The John Report: WWE Vengeance 2011 Recap

This was written live on the day of the show. The review is untouched from its original version.

WWE Vengeance
October 23, 2011
San Antonio, Texas

We get a video package highlighting the feuds involving Punk/HHH & Miz/Truth, Big Show/Henry and Del Rio/Cena while saying the bible verse about vengeance that you may know from the movie Pulp Fiction. Then the pyro goes off and we’re welcomed into the AT&T Center in San Antonio (hey Shawn Michaels how you doing?). The announcers are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler & OH MY GOODNESS Booker T.

The first match is the tag title match. Vickie Guerrero interrupts Justin Roberts to first bring out Jack Swagger and then Dolph Ziggler. Or as Booker calls them “Zig Zag Man & Swagg,” whatever works for you. Kingston & Bourne come out to a good pop with their new theme song. They introduce us to the Spanish announce team. Odds that their table gets broken in the Last Man Standing match? 80% chance.

Tag Team Titles: Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger
This is Ziggler’s first match of the night since he’s defending the US Title against Zack Ryder also. I got a good team name from Twitter follower @burninpaperhart for Ziggler & Swagger: All American Perfection. It works. Kingston works on Ziggler early showing off athleticism. Then Swagger comes in and they work him over. Only a matter of time until the tide turns with the heels working over the faces. There’s control as Swagger catches Kofi in mid-air and drops him down with a body slam. Booker said that Swag dunked him and he gets two points for that. Yep, it’s a basketball game. Ziggler’s rocking some new US themed shorts, for those interested in fashion. Kingston breaks free from Swagger to tag in Bourne, who gets a lot of offense in on Swagger. Kick to the jaw puts Swagger down for two. They are not playing up Bourne’s recent injury. Bourne goes for the Air Bourne, but Swagger gets the knees up to break it up. That looked painful as we reach seven minutes.

The heels continue to work on Bourne. Swagger hit his splash out of the corner. Booker only calls him “Swagg” by the way. He also referred to the crowd as the sixth man. Again, this is a basketball game apparently. Bourne countered the ankle lock by rolling through it and Swagger went to the floor. Swagger prevented the tag by pulling Kofi off the apron while Ziggler distracted the ref. Classic heel tag team move. They continue to work on Bourne, Swagger goes for his corner splash again and this time Bourne gets his feet up. Hot tag to Kingston while Ziggler also gets tagged in. Kingston kicks Swagger out of the way and he hits a top rope crossbody on Ziggler, who looked like he jumped into it. Kingston hits the Boom Drop. Ziggler avoids Trouble in Paradise, but Kofi hits SOS and that gets two. Swagger puts Ankle Lock on Kingston. Bourne takes him out. Ziggler rolls up Kingston and grabs tights for two. Kingston hits Trouble in Paradise, tags in Bourne who hits the Air Bourne for the OH MY GOODNESS from Booker leading to the tag team win for Air Boom at 15 minutes.
Winners: Air Boom

Analysis: ***1/2 A very good match. I thought the champs would retain. That’s the right move. A lot of basic tag team wrestling tricks with the heels cheating, but the babyfaces overcoming it to win the match. The tag division is looking solid after being ignored for so long. That was the kind of match I like to see.

Immediately after the match ends, Zack Ryder comes out for Dolph Ziggler’s US Title match. Smackdown GM Teddy Long made this match even though it’s a Raw title with two Raw wrestlers. I know the brands don’t matter. I’m just pointing it out.

US Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder
The idea here is that Ryder is obviously fresh while Ziggler was the one that got pinned in the tag match. Kingston, Bourne, Guerrero & Swagger are all at ringside. A couple of minutes in, the ref throws out Bourne & Kingston even though they didn’t interfere too much. Guerrero & Swagger stayed at ringside. Ryder went for pinfalls only, but Ziggler ended up slowing it down and took control. Cole’s really annoying talking about all the Twitter stuff. I have no problem with Twitter. I enjoy it. It’s just weird to hear it during a match. Ryder goes for his Broski Boot in the corner, Ziggler moves and hits the Rocker Dropper for two, or as Cole called it: “LOOK AT THAT!” Zack gets the momentum back with the Broski Boot. Swagger interferes, he fends him off while Vickie distracts the ref. Ryder dropkicks Swagger out of the way, then turns around and Ziggler knocks him out with a superkick for the win after 7 minutes.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Analysis: ** I thought Ryder would win here. I’d assume that Ziggler drops the US Title sooner rather than later so he can move up the card. It’s likely that Mason Ryan will be the one to get the title from Ziggler. Or he could have a really long reign, which would be fun.

Backstage, Ted Dibiase was talking to CM Punk. About what? No idea. Triple H walked in, so Ted left. Hunter apologized for leaving last week on Raw due to the immigration papers issue. Punk said not to worry and that tonight they wanted to show Miz & Truth that they are now in an unsafe working environment.

Prior to the Divas title match, they showed a clip of Beth, Natalya and other heels attacking Kelly Kelly while she was being interviewed on WWE.com. Then Beth & Eve started brawling. As a result, Natalya & Kelly are banned from ringside.

Divas Title: Beth Phoenix vs. Eve
I think Eve has a new theme song. The fans barely react to her. The crowd is pretty dead here. Again, Eve isn’t over. I wish WWE knew that so they could put somebody else in a spot like that. Eve handcuffed Beth on the middle ropes using her own wrist bands. Beth fought out of it, took control and dropped Eve onto the top of the barricade surrounding the ring. Phoenix dropped Eve’s gut into her own shoulder, so that’s a nice Gutbuster variation. Finally Eve shows some fire with some punches as the crowd wakes up. She hits a clothesline. Eve hits a flip splash for two. Eve jumped onto Beth’s shoulders and wrapped up Beth’s head & shoulder with her legs in an impressive submission hold. Beth reached the ropes. Crowd is still mostly dead for this. Beth fought out of Eve’s hold, used the ropes to send Eve back in the middle. Eve countered the Glam Slam into a rollup for two that generated a big pop. Eve fought back and hit a springboard kick to the head. Eve goes for the moonsault, Beth moves, picks her up for the Glam Slam and pins her for the win after 7 minutes.
Winner: Beth Phoenix

Analysis: * Match was okay with Eve showing some good flashes with that submission move as well as that nice two count on the rollup. Still, the crowd was mostly dead for everything she did. She’s not over. Phoenix is consistently good. She makes others around her better. I hope Maryse can be back soon as a potential babyface opponent because they need more than Kelly & Eve to oppose the Sisters of Salvation.

Backstage, Matt Striker interviewed Big Show. He cut a serious promo talking about how he’s going to make Henry pay for what he did for him. He ended it by putting his giant fist up against Matt Striker’s head and saying: “Vengeance will be mine and so will the World Heavyweight Title.”

They did a DVD plug for the Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels DVD about their rivalry. It’s on sale Tuesday. I’ve seen it. Go and get it. It’s worth your money. Trust me on that.

Next up is Sheamus vs. Christian. They highlight the feud building up to it with Christian being against this match happening. He does a great job of playing the chickenshit heel.

Sheamus vs. Christian
The crowd is strongly behind Sheamus although they are not a particularly hot crowd. Can Cole shut up about Jim Ross and call the match? Damn, Cole is awful. “Look how tan Christian is?” says Lawler. Yes he actually said that and then pointed out that maybe it’s because Sheamus is so pale. We can see. Thanks. Those two are bad. That’s probably why I like Booker so much because he mostly says funny or ridiculous things. Christian took control with his speed moves, hitting a nice missile dropkick. He misses with the headbutt though as each guy tries to get back to their feet. Sheamus comes back with power, hitting a Fallaway Slam for two, or “what a throw” according to Cole. Sheamus charged in, Christian pulled the rope down and Sheamus went crashing to the mat. He came back with a shoulderblock from outside the apron. Reverse DDT for Christian gets two. Sheamus comes back, but Christian avoids the Celtic Cross and hits the double feet to the face. Irish Curse backbreaker gets two for Sheamus as we reach ten minutes.

There was a great sequence as Sheamus went for the Brogue Kick, but Christian avoided it and hit the Spear for an awesome nearfall. Cole mentioned that the “Irish Hand Grenade” is trending worldwide, which was a move Booker named earlier as Sheamus was punching Christian in the chest. Hurricanrana by Christian off the top. He goes for another Spear, but Sheamus counters with the Brogue Kick to win in 11 minutes.
Winner: Sheamus

Analysis: **1/2 It was good. I wish it went longer. The finish was very well done. It’s a nice “knockout” kind of finish. I’m a big fan of these guys. Sheamus beat him three weeks ago at Hell in a Cell. He beat him here too. I guess you could say he won the feud.

Backstage, John Laurinaitis was talking to David Otunga, as JL tells him that he named the PPV Vengeance. Not true. The Miz & R-Truth walked into the picture. JL tells them that he thought they could be the greatest tag team. Really? No. He says that they are great sucking up though. He likes the way they suck up. Then they argue over who sucks up better. Then they say that Triple H & CM Punk both suck. Miz even did a Booker T. like “sucka” during it. They said the state of Texas also sucks. They said it sucks to be Triple H & CM Punk. The theme of that promo was the word “suck” apparently. Maybe it sponsored the PPV.

The Triple H/CM Punk vs. The Miz/Truth match is next. They aired a video package highlighting the word “chaos” to cover everything over the last few months.

The Miz & R-Truth come out first with their “you suck” rap. CM Punk is out first for his team. Triple H is last of course. It’s all about the game and how you play it, kids. The announcers talk like we didn’t see CM Punk vs. Triple H on PPV last month and that this is his first match back. It’s one of those “no remember history” type of deals I guess.

Triple H & CM Punk vs. The Miz & R-Truth
Cole calls CM Punk a “necessary ally” of Triple H. The crowd is chanting “CM Punk” right off the bat. They have woken up a bit. I guess they were just waiting for some of the really big stars to come out. They’re starting at a slow pace early, which likely means this is going to be a long match. Triple H put Miz into the Figure Four as the crowd chanted “Woo” during it. The faces cheated as the ref kept telling R-Truth to get out of the ring. Miz was in the Figure Four for about a minute. I guess that’s not a painful submission move huh? The announcers are trying to put over the story where Triple H was sent home from Mexico. Why don’t they drop that lame angle? The heels isolated Punk as Booker called them young guys. Truth is almost 40, by the way. Miz is still young enough in the wrestling world. Punk fights out of Truth’s grasp with a back suplex and he tags in Triple H. Hunter destroys both guys with his spinebuster, knee smash and double clothesline to send them out of the ring. Truth got the momentum back with a dropkick to Triple H while he was on the floor. He rolled him back in the ring. The heels double teamed Triple H.

There’s a good nearfall for R-Truth coming off a flying forearm. Miz tags in, hits his high knee for two. More offense from the heels taking turns. Truth slows it down with a headscissors while the crowd chants for Hunter. The Game powers out of it by putting Truth on his shoulders and falling back. Miz gets tagged in, but Hunter decks him with a clothesline. We’re at 13 minutes now with the hot tag about to happen. Hunter gets the DDT on Truth. Punk gets the hot tag, hitting his Bulldog on Truth while also hitting a clothesline on Miz. Punk goes to the top, but Truth tries to stop him. Hunter takes care of Truth, tossing him into the crowd. Punk hits the top rope elbow on Miz, who was laying there far too long. Out of nowhere, Kevin Nash comes in from the crowd and he decks Triple H with a punch. R-Truth runs into the ring, they do a double team move on Punk that is apparently called “The Little Jimmy Finale.” That’s enough to keep Punk down for good at the 16 minute mark.
Winners: The Miz & R-Truth

Analysis: *** A solid tag match with a chaotic ending. I’m surprised Miz & Truth won, but they could have used the win more. Obviously this means the story is going to continue and it will lead to something big as it relates to Survivor Series.

After the match, Kevin Nash beat up Triple H all around the ringside area as Booker fired off his “OH MY GOODNESS” & “DID YOU SEE THAT?” lines. Nash destroyed Hunter by throwing him into the steel steps. Nash hit a Jackknife Powerbomb on Hunter to end it. Then Nash walked away through the crowd as the announcers said he wasn’t an employee of WWE. They kept wondering who was behind this. Hey announcers, remember all the times Nash & Laurinaitis talked together? Maybe he had something to do with it. After showing the replay, Hunter was still down in the center of the ring. They replayed the Powerbomb again, trying to put over how painful it was. You could see Hunter took some of the bump on his neck. They replayed it five times to put over how painful it was. Ref Scott Armstrong helped him out of the ring as Hunter favored his left arm. Great job of putting over Nash’s move while Hunter was perfect with the way he sold it.

Backstage, Laurinaitis was on the phone talking about something. Alberto Del Rio walked in to complain about being in a Last Man Standing match. JL pointed out that he had never been in a Hell in a Cell Match, yet he won that the first time he was in one of those matches. Del Rio left confidently. By the way, Ricardo Rodriguez is sporting an over the top shiner under his left eye.

They aired a Be A Star commercial.

They showed wax figures of The Undertaker and John Cena. The Undertaker wax figure got a huge pop. The Cena one didn’t get as big of a pop.

Randy Orton comes out first for the next match. They showed when he bloodied Cody Rhodes with the ring bell. Then they showed how Cody got revenge and put the paper bag over Orton’s head. Randy got a huge pop coming out. Rhodes got good heat too.

Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes
The IC title is not on the line. This is the third last match. It’s starting at 9:40pmET, so I’d expect them to get a decent amount of time. Big match for Cody because I think they are grooming him for a main event run in 2012. He needs to impress the bosses with his performance here. The crowd isn’t that hot for it although I’d expect it to pick up for Orton’s offense. They have been cheering the really big stars all night. The others are getting minimal reaction. They put up a graphic to tell us that “Kevin Nash” and “Awesome Truth” are trending on Twitter. They are really going overboard with the trending topics. Rhodes put Orton into the Boston Crab as the crowd cheered for Orton, who powered out of it with boots to the face. Orton got a good two count, but Rhodes fought back with an impressive Alabama Slam for two. Rhodes went up, hit a picturesque moonsault, but Orton moved out of the way and Rhodes went crashing into the mat. Orton hit his powerslam. Rhodes avoided the DDT, then he went up top and Orton countered with a perfect dropkick. Great move. Rhodes hit the Beautiful Disaster kick for two. See, Cole calls some moves. Not all. Nice exchange of holds as Orton gets a good nearfall. We’re at 8 minutes now.

Orton hit a floating neckbreaker for two. Rhodes came back with a picture perfect standing moonsault that led to a great nearfall for Rhodes. He went to the ropes again, but missed with an attack. A Rhodes bagger jumped on the apron, Orton decked him. Cody hit the Cross Rhodes. Orton kicked out just before three. Great nearfall there. Cody mocked Orton, doing his signature taunting before he hits the RKO. Orton dropkicked him. Then he hit the DDT off the ropes. Another bagger jumped onto the apron. Orton threw Rhodes into him and hit the RKO for the pinfall victory at the 11 minute mark.
Winner: Randy Orton

Analysis: **1/2 It was a predictable match that felt like a TV match except they were kicking out of a lot of big moves. Orton going over was very predictable. Cody did a very good job. It wasn’t awe inspiring or anything like that, but there was nothing wrong with what he did. The fans booed him more as the match went on too, so that’s a good sign. I’d expect Orton to be back in the World Title very soon. This was a transitional feud for him that he was obviously going to win.

They plugged Survivor Series next month with The Rock returning to action at Survivor Series on November 20. Get ready for a lot of hype for the 25th Survivor Series. They have put a lot of money into promoting that one.

The next match is Mark Henry vs. Big Show, which gets video package treatment obviously.

Big Show comes out first to a pretty good pop. Mark Henry is next with the World Title. Somebody gonna get they ass kicked, somebody gonna cause anal bleeding and so on. Where are the big time in-ring intros for the major title matches? I guess it only applies to the WWE Title now.

World Title: Mark Henry vs. Big Show
The combined weight of these two is 897 pounds apparently. Big Show attacked at the start. Henry bailed to the floor to stall. Show knocked him down again, so Henry went to the floor again. This is a good way of giving this match more time without having them actually do anything. Henry went back in and got control. He slowed it down again by wrapping up Big Show’s legs between his thighs. Trust me that’s not as graphic as it sounds. Henry grabbed Show’s ankle and was twisting it. They slowly got to their feet, ran at eachother and collided. It’s six minutes into the match. They’re doing a double KO match. Let’s hope they never have an Ironman match. They fought while they were on their knees, then they got to their feet with Big Show dominating using a series of headbutts as well as a couple of clotheslines. Show puts him down with a shoulderblock. Then Big Show gives him a bodyslam. Show signals for a Chokeslam. He hits it. Henry kicks out. Nice nearfall there. Big Show went for the KO punch. Henry avoided it. Henry hit the World’s Strongest Slam. That only got two. He was shocked. Awesome nearfall. I’m glad that didn’t end it. It will make the eventual win even more impressive. For some reason, Mark Henry tried to climb to the top rope. Show held him up there, WHAT DA HELL, a chokeslam off the top. That didn’t look pretty. He covered for just two. Another really good nearfall. Show tried to climb to the top for some reason. Henry met him there, stood on the second rope and gave him a superplex. The ring imploded. It collapsed at the 12 minute mark.
Match Result: No winner due to ring collapsing

The crowd popped huge. The are chanting “Holy Shit” as replays show the spot over again with the ring collapsing under both guys. It’s a memorable spot, similar to the one involving Brock Lesnar & Big Show on Smackdown back in 2003. Look it up on youtube if you’ve never seen it. Each guy was checked on by doctors. They called out some EMTs to help both guys. The announcers switched into SERIOUS VOICES~! mode to sell the severity of it.

Analysis: *1/2 It was a slow, plodding match but I give them credit for working hard especially building up the nearfall attempts at the end. The finish is obviously very creative even if we’ve seen it before. It’s not like it is used often. Crowd went nuts for it. This will likely mean a rematch down the road, most likely at Survivor Series.

Along with the doctors in the ring, Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis came out. They took Big Show out on one of the carts because he couldn’t fit on a stretcher. Mark Henry didn’t want any help. He shoved people away. He tried to get up, but he kept falling back down. He ended up stumbling up the aisle as the announcers put over how amazing it was that he could walk away from that.

Great job selling the beating by both wrestlers and everybody else. I realize that some people are going to complain because we’ve seen this kind of spot before. I don’t have a problem with it. It’s not like they do it often. The crowd ate it up. It worked.

John Laurinaitis got on the microphone to say that the WWE Title match would still take place even though the ring was destroyed. They went to a video package showing the Del Rio/Cena feud.

The ring wasn’t fixed at all. Justin Roberts mentioned that Last Man Standing rules means that the winner of the match is the man that keeps his opponent down for a 10 second count. He welcomed Ricardo Rodriguez. They were standing outside the ring. He had a black eye because he was selling the attack from Big Show on Smackdown. I guess only non-wrestlers sell KO punches to the head. Now you know. By the way, the champion should come out last. I don’t like Del Rio coming out first. Cena’s sporting a new shirt that says “Rise Above Hate” on the front and “Hustle Loyalty Respect” on the back in red, white & blue colors. He walked up to a fan at ringside that had a “We Hate Cena” shirt on. That was funny.

WWE Title – Last Man Standing Match: Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena
They start in the collapsed ring. It looks awkward and unbalanced. Cena’s wearing new camouflaged shirts along with black wrist bands. The red is gone, kids. Go buy the new gear I guess. Lawler actually mentioned this happened with Brock Lesnar. Cole pointed out that this is the first time where the show went on after an imploded ring. There’s a dueling “Let’s Go Cena – Cena Sucks” chant. Del Rio dominated early. It’s weird seeing a match worked without the ropes. Del Rio used a series of back suplexes to put Cena down as the ref started a count. It’s 10:33pmET, so this will likely be a 15-20 minute match. Cena went for the Attitude Adjustment, but Del Rio countered with the double knees to the back. Cena hit a suplex. Del Rio hit a German Suplex, which Cole actually called correctly. Cena hit a Gutwrench Suplex. I’m waiting for the action to take place outside the ring. Cena charged in, Del Rio caught him and hit a tilt a whirl backbreaker. He put him down again, Cena got back up at 7, then Del Rio charged in and Cena put him down with the Attitude Adjustment as they counted down both guys. They were both back up by the 8 count. Ricardo broke up another AA, so Cena booted him in the face.

In the center of the broken ring, Del Rio took Cena down with a sleeper hold. He wrapped up his legs around his waist too. He was in the hold for about a minute. The ref counted Cena down, but he got up at the 7 count. Del Rio grabbed him, but Cena threw him off the ring and into the side of the barricade. Del Rio took the bump straight on his back. That looked painful. He’s lucky he didn’t crash on his head there. Out on the floor, Del Rio recovered enough to whip Cena into the steel steps. Ricardo tried to attack Cena, so John dropped him groin first on the ringpost. With Ricardo still on it, Cena gave Del Rio a drop toehold into the pole and Ricardo went flying. That was a funny spot.

The match moved into the aisle way where Del Rio threw Cena into another one of the stairs. Del Rio hit Cena in the head with them as the announcers tried to tell us that the stairs weight 400 pounds. No. Just no. At least Cena does a good job of selling how heavy they are with the way he lifts them. They fight up the aisle. They go through the apron and into the backstage area. That sucks for the fans in the building. Cena tried to drop some heavy case on to Del Rio, but ADR moved. Then he gave Cena a bodyslam on it. Cena rolled off the case at the count of 7. They went to the interview set are. Del Rio dropped one of the lighting stands onto Cena. There were four in total. He dropped all four onto Cena while ref Mike Chioda told him to back off. Cena was underneath all of them as Chioda counted. The count of ten is ridiculously slow. It’s more like a count of 15, I’d say. Cena got up at 8 as the crowd cheered. They went back out into the arena.

They fought by where the set was. Del Rio whipped Cena into the giant V that was by the stage and he went crashing through it. No idea what it was made of, but that looked painful. Cena was literally sitting instead of the giant V. A giant V? That reminds me of a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. If you’ve seen it then you know what I mean. Del Rio brought out a table. Then he went to climb up another part of the set. Cena got up, yanked Del Rio off and essentially powerbombed Del Rio through the table. It’s now 10:50pmET, so they have to get to the finish within a few minutes. They go back to the ringside area where Del Rio tosses Cena into the English speaking announcers. Then he takes the cover off the Spanish table. What did I say earlier? An 80% chance of that table breaking. Cena was able to fight Del Rio off and throw him into a barricade. Then he took down Rodriguez again. Del Rio shoved Cena back first into the ring post, went for a kick, missed and hurt his right foot. Cena stacked up the ring steps by the Spanish announce table. YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME says Booker. Cena put Del Rio on his shoulders, walked up the ring steps and gave Del Rio the Attitude Adjustment through the announce table.

Cena goes back in the ring. The Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale. Truth hits the Paydirt that Cole calls the “Little Jimmy Being Laid to Waist.” The referee never counted Del Rio down during all of that. He looked at Miz & Truth. If there’s no DQ shouldn’t he count the guy that was actually in the match? Del Rio got up at the count of five although he was down for much longer. Cena got back up at the count of 8. Del Rio grabbed the WWE Title, charged at Cena and hit him in the side of the head with the WWE Title. Del Rio got back up. Cena struggled to get back up. He didn’t get up in time. Still WWE Champion is Alberto Del Rio after 27 minutes of action. The PPV ended at 10:56pmET, which is about as late as it can possibly end.
Winner: Alberto Del Rio

Analysis: ***3/4 It was interesting to see them work a match without the ring ropes because that’s not something we’re used to seeing obviously. I like how the first third of the match was contained inside the ring, then they went to the floor, up the aisle, in the backstage area, into the crowd and all around the ringside area. They really took advantage of the stipulation they were given. It ended up being a good brawl that went nearly 30 minutes. I liked the creative spots they did. I’m sure the Cena haters are fuming because he lost while others are fuming because he didn’t lose clean. Guess what? He almost never loses clean. That’s how WWE protects their top guy. Maybe you can go cry in the new John Cena t-shirts? I was impressed by both guys. They had good chemistry. The bumps were creative. It was a fun match.

There was a bit of an issue at the end when Del Rio was put through the table and the ref didn’t even count because of The Miz & R-Truth attacking. I guess they can just say he was distracted by the action going on in the ring, but if there’s No DQ then theoretically he should be counting. I guess the working environment is unsafe again, right? The only difference here was that there wasn’t a cell covering them up this time. Nobody helped here. It’s like we forgot about three weeks ago. Anyway, the ending was sure to piss off a lot of people hoping for a babyface ending. Personally, I’m happy that they were able to book a WWE Title match without a title change. That’s very refreshing to see.

——–

Final Thoughts

I give the PPV a 6 out of 10.

It’s not a PPV that I would go out of my way to see if you missed it. No titles changed hands. There were the surprise heel attacks in two of the big matches that will get people talking, though. None of the matches were match of the year contenders or anything like that. The opening tag match and the main event being the best two matches of the night.

What’s next? Survivor Series. The five on five elimination tag team match. We know The Rock & John Cena are on the babyface team with Triple H being a likely partner as well. I’m not what combination of Orton, Punk or Sheamus would be on there. It depends on if Del Rio is kept out of it to defend his title against Punk. The heel side will obviously have The Miz, R-Truth, perhaps Kevin Nash, maybe Alberto Del Rio if the title isn’t on the line at the PPV and throw Christian in as well. They could use it as an opportunity to elevate Dolph Ziggler too, so there are a lot of ways that it can go.

I thought Money in the Bank and Summerslam were the two best WWE PPVs this year. The last three PPVs: Night of Champions, Hell in a Cell & Vengeance were all very average. They each had a few memorable moments, but none of them were exceptional. I have high hopes for Survivor Series. I hope it doesn’t disappoint.

Thanks for reading.