By: Todd Martin
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Blog: toddwmartin.blogspot.com
Date: 09/06/10 from Washington, DC.
The Big News: Chris Jericho is no longer in the six pack challenge for the WWE title at Night of Champions.
Show Analysis:
Nexus was in the ring to start the show. They claimed they did something that people will remember forever by giving Undertaker the wasteland. David Otunga labeled Nexus the new phenoms of the WWE. He added that it was the greatest night of their lives. Michael Tarver said that it was unprecedented. They came across so pathetic here bragging about nothing.
Tarver then bragged about winning a match against five Raw wrestlers. He said Chris Jericho and Edge were so scared they left. Heath Slater bragged about pinning Sheamus. Justin Gabriel bragged about hitting the 450 on John Cena. Wade Barrett said he devenomized the viper and that he will bring back the title to Nexus.
Randy Orton came out. He said he took out two Nexus members and that he’ll take out Nexus members again. Orton vowed to give Barrett the RKO at Night of Champions. The anonymous GM then weighed in with this e-mail that just went on and on pontificating about the situation. The anonymous GM gimmick already feels fake as hell, and having the GM supposedly type up these long, wordy WWE-style promos in seconds while watching the show and deciding what to do doesn’t help one bit. The GM made Gabriel vs. Cena and Orton vs. Barrett.
John Morrison beat Chris Jericho. The anonymous GM was annoyed that Edge and Jericho left last week and said that if either man lost their match this week they would be out of the six pack challenge. Jericho hit stomps and punches. Morrison came back with clotheslines and a back breaker. Jericho went for the Walls but Morrison escaped. Jericho then tried the code breaker but Morrison escaped again.
Jericho hit an enzuigiri, but ran into the post accidentally. Morrison went for starship pain but Jericho got up and Morrison landed on his feet. Jericho applied the Walls and it looked like that was it but Morrison got to the ropes. Morrison then hit starship pain for the win. This was a very good match.
Melina beat Alicia Fox. Alicia Fox cut quite the promo coming to the ring. She said that she should be the “undefined” women’s champion and that she would enter Night of Champions as a champion. The announcers made fun of her for this. Alicia hit a few kicks. Melina went for the last call. Alicia escaped that so Melina gave her the sunset split for the pin.
Backstage, Miz had something hidden behind a curtain. He said that the world would learn about his road to awesome. Josh Mathews wanted to see what was behind the curtain but Miz slapped his hand away. That was funny.
Elsewhere backstage, Edge was speaking with Zack Ryder. Edge said he shoved the referee last week because the referee disrespected his mother. Well that actually is a pretty good reason. The GM should investigate that referee. Zack Ryder suggested that he wrestle Edge on Raw. Edge replied that this was a good idea, because Ryder is an easy win, because he sucks. That was hilarious. Edge then shouted into the air as a method of reaching the GM. He threatened to smash the GM’s computer if the GM didn’t make Edge vs. Ryder.
There was a note in Maryse’s bag saying “I want you.” Maryse thought it was from Ted DiBiase but DiBiase said it wasn’t. DiBiase thought the note was for him. DiBiase and Maryse argued. They announced next week’s Raw will be the season premier. I can’t believe it’s already time for another season! There will be Raw roulette and a match between John Cena and Randy Orton.
John Cena beat Justin Gabriel. Gabriel hit a somersault senton, springboard crossbody, side Russian leg sweep and power bomb. Gabriel then missed a moonsault and Cena made his comeback. Cena hit shoulder blocks, the Cena slam and the five knuckle shuffle. Cena went for the FU but Gabriel escaped and hit an STO. Gabriel went to the top rope but Cena caught him with the FU off the ropes for the finish.
Miz came out for a lengthy segment. He said that he was told he had no right to be in WWE because he was a reality TV star. He started at the bottom. He did Tough Enough and then was the host of Smackdown. The fans told him he didn’t belong. But he kept going and formed a championship tag team with Morrison. But even then people said Morrison was the star and Miz was the sidekick. They thought Miz would fail when the tag team split.
However, after the split Miz became US champ and won MITB. This led up to Miz’s big unveiling that he is on the cover of the new edition of WWE Magazine. He said this was a big deal because he used to collect the magazines when he was a kid. He wanted the audience to admit that we were all wrong about him.
I thought this segment was great. Miz’s delivery was tremendous and what really made it work was that basically everything he said was true. Interestingly, the narrative also makes him kind of likeable. Some fans are already taking to him so I guess we will see if they turn him sooner rather than later. I think they should let it build for a while and pull the trigger if and when fans are really clamoring for it. The one negative to me was that the segment built to the transparent WWE Magazine plug. Given everything else in the segment felt so real, having it conclude with Miz acting like WWE Magazine is some huge deal relative to all his much bigger accomplishments felt phony.
Daniel Bryan came out. He said that no one thought he would make it either. Miz said Bryan hasn’t. Bryan accepted that and made fun of his own generic entrance music and haircut. But he said that he can beat the Miz. Miz said he can beat Bryan so badly that Bryan will go back to the minor leagues. Bryan wanted to know if the match was on and Miz accepted.
Miz went to cheapshot Bryan but Bryan caught him in what is being billed as the LeBell lock. Alex Riley ran in but Bryan gave him a kick to the head and threw Miz over the top. Bryan then put Riley in the LeBell lock and Riley tapped. Riley called for help but Miz just left. Bryan kicked the WWE Magazine cardboard cutout.
Edge kind of beat Great Khali. This was a complete disaster of a segment. Okay, so Khali came out as the opponent. Edge threatened the computer which was so stupid. Edge then started mocking Khali on the outside, which was very funny. Khali chased Edge to the outside. Edge kicked Khali in the leg and ran back to the ring. Khali was counted out. The GM then restarted the match and called for, of all things, an over the top challenge.
Edge slid under the bottom rope. Khali followed over the top rope to the floor and threw Edge back in. Michael Cole couldn’t understand why Khali hadn’t just eliminated himself. Eventually, Jerry Lawler said that you need to throw your opponent over. I’m not sure whether the wrestler and referee didn’t know the rules or the play-by-play announcer didn’t know the rules. Either scenario isn’t very good.
Khali threw Edge back through the ropes. As Khali was climbing over the top rope again to get Edge, Edge grabbed Khali’s leg and helped him fall over the ropes. And that mercifully brought this segment to an end.
Backstage, Chris Jericho refused to comment on his future plans given he doesn’t have the chance to become champion at the PPV. You could hear a few fans lightly chant TNA. John Morrison came in and mocked Jericho. He wanted to know if Jericho still thought he was the best in the world at what he does. Jericho gave him a dirty look.
Randy Orton beat Wade Barrett. Sheamus was really amusing on commentary here with Edge and Cena. Barrett worked over Orton. Barrett went for wasteland but Orton escaped and hit a back breaker and power slam. Orton went for the draping DDT but Barrett got out. Darren Young then came out.
Christ, Yoshi Tatsu never gets on Raw and this guy is being brought back? He said that he isn’t the weakest link, but rather the missing link. Actually, that’s Dewey Robertson’s gimmick. How about you just be missing? You can form a six man tag team with Eli Cottonwood and Lucky Cannon using that gimmick. Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek can try to find you unsuccessfully.
This led to the asinine twice weekly finish where Barrett stood starring at Darren Young forever so Orton could fully recovery and give Barrett the RKO from behind. That finish is this generation’s Dusty finish. No, I take that back. The Dusty finish was actually effective at first. After the match, Orton gave Young, Edge and Sheamus the RKO as well. He then had a stare down with John Cena to close the show.
Final Thoughts:
This was a good show by recent Raw standards. There were two good matches, a really good Miz segment and the comedy was surprisingly very amusing throughout.
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