Limited access here, so only the Q'n'D for now. More coherent thoughts later.
Q'n'D
-(PRE-SHOW) Rob Van Dam d. Dean Ambrose by DQ after Shield-erference -Bray Wyatt d. Kane in a Ring of Fire match after the Wyatt Family puts out the fire and destroys Kane -Cody Rhodes d. Damien Sandow with the Disaster Kick -Alberto Del Rio d. Christian to retain the World Heavyweight Championship with the jujigatame -Natalya d. Brie Bella with the Sharpshooter -Brock Lesnar d. CM Punk with the chair-assisted F5 -Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn d. Big E Langston & AJ -Daniel Bryan d. John Cena with the kick to the head to win the WWE Championship, clean as a sheet
But of course...
-Randy Orton d. Daniel Bryan after Triple H turns on Bryan with the Pedigree to win the WWE Championship
Welcome to 2011. All we're missing is Kevin Nash.
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EDIT: Ok, let's do this. Let's dive into some more coherent ramblings.
Main event thoughts will go last. For now, let's look at the other main event and, GOOD GOD, Brock/Punk was a bloody WAR! Heyman added in a No DQ stipulation and these guys went to work on each other, with stiff shots aplenty! They worked total MAN style and Brock got to look like a MONSTER again, a welcome change from whatever the hell they were doing in that last Triple H match. There was a lot of great stuff and neat counters. Highlight of the match was Brock slapping on the Kimura, with Punk countering into the triangle choke, before Brock countered that with a RUNNING POWERBOMB! There was mucho Heyman-ference at the end and Punk finally let his anger get the better of him, taking out Heyman, but leaving himself open to the chair-assisted F5. This was PHENOMENAL and even told a great story at the end with Heyman's interference, to set up a future Heyman-free blowoff. I loved everything about this!
Let's move to some more stuff I didn't love so much. Kane/Wyatt may go down as one of the worst openers in a VERY long time, as it was completely heatless (no pun intended) and turned borderline comedic with the Wyatt Family trying to put out the fire. The lights then go out, allowing the Wyatts to run and destroy Kane, leading to Bray getting the win. Why even have that useless stipulation at all? This KILLED a very hot crowd to start the show.
Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow did their best to follow that and they had a decent match. Sandow jobbing here makes zero sense to me, unless they're going to have a blowoff match, where the briefcase is at stake.
But how about more stuff that I liked? Del Rio/Christian totally woke that crowd up from its coma, as they delivered their usual stellar performance. Story was that Del Rio just couldn't polish off Christian, even with the superkick. Christian finally landed the spear, but it was on the bad shoulder and as Christian sold it, Del Rio popped up and clamped on the jujigatame for the tap out. Great stuff!
Natalya/Brie Bella is what it is. Only notable for Natalya winning her first match in years. Ditto for the other cooldown match. I'm sad that this is what Dolph is reduced to.
Then there's the main event that the crowd was ABSOLUTELY BONKERS for! Another fantastic match, with a whole lot of reversals and several HOLY SHIT! moments. The top-rope 'rana counter looked REALLY nasty and I'm surprised that spot was even worked into the match! Bryan also worked that crowd into a frenzy, right before Cena nearly KILLED him with a corner lariat! So much great stuff and, in the end, Cena just couldn't hold out any longer and Bryan hit the running knee for the clean pin!
Confetti falls post-match. Cena and Bryan share a post-match hug and Cena exits. The roof is blown off the place! Bryan turns to the camera and thanks his mother and father. By all means, it looks like the end of the show, as Cole's signing us off...until Randy Orton's music hits.
Orton mulls cashing in the contract and thinks better of it, turning to leave. Bryan starts to celebrate again...until TRIPLE H PEDIGREES THE SHIT OUT OF HIM! Now Orton runs in, cashes in the briefcase, and pins Bryan for the title. And just like that, the air is completely let out of the place, as we go from celebrating a guy's career-defining moment right back to the Same Old Shit in one fell swoop.
Ok, look...I get it. I understand what they're going for here. And if the intention was to get mondo heel heat and create a super hot program, they did that. Bravo. I'm not even upset that Bryan may never see the title again, because let's face it, that type of thing has happened before (**cough**Zack Ryder**cough**Dolph Ziggler**cough**) and there's no reason to believe that Bryan's ever going to hold that title again.
It would be one thing if it was Orton running in and RKO'ing his way to the title. I could deal with that. But are you seriously telling me we need YET ANOTHER goddamn McMahon Master Plan led by Triple H? What year is this? Why do we have to tell this exact same story for the hundredth time, just with a different supporting cast of characters? I'm so TIRED of this angle! Goddammit, give me SOMETHING NEW! SOMETHING DIFFERENT! I don't want to see "Hey, can Babyface X overcome the Heel Champion Y flanked by the McMahon family and/or Heel Authority Figure Z?" That's been DONE! TO DEATH! FOR 15 YEARS!
That ending leaves such a sour taste in my mouth...but...like last time...I guess we'll wait for Raw.
Originally posted by superfurry Rest of the show... highly forgettable.
That's not entirely fair, I thought Del Rio/Christian was terrific, as did the crowd. I didn't know what to make of Del Rio's post-match promo, the material was very babyface, but the manner of delivery and the commentary treated it like a heelish promo.
The crowd shat over the Total Divas match, chanting for the commentators and later tables, but at least they were participating in that match. They seemed deathly quiet for the Ziggler match.
The Ring of Fire match, and its ending was just...bad. Truly catered to an audience of about ten-year olds.
I agree with most of It's False's frustration even though I had called precisely this ending with my friends after watching last week's Raw. The silver lining, and really my best hopes from this match, was that the bullshit was after a FANTASTIC match. Three cheers for Bryan showing Cena how to properly get an STF locked in.
I'm kicking myself for holding back on HHH turning in my predictions. I thought it would have been too crazy to do, and they did it. Next thing, I was thinking that if it was not WWE, I would have expected the crowd to act like the end of Bash at the Beach 1996 or the end of Lockdown 2013. Where I was at the Fox and Hound, it was about 75% silence and 25% cheers when Orton won the title, instead of the 95% cheers for Bryan winning. I knew something was fishy when Triple H was still in the ring during the Bryan celebration.
Overall, it was in the middle for the card. Likely with the exception of Christian/Del Rio, the first half was rather blah...the second half was great. Punk/Lesnar was definitely the match of the night. Cena/Bryan was pretty good as well.
How my predictions went...
RVD/Ambrose - got that right, and the way it went I was correct too.
Wyatt/Kane - got that right.
Rhodes/Sandow - got that right.
Christian/Del Rio - got that right.
Natalya/Brie Bella - I'm embarrassed I got that one wrong.
Punk/Lesnar - got that wrong.
Ziggler/Kaitlyn vs. AJ/Big E - got that correct.
Cena/Bryan - got that correct.
Bryan/Orton - I got the prediction right, but I did not get the short actual match that I wanted. As for the one I didn't put down, I would have been a genius to say that.
I am done with the WWE. They took the two wrestlers I hate the most EVER in HHH and Orton and put them together to take down DB after a phenomenal match with Cena. I bought this PPV in the hopes that THIS would be the time Bryan actually wins the belt clean and I was rewarded with his clean win. At that point, spending the money was not an issue - I considered it money WELL SPENT. I began to imagine RAW tomorrow and what would happen. And then Orton's music hits, and I was fine with a TEASED cash in. I figured Orton/Bryan was going to be the next PPV. But then HHH and his F*CKING ENORMOUS EGO could not let anyone else have a moment in the spotlight and ruined a perfect ending.
So, f*ck you HHH. And f*ck you Randy Orton. And f*ck you WWE. You have fooled me for the last time into caring about your product.
I am done with the WWE. They took the two wrestlers I hate the most EVER in HHH and Orton and put them together to take down DB after a phenomenal match with Cena. I bought this PPV in the hopes that THIS would be the time Bryan actually wins the belt clean and I was rewarded with his clean win. At that point, spending the money was not an issue - I considered it money WELL SPENT. I began to imagine RAW tomorrow and what would happen. And then Orton's music hits, and I was fine with a TEASED cash in. I figured Orton/Bryan was going to be the next PPV. But then HHH and his F*CKING ENORMOUS EGO could not let anyone else have a moment in the spotlight and ruined a perfect ending.
So, f*ck you HHH. And f*ck you Randy Orton. And f*ck you WWE. You have fooled me for the last time into caring about your product.
settle down Beavis ... by doing what they did, WWE just did Daniel Bryan a favor ... they made him more popular than ever.
Come now, this was totally telegraphed. As soon as triple H stayed in the ring the whole time to celebrate with Bryan this was obvious. But instead of this being 18 seconds HEEL GETS HIS this is going to be "already mega-over getting MORE OVER as he goes for revenge". By doing this they create not one, but two mega-heels. Heels strong enough to carry on a program with Top Face Daniel Bryan as John Cena heals.
OR
Cena returns, leading us to a Bryan/Cena vs Orton/Triple H..
OR
Ziggler + Bryan, raging against the establishment.
Question: Is HBK retired? Because I'd much rather watch a HBK/Bryan vs. HHH/Orton tag match at the next PPV than have Bryan eat a loss to Orton. If they even give Bryan another chance, that is.
They got a quite a lot done with that last match and post-match shenanigans.
Cena: I do the right thing! I can wrestle!
Bryan: I can beat the big boys!
Triple H: I am now the Kinger of Kings! Add that to my list of nicknames! Get me new music!
Just got back from seeing it live. My favorite match was Bryan/Cena, although Punk/Lesnar was really great, too. Cena/Bryan just had more layers to it while Punk/Brock was a great all-out brawl.
I didn't really care for the Heyman interference and the telegraphed "no DQ" stip. They already set up on RAW that Punk needed to watch out for Heyman and now he just looks like a stupid guy who didn't learn. Geez, get some support, Punk. It's NO DQ!
I LOVED that Bryan/Cena didn't end with a traditional finisher, and it just had so many great spots (especially that top rope "dropping on the head" thing and Bryan's STF). When Bryan won, the place went NUTS.
The HHH turn, not so much. It was totally telegraphed when HHH didn't leave the ring at the end. I didn't like that at all, and his turn makes absolutely no sense. Shouldn't the handing over of power in WWE be a positive thing? Shouldn't it be a GOOD thing and HHH be an agent of change from the old Mr. McMahon so that HHH can have a meaningful heel turn in 2025? Vince sucks, and no one buys him as a face ever. This angle already bores me. It would have been so much better with Bryan being HHH's guy and Orton being Vince's guy.
Also, how are they going to manipulate the story so that HHH and Orton are friends now? Is Stephanie cool with this? I dunno, I guess I'm mad in the intended way, but it needs some real finessing to make any sense.
Still, I think everyone came out looking better here. Cena can be more of a hero if he can back down to a supporting role for Bryan (it feels like that's where they're going), Bryan can be the straight up hero, Orton is finally poised to be the badass heel he used to be again, and HHH is sooooo important again.
Other than that, the right people went over for the most part. I think CM Punk managed to look strong against Lesnar, and I guess they're dragging this one out for a while longer. Would have loved to see CM Punk go over, but I guess they had to choose between Bryan and Punk with the video package at the beginning and which one was an agent of change. Bryan proved to be better than Cena, but now has to deal with the corporate suits.
I didn't feel the same way watching Wyatt/Kane live that the PPV audience did, but maybe that's just because I was all "Ooooh, FIRE!" the whole time.
Also, fun stat: Both SummerSlams I went to ('99 and '13) featured the top babyface losing cleanly to a bearded underdog babyface.
What a show. Best SummerSlam in 11 years. The ending, well, at least we had plenty of warning. When Mr. Texas Kelly predicted pretty much that exact scenario in the picks thread Monday night, my face fell, for I knew it to be so.
But before that. How about three excellent matches, two of them classics. And how about the surreality of Daniel Bryan pretty much being anointed #1B face of the company? He didn't small package John Cena, he knocked him out with a knee to the goddamn face to decisively win a 30 minute war. Cena's first clean loss to a non-Rock celestial being since ... 2009? Absolute madness. And then it took two guys to steal the belt from him. Daniel Bryan was made tonight in such a strong way, the happy ending really would've been one of the great moments in company history. Instead, well, the chase begins anew, and King can you believe the McMahons are yadda yadda yadda. Nevertheless, John Cena goes in for elbow surgery this week and Daniel Bryan and CM Punk are co-#1 babyfaces. What a world.
Punk/Lesnar was an incredible battle. Gotta say, Brock Lesnar has a pretty amazing work ethic for a special guest star on a sweetheart contract. And after the interminable HHH feud, what a treat to have Lesnar back in the ring with a guy who, like Cena, is willing to suffer for his art. Brock took an 8 year sabbatical from playing a modern day Vader with muscles, but it's like he hasn't missed a beat from the days he was throwing Angle and Eddie around while feeding them timely comebacks. Punk totally wins for losing by wrestling such a gallant, valiant, galiant match as a little guy battling toe to toe with a monstrosity. I wonder who Paul will emissary now to keep the feud going. Ryback doesn't exactly strike me as a Paul Heyman Guy but presuming they're not going to CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel on PPV, I'm not sure who else there is. I'd have Heyman get back in business with the Shield, but they haven't been too dominant as of late.
Christian vs. Del Rio was very good too. Always a treat to see Christian get a chance to use his creativity in putting a long match together, moreso this time since they'd already done two long matches on TV and they came up with a bunch of new spots and cross-ups to the spots they'd done before. By all rights this should've been month 5 of Dolph Ziggler's reign as heel champion, but that's another story. Hope Christian's work this month has convinced them of what an asset he can still be. Also still hope he doesn't have a terminal disease.
Everything else was basically short buffers between the main stuff. Except for the inferno match, everybody did the best they could with limited time, even Natalya and Brie had some decent stuff. Eva Marie even did a spot without dying. Seems like a missed opportunity for Sandow to not have shaved Cody's mustache off for heat.
Hurrying the Big Show back on Monday for a match they decided not to do for time purposes so that he could be the World's Largest Valet for a pre-show match was an oops.
I MUCH prefer this to HHH-backs-Bryan vs. Vince-backs-Orton. In the latter scenario, the wrestlers are just pawns and all the conflict is between Vince and HHH. THAT would be hogging the spotlight. Instead, we have a heel deck of Vince, HHH, Orton and whatever other corporate flunkies they put together (Miz, Sandow, Ryback, whatever) to throw in Bryan's way. Bryan gets screwed out of his rematch, spends the fall going to war until he finally puts away HHH at Survivor Series.
Doing it this way means Daniel Bryan is probably winning the Royal Rumble. Doing it this way means Daniel Bryan is probably headlining Wrestlemania as the all-conquering babyface.
Calm down. Breathe. You hate what they did? Fine. But don't act like it's permanent and Daniel Bryan's done, because he's clearly just beginning his real mega-push. For good or ill, you're not a real big deal in WWE until you've been McMahoned. Here's hoping DB makes the most of it (and the fans don't chicken out and half-support Orton out of habit).
"Never piss off a hawk with a blowgun" - Conan O'Brien
I'll second the above. As much of a Daniel Bryan fan as I am, I'm not doom and gloom about this at all. There's no way they do this with the intention of never giving Bryan the WWE Title again. This is going to set up the chase. Bryan's going to get screwed out of his rematch, whether it's at a Raw or a PPV. If I had my way, McMahon-igans would just deny him the rematch altogether by doctoring his contract somehow, and thus we get the "You'll never, ever get another title shot". Whatever the case, it all builds up to a Royal Rumble win and then a Wrestlemania main event. They know what they have in Bryan now, and giving him the Austin vs. McMahon storyline against Vince and Triple H is a pure sign of confidence in my book.
Now, if at the Rumble Bryan is instead facing Dean Ambrose for the US Title while John Cena is returning from injury to win it, then I guess I'll eat my words.
Seems like a missed opportunity for Sandow to not have shaved Cody's mustache off for heat.
This is dependent on the way they want to go with Cody. Guy who gets upset about his comedy mustache being shaved off will get that over but can't be taken totally seriously. Especially since he should just be able to grow it back if it really upset him.
Meltzer was pushing WWE planned to shoot the big angle for WrestleMania. People get lost on the road to WrestleMania all every year, but they did what they did tonight not to brush Bryan aside but because they believed they were setting up a bigger match down the road.
I watched on a stream as wwe's product usually doesn't venture into "worth spending actual money on" for me, but this show was admittedly really good. I didn't hate any of the matches and there was minimal crappy storyline stuff. The wrestling fan in me hated the ending, but I see what they're doing and why ( essentially they ended Empire Strikes Back right at Luke getting his hand cut off ) so I'm really only disappointed that it was Boreton and HHH who did it ( & I'm someone who generally cheers for heels unless I really don't like them, as is the case here ). DelRio/Christian, Punk/Lesnar & Cena/Bryan were all indy wrestling quality ( & by that I mean it as for me, DragonGate, ROH, Chikara Etc. are superior products ). Brie Bella is nowhere near Shimmer or even WSU level but she kept up with Nattie just fine. I would have liked to see Sandow/Rhodes and the mixed tag go a little longer but given their places on the card they were perfectly acceptable. I'd actually rate it a solid 90%.
Seems like a missed opportunity for Sandow to not have shaved Cody's mustache off for heat.
This is dependent on the way they want to go with Cody. Guy who gets upset about his comedy mustache being shaved off will get that over but can't be taken totally seriously. Especially since he should just be able to grow it back if it really upset him.
I think it's more the "shaved and humiliated in the middle of the ring" and would get Cody's goat more than the loss of the actual stache itself. If nothing else, they could've at least had a stache vs. beard match between Rhodes and Sandow since Sandow's the vain heel who actually would fret over losing his facial hair.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." --- Bart Giamatti, on baseball
I'm really happy that they've left the door open for further Punk/Brock interactions, because that match was one of the best I've seen all year, in a year full of really great matches from WWE. Hell in a Cell would be a pretty boss stipulation for a rematch.
I love that they re-did the post Lesnar beating standing ovation for Punk that they tried with Triple H last year, only for it to actually succeed this time.
Speaking of Triple H, I'm not really looking forward to much of the storyline becoming about Triple H and what Triple H did as special guest ref and what Triple H is going to say about what he did but at least the pursuant wrestling will be good, which is all I really care about.
You know what gets people over, winning. Winning is the ultimate getting someone over especially when you do it right. Last night was right with Cena losing clean til HHH decided to once again shove his big nose in shit that does not concern him. Now, Bryan is going to chase this title and probably lose or play second fiddle as soon as Cena comes back. Because the only two things this company seems to care about as far as booking goes is how can we make Cena even more of a Super-hero and how can we shove the boss' son in law in things that don't need his "help".
There is zero way HHH is going to job to Bryan. I am sure Orton will, because well lets be far, there is no bigger main event dud in wrestling in the last ten years than Orton. He has been give pretty much the world from having legends job to him at big events to multiple title reigns to having shows just about him. The most he gets is a ok reaction. Say what you want about Cena, but people actually care one way or another about him, most people with Orton is like "Oh, yeah that guy." Guys chasing things from SummerSlam to Mania never works out well, the fans are to ADD to have that type of patience especially with the 5 hours of TV that matters each week. I expect Bryan to get lost in the shuffle by Survivor Series where Cena returns to win the title while the fans shit all over it.
Torn on Lesnar/Punk. Its good to show Brock as a monster again. Sad, it comes at Punk's expense. I really did want Punk last year at this time to be the one to stop the monster, but once Cena stopped him out of the gate and then HHH finished the job at Mania, there needed to be reboot with him. ADR got in a real fight with McIntrye backstage that is the reason for the black eye supposedly. Curious to see what the fallout from that will be.
(edited by lotjx on 19.8.13 0751) The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
Oh, lotjx, never change. Only you could watch Daniel Bryan knee John Cena in the face and pin him clean and say without a hint of irony that the company only cares about making Cena into Superman.
I don't really see why it would be called a "celebrity" match, outside of his fame as a football player. Much like Bigelow, LT was a professional athlete; and to see him work the ring like that truly shocked me.
Thread rated: 5.50
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