WWE Tag Team Championship
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) def. Prime Time Players
R-Truth picked up the win over Darren Young with the Little Jimmy at 7:07.
Before we get to the match, either team, A.W.’s release or anything else, can I just say how happy it made me to have a Tag Team Championship match with two semi-developed teams on a major WWE Pay-Per-View?
A lot of people surprised with the Champs retaining in this one; I’m glad at least one of my predictions came true… I firmly believe that if A.W. had kept his mouth shut and gotten past what little heat he had, PTP would have won this match, and as a result the titles. But I think the release forced WWE to re-evaluate the situation. Young and O’Neil may very well take home the gold in the near future, and it might simply be a matter of letting them work on their own for a bit. If they continue to progress as they have, Prime Time will do quite well for themselves. I don’t like either talent individually, but without Mr. Millions and Billions of Pink Slips around they may endear themselves to me as a team.
A surprisingly decent tag match too, for the time they had to work. So not only did we have a legitimate tag match on a WWE Pay-Per-View, not only was there an established feud going in, but the match itself wasn’t half bad! That’s a success in my book.
Rating: 3.5/5
WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) def. John Cena & Big Show
Originally CM Punk and John Cena both forced Big Show to submit at the same time, causing a dispute. Raw GM AJ Lee restarted the match, and John Cena was able to hoist the Big Show up and deliver the Attitude Adjustment, but CM Punk took advantage and stole the pin to retain the WWE Championship at 12:34.
I thoroughly enjoyed this Championship Triple Threat! There was a lot more storytelling than I’d typically give the WWE credit for in a Big Show match. The wrestling archetypes were played out perfectly – you’ve got your big bad giant destroying everything in his path, while the blue collar muscle had to join forces with the wily, two-faced Champion to take him down. In the end it can only go one of two ways: the hero saves the day and stands tall surveying his newly re-conquered land, or in the most dystopian setting, the trickster cons his way into another big payoff.
The one thing I didn’t enjoy about this match is the same thing I’ve been sour on since the angle started: AJ Lee as General Manager. It’s not about the idea; it’s all in the execution. AJ could have stopped at the ramp, or hell, shown up on the Tron. Her bit took up time. Not that there wasn’t enough left on the clock by the end of the night, but that time near the end of a red-hot Championship match, in my opinion, cooled its momentum. The idea was sound – I liked the restart, and I loved the finish – but there are better ways of simply saying “restart the match”.
CM Punk retains in a Championship bout that far exceeded my expectations. The question is: what’s next? Punk desperately needs to get out of feuding with John Cena, not right back into another series of matches. Big Show was a fine addition to the picture, once. Here’s to hoping the can come up with something fresh in the next month, avoiding the temptation for a straight-up rematch at Night of Champions.
Rating: 4/5
