As stated previously, I will do PPV recaps in separate blogs, so here's a rundown of the 2011 Night Of Champions. Bear in mind, this isn't move-by-move or anything like that: it's just a short yet detailed look at the events of the Pay-Per-View, followed by predictions on what this means for the weeks to come.
NOC kicked off with Miz and R-Truth vs Air Boom for the Tag Titles. A couple of early moves went a little awry, but overall this was a good start to the show (with Kofi Kingston literally flying high; he seemed to jump around 15 feet in the air when he tagged in). AwesomeTruth (as Jerry Lawler dubbed them) were disqualified for attacking the referee after a few bungled calls, adding to their "conspiracy" claims.
Match 2 saw Cody Rhodes defend the Intercontinental Title against Ted DiBiase. Had DiBiase returned several weeks earlier, and not two days, the crowd may have responded more enthusiastically, but it was still an enjoyable effort. Rhodes got the victory, although a rematch may be on the cards between DiBiase and his former "life coach".
Before the next bout, Christian demanded "One more match" for the World Heavyweight Title. Sheamus came out and feigned that he would assist Christian, as long as he got the first shot at the gold if Captain Charisma won it. Christian agreed, only to be Brogue Kicked.
The third match pitted Dolph Ziggler w/ Vickie Guerrero against Jack Swagger, Alex Riley and John Morrison in a Fatal Four Way for the United States Title. Heading in, it seemed this one only had two likely outcomes: Vickie Guerrero helping Dolph win, or turning on Ziggler to help Swagger become champion. As it turned out, Swagger had Morrison beat with the Gutwrench Powerbomb, but Mr Ziggles pushed him out of the way to take the pin and retain the gold. As I previously stated, those champions who are angered by four-ways always seem to win, whilst those who don't (as in, all 3 champs at last year's Fatal 4 Way PPV) always seem to lose. How strange.
Match four was Mark Henry's big moment, as he defeated Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship. The expected RKO-and-pin never happened; instead, the RKO was reversed into a second, title-winning World's Strongest Slam. A rematch at Hell In A Cell seems likely, but judging by the path of destruction Henry has been on since Capitol Punishment, it seems Henry's title reign will be a long one.
Next up, Beth Phoenix battled Kelly Kelly in her hometown of Buffalo, New York for the Divas Title. Ringside divas Natalya and Eve Torres had a to-do, whilst the fans rained boos down on Kelly and cheered massively for the Glamazon. However, whilst I expected a new champion to be crowned, Kelly surprisingly pinned Phoenix again, much to the frustration of hometown fans. As with the 4-ways, it also seems that hometown wrestlers, with few exceptions (such as CM Punk at Money In The Bank), tend to lose more often than not nowadays in WWE.
Alberto Del Rio's WWE Title defence against John Cena began with Cena stealing Del Rio's car for a joyride, and some pre-match ring announcing that one would normally see on Raw, as opposed to a WWE Title match on PPV. As the match wore on, despite Cena growing in confidence and having more offense, it still seemed that Del Rio would find a way out. It wasn't to be, and the STFU made Cena WWE Champion once again.
Lastly, Triple H battled CM Punk in a No Disqualification match, where if the Game lost in his first match since WrestleMania XXVII, he would resign as WWE COO. This was the match of the night (ironic, by the way, that a non-title match headlined Night Of Champions), with Punk's Randy Savage elbow drop that put HHH through n announcer's table being the stand-out moment. It was also the turning point, as from then on AwesomeTruth interfered (attacking both men, and the ref, who hilariously punched Miz when he and Truth first turned their attention to him), then John Laurinitis seemed to prevent a referee counting in HHH's favour, and after a suspicious moment wherein Laurinitis began texting somebody (which wasn't acknowledged by the announcers), the fired Kevin Nash emerged from the crowd to attack both men. But a sledgehammer shot drilled Big Kev at ringside, and the third Pedigree of the match put Punk away, and allowed HHH to win the match and save his job.
From here, anything could happen involving those in the three main matches at NOC. Henry looks likely to beat Orton and fellow smaller wrestlers in title defences, until someone of his own size decides to challenge him. Christian's "One more match" is as unlikely as ever with Henry as Champ, and seems to have his sights set on Sheamus anyway. With Henry as Champ, it's also unlikely that the much smaller Daniel Bryan will be cashing in Money In The Bank anytime soon.
Cena's WWE Title win came too soon in my opinion. A Del Rio victory (or even a DQ loss) could have allowed Cena to become Champ at HIAC in two weeks time. Instead, a Cell match between Cena and anyone for the gold seems pointless, unless a certain Hollywood-based superstar moved his match with Cena forward about six months. Del Rio will still probably face Cena in the Cell, but it's doubtful that he'll win.
Lastly, we come to Punk and HHH. Obviously, Kevin Nash is back, despite being fired (which suggests a Nash/Laurinitis alliance, since it was after the text at NOC that he appeared), which probably means a collison between Nash and either Punk or HHH. At one point, Nash and HHH could have been on the same page, but now the chances of them still being friends is very unlikely. Perhaps a Triple Threat match between the three in the Cell will be next. Or maybe Punk's repeated claims a few weeks back that he wasn't believing the Nash/HHH fall-outs mean that a Nash/HHH reunion is coming, despite what happened at NOC. Either way, although HHH kept his job at NOC, this story is far from over.
That's all for now, with the next recap coming after the next week of WWE TV shows. Until then, goodnight everybody!
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