Night of Champions

So I have to admit last night was at least not as predictable as I thought it would be - Dolph Ziggler opened the show by retaining his intercontinental title legitimately, which I didn't expect; and while CM Punk's victory over the Big Show was expected, Michelle McCool retaining the women's championship on her own behalf and Layla's (and that they'd stay together) was not. Miz's loss of the US title to Daniel Bryan wasn't shocking, but it wasn't my prediction (although I have to admit I started doubting myself as I read Jason Powell's speculation last night that perhaps the Miz would lose the US Title and pursue the World Title, especially in light of a major 6-pack challenge which would leave whoever came out as champ exhausted). Undertaker and Kane had an expected brawl that will probably lead to a Hell in a Cell in two weeks (two weeks? serious? 3 weeks is a stretch in terms of putting together, promoting, and asking big $$$ for a PPV ... WWE is really going out of their way to look for where that financial rubber band decides to bounce back at them aren't they? End rant).

Anyway ... I was right about that outcome. However, we couldn't have predicted the Tag Team gauntlet match between the Hart Dynasty, the Usos, Santino Marella and Vladmir Kozlov, Mark Henry and Evan Bourne, and Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes, as it wasn't even on the list of matches going into the PPV (which is somewhat inexcusable - I know it wouldn't have been a make or break match given the participants, and the treatment of the WWE tag division at the hands of Vince McMahon, but it's still a PPV match that deserved the hype the other matches got). However I'd have predicted an Uso win, so on that score I'd have been wrong upon McIntyre and Rhodes winning the belts. Which brings us to the 6-pack challenge, where Randy Orton (one of the people I suggested didn't have a chance, in the face of SuperCena, the novelty of Wade Barrett, and Sheamus continuing his reign) won his 7th world title. A surprising but not unhappy outcome, although a bit disappointed the Miz didn't cash in his MITB. And that the loose end of Jericho's 'If I lose, I quit' vow wasn't addressed at all last night, and only poorly so tonight on Raw.

Which we are watching now, and which I must admit thus far is doing a great job of following up on last night's show and preparing for the whirlwind turnover into the next one - Hell in a Cell. More on that in the coming days though - in terms of this pay per view, it was totally worth watching as Ziggler-Kingston and Bryan-Miz had fantastic matches, and none were real stinkers (although of course some better than others). I'm not sure, however, once you have results in hand, that it's worth the re-buy. See if you can borrow a DVD of it off a friend, or download it - it's worth the time. I'm not sure it would be worth the $45 rebuy without some of the surprise factor left in it. Your call though - I enjoyed the show.