WWE Extreme Rules 2013

Image Source: Youtube

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: May 19 2013
Location: Scottrade Center, St Louis, Missouri, USA
Attendance: 14,500

The first PPV after WrestleMania 29 had a pretty big line-up, in keeping with the gimmick theme of the show. There were star-studded speciality matches all across the card, culminating in what seemed (and hopefully was) to be the final chapter in the Triple H-Brock Lesnar feud. But would things get as extreme as they did last year when Lesnar busted John Cena open hard on multiple occasions?

After a pre-show bout which saw The Miz defeat Cody Rhodes, Extreme Rules opened with Chris Jericho vs. Fandango. This was a WrestleMania rematch, and since Mania, Fandango's popularity - or rather, popularity of his entrance music - has exploded due to a rowdy New Jersey crowd chanting it loud and proud, albeit completely tongue in cheek, the night after WM. His status boost didn't affect the result here, though: after some decent back-and-forth exchanges, Fandango (who was wearing some nice-looking yet still very strange multi-coloured attire) was vanquished by Jericho via a Codebreaker, which reversed an attempted flying attack by the ballroom dancer.

Normally, you like to see the younger guy come out on top in a feud. However, despite his recent popularity, Fandango's gimmick is so ridiculous and his ring skills are so run-of-the-mill in most departments that it felt like Y2J demeaned himself losing to the ballroom dancer at WrestleMania. Therefore, it was entirely logical that Jericho won this rematch, although it's possible that these two may have a rubber match where the result could potentially be reversed.

Next up, we had Dean Ambrose challenging Kofi Kingston for the United States Title. Kofi only won the championship a few weeks back from Antonio Cesaro, but Kofi's star seems to have peaked in WWE, whereas the fairly new Shield member's star is on the rise (he and his Shield brethren took out The Undertaker on the London edition of SmackDown after Taker beat Ambrose). Therefore, after a solid and at times impressive, yet still fairly short match, it wasn't exactly a surprise to see a new champion crowned, and this came to pass when Ambrose dropped Kingston with a Headlock Driver to become the new United States Champion.

As alluded to, it made sense that Ambrose would capture the gold here, since it wasn't going to advance Kingston's career any more than the belt had done in the past. In Ambrose's hands, the title could make a difference, and this title win adds to the momentum that The Shield has picked up since their first appearance together at Survivor Series 2012. Even more was to come for the group later in the evening, as it turned out. That made two fairly good matches out of two so far for Extreme Rules.

That mini-streak was unlikely to continue, though, with the next bout pitting Sheamus against Mark Henry under Strap rules. I've never been a big fan of Henry, and this was a rerun of a rivalry which hit a minor peak in the summer of 2011, making a rematch unnecessary here. That being said, it wasn't too bad, or should I say it was no worse than expected. Henry laid in the leather strap shots hard on the back of Sheamus (or maybe it just seems that way on Sheamus' milky-white back), and the Celtic Warrior attempted several comebacks to a good response. The match followed the usual structure of both men taking it in turns to try and hit all four corners with the strap, with the other man always cutting them off at the last moment. It all came down to a Brogue Kick, as Sheamus used his preferred physical weapon to down Henry and make it to the fourth corner to come out on top.

I was glad to see Sheamus win cleanly here, for two reasons: firstly, it ends this feud at one big match, which was all that was needed in this rehash of their 2011 conflict; and secondly, it means there's even less chance of WWE once again pushing Mark Henry as a top heel, after giving us a scare with his push so far this year (this result did make me wonder why WWE bothered booking Henry to beat Ryback at WrestleMania, especially with Ryback challenging for the WWE Championship later on). Match quality overall was alright, to be fair.

A backstage scrap between Kaitlyn and AJ Lee happened next, in place of the Divas Title bout which I assumed would be held on this card after AJ recently became the number one contender to Kaitlyn's prize. Speaking of that honour, the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship was about to be determined when Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger battled in an I Quit match. This wasn't meant to happen; the original plan was for a 3-way Ladder match alongside WHC holder Dolph Ziggler, who cashed his Money In The Bank briefcase in on Del Rio the night after WrestleMania to an incredible reaction. But that went up in smoke when Ziggler suffered a concussion a few weeks later on SmackDown, so with Dolph on the shelf, we would instead get a match to determine a sole contender to his crown.

Similar to their match at WrestleMania, this was well-executed but lacking in any real crowd heat, partly because neither man possesses the dynamic charisma which would be required to make matches like this feel like anything more than average. The key moment here was when Swagger trapped Del Rio in the Patriot Lock (formally the ankle lock) and Zeb Colter, having attacked Ricardo Rodriguez at ringside, threw in a towel to signify ADR quitting. But the referee saw through the hijinks and restarted the match to a surprisingly big cheer, and Del Rio went on to win when he made Swagger quit (well, submit) to the Cross-Armbreaker.

Since Ziggler remains a heel, the logical result was for Del Rio to win. And with this I Quit match, WWE tried to make the most of a bad situation. The downside was that the action was still only solid, and even with the hijinks surrounding the finish, neither combatant could provide anything to make this more than just another match. Hopefully Dolph's charisma and outstanding wrestling ability will make the difference to this three-way rivalry upon his return.

Kane and Daniel Bryan defended their WWE Tag Team Titles against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns under Tornado rules (I meant to say that the earlier Kofi vs. Ambrose match was fought under regular rules). This allowed essentially for two matches to take place at the same time, and the pairings made sense as the big men (Kane and Reigns) concentrated on one another with power moves whilst the smaller athletes (Bryan and Rollins) provided some pretty cool technical wrestling and high-flying spots. Bryan look really good, although everyone in this match put forth a good effort. Like with Kofi-Ambrose, it was a little bit on the short side, and just like that match, new champions were crowned within The Shield, as Bryan got nailed with a cool-looking double-team manoeuver and Reigns got the pin for him and Seth to win the Tag Team Championships.

It was a bit sad to see the long reign of Team Hell No end after eight long months. It's definitely been the most enjoyable tag title run for many years, possibly since the TLC era in terms of pure entertainment. But the Kane/Daniel Bryan combo probably has passed its peak so it was time to pass the belts onto a new team, and since The Shield have been on fire since their debut, a combination of the two was the perfect choice. For all three members of The Shield, this was a big night and another show of faith by WWE.

Up next, we had an Extreme Rules match between Randy Orton and Big Show (their first PPV meeting, surprisingly). This went over very well, assisted by a strong hometown reaction to the Viper. The action on display was quite good; nothing that they did was particularly innovative, but this was one of those matches where everything just works. They exchanged blows from a variety of blows including a ladder, which slightly made up for the absent Ladder match for the World Heavyweight Title, and that same ladder ended up being broken by Show's large frame after an attempted Vader Bomb (the ladder was between two steel chairs). Show came close with a Chokeslam, and Orton thought he had it won with an RKO, but the big man kicked out. Undeterred, and willed on by his local supporters, Orton rebounded with a second RKO on a chair and a Punt (the kick hasn't been used by Orton for a long time) to get the very popular victory.

This match was better than expected, partly because Orton's hometown crowd provided a great atmosphere, which seemed to energise both men. There were some cool spots in there, and the performances of both were strong (for Show, the last seven-to-eight months of his career have been his best ever from an in-ring standpoint). This was a really entertaining match, and both men had a good night as they concluded their WrestleMania-related business.

The semi-final for this card saw John Cena defend his WWE Title against Ryback in a Last Man Standing match. Ryback unexpectedly (and far too prematurely, in my opinion) turned heel on Cena the night after WrestleMania, emerging into a whining cry-baby as well as a big bully (an interesting combination) as he looked to dethrone Cena here. It seemed that nobody remembered Booker T announcing on said Raw that The Rock was the number one contender (and it's possible that nobody ever will). In the meantime, Cena apparently suffered an ankle injury during the UK tour, which was written into the storylines as the announcers wondered if this setback would hinder Cena in, of all things, a Last Man Standing bout.

As it turned out, the injury (if indeed it was real) didn't affect the match at all, as Cena had either fully recovered or shook the injured ankle off in typical Cena fashion. This was a respectable match, but certainly not the best LMS match that we've seen. It was an enjoyable yet familiar stunt brawl, which included Ryback slamming Cena through a table, an exchange of big powerbombs, and Cena putting Ryback through a different table after an Attitude Adjustment. There was plenty of action going on, but whether it was because we've seen these spots or similar spots so many times, or because of the odd nature of Ryback being a heel so soon, there was something, if not a couple of things, missing to make this a truly memorable match. It was still fun to watch and the St Louis crowd seemed to enjoy it, although neither they (nor me) seemed too happy when the match took another hit upon its ending: Ryback Speared Cena through an LED wall at the aisleway, and both men stayed down for the 10-count. It was a draw, with both men being carted out on stretchers (although we learned on Raw the next day that Cena refused to enter an ambulance; Ryback, for some reason, drove what was purportedly his ambulance into the arena on the post-ER edition of Raw). This finish was too similar to Backlash 2007 (also the post-WM PPV) when Batista hit The Undertaker with a Spear off the stage onto electrical equipment that resulted in a no-contest.

The ending of this LMS bout means that we are almost definitely getting a Cena vs. Ryback rematch. Since their first match here was Last Man Standing, it's hard to figure what stipulation they will use - they will use one, believe me - when they meet again. It remains to be seen whether Ryback can do enough between now and then to convince the powers that be to award him a WWE title reign. My gut feeling says no, and that when they do meet again, it will be Cena who gets his hand raised and leaves as the WWE Champion. Hopefully he will at least grow into his heel role between now and Cena-Ryback 2.

So, we come to the main event: HHH vs. Lesnar, inside a Steel Cage. This rivalry actually began the night after Extreme Rules 2012 (which was over a year ago since ER was in May this year), when Lesnar responded to HHH refusing Brock's contract demands by breaking his arm. HHH returned and eventually fought Lesnar at SummerSlam, but was beaten. A rematch followed at WrestleMania 29 when HHH pinned Brock, which I assumed would be the end of their rivalry. Instead, a third match was made for Extreme Rules (making their WM match less worthy of that grand stage since it essentially solves nothing), this time within a cage (and this was a new Steel Cage structure with three parts on each side and a different top to the fences, making it the first new WWE cage for yonks). Fortunately for the combatants, this feud-decider elicited the desired main event crowd response, in contrast to their almost-ignored first two showdowns.

HHH began the match early by attacking Lesnar in the aisleway, which got the match off to a fast and furious start (there's a movie plug somewhere there). The match then entered the cage, where Brock began to take control in his usual, vicious fashion (although, harking back to my earlier point, we did not get blood, which despite this being a PG era I was slightly surprised about after what went down at Extreme Rules 2012, and after HHH split Lesnar's head wide open on Raw back in February). Brock really took control with a German suplex, but he lost it when he accidentally rammed his knee into the cage and began screaming in agony in very convincing fashion. HHH worked on the injured knee, but Brock still managed to clamp in a Kimura Lock on HHH's arm. Paul Heyman soon intervened by slamming the cage door on HHH's head, followed by a Lesnar F5 for a near-fall. Heyman then threw a chair into the cage for Brock to use, but HHH intercepted it and pounded Lesnar's knee with it. HHH kept working on the knee before, from the top of the cage, introducing a hidden sledgehammer to a good pop, but Brock prevented its use. After HHH rebounded with a Sharpshooter (bad knee, remember?), HHH Pedigreed the interfering Heyman and Lesnar too, but it wasn't enough to win. Triple H then picked up the hammer again, but Heyman hit him with a low blow, allowing Lesnar to conk HHH with the hammer and drop him with a second F5 for the victory.

So, Lesnar came out on top in the end. It was the right result because Lesnar's reputation, originally built in WWE and enhanced in UFC, may have been destroyed had he lost again here. Instead, the victory sets him up for his next feud, which is likely to be against another heavy hitter (CM Punk or John Cena again for the WWE Title are the favourites, since bouts against The Rock or The Undertaker would probably be saved for a WrestleMania). For HHH, his next move is unclear, although he did wrestle his first TV match for three years on Raw the next night against Curtis Axel (previously Michael McGillicutty, now being managed by Paul Heyman), but ended up being too weak to continue, partly due to the Lesnar match here.

Extreme Rules always feels like a tough PPV since it follows WrestleMania. It's usually well worth watching, but it lacks the spectacle, the glamour, the huge setting and attendance, the first-time meetings to end long feuds; basically, everything that distinguishes Mania from every other PPV. Fortunately, the in-ring talent saw to it that Extreme Rules was a worthy follow-up to WrestleMania, and with some recent turns, a few returns and several other intriguing developments, WWE has now fully entered what could be a pretty interesting post-Mania season.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - Very Good

WWE Payback 2013

Image Source: Wrestling
DVD Network

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: June 16 2013
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois, USA
Attendance: 12,500

Payback was a whole new PPV for WWE (well, a new name for a PPV anyway), but it's hard to see where the theme fit in with the matches on hand. John Cena vs. Ryback had a minor layer of revenge to it, and Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio did too if you consider a title rematch stemming from a Money In The Bank cash-in to represent possible retribution. But CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho didn't (not this year, anyway), nor did any of the matches involving members of The Shield. Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee was the only match where the "Payback" moniker may have been suitable, and even that initially came about because AJ earned a Divas Title shot, hardly the sort of thing to swear revenge upon. (I'm half-joking with this, by the way, since PPV themes/names are decided months in advance.)

Fortunately, this could have been called Payback, Backlash or Honey Boo Boo's Wrestling Parade for the difference that the name made in terms of the in-ring action, which ultimately proved to be very good. Some unexpected mid-card gems were met with a worthy double main event and a big double-turn in the World Title match, all in front of the usual electric Chicago crowd. So, whilst Payback might have seemed like an odd name beforehand, it will prove to be amongst the top names on the "Best PPVs Of 2013" lists when they are drawn up at the end of the year.

After a reasonable pre-show match that saw Sheamus defeat Damien Sandow (it's a bit disappointing that Sandow's biggest match to date was relegated to the pre-show), Payback opened with a Triple Threat match for the Intercontinental Title, as Wade Barrett defended against The Miz and Curtis Axel. The third man was supposed to be Fandango, but after he recently suffered a concussion (the ballroom dancer is the latest member of the WWE roster to be plagued by a concussion), he was replaced by Axel, who was introduced as a "Paul Heyman Guy" the night after Extreme Rules and has built up some decent momentum since then, even if it still feels that Axel isn't quite up to reaching the potential that WWE has forecasted for him. This 3-way battle was pretty good for what it was, and the finish was neat too: Miz trapped Barrett in the Figure-Four Leglock, during which time Axel pinned Barrett (the reigning titleholder) to capture the IC Title to a big reaction.

Axel won the title on Father's Day, which given that his dad Mr. Perfect was one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions ever was a nice touch. Axel has the chance to use this title reign to help ascend up the card, although it's interesting to think that if the original plan had been executed, it would have been not the new Paul Heyman Guy holding the title but instead the surprisingly popular wrestling ballroom dancer. Post-match, Vince McMahon endorsed Heyman and Axel, despite Vince's previous problems with Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Triple H then entered the picture and Vince suggested a HHH-Axel match, which The Game on this occasion declined. Vince, you see, has prevented HHH wrestling Axel in recent weeks, apparently for the sake of his health after HHH took a funny turn in his bout with Axel on Raw the night after Extreme Rules. It's a bit of a confusing storyline, but we'll see where it goes (if anywhere).

AJ Lee challenged Kaitlyn for the Divas Title next in the culmination of a long tale. The two debuted on NXT together in 2010 and became friends, calling themselves The Chickbusters when they arrived on SmackDown in 2011. But AJ's emotional downward spiral caused by Daniel Bryan led her to turn on Kaitlyn in 2012 and, earlier this year, AJ earned a Divas Title shot at her former best friend. Cue a storyline where Kaitlyn thought she had a secret admirer, only for it to be a set-up by Big E Langston and AJ. With all that now out of the way, I'm pleased that this was an awesome women's match. From the rapid-fire strikes and brawling to open the contest, to the subsequent back-and-forth dropkicks and submission holds to the big moves at the finish (such as a crossbody, a gutbuster and the Black Widow which Kaitlyn initially survived), this was fantastic. And it told a good story as Kaitlyn Speared AJ but took the time to blow a kiss to her nemesis, only for AJ to kick out and soon lock in the Black Widow to win the title and rub it in Kaitlyn's face. Kaitlyn was booed afterwards when she was crying and was being consoled by Layla, which was never bound to go down well in a smark town like Chicago.

This had to be the best women's match in WWE since the heyday of Trish Stratus and Lita. In fact, it may have been the best WWE females bout ever; this measured up to anything Trish and Lita ever did, and perhaps surpassed even their greatest efforts. This was a match that both ladies could be proud of, even if the crowd heckled Kaitlyn in the post-match. AJ as the new Divas Champion makes sense, and the title win combined with the superb in-ring performances of both on this night continues what has been a great run of success for the girl who once had a going-nowhere position on the roster. Kaitlyn will probably get a rematch at some point (perhaps at Money In The Bank?), and it is hoped that their second encounter will also be something to savour. For Kaitlyn, she really will be hoping that she regains the title there, because whilst AJ's character has many directions that it could head into for her to remain relevant, Kaitlyn's last twelve months have been mostly defined by her title chase and subsequent title reign, so she could find herself lost should she come out of this feud with nothing. Based on match quality, though, this was a fantastic women's bout and a very unexpected treat here at Payback.

Normally, the women have a hard job of following a strong men's match. Here, we had a role reversal, as Dean Ambrose and Kane had the task of trying to follow the unexpectedly-great Kaitlyn vs. AJ bout. And they didn't really succeed because, after a fairly average and slow-paced match, Ambrose won only on a countout when he DDT'd Kane on the floor, and the Big Red Machine failed to make it back in before the ten-count.

This basically served as a filler match, from the slightly odd pairing of Ambrose and Kane to the screwjob ending. It gives Ambrose a minor boost, I suppose, although one has to assume that there would be a rematch where it is possible that Kane could potentially win the U.S. crown. Especially given this result, though, why didn't WWE switch it around so that Randy Orton battled Ambrose and Team Hell No took on Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns for the Tag Team Titles that they previously held?

Before the next match, we got a big surprise: a promo video advertising Rob Van Dam returning to WWE, in Philadelphia no less, at Money In The Bank. This extremely (no pun intended) effective video elicited a huge reaction and a prolonged "RVD!" chant in Chicago. It'll certainly be fun to see Van Dam back in WWE; few could have envisioned when RVD had the last match of his full-time WWE run at One Night Stand 2007 that it would take so long for him to return on a permanent basis (he did appear at Raw's 15th Anniversary in 2007 and at Royal Rumble 2009). Happily, RVD's long absence from WWE rings will end at MITB, and returning in ECW country will provide a memorable moment for sure.

We then had Dolph Ziggler defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio. It was anticipated that in this hardcore crowd environment, Ziggler would be cheered and ADR would be booed, at least to some degree. But as it turned out, this match (Ziggler's comeback after missing several weeks with a concussion, making it his first big defence since winning the big gold title the night after WrestleMania 29) took fans on an unexpected journey. Del Rio targeted his opponent's head which he usually does, but against the previously-concussed Ziggler, he seemed to do so with a certain relish, despite the man's very real injuries. As the match wore on, and the commentators and referee reacted accordingly to Del Rio's increasingly nasty streak, the fans realised what was happening and began to sympathise with Dolph, and jeer ADR. By the end, fans were firmly behind Dolph as he attempted misguided comebacks despite Del Rio doing some real damage to his head. One particularly hard kick was enough to keep him down, and Del Rio pinned him to win his second World Heavyweight Title. A post-match promo alongside Ricardo Rodriguez ensured that fans booed him, and announcers expressed disgust in him, whilst the ex-titleholder Ziggler left to applause, despite having entered the ring as a villain.

Well, that was unexpected. Whilst fans have warmed to Dolph Ziggler in spite of his heel status, and it did at times feel like something was missing from Alberto Del Rio in his presentation as a babyface, it was still a surprise to see the two men switch sides (and ADR only went face at the end of 2012), especially during a match, which hasn't been done in WWE for a long time. (That this happened in the same arena where the famous Bret Hart-Steve Austin double-turn took place at WrestleMania 13 in 1997 was no coincidence, I'm sure.) The match went up a level when the double-turn became clear, and they told the story very, very well. Perhaps the biggest shocker was the fact that Ziggler lost the WHC in his first major defence. That concussion appears to have really harmed his career, although it was WWE's call to take the title from him; who knows if it was the plan all along for Dolph to have a short title run, or if they gave the gold back to ADR to reduce the pressure on the recently-returned Ziggler. They will undoubtedly have a rematch, with both men by then firmly established in their new/old roles, so it will probably only be at that point when we will find out what WWE's plans are for both men (and it could be crucial for Ziggler's future). Meanwhile, the odd man out in what began as a three-way feud, Jack Swagger, sits on the sidelines waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting.

After that, it was the return of CM Punk. Well, I say that, but he only missed one supershow while he was off television, and his break only lasted ten weeks in all. From a personal standpoint, he had some good time off. From a kayfabe standpoint, though, he was hardly gone; his name was last mentioned on April 22, and he was name-dropped again from May 27 onwards. Nevertheless, he was back here, and he got a great reception as expected in his hometown of Chicago against old foe Chris Jericho, who was booed despite his babyface status (although it was understandable on this occasion). This was a typical Punk-Jericho match, one of high quality and great wrestling action combined with strong crowd heat. It was perhaps their best match to date, as the emphasis was purely on having a standout match rather than referencing the personal nature of the rivalry that they had in 2012. Highlight of the match was when Jericho turned a Punk flying clothesline into a Codebreaker. But Jericho's chances of beating Punk in CM's return match in his hometown were extremely unlikely, and so it proved as Punk (with a slightly longer haircut and new sideburns) defeated Y2J by pinfall with the GTS. Paul Heyman almost cost Punk the match towards the end when he had the referee distracted on a Punk pinfall attempt, which would end up being a crucial development, as I will soon explain.

So, CM Punk is back, after what ended up being a not-massively-long absence, since he only disappeared after April 15, only missed one PPV (Extreme Rules) and had Chris Jericho begin to call him out from May 27 onwards. Along with his new look could potentially come a new attitude, since the hype and the announcer's reactions to him had a babyface feel to them (never mind the fans on this occasion; the Chicago crowd were always going to cheer their hometown hero regardless). A Raw run-in with Brock Lesnar the next night (which I will cover later) acts as further evidence that Punk's character is heading into a new direction. A babyface turn wouldn't be the worst idea; whilst Punk was a loathsome heel from July 2012 until April 2013, the man is so good that people still can't help but cheer him, so it makes sense to go with the flow, at least for the time being. This match was really good, the best of the night, although to me it lacked that extra something which would have pushed it on the level of Punk's classic against The Undertaker at WM 29, or even a previous Chicago barn-burner against John Cena at the famous Money In The Bank 2011 show.

The Dolph-ADR and Punk-Y2J matches seemed to go on a bit longer than anticipated, and this perhaps resulted in the next match - a WWE Tag Team Title match as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defended their crowns against Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton - being shortened as a result. Nevertheless, all four made up for the time that they did have, which was a double achievement because the Bryan-Orton pairing was a weird one; why didn't Kane team again with Bryan here? Regardless, the babyfaces tried to build on their momentum (the two men and Kane beat The Shield on the pre-Payback SmackDown in what was their first defeat as a faction, a fact that was pointed out to emphasise its significance), and Bryan in particular had a strong showing here, even hitting Rollins with a dangerous underhook suplex off the top rope to the expected round of "Yes!" chants. But it didn't result in a title change, as Rollins and Reigns retained their crowns when Rollins pinned Bryan after his flying knee.

This was a pretty good match considering that it felt like a weird PPV attraction. The action was of a high standard all the way, especially from Daniel Bryan who is slowly shedding the comedy image that he has had (yet benefitted from greatly) over the last ten months to once again become a force to be reckoned with, and the fans are more than willing to back Bryan as he evolves into a serious player, if not a future main eventer once more. The Shield received another boost here, although Orton felt out of place in this environment. Perhaps this will set up an Orton heel turn, for which he is probably due, and a feud with Bryan based on their uneasy tandem here and in recent weeks.

The main event was a Three Stages Of Hell clash between John Cena and Ryback for the WWE Title. It's hard to say whether the Cena-Ryback conflict, which began the night after WrestleMania 29, truly warranted such a triple-stipulation, but that's what we got. It was an enjoyable trio of gimmick matches, and it was clear that each man was trying to save enough energy from falls one and two in order to deliver a suitable final chapter. The first fall, a Lumberjack match, did include an unexpected dive off the top ropes by Cena onto Ryback and the lumberjacks at ringside, although Cena ultimately lost this section when Ryback pinned him with Shell Shocked. Normally, that would be a major upset, but here it was just part of the story for Cena to make his comeback; after all, Cena wasn't likely to lose the title here, and after losing fall one, he was bound to win fall two (a Tables match), and he did after hitting Ryback with an Attitude Adjustment through a table, as required.

The final fall was an Ambulance match, and it was fairly brutal as both men drove each other hard into the vehicle and even used parts of the hospital car itself as weapons. I did find it annoying that the announcers continued to laugh and make jokes during this section of the bout, since it was supposed to be serious stuff and the exchanges were quite violent on occasion. To win the match, Cena used the same finish that he used in his Ambulance match with Kane at Elimination Chamber 2012, that being an AA through the Ambulance roof, with Ryback apparently KO'd as the ambulance drove away. The story of the match and the feud tried to say that this was a fitting finale, but since the ambulance was only used when Cena refused to enter one after the Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules, and when Ryback drove out in an ambulance to kick off Raw the next night, the connection wasn't really there; nevertheless, it worked as a feud-ending battle, as did the main event as a whole, which overall was slightly better than their LMS bout at Extreme Rules.

It was the right time to bring an end to the John Cena-Ryback feud, since there wasn't anywhere else they could go with it unless Ryback won the WWE Title, and that clearly wasn't on the cards. The Ambulance stipulation allowed Ryback to maintain some dignity by avoiding a pinfall/submission loss from Cena, although it seems like he will still take a tumble down the card having just been defeated in a WWE Title rivalry. For Cena, it's hard to figure out what's on the horizon. Whilst Raw developments suggest a championship clash with Mark Henry (more on that in a moment), surely that bout will happen at Money In The Bank and not SummerSlam (and Cena will surely win there), meaning that Cena needs an opponent for SummerSlam. A rubber match with The Rock is apparently not likely, so it will have to be someone from the current crop. If CM Punk is tied up with another opponent (again, more in a bit on that), the most feasible opponent would probably be Sheamus, Daniel Bryan or perhaps even the returning RVD; WWE surely cannot go back to Cena vs. Randy Orton (and, if it did, it would be the third time that this match main evented SummerSlam alone).

As stated earlier, there was a lot to like at Payback, and whilst Extreme Rules was also a strong wrestling show, the developments here had more of an impact (hey, why not use "impact" as the name for this show? Oh, yeah, someone else uses that name; sorry) and did more to alter the landscape of WWE. This was boosted by a very eventful Raw which included the return of Christian after many months out injured; a weird situation where Daniel Bryan's match with Randy Orton was stopped due to an injury to Bryan, for which Bryan apparently chastised Triple H backstage for real; a superb angle where Mark Henry pretended to announce his retirement in extremely convincing fashion, only to swerve-turn on John Cena and declare his intentions to win the WWE Title; Dolph Ziggler had another run-in with Alberto Del Rio to further emphasise their new face/heel alignments; and after CM Punk told Paul Heyman that he wouldn't be managing him anymore after his mistake at Payback but that they could still be friends, Brock Lesnar unexpectedly appeared and dropped Punk with an F5 (which seems like stage one of Punk vs. Lesnar, probably at SummerSlam, as well as possibly beginning a Punk/Heyman split and an official babyface turn for Punk).

So, it looks like WWE has given its product a bit of a shake-up as it enters the usually-memorable summer season. So far, it's been largely a year of playing it safe despite some strong matches, so it was good to see WWE take some chances here at Payback and on Raw as it begins to set the table for Money In The Bank and SummerSlam. What cannot be denied is that every WWE PPV this year up until this point has either been good, very good or excellent, so it's hoped that WWE can continue on this streak, and with Rob Van Dam set to make a comeback (in Philadelphia of all places) at Money In The Bank, it certainly looks likely that we will keep getting some really entertaining WWE supershows. Payback may not have been an ideal name for this event, but the card was still very enjoyable and took a big step towards preparing the next few months of potentially exciting matches and storylines.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - Very Good

WWE Money In The Bank 2013

Image Source: Wrestling
DVD Network

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: July 14 2013
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Attendance: 15,000

Having been the recipient of its own PPV event for four years now, and with the match having originally debuted back in 2005, it's safe to say that the Money In The Bank Ladder match, as an entertainment spectacle, has probably passed its peak. Whereas the early bouts (held annually at WrestleMania) were about showcasing the young talent who could potentially become future main eventers, in an environment which suited their athletic styles, since 2010 the MITB PPV has seen twice as many matches of this nature, thus partly diluting each one, whilst also casting either headliners who need not require MITB to get ahead or performers whose size or style do not make them suitable participants to what is, at its essence, a stunt match.

Fortunately, though, there are enough worthy performers whose styles do suit the environment and their creativity has been of a high enough standard that the Money In The Bank Ladder match remains one of the must-see matches of the year, perhaps only behind the Royal Rumble match and the featured bouts at WrestleMania. This year, there were once again two MITB bouts, each with a very different casting, but with both promising plenty of thrills and spills. And the match does still provide a boost to the winner when the briefcase ends up in the right hands, meaning that there is still genuine intrigue to the results of these matches; and, again, the casts on this particular night offered up some intriguing possibilities if they were to win. So, plenty to look forward to then, even if the stipulation has lost some of the appeal that it once had. Add to that the return of Rob Van Dam to WWE in one of those bouts, two World Title bouts and some potentially exciting mid-card bouts, and you have the makings of what could be a pretty memorable PPV extravaganza.

On the pre-show, we had a WWE Tag Team Title match between Shield titleholders Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns and The Usos. Whereas pre-show bouts generally have a stigma attached to them (namely, that those involved aren't considered important enough to appear on the main PPV card), this was a notable exception; as a matter of fact, this fast-paced, action-packed doubles battle was as good as any non-Ladder match that we would witness all night. Credit to all involved, who made a special effort to kick off MITB (well, the night as a whole) with a bang. Hopefully, those in charge noticed these strong performances by all four. Reigns won it by pinning Jimmy Uso after a Spear.

Money In The Bank itself opened with the first MITB Ladder match. I forgot to mention before that the end of the brand extension in 2011, which has resulted in there being two World Titles at a time when it is unnecessary, has also hindered the stipulation because it has been made clear (as did the placement of this particular MITB clash) that the World Heavyweight Title, once considered the equal of the WWE Title, is by no means on level pegging these days, so the same applies for the respective MITB bouts. In any event, the blue briefcase was hanging over the ring for what was unusually an all-heels MITB clash, with none of them really receiving a true push en route to the show. Whilst this felt like poor planning by WWE, it did make for an unpredictable match, since nobody knew who would win out of Dean Ambrose, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, Wade Barrett, Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro (the latter two of whom have recently formed the Real Americans tag team under the management of Zeb Colter, even though Cesaro is Swiss) and Fandango (who was already in the ring when the PPV began, and of course had the rabid Philadelphia crowd Fandangoing).

Although the heel alignment of each participant meant that the fans had to essentially choose for themselves who they wanted to win (which you think would have suited a smarky crowd like Philadelphia), it didn't make the match any less enjoyable; indeed, this was a worthy MITB bout with plenty of eye-catching stunts. Of note, we saw Fandango hit a huge legdrop over a ladder, Swagger and Cesaro using a ladder as a bridge only for Ambrose to try and use this as a platform to win, and a big sunset flip off another ladder by the ballroom dancer. There was also interference by Rollins and Reigns to try and help Ambrose win, which was repelled by the also-interfering Usos. But Cody Rhodes was the standout performer with a dominant performance that seemed to turn him babyface; certainly, the fans reacted positively to his spots, particularly a Muscle Buster (which is the signature move of indie icon Samoa Joe). It seemed like it was Cody's match to win, but his Team Rhodes Scholars partner Damien Sandow (who comparatively did little during the match) shoved Cody off the ladder, allowing him to unhook the briefcase and win the match. Sandow winning MITB was a surprise, as he will need plenty of favourable booking to make him a genuine World Title contender. Of greater note, though, was that this seemed to signify Sandow killing off the Scholars team, which should see Cody become a babyface. This was definitely a good start to MITB, and set a standard for the other MITB bout participants to try and surpass later on.

Before The Miz challenged Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Title, we had an in-ring segment where the recently-fired Vickie Guerrero, who for some reason was still here at MITB on the pre-show panel, tried to give herself a farewell address only for the fans to reject it, as well as new Raw GM Brad Maddox, who played a video of Vickie's most embarrassing moments in WWE. This went on too long and would have been more suited to Raw than a PPV event. It was only ended when Miz came out, meaning that for perhaps the first time ever, fans were genuinely happy to see The Awesome One (I kid).

Miz vs. Axel, or Axel vs. Miz if you prefer, was alright. Miz is still a babyface, but it's still a little hard to truly get behind him due to his arrogant, narcissistic ways. Axel continues to receive a moderate push by WWE, despite unnecessarily losing a non-title match to Chris Jericho recently. The two matched up fairly well and delivered a solid but unspectacular match. Axel will be happy with his performance (as will Miz, to be fair), but he still needs to show something else if he is to live up to the potential that WWE and Paul Heyman have tagged him with. Speaking of Heyman, Miz had him ejected by using Eddie Guerrero-style tactics (pretending that Heyman interfered when he hadn't), which usually would be an effective spot, but in ECW country, it was the equivalent of a red rag to a bull. It didn't really affect the outcome, though, as Axel beat Miz cleanly to retain the gold. Thanks to Miz removing the ECW owner from play, this resulted in Axel being cheered for his win.

We then had a rematch from Payback, and a welcome one in this case, as AJ Lee defended the Divas Championship against Kaitlyn. These two blew everyone away at the last PPV event by delivering the best women's match seen in WWE for many years, possibly ever (seriously). And they delivered again here with another fine, logical and well-executed match which put most of the other females on the roster to shame. It was slightly less enjoyable than their Payback match, but I think that was because nobody was expecting the Payback bout to be as good as it was, whereas for this rematch at Money In The Bank, people realised that it would be good (and it was). In terms of execution, it may have been superior to the Payback match, but it lacked the element of surprise as far as its quality, thus resulting in this rematch having a lesser impact.

As stated, though, this was still very enjoyable, and had we not seen them meet at Payback, people would be saying that this was the best WWE women's match for many years, if not ever. The story of the match was that AJ continuously worked on the arm of Kaitlyn, not only weakening it for her Black Widow submission, but also to reduce Kaitlyn's chances of winning if she were to hit her own finishing move, the Spear (too many people use that nowadays, by the way). And her plan paid off handsomely: following some good exchanges and a strong comeback by the challenger, Kaitlyn did hit the Spear, but her arm did prevent her capitalising, and AJ did take advantage by slapping on the Black Widow, which resulted in a submission victory. Kaitlyn fortunately didn't burst into tears afterwards to ensure that hardcore fans booed her, as she did at Payback. Unusually, I hope that this female feud continues, because their matches have been exceptional by the standards of the women's division.

Next up, Chris Jericho battled Ryback. This felt like a filler feud for both established stars, and that's what it proved to be; bear in mind that part of the reason for this happening was that Jericho had been chastising the Big Guy with chants of "Cry-Back!" Even by the often-childish standards of Y2J's sense of humour, this was a tough one to buy. It still meant a fresh match between a popular veteran and one of WWE's newest stars, though, so it was still a welcome addition to the PPV.

Ryback dominated much of the match, although his periods of control were probably a little too slow and drawn-out. This heel turn of Ryback's still doesn't make sense to me, and after losing his feud to John Cena at Payback, even matches like this won't make up for main event scenarios, which Ryback could be waiting a long time to attain again. Jericho made a good comeback and brought the occasionally-disinterested crowd back into the match, and after some nice exchanges and close calls (a Codebreaker by Y2J almost saw Ryback counted out; credit to the heel on this occasion that he didn't walk away satisfied at losing in this fashion and ran back into the ring before the 10-count), Ryback won in slightly anticlimactic fashion when a missed Lionsault allowed the Big Guy to roll Jericho up for the pin. Ryback remains the recipient of a decent push, then, but as stated his main event adventures could be limited going forward. Match quality was okay, but I expected slightly more.

This was followed by the World Heavyweight Championship bout, another rematch from Payback as Alberto Del Rio defended against Dolph Ziggler. If you recall, ADR and Ziggler appeared to switch sides in a double-turn at Payback, en route to Del Rio regaining the World Title. Since that show, it has been essentially made official: Del Rio is now 100% a heel again, and Ziggler is almost certainly a babyface now (which should please the hardcore fans who have been backing him for so long). Del Rio was disadvantaged on this night to a minor extent by the absence of his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez; on television, we were told that he wasn't around because of injuries suffered at the hands of Ziggler (in reality, Rodriguez is serving a 30-day suspension for a Wellness Policy violation).

In contrast to their Payback match, which told a story that at times overshadowed the moves on display, this rematch was all about the action, and that action was of a high standard, all before a red-hot crowd. Indeed, the Philadelphia audience were enthralled by the back-and-forth wrestling, the big bumps, the high spots, the near-falls; everything, basically. This was the big-bumping, smart-wrestling Ziggler at his best, and Del Rio put in a very effective heel performance as well. The finisher attempts and reversals and submission escapes (when ADR tried to trap Dolph in the Cross-Armbreaker) were of a high standard, and the match seemed to lean towards a big finish. So, it was a bit disappointing when it ended with a disqualification, after AJ Lee (Dolph's damsel in distress, or whatever she is) ran in and unnecessarily hit Del Rio with her Divas Title. Fans booed loudly, a) because it denied Dolph a World Title win, and b) because the finish could have been a lot better, especially for such a good match. Certainly, it looks like a Dolph-AJ split is happening to cement Ziggler as a babyface, which presumably will mean a split from Big E Langston too. The only thing is, where does this leave Dolph in regards to trying to regain his World Title from Alberto? Did his title chase end here?

John Cena defended the WWE Title against Mark Henry in the penultimate bout. Such a match prospect may not seem appealing, but on this occasion there were some positives to the meeting. It was a fresh match for PPV (they have never met on PPV, believe it or not). It was Henry's first WWE Title opportunity on PPV (he has previously been World Champion, but he hasn't had a WWE Title bout on a supershow). Similar to Royal Rumble, this being the title match meant that some strong and suitable talent could be featured in the MITB bouts. And it followed Henry's greatest ever WWE moment when he pretended to announce his retirement on Raw the night after Payback, only to swerve-turn on Cena to a huge pop. What made this so awesome was Henry's very convincing performance; in the back of my mind watching that angle, I was thinking that there could be a swerve, but he was so good at conveying his faux retirement speech that you could never be completely sure. If anything, a real bowing-out seemed more likely; so when he did turn around and drop Cena, it was a "Holy s--t!" moment. Credit to the often-criticised Henry: his performance on that night was truly outstanding; his career highlight from a performance standpoint, bar none.

This match, whilst fought at the expected slow pace and with the anticipated focus on power moves and attempted power moves by Cena, was better than expected, meaning that it ultimately served a purpose. Henry even kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment once Cena had finally hit the AA, which led many to wonder if this would be Henry's time. But when Cena also withstood a World's Strongest Slam, the outcome became obvious, and indeed Cena won the match and retained the WWE Championship when he countered another Slam attempt by Henry into an STF for the submission victory. Overall, this rivalry ended up being a success, which you could argue is doubly impressive considering who was involved.

The main event would be the All-Stars Money In The Bank Ladder match for the WWE Title/red briefcase (great way to make the other MITB participants feel important). This pitted CM Punk against Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, Christian, Sheamus and the returning Rob Van Dam (who received a massive pop upon his return in the old ECW home base; Bryan and Punk also got great pops). Kane was meant to compete, but an attack by the debuting Wyatt Family on Raw took him out of contention, and WWE strangely declined to replace him (that angle, incidentally, was marred at smarky fans chanting "Husky Harris" at Bray Wyatt). By the way, this was an all-babyface MITB match, which followed what began as an all-heel MITB match earlier in the evening.

This was a long and mostly impressive collection of stunt spots. Humorously, everyone targeted the posing RVD to begin the bout, to the expected boos. Sheamus then took control to more boos after he had been taken out by the remaining four participants, before Van Dam re-entered the ring and unleashed his greatest hits on his opponents. Sheamus set up a ladder bridge between the ring and an announcer's table at ringside, only to taste a hard knee by the flying Bryan (the flying goat?). The Celtic Warrior got revenge later with his ten punches to the chest to Bryan on the ladder, with the crowd chanting "No!" to each one in an amusing moment. Punk stopped Sheamus from there and used him and a ladder as something resembling a surfboard, before Orton caught Punk with a hard T-Bone Suplex onto a ladder. A back-and-forth exchange between RVD and Christian (who had a belter of a Ladder match on Raw back in 2003) led to RVD hitting Captain Charisma with a Five-Star Frog Splash off a ladder to a massive pop (incidentally, this move ended their aforementioned Ladder bout from a decade earlier).

The great action continued as Bryan took control and basically levelled everybody with kicks, running clotheslines and dives through the ropes; Bryan exerted an amount of control which would have once been unimaginable in a WWE ring, much to the approval of this audience. This included knocking Sheamus off a ladder out to ringside and onto and through the aforementioned ladder bridge (the landing looked nasty as hell). Unexpectedly, Curtis Axel ran in to cut off Bryan's ascendancy with a neckbreaker variation, but CM Punk knocked Axel away (despite both being friends with Paul Heyman, Punk has called Axel out as a nuisance), saying he wanted to win this match himself. An angry Heyman came out and agreed, willing Punk to climb. However, Heyman then turned on Punk by slamming a ladder into his head several times; the last of these opened up a massive cut on Punk's skull. Heyman had officially turned his back on Punk, in response to Punk telling Heyman after Payback not to manage him anymore, but that they could remain friends (more on that later). This opened the door for another man to win, and after Orton dragged RVD off a ladder into a huge RKO, it was Orton who climbed the ladder and won the match and the WWE Title MITB briefcase.

This was a very entertaining end to an exciting PPV, and it was proof that even after all these years and the reduced appeal of the stipulation, the talent alone can make MITB a must-see attraction every year; both MITB matches were great for slightly different reasons. Add to that a really good ADR vs. Ziggler match, strong showings in the Tag Team Title and Divas Title bouts, and respectable matches pitting Ryback against Jericho and Cena against Henry, and you end up with a pretty damn good PPV event. It didn't quite surpass the classic MITB 2011 event, but it wasn't that far off, which has to be a good thing.

The show also set up an intriguing storyline, as Punk and Heyman are now officially at war. Since Brock Lesnar attacked Punk the night after Payback, with Heyman initially denying that it was done as revenge for Punk essentially dumping Heyman, it is clear that we will get Punk vs. Lesnar at SummerSlam, which could be fantastic if booked correctly. Cena's next opponent for the WWE Title was determined by Cena himself on Raw the night after MITB, with the approval of Brad Maddox, and Cena chose Daniel Bryan; again, this could be a very good match, although a Bryan title win seems unlikely. It's unclear who will face Del Rio for the World Title next; it might be Ziggler, although he has an issue with AJ and probably Big E to fix, which could delay his next World Title opportunity (assuming he gets one).

To sum it up, then, Money In The Bank 2013 was a thrilling PPV event (even the pre-show match was really good), and it continues the trend of strong PPV showings for WWE in 2013, which will hopefully be carried on by what promises to be an eventful SummerSlam.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

WWE SummerSlam 2013

Image Source: Bleacher Report

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: August 18 2013
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
Attendance: 14,166

SummerSlam 2013 had a lot of potential beforehand, with a double main event which promised a lot of action as well as some intriguing under-card matches. As it turned out, the show (WWE's biggest of the summer) ended up exceeding expectations, with several contenders for Match Of The Night, and at least one if not two of those bouts were even Match Of The Year contenders. And as if that wasn't enough, a major angle took place at the end of the card which will have a huge impact on the state of WWE in the coming months. All of which ensured that this was a very memorable and entertaining event; now, let's delve into exactly how it all went down.

On the pre-show, we had a United States Title match between Dean Ambrose and Rob Van Dam. This kept up the recent tradition of noteworthy pre-show matches, at least from an in-ring standpoint, but the bout was marred by a disqualification ending, as Roman Reigns ran in to Spear RVD as he had Ambrose beat. Seth Rollins also tried to intervene, but Big Show and Mark Henry (both of whom have recently turned babyface; in Show's case, for possibly the millionth time, and in Henry's case, this time for real after his tease the night after Payback) helped to fend off the Shield interference. This will presumably lead to a rematch. While this was enjoyable, I felt this should have been on the main show (it was RVD's first singles match at a WWE PPV since 2007, after all) with a proper ending, and why not have Rollins and Reigns vs. Show and Henry for the Tag Team Titles on the proper card too? Otherwise, a fairly good if slightly frustrating preview match for SummerSlam.

After JoJo sang the American national anthem (and did a good job, actually) and The Miz, who was hosting SummerSlam, was interrupted by Fandango and Summer Rae (which led to a massive Fandangoing session inside the Staples Center), the PPV extravaganza kicked off with a Ring Of Fire match between Bray Wyatt and Kane. To recap: after weeks of very effective hype videos, The Wyatt Family (previously seen on NXT) arrived on Raw and attacked Kane to the extent that he missed the All-Stars Money In The Bank Ladder match. But the Big Red Machine came back with a vengeance, and vowed revenge on Bray here at SummerSlam in the first ever Ring Of Fire match. Well, it wasn't quite the first of its kind, since the Inferno match (Kane's longtime specialty) has been seen on numerous occasions since its first appearance at Unforgiven 1998 (where Kane fell to The Undertaker; Kane has actually only ever won one of those bouts, against MVP at Armageddon 2006). The difference between the Inferno match and the ROF bout (by the way, who else thought of the Johnny Cash song Ring Of Fire, which just happens to be a crowd favourite at the world's greatest football team - well, mine - Liverpool FC?) would be that, due to the PG rating, the previous Inferno clash would result in a man being set on fire, whereas this one had to end by pinfall or submission.

That being said, the Ring Of Fire match still provided an element of danger; after all, you're surrounded by flames. This also meant that there were also restrictions on the talent from a working standpoint, since they couldn't run the ropes, use the turnbuckles or do anything other than scrap in the centre of the ring. Therefore, while this was a decent opener, and a fun spectacle to watch, it wasn't exactly the greatest option to open the show. It was okay for what it was, but the stipulation in a PG environment meant that it was largely a kick-and-punch brawl. The dangers of the fiery surroundings were slightly hindered when Bray's partners in crime, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, used a fire retardant cover to fan the flames and interfere, leading to a 3-on-1 assault that led to Bray pinning Kane. Afterwards, the three men slammed the edges of a level of steel stairs onto the other layer upon which Kane's head lay, and carried him off (I didn't want to say that they hit him with the stairs because, well, they didn't). It remains to be seen what happens from here. Overall, just an okay PPV start for Wyatt, although in his and Kane's defence, the Ring Of Fire/Inferno borders provide severe restrictions on what can be done. Incidentally, anyone disappointed because somebody wasn't set ablaze should remind themselves of the new name and stipulation for this contest, and wonder whether in the modern PG version of WWE, would you honestly expect someone to be set on fire?

Match two on the main show pitted Damien Sandow against Cody Rhodes. Since Sandow's underhanded yet fair MITB win at the expense of Rhodes, the Team Rhodes Scholars combo has split up. Cody has officially gone babyface, and cemented this turn when he kidnapped Sandow's MITB briefcase and tossed it into the river, leading Sandow to jump right in after it, despite struggling to swim, and apparently failing to retrieve it (he also swam by some suspiciously brown floating objects in the water). But the Intellectual Saviour Of The Masses returned with a more appropriate case for his character, a smart-looking brown briefcase (which looks like a big bar of Cadbury's chocolate to me; if it was, I'd eat it because it would look delicious!), and swore revenge on Cody, despite Rhodes' hijinks all being retribution for what Sandow did to him at Money In The Bank. All of which led us to this match here at SummerSlam.

Arguably the biggest story of the match presentation was the revelation when he came down to the ring that Cody Rhodes has shaved off his now-famous moustache! Sure, it looked silly, but it was part of his gimmick dammit! I suppose the face turn necessitates that people do not shout "Cody's moustache!" in a condescending way. It's actually weird to see Cody clean-shaved now, even though he had no facial hair for the first five or so years of his WWE run. But back to the match: this was an adequate bout, nothing special, but sufficient for a rivalry of this (mid-card) nature. After some nice near-falls before an interested crowd, Cody picked up the pinfall win with Cross Rhodes to exact full (well, near-full) revenge on Damien. I thought that Sandow would get the victory to build some momentum for his character before he cashes in Money In The Bank (this one is for the World Heavyweight Championship, by the way; Randy Orton has the one for the WWE Championship, or had it I perhaps should say ... is that a spoiler? Hmmm ...), but instead this moment went to Rhodes. It is assumed (and hoped) that Sandow will get some important wins from now until he cashes in his prize, because it was a surprise that he even won the case at MITB, so he'll need booking support to turn him into a genuine contender and a potential World Heavyweight Champion, even if it doesn't happen until 2014.

We then got Alberto Del Rio defending that same World Heavyweight Championship against Christian. ADR appears to have ended his feud with Dolph Ziggler, judging by the booking since MITB, so he got Captain Charisma here instead. Christian recently returned from a long injury lay-off, and has picked up some significant momentum and big wins (he even beat RVD and Orton in a 3-way to earn this shot by cleanly pinning Orton, amazingly). This hasn't been mentioned enough in recent weeks, but it bears repeating because Christian was often seen as the guy who WWE simply wouldn't push, or if they did, it was a case of start-stop as opposed to giving him a true winning streak (his 2005 and 2011 main event adventures are suitable evidence). Therefore, at this stage of his career, it's a surprise that WWE would go all-out to push Christian in this fashion, so Peeps should have been more than satisfied by the preparation given to Christian for this big title opportunity at Del Rio (by the way, I wonder if Sheamus would have been given this title shot had he not been shelved himself shortly after Money In The Bank, or Chris Jericho had he not quietly departed WWE shortly after MITB?).

As it turned out, this wasn't to be Christian's night to regain the WHC, but he and Alberto still managed to deliver a very, very good match - they're both talented, but this was still better than I expected, and it was definitely their best match against each other to date. Del Rio concentrated on striking tactics with hard kicks and weakening Christian's arm (with the intention of polishing him off later with the Cross-Armbreaker) by ramming Christian's arm into the barricade (which the CLB did a great job of selling; if you don't know what "CLB" means, Google it). Christian attempted comebacks, but Del Rio would keep cutting him off and would keep going back to that arm. Captain Charisma did eventually mount a real fight-back, and this led to some big moves by both men, such as a top rope crossbody by CC, a Backstabber by ADR, a major hurricanrana off the ropes by Christian and seemingly match-winning kick to the head by Del Rio to no avail. As the fans chanted "This is awesome!" (and it wouldn't be the last time we heard this chant on the night), Christian attempted a Spear and nailed it, but his arm prevented the decisive and timely cover. This gave ADR sufficient time to rebound with a Cross-Armbreaker and to give him the win by tap out. This was fantastic; the first of the really good matches on this show. ADR followed the bout with a delusional promo where he called himself a hero to the Mexican people, to the expected boos by the fans.

Miz was back on-screen with Maria Menounos (who was heckled to what had to be an upsetting degree by the MSG crowd back at the 2013 Hall Of Fame induction ceremony), as Fandango and Summer again tried to steal the spotlight, only for Miz and Maria to provide some dance moves of their own to upset, erm, the dancing duo. Next!

Okay, maybe "next" again, because we had a tribute to Total Divas now as Natalya faced Brie Bella. Natalya is good enough in the ring that her matches are better than the standard diva offering (well, besides AJ vs. Kaitlyn, which has greatly exceeded expectations over the summer), but this match purely existed to promote the E! show which, at present, is only on in the United States (making it irrelevant to UK viewers of SummerSlam), and which has female wrestlers on it, but apparently has no real focus whatsoever on wrestling. Therefore, while using PPV time to promote Total Divas makes sense from a business perspective, it was actually something less than filler from an entertainment standpoint. With the other cast members at ringside (Nikki Bella, Naomi, Cameron, JoJo again and Eva Marie; and who is Eva Marie, anyway?), the match was fortunately kept fairly short, and Natalya won by submission with the Sharpshooter. To summarise this bout, fans began chanting irrelevant things in a repeat of what the Raw crowd in New Jersey famously did the night after WrestleMania 29. The subsequent scene, where Ryback was bullying someone backstage, was actually more entertaining than this match, as wrong as that sounds.

Fortunately, things took another up-turn with the following encounter, as CM Punk battled Brock Lesnar in what Paul Heyman announced on the pre-show would be a No Disqualification match (that should have been made clear on television weeks ago to make the match a more enticing prospect for potential PPV buyers). After Lesnar F5'd Punk on the post-Payback Raw, and Heyman backstabbed Punk at Money In The Bank, there was only ever going to be one outcome, and that was Punk vs. Lesnar here at SummerSlam. This had the potential to be really good, and it ended up being even better: it was either the first or second best match of 2013, depending where you rank Punk vs. The Undertaker from WM 29 compared to this match. This was a fast-paced and furiously-fought brawl, all to huge crowd heat all the way (which was a good sign after the Staples Center crowd almost ignored Lesnar's match with Triple H at SummerSlam last year). The story of this match was that Lesnar was much bigger, stronger and therefore tougher than Punk, but CM's hard strikes, technical wrestling skills and never-say-die attitude kept him in the fight throughout. It all made for an entirely believable and extremely entertaining fight.

Lesnar pummelled Punk in the early going, as Punk would occasionally respond with some wicked strikes but to no avail against the hulking-great beast. A tope by Punk took Lesnar down, but Brock repelled an attempted steel stairs attack. They brawled by the announcer's table, and when Punk targeted Heyman, that same table was where Lesnar threw Punk as if he were a piece of garbage. After a ringside belly-to-belly by Brock, Lesnar added pressure with a bearhug, which with the support of the Los Angeles crowd, Punk managed to fight out of the hold with a bite and followed that up with repeated knees. Lesnar tried to brush them off, but Punk used them to eventually put Brock down for a Big Elbow, leading to a close two-count. Finisher attempts by both were countered, and Lesnar even reversed an attempted GTS into a Kimura Lock, which Punk would counter himself into a triangle choke. Brock broke it with two powerbombs, but that still wasn't enough, and Punk then had another near-fall of his own with a frog splash, again to no avail.

A steel chair then entered proceedings, with both men blocking shots, but Heyman looked worried when Punk seized control of the weapon, as he had evened up the playing field somewhat. Heyman broke up the cover after a chair-assisted Big Elbow and a GTS, but even when Lesnar attempted an F5 again, Punk countered it into a DDT (in another tribute to Eddie Guerrero if you remember No Way Out 2004). Punk trapped Lesnar in the Anaconda Vice, but Heyman again interfered; this time, Punk struck Heyman and then locked the manager in the Anaconda Vice to a huge pop. But this allowed Lesnar to get the chair and begin belting Punk hard with it to break the AV, and the monster Lesnar followed that up by dropping Punk with an F5 onto the chair to get the pinfall win. What a match that was; tremendous stuff. Thanks to the red-hot crowd, Lesnar achieved what he and HHH largely couldn't here, and this was Brock's best all-round match since his April 2012 WWE return (the Cena brawl at Extreme Rules was great, but Punk provided far more offence and still looked strong in defeat). For Punk, it was another feather in his cap as he once again stole the show on a major stage. It's hard to figure what happens now, because while Lesnar will inevitably be taking a break (and he has appeared on at least one episode of Raw a month all year so far, as unimpressive as that might read), Punk surely won't lose his feud with Lesnar/Heyman that easily, will he? I foresee further Punk-Heyman squabbles in the near future, before a probable Punk-Lesnar rematch at some point (which may be saved until WrestleMania XXX).

Two feuds merged into one next with a mixed tag team match, as Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn battled Big E Langston and AJ Lee. Since AJ inadvertently cost Dolph the World Heavyweight Championship at Money In The Bank, Ziggler has officially cut ties with AJ and Big E, thus cementing his babyface turn. Since the Kaitlyn-AJ feud remains ongoing, it led us to this doubles match, which would allow Ziggler to get revenge on both of the heels who wronged him (even though the chances of him attacking AJ were very slim, and unsurprisingly didn't happen), and Kaitlyn would get another chance to fight AJ. It was an adequate match; AJ and Kaitlyn had some fine exchanges for the third consecutive PPV, and the Dolph-Langston action was good too. Since AJ had beaten Kaitlyn twice and Ziggler hadn't won on PPV since Elimination Chamber, the logical ending was for the babyfaces to win, and that came to pass as Ziggler pinned Big E with the Zig Zag.

A sensible result, then, which probably draws a line under Dolph's quarrels with AJ and Big E (by the way, why didn't anyone ever called their group "A-B-D"? You know, for "AJ", "Big E" and "Dolph"? Oh, never mind.), although the AJ-Kaitlyn feud could continue; they deserve at least one more Divas Title match, perhaps at Night Of Champions. The only downside is for Ziggler who, unless he refocuses on Del Rio, appears to have been kicked out of the World Title picture having worked so hard to get there, having elicited an enormous reaction when he cashed in MITB and won the WHC in April, and having seen his title reign cut short at Payback following a serious concussion. Hopefully, Ziggler can rebound; it would be a shame if he wasn't given a chance to at least challenge for the prize which he may still be holding today, had he not been sidelined. Oh, and after this match, one more Miz-Fandango segment led to Miz cracking the ballroom dancer with a right hand.

The main event was up next, pitting John Cena against Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship, with Triple H as special guest referee. The set-up for this one was a bit unusual: the new General Manager of Raw, Brad Maddox (who Vince McMahon gave the job to as a punishment to the fans for tormenting previous GM Vickie Guerrero when she was fired by public vote in an amusing segment), gave Cena the chance to pick his own opponent for SummerSlam, and he picked Daniel Bryan, whose popularity has gradually reached new heights in recent months. But Vince McMahon has made it clear that he did not approve, and even tried to get Wade Barrett to shave off Bryan's beard to make him look more like a potential champion. Stephanie McMahon played it neutral, whilst Triple H (the babyface COO of the last two years, remember) strongly praised Bryan as a title contender. In the meantime, Vince's attempts to install Maddox as the referee here were repelled by HHH, who announced that he would be the official for this contest. That he also refereed Cena vs. CM Punk at SummerSlam 2011 was in my mind, which made me think that HHH might have a hand in the finish. Also, Cena and Bryan's largely sportsman-like approach to this bout (Cena helped Bryan after he was attacked at the climax of a gauntlet series, during which Bryan had an outstanding bout with Antonio Cesaro) turned sour when both men exchanged some heated comments in a really good Miz TV segment on Raw the previous Monday, where Bryan told Cena that he was a parody of pro wrestling. This all set the table nicely for what had the potential to be a pretty memorable main event match.

Unsurprisingly, Bryan was the overwhelming crowd favourite against Cena, who often divided crowds at the best of times. There were some technical wrestling exchanges in the early going, as the match was being slowly built up in an expert manner. Bryan teased Cena with a test of strength that he turned into a bridge to try and flip Cena into a quick-fire cover. More closely-fought wrestling led to several submission attempts, notably a Bryan surfboard stretch, before Cena fought back with a suplex from the steel stairs to the ringside mats and a sit-down powerbomb back in the ring. Bryan made a comeback with his flip off the top rope and a running clothesline followed by his signature stiff kicks, but Cena avoided the sequence-ending big kick to the head and set up his own comeback (beginning the so-called "Five Moves Of Doom") with the shoulder tackles and his turnaround slam. Bryan countered a Five-Knuckle Shuffle when he kicked Cena during his "You Can't See Me!" bit, but Cena would hit the, erm, Shuffle shortly afterwards.

Bryan avoided an attempted Attitude Adjustment, and followed that with his painful-to-land flying dropkick off the ropes, but it only got a two count. In a cool moment, after Cena tried to lock on the STF, Daniel countered by trapping Cena in the STF himself to a major pop (it couldn't have escaped people's attention that Bryan's version was executed far better than Cena's is), but the WWE Champion got to the ropes to break the hold. Two German suplexes by Bryan were followed by the Yes Lock, but Cena found a way out of it and replied with an Attitude Adjustment for an extremely close near-fall. Daniel hit a really big move next as he suplexed Cena off the top rope, but in such a manner that Bryan remained on the top turnbuckle and followed with a flying headbutt, again for something only slightly below a three-count. Cena blocked a Bryan tope with a hard right-hand and hit his top rope legdrop, once more without getting the victory. With the LA audience (and me) completely enthralled by the action, Cena trapped Bryan in the STF but, once more, it was broken when Bryan made the ropes this time. A series of running dropkicks by Daniel were stopped by a wicked Cena clothesline, and then after a big back-and-forth exchange of punches and slaps, Cena tried to hit another AA, but Bryan expertly countered the attempt on two occasions, and followed that up with a hard running knee, which amazingly won the match and the WWE Title for Daniel Bryan! Yes! Yes! Yes!

It was surprising enough that Bryan had won the title, but the fact that he - as an underdog, smallish babyface, don't forget - had managed to cleanly pin Cena (who never loses cleanly, unless it's to a mega-star like The Rock) was a major achievement, and it came at the end of an outstanding match, definitely the best that either has had so far this year (although for Bryan, his aforementioned clash with Cesaro comes close). Afterwards, with the fans loving that Bryan had unexpectedly won WWE's top prize, both HHH and Cena officially endorsed the new WWE Champion, as fireworks went off and confetti fell from the ceiling of the Staples Center. On commentary, Michael Cole (once Bryan's biggest critic) conveyed the significance of the moment and was signing the show off the air, when ...

"I hear voices in my head, they counsel me, they understand, they talk to me ..."

Randy Orton came out with his Money In The Bank briefcase for the WWE Title shot. Orton was booed, despite him having not turned heel at any point; apparently this appearance alone signified a heel turn. The Viper had let the SummerSlam main eventers know with his presence alone that he was considering cashing in here, and it looked like he was about to do so as Bryan and HHH looked surprised. Surprise turned to adrenaline for Bryan as he called for Orton to do it if he was so inclined, only for Triple H to stun everybody by turning Bryan around and dropping him with a Pedigree! OMG! This unpredictable heel swerve led to Orton pinning Bryan without another move being hit as HHH crowned Randy Orton the new WWE Champion. What an unbelievable end to an awesome supercard.

On Raw the next night, the battle lines were further drawn as it came to light that Vince, HHH and Stephanie were all backing Orton as the so-called "Face of WWE", whilst diminishing Bryan as being a good hand but nothing more than, in Stephanie's words, "a B+". The Shield also seem to be backing up the modern-day Corporation by helping to beat Bryan down. This storyline has a lot of potential, as it looks like Bryan will have a slow title chase and a real fight on his hands against the McMahons and Orton, which is guaranteed to get the crowd backing him. As for John Cena? Well, Cena revealed on Raw that he had suffered a nasty-looking arm injury, and thus he would be undergoing surgery and would be out of action for some time. This leaves Bryan as the new top babyface in WWE for the time being (unless you count CM Punk, whose feud with Paul Heyman rolls on), and it will be very interesting to see how this major new storyline develops over the coming weeks and months.

To conclude, then, SummerSlam 2013 was superb; the best SummerSlam in years, perhaps since the phenomenal 2002 edition of SummerSlam (which saw Shawn Michaels return to fight Triple H, Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio, The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar and more). The top three matches were all excellent, and Punk vs. Lesnar and Cena vs. Bryan were genuine Match Of The Year contenders. Add to that the big, shocking angle which ended the show and some good action further down the card, and you have a classic PPV event. As good as WrestleMania 29 was (and I attended it, remember), SummerSlam was probably the best WWE show of the year, and it could be a while before we get another supershow which matches it, because this was exceptional.

Overall Rating: 9/10 - Outstanding

WWE Night Of Champions 2013

Image Source: Wrestling
DVD Network

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: September 15 2013
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Attendance: 10,500

Well, a lot has changed in WWE since SummerSlam. John Cena is on the shelf, meaning that he will miss an extended period of time from the ring for the first time in nearly five years. More importantly from an on-screen standpoint, however, is the modern-day Corporation which was set up at SummerSlam when Triple H helped Randy Orton to defeat Daniel Bryan via Money In The Bank cash-in to become WWE Champion, and on Raw the following night when Triple H's actions were endorsed by Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon. Add to that Orton being crowned "The face of WWE", the McMahon regime telling Bryan that he is nothing more than "a B+ player" and The Shield serving as unofficial bodyguards for the heel rulers, and it's safe to say that business has well and truly picked up, to quote the great Jim Ross. All of this has made Raw genuinely interesting to watch lately.

But back to the subject matter, because in the midst of all this, we had Night Of Champions. The absence of Cena and the heavy focus on Bryan vs. The New Corporation (or whatever they're called) created a big downside for NOC; that being, due to a lack of real attention to other rivalries, nothing else on the show seemed PPV-worthy beforehand. Okay, Alberto Del Rio vs. Rob Van Dam for the World Title sounded intriguing, but the extension of the CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman feud would come via a match that had "Raw" written all over it. The other announced matches (I assumed that more would be added, since NOC is the night when every WWE Championship is supposed to be defended) didn't raise hopes, either. So, whilst recent PPVs have been very good or great, and Raw has been a lot better since SummerSlam, Night Of Champions ultimately felt inconsequential, at least beforehand.

Triple H tried to erase such thoughts when he opened NOC by suggesting that it would be an unforgettable night, only to be interrupted by Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman, who criticised HHH (continuing their spat from May/June) and tried to get Heyman out of fighting Punk later on. HHH was having none of it and, in fact, pointed out that since Axel was the IC Champion, he would have to defend his title as well as fighting Punk later in the show, as HHH said that the next man out of the curtain would be Axel's opponent. Before getting to that, it's worth pausing to wonder this: sure, the continuity of HHH still being enemies to Axel and Heyman despite his heel turn is nice, but why have a heel punish a heel in a babyface-like manner so soon after the big angle at SummerSlam? Even Brad Maddox or Vickie Guerrero could have handled this task to maintain HHH's heel turn (unless you want to be cynical and assume that HHH still wants to be cheered regardless of him being a villain once again).

Anyway, Axel's opponent turned out to be Kofi Kingston, who despite recently returning from injury with a new look (well, he now wears long tights), still seemed like a bit of a let-down of a surprise opponent, although his previous IC Title reigns make him a worthy challenger. Considering that this match didn't have much going for it, it turned out to be pretty good. It was a lengthy match (over 13 minutes), but both men did a good job of keeping the crowd invested, and putting together an adequate title match. It wasn't anything special nor was it even the best match of the night, but it was well-executed and was better than I expected. As back-handed a compliment as this may read, it was very good filler. Axel got the win in the end, as expected. It wasn't a career-defining victory by any means, but it was a good win for Axel considering that he was bound to fall to CM Punk in what would be his second match of the night.

We then got a Fatal Four Way match for the Divas Title, which would see AJ Lee defend her butterfly-covered crown against Natalya, Brie Bella and Naomi. This was set up when AJ, on the August 26 edition of Raw, cut an incredible promo - which some called a "Pipe Bomb-shell" - by unleashing some worked-shoot comments on the cast of Total Divas (which is almost the entire female crew at this point). The TD girls didn't appreciate AJ's interview (which may have been the best promo ever cut by a woman on WWF/WWE programming), and so we got this match as a consequence. AJ's chances of retaining the Divas Title were reduced when some of the females who are not on Total Divas who had been helping AJ in her anti-TD crusade - Aksana, Layla and Alicia Fox - told AJ beforehand that they were no longer supporting her. Why, I don't know, but either way, AJ's odds of winning seemed slim.

So, of course, AJ did win, and it's no surprise that she did, because the matches against Kaitlyn and that great promo on Raw make her the absolute best female in WWE right now, possibly the best since the Trish Stratus/Lita era. The match itself wasn't that memorable; it was better than Divas matches had tended to be in the past, but it couldn't hold a candle to any of the AJ-Kaitlyn bouts. The best spot belonged to Natalya, who revived her secret weapon for multi-person matches, the double Sharpshooter, which she used to make Brie and Naomi suffer. Ultimately, this weakened the Bella and Funkadactyl enough that they couldn't save Natalya from submitting to the Black Widow, and keeping the Divas Title on AJ.

As noted earlier, the first meeting between Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam sounded like an enticing prospect, as did the possibility of RVD winning the World Heavyweight Championship if he conquered ADR. In the run-up to this bout, WWE made the questionable decision of having Del Rio kick Ricardo Rodriguez to the kerb after three years as a perfect wrestler/manager (or wrestler/announcer) combo. RR had just returned from a suspension, so perhaps this was WWE's way of punishing Ricardo, but still Del Rio and Ricardo are far more effective with each other than they are being separate (although as the actual wrestler, Del Rio will cope far better without Ricardo than vice versa). To counter-balance this somewhat, Ricardo linked up with Van Dam, and gave RVD a personal ring announcement at the beginning of this match, much to Alberto's chagrin, and remained at ringside throughout the bout.

This was a really good mix of high-flying offence, fairly stiff kicks, submission attempts and finisher counters and reversals. RVD remains fairly fresh since his return at Money In The Bank, and Del Rio is doing a good job of justifying his reign with WWE's second most important championship. Unfortunately, the entertaining action was hampered when WWE tacked a pretty poor finish to this match, considering that this was a PPV encounter: Del Rio was disqualified when he refused to break his Cross-Armbreaker on the referee's count of five. An annoyed RVD repelled a post-match ADR chair attack with a Van Terminator to Del Rio, which popped the crowd and slightly made up for the crap ending. Sure, WWE is planning to present a rematch between the two men, but surely they could have come up with something better than this; they could have even composed a better way to reach a disqualification decision than what we saw here.

Fandango fought The Miz next. Fandango got a big reaction, with many in attendance Fandangoing, but that aside this was another filler bout. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't really enhance the entertainment value of this event either. It did, however, bring an end to the mini rivalry between Fandango and Miz, so it did serve a purpose at least. Miz won by submission with the Figure-Four Leglock, and there isn't really anything else I could write about this bout, so let's move on.

Following this was the second most promoted match on the show, as CM Punk battled Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman in a handicap elimination match. After Heyman betrayed Punk at Money In The Bank, Brock Lesnar was unleashed upon Punk and defeated him in an outstanding brawl at SummerSlam. But with Lesnar back in hibernation until late 2013 or early 2014, Heyman would need to take a different approach to continue making Punk's life miserable. This came when Axel helped to handcuff Punk's, erm, hands behind his back, and Heyman repeatedly belted him with a kendo stick in a pretty violent angle by PG standards. As a result, this 2-on-1 bout was made, with the near-guarantee that Punk would get his hands on Heyman and exact revenge on the evil former owner of ECW.

Considering the elimination aspect, this of course meant that Axel had no chance of winning himself, and so after some decent but unspectacular exchanges, Punk sent Axel packing with the Anaconda Vice. I forgot to mention that this was also a No Disqualification bout, so at this point Punk had Heyman at his mercy. Heyman had supposedly not slept and hadn't shaved for weeks because he was so fearful of consequences here, which was funny. And that anxiety was justified when Punk unleashed a brutal kendo stick beating of his own on Heyman, and aimed to have Heyman meet karma (not Kharma, the former WWE female talent) when Paul's hands were cuffed behind his back. This led to a swerve, which I expected but wasn't sure of what the details would be, as Ryback ran in and speared Punk through an upright table. Punk's back suffered a nasty cut as a result, but more notably was how Ryback then picked Heyman up and laid him on the downed Punk for the win. So, Paul Heyman pinned CM Punk. It looks like Punk vs. Ryback is next to extend Punk vs. Heyman, which considering that we saw Punk vs. Ryback for several months not that long ago is not exactly the most exciting thing to look forward to. The only hope is that Punk vs. Ryback is a one-match affair that ultimately leads us to the true Punk-Heyman score-settler. Given the result of this match, it shouldn't be hard to work out the outcome when Punk and Heyman collide again (unless Brock Lesnar is retrieved by Heyman to make that task harder for the self-proclaimed "Best In The World").

We then got a Shield double, beginning with Dean Ambrose defending his United States Title against Dolph Ziggler. On paper, this had the potential to be really good and a Match Of The Night contender. Unfortunately, however, it felt like just another match. I'm not sure if it's because of the low crowd reaction to much of the bout, or if it was down to a lack of any real action. There were some decent spots (particularly a Ziggler X-Factor to Ambrose off the ropes), but really there was nothing to distinguish this from a match that you would watch on a typical episode of Raw or SmackDown. It's a shame because this could have been a career-making match for Ambrose, and for such a standout moment, there are few more qualified opponents than the talented and fearless Ziggler. In the end, the combination of a fairly disinterested crowd and a dearth of big or memorable moves resulted in a disappointing match. I thought that WWE might have switched the gold to Ziggler here to ensure a title change on this PPV (it was Night Of Champions, after all), but as it turned out Ambrose picked up the minor upset with a Headlock Driver.

The Shield have been associated closely with excitement and unpredictability this year; they have ensured that everybody is interested in their matches regardless of their opposition. For Ambrose on this night, though, that wasn't the case, and while he was boosted by the win, it wasn't a match which will be replayed over and over in the future. For Ziggler, this defeat (and bear in mind that this was a demotion following his World Title adventures in the spring and summer) spelled another blow for the master of the Zig Zag, as what began as a really promising year threatens to go off the rails, especially since he couldn't even have the bragging rights of having delivered a thrilling match on this particular card.

Better was the other Shield-related match, as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defend the WWE Tag Team Championships against The Prime Time Players. Titus O'Neil and Darren Young had earned this bout on the pre-show by winning a tag team turmoil match, defeating 3MB, Tons Of Funk, The Usos and The Real Americans. Given some of the talent in that multi-team scrap, it was a bit of a surprise that the PTP were chosen as contenders, but following their unannounced babyface turn and a bit of a push up the card since then by WWE (this came about that Darren Young officially announced that he was gay in a media interview in August, although it hasn't been mentioned on the air yet by the company), it perhaps should have been expected.

O'Neil and Young did not win the titles, but they made the most of their supercard opportunity with their best showing yet as a team (or in any form, as a matter of fact). They had the benefit of facing the hungry up-starts Rollins and Reigns, who all year have done a great job of making their opponents look good (Ambrose usually does this as well; he just didn't in his match with Ziggler). Reigns picked up the win for his team when he nailed Titus with a Spear. This wasn't the best Shield match of the year by any means, but it was a creditable showing by the Hounds Of Justice, as they took a potentially filler bout to a slightly higher level. And based on their performances here it is possible that the PTP will get a title run someday. Overall, this match was a success.

Ever since SummerSlam, HHH and company have done their damndest to establish their authority by punishing Daniel Bryan, as well as other babyfaces like Big Show (who is supposedly broke) and Cody Rhodes (who was fired after a match with Orton for speaking out against the baddies). Bryan has stood up to the evil owners, but his every attempt to make a comeback has been withstood, as has almost every other fight-back by any of the consequential babyfaces. After all, what can the good guys do, since the rulers who are making their lives miserable are running the company? , and as a matter of fact the episode of Raw on the night after the supershow under review here was arguably the best of the entire year. And it set up an intriguing Bryan vs. Randy Orton title match, in Bryan's mandatory rematch following his short-lived reign at SummerSlam. But since HHH announced earlier that there would be no outside interference, one had to wonder how Bryan would be denied, since a title victory under the circumstances seemed very unlikely.

This was a very entertaining main event match, but I personally was expecting slightly more; I thought that based on the in-ring action, this had the potential to be a classic feud. And it may very well be, but their first PPV meeting here, whilst of a high standard, fell slightly short of being something that you would remember for a long time when it was over. Perhaps it was due to a lack of time, as this encounter felt a bit truncated. Nevertheless, it was still a very good match, definitely the best of the night. And it had a finish which was unexpected, as Bryan caught Orton with a Running Knee and won clean as a sheet, regaining the WWE Title and joining the Detroit crowd in an extended "Yes! chant celebration as the show went off the air. Against the odds, albeit without any obstacles on the night, Daniel Bryan was the new WWE Champion.

Or was he?

At the time, I noticed that referee Scott Armstrong's three-count was a bit fast, although it wasn't acknowledged by the announcers. The lack of an appearance by any of the McMahons or HHH, or even The Shield, made me think that this would be the swerve; the thing which prevented that "too good to be true" moment for Bryan. And so it proved on Raw the following night, when HHH pointed out Armstrong's mistake and after Armstrong appeared to tell Bryan that their scheme was busted, HHH announced that the title was vacant, or in abeyance as he classed it. Bryan seemed confused by Armstrong's suggestion that he and Daniel were working together, meaning that the veteran official was probably really in the power couple's back pocket all along. It was just odd that the title wasn't returned to Orton, as a rematch for the gold at Battleground was instead announced.

That aside, which disappointed many fans (least of all Bryan himself, following his five-minute title run at SummerSlam), this edition of Raw was very momentous and entertaining. As well as the angle, we had a vicious Randy Orton beatdown of The Miz in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and in front of his parents; a classic heel performance from Stephanie McMahon as she forced Big Show to punch out Dusty Rhodes following the treatment of Cody and Goldust (who returned for one night on the pre-NOC Raw and was beaten by Orton in a match that was far better than expected), and a big angle to close the show as many of the babyfaces finally stood up to the evil owners, lifting Bryan on their shoulders to at least declare him their preferred face of WWE.

So, Raw continues to provide some real entertainment with the modern take on the babyface wrestler vs. heel owner(s) storyline, but unfortunately, Night Of Champions ended up being the filler show that I expected. From an in-ring standpoint, it was a good show, although the best match was still a notch below the standout bouts at most of the PPV events we've seen this year. It just felt inconsequential, transitional, like an event where if you missed it, you didn't miss that much. Only the main event angle and Ryback joining forces with Paul Heyman were key storyline moments, and neither on their own made NOC a must-see show. (In a totally unrelated issue, I was wondering why The Wyatt Family weren't on this card considering how much their official WWE debut had been hyped.) I enjoyed ADR vs. RVD and Bryan vs. Orton, and I was pleasantly surprised by Axel vs. Kofi and The Shield vs. The PTP. Overall, though, this was probably the weakest supercard of the year so far in WWE. It was never going to be as good as SummerSlam, since Brock Lesnar wasn't competing and John Cena is now injured, but it still could have at least given the likes of Extreme Rules or Payback a run for their money. Hopefully, WWE will transfer some of the excitement generated by the Bryan vs. The WWE Brass storyline onto PPV so that the next show, Battleground, will provide as much excitement as most episodes of Raw have been lately.

Overall Rating: 6/10 - Reasonable