Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: The Night of Champions Report (Voting Still Open for 9/26 Poll)
By Dr. CMV1
Sep 19, 2011 - 12:51:33 PM

Night of Champions Report

Match 1: Air Boom defeated Awesome Truth by disqualification in 10-minutes (CMV1 rating - **1/2) (CMV1 note – I thought this was a perfectly enjoyable tag team opener, with one moment of real uncertainty that boosted the rating. If the WWE intends to revamp their tag team, I wonder if they might re-consider the tag team formula. Every WWE tag match follows a basic formula and, since the matches aren’t often given the luxury of time, I think that formula needs to be changed. Otherwise, I’m not sure any tag match will ever best the 3-star mark. These are both good tag teams. Others need to start popping up because I don’t get the feeling Truth and Miz are long-term partners. Miz will be back in the main-event before long)

Match 2: Cody Rhodes retained the IC title against Ted Dibiase in 10-minutes (CMV1 rating - **1/2) (CMV1 note – I’ve read some complaints around the net about the crowd being dead for this match. Being at a bar, I couldn’t really hear the crowd one way or the other, so that didn’t work against my rating. What I saw was a good match between two guys that know each other well. They were lacking a big babyface comeback from Ted and a big near fall to push this past the level it ultimately reached, but they did a good job and worked fluidly with each other. Some of the grappling in the first five-minutes was really nicely done. Dibiase could use a change in theme music. Or a complete overhaul in character. Or both)

Match 3: Dolph Ziggler retained the US title against Jack Swagger, John Morrison, and Alex Riley in 9-minutes (CMV1 rating - **3/4) (CMV1 note – This was the best match on the show up to this point, with the four of them keeping us guessing as to whom would emerge victorious. I thought for a second that Riley had it won with that Impaler-type DDT on Swagger. I liked the simultaneous submissions from Dolph and Jack toward the end of the match. I got the feeling that we were watching the future, as each of these four guys could be major players a little bit down the road. It’s time to move Ziggler up the card, but it’s nice to see the US title on a guy that the WWE seems motivated to elevate. That only makes the title look better in the long run)

Match 4: Mark Henry defeated Randy Orton to become World Champion at 12:30 (CMV1 rating - **3/4) (CMV1 note – These two overtook the US title match for match of the night honors up to that point. Henry worked the best match of his entire 15-year career and deserves praise for his body of work over the last 3-4 months. Orton was game and I was curious to see how he’d do against a guy Henry’s size. Orton had been on such a roll, but it was against guys that were smaller than him. He stepped up nicely and showed that he’s capable of working a main-event caliber match as a babyface against a giant. I thought the finish was a little anti-climactic. Henry still needs to prove that he can have a top level match that can get past the 3-star mark. I know that may be nitpicking with star ratings being so subjective, but my rating pretty much reflects what I’m seeing around the net. Good effort by both, but I want to see better from my World Champions. Like Kevin Nash was able to have some really strong matches against the top workers of his era, I want to see a guy like Henry do the same. I hope Henry gets a nice little run with the title and sets up a long chase for Orton to get the title back. Henry deserves the run at the top and Smackdown could use a heel running the show while the top babyface struggles to get back to the top of the mountain. If you look back at the last 10 months, it’s largely been a babyface dominating the title picture)

Match 5: Kelly Kelly retained the Diva’s title against Beth Phoenix in 7-minutes (CMV1 rating - **1/4) (CMV1 note – I really liked this match and I applaud the ladies for bringing their A-games – especially Kelly. Against a worker the caliber of Beth, Kelly is able to do some pretty impressive stuff in the ring. Dare I say that we might have our next Trish? I never thought it would be her, but if she can develop a character to go along with her obviously improved in-ring skills – which at least allow her to be carried – then she could be a game changer for that division. The Beths and Natties of the world will always be around, but they aren’t the types that the WWE has shown interest (in the past) in pushing as the faces of the division. I like this plot. I like that they are holding off and showing patience on Beth winning the title. I like that Kelly is showing them that she can go. This was the best Divas match that I’ve seen in quite some time)

Match 6: John Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio to become WWE Champion in 18-minutes (CMV1 rating - ***1/2) (CMV1 note – I thought this was the best match on the card, quite honestly. It built nicely throughout and ended with a dramatic last few minutes of good, solid wrestling action. Cena gets the win tonight amongst the top three workers in the business for Match of the Night. Del Rio deserves credit for upping his game again. I was surprised that he lost the title. I wonder if this will be the end of the Alberto Del Rio experiment for the time being? To take the title off of him so quickly - even before their tour of Mexico next month – seemed a bit hasty, but ratings have been down since he became champion and he apparently might have been the scapegoat. I like the guy, but perhaps he’s not a main-event caliber gimmick right now. With so many other strong personalities in the main-event and so many young guys knocking on the door, I’ll be curious to see where they go with ADR. A rematch seems likely and it should yield another good match. I’ll look forward to the follow-up. At the end of the day, Cena continues his roll that he’s been on since hooking up with Punk)

Match 7: Triple H defeated CM Punk in 20-minutes (CMV1 rating - ***1/2) (CMV1 note – Funny that Trips mentioned in interviews last week that he loves those 20-minutes in between the ropes. That’s about what he got exactly at N.O.C. He and Punk were having a very good, Attitude-era style brawl when all hell broke loose. Awesome Truth showing up was expected, but I expected it after maybe another five-minutes of action. Then, Nash showed up expectedly, but tried to attack Triple H. I’m curious to see where all of that is heading. Apparently, no Trips heel turn in the very near future. Fine by me. The finish was very overbooked, but the WWE rarely does that type of booking. So, I think that they can get away with it from time to time and it was fine for tonight. The match wasn’t as good as I thought it could be, but that was because of the booking more so than the wrestling. They did well not to give much away. Punk and Trips could wrestle 6 months from now and it would probably still sell; they just didn’t give much away at all. If you’re a Punk fan, you’ve got to be happy. He lost, but it took three Pedigrees and a Jackknife to put him down. He came away looking about as strong in loss as you can. The WWE is doing a tremendous job right now with keeping you wanting more. There’s a seemingly never-ending line of questions. When you think you’ve got it figured out, they keep you guessing again)

Backstage Skits and Interviews (CMV1 rating - ***) (CMV1 note – I liked that they got Sheamus and Christian on the card with a talking segment. I didn’t use to like that, but it has become a nice ploy to ensure that top guys get a chance to be involved on the PPVs. They don’t overstay their welcome and it is usually compensated for by decreasing the backstage stuff. On this show, the backstage stuff was OK, but there wasn’t an interview that really jumped out as being outstanding)

CMV1 PPV Rating System

0-1.5 stars = Demand a refund and don't take no for an answer. If it was this bad, they should pay you to watch the next two PPVs, at least. (Great American Bash 2005)

1.75-2.25 stars = A below average PPV that wasn't worth the money spent watching. (Survivor Series 2010)

2.5-2.75 stars = An average to above average event that was worth watching on that given night. (Royal Rumble 2011, Wrestlemania XXVII)

3.0-3.25 = A really good show that you'd buy on DVD and watch again (Money in the Bank 2011, Summerslam 2011)

3.5 = This is how PPV should be done (Summerslam 2002)

3.75-5.0 = You never thought a PPV could be this good...

Night of Champions 2011’s Final Score = **3/4 (CMV1 note – Well, I think that rating is quite fitting. The WWE did a nice job last night. It built from above average matches to good matches to borderline great matches and there wasn’t a bad match on the card. So, I went home happy. The WWE had hit two home-runs with their previous PPV efforts, but I thought this was more like a solid double. It still keeps them on the field, so we’ll see what Hell in a Cell can produce)

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Also, with NOC out of the way, voting will continue for the next LOP WWE Wrestler Poll until tonight at 11:59PM EST. You can leave your votes in the Facebook feedback, email us, or log onto LOP Forums and go to the link below. Use the following format for Facebook…

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