz and Truth.

After Miz and Truth tried to set up the finish and it didn't work, they argued and fought with the ref. Eventually Punk and HHH got up and chased them out, leading to HHH hitting the pedigree with no ref. Lauranitis then came out and redirected the 2nd ref, which caused HHH to complain and allowed Punk to GTS him. Truth broke that pin by pulling Punk outside, and punk GTS'd him. That's when Nash hit the ring and jacked Punk with a knee, then put HHH in the corner and hit a few body checks, then went for the bomb on HHH. Punk interrupted, HHH rolled out, Nash bombed Punk, then went over and started grabbing monitors like he was setting it up to bomb HHH through the announce table. He went to get HHH and got sledged, then HHH got back in and pedigree'd Punk for the win.

 

[Bababaloney]

The problem with the business right now (in both the WWE and TNA) is that there are so many title changes it actually devalues the straps as well as the fans interest.

I mean look how many times the WHC and the WWtitlele have changed hands in the past 6 months? It's to the point where people are surprised when a champ actually retains on a PPV show.

I know the attention span of the modern day fan is short and you could never go back to the title runs of the 80's (let alone the runs Bruno and Backland had), but the recent trend doesn't give a champ time to build interest in his title run. thereby giving the eventual title change any meaning.

I mean would it have hurt to let ADR run with the strap awhile longer? Cena doesn't need the title as it is. Personally I think Del Rio could now drop further down the card when at one time he seemed to have a ton of main event potential.

Night Of Champions was a decent PPV (have to wonder about the guy who said it was the best PPV of the year so far...Really? Really?? REALLY???), but far from anything special even with all the title changes.

 

[metalbass]

JL , Miz / Truth are not all working together Hence Nash taking out Miz/Truth .

Miz and Truth have thier own motivations that have nothing to do with JL or Nash. They want the main event and see HHH as the person standing in the way. Under Vince , they got main event shots.

I do think vince is behind it. He has motive. HHH took his job. Nash has a beef with punk thats personal. And Nash is only after the money.

This isn't being booked on the fly because a story this complex has to be mapped out so someone can understand it.

Honestly like you said, I don't see what's at all confusing about the run-in. Every guy has motive to do what they did so it shouldn't even have to be 'mapped out' Why did Kevin Nash attack both punk and HHH? Well have you been watching RAW over this past month? Nash has a lot of beef with CM Punk and he was fired by HHH. That was supposed to be HIS match to shut the waffle house boy up. He wants to be the one to finish what he started. Why did R-Truth pull Punk off HHH? He is part of the problem keeping R-Truth down along with HHH and R-Truth is playing the part of a deranged individual where everything is part of the conspiracy. What he does right now doesn't have to make all the sense in the world. Lauranitis is obviously trying to step on HHH's toes to overthrow him and take his position in the company. Nash also seems to be his cohort. He did sign him after all.

As of right now I see HHH vs. Nash at HIAC while Punk takes on one of R-Truth or the Miz with some 'incentive' from HHH (he wins his match, he gets his title shot next PPV). This could also further the 'conspiracy' angle since neither the Truth or the Miz will get this opportunity. I have to admit I like where this is heading.