Night of Champions 2010

Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler 


I thought this match was really good. These two have great chemistry, but their series of matches is probably doomed to get overlooked and lost in the shuffle because they needlessly had a zillion matches in a span of two months, and I think everyone started to get worn out. I know I don't want to revisit any of those matches even though I'm fairly certain if I did I'd end up putting one of their earlier matches in my top 40 for the year. But this was maybe the best of the batch, or at least among the best. Kofi is garbage on offense, but you don't notice it when he works with Ziggler because Dolph is a guy who bumps well and is willing to toss himself around to make garbage look decent. There were a whole bunch of nifty counters throughout this match that looked surprisingly fluid given Kofi's general ineptitude. They also made good use of the stipulations (title would change hands on a DQ or a countout), with a couple teased countout spots, and a moment where Vickie nearly slapped Kofi. Dolph stopped her to prevent a DQ, but it also reminded me of the time she slapped Kofi and Kofi went apeshit and destroyed Dolph.

Crowd was really great throughout this match. They were totally into it, and there was this great moment where Kofi hit that secondary finisher of his and Dolph barely got his foot on the ropes. Folks didn't notice it, and Kofi got a huge pop for the false win. Also, finishing stretch was great. Kofi busting out the sleeper was good, the teased Vickie slap was good, and though I think Trouble in Paradise is a garbage finisher, it looks great when Kofi whiffs and hits the ropes. This match will probably get slept on by most, and rightfully so, as these two have really had way too many matches together, and they've all blurred together. But this was still a good little opener.

***

Punk's promo before his match with Show was fantastic. Too bad King and Cole had to snicker the whole fucking time. Children.

Big Show vs. CM Punk 


I was disappointed this match got less than 5 minutes. I was also disappointed that Punk lost. But he still looked awesome in this, and the match was about as good as it could've been considering the time they got. His selling was fantastic in the early parts of the match. Really made Show's punches to the ribs look awesome. And then Punk catches Show coming back into the ring with a nasty kick to the head, and he gets some really good control stuff. It's tough for a guy Punk's size to make a control segment on a guy the size of Big Show look legit, but Punk does it, throwing lots of really good kicks. Punk does facial expressions as well as anyone, and he's definitely on-point here. Finish was cool, but too abrupt. And Punk needed the win here.

Not going to slap a star rating on it, but it was very good for what it was.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan


Build-up video for this match was really awesome. The whole angle has been awesome, and these two were really perfect for a feud with each other. The match itself is legit great, too. Top 5 WWE match this year. Danielson is probably the best guy in the company (and world, maybe), and Miz really showed how good he can be. Should silence a lot of Miz critics. Miz is a guy who has been really good for a while, and he has a pretty impressive skill set and a good grasp on how to work a match, but for whatever reason, he hasn't had the opportunities to put together enough good matches to build a resume that's as impressive as his ability level. Now he has a match that people can point to where he legit looks awesome.

Early exchanges are good, and Bryan teases the LeBell Lock, putting it over as a dangerous submission. Miz takes control quickly by yanking Bryan's arm against the ropes. Good spot for Miz to take control, and his arm work is really great, too. Bryan's selling is even better, and his facial expressions are great, too. Really, this match is pretty much perfect. I don't want to spend too much time talking about it because it might come across as hyperbole, but whatever. Miz always goes back to the arm whenever Daniel starts to get rolling. He throws a lot of good boots to the arm, and all of his holds look good. Then he charges and whiffs and goes through the ropes and Bryan hits that whacky suicide dive he hit against Jericho, and then he gets up and looks at the crowd, and it's just refreshing how much intensity he brings. He sells his arm the whole time, and he even conveys desperation, throwing together a quick string of reckless offense to trying to get the quick win. Awesome little touch after he hits his missile dropkick: rather than kipping up like he normally does, he immediately goes for the pin, showing that he wanted to win and get out of there quickly. Bryan throws a whole lot of stiff kicks, and Miz eats them. Their punch exchanges look good, and they're helped by the fact that Bryan sells the arm injury throughout. Miz does a great job of seeming intense and determined because he definitely had something to prove in this match. Awesome touch where he tries to force Bryan to submit with an armbar, and he yells at him to tap out and all that. Just more evidence of how well Miz is fitting into his character. Riley was great at ringside, too, interfering at the right moments. Also, Miz busted out a Nigel-esque lariat from the second rope after crotching Bryan on the top rope. That was great. Plus, the near-falls were fantastic, and the crowd was red-hot. Chicago is fucking awesome, apparently.

Finish was great, too. Miz looks pissed and furious, throwing these really good mounting punches. The ref pulls him away twice, and each time, he sneaks in a couple extra boots to the injured arm, just to show how vicious he is. But then he comes back, and Bryan gets the LeBell lock out of nowhere. Miz never really had an answer for that move, and he can't get to the ropes even though he's already close. Bryan's facial expression is great, too, as it really looks like he's tearing his own arm apart to lock the move in. Totally dramatic finish, as I really wasn't certain if Bryan's arm would prevent him from keeping it locked in, or if Miz would make it to the ropes, or if he would tap. They totally had me thinking that if Miz could have held on for just a second longer, he could've escaped the hold.

Pop for Bryan winning was really incredible. Bryan Danielson winning gold in the WWE was surreal and inspirational and great. Legit MOTYC

****, at least. I'd go higher before I'd go lower.

Melina vs. Michelle McCool


Man, the lumberjills were really terrible. Camera work was bizarrely non-sensical, too, as they didn't get a single close-up of Layla looking grumpy. The story of the match should've been that LayCool were feigning dissension to trick Melina so Layla could interfere and help Michelle win, but none of that came across. Instead, the whole match was a mess, and Layla and McCool came across as the only competent divas in the whole company. But they were both awesome. Layla was great, standing to the side with her arms folded across her chest. Michelle was awesome, too, heeling it up and slapping lumberjills in the face for no reason. But everything else was sloppy and silly, and there's this ridiculously funny moment where Rosa acts like she's going to punch Jillian for no reason, and then she doesn't hit her, and then they walk away together.

At least LayCool won. Really awesome celebration. Junk match.

Kane vs. The Undertaker


The NHB stip definitely helped here. I don't give a shit about Kane and think he's generally garbage, but he brought his best for this match, and as a result, we got something really fun and surprisingly fresh, considering it was another chapter in a feud that's been done too many times before. I wouldn't say this is something that was up my alley, and I'd definitely say it's more fun than good, but still, that's more than I expected. The crowd definitely helped, as they were going nuts for Taker. Better strikes from Kane would've helped, but whatever. This angle has given Taker more chances to show how good he can be at portraying a human rather than a monster zombie, and he's definitely good. Kane winning clean was sort of refreshing, and though I generally wouldn't be excited about a prolonged reign for Kane and another match for these two, a HIAC match seems fitting, so I won't complain. I might actually watch this again at some point, as I'd like to get a better assessment of it. I typically tend to dislike crowd brawling stuff, but it all went well here and looked good and everything, and the match was around ***-ish.

TAG TEAM TURMOIL


Harts got eliminated in 2 minutes? Wtf? Silliness. Usos aren't very good. Santino/Koslov were crazy over. Mizark was crazy over. Bourne looked great. Bourne/Henry would be a great tag team, I hope they let them work together full-time. Both guys need something to do, so they might as well help the tag team division. The closing stretch, between Cody/Drew & Mark/Evan, was really good. I hope they do a rematch with just those two teams, as that could be legit awesome.

As for this match, it was too much of a mess to really like a lot. Fuck if I know why they didn't include 2 of their 4 or 5 real tag teams (don't know if Koslov/Santino count) in this match. But I think the right guys came away with the belts, and Drew & Cody both looked really good, Drew especially. Bourne looked even better.

6-Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship


Really hard to rate a match like this. As expected, there was a ton of stupid isolation shit where dudes stood on the outside to wait for an encounter to finish. Stuff like that always hurts the cred of these types of matches, but this was still fun. The early elimination of Jericho surprised me. He has fallen off a lot this year, but I'll still miss him. I think he has one more good babyface run in him. I think he may return to do something with the GM angle. His facial expression after elimination was great. Jericho still does faces really well.

As for the rest of the match... Well, there were the frustrating isolation bits we've come to expect in these deals. There were also great, fun, finisher/counter exchanges, which came across even better thanks to the red hot crowd. They teased some Orton/Cena stuff and then delivered a brief exchange, which was nice, but it would've been even better had they not done that match for free on Raw.

Barrett's reaction to getting ganged up on was great, as was his attempt to give orders for some beatdowns. The Nexus interference was well-timed, too, and Barrett pinning Cena was a nice touch. Cena womping on some Nexus dudes with a chair was cool, too, and it gave Orton the chance to work his raging pterodactyl-shtick, which is always fun and shockingly over. I guess Orton winning was fine, though I don't know why they had to let him dominate everyone on Raw for the last 3 weeks before winning the title. Fuck, the dude's already wildly over.

So yeah, the match wasn't something I'd bother throwing ninja stars at because it's probably going to be one of those divisive things, where you either dig that sort of thing or you don't. But it is what it is, and for what it is, I thought it was fun, maybe even good.

Good show overall, with Bryan/Miz standing out as a legit classic.