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| Not pictured: Ryback eating the title belt (I really wish that happened) Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Highlights:
- In the opening match, Randy Orton overcame the cross armbreaker and defeated Alberto del Rio with the RKO.
- Daniel Bryan and Kane imploded in the Tag Team Championship match, leading to Kane losing his shit and getting his team disqualified for castigo de excesivo against Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes. Bryan and Kane are still Tag Champs though.
- Kofi Kingston survived getting his leg worked over and his kick pad ripped off to deliver Trouble in Paradise to Miz and retain his Intercontinental Championship.
- Antonio Cesaro countered a plancha with a European uppercut and hit a Neutralizer to retain the United States Championship against Justin Gabriel.
- Rey Mysterio got a 619/Droppin' the Dime combo on Darren Young to give he and Sin Cara the win over the Prime Time Players.
- Big Show countered the Brogue Kick twice with the KO Punch to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
- Eve Torres used dissension between Layla El and Kaitlyn to retain her Divas Championship Match.
- Referee Brad Maddox gave Ryback a low blow while he had CM Punk in Shell Shocked, and Punk rolled Ryback up for the fast count-aided victory to retain the WWE Championship. Ryback was enraged, eventually giving Punk Shell-Shocked on top of the cell to close the show.
General Observations:
- Of course JBL likes Alberto del Rio. He's JBL's non-union, Mexican counterpart
- JR remarked that Randy Orton looked "naked" without gold. I'd say he looks naked more because he's worn pants maybe once or twice in the last five years.
- I loved the arm work by del Rio more than usual in this match. Such a cerebral wrestler.
- I nearly died when Ricardo Rodriguez did the Orton pose on the outside.
- del Rio going half-Abernathy off the top rope was a heinous "botch," but it oddly didn't take too much away from the match for me.
- Did anyone else notice that Paul Heyman said "...THE RYBACK" when begging Vickie Guerrero to get the match called off?
- Daniel Bryan added a new wrinkle to his corner leg kicks, alternating with his left leg to the chest and right leg to the thigh. That's why he's the best in the world, folks.
- Both teams had good teamwork mojo going during the match, especially the Champs. It was nice to have the work in the ring sync up with JBL's insistence that there was no dysfunction between the Champs.
- Jim Ross: "One on one, I don't know that there's anyone in WWE better than Daniel Bryan." AND THAT'S A SHOOT (I hope.)
- At one point during the match, Cody Rhodes looked like he was humping Bryan trying to keep a headlock applied. That's totally not PG.
- The whole finishing sequence, from Bryan tagging in until the ref called for the DQ, was to me excellent storytelling. One could argue that had no place on the pay-per-view, but at the same time, it was the second match on the show. The story between Bryan and Kane still has miles, and there's still a lot of mileage between the Champs and Rhodes Scholars.
- Commercials during a PPV? Yuck.
- That being said, Miz using the Doomsday Preppers oeuvre in his promo was brilliant, even if a bit cheesy.
- I think my problem with Kofi Kingston is that he's so goddamn spastic in his movements. It's unnatural.
- That being said, his leaping ability is unnatural too, as he showed going all Superman over the steps. Miz planting a boot in his face in the follow-up was better though.
- I was almost afraid that Miz was going to get DQed for taking Kingston's kick pad and shoe off. It was a great tactic though.
- "I'm a wildcat!" Kingston made Chris Harris, wherever he is, cry with that.
- The crowd was mostly terrible all night, but it didn't really bother me except for the Cesaro/Gabriel match. It didn't help that they looked a bit lost in there with the extended time over their RAW matches, but the eerie quiet really made the match seem worse than it was.
- Gabriel landing on his feet off the German suplex counter, though, was neat.
- Not as neat as Cesaro's Neutralizer though. No matter how small the opponent, he really makes it look like he's deadlifting the guy. Freaky strength, man.
- My vote for "Most Improved Wrestler" goes to Darren Young. Dude has turned into a legit good wrestler, and not just because he was in there with Rey Mysterio.
- Sin Cara looked like he crunched his neck pretty good on that shiranui attempt on O'Neil. That guy can't catch a break, but it's good to see that he didn't seem severely hurt.
- I loved the finish to Show/Sheamus, but this definitely was a match that needed like five fewer minutes. The Sheamus/Henry HOSS FIGHT from last year's SummerSlam was the perfect template for length.
- That being said, that finishing sequence, WHOA. Both Shows' KO Punches were pretty much on point, especially the one that he won with. It almost looked like a timing counter from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out.
- Say what you want about Santino Marella, but I legitimately laughed when came out as "Lady Goo Goo GaGa."
- Kaitlyn showed off some flexibility during the pin exchange she had with Layla at the beginning of their match. I wouldn't say she went full MsChif, but she came close.
- Layla and Torres going full-split and then Kaitlyn giving them the ol' noggin knocker was the kind of whimsy I think the women's division needs to have.
- CM Punk has been in some epic matches in his WWE career so far, but I think his performance against Ryback here was among his best, with the stalling and the "stun the big monster" offense.
- Paul Heyman trying to appeal to Ryback by saying "[Punk]'S A HUMAN BEING!" made me see his worth as a manager.
- FIRE EXTINGUISHER!
- Re: the finish. I think it was definitely the right call, and if it leads to Brad Maddox getting the call to the main roster, it's definitely a unique way to bring him about.
- For a split second, when Ryback stepped on the one section of the roof and it depressed lower than everything else, I thought Punk was going through the cell. Kinda glad he didn't.
Match of the Night: Alberto del Rio vs. Randy Orton Yes, there was a really bad botch in this match. Let's get that out of the way now. del Rio only went half-Abernathy here, and unlike the example set by Tropic Thunder, you ALWAYS want to go Full Abernathy. For those who don't get the reference, noted St. Louis Anarchy/ACW performer Pierre Abernathy has a "moonsault" where he jumps up on the top rope, then jumps back down and does a simple splash, pretending he came off the top.
That being said, I don't think that diminished the rest of the match, which was a strong opener for the card. del Rio really brought it with both his arm work, which got super-creative at points, and his heel taunting. I would have lost it if he actually hit the RKO on Orton, but him going to the mat and then Rodriguez doing the arms-outstretched taunt on the outside were both awesome.
Orton wasn't a slouch here either. As much as I don't like how he does the old Fire Pro-do-every-offensive move in the book style, he can wrestle an honest-to-God match when he has his druthers. I loved how he countered the cross armbreaker here, although I perversely wished that finished the match instead of the standard RKO-out-of-nowhere. Then again, that RKO countering the swinging corner enzugiri may have been the best RKO-counter since he hit Evan Bourne with it out of the shooting star press.
Overall Thoughts: I've seen mixed reviews for this pay-per-view on Twitter, and I can see how folks may not have liked it. There really wasn't enough resolution to justify being a PPV, but at the same time, I thought a lot of what they did worked. There were five strong matches at least, six if Kingston's spasticness didn't bother you, and the stories they advanced were all done well. I was a huge fan of what transpired in the Tag Team Championship match because that's a feud I don't mind continuing.
Then, there's the main event. I thought that was about as good as they were going to get for a few reasons. One, they were able to keep the belt on CM Punk, which I think is important. Two, they didn't damage Ryback's momentum, even with the loss. The fans still chanted "FEED ME MORE" despite the fact that he lost, clean or not. Third, and most importantly, they defined Ryback as a wrestler, not just a win-loss record. That's huge in that there now a bigger color palette to use for Ryback instead of the black and white of win and lose.
I think it certainly highlights the problem that WWE has too many PPVs in that we don't get enough resolution on them. However, in this day and age, it fit the bill. There was great wrestling, good moments and a sense that everything mattered, even if the stories weren't finished.
