Worth Your Wealth? 06.30.08: Night of Champions

Hello again, 411 readers! “The One-Man Ratings Booster” here with another edition of “Worth Your Wealth?”! The idea is that you spend your hard-earned dollars on wrestling on a monthly basis, and I want you to know whether or not you’re getting your moneys worth. So read on and see if you’re investing wisely of if your cash is going to waste as this edition of…

Presents:

First, as always, we start off with our super-scientific formula for calculating the projected worth of each part of the show. Keep in mind I round things to the nearest nickel, so as not to piss myself off. Oh, and for the purposes of this column, I don’t have HD and neither do you.
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P = 2(A)x + 1.5(B)x + 1(C)x + 0.1(P)

Ten-percent of the PPV price accounts for non-wrestling related activities, such as in-ring promos, backstage segments, video packages, etc. Aside from that, A B and C represent the different classes of matches on the card:

Class C: Filler matches with little to no solid build behind them.
Class B: Secondary, but still significant matches that were well-promoted prior to the show.
Class A: The main event, as well as other high-profile, heavily promoted matches on the card.
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The Breakdown (as I see it):

Class C: Matt Hardy vs. Chavo Guererro, Finlay and Hornswoggle vs. Miz and Morrison, and Bob Holly and Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase and ???

Class B: Kane vs. The Big Show vs. Mark Henry, Chris Jericho vs. Kofi Kingston, and Mickie James vs. Katie Lea

Class A: Edge vs. Batista and Triple H vs. John Cena

The Calculation (as the universe sees it):

40 = 2(2)x + 1.5(3)x + 1(3)x + 0.1(40)
40 = 4x + 4.5x + 3x + 4
36 = 11.5x
x = 3.15

The Result (as you will see it):

Class A: $6.30
Class B: $4.75
Class C: $3.15
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And now, THE GOODNESS!

Bonus Materials – Price Tag: $4.00

Most of the backstage/interview stuff was pretty lousy here. JBL’s promo from the skybox was boring, uninspired, and WAY too long. The guy’s return is officially a failure. The Batista promo backstage was more of the same shit we’ve heard him say since before the Royal Rumbe. How many times can the guy say “I WILL become the World Heavyweight Champion…AGAIN!” Ok guy, get on with it, eh?

We also saw a segment with Edge and the Edgeheads which didn’t do much for me. Pretty much the only thing that I even halfway enjoyed was Jericho’s pre-match promo, but even that was kind of stale considering what we’ve heard the last few weeks.

I’d give this crap a lower value if it weren’t for the incredible video packages they put together this month. The Cena/Triple H package, in particular, sold the match as truly epic and got me really psyched up for the main event. I also include some value here for the new Smackdown! and RAW announce teams. I really enjoy the new combinations on this show and its great to see something can be different after so long and still work out well.

Overall Value: $3.00

WWE Tag Team Championship: John Morrison and The Miz (c) defeated Finlay and Hornswoggle via Pinfall (Yanked from the top rope) – Price Tag: $3.15

Yet another interesting opener this month from WWE. I thought sure we’d be seeing Hardy/Chavo up first. At any rate, I was quite worried going into this match that they were going to job out the supremely awesome WWE tag champs to Finlay and his leprechaun. The build to the match certainly hinted as such. Thank god this did not happen.

The match itself was as enjoyable as it could be. Finlay is awesome, nobody can deny this, and Hornswoggle actually got in some offense and even stood up to the tag champs. In the end, this match earns points for being booked well. Miz and Morrison played the dickheads and picked on the little guy, pinned him while his tougher partner was down, and walked out like they had defeated a monster. Great heat for the champs, Finlay doesn’t look bad, and we’re left with a satisfying opening bout.

Overall Value: $3.15

United States Championship: Matt Hardy (c) def. Chavo Guerrero via Pinfall (Twist of Fate) – Price Tag: $3.15

It’s really a shame this match wasn’t promoted more strongly, because I think every die-hard fan knew it had tons of potential. These two guys did not disappoint tonight, putting on an entertaining, fast-paced match with a surprising finish to cap it off. The psychology was great with Matt’s leg being destroyed and it really looked like Chavo was a sure winner here.

But somehow, Matt was able to reverse the Three Amigos into a sick Twist of Fate counter and score the pinfall out of nowhere. I really like how they’ve kinda turned the Twist of Fate into a sort of RKO move which can totally end a match out of absolutely nowhere. With the Hardy/MVP feud being DoA thanks to Hardy being traded to ECW, I would LOVE to see Matt and Chavo continue to feud over the US title at this point. More of this stuff would be fine by me.

Overall Value: $3.50

ECW Championship: Mark Henry def. Kane (c) and The Big Show via Pinfall (Big Splash) – Price Tag: $4.75

I think pretty much everybody called Henry winning this match once he was added to it. It just was waaaaaay too easy to see coming. First they draft the ECW title off the show, then they add Mark Henry to the match, then they draft him to ECW. Duh. Anyway…

Kane took a nasty bump to the outside, smashing the small of his back on the edge of the ring apron. You could tell he needed to take a moment, which is cool, but Henry totally blew the cover on the whole thing by just standing there staring at him for like 30 seconds. So, yknow, that kinda sucked.

But aside from that spot, this match was surprising entertaining from where I sit. Kane was visibly hurt for a few minutes there, but Show and Henry managed to keep things rolling in the meantime. We saw Kane shockingly kick out of Show’s Chokeslam, Show bodyslam Henry after lifting him higher than I thought anybody would be able to, and Kane delivering a Lesnar-sized superplex to Show. Henry snuck in out of nowhere, splashed Kane, and that was it. A predictable finish, but the route they took there had the potential to be a lot worse.

Overall Value: $4.25

World Tag Team Championship: Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes def. Bob Holly and Cody Rhodes (c) via Pinfall (Million Dollar Dream) – Price Tag: $3.15

DiBiase’s music sucks long and hard. Jesus.

Anyway, I think a lot of people saw this one coming too. While I like the angle, I think they could have executed this a lot better. They could have at least given us a few minutes of Holly/DiBiase first before pulling the trigger. And they could have saved the announcement of their alliance until the match had already ended. It came off as anti-climatic to have Rhodes turn, then announce him the official partner, and THEN finish the match, because you knew exactly where it was going as soon as he turned. I dunno, maybe it’s just me. I think it could have come off a lot better than it did, plus I was disappointed we didn’t really get to see what DiBiase can do yet.

Overall Value: $1.00

Intercontinental Championship: Kofi Kingston def. Chris Jericho (c) via Pinfall (Trouble in Paradise) – Price Tag: $4.75

I went ahead and gave this match a Class B specification despite not knowing for sure what we were going to see. Why? Because they have definitely put Jericho in the spotlight enough over the month to make it worth the pricetag. We knew we were going to see SOMETHING here, and honestly, I may have even made this a Class A if it were officially announced to be Michaels/Jericho with the amount of build the feud has gotten.

I was very excited to see Kofi end up being Jericho’s challenger here tonight. Despite his slow start on ECW, they guy has grown into one of my favorite WWE attractions as of late. A versatile guy like Jericho was the perfect match for his unique style in his first match as a RAW superstar. Lance Cade was hanging out down at ringside, but thankfully didn’t interject himself throughout the match. This was just straight up, fast-paced action for a good 10-11 minutes.

I ate this match up and Kofi, in particular, really impressed me. He stepped up and went go toe-to-toe with a guy like Jericho and proved he was ready to move on from the land of exteme.

Oh, also, Shawn Michaels showed up. He cost Jericho the title with the brief distraction only to have Jericho get the better of him yet again afterwards. You have to think there’s some pretty severe retribution headed Jericho’s way after he’s left HBK hurting for 3 weeks straight now.

Overall Value: $5.25

Womens Championship: Mickie James (c) def. Katie Lea Burchill via Pinfall (Implant DDT) – Price Tag: $4.75

John Cena is a lucky man. So is Paul Burchill, I guess, in some twisted way.

I’m really glad to see them giving more time and promotion to the women’s division (although I’m kinda bummed the Phoenix/Melina program is either over or on hiatus because there was no title involved). We got another women’s match this month that was shockingly longer than 5 minutes and actually was fun to watch. Katie Lea seems to be an excellent addition to the women’s division on RAW and looked pretty good out there against Mickie.

Keeping the title on Mickie, I feel, was the right call. Hopefully we will see this feud continue, possibly with Melina and Beth Phoenix thrown back into the mix. A women’s fatal fourway with four legitimate workers would be a pretty interesting thing to see.

Overall Value: $4.75

World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) def. Batista via Pinfall (Championship to the Head) – Price Tag: $6.30

It’s funny, I like Batista and I REALLY like Edge, but I’ve never been that fond of Edge/Batista matches thus far. Of the two major title feuds this month, I think this one was probably the easier to predict. Batista is not where he was 2 years ago in terms of work rate and honestly did not seem like much of a threat to Edge’s title after four months of battling the Undertaker.

That said, I enjoyed this match for the most part, but the screwjob finish was truly excessive. Not only does Edge lay out the referee, but we get Chavo as the replacement ref AND Batista tosses Vicky onto the entire familia before losing the match to a belt shot. Why not just pull an MVP and take the count-out loss to save the belt? What was the point of the giant clusterfuck?

They gave Batista his moment to reflect on his failure and the fact that he’ll (probably) never have another chance to challenge for the World Heavyweight Title and he got an ovation from the crowd. Overall, while screwjob finishes are annoying, this one played out well and I can’t really say I’m angry about it.

Good match, but nothing compared to what we’ve seen from Edge and Undertaker for the past few months. Combine that with the ridiculous finish sequence and this really should have been a lot better.

Overall Value: $5.30

WWE Championship: Triple H (c) def. John Cena via Pinfall (Pedigree) – Price Tag: $6.30

I remember when Triple H and Cena faced each other at Wresltemania 22 and everybody was surprised that Cena went over because he was somehow the ‘underdog’ even though he’d destroyed everyone he’d faced for the past year. I remember hating that build because they completely shit on Cena and everybody he’d beaten during his year-long title reign for the sake of jobbing Triple H out in the end anway.

This time around, they took a much better route in booking these guys as being clearly on the same level and incredibly evenly match. I was much more into the match this time around, probably mostly due to this fact. And I have to say, I was literally shocked that Cena did not bring the title back to RAW in this match.

These guys work very well together, there’s no denying it. It’s almost as if Cena goes out there against Triple H determined to show Hunter that he doesn’t suck as hard as Hunter thinks he does. At any rate, the formula works. It’s rare that a match keeps my eyes focuses on the television set for the full duration, but I can honestly say that nothing distracted me here. It really had a big match feel (no offense to Randy Orton but his past few matches with Triple H didn’t come close to this) and I really enjoyed it throughout.

The finish was incredible, an STFU reversed into a Crossface reversed into an FU reversed into a Pedigree. I couldn’t have predicted that kind of finish if I tried. The match had great action, great psychology, a great finish, and did a fantastic job of making both of these guys look like the best they could be. Great main event showing here!

Overall Value: $7.00

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The Final Tally:

Overall Price Tag: $40.00

Match of the Night: WWE Championship: Triple H (c) vs. John Cena – 111% Value ($7.00 worth, $6.30 price tag.)

Trash of the Night: World Tag Team Championship: Bob Holly and Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes – 11% Value ($1.00 value, $3.15 price tag.)

Overall Value: $37.20

Resulting PPV Rating: A (93% Worth)

Closing Comments:
Despite some dark spots on the card, several of the match here delivered well above their worth. I know some people are going to disagree with me rating the show this high, but I firmly believe that the stellar performances in the US, Intercontinental, and WWE title matches were definitely enough to offset the bullshit like the Cody Rhodes turn and the horrific Edge/Batista finish. The show is definitely worth a watch if you haven’t caught it already. It’s going to be very interesting to see where things go from here, especially with regard to the WWE and World Heavyweight titles.
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Year in Review:

1. WWE Night of Champions – A (93% Worth – $37.20 / $40.00)
Match of the Night: WWE Championship: Triple H vs. John Cena – 111% Value ($7.00 Worth, $6.30 price tag).

2. WWE Backlash – A- (90% Worth – $36.25 / $40.00)
Match of the Night: World Heavyweight Championship: The Undertaker vs. Edge – 101% Value ($7.00 Worth, $6.90 price tag).

3. WWE Judgment Day – B+ (89% Worth – $35.65 / $40.00)
Match of the Night: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels – 114% Value ($5.95 worth, $5.20 price tag.)

4 (tie). WWE One Night Stand– B (86% Worth – $34.35 / $40.00)
Match of the Night: World Heavyweight Championship TLC Match: The Undertaker vs. Edge – 112% Value ($7.75 worth, $6.90 price tag.)

4 (tie). WWE Wrestlemania 24 – B (86% Worth – $47.25 / $55.00)
Match of the Night: Career-Threatening Match: Shawn Michaels vs. “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair- 116% Value ($8.00 worth, $6.90 price tag).

6. TNA Slammiversary – B (84% Worth – $25.20 / $30.00)
Match of the Night: X-Division Championship: Petey Williams vs. Kaz – 111% Value ($4.50 worth, $4.05 price tag).

7. TNA Lockdown – B (83% Worth – $24.95 / $30.00)
Match of the Night: TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe – 116% Value ($5.00 worth, $4.30 price tag).

8. TNA Sacrifice – C (74% Worth – $22.15 / $30.00)
Match of the Night: X-Division TerrorDome – 100% Value ($3.25 worth, $3.25 price tag).
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And with that folks, we’ll see you next time with another edition off…