Wrestlings 4Rs PPV Edition 9.18.12: WWE Night of Champions 2012
Posted by Larry Csonka on 09.18.2012
CM Punk retained the WWE Title over John Cena, the crowd turned on Randy Orton in favor of Dolph Ziggler and more! But how was the PPV? Wrestling's 4R's breaks down the Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous of WWE Night of Champions!
How the 4R's of wRestling Work! Here is a quick explanation of the 4R's. The column will run TWO times a week, THREE if there is a PPV. We will group our feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and needs discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This is not a "mark" column, nor a "smark" column, our goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. We will not apologize for our opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
THE RIGHT: Randy Orton defeated Dolph Ziggler: In the fourth match of the night, we finally had something that felt like an actual PPV match as Randy Orton defeated Dolph Ziggler. Orton won, clean as a sheet, following a toss into an RKO. Easily the best thing on the show up and to this point, and it was so by a large margin. These guys worked like stars and the crowd treated them as stars. As mentioned, this was the fourth match on the show, and thankfully they came along when they did, because this was not feeling like a PPV. Simply very good work by both men, smooth, well planned and well executed. While I hate Ziggler losing, again, in a high profile match, the match itself was very good, and Ziggler looked like a player, not a job guy. Of course, the constant losses do not help, but that's something I have been saying for some time. The good news is that Ziggler's performances remain great, and the crowds have really responded to him. If the plan, which has been reported, is to feud these two, we could be in for some very good PPV matches in the future.
This wasn't a "Steve Austin" throwing of the bird, this was "fuck you for liking Dolph Ziggler, I am going to pin him now" childishness. On top of the whole middle finger issue, there were times that they censored the audio because Orton was getting into yelling bouts with fans, telling them to fuck off. Come on son, be better than that.
WWE Title Match: And so it comes to the main event, and at the end of it, CM Punk walked out with the WWE Title, but he didn't beat John Cena. They did the old draw finish, with both men's shoulder's down. I get why people wanted to shit on it, but I actually didn't have a big issue with it. It certainly is not the first time I have seen it (Flair vs. Steamboat immediately comes to mind) and it actually makes sense. They didn't want to beat either guy at this show, but they gave the crowd a "moment" to cheer the title switch, and then took it away. Watching the look of joy on Punk's face when he was announced as "STILL WWE CHAMPION" was great. He looked like the cat that ate the canary, he fucked Cena in his town and kept the title, and people seemed to really hate him for that. As for the match, it was a tremendous piece of business. This was one of those "WrestleMania" quality matches, with both guys pulling out all the stops, kicking out of the finishers, counters to submissions and Punk even breaking out the Rock Bottom on Cena. This was simply great work from both men, and an extra mention of praise to Cena, who jacked his ankle early and worked through it quite well. Add in the little things like Paul Heyman's tremendous ring side reactions, Punk's tights (Yankees themed, partly to mock Boston and partly because he is a HEYMAN GUY) and there was a lot to love here.
Divas Title Match: Kaitlyn was pulled from he match due to not being very good being attacked backstage. This allowed Eve to weasel her way into the match, which has actually been a solid angle. Technically this was a fine little match, they worked hard, but due to the WWE's booking of the Divas, no one cared. When the crowd did get vocal, it wasn't to cheer either woman, it was to mock them. Again, solid work, and I am sure that they tried hard, but it wasn't anything that good and the crowd essentially shitting on them didn't help matters. I feel like I type that a lot, which is a shame. But I do had to add that Eve is a way more interesting character as opposed to Layla, and her winning the title was a good move and needed to happen. So all things considered, it was not that bad.
THE WRONG: Nothing
THE RIDICULOUS: Nothing
The 411
Obviously there was some good stuff on the show, but there was also a lot of average. When you take into account what appeared to be wasted weeks with the brogue kick storyline, Ziggler losing yet again, Orton throwing a little HBK 1995 temper tantrum because the crowd liked Ziggler more and the $45 price tag, I cannot give this a big recommendation to buy. The main event is great, Orton vs. Ziggler is really good, but then the rest of the card is TV quality average, not PPV quality. And that factors heavily into how I score things. Seek out Punk vs. Cena and Orton vs. Ziggler if you can, you'll enjoy then. Or you can simply wait for the much cheaper DVD or a run on Nexflix.
SHOW RATING: 6.6
What the numbers mean..
0 - 0.9: Torture 1 - 1.9: Extremely Horrendous 2 - 2.9: Very Bad 3 - 3.9: Bad 4 - 4.9: Poor 5 - 5.9: Not So Good 6 - 6.9: Average 7 - 7.9: Good 8 - 8.9: Very Good 9 - 9.9: Amazing 10: Virtually Perfect
As a reminder, this is not a basic "how good was the show" number like a TV show, as I have always felt that a PPV is very different from a regular show. I have always judged PPV on how they built to a match, the match quality, crowd reactions to matches and angles, the overall booking, how the PPV leads into the future, PPV price and so on and so forth. I have added this in here for an explanation since so many have asked, and I have previously discussed it on podcasts. I understand that this may seem different, but that is how I grade. Obviously your criteria may be different.
YEAR IN REVIEW (PPV) by Csonka: TOP PPVs:
* Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur iPPV 8.4
* TNA Destination X 8.3
* DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2012 iPPV - 8.2
* DGUSA Mercury Rising 2012 iPPV - 8.1
* WWE Extreme Rules - 8.0
* EVOLVE 13 iPPV - 8.0
* ROH Border Wars iPPV - 8.0
* WWE WrestleMania 28 - 7.9
* DGUSA Enter the Dragon Gate 2012 iPPV - 7.8
* TNA Hardcore Justice 7.7
* DGUSA Untouchable 2012 iPPV - 7.6
* ROH Best in the World iPPV - 7.5
* ROH 10th Anniversary iPPV - 7.4
* TNA Slammiversary 7.4
* ROH Showdown in the Sun: Night One iPPV - 7.4
* EVOLVE 12 iPPV - 7.3
* TNA Sacrifice 7.2
* EVOLVE 16 iPPV - 7.1
* WWE Money in the Bank - 7.0
* EVOLVE 17 iPPV - 7.0
* EVOLVE 14 iPPV - 7.0
* EVOLVE 11 iPPV - 7.0
* ROH Boiling Point iPPV - 7.0
* WWE Summerslam - 6.9
* EVOLVE 15 iPPV - 6.8
* TNA No Surrender 6.7
* WWE Night of Champions - 6.6
* TNA Victory Road 6.5
* TNA Against All Odds 6.5
* WWE Over the Limit - 6.5
* CZW Down with the Sickness iPPV 5.0
* TNA Genesis 5.0
* WWE Royal Rumble - 5.0
* WWE No Way Out - 4.9
* WWE Elimination Chamber - 4.0
* TNA Lockdown 3.0
TOP PPV MATCHES:
* From The ROH Showdown in the Sun: Night Two iPPV ROH Title Match: Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin [****¾]
* From WWE Over the Limit - WWE Title Match: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan [****½]
* From WWE WrestleMania 28 - Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker vs. Triple H [****½]
* From DGUSA's Untouchable 2012 - CIMA and AR Fox vs. El Generico and Samuray Del Sol [****½]
* From WWE Night of Champions WWE Title Match - John Cena vs. CM Punk [****¼]
* From DGUSA's Enter the Dragon Gate 2012 iPPV I QUIT Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor [****¼]
* From TNA Slammiversary Tag Team Title Match: Kaz and Daniels vs. Kurt Angle and AJ Styles [****¼]
* From WWE Extreme Rules - World Title Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus [****¼]
* From DGUSA's Mercury Rising 2012 - Low Ki, BxB Hulk and Akira Tozawa vs. Ricochet, PAC and Mazaaki Mochizuki [****¼]
* From EVOLVE 11 iPPV Fit Finlay vs. Sami Calihan [****¼]
* From TNA Destination X TNA Title Match Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode [****¼]
* From TNA No Surrender AJ Styles and Kurt Angle vs. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian [****]
* From TNA Hardcore Justice Bound for Glory Series Ladder Match AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe [****]
* From TNA Hardcore Justice TNA Title Match Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode [****]
* From DGUSA's Enter the Dragon Gate 2012 iPPV - Open the United Gate Tag Team Title Match: AR Fox and CIMA vs. Rich Swann and Ricochet [****]
* From WWE Extreme Rules John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar [****]
* From WWE Money in the Bank- WWE Title Match: Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk [****]
* From WWE Extreme Rules - WWE Title Match: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk [****]
* From EVOLVE 11 iPPV Low Ki vs. El Generico [****]
* From EVOLVE 13 iPPV El Generico vs. Sami Calihan [****]
* From DGUSA's Untouchable 2012 - Open the Freedom Gate Title Match Johnny Gargano vs. Akira Tozowa [****]
* From DGUSA's Mercury Rising 2012 - Open the Freedom Gate Title Match Johnny Gargano vs. Masato Yoshino [****]
* From DGUSA's Open the Ultimate Gate 2012 - Open the United Gate Tag Title Match: Chuck Taylor vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Ricochet and Masato Yoshino [****]
* From DGUSA's Open the Ultimate Gate 2012 Akira Tozowa vs. Masaaki Mochizuki [****]
* From WWE WrestleMania 28 - WWE Title Match: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho [****]
* From The ROH Best in the World iPPV - Hybrid Fighting Rules: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly [****]
* From The ROH Showdown in the Sun: Night One iPPV Last Man Standing Match Kevin Steen vs. El Generico [****]
* From TNA Sacrifice AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle [****]
* From TNA Destination X Last Man Standing Match - AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels [****]
* Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur iPPV Ladder Match: Gran Akuma vs. Icarus [****]
* From EVOLVE 17 iPPV Samuray Del Sol vs. El Generico [****]
* From EVOLVE 15 iPPV Samuray Del Sol vs. El Generico [****]
* From EVOLVE 14 iPPV Samuray Del Sol vs. El Generico [****]
* From DGUSA's Enter the Dragon Gate 2012 iPPV I QUIT MATCH: Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor [****]
* From DGUSA's Enter the Dragon Gate 2012 iPPV Open the United Gate Tag Team Title Match: AR Fox and CIMA vs. Rich Swann and Ricochet [****]
If you haven't already, make sure you bookmark 411 or better yet, set us as your homepage! As always, thanks for choosing 411 for all of you pop culture needs!
NEW PODCASTS
The Bad Movie Review Club: Metal Tornado: Sean Comer joins the Man Cave for our September edition of the Bad Movie Review Club. This month we take a look at Metal Tornado, which, as the title effectively states, is a movie about a metal tornado. We'll review the movie in detail and give our thoughts on the acting, the plot, and whether or not a metal tornado is even scientifically possible. Plus at the end of the podcast we'll unveil the October pick for the Bad Movie Review Club. You can check out the show at this link.
The OCHO Fantasy Football Podcast 9.13.12: Trent Howell and Steve Cook bring you their live fantasy football show every Thursday at 830et/730ct. Catch the Six Stories, Fave Five, Fearful Four, Three Sleepers, Two Minutes of Injuries and One Music Break. Plus listener questions and much more. Almost fantasy football analysis from almost fantasy football experts. You can check out the show at this link.
