WWE Night of Champions 2010 Review

WWE Night of Champions 2010
September 19, 2010
Rosemont, Illinois

The top six Superstars on the Raw roster compete for the WWE Championship in the main event while Kane must defend his World Heavyweight Championship against his big brother, The Undertaker.

Match 1: WWE Intercontinental Championship - Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
Holy crap. Another Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston match. Crazy to think that even in 2019, the two are still having great matches. In this case, Ziggler will still lose his title if he is either counted out or disqualified. Ziggler has Vickie Guerrero by his side and must ensure that she does not interfere or she will cost Ziggler the match and title. As expected, solid action from the two as their chemistry was still awesome back here in 2010. Ziggler had to prevent Vickie from getting her hands on Kingston which allowed Kingston to go for a Trouble in Paradise. However, Kingston missed and would fall right into a Zig Zag for Ziggler to score the big win. Great opening contest between two hungry guys. Still shocks me to think that these two would eventually be wrestling each other nearly ten years later for the WWE Championship.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Rating: ***1/2

Match 2: CM Punk vs. The Big Show
Before the match, CM Punk comes out to cut a promo as he buries the people of Chicago before saying he wants to burn the entire city to the ground with him restarting the city on his own terms. Of course, The Big Show comes out and could care less about whatever Punk has to say. Strange match here on a show that already features a bunch of matches. Regardless, Punk is able to get in a squeak of offense against Show before getting speared in midair and getting hit with a Knockout Punch from Show to seal the match. Baffling to see how Punk was being booked at this point in his career. Maybe my *1/4 is a little too generous.
Winner: The Big Show
Rating: *1/4

Match 3: WWE United States Championship - The Miz (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
We all remember the feud back in 2010 between The Miz, Michael Cole and Daniel Bryan. BUT! How many of us can remember Bryan's terrible entrance music? It was bad, guys. Another crazy thing to note in how we saw Ziggler vs. Kingston in 2019, we also saw Miz vs. Bryan again in 2018. Wrestling is a crazy thing. Like the Ziggler vs. Kingston match, you already know what to expect from these two. Solid action in the ring with the pace and intensity picking up at every minute. Alex Riley tried to insert himself in the fray but Bryan was able to run him into a ring post and eliminate him from the affair. Bryan is able to lock Miz in a LeBell Lock to secure the biggest win of his career. Great win for Bryan with Michael Cole continuing to berate him on commentary. Miz may have lost the United States Championship, but he was certainly in line for much bigger things... 
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Rating: ***1/2

Match 4: WWE Women's Championship & WWE Divas Championship - Lumberjill Match - Michelle McCool vs. Melina
Finally, the Women's Championship and Divas Championship get unified... but why a Lumberjill Match? 5 bucks to anyone who remembers this match and unification actually happening. The action in the ring between Michelle McCool and Melina was a bit dull at times and definitely overshadowed by all the Divas at ringside. It was also pretty annoying to see them throw the lightest of punches to each other once they got thrown out. Regardless, McCool takes advantage of Layla interfering in the match and hitting a big boot to seal the win and unify the titles.
Winner: Michelle McCool
Rating: *1/2

Match 5: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - No Holds Barred - Kane (c) vs. The Undertaker
Even in 2010, people were still complaining about these two being the focal point of SmackDown. People were dying for the younger stars to be in the spotlight. If only they knew what they had coming. Anyway, the feud between the two brothers spills into the No Holds Barred match with Kane defending his gold against The Undertaker. Always thought it was super cool to see Kane get a run as a world champ in 2010 and of course, the WWE had to take up the opportunity to have him feud against The Deadman. Even with The Undertaker rushing the ramp to attack Kane before the match officially began, Kane was in control for the better part of the match. Actually, he was in control for nearly the entire match and it allowed things to drag a bit as it started to take the crowd out of things. 'Taker looked to finally gain some serious momentum and finish his brother before Kane was able to hit a Tombstone of his own. Clean win for Kane as they set up for future rematches. Undertaker doesn't always lose clean so him losing to Kane certainly made Kane an even more believable champion at the time. Match could have been better but I wasn't going into this looking for a ***** affair anyway.
Winner: Kane
Rating: **3/4

Match 6: WWE Tag Team Championship - Tag Team Turmoil - The Hart Dynasty (c) vs. The Usos vs. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov vs. Evan Bourne & Mark Henry vs. Drew McIntyre & Cody Rhodes
The Hart Dynasty start off the match as the champions going into this match face the biggest challenge. If the champs want to retain their belts, then they must go through four other teams. Unfortunately for them, The Usos were quick to eliminate them in the very beginning before the match came down to Evan Bourne and Mark Henry going against Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes. What odd teams they had here. Rhodes hits a Cross Rhodes on Bourne to seal the win and capture the gold for himself and McIntyre. Crazy to see where these two are at now in 2019. Anyway, good match for what it was. Short and sweet, sometimes that's all you can ask for. 
Winners: **3/4
Rating: Drew McIntyre & Cody Rhodes

Match 7: WWE Championship - Elimination - Sheamus (c) vs. John Cena vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho vs. Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton
Sheamus puts hits WWE Championship on the line against five of the other top guys on the Raw brand with Edge and Chris Jericho possibly forming a little alliance for the match. That alliance quickly got shut down when Jericho was eliminated first and fast in the match, much to the shock of the other guys in the ring. Pretty cool start to the match to stir the pot a little more. Jericho's elimination was later followed with an Edge elimination as the two guys who tried to form a team were the first two to leave. Interesting to think that this would be one of Edge's final performances as a wrestler before being forced to retire. The Nexus interfere during the match and help Wade Barrett eliminate him from the match. However, the interference would end up biting Barrett back as Cena would lay waste to the rest of Nexus before Orton delivered an RKO to narrow the match down to himself and the champion, Sheamus. Sheamus quickly hit a Brogue Kick but Orton is able to kick out! Sheamus looks to end the match with a High Cross before Orton turns the tides into an RKO for the win. Fine main event for what it was, fairly forgettable but the ending was definitely nicely done. The feud between The Nexus and Cena continues while Orton gets back his top position in the company. 
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: ***1/4

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
For 2010 PPV standards, this was actually better than what the WWE offered throughout the year. There was basically three solid matches on the card with everything else being forgettable. Looking back at it, it's just crazy to think how so many people were paying a lot of money to watch this on PPV opposed to having the WWE Network. Either way, you can pass on this one.
Rating: 6/10