Match 1: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination - Team Clay (Brodus Clay, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, & Rey Mysterio) vs. Team Tensai (Tensai, Primo, Epico, Titus O’Neil, & Darren Young)
Good to see that these types of matches are still alive for the Survivor Series events and this match is a perfect way to kick off the night. Grading these matches does become a tad bit of a challenge considering there are so many eliminations, so many wrestlers, and a lot of action to take into consideration. With that being said, action was fun and the crowd loved seeing the faces get a pretty easy win against the heels as Sin Cara, Gabriel, Kidd, & Mysterio all hit their finishers on Darren Young to secure a kickoff win. All the pins came at a nice pace and everyone played their roles nicely. Just a bit confusing to see where exactly Mysterio’s career is headed and why he is always tossed in such random matches. It’s almost as if this is his new role in the company. Either way, fun little match to get the show started on the right foot and emphasize what exactly this show is.
Winners: Team Clay
Rating: **¾
Match 2: Divas Championship - Eve © vs. Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn was ambushed earlier by Aksana and managed to counter her attack and get the better of Aksana who wore a wig. Kaitlyn comes down to the ring with the wig looking steamed and ready to take on Eve. Match didn’t really feel like she wanted to destroy Eve but it is a Divas match after all. Kaitlyn looked pretty dominant but Eve finds a way to get the pin and victory in a matter of minutes. Eve plays a good heel and while I like Kaitlyn, it is too early for her to win the title.
Winner: Eve
Rating: *
Match 3: United States Championship - Antonio Cesaro © vs. R-Truth
Another filler match to get us warmed up for the final three matches. Crowd isn’t really much behind both guys and seemingly, the commentators aren’t either. They argued for a good portion of the match as the two continued to wrestle in front of the Indianapolis crowd. Cesaro has a style I love to watch but doesn’t really bring out a WWE crowd to its feet, Truth has an interesting style but they don’t seem to clash too well. This allows much of the match to be handled in a different manner. Cesaro hit’s a Neutralizer to get a big win.
Winner: Antonio Cesaro
Rating: **
Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship - The Big Show © vs. Sheamus
This is the rematch from the Hell in a Cell PPV in which Show captured the World Heavyweight Championship once more. However, it is a little more personal this time around with Show beating down Sheamus’ good friend, William Regal. A strange way to get this feud going but either way, the two do have oddly good chemistry and are looking to hit another one out of the park. As expected, action starts slowly with Big Show getting a huge advantage with the size card being too much for Sheamus to handle. However, the pace changes once Sheamus lands a huge electric chair on Show. The match really picks up here and after nearly getting the pin on Show for the win, Sheamus wants to end it with a Brogue Kick. Show manages to pull the referee into the kick. Sheamus neglects The Big Show in concern of the referee which allows Show to knock Sheamus out for the tainted victory with a different referee in to make the count. The referee quickly reverses the decision into Sheamus’ favor for the disqualification win. Irate, Sheamus destroys Big Show with the chair before hitting him with one final Brogue Kick on the walkway. Great match that exceeded expectations. Again, the chemistry is here and the crowd involvement played a huge role. Every big move made sense and the crowd reacted to every single one. A bit frustrating to see an opportunity for them to end the feud on a bigger PPV like Survivor Series but it just opens doors to a bigger conclusion at TLC with some sort of gimmick.
Winner: Sheamus
Rating: ***½
Match 5: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination - Team Foley (Daniel Bryan, Kane, Randy Orton, The Miz & Kofi Kingston) vs. Team Ziggler (Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow, David Otunga, Alberto Del Rio, & Wade Barrett)
Was really disappointed upon finding out about the big change to this match. How cool would it have been had this match main evented the show? It would be the first Traditional Survivor Series match as the main event since 2005. Supposed to be CM Punk leading a team against the team of Mick Foley is now Team Ziggler with Wade Barrett taking over Punk’s spot against Mick Foley’s team. With that being said, it does subtract much of the heat that the match was able to gain when it was made on Raw. One of my bigger gripes with this match is that it lacks intertwining storylines. This is generally a good spot to further feuds or even start some, but I didn’t feel like anything of that nature occurred aside from maybe Orton and Ziggler. Action was average and enough to keep the crowd engaged through the better part of the match. They sorted out the eliminations correctly which didn’t allow the match to drag which can certainly become a huge issue in a match like this. Orton & Miz were the two final competitors against Ziggler, Barrett, & Del Rio. This is the best scenario one could ask for, especially taking into consideration that Miz is looking for a face turn. After Miz gets things going, he eventually got eliminated for Orton to finish the job as his last opponent would be Dolph Ziggler. Orton looks to punt the hell out of Ziggler to once again become a Sole Survivor until Ziggler knocks Orton out with a nasty kick to get the huge win. While this was a fun match, there was still many dull moments and many missed opportunities. The ending is what everyone will remember and for good reason, Ziggler’s win was somewhat surprising and a huge feather added to his cap.
Winners: Team Ziggler
Rating: ***¼
Match 6: WWE Championship - CM Punk © vs. John Cena vs. Ryback
Triple threat championship matches have sort of become a stable for Survivor Series. JBL also noted that John Cena is undefeated at this event, a pretty amazing statistic that adds drama to the match. Also, if Punk wins, he will be the WWE Champion for an entire year, the first to hit this feat since John Cena in 2007. This match felt more like Punk vs. Cena with Ryback lingering in the background. While I am sure this is not what the WWE wants, it most certainly seems like what the crowd wants. First half of the match was very slow and only set the table for what should be a big second half. The course of the match finally makes a big change once Cena and Punk team up for a quick second to take Ryback out of the equation by suplexing him through one of the announcers table. It is literally Punk and Cena wrestling to the delight of the crowd while Ryback sits out until finally putting himself back into the match. He lands his finisher to both guys and is ambushed by three guys dressed in black who Michael Cole identifies as wrestlers from NXT. They set Ryback through the other announcers table and Punk capitalizes on the situation at hand by pinning Cena. The best in the world has done it, 365 days. Many things coming out of this match that will likely affect the road to WrestleMania. What exactly were the intentions of the three guys? Was Punk involved? Where does Cena go from here? How much longer will Punk be champion for? The idea of a PPV is to solve questions but that is obviously a dated route for the WWE. Questions only lead to bigger questions and this is a great example. The ambush was done nicely and makes Punk seem more of a weasel than before. Does it detract from the match? Sure, but there was not much interest invested from the crowd to begin with. Punk’s journey started at Survivor Series 2011 in New York against Alberto Del Rio and continues to grow one year later.
Winner: CM Punk
Rating: ***
Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Really wish the WWE would make a bigger deal out of this event but it seems like the December TLC event continually overshadows this. With that being said, the emphasis on the two main events was cool but the execution was not enough to give anyone a recommendation for this event. Many missed opportunities detracted my viewing experience.
Rating: 6/10
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
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
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
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