Posted in: The Classic Paper Review The Current Paper Review - Vol III - Night of Champions 2009
By Mazza
Jul 28, 2009 - 7:07:23 AM
Vol III – Night of Champions 2009
Welcome one and all to the Night of Champions edition of The Current Paper Review, I am your host, Mazza. It seems like a long time since I have put up a column. Work is very busy for me right now which I guess is a blessing in the current economic climate. I will definitely be bringing you a Classic Paper Review between now and SummerSlam so make sure to keep an eye out for that. But that is enough about future reviews of the past, it is time to concentrate on the now.
This is my third outing with The Current Paper Review but it is the first that I will actually review without spoiling the results before hand. I like the idea of Night of Champions in general but this year’s edition has not had me impatiently awaiting the event. I am however hopeful that somehow, someway there will be an interesting shake up with the main event scene on all three brands.
ODE TO THE MENU
The Event: Night of Champions 2009
The Date: 26 July 2009
The Place: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Before we get underway with the review, here is a quick reminder of DaveyBoy’s review key.
<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F] (Armageddon '04)
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: No Way Out '07)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Unforgiven ‘08)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: The Bash ‘09)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: Extreme Rules '09)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: No Way Out '09)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: Royal Rumble '09)
80+: Make sure that the video or DVD is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]
Chris Jericho and ??? defeated Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes in 9:37 to retain the Unified Tag Team Championship
We start the evening by finding out who would get a huge rub (or be the unfortunate scapegoat) of filling Edge’s big boots as Chris Jericho’s tag team partner. Before Jericho introduces his partner, he presents a video package of Edge which gives the Rated R Superstar instant pops (Jericho is so good right now). The Big Show is announced as the mystery partner and Legacy look shocked. Show dominates both Legacy members before tagging Jericho in. Underhanded tactics see Rhodes and DiBiase take control and cut off Jericho who plays the lesser-spotted heel in peril. Cody Rhodes then shocks the hell out of me by hitting Jericho with a picture perfect moonsault as Y2J continues to kick out at two and miss a tag by inches.
Legacy’s tactics seem to be working well until Show tags himself in whilst Jericho is being Irish whipped in the middle of the ring. He is not called Big for nothing folks. He lands a big spear on DiBiase but Cody makes the save at two. Legacy double team the big man but Jericho returns to hit Ted with a Codebreaker before Show locks in the Colossal Clutch for the submission. After the recent quality of matches we’ve seen from Jericho, this was never going to live up to that standard. The match however did follow the classic tag team formula and I found that quite intriguing considering the heel-heel dynamic on show. The Big Show I guess is a safe choice to fill in. I look forward to seeing where this partnership goes. CPR Rating: 6.5
CM Punk goes out into the crowd and cuts a pretty damn good promo. I have never been a fan of Punk since he has arrived on the scene but I have to wonder what the hell WWE were doing keeping him on the short leash for so long.
Christian defeated Tommy Dreamer in 8:31 to win the ECW Championship
Once again we have Christian in the ECW PPV match going against champion Dreamer. The first few minutes see some standard back and forth action which is lacklustre but a long way from awful. They both go over the top rope as Dreamer counters a Christian sleeper hold and it is the champ who has control when they get back in the ring. We see a host of counters and Dreamer actually locks in a Texas Cloverleaf during the sequence. Christian then goes for a Killswitch, Dreamer counters and Captain Charisma re-counters to hit his finisher and win back the ECW title. Both men hug in a show of respect after the match. Dreamer did a lot better than I expected here despite it being clear that he won’t be able to go on much longer. Christian was as solid as ever but I do have the feeling that with Edge injured, a heel turn and move to Smackdown would be the best move for Captain Charisma. CPR Rating: 7
Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz, Jack Swagger, Primo, Carlito and MVP in 8:37 in a Six Pack Challenge to retain the United States Championship
Primo was announced as a replacement for The Big Show in the match and Carlito did not look happy to his brother show up. The first question that came to my mind when the match starts is where are the ladders and the briefcase. It starts out understandably clustered as all six men try to showcase their talent. They all quickly learn to share the ring time and we get some nice high spots along the way including Swagger powerbombing Primo and Kingston who are suplexing The Miz off the top rope. We then see a series of cool Caribbean counters involving the Colon brothers and Kingston. The brothers then reunite briefly but it is Swagger who takes control of the match before MVP takes The All American American out and hits Ballin’. Porter hits the Playmaker on Swagger as Miz plants MVP’s face into the mat. Miz covers MVP but the Colons break up the count and throw the Miz out of the ring.
Carlito convinces his baby brother that they should work together before nailing him with the Back Stabber but from behind, Kofi lands Trouble in Paradise on Carlito to retain his title. This match was a very pleasant surprise. I may take a little stick for giving this such a high grade but to me this was a very smooth and inventive match with some great athleticism on show. There were some lovely sequences and false finishes and I really feel that all six men involved were making a point that there could give so much more to the Raw main event than the usual suspects. A big pat on the back for all six. A final note here but did anyone else who watched this notice that Carlito was actually pinning Swagger as he was pinned by Kingston? CPR Rating: 9
We then have a typical Randy “Borton” backstage interview. I would tell you what he said but unfortunately I fell asleep during it. I think it is time that Randall lets those voices in his head cut the promos for him.
Michelle McCool defeated Melina in 6:13 to retain the Women’s Championship
Before the match begins, McCool drop kicks Melina off the apron as she makes her custom splits ring entrance. The bell rings and Melina goes aggressively on the attack but McCool takes control of the match on the outside. It is not long until they go outside again where both ladies stand on the ringside barrier but once again it is McCool who gets the upper hand by landing a DDT. The mild “holy shit” chant that could be heard was a bit of an overreaction but it was not something you would expect to see in a WWE divas match. This seems to anger the feisty Melina who takes control with some more innovative offence. Melina goes for the pin but McCool counters to get the victory. This was shaping up to be another surprisingly good match before the finish which came out of nowhere. This started out as a very different and entertaining divas match and McCool really impressed me for the first time tonight. Despite the poor ending, the ladies did a very good job. CPR Rating: 7
Randy Orton defeated Triple H and John Cena in 22:22 in a Triple Threat Match to retain the WWE Championship
Orton leaves the ring as the bell goes to insight a fight between Cena and Hunter but the challengers do not take the bait. Cena and Hunter both concentrate on the champion but Orton finally gets in some offence when he knocks Cena off the apron into The Game. Cena and Orton go one on one for a while but when an Attitude Adjustment is in Randall’s future, Hunter breaks it up and it is time for The Game to have some alone time with the champ. With both men down, Cena takes his time to climb the ropes and hit a double Fameasser that Hunter and Orton were waiting so long for that it looked rather silly. The challengers finally get their one on one time and as they slug back and forth, the crowd are definitely more in Hunter’s corner than Cena’s. Each man takes charge for a while before we see a series of counters to finishers. Triple H finally hits a Pedigree but Orton pulls Hunter out of the ring before the ref can count to three. He then sets Hunter up for an RKO on the table but is countered with a low blow. He sets the champ up for a Pedigree on the table but Cena comes to the rescue. He throws Orton into the crowd and locks Hunter into the STF on the table. Orton eventually breaks the hold and goes back to battle with Cena in the ring.
The Game soon rejoins the party and a nicely worked sequence in the corner sees him once more in the STF. Hunter holds on and Orton recovers and sees the chance at a punt but misses both men but still takes control and proceeds to hit both challengers with a series of stomps. Hunter and Cena work together once more but The Game gets rid of Cena and locks in a Sharpshooter (yeah, really!) on the champion. Cena makes his way back into the ring and locks in the STF as well on Orton who has no choice but to tap. The ref goes to call for the bell but then realises he does not know who should be declared the winner. Whilst he ponders the dilemma, Rhodes and DiBiase hit the ring to come to the aid of their leader. Ted works over The Game on the outside whilst Cody beats on Cena. Rhodes checks on Orton but Cena brings him up for an Attitude Adjustment. Whilst preparing for the hold, Randy nails an RKO for the victory. This was a strange old match for me. It was very good at some points but dragged at others. The last few minutes were very well done and overall, I have to say that Cena added something fresh to the ongoing Orton-Hunter saga. CPR Rating: 7.5
Mickie James defeated Maryse in 8:37 to win the Diva’s Championship
These ladies were going to be very hard pressed to upstage their Smackdown counterparts here and the match starts out as bog standard Diva action. The pace is slow with a lot of talking as the champion controls things. Maryse goes for a can under the ring but it gets knocked out of her hands. The ref grabs the spray before Mickie can use it. The boring action goes back and forth a little while longer before Mickie finally puts us out of our misery with the Mickie-DT. As much as looking at Maryse is nice, this cannot be passed. A total snoozefest which was kind of like the back story to a bad porn flick. CPR Rating: 2
Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler in 14:21 to retain the Intercontinental Championship
We start off with a feeling out process and the action is soon going back and forth with Ziggler not looking out of his depth. We get very standard but solid action for a long time and Dolph controls the veteran for much of it. The pace slows down when Ziggler works over Rey with a full nelson. Mysterio eventually gets back in the match but as he goes to the top rope, he gets caught by a drop kick in mid air from Ziggler. He then hits a gut buster from the top rope on the IC champ but can only get a two count. After dominating a lot of the action, Ziggler gets caught with an enziguri, 619 and splash and Mysterio retains. Even though Mysterio is usually booked as an underdog, the ending was very odd after having Ziggler dominate so much. The match was nothing special but Ziggler certainly did not hurt himself on being given a position very high up the card. CPR Rating: 7
Jeff Hardy defeated CM Punk in 9:40 to win the World Heavyweight Championship
We start out with some nice counter wrestling with Punk showing his heel side with some trash talk. The champion controls the early going until he misses a suicide dive but it is not long until Hardy crashes and burns himself. Punk works over Jeff at a methodical pace until Hardy launches a flurry of offence and at a second attempt, nails a Whisper in the Wind for a two count. He misses a Swanton however and Punk locks in a Dragon Sleeper. Hardy however hits a Twist of Fate out of nowhere and this time Swanton’s onto the champs knees. Punk gets a two count before hitting a Go to Sleep but Jeff once again kicks out at two on three separate covers. Frustrated, Punk grabs his title and tries to walk away but Jeff brings him back to the ring. Jeff hits a Twist of Fate and finally nails the Swanton Bomb to win back the World Heavyweight Championship. This was a very nicely worked match and I have to say that I was shocked to see Jeff walk away with the title. With Punk fully established as a heel, the dynamic worked very well and although the match was short, it was a job well done. CPR Rating: 8
NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS CPR RATING (54/80) = 67.5
Overall, Night of Champions scored a B on the DaveyBoy Grade Scale which means the event was worth the money. What stood out for me was that everything except the Raw Diva match was at least solid and that is the least we should expect for a night of all title matches. The Raw under card really stepped up to the plate here and Dolph Ziggler also showed himself to be a solid mid card talent despite the fact that he looks Jeff Jarrett. The Raw main event was respectable for the second successive event and Hardy winning the title was definitely a shock. For me however, the most intriguing thing about the event is the evolution of CM Punk.
THE WORM THAT TURNED
Ever since the first day that CM Punk showed up in the WWE, I have been less than impressed. I heard the stories from the die hard Ring of Honor fans about how he is the greatest thing since sliced bread but my reaction was always “seriously, this guy?”. I have always found him to be uninteresting in the ring and extremely vanilla in personality. Straight-edge face has always been totally boring for me and I hated the fact that he actually ran with the World Heavyweight Title last summer and won the Money in the Bank match once more at WrestleMania this year.
Well colour me surprised with just how well Punk has done with his recent heel turn. Talking to ROH fans, it seems that Punk had been severely shackled during his time in WWE but he has been let off the leash since cashing in the MitB briefcase and he is like a different person. After The Bash I said that I was interested in Punk for the first time and now Night of Champions is over, I am fast becoming a fan. Punk seems to ooze a natural charisma as a heel that was almost non-existent as a face. His promo early in the night was very strong indeed, his interaction with Hardy was brilliant and the smile on his face as he went for the cover after hitting the Go to Sleep was absolutely golden.
Some will say that dropping the title to Hardy right now is a little premature but his character development in a chasing role should keep Smackdown’s main event scene very interesting in the run up to SummerSlam. Punk right now is almost the anti-Stone Cold and I get the sense that the boos that he is working so well to get, may well turn to cheers somewhere down the road. I am not saying that Punk is the next Steve Austin quite yet but good things could definitely be in his future. I shall continue to watch his evolution with great interest and all that is left for me to say to XanMan (and anyone else I have moaned about Punk to) is “I stand corrected”.
THE ROAD TO SUMMERSLAM
Well it seems that we already have our SummerSlam main event set and it will fortunately mark the end of the Hunter-Orton-Batista love triangle. Enough is enough with this angle and we will now get to see Orton go one-on-one with John Cena. We’ve seen it before and we will no doubt see it many more times over the next ten years but that doesn’t mean it won’t be interesting. With four weeks to go, it is possible that there will be a stipulation added to the match.
It is looking like Triple H will be mixing it up with junior members of Legacy and whether by himself, or with the help stable mate who has not been seen since WrestleMania, expect Cody and Ted to take looking weak to a whole new level. As for the rest of Raw, there is nothing going on right now that seems a certainty for the card. I would expect Kingston to defend his US title and right now if I had to go out on a limb, I would guess it would be against Jack Swagger.
Over on the blue brand, Ziggler may have done enough to earn another shot at Rey but I would not put too much money on that match taking place this early. I also think Morrison is due a PPV match with his recent progress. I also firmly expect that Punk and Hardy will face off once more with some kind of gimmick involved.
I expect the ECW title to be on the line again with a host of guys that Christian may well go against. I would love it to be against Shelton Benjamin but once again, I would not be putting money on it at this early stage. I would also expect the tag titles to continue to receive PPV love with JeriShow as champions. I would guess that an ad hoc face pairing will get involved with the champions between now and then but as for who, I have not got a clue right now.
That wraps up another edition of The Current Paper Review. A big shout out to José from Portugal for the new banner. Feedback, as always, will be much appreciated and you can drop me an email here or pop by my feedback thread in the forums. I will plug a couple of columns that are doing the rounds in the CF at LOP Forums before I go. Thanks for reading and I will catch you next time.
The Legendary Column by Uncle Joe - Joe has recently returned to the CF and is delivering some great columns in a style all of his own
Not The Knight's Report # 14 by BeyondKnight - Talking of style of his own, there is nobody quite like BK when it comes to originality (despite his gimmick being a total rip off)
