This years Night of Champions pay-per-view boasted a somewhat appealing line up of matches - CM Punk and Triple H being the main sell. The WWE championship match between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio, was the only real negative I could find on the entire card. You’re always going to get a John Cena match stinking up the airwaves, so the fact that this was the only obvious shitter, promised an eventful viewing.
Air Boom – Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston (Champions)
Vs.
The Awesome Truth – Miz & R-Truth
The idea of a former WWE Champion curtain jerking a pay-per-view as part of a tag team with R-Truth, is a little bit unrealistic. But the main event slot, and both Championship slots, had already been filled. So what do you do with The Miz and R-Truth? You stick em in a tag team match against Air Boom (great name). Although it may not have overwhelmed The Miz with confidence, this opening match was certainly an entertaining way to kick thing off.
My attention suddenly switched from The Miz and onto the team of Air Boom. Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston have gelled effortlessly, their tag team psychology is outstanding, and their double team moves are both innovative and perfectly timed. Usually, in the case of two singles wrestlers being thrown together in a team, both individuals try to steal the spotlight, and don’t seem to understand the definition of the word, but this is not the case with Air Boom. All of their spots had been well planned, neither wrestler dominated, old school tag team angles were incorporated and their level of athleticism cannot be matched.
The match ended rather unexpectedly when The Miz lost his temper with the referee resulting in a disqualification, and Air Boom’s retention of the straps. Judging by what happened later on in the PPV, The Miz’s lack of ability to control his temper, is next on his list of storylines.
8/10
Ted Dibiase (Intercontinental Champion)
Vs.
Cody Rhodes
Next on the bill, was an Intercontinental Championship match between holder Ted Dibiase, and challenger Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes walked down the ramp wearing his fucking stupid face mask, and was greeted to thousands of bewildered faces. His gimmick confuses me; I can’t figure out whether I love it or hate it, it just seems so out of context with today’s modern ethos and techniques concerning getting over with the fans. If he is approaching the gimmick half in jest then I love it, because he is then satirically poking fun at the way business was done in 1980’s, and that’s funny. But if he is indeed taking it seriously, which I fear is the correct analysis, then I’m not a fan of it, and I can almost guarantee Dust Rhodes had a lot to do with it.
Champion Ted Dibiase strutted down to ring, accompanied by the gayest music I have ever heard in my life. What is he thinking? Now I’m not homophobic, but that music is just too gay, and Ted’s not doing himself any favours by using it.
These two guys are terrific workers; they put on a great show and honored the reputation of the Intercontinental belt by doing so. Being second generation grapplers, they have both had a massive advantage over most others, and so their in ring capabilities come as no shock. However, they are no longer receiving the same amount of attention as they were when they were part of the stable, Legacy. Because of this, they are hungrier competitors who feel the need to impress in order to get ahead, which makes for some well thought out matches. There is more urgency in their recent performances as singles, and less complacency. Good match.
8/10
Christian then picked up a mic and informed the crowd that he wanted yet another rematch. Shamus, who is now known as the Great White, felt he deserved a shot at the title before Christian got another. After some quibbling, Shamus agreed to help attain Captain Charisma’s rematch; under the one condition that he was guaranteed to be the first challenger, should Christian win. Then Shamus booted him in the face, and that was that. I think this segment was used to keep the audience interested in these two wrestlers who weren’t scheduled to perform.
Fatal Four Way – United States Championship Match
Dolph Ziggler (Champion)
Vs.
John Morrision
Vs.
Alex Riley
Vs.
Jack Swagger
The match began with a varied sequence of one on one standoffs, where the remaining two wrestlers not included, were either incapacitated, or out of the ring. This was a good way to kick things off and showcased the singles style attributes of each individual.
Morrison and Ziggler were clearly the most talented of the four, and complimented each others style effectively. We are all well aware of Morrison’s capabilities with his high flying athletic style, but who would have thought that annoying little Nicky from the Spirit Squad, would turn out to be such a good worker. Yeah that’s right, Ziggler has a dark past.
The match worked well, incorporating different dynamics of pace and style. My personal highlight was a series of moves which innovatively used the turnbuckle and ring ropes, but most impressively, included all four athletes. Morrison’s precision and timing was key to this spot, and being the professional he is, rounded off the succession of moves making everyone (including Alex Riley) look good.
Swagger gut wrench power bombed Morrison hoping to seal a victory, but Ziggler pushed him out of the way and stole his pin for the 1, 2, and 3. Hilarious cheap win victory.
8/10
WWE World Championship Match
Randy Orton (Champion)
Vs.
Mark Henry
A back story montage tries desperately hard to build Mark Henry as a credible opponent. But we all know he is just another victim for the viper, and the desperation shown in this video clip, only further justifies our theories.
The challenger walks to the ring, looking enthusiastic and grateful to be included in such a prestigious match. Michael Cole blurted out a few good factoids about the worlds strongest man, which made forced me to momentarily dwell on the amount of attention Henry was receiving.
Orton’s entrance music was graciously greeted by a deafening crowd’s applause and overjoyed screams; he is bar far the most over wrestler in the WWE. The team of commentators further built Mark Henry’s credibility and chances of winning the belt, to the point where I actually became a mark for the match, and started believing them. Snap out of it Steve, that’s never going to happen.
As expected, the match’s pace was relatively slow in comparison to the night’s predecessors. But give credit where credit is due, a lot of effort was being put into the match by both wrestlers. Orton was selling the fuck out of Henry’s limited arsenal of offense, and using his weight disadvantage as an effective part of the match’s story. Henry was sweating profusely, wrestling in a much smoother style than I was accustomed to. It all took me a bit by surprise; I was actually enjoying the match, and I didn’t expect to be.
Not being the most athletically gifted of opponents, Henry has to rely on different techniques to sell his matches and aid his story. Somewhere along the line, he has realized the power of in ring emotion and facial expression as a means of strengthening a match, because by golly, he has mastered it. I was there with him, feeling his pain and years worth of frustration. And just as effectively, Orton won me over through what he didn’t do, he took a beating, and in doing so efficiently got Mark Henry over and his story of anguish.
Orton is dazed, and goes for an RKO out of sheer desperation, but Henry pushes him over treating him like a piece of trash. He then quickly follows up with a World’s Strongest Slam, and pins for the 1, 2, 3. WHAT THE FUCK? MARK HENRY IS THE NEW WORLD CHAMPION.
The camera scrolls around the shocked audience, who look as if they are having a really bad time, going through all kinds of emotions. They are legitimately angry at Mark Henry, in disbelief and fearful of his presence, not knowing whether to run or cry. They don’t know anything anymore. If Mark Henry can be the World Heavyweight Champion today, then what’s in store for tomorrow?
“This is my moment, and I’m not sharing it with any of you.”
The stunned crowd does not respond. Mark Henry has ruined their day. They hate Mark Henry.
8.5/10
Diva World Championship Match
Kelly Kelly (Champion)
Vs.
Beth Phoenix
Beth Phoenix had the opportunity to regain the Divas World Championship in her home town of Buffalo, New York. But after a dominant performance, using a wide variety of offense including a superplex and an arse spank, she couldn’t manage to seal the deal. Unfortunately for Beth, as she went for her patented Glam Slam, Kelly Kelly reversed the maneuver and rolled her up for the victory. Another unexpected outcome. Whatever will happen next?
6/10
WWE World Championship Match
Alberto Del Rio (Champion)
Vs.
John Cena
I was a little bit insulted by Michael Cole’s arrogant statement declaring that the WWE World Championship belt was the Holy Grail, subsequently shitting on every wrestler to ever hold the World Heavyweight Championship, and the entirety of the N.W.A legacy. It also diluted the impact of the Mark Henry match, which was both unnecessary and bad for business. The promo video that followed promoted same incentives, biasly swooning an easily influenced younger generation of wrestling fans. Wankers.
Anyway, the match starts with Alberto Del Rio having to walk to the ring because he couldn’t find the keys to his Ferrari. We then hear the ferocious sound of an engine, followed by the sighting of John Cena driving the very expensive looking rental.
The muscle bulging arms of Cena took initial control of the match by means of working a headlock; no surprise there then. A call and response chant of “Let’s go Cena” “Cena sucks” echoed around the arena, which further cemented his controversial role as WWE poster boy. Not at all disheartened by the affair, Cena joined in with the festivities cheering and smiling at the appropriate points. I imagine this chant will feature more prominently in his future endeavors.
The match was quite slow concentrating on holds and power moves, and wasn’t living up to all the hype the build up vignette suggested. In a way, through this boring arse match, that video made a mockery of the current state of the WWE Champion. They used to be good, but as you can see, that is no longer the case.
Out of nowhere, Cena started building for his finish, with his shoulder barges and the five knuckle shuffle etc. etc., but Del Rio didn’t give up that easily. I think I’d be tempted to just get it over and done with and let him pin me, it would stop the audience from falling asleep for a start.
Surprisingly, the pace of the match started to quicken. Del Rio then hit a very impressive jumping enziguri, whilst Cena was stood on the second rope. That was really unexpected. He then applied a beautiful looking German suplex, and held on for a bridged pin attempt. Del Rio was starting to win me over.
But before he could do that, the distraction of his ring announcer allowed Cena to apply an STF, and force the submission.
John Cena - ten time WWE Champion. Sickening.
6/10
Main Event – No Disqualification Match
HHH
Vs.
CM Punk
The promotional vignette which preceded this match included a lot of Kevin Nash footage, which more or less informed the audience that he would be making an appearance at some point. I really bought into this story line, which was the reason why I was looking forward to the match so much. HHH was pissed off. You can’t talk to the CEO of the fuckin board like that, don’t involve his wife CM Punk, don’t involve his fuckin wife. I marked the fuck up for this one.
The match started at a brutal pace and didn’t look likely to slow down. They didn’t seem to want to use the ring, they just got down to business from the get go. Straight away, HHH threatened Punk with a pedigree through the commentary desk, but the wile cat that Punk is, managed to reverse the situation and certain defeat.
“It didn’t take long for this to get out of hand” said Jerry Lawler.
The ring psychology used in this match was outstanding; Triple H just wanted to get it over with, relentlessly attempting pedigree after pedigree. The storyline fuelled the match’s aggression and pace, convincingly reinforcing their bad opinion of each other.
CM Punk back body dropped Triple H, over a wall close to the entrance curtain. The camera then focused on a smug looking CM Punk before scrolling towards the wounded Helmsley. CM Punk then continued his assault and launched two, what looked like sand bags, in the face of his opponent. This was very unusual, because they were debatably used to break the fall of Helmsley. Was CM Punk deliberately protesting against this overprotective approach? Or was it planned out to make people like myself talk about it? I think the latter.
All the excitement from the Cena match must have got the better of Michael Cole, because he had completely lost his voice for this one. This left Booker T colour commentating, and Jerry Lawler calling the match, which is a very unusual pairing. I enjoyed not having to hear Cole wine all the time, and it gave Booker T a good opportunity to show what he is capable of without constantly being interrupted. I think his hilarious form of commentary was effective during this match, and he brought up some valid points such as the possibility of Triple H’s lack of cardio due to six month hiatus.
Then came the high spot of the match. Triple H is sprawled out across the Spanish announcers table, CM Punk climbs to the top turnbuckle, launches himself through the air by way of flying elbow and lands hard across Helmsley’s torso. CM Punk appeared to be in in legitimate pain, but it was worth it, that move was the highlight of the entire match and will be remembered for a long time.
The Miz and R-Truth show up out of the blue and it’s just unnecessary, I could have done without it, and so could the match. Then they start beating up the ref to further generate ideas of Miz’s bad attitude. But why during this match? I don’t want him there, or R-Truth.
Then fuckin Laurinaitis comes down to say hello, voicing his redundant opinions with his unreasonably raspy vocal chords. This all gets the better of CM Punk and confuses him. The Game sees that his prey is wounded, so he pounces on it like the cerebral assassin he is and pedigrees the fuck out of him. But no ref to make the count thanks to team Awesome Truth.
A substitute referee runs towards the ring, but instead of making the count like he is trained to do, he supervises his injured college under the strict instruction of Laurinaitis.
CM Punk recoups, and sneakily takes advantage of a distracted Triple H via his GTS finisher. The referee saw reason to count this time around, but CM Punk’s finisher failed to do its job properly and only attained a two count. Then Punk gets pedigreed again, surely it all over, but no, he kicks out on a late two.
As suspected, Big Daddy Cool makes an appearance, trawling through the crowd to get to where the action is. He suddenly goes off on an incoherent rampage, and takes out both competitors, subsequently confusing everyone. He then proceeds to remove the monitors from the one remaining commentary desk with malicious intent, but….. a Triple H sledgehammer to the face stops him in his stride.
The Game resumes his attention on the task at hand, and once more, pedigrees CM Punk, only this time, he picks up a three count.
This was a good match, but it could have done without so many interruptions.
8.5/10
Overall Rating:
8/10
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