Miz vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara (IC Title): ***1/4
Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (Tag Team Titles): **1/4
Antonio Cesaro vs. Zack Ryder (U.S. Title): **1/4
Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler: ****1/4
Eve Torres
Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio (World Heavyweight Title): ***3/4
CM Punk vs. John Cena (WWE Title): ****1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
We're in Boston for Night of Champions! Middle rope is pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Oh yeah, and Cena will be debuting pink attire tonight as well.
Cole addresses Lawler's situation, praising the WWE ringside physician and medical crew in Montreal. Lawler to be released from the hospital this week, great news indeed! Joining Cole on commentary: JBL! YES! Big ovation for JBL. Loved his color commentary on Smackdown.
IC Title Fatal Four Way first up. Mysterio's got purple and red attire, while Sin Cara back to the blue and white. Great match here that got a ton of time. Good stuff between Cara and Mysterio, then even Cody and Miz went at it. Really the typical spotfest many people predicted. ROFL at JBL thinking Miz would just be a Kardashian brother. Real good ending. Miz has Cara's (second) mask on and hits Cody with the SCF to win. Miz can use a claim like he didn't know it was Rhodes. Any way you put it, it furthers that storyline. And come on, you knew Rey and Sin Cara weren't winning.
Primetime Players complain to Eve that they don't have their tag title shot. Eve gets motioned to the back. Kaitlyn's in tears saying someone struck her from behind. It's a Nancy Kerrigan-like scene, but at least Kaitlyn's not screaming "WHY?!" Eve deems Kaitlyn unable to compete. Trainer didn't say anything.
Time for tag title match. Daniel Bryan and Kane have awesome chemistry. JBL great as heel commentator. Fans are NUTS for DB. I was rolling on the floor for this one. HUG IT OUT DAMMIT! Yup, only in this match could Kofi and Truth actually get booed against their tag opponents. DB and Kane as new tag champs? YES! Let's hear it for Team Friendship!
Eve tells Booker that Kaitlyn "twisted her ankle." Booker gives Eve the title shot instead. True that Eve beat Kaitlyn in a singles match. But yay bonuses!
U.S. Title match next. Cesaro faces Ryder, who won the preshow battle royal to determine the #1 contender. Fairly short match, but a good pace with great spots. JBL praises Cesaro. Ryder with a couple of near falls. Cesaro with Neutralizer to retain his title.
Ricardo's neck is better. Otunga calls him stupid and forces him to wear the neck brace anyway. Oh yeah, and Otunga's in the state where he went to law school. Fun.
Orton and Ziggler go at it. Woohoo, pretty long match here! Some split chants, but Ziggler fans WAY more vocal. Fans really gravitated toward Ziggler at the end of the match. Yet another reason why I know Ziggler is ready to main event. Awesome RKO spot, tossing DZ up in the air and planting him with the RKO for the win. Orton may have gotten the win, but add this to Ziggler's resume of great matches. DZ's a shining star. Sure, I'd love to have more of these quality matches, but then again, I'd get hella spoiled and may lose my appreciation of such stuff.
Orton did indeed flip the bird momentarily on camera just before going into his pounce-and-mat-pound signal for the RKO. Orton apologized afterward on Twitter. Not sure how that will affect Orton, since he's scheduled to do some movie filming soon. At the very least, it could be storyline suspension fodder. Could still be real trouble, though, since that's "not PG."
Divas Title next, and it's no surprise Eve won. Fans weren't totally silent, but not sure how many actually cared. Personally, Layla's reign was a disappointment. I kinda wish she kept the Laycool theme, since changing music to Tiffany's (Taryn Terrell) old theme didn't help. Now I hope there will be some better matches with Eve as champ. Please?
ROFL! Kane with the Gatorade shower to DB, Dr. Shelby, and AJ. And Kane's going to Disneyland. Now THAT was the best skit in the entire angle. Wow. That deserved at least five more replays.
Sheamus vs. Del Rio next. Sheamus' fans are called "hooligans" now. Sheamus should be right at home with the Irish tradition in Boston. Remember the skit with Ricardo's neck actually being fine? Booker reinstates the Brogue Kick for the match, citing the inherent risks of pro wrestling. DUH. Otunga then eats a Brogue Kick. Officials tend to Otunga. Oops. I honestly wanted the Brogue Kick "banned" for a lot longer. Give that Cloverleaf more time to get over as a legit finisher.
ADR targeted the left arm, as predicted. Great counters on signature moves and finishers. Nice spot with Sheamus' bad arm caught in the ropes and ADR kicking that arm repeatedly. On the second cross armbreaker, the camera angle really made it look like Sheamus was tapping when he was just teasing it. Brogue Kick ended it. Still very solid.
Obviously, Punk and Cena was closing the show. Paul Heyman in the ring to praise Punk and his long reign. Simple reasoning so far...Punk's a Paul Heyman guy. Cena gets the hometown ovation, but there's still the obvious Cena haters. Note that Punk is wearing Yankee pinstripe-like tights, awesome. Main event intros.
A bunch of mat wrestling to start, which usually means it'll be a long match. Hey, Cena's father is there. Wasn't he supposed to be banned or something (according to Cena himself)? Yay lack of continuity! Numerous counters for just about everything in the match. Punk really impressed me with unique ways to counter Cena's signature moves. How about Anaconda Vice to STF to Crossface? That is wrestling. Heyman's reaction on the outside was priceless.
Oh yeah, Punk/Cena match of the night for sure. AGAIN. Several false finishes. Punk even did a moonsault. Not the best looking one, and probably made a bit more awkward that Cena only barely moved out of the way. Made up for it with the Rock Bottom false finish spot -- and Cole caught it this time! More false finishes on finishers. Nice second-rope superplex from Cena to get three!
Or so everyone thinks, including me. Cena celebrates, but the ref said BOTH guys' shoulders on the mat so it's a draw. Punk thus retains because he wasn't actually beat. I guess this means they can go at it again? Either way, it was a great finish for Punk's heel reign.
This was easily one of Punk's best matches. Not just in WWE...of his entire wrestling career. And to think, he's had multiple five-star matches from Meltzer.
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Hell in a Cell is the next PPV. October 28 in Atlanta.
For the record, just didn't have time to do a predictions video this week. My channel is devoted to food; wrestling takes a backseat there.
I originally thought the tag titles and the World Title would change hands, and I guess I was half right on that. Still think it was a horrible move to not put the title on Del Rio or Ziggler. In the end, it didn't affect the overall quality of the show. Having JBL on color muted Cole and kept him more impartial. Yeah, that means Cole actually was pretty damn good here. I seriously want JBL on the announce team full-time again. Big thumbs up on this PPV. ****
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