WWE Night of Champions 2014
Nashville, Tennessee 9/21/14
I should mention that the Kickoff Show featured the return of The Peep Show, hosted, of course, by Christian. His guest is none other that Chris Jericho. They have a little back & forth, reminiscing of their tag team from 2002-3, before talking about Jericho's match tonight with Randy Orton, and what led to it. Orton then shows up on the big screen. He refers to Jericho & Christian as "Brad & Angelina", and continues by saying that he's beaten Christian so bad in the past that he'll probably never wrestle again. Orton adds that he'll beat Jericho so bad tonight that the only show he'll be on is Total Divas. Jericho retorts by reminding him that he's the first ever Undisputed Champion, and that Orton will never be the same again after tonight.
1.) WWE Tag Team Titles - The Usos vs. Goldust & Stardust: ***
The actual PPV kicks off with a WWE Tag Team Title Match. Since the recent transformation of Cody Rhodes into Stardust, The Rhodes Brothers have turned heel, setting their sites on Jey & Jimmy Uso. This was a pretty solid opening match. It started off a little slow, but picked up by the end to the point that it was a good match. After a really nice exchange towards the end of the match, Stardust would counter a top rope splash from Jey Uso and pins him for the win, capturing the WWE Tag Team Titles.
2.) WWE United States Title - Sheamus vs. Cesaro: ****
These two had a really nice match back at Payback, but I think this one may have been even better. A great match between these two. We all know how awesome Cesaro is in the ring, but Sheamus certainly held his own as well. I think these two really work together, and it's shown through their matches. They just beat the hell out of each other for the entire match, which was a blast to watch. Eventually, someone had to win, and that someone would be Sheamus, who manages to put away Cesaro and retains his United States Title.
3.) WWE Intercontinental Title - Dolph Ziggler (with R-Ziggler) vs. The Miz (with Damien Mizdow): **
Ziggler defeated The Miz at SummerSlam to capture the Intercontinental Title. This time, they each have their "stunt doubles", as The Miz has Damien Mizdow, while Ziggler has R-Truth, who comes out as "R-Ziggler". This match wasn't nearly as good as their match from SummerSlam. The stuff on the outside with the "stunt doubles" was one thing, but the horrible commentary with the band Florida Georgia Line didn't help. They even got involved in the match, getting into it with Damien Mizdow. The interference of the stunt doubles allows The Miz to take advantage and recapture the Intercontinental Title.
So up next, we were originally scheduled to get Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, but a few days before the show, Reigns had to undergo emergency surgery for an incarcerated hernia, leaving him out of action for the foreseeable future. Seth Rollins comes out anyway, berating Reigns, and giving him to the count of ten to come down to the ring and face him, or he would win by forfeit. They count to ten, and Rollins forces the referee to declare him the winner by forfeit. He then issues an open challenge to anyone in the locker room. All of a sudden, the camera cuts to the back, where a taxi shows up, and Dean Ambrose comes out (he was making his return after being taken out by Rollins a few weeks back)!! He makes his way out to the ring and goes after Seth Rollins! There's a big brawl, and it takes a long time for security to eventually break it up and drag Ambrose away, leaving Rollins in shock.
4.) Mark Henry vs. Rusev (with Lana): **1/2
After Jack Swagger failed to defeat Rusev at SummerSlam, Mark Henry decided to step up to plate by representing & defending America against the Russian "Super Athlete". Prior to the match, Lillian Garcia sang the American National Anthem, which brought Mark Henry to tears. The match itself was fine. By no means was it anything special, but the important thing was that Rusev once again looked strong. He was able to defeat Mark Henry by making him pass out to The Accolade.
5.) Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton: ***1/2
These two had some run-ins recently on RAW, setting up this match. I thought it was pretty good. It was definitely the best PPV match of Jericho' recent WWE stint. Lots of really solid action from both guys. It wasn't an incredible match, but a really solid one. After a lot of back & forth action, Orton would eventually hit the RKO on Jericho to win the match.
6.) WWE Diva's Title - Triple Threat Match - Paige vs. AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella: **1/2
Stephanie McMahon granted Nikki a title shot as a reward for helping her defeat Nikki's twin sister Brie at SummerSlam, but since AJ Lee lost the Diva's Title to Paige at SummerSlam, she deserved a rematch, which leads us to this Triple Threat Match. It was a decent women's match. Having Nikki Bella in there added something different to the usual mix as of late, but that didn't change the result, as AJ Lee made Paige tap out to the Black Widow to recapture the Diva's Title.
7.) WWE World Heavyweight Title - Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. John Cena: ***3/4
So after getting destroyed by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, John Cena is exercising his rematch clause. In a move that was exactly the opposite of how their match at SummerSlam started, John Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment less than a minute into the match! However, Brock Lesnar would quickly take back control, hitting Cena with German Suplex after German Suplex. This match was actually less one sided than their last match, as Cena got in much more offense at Lesnar. At one point, it looked like Cena might have had the match won, but then Seth Rollins comes in and hits him with his Money in the Bank Briefcase, causing the match to end in a DQ. Rollins tosses Cena out of the ring, and hits the Curb Stomp on Lesnar. It looks like Rollins is going to cash in his Money In The Bank Briefcase, but Cena stops him before the bell can ring. Rollins is able to escape, just as Lesnar recovers, and hits an F5 on Cena to close the show. The match wasn't as good as what they did at SummerSlam, but it was still really good. Lesnar looked like an absolute monster, but Cena looked good in return. The only thing was that WWE had booked themselves into a corner, where neither guy could afford to lose. What they ended up doing protected Lesnar & Cena, but it was a crappy way to end the PPV.
Overall: 7.0/10
This was definitely and up-and-down type show. It did have a number of positives highlights, such was Sheamus vs. Cesaro (Match of the Night, in my opinion), Orton vs. Jericho, and the return of Dean Ambrose to set up Ambrose vs. Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match at the next PPV. Everything about Lesnar vs. Cena was really good up until the finish, which was a crappy way to end the show. Everything else ranged between solid and ok/decent/average, with the Intercontinental Title match being a lowlight. It wasn't a bad show by any stretch, but it wasn't anywhere near good either. It was a relatively decent show, that has only a few things that are actually worth seeing.
No comments:
Post a Comment