Night of Champions Thoughts
I really enjoyed last night's pay per view - especially the final hour, which delivered two of the more fun and exciting WWE world title matches in a while. I was consistently entertained throughout the night, and I'm intrigued about where WWE is going forward, especially without a world champion on the supposed A-brand.
Here are some quick thoughts, match by match:
WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & Morrison defeated Finlay and Hornswoggle: It was somewhat eye-opening to watch this match with my father, who is 76, and was beyond amused by the sight of a little person holding his own in the ring. Hornswoggle definitely has his audience. This match was fine comedy, but in the end I'm glad they're sticking with the Miz and Morrison as tag team champions. They've developed into one of the Smackdown/ECW's hottest acts.
U.S. Champion Matt Hardy defeated Chavo Guerrero: This was a battle between two of WWE's most talented and bland wrestlers. It's got to be frustrating for Matt Hardy. He's a good worker, a company guy, and has mostly kept his nose clean. And for that, he is exiled to ECW. His brother Jeff is perpetually screwing up, and he gets one big push after another. That said, I totally understand why that's the case. This match was another good example of how, despite Matt being perfectly capable, he just doesn't connect with fans.
Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes defeated Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes (?!) for the world tag team championship: A lot of us saw this turn coming a mile away, but it was still well executed and fun to see play out. The team of Dibiase and Rhodes could be a hot young act if they're given a real tag team division in which to compete. I'm still curious as to what Ted Jr. can do in the ring. All we know right now is that he has a decent amount of charisma, passable mic skills, and an awful theme song.
Mark Henry defeated Kane and Big Show to win the ECW championship: With these three involved, there was no way this match could be any good, and it wasn't. But nonetheless, you had to smile about Mark Henry winning his first "major" singles title. He may not be very good in the ring, but after being signed 12 years ago to an inflated contract without having wrestled a single match, Henry has worked hard to earn his keep and has survived a lot of hurdles along the way. I was glad to see him have his moment in the sun.
Women's Champion Mickie James defeated Katie Leah Burchill: James was good as always, but Katie looked pretty green in there. Still, there was some good intensity here and I wouldn't mind seeing more of these two together.
Kofi Kingston defeated Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Title: I really enjoyed this, and was thrilled to see WWE take yet another step in freshening up its product. Kingston is exactly the kind of guy they should be getting behind - young, exciting, and very unique. I'm not saying he should be wrestling in main events any time soon, but he could be a big benefit to Raw's mid card. It's also good for the IC title to be around the waist of someone who will actually defend it.
World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated Batista: One of the big surprises of 2008 may be Vickie Guerrero, who went from almost being a cruel joke to the Guerrero family to being one of the most entertaining characters on WWE TV. She was at her irritating best getting involved in this match, and who didn't get a kick out of seeing Batista send her flying? This was a fun finish that helped further Edge's role as the ultimate opportunist, and make Batista the sympathetic babyface as he comes to Raw. Batista also deserves a lot of credit for having come a long way in the ring over the last year.
WWE Champion Triple H defeated John Cena: I don't dispute that Cena and Triple H are two of WWE's biggest stars, but after having seen them interact so much in recent months, I wasn't too excited about this match. But they definitely won me over with what felt like a truly epic showdown between two modern wrestling greats. The final minutes of this match were as good as anything I've seen in a WWE main event since Kurt Angle left the company - innovative reversals, dramatic nearfalls, amazing feats of strength, and a decisive, satisfying finish. This was one of the best matches I've seen all year.
It's amazing how much difference a week can make. Coming off last week's historic draft and last night's pay per view, the same WWE that just days ago seemed as stale and flat as I could remember now seems re-energized and filled with possibilities. This should be a fun summer for wrestling fans.
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Comments (15)
I like the idea of no World Heavyweight nor WWE Championship on RAW. It'll be interesting to see how Edge & HHH co-exist with their respective titles. I doubt there would be another unification, but by doing so it would put a lot more importance the the US & IC titles as those could be the top title on each brand. Having only one "true" champion would certainly make his appearance on either show more of a big-deal. Also, the prospect of seeing a Unification at Summerslam between Batista & Cena would be monumental, although that would be better left for WM XXV.
I agree with most of your thoughts, Alfonso. I caught myself laughing at the Honswaggle stuff too, so add 28 year old smarks to Little Horny's audience.
Did anyone else think Dibiase's song sounded like "Fever"? Just awful.
As good as HHH's match was, I couldn't get over how dark he looked. It's not a question of when, but how many times did he fall asleep in the tanning bed this week. Creepy.
It annoyed me afterwards was that on a night when every title in the company was defended (and shouldn't that be EVERY Pay Per View?) we only saw one-and-a-half title switches.
Maybe this is me being too much of an IWC geek, but how spiteful did the double-world title retention feel? Yeah, the expected thing after Edge retained would have been Cena winning. in this case, it's expected because it's the only thing that makes sense. It would swerve me if Torrie Wilson won the title, but it doesn't make sense for her to do it (Russo?).
But...but...how can it be a good show when Cena/HHH and Edge/Batista headline yet more PPV's for their brands? Stupid WWE.
Seriously though, it was a very good show. I think Matt Hardy does connect with fans. Not as much as Jeff, but he still got a decent pop last night. The match had absolutely zero build or story behind it, so it isn't surprising the fans didn't give a damn.
I don't think the whole product was anywhere near as stale as you make out. You have to give the main eventers the chance to actually be main eventers as a company, and that means milking them for a bit. They done it with Rock/HHH in 2000, they done it with Foley/Rock in late 98/early 99, and it's no different today. If there's a revolving door of upper mid carders main eventing PPVs, pretty soon you're going to have loads of reasonably big stars, and no huge stars in the company. And Batista/Cena/HHH/Orton/Taker/Edge are the big stars, and the crowd knows it, as well as the company.
I bet any money CM Punk is billed as Raw's 'savior' by taking a title back to Raw using his contract. There's another star. Jeff has become almost a major player this year. Regal was in the process, and it looks like Kennedy and MVP were on the road as well before the draft. They do create new stars, but they also have to get the full worth out of the ones they have already created...otherwise what's the point in creating them?
I will say though, that there was one week where it did feel stale and flat, and that was the first week of the Milion Dollar Mania. That episodewas awful, but they improved upon that. Before that we were getting absolutely fresh storylines from Regal, and before that we had a very solid pre and post Mania builds. Now that they are seemingly treating Smackdown as something of an equal, it seems that this good run should continue.
To respond to the post above, I wouldn't say that the double title retention was spiteful. It makes things interesting, and totally makes sense if it means Punk is going to have to use his contract to get a title back. It's not as if it doesn't make sense anyway - champions retained titles, that's no biggy. The WWE never said a title was definately changing and tricked anyone into buying, and I think you'll see loads of people saying Raw is now a very interesting prospect because of what they done.
The last time Raw was without a belt, they created one and just gave it to HHH.
Myabe they'll do the same this time, but that would create three titles on Smackdown.
I hope they dont create a new title for Raw...just do an angle where the Raw superstars come up to Punk saying he is there only chance to get a World Title back on the show. People give him a hard time and pressure him into doing something for the betterment of Raw. He finally gives in when its least expected and wins the gold and becomes both a savior to his show and a bigger star. It would work best on a live show, so maybe the next ppv in 20 days at Great American Bash on the Island. I would not like him cashing it in on Smackdown. The only good thing that could come out of that is maybe a slight bump that week in ratings, but its better if they teased Punk would be going to GAB with a purpose.
Overall I enjoyed, didnt love, the ppv.
B+ show in my opinion.
Dude, do you seriously believe they're going to put a belt on Punk? I love him as much as anyone, but he's been booked weaker than Mysterio on his "championship" run.
I had hoped the new draft would bring some solidarity back to the brands, but now we're going to have to have one champ or another showing up on Monday nights even though they're not supposed to.
I had forgotten about the IC title switch in my last post, so fair enough on title switches. I think I can be forgiven considering WWE forgot about the IC title for most of the last year.
And you're right -- let's give Undertaker and HHH time to be main event stars. Undertaker's only been main eventing for 20 years, and HHH has had a paltry 10 years! These young up and comers need time, is all.
I do think they'll put a belt on Punk. It worked with JBL. Punk is already an upper mid carder, and the fans seem to like him. If they give him some big wins in the next few weeks on Raw, and have him challenge either Edge or HHH at the GAB it wouldn't be totally ridiculous. As he is right now, it wouldn't work. With some rapid build up, it could. You could even turn him heel, have him willingly let the other Raw stars do his bidding for him, and play off the fact that he is taking shortcuts to get where he wants to be. It could work, easily.
What's your point about HHH and Taker? It doesn't mean they haven't created new stars like everyone seems to assume, and it's not as if this year is the only year that they have had repeated rematches between main eventers. On Raw, they even added other competitors. In late 98, Rock and Foley went one on one with different stips for a good 4 months themselves. To say they don't create stars is a lie, quite frankly.
"With these three involved, there was no way this match could be any good, and it wasn't."
TALL AND FAT DUDES CAN NEVER HAVE GOOD MATCHES. PUSH SHELTON BENJAMIN!!!!!!!!!11111
CM Punk bores me. Yeah, he's good..but he reminds me of RVD in some way. If he's going to get a shot at a major title, it should be the IC belt first. Give him a good run with it, see how he holds up.
Tonight on RAW, when CM Punk won the world title, was the first time i've marked out in years.
Its 10pm...and I have a really bad feeling about what is going to occur tonite...
JBL is allegedly on the cusp of re-retirement.
I hope so, but I just have a really, really bad feeling that somehow the belt will be off of Punk by the end of the night...
I thought the PPV was pretty good, loved batista's nod to sign guy at the end of his match "i see three sign guys"