Night of Champions was an interesting PPV to say the least. We have two new champions, one fresh and new, and the other is a bastard. The most promising tag team in the WWE has been fired from the roster and conspiracies seem abound in the WWE. TNA continues to stumble along on the road to Bound for Glory, does anyone else think that this is going to be the worst Bound for Glory in history? Please God let Hogan and Bischoff not resign when their contracts expire! But enough of this wishful thinking, let’s get on with the report…

Weekly Top Ten:

1st Place: Mark Henry (10/10)

This past week there has only been one truly dominant heel in the WWE and boy was he. Mark Henry not only won the World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton in a clean victory, but he has also already defended it against the man who wanted ‘one more match’; Christian. Henry has been waiting fifteen years for his first major title win, not counting the ECW title, and I’m hoping that he and the WWE will make the most of his run. There is nothing to say that Henry couldn’t keep the title until Wrestlemania. Now maybe I’m giving the WWE too much credit but wouldn’t it be amazing if Henry was built up as a monster champion all the way up to Wrestlemania, while at the same time they built up Daniel Bryan from now as a true underdog and then had him cash in his briefcase at Wrestlemania and win in a proper match rather than a five second title change. That truly would revitalise the main event scene and be a great story at the same time, it’s unlikely, but it’s possible.

2nd Place: The Miz (9/10)

The first of the heels this week who ‘would have been successful only if…’ The Miz had some great moments this week, manhandling referees frequently and kissing arse afterwards. Still there was no tag team victory to speak of, in fact The Awesome Truth lost twice before being fired. You could call this a downwards spiral for the Awesome One, but if it is then it is certainly in a kayfabe style. Look for Miz to make his triumphant return soon and probably to be involved in the main event scene for awhile to come. Certainly in some ways that’s better than toiling in the tag team division until Wrestlemania.

3rd Place: Cody Rhodes (8/10)

The formerly Dashing One looks to be restored to his former glory after consistently removing his mask over the past week and after a successful Intercontinental title defence he might have been second on the chart, if only he hadn’t been beaten down by Randy Orton after their match on Smackdown. Sure getting a DQ win over the No. 1 Contender gives you some momentum, but most of that momentum was taken away once Rhodes was pummelled by his own mask. This could all be leading to a Rhodes-Orton feud, which would be a good place for the Viper to go after Hell in a Cell if he ends up losing to the World’s Strongest Champion. The only downside is that Rhodes will most likely come up on the losing end of that feud and be nowhere nearer the title, he might even end up dropping the IC title to Orton, although you could argue that Orton is above the title, so Rhodes might be safe strangely enough.

4th Place: Dolph Ziggler (7/10)

A successful retention of his US title in his Fatal-4-Way match at Night of Champions is sullied by a loss to the Internet Champion on Raw, thanks mostly to the interference of one Wolverine. Ziggler may have a jaw broken by kayfabe adamantium, but at least his social status on the TMZ has gone up. Throw in this and the incident with Snookie at Wrestlemania and Ziggler might just be one of the most recognisable wrestlers currently in the WWE by non-wrestling fans. Sure he is probably at the status of ’that blonde wrestler’ but it’s better than being ‘some guy’ or ‘that “recovering” drug addict *insert either Hardy here*.

5th Place: R-Truth (6/10)

The other half of the Awesome Truth and strangely the softer spoken one since being fired. While the Miz has begun playing the system on the internet, Truth has remained relatively silent apart from a couple of tweets. I’m sure Truth will find himself back with the Miz at some point soon. If this whole ‘outsider’ angle is going to go ahead then I really do think they will need someone else to back them up. I’ve said before on one of my reports that the man I think should have been the leader of the group would have been C.M. Punk, but now that it really can’t be him, or at least shouldn’t be in terms of storyline, I am left puzzled as to who, if anyone, will join the Miz and Truth along no doubt with Kevin Nash. Perhaps a good choice would be Drew McIntyre, it would give him the break he’s been looking for and it would make perfect sense in that he has been doing little enough to get future endeavoured and since he was McMahon’s ‘Chosen One’ if McMahon is behind it he would be the perfect fit for the outspoken leader of the group.

6th Place: Christian (5/10)

Captain Charisma has had what some might call a bad week. He didn’t have a match at Night of Champions and got rag dolled in his Lumberjack Match on Smackdown. On the other hand he delivered a decent promo at the PPV and got off light with only receiving a kick in the face rather than an all out defeat like some others. Also his match on Smackdown was a main event for the World Title, which beforehand he received copious amounts of promo time, setting himself up as the weasel-like heel and furthering his building feud with the Celtic Warrior Sheamus.

7th Place: Jack Swagger (4/10)

The All-American American came so close to winning US gold last Sunday that he must have been able to taste it between his lisping lips. In the end Ziggler managed to steal a victory from Swagger’s efforts and perpetuate their feud a little longer. I’m hoping that this program with Ziggler will eventually lead to a big face turn for Swagger since he has been begging for one since he lost the World Title, whether the WWE will see it this way and book the thing right though is another question entirely.

8th Place: Vicky Guerrero (3/10)

Approaching Swagger from behind like the Cougar she is, is Vicky Guerrero. I’m glad that the WWE is taking more interest in the idea of a manager with a stable of Superstars, Guerrero might not be my first choice for the manager in question, but at this time there isn’t really anyone else to choose from so better her than nothing. Personally I could see Matt Striker as a good manager and many regular readers will know my feelings about a British Isles stable with William Regal as its manager so there is always that.

9th Place: Alberto Del Rio (2/10)

Ah here he is, the former WWE Champion, who lost his title before he was able to really even get started. It is a shame that Del Rio’s title reign was not only cut short but hampered along the way by Visa issues that made him miss a key Raw and Smackdown in the build for his match with John Cena. Still I’m sure that Del Rio will most likely get another shot at the gold at some point, then again I couldn’t tell you when exactly when this would happen in the near future. (Of course here I’m presuming that he won’t win the title back at Hell in a Cell, wouldn’t it be a shock if he did!)

10th Place: Beth Phoenix (1/10)

In last place is the Glamazon, the only heel with a title match at Night of Champions who has had barely any consolation or upside to their loss, unless you count beating AJ and Katalyn on Smackdown. Her storyline with Kelly Kelly and the whole ‘Divas of Doom’ angle looked to be so promising at first, but now everything has gone awry. I think this situation is the perfect illustration for what’s wrong with professional wrestling today. The guys behind the shows know what sells, they know what storylines will get the crowd going, but an unnecessary need not to repeat themselves and to ‘surprise’ the audience gets in the way of delivering it properly. I think the Attitude Era made everyone think that the key to success was to keep the audience guessing, whereas I think that is rubbish, wrestling storylines are built on predictability and an audience doesn’t respond well to change, or at least not change without a good reason. Sure unexpected events, wins and loses can make for great moments and make an audience sit up and take notice, but the shock alone isn’t enough, you have to have an understandable reason to maintain the suspension of disbelief, and I don’t think anyone right now BELIEVES that Kelly Kelly really could have defeated Beth twice in a row in big match situations. Wrestling isn’t sport, upsets do happen but they need to make sense because at the end of the day most of us fans know that someone wrote that upset, it didn’t happen naturally, and if we can’t buy into it then it ruins the product for us. So not only has this result made Beth look weak and belittled the whole movement to resurrect the women’s division, but it’s also ruined the expectations and enjoyment of all the fans who have the sense or experience to know that what they are watching is conceived and written.

2011-2012 Season Top Ten: Overall Top Ten:

1st Place: R-Truth (161/250) – 1st Place: The Miz (690/1250)

2nd Place: The Miz (146/250) – 2nd Place: C.M. Punk (666/1250)

3rd Place: Cody Rhodes (112/250) – 3rd Place: Chris Jericho (564/1250)

4th Place: Alberto Del Rio (109/250) – 4th Place: Jack Swagger (360/1250)

5th Place: Christian (107/250) – 5th Place: Cody Rhodes (349/1250)

6th Place: Mark Henry (97/250) – 6th Place: Dolph Ziggler (318/1250)

7th Place: C.M. Punk (88/250) – 7th Place: Alberto Del Rio (304/1250)

8th Place: Wade Barrett (70/250) – 8th Place: Sheamus (294/1250)

9th Place: Jack Swagger (52/250) – 9th Place: Wade Barrett (273/1250)

10th Place: Sheamus (51/250) – 10th Place: Randy Orton (224/1250)

Weekly Filler:

The Face-Off: Acting on NXT

Now I know most people probably don’t watch NXT anymore, if you ever did, but I do and this week I was annoyed by what I saw, more so than usual. Aside from the recent matches with Regal and Striker the booking on NXT is usually arbitrary and smacks distinctly of a lack of caring, but this week there actually seemed to be some pretty decent matches and promos planned. Looking at it all from a story point of view everything worked and was set up nicely, there was only one problem; no one on the whole show could deliver anywhere near up to the standard of what they should have been able to do. Since the start of NXT it has been easy to blame the lack of effort from creative or terrible contests for why the show is so bad and why the rookies look like guys who just stumbled in looking for the toilet, but this week there was no excuse and it really showed up the talent gap that these rookies need to try to breach if they are ever going to have a hope of making it on the main roster.

Face the Facts: Triple Threat Hell in a Cell

I’m putting this here for two reasons; one, my most looked forward to match as a fan was the six-man Armageddon Hell in a Cell years ago and this is half way to that, and two, because C.M. Punk is finally getting his deserved rematch for his title. Now I’m assuming that Cena will come out of this one smelling of roses so I’m not holding out too much hope that the result of the contest itself will be one to be praised, but I am optimistic in terms of the match quality itself. Not only do you have another Cena and Punk match, which for some reason is when Cena decides to bring his A game, but also the combination of Punk and Del Rio when there is no call for both men to maintain a push will probably be very interesting. On top of this when you throw in the match environment itself there is a lot that could happen. Personally though I would surprisingly like to have seen Triple H involved as well as the more the merrier and the Game has always been one to watch in Hell in a Cell matches. Still there’s always ti…oh wait there is only a week‘s worth of build left, never mind.

On the Rise: Night of Champions (First Half)

I just liked it, the match quality was higher than we have seen in some time, the results weren’t too bad and the general flow of storylines and promos, to me anyway, felt like they were PPV standard. Basically the WWE got most of the booking right, I only don’t include the second half of the card because of the winners of all the matches bar the World Title bout and the fact that a non-title match was on last, although I did like that in the Del Rio-Cena match a big deal was made out of the title history. If they had played up to that more in the weeks leading up to the match rather than just chucking it in at the end then I think it would have gone a lot better. I think Cena might have been trying to say something like that during his promos, but I wouldn’t know for sure as I generally tune out whenever he starts talking and all I hear is a string of clichés.

Flat-Footed: Fourtune vs. Fourtune Over Already

Oh FFS TNA. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by now but believe it or not I am quite an optimistic individual (some might call it gullibility) and I honestly thought that this was a good angle that TNA would stick to so they could build up Robert Roode as the top guy to challenge Kurt Angle for the TNA title. In fact earlier in the night when Roode faced off with Angle I found myself actually caring about the TNA title picture for the first time in a damn long time. Even when TNA was actually putting on some decent shows their title picture was pretty shoddy in my opinion, bar the brief stint that AJ Styles had just before Hogan and Bischoff came in. Robert Roode actually seemed to care about winning and it would finally be someone fresh with the gold if he managed to take it from Angle. No sooner does this happen though than James Storm comes down and threatens the whole gimmick before switching around and challenging Angle, which still works, but makes the whole angle a little shaky. Have no fear though, just when you think TNA has avoided crushing one of its best angles in months here comes Christopher Daniels down to the ring to quash the whole thing completely by saying that wrestling Roode is basically beneath him. This would have been fine if Roode had come down and taken him out, leading to a cheap shot by Daniels and AJ having to come to the rescue, thus igniting their feud for Bound for Glory. Instead though Roode doesn’t make an appearance for the rest of the night and they just launch straight into the AJ-Daniels feud, making Roode look like a complete afterthought and ruining the whole angle. That is just shitty booking if ever I saw it, worse than Sting vs. Flair or Hogan for that matter…okay possibly not that bad, but pretty damn bad.

That’s all for this week, come back again next time and check out my other report on the 411. I’m hoping that Henry can keep his title for more than a month, but if not then at least he has done better than Christian first did. Hey I Henry wins at Hell in a Cell he would have been doing better than Christian, Del Rio, or even Punk as they all seemed to only be able to keep hold of their titles until the very next PPV, what ever happened to the long reigning heel champion? Bring back JBL…I never thought I’d say that. For now this is James Wright signing off.

Source: wrestlingtruth.com