Thoughts on Night of Champions
Some quick thoughts about the latest WWE PPV offering - Night of Champions, last night in Dallas. The event was lined with eight matches, all for belts, and two main event matches for the two major belts - the World Heavyweight Title and the WWE Title.
Triple H vs John Cena - Solid match, but nowhere near where their WM 22 match was in Chicago. The intensity simply was not there for this one as one would expect. The crowd, which seemed to be flat by the time this main event came about, didn't help matters. HHH winning was not a surprise, and I can see a Cena-HHH III coming at SummerSlam.
Batista vs Edge - Good match, probably the best of the night. Batista raised his game here, as matches with Edge in the past have been okay, but this one was very good. The near falls gave it a real main event feel, and it's too bad the finish was screwed by the many others getting involved. Seems like the way they played it though that there will be no rematch here.
Kane vs Big Show vs Mark Henry - Called Henry getting over here and winning the strap. We'll see if it elevates his game whatsoever, as many feel this is an unwise choice to put the belt on him. They needed to get it off Kane, who's on RAW, and it made little sense for Show to win it since he's on SmackDown.
Mickie James vs Katie Lea - Felt that James would go over here, as Lea is getting better, but is not ready to take the belt, but it may be coming. James is in the middle of what has been a solid title run, and while there are others ready to make the challenge, Lea included, Mickie deserved to go over here and keep the title.
Chris Jericho vs Kofi Kingston - The IC belt has always been a stepping stone for guys to get over, and that is the only reason why I can see them handing it to Kingston. Crowd for whatever reason didn't like this match at all, as the "boring" chants hit early and hard. Felt like a forced title change here, and I hope that Kingston is worth the hype of an IC title run.
Rhodes and Holly vs Rhodes and Dibiase Jr. - The obvious call of the night, as Rhodes turning on Holly was the call from the get-go. There was some though of it being DH Smith, but after he moved to SmackDown, the call for it to be Rhodes was the easy call here. We'll see how the young heel team gets over, as we saw little from Ted Jr. here.
Miz and Morrison vs Hornswoggle and Finlay - Decent opener, and am totally glad they did the right thing and allowed the champs to keep their belts. Would have been a total disaster to move them to the "father and son" team, even though I could still see it happening. Miz and Morrison continue to be the best team in the company right now, and when they do lose it, I hope it's to at least a real team.
Matt Hardy vs Chavo Guerrero - What you'd expect here, and not at all surprised that Hardy goes over and keeps the belt. Hardy having the U.S. Title on ECW adds a little flair, as now there are two straps there to go after, and with Chavo over there, I'm sure we'll see these two a few more times, but here, it was over as the second match of the card.
Triple H vs John Cena - Solid match, but nowhere near where their WM 22 match was in Chicago. The intensity simply was not there for this one as one would expect. The crowd, which seemed to be flat by the time this main event came about, didn't help matters. HHH winning was not a surprise, and I can see a Cena-HHH III coming at SummerSlam.
Batista vs Edge - Good match, probably the best of the night. Batista raised his game here, as matches with Edge in the past have been okay, but this one was very good. The near falls gave it a real main event feel, and it's too bad the finish was screwed by the many others getting involved. Seems like the way they played it though that there will be no rematch here.
Kane vs Big Show vs Mark Henry - Called Henry getting over here and winning the strap. We'll see if it elevates his game whatsoever, as many feel this is an unwise choice to put the belt on him. They needed to get it off Kane, who's on RAW, and it made little sense for Show to win it since he's on SmackDown.
Mickie James vs Katie Lea - Felt that James would go over here, as Lea is getting better, but is not ready to take the belt, but it may be coming. James is in the middle of what has been a solid title run, and while there are others ready to make the challenge, Lea included, Mickie deserved to go over here and keep the title.
Chris Jericho vs Kofi Kingston - The IC belt has always been a stepping stone for guys to get over, and that is the only reason why I can see them handing it to Kingston. Crowd for whatever reason didn't like this match at all, as the "boring" chants hit early and hard. Felt like a forced title change here, and I hope that Kingston is worth the hype of an IC title run.
Rhodes and Holly vs Rhodes and Dibiase Jr. - The obvious call of the night, as Rhodes turning on Holly was the call from the get-go. There was some though of it being DH Smith, but after he moved to SmackDown, the call for it to be Rhodes was the easy call here. We'll see how the young heel team gets over, as we saw little from Ted Jr. here.
Miz and Morrison vs Hornswoggle and Finlay - Decent opener, and am totally glad they did the right thing and allowed the champs to keep their belts. Would have been a total disaster to move them to the "father and son" team, even though I could still see it happening. Miz and Morrison continue to be the best team in the company right now, and when they do lose it, I hope it's to at least a real team.
Matt Hardy vs Chavo Guerrero - What you'd expect here, and not at all surprised that Hardy goes over and keeps the belt. Hardy having the U.S. Title on ECW adds a little flair, as now there are two straps there to go after, and with Chavo over there, I'm sure we'll see these two a few more times, but here, it was over as the second match of the card.
Labels: batista, edge, john cena, matt hardy, Night of Champions, triple h
