WWE Night of Champions 2012 Review

Match 1: Intercontinental Championship - The Miz © vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Sin Cara
Definitely cool to hear JBL back in the booth and seeing Mysterio again in the ring. This was a perfect way to open up the show, the action was not too fast but it was fast enough to get the crowd going and have a pretty damn good match. Things started off feeling like a tag match with the heels siding with each other and the faces, too. But as the action progressed, everyone was all for themselves and things started to spill in and out of the ring. Sin Cara pulled out a mask to put over the face of Cody Rhodes until things backfired. The mask was placed on the face of Miz who lands a Skullcrushing Finale on Rhodes to pick up a blind win. A pretty cheesy finish to a pretty fun match overall. The ending felt unnecessary and somewhat drew away from an entertaining match. All in all, a nice start to the show in Boston.
Winner: The Miz
Rating: **¾ 

Match 2: WWE World Tag Team Championships - Kofi Kingston & R-Truth © vs. Daniel Bryan & Kane
This whole thing between Bryan & Kane may sound odd on paper, but it is easily becoming the best thing on WWE television. Kane needs some sort of award for all the things he has done for the company. Incidentally, the two form a team to challenge for the championships on the second match of the night. Crowd virtually has no interest in the team of Kingston & Truth with the focus being centered around Bryan & Kane. With that being said, interesting match that showed again, zero focus on the team of Kingston & Truth with Bryan eventually pushing Kane on top of Kingston from the top rope to get the victory. Proper win to advance the storyline for these guys and this should certainly make for some interesting television and matches down the road.
Winners: Daniel Bryan & Kane
Rating: *¾ 

Match 3: United States Championship - Antonio Cesaro © vs. Zack Ryder
These two guys are on two completely different ships in the WWE. Ryder is on a sinking one while Cesaro is simply getting ready to depart. Cesaro is such a joy to watch, it is really cool to see how he translated his work from ROH or other independent companies to the WWE style. JBL did a fantastic job of building up the guy and the match itself which was for the better part, dominated by Cesaro. Cesaro makes pretty quick work of Ryder to pick up another victory. Big things seem to be on the horizon for this man.
Winner: Antonio Cesaro
Rating: *¼

Match 4: Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton
I guess you can look at this match as the seeds to be planted for a future feud down the line. The pacing of the match started off slowly like nearly all Orton matches but everything picks up in the final minutes down the stretch. And let me tell you something, nobody in the WWE can finish off a match like Randy Orton. Things were going back and fourth with Ziggler seemingly getting the better of things until Orton takes things outside. Lands a nasty DDT on the floor and tosses up Ziggler before hitting a sweet RKO to cap off the match. Say what you want about the slowness early on but there is no doubting that they took us on a ride before the closing minutes of the match. As a matter of fact, the beginning stages of the match were just used to build what would end up being a wild finish. Ziggler takes a loss here but manages to still look strong in the process as he is facing Randy Orton. Both benefit from the match and this may be a sleeper hit for the show tonight.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: ***¼

Match 5: Divas Championship - Layla © vs. Eve
In place for an injured Kaitlyn who was attacked backstage, Eve challenges Layla for the Divas Championship. Match was as basic as it gets but they still managed to pull through with a crowd being very unsupportive for their efforts. Layla falls into Eve’s traps with a fake handshake which allowed Eve to gain an upper hand. Eve quickly gets the win over Layla to win the Divas Championship. Not much to say here other than another title change for the night as Eve continues her streak as a heel.
Winner: Eve
Rating: ¾*

Match 6: World Heavyweight Championship - Sheamus © vs. Alberto Del Rio
Sheamus is having a career year in WWE and faces Del Rio once again. The twist this time around is that Sheamus is banned from using his patented Brogue Kick. The storyline leading into this match surrounds this twist and allows for Sheamus to be more versatile. However, Booker T decides to legalize the Brogue Kick right before the match. Sheamus lands a big kick to David Otunga right after the announcement and the match begins. Very similar to their other encounters and nothing different from what we have seen. Sheamus was playing the John Cena role for a larger part of the match with Del Rio dominating much of the contest. Del Rio is a great heel and a perfect one for Sheamus to go against  as the World Heavyweight Champion. Sheamus gets the win after finally hitting his Brogue Kick after Del Rio missed his flying kick in the corner. Again, nothing out of the ordinary here, just another victory for Sheamus. We won’t be talking about this in a year from now.
Winner: Sheamus
Rating: ***

Match 7: WWE Championship - CM Punk © vs. John Cena
Down the road, I strongly feel like people will be referring to this feud as the Austin vs. Rock of the era. This feud goes back to Money in the Bank 2011 and Summerslam 2011 where the two squared off. Rarely do we see guys tangle up again more than a year later in the main event but here we are. This time, instead of being in Punk’s hometown, we are in Cena’s hometown of Boston, MA. Punk comes out in Yankees pinstripe tights and proudly raises his title for an extended period of time to the dislike of the crowd before the match begins. My biggest fear of this was that it would be too similar of their previous bouts and while the match was still excellent in its own regard, it did feel like I was watching a lot of the same. While trying to keep this thought away from my mind, I enjoyed an old school type of match that often felt like a match with a caliber to be a WrestleMania main event. A perfect blend of technical wrestling, storytelling, and just the right amount of near falls to keep us on the edge of our seats while not being pushed off. Can’t say enough good things about JBL on commentary, all he does is make these guys sound like a million dollars. He has incredible insight to both guys and offers his takes from a perspective of a guy who has faced off against both men. Every move and every counter made more sense when JBL explained them accordingly. And trust me, there was a ton of different moves and counters. Let’s not forget about Paul Heyman, too. While he didn’t really do anything to affect the match itself, his sheer presence was enough to add a different kick to the match. After nearly thirty minutes of great action, Cena lands a suplex on Punk from the top rope to get the big win until the referee reverses the decision after announcing that both men had their shoulders on the mat. The result was a tie. Punk retains and knocks out Cena with the belt before walking out and proclaiming himself as the best in the world. I normally hate these types of false finishes, especially considering that this is the main event for the WWE Championship of all things. However, considering the circumstances of Punk’s title reign and the current feud surrounding the idea of respect, this was brilliant. Punk weasels his way out of another win and his long reign continues.
Winner: CM Punk
Rating: ****¼

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Night of Champions is one of my favorite PPV concept styles that the WWE has produced in the last few years. I really wish they would make this show a bigger deal and the main event just adds the event’s history. Even still, this was a bad effort  at best and didn’t really capture the essence of momentum that Summerslam had created. A couple good matches don’t make up for what should be considered as a letdown of a show.
Rating: 5.75/10