I watched this PPV with low expectations and avoiding the dirtsheets. The results? I enjoyed it! I think this was just a little better than Summerslam and the story developments that follow will be good. Well, at least I hope it would be good, depending on creative. Oh that wonderful ending.
Kevin Owens vs Ryback - Winner: Kevin Owens
This was the best way to kick off the PPV. It was so satisfying to see Kevin Owens win a title! Sure, it ain't the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or US Championship but Owens winning the title adds something new and different. No offense to Ryback but he didn't make the title feel as important. Then again, his opponents didn't make his reign that interesting either. Owens is going to treat this title like he did with his NXT Championship titile; a sought after prize for a prized fighter. Don't get injured, Owens! Break that curse! YES OWENS YES!
Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev - Winner: Dolph Ziggler
I didn't really care for this match but it had a few entertaining spots. First, Ziggler wore pants with Lana's face on his crotch. Trying to be all Ravish Rick Rude-ish aren't we? There was a spot where Rusev thought he defeated Ziggler at the 3 count and he even celebrated by having the ref hold up his hand, only to get frustrated when they said that Ziggler kicked out at 2. AT one point, Hot Summer got involved and accidentally got into the ring. The ref kicked her out and Hot Summer started protesting by throwing her shoes. She threw one behind her on the ramp and threw the second one at the ref, which missed and hit Rusev instead. Ziggler took advantage and pinned Rusev. Hot Summer sat on the ramp, stunned at what happened, while Rusev marched back. Ziggler gave her a quick kiss on the hand before walking up the ramp.
The Dudley Boyz vs The New Day - Winners: The Dudley Boyz (via DQ)
As always, the Dudley Boyz and The New Day put on an awesome match. Xavier Woods came out looking like Rufi-fucking-o from "Hook" and he brought his trombone. They opened the segment talking about how they managed to gets thousands of signatures to save the tables, including from President Obama (which drew boos from the crowd. Awkward!) The Dudleys were close to winning until Xavier interfered, making them winners by disqualification. Then Kofi and Big E called for Xavier to "GET THE TABLES" and became the table poachers themselves. It didn't work out as the Dudleyz took out Kofi and Big E and put Xavier through the table instead. This is great; they need to keep this feud going for the two teams. Unfortunately, it also means this feud is overshadowing the other tag teams on the roster. The Ascension and Stardust were in a match against the Lucha Dragons and Neville in the kickoff match (which we missed).
Charlotte vs Nikki Bella - Winner: Charlotte
THANK FUCKING GOD. The Bellabration is over. This was a match everyone was excited to see because it marked the end of Nikki Bella's awful reign and the hopeful beginning of new developments for the Dvias revolution. Charlotte fooled everyone into thinking she sustained a leg injury early on in the match, which Nikki took advantage of and worked on for a majority of the match. The match was really one-sided with Nikki doing most of the work until Charlotte countered with a spear and managed a Figure 8 with her injured leg, forcing Nikki to tap out. It was a clean win! Becky Lynch, Paige and Ric Flair went into the ring and celebrated with Charlotte. One thing to note was Paige looking less enthusiastic for Charlotte on winning the title, which seems to be teasing a heel turn that we might see on Monday Night RAW. Another thing to note, WWE didn't even acknowledge AJ Lee in their video package of previous Divas champs. That's so damn petty.
Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Jericho vs The Wyatt Family: Winners: The Wyatt Family
I was really, really happy with who the third man turn out to be. It wasn't anyone new from NXT and it wasn't Erick Rowan or Savio Vega (dammit). The most plausible choice was Daniel Bryan because of his history with the Wyatt Family. Jericho was an even better choice. First, he's a part-timer that has kept himself quite busy with only doing house shows, so his appearance here was a big surprised for the crowd. And second, he helped put Bray Wyatt over as a monstrous heel in his feud with him last year. And then Cena undid all of that work when Wyatt lost to him. Vince said that historically, most mystery partners that come to the aid of a wrestler always win a match, so he wasn't too excited about it. I didn't want Ambrose and Reigns to win because they already won last month. Plus, that match wasn't really as good since it's just 2/3 of each team anyways.
The match was pretty solid and Jericho got a "You still got it!" chants from the crowd. Strowman is also starting to get more comfortable in the ring. I was freaking out when he held up Jericho and tossed him out of the ring. Luckily, Reigns and Ambrose (mostly Ambrose) caught him. Reigns was just there to do the hot tags. Towards the end of the match, Reigns was ready to spear Strowman until Jericho tagged himself in, which turned out to be a bad decision. Strowman overwhelmed Jericho and hugged him to death. The crowd went absolutely dead when they realized that the Wyatt Family won. The camera lingered on Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho in the ring, all looking disappointed. The duo tried to talk to Jericho. He did a hard shoulder bump into Ambrose as he walked away from them. Will Ambrose and Reigns look for another man against their continuing war with the Wyatt Family? Or was this Jericho turning heel? He seemed more upset with Ambrose than costing their match.
Seth Rollins vs John Cena: Winner - John Cena
I didn't anticipate Rollins' matches to be back to back! He was the main event for the final hour. Even better, he wore his awesome white and gold gear from Summerslam. Their match was great and Rollins was sort of borrowing Kevin Owens' tactic by imitating Cena's moves. The crowd was doing the dreaded wave, which they usaully do if they find the match boring or if they're all being obnoxious and putting themselves over. In the end, Cena got his US Championship title back. Rollins grabbed his World Heavyweight title and tried to walk back up the ramp but Cena blocked him and said he had one more match. Rollins objected to Cena, who did an AA on Rollins on the ramp, making him more injured for his match against Sting.
Seth Rollins vs Sting: Winner - Seth Rollins
Oof. This match was not fun to watch. Sting was gaining the upperhand until Rollins threw Sting into the Spanish announcer's table. It looked like he hit his head on the corner of one of the monitors. Also, Rollins carried Sting and threw him hard into the turnbuckle. At one point, the ref and ring doctor had to come in and check on Sting before resuming the match. He looked quite groggy afterwards and it was reminiscent of how Taker was groggy after sustaining a concussion against Lesnar. Rollins ended up winning cleanly against Sting, which gave Sheamus an opportunity to cash in on the exhausted Rollins. We were all freaking out and dreading the worst until... Masked Kane appeared! He did a tombstone piledriver on Rollins! Sheamus asked Kane to do it one more time so that he can officially cash it in but Kane chokeslammed Sheamus instead. Interrupting Kane ended Night of Champions, standing tall. I'm not sure what to make of this, does this make him a face now? At least Rollins kept his title, which probably means more US Open Challenges from Cena again.
Thanks, WWE. I'll definitely tune into RAW tomorrow night.
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