Tuesday, September 20, 2011

9/18/11 Night of Champions

Ratings/Analysis:
Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne vs. The Miz & R-Truth (Tag Team Titles): Bourne and Kingston got matching ring gear now. Nice double-team moves from Air-Boom. Air-Boom with the upper hand early. Heels, a.k.a. Awesome Truth, take control later in the match. Nice job to prevent Bourne from reaching Kingston, but Evan manages to get to Kofi eventually. SOS for two on Miz. Miz with an interesting version of a stunner/cutter/DDT for two. Kofi tries to reach for Bourne, Bourne slaps his hands together behind the ref's back to signal a "tag," to Cole's dismay. Miz is a bit rattled, Bourne gets a near fall with a rollup. Miz plants Evan on his head with a DDT, but Kingston breaks it up at two. Ref occupied with Kingston. Miz tags Truth in but the ref doesn't allow it because he didn't see it. Skull-Crushing Finale on Bourne. Ref still occupied with Truth now even though Truth is on the apron. Cole basically counts to five by this point, and of course Bourne kicked out. Miz is pissed and shoves the ref down. DQ finish. Conspiracy continues! ***

Cody Rhodes vs.Ted DiBiase (IC Title): I'm liking this feud because it's elevating DiBiase -- or at least making him relevant. Cole probably getting fed lines from Vince again regarding the IC title history. Pretty basic match for the first few minutes. Liked that double bridge spot with the hands clasped, but the crowd didn't care. Ted tries to get the mask off Cody and succeeds. Ted tries to deck Cody with the mask but Cody ducks and rolls Ted up for three. Lame. *1/4

Christian is out and he wants one more match for the World Title (duh). Low blow to Buffalo fans about them never winning the Super Bowl. Hey, he's getting the crowd to chant "one more match" with him! Can't blame the crowd; Christian and Orton have really had some great matches this year. Sheamus interrupts. Sheamus says if he gets Christian one more match and wins the belt, Christian promises to give Sheamus the first title show. Christian agrees. Sheamus then Brogue kicks Christian. Yeah, so much for that.

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley (U.S. Title): Fatal Four Way for the title here. Cole probably getting fed more historical info from Vince. Swagger and Ziggler left in the ring, here we go. A-Ry with the TKO on Swagger, but Vickie gets Jack's foot on the ropes. JoMo with the Flash Kick to Ziggler for two. Ziggler with a Rocker Dropper for two. Nice spot with A-Ry leaping to the top, Morrison was hanging upside down but crunched up to suplex A-Ry off. Morrison favoring the knee, Swagger favoring his midsection. Morrison with more flashy stuff; his tights remind me of HBK. Starship Pain countered. Ziggler with the sleeper. A-Ry in Swagger's ankle lock. Ziggler and Swagger collide! A-Ry with an impaler DDT! Only two! Crowd really into it now. A-Ry in ankle lock again. Morrison misses Flash Kick. Swagger with the gutwrench on Morrison. Ziggler knocks Swagger over and gets the three, pinning Morrison. ***

Vickie says if HHH loses, she knows she will make a great COO, then locks lips with Striker. Uh...yeah. Moving on!

Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton (World Heavyweight Title): Staredown to start. Henry gets the first shot in  but Orton comes back. Henry is pissed. Orton for the RKO early, but Henry blocks it. World's Strongest Slam countered into Orton sleeper. Orton with shots on Henry, but a clubbing blow from Henry sends Orton from the top rope to the outside. Ouch. Orton getting wrapped around the ringpost by Henry. Big splash by Henry gets two. Henry misses another splash. Orton punches away on Henry; ref needs to restrain him. Orton tries for that hangman's DDT, Henry blocks. World's Strongest Slam! Just two...what?! Henry misses a Vader Bomb. Orton gets a DDT on Henry. Orton signaling for RKO, Henry rolls to apron, but hangman's DDT! Henry gets his hands on the ropes to stop the count. Henry attacks Orton's knee. Sounds like we may have another victim on our hands. RKO countered again. World's Strongest Slam again! New champ! Great powerful promo afterward. Just hoping WWE follows through on that. Great job, Mark. Fifteen years. Never thought you'd win the big one, but you did. ***

Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix (Divas Title): Kelly out first, because Beth (despite being the heel) is the hometown hero tonight. Huge pop for Beth tonight. Good moves from Kelly, but she's getting booed tonight. Hurricanrana from KK for two. Kelly gets caught and Beth spanks KK in the rear. Gutbuster for two from Beth. Beth slingshots KK into the bottom rope for two. Eve takes out Natalya. Beth takes out Eve. KK inside cradle for two. Another rollup for two from KK. KK goes for K2 but Beth counters. "Let's go Buffalo" chants. Both divas on the top rope...superplex from Beth! Both ladies are down. Beth crawls to cover KK...only two! Beth also wobbly after that superplex. Beth goes for a powerbomb, but Kelly counters into a pin for three! Buffalo's probably rioting tonight. **1/4

John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE Title): I'm seeing these huge cardboard "heads" of Alberto and Cena. ADR is walking to the ring all pissed. Oops! Cena took Alberto's car for a joyride! Ricardo does ADR's entrance, while Cena and Justin Roberts team up for Cena's intro. Chain wrestling to start...Cena's been doing more of that lately. Split crowd for Cena matches as usual. Ricardo's booted from ringside. ADR starts kicking Cena. Cena back on the upper hand with a gutwrench and fisherman's suplex. ADR back to working on Cena's arm. ADR with more kicks and rest holds on Cena. "You can't wrestle" chants directed at Cena. ADR tries for a big move and lands with a splat on the outside. Cena with his usual five moves of doom. ADR counters the AA for two. Cena with a dropkick(?!) for two. Cena tried a top-rope move but ADR caught him and got a two-count. Cena for STF but ADR countered into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. ADR works on Cena in the corner as the crowd was largely dead -- until ADR hit the post HARD. Was there a mic on the post or something? Geez. Top-rope legdrop from Cena for two. Cena gets his AA countered. ADR German suplex with a bridge for two. Great stuff here. ADR goes to the top, senton splash for two! Cross armbreaker, but Cena counters. Holy crap, strength of Cena again, basically deadlifting ADR and hitting a powerbomb. Ricardo tries to interfere but gets decked again. STF on Alberto! ADR taps, Cena's champ for the 12th time, and Buffalo probably riots some more. ***1/2

Triple H vs. CM Punk (No DQ): I LOVE the Punk Ice Cream Bar shirt. They started in the ring, but brawl on the outside to start. GTS countered, Pedigree countered. More fighting in the ring. It's really just a fight right now, no technical stuff. HHH using the ringpost as an ally on Punk. Cole's been silenced on the mic, a welcome sight for me. Punk with the running knee to HHH on the outside. HHH launches Punk into the barricade. They are fighting in the stands now. They get to the entrance ramp. Punk catapulted onto one of the structures on the ramp. Pedigree countered, and HHH goes flying over the structure onto the concrete (still on the ramp, though). Punk flies headfirst through the chair set up in the corner. HHH takes Punk's leg out. HHH uses the post, then sandwiches that leg between the post and a chair shot. Ow. Figure four countered, HHH into the steps. HHH tries to nail Punk with the TV monitor, but Punk halts that. HHH on announce table. Punk to top rope. SAVAGE ELBOW TO THE TABLE! Woohoo! Got three replays from WWE.

Wait, WTF? Miz and Truth come out to attack BOTH Punk and HHH. SCF to HHH, Truth hits his finisher on Punk. Guess they're still mad about the conspiracy stuff. They put Punk on top of HHH! Only  two! Miz is pissed. Miz all over Scott Armstrong. Miz piefaces Armstrong, and Scott does his Earl Hebner acting job. Armstrong nails Miz! Awesome Truth takes out Armstrong. John Lauranaitis comes out. HHH and Punk take out Awesome Truth. Pedigree to Punk! Another ref comes out, but Lauranaitis tells him to check on Armstrong instead. HHH is pissed. GTS to HHH! Lauranaitis tells the ref to count. One, two...Truth pulls Punk out of the ring! GTS to Truth! Springboard from Punk...CAUGHT! Pedigree! TWO! WHAT?! Crowd is the most vocal it's been all night.

Wait! It's Nash! It's freakin' Kevin Nash! He decks Punk and HHH. Nash beating the heck out of HHH. Jackknife interrupted by Punk! Jackknife to Punk! Nash decks HHH on the outside. Sledgehammer shot from HHH to Nash! Crowd going nuts. Pedigree number #445343! Finally a three-count! Holy crap that was nuts. One of the weirdest-booked matches I've seen in a while. ****
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Final Thoughts:
A pretty solid PPV here. Even the divas match was good. Kelly has improved big time over the years, and Beth proves she's got major talent as well. I love that they finally pulled the trigger on Mark Henry to become champ, because I thought he'd be future endeavored years ago. Cena's the champ again, no surprise there. Despite the weird booking of HHH/Punk, I enjoyed the match overall because the crowd was into it. It was obvious that HHH would get this one in order to keep the storyline going. ***1/4

I'm a day or so behind on the whole wrestling thing due to school, but I'm slowly catching up. Should be an interesting RAW to watch.

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