'The Big Guy' spent the first minute or so of the match
knocking Owens down to the mat. Then he gorilla pressed him to the outside and
encouraged the fans to cheer him. They did. Owens shrugged off the gorilla
press and began targeting Ryback's arm. Ryback absorbed various armbars and
takedowns, a Russian leg sweep with his arm pinned behind his back, and a
senton onto his arm before finally managing to floor KO with a clothesline.
Owens escaped a power bomb but got caught with a spinebuster. The champ went to
follow up with a meat hook clothesline but Owens struck him with a super kick
instead.
That earned Owens a two count. He tried to put the champ
away with a pop-up power bomb but The Ryback ducked out of the way and got his
meat hook clothesline. Owens was hoisted up for the Shellshock but was spared
the move when Ry' realised his elbow was too hurty to fall backwards. Owens
took this opportunity to drop down to the mat and shove Ryback arm first into a
ring post.
When that only got Owens a two count he hit an arm
takedown and locked in an armbar. Ryback sold that for a moment before powering
up to his feet and deciding he was, in fact, strong enough to hit Shellshock
after all. But it wasn't to be: Owens raked Ryback's eyes before he could be
dropped and slipped out of the move again, schoolboying the champ for a three
count and the gold.
Owens as champ is a good thing. The reaction he got here,
and the reactions he's been receiving on TV lately, showed that people were
ready for the change. It's a nice change of pace and a call back to when the IC
strap was used as a signified that wrestlers were destined for big things in
WWE. Ryback's reign was fine but he'd had it long enough. I think he'll work
better as a babyface chasing a rematch anyway. Owens deserves a meaningful run
and I think he'll get it.
An ad aired for Brock Lesnar's Go to Hell tour. Next
month he'll wrestle Big Show in MSG, appear on Steve Austin's podcast, and then
face Undertaker at Hell in a Cell inside the cage. The highlight of this should
be Lesnar's appearance on Austin's podcast. If there's any chance of Austin v
Lesnar happening this should make it clear. The match with 'Taker could be fun
but we've seen it before, at No Mercy 2002 (Lesnar won), and I imagine we'll
get another offbeat finish even though the obvious thing to do is have 'The
Beast' win decisively.
Match two was Rusev versus Dolph Ziggler. Before the
match 'The Bulgarian Brute' told Rich Brennan he wasn't in the mood to chat, he
was in the mood for crushing "the puny American" Ziggler. Grade A lad
banter from Rusev, that. They also took the opportunity to establish that
Summer Rae, Rusev's girlfriend, was wearing earrings 'The Show Off' had given
to her on RAW. Because it's a soap opera feud and needs soap opera trappings.
The match was fine, mostly because both lads rarely have
a bad match, although there was very little crowd heat between the start and the
finish. To keep the ridiculous soap antics of the feud strong the finish saw
Summer get involved, hopping onto the apron, taking a bump and being ordered to
the back by the referee. She responded by taking offer her shoe and throwing it
into the ring where it hit Rusev in the face. Ziggler snuck in a Zig Zag and
won. Rusev left alone. Summer screeched in the aisle. Michael Cole delivered
what he probably thought was a zinger about the sequence giving new meaning to
the word "heel". Let's never speak of any of this again.
Heat magnets New Day entered first (in some absolutely
fabulous new gear) for the tag team title match. They cut an anti-Dudleys,
pro-table promo in an attempt to turn the crowd against them. It mostly worked,
but they're never going to be completely successful because they're just too
entertaining.
The match was fun. Big E and Bubba had some stiff big boy
exchanges, Kofi was excellent as a cocky heel, and Xavier was cracking riling
up the crowd (highlights included smack-talking Bubba, loudly screaming "New Day!", and playing the Rocky
theme on his trombone). Devon was also there. Bubba was isolated for a while
before he made a hot tag. Within two minutes of that they'd hit a 3D. Woods
broke the count up in front of the ref to cause a DQ, giving the Duds a win but
ensuring New Day retained the belts.
After the match New Day beat down Bubba and Devon then
set up a table. They didn't get to use it though. The Dudleys recovered and put
Woods through it. Presumably this was done to give the crowd something to cheer
after such an unsatisfying ending and to create cause for a tables match
between the two teams either at the MSG Network special or at Hell in a Cell.
The Divas championship match was not the scorcher we'd
get from an NXT women's title match. It was heavy on delay tactics from Nikki
towards the start and had a far slower pace. The champion targeted the
challenger's leg and kept her on the mat to work it over. It was a logical
story that played on Charlotte's figure eight leg lock finish, the idea being
that ikki would do such an effective job that Charlotte wouldn't be able to
apply her trademark hold effectively. It succeeded in engaging the crowd and kept
them invested in Charlotte. It also played to the pair's respective strengths.
'The Nature Girl' is very convincing when it comes to selling and Nikki works
best with a slower, more deliberate pace where she's free to interact with the
audience without needing to do try anything overly athletic.
Charlotte would eventually fire up and give Nikki some
chops (accompanied by unenthusiastic wooos from the crowd). Nikki fought back,
clambered onto the second rope and launched herself at the challenger.
Charlotte caught her with a spear and locked in a figure eight leg lock,
despite Nikki having effectively worked over her leg for the entire match.
Nikki only managed to hold on for about ten seconds before she tapped out.
Compared to what we've seen from Charlotte in NXT this
wasn't that great. Compared to the average Divas title match over the last few
years it was. Charlotte and Nikki told a story, played to their strengths and
provided the clean finish that was needed. I don't think we could have asked
for more. Nikki's reign hasn't been bad and I enjoy her work but I'm pleased we've
got a new champion. Charlotte defending against her fellow fresh additions is
what the division needs now.
After a brief Kevin Owens promo (he said he's a prize
fighter who now has a prize), a check-in with the pre-show panel (they said
nothing of interest), a commentary team check-in (they blathered about the following
match) and a shot of PCB and Flair backstage (Charlotte botched her pa's
limousine-ridin' catchphrase then left to celebrate her win) the Wyatts v
Shield rivalry was introduced. Of note during the entrances Michael Cole called
Dean Ambrose a dude, Roman Reigns got a babyface reaction, and a guy who looked
a bit like New Jack slipped into the ring to stand with Reigns and Ambrose
before the third man was introduced. Security quickly removed him and Ambrose
and Wyatt, being stone cold pros, played the incident up.
The actual third man was Chris Jericho. Because
apparently he has to get himself involved with every hot act or feud he can in
an effort to convince people, and himself, that he's still relevant and capable
of hanging with younger fellas. He isn't and can't. Despite the involvement of
'Y2J' the match was good. Highlights included; Reigns deadlifting Harper into a
sit out power bomb; a Harper suicide dive to Reigns followed by a senton on the
floor from Bray; Ambrose turning a Sister Abigail into a(n unsuccessful)
schoolboy; Strowman being booked to stay on his feet after two Superman
punches; a crazy-good spear from Reigns to Strowman; and Jericho being caught
in mid-air as he tried the Codebreaker on Strowman and being muscled up for a
backbreaker. The finish saw Jericho, who'd tagged himself in as Reigns seemed
poised to polish things off, pass out in Strowman's bear hug.
The match was surprisingly short at thirteen and wasn't a
patch on the Shield v Wyatts matches of 2014. But equalling them was an
unreasonably high expectation for this match. It was the fun outing it needed
to be and it had the right result: Reigns and Ambrose should not be able to
beat the Wyatts with anyone other than Seth Rollins (and that match will happen
again someday). It also seemed to contribute to the long term plan of having
Reigns accepted by the majority of fans by getting him a good opening reaction
and sticking him in a good match. Following the finish the Shield boys looked
disappointed and checked on Jericho. He heelishly barged passed them and
wandered up the aisle, setting up Jericho v Reigns and-or Ambrose. Because, as
already stated, Jericho has to get involved with every act that could
conceivably be considered hot.
Backstage Triple H and Stephanie McMahon told Seth
Rollins they believed in him. He said he was the man, pumped himself up and
headed off down a corridor. Sheamus wandered up and hinted at a Money in the
Bank cash-in. Trips and Stepher looked concerned. If they were that concerned
they wouldn't have booked their boy in back-to-back title defences, but there
you go.
Despite being the obvious choice for show-closer (see my preview for why) Cena v Rollins took the semi-main
event slot. As predicted they tore the house down (not literally) with the
match of the night. Rollins hit Cena with a Blockbuster, a tree of woe double
stomp, a sling blade, a tope, and a superplex floated into a falcon arrow,
amongst other moves. Cena hit Rollins with his belly-to-back suplex, the Five
Knuckle Shuffle, a sunset bomb, a tornado DDT, and the STF. They also reversed
a number of one another's usual moves, Rollins kicking Cena in the head on a
FKS attempt, landing on his feet off an AA, and turning another AA into a
sunset flip, Cena turning a buckle bomb a hurricanrana and weaselling out of a
Pedigree at least once.
Cena would win the match with an inverted suplex, his
Dangerous Top Leg Drop and an AA, giving him his fifth United States title.
It's interesting to note that even though the match was packed with big moments
there was only one finishing move (the STF is a hold so doesn't count here) and
it brought things to a close. This seemed like a concerted effort to rein in
the number of finishers in main events matches in an effort to make them mean
more.
After the match 'The Future' grabbed the WWE strap and
tried to leave. Cena cut him off and AAed him in the aisle before throwing him
back into the ring. The match that followed was heavy on ringside action and
big bumps from Rollins, both designed to hide the physical limitations of
56-year-old Steve 'Sting' Borden. For the most part it worked.
Sting dominated Rollins until he headed to the announce
area. Rollins shoved 'The Icon' off the English announce table through the
Spanish announce table and Sting (kayfabe) cracked his head on a monitor. In
the ring Sting took a sling blade, a falcon arrow, and a buckle bomb. The big
man from WCW kicked out of them all. Instead of doing the sensible thing and
hitting Sting with a Pedigree, Rollins went to the apron and went for a
springboard something or other. Sting recovered and shoved him off the ropes
into the crowd barricade below.
Rollins pretty much no-sold that and was back in the ring
almost immediately. He was met by an amped up Sting. The champ took some right
hands and a pair of Stinger splashes. Then Sting pulled out the big guns and
tossed Rollins out of the ring to give him a cross body block from the top rope.
In the ring Sting hit the Scorpion Death Drop. Rollins
saved himself with a foot on the ropes. Sting got the Stinger splash again then
followed up with a mounted ten punch in the corner. Rollins countered that into
a buckle bomb. After that Sting collapsed while running the ropes and the
referee called the ringside doctor in to check on him. After a bit of a
breather he was cleared to continue (a storyline sequence designed to protect
Sting). Rollins immediately went for a Pedigree. Sting turned it into a
Scorpion Death Lock. Rollins escaped and tried the Pedigree again. Sting again
reversed it onto the Death Lock but Rollins reversed that into a small package to get a three count and retain the world
title just shy of the fifteen minute mark.
After a few minutes of celebrating from Rollins, Sheamus
rushed the ring and Brogue kicked the world champ. Before he could officially
cash-in Kane made the return that literally nobody's been waiting for. He
continued the Rollins abuse with a choke slam. Shaymo returned to the ring but
he was choke slammed too. 'The Big Red Machine' then ended the show by
Tombstoning Rollins, leaving us with the question: whose side is he on?
Night of Champions was a good show. There were no
outright bad bouts. The opener, Nikki versus Charlotte, and Cena versus Rollins
were all very enjoyable. The main event was far from a classic but it was fun
if you like a brawl with clever use of big bumps. The booking of Rollins was
disappointing. He's supposed to be an undeserving, cowardly champion but he
retained the world title clean and held his own with Big Match John, a feat that
not just anyone in WWE can manage. They should have gone all the way with him
overcoming the odds and had Sheamus take his briefcase title shot only to lose.
Three title matches in one night would have really helped Rollins' character.
***
Results summary:
Kevin Owens defeated Ryback to win the Intercontinental
championship Dolph Ziggler defeated Rusev
The Dudley Boyz defeated New Day by DQ
Charlotte defeated Nikki Bella to win the Divas championship
The Wyatt Family defeated Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho
John Cena defeated Seth Rollins to win the United States championship
Seth Rollins defeated Sting to retain the WWE championship
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