[WNS Column] Kevstaaa on Night Of Champions 2014

Night of Champions Review

As I stated yesterday, I had to start this show about an hour and fifteen minutes late, so I actually got an alert on my phone spoiling the outcome of the opener. I decided to not look at my phone until after the show. The WWE Tag Team Title match opened the show and this was a good, fun choice. These are the two best tag teams in the WWE and they showed why. They've performed better, but the leg work went with the prior story and both teams worked hard. After about 13 minutes, Stardust rolled up an Uso to end their near seven month reign. My only real gripe is that the change should've been more definitive. The Usos did a fantastic job of selling how much it hurt to lose the straps. ***1/4

The United States Championship match came up next. Sheamus showed up with a longer beard, which is a look that suits him. Much like their match at Payback, I expected this to be a hard hitting battle and that's exactly what it was. The build up to this was lacking but they went out and decided to just beat the crap out of each other, which is exactly what these two should do. Seeing Cesaro be the first man to counter the ten Beats of whatever and pull out a variation of the Alpamare Waterslide to reverse the Brogue Kick was awesome. Sheamus would win in just over 13 minutes in what would turn out to be the match of the night. I hope we get a dominant Cesaro over the new few weeks and he earns a badass rematch. ***3/4

Stunt Doubles galore as The Miz and Dolph Ziggler competed for the Intercontinental Championship next. For some reason, Florida Georgia Line was out on commentary and hearing JBL just reel off their accomplishments, which he had to repeat since there aren't that many, was annoying and took away from the match. Speaking of the match, it wasn't the greatest. While these guys have chemistry, this didn't work as well as their SummerSlam match and the Miz won with a cheap rollup in 9 minutes. I didn't like that we got another rollup win and I hate that the title is a hot potato. I need Bad News Barrett back. **1/4

We get a recap of the Roman Reigns injury story before Seth Rollins comes out and gives Reigns until the count of 10 to face him. Of course, he doesn't show up so Seth is given the forfeit or countout victory. He then issues an open challenge, which never goes well. A taxicab is shown pulling up to the arena and out steps Dean f'n Ambrose. The Tennessee crowd doesn't give the man the pop he deserves, but it's still a good one. Ambrose and Rollins have another exciting brawl around the arena. Ambrose plays the lunatic role to absolute perfection and this was as fun as it could be. Ambrose/Rollins at Hell in a Cell, in the cell please.

Sporting new patriotic gear, Mark Henry came out for his match with Rusev. The national anthem played, Henry had tears in his eyes and everything is incredibly overdone. Even more overdone considering the fact that nobody cares about this angle. Seriously, can't anyone just wrestle Rusev? Why does it have to be about America? It's so forced. Also, Rusev has yet to really have a good match so I don't get the continued push. He makes Henry submit in eight minutes. **

In the ultimate match that nobody cares about, Chris Jericho stepped into the ring with Randy Orton. I've already stated how much I dislike the idea of having a match because of an attack that occurred due to it being the "season premiere" of Raw. This was the definition of a filler match as, even though it got 15 minutes, it didn't matter. Orton won a solid match by catching Jericho in an RKO, but it did nothing. The crowd didn't care either. **3/4

The pre match promo for the Divas Title match was excellent. Paige really shined during it and I just felt that she needed to retain here. Let me get this out of the way first, Nikki Bella impressed me. She wasn't amazing, but she held her own with two of the better Diva workers and took a nasty bump to the outside that I have to give her props for. However, it just seemed like Nikki was just there, while the real story was Paige/AJ. They continued their sexual tension and frenemy angle before AJ made her tap out to the Black Widow in nearly nine minutes. Solid Divas match, but again, why does AJ need the title? Paige should've kept it to continue to establish her. This title swapping is killing me. **1/2

Main event time as Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Title against John Cena. This was a more competitive match than SummerSlam, but I enjoyed it less. Maybe because I'm not a big Cena fan. Oh well, Cena pulled out everything including an STF for like three minutes and FOUR Attitude Adjustments! As he made the cover after the fourth AA, Seth Rollins rushed out and nailed him with the briefcase, resulting in the disqualification. Seth then laid out Cena and planted Brock with the Blackout. He was cashing in! I was losing my mind in my house but then Cena cock blocked and stopped the cash in. Brock, always doing what the fans want, nails Cena with the F5 to close the show. ***1/2

Overall, this was a solid show. Nothing was terrible and everything was between two and four stars. It was mostly an enjoyable three hours and featured some exciting moments. I'd give it a 7/10.