MexAmerica

Something that passes for character development in WWE these days is a guy formerly known for being a massive pro-America racist and xenophobe ceasing to be a massive pro-America racist and xenophobe. We have to accept that we were given no reason for the change and just be pleased that it happened. Because, y'know, a company that chases a PG rating not featuring racism-based angles is probably a good thing.

I'm talking, by the way, not about Michael 'PS' Hayes but Zeb Colter. Of course I am.

What even is this?

The change is obviously welcome but it did come as something of a surprise. Prior to Hell in a Cell Zeb had last been seen getting his leg broken by Rusev in December 2014 (something which was apparently necessary to set up another match between Ru Ru and Jack Swagger (Swagger lost)). Hell in a Cell revealed that he and Alberto Del Rio, once sworn enemies because they're from different countries and cultures and those are things that can't simply be overlooked, had buried the hatchet and Zeb had agreed to become ADR's manager. Because why not, I guess?

It's an odd move that makes no sense on any level. Storyline-wise it's ridiculous that the two men would pair up. Colter's entire character before this contradicts the pairing, making it seem possible (though admittedly not likely) that WWE intend to regale us with a tale of Del Rio seducing, nay brainwashing, sweet, innocent Zeb into becoming a more accepting person as well as his manager. Which is fine and all but it raises questions of morality and free will that I doubt WWE would handle satisfyingly.

From a talent perspective it's confusing. Although he's a laugh I don't think anyone was crying out for a Zeb return. ADR is a perfectly capable promo and doesn't need a mouthpiece. He's worked well with a second before but a mobility scooter-bound mad sexagenarian is very different from a smarmy personal announcer who can make you either want to see him get a smack or feel incredibly sympathetic for him.

But the biggest question is this: was this really, honestly, the best WWE's vast creative department could come up with for the returning Del Rio? He's an international multilingual second generation star who can turn out good matches, works nicely as a conceited heel, and was being courted by numerous other promotions. Defeating Cena for the suddenly quite meaningful United States championship is good and all, there's nothing wrong there. But the Colter alliance and promos about a title reign representing "MexAmerica" are confusing. Short of Del Rio introducing Homicide, Hernandez and Salinas for an obscure invasion angle or going full Lance Storm and renaming the belt there's nowhere interesting for the gimmick to go. So far the best it's done is give us an amusing backstage scene where Jack Swagger basically said "C'mon, Zeb, I know you're still a racist really!" It's just not clear what the gimmick is meant to be or how we're supposed to react to it.

I bet Del Rio's happy to be back regardless of the nonsense he's been lumbered with though. No more dealing with indy promoters who refuse to put up with his prima donna attitude!

Mexico's Greatest Export

I’ve not always been the biggest fan of Alberto Del Rio but I’ve really enjoyed his work this year. When he turned babyface at the end of 2012 I wasn’t convinced that it would work, mainly because his character didn’t seem capable of being altered to receive cheers. I was wrong. ADR did manage to garner cheers and made numerous changes to his promo and wrestling style to reflect his new role. Ricardo Rodriguez being such a sympathetic individual helped matters but Del Rio did his share of the work too.

The first half of the year saw ‘The Essence of Excellence’ facing off against Big Show, Jack Swagger, and Dolph Ziggler on pay-per-view. None of those matches were bad. In fact the Big Show matches were, in hindsight, a small triumph considering ‘The Giant’s’ limited mobility and Del Rio’s new and therefore shaky status as a good guy.

The real highlights among those feuds were the exchanges with Ziggler. The two had one of the greatest sub five minute matches ever shown on RAW (and that’s a show that knows it’s way around a five minute match) and two excellent pay-per-view matches at Payback and Money in the Bank. The latter was marred by interference from AJ Lee but the Payback bout, in which they executed a silky smooth double turn, was one of the best WWE efforts of the year. The feud ended far too soon.

Since his recasting as a bad guy Del Rio has continued to do well. His SummerSlam match with Christian was fair but instantly forgettable, although even at the time it was clear that that was just something to keep Del Rio busy before he was split from his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez.

Del Rio versus Rodriguez seemed like the programme that would see both men through to the end of the year. It was easy to imagine Ricardo hooking up with a string of babyfaces and standing in their corner as they opposed the devilish Mexican aristocrat. We saw him get together with Rob Van Dam but that was it. Both Ricardo and ‘Mr Monday Night’ disappeared from television at the same time. Which actually worked out well for Del Rio as it freed him up for a prominent run opposite megastar John Cena.

ADR has been allowed to look surprisingly competitive with Cena. He has been presented as a man without fear of Cena’s imposing status, someone who won’t shrink from facing him and who can present him with a challenge (at least until that AA is busted out). On the November 15^th SmackDown he was even got to outsmart and overpower Cena before putting him through a table. This is not a first, but it’s also not treatment just anybody gets. It’s indicative of Del Rio’s high standing on the roster.

This guy's from Mexico...

2013 has seen ADR show that he can work at the top level as either a hero or a villain. He’s produced good or great matches on every pay-per-view of the year and proven to be one of WWE’s most consistent and reliable performers, both in and out of the ring. His promos get to the point and get him genuine boos (that’s worryingly rare in modern WWE), his selling is believable, and his offence, particularly his kicks, is crisply delivered.

His facial expressions, which have always been marvellous, have reached new heights and little touches to his “proud Mexcian hero” gimmick have been added. The little flags that adorn the ring posts during his matches have been one of the neatest additions to a WWE performers act in a long time.

Alberto Del Rio is someone WWE, and its fans, should be very appreciative of. There are few better than him right now.

Battleground review

Battleground will not be remembered as one of WWE’s better pay-per-view efforts. When it was good it was really good, but unfortunately that wasn’t often enough. There were too many filler matches for this to be noteworthy.

Part of the problem there is that too many matches are left until the last minute to be put together. If Bray Wyatt and Kofi Kingston’s problems had started the night after the last pay-per-view (held only three weeks earlier) there would have been more reason for the crowd to be emotionally invested and, just as importantly, there would have been another match that could have convinced people to buy the show. With a three hour RAW, a two hour SmackDown and numerous superfluous programmes each there’s no excuse for WWE not to be creating more mid-card conflicts.

“Never before has WWE been so divided,” lied Josh Mathews as the pre-show kicked off. That set the tone comfortably low for the evening. The experts chosen to join him were The Miz, Tensai and Titus O’Neil. ‘The Big Deal’ didn’t shine as he has done on commentary before, but he still came across better than his fellow panellists.

The pre-show match saw Damien Sandow take on Dolph Ziggler. ‘The Intellectual Saviour’ prefaced his loss with a promo that referenced Benjamin Franklin. That served as a nice reminder that Sandow’s character hasn’t been drastically altered since being introduced last year. That’s a rarity in WWE these days and speaks to the good work he’s done with the character.

The show proper started with the World Heavyweight championship hardcore match. Champion Alberto Del Rio defended against challenger Rob Van Dam. It was an improvement on their match at Night of Champions. The relaxed rules and receptive crowd benefited both greatly. RVD shines when he can through pieces of metal at people’s heads.

For an opener the match was fine although it was a little deliberate in places, most notably when Van Dam was pratting about setting up the ad hoc weapons for his Innovative Offence™. The list of weaponry included a chair, a ladder, and a rubbish bin (or trash can if you're in North America). Ricardo also involved himself, smacking his former employer with the bucket he carries about. He got a pasting in return.

Ladder (tug of) war!

Van Dam’s undoing proved to be the Van Terminator. Once he’d missed that ADR quickly applied the cross arm breaker, with a chair added for additional pressure. ‘Mr Pay-Per-View’ had no choice but to submit.

Backstage Zeb Colter cut a promo about Buffalo being a haven for illegal Canadian immigrants. Cesaro and Swagger stood behind him mocking the audience. Naturally 'The Swiss Superman' showed more personality here than Swaggalag. His ability to make something as banal as standing around while someone else cuts a promo entertaining is one of the reasons he’ll go far in WWE. He’s just too good not to be given things to do.

The Real Americans beat The Great Khali and Santino in a forgettable tag match. Cesaro got the win after a lengthy big swing on Khali. Yes, the big swing is now a convincing finish in WWE. Add that to the list of reasons to like Antonio Cesaro.

Another nothing match followed: Intercontinental champion Curtis Axel defeating against R-Truth. In fairness Axel did what he could to perpetuate the image that his title means something. It’s not his fault that it’s been devalued over the course of a decade by indifference from the writing team. Cole told us that “many people say Axel is the perfect Paul Heyman guy.” What he didn’t say is who these people are or why they’re saying such stupid things.

Match four (or five if you’re a pre-show counter¹) saw Brie Bella strut out to the ring to challenge for the Divas championship. The champ skipped out with the modern-day-female-Diesel, Tamina Snuka. She more than counteracted Brie’s second, Nikki.

I like the pairing of AJ and Tamina. Her previous affiliation with Big E Langston showed that AJ was the sort of character who worked well having a heavy at ringside. Tamina makes more sense in the role because she can actively involve herself in AJ’s matches, where Big E couldn’t. It also gives her something to do. She’s not a bad wrestler but without this new link she wasn’t going to get anywhere while the AJ versus Total Divas plot was going on.

Michael Cole chose the opening moments of this match to reveal the results of the greatest power couple poll that had been running on the WWE website (or on their app or… somewhere). The winners were Edge and Lita. Personally I can’t see how anyone could justify voting for any couple other than Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. They’re a combo so powerful they’ve had storylines dedicated to their heelish management styles twice and who genuinely run the company.

AJ won a short, basic match after Brie was distracted by Tamina throttling Nikki. It was not of the calibre we've become accustomed to from Ms Lee. That was more of a time issue than anything else. Simply put, they didn’t get enough.

Backstage Dusty Rhodes told Renee Young that no matter the outcome of their match the Rhodes family would leave Buffalo with their heads held high. Goldust, whose facepaint seemed to be patterned after Darth Maul, said he and Cody would expose The Shield as puppets of the regime (someone should have told him that was never a secret). Cody put over his dad’s charisma and his brother’s natural ring ability before said they were fighting for their lives and their family. It was good stuff.

Business picked up with the tag match that followed. All four men did their absolute best to make the match a good one and the crowd came to life. They built to a great conclusion: Dusty dropped Ambrose with a Bionic Elbow and was about to get attacked by Reigns (presumably he would have been treated to a spear) but Goldust made the save. Back in the ring Rollins tried to sneak in a win with rollup but Cody escaped and hit Cross Rhodes for the three count.

This picture was included solely because of Goldust's cartoonish facial expression

The low card gang (and Dolph Ziggler) came out to congratulate the winners in the aisle. Nothing says a big match has just been won by the appearance of Zack Ryder, the Usos and Justin Gabriel. Up in the expert skybox Miz said he wanted to be the first to welcomes the Rhodes boys back to WWE. Presumably he’d missed everyone else just doing that exact thing.

Brad Maddox was shown on the phone to Triple H and-or Stephanie McMahon. The point of this was to let us know that they’d left the arena. Apparently they'd been called to an emergency meeting. After nine. On a Sunday. During a live PPV. If this doesn’t sound feasible then you’re probably new to wrestling storylines.

Beat Wyatt beat Kofi Kingston in match number six (or, indeed, seven). The highlight of the match was Bray walking upside down on his hands and feet. That’s something I imagine we’ll be seeing ‘The Eater of Worlds’ do again. I like it. It made it clear that he’s a peculiar guy (not that that point wasn’t already clear). He won after reversing the SOS into Sister Abigail.

After the match Rowan and Harper hit a back breaker and a big boot on Kingston. Bray then told everyone to follow the buzzards.

CM Punk and Ryback took the semi-final spot and had a decent match. There was nothing especially memorable about what they gave us. It was the standard Ryback-slash-Punk-slash-WWE main event format. The babyface got beaten down for a bit before making some comebacks, with some ringside brawling featured for good measure. ‘The Second City Saint’ won with a low blow, which he managed to sneak in as the referee was telling Paul Heyman to give up a kendo stick he’d yanked from beneath the ring.

The final visit to the expert panel revealed that they were all backing Bryan. I’ve written before that Bryan getting as much support as he does in such situations doesn’t do the underdog image he trades on any favours. That’s as true now as it’s ever been.

The production truck suffered from technical difficulties during the video package hyping the main event (known as “pulling an ROH” in wrestling circles). This resulted in several seconds of Justin Roberts standing around looking gormless followed by an apology from Michael Cole. Hey, at least the problem didn't effect a match.

The match was slow to get going which left the commentary team to provide some highlights. They did so. ‘King’ said Bryan's living his dream, referring to the Brie proposal and winning then losing the WWE title. The Brie bit I understand but how is being stripped of a title living a dream? Later on he would bring up Bryan having worked in Memphis (around a decade ago) as further proof Bryan was living his dream.

Michael Cole made reference to Bryan’s old 'American Dragon' moniker and the eye patch era (which came about thanks to an errant blow from Takeshi Morishima). It was surreal hearing these things referenced on a WWE event. They famously don’t like to acknowledge things they’ve not created themselves.

Eventually Bryan and Orton’s pace picked up. When that happened the audience became louder, clearly in support of Bryan. ‘The Viper’ tends to wrestle slower matches, which surprises me when you consider that he’s probably one of the best conditioned men on the roster.

Thing from The Addams Family was the guest referee

The finish is what this match will be remembered for. Bryan had Orton in the Yes Lock and Big Show's music started playing. 'The Giant' thundered down to the ring and pulled the ref to the outside before KOing a perplexed Bryan. Brad Maddox then appeared and dispatched the mysteriously rehired Scott Armstrong to the ring. At this point it seemed as though the Show heel turn I'd predicted was on.

This turned out to be a fine swerve. ‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ pulled Armstrong from the ring before he could count the match in ‘The Apex Predator’s’ favour. He got blasted with the WMD too. Show finished by lumbering into the ring and hitting Orty with perhaps the weakest KO punch he's ever performed. Maddox looked stunned as Big Show hollered and then stared at him.

A WWE PPV ending on a non-finish? It was common in the Attitude Era. It's rare now. Here it worked as it was clearly setting up a return match for the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. It also featured Show finally standing up to the McMahon fam, which is what made the live audience accept it. Had things ended with Show officially turning heel and the match going to a non-finish things would have been different².

As WWE pay-per-views go this was slightly below average thanks to the high number of matches with no background to them and the forgettable nature of the two largest bouts. It was a good night for Cody Rhodes though. If he makes it high enough to get the DVD set treatment I’d expect the tag match from this show to make an appearance. On that level at least, Battleground was a success.

***

¹ If you are you’re an animal!

² For the record Show turning heel and Orton winning the championship probably wouldn’t have annoyed fans as much as Show KOing Bryan to instigate a DQ finish with no new champ. We don’t need to worry about this though as neither actually happened.

Night of Champions 2013 review

"The fate, future and direction of WWE will be decided tonight," said Josh Mathews at the start of the Night of Champions pre-show. Even by WWE standards this was overly dramatic. Anyone who’d had a glance at the announced line-up of matches this show was offering could have told you it was going to be, at best, a functional show more concerned with advancing storylines than anything else.

Towards the end of the pre-show Booker T said he wasn't the face of WWE when he worked for WCW. He was entirely accurate. In addition to inane comments there was also a surprisingly good tag team turmoil match on the half hour freebie. It was won by The Prime Time Players, granting them a shot at the straps held by Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins later in the evening.

Triple H kicked off the main show, entering to his heel King of Kings track. He was there to put his stamp of approval on the show because he believed it would be one of the greatest nights in company history (I’d be amazed if anyone believed that claim). After trotting out his "best for business" catchphrase he announced that the main event would feature no interference from anyone, specifically naming The Shield and Big Show. He then, bizarrely, started doing his “Are you ready?” shtick but got interrupted by Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel.

Heyman tried to get out of his match, spurring 'The Game' to activate face mode. This was a bad move. Inconsistency with how performers are presented is a contributing factor to heel and faces switches not sticking. You never would have caught Vince McMahon playing a face while acting as top bad guy.

Triple H pointed out that Paul had nothing to worry about because he could simply rely on Axel to defeat Punk, ensuring he wouldn’t need to tag in. When Axel piped up he got booked in an Intercontinental title defence against, perhaps as some sort of poster-related title switch tease, Kofi Kingston.

Michael Cole described the match as being of great importance to both men. That he spent several minutes promoting an online poll and rattling off seemingly random IC title-related factoids should tell you how true that claim was. Axel won an enjoyable enough bit of filler with his neck breaker driver.

 

Curtis Axel is very good at post-match celebrations

 

Following the decision it was revealed that 63% of WWE fans had voted Chris Jericho as the greatest Intercontinental champion ever. They'd only been able to vote for him, Rick Rude (2%), Mr Perfect (24%), Pat Patterson (1%), and the Honky Tonk Man (10%), so this is far from a definitive answer to the "who's the greatest?" question. For the record I’d have voted for Hennig or HTM from the selection.

Backstage Ricardo Rodriguez and Rob Van Dam had a painfully awkward conversation. RR taught RVD various Spanish phrases in what apparently passes as comedy.

Elsewhere in the back Alicia Fox and Aksana were busy abandoning AJ Lee. Layla remained loyal but then disappeared to straighten out the deserters. It’s possible Layla was actually meant to be leaving AJ too, but that wasn’t clear. The upshot of this segment was that AJ was left alone for the four-way match.

Before the match we were reminded of AJ's worked shoot promo and subsequent alliance with the Divas who we'd just seen abandon her. An on-screen graphic also revealed that fans had voted Trish Stratus the greatest Divas champion of all time. That's pretty impressive considering she never won the belt.

The Total Divas teamed up on AJ at the start of the match before Brie turned on her allies and presented us with a fair bout. One of the highlights of this match, for me, was the revelation that fans had voted on what outfit Brie Bella would wear. Losing options included "raggedy Bella" and "strawberry shortcake Bella". This voting for outfits idea needs to be a permanent gimmick for the Bellas. It's tremendous.

Natalya clumsily applied a double sharpshooter to Brie and Naomi (during which the recipients' shoulders were on the mat in pinning positions for a lot longer than three seconds) only to be lumped by AJ. The champ then applied her wonderful Black Widow on Natty hold for the submission victory. The division has a long way to go before it becomes unmissable stuff but it's got the right woman as its figurehead.

Experts Booker T, Santino and Alex Riley had a chat about the World Heavyweight championship match. Booker picked Van Dam to win, largely because they're pals. I like the idea that he makes all predictions based on how well he gets on with people, as opposed to form or anything that even tries to sound legitimate. Santino and A-Ry contributed nothing.

 

The battle of men known by three initials is on!

 

'Mr Pay-Per-View' got a great reaction from his home state crowd. Alberto Del Rio had to work for his heat. That wasn't a problem: he had fans jeering by the time he was on the apron. Lilian Garcia's Spanish intro helped too. That heat only intensified when ADR got disqualified for refusing to release his cross arm breaker submission after a five count. The finish did what he was designed to, namely keeping heat on ADR and avoiding a clean loss for RVD in an area where he’s very popular.

Following the decision Del Rio gave his foe a kicking. His attempt to involve a chair was foiled by Ricardo, allowing ‘The Whole F’n Show’ to drop the champ with a DDT and dust off the old Van Terminator (a move which sees Van Dam launch himself from one corner of the ring to the other and kick a chair into a seated opponent). If that was a regular part of his repertoire it would be a nice use of Ricardo. But it's not. Head shots like that are rare in modern WWE, and for good reason. It happened here because RVD was so popular and it was a positive note on which to end the segment.

Backstage Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel were shown discussing their handicap match. Here Heyman tried using the fear of Triple H causing problems for Axel as motivation for his charge to perform. We’d seen plenty of this sort of stuff on TV since the match was announced.

The WHC poll revealed that Booker T is considered the greatest man to hold that belt by fans. He got an impressive 38% of the vote. Edge (22%), Batista (5%), Undertaker (21%), and Ric Flair (14%) were the other options. I suspect Booker benefited from being a part of the broadcast. I'd have voted for Edge.

Backstage (again) Randy Orton asked Triple H why he wasn't getting any help in the main event, all but admitting he felt he couldn't defeat Daniel Bryan unaided. Why are all heels cowards these days? This hasn’t always been the case, surely? 'The King of Kings' told him he wanted to make sure he'd picked the right man to be 'The Face of WWE'. Orton told him he had done and wandered off to do whatever it is he does before matches.

We were presented with a bonus match after that, The Miz facing Faaaaaan... daaaaaan... goooooo. 'The Ballroom Brute' was introduced first to a huge pop and enthusiastic gyrations. 'The Awesome One's' reaction was decidedly more tepid. I suspect WWE are building to a double turn with this feud. Miz is not considered a success as a face (although I like him in the role) and Fandango basically plays a tweener anyway, so it'd make sense.

The match was solid. Miz worked over Fandango's leg (further indicating he may be turning) and they included a number of spots that should have gotten a response from the crowd. They didn't. The audience was dead. Miz won with the figure four.

CM Punk and Curtis Axel both had kendo sticks with them when they came out for their handicap match. Perhaps they should have had a kendo stick on a pole match instead. Chairs and tables were also introduced. They made the most of the no DQ ruling they'd been granted, walloping each other and doing everything they could to remind us this was a relaxed rules affair. It was very effective. They undoubtedly benefited from being the only non-standard bout on the show. WWE should bear that in mind. Less is more.

Heyman predictably stayed down on the mat and didn’t involve himself in proceedings for the majority of the bout. His hand was forced when Axel had fallen to a GTS and an Anaconda Vice. He tried running away but that didn't work. After a jog around the tech area Punk caught him in the ring. He pulled handcuffs from his boot, slapped them onto his former agent-slash-bestie, and then pelted him with painful-looking kendo stick shots.

 

CM Punk is a talented man to be capable of wrestling with handcuffs pressed against his leg

 

After several minutes of fun and frolics Punk announced he was going to break Heyman's face. That was the signal for Ryback to charge to the ring and spear Punk through a table (a decision which did nothing to dissuade the Goldberg chant). 'The Big Guy' pulled Heyman on top of Punk and the match ended.

I'm a fan of this development. It's what I predicted would happen in my preview for the show. It should give Ryback a fresh start after being thoroughly mishandled for most of the year. He’s not bad on promos, but he’ll benefit from not having to do them quite so much and from the association with Heyman. Naturally he’ll be facing Punk at Battleground, which should be good for him too.

We saw the experts again at this point. They wittered on about what had occurred so far on the show. Santino's mind was apparently blown by the actions of Ryback. He's easily impressed.

Dolph Ziggler failed in his attempt to become a two time United States champion. Dean Ambrose beat him with the headlock DDT he's fond of. The match was good but didn't draw the crowd in. You may have noticed this was a theme at Night of Champions. The crowd were rowdy during introductions and at certain points during matches but quietened down often. They were less than ideal.

The result was a blessing in disguise for 'The Show Off'. Winning a mid-card title a couple of months after losing the WHC would have been a comedown for him, and would have looked like an admission that he didn't belong at the top of the card. Hopefully WWE will remember how popular he was in early summer soon and so something meaningful with him. He’s wasted at the moment.

After being told that 53% of WWE fans (those that voted, at least) believe Sting to be the greatest US champion ever it was time for the tag team title match. I wouldn't have been surprised had The Prime Time Players won the championship considering the rise in status they've enjoyed recently. But they didn't. The Shield retained when Reigns hit a spear on Titus, setting up a Rollins pin.

A video package recapped Bryan defeating John Cena for the WWE championship, Triple H going heel, Randy Orton successfully cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase, the firing of Cody Rhodes, the manipulation of Big Show, and Trips explaining that he's all about what's best for business. It was a very good video. It's the sort of approach that could be good for a post-PPV RAW.

Randy Orton's entrance was deemed the perfect time to address the greatest WWE champion poll. Bit weird, what with him being the face of the company and all. Hulk Hogan was considered the greatest (which surprised me) with an impressive 55%. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin came second with 16% (he'd have been my pick), followed by John Cena (13%), CM Punk (12%) and Triple H (a meagre 4%). If these polls proved anything it's that we can't trust poll results from WWE's website.

Back to the action. The match was slow to begin with. Orty was on offence which meant a plethora of stomps, rest holds and nonsensical mid-match posing. Bryan took over at various points, which always resulted in a quickened pace and some noise from the crowd.

They had a good match. The regular spots such as Bryan’s diving headbutt, Yes Lock, and top rope German suplex and Orton’s hanging DDT and numerous failed RKO attempts were all present and correct. As good as it was it didn’t quite hit the heights of their exchanges on RAW and SmackDown from the summer. Perhaps it was the lack of a stipulation or Orty altering his style because he’s now a bad guy.

The finish saw Daniel Bryan escape an RKO attempt before hitting his running knee to win. That's two shows in a row where Bryan has beaten an established star with his new finisher. At SummerSlam it was a completely clean win. Not so with Night of Champions. Referee Scott Armstrong, who'd taken a scheduled bump at the hands of ‘The Viper’ during the match and been briefly replaced by a second official, gave a fast count during the match-winning pin.

 

Daniel Bryan there, celebrating his title win with a fan

 

This will almost certainly become a plot point. Perhaps it will be revealed Tripper ordered Armstrong to end the match in Bryan's favour so he'd have the chance to gauge Bryan's popularity as champ. That would contradict his reason for turning on Bryan in the first place but it’s still possible WWE will go with it. Perhaps we’ll learn it was 'The Cerebral Assassin's' way of discrediting Bryan. There's no obvious answer but the way the camera was angled to fully show Armstrong, not the norm on a WWE broadcast, indicates something was up.

Night of Champions had the potential to be a surprise hit. The handicap match and the WWE title match both featured performers popular enough to deliver belters, but they didn’t. The rest of the card featured nothing that couldn’t have occurred on RAW or SmackDown (or Main Event in some cases). The fate, future and direction of the company were not affected in any unforeseen manner.

Night of Champions 2013 preview

I don't usually talk that much about posters for WWE pay-per-views but I think I should here. At SummerSlam Triple H made Randy Orton the face of the company. Shouldn't it naturally follow that 'The Face' should be the featured performer on the following month's major show, especially when it's got a name as evocative as Night of Champions? Seems like a natural move to me.

The standard argument against that will surely be that the poster would have been produced months in advance. Well yes, but WWE clearly had a title win planned for Orty by the time he won Money in the Bank in July. That would have been decided on at least a week or two in advance. So basically WWE would have known over two months ago (at the absolute minimum) that Randy Orton was going to be heading up Corporation 2.0 as WWE champ by now. That's enough time for a company with their means to get a new poster ready. It would have been worth the trouble for the lovely little touch it would have been to the company’s main storyline.

Instead we have Kofi Kingston holding the Intercontinental championship, a title he hasn’t held since December of last year. It's changed hands several times since then and 'The Wildcat' hasn’t been seriously involved in the title picture since his loss. He is, in short, a peculiar sight on a Night of Champions poster.

 

The offending item

If WWE bosses were desperate to have the IC title on the pay-per-view poster, which is possible but entirely inexplicable, then current gold-holder Curtis Axel would have been a far better choice. In addition to being the reigning champion he's also involved in the company's number two feud right now. He’s playing a bit part but he's still there and his face on a poster would make a lot more sense than Kofi Kingston's does.

Axel's feud is, of course, with CM Punk. He's been brought in as a Brock Lesnar surrogate in order to keep the Heyman and Punk war going and preserve 'The Pain's' limited dates. It's a smart decision. Lesnar will be of far more value when WrestleMania season rolls around. And his SummerSlam match with Punk was a mild disappointment anyway. There's no urgent need for a rematch.

Since Lesnar took his leave of absence Punk and Axel have enjoyed a few brawls on RAW. All of them have been too long. Punk may be over and he and Heyman may be (rightfully) regarded as two of WWE's greatest assets in 2013 but they're still subject to the Too Much of a Good Thing rule. Having Punk and Axel tussle or Punk and Heyman snipe at one another in promos isn't necessarily a bad approach it's just one that can become samey pretty quickly. I did enjoy Heyman’s feigned ankle injury on RAW but it came just a little too late to be fully appreciated. The malaise had set in.

The Night of Champions clash will be a non-title handicap affair, Axel and Heyman facing a solo Punk. It will be fought under elimination rules, meaning that Punk has a chance to get his hands on Heyman in a "legal" setting. Should the New Yorker refuse to comply he'll be fired. This means Punk has no chance of becoming the Intercontinental champion. His feelings on this state of affairs are unrecorded.

Is there anyone who doesn't think that Punk will end up getting a measure of revenge against Heyman? I can't imagine this match playing out without the agent being forced to face the proverbial music. From there I can see two things happening. The first is Punk battering Heyman and then pinning him after a GTS or making him submit to an Anaconda Vice. That would wrap up the feud, which is the main reason I think WWE will avoid it. There's still at least another month left in Heyman v Punk.

The second possibility is the debut of a new charge for Heyman. They could interfere and cause a DQ or make the save after, it's all much of a muchness in that regard. They could get around Heyman organising someone to provide aid by having him deny all knowledge before agreeing to manage the new boy on the following RAW. The new guy could even make a pitch to Heyman about saving him because of their desire to be a Paul Heyman guy.

Obviously a new member of Heyman's stable would be the man to face Punk at Battleground. It could be a main roster guy who's doing nothing interesting. It could be Tyson Kidd returning from injury. It could be a newbie from NXT. Personally I think it should be Ryback. The heel turn's been disastrous for him. About the only thing that could save him and restore his credibility is an alliance with Heyman which sees him facing one of the most popular guys on the roster.

The match could go either way. Punk could win clean or via disqualification or Heyman could get the assisted victory. But because CM did the honours at SummerSlam I'm leaning towards him winning. Don't be surprised if Heyman wins though: it'll be a great chance for him to cut promos about holding a win over a former WWE champion.

Outside of the handicap match and the main event Night of Champions doesn't have anything especially noteworthy to offer. That's not necessarily a bad thing. WWE clearly aren't expecting it to be a show we remember in six months’ time. It seems to be more about advancing the big feuds and setting things up on the undercard. The show doesn’t look bad. It's just not going to be memorable.

The World Heavyweight championship match is probably the biggest match outside of the main events. Alberto Del Rio defends against Rob Van Dam. It's been a standard feud. Del Rio lost a non-title match to 'Mr Monday Night' and has attacked him a few times. RVD has hired ADR's former personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez, making this feud as much Del Rio v Ricardo as it is Del Rio v Van Dam. Which makes sense: Ricardo has far more reason for targeting Del Rio than anyone else on the roster but isn't in a position to have competitive matches with him (not yet anyway).

The matches ADR and RVD have had on TV recently are best described as standard. There's been nothing especially great about them and they've avoided being bad. If they can achieve that at NOC, and I think they probably will, I won't have any complaints.

As far as a winner goes I'm picking Del Rio. Van Dam is exactly the sort of guy who would be given the World title but there's no need to take it off ADR. I think it'll be with him until there's a face ready to take it from him who could go on to work with Money in the Bank briefcase holder Damien Sandow directly afterwards.

The event's pre-show will feature a tag team turmoil match for a title match later in the show. Entered into it are Tons of Funk, the Usos, two undisclosed members of 3MB, The Real Americans and The Prime Time Players.

As this is on the pre-show WWE has the option of giving it a lot of time. I hope they do because this could be a great series of matches (although it relies on The Real Americans getting a long stay to reach its full potential). As the champions are heels it seems reasonable to assume a fan favourite team will win. I'm picking the PTPs. There are no two men better suited to playing babyface tag champions now. I don't think they'll win the titles here though. I can see Rollins and Reigns going over to remind us that they're a formidable unit. Perhaps it'll start a PTPs v Shield programme, which would do everyone involved some good, but I don't think it's likely.

Speaking of The Shield I suspect Dean Ambrose will end up in a match with Dolph Ziggler. They've had a little feud going for the past week or two based around 'The Show Off' speaking out against the Triple H regime. I think they'll have a good match but I don't think we’ll see a title change, nor should we want one. Ziggler getting a mid-card championship would be a massive step backwards. Perhaps Rollins and Reigns could interfere to avoid (yet another) clean loss for Ziggler, providing a handy segue point for the tag title match to boot.

Ziggler's on-screen ex-beau AJ Lee will defend her Divas title in a four-way match. Her opponents are Natalya, Naomi and Brie Bella. The match has come about because of AJ's feelings regarding the Total Divas show (made emphatically clear on the August 26^th RAW). Since then WWE has taken some tentative steps towards making this an actual feud, including recasting all of the Total Divas as babyfaces fighting on the same side. How that will translate to a four-way match is anyone’s guess.

This match could help to make the division mean more. I can't imagine Naomi or Brie winning the title. Natalya would be good enough in the role but she wouldn't be better than AJ. If WWE wants to make their women's league mean something again, and all signs indicate that they do, then their best course of action, to my mind, is to keep the championship on AJ. Let her have good matches and build up anticipation for a title change. She's the perfect person for the job.

The big match is the WWE title match. Randy Orton, 'Apex Predator', champion, and ‘Face of WWE’ (I’m not going to sully the English language by referring to it as “the” WWE) defends his title against Daniel Bryan. In a way this rivalry has been just as formulaic and prone to repetition as has Heyman v Punk. Practically every TV show since SummerSlam has ended with some combination of Randy Orton, Triple H, The Shield, and a reluctant Big Show giving ‘The World’s Toughest Vegan’ a hiding.

Somehow the approach hasn’t worn thin here. It could be because there are more people involved, giving us more variety. It could also be that Bryan is fresher in such a prominent spot than either Punk or Heyman. That Randy Orton’s been playing a diminished role for several years could be a contributing factor too. Whatever it is I’m pleased not only that Bryan’s been given a chance to succeed at the highest level in WWE but also that audiences have reacted so well to him and the feud. It’s a good sign that he’ll stay at the top of the card for good.

I’ll be very surprised if Bryan and Orton don’t have the best match of the night. Both are two of the best wrestlers in WWE and have been doing solid work lately. ‘The Viper’s’ been an A-lister in the company for so long that he can beat anyone on any night. Bryan doesn’t have the tenure that his opponent does but he did beat John Cena, completely clean, just a month ago. These things serve to create a match that makes suspension of disbelief easy: either man could beat the other.

I’m picking Orton to win. While ‘The Dazzler’ regaining the title would get a great reaction I think it’s far too soon into the feud for that to happen. If I had to guess I’d say he won’t get the belt back until at least Survivor Series. I could even see WWE holding off until WrestleMania XXX.

Orton beating Bryan fair and square would risk putting a serious dent in Bryan’s popularity, not to mention show that Orty actually deserves to be the champion. As that goes against the entire point of him being ‘The Game’s’ hand-picked champion I think it’s safe to assume we’ll see some outside interference. It could come from The Shield and perhaps even Triple H himself, but I think the likeliest person to make an “unscheduled” appearance during the match is Big Show.

‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ has been dragged into the WWE title feud since SummerSlam. His financial recklessness is being exploited by the McMahons, making him batter Daniel Bryan on a weekly basis or see his contract terminated (presumably those iron clad clauses John Laurinaitis wrote in for him have expired). Show’s been an important part of the last month’s worth of plots and yet he doesn’t have a match at Night of Champions. An appearance during the main event is practically guaranteed.

This appearance could come alongside Triple H and-or Stephanie, with the bosses demanding that Show cost Bryan the title. Or we could see a classic swerve turn with Show coming out to ward off Shield interference only to KO Bryan once ‘The Hounds of Justice’ are gone. We could even see a combination of the two: Show being told to assault Bryan by ‘The King of Kings’, pretending he doesn’t want to, and then doing it.

A Show heel turn makes sense. It would create a new rivalry to keep Bryan busy before he moves back into WWE title contendership. Orton could then move on to… well, something. Perhaps I’m wrong about the Punk and Heyman feud ending. Punk may be heading into a programme with ‘The Apex Predator’. Or perhaps I’m wrong about Show being built up for a heel turn. Maybe he’s going to remain a face and slide into a title match with Orton.

That there are several possibilities regarding the top matches and performers at and after Night of Champions is good. There’s no obvious next step, but all realistic possibilities seem like they’d be entertaining. I approve.

Predictions summary:

Randy Orton to defeat Daniel Bryan
CM Punk to defeat Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman
Alberto Del Rio to defeat Rob Van Dam
AJ Lee to retain the Divas championship
The Prime Time Players to win tag team turmoil
The Shield to retain the tag team championship
Dean Ambrose to defeat Dolph Ziggler

The Man Without a Feud

When Dolph Ziggler won the World Heavyweight championship on the April 8^th edition of Monday Night RAW it felt like the beginning of something special. Ziggler had been growing in fan estimations for years and had long been expected to become a world champion sooner or later. Years of support from fans and hard work from Ziggler had paid off. At least, that’s how it felt.

An errant kick from Jack Swagger changed whatever original plans lay in place. Suffering a concussion, ‘The Heel’ was pulled from his scheduled triple threat ladder match against Swags and former WHC Alberto Del Rio at Extreme Rules. Instead Swagger and ADR clashed in a submission match for the right to tangle with Ziggler once he’d returned from the injured list.

That happened in time for Payback, WWE’s next major supershow. In his first title defence Ziggler entered a cracking performance opposite ‘The Essence of Excellence’. They wrestled one of the best matches of the year and executed a silky smooth double turn in the process. Ziggler, the man who had won over fans with his big bumping style and cocky attitude, was turned face as Del Rio maliciously and aggressively targeted his head, making the most of the champ’s recent concussion problems. It was a clever storyline that did a lot for the characters of both.

The two had a barnstorming rematch at Money in the Bank. The two seemed (and still do, in fact) incapable of having a bad match together. Sadly, this would not be ‘The Show Off’s’ night. He lost again, though this time it was a result of unwanted interference from then-beau AJ Lee.

With that DQ finish Ziggler left the World Heavyweight title’s orbit. Del Rio would head off into a thoroughly forgettable one month time-killing run with Christian and Dolph would get involved in a programme with his former bodyguard Big E Langston, who was still linked (thoroughly unromantically it should be stressed) to Ms Lee.

At SummerSlam Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn, who’d had her own problems with AJ, teamed to defeat Big E and AJ in a mixed tag team. It was an enjoyable enough match considering the slight amount of time they were allotted and it felt like a satisfying conclusion to months’ worth of storylines. All four made the best of the situation.

Things should have been different. The Del Rio v Ziggler rivalry had enough left in it to carry on one final month to ‘The Hottest Show of the Summer’. A split in the Big E-AJ-Ziggler camp would have felt more impactful on the bigger show. Ricardo could still have been written out of the picture after a Del Rio Fit of Rage™, which could have been used to convince people they’d see a fair fight at SummerSlam. AJ costing Ziggler the championship in that situation would have made even more sense, because Ricardo wouldn’t have been around to do it.

Nobody involved in Ziggler v Del Rio went on to immediately do anything better so why couldn’t it last until SummerSlam? It makes no sense.

Everyone except Dolph has moved on to pastures new since SummerSlam. Rodriguez has returned to TV and become embroiled in a feud with his former boss, using Rob Van Dam as his proxy. AJ Lee recently cut an incredibly good promo about the state of the Divas division, which hints that her next task will be making it mean something again. Big E will either stay by her side or break off on his own for a spot of mid-card action before having a main event push activated for him some time next year. Kaitlyn’s not been seen, but she will likely feature in the Divas division.

 

He may not be doing anything interesting but he's still got a nice looking T-shirt on sale

 

Ziggler is the odd man out here. The night after SummerSlam his bumping skills were put to use reinvigorating The Shield. Last week’s RAW saw him without a match. He was relegated to standing atop the entrance ramp refusing to comment on Triple H’s booking decisions. He is a man without a feud just a month and a half after looking like a certain headline success.

If you were feeling charitable you could mention WWE is doing a great job at elevating Daniel Bryan into a leading man. Which is entirely true. But that doesn’t mean they can’t also pay attention to Ziggler. They couldn’t both be presented as the next major star, but there’s nothing to stop the company giving Ziggler something meaningful to do and capitalising on the progress he’s made this year.

Perhaps the beating he took at the hands of ‘The Hounds of Justice’ last week will lead to a US title match with Ambrose at Night of Champions. That would be a potential show stealer, but it’s not a match I’d want to see Ziggler win. The mid-card title would be a step back at this point.

It’s possible Ziggy will be the man who puts a stop to Ryback’s recent reign of terror in backstage segments. We’ve seen Ryback v Ziggler before, but not since both men have switched heel-face allegiances. Dolph’s big bumps are tailor made for playing the good guy. I think a heel ‘Human Wrecking Ball’ against a babyface Ziggler could be excellent. Failing that I’m sure Ziggler could do something interesting with the Wyatt Family, although they’re so popular that it could see Ziggler getting booed.

I’d much rather see Ziggler refocus on the World Heavyweight championship than anything else. Moving back into his programme with Del Rio would be good for both men. They have great chemistry and their series ended prematurely. They’ve definitely got a pay-per-view clash or two left in them.

That RAW Recap 19.08.13

This week's RAW ranged from extraordinarily good to mind-numbingly pointless. The opening and closing segments, along with a small number of things that happened in between, were excellent. We'll come to them below but while I'm talking them up here I would say those good parts of RAW, along with the SummerSlam finish they stemmed from, are what makes wrestling so good. That it can produce material of this quality is what keeps me watching.

The mind-numbingly pointless stuff was the majority of what lay between the start and the finish of the programme. The first match of the night was a SummerSlam rematch pitting Cody Rhodes against Damien Sandow. Rhodes won with a sunset roll from the corner, meaning 'The Intellectual Saviour' lost to his former teammate two nights in a row. The crowd weren't into the action and amused themselves by chanting about Cody's lack of facial hair.

The Funkadactyls, who are still being introduced as hailing from Planet Funk, bested AJ Lee and Layla when Naomi rolled up Layla. After one of his cheap heat specials Zeb Colter stood at ringside to witness the Real Americans lose to the newly babyface Prime Time Players. This match was not a great advert for them but I think Young and O'Neil could work well as good guys. Their act doesn't need to change, they just need to learn how to play a new role.

Bray Wyatt dropped R-Truth with that finisher of his. The match meant nothing and existed solely to get the Wyatt Family on the show. Just over a month in and they're already being booked as filler. It's disappointing but unsurprising.

In the penultimate match of the night the Usos defeated 3MB boys Jinder Mahal and Heath Slater with a top rope splash. And in the in-ring main event (the true main event was a promo) The Miz defeated Wade Barrett via disqualification after Fandango hit him with a top rope leg drop. It looks like those awful SummerSlam skits happened for a reason after all.

Speaking of Fandango he was involved in one of the highlights of RAW’s unwieldy middle portion. Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder were shown enthusing over sneakers (or trainers as they're known over here) with a Footlocker employee. Footlocker were RAW's sponsors, which explains why this glorified ad took place in the middle of RAW. Anyway, Fandango showed up, danced a bit and then asked if he could dance in the shoes. The employee replied "Of course you can, Mr Fandango," which was funny in itself. Faaaaaan... daaaaaan... goooooo then corrected the pronunciation of his name and left. It shouldn't have worked but it did, largely because the former Johnny Curtis is happy to ham it up and doesn’t took himself or his character too seriously.

There were only three other items of interest outside of the opening and closing segments. The first was the Alberto Del Rio v Sin Cara match. This was something special. Cara was making his big return after a few months off healing from various injuries. He was scripted to suffer a storyline injury early on in the match. ADR was scripted to ruthlessly work over his foe's injured body part. But Sin Cara, being incredibly prone to botching botched for real. He legitimately injured his hand performing a suicide dive, which led to the amusing sight of Del Rio targeting a genuine injury. ADR was awarded the win via referee stoppage.

Recovering like a pro ADR moved on to the promo he was meant to cut. It was the same message he'd delivered at SummerSlam. He wants to be a hero for the Latin community because they have nobody else. This desire has extended to him having miniature Mexican flags placed atop the turnbuckles as he wrestles.

Del Rio’s diatribe was interrupted by a returning Ricardo Rodriguez. Double R told the champ that he is not a hero, to the Latin community or anybody else, and that he's happy he's no longer employed by him. He then introduced Rob Van Dam as his new charge. RVD dashed to the ring and gave Del Rio a pasting. He tried a five star frog splash but Del Rio escaped.

Ricardo Alfonso? Rob Van Del Rio?

 

Yep, this is the new World Heavyweight title challenger. A man who couldn't defeat the US champion on the SummerSlam pre-show or, more to the point, win a number one contendership match for the WHC just a few weeks ago. I've not got a problem with an ADR v RVD match but WWE could have planned things a little better.

As for the pairing of Van Dam and Rodriguez, I think that could work. RVD functioned well with a manager in ECW and Ricardo is very good at adding emotion to matches. As that's not one of Van Dam's strengths this pairing should, in theory, work. I'll be interested to see how the two function together.

Item of interest number two was the use of The Shield. The group were placed into two matches throughout the evening. The first was against Dolph Ziggler and the second was against Big Show. The idea was that Show and Ziggler were being punished for speaking out against Triple H’s actions at SummerSlam. The matches, both of which saw the bad guys win, were designed to remind us how effective ‘The Hounds of Justice’ are in three-on-one scenarios. They also showed that Brad Maddox, who booked the matches, had happily aligned himself with Triple H. It was incredibly effective booking.

The third item of interest was the development of the Paul Heyman and CM Punk story. First Paul Heyman went to the ring and said that he wanted the family feud to end. If CM Punk was willing to apologise Heyman would reunite with him and lead him back to the WWE championship.

Later in the evening 'The Second City Saint' responded. After offering to fight a man in the audience who'd dared to boo him (which I originally thought was ridiculous but now see simply as Punk being a modern day babyface) Punk called Heyman out to the stage. He informed his former pal that he wished he'd pulled his arm out if its socket at SummerSlam and promised to do it next time.

Curtis Axel was dispatched to fight Punk and the two had a lengthy brawl. A little too lengthy, frankly. It ended with Punk giving the Intercontinental champ a Go To Sleep on steel steps.

Which leaves us only the opening and closing segments to discuss.

The show opened with John Cena. He told us that he was offended and disgraced by Triple H “handing the WWE championship to Randy Orton”. He put over Bryan, who he said had won fair and square. He then announced that he’s going to be taking four to six months off for surgery on his elbow, which was shown swollen to a grotesque size. Before he left he introduced Bryan.

We're not going to be seeing this guy for a while

 

Before Bryan could say anything Stephanie McMahon came out (she has the most inappropriate entrance music I’ve ever come across). She said she hoped Bryan understood that what Triple H did wasn’t personal but simply the right thing for business. The audience chanted no to that. Bryan, like a pro, acknowledged it.

Bryan said he’d have expected what happened from Stephanie or Vince, but not Triple H. ‘the Game’ had been a renegade, the leader of DX. Now he’s walking around with a corporate haircut and a suit (which, in the world of pro wrestling, equates to something bad). Bryan told Stephanie he’s not afraid of getting fired. He can go back to wrestling on the indies and selling T-shirts from the back of his car.

The point here was that Bryan isn’t obsessed with the idea of being a WWE Superstar™. He’s his own man and is just happy if he can get into a ring, any ring, and wrestle. What he said was wonderful because he said it was passion and it was both logical and in line with the storyline.

Stephanie didn’t want to fire him, she just wanted to manage his expectations. She said that guys of his height, weight, and appearance aren’t WWE championship material. She acknowledged that the fans love him. Essentially her point was that firing him would be bad for business, she just can’t allow him to reach the top of the card.

Bryan’s response as that he didn’t have to accept what she said. He can be WWE champion. Steph’s response to that? That ‘The Dazzler’ was being unprofessional and uncouth. She had him escorted out of the building by security.

The show closer was even better.

We returned from the final break of the show to find the entire roster (minus Bryan, Cena, and potentially one or two others like Punk) assembled on the stage. The Shield were down at ringside, standing between the roster on the stage and the McMahon family in the ring.

The setup here was perfect. It would be made clear through Triple H’s promo that anybody who dared step out of line would find themselves not only be brutalised by The Shield, who seemed far more threatening after their victories earlier in the show, but also fired. An appearance from Daniel Bryan did not contradict either of those things. It’s been established over the last year that Bryan will not back down and his comments about returning to the indies meant that he had no fear of losing his job.

Vince spoke first. He said ‘The Cerebral Assassin’ had seen the light and and done what was right for business (Vince’s unofficial catchphrase). He then passed the mic over to H3, who told us that he did what he did not for himself, but for his wife, his father-in-law, his kids, his future grandchildren and the fans, all to ensure the future of the company.

Triple H didn’t want to screw Daniel Bryan. He said he considered him a friend and a “good little technician” (the first sign that he had entered disingenuous heel mode). He said he deserved to win because he gave Cena a hell of a match. It’s just that the fans deserve better than Daniel Bryan as WWE champion.

Pedigreeing Bryan and costing him the title hurt Triple H. He didn’t like forming a union with Randy Orton because there’s a lot of bad blood there. He referenced the formation of Evolution and the overkill feud they had for WrestleMania XXV (y’know, the one that involved Orton punting both Vince and Shane and giving Steph an RKO?). He’d put all their history behind them because it was… all together now… the right thing for business. Bryan, said Triple H, is selfish for not understanding the bigger picture.

Randy Orton was introduced to boos. The new champ shook hands with Vince and Hunter and was hugged by Steph. That she initiated the hug was a nice touch as it really hammered home that the McMahons have put everything behind them and were unified in the decision to make ‘The Viper’ the face of the company.

Orton said he owed his reign to Triple H and blasted the audience for not standing up to show the COO the respect he deserved.

That was it from Orton. That he didn’t contribute a great deal verbally could be seen as a negative but I’d argue against that. We all know Orton can cut a promo. He didn’t need to here. It wasn’t the point. That he only said a few words before handing back to Trips helped to paint him as an undeserving paper champion. Putting him in that role will make him more hated in the long run.

Triple H said because they owned the building they had eyes everywhere, which meant he knew Bryan was in the building. That too was a wonderful touch. It helps to portray the McMahons as the illuminate of WWE, and makes it easy to imagine a storyline (and indeed a real life) sense of paranoia that they know everything that’s going on in the locker room.

‘The Game’ said he knew Bryan had things he wanted to get off his chest so cued up his music, told everyone, including The Shield, that anyone who laid a hand on him would regret it, and invited him out to the ring.

Bryan emerged from the tech area at the side of the stage and made his way towards the ring. He was wearing jeans. This may seem like a small thing (because it is) but it’s something WWE deserves a little credit for. The norm is to have wrestlers wandering about in the ring gear and a T-shirt (this is precisely what Orton was wearing as he stood in the ring). Because Bryan had been removed from the building that approach wouldn’t have made sense and someone deserves credit for realising it.

As soon as Bryan got close to the ring The Shield pounced on him. He wiped out Rollins and Reigns with the ring steps and then brawled up the aisle with Ambrose. After getting the better of the US champ Bryan headed back towards the wing but was wiped out by a spear from the recovered Reigns. Again, this is something that could be viewed negatively, Bryan going down to a single spear. But it didn’t cast Bryan in a bad light at all. He overcame the odds and got caught by a sneak attack. Not only that but Reigns’ spear had been the move which won The Shield their first match of the evening and Ziggler had done an incredible job of making it look devastating. And Bryan managed to get back up thirty second or so after absorbing it.

Anyway… The heels went for their triple power bomb but Triple H called them off. He said Bryan had something to say and that he should be allowed to say it. As Bryan pulled himself up to his feet and into the ring Triple H mocked him. It was an incredibly effective heat garnering move. As was the RKO that Orton blasted Bryan with as he staggered through the ropes.

The almighty heels stand tall. How long until Bryan takes them down?

 

And it was there that the show ended. The new as-yet-unnamed heel stable (The Corporation has a nice ring to it…) standing triumphant over the beaten number one babyface. In two nights WWE had created a new lead heel in Orton and succeeded in making Bryan and even hotter babyface than he had been before SummerSlam. The promotion’s new top feud, whether you see it as Bryan v Triple H, Bryan v the McMahons, Bryan v Orton, Bryan v The Corporation or Bryan v all of the above, could not have had a better start.

SummerSlam and the Monday 19^th RAW saw WWE at its best.

Sandow v Rhodes

He may have guaranteed himself a future World Heavyweight title match at Money in the Bank but Damien Sandow is far from ready for a title reign. As things stand right now he is a prominent member of the roster, deemed good enough to have televised matches with the likes of Sheamus and Randy Orton but not high up enough on the pecking order to actually defeat them. You only need to check his win-loss record since MITB to see that his status has not changed. Briefcase and new feud aside little has changed for ‘The Lord of Literacy’.

Luckily for him there’s no rush for things to change. Winning the Money in the Bank briefcase is as much a guarantee that WWE’S creative team are going to spend time on him as it is of a future world title shot.

 

Damien Sandow, the preeniest 'Mr Money in the Bank' ever?

 

WWE have until next July at the latest to prep Sandow for a run as the World Heavyweight champion. I don’t think they’ll take that long. His current rivalry with former best friend and Rhodes Scholar tag team partner Cody Rhodes should help there. Having a memorable feud opposite Rhodes should help ‘The Intellectual Saviour’ stand out as a man on the ascent. Winning or losing the feud isn’t that important, what matters is that the two men have memorable moments while they’re working opposite each other.

The real key to getting Sandow over as a headliner will be moving him away from his current TV filler enhancement talent role. That shouldn’t be a problem for WWE. They have other guys that can and do fill the role. ‘The Duke of Decency’ can pick up a few more wins here and there to ensure he’s seen as a winner by the time he challenges for the strap.

Sandow could go from the Rhodes feud to another before taking his title match, but that’s not a necessity. In fact WWE have hinted at a potential storyline that I think could work very well that would see Sandow becoming HC while still involved with Rhodes. Rhodes has stated on commentary that he wants to become the World Heavyweight champion before Sandow. And really, there’s nothing to stop this happening. Sandow has a briefcase but that doesn’t mean nobody else on the roster can challenge for the big gold belt. Cody could quite easily enter into and win a number one contenders match, the traditional route to the top.

ADR would be the ideal opponent for Rhodes as he’s a heel and someone ‘The Moustachioed One’ hasn’t ever faced in a significant match (or, possibly, at all). That he’s expected to head into a programme with Ricardo Rodriguez would even allow WWE to present what could be an interesting Alberto and Damien v Cody and Ricardo match. Rhodes could be booked to defeat Del Rio for the title only to have Sandow cash-in and take the gold away from him.

This would instantly get heat on Sandow, give their feud a shot in the arm, and cast Rhodes in a sympathetic light. That’s not going to do a babyface any harm at all.

 

A deliciously emotive performance from Cody Rhodes

 

I suggested an idea similar (or identical, depending on your point of view) idea last year with Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes. You can remind yourselves of that here. It would work better with Rhodes and Sandow as the issue between Sandow and Rhodes is far more personal. There’s a feud already in place rather than one being manufactured.

Switching the belt onto Rhodes and then Sandow would trial two men who deserve it at the top of the card. It would create compelling television and be a sensible, logical story to follow. Even if only one of them did well enough to rise up the card on a permanent basis it would be worthwhile. Whether or not these facts will count for or against it with WWE is anyone’s guess, but I’m not going to hold my breath.