If you watch any amount of cooking competition shows, a common refrain from the judges as chef-testants as the clock runs down is an exhortation to “sign the painting.” In that context, this means put the last little details on the plate which can make the dish something special and unique and make sure to not have left off an important detail. In many ways, WWE Night of Champions forgot to sign the painting.
Despite the rather lackluster build (and that’s being kind) to any match aside from the John Cena-Brock Lesnar main event, this was one of the better WWE pay-per-views of the year. For the most part that is. Some of the finishes were haphazard and the normally impeccable production let them down in a big way in an important spot. But the signature failure of the evening was a main event ending that while consistent in detail, was so complicated as to require extended explanation. Unfortunately, with the show being so tied to that one signature match, a curious non-finish ending is a problem.
To put it another way, how would one best answer a question, “what happened at Night of Champions?”
Still, this was a card that probably exceeded expectations overall. There was not a bad match all night, and a few were genuinely excellent. As a final overall note, huge props to the crowd in Nashville, who were super hot and involved the entire evening. Anyway, going match by match.
Goldust & Stardust def. The Usos(c) for the Tag Team Titles
It was a nice run for Jimmy and Jey, but they haven’t grown as characters much beyond the highly affable, extremely athletic performers they’ve always been. It was time for a change, and with the amazing works the erswile Rhodes brothers have been doing since Cody became a Star, the Dusts were the perfect choice. As for the match itself, it would be hard for these four to put on a bad match, and this certainly wasn’t one.
Particularly good was the concerted attempts to attack Stardust’s knee in an echo of the damage down to Jey Uso during the otherwise forgettable build up. On the other hand, as became something of a pattern throughout the night, the finish was slightly underwhelming and out-of-nowhere with Cody countering a top rope smash for the pinfall victory. For a title change, especially between these two teams, this felt curiously flat.
That one negative aside, this is probably good for the tag division as the Dusts can plausibly feud with any other team with only subtle changes in demeanor, as opposed to the fairly bland good-guyism of the Usos. The Marvel Comics feel of the commentary discussing the brothers Rhodes is also a little cartoonish, even taking into account the amount of facepaint already involved. Grade: B
Sheamus (c) def. Cesaro to retain the U.S. Championship
WWE Superstar Sheamus on RAW; April 28, 2014
Photo Credit: WWE.com
One of several decidedly retro matches on the card, this one was an old-style bruiser Two big hosses battering away at each other, with some of Cesaro’s characteristic feats of amazing strength thrown in. Cesaro also got to show some nasty edges of his personality with a series of face slaps.
Count me among the many who wonder who it was Cesaro ticked off in the WWE hierarchy to still be floundering as glorified enhancement talent on the midcard. This was another one where the finish was sort of abrupt as Sheamus quickly countered a Cesaro miss with a Brogue Kick despite being on the defensive for much of the match. Give these two 15 minutes to work every night and that’s a segment that will always deliver. As this one did even if not quite reaching the potential and chemistry these two can bring. Grade: B
The Miz def. Dolph Ziggler (c) to win the Intercontinental Title
This might have been the match of the night. Might have been. The crowd in the arena certainly seemed to love it. Those of us watching on TV are none-the-wiser because the combination of “cross-marketing” and over-produced commentary meant we heard next to nothing about the actual match. For the supposed #2 championship in the company. On a dang pay-per-view.
At one point Jerry Lawler actually had to admonish the rest of the jaw-jackers that “hey there’s still a match going on.” The camera repeatedly cut away from the action in the ring. But we did get to see Florida-Georgia Line lay out Damien Sandow (who in general is doing great work as Miz’s stunt double. One of the things I most anticipate for tonight’s Raw is what Sandow’s “stunt double” version of the belt might look like).
The match itself seemed reasonably well-worked, and Miz’s cheating to win certainly gives what has been an entertaining feud continued life, but if I was anyone in the ring during this match, I’d wonder if I’m getting royalty checks from the infomercial I just unwittingly filmed. Grade ? for the match itself, D- for presentation.
Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns by forfeit
In the shock of the night, Seth Rollins contemplates cashing in his title shot on a weakened Brock Lesnar. Photo credit: WWE.com
In another blow to an already thin WWE roster, Roman Reigns is out for a few months after undergoing emergency hernia surgery on Saturday. This obviously put the kibosh on the planned Reigns-Rollins match on tap for Night of Champions. However, given the two somewhat confusingly squared off for a singles match on Raw on Monday, it’s probably fair to question how much the “emergency” was scheduled?
In any event, Rollins came to the ring alone and took the mic. In a display that tends to end about as well as walking downstairs to check out the noise in a slasher film he issued an open challenge to the locker room. Which was of course answered by the surprising return of Dean Ambrose. Which had been the subject of open speculation since the announcement of Reigns’ injury.
The lack of total surprise didn’t stop the ensuing melee from being totally awesome as Ambrose proceeded to lay out much of WWE’s security before finally being subdued, and in a nice touch, had his hands zip-tied behind his back before being carried out of the ring. Great spectacle, reignites what should be the best feud the company has going forward. Grade: Incomplete, signs point to awesome.
Rusev def. Mark Henry
Maybe just a touch on the long side, this was another one of the quality old school style matches. Rusev’s facial expressions when selling make everything better. Going the other way, he convincingly worked on tenderizing Henry’s back for most of the match, so it was believable and seemingly inevitable the Henry would tap out to the Accolade. I really really like Rusev as a performer and this was a great way to continue building him up as an unstoppable monster.
Also worth mentioning is that the production and presentation of this match was the polar opposite of the Miz/Ziggler commentary debacle. Ring announcer Lillian Garcia’s national anthem got the crowd amped to the max for the tried-and-true patriotism angle. The announcers did a great job enhancing the story being told in the ring, calling attention to the damage done to Henry’s back without overselling the point. All of which goes to make the hash made of the earlier match commentary more frustrating as they clearly know how to do better, but the promotion of some country crooners was more important. Gah. Grade: B+
Randy Orton def. Chris Jericho
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton.
Photo Credit: WWE.com
This match was a perfect demonstration of how now matter how sound the work in the ring is, if you completely remove the suspension of disbelief it just can’t be compelling. That is unless it’s a stuntfest like a TLC match. This wasn’t that, merely a (again) well-worked match between to vets. But at 43 years old, Jericho doesn’t move or look like he used to, and it’s just not credible for him to shoulder charge Orton and knock The Viper off his feet.
Further, everyone was aware going in that Jericho’s contract was up after the match, so of course he’s losing. The commentary team didn’t help with the suspense as they turned much of the middle of the match into a valedictory for Y2J’s career accomplishments. But there was no real reason, even in the Kayfabe world, to care about what was happening in the ring here.
This is another one the crowd in the arena seemed to dig much more than the TV audience. In this case, it was the aging band getting the cheap standing O for busting out one of the old standards. Since this match went for seemingly ever and it might have been his last match for a while, you could say Jericho had them rocking out to Stairway to Heaven. Sad to say, it’s probably about time for Jericho to be done.
As a last note, the finish could not have been more telegraphed. Grade: C-
Triple-Threat Match: A.J. Lee def. Paige (c) and Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship
In a vacuum this was actually pretty good. Nikki Bella has become a more than passable in-ring performer and in some spots brought some cool stuff out of Paige and A.J. HOWEVER, from a story standpoint, what’s the point of having her in the match if Brie isn’t going to get involved? Yes that’s Booking 101 and would have been “predictable,” but so what? Too often WWE doesn’t let the Divas “do wrestling.”
Sure the issues and the matches might differ a little on the women’s side, but the attempt to go full “Real Housewives” on every Divas feud does the performers a real disservice. The reason a Brie run in is obvious booking is because obvious booking works well. After a month of “building drama” with Jerry Springer of all people involved, no payoff at all. So the stuff in the build up was just lousy TV writing as opposed to a clunky lead-in to any sort of payoff. Yeesh.
The other issue with this match was a pretty horrendous hot mic gaffe which clearly and audibly caught Paige and A.J. setting up for what would and should have been an awesome powerbomb/superplex spot. “You ready, this is really scary” or something to the effect. Fine, spots are being called in the ring, but the company is usually much better at not broadcasting that part of the work. Grade: C+.
John Cena def. Brock Lesnar (C) by DQ. Lesnar retains WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Cena and Lesnar did a good job making this look interesting and compelling. It would have been too easy for any Cena offense to be eye-roll inducing “Super Cena” stuff after the demolition Brock laid down at SummerSlam. Lesnar did a great job making Cena work for his openings, and then quickly shut him down and seemingly returned to the “Eat, Sleep, Suplex, Repeat” gameplan which worked so well the first time. Perhaps my favorite little moment was the look of total surprise registering on Lesnar’s face as Cena lifted Lesnar from the floor seemingly one-handed to escape a Kimura lock.
That ending though. It was exciting. For sure. Anytime there’s a potential cash in of the Money in the Bank briefcase, it’s a moment. That said, it does seem like an oversight to not at least get a backstage shot of Ambrose trying to escape security and attack Rollins again as the cash-in is happening. This would be far preferable than leaving the question of “where’s Ambrose” out there while there are three guys battling it out in the ring.
More than that, the timing and choreography of the whole thing seemed off. If Rollins was cashing in, he was extremely reticent, almost like he was freezing in the glare of the Championship headlights. If he’s going to interrupt the match, why would he half-interrupt and then pause? Any finish were Michael Cole is required to parse what did and did not happen like a Talmudic scholar might have been just a tad too intricate. You see Rollins didn’t ACTUALLY cash in because the bell didn’t ring so, he still has the briefcase. Or maybe not. It wasn’t actually entirely clear.
The non-finish means this feud likely continues, which isn’t the worst thing. But it needs to go somewhere other than Paul Heyman delivering Emperor Palpatine style “come to the Dark Side” promos week after week on Raw.
Grade: B
Overall: Strong show, let down by a few gaps and errors and a curious finish. Emphasis on curious, rather than outright bad. If the story develops over the coming weeks on Raw, tonight’s confusion and mild dissapointment a at a no-finish title match will recede. Another few weeks of poor Raw’s such as was seen since SummerSlam and the memory of this event will sink much lower than it deserves on its own merit.
Show Grade B+ for the consistently good work, high level of entertainment and lack of anything close to a real stinker of a match (the commentary on Miz/Ziggler aside).
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