BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
Night of Champions has come and gone. I went into it with the lowest expectations I’ve had for a wrestling pay per view in a long time. The main problem I have with wrestling lately is the lack good content. The main storyline revolves around Triple H, Stephanie, Vince, and the McMahon power structure. The problem is that people want this to be Austin vs. Vince again, but there’s just no way. Vince would allow himself to be humbled and made a fool of. Triple H and Stephanie are too dominating in their hate. They rub people the wrong way and they’re really not putting ANYONE over in the process. For the past few years I’ve wanted to see Randy Orton to be a bad ass heel in the main event scene, but now that I finally get it it’s meaningless because he’s second fiddle to Triple H. He’s more of a prop than an actual contributor. Daniel Bryan is getting tons of camera time, which is great, but is it going to translate in sales, buys, or a long term fanbase growth? I hope so, but I’m a little doubtful. Then on top of that, others are being buried. What happened to Dolph Ziggler’s push? What happened to Wade Barrett? Kofi Kingston? The Miz? The entire midcard? Outside of D-Bry, there just isn’t a lot to get behind.
Never the less, I watched this show with an opened mind.
That was my first mistake. The opening was like an extended RAW promo followed up by a really decent Intercontinental Title match between Curtis Axel and Kofi Kingston. This was a solid match, but it had no build at all so it had nothing to engage with. It might have been Axel’s best match so far though. I skipped over the Divas match, but AJ won as expected. RVD beat Alberto, but in the cheapest of fashions. He doesn’t get the belt and for the first time in a while someone was disqualified for not listening to the five count. If that were a match on Smackdown I’d be thrilled, but the non-finish was a rip off. The Miz beat Fandango in a fairly decent match. It was good, but it didn’t grab my attention. Something just didn’t click. I’d like to see these guys keep going though. There could be something to this storyline if nudged.
Heyman defeats Punk. That was silly. Ryback made the attack, which is fine by me. Curtis Axel is solid, but he’s not the blue chipper monster that Paul needs to unleash on people. That’s Ryback, hands down. I really hope this leads to a Ryback vs. RVD feud somehow. Even Ryback/Axel vs. Punk/RVD sounds really appealing. Basically, I want RVD in this.
I really enjoyed the Deal Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler match. I like both guys right now and their pushes are very important. I can’t believe that Dolph lost clean to Ambrose though. He must have pissed someone off or their just waiting for him to take the Rumble? I dunno. It’s a bummer though. I skipped over the tag title match. I’ve seen it too many times at this point.
The main event came and went. It was fun, but it didn’t really get into a different gear. I’m happy that Daniel Bryan got a big moment win. It was a great thing to see. Orton put on a good match. In reality, the match was more than solid and good. The problem is just that it never felt like it really mattered. I sadly think Triple H talking about it made it feel like it was something beneath him. He devalued the match and in the end, he ruined this pay per view. This was a really decent RAW. This would have be an average “Clash of the Champions” back in the WCW days. Sadly, this was a seventy dollar pay per view in 2013.
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