WWE Tag Team Championship
Team Hell No vs. The Shield
Grade: ***
-Results: Roman Reigns planted Kane with a second spear, taking him out of the equation. He then lifted up Daniel Bryan onto his shoulders, and held him up as Seth Rollins nailed him with a flying knee to the skull, off the top rope. The Shield wins; new champions (7:24).
For the second time during the night, there was a lot of action in a very short match. It wasn’t quite as good as Ambrose and Kingston’s fantastic United States Championship match, but they got the job done and gave Team Hell No a good send off for their last night as champs. Surprisingly, Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan had some of the best exchanges; the big man is slowly coming along as the potential breakout star of The Shield. BELIEVE IN THE SHIELD!
Randy Orton vs. The Big Show
Extreme Rules Match
Grade: ***1/2
-Results: Randy Orton hits the RKO on Big Show into a steel chair, but determines this is not enough to finish the match. He backs up and goes into his “zone” before delivering a Punt Kick to the Giant for the 3-coount. Randy Orton wins (13:01)
Randy Orton is one of the most over guys in WWE, but when they roll into his home town of St. Louis, that’s a whole different level of reaction. The crowd really carried these two to a fun match, and you could tell Orton was feeding off it. I liked that they included a bunch of different weapons, but that the contest wasn’t completely based around them either; except to sell Big Show’s injuries going into the finish. Seeing the Punt return was a nice touch. Will Show actually take time off to sell the move? Will Orton be anything but the same old Viper 24 hours later on Raw? Probably not…
